Acts 1:1-12 The former treatise have I made.A true commencement must have respect to what has gone before In any new beginning of study or work, it is important to have in mind what has been done before in the same line. No one can learn or do to advantage, unless he avails himself of what others have learned and done before him. Any other plan would utterly forbid progress. The world would be full of new beginnings--and nothing else. He who would study the New Testament wisely, must know what the Old Testament has disclosed. He who would get good from the Book of Acts must have in mind at the start the facts and teachings of the former treatise by the same author. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The Gospels and the Acts I. Their relation. In determining this it is not enough to say that while the Gospels contain the history of the Master’ s ministry, the Acts record that of the apostles. Both alike narrate the work of the Lord: the Gospels what He did in Person, the Acts what He did by His chosen witnesses. This relation is marked at its outset. If the former treatise records “ all that Jesus began,” then the present relates what Jesus continued. His incarnation, death, etc., were only the foundation. In the Acts He rears a lofty temple on that foundation. Nor does the work cease with the abrupt conclusion of the Acts. In a city map you mark the road which leads to another city a little beyond the wall, when it breaks off. To trace it further you require another map. So our Lord’ s path breaks off on the map of inspiration and is continued on the map of providence. II. Their point of union. The latter treatise does not begin precisely where the former ends. By design they overlap each other--both recording the Resurrection and the Ascension. Thus where a bridge of two arches spans a river, both arches lean on one pillar which rises in the middle of the flood. In the midst of the gulf which separated God and man, and in the midst of the tide of time stood Jesus--on Him rests the Old Dispensation and the New. In the end of the Gospel history we found the first hemisphere of the Divine dispensation terminating in Christ crucified and ascended. Here we find the second arch springing where the first was finished. Resting there, it rises into heaven, and stretches away into the future. We lose sight of it as we lose sight of the rainbow, in mid-heavens; but we know assuredly that it will traverse all the intervening space, and lean secure on the continent of a coming eternity. (W. Arnot, D. D.)St. Luke a model for the Bible student I. He collected his facts with care and diligence (Luke 1:1-3). This complete knowledge of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach suggests the importance of endeavouring to gain a more perfect knowledge of the Word of God. There is a great readiness in quoting certain texts or favourite portions, but the fulness of which St. Luke speaks is rare. The Word of God cannot be said to be unknown, but it does not “ dwell richly in us in all wisdom.” Hence truths are magnified into undue proportions, and important doctrines are passed over slightly, because they do not well enter into some peculiar system. II. His collection was limited by the boundaries of revelation. It did not go beyond what God made known by His Son. Here, again, we may learn the importance of not going beyond the revealed Word whenever we attempt to review God’ s dealings with mankind, anti especially of the redemption of the world by Christ. If there be danger in a partial knowledge of God’ s truth, there is perhaps more in adding to the things which God has revealed. It is this which has caused so much superstition. III. He recognised that a knowledge of “ all that Jesus began to do and to teach,” however comprehensive and however free from mixture, will not prove a saving knowledge unless it be conveyed to the soul by the power of God. St. Luke describes the commandments of Jesus as given unto the apostles by the Spirit. It is possible for any man to learn these commandments. The letter of the law and the facts of the gospel are within the reach of the poorest capacity. But, in order to make the knowledge available, the Spirit of God must take of the things so learnt, and show them to the soul. “ No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost.” It is impossible to read the Acts without seeing that the Holy Spirit was the acting Guide of all the sayings and actions of the first teachers of Christianity. Looking upon the doctrines of the gospel as a medicine to heal our spiritual sickness, we must suppose that the medicine is taken, and that it penetrates through the constitution of the sick soul. IV. It requires strong convictions of the truths we believe in order to be diligent in the propagation of them. Our zeal for the cause of the Redeemer, our desires for the advancement of His glory, our prayers for the prevalence of His truth, will all be in proportion to the depth of our conviction that this is the Word of God. The earliest impressions are liable to be effaced by time, by the world and its cares, by the changes of our own views, by the speculative views of others, etc. We have need, therefore, of watchfulness, lest that which is within us lose its power and freshness, and we begin in the routine of duty and form to think less and less of the power of godliness. (R. Burgess, B. D.)Literary histories Luke was the Haydon of the sacred scribes; he sketched the perfect Man and drew in heroic size the figures and scenes of the new kingdom. Historians often become interested in a single character and turn aside to give us a monograph or biography on the object of their enthusiasm. Motley, after writing “ The Rise of the Dutch Republic” and “ The History of the United Netherlands,” published “ John Barneveld.” Bancroft left his chosen field, the “ History of the United States,” to make us better acquainted with Abraham Lincoln. Froude has added to his “ History of England” a “ Life of Lord Beaconsfield.” Writers of history describe the movements of an age as centring about their heroes. The records of a given period are seen to bear the stamp of a distinct personality. But Luke begins with a great character. His biography precedes his history and is the inspiration of it. There was a life which was the key to the Acts, and our writer was in touch with it. He did not gild an earthly tyrant and set him up like Nebuchadnezzar’ s image in the plain of Dura to fill the wastes of godless history, but he traces the way of the Church through the fiery furnace of events with a form “ like a son of the gods.” Gulzot wrote a “ History of Civilisation in Europe and in France,” and gave to the world as one of his latest works “ Meditations on the Christian Religion.” Edwin Arnold, after following the “ Light of Asia” till it led him to a dim Nirvana, came back for another guide and traced the path of the “ Light of the World.” Gounod composed operas in his youth, and afterward turned his attention to such serious works as the oratorios of “ The Redemption” and “ St. Paul.” It thus not infrequently happens that in later life men are led to dwell upon and portray that great personality they have passed by in search of the world’ s truth; but the Bible writers all had their study fires kindled by the rays of that Sun which illuminates the past and future, before they became scribes of Divine truth. The ancient penmen were friends of God, and those of the New Testament were disciples of His Son Jesus Christ before they essayed to describe the powers, the laws, and the institutions of redemption. (W. R. Campbell.)The Gospels the living picture of Christ The whole value of the Gospels to Erasmus lay in the vividness with which they brought home to their readers the personal impression of Christ Himself. “ Were we to have seen Him with our own eyes, we should not have so intimate a knowledge as they give us of Christ, speaking, healing, dying, rising again, as it were in our very presence. If the footprints of Christ are shown us in any place, we kneel down and adore them. Why do we not rather venerate the living and breathing picture of Him in these Books? It may be the safer course,” he goes on, with characteristic irony, “ to conceal the state mysteries of kings, but Christ desires His mysteries to be spread abroad as openly as was possible.” (Little’ s “ Historical Lights.”)The “ Memorabilia” of Christ Xenophon, the loving disciple of Socrates, has given an account of the last sayings of that great man, after he was imprisoned and condemned to death; and in all ages the “ Memorabilia” has been regarded as one of the most precious records which classical antiquity has sent down to us. But sublime and heroic as they were, how immeasurably do these last utterances of the Grecian stage fall below the moral grandeur and the deathless interest inspired by the last words of Jesus. The nearer we stand to the Cross, and the more we enter into the spirit of its great central character, the more do we feel the force of Rousseau’ s eloquent eulogium, “ Socrates lived and died like a philosopher; but Jesus Christ like a God.” The pre-eminence of the doctrine of Christ incarnate We have seen in mountain lands one majestic peak soaring above all the rest of the hills which out the azure of the horizon with their noble outline, burning with hues of richest gold in the light of the morning sun; and so should the doctrine of Christ incarnate, crucified, risen, and reigning, be pre-eminent above the whole chain of fact, doctrine, and sentiment which make up the sublime landscape--the magnificent panorama--which the Christian preacher unfolds, and makes to pass in clear form and brilliant colour before the eye of his people’ s faith. (Evangelical Magazine.)Theophilus.-- Theophilus Not an ideal person with a name expressive of his religious character. That must have been Philotheus (cf. 2 Timothy 3:4). Probably a Gentile convert, not resident in the Holy Land, or he would not have needed the many explanations of places and usages. He is said by Theophylact to have been of senatorial rank; and the title prefixed in the Gospel has been thought to imply that he was a provincial governor (cf. Acts 23:26; Acts 24:3). The address here is less ceremonious, indicating that Luke’ s friendship had become more intimate. (Bp. Jacobsen.)Of all that; Jesus began.-- Teaching to be combined with doing If it were not for the fact of a Christian life manifested in the holy lives of believers, Christian doctrine would command no attention beyond that of a speculative system. God begins, but never finishes. His works and His teachings are only movements in the march of infinite advance. But one thing we know is finished, and that is the redemption work of Christ, which He declared accomplished when He bowed His head and gave up the ghost; but even this gives birth to a progressive work of salvation, based upon, and springing out of, that foundation. Jesus intimated to His disciples that, through them, He would do greater works after He went to the Father than while He was on the earth, and that, as they became able to bear them, He would give them other teachings. In the Acts of the Apostles we find both of these promises being literally fulfilled. (Gf. Pentecost.)Aspects of Christ on the earth 1. A Founder. He “ began to do and teach,” like an architect who draws the plan of a magnificent cathedral, and lays its foundations, then leaves it for others to finish. The Church of to-day at its best is only carrying out the purpose of its Founder. 2. A Lawgiver. Giving His commandments through the Holy Ghost to His apostles. His laws were not written on tables of stone, like those of Mount Sinai, but on the hearts of His disciples. Whoever becomes a follower of Christ pledges himself to obey His commands. 3. A Sufferer. “ His Passion” is not omitted from this summary, brief as the summary is, for the death of Christ is far more important to us than was His life. His Passion brought to us our salvation. 4. A Conqueror. He was dead, He was buried, but He lived again; “ He showed Himself alive after His Passion.” Bug for the resurrection of Jesus the world would never have heard of His name. 5. A Revealer. “ Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” Notice what was the theme of conversation during those forty days. The same subject is the object of all Christ’ s interest on the earth now. He cares little for the rise and fall of empires, except as they affect the salvation of men. One soul outweighs all the politics of a continent. The unchanged plan The lines of the kingdom run before the crucifixion were not changed. Christ’ s assumption of authority was the same as of old. His words were those of command. He had no mistakes to rectify, nor did He withdraw any offer or retract any promise. The scenes He had passed through had not shaken His mind in its loves, its powers, or its purposes. The old commissions were renewed, but there must be halt, not for orders or drill, but for power. Not as the heathen legionaries waited for the auguries from dead beasts, but for a descent of the Spirit from on high were these men to linger at Jerusalem. The moulds were set and the wicks were already dipped for the men who were to be the candles of the Lord, and only the spark of the Spirit was needed to light them. (W. R. Campbell.)The ministry of Jesus a beginning I. It was a new thing among men.1. His miracles. “ We have seen strange things to-day.” 2. His teaching. “ Never man spake as this Man.” 3. His character. “ Which of you convinceth Me of sin?” This originality presents-- (1) An example for all time.(2) An argument for the Divine origin of Christianity. II. It was introductory to the work of the apostles.1. He prepared them for their work by instruction. He made them to feel that they could have no other Master. They were assured that to learn of Him was to find the truth. This relation continued during His presence, but they had to be prepared for His absence. 2. Accordingly He brought them to a conviction of His abiding supremacy in the Church. Though when with Him they in a degree lived by sight, even then faith was required; and after His departure faith was their chief directive principle. And Low realising was the faith in which they carried on their work (Acts 2:33; Acts 4:10). III. It was introductory to the work of the Church in succeeding ages. Centuries have rolled by, and Christianity has not fulfilled all the desires of its friends. Yet the name of Jesus has never ceased to be spoken, and His Holy Spirit has wrought by means of the truth however partially known. Of His living ministry we have abundant proofs in buildings, institutions, and saved souls. And provision is made for the perpetual continuance of the work of Jesus. The Gospel history furnishes--1. An inexhaustible theme.2. An all-powerful motive. Conclusion: See here--1. How to understand the history of the Christian Church. It presents the truth of Jesus in incessant contention with error, the world, and Satan, and it points hopefully to the time when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God, etc. 2. The magnificence of a right influence. The work which Jesus began has never ceased. Some of His followers have begun movements which have continued So bless the world ages after they have gone. If your life is short and sphere narrow you have the opportunity of beginning what may bless many. 3. The dignity of Christian effort. It is an honour to have distinguished associates, how much more to have your name in the long list headed by Jesus! (W. Hudson.)The ever-active Christ 1. Luke’ s Gospel is confessedly but an imperfect sketch of an absolutely perfect life. Yet, in his Gospel, every beneficent act seems well-rounded off, every miracle seems complete, every parable seems to have received its finishing touches. And yet Luke says that his Gospel is only a narrative of what Jesus “ began both to do and teach.” There were greater things to follow--miracles of grace far surpassing the opening of blind eyes, the cleansing of lepers, or even the raising of the dead to life again. 2. The Acts of the Apostles contains an account of those greater works which were done in the name of Christ. In the Gospels Christ begins to do and teach; in the Acts of the Apostles He continues to do and teach; but His doing and teaching are not now restricted and limited, but assume larger and grander proportions. 3. Our Lord’ s beneficient activity did not cease when the last of the apostles fell asleep. Christ has been doing and teaching ever since, and never more than during the last hundred years. Christ is with us still, and He is not inactive. He is keenly alive to all that goes on in His Church. Indeed, it is the Christ in you that prompts to that noble deed, or to lay upon His altar that costly sacrifice. Apart from Christ you can do nothing. The Gospels are full of beginnings. The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles are also full of beginnings. Now, if the beginnings are so glorious, what will the endings be? If the Spirit of Christ abides in the Church, leading us into all truth, then we ought to possess a larger and richer spiritual heritage than our forefathers possessed. The Churches of the New Testament were only the beginnings of Christ’ s redemptive activity. His influence on the world is immeasurably greater than it was when He died upon the cross, and immeasurably greater than it was when the Books of the New Testament were written. We know that He who in the time of His humiliation began to do and teach, until “ the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together,” and “ the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep.” Mr. Beecher somewhere speaks of “ a Christ a thousand times more glorious than Jerusalem ever saw; a Christ a thousand times freer and fuller of the manifestation of love than any historical Christ; a Christ larger in every way than the Christ of the past; a Christ enwrapping every soul as the whole atmosphere of a continent broods over each particular flower; a Christ conceived of as living near, as overhanging, as thinking of each one, and as working for Him.” Do we know anything of this Christ? The same Christ as we have in the Gospels, and yet not the same: for a man may know the Christ of history and yet be unsaved, but to know the risen, ascended, ever-present Christ is salvation itself. (A. Verran.)The beginning of apostolicity (1.)1. This Book is a letter addressed to one man. God always speaks to individuals. He does not address the great seething throng. He made Adam, called Abram, selected Mary; all through history God has called out the one person, and has started His kingdom oftentimes from very insignificant beginnings. 2. But great letters cannot be kept private: where there is anything in a letter it burns its way out. There are some letters which exercise a secret and wonderful power over the receiver, and he says the whole world must be taken into his confidence; to keep it back from others would amount to practical felony. We cannot hide gospels permanently. What is in a book and not what is said about it, determines its fate in the long run. Luke wrote a long account of Christ’ s ministry to Theophilus, and the whole world has Luke’ s narrative in its hand to-day! So Luke undertook further to write the Acts to this same man, and to-day the Acts are read in every school, perused by all students of history, and in it are the fundamentals of the most influential commonwealths. 3. Luke divides the great life into two portions--action and doctrine, miracles and truth. All Christian life admits of precisely the same division. If we do, but fail to teach, we shall be but barren puzzles. If we teach, and fail to do, we may incur the just imputation of being theorists and fanatics, or devotional sentimentalists. I. And yet Jesus Christ only began.1. There can be no ending in anything that God does. Though it may appear to end in itself, yet itself is related to some other and broader self, and so the continuity rolls on in ever-augmenting accretion and proportion. There are no conclusions in truth; there may be resting-places, a punctuation of statement, so that we may take time to turn it into beneficent action, but God’ s hand never wrote the word “finis” ; though the Bible be, in point of paper and print, a measurable quantity, it opens a revelation that recedes from us like the horizon. 2. So then life becomes a new thing from this standpoint. Men talk about formulating Christian truth: you might as well attempt to formulate the light or the atmosphere. You cannot formulate quantities that are infinite. We have organised geology, botany, astronomy, why not theology? The answer is that geology, etc., represent finite and therefore measurable quantities. We can begin a theology, and in doing so we shall do well, provided that we never mistake beginnings for endings. As to verbal statements, we may never agree; the action of the mind is in advance of the action of the tongue. We know always more than we can tell. 3. So we may well be charitable. If Jesus only began, men can only do the same. No man has the whole truth. The Book itself is not a full grown garden, it is a seed-house. We are all beginners. The old grey-haired student lifts up his wrinkled brow from the glowing page and says, “ I have hardly begun it.” Who, then, are we, fifty years his juniors, who should start up and say, “ We have reached the goal” ? Let us not account ourselves to have attained, but let us press forward, and ever say, “ God hath yet more light and truth to bring forth from His Holy Word.” II. Though Jesus Christ only began, His beginnings have all the force and urgency of complete endings. He gave “ commandments,” He did not offer mere suggestions for their consideration, to adopt or reject on further inquiry. Jesus Christ was never less than royal. “ Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” We are then the slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the Lord’ s freemen. We do not make the commandments, we obey them--we do not walk under the loose rule of license, we are kept within the limits of a specific moral gravitation, and we have come to know that there is no liberty without law, that life without law is chaos. III. These beginnings pertain to the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ had but one subject. He never talked about anything less than a kingdom that rose above all other empires and enclosed them in its infinite sovereignty. The disciples never could get away from their little “ kingdom” any more than Christ could detach Himself from His great royalty. So we often find ourselves talking Christian language without the full Christian meaning. The terms are identical with those Christ used, and yet the meanings are separated by the diameter of infinity. Let us know that the larger meaning is always the right one. Yet Jesus chided the apostles very gently. He told them that they were as yet incomplete men; but “ ye shall receive power,” etc. They were unbaptised in soul: the symbolic water had done its initial work, but they stood there without the sacred fire, the inspiring afflatus. Into what baptism have we been baptised? We have not received the Holy Ghost if we are conducting a narrow ministry. Jesus Christ said so much when He added, “ Ye shall be witnesses both in Jerusalem,” etc. No power but the Holy Ghost could take a man through those regions. The man who has been baptised with water only will choose his own parish, but the man in whom is the burning of the Holy Ghost will say with Wesley, “ My parish is the world.” You will know whether you are inspired or not by the vastness of your labours. If we are waiting until we be properly equipped and duly sent out, then know that we have been baptised with ice. IV. We now pass from the visible ministry of Christ--a cloud received Him out of their sight. Nothing more. Not out of hearing, sympathy, nor helpful ministry--only out of sight. We are not out of His sight, nor out of His memory! (J. Parker, D. D.)The beginning of apostolicity (2.)1. Who could have told beforehand that Christ would be the first to go? Our conception would rather have been that He would remain until the last lamb had been enfolded and the last pilgrim entered into rest. Instead of this, He Himself said, “ It is expedient for you that I go away.” 2. Being about to go, His last interview with the apostles took place. Last interviews are notably pathetic. The words that would be common on any other occasion acquire a new and significant accent. Little things that would not be noticed under ordinary circumstances, start up into unusual prominence. We should always listen as if in a last interview. “ What I say unto one, I say unto all--Watch.” We lose so much through inattentiveness. 3. Jesus Christ is about to go--how will He go? He cannot be allowed to die: that would be a fatal disappointment to the attention which He has strained and to the expectation He has excited. Dogs die: and if this Man die, He will contradict by one pitiful commonplace all that was phenomenal in His life. How will He go? Luke tells us that He was “ taken up.” In other places we learn that He “ ascended.” He entered within the action of another gravitation, into His own place in the heavens. It is enough: the mind is satisfied by the grand action. Were I reading this upon a poet’ s page, I would applaud the poet for one of the finest conceptions that ever ennobled and glorified human fancy. 4. Jesus Christ then “ ascended,” and in doing so He but repeated in one final act all the miracles which had made His previous ministry illustrious. From the very beginning He had been ascending, so that when He took the final movement, it was but completing that which He had been continuing for years. Our life should be an ascent! We should not be to-day where we were ten years ago. Not that we are to ascend by sharp steeps that attract the attention. There are ascents so gradual that they do not seem to be ascents; yet looked at as from the beginning to the end, we see that the gradient has evermore lifted itself up until the very next thing to do is to step into heaven! You may know how you will die by knowing how you really live. If your life is a life of faith in the Son of God marked by, at all events, the desire to be Christ-like, then you shall “ ascend.” All that drops away from you will be the flesh and the bones, that have been a distress to you for many a day. Your self, your liberated spirit, shall “ ascend.” Who ever saw fire going downward? It is in fire to go up, to seek the parent sun out of which it came. We, too, living, moving, and ever having our being in God shall not die as the dogs die, but “ rise” to our fount and origin “ with Christ.” 5. If the final interview was pathetic to Christ, it was also pathetic to the disciples. They had their question to ask as certainly as He had His commandments to give. “ Lord, wilt Thou” ? etc. (1) Mark how, after His resurrection, He had become “ Lord” and the Restorer of kingdoms. Everything rests upon the resurrection of Christ: “ if Christ be not risen,” etc. No matter what He did, taught, or appeared to be: if it was in the power of men to kill and keep Him in the grave, all His protestations were lies and His promises vanity. Hence, Luke and all the apostolic writers insist that Jesus “ showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs.” The inquiry, then, that was put to Christ in this instance was put to a Man who had risen. It was this--“ Wilt Thou restore?” etc. There are times when everything depends upon one man, crises which sum themselves up in the judgment of one thinker--we look to him, he carries the keys, he speaks the final word, and from him we expect the policy which alone can ennoble and save the life. (2) We learn from this inquiry how long-lingering and ineradicable is the influence of first impressions. The disciples had got it into their minds very early that this Man had come to liberate the Jews and to give them back their lost kingdom. What is so long-lived as prejudice? Therefore take care what impression you make upon the young mind about the Christian Sabbath, Book, Church, idea. Who can wonder that some men can hardly open the Bible with sympathy or hopefulness, because they remember that in early days it was the task-book? Are there not those who dread going to church, because their action is associated with early impressions of gloom and dreariness? 6. Christ’ s answer may be read in a tone of rebuke, but it was not spoken in that tone. You cannot report a tone--hence it is possible to express the very words the speaker said and yet entirely to misrepresent him! Features can be photographed, but not life. Jesus Christ spoke in a tone that was instructive, and followed with utterances of the largest and tenderest encouragement. “ Ye shall receive power,” etc. There is no gift equal to the gift of power. When a man in distress comes to you, if, instead of answering his immediate necessity, you could give him power to answer his own, you would bestow the most precious of treasures. (1) The gift of Christ to the Church is a gift of power-- (a) Not intellectual only, though Christ has indeed sharpened every faculty of the mind, and blessed the Church with penetrating insight--but that is not the power referred to here. (b) Nor social power--the power usually associated with the idea of kingdom, rule, and authority. (c) But the power of holiness--“ after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Know yourselves to be powerful by the measure of your holiness, and contrariwise know yourselves to be weak, though your mind covers the whole register of intellectual possibility. We have lost the Holy Ghost. We betake ourselves now to Church questions and not to soul inquiries. The problem of to-day is ecclesiasticism, not evangelisation. We are building structures, arranging mechanics, instead of being carried away with the whirlwind of Divine inspiration, and displaying what the world would call supreme madness in consecration of heart. A grand, or learned, or rich Church--these may be but contradictions in terms, but a holy Church, an inspired Church, would go forth “ fair as the moon,” etc. The world can answer our argument so as to confuse the listener, but it can have no reply to an unimpeachable purity. (2) The power which Christ gave was to be used. When He puts the staff into my hand, He means me to walk with it; when He gives me opportunities, He means me to use them. (3) This power was to be used gradually--“ Ye shall be witnesses unto; Me both in Jerusalem,” etc. Do not begin at the end: grow little by little, but see to it that your motion is constant. It is not some dashing triumph that strikes beholders, but that subtle, quiet, imperceptible growth that proceeds night and day until a culmination is reached that surprises not by its violence but by its completeness and tenderness of its working. (4) The power was to be used enlargingly, from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth, until there was no more ground to be covered. This is our Christian mission, and nothing so enlarges and emboldens the mind as sympathy with Christ. The Christian man cannot be a small-minded man. Find a sectarian and you find no Christian; pick out a man who says the kingdom of heaven ends here, and he is a man who has stolen his position in the sanctuary. All Christians are great men, great souls; all who are crucified with Christ see all men drawn to the Cross. Christianity never bends the head downward towards little and dwindling spaces: it always says, “ The whole world for Christ.” If men would have their minds enlarged, ennobled, inspired, it can only be by direct fellowship with Him who is the Head of all things, who fills all things, who ascended that He might rule by a longer line and by a more comprehensive mastery. 7. Christ’ s last words were about Himself. “ Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” What sublime audacity! What magnificent confidence! The Church has one Lord, one thing to say--Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and went out of the world to pray for His Church and sustain His servants in all the stress of life and in all the anxiety of service. (J. Parker, D. D.)Christ’ s finished and unfinished work Compare Acts 28:30-31. So begins and so ends this Book. The reference to “ the former treatise” implies that this Book is to be regarded as its sequel. Is not the natural inference that the latter treatise will tell us what Jesus continued “ to do and teach” after He was taken up? I think so. And thus the writer sets forth at once, for those that have eyes to see, what he means to do, and what he thinks his Book is going to be about. So, then, the name “ The Acts of the Apostles,” which is not coeval with the Book itself, is somewhat of a misnomer. Most of the apostles are never heard of in it. But our first text supplies a deeper reason for regarding that title as inadequate. For, if the theme of the story be what Christ did, then the Book is, not the “ Acts of the Apostles,” but the Acts of Jesus Christ through His servants. He, and He alone, is the Actor; and the men that appear are but the instruments in His hands. It is the unfinished record of an incomplete work. The theme is the work of Christ through the ages, of which each successive depository of His energies can do but a small portion, and must leave that portion unfinished, the Book does not so much end as stop. It is a fragment because the work of which it tells of is not yet a whole. If, then, we put these two things--the beginning and the ending of this Book--together, I think we get some thoughts about what Christ began to do and teach on earth; what He continues to do and teach in heaven; and how small and fragmentary a share in that work each individual servant of His has. Let us look at these things briefly. I. We have here the suggestion of what Christ began to do and teach on earth. Now, at first sight, the words of our text seem to be in startling contradiction to the solemn cry which rang out of the darkness upon Calvary. Jesus said, “ It is finished! and gave up the ghost.” Luke says He “ began to do and teach.” Is there any contradiction between the two? Certainly not. It is one thing to lay a foundation; it is another thing to build a house. And the work of laying the foundation must be finished before the work of building the structure upon it can be begun. It is one thing to create a force; it is another thing to apply it. It is one thing to compound a medicine; it is another thing to administer it. It is one thing to unveil a truth; it is another to unfold its successive applications, and to work it into a belief and practice in the world. The former is the work of Christ which was finished on earth; the latter is the work which is continuous throughout the ages. “ He began to do and teach,” not in the sense that any should come after Him and do, as the disciples of most great discoverers and thinkers have had to do: systematise, rectify, and complete the first glimpses of truth which the master had given. But whilst thus His work is complete His earthly work is also initial. And we must remember that whatever distinction my text may mean to draw between the work of Christ in the past and that in the present and the future, it does not mean to imply that when He ascended up on high, He had not completed the task for which He came. The revelation is complete, and He that professes to add anything to, or to substitute anything for, the finished teaching of Jesus Christ concerning God, and man’ s relation to God, and man’ s duty, destiny, and hopes, is a false teacher, and to follow him is fatal. In like manner that work of Christ, which in some sense is initial, is complete as redemption. “ This Man has offered up one Sacrifice for sins for ever.” And nothing more can He do than He has done; and nothing more can any man do than was accomplished on the Cross of Calvary as a revelation, as effecting a redemption, as lodging in the heart of humanity, and in the midst of human history, a purifying energy, sufficient to cleanse the whole black stream. Resurrection and Ascension needs no supplement, and can have no continuation, world without end. II. But we have to notice what Christ continues to do and to teach after His ascension. The theme of this Book of the Acts is the continuous work of the ascended Saviour. There is nothing more remarkable than the way in which, at every turn in the narrative, all is referred to Jesus Christ Himself. For instance, to cull one or two cases in order to bring the matter more plainly before you. When the apostles determined to select another apostle to fill Judas’ place, they asked Jesus Christ to show which “ of these two Thou hast chosen.” When Peter is called upon to explain the tongues at Pentecost, he says, “ Jesus hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.” When the writer would tell the reason of the large first increase to the Church, he says, “ The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” Peter and John go into the Temple to heal the lame man, and their words to him are, “ Do not think that our power or holiness is any factor in your cure. The Name hath made this man whole.” It is the Lord that appears to Paul and to Ananias, the one on the road to Damascus and the other the city. The same point of view is suggested by another of the characteristics of this Book, which it shares in common with all Scripture narratives, and that is the stolid indifference with which it picks up and drops men, according to the degree in which, for the moment, they are the instruments of Christ’ s power. As long as electricity streams on the carbon point it glows and is visible, but when the current is turned to another lamp we see no more of the bit of carbon. As long as God uses a man, the man is of interest to the writer of the Scripture. When God uses another one, they drop the first, and have no more care about him, because their theme is not men, and their doings but God’ s doings through men. On us, and in us, and by us, and for us, if we are His servants, Jesus Christ is working all through the ages. He is the Lord of Providence, He is the King of history. And thus He continues to teach and to work from His throne in the heavens. He continues to teach, not by the communication of new truth. That is done. But the application of the completed revelation is the work that is going on to-day and that will go on till the end of the world. Now these truths of our Lord’ s continuous activity in teaching and working from heaven may yield us some not unimportant lessons. What a depth and warmth and reality the thoughts give to the Christian’ s relation to Jesus Christ. We have to think, not only of a Christ who did something for us long ago in the past, and there an end, but of a Christ who to-day lives and reigns to do and to teach according to our necessities. What a sweetness and sacredness such thoughts impart to all external events, which we may regard as being the operation of His love, and moved by the hands that were nailed to the cross for us, and now hold the sceptre of the universe for the blessing of mankind! The forces of good and evil in the world seem very disproportionate, but we forget too often to take Christ into account. Great men die, good men die, Jesus Christ is not dead. He lives; He is the Anchor of our hope. What a lesson of lowliness and of diligence it gives us! “ Be not wise in your own conceits.” You are only a tool, only a pawn in the band of the great Player. If you have anything, it is because you get it from Him. III. Lastly, we note the incompleteness of each man’ s share in the great work. As I said, the Book which is to tell the story of Christ’ s continuous work from heaven must stop abruptly. There is no help for it. If it was a history of Paul, it would need to be wound up to an end; but as it is the history of Christ’ s working, the web is not half finished, and the shuttle stops in the middle of a cast. The Book must be incomplete because the work of which it is the record does not end until He shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and God shall be all in all. So the work of each man is but a fragment of that great work. Every man inherits unfinished tasks from his predecessors, and leaves unfinished tasks to his successors. It is, as it used to be in the Middle Ages, when the men that dug the foundations or laid the first courses of some great cathedral were dead long generations before the gilded cross was set on the apex of the needlespire, and the glowing glass filled in to the painted windows. Enough for us, if we lay a stone, though it be but one stone in one of the courses of the great building. (A. Maclaren, D. D)The permanence of Christ in history The mists of gathering ages wrap in slowly-thickening folds of forgetfulness all other men and events in history, and make them ghostlike and shadowy; but no distance has yet dimmed or will ever dim that human form Divine. Other names are like those stars that blaze out for a while, and then smoulder down into almost complete invisibility; but Christ is the very Light itself, that burns and is not consumed. Other landmarks sink below the horizon as the tribes of men pursue their solemn march through the centuries, but the cross on Calvary “ shall stand for an ensign of the people, and to it shall the Gentiles seek.” (A. Maclaren, D. D)The uniqueness of Christ’ s earthly ministry Two facts here mark it off from every other. I. It was original.1. His works were original--done in His own strength. The best deeds of the holiest men are done in the strength of heaven. 2. His teaching was original, not derived from others. He was “ the Truth.” His doctrines emanated from Him as living streams from a fountain of life. 3. His life was original. Such a life was never lived before; so blending the weak with the strong, the fleeting with the eternal, the human with the Divine. His whole life was a new fountain in earth’ s desert, a new light in earth’ s darkness. 4. His ministry was initiatory. Luke’ s Gospel was the commencement of a life here developed. Christ, absent corporeally, is with us always by His Spirit. II. It was posthumous. Christ did not leave the world before He had made effective arrangements for the working out of His grand purpose. What He did He did through the Divine Spirit. It was in this might that He rose and continued for forty days. The ministry after the Passion was--1. An undoubted reality (verse 3). (1) His appearances were themselves infallible proofs. Nothing is better attested. They took place at ten different times, and before single disciples and hundreds, and in a veritable corporiety who could be touched, and could eat and drink. (2) The witnesses of these appearances were indisposed to belief in the resurrection (John 20:9; Luke 24:11; see also the case of Thomas). Yet in spite of this they were thoroughly convinced. They proclaimed it publicly and before the very Sanhedrim. 2. Confined to the disciples. Before His death He spoke to promiscuous crowds; hut now only to those between whom and Himself there was a vital spiritual connection. Henceforth He would deal with the unconverted world through them. Observe here: (1) The grand subject of His ministry was the kingdom of God. Science, philosophy, politics, were left behind for “ things” of a higher type; things compared with which the greatest realities of earth are but as passing shadows; things which restore apostate spirits to God. Before His death He spoke much of His kingdom, and death had not changed His views. (2) The grand endeavour of His ministry was to prepare propagandists. (a) By giving them distinct impressions of the work He required them to discharge (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16). (b) By giving them an immovable conviction of His resurrection. (c) By preparing them for the reception of their great Helper, the Holy Spirit. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Until the day in which He was taken up.-- Jesus lives We can never forget a long corridor in the Vatican Museum, exhibiting on the one side epitaphs of departed heathens, and on the other mementoes of departed Christians. Opposite to lions leaping on horses, emblems of destruction, are charming sculptures of the Good Shepherd bearing home the lost lamb, with the epitaph, “ Alexander is not dead, but lives above the stars.” (J. Stoughton.)The ascension: its central position Luke narrates the ascension twice--showing the importance of the event. The first mention is at the end of the Gospel--forming the keystone to the life of Jesus; the second at the beginning of the Acts--forming the keystone for the edifice of the Church. (Nesselmann.)The Ascension of Christ I. The fact. Seneca said: “ The ascent from earth to heaven is not easy.” But Seneca was an atheist, if we may believe his adversaries. The atheist will not receive the witness of men. And Jesus said: “ How shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” The difficulties concerning supernaturalism are all difficulties of disbelief. To the mind of the believer there appears nothing that is difficult to Jesus in His miracles. The ascension of Jesus, like the resurrection or birth of Jesus, was only natural supernaturalism. It “ was a necessary consequence of the resurrection,” as it was the consummation of the series of His redemptive miracles. It was natural with Him; it would have been unnatural with His disciples. The time, the place, the nature, and the witnesses of the ascension will corroborate the supernatural claim. The time was opportune. “ After having lived awhile on earth; after having offered His body as a sacrifice for sin; after having been raised from the dead; after having shown Himself alive to His disciples by many infallible proofs, then He led them out as far as Bethany, and in the presence of the whole Church then collected together He was taken up into heaven.” Equally interesting, fitting, and convincing was the locality of the ascension. The nature of the ascension is evidence of the fact of the ascension. Jesus simply arose from the earth to go into the heavens. He had brought His body from the grave, and it belonged no more with corruptible things. It was not subject to the conditions or limitations of the earth. To go away was all that remained to be done. There was nowhere else to go but into the heavens. The witnesses of the ascension were not deceived, and could not be deceivers. They were the friends of Jesus. It accorded with their faith to expect that, like Enoch and Elijah, He should be caught up in the air. They were overcome with their sorrow when He was crucified. But now they had returned to Jerusalem with great joy. The angels who had announced His birth and proclaimed His resurrection were present to confirm His ascension. Stephen, when permitted to answer to the accusation of blasphemy in his apology, uttered in the very article of death, said: “ Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” And among his last words were: “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And John, from the isle of Patmos, saw in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks the Son of Man, whom he heard saying: “ I am the First and the Last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” So also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath sent, is a witness. His presence in the hearts of men is the greatest witness. “ He shall testify of Me.” If Jesus had not ascended the Holy Spirit would not be here. II. The doctrine. The ascension of Jesus was essential to the plan and work of redemption. It was necessary to relate again the work which Jesus had come to do in the earth with the world from whence He came. He had accomplished a virtual redemption. He was thenceforth to make it actual. It was prophesied that He would ascend on high, lead captivity captive, and receive gifts for men. He himself had foretold that He should go away. The ascension was the fulfilment of prophecy and the verifiaation of His own words. Without the ascension the world could not have understood Him. It was the explanation of His character and work on the earth. Christianity was triumphant at the ascension. Sin was mastered, death was dead, and man was free. In the ascension of Jesus there was given to all believers the surety of their ascension. The heavens are now the pledge of another advent of the Son of Man. III. The results. There were both direct and indirect results of the ascension. The ascension was the dividing point between the gospel and the apostolic histories. It concluded the one and introduced the other. The peasant becomes a prince. He is given a name which is above every name. He is returned to the honours which He had with the Father before the world was. The last act of Jesus as He ascended was to lift up His hands and bless. In the very sight of Gethsemane and Calvary, “ with malice toward none and charity for all,” He went away blessing the cruel world which had received Him not, and dispensing gifts not to His friends only, but to the rebellious also. Of the great gift, in which all other gifts are included--the gift of the Holy Ghost which came on all men-we are all witnesses and partakers. The indirect influences of the ascension have been and are multifarious as the intellections and emotions of men. With the ascension the personal element of the Christ who had gone about doing good was taken from the earth, and it no longer excited malefactors to persecute Him. His disciples were exalted with Him. They were raised “ into union and fellowship with a higher nature.” The Father and the heavenly world were brought nearer and made dearer to the children of men. It is now the aspiration of all Christians to explore with the Son of Man the heavenly spaces. (J W. Hamilton.)The ascending Lord I. The preparation of the witnesses. You cannot lay hands on any man at random, and ask him to bear testimony even to undisputed facts. He must have seen the things, and be a man of truthful spirit. What Christ did that day before their eyes gave them knowledge of the final fact which was to complete the circle of their testimony. It is the consummation of His resurrection. But what He said was needful, too. It was essential that their spiritual vision should be illumined, and so the Holy Spirit was promised to complete what their outward vision had begun. Through the mere vision they might have light: only through the spiritual baptism could they have power; but not to be warriers, but witnesses. “ All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, go ye, therefore, and” --not fight, not reign, but--“ teach.” This is ever the divinest thing that men can do, and is the work of the disciples in every age. For this the Master Himself came into the world. II. The limitation of the witnesses. “ While they beheld, a cloud received Him out of their, sight.”1. There was clear vision for a while, and then a mystery. So all our knowledge ends. The strength of the witnessing of the early disciples lay in this that they testified up to the limits of their knowledge, and then relapsed into utter silence. It will be well for the later witnesses to follow their example. Many an earnest witness has lost his power because there was no clear line between things known and things fancied; because the unfaltering testimony was not contrasted with the emphasis of silence, but dribbled off into vague surmisings. 2. But because a cloud hides, it need not cast a shadow upon us. The cloud which underlies the mysteries of heavenly truth is not black with thunder, nor scarred with lightning, but edged at least with the silver glory which it hides, and only laden for us with showers of peace and plenty. The cloud is the condescension of Divine love to our weak sight. As the rainbow repeats the promise of the early covenant, so the cloud tells us of hope and reminds us of our risen and returning Lord. III. The attitude of the witnesses. They stand gazing after Him up into heaven; long enough, it is evident, to lead to the rebuke and reassurance of the two angels. While they could look at Jesus they were best fitting for their witnessing; but gazing at the cloud would only make them less strong and confident, Note--1. Their obedience. Christ had told them to go to Jerusalem and witness first where it is hardest and most perilous to do so; and where their testimony will reach the thousands of Pentecost. It is not by peering into mysteries that we gain grace to be faithful witnesses, but by unquestioning obedience to plain commands. They who are willing to do His will shall know His teaching. 2. Their fellowship. Christ had appointed them a common mission and promised a common gift. And so they stayed together till it should come. As it is in the way of obedience that we learn the truth, it is in the way of fellowship that we most often receive the richest spiritual gifts. 3. And then, of course, they prayed; not of necessity only for that which He had promised, but quite as much, perhaps, for patience to wait for it, and then for grace to use it. Obedient souls, waiting together for the promised gift of Christ, will always pray. These three things shall make you strong to be witnesses, martyrs if need be, unto Him. (Monday Club.)The resurrection and ascension of Christ I. The resurrection.1. The proofs of the fact. They are said to be not only many, but of infallible certainty. (1) The number of the witnesses was very sufficient (1 Corinthians 15:5-6). (2) They had all proper advantages and opportunity of knowing the certainty of the matter. (3) They were very unwilling to be deceived (Luke 24:11). (4) They published it as soon as the thing was done. (5) The effect which their testimony had. (a) Upon themselves: they gave the best proofs that they firmly believed it; for they preached it at the hazard of their lives, and many sealed their testimony with their blood. (b) On others. Though these witnesses were but poor illiterate fishermen, and the story which they told ungrateful to the Jews, and contemptible to the Gentiles. Yet their testimony was presently received by many thousands, and nothing could possibly give a check to it. 2. The manner and circumstances of His resurrection. (1) The time is particularly recorded--the third day; not immediately, lest any should doubt whether He had been quite dead. Therefore, when He had lain in the grave long enough to satisfy everybody that His death was real, He arose (Acts 10:40; Matthew 12:40). (2) The ministry of angels in the affair (Matthew 28:2). (3) Christ was accompanied in His resurrection by several of the saints departed (Matthew 27:52-53). 3. The uses: (1) To establish our faith in Christ’ s doctrine and religion (Matthew 12:39-40). (2) To encourage our trust in Him, and our hope of salvation by Him (1 Peter 1:21; Romans 4:25; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Corinthians 15:16; 1 Peter 1:3-4). II. The time of Christ’ s stay in this world after His resurrection, and of what He did during that time. Our Saviour’ s ascension was delayed so long:1. To confirm the truth of His resurrection. When He first appeared to His disciples they were so transported that they hardly believed the thing was real (Luke 24:41), and therefore, if they had not seen Him again and again, very likely it would have passed for a vision only. 2. His love to and care of His disciples detained Him with them. III. The ascension.1. The manner and circumstances. (1) Where He ascended unto--Heaven (verses 9, 11; Ephesians 4:10). (2) From whence He ascended--Olivet (verse 12). (3) The manner was very honourable--as a triumphant Conqueror (Psalms 68:17-18; Ephesians 4:8). (4) The witnesses who, besides the angels, were His own disciples. There was no need of their seeing Him rise, for it was proof enough of His resurrection, that they saw Him alive; but as they could not see Him in heaven, it was more necessary that they should see Him ascending. (5) He departed with a blessing (Luke 24:50-51). 2. The ends and purposes. (1) That He might receive the due reward of His own past labours and sufferings (Philippians 2:8-9). (2) For the encouragement and comfort of His disciples. “ Ye cannot follow Me now, but ye shall follow Me afterwards; and where I am, there shall My servant be.” (3) As the Forerunner (Hebrews 6:20; John 14:2). (4) To appear in the presence of God for His people, and to be their Advocate with the Father. 3. Inferences. Since Christ is ascended into heaven-- (1) It is an absurd thing to look for His bodily presence anywhere in this world. (2) Let us follow our dear Saviour with our frequent thoughts, and with our warmest affections. (D. Jennings.)The coronation of Christ Jesus’ s resurrection might have been regarded as a private return to a select circle, had it not been followed by the assumption of the symbols of world-wide and heavenly authority. The Czar of Russia began to reign on the death of his father, but there was an interval of two years before he was crowned. Then it was at Moscow, the ancient seat of the rulers of the realm, where representatives of the empire and the world were gathered in unwonted splendour. The coronation signifies something. It is a time for renewing old constitutions and cementing the different parts of the dominion. Christ was formally to connect the dispensation of the chosen people with that of a universal sovereignty. There were new states to be added to His rule. Instead of remaining an illustrious citizen, He receives and wields an imperial sceptre. (W. B. Campbell.)Christ preceding His apostles to heaven As one who precedes a mighty host, provides and prepares rest for their weariness, and food for their hunger, in some city on their line of march, and having made all things ready, is at the gates to welcome their travel-stained ranks when they arrive, and guide them to their repose; so Christ has gone before, our Forerunner, to order all things for us there. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Christ directs thought to heaven It is said that Socrates brought men down from heaven to earth because he diverted attention from astronomy to a philosophy that considered the duties and relations of man in this life. Christ, on the other hand, exalts the thoughts and purposes of men from earth to heaven. The last days of the Gospel period The crucifixion had seemed to put an end to Jesus’ s ministry. But not so: the period of Gospel history was yet forty days from its end. Consider-- I. How they resembled previous days.1. In the visible presence of Jesus. 2. In the personal ministry of Jesus. No one else could have done what was required. 3. In the verbal instruction of Jesus. “ The things pertaining to the kingdom of God” had been Christ’ s themes at the commencement (Matthew 4:17; John 3:3), and throughout His public life. 4. The exercise of the authority of Jesus. Long ago He had chosen them, now He gave them commandments. They were to understand that death had not broken His authority. 5. In the mysterious agency of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:16; John 3:34; Hebrews 9:14). II. How they differed.1. He who was now seen had been hidden in the grave. Here was a testimony to the reality of the invisible. Then He could be present with them in thought, though not to sense when He returned again to the unseen. 2. The voice now heard had been silent in death. Surely then His words must have been listened to with the deepest reverence. 3. Strange experiences had increased the fitness of the disciples to receive Christ’ s instructions. Their misunderstandings had been rectified, and their attachment deepened. When attention has been secured a speaker can say more in a minute than in an hour otherwise. 4. The visible presence of Jesus was not constant. To give His disciples-- (1) Intervals for reflection.(2) Evidences of His permanent interest in them. III. Their leading impression. That Jesus was alive. He still lives, and because of that we shall live also. (W. Hudson.) Acts 1:3 To whom also He showed Himself alive after His Passion.He rose again from the dead I. The fact itself, or the notion of a resurrection in general. Admitting the power and providence of God, there can be nothing in it repugnant to reason, or incredible.1. To raise a dead man to life surpasses the power of any creature; but no reason can be assigned why it should be beyond the Divine power; since the doing it involves no contradiction. He that first inspired the soul into the body, may surely be supposed capable of reuniting them. 2. Nor was it apparently in its design unworthy of God, or inconsistent with His holy will: for the ends thereof, such as were pretended by its attesters, were-- (1) Important.(2) Good.(3) Reasonable. II. The witnesses.1. General considerations: (1) As to their number, it was not one or two, but many, who conspired in asserting it. (2) They were no strangers to Jesus, but persons by long conversation familiarly acquainted with Him. (3) They did aver themselves to be eye or ear-witnesses of the matter, as fully informed about it as senses could make them. (4) The chief of these witnesses, the apostles themselves, were at first so far from being credulous in this matter, that they took it for a fiction, gave no credence thereto, and were at last with difficulty persuaded of it. (5) On these grounds they boldly and concurrently aver the fact: “ they spake the Word of God with boldness” : and “ with great power gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” Which things being weighed, it appears impossible that the attesters of this fact, supposing them in their wits and senses, could be ignorant therein, or mistaken about it. 2. The character of the witnesses. (1) They were persons who did (with denunciation of God’ s heavy judgments on the contrary practice) preach and press earnestly all kinds of goodness, sincerity, modesty, and equity, as main points of that religion which by this testimony they confirmed. (2) Their practice was answerable to their doctrine, being exemplary in all sorts of virtue and sincerity, whereby they did in effect conciliate much respect and authority to their words: the life they led was not the life of wicked impostors, but worthy of the divinest men; fit to carry on the best design. (3) They were:persons of good sense; very wise and prudent; not in the way of worldly or fleshly wisdom, to compass projects of gain or pleasure to themselves; but endued with a wisdom far more excellent, and suitable to the characters they sustained. (4) As to their purposes in this case: profit, honour, pleasure, or any worldly advantage they could not have in view; for they willingly abandoned all those things, for the sake of this very testimony incurring loss, disgrace, and pain. (5) And all such afflictions, as they knowingly exposed themselves to them, they did endure with contentedness and joy. (6) Whence it is evident enough that the satisfaction of their conscience, and expectation of future reward from God for the discharge of their duty, was all the argument that induced them to undertake this attestation, all the reason that could support them in it; neither of which could be consistent with the resolved maintenance of a falsehood. (7) And how is it conceivable that such persons should be bewitched with so passionate an affection toward a man, who died as a malefactor, that merely for his sake, or rather a vain opinion about him, they should with such obstinacy defy all the world, with its persecutions, and the punishment of hell itself. (8) Again, we may consider these witnesses to have been persons very unlikely to devise such a plot, very unfit to undertake it, very unable to manage and carry it through. III. Their testimony.1. How could such a cheat, if contrived, have so easily prospered,. and obtained so wonderful a progress? 2. The matter of their testimony, and its drift, were very implausible, such as no impostors would be likely to forge, and no hearers, without great evidence of truth, be ready to admit. 3. One would indeed think that this report, had it been false, might easily have been disproved and quashed; they who were mightily concerned, and as eagerly disposed to confute it, wanting no means of doing it. 4. As also this testimony had no human power to sustain it, so it used no sleight to convey itself into the persuasions of men” it craved no blind faith: it dared all adversaries and powers to withstand it, relying on the patronage of heaven alone. 5. Furthermore, the thing itself, had it been counterfeit, was adapted to fall of itself; the witnesses clashing together, or relenting for their crime. The advice of Gamaliel on this point had much reason in it. 6. He then who doubts the sincerity of this testimony, or rejects it as incredible, must instead of it admit stronger incredibilities. 7. To these things we may add that God Himself did signally countenance and ratify this testimony, by extraordinary powers and graces conferred on the avowers thereof, as well as by a wonderful success bestowed on them. (F. Barrow, D. D.)Christ risen, yet not ascended There is a strong disposition to reverence that which has been connected with the great and good. If the wood of the true Cross had been preserved, few could look upon it but with the deepest interest. It is remarkable, however, that we have few relics of Christ’ s days; while the museums of all civilised lands are filled with well-authenticated fragments from Greece, Rome, Babylon, Egypt. God has wisely ordered this to check the tendency to superstition and idolatry. But can no good use be made of this law of our nature? Our Church has judged that there can, and she teaches us not to seek for relics, but to remember events in Christ’ s life, and then leads our thoughts to the instruction they convey. I. How, or in what form, did our Lord “ show Himself after His passion” ? There was evidently some change in His body and some difference in His manner of appearing. He ate, indeed, with His disciples, yet not as one who needed food, but only to convince them of His corporeal existence. He does not seem to have lived with them familiarly as He bad before done, but came to them occasionally; and the forms of expression intimate something miraculous. “ He showed Himself” as one was invisibly present, but, at will revealing Himself, like the sun shining from a cloud. Then, “ He vanished out of their sight.” At other times He would come when “ the doors were bolted.” The disciples regarded Him far otherwise than in His former state. Their accustomed free intercourse was changed for the deepest reverence. All questions concerning the nature of Christ’ s body must remain unanswered till we know for ourselves what a spiritual and glorified body is. II. Where? Chiefly in Galilee. There had been the favoured scene of His earthly ministry, and there His followers were most numerous. With what intense interest must those lowly followers have flocked together when the summons was to meet their risen Lord! He offers to meet us in His sacraments, house, word, prayer, yet how carelessly we regard the summons I He has carried the same loving, compassionate spirit with Him to heaven, and we may share with His disciples in His Divine consolations, if we seek them aright. III. For what purpose. To speak “ of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,” i.e., His Church. They had been hitherto very dull, and Christ in these meetings gave them fuller instructions. It is probable that we have the substance of our Lord’ s conversations in the Acts and Epistles, for in these they would naturally embody and carry out their Master’ s directions. It is also very likely that many of the customs of the primitive Church were nothing more than our Lord’ s instructions reduced to practice. Hence we see the importance of appealing, for our own guidance, to primitive usage. If, for instance, we find immediately after the apostles’ times, that infants were baptised, and nothing to oppose this in the New Testament, we might be strengthened in our conclusions, that this was a practice settled by our Lord Himself. How many points there are in civil law which are decided by such an appeal to established usage, and are not found in any written code! Many points, however, upon which our Lord dwelt in these interviews, are recorded. He promised to send them the Comforter, etc. IV. Its certainty. “ By many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days.” Our faith and hopes rest then on infallible proofs. And the certainty of the gospel increases the guilt and danger of those who neglect it. Are you living as if you believed it true? (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)Many infallible proofs. Sense evidence given of Christ’ s resurrection As the faith of the Church depends on the Resurrection God has given ample evidence of the fact. But He gave none other than that which appeals to the senses--the only way of proving any fact. Even our Maker could not give us better evidence without changing radically our nature. Observe how this bears on the Romish dogma of transubstantiation. The pillar on which that rests is the assumption that the senses deceive and cannot be trusted. But this assumption would leave the Resurrection incapable of proofs. Either the evidence of the senses is a valid proof of a fact or it is not. If it is transubstantiation is false; if it is not the Resurrection is unproved. The very same evidence which proves that Christ has risen proves also that the bread and wine are not changed into Christ’ s body and blood. Thus the Roman apostasy cannot sustain its fundamental superstition without destroying the proof that the Redeemer has risen. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Being seen of them forty days.-- The forty days I. For the Lord. The period of--1. The Sabbath rest after the completion of His work of redemption.2. The last care of the Shepherd for His disciples.3. The joyful expectation of His approaching exaltation. II. For the Disciples. The period of--1. The last blessed intercourse with their Divine Master.2. Quiet communion with their own heart .3. Earnest preparation for their apostolic mission. III. For us. An emblem of--1. The blessed life of faith with Christ in God, concealed from the world (Corinthians 3:3).2. The blessed work of love in the hearts of our friends in looking forward to our approaching separation.3. The expectation of hope of our heavenly perfection. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)The forty days Mark, I. How careful our Saviour was to have the fact of His resurrection certified to His disciples beyond the possibility of doubt. Strictly speaking, one meeting was enough. But proofs were multiplied, as His visits were repeated. They grew familiar with His look and aspect; heard Him talk, etc.; and after all this, they could never suppose that a vision had been imposed upon them. The positiveness with which they always spoke on this subject was an important element in their preaching, and it was their Lord’ s purpose to build them up in a confidence which should never be shaken. Through the “ forty days” a work of education was going on the fruits of which were seen in the next forty years. II. This period was not one of uninterrupted intercourse, but of brief meetings, followed sore-times by days, or possibly weeks, of separation. Very graciously the Lord condescended to His friends, very blessed were these seasons when they came, but there was not the companionship of former days. Now Christ stood forth in His proper character as the Divine Mediator, to whom all power was committed in heaven and earth. The apostles had to learn this truth, and act upon it. Their approaches to the Mercy-seat, while bold, were to be marked with that solemn reverence without which all worship is a mockery. III. Time was given to teach the apostles much of their Lord’ s will, and to send them forth well equipped for their future work.1. Particular directions given from time to time. They were to tarry at Jerusalem, where, judging from past experience, they would sow their seed as upon a rock, and peril their lives for nought. From that centre light was to radiate over the wide surface of this fallen world., 2. Special gifts were promised to them for their work and “ power from on high.” 3. Mistakes and prejudices were corrected. 4. The great truth was enforced, explained, anti illustrated, that their Lord’ s death was the world’ s life. Learn--1. A lesson of patience. Think what was before Him, and how contentedly He waited for it. No hasting to His crown till all was ready. We may well suppose that there was eagerness on the part of the heavenly hosts. Their harps were ready strung, and the song was on their lips, “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates,” etc. But their King has work to do in this lower world; and the march of triumph must be deferred. Let us then not only put up with our crosses, but wait patiently for the good things to come. What we sow in faith we shall reap one day; and God’ s harvest-time is the best. We long to see the Church advancing faster in her march of triumph, to see Christ’ s name more honoured among ourselves. Let us not wish less fervently, but let us wait more humbly. Centuries rolled away before the Son of God was manifested, and many more may come and go before He shall come back again in glory. Ten thousand unconscious agents in different lands are doing His work, and fulfilling His pleasure. 2. To think of Christ as the apostles thought of Him. They knew Him well before as the human Friend, but now as the Divine Redeemer. In both characters may we think of Him as ascended to His throne, and realise His presence with ourselves! You must not so degrade the Saviour as to think of Him only as the world’ s great Prophet, or as the perfect Pattern; nor in your attempts to exalt Him, lose sight of the truth that He carried His human nature with Him to heaven. “ Such an High Priest became us,” etc. (J. Hampden Gurney, M. A.)The best proof of Christ’ s resurrection The best proof of Christ’ s resurrection is a living Church, which itself is walking in a new life, and drawing life from Him who hath overcome death. (Christlieb.)The identification of the risen Christ Luke, the writer of our twofold gospel of the resurrection, was a physician, who would have been inclined and able to sift the evidences of our Lord’ s bodily presence and identity among His followers. The longest and best accounts of Christ’ s return to earth, except those of John, are by a medical expert. Special past events were referred to by the Lord, which were familiar to the disciples, such as the baptism of John. Stanley carried a boy back up the Congo who had been taken from there when quite small. Coming into the vicinity of the dwelling place of his tribe, a canoe rowed out to meet the steamer. In the boat the lad recognised his elder brother, but the latter was sceptical, and cried, “ Give me some sign that I may know you.” The boy who had been away answered at once, “ Do you remember the crocodile? His scar is there on your right arm.” So Christ to His disciples gave many proofs. His lines of thought and speech during His forty days’ residence among them were in the familiar phrase of the past, such as the “ things concerning the kingdom of God.” There might have been good evidences of Jesus’ s resurrection if He had appeared in China or under the Southern Cross or in the clearings of the Danubian forests. Had He gone there after He came from the grave, by the by the tidings would have reached the outer world of some strange and illustrious personage who manifested Himself at one place and another, just as a comet is reported in the sky. Yet we should always be grateful that the Lord showed Himself alive to those apostles “ whom He had chosen.” There was the possibility of verification which we so often ask for. (W. R. Campbell.)The forty days A host of reasons suggest themselves as to why He should at once enter into His glory. I. Earth at best could have been but a very dreary home for Him who had come from the paradise of God. For Him, the high King of Glory, we could find no fit entertainment. What society was there for Him, the all-wise? Thou hast given Thy life, O Lord, O glorious Son of God. Thou canst give no more. And where upon this guilty earth is any rest for Thee now since that dreadful Cross has cast its shadow over all the land! II. Then Christ Himself longed for rest. He who dwelt in the bosom of the Father was an exile here. III. Then, again, there waited for Christ His great triumph, that to which He has looked forward during all His life-work, finding in it strength and consolation. “ For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross, despising the shame.” IV. Delay would be worse than unfitting. If His reign means the world’ s salvation, gifts for men, the proclaiming of the gospel with the power of the Holy Ghost, dare He linger still upon earth? No, it is not human, this delay, Not our thought nor our way is this. It is all Divine--just like our blessed Lord. This lingering for the forty days is the crowning proof of His tender regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is loath to leave them. He must tarry with them till He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth and to cook the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine. V. Then again, these days were the necessary preparation for the ascension. A very tender and beautiful upleading of the disciples. Then with this exalted vision of their glorious Lord filling all their soul they went back to Jerusalem. Now they were able worthily to celebrate the Ascension. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Now all the familiar songs of triumphs come in to tell of the coronation of the King. Now they heard the rapturous anthem of the angels, “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.” So we must know Him. And thus does He seek to lead us in our weakness and dimness of faith into the knowledge of Himself. So day by day does He lead us on our way, ordering our steps that life may make more room for Him, and that He may give us Himself as our salvation and our strength. (M. G. Pearse.)Forty days with Jesus Men now-a-days yearn for a repetition of Pentecost without the trouble of preparing for it. The text teaches that that must be preceded by prolonged communion with Jesus. I. This communion gave the disciples the full persuasion that Christ was the Son of God. They held such a thought before, but the crucifixion had shaken it. The resurrection however restored it and the forty days intercourse confirmed it. No Pentecost without the mastering conviction that Jesus is the Son of God with power. II. Along with these great thoughts of Christ’ s Godhead the intercourse brought the most delightful consciousness that Jesus was still their brother. He called them by that name, and demonstrated his Brotherhood by many infallible proofs. The realisation of this relationship by love-begetting certitude of Christ’ s presence is necessary to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit simply gives us power to bear witness to facts of which we are sure. III. The character of this intercourse.1. It was discriminating. Christ dealt with each man as each required Peter, Thomas, John, etc. 2. It was self-discovering. Unsuspected faults were revealed and hearts were moved to self-renunciation. 3. It was educational. 4. It was encouraging. Knowing what we do of the disciples Pentecost would have been an impossibility before the forty days. So now we all need to be dealt with one by one, to know ourselves, to be humbled, taught, and inspired. IV. The Subject Dwelt Upon. “ The kingdom of God” --its spirituality, glory, universality, final triumph. This was the matter which they had by the Spirit’ s inspiration to preach. Hence they must know about it from the King. Hence Christ must fire our minds with the same thought before the Spirit can fire our hearts to proclaim it. (J. P. Gledstone.)After the resurrection I. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but He had forgotten nothing--neither the places, the dear familiar shores, the roads, the mountain paths, the lake, and the hills, the hallowed spots of His life-work. Now, as to the persons, Martha and Mary, and Peter, and the other disciples, were not only still remembered, but still loved. It will be so with us when we also come back from the mysterious regions of the grave. The present life will he something more than a dream. It will be a living reality. II. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but His love remained the same. It will be the same with us. When we have crossed to the other side, we shall still bear with us the fond remembrances of past love. The affections will not be destroyed. III. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but His physical nature remained. And His human nature was visible, tangible, capable of taking food. Our physical powers will, in a certain manner, remain with us after death. There will be conversation and action in the same way as at present. Wherein, then, will be the change? Our human bodies will not be destroyed, but they will be changed. We may gather some particulars from the resurrection of our Lord.1. It will be the same body fully developed. It is evident to all that our human bodies are cramped and dwarfed by circumstances. They are but elementary, imperfect organisations. If they were perfect they would not change. If they were perfect they could not deteriorate. If perfect they could not die. That they are undeveloped is observable from the capacities which they possess. How strong and mighty the body may become! What we call maturity of character is in reality only its commencement. With regard to the body, take its power of progression, limited to, say, four miles an hour--a rate which would require millions of years to reach the nearest star. The same body will have all its powers fully developed to their utmost capacity. 2. It will be the same body rendered immaterial. (Homilist.)The significance of the forty days The period is a significant space of time in Scripture, and is frequently allotted as a term of probation before some great event which concerned God’ s kingdom. For forty days and forty nights rain was sent upon the earth as the prelude to the Deluge. Before the giving of the law Moses was in the Mount forty days and forty nights; and when after the destruction of the first tables, the law was renewed again, Moses was with the Lord forty days and nights. The same space of time was spent by the spies who were sent forth to survey Canaan the type of the spiritual inheritance of the people of God. For forty days and nights Elijah journeyed before he came by Divine direction to Horeb the Mount of God. The time of probation and repentance given to Nineveh was a like space of time. When we come to the New Testament we note the same phenomenon. Forty days after His birth our Lord was presented in the Temple. Before He entered on the work of His ministry after His baptism He was forty days tempted in the wilderness. So now He abode on earth forty days before His ascension. What significancy there may be in the number we are not informed: the recurrence, however, of this space of time, usually in connection with events of extraordinary importance, would lead us to believe that there is a mystery in the number. Nor is this diminished when in parallelism with the forty days’ wandering (Numbers 14:33-34) Jerusalem had its forty years of trial and space for repentance after the Crucifixion;and not until that period had been accomplished was it destroyed by the Romans. For forty days during which He showed Himself alive they were obdurate, and forty years afterwards each day for a year came the destruction of the nation. (J. Lightfoot, D. D.)The Epiphanies of the forty days 1. To Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:1-20.; John 20:1-31.)2. To the women who had first visited the sepulchre, by whom the disciples were summoned to meet Christ in Galilee (Matthew 28:1-10). 3. To Peter (Luke 24:33-35; 1 Corinthians 15:5). 4. To Cleophas and another on the way to Emmaus (Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13-32). 5. To the eleven in the absence of Thomas, at Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25). 6. “ Eight days afterwards” to the disciples, Thomas being present (Mark 16:14; John 20:26-29; 1 Corinthians 15:6). 7. To certain of the disciples when fishing on the lake of Galilee (John 21:1-24). 8. To James (1 Corinthians 15:7). 9. To the apostles, and probably the whole body of disciples on a certain mountain in Galilee (1 Corinthians 15:6). 10. On the morning of the ascension (Luke 24:43-51, and text). Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. I. Of the Church militant--the kingdom of God on earth.1. Its governance.2. The means of its extension. II. Of the Church triumphant--the kingdom of God in heaven.1. Its glories.2. Themeans of obtaining them. (W. Denton, M. A.)The kingdom of God 1.Its Founder (verse 1).2. Its laws (verse 2).3. Its privilege, the personal presence of the Holy Spirit (verses 4, 5).4. Its extent, the whole world (verse 8).5. Its King, a risen and ascended Saviour (verse 9).6. Its hope, a returning Christ. The conversations of the great forty days Let us reflect for a little on the characteristics of Christ’ s risen appearances to His disciples. I note then in the first place that they were intermittent, and not continuous--here and there, to Mary Magdalene at one time; to the disciples journeying to Emmaus, to the assembled twelve, to five hundred brethren at one, at other times. In one place in the Gospel narrative we read that our Lord replied thus to a section of His adversaries: “ In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven.” Now we often read of angelic appearances in Holy Scripture, in the Old and New Testament alike. We read too of appearances of Old Testament saints, as of Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration. And they are all like these of our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection. They are sudden, independent of time or space or material barriers, and yet are visible and tangible though glorified. Such in Genesis was Abraham’ s vision of angels at the tent door, when they did eat and drink with him. I. Now let us here notice the naturalness of this query concerning the restoration of the kingdom. The apostles evidently shared the national aspirations of the Jews at that time. We can scarcely realise or understand the force and naturalness of this question, “ Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” as put by these Galilean peasants till one takes up Archbishop Laurence’ s translation of the book of Enoch, and sees how this eager expectation dominated every other feeling in the Jewish mind of that period, and was burned into the very secrets of their existence by the tyranny of Roman rule. They were thinking simply of such a kingdom as the book of Enoch foretold. This very point seems to us one of the special and most striking evidences for the inspiration and supernatural direction of the writers of the New Testament. Their natural, purely human, and national conception of the kingdom of God was one thing their final, their divinely taught and inspired conception of that kingdom is quite another thing. Some persons maintain that Christianity in its doctrines, organisation, and discipline was but the outcome of natural forces working in the world at that epoch. But take this doctrine alone, “ My kingdom is not of this world,” announced by Christ before Pilate, and impressed upon the apostles by revelation after revelation, and experience after experience, which they only very gradually assimilated and understood. Where did it come from? How was it the outcome of natural forces? The whole tendency of Jewish thought was in the opposite direction. Nationalism of the most narrow, particular, and limited kind was the predominant idea, specially among those Galilean provincials who furnished the vast majority of the earliest disciples of Jesus Christ. How could men like them have developed the idea of the Catholic Church, boundless as the earth itself, limited by no hereditary or fleshly bonds, and trammelled by no circumstances of race, climate, or kindred? The magnificence of the idea, the grandeur of the conception, is the truest and most sufficient evidence of the divinity of its origin. If this higher knowledge, this nobler conception, this spiritualised ideal, came not from God, whence did it come? I do not think we can press this point of the catholicity and universality of the Christian idea and the Christian society too far. We cannot possibly make too much of it. There were undoubtedly Christian elements, or elements whence Christian ideas were developed, prevalent in the current Judaism of the day. But it was not among these, or such as these, that the catholic ideas of the gospel took their rise. II. In this passage again there lies hidden the wisest practical teaching for the Church of all ages. We have warnings against the folly which seeks to unravel the future and penetrate the veil of darkness by which our God in mercy shrouds the unknown. We have taught us the benefits which attend the uncertainties of our Lord’ s return and of the end of this present dispensation. “ It is not for you to know times or seasons.”1. The wisdom of the Divine answer will best be seen if we take the matter thus, and suppose our Lord to have responded to the apostolic appeal fixing some definite date for the winding-up of man’ s probation state, and for that manifestation of the sons of God which will take place at His appearing and His kingdom. Our Lord, in fixing upon some such definite date, must have chosen one that was either near at hand or else one that was removed far off into the distant future. In either of these cases He must have defeated the great object of the Divine society which He was founding. That object was simply this, to teach men how to lead the life of God amid the children of men. The Christian religion has indeed sometimes been taunted with being an unpractical religion. But is this the case? Has Christianity proved itself unpractical? If so, what has placed Christendom at the head of civilisation? Compare Christendom and India from the simply practical point of view, and which can show the better record? 2. Our Lord’ s answer to His apostles was couched in words suited to develop this practical aspect of His religion. It refused to minister to mere human curiosity, and left men uncertain as to the time of His return, that they might be fruitful workers in the great field of life. And now behold what ill results would have followed had He acted otherwise! The Master in fact says, It is not well for you to know the times or seasons, because such knowledge would strike at the root of practical Christianity. Uncertainty as to the time of the end is the most healthful state for the followers of Christ. 3. There are in the New Testament, taken as a whole, two contrasted lines of prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ. If in one place the Lord Jesus speaks as if the date of His coming were fixed for His own generation and age, “ Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be fulfilled,” in the very same context He indicates that it is only after a long time that the Lord of the servants will return, to take account of their dealings with the property entrusted to them. Suppose Christ had responded to the spirit of the apostolic query, “ Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” and fixed the precise date of His coming? He would in that case have altogether defeated the great end of His own work and labour. Suppose He had fixed it a thousand years from the time of His ascension. Then indeed the doctrine of Christ’ s second coming would have lost all personal and practical power over the lives of the generation of Christians then living, or who should live during the hundreds of years which were to elapse till the date appointed. The day of their death, the uncertainty of life, these would be the inspiring motives to activity and devotion felt by the early Christians; while, as a matter of fact, St. Paul never appeals to either of them, but ever appeals to the coming of Christ and His appearing to judgment as the motives to Christian zeal and diligence. But a more serious danger in any such prediction lurks behind. What would have been the result of any such precise prophecy upon the minds of the Christians who lived close to the time of its fulfilment? It would have at once defeated the great end of the Christian religion, as we have already defined it. The near approach of the great final catastrophe would have completely paralysed all exertion, and turned the members of Christ’ s Church into idle, useless, unpractical religionists. We all know how the near approach of any great event, how the presence of any great excitement, hinders life’ s daily work. 4. Again and again has history verified and amp]y justified the wisdom of the Master’ s reply, “ It is not for you to know times or seasons.” It was justified in apostolic experience. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is a commentary on our Lord’ s teaching in this passage. The language of St. Paul completely justifies our line of argument. He tells us that the spirits of the Thessalonians had been upset, the natural result of a great expectation had been experienced as we might humanly have predicted. The beginning of the second chapter of his Second Epistle proves this: “ Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present.” See here how he dwells on mental perturbation as the result of high-strung expectation; and that is bad, for mental peace, not mental disturbance, is the portion of Christ’ s people. III. Christ, after He had reproved the spirit of vain curiosity which strikes at the root of all practical effort, then indicates the source of their strength and the sphere of its activity. “ Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)Christ’ s conception of His kingdom His thought and teaching concerning the kingdom was manifestly different from theirs. Their idea was narrow, small, and limited to Israel after the flesh, while His idea was large, and universally included all peoples, nations, and languages. It is always difficult for us to rise out of our own narrow limitations, and take in God’ s great thoughts and purposes. This narrowness of mind on our part is always obtruding itself on God’ s great thoughts; indeed, they are higher than ours as the heavens are higher than the earth. God’ s thoughts and purposes of mercy have in them a wideness like the wideness of the sea, while ours are bounded by local surroundings. As we come into a closer and more intimate fellowship with Jesus, we shall also come into a larger and more godlike view of things, both in heaven and earth. Things pertaining to the kingdom of God Now that Jesus was about to depart, it might reasonably be expected that His parting instructions would be concerning that kingdom which He was to rule as the Invisible Head, and they were to administer as the visible agents. I. The Church Of Christ is a Kingdom. With Christ and His apostles it was never less. Christ did not come as an ecclesiastic to found a new sect, nor as a philosopher to construct a new school of thought, nor as a democratic leader to form a new social club or to draw up a new social programme. He came as a sovereign to establish a new Kingdom of Truth, of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Hence the apostles felt that they had more to do than to secure a place for Christianity side by side with Judaism and Paganism--they claimed universal sovereign supremacy. Hence, again, they had no philosophy to set over against the school of Hillel or the school of Aristotle. True they reasoned, but that was only because the kingdom rested on a rational and not on a military basis, and its subjects were to be won by the force of persuasion and not by the force of arms. And hence lastly the apostles entered into no revolutionary plots, nor asked any man to rise above or turn aside from the secular occupation; but told slave and governor alike to abide in the callings wherein they were called as servants of the Lord Christ. Note1. The grandeur of this conception. Sects, systems, programmes are all limited, and one after another pass away. Christians are citizens of a commonwealth which transcends space and outlives time. Compared with the dignity of the Christian that of the proudest autocrat is mean. Here all subjects are royal. The divine right of kings, a myth elsewhere, is a reality here. Christ “ hath made us kings and priests unto God.” 2. The responsibility. Noblesse oblige Kings by virtue of their office are under an obligation to live royally. Let us then walk worthy of Him who hath called us to His kingdom and glory. II. The things pertaining to this Kingdom.1. The King. Christ Jesus. God and man who occupies the throne because He became obedient to the death of the Cross (Philippians 2:1-30.). 2. The means of entrance into this kingdom--the new birth (John 3:1-36.)3. The conditions of continuance in the kingdom. (1) Loyalty to the King.(2) Love to our fellow subjects.(3) Endeavours to extend the boundaries of the realm. 4. The glorious prospects of the kingdom. “ The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God,” etc. “ He shall reign from sea to sea,” etc. (J. W. Burn.)The unfolding of the Divine kingdom throughout the ages The patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian dispensations, are evidently but the unfolding of one general plan. In the first we see the folded bud; in the second the expanded leaf; in the third the blossom and the fruit. And now, how sublime the idea of a religion thus commencing in the earliest dawn of time; holding on its way through all the revolutions of kingdoms and the vicissitudes of the race; receiving new forms, but always identical in spirit; and, finally, expanding and embracing in one great brotherhood the whole family of man! Who can doubt that such a religion was from God? (Mark Hopkins.) Acts 1:4-8 And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem. Last words Before ascending Christ had-- I. A misconception to remove--respecting the date and character of the Messianic Kingdom. II. A promise to bestow.1. The Father made the promise.2. Christ was to bestow it.3. The Holy Spirit was the subject. They were to receive a baptism, copious, cleansing, consecrating, and be endowed with spiritual power. III. A commission to entrust.1. Its nature--“ witnesses unto Me.”2. Its sphere ever widening till it reached the uttermost part of the earth. (J. R. Thomson, M. A.)The Lord’ s last command to His disciples I. The command was of a trying nature. “ Not to depart from Jerusalem.” This would--1. Recall painful sympathies--the agony and crucifixion; the rejection by the Jews. 2. Suggest personal unfaithfulness in the denial by Peter, the defection by all. 3. Bring the fear of man. The Jerusalemites had slain the Master; what might the servants expect? Why did Christ give such hard orders? Discipline was needed, and Christ’ s own sovereignty must be asserted and accepted. II. A gracious promise accompanied this trying command. If the command set forth the bitter severity of law, the promise had the sweet gentleness of the gospel. Thus God gives His servants mingled portions. Duty and privilege go together. Of the promise, observe--1. It was of ancient date (Isaiah 44:3; Joe 2:28). 2. The Lord’ s recent utterance of it had made its terms familiar, “ Which ye have heard of Me” (Luke 24:49). 3. It was the promise of the greatest possible good. When the Messiah had done, the next best thing was the gift of the Holy Ghost. III. The meaning of this promise could be fully apprehended only by experience. They had heard the terms, and some of them had seen the “ form of a dove” at Christ’ s baptism, but neither would make the promise clear. They must wait for a new blessing. It is so still. Experience reveals what must else be for ever unexplained. Of what, then, were the disciples to have experience?1. Of the utmost possible nearness to God. The Incarnation had brought God near; but the Spirit was to unite the believer to God, and make Him a living temple. 2. Of an abundance of blessing. They were to have that which baptism represents--purity, refreshment, health. 3. Of a deep acquaintance with Divine truth. Christ had promised that the Spirit should bring to their remembrance what He had said. IV. The command and promise were a test of discipleship.1. Patience was exercised by remaining at Jerusalem. There are times and places in which witnessing for Christ is easy. Such a place was not Jerusalem. Disciples prove their fidelity by abiding in the way of duty in spite of hardship. 2. Faith was tried by uncertainty of time “ not many days hence.” 3. But past experience encouraged confidence and perseverance. Some of Christ’ s promises had been already fulfilled, and in some cases beyond all expectation. Conclusion: See here--1. The gentleness of the Lord’ s discipline.2. The condition on which He fulfils His promises. (W. Hudson.)The Saviour’ s last charge There attaches a deep interest to this commandment of our Lord, from whatever point of view it is regarded. Tender associations cluster and cling about it. I. A grave charge. “ He commanded,” etc. Revised version, “ charged.” The gravity of the charge is seen--1. In what it was He asked them to do. 2. In the issues of it. What was it they were to wait for? The great promise. Generally this applied to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. It was a promise. It was the promise of the Father. All that the Church needs is embraced in this promise. If a promise be of the Father, we may be sure it is inviolable, and the thing it indicates invaluable. How differently we are inclined to think of matters from the view God takes of them. Our first thought is, probably, “ Why not strike iron while it is hot,. and follow up just now, while the fame of Jesus is ringing out its praises, with the preaching of the truths for which He laid down His life?” God says “ tarry” till ye be endued with power from on high. “ My thoughts, not your thoughts,” etc. II. An inspired attitude. “ To wait.” This meant three things--1. A looking for something under a profound conviction of its necessity. 2. A pleading for the object in prayer; and this they were doing for ten whole days. Show what prayer-meetings should be, and their place in the success of the Church. 3. The attitude of patient expectation, of prospective sufficiency. They took hold of God in prayer and waited round about Him until He should satisfy their longings and fill them with the glory of His praise. III. A specific commandment. They were to wait at Jerusalem. This appointed place no haphazard, but a design of the infinite mind. Recall a few things of Jerusalem to see this.1. It was the city of solemnities. Here Jews gathered--feasts and fasts held. Here stood the Temple, there it fell--there was to begin the building of a new and better temple that should stand for ever. 2. The city of sublime figure. “ Thou art comely, O my have, as Jerusalem.” “ If I forget thee, let my right hand forget its cunning.” “ Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion,” etc. 3. It was the concentration of all prophecy. “ I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced.” 4. How full it was of historic associations. City of Melchizedek, place of Abraham’ s offering, and the metropolis of David’ s kingdom, etc. 5. It was the place of danger. Here met all the rage and malice, envy and hatred of the time-honoured Scribes and Pharisees. Then why tarry here? To honour the people whose ancestors were worthy soldiers of the faith; to preach mercy and forgiveness where was found the most sin. (W. Halls.)The gospel first tested at Jerusalem At the village near which I reside, there is a foundry for casting cannon. After cannon are east they are tested by the founders. They first put in a single charge. If the cannon can bear that they put in the double charge. If the cannon can bear that without bursting, then they are pronounced fit for the field of battle, or for the deck of a man-of-war. The casters act wisely, for should there be one flaw it is better that it should be detected in the foundry-yard than when in the act of being fired. Now the gospel was a new and untried instrument. It had to be tested, and where better than at Jerusalem? If it could stand the test there it could stand it anywhere. Peter fired the first gun, and three thousand were converted in one day. Moreover a great multitude of the priests were obedient unto Christ. The apostles could not but have faith in the power of the gospel when they saw the men who mocked and crucified Christ, and gloried in what they did, exclaiming, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Williams of Wern.)But wait for the promise of the Father.-- The promise of the Father 1. The great promise of the Father was, that He would send His Spirit into the hearts of men. 2. The promise is worth waiting for. Tarry ye, etc. 3. The fulfilment of the promise always brings power with it, and will make witnesses for Christ of all those who receive it. 4. When the promise is to be claimed, let no ambitious desires turn one away from receiving its baptism. 5. The Father, in His own good time, will fulfil His declarations concerning the universal sway of His kingdom. (S. S. Times.)The promise of the Spirit The doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of religion. The Father elects, the Son redeems, the Spirit sanctifies. The Son came in execution of the covenant of redemption, and having fulfilled its conditions, was entitled to its promises. One of these was the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:33), which Christ again and again repromised. I. The Holy Ghost is secured for the Church only by the mediation of Christ. II. Christ is the immediate giver of the Holy Ghost. He sends Him to whom He pleases, and bestows through Him what blessings He pleases. Therefore men must seek the Spirit specially from Christ as our Mediator. III. Election by the Father, and redemption by the Son avail only in virtue of the Spirit’ s work. Until the Spirit is received, the elect do not differ from the non-elect, the redeemed from the unredeemed. Hence our obligations to the several persons of the Trinity are the same. And as the Son acted voluntarily in redeeming those whom the Father chose, the Spirit is voluntary in applying the redemption purchased by the Son. IV. The work of the Spirit is--1. To renew or quicken those dead in sins.2. To illuminate. To reveal the glory of Christ, the holiness of God, the justice and extent of the law, the evil of sin, the certainty of judgment, the truth and authority of the Word of God.3. To work repentance and faith, i.e., turning from sin to God.4. To guide in the knowledge of truth and duty.5. To qualify for special duties and offices.6. To sanctify.7. To comfort.8. To glorify soul and body. V. The dependence of the individual and the Church on the Spirit is absolute. Nothing can be experienced or done but by Him. Analogous to the dependence of the creatures on the Creator for--1. Existence.2. Faculties.3. Activity.4. Results or successes. But not in any one of these is our agency superseded; in all the need of effort is the same. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Our need of the Holy Spirit What the light is to the mariner’ s compass, or the wind to the sail of the ship, or the oil to the lamp, or the sap to the tree, rising up softly and diffusing its life to the farthest leaf of the remotest branch, that the Spirit is to the Christian in every-day life. I should as soon attempt to raise flowers if there were no atmosphere, or produce fruits if there were neither light nor heat, as to attempt to regenerate men without the Holy Ghost. (H. W. Beecher.)The power of the Holy Spirit 1. A promised power, “ the promise of the Father.”2. A coming power, “ not many days hence.”3. A power in testimony, “ Ye shall be witnesses.”4. An abiding power, to remain until “ the uttermost part of the earth” shall have heard the gospel. The ascension of Christ It will be interesting to note the reasons why Jesus did not ascend into heaven immediately after His resurrection from the dead, but remained forty days longer on earth.1. He wished His disciples to know beyond all peradventure that He was not dead, but living, and alive for evermore. To this end “ He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs.” Whatever His disciples may have thought of Him previously, they must henceforth know Him as the Conqueror of death and hell. As to His Divine character and work, they could no longer cherish a shadow of doubt. 2. He desired to teach His disciples sonic things which hitherto they had been unable to receive. In particular He wanted them to understand about His kingdom, to which they had previously attached all sorts of carnal notions. So it is written, “ He spoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” 3. During these forty days He planned the campaign which is to result in the conquest of all nations to the glory of His name. We cannot place too strong an emphasis on the parting injunctions here delivered to the disciples--and to us--by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” I. “ He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait.” This was not an easy thing for them to do. Flushed with the memory of the glorious things which the Master had been revealing to them, they were doubtless in a mood to go everywhere proclaiming His kingdom. But return to Jerusalem, said He, “ and wait.” There were good reasons for this requirement.1. It was proper that Jerusalem should be geographically the point of departure for the new order of things. “ Salvation is of the Jews.” “ Go ye everywhere, beginning at Jerusalem.” Here is the metropolis of redemption (Micah 4:2). It begins in Jerusalem, the capital of Jewry, and proceeds to Rome, the capital of the world. 2. The disciples needed a season of mutual conference and prayer. To hasten to their work fitfully and each for himself would be to court despondency and failure. 3. They were to “ wait” for a special preparation. They were not yet ready for their work. It pays to be well prepared for anything, most of all for the work of the kingdom of Christ. II. Our Lord in this last interview with His disciples gave them, with renewed emphasis, the glorious promise of the Holy Ghost. This was “ the promise of the Father” (John 14:16; also 15:26). The man who imagines that he can set about the affairs of the kingdom of righteousness in strength of his own will make a lamentable failure of it. Let him tarry at Jerusalem until he has received the promise of the Father. When the fire descends upon him, and he is endued with power from on high, nothing will seem impossible to him. III. In this last conference of Jesus with His disciples He disclosed to them the plan of future operations. Had the attention of a passer-by been directed to the six-score or thereabouts who were gathered on Olivet on this occasion with the remark that these few working people--this feeble folk like the conies--were being organised for universal conquest, he would have pronounced it the wildest scheme that was ever beard of. Jesus not only gave the disciples to understand that He Himself was, through the influence of His ever-present Spirit, to take charge of the propaganda, but He issued clear and specific directions as to how it should be carried on.1. For reasons already noted, they were to make Jerusalem their starting-point. 2. They were to wait for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This was to mark their initiation into the dispensation of the Spirit, or new order of things. 3. They were to proceed in their work with a clear understanding of the fact that their only power was from God. 4. The followers of Christ were to be “ witnesses unto Him.” Words in due season, spoken from the pulpit or anywhere else, are like apples of gold shining through the meshes of a silver basket; but a Christlike life is like a lighthouse on a rocky coast: multitudes are saved by it. All lives, indeed, are testimonies; every man on earth is lending his influence in behalf of truth or falsehood, for Christ or against Him. Character will out. Our creed is the thing we live by. 5. This witnessing must be universal. “ Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” Observe, the disciples are not made responsible for the conversion of the world, but only for its evangelisation. They are to see that the story of redemption is told everywhere; and God Himself will do the rest. IV. Then cometh the end. “ He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” The consummation of the Divine plan for the deliverance of our sinful race is to be signalised by the second coming of Christ.1. When? “ It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father has put in His own power.” This ought to be enough. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. The appointed time is a state secret, and we cannot guess within a thousand years of it. 2. How? “ In like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” In like manner His re-coming is to be a real personal advent. 3. What then? It behoves us to watch. Not to watch as do certain wiseacres, who lean indolently out of their windows with eyes towards the east, but as the Lord’ s faithful workmen, who have much to do and know that the husbandman may return at any moment. “ Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Waiting for the promise of the Father I. What the disciples were commanded to wait for--“ the promise of the Father,” i.e., the fulfilment of the promise.1. Not that the Spirit of God had been absent at any time from the Church. There could be no Church without Him. We find David praying, “ Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me,” etc. Now that Christ had finished the work of redemption, the Holy Ghost was to be given on a scale so new that we are told “ the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” 2. “ Which ye have heard of Me” sends us back to the promises in Joh_14:-16. 3. But why did Christ call this emphatically, “ the promise,” as if there had never been another? Because-- (1) Of the large place which the promise occupied in the Old Testament, the Father’ s word (Proverbs 1:23; Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:27; Ezekiel 37:9; Joe 2:28; Zechariah 12:10). (2) Of the all-comprehensive character, of the promise--as inclusive in fact, of all the Father’ s promises. “ If ye then, being evil … how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit” --comprehensive of all good gifts together--all that the Church needs for the work of the ministry, ordinary and extraordinary, all that the individual soul requires--life from the dead. Union to Christ by faith, justification, holiness, prayer, grace, glory. (3) Of the Father’ s peculiar delight in this promise, that it is a promise specially dear to the Father’ s heart, so lending a new emphasis of encouragement to the words of Jesus, “ If ye, being evil,” etc. II. The import of the waiting for the promise.1. Looking for it under a profound conviction of its absolute necessity, and its full sufficiency. Once and again Christ had taught this when, after they had toiled all night and taken nothing, immediately on the putting forth of His power, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes; and when He said to them, “ Greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father,” “ He will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” They were to wait at Jerusalem somewhat in the Spirit of God’ s prophet, when the Lord set him down in the midst of the valley of dry bones. 2. Pleading for it with the Lord in prayer. The best comment on this is the actual waiting (verses 12-14). And in the same attitude we find them, at the opening of the second chapter. It evidently never entered their minds that, having the promise, they might abide its fulfilment in listless indolence. They had drunk into the spirit of those words, “ I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.” None of those disciples said, “ Oh, it’ s only a prayer-meeting!” Assuredly, if there were addresses at these meetings, yet the business was prayer. I doubt not that the drift of any exhortations would simply be, to call up examples of “ the promise of the Father,” and to impress the more deeply on every heart its glorious certainty--its urgent necessity--its all-comprehensive preciousness and sufficiency. The scope of them all would be, “ Ye that are the Lord’ s remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” What definiteness of aim would characterise these prayers! How would they exemplify the words of Jesus, “ If two of you shall agree on earth,” etc. 3. Intense longing desire and patient believing expectation. The term “ wait” signifies to wait round about a thing, as in anxious expectation. “ They continued” --“ stedfastly persisted with one accord in prayer and supplication.” Agreed together as touching that which they should ask, how would they “ fill their mouths with arguments,” drawn from their own utter insufficiency, from the world’ s ungodliness and misery, from Jehovah’ s power, and grace, and faithfulness to His own pre-eminent promise in Christ! “ Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens,” would be their spirit, if not their language, “ that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence!” They had only the naked promise; but it was enough. If, in respect of longing desire, they were as when Elijah said to his servant, “ Go up now, look toward the sea” --in respect of patient believing expectation, they were as when the servant went up and looked, and said, “ There is nothing,” and Elijah said, “ Go again seven times.” III. The commandment to wait. This was quite as express as the promise--the means no less necessary than the end. To whom was it given? It is very clear that the apostles did not regard it as belonging exclusively to them. We find associated with them the private members of the Church. Did it then belong exclusively to the disciples of that age? This question turns on a very simple issue. If the transactions of the Pentecostal period exhausted the riches of “ the promise of the Father” ; or if the Church and the World now no longer stand in need of them, then, doubtless, the commandment must have ceased. But if only the first-fruits of the promise were reaped in the apostolic age, if darkness yet to a mournful extent covers the earth, if the dispensation of the covenant of grace under which we live is termed expressly “ the ministration of the Spirit,” if that word abides the inheritance of the Church, “ I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh,” with numberless words like these, “ The earth shall be full of the knowledge and glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” --then it can admit of no doubt that the commandment belongs to us at this hour. Then we, no less than the apostles, are not warranted only, but commanded “ to wait for the promise of the Father.” Then it is ours to meditate on all that that expression implies; to plead for it with longing desire and patient believing expectation in secret, in the family, in the social meeting, in the public assembly. (C. J. Brown, D. D.)Waiting upon God in His ordinances It is usual for ships to ride a long time in a roadstead, when they might be in the haven; and wherefore do they so? but that they may be in the wind’ s way, to take the first opportunity that shall be offered for their intended voyage. Even thus should all good Christians do, anchor, as it were, in the house of God, even then when they seem to be becalmed, that they cannot stir and move themselves about holy duties as they were wont to do; yet, even then, ride it out, hearken what God will say to their souls, wait upon Him in the use of means; not in an Anabaptistical phrensy, refusing to attend upon duty till the Spirit move them; but look up unto God for life, and seek it from Him in their attendance upon His holy ordinances. The disciples waiting at Jerusalem for the promise of the Father Conversion to the individual and revival to the Church, is God’ s great end in the dispensation of grace. The means are the manifestation of Jesus Christ, through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Hence the personal reception of the truth and the personal presence of the Spirit are alike essential. Hence in every case the first and most promising symptom is increasing thirst for the Word, with increasing dependence on the Spirit. Where the Word of God is set aside or undervalued, whatever else is substituted in its place, there will be no depth or reality in spiritual exercises. There may be abundance of bustling activity about the things of God, but, apart from the Holy Ghost, there will be no real conversion or revival. You may have Herod, hearing gladly and doing many things, but retaining his besetting sin--Simon Magus, asking in his terrors an apostle’ s prayers, but persisting in the way to heresy and perdition--Felix, trembling, but stifling conviction. These disciples were waiting in-- I. Devout expectancy. They had been commanded to wait; and expectation is essential to a patient waiting upon God. It is far easier to do much than to wait long. The disciples’ hearts must have burned to go out upon the world with unhesitating confidence in their miraculous powers, and in the strength of their marvellous message. But they had learned, amid recent events, a lesson of self-distrust. So, day after day, they waited on in silence, though charged with a message fitted to convert the world. “ He that believeth shall not make haste.” He will judge nothing, do nothing before the time. Till in the Spirit Himself, He will not attempt to force the Spirit’ s work. Such a state of expectancy is essential to a patient continuance in well-doing. Without expectation there will be no truth, no prevailing power in prayer. Thus it is that, because men have ceased to expect the outpouring of the Spirit, the heavens have become as brass. Because they see no cloud above their head, they will not climb the mountain-top to watch the little cloud that faintly fringes the horizon. They expect nothing, wait for nothing, and that is all they get. For the law of God is, according to thy faith, so shall it be unto thee. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He will give thee all the desires of thine heart. Plead the Father’ s promise, and be assured of the Father’ s performance. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off. II. Earnest desire. It is in the heart of the believer, in the bosom of the Church, that the promise of the Father first takes effect, and the first symptom of it generally is the panting of the soul after God--the longing of God’ s weary heritage for a season of refreshing and revival. And such a season awakening new desires, communicates a new impulse to the entire body of Christ. In her deadness it comes and tells of reviving life, in her weakness of returning power, in her hopelessness of opening prospects of success. Thus we cannot but long for the outpouring of the Spirit in Pentecostal fulness. In His absence we can work no deliverance, communicate no life, have no comfort, enlargement, nor refreshing fellowship with God. III. Earnest and united prayer (verse 14). Prayer is the spontaneous offspring of expectation and desire. It is hope’ s utterance before God. It is faith recognising God as the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and asking whatever it wants. Give faith a promise, and immediately it will transform it into a prayer. Hence, wherever faith exists the special promise of the Father becomes the object of special prayer. As promised, it is expected; as good, it is desired; as freely given, it is frankly asked. Secret prayer is the life of the individual; social prayer, of the community; congregational prayer, of the Church. The soul that lives in the neglect of secret prayer is dead. Family prayer is no substitute--cannot, indeed, exist without close personal intercourse with God. And as for social meetings for prayer to be of any avail, they must be inspired by a life derived in secret communion from Jesus. What meetings ye might have, though but two or three of you together, were each to bring the life, the fervour, the heaven-breathing spirituality of soul, just come down from meeting alone with God upon the mount. These are the united prayers that have power with God. For so soon as the people of God in any neighbourhood are baptised with the spirit of prayer, they will come to know each other by a secret sympathy. The Father rejoices over such meetings, for it opens up to Him a channel for pouring down the streams of life, for meeting their largest desires with a still larger outpouring of His Spirit; and Jesus, how He rejoices! for He knows what blessings they will get; and the Spirit Himself rejoices, for He is ever on the wing to hasten down and join such companies. IV. Seclusion from unnecessary intercourse with the world. There are, indeed, duties which we owe in the various relations of society from which it is not the will of God to call us away. With all this, however, there must be habitual separation unto God. The Holy Dove will not come to us in the crowd. It is when the doors are closed and the world is shut out that Jesus comes with power upon His lips, and love in every tone of His voice, and breathes on us and says, “ Receive the Holy Ghost.” V. The fellowship with one another (verse 12-14, 2:1).1. The Lord loves to see His family dwelling together in unity. Parents, can you not understand our Father’ s feeling in this? If, then, ye being evil, etc. God is doubtless to be found wherever there is a humble and believing heart, but nowhere surely in such manifested love as in the bosom of His loving family, met together to wait for the promise of their Father (Son 1:7-8; Ezekiel 34:11-12). 2. It is our strength and safety to walk together through the wilderness, to keep together on the battlefield. (W. Cousin.)The Spirit essential to the establishment of the Christian Church In the Old Testament the doctrine of the Spirit had been revealed in its great outlines. In the Gospels the subject is more fully treated in connection with the person and history of Christ. In the Acts there is a great advance, for full and distinct testimony is borne to Him in sixteen out of its twenty-eight chapters. His path in the Scriptures, like that of the sun, “ shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” In the text He is called “ the promise of the Father.” To Him the attention and hope of the Church had been long directed as the largest gift of a Father’ s love. The Old Testament writers had taught believers to look forward to Him as the consummation of their hope, and for Him the disciples were now bidden to wait. This command was-- I. Seasonable.1. The circumstances of the disciples were peculiarly trying. They had scarcely recovered from the shock of their Lord’ s death. His presence was now very occasional, and was about to terminate. In their discouragement they needed to have their hopes assured. 2. Besides on what a stupendous enterprise they were about to be engaged. Moses trembled to undertake His mission. Jonah fled when commanded to go to Nineveh. Jeremiah excused himself by saying, “ I am a child.” What, then, must the apostles have felt? (1) They were to be the founders of a new dispensation, against which the prejudices of their countrymen and the enmity of mankind would be aroused. (2) One feature of this dispensation, creating the utmost difficulty with Jew and heathen, was its spirituality. Gorgeous economies were to be supplanted by that which had no attraction for the carnal eye. (3) Their one business, which as exclusive Jews must have been very repugnant, was to bring the whole world under the power of this dispensation. How seasonable then the command. We read in Revelation, that before a mighty work was to be done in the earth, “ there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” In like manner our Lord claimed the attention of His disciples. Their minds were brought into the most desirable attitude. They were made to feel that they and their cause were in God’ s hands, and were drawn to constant prayer. They obeyed His word, “ Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart.” II. Necessary. Without this promise they were entirely disqualified.1. They were few. 2. They were destitute of those outward qualifications of station and influence, which are generally thought to promise success. 3. They laboured under its greatest mental and moral disqualifications. They were-- (1) Slow to learn the truth.(2) Timid in the extreme.(3) Worldly in their ambition.(4) Contentious in their intercourse. All this considered, no wonder they had been hitherto unsuccessful. They little understood their ministry, had not much heart in it, and wanted unity. How fitting, then, that they should have to “ wait for the promise” ! III. Effectual. The command had a mighty influence. They did wait, and engaged in exercises becoming such a period. Already there were indications of what would be done for them by the Spirit. But the earnest was small compared with the realisation of the promise.1. The slow of understanding were made quick of apprehension.2. The cowardly were made bold.3. The earthly were made heavenly minded.4. Their only rivalry now was who should bear to do most for the common cause.5. The effects were such as might be excepted. Their “ word was with power.” “ Mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.” IV. Instructive. The great lessons are as applicable to us as to them.1. Without the Spirit we are disqualified for the work of God.2. We should engage in every special work only in His strength. It is not enough that we have the Spirit. We need to be enriched afresh by His grace.3. Hence He must be diligently sought. Conclusion:1. How inexcusable we are if we do not obtain “ the promise of the Father.” “ Ask and ye shall receive.” 2. How great the influence which this doctrine should exercise over us. How pure, heavenly, and energetic we ought to be. (J. Morgan, D. D.)The need of waiting No wise man or woman will enter hastily upon any great work. In proportion to the greatness of the work is the amount of thought, care, and training necessary for its successful accomplishment. History will teach us that those enterprises have usually been most successfully accomplished for which the workers have been most carefully trained. We know that the higher the class of work the more skill is required in the worker, great delicacy is required in the treatment of the raw material; time and care and skill must be used in its manipulation, otherwise no high degree of perfection can be looked for in the fabric to be produced. We often find that nothing is easier than to spoil or damage that which we are trying to improve or refine. And the more we study the matter the more shall we be convinced that what the world terms ability or power--in other words, the possession of skill--is not so often an innate gift, as a faculty gained by much study and practice. These truths are, if we may use the expression, true in the highest degree with regard to Church workers and all kinds of Church work. The material upon which they work, and with which they work, is the most delicate and the most easily spoiled in the whole world; for that material is the heart, will, mind, conscience, character of man. The fabric they are endeavouring--by the aid of God’ s Holy Spirit--to produce is human nature refined, purified, ennobled, brought by long and careful training into Christlikeness, continually made more and more to approach and resemble the perfect Example, Type, and Pattern of the Divine humanity. But ere the active, aggressive missionary work to which the apostle had been called, commences, there is to be a solemn period of pause, during which they may at once meditate upon the experiences of the past and fit themselves to receive the promised gift. Through haste we often fail together, and preserve the results of experiences through which we have passed; through haste we also often fail from want of preparation to use aright an opportunity when it presents itself to us. The loss is then double, for it is the loss both of harvest and of seed-time. We forget to reap; we are not able to sow. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.)John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. True baptism Last words of our Lord. Dispensation of John: baptised with water, not in. I. John’ s use of water. Baptism.1. A sign of universal pollution, from the womb. Repentance.2. Acknowledgment of guilt, and need of pardon.3. Acknowledgment of corruption, and need of holiness.4. Profession of thirst after refreshing comfort.5. Profession of helplessness. None baptised themselves.6. Profession of cleansing the outside. II. Insufficiency of John’ s baptism.1. Material water cannot cleanse the soul.2. It is not saving, witness Simon Magus. “ You shall be baptised,” etc.3. The water flows off, dries up; the effect superficial.4. The testimony of John himself: “ I indeed.”5. The declaration of Christ in the text. III. General necessity of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.1. All tainted with original sin, must be born again.2. All guilty, must be pardoned (chap. 2. and 10.).3. All unholy, must be sanctified. Catechism (Romans 8:1-39.).4. The corruption is spiritual and deep. Fire refines.5. All are miserable, and need the Comforter and kingdom.6. All helpless and Christless till then. “ If any man,” etc.7. All are unfit for heaven and bliss, without love, melting--uniting.8. Particular necessity for ministers: To preach the Word with power. To bear up under troubles and persecutions. To be directed into all truth, and to testify of Jesus, though not to work miracles and speak with tongues. IV. The season. “ Not many days hence.” When prepared with prayer anal faith, united, in one accord and tried. The day is not fixed, that we may expect daily and yet not faint. Application--1. Unconverted. Rest in no baptism, but that of the Holy Ghost and fire. Water baptism will condemn you alone. 2. John’ s disciples. Promised, the thing promised, the time. Oh, continue praying with one accord! 3. Believers. You want fresh baptism, till the Holy Ghost, which is grace, fill your soul. (Preacher’ s Analyst.)The baptism of the Holy Ghost The same shower blesses various lands in different degrees, according to their respective susceptibilities. It makes the grass to spring up in the mead, the grain to vegetate in the field, the shrub to grow on the plain, and the flowers to blossom in the garden; and these are garnished with every hue of loveliness--the lily and the violet, the rose and the daisy: all these work by the same Spirit who renews the face of the earth. The influences of the Holy Spirit, descending on the moral soil, produce “ blessing in variety” --convictions in the guilty, illumination in the ignorant, holiness in the defiled, strength in the feeble, and comfort in the distressed. As the Spirit of holiness, He imparts a pure taste; as the Spirit of glory, He throws a radiance over the character; as the Spirit of life, He revives religion; as the Spirit of truth, He gives transparency to the conduct; as the Spirit of prayer, He melts the soul into devotion; and, as the Spirit of grace, He imbues with benevolence, and covers the face of the earth with the works of faith and labours of love. (T. W. Jenkyn, D. D.)No better for the baptism of fire In some parts of the world there are certain boiling springs, called geysers. Their peculiarity is, that at irregular intervals they send up spurts of boiling water, and then are silent for a considerable time. Travellers will tell you that at the time when they are silent you would find it very difficult to believe that water would ever issue out of such an orifice at all. There was a revival some years ago, was there not? The gracious rain came down upon God’ s inheritance. How earnest you were--how active! But the revival passed away, and your warmth and fervour and energy passed away with it, and those who look on you find it very difficult to believe that you have ever been zealous in God’ s service at all. (W. M. Punshon.)A witnessing Church--a Church baptised with the Holy Ghost 1. The last interview with dear friend, and his last words, are wont to be embalmed in ,fragrant remembrance. 2. A comparison is made between the baptism with the Holy Ghost, and John’ s baptism. Such as truly turned from sin to God were prepared as a dwelling for the Spirit. Repentance from dead works went before--the new unction from above came after. 3. Notice also the time--“ not many days hence.” God is sovereign in fixing a fulness of time, and we may not ask why that time was appointed. But on our part it is necessary to know our want of the Spirit, and to feel it, that we may welcome Him with the more delight to testify of Jesus. Often, alas! have we returned with nothing but the toil for our pains, because we did not wait to pray down the Spirit. In opening up the doctrine, consider-- I. The baptism.1. Its nature. That more is meant than renewal is plain from this, that the disciples were already in Christ. This baptism is the great promise of New Testament times. Before Pentecost, God’ s children were not wholly exempt from the spirit of bondage; but in the days of the apostles the saints in general seem to have enjoyed the promise of the Spirit through faith. The Holy Ghost is the first fruits of glory. Are we baptised with the Holy Ghost? Then-- (1) Not only condemnation ceases, but refreshing from the presence of the Lord is realised. (2) Then, forgiven much, we love much, and give ourselves to Him who gave Himself for us. (3) It is the nature of fire to send forth light; and when the Spirit comes, truth is shed abroad upon our hearts. (4). Fire warms, and the Spirit kindles our cold souls into a flame of love to God and man. (5) The approach of this genial spring to the barren winter of our hearts, opens the blossoms of new life of humility, and godliness. (6) It is the nature of fire to spread abroad. And when the Spirit comes the words of Jesus spread like a conflagration from mouth to mouth. 2. Its marks. (1) The unction of heavenly knowledge, whereby we know all things--for no sooner did the Spirit come upon them than they who, a few days before, Christ reproved as slow of understanding, came, in the twinkling of an eye, to a clear, vivid understanding of the things of God. (2) Self-denied humility: for however envy and a proud thirst for honour held possession of their minds before, they now discover a single eye to the Redeemer’ s glory. If we are filled with selfcomplacency, as if we stood in need of nothing--if we cannot bear to be wholly laid in the dust, we have not seen the Spirit, neither known Him. (3) Boldness. For however timid before, the disciples no sooner receive the Spirit than they come forth like different men, to speak the Word without fear. If we can sit in easy fellowship with sinners, not seeking to save souls, not daring to encounter the adversary face to face, we show that we are not baptised as with fire! (4) Decision. For however the disciples might be diverted from prayer and the work of Christ before, no sooner did the Spirit come than they gave themselves wholly to these things. How can we, then, have received the heavenly baptism, if we are without the habit of religion, if our efforts are but fitful, if we neglect present duty, and yet cherish the romantic hope of future service in a post which God has not required us to fill? 3. How shall we obtain this baptism, and on what occasions is it given? Such as already enjoy the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins may obtain supplies of the Spirit a thoUsand-fold greater than any they have ever known. Are we faithful in a little? God’ s rule is, To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundantly. This heavenly unction is conferred-- (1) When we keep the Lord’ s word, and show a humble, penitent compliance with His will. Behold this in the disciples who were enjoined to tarry in Jerusalem till the Spirit came--who were neither to return home to Galilee, nor to distract their minds with worldly cares. (2) When some heavy trial, some arduous duty, is ]aid on us for the sake of Christ. Witness John in the spirit amid the wilds of Patmos, or Paul glowing with the love of Christ, and singing praises in the inner prison. (3) When we are unceasing in the prayer of faith. Ten days had the disciples continued, when, of a sudden, the Spirit came. The prayer which brings down the Holy Ghost is not that which ceases if not heard at once, that is content to stop with praying out some little enjoyment of God’ s presence. Every day would be a -Pentecost if we prayed like a Cornelius--if we heard the Word like the three thousand, and prized it like the eunuch. II. A Church is only so far a witnessing Church as it is thus baptised with the Holy Ghost. “ After that the Holy Christ is come upon you … ye shall be witnesses unto Me.”1. The Redeemer does not send skilful orators, but witnesses, such as have seen with spiritual eyes and heard with spiritual ears. A witness must know what He testifies; he believes and therefore speaks. Many have nothing they can testify. Can he be a witness of the Cross of Christ who does not daily look to it for pardon? Can he be a witness of the Lord’ s abiding with His people who knows not in his heart a daily intercourse with Jesus--who has not the witness of the Spirit that he is a child of God? 2. Christ makes it plain that a new unction must visit His followers before the blessing spreads to the impenitent. A Church cannot long continue to display a living testimony, unless this baptism is repeatedly renewed; and to hold forth, like many declining Churches of the Reformation, a form of sound words, when the Spirit is sinned away, is but like a removed sign-post carried down a swollen river. For it is not protests, or creeds, or formularies, but living souls under the baptism of the Spirit, that makes a witnessing Church. (G. Smeaton, D. D.) Acts 1:6-8 Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?Before the Ascension I. The question of the apostles.1. The great awe produced by the first appearances of the risen Christ has worn off during the forty days. He and His are engaged in familiar converse as in days of old. 2. The apostles are not backward to ask a question; and it reveals their old notions of Messianic dominion still indulged. They still think of the restoration of “ the kingdom to Israel.” 3. But their expectations are now high and eager. (1) They feel the power of God’ s kingdom in their hearts. (2) They have been told of the “ promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4), of a “ baptism of the Holy Ghost.” (3) They expect now, “ at this time,” a glorious manifestation of “ the kingdom.” (a) How prone we are to mistake God’ s times and God’ s ways, which are not as ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). (b) How anxious we are to hurry on God’ s dispensations; not considering the Divine slowness (1 Peter 3:9), which waits for our salvation, though we are so impatient for manifestations of great results in the work of His kingdom. Apply this to missionary efforts. (c) How careful we ought to be, not, as it were, to suggest or dictate to Him the how or the when, since “ He doeth all things well.” II. The answer of our Lord was--1. A concealment (Acts 1:7). It is not for the apostles to pry into the “ secret things” of God. These are “ put in His own power,” and even Jesus, as Son of Man, may not possess them (Mark 13:32). Learn-- (1) Ascension-tide and the Second Advent are closely connected in many points. The moment Jesus had gone, the minds of the apostles were to be fixed on His return (Acts 1:11). He was then to them what He has been to Christians in all ages, ὁἔρχομενος. (2) We stand at the threshold of the Second Advent, as they did at that of the Ascension. Our curiosity in religious things often centres on it. And of it Jesus answers just as He did to the apostles (Matthew 24:36). (3) The fact is certain, the time is concealed from us. 2. A revelation (Acts 1:8), in which Jesus gives-- (1) A reminder of His departure, because the Holy Ghost was not to come until He had gone. (2) A promise of spiritual strength. A certain “ power” was to be given them. (3) A prediction of the spread of the gospel, by a set progress in a definite order, beginning at Jerusalem, ending only at the compass of the globe. Learn:1. There are certain things put in man’ s “ power,” just as there are some kept in God’ s. 2. These are, chiefly, to know the mind and will of God by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, which He has promised, and which He gives. 3. In receiving the Holy Ghost, we “ receive power,” not only to know, but to do God’ s will (see Deuteronomy 29:29). Spiritual knowledge and strength are that we may work, not speculate. 4. We are to be “ witnesses” of the ascended Jesus-- (1) By our own heavenly lives (Colossians 3:1-2); (2) by our realisation of His mediatorial work (Hebrews 7:23); (3) by our co-operation in all efforts for the making ready of His way to return and take to Him His great power and reign. (T. H. Barnett.)The disciples’ question I. Authorised as a question of--1. Strong faith which expects the kingdom.2. Tender love which wishes the salvation of the world.3. Holy grief which feels for the miseries of the times. II. Unauthorised as a question of--1. Carnal impatience which wishes to see the Kingdom of God coming with external show.2. Spiritual curiosity which will pry into what the Father has reserved for Himself.3. Pious indolence which, with folded hands, looks at the clouds instead of working for the Kingdom of God in the calling entrusted to it. (J. P. Lunge, D. D.)Christ’ s last words to His disciples Frequent were the interviews which Christ had with them previous to His death; ten times He was with them after His resurrection; but here is the final interview. The best things on earth must come to a close. The Divine drama is now over. These are words of-- I. Correction. The old prejudice came up--the making of Jerusalem imperial mistress of the world. This had been the brilliant dream of their race for ages.1. The question indicated the working of several wrong elements. (1) Materialism. It was asked in spite of the spirituality of their Master’ s teaching. The empire of truth and love which Christ came to establish, compared with which all earthly kingdoms were passing shadows, had not yet penetrated them with its transcendent glory. (2) Prejudice. Such temporal dominion they had been taught in their childhood to anticipate. The idea was reached not by conviction but tradition; and without examination it had been allowed to grow with their growth. Christ’ s teaching which bore directly against it had failed to shatter it. (3) Ambition. Probably they expected to be leading ministers. (4) Curiosity. They were prying into that which lay out of their province, and should have directed their inquisitiveness not to kingdoms, but to duties. 2. Christ corrects this morally mistaken state of mind. He does not say that there shall be no restoration; He leaves that with the enlightening Spirit about to descend. His words served-- (1) To check the spirit of idle curiosity concerning the future. Let the future alone; that is to reveal itself in history, and is not to be ascertained by human inquiry. Your duty is with the present, out of which the future grows. Would that modern prophet-mongers would listen to this. (2) As a ground for unbounded trust, “ The Father hath put in His own authority. All futurities are in a Father’ s hands, and are hidden out of love. Were the veil to be withdrawn, our social arrangements would be shattered, our free agency destroyed, our powers of action paralysed. II. Encouragement. “ But ye shall receive power.”1. Miraculous. 2. Moral--the power that made them brave, faithful, magnanimous, self-sacrificing, successful--the greater of the two. This encouragement was opportune coming as it did after His caustic rebuke. The power promised transcends the political power of kingdoms. It is a power to change the heart of kings, to regulate the springs of empire, to mould the governments of the world. The old theocratic kingdom of Israel was but a faint type of Christ’ s. III. Direction. “ Ye shall be witnesses.”1. The nature of their ministry--“ witnesses.” Hence their preaching at first was little more than a honest and fervent declaration of facts (Acts 2:22-36; Acts 3:12-26; Acts 4:8-12; Acts 5:29-42). These men left all the theorising for weaker but more pretentious men of later ages. 2. Its universality and its philanthropy embraces the world. 3. Its method. “ Beginning,” etc. This they followed (chaps. 2., 8.; Romans 10:18; Colossians 1:6-23). In this method we see-- (1) Unexampled mercy. Offering the gospel to His greatest enemies.(2) Consummate policy. IV. Benediction (see Luke 24:50). (D. Thomas, D. D.)Christ’ s last instruction to His apostles I. The question of the disciples disclosed--1. Their ignorance. 2. Their belief that there was a kingdom of God. They could not forget the Theocracy, nor lose the conviction that it would be restored. Why, then, not now, and by the King? 3. Their benevolence and patriotism. 4. Their inquisitiveness and impatience. II. The answer of the Master suggests--1. That He can bear the inevitable ignorance of the good. 2. That His followers should cheek vain curiosity. 3. That there are times and seasons, eras and epochs, in the development of the affairs of the kingdom of God. The meaning of this is plain now, to a degree impossible then. Pentecost, the death of Stephen, the conversion of Saul, were “ times.” The apostolic age, with its wonderful diffusion of the gospel, was a “ season.” This age with its revivals, scientific spirit, and scepticism is also a “ season.” Other times and seasons have yet to follow. How wonderful the wisdom which could plan them, and the authority which can put and hold them under full control. 4. That the pre-vision of these times and seasons is withheld from man. The wonders of Pentecost had to be waited for and felt and seen before their nature could be known. So with other epochs. (W. Hudson.)It is not for you to know the times or the seasons.-- Times and seasons I. The faith of the first disciples, in a brighter future for the world. That faith was founded on the predictions of the Old Testament and of our Lord. Patriotism and philanthropy inspired them to hope for great things for their countrymen; but piety lifted them into the faith that a new kingdom would be set up and Jesus be all in all. The Christian Church has never lost faith in the dawn of a better day for the world, and has laboured and prayed for it. We show ourselves unworthy of the apostles--in whose steps we profess to tread--if we do not “ attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God.” Christ has promised a golden age, and though earth and heaven pass away, His words shall not pass away; “ The kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our God,” etc. II. The error of the first disciples, in allowing their faith in a brighter future to lead them into presumptuous curiosity. The disciples sought to be endowed with the faculty of pre-vision, but such an endowment was denied them. The old prophets were inspired to make known coming events, but the day and hour were hidden; and the apostles, no more than the prophets, could know when the events predicted concerning Israel and the world would occur. The error of the apostles has been repeated down to the present day. But age after age “ would-be prophets” have had to revise their dates, and shift their scenes, and own, with shame that they had ventured out of their depth. The “ second coming of Christ” and the “ end of the world,” they are events about which even the angels in heaven do not know; the Father has them in His own hands, and they are safe there, and sure to be brought about in His own good time and way. III. The duty of the first disciples in relation to their faith in a brighter future for the world as shown by the reply of their Master to the questioning of their presumptuous curiosity. Their duty was to be “ witnesses,” to speak of what they had seen and heard, and not of what was hidden from them. It must have been a great joy to them to know that the future was in the hands of the Father, who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind. And it ought to calm and cheer us that the times and seasons are not in the hands of a demon or an angel; and not in the clumsy and capricious hands of men, but in the hands of Him who can make the wrath of man to praise Him, and cause all things to work together for good. (F. W. Brown.)Times and seasons not to be known by the best of men I. What is implied in the text. That there are times and seasons which God hath appropriated to Himself, both to order and to dispose them.1. The times and seasons of the world in general. As God first made it, so He governs it. He set a time for the beginning and for the ending of it. And He orders all its affairs (Acts 17:24; Acts 17:26; Acts 17:31). 2. The times and seasons of States in particular. These are also appointed by God. He gives them being and continuance (Job 12:23; Deuteronomy 32:8; Daniel 2:20-21; Daniel 4:17; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 4:32). And when He has once written vanity upon them they come to nothing. 3. The times and seasons of individuals (Psalms 31:15; Psalms 39:4; Job 14:5). All men’ s times are put in God’ s own power, in regard of their space and quality, whether prosperous or afflicted. All this is to show us what great cause we have to wait upon God upon all occasions. He who is the Lord of our times should have the command of our services. II. What is expressed. That it is not for you to know these times and seasons.1. It is not your business. For the right understanding of this we must be mindful of the context. It is not said, it is not for you to know any times or seasons but those “ which the Father hath put in His own power.” Consider-- (1) How far it is proper for us to know the times and seasons. (a) Take it in a natural sense. It is proper for us to know the times and seasons of day and night, seedtime and harvest, winter and summer, and the like. These, it is true, God hath put in His own power, but they are not such as He hath kept to Himself, and accordingly we may take notice of them, for the improving of the opportunities of them. (b) Take it in a civil sense--the times for buying and selling, war and peace (Ecclesiastes 3:8). (c) Take it in a spiritual sense--the seasons of grace, the opportunities of salvation, the times of improvement (Luke 19:43; Jeremiah 8:7; so Ecclesiastes 9:12; 1 Chronicles 12:39.). To speak distinctly on this point, it concerns all men to know the sins and the miscarriages of the times (2 Peter 3:17). The judgments and calamities of the times (Proverbs 28:5; Isaiah 26:11). The duties and engagement of the times (Romans 12:11). (2) The sense in which it is impertinent. The change of affairs in States, the end and consummation of the world, etc.: such times and seasons as these it is not for you to know (Deuteronomy 30:20). 2. It is not profitable for you. It might please, as a matter of speculation, and so there are divers that busy themselves about it, but it cannot profit to edification. Nay, it is rather prejudicial and inconvenient: partly as it perplexes, and partly as it takes men off from their duty. 3. It is not within your reach. The Father hath put them in His own power, and so out of ours (Mark 13:32). It is not for you, that is, for you-- (1) As men, by the strength and power of reason (Ecclesiastes 7:27). (2) As Christians, by supernatural illumination. There are many things which are not known by the light of nature, which yet are known by the light of the Spirit; but this is not known by either (1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27). Refers to things necessary to salvation, whereof this is none. (3) As apostles, by Divine inspiration, or extraordinary revelation. As Christians have knowledge of more things than ordinary men, so apostles had knowledge of more things than ordinary Christians; and yet for all that they had not the knowledge of this. Consider this point-- (a) As it meets with men’ s vain curiosity and affectation. There are many who trouble both their own and other men’ s heads with such questions. But this answer of our Saviour puts them off from such scrutinies; for if it be not for you to know, then it is not for you to inquire. There are many things which are necessary--the deceitfulness of our hearts, the depths of Satan, the will of the Lord. Therefore seek to know these. (b) As with men’ s curiosity in inquiring, so with their presumption in resolving. It is not for you to know it, therefore it is not for you to determine it. There are a great many persons who not only make a search into this mystery, but also positively fix it. Conclusion: It is not for you to know, but--1. It is for you to believe; not to know the time, but to believe the thing; to believe that this day will come, though we know not when it will come (2 Peter 3:3-4). 2. It is for you to expect; not to know when it will be, but to wait for it; to be always upon our watch and in readiness against the coming of our Master (Job 14:14; 2 Peter 3:11-14). 3. It is for you to pray; not to know when it will be, but to pray that it may be; and to desire that it may be as soon as may be (Revelation 22:17; Son 8:14). 4. It is not for you to know the times and seasons which God hath put in His own power, but it is for you to know the times and seasons which God hath put in yours. The times and seasons of affliction and correction, to be troubled for them; and the times and seasons of mercy and deliverance, to be thankful for them. (T. Horton, D. D.)Times misinterpreted If not for them, then for whom? Yet every age has had those who profess to be in the secret. They were in the Thessalonian Church, and Paul had to warn the disciples there to be on their guard against them. When Gallus renewed the persecution carried on by Decius Cyprian thought the judgment close at hand, and Milner remarks on this, “ God hath made the present so much the exclusive object of our duty that He will scarce suffer His wisest and best servants to gain reputation for skill and foresight by any conjectures concerning the times and seasons which He hath reserved,” etc. More than a generation ago an Edinburgh reviewer was not speaking without cause when he said of men who could see in the Apocalypse the current condition of Europe, and who told a British statesman to adopt that book for a political manual, that they were carrying on madness “ upon too sublime a scale for our interference. We were brought up in the humble creed of looking at the prophecies chiefly in connection not with the future, but with the past; where a cautious divinity, looking backward, might shadow out marks of anticipation and promise, and lead our faith by marks of Divine foreknowledge, to an apparent accomplishment of the Divine will. But to use them as this year’ s almanack; to put the millennium backwards and forwards, according as the facts of the last twelvemonth have falsified the predictions of the last edition; to jeopardise the State rather than tolerate a policy which might spoil a favourite criticism on some ambiguous text is to turn the apocalyptic eagle into the cuckoo of the spring.” Horace Smith had his fling at “ Dr. C., who one month writes a book to expound the Apocalypse, and next month Another to refute his own argument.” The thoughtful and erudite author of “ Small Books on Great Subjects” professes an ever-increasing disinclination to the study of prophecy, further than in its great features, remarking that man is not formed for the knowledge of futurity, and that it is seldom that he knows how to make use of it, being too apt to put himself in the place of God, and instead of looking on the affairs of the world as a course of things directed to the final amelioration of the human race, to denounce this or that men, sure or man as impious, this or that event as a judgment on evildoers. Wycliffe and Luther both expected the judgment in their century, Napier at the close of the nineteenth, and Sir David Lindsay at the close of the twentieth. These ventures serve to bring to nought the wisdom of the wise, and to show what false steps may be confidently taken in a darkness that is not felt; for if felt it would crave warier walking. (J. Jacox, B. A.)The benefits to character of ignorance of the future I. Man’ s ignorance of the future. One department of knowledge God has in part spread before us, and is leading us continually further into His deeper counsels. The laws of nature, when we have once gathered them from the examination of the past become our almost certain guides for the future. But even here all things are not naked and open. The phenomena of the atmosphere cannot be predicted with unerring accuracy, and the earth still contains many secrets which may never be reached. There is, however, another department, where knowledge cannot be reduced to simple laws, and where the future is hidden. This is the department in which the agencies of God and man meet, where the plan of the great Ruler and the plans of countless finite beings run across one another. So many agents and interactions create a confusion and complication which none but infinite skill can disentangle, the results of which only God can foresee. In illustration of this, note--1. That we find in our own experience, that the times and seasons of human life God has put in His own power. All of us can testily that an unexpected future has been unrolling itself. We make new acquaintances, and they affect our condition and prospects. Our plans are ever interrupted by events wholly unforeseen. Disease, misfortune, prosperity, and joy are as much hid from us as if the lot determined them. 2. The strange mistakes of the most practised men, as they stand on the threshold of great events. There are vast revolutions which alter the course of the world, and must have had deep foundations in the past; yet the statesmen and philosophers of the time are slumbering without anxiety on the sides of the volcano. Nay, if some one, confident in the sway of general law, assured that the Divine government will have its way, ventures to predict in vague terms a coming disaster, the men of his time laugh at him. But the storm has come, and has left desolations which the predicter himself did not anticipate. Thus how little did the Senatorial party augur, when they required Caesar to resign his command, that they were urging on measures which would destroy the power of the aristocracy, change Rome into an empire, and bring on a revolution in society, law, and government! How little did Caiaphas or Pilate dream of the power that would go forth from that submissive man who lay under their hand! How little did Leo X. and the leading Italians imagine that Martin Luther would make an era, and start a movement that would never stop! Who thought a little before the French revolution, unless some dreamer regarded as wild, that all the thrones of Europe would be shaken, or that a man of Corsica would hold half the continent under his foot? “ It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” 3. The prophets and apostles were kept to a great degree in ignorance of the future, §o that the times and seasons were not brought within their view. Some persons imagine that a prophet acquired a telescopic sight which penetrated all the details of the future. But Paul says, “ We prophesy in part,” i.e., imperfectly. II. The moral uses which this arrangement is intended to serve.1. In the province of individual effort uncertainty as to the future, united with probability of success, taxes the energies of man and develops his character in a desirable way. (1) The man who is certain of future good feels no impulse to secure it by his own exertions. The man who is uncertain has every motive to prevent ill-success, and will avail himself of all helps and guard against those faults which can obstruct his way. Thus are we hardened, made wary and careful; and the virtues of prudence, forethought, diligence, vigilance, courage, etc., are cherished in our souls. (2) But how does this law act in respect to our spiritual and eternal interests? It is plain that entire inability to estimate the course of our future life would cut off motive, and entire certainty might plunge us into despair if the foreseen end were evil, and into carelessness if it were good. But now we have the highest motives to exertion--a probability of success, if our efforts are commensurate to the greatness of the issue, and a certainty of failure if we let earthly things take the control of our lives. (3) As for the interests of the kingdom of God--as long as the law is that nothing is brought to pass but by the co-operation of God and man, that nothing but ultimate success and no immediate, sudden triumph is held out; it is plain that all this is most favourable to strenuous exertion. 2. It is well that we cannot foresee the mass of difficulties which may discourage us, and that all our trials do not press on us at once. Suppose that ignorance were exchanged for certainty; is it not evident that the mass of them would seem too great for human strength to move? Ignorance, the,,, is a great blessing, and without it we should not have courage to undertake anything good and great. We now encounter our toils and anxieties one by one; we conquer them in detail, and sweet hope lives through all the efforts. (1) If a successful inventor could have taken one clear, full look of his long, dreary conflict with difficulties, would he not have fled from such a career? and thus is not the world indebted for much of its progress, for many improvements in science and art, to man’ s ignorance of the future? (2) Before a victorious war, if we had foreseen its length, its costliness in money and life; if the soldiers could have foreseen their hardships, wounds, defeats, is it not more titan probable that the majority would have shrunk from the contest, although certain of ultimate success? Of how many public and private efforts the same thing can be said. (3) So also, when a man has devoted himself to the work of preaching Christ’ s gospel, it is best for him to live in ignorance of the future. The apostles saw trials, etc., before them, but it was a mercy that they did not see the slow rate at which Christian truth has moved, the days of Mohammed, of papal darkness, of a divided, distracted Church. (4) Who of us is not painfully conscious of fruitless struggles against sins, of a slow and fitful progress, of frequent declensions, etc. Now if all this had been foreseen, who could have collected courage enough to endure so much for the attainment of so little? 3. Man’ s ignorance of the future aids the spirit of piety. (1) It helps us to realise that God has a plan for us and for the world. (2) It suggests to us our dependence and awakens our faith. Conclusion:1. According to analogy, prophecy will never shed more than a dim, uncertain light upon the future before its fulfilment. Christ gave no satisfaction here, and when Peter asked what should befall John, he received but an ambiguous answer--“ If I will that he tarry,” etc. And so Paul went to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that should befall him there, etc. And the history of interpretation shows that thus far the Church has made little progress in applying prophecies to particular events. 2. He who gains character out of the uncertainties of life is a great gainer. He has learned in the dark not only those qualities of character which make him a good actor in these earthly scenes and which generally insure success; but he has learned also how to depend on God, to trust in His providence, and to secure His co-operation. He is thus fitted for eternal life, for its employment, for its revelations. (T. D. Woolsey, D. D.)Limitation of human knowledge Dr. Ludlow, my professor in the Theological Seminary, taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. While putting a variety of questions to him that were perplexing, he turned upon me somewhat in sternness, but more in love, and said, “ Mr. Talmage, you will have to let God know some things that you don’ t.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)God’ s plans are in His own keeping You cannot set the world right, or the times, but you can do something for the truth; and all you can do will certainly tell if the work you do is for the Master, who gives you your share, and so the burden of responsibility is lifted off. This assurance makes peace, satisfaction, and repose possible even in the partial work done upon earth. Go to the man who is carving a stone for a building; ask him where is that stone going, to what part of the temple, and how is he going to get it into place, and what does he do? He points you to the builder’ s plans. This is only one stone of many. So, when men shall ask where and how is your little achievement going into God’ s plan, point them to your Master, who keeps the plans, and then go on doing your little service as faithfully as if the whole temple were yours to build. (Phillips Brooks.)God has His own plans At this time, all ever the trees, and throughout the grass, is deposited the condensed moisture o! the air; and silent dewdrops are on every flower and every leaf. If you go and look at them in the darkness of to-night, there is no form or comeliness in them; but by and by God will have wheeled the sun in its circuit so that it shall look over the horizon; and the moment its light strikes these hidden drops, small and scattered, every one shall glow as if it were a diamond, and all nature shall be lighted up with myriad fires, each reflecting something of the Divine glory. God has His own plans. He never told us in full what they are. We know this, however: that we are fragmentary in our lives; that it takes many to make the one idea of God; that the work of past generations is hinged upon this, and that the work of this generation is hinged upon that of generations to come; and that God sits in sublimity of counsel, putting part with part, so that when we see the connected whole, the things that now seem most insignificant will shine out in wonderful beauty and magnificence. (H. W. Beecher.)Human knowledge limited There are things in every life which we cannot understand now--troubles, disappointments, sickness, poverty, death--but the time will come when all will be plain. I suppose no one at the beginning knows the full meaning of his life, or for what some of his experiences are training him. Robert Raikes had no vision of the millions studying in Sunday schools every Sunday; he only saw his present work and duty. John Bunyan, shut up in prison for the best twelve years of his life, while longing to preach the gospel, and thousands were eager to hear him, had no conception that “ Pilgrim’ s Progress” would enable him to preach to millions instead of thousands, and for centuries instead of years. So we, in our feeble beginnings, our narrow circumstances, our trials and disappointments, may know that if we are faithful we shall understand hereafter the meaning of all, and rejoice in the way God has led us. (F. N. Peloubet.)God’ s decisions unknown I remember once sailing over the crystal waters of Lake Superior. We had come out of the muddy waters of Lake Huron during the night, and early in the morning I came on deck, and looking over the prow, started back in instinctive terror, for, looking down into the clear waters of that lake, it seemed to me as though our keel was just going to strike on the sharp-pointed rocks below; but I was looking through fifty or sixty feet of clear water at the great rock bed of the lake over which we were sailing. Now we endeavour in vain to fathom God’ s judgments. As by a great deep they are hidden from us. But by and by, through the mystery we shall see and shall understand. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)Ensnared by inquisitiveness How actively inquisitive are some people: and into what strange predicaments does this their strong propensity land them! They remind us of the crested anolis (Xiphosurus velifer), a species of the lizard tribe. It is a timid yet restlessly inquisitive animal; for although it hides itself with instinctive caution on hearing the approach of a footstep, it is of so curious a nature that it must needs poke its head out of its hiding-place, and so betray itself in spite of its timidity. So absorbed, indeed, is the anolis in gratifying its curiosity, that it will allow itself to be captured in a noose, and often falls a victim to the rude and inartificial snares made by children. (Scientific Illustrations.)The sufficiency of human knowledge Here on earth we are as soldiers fighting in a foreign land, which understand not the plan of the campaign, and have no need to understand it, seeing well what is at our hand to be done. Let us do it like soldiers, with submission, with courage, with a heroic joy: “ Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Behind us, behind each one of us, lie six thousand years of human effort, human conquest: before us is the boundless Time, with its as yet uncreated and unconquered continents and Eldorados, which even we have to conquer, to create; and from the bosom of Eternity shine for us celestial guiding stars. (T. Carlyle.)Mysteries in nature Do not understand me at all as saying that there is no mystery about the planets’ motions. There is just the one single mystery--gravitation; and it is a very profound one. How it is that an atom of matter can attract another atom, no matter how great the distance, no matter what intervening substance there may be--how it will act upon it, or, at least, behave as if it acted upon it, I do not know, I cannot tell. Whether they are pushed together by means of an intervening ether, or what is the action, I cannot understand. It stands with me along with the fact that when I will that my arm shall rise, it rises. It is inscrutable. All the explanations that have been given of it seem to me merely to darken counsel with words and no understanding. They do not remove the difficulty at all. If I were to say what I really believe, it would be that the motions of the spheres of the material universe stand in some such relation to Him in Whom all things exist--the ever-present and omnipotent God--as the motions of my body do to my will; I do not know how, and never expect to know. (Prof. C. A. Young.)Prophecy: purpose of I am profoundly affected by the grandeur of prophecy. God unveils the frescoed wall of the future, not so much that we may count the figures, and measure the robes, and analyse the pigments; but that, gazing upon it, our imaginations may be enkindled, and hope be inspired, to bear us through the dismal barrenness of the present. Prophecy was not addressed to the reason, nor to the statistical faculty, but to the imagination; and I should as soon think of measuring love by the scales of commerce, or of admiring flowers by the rule of feet and inches, or of applying arithmetic to taste and enthusiasm, as calculations and figures to these grand evanishing signals which God waves in the future only to tell the world which way it is to march. (H. W. Beecher.)Prophecy: fantastic interpretation of All along the Oker Thal, in the Hartz, there are huge rocks towering up among the fir-clad hills, to which the peasants have appended names according as they fancy them to bear resemblance to chairs, horses, cobblers, or cocked hats. The likeness in most cases is such as only fancy can make out when she is in her most vigorous mood; nevertheless this rock must needs be called a man, and that a church, and there has no doubt been many a quarrel between rival observers who have discovered each a different image in the one pile of rock; yet the stones are not churches, chairs, or cobblers, and the whole business is childish and nonsensical. Interpreters of prophecy during the last few centuries have been most of them in the same position; one of them sees in the sublimities of the Revelation the form of Louis Napoleon, where two or three hundred years ago half Christendom saw the Pope, and the other half Martin Luther. The other day one of the seers saw Sebastopol in the prophecies, and now another detects the Suez Canal, and we feel pretty sure that the Council at Rome will soon be spied out in Daniel or Ezekiel. The fact is, when fancy is their guide men wander in a maze. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Speculations versus duty While a minister was riding in a railway carriage he was saluted by a member of an exceedingly litigious and speculative sect. “ Pray, sir,” said the sectary, “ what is your opinion of the seven trumpets?” “ I am not sure,” said the preacher, “ that I understand your question; but I hope you will comprehend mine. What think you of the fact that your seven children are growing up without God and without hope? You have a Bible-reading in your house for your neighbours, but no family prayer for your children.” The nail was fastened in a sure place; enough candour of mind remained in the professor to enable him to profit by the timely rebuke. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you. The gift of power At first sight this promise seems to be Christ’ s response to a universal craving. There is nothing which so awakens man’ s ambition as power. It is sweeter to him than bread to the hungry, or home to the wanderer, or sunrise to the benighted; of all the Divine attributes this is the one he most intensely and incessantly covets. The old classic fable of Prometheus, who made a figure and shaped it after the beauty of a man, and then animated it with fire which he had dared to steal from heaven, is only the thinly-veiled record of man’ s fierce ambition to create. Powerless to create, he seeks control. He has summoned almost every known element and force in nature to his service, and compelled them to do for him what he cannot do for himself. He has blasted the rock unshaken by the ages, and hurled its ponderous masses into the air as easily as a child throws up its tennis ball. He has tunnelled the mountain and bridged the river to make way for his flying locomotive. He has engirdled the earth with a belt of wire, and through it swifter than thought flashed his messages from pole to pole. From the masterful schoolboy to the statesman on the topmost ladder, and the monarch of a hundred isles, this passion for power is all pervading. The very apostles, to whom these words were addressed, were in this, as in other respects, “ men of like passions with ourselves.” Observe, this love of power may be as legitimate as it is natural. Its quality is determined by its motive. Still power may be beneficent as well as baneful. Now, mark the power with which Christ promises to endow His disciples.1. Not physical power. Not like that possessed by Samson when he carried upon his back the gates of Gaza, or with the jaw-bone of an ass slew the Philistines heaps upon heaps. It had nothing at all to do with bone, and muscle, and sinew. Men have sometimes forgotten this. They once thought that they could resist the spread of the gospel by physical means. The very efforts which men have employed to suppress the truth have been made the means of exalting it to supremacy. Just as the blast which rocks the giant oak makes it strike its roots deeper and wider in the earth; or, just as the tempest which beats down the tree carries its winged seeds over land and sea to distant continents, there to take root and become trees themselves, so persecution has this twofold tendency--it makes the persecuted cling closer than ever to the truth for which they are assailed, and prompts them to spread it more widely abroad than ever. On the other hand, brute force can no more help the gospel than hinder it. Persecution never made saints ver. If you want to infuse new life into a tree you do not smite it with an axe, but expose it to the genial breath of spring. The weapons of their warfare were not to be carnal. 2. Nor was it the power of logic. The disciples were to convert souls, and mere argument cannot do this. You have all seen sheet lightnings; they flash, they dazzle, but they do not kill. And arguments, after all, are only sheet lightnings, dazzling, enlightening, but seldom or never killing in the sense in which Paul says he was killed. 3. Nor was it the power of eloquence, though that is not to be despised. Oh, yes! there is a tremendous power in words. They breathe, they burn, they fly about the world charged with electric fire and force; but there is one thing they cannot do--they cannot regenerate a soul. You may electrify a corpse. By bringing it into contact with a battery you may make it imitate the living; but it is after all only the semblance, not the reality of life. 4. It was spiritual power--the power of the Holy Ghost. “ We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us.” In other words, it was the power of a living union with a living God. Need I say that this promise of Christ is as much ours as it was the apostles’ ? It has been fulfilled, but not exhausted. There is an essential difference between the two. “ A postage stamp once used can be used no longer; but it is not so with a bank note. The note may be old and torn, stained and soiled; it may have been cut in halves and pasted together again. It does not matter; whoever holds it can present it and demand its equivalent in sterling gold. So is it with a Divine promise. It may pass from lip to lip, and from age to age, and be fulfilled a thousand times; still you may present it and plead it before God in the assurance of success.” The light of the sun may fail, the waters of the ocean may be dried up, but the riches of Christ’ s fulness are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. And we need this promised power as much as the apostles did. Nothing else can supply its place. It is to the Church what steam is to the machinery. Suppose you are examining the propelling powers of the Majestic or the Teutonic--the two most magnificent specimens of naval architecture the world has ever seen. You look down into the engine-room on the polished levers, and cranks, and shafts, and the innumerable wheels made to revolve there; and you go home amazed at the inventive power which they represent. And yet in reality you have seen no power. There must be put into that machinery a power, a hidden power, and then, and not till then, will those wheels revolve majestically, and the vessel speed over the water lightly and swiftly as a bird with outspread wings. Who amongst us dare assert that the Church’ s successes are equal to her opportunities? Why, then, is it we are making so little impression on the world? Is it not because we are too much under its influence? The fabled giant Animus was invincible so long as he was in direct communication with his mother earth. Overthrown by the wrestler, the moment he touched the ground out of which he was born his strength revived. Hercules discovered the secret of his invigoration, and, lifting him from the earth, crushed him in the air. We are in the same danger from the world, and to escape it we must get nearer to the source of our spiritual strength. Away from Christ she is like an army without ammunition and cut off from its base of operations. Near to Him she will breathe the air, and walk in the light, and wield the might of heaven. She shall receive power--power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. And does not the Church need more power to deal with the manifold evils and enemies by which she is surrounded? There is scepticism. We live in an age of doubt--doubt all the more dangerous because it is courteous rather than coarse. Well, then, another evil with which, as Churches, we have to contend is indifference to spiritual truth. Men are absorbed in material pursuits and enjoyments. It is sometimes argued that the Church is trying to do too much; that she is unequal to the work she is undertaking; that Christian service is already so overgrown that, like a man with a large frame and a feeble heart, we are staggering under the weight of the tasks we have undertaken; that the spiritual power of the Church is unequal to the vast and varied machinery it has to keep in motion. This is, doubtless, true when the resources which the Church possess in itself are alone considered; but add Christ to them, and then the disproportion is turned the other way. “ All power” --power of every kind and without limit--is given unto Him, There cannot be too much work when there is so much Divine power to sustain it. When the tide is out the estuary seems far too wide for the tiny stream which crawls through the centre; but when the tide comes in the whole expanse is covered and the water rushes right up to the greensward. Brethren, do we desire this power? Then let us ask for it. Remember that it has its source outside the Church and human life altogether. “ Ye shall receive power” --receive it as a gift; not generate it from within; not attain it by straining present powers or enlarging present capacity. Sometimes we forget this, and talk about getting up a revival. You might as well talk about getting up a thunder shower. Having this power, let us use it. The disciples received it that they might be “ witnesses unto Christ.” Divinely bestowed power always brings responsibility; it is always given for use. Keep any of God’ s gifts for your own selfish purposes, and they will speedily get the canker and the rot. (J. Le Huray.)The Lord’ s last promise to the apostles Christ’ s last words are a promise and declare the vocation of all Christians of every station and class. They are all called to testify to Christ, but they are not all equally qualified for the duty. The text shows-- I. That there is a condition of attachment to Christ in which due fitness for this vocation does not exist. The apostles were in this condition. They had personal acquaintance with Christ, believed in Him, had knowledge of the facts, and had natural ability. Still these did not confer the testifying “ power.” So with many Christians now. They know, believe, desire, are eloquent, etc., but lack the mystic energy in the absence of which sermons fail to convert. II. That due fitness for the great vocation comes by a Divine bestowal. “ After that the Holy Ghost is come.” The bestowal came in a miraculous manner but in answer to prayer. Thereupon the apostles were constrained to de what the Lord had commanded. So nowadays. When God has given special ability, and adds an influence which constrains to its exercise, no wonder that striking results follow. III. That this power should be exercised when and where it is received. They were to wait at Jerusalem until they received a Divine gift, and there employ it. Had they been permitted to seek their own pleasure they would have chosen another place. So we must begin where and when God blesses us, however disagreeable the effort may be. IV. The manner of spreading the gospel. Here we have a plan of the acts of the apostles.1. Jerusalem (Acts 3:1-26; Acts 4:1-37; Acts 5:1-42; Acts 6:1-7).2. All Judaea (Acts 6:8-15; Acts 7:1-60; Acts 8:1-3).3. Samaria, which had long been “ White unto harvest” (Acts 8:4-40).4. The uttermost part of the earth (9 to close). This view suggests the importance of evangelising cities. If Paris were made Christian how great would be the blessing to Europe; if London how easy the conversion of the world. (W. Hudson.)The call to apostleship This verse is of interest as involving the condition of all success, which in every line of occupation is made out of power converged upon an object. Means in our hand, an end in our eye, resources and purposes, are the alpha and omega of success. Our failures, therefore, are due sometimes to our attempting too much, but our saddest failures are due to the indecision of our aim. Men, especially in the higher relations of life, are unproductive, not because they are feeble, but because they are purposeless. A purpose lying athwart the track of a man’ s energies is what a burning glass is lying across the path of the sunbeam, a means of tension and the pledge of result. At this solemn moment, then, in which Christ turns over mankind into the hands of the eleven, His last service is to tell them of the power which shall be wrought in them by the Holy Ghost, and what they shall do with it. Christ had spent three years and a half in making Himself the most real of all real things, and now as He ascends He says, “ What is real to you, go out into the midst of men and make real to them; and so soon as the power of the Holy Ghost is come upon you, ye shall be witnesses unto Me,” etc. On this basis there are some things proper to be addressed to-- I. Christians as individuals. The science of mechanics is reducible to statics which concerns itself with forces in equilibrium, and dynamics which treats of forces in motion. One gives us physical condition; the other physical agency. The New Testament is an inspired treatise on spiritual mechanics, and expounds the doctrines of spiritual statics and dynamics, and exhibits to us Christianity as a splendid equilibrium of the soul, and as an energy that upsets equilibrium. The trouble with a great many of our Christians is that they never get beyond the statics. They stop with Christianity as an inward composure. They do not reach the point of seizing Christ s peace, and hurling it in all its holy equipoise into the midst of unholy men to their unutterable discomposure. They stop with reading the Four Gospels of condition without going on to read the fifth Gospel of “ Acts.” And if we have not the serenity of spirit which the apostles had, and the same passionate ambition to make Christ a reality in the minds and hearts of those about us, it is not because we are not their equals, but because we have not let Christ become as real to us. If they had stopped with being disciples, then we should have said that Christianity meant nothing but discipleship. But inasmuch as they went on from being absorbent disciples to radiant apostles, then Christianity means purpose as much as power; making others Christians as much as being Christians ourselves. These things when prayerfully considered will create a deep sense of individual responsibility. The anointing of the Holy Ghost sets each one of us in the line of the true apostolic succession; and, as after the ascension of Christ mankind lay in the hands of the original apostles for them to convert, so to-day the conversion of the world pertains to us as their spiritual successors. If each Christian were to make one convert each year, within eight years the whole population of the globe would be at the foot of the Cross! II. Christians in the associate relation of a Church. Individual Christianity means individual apostleship. What advantage does Christianity gain by being organised?1. Negatively. A church does not exist, properly-- (1) for the sake of its sanctuary ministrations. Supposing that after the ascension the apostles had made the Church to consist as a permanency, in praying and singing and preaching to each other once a week. But there are churches where spiritual laziness is induced by excess of sanctuary nourishment, and who do not bestir themselves sufficiently to prevent even the bread of life from working within them as a slow and subtle poison. There are churches that have had the gospel preached to them for fifty years, and yet have not begun to produce such a flame as was kindled within fifteen days after the Lord’ s ascension. (2) For the sake of sustaining its weaker members. Of course there is a great deal that it ought to do in that direction. Christ said to Peter, “ When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” But a large number of those who now apply for admission to the Church want, not to strengthen the brethren, but to have the brethren strengthen them. When an army is quartered in the enemy’ s country, the safest place is inside of the camp; but a regiment recruited for the purpose of having its members protect each other is a poor addendum to the fighting resources of the brigade. We learn heroism in the face of danger; children learn to swim by being thrown into the water; and the original Church never flinched after once it had taken up its position in the open field. (3) For the sake of its denomination. Denomination is harness worn by us for the purpose of dragging the chariot of the gospel. It may chafe some--all harness is liable to--but it is a necessity. Still the harness exists for the sake of the chariot, and not the chariot for the sake of the harness; and he serves his denomination best who serves the Church of Christ best. 2. Positively. By indicating what the Church does not exist for, we have already implied the object for which it does exist. A Church, as an efficiency of God for the conversion of men, is the interweaving of the individual strands of strength fused into a solid bolt of force and hurled at the adversaries of the Lord; and no desultory skirmishing of individual Christians will begin to take the place of the grand concentrated bombardment of a confederate Church. We regularly proceed upon that principle in the achievement of large secular results. We organise for purposes of government, warfare, improvement, revolution, and discovery. Why not for Christ? (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)Power I. The preparation for power (verses 1-3).1. The training which they had received. They were with Jesus when He “ began both to do and to teach.” 2. The facts that made their faith in Him unwavering, courageous, conquering--“ He also showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs,” etc. Faith in a risen Christ gave to their preaching a tremendous power. 3. Special instruction “ speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.” Samples of this speaking may be found in Luke 24:25-28; Luke 24:45-49. II. The baptism of power (verses 4,5).1. This was the baptism that long had been promised. It was “ the promise of the Father” (Isaiah 44:5; Joe 2:28, etc.)2. This was that which had been promised by Christ, when He said it was “ expedient that He should go away” (John 14:16; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7-15). 3. This was to be unlike the baptism of John. Water was the symbol--this the reality. 4. For this baptism the apostles were to wait. The ship can afford to wait for its sails, the army for its general, the traveller for his compass. Why at Jerusalem? (Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-3). III. The source of power (verses 6-8).1. The false idea. “ Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?” The old thought of a temporal kingdom still uppermost! 2. The true idea. “ But ye shall receive power,” not temporal such as they had coveted, but spiritual and supernatural. That power is worth coveting and waiting for. IV. The result of power (verse 8). “ Ye shall be My witnesses.” There is no successful witnessing for Christ without this power. Christ’ s disciples are all-powerful with it. V. Ascending to power (verses 9-11).1. The ascension. The reception of power by the disciples depended upon His ascension (Luke 24:49; see also Acts 2:33; John 16:7). 2. The return. “ Shall so come,” etc. No need, however, to stand idly gazing into heaven. Before He went, Christ gave “ to each one his work” (Mark 13:34). Three watchwords He has given--watch, pray, work. The harvest is hastened by cultivation--not by counting the days from the time the seed was sown. VI. Praying for power (verses 12-14). The disciples had the promise of power, “ not many days hence,” but they did not wait in idleness for it to be fulfilled. The promise is ours to-day as much as then it was the disciples’ . Praying, as they did, a Pentecost may come to us as certainly and as bounteously as it came to them. (S. S. Times.)Power The Church to-day has many things, but she lacks one thing--power. Peter bade the lame man rise and walk. To-day, Christian men say, “ Gold and silver have I; such as I have give I thee.” We buy crutches for cripples, and write apologetics for Christianity. Peter gave strength, and the man was an argument no one could answer. I. We feel this want of power in our own lives; we lack grip when we seize a great subject, or a sinning soul. This consciousness of weakness palsies action, compels compromise, cautions delay. Paul lived, yet no longer he but Christ in him. We live, but not Christ. When the heart is weak in its action, the members suffer, lack warmth and vigour; all we come in contact with, home, business, city, nation, feel our lack of power; children grow up uncontrolled, business leans to the side of dishonesty, government is corrupt. The type of Christianity of to-day is that of the disciples before Pentecost--“ in the temple praising and blessing God,” and intellectually busy about times and seasons. In the business world everything is quiet; men say manufacturing has been overdone; the mills have glutted the markets. So in the religious world, some tell us the market is overstocked with creeds and denominations; there is no call for religion. That is not true; the needs are as many and as real as ever. The Church is like a great mill by the river side--machinery, raw material, market all right, but the water-courses are dry--the power is wanting. On the other hand, it is the business of Christianity to make a market, not wait for one. The Shepherd sought the lost sheep. Salt and light are to be aggressive, making a market. Plant a post; you wouldn’ t suppose there is anything in the soil to furnish a market, a mass-meeting of posts would decide there is no call for us here. Take up the post and plant a tree; what a commotion there is below the surface; the rootlets push out in every direction and lay hold of the properties of the soil; above the soil buds broaden into leaves, the air is broken into currents and eddies, beasts of the field gather under the helpful shadows, birds are able to find building sites. The tree finds a market in earth and air and animals. A measure of meal finds no market; a handful of leaven makes one. We are not simply to be stirred up and mixed with the world, as lifeless and dry as others, but are to carry leavening power with us. An iron post placed in a public park does not disperse darkness. String the electric wire across it, fix the carbon points, now it is a fountain of light. “ Ye are the light of the world.” Light compels recognition, all hail, it, it meets need. The first sign of power in the tree is life in itself, in the posts of light on itself; the first proof of power in a disciple is power over himself. From this nerve-centre of self the power thrills along the family, and business and body politic. The word power, dunamis, carries the thought; from the word comes dynamics, the science of moving forces. Another word comes in here too--dynamite. A glance at the family of words will show us what is bound up in the promise. In a Wesleyan chapel a mighty revival was in progress. A visitor scandalised by the excitement rebuked the zealous Wesleyans, saying, “ This is all wrong. When Solomon built his temple there was heard neither the sound of hammer, nor saw, nor chisel. “ You make too much noise here.” The preacher made reply, “ Oh, but we ain’ t building, we are blasting.” The preacher was right; he was using dynamite, destroying the kingdom of darkness. Oh for the promised dynamite of the Holy Spirit! II. This power has its source outside the Church and human life. “ Ye shall receive power” ; not generate it, nor attain to it by straining present powers, or enlarging present capacities. We cannot whip ourselves into a state of power, as though we were eggs, strike the fire from ourselves by any flint and steel arrangement, lift ourselves into it by force of will, educate ourselves into it by culture of heart or head. III. The conditions of realising the power. The great discovery of modern science is law. By the study of phenomena we learn the law, by obeying the law we control phenomena. Studying the appearance of the Spirit, the conditions of the appearance, we can learn the law of His appearing; conforming to the law thus learned we can receive the power. There are two instances of His appearing of special interest;1. When Christ received the Holy Ghost. Christ stands unique in His power. His thoughts give life to every language embodying them; His teachings transform every character embracing them. All this is true of Him after the Spirit came upon Him, not before. John Baptist knew Him not until he saw the Spirit descending. Two simple facts give us the key: Obedience and prayer. When John rebuked Him, He replied, “ Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” “ Jesus also being baptised and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended.” 2. In the case of the disciples we read that Christ commanded, “ Tarry ye in Jerusalem,” and they obeyed; and “ all continued in prayer and supplication.” Then when Pentecost came they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Here we touch a law of nature as well as of spiritual power. He who obeys known law and communes with nature, masters her secrets. In the home the obedient, sympathetic child has power given it by the parents. In your stores the clerk who obeys and communes with you is the one to whom you give power. To the obedient and prayerful now as truly as then, will the Holy Ghost be given, and after that power will come. IV. When the power comes it must use us. Christ is driven into the desert, and the disciples are scattered, sown broadcast in the waiting world-field of thought and action. Simon Magus offered money for Peter’ s power. We cannot control this power; it must control us. (O. P. Gifford.)The might of the gospel The gospel is a mighty engine, but only mighty when God has the working of it. (T. Adams.)Christianity diffused by the apostles How wonderful is God, in that He can accomplish great ends by insignificant means! Christianity, for example, diffused through the instrumentality of twelve legion of angels, would have been immeasurably inferior as a trophy of omnipotence, to Christianity diffused through the instrumentality of twelve apostles. When l: survey the heavens, with their glorious troop of stars, and am told that the Almighty employs to His own majestic ends the glittering hosts, as they pursue their everlasting march, I experience no surprise; I seem to feel as though the spangled firmament were worthy of being employed by the Creator; and I expect a magnificent consummation from so magnificent an instrumentality. But show me a tiny insect, just floating in the breeze, and tell me that, by and through that insect, God will carry forward the largest and most stupendous of His purposes, and I am indeed filled with amazement; I cannot sufficiently admire a Being who, through that which I could crush with a breath, advances what I cannot measure with thought. (H. Melvill.)Power indescribable but appreciable All power is indescribable, but at the same time appreciable. What it is, where it is, how it came, where it goes, its measure, movement, nature, form, or essence, no human skill can discover. We may ask the sunbeam which has such power to fly and to illuminate, the lightning which has such power to scathe, the dew-drop that has power to refresh, the magnet, the fire, the steam, the eye that can see, the ear that can hear, the nerve that can convey the messages of will, we may ask all the agents we see exerting power to render us “ an account each of its own power, and all will be dumb. Not the cannon ball on its flight, or the lion in his triumph, not the tempest or the sea, not even pestilence itself, can tell us what is power. If we ask Death who has put all things under his feet, even he has no re.ply; and after we have passed the question, “ What is power?” round a mute universe, we mast say, “ God has spoken once, yea, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God.” Yet power, in itself so hidden and indescribable, is ever manifest by its effects. An effect demonstrates the presence of a power. Where gunpowder explodes, there must have been fire; where water shoots up through the atmosphere in steam, there must have been heat; where iron moves without mechanical force, a magnet must be; and the absence of the effect is conclusive evidence of the absence of the power from which the effect would have followed. The intellect at once recognises the presence of intellectual power. The feelings, also, faithfully tell whenever an emotional power is brought to bear upon them; and no less surely does the conscience of a man feel when a moral power comes acting upon it. (W. Arthur, M. A.)Power not in mechanism but in fire Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a granite fort, and they told us that they intended to batter it down: we might ask them, “ How?” They point to a cannon-ball. Well, but there is no power in that; it is heavy, but not more than perhaps a hundred weight: if all the men in the army hurled it against the fort, they would make no impression. They say, “ No; but look at the cannon.” Well, there is no power in that. A boy may ride upon it, a bird may perch in its mouth; is is a machine and nothing more. “ But look at the powder.” Well, there is no power in that; a child may spill it, a sparrow may peck it. Yet this powerless powder, and powerless ball, are put into the powerless cannon; one spark of fire enters; and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that ball a thunderbolt. (W. Arthur, M. A.)Prayer the means of obtaining spiritual power When John in the Apocalypse saw the Lamb on the throne, before that throne were the seven lamps of fire burning, “ which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” ; and it is only by waiting before that throne of grace that we become imbued with the holy fire. When a lecturer on electricity wants to show an example of a human body surcharged with his fire, he places a person on a stool with glass legs. The glass serves to isolate him from the earth, because it will not conduct the electric fluid; were it not for this, however much might be poured into his frame, it would be carried away by the earth; but, when thus isolated from it, he retains all that enters him. You see no fire, you hear no fire; but you are told that it is pouring into him. Presently you are challenged to the proof--asked to come near, and hold your hand close to his person; when you do so, a spark of fire shoots out towards you. If thou, then, wouldst have thy soul surcharged with the fire of God, so that those who come nigh to thee shall feel some mysterious influence out from thee, thou must draw nigh to the source of that fire, to the throne of God and of the Lamb, and shut thyself out from the world. As this is the only way for an individual to obtain spiritual power, so is it the only way for churches. (W. Arthur, M. A.)Spiritual power recognised Often when I have had doubts suggested by the infidel I have been able to fling them to the winds with utter scorn because I am distinctly conscious of a power working upon me when I am speaking in the name of the Lord, infinitely transcending any personal power of fluency, and far surpassing any energy derived from excitement such as I have felt when delivering a secular lecture or making a speech--so utterly distinct from such power that I am quite certain it is not of the same order or class as the enthusiasm of the politician or the glow of the orator. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Natural gift no substitute for spiritual power No natural gift can suffice, and when any men have the power of God, failure is impossible. Yet do not let us suppose there is no room for gifts. If some people make the Cross of Christ of none effect through wisdom of words, others make it of none effect through lack of wisdom. There are some persons who put dulness for piety. Of the wise man we read that he “ sought to find out acceptable words” --“ words of delight,” as it is literally. And of a greater than Solomon it is recorded that the people heard him gladly. Christianity invites and consecrates every gift of God and every grace and art of which man is capable. There is room for money, enterprise, methods, learning, and genius. All gifts are good when they are lost in the great purpose of the gospel; but any gifts are perilous, just in proportion as preacher or people are conscious of them. In a sham fight everybody admires the uniforms, the music, the horses, the precision of the march. But in a real fight there is a desperate earnestness that cannot stay to admire anything--that just girds itself up for death or victory. If there be the intensity, the downright earnestness, the baptism of fire, which longs to make Christ the conqueror, then the more gifts the better. But if that baptism be lacking, gifts are a peril and a snare. (M. G. Pearse.)The reception of spiritual power I was in the train some time ago, and was thinking of this higher life, and it seemed so bright and beautiful--like a star far above me--and my eye fell on the word “ receive,” and I saw it was not my climbing up but the Lord coming down. It was early spring, and as we stopped at a station it was raining, and I noticed a little cottage where an old woman had put out a pitcher to catch the water, and it was filled to the brim; I said to myself, “ My poor heart can never make a garden for my Lord, but at least He can take my broken pitcher of a heart and fill it abundantly.” “ Ye shall receive power.” Do you see that this is His purpose? Then surrender yourself. (M. G. Pearse.)The pleasure of realised power There are few things more pleasant than to work with power. A little child balancing itself upon its tiny feet and running alone, a schoolboy making the treasures of knowledge his own, a lad learning a trade easily and yet accurately, a tradesman conducting an extensive concern with complete system and perfect order, an artist colouring canvas or chiselling marble, a man of letters writing books that shall never die, a man of science unlocking the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, an orator taking captive by his words the eyes, ears, thoughts, and souls of a multitude of hearers, diplomatists and politicians arousing and hushing the voice of the people and turning the hearts of princes whither they will, the commander leading a fleet or an army to victory, are illustrations of working power, upon which we cannot look without interest, and of which we cannot speak without excitement. And as more power is needed to deliver than to direct, to redeem than to sustain, we look with greater interest upon the physician healing sickness, and upon the surgeon removing diseased flesh or bone. It is a glorious sight, power employed to save! A fireman entering a burning dwelling and plucking the sleeping inmates from the flames, even the water-dog snatching a child from a watery grave, are great and glorious illustrations of power put forth for salvation--but a greater than these, a greater than all, is here. (S. Martin.)Power from on high Let us look upon the subject-- I. On its negative side. It is not--1. Physical power. Current literature speaks of “ muscular Christianity” ; but that is not the Christianity of the New Testament. Subsequently, men thought they could assist the gospel by bringing it into alliance with political organisations. But no. Persecutions never made saints yet. The axe can never infuse new life into the tree. But the spring can. 2. Miraculous power. They were already endued with this. But this cannot save men. Men saw Jesus performing miracles, and still remained in their unbelief. 3. The power of eloquence. I have seen, under powerful sermons, stout-hearted sinners weep and pray, but when the electric current which flowed from the preacher subsided, they fell back to their former torpor. Many so-called revivals are but electric shocks disturbing the dead, but leaving them dead notwithstanding. Eloquence, like the wind, moves the sea from without, but that which saves must move it from its own depths. Eloquence works upon the soul; that which saves must work in the soul. One can compose a sermon in which the most critical hearer cannot detect a flaw: but he will-forget it in half an hour. It is so refined that it shoots right through the soul instead of entering into it and remaining there. Polish is commendable up to the point of showing instead of concealing the material underneath. I never like to see an article of furniture so highly polished that I cannot say of what timber it is made. 4. The power of logic. Conquer a man in argument, and, as a rule, you only confirm him in his error. I saw a picture entitled, “ Conquered but not Subdued.” The young lad was evidently conquered by his mother. There he stood, with his face half-turned towards the wall: but there was determination in the mouth, defiance in the eye, anger in the nostrils. Drive a sinner in argument to a corner, so that he cannot move, yet he can sink, and sink he will to his own hell. Sheet-lightnings dazzle, but never kill. And arguments after all are only sheet-lightnings. 5. The power of thought. The Bible does not claim superiority on account of its ideas, although it contains the sublimest. You may be the best Biblical scholar in the land, and be at last a castaway. The history of preaching abundantly proves this. Read the sermon by Peter on the day of Pentecost, and it will not astonish you with the profundity of its thoughts. The sermons on the Mount and on Mars’ hill stand higher on the intellectual side; and yet they made but few converts. Look again from the pulpit to books. Take the” Analogy” by Butler; no book perhaps displays more intellectual power; yet who can point to it as the means of bringing him to Jesus? But read the “ Dairyman’ s Daughter,” or the “ Anxious Inquirer,” without a millionth part of its mental power; but there are thousands who trace their conversion to these books. I do not wish to cast discredit on any of these excellences. They are very valuable in their own places. If a man is possessed of them he can do nothing better than consecrate them on the altar of Christianity. But if man is to be saved, a new power must come to the field. II. On its positive side. In the Gospel it is called “ power from on high.”1. The great want of the world was a power to uplift it out of its state of degradation and sin. Previous to Pentecost the world was sinking lower and lower in the scale of morals. But since humanity has been gradually ascending. Physically we know that this earth is subject to the attraction of other planets. The same fact holds true spiritually. There is a power working mightily in the children of disobedience, and the source of it is in darker regions than our own. But another power has come to the field, a power from on high; the contest must be long and terrible; but the higher power is gradually winning, and will deliver the world from the grasp of evil. Here it is called “ the power of the Holy Ghost.” We often picture God as looking down pitifully upon us from His heaven. But we are also taught that the great God has descended upon men, and thrown into their hearts the infinite impulse of His own eternal nature. The disciples, as we see them in the Gospel, are cowards; in the Acts they are heroes. The Christian life is Divine. Christianity is not a remembrance of the supernatural in the past, but its perpetuation throughout all ages. Every true ministry is heavy with supernatural influences. We do not perform miracles, but if our ministry is not a continuation of the supernatural in the realm of matter, it is a continuation of it in the realm of mind; and of the two, the latter is the higher kind. Luke tells us that in his Gospel he narrated what Jesus began both to do and to teach; here he goes on to tell what Jesus continued to do and to teach through men; and Church history continues the tale. “ The works that I do ye also shall do,” etc. 2. What was the effect of this Divine baptism on the disciples? (1) It made them pre-eminently spiritual. Spirituality should be the distinctive badge of every Christian, and especially of the ambassadors of Christ. “ A bishop must be blameless.” All well and good if he is learned and eloquent, but he must be blameless. (2) It filled them with Divine enthusiasm, with “ fire.” The Bible speaks much about this fire. Jeremiah had a message, but having been insulted and incarcerated, he made up his mind not to open his mouth again. “ I said I will not make mention of Him, or speak any more in His name.” Well, how did he fare? “ His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forebearing, and could not stay.” It was hard to speak--it was harder to be silent. It is difficult enough to stand up here and preach; it would be more difficult to sit down there and be mute. The apostles evinced such fervour that many supposed they were under the power of strong drink. No, says Peter, it is the Holy Ghost working in us. “ The love of Christ constraineth us,” says St. Paul. Some dared to brand him as a fanatic. “ Whether we be beside ourselves,” said he, “ it is to God, or whether we be sober it is for your cause.” The secret of Baxter’ s power was his unbounded enthusiasm. His biographer says he would have set the world on fire while another was lighting a match. It is the fire of the Holy Ghost that will make men eloquent. A preacher in his study ought to gather his thoughts, to collect his materials; and ascending the pulpit, he ought to set them all ablaze with fire from off the altar. Having built the altar, dinged the trenches, slain the sacrifice, he should join Elijah and cry, “ O God, send the fire, send the fire!” 3. What is the effect upon the congregation? Many are turned to God. On the consecration of the Temple of Solomon, the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; much less could the people stand to criticise the work of art, or to admire the amount and richness of the gold. In the same manner the power from on high hides everything but itself. Many a critic went to hear Whitefield with hostile intentions; but in less than five minutes they had totally forgotten their sinister art. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)Power from on high I. The being to be manifested.1. The Holy Spirit is represented as having all the attributes of Deity, distinct from, yet united with, the Father and the Son. This is not sufficiently dwelt upon. In the apostolic age there were those who did not “ so much as know whether there were any Holy Ghost.” This is not your case, but it is needful to remind you lest you should withhold from Him His proper homage. That He is God is matter of explicit revelation--not in the Arian or Sabellian sense--not an illumination but an essence, not an influence but a Person. And to the blasphemers who deny His Divinity we hurl the thunderbolt, “ Ananias, why hath Satan put it into thy heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost? Thou hast not lied,” etc. 2. It is to the Spirit, thus Divine, that belongs the right of induction to the holy ministry; and however men may place their pretentions or trace their geneaology they are intruders without the call and unction of the Spirit. 3. As the Spirit is thus the originating source, so is His perpetuating grace the means of success in the ministry. This is everywhere asserted in the prophets. “ Not by might,” etc. II. The result of his manifestation. “ Ye shall receive power.”1. The power of God is the attribute which is earliest to impress the mind. It is impossible to send the thought out into the universe without discovering its manifestations. It lurks in the minutest and is exhibited in the mightiest phenomena. 2. And as it is the earliest, so it is the attribute of which men are most keenly coveteous. The fable of Prometheus, who made the figure of a man, and then animated it with the fire which he had dared to steal from heaven, is only a thinly veiled record of man’ s fierce ambition to create. Man, the master-mind, would stand in the midst of the elements and say, “ Ye are vassals: work for me.” And if from the world of nature you pass up into the world of mind you find the same coveteousness from the child-dictator of the nursery to the monarch of a hundred isles. Now as the apostles were men of like passions with ourselves they were under the influence of this desire. There was an effort |o reserve seats on either side of the Redeemer in His kingdom for the sons of Zebedee. And here was asked, “ Lord, wilt Thou,” etc. Now this love of power, as it is an instinct, is not criminal. The God who implanted it had wise purposes in view. The gospel does not annihilate a solitary passion, only it directs those which were vehicles of rebellion into instruments of blessing. The Saviour therefore here rebukes unhallowed curiosity, but answers prayer. “ Ye shall receive power,” that is what you want and ye shall have it. When Pentecost came they saw how infinitely superior to all royalties was the kingdom they were to establish. Without this power the most perfect organisation and the most exquisite appliances are valueless. But give us this and the stammerer shall be an Apollos, and the stripling with the sling and stone shall be as an angel of the Lord. III. The design of this manifestation.1. That the Church may testify to the world. Power Divinely given is to be used for Divine ends. God imprisons no force in aimless bondage. There is power in the lightning, but it is not to dazzle but to purify. There is power in the frantic breaker, and in the careering cloud; but they are all true and loyal servants in the vast palace in which the King of the universe has lodged His favourite creature man. And as in the physical so in the moral sphere. God’ s gifts are not given to be hoarded, despised, or abused. Every endowment of mind--the athletic reason, the lordly will, the creative fancy, the eloquent utterance, every communication of grace, and every attainment of privilege are all conferred upon as individually to minister as the rest of the universe ministers. 2. We are witnesses for Jesus. A crucified, risen, and exalted Christ will charm the heart of the nineteenth as it charmed the heart of the first century; and though scoffers deride it, cowards hesitate about it, and traitors betray it; it is the only testimony which the Holy Ghost will endorse with power. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)Power from on high I. The characteristics of the Holy Spirit in His descent on the apostles and the Church. He was given as a Spirit of--1. Knowledge and understanding. Witness the change in the apostle’ s views of Christ’ s Messiahship and death before and after. So now truth like a transparent dial becomes illuminated. The eunuch was perplexed till Philip joined him. Compare one frequent expression, “ I see.” 2. Faith. A great difference between knowing and believing. A man may come and see, but go away without faith. Not so at Pentecost. Noah did not stand outside to admire the ark. He entered in and was safe. 3. Holiness and prayer. Holiness is separateness from the world to God. More than ever at Pentecost the disciples proved this. So now men are holy in proportion as they are endured with the Holy Spirit; and in proportion to their holiness will be their power in prayer. 4. Courage. The boldness of Peter was conspicuous. And now the Spirit works such conviction that the most timid become the most brave. II. The experiences of power answering to their characteristics. The power of--1. Witness for the truth. A sense of their sincerity was inspired in the hearers. “ We believe and therefore speak.” 2. Steadfastness in Christian life notwithstanding human or Satanic opposition. They were proof against tempting bribes, seductive philosophy, fierce persecution. 3. Great example. Men could hate, but could not charge them with inconsistencies. On them was imprinted the likeness of their Master. 4. Untiring zeal. (G. McMichael, B. A.)Spiritual power for missionary work The Holy Ghost is the source of all-- I. Spiritual illumination. The Bible, written by holy men moved by the Holy Ghost, is our only standard of revealed truth; but even the Bible is not enough. The spirit of scepticism is abroad, and men hardly know what or what not to believe. Hence the feeble faith and the shallow conviction and extreme worldliness of the Church. But the missionary, as a teacher of a religion Divine in it origin, requires absolutely the power of clear vision and deep conviction. Doubt to him is paralysis, so it is to every teacher, or work becomes a fruitless, burdensome task. Nor can there be any development of a noble, manly Christian character without Divinely illumined, soul-transforming apprehension of truth. How, then, is the Church to protect herself against a noxious intellectual atmosphere, and obtain a clear vision of Divine things? There can be but one answer. The Spirit that guided holy men of old in recording Divine truths is the same Spirit that reveals to the reader their deep significance. The fully illuminated soul is beyond the reach of doubt, for the Spirit so shows the things of Christ that the inward eye beholds them with open vision. II. Holiness. This is a mighty and indispensable power. The ideal Christian of the New Testament is a “ saint,” and so long as that ideal is not embodied in the lives of Christians, the progress of the gospel must be slow and unsatisfactory. The world must be convinced that Christianity is a practical reality, and not a mere system of belief before it will bow to its authority. Books on evidences are useful in their way. But few will read them or be convinced by them. The one argument that will command attention is the holy life, not of ancient, but of modern saints (Isaiah 62:1-3). How long are we to wait for this? There is no reason why we should wait at all. The Holy Spirit is the Author of all holiness. III. Spiritual unity. This also is indispensable to evangelisation--not uniformity, but such unity in variety that we see in the works of God. “ There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” What does it matter to the Chinese whether I am an Independent and my brother is an Episcopalian, if we manifest the same Christ-like spirit? But this is only produced by the Holy Spirit. There is nothing more disastrous to missionary and every form of Christian work than the want of unity. Before Pentecost the apostles had their childish rivalries and jealousies; but the baptism of fire burned all that out of them. IV. Spiritual joy. There are different kinds of joy.1. Natural. It may be ethical, inspired by an approving conscience; or intellectual, springing from the consciousness of superior gifts and culture; or animal, flowing from a fulness of bodily health or animal spirits; or the joy of harvest, the result of success in worldly pursuits. 2. The unnatural, which consists in the exhilaration produced by stimulants. 3. The spiritual--the joy of conscious pardon, deliverance from sin, fulness of spiritual life, which flows from the Holy Ghost. Without this work is a burden. An unspiritual missionary must be a joyless missionary, and a joyless missionary is a pitiable object. V. The power of dealing with souls. Some men are richly endowed with this. They may or may not be profound thinkers or eloquent speakers, but when they speak their hearers feel a supernatural power grappling with them. VI. Prayer. (Griffith John.)The old gospel preached with new spiritual power When I was preaching at Farwell Hall, Chicago, I never worked harder to prepare my sermons than I did then. I preached and preached; but it was beating against the air. A good woman used to say, “ Mr. Moody, you don’ t seem to have power in your preaching.” Oh, my desire was that I might have a fresh anointing! I requested this woman and a few others to come and pray with me every Friday at four o’ clock. Oh, how piteously I prayed that God might fill the empty vessel! After the fire in Chicago, I was in New York, and going into the Bank on Wall Street, it seemed as if I felt a strange and mighty power coming over me. I went up to the hotel, and there in my room I wept before God, and cried, “ Oh, my God, stay Thy hand!” He gave me such fulness that it seemed more than I could contain. May God forgive me if I should seem to speak in a boastful way; but I do not know that I have preached a sermon since but God has given me some soul. I seem a wonder to you, but I am a greater wonder to myself. These are the same sermons I preached in Chicago word for word. They are not new sermons; it is not a new gospel; but the old gospel with the Holy Ghost of power. (D. L. Moody.)The Holy Ghost awakens ability as well as communicates a power The gifts of the Holy Ghost are powers, the fellowship of the Holy Ghost is a source of power. I see a man hungry, and I give him money: that money is a power to buy bread; but the hungry man is destitude through lack of ability to earn his bread. I devote myself to that man, awaken a spirit of self-dependence and self-respect, arouse his dormant energies, quicken his whole nature, and lead him into a path of honest industry, and now I have given him not a power, but power. An ignorant man applies to me for enlightenment on some particular subject; I answer his questions, and the knowledge I have given him is a power, but I awaken a thirst for all knowledge in that man, and I lead him to fountains of information, and now I have endowed him not with a power, but with power. I see a man timid and feeble in his whole nature, I draw near to him, I quiet his fears, awaken hope and inspire him with courage, and he becomes, under my influence, sanguine and brave. To this man I give no powers or a power, but power. And thus, while the Holy Ghost, by endowing men with knowledge, wisdom, ability to work miracles and to speak with tongues, bestows particular powers, by entering into fellowship with them He communicates vital energy and general ability. Hitherto the Holy Spirit had not entered into full fellowship with the spirits of men, but now He is to dwell with all Christ’ s disciples. Now if he who walketh with wise men shall be wise, if as iron sharpeneth iron so doth the countenance of a man his friend, what must be the effects to Christ’ s witnesses of communion with the Holy Ghost! (S. Martin.)Divine power to be carefully transmitted Here at one end is the great fountain ever brimming. Draw from it ever so much, it sinks not one hair’ s-breadth in its pure basin. Here, on the other side, is an intermittent flow, sometimes in scanty driblets, sometimes in painful drops, sometimes more full and free, on the pastures of the wilderness. Wherefore these jerks and spasms? It must be something stopping the pipe. Yes, of course. God’ s might is ever the same, but our capacity of receiving and transmitting that might varies, and with it varies the energy with which that unchanging power is exerted in the world. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Power in excess of organisation Machinery saves manual toil, and multiplies force. But we may have too heavy machinery for what engineers call the boiler power--too many wheels and shafts for the steam we have to drive them with. What we want is not less organisation or other sorts of it, but more force. Latent power in the Church It is impossible to overestimate, or rather to estimate, the power that lies latent in our Churches. We talk of the power latent in steam--latent till Watt evoked its spirit from the waters, and set the giant to turn the iron arms of machinery. We talk of the power that was latent in the skies till science climbed their heights, and seizing the spirit of the thunder, chained it to our service--abolishing distance, outstripping the wings of time, and flashing our thoughts across rolling seas to distant continents. Yet what are these to the moral power that lies asleep in the congregations of our country and of the Christian world? And why latent? Because men and women neither appreciate their individual influence, nor estimate aright their own individual responsibilities. They cannot do everything; therefore they do nothing. They cannot blaze like a star, and, therefore, they won’ t shine like a glow-worm; and so they are content that the few work, and that the many look on. Not thus the woods are clothed in green, but by every little leaf expanding its own form. Not thus are fields covered with golden corn, but by every stalk of grain ripening its own head. Not thus does the coral reef rise from the depths of ocean, but by every little insect building its own rocky cell. (T. Guthrie.)And ye shall be witnesses unto Me.-- Witnesses Our Lord did not cut short the apostles’ speculations to stop there; he gathered up the broken ends of their energy and fastened them to our immediate work. If the planets were to stand still, they would be drawn into the central fire and consumed. It is necessary to their well-being that they should be flung with all their force on a path of activity. So, unless Christians are thrown out into a course of vigorous action, they will be drawn into an orbit so narrow that action will be no longer possible. I. The qualification for this service.1. Although the apostles were saved, they were not fit to work any deliverance in the earth by their own wisdom or strength. Their demand for fire might have consumed the adversaries, but it could not have converted them. Wanting the Spirit even they were inclined to persecute, and for the same reason their self-styled successors have persecuted in all subsequent times. 2. The Spirit is like the air. We could not live without air--the sun would not warm us but for it. The sun’ s heat sustains life; but the atmosphere communicates that heat. The earth, again, is dependent for its supply of water on the air, which obtains it from the ocean and pours it on the land. So the disciples in every age obtain grace from the Lord through the ministry of the Spirit. II. The nature of this service.1. Whom Christ saves from sin He employs in the world. The liberated captive is sent to fight against his former master. Christians have need of Christ and Christ has need of them. The simple fact that they are on earth not in heaven is proof that there is something for them to do here, and if they are not doing it they are either no Christians, or Christians that grieve Christ. A broken limb hurts more than a severed one, and Christ is hurt by those members of His who do not witness for Him. 2. This is an honourable but difficult function. In the case of a witness the real strain comes in cross-examination. You are set down in the market-place having lately worshipped in the house of prayer. Those whom you meet know this, so that there is no need for you to preach. The cross-examination takes place here. It is not now, what do you believe? but is your life consistent? The cross-examiner generally begins on some apparently indifferent theme, but the questions are so linked to the main subject that if, in answering them, anything escapes which clashes with the original evidence the good confession of the witness is thereby destroyed. Over-reaching, unfairness, unkindness to dependents, untruth, evil-speaking, expose the Christian profession to scorn. III. The sphere. “ Beginning at Jerusalem.”1. The charity that will convert is one that begins at home, but does not end there. If it essay to reach the heathen by leaping over many ranks of unslain enemies in our own hearts, and of blasphemers in our own streets, it will never reach its mark, or reach it with a force already spent. The gospel is like a fire; it must be out; but like light and heat it cannot reach the distant circumference without passing through the intermediate space and kindling all that it touches on its way. Unless our love greatly disturb a godless neighbourhood at home, it will not set on fire a distant continent. 2. Besides, while a great mass of our home community remain unchristian, specimens of our population, cast up in foreign lands like drift-wood, will counteract missionary effort. A preacher with the pure gospel will not influence much the native mind if followed by a fellow-countryman with poisoned rum. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Necessary variety among the apostles Because Christ Himself was so truly and deeply the Wonderful, it was necessary that His witnesses, who were also to be the future organs of His Spirit, should be men of broadly varied nature--not copies one of another, like images of clay cast in kindred mould, but differing in mental constitution, experience, spiritual affinities, and faculty of vision. No single man could take in His whole image, or apprehend, in its completeness, unity, and infinite reaches of application, the truth revealed in Him; and therefore the “ chosen witnesses” were many and many-natured. And further, as no single flower can show forth all that is in the sun--as it takes the whole bloom of the year to do so, from the first snowdrop that pierces the dark earth to the latest flower of autumn--so He needed them all for the adequate forthtelling of His holy personality. (J. Culross.)Witnesses for Christ I. All Christians are appointed to be Christ’ s witnesses. These words were spoken to the Church, not merely to eleven members of it. You are all subpoenaed to appear, and must all be ready when you are wanted to depose. II. Christians are made Christ’ s witnesses by the power of the Holy Ghost. Any poor weakling might say, “ I a witness! I cannot speak, I am a child!” or like the poor woman, “ I could die for Christ, but I cannot speak for Him.” He might say, “ I shall be puzzled, contradict myself, not hold out all through the cruel cross-examination; besides, I am nobody, who will take notice what I say?” But our loving Master, to still this trepidation, has left to each witness, the promise of necessary power. But power is of various kinds, and this is not of the kind that you, perhaps, think necessary. There is physical power, the power of knowledge, and the power of wealth, and rank; these would, you think, help to make you influential witnesses. But its most influential witnesses have been totally without these. Instead, He gives the power of faith, love, prayer, courage, all powers in one, in the gift of the Holy Ghost. Let me but have the Holy Ghost helping me to realise the life of Christ in my life, and I am unconquerable, for who can resist God? III. All Christians are Christ’ s witnesses to tell what they personally know about Him. Your mission is to speak “ the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” If you only tell what another man knows, and so merely circulate second-hand impressions, you may stand down, for these things are not evidence. Not as echoes, reflectors, copying machines, are you worth anything, but simply as yourselves. The first disciples had to give out from their own personal knowledge information of those facts respecting Christ on which all the saving value of the Cross depends, and the truth of their testimony has passed successfully through the test of the most subtle and searching cross-examination. No more evidence is wanted as to these facts; but we, the successors of these same witnesses, being under the same law, have, on the same principle, to tell all the truth that we personally know of “ this same Jesus.” The world says in a thousand ways to each one of us: “ What has He done for you? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 1:9-12 And when He had spoken these words, while they beheld, He was taken up.Taken up How we talk about “ up,” took “ up” I What eager, earnest; faces are looking up through the clouds of sorrow. The atmosphere above us seems palpitant with the hopes and aspirations of hearts below. The secret of this is, God is “ up,” and Jesus was taken “ up.” Note-- I. That the departed good are “ taken up.” Jesus promised that the disciples should follow Him (John 14:2-5); and all good spirits find their higher level. Heaven is the rendezvous of all goodness, the barn of God into which He gathers His grain. Our loved ones are not far away, only the cloud separates us. But Jesus was not taken up until “ He had spoken these things,” i.e., finished His work. When we have done that, like Him, we shall be taken up to our reward. II. That God supplies the place of the departed good (Acts 1:10). Jesus went up and the angels came down; and they took His place beside the desolate disciples, and who knows but that they hovered about until the Holy Ghost supplied the Master’ s place. So it is. If God takes Moses, He brings up Joshua; if He takes up Elijah, Elisha catches his falling mantle. This law of compensation is seen all through nature, human life, and religion. III. That the departed good shall come again (verse 11). This was the disciples’ comfort in regard to the departed Christ. “ This same Jesus.” So “ they that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with Him.” Do not grieve then that the grave has closed upon them. (W. Johnson.)The ascension I. The Lord was taken up into heaven.1. Fact of the ascension: stated here (Luke 24:1-53.; Acts 1:1-26.)2. Also implied--e.g., John 6:62; John 20:17. 3. And in Acts and Epistles asserted--e.g., Ephesians 4:10; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 3:22. Also in the Acts and Epistles, implied passim (the Saviour being ever referred to as living, invisible, glorified, and to come again from heaven). See, e.g., Acts 7:55-56; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:16. (1) An absolute miracle.(2) And also a consoling and teaching truth, in what it says of the reality of heaven and as aiding us in grasping that reality (Colossians 3:1). Heaven is where He is. II. He sat on the right hand of God.1. The metaphor (from an Oriental throne, a seat admitting more than one occupant) implies the share of the incarnate Lord in the supreme glory--more than mere nearness to it. 2. See in support of this, Revelation 22:1, etc. ; and especially John 17:5 (where N.B. that “ with Thine own self” is παρὰσεαυτῷ, “ by Thine own side” ; and so at the end of the verse, τῇἱόξῃεἰχονπρὸτοῦκόσμονεἶναιπαράσοι).3. Reflect--“ the Son of Man (Acts 7:55) is at the right hand of God.” Not only is Christ there as God the Son (John 1:1, etc.), but as man--as Jesus (Acts 1:11; Hebrews 4:14). What a pledge for His brethren (John 17:24, etc.). III. After that He had spoken to them.1. Merciful prelude. The clear, spoken revelation given before the mysterious removal. We see Him not (1 Peter 1:8), but He has spoken-- (1) In human speech.(2) In visible life.(3) In atoning death (see Hebrews 12:24). 2. Application of this and the whole ascension truth (John 17:13). He has spoken. He is there. (H. C. G. Moule, M. A.)The ascension of Christ and its lessons I. The ascension of our Lord is a topic whereon familiarity has worked its usual results; it has lost for most minds the sharpness of its outline and the profundity of its teaching because universally accepted by Christians; and yet no doctrine raises deeper questions, or will yield more profitable and far-reaching lessons. First, then, we may note the place this doctrine holds in apostolic teaching. Taking the records of that teaching contained in the Acts and the Epistles, we find that it occupies a real substantial position. The ascension is there referred to, hinted at, taken as granted, pre-supposed, but it is not obtruded not: dwelt upon overmuch. The resurrection of Christ was the great central point of apostolic testimony; the ascension of Christ was simply a portion of that fundamental doctrine, and a natural deduction from it. If Christ had been raised from the dead and had thus become the first-fruits of the grave, it required but little additional exercise of faith to believe that He had passed into that unseen and immediate presence of Deity where the perfected soul finds its complete satisfaction. St. Peter’ s conception of Christianity, for instance, involved the ascension. Whether in his speech at the election of Matthias, or in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, or in his address in Solomon’ s porch after the healing of the crippled beggar, his teaching ever presupposes and involves the ascension. He takes the doctrine and the fact for granted. Jesus is with him the Being “ whom the heavens must receive until the times of restoration of all things.” So is it too with St. John in his Gospel. He never directly mentions the fact of Christ’ s ascension, but he always implies it. So, too, with St. Paul and the other apostolic writers of the New Testament. Is he exhorting the Colossians to a supernatural life: it is because they have supernatural privileges in their ascended Lord. “ If ye then were raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is seated on the right hand of God.” II. But some one may raise curious questions as to the facts of the ascension. Whither, for instance, it may be asked, did our Lord depart when He left this earthly scene? The childish notion that He went up and up far above the most distant star will not of course stand a moment’ s reflection. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles does not describe our Saviour as thus ascending through infinite space. It simply describes Him as removed from off this earthly ball, and then, a cloud shutting Him out from view, Christ passed into the inner and unseen universe wherein He now dwells. The existence of that inner and unseen universe, asserted clearly enough in Scripture, has of late years been curiously confirmed by scientific speculation. Scripture asserts the existence of such an unseen universe, and the ascension implies it. The second coming of our Saviour is never described as a descent from some far-off region. What a solemn light such a Scriptural view sheds upon life! The unseen world is not at some vast distance, but, as the ascension would seem to imply, close at hand, shut out from us by that thin veil of matter which angelic hands will one day rend for ever. III. The ascension was a fitting and a natural termination of Christ’ s earthly ministry, considering the Christian conception of His sacred personality. The departure of the Eternal King was, like His first approach, a part of a scheme which forms one united and harmonious whole. Tile Incarnation and the Ascension were necessarily related the one to the other. IV. Again, we may advance a step further, and say that not only was the ascension a natural and fitting termination to the activities of the Eternal Son manifest in the flesh, it was a necessary completion and finish. “ It is expedient,” said Christ Himself, “ that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not conic to you.” Let us take the matter very simply thus. Had our Lord not ascended into the unseen state whence He had emerged for the purpose of rescuing mankind, He must in that case (always proceeding on the supposition that He had risen from the dead, because we always suppose our readers to be believers) have remained permanently or temporarily resident in some one place. He might have chosen Jerusalem. There would have been nothing to tempt Him to Antioch, or Athens, or Alexandria, or Rome. Nay, rather the tone and temper of those cities must have rendered them abhorrent as dwelling-places to the great Teacher of holiness and purity. At any rate, the risen Saviour, if He remained upon earth, must have chosen some one place where His presence and His personal glory would have been manifested. All interest in local Churches or local work would have been destroyed, because every eye and every heart would be perpetually turning towards the one spot where the risen Lord was dwelling, and where personal adoration could be paid to Him. All honest, manly self-reliance would have been lost for individuals, for Churches, and for nations. Judaism would have triumphed and the dispensation of the Spirit would have ceased. The whole idea, too, of Christianity as a scheme of moral probation would have been overthrown. Christ as belonging to the supernatural sphere would of course have been raised above the laws of time and space. Sight would have taken the place of faith, and the terrified submission of slaves would have been substituted for the moral, loving obedience of the regenerate soul. The whole social order of life would also have been overthrown. The ascension of Jesus Christ was absolutely necessary to equip the Church for its universal mission, by withdrawing the bodily presence of Christ into that unseen region which bears no special relation to any terrestrial locality, but is the common destiny, the true fatherland, of all the sons of God. V. We have now seen how the ascension was needful for the Church, by rendering Christ an ideal object of worship for the whole human race, thus saving it from that tendency to mere localisim which would have utterly changed its character. “ We can also trace another great blessing involved in it. The ascension glorified humanity as humanity, and ennobled man viewed simply as man. The ascension thus transformed life by adding a new dignity to life and to life’ s duties. This was a very necessary lesson for the ancient world, especially the ancient Gentile world, which Christ came to enlighten and to save. Man, considered by himself as man, had no peculiar dignity in the popular religious estimate of Greece and Rome. A Greek or a Roman was a dignified person, not, however, in virtue of his humanity, but in virtue of his Greek or Roman citizenship. The gladiatorial shows were the most striking illustration of this contempt for human nature which paganism inculcated. We leave to science the investigation of the past and of the lowly sources whence man’ s body may have come; but the doctrine of the Ascension speaks of its present sanctity and of its future glory, telling of the human body as a body of humiliation and of lowliness indeed, but yet proclaiming it as even now, in the person of Christ, ascended into the heavens, and seated on the throne of the Most High. It may have been once humble in its origin; it is now glorious in its dignity and elevation; and that dignity and that elevation shed a halo upon human nature, no matter how degraded and wherever it may be found, because it is like unto that Body, the first-fruits of humanity, which stands at the right hand of God. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)Taken up So many of the events of our Lord’ s incarnate ire are connected with Olivet that it might almost be called the mountain of the Lord Jesus. It was His closet, His pulpit, the place of intercourse with His disciples. Bethany at its base was their home. Underneath it was Gethsemane, and there from its crest He rose. Consider-- I. Several attendant circumstances of the ascension.1. As to the manner of it, it was visible. These things were not done in a corner. His crucifixion and burial were public. It was requisite that His resurrection should be so. Forty days did He accumulate proofs of it, and then in the broad open day He ascended up on high. 2. The place where it happened is worthy of notice. “ He led them out as far as Bethany.” There was a peculiar fitness in this selection. Prophecies had fixed the place of His ascension as the Mount of Olives, and Bethany was at its base. We can imagine the feelings of the disciples as they trod the familiar road. It is fitting that the Conqueror should pass by Gethsemane, that He should pass the place where He wept over Jerusalem, and that His triumph should take place in view of the house of sorrow. 3. The act during the performance of which He was lifted up on high. “ Blessed them.” This was His daily work, for which He became incarnate, and for which He returned to His glory. He blesses now, not from the mountain, but from the throne. II. The purposes of the ascension.1. The personal results were the publicity of the scene and the triumph of His entrance into His primal glory. It was a witness which all the world could understand that His work on earth was done. It was only the complement of Calvary, the ovation of the triumph actually won on the Cross. Moreover it was a part of the consequences of redemption that the Father should not only sustain the Son in His sufferings, but because of them He should exalt Him to pre-eminence of government and honour. 2. There were representative results. Christ is the federal Head. By His exaltation our own race derives surpassing honour. Humanity is throned in the highest. 3. There were mediatorial results. “ He received gifts for man.” (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)The ascension 1. Was as indubitable as any act of His life--“ As they were looking, He was taken up.” 2. Brought angels to the earth immediately with a message of comfort. 3. Is no excuse for standing idly gazing into heaven. There is work here to be done, the doing of which will quickest hasten His return. 4. Is only for a while. He will return again, and come in great power and great glory. 5. Has given to us an advocate on high--He ever liveth to make intercession for us. (S. S. Times.)The ascension We have three narratives of the ascension, each of which presents it in a somewhat different application.1. In St. Mark the aspect of faith is predominant. It sets before Christian people, in their life of faithful labour, the form of Him who, though now out of sight, is still and evermore working with them, and confirming His words by signs following. 2. St. Luke presents it in its aspect of love; sets before Christians, in their hours of loneliness or of depression, the form of Him, who, when He left this world, left it with hands uplifted in blessing. 3. In the Acts we have the aspect of hope. As St. Luke’ s Gospel closed with the narrative of the Ascension, so the Acts opens with it. It was not more naturally the close of the gospel than it was the beginning of the history of the Church. It was the event which, while it withdrew from personal work below, introduced Him into that life above, and the power of which He works through others. And we are to regard it as a fact full of hope. The words of the two angels give it this aspect. Learn I. That the posture of those who love Christ must henceforth be one not more of retrospect than of expectation. It is well indeed that you should treasure the thought of Him as He was on earth. His wonderful works, His perfect example, His Divine words. And to look up after Him into heaven, and see Him there the High Priest of man; the Resurrection and the Life, first of the soul, and hereafter: also of the body; to ascend thither, in heart, after Him. Thus it is that men are made strong for conflict, victorious over temptation, and at last fit for heaven. But all this is a different thing from vain regret and idle contemplation. To gaze up into heaven not after One who is gone, but for One who shall come is our work. And in those few words lies the whole of the vast difference between two states and lives; those of a true, and wise, and diligent, and those of a dreamy, and gloomy, and torpid Christian. II. But how does the ascension foster this hope or suggest this duty? The words of the angels will answer that question. The ascension was intended to make real the thought of Christ’ s return. He might have simply disappeared, and left them to form their own conjectures what had become of Him. Perhaps even then they might have formed the right conjecture from His own words. But it would have fallen far short of the conviction inspired by the actual sight. There would have been a mystery which might well have diminished the comfort and impaired the satisfaction of His disciples. But now they would feel that they could trace Him in His glory, and expect Him to come again. Nothing is more remarkable than the personal hope of the personal return of Christ, which cheered the first ages of the Church. It is no good sign when the language of Scripture is read as an allegory, but a sign of the decay of faith. It was in the dark and cold ages of the Church, when even the wise virgins too often slumbered and slept, that this definite hope of the Bridegroom’ s coming was lost sight of. And was it not by a just retribution that they who refused to infer the Advent from the Ascension, came at last from denying the Advent to deny the Ascension also? If ever the faith of the Church is brought back to its simplicity in matters of doctrine, it must be by its being brought back to its simplicity in matters of fact. Take one of the Gospel miracles by itself, and of course it is improbable. But take each one in connection with the proofs Christ gave of His holiness, truth, and goodness, and thus of His Divinity, and we shall find it not only credible, but natural also; consistent, harmonious, and to be expected. Even thus is it with the hope of which we are speaking. It might be in itself hard to be understood, that God should bring this dispensation to a close by the personal advent of the Mediator as Judge. But view that purpose in the light of the Incarnation, and the Advent in the light of the Ascension; and all shall become symmetrical. The disciples saw Him go: why should it be incredible that He should likewise come? “ A cloud received Him out of their sight” : even so shall a cloud be the sign when they who look for Him watch His appearing. Conclusion: What to us is our Lord’ s ascension?1. Do we know anything of the assurance that we have in heaven, One who knows our frame and has felt our infirmities? One who ascended, that He might intercede for us, minister to us the Spirit, and prepare a place for us? 2. If there is One, up there, who sees and will judge; what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness! (Dean Vaughan.)The ascension I. The circumstances.1. While blessing His disciples (Luke 24:50-51; cf. Leviticus 9:22). The first tidings of our Saviour’ s birth were attended with blessings to men; and when He died, He breathed out His soul in blessings to His enemies. So now He is translated into heaven with a blessing in His mouth. And, indeed, His whole life was a blessing to mankind--a blessed pattern to us; in imitation whereof we should endeavour that our whole life may be h blessing too. 2. In the view of His disciples. After the apostles were fully convinced by several appearances that He was indeed risen; that they might be fully satisfied that He came from God and went to Him, He was in their sight taken up. And this is no small confirmation of the truth of our religion. 3. In a cloud fitly represents the law. Elias was carried up by a whirlwind in a fiery chariot, with horses of fire: but our Saviour in a cloud; to signify to us the coolness and calmness of the gospel dispensation, in comparison of that of the law; which difference our Saviour had before observed to His disciples upon a remarkable occasion (Luke 9:54-55). And there is likewise another difference. The blessing which Elijah left to Elisha is conceived in very doubtful words (2 Kings 2:9). This was suitable to the obscurity of the law; but our Saviour makes a plain and absolute promise of the Holy Ghost, answerable to the clearness and grace of the gospel (verse 8). 4. Into heaven (verse 11). And this is elsewhere more particularly expressed, by declaring the dignity to which He was exalted (Mark 16:19). This exaltation of Christ was conferred upon Him as a reward of His great humiliation and sufferings (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2:9-10). II. The consequent benefits.1. The sending of the Holy Ghost in miraculous powers and gifts upon the apostles, to qualify them for the speedy and effectual propagation of the gospel, and to give credit to them in the preaching of it (John 16:7). 2. His powerful intercession for us at the right hand of God (Hebrews 9:24). 3. A mighty confirmation of our faith. (1) As to the truth of His doctrine in general. If after all the miracles of His life, and His resurrection from the dead, any man can doubt whether He came from God; yet this is evidence beyond all exception that God took Him to Himself. (2) As to His coming again to judge (Acts 10:42). Conclusion: The consideration of our Saviour’ s ascension is very comfortable to all true Christians.1. In respect of our condition in this world. The Church, and every particular member of it, is exposed to trouble and danger; but it is a great comfort that we are under His patronage and protection, who hath “ all power given Him in heaven and earth” (Hebrews 4:14-15). 2. In respect of the happiness which we hope for in the next; world. No religion hath given men so sensible a demonstration of a blessed immortality as Christianity by the ascension. The reasonings of the philosophers concerning immortality besides their uncertainty are only calculated for the more refined and speculative part of mankind; but every man is capable of the force of this argument, that He who declared to the world another life after this, and the happy condition of good men in another world, was Himself visibly taken up into heaven. (Abp. Tillotson.)The ascension I. The ascension of our Lord is in perfect harmony with the other portions of His history. His birth, the voice from heaven at His baptism, His works, His words, were all supernatural. When He was crucified the earth trembled, on the third day He rose, and then, in opposition to the laws of gravity, He ascended up to His Father. All this is perfectly harmonious. Of old His name was called “ Wonderful” ; and if you reject what is wonderful in the history of Christ, then there is no Christ whatever. It is the light of the sun that makes that luminary what it is. Extinguish the light of the son, and it becomes a dark, invisible body, revolving uselessly in the depth of heaven. After the sun has set there is twilight. But it grows feebler and feebler every minute, and by and by all is enveloped in the darkness. Now you may eliminate from Christianity the supernatural facts of it, and after you have done that for centuries, very likely, the twilight of the setting sun--the after effects of what Christianity once had been--would remain here; but as for the Christian religion and Church, and the Christ of history, without the supernatural they cannot be. II. The conduct of our Lord at the time of His ascension harmonises with all that is written of Him before that time. “ While He blessed them.” That was His work. He was like Himself to the end. His heart was not embittered by the Cross. His last look was one of sympathy and love. It was the same at the end as at the beginning. III. The ascension is connected with the carrying on of His own work.1. He ascended “ that He might fill all things” --that is, the hearts of men, the governments of the world, all literature, art, science, philosophy, commerce, courts of law, pulpits, with His influence, The facts of the history of the Redeemer, the truths embodied in these facts--have saved Europe from animalism, or materialism, or downright atheism. Thess facts, like leaven, are put into the hearts of men everywhere. 2. Christ has left the spirit of His life here. Fragrance is on the rose, but distinct from the rose. The rose is the fact, the fragrance is something over and above the rose. The landscape is one thing, its beauty of another. There are truths in the Book, but the genius with which those truths are treated is another thing. There are the facts of the Redeemer’ s life, but there also is the spirit of His life upon those facts--a fragrance, a beauty, a genius, a tenderness, an atmosphere, a divineness which belong to no other facts in the world. It is not the salvation of your souls only that you owe to Him--He has humanised humanity, and He is rectifying and consecrating Europe by the influence of the spirit of His life. Let any artist here say if I am wrong. He has beautified art, and pagan art can never exist again. 3. He ascended that He might send the Holy Ghost down among men. By Holy Ghost I do not mean a mere influence, or power, or energy going forth, but a personality, come down to regenerate the heart and create in it a noble ambition, strengthen it for brave purpose, and consecrate it. IV. The ascension inspired the noblest feelings in the hearts of His apostles (Luke 24:52). While they looked at the glorious vision they instinctively felt a reverence and admiration that could not be expressed. These feelings are not to become extinguished in Christian hearts. The lowest state of mind, in regard to the Redeemer, is stolid indifference. The highest state to which many people attain, is inquiry concerning Christ. Inquire by all means, but there is a higher state than that. A great number seem never to attain to anything higher than simply believing on Jesus. But our religion means more than knowledge, faith, awe, hope. It means reverence, admiration, transcendent wonder. How many of us are content to live without elevated moments when the soul is lost in wonder, love, and praise? V. The ascension teaches that virtuous sufferings lead to and end in glory. It was becoming that Jesus Christ should have ascended from the Mount of Olives. At the foot of that mountain was the place of His sorrow and agony. The death of a good man is, by far, more an ascension to heaven than a descent into the grave. It is very little after all that the grave shall possess of us. Take a tree, consume it, and then look at the small quantity of ash left. That is the only thing that tree derived from the earth. Where are the other elements? They belonged to the skies and have returned to the skies to mingle with their brother elements. Death is the consuming, and the little heap of ashes, when the burning is over, is all that the grave shall have of us; but the intellect, the will, the conscience, the affections, the imagination, the spirit, the man returns to God who gave it. (Thomas Jones.)The ascension I. Its historical circumstances and character.1. As to the historical fact. If, like Matthew and John, the other evangelists had omitted to tell us of the ascension, yet we could not have conceived of any other sequence of the resurrection; we could not have imagined the life of Christ to have wasted away in old age or sickness, much less to have died a second time. It was needful-- (1) To His redeeming triumph, that His conquest over death should be final. (2) To His redeeming reward, that glory should follow His humiliation. (3) As a soothing to our Christian feeling, that His body, broken and bleeding on the Cross, should be uplifted and glorified. (4) As an historical basis for apostolic preaching, and as a doctrinal element of most important practical influences. And that which our reason must have concluded, Scriptural testimony confirms, not to mention the allusions of the Prophecies, the Psalms, and the Epistles, and our Lord’ s own predictions in John, which can only be understood of a bodily enthronement; we:have here the explicit declaration of two inspired writers, and all the disciples were witnesses of this departure; while three only beheld His transfiguration, and none His resurrection. 2. As to its circumstances-- (1) The time selected was the fortieth day after His passion, the mystic period of Moses’ abode on the Mount, of Elijah’ s sojourn in the wilderness, and of the Redeemer’ s own temptation--an interval after His resurrection long enough to furnish indubitable proof of it, to restore the agitated disciples to calmness, and to instruct them in the truths associated with His death and resurrection. (2) The place. Once more our Lord accompanied the eleven across the brook Kedron, and along the path which He traversed to His passion. Once more, as He ascended the well-known track to Bethany, the guilty city would rise to His view, until perhaps they reached the spot “ where He had sat down and wept over it; there the temple reared its head; there was the scene of His trial, and “ the place that is called Calvary, where they crucified Him” ; immediately at His feet was the garden of Gethsemane; while not far distant was the scene of His tenderest human friendships. (3) There was doubtless a studied adaptation to the thoughts and feelings of the disciples in the mode of this leave-taking. There is always a gloom about final separation from those we love; but its circumstances greatly determine the character of our recollections. We see through the wasting and parting tabernacle, the beamings and breakings through of celestial glory, the moral glory of faith, and hope, and triumph overpowering, the pain and dissolution; then the recollection is not so much of earthly life departing as of heavenly life commencing. And thus we may imagine the Redeemer selected the circumstances of His final departure, and we do not wonder that “ they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” We might easily have imagined grander circumstances. There was not, as at His birth, a multitude of the heavenly host; no chariots of fire, nothing that could divert attention from His own identity and glory. The disciples would probably have been dazzled and confounded had it been otherwise. And there is delicacy and encouragement in His parting attitude; He, their Saviour and friend, without any array of terrible magnificence, leaves them, and enters heaven in the act of blessing. And thus the most timid is taught to have confidence in our great High Priest. Let us not, then, think, when conscious of His departure, that it is necessarily in anger. The cloud that receives Him may but be the vail that hides the richer blessings still which He is preparing to pour out upon us. II. Its mediatorial and doctrinal importance.1. The Ascension is the final historic attestation of the validity and acceptance of the Atonement. A moral attestation is continually going on in the effects which the preaching of the Atonement produces. But the Ascension is a direct personal attestation to the sufficiency of Christ’ s expiatory death. 2. The Ascension was the necessary introduction of the Mediator to the scene and reception of His mediatorial reward. Mark tells us that “ He was received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God.” “ God hath highly exalted Him.” 3. Christ ascended that He might bestow the promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit. 4. He ascended that He might, as our High Priest and Intercessor, “ appear in the presence of God for us.” 5. He ascended to reign as Mediatorial King, to superintend the providence of the world, to be “ head over all things to His Church,” and to “ expect until His enemies shall be made His footstool.” 6. He ascended according to His promise, to “ prepare a place” for His disciples in His “ Father’ s house.” Conclusion: learn--1. How to conceive of the spiritual world, a world in which human nature shall be glorified as it has been glorified in Christ. 2. How precious the encouragements of our Christian life. We have “ boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” “ We have not a High Priest who cannot be touched,” etc. 3. The attitude and temper of our Christian life. The effect on the disciples was an effect not of sorrow but of joy. (H. Allon, D. D.)The ascension I. The circumstances. I. The place. It is only natural that a sacred interest should attach to the spot which received the last print of the Redeemer’ s footsteps. No doubt the honour accorded to particular places may open the door to much of fraud, and folly, and superstition. But the Mount of Olives was a fit scene for the ascension. Around no other spot does there gather such a cluster of hallowed associations.2. The witnesses. Romulus is said to have gone up into the clouds in a thunderstorm, and of Mahomet it is pretended that he was miraculously taken up into heaven; but no witnesses were ever produced who saw these events. Our Lord was careful to have chosen and competent witnesses. He did not challenge all Jerusalem to see what was going to take place; nor invite the five hundred assembled at Galilee. The miracle is not harder to believe than that eleven holy and loving men should be mistaken in the identity of one, with whom they had eaten and discoursed after He rose from the dead. 3. The form of transport. A cloud: that emblem of mingled obscurity and light which Deity often employs as a medium through which to converse with man. Thus Jehovah “ maketh the clouds His chariot.” Of the glory which settled on the Mount of Transfiguration, the characteristic feature is that it was “ a bright cloud.” It was a pillar of cloud which went before Israel in the wilderness, and it was the descending cloud at the dedication of the Temple which told of an accepted sacrifice, and an approving and present God. Most fitting was it, therefore, that such a substance should enshrine the glorified humanity of Jesus. It spoke of His Deity. It connected Him more directly with the symbolisms and revelations of the heavenly world. It preserved the weak vision of the disciples from being confounded and dazzled. It prefigured the method of their Lord’ s return. 4. The manner. It was mild, merciful, and majestic. Like a conqueror, wreathing his brow with trophies--like a priest, lifting up his hands to bless--like a parent, gathering his loved ones round to give them a parting charge. He gave them-- (1) a charge: “ Go ye therefore and teach all nations,” etc.(2) A parting promise: “ Lo, I am with you alway.”(3) A benediction: “ And He lifted up His hands and blessed them.” And thus, in the mode of the Saviour’ s parting, we cannot fail to see a blending of His three offices. As Prophet, He provides for the future evangelisation of the world. As a King, He engages for the perpetual preservation of His Church. As a Priest, He scatters from the throne of His ascension all the treasures of heavenly benediction. II. The lessons.1. The grandeur of the scheme of redemption, as seen in the joy of the heavenly host in this its earthly consummation. When God brought His only begotten Son into the world, it was said, “ Let all the angels of God worship Him.” How gladly would they welcome Him back to their own pure courts when His work was done. “ God is gone up with a merry noise, and the Lord with a sound of a trumpet.” “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates,” etc. 2. The special honour put upon our nature--upon His humanity, and upon ours. 3. The cementing and hallowing of those ties which subsist betwixt Himself and His Church--in their several relations of King and subject, Advocate and client, Head and members, Bridegroom and bride. 4. A recognition of Christ’ s title to universal empire. It is the solemn investiture of the Saviour with authority over all worlds, times, economies, intelligences. “ He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” (D. Moore, M. A.)The ascension 1. Jesus retired from Jerusalem for this final act of His earthly life. Great deeds are better done in solitude, when one is shut up to the Father alone. A man’ s piety cannot be very deep, if it does not sometimes have a few personal and unutterable reserves in it. 2. Christ chose a spot hitherto full of only debased memories; Bethany, “ house of the poor.” This ascension made it historic, more even than the august march of the Shekinah over the same plot of ground (Ezekiel 11:23). Very much of our earthly geography will be famous in heaven to those who love Jesus. 3. Our Lord took with Him only His humble circle of disciples as witnesses. Those simple fishermen had seen His humiliation; now they saw its offset. “ Not many mighty, not many noble are called.” Lady Huntington once wrote that she was accustomed, every time she met this verse, to “ thank God for the letter M.” What she meant was that, she (being a woman of rank) was not necessarily excluded from Divine grace, as she would have been, had the word been “ any,” not “ many.” 4. Christ paused at the final moment for a priestly act. He extended His hands; but there is no hint of His imposing them. He was blessing His disciples; He was in no sense mysteriously ordaining them. If any one asks what He said there is room for conjecture (Numbers 6:23). 5. There was great grace of suggestion in the gesture. When His hands were extended, all would see plainly the prints of the nails in His resurrection body. It was a most instructive lesson to learn; the Son of God showed “ the marks--stigmas--of the Lord Jesus” at the moment of His coronation and advance to His throne. 6. Jesus left the field of His vast triumph without any display or fuss. All the pageants, all the hallelujahs, were reserved for the celestial city when the lawful Prince of glory came in. It is not everybody who is great enough to disappear when in the moment of success. 7. When our Lord returns, it will be with the same form of greeting (verse 11). Then let all believers learn that the crown of a religious and Christ-like life is blessing; the symbol of Jesus’ gospel is blessing; the very prediction of His coming again is blessing; the attitude He chooses is the silent grace of benediction. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The ascension: its purposes Christ ascended-- I. That men might believe in Him. For three years He had taught, and with what result? Most of those who believed trusted in Him not so much for spiritual blessings as for the conquest of the heathen invader or for the “ loaves and fishes.” Now contrast this failure to awaken the faith of men, while He lived on earth, with the success of His apostles after the ascension. The first sermon was followed by the conversion of three thousand souls. The reason of this contrast is not hard to find. While Jesus lived a human life, and performed miracles, He called forth admiration and wonder, but this only prevented a deep spiritual movement in men’ s hearts. In the Gospels we seldom come across narratives of men convicted of sin and crying for redemption, but after the ascension Christ began to move upon the conscience of the world as “ The Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.” II. That men might know Him and commune with Him. Men were won, indeed, by the beauty of His character. But who knew Him? Whose heart throbbed in sympathy with His? Where will you find the record of any real communion on the great themes that were nearest His heart? When He addressed them they but half understood Him. But contrast these disciples after the ascension. Then they began to know Him. They grasped the significance of His coming, His labour and His death. Knowing Him now in the spirit and aim of His great mediatorial life, they communed with Him, and illumined with this new knowledge and inspired by this communion, they went forth to preach the gospel, and it proved itself the power of God and the wisdom of God. We easily understand this. The daily life of men serves as often to conceal as to reveal them. How often a great statesman is not seen in his true proportions until he has been received “ out of sight” ! How often the child knows not the meaning of a father’ s or a mother’ s life until death has separated the parent from them! So it was with the disciples. III. In order that His people might truly follow Him. While He was with them on the earth the disciples sought to imitate His outward life, to repeat His miracles, and His judgments. I cannot detect a single sign that the mind which was in Christ Jesus was in one of them. The result was that they never became independent of His physical presence. But how different when He had ascended! The impetuous and ambitious Peter lays down his life, like his Master, for the redemption of men. The “ son of thunder” breathes forth the spirit of Christ in the words, “ Little children, let us love one another.” Instead of attempting to imitate Christ’ s outward life, they sought to drink into His spirit. And so it is with us. IV. That He might be the spiritual redeemer of the whole world. The Church and the world are to become one; the spirit of Christ is to become the dominant spirit of the world’ s life. In order to achieve this Jesus removed Himself from the limitations of place and time and nationality; and, ascending on high, seated Himself on the throne of universal dominion. And thus it was that when Christ had gone the Church moved forward on the path of universal conquest. (J. De Witt, D. D.)Christ’ s way to heaven unclosed It has been said that in the early ages an attempt was once made to build a chapel on the top of the hill from which Christ ascended into heaven; but that it was found impossible either to pave over the place where He last stood, or to erect a roof through the path through which He ascended--a legendary tale, no doubt, though perhaps intended to teach the important truth that the moral marks and impressions which Christ has left behind Him can never be obliterated; that the way to heaven through which He passed can never be closed by human skill or power; and that He has before us an open door which no man shall be able to shut. (J. Alexander, D. D.)The trail of the ascending Saviour Sometimes, when the sky is beclouded, we do not see that across the garden path there sways a ladder of gossamer, linking tree with tree; but when the sun shines it is revealed by its silver sheen. So, as the infidel looks upwards, he can see no bond of union between this atom of star-dust and the metropolis of the universe, until his eyes are opened, and he sees the ladder left by the trail of the departing Saviour. Thank God, we are not cut adrift to the mercy of every current; this dark coal-ship is moored alongside the bright ship of heavenly grace; yes, and there is a plank between them. (F. B. Meyer.)Christ in heaven Christ’ s ascension lights up our thought of heaven. Says one: “ The presence of the glorified humanity of Christ seems a necessary preliminary and condition of our presence in heaven. We could not be at home among those august and terrible splendours unless we saw I-lira, our Brother, in the heart of all. As Joseph’ s brethren, who had been all their lives wild Arab shepherds, would have felt ill at ease indeed in the proudest court in the world had it not been that their brother was there upon the throne, so we would not have found heaven to be our home unless we found it to be the place of the presence of Jesus Christ. Heaven is no place for us unless Christ Jesus be there: “ My knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim; But ‘ tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with Him.” (G. H. James.)The angels watching Jesus It takes a spiritual nature to see the spiritual facts of this world. Doubtless there were thousands in Galilee and Judaea who passed the Messiah without a glance. Let us have a walk of two miles through the heart of any metropolis with any man, and we would not care for any further exposition of his character. He is to be judged by what He himself “ sees.” Around the display in the window of the diamond-broker there gathers a certain number by the silent process of natural selection. At the toy store a different crowd augments itself. Before the bulletin board of the stock exchange a third company collects; and at a bookseller’ s shop a fourth. While men were watching the movements of Herod or the campaigns of Caesar the angels were watching Jesus. They hovered over the manger at Bethlehem; minstered to His fainting frame in the wilderness; guarded the tomb in the garden, and followed with glad eyes His form as it disappeared in the clouds above Olivet. It is a crucial test of character whether we see or slight the living Christ in the men and women of our own day. (Christian Age.)The ascension: its moral uses I. Our faith in Christ’ s divinity is made sure. He who said, “ I came down from heaven,” spoke also of the Ascension as the means whereby the doubts of His disciples should be removed (John 6:38; John 6:51; John 6:61-69.). II. Our hope in His promises is strengthened. Where He is gone we shall also go, since He is gone as our first-fruits, and to prepare a place for us. III. Our love is inflamed. By His going up into heaven our hearts are raised in expectation to the same place, and our love is kindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit He sends down from thence. (W. Denton, M. A.)The Ascension: its diffusive benefits So long as a lamp in a room is placed on a low level its light may be intercepted by the bodies of persons around it, and so prevented from reaching others who are in the remoter corners. But let it be lifted up to the ceiling, and it sheds its beams down on all who are below. Our Lord, while on earth, was circumscribed by place and earthly relationships; but since His ascension, His presence and influence are diffused everywhere through the spiritual world, as the rays of the sun are through the natural. (Dean Goulburn.)The Ascension: its lessons I. Heavenly-mindedness. He went as the great Forerunner of His people, and we must follow in His course. Where the Head is there should the members be; and our treasure, life, affection are meant to be with Him at the right hand of God. II. Simple duty. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, which is emphatically the Epistle of the Ascension, this is the aspect of the doctrine which is always urged. Because Christ is highly exalted and we are raised up together with Him, therefore we are to be lowly and meek, and to forbear one another in love; to put off the old man, etc. It is the same lesson which is taught in two of the Psalms appointed for the service of Ascension Day, “ Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle, or who shall rest upon Thy holy hill?” Is it only the lofty, the devoted? No, but common men who, by God’ s grace, have lived their common lives in the paths of purity and duty, the lowly, the undeceitful, the unmalicious, the uncorrupt. III. Holy fear How are you living? As Christ ascended, so shall He one day descend to awful judgment. If you be a hardened sinner, and will continue so, then fear; for then to you the lesson of Christ’ s ascension is a lesson of wrath and doom. IV. But if you be living in justice and mercy, and walking humbly with your God, then the lesson is one of hope. It is a pledge to us of that forgiveness which Christ died to win. For Christ is our Intercessor. (Archdeacon Farrar.)The Ascension: the Saviour’ s gifts It was the custom of the Roman emperors, at their triumphal entrance, to cast new coins among the multitudes: so doth Christ, in His triumphal entrance into heaven, throw the greatest gifts for the good of man that were ever given. (T. Goodwin, D. D.)The ascension of Christ and of Elijah While the going up of Elias may be compared to the flight of a bird which none can follow, the ascension of Christ is, as it were, a bridge between heaven and earth, laid down for all who are drawn to Him. (J. Baumgarten.)The Ascension and the Second Advent practically considered 1. Four great events shine out in our Saviour’ s story--His birth, death, resurrection, and ascension. These make four rounds in that ladder of light, the top whereof reacheth to heaven. We could not afford to dispense with any one of them. That the Son of God was born creates a brotherhood; that He died is the rest and life of our spirits; that He rose is the warrant of our justification and an assurance of the resurrection of all His people. Equally delightful is the remembrance of His ascension. No song is sweeter than this--“ Thou hast ascended on high; Thou hast led captivity captive,” etc. 2. Each one of those four events points to another, and lead up to it: the Second Advent. Had He not come a first time in humiliation He could not have come a second time in glory “ without a sin-offering unto salvation.” Because He died we rejoice that He cometh to destroy the last enemy. It is our joy that in consequence of His rising the trump of the archangel shall sound for the awaking of all His slumbering people. As for His ascension, He could not a second time descend if He had not first ascended. 3. We will start from the ascension. Picture our Lord and the eleven walking up the side of Olivet. They come to a standstill, having reached the brow of the hill. While the disciples are looking, the Lord has ascended to the clouds. They stand spellbound, and suddenly a bright cloud, like a chariot of God, bears Him away. They are riveted to the spot, very naturally so; but it is not the Lord’ s will that they should long remain inactive; their reverie is interrupted. Two messengers of God appear in human form that they may not alarm them, and in white raiment as if to remind them that all was bright and joyous. As they had once said to the women, “ Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” ; so did they now say, “ Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus,” etc. Their reverie over, the apostles at once gird up their loins for active service; they hasten to obey the command, “ Tarry ye at Jerusalem.” Here is-- I. A gentle chiding.1. What these men were doing seems at first sight to be-- (1) Very right. If Jesus were among us now we would fix our eyes upon Him, and never withdraw them. When He ascended up into heaven it was the duty of His friends to look upon Him. If it be right to look up into heaven, it must be still more right to look up while Jesus rises to the place of His glory; but they went further--they stood “ gazing.” “ Look” is ever the right word. “ Look unto Me, and be saved.” Be your posture that of one “ looking unto Jesus,” always throughout life. But it is not commendable, when the look is not that of worship, but of curiosity. If infinite wisdom had withdrawn the object, what was their gazing but a sort of reflection upon the wisdom which had removed their Lord? Yet it did seem very right. Thus certain things that you and I may do may appear right, and yet we may need to be chidden out of them into something better. A steadfast gaze into heaven may be to a devout soul a high order of worship, but if this filled up much of our working time it might become the idlest form of folly. (2) Very natural. I should have done the same. Hearts are not to be argued with. You stand by a grave. You cannot help it, the place is precious to you; yet you could not prove that you do any good, and deserve to be gently chidden with the question, “ Why?” It may be the most natural thing in the world, and yet it may not be a wise thing. The Lord allows us to do that which is innocently natural, but He will not have us carry it too far. We must not stand gazing here for ever, and therefore we are aroused to get back to the Jerusalem of practical life, where we may do service for our Master. (3) But was not after all justifiable upon strict reason. While Christ was going up it was proper that they should adoringly look at Him. But when He was gone, still to remain gazing was an act which they could not explain to themselves nor justify to others. I remember a woman whose only son was emigrating. The train came up and he entered the carriage. After the train had passed, she ran along the platform and pursued the flying train. It was natural, but what was the use of it? We had better abstain from acts which serve no practical purpose. 2. What they did we are very apt to imitate. “ Oh,” say you, “ I shall never stand gazing up into heaven.” I am not sure of that. (1) Some Christians are very curious, but not obedient. I remember one who was great at apocalyptic symbols, but he had no family prayer. By all means search till you know all that the Lord has revealed concerning things to come; but first see that your children are brought to the Saviour, and that you are workers in His Church. (2) Others are contemplative but not active--much given to the study of Scripture, but not zealous for good works. When a man’ s religion all lies in enjoying holy things for his own self, there is a disease upon him. When his judgment of a sermon is based upon the one question, “ Did it feed me?” it is a swinish judgment. (3) Some are impatient for some marvellous interposition. We get at times into a sad state of mind, because we do not see the kingdom of Christ advancing as we desire. The Master is away, and we cry, “ When will He be back again? Why tarries He through the ages?” In certain cases this uneasiness has drawn to itself an intense desire for sign-seeing. What fanaticisms come of this! If I were introduced into a room where a large number of parcels were stored up, and I was told that there was something good for me, I should begin to look for that which had my name upon it, and when I came upon a parcel and I saw in pretty big letters, “ It is not for you,” I should leave it alone. Here, then, is a casket of knowledge marked, “ It is not for you to know the times or the seasons,” etc. Cease to meddle with matters which are concealed, and be satisfied to know the things which are clearly revealed. II. A cheering description--“ This same Jesus.” I appreciate this the more because it came from those who knew Him. “ He was seen of angels.”1. Jesus is gone, but He still exists. As surely as He did hang upon the Cross, so surely does He, the self-same Man, sit upon the throne of God. Jesus lives; mind that you live also. “ Jesus “ means” a Saviour.” Oh, ye anxious sinners, the name of Him who has gone up into His glory is full of invitation to you! Will you not come to “ this same Jesus” ? 2. He who is to come will be the same Jesus that went up into heaven. He will be “ the same Jesus” in nature though not in condition: He will possess the same tenderness when He comes to judge. Go to Him with your troubles, as you would have done when He was here. Look forward to His second coming without dread. On the back of that sweet title came this question, “ Why stand ye here gazing into heaven?” They might have said, “ We stay here because we do not know where to go. Our Master is gone.” But oh, it is the same Jesus, and He is coming again, so go down to Jerusalem and get to work directly. Do not worry yourselves; it is not a disaster that Christ has gone, but an advance in His work. Despisers tell us nowadays, “ Your Divine Christ is gone; we have not seen a trace of His miracle-working hand, nor of that voice which no man could rival.” Here is our answer: He lives; and it is our delight to turn our heavenly gazing into an earthward watching, and to go down into the city, and there to tell that Jesus is risen, that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life. His ascension is not a retreat, but an advance. His tarrying is not for want of power, but because of the abundance of His long-suffering. III. A great practical truth, which will not keep us gazing into heaven, but will make us render earnest service.1. Jesus is gone into heaven; up to the throne, from which He can send us succour. Is not that a good argument--“ Go ye therefore and teach all nations,” etc.? 2. Jesus will come again. A commander has not given up the campaign because it is expedient that he should withdraw from your part of the field. Our Lord is doing the best thing for His kingdom in going away. 3. He is coming in like manner as He departed. He will descend in clouds even as He went up in clouds; and “ He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” even as He stood aforetime. Do not let anybody spiritualise this away. Jesus is coming as a matter of fact, therefore go down to your sphere of service as a matter of fact. Jesus is literally and actually coming, and He will literally and actually call upon you to give an account of your stewardship. 4. Be ready to meet your coming Lord. I called one day on one of our members, and she was whitening the front steps. She got up all in confusion, and said, “ Oh dear, sir, I did not know you were coming to-day, or I would have been ready.” I replied, “ Dear friend, you could not be in better trim than you are: you are doing your duty like a good housewife, and may God bless you. When Jesus comes, I hope He will find me doing as you are doing, namely, fulfilling the duty of the hour.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The apostles’ last sight of Jesus Note here-- I. The Master of all resources making use of natural means in connection with a stupendous miracle. Jesus showed Himself superior to natural laws, yet up to the highest point possible He made use of natural means on the way to His glorious end. He might have ascended from the valley, but since He made hills so much nearer heaven, He would not neglect the benefit of His own creation. He who could always have walked on the sea did so but once, and He to whom the highest mountains are but valleys would walk up a hill to ascend into heaven. This should teach us to bless God for means when we have them, and to trust Him for means when we have them not. II. The Great Master going to His rest when His work was done. He had overcome, and must therefore now go to His throne. He had shown His sovereign power over the sea by walking on it and making it pay His tribute; over the earth by raising the dead and forsaking His own tomb; over hell by conquering Satan; and He must now show His power over the air by a local ascending into heaven. III. Christ served by other beings than men. The cloud might be a multitude of heavenly attendants. Certainly celestial messengers instructed the apostles about “ this same Jesus.” How great is His dignity who has such servants, and what an honour to serve Him. IV. That even Christian contemplation must be regulated with reference to other duties. It was but natural that the disciples should gaze after Jesus; but the angel’ s word called them off from an object engrossing and delightful to their work. To neglect the shop for the prayer-meeting, to allow your cattle to hunger that you may hear a sermon, to make private devotion an excuse for refusing to visit the sick and needy, is what God cannot bless; and when a Christian is called from such dangerous ways he ought to feel deeply grateful. V. That the ascension is a pattern of the Second Advent. It will be--1. Personal.2. With clouds.3. With angelic attendants. (W. Hudson.)A cloud received Him.-- The Ascension cloud Lovers of nature find almost as much pleasure in watching the clouds as in gazing upon a landscape; in some respects even more, for the colouring is far more splendid, and the whole scene is one of perpetual change and variety. We read very much of clouds in Holy Scripture. The one before us is the Ascension cloud. A last thought is the extent and amount of the change involved in the Ascension. “ A cloud received Him.” That is all. This and no more is the change made by the Ascension. Behind, above the cloud, is the Person who a moment ago was visible, was audible, was conversing and communing with us, was here, and answering our questions; was speaking of things pertaining to His kingdom. There is now just a cloud between us--between us and Him. That is all. No other change has had place or room. We are still gazing into heaven, only a cloud has intercepted the view. His last act was benediction: while He blessed He was taken from us. The hand is stretched out still. It is to leave His peace with us which passeth understanding. The Ascension cloud has nothing but benediction in it. It was that He might fill earth and heaven, St. Paul tells us, that He went away. In other words, it was that, being out of sight, and because He was out of sight, He might be to us that spiritual presence which alone profits, satisfies, comforts, or saves. The Ascension cloud is all blessing. The mystery which it involves is no illusion. It is true and wholesome doctrine. It is the doctrine of the reality, and the activity, and the nearness to us of that spiritual presence which is our life. Alas I it is quite ether-wise with other clouds which intercept the view of the Ascended. “ Earth-born clouds” our evening hymn speaks off They are of all kinds. There is the cloud of simple indifference. The heart feels no want which earth cannot supply. The heart sees no beauty in spiritual satisfaction. Christ is out of sight; the cloud is between, and we care not to pierce it. Let it hide the Invisible; we do not want Him. And then there is the cloud of unbelief. We have heard of the sneer of the infidel; alas! we have listened to it. All things are dared in these days, even if it be to the parodying and caricature of the Bible. Wheresoever the soul has no God in it, there clouds are, and their name is legion. There is the earth-born cloud of sinning. Yes, for one cloud of worldliness, or levity, or conscious unbelief, there are in the individual skies thousands and tens of thousands of damp, dark, heavy clouds of sin; and each one of these hides Jesus Christ from view. If it be no bigger than a man’ s hand it is enough. Each one of these little clouds places Him at a measureless distance, Him the holy, the undefiled, the separate from sinners. He cannot dwell where sin is, either as guest or host. “ A cloud receiveth Him out of their sight.” It was one of the earth-born clouds. It was not the sweet Ascension cloud, for that while it intercepts the view of sense only quickens the view of faith, which is the eye of the soul. (Dean Vaughan.)Comfort in a cloud A friend of mine told me of a visit he had paid to a poor woman overwhelmed with trouble. “ Mary,” said he, “ you must have very dark days; the clouds must overcome you sometimes.” “ Yes,” she replied, “ when I am very dark and low I go to the window, and if I see a heavy cloud I think of those precious words, ‘ A cloud received Him out of their sight,’ and I look up and see the cloud sure enough, and then I think, ‘ Well, that may be the cloud that hides Him’ ; and so you see there is comfort in a cloud.” The intervening cloud A minister says: “ I once visited an invalid lady who for a long time had been confined to her bed, and she said to me, ‘ The Lord has forgotten me altogether.’ I replied, ‘ Supposing a heavy mist should fall so that you could not see that lighthouse on the other side of the river, would you believe it was there?’ ‘ Oh, yes,’ she said, ‘ because I had seen it before, and I should all the time hear the whistle which warns mariners of danger.’ ‘ Yes, and in the same way you may know that the Lord is near. Your bodily weakness is the cloud between you and your God. His Word still speaks to you, and the eye of faith can surely see through this cloud as clearly as through an earthly mist.’ This led her to a life of faith and comfort.” Acts 1:10-11 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up.Too much mere sentiment in religion It may be that the same two angels who rolled away the stone, and appeared at His open sepulchre, were present now. Or were they the “ two men,” Moses and Elijah, who had appeared at the Transfiguration? Whoever they were, they were glorified beings, sent to do honour to Christ. The words may be taken as a rebuke for the indulgence of too much sentiment in connection with religion. Sentiment in religion is not only good, but essential; without the sentiments of love, hope, gratitude, adoration, there could be no religion. But if it continue merely as sentiment, and takes no practical form, sways not the actions and shapes not the life, it is rather pernicious than useful. I. That too much sentimental interest in the marvellous in religion is not good. Religion has its marvels, supernatural events crowd the Word of God; but to yield our minds too much to the influence of the wonderful, is not good. The sentiment of wonder has its beneficent mission; it tends to take us out of ourselves, to break the monotony of our experience, and to give a passing freshness to life. But the indulgence of this sentiment of wonder, apart from religion, is a great evil. The religionists who are always gazing after signs and wonders become dreamy mystics and the dupes of priestly imposture. The wonder which the marvellous in religion excites, becomes only useful as it lifts us to a higher plane of practical life, only as it tends to make our lives sublime. II. That too much sentimental interest in the objective in religion is not good. The disciples were looking outside of themselves, fixing their gaze on the heavens. We do well so to gaze upon the outward, as to reduce the whole into a science that shall become the richest inheritance of the intellect. In religion, too, we must be interested in the outward. The soul is neither self-sustaining nor self-directing; its elements of life must be derived from without; its lessons of direction must come from without. But to have all our interests absorbed in the externals of religion is a terrible evil, and, alas I a prevalent one. “ The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and joy and peace in the Holy Ghost.” III. That too much sentimental interest in the temporary in religion is not good. There is a natural tendency in these souls of ours to linger with interest over departed objects that were once dear to the heart. ‘“ We cling,” says one, “ to the shell, the husks, the garments, after the kernel, the essence, and the life have gone.” To indulge in this sentiment in natural things, is not good; the mourner whose sentiments are always absorbed in the dear ones that are gone, grows moody and diseased. The permanent was with them--the eternal principles of truth and the spirit of Christ, these did not depart; it was a mere temporary manifestation that went; and to have their sentiments engrossed in that, was not good. There are those around us in all directions whose sympathies are taken up with the mere temporary forms of religion. (Homilist.)Words to the spectators of the ascension I. The chiding element. “ Why stand ye gazing?” There is undoubtedly reproof in these words.1. “ Why stand ye?” --you need not lament that which is a blessing. All that is necessary on earth for your spiritual culture and well-being He has accomplished, and now He enters heaven in order to give efficiency to all the spiritual instrumentalities which He has set in operation amongst you. You should rejoice, rather than lament--rejoice at what He has done for you, rejoice that He has triumphed over His enemies, rejoice that He is leaving His degradation, sorrows, and enemies for scenes of dignity, blessedness, and love. Ah, how often, through our ignorance, we lament over events which should fill us with rejoicing. 2. “ Why stand ye” --you gain much by His departure. It is “ expedient” for you that He goes away, for if He goes not away “ the Comforter will not come.” When He is gone you will be thrown back upon yourselves and be made self-reliant. 3. “ Why stand ye” --He has given you a commission to work. “ Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, beginning at Jerusalem.” II. The cheering element. “ This same Jesus which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”1. He will return to you “ in like manner.” How unexpectedly He went away. It is said, “ while they looked” He went. “ In like manner” He will come: unexpectedly. 2. He will return to you identical in personality. “ This same Jesus.” Same loving Brother, tried Friend, mighty Lord, etc. Whatever changes take place in the universe, they will not touch Him. 3. He will return to you in great glory. He went up in great glory, “ a cloud received Him out of their sight.” What cloud was that? It was that luminous, mystic flame which was ever regarded as the symbol of the Divine Presence. That which gleamed in the bush to Moses, in the pillar that conducted the Children of Israel through the wilderness, over the mercy-seat in the holy of holies, which glided through the heavens like a star and conducted the wise men to the place where Jesus was born; that which spread over the Mount of Transfiguration and made the scene so transporting. “ In like manner” He will come. “ I beheld a great white throne, and Him that sat thereon,” etc. Conclusion: Such is what seems implied in this angelic language and from it three general truths may be drawn.1. That what we deem our greatest losses are often our greatest gain. 2. That we indulge too much in the sentiments of religion when they detain us from earnest work.” 3. That the destinies of men in all worlds and ages are bound up in Christ. “ This same Jesus.” (Homilist.)Why stand ye gazing There is reproof in the question. We might have thought that the question answered itself. Would it not have been strange if they had not stood gazing? Less wonderful spectacles than that have drawn together a crowd of gazers, and no one thinks of arguing with them. Curiosity alone will account for gazing upon this spectacle; ascent into heaven by one in human form, unaided by any visible appliance. Who, I say, would not gaze up into heaven to watch this? But how much more, if the person thus ascending was a friend--a friend closer than a brother. The disciples gazed as though they were looking their last upon the departed form. To be reminded, then, that this was by no means their last sight of Him was to be recalled at once to thoughts of peace, and hope, and blessedness; to be reproved for this gazing by the assurance which followed, that “ this same Jesus shall come again in like manner as ye now see Him go,” had healing in the very wound. Interpreted by the teaching of the Last Supper, the reproof said this to them: “ Remember how He said to you while He was yet with you, ‘ A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while and ye shall see Me.’” One fulfilment of that saying you have already witnessed: He went from you by death, and He came back to you by resurrection. Another fulfilment of the same saying is now in development: He goes from you by ascension, and He shall come back to you in the Advent. This, then, was the meaning for the first disciples of the “ Why stand ye gazing?” which is our text. Within tea days they understood it. On the instant it comforted them, for St. Luke expressly says, that they returned to Jerusalem that very hour with great joy. The idea of parting was swallowed up for them in the idea of meeting. But now, let us hear this question addressed to ourselves: “ Why stand ye here gazing? What mean ye by this silence?” and let us think what we shall answer. “ Why stand ye to-night in this church gazing on the ascension?” We take an onward step when we reply. I. Because it helps us to realise a world beyond this world, a life above this life, a substantial rock that is higher than we, on which we would firmly stand our feet amidst the billows and storms of the temporal and the transient. To fix a steadfast gaze upon the ascending Lord, till a cloud comes between and intercepts the view, to which flesh and blood are unequal, of that glorious, that mysterious transition from the material into the immaterial universe--we find it helpful, we find it comforting, under the heavy pressure of sense and time, whether our circumstances at this present are joyous or grievous, weighted with care and sorrow, or but too jubilant with pleasure and prosperity. It is not easy to believe in a world out of sight. We want every help that a religious life can give to it, we want the aid of prayer, we want the discipline of providence, we want the experience of years, we want, first and above all, a revelation such as God gives in His Son, commending itself to man’ s conscience and resting upon a basis of impregnable fact. I know not what would become of us in days such as these--days of unrest and disquietude, days of anxiety bursting sometimes into horror, days of failing hearts and almost despairing hopes, for the future of our own and other lands, if we could not gaze upward after the ascended Saviour and infer the certainty of a better country, that is a heavenly. II. The desire to realise the life of Christ Himself as gone into heaven for us men and for our salvation. III. That we are all learning in heart and mind to ascend after Him, and there with Him continually to dwell. There are many counterfeits of this grace, there are also some substitutes for it, counted as good or better, sometimes even by the Church of this age. It is an age which makes activity everything; measures religion by its tangible effects; leaves itself no inner life, as it were; itself depends on the outward, and thinks little even of the industry which has nothing to show for itself. The Church too much humours and pampers this temper of the times. Now, the ascent of our Lord is the protest against this whole system. They who would witness for Him must find time to track His ascending; they who would reproduce Him in. His reality to this nineteenth age must first have gazed steadfastly up; there must be leisure found or made for this, leisure for meditation, leisure for study, leisure for communing. Let each one fix his gaze upon the ascending Lord, that he may follow Him where the Ascended rests in that calm heaven, the heaven of holiness and the heaven of love. Let him dwell with the Ascended, having boldness to enter into the Holiest. Let us draw nigh; let it be a purified entering, and let it be a purified return also. That is the spiritual mind whose home is heaven. “ Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” Because we would follow where He has led, live the life of heaven here, and at last be with Him for ever where He is. (Dean Vaughan.)The disciples at the Ascension I. Men overpowered and dispossessed of self-control in the presence of a wondrous revelation. There are moments in which men are not themselves. Great events suddenly happen and the spectators lose all presence of mind, however sagacious they may ordinarily be. Sometimes they cannot speak for joy, sometimes for terror, sometimes for simple amazement. This is the case sometimes with children, and often with men when, e.g., a letter is received containing unexpected news. The thing to be remembered here is that this is the natural effect of Christian revelation. When the angels came to Bethlehem the shepherds were afraid, so were the women to whom the angels spake at the sepulchre. And no man ought to receive Divine communications or see Divine effects without sensibility. Nor ought we to look on the sublimities of nature or the wonders of art as if they were nothing. This is one of the perils of familiarity. A rustic thinks little of the mountain under whose shadow he was born, but is struck dumb when he gazes on St. Paul’ s. A Londoner passes the cathedral without knowing that it is there, but looks at Snowdon for hours during his summer holiday. II. Men recalled from enfeebling reverie. It was good for them to look upward, but there was something more to be done. We can waste time in the sublimest contemplation. When a man is naturally inclined to ecstasy he ought to fight against his inclination so as to bring it into harmony with other powers. There are persons to whom Christianity is so sublime a thing that they fail to see it in practical life. It is right to have hours of rapture, but a man cannot live so always. So the disciples were interrogated by the two men in white apparel--Moses and Elias, I think; for there is something Mosaic in the inquiry, and something of the power and passion of Elijah. We too are matched by the old master-workers of the world. Seeing then we are encompassed by so great a cloud of witnesses, why should our life be a gazing when we are called to work? When the women looked down into the sepulchre, the angel said, “ Why seek ye the living among the dead?” So we are not always to be looking down. The lesson of the text is that we must not always be looking up. What then is to be our attitude? Look about you; and look up only to gain inspiration for the work nearest to hand. III. Men instructed and comported by a promise. “ This same Jesus.” Who wants an amended Christ? “ This same Jesus” who knows, has taught, has died to save you “ shall come again.” One would like to see Jesus; but one would not like Him to be so changed that those who knew Him first know Him no longer. We want such elements of identity as shall enable the disciples to gladly recognise Him as the same Christ. He is promised to come again in the same sublime fashion, sovereign in will, gentle in spirit, pure as God, tenderer than woman. The world cannot live without that promise. (J. Parker, D. D.)Gazing into heaven There is here-- I. An affectionate expostulation with those who are under personal bereavement. When Jesus had kept telling these friends of His that He purposed to leave them before long, they received no settled impression from it. It is of no use to attempt to become prepared for the loss of one whom we love. Now they looked after their ascending Lord with unutterable dismay. When any one has parted with some precious object of affection, the wounded spirit remains just broken, gazing up into vacancy, sometimes even wishing it might fly away and be at rest. But this cannot be indulged. These disciples are told to report immediately for duty. The mourner’ s eyes should be fixed upon work, and not upon loss. See the promise (Psalms 126:5-6.). II. An earnest incitement to the laggard or listless. The great world needed the gospel without delay. Christ was gone, but the Comforter was coming. Just as soon as they advanced to duty the day of Pentecost dawned. There are men who stand gazing up into heaven after a revival. Now, nowhere does God’ s Word bid us wait for any special outpouring of spiritual influence. The Holy Spirit is in the Church. III. A clear counsel for those in earnest in the seeking of Christ for their souls. It is possible for a man to stand gazing up into heaven for a course of years, and then suddenly discover that what he has been looking for was an experience, and not a Saviour. Salvation is not a thing to be vacantly gazed after. Repent of your sins now. Put your trust in Christ now. The entire work of turning unto a new life usually begins with some commonplace step of commitment of one’ s self before others. A public word in a prayer-meeting, the asking of a blessing at the table, a checking admonition to a comrade, a mere refusal to do a wrong or worldly act, will never make a man a Christian, but it may show he has become one. IV. A comfort for such Christians as are in bondage through fear of death. Let us think of our departure as an ascension like Christ’ s. One may habituate himself to melancholy foreboding until all looks dark and frightful on ahead. Or he may accustom his mind to regarding a change of worlds as only a sweet, bright journey along the path the Saviour went from the Mount of Olives. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Indolence Nothing is more dangerous than idleness. He who has nothing to do will soon be doing something wrong. “ Our idle,” says an eminent divine, “ are Satan’ s busy days. If the mind is properly engaged, there is little room for the entrance of temptation; but when the mind is empty and open, the enemy can throw in what he pleases. Stagnant waters produce thousands of noxious insects that are unknown in flowing streams.” Looking after it is useless How true to nature is that gazing “ steadfastly into heaven” after gazing was useless! So we look at the spot on the horizon where the last gleam of a sail that bears away dear ones has faded. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Unprofitable gazing The “ two men in white apparel” make a part of the grand supernatural array which the common scenery of the earth put on as the Lord was leaving it. From the entrance of the Saviour into the garden, on through the following forty-three days, the spiritual world and the material seemed to have the doors between them swung open, and to become one. If we believe the history, or credit the incarnation, at all, is not this just as we should expect? He in whom the realities of both heaven and earth were united; He who could say--“ The Son of Man is now in heaven,” He is passing back personally into the unseen communion, where all His friends are to follow Him. I believe in miracles because I see the greater miracle--Christ--grander than all this world’ s men, and yet lowlier, saying that He comes forth from God, and goes to God, as simply as my child shows me the flower found in the garden-yet so saying it that all the philosophers and critics of eighteen hundred years have not been able to break the authority or explain the secret. The question is-- I. A call from contemplation to action. Only a little breathing space was to be given them first to gather up their energies; and even that was not to be an interval of idleness. They were to go at once to Jerusalem, and their waiting there was to be like the waiting of the still midsummer elements, before the mountain winds sweep down and the tongues of fire leap out--a busy waiting--a preparation for this long campaign of many ages. They were to be earnest and constant in prayer and praise; to settle in their minds the doctrines and directions of their Master, pertaining to the kingdom; to fasten and cement the bonds of unity with one accord, and to fill up the vacant place in the apostolate. Thus their business had been marked out as every Christian’ s is. But the apostles are not turning to that business; they are still resting in a kind of sentimental trance between their commission and their ministry. They were living as some Christians do nowadays-in their feelings, more than in their convictions and their will, in fruitless memories, not in daring hopes. Indulged any longer, this would become a mere life of religious sentiment, not a life of religious service--and so not a healthy life at all. If those men that had companied so long with Christ needed to be startled out of a false indulgence in the mere idle luxury of feeling, most of us need it much more. I hear a man say it makes him “ feel better” to say his prayers; so far so good; but how far does the feeling go, and the power of the prayer keep him company, as a law of regulation to his lips and a purifier of his conduct? Lacordaire says, “ I desire to be remembered only as one who believed, who loved, and who prayed.” But why only these? Ought there not to be an equal desire to honour the Lord in an active following of His steps and proclaiming Him in life? II. A summons to walk, henceforth, not by the light of an outward leader, but by a secret and steadfast trust in Him who is for ever with us by an inward possession. If, then, the question of the heavenly men be put into some paraphrase for ourselves here, this would be its import. Reduce your privileges to Christian practice, and your faith to action. Life is not given us for speculation, or gazing, or mere delight, even though the relish be religious--not for reverie and dreaming, even though it were the reverie of devotion, or a dream of Paradise. This world, our own little corner of it, wants sacrifice and labour, running feet and open hands, busy thoughts and gentle tongues. III. A demand that our Christian life should be independent of external support, so that it may be only dependent on God. Not that we are to cast away any outward prop so long as God’ s providence holds it in its place and comforts us by letting us lean upon it; but that we should not be perplexed or disheartened when any such help is taken away by Him, or enfeeble ourselves by letting our integrity, or our purity, or our prayers depend on it instead of depending directly on Him. There is no danger that our eyes or our hearts will he turned too much upwards, heavenwards--provided we look there, in faith and prayer, for the light and the strength to do our Christian service here. At present this is our place; and the judgment before us is a judgment for deeds done in the body. These men, when they were bidden to stop gazing into heaven and go to their work were not turned away from heavenly things to earthly things, but the opposite. They were to stop looking into the air, that by a truer and God-appointee road they might travel, in God’ s time, higher up into the Christian heaven. They were to rouse themselves from a dream, that they might work out their salvation and the salvation of the world. To that end, the present line of living, however agreeable and prosperous, the present residence or occupation, however delightful, or the present apparent helps, however prized, as soon as they become tempters to sluggishness, must be given up--a sacrifice to Him whose sacrifice to us is the only assurance of life. Hence God’ s providence is continually pushing us on, displacing one or another scheme, or vision, or staff, or companion. He does it for what he would make of us--better men. (Bp. Huntington.)Idle emotion useless Love to God is no idle emotion or lazy rapture, no vague sentiment, but the root of all practical goodness, of all strenuous efforts, of all virtue, and of all praise. That strong tide is meant to drive the busy wheels of life and to bear precious freightage on its bosom; not to flow away in profitless foam. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Go about your business Some years ago, a new clock was made to be placed in the Temple Hall. When finished the clockmaker was desired to wait upon the Benchers of the Temple, who would think of a suitable motto to be put under the clock. He applied several times, but without getting the desired information, as they had not determined on the inscription. Continuing to importune them, he at last came when the old Benchers were met in the Temple Hall, and had just sat down to dinner. The workman again requested to be informed of the motto. One of the Benchers who thought the application ill-timed, and who was fender of eating and drinking than inventing mottoes, testily replied, “ Go about your business!” The mechanic taking this for an answer to his question, went home and inserted at the bottom of the clock, “ Go about your business!” and placed it in the Temple Hall, to the great surprise of the Benchers, who, considering the circumstances, argued that accident had produced a better motto than they could think of, and ever since the Temple clock has continued to remind the lawyer and the public to go about their business. (Christian Herald.)This same Jesus … shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go.-- Christ’ s second coming I. Its Time.1. Unknown (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32).2. The times of restoration (Acts 3:19).3. The latter day (Job 19:25).4. “ Such an hour as ye think not” (Matthew 24:44).5. “ After that tribulation,” etc. (Mark 13:24-26).6. A falling away first (2 Thessalonians 2:3). II. How characterised.1. The times of restoration (Acts 3:19).2. The day of God (2 Peter 3:12).3. The last time (1 Peter 1:5).4. The revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:13).5. Appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour (Titus 2:13).6. The day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8).7. The day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).8. The appearing of the chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). III. Its manner.1. Suddenly and unexpectedly (Matthew 24:44; Mark 13:36; Luke 12:40).2. As a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 16:15).3. As the lightning (Matthew 24:27).4. As the flood (Matthew 24:37-39).5. As He ascended (verse 11). 6. In clouds (Matthew 24:30; Matthew 26:64; Revelation 1:7).7. With a shout and the voice of the archangel (1 Thessalonians 4:16).8. With angels (Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; 2 Thessalonians 1:7).9. With His saints (1 Thessalonians 3:13; Jude 1:14). 10. In the glory of His Father (Matthew 16:27). 11. In His own glory (Matthew 25:31; Luke 9:26). 12. In flaming fire (2 Thessalonians 1:8). 13. With power and great glory (Matthew 24:30.)IV. Its purposes.1. To be glorified in His saints (2 Thessalonians 1:10).2. To bring to light the hidden things of darkness (1 Corinthians 4:5).3. To reign (Isaiah 24:23; Daniel 7:14; Revelation 11:15).4. Gather His elect (Matthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).5. To judge (Matthew 25:31).6. To reward (Revelation 22:12). V. Duties relative to it.1. Should consider as at hand (Romans 13:12; Philippians 4:5; 1 Peter 4:7).2. Be prepared for (Matthew 24:44; Matthew 24:46; Luke 12:37-38; Luke 12:40).3. Should love (2 Timothy 4:8).4. Look for (Philippians 3:20; Titus 2:13).5. Wait for (1 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:10).6. Watch for (Matthew 24:42; Mark 13:35-37; Luke 21:36).7. Be patient unto (2 Thessalonians 3:5; James 5:7-8). (S. S. Times.)Christ’ s coming Love makes the tears of farewells sparkle into welcomes, and if we could retain the came impression of Christ’ s loss, His return would be as nigh. It is, moreover, in the New Testament the great event which towers above every other. The heaven that gives back Christ gives back all we have loved and lost, solves all doubts and ends all sorrows. His coming looks in upon the whole life of His Church, as a lofty mountain peak looks in upon every little valley and sequestered home around its base, and belongs to them alike. Every generation lies under the shadow of it, for whatever is transcendently great is constantly near, and in moments of conviction it absorbs petty interests and annihilates intervals. (J. Ker, D. D.)Waiting for Christ’ s return The Rev. T. Brown, in The Watchword, tells of a gentleman, accompanied by his little son, having an errand at the East India House, who left the boy upon the steps, telling him to wait till he returned. Shortly afterwards, being much engrossed, with the business which he had in hand, he left the building by another door, and went home, entirely forgetting his son. When the family assembled at dinner the mother noticed the child’ s absence, and made anxious inquiry for him. Then the incident of the morning flashed upon the father’ s mind. He hurried back to the East India House, and there he found the little boy, tired and hungry, waiting, as he had been told to, at the door. He had been there four hours. “ I knew you would come, father,” said he; “ you said you would.” Such secure and childlike trust is the faith of all who die “ in Christ.” All who fall asleep in Jesus, know that Jesus will come for them again, for He said He would, and He never forgets. In like manner the living believer should anticipate His second coming. The Second Advent Note here-- I. Our Lord’ s unchanged identity. After having been separated by years of time and leagues of space from a familiar friend, if a reunion is anticipated each will probably speculate on the change which the interval has wrought in the other. “ He will have formed new friendships and contracted fresh habits; another generation has sprung up since we were companions, and the old links no longer exist; he can hardly feel for me as he once did.” But no such surmises can mingle with our thoughts of Jesus. “ There is one Lord Jesus Christ,” and but one. The ascended and coming Saviour is the same who came and suffered (Ephesians 4:9). A native Indian preacher was met on his way to Church by two young English officers bent on sport. They asked him, “ How is Jesus Christ to-day?” Astonished that two young men from the country who sent the Bible should take the sacred name in vain, he gently rebuked them, but added, “ If you really want to know how Jesus Christ is, He is the ‘ same yesterday, to-day, and for ever’“ --a word fitly spoken which led the young men to the Saviour.1. Jesus Christ is the same in-- (1) The perfections of His nature.(2) The tenderness of His sympathy.(3) The plenteousness of His grace.(4) The extent and perpetuity of His rule. Since His ascension those who have seen Him declare that He retains His identity--Stephen, Paul (1 Corinthians 9:1), John at Patmos. As He still bears the marks of His suffering, so He retains sympathy for every member of His body. Although “ by seraph hosts adored, He to earth’ s lowest cares is still awake.”2. So it is with our friends who have gone homo. They have not lost their individuality--only their mortality and sin. They have not melted into the infinite azure. Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration were the same as in Hebrew story. II. The certainty and manner of His return.1. He continually revisits His people. (1) Spiritually. “ The King Himself draws near and feasts His saints.”(2) Representatively. The angel of death is His messenger calling His people home. 2. He is coming. (1) Personally.(2) Visibly.(3) Gloriously. Not as first He came, a helpless infant, but a glorious conqueror (Daniel 7:13; Revelation 1:7; Revelation 14:14). (R. Lewis.)The Second Advent These words cannot refer to Pentecost, nor to Christ’ s spiritual communion with His people, because other references point to the Second Advent as in the future, and far more glorious than any manifestations in the past. I. Christ will come again. In the Early Church the expectation of soon seeing Christ was strong. But when this was disappointed the thought fell into the background. Yet error as to time does not affect the fact. The world waited many ages for the First Advent, but “ in the fulness of time God sent forth His Son.” Why, then, should the Church despair if she must wait ages for the second? II. Christ will come in glory. He ascended in triumph; He will return in triumph. In the prophets we have visions of glory and humiliation associated with the Messiah, and the Rabbis expected two Messiahs, one suffering and the other conquering. We now see that one man can be both in successive periods. Christ fulfils prophecy by degrees. Had the whole of Christ’ s career fallen in the days of Tiberius the Jews might properly have rejected Him. We look for the final fulfilment of prophecy to the future glory of Christ. III. Christ will come to reign. His glory will not be an empty pageant. They who look for a visible throne and a secular government fall into the error of the Jews. How He will appear we know not, but we know that His kingdom will be always spiritual, and when it comes “ all men shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest.” This hope should stimulate the Church’ s diligence. As she carries out her mission His full reign draws nearer. (Wf. Adeney, M. A.)The Second Advent: the different feelings awakened by it Did you ever hear the sound of the trumpets which are blown before the judges as they come into the city to open the assizes? Did you ever reflect how different are the feelings which those trumpets awaken in the minds of different men? The innocent man, who has no cause to be tried, hears them unmoved. They proclaim no terrors to him. He listens and looks on quietly, and is not afraid. But often there is some poor wretch waiting his trial, in a silent ceil, to whom those trumpets are a knell of despair. They tell him that the day of trial is at hand. Yet a little time, and he will stand at the bar of justice, and hear witness after witness telling the story of his misdeeds. Yet a little time and all will be over--the trial, the verdict, the sentence; and there will remain nothing for him but punishment and disgrace. No wonder the prisoner’ s heart beats when he hears the trumpet’ s sound! So shall the sound be of the archangel’ s trump. (Bishop Ryle.)The Second Advent: the uncertainty of its date The cloud that enveloped our Saviour still shrouds His expected presence on the throne of judgment. It is a purposed obscurity, a wise and merciful denial of knowledge. In this matter it is His gracious will to be the perpetual subject of watchfulness, expectation, fear, desire, but no more. To cherish anticipation He has permitted gleams of light to cross the darkness; to baffle presumption He has made them only gleams. He has harmonised with consummate skill every part of His revelation to produce this general result--now speaking as if a few seasons more were to herald the new heaven and the new earth, now as if His days were as thousands of years; at one moment whispering into the ear of His disciple, at another retreating into the depth of infinite ages. It is His purpose thus to live in our faith and hope, remote yet near, pledged to no moment, possible at any; worshipped not with the consternation of a near, nor the indifference of a distant certainty, but with the anxious vigilance that awaits a contingency ever at hand. This, the deep devotion of watchfulness, humility, and awe, He who knows us best knows to be the fittest posture for our spirits; therefore does He preserve the salutary suspense which ensures it, and therefore will He determine His advent to no definite day in the calender of eternity. And yet this uncertainty is abused to security; and exactly as the invisibility of the Creator, which is His perfection, produces the miserable creed of the atheist, the obscurity that veils the hour of judgment, though meant in merciful warning, persuades the ungodly heart that none is ever to arrive. (W. Archer Butler, M. A.)The two Advents: contrast between them Christ came the first time in the guise of humanity; He is to come the second time in brightness, as a light to the godly, a terror to the wicked. He came the first time in weakness, He is to come the second time in might; the first time in our littleness, the second time in His own majesty; the first time in mercy, the second in judgment; the first time to redeem, the second to recompense, and that all the more terribly because of the long-suffering and delay. (A. Hildebert.)The two Advents: the humiliation of the first, the glory of the second The stable of Bethlehem disappears, and behold the clouds are His chariot. That lonely wanderer amid the hills of Palestine, who was forsaken by all, persecuted by many, is now attended by thousands of angels. The hand which held the reed now sways the sceptre of universal dominion. He has ]eft the Cross and ascended the great white throne; and many crowns now sparkle on the head around which thorns were wreathed. He was crucified then amid the execrations of the mob; now He comes amid the hallelujahs of the skies to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. (W. Landels, D. D.) Acts 1:12-14 Then returned they unto Jerusalem. The return to Jerusalem The distance was a “ Sabbath-day’ s journey” ; not that Moses had limited a journey on the Sabbath; but the Rabbins derived the rule from the prohibition to depart, on the sacred day, from the camp, which was supposed to be two miles square. The return, had it not been for the promise of the Father, would have been like turning from the gates of heaven to the antechamber of hell. I. The place. “ An upper room.” This could hardly have been in the temple, for the ecclesiastical authorities were too hostile to suffer such a company within the sacred precincts. It was probably the room in which our Lord ate His last supper, and which, from His manner of pointing it out, seems to have belonged to a disciple. The Jews had such an upper room for their devotions, as we read of Peter going up to one, for prayer; and of Paul holding, in an upper room, a meeting of the Church at Miletus. In the houses of Jerusalem such apartments were provided for those who came up to keep the feasts. Here the disciples “ abode,” i.e., probably spent the day there; retiring to separate lodgings at night. What reflections must have rushed into their minds on coming to the scene of the Last Supper! How much better they now understood our Lord’ s discourse, and how soothing must have been the remembrance of His prayer! After seeing Him make the clouds His chariot, what must they have thought of His condescension in washing the disciples’ feet! In that room, after a few days, descended the Spirit, of which Jesus said not in vain, “ He shall glorify Me.” II. The company. As if to show how important it is for us to know who the apostles were, Luke, after giving the list in the Gospel, here repeats it. “ The women” seem to be those who came up with our Lord “ from Galilee, and who ministered to Him of their substance.” “ Mary, the mother of Jesus,” not of God, as she has been impiously called, is there; and this is all that the inspired history says of her whom “ all generations shall call blessed.” Verily the Scriptures are not chargeable with Mariolatry. By “ the brethren” of Christ being there, we conclude that it could no longer be said, “ neither did they believe on Him.” The “ hundred and twenty” included probably the seventy evangelists; some inhabitants of Jerusalem, who, like the master of the house, believed, and such persons as Joseph of Arimathea. This upper room was the cradle of the Christian Church, now an infant, but soon to become a giant and stride over a conquered world. Who then would “ despise the day of small things” ? III. Their employment.1. Their harmony was secured by the discourses which they had heard and the scenes they had witnessed, which had extinguished self, that fire-brand of discord. With a world ready to rise in arms against them, their strength lay in union; and now that the traitor, the discordant one, was gone, we may say, “ Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” 2. They were commanded to wait, but not to be idle; and their business was prayer for that Spirit who was to fit them for their work. They came from this retirement, to live in the view of a world, eyed by enemies as the butt of persecution, and by friends as examples and guides. Not the least of the blessings which resulted from these days of prayer was the lesson given to public men to prepare for great doings by secret devotions. (J. Bennett, D. D.)The ten days The interval between Ascension and Whitsuntide represents an exceptional portion of the history of the Church, and may be compared, or rather contrasted, with the three days during which our Lord rested in the tomb; in each Christ was gone and the Comforter was not come; in each the Church had received a part of her endowments but not the whole; in each the disciples waited patiently till they should obtain a more complete commission, though in the one case they waited with sad hearts and disappointed hopes, while in the other, notwithstanding the absence of their Lord, they experienced great joy, and were continually praising and blessing God. (Bp. Harvey Goodwin.)The first assembly of the Christian Church This assembly was marked by-- I. Separation from the world. The work was unworldly, and therefore separation was necessary. This separation was--1. Local. Worldly business was not likely to come to the “ upper room,” as there were no attractions for buyers and sellers. Every Church should have a place of meeting set apart for its own use. 2. Mental. No worldly-minded man could have anything in common with their mental state. They were waiting for the bestowal of what no outsider had ever seen or heard. Does this mental distinction exist to-day? 3. Moral. They had given themselves up to be directed by Jesus. Such renunciation marks all true Christians. It cannot co-exist with the pride and self-sufficiency which mark unregenerate men. II. Unity. The separation would not have answered its purpose without this. All present--1. Recognised one Head. Attachment to a chief often unites men of varying gifts, tastes, and ambitions. So high and low, educated and illiterate, etc., are united in Christ. The light of the sun illumines planets of different magnitudes in various orbits, and each reflects the light of the ruling orb. So Christ is the centre of the Christian system, binds each member of the system to Himself, and freely sheds His light on all. Discord in a Church is therefore unchristian. 2. Had oneness of spirit. They all stood in the same relation to Christ, agreed in the exercises to which they were now devoted, and had grace to love one another. This oneness has often appeared where personal elements have been of very diverse kinds. Such unity in diversity is one of the beautiful effects of Christianity. 3. Were of one purpose--viz., to know, experience, and do the Divine will. For this end they conferred, waited, and prayed. In the abolition of slavery men of opposite opinions, etc., were united by a common purpose. Such union will ever be shown where men aim at Christian ends. III. Confident expectation. They persevered in the work to which they had given themselves. They had strong faith in Him whose words had brought and now kept them together. When that faith was tried by delay it bore the test. Continuance in prayer would increase the sense of power at the throne of grace; and this would intensify the longing for the promised blessing. This confident expectation ought to appear in all Christian assemblies, for there are Divine promises yet to be fulfilled. (W. Hudson.)The waiting time Was-- I. A transition period. It stood midway between Christ’ s completed work on earth and the unopened work of the Spirit from heaven. In the history of redemption the first chapter closed on the day of the Incarnation. A long, dreary, chequered period that had been, but it was succeeded by one in all respects the reverse--brief, bright with heaven, and, though ending tragically, bringing life and immortality to light. But it was reserved for the Spirit to make this good, and His dispensation, the last chapter, was now to open. But ere the curtain should be drawn, a breathing time of ten days was in the wisdom of God to take place. It was like the “ silence in heaven, for the space of half an hour” between the breaking of the “ seals” and the appearance of the angels. II. A time of felt need. The eleven were told that they were to be their Master’ s witnesses, but they had no clear comprehension of the tale they were to tell, and could not but feel that they had neither position, culture, influence, nor any ground to hope for success save in their assurance of the truth of their story, and the help they might receive in telling it. As they thought of this what sinkings would come over them, which would rather be intensified, as day after day found them in the upper room, but for some counteractive. III. A time of expectancy. How often would they recall and find it indispensable to recall the promise of the Father--ill as they understood what it meant. Yet being charged not to stir till it was fulfilled, they could not but hope that it would bring a full qualification for their arduous mission. But it was no time of silent waiting, for it was-- IV. A time of prayer. Who can doubt that the burden of the supplication was the promised power. But besides this it was-- V. A time of fraternal conference. They could hardly have prayed without intermission; and it is only reasonable to assume that the intervals would be filled up with the interchange of recollections and encouragements. VI. It was a time of action (verses 15-26.) (D. Brown, D. D.)Waiting for the promise It is on Thursday, probably in the evening, that the disciples return to Jerusalem. Did they expect to receive it that very night? This we know not; but we do know that then opened a new era in the intercourse of man with heaven. As they began to pray, how would they find all their conceptions of the Majesty on high changed! The glory of the Father encompassing a human form, a beaming from a human brow! Mingling with this first joy for the Master’ s exaltation would be the feeling, “ He has entered for us within the veil! He maketh intercession for us!” Hush! which of the-twelve is it that says to the brethren--“ Let us ask the Father in His name” ? (John 16:23-24). The angels had often sung together over the prayer of repenting sinners, Now, for the first time, they hear prayers authorised and accredited by the name of the Only-begotten of the Father. That name has just been set “ above every name” ; and as it echoes through the host on high, with the solemn joy of a hundred believing voices, “ things in heaven” bow. What must have been that moment for the saints in Paradise, who had seen the Saviour afar off, but never known the joy of praying directly in His name! Father Abraham had “ rejoiced to see His day.” What would be His gladness now? David, what would be “ the things” which, in that wonderful moment, his voice would sing, “ touching the King” ? Oh, the joy of that first hour of praying in the name of Christ! What short and burning petitions would go up from the lips which first quoted, “ Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He shall give it you!” But the Spirit has not seen it good to hand down the strong and tender collects of these ten days. Then surely it is unlawful to impose good forms of prayer upon all men, because ancient saints wrote them. He who will never use a form in public prayer casts away the wisdom of the past. He who will use only forms casts away the hope of utterance to be given by the Spirit at present, and even shuts up the future in the dead hand of the past. Does any one of the hundred and twenty up to this moment forget that Thursday night? The Friday morning dawns: the day the Lord had died. Would He not send His promised Substitute to-day? Now came back all His words about the death “ which He should accomplish.” Yet the Friday wears away, and no “ baptism of fire” ! The Saturday sets in; its hours are filled up as before, with prayer; but no answer. And now dawns the first day of the week, the day whereon He rose, the first Lord’ s day He had passed on His throne of glory. Surely they would expect that the blessing be delayed no longer. But the evening steals on, and all their prayers might have risen into a heaven that could not hear. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday pass. Their faith does not fail; still in the temple “ praising and blessing God,” or in the upper room in “ prayer and supplication,” they continue of one accord. Though He tarry, yet will they wait for Him. This is waiting. Some speak of waiting for salvation as if it meant making ourselves at ease, and dismissing both effort and anxiety. Who so waits for any person, or any event? When waiting, your mind is set on a certain point; you can give yourself to nothing else. You are looking forward and preparing; every moment of delay increases the sensitiveness of your mind as to that one thing. A servant waiting for his master, a wife waiting for the footstep of her husband, a mother waiting for her expected boy, a merchant waiting for his richly-laden ship, a sailor waiting for the sight of land, a monarch waiting for tidings of the battle: all these are cases wherein the mind is set on one object, and cannot easily give attention to another. To-morrow will be Thursday, a full week from the Ascension; that will be the day. The Thursday finds them, as before, “ of one accord in one place” ; no Thomas absent through unbelief. How the scene of that day week would return to their view! How they would over and over again, in mind, repeat the occurrences of a week ago! But the day wears on, and no blessing. Is not the delay long? “ Not many days!” Does the promise hold good? They must have felt disappointed as the evening fell. Now is the hour of trial. Will their faith fail? Will some stay at home, or “ go a-fishing,” saying that they will wait the Lord’ s time, and not be unwarrantably anxious about what, after all, does not depend on them, but on the Lord? Or will they begin to find out that the cause lies in the unfaithfulness of their companions? Happily the spirit of faith and love abides upon them. Happy for them that none fancied He could fix upon others the cause of their unanswered prayers! The Thursday is gone; eight days! The Friday and the Saturday follow it, marked by the same persistency in union, in praise, in prayer, and by the same absence of encouragement. Ten days gone! the promise, “ Not many days,” is all but broken. The final proof given by Peter, that he was waiting indeed, making all preparation for the event, was in calling upon his brethren to fill up the number of apostles. (W. Arthur, M. A.)Waiting for the promise They were waiting in quiet expectation and hope, as little children sitting together on a Christmas Eve in a dark room, while in the next room the Christmas presents are preparing; for it was again the time of Advent, of the Advent of the Lord in the Spirit. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)Waiting for the promise As those who dye cloth first prepare the cloth to receive the dye which it is to take, so does God ordain that the soul which is to receive His grace must be fitted for the sanctifying Spirit. (Chrysostom.)Waiting for the promise: the duty of ministers and churches It may be asked whether we are to expect that in all ages, a sufficient number of men will be raised up, bearing the primitive marks of a call from God, and of gifts from God; and our reply would be simply, “ Remember the ten days.” There we see men whose commission had come from the lips of the Lord Jesus, whose training has been under His own eye, who have forsaken houses, and lands, and all that could bind them to secular avocations, who are ready to set forth upon the work of calling and warning a world that is “ lying in the wicked one” ; and yet day after day the inhibition lies upon them, that they are to tarry until they are endued with power from on high. As we look at that spectacle--sinners dying, time rolling on, the Master looking down from His newly-ascended throne on the world which He has redeemed, seeing death bear away its thousands while His servants keep silence--there is in that silence a tone which booms through all the future, warning us that never, never, under the dispensation of the Spirit, are men to set out upon the embassy to Christ, be their qualifications or credentials what they may, until first they have been endued with power from on high, been baptized with tongues of fire. Better let the Church wait ever so long--better let the ordinances of God’ s house be without perfunctory actors, and all, feeling sore need, be forced to cry with special urgency for fresh outpourings and baptisms of the Holy Ghost, to raise up holy ministers, than that, by any manner of factitious supply, substitutes should be furnished-substitutes no more ministers of God, than coals arranged in a grate are a fire; or than a golden candlestick with a wax taper, never kindled, is a light. (A. Arthur, M. A.)The first prayer-meeting after the Ascension I. The scene. “ Upper” does not mean a room above the lower floor, much less a garret or inferior apartment, but one comparatively spacious--reserved in Greek and Jewish houses for the use of guests, or for unusual occasions. “ Upper rooms were a kind of domestic chapels in every house. There they assembled to read the law, and to transact religious affairs. In returning to Jerusalem the disciples showed--1. Their obedience to Christ. 2. Their fearless faith. II. The attendance. The roll of names reminds us of--1. The sociality of Christ’ s system. If you would unite men in social affection, you must get them to love supremely your common object. Christianity alone supplies an object that all hearts can love supremely; and therefore of all systems it is the most social. 2. The triumph of grace. Here is Peter no longer fearful, and Thomas no longer incredulous, etc. Women are also here: their presence being noted in strong contrast which assigned a separate court in the temple, and kept women apart in the synagogue. In Christ there is neither male nor female. Christianity has raised woman to her present position, and woman has ever proved most loyal to the system that has made her what she is. 3. The ravages of sin. Where is Judas? He was present at the supper, perhaps in this very room. III. The spirit was a spirit of--1. Union. They were not only assembled in the same place and for the same purpose; but there was a great unanimity of sentiment amongst them. They agreed in the blessings they sought, and in the mode of seeking them. 2. Perseverance. Cf. Parable of unjust judge. Conclusion: Would that all prayer-meetings were something like this. We must go back to apostolic times for our models of devotion. (D. Thomas, D. D.)A model prayer-meeting If the prayer-meeting is the thermometer of the Church, then the first Christian prayer-meeting registers a high degree of spiritual life existing just after the departure of Christ. This was a model in point of-- I. Attendance. There were one hundred and twenty present.1. All the office-bearers were there. Are modern elders and deacons as exemplary? 2. The male members were there. Business or pleasure did not hinder them. 3. The female members were there. “ The women” still form a large proportion of the attendants at prayer-meetings. II. The spirit. Peace and unity prevailed. The day of “ murmuring” had not yet come (Acts 6:1.) Union is strength. A divided Church cannot long remain a praying Church. God answers prayer when it is offered by few or many “ with one accord.” The promise is addressed to those who are “ agreed.” III. The results (see chap. 2.). The Church was born at a prayermeeting, which should encourage us to sustain our often thinly attended and cold-spirited prayer-meetings. The prayer-meeting is more than the thermometer of the Church, it is the source of her spiritual power. There is as intimate a relation between the prayer-meeting and the outpouring of the Spirit as between the gathering of the cloud and the downpour of the shower. Pentecostal revivals must be preceded by ante-Pentecostal prayer-meetings. (T. S. Dickson, M. A.)The meeting for prayer preparatory to the day of Pentecost This passage refers to the most interesting period in the history of the Church, the results of which will be felt to all eternity. In one point of view the infant Church was in a bereaved condition. Still their glorified Lord had given to them words of promise which inspired them with the confident expectation of coming glory. And never was there a more interesting congregation. No Jewish ruler, no Rabbi, no Roman senator was there. It was a select and happy group of holy men and women, who had met for the most important purpose, to agonise in prayer. They were not acting under a momentary impulse; nor as the result of a transient excitement, but under the influence of that deep personal piety that needs no other impulse but what is supplied by a sense of duty, or by its own spontaneous energy. I. The features by which they were distinguished.1. They contemplated the attainment of a special object. The Saviour’ s promise, so far from inducing indifference, awoke attention, urged to duty, and gave a specific character to prayer. During the greater part of the Saviour’ s ministry they seem to have known little of the doctrine of Divine influence. But at its close the Lord dwelt mainly upon this fundamental truth; and now the doctrine inspired their hopes, warmed their hearts, and must have formed the subject of their prayerful appeal to heaven. This blessing is as important for us as for them, The doctrine of Divine influence is admitted as an article of our faith, but it fails to exert the amount of influence over us which its importance demands. Yet, upon the prayers of the Church is made to depend the bestowment of the Spirit in any enlarged degree. And what else can secure the salvation of the perishing? or warm the hearts of slumbering saints? or reclaim the backslider from his wanderings? or correct the existing errors of the Church? 2. The prayers were presented in concert and union. The place was humble, but it served the purpose. It was not enough that that each one separately should have been endued with the spirit of prayer. Religion is social. Like gravitation, its tendency is to bring its recipients into contact; and the wants of the Church make it necessary for its members to meet that they may blend their affections and unite in service. 3. These devotional exercises were continuous and persevering. The disciples laid aside for several days their ordinary occupations and gave themselves to the uninterrupted pursuit of spiritual things. This course was as true to philosophy as it was consistent with religion. It is by oft-repeated strokes that the artisan produces the desired impression on the metal; and that the heart may be subdued and elevated, it must be brought into continuous contact with spiritual realities. It is partly on such grounds that extraordinary religious services may be adopted and justified. A state of things may exist in a Church such as to call for some special effort. It may have lost its first love, and the things that remain may be ready to die. All ordinary effort to revive its piety seems to be in vain. It may be necessary, therefore, to resort to, extraordinary measures and give ourselves to special prayer. 4. These exercises must have been marked by fervency and sustained by faith and hope. II. The influence and results by which these devotional exercises would de attended.1. They would improve personal piety. That indeed had progressed considerably. Still, in point of depth, comprehensiveness, and power, it was susceptible of improvement. And if the first disciples needed an improvement in spiritual character, how much more we? What, then, shall accomplish it? United, as well as private prayer. 2. They would prepare the disciples to receive the promised effusion of the Spirit, and for their future vocation. A fixed rule in the Divine government is that the minds of men must be prepared by a suitable course of discipline for the reception of any special token of the favour of God. Isaiah was not called to witness before the live coal from the altar touched his lips. Moses was instructed by immediate communion with the Most High, preparatory to his mission. Would you be endued with power from on high and win souls to Christ? Then pray in unison. 3. They sustained an intimate relation to the events of the day of Pentecost. May they not be regarded as a most gracious answer to the prayers of the suppliant Church? (W. A. Hurndall.)Prayer-meetings not to be given up A pious woman, when it was decided to close the prayer-meeting in a certain village, declared that it should not be, for she would be there if no one else was. True to her word, when, the next morning, some one said to her jestingly, “ Did you have a prayer-meeting last night? Ah, that we did,” she replied. “ How many were present?” “ Four,” she said. “ Why,” said he, “ I heard that you were there all alone.” “ No,” she said; “ I was the only one visible; but the Father was there, and the Son was there, and the Holy Spirit was there, and we were all agreed in prayer.” Before long others took shame themselves at the earnest perseverance of this poor woman, the prayer-meeting was revived and the church prospered. (W. Baxendale.)Prayer-meetings, Sunday morning I have been endeavouring to establish among us what are called Aaron and Hur Societies; i.e., little collections of four or five or more persons, who meet before service on Sabbath morning, to spend an hour in prayer for a blessing on the minister and the ordinances. They began on New Year’ s Day and we seemed to have an immediate answer, for the meeting was unusually solemn; and we have reason to hope that the Word was not preached in vain. (E. Payson, D. D.)Social prayer By this is meant such meetings as are held pre-eminently for the purpose of prayer, praise, and revival. I. Importance.1. The inauguration of the Christian Church was preceded and attended with social prayer. The Day of Pentecost followed a ten days’ prayer-meeting of the one hundred and twenty disciples. 2. Seasons of joy or danger were marked by meetings for prayer (Acts 4:23-31; Acts 12:12; Acts 16:13). 3. Revivals of religion are closely connected with them. When Zion travails in prayer she brings forth her spiritual children (Isaiah 66:8). 4. Great movements have been originated in them. The first foreign missionary society had its inception in the meeting for prayer held by five young men--Mills, Richards, Robbins, Loomis, and Green--under a haystack at Williams-town in 1806. II. Different kinds of meetings for social purposes.1. The weekly Church prayer-meeting.2. Ladies’ prayer-meetings.3. Business men’ s noonday meetings.4. The week of prayer.5. Neighbourhood or cottage prayer-meetings.6. Conventions or convocations for prayer and revival. III. Scripture promises.1. That Christ will make one in their company, whether they be few or many (Matthew 18:20).2. That the prayer of faith shall be answered (Matthew 18:19; John 16:23-24).3. That their rewards shall be sure (Matthew 3:16). IV. How may the efficiency of such meetings be enlarged?1. By preceding them with secret prayer.2. By regular and prompt attendance.3. By labouring to secure the attendance upon them of every able-bodied Church member and others. (L. O. Thompson.)An assembly of Christians You know those lights which we use in public places, where you have a ring pierced with a hundred tiny holes, from each of which bursts a separate flame; but when all are lit they run into one brilliant circle, and lose their separateness in the rounded completeness of the blended blaze. This is like what Christ’ s Church ought to be. We each, by our own personal contact with Him, by our individual communion with our Saviour, become light in the Lord, and yet we joyfully blend with our brethren and fused into one, give forth our mingled light. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Prayer meetings One of the greenest spots upon earth was the parish of St. Peter’ s, Dundee, when the lovely M’ Cheyne was its pastor. He thus records in his diary the spirit of prayer which prevailed among his people: “ Many prayer-meetings were formed, some of which were strictly private, and others, conducted by persons of some Christian experience, were open to persons under concern at one another’ s houses. At the time of my return from the mission to the Jews I found thirty-nine such meetings held weekly in connection with the congregation. The social power of prayer Akin to the moral are the social effects of prayer. Prayer makes men as members of society different in their whole being from those who do not pray. It gilds social intercourse and conduct with a tenderness, an unobstructiveness, a sincerity, a frankness, an evenness of temper, a cheerfulness, a collectedness, a con-stunt consideration for others, united to a simple loyalty to truth and duty, which leavens and strengthens society. (Canon Liddon.)Result of united prayer There was an old deacon in a city in Michigan who was connected with a church which had no conversion for sixteen years. He came to his death-bed, and felt that he could not die in peace. He sent for the minister, but he had been too long accustomed to the darkness to be easily awakened. Failing with all the male members of the church he sent for the ladies, and pleaded with them to pray for a revival. They prayed and fasted before God. In a little while the whole church was moved. I received a despatch from the minister. On my arrival he took me into a room filled with these ladies praying that the Lord would reveal His power. I felt, as soon as I entered, that God was there. The next night the power came, and in forty-eight hours there was scarcely a young man or young woman who was not converted to God, or anxious to be saved. (D. L. Moody.)The substance of the Church There is a mine near Plymouth, where the men work in it two hundred and fifty feet below the surface, have a little shelf for their Bibles and their hymn-books, and a little place where every morning, when they go down in the black darkness, they bow before God, and praise Him whose tender mercies are over all His works. You never heard of these miners, perhaps, and do not know them; but possibly some of them are the very substance of the Church. There sits Mr. Somebody in that pew; oh, what a support he is to the Church! Yes, in money matters, perhaps; but do you know there is poor old Mrs. Nobody in the aisle that is most likely a greater pillar to the Church than he, for she is a holier Christian, one who lives nearer to her God and serves Him better, and she is “ the substance thereof” ? Ah, that old woman in the garret that is often in prayer, that old man on his bed that spends days and nights in supplication, such people as these are the substance of the Church. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The duty of prayer I. The circumstances of the apostles.1. They had just been visited with a very afflicting dispensation. We all know something of the pangs of separation, but how trying must have been separation from the Redeemer Himself! Amidst the experience of the pain which separation inflicted, however, they betook themselves to prayer, and in the exercise they sought and found consolation. Have you such a salve for the experience of trials? 2. They had just met with disappointment in reference to their worldly views and expectations. How did they act? did they exhibit symptoms of chagrin or hesitate about persevering in the service of Christ? No, they betook themselves to prayer. Let us follow their example. 3. They were placed in circumstances of great trial and perplexity. Not only were they now deprived of their Adviser and Friend, not only were their worldly expectations blasted, but they were taught to look for the experience of difficulty, persecution, and death. And, besides this, there was perplexity as to the duties they were to discharge (verse 8). How were they qualified then to go to the uttermost parts of the earth to appear before the learned, the great, and the wise? But in the midst of all this they went to Him who could comfort them; and they did not repair to Him in vain. 4. A promise had been made to them, and their prayers had a very special reference to this. There are many who contend that prayer is useless because it is impossible that it can alter the decrees of the Almighty. There are some who condemn it for the same reason. But the apostles were made aware, not only of God’ s decrees, but they had a promise actually made to them, yet they prayed for the very things which Christ had declared should be bestowed. True it is that no one can resist the will of the Almighty; but God works by means, and prayer is one of them. II. The spirit and temper that characterised their supplications.1. They doubtless prayed in the name of Christ (John 16:22). When we go to God never let us forget that the name we mention is that of Him who sitteth at the right hand of the Father. 2. They prayed in a spirit of obedience. We read here of their supplication, but notice their practice: “ They returned unto Jerusalem.” Let us be taught by this, that if we expect our prayers to be heard we must not only go to God in the name of Christ, but we must go seeking, and praying, and aspiring after obedience. 3. They showed also the spirit of love. We do read of their disputes, hut we shall read of these no more. They are met with one accord. 4. They united together. And this teaches us the importance of public worship. (J. Marshall.)Church attitudes: unity To separate ourselves from our brethren is to lose power. Half-dead brands heaped close will kindle one another, and flame will sparkle beneath the film of white ashes on their edges. Fling them apart and they go out. Rake them together and they glow. Let us try not to be little, feeble tapers, stuck in separate sockets, and each twinkling struggling rays over some inch or so of space; but draw near to our brethren, and be workers together with them that there may rise a glorious flame from our summed and collective brightness which shall be a guide and hospitable call to many a wandering and weary spirit. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Church attitudes: expectancy The sunshine flows into the opened eye, the breath of life into the expanding lung--so surely, so immediately, the fulness of God fills the waiting, wishing souls. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Church attitudes: receptivity If the Church is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit she must cultivate the receiving frame of mind--she must place herself in right attitude toward the gift she would receive. The thirsty man who comes to the fountain must hold his cup the right side up if he is to receive the refreshing water, then the water will fill it; but if he holds the cup the wrong side up the water will flow over and dash away from it, and thus his thirst will not be quenched. Penitence, unity, prayer, earnestness, constitute the receptive attitude of the soul; to such the Spirit will be given without measure. “ Peter, James, and John” :--A curious text was once used by the Rev. J. Thain Davidson, D.D., in his first ministerial charge in Scotland, for the purpose of securing a large gathering of children whom he was anxious to address. The text was “ Peter, James, and John” --from which he sought to show the individualising love of Christ. Fifteen years passed away and he heard nothing of that sermon; but one day, after he was settled in London, a young man called upon him: “ Do you remember me, sir? No; I do not.” “ Do you remember the sermon you preached years ago on Peter, James, and John?” “ Yes.” “ I was but a boy then, but I walked six miles to hear you, and God blessed that sermon to my conversion.” Since then the young man has devoted himself to the ministry, and he is now a useful minister of Christ in America. This illustrates the importance of presenting to children’ s minds Bible truth in the most striking manner. Prayer, patience in How many courtiers go a hundred times a year into the prince’ s chamber without hope of once speaking with him, but only to be seen of him! So must we come to the exercise of prayer, purely and merely to do our duty and to testify our fidelity. (St. Francis de Sales.)Prayer, persevering Two Christian ladies, whose husbands were unconverted, feeling their great danger, agreed to spend one hour each day in united prayer for their salvation. This was continued for seven years; when they debated whether they should pray longer, so useless did their prayers appear, and decided to persevere till death, and, if their husbands went to destruction, it should be loaded with prayers. In renewed strength they prayed three years longer; when one of them was awakened in the night by her husband who was in great distress for sin. As soon as the day dawned she hastened, with joy, to tell her praying companion that God was about to answer their prayers. What was her surprise to meet her friend coming to her on the same errand! Thus ten years of united and persevering prayer was crowned with the conversion of both husbands on the same day. (E. Foster.)Prayer, the secret of strength There is an old story of mythology about a giant named Antaeus, who was born by the earth. In order to keep alive this giant was obliged to touch the earth as often as once in five minutes, and every time he thus came in contact with the earth he became twice as strong as before. The Christian resembles Antaeus. In order to become and continue a truly living Christian, the disciple of Christ must often approach his Father by prayer. (Preacher’ s Lantern.)Prayer, the secret of usefulness Spurgeon, being asked as to the reason of his marvellous and blessed usefulness for God, pointed to the floor of the tabernacle saying, “ In the room beneath you will find three hundred praying Christians. Every time I preach here they gather together, and uphold my hands by continuous prayer and supplication--there you will find the secret of all the blessing.” Prayer, faith in Prayer is the bow, the promise is the arrow; faith is the hand which draws the bow, and sends the arrow with the heart’ s message to heaven. The bow without the arrow is of no use; and the arrow without the bow is of little worth; and both, without the strength of the hand, to no purpose. Neither the promise without prayer, nor prayer without the promise, nor both without faith, avail the Christian anything. What was said of the Israelites, “ They could not enter in because of unbelief,” the same may be said of many of our prayers: they cannot enter into heaven because they are not put up in faith. (H. G. Salter.)Prayer and revivals The great revival in New York in 1858-9 began in answer to the earnest believing prayers of one man. After long waiting upon God, asking Him to show him what He would have him to do, and becoming more and more confident that God would show him the way through which hundreds might be influenced for their souls’ good, he at last began a noon-day prayer-meeting. The first half-hour nobody came, and he prayed through it alone. At half-past twelve the step of a solitary individual was heard on the stairs; others came, until six made up the whole company. His record of that meeting was, “ The Lord was with us to bless us.” Of those six, one was a Presbyterian, one a Baptist, another a Congregationalist, and another a Reformed Dutch. (The Power of Prayer.)Church unity They were “ all together in one mind.” How graphic this sketch of true union; and of union for the attainment of a definite object I The expression implies not only concord, union of heart, but concert, agreement of will, prearrangement, and design. “ All together in one mind.” How fair a model for the imitation of the expectant Church in every age--for “ sure His after-comings will be like to His first, to them that are, and not to any but them that are ‘ of one accord.’” “ All,” comprising every diversity of mental and moral constitution, in every degree of development, each retaining his proper individuality, yet each in vital sympathy and unison with all the rest. Various yet one, and the more completely one because various. “ All together,” the individual influencing the community, and the whole community influencing each individual; each communicating something to all; and all communicating something to each; Peter’ s quickness and vigour acting upon Thomas’ s sober considerateness; and Thomas’ s quiet considerateness keeping Peter’ s impetuous energy under wholesome restraint; the serene fervour of John blending with the activity of Andrew, and the unhesitating openness of Bartholomew; Martha’ s vivacity combining with her sister Mary’ s thoughtfulness, and the subdued and tender seriousness of Mary, the mother of the Lord; each simultaneously active and passive, and all sensibly quickened, by their union, to increasing earnestness and confidence. “ All together, and of one mind,” that single mind centring all its hopes, exercising all its energies on one object-the immediate descent of power from on high. (F. W. Briggs.) Acts 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples.Peter’ s attitude Mark the bearing of Peter towards his fellow-believers. No priestly attitude does he assume. Though he leads, he associates the whole assembly with himself. He will have them to choose candidates for the apostleship; he accepts their nomination; and though it is all but certain that in laying these two before the Lord, he was the spokesman, this is not said. Nor was it only on this first occasion, when he might be supposed rather to shrink, that he thus acted, but on every subsequent occasion his procedure was in keeping with this. So little ground is there not only for the lordly assumptions of those who call themselves successors of “ the prince of the apostles,” but for that ecclesiastical ambition which has proved the bane and blight of many who repudiate Romish pretensions. (D. Brown, D. D.)A model church meeting This was a meeting-- I. To transact business of very grave importance. To elect an apostle--an eye-witness of the resurrection--in the place of Judas. The resurrection is the key-stone of the Christian system. The fact was so extraordinary, and clashed so mightily with popular prejudices that no one would dare to proclaim it who had not been deeply convinced of it by irresistible evidence. To be able to do this was necessary to constitute an apostle. II. In which the assembled members had a duty to fulfil, and all of them, male and female, were called upon to exercise their best judgment, and to give their conscientious vote. The candidates were set up not by the apostles, but by the whole body of disciples. The appointment of ministers is not the right of an individual, however distinguished in Church and state, but by the assembled Church. III. Competent in itself to discharge the business. They sought no counsel from any body of men external to themselves, nor would they have submitted to dictation from any person or society outside, however dignified. The power of a Church for its own business is in itself inspired and guided by Christ its Head. IV. Superintended by its ablest member. Peter’ s conduct shows that he was the most competent--the man to direct affairs. Observe--1. His sketch of the miserable man who had once occupied the vacant post. 2. His counsel as to present duty. Peter’ s principle was that the new apostle should be selected from those who were most intimate with the Master--a principle to be for ever observed. He only is qualified for the highest office in the Church whose alliance with Christ is most vital. V. In which they engaged in united prayer to heaven for direction. The prayer implies--1. A recognition of the Divine omniscience. A deep impression of God’ s acquaintance with all hearts is essential to devotion. 2. A desire to have their choice regulated by the Divine. “ We only desire to vote for Him whom Thou hast ordained.” Conclusion: Would that all church meetings had ever been ruled by this model. Gathered not for trivial but important business; recognising the right of every member to a voice; holding the power to transact all its affairs independently of external authority, etc. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Preparing for ecclesiastical business Notice that the company was--1. Comparatively small. But it was the first part of Christ’ s mighty kingdom. Despise not the day of small things. 2. Business-like. “ Names” suggests that a list was probably drawn up--a sign of intelligence and earnestness. 3. Imperfect. One place was vacant, and the company could not be content till it was filled. 4. Every member of it acknowledged the authority of Holy Scripture. The company was prepared-- I. By being adequately instructed. Peter’ s speech showed--1. That the place of Judas must be filled up. The number of apostles followed that of the twelve tribes of Israel. They were commonly designated as “ the Twelve,” both before and after the death of Judas. 2. That the whole assembly must take part in filling up the vacancy. 3. That the Word of God was to give the assembly present direction. 4. That definite qualifications were required in an apostle. 5. That a definite work had to be done by the apostles. This instruction probably cleared up vague thinkings for many a member of the company. II. By being strongly warned against sin. In the case of Judas they saw--1. Sin working in one who had held office under Jesus--the Saviour from sin. What qualifications had they which Judas had not had? Yet sin turned him out of his office. Then let all beware. 2. Sin working in one who had been chosen for office by Jesus Himself. 3. Sin growing to great enormity. 4. Sin making its perpetrator infamous. 5. Sin ending in a doom of darkness. Conclusion: Here we see--1. The true primacy of Peter. He led in preparation, interpretation and prayer. The fulfilment of the words, “ Thou art Peter,” etc., is here begun. The foundation is not the confession, but the man (Galatians 2:9; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Peter 2:4-6). Christ is the one foundation stone (1 Corinthians 3:11); but there is also a foundation of the apostles and prophets, and this is laid in Peter. Accordingly he founded the Jewish portion of the Church, as we see in the early chapters of this book. On him, standing on Christ, were laid in one day three thousand souls. And he also founded the Gentile portion (chaps. 10., 11.). But Peter had no special primacy of rank after his own special work was completed. And he could have no successor. 2. The true functions of the preacher. Peter gave the sense of Scripture, and applied it to the circumstances of the time so directing the hearers. The Acts is the best treatise on homiletics. 3. A good example for all Christians. Under Peter’ s direction the company prayed, considered their duty, and so proceeded to action--prayer, meditation, work, describe the whole sphere of Christian duty. (W. Hudson.)The premature election 1. “ In those days” Peter “ stood up.” It was a pity he did so, for he had been told to sit down. But who can wait ten days? Yet those periods of waiting are interposed in every life, for the trial of patience and for the perfecting of faith. “ They also serve who only stand and wait.” “ Stand still and see the salvation of God.” “ Your strength is to sit still.” But Peter was a man who could not wait. He was always more or less of a talkative man. Instead of embodying it in patience and endurance his energy evaporated in speech. He will become a better man by and by; yes, even in this opening speech, he begins to show that delicacy of touch which made him conspicuous amid all the apostolic writers. It was to be feared that he would begin with a mistake, because he ended with one (John 21:21). The fussy church must be doing something, if it is only mischief; the mechanical church cannot stand still; they consider that if they are walking up and down very much, they are doing something, but if they be sitting quietly still in expectancy and eager love, they are doing nothing. Peter will have a vote taken, or a ballot; he will complete the broken circle--he who broke the circle most. 2. Peter begins where all wise teachers begin, if they would continue efficiently, and conclude beneficently. He founds what he has to say upon the Scriptures. This is the peculiarity of Christian teaching: it founds itself upon the Written Word. Even where there may be differences of interpretation, it rests upon something deeper than merely verbal exposition. Herein is that sublime possibility of all Christian sections being substantially and integrally right. It is the spirit that unites, it is the letter that divides and kills. It is quite possible for a heterodox man to have an orthodox spirit, and it is by his spirit that he will be saved, and not by his letter. 3. Grounding himself upon Scripture, and only partially interpreting it, Peter proceeded to take a ballot for an apostle to succeed the apostate Judas. Who asked him to rise and address the disciples at all? The disciples were told to wait for the baptism of power. Peter was not endued with the Holy Ghost in the Pentecostal sense when he made this speech. The conditions of succession to the apostolate are very beautiful (verses 21, 22). That is the law of the ministry to-day. “ Lay hands suddenly on no man.” The Christian ministry must be composed of men who have “ companied with us” and known the Lord Jesus Christ all the time. You cannot make ministers; they must be born, not of blood, etc. This is the mischief against which we have to guard, that you can buy ministers with money. This genius is not in the market. 4. Having elected two men for choice, the disciples prayed: they left the case in the hands of God, but unfortunately they had first taken it into their own. Never take your own case into your own hand. Persons say, “ Be prudent” --if ever you can for a moment sit yourself down, resolving to be prudent, God has forsaken you! Persons say, “ Beware of exaggeration, of enterprises that are dangerous” --those persons never did anything for the world; they cannot; cold water never drove an engine, and a body without wings never knew the danger, the mystery, the joy of flight. Seek an inspired life. So the apostles committed themselves in prayer to God for guidance. So would I take every matter to God day by day. 5. The disciples gave forth their lots. How pitiful. In a few more days they will have had the Holy Ghost. There are men now who would decide everything by lot: it seems a short and easy method, but it is no method in the house of God; we are now under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. There is no such way of discovering God’ s thought. We do not decide things by lot in our own narrow sphere, nor do we carry things unanimously ourselves. Thus, these are the voters that live in you--Judgment, Self-interest, immediate Success, Curiosity, Speculation, Family considerations, Health, Time, and some twenty more voters all have a seat in the council of your mind. Now those who are in favour of this course say, “ Aye,” those who oppose say, “ No,” and then you, that innermost You, says, “ The ayes have it--or the noes,” so that in reality you do not carry your own personal decisions unanimously. Sometimes your judgment does not vote at all, then the resolution is said to be carried nem. con. Sometimes you carry your resolutions unanimously, the whole man stands up and says, “ Let it be done.” When I have wished in critical hours to know what was right, I have submitted myself to three tests-- (1) What is my own deepest conviction.(2) What is the concurrent voice of my most trusted counsellors.(3) What is the fair inference from conspiring circumstances? With these, I have said, “ There is none other than God’ s will: if it be not, Lord, stop me. Not my will but Thine be done.” 6. In the case before us the lot fell upon Matthias, and you hear no more about him. I do not want to be a balloted minister: here because I had six votes, and another man had only five: I want to stand in my ministry by right Divine, by credentials not written by men and that cannot be expunged by men. That is the calling of the whole Church: do not imagine that Episcopalianism, Congregationalism, etc., will save you. We are not saved by name, nor are we an influential Church because we bear an illustrious name. Every day needs its own inspiration, as every day requires its own bread. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Christian life organic I. The suicide of Judas created a vacancy in the number of the twelve apostles. Christ does not seem to have spoken concerning this, but leaves it to be filled by the Church. And this is the duty to which Peter summons them. The little handful of believers were waiting for “ the promise of the Father.” They were called not to activity, but to stillness and expectancy. But Peter at once organises a council and proceeds to an Episcopal election. And, unquestionably, Peter was right, and the disciples recognised it to be their first duty to fill up the ranks and perfect the organisation, and so enlarge the influence and increase the working power of that Divine agency which Christ had committed to their charge. II. Let us admit freely that organisation is not life, but without organisation there can be no life. In nature we know of life at all, only as it exhibits itself under organised forms, and so St. Paul affirms must the life of Divine truth in the world, be an organised life with a head, and hands and feet--in other words with that which governs and that which communicates and that which obeys. When a farmer in the Salt Lake Valley constructs that ingenious system of sinuous and interlacing the watercourses by which the melting snows of the Wausatch Mountains are conducted to every remotest corner of his vineyards and cornfields, he has not thereby secured the smallest guarantee that the snow will fall, or that it will melt, or that it will obey the law of gravitation and run down hill into his tanks. These things are ordered by God, and his orchards blossom and his corn sprouts, not because he has laid so many feet of drain-pipe, but because God has put into the melted snow or the chance shower some mysterious power of making that arid desert of sand with its silex and potash to burst forth, straightway so soon as the water has touched it, and bud and blossom as a rose. But none the less, as things are, that arid and desert valley would never have burst into flower if the farmer’ s simple machinery had not so organised and utilised these forces of nature that the baptism of the one became the new birth and resurrection of the other. III. And this, at any rate, is the lesson of such a parable, as it is of all history. The church of God is in the world, not as a human invention, but as a Divine appointment to be applied by human hands. Its fellowship is not salvation, but it is a means of salvation. Its sacraments are not grace, but they are channels of grace. Its Bible is not a charm or a talisman, but it is a teacher and guide. Its services are not spells, but they are helps and refreshments. I honour with my whole soul that protest against the formalism of the Church, which resents the tendency to make of these things the whole of religion. I honour no less that vehement and robust indignation which denounces the temper that hands over all men who do not belong to your Church or mine or some other of equal historic pretensions, to the uncovenanted mercies of God. But all this does not affect in the smallest degree, the question whether or no Christ has founded a Church, whether or no you and I have sought, and found its fellowship. The Church exists in the world not to enjoy our patronage, to invite our criticism, to gratify our taste, but to accept our discipleship. Her organised life, her ministry, her sacraments, her worship, the proclamation of her Lord’ s message--all these things are not less essential to-day, than when in the beginning Peter convened the hundred and twenty disciples to choose Matthias. This Christian organisation is Divine, and as such it speaks its message and holds forth its ministrations. It may be that some of us have come to regard the Church as a kind of social appendage, a rather more dignified marrying and burying and baptising association, which we are to make use of when tradition or custom or decorum constrains us to, and at other times conveniently forget. But the moment that we look into it we find that it asserts of itself nothing less than a Divine origin, and it demands a definite obedience. We may say that that authority is groundless, but until we have proved it, our allegiance is not an option, it is a debt. IV. And so I plead with parents to train children in ways of reverent familiarity with God’ s word, God’ s house, and God’ s day. Let them understand that something higher than your taste or preference makes these things sacred and binding. And that you may do this the more effectually, give them, I entreat you, that mightiest teaching which consists in your own consistent and devout example. And in your holidays remember that wherever you go, you are a baptised member of the Church, and treachery to your baptismal vow is as disloyal under a foreign flag as it would be under your own. (Bp H. C. Potter, D. D.)Lessons from the pre-Pentecostal period In this paragraph we have-- I. The law of leadership in Christian communities.1. Society without leadership sinks into confusion. 2. In the long run leadership resolves itself into a question of personal qualification. Sooner or later unqualified men have to resign positions they ought never to have assumed. 3. In a great leader many elements are combined. Others may excel him in detached points, but taken as a whole, he rules not by one dominant faculty, but by a noble proportion of gifts. 4. The position of leader is not so easy as it seems to unreflecting observers. Men see the elevation, not the strain and responsibility. 5. The only sound rule for promotion is wisdom which should be recognised irrespective of age or position. 6. He leads best who knows the art of wise following. The leader is often, as here, but the mouthpiece of the whole community. 7. All human leadership is to be subjected to the Headship of the Divine Redeemer. II. The construction of the Christian ministry.1. It was required that the successor to the vacant bishopric be a man who had known Christ. Those who now sustain the office of witnesses for Christ must be men whose spiritual intimacy with Him is intense and fully tested. Every minister must have seen Christ and known the power of His resurrection. 2. It is clear from the election of Matthias that there is in the Scriptures a distinct claim to apostolic succession. Who then are in this succession? Those who are animated by the apostolic spirit. It is not question of ecclesiastical descent, but of spiritual illumination and sympathy. 3. The twelfth minister was chosen by the whole Church subject to a distinct expression of the Divine Will. The election was not determined by personal taste, much less by the industrious canvassing of ambitious candidates. The minister was sought by prayer and as a consequence was received with submission and thankfulness. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 1:16-20 Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled … concerning Judas. The subserviency of crime to the purposes of God We know not a more remarkable expression than “ The wrath of man shall praise Thee, the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.” The manner in which God overrules wickedness, and by which crime is as much an instrument in His hands as obedience, evidences our Maker’ s greatness as well as His unlimited dominion. God is able to reckon with thorough certainty upon the commission of a crime, and yet leave men quite free in the commission. We are so accustomed to denounce the traitor for his crime, that we are apt to overlook the important ends which are eventually subserved. It will be our object to exhibit generally the testimony to Christianity which is furnished by the treason of Judas. I. Let us premise one or two observations upon the character of Judas; for bad as this was, it may by possibility be misrepresented. We see no reason to believe that Judas had any design on the life of his Master, for, seeing the consequences of his treachery, he was tern with mortification and remorse. He might have supposed it highly improbable that, by placing Christ in the hands of His enemies, he would have been instrumental in His death; for the Jews had then no legal power of putting to death; and it was not likely that the Romans would pay attention to their accusations. Judas then may have calculated that all that could be done to Christ would be putting some restraint upon His person, and preventing Him from further propagating the religion, by whose precepts he himself was condemned. II. We shall proceed, on this supposition, in tracing the ends which the treachery subserved. You may imagine that the traitor seized a favourable opportunity of indulging his avarice, and of stopping the diffusion of a religion, which, as a money-grasping man, he must have cordially disliked, Now, if he had been possessed of any information which at all tended to invalidate its truth, how eagerly would he have adduced it, and the chief priests have received it! The mere putting to death was as nothing compared with the proving Him a deceiver. And yet Judas, eager as he was for money, and anxious to crush the new religion, has no intelligence to give which may disprove Christ’ s pretensions. This is amongst the strongest of proofs that Christ was “ a teacher sent from God.”1. Our Lord’ s pretensions rested chiefly on His miracles, so that to show deceit in the one would have overthrown the other. Infidelity will sometimes argue that there might have been collusion in the miracles. Now, had this been the case, Judas must have known it, and if Judas must have known, this would have been a fine piece of intelligence to have sold to the chief priests, and by communicating it he would at once have enriched himself and destroyed Christianity. Nay, he would have done a righteous deed; and while gratifying his avarice, he would have laid up no food for remorse. 2. The infant religion might have been assailed with at least equal power through the moral character of its Founder. And one of the most beautiful arguments by which we may defend Christianity is derived from the more than human purity of Christ. And if it were possible to invalidate in the least degree the truth that Christ “ did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,” the whole system would fall to the ground. Mark, that “ the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and they found none.” Yet they were bargaining with Judas, one of His intimate associates, who must have been accurately acquainted with all the flaws, if such there were, in His character. In the silence of this traitor in selling his Master, we find irresistible attestation to the fact that Christ Jesus was indeed “ a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 3. The prophecies might have been frustrated. It had been declared, in Zechariah, that the Messiah should be sold for thirty pieces of silver, and this price be given to the potter. Now had the chief priest and scribes offered more than thirty pieces, or had Judas been contented with fewer, or had the price of blood, when returned by the traitor, been spent on the land of any but a potter, there would have been a defect in the evidence that Jesus was the Christ. And the infatuated rulers could not see this. Perhaps they drove a hard bargain with Judas, beating him down till they reached the exact sum which prophecy specified as the number of the pieces of metal. They never thought, when exulting that they had bought Jesus at the price of a slave, that they had completed the evidence of His being their king. The like may be said of the potter’ s field. With all their profligacy, they were scrupulous in touching the money; and therefore will they use it in proving Jesus the Christ. It shall buy the potter’ s field--the only purpose to which it can be turned; and after being the price of His blood it shall serve to prove His commission. The only prophecies with which infidelity could be successfully pressed are those in which it is impossible that the parties professedly interested should have planned or procured the accomplishment. Nothing can more directly answer this commission than those which have reference to the compact with Judas. Conclusion: This is our consolation whilst “ the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing” --we know that the will of our Creator shall take effect. Hostility and malice and treachery shall prevail nothing against the Lord and His Christ. They shall but defend and consolidate the Church. Judas Iscariot vindicates the Master he betrayed, and sustains the cause from which he apostatised. Therefore need we be nothing dismayed if the wicked combine to oppose Christianity. There is one that sits above the tempest, and so directs it, that its fury shall be spent on those by whom it has been raised. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Judas: his sin He was guide to them that took Jesus. I. There are two ways to take Christ.1. Faith takes Jesus. It takes Christ at His word. (1) In His promises. (2) In His warnings, when He directs the life by those careful provisions and restrictions which are found everywhere in His Word. (3) In His precepts, when it strives to obey that which He commands, to submit to that which He appoints. (4) In His person. (5) In His covenanted presence in this world by the Spirit. 2. Falseness takes Christ. Inspired by hatred of His words, by restlessness under His control, by uncongeniality with His spirit, it cries, “ I will not; have this man to reign over me.” And when that spirit of opposition is developed there is no mode of destruction too vile for falseness to accept. The world is full of those who are controlled by this hostility. Opposition to Jesus among men only lacks leadership; and whensoever such a guide is found they covenant with him even to a costly sacrifice if he will deliver the Jesus of the Church into their hands. Pilate’ s timidity, and Herod’ s overweening, weak curiosity, are bad enough in condemning Christ; but He says, “ He that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.” It is not enough that the Judas who guides this hostility should plead his own freedom from violence. He adds meanness to his other sins when he shirks the responsibility he has assumed. There are multitudes who need no accusers before God’ s throne. There are those who confess that they are opponents, and mean to be such, and whose only apology is, “ At all events, we do not profess to be anything better,” and in God’ s book of remembrance their apology becomes their accusation. Then there are those who say, “ We know the truth perfectly.” Then, brother, if thy life is still against Christ, when thou shalt stand before that terrible bar thine own faith shall testify against thee. Of all dooms there is none so dreadful as that of him who strives to hold the privilege of professed discipleship, and yet is a guide to them that take Jesus. II. Three steps which such a guide must take. Only three? How short a journey it is! David sums it up with other words in his first Psalm. The likeness of Judas’ life in these three respects can be traced, I fear, in that of some of us.1. He counsels with Jesus’ enemies.2. He reveals His hiding.3. He perverts a profession of affection. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)God’ s foreknowledge practically considered Foreknowledge and predestination are not subjects for a careless, trifling, or cavilling mind to grapple with. Neither are they subjects which, under any circumstances, admit of being treated in an abstract or mere speculative way. That God foreknows all actions, and all occurrences, we cannot deny, without at once stripping Him of an essential attribute of His being. That His foreknowledge comprehends the final destiny of every human being, is clear. In order, however, to get rid of this inevitable conclusion, the doctrine of contingencies is sometimes resorted to; and we are asked how a thing can be certainly foreknown which is dependent upon occurrencies that may or may not take place. This is a mere evasion--the raising of a second difficulty, in order to dispose of the first. Is it more difficult for God to foresee the working contingencies, and the specific movements of pure volition, than it would be to foresee those results if they were suspended upon an absolute decree? But we are told that by pressing the doctrine of foreknowledge we place ourselves on the threshold of predestination; inasmuch as a thing definitely foreknown is as certain as a thing positively foreordained. I have neither the power nor the will to resist this inference, because I believe it to be a legitimate conclusion arising out of undeniable premisses. But then we are told, further, and by another class of persons, that foreknowledge and predestination involve in them the execution of a decree, whereby a large portion of mankind are reprobated and doomed to eternal misery; and the case of Judas is referred to as an instance in point. Here we are completely at issue with them, and for this plain reason--that the Bible speaks a different; language from that which they see fit to employ on the subject. The Bible represents the door of mercy as being wide open for the admission of every son and daughter of Adam. If the language actually employed by the inspired writers does not tell me that Christ died for all, could any other language have been adopted by them, calculated to convey the idea more forcibly, admitting that they wished to convey it at all? A second thought which presses itself upon the attention, as the result of a fair survey of the book of God, is,--that where the offers of mercy are rejected, such rejection is altogether voluntary: in other words, that obstacles to salvation rest entirely with man; and that every sinner who perishes under a blaze of evangelical light, is, to all intents, a self-destroyer. Still, however, though the theory of absolute unconditional reprobation is disproved by the testimony of Scripture, there is a rebounding echo which says that foreknowledge is certainty; and that if God foreknows who of His creatures will be finally saved, and who of them will be eternally lost, it amounts to the same thing, so far as the single point of destination is concerned, as if He had positively decreed life to some and death to others. This, again, is a position which I shall not attempt to controvert; and yet it is a position requiring to be taken in connection with the elucidation of certain principles which are constantly and practically operating in the affairs of human life. God foreknows everything; and yet man acts as if He foreknew nothing. Volition is as perfect, the will is as unfettered in the one case as it would or could be in the other. Simple foreknowledge, as distinguished from absolute predestination, is founded on free agency, and in no way does it influence or control it. The very certainty by which it is characterised is the result of free agents acting as they please, of rational intelligences ranging at large in the wide field of unrestrained liberty. If men are not saved, it is because they refuse to be saved, and for no other cause; and hence we may well ask, Where is the humility, where is the wisdom, where is the piety, of persons disquieting their minds, because their Creator is an omniscient Intelligence, and because the attribute of omniscience involves foreknowledge and certainty? You will observe that I have confined myself to the point of foreknowledge, leaving that of predestination, excepting incidently, untouched. I have done so because I consider it as irrelevant to the case of Judas, and not propounded, either directly or by implication, in the text. Predestination stands closely connected with sovereignty; and sovereignty has exclusively to do with the bestowment of good; exerting itself solely in acts of beneficence; decreeing blessings, not curses; ordaining men to life, not dooming them to destruction. At the same time, I cannot refrain from saying, in reference to predestination, that, in a practical point of view, it presents, so far as I can judge, no greater difficulties to the mind than those connected with foreknowledge. It is equally consistent with the freedom of man as a rational agent, with the universality of gospel offers, and with the fulness of gospel grace. Conclusion:1. The subject we have considered constitutes a loud call to humanity. Instead of cavilling at difficulties, let us resolve them into the imperfection of mortal vision; and, instead of boasting our mental powers, let us lie prostrate at the Divine footstool, as those who feel their own littleness, and are sensible how blind and ignorant they are, in reference to heavenly things. 2. The subject should guard us against the error of suffering ourselves to be fettered by any human system. Let promises and precepts, doctrines, and duties, decrees and responsibilities, occupy the places assigned to them on the page of Scripture; and what God has joined together let not the presumptuous hand of man dare to put asunder. 3. The contemplation of God’ s foreknowledge should never be engaged in otherwise than in close connection with gospel promises and gospel precepts. God knows no such character as a sincere inquirer shut out from mercy’ s gate; and sooner shall the sun be shorn of its beams--sooner shall the rainbow discharge its beauteous colours--than a praying soul shall perish, because Divine foresight takes cognizance of human destination. 4. The doctrine of Divine foreknowledge, as taught in Scripture directly and inferentially, tends, when duly apprehended, through a spiritual medium, both to impart comfort, and to prompt exertion. In proportion as faith and hope ripen into assurance, the soul is perceptibly strengthened for the performance of its active duties; and on the same principle, the certainty of Divine foreknowledge, irradiated with the bright beams of evangelical promise, so stimulates the believer’ s energies Chat he becomes “ ready to every good work” --“ steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” (Wm. Knight, M. A.)Judas’ s iniquity and its consequences From these learn--1. How great a sin avarice is, and to what a depth of wickedness it precipitates a man. 2. How deep the fall of those who fall from great grace and from high privileges. 3. How grievous the sin of desperation. It was this which made the difference between the sin of the traitor and that of the denier. (Cornelius Lapide.)Judas: his fate He fell headlong, or, rather, flat on his face (cf. Josephus, “ Jewish Wars,” 6:1-6), a fact not contradictory, but additional, to the circumstances mentioned in Matthew 27:5, where the word is the same as that used by the LXX. concerning Ahithophel. Theophylact explained that the rope broke, Judas having flung himself off some height. It will be remembered that ten thousand Idumean captives, cast down from the top of a rock, after Amaziah’ s victory, “ were all broken in pieces” (2 Chronicles 25:12). (Bp. Jacobsen.)A traitor’ s death The Duke of Buckingham, having by an unfortunate accident lost the army which he had raised against the usurper Richard III., was forced to flee for his life without page or attendant. At last he took refuge in the house of Humphrey Bannister at Shrewsbury, who, being one of his servants, and having formerly raised him from a low condition, would, he trusted, be ready to afford him every possible protection. Bannister, however, upon the king’ s proclamation, promising £1,000 reward to him that should apprehend the Duke, betrayed his master to John Merton, high sheriff of Shropshire, who sent him under a strong guard to Salisbury, where the king then was, by whom he was condemned to be beheaded. But Divine vengeance pursued the traitor and his family; for, on demanding the £1,000, that was the price of his master’ s blood, King Richard refused to pay it, saying, “ He that would be false to so good a master ought not to be encouraged.” He was afterwards hanged for manslaughter: his eldest son fell into a state of derangement, and died in a hog-sty; his second son became deformed and lame; his third son was drowned in a small pool of water, and the rest of his family perished miserably. The potter’ s field At Jerusalem traces of an ancient gateway have been discovered, apparently that known as “ The Gate of the Potters,” the quarter where earthenware was manufactured. Opposite to this lies the “ Potter’ s Field,” still called Aceldama, on which rises an old ruin thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, the whole forming a flat-roofed cover to a dismal house of the dead. Two caverns open in the floor, their rocky sides pierced with holes for bodies; and galleries of holes run into the hill from the bottom. Holes in the roof are still seen through which the corpses were let down by ropes, and there are marks of the steps by which the tombs were entered. (C. Geikie, D. D.)Aceldama, the field of blood Bought with the price of blood (Matthew 27:8), and, according to received tradition, stained with the blood of Judas. The name would remind Jewish readers of that bloodshedding, the consequences of which had been invoked on themselves and on their children. The place commonly shown as Aceldama has ever been famous on account of the sarcophagus virtue possessed by the earth in hastening the decay of dead bodies. Shiploads of it were carried to the Campo Santo in Pisa. (Bp. Jacobsen.)Aceldama The gambling spirit, which is at all times a stupendous evil, ever and anon sweeps over the country like an epidemic, prostrating uncounted thousands. There has never been a worse attack than that from which all the villages, towns, and cities are now suffering.1. This sin works ruin, first, by providing an unhealthful stimulant.2. Again, this sin works ruin by killing industry.3. Furthermore, this sin is the source of dishonesty.4. Notice also the effect of this crime upon domestic happiness. (T. de Witt Talmage.)The prophecies in Peter’ s speech The first quotation (verse 20) down to “ therein” is taken substantially from Psalms 69:25, with some compression of LXX., and a variation in the number of the pronoun from plural to singular, by which Judas is taken as a representative of Christ’ s enemies. This Psalm, quoted in the New Testament oftener than any other, except 22., is pre-eminently Messianic. Verse 9 is applied to Christ by John (John 2:17); the words immediately following by Paul (Romans 15:3); and the fulfilment of verse 21 is noted by John (John 19:28-30). The second quotation is taken with verbal exactness from LXX., Psalms 109:8 --the Iscariot Psalm. The conduct of Judas warranted the identifying him with Doeg and Ahithophel. David and his enemies are treated as types of Christ and His enemies. And after the exposition given by our Lord (Luke 24:44), it is out of the question to impute to Peter misunderstanding or misapplication. (Bp. Jacobsen.) Acts 1:21-22 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. The familiar side of Christ’ s life There are many ways of regarding the life of Christ: e.g., the philosophical or ideal, as in John’ s Gospel; the historical, in its larger world relation, as in Luke and St. Paul’ s Epistles; or, as here, the familiar. A proverbial touch may be detected in the phraseology of the text recalling Psalms 121:8. Such an expression indicates “ the daily round” as distinguished from the special occasions of life. Note two or three reflections upon the great fact of the dwelling amongst us of God’ s Son. I. This contact must be a ground for the most complete sympathy between Him and us.1. How thoroughly He shared the occupation, interest, and outlook of man. He entered into human thought, and looked upon the universe as it appears to the human eye and mind. Nothing human was indifferent to Him. All questions of labour, of the family, of social or political affairs, were and are of concern to Him. He is one with us. 2. He was a partaker in the suffering and shame of men. Pain, sorrow, disappointment, formed the alphabet of His experience as of ours. These were for Him a discipline as well as for us, and He regarded them and the problems they present as one of ourselves. II. How independent christ was of external circumstances and associates. It has been said that “ no man is a hero to his valet.” Familiarity breeds, if not contempt, at any rate, loss of reverence. Can we conceive of Jesus losing in moral dignity or the esteem of men by daily intercourse? Here He receives the title “ Lord,” and His going in and put is “ over” His people, i.e., authoritatively, as shepherd over his sheep. He chose a life least calculated to produce social or political effects, yet His influence was enhanced by that fact. His work so absolutely depended on Himself that political influence or high social position mould have injured it. But was He Himself affected by His station in life? Carlyle’ s vices, we are told by Froude, were to be looked for, considering his nature and upbringing as a Scottish peasant, and even his virtues were those of people of humble circumstances. Were the virtues of the Peasant of Galilee subject to this drawback? Nay; for we see how He towers above His contemporaries and followers. To such an age He could owe nothing, and the best of all ages have done Him homage and tried to imitate Him. III. It is just this “ daily round” of life that needs saving. Five-sixths of life consists of routine, and what would be the use of a religion that could not affect this? There is a constant tendency to detach the common things of life from moral considerations. Christ’ s parables discovered the mystery of the kingdom of heaven that was latent in men’ s daily lives. Who shall tell how much the childhood of Jesus has done to purify home life, or His work as a carpenter to ennoble labour? (A. F. Muir, M. A.)The election of Saint Matthias considered and applied On the day which is appointed to commemorate the Apostle Matthias, our Church has selected for the Epistle a portion of Scripture from the Acts of the Apostles, the only portion of Scripture in which his name is to be found. Whatever else is related of him in uninspired authors is attended with uncertainty, however worthy of remembrance. One circumstance is mentioned concerning him by two respectable writers among the early Christians, viz., that he was one of the seventy disciples whom the Lord Christ, during His earthly ministry, sent forth to work miracles and to preach in His name. This circumstance proves that he was known to Christ, and Christ to him; and that Christ had distinguished him among His followers. I. The first piece of instruction which I think we may learn from this portion of Scripture history is that among the good and faithful servants of God bad and unfaithful men my be found. Judas Iscariot was a traitor among the twelve apostles. Satan, as we read in the Book of Job, was among the sons of God when they came to present themselves to Jehovah. Among the early converts to the faith of Christ, Ananias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus, were discovered to be insincere. Our Saviour’ s parables of the wheat and tares growing in the same field, and of the good and bad fish caught in the same net, give us the like view of His Church here on earth. We know that His Church triumphant will be presented to Him “ a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish.” The ministers of Christ’ s Church, though especially called to be examples to the people whom they are appointed to teach and lead, are certainly not exempt from this corrupting influence: neither is it to be expected that they should be. They are still but men, liable to temptation as the rest of mankind, and subject to the peculiar temptations of their calling. II. But another piece of instruction which we may learn from this portion of Scripture history is that, though wickedness be foreknown, foretold, and predetermined by God, it is wickedness notwithstanding. To God, who knows all things, it was certainly known that Judas would act the part which history relates he did. Was Judas, then, innocent on this account? Mark the language of the historian in writing of it: “ This man [Judas] purchased a field with the reward of his iniquity.” Take another instance of the like kind in our Lord Jesus Christ: “ Him,” says St. Peter, “ being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Let no Christian, therefore, set the foreknowledge and predestination of God against the willing agency and responsibility of man, as if they were inconsistent and at variance with each other, and could not both be true. And let those who would excuse their impieties, by pretending a fatal necessity, be told that, if their sins be decreed and inevitable, so also is their punishment; and if they cannot but choose the one, they must equally choose the other. III. A third piece of instruction which we may learn from this portion of Scripture history is that when, by death or otherwise, a minister of Christ’ s church is removed from his customary sphere of spiritual labour, it is the duty of the bishop, patron, and people, as far as lies in them, to appoint a good and well-qualified minister in his place. We may notice, however, in the election of Matthias what was thought particularly necessary for his office. “ Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection.” It was an accurate knowledge of Jesus, from the beginning of His public ministry, which was from the time of His being baptised by John to the day of His ascension into heaven. And this knowledge was to qualify the apostle to be a witness of the resurrection of Jesus. Next, therefore, to honesty of character and sincerity of affection to Jesus, this information was a needful quality in a preacher of the gospel. The same quality is still needed in preachers of the gospel, though not to, be obtained from visible intercourse with the holy Jesus. They ought to be well acquainted with the history of His life; with the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Him; with the manner of their fulfilment, as far as they have been fulfilled; and with all the evidences which clearly prove Him to be “ the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” To state this knowledge properly and effectually, their hearts also ought to be warmed with love to Jesus, and to the sinners whom He came “ to seek and to save.” IV. A fourth piece of instruction which we may learn from this portion of Scripture history is the duty of prayer in the case of the ordination of ministers generally, and on the appointment of any individual minister to some particular field of labour in the church of God. This duty was carefully performed by the apostles and disciples of Christ in the instance before us. Let private prayer be added to that which is public, that the Holy Spirit may direct the minds and hearts of all parties concerned in the ordination of ministers. Having thus prayed in faith, they should receive the minister sent to them as Christ’ s ambassador, to be reverenced for the sake of the King, his divine Master. But, more than this, their prayers should be seconded and followed up by active and cheerful efforts to help him in the great work to which he is called; to unite with him, in their several spheres and stations, in promoting and extending his labour of love, in teaching the young and ignorant, in strengthening the weak, in correcting those who fall into error; and, by their own bright and consistent example, glorifying God, and causing God to be glorified by others, through them. (W. D. Johnston, M. A.)The reality and requirements of the Christian ministry (Ordination Sermon):--1. Here was one of the noblest ventures of faith ever made by man. Viewed from the world’ s side, it was, as great faith always is, frivolous trifling or daring madness. A little company of ignorant men, in a small province of the Roman world, had for three years followed up and down their land a new teacher, who professed to come from God, but had been crucified and slain. They had been terrified and scattered, and now they gather together in an upper room, and talk of choosing one in the traitor’ s stead to complete their broken number. They speak great words: they seem to look forth into the wide world around, as though it waited for them, as though they had a message for it, and power over it. Either their minds were full of the darkest delusions, or they were acting in the very might of God. And which was the truth the event may tell us. Prom that completed company a voice awoke to which the world did listen, and before which it fell. No visible strength dwelt in them as they went forth on their errand. They were scourged, imprisoned, slain. Their weapons were endurance, submission, love, faith, martyrdom--and with these they triumphed. They preached “ Jesus and the resurrection,” and hard souls yielded and were gathered into the new company, and wore its cross and carried on its triumphs, until the world trembled at the change which was passing on itself. And so they have advanced with unfaltering step from that day to this, until all that is mightiest in power, and greatest in nobleness, and highest in intellect, has bowed down in adoration before that witness of the resurrection of Jesus. 2. The acts which we are here this day to do are but the carrying out of those which then were wrought, and we may see in the course of their work what should be the issue of ours. Here is-- I. The strength in which each one of those sent forth is to labour, and the spirit in which he is to be received. Here is his strength--he is called by God to this office (and woe be to him if he rush into it uncalled), and goes about God’ s work: he may be, he ought to be, conscious of weakness, and therefore he may be strong; for conscious feebleness may drive him from himself to God in Christ. In spite of appearances, at all times in his ministry there is strength for him: “ I witness not of myself, but of the resurrection of my Lord; my words are not mine, but His; I witness not by strength, but by weakness, glorying in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” And as having such an office they are to be received, not for their natural eloquence or power, not for their acquired skill or learning, but for the supernatural presence which will make their weakness strong. II. The nature of their charge--they are sent to bear the witness of Christ’ s resurrection. All is shut up in this. They come from God to the world with the message of reconciliation; and this message is the incarnation of the eternal Son, His death, His rising again, and from this the truth of the ever-blessed Trinity, and man’ s restored relation to his God. This is what man’ s heart longs for unconsciously, and what the asceticism of the natural man is so restlessly craving for where it can never find it. III. How are we to discharge this great vocation?1. We must be deep students of God’ s Word. Where else are we to learn our witness of Christ’ s resurrection? Here it is written clear and full--in the Old Testament in type, prophecy, and promise; in the New in fulfilment, act, history, and grace. In it, day by day, we must live with Him. Thus must our message sink into our own hearts. Even as they “ who companied with” Him “ all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them,” learned unawares, day by day, the truth they needed, so must it be with us. 2. We must be men of prayer. The union of these two is the essence of the apostolical character. “ We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the Word” ; and without prayer we cannot bear this burden. How without it shall we have an insight into Scripture? how turn what we read to profit? how have power with God or with our brethren? In prayer, in real, hearty, earnest prayer, all things around us are set into their proper places. In prayer our minds are armed for the coming temptations of the day; they are cooled, refreshed, and calmed after its vexations, fatigues, and anxiety. On our knees, if anywhere, we learn to love the souls of our people; to hate our own sins; to trust in Him who shows us then His wounded side and pierced hands, and to love Him with our whole heart. Nothing will make up for the lack of prayer. The busiest ministry without it is sure to become shallow and bustling. To come forth from secret communing with Him, and bear our witness, and to retire again behind the veil to pour out our hearts before Him in unceasing intercessions and devout adorations, this is, indeed, the secret of a blessed, fruitful ministry. Nor let us suppose that at once, and by the force of a single resolution, we can become men of prayer. The spirit of devotion is the gift of God; thou must seek it long and earnestly; and His grace will work it in thy heart. Thou must practise it and labour for it. Thou must pray often if thou wouldest pray well. 3. We must be men of holiness. (1) Because without this there cannot be reality in our witness. We cannot testify of the resurrection of Christ unless we ourselves have known its power. Even though our lives be correct, yet our lives must be unreal unless the truths we speak have thoroughly pervaded our own souls. If we have for ourselves no living faith in a risen Saviour, we cannot speak of Him with power to others. We must be great saints if we would have our people holy. The pastor’ s character forms, to a great degree, the character of his flock. We must show them in our risen lives that Christ indeed is risen. This is a witness, from the force of which they cannot escape. (2) Because we are in the kingdom of God’ s grace, and to us is committed a dispensation of His grace. Every act of ours will be real and effectual only so far as God’ s grace goes with it; and though He may be, and is, pleased to work by His grace even at the hands of the unholy, yet who can say how greatly such unfaithfulness does mar His work, how much is lost which might be gained? How can the other necessities of our character be supplied if we fail here? How can we be students of God’ s Word without God’ s grace? How can they pray for themselves or their people who have not the Spirit of grace and supplication? How can they draw down the blessed dew on others who even repel it from themselves? Who can have daily audience of our King but those who dwell within His courts? (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)Witnesses of the resurrection The fact of Christ’ s resurrection was the staple of the first Christian sermon. The apostles did not deal so much in doctrine; but they proclaimed what they had seen. There are three main connections in which the fact is viewed in Scripture. It was--1. A fact affecting Him, carrying with it necessarily some great truths with regard to His character, nature, and work. And it was in that aspect mainly that the earliest preachers dealt with it. 2. Then, as the Spirit led them to understand more and more of it, it came to be a pattern, pledge, and prophecy of their own. 3. And then it came to be a symbol of spiritual resurrection. The text branches out into three considerations. I. The witnesses. Here we have the “ head of the Apostolic College,” on whose supposed primacy--which is certainly not a “ rock” --such tremendous claims have been built, laying down the qualifications and the functions of an apostle. How simply they present themselves to His mind. The qualifications are only personal knowledge of Jesus Christ in His earthly history, because the function is only to attest His resurrection. The same conception lies in Christ’ s last designation, “ Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” It appears again and again in the earlier address reported in this book. “ This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses,” etc., etc. How striking the contrast this idea presents to the portentous theories of later times. The work of the apostles in Christ’ s lifetime embraced three elements, none of which were peculiar to them--to be with Christ, to preach, and to work miracles; their characteristic work after His ascension was this of witness-bearing. The Church did not owe to them its extension, nor Christian doctrine its form, and whilst Peter and James and John appear in the history, and Matthew wrote a Gospel, and the other James and Jude are the authors of brief Epistles, the rest of the twelve never appear afterwards. This book is not the Acts of the Apostles. It tells the work of Peter alone among the twelve. The Hellenists Stephen and Philip, the Cypriote Barnabas--and the man of Tarsus, greater than they all--these spread the name of Christ beyond the limits of the Holy City and the chosen people. The solemn power of “ binding and loosing” was not a prerogative of the twelve, for we read that Jesus came where “ the disciples were assembled,” and “ He breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted.” Where in all this is a trace of the special apostolic powers which have been alleged to be transmitted from them? Nowhere. Who was it that came and said, “ Brother Saul, the Lord hath sent me that thou mightest be filled with the Holy Ghost” ? A simple “ layman.” Who was it that stood by, a passive and astonished spectator of the communication of spiritual gifts to Gentile converts, and could only say, “ Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the like gift, as He did unto us, what was I that I could withstand God?” Peter, the leader of the twelve. Their task was apparently a humbler, really a far more important, one. They had to lay broad and deep the basis for all the growth and grace of the Church in the facts which they witnessed. To that work there can be no successors. II. The sufficiency of the testimony. Peter regards (as does the whole New Testament) the witness which he and his fellows bore as enough to lay firm and deep the historical fact of the resurrection.1. If we think of Christianity as being mainly a set of truths, then, of course, the way to prove Christianity is to show the consistency of its truths with one another and with other truths, their derivation from admitted principles, their reasonableness, their adaptation to men’ s nature, and the refining and elevating effects of their adoption, and so on. If we think of Christianity, on the other hand, as being first a set of historical facts which carry the doctrines, then the way to prove Christianity is not to show how reasonable it is, etc. These are legitimate ways of establishing principles; but the way to establish a fact is only one--that is, to find somebody that can say, “ I know it, for I saw it.” And my belief is that the course of modern “ apologetics” has departed from its real stronghold when it has consented to argue the question on these lower and less sufficing grounds. The gospel is first and foremost a history, and you cannot prove that a thing has happened by showing how very desirable it is that it should happen, etc. all that is irrelevant. It is true because sufficient eye-witnesses assert it. 2. With regard to the sufficiency of the specific evidence-- (1) Suppose you yield up everything that modern scepticism can demand about the date and authorship of the New Testament, we have still left four letters of Paul’ s which nobody has ever denied, viz., the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, whose dates bring them within five-and-twenty years of the alleged date of Christ’ s resurrection, Now we find in all of them the distinct allegation of this fact, and side by side with it the reference to his own vision of the risen Saviour, which carries us up within ten years of the alleged fact. It was not a handful of women who fancied they had seen Him once, very early in dim twilight of morning, but it was half a thousand of them that had beheld Him. He had been seen by them, not once, but often; not far off, but close at hand; not in one place, but in Galilee and Jerusalem; at all hours of the day, abroad and in the house, walking and sitting, speaking and eating, by them singly and in numbers. He had been seen too by incredulous eyes and surprised hearts, who doubted ere they worshipped; and the world may be thankful that they were slow of heart to believe. (2) Would not this testimony be enough to guarantee any event but this? And if so, why is not it enough to guarantee this, too? If the resurrection be not a fact, then the belief in it was-- (a) A delusion. But it was not; for such an illusion is altogether unexampled. Nations have said, “ Our king is not dead--he is gone away and he will come back.” Loving disciples have said, “ Our Teacher lives in solitude, and will return to us.” But this is no parallel to these. This is not a fond imagination giving an apparent substance to its own creation, but sense recognising the fact. And to suppose that that should have been the rooted conviction of hundreds of men that were not idiots finds no parallel in the history and no analogy in legend. (b) A myth; but a myth does not grow in ten years. And there was no motive to frame if Christ was dead and all was over. (c) A deceit; but the character of the men, and the absence of self-interest, and the persecutions which they endured, made that inconceivable. (3) And all this we are asked to put aside at the outrageous assertion which no man that believes in a God can logically maintain, viz., that-- (a) No testimony can reach to the miraculous. But cannot testimony reach to this: I know, because I saw, that a man was dead, and I saw him alive again? If testimony can do that, I think we may safely leave the verbal sophism that it cannot reach to the miraculous to take care of itself. (b) Miracle is impossible. But that is an illogical begging of the whole question, and cannot avail to brush aside testimony. You cannot smother facts by theories in that fashion. One would like to know how it comes that our modern men of science who protest so much against science being corrupted by metaphysics should commit themselves to an assertion like that? Surely that is stark, staring metaphysics. Let them keep to their own line, and tell us all that crucibles and scalpels can reveal, and we will listen as becomes us. But when they contradict their own principles in order to deny the possibility of miracles, we need only give them back their own words, and ask that the investigation of facts shall not be hampered and clogged with metaphysical prejudices. III. The importance of the fact which is thus borne witness to.1. With the Resurrection stands or falls the Divinity of Christ. Christ said, “ The Son of man must suffer many things, and the third day He shall rise again.” Now, if Death holds Him still, then what becomes of these words, and of our estimate of the Character of Him, the speaker? Let us hear no more about the pure morality of Jesus Christ. Take away the Resurrection and we have left beautiful precepts, and fair wisdom deformed with a monstrous self-assertion, and the constant reiteration of claims which the event proves to have been baseless. Either He has risen from the dead or His words were blasphemy. “ Declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,” or that which our lips refuse to say even in a hypothesis! 2. With the Resurrection stands or falls Christ’ s whole work for our redemption. If He died, like other men, we have no proof that the Cross was anything but a martyr’ s. His resurrection is the proof that His death was not the tribute which for Himself He had to pay, but the ransom for us. If He has not risen, He has not put away sin; and if He has not put it away by the sacrifice of Himself, none has, and it remains. We come back to the old dreary alternative: if Christ be not risen your faith is vain, and our preaching is vain, etc. And if He be not risen, there is no resurrection for us; and the world is desolate, and the heaven is empty, and the grave is dark, and sin abides, and death is eternal. Well, then, may we take up the ancient glad salutation, “ The Lord is risen” ; and turning from these thoughts of the disaster and despair that that awful supposition drags after it, fall back upon the sober certainty, and with the apostle break forth in triumph, “ Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept.” (A. Maclaren, D. D) Acts 1:23-26 And they appointed two.An election sermon This, the earliest, stands remarkably distinguished from the episcopal elections of after ages. Every one acquainted with history knows that the election of a bishop was one of the fiercest questions which shook the Church of Christ. Appointment by the people. Presbyters. Various customs. Anecdote of Ambrose of Milan. Appointment by the Emperor or Bishop of Rome. Quarrel of ages between the Emperor and the Pope. Consider-- I. The object of the election. To elect a bishop of the universal Church. It might be that in process of time the apostle should be appointed to a particular city--as St. James was to Jerusalem. But his duty was owed to the Church in general, and not to that particular city; and if he had allowed local interests to stand before the interests of the whole, he would have neglected the duty of his high office, and if those who appointed him considered the interest of Jerusalem instead of the Church universal, they would have failed in their duty. In the third century Cyprian stated this principle: “ The Episcopate, one and indivisible, held in its entirety by each bishop, every part standing for the whole.” The political application is plain. Each legislator legislates for the country, not for a county or town. Each elector holds his franchise as a sacred trust, to be exercised not for his town, or faction, or himself, or his friends, but for the general weal of the people of England. We are not to be biassed by asking what charity does a candidate support, nor by his view of some local question, nor by his support of Tractarian or Evangelical societies. We are, in our high responsibility, selecting, not a president for a religious society, nor a patron of a town, nor a subscriber to an hospital, but a legislator for England. II. The mode of the election. It was partly human, partly Divine. The human element is plain enough in that it was popular. The Divine element lay in this that it was overruled by God. The selected one might be the chosen of the people, yet not the chosen of God. Hence they prayed, “ Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men,” etc. The common notion is, vox populi vox--i.e., a law is right because it is a people’ s will. We have not quite gone to this length in England. On the Continent it has long been prevalent. Possibly it is the expression of that Antichrist “ who showeth himself that he is God” ; self-will setting itself up paramount to the will of God. The vox populi is sometimes vox, sometimes not. It was so when the people rescued Jonathan from his father’ s unjust sentence: and when, after the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, they cried, “ The Lord He is God.” But not when, in Moses’ absence, they required Aaron to make them a golden calf for a god. Or when they shouted, “ Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” or “ Crucify Him!” Politicians eagerly debate the question, how best to secure a fair representation of the people’ s voice--a question not to be put aside. But the Christian sets a question deeper far than this--how the popular will shall truly represent the will of God. And we shall attain this, not by nicely balancing interest against interest, much less by manoeuvring to defeat the opposite cause; but by each doing all he can to rouse himself and others to a high sense of responsibility. It is a noble thought, that of every elector going to vote, as these men did, for the Church, for the people, for God, and for the right, earnestly anxious that he and others should do right. Else this was an appeal to chance and not to God; and every election, by ballot or by suffrage, is else an appeal to chance. III. The spirit.1. A religious spirit. “ They prayed,” etc. Now, we shall be met here by an objection. This was a religious work--the selection of an apostle; but the choice of a representative is only a secular one. But it is not the occupation, but the spirit which makes the difference. The election of a bishop may be most secular; the election of a representative may be religious. St. Paul taught that nothing is profane. Sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, St. Peter learned that nothing is common or unclean. Many relics remain to us from our religious forefathers indicative of this truth. Grace before meals. Dei gratia on coins of the realm; “ In the name of God,” at the commencement of wills; oaths in court of justice--all proclaim that the simplest acts of our domestic and political life are sacred or profane according to the spirit in which they are performed; not in the question whether they are done for the State or the Church, but whether with God or without God. Observe: It is not the preluding such an election with public prayer that would make it a religious act. It is religious so far as each man discharges his part as a duty and solemn responsibility. If looked on in this spirit would the debauchery, which is fostered by rich men of all parties among the poor for their own purposes, be possible? Would they, for the sake of one vote, or a hundred votes, brutalise their fellow creatures? 2. It was done conscientiously. Each Christian found himself in possession of a new right--that of giving a vote or casting a lot. Like all rights, it was a duty. He had not a right to do what he liked, only to do right. And if any one had swayed him to support the cause of Barsabas or that of Matthias on any motives except this one--“ You ought” --he had so far injured his conscience. The worst of crimes is to injure a human conscience. Now bribery is a sin. Not because a particular law has been made against it, but because it lowers the sense of personal responsibility. And whether you do directly by giving, indirectly by withdrawing, assistance, or patronage--you sin against Christ. 3. It was not done from personal interest. If the supporters of the two candidates had been influenced by such considerations as bloodrelationship, or the chance of favour and promotion, a high function would have been degraded. In secular matters, however, we do not judge so. A man generally decides according to his professional or his personal interests. You know almost to a certainty beforehand which way a man will vote, if you know his profession. Partly no doubt, this is involuntarily--the result of those prejudices which attach to us all from association. But it is partly voluntary. We know that we are thinking not of the general good, but of our own interests. And thus a farmer would think himself justified in looking at a question simply as it affected his class, and a noble as it affected his caste, and a working man as it bore upon the working classes. Brethren, we are Christians. Something of a principle higher than this ought to be ours. What is the law of the Cross of Christ? The sacrifice of the One for the whole, the cheerful surrender of the few for the many. Else, what do we more than others? These are fine words--patriotism, public principle, purity. Be sure these words are but sentimental expressions, except as they spring out of the Cross of Christ. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)The election of Matthias Let us pause a little to meditate upon an objection which might have been here raised. Why fill up what Christ Himself left vacant? some short-sighted objector might have urged; and yet we see good reason why Christ may have omitted to supply the place of Judas, and may have designed that the apostles themselves should have done so. Our Lord Jesus Christ gifted His apostles with corporate power; He bestowed upon them authority to act in His stead and name; and it is not God’ s way of action to grant power and authority, and then to allow it to remain unexercised and undeveloped. When God confers any gift He expects that it shall be used for His honour and man’ s benefit. The Lord thus wished to teach the Church from earliest days to walk alone. The apostles had been long enough depending on His personal presence and guidance, and now, that they might learn to exercise the privileges and duties of their Divine freedom, He leaves them to choose one to fill that position of supernatural rank and office from which Judas had fallen. The risen Saviour acted in grace as God ever acts in nature. He bestowed His gifts lavishly and generously, and then expected man to respond to the gifts by making that good use of them which earnest prayer, sanctified reason, and Christian common-sense dictated. (G. T. Stokes, M. A.)Readiness and preparedness The Church, like a line of soldiers in action, must have no vacant places; each gap in the line must be made good. The unfilled post is a point of weakness in the system and the work, and the enemy against whom we strive is not slow to take advantage. The weak place is soon detected, and the gap in the line will soon be still further enlarged. A rent unmended rapidly grows greater. The apostles felt this. So at once they proceed to fill the vacant place. Two thoughts meet us here. If a place has to be filled, two requirements must be satisfied. First, we must have one prepared, one fit to fill the position; secondly, we must have one ready and willing to take up the work. Matthias was a disciple of experience. He was not a recent convert, no novice. Hitherto, we may conclude, he had filled no official position. But by attendance on the Lord’ s ministry he had been preparing himself to take up the work when a call should come. He was probably quite unconscious as to when or how it would come; but as a Christian, as a soldier of Christ, as a servant of his Master, he was always liable. The summons, “ I have need of thee,” might come at any moment. Would the summons find him fitted to obey it? He had “ companied” --come along together--“ with them.” He had listened to Christ’ s teaching, watched Christ live and work; he could speak from experience. Is there not here a lesson for all? We do not know when Christ may need us; we do not know exactly how He may wish that we should be employed. But the summons may come. When it comes, in what state will it find us? Shall we know from experience anything of what a Christian life really is? A knowledge of Christian truth and Christian life is indispensable for Church workers. They must be prepared. And as a modern writer has said, “ preparation is not preparedness,” but it is the secret of it, the means whereby it is obtained. Preparation, constant, ever going on, is the way to be prepared. But the worker, besides being prepared, must be also ready, that is, willing to obey the call when it comes. How often has a clergyman to lament the sorrowful fact that those who might be of the greatest service are sometimes the least willing to take up work. Yet to whom “ much is given, of him shall be much required.” According to our means, abilities, opportunities, shall we be judged. Notice the example of Matthias and Joseph. There is not a word Of hesitation or excuse. They knew not upon which the lot might fall, but either was willing and ready; it was sufficient that the call had come, they must not dream of disobedience. They did not know what might lie before them-danger, toil, persecution, in all probability a martyr’ s death. But there is no shrinking, no attempt to excuse themselves or find reasons why they should not take office. It has been of the nature of a national boast that Englishmen sought rather than shunned the point of danger, the life of active service and toil. How often have we read of the soldier chafing under the circumstances which cast his lot in the reserve rather than in the midst of the action which was progressing at the front! Should there not be a like spirit exhibited by the soldiers of the Cross? The life of action and the life of danger is surely in some measure the life of honour. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.)Ministers should be picked men It is said of the Egyptians that they chose their priests from the most learned of their philosophers, and then they esteemed their priests so highly that they chose their kings from them. We require to have for God’ s ministers the pick of all the Christian host; such men, indeed, that if the nation wanted kings they could not do better than elevate them to the throne. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God knows the heart When Samuel Wilberforce, afterwards Bishop, went to his first charge, some of the parishioners complained that the bishop had seat them a boy. They condemned him before he spoke because of his looks. But after they had heard his first sermon they withdrew their first statement, and said, “ We find he is a man.” This illustrates the way in which too often we judge men, but we must remember that although man looketh on the outward appearance the Lord looketh on the heart. Workers indicated by God “ One night, a week before we got to Colombo, Mr. Millard and I were praying to God for special guidance in Ceylon, and I said to him, ‘ The Lord has told me to bring on from Ceylon Mr. Campbell, Mr. Horan, Mr. Jackson, and David.’ ‘ Well,’ said he, ‘ if you bring on any one, these are the four names.’ So day by day we prayed, ‘ Oh, Lord, is it Thy will that we should bring them on?” We had a fortnight in Ceylon, and we spent the greater part of it in prayer to be perfectly certain of God’ s will. We were staying at a house a little distance out of Colombo that a friend very kindly put at our disposal, and there we gathered to wait on God in prayer. One day Mr. Millard and Mr. Campbell were there praying. They said nothing to me about it. They prayed, ‘ Now, Lord, we will put Thee to the test: wilt Thou send up into this room those who are to go to Australia, and only those?’ They waited. The door opened, and Mr. Jackson went in and knelt with the other two. Mr. Horan was at his tea, but somehow he thought to himself, ‘ I must go up’ ; so he left his tea and went upstairs, and went into the room and knelt down with the others. I also was downstairs, and said to myself, ‘ I will go up and have a little prayer.’ I went into the room and found these friends there before me. But where was David? Was he to come or not? He was, at the time, in Colombo, five miles away. He knew nothing about the prayer in the upper room. As David was walking along the street of Colombo he lifted up his heart to God and said, ‘ Where am I to go now, and what am I to do?’ The Lord told him to take a carriage and drive out to Dellagama House at once. David got into a conveyance and drove out. He appeared with his black face all shining with glory. Now we were certain that David was to go with us to Australia. So we sailed, and arrived at Melbourne. (G. C. Grubb.)The beginning of ecclesiastical business 1. The requisite qualifications of apostleship were discerned in two members of the company. The claims of the two were probably equally balanced and superior to those of the rest. 2. The whole matter was referred to the Head of the Church in prayer. 3. They prayed Him to settle for them what they could not settle for themselves. No choice of theirs could make a man an apostle. 4. They looked for the expression of the Divine decision in the best way known to them. The lot had been sanctioned by God under the Old Dispensation; but it is significant that no more is heard of it. The unction of the Holy One rendered it unnecessary. 5. The decision asked for was cordially accepted. This beginning of ecclesiastical business presents to us-- I. Right-minded people not yet filled with the Holy Spirit. The truth had had its effect upon them, but like many now they were only in a course of preparation for the fulness of Divine knowledge. Such now should do the will of God as they know it as these did, and seek the promised blessing in prayer. II. Right-minded people, though not yet filled with the Spirit, yet directed by their confidence in Christ. They believed that He, the Searcher of hearts, was surveying them; that prayer to Him would be answered; that they had a work to do for which He must fit them; and though one had fallen another would be found for his place. So now there are servants of Christ who, though not assured of sonship, are yet on the road to assurance. Let such maintain their confidence in Christ, and they will reach the goal as the disciples did. III. The apostolic staff completed in proper time. The proper time was during the ten days. The disciples were expectant, but their confidence was increased when they felt that they had done their duty. Seamen are the more hopeful when the breeze strikes on the spread canvas, and physicians when they have used all the resources of their science. So congregations should be ready for what God waits to give, by a full cordial acceptance of His will. (W. Hudson.)The holy choice They begin with prayer; this was the usual manner in the Church of God (Numbers 27:16; John 17:17; Acts 6:6). It is not fit he that is chosen for God should be chosen without God. But for this, Samuel himself may be mistaken and choose even wrong, before he hit upon the right. This prayer respects two things: I. The person is described--1. By His omnipotence. “ Lord” -- (1) Of what? Not Lord of such a county, barony, seigniory; nor Lord by virtue of office, but most absolute. His lordship is universal: Lord of heaven, the owner of those glorious mansions; Lord of earth, disposer of all kingdoms and principalities; Lord of hell, to lock up the old dragon and his crew in the bottomless pit; Lord of death, to unlock the graves. (2) To the Lord of all they commend the choice of His own servants. Every mortal lord hath this power, how much more that Lord which makes lords! Who so fit to choose as He that can choose the fit? Who so fit to choose as He that can make those fit whom He doth choose? It is He alone that can give power and grace to the elected, therefore not to be left out in the election. It is happy when we do remit all doubts to His decision, and resign ourselves to His disposition. We must not be our own carvers, but let God’ s choice be ours. When we know His pleasure, let us show our obedience. 2. Omniscience: it is God’ s peculiar to be the searcher of the heart. But why the heart? Here was an apostle to be chosen: now wisdom, learning, eloquence, might seem to be more necessary qualities. No, they are all nothing to an honest heart. I deny not but learning to divide the word, elocution to pronounce it, wisdom to discern the truth, boldness to deliver it, be all parts requirable in a preacher. But as if all these were scarce worth mention in respect of the heart, they say not, which is the greater scholar, but which is the better man (1 Samuel 16:7). (1) Why do they not say, Thou that knowest the estates of men, who is rich, and fit to support a high place, and who so poor that the place must support him? Because, at the beam of the sanctuary, money makes not the man, although it often adds some metal to the man; makes his justice the bolder, and in less hazard of being vitiated. But if the poor man have “ wisdom to deliver the city” (Ecclesiastes 9:15), he is worthy to govern the city. I yield that something is due to the state of authority. But wise government, not rich garment, shows an able man. (2) Why do they not say, Thou that knowest the birth or blood of men? I know it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or palace not in decay, or a fair tree sound and perfect timber. But as foul birds build their nests in an old forsaken house, and doted trees are good for nothing but the fire; so the decay of virtue is the ruin of nobility. To speak morally, active worth is better than passive: this last we have from our ancestors, the first from ourselves. Let me rather see one virtue in a man alive, than all the rest in his pedigree dead. It is not the birth, but the new birth that makes men truly noble. (3) Why do they not say, Thou that knowest the wisdom and policy of men? Certainly, this is requisite to a man of place. But a man may be wise for himself, not for God, not for the public good. A cunning head without an honest heart is but like a house with many convenient stairs, entries, and other passages, but never a fair room. II. The matter entreated. “ Show whom Thou hast chosen.”1. What kind of hearts God will not choose. (1) A distracted heart; part whereof is dedicated to the Lord, and part to the world. He that made all will not be contented with a piece. Aut Caesar, aut nihil. Many divisions followed sin. (a) It divided heart from God (Isaiah 59:2). (b) It divided heart from heart. God by marriage made one of two, sin doth often make two of one. (c) It divided the tongue from the heart. So Cain answered God, when He questioned him about Abel. (d) It divided tongue from tongue at the building of Babel. (e) It divided the heart from itself (Psalms 12:2): one for the Church, another for the change; one for Sundays, another for working days. (2) A stony heart. A rock, which all the floods of God’ s mercies and judgments cannot soften; a stithy, that is still the harder for beating. It hath all the properties of a stone: it is as cold, heavy, hard, and senseless as a stone. Were it of iron it might be wrought; were it of lead, it might be molten, and cast into some better form; were it of earth, it might be tempered to another fashion; but being stone, nothing remains but that it be broken. What was Pharaoh’ s greatest plague? His hard heart. He that knows all hearts, knows how ill this would be in a magistrate or minister; a heart which no cries of orphans, no tears of widows, no mourning of the oppressed, can melt into pity. (3) A covetous heart, the desires whereof are never filled. A handful of corn put to the whole heap increaseth it; yea, add ,water to the sea, it hath so much the more; but “ he that loveth silver shall never be satisfied with silver.” This vice is in all men iniquity, but in a minister or magistrate blasphemy; the root of all evil in every man, the rot of all goodness in a great man. 2. What kind of hearts God will choose. (1) A wise heart (1 Kings 2:9). There is no trade but a peculiar wisdom belongs to it, without which all is tedious and unprofitable; how much more to the highest and busiest vocation. (2) A meek heart. The first governor that God set over His Israel was Moses, a man of the meekest spirit. How is he fit to govern others, that hath not learned to govern himself? He that cannot rule a boat upon the river is not to be trusted with steering a vessel on the ocean. Nor yet must this parience degenerate into cowardliness: Moses, that was so meek in his own cause, in God’ s cause was as resolute. So there is also-- (3) A heart of fortitude and courage. The rules and squares that regulate others are not made of lead or soft wood, such as will bend or bow. The principal columns of a house had not need be heart of oak, The spirit that resolves to do the will of heaven, what malignant powers soever would cross it on earth, is the heart that God chooseth. (4) An honest heart. Without this, courage will prove but legal injustice, policy but mere subtlety, and ability but the devil’ s anvil to forge mischiefs on. Private men have many curbs, but men in authority, if they fear not God, have nothing else to fear. If he be a simple dastard, he fears all men; if a headstrong commander, he fears no man: like that unjust judge (Luke 18:2). 3. Why God will choose men by the heart. Because-- (1) The heart is the primum mobile that sets all the wheels agoing, and improves them to the right end. When God begins to make a man good, He begins at the heart. And as naturally the heart is first in being, so here the will (which is meant by the heart) is chief in commanding. If it say to the eye, See, it seeth; to the ear, Hear, it hearkeneth, etc. If the heart lead the way to God, not a member of the body, not a faculty of the soul, will stay behind. (2) No part of man can sin without the heart; the heart can sin without all the rest. The heart is like a mill: if the wind or water be violent, the mill will go whether the miller will or not; yet he may chose what kind of grain it shall grind, wheat or darnel. (3) The heart is what God specially cares for: “ My son, give Me thy heart” ; and good reason, for I gave My own Son’ s heart to death for it. It is not less thine for being Mine; yea, it cannot be thine comfortably unless it be Mine perfectly. God requires it principally, but not only; give Him that, and all the rest will follow. He that gives me fire needs not be requested for light and heat, for they are inseparable. (4) All outward works a hypocrite may do, only he fails in the heart; and because he fails there, he is lost everywhere. Who will put that timber into the building of his house which is rotten at the heart? Man judgeth the heart by the works; God judgeth the works by the heart. Therefore God will excuse all necessary defects, but only of the heart. The blind man cannot serve God with his eyes, he is excused; the deaf cannot serve God with his ears, he is excused, etc., but no man is excused for not serving God with his heart. (5) “ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Therefore David prays, “ Create in me a clean heart.” The Lord rested from the works of His creation the seventh day; but so dearly He loves clean hearts, that He rests from creating them no day. As Jehu said to Jehonadab. “ Is thy heart right? then give me thy hand, come up into my chariot” ; so this is God’ s question, Is thy heart upright? then give Me thy hand, ascend’ My triumphant chariot, the everlasting glory of heaven. Conclusion: Because there is such difference of hearts, and such need of a good one, they put it to Him that knows them all, and knows which is best of all. A little living stone in God’ s building is worth a whole quarry of the world. One honest heart is better than a thousand other. Man often fails in his election; God cannot err. (T. Adams.)Festival of St. Matthias We look back upon the career of Judas, who by transgression fell from “ this ministry and apostleship” ; and, secondly, see what is to be learnt from the election of Matthias. I. Judas has been described as “ one of the standing moral problems of the gospel history.” He is not a lay figure, draped in the historical dress provided by the Psalter, a mythical personage. His portrait stands out from the canvas of the Gospels life-like, vivid, terrible. He is no creation of the imagination, no mere foil to bring out into stronger relief the transcendent virtues of the Christ; but a real man, who betrayed his Master, and then hung himself. He illustrates the possibilities of evil, and the doctrine that “ the corruption of the best becomes the worst.” And first it must be remembered that Judas “ fell.” He is sometimes depicted as though he had always had the heart of an alien; and when chosen by our Lord to be one of His apostles, was then a traitor in spirit. This is a mistake. When our Lord said, “ Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He says “ is a devil.” He does not say “ was.” Judas Iscariot had a genuine vocation to the apostolate; that is, he had in him the makings of an apostle; otherwise, our Lord would not have chosen him. But vocations may be lost. Judas fell through yielding to temptation. Two sins mark the stages of his downward course--avarice and despair. It may be asserted, that however hardening may be the effect of this vice of avarice, when it has led to the committal of some heinous crime the benumbed conscience is often painfully and suddenly aroused from its state of torpor, and filled with dismay. The sinner is startled at the lengths which he has gone. Judas, doubtless, had tampered with the moral faculty, and persuaded himself that though he had betrayed his Master, Christ would, after all, escape from the hands of His enemies. His remorse, when he saw the effects of his treachery, bear witness, not to the absence of covetousness, but to the power of conscience, whose voice, though it may be for a time smothered, will assert itself in terrible tones at last. The disciple was not subjected to the trial without sufficient helps and cautions to enable him, had he willed, to vanquish his dominant passion, and to grow into the likeness of his Master. But a greater sin than covetousness followed--that of despair. The sins which are opposite to those great virtues, Faith, Hope, and Love, which have God for their Object, are sins of a deep dye. They are unbelief, despair, and hatred of God. Among these, despair is especially fraught with danger to us, because it takes away the hope “ which recalls us from our sins and lead us to good.” Despair is a sin against Divine mercy, that attribute in the exercise of which God is said to “ delight.” If Judas had sought for mercy, he would have found it. He had the semblance of repentance without its spirit. He had no hope; and, so in a frenzy of despair, he fled from the temple, and ended his life--in the strange and awful language, “ that he might go to his own place.” II. We turn now to brighter thoughts. Our Lord chose twelve apostles. It seems to have been important that this number should be preserved. It has been called “ emphatically the Church number.” It occurs again and again in Holy Scripture. There were twelve patriarchs, twelve altars, twelve precious stones in Aaron’ s breastplate, twelve judges, twelve wells at Elim, twelve loaves of show-bread. In the Book of the Revelation there are twelve stars round the head of the woman clothed with the sun, twelve foundations and gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. The first act of the apostles after the ascension of Christ is to fill up the gap in their number. Matthias was more than a successor of Judas; he was to take his place, to be invested with the dignity of an original apostle. But note how this vacancy was supplied. First, by united prayer--prayer, mark you, to Christ--they sought to know His choice, Who is the discerner of hearts; and then they cast lots; “ and--the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” The Holy Spirit was not yet given, and thus they resorted to a method which had often been adopted for settling doubtful questions by different nations, that of casting lots, not as any precedent for the Church in the future; but as a means for discovering the mind of God in that interim between the missions of Divine persons, when they were left without a guide. Many are the lessons which may be drawn from our subject. Many are the warnings which it suggests. The excess of hope is presumption; its defect, despair. The history of Judas shows the peril of both. “ Be not high-minded, but fear.” No office or position can insure us against falling. We see those who have had the highest privileges fall from God. Lucifer and the angels, Adam and Eve, David, Solomon, Peter, and Judas. Secondly, let us, on the other hand, never despair. There is no evil in the creature which the mercy of God cannot remedy--“ Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Despair is worse than covetousness: for “ with the Lord there is mercy” ; it has its home and origin in the Divine character, and “ with Him is plenteous redemption.” (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place.-- Judas It seems very strange that Jesus, who knew the hearts of men, should have admitted as one of the twelve a thief, a devil, a traitor, one who had better never been born. Gifts of some kind he must have had, rendering the choice of him not strange to others, not unfit in itself. Was it that, though our Lord discerned the germs of evil in his character, He saw also germs of good, and hoped that, as a result of association with Himself, these might prevail? If we suppose so, new force is given to many of Christ’ s sayings. “ Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” What a truth for Judas, if he were vainly trying to follow both! The destructive power of “ the cares of this world,” and “ the deceitfulness of riches,” Judas heard of. He heard of the fate of the unfaithful steward, etc. If Jesus had this merciful desire, not least among the griefs of the Man of Sorrows must have been the deepening conviction that His efforts were in vain, and that He was but adding to the condemnation of one from whom “ so much would be required,” as so much had been given. What a pang each evidence of this must have given to Jesus! e.g., the objection to the costly ointment with which Mary anointed the Lord. At last Jesus said, “ One of you shall betray Me,” and Judas, “ having received the sop, went immediately out.” It has been suggested that motives other than base actuated Judas, but these contradict the narrative and every probability. I. Considerations on the scripture doctrine of future penalties. Amidst much obscurity two things are clear:1. That the consequences of evil will be felt after death; that what is sown here shall be reaped there, and that the “ indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” felt, and inflicted by God, will be of such a sort that the strongest and most dreadful images are not too strong or dreadful to express it. 2. That, whatever the reality, the Judge of all the earth will do only right; so that no suspicion of injustice, or distress because of it, need or ought to have place in our minds. II. Each going to his own place. Whether the apostles had clearer knowledge about the fate of Judas than they here express, we know not. At least there is singular moderation and reverence in what they said. One might well have excused sterner language about the betrayer. Their refraining is a pattern to us all. But this statement fits every case as well as that of Judas. It is not a mere confession of ignorance, which says nothing. See how exactly true it is of the material world. The two are so mysteriously allied that, to an extraordinary degree, what is true of the one is true of the other; and it is most useful to study the one to gain hints about God’ s government of the other. We should avoid many errors if we recognised this oftener. The position of each mass of matter is exactly determined by its quantity and condition in relation to the forces around and within it. No pebble, no star, can be in a place one hair’ s breadth different from that to which it is guided by its peculiar character. Every difference of character involves a difference of position. The same is true of each of those millions of invisible atoms of which each atom is composed. The place each fills is not determined by chance or by caprice, but by its very nature. Is not that indication of a Divine order, allied to morality and justice? And so no mere caprice will determine the position of spiritual beings in the future world, but each will “ go to his own place” there, by a law as true and an order as beautiful as that which regulates the position of each material particle. The true, the pure, the loving and unselfish, will they not tend necessarily towards Him who is truth, and purity, and love, as the nearest planets live in the radiance of the sun? The untrue, the impure, the selfish, will they not as necessarily be repelled from the Divine light by their very condition? So with every intermediate description of character. Conclusion: In view of these sublime laws of Divine order and fitness, what a pitiable and monstrous delusion is it that mere profession will avail; that to say to Christ, “ Lord, Lord,” is enough; that to be duly baptized and buried by a priest is to be safe for ever. What we are, or by Christ’ s help become, that is everything--not what we profess to be. So Christ and Judas went “ each to his own place” ; so you and I shall do also. (T. M. Herbert, M. A.)The place for Judas, and for others like him A zealous partisan of the notion that there is no future punishment was telling his children the story of “ The Babes in the Wood,” when a shrewd little boy looked up and asked, “ What became of the little children?” “ Oh, they went to heaven, of course!” was the prompt reply. “ And what became of the horrid old uncle?” It was a poser; and for some moments the universalist looked confused. His favourite hobby must, however, be sustained at all costs, and he answered as composedly as he could, “ Why, he went to heaven also!” “ I am so sorry,” said the child, “ for I am afraid the bad man will kill them again!” Here was logic in a nutshell, which no theories could overturn. President Nott had preached a sermon setting forth the everlasting punishment of the impenitent, when a man of the same class rudely said, “ Well, sir, I have been to hear you preach, and now I want you to prove your doctrine.” “ I thought I had proved it,” was the mild reply, “ for I took the Bible for testimony.” “ Well,” persisted the assailant, waxing valiant, “ I do not find it in my Bible, and I do not believe it.” “ What do you believe?” asked Dr. Nott, in a quiet and unconcerned tone. “ Why, I believe that mankind will be judged according to the deeds done in the body, and those that deserve punishment will be sent to a place of punishment for awhile, and remain there until the debt is paid, when they will be taken out and carried to heaven.” “ I have but a word to say in reply,” observed Dr. Nott, “ and first, for what did Christ die? and lastly, there is a straight road to heaven; but if you are determined to go round through hell to get there, I cannot help it.” The man took his leave, the wiser for the interview, and a more careful study of the Bible led him to adopt the orthodox belief. If any one were asked, “ Where do you suppose Judas went after death?” could he, in his sober senses, answer, “ To heaven?” The thing is utterly preposterous; and we are prepared to read in the text that he went to “ his own place” --a place suited to one who had proved himself a child of the devil. Every student knows that the significant expression is used by ancient writers to denote going to one’ s eternal destiny. Thus the Jewish Targum, in Numbers 24:25, where it is said of Balaam that he “ went to his own place,” adds, that this “ place” was Gehenna, the place of final torment. The Chaldee paraphrase of Ecc 6:6 declares, “ Although the days of a man’ s life were two thousand years, and he did not study the Law, and do justice, in the day of his death his soul shall descend to hell, to the one place where all sinners go.” St. Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Mag-nesians, wrote, “ Because all things have an end, the two things death and life shall lie down together, and each one shall go to his own place.” Without referring, then, to many passages of Holy Scripture, the brief allusion to the doom of Judas is enough to settle the question. Hell is not a mere arbitrary appointment of the Almighty, but as the polluted would not be fitted for heaven, and could not enjoy it, there must, of necessity, be some place adapted to their condition, and God teaches us that hell is that place. The guilty and impenitent accordingly will have no ground of complaint if a just God appoints for him precisely such a place as his own conduct in life has prepared him for. An eloquent speaker was attempting to show, from garbled passages of Scripture, that the gospel is peace and good-will, and not terror nor hell fire, when a young man rose and said: “ Did Paul preach the gospel before Felix?” “ Yes.” “ And did Felix tremble?” “ He did.” The young man took his hat, bowed politely, and retired, the rest of the people going out with him. The simplest-minded present could not but understand that the gospel which the apostle preached must have had some reference to future punishment, or the wicked and the haughty Felix would hardly have thus lost his self-command. It is useless to attempt to obviate the necessity for future punishment by insisting that we suffer for our sins in this life. There are such cases, it is true, but they are the excerption, and not the rule. What, then, becomes of the rest? The pirate Gibbs, whose name, for so many years, was a terror to those who sailed among the West Indies, when tried and condemned, confessed that the first few murders did occasion him some twinges of conscience, but that in course of time he could cut the throats of a whole ship’ s crew, and then eat his supper and lie down and sleep as quietly as a babe! It seems from this that if remorse in this life is God’ s way of punishing crimes, then the more horrible deeds that bad people commit the less He punishes them! If one act of sin, as in the case of Eve, Uzziah, Miriam, Nadab and Abihu, and thousands more, draw down the wrath of God, what must a whole life of sin! Think of the destruction of the cities of the plain, and then call to mind the Saviour’ s words, “ It shall be more tolerable,” etc. Wicked people need no “ sending to hell,” since they go there of their own accord. The gulf which divides heaven from hell is one of moral unlikeness, and as people have sought the company that suited them here, so they will find themselves in congenial society hereafter. The sinner makes his own damnation, and he cannot blame God with it. “ Thou hast destroyed thyself!” There is still another objection, viz., that eternal punishment is too long as the penalty for the sins of a short life. A just God is the best judge of this. The only question is, Was the transgressor duly forewarned? A man who proposes to embark on a steamer does not expect, after he has been told the hour of departure, that the bell will be rung for half a day, or even an hour, in accommodation to his dilatory habits. He may, by losing the voyage, change the prospects of a whole life, and even a few seconds may decide the case. A day is not too short a space for a crime which will be punished by imprisonment for life, and if a note is due at the bank, the loss of credit is not escaped because the promisor had received but one notice. Did any person ever object to eternal salvation, that it is too long to be the reward of this short life? Dante described both heaven and hell most wonderfully, for he had been in both. Once, as the servant of sin, he had known shame and doubt and darkness and despair,--which are certainly the grim portal of hell; and then, through God’ s forbearing mercy, he had found peace in believing, and love to God, which casteth out fear--and here was the beginning of heaven. And so, when timid people saw him as he glided along the street, they said, with a shudder, “ There is the man who has been in hell!” If we would not go where Judas has gone, we must begin our heavenly life on earth. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)The soul in “ his own place” I. Every being must have its own place. Nothing can be more obvious than the exact adaptation to each other and to the region in which they dwell, of the objects and beings of this world.1. Everything which is earthly, whose being belongs to, and will terminate with earth, is in its own place. Who can doubt that the bird, with its curious mechanism of eye and wing, was intented to exist in air; or-that the fish has been expressly formed for its watery abode; or that the beast of prey is at home in its forest haunts; or that man himself, physically considered, was intended for his abode and position here, and that if removed to another world, differing at all in its constitution from the present, they must either cease to exist, or exist only in a state of disorder and distress? 2. We may extend the observation to the world itself; and say, that our globe moves year after year along its own path, that it revolves in the very orbit for which it was designed. 3. And certainly it is true of the human intellect, that it has been provided with proper objects and occasions for the exercise of its powers, that it is placed in the midst of circumstances which are fitted to educate its faculties. It is required for earthly uses; and it has been accurately adapted to the purposes for which it is required. 4. Spiritual beings have likewise their “ own place” ; that although it may not be the case here, yet elsewhere, moral natures will find their own appropriate abode, will move amidst scenes and society with the spirit of which they can truly sympathise. The being who loves holiness and truth, must, in its perfect and proper condition, consort only with beings who love holiness and truth, and dwell in a region of holiness; and the being who loves evil and error, must, in its final and proper condition, consort only with beings who love evil and error, and dwell in an abode of evil. And the Scriptures uniformly represent the final abodes of men, as being severally adapted to the righteous and the wicked. But it is evident that these separate states can never exist on earth, nor be entered by those who are yet in the flesh. The infirmities of the body, as well as the influence of external things, must hinder a consummate manifestation of holiness, as well as a perfect development of evil. II. The light which this principle throws upon our present state. Like Judas while still on earth, we are not now in our own place, but we are going there. Our position is temporary and imperfect. And its difficulties can be explained, only by regarding it as introductory to our perfect and permanent condition. The evil and the good are now joined together in a confused and discordant mass. They are travelling in companies along the same road, and strange appears the disorder and disunion in which they now proceed; but their common path will soon branch into two avenues, along which they will move in separated groups, each in its proper character, and each perfectly united in its course. Think of Judas associating with his fellow apostles and with his Lord; his utter want of sympathy with them; the irksome restraint, of which he must have been ever conscious. He is a type and example to ourselves. Are there any who have a love for holiness? Then earth is not their home, and cannot be their abiding place. Like Judas, they are living amidst circumstances in which they have no delight; among companions with whom they have no fellowship. Are there any who have a love for evil? Like Judas, they must often come among the true disciples of our Lord; but then, like Judas, they would rather be away. They are not now in their own place. III. The light which this principle throws upon our future state. This principle is applicable to the explanation of the difficulty, that while the varieties of moral character are almost innumerable, we should be told of only two states after death. With respect to the holy or the utterly depraved, there is no difficulty. Heaven is plainly fitted for the one, and hell for the other. But the majority of mankind occupy a medium position; we can hardly affirm that they belong to the one or the other, displaying continually as they do the characteristics of both. There seems no reason why they should spend their eternity with saints; nor in the outer darkness “ prepared for the devil and his angels.” Then, again, there are vast numbers who may more easily be described by saying what they are not, than by saying what they are. These, again, appear to be without fitness, as without merit, for an abode either with angels or with fiends. Now to this difficulty, our text, taken in connection with other Scriptures, seems to give a decisive explanation. Judas is represented as going unto “ his own place,” as if, when his soul after death came at once under the dominion and influence of a spiritual law, which removed it to the sphere which was properly its own. And the difficulty will be at once removed, if we can assign this law, and show that it must take effect on every spirit dividing the souls of men into two classes, according to one decisive characteristic which, whatever be their varieties of moral character, either is or is not clearly inscribed upon them all. This law our Lord has Himself asserted. Of every being it may be affirmed either that it does or does not love God. And according to their possession or their want of this affection will some go away to the kingdom prepared for them, and others to that “ prepared for the devil and his angels.” There are some souls in a state of indifference, and some in a state of hatred to God. But both these want the principle, which alone can make heaven their own place. And there are other souls which love God and are in affinity with Him; such, when they leave earth, must proceed at once to heaven. It is “ their own place,” for God is there, and they are spiritually united unto Him; for Christ is there, and where He is, there must they also be; for it is an abode of holiness, and they have been sanctified by Almighty grace, they have been made meet for that inheritance of light. (G. S. Drew, M. A.)Men sorted in the future Men will be sorted yonder. Gravitation will come into play undisturbed; and the pebbles will be ranged according to their weights on the great shore where the sea has east them up, as they are upon Chesil beach down there in the English Channel, and many another coast besides; all the big ones together and sized off to the smaller ones, regularly and steadily laid out. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Where would we be I was in America a few months ago, and went down the Alleghany Mountain on a railway train. It was a thing to remember to see the speed at which we went down the incline. A nervous passenger asked the conductor: “ What would happen to us if the brake gave way?” “ We have a spare one which we would apply at once,” he answered. “ If it also gave way, what then?” again queried the passenger. “ We have one on the last van, which we can put on.” “ If it gave way, where would we he?” The conductor looked him in the face, and said gravely: “ Friend, that depends upon the way you have lived.” The fall of Judas God does not predestinate man to fail. That is strikingly told in the history of Judas. “ From a ministry and apostleship Judas fell, that he might go to his own place.” The ministry and apostleship were that to which God had destined him. To work out that was the destiny appointed to him, as truly as to any of the other apostles. He was called, elected to that. But when he refused to execute that mission, the very circumstances which, by God’ s decree, were leading him to blessedness, hurried him to ruin. Circumstances prepared by eternal love became the destiny which conducted him to everlasting doom. He was a predestined man--crushed by his fate. But he went to his own place. He had shaped his own destiny. So the ship is wrecked by the winds and waves--hurried to its fate. But the wind and waves were in truth its best friends. Rightly guided, it would have made use of them to reach the port; wrongly steered, they became the destiny which drove it on the rocks. Failure--the wreck of life, is not to be impiously traced to the will of God. God will have all men to be saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth. God willeth not the death of a sinner. (F. W. Robertson.)Hypocrisy does not disprove the reality of religion Will you say that there are no real stars, because you sometimes see meteors fall, which for a time appear to be stars? Will you say that blossoms never produce fruit, because many of them fall off, and some fruit which appeared sound is rotten at the core? Equally absurd is it to say there is no such thing as real religion, because many who profess it fall away or prove to be hypocrites in heart. (E. Payson.)A place for every man I. Every man has his own place, here and hereafter. II. Every man makes his own place, here and hereafter. III. Every man finds his own place, here and hereafter. IV. Every man feels that it is his own place when he gets there. (A. Dickson, D. D.)Every man in his own place When you know where you will most likely find a man for whom you are looking, you commonly know also what to expect of the man himself when he is found. Nobody would select for a position of trust a youth whom everybody would say was to be looked for at the drinking-saloon or at the idler’ s corner. A fair question to ask, in the case of any man about whom you would learn, is: Will he probably be found--at the race-course, or in some place of honest business, during the daytime; at the club-room or in his library, in the evening; at the theatre, or at the prayer-meeting? That is also a fair question for every one to ask of himself: Where may those who know me best most reasonably expect to find me? The answer to that question tells a great deal regarding personal character; not because the place makes the man, but because the man chooses his place, and sooner or later he will find the place which is likest to himself. Scripture need say no more regarding the spiritual fate of Judas Iscariot than that he went to his own place. (H. C. Trumball, D. D.)The law of spiritual gravitation 1. No event in the history of science more widely known as that of Sir I. Newton and the fall of the apple. From thence the law of gravitation in the law of matter. 2. Similar law in the world of mind. 3. The text teaches us that there is such a law in the world of spirit. I. It is independent of a man’ s position. There is no royal road in gravitation by which the delicate flower shall need no support because of its beauty; or by which success shall be secured to an idle man; or in the spiritual life a man be kept secure because his privileges are great. Law is inexorable. The higher the privilege the greater the fall, if the conditions are not observed.1. The high position of Judas did not save him. Think of the probable effects of such a position as that of apostle, companion of Christ. But behold the actual effects. His advantages were but the instruments of his fall. 2. It is so with us. No man is out of the reach of law. In the matter of privilege our case in many respects analogous. Trace the history of a soul; let it hate what God loves and love what God hates: during all that time it is gravitating to its own place, with all the certainty of law. And when he dies the man does not leave himself behind, the man and his character constitute the undying self. II. It is accelerating in its progress. Nature is full of instances of this. Things and events tend to a climax; the sun passes on to its meridian, the river to the full, the avalanche to its final crash.1. Watch this with Judas. His downward course was hastened by his reigning sin (John 12:4; John 13:2; John 13:27; Matthew 27:15), and by the feeling of isolation (Matthew 27:3-5), for he was cut off from the good and spurned by the evil. 2. It is so with all men similarly placed. By the growing strength of a given tendency, and by its power to employ all the mind. For life tends to a unity. More and more one purpose or passion or set of purposes or passions govern the life. Let the backslider and impenitent lay this to heart. III. It determines the future by the present. You can see the ill effects of some things, but this great law works more quietly. In Judas it is worked before our eyes. His use of opportunity and position made his place for him. “ He was a thief,” and that is the cause “ he went to his own place” ; that is the effect. We are architects of our own fortunes. Apart from repentance and faith there is no cleansing, and it is worse than madness to think that life hereafter will be other than the outcome of the life here. IV. It leads to a self-made destiny. He was not doomed to sin, and his destiny was but the natural outcome of such a life. It did not need a Judas to save the world, though his is but the greatest out of a thousand cases in which man’ s evil is made to work out the saving purposes of God. The destiny of Judas was of his own making, and not of Christ’ s. It is so with ourselves (note difference between Matthew 25:34; Matthew 25:41). (G. T. Keeble.)And they gave forth their lots.-- The lot As interpreted by verse 24 and by the word “ fell” here there can be no doubt that the passage speaks of “ lots” and not “ votes.” The two were standing, as far as they could see, on the same level. It was left for the Searcher of hearts to show, by the exclusion of human will, which of the two He had chosen. The most usual way of casting lots in such cases was to write each name on a tablet, place them in an urn, and then shake the urn till one came out. (Dean Plumptre.)The lot The only instance of an appeal to lots occurs between the departure of our Lord and Pentecost. The Church could dispense with them after the coming of the Holy Ghost, who was to guide into all truth, through whom we are encouraged to hope for a right judgment in all things. No recourse was had to lots in the appointment of deacons. But the Church regards the appointment as Divine (collect for St. Matthias’ day). Under the Old Testament lots were regarded as divinely directed (Proverbs 16:33), and therefore conclusive (Proverbs 18:18). They distinguished the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:8), convicted Achan, designated Saul to the monarchy, and distributed the promised land (Numbers 26:55-56). Lots also assigned their several duties among the priests in the temple (1 Chronicles 24:5; 1 Chronicles 25:8; Luke 1:9). Augustine deemed it lawful to determine by lot what ministers of the Church should remain and who should seek safety by flight, when prosecution threatened. The Moravians in 1464 had recourse to lots for deciding the question of their having a ministry of their own, and in 1467 for the appointment of their first three ministers. As late as 1731, the retention of their own discipline instead of incorporation with the Lutheran Church, was determined in like manner. Wesley also had, and indulged, a predilection for sortilege. (Bp. Jacobson.)The lot: its lawfulness for Christians When two courses are open to a man, and he is in doubt as to the election of either of them, why should he not, after due religious preparation, involving as this must the entire subordination of his will to God, risk the decision of the case on the casting of lots? Is there anything in such a course inconsistent with the simplicity of the Christian religion? The man, it is presumed, is most deeply anxious to know what God would have him do; he is willing to make any sacrifice the Divine will may impose on him, and however the decision may oppose his own choice he is prepared to accept it. Under such circumstances surely the lot may be used with advantage. But everything depends upon the spirit of the inquirer. For he may almost unconsciously manipulate the lot so as to gratify a wish he would hardly confess even to himself. In almost all cases of doubt, the perplexed man has more or less of a choice. At that point the battle has to be fought. The man has a leaning towards a certain course, yet he would not pursue it if he knew it to be opposed to the Divine will; at the same time he would be most thankful were the lot to confirm his secret bias. That man is not prepared to go to the lot until he has divested himself of every suggestion of his own will. We are not prepared to teach that upon every occasion we should turn the decisions of our life upon the casting of lots. We are not prepared to condemn their use, thus guarded, in very special cases of difficulty. (J. Parker, D. D.)Matthias.-- After life of Matthias We know no particulars of the after life of Matthias. He was of course partaker with the rest of the twelve of the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost; and afterwards of their labours and distresses, at first in Judaea, and then in other parts of the world. But where St. Matthias went is uncertain; some say Macedonia, some say Ethiopia, some say Cappadocia. All authorities, I believe, are agreed that he won the crown of a martyr; but how he died, or where, or when, we cannot certainly tell. One account says that he was taken by the Jews, and stoned, and afterwards beheaded on a charge of blasphemy; another, that he was crucified, “ as Judas was hanged upon a tree, so Matthias suffered upon a cross.” (A. M. Loring, M. A.)Obscure lives of saints Clement of Alexandria recounts for us some sayings traditionally ascribed to St. Matthias, all of a severe and sternly ascetic tone. But in reality we know nothing of what he either did or taught. The vast majority even of the apostles have their names alone recorded, while nothing is told concerning their labours or their sufferings. Their one desire was that Christ alone should be magnified, and to this end they willed to lose themselves in the boundless sea of His risen glory. And thus they have left us a noble and inspiriting example. We are not apostles, martyrs, or confessors, yet we often find it hard to take our part and do our duty in the spirit displayed by Matthias and Joseph called Barsabas. We long for public recognition and public reward. We chafe and fret internally because we have to bear our temptations and suffer our trials and do our work unknown and unrecognised by all but God. Let the example of these holy men help us to put away all such vain thoughts. God Himself is our all-seeing and ever-present Judge. The Incarnate Master Himself is watching us. The angels and the spirits of the just made perfect are witnesses of our earthly struggles. No matter how low, how humble, how insignificant the story of our spiritual trials and struggles, they are all marked in heaven by that Divine Master, who will at last reward every man, not according to his position in the world, but in strict accordance with the principles of infallible justice. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)He was numbered with the eleven apostles.-- The election of Matthias The Greek word is not the same as in verses 17, and implies that Matthias was “ voted in,” the suffrage of the Church unanimously confirming the indication of the Divine will what had been given by the lot. It may be that the new apostle took the place that Judas had rendered vacant, and was reckoned as the last of the twelve. (Dean Plumptre.)A Divine appointment The validity of the appointment, which has been questioned, is incidentally recognised in Acts 2:14; Acts 6:2; the Twelve must have included Matthias. The appointment being directly Divine superseded the laying on of hands. (Bp. Jacobsen.). Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come. The day of Pentecost I. In the occurrences of the day of Pentecost we discover evidence of a special Divine influence. This idea is too prevalent, that the agency of the Supreme is only of a general character--that the repentance and salvation of sinners are brought about, independently of any direct agency on the part of God. They spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Most convincing evidence of a special Divine influence is found also in the effects produced upon the day of Pentecost. II. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost confirmed the Divine mission of Jesus and the truth of Christianity. Whilst on earth the Lord Jesus gave abundant evidence that He was from God. Jesus encouraged His disciples to expect that they would be endued with special power from on high. III. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the folly of opposition to the Kingdom of Christ. The day of Pentecost assures us that Jehovah regards the kingdom of His Son with supreme affection, and that all His perfections are engaged for its defence and enlargement. IV. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the grand means of advancing the cause of Christ and saving sinners. V. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the Christian minister’ s grand source of encouragement. VI. The occurrences of that day exhibit the reality and importance of revivals of religion. By a revival of religion we understand an uncommon and general interest in the subject of salvation, produced by the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of Divine truth. Such, substantially, was the revival on the day of Pentecost. Do you say that the excitement, denominated a revival of religion, occurs in connection with the special efforts of Christians? We answer, that the excitement on the day of Pentecost occurred in a similar connection. Do you say that the Divine influence to which we allude, as to the mode of its operation, is enveloped in the darkness of mystery? So it was on the day of Pentecost. Do you say there is enthusiasm connected with the excitement denominated a revival of religion? Fanaticism there may have been. But does such a fact prove the entire absence of genuine religion? Does it prove that no revival is a sober, rational work? Do you say that in a time of general excitement there will be instances of gross imposition on the Church? So it was in the Pentecost revival, when, in awful warning to hypocrites, Ananias and Sapphira fell down dead. Do you say that the excitement denominated a revival of religion, is often succeeded by instances of apostacy? We answer, that apostacies have likewise occurred under other circumstances. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit, likewise, the importance of revivals of religion. In a single day it gave to the Christian Church a weight of influence more than a hundredfold greater than it had previously possessed. It is important to individual happiness and to the community at large. (Baxter Dickinson.)Pentecost--the first-fruits But why was the gift of the Spirit delayed until the day of Pentecost was fully come? No man must irreverently pry into the purposes of Deity. I. Pentecost was the feast of first-fruits; therefore symbolical of the first-fruits of the Christian Church (Leviticus 23:15; Leviticus 23:17; Deuteronomy 16:9). The first sheaf of the Christian harvest, the first fruit of the Christian reaping was there ingathered. II. Pentecost was associated in the Jewish worship with the giving of the law from Sinai. Fifty days after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites received the law from Sinai. To this day the gift of the law is kept in view in the Jewish observance of Pentecost.1. Conviction of sin is the prominent idea of the apostolic Pentecost. Peter’ s sermon resulted in the cry, “ Brethren, what shall we do?” Conviction of sin is the prelude to a reformed life. In our Christian families and amongst our young people, trained from infancy in Christian virtue, we need not always look for the intense conviction of sin which is apparent on this first day of the Christian Pentecost. No! God’ s ways are often gentle. 2. The first gift of the Paraclete on the day of Pentecost--the day which, in Jewish thought, was specially consecrated to the giving of the law from Sinai--was specially fitted to the mission of Him “ who will convict the world in respect of sin.” III. The first-fruits on the day of Pentecost are typical of the ingathering of all nations to Christ. More foreign Jews attended the Pentecost than any other Jewish feast. And in the light of Pentecost we look forward hopefully to the time when the “ great multitude, whom no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues” shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb, and shall cry with a great voice, saying, “ Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9-10). IV. Pentecost teaches the union of vast spiritual power with feeble human agency. (George Deane, D. Sc.)Whir-Sunday I. What the day of Pentecost gave indisputable proof of.1. The truth of Old and New Testament prophecies (Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:27; Joe 2:28; Zechariah 4:6; John 14:16; John 15:26; John 16:7; Acts 1:5, etc.). 2. The reality of the Messiahship and mission of Christ. The Holy Ghost would bring to the remembrance of the disciples the words they had heard their Master utter, and reveal the meaning of the things of Christ unto them. The Spirit bears witness with our spirits to-day that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 3. The person, presence, and power of the Holy Ghost. II. What the day of Pentecost gave infallible pledge of. The success of the preaching of Peter on that day was the earnest of the successive victories the gospel would achieve over error in the world down to the end of time. Those victories would be won--1. In spite of the paucity of numbers on the side of the gospel.2. In spite of the poverty of the preachers of the gospel.3. In spite of the antagonism of the enemies of the gospel.4. In spite of the unfaithfulness of professors of the gospel. III. What the day of Pentecost gave irrevocable pattern of. The primitive Church had to--1. Wait for the day.2. Work for the day. Human agony linked with Divine power. (F. W. Brown.)Pentecost I. The season when the Spirit was given.1. In God’ s appointed time. There is a set time to favour Zion, both to try our faith and to prove God’ s sovereignty. If every drop of rain has its appointed birthday, every gleam of light its predestinated pathway, and every spark of fire its settled hour for flying upward, certainly the will of God must have arranged and settled the period and place of every gracious visitation. 2. After the ascension. The Spirit was not given till after Jesus had been glorified. Various blessings are ascribable to different parts of Christ’ s work. His life is our imputed righteousness; His death brings us pardon; His resurrection confers upon us justification; His ascension yields to us the Holy Spirit. “ When He ascended up on high,” etc. It was the wont of the Roman conqueror as he rode along to scatter large quantities of money among the admiring crowd. So our glorified Lord scattered gifts among men. 3. At Pentecost. Some say that at Pentecost the law was proclaimed on Sinai. If so, it was very significant that on the day when the law was issued amid thunders and lightnings, the gospel--God’ s new and better law--should be proclaimed with mighty wind and tongues of fire. We are clear, however, that Pentecost was a harvest-festival. On that day the sheaf was waved before the Lord and the harvest consecrated. The passover was to our Saviour the time of His sowing, but Pentecost was the day of His reaping, and the fields which were ripe to the harvest when He sat on the well, are reaped now that He sits upon the throne. 4. When there was most need. Vast crowds were gathered. What would have been the use of the many tongues when no strangers were ready to hear? Whenever we see unusual gatherings, whenever the spirit of hearing is poured out upon the people, we ought to pray for and expect an unusual visitation of the Spirit. 5. Where they were all with one accord in one place. Christians cannot all now be in one place, but they can all be of one accord. When there are no cold hearts, no prejudices and bigotries to separate, no schism to rend the one sacred garment of Christ, then may we expect to see the Spirit of God resting upon us. 6. When they were earnest about one grand object. II. The manner. Each word here is suggestive.1. Suddenly. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and so, though the Spirit may have been secretly preparing men’ s hearts, yet the real work of revival is done suddenly to the surprise of all observers. 2. There was a sound. Although the Spirit of God is silent, yet His operations are not silent in their results. 3. As of wind. In Greek and Hebrew the word used for wind and for Spirit is the same. The wind is doubtless, chosen as an emblem because of its mysteriousness: “ Thou canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth” ; because of its freeness: “ It bloweth where it listeth” ; because of diversity of its operations, for the wind blows a gentle zephyr at one moment, and anon it mounts to a howling blast. The Holy Spirit at one time comes to comfort, and at other times to alarm, etc. 4. It was rushing. This pour-trayed the rapidity with which the Spirit’ s influences spread--rushing like a torrent. Within fifty years from Pentecost the gospel had been preached in every country of the known world. 5. It was mighty, irresistible, and so is the Spirit of God; where He comes nothing can stand against Him. 6. It filled all the place where they were sitting. The sound was not merely heard by the disciples. When the Spirit of God comes, He never confines Himself to the Church. A revival in a village penetrates even the pot-house. The Spirit of God at work in the Church is soon felt in the farm-yard, work-room, and factory. 7. But this was not all. I must now mention what was the appearance seen--a bright luminous cloud probably, not unlike that which once rested in the wilderness over the tribes by night--which suddenly divided, or was cleft, and separate tongues of fire rested upon the head of each of the disciples. They would understand that thus a Divine power was given to them. Heathens represent beams of light or flames of fire proceeding from their false deities, and the nimbus with which Roman Catholic painters always adorn the heads of saints, is a relic of the same idea. It was said by the ancients of Hesiod, the first of all the poets, that whereas he was once nothing but a simple neat-herd, yet suddenly a Divine flame fell upon him, and he became henceforth one of the noblest of men. We feel assured that so natural a metaphor would be at once understood by the apostles. (1) It was a tongue, for God has been pleased to make the tongue do mightier deeds than either sword or pen; by the foolishness of preaching to save them that deliver. (2) It was a tongue of fire, to show that God’ s ministers speak, not coldly as though they had tongues of ice, nor learnedly as with tongues of gold, nor arrogantly as with tongues of brass, nor pliantly as with tongues of willow, nor sternly as with tongues of iron, but earnestly as with the tongue of flame; their words consume sin, scorch falsehood, enlighten the darkness, and comfort the poor. (3) It sat upon them. So the Spirit of God is an abiding influence, and the saints shall persevere. (4) It sat upon each of them, so that while there was but one fire, yet each believer received his portion of the one Spirit. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same Lord. III. The result. After all this, what are you expecting? Shall the wind blow down dynasties--the fire consume dominions? No; Spiritual and not carnal is the kingdom of God. The result lies in three things.1. A sermon. The Spirit of God was given to help Peter preach. You turn with interest to know what sort of a sermon a man would preach who was full to the brim of the Holy Ghost. You expect him to be more eloquent than Robert Hall, or Chalmers; more learned than the Puritans. You expect all the orations of Cicero and Demosthenes to be put in the shade. No such thing! Never was there a sermon more commonplace. It is one of the blessed effects of the Holy Spirit to make ministers preach simply. 2. The people were pricked in the heart, and cried, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” What a disorderly thing! Blessed disorder which the Spirit of God gives. Men then feel that they have heard something which has gone right into their inmost nature and receive a wound which only God can heal. 3. Faith and the outward confession of it in baptism. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The descent of the Spirit The circumstances connected with the event. I. The Time. “ When the day of Pentecost was fully come.” It was the fiftieth day after the Passover, and beginning of the harvest festival. Harvest home! Surely it was no blind chance that made this appointment for the inauguration of the dispensation of spiritual ingathering (Revelation 14:15). II. The place. It was “ a house,” the noteworthy fact being that it was not the temple. Up to this time the temple had monopolised the formal worship of Jehovah; but to-day a new order begins. The privileges of worship are to be everywhere and for all sorts and conditions of men. III. The dramatis personae. Here were a hundred and twenty feeble folk, none mighty or noble among them, distinguished from the multitudinous rank and file of common people only by the fact that God had chosen them to be the nucleus of the Christian Church. Thus, kneeling together, they held the coign of vantage. They were sure of the blessing. May it not be that, under similar conditions, the Church of our times would be similarly blest? IV. The onlookers. There came together to witness this strange occurrence a motley and polyglot assemblage of “ Parthians, Modes, and Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians.” Was ever a more representative body of people? And this was as it should have been, for the thing about to happen was of universal importance, and the power about to descend was, like the sceptre in Balaam’ s vision, to smite even to the remotest corners of the earth. The time had come for the propagation of a catholic gospel; and this heterogeneous company of people was the first representative Christian congregation that ever assembled on earth. Those who, on this occasion, were “ sojourning at Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven,” carried back to their countrymen the announcement of the new religion; and thus the seed was sown whose full and glorious fruition will be seen at the close of history, when “ a great multitude which no man can number,” etc. (Revelation 7:9). V. What they saw and heard. At this point everything is significant.1. The “ sound as of a mighty, rushing wind.” This must instantly have recalled to the minds of the disciples their Master’ s word, “ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” In Ezekiel’ s vision in the valley of dry bones we have a similar association of the wind or breath (Hebrew ruach) with spiritual influence: “ Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live!” The symbol is appropriate, suggesting an influence so elevating and inspiring as to mark the beginning of a new life. 2. The fire. This would instantly recall the words of John the Baptist, “ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Fire burns, subdues, purifies, penetrates, illumines, energises. Fire is power. The heart that has received the baptism from on high is “ set on fire” with a passion for all things true and right. 3. Cloven tongues. It is to be observed that the symbol used to designate the power of the gospel dispensation was not an iron rod, nor a sword, nor a pontifical mitre, but a cloven tongue--the symbol of speech, of argument, of “ the foolishness of preaching.” The victory by which the world is to be subjugated to the gospel is to be a moral victory; and the power which is to accomplish it is the simple story of the Cross. Jehovah is not in the storm nor in the earthquake, but in the still, small voice. VI. The significance of this event.1. It marked the reformation and reorganisation of Judaism into the Christian Church. In this company of a hundred and twenty persons--like-minded as to the ruling principle of life and engaged with one accord in prayer for a specific blessing--we behold, in seed and promise, a mighty organism which is destined to survive all shocks and oppositions, gathering meat out of the eater and sweetness out of the strong, until at length it shall bring the world and lay it before its Master’ s feet. This is the living mechanism that Ezekiel saw by the river Chebar, “ a whirlwind out of the north and a fire infolding itself and winged creatures going straight forward: whither the spirit yeas to go they went, and they turned not when they went” (Ezekiel 1:4-10). This working Church of Jesus, inspired by a purpose above all carnal ambitions and endued with power to accomplish it, is at this moment incomparably the greatest force on earth. 2. The miracle of the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of a new epoch. The old economy of types and shadows was over; the dispensation of the Spirit was at hand. Thenceforth the Holy Ghost was to rule in human affairs. It was a transitional point in history. Let us thank God that we live on the hither side of it. Nay, rather, let us thank God over and over that we are permitted to take part in the splendid achievements of these days. 3. This Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit marked the beginning of the end. At that moment God Himself made bare His arm and said, The kingdoms of this world shall be Mine! Those who looked on” were amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?” In answer they were referred by Peter to the prophesy of Joel: “ It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’” It is scarcely to be believed that God will wait upon the slow processes which His people are using for the conversion of the world. He has mighty forces in reserve which we in our poor philosophies have never dreamed of; and who can tell at what moment He may bring them into requisition? (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Pentecost 1. “ Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” The exact day was not specified, and still less the precise nature of the gift. Expectation has always been the posture of the Church. For ages the expectation was that of the Messiah’ s coming; and no sooner did the Messiah appear than a new season of expectation set in; the expectation of His second coming. Nowhere is there, nor ought there to be, mere retrospection or satisfaction. Many chief graces can only be exercised by looking forward and upward. 2. The condition of the disciples between Ascension and Pentecost was one of expectation in a double sense. They were taught by the angels to look for their Lord’ s return. But there was a near return as well as one more remote. When our Lord said “ I will see you again,” etc., He said so in three senses--in His own resurrection; in their resurrection; but between these two there lay a spiritual but not therefore an unreal advent. 3. The feast of Pentecost was one of the three great festivals of Israel. It was so called from one particular point in the celebration of the Passover; the waving of the sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest on the morrow after the Passover-Sabbath. From that day they were to number seven complete sabbaths, and then arrived the feast of weeks or of Pentecost; on which occasion, as at the earlier Passover, and the later Tabernacles, all the men were required to appear before the Lord at His sanctuary in Jerusalem. The Passover had already found its antitype in that season at which Christ the Paschal Lamb was sacrificed for us. The feast of Tabernacles, the celebration of the completion of harvest and vintage, and of the rest which followed the entrance into Canaan, is to find its antitype in that rest which remains for the people of God in heaven. The intermediate festival of Pentecost was to have its antitype in that gift which this chapter describes. Jewish tradition marked out the feast as the commemoration of the giving of the law. And peculiar significance is therefore given to the choice of the day for the giving of that new law, of the Spirit of life, by which the commandments of God were to be written, not on tables of stone, but on the tablets of a renewed and willing heart. At all events the festival of the first-fruits was now to be fulfilled in the Holy Spirit as the firstfruits of the heavenly inheritance. Two things in the narrative need to be distinguished. I. The origin of the gift.1. Men are slow in understanding and stubborn in disputing spiritual or supernatural influences; resolving everything into workings of nature, chance, or imagination. There is no spiritual influence which the philosophers and theologians of this age would not explain away, or laugh down. It is well, perhaps, that the gospel was established in men’ s convictions in an age of greater simplicity and of less presumption. 2. But if God would make it evident that He is at work, I know not how it can be done without miracle. If our Lord would convince common men that He had all the power of God, was there any mode so really decisive as that which the Gospels describe to us? Those who had actually seen Him still a tempest, raise a corpse, etc., must have felt that God had given them evidence of the Messiahship of Christ. Even thus was it with the coming of the Holy Ghost. Hearts might have been influenced, lives might have been changed, and men might have ascribed it to natural causes; but if it was to be made plain, beyond gainsaying, that the Holy Spirit had descended to make His abode in the Church and in the hearts of men, there must be some sign of which the senses could take cognisance, and from which but one inference could be drawn. 3. Such a sign was that marvellous power of which we have here the first example. If unlettered men were heard to utter sounds recognised by men of diverse nations as their native speech, what other explanation could be given save that which Peter gave? 4. And is there anything irrational in the supposition that God should come in direct personal communication with man, or should make it plain whence that communication was derived? It can be no reproach to a revelation that its utterance is decisive and its proofs intelligible to unlettered men. 5. In the signs which accompanied the descent of the Holy Ghost we can recognise all the emblems by which He had been foretold. (1) The rushing mighty wind, “ blowing where it listeth,” audible in its sound, inscrutable in its source and destination. (2) The fiery flame which had been taken from the first as the description of the Saviour’ s baptism. (3) The voice which bore witness to the informing, instructing, and counselling presence within. II. The gift signified.1. We read of it in its prediction and in its experience. Look for the one to Joh_14:-16., and for the other to Romans 8:1-39., Galatians 5:1-26. Study those and you will see how little they can enter into the fulness of the promise, who either imagine it to have been designed for apostles only, or as consisting principally of miraculous gifts. The Holy Spirit was promised as the Comforter, the Remembrancer, the Teacher, the Guide, the inward Advocate, the Representative of Christ, the Presence of God and of Christ in the soul, whose coming was to make it a gain even that the Saviour should depart. And what then was the experience of this great gift? How did they describe it who had found it for their own? Hear what Paul, who was not present at Pentecost, but only received the gift afterwards as any one of you might receive it in answer to prayer, tells how the Holy Ghost within had set him free from the bondage of sin and death; how He had turned his affections from things below to things above; how he had found the Holy Spirit to be indeed a Spirit not of fear but the Spirit of adoption, etc. 2. The gift of the Spirit is one half of the whole need of man. We need forgiveness first. But there is a need behind, without which forgiveness would be a mockery--the gift of the Holy Ghost pledged in baptism--promised in the Word of life. We are ignorant, poor, weak, sad, and lonely in heart, until the Sun of Righteousness rises upon us with that healing in His wings, which is first the joy of a free forgiveness, and secondly the joy of an indwelling Spirit! And be we well assured that, if we are filled with the Holy Ghost, the other words of the text will be realised in us; we shall also speak with another tongue, the Spirit giving us the utterance. How transforming is the influence of the Holy Spirit upon human lips! Can we live with a man in whom God dwells and not perceive it in his words? Let us pray for the gift of that new Divine speech, in the power of which he who once opened his lips only to trifle, to defame, or to deceive, has begun to breathe the sounds of love and joy and peace, of gentleness and goodness and faith and meekness. Thus shall men take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. Thus shall we bear that testimony, not of word only but of sign, by which minds are convinced and hearts opened, by which God’ s name is made known on earth, His saving health among all nations. (Dean Vaughan.)Pentecost a spiritual spring feast I. The spring breezes which blow: stormy blasts and soft zephyrs. II. The spring voices which are heard: the inspired tongues of the apostles praising the mighty acts of God, and the timid voices of awakened consciences inquiring after salvation. III. The spring blossoms which appear: childlike faith and brotherly love. (Gerok.)The Pentecostal outpouring I. The preparation for the gift of the spirit.1. The ascension. Christ had taught that His going away was essential to the Spirit’ s coming.2. The attitude of the disciples. (1) Patient waiting.(2) Union.(3) Prayer.(4) Fellowship with the risen Christ. II. Its sensible accompaniments. The elements of nature were now, as so often, symbolical of spiritual realities.1. The sound like wind indicating the immediacy, secrecy and swiftness of the Divine action.2. The appearance like fire symbolising warming, quickening, cleansing. III. The gift itself. The Spirit’ s influence was--1. In its nature adapted to affect men’ s minds and hearts.2. In its measure as vast as human capacities could receive.3. In its extent universal, being designed for Christ’ s whole Church. IV. The immediate consequences.1. The apostles were empowered to speak with other tongues, which was a sign of Divine energy.2. Preaching was made powerful to the conversion of many; enemies of Christ became friends.3. The Church was established upon a sure and lasting foundation. (Family Churchman.)The gift of Pentecost the best gift of God In virtue of-- I. Its root--the merits of Christ, His humiliation and exaltation. II. Its nature--the union of the Spirit of God with man. III. Its operations--the new creation of the heart and of the world. (Gerok.)Pentecost; or, the first Christian day Next to the day of Christ’ s death, Pentecost was the greatest day that ever dawned. It was “ the birth-day” of the Church, the first day of the new creation, in which chaos began to be fashioned and arranged by the plastic power of the Spirit, the day of the grand and solemn opening of the kingdom of heaven, after the completion of the Christ’ s preparatory work, the day on which the fountain was unsealed, whose waters should flow forth for the healing and purifying of the nations. And as it was the first of Christian days, so was it a type of Christian days. Note-- I. The history.1. The season was the Pentecost, a Jewish festival. 2. The hour, “ the hour of prayer.” 3. The place was one of the apartments of the temple. If we put these things together, we shall have two results. (1) They secured a large and fitting audience. Great numbers of Jews and proselytes visited Jerusalem; and the temple was just the place where they could most easily become parties to the introduction of the new dispensation. (2) It was strikingly taught that the old state of things was giving place to another, which should change its form but perfect its spirit. The shell was being broken to yield a new life; the beautiful fly was being developed from the worm. Judaism was to be displaced by that which should spiritualise and ennoble its truths and principles. The temple was to become a church, and Pentecost to witness a new celebration of harvest, the ingathering of souls. 4. The antecedents. The apostles “ continued with one accord,” etc. II. The occurrences as strikingly suggestive of important truths in relation to the dispensation thus introduced. There was--1. A new Spirit. Whatever spiritual influences had been shed forth in former periods, the Holy Ghost, in the New Testament sense, was to be the gift of the glorified Saviour, the characteristic blessing of His kingdom. We must beware of restricting this fact to miraculous endowments. The gift of tongues, etc., were but signs and seals of the spiritual power intended to draw attention to the inward gift, only as the thunder and lightning of the new spiritual world, occasional and impressive incidents of powers and processes whose constant, silent operation is the very life of men. (1) The world needed the Spirit. It was not a case merely for new religious opinions, habits, or institutions; the need was of life from above; the nature required to be restored and quickened. Sin had cut off the supplies of Divine grace, had converted the temple into a tomb. It was the grand design of the gospel to engraft humanity upon Deity, to breathe into our dead souls the breath of life. (2) The apostles needed the Spirit. Much as they had been with Jesus, they were still strangers to His inner being, the deeper meaning of His acts and words, the glory of His Cross; they were like the skeletons in the valley of vision, very dry, till at the prophet’ s bidding they became living men. 2. A new truth. “ We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God,” the same as composed the subject of Peter’ s discourse; the history of Christ. True, they knew that He had died, and risen again, and ascended: but all this, though familiar as history, was new as truth. And just as a man who has travelled in the dark, looks back at break of day and admires the objects that he passed, aware only of their existence, or deeming them objects of fear, so the disciples recalled the events of their Master’ s life, and rejoiced in much which had perplexed and grieved them. The death and departure of Christ were to His followers like the fabled statue of Memnon, which sent forth sounds, mournful in the night, but melodious at the rising of the sun: when God’ s morning light arose, how sweet the notes those facts, once only sad, emitted! Christianity is essentially historical. It does not set men on arduous inquiries, nor answer them by logical expositions; but it points us to the incarnate Son of God; tells us how He lived and suffered and arose to glory; tells us that He was, that He is: He is the object of its faith, its love, its obedience and its joy. Such was evidently Peter’ s thought when he used “ the keys of the kingdom of heaven” to open it to the Jewish world on the day of Pentecost. Such was also Paul’ s (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). This was the truth which they propounded to men of every class and in every condition--to Greek (1 Corinthians 2:2); to Jew (Galatians 6:14); to Roman (Romans 8:3-4); and it proved, in the case of all, the power of God unto every one that believeth. The declaration of this truth on the day of Pentecost was therefore not an exceptional thing; it was a specimen of the kind of moral instrumentality which should be characteristic of Christianity. 3. A new vehicle. “ They began to speak with other tongues.” (1) Had a Jew been told that God was about to introduce a new and transcendent dispensation in a style worthy of its superior excellence, he would probably have expected a grand ceremonial. But he was here taught that Christianity would be a system, not of ceremonialism, but of moral agency, and that its chief means would be uttered thought and feeling, man coming into contact with man, reason with reason, heart with heart. No system of religion has made such use of the voice as Christianity, and its purest forms have always been connected with the largest use of the voice. (2) The manner as well as the fact of the use of the tongue was instructive. In the publicity and indiscriminateness of Pentecostal preaching there was something different from all that had appeared in the best types of heathen wisdom. The philosophers universally disregarded the poor; their discoveries were confined to those who sought and could purchase them. But the gift of tongues declared not only that speech would be the most appropriate organ of the gospel, but that it would “ speak to the people” without exception, “ all the words of this life.” 4. A new world. No power on earth could have brought together, at that time, so typical a congregation. And herein was there an expression of the catholicity of the gospel. It not only declared that the world might enjoy the privileges of the true religion, but it spoke to the world in its own language; it destroyed every “ middle wall of partition” between Jew and Gentile, and made the common possession of every race the rich inheritance of “ the gospel of the grace of God.” The confusion of tongues (Genesis 11:7) was reversed, and it was proclaimed that the effect of the gospel would be the destruction of all that divided and alienated men; that its purpose was to form a new “ body,” into which all should be “ baptized by one Spirit, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free,” so creating a “ new man,” in which there should be “ neither Greek nor Jew,” etc. 5. A new impression (verses 37, 41-42). (1) There had been mighty religious movements among Jews and Gentiles, but there had been no seasons similar to Pentecost. Not that we are to dissociate that time from times preceding. “ Other men had laboured, and the disciples entered into their labours.” Christ had no Pentecost; but He was always doing that without which no Pentecost could have been. He was breaking up the fallow-ground, and sowing seed; the ingathering was to come. It is a far greater thing to make a gospel than to preach a gospel. And when Peter with quickening energy spake to the people, and thousands confessed the sovereignty of truth, he was only the instrument of bringing to bear the virtue and power of Christ’ s redemption. “ The corn of wheat had fallen into the ground and died,” but, having died, it now “ brought forth much fruit.” (2) But however men had been moved or changed before, they had never been moved or changed thus. The sense of guilt was not strange, but penitence had never possessed the depth and the tenderness which belonged to theirs who “ looked on Him whom they had pierced, and mourned for Him,” Moral and religious reformation had often rewarded the labours of the wise and good, but never had it taken so Divine a type as in those who now “ gladly received the Word.” Men had often associated themselves together at the bidding of outward law or inward love, but organisation and fellowship had never known their truest life and strongest bonds till the thousands of Pentecost joined the Church at Jerusalem. III. Application:1. Let us recognise the fact that this is the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is now given because Jesus is glorified. It is the time of spiritual life, “ the day of Christ’ s power.” 2. The means whereby “ the power from on high” may be obtained for ourselves and others. These are prayer and truth. It was the supplicating Church that was filled with the Spirit; it was the speaking Church that received the addition of three thousand souls. This is &union that evermore prevails, and without which there can be no realisation of Pentecostal times. 3. The pouring forth of the Spirit of Christ is the present, the universal, the urgent necessity of men. The main misery of the world is its carnal life, its separation from God: it will never be whole and happy till it be possessed and regenerated by the Spirit of the living God. (A. J. Morris.)The day of Pentecost The occurrences of the day exhibit--1. Evidence of a special Divine influence.2. The Divine mission of Jesus and the truth of Christianity.3. The folly of opposition to Christ’ s kingdom.4. The grand means of advancing Christ’ s cause and saving sinners.5. The Christian minister’ s great source of encouragement.6. The reality and importance of revivals of religion. (B. Dickinson, M. A.)The day of Pentecost The disciples-- I. Began to speak. Hitherto they had kept silence. They were learners and asked questions. True, they were sent by Christ to try their “‘ prentice hands” ; but their discourses could not have been much to boast of, or they would have been recorded. But no sooner were they filled with the Spirit than they began to speak out. A man may have a little of the Spirit and be able to observe silence; but if he is filled he cannot hold his peace. “ Necessity is laid upon me.” From their irrepressible desire to speak, many concluded they were “ full of new wine.” And herein there is a superficial likeness between “ being filled with wine” and “ being filled with the Spirit” ; in either case there is a powerful desire to speak. A few chapters further on in reply to the magistrates, they said, “ We cannot but speak.” The Holy Spirit was fermenting within them and bursting through all restraints (see Job 32:17-20, and Marg.). II. With other tongues.1. This is a power inherent in all men. Men speak with new tongues every year. Some can converse in many languages. Here the Spirit quickened this power. The first miracle of Christ was the turning of water into wine. There is nothing unnatural in that. Do we not see it every year in the vintages of Europe? The supernatural consisted in its instantaneousness. And so the first miracle of the Holy Ghost consisted in the rapidity with which the knowledge of other tongues was acquired. 2. Some acquire knowledge with much greater rapidity than others. Who can tell how quickly the human intellect may acquire it when inspired by the Holy Ghost? Sir William Hamilton tells us of a servant girl who, under the excitement of fever, repeated long and intricate passages from Latin, Greek, and Hebrew authors, which she had occasionally overheard her old master read as he was walking up and down in his house. If that be the ease under the excitement of fever, is it incredible that the disciples spoke with foreign tongues under the influences of the Holy Spirit? Man is only a degenerate specimen of what he once was. Adam could learn more in five minutes than we can in five years. He could instinctively make language, a much more formidable task than to learn it. Let the wound which sin has inflicted on the mind be healed up, and man will learn a new language with as much facility as Adam made one. 3. The Holy Spirit, it is admitted, ennobles other faculties; then why not this? He made Bezaleel and Aholiab skilful workmen, and still endows men with the knowledge necessary to the successful prosecution of art. When Christianity appeared, the arts and sciences were at a very low ebb. But before long the new religion poured a new spirit into society, and began to ennoble the intellect of the race. Just as you have seen a tree, after being well manured, budding out in early spring with fresh vitality, so Christianity enriched the human mind. Poetry revived under it--the best poetry of the world is Christian. Painting grew under the shadow of its wing--the grand pictures are nearly all representations of scenes in the life of the Saviour. Music and architecture also have chiefly flourished on Christian soil and in immediate connection with Christian worship. And so with the sciences. The revival of learning was coincident with the revival of Christianity. Science did not make the discovery that the sun is the centre of our system until Luther discovered that Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, is the centre of religion. Stephenson was once asked, What was the power that pulled the train along the rails? He answered, The sun. The sun was not the immediate power--that was the fire under the boiler; but he knew that science could trace back the fire of the coal to the fire of the sun. And the power that is now working in the heart of civilization, that is pushing upward and forward all that is good and true is the power of the Spirit of Christ. 4. As sin, which lies like an incubus on the heart of humanity, hindering free movement, will be expunged, we may expect corresponding celerity in our acquisition of knowledge. Possibly the lofty mental state of the apostles is the normal state of man. Daniel was thrown to the lions’ den, and the lions hurt him not. That we call supernatural: yet it is perhaps the true natural--the state in which man was placed in Paradise, and in which he will find himself again by and by. The three young men in Babylon were cast into the fiery furnace, and the flame did not singe a hair of their heads. That we call supernatural, yet it may be the true natural. Man was not subject to death either natural or accidental before the entrance of sin into the world; and man redeemed will go through the fire and not be burnt. Christ walked the sea, that we call supernatural: yet I am not sure but it is the true natural--the state in which man found himself in the Paradise of old, and in Paradise regained he will walk through rivers and they will not overflow him. Paul took hold of serpents, and they did not bite him, nor did they bite man in Eden, and they will not bite him in the future. And the disciples on the day of Pentecost spoke with other tongues. The family of man once spoke the same language; and who knows but the partition walls between nations as the result of the confusion of languages will be totally removed by a vast display of intellectual power on the part of the race baptized with the Holy Ghost? The miracle of Pentecost will gradually neutralise the miracle of Babel. Men travel now with greater speed than of old; they correspond with greater rapidity; and who can tell but that learning will move with greater ease, relieved to a certain extent from the present drudgery? “ There is a royal road to learning.” Let sin be purged out, and man will learn by intuition. III. The wonderful works of God.1. His ordinary works are the Creation in its various ramifications. He makes the sun to rise and to set; His wonderful works are as Peter’ s sermon shows, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only subjects worthy of the pulpit are not the arts and sciences, but the gospel--a thing specially lacking in the sermons of some leading preachers. 2. It is truly remarkable that the wonderful works of God are easily translatable. Science is not suitable for every language; it cannot speak Welsh, e.g.; but the gospel can. A minister insisted on the importance of knowing Greek to understand the New Testament. “ I do not,” remarked an old lady, “ perceive the necessity, for my Saviour knows Welsh as well as I do. It is in Welsh that I always speak to Him, and that He always speaks to me. He knew Welsh when I was a little girl, and we have talked Welsh together ever since.” 3. But the words intimate that the disciples spoke in foreign languages with a thorough command of their peculiar idiom and accent. Not only in their languages but in their “ tongues” they had the very twang of natives. Native tongue has very great influence over man. The same truths uttered in another language, though well understood, exercise not the same charm. “ Can an Ethiopian change his skin?” Yes, as soon as he can change his tongue. When St. Paul addressed the enraged multitude in Jerusalem in Hebrew, they grew calm and attentive. Latin and Greek would only excite them. 4. Seeing that language is the only weapon in the propagation of the gospel, it is of great importance that its ministers should know how to use it deftly and well. The sword of Cromwell was mighty; all Europe feared the flash of it. But the tongue and pen of Milton did more to ensure liberty of conscience. The pen is stronger than the sword--the tongue can drown the roar of cannon. 5. And the Church leads the van in the study of languages. Commerce and love of learning have done a little in that direction; but they generally follow in the wake of the gospel. Who are the first to learn the languages of distant nations, to write their grammars, to compile their dictionaries? Missionaries of the gospel. What book is the first to speak in the barbarous tongues of the earth? The Bible; but the moment the Bible speaks in those tongues they forthwith cease to be barbarous. Sin has left its deep, black marks upon language. Open your English dictionary and you will find in the first page that three-fourths of the words owe their existence and significance to sin. But these words must gradually grow obsolete, and language be refashioned--the gospel will leave its mark upon the dictionary. The Church of the present day is richly endued with the gift of tongues, every fresh effusion of the Spirit being followed by the certain acquisition of a new language. Go to the Bible Society House, where the Church speaks in no fewer than two hundred and fifty languages. The disciples only began; the Church continues and will continue till all nations shall have heard in their own tongues the wonderful works of God. 6. But we are not taught languages miraculously now. True; and for valid reasons-- (1) One is the printing press. What the gift of tongues did for the Church of Pentecost, the printing press has done for the Church of the Reformation. (2) Another is the abundance of the labourers. In the primitive Church there were only a few, whereas there was a whole world to evangelise. So Goal gave them their tools ready made--sickles sharpened for work. But the need for this no longer exists. There are Christians enough in England alone to learn all the languages of the earth, and to preach the gospel to every creature in less than ten years, without in the least disturbing the ordinary course of business at home. God, therefore, has withdrawn the miracle. To continue it would be to patronise indolence, and do for believers what they can easily do for themselves. 7. The miracle has ceased, but the blessing enveloped in the miracle remains. (1) The necessity for miracles arises out of the want and not of the wealth of the age. Hence Jesus turned water into wine, multiplied loaves and fishes and healed the sick, because there were no other means of supply and effectual medicine. It is different now. (2) The miraculous ages are always the most spiritually impoverished. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is marked by miracles. But the necessity for them arose out of the moral dearth of the times. As the consciousness of God grew, the miraculous continued to wax smaller, till in the reigns of David and Solomon--the richest period materially, intellectually, and spiritually--it ceased altogether. But in subsequent reigns spiritual religion rapidly declined; therefore the gift of miracles was again revived in the persons of Elijah and Elisha. When the Saviour appeared the epoch was the most degraded in the annals of the race. The gift of miracles was therefore granted once more. Miraculous is always in inverse proportion to spiritual power; where the latter grows the former declines. Will miracles be again revived in the Christian Church? Not unless spiritual religion be threatened with speedy extinction. IV. To men of other nations.1. Increased life always demands increased scope for its exercise. There was no power to spread itself in religion under the Old Testament. The Spirit was given in very scanty measures, just enough to preserve, but not to multiply life and replenish the earth. That Judaism should cover only a small portion of the globe was an absolute necessity, for it could maintain its life only by concentration. If the fire be small, it can only be kept burning by being heaped close together. Let the coals be scattered, and the fire will die out. And under the Old Testament only a few sparks came down from heaven to earth; hence it was necessary to gather them together within the narrow confines of Palestine. And in the days of the Saviour the fire was nearly extinguished. Fire was the great need of the age. “ I indeed baptize you with water,” exclaims the Baptist; but water can only cleanse the surface, but He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And on the day of Pentecost the prediction is fulfilled. The fire first burns into the hearts of the disciples, then it begins to extend its area, and now it threatens to burn up all the stubble of the world. 2. This increased life reveals itself instinctively in a desire to enlarge its circumference. Whenever the presence of the Spirit is powerfully felt in the Church, it is invariably followed by a renewed effort to evangelise the world. Let the spring impart new life to the roots of the trees, and the life will at once be transmitted to the branches, covering them with abundant foliage. Let the warm, genial months come round, reviving the drooping nature of the bird after the long dreary winter cold, and the bird shows it immediately in his song. He does not sing because he thinks he ought; he sings because he must. And it is a poor way of promoting the evangelistic zeal of the Church to demonstrate constantly what she ought to do. It is useless to lay down rules for the guidance of the Churches unless we supply them with motive power. (1) I do not cry down organisations; they are very valuable in their proper place. But they are only cisterns, and cisterns, though of the most approved pattern, are not of much use to quench thirst. The Pentecostal Church had few organisations; but she had the water of life to give freely to all who were in need. The modern Church can boast of multitudinous organisations; and so far she can claim superiority to the early Church, for cisterns after all are serviceable. What glorious cisterns are missionary societies! They have silver pipes connecting them with every country under heaven; the waterworks are laid to convey the water of life to every thirsty soul. But the results are seldom proportionate to the expenditure. The cisterns too often run dry. How few the triumphs of Christianity at home and abroad! How tardy its onward march! Why? Lack of funds, answer our secretaries. Nay, lack of life, piety, the Holy Spirit of God. Had the apostles funds to back their efforts? (2) Reflection on the part of the Church is not to be discouraged. But stock-taking will not clothe the naked. We spend too much time in surveying our property, and meanwhile our enthusiasm considerably abates. The Greek Church took stock of all the Christian doctrines and reduced them into carefully worded articles. But in reflection she lost her ardour, in speculation evaporated all her life. The most orthodox church became practically a dead church. I have not heard of her sending out missionaries to evangelise the heathen. What then is required to awaken within her the old life and incite her to new adventures? What is wanting to make Roman and Protestant Churches more powerful for good in the world? Another outpouring of the Holy Ghost. We have cisterns enough, pray for the living water; machinery enough, pray the Spirit of the living creature to enter the wheels, and then it will do more work and make less noise. V. That they also might be filled with the Holy Ghost. “ Repent and be baptized,” etc.1. Truth, though it be Christian truth, cannot fill and satisfy our nature. God alone can do that. This, of course, implies that human nature is capacious enough to take in the Spirit. God is too great for our powers, but not for our wants; too vast for our reason, but not for our hearts. Our abilities are limited enough, but our necessities are verily boundless. “ Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” ; and He made him in the similitude even of His infinitude. I have infinite wants within me, and through the Infinite within I can know the Infinite without, and receive Him in the ample plenitude of His power and grace into my soul. How does the infant know his mother? By his wants. He knows not whether she is rich or poor, accomplished or unlearned, beautiful or plain; but he thoroughly knows her when he is hungry, for she feeds him; when he is cold, for she warms him; when he is in pain, for she soothes him. We know God just in the same way. 2. We may be filled with Him so as to convince unbelievers, not only that we have been with God, but that He dwells in us of a truth. There is a curious invention to fill the human body with electricity. If you only approach the body so filled, it will shoot forth sparks of wild lightning. But all connection between the body and the earth must be severed; the man must stand on a non-conducting material, else the electric fluid will flow out as fast as it flows in. In like manner we me y be recipients of the Divine fire. And sometimes we feel as if we were getting full, we emit Divine sparks at the approach of others they are convinced that God is in us of a truth. But ere many days pass, the hallowed influences have all flowed out. Worldliness is the great sin of the Church; it robs us of the Divine in Christian experience. Oh for another Pentecostal baptism! We need the Spirit now as much as ever to convert unbelievers, and to stir up the dormant energies of the Church. Why is it that Christian workers see so little fruit to their labours? That the success is not commensurate with the organisations? Some answer, The poverty of your sermons. But that cannot be the reason for every preaching qualification met in Christ, and yet He made but comparatively few converts. “ He could not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” A cold church, an unbelieving church robs itself of the choicest blessings of heaven. Let it not blame its ministers for its non-success--roses will not grow in Greenland, trees will not blossom at the North Pole. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)The day of Pentecost I. The religious history of the world has been marked by great steps or periods, separated by striking events or epochs, and constituting dispensations or eras.1. Thus the creation of man inaugurated an era which continued until the Flood; the covenant with Noah inaugurated another, which continued until the Exodus; the delivery of the law another, which continued until Christ’ s ascension; and the day of Pentecost another, in the course of which our own generation finds its place. This, too, will be superseded by the Second Advent. And it is well for us to connect the little day of our life with this magnificent progression. As an independent thing our life is utterly insignificant; as a contributing item, it becomes almost sublime. 2. Up to the day of Pentecost every dispensation was preparatory. Christianity is final; and therefore surpasses in importance every other that preceded it. All the constituent elements of Christianity were now provided; the life of Christ had demonstrated the practicability and holiness of God’ s law; His death had constituted an atonement for transgressors; His resurrection had attested it; His ascension had consummated His incarnate life; and then, after seven or eight days, as if to mark by a solemn pause the broad boundary line of Judaism and Christianity, the Holy Spirit was palpably bestowed; and the spiritual religion of Christ inaugurated. 3. Amongst the anniversaries of the Church, therefore, the day of Pentecost must ever occupy an august position. Christianity was a completed system stereotyped for all men to the end of the world in a historical form. II. The dispensational change which the day of Pentecost marked and consummated. The dispensation of the Spirit stands in natural and logical order amongst the Divine dispensations looked at.1. As manifestations of God. Of these there have been three successively presented, and corresponding with the triune distinction of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. First, the revelation of the Father--the manifestation of those ideas of the Divine nature which we associate with the Father--such as power, wisdom, holiness, and law. Secondly, the revelation of the Son--the manifestation of those ideas of the Divine nature which we associate with the Son--such as teaching, mediation, sacrifice, love. Lastly, the revelation of the Spirit--as the Source of life, the Enlightener, the Sanctifier, the Comforter. And these correspond in their order to the spiritual education of men. In their ignorance and guilt they need first to be taught the idea of God. Convinced of sin, they then need to be taught a way of reconciliation; and under the dispensation of the Son, they have the great saving plan revealed. Under the dispensation of the Spirit, a provision is made for the efficiency of the plan; spiritual life is quickened; they are not only forgiven, but sanctified. So with their education in worship. Under the dispensation of the Father, they learn the first rudiments of worship, through material symbols and pictures; under the dispensation of the Son they worship the spiritual God, but m connection with the living body of the Incarnate One; under the dispensation of the Spirit, they worship without any material medium in “ spirit and in truth.” The dispensation of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost assumed two distinct forms, and produced two distinct effects. (1) As miraculous endowment it was peculiar to the apostles. This was indicated by material symbols. But such endowment was incidental and subordinate. Just as the miracles of Christ are not to be confounded with His moral mission, so the miraculous endowments of the Spirit are not to be confounded with His moral or sanctifying influences. The miraculous element in both cases is simply the credential or attestation of the moral. It soon, therefore, ceased. As moral evidence for Christianity accumulated, and the written records of the New Testament were completed, miraculous testimony was withdrawn. (2) But the deeper and abiding manifestation was that moral and regenerating influence of it of which Christ discoursed to Nicodemus, and is known, therefore, only by its effects. The former was an endowment of the preacher; this is an endowment of the hearer, qualifying and disposing him to receive it in the saving love and power of it. 2. As a saving provision for man. (1) This dispensation of the Spirit abides with the Church for ever, and is bestowed upon all believers. And this is the grand and transcendent characteristic of Christianity, whereby it provides for the efficacy of its own religious teaching. Other religions give laws, and leave men unaided with the stern requirement; but Christianity gives dispositions as well as laws. It puts a new spirit into those whom it calls to its discipleship. (2) We cannot, therefore, exaggerate the importance of this provision. Without it, all that Christ has taught or done would have been in vain; we should for lack of spiritual discernment have failed to discern spiritual things, and for lack of spiritual affection failed to have embraced them. (3) Of course spiritual influence of this kind must have been in operation before. No holy man ever became such save through the influences of the Holy Spirit, allusions to which are very numerous in the Old Testament. But just as the work of Christ was in efficacious operation before Christ Himself was historically manifested, so was the work of the Spirit. Just as the first pardoned man was justified by faith in Christ, so the first holy man was renewed by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and just as the Nativity was the manifestation of the atoning Christ, so the day of Pentecost was the manifestation of the renewing spirit. As much of the character and work of the Son were revealed as the world could receive; and as much of the influence of the Spirit was exerted as the moral condition of the world would admit of. Hence we may understand how there should be a greater amount of spiritual influence operating in the Christian Church than in the Jewish Church. (H. Allon, D. D.)The fitness of the day of Pentecost It is natural to assume a purpose in the Divine choice of the day on which the disciples were thus to receive the promise of the Father. That choice may have been determined, if one may so speak, either in view of the circumstances of the feast, or of its history and symbolic fitness.1. Of all the feasts of the Jewish year it was that which attracted the largest number of pilgrims from distant lands. The dangers of travel by sea or land in the early spring or late autumn (cf. Acts 27:9)prevented their coming in any large numbers to the Passover. At no other feast would there have been representatives of so many nations. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 2:2-3 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven. The sound from heaven an answer to prayer The united prayer of the apostles was a cry to heaven, well pleasing to God, and this sound was a delightful answer and counter-cry from heaven; thus was this ç̓͂÷ïò at the same time an echo. So faithful is God to His children, their cry presses into heaven to His heart, and there results from that the return of prayer from heaven (Apostolic Pastor.)The echo Our truest prayers are but the echo of God’ s promises. God’ s best answers are the echo of our prayers. As in two mirrors set opposite to each other, the same image is repeated over and over again, the reflection of a reflection, so here, within the prayer, gleams an earlier promise, within the answer is mirrored the prayer. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Symbols of the Spirit The Holy Ghost as-- I. wind. In His--1. Secret coming.2. Powerful shaking.3. Purifying blowing.4. Soft refreshing. II. fire. In His--1. Bright shining.2. Genial warming.3. Destructive burning.4. Rapid spreading. (Gerok.)Pentecostal seasons 1. That came in fulfilment of Divine promises--the promises of the Old Testament. 2. The first Pentecostal season came, also, in direct answer to prayer--united, earnest prayer. 3. Yet further, the first Pentecostal season came to meet urgently and profoundly felt necessities. 4. Then, lastly, the first Pentecost, in its immediate results, was a special and very extraordinary revelation of the Holy Spirit’ s power in the souls of men. It demonstrated at once His presence as the great Convincer and Renewer, and the ease with which He could change the hearts of men and dispose them to welcome Christ and the great salvation. (Ray Palmer, D. D.)Whitsunday I. The essential virtue of the Divine communication. “ They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” What is it that God does for us when He thus acts upon us? He has, in His heavenly wisdom and in His parental love, left a way open between Himself and ourselves by which He can act upon us not indirectly, but directly, not mediately, but immediately; this is by the gentle, gracious, efficient action of His own Spirit on our spirit.1. It is surely natural that He should do so; most likely, most credible it is that the Infinite Father of mankind should, while giving to His children a large measure of freedom, responsibility, and so of spiritual dignity, hold Himself free to touch, to quicken, to restrain, to incite, to restore, to ennoble. 2. It is surely desirable in the last degree that He should do so. Whence, otherwise, should we gain the spiritual force which gives life to the dying, energy to the languishing, sanctity and peace to the stained and struggling spirit? II. Its manifestations.1. This manifestation was remarkable; it excited a large amount of attention. 2. It was also beneficent. 3. It will be abundantly evident to all that God is with us and in us; our new and nobler life will make that clear, and will not only invite but compel attention. 4. And the influence will be beneficial; we shall lead men’ s thoughts upwards, Godwards. III. The conditions under which we may look for the Divine outpouring. (W. Clarkson, B. A.)Pentecost The crucifixion coincided with the Passover; the resurrection with the feast of the first-fruits; the giving of the Spirit with the feast of the gathering in of the harvest. There was another application of the feast which had come into force in the time of our Lord, according to which the day of Pentecost commemorated the giving of the law. Whilst Jews were rejoicing over a law which could not give righteousness, because it could not give life, the little band of Christians were being vitalised and sanctified by the descent of the Divine Spirit. The whole difference between a dispensation of hard law, with all its burdens and impotence, and that of a living spirit, with all its buoyancy and power, is expressed by the occurrence of the Jewish festival and the Christian miracle in the same city at the same hour. The incident as it lies before us has three distinct steps, the keeping well apart of which is necessary in order either rightly to conceive the external features or to apprehend the spirit and meaning of the scene. These three are the symbols and precursors of the gift; the gift itself; and its consequences. The first and the last are transient, the central one is permanent. When the symbols had prepared the hearts there came the actual bestowment, and on it followed the speaking with tongues. I. We have, first, then, to consider the transient symbols of the abiding gift. Now the story is often somewhat erroneously conceived, and it may be worth our while to try to get a clear idea of what really was seen and heard before we ask what was meant thereby. We are to conceive, then, of the whole group of 120 disciples gathered together in their usual place of resort, possibly the very same upper chamber as that in which He had said, “ If I depart I will send Him unto you” ; and there waiting, with the tension of expectation, which the wondrous events through which they had passed and the closing promises of their Master had now made to be the habitual attitude of their spirits--waiting in concord, hope, and prayer. And what, I suppose, happened was this. The rushing wind came and passed, the mass as of fire flashed and glowed and parted yet remaining united, and hovered over their heads and disappeared. And then they were filled with the Spirit, and then they spake with tongues. And after that the multitude entered, and heard no wind, and saw no fire, and only discerned that the men were “ filled with the Holy Ghost” because they heard them speak with tongues. The symbols, therefore, were simply intended as premonitory of what was immediately to ensue, and as preparing the disciples for the gift by quickened anticipation and attention and insight. The signification of the symbols needs little elucidation. The Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, English, and other tongues express the immaterial part of man by analogous words, having the original meaning of breathing or breath. The breath is the life, and the symbol, inherent in the word spirit, carries the truth that the gift at Pentecost was, in its deepest conception, the communication of a Divine life. We are forgiven and accepted in order that a new Divine life may be imparted to us, and we get heaven because that life has been imparted. I need not remind you how there are subordinate felicities and beauties in this emblem, which, however, must never be allowed to disturb the prominence given to the central idea in it, such as those which our Lord hinted at when He said, “ The wind bloweth where it listeth; thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth.” The depth and mystery of the source, the height and mysterious glory of the end, the liberty wherewith it makes them who possess it free when the impulses of the spirit are in harmony with the commandments of the Lord--all these things, and many more, are suggested by this great metaphor. Nor must we forget how the same motion of the same atmosphere stirs the young leaves on the summer trees and fans the hot cheek, and, gathering force, devastates cities and sweeps all before it. The variety in the operations and the might of the agent are wonderfully expressed in the symbol. The fire that parted itself into flames, and yet was all one, howsoever divided, is, too, a familiar emblem which needs little expansion. Fire is death; but fire is life too. And it is the vital, quickening, purifying, transforming energy of fire, not its consuming and annihilating force, which is expressed for us in this emblem. We speak of warm affections, fiery impulses, hearts glowing, spirits flaming with zeal, and metaphors of the like sort. Where God’ s Spirit is there will be no coldness; where His Spirit is there will be no dead, hard obstinacy, as of black coal and green, smoky wood; where His Spirit is it will turn all into its own fiery likeness; and out of the most unpromising material will evoke shooting flames that aspire upwards to their source. The condition of all goodness is enthusiasm, and the author of all holy enthusiasm is that fiery Spirit which will sit upon each of us. II. That brings me to the second stage here--viz., The abiding gift. Let us take the liberty of inverting the words of the clause which describes it. “ They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” “ Holy Ghost.” That designation, coupled with the other which is kindred to it, the “ Spirit of Truth,” makes the difference between the sobriety of the Christian idea of inspiration, and the extravagances and immoralities which have honeycombed all other forms of belief that God breathes Himself into men. If Christian people would only remember that all high-flying pretences to spiritual illumination and eminent religiousness and endowments are to be measured by this sharp test, “ Do they make better men?” there would have been less to weep over in some pages of the history of the Church; and men would have been saved from fancying that any spirit is a spirit of God unless the manifestations of it are love, joy, peace, righteousness. Let us remember, “ They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” Further, mark the abundance of the gift. The word “ filled” is not to be passed lightly, as if it were merely a favourite phrase of Luke’ s. It cannot mean anything else than that a man, according to the height of his capacity to receive, was under the influence of that Divine Spirit, and that all the nature--thought, affection, will, practical energy--in all its manifestations, in daily life and common secular things, as well as in waiting on God in prayer and what we call religious exercises, was an inspired nature. “ Filled with the Holy Ghost” ! Filled? And most of us have a little drop in the bottom of the reservoir; a trickle of water down the dry bed; a cats-paw of wind that dies before it moves the flapping sails; a spark of fire in one corner of a cold grate. And we talk about being “ filled with the Spirit” ! And then there is the universality of the gift. “ They were all.” Not the eleven apostles only, as people sometimes fancy, but the whole 120 of them. Now, then, Christian people, “ if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” III. Lastly, notice the transient results of the abiding gift. That speaking with tongues, the supernatural expression of Christian truth and devout emotion, in languages learned by no ordinary method, lasted but for a little while. What was its significance? It was a lesson, at the beginning, of the universal adaptation and intention of Christ’ s work and gift. It was a lesson of the solemn duty of the Church in all lands, and to all ages. But beyond that, there is another lesson which I desire to leave on your hearts. “ They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak.” Of course! Christian people who have learned with any passionate affection to love, and with any depth of intelligence to understand, Christ and His gospel, must needs speak it forth. Do you see to it that you, first of all, receive, and then you will not be lacking in the impulse to impart, that great gift. There is only one way to get that Pentecostal gift. The precursors of it in the upper room are the precursors of it still. Patient hope, expectance, concord, prayer. These brought Pentecost, and these will bring the Spirit. (A. Maclaren, D. D)The fourfold symbols of the Spirit (text and verse 17; and 1 John 2:20):--Wind, fire, water, oil--these four are constant Scriptural symbols for the Spirit of God. In our texts we have the breath, the fire, the water, and the anointing oil of the Spirit to all Christian souls. I. “ a rushing mighty wind.” Spirit is breath. Wind is but air in motion. Breath is the synonym for life. Spirit and life are two words for one thing. So in the “ rushing mighty wind,” we have the highest work of the Spirit--the communication of a new and supernatural life.1. We are carried back to the vision of the valley of dry bones. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. The Scripture treats us all as dead, being separated from God. “ They which believe on Christ receive” the Spirit, and thereby receive the life which He gives, or are “ born of the Spirit,” who is the Spirit of life. 2. Remember, “ that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” If there be life given it must be kindred with the life which is its source. (1) “ The wind bloweth where it listeth.” That spiritual life, both in the Divine source and in the human recipient, is its own law. The wind has its laws, but these are so complicated and undiscovered that it has always been the symbol of freedom, and poets have spoken of the winds as “ chartered libertines” ; and “ free as the air” has become a proverb. So that Divine Spirit is limited by no human conditions or laws. Just as the lower gift of “ genius” is above all limits of culture or position, and falls on a wool-stapler in Stratford-on-Avon, or on a ploughman in Ayrshire, so the Spirit follows no lines that churches or institutions draw. It falls upon an Augustinian monk in a convent, and he shakes Europe. It falls upon a tinker in Bedford gaol, and he writes “ Pilgrim’ s Progress.” It falls upon a cobbler in Kettering, and he founds modern Christian missions. And so the life that is derived from the Spirit is its own law. The Christian conscience, touched by the Spirit of God, owes allegiance to no regulations or external commandments laid down by man. Under the impulse of the Divine Spirit, the human spirit “ listeth” what is right, and is bound to follow the promptings of its highest desires. Those men only are free as the air who are vitalised by the Spirit of the Lord, for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there, and there alone, is liberty. (2) In this symbol there lies also the idea of power. The wind was not only mighty but “ borne onward” --fitting type of the strong impulse by which “ holy men spake as they were ‘ borne onward’ (the word is the same) by the Holy Ghost.” There are diversities of operations, but it is the same breath which sometimes blows in the softest pianissimo that scarcely rustles the summer woods in the leafy month of June, and sometimes storms in wild tempest that dashes the seas against the rocks. The history of the world since has been a commentary upon these words. With viewless, impalpable energy the mighty breath of God swept across the ancient world and laid paganism low. A breath passed over the whole civilised world, like the breath of the west wind upon the glaciers in the spring, melting the thick-ribbed ice, and wooing forth the flowers, and the world was made over again. In our own hearts and lives this is the one power that will make us strong and good. “ As many as are impelled by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Is that the breath that swells all the sails of your lives, and drives you upon your course? If it be, you are Christians; if it is not you are not. II. “ Cloven tongues as of fire.” The Baptist contrasted the cold negative efficiency of his baptism with the quickening power of Christ’ s baptism of fire. Our Lord Himself employs the same metaphor when He speaks about His coming to bring fire on the earth. In this connection, the fire is a symbol of a quick, triumphant energy, which will transform us into its own likeness. There are two sides to that emblem, one destruction, one creative; one wrathful, one loving. There are the fire of love, and the fire of anger; the fire of the sunshine which is the condition of life, and the fire of the lightning which burns and consumes.1. Fire is selected to express the work of the Spirit by reason of its leaping, triumphant, transforming energy. See how, when you kindle a pile of dead wood, the tongues of fire spring from point to point until they bare conquered the whole mass, and turned it all into a ruddy likeness of the parent flame. And so this fire of God, if it falls upon you, will burn up all your coldness, and make you glow with enthusiasm, working your intellectual convictions in fire, not in frost, making your creed a living power in your lives, and kindling you into a flame of earnest consecration. The same idea is expressed by the common phrases of every language. We talk about the fervour of love, the warmth of affection, the blaze of enthusiasm, the fire of emotion, the coldness of indifference. One of the chief wants of the Church is more of the fire of God! We are all icebergs compared with what we ought to be. Look at yourselves; never mind about your brethren. Is our religion flame or ice? Listen to that solemn old warning: “ Because thou art neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of My mouth.” We ought to be like the seraphim, the spirits that blaze and serve; like God Himself, all aflame with love. 2. The metaphor suggests also--purifying. “ The Spirit of burning” will burn the filth out of us. No washing or rubbing will ever clear sin. Get the fire of the Divine Spirit into your spirits to melt you down, and then the scum and the dross will come to the top, and you can skim them off. Two things conquer my sin; the one is the blood of Jesus Christ, which washes me from all the guilt of the past; the other is the fiery influence of that Divine Spirit which makes me pure and clean for all the time to come. III. “ I will pour out of my spirit.” --Cf. such texts as “ Except a man be born of water,” etc. “ He that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,” “ A river of water of life proceeding from the throne,” and the expressions, “ pouring out” and “ shedding forth.” The significance of this is that the Spirit is--1. Cleansing.2. Refreshing, and satisfying. There is only one thing that will slake the immortal thirst in your souls. The world will never do it; love or ambition gratified and wealth possessed, will never do it. You will be as thirsty after you have drunk of these streams as ever you were before. There is one spring “ of which if a man drink, he shall never thirst” with unsatisfied, painful longings, but shall never cease to thirst with the longing which is blessedness, because it is fruition. The Spirit of God, drunk in by my spirit, will still and satisfy my whole nature, and with it I shall be glad. “ Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!” 3. Productive and fertilising. In Eastern lands a rill of water is all that is needed to make the wilderness rejoice. Turn that stream on to the barrenness of your hearts, and fair flowers will grow that would never grow without it. IV. “ ye have an unction from the Holy One.” In the old system, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with consecrating oil, as a symbol of their calling, and of their fitness for their special offices. The reason for the use of such a symbol would lie in the invigorating and health-giving effect of the use of oil in those climates, and the meaning of the act was plain.1. It was a preparation for a specific and distinct service. (1) You are anointed to be prophets that you may make known Him who has loved and saved you. (2) That anointing calls and fits you to be priests, mediators between God and man; bringing God to men, and by pleading and persuasion, and the presentation of the truth, drawing men to God. (3) That unction calls and fits you to be kings, exercising authority over the little monarchy of your own natures, and over the men round you, who will bow in submission whenever they come in contact with a man all evidently aflame with the love of Jesus Christ, and filled with His Spirit. 2. And then do not forget also that when the Scriptures speak about Christian men as being anointed, it really speaks of them as being Messiahs. “ Christ” “ Messiah” means anointed. And when we read “ Ye have an unction from the Holy One,” we cannot but feel that the words are equivalent to “ As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” By derived authority, and in a subordinate and secondary sense, we are Messiahs, anointed with that Spirit which was given to Him not by measure, and which has passed from Him to us. “ If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (A. Maclaren, D. D)And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire.-- The tongues of fire It may be said generally that at Pentecost the reign of symbols closed; not, however, that worship was to be absolutely released from visible signs--witness the institution of Baptism and the Lord’ s Supper--but a great change passed over the relations of the signs and the reality. Formerly the symbols disguised the things signified, now they have either been displaced by or simply illustrate the manifested reality. I. Light diffused or condensed as fire had been from the beginning the elect token of the presence of God.1. A light drawn from no material source hovered over Paradise, rested on patriarchal altars, irradiated the camp, trembled over the mercy-seat and was the glory of God filling His temple. Now when the new temple is consecrated by the advent of the Spirit the emblem appears for the last time and marks by the manner of its appearance a change which carries with it the essence of the Christian privilege. (1) Over the whole company, before it was distributed into fragments, there rested for one brief moment the glory of the Lord, as the sudden token that Jehovah had transferred His dwelling place from the holiest to the upper room. But specially the Holy Ghost signified that the Trinity was no longer a mystery hidden from the people. Within the veil the glory of God had symbolised the Three-One God. The Son had come and fulfilled His part of the symbol, “ We beheld His glory,” etc.; and now the Spirit descends to fulfil His part also, and when the Church was “ filled with the Holy Ghost” it became a temple or “ habitation of God through the Spirit.” We are not in the court without conscious only that there is within the curtain an awful mystery of light. The Triune God is in our midst. (2) The diffused glory presently disparted “ and sat upon each of them.” In ancient times this light of the Lord’ s was never known to rest upon any individual--it was reserved for the congregation. Now the order is inverted, and imported that God accepted, sealed and set apart for Himself every one of them without exception. (3) But the symbol went as suddenly as it came. It could not remain, otherwise the conditions of probation would be changed. Who could sin under the irradiation of that heavenly token? And how could the world go on if the elect carried about with them this signature of heaven? But the reality remains, “ they were all filled,” etc. What the evanescent light taught for a moment the New Testament now teaches for ever: that the penitent believer is released from condemnation and knows it, being sealed by the Spirit of consecration. (4) The sign departed, but if restored on whom would it rest now? Whom would it leave unvisited? Over whom would it waver and then retire? What melancholy separations would it make between husband and wife, brother and sister, etc. Let every one ask, Would it rest upon me? Such tokens of acceptance or rejection we cannot expect, but we may turn with confidence to the sacred reality. Never live without the thing which this symbol signifies. 2. But this light was the light of a sacred fire. This introduces another novelty. In the ancient temple the two were distinguished. The light was behind the veil or was only diffused through the courts; the fire burned continually on the altar without. But now the light is the fire, and the fire the light. The Holy Ghost sealed believers for God by an outward token, and then filled their hearts as the refiner and sanctifier from sin. (1) Throughout the symbols and prophecies of Old Testament fire was an emblem of the purifying energy of the Spirit. Wherever the light of God’ s accepting presence rested, hard by was the altar on which fire consumed what God could not accept. And whether by the sharp discipline of affliction, or by the sweet and gentle influences of His grace; whether by the fire that bums or the fire that melts, the Spirit’ s work must be wrought in us unto perfection. The fire must burn on until it is quenched through having nothing more to consume. (2) But in its other meaning it is a fire that never can be quenched. The meaning of the fire upon the altar was this--the refuse was purged out that the rich essence of every offering should ascend trembling to God with perfect acceptance. Our whole being must be for ever ascending in abiding consecration. Interior religion makes the Spirit a “ whole burnt-offering,” the principle of which is being “ filled with the Holy Ghost.” (3) Note the connection between the light and the fire; between the Divine acceptance through the atonement and our interior meetness for it through the Spirit. (4) The fire is kindled from heaven, but it must be kept burning from below. The Eternal High Priest, by His Spirit, puts the fire on your altar; you must be the Levite to bring the perpetual offering. Feed it with your vanities, idols, sins, until these being destroyed, it shall be quenched. Feed it with your best affections, words, actions, whole life, until your whole being shall be ready for the perfect sacrifice of heaven; and then it never shall be quenched. (5) And remember the awful counterpart. For all who refuse the grace there is prepared a fire which in another sense “ never shall be quenched.” II. That which sat on each of the disciples assumed the form of a tongue. This was its most characteristic novelty. Never before did it so appear and never again, and we must look for its interpretation to the subsequent history.1. The Spirit gave to the Church a new utterance. The tongue signified that to the whole company was given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. From that hour the Spirit has been the Supreme teaching authority. 2. The voice of the Church was lifted up in two ways. (1) In the utterance of praise of the wonderful works of God. The Spirit--the tongue of God to man--made known the wonders of the incarnate Saviour as they had never been made known before. And the same Spirit--the tongue of the Church to God--dictated a hymn worthy of the revelation. And the Spirit ordered that it should be a type of the great future. The worship was offered in many languages which, as heard by God, were blended into one. Hence our assemblies are above all worshipping assemblies inspired by the Spirit. (2) But in due time the new tongue was heard in preaching also. Peter was a representative of the great company of preachers in his subject, his zeal, the demonstration of the Spirit which accompanied him, and his great success. But the distributed symbol teaches that in the whole work each individual must take a part. There is a strong tendency to introduce such music, etc., as must reduce many a poor member of the congregation to a mere spectator. Remember also that you must take your part in the preaching service, if not as a professed preacher, as a faithful servant of Christ, ready to defend His name, and recommend His salvation both by voice and by life. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)Tongues of fire I. Tongues. Because--1. They were to declare by the tongue the message of God to every creature.2. They who had been unlearned and ignorant men, unapt to teach, and powerless to convince, were from henceforth to teach and convince.3. The Church was not to be confined to men of their own language, but was to embrace men of every language under heaven. II. As of fire. Because fire was an emblem of--1. Purity.2. Enlightenment.3. Warmth.4. The power with which the Word world burn its way into the human heart (Luke 24:32).5. The fiery trials which awaited them. III. Were distributed to each that each might know that he had his distinct gift, and that none might exalt himself above his brother. IV. Sat upon them, teaching them to do their work constantly and untiringly. (W. Denton, M. A.)Tongues of fire Richard Sheridan said he often went to hear Rowland Hill preach, because his words flowed hissing hot from his heart. Chalmers’ s main forte as a preacher and college professor, it is said, was his “ blood-earnestness.” “ What we want,” remarked a Chinese convert once, “ is men with hot hearts to tell us of the love of Christ.” Be earnest, be enthusiastic, and the fire of your own soul will kindle a flame in the souls of others. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)Tongues of fire Rabbinic writers show that it was a common belief of the Jews that an appearance like fire oft encircled the heads of distinguished teachers of the law. God has often been pleased to reveal Himself to men in conformity with their own conceptions as to the mode in which it is natural to expect communications from Him, as by star to magians. (Bp. Hacket.)Tongues of fire: different kinds of As the tongue kindled of hell is a fire that consumes everything with its wickedness, so tongues when they are kindled of heaven are converted into torches by which a Divine fire can be kindled in many souls (James 3:6). (R. Steer, D. D.)The necessity of the fire Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a granite fortress, and told us they intended to batter it down. We might asked them, How? They point us to a cannon-ball. Well, but there is no power in that. It is heavy, but not more than a hundredweight, or half a hundredweight. If all the men in the army were to throw it, that would make no impression. They say, No, but look at the cannon. Well, but there is no power in that; it is a machine, and nothing more. But look at the powder. Well, there is no power in that; a child may spill it, a sparrow may pick it up. Yet this powerless powder and this powerless ball are put into this powerless cannon; one spark of fire enters it, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that cannon-ball is a thunderbolt, which smites as if it had been sent from heaven. So is it with our Church machinery of the present day. We have our instruments for pulling down the strongholds, but, oh, for the baptism of fire. (W. Arthur, M. A.)True eloquence It is the fire of the Holy Ghost that will make men eloquent. Many of us think it consists in a power to rattle vowels and consonants together, and make language ring like a tinkling cymbal. No; that is not eloquence, it is counterfeit; that man has not command over language--language has command over him. What is eloquence? According to Gilfillan, “ Eloquence is logic set on fire.” But where is the fire to come from? From the great heart of God. A preacher in his study ought to gather his thoughts, to collect his materials, and ascending the pulpit he ought to set them all ablaze with fire from off the altar. (J. C. Jones.)The building up of the family (text and Genesis 11:4):-- I. The Old Testament text carries us back to the period when “ the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.”1. At that period the human race had begun to so multiply, that it became necessary for them to lengthen the cords of their habitations. A considerable horde journeyed westward, with the view of settling wherever the advantages of pasture might tempt them to fix their residence. Faction, however, soon began to divide them, and it became evident that such a spirit, if some effectual remedy were not applied to it, would issue in their dispersion over the earth’ s surface. Such a prospect, it appears, was intolerable. Even in the infancy of the race it was felt that union was strength--that to disperse the family was to debilitate it. Possibly there was another motive. The deluge was fresh in the memory, and a guilty dread of some similar judgment drew them near to one another for shelter and support. It was the period when man was beginning to awake to self-consciousness and a knowledge of his own resources. Might not those resources, wisely applied, enable him to hurl defiance at the Most High, and serve to secure him against a second deluge? This presumptuous horde then laid aside for a while their petty differences, and exclaimed, as with one voice, “ Go to, let us build us a city,” etc. Do not such thoughts, widely different as to outward shape, find an echo in the minds of men of the present generation? There never was a generation which possessed a fuller consciousness of the physical resources at its command, and a higher estimation of the results which, wisely applied, those resources may achieve. And never was there a stronger yearning after union. Men recognise the evils which are incidental to partisanship and division, and profess to deplore even where they cannot remedy them. But to return to our narrative. 2. The people had proceeded some way, when “ the Lord came down to see the city … Let us go down, and there confound their language.” The miracle seems to have consisted of two parts--first, their language was confounded on the spot--secondly, an instinct of dispersion was sent by God among the builders. Without such aa instinct the confusion of tongues would have failed to effect its object. “ So the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth,” which points to the effects of such an instinct. Each little band took its own path, and finally settled down in a separate district, placing between them and their former companions the natural barriers of mountains and rivers. Here, in this state of isolation, national character began to develop itself. Those who lived much abroad in a sunny and genial climate became keenly alive to the various forms of beauty, and susceptible of a high refinement; those whose allotted district was a northern and a cold country, became rude in their manners, and adopted superstitions of a ferocious cast, in which was blended a strong element of the mysterious. Language, too, declined more and more from its original model, and assumed in each case certain great distinguishing features. And thus were the members of the human family effectually separated, and their design of establishing one great central institution baffled, while God’ s counsel of dispersing them stood for ever. 3. Now this narrative is fraught with admonition to those who, under the conviction that man can only be strong and happy in union with his fellows, desire to compass that noblest of all ends, the universal brotherhood of the race. It testifies that genuine unity is only to be compassed by striking at the original root of discord. To bring men to recognise one another as brethren is a noble aim; but it is not to be achieved by a fundamental alteration of the arrangements of property or rank, while we leave untouched those springs of selfishness which lead to the accumulation of property in certain hands. To make wars to cease in the world is indeed the very prerogative of Deity; but assuredly it is not otherwise to be effected than by aiding those spiritual influences which modify and repress the unruly wills and affections of sinful men. That Christians should agree in the truth of God’ s Holy Word, and live together in unity and godly love--this were the very realisation of Christ’ s prayer--but it is an end which cannot be otherwise furthered than by the more effectual propagation of the gospel of love and peace, an end which no uniformity of ecclesiastical discipline on the one hand, no sinking or waiving of distinguishing tenets on the other, will avail to secure. That all nations should recognise their common fellowship in one world-embracing community--this is the very consummation to which true believers are looking forward; but then it cannot otherwise be brought about than by a spiritual agency, and its attempted achievement by the wider establishment of commercial relations, or by any other method of the kind, will issue most assuredly in failure. To counteract this instinct, by diffusing one of an opposite tendency, is the only sure method of success in such a work. II. Let us now turn our thoughts to the New Testament text.1. It pleased God, in His own good time and manner, to realise the presumptuous design of the Babel builders. In the mediation of His Son, which unites heaven to earth, He hath reared up a tower whose top reaches to heaven, while its base is accessible to the heirs of sinful flesh and blood, whereby the communications of prayer and praise may pass upwards to Him, and those of grace, mercy, and peace, may descend to His creatures. Clustering round the base of this tower is a city which He hath founded, and which is designed to be world-embracing. The members of the community thus formed are united together by strong and efficacious bonds, although such as are invisible to the eye of sense. They have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of them all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all. The same hope animates, the same Word guides, the same bread feeds, the same providence directs, the same blood cleanses, the same grace quickens and consoles them. Aye, and their fellowship extends its ample bounds beyond the barriers of the world of sense. It embraces within its fair girdle an innumerable company of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:22-23). This community, so constituted, is the appointed centre of union for mankind. There, within its invisible precincts, the families of the human race may meet and recognise one another, as all claiming by faith a common interest in Christ. There, at length, the dusky Moor and the frozen Laplander, the rude Goth and the refined Greek, may acknowledge their oneness of blood. In Christ all national distinctions are annihilated (Colossians 3:11). 2. It was in order to gather the nations into this world-embracing community, that the apostles, after the Holy Ghost had fallen upon them at Pentecost, went forth as ambassadors of reconciliation. As an outward token that the Spirit, whose operation should re-unite in one mystical body the scattered families of man, was issuing forth to the moral world, the physical impediment obstructing union was removed. The apostles “ spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” It was not, however, this miraculous faculty which was the secret of their success: rather it was their burning love to Christ, their burning conviction that His word was truth, their burning zeal in the cause of perishing and benighted souls, so aptly emblematised by those cloven tongues like as of fire, which sat upon each of them. 3. Nor has the spirit and power of apostles failed in the Church, although the extraordinary gifts which attended their mission have been withdrawn. The Church has now gained a firm footing in the earth, and accordingly is left to work her way with that spiritual power which is still alive and vigorous within her. As with the spirit of love any triumphs of Christianity may be achieved, so without it, let us not think to do anything. This is the only spirit by which we can be instrumental in repairing the breaches of mankind, and building up the family again in the second Adam. (Dean Goulburn.)The tongues of fire The sign of the Holy Spirit s presence was a tongue of fire. It was a most suitable emblem, pregnant with meaning, and indicative of the large place which the human voice was to play in the work of the new dispensation, while the supernatural fire declared that the mere unaided human voice would avail nothing. The voice needs to be quickened and supported by that Divine fire, that superhuman energy and power, which the Holy Ghost alone can confer. The tongue of fire pointed on the Pentecostal morn to the important part in the Church’ s life, and in the propagation of the gospel, which prayer and praise and preaching would hereafter occupy. It would have been well, indeed, had the Church ever remembered what the Holy Ghost thus taught, specially concerning the propagation of the gospel, for it would have been thereby saved many a disgraceful page of history. The human tongue, illuminated and sanctified by fire from the inner sanctuary, was about to be the instrument of the gospel’ s advancement--not penal laws, not the sword and fire of persecution; and so long as the divinely-appointed means were adhered to, so long the course of our holy religion was one long-continued triumph. But when the world and the devil were able to place in the hands of Christ’ s spouse their own weapons of violence and force, when the Church forgot the words of her Master, “ My kingdom is not of this world,” and the teachings embodied in the symbol of the tongue of fire, then spiritual paralysis fell upon religious effort; and even where human law and power have compelled an external conformity to the Christian system, as they undoubtedly have done in some cases, yet all vital energy, all true godliness, have been there utterly lacking in the religion established by means so contrary to the mind of Christ. Very good men have made sad mistakes in this matter. Archbishop Ussher was a man whose deep piety equalled his prodigious learning, yet he maintained that the civil sword ought to be used to repress false doctrine; the divines of the Westminster Assembly have left their opinion on record that it is the duty of the magistrate to use the sword on behalf of Christ’ s kingdom; Richard Baxter taught that the toleration of doctrines which he considered false was sinful; and all of them forgot the lesson of the day of Pentecost, that the tongue of fire was to be the only weapon permissible in the warfare of the kingdom whose rule is over spirits, not over bodies. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.) Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The historic movement towards spiritually The succession which is indicated by the words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is neither nominal nor accidental, it is a philosophicaI progress and culmination.1. When we go back towards the origin of things, we are dissatisfied with all mere critical terms, and yearn for something for which we cannot hit the exact word. Then is suggested the Biblical word, Father, and with it comes a promise of satisfaction in spite of all its difficulties. 2. But fatherhood is an inclusive term, suggesting the idea of childhood, and childhood is realised most impressively in the sonship of Christ; but sonship such as this, involving visible expression, is beset with peculiar risks. So He withdrew Himself immediately that He had secured for His personality an unquestioned place in history, as there was nothing more to be gained by His visible continuance on earth. 3. But what of the future of His work? Then, according to Christian teaching, was to come manifestation without visibility; instead of bodily presence, there was to be a new experience of life and spirituality. In one word, the holy Man was to be followed by the Holy Ghost. This idea of a philosophical rather than a merely arbitrary succession is strictly consistent with the fact that the whole movement of history, in all that is vital and permanent, is a movement from the outward and visible to the inward and spiritual. I. The order of creation. The succession runs thus: Light, firmament, dry land, seas, the fruit-tree yielding fruit, sun, moon, and stars, the moving creature that hath life, and fowl flying in the open firmament of heaven, cattle, creeping thing, and beast of the earth; if we pause here we shall be dissatisfied, because of a sense of incompleteness; but to crown the whole “ God said, Let us make man in our image and in our likeness.” II. The order of human recovery. Beginning with the Levitical ritual, what could be more objective? The sin-offering, the trespass-offering, the incenses, etc., represent the most sensuous and exhausting system of mediation? Could aught be farther from the point of spirituality? In moving forward to the incarnation, we take an immense step along the line whose final point is spirituality, yet even there we are still distinctly upon the carnal line. The final representative of sensuous worship must Himself be the revealer of spiritual life. Jesus Christ ascended, and henceforth we know not even Him “ after the flesh,” for the fleshly Christ has Himself placed mankind under the tuition of a spiritual monitor. III. The order of written testimony. From picture and symbol we pass to spiritual meanings; through the noise and fury of war we pass into the quietness and security of moral civilisation; through the porch of miracles and mighty signs and wonders we enter the holy place of truth and love. The quality of John’ s Gospel requires the very place that has been assigned to it in the New Testament. John seems to say, “ You have heard what the Evangelists have had to tell, and have seen the wonderful things of their Master’ s ministry; now let me explain the deep meaning of the whole.” From Malachi to Matthew is but a step; but to get from Malachi to John, you have to cross the universe. Matthew shows the fact; John reveals the truth; Matthew pourtrays on canvas; John puts his word into the heart. IV. The whole law. From the minuteness of microscopic bye-laws men have passed to a spiritual sense of moral distinctions. Every moment of the Jew’ s time, and every act of his life, was guarded by a regulation. Amidst our spiritual light, such regulations could not be re-established without awakening the keenest resentment. The great tables of bye-laws have been taken down, because the spirit of order and of truth has been given. What is true of law is equally true of all institutionalism. V. Precisely the same movement takes place in the experience of every progressive life. Every man can test this doctrine for himself--the doctrine, namely, that the growth of manhood is towards spirituality. The child grows towards contempt of its first toys; the youth reviews the narrow satisfactions of his childhood with pity; the middle-aged man smiles, half-sneeringly, as he recalls the conceits of his youth; and the hoary-haired thinker lives already amid the peace and joy of invisible scenes, or if he go back, living in memory rather than in expectation, it is so ideally as to divest his recollections of all that was transient and unlovely. The spiritual world of the wise man increases every day. These suggestions point to the conclusion that the Holy Ghost is the reasonable completion of revelation, and as such His ministry is an impregnable proof of the reasonableness of Christianity. In the person of Jesus Christ truth was outward, visible, and most beautiful; in the person of the Holy Ghost truth is inward, spiritual, all-transfiguring. By the very necessity of the case the bodily Christ could be but a passing figure; but by a gracious mystery He caused Himself to be succeeded by an eternal Presence, “ even the Spirit of Truth, which abideth for ever.” It is claimed, then, on behalf of Christianity, that there is a Holy Ghost, and to this doctrine is invited not only the homage of the heart but the full assent of the most robust and dispassionate understanding. (J. Parker, D. D.)Filled with the Spirit I. They were filled with the spirit.1. Men may be filled but not with the Spirit (verse 13). The audience confessed they were full, but with wine, a liquor though full of spirit, yet no spirit. It was false, yet if the Spirit may be taken for a humour, why not a humour for a spirit. Isaiah says (Isaiah 29:9) that men may be drunk but not with wine. A hot humour is taken for this fire and termed, though untruly, a spirit of zeal, and men imbued with it are ever mending churches, states, superiors, and all save themselves. 2. Not every spirit. “ There is a spirit in man,” i.e. our own spirit, and many there be who follow their own ghost, and not the Holy Ghost; for even that ghost taketh upon it to inspire, and we know its revelations (Matthew 16:17). 3. blot the world’ s spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12). 4. But the Holy Spirit, i.e. His gifts and graces. And because these be of many points they are all included under these two-- (l) Under the wind is represented saving graces; as necessary to our spiritual life as breath is to our natural. This is meant for us personally. Of this Spirit there are nine points (Galatians 5:22). (2) Under the tongues are set forth the grace meant for the benefit of others. Tongues serve to teach and fire to warm; and of this spirit the points are reckoned up in 1 Corinthians 12:7, etc. II. They were filled with the Spirit.1. It was not a wind that blew through them, as it does through many of us, but that filled them. 2. Not that they were devoid of the Spirit before. Christ had not breathed upon them (John 20:22) in vain. This shows us that there are diverse measures of the Spirit, some single, some double portions (1 Kings 2:9). As there are degrees in the wind--a breath, a blast, a gale, so there are in the Spirit. It is one thing to receive the Spirit as at Easter and to be filled with Him as at Whitsuntide. Then but a breath; now a mighty wind; then but sprinkled as with a few drops (Ezekiel 20:46), now baptized with that which was plenteously poured out (Joe 2:20). III. In sign that they were filled they ran over. The fire was kindled in them by this wind, and in sign thereof they spoke with their tongue (Psalms 39:3). The wind would have served them as Christians, but as apostles, i.e. ambassadors, they must have tongues.1. They were filled and then they began to speak. Some speak, I will not say before they are full, or half full, but while they are little better than empty, if not empty quite. 2. This beginning to speak argues courage. Any man might see that there was a new spirit come into them. Before they were tongue-tied. A damsel did but ask Peter a question, and he faltered. But after this mighty wind blew up the fire, and they were warmed with it, then they were not afraid to testify before magistrates and kings. (Bp. Andrewes.)Filled with the Spirit The new era opened at Pentecost was one in which all God’ s people were to have God abiding in them always, the Guest, Comforter and Friend of every Christian heart. It must be admitted, however, that this Divine ideal has been very inadequately realised. Let us consider some of the results which may be expected to flow from a fuller baptism of the Spirit. I. Spiritual mindedness.1. This does not mean that our thoughts should be perpetually running on the future, that we should ever be debating theological questions, but that we shall have the power to appreciate those great and eternal realities that are about us. 2. This spiritual mindedness will reveal itself-- (1) In the estimate we form of our fellow men. (2) In our appreciation of the great spiritual end we ought ever to be seeking in order to do Christian work. (3) In our appreciation of Christian doctrine caring more about the spiritual substance than the particular form or fashion by which the truth may have been expressed. For instance-- (a) In all our thought about the death and atonement of Christ, the imagination will not dwell on the physical blood that was shed, or upon the physical agony that was endured, but upon the majesty of God’ s righteousness, the wonder of God’ s love, the mystery of that great sacrifice on the Cross, and the awfulness of the sin which made that sacrifice necessary. (b) When we think about the second coming of Christ, our thoughts will not be taken up with the external circumstances of pomp and splendour, but rather with the triumph’ of good over evil, and truth over falsehood, which is the consummation to which all devout souls must ever be looking. (c) In thinking about inspiration we shall not trouble ourselves about theories of it, or about the mere letter, but our care will be mostly for the Divine truth itself, which will lift us up in our despondency, and guide us in our perplexity when we come to the sacred page. II. An access of power by which the naturally timid will be enabled to do things which would be otherwise impossible to the strongest; in regard to--1. Testimony for Christ.2. Endurance of suffering.3. Philanthropic work. III. A change of disposition.1. The cessation of “ jealousies, strifes, and divisions,” which Paul includes amongst the “ works of the flesh.” 2. The prevalence of a spirit of mercy and kindness towards others. (1) To those who in our midst are compelled to live very hard lives. (2) For those multitudes all over the world who are without the knowledge of God as revealed in Christ. IV. An enthusiasm of holy fervour in all work.1. In worship.2. In Church life.3. In evangelism. (H. Arnold Thomas, M. A.)Filled with the Spirit I. The fulness. There was no part of the complex nature of man that was not pervaded by the Spirit.1. The intellect was illumined to know the truths of the Spirit. 2. The affections were purified and inflamed with desires after heavenly things. 3. The will was strengthened to obey the motions of the Spirit. II. Its manifestation. Those who are so filled give out only the language of the life-giving Spirit. Even when they speak of earthly things it is with a tongue reminding men of the wisdom and simplicity of the children of God. When they do aught in the common business of life, their example recalls the thought of a higher life. All they say or do is to edifying. (Cornelius a Lapide.)Filled with the Spirit and receiving the Spirit The difference is not of kind, but of degree. In the one case, the light of heaven has reached the dark chamber, dispelling night, but leaving some obscurity and some deep shadows. In the other, that light has filled the whole chamber, and made every corner bright. This state of the soul--being “ filled with the Holy Ghost” --is the normal antecedent of true prophetic or miraculous power, but may exist without it; without it, in individuals who are never endowed with the gift either of prophecy or of miracles; without it, in individuals who have such powers, but in whom they are not in action, as in John the Baptist, before his ministry commenced. (W. Arthur, M. A.)Fulness of the Spirit not necessarily miraculous Eyesight is the necessary basis of what is called a painter’ s or a poet’ s eye; the sense of hearing, the necessary basis of what is called a musical ear, yet eyesight may exist where there is no poet’ s or painter’ s eye, and hearing where there is no musical ear. So may the human soul be “ filled with the Holy Ghost,” having every faculty illuminated, and every affection purified, without any miraculous gift. On the other hand, the miraculous power does not necessarily imply the spiritual fulness: for Paul puts the supposition of speaking with tongues, prophesying, removing mountains, and yet lacking charity, that love which must be shed abroad in every heart that is full of the Holy Ghost. (W. Arthur, M. A.)The fulness of the Spirit the need of the Church I. We are apt to fix our thoughts and desires on subordinate instrumentalities.1. Good organisation. Many are chiefly anxious to perfect the ecclesiastical apparatus of the Church; but without speaking disparagingly of this, yet perfect machinery is useless without motive power, a Church may be organised to death, and may be only like a stately tomb. The Church’ s finest triumphs were gained in days when it had no elaborate organisation. 2. Orthodoxy. Many are distressed by the present unsettlement of theological opinion, and regard uniformity of belief as the great desideratum. Correct thinking is much to be desired, and in proportion as any Church departs from fundamental Christian truth it emasculates its moral force. But an orthodox Church may be a scene of mental and spiritual stagnation. It may have a perfect creed and yet be loveless, lifeless, helpless. 3. Intellectual equipment. Of scholarship and disciplined thought it is impossible for a Church to have too much, but a Church that prides itself on its culture may be as cold as an iceberg and exclusive as a coterie. It may virtually say to any candidate who cannot be classed among its “ thoughtful,” or who does not rise to a certain standard of wealth and social status, what a deacon is reported to have said to an unwelcome applicant, “ There is no vacancy in our church just now.” 4. Liberty, fearless independence of thought and expression. But liberty may degenerate into license quite as easily as zeal for truth may pass into bigotry, and in its sacred name deadly errors and worthless speculations and conceits may be passed off as current coin of the realm of truth. II. What we want supremely is the fulness of the Spirit.1. Organisation, etc., are good things, but there is something more essential. Might not the Master say to-day as He did of old, “ Ye are careful about many things, but one thing is needful.” With the fulness of the Spirit our organisation will be filled with power, our orthodoxy pulsate with love, our culture have in it no Phariseeism, and our liberty always serve the interests of truth and godliness. 2. “ Filled with the Spirit.” (1) The Church will be guided into all truth, for a fuller tide of the Spirit means finer spiritual discernment and discrimination, and deeper insight into eternal verities. (2) The Church will be “ glorious in holiness,” for wherever the Spirit of God dwells He is as the refiner’ s fire. (3) The peace and harmony of the Church will be insured, for brotherly love will reign supreme, and fidelity to truth will carry no bitterness with it. (4) The Church will be preserved from selfishness, and made missionary and philanthropic. (5) The Church will not descend to carnal and unworthy methods of spreading the kingdom of God. It will cease to bow at the shrine of mammon, disdain the expedients of worldly wisdom, and not measure its success by statistical tables or worldly standards. (6) The Church will have an attractive power. We look too much to the mere accessories of religion--to music and ritual, intellectual brilliance and sensational services, forgetful of the fact that the magnetic spell of the Church is the beauty, intensity, and fulness of its spiritual life. When the fruits of the Spirit abound men will be drawn as bees to the apple blossom, or steel filings to the magnet. (7) The Church will exert a mighty power to perform greater miracles than those of Christ, and in their presence the voice of the caviller will be silenced. Preaching will be “ in the demonstration of the Spirit and power,” and we shall rejoice in constant accessions. III. How shall we obtain this fulness of the spirit? There have been seasons when the Spirit has swept in mighty tides, and we are tempted to think that the supply of the Spirit is according to some capricious or arbitrary arrangement. But the supernatural has its laws as well as the natural.1. Everything that grieves the Spirit must be put away, “ all malice and all guile and hypocrisies,” etc., and “ all unbelief, worldly-mindedness, pride, selfishness” ; everything opposed to the simplicity, the charity and purity of Christ, or there will be fatal hindrances. 2. Earnest, importunate prayer--prayer that is not a mere repetition of conventional phrases, that has in it the utmost intensity of desire, that links together the whole communion of the faithful, and knows no cessation till the answer comes. The experience of the disciples before Pentecost, and in Acts 4:31, is a lesson for all ages. 3. There must be avenues for the Spirit’ s entrance, a large measure of receptivity, sensitiveness to His influence, fidelity to the truth. He requires cheerful response as He calls to duty or sacrifice, and an implicit obedience to His commands. Luther once said that people cried, “ Spirit, Spirit, Spirit!” and then struck down all the bridges by which the Spirit might enter. At the moment of his ordination Whitefield says, “ I offered up my whole spirit, soul and body, to the service of God’ s sanctuary,” and the result we know. If the sacrifice be upon the altar, the fire from heaven will come down. (T. G. Tarn.)The soul filled with the Holy Ghost A piece of iron is dark and cold; imbued with a certain degree of heat, it becomes almost burning without any change of appearance; imbued with a still greater degree, its very appearance changes to that of solid fire, and it sets fire to whatever it touches. A piece of water without heat is solid and brittle; gently warmed, it flows; further heated, it mounts to the sky. An organ filled with the ordinary degree of air which exists everywhere is dumb; the touch of the player can elicit but a clicking of the keys. Throw in not other air, but an unsteady current of the same air, and sweet, but imperfect and uncertain, notes immediately respond to the player’ s touch: increase the current to a full supply, and every pipe swells with music. Such is the soul without the Holy Ghost, and such are the changes which pass upon it when it receives the Holy Ghost, and when it is “ filled with the Holy Ghost.” In the latter state only is it fully imbued with the Divine nature, bearing in all its manifestations some plain resemblance to its God, conveying to all on whom it acts some impression of Him, mounting heavenward in all its movements, and harmoniously pouring forth, from all its faculties, the praises of the Lord. (W. Arthur, M. A.)Power of a man when God works by him Look at the artist’ s chisel; the artist cannot carve without it. Yet imagine the chisel, conscious that it was made to carve, and that it is its function, trying to carve alone. It lays itself against the hard marble, but it has neither strength nor skill. Then we can imagine the chisel full of disappointment. “ Why cannot I carve?” it cries. Then the artist comes and seizes it. The chisel lays itself into his hand, and is obedient to him. Thought, feeling, imagination, skill, flow down from the deep chambers of the artist’ s soul to the chisel’ s edge. The sculptor and the chisel are not two, but one; it is the unit which they make that carves the stone. We are but the chisel to carve God’ s statues in this world. Unquestionably we must do the work. But the human worker is only the chisel of the great Artist. The artist needs his chisel; but the chisel can do nothing, produce no beauty of itself. The artist must seize it, and the chisel lay itself into his hand and be obedient to him. We must yield ourselves altogether to Christ, and let Him use us. Then His power, His wisdom, His skill, His thought, His love, shall flow through our soul, our brain, our heart, our fingers. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)And began to speak with other tongues.-- The new tongue which ought to fall to our lot by the Spirit of Pentecost I. Wherein it consists.1. Not in a miraculous gift of languages.2. Nor in a formal repetition of pious expressions.3. But in a heart and mouth opened to thankful praise of Divine grace and joyful confession of the Lord. II. Whence it proceeds.1. Not from our natural state.2. Nor from the arts and sciences.3. But from above, from the Spirit of God, who touches heart and lips with fire from heaven. III. What purpose it serves. Not to vain self-glorification or worldly delectation, but to the praise of God and to the message of salvation to the world. (Gerok.)As the Spirit gave them utterance.-- Characteristics of Spirit-inspired speech They spoke-- I. Wisely, as the Spirit of wisdom moved them. II. Powerfully, as the Spirit of power strengthened them. III. Purely, as the Spirit of holiness sanctified them. (Cornelius a Lapide.)The gospel for all nations The apostles’ speaking on the day of Pentecost to the people in their respective languages, was to us a plain intimation of the mind and will of God, that the sacred records should be preserved by all nations in their own tongue; that the Scriptures should be read, and public worship be performed, in the vulgar language of the nations. (M. Henry.) Acts 2:5-11 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation. The first congregation appealed to by the apostles I. It consisted of men of many lands. The fifteen countries remind us of the dispersion of the Jews. They had been scattered on account of their sins; but the mercy of God was shown in making this punishment a way for the gospel. Jews and proselytes would return and tell their kindred of the wonders of this day. Some without design would convey to the heathen saving truth; just as fugitive traitors may build a bridge over which the saviours of their country afterwards pass; others doubtless saw here the fulfilment of their prayers that they might benefit the perishing Gentiles among whom they dwelt. II. It represented the whole world. When the glorious news which God designed for all had to be declared for the first time, it was fitting that all should thus be represented. But on the ground of the unity of the race every congregation represents the whole world, and he who leads one soul to the Saviour makes a contribution to the aggregate of human good. What value does this put on the work of Christian agents of every class. III. It exemplified various moral characteristics.1. The God-fearing and worthy. They looked on the wonders with careful and devout inquiry. In seeking the salvation of sinners it is necessary to elicit the question, “ What may this be?” 2. The frivolous. They preferred the vain charge of drunkenness. No doubt the excitement in part accounted for it, but it is probable that jesting was resorted to that the impressions of the moment might be resisted. This obvious way of grieving the Spirit is sometimes exhibited in criticisms on preachers. 3. The haughty who could not bear the idea of being taught by Galileans. So David had doubt cast on his ability to show any good, and our Lord was received with suspicion because He belonged to Nazareth. But a servant has sometimes been able to teach his master the truth of God, and an illiterate preacher has often convinced men of learning whom their equals had failed to reach. (W. Hudson.)How the seed of the Word is spread 1. In the cotton factories of Lancashire there is a huge piece of machinery fifty feet in length, and containing hundreds of spindles, which moves steadily backward and forward from one side of the room to the other. It is a great triumph of skill to insert within the machine a power by which it shall move a certain distance and then stop and go back again. There was a similar contrivance in Judaism which retained the Word of God at Jerusalem till a certain time and then sent it forth from Jerusalem. This contrivance was the regulation that all the people should repair to the capital to celebrate their appointed feasts; and this regulation was observed even after the Jews had been scattered all over the world. Hence the gathering at Pentecost. Up to that period the arrangement seemed devised to keep the worship of God in one place and to forbid the spread of true religion. But now it seemed expressly invented for the universal diffusion of the gospel of Christ. 2. In a still, sultry autumn day, as you walk through the fields, your attention is arrested by a tiny sound at intervals, like an explosion in miniature, and a few seconds after a shower of tiny bails falls upon the ground. It is the bursting of seed pods in the sun. The casket that contains the seed of some plants is composed of four or five long narrow staves, joined together like Cooper work, but without the staves. The staves are glued together at the edges, and the vessel so constructed is strong enough to contain the seed till it is ripe. But if the seeds were retained beyond that the purposes of nature would be thwarted. Accordingly at this stage there is a turning point, and the action of the machinery is reversed. The same qualities in the vessels that hold fast the seed while it is green jerk it to a distance after it is ripe. The staves of the little barrel are bent, the bursting force overcomes the adhesion and opens them with a spring that flings the seed as if from a sewer’ s hand. By this contrivance, though no human hand were near, a whole field would soon be sown by seed from a single plant. Thus the law in Israel that confined the sacrifices to a single spot, and so brought Jews from all parts at Pentecost, threw the seed of the Word as by a spring out from Jerusalem into all the neighbouring nations. These Parthians, etc., were the vessels charged with precious seed at Jerusalem, and then thrown back on the several countries whence they had come. In this way the gospel was in a single season brought to regions which otherwise it might not have reached in a century. (W. Arnot.)The visitors at Jerusalem The list is characteristic of the trained historian and geographer--trained, it may be, in the school of Strabo--who had carefully inquired what nations were represented at that great Pentecost, who had himself been present, at least, at one later Pentecost (Acts 21:15), and knew the kind of crowd that gathered to it. There is a kind of order, as of one taking a bird’ s-eye view of the Roman Empire, beginning with the great Parthian kingdom, which was still, as it had been in the days of Crassus, the most formidable of its foes; then the old territory of the Medes, which had once been so closely connected with the history of their fathers; then, the name of the Persians having been thrown into the background, the kindred people of Elam (commonly rendered Persia in the LXX.), whom Strabo speaks of as driven to the mountains (11:13, § 6); then the great cities of the Tigris and Euphrates, where the “ princes of the captivity” still ruled over a large Jewish population; then passing southward and westward to Judaea; then to Cappadocia, in the interior of Asia Minor; then to Pontus, on the northern shore washed by the Euxine; then westward to the Proconsular Province of Asia, of which Ephesus was the capital. From Ephesus the eye travels eastward to the neighbouring province of Phrygia; thence southward to Pamphylia; thence across the Mediterranean to Egypt; westward to Cyrene; northward, re-crossing the Mediterranean, to the great capital of the empire; then, as by an after-thought, to the two regions of Crete and Arabia that had been previously omitted. The absence of some countries that we should have expected to find in the list--Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, Bithynia, Macedonia, Achaia, Spain--is not easy to explain, but it is, at any rate, an indication that what we have is not an artificial list made up at a later date, but an actual record of those whose presence at the feast had been ascertained by the historian. Possibly they may have been omitted, because Jews and converts coming from them would naturally speak Greek, and there would be no marvel to them in hearing Galileans speaking in that language. The presence of Judaea in the list is almost as unexpected as the absence of the others. That, we think, might have been taken for granted. Some critics have accordingly conjectured that “ India” must be the true reading, but without any MS. authority. Possibly the men of Judaea are named as sharing in the wonder that the Galileans were no longer distinguished by their provincial patois (cf. Matthew 26:73). (Dean Plumptre.)We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.-- The thousand-tongued hallelujah of the world in honour of God I. Begun on the morning of creation in the kingdom of nature. II. Renewed at Pentecost in the kingdom of grace. III. Perfected, but never finished, on the day of manifestation in the kingdom of glory. (Gerok.)The wonderful works of God I. The subject itself. And where shall we begin? All that God does is wonderful. Let us enter--1. The field of creation. Here, how wonderful are the works of God! Think of-- (1) Their number. Look at the heavens. Though infidelity has mocked at the idea of comparing them to the sands of the sea-shore, the discoveries of astronomy have proved it to be a fact. Look on the face of the world, how many inhabitants are there, visible and invisible! (2) Their diversity! How large are some, and how minute are others! Take up the microscope and the telescope. What vastness in the sun! what smallness in the mite! And yet there are creatures less than these, and all of them have their peculiar qualities, tribes, families, birth, breeding, education, government. Only observe the commonwealth of the ants and the queendom of the bees! (3) Their support. They are all provided for. There is sufficient for all and for all seasons. (4) Their structure. Take only one of the vegetable tribes; how miraculous its growth, how simple its form, and yet how beautiful! “ Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” What man contrives man may comprehend; whereas in the works of God we find that we are in the region of infinity. 2. The field of providence. Here all is wonderful! Nothing comes by chance. (1) What an astonishing series of events are displayed in the history of one single country! What mighty movements proceed from causes almost imperceptible! (2) The history of every individual is equally wonderful. 3. The field of grace. How wonderful is the work of redemption and its application to the soul! How wonderful the history of the believer from conversion to glorification! Angels desire to understand these things, and the more they discern the more they are surprised, and at each discovery they sing new songs, “ Great and marvellous are all Thy works, Lord God Almighty.” II. The way in which the subject was announced. “ We do hear them speak,” said the audience, diversified as it was, “ in our tongues.” It is the duty of ministers to tell the people in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. “ The poor have the gospel preached unto them,” said Christ. “ The common people heard Christ gladly,” says the evangelist. What are philosophical expressions and learned disquisitions to these? I fear we may apply what the apostle says of speaking in an unknown tongue to many of them. Ministers should use “ great plainness of speech.” But this speaking to men of various languages is--1. Nothing less than a real miracle. Two things are essential to a miracle. (1) There must be something addressed to the sense as well as to the reason. These are called “ signs,” and it would be wonderful if signs could not be seen. (2) It must be above all known second causes. God only could have stored the minds of these men with such a multitude of merely arbitrary signs, and have given them power and ability to utter such a variety of distinct sounds. 2. The truth of it is evident also. It was undeniable. (1) These men were well known. (2) Their judges were competent to detect imposture. (3) They did not go to a distance to tell their tale; they began amongst their enemies. (4) The time was when large multitudes were present. (5) Mark their boldness; they charged the Jews around them with the murder of an innocent young man. (6) Note the result. 3. This miracle was expressly predicted. Christ said, “ They shall speak with new tongues.” 4. This miracle was necessary for the accomplishment of their world-wide mission. 5. This gift of tongues was continued for years. 6. The want of this gift in the work of evangelising the world must now be supplied by human learning. And we ought to be very thankful to God that His Word is translated into so many tongues. III. How this subject was heard.1. Some heard with wonder. So it is now. And this is not surprising; for the natural man discerns not the things of God. Christians are “ men wondered at” ; the men of the world wonder that you run not to the same excess of riot with themselves, not knowing that you have meat to eat which they know not of. And this is often attended with a good effect, for it induces them to examine, and truth always gains by investigation. But then, on the other hand, the wonder often dies away, and he who wondered comes within the number of those of whom it is said, “ Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish!” 2. Some heard in mockery. And so it is now. That which devils believe, and the belief of which makes them tremble, furnishes such men with matter for mirth. (1) Some of these mockers were Once professors; the apostate is seldom found neuter. (2) Some mock from the affectation of greatness. These things may be well enough for the common people, but will not do for men of taste. (3) Some mock from the affectation of wisdom. “ What will this babbler say?” “ We preach Christ crucified, to the Greeks foolishness.” (4) Some mock from ignorance. They mock at what they do not understand, at what they never read. Many are afraid to hear or to read the truth lest it should destroy their peace. (5) Some cannot deny certain facts which are before them; but then they show their malignity by accounting for them. They ascribe the zeal of the Christian to disappointed love--to ambition--to a sanguine complexion--to a heated imagination--to enthusiasm, etc. So here, the multitude ascribed the phenomena to drunkenness. 3. Some heard and believed. (W. Jay.) Acts 2:12-13 And they were all amazed.-- Whit Sunday, or what our Churches need Notice-- I. Three things immediately preceding the outpouring of the Spirit--things which if not the direct cause of a revival, always herald it--the shadows cast by the coming blessing.1. A complete congregation. “ They were all in one place.” No absentees. This betokened earnestness, for it was in fact an early Sunday morning prayer-meeting with every one present. Always before a great blessing there will be a revived interest in sanctuary services. The half truth, “ I can worship God as well at home” (which is a lie when the man is able to come to the sanctuary and does not) will not be heard. Indifference to public worship is a fatal sign. Things that would never be permitted to interfere with business or pleasure are reckoned sufficient to warrant “ staying at home to-day.” You found eleven o’ clock this morning too early to come to worship, but I will guarantee you catch the eight o’ clock excursion train to-morrow morning. 2. A congregation one in desire and motive; “ With one accord.” No two motives had drawn them. They came to receive the promised blessing. Is not the want of this spirit of accord the weakness of the Churches of the present day? Unbelief is not the only thing that keeps Christ from doing many mighty works. It might with equal truth be said of many a Church: “ He did not many mighty works there because of their squabbling, petty, selfish spirit.” There are men who will be nothing unless they are everything, and will without compunction sacrifice a whole Church’ s prosperity upon the wretched little altar of their own unsanctified ambition. Instead of all being baptized into one spirit, it looks more as if every one had been baptized into a different spirit and every spirit an evil one. But when all differences become drowned in one overwhelming passion of saving souls, then let the Church lift up her head, for the day of her revival draweth nigh. 3. A congregation steeped in the spirit of prayer. They had a ten days’ prayer-meeting. Do you wonder they had a Whit Sunday? I should have wondered if they had not. The general prayerlessness of the Church is simply deplorable. Here and there the hundreds come to prayer. But take the general run of prayer-meetings. It is not an uncommon thing for Churches to have to give them up because so few come. Whilst all this is so it is of no use talking about having a revival. II. The blessing itself.1. It came at an appointed time. “ When the day of Pentecost was fully come.” God has a time for everything. The disciples doubtless expected the blessing sooner. They had to learn that there is a sovereignty in revivals. Man has no power to command one. He can but cry and wait. Over one Church a cloud of blessing hangs, continually letting fall showers of refreshment. Beneath its influence all is verdant, fresh and lovely. But yonder is another Church the very contrast to this. The heavens above it seem as brass. The piety of its members seems to lack freshness and their leaf withers. Converts are almost unknown. Let not those Churches that have the blessing despise those that lack it. The only difference is that the time to favour them “ has come and the time to favour the others shall come.” 2. It came suddenly and in a moment. Revivals’ very often do. With man’ s work the process as well as the result is visible. Is a temple to be built, the plans are exhibited, the foundations dug out, the scaffolding reared, and for months the chipping of the chisel and the clicking of the trowel are heard. God can build His temple in a night, and like Solomon’ s, no sound of tool be heard. At any moment, without any previous warning, the revival may come. 3. It spread far and wide. From the upper room it soon flew along the streets of Jerusalem like an electric current. There is no telling where the influence of a revival in a Church may spread. It creeps into homes shut against the tract distributor. It glides into darkest places of vice. A revived Church will be certain to draw the multitude together. This is the secret of getting at the masses. III. The question of our text. “ What meaneth this?” Why, it means--1. That Christ is ascended, and has received gifts for men. An ascended, glorified Christ warrants the Church in expecting any measure of blessing, any number of conversions. “ What meaneth this” ? 2. That all instrumentality is nothing without the Holy Ghost, but that the meanest instrumentality with the Spirit is mighty enough to accomplish anything. Alas, what an amount of powerless machinery we have in the so-called “ religious world,” because it has no unction, because it is the work of man, not the working of God through the man, because it is dry and official. Instrumentality is almost worshipped, whilst the Holy Ghost is well-nigh ignored. 3. That God is pleased to work on the world through the Church. Far be it from us to call in question the good that has been accomplished by many of our “ societies,” but we believe that half of them could be spared with ease did a greater unction but rest upon the Church. 4. That these are the seasons God’ s Church is to seek at His hands. I will close with an illustration. Once upon the sea-shore, watching the “ getting off” of a fishing smack, I saw in it a union of work and dependence that charmed me. The fishermen brought the craft clown the beach as far as they could and then left her awhile until the tide, which was flowing, neared her. Meantime two anchors had been cast out to sea, from which were ropes to a windlass in the centre of the vessel. Soon the surf (for the sea was fresh) began to run round her as she lay a dead weight upon the shore. Then the waves began to curl over and break upon her side. The men at the windlass took a turn and made the rope fast. And now every moment the tide had more power over her. She was never still. Twenty times did I say “ now she is off” ; and twenty times did she settle down again upon the shore, and twenty times did the men at the windlass put on the strain. At last one wave swept higher than any before; she shook--rose--glided down towards the deep--the men turning the handle of the windlass quickly as possible. A wave she met threatened to sweep her back upon the shore, but the anchors held her, and right through the surf the men wound her, and half an hour after she was flying away before the breeze, a very contrast to the dead weight she looked upon the beach. That vessel is the Church. The Holy Ghost is the tide. The ropes and the windlass are human agencies only to be used in dependence on the tide. The tide is coming in. The Church feels its power. She moves--she rises. Oh God send the billow that shall float her now, and send her careering on her course, with the breeze of the Spirit. (A. G. Brown.)The multitude in amazement I. A multitude gathered from all parts of the world. II. A multitude gathered for religious purposes. They had come to the feast of Pentecost. III. A multitude astonished by a miracle. The subject was one, the languages many. So--1. In the gospel we have proof that by the foolishness of preaching God confounds the wisdom of the world. 2. Note the wonderful adaptation of the gospel to the entire world. It appeals to all natures and dispositions, and equally meets the wants of all. IV. A multitude variously affected. All were amazed. Some inquired, some mocked. Some said (probably the devout men mentioned in Acts 2:5), “ What meaneth this?” This language betokened a desire to learn. Others (Acts 2:13) said, “ They are full of new wine” ; regarding the religion of Jesus Christ as fanaticism. How does the gospel affect us? (F. Wagstaff.)A miracle the object of derision Of all the expressions of our distaste, a scoff is the worst. Admonition may be physic, a reproof balm, a blow ointment; but derision is as poison and a sword. It was the height of Job’ s complaint that persons made jests on him; and it was the depth of Samson’ s calamity (Judges 16:25). That which raises our anger presents some magnitude to our eyes; but that which we scorn is less than nothing. But now everything is not always as it appears, especially to the eye of the scoffer; for here we see things of excellency may be submitted to jests. Note I. the object of their derision. A. miracle. In every miracle there is “ the thing done,” which must transcend the course of nature, and “ the end,” which is also supernatural. In respect of the power of God there is no miracle; but in His goodness He was pleased to work wonders, not for show, but for our instruction. And as He had borne witness to His Son by miracles, so doth He here to the Holy Ghost. This was the end of this miraculous operation. II. The persons.1. What entertainment finds the miracle? What welcome hath the Holy Ghost? No other than what befals all extraordinary events. Every man lays hold of it and shapes it in such a form as he may please. To some it is a matter of wonder; to others, of mirth. 2. We should account it a strange stupidity in any one not to be more affected at the sight of the sun than of a taper, and to esteem the great palace of heaven but as a furnace. But when God stretcheth forth His hands to produce effects which follow not the force of secondary causes, then, not to put-on wonder, not to conclude that it is for some great end, is not folly, but infidelity, the daughter of malice and envy and affected ignorance. 3. Miracles are signs; and if they signify nothing it is evident that a stubborn heart and froward mind will not understand the meaning of them. And then what are miracles but trifles, matter of scoff and derision? “ Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by miracles” (verse 22), a juggler; a voice from heaven, but “ thunder” ; to make the blind to see, etc., witchcraft; to be full of the Spirit, “ to be full of drink.” When Julian had read a Defence of Christianity, he remarked, “ I have read, understood, and condemned it.” To which St. Basil replied, “ Had you understood it, you would never have condemned it.” The same befalls men prepossessed and too far engaged in the world, and the father’ s reply will reach home to them. 4. To this day our behaviour is little better than mocking. Our lust, which waits for the twilight, mocks at God’ s Omniscience (Psalms 73:11); our distrust argues against His power (Psalms 78:20; 2 Kings 8:2); our impatience questions His truth; and those who acknowledge Him to be the Giver of life, have confined His goodness to a few. His mercy “ triumpheth over” His justice; yet Novatian made every fall as low as hell: and what is despair but a mocking of God’ s mercy? 5. The ground of all is infidelity, the proper issue of obstinate and wilful ignorance. Plato well observeth, that none can taste and judge of that sweetness which truth affords but the philosopher, because they want that instrument of judgment which he useth; and that cannot be applied by covetousness, ambition, and lust; “ the philosopher’ s instrument is reason.” So in Divine mysteries and miracles, we cannot reach the meaning of them without a humble, pure, and free spirit, the best instrument of a Christian. 6. Indeed, reason might have taught these men that this was a miracle. For rude and illiterate men to speak on a sudden all languages, was more than all the linguists in the world could teach. And from no other principle arose the question of verse 12. But, to “ read the riddle, we must plough with another heifer” than reason (Judges 14:18). To dive into the sense of the miracle can proceed from no other Spirit than that whose miracle it was, even Him wire enlightens them that sit in darkness, and who makes the humble and docile soul both His school and His scholar. Reason is a light, but obnoxious to fogs and mists, till this great light dispel and scatter them. Julian was a man as well furnished as any; yet he wounded religion more with his scoffs than with his sword. When he had received his death’ s wound, he confessed it came from the power of Christ, in a phrase of scorn, “ The day is Thine, O Galilean!” Indeed the greatest scoffers have been for the most part eminent in natural abilities, whose reason, notwithstanding, could not show them their own fluctuations, the storms and tempest of their souls, she being eclipsed with her own beams. III. The scoff itself.1. It was not only a scoff, but an accusation, and there be divers reasons which make men accusers, ambition, hatred, hope of reward. Ecumenius tells us it was here that perverseness which indifferently passeth censure upon any cause, or “ no cause at all.” And this is bred by opinion, and not by truth. If they understood not what the apostles spake, how could they say they were drunk? and if they did understand, why did they scoff? They were men settled in the very dregs of error and malice; and, having taken up an opinion, they would not let it go, no not at the sight of a miracle. 2. But yet though there were no reason nor probability to justify their scoff, some show there was to countenance it. The apostles, after this gift of tongues, talked much: they were full indeed with the wine of the New Testament; and, as drunken men, they were merry and cheerful; they publish secrets, they fear no face, regard no power, regard not themselves. 3. This hath always been, and to this day is, the great error of the world--to make shadows substances, similitudes indentities, the faintest representations truth (1 Samuel 1:13-14; 2 Samuel 6:20; Mark 3:21). Upon this ground faith is called “ presumption” because it is like it; Christianity is called “ madness” ; for when we mortify the flesh, and estrange ourselves from the world, most that behold us think us not well in our wits. At this day true devotion goes for fancy, reverence for superstition, bowing for idolatry. Our Saviour’ s counsel is, “ Judge not according to the appearance” (John 7:24). For how easy is it to paint and present things as we please! Many times an evil eye makes an evil face, puts horror upon religion itself, and, where devotion shines out in the full beauty of holiness, draws a Pope or a devil. As “‘ charity covers a multitude of sins” (James 5:20), so doth malice cover a multitude of virtues with the black mantle of vice. (A. Farindon, D. D.)What meaneth this? (text and verse 37).-- Two great questions These questions are the outcome of two widely different but intimately associated states of experience--the one intellectual, the other moral. The first is an inquiry of the mind in the face of a problem which unassisted it cannot solve; the second is an inquisition of the soul in the presence of a danger from which unaided it cannot flee. An extraordinary event had taken place at which the perplexed beholders exclaimed “ What meaneth this?” When the reply came it was found to involve such tremendous issues that they cried in despair “ What shall we do?” I. What meaneth this? The inquiry was--1. Natural. The mind instinctively rebels against the unexplained. It was made for and is fed by knowledge. Just as the animal instincts are urged by thirst and hunger to search for food and drink, so the intellect is stimulated by a sense of void to inquire for the knowledge that will fill and satisfy it. These men were confronted by a mysterious fact, and were “ troubled in mind” until it was accounted for. 2. Right. The liberty to inquire is one of the inalienable, inborn, and crown rights of humanity. That it may exercise this function, God has endowed it with the requisite faculties. The hunger of the mind for knowledge is a stamp of its Divine original, and a prophecy of its immortality. Inquiry makes all the difference between savagedom and civilisation, between weakness and strength. The feeble and superstitious shun it, and perish in darkness; the strong and wise welcome it and are rewarded by the light. We must carefully distinguish, however-- (1) between aimless inquiry, i.e., curiosity, and the search for true wisdom, and (2) between legitimate and illegitimate inquiry. “ The secret things belong unto God.” The present inquiry was in many respects legitimate and commendable. 3. Was addressed to the wrong persons with unsatisfactory results. Twice, we are told, they questioned one to another. They were prevented by a too hasty generalisation and by prejudice from asking those on whom these wonders were wrought what they meant. (1) It was enough for “ strangers” to know that they were “ Galileans,” a name which embodied all that was ignorant and vile. (2) The “ dwellers at Jerusalem” would recognise them as the fanatical followers of one who was set down as “ a man gluttonous and winebibber.” These manifestations, therefore, were treated as the ravings of men excited with enthusiasm or with drink. But Galileans as they were, drunk or mad as they considered, there was the phenomenon. They could not account for it, but they felt it must be accounted for. And instead of asking those from whom only a reply could be obtained, they engaged in a fruitless inquiry among themselves. How like modern scepticism! 4. Suggests an important line of argument in favour of Christianity. There are certain facts equally inexplicable to the human mind to-day. We do not see cloven tongues, etc., but we are witnesses of events even more wonderful. (1) The conversion of infidels. Lord Lyttleton, Gilbert West, and some within personal knowledge. (2) The conversion of men immoral and profane. Bunyan and John Newton, etc. (3) The conversion of men of merely moral habits. John Wesley and William Wilberforce. Each case forces the question upon us. They are not isolated but common occurrences. How are they to be accounted for? On the score of weakness, wrought upon by terror or excitement, or on the score of ignorance? The known character of these men forbid these explanations. These wonders should set us inquiring, and the inquiry is as natural and proper in the one case as in the other, and furthermore by inquiring matters will be disclosed that seriously concern us all. II. What shall we do? Although not invited Peter undertook to reply to the first question. The general explanation was verses 14-21; the particular application verses 22-36. So with the modern facts adduced. Does this explanation satisfy? Is this explanation taken home? Then both will now as of old lead to the second question. This inquiry--1. Expressed a sense of utter helplessness. “ What shall we do?” These men were convinced of the crime and mistake of a whole life, and of the human impossibility of rectification. 2. Was to the point, “ What shall we do?” Not like the other question theoretical, but practical. They felt that they were in an unsatisfactory state, and that something must be done. What? 3. Was, like the first inquiry, answered. (1) Repent. Change your mind, forsake your sins. (2) Be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; implying faith, union with the Church and public profession. Conclusion: Both inquiries were at length crowned with blessed results. Three thousand received forgiveness for the past, comfort for the present, hope for the future (verses 38-47). (J. W. Burn.) Acts 2:14-40 But Peter standing up with the eleven. The scene Never was such an audience assembled as that before which this poor fisherman appeared: men of different nations, rapidly and earnestly speaking in their different tongues; one in Hebrew, mocking and saying, “ These men are full of new wine” ; another inquiring in Latin; another disputing in Greek; another wondering in Arabic; and an endless Babel beside expressing every variety of surprise, doubt, and curiosity. Amid such a scene the fisherman stands up; his voice strikes across the hum which prevails all down the street. He has no tongue of silver; for they say, “ He is an unlearned and ignorant man.” The rudeness of his Galilean speech still remains with him; yet, though “ unlearned and ignorant” in their sense--as to polite learning--in a higher sense he was a scribe well instructed. On whatever other points the learned of Jerusalem might have found Peter at fault, in the sacred writings he was more thoroughly furnished than they; for though Christ took His apostles from among the poor, He left us no example for those who have not well learned the Bible, to attempt to teach it. Yet Peter had no tongue of silver, or of honey, no soothing, flattering speech, to allay the prejudices and to captivate the passions of the multitude. Nor had he a tongue of thunder; no outbursts of native eloquence distinguished his discourse. Indeed, some, if they had heard that discourse from ordinary lips, would not have hesitated to pronounce it dry--some of a class, too numerous, who do not like preachers who put them to the trouble of thinking, but enjoy only those who regale their fancy, or move their feelings, without requiring any labour of thought. Peter’ s sermon is no more than quoting passages from the Word of God, and reasoning upon them; yet, as in this strain he proceeds, the tongue of fire by degrees burns its way to the feelings of the multitude. The murmur gradually subsides; the mob becomes a congregation; the voice of the fisherman sweeps from end to end of that multitude, unbroken by a single sound; and, as the words rush on, they act like a stream of fire. Now, one coating of prejudice which covered the feelings is burned, and rends away: now, another and another: now the fire touches the inmost covering of prejudice, which lay close upon the heart, and it too gives way. Now, it touches the quick, and burns the very soul of the man! Presently, you might think that in that throng there was but one mind, that of the preacher, which had multiplied itself, had possessed itself of thousands of hearts, and thousands of frames, and was pouring its own thoughts through them all. At length, shame, and tears, and sobs overspread that whole assembly. Here, a head bows; there, starts a groan; yonder, rises a deep sigh; here, tears are falling; and some stern old Jew, who will neither bow nor weep, trembles with the effort to keep himself still. At length, from the depth of the crowd, the voice of the preacher is crossed by a cry, as if one was “ mourning for his only son” ; and it is answered by a cry, as if one was in “ bitterness for his first-born.” At this cry the whole multitude is carried away, and, forgetful of everything but the overwhelming feeling of the moment, they exclaim, “ Men and brethren, what must we do?” (W. Arthur, M. A.)St. Peter’ s first sermon Here we have the report of a sermon preached within a few days of Christ’ s ascension, addressed to men many of whom knew Jesus Christ, all of whom had heard of His work, His life, and His death, and setting forth the apostolic estimate of Christ, His miracles, His teaching, His ascended condition and glory. We cannot realise, unless by an intellectual effort, the special worth of these apostolic reports contained in the Acts. Men are sometimes sceptical about them asking, How did we get them at all? how were they handed down? This is, however, an easier question to answer than some think. If we take, for instance, this Pentecostal address alone, we know that St. Luke had many opportunities of personal communication with St. Peter. But there is another solution. The ancients made a great use of shorthand, and were quite well accustomed to take down spoken discourses, transmitting them thus to future ages. I. The congregation assembled to listen to this first gospel discourse preached by a human agent was a notable and representative one. They were all Jews or Jewish proselytes, showing how extremely wide, at the epoch of the Incarnation, was the dispersion of God’ s ancient people. The Divine seed fell upon no unploughed and unroken soil. Pure and noble ideas of worship and morality had been scattered broadcast throughout the world. Some years ago the judgment of Solomon was found depicted on the ceiling of a Pompeian house, witnessing to the spread of Scriptural knowledge through Jewish artists in the time of Tiberius and of Nero A race of missionaries, too, equipped for their work, was developed through the discipline of exile. The thousands who hung upon Peter’ s lips needed nothing but instruction in the faith of Jesus Christ, together with the baptism of the Spirit, and the finest, the most enthusiastic, and the most cosmopolitan of agencies lay ready to the Church’ s hand. While, again, the organisation of synagogues, which the exigencies of the dispersion had called into existence, was just the one suited to the various purposes of charity, worship, and teaching, which the Christian Church required. II. The brave, outspoken tone of this sermon evidences the power and influence of the Holy Spirit upon St. Peter’ s mind. Chrysostom notes the courageous tone of this address as a clear evidence of the truth of the resurrection. III. Again, the tone of St. Peter’ s sermon was remarkable because of its enlarged and enlightened spirituality. It proved the Spirit’ s power in illuminating the human consciousness. St. Peter was rapidly gaining a true conception of the nature of the kingdom of God. He enunciates that conception in this sermon. He proclaims Christianity, in its catholic and universal aspect, when he quotes Joel as predicting the time when the Lord would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. IV. Let us look somewhat farther into the matter of this earliest Christian sermon, that we may learn the apostolic view of the Christian scheme. What was the conception of Christ’ s life, work, and ascended state, which St. Peter presented to the astonished multitude? We must not expect, indeed, to find in this sermon a formulated and scientific system of Christian doctrine. St. Peter was as yet far too near the great events he declared, far too close to the superhuman personality of Christ, to coordinate his ideas and arrange his views. Yet his discourse contains all the great principles of catholic Christianity as opposed to that low view which would represent the earliest Christians as preaching the purely humanitarian scheme of modern unitarianism. St. Peter taught boldly the miraculous element of Christ’ s life, describing Him as “ a man approved of God by mighty works,” etc. Yet he did not dwell as much as we might have expected upon the miraculous side of Christ’ s ministry. And that for a very simple reason. The inhabitants of the East were so accustomed to the practices of magic that they simply classed the Christian missionaries with magicians. The apostles had, however, a more powerful argument in reserve. They preached a spiritual religion, a present peace with God, a present forgiveness of sins; they pointed forward to a future life of which even here below believers possess the earnest and pledge. V. Again, the sermon shows the method of interpreting the psalms and prophets popular among the pious Jews of St. Peter’ s time. St. Peter’ s method of interpretation is identical with that of our Lord, of St. Paul, and of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. He beholds in the Psalms hints and types of the profoundest doctrines of the Creed. He finds in the sixteenth Psalm a prophecy of the intermediate state of souls and of the resurrection of our Lord. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)St. Peter to the multitude 1. We are struck first with the calmness and concentrated force of this address. How difficult the task which St. Peter undertook! He had to speak on the spur of the moment, and to a crowd excited as only an Eastern crowd can be. It is not easy for the most practised orator to catch the ear, and hold the attention of a confused and hostile crowd. Shakespeare means us to recognise consummate skill in Mark Antony’ s handling of the Roman citizens at Caesar’ s funeral; but he used flattering words, and he spoke in order to rouse the people against the assassins of Caesar, not against themselves. St. Peter had to address the crowd on a theme which could not be welcome, and to stir them to self-condemnation. Yet we see no trace of hesitation or embarrassment. The speech was as well conceived and compacted as if it had been premeditated for weeks. It soothed the tumult of unfriendly excitement, and stirred a tumult of convicted conscience. 2. An opening for the address was made by the rude jeering of some as to the source of that ardour which glowed in the faces and uttered itself in the words of the brethren. This charge was easily disposed of. It was a fair specimen of the capacity of carnal men to judge spiritual. (1) But St. Peter brushed it away with a sentence. It was enough that it was but the third hour of the day. What Jew would have drunk wine at all on such a morning, and before the morning sacrifice i And even if one or two could be so lost to shame, how absurd to accuse one hundred and twenty! Even the heathen reckoned it disreputable to drink strong wines in the morning. Cicero tells us indeed that the revelry at Antony’ s villa began at nine o’ clock; but this was regarded as the foolish excess of debauchees. (2) But the complete refutation of it was the whole tone and tenor of the address, which was calm and well considered to a marvel. It showed that he and his companions were certainly “ not filled with wine, wherein is excess.” They were “ filled with the Spirit.” The apostle gave this as the true explanation, and proceeded at once to illustrate and support it by a felicitous quotation from one of the ancient prophets. He knew that in order to convince it was necessary to proceed on the common ground of Scripture. No one in that multitude, however prejudiced or impatient, could object to the citation from Joel. What St. Peter taught was the beginning of a fulfilment of Joel’ s prophecy. It was the sign of a new era; the inauguration of a time, the length of which no man could define, but ending with a “ great and terrible day of the Lord.” Such was the exordium of St. Peter’ s speech. We can see the mockers silenced, some of them, let us hope, ashamed. The crowd ceased to sway and shout, listening to the calm, clear, strong statement which carried with it such a ring of certainty. 3. Then the speaker, pursuing his advantage, addressed himself to the main theme. The Spirit had come upon them, that they might preach Christ with power. The apostles never dragged in their great theme abruptly or awkwardly. Here St. Peter found a starting-point for preaching Jesus in the concluding words of the passage he had cited from Joel, “ Whosoever should call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Who was the Lord, whose “ great and notable day” should terminate the dispensation of the Spirit? St. Peter and his colleagues were prepared to say and prove that it was Jesus. And then for the first time the sin of the crucifixion was charged on the conscience of the Jews, the fulness of the gospel made known. Not a few of those present had joined in the cry, “ Crucify Him!” That had not been, however, spontaneous; but had been stirred up by the rulers. And now that hot blood had cooled there must have been sore misgivings, which the apostle soon deepened. He reminded his hearers of “ the mighty works and wonders and signs” by which God had accredited His prophet. He appealed to their own knowledge of those things; and their silence intimated that they could not dispute the fact. 4. Having gained the point, St. Peter proceeded to show who the prophet Jesus was-- (1) By reference to His crucifixion. Was this fatal to a claim of Messiahship? Peter would once have said so; but now he stood there prepared to show that it formed an essential part of the proof that He was indeed the Christ. It was God’ s purpose, and was predicted in the ancient oracles. Jewish teachers had turned away from a suffering to an exclusively glorious Messiah. But none the less was He so predicted, and none the less was the fulfilment secured by God’ s “ determinate counsel.” Therefore was Jesus delivered into the hands of those who hated Him, who crucified Him by the hand of “ men without the law” --the Roman soldiers. But it was really on the Jews and their children that the blood of the Just One lay--“ Ye did crucify and slay.” (2) Then, in a breath, the speaker announced a fact which gave a new turn to the whole history in the resurrection of the Crucified One. “ Whom God raised up,” etc. This, indeed, had been announced immediately after; but a counter story had been set afloat that the body had been stolen. These conflicting rumours had left the whole matter in a haze of doubt. But, before adducing witnesses, St. Peter referred again to the Old Testament. With a fine skill which the Holy Ghost had taught him, he prepared the Jews for receiving evidence, by showing that it was far from incredible, since it had been clearly foretold in one of the prophetic Psalms. Of course this did not prove that Jesus was that Christ. But, if it could be proved that Jesus had risen, His fulfilment of this oracle would go far to place it beyond doubt that He was the Messiah. And then the proof was adduced. Pointing to the Christian company, St. Peter said boldly, “ This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.” How could any fact of the kind have better attestation? (3) The argument had to be carried one step further; and the speaker, not knowing how long the crowd might continue to listen, proceeded at once to say that the risen Jesus was exalted by the right hand of God. On this point, too, St. Peter found support in the Old Testament--“ Jehovah said to Adonai” (Psalms 110:1-7.). Every one knew who was meant by Jehovah: but who was Adonai? David could not have meant himself, for he was not his own Lord; far less could he have given such a title to any of the kings of the earth. The Spirit had inspired him to sing thus of the Lord Christ, and the proof of His ascension was before the eyes of the multitude. On the followers of Jesus, and on them only, had descended the new energy from heaven. 5. Thus the proof was completed at every point. There was no declamation but compact statement and close reasoning, leading up to the conclusion that God had made the crucified Jesus both Lord and Christ. And now the Christians beheld the crowd no longer mocking, but subdued, ashamed, conscience-stricken. Pricked in their hearts, many cried out, “ What shall we do?” A welcome interruption! It showed St. Peter that he had struck the right chord, and that the Holy Spirit was speaking through him to the people. It enabled him to follow up his address with a very pointed application, and a very earnest appeal. They could not undo their own act, but God had done that already. This, however, they might and should do without delay: (1) “ Repent.” --It was not enough to be pricked in heart. Repentance is more than vexation with one’ s self, or even poignant sorrow. The apostle bade them reconsider the whole matter, and so change their minds regarding the Nazarene, and consequently their attitude. (2) “ And be baptised every one of you unto the remission of sins.” --This implied that they should believe, and confess their faith-for faith is always allied with repentance unto life, and is the instrument of forgiveness. Those who sincerely repented of their rejection of Jesus, must now believe in Him as the Christ; and in token thereof were called to join the company of His followers by openly receiving that baptism, which Christ had authorised them to administer. The consequence of this would be, that they would obtain not only pardon, but the Holy Ghost; for the promise was to their nation first, though also, God be praised, to the Gentiles--“ as many as the Lord our God shall call.” 6. Such was the speech of St. Peter; and the result was glorious. The fisher of men let down a good net into the deep, and caught a great draught--drew to the shore of faith and peace three thousand souls. He wrought no miracle to astonish and impress them. It was better that no sign or prodigy performed by the apostles should interfere with the direct and solemn application of truth to the conscience. He performed no ceremony. The notion of a Christianity that trusts to ceremonial and celebration was quite foreign to the apostolic conception. The speaker prevailed by the word of his testimony. The three thousand felt the power of the truth and yielded to it--the Spirit of the Lord disposing and enabling them so to do. Thus they repented, believed, were baptized, were pardoned, were quickened to newness of life. 7. In one day! It was the typical and significant day of our dispensation, a day which should be expected to repeat itself. True, there cannot be a second descent of the Holy Spirit, any more than there can be a second incarnation of the Son. But the Church should ask and look for a continuance of the mighty working of the Holy Ghost, and so for conversions by thousands. The Church wants no other means of increase than those by which it was founded-- (1) the fire of the Holy Ghost, and(2) the testimony of anointed witnesses in sound speech that cannot be gainsaid, testifying to Jesus, the Saviour, that He is the Christ of Israel, and the Lord of all. (D. Fraser, D. D.)The first apostolic appeal to the multitude The wondering, the questioning, and the mockery compelled the apostles to explain. So have young Christians often been constrained by what they saw or knew to attempt work for which they had little inclination. In making this appeal the apostles-- I. Had a leader. All had been speaking with tongues, and when that sign had answered its first purpose it was necessary for one to appeal to the intelligence of all. Peter now “ stood up.”1. A man of confidence and quick decision. What a change since his denial. 2. A man who could command attention. For this end he “ lifted up his voice.” Having to plead for Christ and truth, he gladly used his best powers. 3. A man of knowledge; “ be it known unto you.” Some were guessing and misinterpreting, and honesty demanded a hearing for one who said he had certain knowledge. 4. A man of words. “ Hearken to my words.” He proceeded to prove what he had boldly affirmed. In this he is an example. He gave the sense of Scripture, and did his work with sobriety and earnestness, and without reflections on the spirit of the crowd. II. Had to rebut error. There were misconceptions which had to be removed, and in doing this Peter did not mock the mockers, or show irritation. He calmly and kindly rooted out error that truth might take its place. Note that--1. Peter denied the false charge of drunkenness, but not as a malicious calumny, but as the actual opinion of intelligent men. “ As ye suppose.” In this way we may introduce an argument against the false doctrines of the day. But denial was not enough, so-- 2. He gave a clear reason--the hour was too early and too sacred for intoxication. Religious controversy ought to be based on undeniable facts. Yet this was not enough, so Peter-- 3. Interpreted the facts which the mockers had misinterpreted. It was the fulfilment of Joel’ s prophecy. Would that all preachers would meet the demand for facts by the positive truth of the Word of God. III. Realised that there is given to believers what men’ s natural suppositions misrepresent. It was natural for men to think that they could explain the strange signs; but the error was brought home in due time. How many to-day are like this multitude. They observe the profession and zeal of Christians, and hear about their experiences, but put it all down to superstition, weakness, or delusion. (W. Hudson.)Preaching on the day of Pentecost The restoration of Peter was fully recognised by his brethren. They felt bound to imitate Christ’ s conduct. He knew what underlay the weakness of His servant, and having received him to favour, sent him forth with fresh power to feed the lambs, etc. Whom God receives, let no man refuse. A tempted Christian may fall, but if he repent, his fellow Christians should receive him back. Let us contemplate-- I. The circumstances in which Peter preached.1. He preached upon the day of Pentecost. All the memories of God’ s goodness in seedtime, summer, and autumn, were then occupying the minds of the Hebrews. And Peter rose to appropriately publish God’ s glorious gospel of mercy. 2. His audience was peculiarly stimulating. Like Simeon they waited for the consolation of Israel. They had come from distant parts, and presented, in their diversified wants, a type of the world’ s necessities. Following the law they found the gospel. The law was a schoolmaster that brought them to Christ. An appreciative assembly has a stimulating effect upon any orator; and this audience, composed of devout inquirers, anxious to learn the whole truth about Christ, was sufficient to give the eloquence of true earnestness of Peter’ s preaching. 3. His position was that of spokesman for and defender of his brethren. 4. He preached under the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost and with a tongue of fire. II. The sermon that Peter delivered. We cannot say it was a great sermon, in the modern sense. There is no profound and far-reaching grasp of Divine truth; no display of mental and spiritual genius; no soaring flight of imagination; none of those marvellous revelations which are given in Isaiah and Ezekiel; none of those mighty sentences, lightning-like in their flash, thunder-like in their sound, that rolled from the mouth of Cicero or Demosthenes; and certainly none of that loud-coloured grandiloquence, which is so much admired by a sensation-loving world. The preaching of Peter, or Paul, or Christ, is usually destitute of these artistic qualities, and yet conspicuously fitted to serve its heavenly purpose. The characteristics of Peter’ s sermon are very distinct.1. It was Scriptural. His subject was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He brings a text from Joel (Acts 2:28-32), to show that the Spirit was promised, and should have been expected in some such way as that in which He had actually come. The use which Peter makes of his proof-text is simple, yet skilful; displays good powers of reasoning, and above all, reveals a clear knowledge of the Scriptures; and the finishing stroke brings out, most happily, the grand design of God in His wonderful promise, and its more wonderful fulfilment--“ That whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 2. Most faithful. The trumpet at his mouth gave no uncertain sound. He spake no smooth things, and minced no truth to suit fastidious tastes. Speaking, though he was, against the great men of his nation, and among an excited populace, who had a few weeks ago destroyed his Master, the earnest preacher was unconscious of timidity, and he did not hesitate to tell them plainly, that they had taken with wicked hands and crucified and slain the Lord’ s anointed. Harsh words, no doubt; but words like the hammer that breaks the rocky heart. And the man who would preach the Word of God with true faithfulness to his fellow-sinners must be prepared at any risk to expose and condemn every sort of wickedness. 3. Evangelical. It contained very prominently the three R’ s which Rowland Hill has made proverbial in our country (1) Ruin by the fall. The apostle gave prominence to the ruinous effects of sin. Jerusalem sinners had committed an awful crime in killing the Son of God. (2) Redemption through the death of Jesus. (3) Regeneration through the power of the Holy Spirit. “ Repent, and be baptized,” etc. III. The success of Peter’ s sermon. We find it very difficult to realise the impression produced. There is nothing like it in modern times. People assemble in great crowds to hear the best of preachers, and go away in a state of stolid indifference. From week to week the whole preaching of the Christian sabbath, in every village and town, passes over without the smallest degree of spiritual excitement. We surely need more of that earnest, heaven-reaching prayer, that will bring the Spirit of God, like a rushing mighty wind, to fill our house and every heart with spiritual animation. This was the prime result of Pentecostal preaching. Thousands of sleeping souls were awakened. We have heard of men sailing towards the rapids of Niagara, all unconscious of danger, until they felt their boat quiver in the struggling water, and stars away with alarming speed. In a moment they were filled with anxiety, and began to pull and cry with all their might for safety. So with Jerusalem sinners under the sermon of Pentecost. The whole crowd was shaking like fields of corn in the autumn wind, or tossing like troubled waves upon the stormy ocean. And with one loud cry that went ringing through the holy city, and up to the Holy God, they said, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Blessed question from a sinner’ s heart! And the question must have gone with a grateful thrill to the preacher’ s heart, as it surely went like a shout of triumph to the heart of Jesus on the throne. We have read somewhere of a Russian prince, coming in the course of hunting to a river’ s side, where a few peasants had brought to the bank a person apparently drowned. The prince had previously been reading some directions which had been issued by a humane society, about the mode of restoring animation to people who have been rescued from under water. He leaped from his horse, stripped off his flowing robes, gave instructions to the peasants how to assist, and commenced the work of rubbing the cold limbs of the unfortunate man with all his might. The work was continued by the prince for a whole hour, without any appearance of success. At length the lifeless-looking bosom began to heave and give signs of animation. On seeing which, the prince looked up, with beaming countenance, and exclaimed: “ This is the happiest moment of my life.” He had saved a man from death. Not less would it be a happy moment for the heart of Elisha, when he felt the flesh of the Shunamite’ s child waxing warm, and saw him open his eyes in life and happiness. But we can believe it was even a happier moment for the apostle of Christ on the day of Pentecost, when the people cried, “ What shall we do?” and so gave signs of being raised from spiritual death to Christian vitality. No time was lost in telling the inquirers their path of duty. “ Look to Jesus and be saved.” (J. Thompson, A. M.)A varied ministry blessed by the Holy Spirit Mark the course of a river like the Thames; how it winds and twists according to its own sweet will. Yet there is a reason for every bend and curve: the geologist, studying the soil and marking the conformation of the rock, sees a reason why the river’ s bed diverges to the right or to the left; and so, though the Spirit of God blesses one preacher more than another, and the reason cannot be such that any man could congratulate himself upon his own goodness, yet there are certain things about Christian ministers which God blesses, and certain other things which hinder success. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The first sermon 1. The gospel is not a system of doctrines, a code of laws, still less a fabric of fancies or theories: it is a record of facts. It is this characteristic which makes it-- (1) So satisfactory; we can plant the foot firmly upon it, for it is founded upon a rock. (2) So universal: not the religion of a few philosophers, capable of arguing out deep truths or of rising to lofty mysteries, but the religion of a world, as suitable to the simple as to the learned. 2. And as the gospel rests upon fact, so also it prompts to action. No sooner is the persecutor of the Church struck to the earth by the bright light of the Divine presence than we hear him asking, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” And no sooner does the jailer at Philippi recognise in his prisoners the servants of the Most High God, than he asks the practical question, “ Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And no sooner does the astonished multitude hear from Peter’ s lips the explanation of the marvellous sign which has gathered them to listen, than they exclaim, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” What they heard was a narrative of facts: what they understood by it was a summons to action. God grant to us also a spirit of faith in gospel fact, a spirit of readiness for gospel action! 3. St. Peter sets us the example of repeating a text for his sermon. The Bible then was the Old Testament. Out of it Christian teachers were able to plead for God and to prove the gospel. In our thankfulness for the New Testament we must never learn to despise the Old. St. Peter’ s text was taken from Joel. That Book was probably composed 850 years before Christ. The prophets of the Old Testament were not instructed to reveal the long interval which should elapse between the two advents. The delay of the second coming was not even a revelation of the gospel. Each age was to expect it. The taunt, “ Where is the promise of His coming?” was to have scope to operate, because no generation was to be made aware that the advent might not take place within its duration. And thus it is that Joel here speaks of the outpouring of the Spirit as a sign of the last days. The gospel age, however long it has continued or may continue, is the dispensation of the last times: after it comes none other, and itself is to be viewed as one whole, from the redemption which contained in itself not the promise only but the germ of all, until the coming of the very kingdom of heaven in power and great glory. “ In the last days, saith God,” etc. 4. After this quotation the discourse addresses itself pointedly to the audience. “ Ye men of Israel, hear these words. A Man, as you deemed Him, and as He was, has within these few weeks been put to death by you; the blood of that Man is at this moment upon your hands!” But was, then, that murder effectual? No; “ God raised Him up because it was not possible that He should be holden of death.” Not possible, by reason of His Divine nature. Not possible, because the voice of inspired prophecy had declared the contrary (Psalms 16:1-11.). Could words like these have found their full accomplishment in their human author? The words which David thus spake, he spake as God’ s prophet. For himself the words could only express that assurance of a life beyond death, the hope of the saints. But in relation to Christ the words have a fuller meaning. His soul was recalled from its brief sojourn in Hades, before it bad taken up its abode there as a recognised inmate. Of this revival from death we His apostles are the witnesses. Now, therefore, the events of this day become intelligible and natural. The risen Saviour hath fulfilled His promise. He promised to send--He hath sent--His Holy Spirit upon His disciples. And hereunto agree those other words of the Psalmist, “ The Lord said unto my Lord,” etc. That prophecy, like the former, points, not to David, but to David’ s Son; even to Him who is as truly the Lord of David in right of His Godhead, as He is the Son of David by reason of His manhood. “ Therefore let every family of Israel know,” etc. 5. Such was the discourse, to which blessing was vouchsafed such as has been granted to no other. God works where and as and by whom He will; choosing oftentimes the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. We may read St. Peter’ s words unmoved. But not so did they to whom he addressed himself. Compunction was the first fruit of his preaching. Conscience now awoke. The sign before them was a sign of power: how could this be, save by the hand of God? But beyond this, it was a sign foretold by Jesus. All things had come to pass, even as He had said to them. Yes, all is now clear and consistent, though the inference is one of shame and condemnation for themselves. “ When they heard, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter,” etc. We will not answer the question now, rather let it press upon us as a question of deep moment for ourselves. Hearing of Christ caused-- I. Compunction. What they heard was extremely simple. It was nothing more than what we have all heard ten thousand times. The words of Zechariah were fulfilled, “ They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn.” They had pierced Him, and now the arrow of conviction pierced them.1. I know not that any words of man could bring to our minds the same conviction of sin without the grace of God by His Holy Spirit. And yet we do read of such a crime as that of “ crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to an open shame.” The Epistle to the Hebrews even says of such persons that “ it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance.” God grant, therefore, that, in its worst form, that of actual apostasy, none of us may yet have committed it! But there are approaches to that crime. There are those who make very light of the purposes for which Christ died, who contradict and go against the very object of that death; that He might put away sin; that He might redeem us from all iniquity. Is there no one here who ever helped to undo Christ’ s dying work in another person’ s soul? who ever tempted another person to commit sin; either by ridiculing his scruples, or by making the way to sin known to him, or by suggesting to his mind sinful images, or raising in his mind sinful desires? That man, whoever he is, has done worse things than even the Jews who gave Jesus to be crucified. Nothing, however cruel, done to the body, can be so heinous as the least injury done to the soul. Alas! there are those now amongst us who have more cause to be “ pricked in their heart” than ever had those men on the day of Pentecost. 2. And if not in this gravest sense, yet which of you has not cause to be sorrowful when he thinks of his Lord and his God? What is a day to you but one succession of slights done to your Saviour? How did it begin? Was not your morning prayer a poor, cold, reluctant service? And so the day went full of anything and everything rather than the thought and the love of Christ; full of the world, of vanity, of self. Then have not you, have not we all, cause to feel compunction, and to cry, “ God be merciful to me a sinner” ? II. This compunction may well work in us anxiety; the conviction of sin the desire for direction. “ What shall we do?” It is the want of this desire which make our meetings for worship too often cold and lifeless. What would preaching be, if it were in deed and in truth addressed to a number of human hearts, every one of which was inwardly asking, “ What must I do? Preaching is a finger-post marking the traveller’ s way, and saying to wayfaring men, “ This is the way; walk ye in it!” Let us come together, Sunday by Sunday, in this spirit; crying, “ What shall I do?” and doubt not but your cry will be heard: if man should fail you, God Himself will be your preacher; your inward ear shall hear the voice of His Spirit, warning, counselling, comforting, according to your need. (Dean Vaughan.)A new style of religious ministry Peter’ s sermon is something strikingly fresh in the history of preaching. Moses, Joshua, the prophets, the Baptist, Christ had preached, but this preaching was in many respects a new thing in the earth.1. The occasion was new--the spiritual excitement of the disciples, produced by Divine influence and leading to strange thoughts. 2. The substance was new. It was not a prophetic or a present, but an historic Christ who had risen from the grave to the throne of the universe. No one had ever preached Christ in this form before. 3. The impression of the sermon was new. In analysing the discourse we find-- I. A statement for refuting the charge of the scoffer.1. The negative part includes three distinguishable points. (1) A categorical denial: “ These men are not drunken.” It is a libel. (2) An intimation of the groundless-ness of the charge: “ As ye suppose.” It was a mere empty assumption. (3) A suggestion of high improbability: “ Seeing it is but the third hour.” 2. The positive part asserts that the phenomenon was the effect of Divine inspiration: “ It shall come to pass,” etc. The days of the Messiah are “ the last days” ; no other dispensation of mercy will succeed them. The passage teaches that these last days-- (1) Would be connected with an extraordinary effusion of the Spirit, not limited-- (a) To any class. (b) To any sex. (c) To any age. (2) Would be connected with prodigious revolutions. The words “ I will show wonders,” etc., may probably be regarded as a highly poetic representation of what would follow, in government and churches, the working out of Divine ideas and spiritual influences (Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 34:4). (3) Would be succeeded by a notable day--probably the destruction of Jerusalem as a type of the Judgment. (4) Would be connected with a possibility of salvation to all who seek it. II. An argument for convicting the hearts of the hardened--an argument resolving itself into four facts.1. That Jesus had wrought miracles among them while living. 2. That His crucifixion was only the working out of the Divine plan. So great is God that He can make His greatest enemies serve Him. 3. That His resurrection, which they could not deny, was a fact which accorded with their Scriptures. In this quotation from the Psalms Peter-- (1) Assumes that the document which he quotes will be admitted by them as of Divine authority. (2) Takes for granted that the document refers to the resurrection of some one of distinguished excellence. (3) Reasons that the resurrection of the distinguished one predicted could not be David. (4) Concludes that the resurrection predicted must have referred to Christ. III. An exhortation to the awakened. Peter directs them--1. To the only blessings that could meet their case: Divine pardon and Divine influence. 2. To the course of conduct essential to the attainment of those blessings. 3. To the precious promise of heaven to encourage them in the course of conduct required. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Elements of power in Peter’ s sermon I. Adaptation to circumstances. There was a startling event; the sermon applied its lessons. It was spontaneous: Peter had no time to prepare a history or even notes. II. A scriptural basis. The main points were proved by the Bible. Nature and experience are important, but do not carry conviction like the living Word. III. Unsparing rebuke of sin. Their guilt was so pressed home that they were “ pricked in their hearts.” IV. Christ at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. V. The presence of the Holy Ghost. (Homiletic Monthly.)Peter’ s impulsiveness useful because wisely directed Turn water into a proper receptacle, and its power is well-nigh overwhelming. Turn fire into its proper channel, and it proves an unparalleled power. And these elements thus controlled and brought into their legitimate course, will prove a blessing to man, but left uncurbed, though still a power, it is destructive in its character. Even so it is with impulsiveness, if sanctified by God’ s grace, and thus turned within the divinely appointed channel of redemption, it will prove a great blessing to an individual and those with whom he associates; but left uncurbed, it becomes a destructive power to happiness, peace, usefulness, and real success. (W. H. Blake.)The power of the human voice The true preacher has nothing to fear from any rival, for the human voice has no adequate substitute. Even a gospel written is not equal to a gospel spoken. The heart will not disdain any instrument of expression, but the instrument which it loves with all its love is the human voice--all instruments in one, and all inspired. (J. Parker.)A sermon to prick the conscience If a man is able to produce beautiful roses and delight his congregation with them Sunday after Sunday, by all means let him produce them: only let him take care to make his roses as God makes His--never a rose without a thorn, to prick the conscience of the hearer, and to spur him onward in his Divine life. Let the sermon please if possible; but, like Peter’ s sermon on the day of Pentecost, it ought to prick the consciences of men. (J. C. Jones.)Plain preaching In some churches the creed and commandments are painted so grand, in such fantastic characters, and with such perplexing convolutions, that a plain man cannot possibly make them out; and the truth is sometimes treated in the pulpit by the preacher as the painter has painted it--the language is so grand, and the rhetoric so gorgeous, that the people fail to realise the truth it may be supposed to embody. Different styles of preaching We are often told with great earnestness what is the best style for preaching; but the fact is, that what would be the very best style for one man would perhaps be the worst possible for another. In the most fervid declamation, the deepest principles may be stated and pressed home; in the calmest and most logical reasoning, powerful motives may be forced close upon the feelings; in discussing some general principle, precious portions of the text of Scripture may be elucidated; and in simple exposition, general principles may be effectively set forth. Let but the powers given to any man play with their full force, aided by all the stores of Divine knowledge which continuous acquisition from its fountain and its purest channels can obtain for him, and, the fire being present--the fire of the Spirit’ s power and influence--spiritual effects will result. The discussion about style amounts very much to a discussion whether the rifle, the carbine, the pistol, or the cannon, is the best weapon. Each is best in its place. The great point is, that every one shall use the weapon best suited to him, that he charge it well, and see that it is in a condition to strike fire. The criticisms which we often hear amount to this: We admit that such-an-one is a good exhortational preacher, or a good doctrinal preacher, or a good practical preacher, or a good expository preacher; but because he has not the qualities of another--qualities, perhaps, the very opposite of his own--we think lightly of him. That is, we admit that the carbine is a good carbine; but because it is not a rifle, we condemn it; and because the rifle is not a cannon, we condemn it. (W. Arthur, M. A.) Acts 2:17-21 And it shall come to pass in the last days. The gospel age Four things taught here determine the gospel age. I. It is connected with an extraordinary effusion of the Divine Spirit, “ I will pour out My Spirit.” II. It is connected with prodigious revolutions, “ I will show wonders,” etc. III. It is connected with an ultimate crisis, “ The notable day of the Lord.” IV. It is connected with the possibility of a universal salvation, “ Whosoever,” etc. (Homilist.)The pouring out of God’ s Spirit In this highly interesting chapter we find an account--1. Of the Divine testimony borne to the truth of the gospel by the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. 2. Of the different effects which this event produced on the different characters who witnessed it. In the devout it excited amazement, which led them to make serious inquiry respecting what was occurring (verse 5-12). In the careless it excited contempt. But the wrath of man turned to the praise of God; for in the sequel we find an account. 3. Of Peter’ s discourse in reply to those aspersions thus east on the works of God by His wicked opposers. I. Some observations on these words. Here we may notice--1. The blessing promised: God’ s Spirit. “ I will pour out of My Spirit, saith God.” By the Spirit here promised is meant both His miraculous and saving influence. 2. The manner of its dispensation; it will be poured out. This indicates the prerogative of God; that the influences of His Spirit are at His disposal. The pouring out of God’ s Spirit also indicates the special properties of the blessing promised. For instance, that it will be gratuitous, abundant, perpetual. 3. The extent of its influence upon all flesh. By all flesh is meant the whole human race, however distinguished, by descent, by circumstances, or by sex. 4. The season of its communication--the last days. By the last days are certainly meant the days in which we now live. 5. The certainty of its effusion. It shall come to pass, saith God, in the last days, “ I will pour out of My Spirit.” This event is certain--for it is predicted, and it will be fulfilled. It is promised, and will be performed. II. Some application of them.1. The strong claims which this subject has on our attention. It claims attention by the importance of the blessing which it exhibits. 2. The duties to which this subject urges us. It particularly urges us to apply for the saving influences of God’ s Spirit, as He requires us in His Word. By repentance (Acts 2:38-39); by faith in Christ (John 7:39; Galatians 3:14); and by earnest importunate prayer (Luke 11:13). 3. The hopes with which this subject inspires us. On engaging in the duties to which our text urges us, it encourages us to hope--for the saving influence of God’ s Spirit in our own souls: for the general effusion of God’ s Spirit on the human race. (Theological Sketch Book.)The sending of the Holy Ghost The occasion of Peter’ s sermon was a lewd surmise touching the gift of tongues. As soon as God from heaven sent His fiery tongues upon His apostles, the devil from hell put his into the mouths of his apostles. Note-- I. The Spirit’ s pouring.1. The Spirit is here the author of prophecy. (1) Prophecy can come from no nature not rational; so the Spirit is natura rationalis, i.e., a person. (2) Effusion is a proceeding of that which is poured; as inspiration, in the very body of the word “ spirit.” So the Spirit is a person proceeding. (3) No person, angel or spirit, can be poured out, least of all “ upon all flesh.” God only can be that: hence the Spirit is God. (4) But Peter saith, “of My spirit.” The whole Spirit flesh could not hold, not even “ all flesh” ; and parts He hath none. The phrase, then, indicates the gifts and graces of the Spirit--beams of this light, streams of this pouring--here the gifts of prophecy and tongues. 2. The act: “ pour.” (1) The quality. That which is poured must be a liquid. But this seems improper to the occasion when we should have looked for fire. But Peter perhaps refers to their slander, “ that it was nothing but new wine,” a liquor; and certainly the metaphor was frequently used by Christ (John 7:39; Acts 1:5). Further, this quality falls well within the graces here given-- (a) Prophecy, likened by the great prophet (Deuteronomy 32:2) to the “ dew falling upon the herbs.” (b) Invocation, which is the pouring out of prayer, and of the very heart in prayer, (2) The quantity. Pouring is a sign of plenty. The Spirit had been given before but never with such a largess; sprinkled but not poured. (3) Pouring tells us that the Spirit came not of Himself, not till He was thus poured out; that so order might be kept in Him, and we by Him taught to keep it, i.e., not to start out till “ we be sent, not to leak or run over, but stay till we be poured out.” (4) Pouring is not as the running of a spout, but the voluntary act of a voluntary agent who has the vessel in his hand, and pours or not at will, and when he pours strikes not out the head of the vessel and let all go, bug moderates his pouring. So here the Spirit dispenses. (a) To divers parties, (b) divers gifts, (c) in divers degrees. 3. On whom this pouring is. (1) Flesh, i.e., men. But we are spirit as well as flesh. Yes, but to magnify His mercy the more that part is chosen which seems farthest removed (Isaiah 40:6; Romans 8:3). (2) Upon this flesh. But had not “ into” been better? The Spirit is given both ways. At Christ’ s baptism the dove came “ upon Him” ; at His resurrection, “ He breathed into” them. And so He has parted His sacraments--baptism is upon us, the Eucharist enters into us. But both come to one. If it be poured on it soaks in; if it be breathed in it works forth. But it is “ upon” here-- (a) That we may know that the graces of the Spirit are from without, and grow not from our flesh; and not only from without but “ from above, from the Father of lights.” (b) Because “ upon” is the preposition proper to initiation into any new office, as in the case of anointing, investing with a robe, imposition of hands, etc. (c) To inure the apostles to the preposition, which so many hate. No “ super,” no superiority; “ the right hands of fellowship,” if you will, but no imposition of them; if “ super” then “ sub” follows; and no “ sub” with those who submit neither head nor spirit to any. (3) Upon all flesh. None is excluded--no sex, age, condition, nation. Yet not promiscuously; the text limits the promise to such as will be “ My servants,” i.e., as will “ believe and be baptized.” This gives them the capacity, makes them vessels meet to receive the effusion, all which effectually exclude unbelievers and counterfeit Christians. II. The end whereto. The Spirit is given to many ends, but one last--the salvation of mankind. Mankind was on the point to perish, and the Spirit was poured as a precious balm to recover and save it.1. Means to that end. That men may be saved they are to call on the name of the Lord; that they may call to purpose they are to be called on to it, and directed in it by prophesying. (1) Prophecy stands first, for without that the people must needs perish (Proverbs 29:18; Isaiah 32:14-15). Not, however, in the sense of foretelling, but preaching (Romans 10:13-15), as Peter prophesied here. But is this gift poured upon all flesh? No! It is not promised that all God’ s sons and servants shall prophesy; for there must be some to be prophesied to. “ All flesh” may not be cut into tongues; some must be left for ears. Else a Cyclopean Church would grow upon us, where all were speakers and none hearers. (2) How then shall the Spirit be poured out upon all flesh? The spirit of prophecy is not all God’ s Spirit. If that be upon some, the spirit of grace and of supplication (Zechariah 12:10) is upon the rest. 2. The end itself--Salvation. (Bp. Andrewes.)The dispensation of the Holy Ghost and its distinctive character I. The commencement of the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. By the dispensation of the Holy Ghost we mean a certain period during which the operations of the Holy Ghost are vouchsafed in a peculiar manner, as contrasted with other ages. Now, that such a dispensation was to be looked for is perfectly clear from the passage before us. We are distinctly told that there shall be a particular time, called the last days, when God will pour out the Spirit upon all flesh. The Same truth is necessarily implied in the Lord’ s own promise, “ It is expedient for you that I go away,” etc. So again with the remarkable statement, “ The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Of this dispensation the Day of Pentecost was the commencement, for which there are two reasons.1. The first is seen in the covenant transaction between the Father and the Sen. The Father covenanting to give the Son a people, and all that was needful for their salvation, on condition that the Son fulfilled the law of works. The law of works was never abrogated; it pressed completely and eternally on man, or on man’ s representative. Christ was that representative, and the condition was absolute that He should fulfil the law, or salvation never could visit man’ s lost race. But salvation is dependent on the gift of the Spirit of God. The first effect of the great covenant work, therefore, must be the gift of the Spirit. Till that was accomplished, Christ had no claim upon the Father for the gift of the Spirit. Hence we read, “ The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.” 2. It relates to the work that the Holy Ghost himself had to do. “ He shall glorify Me,” said Jesus, “ for He shall take of Mine and shall show it unto you.” Now, the things of Christ are the very things He accomplished on earth, whereby He purchased that Spirit. However the Holy Ghost might in olden times have given a sort of foretaste and instalment of what was to result from the finished work of Christ it was not until that work was accomplished, either that the Father was disposed to give, or Christ entitled to claim the Spirit, or that the Holy Spirit had the materials to work with, which He now employs for the enrichment of the soul, the introduction of it into union with Jesus, and its final exaltation into everlasting glory. II. The character of the operations of the Holy Ghost.1. In regard to the operations of the Holy Ghost during this dispensation generally, we have an illustration in our text, “ I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.” Another illustration is, “ I will open rivers in dry places.” Look at the pouring out of the streams from heaven when the rain comes down, how varied in its measure and its operation! Sometimes it comes down in a gentle, soft, tiny shower. Then again, the windows of heaven seemed to be opened, and we have a deluge. Or trace the course of a river through the valley. Now it is reduced to a small, silvery thread, and then it opens out, expands, overflows its banks, and irrigates the country all round. Then it narrows itself, and you have the silvery thread again; but the stream still runs on. The difference is in the measurement, degree, and expansion. Now what has been the fact in regard to the Holy Ghost under this dispensation? Has it not been precisely that which is illustrated by a river? Look back to the very commencement of it on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Ghost came down on the twelve, and three thousand were added to the Church. There the river was broad and expansive, the shower coming down from heaven copiously. Shortly after that we have two thousand more. Then we read no more of this kind of thing--the river narrows. “ Some believed the word spoken, and some believed not” ; “ some received the Holy Ghost, and some blasphemed.” And so it went on for a considerable time, varying in degree and expanse, till the time of the Dark Ages. Then it ran like a little silvery thread; the mass of the world was overrun with darkness, and evil and superstition. Still, in some valleys and out-of-the-way places, we know that the work of the Spirit of God was progressing. The river never ceased to flow, however narrow it was. Thus it ran on for some centuries; and what followed? The great Reformation. The river then broke out into an immense expanse, overflowed the country all around, and irrigated the neighbourhood. Then again did the river condense, and then came the time of the Puritans; a mighty movement there was, and multitudes were gathered into the fold of Christ. Again did this genial shower apparently cease, or the river narrowed, and so it continued for some time. But once more did the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit break out in the days of Whitfield and Wesley, and Venn and Newton; there was a mighty outpouring of the grace of God, and multitudes were gathered into the Church. The river narrowed again, but it has gathered strength once more, and now we stand amazed at what the Lord is doing at home and abroad. 2. In regard to His particular operations as contrasted with those of former times; under this dispensation, and the legal dispensation. The dispensation of the law closed at the ascension. That lasted till Christ had fulfilled all its requirements when He said, “ It is finished,” and brought in an everlasting righteousness, and made an end of transgression. Now, this being the case, we should expect to find that the experience of holy men up to that very time was exceedingly distinct from that of holy men after that time. So Paul forcibly contrasts the Spirit of adoption with the spirit of bondage, and says, “ But we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Now, did any one under the Old Testament ever cry “ Abba, Father” ? There is no question that they knew God as God, as Jehovah, as Almighty; but they did not know God as Father. Until humanity had been consecrated by the indwelling of Deity--until the Son of God had taken to His nature humanity, and invested that humanity with power, and made it a son with Himself--no other human being could become a son. The sonship was dependent upon Christ coming into the world; and when He came and accomplished His great work the Spirit of God then came, and the Spirit of adoption with it. Hence, again, “ The Spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.” Where did they have that assurance under the Old Testament? Hence, again, “ The earnest of our inheritance” ; after we have believed, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Where was that the case under the Old Testament? Did it never strike you, in examining the experience of Old Testament saints, what terror and alarm they displayed in regard to death? There is another point, viz., that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is spoken of under this dispensation as a damning sin, because in proportion to the privileges is the responsibility and condemnation. A man sins against the Father, and blasphemes; there is the blood of Christ to blot it out: a man sins against the Son, and blasphemes; there is the work of the Holy Ghost to bring him to repentance: a man sins against the Holy ,Ghost, and he puts away the only power whereby the soul can be made penitent and brought back to Jesus. III. The close of the dispensation. At the end of the prophecy we have the close of the dispensation, “ I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.” These are the same signs that are spoken of by our Lord in Matthew 24:1-51. and Luke 22:1-71. I do not mean to say that the Holy Ghost’ s operations will not continue through all eternity; they unquestionably will. All holiness in the creature for ever and ever must depend upon the sanctifying operations of the Holy Ghost. But as soon as the body of Jesus shall be quite complete, and the bride formed in her integrity, the work of the Holy Ghost will be done. But that runs on necessarily to the very advent of Christ, for we cannot exclude the glorification of the bodies of His people. Christ is glorified in His body, and every one of His mystical body must be like Him; but He changes them by the power of the Holy Ghost (Romans 8:1-39.). When that shall be done, that will be the end of the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. The Church will then be the monument of the eternal love of the Father, of the all-sufficient, perfect work of Jesus, and of the life-giving, sanctifying, and God-glorifying operations of the Holy Spirit. (Capel Molyneux, B. A.)Features of the new dispensation I. The period of the new dispensation. “ In the last days,” an expression which covers an indefinite length of time. It also marks a “ new departure” in the world’ s affairs. Up to this all had been preparatory, and the privileges of God’ s people only partially apprehended. It is to end in “ the notable day of the Lord” which will wind up one portion of Christ’ s administration. II. The universality of its privileges. The Spirit is given to all mankind. This discloses the rationale of Christian missions. He is already where missionaries desire to be. This also discloses the grounds of confidence for those who seek the salvation of the young, for the Spirit is already graciously working before they can grasp the simplest truths of the gospel. The text proceeds to apply this principle particularly to men and women, old and young, and all classes of society are thus reached again, and the great privileges of the gospel placed within the reach of every class. This universality is a great rebuke to the vanity which sets up castes and distinctions. III. The spirtual equality which marks it. The gift of the spirit is bestowed--1. On women as well as men. “ Your sons and your daughters,” etc. In heathenism woman has generally been oppressed. Under Judaism she had but partial privileges. Miriam, Deborah, etc., were exceptions which with other things seemed to indicate that woman was on her way to her true position. But under Christianity she attains equality with man (Galatians 3:28). 2. On the young as well as the old. Many forms of heathenism have neglected the aged, and ill-treated parents advanced in years; Christianity regards them with veneration. Equally distinctive of Christianity is the practical recognition of the piety of childhood. 3. On servants as well as on masters. In Christianity there is no difference between bond and free. IV. It is a period of waiting. It is to continue till “ the notable day of the Lord.” During this period the Church waits for the Lord’ s craning, and for the final subjection of all. The end waited for will be marked by prodigies. There were wonders when Christ first came, there will be greater when He comes the second time. V. It is distinguished by a glorious evangel. (verse 21). Here we have--1. A recognition of man’ s great need. 2. An offer made on a condition which is natural. “ Whosoever shall call.” Sin causes misery, and misery a cry for help. 3. A sure promise of salvation. (W. Hudson.)The promise kept The events of this chapter are the fulfilment of the promise of cur Saviour in Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4. But Peter recognises here the fulfilment of an earlier promise (Acts 1:16). The same Spirit which spake in the tongues of the apostles, and wrought effectually in the hearts of their hearers also spake by the prophets. The promise was thus fulfilled, but not exhausted; it was but the beginning of that work of preaching, and that mighty answering work in men’ s hearts of which the Holy Spirit was just as much the life and the secret as of the wonders of Pentecost. I. The promise and its fulfilment.1. “ Promise,” is one of the most distinguished features of this Book; so that if you want to contrast in the strongest way the Scriptures with the sacred books of other nations you might pitch upon this and say, “ The Scriptures are the Book of God’ s promises to men.” And “ promise,” you know also, is the main link of human life and society. “ I promise to pay” --if the breath of suspicion could dim those words upon a thin strip of paper the whole fabric of commerce and social life would be shaken. The bride and the bridegroom stand side by side in God’ s house, and when the manly “ I will” has been echoed by the softer but not less earnest and serious “ I will” what has happened? Two lives which a few minutes ago were separated are now bound together, “ until death do them part.” The little child says, “ Promise father, promise mother,” and when the father or the mother has promised the little child soon learns to know that it has a hold that cannot be broken. Well, then, when we say that the Bible is the Book of God’ s promises, we mean that God has come down into the circle of human duty; that you can go and present a cheque payable at demand on the treasury of infinite mercy and almighty power; that the child of God can go to God and say, “ My Father, Thou hast promised, now, therefore, do as Thou hast said.” There is a bond between the Eternal God and the feeblest soul that trusts Him, stronger than the bond which holds our world to its central sun. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His word shall not pass away. 2. We cannot fix the exact date of this promise of Joel; but we gather from the fact that Amos, in the reign of King Uzziah, begins by a quotation from Joel that Joel was an older prophet. The substance of his prophecy had been, in a sense, anticipated perhaps eight hundred years or more by Moses, when he said, “ Would God that all the Lord’ s people were prophets, and that the Lord would pour out His Spirit upon them” ; but to Joe! was given the high honour of announcing that so it should be, that God was going to answer that prayer. A generation later we find the promise beautifully and bountifully enlarged by Isaiah (Isaiah 44:3-5); but to Joel seems to have been given this signal honour to be the first to sound out sweet and clear this note of promise. Perhaps eight hundred years passed away, and that promise stood there upon the page in what was becoming a dead language, unfulfilled and unexplained--as long as from the days of William the Conqueror to the days of Queen Victoria--and the unbeliever could point to it and say, “ What do you make of that? What is the value of a promise that is never accomplished, a prophecy that the centuries bring no nearer to fulfilment?” Generations came and went, and prophets greater than Joel rose up, fulfilled their course, and departed. Great religious revolutions, reforms, revivals took place, then they were followed by fresh outbursts of irreligion, fresh victories of unbelief and profligacy, and atheism. Alas! the whole structure seems to have broken down. But all this meant no delay, no unfaithfulness. In the fulness of time Peter was able to point to tiffs glorious fulfilment, and to say, “ Jesus, whom you have crucified, being by the right hand of God exalted, hath shed forth this which you now see and hear--‘ this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.’” 3. And so, across the long ages God reaches out the closed hand of promise, filled with sealed-up blessings to keep faith from fainting, to encourage patience and hope. Then, just at the appointed moment, when the dial points, when the hour of His purpose strikes, He opens it, and gives a fresh starting point for new faith. Unfulfilled prophecy Peter compares to a light shining in a dark place, a light that tries our eyes almost as much as it enlightens them--we pore in vain over the dimly-illuminated truth. The fulfilled word the same apostle compares to the sunrise, the dawn of the day, and the rising of the day-star. Time and experience at the appointed hour set their seal to the declaration that God is true. 4. Let me say a word to my younger friends. Let me urge you to give great attention to this practiced evidence of the truth and inspiration of God’ s Word, which you may find in the actual fulfilment of God’ s promises. A distinct prediction pointing for hundreds of years to an event that could not be foreseen by mere human reasoning, and then the fulfilment in God’ s providence of that prediction betokens a power above and behind and within man. Now is not this perfectly plain, that the Old Testament Scriptures did claim to pledge God to these two things--viz., the sending of a Saviour in whom all nations should be blessed, and the bestowment upon all flesh of His Holy Spirit? The New Testament is just the record of the fulfilment of those two promises; and so is the whole history of the Church. II. God is fulfilling His promise to-day. Not that we see such proofs as we here read of; our senses are not amazed with the wonders like those of the days of Pentecost; but do not forget that one soul really converted to God is just as much the work of the Holy Spirit as one thousand or three thousand. To pray the prayer of faith; to understand God’ s truth; to have in reality the temper of humility, penitence, and unreserved consecration; these are just as truly the gifts of the Holy Spirit as the tongues of fire and all the miracles that followed. I am sometimes afraid that we may offer prayers for the fulfilment of this very promise, which are rather the prayers of unbelief than the prayers of faith. Do we not err often in our expectations of the limits in which God will fulfil His promise? His promise is so wide, taking in the whole Church and all mankind; it is so far-reaching, running down the whole channel of human history, that we have no business to expect it to be exhausted in our time, in our nation, in our parish; and yet if it be not, do not we sometimes pray as if God were forgetting His promise, or were unfaithful to it? Thus we dishonour God and discourage our brethren and ourselves. I do not for a moment think we ought to shut our eyes to any of the facts that are around us, even the darkest, or our ears to the bitter cry that may rise from the great city, or from the lonely village; but do not let us shut our eyes, either, to what God is doing amongst us. If we look only at the tendencies of human nature, only at the set and tide and drift of events, it is pretty easy to make a dark forecast, easy to say that the signs of the times denote the prevalence and triumph of those masterly evils, superstition, atheism, anarchy--that is, if you leave out of sight God’ s promise and God’ s Spirit. But that is just what you must not do, and have no right to do. We are crying with the prophet, “ Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, and that the mountains would flow down at Thy presence.” But when He only touches the hills and they smoke--that is the finger of God. Perhaps we are looking for the earthquake, the fire, the tempest; but we fail, it may be, to hear the “ still, small voice” ; yet that is the voice of God’ s Spirit. Whence comes the gentle, quiet, but yet mighty and irresistible outburst and continual growth of missionary zeal and missionary labour and missionary sacrifice, which is carrying the gospel from year to year more completely into the most central fortresses of heathenism? Zeal and labour, which have made the Bible already a known book in all the leading languages of the world--what is this? Is not this the very breath and presence of God’ s Spirit? Then, in what we call the outside world, there are great waves of sympathy with this Christian work; and whence come they but from the contagion of Christian love and faith and hope, the very breath of God’ s Spirit? III. God will fulfil his promise. “ The last days” are a wide margin. It is not for us to measure how far that season of fulfilment may stretch out, or grow weary or unbelieving because of its stretching out longer than we expect. When that morning broke over the waters of Galilee, and the disciples looked weary and sadly at one another and at their dripping and empty nets, supposing one had said to them, “ Friends, in less than half-an-hour that empty net will be so full that you won’ t be able to draw it on board” --why, they would have said, “ If God would send an angel from heaven to be our fisherman perhaps it might be so.” But who is that walking on the shore? A stranger? Hark! He speaks. “ Cast on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” If it had not been for the night of toil, do you think there would have been any morning of joy? No. It is not for us, to say how long the night of toil is to be. We serve the same Master, our faith rests upon the same promise; we have the same work, and we are responsible for toil, for faithfulness, for prayer, for patience, not for results; the results are God’ s. Can you say, “ I believe in the Holy Ghost?” Why, then, fear not, doubt not. Let us bring to God’ s treasury not the mere tithes of corn and wine and gold and silver, but that which will make all these seem just little gifts thrown in by the way--the tithes, the first-fruits of consecrated hearts, and hallowed lives, and affections aglow with the love of Christ, and then we may prove Him and see if He will not pour out a blessing so that there should not be room to contain. (E. B. Conder, D. D.)The possibilities of life There are two gifts or faculties which every one who would be a power among their fellows must do their utmost to cultivate. The first is the power of insight into the circumstances of their own time and place. The second is the power of foresight. After we have convinced ourselves of how and what things are, we shall then try to see what they may become; how and to what extent they may be changed for the better. To see the world as it is, is only to convince ourselves that it is very different from what it ought to be. To begin with ourselves. No true Christian can be contented with his present spiritual condition. Like St. Paul, the more we know of ourselves the more reason shall we have to confess that “ we have not already attained, neither are already made perfect.” And if the fact is true of ourselves, it is no less true of the men and things around us. We learn that the lives and circumstances of others stand in need of more or less improvement. Let us notice how the text brings these thoughts before us. The apostles had been very intimate with Jesus. The standard of life inculcated by Him was an extremely lofty one; to have had that standard constantly before them must have shown the disciples how terribly everything around them fell short of it. But merely to see this great gulf, this awful difference, might lead them to despair. How was the chasm to be bridged? How was the actual to be made the ideal? It will help us to answer this question if we remember that St. Peter uttered the words of the text on the very day on which God poured out upon the apostles the great gift of His Holy Spirit. They had now received the promised gift, a new energy, a new life, the spirit of truth, the spirit of love. The spirit of truth put everything in its true light. They saw how dark, how sad, how imperfect, how sin-stained was life and conduct. Bat the spirit of love came with the spirit of truth, and impelled them at once to try to rectify what needed alteration. Notice, the method they employed was the same as that of their Master--first to teach, and then to put their teaching into practice. And with what sort of reception were they met? With very much the same kind that has generally fallen to the lot of the reformer. Men listened to them, and then derided them. They were regarded as idle visionaries, as wild and foolish dreamers. St. Peter steps forward as the apologist of his brethren. The present was but witnessing the fulfilment of an ancient Jewish prophet’ s prediction. Drunk the apostles were not--mere dreamers, mere visionaries they were not. But they had dreamt a dream, and seen a vision. They saw things as they were, and as they might be. They saw that to the great majority of their fellow countrymen religion was little better than a hollow mockery; something almost wholly external, and having little connection with their lives and conduct. This they saw, but they also saw a vision and dreamt a dream of a better day, Of a brighter, holier, and happier, future, of a more real religious tone, of a higher and nobler morality. They were not mere dreamers, mere visionaries--the dream and the vision were useful only as revelations of an ideal which they must endeavour to realise. To receive a vision of better things was only a call to turn the vision into a reality. The gift of insight issued in the call to repentance; the gift of foresight was the summons to work. It may have been the lot of some of us to have seen a vision made a reality; we may even have had the blessing and privilege to have been in some small degree instrumental in its realisation. We may have known one who was formerly intemperate, now living a sober life; one formerly impure, now feeling from experience the truth of the words, “ Blessed” --that is, happy--“ are the pure in heart” ; one formerly dishonest, now getting his or her living by hard and honest labour, and able to look the world in the face. Yet if some little has been done, the unaccomplished is almost beyond measure. We must try to realise what humanity was meant to be, what Jesus would have it to be. The words of the old prophet can never be too often in our ears, “ I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” To have realised that that awful threat was becoming verily the promise of a blessing, is in itself to have seen a vision. Man is indeed precious; each human soul, each human heart and character is infinitely precious in God’ s sight, for the Lord Jesus died to save it. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.)Your young men shall see visions.-- A young man’ s vision (missionary sermon):--1. Many visions have led to the most disastrous results. When ,Napoleon had a vision of a universal monarchy over which he should preside, he drenched the lands in blood. Many visions have been wretchedly delusive. Men have dreamed of finding the fairy pleasure in the dark forest of sin. Many dreams have been enervating. Many pass all their days building castles in the air. With fine capacities they have drivelled away existence: as their theory of life was born of smoke, so the result of their lives has been a cloud. 2. For all this, good and grand visions are not unknown which came from the excellent glory, and which, when young or old men have seen them, have filled them with wisdom, and grace, and holiness. Such visions are given to men whose eyes have been illumined by the Holy Spirit. 3. All Divine things, when they first come to men from the Lord, are as visions, because man is so little prepared to believe God’ s thoughts and ways, that he cannot think them to be real. They appear to us to be too great, too good to be real. It must be so while Jehovah’ s ways are higher than oar ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts. We must take care that we do not neglect heavenly monitions through fear of being considered visionary; we must not be staggered even by the dread of being styled fanatical, for to stifle a thought from God is no mean sin. 4. How much of good in this world would have been lost if good men had quenched the first half-fashioned thoughts which have flitted before them. Suppose Luther had taken the advice of his teacher when he said to him, “ Go thy way, silly monk! and pray God, and if it be His will He will reform the abuses of this Church, but what hast thou to do with it?” And George Fox, that most eminent of dreamers, where had been all the testimonies for a spiritual religion, all the holy influences for benevolence, for peace, for anti-slavery, which have streamed upon this world through the agency of the Society of Friends, if the wild Quaker had been content to let his impressions come and go and be forgotten? These things,which nowadays are ordinary Christian doctrines, were considered in his day to be but the prattle of fanatics; even as the reforms which some of us shall live to see are denounced as revolutionary, or ridiculed as Utopian. 5. Many suggestions which come from God to men, are not so much visions to them as they are to the outside world. And need we wonder at this? Why, men of science and art have to endure the same ordeal. Stephenson declares that he will make a machine which will run without horse-power, at the rate of twelve miles an hour--and how the Tory benches of the House of Commons roared at the man as a born fool! 6. It too, have seen a vision. I have seen missionary spirit in England, awakened, and revived. I have seen--the wish was father to the sight--the ardour of our first; missionary days return. I. Let us justify our vision. That which we have dreamed of is--1. Evidently needed. There is a general flagging in missionary interest; and albeit that the funds may not much have fallen off, yet the annual recurrence of a debt, together with other matters, goes to show that missionary zeal needs rekindling. This results partly from the fact that the novelty of the thing has gone off, and partly because we have had few very startling incidents of ]ate to evoke a display of enthusiasm. That the missionary fire exists is certain, for the heart of the Church is alive; but it is slumbering, somehow. If there be any one point in which the Christian Church ought to keep its fervour at a white heat, it is concerning missions. How can we expect in such an enterprise that we shall ever succeed if any of our strength be left unused? Depend upon it, that the flagging of zeal at home acts like a canker abroad, and when the heart of Christianity in England does not throb vigorously, every single limb of the missionary body feels the decline. 2. It is very possible that it may be realised. It is not a thing too hard to look for. It is far harder surely to establish missions than to revive them. If we will but inquire into the causes of decline we shall not find them, I think, to be very deep, nor to be difficult of remedy. Lovingly correcting errors, carefully removing excrescences, and boldly advancing, the stone shall be rolled away from the sepulchre before we reach it, or if not, in God’ s name, and by His strength, we will roll it away ourselves. 3. It is very probable; for so it always has been. If ever God’ s Church has declined for a little while, unexpectedly there has been yielded a season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. He is great at surprises: His best wine last amazes us all. When the devil is most secure upon his throne, then God sprints a mine, and blows his empire into atoms. 4. It is solemnly required of us. What are our personal obligations to the Crucified? Did our Saviour slumber in His life-work? Was He tardy in His service for our redemption? Then might we grow lax. But He claims of us, according to our measure, the same steadfastness of resolve, and perseverance of purpose, and sacrifice of self. II. Let us proceed to elaborate the vision. My dream seemed to take this shape.1. In order that missionary work should be reformed, revived, and carried on with energy and with hope of success, it seemed necessary that especially among our young members there should be a revival of intense and earnest prayer, and anxious sympathy with the missionary work. The power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching, need not regret it if they can be mighty in prayer. The true strength of the Church lies there. If a man can but pray, he can do anything. He that knows how to overcome the Lord in prayer, has heaven and earth at his disposal. 2. Next, if our young men who see visions will follow up their prayers with practical effort, then we shall see in our Churches a larger and more efficient staff of collectors and contributors. We should then find men who would give of their substance as a matter of principle, so that the kingdom of Christ should never have an empty exchequer. 3. Up till now my dream has been reasonable, you will say. I will now be more visionary. If we were all praying for missions, and all giving for their support, it might be very well asked of us, “ What do ye more than others?” for what Romanist is there who is not zealous for the spread of his religion? What heathen is there who does not give quite as much as any of us give, ay, and a great deal more than we give, to his superstitions? But, supposing next to this, that there should be a number of young men who have been trained in the same sanctuary, nurtured in the same Church, who should meet together and say to one another, “ Now, we are in business, and God is prospering us, but still we trust we are never going to permit ourselves to be swallowed up in a mere worldly way of living; now, what ought we to do for missions?” And suppose the inquiry should be put, “ Is there one amongst us who could devote himself to go and teach the heathen for us? As we, most of us, may not have the ability, or do not feel called to the work, is there one out of twelve of us young men who feels called to go?” Let us make it a matter of prayer, and when the Holy Ghost saith, “ Separate So-and-So to the work,” then we, the other eleven who remain’ , will say to him, “ Now, brother, you cannot stop at home to make your fortune; you are now giving yourself up to a very arduous enterprise, and we will support you; you go down into the pit, we will hold the rope, and bear the expense among ourselves.” I wish we had such godly clubs as these. Why, on such a plan as that, I should think, they would give a hundred times as much as ever they are likely to give to an impersonal society, or to a man whose name they only know, but whose face they never saw. 4. Further, I have dreamed also that there would spring up in our Churches a very large number of young men who would count it to be the very highest ambition to give themselves up to the work of Jesus Christ abroad, and who will say, “ The missionary society is in debt, and cannot take us; very well, send me out, and let me exercise my faith in God, only having this for my comfort, that you will stand at my back and give me what you can, while I will only draw upon you for what “ I cannot get for myself.” I set Paul before you, young men. He was a tent-maker, and he earned his own living. Are there no occupations in these days by which a man may earn his living, and yet preach the gospel? Are there not to be found physicians who, in China and in India, would not only procure a subsistence, but much more, and might proclaim the gospel at the same time? But are there no other occupations? I find men going out to India by scores, to make their fortunes, and ruin their constitutions. Have we no young men and women who will preach the gospel, intending to use their commercial pursuits as a means of introduction and support? III. The realisation of this vision? It must be--1. By each individual’ s own personal piety mounting to the very highest degree of elevation. If holy work be a mere diversion for your leisure moments, you will do nothing; you must make a solemn occupation of it. When the Christian Church glows in this fashion, it will swell with an intense heat like a volcano, whose tremendous furnaces cannot be contained within itself, but its sides begin to move and bulge, and then after a rumbling and a heaving, a mighty sheet of fire shoots right up to heaven, and afterwards streams of flaming lava run from its red lips down, burning their way along the plain beneath. Oh! to get such a fire for God’ s cause into the heart of the Christian Church, till she began to heave and throb with unquenchable emotion, and then a mighty sheet of the fire-prayer should go up towards heaven, and afterwards the burning lava of her all-conquering zeal should flow over all lands. 2. By young men and young women feeding the flame of their zeal with greater information as to the condition of the world in reference to our mission-work. You may not have time to get through it all, but if you read some of it, I think you will feel a great accession to your zeal. 3. By keeping yourselves right in this matter by constant, energetic efforts in connection with works at home. Those who do not serve God at home, are of no use anywhere. It is all very well to talk about what you would do if you could speak to the Hindoos. You will be of no use whatever in Calcutta, unless you are of use in Poplar or Bermondsey. The human mind is the same everywhere. See what you can do for Jesus Christ in the shop, and in that little Bible-class of which you are a member. Rest assured that no missionary ardour really burns in the breast of that man who does not love the souls of those who live in the same house and neighbourhood. 4. But oh! do make sure that you are saved yourselves. Do make sure that you yourselves know the Christ whom you profess to teach. That missionary-box, what is it but an infamous sham if you put into it your offering, but withhold your heart? (C. H. Spurgeon.)The visionary aspect of Christianity (a sermon to young men):--There are two periods in human life to which dreams and visions belong--dreams and visions, at least, of any persistence and depth. Young men naturally see visions, and old men dream dreams. This visionary power is not to be neglected or thought lightly of. It is a beneficent power. It feeds practical efficiency. All the great enterprises we have were once visions in the brain of some man or men. It is the mighty dreamers who have become the great doers. In the listless, heavy eye of Chalmers there often seemed no power of volition. He was brooding over his visions; yet for all this brooding--nay, largely by virtue of it--he moved men, and swayed his time as no contemporary Scotchman did. It is the enthusiasm begotten in the region of visions that ultimately moves the machinery of the world. I. Visions that do not come from Christ.1. There are visions that sense brings us, very bright and seductive at times. They are often dangerous, but we do not know that they are so, because we love the strong colouring in which they are put before us. The force of youthful life tends to the outward and sensible, and the sensible sometimes lowers into the sensual. As you love your souls, as you love purity, as you fear God and your conscience, put these dreams of the flesh away from you in whatsoever form they come. 2. Mammon again paints visions for a young man, and, of course, with unusual clearness and persistence in a commercial community like this of ours. It is foolish to speak disparagingly of money. It is a power which, wisely wielded, has almost no limits in its beneficence. But it is a very dangerous thing. Therefore, if you feel tempted to dream of bank-notes and shares and big speculations, to make these your visions, I beseech you for the sake of your higher nature to beware. They say that money nowadays can command anything, can accomplish wonders. It is quite true; but the most wonderful thing that it does is to metallise a human soul. 3. Closely allied to the dreams which Mammon weaves for us are the visions of success in life. But they are distinct. There are men who are not avaricious, and yet are ambitious; and a young man insensible for the most part to bank-notes may long for distinction. He has brain force and nerve force, which give him a good hope of rising. Granting that such an ambition can be honourably pursued, is it fit to be our vision? What is the typical successful man generally like--tender, scrupulous, sympathetic? Is he true, large-hearted? I don’ t think so. 4. Many of us may have had visions of intellectual eminence, and these are sometimes very attractive. We dream of laying in stores of information, of mastering this subject or that. Or, it may be, we have become absorbed in social questions, in politics, in art. We feel our faculties expanding, and delight in their exercise. Well, those visions are high and fair, but again, are they the best? Have they power to lift our lives, to fill them to the very end? Do they bring light and healing in trouble or sorrow? 5. Then there are visions of domestic happiness. Such dreams rise before our minds if we have known what love and truth are. But is this sufficient? Are these best things of earth good enough for us? They are legitimate, of course, but not lasting. II. The inspired visions.1. Christ brings visions of purity. Until the world has blinded a young man’ s eyes so that he cannot see, there are now and then flitting before him images of unearthly purity. An unflecked garment in which to clothe the soul he feels is the most princely possession. Had he only singleness of eye, a nature true at the core, a mirror of thought from which the blots of foul fancy were all away, his heart would be strong. Christ comes to tell him that this purity which he sees glimpses of is no mere fancy, but a celestial vision which has had an embodiment on earth, one which may have it again. 2. Christ brings visions of strength and heroism. Nothing is fairer to dream of than the power to get out of ourselves and rise to higher ranges of courage and resolve. Christ brings before us a vision of exalted manhood, a dream of daring and doing what average men cannot do. Heroism is that quality of the soul by virtue of which a man can carry the movements of his thought and will away from the touch of mean, self-degrading motives, so that people cannot measure his actions by the standard of every-day life--by virtue of which a man can stand alone against the world, if need be, as Christ Himself stood alone against the world. This is a faculty Christ Himself gives to men. 3. But our better dreams have more than strength and manhood in them; they have self-conquest, self-denial. Amid the vulgar contentment and self-seeking of society, we sometimes envy a life like that of Livingstone, given for Africa and the slaves. But what will give to the faint outline of these dreams substance and shape? The approach of Christ will. He makes cross-bearing and the strain of the higher service an easy thing, so that those inspired by Him think it unnatural when they have not some difficulties for His sake to meet, some cross for His sake to bear. 4. Another vision that sometimes visits a young man is the vision of usefulness--the thought of exerting a wide, beneficent influence. When we do good we find we are blessed. But no man can rightly do good until Christ has taught him. Christ gives us ends, methods, power. 5. We dream of the future--not a future here merely, by beyond, elsewhere. We refuse to stop short at the barriers earth and time erect. Our visions project themselves past these. Such visions often get very faint as men grow older, and sometimes die away altogether. Thoughts that once soared towards the setting sun come down to earth like a bird grown weary of the wing. It is Christ alone who gives permanence to such visions. We get from Him sudden flashes of the glory of the new Jerusalem. He brings immortality to light in our hearts. (J. F. Ewing, M. A.)Visions realised The vision of a pure England, of a temperate England, of an England without grinding poverty, heartrending distress, and free from crimes; the very mention of which make one’ s blood run cold, is a noble vision, Need it remain altogether a vision? Was the vision of the abolition of slavery in North America allowed to remain a vision? Was the vision of a system of universal education for our own nation allowed to remain a vision? Think again of the visions of the reformer, the scientist, the engineer--how many of these visions have been realised! Faith, energy, patience, and perseverance have wrought wonders. Why should not our visions also be realised? What is required is that we claim for ourselves a fuller measure of God’ s Holy Spirit--the spirit of love, hope, self-sacrifice, whereby we shall attain the substance of the things we hope for, and shall witness, possess, and enjoy the evidence of things as yet unseen by the natural man, but awaiting in all their glory to be revealed among us. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.) Acts 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness. Downfall of Christianity Solar eclipse is here prophesied to take place about the time of the destruction of ancient Jerusalem. Josephus says that the prophecy was literally fulfilled. Christianity is the sun of our time, and men bare tried, with the vapours of scepticism and the smoke of blasphemy, to turn this sun into darkness. Suppose the archangels of malice and horror should be allowed to extinguish and destroy the sun in the natural heavens. They would take the oceans from other worlds and pour them on this luminary, and the waters go hissing down among the ravines and the caverns, and there is explosion after explosion until there are only a few peaks of fire left in the sun, and these are cooling down and going out until the vast continents of flame are reduced to a small acreage of fire, and that whitens and cools off until there are only a few coals left, and these are whitening and going out until there is not a spark left in all the mountains and valleys and chasms of ashes. An extinguished sun. A dead sun. Let all worlds wail at the stupendous obsequies. Of course, this withdrawal of the solar light and heat throws our earth into a universal chill, and the tropics become the temperate, and the temperate becomes the arctic, and there are frozen rivers, lakes, and oceans. From the arctic and antarctic regions the inhabitants gather in towards the centre and find the equator as the poles. The slain forests are piled up into great bonfires, and around them gather the shivering villages and cities. The wealth of the coal mines is hastily poured into the furnaces and stirred into rage of combustion, but soon the bonfires begin to lower and the furnaces begin to go out, and the natives begin to die. The great volcanoes cease to smoke, and the ice of hailstorms remains unmelted in their craters. All the flowers have breathed their last breath. Child frosted and dead in the cradle. Octogenarian frosted and dead at the hearth. Workman with frozen hands at the hammer or frozen foot on the shuttle. Winter from sea to sea. The earth an ice-floe, grinding against other ice-floes. The archangels of malice and horror have done their work, and now they may take their thrones of glacier and look down upon the ruin they have wrought. What the destruction of the sun in the natural heavens would be to our physical earth, the destruction of Christianity would be to the moral world. The sun turned into darkness. Infidelity in our time is considered a great joke. I propose to take infidelity out of the realm of jocularity into one of tragedy, and show you what these men, if they are successful, will accomplish. It will be-- I. The complete and unutterable degradation of womanhood. In all communities where Christianity has been dominant, woman’ s condition has been ameliorated and improved, and she is honoured in a thousand things, and every gentleman takes off his hat before her. You know that while woman may suffer injustices, she has more of her rights in Christendom than she has anywhere else. Now compare this with woman’ s condition in lands where Christianity has made little or no advance. The Burmese sell their wives and daughters as so many sheep. The Hindoo Bible makes it an outrage for a woman to listen to music, or look out of the window in the absence of her husband, and gives as a lawful ground for divorce a woman’ s beginning to eat before her husband has finished his meal! Her birth a misfortune. Her life a torture. Her death a horror. Now compare those two conditions. How far toward this latter condition would woman go if Christian influences were withdrawn? If an object be lifted to a certain point and not fastened there, and the lifting power be withdrawn, how long before that object will fall down to the point from which it started? Christianity has lifted woman up from the very depths of degradation almost to the skies. If that lifting power be withdrawn she falls back to the depth from which she was raised, not going any lower because there is no lower depth. And yet I have read that notwithstanding all that, there were women present at a meeting in a Brooklyn theatre at which Christianity was outrageously assailed and our Lord blasphemously maligned. II. The demoralisation of society. The one idea in the Bible that infidels most hate is the idea of retribution. Take away that idea from society, and it will begin very soon to disintegrate, and take away from the minds of men the fear of hell, and there are a great many of them who would very soon turn this world into a hell. I have heard this brave talk about people fearing nothing of the consequences of sin in the next, world, and I have made up my mind it is merely a coward’ s whistling to keep his courage up; for when they came to die they shrieked until you could hear them far enough. The mightiest restraints to-day against crime of all sorts are the retributions of eternity. Men know that they can escape the law, but down in the offender’ s soul there is the realisation of the fact that he cannot escape God. Take this out of the hearts and minds of men, and it would not be long before our great cities became Sodoms. III. Suppose now these generals of infidelity got the victory, they will first attack the churches. Away with those houses of worship. They have been standing there so long deluding the people with consolation in their bereavements and sorrows. Turn the St. Peters and St. Pauls and the temples and tabernacles into club-houses. IV. Next they scatter the sabbath-schools, filled with bright-eyed, bright-cheeked little ones who are singing songs on Sunday afternoon and getting instruction when they ought to be on the street corners playing marbles or swearing on the commons. V. They destroy Christian asylums, the institutions of mercy supported by Christian philanthropies. Never mind the blind eyes and the deaf ears and the crippled limbs and the weakened intellects. Let paralysed old age pick up its own food, and orphans fight their own way, and the half-reformed go back to their evil habits. VI. They come to the great picture galleries, and tear down the pictures, for they are Bible pictures--Claude’ s “ Burning Bush,” and Rembrandt’ s “ Christ in the Temple,” and Paul Veronese’ s “ Marriage in Cana,” and Michael Angelo’ s “ Last Judgment.” Down with the pictures; they are Bible pictures. And away with the oratorios of Handel and Haydn and Beethoven, for they speak of the Messiah and the Creation, and of Jephthah, and of Samson, and of other Bible heroes. VII. Now they come to the graveyards. Pull down the sculpture, for it means the resurrection. On, ye great army of infidels where you see “ Asleep in Jesus,” cut it away, and where you find a marble story of heaven blast it; and where you find over a little child’ s grave, “ Suffer little children to come unto Me,” substitute the words “ delusion” and “ sham” ; and where you find an angel in marble strike off the wing; and when you come to a family vault chisel on the door: “ Dead and dead for ever.” The place of Christian burial turned into a place for the burial of the whole family of Christian graces. Prayer dead. Faith dead. Hope dead. Charity dead. Self-denial dead. Honesty dead. Happiness dead. VIII. They will attempt to scale heaven. On and on until they blow up the foundations of jasper and the gates of pearl. They charge up the steep. Now they aim for the throne of Him who liveth for ever and ever. IX. There is only one more height to scale. They assail the Eternal Father and they want Him to feel the combined force of human and Satanic spite. A world without a head, a universe without a king. Orphan constellations. Fatherless galaxies. Anarchy supreme. A dethroned Jehovah. An assassinated God. Patricide, Regicide, Deicide. That is what they mean, and what they will have, if they can. Civilisation hurled back into semi-barbarism, and semi-barbarism driven back into Hottentot savagery. The wheel of progress turned the other way, and turned towards the Dark Ages. The sun turned into darkness. Has Christianity received its death-blow? Yes, when the smoke of the city chimney arrests and destroys the noonday sun. Josephus says about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem the sun was “ turned into darkness” ; but only clouds rolled between the sun and the earth. The sun went right on. At the beginning God said, “ Let there be light,” and light was, and light is, and light shall be. So Christianity is rolling on, and it is going to warm all nations, and all nations are to bask in its light, and all nations are to be kindled with its joy. Men may shut the window-blinds so they cannot see out, or they may smoke the pipe of speculation until they are shadowed under their own vapouring; but God is a sun. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Acts 2:21 Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Salvation I. Its nature.1. Deliverance from-- (1) The guilt of sin.(2) The power of sin.(3) The punishment of sin. 2. Deliverance to-- (1) Acceptance with God.(2) Conquest of evil.(3) Heaven. II. Its Condition. Calling on the name of the Lord, involving--1. A sense of helplessness. A man in the water will not cry if he can wade to dry land, but only when he feels in danger of drowning without assistance. 2. A conviction of His power to help on whom we call. A beggar will not waste time in asking alms of another beggar; a sick man will scarcely rouse himself to seek medical help from one in the same condition. 3. An assurance that He on whom we call will help us when we call. This is faith. The call should be earnest and persevering. III. Its score. “ Whosoever.”1. Poor as well as rich. 2. Ignorant as well as learned. 3. Bad as well as good. What an encouragement to convinced sinners, Sunday-school teachers, preachers, and missionaries. (J. W. Burn.)Calling on Christ There is a story concerning the father of Thomas a Becket, who went into the crusades and was taken prisoner by the Saracens. While a prisoner, a Turkish lady loved him, and when he was set free and returned to England, she took an opportunity of following him. But she knew not where to find him she loved: and all she knew about him was that his name was Gilbert. She determined to go through all the streets of England crying the name of Gilbert till she found him. She came to London first, and passing every street persons were surprised to see aa Eastern maiden crying, Gilbert! Gilbert! And so she passed from town to town, till one day as she pronounced the name the ear for which it was intended caught the sound, and they became happy. And so, sinner, to-day thou knowest little perhaps of religion, but thou knowest the name of Jesus. Take up the cry as thou goest along the streets, and say to thy heart, “ Jesus! Jesus!” And when thou art in the chamber, say it still, “ Jesus! Jesus!” Continue the cry and it shall reach the ear for which it was meant. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The secret cry to God Some years ago a young man was going home one night from the house of business in which he was engaged. The thought occurred to him that he was becoming more careless each year about his soul’ s salvation, and that he would soon become utterly hardened. And he said to himself, “ Why should this be? Why not seek the Lord now?” So he lifted up his cry secretly as he walked through the street, “ Lord, forgive me, and help me to love and serve Thee.” The Holy Spirit, to whose voice he was then listening, inspired the cry for mercy; and the prayer thus offered was answered. The sleeper was awakened, and Christ gave him life. Let your conduct be like that young man’ s, for the Holy Spirit is calling you now. If hitherto you have rejected the message, now determine to hear and obey it. An effectual cry:--I heard of two millers who used to keep the old mill going day and night, and at midnight one miller would go down the stream, pull his boat up two or three yards above the dam, and the other miller would come along the other way. One night the miller was going down as usual, and he fell asleep, and when he awoke, it was the water over the dam that woke him. He knew that if he went over he would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. He seized his oars and he tried to pull back, but he found that it was too late. But he got hold of a little twig between the rocks. It began to give way; and if that twig had come away he would have been swept over the dam and lost; but there was just enough strength in the root to hold him; and so he sat there in that boat and held on, and he cried, “ Help! help! help!” and he kept crying, until at last the cry of distress was heard by the brother miller, and he found out the situation, and he got a rope and threw it, and the man let go of the twig and laid hold of the rope, and they pulled him out of the jaws of death. He saved his life because it was an honest cry for help. And there is not a man or woman in this house to-night but that shall be eternally saved if he or she will send the cry up to heaven, “ Lord, help me. Lord, remember me. Lord, save me, or I perish.” “ It shall come to pass that whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Put the promise to the test. (J. McNeill.) Acts 2:22-36 Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Personal preaching One of the old English worthies said that a great many sermons were like carefully written letters dropped into the post-office without any address written upon them. They were not intended for any one in particular, and they never reached anybody. The effect of Pentecost upon Peter If we see the effect upon Peter, we shall have a true idea of the effect of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the entire Church. Fix your minds, therefore, upon Peter. We know what he has been up to this time, ardent, impulsive, unbalanced, enthusiastic, cowardly. Since we last saw him he has been the subject of Pentecostal influence. We have therefore to look on that picture and on this; and upon the change discoverable between the two pictures you may found your estimate of the value of spiritual inspiration. Notice-- I. His heroic eloquence. It is not enough to speak--you may teach an automaton to speak. This man is not only speaking words, he is speaking them with unction, with fire, with emphasis, never heard in his tone before. You have not the whole speech in the words. You must be enabled, by a kind of semi-inspiration of your own, to read between the lines, in order to get hold of all the force and weight of this burning oration: there are palpitations which cannot be reported, and tones which have no typal representation. It carries everything before it like a fire marching through dry stubble. II. Not only was he transformed into an orator, but into a profound expositor of the Divine purpose in the creation and education of the Church. He speaks like a philosopher. He sees that the ages are not unrelated days, broken and incohesive nights, but that the ages are one, as the day is one, from its grey dawn to the time of the lighting of the evening star. This always follows deep acquaintance with the mysteries of God and high fellowship with the Spirit of the living One; we are delivered from the vexation and torment of daily details, and are set in the great currents and movements of the Divine purpose, and thereby do we acquire the balance which gives us rest and serenity, which often glows into courageous joy. III. Peter shows us how prophecy is fulfilled. The fulfilment of prophecy is not something which God has been arduously trying to do and has at last barely accomplished; it is a natural process, and it comes to express a natural end. Prophecy is not to God a mere hope, it is a clear vision of what must be, and of what He Himself will bring to pass. It is prophesied that the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. It is not a mere hope, it is the sure outcome of the Divine way of doing things. Christ must, by the necessity of righteousness and light and truth, reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. Prophecy is God’ s note of hand that He will yet give His Son the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession, signed in every ink in the universe, signed in heaven before the earth was formed, signed on Calvary by the blood-ink of the Cross. We must rest in this assurance; the word of the Lord will prevail, not by means of education, eloquence, or mechanical efforts on the part of the Church, but the world will be converted unto Christ because God has said it will be so, and when His word has gone forth it cannot return to Him void. IV. Peter startled the Church by becoming its most solid and convincing reasoner. Observe where and how Peter begins his address. “ Jesus of Nazareth, a man,” there is no appeal to theological bias or prejudice. Had he begun by saying, “ Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate God,” he would have lost his audience in his first sentence. He began where his hearers could begin, and he who begins otherwise than at the point of sympathy, how eloquent soever, will lose the reins ere he has time to put one sentence to another. Already, therefore, this inspiration is beginning to tell in the mental force and astuteness of this unlettered fisherman. He gives up the Deity of Christ, does he? Note the argumentative skill. Had Peter broken off his speech in the first sentence, the coldest Socinian could have endorsed his utterance, but Peter makes way through Scriptural quotations and through inspired exposition, until he concludes with this burning breath, “ God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.” Notice, too, how Peter stands without equivocation upon the historical fact of the resurrection. He was not talking to people who lived a century after the reported rising again of Christ: he was talking to men who knew perfectly well what had happened. Does he put any gloss upon the matter--does he seek to make it a parable, a typal instance, a quasi resurrection? He talks with the absolute frankness of a man who is relating facts, which every child in the assembly knew to be such, and could instantly have contradicted the statements which he made, had they been false. Does Peter separate Christ from the wonderful manifestation of the Spirit which had been granted? On the contrary, he connects the Pentecost with the risen and glorified Son of God. This enables him to use another “ therefore.” I refer to these “ therefores” in this connection because we are trying to show how inspiritedly argumentative the apostle had become. “ Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted,” etc. This is His last miracle, the spiritualisation of all the miracles, the marvel to which all signs and wonders were leading up, the capital without which the column would have been unfinished, the revelation of the purpose which moved His heart when He came to save the world and found His Church. V. It was also a great evangelical speech which Peter made. He gave the house of Israel a new chance. “ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly” --it is as if Peter would say, “ Now you have the opportunity of escaping all the past and beginning a new and glorious future.” This is the continual speech of Christianity. Every morning Christianity says, “ You can make to-day better than yesterday.” Conclusion.1. We have in Peter a standard whereby to measure ourselves. When the Holy Ghost falls upon us we shall go to the Bible with a new reading power, and we shall see wonders where before we saw nothing because of our spiritual blindness. Under the enlightenment of the Spirit we shall see that everything grand in thought, thrilling in poetry, tragic in experience, noble in heroism, is in the Bible. There is nothing in literature whose root is not to be found in the inspired volume. This is the Book out of which all other books are made, as the earth is the quarry out of which all its palaces have been dug, and as there are grander palaces in the rocks and woods than have yet been built, so there are more glorious visions in the Bible than we have yet beheld. 2. As the earth owes nothing to any other world but her light, so God has made men that we carry everything in us but our own inspiration. He does not make us new men in the sense of losing our old identity, He makes us new by His inspiration in the sense of lifting us up to the full expression of His own holy purpose in our original creation. We cannot inspire ourselves. The Holy Ghost is the gift of God. We have wondrous faculties as the earth has wondrous treasures--all these are the gift of God, all these we hold in stewardship for God. But these will be in us so many weights and burdens, curses rather than blessings, unless there fall upon us the mighty Pentecostal Holy Spirit. Then shall we be our true selves, eloquent, wise, argumentative, strong, evangelical, sympathetic, new creatures in Christ Jesus, through whom the Holy Ghost has been shed abroad in our hearts. (J. Parker, D. D.)The first Christian apology 1. The present confusion of theological opinion is not wholly to be regretted. It is sad enough, no doubt, if you look at it on one side, that men should still be asking the question, “ What is Christianity?” and giving to that question the most contrary answers. Grave and able men tell us that the virtue of Christianity lies in an order of men, is transmitted by one man putting his hand on another man’ s head, and reaches the rest of the world through water, wine, and bread. Other men as grave and able assure us there is in the system no supernatural virtue at all, only certain religious instincts which long ago attached themselves crudely to a few more or less mythical facts, the real value of which we can hardly now make out. Betwixt them an infinite variety of not less inconsistent opinions finds room, and for each of them intelligent and honest advocates may be heard to plead. 2. But sad as this bewilderment is in some aspects, it surely betrays at least a desire to get at the heart of Christianity, and to do so by disentangling its essentials from its accretions. No one can pretend that such disentangling is unnecessary. Christianity, in the course of her nineteen centuries, has had her own central and proper truths so sorely overlaid by external forms of Church life; has seen her simple doctrines pressed into shapes determined by changing fashions of thought, speculated on, debated over, worked up into systems, and deduced into syllogisms; has entered also into alliance with so many other influences, with art, with politics, with social systems; that in no land of Christendom does she offer to us to-day the features she wore when she began her mission, or speak in the voice with which she first spoke when she won the world. To get at the kernel of our faith, and know it as it is, there is need for some unwrapping. And if the critical tendency which has thrown the theology of educated men into such confusion has any raison d’ etre at all, it is this, that it is bent on getting at the kernel of what we call Christianity. 3. It would be a blunder for the Church to suppose that criticism has only a hostile tendency. Men who hate our holy faith are to be found in this as in every age; and they take advantage of the prevailing uncertainty, as they would do of anything else, to create a prejudice against religion. But there are multitudes of inquirers who mean no ill to Christianity, and numbers more who revere and trust it as their only hope or guide in the perplexities of our present condition. 4. In these circumstances a timid distrustful clinging to traditional forms of truth, with a nervous desire to defend the farthest and most doubtful outposts of orthodoxy is an utterly mistaken policy. It is so, whether the criticisms we are called to face be hostile or friendly. (1) If it be hostile, it seems unwise tactics to spend our strength in defending outworks, which are either barely defensible or of inferior moment, when the enemy we fear is already thundering at the central citadel of the faith. The question which the Church must gird herself to answer is, whether there is any living Christ at all. For strategic reasons, therefore, the field to be defended needs to be contracted, that the strength of all gallant advocates of the faith may be concentrated on those main positions which are as a key to the whole situation. (2) Nor is a narrow dogmatism any better policy if our critics are friendly. It is better, surely, and hopefuller, to meet the new spirit with the frank admission that where human reason has manipulated things of God, and forms of words, beaten out in hot controversy, have been forged to set forth infinite truth, there something may need correction. 5. In what shape the religious faith of Christendom shall emerge after this time of doubt shall have worked itself out, no man can foretell. Yet the creed of the future is not likely to be very different in substance from the creeds of the past. There is, if any one care to look for it, a solid body of Christian verity which has been, with hardly any change, the possession and life of the Church at every period of her history, and the secret nutriment of her true life through her impurest periods--the “ faith once delivered to the saints.” 6. Whatever may be the issue within the Church of such revision of her ancient belief, in our contest with outside scepticism we find ourselves thrust back upon our centre, and driven to do battle there for the first principles of our faith, just as the apologists of the earliest age of Christianity had to do. Not against the same sort of doubters, nor altogether with the same arguments, yet the essentials of the Gospel we must make good as they did. In this first Christian apology, and in all other reported addresses of St. Peter in the Acts, I find the gospel defended in its germ. Back to this earliest kernel of gospel fact and truth the controversy of our day is again pressing us. We may borrow a lesson, therefore, from the apologist of Pentecost. How does he conduct his defence? In this and the other sermons of that first period, the Christian cause is made to rest on two pillars of supernatural historical fact bearing on its Founder’ s life. These are not two isolated facts, however, but two periods of supernatural history. The first is His earthly life of ministry and passion, the supernaturalness of which was sealed mainly by the fact of resurrection after death. The second is the later celestial life of Jesus, the supernatural relation of which to human experience is proved by a series of spiritual facts which began at Pentecost and have not yet ceased. Of course, when the Church asserts this double claim for a continuous Divine history from her Master’ s birth, she is met by a denial from those who hold any direct intercourse betwixt highest God and us earthly men to be, on philosophical grounds, a thing impossible. But she has no right to be so met by the inductive science of our day. It is the boast of modern science to have no prejudices, but to accept without misgiving whatever is established on its proper evidence. It therefore cannot bar Christianity in her attempt to prove her facts. For the Christian apologist in the Acts, and all wise Christian apologists since, profess to establish the two supernatural facts on the self-same sort of evidence on which the most ordinary facts of a like order are established. (1) The audience whom St. Peter addressed were familiar with the main outlines of Jesus’ life as recent and notorious events. We assume them also. We owe it to the historical criticism of late years that no one now doubts the existence of Jesus and the leading features at least of that biography which we have in the holy Gospels. It is when we try to look behind the external events, and to explain their spiritual value, that the Church’ s faith and the unfaith of our age part company. That the Jewish teacher of Nazareth whom the Romans crucified was in very literal deed, God, a Divine Person, come among us to do a Divine work; that on His life and death rest the hopes of every man to be redeemed from sin and recovered to the favour and likeness of our heavenly Father: this is the Christian theory for the explanation of such historical facts as all admit. For the truth of this theory the Church offers one test-proof--the resurrection. Virtually, St. Peter does so in these early sermons of his. Expressly, St. Paul, the ablest of all her defenders, does so in his second letter to Corinth. If God did raise Jesus from the dead, as no other man ever was raised, then Jesus was the Son of God as He claimed to be, His life as Divine as it professed to he. But if God did not raise this Man, the Christian advocate throws up his case, our faith is false, our fancied Saviour an impostor, and we are in our sins like other men. So the case stood when Peter preached and Paul wrote. So it stands still. But the question, whether a given man was dead and became alive again, is one which nothing can help us to answer but the witness of such as saw what happened. It is a question of evidence, and it has pleased God that this crowning seal put to His Son’ s life should be sustained and guarded by an amount of proof such as no other fact in history can boast; so that no honest searcher for truth might be left in doubt that Jesus of Nazareth has been declared to be the Son of God with power, has risen the first fruits of an innumerable harvest of Christian sleepers, and by His resurrection has begotten us also unto a living hope. (2) Even a Christ who became alive is not enough, if He has so withdrawn Himself that in His absence He cannot help us. Our Christ is not out of reach. We believe with St. Peter that the re-ascended Son has been exalted by God’ s right hand to receive of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, and that by the special mission of this second Paraclete, He maintains a closer, mere equal, and more effective contact with human souls now than ever. Say that there is no Holy Ghost, or say that He is not otherwise present in Christian men than we know He is in all natural human life; and the Church is a delusion, and the word we preach as powerless for the spiritual cure of men as any socialistic or other earth-born scheme for the improvement of mankind. But how is it to be proved that through Christian agencies there does work a veritable Divine Agent? We have here the advantage over an apologist so early as St. Peter. In proof that his newly-departed Master had sent down the Holy Ghost, Peter had nothing to appeal to but one unique and startling phenomenon just happening in his hearers’ presence. We have the gathered spiritual experience of eighteen centuries. Not an age has passed since without leaving somewhere tokens that to the gospel belongs a heavenly power. It is quite true that infinite discredit has been over and over again done to the Church’ s claims. But enough remains to us. Christianity is not now so new or so small a thing that it should be hard, for any man who tries, to track its working in detail on innumerable men and gather up even its secret fruits. Whoever honestly does this will satisfy himself, I think, of such facts as these: That where the gospel of Christ has been made known with tolerable correctness to numbers of men, it has been always followed, in the case of individuals, by spiritual and moral changes of a uniform type. Conclusion: To this ever-gathering evidence, each Christian must contribute. And you, who can bear no witness for Christ, because you have never let His Spirit in within your heart to change and cleanse you, be sure there is a risen living Christ who saves; be sure there is a present Holy Ghost who changes us; be sure the kingdom of God is come upon you. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God among you. The gospel in its simplicity We have here-- I. A distinct affirmation of the proper humanity of Jesus. “ Jesus of Nazareth, a Man.” Under this name He had been “ among” them. They had not to think of Him as a recluse, but as one who had frequented the common walks of life. This would prepare the audience to think of His sympathy and compassion. But they knew that He had not been aa ordinary man. Around His person had gathered most remarkable circumstances that had to be accounted for. Accordingly we find in the text-- II. A distinct assertion of the extraordinary credentials of Jesus. He had been “ approved of God by miracles” etc. These had demonstrated Him to be what He professed to be. Such things revealed the mind of God, and Peter now affirmed that the life of Jesus was full of God. This was a new thought to some who heard it. It followed that certain impressions of Jesus had to be corrected. For the present it was enough to make the hearer feel that Jesus was God’ s messenger. More would follow. III. Peter declares that even the sufferings of christ were included in the Divine plan. He had been apprehended and nailed to the Cross by the lawless, the representatives of Roman power; but in delivering Him up the Jews had been the greatest criminals, and this charge was now urged home upon them. Yet, as Peter explains, this was only in accordance with the Divine decree. Observe, then, that men are held accountable though they do not act with uncontrolled power, and that there is no excuse for sin in the mysterious blending of the Divine and the human in the working out of God’ s decrees. If we could adequately survey all the facts, we might be able to remove the apparent disagreement between Divine sovereignty and human freedom: but we are ignorant. IV. Peter affirms that in spite of appearances Jesus has gained a complete victory. “ Whom God raised up.” (W. Hudson.)Miracles and wonders and signs.-- Miracles The first of these words, as more correctly rendered in the Revised Version, means “ powers,” or “ mighty works.” By Peter, therefore, the “ miracles” recorded in the Gospels are referred to the three heads of “ powers, wonders, and signs,” and the same terms are used by Luke to represent those wrought by the apostles and early Christians in the name of Christ. The word “ powers” intimates to us the source of miraculous gifts, and the superhuman power manifested in their exercise. The second term, “ wonders,” which corresponds more nearly with our word “ miracles,” intimates their effect in producing wonder or astonishment, leading to conviction and belief; and the third term “ signs,” indicates their value as proofs of a Divine mission. All these aspects may be more or less presented in different miracles, or may appear in different degrees in the same miracle, and in considering the relations of miracles to nature they should all be kept in view. More especially we should bear in mind that our word “ miracle,” derived from the Latin, and meaning merely something wonderful, does not express the whole nature of the Biblical miracles, nor indeed, perhaps, ‘ their most important feature. There may be great miracles which excite but little wonder or astonishment, though they may produce important effects, as, for instance, some of those miracles of deliverance wrought for the apostles, and little known or thought of among their contemporaries. On the other hand, there are many wonderful phenomena which are not miracles. A more important aspect is that of powers, or mighty works, which indicate the presence of superhuman power, capable of controlling natural agencies, and of modifying or rearranging the laws of the universe. In this respect miracles bring us face to face with God as the only true miracle-worker. But, perhaps, the most important aspect of all, more especially in connection with the apostolic history, is that signs, or proofs, of the Divine character or mission of those who possess such powers, or to whom they are given. It is this aspect that they are most frequently referred to, and in which they approach most nearly to those moral and spiritual characters on which I am not to enter, any further than to say generally that miracles must conform in their natural relations to the higher moral and spiritual character of the message which, as signs, they authenticate. (Principal J. W. Dawson.)The miracles of Christ appealed to on the day of Pentecost These words contain-- I. An important appeal. It was addressed to the Jews, and its subject is the promised Messiah.1. The name by which He is designated. “ Jesus of Nazareth.” 2. The character under which He is set forth. “ A Man approved of God.” 3. The conclusive manner in which His claims were established. “ By miracles and wonders and signs.” II. A solemn charge. “ Him being delivered,” etc.1. The unparalleled crime of which they were guilty. 2. It was no extenuation of their conduct that what they had done accomplished the Divine purposes. III. A blessed announcement. It referred to the resurrection of Christ.1. To whom this great event is here ascribed. “ Whom God hath raised up.” 2. The manner in which it was performed. “ Having loosed the pains (or bonds) of death.” 3. The necessity of its accomplishment. “ Not possible that He should be holden of it.” IV. A striking quotation. “ For David speaketh concerning Him,” etc.1. The feelings evinced. Those of confidence and joy. 2. The grounds on which they rested. Because Jesus died and rose again. (Expository Outlines.)Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Nod, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.-- Christ crucified according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God I. Who was delivered? I. Jesus of Nazareth had at once a name of ignominy, and a name of renown. He was called a Nazarene by the Jews because He was brought up at Nazareth; and they availed themselves of that fact to fasten upon Him what they thought would be an indelible stigma. Jesus is a name of glory. It was, indeed, a human, a common name, borne by many before; but when it was once put on Him it never was put on any other. You do not hesitate to call your children by the names of the apostles, but no father dares to call his son Jesus, because God has called His Son Jesus. “ This is the name to sinners dear, the name to sinners given,” the name above every name.2. The particular feature of His character here developed is the power of working miracles. A miracle has been defined--“ a suspension or counteraction of the laws of nature.” And what are the laws of nature? They are the agencies of God, by which He employs certain causes to the production of certain effects. What philosophers signify by the essential, inflexible, eternal laws of nature, is nothing but the will of God acting in a definite way; and these laws Jesus of Nazareth broke in upon, disturbed them when He pleased. He showed that He was the Author of nature, and that all these laws were of His own making; and, therefore, as He produced the effects apart from the usual associated causes He was the God of nature. His miracles are called wonders, because they filled the spectators with wonder; and signs, because they were indexes of the properties, and prerogatives, and character of Him that wrought them. II. To what was He delivered? To a death the most extraordinary in its nature, and the most dolorous in its circumstances, if you consider:--1. The place where He died. We all hope to die in our own homes and beds. But your Lord and Master died at Calvary, a place putrid with blood and bones--the atmosphere of which was impregnated with a blasphemous breath. 2. Among whom He died. He was crucified between two malefactors; He had the middle place as though He was worse than either of them. 3. The death itself. Crucifixion was the most lingering and painful mode of death, and the most infamous. “ Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree.” What part of His body was exempt from anguish? Was it His hands and His feet?--they were pierced with nails. Was it His temples?--they were punctured with thorns. Was it His back?--that was lacerated with scourges. Was it His side?--that was broken by the hostile spear. Was it His bones?--they were all as it were out of joint. Was it His muscles?--they were stretched upon the gibbet. Was it His veins?--they were deprived of their purple fluid. Was it His nerves, those canals of feeling, those rivers of sensation?--they were wrung with anguish. And all this was as nothing compared with the sorrows of His soul. Though He had been a man of sorrows and a child of grief, yet, when He came to be delivered up, He said, “ Now, now is My soul exceeding sorrowful.” The weight of mental anguish may be alleviated by three sources. (1) The sympathies of affectionate friends. But when Christ died, His disciples forsook Him and fled; He was surrounded with grim guard-by hostile bands. (2) By the holy angels, who are ministering spirits sent forth to minister’ unto them who are heirs of salvation; and perhaps the most important part of their ministration is rendered to us just when the immortal spirit is on the confines of eternity. Our Saviour had Himself, during His life, been ministered to by angels; but when delivered up to death, the angels afforded Him no sympathy. He drank the wine-press alone, with Him was none, neither man nor angel could sympathise with Him in His suffering. (3) By the consolations of our heavenly Father. But Jesus of Nazareth when delivered up to death was without these. The Father that had honoured His birth by a new star, and His baptism by the sound of a more than mortal voice from the excellent glory, that had honoured Him when He performed the miracles to which I have alluded, forsook Him upon the Cross. III. By whom was He delivered? I notice--1. The human agents. It was the Jews that did it; their high priest had said it was expedient for Christ to die; it was their Pontius Pilate that condemned Him; it was their Judas that betrayed Him; their priests that plotted it; their Scribes and Pharisees that hailed it; their populace that shouted for it. But let not the Jews imagine that their guilt is at all diminished by the fact of the death of Christ being “ according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” Their actions were not at all influenced by the determinate counsel of Jehovah; the apostle tells them they were not; he says, “ Ye have done it.” 2. But there is another agency in this “ transaction (a God appears in this amazing scene). Lift up the eyes of your mind to the throne of the heavens, to the Majesty on high, and see God delivering up His own Son to this accursed death. They could have had no power against the Son of Man except it had been given to them from above. The death of Christ was not casual, it was not accidental, it was according to the certain councils entered into between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the abyss of a past eternity. In these counsels it was agreed that one of the persons of the Trinity should become incarnate for lost human nature; that one should die for our guilty world. According to the contract entered into, Jesus of Nazareth was delivered up unto death. How amazing that such deliberations should be followed by such results I Hear the declaration of the apostle on the subject, “ He spared not His only Son, but freely gave Him up for us all.” IV. The design on account of, and the end for which, Jesus of Nazareth was delivered. He was delivered up for what? for whom? Not for His own iniquity, for He had none; not for Himself, for He was no transgressor. He could challenge the bitterest of His enemies and say--“ Which of you convinces Me of sin?” Now, we are only acquainted with the iniquity of angels and men, and the question is narrowed to this: If Jesus were not delivered for His own iniquity--having none at all--He was delivered for the iniquity of angels that sinned, or for ours. Now then, for which was it? He passed by the angels, He took not hold of their nature, He never was found in fashion as an angel. I love the angels, because, among other reasons, they do not envy man the grandeur and glory of his being redeemed by the Son of God, while part of their own species was not taken hold of by the Son of God. When Jesus of Nazareth was born the angels sang--“ Glory to God in the highest” --and in hell peace? No; and because they could not sing in hell peace, did they refuse to sing on earth peace? They could not say, and they did net say, “ Good will to devils,” to our lost brethren; but could say, and they did say, “ Good will to man.” Jesus of Nazareth took hold of our nature and was delivered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Why He felt for us, rather than for angels that sinned, I know not. It is enough for me to know that He loves me, and loves you, and that He loves all our apostate race. Here comes in the old, good-for-nothing objection to the innocent suffering for the guilty. Why, then, did Christ suffer? Oh, they say, He suffered to give us an example of magnanimity and patience under suffering. And they talk about justice. Why, if there is injustice in His dying to save a world from the curse of God, there is a million times more monstrous injustice in His dying merely to teach us how to suffer. He died by His own consent. What bound Him to the Cross? Was it the nails? If He had never been fastened by anything but nails, He had never been fastened at all. It was love that led Him to go to the high altar, and it was love to us that fastened Him to that altar. Conclusion: It is not enough to hear of this Saviour, and of this salvation, and the love that prompted it; there must be a personal appropriation of the benefit of the death of Christ. (J. Beaumont, D. D.)The nature and quality of the death Christ died upon the Cross I. The Kind Or Nature Of His Death.1. It was a violent death in itself, though voluntary on His part (Isaiah 53:8; John 10:17). And indeed He must either die a violent death or not at all, partly because there was no sin in Him to open a door to natural death, partly because His death had not been a sacrifice satisfactory to God for us. That which died of itself was never offered up to God, but that which was slain when it was in its full strength and health. 2. A most painful death. Indeed in this death were many deaths contrived in one. The Cross was a rack as well as a gibbet. 3. A shameful death. One appointed for the vilest of men. 4. A cursed death (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23). 5. A very slow and lingering death. 6. A helpless death. II. The reasons why Christ died this, rather than any other kind of death.1. Because Christ must bear the curse, and a curse by law was affixed to no other kind of death as it was to this. 2. To fulfil the types. All the sacrifices were lifted up from the earth upon the altar. But especially the brazen serpent prefigured this death (Numbers 21:9; John 3:14). 3. Because it was predicted of Him (Psalms 22:16-17; Zechariah 12:10). Inferences: Did Christ die the death of the Cross? Then-- 1. There is forgiveness with God, and plenteous redemption for the greatest of sinners, that by faith apply the blood of the Cross to their poor guilty souls (Colossians 1:14; 1 John 1:7). Two things this will make demonstrable. (1) That there is sufficient efficacy in the blood of the Cross to expiate and wash away the greatest sins (1 Peter 1:18; Acts 20:28). On the account of its invaluable preciousness, it becomes satisfying and reconciling blood to God (Colossians 1:20), and having enough in it to satisfy God it must needs have enough in it to satisfy conscience (Hebrews 10:22). (2) As there is sufficient efficacy in this blood to expiate the greatest guilt, so it is as manifest that the virtue of it is intended by God for the use of believing sinners (Acts 13:39). 2. Though there be much of pain there is nothing, of curse in the death of the saints. Death poured out all its poison and lost its sting in Christ’ s side when He became a curse for us. 3. How cheerfully should we submit to, and bear any cross for Jesus Christ. What feathers are ours compared with His! (1) We shall carry it but a little way.(2) Christ bears the heaviest end of it.(3) Innumerable blessings and mercies grow upon it. (J. Flavel.)Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.-- The resurrection I. Its cause. It was such an action as proclaimed an omnipotent agent. Death is a disease which art cannot cure: and the grave a prison which delivers back its captives upon no human summons. To restore life is only the prerogative of Him who gives it. Physic may repair and piece up nature, but not create it. Neither is it in the power of a spirit or demon to inspire a new life; for it is a creation, and to create is the incommunicable prerogative of a power infinite and unlimited. But; I suppose nobody will be very importunate for any further proof of this, that; if Christ was raised, it must be by God who raised Him. The angel might roll away the stone from the sepulchre, but not turn it into a son of Abraham; and a less power than that which could do so could not effect the resurrection. II. The manner by which God wrought it. With what propriety can God be said to “ loose the pains of death,” when those pains continued not till the resurrection, but expired in the death of His body?1. Some have affirmed that Christ descended into the place of the damned and suffered the pains of hell. But this could not be; for if Christ suffered any of those pains it was either in His Divine nature, or in His soul, or in His body. But the Divine nature could not suffer as being wholly impassible: nor yet could He suffer in His soul; forasmuch as in the very same day of His death that passed into paradise; nor in His body, for that being dead, and consequently for the time bereaved of all sense, could not be capable of any torment. 2. Now can we make out the reason of this expression upon some other or better ground. The word rendered “ pains,” in the Hebrew signifies also a cord or band; according to which it is very easy and proper to conceive that the resurrection discharged Christ from the bands of death; besides “ having loosed,” is properly applicable to bands and not to pains. But-- (1) The words contain in them a Hebraism, viz., the pains of death, for a painful death; as it is said (Matthew 24:15), the abomination of desolation, for an abominable desolation; and so the resurrection loosed Christ from a painful death, not as if it were so at the time of His release from it, but in a divided sense it loosed Him from a continuance under that death; which, relating to the time of His suffering it, was so painful. (2) But though the pains of death ceased long before the resurrection, so that this could not in strictness of sense be said to remove them; yet, taken in a metonymy of the cause for the effect, the pains of death might be properly said to have been loosed in the resurrection, because that estate of death into which Christ was brought by those foregoing pains was then completely triumphed over. Captivity under death and the grave was the effect and consequent of those pains, and therefore the same deliverance which discharged Christ from the one, might not improperly be said to loose Him from the other. III. Its grounds, which was its absolute necessity.1. The hypostatical union of Christ’ s human nature to His Divine rendered a perpetual duration under death absolutely impossible. For how could that which was united to the great source and principle of life be finally prevailed over by death, and pass into an estate of perpetual darkness and oblivion? It was possible, indeed, that the Divine nature might for a while suspend its supporting influence, and so deliver over the human nature to pain and death, but it was impossible for it to let go the relation it bore to it. A man may suffer his child to fall to the ground, and yet not wholly quit his hold of him, but still keep it in his power to recover and lift him up at his pleasure. Thus the Divine nature of Christ did for a while hide itself from His humanity, but not desert it; put it into the chambers of death, but not lock the everlasting doors upon it. The sun may be clouded and yet not eclipsed, and eclipsed but not stopped in his course, and much less forced out of its orb. Surely that nature which diffusing itself throughout the universe communicates an enlivening influence to every part of it, and quickens the least spire of grass, would not wholly leave a nature assumed into its bosom, and, what is more, into the very unity of the Divine person, dismantled of its prime and noblest perfection. 2. God’ s immutability. Christ’ s resurrection was founded upon the same bottom with the consolation and salvation of believers, expressed in that full declaration made by God of Himself (Malachi 3:6). Now, the immutability of God, as it had an influence upon Christ’ s resurrection, was twofold. (1) In respect of His decree or purpose. God had from all eternity designed this, and sealed it by an irreversible purpose. For can we imagine that Christ’ s resurrection was not decreed, as well as His death and sufferings? and these in the 23rd verse of this chapter are expressly said to have been determined by God. It is a known rule in divinity, that whatsoever God does in time, that He purposed to do from eternity; for there can be no new purposes of God, since he who takes up a new purpose does so because he sees some ground to induce him to such a purpose, which he did not see before; but this can have no place in an infinite knowledge, which by one comprehensive intuition sees all things at present, before ever they come to pass: so that there can be no new emergency that can alter the Divine resolutions. (2) In respect of His word and promise, for these also were engaged in this affair (Psalms 16:10). And Christ also had frequently foretold the same of Himself. Now when God says a thing He gives His veracity in pawn to see it fully performed. Heaven or earth may pass away sooner than one iota of a Divine promise fall to the ground. 3. God’ s justice. God in the whole procedure of Christ’ s sufferings must be considered as a judge exacting, and Christ as a person paying down a recompense or satisfaction for sin. The punishment due to sin was death, which being paid by Christ, Divine justice could not any longer detain Him in His grave. For what had this been else but to keep Him in prison after the debt was paid? Satisfaction disarms justice, and payment cancels the bond. Christ’ s release proceeded not upon terms of courtesy but of claim. The gates of death flew open before Him out of duty. 4. The necessity of His being believed in as a Saviour, and the impossibility of His being so without rising from the dead. As Christ by His death paid down a satisfaction for sin, so it was necessary that it should be declared to the world by such arguments as might found a rational belief of it; so that men’ s unbelief should be rendered inexcusable. But how could the world believe that He fully had satisfied for sin, so long as they saw death, the known wages of sin, maintain its full force and power over Him? Had not the resurrection followed the crucifixion, that scoff of the Jews had stood as an unanswerable argument against Him (Mark 15:31-32). To save is the effect of power, and of such a power as prevails to a complete victory and a triumph. 5. The nature of the priesthood which He had taken upon Him. The apostle (Hebrews 8:4) says, that “ if He were upon earth He should not be a priest.” Certainly then much less could He be so, should He continue under the earth. The two great works of His priesthood were to offer sacrifice, and then to make intercession for sinners, correspondent to the two works of the Mosaical priesthood. Christ, therefore, after that He had offered Himself upon the Cross, was to enter, into heaven, and there presenting Himself to the Father to make that sacrifice effectual to all the intents and purposes of it (Hebrews 7:25). Had not Christ risen again, His blood indeed might have cried for vengeance upon His murderers, but not for mercy upon believers. Ever since Christ ascended into heaven He has been pursuing the great work begun by Him upon the Cross, and applying The virtue of His sacrifice to those for whom it was offered. (R. South, D. D.)The necessity of Christ’ s resurrection It was not possible that death should hold our Divine Lord and Saviour. Why? I. Was it simply because of His power? Is the victory that He gained when He came forth from the grave only the prevalence of a stronger force over a weaker? The love of power, the delight in wielding it and in witnessing its exercise, the joy of battle, the elation of victory--how much of human energy finds vent in these great passions! Is this spectacle of the triumphing of Christ over death only another exhibition of strength? Doubtless we must see in the resurrection a proof of superhuman energy. “ No man taketh My life from Me,” etc., said our Lord. Here is the sign of a strength superior to nature; of an energy that is not confined by the uniformities of physical law; of a force that is stronger than the strongest of the forces with which our science deals. But is this all? No; this is the least of the truths disclosed to us upon the Easter day. Men had faith enough in physical power before Christ rose from the dead. Worshippers of power most of them were. Men believed quite enough in the power of God; as a revelation of the fact that there is a Will behind nature superior to nature, the resurrection was not needed. II. Was it logical? Does the apostle mean that Christ could not have been left in the grave, because the Divine plan and purpose made His resurrection necessary? Doubtless this is true. The success of His mission required Him to rise from the grave. It was necessary as a practical measure, for the confirmation of His claims, and the verification of His gospel. But is this all? No. III. The impossibility was moral. It was not might nor policy but love and right that conquered.1. The apostle expresses in this phrase one of the strongest and most persistent of the instinctive moral feelings of man, viz., that virtuous being ought to continue. It is sometimes said that man has an instinctive faith in immortality, and it is doubtless true. But the feeling to which I refer is much deeper and more dominant than this. I am not speaking now of the testimony of revelation concerning future existence, but of the conclusions to which our own instinct and judgment would lead us. And I think that if we had to depend wholly on these for our light upon this great question, while each one might hope for life beyond the grave as his own inheritance, we should hesitate to affirm it confidently respecting all our neighbours. Here, for example, is one whose life has steadily gravitated downward; who has grown more sordid, sour, brutish, with every passing year. So he lives, and so living he goes down to death. If we had no other guide than our own reason and moral instincts, should we confidently affirm of such a man that there would be life for him beyond the grave? I do not think so. I think we should be more likely to say of him, pityingly and mournfully: “ If there were any prospect that his character could be mended, then we would hope that he might have life beyond; but if his life is to go on in this strain, there is no reason why his existence should be prolonged. If this universe is built on righteousness, the continuance of such lives is illogical and inexplicable.” That is what the moral reason would say about it. But here is another of different quality. His life has been full of faithful and loving service of his kind; the contact of his spirit made every man more manly and every woman more womanly. Steadily as the years have gone by his character has been ripening, and now in the midst of his years he suddenly falls, and among men no more is seen. Is not our feeling about such a man’ s departure quite different from that with which we noted the passing out of life of the other? Do we not say at once, that if this universe means righteousness such a man ought not to cease to be; that the discontinuance of such a life would be as illogical and inexplicable as the continuance of the other would be? Death has seized upon our friend, we say, but it is not possible that death should hold him fast. 2. In cases of many that we have known we have felt that this impossibility was strong, almost invincible; but how much stronger should it have been in the minds of those who had been the companions and disciples of Jesus Christ all their lives! Might they not have said, with far clearer emphasis, when the hand of death was laid on Him, “ It is not possible that He should be holden of it” ? Recall some faint outline of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Remember the clear truthfulness of His speech, His courage, His friendship for the outcasts and the despised, the grand independence with which He brushed aside the conventional estimates, the tireless beneficence and boundless sympathy of His life. And now suddenly this life terminates. By wicked hands this Prince of Life is crucified and slain! Is it possible that such a life, so pure and perfect and benignant, should end like this? You could not affirm that it would reappear on this earth; on that point experience could give you no encouragement; but you could say that there ought to be and must be given to that life, somewhere, glory and immortality. 3. The force of this conclusion respecting all highest and noblest life it is hard to evade. The expectation of future existence in the abstract may be more or less shadowy; but the expectation that virtuous life will continue rests on the very foundation of our moral nature. And there is a great word of science that reaffirms this verdict of our moral sense. It is the fittest that survive, we are told. And, in a moral universe, it is the righteous, surely, who are fit to survive. You stand upon some elevated spot, where you can see, far down the valley, a railway train approaching. The pennant of smoke is lifted by the wind as the train draws nearer and nearer, bending round the curves, speeding swiftly along the straight alignments, its first faint murmur deepening into an audible roar, until it rushes past you swift, majestic, resistless, the very incarnation of motion and of might. Quickly, almost before your nerves have ceased to thrill with the onset of its power, it is out of sight behind an embankment, and out of hearing beyond a hill; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, it is gone. Would it be easy for you now to believe that that wonderful power has vanished out of being; that when it passed beyond your sight it suddenly ceased to be; that all which you saw and felt but for a moment ago is now nothing but a memory? No; that would not be possible. You are sure that the glory of going on still belongs to that wonderful mechanism, though it is now beyond your sight. And it seems to me that the reasons for believing in the persistence of a great moral force after it has disappeared from these scenes of earth are far stronger. Of such a power we say, more confidently than of any physical energy, “ It cannot be blotted out; it must continue to be.” 4. It was to strengthen this conviction, to demonstrate its truth and its reason, to give the world, in a great object lesson, the proof that virtue does not die, that our Lord came back to earth. It was not only to show His own Divinity; it was also to show that virtue and holiness are immortal. And as it was not possible that He should be holden of death, so neither is it possible that any of those who have His life in them should be detained in that prison-house. This is no arbitrary decree by which a future life is assured to the disciples of Christ; it is the law of the universe. Over such characters as His death has no power; and they who by faith in Him are brought into harmony with Him in this life can never be the prey of the spoiler. “ He that believeth in Me,” said the Master, “ hath everlasting life.” He who is one with Christ, who has the spirit of Christ, hath eternal life. What, to him, are all the vicissitudes and perils of our mortal state, all the sullen and ominous noises of the flood of years whose tides steadily gather round the narrow neck of land whereon he calmly waits? There is a hope within him that many waters cannot quench. His life is hid with Christ in God. (W. Gladden, D. D.)The resurrection inevitable St. Peter’ s way of accounting for Christ’ s resurrection is the first apostolic statement on the subject. And certainly, even if the point were only one of antiquarian interest, it would be full of attraction to know how the first Christians thought about the chief truths of their faith; considering the influence which that faith has had and still has on the development of the human race. But for us, Christians, concern in this matter is more exacting. Our hopes or fears, our depressions or enthusiasms, our improvement or deterioration, are bound up with it. “ If Christ be not risen, our preaching is vain, your faith is also vain.” I. St. Peter states the fact that Christ had risen from the dead. “ Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death.” He is preaching in Jerusalem, the scene of the death and resurrection, and to some who had taken part in the scenes of the crucifixion. Not more than seven weeks have passed. And in Jerusalem, we may be sure, men did not live as fast as they do in an European capital, in this age of telegraphs and railroads. An event like the crucifixion, in a town of that size, would have occupied general attention for a considerable period. It was then to persons keenly interested in the subject, and who had opportunities of testing its truth, that St. Peter states so calmly and unhesitatingly the fact of the resurrection. He states it as just as much a fact of history as the crucifixion, in which his hearers had taken part. Some twenty-six years later, when St. Paul wrote his first letter to Corinth, there were, he says, more than two hundred and fifty still alive who had seen Jesus Christ after His resurrection. The number of witnesses to the fact, to whom St. Peter could appeal, and whom his hearers might cross-question if they liked, will account for the simplicity and confidence of his assertion. In those days men had not learnt to think more of abstract theories than of well-attested facts. Nobody, it may be added, who professed to believe in an Almighty God, thought it reverent or reasonable to say that He could not for sufficient reasons modify His ordinary rules of working, if He chose to do so. St. Peter then preached the resurrection as a fact, and, as we know, with great and immediate results. But how did he account for it? II. He says that Christ was raised because “ it was not possible that he should be holden of” death. Thus St. Peter’ s first thought about this matter is the very opposite to that of many persons in our day. They say that no evidence will convince them that Christ has risen, because they hold it to be antecedently impossible that He should rise. St. Peter, on the other hand, almost speaks as if he could dispense with any evidence. In point of fact, he had his own experience to fall back upon (Luke 24:34). But this evidence only fell in with the anticipations which he had now formed on other and independent grounds. It will do us good to consider the reasons of this Divine impossibility.1. It was not possible, “ for David speaketh concerning Him.” Prophecy forbade Christ to remain in His grave. As to the principle of this argument there would have been no controversy, between St. Peter and the Jews. When once God had thus spoken, His word, it was felt by Jews and. Christians, stood sure. It could not return empty; it must accomplish the work for which God had sent it forth; since it bound Him to an engagement with those who uttered and with those who heard His message. Obviously enough, the true drift of a prophecy may easily be mistaken. God is not responsible for eccentric guesses as to His meaning. But where a prediction is clear, it does bind Him who is its real Author to some fulfilment, which, in the event, will be recognised as such. And such a prediction of the resurrection St. Peter finds in Psalms 16:1-11., where David--as more completely in Psalms 22:1-31.--loses the sense of his own personal circumstances in the impetus and ecstasy of the prophetic spirit, and describes a Personality of which indeed he was a type, but which altogether transcends him. The meaning of the Psalm was so clear to some Jewish doctors, that, unable as they were to reconcile it with David’ s history, they invented the fable that his body was miraculously preserved from corruption. David, however, was really speaking in the person of Messiah. And his language created the necessity that Messiah should rise from the dead. Observe, here, that St. Peter had not always felt and thought thus. He had known this Psalm all his life. But long after he had followed Jesus, he had been ignorant of its true meaning. Only little by little do any of us learn God’ s truth and will. And so lately as the morning of the resurrection, the apostles “ knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” Since then the Holy Spirit had come down, and had poured a flood of light into their minds and over the sacred pages of the Old Testament. And thus a necessity for the resurrection, which even Jews ought to recognise, was now abundantly plain. 2. A second reason lay in the character of Christ. Now, of that a leading feature was its simple truthfulness. He was too wise to predict the impossible. He was too sincere to promise what He did not mean. But Christ had again and again said that He would be put to a violent death, and that after dying He would rise again (John 2:19; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 16:21; Mark 9:31; Mark 10:32-34). Thus He was pledged to this particular act--pledged to the Jewish people, and especially to His own followers. He could not have remained in His grave--I will not say without dishonour, but--without causing in others a revulsion of feeling such as is provoked by the exposure of baseless pretensions. It may indeed be urged that the resurrection foretold by Christ was not a literal resurrection of His dead body, but only a recovery of His credit, His authority; obscured as these had been for a while by the crucifixion. The word “ resurrection,” according to this supposition, is in His mouth a purely metaphorical expression. Socrates had had to drink the fatal hemlock; and the body of Socrates had long since mingled with the dust. But Socrates, it might be said, had risen, in the intellectual triumphs of his pupils, and in the enthusiastic admiration of succeeding ages; the method and words of Socrates had been preserved for all time in a literature that will never die. If Christ was to be put to death by crucifixion, He would triumph, even after a death so shameful and degrading, as Socrates and others had triumphed before Him. To imagine for Him an actual exit from His tomb is said to be a crude literalism, natural to uncultivated ages, but impossible when the finer suggestiveness of human language has been felt to transcend the letter. An obvious reply to this explanation is, that it arbitrarily makes our Lord use literal and metaphorical language in two successive clauses of a single sentence. He is literal, it seems, when He predicts His crucifixion; but why is He to be thought metaphorical when He foretells His resurrection? Why should not His resurrection be preceded by a metaphorical crucifixion; a crucifixion of thought, or will, or reputation--not the literal nailing of a human body to a wooden cross? Surely He meant that the one event would be just as much or just as little a matter of fact as the other. Those who cling to His human character, yet deny His resurrection, would do well to consider that they must choose between, their moral enthusiasm and their unbelief; since it is the character of Christ, even more than the language of prophecy, which made the idea that He would not rise after death impossible for His first disciples. 3. Not that we have yet exhausted St. Peter’ s reasons. In the sermon which he preached after the healing of the lame man, he told his hearers that they had “ killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead.” Remark that striking title. Not merely does it show how high above all earthly royalties was the crucified Saviour in the heart and faith of His apostle. It connects his thought with the language of his Master on the one side, and that of His apostles St. Paul and St. John upon the other (John 14:6; John 5:26; John 5:40; John 1:4; Colossians 3:4). What is life? We do not know what it is in itself. We only register its symptoms. We see growth, movement; and we say, “ Here is life.” It exists in one degree in the tree; in a higher in the animal; in a higher still in man. In beings above man, we cannot doubt, it is to be found in some yet grander form. But in all these cases it is a gift from another: and having been given, it might be modified or withdrawn. Only the Self-Existent lives of right. He lives because He cannot but live. This is true of the Eternal Three, who yet are One. Hence our Lord says, “ As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” Thus, with the Eternal Giver, the Eternal Receiver is the Fountain and Source of life. With reference to all created beings, He is the Life--their Creator, their Upholder, their End (Colossians 1:16-17). This then is the full sense of St. Peter’ s expression, “ The Prince of Life.” How could the very Lord and ,Source of life be subdued by death? If, for reasons of wisdom and mercy, He subjected the nature which He had made His own to the king of terrors, this was surely not in the course of nature; it was a violence to nature that this should be. And therefore when the object had been achieved, He would rise, St. Peter implies, by an inevitable rebound, by the force of things, by the inherent energy of His irrepressible life. From St. Peter’ s point of view, the real wonder would be if such a Being were not to rise. The pains of death were loosed--not by an extraordinary effort, as in your case or mine--but because it was impossible that He, the Prince of Life, should be holden of it. III. This necessity, while in its original form strictly proper to His case, points to kindred necessities which affect His servants and His church. Note--1. The impossibility, for us Christians too, of being buried for ever in the tomb in which we shall each be laid at death. In this, as in other matters, “ as He is, so are we in this world.” To us as to Him, although in a different way, God has pledged Himself. In Him an internal vital force made resurrection from death necessary; in us there is no such intrinsic force, only a power guaranteed to us from without. He could say of the temple of His body, “ I will raise it up in three days” : we can only say that God will raise us up, we know not when. But this we do know (Romans 8:11). The law of justice and the law of love combine to create a necessity which requires “ a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust.” Death is not an eternal sleep; the tomb is not the final resting-place of the bodies of those whom we have loved. The empty sepulchre at Jerusalem on Easter morning is the warrant of a new life, strictly continuous with this, and, if we are faithful, much more glorious. 2. The principle of moral resurrections in the Church. As with the bodies of the faithful so it is with the Church. The Church is, according to St. Paul’ s teaching, Christ Himself in history (1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 1:22-23). But the force of this language is limited by the fact, equally warranted by Scripture--that the Church has in it a human element, which, unlike the humanity of Christ, is weak and sinful. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 2:25-28 For David speaketh concerning Him.A prophetic panorama of the life of Jesus These words of David show Jesus-- I. In His relation to the Father.1. He had a constant recollection of God. “ I saw the Lord always,” etc. In His early life He said, “ Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’ s business?” And when the end drew near He said, “ I must work,” etc. His faithful people are in this respect like Him in their degrees. 2. He had a constant assurance of the Divine presence--“ He is on My right hand.” He could speak to the Father anywhere, and be sure that He was always heard. It is granted also to His true disciples to have like gracious freedom of access. 3. He fully accepted and entered into the Divine purpose as to His life. He was not to “ be moved.” The evils through which He had to pass would have shaken one less fixed in soul. So may each of us overcome in the day of conflict. II. In a state of delight. “ Therefore did My heart rejoice.” Of this delight note--1. That it was reasonable. “ Therefore.” Why? Because Jesus stood in a proper relation to God. Some seek delight when they are not right towards God. This is irrational. 2. Affected the whole man. The heart rejoiced, and the tongue was glad, and the flesh rested. So His servant Paul, though always sorrowful, was always rejoicing. Oh, blessed paradox! 3. Tinged the dark future with light. “ My flesh also shall rest in hope.” An unknown experience lay before Him in prospect, and He naturally shrank from it; but such was His delight that He could steadily go forward to His appointed lot. He knew that no evil could befall Him, though He must pass through the kingdom of the dead. So are His servants upheld and comforted in death by thoughts of heaven. 4. Was brought to its fulness by His resurrection and ascension. “ Ways of life” were made known to Jesus by experience when He laboured among men. When men thought He had gone finally in the way of death, the way of victorious life was made known in His resurrection. Thus was His joy enhanced in ways and degrees known only to Himself. And that joy reached its fulness when He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. “ Full of joy with Thy countenance.” His people are to sit with Him upon His throne, as He sits on the Father’ s throne. Then “ they shall hunger no more,” etc. Conclusion: See here-- 1. The unity of Holy Scripture. Christ is its chief subject. Its main purpose is the setting forth of the truth concerning Him. Peter pointed out allusion to Him where it had not been previously seen; and from His Person there shines a light in which many obscurities disappear. 2. The privileges of those who are complete in Christ. By His grace they are brought into proper relations to God, and have thenceforward meat to eat which the world knows not of His salvation transcends all other good. (W. Hudson.)Thou shalt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. Christ’ s descent into hell and rising again from the dead St. Peter, in a short but notable sermon, demonstrates Jesus to be the Messiah. The Holy One of God, the Lord, the Christ. 1. From the miracles He did in His lifetime, they being witnesses of the same (Acts 2:22).2. By the fulfilling of prophecy. In being not only rejected by His own, but crucified by them, according to the determinate counsel of God (Acts 2:23). 3. From the wonders He did, not in life only, but in death. He brake through the bonds of it; the grave could not detain His body, nor Hades His soul. And this according to prophecy and promise (Psalms 16:10), which is the apostle’ s quotation and my text. In discussing this doctrine, I will show-- I. What is the meaning of Christ’ s soul being in hell? For, with respect to His Godhead, we may say of Him in the words of the Psalmist (Psalms 139:7-8). But our discourse is of the soul of the Messiah, and that was for a while in hell; not in a state of torment. But the soul of the Messiah, when He gave up His ghost, passed into the receptacle of blessed souls, into that paradise where the redeemed and pardoned are lodged, and where with Him went the repenting thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). It is this receptacle of good souls, this paradise for those that die in Christ, that is called Hades; that is, an invisible state, a being, though in a remote region, which eye cannot reach or penetrate. I confess it is a hard matter to beat out of the vulgar heads the gross conception of the word hell, which sounds to them no other than horror, and blackness of darkness, and fire and brimstone. “ A place very improper to look for the soul of Christ when departed out of His body, for Him and His betrayer Judas to meet in the same place. He that had by death purchased heaven for others, Himself after death to descend into hell. This, therefore, cannot be; no, is not the meaning of the word hell where Christ went. He came not near that abyss, nor was at all among those reprobated crew.” The true, easy, and natural sense of Hades is an invisible region. Objection: If Hades means paradise, why should Christ pray against His being left in Hades, as He hopes His body shall not see corruption? Answer: He doth not pray thus, as if it were not well with His soul in Hades, as to what He enjoyed. For His soul was the soul of the Messiah, the soul of a Redeemer, a soul that was to conquer death, and not to stay any considerable time from His body born of the Virgin Mary. He had work to do which other souls had not; He was to rise for others’ justification. He was to ascend into the holy of holiest, as the great High Priest of our souls; and therefore He must return to His body, that He may as God-Man in human flesh for ever enter into glory. As if He should say, Thou wilt not leave Me unto death; that is, My soul in separation. This would be the triumph of the devil. II. The occasion and reason of this article being inserted in our creed. Not that it was there at first, but it came in afterward, and that occasioned by a new heresy that started up in the Church; and therefore to obviate that this article was added as a truth provable from Scripture, that Christ went into Hades. The error was this, that Christ had no proper intellectual or rational soul. Which heresy was begun and propagated by one Apollonius and his followers. That the Word or the Divinity supplied the place of a soul, and that therefore He was not properly dead when His body was in the grave. But in opposition to this error, the Christians assert that Christ had a human soul, that it underwent all the offices of one in the body and out of the body. And when He was crucified, and by the pains of that disposed for a resignation of His Spirit, He gave it up to God, and waited upon His disposal of it. For all souls are to return to the Father of spirits, to be consigned to the state or place they are meet for. And the soul of the Messiah went to the apartment of separated souls, that is, of good and righteous ones.1. That we are assured that we are when we go hence. And the disciples of Christ go to Paradise, as He did. I do not say they go into the heaven of heavens, for that Christ did not Himself until He reassumed His body. But when they are not as to mortal eye they shall be. “ This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” Thy soul and Mine shall go together to the assembly of the firstborn. The dissolution of our bodies shall not break off our being; the soul, the better part, is, even in the state of separation. They enter into rest, not a cessation of being or a rest of sleep. But they rest in hope, they live in a joyful expectation of a more glorious appearance. Our Saviour’ s return to reassume His body gave an ocular demonstration of the immortality both of body and soul. 2. A God incarnate takes actual care both of our bodies and souls, in every state after we come into the body; in life, in death, and after death. A God incarnate, I say; for so was the Lord of glory that was crucified for us, that died, and rose again from the dead (John 10:17-18). And this power He exerts not only for Himself, but all His followers. He is with them in life, in death, in the body, and out of the body. He dwells with them by His Spirit while in the tabernacle of the flesh; and when out of the body they are with the Lord. He beams His light of glory into the regions they are in, for a while, as separate from the body. He never leaves them nor forsakes them. St. Stephen, under a shower of stones, looked up stedfastly into heaven, arid saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God (Acts 7:55). And some such like manifestations separate souls have of their glorified Saviour, which makes them wait with joy for a farther salvation. 3. That a separation hereafter will be ever made betwixt the righteous and unrighteous. Our Saviour in the state of separation had nothing to do with the damned; He gave them no visit. He went not into hell in this sense. 4. Nothing shall withhold us from returning unto the body when the time of reunion comes. III. The incorruptibility of His body. It was not to see corruption. Though the soldiers gave Him His death wounds, yet they did not fester, nor His body see corruption. The immaculate Lamb was without spot; He was pierced, but He was not putrified; He was butchered, but not blemished. His body was cast into the grave, but it did not see corruption. Worms were neither His brothers nor sisters. His body was of a purer make, and had none of that taint that could attract such vermin. I shall represent to you some considerations why Christ’ s body was not to see corruption.1. Because He was in three days to reassume it, according to promise, and His own prediction. His body was not to be a mortal body as ours, to return to dust. That was the melancholy sentence passed on the posterity of Adam, but not to reach him that is the second Adam, who was though the son of Adam, as says St. Luke, yet not according to an ordinary generation. He had said, “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again” ; and He spake, says the text, of the “ temple His body” (John 2:21). 2. His body was not to see corruption because He was the second Adam, and was not under the guilt of the first. He was the Lord from heaven and the Lord of glory; and His body was to be a glorious body. His body was never stained by sin or sickness, and His death wounds only opened a passage for His Spirit; but the cabinet, though broken or bruised, was not disjointed. The temple was destroyed without dislocation of any part. The first Adam brought in sin and death into the world; the second, life and immortality. An argument which the apostle pursues, in 1 Corinthians 15:47, “ The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.” Our natures, as derivative from a sinner, are decreed to death and dissolution, and must sink into the same principle of which they are compounded, but the second Man is the Lord from heaven--the Lord of life and immortality. And therefore, in verse 45, the apostle styles Him a quickening Spirit, keeping His body tenantable, though He went out of it; and not only so, but He was Lord of His own body, and none other had power and dominion over it. None, nor anything, could assault His body laid up as in a repository for His returning. 3. His body was not to see corruption because He was, as the Christian High Priest, to enter into the Holy of Holiest, as the first fruits of the dead. So our apologist, St. Peter, verse 29, etc. This spiritual High Priest must enter into the Holy of Holiest, with all His body and soul clean, and clear, pure and perfect, radiant and glorious; the true regalia that adorned the investiture of this High Priest. The Christian High Priest was to be a freeman, not a prisoner. He was not to enter with shackles, but rather with the armature of a glorious Victor (Ephesians 6:13). The doctrinal part of this sermon speaks comfort to us all that should enliven us and fill us with joy in believing.1. The same Lord Jesus that raised and reassumed His own body, shall raise ours, and make them like His glorious body (Philippians 3:21). 2. Because Christ is our Lord, He hath redeemed our bodies by His precious blood, and He sacrificed His body for ours, and we have dedicated our bodies to Him, and He is Lord of our bodies. Not only our souls, but our bodies are redeemed by Him from the grave, and here is the state of the dead. 3. That Christ raised His own body. But I am not preaching to infidels, but believers: and we know that because Christ is risen we also shall arise, and our bodies shall be made like Christ’ s body. For-- 4. Christ will do this great work by taking away all those corruptible qualities and infirmities to which our bodies are liable, both living and dead. That this vile body may be refined, and free from decay, being made like the glorified body of Jesus after the resurrection. 5. The instrument by which our Lord shall effect this wonder, even by His omnipotence. “ Why,” says the same apostle, “ should it be thought impossible that God should raise the dead?” 6. We conclude that a spiritual resurrection in this life must precede the blessed and glorious resurrection to eternal life. It is for the sake of a raised mind that the body shall be like Christ’ s glorious body; for we must not expect to have a part in the resurrection of the just, unless in this life we commence such men. (W. Allen, D. D.)Thou hast made known to me the ways of life.-- The experience and prospect of a real Christian This exulting language (quoted from Psalms 16:11) may be adopted by those who believe in Christ, and have a lively sense of interest in His salvation. I. The language of devout gratitude. “ Thou hast made known,” etc. Compared with such a communication, every other kind of knowledge is insignificant. The ways which are worthy to be called “ ways of life” are “ made known” by none except the Almighty. The “ life” to which they lead us is the life of faith, holiness, and peace in the present world, and the life of inconceivable excellence and delight in the world to come. “ The ways of life” may therefore justly be called “ the ways of God.” He has prepared these ways; in the gospel He reveals them; and, by the influence of His Spirit, He conducts into them. Nor are these “ ways” merely “ made known” to a Christian--he occupies them, and recommends them; they are his delight; in them he meets God, and communes with Him. Thus he grows in grace and likeness to the Divine image. II. The language of devout expectation. “ Thou shalt make me,” etc.1. Christians already find that sin has lost its commanding influence; but they anticipate its entire extinction and their complete deliverance from all evil. 2. Christians anticipate a removal out of the world. 3. Christians anticipate the successful termination of their conflict with invisible principalities and powers. 4. Christians anticipate eternal intercourse with each other, and with all the angels of God. 5. Hence we are led to the richest view of the prospect with which Christians are indulged--they anticipate a vision all Divine. “ Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance.” (O. A. Jeary.) Acts 2:29-32 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David.An anti-rationalist argument Peter avers-- I. That david could not have said of himself the words here quoted, For this he states the threefold reason, that David had died, that he had been buried, and that his tomb was still shown. No one had ever heard of his returning to life; his soul was still in the kingdom of the dead, and his flesh must long since have returned to dust. Yet he had spoken the truth in the words quoted. Then those words must refer to some other than himself. To whom could they refer? For an answer to this question Peter asks his hearers to consider-- II. That david was wont to think and speak of the Messiah. God had sworn to David, and told him concerning the Messiah--1. That He would be His descendant. The descent could be traced to the Lord’ s mother, who was now present. 2. That He would succeed him on the throne of Israel. David’ s line was to be restored and completed in Christ, though the disobedience of his posterity caused the kingdom to pass to another family for a time. 3. That He would die. This is assumed in the apostle’ s quotation, and must be included in the meaning of David’ s words. And therefore-- 4. That He would rise from the dead. For the prophecy points to a sitting on the throne of David which should follow the death and the resurrection of the Messiah. All these things had been foretold by David, with conscious reference to the promises of the covenant. We need not suppose that he saw the full meaning of what he said; but that which he said of himself, and which exceeded what was true concerning himself, was proper in allusion to Christ, and ultimately found its explanation in the events of His course. And Peter takes this position without apology. What is his reason for so acting? It is-- III. That events well known had fulfilled the prophecy of David. The most striking event of the series is put forward in confirmation of the whole, and the vouchers for it are produced. “ This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” They knew who “ this Jesus” was, and what was His descent. They knew that He had died but a few weeks before at Jerusalem, and had been buried. Probably all the disciples now present had seen Him after His resurrection. All the mixed multitude now present were witnesses that His resurrection was affirmed by His friends, and that His enemies could not otherwise account for the disappearance of His body. They were all, therefore, God’ s witnesses. The inevitable conclusion was that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah; and this conclusion involved His kingship and His succession to David. This last was the only point yet remaining to be proved. We admire the precision and steady progress of this argument. Conclusion: Let us pause here and reflect on Peter’ s way of disposing of rationalism. Those whom he addressed followed reason and judged by appearances. He met them by an appeal to facts. Whatever reason might have said beforehand, David, under Divine direction, had recorded certain predictions, and those predictions had been fulfilled. “ Let God be true, and every man a liar.” How else can the rationalism of this day be dealt with?1. The character of Christ as sketched beforehand in prophecy is presented in the Gospels. 2. The course of Christianity as foretold by the Lord and His apostles has been witnessed thus far through the ages. 3. The promises made to those who repent and believe are clearly fulfilled from day to day. And in the character of Christ, the fulfilment of prophecy, and the Christian life, with its blessed fellowship with God and power of virtuous conduct, there are unanswerable “ evidences” for Christianity. (W. Hudson.)This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. The witness of the disciples The only possible issue to the life of our Lord was His standing up again in life, and His entrance visibly as a risen Man into the spiritual, eternal world. In that world He had lived while still a mortal Man. “ The Son of Man which is in heaven” is the sentence which contains the key to the innermost shrine of His life. This life which on earth was lived in heaven, brought to bear on man’ s earthly state all the influences of the eternal world. And as the life of Christ could only fulfil itself in its most quickening core of force by resurrection, so in all His previsions and predictions about His death, He included the idea of resurrection. For precisely such a phenomenon our Lord’ s language should have prepared the disciples; and their record is the more significant inasmuch as He was wholly misapprehended by them, and only when they were compelled by overwhelming evidence to accept it as a historical fact, did they begin to realise the regenerative power with which it might be charged for the world. For the resurrection was entirely transcendent, though, like all Divine facts, when it was revealed it fitted the place in history which was vacant for it--it explained and completed the whole movement of the ages, and keyed the arch which, but for it, would have become a wreck. But the gospel is not a philosophy of resurrection, but a proclamation. It says nothing about antecedent probabilities, secular preparations, or aspirations and hopes. These we investigate and discuss, and are right in so doing. But what the gospel proclaims is the historical fact; of the resurrection, and through this proclamation the whole world of civilisation has come to believe it. But all rests on the original proclamation, the credibility and sufficiency of the original witnesses; the character and amount of the testimony which is behind the affirmation. We have a very clear and succinct statement of the evidence in the words of Paul (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), and it seems as complete as can well be conceived. The Epistle was written within the generation which followed the resurrection. The majority of the witnesses were alive when it was written. There is no question of the moral honesty of the testimony. This thing, remember, was not done in a corner. There was a powerful national party at Jerusalem whose very existence was staked on proving it a fiction. Any flaw in the harness, any weak link in the chain, keen eyes would have hunted out and exposed. But there is not a trace anywhere of an answer to the apostle’ s precis of testimony; not a hint that this argument on the resurrection had been answered by denying it as a fact. The witnesses are ample in number, character, and opportunity of knowledge, and their testimony is that of men who had not the faintest idea that there was any one who could raise a valid doubt on the subject anywhere about the world. This leads me to the features of the evidence. I. Surely the most prominent thing which strikes one about it is its perfect simplicity and naturalness. Pascal notes “ the naturalness (naivete)with which Jesus Christ speaks of the things of God and of eternity.” With the same naturalness do the apostles speak of the resurrection. In the account of the meeting at the sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-25.), the naturalness of their communion with the risen Saviour is the wonderful thing. Transcendently wonderful, as it was, they write about it quite as simply and naturally as about the Sermon on the Mount, or the journey to Jerusalem; and instead of spending all their strength on parading the evidence of it, they are more reticent and more artless about it than about many another far less momentous fact in the history of our Lord. The manner in which the resurrection brought itself at once so perfectly into the natural order of the disciples’ lives, is to me an absolute proof that they knew they were dealing with a simple though profound and far-reaching fact. They write as if the restoration of their Lord to them, when they had once grasped the fact, was the most natural thing in the world. The only key to this is its truth. II. It is entirely the evidence of disciples, of those who had a deep personal interest in establishing the resurrection as a truth. Understand what the word “ interest” means. The notion of a company of interested followers of Christ, conspiring for their own purposes to palm this tale upon the world, is abandoned on all hands as utterly inadequate. These were true men, whatever else they might be. The witnesses had the deepest interest in the truth of the resurrection, but it would have been quite worthless to them except as truth. They had nothing to gain but everything to lose by the proclamation, except in as far as the power of the resurrection as a fact lay behind it. They were the best of all possible witnesses; witnesses whose supreme interest is truth. We can, however, well imagine evidence of a different character, which we are tempted to think would have at once forced conviction home on every rational mind. If it had been proved, say to the full satisfaction of the Roman procurator, after a review of all the evidence for and against it, that would have immediately established it as an unquestionable fact in history, and the whole world would have been filled with wonder and adoration. But the actual evidence is a striking contrast to this. It made no attempt to impose itself as a fact forced by the overwhelming weight of evidence on an unwilling world. Like the Incarnation, it was to be a power, and not a portent. In this, too, the kingdom of heaven came not with observation; its mission was to open minds and believing hearts alone. The spirit which seeks a sign, and the faith which is nourished on a sign, are alike worthless in that spiritual order which the Lord came to establish. The spirit which is turned to God, by the word and the work of the Saviour, is inestimably precious in His sight, and is a power in His kingdom of heaven. The Lord put deliberately from Him through life the homage which He might have won, and the power which He might have wielded, by portents and splendours; and obeying the Divine necessity to trust to the truth alone, He put them from Him also in death and in resurrection. “ My kingdom is not of this world,” He said through all--birth, life, death, and resurrection. The fact, then, that the evidence is entirely of the kind described, the evidence of disciples, of men in spiritual fellowship with it, and on whose lips and in whose lives it would be not a portent but a power, is in entire and beautiful harmony with the whole spirit and method of the Divine dispensations, and lies in the true line of the spiritual culture and development of mankind. III. Granting, then, that the evidence must be that of spiritual witnesses to a fact whose whole virtue was spiritual, can anything be more explicit and complete than the testimony which they bear? We have not the witness of a single, possibly hysterical, or fanatical, follower. The evidence was offered again and again to individuals, to companies, to a great crowd of disciples, with opportunities of tactical satisfaction, leaving actually nothing to be desired. Words were spoken and are recorded which none but the risen Man could have uttered. And the demonstration is crowned by the actual effect of the resurrection’ , in the instant and complete transformation which it accomplished in the lives of the witnesses. We cannot read John 21:1-25. and Acts 2:1-47. without the conviction that some such fact as the resurrection is absolutely needed to account for the contrast in the narratives. The disciples were not in a mood even to think about inventing such a fact. They accepted the decease as a death-blow to their hopes. Nothing was further from their thoughts than to lead a movement which would reconstruct and save society. And yet, in a few days, the work is in vigorous progress. As by the touch of some mighty creative Hand, these men are re-made. They are preaching the resurrection with a power which is to shake the whole structure of society, and they are kindling hearts like flame, in the very city where the events were transacted. Peter, heart-broken, going back bravely to his fisherman’ s toils--Peter, standing out as an incomparable teacher and leader of men, founding a Church which at this day is the strongest institution upon earth--Peter the disciple, who denied his Master, Peter the apostle, who won for Him the homage and worship of mankind--what links the two but the fact of the resurrection; the fact that a risen and reigning Christ was behind him, lending heaven’ s own force to every action, and heaven’ s own emphasis to every word? And what happened to them, through the resurrection, happened to the world. It began to work instantly as a tremendous force in organising and uplifting human society. It is said of a city, “ There was great joy in that city when these evangelists came to it.” It is the feature everywhere. Joy, strength, hope, vital activity, all by which men and societies grow, sprang up like willows by the watercourses, wherever the sound of that gospel of the resurrection was heard. For nearly two thousand years that order has been strengthening its foundations and widening its circuit, and its unquestioned, unquestionable basis has been and is the resurrection and reign of the risen Lord. And this you ask me to believe is an imposture or a delusion! Well, I may believe it when I am driven to believe that everything is imposture or illusion; that I am illusion; that the great world around me and the great heaven above me is illusion; that all which man holds noble and beautiful, all that he thinks worth living for, worth dying for, is illusion; and that a mocking demon is the master, the ruler, and the tormentor of the world. Till then I believe and preach Jesus and the Resurrection. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)The witness of the Church Nothing that our Lord did on earth was enough to establish a faith in Himself which should survive His death. At the end of His career, not even the Twelve retained their conviction. If the Lord had only left us the Sermon on the Mount and the memory of a martyrdom, there would never have been a Church. The risen and ascended Christ is the only intelligible account that can be given of the existence of our faith. From beyond the grave the living Master works. And how? By a Spirit. But for that Spirit to act firmly, enduringly, there must be given an instrument, an organic body, and the office of that body is clearly determined for it by the conditions of its existence. “ The Spirit of truth proceeding from the Father shall bear witness of Me, and ye also shall bear witness,” and so the apostles say, “ We are witnesses of these things.” I. The Church is the witnessing body; it proves Christ’ s case.1. Before God the Father. It manifests His glory by justifying His method of redemption; it bears witness before God that He has not sent His Son in vain. 2. In the face of men. It is to convince, so that even an unbelieving world may believe that the Father sent the Son. II. In accomplishing this conversion of the world, the Church has to prove and testify.1. That Christ is alive and at work to-day on earth, and that He can be found of them that believe, and manifest Himself to those that love Him. 2. That He is so by virtue of the deed done once for all at Calvary. III. What proofs can the Church offer for these points?1. Its own actual life. Its one prevailing and unanswerable proof is, “ I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” 2. This personal life of Christ in His Church verifies and certifies to the world the reality of His life, death, and resurrection. The fact that the man at the Beautiful Gate has this perfect soundness--this makes it certain that God did send His Son Christ Jesus to be a Prince of Life. And therefore the living Church bears a book about with it, the gospel book, the witness of those who beheld, tasted, handled the Word of Life. “ This book,” the body of Christ, declares “ is true, and we know that these apostles spoke true; we are here to prove it, in that we have tasted the present power of that Word whose story they saw and recorded.” 3. And again, the body carries with it the apostolic rite, the act commanded by the dying Christ to be done for ever as a memorial and a witness until His coming again. IV. By believing in a body, a church, our faith lays upon us responsibilities. It gives us a call; it sets us each a task. And is not this just what our religion most lacks? There is so little sense of purpose in our religious life. Religion is a comfortable habit, a refreshment in weariness, a solace and security in the face of death. Yes, but is it the one thing that gives us a living reason for being alive? Is it that which sets us on an aim worthy and enkindling, for which it is well worth while to live? Does it come to us as something which lays upon us a service of delightful freedom under the eye of a Master who waits ever to say, “ Well done, well done, thou faithful servant” ? Is not this exactly what we lack? If Christ established a Church, this means that every member has, by believing, a definite, an urgent, a glad and proud task set before him. That task is to witness; and do you doubt whether you have any call to witness for Christ? For what is this witness? It is the evidence you can give by active personal union with your Lord, now alive at God’ s right hand, of the authority of the gospel record and of the gospel Eucharist. And is there no one, then, who needs that evidence from you?1. Can you find no one near you who is struggling with doubt and perplexity as he reads that gospel story? It is your witness and your evidence that alone can recover him his footing. 2. Is there no one who looks out upon the scenery of this bewildered earth and who can see nothing but confused suffering and unjust penalties; who can but cry out his bitter protest, “ Is God indeed to be found there? Is there a Divine Judge of all the earth? Where are the signs of His love?” What if your witness were ready at hand?--if you could but whisper, “ I know that the love of God has been manifested to all who believe Christ Jesus, every one that so believeth hath the witness in him” ? 3. Or you may find yourself standing by one whom some strong sin has fast bound in misery and iron. Now is your time to speak, to cry to him, to deliver your testimony--“ My brother, you may be free, for Christ is not dead--He is risen; He the great breaker of bonds, He is strong as of old to set free the captives.” Conclusion: It is for us to be sure that we know, by blessed experience, that Christ was manifested to take away our sins; and that is the message that you have to carry on your lips--“ We know that it is true.” It would be a miserable thing to find yourself standing over some brother, with your human heart indeed yearning to help him, and yet to find yourself speechless and impotent just because you had never taken the trouble to learn, when you had time, the happy lesson which would enable you to say to him the one word that can now save him. (Canon Scott Holland.)Our witness to the resurrection Let us see whether it is not a fact that just after the same manner that the angel, the guard, the women, and the apostles did testify in the beginning to this cardinal truth of our holy religion, so in our own time like testimony is afforded. Daily an angel sitteth at the door of Christian hearts with the message that Christ is risen! Daily do the careless and indifferent among mankind find themselves forced to confess that there are thoughts of the future which, if they admit them into their minds, cause them to feel as dead men in the midst of all the business of the world. Daily do the godly who seek Christ rejoice in the sure signs and tokens of His resurrection. First, then, there is such a witness to the resurrection supernaturally present in our hearts. In all this assembly what man or woman can say they have never heard a voice whispering within their hearts the solemn assurance that Jesus hath risen, and that we shall rise with Him? To take an illustration. Are there not many here who have known what it is to miss from their home, from their daily walk in life, the face of parent, of brother, of friend, of husband, of wife, of child? And as you have bent with breaking heart over the sepulchre of your buried affection, has no angel spoken to you: “ It is not here, the object of your tender love and sorrow. All that is true and real lives still! He is risen. Behold He goeth before you into the courts of the heavenly mansions, there shall ye see Him!” There is not a bitter sorrow that is not rolled away together with that stone from the door of the sepulchre of Jesus. And though the traces of our grief be left, though the earthly garments in which we had wrapped all that was lovely in our lives are lying there in a place by themselves, yet do we know by that same angelic voice that the joys that we have experienced in the past we shall possess again in the future, and that in the land whither our Saviour Christ is gone before we shall know and be known once more! The dawn of hope which we see to succeed the dark night of sorrow in these deep water-floods of affliction enables us to perceive that the stone has been rolled away from the heart, and that an angel of God is seated upon it. In our hearts, then, there is a witness to the truth of the resurrection. This Jesus hath God raised from the dead, whereof our hearts are witnesses. But although God hath His own witness in the hearts of men, to His own Divine truth, yet (since He has ever been pleased to work through human instruments) it is manifestly required by Him that we should feel, every one of us--yes, the weakest, the poorest--that our whole life and conversation is intended to be a witness to the resurrection: that we should so live that men may know that we live, yet not we ourselves, but Christ liveth in us, and that the life which we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. (T. L. Claughton, M. A.) Acts 2:33-36 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted. The right hand of God The phrase imports-- I. The unspeakable felicity into which Christ’ s human nature--for it is of Christ incarnate that this is said, and as the reward of His sufferings as a man--had now entered; for “ in Thy presence is fulness of joy,” etc. (Psalms 16:11). II. The glorious majesty to which He had reached (Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1). III. The fulness of power with which He is invested who has declared, “ All power is given unto Me,” etc. (Matthew 28:18). (See Psalms 20:6; Psalms 89:13; Matthew 26:64). IV. The judicial throne on which He sits (Romans 14:9-10). (D. Whitby, D. D.)The ascension and its meaning Peter shows-- I. That it had taken place in fulfilment of prophecy. Again the particular prediction is taken from David. It is a passage applied by Jesus to Himself, to the confusion of the Pharisees, whose silence was a confession of its Messianic character (Matthew 22:42-46). Its fulfilment was by the power of God. The hand is that part of the body by which man puts forth his strength, and the right hand is superior to the left; and God, condescending to human ways of speech, represents the exercise of His power as the work of His right hand. Creation was done by a word; but this concluding act of redemption demanded the putting forth of Jehovah’ s power. II. That it had taken the Redeemer to His heavenly condition. He was exalted, that He might “ sit at the right hand of God” (cf. Matthew 26:64; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1). This condition is marked by--1. A continuous quiet dominion. (1) He has dominion, being “ at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” and that dominion involves “ all authority in heaven and in earth.” (2) But He rules in quietness and rest. Having finished His great work, He “ sits.” Angels, being evermore on duty (Hebrews 1:14), stand about the throne. God says not to them, “ Sit on My right hand.” (3) This dominion will continue until its Mediatorship has answered its purpose. 2. Perfect happiness (Psalms 16:11). The great joy had been set before Him, and had sustained Him in sorrow. Let His consummate blessedness show as the good placed within the reach of man. 3. The subduing of His foes. The allusion is to the ancient custom of conquerors to set their feet upon the necks of the vanquished. Who are His foes?1. The Jews, who were subdued when their nationality was destroyed. 2. The Romans, who were subdued when their empire was comprehended in Christendom. 3. The pagans, that still remain. These will be subdued when the gospel has been preached to all nations for a witness. 4. Men and women in Christendom who still reject Him. They also will see their folly and sin, and acknowledge Him either too soon or too late. 5. Sin and Satan, but these will be cast out. 6. Death. “ The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” III. That it was declared to have taken place by events now transpiring. “ He hath shed forth this,” etc. These events--1. Showed that the Holy Spirit had been given. This Peter does not tire of repeating. Its importance demanded its repetition, and does so still. But Jesus had said that unless He went to the Father the Holy Spirit would not come. Therefore His manifest presence proved the ascension. 2. Were a fulfilment of the Father’ s promise. The promise made through the prophets had been repeated to Jesus, and by Him to the apostles; and He was now gone to receive what was promised. This was the simple, straightforward explanation of what was happening. 3. Were brought about by Jesus Himself. “ He hath shed.” During His ministry He had wrought unnumbered miracles, every one of which displayed Divine power, and He was but continuing what He had begun (Ephesians 4:8). 4. Were in themselves wonderful. “ This which ye now see and hear.” Explanation was not attempted. What was seen and heard was enough to work conviction. IV. In the ascension Peter finds the concluding-point of his argument--viz., that Jesus was Lord and Christ. Then they had crucified the Messiah. No wonder they were pricked in the heart. In conclusion, see here--1. The means to be employed by preachers: the facts M history and experience, with interpretations from the Word of God. 2. The end to be aimed at by preachers--that personal conviction which prepares sinners to accept Christ. (W. Hudson.)The exaltation of Christ He is there at the right hand of God, above all principality and power, and every name that is named. He is not there among the patriarchs; He is higher up. He is not there among the martyrs; He is higher up. He is not there among the prophets; He is higher up. He is not there among the four and twenty elders; He is higher up. He is not there with the four living beings that are immediately surrounding the throne; He is higher up. He is at the right hand, in the midst of the throne, literally over all, God-blessed for ever. That throne will never be called the throne of God and the patriarchs, or the throne of God and the prophets, or the throne of God and the angels, or the throne of God and the martyrs, but it will evermore be called the throne of God and of the Lamb; for He that giveth not His glory to another has taken Him unto that throne, and at that throne He stands as the Lamb that was slain, bearing upon Him in the central seat of glory and brightness the dark tokens of death: the dear tokens of His passion still His dazzling body bears, and from that centre of authority He hath poured out, “ He hath shed forth that which now ye do see and hear.” (W. Arthur, M. A.)He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.-- The effusion of the Spirit I. The promises of the spirit, under preceding dispensations. As the prophecies of Christ served to identify the Messiah on His manifestation in the flesh, and prove His Divine mission, so these predictions of the coming and agency of the Holy Ghost in the ancient Scriptures of the Jewish people, conspire, with the facts afterwards to be noticed as the accomplishment of them, to show that it is a Divine energy from on high which is now amongst us of a truth. II. The communication of the Holy Ghost from the hands of the exalted Redeemer.1. The work of the Holy Ghost is essentially connected with the work of Christ. Of old the Spirit was given to foretell it, but His greater province was to attest and apply it. 2. This communication of the Spirit from the hands of the exalted Saviour makes distinctly manifest what is everywhere implied in Scripture--that the gift of the Holy Ghost is a purely gratuitous and gracious bestowment. III. What is stated to be the nature of the work of the Holy Ghost in the Church. What were those manifestations thus dispensed from the hands of the Redeemer, of which we read in Scripture, and some of which are matters of observation or of consciousness still?1. There were those supernatural endowments, called in Scripture “ Spiritual gifts,” which first proclaimed the presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church. 2. With this stands closely connected the inspiration of the apostles. The system of truth which the spiritual gifts were to attest was that of which they were the professed expositors; and it was in the train of their ministry that these manifestations appeared. 3. We have further to advert to that, to which all that we have been dwelling upon is but subservient, as means to the end--the manifestation of that new element of spiritual life which sprung up in connection with the exhibition of apostolic truth, and which is ascribed in Scripture to the application of that truth to the soul by the Holy Ghost. The first work of the Spirit, of which we have spoken, was chiefly for attestation; the second, for instruction; this third, for regeneration and salvation. And if the Spirit appears glorious in His gifts and diversities of miraculous working, and as the source of inspiration in the apostles and prophets, much more is it so when we view Him as “ the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” and as establishing “ a law” within the renewed soul, which makes it “ free from the law of sin and death.” (E. T. Priest.)Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. The Lordship of Christ I. The apostle applies himself to his auditory in a fair, gentle manner. We have a word amongst us in familiar use--“ compliment” ; and for the most part in an ill sense, for the heart of a speaker does not always answer his tongue. But God forbid but a true heart and a fair tongue might very well consist together. He aggravates his condemnation who gives me fair words and means ill; but he gives me a rich jewel in a choice cabinet, precious wine in a clean glass, who intends and expresses his good intentions well. II. So the apostle is civil here; but his civility does not amount to flattery; and therefore, though he gives his audience their titles, he puts home to them the crucifying of Christ. How honourably soever they were descended, he lays that murder close to their consciences. It is one thing to sew pillows under the elbows of kings, as flatterers do, and another to pull the chair from under them, as seditious men do. When inferiors insult over their superiors, we tell them they are the Lord’ s anointed; and when such superiors insult over the Lord Himself, we must tell them, “ Though you be the Lord’ s anointed, yet you crucify the anointed Lord” ; for this was Peter’ s method, though his successor will not be bound by it. III. When he hath carried the matter thus evenly between them, he announces a message. “ Let all the house of Israel know assuredly.” Need the house of Israel know anything? Need the honourable to be instructed? Yes, for this knowledge is such that the house of Israel is without a foundation if it be without it. Let no Church or man think that he hath done enough or known enough. The wisest must know more, though they be the house of Israel; and then, though you have crucified Christ, you may know it. St. Paul says, “ If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8); but he never says they are excluded from the knowledge. The wisest have ever something to learn; they must not presume. The sinfullest have God ever ready to teach them; they must not despair. Now the universality of this mercy God has extended very far, in that He proposes it even to our knowledge: “ Let all know it.” And therefore it is not enough for us to tell you except you believe all this you shall be damned, without we execute that commission before, “ Go and preach” ; and it is not enough for you to rest in imaginary faith and easiness of believing, except you know what, why, and how you believe. The implicit believer stands in an open field, and the enemy will ride over him easily; the understanding believer is a fenced town, and hath outworks to lose before the town be pressed--i.e., reasons to be answered before his faith be shaked. Let all men know--i.e., inform themselves and understand. IV. The particular which all were to know was that this same Jesus whom they crucified was exalted. Suppose an impossibility: if we could have been in paradise, and seen God make of a clod a body fit for an immortal soul--fit for God the Son to dwell in, and fit for a temple of the Holy Ghost, should we not have wondered more than at the production of all other creatures? It is more that this same crucified Jesus should be exalted to the right hand of the glorious God. Let, then, sinners pass through their several sins, and remember with wonder and confusion that the Jesus whom they have crucified is exalted above all. How far exalted? Three steps carry Him above St. Paul’ s third heaven.1. God made Him so, not nature. The contract between the Father and Him that all He did should be done so--this is what hath exalted Him, and us in Him. 2. God made Him Christ--i.e., anointed Him above His fellows. 3. God made Him Lord. But what kind of Lord, if He had no subjects? God hath given Him these too (Romans 14:9). (J. Donne, D. D.)Jesus as Lord11 We are apt to let this idea slip. As soon as we have apprehended Christ as Saviour, we suppose sometimes that the work is done; whereas it is but just begun. Christ is Saviour in order that He may be King. He saves us first, because that is the only effective way of ruling over us. He cannot capture man and bring him into subjection, except by laying hold of man’ s heart. It is love that changes, and love that rules. One of our best story-tellers has taken us into a Californian camp. They were a hard, fighting, swearing set, those gold-diggers. But a baby was born into the camp, and these rough men were allowed to go and look at the little babe; and there was one man put his finger down, and the baby’ s hand wound round it, and seemed to thrill his rough, coarse nature with a new love. The man was changed; the camp was changed. It was love that did it. Love is Christ’ s method; rule His end. If Christ does not rule men, He has failed in the purpose that called Him here. All living things need a ruling force. The body is useless without the brain to direct its movements; the family fail when father and mother die; an army is powerless when there is no one to give orders; a state is the home of miserable factions when there is no recognised authority; and humanity itself is but a series of disjointed individuals, until Christ is crowned Lord of man and King of the world. Christian men are forgetting Christ’ s world-wide Lordship and universal claims; and these claims must be pressed home on the hearts and consciences of men until they fully acknowledge Jesus as Lord. I. Lord of man.1. Ruling man’ s body, with its passions and inclinations.2. Guiding man’ s mind, preserving the intellect from sophistry, the conscience from error, the heart from corruption. II. Lord of woman.1. Touching her tender heart with a deeper pathos for the sufferings of the world.2. Making her man’ s helpmeet in all that is pure and ennobling.3. Enabling her, with man, to deal with all that is evil in society and degrading in public sentiment. III. Lord of the child.1. Alluring the young life along paths of obedience and self-denial and thoughtfulness.2. Yet filling the lap with buttercups and daises, and merriment and laughter. “ Suffer little children,” etc. IV. Lord of the home. Determining its--1. Expenditure.2. Giving.3. Habits.4. Prayers.5. Purposes, and binding parents, children, servants, into one holy fellowship. V. Lord of the Church. Giving--1. Truth to feed the mind.2. Grace to support the life.3. Wisdom to guide the judgment.4. Reverence to lift up the soul in worship.5. Enthusiasm to inspire the work.6. A peaceful spirit, binding all together by our golden chain of loving brotherhood. VI. Lord of the state.1. Decreeing justice to all.2. Bringing law into harmony with Divine teaching.3. Lifting up the poor and abasing the proud.4. Rebuking the evil doers, and overturning all iniquity. VII. Lord of the world.1. Driving back the darkness.2. Destroying false religion and bringing in the true.3. Making the world like heaven. Conclusion: That Lordship of Christ will not let us put on and put off religion with our Sunday clothes. It bids us take Christ with us, not merely to religious work, but so to take Him that all work should be religious. It calls upon Christians to be the subjects of Christ everywhere; to obey Christ in business, in the home, in politics, in reading, in talking, in laughing, in giving, in dying. There is a majesty about this name that men have not yet felt. (S. Pearson, M. A.)The name above every name These names, to us very little more than three proper names, were very different to these men who listened to Peter. It wanted some courage to proclaim on the housetop what he had spoken in the ear long ago. “ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!” To most of his listeners, to say, “ Jesus is the Christ” was folly, and to say “ Jesus is the Lord” was blasphemy. I. The name Jesus is the name of the man, which tells us of a brother.1. There were many who bore it in His day. We find that one of the early Christians had it (Colossians 4:11). Through reverence on the part of Christians, and horror on the part of Jews, the name ceased to be a common one. But none of all the crowds who knew Him supposed that in His name there was any greater significance than in those of the “ Simons,” “ Johns,” and “ Judahs” in the circle of His disciples. 2. The use of Jesus as the proper name of our Lord is very noticeable. In the Gospels, as a rule, it stands alone hundreds of times, whilst in combination with any other of the titles it is rare. “ Jesus Christ” only occurs twice in Matthew, once in Mark, twice in John. But in the later books, the proportions are reversed. There you have hundreds of such combinations as “ Jesus Christ,” “ Christ Jesus,” “ The Lord Jesus,” “ Christ the Lord,” and not frequently the full solemn title, “ The Lord Jesus Christ.” But “ Jesus” alone only occurs some thirty or forty times outside of the four evangelists; and in these the writer’ s intention is to put strong emphasis on the Manhood of our Lord. (1) We find phrases like this: Jesus died, the blood of Jesus, which emphasise His death as that of a man like ourselves, and bring us close to the reality of His human pains for us. “ Christ died” makes the purpose and efficacy of His death more plain; but “ Jesus died” shows us His death as the outcome of His human love. I know that a certain school dwells a great deal too much for reverence upon the mere physical aspect of Christ’ s sufferings. But the temptation with most of us is to dwell too little upon it, to think about it as a matter of speculation, a mysterious power, an official act of the Messiah, and to forget that He bore a human life, which naturally shrank from the agony of death. (2) When our Lord is set before us in His humanity as our example, this name is used--e.g., “ Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith” --i.e., a mighty stimulus to Christian nobleness lies in the realisation of the true manhood of our Lord, as the type of all goodness, as having Himself lived by faith, and that in a perfect degree and manner. Do not take poor human creatures for your ideal. Black veins are in the purest marble, and flaws in the most lustrous diamonds; but to imitate Jesus is freedom, and to be like Him is perfection. Our code of morals is His life. The secret of all progress is, “ Run, looking unto Jesus.” (3) We have His manhood emphasised when His sympathy is to be commended to our hearts. “ The great High Priest” is “ Jesus”… “ who was in all points tempted like as we are.” To every sorrowing soul there comes the thought, “ Every ill that flesh is heir to” He knows by experience, and in the man Jesus we find not only the pity of a God, but the sympathy of a Brother. The Prince of Wales once went for an afternoon into the slums, and everybody said deservedly, “ right” and “ princely.” This Prince has “ learned pity in the huts where poor men lie.” (4) And then you read such words as these: “ If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” How very much closer to our hearts that consolation comes, “ Jesus rose again,” than even the mighty word, “ Christ is risen from the dead.” The one tells us of the risen Redeemer, the other tells us of the risen Brother. And wherever we follow our dear ones into the darkness with yearning hearts, there, too, the consolation comes; they lie down beside their Brother, and with their Brother they shall rise again. (5) So again, most strikingly, in the words which paint most loftily the exaltation of the risen Saviour, it is the old human name that is used, as if to bind together the humiliation and the, exaltation, and proclaim that a Man had risen to the throne of the universe. What an emphasis and glow of hope there is in, “ We see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus” --the very Man that was here with us--“ crowned with glory and honour.” So in the Book of the Revelation, the chosen name for Him that sits amidst the glories of the heavens, and settles the destinies of the universe, and orders the course of history, is Jesus. As if the apostle would assure us that the face which looked down upon him from amidst the blaze of the glory was indeed the face that he knew long ago upon earth, and the breast that “ was girded with a golden girdle” was the breast upon which he so often had leaned his happy head. 3. So the ties that bind us to the Man Jesus should be the human bonds that knit us one to another, transferred to Him, and purified and strengthened. All that we have failed to find in men we can find in Him. (1) Human wisdom has its limits; but here is a Man whose word is truth, who is Himself the truth. (2) Human love is sometimes hollow, often impotent; it looks down upon us, as a great thinker has said, like the Venus of Milo, that lovely statue, smiling in pity, but it has no arms. But here is a love that is mighty to help, and on which we can rely without disappointment or loss. (3) Human excellence is always limited and imperfect; but here is One whom we may imitate and be pure. 4. So let us do like that poor woman, bring the precious alabaster box of ointment--the love of these hearts of ours, which is the most precious thing we have to give. The box of ointment that we have so often squandered upon unworthy heads--let us come and pour it upon His, not unmingled with our tears, and anoint Him, our Beloved and our King. II. The name “ Christ” is the name of office, and brings to us a redeemer. It is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Messias, both meaning the Anointed. I cannot see less in the contents of the prophetic idea of the Messias than these points: Divine inspiration or anointing; a sufferer who is to redeem; the fulfiller of all the rapturous visions of psalmist and of prophet in the past. And so, when Peter stood up amongst that congregation and said, “ The Man that died on the Cross, the Rabbi-peasant from half-heathen Galilee, is the Person whom all the generations have been looking forward to,” no wonder that nobody believed him except those whose hearts were touched, for it is never possible for the common mind, at any epoch, to believe that the man that stands beside them is very much bigger than themselves. Great men have always to die, and get a halo of distance around them before their true stature can be seen. And now two remarks are all I can offer.1. The hearty recognition of His Messiahship is the centre of all discipleship. The earliest and the simplest Christian creed, which yet--like the little brown roll in which the infant beech leaves lie folded up--contains in itself all the rest, was this: “ Jesus is Christ.” He who contents himself with “ Jesus” and does not grasp “ Christ,” has cast away the most valuable and characteristic part of the Christianity which he professes. Surely the most simple inference is that a Christian is at least a man who recognises the Christship of Jesus. And it is not enough for the sustenance of your souls that men should admire, howsoever profoundly, the humanity of the Lord unless that humanity leads them on to see the office of the Messiah, to whom their whole hearts cleave. “ Jesus is the Christ” is the minimum Christian creed. 2. The recognition of Jesus as Christ is essential to giving its full value to the facts of the manhood. (1) “ Jesus died.” Yes! What then? If that is simply a human death, like all the rest, I want to know what makes it a gospel? What more interest I have in it than I have in the death of any men or women whose names were in the obituary column of yesterday’ s newspaper? “ Jesus died.” That is the fact. What is wanted to turn the fact into a gospel? That I shall know who it was that died, and why He died. “ I declare unto you the gospel which I preach,” Paul says, “ how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.” The belief that the death of Jesus was the death of the Christ is needful to make that death the means of my deliverance from the burden of sin. If it be only the death of Jesus, it is beautiful, pathetic, as many another martyr’ s has been; but if it be the death of Christ, then “ my faith can lay her hand” on that great sacrifice, and know “ her guilt was there.” (2) So in regard of His perfect example. To only see His manhood would be as paralysing as spectacles of supreme excellence usually are. But when we can say, “ Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,” and so can deepen the thought of His Manhood into that of His Messiahship, and the conception of His work as example into that of His work as sacrifice, we can hope that His Divine power will dwell in us to mould our lives to the likeness of His human life of perfect obedience. (3) So in regard to His resurrection and ascension. If it were only “ Jesus,” those events might be as much to us as the raising of Lazarus, or the rapture of Elijah--namely, a demonstration that death did not destroy conscious being, and that a man could rise to heaven. But if “ Christ is risen from the dead,” He is “ become the first-fruits of them that slept.” If Jesus has gone up on high, it may show that manhood is not incapable of elevation to heaven, but it has no power to draw others up after it. But if Christ is gone up, He is gone to prepare a place for us, and His ascension is the assurance that He will lift us too to dwell with Him, and share His triumph over death and sin. III. “ The Lord” is the name of dignity, and brings before us the King. There are three grades of dignity expressed by this word in the New Testament. The lowest is that in which it is almost the equivalent of “ Sir” ; the second is that in which it expresses dignity and authority; the third is that in which it is the equivalent of the Old Testament “ Lord” as a Divine name; and all are applied to Christ. The central one is the meaning of the word here.1. “ Jesus is Lord” --i.e., the manhood is exalted to supreme dignity. It is the teaching of the New Testament, that our nature in the Child of Mary sits on the throne of the universe and rules over all things. Trust His dominion and rejoice in His rule, and bow before His authority. 2. Christ is Lord--i.e., His sovereign authority and dominion are built upon the fact of His being Redeemer and Sacrifice. His kingdom rests upon His suffering. “ Wherefore God also hath exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name.” It is because He bears a vesture dipped in blood, that on the vesture is the name written, “ King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Because He has given His life for the world, He is Master of the world. Conclusion: Do not content yourselves with a maimed Christ.1. Do not tarry in the Manhood; do not be content with an adoring reverence for the nobility of His soul, the wisdom of His words, the beauty of His character, the tenderness of His compassion. All that will be of small help for your needs. There is more in His mission than that--even His death for you and for all men. 2. Take Him for your Christ, but do not lose the Person in the work, any more than you lose the work in the Person. And be not content with an intellectual recognition of Him, but bring Him the faith which cleaves to Him and His work as its only hope and peace, and the love which, because of His work as Christ, flows out to the beloved Person who has done it all. 3. Thus loving Jesus and trusting Christ, you will bring obedience to your Lord and homage to your King, and learn the sweetness and power of the name that is above every name--the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (A. Maclaren, D. D) Acts 2:37-42 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart. The effects of gospel preaching 1. Peter having explained the events of Pentecost, an immediate effect was produced. “ They were pricked in their hearts.” So the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them as He had been poured out upon the assembly of the Church. We see here, therefore, the double action of the Holy Spirit. He is poured out upon the Church to sanctify and to confirm in the faith; and upon those who are outside that He may alarm and quicken and direct to right conclusions. 2. This was the first Christian sermon that had been preached. Jesus Christ was no longer present in the body. Now we are curious to know how the truth will make its way upon its own merits, apart from that magnetic influence which attached to the audible voice of the Divine Master. Will the truth make its way by sheer force of its celestial beauty and grace, and comfort, or will it perish under other voices than Christ’ s own? So we wait, we hear the discourse, and when it is concluded we read--that when the people heard this they were pricked in their hearts. 3. Observe the peculiarity of that effect. Not, they were awed by the eloquence, excited in their imagination; gratified in their taste; the result was infinitely deeper and grander. An arrow had fastened itself in the very centre of their life. In their conscience was inserted the sting of intolerable self-accusation. This was the grand miracle. Truly we may say this was the beginning of miracles of the higher, because the spiritual kind. Great effects are produced by great causes. 4. A reflection of this kind would, however, have a very remote interest for us were it confined to an ancient incident. As a matter of fact, the apostle Peter preached the only sermon that any Christian minister is ever at liberty to preach. This is the model sermon. No change must be made here or a corresponding change will be made in the effect. Men may be more eloquent, literary, technical, and philosophical; they may use longer words and more abstruse arguments, but the effect will be like other talk, pointless, and there will be no answer in the great human heart--no conscience will accuse, no eyes will be blinded with tears, none will cry, “ What shall we do?” Let us look at-- I. The sermon and see how it is made up.1. It is full of Scriptural allusions, as is every sermon that is worth listening to. The reason why our preaching is so powerless is that we do not impregnate it with the inspired word. Peter did not make the sermon. He quoted David and Joel, the Psalms and the prophets, and set these quotations in their right relations to what had just happened, and whilst he was talking history he made history. Faithful to God’ s word, God’ s Spirit was faithful to him, and herein was realised “ My word shall not return unto Me void.” Peter’ s word would have returned void, but God’ s word is as a sower in the eventide bringing back his sheaves with joy. 2. It is full of Christ. But for Christ it never could have been delivered. From end to end it palpitates with the Deity and glory of the Son of God. 3. It is full of holy unction. It was not delivered as a schoolboy might deliver a message. The great strong rough frame of the fisherman-preacher quivered under the feeling of the sacred message which the tongue was delivering. 4. It is full of patriotic and spiritual tenderness, and all the while without art or trick or mechanical skill, it led up to a vehement and solemn demand. When that demand was thundered upon the people they did not applaud the man, they were concerned about themselves; they were not pleased, they were pierced; and they were not gratified, they were convicted. II. But even this great sermon of Peter’ s does not explain the full result. The preacher must have had something to do with the effect. He had just received the Holy Ghost. An inspired doctrine demands an inspired ministry. The Book is inspired, but when uninspired readers read it they kill the very fire of heaven when it touches their reluctant tongues. It is there that the holy influence is lost. When the Holy Ghost is both in the doctrine and in the people who profess it, the mountains of difficulty will fly away like dust upon the mocking wind. III. Nor have we read the full account yet of the production of this mighty effect. The people were prepared for vital statement; anything that was beautiful in nature, or in music would not have satisfied them. They would have resented any discourse that bristled with merely clever allusions or curious conceits of expression. The fire fell upon prepared material, therefore the Word of the Lord had free course and was glorified. How can we preach to a people unprepared to hear? The work is too great for any man. A prepared pulpit should be balanced by a prepared pew, “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” To the unthirsty man the Bible spring is without attraction, but to the thirsty traveller, sun-smitten and weary, how like the music of running streams! A very solemn reflection occurs here. Where the heart is unaffected, Christian service is more mischievous than beneficial. What if our notions be increased, if our motives be left unbaptized? And what if we have been flattered and cajoled and “ daubed with untempered mortar,” if the Word has not reached the very seat of the disease? Pray for a ministry that shall affect the heart. He who seeks after a comforting ministry only, and a restful one that shall give him no disturbance, wounds his own life. IV. The effect was grand in every aspect.1. Three thousand souls were saved. And this will be the effect of Christian teaching everywhere under the right conditions. Again and again we read that the people who heard the apostolic preaching, “ cried out.” We have lost that cry: we have succumbed to the cold and benumbing spirit of decorum. And whilst it is perfectly true that there may be an irrational excitement which ought to be subdued and controlled, it is also true that there is a spiritual enthusiasm, without which the Church may be but a painted sepulchre. 2. The people continued steadfastly in the apostle’ s doctrine, and in fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers. (1) The flock kept well together for fear of the wolf. Were we ourselves in heathen lands we should realise the joy of keeping closely together. But Hying in a Christian land where Christianity has become a luxury, or in some instances even an annoyance, what wonder that we do not realise the primitive enthusiasm, and enter with delight into the original fellowship and union of the Church? (2) The people continued in the right teaching. Until our teaching be right our life must be wrong. We must ask for the pure bread, the pure water, the undefiled Bible, and live on that; out of such nutritious food there will come proper results such as fellowship, sacramental communion, and common prayer. A man says, “ I can pray by myself,” that is perfectly true, but you should realise that you are something more than yourself; you are part of a sum total. A man is not at liberty in the Christian sense of manhood to detach himself from the common stock to which he belongs. Herein is the advantage of common prayer and common praise. “ Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” There is inspiration in sympathy, there is encouragement in fellowship. It does the soul good to see the hosts gathered together under the royal banner stained with blood; to see the great army marching shoulder to shoulder under the blast of the great trumpet. “ No man liveth unto himself” who lives aright. (3) They had all things common. This is the sternly logical outcome of true inspiration. But having regard to all the social conditions under which we live this mechanical form of union is impracticable. But having lost this form, which broke down under the eyes of apostles themselves, we still reserve the spiritual outcome and meaning. My strength is not my own, it belongs to the weakest child that I may see groaning under oppression. If I interfere, and the oppressor say to me, What have you to do with him--he is not yours? Christianity obliges me to say he is mine. If you see an animal ill-used and ill-treated, though it be not yours in any technical or legal sense of the term, you are called upon to interfere by an earlier right, and by a diviner law. Whoever has strength owns it for the benefit of those who have none. (J. Parker, D. D.)Evangelical preaching Preaching has ever been the principal means used for diffusing a knowledge of Christianity. It was the method adopted and enjoined by the great Author of our religion (Matthew 4:17; Matthew 10:7; Mark 16:15). A striking instance of its early success is recorded in the chapter before us; and we are led by our text to inquire into the nature of that preaching which was so successful; and into the effects which followed such preaching. I. The nature of the preaching may be understood from the context.1. The subject was Christ. The preacher’ s name evidently was to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah. 2. The subject was of the highest importance; it was perfectly suitable to the audience; 3. And the manner of treating it was excellent. The discussion was plain--concise--clear. The mode of address was courageous. 4. The preacher who thus conducted himself, demands our consideration. It was Peter, a late fisherman of Galilee, he was Divinely called to preach the gospel; and thus qualified, he preached; power from above attended the word. II. And the effects which followed well deserve our attention. “ They were pricked in their heart.” Hearers treat the Word preached with indifference; or feeling its force they resist it; or happily, like those whose case is before us, they yield to its convincing influence. The address was made to their understanding--their judgment--their conscience; and being accompanied by the power of Divine grace, they were rationally, Scripturally, and feelingly convinced of the error of their ways and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” We may consider this as--1. The language of religious concern.2. The language of religious distress.3. The language of humble inquiry. Think on their former prejudices. Such was the preaching, and such were the effects. Our minds are farther led to the following improvement.1. Christ crucified is, and ever should be, the grand subject of the Christian ministry. 2. There is salvation in no other--there is no other name whereby we can be saved (Acts 4:12). 3. In religion, it is of the utmost importance that the heart be affected ; See Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:7; Joe 2:13; Mark 7:21; Proverbs 4:23; Psalms 51:10; Psalms 51:17. Sin hath its seat in the heart--there the change should begin. 4. Persons may be so affected on account of their sin and danger, that they cannot, in some cases, avoid strongly expressing what they feel. 5. The essential importance of Divine influence to render the word preached successful is another idea suggested by the circumstances connected with the text. (Theological Sketch-book.)Conversion I. Refers to what they heard. They heard--1. An explicit statement of the truth. 2. Enforced by solid reasoning.3. Brought home to their own Consciences with fidelity. II. It describes what they felt--“ They were pricked in their heart.” The expression denotes a sudden, deep, strong, anguished feeling.1. Agonised astonishment--at this ignorance amid so much light--at the error committed against such evidence. They see that Jesus was no impostor. 2. Inexpressible conviction. They felt the guilt of rejecting a Divine Teacher. 3. Terrified apprehension. Could they forget their treatment of Jesus? Think of the alarm that now seizes them when the tumult of rage gives way to the conviction of guilt. III. It records what they said.1. What shall we do? This explanation is the utterance of concern--concern which it is not in the power of language to express. 2. It is the utterance of ingenuous confession. 3. It is the language of surrender. They abandon unbelief. 4. The language of anxiety for salvation. (Homilist.)The effusion of the Holy Spirit “ Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation They will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto Me;… yet thou shalt speak unto them, and tell them, thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear;… and they shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.” Thus God formerly forearmed Ezekiel against the greatest discouragement that he was to meet with in his mission, I mean the unsuccessfulness of his ministry. For they are not only your ministers, who are disappointed in the exercise of the ministry: Isaiah, Jeremiahs, Ezekiels, are often as unsuccessful as we. In such melancholy eases we must endeavour to surmount the obstacles, which the obduracy of sinners opposeth against the dispensations of grace. If “ the angels -of God rejoice over one sinner that repenteth,” what pleasure must he feel who hath reason to hope, that in this valley of tears he hath had the honour of opening the gate of heaven to a multitude of sinners, that he hath “ saved himself and them that heard him.” This pure joy God gave on the day of Pentecost to St. Peter. In order to comprehend what passed in the auditory, we must understand the sermon of the preacher. There are five remarkable things in the sermon, and there are five correspondent dispositions in the hearers. I. We have remarked in the sermon of St. Peter that noble freedom of speech, which so well becomes a Christian preacher, and is so well adapted to strike his hearers. How much soever we now admire this beautiful part of pulpit-eloquence, it is very difficult to imitate it. Sometimes a weakness of faith, which attends your best established preachers; sometimes worldly prudence; sometimes a timidity, that proceedeth from a modest consciousness of the insufficiency of their talents; sometimes a fear, too well grounded, alas I of the retorting of those censures, which people, always ready to murmur against them who reprove their vices, are eager to make; sometimes a fear of those persecutions, which the world always raiseth against all whom heaven qualifies to destroy the empire of sin; all these considerations damp the courage of the preacher, and deprive him of freedom of speech. But none of these considerations had any weight with our apostle. And, indeed, why should any of them affect him? Should the weakness of his faith? He had conversed with Jesus Christ Himself; he had accompanied Him on the holy mount, he had “ heard a voice from the excellent glory,” saying, “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Could he distrust his talents? The Prince of the kingdom, the Author, and Finisher of faith, had told him, “ Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.” Should he dread reproaches and recriminations? The purity of his intentions, and the sanctity of his life confound them. Should he pretend to keep fair with the world? But what finesse is to be used, when eternal misery is to be denounced, and eternal happiness proposed? Philosophers talk of certain invisible bands that unite mankind to one another. A man, animated with any passion, hath in the features of his face, and in the tone of his voice, a something that partly communicates his sentiments to his hearers. Error proposed in a lively manner by a man, who is affected with it himself, may seduce unguarded people. Fictions, which we know are fictions, exhibited in this manner, move and affect us for a moment. But what a dominion over the heart doth that speaker obtain, who delivers truths, and who is affected himself with the truths which he delivereth! To this part of the eloquence of St. Peter, we must attribute the emotions of his hearers; “ they were pricked in their heart.” II. A second thing which gave weight and dignity to the sermon of St. Peter, was the miracle that preceded his preaching, I mean the gift of tongues, which had been communicated to all the apostles. The prodigy that accompanied the sermon of St. Peter had three characteristic marks of a real miracle.1. It was above human power. Every pretended miracle, that hath not this first character, ought to be suspected by us. But the prodigy in question was evidently superior to human power. Of all sciences in the world, that of languages is the least capable of an instant acquisition. Certain natural talents, a certain superiority of genius, sometimes produce in some men the same effects, which long and painful industry can scarcely ever produce in others. We have sometimes seen people whom nature seems to have designedly formed in an instant courageous captains, profound geometers, admirable orators. But tongues are acquired by study and time. The acquisition of languages is like the knowledge of history. It is not a superior genius, it is not a great capacity, that can discover to any man what passed in the world ten or twelve ages ago. The monuments of antiquity must be consulted, huge folios must be read, and an immense number of volumes must be understood, arranged, and digested. In like manner, the knowledge of languages is a knowledge of experience, and no man can ever derive it from his own innate fund of ability. Yet the apostles, and apostolical men, men who were known to be men of no education, all on a sudden knew the arbitrary signs by which different nations had agreed to express their thoughts. Terms, which had no natural connection with their ideas, were all on a sudden arranged in their minds. 2. But perhaps these miracles may not be the more respectable on account of their superiority to human power. Perhaps, if they be not human, they may be devilish? No, a little attention to their second character will convince you that they are Divine. Their end was to incline men, not to renounce natural and revealed religion, but to respect and to follow both; not to render an attentive examination unnecessary, but to allure men to it. 3. The prodigy that accompanied the preaching of St. Peter had the third character of a true miracle. It was wrought in the presence of those who had the greatest interest in knowing the truth of it. The miracle being granted, I affirm that the compunction of heart, of which my text speaks, was an effect of that attention which could not be refused to such an extraordinary event, and of that deference which could not be withheld from a man, to whose ministry God had set His seal. They instantly, and entirely, surrendered themselves to men, who addressed them in a manner so extraordinary, “ they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” III. We remark, in the discourse of the apostle, an invincible power of reasoning, and, in the souls of his hearers, that conviction which carries along with it the consent of the will. Of all methods of reasoning with an adversary, none is more conclusive than that which is taken from his own principles. But when the principles of an adversary are well grounded, and when we are able to prove that his principles produce our conclusions, our reasoning becomes demonstrative to a rational opponent, and he ought not to deny it. Christianity, it is remarkable, is defensible both ways. The first may be successfully employed against pagans; the second more successfully against the Jews. It is easy to convince a heathen that he can have no right to exclaim against the mysteries of the gospel, because if he have any reason to exclaim against the mysteries of Christianity, he hath infinitely more to exclaim against those of paganism. The second way was employed more successfully by the apostles against the Jews. They demonstrated that all the reasons, which obliged them to be Jews, ought to have induced them to become Christians; that every argument, which obliged them to acknowledge the Divine legation of Moses, ought to have engaged them to believe in Jesus Christ. St. Peter made use of this method. What argument can ye allege for your religion, said they to the Jews, which doth not establish that which we preach? Do ye allege the privileges of your legislator? Your argument is demonstrative; Moses had access to God on the holy mountain. Do ye allege the purity of the morality of your religion? Your argument is demonstrative. The manifest design of your religion is to reclaim men to God, to prevent idolatry, and to inspire them with piety, benevolence, and zeal. But this argument concludes for us. Do ye allege the miracles that were wrought to prove the truth of your religion? Your argument is demonstrative. But this argument establisheth the truth of our religion. What, then, are the prejudices that still engage you to continue in the profession of Judaism? Are they derived from the prophecies? Your principles are demonstrative; but, in the person of our Jesus, we show you to-day all the grand characters which, your own prophets said, would be found in the Messiah. Close reasoning ought to be the soul of all discourses. I compare it in regard to eloquence with benevolence in regard to religion. Without benevolence we may maintain a show of religion; but we cannot possess the substance of it (1 Corinthians 13:1, etc.). In like manner in regard to eloquence; speak with authority, display treasures of erudition, let the liveliest and most sublime imagination wing it away, turn all your periods till they make music in the most delicate ear, what will all your discourses be if void of argumentation? a noise, sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal. Ye may surprise, but ye cannot convince; ye may dazzle, but ye cannot instruct; ye may, indeed, please, but ye can neither change, sanctify, nor transform. IV. There are, in the sermon of St. Peter, stinging reproofs; and, in the souls of the hearers, a pungent remorse (verse 22). And who can express the agitations which were produced in the souls of the audience? What pencil can describe the state of their consciences? They had committed this crime through ignorance. St. Peter tore these fatal veils asunder. He showed these madmen their own conduct in its true point of light; and discovered their parricide in all its horror. “ Ye have taken, and crucified Jesus, who was approved of God.” The apostle reminded them of the holy rules of righteousness, which Jesus Christ had preached and exemplified; and the holiness of Him, whom they had crucified, filled them with a sense of their own depravity. He reminded them of the benefits which Jesus Christ had bountifully bestowed on their nation. He reminded them of the grandeur of Jesus Christ. He reminded them of their unworthy treatment of Jesus Christ; of their eager outcries for His death; of their repeated shoutings. The whole was an ocean of terror, and each reflection a wave that overwhelmed, distorted, and distressed their souls. V. In fine, we may remark in the sermon of St. Peter denunciations of Divine vengeance. The most effectual means for the conversion of sinners, that which St. Paul so successfully employed, is terror. St. Peter was too well acquainted with the obduracy of his auditors not to avail himself of this motive. People, who had imbrued their hands in the blood of a personage so august, wanted this mean. St. Peter quoted a prophecy of Joel, which foretold that fatal day, and the prophecy was the more terrible because one part of it was accomplished; because the remarkable events that were to precede it were actually come to pass; for the Spirit of God had begun to pour out His miraculous influences upon all flesh, young men had seen visions, and old men had dreamed dreams; and the formidable preparations of approaching judgments were then before their eyes. Such was the power of the sermon of St. Peter over the souls of his hearers! Human eloquence hath sometimes done wonders worthy of immortal memory. Some of the ancient orators have governed the souls of the most invincible heroes, and the life of Cicero affords us an example. Ligarius had the audacity to make war on Caesar. Caesar was determined to make the rash adventurer a victim to his revenge. The friends of Legarius durst not interpose, and Ligarius was on the point, either of being justly punished for his offence, or of being sacrificed to the unjust ambition of his enemy. What force could control the power of Caesar? But Caesar had an adversary, whose power was superior to his own. This adversary pleads for Ligarius against Caesar, and Caesar, all invincible as he is, yields to the eloquence of Cicero. Cicero pleads, Caesar feels; in spite of himself, his wrath subsides, his vengeance disappears. The fatal list of the crimes of Ligarius, which he is about to produce to the judges, falls from his hands, and he actually absolves him at the close of the oration, whom, when he entered the court, he meant to condemn. But yield, ye orators of Athens and Rome! Yield to our fishermen and tent-makers. Oh, how powerful is the sword of the Spirit in the hands of our apostles! But will ye permit us to ask you one question? Would ye choose to hear the apostles, and ministers like the apostles? Would ye attend their sermons? or, to say all in one word, Do ye wish St. Peter was now in this pulpit? Think a little, before ye answer this question. Compare the taste of this auditory with the genius of the preacher; your delicacy with that liberty of speech with which he reproved the vices of his own times. One wants to find something new in every sermon; and, under pretence of satisfying his laudable desire of improvement in knowledge, would divert our attention from well-known vices that deserve to be censured. Another desires to be pleased, and would have us adorn our discourses, not that we may obtain an easier access to his heart, but that we may flatter a kind of concupiscence, which is content to sport with a religious exercise, till, when Divine service ends, it can plunge into more sensual joy. Almost all require to be lulled asleep in sin. Ah! how disagreeable to you would the sermons of the apostles have been! Realise them. Ah! methinks I hear the holy man; methinks I hear the preacher, animated with the same spirit that made him boldly tell the murderers of Jesus Christ, “ Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders, and signs, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Methinks I see St. Peter, the man who was so extremely affected with the sinful state of his auditors; methinks I hear him enumerating the various excesses of this nation, and saying, Ye! ye are void of all sensibility when we tell you of the miseries of the Church, when we describe those bloody scenes, that are made up of dungeons and galleys, apostates and martyrs. (J. Saurin.)The results of revivals not all known A revival is as when a sportsman goes out with his gun, and sends its charge into a flock of pigeons. Some fall dead at once, and he sees and secures them; but others, sorely hurt, limp off and hide, to die among the bushes. The best part of this revival is, that while you can only see those who are shot dead, and fall down before you, there are, thank God, thousands in all parts of the land, being hit and wounded, to go off unnoticed to their own homes, and God heals them there. Revival preachers Revival preachers make their sermons like a lens, to concentrate the rays of truth, and exhibit them with unflinching hand, in near connection with the sinner, till they burn and inflame his heart. (J. Jenkyn.)A sermon without an application A sermon without an application does no more good than the singing of a skylark: it may teach, but it does not impel; and though the preacher may be under concern for his audience, he does not show it till he turns the subject to their immediate advantage. (Bishop Home.)The operations of truth Divine truth exerts on the mind of man at once a restorative and a self-manifesting power. It creates in the mind the capacity by which it is discerned. As light opens the close-shut flower-bud to receive light, or as the sunbeam, playing on a sleeper’ s eyes, by its gentle irritation opens them to see its own brightness; so the truth of God, shining on the soul, quickens and stirs into activity the faculty by which that very truth is perceived. It matters little which of the two operations be first; practically they may be regarded as simultaneous. The perception rouses the faculty, and yet the faculty is implied in the perception. The truth awakens the mind, and yet the mind must be in activity ere the truth can reach it. And the same two-fold process is carried on in the whole subsequent progress of the soul. (Professor Caird.)Awakened sinners Peter’ s hearers-- I. Were in a state of distress. “ Pricked to the heart.” The Holy Spirit did this by means of--1. What they saw; the wrong and folly of their action towards Jesus. 2. What they felt; that their folly and wrong-doing were sinful in the sight of God. 3. What they feared; that they might have to endure dreadful consequences. II. Uttered a cry of distress, which meant--1. That something must be done. The misery of self-condemnation must be ended by some means. It is a joy to an evangelist when hearers have this feeling. 2. That the apostles were able to tell them what to do. Peter had led them into that state, and it was natural to expect that he could deal with them in that state. 3. That they were ready to do what was required. The mark of true penitence is submissiveness. So long as a seeker lays down his own terms he is not fit to be saved. III. Received an apostolic answer.1. Turn from your sins. They were already convinced of sin and sorry for it, and were therefore ready for the direction. 2. Openly declare that you have turned from your sins. At this time baptism meant a great deal, viz., that the service of Christ was chosen at the risk of certain suffering. 3. Fulfil the appointed conditions of pardon. “ Repent etc. with reference to the remission of sins.” So long as these are unfulfilled the sinner is morally unfit to receive pardon. 4. The Spirit who has given you this distress will give you joy. “ Ye shall receive the gift,” etc. The fulness of the Spirit’ s work always brings fulness of joy. IV. Learned the ground of the answer. “ The promise is unto you,” etc. How wonderful that their awful sin did not invalidate this promise. Who is not the subject of the Divine call? The call to repentance, faith and virtue comes by many means: by providence, the Word, the Spirit. Have you not heard it? V. Receive a final direction (verse 40).1. The generation was wicked. This had been abundantly proved. Is it not so with the present generation? What else mean the frauds, vices, and blasphemies of every class of society. 2. It was necessary for the followers of Jesus to be separate from the world. Reason, interest, and Christian philanthropy required it then and require it now. Jesus was separate from sinners; His kingdom is not of this world; and true Christianity and worldliness cannot coalesce. He, then, who wishes to be saved must renounce the world. 3. This direction, therefore, is properly the last to penitent inquirers. To leave the world is to give decisive proof of the genuineness of repentance and faith. (W. Hudson.)The great question and the inspired answer I. The questing.1. To this question they were led-- (1) by the Spirit;(2) by the Truth;(3) by their conscience--a view of sin leading to a consciousness of many. 2. This question indicates their-- (1) feeling;(2) condition;(3) desire. 3. This question was-- (1) honest,(2) searching,(3) inspired. II. A suitable and significant answer.1. Consider who gives the answer-- (1) apostles,(2) inspired,(3) speaking with authority. 2. The answer urges to-- (1) repentance,(2) profession of Christ.(3) yielding to the Spirit’ s control. 3. The answer rests-- (1) not on human wisdom,(2) not on human goodness,(3) not on human efforts,(4) but on the promise of God (verse 39), which is as wide as the world. III. To a right reception comes a blessed consummation.1. In personal experience-- (1) peace,(2) goodness,(3) singleness of heart (verse 46). 2. Relatively-- (1) favours with God,(2) and man (verse 47). (J. M. Allis.)Rightly dividing the word of truth 1. The word had wounded, now the word heals. A little religion is a painful thing, but more takes the pain away. The word is a hammer to break and a balm to heal. Its first effect is to convince a sinner that he is lost; its next to make the lost rejoice in his Saviour. 2. It is important to keep these two functions distinct. To preach a healing gospel when there is no wound on the conscience is like pressing cold water on those who are not thirsty. There is nothing sweeter to the thirsty; nothing more insipid to the satisfied. 3. The apostle rightly divided the word of truth. Peter’ s aim all through is to produce conviction of sin, and for this appeals to Scripture to bring home the guilt of the crucifixion. It was not with gladness that they received that word but with grief, shame, remorse. When the preacher saw that his first word had taken effect he delivered the second. He had succeeded in wounding; and at the cry of the suffering patient, he comes forward to heal. The old stem had been cut off and the tree was bleeding; he turns the knife, and with its other side inserts the new graft, that there may be a tree of righteousness the planting of the Lord. You pour some burning drops upon a sore; their first effect is to increase the pain; but knowing the sovereign power of the remedy you continue to pour, sparing not for the patient’ s crying. At length continued application of that which caused the pain takes all pain away. When the word wounds, still ply the word until the sword becomes a balm. Then, in this second stage, the hearer will receive the word with joy. He who really receives the word receives it gladly, for those who do not, will not long continue to receive it at all. 3. The believers were immediately baptized. It is clear that regeneration was not the result of baptism, but vice versa. It was when they received the word with gladness they were baptized. The order of events is that which the master enjoined (Matthew 28:19-20). Peter and his companions first laid themselves out to make disciples. Then, when by the successive pain and gladness produced by preaching, they perceived that disciples were made, they baptized them. Lastly, the newly accepted members of the Church were taught to observe all the commandments, for they abounded in faith and love. 4. But a dash of sadness is thrown upon the happy scene. “ Fear came upon every soul.” But this points to the outer circle. The conversions startled the onlookers, and they were smitten with a sudden fear lest they should be left outside and perish. From the apostles view point, however, this was a hopeful symptom. The example of believers had begun to tell. It is a good sign when those living without God begirt to be uneasy; especially when it is at the sight of multitudes pressing into the kingdom. When men are delivered from the horrible pit many shall see it and fear (Psalms 40:1-17.). The Christian community in the freshness of its first faith was suddenly thrown into society, and disturbed it by its unwonted presence. If a new planet should be projected into our system, it would make the old worlds stagger. Bodies in contact reciprocally affect each other, especially in respect of temperature. Pour hot water into a cold vessel; the water contributes to heat the vessel, but the vessel also contributes to cool the water. But if a constant stream of hot water is supplied, it will bring up the vessel to its own temperature. A process like this goes on continually between the Church and the world. Fervent disciples, particularly those in their first love, affect with their own warmth the society into which they are poured; but society, on the other hand, affects them with its own coldness, and being the larger body will soon cool the disciples’ hearts, unless they maintain constant contact with Christ. 5. A word to those who are without Christ, I confess that the Church in contact with you is more or less cold. The disciples are not so manifestly like heaven as to send a thrill of terror through you lest you should fall to join their company. But if you stumble over their coldness, to blame them for their lukewarmness will not save you when you are lost. A man on inspecting a new house he was having built found one of the men lighting his pipe in the midst of dry shavings. So he said to him, “ If my house is burnt the blame will rest on you.” Thinking over what he had said, he added, “ The blame will be yours, but the loss will be mine.” He saw the risk, and went away and insured his house. Go thou and do likewise. The Church deserves blame; but the loss is yours. Hide your imperilled soul “ with Christ in God.” (W. Arnot, D. D.)On being pricked to the heart I. When we hear God reprove sin we should be pricked at the heart.1. So as to be sensible of sin. (1) The guilt of it (Psalms 51:3-4).(2) Of our defilement with it (Psalms 57:5). 2. So as to be troubled for our sins. (1) Their sinfulness.(2) Their multitude. (Ezra 9:6).(3) Their greatness; as being-- (a) Against knowledge (John 3:19). (b) Against mercies. (c) After judgments (Isaiah 1:5; Amos 4:9). (d) Contrary to our promises. (e) Against the checks of conscience (Romans 2:15), the motives of the Spirit, the reproofs of the word. 3. Uses: Be pricked at your hearts when sin is reproved considering-- (1) Who is it that reproves (Amos 3:8; Jeremiah 5:21-22).(2) Reproofs without this effect do more harm than good (Proverbs 29:1).(3) God may reprove no more (Ezekiel 3:26; Hosea 4:17).(4) You must answer for all the reproofs you hear. II. Such as are pricked to the heart should be very inquisitive what to do.1. We are all capable of holiness and happiness (Genesis 1:26). 2. But full of sin and misery (Ephesians 2:3). 3. It is one part of our sin and misery that we are not sensible of (1) sin. This appears-- (a) In that we have not grieved for it (Ezekiel 7:16). (b) Nor fear to commit it (Psalms 18:23). (c) Nor strive to get it subdued (Psalms 57:2). (2) Misery. This appears-- (a) In that we rejoice in it. (b) We do not strive to get out of it. 4. The first step to holiness and felicity is sensibleness of sin and misery. 5. There is none so sensible of this, but he will be very inquisitive what to do (Acts 16:30). This is essential because-- (1) Our everlasting happiness depends upon it.(2) Unless we inquire we shall never know what to do. 6. Whom must we inquire of? (1) God.(2) The Scriptures (Luke 17:29).(3) Ministers. (Bp. Beveridge.)Being pricked to the heart Whitefield was preaching at Exeter. A man was present who had filled his pockets with stones to throw at the preacher. He heard, however, the prayer with patience, but no sooner was the text named than he pulled out a stone, and waited for an opportunity to throw it. But God sent the Word into his heart, and the stone fell from his hand. After the sermon he went to Whitefield, and said, “ Sir, I came to hear you with a view to break your head, but the Spirit of God through your ministry has given me a broken heart.” The man proved to be a sound convert, and lived an ornament to the gospel. Heart-work God’ s work Heart-work must be God’ s work. Only the great heart-maker can be the great heart-breaker. (R. Baxter.)The gospel to be preached to the heart “ I have an ear for other preachers,” Sir John Cheke used to say, “ but I have a heart for Latimer.” Here is a very clear and main distinction. Too often men hear the Word sounding its drums and trumpets outside their walls, and they are filled with admiration of the martial music; bat their city gates are fast closed and vigilantly guarded, so that the truth has no admittance, but only the sound of it. Would to God we knew how to reach men’ s affections, for the heart is the target we aim at, and unless we hit it we miss altogether. The truth the sword of the Spirit It is not the drapery in which Divine truth may be clothed, nor the force and beauty of the illustrations with which it may be presented, but it is the truth itself--the bare, naked, unvarnished truth-that is the instrument of the Spirit’ s power. That is the sword of the Spirit; and it is the sword that does the work, not the scabbard in which it is sheathed. The scabbard may be finely fitted, and beautifully embellished, bound with the finest gold, and glittering with jewels of polished diamonds; but it is not the garnished scabbard, it is the drawn sword which the Spirit wields, and which, when wielded by Him, is quick and powerful, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. (J. A. Wallace.)A famous conversion 1. It is remarkable in the very first order of it. It is the first conversion that was wrought by the apostles in the Christian Church; the first-fruits of the gospel; the first handful of ripe ears of corn offered up to God to sanctify the whole harvest; the goodly bunch of Eskol gathered by these first spies, the apostles, betokening the Church’ s fruitfulness. 2. It is remarkable for the time and season when these converts embrace the faith and profess religion. We all know it was a sad time of persecution. 3. It is remarkable in the condition and quality of the persons: a mixed, confused company of men, strangely disposed and affected before their conversion. They run together, and flock about the apostles, with no very religious purpose, but merely to gaze and wonder at them. Nay, worse than so, they fall a-scoffing and deriding the apostles. Oh, the greatness of God’ s mercy that He would, and, oh, the power of Christ’ s grace that it could, convert such converts as these! 4. It is remarkable in the great number and multitude of converts. Not a cluster, or two, but a plentiful vintage. Such was the power of religion in those primitive times; so mightily grew the Word, and prevailed. 5. It is remarkable for the complete, entire fulness of their conversion. They are troubled for their sins, “ pricked at their heart.” They repent, believe, and are baptized. They are diligent in all the duties of God’ s service, and worship (verse 24). Their religion is not confined to the Church only, but they are fruitful in all works of charity (verse 45). They live together in all Christian love (verse 46). Here is an exact pattern of a through-conversion, a complete and perfect frame of a holy Church. I. The means that wrought this anguish and compunction. It is St. Peter’ s sermon: “ When they heard this.” The text tells us of a wound that was given them, that pierced their heart. Here we see both the weapon that made it, and the place where it entered. In bodily strokes, he that means to hit the heart must take another aim, not run his weapon in at the ear; but he that means to wound the heart spiritually, his directest passage is through the ear. In this case there is an immediate conveyance from the ear to the heart. Men may as well expect good corn on their land without ploughing and sowing, as true sorrow and repentance without hearing and attending. The passage and entrance, then, is the ear; but what is the weapon St. Peter uses to pierce and wound them?1. God’ s Word in the general, that is the means that works this compunction, that is the choice, sanctified instrument appointed by God for this sacred work. The speaking to exhortation and doctrine is the way to convince and convert souls. 2. It is verbum convictivum. St. Peter makes choice of that Word of God that was most fit to detect and convict them; and he doth manage it so that they could not avoid the edge of it. And this he does by a close application of it to their sinful condition. 3. It was verbum convictivum de his peccatis. He charges them in a special manner with these and these sins as those that are likeliest to perplex their soul and bring them to compunction. As, in course of law, general accusations will ground no action; if we come to accuse a man, it is not sufficient to lay to his charge that he is a malefactor, but we must charge him with particulars. So, would a sinner arraign his conscience before God’ s tribunal, he must frame an indictment against himself of his more notorious and personal impieties. If we trouble and disquiet and perplex your souls, we have our warrant from St. Peter’ s example. St. Peter was even now filled with the Holy Ghost, and so the first vent that it found is in this sharp reprehension. This kind of dealing is warranted by the great success that God gave unto it. Peter hath saved thousands with it, and Paul his ten thousands. This is to cast the net on the right side of the ship, as Christ directs Peter; he shall not miss of a plentiful draught. He that means to fish for souls, let him bait his hook with this worm of conscience, and he will take them presently. II. The paroxysm itself, the anguish and compunction they were brought into.1. It is exceeding sharp; their soul is embittered in them. The Scripture sets out this compunction of spirit in terms of extremity (2 Samuel 24:10; Proverbs 18:14; Romans 2:9; Psalms 51:17). And it is the sense of God’ s displeasure causes this breaking by three apprehensions, as by so many strokes. (1) As most deserved and due to us. We eat the bitter fruit of our works. (2) As most heavy and unsupportable by us. Who knows the power of His anger? Who can dwell with everlasting burnings? (3) As, of ourselves, unavoidable by us. How shall we flee from the wrath to come? A poor sinner, beset with these anxieties, tortures himself with these pensive thoughts: “ What have I done?” “ What danger have I run into?” “ How bitter are mine anguishes?” “ Whither shall I turn myself for ease and comfort?” 2. Consider the goodness of these men’ s compunction; and it will appear observable for our imitation in these four respects:-- (1) Their compunction is the more observable, because it is wrought in them without the help and concurrence of any outward affliction, only by the dint of St. Peter’ s sermon. (2) Their compunction is the more observable because wrought into them by the hearing of one sermon of St. Peter; no sooner charged with sin but they are convinced presently, and cry cut for sorrow. (3) Their compunction is the more observable as being wrought in them only by convincing them of sin, not by threatening or denouncing of judgments. (4) This compunction is the more observable because, ye see, it is a full yielding to the accusation. St. Peter charges them with horrid sin, and, without more ado, they plead guilty to all, confess the whole indictment. They are not enraged against the apostle for this sharp reproof. They take no exception against the accuser. They make no defence of the fact. They excuse it not. They demur not. None of all these shifts, but they accept of the accusation; they confess themselves guilty, and, with sorrow of heart, acknowledge they are murderers of the Lord of glory. (a) Such power and such strength was in the Word of God preached by Peter. His words are like sharp arrows in the hand of a giant: they return not empty. (b) Such prevalency hath the Grace of God in the hearts of this people. Like a sovereign antidote that served to drive the poison of sin from the heart into the outward parts by an open confession. That is the second particular of the text--their anguish and perplexity; and it briefly affords us a threefold meditation. (i.) It lets us see the outfall of sin; the issue and end of it is sorrow and vexation. It may be sweet in the mouth, but it will be bitter in thy bowels. (ii.) It shows the inlet and first entrance of grace; it begins with sorrow and sharp compunction. The first physic to recover our souls are not cordials, but corrosives; not an immediate stepping into heaven by a present assurance, but mourning, and a bitter bewailing of our former transgressions. (iii.) It shows us the downfall of despair. Are these converts, whom God means mercy to, thus sharply tortured? How bitter are their torments whom He plunges into perdition I III. The course they take for ease and remedy. They repair to Peter and the apostles, crave their help and direction: “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” And this course of theirs is qualified with three conditions.1. They take a speedy course. As soon as the wound is given and felt, they presently seek for help and direction. They put it not off till some other time, as Felix did when he felt the first shiverings and grudgings of contrition. Nor think they that they shall outgrow it in time, that their hearts are like good flesh that will heal of itself. No; delays in this kind breed a double danger. (1) Good motions, if not cherished, will vanish away, and then the heart grows harder. (2) Hath God pricked thine heart? Take the wound timely, lest it grow worse. 2. It was an advised and proper course they make choice of St. Peter and the rest of the apostles. And the wisdom, shall I say, or the happiness of this choice will appear in four particulars. (1) They are spiritual men, physicians for the soul. A. wounded spirit cannot be cured but by spiritual means. (2) They repair to the apostles. Why, Peter was he that wounded them! Best of all, none like him to cure them. What Hosea speaks of God is true of His ministers in a due subordination. “ They have wounded, and they heal us; they have smitten, and they will bind us up.” (3) They repair to Peter and the rest; they come to men of practice and experience. These apostles knew what it was to have a wounded spirit; these had crucified Christ; Peter had denied Him, the rest had forsaken Him, and it cost them dear ere they could be recovered. None like these to direct their conscience. They do it-- (a) more skilfully, (b) more humbly, (c) more tenderly. (4) They are unanimous, all here in a joint consent and concurrence of judgment. 3. It proves successful, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” It discovers a threefold effect that this compunction hath already wrought in them to help forward their conversion. (1) It represses their censoriousness. A man truly sensible of his own sins will have little lift or leisure to censure and judge, much less to reproach or slander others. It will make him judge himself, and condemn himself, and think worst of himself of all other men. (2) This compunction and perplexity makes them reverent and respectful to St. Peter and the other apostles. God’ s ministers are never in season with the world till men come to distress and perplexity. In the time of ease and jollity a minister is but a contemptible man; he and his pains may be well spared. But when sorrows surprise you, and your hearts are wounded, then one leaf from the Tree of Life to stanch the bleeding wilt be precious to you. This is the honour of our ministry to be able to help in such helpless times. (3) It makes them inquisitive. “ What shall we do?” Surely it is the voice of anguish and perplexity. They speak as men at a loss; they know not how to shift. But they were men acquainted with the law; nay, devout zealots of the Jewish traditions (verse 5); and yet we see they are now to seek how to ease themselves in that great perplexity. Whence arises this sudden amazement? Was it from the surcharge of sorrow that had overwhelmed their spirits and darkened that light which was formerly in them? It often proves so. It shadows out the insufficiency of the law to breed peace and comfort to us. It may perplex us, but it cannot quiet us; discover our sins, but not remove them. Or was it not they placed all their religion in some outward observations, without the life and piety of inward devotion. Rituals with substantials are the beauty of religion, but severed and divided will breed but cold comfort to us. 2. It makes them docile and tractable, willing and desirous to receive instruction. Compunction bores and opens the ear, and makes it capable of direction. 3. It begets a readiness to undertake any course that shall be prescribed for relief and comfort. In our ease heaven must fall into our laps, or we will none of it. If it put us to pains or cost it is toe dear a bargain for us to deal withal. But when our souls are in perplexity we will be glad to accept of mercy upon any terms; we will take heaven at God’ s price then. “ I will do anything, Lord, I will suffer anything to get hell out of my soul now, and to keep my soul out of hell hereafter.” (Bp. Brownrigg.)Life-wounds 1. Peter’ s sermon was not a fine display of eloquence.2. Neither was it a very pathetic plea.3. Nor a loud but empty cry of “ Believe, believe!”4. It was simple, a plain statement and a soberly earnest argument.5. Its power lay in the truthfulness of the speaker, his appeal to Scripture, the concurrence of his witnessing brethren, and his own evident faith.6. Above all, in the Holy Spirit who accompanied the Word. I. Saving impression is a prick in the heart. To be cut to the heart is deadly (Acts 5:33): to be pricked in the heart is saving.1. All true religion must be of the heart. Without this-- (1) Ceremonies are useless (Isaiah 1:13).(2) Orthodoxy of head is in vain (Jeremiah 7:4).(3) Profession and a constrained morality fail (2 Timothy 3:5).(4) Loud zeal, excited and sustained by mere passions, is useless. 2. Impressions which do not prick the heart may even be evil. They may (1) Excite to wrath and opposition.(2) Lead to sheer hypocrisy.(3) Create and foster a spurious hope. 3. Even when such superficial impressions are good, they are transient: and when they have passed away, they have often hardened those who have felt them for a season. 4. They will certainly be inoperative. As they have not touched the heart, they will not affect the life. They will not lead to (1) Confession and inquiry, nor(2) Repentance and change of life.(3) Glad reception of the Word, nor(4) Obedience and steadfastness. Heart-work is the only real work. II. What truths produce such a prick?1. The truth of the gospel has often, by the power of the Holy Ghost, produced an indelible wound in minds sceptical and opposed. 2. A sense of some one specially startling sin has frequently aroused the conscience (2 Samuel 12:7). 3. Instruction in the nature of the law, and the consequent heinousness of sin, has been blessed to that end (Romans 7:13). 4. The infinite wickedness of sin, as against the very being of God, is also a wounding thought (Psalms 51:4). 5. The exactness, severity, and terror of the judgment, and the consequent punishment of sin, are stirring thoughts (Acts 16:25-30). 6. The great goodness of God has led many to see the cruel wantonness of sin against Him (Romans 2:4). 7. The death of Christ as a Substitute has often been the means of revealing the greatness of the sin which needed such an atonement, and of showing the true tendency of sin in having slain One so good and kind (Zechariah 12:10). 8. The abundant grace and love revealed in the gospel and received by us are sharp arrows to wound the heart. III. What hand makes these painful pricks?1. The same hand which wrote the piercing truths also applies them. 2. He is well acquainted with our hearts, and so can reach them. 3. He is the Quickener, the Comforter, the Spirit helping our infirmities, showing to us the things of Jesus: His fruit is love, joy, peace, etc. We need not utterly despair when wounded by such a tender Friend. 4. He is a Spirit to be sought unto, who acts in answer to His people’ s prayers. We turn for healing to Him who pricks. IV. How can these pricks be healed?1. Only One who is Divine can heal a wounded heart. 2. The only medicine is the blood of His heart. 3. The only hand to apply it is that which was pierced. 4. The only fee required is gladly to receive Him. Conclusion: Let us ask the question, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Let us then obey the gospel, and believe in the Lord Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Honest preaching No doubt it is a high and difficult task to preach with success; far be it from us to teach that no pains should be used to gain men’ s ears; but the preacher who gains their ears should use his conquest to reach their consciences--and it is his business to give them pain. They are sinners, and they know it, even better than the preacher. He will not become their enemy by telling them the truth, and so telling it that their ears will tingle with shame and their consciences cry out with remorse. At all events, enemies made in that way may become the preacher’ s best friend; and if they do not, they will carry his credentials as stigmata burnt into their memories. A man riding with his friend past a country church fell to musing with himself, and presently said: “ In that house, thirty years ago, I passed the most uncomfortable hour of my life. It seems but yesterday, and my pain seems as keen as it was then.” The other laughed and said: “ I suppose it was some coquettish maiden.” “ No. It was an honest preacher who got hold of my very soul.” Such memories in the hearts of sinners are the best credentials they can give to preachers of the gospel. Reaching the heart Jerome used to say, “ It is not the clamour of praise but the groans of conviction that should be heard whilst the minister preaches.” And again, “ The tears of the congregation form the highest praises of the pulpit orator.” The anecdote of Dean Milner and Rowland Hill here is apposite. Dean Milner had a great objection against extemporaneous preaching, thinking that it warred against the precise and orthodox mode. However, being attracted by the great fame of Rowland Hill, he was led to indulge his curiosity by once going to hear him. After the sermon the Dean was seen forcing his way, in much haste, to the vestry-room, when, seizing the hand of the preacher, in his enthusiasm, he cried out, “ Well, dear brother Rowland, I perceive now that your slapdash preachers are, after all, the best preachers; it went to the heart, sir; it went to the heart, sir!” (Scottish Christian Herald.)Powerful preaching John Elias was called to preach a great association sermon at Pwllheli. In the whole neighbourhood the state of religion was very low, and distressingly discouraging to pious minds, and it had been so for many years. Elias felt that his visit must be an occasion with him. It may almost be said of that day that “ he prayed, and the heavens gave rain.” He went. He took as his text, “ Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered.” It was an astonishing time. While the preacher drove along with his tremendous power, multitudes of the people fell to the ground. Calm stood the man, his words rushing from him like flames of fire. There were added to the churches of that immediate neighbourhood, in consequence of the impetus of that sermon, two thousand five hundred members. (E. Paxton Hood.)Only God can heal the wounds He makes When a man is wounded with a barbed arrow, the agonies he suffers will cause him to toss about in pain; but the harder he strives to release the weapon from his flesh, the more does it become entangled in his sinews, the wound becomes enlarged, and the torture increased. When, by the power of the Holy Ghost, a man is wounded on account of sin, and the arrows of the Most High tear his soul, he frequently tries to pluck them out with his own hand, but finds that the misery becomes worse, and the inflaming wounds at last cause faintness and despair. Only the Good Physician knows how to relieve the pain without tearing and festering the spirit. (Handbook of Illustration.)A true saving conviction of sin I. The instrument by which it was produced, namely, the preaching of St. Peter. The Holy Spirit was the Author, but He employed the preaching of the apostle. It is by the Word of God, and usually by the preaching of that Word, that the heart is awakened, enlightened, and impressed. See why Satan is such an enemy to the preaching of the gospel. He knows that it is the appointed instrument for overturning his kingdom. He would, therefore, gladly prevent preaching, but when he cannot do this he tries to keep men from hearing. II. The description here given of a saving conviction of sin. They “ were pricked in their hearts.” The Word of God, in order to be of any real use, must reach the heart. It is not enough that it enlighten the understanding, or please the fancy, or warm the affections. Nor is merely reaching the heart sufficient. It must touch it. And what is the way in which it touches the heart? We read of some ‘ who were “ cut to the heart.” Their hearts were deeply affected; but instead of any saving conviction being wrought in them, they were only the more exasperatd and hardened against the truth. A prick in the heart, though a small wound, would be fatal. III. The way in which such a conviction will show itself; namely, in an application for relief. Take notice to whom they made this application: to those very persons through whose preaching the wound had been inflicted. Not that the preacher, by his own power, can heal the wound, any more than he could at first inflict it. The same Holy Spirit, which alone produces conviction, can alone administer consolation. But in both eases He works by means. Attend, then, to the preaching of the Word, and you will find it a life-giving Word, mighty to heal as well as to wound, the power of God unto salvation. IV. The humility produced by a saving conviction of sin. Such a conviction disposes men to use the remedy prescribed. “ What shall we do?” indicates that they were not only in deep trouble as not knowing what course to take, but also that they were willing to follow any directions which the apostles might point out. To this question there is but one answer, that of Peter. (E. Cooper.)We must preach to the consciences of men Inspector Byrnes of New York says, “ The great lieutenant of every police officer is that mysterious thing called conscience. You let a man try to deceive himself and lie to himself about himself, and that something comes knocking up against the shell of his body, and thumping on his ribs with every heart-beat, and pounding on his skull until his head aches and he wishes he were dead, and groans in agony for relief. It is the same conscience that makes a criminal ‘ give himself away,’ if one only knows how to awaken it, or stir it into activity. I never let a man know for what he is arrested. He may have committed a dozen more crimes of which I know nothing. If I lock him up alone and leave him to the black walls and his guilty conscience for three or four hours, while he pictures the possible punishment due to him for all his crimes, he comes presently into my hands like soft clay in the hands of the potter. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 2:38 Then Peter said, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus. Peter’ s direction In getting the exact meaning of Peter’ s directions to these inquirers, observe--(1) “ Repent” is literally to perceive afterwards, and hence to change the mind, including one’ s view of life and truth, and hence one’ s purpose. Here it means an entire change of opinion respecting Jesus Christ, from regarding Him as an impostor to reverencing Him as both Lord and Christ; but it also includes all that change of inner life and purpose which follows thereon. The Roman Catholic translation, “ Do penance,” making the direction merely the observance of certain legal rites, is equally inconsistent with the original Greek and with the spirit of the entire passage. (2) “ Be baptized” follows in order the direction to repent. Baptism is not a regenerating ordinance, but a sign and symbol of repentance, and a public confession of Christ. (3) “ Each of you,” shows that the repentance and baptism must be a personal act. The multitude could not have been baptized under this direction, as some of the converts under Xavier’ s preaching were baptized in India, by being sprinkled altogether in a multitude, or as some of the northern people were baptized in earlier times, by being made to pass through the river in a great host. (4) “ In” (upon) “ the name of Jesus Christ,” is upon the name of Jesus Christ as the foundation of the baptism, i.e., with an acknowledgment of Him in that act as being what His name means, the sinner’ s only hope, his Redeemer, Justifier, Lord, and Final Judge. (Lyman Abbott.)St. Peter’ s prescription I. The means he prescribes.1. Repentance; that is the first ingredient in the cure. It is the primitive original grace, even before faith itself, as it serves to justify. All the promises are made only to the penitent. (1) See the necessity of this spiritual medicine. As when a loving father shall command his sick child to use such a medicine to save his life, should the child refuse it, he sins not only as a disobedient child against his father, but as a desperate creature against his own life. Impeniteney is the damning sin. All sins deserve damnation, but it is impenitency which doth actually cast us. As he that hath eaten poison hath done that which in itself is deadly; but yet there is an antidote that can cure it; now to refuse the antidote is more desperate. Other sins are against our duty; but impenitency is against our recovery. Still the Scripture promises this as a necessary condition for obtaining mercy (Acts 5:3). (2) It is a proper cure for sin this penitential sorrow. To speak truly, sorrow and remorse, it is good for nothing but to destroy sin. God, when He implanted this affection in our souls, intended it only for this purpose, to purge and cure our spiritual maladies (3) See the efficacy of this prescript, the strength and virtue of this balm of Gilead. It is able to work strange cures, to recover men of desperate maladies. As no sin is so small but it needs repentance, so no sin so great but may be done away by this grace of repentance. (4) Take notice of the seasonableness of this prescription. They were already deeply cast down with sorrow and anguish, they were pricked at the heart, pierced. One would think some other course were more seasonable. No, no; St. Peter is right, he sees their souls are in perplexity, and yet he calls upon them to repent; they are in sorrow, and yet they must sorrow if they mean to be eased. There is indeed a large difference betwixt that sorrow which they already felt and that penitential sorrow which St. Peter enjoins them. Their former sorrow, it was a legal sorrow, wrought into them by the terrors of God’ s law and the sense of their sin; but the sorrow St. Peter commends to them is an evangelical sorrow, a sorrow wrought by the gospel and a gift of Christ. (5) Their former sorrow and compunction, it was a pang and passion of sorrow that seized them, whether they would or no; but the penitential sorrow that Peter exhorts them to, it is a voluntary, willing sorrow to which they must stir up and provoke themselves. (a) Look upon it in the original, it is a grace, and that is seated in the will, it serves to enable it and to make it willing. (b) Look upon it in the exercise, so it is a duty; God requires and expects repentance. Now, God requires our actions. Sufferings are not commanded but inflicted; but duties are, enjoined, and we must willingly perform them. (c) Look upon it in the use; so it is a condition upon the performance of which God doth covenant with us. A true penitent must provoke himself to sorrow, praying that he may sorrow; grieving that he cannot grieve, never repenting that he hath repented. (6) The sorrow they felt before, when their hearts were pricked, differs from the sorrow to which St. Peter exhorts them; that was dolor, the pain of the disease; but this he requires of them, it is the smart that comes by the cure and medicine. It is not every stroke of conscience, nor every pang of sorrow, that is true repentance; we may feel all these, and feel them in extremity, and yet the bitter pill of repentance must be taken down for all that. That is the first means, a spiritual purging. Come we-- 2. To the second means which St. Peter prescribes them, that is a spiritual bathing; that is the sacrament of baptism. (1) The sacramental action; they must be baptized. This outward, external, bodily ceremony of washing in water, it is of Divine institution, and so necessary. Let the means be what it will, if Christ sends us to it, it shall be effectual. Purposely Christ uses these bodily means as special conveyances of spiritual grace; even amongst men we see outward evidences and seals are accounted strong assurances. We are not content to have estates passed over to us by bare word; but writings and seals, livery and seisin, are all requisite. Purposely God employs very mean instruments that our faith may only depend upon His power, and that our thankfulness may ascribe it only to His glory. In particular, Christ prescribes this sacrament of baptism, and washing in water, that element fitly resembling those spiritual effects which are wrought in baptism. (a) Water hath a force of drawing and killing and suffocating any breathing thing. And this quality of water is a fit resemblance of the grace of baptism. A sinner, coming to this sacrament, hath all his sins drowned and abolished. (b) Water hath a power of quenching; and such a spiritual virtue there is in baptism, it allays the heat of our natural concupiscence, quenches and extinguishes the boilings and inflammations of our sinful lusts. (c) Water, it is a cleansing element, it washes away filthiness, and so doth baptism; it purges a sinner from all defilements of flesh and spirit (Ephesians 4:26). (d) Water hath a fructifying virtue in it; it is a fruitful element, and makes other things fruitful (Genesis 1:20). So this sacrament by Divine institution and benediction, it is a fountain of living water, a font and laver of regeneration. See how abundantly these waters brought forth. Three thousand were baptized and renewed in one day. That is the action. Then-- (2) The relation of it, which enlivens the action and makes it effectual, is that it must be done in the name of Jesus Christ. What means that? In His name, that is, by His authority. He alone can institute a sacrament, He alone can make the seal that must confirm His covenant. In His name; that is, be baptized in the faith of Jesus His name, through faith in His name (Acts 3:16). A sacrament without faith is a seal to a blank. In the name of Jesus Christ, that is, in the solemn and holy profession of Christ into His religion, into the fellowship and communion of His holy profession. In baptism we take upon us Christ’ s cognisance and livery. II. The benefits which upon the use of this means he doth assure them.1. Remission of sins. And this will appear-- (1) A seasonable benefit. Men in their case and perplexity had rather hear of the pardon of their sins, then that all the goods of the world should betide them. This mercy, it is the sinful soul’ s city of refuge. Other means may stupefy and benumb our conscience, and lay it asleep; only this assurance can truly and effectually quiet and comfort it, Thy sins are forgiven thee. (2) This mercy here promised is a full complete comfort; it is remission of sins in the plural number. As in bodily cures, when Christ cast out one devil, He cast out all; seven devils out of Mary Magdalen; a whole legion of devils, left not one remaining. So when He pardons one sin He forgives all. (a) God’ s love, it is not partial and imperfect, pardoning some and retaining others. (b) And then repentance, though it be occasioned by some one sin, yet it bewails all, detests all, forsakes all. A good Christian will leave no sin unrepented of. (c) The grace of baptism doth not only seal up the actual remission of our by-past sins; but it hath a force even for the pardoning of the sins of our whole life. Not that all our sins past, present, and to come are actually all forgiven in baptism, but because in our baptism God seals up that covenant by which He assures us, He will pardon all our sins upon our repentance; and thus the force of baptism reaches to the pardon of future sins. 2. The receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. (1) Grace is a gift not inbred in us, not deserved or purchased by us. (2) We must receive it; we are only passive and receptive of grace. The Spirit is the only agent, we are but receivers of the gift of grace. To pass by these, consider only these two things: the order. Repent and be baptized, and then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. First, here is cleansing required, and then beautifying. The Holy Ghost abhors uncleanliness, will not come near to a defiled soul. The nature of this gift. The gifts of the Holy Ghost; were of two sorts. 3. Those that are usually called gifts tending to edification of others; as tongues and other ministerial enablements. They were the gifts of this day, but not the only gifts. 4. Others are gifts of personal concernment, for the good of the receivers to further their salvation. And these were promised and bestowed on this day. (1) The grace of sanctification; that was the gift and benefit of this day. (2) The grace of obsignations and sealing, that was the work and gift of the Spirit that came this day. This is one great office of the Holy Ghost to ratify and seal up to us the forgiveness of our sins and all the benefits of our redemption (Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30). (3) The grace of consolation; that is another work and gift of the Spirit, that was also the gift of this day. (a) In regard of our sanctification, so the Holy Ghost is a gift of grace enabling us. (b) In respect of our assurance, so He is a seal confirming us. (c) In respect of comfort and consolation, so He is the kiss of love and peace to rejoice and comfort us. And this assurance that Peter gives them of their receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, it will afford us a threefold meditation. See here--1. His earnest desire to have the gift of the Spirit communicated to them. 2. The bounty of God; whom He pardons, those He enriches and stores with grace. 3. Learn here the duty and obligation of a penitent. If God bestows this rich gift on us, that very gift obliges us to use it. We must not be content to have our sins pardoned, but we must set ourselves to perform better obedience. (BP. Brownrigg.)The gospel The crowd, convinced of sin and fearful of its consequences, cried out in an agony of remorse and despair, “ What shall we do?” Meaning, of course, what the jailer meant in the full evangelical question. They wanted to know how they should escape the penalty incurred. Very full is this condensed reply of Peter’ s. The whole gospel of man’ s salvation is included in it. No director of a stricken and bewildered conscience can improve upon it. I. The nature of salvation.1. Remission of sins. Sin had run them into danger; continuance in sin would involve them in ruin. The first thing, therefore, was that sin should be remitted. When a disease breaks out it exposes its victims to a possible or probable death. To check its ravages does not mean absolutely health; but there is no averting that fatality until the progress of the disease receives a check. In our case sin exposes us to punishment on account of its guilt; to death because of its power. To forgive the guilt and to counterwork the power is therefore the first requirement. It is not full salvation, but it is necessary to it. 2. The gift of the Holy Ghost. This is the positive side of that which remission is the negative side, and completes the idea of salvation. To receive the Spirit is for the sick soul to be restored to full ‘ health; it is to lay ourselves open to His gracious work, which is (1) Regeneration, the gift of a new nature.(2) Adoption, translation into the Divine family and acceptance in the Beloved. (3) The witness to our sonship.(4) Progressive sanctification.(5) The earnest of all the glory and the joy of heaven. II. The means of obtaining salvation.1. Repentance. Change of mind about sin, self, holiness, and God, with endeavours after a corresponding change in the life and conduct. This will involve a hatred of sin, a true measurement of our own weakness and unworthiness, an endeavour after holiness, a desire after God as the supreme good. 2. Baptism. Here the rite was a symbol-- (1) Of trust in Christ. “ In the name of Jesus Christ.”(2) Of the purity to which the Christian is pledged.(3) Of confession of Christ before men.(4) Of separation from the old life of the world, and consecration to Christ. These conditions are as inexorable to-day as they were then. All that the baptism we have already enjoyed in infancy means is obligatory on every baptized man. Our baptism is vain and our salvation non-existent unless “ the life we live in the flesh be by the faith of the Son of God” ; unless our lives are pure, unless our confession of Christ be unmistakable, and unless we are fully consecrated to our Master’ s service. Conclusion:1. How simple the conditions on which God grants His greatest boon.2. How essential that we should comply with them before the gift is withdrawn. (J. W. Burn.)Repentance This is a turning from sin to God. When genuine it is a fruit of the Spirit, and secures the further gift of the Spirit. In its widest sense it includes the whole process of conversion. It has been well defined to be “ a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience.” I. Its means.1. From a due sense of sin. This includes-- (1) A knowledge of sin.(2) A conviction of our own sinfulness.(3) A proper sense of our own guilt and pollution. The knowledge of sin supposes proper views of the holiness and justice of God, and therefore of the greatness of the evil of sin, and that we are absolutely at God’ s mercy.2. It is with apprehension of God’ s mercy in Christ. Repentance is not possible as long as we think we are without hope. For despair excludes repentance. We must apprehend, i.e., believe-- (1) That God is merciful. (2) That He can consistently exercise His mercy.(3) That we are, or may be, its objects.(4) That this is through Christ; because out of Christ conscience and Scripture teach Him to be a consuming fire. II. The attending circumstances.1. Grief, i.e., sincere sorrow for having sinned; including-- (1) Remorse.(2) Self abhorrence.(3) Self-condemnation.(4) Shame. 2. Hatred of sin, which includes-- (1) Disapprobation.(2) Disgust. III. The act itself.1. Turning from sin: from its (1) Approbation.(2) Indulgence.(3) Promotion. 2. Turning to God-- (1) As an object of excellence.(2) As an object of enjoyment. IV. Its efforts.1. Purpose. A decision of the will to obey God in all things. 2. Endeavour to do so. (1) Continued.(2) Sincere.(3) Effective. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Repentance: its nature It consists in the heart being broken for sin and from sin. (W. Nevins.)Repentance: its beginning and end It begins in the humiliation of the heart, and ends in the reformation of the life. (J. M. Mason, D. D.)Repentance: its double aspect True repentance looks upon things past with a weeping eye, and upon the future with a watchful eye. (R. South, D. D.)Repentance, thorough I pray you dig deep. Christ’ s palace-work and His new dwelling, laid upon hell felt and feared, is most firm; and heaven, grounded and laid upon such a hell, is sure work, and will not wash away with winter storms. (S. Rutherford.)Repentance, universal If a ship have three leaks, and two be stopped, the third will sink the ship. If a man has two severe wounds, and cures one, the neglected one will kill him. (J. Spencer.)Repentance: a change of course A captain at sea discovers that, by some mistake, the steersman is steering the ship directly for the rocks. How is the danger to be avoided? By scrubbing the decks, or setting the men to the pumps? No! these things are good enough in their own time, but if the ship is to be saved, one thing must be done--her course must be changed. So the captain utters a few quick words, and the ship turns and speeds away from the danger. Repentance produced by God You feel that you cannot repent, but cannot Jesus make thee repent by His Spirit? Do you hesitate about that question? See the world a few months ago hard bound with frost, but how daffodil, and crocus, and snowdrop have come up above that once frozen soil, how snow and ice have gone, and the genial sun shines out! God does it readily, with the soft breath of the south wind and the kind sunbeams, and He can do the same in the spiritual world for thee. Relieve He can, and ask Him now to do it, and thou shalt find that the rock of ice shalt thaw, that huge, horrible, devilish iceberg of a heart of thine shall begin to drip with showers of crystal penitence, which God shall accept through His dear Son. Repentance before joy As certain fabrics need to be damped before they will take the glowing colours with which they are to be adorned, so our spirits need the bedewing of repentance before they can receive the radiant colouring of delight. The glad news of the gospel can only be printed on wet paper. Have you ever seen clearer shining than that which follows a shower? Then the sun transforms the raindrops into gems, the flowers look up with fresher smiles and faces glittering from their refreshing bath, and the birds from among the dripping branches sing with notes more rapturous, because they have paused awhile. So, when the soul has been saturated with the rain of penitence, the clear shining of forgiving love makes the flowers of gladness blossom all round. The steps by which we ascend to the palace of delight are usually moist with tears. Grief for sin is the porch of the House Beautiful, where the guests are full of “ the joy of the Lord.” The magnitude of repentance Repentance is an old-fashioned doctrine, which in these days has been despised; but, if I stand alone, I will bear testimony for it. They say that repentance is nothing at all--that it is merely, according to the Greek, a change of mind. That shows what a little Greek they know. A little of such knowledge is a dangerous thing. A pity that they do not learn more. Repentance is a change of mind; but do you say that it is only a change of mind? That is a pretty big “ only.” A change of mind, a radical change of mind, from the love of sin to the love of holiness, is that a small affair? It is always attended with sorrow and regret for past sin: and, if there is a man here who thinks that he will get to heaven by a dry-eyed faith, he will be mistaken. He that never mourned for sin hath never rejoiced in the Lord. If I can look back upon my past life of sin and say, “ I have no grief over it,” why, then I should do the same again if I had the opportunity: and this shows that my heart is as perverse as ever it was, and I am still unregenerate. Dear Mr. Rowland Hill used to say that faith and repentance were his daily companions as long as he lived, and that, if he had any thought of regret at entering heaven, it would be to think that he might have to part with his dear friend Repentance as he went through the gate. (C. H. Spurgeon.)A repentance not so earnest as it seems The gondoliers at Venice, when we were sojourning in that queen of the Adriatic, frequently quarrelled with each other, and used such high words and ferocious gestures that we were afraid murder would come of it; yet they never came to blows, it was only their rough way of disputing. Often and often have we heard men upbraiding themselves for their sins, and crying out against the evil which their follies have wrought them, yet these very people have continued in their transgressions, and have even gone from bad to worse. They barked too much at sin to fall to and destroy it. Their enmity to evil was mere feigning; like the sword-play of the stage, which looks like earnest fight, but no wounds are given or received. Let those who play at repentance remember that they who repent in mimicry shall go to hell in reality. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Legal and evangelical repentance There is many a wounded conscience that is wounded like a sheet of ice shivered on the pavement, which yet is stiff and cold. But let the sun shine forth, and the ice is melted, and melted completely; so is it with legal and evangelical repentance. For the remission of sins.-- Remission by God only As the prince or ruler only has power to pardon treason in his subjects, so God only has power to forgive sin. As no man can forgive a debt but the creditor to whom the debt is due, so God only can forgive us our debts, whose debtors we are to an incalculable amount. Remission for the greatest sinners There was once a man who was a very great sinner, and for his horrible wickedness was put to death in the town of Ayr. This man had been so stupid and brutish a fellow, that all who knew him thought him beyond the reach of all ordinary means of grace; but while the man was in prison the Lord wonderfully wrought on his heart, and in such a measure discovered to him his sinfulness, that, after much serious exercise and sore wrestling, a most kindly work of repentance followed, with great assurance of mercy, insomuch that when he came to the place of execution he could not cease crying out to the people, under the sense of pardon and the comforts of the presence and favour of God, “ Oh, He is a great forgiver! He is a great forgiver!” And he added the following words, “ Now hath perfect love cast out fear. I know God hath nothing to lay against me, for Jesus Christ hath paid all; and those are free whom the Son makes free.” (J. Fleming.)Remission gives confidence under the accusations of the law A man was once being tried for a crime, the punishment of which was death. The witnesses came in one by one, and testified to his guilt; but there he stood, quite calm and unmoved. The judge and the jury were quite surprised at his indifference; they could not understand how he could take such a serious matter so calmly. When the jury retired, it did not take them many minutes to decide on the verdict “ Guilty” ; and when the judge was passing the sentence of death upon the criminal he told him how surprised he was that he could be so unmoved in the prospect of death. When the judge had finished the man put his hand in his bosom, pulled out a document, and walked out of the dock a free man. Ah, that was how he could be so calm; it was a free pardon from his king, which he had in his pocket all the time. The king had instructed him to allow the trial to proceed, and to produce the pardon only when he was condemned. Now, that is just what will make us joyful in the great day of judgment; we have got a pardon from the Great King, and it is sealed with the blood of His Son. (D. L. Moody.)And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.-- The gift of the Holy Ghost 1. Among the various reasonable grounds and ends of observing festival solemnities, the principal are these: (1) The occasion which they afford to instruct ourselves and others in the mysterious doctrines of our religion. (2) The engaging us seasonably to practise that great duty to God, the remembering and praising Him for His great favours and mercies. 2. For these purposes chiefly did God Himself appoint the Jewish festivals: e.g., the Passover. In compliance with which design the Christian Church has recommended to her children the observation of her chief festivals, continuing the time and name, though changing or improving the matter and reason of those ancient ones. The effusion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost corresponded with the time when the Jews were obliged to “ rejoice before the Lord,” for the harvest newly gathered in, and the earth’ s good fruits bestowed on them; and then did God bountifully impart the first-fruits of His Holy Spirit. The benefit, therefore, and blessing, which at this time we are bound to commemorate, is in effect the publication and establishment of the evangelical covenant, the foundation of all our hopes, and claims to happiness; but more immediately and directly-- I. The donation of the Holy Spirit to the Christian Church, and to all its members. 1. God’ s gracious design was to reclaim mankind item their ignorance, errors, and sins, and to reconcile them to Himself by the mediation of His Son, whom He sent to instruct them in their duty. 2. To render this successful according to the capacities of human nature, it was requisite to provide convincing arguments to persuade men of the truth of these things; means to excite their attention to them; motives to accept them; and a power also to retain them firm in their belief, and uphold them in the performance of the conditions required. 3. To prevent, therefore, the disappointment of His merciful intentions, God to the ministry of His eternal wisdom adjoined the efficacy of His eternal love and blessed Spirit, the which not only conducted our Divine Saviour into His earthly tabernacle, but did continually reside with Him, and attend Him in the performance of His miraculous works, attesting the truth of His quality, commission, and doctrine, and exciting men to notice these things. Nay, farther, to induce them to comply with these gracious overtures, He faithfully promised that He would impart the same blessed Spirit, as the continual guide and comforter of all who should sincerely embrace them, and conform their lives to His righteous laws. 4. Now although the natural and ordinary manner of this Divine Spirit’ s operation is not by violent and sensible impressions, but rather in way of imperceptible penetration, hardly discovering itself except by its results; and though its proper and principal effects relate to the furthering our performance of the conditions of our salvation; yet more fully to satisfy the doubtful, confound the obstinate, and confirm the faithful, God was pleased, after our Lord’ s ascension, to dispense both to teachers and disciples more liberal and extraordinary communication of that Holy Spirit, attended with wonderful effects. 5. The Christian Church therefore obliges us at this time to commemorate that incomparable gift, then conferred more visibly on the Church, and still really bestowed on every particular member who is duly incorporated into it. It is so bestowed, that is, on each member; for the evangelical covenant extends to every Christian, and a principal ingredient thereof is the collation of this Spirit. This is the teaching of Holy Scripture, the doctrine constantly, and with very general consent delivered down in the Catholic Church. II. The worth and excellency of this Divine gift. That it is transcendently valuable, we may hence generally collect; that even in our Lord’ s esteem it did not only countervail, but in a manner surmount the benefit of His presence. “ It is expedient for you that I go away,” etc. But to take a more distinct survey of its benefits.1. We owe to the Holy Spirit our spiritual state and being; our spiritual life, freedom, and honourable condition. (1) By virtue of this “ quickening Spirit” we are raised from death to an immortal state of life, being “ quickened together with Christ.” (2) We are enfranchised from intolerable slavery, from “ the spirit of bondage unto fear,” etc. (3) We are also advanced to an honourable condition, ennobled with illustrious relations, and entitled to glorious privileges: for thence “ we have access unto the Father, and are no more strangers, but fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God.” 2. Neither only relatively and extrinsically is our estate thus bettered, but we ourselves are answerably changed and amended by the same Holy Spirit; being “ renewed in the spirit of our mind” ; becoming “ new creatures, created according to God in righteousness.” Such doctrines, as that our happiness consists not in affluence of temporal enjoyments, but in a disposition of mind curbing our appetites and quelling our passions; in conformity of practice to rules distasteful to our sense; in gaining and retaining the love of an Infinite Being; that naked goodness is to be preferred before all the pomp and glory of this world, etc.; such doctrines are indeed hard and harsh to us, absurd to our natural conceits, and abominable to our carnal minds: of our own accord, without Divine attraction, we never should come to Christ. His own disciples struggled against such doctrines, and without the aid of the Spirit would scarcely have admitted many evangelical truths. As for the mighty sages of the world, “ the wise men according to the flesh,” they were far more ready to deride than to admit them. Though some few sparks of Divine knowledge may have been driven out by rational consideration and philosophical study, yet no external instruction, no interior discourse, could remove the mists of ignorance, and awaken the lethargic stupidity of their souls. Thus is the light of spiritual knowledge, together with a temper of mind disposed to receive it, communicated by the Holy Spirit. But farther than this, by the same Divine power is imparted vital heat and vigour, active strength and courage. Though our spirit should be willing, yet our flesh is weak: knowledge therefore and willingness to do good are not alone sufficient. 3. The continued subsistence and preservation of our spiritual being, and active powers, the actual use and exercise of them, all our discreet conduct, all our good practice, rely on the Holy Spirit. It is true of our spiritual no less than of our natural life; “ if He doth avert His face we are troubled,” etc. On all occasions we need His direction, aid, and comfort; for “ the way of man is not in himself,” etc. Vie are vain and fickle in our purposes, slow in our proceedings; apt to faint and stumble in our practice; we need therefore this sure oracle and faithful friend, to guide, encourage, and support us; to guard us in trials; comfort us in afflictions; and impart to us joy unspeakable in believing and well-doing. So many and great are the blessings which He imparts to us. Conclusion.1. Let us earnestly invite this Holy Guest unto us, by our prayers unto Him, who hath promised to bestow His Spirit on those which ask it, to impart this living stream to every one which thirsteth after it. 2. Let us willingly receive Him into our hearts, let us treat Him with all kind usage, with all humble observance. Let us not exclude Him by supine neglect, or rude resistance; let us not grieve Him by our perverse and froward behaviour towards Him; let us not tempt Him by our fond presumptions, or base treacheries: let us not quench His heavenly light and heat by our foul lusts and passions: but let us admit gladly His gentle illapses; let us hearken to His faithful suggestions; let us comply with His kindly motions; let us demean ourselves modestly, consistently, and officiously toward Him. (I. Barrow, D. D.)The gift of the Holy Spirit I. The Holy Spirit is given to renew and purify the moral feelings. He awakens the conscience to a sense of guilt and danger. He opens the eyes to see the exhalted purity of the moral law, and to feel the justice of its righteous condemnation. He affects the heart with the tidings of a Saviour’ s love, and creates within the soul that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation, needing not to be repented of. The work thus begun in the soul is carried on through the same Divine agency, for the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier Of all the elect people of God. It is through Him that we die daily unto sin and live unto righteousness, that the old man with his corrupt deeds is put off, and that the new man is put on, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Nor are these the only influences which the Holy Spirit exerts on man’ s moral nature. Our Lord has promised that He shall be present with His people under the endearing character of the Comforter. It is His special work to heal the brokenhearted, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to comfort all that mourn. II. The Holy Spirit is given to enlighten and govern the intellectual powers. It should never be forgotten that the Spirit bestowed upon the first disciples was “ the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” ; and that He is promised to us also for these great ends that we may attain to a right judgment in all things, and have power to accomplish the will of God. It is thus that man is to present himself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and is to become a temple of the Holy Ghost, consecrated in all his faculties to the glory of God, and yielding the powers of his mind, the energies of his body, and the affections of his heart, to the service of Him who is the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Preserver of men, and to whom alone all honour, and power, and glory belong. (W. Niven, B. D.) Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children.Why Christianity has failed 1. One of the earliest and most vital errors into which the Church fell was the conception that the Church’ s power is proportionate to her wealth. 2. The second great error of the Church was made when it began to depend upon political power as a means of effecting spiritual ends. 3. The third great error which has delayed the realisation of the blessings of Pentecost by the Universal Church has been the conception that education and culture could do the work of the Holy Spirit. Let us consider briefly what were the different features foreshadowed in this promise. I. First and foremost, undoubtedly, was what we may term evangelistic power, the power of leading men to Christ, of so influencing them that they should abandon their sins and put their trust in a crucified Redeemer.2. Closely allied with this element in the promise, and yet distinct from it, is the power of conquest which it involves. It is a remarkable fact--in many respects an incomprehensible fact--that Judaism, with all its great revelations of the truth, with all its wonderful striving after righteousness and its profound reverence for the unity of the Godhead, nevertheless, was by no means an aggressive religious force, and its converts at no time in its history were an important factor in its life. Mohammedanism spread by the power of the sword, and owed its victory to material, rather than to spiritual causes. Christianity, on the other hand, has ever spread, and will continue to spread, in virtue of a special power bestowed upon its apostles in answer to behoving prayer. 3. The next element in the promise is the element of boldness. 4. It only remains, in concluding our consideration of this subject, to point out with all emphasis that this promise was not limited to the apostles and their proximate or remote successors. (H. S. Lunn.)The three covenants I. The National covenant, “ to you.” II. The Family covenant, “ to your children.” III. The Universal covenant, “ to as many,” etc. How wide was the outlook of the gospel upon the day of Pentecost. (M. C. Hazard.)The promise of the Holy Ghost Every dispensation has its present duties and privileges: it has also its peculiar promise; and according as men have apprehended the promise and the privileges, has been the ardour of their devotion.1. In the patriarchal dispensation men had the privilege of presenting to God an accepted service, and living under His guidance and protection. But their promise was that the seed of Jacob should inherit the land of Canaan. 2. After the chosen people had been brought into their possession they were blessed with the privileges of the Mosaic code, and God gave them the promise of the Messiah. It was the privilege of the Israelite to take part in the worship of God with the feeling of holy anticipation that He would come whom their rites symbolised. 3. When Christ came He said that the privileges of His disciples were greater than those of the greatest man of the former dispensation, and gave them the promise of the Holy Ghost. This is the last promise characteristic of the last times; beyond this dispensation there will be no other, and its promise will be succeeded by no other. Notice-- I. Its nature. It implies that the Holy Ghost should be given.1. For the official qualification of the preacher. The words suggest the exclusive power and right of Divine selection. “ I will pour out … of My Spirit.” The selection includes teachers of different grades in society and of both sexes. And for their qualification the Spirit is absolutely necessary. It is universally recognised that whatever else a man may possess, talent, power, wealth, or learning, he must possess the Spirit. This was taught by Christ when He said, “ Tarry ye at Jerusalem,” etc. (1) The Spirit was to give them correct views of truth, “ He will guide you into all truth.” These right views are necessary to preserve men from heresy. All revivals in the history of the Church have been connected with the revival of spiritual truth. Witness Pentecost, Luther, the Puritans, Wesley, etc. The Word of God comes out with clearness and power, and error recedes before it. (2) Something more, however, is needed than to be saved from heresy. The teacher must have spiritual views in relation to the Word of God such as those suggested by the expressions, “ lively word,” “ the lively oracles,” “ the unction of the Holy One.” A man must not speak merely in a way free from inaccuracy; but his words must be clothed with energy breathed by the Holy Ghost, so that wherever they come they may communicate that power. (3) The affections must be touched. There must be a yearning for souls which will not let the preacher rest unless they are brought to God. (4) The Holy Ghost is necessary for the resistance of unworthy motives such as would lead men to court popularity and indulge spiritual pride. (5) He only again is an effectual preservative against bigotry. 2. To dispose the heart of the hearer to derive full advantage from spiritual teaching. He (1) convinces of sin.(2) Inspires living faith.(3) Regenerates.(4) Bears witness to the believer’ s adoption into God’ s family.(5) Preserves from sinning.(6) Sanctifies.(7) Consoles.(8) Guides. II. Its extent.1. “ To you.” All piety is out of place if it be not first of all practised at home. Your own salvation is of more importance to you than that of any one else. To save others and after all be lost yourself would greatly aggravate your misery. 2. “ To your children.” These, next to yourself, should claim your most earnest attention. The man who devotes himself to others and n neglects his own family inverts the order of things. It is a monstrous evil to be engaged from early Sunday morning to late at night in a constant succession of services, and to have not a single half-hour to spare for one’ s own children. 3. “ To them that are afar off.” (1) Morally.(2) Geographically.(3) Chronologically. (S. D. Waddy, D. D.)Christianity a religion of promise I. The promise spoken of.1. The promise of Christ which includes-- (1) The remission of sins through His atonement and merit.(2) Full justification.(3) Peace with God and our own conscience, “ Christ is our peace.”(4) Adoption into the family of God.(5) Eternal life. Think of these and other like blessings, and their connected hopes and consolations, and behold them all centred in Christ, Himself the great promise of the Old Testament, and then rejoice to receive Him for yourselves, and to recommend Him to others as the promise of revelation, the desire of all nations, and the consolation of Israel.2. As Christ was preeminently the promise of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently the promise of the New. We are not to look for that miraculous agency which was given in apostolic days. This was not even then intended to supersede that ordinary gracious influence, which the Scripture declares to be essential to every one for the state of salvation. “ If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His” --“ Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit,” etc. Our Lord speaks of sending the Spirit as the promise of the Father. No promise can be more plainly expressed than this, “ Ask, and ye shall have” ; and it is in reference to the Holy Spirit that this promise is given. Christianity is the very dispensation of the Spirit; its whole life, energy, and beauty depend on the communication of spiritual influence. The promise of the Spirit, like that of the Saviour, includes many other promises. (1) Repentance.(2) Faith.(3) A new heart and a right spirit.(4) Strength in every season of weakness.(5) Comfort in every trial.(6) Joy amidst sorrow.(7) Patience under tribulation.(8) Perseverance amidst difficulty. Christianity is throughout a religion of promise. It began with the first promise to fallen man; its promises expanded, like the stream of holy waters in the vision of Ezekiel, till, when the fulness of time was come, they formed that river of life which is rolling its salubrious tide throughout a thirsty world. II. For whom is the promise meant?1. The Jews; for St. Peter’ s auditory consisted entirely of Jews. Our Lord confined His personal ministry to the Jews. “ I am not sent,” He said, “ but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Sending forth His apostles at first, He said, “ Go not in the way of the Gentiles,” etc. After His resurrection, when He enlarged their commission, so that its extent was to be the world, yet they were still to begin at Jerusalem; and in every city were first to address Jews, and then to turn to the Gentiles. And is there not encourage-anent for us, from the circumstance, that the Jews were to have the first offers of the promises of the gospel? There is this; the history of the Jews is a history of a most perverse, ungrateful, and rebellious people, who at length consummated their guilt by crucifying the Lord of life; yet to them first was the promise sent. Now surely that fact speaks volumes as to the freeness of the promise, as to the mercy of our God, as to the efficacy of the Redeemer’ s merits. 2. “ The promise is unto you.” If these brought joy home to the hearts of the Jews who heard the apostle, then surely His next words, “ And to your children,” must have touched another like chord, or rather, the same chord over again; for hard must be that parent’ s heart that does not rejoice quite as much in benefit to his children as in benefit to himself. Christianity most fully recognises that principle of natural affection, which the God of nature implanted in breasts of parents. The God of nature and the God of grace is one and the same. No sooner do parents discover the promise sent to themselves, than it says to them, I am sent unto you and to your children, introduce me to them, and them to me. I come to tell them that their father’ s God is willing to be their God also. It is remarkable how the Scriptures throughout encourage the promotion of the training up of children in the knowledge and belief of the promises of God. For this Abraham was so commended, “ For I know him, that he will command his children,” etc. This was the determination of Joshua. “ Let others choose as they may, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” This was the lamentation of David. “ Although this mine house be not so with God.” This was the pious study of the ancient Lois, and the maternal anxiety of Eunice, to train young Timothy in the knowledge of the Scriptures, which were able to make him wise unto salvation. This again was the care of Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul, immediately after to have them addressed to her household also. The same was the effect on the jailer. Thus these examples from the Old and New Testament show that God encourages efforts to make known His promises to the young. What, then, can we think of parents who are anxious enough that their children should be well off for this world, should be accomplished, or learned, or rich--should form good connections, shine and sparkle in society, be admired and venerated in this world, but who have no care for their safety and happiness in the next? 3. “ To all that are afar off,” this means the Gentiles. St. Paul, writing to Ephesians, gives the very best comment on these words of St. Peter, “ Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,” etc. Thus the Gentries afar off from God, from peace, from hope, and from salvation: but Christ hath broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. The same God over all, is rich unto all that call upon Him. The same promise which sounded in the ears of the three thousand Jews on the day of Pentecost is now gone forth to the ends of the world. It is the voice of the good Shepherd seeking after His lost sheep; and is the promise of Himself and His Spirit to give us a full salvation. This promise is to be addressed to all; it has a message to every human being; and yet, though the outward call is thus general and universal, our text adds, 4. “ Even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Hence it is necessary well to understand, that beside the general call to be addressed to all, there must be the gracious and effectual calling of God. What the minister speaks to the ear, God speaks to the heart. The general call is so large, so rich, and so free, as to leave all without excuse who rest in the mere hearing of it with the ear, and do not seek to enter into it with their souls. The general call should stir us up to pray much for the gracious call. (J. Hambleton, M. A.)The children may be converted There was in my ancestral line an incident so strangely impressive that it seems more like romance than reality. It has sometimes been so inaccurately put forth that I now give you the true incident. My grandfather and grandmother, living at Somerville, New Jersey, went to Baskingridge to witness a revival, under the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Finney. They came home so impressed with what they had seen that they resolved on the salvation of their children. The young people of the house were to go off for an evening party, and my grandmother said, “ Now, when you are all ready for the party come to my room, for I have something very important to tell you.” All ready for departure, they came to her room, and she said to them, “ Now, I want you to remember, while you are away this evening, that I am all the time in this room praying for your salvation, and I shall not cease praying until you get back.” The young people went to the party, but amid the loudest hilarities of the night they could not forget that their mother was praying for them. The evening passed, and the night passed. The next day my grandparents heard an outcry in an adjoining room, and they went in and found their daughter imploring the salvation of the gospel. The daughter told them that her brothers were at the barn and at the waggon-house under powerful conviction for sin. They went to the barn. They found my uncle Jehiah, who afterwards became a minister of the gospel, crying to God for mercy. They went to the waggon-house. They found their son David, who afterwards became my father, imploring God’ s pardon and mercy. Before a great while the whole family were saved; and David went and told the story to a young woman to whom he was affianced, who, as a result of the story, became a Christian, and from her own lips--my mother--I have received the incidents. The story of that converted household ran through all the neighbourhood, from family to family, until tim whole region was whelmed with religious awakening, and at the next communion in the village church at Somerville over two hundred souls stood up to profess the faith of the gospel. (T. De Witt Talmage.)As many as the Lord our God shall call.-- Effectual calling From whence observe-- I. That all men till called by God are afar off from Him.1. In regard of the knowledge of God in a true and saving way. They are as little children, no more apprehensive in a right manner of God than the children in the dark are perceiving of the things of reason. Even Christians by birth are also far off from God till they have this spiritual eye-salve; and therefore in two respects men may be said to be far off from God. (1) First, both in respect of inward grace and the outward means of salvation; and thus all the heathenish part of the world is afar off God. (2) Or secondly, in respect of the inward grace only. When men do enjoy the outward means of salvation, and in this sense of their duties are said to draw nigh to God, but in respect of any saving work of grace are as far off as heathens and pagans; and this is the condition, as is to be feared, of many thousands. They are nigh God in respect of the Christian faith they profess in respect of the duties and ordinancies they exercise themselves in, but in respect of their affections and heart, so they are at as great distance from God and His holy ways as heathen and publicans. This distinction must be attended unto, that we do not vainly deceive ourselves as the Jews did with “ The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” 2. In respect of God’ s special and gracious love to justify their persons to pardon their sins. Do not thou please thyself with the thought that thou hast free access to the presence and into the favour of great ones on earth; for if thou art far off from God, if He regard thee not, if His displeasure be towards thee, thou art in the state of gall and wormwood. 3. We are by nature afar off from Christ the Mediator between God and man. And this indeed is the foundation of all calamity; for as in Christ we are blessed with all heavenly blessings, so without Him we are cursed with all spiritual and temporal curses. 4. Such as are afar off have no hope. They are a hopeless people; which way soever they look everything curseth and condemneth them; and no marvel, for, if without the promise, they have not the ground of hope, and if without Christ, the object of hope. 5. Such are afar off in respect of God and an universal constant obedience to His holy will. As God loveth not them, so neither do they love God. As God is not gracious in His promises to them, so neither are they obedient to His precepts. II. That not all of mankind, but some only, doth God call with a loving call. The apostle plainly makes a difference of these that are afar off, and this only to come from God; some are so afar off that they never hear the voice of God in the Word calling them to repent and believe in Christ. Others again have salvation brought unto their house; and if thou ask why God calls such and not others, do not curiously pry in this mystery; God’ s ways are just, even when they are hidden to us. Too much gazing on this Sun may quickly blind us.1. That there is a general and common invitation even of all in the world by God; and there is a special gracious one. The former invitation is by the creatures, by the works of God. (1) This invitation and call by the creatures doth not nor cannot reveal anything of Christ, the only cause of salvation. (2) The call by the creatures is not saving, because it discovers not the way of salvation no more than the cause--viz., faith. (3) This call could not be saving, for the farthest and utmost effect it had upon men was only outwardly to reform their lives. But you may say, To what purpose is this call of God by the creatures and the work of His providence, if it be not to salvation? Yes, it is much every way. (a) Hereby even all men are made inexcusable. (b) God’ s purpose in these calls is to restrain sin and to draw men on further than they do. There is no man that hath no more than this remote and confused call that doth what be may do and can do. He doth not improve, no, not that natural strength that is in him. I do not say to spiritual good things; for so he hath no natural strength, but to such objects as by nature he might. He wilfully runneth himself in the commit-ing of sins against his conscience and knowledge. Now God calleth by these natural ways to restrain him to put a bound to these waves. For if there were not these general convictions, no societies, no commonwealth could consist. 2. Take notice of a twofold saving calling. The one is only external and saving in respect of the ability and sufficiency; the other is saving effectually and in respect of the event. 3. That God doth not call all men with this saving, gracious call will evidently de facto appear if you consider the ways of God ever since there was a Church till now. 4. It is no injustice in God, though He does not give this universal call of grace to all men. (1) If we could not satisfy the reason and disputes of men in this Divine dispensation, yet if the Scripture be clear in this point we must all stop our mouths and not gainsay. Doth not the apostle (Romans 9:1-33.) expressly bring these carnal reasonings? “ Who hath resisted His will? and why then doth He find fault?” But see how he rebukes this unruliness in man, “ Who art thou, O man, that disputest against God?” If then Scripture and experience saith thus much, we must conclude God’ s ways are just, though hidden to us. (2) Even reason enforced out of Scripture may satisfy us in many things; for it is no injustice in God if He had not called any man in the world with a gracious call; for seeing man by his fall had broken the covenant with God, all things became forfeited into His hand; He was not bound to set up man with a new stock after his first breaking. (3) There can be no injustice where all that is done is done wholly out of grace and mere favour. The devil he thinks God is gracious too much and calls too many; he is tormented with malice because so many escape out of his jaws. (4) Although God doth not call every man with this immediate call of grace, yet no man is damned merely because he wants this. The apostle saith, “ That those that are without the law [viz., written and revealed to them], shall be judged without the law.” And thus those that are without the gospel, that have not the means of grace they shall not be judged because they did not believe in Christ, because they did not submit to Him, but because they did not walk in the practice of those things they did know. (5) God is not unjust, no, not to those that are afar off, because none among them have done what they might do in a natural and moral way; for although no man hath power in a gracious manner to any spiritual good thing, yet they may restrain from the outward actings of many gross sins. (6) Though God do not call all men, and thereby they are wholly impotent and unable to any good; yet they do not sin so much because they want power as because they have a willing delight in it; and this indeed doth mainly remove all objections; for it is not a man’ s impotency so much as his wilful consent to sin that damneth him. (A. Burgess.) Acts 2:40 Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Much exhortation is needed Concerning salvation, we need only preach one sermon by way of explanation, but men need ten sermons by way of exhortation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Save yourselves Let the word of God be like one who, during the great flood in America, rode on a white horse down the valley, crying out, as he rode along, “ To the hills, to the hills, to the hills!” The waters were following fast behind him, and he would have the people escape to the mountains, lest they should be destroyed. Oh, precious Book, thus bid me seek the hills! Ring the alarm bell in my ear, and compel me to flee from the wrath to come. Day and night, wherever I may be, may a word from the oracle of God sound in my ears, and keep me from sleeping on the bank of the abyss! May no enemy be able to steal upon us when sleeping in false security, for it is high time that we awake out of sleep, and this Book tells us so. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Save yourselves--Why 1. Because of the danger in which every unforgiven sinner stands.2. Because ample means have been provided for the salvation of every one.3. Because the providing means are unavailing unless we use them.4. Because in this important matter each one must act for himself.5. Because if you suffer yourself to be lost it will be deliberate spiritual suicide. (J. Z. Tyler.)Untowardness Untoward is said of anything which will not go toward, that is straight onwards, but will go now on this side, now on that, making a crooked path. The beast that rebels against the hand of its driver, pushes now in this direction, now in that, instead of that in which he is required to go. The slimy serpent that crawls along, never in one line, but from this side to that side. The man who knows not his road, takes a path now to the right hand, now to the left, and goes not straight forward. The drunkard who reels and staggers from side to side, instead of going forward. All these are examples of untowardness. And now is not sin untoward? The path of the commandments of God leads straightforward, but their transgressor is not found in that path. He has the wilfulness and rebelliousness of the beast that will not be driven. He is a true and close follower of the crooked ways of the old serpent, and walks in his slime of sin. He is ignorant and blind with vanity, and chooses:his own crooked road. He is drunk with pride and evil desires, and cannot keep the straight paths of godliness. Such is the character of an untoward generation. In it are found the drunkard, the unchaste, the swearer, the Sabbath-breaker, the thief, the covenant-breaker, the forswearer; and not only these, but all who hold not the truth in righteousness, all who abide in any practice which (they know) is not according to the will of God; all who continue in the neglect of any known duty, all who give God but lip-service instead of life-service, all the careless, all the indifferent, all the selfish. (R. W. Evans, B.D.)Salvation from an untoward generation I. Peter’ s attestation. What is a generation? All that are contained in one list of time--fixed: Seridas under reckons it at seven years, but the ordinary rate is a hundred (Genesis 15:16)--uncertain; so Solomon, “ One generation passeth, another cometh.” It is with men as rasps: one stalk is growing up, another grown, a third withered, and all upon one root. You see your condition; there is no staying here. Make no other account, but with David to serve your generation, and away. An untoward generation is one froward, perverse, crooked. Let us note--1. A negative fowardness. (1) No matters of belief. This is what our Saviour rebuked the two disciples for. The stiff neck, the uncircumcised ear, the fat heart, the blinded eye, the obdurate soul, are expressions of it. If these Jews, then, after the manifest proofs of Christ’ s Messiahship disbelieved and rejected Him, most justly are they a froward generation. And so is any nation that follows them in their peevish incredulity, shutting their eyes to gospel light, like that Indian tree, which closes itself against the beams of the rising sun, and opens only to the shades of night. It is neither shame nor wonder for those to stumble who walk in darkness, but for a man to stumble with the sun in his face is so much more hateful, as the occasion is more willing. (2) In action, i.e., when a nation fails palpably in those duties of piety, justice, charity, which the royal law of their God requires. 2. Positive. In matter of faith maintaining impiety, heresy, superstition, atheism, and whatever other intellectual wickedness; in matter of fact maintaining idolatry, violation of God’ s day and ordinances, drunkenness, thefts, or any other actual rebellion against God. Whatever succession of men abounds in these is an untoward generation. That which makes a man untoward makes a generation so, for what is a generation but a resultarian of men? But let not our zeal make us uncharitable. Never time was so bad but God left some gracious remainders. But these few, if they give a blessing to the times, cannot give a style. 3. Let me commend three emerging considerations. (1) The irreparable wrong and reproach that lewd men bring upon the times in which they live. It were happy if the injury of a wicked man could be confined to his own bosom; but his lewdness is like some odious scent diffused through the whole place where he lives. There were worthy saints in St. Peter’ s time, yet the apostle brands them with being “ an untoward generation.” It is not in the virtue of a few to drown the wickedness of the more. If we come into a field that hath plenty of corn, notwithstanding the poppies, etc., we still call it cornfield; but if we come upon a barn floor, where there are a few grains among a heap of chaff, we do not call it a corn heap. Thus it is with times and nations, a little good is not seen amongst much ill; a righteous Lot cannot make his city to be no Sodom. A wicked man is a perfect contagion to his age. Hear this, then, ye glorious sinners, who brag that your heads, purses, hands, are pressed for the public good--are your hearts godless, your lives filthy? Your sins do more disservice to your country than yourselves are worth. “ Sin is a shame to any people.” (2) The difference of terms in respect of the degrees of evil. Never generation was so straight as not to be distorted with some powerful sins; but there are degrees in this distortion. In the first world there were giants (Genesis 4:4) which, as our mythologists add, “ bid battle unto heaven.” In the next there were mighty hunters and proud Babel builders; after them followed beastly Sodomites. It were easy to draw the pedigree of evils through all times; yet some generation is more eminently sinful than another; as the sea is in perpetual agitation, yet the spring tides rise higher than their fellows. Hence Peter notes his generation with an emphasis of mischief; and what age could compare with that which crucified Christ? (3) The warrant of the free censure of ill-deserving times. It is a peevish humour that aggravates the evils of the times, which, were they better than they are, would still be decried. But it is the warrantable duty of Peter and his successors when they meet with a froward generation to call it so, although we may be called querulous Micaiahs. Well might Peter do so: his Master did it before him, and the Baptist before Him, and the prophets on every page. And why may we not follow Peter? Who should tell the times of their sins if we be silent? II. His obtestation, “ Save yourselves.” The remedy is of a short sound, but of a long extent. The saving comprises in it three great duties.1. Repentance for our sin. Surely those sins are not ours of which we have repented. The skin that is washed is as clean as if it had never been foul. The waters of our tears are the streams of Jordon to cure our leprosy, of Siloam to cure our blindness, of Bethesda to cure our lameness and defects of obedience. 2. Avoidance of sinners; not indeed in natural matters, such as breathing the same air, etc., nor in matters of business, nor in such spiritual matters as attending the services of God, but in their evil deeds (Ephesians 5:1-33. ff.). If we would save ourselves from the sin of the time we may not command it, counsel it, consent to it, soothe it, further it, share in it, dissuade it not, resist it not, reveal it not. 3. Reluctation to sin and sinners. We must set our faces against it to discountenance it, our tongues against it to control it, our hands against it to oppose it. III. Our dissuasive from the danger implied in the word “ save,” for how are we saved but from danger. The danger here is that of--1. Corruption. One yawning mouth makes many. This pitch will defile us. St. Paul makes that verse of the heathen poet canonical. “ Evil communications corrupt good manners.” 2. Confusion (Numbers 16:26). The very station, the very touch is mortal. If we share in the work, why not in the wages? “ The wages of sin is death.” (Bp. Hall.)Saving ourselves from a crooked generation A man ought not to be carried to hell by his surroundings. Many a man has lived in a crooked generation, and adapted himself to it most completely. And many a man has lived in a crooked generation, and kept straight all the way through it. If your generation is crooked, that is no reason why you should be. But if you would keep straight in this generation, or in any other, you have got something to do about it. Your responsibility is for yourself, in spite of your generation. If your generation is crooked, see that; you don’ t crook with it. (H. S. Trumbull.) Acts 2:41-42 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.Marks of having received the Word 1. A public profession of faith.2. A desire to fulfil all the ordinances laid upon them by our Lord.3. A desire to unite in fellowship with other believers.4. Continuance in the Word.5. Prayer and study of the “ Word in order to growth in grace.6. Conclusion: In proportion as those who receive the Word are faithful, will godly fear fall upon others. (S. S. Times.)Anxious for baptism Mr. A. Wills, whose work for Christ was much blessed at Hang-Chan. He says: “ I examined a poor sick man this morning, who is anxious to be baptized. He was first brought to hear the gospel through coming for medicine, about a year ago, and since then I have baptized his wife. He was examined some months ago, but the Church thought it best for him to wait a little for further instruction. His sickness has become worse, and now all hope of recovery is past, and he again asks for baptism. He said, ‘ I expect to die in a few days,’ and upon my asking where he thought his soul would go, he promptly replied, ‘ To heaven.’ ‘ Why?’ ‘ Because Jesus on the Cross died to save sinners; I am a sinner, and I trust Him to save me.’ ‘ But,’ said I, ‘ if you die before you are baptized, do you then expect to go to heaven?’ ‘ Oh, yes,’ he said, ‘ because it is the blood of Jesus that saves the soul.’ ‘ Then why do you in your weak and dangerous state wish to be baptized?’ ‘ Because,’ he said, ‘ it is the duty of every Christian to obey the commands of Jesus, and not be ashamed of Him. I worshipped idols for forty-two years, and was not ashamed of the devil’ s works; and now, before I die, I want to let my sons and neighbours know that I am not ashamed of Jesus Christ.’ I asked him many other questions, one of which was, ‘ Are you not afraid of the cold water doing you harm?’ He replied, ‘ Oh, no, I don’ t fear that, because I have prayed to Jesus to help me.’ We baptized him, and a week later he was called up into the presence of his Saviour.” Safeguards of religious life We have here a beautiful portraiture of primitive Church-life in its simplicity, its purity, and its fidelity. Now we have brought before us four safeguards of spiritual life. They are not in themselves religion, but they are protective of religion. We may see the husbandman build a circle of fencing around the tender sapling to protect it in its early growth. The fence is not part of the sapling, but it preserves it. Thus are these four things placed about religious life. Not as a barrier to confine: their mission is protective. You will notice these are, Christian teaching, Christian fellowship, Christian sacrament, communion with Jesus Christ and God.1. One great safeguard of religious life is Christian instruction. “ They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching.” It is the glory of Christianity that it is a teaching religion. It offers men an open Bible, an open Church, an open way of redemption and an open means of access to God. We have read of men in ancient times who had two sets of doctrines, their esoteric and their exoteric truth, truth that was for the few and truth that was for the many, truth to be sought in secret to the privileged circle, and truth that was taught to the multitude of the people. Christianity has no privileged secrets. As far as mysteries are revealed they are revealed alike to all. Its invitations are invitations to all. The attitude of the apostles was that of men who had seen great light and found great blessing, and they yearned that other men might also see and share that which had become so precious unto themselves. You will observe, moreover, these first converts to Jesus Christ not only continued in Christian teaching, but in the teaching of Christ’ s apostles. They did not think each was qualified to teach the other. They turned instinctively to the instruction of those who were ordained for all time, the accredited teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostles were qualified to teach because they themselves were taught. They were the first; learners. Their Christian education was not confined to one portion of their life, it continued on. Truth was added to truth. Light increased to greater light. Thus they were enabled to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. The quiet teaching of the great truths of God is one of the greatest blessings of religion. If we are to attain to right views of the Deity, right views of ourselves, right views of the world, we must be taught by a higher Power. Not fancy, but food is the first requirement of spiritual life. God has sent us many teachers to guide our feet in the way of His commandments. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding, the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, the gain thereof than fine gold. 2. A second safeguard of Christian life is Christian intercourse. They continued in the apostles’ fellowship. There were doubtless special reasons which drew these early disciples into close spiritual communion. They lived in an age of hostility. In fellowship they found a powerful means of sustaining their common spiritual life. There are two forms of help which minister to Christian life in men, one which comes from within, another which comes from without. By that which comes from within I mean meditation, prayer, devotion, the power of the Spirit of God within us. By that which comes from without I mean the contact of mind with mind, and heart with heart the power of the Spirit of God ministering through agencies which are without us. Christian men need both. There is inspiration in true Christian fellowship. Faith strengthens faith. Love is quickened by love. Through Christian fellowship also they were able to make greater efforts for Christ’ s cause. Achievements are possible to organised life which are beyond the power of individual effort. Unity is strength. Co-operation is multiplied power. I know no habit more worth pleading for than this habit of meeting together in Christian fellowship. It has been the custom of religious men in all ages and in all climes. The patriarchs in their wandering life gathered their followers about them in religious fellowship: The people of God had their united gatherings, their feast days, and their solemn assemblies, when they joined together in offering their devotions to their God. The ancient Druids had their sacred enclosures--rough stones were the walls, the heavens the canopy above their heads, nature the silent witness of their devotions. And it has been the custom of the Christian Church in every stage of its eventful history for the saints of God to continue in Christian fellowship. How often has the first downward step of a wasted life commenced in the wandering away from the communion of God’ s people? If we cannot meet with God’ s people to get good, we can, at least, meet with them to do good. It is more blessed to give than to receive. 3. A third safeguard of Christian life is faithful observance of Christian ordinances. “ They continued in the breaking of bread.” The breaking of bread may symbolise three things which should not be forgotten. I see in it a link with the past. You may trace this rite step by step backward through the centuries, till you reach the little upper room where Christ was in the presence of His disciples. But by it all confess their devotion to Him and His relationship to them as Saviour and Redeemer, and Friend. I see in the breaking of bread also the sign and pledge of present grace. The broken body and the shed blood is for all men who will receive His atoning work. “ Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you,” is the language of the Saviour to every man, woman, or child, that lingers about His table. It is a personal bond of a personal Saviour. In it He seals us as His own. I see further in the breaking of bread a promise and a prophecy. This rite shall be observed on and on by generations yet unborn. 4. A fourth safeguard of Christian life is found in communion with Jesus Christ and God. They continued in prayer. They did not theorise about prayer; they prayed. Men have drawn near to God in sorrow that have left His presence with joy. Men have entered the secret closet with weakness that have left it with courage and strength. The sorrowful have felt the comfort in sorrow. The perplexed have found light in their darkness. The tempted and tried have found deliverance in prayer. Charles Kingsley has said, “ What an awful weapon prayer is! It saved me from madness in the hour of my great sorrow. Pray day and night very quietly, like a weary child, to the loving and great God for everything you want in body as well as soul, the least as well as the greatest. Nothing is too much to ask God for. Nothing is too great for Him to give. Thus we have traced the four great safeguards of religious life. We need them as much to-day as these first converts needed them for their Christian life. I do not know one that can wisely be neglected in the spiritual discipline of Christian souls. We trifle with them at our peril.” (B. Bramham.)The first revival In the outpouring of the Spirit, we have the cause in our text--the characteristics of the first revival of the Christian Church. Note-- I. Profession of faith--baptism. Inquire what are those modes of baptism which Scripture warrants; but do not pelt others who differ, seeing the principle of Christianity is not baptism, but communion with Christ. If you have received Christ, you are not to delay open profession. Young Christians may hear a whisper, “ There is a lion in the way.” What lion? A laugh, or an angry word anticipated, or like that in “ Pilgrim’ s Progress,” which, after all, was chained. Let every waverer look to God, and get strength to come out, as these Christians of an heroic age did! II. Continuance in apostolic teaching. These young converts were but in the infant school, and, like children, would often say to the apostles, “ Tell us again about the angels’ song, the Infant in the manger, the storm on the lake, the crucifixion on Calvary” ; and that telling was the apostles’ teaching. I have read an account of the conversion of a scoundrel at a gospel meeting which took place at six o’ clock, and at half-past six he was preaching; but these children in the apostles’ infant school knew they had to learn before they could teach. Meanwhile, with some entreaty, they might say, Come father, come shipmate, come shopmate, and hear what these men have to say. III. Generosity. “ And all that believed were together, and had all things in common,” etc. The Socialist says, “ Ah, there you see Communism is Christianity, and comes in along with the Lord’ s Supper and baptism.” But no. The Communist says, “ All your property is mine.” “ All my property is yours,” says the Christian. The Communist says, “ Stand and deliver!” The Christian says, “ Brother, your trouble is mine, receive.” There is nothing that fell from the lips of Christ to make this act a law. The circumstances were peculiar, and a special arrangement had to be made to meet them. The workman had left his work, and had nothing provided for a lengthened stay, and then had come the sudden conversion and consequent waiting for more teaching. The spirit was of Christ, but the action was an economic mistake. For see, presently, how the poor brethren had given away their independence, and looked on this generosity, not as an act of love, but as a right. They were pauperised. Notice how the Church at Jerusalem was so miserably poor as to be dependent on the churches abroad for support. Of a certain man you say, “ No use helping him; it is like throwing money into a well.” As to its motive, it was Divinely splendid; it was Jesus Christ in action through three thousand incarnations. We are to have the same glorious capacity for making such a mistake. The generous God will have a generous people. God will withdraw Himself from a synagogue of misers, as from a synagogue of the dead. IV. Joy. If we have like precious faith in the precious Saviour, like joy will follow. Jesus Christ is mine; and mine is the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, Rocks of diamonds, mines of gold, are all as nothing compared to what the believer has in Christ. Can you say that, brother? If so, then you may eat at the same fir table, out of the same coarse delf, your poor fare; but it will be “ with gladness,” etc. What a change! These converts had been the wolves howling round the Cross. Now Christ might say to them, “ Who is Master?” The Spirit in the Word transfixed them, and they shuddered and twisted like shot things; but now the balm has been applied to their wounds, the oil of joy and gladness has been poured into their hearts. V. Divine increase (Acts 2:47). God adds to the Church the saved. Does God alone add to the Church? If you mean certificated members, then verily others add to the” Church in plenty. Who added Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira? Who is that stealing on to God’ s farm in the darkness, sowing his tares? The devil. Yea, the devil adds to the Church diligently, to neutralise it, and make it like the world. How many were added to the Church last year? The proper question is not How many, but Who? Man adds the dry branch, which cannot grow or blossom into fruit. God adds the living branch, giving beauty and strength to the Church. Mr. Beckford built Fonthill, and thought one hill needed growth of wood to beautify the prospect. He found the soil so thin and the climate so bleak, that no trees would grow. Instead of sending again to the nursery, he sent to the foundry for cast-iron trees, had them painted green, and stuck them by long iron stakes into the ground. He could add to these trees daily, but they could not grow. May we never have such trees on this hill--iron hope, iron charity, iron love. Conclusion: In certain transatlantic climes, spring immediately succeeds winter. By gentleness it makes winter go, by kisses the sun unlocks the ice, and the river is sent forth to beautify the plain. May God give such a spring to all the world, when its ice and snow shall melt with the magic celerity of enchantment, and spiritual woodlands burst into song and rejoice in the newborn beauties of an imperishable spring. (C. Stanford, D. D.)The newly converted The actions of the converts proved that they had passed into a new spiritual state, and we may regard them as models for every age. They-- I. Openly confessed Christ. Opinions vary, and will vary, as to the mode of baptism; but all are agreed as to its symbolic meaning. The words appointed to be used in baptism declare the relation of the candidate to each person in the Godhead; the water symbolises the need of Divine purification, and the gracious provision which has made that purification possible; while the application of the water represents the process and conditions of personal salvation. In this baptism Christ was openly confessed. And He must be openly confessed in some way by all who are His. II. Diligently attended to apostolic teaching. They were careful to hear what the apostles had to say, that their knowledge of the truth might increase. Instruction, then, followed baptism. We have not the apostles, but we have their writings, by which they still teach. Diligent attention to the New Testament is calculated to save men from infidelity and much mischief of other kinds. III. Associated with other Christians. How would people who were drawn together by a common attachment to Christ act when together? All their conduct would be affected by their Christianity. When professing Christians, of choice, associate with the god-less, their conduct belies their profession. And when they meet Without any reference to the Master, they neglect a means of grace, and give ground for suspicion as to their sincerity or zeal. IV. Diligently used the means of grace.1. “ Breaking of bread” reminds us of the institution of the Eucharist. 2. “ Prayers” show us that they were devout people, in which respect their example is important. When professors are too busy to pray, or indulge in conduct which makes prayer irksome, they are in great danger. If the first Christians had so lived, they would never have been charged with turning the world upside down. And since their day great wonders have been wrought by men and women of much prayer. V. Made a deep and salutary impression on their observers. “ Fear came on every soul.” Those who had not become Christians were filled with solemn dread. They felt that God had sent among them a wonderful thing, which no creature could have produced. They seem also to have been afraid lest they should be smitten for standing in an improper relation to what was transpiring. Recollection of the past history of their nation would tend to deepen the fear. And ought not all Christians to make on those who watch them impressions of the presence of God? A holy man often makes the self-condemning observer miserable by his very silence. When will all professors thus give counsel and rebuke by the spirit which they manifest? Were they to do so, how soon would Christianity diffuse itself through all the world! VI. God directed public attention to the religious system which these converts had embraced. “ Many wonders and signs,” etc. Attention was called by miracles to the doctrine and personal conduct of the first propagators of Christianity. Repeatedly we find in the Acts first a miracle, then a sermon. If the time for miracles has passed away, attention has already been called to Christianity. What is now wanted is the fearless preaching of the gospel, with that best of all commentaries, Christlike living. In using such means, Christianity is its own witness. (W. Hudson.)A new development of social life As the result of Peter’ s sermon, a form of society rises which had never appeared before. New forces act upon the social natures of men, and bring them together with new feelings for new engagements. I. The incorporating principle of this new society. The magnet that drew together and centralised into a loving unity these souls which a few hours ago were so discordant, were--1. The apostle’ s word--i.e., Peter’ s sermon. 2. The apostle’ s word received. They were convinced of its truth, and accepted it as a Divine reality. 3. The apostle’ s word received gladly; for while it convinced them of enormous wickedness, it assured them of salvation. Christ, then, as He said, was the rock on which He built His Church. II. The introductive ceremony to this new society. Baptism is a symbolical ordinance, which expresses the twofold truth of the moral pollution of humanity, and the necessity of an extraneous influence to cleanse its stains. These truths these sinners felt under Peter’ s sermon; and, as the most proper thing, they were admitted into communion with the disciples by an impressive declaration of them. As to the mode, this is a trifle interesting only to those religionists who live on rites. When it is remembered that Jerusalem had only the fountain of Siloam as its water supply, that the three thousand were baptized in one day which had commenced its noon, and that they included both sexes, it is impossible that they could all have been immersed in water. However, the mode of the act is nothing, the spirit is everything. III. The unremitting services of this new society. They were “ persevering” in--1. The teaching. After their conversion they had much to learn; so this new society became a society of students--they “ inquired” in the house of the Lord. They regularly attended the teaching as distinguished from all other. 2. The fellowship. They appreciated the communion of saints. They regarded themselves as members of a brotherhood, whose rules they were bound to obey, and whose interests they were bound to promote. In this fellowship, like saints of old, they “ spake often one to another,” considered one another “ to provoke unto love and good works,” exhorted “ one another daily,” endeavoured to “ edify one another,” and perhaps confessed their “ faults one to another.” 3. The breaking of bread, in accordance with their Master’ s dying command. 4. The prayers, probably prayer meetings. IV. The distinguishing spirit of this new society.1. Reverence. “ Fear came upon every soul.” Whilst they were happy, there was no frivolity. They felt God was near, because of the “ wonders and signs.” 2. Generosity. Selfishness had no place here. Their benevolence-- (1) Inspired them to make sacrifices. The love of property gave way to love of man. The law of social Christianity enjoins the strong to help the weak, and all to bear each other’ s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (2) Adjusted itself to the occasion. The circumstances justified this particular effort. Many came from a distance, and were unprepared to settle down; and many of them, too, were poor. The benevolence of those who had property, therefore, was called out to meet the case. This, consequently, cannot be regarded as a precedent binding on future times, nor is there a word in the narrative to imply this. 3. Gladness. The rich were happy, for their benevolence was gratified in giving. The poor were happy, for their hearts glowed with gratitude in receiving. All were happy in themselves and with each other, because happy in God. 4. Simplicity. There was no pride, ostentation, self-seeking, hypocrisy among them; but all were childlike in spirit. 5. Religiousness. “ Praising God” --a summary of the whole. V. The blessed condition of this new society.1. Their influence was great. They had favour, not with a class--not with priests, Pharisees, Sadducees--but with all the people. 2. Their growth was constant. They were neither declining nor stationary; they were daily increasing. This was “ the Lord’ s” doing. He only can add true men to the Church. 3. Their salvation was promising. “ Such as were in the way of salvation.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.-- Church life The text tells us how the newly-baptized lived, in that first bloom and freshness of the gospel. They waited constantly upon-- I. The teaching of the apostles. There was much for them to learn. They knew nothing as yet in detail of the doctrine of their new Master. The particulars of His life, words, character, work; how must the apostles have busied themselves in recounting these things to a congregation all but wholly ignorant of them, amidst breathless silence or murmured satisfaction!--the gospel story. We are too ready to imagine that we have nothing to learn now from public teaching. We sit in judgment upon our teachers, as though we had all truth and knowledge already in possession. And most unwilling would your ministers be to speak as though they had anything which you know not, or might not know, for yourselves from the pages of the Holy Book. Nevertheless, preaching is one of God’ s ordinances, and to it belongs the emphasis of that solemn caution, “ Despise not prophesyings.” It is still one mark of the true Christian that he waits stedfastly upon the teaching of appointed men, whose responsible office it is rightly to divide the word of truth. II. In fellowship--i.e., in the formation and fostering of that brotherly spirit of Christian love which the Apostles’ Creed calls “ the communion of saints.” The converts did not separate after their baptism, each to his home, to live a life of pious meditation. They set themselves resolutely to a life of fellowship. The Christian is one of a community; alone, he is but a limb cut off from the trunk; separately, he must draw his vital vigour from the Head, but that vigour must be used and manifested in a self-forgetting fellowship. He must never fancy himself the whole body, either in being independent of the Head or of the organised system. “ Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” III. The breaking of the bread. How instantly the sacrament of the Lord’ s Supper took its place among the marks and tokens of the true Church! From the very first it was understood that a Christian is one who observes all that Christ has commanded, and not least His dying charge, “ This do,” etc. Doubtless the Lord’ s Supper was a daily celebration. And do you suppose that any of the three thousand dared or wished to turn their back upon it? And yet how many of us are knowingly, wilfully, and throughout life, acting as if the charge, “ This do,” had never been uttered, or as if the apostles only had ever been addressed by it! And no doubt there are those who could not, without presumption or profaneness, attend on that breaking of bread. But does not that inability, of itself, startle them? Does it not sound in their ears the condemning sentence, “ Thou art none of Christ’ s; thou art yet in thy sins” ? IV. In prayers. No doubt they prayed in secret. No doubt it was a life of prayer. The charge which we treat as hyperbolical--“ Pray without ceasing” --was to them, in its spirit, a literal precept. Their life was now above, hidden with Christ in God, and well might they exercise that life in offices of perpetual communion. Christ was to them not a name nor a doctrine, but a real and living Person, their Friend and their Saviour, their Lord and their God. They could not have too much of Him! Therefore a life of prayer was to them a life of happiness. But the particular place occupied by the word “ prayers” in the text, leads us rather to think of the worship of the congregation than of the worship of the secret chamber. It was not then, as it is now, that any little fluctuation of feeling, or any passing accident of weather or of company, can thin a congregation almost to nothing. It was not then the case, as it is now, that everything is more attractive than worship; an additional half-hour’ s rest, a walk into the country, a newspaper or a novel; nothing felt to be so little worth exertion as the opportunity of joining in the Church’ s prayers or listening to the Church’ s teaching. (Dean Vaughan.)Attachment to the Church All of us here assembled profess ourselves members of this Christian community; we profess ourselves churchmen, as members of the Church of Christ; for every sincere and honest member of the Church of England values his Church for this reason, that it is a portion of the Church of Christ. The churchmanship which I am now inculcating is the churchmanship of our text, and the duties therein described are the duties which I earnestly press upon you, and which I now proceed to illustrate. “ And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”1. This description of the first Christians implies that the good churchman is stedfastly attached to the communion of his Church, cultivates a warm and constant affection for her, and uses all proper means for extending its influence, and carrying its beneficial influence to all who are ignorant of, or careless about, those invaluable blessings she contains within her sacred repository. This profession, entered into at baptism, and ratified at confirmation, leads the true member of Christ’ s Church courageously to assert and to maintain the doctrines of the Cross of Christ in all their genuine simplicity, and that not only when it can be done without incurring opposition, but also when their maintenance may be scorned by the world and assailed by the sceptic; the good Churchman knows from Scripture that these truths are the doctrines of the apostles. From these doctrines he has derived peace and consolation; and from them, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he feels implanted within him a principle, a life-giving principle, of holiness, which suggests the motives and dictates the acts of his daily conduct. These doctrines, when heartily embraced, are doctrines for the healing of the world of its sins and evils. The good Churchman remains immovable; he loves his Church for the truth’ s sake; if any of her sons act unworthily of her, if any abuse, any deformity for a time creep round her sacred battlements, the abuse, the deformity is lamented, and, if possible, removed; but the Church herself is his delight; he loves her for the blessings she conveys. 2. From our text, it is to be observed that the Christian who desires to act his part well in his duty and obligations to his Church, will stedfastly attend on its services and observe its institutions. The first three thousand Churchmen, than whom so good a sample has never since been met with, “ continued stedfastly, as in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, so also in breaking of bread and in prayers.” Indeed, the services of the Church form the main bond of fellowship with her. Most inconsistent is it for men, like the Jews of old, to exclaim, “ The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we,” when the temple is scarcely ever frequented, and they themselves never seen within its sacred enclosure! Calling themselves members of Christ’ s Church, but altogether neglecting its services, except as necessity calls upon them to join in them, and consequently as ignorant of their intent and meaning, as unmoved by any spiritual affection towards them or sacred pleasure from them, as though they were repeated in a language they understood not; boasting of their external fellowship by baptism, as though baptism were the sum-total of Church membership. The remark of Bishop Beveridge upon the character and behaviour of these first Christians is well worthy of universal attention: “ They did not think it sufficient to be baptized into Christ, but they still continued in Him, doing all such things as He hath appointed, whereby to receive grace and power from Him to walk as becometh His disciples; and so must we also, if we desire to be saved by Him. It is our great happiness to have been by baptism admitted into the Church and school of Christ, and so made His disciples and scholars; but unless we continue to do what we promised at our baptism, our condemnation will be the greater, in that we do not only break the laws of God, but likewise the promise we made to Him when we were baptized.” Of this state of things the consistent Churchman is fully aware, and by the grace of God he acts accordingly; hence his regular attendance on Divine ordinances is marked by internal devotion and external propriety. He is enabled to say of the temple and worship of the Lord, “ This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (J. C. Abdy, M. A.)Steadfastness Recently, at Chicago, Bishop Whipple related the following incident as an illustration of the moral courage of Christian Indians: “ One day an Indian came to our missionary and said, ‘ I know this religion is true. The men who have walked in this new trail are better and happier. But I have always been a warrior, and my hands are full of blood. Could I be a Christian?’ The missionary repeated the story of God’ s love. To test the man, he said, ‘ May I cut your hair?’ The Indian wears his scalp-lock for his enemy. When it is cut it is a sign that he will never go on the war-path again. The man said, ‘ Yes, you may cut it. I shall throw my old life away.’ It was cut. He started for home, and met some wild Indians, who shouted with laughter, and with taunts said, ‘ Yesterday you were a warrior; to-day you are a squaw.’ It stung the man to madness, and he rushed to his home and threw himself on the floor and burst into tears. His wife was a Christian, and came and put her arms about his neck and said, ‘ Yesterday there was not a man in this world who dared call you a coward. Can’ t you be as brave for Him who died for you as you were to kill the Sioux?’ He sprung to his feet and said, ‘ I can, and will.’ I have known many brave, fearless servants of Christ, but I never knew one braver than this chief.” Revivals favourable to doctrine A languid church breeds unbelief as surely as a decaying oak fungus. In a condition of depressed vitality, the seeds of disease, which a full vigour would shake off, are fatal. Raise the temperature, and you kill the insect germs Revivals unfavourable to unbelief A warmer tone of spiritual life would change the atmosphere which unbelief needs for its growth. It belongs to the fauna of the glacial epoch, and when the rigours of that wintry time begin to melt, and warmer days to set in, the creatures of the ice have to retreat to arctic wildernesses, and leave a land no longer suited for their life. (A. Maclaren.)Model Church I. It was made up of converts--that is, of such as had repented and put an unquestionable faith in Jesus Christ. It is possible, of course, that some slipped in who were either wilful deceivers or self-deceived, but that was not likely to be the case under such circumstances. None joined from social considerations or because others were doing so. II. The members of this model church “ continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” They received the truth as it came to them from inspired lips and were cordially faithful to it. They had a creed and were not ashamed of it. There were no heretics among them, walking about with feathers in their hats and vaunting their disloyalty to truth. We are -told that Christianity is not dogma, but life. It is both, and to say that it is either at the expense of the other is to antagonise the clear teaching of Scripture. Christianity is neither dogma nor life; it is life founded on dogma; it is ethics growing out of truth; it is creed flowering into conduct. III. “ they continued stedfastly in fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers.” The rationale of the Church finds its briefest expression in that word “ fellowship.” There is a notion abroad that the Church is an organisation of good people, such as think themselves a little better than their neighbours. This is a mistake; the very opposite is true. The Church is a mutual help association, made up not of good people, but of such us want to be good, who feel their weakness and their need of co-operative sympathy and prayer. The over-righteous, who are strong enough to get along by themselves, are outside of the Church. IV. They surrendered all their earthly possessions to a common treasury to be expended for the common good. These people lived in the early morning, with the dewy memory of Christ upon them and hearts warmed by the baptism of fire; they had recently seen their Master caught up in the clouds of heaven and received an assurance that He would come again in “ like manner.” Thus memory and hope conspired to make their hearts unworldly, and in their fellowship we may reasonably expect to find the nearest approach to the Church of the millennium. In these days, when property rights so far eclipse the great verities, we may be excused for wondering how these people could be so foolish as to sell their possessions in this way and “ hold all things common” ; but by-and-by there will come a time when truth and goodness will outshine silver and gold, and then, perhaps, it will appear that these early Christians were not wrong after all, but only a little premature. The term “ communism” is applied to so much of crack-brained fanaticism that we are in danger of overlooking the real truth at the centre of it. V. The members of this primitive Church gave themselves wholly up to the work and worship of God; “ They continued daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.” They were not content with mere Sabbath worship and the other perfunctory duties of a religious life. To these enthusiastic Christians every day was a holy day and every place was a sanctuary. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)The faith and stedfastness of the early Christians I. We have here, then, in the first place, a very full account of the primitive Church. It is, in fact, a kind of full-length portrait, drawn by the pencil of inspiration, which we must analyse and examine for our own benefit. And here, first of all, we find it stated that “ they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” If you ask what this doctrine was, we refer you back to the clear outline of it which is presented to our minds in the sermon of the Apostle Peter. It was the doctrine of a free and full remission of our sins, through the atoning sacrifice of our blessed Saviour, who was put to death for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. II. The blessed effects. It is also asserted that these primitive Christians maintained a constant attendance on the means of grace. A man cannot walk alone and by himself on the path which leads to glory. As soon as his conscience has been awakened, his judgment convinced, and his heart subdued to the obedience of faith, he must become a member of that Church to which her Divine Master has entrusted the dispensation of those means of grace which He has provided for the advancement of the spiritual interests of His people. But we must also notice another characteristic feature in this infant Church, They manifested a noble and commendable attention to the wants of their poorer brethren; they “ continued stedfastly in the fellowship,” or, rather, as the original word implies, in the contribution, or in the generous and considerate extension of their temporal resources for the supply of the necessities of their poorer brethren: “ They had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” And we cannot fail to notice the spirit of union and of Christian love that pervaded all the services and intercourse of these first disciples of our blessed Redeemer. There was an unity of faith, and, what was of more consequence, there was an unity of feeling amongst them, binding together into one happy family the constituent members of this infant Church. It might, indeed, be said of them, “ Behold how these Christians love one another,” so zealously did they endeavour to “ keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.” They “ were together” ; they did not frustrate the great purpose for which Christ has incorporated His people into a church by becoming hermits, but, feeling their mutual dependence on each other, they endeavoured by mutual encouragement to strengthen and to build each other up in the faith and hope of the everlasting gospel. (D. Bagot, D. D.)The first Christians a holy family I. The kind father of the family: recognised in filial love and proved in daily blessings. II. The loving members of the family: the old ones of Pentecost and the new ones added to it. III. The beautiful order of the family: doctrine and prayer, breaking of bread and care for the poor. IV. The holy peace of the family.1. Within among themselves.2. Without in relation to the world. (Gerok.)The first Christian Church 1. The faith which it testified.2. The deeds which it performed.3. The love which it evidenced.4. The means of grace which it employed.5. The blessedness which it enjoyed. (G. Florey.)The blooming garden of God in the primitive Church 1. The delightful sunshine of Divine grace which it enjoys after the Pentecostal rain. 2. The lovely spiritual blossoms and fruits of grace which increase under such a Divine blessing--faith, love, hope, humility, meekness, purity, alms, prayer, etc. 3. The strong wall by which God’ s garden is protected from the wasting of the enemy. (C. Gerok.)Christian doctrine The New Testament was not yet written, yet there was a coherent system of Christian faith and truth, and by an instinct these people knew it. The truth had not yet been formulated into a creed, but the essentials of a creed existed in the minds of both preachers and hearers of the gospel; and say what we may about creeds and the use which has sometimes been made of them, Christian doctrine is and ever has been essential to the integrity and the triumphs of the Christian Church. Note-- I. That the Christian life depends partly upon the soul’ s convictions as to the character of God.1. This life is derived from God, and is developed in the soul. There are inscrutable influences of the Holy Spirit in bringing about the inward change. There are also undefinable influences of godly friends or preachers, but none of these can be effectual unless there be a truth or fact through which the Holy Spirit works. How does a parent move his child towards a godly life? By force of character? Yes; but character is the product of Christian truth; and the parent was holy because, among other things, he read his Bible and believed his Saviour. 2. You might as well try to account for the life of a flower apart from the seed as to account for spiritual life apart from spiritual doctrine. You can predict the character of the flower from the nature of the seed; so from your knowledge of religious systems you can foretell the forms of character that will be developed from them--Mohammedan, Buddhist, Socinian, etc.; and our spiritual life will depend on the tenacity with which we cling to true convictions of the character of God. St. Paul was one of the most spiritual and self-denying of men, and again and again he traces his inner life to the power which Christian truth had over him--over his heart, of course, but over his intellect as well. 3. It is a shallow and often a hypocritical cry that asks us for a Christianity without doctrine. You cannot have it. God is--that is a doe-trine. God loves you-that is a doctrine, and so on. Feed your mind on these and kindred facts, and yours shall be no puny life. II. That a Christian community must be drawn together by affinities in Christian doctrine.1. If the unit of spiritual life depends for its existence and sustenance on truth, so does the community; if one child needs food, so do all the children; and though differences may be made to suit various appetites, yet chemical analysis shows that the foods are the same in their primal elements. And all spiritual communions must find a common spiritual basis. Feeling is too shifting for this basis, conduct too indefinite, negation too cold and unsubstantial, ceremony too formal and outward, and those combinations which are formed by the sinking of convictions are immoral and hollow. No; the first requisite for Christian union is that there shall be a due regard to Christian conviction. 2. We sometimes talk of truth as though it were in the air, in documents, in the mystic utterance of the whole body of believing people. Yet ultimately it must be found in the individual soul. This is where error is, and not merely in magazines and lectures. A number of individuals, then, tenaciously holding the same beliefs, constitutes a spiritual community, and no Church is so destitute of the first principles of common sense as to seek fellowship apart from understood and common beliefs. The Unitarian may say, “ We do not lay down any doctrinal basis for our fellowship,” yet a preacher who proclaimed the atonement or Divinity of Christ would have but a sorry welcome. 3. Churches exist for the very purpose of proclaiming Christian truth. If truth has gone, their mission has gone, and thirsty souls will go to them and find no living water. III. That for Christian doctrine we are dependent on revelation. God did not leave men to find out the truth concerning Himself; He revealed it. When He revealed it He did not leave it to take care of itself. Both the revelation and the record are monuments of God’ s special love to man. The idea of the supernatural is particularly obnoxious to “ advanced thinkers” ; they are consequently ever on the look-out for evidence that Christianity was only a product of the human mind, and so on a level with all other religions. But Christianity professes to be a new and supernatural departure in the history of religion, and the apostles are the Divinely appointed media of the Divine revelation. Their “ doctrine” concerns the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord, and who so competent as they to deliver it, and who shall contest it as it comes from their lips or pens? Matthew was a chosen companion of Christ’ s; Mark was a convert of Peter’ s, and a comrade of Paul’ s; Luke had “ a perfect understanding of all things from the first” ; John was “ the disciple whom Jesus loved,” and “ we know that his testimony is true.” Peter was an eye-witness of His majesty, and did “ not follow cunningly devised fables.” To Paul the risen Christ appeared as to one born out of due time and “ he received of the Lord that which he also delivered” to his converts. If we want trustworthy guides, these are the men to help us. IV. That the power of Christian churches lies, amongst other things, in their adherence to Christian doctrines. If men want to be strong and aggressive, they must not be easily moved by the threatening sounds of modern unbelief; they must know their own minds and the mind of Christ. In moral conflicts convictions are the only forces that will do lasting service. (S. Pearson, M. A.)The disciplined life of the Church “ They continued steadfastly.” The word seems to imply a double action; first, that of stretching out the hand to grasp firmly; and having done this, to adhere strongly to the object in our possession. They were perseveringly devoted to--1. The apostles’ doctrine; the great, deep, broad fundamental truths and principles upon which the whole catholic faith is founded, and according to which the lives of the members of the Church must be regulated and conformed. Before we proceed to teach a truth, before we even profess to embody a truth in life and conduct, we should have a clear conception of the same. And before we ask others to frame their life and conduct according to these principles, we must see that upon them and according to them we frame and fashion our own. A profession without practice will never tend to the conversion of others, it can only bring ridicule and contempt upon ourselves. 2. The apostles’ fellowship. Besides the community of principle, there was a community of life. Nothing tends to give principles so much force as seeing and feeling them embodied, not merely in the lives of isolated individuals, but in the life of a society. The power of a small united body of men is many times greater than that of each separate unit multiplied by the whole number. Let us remember that the wisdom and teaching of the Church is more perfect than that of any individual within it. Let us cultivate a spirit of watchful obedience; and let us be careful to check in ourselves or in others a spirit of self-wisdom, which, could we only regard it in its true light, would be seen to be little more than the spirit of selfishness. 3. The breaking of the bread. They were careful to be regular communicants. The most familiar name of that sacred service reminds us that it is meant to be a bond of union; those who neglect to partake thereof are, by absenting themselves from it, guilty of encouraging divisions in the Church. In the Holy Communion God calls us to rejoice with Him over the celebration of the closest union between the Divine and the human. It is the spirit of selfishness which causes us to disobey that call. But the Holy Communion is more than the chief bond of unity in the Church. It is in worthily partaking of the blessings offered there that the Christian soldier receives his chief support; there he gains the strength he needs in the day of battle; there he re-equips himself for active service. 4. The prayers. As they had a common creed and a common life, as they joined together in the participation of the Holy Communion, so they took part in a form of common prayer. The principal feature of the prayer-book upon which! Would now dwell is this--it teaches regular, systematic, common and public prayer. Nothing ministers more surely to the unity of faith and the unity of life than the unity of worship. That we think the same thing, that we aspire towards the same ideal, that we ask the same blessing, the prayer-book is ever reminding us. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.)Steadfastness in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship Proofs of the reality of alleged conversions are always desirable. No man ought to feel offended if both the Church and the world demand such proof. If the change is real, the evidence will be forthcoming. Profession will not do, for without corresponding life it is mere assertion. For a man to say he is a Christian does not make him one. The only satisfactory evidence is that given by these Pentecostal converts by stedfastness in-- I. The apostles’ doctrine.1. Sudden conversions are not always lasting. Many causes may bring about a change of view. It is difficult even for a man of calm self-possession to retain the mastery of his emotions and keep himself free from the influence of that strong sympathetic feeling which, like an electric current, runs through a crowd. Thus by the able orator or the artful demagogue marvellous effects are often produced, and many” a so-called conversion has been so effected. For the moment it is undeniably sincere, but the impression is due to passing sympathy with an earnest soul rather than with the truth declared; and the sequel often is unstedfastness in the doctrine of Christ. The cause ceases, and the effect disappears. The sympathy dies out for want of fresh stimulus. Like a house without a foundation, the assumed Christian profession may be swept into ruin by the first tempest. It is like a human body whose spinal column has been materially damaged; artificial props are necessary to shore it up and prevent its collapse. 2. One test, then, of sincere adhesion to Christ is stedfast adherence to His teaching--a life in accordance with His precepts. This proof of conversion these converts had. With us it is not a difficult thing to make a profession. In certain circles this is a badge of respectability. But then it was to incur serious peril. These converts were true converts, and therefore became assiduous scholars in Christ’ s school, and when the day of cool reflection or hot persecution came, they were not moved from their stedfastness. The more they knew of the doctrine, the more they deemed it worth the sacrifice. II. In fellowship. The disciples were no longer a mere family, but a community. They had now ceased to be the private followers of a man; they stood before the world as a church, a living body, all whose members were in fellowship. And so we come thus early to the root idea of the Church. It is a brotherhood conferring privileges upon, yet demanding duties from, every one of its members. Each is a partner in a firm, and as such is bound to promote the interests of the concern. But it is a concern that can neither conduct its operations with borrowed capital, nor permit the presence of any sleeping partners. It is a living body, whose graceful movement is as much impeded by an inactive member as is the action of the body by a diseased limb. The rich are to help the poor, and the strong the weak; the wise are to be the advisers of the ignorant, etc. The converts at Pentecost recognised all this, and thus proved the reality of their conversion. “ Bear ye one another’ s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (W. M. Arthur, M. A.)The use of fellowship The community of spirit suggested in the word here rendered “ fellowship” must have grown out of the instant recognition of the rule, “ A place for every man, and every man in his place.” One of the most successful preachers in modern times, being asked how he was able to accomplish so much good in the course of a year, replied, “ It is not I that do it, but the Church I serve; I preach as hard as I can on Sunday, and then I have seven hundred members who go out and preach every day of the week afterwards.” (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The primitive fellowship at Jerusalem was I. Founded on a new doctrine.1. This doctrine was in harmony with and fulfilment of the old, but yet it was new. Its subject was the life, death, etc., of Christ, and the salvation which His work had brought to man. 2. This doctrine, received by faith and applied by the Holy Ghost, became spirit and life to the hearers. There were, of course, no church buildings; the meetings, therefore, could only be held in the Temple courts or in private houses. Wonderful evenings must those have been which were spent in the spacious apartments of such as, being wealthier, kept open house--evenings not only of hearing the doctrine, but of worship, mutual converse, frugal feasting, and winding up with the Lord’ s Supper. But it was to learn about Jesus that mainly brought them together. II. Inspired by a new life.1. This life began in repentance and faith, and broke out of cloud into sunshine, and from embryo into active and joyous expression through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was the soul of the new fellowship, the spring of its development, the source of its tendencies and laws. 2. This new life, like the new doctrine, was one with the old, but so much fuller, and more intense and glorious, that it may justly be called new. Moreover, it was poured forth with so free and wide a bounty that it may well be called the donation of a new life to the Church, and through it to the world. 3. This new life belongs to every penitent believer, and there is no “ higher life” than this, although it has its stages from the “ babe” to the “ father” in Christ. It is in fact that “ life eternal,” which is to “ know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” 4. This new life made all things new. 5. Its secret and its relations to Divine truth and holy duty are summed up in 1 Peter 1:22-23. Faith is obedience to the truth; the new life develops itself in holy love. III. Expressed and sustained by new means and developments.1. Fellowship meetings from house to house, where speech and prayer were free to each, were the ordinary means of common edification, and appear for some time to have been the only specific and characteristic means maintained in the Church at Jerusalem. There was neither ritual nor organisation, but the primary germ cell was there in the fellowship meetings, and we are thus shown what is the true substratum of Church organisation and life. Without this a so-called church is not a living Christian community. However complete its organisation may become, it is bound to retain its character as a spiritual commonwealth, instinct with free life. 2. This new life grafted on its new means new developments of mutual care. The converts did not say that anything was their own; they acknowledged themselves to be not proprietors, but stewards. There was a vast number of pauper Jews, and we may be sure that the fountain of Pharisaic beneficence would be sealed against them when they became Christians. It was therefore incumbent upon their believing brethren to make provision for their necessities. And in that hour of loving enthusiasm their generosity knew no bounds. This was no new principle. It lay at the root of all Bible ethics, but it had never been fully acted on by a whole community before. IV. Sealed by new sacraments--baptism and “ the breaking of bread.” The latter was a natural and beautiful finish to their social meals and sacred exercises. As multitudes were continually joining the Church, we may believe that at each gathering, house by house, there were fresh converts. To these the seal of the Holy Communion would rightfully be given as consummating their union and fellowship with the company of believers. V. Maintained in harmony with the earlier ordinances of public worship as established in the temple services. “ The prayers” were the daily prayers of the Temple. Thus in the providence of God it was ordered that the Christian Church should take root, and partially unfold its form and glory within the ground of Judaism. The unity and continuity of the Divine dispensations was thus to be set forth. (J. H. Rigg, D. D.)Christian fellowship I. Its hindrances.1. Exaggerated individualism. (1) It is a grand truth that religion lies between the solitary soul and God, and that no priest has any right to intermeddle with it. Alone we were born into the new world; alone we have to wrestle in it; alone we shall die. (2) But we have exaggerated this principle, and thrown the idea of the Church into the shade. The lonely pilgrim travels to the Cross, but to find there “ the general assembly and Church of the first-born.” Yet there are those in our churches who do not share, or only feebly, this common life. To them public worship differs only from private in being offered publicly. They eat their portion alone, and come and go, knowing only the man who preaches, and the man who collects pew rents. It may be they are constitutionally shy, or self-absorbed, or unhappy. But they are spots in our feasts of charity, and icebergs which chill the gulf stream of the Church’ s life. (3) We need to be reminded that the Church is not a club, hotel, or a mere voluntary association, but a home, and that they can no more denude themselves of their spiritual than they can of their natural relationships. 2. Social distinctions. (1) It is a dark day for any Church when it declares its special mission to be to any one class, or when a Church consists of any one class. This is a danger which menaces modern Church life. The rich gravitate to the suburbs, the poor crowd into the towns, her great gulf yawns between. (2) The ideal relation is when rich and poor meet together on the same common level--before the Lord, the Master and Redeemer of them all. We need to be reminded that squire and labourer, master and clerk, mistress and maid, have committed the same sins, felt the same penitence, been redeemed by the same sacrifice. If the life of the Church is not strong enough to perfect this union, and enable men So rise above such things, seen and temporal, as distinctions of rank, to things unseen and eternal, it is time we consider how to recover the diviner spirit of earlier days. 3. The caste of culture. Superior persons who are acquainted with all the scientific objections to Christianity look down upon the uninitiated as Philistines. Then there are those half-time Christians who contend that their spiritual culture can be promoted quite as well by private reading as public worship, and attend once a day merely for example. Such forget that the Saviour was the Friend of publicans and sinners, and thanked God for hiding things from the wise and prudent, and for revealing them unto babes. 4. The spirit of faction. “ Mark them which cause divisions among you.” How many are they! On what slight grounds and paltry pretexts they disturb the peace of the Church! With what arrogance do they judge and condemn brethren whose lives are as pure as theirs! II. Practical remedies.1. We must train our young members, and inculcate upon them the duties as well as the privileges of Church fellowship. 2. Our churches must be organised for work. There must be no drones in the hive. No member ought to secure exemption by money payment from personal service. It was when the people had a mind to work that the walls of Jerusalem rose. Pastor Oncken, of Hamburg, gathered a church of three thousand, the distinctive feature of which was that each was pledged to personal service. In our churches the most beautiful and spiritually operative brotherly love is found among those who, in Sunday-schools, tract societies, etc., are associated in effort to advance the cause of Christ. 3. Meetings of the Church might be held distinct from those for business, for mutual conference, after the pattern of Methodist class meetings, where “ whosoever hath a psalm, a doctrine, a revelation, an interpretation,” might feel at liberty to impart it. The patient sufferings of the sick and poor, their quiet trust in God’ s love might rebuke our discontent, and teach us the meaning of Divine support and consolation. The rough honest speech of a working man telling the story of his difficulties might give the well-to-do an insight into hardships which they are in danger of forgetting, while a business man frankly telling his difficulties might remind the poor man that the prosperous have temptations from which he is spared. Such conferences would create a mutual trust and affection fruitful in a thousand acts of brotherliness. (A. Wilson, B. A.)In prayers.-- Prayer meetings as affecting the prosperity of the Church If we regard prayer meetings merely as expedients appointed by men and having no sanction from the Word of God, we may, perhaps, be disposed to treat them lightly. And it is very much to be feared that this is the view taken by many of prayer meetings, because--1. They are generally so thinly attended.2. They are so disparaged--“ It is only a prayer meeting.” Let us show, then-- I. That prayer meetings are scriptural. We find here that when those who gladly received the Word had been baptized, they “ continued stedfastly,” not once or twice or occasionally, “ in prayers,” in fact as stedfast as in “ doctrine,” etc. Social prayer is placed on a level in point of importance with apostolic doctrine and the Lord’ s Supper. Why, then, should the one be comparatively lost sight of by the churches, whilst the others are regarded as essential to the profession of Christianity? Those who neglected “ the assembling of themselves together” were denounced by the apostle, and the continuance of fellowship is here associated with continuance in prayer. Now if we look at any other part of the Word of God, we shall find the same thing uniformly brought before us as the practice of the Church. In Acts 1:14-15 we find that such was the practice before the outpouring of the Spirit. We come next to chap. 4., and after Peter and John had been dismissed we find, in verse 33, they reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. Then there was a prayer meeting, and the prayers offered were honoured with a remarkable reply from heaven (verse 31). In chap. 12. Peter was apprehended and kept in prison. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 2:44-47 All that believed were together, and had all things common. The primitive Christians, as here depicted I. Presented a new social development, marked--1. By community of goods. 2. By judicious distribution to the needy. Poor people had, of course, been relieved before, but not in the systematic way which is here seen to mark the beneficence of the early Church. 3. By a new and separate place of worship. Religious exercises were conducted “ at home” as well as in the Temple. Thus the disciples were both conformists and nonconformists. II. Exhibited notable personal characteristics.1. They were strongly attached to one another.2. They kept a good conscience, “ singleness of heart.”3. They lived in happiness, “ gladness.”4. They mingled devotion with all their actions, “ praising God.” III. Commanded the esteem of observers,” having favour with all the people.” IV. Witnessed the constant extension of the work of God (Acts 2:47). (W. Hudson.)The communism of Christianity To those whose eyes are opened wide, because their hearts are truly loving, there is no time in God’ s whole year that is equal to this (Whitsuntide) time of fullest bloom. The soul of man is greatened by promises of the future, and he walks the earth in gladness because of the glorious bloom around him. But it is sad when autumn comes to see the pitiful harvest. I have seen that of a hundred blossoms on a given tree only one came to perfection. There is pathos and tragedy in that, for I see in it human life. Of a thousand babes that are born--God’ s holiest blossoms--how many come to manhood? Why this waste? Yet God knows best. It is His law that the bloom shall be plentiful, and that some may remain for fruit. Some must fall, but the few that remain are a prophecy of what shall be, and man must learn that a little fruit of God is worth a great waste of bloom. “ All that believed were together,” etc.: the doctrine was received into gladsome hearts. The spring heat was come, the winter had vanished. But what became of it? When a man looks round the world nowadays, what a strange blossom that seems to be! Who would try to gather it? When lovers, newly entranced, are scarce able to see common daylight, or to comport themselves with common sense, what are they to do? Bloom, blossom! But the blossom will not last. It is so like that outbreak of communism--and we know that did not last. But it will come again ultimately. It is the Word of God, the end of civilisation, the aim of all holy souls, that the holy city, the New Jerusalem, shall descend to earth. Here, then, is this first blossom of Christian faith, which was the natural outbreak of loving hearts. But these blossoms could not last, because the blossoms of love have to blow out in the cold, and be tried by the storm, as the blossoms of the tree must have the wind to nip them--but they prophesied as they died. Watching a little child’ s life, what glorious blossoms of unselfishness we see sometimes I But they don’ t last. The cynic sneers at this, but the wise man rejoices, for these blossoms tell him of what man may come to under more perfect conditions. And so these men got scattered, and by degrees the old world resumed its sway over them. Nevertheless, there yet remains the ultimate outcome of the Christian faith. We smile at these men, but only as a loving father smiles upon his little child who cries for the moon, because his ambition is so lofty and its realisation so impossible. Yet the Christian religion is making progress, and having its effect in working out of us what is evil and low, and what it is working out of us it will ultimately work out of the whole world. For what else mean the various efforts to put all things at the service of all men? Some of you who are much given to admiring the pictures of saints can now have a library full of the souls of the ancients; for far beyond all the saints you can paint on windows are those shelves filled with the books of the men of olden time. For in these books are the spirits of the fathers--of John Milton, of William Shakespeare--the thoughts of the wise, the songs of the minstrels, the gathered honey of all nations. And over all this is written “ Free Library” --holy words which the Holy Ghost Himself might have inspired. By and by education too shall be like the gospel--free to all, crying, “ Come unto me, all ye that labour,” and “ he that hath no money, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Since I was a boy what has not been done to restore Pentecost? I have long given up the dream of my youth--that all men could do as these men did--live in a community. Robert Owen tried it; thousands have tried it, but they have given it up. All attempts at communism, in any practical form, have died out, gone into history, but the fruit remains. At every point we are winning--hours of leisure, places of recreation, flee libraries, free roads, free churches, free speech, cheap books. Therefore when I hear that the National Gallery is opened free to the public my soul is glad. For the beautiful works of art of the nation are there; they are not now shut up in rich men’ s houses, but belong alike to all. What has God to do with the rich? Did He send His sun to shine simply for the rich? Nay, but for the beggar also. The Spirit of Christ is always toward the Pentecostal blossom; but that it may become golden fruit there must be large loving; all thought of self must be consumed by the love of God. God’ s gifts are many; strive as far as possible to have all things common, especially the greatest things. I smile when I see men saving a little property of their own, and keeping apart from one another; for the best and greatest things are fast passing into the hands of every one. Books are cheap, and when books are cheap the inspiring things of God belong to all. High price of books means Pentecost impossible. Let every man judge his own heart to what degree the love of God has entered it, for in that degree he will be willing that all things should be common, especially the highest and greatest things. Some men smile at this doctrine, and think that we mean the dividing of money or property. No, keep your money! Free libraries, picture galleries, churches, etc. all these we have won, and we shall win more yet. So you may keep your old purse. Those blossoms that did stop on the tree are now bearing rich and golden fruit which shall last for ever. Christianity is the death-blow of privilege, the scorner of pedigree, the ridiculer of fine linen. It turns its back on all these and says, “ When thou makest a feast, call the poor,” etc.; for the Christian religion means the opening of the gate of heaven to all men. It is the religion whose first miracle was to turn water into wine for humble people, and is slowly bringing back the Pentecostal spirit; not with a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire, but with the sweetness of charity. You would do well to get it into your plans of daily life, that the day will come when all the nations of Europe shall be Pentecostal, for they shall have passed from feudalism to federalism, and the custom-house shall be abolished, and all nations shall be “ together and have all things common.” (Geo. Dawson, M. A.)Communism What about this so-called communism in the early Church? What was it in nature and extent? The passage describing the community of goods is critical. Social reformers, not always Christian, point to this as the ideal state from which the Church has wandered.1. The arrangement was purely voluntary. What any man put in was still his. The sin of Ananias was not that he had kept back a portion of his estate by fraud, but that he lied about it. It was still in his power after the sale as before. The community of property flowed out of the new spiritual life. (See Acts 4:32-37.) “ In point of fact, their experiment was simply the assertion of the right of every man to do as he chooses with his own; and they chose to live together and help each other. It was a fraternal stock company for mutual aid and protection. No man was bound to come into it unless he wished; but if he did come in, he was bound to act honestly.” 2. It was a spiritual result, and not a social experiment. It cannot be explained except on the spiritual basis. It must be studied in its true setting. The Brook Farm, “ Utopia,” and all kindred institutions, have been social experiments. Bellamy’ s “ Looking Backward” Society is allied with them. They have arisen for lack of the Holy Spirit. This sprung up spontaneously because of Pentecost. 3. The community of goods seems to have been a community of use, not ownership. Nobody said that aught that he possessed was his own. They were of one heart. The circumstances were peculiar. Many of the people were away from home. All had to be cared for. No one should suffer. 4. The plan was local. Jerusalem was the only city where it was tried. No trace of it is to be found in any ether Church. It evidently did not commend itself to other churches as a wise plan. The other churches took up collections just as now when a case of need was presented. (See 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.)5. It was temporary. It lasted while the circumstances in which it arose continued. 6. It did not relieve poverty. It was not devised for that purpose. Many writers insist upon seeing a close connection between this incident and the subsequent poverty in Jerusalem. Thus Meyer: “ And this community of goods at Jerusalem helps to explain the great and general poverty of that Church. It is probable that the apostles were prevented by the very experience acquired in Jerusalem from advising or introducing it elsewhere.” Thus Gulliver: “ Under such sublime inspirations it is easy to see that a communism, impossible to ordinary human nature, might temporarily flourish. But it is as easy to see that it would gradually settle to the level of ordinary motive, and would be subjected to the disturbances of inevitable inequalities in capacity and industry, as well as in piety. The Plymouth Pilgrims were, perhaps, the most single-minded men of modern times. Yet it was not till the community of lands and goods which obtained in the early years of their settlement gave place to farms in severalty, and to private property protected by law, that the annually recurring danger of absolute starvation in their colony disappeared. The lesson of such a history is, therefore, not solely the lesson of Christian consecration. It includes the utility and the sacredness of the personal control of property. It places before us the problem of combining the largest Christian benevolence with the strict maintenance of proprietary rights.” 7. It was not modern communism. Says Gerok: “ That holy community of goods proceeded from love to the poor; but that which is now proclaimed is the result of a hatred to the rich.” And Van Dyke: “ Of late years the communistic doctrine has begun to present itself in another shape. It has laid aside the red cap and put on the white cravat. It invites serious and polite inquiry. It quotes Scripture and claims to be the friend, the near relative, of Christianity. So altered is its aspect that preachers of religion are discovering that it has good points, and patting it on the back somewhat timidly, as one might pat a converted wolf who had offered his services as watch-dog.” There is a fundamental and absolute difference between the doctrine of the Bible and the doctrine of the communiser. For the Bible tells me that I must deal my bread to the hungry; while the communiser tells the hungry that he may take it for himself, and if he begins with bread there is no reason why he should draw the line at cake. The Bible teaches that envy is a sin; the communiser declares that it is the new virtue which is to regenerate society. The communiser maintains that every man who is born has a right to live; but the Bible says that if a man will not work neither shall he eat; and without eating life is difficult. The communiser holds up equality of condition as the ideal of Christianity; but Christ never mentions it. He tells us that we shall have the poor always with us, and charges us never to forget, despise, or neglect them. Christianity requires two things from every man that believes in it: first, to acquire his property by just and righteous means; and, secondly, to look not only on his own things, but also on the things of others. (W. F. McDowell.)The equalities and inequalities of human lots The infant Church, from the nature of the case, was composed mainly, though not exclusively, of the less prosperous classes. The work it had to do at Jerusalem brought together a number of persons whose homes were elsewhere, and whose ordinary occupations were suspended, and it became necessary to face the all-important question of their simplest food and lodging. For this purpose a common fund was instituted, to which those who had money or other property might contribute for the temporary support of those who had none. There is no evidence that these were anything but voluntary offerings. There follow, for example, repeated references to the existence of rich and poor side by side in the same Church, and to the need and duty of almsgiving. Had there been any system in force, tantamount to a “ community of goods,” neither of these things could possibly have survived. It might seem, indeed, superfluous to argue such a point were it not for two reasons--one, that there are always to be found well-meaning persons who, believing that the earliest type of Church, before corruption entered and human frailty overthrew Divine institutions, was and must be the best, and the one we ought to seek to restore, look back with yearning upon a state of things so different from our own, and resolve that our faces ought to be firmly set towards reviving the primitive usage. Imagining that true Christian equality involves equality of conditions and advantages, they see in the phenomena of our modern Church only the most terrible of inconsistencies. Many of these objectors are genuine friends and adherents of Christianity, and as such demand our warm sympathy. But there are others, I need not say, hostile to our religion, who in all times have made useful capital out of these alleged discrepancies. We cannot but notice that one chief grievance against Christianity in our day is that it does not tend to rectify human inequalities; that while it professes to hold all men equal in the sight of God, it seems quite content that they should remain unequal in their own. But though the objection is put as one against religion, it is obvious that the grievance is really one against Providence, or rather (since this form of socialism is almost always atheistic) against fate, which has allowed one man to enter the world better equipped than another for the struggle of life. Hence this form of socialism, which we see more and more asserting itself, is not merely atheistic, it is bitterly antitheistic, since it chiefly resents inequalities, due not to defective laws, but to natural, inborn, inherited differences. Such socialism demands, as the first right of humanity, that society should aim at compensating the feeble for their feebleness at the expense of the strong; or rather, that arrangements should be made that neither weak nor strong should be at any expense; that society should be restored to one level, and that of universal prosperity and comfort. This, it asserts, a reform in the world’ s laws might and would effect. Religion, it alleges, is a failure; civilisation is a failure; legislation is a failure, seeing that all these have so far failed to bring about an equalisation of human lots. Those who use this language and lead captive many willing listeners are at least thus far justified in that Christianity has beyond question failed to bring about the result they desire; and they might even go further and object that Christianity does not start from any such assumption as the equal rights of human beings. From first to last the Bible nowhere teaches this kind of equality among men; nor their equal right, nor the right of any individual among them, to prosperity and comfort. It does not even regard these things as the aim towards which human effort should be directed. Its millennium is not in any sense a millennium of an equally distributed prosperity. Every counsel and command addressed to the rich and strong is, on the contrary, framed on the evident expectation that inequalities of condition would always exist. It must be frankly admitted that Jesus Christ accepted such inequality as a fact of human existence, and addressed His teaching to show how that fact might be made the best of--how it might minister to the discipline of man’ s nature, and its preparation for the kingdom of God. Christ’ s teaching abounds in denunciations of the rich. But it is never for being rich, but for not recognising and accepting the responsibility of riches. He enunciated no fixed and rigid rules for the regulation of society. He enjoined no pouring of the world’ s wealth into a common stock, from which the once rich and the once poor should be endowed anew on one uniform and unchangeable scale. He never offered to put back the clock of time, and to start all men on the race of life afresh. He took society as it existed in his day, and propounded the law and the spirit by which it might be made ever sounder and sounder, even while the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, lived and worked side by side. A vulgar Socialist, aiming first at winning adherents, might have preached vaguely how all this would speedily be at an end; how no one should suffer much longer from his present disabilities, but that all should share and share alike when new laws should be passed in the Constitution he would frame and establish. But Jesus promised no such thing; He introduced no such topic. He dealt, indeed, persistently with the subject of equality. He called all men, without distinction, His brethren; He spoke of them all as alike dear to the heart of God, and as equally invited to the highest blessings that God confers. He appealed to all who were weary and heavy laden to come to Him (Jesus) and He would give them rest. And, before all things, He insisted that in that kingdom there is no such thing as caste. The first upon earth might be the last in that kingdom, and the lowliest on the earth the highest and greatest there. Who can doubt that it was this Christian doctrine of equality--this form of Christian Socialism (“ fellowship,” “ membership in one Body,” He preferred to call it) that fell like music on the wearied spirits of that motley crowd? No religious caste--no intellectual caste--no social caste--each man’ s acceptance of the responsibilities of sonship; each man’ s faithful cultivation of the talent entrusted to him--this, the one way of working out his own salvation, and entering upon eternal life. This was the one only equality that Christ recognised and proclaimed. As to inequalities of human fortune, so-called, and their methods of equalisation, it apparently did not enter into His plan to speak. On such subjects as a man’ s right or duty to “ better himself” in his earthly position He said nothing. He neither commanded nor forbade a man to do his utmost in that kind. There is a common sneer against religion that it looks with coldness upon the ambition which natures, not apparently vicious, are aware of, to rise in the world, and to win fame, position, and wealth by the effective use of the talents confided to them. Whatever can be reasonably inferred from the Bible’ s teaching is to the very opposite effect. A gospel which enjoins its followers to cherish and improve every talent committed to them is in itself a command to excel, and therefore to advance, in whatever the hand, or the intellect, findeth to do. And to excel, and to advance, means and implies (let us not be afraid of the word) competition. If, of two men to whom talents are entrusted, one cultivates them and the other neglects them, what power that we can even guess at can prevent one of these men outstripping the other in the course of pre-eminence? If one man rises through moral character and fidelity to the talents given him, and another sinks through moral weakness and indolence, who can deny that in that contrast is witnessed a survival of the fittest? And the gospel of Christ did not interpose to remove such inequalities. But the primary purpose of the revelation of God to men was to change their conceptions of success and failure; to alter the world’ s standpoint as to happiness. “ Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” And who can fail to observe that whichever be cause and which effect, the decay of belief in a God, and the assertion of every man’ s right to be prosperous, always appear together? It cannot be otherwise; for belief in the God whom Christ revealed is not consistent with belief that we have all, or any of us, a right to any blessing or comfort save one, the greatest and most blessed of all. We have no rights as against God: we have only obligations. The very things that difference us from other men are our talents. We are forgetting to thank God for what He takes away. Prosperity--equal prosperity--and the gradual extinction of bodily pain and mental distress--this is the earthly paradise to which thousands are now being taught to look forward. Does it harmonise well with the teaching of Him who claimed to be the Elder Brother of the race, whose appointed life was suffering and self-denial, and whose death was the death of the Cross? The cure for discontent is to turn our thoughts to the noblest, purest, best Friend of our spirits; and then, recalling what He has been to us in the past, and what things He has prepared for us in the future, we may well feel that with all our unworthiness, all our weakness and disappointments, our profoundest sorrows and anxieties, we are more than conquerors; that having received this pledge of victory, we may indeed scorn to “ change our state with kings.” (Canon Ainger.)The apparent communism of the infant Church Under the shadow of a great calamity, or the strain of a great excitement, the lines that divide classes or limit possessions vanish like snow-wreaths in the noonday sun. “ All ye are brethren” is the word of the great occasions that stir and shake society to its depths. It is an easy step to the conclusion that that which associates men lies deeper in their nature and in the nature of society than that which divides them. It is a tempting step, though a false one, from this position to the principle that that which creates and maintains the differences cometh of evil, and is to be fought against as evil. This is the conviction out of which the nobler idea and form of communism spring; that which is rooted in love of humanity, in the desire for human progress, and the realisation of a condition in which society will not have to weep tears over the miseries of the poor. Whether the communistic conviction and plan of working out the regeneration of society have any root in the nature of things, or the Word of God, is one of the most profoundly important social questions of our times. Let us consider-- I. The remarkable appearance of a communistic organisation in the Church. Nothing can look more like communism on the outside. Make this arrangement universal, a communist would say, and the social millennium will come in. It will help us to estimate the countenance which Christianity lends to communistic ideas to consider--1. How far was this universal in the Church? It seems to have been born and to have died at Jerusalem. There appears to have been no attempt even to extend it in the Church. It was a beautiful outburst of heavenly charity and zeal; but it bloomed, flourished, and faded, so to speak, in an hour. Churches were planted everywhere, but there is not the faintest attempt to repeat the experiment. Further, it was not universal even in Jerusalem. In chap. 5:1-4 St. Peter recognises that Ananias was free to adopt the plan or to decline it; and it appears from Acts 12:12 that some members retained their property, and had their households, children and servants, round them as before. It would appear that it was but a partial and temporary arrangement even in the Church which adopted it, growing out of a moment of pressure, and quietly dying away. But-- 2. How far are we justified in regarding it as an arrangement or organisation of the infant society at all? Both terms are misapplied. Organisation implies a definite principle of action for a definite purpose, adopted by competent authority, and binding upon all over whom the authority extends. We find nothing of this kind in the action of the apostles and of the Church. It was a spontaneous outburst of feeling--nothing like a plan. The man who had the best right to speak for the community expressly disclaims any plan or arrangement binding on the members of the community; he recognises their entire freedom. Far from making this a primary law of the Church of Jerusalem, it was in no sense a law at all, but simply a voluntary action on the part of individuals; beautiful, heavenly in its inspiration, but valid only while the inspiration lasted, and having no beauty, no virtue apart from the spirit which gave it birth. 3. The light cast upon the institution by the legislation of the apostolic age. Remember that the Church had before it the very problems with which communism professes to be able to deal--the wrongs of oppressed classes and the miseries of the poor. No literature of communism is so charged with passionate sympathy for the oppressed and the wretched, such burning indignation against strong-handed wrong, such tender, cherishing compassion for the poor and helpless, as those Old Testament prophecies to which Christ appealed to explain His mission (Luke 4:18-21). “ The poor have the gospel preached unto them” was the very crown of miracles in the Saviour’ s judgment; and the words--“ Only they would that we should remember the poor” --tells us how sacredly the mission was cherished in the Apostolic Church. It was through no oversight of this its great function, to save the poor and so to begin at the right end the salvation of society, that the apostles suffered this institution to drop out of the habit of the Church. They were as intensely eager to enfranchise the enslaved, to deliver the oppressed, to comfort and to elevate the poor, as the most passionate of social reformers; and yet, having to deal with three great classes whose woes and wrongs were rending society in pieces--the slaves, the women and the poor--instead of proclaiming universal emancipation and community of possessions, they deliberately left the slave to the Christian brotherhood of his master, the woman to the Christian fellowship of her husband, and the poor to the Christian justice and charity of mankind. There was no attempt at a rearrangement of society, save as it might grow naturally and healthfully out of better and holier spiritual relations between class and class, and man and man. Thus they addressed themselves to the terrible social problems of their times: on this basis they sought to work out their solution. They showed themselves, like Christ, studious to maintain the existing order against violent disturbance or readjustment from without. When hardy Galileans would take Christ by force, and make Him a king, giving Him, as they dreamed, the grand opportunity to work out His glorious plans, He withdrew Himself to a desert place and prayed. The only power which could regenerate the world must come from that fountain. The Church sought to redress the wrongs, to adjust the inequalities, to heal the maladies and the miseries of society, by proclaiming the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God, revealed in Him who is the Elder Brother of the poorest, the most crushed of the human race. You may say in answer, “ Look round and see what it has wrought! Look round in Lambeth, in Bethnal Green, on burning Paris, on luxurious, dissolute New York. Is this salvation?” I feel the full pressure of the question. “ How long, O Lord, how long?” is the cry that is ever rising from watching, breaking hearts. But I see also this, that the selfish lust and passion which make the day of the Lord so long, and the progress of the kingdom so slow, would bury in wreck or drown in blood every poorer and weaker attempt to work out more swiftly and vehemently the salvation of society. II. But, what then was this, “ they had all things common” ? Was it a mistake?1. On the contrary it was an inspiration; an outlet of love and joy when man’ s heart was bursting with them; and a holy and beautiful prophecy of what Christianity will one day accomplish for the salvation of the poor. There is many a beautiful, elevating, purifying action of the spirit in its intercourse with spirits, which if it were organised into an institution would be fatal to society. This action of the Church belongs to the same sphere as the holy waste of Mary. The money might have been saved and given to the poor, and the Master none the worse. But the prompting of the spirit which found that expression held within its glow more benediction to the poor in the long run, than the pence that might have been saved a thousand times told. 2. This action was an irrepressible outburst of joy and thankfulness. Travellers meeting in the heart of a great desert are ready to make “ all things common” under the human sympathy which the new and glad experience kindles within. A shipwrecked company gathered on the shore of a desert island is ready to make “ all things common,” through the joy of deliverance, and shame that any of the saved should want. There are crises when all that leads a man to say that anything is his own vanishes; when the sense that one great human heart is beating everywhere, and that we are but limbs of one great body, whose private use and pleasure is nothing, whose ministry to the whole is all, possesses us. These are our moments of inspiration, of rapture. They come to us laden with the breath of a purer, brighter region, which, organised as we are, it would waste us to live in, but the breath of which, mingled with our grosser air, lends a more vivid glow to the vital flame in our hearts, and in the heart of society. 3. And it was beautiful as a prophecy. The miracles of Christ were prophecies. And this shone out as a sign, that forces were there at work, whose fountain is the heart of Christ, which will one day, after a Divine fashion, establish-- (1) Liberty, the liberty of a soul and a society under the law to Christ.(2) Equality, not of lot or of function, but of use and of honour.(3) Fraternity, not of rights and of claims, but of ministries and loves. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Christian and anti-Christian communism That Christian communism said, What is mine is thine; modern anti-Christian communism says, What is thine is mine. Among those Christians it was said, Take what I have; modern communists say, Give me what thou hast. That holy community of goods was founded on a spirit of love to the poor; this now preached rests on a spirit of hatred to the rich. (C. Gerok, D. D.)Christian communism distinguished from unchristian I. Its source. Not an external law or bare power, but the free impulse of love. II. Its object. Not general equality, but general welfare. III. The way to effect his object. Not by a community of goods, but by a community of hearts. (C. Gerok, D. D.)Man’ s willingness to trust everything to God but money Once in a most lively prayer-meeting the preacher who was presiding prayed: “ O Lord, help all of us to trust Thee with our whole souls!” And a hundred voices responded, “ Amen!” Some also shouted, “ Lord, grant it!” and “ Amen, amen,” all over the room. Encouraged by such sympathy, he went on: “ Help us all to trust Thee wholly with our bodies!” And then the people cried, “ Amen!” as heartily as before. Now the exalted sense of consecration rose to its height, and he prayed again: “ Oh, help us to trust Thee wholly with our money!” And it is actually reported in private circles since that not a man had a word to say then. (E. S. Robinson.)And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple.-- Characteristics of the primitive Christians See-- I. Their constancy--they continued. II. Their fervour--daily. III. Their unity--with one accord. IV. Their audacity--in the temple. V. Their charity--breaking bread from house to house. VI. Their familiarity--did eat their meat. VII. Their alacrity--with gladness. VIII. Their sincerity--with singleness of heart. (E. Leigh.)Public worship I. We ought to worship God in public.1. It is obvious to the natural reason of mankind that this is a duty. (1) Even those whose “ foolish heart was darkened,” etc., were not so blind as not to see the fitness of their honouring with public worship those whom they accounted Deities. The heathens have their temples to which they resort for the celebration of some rites, whereby they think their idols honoured. (2) God has formed our nature for society, is it not, then, a dictate of nature that we should associate ourselves for the most important purposes of religion as well as for the lesser purposes of the natural and civil life. (3) Our Creator has made us capable of signifying to all about us the sense we have of His perfections, and of our obligations to Him. Should we not, then, employ our best powers after that manner in His service, to which they are so wisely fitted? “ The heavens declare the glory of the Lord; the firmament showeth His handiwork. How excellent is His name in all the earth!” And is it not fit that intelligent creatures should show forth His glories by the most open acknowledgment of them? The law of God written in the heart (Romans 2:15) obliges them to the performance of social public worship. 2. God has in His Word given plain significations of His will that men should publicly worship Him. (1) Public worship was practised long before we have any account of its being required. The light of nature directed men to assemble themselves together for the worship Of God; perhaps, therefore, He did not see it needful expressly to reveal His mind till their natural notions of religion were greatly corrupted by idolatry. Then it pleased God to give a law according to which worship was to be regulated (Exodus 23:17). But though Israel were to offer sacrifices only at the tabernacle or temple, yet they did meet together in other places, where they did engage in some parts of Divine worship. This appears from the account given us in Scripture of synagogues (Acts 15:21). (2) Jesus Christ, while He was here on earth, did not only go to Jerusalem at the great feasts, but also attended constantly to the service of the synagogue (Luke 4:16). His example lays a strong obligation upon His followers. (3) The disciples of Jesus, in the early days of Christianity, discharged their duty in this matter with great diligence, but in process of time the love of some began to cool, which appeared in their neglect of the duties of public worship. To prevent the spreading of this great evil the apostle admonished them (Hebrews 10:25). II. The ends of public worship.1. The glory of God. As He made all things for Himself it is highly reasonable we should principally design the glorifying of His name in all that we do. Now when God is worshipped by His creatures, they own His being, His all-sufficiency, His infinite understanding, that to Him belongeth power and mercy; and the more public their worship is the more clearly they spread abroad the honour of His name. The house of God, where He was publicly worshipped, is called “ the place where His honour dwelt” (Psalms 26:8), perhaps because He was there honoured in an eminent manner by the social worship of His people. For this reason, as we may justly suppose, the Lord is said to love the gates of Zion (Psalms 87:2). This chief end of Divine worship cannot be so well answered by private devotions. The honour of God’ s name is more propagated in the congregation than it can be in the family. Though our Saviour far exceeded those in knowledge who officiated in the Jewish synagogue, yet was He stated in His attendance there, for He knew that by so doing He “ glorified His Father.” 2. Our spiritual benefit. God has connected our advantage with His own glory. He dispenses to us blessings in that way wherein we show forth the honour of His name. He promised His people of old that in all places where He should record His name he would come unto them and bless them (Exodus 20:24). There is no appointment of any particular place under the gospel, but our Lord has said that “ where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20; Revelation 1:13). God delights to honour the ordinances of His public worship by making them means of grace (Psalms 87:5). Most commonly it is by the means of public worship that sinners are awakened and converted; it is hereby that the saints are for the most part edified and comforted. All the private instructions which the psalmist enjoyed were not effectual to remove a very perplexing temptation. But when “ he went into the sanctuary” so much light was imparted to him there as cleared his difficulty (Psalms 73:17). Upon which he concludes (verse 29) that it was good for him to draw near to God, i.e., in the sanctuary. David expected that the clearest and most engaging discoveries of God would be made to him in His house, therefore he was very desirous of having his stated abode there (Psalms 27:4; Psalms 92:12-14). 3. Communion with one another in the great concerns of religion. The Scripture represents believers as one in God and Christ (John 17:20-21). They are spoken of as “ members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25). They have one God and Father, the same Mediator and Saviour; they are animated by one Spirit; they belong to the same family, and they are travelling towards the same heavenly habitation. Now, when as many of them as conveniently can assemble together to partake of the ordinances of the gospel, they hereby denote the oneness. III. The several parts of public worship as mentioned in the context.1. Prayer. The house of God is called “ the house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). We have all our common wants and weaknesses. Is it not, then, proper we should present our joint supplications to God for supplies and helps? (Matthew 18:19). 2. Praise (Psalms 48:1; Psalms 34:3). We are never in such destitute circumstances as not to be obliged to bless the name of God, therefore are we commanded to add thanksgivings to our supplications (Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18). It is proper here to consider that particular method of praising God by singing. It is natural for the joy of men’ s hearts to break forth into songs, and it is most fit they should express the delight they take in the perfections and mercies of God by singing His praises (James 5:13; Ephesians 5:19-20; Colossians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14:14-15; Revelation 15:3). 3. Hearing the Word of God. Under the Mosaic constitution the priest’ s lips were to keep knowledge, and the people were to seek the law at his mouth (Malachi 2:7). Our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed ministers “ who are to give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word; to be instant in season and out of season” in preaching of it. Therefore, certainly it is the duty of Christians to be instant in season and out of season in hearing the gospel (Ephesians 4:11-13). 4. The Lord’ s Supper. This is meant by “ breaking of bread” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). Application: 1. How thankful should we be for our liberty to worship God in public. 2. It is matter of great lamentation that there is so much indifference among us to the public worship of God. 3. Let us have a care of “ forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.” In order to press you hereto, consider (l) That an indifference to the duties of public worship is a dangerous step towards apostacy. (2) Persons of the most eminent piety have expressed the greatest value for the public worship of God. (S. Price.)Importance of daily prayer Great pianists carry the dumb piano with them, which is simply a mechanical keyboard for the exercising of the fingers. Rubenstein uses it, and on a recent occasion he said, “ If I neglect practice a single day, I notice it, and if for two days, my friends notice it, and if for three days the people notice it.” Some Christians leave off practising their religion. First they notice it themselves, then their friends, then the world. Every Christian has his dumb piano on which to practise. True it gives no sound that the world can hear, but it nevertheless accomplishes much; it is the instrument of silent prayer. McCheyne once expressed the belief that no one who prayed daily to God ever became a lost soul. It is well to recall this at times whenever the habit of silent prayer is neglected. Use the dumb piano. Constancy in the performance of holy duties makes them easy It is easy to keep that armour bright which is daily used; but hanging by the walls till it be rusty, it will take some time and pains to furbish it up again. If an instrument be daily played upon, it is easily kept in tune; but let it be but a while neglected, and cast in a corner, the strings and frets break, the bridge flies off, and no small labour is required to bring it into order again. And thus, also, it is in things spiritual, in the performance of holy duties, if we continue them with a settled constancy, they will be easy, familiar, and delightful to us; but if once broken off, and intermitted, it is a new work to begin again, and will not be reduced to the former estate but with much endeavour and great difficulty. Constancy in the performance of holy duties It is observable that many who have gone into the field, have liked the work of a soldier for a battle or two, but soon have had enough, and come running home again from their colours, whereas few can bear it as a constant trade. War is a thing that they could willingly woo for their pleasure, but are loath to wed upon what terms soever. Thus many are soon engaged in holy duties, easily persuaded to take up a profession of religion, and as easily persuaded to lay it down. Like the new moon, which shines a little in the first part of the night, but is down long before half the night be gone, are lightsome professors in their youth, but whose old age is wrapt up in thick darkness of sin and wickedness. Oh! this constancy and persevering is a hard word! This taking up the cross daffy, this praying always, this watching night and day, and never laying aside our clothes and armour, indulging ourselves to remit and unbend in our holy waiting upon God, and walking with God. This sends many sorrowful from Christ; yet this is the saint’ s duty, to make religion his every day’ s work, without any vacation from one end of the year to the other. And breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness.-- The holy communion a feast of love Love, as it is undoubtedly one of the most natural and general, so is it likewise one of the most agreeable and delightful emotions of the human heart. Whoever therefore promotes love, at the same time promotes happiness; and the firmer, the purer, the nobler that love is, the more solid is this happiness. And where shall we find a more perfect doctrine of happiness than in Christianity? Tend not all its doctrines, all its precepts, all its promises, all its rites to kindle and inflame the purest, noblest love towards God and man? Such is its whole design; this is the distinctive character of the noble few by whom it is actually attained.1. The holy communion is a feast of the love of God. Here we see the love of God, our heavenly Father, in all its lustre; here enjoy it in its full measure. Here we draw nigh to Him, not as slaves, not as criminals, trembling at the sight of their judge, but as children, favoured, eminently endowed, meet together in His house, at His table, and rejoice and glory in His being our Father. Here we are truly blessed in the enjoyment of all the benefits wherewith He has favoured us through His Son Jesus. 2. In like manner is the holy communion a feast of love to Jesus our Lord. This holy feast emphatically reminds us of that sublime, disinterested, unprecedented love to the wandering wretched race of mortals that brought Him from a throne to the condition of a servant, to the Cross and to the sepulchre! And here we enjoy the fruits and effects of this love of our Lord. The effulgence which He brought with Him from heaven enlightens and shines round us; the virtue and the efficacy that are gone out from Him, vivify us; the serenity, the hope which He prepared for mankind reanimate us; the prospects into better worlds which He opened to them are our comfort and joy. 3. Lastly the holy communion is a feast of Christian brotherly love. Far hence away, all such as harbour malice, all cold and selfish hearts, all the slaves of envy, hatred, and revenge! Far hence, every the slightest suggestion of vanity and pride, whereby one exalts himself above another, and one in comparison of himself despises another! Do we not here rejoice and glory in our common deliverance, forgiveness, elevation, and happiness? Come, let us show ourselves glad in Jesus Christ by our love, by our mutual endeavours to become ever more humane, ever more bountiful and generally useful. Let us all rejoice in one another, as He rejoices in us all. Let us serve and assist one another, as He has helped and still helps us all. (G. J. Zollikofer.)The soul’ s atmosphere This passage points out the characteristic fact of the cheerful social dispositions of the early disciples. The Jewish religion was the only one which ever organised joy as an integral and important part of its services. Christ and the apostles were Jews, and the same joyous spirit came with the new faith; and although they entered upon the organisation of the new life under circumstances calculated to make men bigoted and bitter, yet all the early periods of Christianity were sweet and calm. The earliest Christian art has not a single emblem of suffering or distress. All the representations were those of hope and cheerfulness. Subsequently philosophy almost destroyed this temper, and wrought an atmosphere of stoical hardness and moroseness which was not characteristic of true Christianity. Note:-- I. The nature of the Christian atmosphere. We all know how, in the physical world, that a dull, heavy atmosphere is unfavourable to pleasure or labour. We bear with it, fight our way through it; but it is the clear, bright, genial day that affects our spirits favourably, facilitates our work, and makes things grow. So the soul has an atmosphere of one kind or another. Discouragement, sadness, obscurity of soul makes it hard for a man to live, to be social. It is especially mischievous in religious life; for all the higher graces are such as spring up and bloom only in most genial atmospheres, just as many of our plants can only blossom in a long warm summer. The characteristics of this atmosphere are--1. Good-nature--a grace not mentioned in Scripture because Paul did not speak English. This is better than genius, property, or honour. When Baxter spoke of marrying a woman who was of a good disposition rather than one who was eminently pious, he said that the grace of God could dwell with many persons that he could not live with. This good disposition is enjoined in “ Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love,” etc., and is that charity which is “ not easily provoked,” etc. Now good-natured people are often not geniuses; because to have genius one must have nerves; but men whose nerves are well covered, are relieved from many exasperations and exaggerations which annoy people; but where men have not this protection anal still are good-natured, it is a peculiar grace. 2. Cheerfulness--a hopeful state of life under any conditions; a shining state which amounts to more than contentment. 3. Faith--not simply that act which accepts Christ, but that which includes the whole action of the imagination. A practical, matter-of-fact man is like a waggon without springs--every single pebble on the road jolts him; but the man who has imagination has always the power of glancing off from hard facts, and of overcoming the world. 4. Humour. The sense of the ludicrous is a distinct peculiarity of man as lifted above the brute creation. If it calls to itself an element of distinctiveness it becomes sarcasm. When it holds up a man as an object of mirth it becomes ridicule. When it has a certain element of suppression then it developes humour. It sees things in a funny light. Blessed are the men who are able to put this cushion between themselves and all the sharp edges of affairs--who know how to see something that will convert sorrow into a source of pleasure. A man who has it is always able to call to his side good-nature and happiness, and troubles are not so troublesome, nor cares so sharp to him as they would be if he had no such faculty. II. Its advantages. He who is cheerful, imaginative, humorous, has summer of the soul, and whatever he has to do he will do better in that than in any other atmosphere. This atmosphere favours--1. Earnestness and courage. It has been thought to tend to frivolity, but that is not the case. When Napoleon was crossing the Alps, and the strength of the men had almost given out, and there was hesitation, he ordered the band to strike up a cheerful air. The sound of the drums rolled through the mountain passes, and the men, catching exhilaration from the music, applied themselves with renewed earnestness to the task. Now, when we are called to disappointments, if under the influence of imagination we can but feel cheer and good-nature, that temperament of the soul will enable us to hold on our way. What kills men is discouragement. It is sitting down under trouble that destroys men; it is standing up and mocking it that enables men to go through it without harm. “ I have thee, O man,” says the Gorgon of disaster. “ Not yet,” says the man of hope, with a smiling face, and eludes his grasp. 2. Charity--that which seeks the well-being of men. A man who is without good-nature always judges harshly; but the man who has cheerfulness and humour is at peace with other men. The most difficult people to manage are those who never see a jest or develop a smile; they carry gashing angles to the end of life. And unfortunately among them there are only too many professing Christians; so that men say that if they wanted sympathy in distress they would rather go to their drinking companions than to members of the Church. But a man who is really a Christian is “ light of the world” --a man whose temper and disposition make him luminous. Sweet emotions give light to the face, and bitter emotions make it dark. And a man whose face is lit with joy and hope carries among his fellow-men that good will which takes away the friction of life and gives joy to the sorrowful and hope to the sinful. 3. Patience under difficulties. The world is a great deal larger to a man of imagination than to a “ Gradgrind” --a man of mere facts--a man of miles who treats the world as though it were a football. The former takes cognisance of things invisible which help him to see that the troubles of to-day are the instruments of the joys of to-morrow. The man of facts sees only the cloud; the hopeful man sees the sun behind and the fruitful showers after the cloud. 4. Realisation of the presence of God and trust in Him. The trouble with men in this world is that they have no God. A present help in time of trouble is God, and if there be no help for you it is because you have no God that you know how to use. A man might live to the age of Methuselah and never know what music was, if he did not know how to handle the instrument; and a man may live with God around him and yet be without God because he does not know how to use Him. And the soul’ s atmosphere is the medium through which a man discerns God more easily than through any other. In conclusion--1. You ask, “ Does not this tend to relax conscience?” Perhaps it does, and that is the best thing about it so far as some consciences are concerned. A man may be conscientiously wrong and cruel as were Saul of Tarsus and Loyola. What is needed of conscience is that it should act in the sphere of love. Love being the summer atmosphere of the soul, let any faculty act in it, and it will act right. 2. But do not many lack the capacity for such cheerfulness? Yes, but cripples are not to be held up as models of humanity. (H. W. Beecher.)The atmosphere of a church There ought to be such an atmosphere in every Christian church, that a man going there and sitting two hours should take the contagion of heaven and carry home a fire to kindle the altar whence he came. (H. W. Beecher.)Christian festivity 1. When you ascend from the post-apostolic to the apostolic days, you seem to emerge from a stifled, airless cave, where all manner of fungous growths luxuriate, into the open field, where fresh breezes play and sunbeams glitter and dew-besprinkled flowers shed their varied perfume on the air. In the Acts you find not only a purer religion but more of common sense and manliness than in the history of the fathers. 2. We make a great mistake if, while we seek in the Scriptures and by prayer for direction in matters of faith and in the larger turning-points of life, we leave smaller affairs, such as our feasts, to the arbitrament of chance or the example of the world. “ In everything by prayer and supplication,” etc. Only on the great things may the stranger approach the king, but in everything is the appeal of the child welcome to the Father. The disciples did eat their bread-- I. With gladness.1. A preliminary to this was a liberal contribution to their poorer brethren--a necessary ingredient in all glad Christian festivity. 2. These ancient Christians were not hermits, they enjoyed their food all the more by enjoying it together. The sight of a friend’ s face, and the sound of his voice while we eat, are as good gifts of God as food. A convivial meeting is an object of dread to Christian parents, but it is not in itself evil: in as far as it retains its etymological meaning--eating together--it is good. 3. A good reason for eating with gladness is that we have something to eat, and a self-acting machinery which reminds us when nourishment is needed, and compels us to take it at the proper time. 4. In the case of a Christian the Giver of food is recognised, and therefore he has more gladness than other men. II. With singleness of heart, as well as gladness, and that without which gladness soon disappears. “ A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Simplicity is destroyed and gladness lost--1. By burdensome and irrational luxury. The cares of the meal are sometimes as heavy as the management of the estate. Instead of singleness, doubleness of a very troublesome type is the occupant of the heart. One half of the mental vision squints aside to calculate the estimation in which the elaborate festival is held by the guests. Simplicity may be marred, too, by the cost of the entertainment; and some approach to it might both replenish the coffers of charitable institutions and facilitate the settlement of tradesmen’ s bills. The Christian should “ add to his faith courage” here. 2. By immoderately late hours. To turn night into day is not simplicity, and cannot promote gladness. It is like the opinion within lunatic asylums that people should lie in bed while the sun shines, and be active under gaslight during the night. What would you think of the gardener who should cover your greenhouse till noon, and make up for the deficiency of light by burning lamps beside the flowers till midnight. Treat yourselves as you treat your gardens. Young men and women would be more like the lilies in freshness and beauty if they considered and imitated them. 3. The free use and vile abuse of intoxicating drinks. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The bright side of life There are two sides to every street and to every life--the bright and the dark. The man who deliberately chooses the latter must look to himself for companionship, but the man who elects the former will not lack society. The double attraction of his circumstances and his example will prove irresistible.2. The bright side exists not only in spacious avenues fringed with lordly mansions, but in narrow lanes flanked by lowly cottages. The cheerful Christian draws satisfaction from, and shows it in, not only life’ s great occasions, but in life’ s commonplace acts. You can form no judgment of the spirit of a man when he is being united to his bride, when successful in business, or when on a holiday. Watch him at the table, or in some ordinary duty, and you will be able most accurately to gauge his character. I. The bright side of life is illumined by a triple light.1. Gladness. We like to see a man--particularly if he be a guest--thoroughly enjoy his meal. To see him daintily picking over half of it, and sending the other half untasted away, grieves the generous host, and excites commiseration for the man who cannot relish wholesome food. The illustration may be expanded so as to embrace the whole of life. The good workman is glad with his work and glad to do it. There is no gladness for a good mother like that excited by and indulged in home and children. And for the good Christian perfect gladness is only to be found in the blessed work that God has given him to do. But insipidity or disagreeableness in any of these relations is invariably attended by poor if not bad effects. 2. Singleness of heart--a word only occurring here in the New Testament--means soil from which all stones are cleared; and hence even and smooth, presenting no obstacle to the object passing over it. So these good people did not wait till conscience thundered that while they were feasting others were starving. Nor had they to clear away a number of prudential considerations, and make a number of troublesome calculations before their beneficence could find free play. All hindrances were already swept away by the fresh vigorous tide of charity which resulted from the copious baptism of the Holy Ghost. Surely this singleness of mind is wanted everywhere. What trouble is caused by anxious thought about the future at home and in the market place. What energies are paralysed when the thought of interest is allowed to mingle with the single thought of duty. How many Christians are kept back from joyous Christian service by allowing the disturbing thought of what other people will think or feel to upset the simple conviction that God’ s will ought to be done. Get these thoughts swept out of the mind by the power of the Spirit, and then let the current of activity flow straight forward, and life will be bright. Otherwise it will be gloomy-a mixture of light and darkness--or hopelessly dark. 3. Thankfulness. He was a happy man who wrote that 103rd Psalm. The unthankful man is never happy, and cannot be. Selfishness and discontent kill all joy. II. The bright side is the attractive side. The disciples had “ favour with all the people, and the Lord added to the Church.” Thus God blesses those who walk on the bright side, and gives them their heart’ s desire, which is success--the gathering to themselves of a like-minded company. Religious increase is brought about in two conceivable ways--by compulsion and by attraction. The first produces hypocrites, the second only true Christians. It is only when Christians win favour that God adds. Apply this to--1. Families. How many children have simulated godliness when forced upon them only to cast it away with disgust when the time of independence comes; but how many have risen up to call God blessed by the winsome piety they have seen at home. 2. Society. The estimate which worldly men and women form of religion is derived from what they see of professing Christians. And, alas! much of it is wholly and naturally unfavourable. The time has come to re-try the Pentecostal experiment; not in form but in spirit, a spirit that shall work through established social usages--showing how a Christian can comport himself joyously everywhere, and society will not long remain unchristianised. 3. The Church. So-called Christianity has tried force, indifference, and means calculated only to repel. Let Christians try that which will have favour with the people, use means in the best sense popular, and watch the result. (J. W. Burn.)Gladness and singleness of heart.--Gladness of heart springs from singleness of heart They were glad at heart because they were single in heart. Their hearts were not divided between God, or Christ, and the world, and, being wholly the Lord’ s, they rejoiced in the Lord. I. Their gladness was the effect of their singleness of heart towards God, towards God in Christ, whom they called Lord and God, and into whose name they had been baptized for forgiveness of sins, with the promise of receiving from Him, if they repented, the gift or baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was the proper fruit, that is to say, of that awful fear of God, tempered and softened by filial confidence and grateful love, which we see characterised in the context as the habitual frame of mind in which these primitive disciples walked with God, in the exercise of living faith in Jesus Christ. In proportion as they knew God, or knew the gospel of Christ, they saw that He was all in all, that of Him, and through Him, and to Him were all things. They connected all things, little and great, with God. All things were thus to them full of God, and since they rejoiced in God, full of the joy of God. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people.At once godly and popular I. Piety. “ Praising God.” Behold the natural history of regeneration. Those who are bought with a price are constrained to glorify God. Thanksgiving is a constituent element of prayer without which it is ineffectual. In the case of these converts as in the case of Israel redeemed from Egypt it was spontaneous, and could not be restrained. The gratitude that comes through prompting is not gratitude. II. Popularity. “ Having favour,” etc. In the first stage of their progress these converts were not persecuted. Two opposite experiences alternate in the history of the Church: sometimes the world admires and sometimes reviles. This is necessary. If godliness were always to obtain the favour of the world, counterfeits would spring up; if it were always to bring down the world’ s enmity, the spark of Divine truth in humanity would be quenched. God holds the balance, and permits as much of the wrath of man as suffices to praise Himself and purge the Church, and then He restrains the remainder. This method, as exemplified in history, we see to be the best. When a spark is imbedded in the flax, and it begins to smoke, a blast would blow it out, and therefore the blast is restrained. But after the fire has fairly caught, the blast will spread the flame, and therefore it is permitted to blow. III. Increase.1. The Lord added them, and yet they added themselves. The Good Shepherd carried the sheep home, but the prodigal walked home. The two are one showing the Divine and human sides of the same transaction. At one place the saved are “ Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord”’ , at another they are “ As many as the Lord shall call.” When I know myself to be like a withered leaf that flows to a sea of perdition, it is sweet to think that help is laid on One that is mighty, and to hope that the Lord adds me to His Church. My comfort arises from the fact not that I hold Him, but that He holds me. But woe to the man who with no liking for God’ s presence or the company of His people dares to comfort himself that he has no power till God puts forth His strength. The Lord is now ready to do it, if you are willing that it should be done. 2. Every day some were added. There is no blank in the birth registers of God’ s family. The Lamb’ s Book of Life has a page for every day, and names on every page, although some pages are more crowded than others. 3. He added the saved to the Church: added them in the act of saving, saved in the act of adding. He does not add a withered branch to the vine; but in the act of inserting it makes the withered branch live. When pure water is drawn from the salt sea, it is added to the clouds in heaven. It is thus that the Lord adds the saved to the Church, winning them from a sea of wickedness and leaving their bitterness behind. (W. Arnot, D. D.)And the Lord added to the Church such as should be saved.-- The relation of the Church to the individual I. It seems almost inevitable that all believing men will as a matter of course associate themselves with the Church.1. This is prompted by the very nature and fitness of things. (1) It is the moral duty of every individual to give society an account of his convictions. No man is perfectly sincere to his fellows except as his whole life--his thoughts as well as his conduct--is open to their inspection. Respect for his fellow-men, himself and his God alike demand this. Therefore not to do this in matters of religious conviction is to withhold from society that to which it has a moral claim, for religious belief lies at the foundation of all moral conduct; and therefore of all social confidence. To profess to belong to society, and yet conceal our religious principles is a moral fraud. (2) An evasion of religious profession does as much wrong to the spiritual life of the believer as it does to the community. He does as much violence to his spiritual nature as he would to his social nature were he to become a recluse. Such separation renders the development of one’ s entire nature impossible--social instincts, sympathies and capabilities. And just as the domestic feeling finds development in the family, the mercantile in the company, the political in the club, so the religious feeling finds its proper development in the Church. Standing aloof, therefore, our personal piety must suffer, wanting that mutual encouragement and help that it requires. For the Church is “ the garden of the Lord” --the place of rapid and healthy growth. “ They that be planted in the house of the Lord,” etc. Standing aloof from our fellow Christians, moreover, there is a large class of holy and beautiful feelings that are never called into exercise. It is as if the members of a family were to live separate--the tie of relationship would be the same, and the affection might be in their hearts, but it would find but imperfect expression in the life. (3) Church association is, moreover, needful for the advantageous application of spiritual power. The units are added into one sum; the drops collected into one stream; the strands twisted into one cable; the parts “ fitly framed together” into one potent engine. What separated believers cannot do the Church easily can. For other purposes, the advancement of literature, science, commerce, etc., men spontaneously unite, and so should believers in the work of God. For each Christian to do “ what is right in his own eyes” is as if soldiers were to disperse themselves through a country for the purpose of subduing it. (4) One prime part of the practical expression of religious principle is in public worship. God will have His people render Him sanctuary service--the chief way in which the “ profession of Christ” is to be made. We might be pious without it, but our piety would be to ourselves, not to the world. 2. This natural necessity of the Church is further insisted upon in the New Testament. The injunctions of Christ and His apostles are not mere arbitrary directions, but recognitions of our spiritual nature. We have passages-- (1) Recognising the Church as a legitimate fact. “ Tell it to the Church,” “ They assembled with the Church,” etc. (2) Of injunction, expostulation and promise. “ Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves,” “ These be they who separate themselves,” “ Where two or three are gathered in My name.” (3) Where the necessity of professing Christ (of which Church membership is the chief way) is insisted on. We are to “ come out and be separate,” to “ confess the name of the Lord Jesus.” So imperative was this that the early Christians submitted to persecution for the maintenance of it. Half the martyrdoms of the Church might have been avoided had Christians been content with an isolated religion. And the great solicitude of the apostle in writing to persecuted believers is that they should “ hold fast their profession without wavering.” II. What does the Church require of the individual as a condition of its communion? Verse 42 embodies the natural principles of associated Christian life, and St. Luke distinctly traces the passage of the individual to the social Christian life. Membership with Christ first, then membership with His Church. All social life is made up of individual lives--each member enters as an individual not to receive life from it, but to add life to it. The spiritual life of the Church, therefore, is the sum of individual lives. In none of our relationships can we lose our individuality. As individuals we are born, live, die, and give account of ourselves to God. Of the individual, therefore, the Church may require--1. Moral conversion. A purely spiritual society can admit none but spiritual members; and can include none that are unregenerate. Of course the Church has not omniscience, but it is bound to exercise the most vigilant jealousy. And it cannot receive a more deadly injury than an unsanctified member. A society is worth no more than it possesses of the quality for which it exists. A scientific society, whatever other qualities its members may have, is worth no more, as such, than it has science. And so the Church is worth no more than the spiritual life that is in it. Wealth, intellect, energy, are of incalculable value, if their possessor bring spiritual life also, but they are a curse if he do not. Hence the Church is invested with the power of discipline, like all social bodies, and therefore St. Paul censured the Corinthian Church for not excommunicating the incestuous person. Christian churches must be churches of Christians. 2. Intellectual agreement with its distinctive ecclesiastical principles. An Episcopalian, e.g., cannot and ought not to be allowed to take part in a Congregational administration. His membership would involve either a tacit denial of principle on his part or an exposure to constant embarrassment on the part of the Church. While we welcome him to all our spiritual privileges, we must deny him participation in our government. 3. Active and cordial co-operation in religious functions--participation in worship, communion and service. Every member, therefore, enters into a moral contract with the Church, and as far as he holds aloof is as dishonest as a mercantile servant who absents himself from his occupation. Of course we claim no legal hold, and can use no compulsion, and would not if we could. But these are the lowest constraints, and Christianity refuses to employ them. But if you will not discharge its duties the Church has a right to ask you to withdraw from a fellowship to whose enjoyment and efficacy you add nothing. III. The claim of the individual in the Church. He may expect not the extinction on the part of its members of social rank, nor the sacrifice of individual claims. Membership warrants no rude familiarity, establishes no social equality. But Church members, though not one in rank or wealth, are yet one in Christ, and each in his spiritual and temporal need may expect such help as Christian brotherhood may prompt in his sorrows, brotherly interest and sympathy; in his assaults or perils, brotherly assistance and rescue; all that is involved in the great law, that we “ love one another.” (H. Allon, D. D.)Graduality and divinity of human salvation Dean Alford’ s version of the words is, “ The Lord added to their number day by day them that were in the way of salvation.” Dr. Samuel Davidson’ s version we think better: “ The Lord was adding to the Church daily those who were being saved.” The authors of the New Testament Revised Version have adopted Dr. Samuel Davidson’ s translation, and read, “ the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved.” Not those that had been saved, or those who would be saved, but those who were being saved. The words in their connection teach two great facts in relation to man’ s salvation. I. It is gradual in its process. The popular impression is that this great event is instantaneous. But the nature of the work and the testimony of the Scriptures give no sanction to such an impression. Consider--1. The nature of the work. Salvation may be said to involve a twofold change. (1) A change in condition. The soul is represented as lost, it has lost its normal condition and its original character. We say that a thing is lost when it has failed to realise the object for which it was produced. Thus a chronometer is lost when it becomes incapable of keeping time; a vessel is lost when it is unfit any more to plough the ocean; a family portrait is lost when all the lineaments are so discoloured or defaced as to be incapable of giving any faithful idea of the subject. In this sense the soul is lost; it does not answer the end of its existence. It involves-- (2) A change in character. We often say of a man when his character is gone that he is lost. Whether you consider salvation as consisting in the restoration of a lost condition, or a lost character, graduality is implied. The chronometer cannot be restored at once, nor can the unseaworthy vessel be repaired at once. Skilful and persistent effort in all cases of restoration is required. It is so with the soul. The rebellious does not become obedient at once, the malign benevolent at once, the selfish generous at once. The same in relation to character. Character is not something formed at once. Character is made up of habits, and habits are made up of numerously repeated actions. Consider-- 2. The testimony of the Scriptures. “ Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” “ With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” “ Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” “ Kept through faith unto salvation.” “ Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” “ He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.” The various figures employed to represent the Christian life indicate the same graduality. It is a building, a planting, a race, a fight, etc. II. It is effected by God through the instrumentality of preaching. It is said, “ The Lord added.” He did it, but how? Everywhere in nature He works by means. This is the means by which God effects human salvation. Christ is the Gospel, and the gospel preached is Christ exhibited. Conclusion:1. Infer not from this that salvation does not imply a crisis. There is a point when everything begins. There is a point when the dead seed receives the first touch of life. The heavy clouds charged with electricity reach a point when they flash into flame and break into thunder. There is a point in disease when it either becomes incurable or yields to a restorative touch, and we say the disease has taken a turn. It is so with the salvation of the soul. Conversion is a turn. But the mere turn is not salvation; the starting point is not the goal; incipient germination is not fruitage. The mariner may turn his barque from the direction of a northern port to a southern port, and yet the southern port he may never reach. 2. Infer not from this that other elements apart from the gospel may not contribute to human salvation. Wholesome literature, philosophic truths, scientific facts, and rational speculations we disparage not these, they may render important service, but they cannot do the work of the gospel, they cannot save souls. Put the best seed into the best soil, let the choicest showers come down upon it, and the most genial airs breathe about it. It will never spring to life without something else, they are useless without the sun. Add to them the sun, and the work is done. Add to all the elements of nature the sun, and it will start majestic forests on the barren hills. So with the gospel. Add to all other truths, natural and moral, the gospel, and they will render service, but not otherwise. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Additions to the Church I. What about them?1. It was the custom in the earliest times for persons who had been converted to Christ to join themselves with the Church. From that fact, I feel persuaded that-- (1) They did not conceal their convictions. It is a strong temptation with many to say, “ I have believed in Jesus, but that is a matter between God and my own soul. Can I not go quietly to heaven and be a Nicodemus, or a Joseph of Arimathea?” Yes; but that is a different thing from being cowardly and ashamed of Christ. We shall not object to your being a Nicodemus if you will carry spices to the grave of Jesus, or beg His body. Neither of these two brethren were cowardly after the Cross had been set up, nor ashamed to identify themselves with Christ crucified. Follow them, not in the infancy of their love, but in its maturer days. The promise of the gospel is “ He that with his heart believeth, and with his mouth maketh confession of Him, shall be saved.” (2) They did not try to go to heaven alone. There has been a great deal said about being simply a Christian and not joining any particular church. But these people joined the Church at once. I daresay that, had they criticised the Church, they would have found faults in her, certainly within a few weeks great faults had to be remedied; but these converts felt that the society at Jerusalem was the Church of Christ, and, therefore, they joined it. If you wait for a perfect Church, you must wait until you get to heaven; and even if you could find one they would not admit you, for you are not perfect yourself. Find out those people who are nearest to the Scriptures, and then cast in your lot with them. If it would be right for you to remain out of Church fellowship, it must be right for every other believer, and then there would be no visible Church at all. 2. The persons who were received at Pentecost were added to the Church by the Lord. Does anybody else ever add to the Church? Oh, yes, the devil. Who was it that added Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus, and Demas? Who was it that stole forth by night and sowed tares among the wheat? Moreover, the Church itself cannot avoid adding some who should not be received. Mr. Hill met a man who hiccuped up to him and said, “ How do you do, Mr. Hill? I am one of your converts.” “ Yes,” said Rowland, “ I should say you are, but you are none of God’ s, or else you would not be drunk.” Converts of that sort are far too numerous--converts of the preacher, of friends, or of a certain fashion of making profession, but not true-born children of the Lord. 3. Additions to the Church of a right kind are described as “ those who were being saved.” Those in whom the work of salvation is really begun are the proper candidates, and these are spoken of in verse 44 as “ believers.” So let the question go round--Am I saved? Have I believed in Jesus? If I have, the process of salvation within me is going on, I am being delivered from the reigning power of sin each day; I am being kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, and I shall be kept and presented at last spotless before the presence of God with exceeding joy. We set the door wide open to all who are saved, however little their faith may be. 4. Such were really “ added.” I am afraid certain persons’ names are added, but not themselves. They are added like figures on a slate, but they do not augment our strength. If you want to add to a tree you cannot take a dead bough and tie it on; that is not adding to it, but incumbering it. To add to a tree there must be grafting done. A true Church is a living thing, and only living men and women are fit to be grafted into it, and the grafting must be made by the Lord. Some members are only tied on to the Church, and they are neither use nor ornament. When I see disunion and disaffection among: Church members, I can well understand that the Lord never added them; but it would be a great mercy to the Church if the Lord would take them away. 5. There were additions to the Church every day. Some churches, if they have an addition once in twelve months make as much noise over that one as a hen does when she has laid an egg. Now, in the early Church they would not have been contented with that. II. Under what conditions may we expect them on a large scale? Turn to the chapter and we shall have our answer. We may expect additions to every church of God on a large scale--1. When she has a Holy Ghost ministry. Peter was no doubt a man of considerable natural abilities, and just such a man as would have power over his fellow-men; but for all this Peter had never seen three thousand persons converted until he had been baptized with the Holy Ghost. I fear that many churches would not be content with a ministry whose power would lie solely in the Holy Spirit. They judge a minister by his style, or culture. The jingle of rhetoric has more attraction for them than the certain sound of the trumpets of the sanctuary. A Holy Ghost ministry, if Peter be the model, is one which is bold, clear, telling, persuasive, and chooses Jesus for its main theme. He did not speak to them about modern science and the ways of twisting Scripture into agreement with it. He cared nothing for Rabbis or philosophers; but he went right on setting forth Christ crucified and Christ risen. When he had preached Christ, he made a pointed personal appeal to them and said, “ Repent and be baptized, every one of you.” That was the sort of sermon which God blesses. 2. When she is a Holy Ghost Church--a church baptized into His power, and this will be known by being,-- (1) “ Steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine,” etc. (verse 42). (2) United. The Sacred Dove takes His flight when strife comes in. (3) Generous. I do not believe the Lord will ever bless a stingy church. There are churches where more is paid per annum for cleaning the shoes of the worshippers than for the cause of Christ; and where this is the case no great good will be done. (4) Ready to make home a holy place. The converts did not think that religion was meant only for Sundays, and for what men now-a-days call the House of God. Their own houses were houses of God, and their own meals were so mixed and mingled with the Lord’ s supper that to this day the most cautious student of the Bible cannot tell when they left off eating their common meals, and when they began eating the supper of the Lord. No house beneath the sky is more holy than the place where a Christian lives, and there is no worship more heavenly than that which is presented by holy families. To sacrifice home worship to public worship is a most evil course of action. Every truly Christian household is a church, and as such it is competent for the discharge of any function of Divine worship. Are we not all priests? (5) Devout. They did not forget any part of the Lord’ s will.(6) Joyful.(7) Grateful. III. What responsibilities do they bring to us? It is our duty--1. To welcome them heartily. 2. After welcoming them we must watch over them. Of course no pastor is equal to this alone. Let the watching be done by the officers of the church first, and then by every individual. 3. Setting them a good example. 4. Giving them work to do. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The saved added to the Church I. What is meant by the church? The English is from the Greek kuriake; but the word here is ecclesia used in the New Testament sometimes for--1. The place where the disciples met to worship God (1 Corinthians 11:22). 2. The assembly met together to worship God. Any particular congregation of saints (Colossians 4:15; Romans 16:3; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19). If the apostle had meant their private family he would have expressed it so (Romans 16:10-15; 2 Timothy 4:19). He means therefore the congregation usually met in some part of their house consecrated to the service of God. 3. The whole body of saints in any city or country a church: as the Church at Jerusalem (Acts 8:1); Antioch (Acts 13:1); Caesarea (Acts 18:22); Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 1:1). 4. The body collective of all Christians in the world whereof Christ is Head (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:23; Ephesians 5:25). Thus Christ uses the word (Matthew 16:18), and thus it is understood in the Creed and in the text. II. What are the properties of this Church. It is--1. One (1) As having one Head and built on one Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:19-20). (2) As agreeing in one faith (Ephesians 4:5). (3) As led by one Spirit (Ephesians 4:3-4). 2. Holy. (1) Negatively. (a) Not as though there were no unholy persons in it, for Christ compares it to a floor, wheat and chaff (Matthew 3:12); a field, good seed and tares (Matthew 13:24-25; a casting-net, good and bad fishes (Matthew 13:47-48); a house, vessels of honour and dishonour (2 Timothy 2:20). (b) Not as if any were perfectly holy in this world (1 John 1:8). (2) Positively. The Church is holy because-- (a) It calls men to holiness (2 Timothy 1:9). (b) It engages men to holiness (2 Timothy 2:19). (c) In it many are sincerely holy (Titus 2:14). (d) It brings them to a perfect holiness hereafter, when the Church will be all holy (Ephesians 5:26-27). 3. Universal: as-- (1) Spread over all places and ages (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15; Revelation 5:9). (2) Teaching all necessary truths (John 16:13). (3). Enjoining universal obedience, and the exercise of all graces (1 Peter 1:15). III. Such as are saved are brought into the Church by God.1. The Lord brings or adds them to the Church (John 6:44; Acts 16:14). 2. They that are saved are thus brought by the Lord into the Church (Acts 4:12; Acts 16:31). Use 1. Thank God for being brought into the Church (Matthew 11:25).2. Continue in the Church and live up to its doctrine and discipline (Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12). Unless ye do this, it will avail you nothing. If you do you will get to the Church triumphant (Hebrews 12:22). (Bp. Beveridge.)A pure Church an increasing Church The principal alterations in the Revised Version are the omission of “ the Church,” and the substitution of “ were being saved.” The former suggests that at this period the name of “ the Church” had not yet been definitely attached to the infant community, and that the word afterwards crept into the text at a time when ecclesiasticism had become a great deal stronger than it was at the date of the writing of the Acts. The second suggests that salvation is a process going on all through the course of a Christian man’ s life. Notice-- I. The profound conception which the writer had of the present action of the ascended Christ. “ The Lord added,” etc.1. Then the living, ascended Christ was present in, and working with, that little community of believing souls. And the thought of a present Saviour, the life-blood of the Church, and the spring of all its action, runs through the whole of this book. The keynote of it is struck in verse 1, which implies that the Acts is the second treatise, which tells all that Jesus continued to do and teach. It is He, e.g., that sends down the Spirit; whom the dying martyr sees ready to help; who appears to the persecutor on the road to Damascus; who sends Paul to preach in Europe; who stands by the apostle in a vision, and bids him be of good cheer, and go forth upon his work. Thus, at every crisis it is the Lord who is revealed as the ascended but yet ever-present Guide, Protector, anti Rewarder of them that put their trust in Him. So here it is He that adds to the Church. 2. Modern Christianity has far too much lost the vivid impression of this present Christ. We cannot think too much of that Cross by which He has laid the foundation for the salvation of the world; but we may easily so fix our thoughts upon that work which He completed when he said, “ It is finished!” as to forget the continual work which will never be finished until Hie Church is perfected, and the world is redeemed. 3. Notice, the specific action which is here ascribed to Him. He adds to the Church, not we, not our preaching, our fervour, our efforts; these may be the weapons in His hands, bat the hand that wields the weapon gives it all its power. 4. It is His will, His ideal of a Christian Church, that continuously it should be gathering into its fellowship those that are being saved. Does our reality correspond to Christ’ s ideal? If it is not, wherefore? II. Let us see if we can find an answer. Notice how emphatically there is brought out here the attractive power of an earnest and pure church.1. My text is the end of a sentence. What is the beginning? “ All that believed were together,” etc. Suppose this Church bore stamped upon it, plain and deep as the broad arrow of the king, those characteristics--fraternal unity, unselfish unworldliness, unbroken devotion, gladness, and transparent simplicity of life and heart--do you not think that the Lord would add to you daily such as should be saved? Wherever men are held together by a living Christ, and manifest in their lives the features of that Christ, there will be drawn to them--by the gravitation which is natural in the supernatural realm--souls that have been touched by the grace of the Lord, and souls to whom that grace has been brought the nearer by looking upon them. Wheresoever there is inward vigour of life there will be outward growth. Historically, it has always been the case that in God’ s Church seasons of expansion have followed upon seasons of deepened spiritual life on the part of His people. 2. And just in like manner as such a community will draw to it men who are like-minded, so it will repel from it all formalists. And I come to you with this appeal: Do you see to it that this community be such as that half-dead Christians will never think of coming near us, and those whose religion is tepid will be repelled from us, but they who love the Lord Jesus Christ with earnest devotion shall recognise in us men like-minded, and from whom they may draw help. 3. Now, if all this be true, it is possible for worldly and stagnant communities to thwart Christ’ s purpose. It is a solemn thing to feel that we may clog Christ’ s chariot-wheels, that there maybe so little spiritual life in us, that He dare not entrust us with the responsibility of guarding and keeping the young converts whom He loves and tends. Depend upon it that, far more than my preaching, your lives will determine the expansion of this Church. And if my preaching is pulling one way and your lives the other, and I have half an hour a week for talk and you have seven days for contradictory life, which of the two do you think is likely to win in the tug? And remember that just as a bit of sealing-wax, if you rub it on your sleeve and so warm it, develops an attractive power, the Church which is warmed will draw many to itself. III. The definition given here of the class of persons gathered into the community.1. In the New Testament salvation is represented-- (1) As past, in so far as the first exercise of faith in Jesus Christ the whole subsequent development is involved, and the process of salvation has its beginning then, when a man turns to God. (2) As present, in so far as the joy of deliverance from evil and possession of good, which is God, is realised day by day. (3) As future, in so far as all the imperfect possession of salvation prophesies its perfecting in heaven. But all these three points of view may be merged into this one of my text, which speaks of every saint on earth, from the infantile to the most mature, as standing in the same row, though at different points; walking on the same road, though advanced different distances; all participant of the same process of “ being saved.” 2. The Christian salvation, then, is a process begun at conversion, carried on progressively through the life, and reaching its climax in another state. Day by day, through the spring and the early summer, the sun is longer in the sky, and rises higher in the heavens. And the path of the Christian is as the shining light. Last year’ s greenwood is this year’ s hardwood; and the Christian, in like manner, has to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Saviour. So these progressively and, therefore, as yet imperfectly saved people, were gathered into the Church. 3. Now if that be the description of the kind of folk that come into a Christian Church, the duties of that Church are very plainly marked-- (1) To see that the community help the growth of its members. There are Christian Churches into which, if a young plant is brought, it is pretty sure to be killed. The temperature is so low that the tender shoots are burned as with frost, and die. I have seen people coming all full of fervour and of faith, into Christian congregations, and finding that the average round about them was so much lower than their own, they have cooled down after a bit to the fashionable temperature, and grown indifferent like their brethren. (2) And if any hold aloof from Christian fellowship for more or less sufficient reasons, let me press upon them, that if they are conscious of however imperfect a possession of that incipient salvation, their place is thereby determined, and they are doing wrong if they do not connect themselves with some Christian communion, and stand forth as members of Christ’ s Church. Conclusion: Salvation is a process. The opposite thing is a process too. “ The preaching of the Cross is to them who are in the act of perishing, foolishness; unto us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” These two processes start, as it were, from the same point, one by slow degrees and almost imperceptible motion, rising higher and higher, the other by slow degrees and almost unconscious descent, sliding steadily and fatally downward ever further and further. And in each of us one or other of these processes is going on. Either you are slowly rising or you are slipping down. No man becomes a devil all at once, and no man becomes an angel all at once. Trust yourself to Christ, and He will lift you to Himself; turn your back upon Him, and you will settle down, down, down, until you are lost for ever. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Church membership not the measure of Christianity It is a joy to me to know that the Christians within the communion of this church are not all the Christians to be found in the congregation. We are richer than we appear to be. Here are growing pear-trees, apple-trees, cherry-trees, and shrubs, and blossoming vines, and flowers of every hue and odour; but I am glad that some seeds have blown over the wall, and that fruit-trees and flowers most pleasant to the eye are springing up there also. And though I wish they were within the enclosure, where the boar out of the wood could not waste them, and the wild beast of the field devour them, yet I love them, and am glad to see them growing there. (H. W. Beecher.)Church membership does not ensure final salvation Many men seem to think that religion consists of buying a ticket at the little ticket-office of conversion. They conclude that they will make the voyage to heaven. They understand that a man must be convicted and converted, and join the Church; and, when they have done that, they think they have a ticket, which, under ordinary circumstances, will carry them through. Their salvation is not altogether sure. A man may be cast away upon a voyage. But still they say, “ I have got my ticket, and, if no accident occur, it will carry me to my destination safely; and all I have to do is to have patience and faith.” And they are like a man that is riding in the cars, who, every time the conductor comes around, shows his ticket. They say, “ I was awakened, I saw that I was a sinner, and trusted my soul in the hands of Christ.” Yes: you have trusted it there, and there you have left it ever since you were converted. Are there not hundreds and thousands who are living in just the same way? (H. W. Beecher.)Success I. Divine in its source. “ The Lord.”1. It was instrumentally Divine. Through the labours of the good.2. It was voluntarily Divine. Omnipotence did not coerce.3. It was beneficently Divine. None deserved to be influenced.4. It was impartially Divine. No respect of persons.5. It was unostentatiously Divine. The virtual energy and blessing came from the Lord, but He was hidden in the instrument:6. It was mediatorially Divine. “ The Lord” --Christ, operating not as Creator, but Redeemer. II. Social in its form. “ To the Church.” This implies--1. Separation from the world. New maxims, motives, aspirations, activities.2. Public profession of attachment to Christ.3. Supreme sympathy with, and love to, the associated friends of the Saviour. Like draws to like.4. Co-operation with advocates of organized Christianity. III. Constant in its occurrence. “ Daily.”1. Repeatedness.2. Gradualness.3. Continuity.4. Accumulativeness. Each day added to the advance of the others. IV. Redemptive in its blessings. “ Such as should be saved.”1. Saved from sin and its contaminations.2. Saved by the Spirit through the blood of Christ.3. Saved for a life of holiness and usefulness.4. Saved unto eternal gains. Rest, victory, purity, fellowship, happiness. (B. D. Johns.)Church membership: its importance An old sea-captain was riding in the cars towards Philadelphia, and a young man sat down beside him. He said, “ Young man, where are you going?” “ I am going to Philadelphia to live,” replied the young man. “ Have you letters of introduction?” asked the old captain. “ Yes,” said the young man, and he pulled some of them out. “ Well,” said the old sea-captain, “ haven’ t you a church certificate” “ Oh, yes,” replied the young man, “ I didn’ t suppose you would want to look at that.” “ Yes,” said the sea-captain, “ I want to see that. As soon as you get to Philadelphia, present that to some Christian Church. I am an old sailor, and I have been up and down in the world, and it’ s my rule, as soon as I get into port, to fasten my ship fore and aft to the wharf, although it may cost a little wharfage, rather than have my ship out in the stream, floating hither and thither with the tide.” (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.).Converts should join the Church At first Oliver Cromwell’ s Ironsides were dressed anyhow and everyhow; but in the melee with the Cavaliers it some-times happened that an Ironside was struck down by mistake by the sword of one of his own brethren, and so the general said, “ You wear red coats, all of you. We must know our own men from the enemy.” What Cromwell said he meant, and they had to come in their red coats, for it was found essential in warfare that men should be known by some kind of regimental. Now, you that are Christ’ s, do not go about as if you were ashamed of His Majesty’ s service. Put on your red coats: I mean come out as acknowledged Christians. Unite with a body of Christian people, and be distinctly known to be Christ’ s. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Church membership: its value to the young Griffith John, the celebrated missionary to China, was admitted to Church-membership at the exceedingly early age of eight. His testimony is, “ Had I not taken that step then, I doubt whether I should ever have been a missionary, if a member of a Christian Church at all.” (J. Morley Wright.)Church members: wrong and right sort of Now, many people go to church as a rich man goes to an hotel. He has his big boxes, his trunks, his wife, his children, and plenty of money, and he wants to find commodious apartments. Many people think that if they have clothes, and a good supply of money, and are well-appearing and good-paying boarders in the hotel of the Church, they are just the kind that we want. We do not want any such folks. We have too many of them already! This, in respect to a man’ s qualifications for entering the Church, falsifies the fundamental idea of Christianity; for we look upon men, and know that they are fallible, imperfect, and that by the force of evil passions from within, and the pressure of temptations from without, imperfection has wrought itself into sins in innumerable instances. (H. W. Beecher.). Acts 3:1-11 Now Peter and John. Peter and John The union of the two brings the narratives of the Gospels into an interesting connection with the Acts. They were probably about the same age (the idea that Peter was some years older than John rests mainly on the pictures which artists have drawn from their imagination, and has no evidence in Scripture), and had been friends from their youth upward. They had been partners as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee (Luke 5:10). They had been sharers in looking for the consolation of Israel, and had together received the baptism of John (John 1:41). John and Andrew had striven which should be the first to tell Peter that they had found the Christ (John 1:41). The two had been sent together to prepare for the Passover (Luke 22:8). John takes Peter into the palace of the high priest (John 18:16), and though he must have witnessed his denials, is not estranged from him. It is to John that Peter turns for comfort after his fall, and with him he comes to the sepulchre on the morning of the resurrection (John 20:6). The eager affection which, now more strongly than ever, bound the two together is seen in Peter’ s question, “ Lord, and what shall this man do?” (John 21:21); and now they are again sharers in action and in heart, in teaching and in worship. Passing rivalries there may have been, disputes which was the greatest, prayers for places on the right hand and the left (Matthew 20:20; Mark 10:35); but the idea maintained by Renan, that St. John wrote his Gospel to exalt himself at the expense of Peter, must take its place among the delirantium somnia; the morbid imaginations, of inventive interpretation. They appear in company again in the mission to Samaria (Romans 8:14), and in recognising the work that had been done by Paul and Barnabas among the Gentiles (Galatians 2:9). When it was that they parted never to meet again, we have no record. (Dean Plumptre.)Peter and John In natural disposition, Peter and John did not very exactly correspond with each other; but diamond polishes diamond, and these two precious stones may have advantageously polished each other. (Rieger.)Went up together into the temple.-- Public worship The Christian has to regard this-- I. Negatively.1. Not as a legal yoke.2. Not as a meritorious work. II. Positively.1. AS a good and useful discipline.2. As a thankworthy opportunity for increase in goodness. (Lechler.)Love for worship “ I have in my congregation,” said a minister of the gospel, “ a worthy aged woman, who has for many years been so deaf as not to distinguish the loudest sound; and yet she is always one of the first in the meeting. On asking the reason of her constant attendance, as it was impossible for her to hear my voice, she answered, ‘ Though I cannot hear you, I come to God’ s house because I love it, and would be found in His ways; and He gives me many a sweet thought upon the text when it is pointed out to me: another reason is, because I am in the best company, in the most immediate presence of God, and among His saints, the honourable of the earth. I am not satisfied with serving God in private: it is my duty and privilege to honour Him regularly and constantly in public.’” We should have set places for the worship of God The song-birds in our fields have a chosen branch on which they continually perch for their morning and evening songs. In time of encampment Washington reserved to himself a thicket where he could pray undisturbed. Bishop Leighton frequented a grove in a public park which was at last left to him as his own property. In the story of “ The Path to the Bush” is an account of the beaten track through the forest to the praying huts of the native converts, and the faithful girl hinting to her sister that “ the grass grew on her path.” The house of God A new student had come to the university and called to see Professor Tholuck. The latter asked him where he went to church. “ Oh,” said he, “ I do not attend preaching. Instead of confining myself to the four walls of a building I go out into the green fields, and under the lofty arches of the forest trees I listen to the singing of the birds and the countless melodies of God’ s creatures, where everything that hath breath praises the Lord.” Then the professor asked him, “ But what do you do when it rains?” Conformity to God’ s plan is best. Why do Christians go to church Is it chiefly in order that they may give or receive, through the services and their own part in them? These questions would be answered very differently by different persons. Some go, out of a glad and grateful heart, to show and to express their gratitude to God, and to bear a part in His public worship. Others go in order to gain some personal advantage through what they see and hear and feel while there. The one sort are pretty sure to accomplish what they go for. They swell the service of prayer and praise, and by their countenance and evident appreciativeness they cheer the heart of the preacher, and give added force to his preaching. The other sort often find their church-going a failure. The singing is not what they hoped for; the prayers fail to meet their wants; the Bible selections are poorly timed to their requirements; and as to the sermon, “ it does not feed their souls. It is a great pity that there are comparatively so few of the first class of Christian worshippers, and that there are so many of the second class. And it is a noteworthy fact that those who go to church to do what they can to make the church service a success, grow steadily in character and in intellectual power; while those who go there with a chief desire to be the personal gainers by their going, shrink and dwindle in their personality. The poorest specimens of church-goers are those who are constantly complaining that the preaching “ does not feed” them. Hearers of that sort are like Pharaoh’ s lean kine; the more they swallow the leaner they look. In this sphere, as well as in every other, the words of our Lord Jesus are true, that “ it is more blessed to give than to receive.” (H. C. Trumbll, D. D.)At the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.-- Hours of prayer The ninth hour was 3 p.m., the hour of the evening sacrifice (Jos. Ant. 14.4, § 3). The traditions of later Judaism had fixed the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours of each day as times for private prayer. Daniel’ s practice of praying three times a day seems to imply a rule of the same kind, and Psalms 55:17 carries the practice up to the time of David. “ Seven times a day” was, perhaps, the rule of those who aimed at a life of higher devotion (Psalms 119:164). Both practices passed into the usage of the Christian Church certainly as early as the second century, and probably therefore in the first. The three hours were observed by many at Alexandria in the time of Clement (Strom. 7. p. 722). The seven became the “ canonical hours” of Western Christendom, the term first appearing in the rule of St. Benedict (ob. a.d. 542)and being used by Bede (a.d. 701). (Dean Plumptre.)The proper hour of worship Rowland Hill well knew how to seize the best opportunity for reproving culpable habits in his hearers. One of them, who, to his great annoyance, avoided coming to chapel in time for the prayers, and arrived only just soon enough to hear the sermon, complained to him of partiality in a magistrate. He gave him one of his most searching looks, and said with an emphasis and manner peculiar to himself, “ Then why do you not come to public worship in proper time to pray that God would ‘ grant all magistrates grace to execute justice and maintain truth’ ?” The hour of prayer 1. The companions. This first verse reveals, as by a flash-light, the spirit of these companions. Peter and John together. What antipodes 1 Peter, impulsive, bold, energetic, daring; John, meditative, timid, loving, trustful. What ground in nature for fellowship between them? Yet, like Luther and Melanchthon in the crisis of a later age, they were joined in the strength and beauty of a friendship in Christ that gave to each supplemental grace and energy. 2. “ Going up into the temple,” though the vail had been rent and the lesson of the spirituality and universality of worship had been taught them! Peter and John had reverence for sacred places--that reverence which is a mark of depth and spirituality in the religious life. These early disciples did not spurn religious custom, though it was a custom of a decadent Jewish Church. To their devout souls history and sacred associations meant something. Character that is strong has roots. These grow deep and take hold of institutions representing thought and life and history. Luther was loth to leave the old Catholic Church, Romanised and corrupt as it was. Wesley always clung to the Church of England. Superstition you may call this clinging to the venerable and historic. Well, if the choice is between irreverence and superstition, give me superstition. Irreverence weakens conscience and blunts the spiritual edge of character. Superstition, as the devout Neander has well said, often paves the way to faith. God’ s plan was not to obliterate Judaism at a stroke, but to transform it. 3. “ At the hour of prayer” went these devout men. But what need had they for prayer, just fresh from the open revelation and spiritual excitement of Pentecost? By this act they teach that prayer is apostolic; that special seasons of illumination and sanctification are a special call to prayer. Though men may not need more fire, yet need they more grace. Religion means daily duty, not occasional ecstasy. “ Suspect any inspiration that makes you contemptuous of ordinary religious duties.” After your Pentecost be found “ going up into the temple at the hour of prayer.” (W. P. Thirkkield.)And a certain man lame from his mother’ s womb was carried.-- Spiritual lameness I turn to the story because it brings before us very vividly the whole problem that lies before you and me; the whole problem that lies before the Church; the whole problem that lies before our Master. When you see that lame man carried daily and laid in all his helplessness at the gate of the temple, you get a very vivid picture of the whole problem. Do not let us gather round this impotent man in a questioning, philosophical way, and ask, “ How did he become so?” Let us not start vain, seemingly wise, but at bottom foolish questions. The real problem is not, How did we come here? Why are we (the grace of God apart) such wretched creatures? Why is there in London and everywhere else such moral and spiritual impotence? Why is there in the East End, and not less in the West End--only it is better dressed and covered up--that which is so powerfully represented by this helpless man, that squirming misery, that loathsomeness, that wretchedness, that godlessness which no power of art or aesthetics can in the least alleviate? With all our culture, with all our philosophy, with all our fine speeches, and all our fine talking, to this hour there is the situation of things: human nature weary, abject, dejected, sick of itself, utterly loathsome, useless, and helpless; and the problem is not as I have said, “ How did he come there?” but “ How is that man to be got up?” not “ How did you fall into the sea?” but “ How are we going to get you out?” Let us turn to this story, then, to see how the great problem that baffles man’ s wisdom and love even at its best, how the great problem is solved by Jesus Christ and by His humble servants in His name, working in immediate contact with an absent and uncrowned Lord. Man or woman here who objects to this description of human nature, disprove what I am saying; rise in the might of your own goodness, rise in the might of your own morality, rise in the strength and dignity of human nature, which you think I am talking against, and display it in this fashion: Walk in your own strength into God’ s presence. Come, you cannot. The more you try it the more you prove you are an impotent man. This man saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, and he asked help. “ And Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, Look on us.” I would we preachers could learn more thoroughly to do after them, for we do not find that the impotent first of all looked at them, but it certainly is strikingly curious that Peter and John fastened their eyes upon him. He saw them. They might have gone past. He looked at them for ordinary help just as he looked at any others, but the point is that Peter and John did not go past that man. They challenged him. Let us challenge the world’ s need. We are blamed--it is the deepest part of the charge against us in newspaper and magazine articles, and there is too much truth in it, and the sting of it lies in its truth--that we are walking past the problem. Peter and John might have been so busily engaged in talking--talking, it may be, about Jesus Christ and the resurrection--that they would have swept past this man. He was not a very attractive sight to look upon, and it would have been very convenient, would it not, for them to have gathered up their garments and swept into the temple past him to engage in the worship of God, and to engage in high and holy converse on the mighty things which were, of course, within their ken? Is there not a good deal of church-going which is just that to-day? Let me ask you point blank, face to face, what is your church-going very often but just that walking past, and turning your blind eye to the squirming wretchedness all around you? When did you put out your hand to alleviate it? When did you utter Christ’ s almighty name over it? Aye, this is far too true, that the worship of God with many of us is a denial of God; it is a useless, blind, formalistic, stupid, heartless thing. It has no power towards God or towards man. It is in ourselves and belonging to ourselves--a mere thing of dress, and of Sunday parading to the temple and home again. And the misery of the East End, and of the fat, well-fed, but still wretched West End, is utterly untouched by our Christianity. Not so with Peter and John. Do we believe after all at bottom the conclusion of the whole matter is this: sin is here not to defeat us, but to be defeated by us, to be changed into life and holiness by the power of Him who sits enthroned above the stars of God, even Jesus Christ. It is time that we did, whether we do or not--more than time. Peter and John fastened their eyes upon him and looked at him. They did not go past him. What a lesson for preachers! There are teachers abroad, let me tell you, who do not want to see you; you are a hard nut for them to crack. Why, when you were better off they could speak to you, and you go to them, but since these hard days have come upon you you have dropped going there. When comfort was needed they were too cold. Now, you are right for the gospel. Christ Jesus is here for the sake of this impotent man, and He has lifted up you and me, if we are lifted up, that we may go and fetch the others who have not been brought yet. This is really the whole scope and purpose of the mighty work which God has done upon you, and I rather fear that you are forgetting it. Think of Peter and John stepping forward there. Try to catch the light in their faces as their eyes burned like twin lamps, when, not only they, but Christ, the loving Saviour, in them and through them, bent down and stretched out a hand and looked into the very despairing soul of that helpless creature. And then let me understand, and let you, O Christian worker, understand how much is needed to be, indeed, in this wretched world a servant of Jesus Christ. Oh, if we are able to bring ourselves and our Christ into naked, palpitating contact, let us do so. Let us stand over the perishing as though we meant to take a two-handed grasp of them, and by our own power to lift them right off the sodden bed on which sin has stretched them. Ah, we need an eye in our head, and a tongue in our mouths, and a hand at the end of our arm which has in it some tingle of everlasting love, and we need a heart working behind all three which has been kindled from the heart of Jesus Christ, who for us men and for our salvation took flesh and died upon the Cross. “ And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.” That is something. The man gave heed. I do not like a man to hide behind his fingers and peep at me. I have not much hope of that. When the audience looks broadly and frankly up into the preacher’ s face things are looking hopeful. “ He gave heed to them.” What followed? “ Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none.” What an inconsequential, disappointing word! What an anti-climax to all that had gone before! “ Silver and gold have I none.” Can you imagine the poor man’ s eyes? All the delight going out of them, and his long face getting still longer and blacker, and perhaps his tongue uttering indignant words, as he might have said, “ Sirs, if you have neither silver nor gold do not add insult to my wretchedness. You might have passed on, and left me unnoticed and unchallenged.” Ay, there are men who just say that to us. I read a book not long ago with a very fine title by a very learned man. I do not question his learning. He just broadly said this--that we preachers can do nothing for this helplessness that is represented here, that we are only talking. They level against us the objection that was levelled against Jesus Christ, when another helpless man was laid at His feet, and instead of curing his physical wretchedness He went first to what was first in importance--his spiritual wretchedness, and said, “ Thy sins be forgiven thee.” It is virtually the same thing still. It is a great blessing for that poor man himself that he was not impressed by it when Peter and John said, “ Silver and gold have I none.” I do not know that we are keeping as faithful to our own wares as Peter and John did. I am not sure that we are not getting to be too much impressed by the thought that what the East End needs is coals and blankets, and boots and shoes, and stockings for itself and its wife and its bairns. But suppose we fed the wretchedness of the East End, and suppose we clothed them; after all, what have we done? At the most and best we have only soothed their passage to the grave. Silver and gold can do much, and far more of the silver and gold that belongs to these who call themselves Christians ought to be spent in this blessed way. But there is an end to the power of silver and gold, and the Church was never better in possession of her true wealth than when she was represented by a couple of penniless fishermen, from the crevices of “ whose hands I am not quite sure that the fish-scales had yet been dried. You who have got silver and gold, who have come to Jesus Christ, come as humbly as you can. Forget your silver and gold. “ Silver and gold have I none.” As I have said, on the surface how disappointing that was! Yet it was well said, and it was better done. “ Such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Now here that poor fellow in a moment, but very truly and also very suddenly, was himself put to solve a very trying problem. Those of us who have been at college know the weary days we spent on what is called summum bonum--“ What is the highest good?” It is not a mere vague question of philosophic schools. It is a very practical question, and that poor man lying there that day had to solve for himself very speedily. Virtually this question was put to him: “ What is the highest good? Is it silver and gold?” And quicker than my tongue can tell it he came to the swift conclusion: “ There is something here that can come to me which is better than anything that silver and gold can do.” Have we got that length? Young fellow, you are toiling, you are trying to reach the summum bonum. Put it philosophically or non-philosophically, that is what we are all trying to do. Now, what is your highest good? Does it not lie in the direction of silver and gold, in the direction of all that is covered by these gilded, these very comprehensive terms, both in their notation and in their denotation? Through the grace and working of God’ s Word and God’ s Spirit--aye, and through the hardships of life--are not some of us beginning to get an insight of what flashed upon that poor man: “ Here is the greatest blessing that I could have, a blessing that I feel I am capable of receiving, a blessing that I feel I greatly need. I have been looking for it in a wrong direction, the world cannot give it.” Those of you who have plenty have said to yourselves, “ Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Thou hast got the summum bonum; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” And you cannot. Silver and gold are utterly failing. They are cheating; God grant that you may find out the cheat in time. Now listen. It is for men and women when they come to that pass that the preacher of the gospel is here. It is not because we are poor preachers; it is because you are poor stuff to preach to. When we get into contact with those who are ripe for spiritual blessing, when they are brought to that condition by the stress and disappointment of life, then the gospel preacher becomes wonderfully eloquent, simply because your ears are getting bored and your heart is getting adapted to the message that is spoken. “ Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee. Having thus spoken, he took him by the right hand.” There must be immediate contact between Christ and you, and, more than that, between the preacher and you. That is one reason why I object to this historical pulpit--just simply because in here a great deal of that magnetism that was present with Peter and John is lost. How Peter stooped down and uttered that mighty name! Never go without uttering that mighty name of Jesus of Nazareth. Peter stooped down to grasp that man by the hand, and I see him yielding to the power of omnipotence. Up he came. Hallelujah! Christ is the power that Peter expected Him to be. Heaven has won, hell is baffled. The tide has begun to turn. From this One learn all. There is One who has power over every form of the enemy’ s malignant triumph as it extends in all its vastness. Do you not see that it needs all that supernatural work to be wrought upon your impotent soul before you can enter into the temple to appear before God in any profitable way to yourself or in any way that will bring praise and glory to His name? Now what do you know about worship? This is the road to the church, this is the way to the temple. This gospel cannot be preached, and no signs following. Peter and John did not stand over that man for half a day, saying, until it became a dull, stale, flat, unprofitable, weary word. “ In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk! Rise up and walk! Rise up and walk” while he lay and lay as helpless and as supine as ever. They risked everything, and they were justified in it. And the times are ripe for us to do the same thing still. Sinner, backslider, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up! (J. McNeil.)A picture of sin and salvation I. Find a picture of the sinner. The external world is a reflex of the spiritual. That lame man crouching at the gate and unable to enter it is a type of the sinner’ s condition.1. He was a cripple, not a sound, complete man. So is every sinner. In him there is a miserable distortion of character. 2. He was a beggar. Sin is want. 3. This man was shut out of the temple. From certain texts in the Old Testament and certain passages in old Jewish writings the inference has been drawn that deformed people were not allowed to enter the temple. Though it is not certain, such was probably the Jewish law. Such is every sinner’ s condition. He is not merely outside the visible church, but he has no part in the spiritual fellowship of God’ s people. II. Find also as a contrast to the above a picture of the disciples. There are two men standing before the lame man. They show us the privilege of Christ’ s followers.1. They have fellowship with each other. Notice how close was the intimacy between Peter and John, and how often they are named together. They were very different, yet they enjoyed the communion of saints with each other. 2. They have a love for God’ s house. They are going up to the temple, not as formal worshippers, but full of the Holy Ghost, and enjoying an intimate communion with God. To them all the service has a new meaning, since they have known Christ. He is the Lamb laid on the altar; He is the Theme of the psalm; He is shown in the vestments of the high priest. They worship Christ while others gaze at the spectacle. 3. They have sympathy for the needy. The love of Christ awakes in the Christian heart a love for every man. Others passed by the cripple with a glance of contempt or with a shudder of disgust. These men looked at him with love, for in that distorted form was a soul for whom Christ died. 4. They have power to help. As Peter looks on the man he feels a consciousness of Divine power to heal him. It is not in himself, but through Christ, that he can lift him up to health and strength. We cannot bring healing to men’ s bodies, but we can bring salvation to men’ s souls. III. Find in this scene a picture of salvation.1. In the salvation of every soul there is a human instrumentality. God does not save men alone and directly, nor through the agency of angels. There is always a Peter through whom the power of God comes to a needy soul. 2. There is in every lifetime one moment of special opportunity. No one knows how long the lame man had been lying at the gate; but one day he met his opportunity. So the Samaritan woman met hers at the well, so Matthew met his at his table, so the Ethiopian met his in the desert. Success is to grasp at the opportunity; failure is to let it pass. 3. In this miracle the power lay not in Peter’ s hand, but in Jesus’ s name--that is, in Jesus Himself, invoked by name. Only a Divine power could heal the cripple, and only a Divine power can make the sinner whole. 4. There was effort required on the part of the man himself. If he had not responded to Peter’ s strong clasp of the hand with an effort of his own he would have remained a cripple still. That effort was faith. IV. Find in this scene a picture of the saved man. See how aptly he represents the soul just after the new birth in the image of Christ Jesus.1. We behold the transformation. A moment ago he was a crouching cripple; now he stands and leaps upon the marble floor. Look at a greater change in every converted sinner. 2. We notice his privilege. His first act is to enter through the Beautiful gate into the temple. 3. We notice his gratitude. Every saved soul should make confession of what God has done for him. 4. We notice his prominence. At once the remarkable event attracted attention. Every converted man becomes at once an object of interest and an evidence of Jesus’ s power. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The first apostolic miracle The date of this miracle is not quite certain. It appears to be reported as a specimen of those wonders and signs referred to in Acts 2:43. Note-- I. That it was wrought on a living man. In all our Lord’ s miracles there was an exhibition of benevolence. This was the case here, for the miracle was wrought--1. On an afflicted man. He had been lame from his birth. Every man is afflicted from his birth with an evil which nothing but the grace of God can remove. 2. On a poor man. How could one so circumstanced find employment? He was then hopelessly poor; but “ man’ s extremity was God’ s opportunity.” 3. On a man dependent on his friends. This followed from-his affliction and poverty. And it seems that those friends could only put him in the way of receiving help from strangers. Thus the necessities of nature led up to the manifestation of God’ s mercy. To how many has affliction been a means of salvation! 4. On a man known to many from the fact that he had been carried there for years. This enhanced the significance of the miracle and promoted its evidential purpose. In like manner does the conversion of the notoriously sinful bear witness to Christianity. II. That it was an exhibition of active Christianity. It was fitting that being the first, it should have this quality. It shows--1. A desire to do good on the part of Christian men. If men have no such desires, and yet call themselves Christians, their words and characters do not agree. 2. The effort which arises out of the proper desire to do good. Peter did not “ consider the case,” “ promise to do the best he could for him,” he took him by the hand and lifted him up. True Christianity turns desire into deed, and makes a missionary, a preacher, or a generous contributor of the man who desires the conversion of the heathen at home or abroad. 3. The course of the working of the gospel in the individual who receives it. (1) Special attention was awakened. “ Look on us.” The man had already looked in an ordinary way. So the hearers of the gospel have to give it more than their usual attention if they would be saved. (2) Hope was aroused. He “ expected to receive something” --what he did not know. So those in whom the gospel is “ mixed with faith” when they hear it are made hopeful before they have very distinct views of the joys of personal salvation, and their faith is strengthened until they can apprehend the blessings offered them. (3) Healing was administered. It came in the name of Jesus Christ, and immediately: so does salvation. (4) The healed cripple became a witness. The changes in the man’ s conduct told observers that he had received a great blessing from God, and was constrained to declare it. So Christians are constrained to bear witness by lip and life. (W. Hudson.)The miracle at the Beautiful gate The spiritual lessons we ought to learn are-- I. It is well for Christians to become acquainted with what is going on “ at the gate,” over the borders of our serene and comfortable lives; we must look after those who dwell on the outside. II. Opportunities of doing good lie in our way every day and hour, if we really desire to improve them. One slight turn of the eye across the temple-area, where we pass on our way to prayers, will introduce us to two entirely different and totally distinct worlds of feeling, thought, and history. III. Christians ought not to lose time in signing after new spheres of conspicuous sacrifice. Like Peter and John, we ourselves, children of the covenant, are apt to be jostled against those who are ignorant, poor, feeble, and in pain. But it does not follow that all of them are certainly vicious and unworthy of help; some of them may actually have “ faith to be healed.” IV. Working hands and willing voices ought to go with weeping eyes when we know the wants of the Lord’ s poor. Poverty at hand, weakness close beside us, are quite unromantic; it is distance which lends enchantment to the view in many cases as we converse about heathenism. But our home-heathen must not be absolutely neglected because they are so near. Many men, and some women, will shed tears over the painted picture of a Neapolitan boy begging, who would speak most savagely to the same lad if they met him alive in New York streets; they would quote with vigour the first part of Peter’ s little speech, and leave off the rest of it; and they would not put out their hands at all. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The miracle at the Beautiful gate--as a fact If there be history in any writing, these verses in their simplicity and minute details are a history. There is nothing here approaching the parabolic or the mythical. See here-- I. Poor men becoming the organs of omnipotence. How often has this been the case. Moses, Elijah, and the apostles are examples. II. A wretched cripple made the occasion of great good. Thoughtful men have often asked, Why, under the government of a benevolent God, such cases should occur? Why men be sent into the world without the use of their limbs, eyes, or reason? But note--1. That those who come into the world in this state, being unconscious of physical perfection, feel not their condition as others. Men who have never seen know nothing of the blessedness of vision. Hence persons of constitutional defect in form or organ often display a joy or peace at which others wonder. 2. That such cases serve by contrast to reveal the wonderful goodness of God. In nature those parts that have been shattered by earthquakes, or lie in black desolation, serve to set off the beauty and order which generally reign. And so a cripple here, or a blind man there, only set off the goodness of God as displayed in the millions that are perfect. These are a few dark strokes which the Great Artist employs to set off in the picture of the world the more striking aspects of beauty; a few of the rougher notes which the Great Musician uses to swell the chorus of universal order. 3. That they serve to inspire the physically perfect with gratitude to heaven. In the poor idiot, God says to us, “ Be thankful for reason,” etc. 4. That they afford scope and stimulus for the exercise of benevolence. Were all men equal in every respect there would be no object to awaken charity. III. Christianity transcending human aspirations. This man wanted alms, “ silver and gold” ; but in the name of Christ he received physical power, a blessing he had never ventured to expect. Thus it is ever: Christianity gives man “ more than he can ask or think.” “ Eye hath not seen,” etc. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Miraculous faith “ A miracle is the dearest child of faith.” I. Faith performs the miracle--Peter and John. II. Faith experiences the miracle--the lame man, who, although not before the miracle, yet after it, appears as a believer. III. Faith comprehends the miracle--the believing hearers. (C. Gerok.)The impotent man I. The person healed.1. He was impotent, carried by others; and where they left him they were sure to find him. He was not so by any accident, as Mephibosheth, but from the womb; and therefore his case was the more deplorable, and a cure the more improbable. This is a fit emblem of the unregenerate, who are not only spiritually blind, and deaf, and dumb, but tame too; so that they cannot tread the paths of wisdom, or stir one foot in the way to heaven. Good men may be ready to halt, and their feet well nigh slip; but these are always halting and slipping; for their legs, like those of the lame, are not equal. It is not legs and feet that they want, but the right use of them; and this has been their case from their birth. Blessed be God for the promises made to such! “ I will assemble her that halteth, and gather her that is driven out. The lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.” 2. His poverty added to his distress. If help was to be obtained by medicine, he bad not wherewithal to procure it, for he had to beg his bread. And thus it is with sinners. The saints want many things in the present life; but wicked men want everything that is worth having; and the want of a sense of this is perhaps their greatest want. Give me leave to add, that those to whom God shows mercy are also oftentimes like the impotent man, poor in temporals. The poor, says Christ, have the gospel preached to them. Those who are destitute of outward ornaments and comforts are inwardly beautified with Divine grace, and filled with Divine consolations. 3. He had continued long under his disorder, which made his case the more deplorable. Let this afford encouragement to old and accustomed sinners, if they have a sense of the evil of their way, and are in good earnest seeking relief, let them not despair of obtaining it. He who cured old diseases can save old sinners. 4. He was nevertheless in the way of a cure; for he lay at the Beautiful gate of the temple, where the charitable might relieve him, the pious pray for him, and the intelligent afford him their best advice. Thus the impotent sinner should watch daily at wisdom’ s gates, remembering that God commands deliverance out of Zion, and is there known for a refuge to His people. II. The nature of the cure.1. It was unexpected, and therefore the more welcome. And thus it is in the conversion of sinners. Mercy comes as it did to Zaccheus, to Saul, and to this man: unsought and unimplored! 2. It was instantaneous. Peter does not put him upon a long course of medicine; but takes him by the hand, and lifts him up, Thus, however gradual the work of grace may appear in some converts, yet the implantation of grace is instantaneous. God new creates the soul, as He created the world. He says, Let there be light; and there is light; Let there be life! and there is life. 3. As Omnipotence took it in hand, so it was an easy cure. No violent methods were used: his distorted limbs were not reduced to their proper place by any painful operation. And so the actings of Divine grace upon the soul are as mild and gentle as they are powerful and effectual 4. It was a real and permanent cure. Thus it is when God heals the broken heart, or cures the distempered soul. The one is a miracle of power, the other of grace: and as the former, so the latter is no deception. III. The effects of the cure.1. “ He leaped up.” Thus it is with the sinner recovered by Divine grace. The word of the Lord, the way of the Lord, the joy of the Lord, and especially the Christ of God, is his strength; and this strength he employs for the purposes for which it is bestowed. “ I will go in the strength of the Lord God.” Earnestness and intentness of mind is also implied. He not only exerted himself, but did it to the utmost of his power. Thus when a sinner is capable of acting, especially in the warmth of his first love, he will act with all his might. 2. “ He stood.” Formerly he could not stand without leaning and trembling. He stood ready for action, as one that would hereafter get his livelihood by working, and not by begging. He also stood to show himself to the people. 3. “ He walked.” This was a new exercise to him. Thus, by the power of Divine grace, those that are spiritually lame are made to walk with God, and before Him; honestly and uprightly, in newness of life; in the light, in the truth, and at liberty. The Spirit is their guide, the Word their rule, the excellent of the earth their companions, glory their end, and Christ their way. 4. “ He entered with the apostles into the temple.” At the gate of it he had got many an alms from man: now he would enter into it to get an alms from God. From this part of his conduct we may learn-- (1) What place the saints make their chosen residence, the house of God. “ My feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem!” Especially when recovered from disorder, and released from confinement. The first place they will visit is the temple, there to pay those vows which they made in the time of their distress, and present their humble and thankful acknowledgments unto God. (2) What persons they choose for their companions. Those whom God has made useful to them, as hoping still to receive the benefit of their prayers and instructions. Thus the jailer brought Paul and Silas into his house, and Lydia constrained them to abide in her house. 5. Still “ he walked and leaped,” like one in an ecstasy and transport, and “ praised God.” Whence we may observe, that though he loved the instruments, yet he did not praise them. He gave the praise where it was due. Improvement:1. Let awakened sinners take encouragement from this wonderful instance of Divine grace. 2. Let the saints imitate the example here set before them, in the warmest gratitude and most affectionate praises. (B. Beddome, M. A.)The lame man at the gate of the temple (hospital sermon):-- I. The lame man.1. Many become lame through accident or sickness; but this man was born a cripple. Luke, who was a physician, gives us to understand that his lameness was owing to a weakness in, and perhaps malformation of, the ankle-bones. But that hardly suffices to describe his helpless condition. Many lame men are able to move about with the help of artificial supports. But this man was so utterly helpless that he was obliged to be carried. Not that there was any weakness in his body, all the weakness was in his ankles. Raphael seems to have seized this feature. He has drawn at a little distance from him another deformed man, who, however, is able to hobble along by the help of a crutch. But I think Raphael was mistaken in drawing his legs in a stiff, rigid form; it was not rigidity in the ankles he was suffering from, but extreme weakness. “ Immediately his feet and ankles became firm.” 2. And not only was he lame, he was a cripple and a beggar too. It is difficult to conceive a more pitiable condition. 3. There were several reasons why the gate of the temple had been selected as a propitious place for begging. Crowds of people were coming and going through it at least three times a day. Besides, the people who were coming in and going out were the best men and women in Jerusalem. It is the cream of society that frequent places of worship. Moreover, men in going to and coming from church are in a better mood for considering the poor and supplying their wants than in the tumultuous whirl of business. And it is a fact that almost all the alms of the world are administered at the gates of the temple, that charitable institutions are dependent for their support and success on them that go up to the temple at the hour of prayer. I never was honoured with a letter from the Lord Mayor of London till he thought money was required to carry out his humane object. Maybe that every man of science and of business also received a letter from him, which I doubt; but I am sure every minister did. Do I find fault? No; I look upon it as a great compliment to Christianity. Some time ago a daily paper warmly advocated private contributions towards the relief of the famine in India. So far, good. These papers which are going to supersede the pulpit, and do away with preaching, ought to do that. But the money did not come. As a last resort, the paper with its “ largest circulation in the world” proposed to have a collection in the churches, forsooth. But where were the readers of the paper? Where the “ largest circulation in the world” ? Could not the “ almighty press” squeeze a little money out of its numerous readers? Do I find fault? Oh, no; it is a high compliment to Christianity and to the ministers who teach their hearers what the papers fail to teach their readers. But Christianity is dying fast, the world can do without the churches? No, my friends, not as long as there are lame to help and hungry to feed. The beggars sometimes sit at the gates of Trade, but they are sternly told to “ move on” ; and at the gates of Pleasure and of Fashion, but none save the dogs deign to take notice of them. The beggars know that the temple is the great almshouse of the world. 4. There were about ten gates to the temple, all of them very costly and superb. The Jews did not as a rule grudge the most lavish expenditure upon the adornments of the temple. But there was one gate far surpassing all others in material and design. God’ s house should always be the most beautiful house in the neighbourhood, and God’ s people ought to contribute towards its adornment. If our congregations increase in wealth, God expects a part Of it to flow to the sanctuary. Trade must do homage to religion, and “ offer unto it gifts--gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” When the Church was in a state of comparative poverty, a mound of earth served for an altar and was acceptable in the sight of God. But when the Church increased in numbers and refinement, the altar of earth was justly superseded by an altar of shittim wood overlaid with brass; instead of the rude mound, there was to be a little artistic work. Finally, when the Church had increased in numbers and possessions, God required an altar overlaid with fine gold. Do Christians increase in wealth? Let a portion of it flow to the sanctuary of the Highest; let there be built a gate called the Beautiful. And at the gate let there stand a sister of mercy to administer alms to the helpless and forlorn. However beautiful was the gate of the temple, more beautiful in the sight of God were the hands which gave alms to the cripple. Beauty of stone and of metal is not to be compared with beauty of disposition and of character. II. The cure of the lame man.1. Peter and John went up to the temple. The apostles did not abruptly sever themselves from the old dispensation; sudden ruptures never take place in the kingdom of God. First, there is a division in the Church, then a division from the Church. That was the ease at the establishment of Christianity; first, a division in Judaism, next a division from Judaism. That was the case at the time of the Protestant Reformation. That was the case in the history of the Establishment in our own country. The heathen who adopted Christianity were called upon to break off at once their connection with idols; but the Jews who adopted Christianity were only gradually weaned from Judaism. One could not be an idolater and a Christian; but one could be a Jew and a Christian. 2. As they were about to enter, their attention was called to the impotent man who asked an alms. He had long ago ceased hoping for anything else. Forty years of helplessness and beggary will kill ambition in the most sanguine heart. We have known people who had been lying on a bed of suffering for years. If you spoke to them at the close of the first year, you would discover a shade of discontent--they had a strong desire to get up and walk. But at the end of ten years the most fiery spirit is quite tamed. 3. They fastened their eyes on him. A characteristic feature of Christianity is that it fastens its eyes on the destitute and the sick. Science fastens its eyes on inanimate matter; art on the “ gate called Beautiful” ; but Christianity on the poor cripple. Science seeks out the secrets of the world; art its beauties; but Christianity its ills. There is a great deal in a look. The sympathising eyes of Peter caught the wondering eyes of the beggar, and the latter felt a strange sensation, like a stream of electricity, thrilling his entire system. 4. The man sought alms; but the apostles gave him what was better--health. Health without money is infinitely better than money without health. Moreover, by endowing him with health they were conferring on him the ability to earn money: In this the miracle was a “ sign.” The gospel does not directly aim at improving men’ s circumstances; it aims at improving men themselves. But no sooner does it that than a noticeable improvement is seen in their surroundings. The gospel converts the man; the man converts the house. The gospel does not directly aim at increasing the material riches of a nation; it aims at increasing its funds of spiritual health; but no sooner does the nation feel new blood palpitating in every limb and member than it shakes off the lethargy of centuries, and marches fearlessly forward in the upward path of discovery and enterprise, and, as a natural consequence, riches flow in plentifully to its exchequer. The gospel came to a crippled world. It said unto it, “ In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,” and forthwith it began a career upward and forward, and Christianity has indirectly added enormously to its material riches. Which are the most flourishing nations in our day? England, America, and Germany, the countries that have received most abundantly of the life and health that are lodged in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Utilitarianism says, Give men better houses, higher wages, purer air, more wholesome water, and by improving their circumstances you will improve their constitutions. But what says Christianity? I will strive to improve men, for I know that no sooner will men feel beating within them new and potent energies than they will set about to improve their external condition. Men need better houses, and purer air, and more wholesome water; but the great want of men is life--more life; and I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly. Utilitarianism does men good, Christianity makes them good. 5. The Apostolic Church had no silver and gold, it had only health to impart. But it is in the power of the modern Church to give both money and health. There are in this huge city over eighty hospitals, and you will find on inquiry that every hospital is well-nigh full of people who have not the means to pay for professional attendance at home; and it is a duty incumbent on the churches to maintain these institutions: in a state of high efficiency. Hospitals in a special sense are the earliest and mellowest fruit of our holy religion. Where was the first hospital founded? In Ephesus, the home of John, the beloved disciple who taught that “ God is love.” And by what name were hospitals first known? Lazarettoes; the very name bears on its forefront the stamp of the gospel, from the touching story of Lazarus sitting at the rich man’ s gate. And who founded and endowed the great hospitals of this metropolis? Christians. Saint Bartholomew’ s, Saint Luke’ s, Saint George’ s, with a few exceptions the hospitals are all saints I They are the precious legacies of the Christianity of the past; they have a strong claim on the Christianity of the present. 6. But I also trust that in acquiring money we have not lost what is of incomparably greater value, the faith and the courage to say to poor humanity, “ In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Hundreds who go into hospitals founded by Christian philanthropy and supported by Christian charity come out “ able to stand and to walk.” But I trust that in a still deeper sense it is true. Have we not witnessed the power of the gospel in our own midst, giving strength to the weak and life to the dead? Men dead in trespasses and sins have risen in newness of life; men crippled in the spiritual nature have received strength; men weak in their feet and ankle-bones have received fresh power--they now enter the temple, they run in the way of the Divine commandments, they leap for joy like harts on the mountains of spices. The Church is fast increasing in riches; let us pray that it may also increase in the power to impart health to men “ lame from their mother’ s womb.” (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)The cripple and his healers I. The companions--“ Peter and John.”1. Their destination--“ the temple.” Those who have been the greatest blessing to mankind through all the ages have loved God and frequented His temple. The theory that a man who is able to go to church can serve God at home, and never go, is contrary to the teaching of the New Testament. 2. Their harmony--“ went up together.” Nothing like Pentecostal power to harmonise opposite temperaments, and hold in check possible discordances and selfish tendencies in human nature. 3. Their look. Christianity is the only system in the world that knows how to “ fasten its eyes upon” the afflicted and destitute, the guilty and the lost. 4. Their devotion--“ at the hour of prayer.” If any men were justified in supposing that they could dispense with the ordinary routine of religious worship, “ Peter and John” were surely those men. But no men in Jerusalem were more consciously indebted to the means of grace, or more utterly dependent upon God. The more religion a man has, the more he will love “ the temple” and “ the hour of prayer.” 5. Their poverty--“ silver and gold have I none.” Then a child of God may be poor. Then God may be specially honouring men, and fitting them for extraordinary careers of usefulness, who are without worldly means or influence. In this materialistic age, when men are judged of by their money, and not by their character--by what they have, and not by what they are, it is well to emphasise the fact that manhood and money are nor interchangeable terms. The power that lifts and heals a crippled world is not carried about by men in their pocket-books, nor does it grow out of their bank accounts or social standing. It comes through the right relationship of the soul to Jesus Christ, and absolutely without regard to a man’ s worldly condition. 6. Their power--“ Rise up, and walk.” That is the main power the Church lacks just now to make her ready for the conquest of the world; and that is the power for the exercise of which a crippled world fastens its eyes upon us. Neither wealth, nor education, nor social influence can atone for the want of this Divine afflatus. II. The cripple--“ A man lame from his mother’ s womb.”1. His location--“ At the gate of the temple.” Then this cripple was no fool. He understood the philosophy of benevolence. The kindest and most sympathetic people in the world are praying people. Persons who obey the first table of the law are most likely to obey the second. Nine-tenths of all the money raised for benevolent purposes, and for the support of our charitable institutions, comes from the pockets of those who go “ up to the temple at the hour of prayer.” 2. His attitude--“ Lay at the gate.” We have seen thousands of lame men who could go almost anywhere, through the aid of artificial supports. But this man was obliged to be carried. 3. His vocation “ To ask alms.” Both the place and time selected by this cripple to ply his vocation indicate that he was a shrewd, thoughtful man. 4. His cure. (1) It was instantaneous.(2) It was thorough--“ Walked and leaped.” 5. His gratitude. The accession of strength was sudden, and his manifestation of it was equally sudden. There was no timid shrinking, lest he should overtax his new strength. The man that God blesses and saves need not be afraid of overdoing, and bringing on a relapse, by anything his heart prompts him to do, in the shape of letting others know what has happened. The want of the times is a joyful, happy, triumphant Christianity. III. The crowd--“ All the people.”1. Their evidence--“ Saw him.” 2. Their recognition (verse 10). He had sat at the gate so long that everybody knew him, and that may be the reason why he was favoured with this miraculous cure.3. Their excitement. They wisely argued that the change could only be effected by a Divine cause. Extend this reasoning, and you have one of the most unanswerable arguments in favour of Christianity. The transformations wrought by it in society prove it to be Divine in its origin. 4. Their emotions--“ Wonder and amazement.” Strange that they should be so affected by this miracle, after having witnessed so many by the Master. Application:1. Let us imitate Peter and John in our appreciation of the means of grace. 2. Let us not disturb the services by coming in late; but, like them, let us try to be punctual; “ at the hour.” 3. Pentecostal blessings of yesterday cannot supply our need of God’ s inspiration and blessing to-day. 4. It is the duty of the unconverted to “ fasten their eyes” upon spiritual matters, to yield to right influences, to allow themselves to be carried daily to the gate of right feeling and conduct. If this lame man had rebelled that morning against being carried “ to the gate of the temple,” he might never have been healed. 5. Learn that, though the eyes of the sinner may be fastened upon the servant, the Master only can heal. (T. Kelly.)The lance man healed You will not see the whole beauty of this paragraph unless you connect it with the chapter preceding.1. You remember the infinite excitement of that chapter. There had never been such a day in the Church before. Life was raised up to a higher level than it had ever attained, and the people were praising God from morning till night. Surely the millennium had come! After this there will be no more common-place. Who would willingly come out of the blue heavens to walk again on the pathways of ordinary life? But read the opening words of the third chapter. After the excitement of Pentecost, is not this of the nature of an anti-climax? Two men, former partners in the fishing trade, “ went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer.” Then see that the ecstatic hours of life ought to be succeeded by quiet worship, for that alone can sustain the heart with true nourishment. God grants unto His Church hours of enthusiasm, days when the whole horizon opens like an infinite door into the upper places of the universe; but after such peculiarly solemn manifestations of power and grace, He expects us to go up into the temple to pray, as He knows such visions make all other life ordinary and common. Whatever luxuries you may enjoy occasionally, you must have bread permanently. We cannot always live in the extraordinary; for by the very fact of its being always extraordinary, it would cease to be other than usual. 2. But were not the men inspired? Yes; yet the two men “ went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer.” The clock was not altered; the great Pentecostal storm had rushed across the heavens, and had left behind it showers of blessings. Still the quiet clock ticked and travelled on to the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, and Peter and John were not so transported by special ecstasies as to forget their daily and customary engagements with God. Suspect any inspiration that makes you contemptuous of ordinary religious duty. Inspiration never lessens duty. Any supposed inspiration that has withdrawn men from the temple and poisoned them with the delusion that they could sufficiently read the Bible at home, is an inspiration coming otherwhere than from heaven. You were not made to live at home always. There is in you that which finds its completion in public fellowship. It does every man good to be now and then in a crowd; public assembly has an educational and social influence upon the individual life. Standing alone, a man may seem to be very great, important, self-complete; it is when he enters into a crowd that he realises his humanity, his littleness, and yet the very greatness that comes of that contraction of individuality. “ Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” Peter and John did not. Are we not wrong in supposing that prayer can ever be of the nature of common-place? What is prayer? Is it not communion with God. The apostles had not lost their inspiration, as is evident by what they did. Verily, these men then had not lost their inspiration, or they never would have taken this course with the suppliant at the Beautiful gate of the Temple. They could work this miracle. Let that be taken as a proof of the continuance of their inspiration; and yet we see that, notwithstanding, they are going up like ordinary humble worshippers to pray in the temple. Beware of any inspiration that leads you away from apostolic practice. Your ambition may be easily excited, and you may not require a very expert tempter of the human mind to say to you that perhaps you may be a genius, that you need not submit to take upon you the yoke of religious custom. When such temptation seduces you, give it the lie. The law would seem to be that every great effort of human life should be followed by a religious exercise; every outgoing of the soul should have its compensatory movement in silent communion with God. After you have been striving arduously and valiantly in the fight, plunge into the bath, so to say, of Divine meditation and heavenly communion, and therein leave your weakness and recover your strength. 3. This incidental conversation with the poor lame beggar at the Beautiful gate of the Temple gives us some particulars about the apostles themselves, and those particulars are the more valuable because of the way in which they are introduced into the narrative. I. It is perfectly evident that having all things common had not enriched Peter and John. Apostolic communion was no priest’ s trick; it was no attempt to enrich the apostolate at the expense of the Christian public. “ Silver and gold have we none.” So much the better for them I Woe unto the apostle who spends one half of his life in getting silver and gold, and the other half in watching that they do not run away from him. What had they then? Divine energy, spiritual life, social sympathy, and hearts to bless those who needed benediction and assistance. The poverty of the apostles was in material substance only; and therefore it was no poverty at all. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 3:2 The gate of the temple which is called Beautiful. The gate Beautiful In our ignorance of the topography of Jerusalem and the temple, it is not possible to determine with absolute certainty which of the many gates of the temple was distinguished by this name. According to Josephus, “ There were nine of the gates that were overlaid with silver and gold. But one without the temple, or sanctuary, made of Corinthian brass, far excelled those of gold or silver.” This gate is supposed to have been the east entrance to the women’ s court, and was sometimes called the Corinthian Gate, from the material of which it was made. It was also known by the name of Nicanor’ s gate. Others, however, suppose the Beautiful gate to be that called Shushan by the Rabbins, probably from the bas-relief lily work in brass around the capitals of the columns (1 Kings 7:19). It is derived from an unused root signifying “ white,” white and beautiful being convertible as in Shushan (Esther 1:2), the white or beautiful city (as Beogrady--Belgrade--in Slavonic). This gate was on the cast side of the court of the Gentiles, and close to Solomon’ s porch. (W. Denton, M. A.)The gate Beautiful The temple of religion has a beautiful gate in it; but in one important respect it differs from the Beautiful gate of the Jewish temple. On the pillars on either side of that gate were engraved in Greek letters the words, “ Let no stranger pass beyond this on pain of death.” But through the beautiful gate of the gospel every one is free to enter into the holiest place. And that at all times. In each of the great churches of Rome there is what is called the Porta Santa, or Holy Door. It is made of a peculiar marble, and is sealed up for fifty years, so that no one during all that time can obtain admission through it to the high altar. In the jubilee year the reigning Pope knocks at this door with a silver hammer; and immediately it is pulled down and a breach made through which the Pope, followed by a splendid procession, can pass and minister in the most sacred place. But not like this Porta Santa is the beautiful gate of the gospel. Not at long intervals is it opened. To every one who knocks, however feebly, and at whatever time, it swings back at once and gives admission. All that is needful to entitle any one to admission is faith and love. It is a beautiful gate by which you enter into God’ s kingdom. The everlasting doors are lifted up that you may pass through, and the salvation wrought for you is a great salvation worthy of the greatness of your nature. The ancient Romans had a strange law which required that when a man returned from captivity in a foreign land he should not enter his house by the doorway. He could not recover his right of possession and citizenship unless he entered his house through the roof; and then he was supposed never to have been out of it. Not thus is admittance to be obtained into the kingdom of heaven. There can be no make-believe that the redeemed sinner has always been in the Father’ s house. The captive, the wanderer, dead in trespasses and sins, must return by the one living Way, and enter in by the one living Door open to all--viz., a simple faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. But, while the gate of the temple of Christ’ s religion is thus beautiful to all, it is especially beautiful to the young. You are to enter the temple of religion by the gate of innocence, before you have had any experience of the dark sins and trials of the world. Youth is the most beautiful door by which to enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have the qualities of faith, hope, and love required of those who enter in. They are easy and natural, as it were, to you; and you have only to exercise them, not towards earthly, but towards heavenly things. And how beautiful is this gate of youthful piety--beautiful as all first things are-first love, the first light of the morning, the first flowers of spring, the dawn of human history in Eden, the golden age of the world; beautiful as all pure things are that have no alloy or base mixture of evil in them! You ask how are you to get this beautiful religion? In a very beautiful way! Not only is the temple itself beautiful, but the gate by which you enter it is beautiful. It is like the beautiful fruit of the orange-tree which you get through the beautiful and fragrant orange blossom. Jesus says, “ I am the Door,” etc. How beautiful and costly is that living Door! What a wonderful death of self-sacrificing He died! And Jesus becomes a door to you such as your nature requires. He suits His long step to your short step, and narrows His octave to the stretch of your little fingers. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The Beautiful Gate It is hardly a figure to say that in our human life there are gates we may well call “ beautiful,” ever opening and inviting us to enter on new experiences and duties. But the special thought I want to emphasise is that at every one of these gates we need a helping hand, human or Divine, to put us on our feet, and prepare us for the new phase of life into which the gate opens.1. To begin with the first gate--the gate of infancy and childhood. It is a beautiful gate, indeed. What fond hopes wreathe every cradle! What possibilities are wrapped up in that little bundle of helplessness and want called the baby? This bundle of weakness and want laid at the beautiful gate of life, asking alms of all, having nothing but capacity, needing everything--care, watching, sympathy, love, wisdom--everything to feed and clothe the body, to quicken and nourish the mind, and train a young immortal for the mortal and immortal life. And what can do this like mingled affection and faith akin in spirit to that which looked out through the illuminated eyes of Peter and John upon the tame man at the temple gate? And what this foundling at the gate of life needs is the touch of a loving hand and the faith of a loving heart. This is sure to carry with it healing and strength. And it is no less Divine on what is called the natural than what is called the supernatural plane. Are not the mingled affection and faith with which a true Christian mother broods over her child, nurturing into life body and mind in what we call the natural order, just as truly of God as was the power that healed the lame man at the temple gate? See how she puts herself into affectional rapport with her child. She looks into its eyes, finds its soul, talks with it in the soul’ s language, which mother and child both know, smiles upon it, gives strength to its ankle-bones by holding them in her warm, motherly hands, and, finally, tempting the child to rise up and walk by the confidence that shines through her eyes, and by the outstretched hand ready to save from falling or to lift up again and again and yet again, till at last the child walks and leaps and praises God, in childish fashion, by its innocent gladness. All this affection may do, is continually doing, in all true homes. But there is a higher work to be done for the child, a deeper nature to be reached, a life within a life to be waked: and this calls not for affection only, but faith--faith in the reality of this interior life, faith in God as the Infinite Good, and in the reality of His Holy Spirit’ s influence, faith in Him as the constant inspiration and life of the soul. This faith must crown affection, or the deepest wants of the child’ s soul can never be met It is this sweet, calm, holy influence filling the home, as the balmly odours of pine groves fill the surrounding air, that gives to the home atmosphere a healing, a strengthening, a life-giving power. It is better than silver or gold. But by and by the child is grown, and the home is left for the “ wide, wide world.” 2. Here opens another gate--the gate of early manhood. This, too, is a beautiful gate, especially when the gate of childhood has been a fitting preparation for it. If it ever seems to rest in shadow, it is because the higher nature has not been waked, but sleeps, while the lower nature is alive and active. What in all this world is more beautiful than a young man--and man means woman--well furnished mentally, morally, spiritually, passing out through the beautiful gate for the great work of life! What fond hopes centre in him! But all such hopes are not realised. Why is it? But one reason for the failure may safely be ascribed to this: an undue sense of self-sufficiency. In the pride and strength of young manhood, one is slow to perceive that he is lame or undeveloped, or weak in any part of his nature. He is no cripple at the gate, to ask help of anybody. Is there no lameness, no weakness, no need of the touch of a helping hand? Even if the need be not felt, it does not follow that it is not real. It may not be felt, because the greatness of life is not felt. Where life is regarded only as a vigorous scramble for the main chance, for business success, or pleasure, without aspiration for anything above the beaten paths of dust and ashes, then, indeed, any man with good legs and arms and a thimbleful of brains may feel quite equal to the undertaking. But for one who looks on life from the standpoint of spiritual possibility--such a one, comparing his ideal with his actual, the glorious possibility with his own sense of inability, will need no argument to convince him that, however strong his ankle-bones, his spirit is in pressing need of the healing and strengthening touch of a faith and hope that makes the deepest and truest things of life the most real. He who helps me to faith in eternal realities, honour, right, integrity, self-sacrifice, and lifts me to a plane of life where the difference between noble and ignoble living is most clearly seen, is my greatest benefactor. It is this spirit which lifts, guides, and liberates the soul for noblest living. It is inspiration for the life eternal here and now. “ Silver and gold” Jesus had none. Such as He had He gave--Himself, a soul enkindled with the love of God and man. 3. But manhood hastens on to old age. May we call that, too, a beautiful gate? Yes, if faith and hope, like Peter and John, stand at the gate to look into our eye and take our hand as we pass through. At first the gate of old age seems anything but beautiful. One of the brightest and most cheerful of our American poets calls it an “ Iron Gate.” At first, they were almost ashamed to be found fairly inside the gate and unable to get back. But by and by, as they get adjusted to the new condition, and find themselves still in good company, rather select withal, the gate does not seem so dreadful. Approaching it, it did look like iron; but seen from the inside, with faith and hope shining upon it, it becomes beautiful--just as beautiful as the gates of childhood and manhood. The gate of childhood faces the sunrise. The gate of manhood lies under the mid-day sun. The gate of old age “ looks toward sunset,” indeed; but it is a sunset that carries with it the promise of an immortal day. They are all beautiful gates of life. Which is the most beautiful we will not venture to say till we see them all from the higher standpoint we hope to reach by and by. But, even here and now, old age, with all its infirmities, has its blessings, which youth and manhood cannot know till they pass through the gate--the blessing of rest after toil, the blessing of sweet companionship with those with whom we have passed through all the beautiful gatest, the living over again with them the scenes of the past, to which “ distance lends enchantment” ; the looking forward in glorious hope to higher fellowship, Where youth is renewed as the eagle’ s. These and the like lift the shadow from old age, and let God’ s sunshine in to brighten and warm. But this implies a touch of the healing hand. And now, especially, as in life’ s morning, the help is none the less, but all the more Divine if it comes through the eye, the heart, the hand of affection and faith mingled, assisting us tenderly and lovingly to rise up above the gathering mists and shadows, and pass trustingly through one more beautiful gate to the other mansions. 4. And is death, too, a beautiful gate? One would not think so by the hard names given to it Grim Tyrant,” “ Great Destroyer,” “ King of Terrors,” and the like. But God never gave His white-winged angel such names. These, then, are some of the beautiful gates of life. All beautiful gates! built not by the wealth or workmen of Herod, but by the All-Beautiful, who created man in His own image, for the beauty of holiness. And at each gate God’ s messengers, in some form, wait to give us the healing touch and put us on our feet. Oh! were we always conscious of the brooding spirit of Divine Love standing at every gate, looking into our eyes, seeking to find our souls and call forth responsive love, should we not all leave our sins, our weakness, our doubts, and stand on our feet, walking and leaping and praising God by a life in harmony with the Divine will? (W. P. Tilden.)The grace of beauty Observe-- I. The close relation between religion and beauty. The gate Beautiful was a temple gate. The Puritans depreciated beauty. In their excessive spirituality they ignored the true and proper uses of the visible, and disparaged the body. Jesus Christ manifested in human flesh the Divine glory, and by the resurrection of His body has given a type and pledge of the exaltation of man and nature. All material things may be transformed by the spirit of man. The beautiful in form, colour, and sound has been created by love, patriotism, and genius. But the higher inspiration of beauty is in religion, which touches with firmest finger the faculties out of which the graceful arises. Art, poetry, architecture, and music owe their finest products to Christianity. As religion has inspired aesthetic creations, so the way to religion should be by the paths of beauty. God’ s worship should be no bald offering of utility, but should be associated with the most perfect in architecture, music, and oratory. The ways by which the young are drawn to Christ should be festooned with loveliness, and not be a via dolorosa. All the qualities of the Christian character may be rendered in attractive forms. When religion and beauty are wedded, science, industry, and citizenship will also be drawn into the goodly fellowship. II. But the highest beauty, and the largest gateway to heaven, is spiritual beauty--the beauty of the Lord revealed in Christ. The cripple was not healed by the beauty of the temple gate, but by the beauty of Christ--the glory of His love, sympathy, and helpfulness. Visible beauty brings us to the threshold only; we must enter to behold the uncreated beauty. It is this which transforms the man and changes him from glory to glory in its image. When possessed it must not be hidden, but must, in imitation of the altogether lovely, be manifested in beautiful words, acts, life. As Christ would have us reproduce His beauty, so we must aim at making spiritually lame and ugly people radiant with the same loveliness. (J. Matthews.)The beauty of religion The temple represented the Jewish religion, and the gate by which you entered was called Beautiful. The way of the beautiful is the way of entrance into the sanctuary, if only we understand what is meant by beauty.1. With one or two exceptions the word beauty is not mentioned in the whole New Testament. On the other hand, it is mentioned often in the Old. The most remarkable contrast among nations in antiquity was that between the Jew and the Greek. The Greeks are always instanced as the nation that had the genius of beauty and the love of it; but among the Greeks it was essentially physical; and although moral qualities were sometimes brought down and represented in it, it was in order merely to enhance the physical beauty. On exactly the other side stood the Hebrew, who was forbidden to have much that was physical in his worship. And so art never took root nor flourished in Palestine. But, on the other hand, there arose in the minds of the old Hebrew seers and lyrists a sense of the beauty of conduct, character, and moral quality that never represented itself in sensuous form. I think that if we were to look into the modern schools of beauty we should find that they follow the Greek and not the Hebrew. Now, in the New Testament, though it does not mention beauty as the Old Testament does, nevertheless we have a specification of qualities of thought, and feeling, and exhortations to beautiful conduct. One by one Christ takes up the things that are transcendentally beautiful in their kind, although they are not so to men. When a diamond is first found it is like a rough stone, without form or comeliness, and only when it has been ground does it become glittering; and so almost all the precious stones are found--in seams and ledges, and under circumstances where their beauty does not appear until they have been dealt with. “ Blessed be ye, when persecuted.” Blessed be the rapid-running stone that grinds the gems--not, perhaps, in the process, but in the result. 2. In all the earth no spire, cathedral front, nor temple is so beautiful as the form of man and woman when brought out in all the lines and lineaments of Christian culture. And the New Testament says, “ Let your light so shine.” Some have interpreted it, “ Let your gloom so shine that men think you are very serious-minded.” No, but let your light shine. Let the things that shine out be, as the apostle other-where says in regard to them, “ Whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is true, whatsoever is of good report, think on these things.” These are the qualities that are to shine with such attractiveness, as that religion shall not repel men, but win them, draw them--“ that men, seeing your good work, shall glorify your Father which is in heaven.” 3. Every single quality that belongs to Christian character should be carried up to the condition of beautifulness. That is the aim, not by flash, rare--used only as a medicine is--but beauty that rises like a star, and continues to shine with a steadfast ray. The light that has in it all the primary colours carries them always without any discontinuity. And so the great qualities which grace inspires are to be carried up toward the line of beauty; they are intrinsically so. Now, when a plant seed unknown is sown we watch the unfolding of it, wondering at every step what is to be the outcome. The stem may be coarse, the leaf may be hirsute, and, like the cactus, one may never dream that this great flat, fat, spiny leaf could ever be the mother of beauty until the blossom comes, and then in all the earth is there anything more exquisite and gorgeous than the blossom of the cactus? So in regard to unripe and undeveloped qualities of moral feeling in the soul. Men may, during the process in which they are unfolding, see nothing very lovely; but when they have been carried up to their florescence, or their fruit estate, they are invariably beautiful. Moral qualities, like physical excellences, have a beginning. Some attain more quickly and easily than others the relish of the beautiful; some are the result only of long striving; some grow like autumnal flowers, only when they feel the coming breath of frost itself, out every quality that goes to make the true Christian as Christ longs to see him is an element, that, if carried up to its full extent, touches the line of the beautiful. So of conduct. Whatever is graceful, noble, free, large, manly, lordly in courage, is beautiful; and because it is beautiful it belongs to the religious perfection of man. And all conduct that has in it the element of heroism--how beautiful it is. The fidelity that costs! The self-denial that finds its reward in the fruition of that which is served! The angels of the cradle and the crib--those Protestant saints, maiden women, that, having no family, adopt the children and the household of those with whom they dwell, and spend love, and time, and all service, and pain even, and watchfulness for the sake of others--how beautiful is this quality of conduct! If I read over the qualities that constitute religion, as described in the fifth chapter of Galatians, they will sound to you like the snap of so many harpstrings, and all of them together like the sweep of an old harper’ s hand. The joy of religion!--not the joy of reading hymns, or of going to meeting, necessarily, or hearing sermons; but the inward joy which one has from communion with God through hope, and inspiration, and faith; the temperament of joy--peace--the absolute concordance of every quality in us, without any oppositions from any direction; the perfect harmonisation of every element in the soul. “ Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, self-control” --these are the features. The portraiture every one must make up in his own imagination. This is religion. Whoever, then, so lives as not to produce in some way or other the impression of the beauty of religion falls short of the genius of the New Testament. (H. W. Beecher.)The beautiful I. A beautiful thing. “ The gate Beautiful.”1. It was fitting that the approach to a beautiful place like the temple should be beautiful. Many beautiful things are marred by the ungainliness of their surroundings. A cathedral in a squalid neighbourhood, a mansion with a tumble-down entry, a picture in a broken frame, an untidy woman, are offensive incongruities. The most beautiful thing in the world is the religion of Christ, but how many are offended by what they see at the front of it--conditions of entrance which Christ never laid down, specimens of Christianity that Christ never produced. Reproduce the beauty of religion in yourselves, and make the path to it attractive, and there will be no difficulty in making converts. 2. The gate led to a beautiful place. This is not always the case. The best things only are placed in some windows. The world presents an attractive outside, but within is death. Once through the gate of God’ s house the worshipper should find everything in harmony with the beautiful work he has to perform there; the structure, the service in all its parts should be conducive to the beauty of holiness. An ugly, ill-kept church, a tame, bald service--how detrimental to devotion, how dishonouring to God. II. Beautiful characters.1. Peter. There were ugly seams in Peter’ s character. He was impulsive, he denied his Lord, he compromised at Antioch. But we must take that character as a whole and like some vast mountainous region, although there may be a morass here, and stunted vegetation there, and yawning chasms yonder, yet how grand the whole! In his deep penitence, his burning enthusiasm, his teaching by word and pen, there have been few more admirable men than Peter. 2. John. If Peter represents the rugged, John exhibits the more symmetrical type of Christian character. He must have had exquisite qualities whom Jesus so loved, and who was specially selected for so beautiful a task as the care of Jesus’ mother. And all these qualities, tenderness, love, loyalty, come out in his letters. 3. Peter and John, a combination which nearly makes perfection of beauty, power and gentleness, zeal and affection. And at the last a good deal of Peter came out in John, and a good deal of John in Perer. III. A beautiful act.1. It was beautifully done. “ Fastening his eyes upon him.” “ He took him by the right hand.” How much may be accomplished by a look. The mere gaze of Peter and John inspired life into a hope that had been dead for long years. There is as much in the way a thing is done as in the thing itself. You may bestow alms so as to deprive them of half their value--grudgingly, morosely, even vindictively. You may help a man so as to make every nerve quiver, and so as to provoke a reluctance to be helped at all. You may wipe a tear and leave a wound in the process. The action should be suited to the act. And if you can do nothing you can always look something, which sometimes will answer as well, and if you can give nothing else you can give your hand, which often will be more acceptable. 2. The deed was beautiful. It was physician’ s work, and what more beautiful--restoration to health--for which in its literal sense we may not be qualified; but there are sick bodies to which we may minister by kindly attention--“ Sick and ye visited Me” : sick hearts to which we may administer comfort; sick minds that we may relieve by wise advice; sick souls that we may lead to the Great Physician. IV. A beautiful method.1. A frank recognition of the impossible. “ Silver and gold have I none.” There are few things more unpleasant than to attempt what is beyond our power. We excite expectations that are doomed to disappointment, and bring ourselves into contempt. Before you promise to do a thing be sure you have the means. Don’ t let people think that you are a philosopher if you have no wisdom, a philanthropist if you have no money, a doctor if you have no medical skill, a preacher if you cannot preach. Moral deformities are what a man pretends to have but has not. 2. Self-abnegation in favour of the able. “ In the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” To put oneself between the helpless and the helper, what more ugly. Who more despicable than the quack who interposes between the diseased and the doctor? Only he who stands between the sinner and the Saviour. If you cannot help a man, do not interfere with those who can. This is the least you can do; but the beautiful action is to get the two together and then stand aside. This is what Peter and John did; and this is what all men do in dealing with diseased souls, get them to Christ and then get out of the way. V. A beautiful experience. “ Immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength.”1. Strength was given to the weak. Strength added to strength is abnormal, and therefore not beautiful. There is no grace in the opulent receiving money, or in the competent receiving help, but frequently the reverse. But if a starving man is fed, and a helpless man assisted to do a task otherwise impossible, a beautiful effect is produced. “ The whole need not a physician,” and to give medicine to the healthy only results in a disagreeable experience. Go, then, to the sinful, and lead them through the stages of repentance and faith until the dead in trespasses and sins become alive unto God through Christ, and the most beautiful of experiences is the result. 2. The weak was made strong. What experience is comparable to the consciousness of strength--strength of body, of intellect, above all of soul--to resist temptation, to live to and work for God. VI. A beautiful result.1. On the part of the man. “ Walking and leaping and praising God.” (1) Progression.(2) Elevation.(3) Worship--the three great characteristics of a personal Christian life. 2. On the part of the multitude. (1) “ They saw and knew.”(2) “ They were filled with wonder and amazement.”(3) Who can doubt that many were convinced and converted? 3. On the part of Peter. It led to two of the most beautiful sermons in all Christian literature. (J. W. Burn.)Beauty, designations of Socrates called beauty a short-lived tyranny; Plato, a privilege of nature; Theophrastus, a silent cheat; Theocritus, a delightful prejudice; Carneades, a solitary kingdom; Homer, a glorious gift of nature; Ovid, a favour bestowed by the gods. God’ s love of the beautiful It is among the mosses of the wall that the richest harvest of beauty and interest may be gathered. Well do I remember the bright July afternoon when their wonderful structure and peculiarities were first unveiled to me by one long since dead, whose cultured eye saw strange loveliness in things which others idly passed, and whose simple warm heart was ever alive to the mute appeals of the humblest wild flower or tiniest moss. There was opened up to me that day a new world of hitherto undreamt of beauty and intellectual delight; in the structural details of the moss which illustrated the lesson I got a glimpse of some deeper aspect of the Divine character than mere intelligence. Methought I saw Him, not as the mere contriver or designer, but in His own loving nature, having His tender mercies over all His works--displaying care for helplessness and minuteness--care for beauty in the works of nature. Small as the object before me was, I was impressed--in the wonder of its structure, at once a means and an end, beautiful in itself and performing its beautiful uses in nature--not with the limited ingenuity of the finite, but with the wisdom and love of an Infinite Spirit. To that one unforgotten lesson, improved by much study of these little objects alike in the closet and in the field, I owe many moments of pure happiness. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Beauty, true and false Hearing a young lady highly praised for her beauty, Gotthold asked, “ What kind of beauty do you mean? Merely that of the body, or that also of the mind? I see well that you have been looking no further than the sign which Nature displays outside the house, but have never asked for the host who dwells within. Beauty is an excellent gift of God, nor has the pen of the Holy Spirit forgotten to speak its praise; but it is virtuous and godly beauty alone which Scripture honours, expressly declaring, on the other hand, that a fair woman which is without discretion is as a jewel of gold in a swine’ s snout (Proverbs 11:22). Many a pretty girl is like the flower called the imperial crown, which is admired, no doubt, for its showy appearance, but despised for its unpleasant odour. Were her mind as free from pride, selfishness, luxury, and levity, as her countenance from spots and wrinkles, and could she govern her inward inclinations as she does her external carriage, she would have none to match her. But who loves the caterpillar and such insects, however showy their appearance, and bright and variegated the colours that adorn them, seeing they injure and defile the trees and plants on which they settle? What the better is an apple for its rosy skin, if the maggot have penetrated and devoured its heart? What care I for the beautiful brown of the nut, if it be worm-eaten, and fill the mouth with corruption? Even so external beauty of person deserves no praise, unless matched with the inward beauty of virtue and holiness. It is, therefore, far better to acquire beauty than to be born with it. The best kind is that which does not wither at the touch of fever, like a flower, but lasts and endures on a bed of sickness, in old age, and even unto death.” Beauty and virtue A gentleman had two children--one a daughter, who was considered plain in her person; the other a son, who was reckoned handsome. One day, as they were playing together, they saw their faces in a looking-glass. The boy was charmed with his beauty, and spoke of it to his sister, who considered his remarks as so many reflections on her want of it. She told her father of the affair, complaining of her brother’ s rudeness to her. The father, instead of appearing angry, took them both on his knees, and with much affection gave them the following advice:--“ I would have you both look in the glass every day: you, my son, that you may be reminded never to dishonour the beauty of your face by the deformity of your actions; and you, my daughter, that you may take care to hide the defect of beauty in your person by the superior lustre of your virtuous and amiable conduct.” Beauty and virtue Beauty unaccompanied by virtue is a flower without perfume. Beauty of a living Christian A true man after Christ will be the most noble and beautiful thing upon the earth--the freest, the most joyous, the most fruitful in all goodness. There is no picture that was ever painted, there is no statue that was ever carved, there was no work of art ever conceived of, that was half so beautiful as the living man, thoroughly developed on the pattern of Christ Jesus. (H. W. Beecher.)Beauty of conscience There is great beauty in conscience. When it tempers the speech, and makes it true and just; when it tempers the actions, and makes them noble and right; when it produces fairness, and honour, and just judgments--how beautiful are all the direct and indirect influences of a Christian conscience in a man! But it sometimes leads Christian men to a sphere of uncharitable judgment. It inspires a high conception of what is right, and men take that conception as a rule by which to measure the conduct of their fellow-men, without consideration of their organisations, without making allowance for their weaknesses, without sympathy with them. There are many men that, adhering strictly to God’ s ideal of rectitude, fail to have sympathy with poor, crippled, and broken-down human nature; and they go aside and away from God just in proportion as they do this. It was this cruelty that brought down from our Saviour His most vehement denunciations; for vice and crime were not regarded by Christ as being as guilty as moral purity without any heart, without any sympathy, without any charitable judgment. (H. W. Beecher.)Beauty an educator If I am to use things that are beautiful, I must remember that beauty is a moral instructor; I must educate myself with it, that I may become a man of more power, and that I may take that power and employ it in my Master’ s cause. If I use beauty as a means of education, I shall be redeemed from the charge of selfishness in it. And if men ask me, “ How can you lay out so much for works of art when there is such a demand for money to support missionaries and mission-schools?” I reply, that I am preparing myself by these things to preach the gospel. They help me. The things that fill my house with beauty are not objects for the gratification of my selfishness, but instrumentalities by which I am qualified to do the work of God in this world. (H. W. Beecher.)Beauty: its utility People seem to think that God must be a great utilitarian, and that He always makes things for uses. Now, there is many a man that, drawing a sword whose blade is wreathed with all manner of traceries, which must have required days and days of exquisite work, will say, “ How foolish it is for a man to spend so much precious time to so little practical purpose! Those things do not make the sword any sharper. Who cares in the day of battle whether there is a picture on the blade of his sword or not?” But when God made rocks, He did not let them alone till He had etched them all over with lines and figures of every description.:He smiled upon the earth, and all sorts of grasses and flowers and vines began to grow upon the surface. And wherever you see that God has walked in the world, you see that He has had an eye to beauty. The unconscious effects of Divine benevolence are everywhere springing out of the ground, and from every tree, from every dead stick, and from every stone. There is something on the globe besides what men can eat, drink, and wear. “ What is this flower good for?” says a man; “ I cannot eat it.” What are you good for, that nothing is good to you except what you can eat? Have you no appetite except in your mouth? I have an appetite in my ear, and the things that give that appetite food--sweet sounds--are something to me. I have an appetite in my eye, and the things that give that appetite food--form, symmetry, and beauty--are something to me. These things are a great deal more food to me than bread. I pity a man whose appetites are confined to physical things, and I like a man whose appetites rise up to nobler things. On every side of us are witnesses that God did not make the world for iron, and gold, and stones, and meat, and drink, and clothes, alone; but for the mind and soul as well. (H. W. Beecher.)Beauty, danger of Gaze not on beauty too much, lest it blast thee; nor too long, lest it blind thee; nor too near, lest it burn thee. If thou like it, it deceives thee; if thou love it, it disturbs thee; if thou hunt after it, it destroys thee. If virtue accompany it, it is the heart’ s paradise; if vice associate it, it is the soul’ s purgatory. It is the wise man’ s bonfire, and the fool’ s furnace. (F. Quarles.) Acts 3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.The reciprocal gaze The gaze was one which read character in the expression of the man’ s face, and discerned that he had faith to be healed (verse 16). And he, in his turn, was to look on them that he might read in their pitying looks, not only the wish to heal, but the consciousness of power to carry the wish into effect. (Dean Plumptre.)The proper effects of the sight of misery When thou seest misery in thy brother’ s face, let him see mercy in thine eye; the more the oil of mercy is:poured on him by thy pity, the more the oil in thy cruse shall be increased by thy piety. (F. Quarles.)Magnetic influence over our fellow-creatures You may take a lily and draw it through the sand, and it comes out clean. Nothing holds to it. You may take a magnet and draw it through, and out come the iron filings with it. The magnet knows and catches that which is germane to it--that which is susceptible to its attraction. There are some natures that are like magnets, and that touch lust in you. You do not know what it is that affects you. You feel unwashed after they are gone. There has been nothing said, and there has been nothing exactly done. It is that subtle magnetic power which feeling has on feeling. If on one instrument in the room you sound a given chord, every other instrument in that room has a tendency to sound its octave. If you go among men of strong natures there is a certain vibration in them of a feeling which is strong in you. When you have been with some persons you feel finer, you feel lifted up. And yet they have not exhorted you. There has been no magisterial instruction whatever given to you. You have drunk the wine of being, and by it you are lifted up and strengthened. (H. W. Beecher.) Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee. Wealth in poverty What a remarkable combination of poverty which can give nothing, with power which can do almost anything! “ Silver and gold have I none” --then we are ready at once to class him with the men from whom no help is to be expected, with those who hang upon others. The speech, however, does not end there. “ Rise up and walk,” says the penniless man. Why, Pilate who was the great man at Jerusalem, or Caesar who was yet greater at Rome, would never have dared to utter anything so bold. Peter, however, ventured in Christ’ s name, and the result was perfect soundness given immediately by the great Author of life, who has made our frames so curiously and can repair them so easily. St. Peter walked through the streets of Jerusalem on that memorable morning an unobserved and undistinguished man. Many passed him by, probably, who had upon them the trappings of worldly wealth, or were swelling with the pride of office, and if they looked the obscure Galilean in the face, would have taken him for one of the many thousand drudges who filled the streets of Jerusalem. Yet was there a hidden power within which made him really greater than the world’ s rulers. And the contrast was equally striking between the utterly defenceless condition of Peter and John and the boldness with which they bore their simple emphatic testimony as witnesses for Christ. Precisely of the same character was the apostle’ s defence of the next day before the council. The history of mankind shows nothing grander than these two appearances of the first preacher of the gospel before two such audiences. But I wish you to notice that in the text we have not only a plain historical account of something said and done by one eminent saint, but-- I. A symbolical account of the Church’ s work in many ages. It was specially true of the apostles, considering the place they filled, the work they wrought, the testimony they bore, the blessings they dispensed, that being “ poor,” they “ made many rich” ; but numbers, like-minded with them, have trod in their steps, and have earned their praise. The Church which they founded has often been poor as they were. Yet at those very times, more than in her more prosperous days, she has said to many a crippled soul, “ Rise up and serve thy God.” Just when she had nothing to bribe men with, when her life would have been destroyed if it had not been “ hidden with Christ in God,” then she has been strengthened with might by Him whose servant and witness she is, and her tones have been louder than before, her port loftier, her message clearer, her triumphs more blessed. She has gone abroad from city to city, or from village to village, proclaiming aloud, “‘ Silver and gold have I none.’ Let the men who covet either go elsewhere and seek them; they are often baits to snare men’ s souls. But I carry with me better treasures. I teach the man of halting pace and crippled limb to run in the ways of righteousness.” Thus often has the Church prophesied in sackcloth, and while many have called her traitress because she would not bow down to images of gold, and some have branded her with heresy, because her message squared not with the creeds that were most in favour at court, others have come thronging from their homes to give her their greeting and blessing. Look, e.g., at the sixteenth century, and the man who did more than any other to distinguish it from the ages of black darkness which went before it. Who was it that said to prostrate Europe, “ Rise up and walk” ? It was the son of a Saxon miner, singing Christmas carols at fourteen, that he might earn a few pence to supply the cravings of hunger, the companion of the poor till the fame of his deeds brought him to the company of princes. There were mighty princes in that day, one of them governing a larger portion of Europe, and swaying its destinies more absolutely than any single potentate of our own time. On one occasion the monk and the emperor met face to face, and who that reads the scene must not see that the man of power grew little by the side of the fearless, upright champion of truth? It was Peter and the Jewish council over again. If. But we will come to humbler scenes and more every-day characters.1. Look at one of God’ s saints. He has lived a life of faith, and in his humble way has honoured God, served the Church, blessed his generation. And now the day is come that he must depart hence. No inventory need be taken of his goods; no will is wanted. Such an one might say to his weeping children, “ Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.” And who shall despise the legacy? It is better than the miser’ s gold. They are not poor, but rich, who inherit his blessing and his prayers; but how often does the portion of the covetous turn to poverty! It looks like a spreading tree rich in foliage and fruit; but a worm is at the root, and lo! one branch withers, and then another, till at last nothing but a bare trunk is left. 2. Take instances from among the living. Look at the lone woman, whose week’ s pittance just buys her week’ s bread, giving kind looks, pleasant words, spare half-hours, to some ailing or afflicted friend. Look at the little child, who never had a sixpence perhaps of its own, dutiful at home, gentle and patient abroad, running on errands for the sick, brightening with its innocent look and cheerful prattle some desolate fireside where infant -voices were once heard, but are now heard no more. Look at some aged man of God, who finds it hard to make his weakened limbs hold out from Sunday to Sunday, ministering to the sick, offering a word in season to the reckless, pointing the dying sinner to the Lamb of God, comforting many a tried and tempted brother with cordials from the storehouse of God’ s promises. Do not all these say in turn, “ Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee” ? Is it not a blessed work, that of ministering out of our little to those who have less? Is not your scanty fare the sweeter when you come home from making some dark chambers more bright, and some heavy hearts more hopeful? Very precious are alms like these, worth a hundred times more than the money gifts of the wealthy, ranking higher in God’ s account, bestowed at greater cost, more blessed proofs of the power of faith. Oh! if the poor, one and all, were a brotherhood of living, loving Christians, they might almost do without help from others, help from each other to each other would be dispensed so wisely and so seasonably, and large-hearted generosity would find such a response in warm-hearted gratitude. 3. God forbid, however, that because they might befriend their equals more, we should befriend any of them less! God forbid that the miserably stinted measure of all our charities should descend to a yet lower standard! (1) Many have leisure. How many hours in a month are given by many to any public object? What is the world the better for their mot being compelled to toil at some allotted task? (2) We might pursue the subject and speak of knowledge, worldly influence, talents of any special kind. Whose are they? Who gave them? Whose are you? Who redeemed you and told you that you were not your own? (3) And if we speak of what man may do for his brother-man, our prayers, surely, must not be forgotten. Who can say to a neighbour, “ What I have give I thee,” if he be not one who remembers them all in turn, when he pleads for his own mercies before the throne of grace? (J. Hampden Gurney, M. A.)What can be done without silver and gold I. Silver and gold can do many things. To speak of them as of no value would be folly. Money--1. Can save our minds from anxiety, supply our wants, educate our children, fill our life with comfort. To speak of such blessings as trivial were both foolish and unthankful. 2. As an instrument of commerce is an essential element in the activity and interest of life. Without it our markets would sink back into the system of barter, and we should be in a ruder condition than those who lived centuries ago. 3. Can he used to relieve distress, to cheer the desolate, to help the struggling. 4. Can be employed in the direct furtherance of religious ends. 5. Gives influence which can be used in the promotion of its highest purposes, and when consecrated by the Christian life of its possessor becomes one of the noblest offerings for the honour of God and the blessing of the world. II. There are some things which silver and cold cannot do.1. You may buy a man’ s work, but you cannot buy his affection. By paying him his wages you do not on that account secure his respect; while by indiscriminate almsgiving it is not certain that you will earn or deserve any real gratitude. 2. The possession of wealth does not improve, but sometimes spoils a man’ s character. It seldom makes him more generous. But those who are very poor may be rich in better things--in the respect and gratitude of others, the sweet temper, the generous heart. How rich the poor are sometimes, in She kindness of disposition which gives happiness to themselves and those around them! 3. Money cannot purchase health, whether for ourselves or those whom we love. David’ s treasury was well filled when Nathan told him his child must die. Hezekiah had proud thoughts of wealth when Isaiah commanded him to “ set his house in order.” 4. Money cannot purchase grace. Simon Magus thought it could; but Peter said, “ Thy money perish with thee.” (Dean Howson.)Poverty and power I. God is no respecter of persons, but as a matter of fact poor men stand foremost in the great human line. Weigh what Dives has done for the world, and what the penniless. Because Peter and John, though they had not a penny in their purses, had something to give to that poor man, and to all poor men, and gave it, we are here to-day, and the great world lives. He was the poorest of the poor who brought that gift to us. “ Foxes have holes,” etc.; and by hands as poor the gift has been distributed. Perhaps the most heavenly men and women living are among the poorest. The men who have drawn forth the great inventions, poems, thoughts which have blessed mankind have seldom enriched themselves by their toils. They have loved their work too well for that. The world is not bountiful to genius and to love. And thank God it is not: genius lives on a nobler nourishment, and love has a nobler hire. Socrates, Paul, Epictetus, Dante, Luther, Milton found it so. And yet that we may not idolise poverty the world’ s most glorious psalms came forth from one of the most splendid and prosperous monarchies of the world. But David knew want before he came to wealth, and perhaps his best work was done in his most struggling days. Still there are eminent instances of the noblest service to humanity from those in the loftiest station to rebuke the supposition that any class has a monopoly of the highest ministries. Sokya-Mouni was a prince, and few out of Christianity have done such work for man as his; and our own great Alfred did, perhaps, the noblest life-work that was ever done by one man for his generation from the height of a throne. The poor may be bigots as well as the rich. St. Giles is as contemptuous as St. James, and God rebukes them both. II. What are silver and gold compared with the rich endowment of faculty with which God has blessed our race? Which of you now, moaning over your poverty, would exchange for the wealth of Dives, your sight, hearing, or soundness of limb? It would do us good, when we make our plaint against providence, if God compelled us to make the exchange awhile, and try how we liked a splendid paralysis, a gilded blindness or deafness, a park big enough for a province and a shrivelled limb. What cries would rise to heaven for poverty again! Take this healed man, as he clings to Peter and John, half afraid of a relapse, and suggest that he go back to his cripple’ s lair with a mountain of gold for his store. Faculty is the true wealth of man. There is many a poor workman trudging to his work at sunrise who has a joy in beholding the pomp and glow of the eastern heavens, hearing the lark’ s glad carol, and bathing his brow in the clear air such as Dives would give any price to enjoy. III. If it is a God-like gift to bestow health on a crippled body, what must it be to give health to a crippled soul? The healing of bodily disease was but the mere fringe of the work of Christ and His apostles. The real disease that paralyses man underlies all that. Sin makes disease the first form of death in every bodily organ. You know why there are so many bleared eyes, bloated faces, shaking hands, and limping feet; and Christ knows too, and He knows also that the only way, in the long run and on a large scale, to heal sick bodies is to save sick souls. And He who can do this for you gives you a boon of which gold and silver yield no measures. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Apostolic poverty and power contrasted with Papal wealth and weakness Once when Thomas Aquinas visited mediaeval Rome he was shown through all the sumptuously furnished rooms of the Papal Palace, he became almost as much fatigued and dazed as was the queen of Sheba, when she had been dazzled with the riches of Solomon’ s kingdom; and then it is related as a fine pleasantry of the Pontiff himself, that he remarked to him, “ The Church cannot say in our times, Silver and gold have I none!” And Aquinas replied quickly, “ No, indeed! neither can the Church say now, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Poverty of the rich A shrewd old gentleman once said to his daughter, “ Be sure, my dear, you never marry a poor man; but remember that the poorest man in the world is one that has money and nothing else.” (Christian Age.)Poverty a stimulus A nobleman who painted remarkably well for an amateur, showing one of his pictures to Poussin, the latter exclaimed, “ Your lordship only requires a little poverty to make you a complete artist.” (Horace Smith.)Something better than money A poor converted woman of India said, “ I have no money to give to missions, but I am able to speak of the Saviour to my neighbour.” Could a volume tell more of the duty of the people of this country who have found Christ? Said a young man at a meeting, “ I worked for Mr. , a well-known Christian, for eight years, and he never Spoke to me of religion.” The woman in India had learned what is better than money--the power of personal influence. Money is not omnipotent We sometimes think that money is omnipotent, that it can purchase for us every good thing. This is a great mistake. Money cannot buy love. It often wins its semblance. Summer friends swarm around him who rolls in wealth, but the love of a mother, the fidelity of a father, the affection of a sister, the sympathy of a brother, the trust of a friend, are never bought with gold. Money cannot bring contentment, and “ Our content is our best having.” Money alone will not secure for us a good education. A rich man, who had neglected his early opportunities, was heard to say sadly, “ I would give all my wealth for a thorough education and well-trained mind.” But his money and his riches were alike unavailing. Plenty of money will not of itself insure culture and gentility, yet next to Christian graces and robust health nothing is so desirable as refinement and pleasing, self-possessed manners. The wealth of a Croesus could not give a peaceful conscience. Sin scourges the soul of the rich as surely as of the poor. The poorest boy or girl who has “ always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men,” is richer than the richest with a “ conscience seared with a hot iron.” A good character is more precious than gold. Yet money is not to be despised. If we have it let us accept it as God’ s gift, and use it, not so much for our own pleasure as for the benefit of others. If we have it not let us believe that for our good it has been withheld from us. But whether we have it or not let us remember that it cannot purchase love, contentment, education, culture, refinement, nor a good conscience, and that it will not secure for us either peace, purity, holiness, or heaven. (Christian Age.)What is money “ What is money, father?” asked a sickly, motherless child. “ Why, gold and silver and copper, my boy.” “ Yes; I don’ t mean that; I mean, What’ s money, after all? What can it do?” “ Oh,” replied the purse-proud father, “ money can do anything!” “ Anything! then why did not money save me my mother?” The father felt puzzled, and the boy continued, “ It can’ t make me strong or well either, father.” And the question, “ What is money, after all?” is left to work its impression for good upon many minds and hearts. Poverty no hindrance to beneficence A year or two ago a missionary in one of the South Sea Islands wished very much to get a translation of the Gospels printed in one of the languages of the island where he was working. It is not in the South Seas as it is with us. We have one language which can be understood nearly everywhere all over the United Kingdom. In the New Hebrides and other island groups, not only has every island a different language, but often different parts of the same island speak different languages. This missionary had translated the Gospels. He was going over to Sydney with some arrowroot and sago, which his poor people had contributed out of their scanty stores, in order that they might have the Gospels to read in their own tongues and in their own homes. He had saved a little of his own also to add to the offerings. But on board the steamer to Sydney he met a printer, and the printer proved to him that he had not one quarter enough money to pay for the printing. So the missionary was much cast down, and thought that he would have all his trouble and long journey for nothing. When he was landed on the quay at Sydney a little boy, the son of the gentleman with whom he was to stay in the city, met him, and holding out half a sovereign to the missionary, said, “ This is to help to print your Bible. My father told me that you had come all this way to get the Bible printed for the poor natives. I had not any money, but father said I might run messages and carry parcels at the warehouse. So I did, and here is my week’ s pay.” Brave boy and happy missionary! The half-sovereign did not of course print the Bible, but it helped, and it encouraged the missionary to trust God, who can raise up help for His servants among little boys and kings of great empires. So much interest was aroused in Sydney by the story of the little boy, which the missionary told at many a meeting, that not only were the Gospels printed, but money was gathered to print the whole Bible as soon as the missionary got time to translate it. So the missionary went away back to his island home, glad and thankful. (S. R. Crockett.)The true sympathy The richness of any material lessens the necessity for adornment. The finest gems are the simplest set, because no environment can add either to their beauty or value. The story of the Beautiful gate is in itself a gem of such inherent worth, that, like Plato’ s Republic, it needs no rhetorical setting. We can hardly imagine the introduction to any great truth told with greater simplicity than this: “ Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.” And yet these words lead us to the consideration of a truth comprehensive of the whole scope of practical Christianity. Our first lesson is this--1. The disciples of Christ in the regular performance of their daily duties have ample opportunities for charity, and hence the necessity of mutual helpfulness. Objects of charity naturally divide themselves into two classes: first, those who are strong enough to approach us for help; and, secondly, those who are so weak that we must approach them to give help. Peter dealt with the latter class. While energy lies at the basis of benevolent deeds, yet no extraordinary exertion is required to discover the impotent men of this world. God usually finds them for us somewhere along the line of our daily duty. God may discover one man’ s object of charity in the heathenism of China; another’ s on the frontiers of our own civilisation; and yours between your own dwelling and the village church. 2. Wherever there is ability to do good there is always close at hand some object that needs it. The Christian system is so manifold in its organism that a place is afforded for every variety and degree of talents. No Christian is wholly lacking in ability. We are all creatures of want, and mutually dependent on one another. In practice, as in theory, the subjective and the objective are in juxtaposition. We are sometimes misled by the impression that only great deeds count in the kingdom of God. 3. Every Christian can impart vastly more than the impotent man anticipates. Peter’ s object of charity was a most dismal sight. Placed before a temple whose cost and magnificence filled all the world with its fame. It is the old, old story repeated again and again to the burning shame of the ages, that costly temples can be built while the more valuable temple of humanity must beg beneath their sculptured arches for bread. We may pause to inquire what Peter had to give more valuable than silver and gold. He had the Christ of history, the Christ of his own rich experience, to impart, which was infinitely more valuable than all the world’ s material treasure. “ Christ, Christ,” I hear the impotent man repeat, “ what need I of Christ? I only want the means of driving away the pangs of starvation.” Then says Peter, with all the authority accorded to an inspired apostle, “ In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” You will notice that the man had merely asked for the means of buying bread; he receives the power to earn his own bread, which was far better. Do we not all receive from God more than we ask for, and infinitely more than we deserve? Two inferences from the above. Men are everywhere about us in spiritual impotency, and they recognise it not. We, as Christ’ s disciples, have power to help them more than they anticipate, or we ourselves imagine, until it has been put forth. If religion is of supreme moment to the human soul, how is spiritual impotency possible? Simply because the sinner’ s free will positively refuses the spiritual antidote. We have seen that want and the ability to relieve it go hand in hand. Is it true in the vegetable world where by the side of every poison grows its antidote? Is it true in the animal world where the bitten creature knows where to go for remedial efficacy? Who tells the birds of the tropics that a certain leaf placed over the nest protects their little ones from preying reptiles? Is it likely that “ man, the paragon of animals,” when bitten by sin should be in ignorance as to the antidote? Let the spiritual impotent “ fasten his eyes” on the Truth, and he will receive a larger blessing than he anticipates. 4. Through human means a complete work is accomplished by bringing Christ into actual contact with human wants. There is a mighty power in human sympathy. But sympathy in the abstract is meaningless. It has content only as it is applied to an object. There are two ways in which we may express our sympathy with sinners. First by mingling with them for mere companionship, which always lowers us to their level; and, secondly, by mingling with them for the sole purpose of doing them good, which tends to raise them to our level. We need never be ashamed nor afraid to go wherever we can take Christ with us. It is only through personal, sympathetic contact that the impotent men of this world are likely to know of God and the power of His salvation. Suppose Peter had sent a written message from his home to the impotent man, saying, “ In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk,” the presumption is that the man would have died as he had lived, impotent. No, the two must come into vital, sympathetic contact. The weakness of the one must arouse the curative energies of the other as they associate. 5. The place where impotent men first find their Lord is always a beautiful gate to them. The place of our natural birth is dear to us. But the place of our spiritual new birth cannot be any the less so. It is a beauty that overrides every material consideration. Thus through life by doing and receiving good are beautiful gates made. By doing good along the quiet lines of our daily duties not only do we confirm our own Christian characters, but strengthen the characters and increase the joys of our fellow-men. (C. H. Ricketts.)Responsibility for power Pentecostal energy now begins to find one of its spheres. The power of preaching Christ, crucified and risen, had already been proved. The power of healing was now put forth. The power of testifying before rulers and princes was soon to be shown. The power of toiling, suffering, and dying for Christ would ere long find its expression. Observe-- I. The consciousness of power “ Such as I have give I thee.” It must have been a very high and inspiring moment for Peter when he thus felt the healing energy of Christ ready to work through him. We have often been disposed to envy the skilful physician who, when visiting a diseased sufferer, is so conscious of mastery over the disease that he is able to say, “ I can heal you.” So many of the sorrows of our life master us that we feel to grow big when we are conscious of the power to make and master any one of them. A simple illustration taken from the life of M’ Cheyne sets this point clearly: “ His custom in preparing for the pulpit was to impress on his memory the substance of what he had before carefully written, and then to speak as he found liberty. One morning, as he rode rapidly along to Dunipace, his written sermons were dropped on the roadside. This accident prevented him from having the opportunity of preparing in his usual manner, but he was enabled to preach with more than his usual freedom. For the first time in his life he discovered that he possessed the gift of extemporaneous composition, and learned, to his own surprise, that he had more composedness of mind and command of language than he had believed.” That is to say, through this providential circumstance he was awakened to the consciousness of power. What we need in these our times is a higher faith in the varied and abundant gifts with which the Church and the individual Christian are endowed, and a keener power of discernment to find these gifts in ourselves and in others. But powers differ in different persons, both in kind and in degree. None are without some kind of faculty and ability which they may lay on the altar of God’ s service.1. What is called “ wealth” is power. All beyond needful expenditure is a man’ s wealth. Wealth is what I can save and win by self-denial for the service of others and the glory of God. In that sense we are all of us more or less wealthy, and we might be much wealthier than we are. Such wealth is holy power. A poor widow could glorify God with the wealth of her two mites. But some have wealth in the commoner sense. And your wealth is power--a dreadful power if it has not been first presented to God to be used for Him; a glorious power if it has. 2. Intellect is power. Every man who knows a little more than his neighbour has the trust of a power. It is evident that he can teach and lead others. Surely these times are making larger demands every day on Christian intelligence in these sceptical days. The battle of Christian truth is as that great battle of Inkerman--a soldiers’ battle, a people’ s battle--each one of us in our varied spheres making Christian knowledge and experience tell upon the conservation of the Christian verities. 3. Art is power. Such painters as Holman Hunt and Sir Noel Paten are but the high examples of endowments that come in measure to some of us. In Sunday-school spheres and among the children there is room for the consecration of the draughtsman’ s skill. And still there is given to men and women the Divine gift of song, and they may “ sing for Jesus.” No door will be shut against your song. 4. But every Christian has spiritual power. In this he is like Peter. He may, if he will, lay hold of and use the great power of God. But this lies dormant in so many of us. We could give something to men, something healing, vitalising, the very thing which the dying world wants. And what more do we want? Only what Peter had that day--the consciousness of power. This would stir in us holy impulses, would shake us out of selfishness and apathy. Remember that the words “ I cannot” have no place upon a Christian’ s lips, if they are applied to any right and good and holy work. Thou hast power with God and with men, and thou mightest prevail. II. The responsibility of conscious power. All God’ s gifts to us are for our giving away to others. Keep any of God’ s gifts to yourself and they will speedily rot. You can no more store up God’ s present-day manna than the old Israelites could store up the bread that came down from heaven. If He makes an arm strong, it is for work. If He makes a leg strong, it is for walking in search of somebody to help. If He makes a voice strong, it is that we may plead earnestly with our fellow-men for Him, or that we may win men with the gospel-song. If He makes a heart strong, it is that we may inspire others to a nobler life. Try to dam up God’ s living streams of blessing, and make a pond in your own grounds, and they will cease to be living streams, they will soon become disease-breeding, stagnant waters, and you will have to be content with the pond, for God will cut off the waters at the fountain-head. “ He that hath not (does not make a worthy use of what he has), from him shall be taken away that which he seemeth to have.” (R. Tuck, B. A.)In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.-- The power of Jesu’ s name Consider-- I. Man morally crippled, helpless, and wretched. Bodily infirmities are the shadows of the sins and weaknesses of the soul. All sin works by privation. It shuts up senses and organs which God meant to be inlets of joy and channels of life. But there is something very suggestive in this cripple’ s case--he never knew the joy of movement, “ Lame from his mother’ s womb.” Can you remember the time when sin was not a source of suffering and weakness? How long have you been borne by the storm of passion into excesses and follies when you have craved the beggar’ s dole? You ought to be taking your part with the angels in God’ s great workshop; but where are you? In the devil’ s, where you labour and are sheltered and sleep like the brute through long monotonous years. A change sometimes breaks the monotony--quarrels, drinkings, and all the rest, and I have heard men talk of this as life! What stroke has crippled you to put up with such a life as this--without God, joy, hope, like the beasts that perish?’ Are you in love with such a life, poor cripple? or are you heartily sick of it, as this man was of his? II. There is a name which can make you whole again, sound, glad, and free. Your soul wants what that poor cripple’ s body wanted--power, and that power is in Christ alone. A man whose system is worn out can be patched up awhile by the physicians, but a new gush of life into it is what he needs. They try to do something like it sometimes, they pour some fresh young life-blood into the exhausted veins. But this is what Christ can truly do for your soul. His life will pass into every crippled faculty and unbind it, and open to your powers a field of the most glorious activity. Lie no longer moaning, “ O wretched man that I am!” “ The gift of God is eternal life.” III. This is the time to believe on that name and to rise up and walk. You have been there fearfully too long. How much of your time has been spent wearily in the devil’ s service? How much faculty, how much life is left for God? But will God welcome such a wreck as I am? Let that poor cripple and Christ’ s works of mercy answer. “ The blind receive their sight,… the lame walk.” They were mostly broken fragments of’ humanity that He gathered. Such as you He needs. You have made many an effort at reformation, but the poor palsied limbs have doubled up again. Now rise once more; there is a hand outstretched to you--I.ay hold of it. Refuse it, and to-morrow all power to make the effort may be gone. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)The difference between the miracles of Christ and those of the apostles This difference is here observable. They performed them through Christ, by virtue of His name and authority. They were mere instruments; He was the efficient agent. Christ, on the other hand, performed His miracles in His own name, and by His own authority. He wrought independently. His language was that of omnipotence, theirs was that of faith in Him. He said, “ I say unto thee, Arise” ; they said, “ In the name of Jesus rise up and walk.” He was the Messiah, the Son; they were the servants of the household. (P. J. Gloag, D. D.) Acts 3:8 And he leaping up stood. The healed man’ s activity and gratitude The evangelist describes minutely the actions of the lame man as soon as he began to believe that he was healed. First he leaped forth, releasing himself from the hold of Peter, or leaped up, as if trying the strength of his muscle; then he stood on his feet for the first time in his life, and walked around, to see whether the same power of walking belonged to him which all that were about had. But the pen of the writer, not content with this, adds graphically, “ And he entered with them,” unwilling to be separated from the instruments of his cure, “ into the temple,” practising his newly acquired powers without the ability to restrain himself, now walking, now leaping, and all the while praising God. “ Then did the lame man leap as an hart.” He was of another kind from the nine lepers, who never looked back to give thanks to the Lord Jesus. (Pres. Woolsey.)Practical gratitude They who have witnessed our frailties should also attest our conversion and gratitude. Our gratitude is false and of no avail unless accompanied with newness of life; and this cannot endure long if our thankful sense of the grace to which we owe our deliverance declines. (Quesnel.)The responsibilities of the saved Sin has reduced the ,soul to a state of impotence. It has not destroyed the soul’ s powers, but only disabled them. When a man is saved, therefore, his crippled powers are straightened and strengthened, and his new vocation is to use them. I. What faculties are crippled by sin and restored by Christ?1. Faith. This exists in every soul, but is dormant or perverted. Christ straightens it out and empowers it as an eye to see, a hand to grasp Him and heavenly things. 2. Love. No man is destitute of this: but it is wrenched away from its highest Object, who is its true life, and rests upon unworthy objects often, on secondary objects at best whom it cannot love fully, because unrecruited by the love of God. “ We love (R.V.) because He first loved us.” Salvation largely consists in the conversion of the heart, the turning of all the affections to Christ, by whom they are invigorated and sanctified, and made to flow in worthy channels. 3. The will. Paul has given us a graphic picture of what that is in the natural man (Romans 7:1-25.) and what Christ makes it (Romans 8:1-39. and his own life). 4. The active powers. These again are paralysed for all spiritual purposes, but energetic enough in the cause of evil--the tongue: how silent for God, how glib for self or for folly or sin! the hands, how idle for God, how active in other causes! Christ restores these to their true uses, and consecrates them to the service of God. II. The restored faculties must be employed. Otherwise they will fall into their old decrepitude. Had the lame man returned to his haunt, and neglected to use his limbs, those limbs would soon have become helpless once more. To neglect faith, love, resolution and work for God is to forfeit them. The action of the healed man may illustrate the manner in which our restored faculties are to be employed.1. With alacrity, “ leaping up.”2. Progressively, “ walked.”3. In union with the Church, “ entered with them into the temple.”4. Thankfully, “ praising God.” (J. W. Burn.)Praise breaking forth Wherever God’ s grace is discerned, and His love is welcomed, there praise breaks forth, as surely as streams pour from the cave of the glacier when the sun of summer melts it, or earth answers the touch of spring with flowers. (A. Maclaren.)The gate Beautiful I. The close proximity of physical deformity to natural beauty. II. The strange association of spiritual riches with temporal poverty. III. The scribes transformation of popular indifference into abounding amazement. The gospel had been applied, put to the test, and had succeeded in a superhuman manner.1. It had come into positive contact with poverty and suffering.2. It had exalted the whole nature of the man.3. It had set the man on a new course of life. (F. W. Brown.)Praise A Christian man ought to be like a horse that has bells on his head, so that he cannot go anywhere without ringing them and making a noise. His whole life should be a psalm, every step should be in harmony, every thought should constitute a note, every word he utters should be a component part of the joyful psalm. It is a blessed thing to see a Christian going about his business like the high-priest of old, who wherever he went made music with the golden bells. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Thankfulness exceptional It is said of a lately deceased benefactor of a Western college in the United States that, on a recent commencement day, a lady stepped up to him and said, “ Governor Hardin, I wish to thank you for this splendid college, and to say that my daughters, who graduate to-day, owe you a debt of gratitude they can never repay.” The white-haired old man broke down, and, while the tears filled his eyes, he faltered out, “ Madam, you are the first person to express such a sentiment to me.” How many men who secure scholarships and fellowships, or receive other benefactions, ever think of or thank the generous givers? Thanksgiving expressed “ When a boy,” said a prominent member of a church, “ I was much helped by Bishop Hamline, who visited at a house where I was. Taking me aside, the Bishop said, ‘ When in trouble, my boy, kneel down and ask God’ s help; but never climb over the fence into the devil’ s ground and then kneel down and ask help. Pray from God’ s side of the fence.’” “ Of that,” said he, “ I have thought every day of my life since.” Continuing, he remarked, “ Sanford Cobb, the missionary to Persia, helped me in another way. Said he, ‘ Do you ever feel thankful when God blesses you?’ ‘ Always.’ ‘ Did you ever tell Him so?’ ‘ Well, I don’ t know that I have.’ ‘ Well, try it, my young friend, try it, try it. Tell Him so; tell Him aloud; tell Him so that you are sure you will hear it yourself.’ That was a new revelation. I found that I had been only glad, not grateful. I have been telling Him with grateful feelings ever since, to my soul’ s help and comfort.’’ Acts 3:11-26 All the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’ s, greatly wondering.Solomon’ s porch The porch--or better, portico or cloister--was outside the temple, on the eastern side. It consisted in the Herodian Temple, of a double row of Corinthian columns, about thirty-seven feet high, and received its name as having been in part constructed, when the temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel, with the fragments of the older edifice. The people tried to persuade Herod Agrippa I. to pull it down and rebuild it, but he shrank from the risk and cost of such an undertaking (Jos., “ Ant.” 20:9, § 7). It was, like the porticoes in all Greek cities, a favourite place of resort, especially as facing the morning sun in winter. (See John 10:23.) The memory of what bad then been the result of their Master’ s teaching must have been fresh in the minds of the two disciples. Then the people had complained of being kept in suspense as to whether Jesus claimed to be the Christ, and, when He spoke of being One with the Father, had taken up stones to stone Him (John 10:31-33). Now they were to hear His name as Holy and Just, as “ the Servant of Jehovah,” as the very Christ (Acts 3:13-14; Acts 3:18). (Dean Plumptre.)Solomon’ s porch--a hallowed spot for Peter It must have been a spot filled with cherished memories for the apostle. Every Jew naturally venerated this cloister, because it was Solomon’ s; just as men in the grandest modern cathedral still love to point out the smallest relic of the original structure out of which the modern building grew. At San Clemente, in Rome, the priests delight to show the primitive structure where they say St. Clement ministered about a.d. 100. At York the vergers will indicate far down in the crypt the fragments of the earliest Saxon church, which once stood where that splendid cathedral now rears its lofty arches. So, too, the Jews naturally cherished this limb of continuity between the ancient and the modern temples. But for St. Peter this Solomon’ s porch must have had special memories over and above the patriotic ideas that were linked with it. He could not forget that the very last feast of the Dedication which the Master had seen on earth, He walked in this porch, and there, in His conversation with the Jews, claimed an equality with the Father which led them to make an attempt on His life. Here, then, it was that within twelve months the apostle Peter makes a similar claim on his Master’ s behalf. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)Misapprehensions removed Here was a congregation worthy of an apostle; and Peter was ready for the occasion. The people were excited. They “ ran together.” This made it possible to address them all at once. They were amazed, and were, therefore, in an inquiring mood. Peter-- I. Called his hearers to quiet thoughtfulness. He asked them the cause of their amazement. Did he pause after his questions to let the hearer’ s mind balance itself? The miracle had aroused attention which must now be steadied, in order that judgment might be calmly exercised. II. Corrected the supposition that the miracle had been done by human ability. Some supposed the cause was in their magical power or extraordinary godliness. But this was a superficial and God-dishonouring hypothesis, as is that which attributes the results of preaching to the preacher’ s eloquence, logic, or “ magnetism.” Peter corrected this, and we say that conviction, penitence, conversion, and the power to live holy is all of God’ s grace. III. Cleared a way for the truth. If false suppositions had not been removed the true view of the miracle would have been prevented; but by contradicting error Peter brought the minds of the hearers to need a true explanation. So long as astronomers believed the earth to be the centre of the solar system, many false suppositions had to be made, and many phenomena were misinterpreted. Ptolemaic error blocked out Copernican truth. But when the fundamental error had been overthrown the chariot of knowledge could proceed. See the magnificent results in the precision and fulness of modern astronomical science. Conclusion: Let us learn to remove error in order that the way of truth may be open. Let us do this for penitents whom some error may keep in bondage, for inquirers lest some false notion blind them. (A. Hudson.)And when Peter saw it, he answered.-- A greater miracle 1. This speech is a greater miracle than the cure. The great miracles are all wrought within. Compare Peter before the resurrection with the Peter of this speech, and tell me what has happened. Surely a great cure has been wrought up,m him. You cannot work miracles, because you yourselves are not miracles. We approach the whole case from the outside, and with many lame suggestion we attempt to mend the world’ s sad condition. We must be greater ourselves than any work which it is possible for ourselves to do. 2. In this speech Peter vindicated his apostolic primacy. You might have asked questions concerning Peter’ s superiority before, but after this all men feel that the first place belongs to him. Any primacy that is not based on merit must go down. For time you may bolster up a man; but a superiority of position that is not based upon fundamental and vital merit falls before the testing touch of circumstances and time. So let this book of God stand or fall. The priests cannot keep it up. Parliaments and thrones cannot give the Bible its lasting primacy. If the inspiration he not in the book itself you cannot communicate it; and if the inspiration really be in the book itself you can never talk it down. By force you may quiet it for a time, but truth is eternal, it returns. 3. The danger is that we be not just to such men as Peter. We may take this speech as a mere matter of course. We hear an eloquent man drop sentence after sentence of singular beauty, and think that he does so simply as a matter of course. In every such sentence there is a drop of sacrificial blood. True eloquence is forced out of men. This speech was not a prepared oration which he took out and read; it was as extemporaneous as was the event itself. The looking people make the eloquent preacher. All the people fastened their eyes upon Peter and John; and, as the lame man had drawn out of Peter spiritual power by his magnetic look, so the people drew out of Peter still higher power by their marvelling. 4. In reply to that wonder Peter declines any primacy based on purely personal considerations. “ This is not our doing. It is the Lord’ s doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes.” And, with inspired wisdom, he magnified the occasion by attaching the miracle to the omnipotence of a God about whose existence the Jew had no doubt. “ The God of Abraham,” etc. The apostles did not snatch at praise for themselves. They maintained their royal supremacy by operating in the presence of the people merely as the servants and instruments of God. We must return to that allegiance to the Divine name and throne. 5. Not only does Peter decline the implied eulogium, he takes upon himself to cut the people to pieces. No great progress can be made in moral reform until our apostles slay us. Flattery will do nothing for us--at most, will but mislead or bewilder us. Hear his speech, “ Whom ye delivered up,” etc. That man must succeed in his ministry, or he must be killed! Such a speaker of such an address cannot occupy a middle position. When did the apostles speak with bated breath and whispering humbleness? When did they try to make the best of the case by appeasing the spirit of the people, and by an endeavour to placate sensibilities which had been strongly excited? So we come back to a truth with which this message has made us familiar. We are not to put away the Crucifixion as an historical circumstance, nineteen centuries old. The Crucifixion takes place every day. Realise this circumstance, and there will go up the old cry, and after it will come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. 6. In verse 17 the tone changes with wondrous skill. The gospel is not an impeachment only--it is an offer, and he introduces this new phase of the subject with a word which united himself with the people--“ brethren.” This verse repeats the very prayer of Christ Himself upon the Cross. So he opens a great door of hope. The Church ought to be fertile in its invention of opportunities for the worst men to return. Tell the very worst man that the door of hope, if not wide open, is yet ajar, and that the very faintest touch of his fingers will cause it to fall back to the very wall. 7. Then comes the keyword of apostolic preaching, and the secret of apostolic success “ repent” (verse 19). It is like the sword of which David said, “ Give me that; there is none like it.” This word “ repent” goes to the root and to the reality of the case. Who has repented? I do not ask who has been alarmed by threatened consequences, and who therefore has professed a change of habit and of purpose. My question is a deeper one. Who has felt heart-brokenness on account of sin, as a spiritual offence against God? Have we not forgotten that old word? Has the Church become too dainty to use it? 8. There is another word in verse 19 of as much importance--“ therefore” --which refers to the historical and logical argument upon which Christianity is founded. Peter having gone back to “ God of Abraham,” etc., and having traced the history of the Crucifixion, and having explained the secret by which the lame man had been healed, etc., gathers himself up in this one supreme effort, and says, “ Repent ye, therefore” --for no sentimental reasons, but on the historical ground of the ancient dealings of God with His people, and because of the culmination of those dealings in the recovery of the man who is standing there. 9. Then Peter’ s speech proceeds like a deep, broad river, and ends with “ Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you.” Apostolic preaching was tender, but it kept itself to this one theme. And because it did so it turned the world upside down. Preacher, come back from all intellectual vagaries, romances, and dreamings, and stand to your one work of accusing men of sins, and then revealing the living Son of God, who came with the one purpose only of blessing men. Blessing and iniquity never can co-exist in the same heart. The iniquity must go, and the blessing will come. The wickedness must depart, and then angels will hasten into the soul from which it has gone out. (J. Parker, D. D.)The miracle at the Beautiful gate as a text It is a law of mind to look through its dominant sentiments, and to subordinate all outward things to its dominant purposes. The apostles were full of thoughts pertaining to Christ, and they looked at all events through this medium. I. Peter traces the miracle to its true Author.1. Negatively. He disclaims the authorship--a remarkable demonstration of his honesty. Had he taken the credit his social power would have been regnant at once, and would have had an immense following. And the people were willing to give it him. 2. Positively. He shows-- (1) That their God had wrought the miracle. “ The God of Abraham.” (2) That their God had wrought it in order to glorify His Son--not merely to restore the invalid--and to attest the Messiahship of Him whom they had put to death. II. He connects the miracle with the name of Christ. He had unbounded faith in Jesus, and had therefore power to perform works that should demonstrate His Divine authority; and the effects produced on the bodies of men were only faint types of the results which faith in Christ will produce on souls. Jesus is here presented--1. In the titles that belong to Him. (1) “ Holy One and Just.”(2) “ Prince of Life.” 2. In the history of their conduct. (1) They delivered Him up.(2) They denied Him, their Messiah, in the presence of a heathen scoffer.(3) This was done in opposition to the tyrant’ s wish.(4) They preferred a murderer.(5) They killed Him. 3. In His relation to God. God had-- (1) Glorified Him.(2) Raised Him from the dead.(3) Overruled their conduct towards Him. Observe-- (a) It was the purpose of the Father that Christ should suffer as announced in prophecy (Psalms 22:1-31; Isaiah 53:3-10; Daniel 9:26). (b) That the conduct of the Jews was made to subserve this purpose. So perfect is the control which the Monarch of the universe has over His creatures, that He makes the greatest rebels work out His grandest plans. (c) The Jews were ignorant of what they were doing. This was said not to extenuate their guilt, but to convict them of their folly and impotence. III. He develops the Christian plan of restitution (verses 19-26). Which--1. Aims at a thorough spiritual reformation as a necessary condition. This includes-- (1) A change of heart. “ Repent,” etc. (2) Forgiveness of sins. “ That your sins may be blotted out.” (3) Invigoration of being. “ When the times of refreshing shall come.” 2. Is ever under the direction of God. “ From the presence of the Lord” “ i.e., by His providence. Observe-- (1) That the invigorating influence of the scheme is from God. The times of refreshing are from His presence. (2) That the chief Agent of this scheme is from God. “ He shall send Jesus.” (3) That the revelation of this scheme is from God. “ Which God hath spoken,” etc. 3. Shall realise its end before the final advent of Christ. “ Whom the heavens must receive,” etc. Christ is now in heaven, but His work proceeds on earth, and when His work is accomplished He will come again, and not before. Pre-millennialism is a delusion. 4. Is the grand burden of prophetic truth. Observe-- (1) The cases of prophetic reference to Christ. (a) Moses (verse 22; cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19, LXX.). (b) Samuel (verse 24). Moses and Samuel are the most distinguished names in Jewish history; but they are mentioned as samples. (c) All the prophets. We may not be able to trace references to Christ in each, yet in the majority of the prophetic books there are notes of hope struck from the harp of future ages, flashes of light from that bright day which Abraham saw afar. (2) The reason for these references (verse 25). 5. Was first to be presented to the Jews (verse 26). Christ was sent-- (1) To bless, not to curse. Justly might we have expected malediction. (2) To bless with the greatest blessing. Iniquity is the greatest curse; to men from that is the greatest boon. (3) To bless the greatest sinners first. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Peter’ s sermon How he denounces (verses 14, 15); how he comforts and grows gentle (verses 17, 18); how he pleads (verse 19); how he promises (verse 20); how he proves (verse 21). It makes one think another Joseph has come to the pulpit (Genesis 45:4-5). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Peter’ s address I. Jesus presented. II. Sinners condemned. III. Pardon proclaimed. (J. T. McCrory.)Peter’ s address He-- I. Begins (verses 12-16) by disclaiming the miracle as his own and ascribing it to Christ. II. Goes on (verses 13-16), to set before the people their sin. III. Continues (verses 19, 21) by holding out a hope of mercy. IV. Crowns all (verses 19, 21) by a summons to repentance and a changed life. (Monday Club.)Peter’ s address I. The exordium is stamped with humility (verse 12). II. The body is marked by fidelity (verses 13-18). III. The application is redolent of mercy (verses 19-26). (J. Bennett, D. D.)Peter’ s speech This was in thorough consonance with the miracle. The people were excited, the apostles were calm; the people clamoured in darkness, the apostles spoke from the serene elevation of cloudless height; the people were startled by a spectacle, the apostles were controlled by law. Was it not almost a mockery to ask the people why they marvelled? Are great works to be regarded without surprise? Are men to become familiar with the outstretched arm of God and to be calm? The power that can restore is one that can destroy; what if that dread power be preparing itself to strike? It would strike but once--its stroke would be death. Peter’ s speech may be regarded as showing-- I. The false method of looking at human affairs--“ As though by our own power,” etc.1. The visible is not the final. 2. Second causes do not explain life. There is a false method of looking at the results of-- (1) Preaching.(2) Business.(3) Thinking. The man who does not look beyond second causes lives in distraction--in chaos! II. The true method of regarding extra, ordinary events--“ God hath glorified His Son Jesus.” “ Faith in His name hath made this man strong.” That is the sublime explanation of all recovery, progress, abiding strength and comfort. Forget God, and society in every phase and movement becomes a riddle without an answer; its happiness is but a lucky chance--its misery an unexpected cloud. Regard life as controlled and blessed by the mediation of Christ, then--1. There is discipline in every event--design, meaning, however untoward and unmanageable the event. 2. A purpose of restoration runs through all human training. See how new, how beautiful, life would be, if after all its happy experiences we could say, “ God hath glorified His Son Jesus” ! Physical recovery; spiritual forgiveness; special interpositions; even death itself. III. The Only Method Of Setting Man Right With God. “ Repent ye therefore,” etc. The men who worked miracles spoke plain words about men’ s souls. There is no ambiguity here. Are the old words “ Repent,” “ Be converted,” being allowed to slip out of Christian teaching, and are we now trifling with the character and destiny of men?1. Every man must repent, because every man has sinned.2. Every man must be converted, because every man is in a false moral condition. IV. The sublime object of Christ’ s incarnation--“ To bless you,” etc.1. Where iniquity is there is no blessing.2. Physical restoration is the type of spiritual completeness. Conclusion:1. Two practical lessons arise out of the subject. (1) It is not enough to wonder at the mighty works of God.(2) God’ s glory is even identified with the well being of man. “ Restitution,” “ Refreshing,” “ Blessing.” 2. Peter’ s appeal rested upon a solid Biblical basis; Moses, Samuel, and all the prophets. God’ s message is the summing up of all the voices of holy history. (J. Parker, D. D.)The threefold testimony of Peter concerning Christ He is--1. The substance of all miracles (verses 12, 17).2. The Redeemer of all souls (verses 18-21).3. The accomplisher of all prophecies (verses 22-26). (Lisco.)Trite courage If you see a man on the railway track before an approaching train, or if you see a child in the roadway in danger of being run over by a horse, you have no right to be silent and inactive. It is a sin not to speak out. If you see the first outbursting of flames in a neighbour’ s house it would be criminal not to cry “ Fire.” Truth cannot be kept to yourself without sin. Silence on popular forms of wrong doing is criminal silence. Silence concerning the duty of repentance and the possibilities of salvation in the presence of the impenitent and unsaved is not to be thought of by the true disciple of Jesus. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Why look ye so earnestly upon us as though by our own power and holiness we had made this man to walk.-- “ Show me the doctor” A man, blind from his birth, a man of much intellectual vigour, and with many engaging social qualities, found a woman who, appreciating his worth, was willing to cast in her lot with him and become his wife. Several bright, beautiful children became theirs, who tenderly and equally loved both their parents. An eminent French surgeon, while in this country, called upon them, and, examining the blind man with much interest and care, said to him:--“ Your blindness is wholly artificial; your eyes are naturally good, and if I could have operated upon them twenty years ago, I think I could have given you sight. It is barely possible that I can do it now, though it will cause you much pain.” “ I can bear that,” was the reply, “ so you but enable me to see.” The surgeon operated upon him, and was gradually successful. First there were faint glimmerings of light; then more distinct vision. The blind father was handed a rose; he had smelled one before, but had never seen one. Then he looked upon the face of his wife, who had been so true and faithful to him; and then his children were brought, whom he had so often fondled, and whose charming prattle had so frequently fallen upon his ears. He then exclaimed: “ Oh, why have I seen all of these before inquiring for the man by whose skill I have been enabled to behold them! Show me the doctor.” And when he was pointed out to him, he embraced him with tears of gratitude and joy. So, when we reach heaven, and with unclouded eyes look upon its glories, we shall not be content with a view of these. No; we shall say, “ Where is Christ--He to whom I am indebted for what heaven is? Show me Him, that with all my soul I may adore and praise Him through endless ages.” Credit due to Christ The engineer of an express train sees, just ahead, a switch wrongly turned, and knows that if he cannot stop the train it will go over the bank and be destroyed. The stoker jumps out, but the brave engineer resolves to share the fate of the engine. Speedily he reverses the action, and with all his strength rolls back the wheels, Just as the fatal point is reached, they cease to move, and the train is saved! What meanness would it be, when unharmed, they reach the town, for the stoker to say, “ We were in great danger, but by my presence of mind I saved the train.” Yet what greater meanness is it for us to take the credit to ourselves when it belongs to Christ. God’ s influences come upon you in mighty tides, and you have no right to claim for yourself the glory which belongs to Christ. (H. W. Beecher.)Glory to be given to God If I were a pupil of Titian, and he should design my picture and sketch it for me, and look over my work every day, and make suggestions, and then, when I had exhausted my skill, he should take the brush and give the finishing touches, bringing out a part here and there, and making the whole glow with beauty, and then I should hang it upon the wall, and call it mine, what meanness it would be! When life is the picture and Christ is the designer and master, what greater meanness is it to allow all the excellence to be attributed to ourselves. (H. W. Beecher.)Glory due to Christ That workman should do ill who having built a house with another man’ s purse, should go about to set up his own arms upon the front thereof. In Justinian’ s law it was decreed that no workman should set up his name within the body of that building which he made out of another man’ s cost. Thus Christ sets us all at work, it is He that bids us to fast, and pray, and hear, and give alms, etc. But who is at the cost of all? whose are all these works? surely God’ s. Man’ s poverty is so great that he cannot reach a good thought, much less a good deed; all the materials are from God, the building is His, it is His purse that paid for it; give but therefore the glory and the honour thereof unto God, and take all the profit to thyself. (J. Spencer.)The work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of men 1. The disposition of the crowd to make heroes of the apostles when they should have recognised in the miracle the power of God is an illustration of a common and not altogether mischievous instinct. When through foreign invasion or internal revolution the institutions of society are broken up, the blind submission which a whole nation sometimes yields to a popular chief, or the heir of an illustrious name, sometimes renders it possible to restore law and order. The intellectual supremacy of great men has also its uses; it preserves something like order in our intellectual life. It is the same with that conspicuous moral excellence which wins more reverential homage. The example of great saints has been a law to successive generations. 2. But there is hero-worship in the Bible. The Jews had their fighting men, poets, orators, statesmen, saints; but you find no disposition in the Old Testament to surround them with glory. The heroism of Wallace is commemorated in the national songs of Scotland, but there is no Psalm to celebrate the heroism of David. Nor does Jewish history exalt Moses as the history of Europe exalts Charlemagne, as the history of England exalts Alfred or Elizabeth. The genius of Isaiah does not receive the same kind of homage that we concede to the genius of Dante or of Shakespeare. There is the same absence of hero-worship in the New Testament. Luke never analyses the apostles’ power nor dwells upon their personal qualities. That they were in any way remarkable is never intentionally suggested. The saints of the Old Testament and the saints of the New are transparent; God shines through them. 3. That is the Christian law. Are men steadfast in righteousness, fervent in charity, temperate, fearless? Do not glorify them; glorify God who made them so good. Are they wise? Glorify God who is the Giver of wisdom. Have they wrought great deliverances for mankind? Why look ye on them as though by their own power or holiness they had wrought these deliverances? Joshua fought well; but when the men of later days look back upon his victories, they say--“ We have heard with our ears, O God,” etc. And we find the greatest of the apostles saying, “ I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase.” This address of St. Peter’ s about the miracle is a vivid illustration of the spirit of both Testaments. 4. In recent times we have failed to maintain the traditional spirit of Judaism and of Christianity. We dwell on the goodness, temperament, and intellectual power of Peter, Paul, and John; and treat them as ordinary historians treat sovereigns like Elizabeth and Cromwell, statesmen like Burghley and Walpole and Chatham. We inquire what there was in the men that accounted for the success of their work. No doubt their character and endowments had a direct relation to their work. But the gifts were from God; their power was His. In the spiritual, as in the natural life, when the blind receive sight, Christ gives it; when the lame walk, it is Christ who makes them strong. “ His name through faith in His name, hath made this man strong” is the explanation of all wonders. 5. Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Baxter, Wesley, and Whitefield, what were they all but ministers of God by whom England or Europe came to know and believe a truer gospel? They should be transparent to us as the Jewish prophets and heroes, and as the Christian apostles were. Their noble qualities may be honoured as God’ s gifts; but still it was not their power or their holiness that first loosened and then broke the fetters by which the spiritual life of nations was bound; it was God who did it all. This holds true of all effective spiritual work in our own time. When men are prevailed upon to submit to Christ’ s authority, their great decision is not to be attributed to the impassioned eloquence, the vigorous argument, the pathetic entreaty of the preacher, nor to his personal sanctity, nor to his fervent zeal, but to the direct appeal of the Spirit of God to the conscience and to the heart. I. Everything short of the actual conversion of men to God we can accomplish without God’ s help; but for that we are entirely dependent upon him.1. Canvass the town for children and you can fill your Sunday schools. Make the teaching interesting, let the rooms be pleasant, have cheerful singing, let the teacher be kindly and earnest, and you can keep the children when you have them, and enable them to pass excellent examinations in Scripture, and you can soften their manners, refine their tastes and elevate their morals. And if you are satisfied with this there is no need to pray. But if you want the children to love and serve Christ, the Spirit of God must be with you, and must work directly on the inner thought and life of your scholars. 2. Build an attractive church, get a good organ and choir, let there be an educated and earnest and eloquent man in the pulpit, and you can get a crowd of people to hear him and he may produce a profound impression. But if men are to be moved to real penitence, and are to be inspired with real faith, the light and power of the Holy Spirit must reach individual hearts. 3. Many of us know what this means. For years we were familiar with truths which ought to have exerted irresistible control over us; we believed them; sometimes we felt their power. But we can remember when these very truths came to us as though we had never known them before. Perhaps we were listening to a sermon; but we had listened to sermons before, and to sermons not less impressive, and had listened unmoved; others heard the same sermon and it did not touch them. Perhaps we were reading a book; but we had read the book before, and it had never taught us what we now learnt, and others have read the same book and learnt nothing from it. What made the difference was a silent voice to which then, for the first time, we consented to listen. The Spirit of God came to us, and we suffered Him to lead us into the truth. II. Our perverse reluctance to believe that all life and light come from God is inexplicable. We have to learn the same lesson over and over again in many forms; and we look back upon wasted years, and mourn that we had not learnt the open secret earlier which would have made all those years bright and noble and glorious success.1. The lesson has to be learnt at the beginning of the religious life. We want the pardon of sin and that change which will render it possible for us to do the will of God. And we try for months, perhaps for years, to make our penitence for sin more agonising and our hunger and thirst for righteousness more keen, hoping that at last we shall have assurance and strength. It is all in vain; and then we discover what we knew from the first--that we can trust God to forgive, us, and to inspire us with the life and power of the Holy Ghost: we trust Him and we pass into a new world. 2. But the lesson has to be learnt over again. We are now liberated from distress about our past guilt, and we know that we are the sons of God; but we find that we are unequal to many duties, and are overcome by many temptations. We subject ourselves to discipline; we pray; we think upon the transcendent motives to righteousness. It is all in vain. And then, again, we discover what a child might have taught us, what we always knew, that evil passions are to be burnt down to their very roots by the fire of God; that we are to be strong for holy living in the strength of God: we trust in Him once more, and as long as we trust we are kept in perfect peace. 3. But we have not learnt the lesson even now. We engage in Christian work. We do our best, and hardly anything comes of it. Then once more we discover what we always knew; God and only God can bring right home to man the truth which is on our lips; we trust in Him, and then our work begins to prosper. III. Entire dependence in God is the secret of ministerial power.1. For the work of the Christian ministry it is necessary to secure men of intellectual power, and men who have received the most thorough intellectual training. There is an Antinomianism in relation to Christian work not less fatal and far more subtle than the Antinomianism of the Christian life. Men have argued that since they can do nothing for their own salvation without God, they will attempt nothing. They might as well say that they can get no harvest without the rain of heaven and the heat and light of the sun, and that therefore they will not plough nor sow. And men have argued, that since Christian work can never achieve its highest results apart from the direct appeal of the Spirit of God to the souls of men, that learning and eloquence are worthless, and that we should leave everything to God. What insanity there is in this! 2. But among ourselves there are not many who are likely to be infected with this heresy. Our peril lies in the opposite direction.1. We look back upon the great evangelists of the past, and think that if we could only have them with us again the most glorious days of the Church would return. If St. Bernard with his fiery passion, Luther with his audacity and immense moral force, Whitefield with his affectionate spirit and his charming eloquence, Wesley with his calm and resolute strength and his keen sagacity were here--then we might hope to see a great religious reformation in England. But what can we do? This self-distrust is only the specious cover of a want of faith in God. The illustrious preachers of former days are with us no longer; but the great Preacher of all is with us still--the only Preacher whose voice can raise the dead, whose power achieved all the triumphs which we connect with the famous and sacred names in the history of Christendom. Could these great saints come back again, it would not be to take the work from our hands because we are unequal to it, but to tell us that the same Spirit that was with them can still reach the hearts and consciences of men. 2. Even when we pray we sometimes forget that our trust should be in the Spirit of God. We ask that for the success of our work we may have a larger knowledge of the thought of God, a more fervent passion for the honour of Christ, a profounder solicitude for the rescue of men--wise and necessary prayers, but incomplete, fatally incomplete. For the prayers imply that if we ourselves had greater “ power,” greater “ holiness,” we should be successful. This was not what the apostles thought--“ Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase.” 3. What is true of men is also true of ecclesiastical systems. It is not the perfection of its organisation that enables a Church to redeem men. There have been preachers in the Church of Rome, spite of its monstrous polity, who have done glorious work for mankind and for God. There is no “ power,” no “ holiness” in Presbyterianism, in Methodism, in Congregationalism, in Episcopacy, to work spiritual miracles. The chief merit of an ecclesiastical system lies in the measure in which it is transparent and lets the glory of Christ shine through. 4. The same test is to be applied to all theologies and all methods of spiritual discipline. Do they break down everything that comes between the soul and Him who is the fountain of mercy and of power? (1) Tell me that my good works are necessary before Christ will forgive my sins, and you put months, and perhaps years, of painful moral struggle between me and Christ; tell me that He will forgive me at once, as soon as I come to Him, and Christ is already at my side at the very beginning of my new life. The doctrine of justification by works seems less likely to be true than the doctrine of justification by faith. (2) Tell me that to make sure of the Divine forgiveness I must confess my sins to a priest, and there is danger lest the priest should come between me and Christ. Tell me that I can confess to Christ, and then, again, Christ is near to me while I am in the agony of my repentance. The doctrine which affirms that the priest has power to absolve seems less likely to be true than the doctrine which denies it. (3) Tell me that the priest must consecrate the bread and the wine before the Church can have the real presence of Christ at the Lord’ s Supper, and then the Church must wait till the priest has pronounced the words of mystery and power. Tell me that wherever two or three are gathered together at the table of Christ, Christ is among them, and then there is no delay, either in His access to us, or our access to Him. Those who maintain the theory of sacramentalism seem less likely to be in the right than those who reject it. (4) But here, too, we must remember that the truest and simplest doctrine may be made a fetich, and may come between the soul and Christ. If you think that any doctrine is so true and so simple that by its own “ power” or “ holiness” it will regenerate and save men, you will be separated from Christ as completely by the soundest belief as other men are by the most corrupt. IV. The truths which we have been considering should teach us to be of good heart about the work, which is Christ’ s rather than ours. We are conscious--all of us--that we have little strength to do any noble service for God and for mankind. The consciousness deepens as we grow older. But neither our weakness nor our unworthiness is a reason for despondency. If we had to measure our own strength and earnestness against the difficulties of our work we might despair; but our confidence is in the strength and in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The results of our labour will transcend all that could be anticipated from the labour itself. This kindles our enthusiasm, and is a motive for strenuous exertion. If we are only perfectly loyal to Christ, even we may do very much for the rescue of men. The true minister of Christ does not stand alone; he is in alliance with Christ Himself; this is the secret of the minister’ s power. But very much depends on the sympathy he receives from his Church. You remember the famous description of an orator. It was not his voice alone that spoke; his eyes, his face, his hands, his feet--they were all eloquent. And a Church is a living body. The minister is its voice; but, if he is to speak to any purpose, the voice must not come from a body struck with death, with fixed features, glassy eyes, and rigid limbs; there would be something ghastly in that. Eyes, hands, face, feet, must all have life and passion in them, and must all speak; they must share the sorrow and alarm with which the minister tells men of the infinite evil of sin, and the rapture with which he triumphs in the infinite love of God. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.) Acts 3:13-16 The God of Abraham … hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up.St. Peter’ s testimony I. The vindication of Christianity from a Jewish standpoint. “ The God of Abraham,” etc., not God generally considered, but God in relations acknowledged by the Jews--the God of Abraham, as such, had glorified Jesus. If this were the case, then Judaism was logically at an end. The God of Abraham, in a sense, had glorified Moses, and had so terminated the patriarchal dispensation, which every good Jew would acknowledge was thereby legitimately closed, and religion thus advanced a stage. Now the same God had glorified the great Teacher whom Moses had predicted (Acts 3:22), under whom the legal dispensation must pass into the Christian. When that Teacher came He said, as Moses might have said, “ I come not to destroy, but to fulfil,” and when He died He exclaimed, “ It is finished.” By glorifying Jesus, therefore, God put His seal upon the further advance which religion had made out of Judaism into Christianity. A true servant of the God of Abraham was thus logically a Christian. II. The glorification of the humiliated Christ.1. No depth of Christ’ s degradation is here left unexplored. (1) He who claimed to command legions of angels was “ delivered up.” (2) He who demanded the profoundest homage and the complete allegiance was “ destined.” (3) This denial came from “ His own” for whom He had done so much, and to whose loyalty He had every right. (4) It took place in the presence of a heathen governor, whose jurisdiction was thereby acknowledged, and in spite of even his protestations. (5) And to crown all the release of a murderer was demanded, while the Prince of Life was handed over to the Cross. 2. The glorification reversed all this. Deep as Christ descended it was higher that He rose. (1) Jesus was released from a more terrible than Roman tyranny after Jews and Romans had been allowed to do their worst. (2) The belief and confession of the apostles then, and of adoring Christians since, more than compensates for the denial before Pilate--the inveterate denial which has since characterised the stubborn race. The grand testimony of Paul before Felix, Festus and Nero makes atonement for the shameful denial of Caiaphas and his rabble before the Roman judge--not to mention the innumerable testimonies all through Christian history which, “ before princes and governors” have been borne to Christ. (3) That Cross to which Christ was nailed gave Him power to give life to dead humanity, and that power He now wields from the throne of heaven. III. The inveterate depravity of the human heart--the denial of the Holy One and the preference of a murderer. Here sin is seen in its ghastliest development, but the ghastliness lies in the circumstances. We are horrified at the Crucifixion, but the Crucifixion was only a detail, the denial was the essence of the act. And this denial of Christ, and the preference of one who is “ a murderer from the beginning” is normal. The sinner is doing to-day that the only logical outcome of which is crucifixion, and letting loose the devil on his life. This is what is being done on a large scale, and the same is being done on a smaller. What is history but the record of the preference of murderers to deliverers? What was the reward of Socrates, of Savonarola, of Cromwell, of the early Christian martyrs, and later Protestant confessors? IV. The impotence of seeming might and the power of apparent weakness. The power of Rome was at its greatest, and the malignancy and craft of Judaism most intense and concentrated, and both were exerted to crush the Prophet of Nazareth. And both said that He was crushed--killed upon a cross and shut up in a carefully guarded tomb. And then it might seem was that poor, weak Prophet at His weakest and poorest. Who could help Him now? Himself. “ The Prince of Life,” “ could not be holden of death” ; and that “ stone cut without hands” has crushed in succession the mightiest despotisms that have dominated the race. And that the weakness of God is stronger than the power of man, let the history of all great and beneficent monuments bear witness. “ The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The leader is killed but the cause flourishes. The thinker starves; but his thoughts become the potent forces of the world. The inventor dies of a broken heart with the products of his genius lying in ruins around him; but his invention lives, and helps to make civilisation what it is. V. The potency of faith--Of all things the weakest in the world’ s estimate. Are there not circles in which faith and folly are convertible terms? And on what does this faith rest? On what the world would call an accomplished failure. “ Stark imbecility” --then says the world. But here, again, God chooses the weak things to confound the mighty; for in this early instance of its exercise it accomplished what all the science of the world before and since has failed to do; it gave a man perfect physical soundness. And here, and here alone, is the cure for personal, social, literary, commercial, national unsoundness. Everything else has failed. Let this be tried on a large scale, and faith in Christ will give “ perfect soundness” to a crippled world. (J. W. Burn.)Men denying the Just One I. The Person against whom the outrage was perpetrated. Men thought Him a mere Jew; and yet He possessed a universality and fervour of love inconsistent with the Jewish character generally. Men regarded Him as only a carpenter; and yet He evinced a strength of mind and soul which enabled Him to grapple with Divine things altogether beyond the grasp of the Jewish doctors. Men thought Him a mere man; and yet there were profound depths and majestic heights about His nature, which entirely separated Him from the common herd.1. He looked like a man; but His words proved Him more.2. He looked like a man; but His works proved Him more.3. He looked like a man; but His life proved Him more. II. The nature of the outrage that was enacted.1. It was the culminating act of human transgression.2. It was sin against their highest good. III. The outcome of it all. God turned the curse into a blessing. “ He made the wrath of man to praise Him.”1. From the death of Christ came deliverance from the curse.2. From Christ’ s death came the magic force which conquered man’ s rebellion. Sinai’ s terrors and the Levitical law failed to evoke the deep affection and fervent devotion of men. But the Cross of Christ succeeded. (Homilist.)The rejection of Christ How terrible an evil this was Peter showed-- I. By the testimony of a heathen. The sentiment of common humanity was against this treatment. How often has the conduct of professors shocked the prayerless. II. By the nature of the thing itself. This is set forth in an awful gradation. The rejected One was--1. Spotless.2. Righteous.3. The Prince of Life, without whose interposition no man could have had life.4. God’ s own chosen Servant. Those who in rejecting Him had repudiated purity, justice, needful grace, and indispensable Divine service, might well prefer a murderer. What is reserved for those who now reject Christ with clearer light and further knowledge? III. By God’ s manifest opposition to it.1. Men put Jesus to death, but God raised Him from the dead.2. Men cast Him out, but God declared Him to be His accepted servant by the Resurrection. Men thought the Crucifixion would put an end to His influence, but God augmented that influence by the energy of the Holy Ghost which empowered the apostles. The argument showed that they had been fighting against God, and that God had completely overcome their evil course. IV. By the keen rebuke which the apostles were directed to keep up. “ Whereof we are witnesses.” (W. Hudson.)Ye killed the Prince of Life.-- The Prince of Life The title suggests-- I. That Jesus is the source of life.1. Of natural life. “ In Him we live and move,” etc. It is only for Him to say to dead Lazarus “ Come forth,” and He proves Himself to be the source of life. Let us not, then, deny Him the use of the faculties He has given. 2. Of spiritual life. H we admit that we cannot give ourselves physical life, how absurd to think we can give ourselves spiritual life. And yet multitudes are under this delusion. It is only by Christ’ s almighty fiat that the “ dead in trespasses and sins” can “ hear the voice of the Son of God and live.” 3. Of eternal life. Jesus is the life of all the joy, the glory, and the love of heaven. II. That life centres in Him as regards sensible enjoyment of it. The common comforts of Christ without Christ are monotonous and miserable; but if Christ be enjoyed in them, if He be eaten with our bread, received with our water, breathed with our air, then life has a blessedness and a dignity conferred upon it which the world knows nothing of. III. That He sustains the life he gives. “ He giveth power to the faint,” as well as life to the dead. Does the life of faith, of hope, of love, wane through trial and loss and disappointment? Christ has inexhaustible resources of vitality for their invigoration. Dost thou fear lest thou shouldest lose thy little life in the fierce conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil? Hear His promise, “ They shall never perish.” IV. That He brings life to fruition. “ Be thou faithful unto death,” etc. V. That He does all this in a princely manner. “ I am come that they might have life … abundantly.” (J. Irons.)We are witnesses.--Sworn testimony In the days of George Stephenson some scientists proved conclusively that a rail-train could never be driven by steam power; but the rushing expresses have made all the world witnesses of the splendid achievement. It was proved conclusively that a steamer could never cross the Atlantic; but the work was done, and the passengers on the Cunard and the Inman Lines are witnesses. There went up a guffaw of laughter from some of the wise men at Professor Morse’ s proposition to make lightning his errand-boy, and it was proved conclusively that the thing could never be done; but now the news of the wide world, put in your hands every morning and night, has made all nations witnesses. In the time of Christ it was proved conclusively that it was impossible for a man to rise from the dead. The disciples took the witness-stand to prove to be true what the wiseacres of the day had proved to be impossible. Now let me play the sceptic for a moment. There is no God, for I have never seen Him with my physical eyesight. Your Bible is a pack of contradictions. There never was a miracle. Your religion is an imposition on the credulity of the ages. There is a suppressed feeling which would like to cry out in behalf of the truth of our glorious Christianity. “ We are witnesses!” If this world is ever brought to God, it will not be through argument, but through testimony. You might cover the whole earth with learned treatises in defence of religion--you would not convert a soul. In order to have faith we must have testimony, and if five hundred men get up and tell me that they have felt the religion of Jesus Christ a joy, an inspiration, I am bound as a fair-minded man to accept their testimony. I want to put before you three propositions, the truth of which I think you will attest with overwhelming unanimity. I. “ We are witnesses” that the religion of Christ is able to convert a soul. You say conversion is only an imaginary thing. We know better. People laughed at the missionaries in Madagascar because they preached ten years without one convert; but there are thirty-three thousand converts in Madagascar to-day. People laughed at Dr. Judson because he kept on preaching five years without a single convert; but there are twenty thousand Baptist Christians in Burmah to-day. People laughed at Dr. Morrison for preaching seven years without a single conversion; but there are fifteen thousand Christians in China to-day. People laughed at the missionaries for preaching at Tahiti and in Bengal years without a single conversion; yet in all those lands there are multitudes of Christians to-day. But why go so far to find evidence? “ We are witnesses.” We were so proud that no man could have humbled us; we were so hard that no earthly power could have melted us. But one day a power seized us, from which we tried to wrench ourselves, but could not. It flung us on our knees, and when we arose we were as much changed as Gourgis the heathen. He went into prayer-meeting with a dagger and a gun, but the next day was found crying: “ Oh, my great sins! Oh, my great Saviour!” For eleven years be preached the gospel of Christ to his fellow-mountaineers, and the last words on his dying lips were, “ Free grace! Oh, it was free grace!” There is a man who was for ten years a hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had sent down its roots until they were interlinked with the vitals of body, mind, and soul; but he has not taken any stimulants for two years. What did that? Not temperance societies. Not prohibition laws, Not moral suasion. Conversion did it, “ Why,” said one upon whom the great change had come, “ sir, I feel just as though I were somebody else!” There is a sea captain who swore all the way from New York to Havana, and from Havana to San Francisco, and when he was in port he was worse than when he was on the sea. What power was it that washed his tongue clean of profanities, and made him sing to the glory of God? Conversion. There are thousands who are no more what they once were than a water-lily is nightshade, or a morning lark a vulture, or day night. II. “ We are witnesses” that the gospel has the power to comfort. When a man has trouble the world says: “ Now get your mind off this; go out and breathe the fresh air! plunge deeper into business.” What poor advice. Get your mind off of it I when everything reminds you of what you have lost. They might as well advise you to stop thinking. Take a walk in the fresh air I Why, along that very road your dead wife once accompanied you. Go deeper into business! Why, she was associated with all your ambition, and since she has gone you have no ambition left. And yet you have been comforted. How was it done? Did Christ come to you and say: “ Get your mind off this,” etc. No. There was a minute when He came to you, and He breathed something into your soul that gave peace, so that you could take out the photograph of the departed one and say: “ It is all right; she is better off; I would not call her back.” There are Christian parents who are willing to testify to the power of this gospel to comfort. Your son had just graduated and was going into business, and the Lord took him. Or your daughter had just left the school, and you thought she was going to be a useful woman and of long life, but the Lord took her. Or the little child came home with the hot fever that stopped not for the agonised prayer, or for the skilful physician. What has enabled you to stand all the trial? “ Oh,” you say, “ I threw myself at the feet of a sympathising Saviour, and when I was too weak to pray, or to look up, He breathed into me a peace that I think must be the foretaste of that heaven where there is neither tear, nor a farewell, nor a grave.” Is there power in this gospel to soothe the heart? There comes up an answer from comforted widowhood, and orphanage, and childlessness, saying-- III. “ We are witnesses” that religion has power to give composure in the last moment. We are very apt when we want to bring illustrations of dying triumph to go back to some distinguished personage--to a John Knox, or a Harriett Newell. Such illustrations are of no use to me to-night. I want you for witnesses. I want to know whether you have seen or heard anything that makes you believe that the religion of Christ gives composure in the final hour? “ Oh yes,” you say; “ I saw my father and mother depart.” How did they seem to act? Were they very much frightened? Did they take hold of this world with both hands as though they did not want to give it up? “ Oh, no,” you say; “ she had a kind word for us all, and there were a few mementos distributed among the children, and then she told us how kind we must be to our father in his loneliness, and then she kissed us good-bye and went asleep as calmly as a child in a cradle.” What made her so composed? Natural courage? “ No,” you say, “ mother was very nervous; it was because she was so good.” Here are people who say, “ I saw a Christian brother die, and he triumphed.” And some one else, “ I saw a Christian sister die, and she triumphed.” Conclusion: You see I have not put before you to-night anything like guess-work, but affidavits of the best men and women, living and dead. Two witnesses in court will establish a fact. Here are not two witnesses, but millions. If ten men should come to you when you are sick and say they had the same sickness, and took a certain medicine and it cured them, you would probably take it. Now, suppose ten other men should come up and say, “ We don’ t believe there is anything in that medicine.” “ Well,” I say, “ have you ever tried it?” “ No, I never tried it, but I don’ t believe there is anything in it.” Of course you discredit their testimony. The sceptic may come and say, “ There is no power in your religion.” “ Have you ever tried it?” “ No, no.” “ Then avaunt!” (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Acts 3:16-17 And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong. The power of faith Faith in the name of Jesus is faith in Himself. The result of its exercise here was a manifest continuance of what Jesus “ began to do” in the way of healing, and on the same condition. I. Faith moved Peter to seek the poor man’ s good. Faith had united the apostle to the Saviour, and brought him into sympathy with His benevolent designs. The love of “ Christ still constrains those who enjoy it by faith” with like results. II. Faith enabled peter to pronounce the man’ s cure. Peter believed the promise, “ The works that I do shall ye do also” ; that Jesus, though out of sight, was able and willing to cure the cripple; and, acting under a gracious impulse which that faith secured, he bade the man be whole. It was faith that made this conduct consistent; but without faith it would have been an act of presumption, and even of blasphemy. When God is taken at His word and fully trusted, there is exercised a confidence which enables its possessor to defy all adverse power. This is the faith which overcomes. III. Faith furnished an evidence of Christianity which even its adversaries were obliged to admit. The cripple had been seen and known, and his cure had taken place in the presence of all. The faith exercised, being invisible, might have been talked of long without becoming the means of any one’ s full persuasion; but here was an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace. What could be said against such an evidence? And what can be said at this day against the evidence presented in conversions and holy lives? But to some even this evidence is as nothing. They love not the Lord; they have no sympathy with His gracious purposes; and they lack that spiritual discernment which can come only in connection with the faith which is the evidence of things not seen. (W. Hudson.)Influence of the name of Christ While infidelity is boastful, it is refreshing to note such facts as these: Eighty years ago, William Carey wrote from Bengal: “ The people here hate the very name of Christ, and will not listen when His name is mentioned.” To-day the Rev. W. R. James writes from Serampore: “ By all means see to it that the name of Christ is plainly printed on the title-page of every book or tract that we print. We have now arrived at that point of time in the history of Christian missions in Bengal, when the name of Christ is more of a recommendation to a book than otherwise. Very often have I heard natives ask for a ‘ Life of Jesus Christ’ in preference to any other book.” The influence of faith Two men are wandering over the mountains in Nevada. They find curious veins running through the rocks One of them studies these veins with the interest of a geologist, and chisels out a few specimens for his cabinet. The other, who is an expert in ores, believes that he has found a silver mine of great richness. When his companion has passed on with his specimens in his pocket, he returns and stakes out a claim. He perfects his title to that claim. He works it, and becomes a millionaire. Now was it the mine that enriched this man or his faith in the mine? Evidently his faith. And so it is the world over. It is not enough to know of a good thing and to be able to grasp it. We must believe in it and take possession of it. There is, of course, no value in faith, if what we believe is worthless, A lunatic, whom we knew years ago, imagined that he was a millionaire. He would take you into his little chamber, and after carefully locking the door, would open drawers full of bits of paper on which he had written figures for various amounts. He would say, “ Here are bills and bonds worth millions of dollars.” When asked why he did not use them to buy what he needed, he would reply, “ No, no, they are too precious.” That man’ s faith was great, but it was baseless. It was like the faith of worldly men in material things. They are heaping up riches that are as worthless for the soul as his bits of paper were for the wants of this life. “ Jesus” ;--The old Greek orators, when they saw their audiences inattentive and slumbering, had one word with which they would rouse them up to the greatest enthusiasm. In the midst of their orations they would stop and cry out, “ Marathon!” and the people’ s enthusiasm would be unbounded. My hearers, though you may have been borne down with sin, and though trouble, and trial, and temptation may have come upon you, and you feel hardly like looking up, methinks there is one grand, royal, imperial word that ought to rouse your soul to infinite rejoicing, and that word is Jesus. Faith in a name When John Howard wanted to visit the prisons of Russia he sought an interview with the Czar. He explained his object, and the Czar gave him permission to visit any prison in his empire. It was a long and weary journey; he knew how jealously the prisoners were guarded, and how averse the gaolers were to permit any one to visit them. But he set out in perfect confidence. When he arrived at a prison he would make his application, and was prepared for the refusal which invariably came. Then he produced the Czar’ s mandate, and the prison doors were immediately opened to him. He had faith in that name, and it was justified by the results. But now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it.-- Apostolic reassurance for the desponding The apostle seems to say, “ Ye have rejected Christ, and this is a great evil; ye know not the privilege of faith in Him, and therefore your loss is great; but still do not despair.” In order to reassure his hearers he-- I. Reminded them of the Divine origin of the prophecies of the Old Testament. God had shown what the prophets had set forth; the prophets as with one mouth had declared the mind of God; and of every part of revealed truth it was to be remembered that “ the mouth of the Lord had spoken it.” This, in the judgment of a Jew, was a firm, foundation, and this foundation remains to this day. But what was now to be built upon it? II. Indicated the key-note to which all the prophetic harmonies had been tuned. It was “ that Christ should suffer.” Then it would become evident that salvation through the death of Jesus was not a new doctrine invented by His disciples. One who began to apprehend this would quickly discern new meaning in the leading events of the last few months. III. Affirmed that God had accomplished His own word in regard to Jesus by unconscious agents. They bad ignorantly pursued Him to the Cross. This was some mitigation of their guilt, though not an excuse for their sin. But in all their error and evil conduct God was bringing His own purpose to pass. The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, and His death and resurrection made and declared the way of life open to all who should repent and believe. Wicked men had not meant to accomplish this, but God had wrought His sovereign will. Peter’ s hearers must now feel that God had been infinitely better to them than they had been to themselves. IV. Tenderly hinted that those who, while doing wickedly, had unconsciously fulfilled the will of God were still objects of benevolent concern. Being of the stock of Abraham, they were the children of the covenant. Peter’ s endearing word “ brethren” contained the suggestion of great blessing. There are still those who need encouragement, and this can best be obtained from the Word of God, which sets forth the Saviour of men accessible to all penitent, inquirers. (W. Hudson.)The guilt of unbelief 1. An act of cruelty excites both compassion for the sufferer and indignation at the actor, and perhaps the latter feeling is the stronger. Your sympathy with the martyr is almost lost in your anger at the persecutor, because, perhaps, you do not make sufficient allowance for him. He may have been acting under a mistaken sense of duty. “ Whosoever,” says our Lord, “ killeth you shall think he doeth God service.” Much, too, may have to be attributed to the temper of the times. Many a man who now only argues against heresy would have been for the stake when the rights of conscience were less understood. Men are apt to condemn the Jews--and very justly--for their crimes, but Jesus said, “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and here St. Peter corroborates this. He did not hesitate to charge on them the crime of having “ killed the Prince of Life,” but, as though he feared driving them to despair, he used words which seem in a measure to extenuate their crime. But we shall find that this plea of ignorance does not apply to modern unbelief. 2. What right had Peter to make this allowance? He must be understood to mean that the Jews were not acquainted with the character and dignity of Christ. They did not crucify Him as the Messiah, the Son of God, but as a blasphemous pretender. But were they innocent in that their ignorance was involuntary and unavoidable, arising from the insufficiency of the evidence, or from feebleness of understanding? St. Peter did not imply this, otherwise he had impeached the whole of Christ’ s ministry, and represented His miracles as defective credentials. Undoubtedly the ignorance was blameworthy. They might and ought to have known that Jesus was the Christ, and ignorance is only excusable when we do not wilfully neglect the means of obtaining information or cherish prejudices which bar out the truth. Yet it is probable that we use the Jews too harshly in respect of the crucifixion. It was not in that, but in rejecting the final evidence afforded by the descent and miracles of the Holy Spirit, that they committed the unpardonable sin. 3. It may be strange to us that, though He did so many mighty works, Jesus was rejected by His countrymen. But we do not sufficiently consider their powerful prejudice in favour of a Messiah attended with all the pomp of earthly dominion. It is true they were to blame for cherishing this prejudice, since due search into prophecy would have dispersed it; but it is also true that it was contracted not through shutting their eyes altogether against prophecy, but through fixing them so intently on one part that they overlooked all others. They associated with Christ’ s first coming the characteristics of the second. So, then, the Jew had not sinned against all the evidence that Christ meant to afford--he had sinned against a suffering Redeemer, but not against a triumphant; and so the sin was something that admitted of extenuation--a sin against evidence as yet incomplete. The ignorance was not excusable; it was only not unpardonable. 4. Here comes in the case of modern ignorance and unbelief--the sin of those who, by rejecting Christ, “ crucify the Son of God afresh.” Can the plea of Peter be urged in favour of modern infidels and of those who nominally believe in Christ without the consent of the heart? Remember that the Jew had not the whole of the evidence before him; but we have the whole before us. The Jew crucified Christ whilst His appearance was that of an ordinary man; we crucify Him afresh now that He has assumed His Divine glory. Christ had not then given the most touching proof of His love, nor was it understood even by the apostles that His death was a propitiation; but now the whole plan of redemption is set forth, and we who reject Him crucify afresh a loving Saviour, and one who sends down His Spirit to persuade us to be reconciled. What did the Jew in comparison with this? And how absurd to plead an extenuating ignorance! How can anything be known if this is not? Or, if the ignorance be not impossible--besotted as men are by the cares of the world, or the pleasures of sin--men might, if they would, know what they do. Ignorant they may be, but unavoidably and innocently ignorant they cannot be. Therefore “ he that believeth not shall be damned.” (H. Melvill, B. D.)In His name In the New Testament special potency is attributed to the utterance of a name, especially the name of Jesus. Some of these I will enumerate. Jesus promises that He will be with every two or three who assemble in His name (Matthew 18:20). He promises to help those who pray in His name (John 14:13-14; John 15:16; John 16:23-24; John 16:26). It appears, also, that devils were cast out by the use of the name of Christ. This, at first sight, seems like magic. For magic is essentially this, a power obtained over the supernatural world by the use of charms and talismans. In the story of the “ Forty Thieves,” the door of the cave opened by enchantment to whoever used the right word, and said, “ Open Sesame,” whether it was said by the robbers or by the good man. If, therefore, we believe that by merely putting the word “ Christ” at the beginning or end of our prayer, we shall obtain some blessing from God which He would not otherwise bestow, we degrade Christianity to the level of a magical process and demoralise it. Now, I think it quite clear that the whole spirit of Christianity and teaching of Jesus is utterly opposed to any such magical notions. According to Jesus, men were saved, not by the use of His name as an outward formula, but by obeying His precepts and doing good actions. In the Sermon on the Mount He distinctly rejects any such merely outward use of His name (Matthew 7:22-23). Elsewhere He says, “ Many deceivers shall come in My name.” “ Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord! shall enter,” etc. What, then, does He mean when He says that God will hear us and help us if we pray “ in His name” ? To answer this question we must understand the peculiar way in which the Jews regarded the name of any person. A name with us is an arbitrary appendage, having no relation to a man’ s character. But to the Jew a name carried a mysterious power, expressive of what was deepest in the parent’ s heart, and capable of influencing the child’ s destiny. If the man or woman appeared to develop new qualities, the name was changed. So Jesus added to Simon’ s name that of Peter--a rock: and Saul’ s name, which meant “ a destroyer,” was changed to Paul, which means “ a worker.” Thus it happened that to come in the name of any one meant to come in his spirit. So John the Baptist was said by Jesus to be the Elijah that was to come, because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. When the Lord said to Moses, “ Thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name,” it means that the Lord knew his character, and that it was equal to his work. Whenever trust “ in God’ s name” is spoken of, it means trust in His wisdom, or His love, or His providence. When it is said that “ a good name is better than riches,” it means a good character. When Jesus says that “ he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’ s reward,” it signifies that he who is in sympathy with the spirit of the prophet, and helps the prophet on that account, shall have the reward of being himself filled with the same prophetic spirit. And so when He tells them to “ pray in His name,” He means to tell them to pray in His Spirit; to “ cast out devils in His name” is to cast them out by the power of a Christian spirit. There are a great many devils in the world--devils of pride, of vanity, of lust, of dishonesty, of falsehood, of cruelty. Now, if we attack these devils in the name of the devil we can do nothing If we meet pride with pride, falsehood with cunning, selfishness with self-will--if we try to put down evil with evil, we shall never succeed. We must cast out devils in the name of Christ--that is, “ overcome evil with good.” There is a wonderful power which belongs to him who allies himself to truth and right. When we “ overcome evil by good,” then only do we cast out devils in the name of Christ. And so, to pray “ in the name of Christ” does not mean to put the name of Christ at the end of our prayer, and say, “ We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord” ; but it means when we pray to be in Christ’ s Spirit; to forget our vanity, selfishness, egotism; to desire the good of others; the coming of God’ s kingdom of love. If we pray thus, we may ask what we will and it shall be done unto us, for we shall ask only what God wills. To meet together “ in the name of Christ” means to meet for the purpose of doing good and getting good. Where the spirit of Christianity is there is the coming of Christ. Therefore, when Peter said to the lame man, “ In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise and walk,” he did not utter these words as a charm. But he thus openly avowed his faith in the Master he had denied a few weeks before, and the man was healed, not by the magic of words, but by the wonderful power which attends a sincere faith in God. Not the word of Jesus, but the faith in Jesus cured him. Not the word, but the thing, makes the power of Christianity. When I see a man walking the road of duty, faithful to every obligation; true and just, when those around him are false; when I see him hold his principles of honesty, though the world grows dishonest, standing by his purity, no matter what comes; then I say that this man is casting out devils “ in Christ’ s name.” And when I see a youth, beset by temptations from without and within, making a brave struggle to be true to his mother’ s counsels and his father’ s honour, and saying to the Satan who tempts him to go astray, “ Get thee behind me,” I say that this boy also is fighting devils “ in Christ’ s name.” And when I see a young girl in the midst of a happy home, surrounded by love, called to leave life and all its hopes, and go to meet the great mystery, and going tranquilly, peacefully, trustingly, comforting all around her with the comfort wherewith she herself has been comforted by God, I say that she is going to heaven in the strength “ of Christ’ s name.” The name of Christ stands for immortality, for He is the Resurrection and the Life. The name of Jesus Christ means Saviour and King. Jesus means Saviour, Christ means King, and the whole means that He who saves men is the King of men. It means that love is to conquer hatred, that truth is mightier than falsehood, life than death, eternity than time. (J. Freeman Clarke.) Acts 3:19-21 Repent ye therefore and be converted. Apostolic exhortation I. The Apostle Bade Men Repent And Be Converted.1. Repent signifies, in its literal meaning, to change one’ s mind. It has been translated “ after-wit,” or “ after-wisdom” ; it is the man’ s finding out that he is wrong, and rectifying his judgment. But although that be the meaning of the root, the word has come in Scriptural use to mean a discovery of the evil of sin, a mourning that we have committed it, a resolution to forsake it, the love of what once we hated, and the hate of what once we loved. Conversion means a turning from, and a turning to, from sin to holiness, from carelessness to thought, from the world to heaven, from self to Jesus. The words in Greek are “ Repent and convert,” or, rather, “ Repent and turn.” It is an active verb, just as the other was. When the demoniac had the devils cast out of him, that was repentance; but when he was clothed and in his right mind, that was conversion. When the prodigal was feeding his swine, and on a sudden began to consider and to come to himself, that was repentance. When he set out and left the far country and went to his father’ s house, that was conversion. 2. Repentance and conversion are the work of the Holy Spirit. And yet Peter says, “ Repent, and be converted” ! “ How reconcile you these two things?” We tell men to repent and believe, not because we rely on any power in them to do so, not because we depend upon any power in our earnestness or in our speech, but because the gospel is the mysterious engine by which God converts the hearts of men, and we find that, if we speak in faith, God the Holy Ghost operates with us, and while we bid the dry bones live, the Spirit makes them live--while we tell the lame man to stand on his feet, the mysterious energy makes his ankle-bones to receive strength--while we tell the impotent man to stretch out his hand, a Divine power goes with the command, and the hand is stretched out and the man is restored. The power lies not in the sinner, not in the preacher, but in the Holy Spirit. II. There was good reason for this command. “ Repent ye therefore.” The apostle was logical. It was not mere declamation. What, then, was the argument?1. The Jews put Christ to death. And this is spiritually true of you. Every sin in the essence of it is a killing of God. Every time you do what God would not have you do, you do in effect, so far as you can, put God out of His throne, and disown the authority which belongs to His Godhead. When Christ was nailed to the tree, sin only did then literally and openly what all sin really does in a spiritual sense. Will you not repent if it be so? While you thought your sins to be mere trifles, you would not repent; but now I have shown you that every sin is really an attempt to thrust God out of the world. What, then, if the authority of God should be no more owned in the universe--where should we all be? What a hell above ground would this world become! Do you not see what a mischievous thing, then, your iniquity has been? Then, truly, there is abundant reason why you should repent and turn from it. 2. He whom they had slain was a most blessed person--one so blessed that God the Father had exalted Him. Jesus Christ came not into this world with any selfish motive, but entirely out of philanthropy, full of love to men; and yet men put Him to death! Now God does not deserve that we should rebel against Him. If He were a great tyrant domineering over us, putting us to misery, there might be some excuse, but, when He acts like a tender father to us, it is a cruel shame that we should live in daily revolt against Him. You who have not believed in Christ have mighty cause for repenting that you have not believed in Him, seeing He is so good and kind. 3. While they had rejected the blessed Christ they had chosen a murderer. Sinner, thou hast despised Christ, and what is it thou hast chosen? Has it been the drunkard’ s cup? Thy lust? What devilish things to set in the place of Christi What have thy sins done to thee that thou shouldst prefer them to Jesus? What wages have you had? Oh, then, this is a thing to be repented of. 4. Christ whom they had despised was able to do great things for them. “ His name through faith in His name,” etc. If you will trust Jesus to-day, all your iniquities shall be blotted out. Believing in Him, He can make thee blessed. And is not this cause for repentance? With hands loaded with love He stands outside the door of your heart. Is not this good reason for opening the door and letting Him in? 5. “ I wot that through ignorance ye did it.” As if He would say, “ Now that ye have more light, repent of what you did in the dark.” You had not heard the gospel, you did not know that sin was so bad a thing, you did not understand that Jesus was able to save to the uttermost. Now you do understand it. The times of your ignorance God winked at, but now “ commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” Greater light brings greater responsibility. Do not go back to your sin, lest it become tenfold sin to you. “ Now ye have no cloak for your sin.” Therefore, because the cloak is pulled away, and you sin against the light, I say as Peter did, “ Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” III. Without repentance and conversion sin cannot be pardoned. Many Oriental merchants kept their accounts on little tablets of wax. On these tablets they indented marks which recorded the debts, and when these debts were paid, they took the blunt end of the stylus or pencil, and just flattened down the wax, and the account entirely disappeared. Now, he that repents and is pardoned is, through the precious blood of Christ, so entirely forgiven that there is no record of his sin left. If we blot out an account from our books, the record is gone, but there is the blot; but on the wax tablet there was no blot. But sin cannot be removed except there be repentance and conversion. This must be so, for--1. It is most seemly. Would you expect a great king to forgive an erring courtier unless the offender first confessed his fault? 2. It would not be moral; it would be pulling up the very sluices of immorality to tell men that they could be pardoned while they went on in their sins and loved them. Does not conscience tell us this? There is not a conscience here that will say to a man, “ You can hope to be saved and yet live as you list.” But whether your conscience shall say so or not, God says “ He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy,” but there is no promise for the unrepenting. “ He who goeth on in his iniquity and hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” IV. Repentance and conversion will be regarded as peculiarly precious in the future, for my text says, “ When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”1. He that repents and is converted shall enjoy the blotting out of sin in that season of sweet peace which always follows pardon. When the prisoner first gets out of prison, when the fetters for the first time clank music as they fall broken to the ground! when the sick man leaves the sick chamber of his convictions to breathe the air of liberty and to feel the health of a pardoned sinner! Oh, if you did but know what a bliss it is to be forgiven, you would never stay away from Christ I But you do not know, and cannot. Oh, “ repent and be converted,” then, and you will. 2. Perhaps these “ times of refreshing” may also relate to times of revival in the Christian Church. The only way in which you can share in the refreshment of a revival is by your own repenting and being converted. Of what use is a revival to an unpardoned sinner? It is like the soft south wind blowing upon a corpse. 3. The text means, according to the context, the second advent. Jesus is yet to come a second time, and like a mighty shower flooding a desert shall His coming be. His Church shall revive and be refreshed. But woe unto you who are not saved when Christ cometh, for the day of the Lord will be darkness and not light to you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Repentance, a change of mind The original “ a change of mind” or “ an after-thought.” Now that is exactly what the Holy Spirit produces in the convicted soul. “ There is,” says the wise man, “ a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Now it is the work of the Holy Ghost to dispel this false view of our way, and to bring us to see things as they really are; and when we yield to His convicting influences, the light of truth flashes into our soul, and we come to ourselves. Now we see things from an entirely different point of view, and cry out against ourselves--against our folly and our sin. “ What a fool I have been!” cries the awakened and repentant soul. “ So many years I have lived in this world, and yet have I never really begun to live at all! My whole past has been a wasted existence. I have been simply exercising my faculties in furthering my own destruction!” The first step in a real repentance is taken when we open our eyes to see things as in the light of the Holy Ghost, when we escape from the long delirium of a life lived under the influence of the great deceiver, and thus undergo a change of mind with respect to God and to sin, and the value of things seen and things eternal. (W. Hay Aitken.)Repentance not mere sorrow for sin It is a common thing to find people confusing between repentance and sorrow for sin, and this leads sometimes to most distressing results. I remember once insisting very strongly upon the importance of making this distinction. The next day an intelligent Christian man said, “ Ah, Mr. Aitken, if I had heard that sermon of yours last night when I was seeking salvation, I believe it might have saved me long weary years of misery, during which I was really and earnestly desirous to give myself to God, and yet fancied I had no right to come to Christ, because I could not feel the sorrow for sin that I thought I ought to feel.” Now it is quite possible to experience a good deal of sorrow for sin without any real repentance, and it is equally possible to have a sincere repentance, and yet to be ready to cry out against ourselves because we don’ t feel as much sorrow for sin as we think we should. Indeed this impatience at our own hardness of heart and lack of true spiritual sensibility is often a feature of true repentance. But observe that on no less than ten occasions men are directed to repent, the word being for the most part employed in the imperative mood. Now it is obviously absurd to suppose that we should be thus commanded to produce within ourselves a certain state of feelings; for obviously our feelings constitute just that element in our nature over which we have least control. We cannot command our feelings at will, and therefore it is simply ridiculous to commandpersons to do so. It would be folly were I to say to you, “ Feel very happy,” or “ Feel very sorrowful.” Again, we find repentance expressly distinguished from godly sorrow. “ Godly sorrow worketh repentance … not to be repented of.” Now, if it may be the cause of repentance, it must be distinct from repentance, for an effect must always be distinct from its cause. It does not, however, always stand in this relation. Godly sorrow may sometimes flow from a real repentance, just as in another case it may proceed and lead up to it. Of this we see an instance in David, who poured forth his soul in the sorrowful language of the fifty-first Psalm long after he had both repented and had been forgiven. (W. Hay Aitken.)Repentance and its results Peter had now proved that the people were in an evil case, and pointed out that the only way of escape was by repentance and conversion. But the apostle urged this duty on three special grounds. I. In order that they might attain proper relations to God. “ That your sins may be blotted out.” There stood against them an account by which they were bound, and that account could not be cancelled except through repentance. Then God would not treat them as sinners. The reason for this condition is obvious since God can do nothing that is morally unfit. To attain this right relation to God is to enter the way of ultimate personal perfection. II. In order that they might cease to stand in the way of blessing designed for their fellow-men. “ That the times of refreshing,” etc. The world was full of sin and weariness. God knew all about it, and had promisedseasons of refreshment. They were to be granted “ from His presence,” by His decree. But He would bless men through men, Repentance and conversion were therefore required. So now. Domestic piety will be promoted by those who penitently turn to God. The purification and quickening of particular churches will be aided by such as mourn over sin and forsake it. And the multiplication of purified and quickened churches would soon work mighty changes in Christendom. III. In order that they might promote the coming of the great final manifestation of the redeemer. “ And He shall send Jesus.” (W. Hudson.)What is repentance It is, right about face! I think these soldiers understand that expression. Some one has said that every one is born with his back to God, and that conversion turns him right round. If you want to be converted, and want to repent, I will tell you what you should do. Just get out of Satan’ s service, and get into the Lord’ s. Leave your old friends, and unite yourself with God’ s people. I shall be gone on a journey shortly. If, when I am in the train, a friend should say, “ Moody, you are going in the wrong train.” “ My friend,” I should say, “ you have made a great mistake; the guard told me this is the right train.” You are wrong, I am sure you are wrong. “ the guard told me this is the right train.” Then my friend would say, “ Moody, I have lived here forty years, and I know all about the trains. That train is the wrong one.” He at last convinces me, and I get out of that train and get into the right one. Repentance is getting out of one train and getting into the other. You are on the wrong train; you are in the broad path that taketh you down to the pit of hell. Get out of it to-night. Right about face! Who will turn his feet towards God? “ Turn ye, for why will ye die?” In the Old Testament the word is “ turn.” In the New Testament the word is “ repent.” (D. L. Moody.)True repentance is practical I heard one say, “ It is an awful-thing to be a slave to the winecup; I wish that I had never tasted it. The first opportunity I get I will turn over a new leaf.” He did not say what the new leaf would be, but he was going to do any quantity of reforming work. Alas I he never did anything at all, for he was drunk again the next day. A beautiful penitent to look upon; but a wretched hypocrite in due time, for he returned like the dog to his vomit, and the sow which was washed to her wallowing in the mire. If you repent of sin, down with sin! In God’ s name, down with sin! When repentance is hearty it is practical. When a man truly turns to God, he turns away from sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)We must repent now Years ago, on a summer afternoon, I stood on a little harbour-wall and saw two vessels trying to make the entrance. They were lying in a narrow channel, and, since there was not water enough to keep them up, they were lying on their side. But far out the tide began to turn, and one wave after another passed under them, and every wave in the channel made the water deeper; and I saw in a little while that the water was twelve feet deep in the harbour, and the green, foaming waves rushed in like a millrace. I looked again towards the narrow passage, and saw on one vessel that they had taken advantage of the wind at the right moment, and on that first vessel they floated in on the full tide. Upon the other vessel they were not on the alert, though sailors do not often make that mistake, and when they tried to make the harbour the tide had turned, and they could not. The water grew shallower; they gave up the attempt; and gradually the vessel heeled over, and lay just as before on the bank of sand. At nightfall I went down again, and in the dark gloaming I saw the forsaken vessel, and I prayed that I might not miss the tide which God gives to our souls, nor quench His Spirit within my heart. (J. Watson, M. A.)Repentance implies the utter forsaking of sin Every time a man takes a journey from home about business, we do not say he hath forsaken his house; because he meant, when he went out, to come to it again. No; but when we see a man leave his house, carry all his goods away with him, lock up his doors, and take up his abode in another place, never to dwell there more, this man may very well be said to have forsaken his house indeed. Thus it is that every one of us are to forsake sin so as to leave it without any thought of returning to it again. It were strange to find a drunkard so constant in the exercise of that sin, but sometimes you may find him sober, and yet a drunkard he is, as if he were then drunk. Every one hath not forsaken his trade that we see, now and then, in their holiday suit; then it is that a man is said to forsake his sin, when he throws it from him, and bolts the door upon it, with a purpose never to open any more unto it. Ephraim shall say, “ What have we to do any more with idols?” (Hosea 14:8). (J. Spencer.)Be converted Let us-- I. Consider the state of the soul before conversion1. The Bible speaks of it as a state of death. Death is so offensive in physical nature that we are compelled to bury even our beloved friends; and had we eyes and hearts to see and feel the realities of the spiritual world a soul dead by sin would be more offensive than a decaying body. We bury the physical dead, but it is impossible to put away a dead soul from society. The world would have been better without you, for as a corpse putrifies the air we breathe, so a dead soul is a corruption which gives forth evil and prevents good. A dead soul may-- (1) Have great influence. Your influence might have been exerted for the good of society, but you have lived only to enjoy your own self, and so instead of being a helper of the highest interests of mankind, you are drawing sap from the human tree and are yielding no fruit. (2) Be a moral person. You have not committed any crime, but you are dangerous to society. Your goodness is an argument to a bad man against being “ religious,” and the children of your family say, “ Why, father never goes to church, nor reads the Bible, nor prays--why should I?” People will follow a moral sceptic because they wish to have an excuse for sin. (3) Be an openly wicked man. 2. How can it be known whether I am in this state of death or not? If you be in this state there will be-- (1) No growth of goodness in your character. Some persons appear to grow more beautiful every year, but others become more wicked as they grow older. (2) No strength to do holy things. You may do as you like with a dead body; it can make no resistance, and likewise a dead soul is helpless in the hands of Satan. (3) Troubles and obstacles which will cause you to despair. In such a case men, but mostly women, rush to intoxicating liquor, and their last state is worse than the first. A dead soul is one “ having no hope, and without God in the world.” II. Inquire, what is conversion?1. It is a new life. You may see advertisements offering for sale an ingredient which improves the breath. Now conversion does not improve the old sinful breath, but it gives a new holy breath within the soul. Just as God by His Providence gives us at birth physical lungs with which to breathe the air about us, so His Holy Spirit creates spiritual lungs in our soul by which we breathe in the atmosphere of the kingdom of God. 2. A second incarnation of God. The first was in Christ, the second in the soul of His disciple. God is not limited to the body of Jesus. He shall also fill every believer with all His fulness. Socrates, speaking of true friendship, describes it as one spirit in two bodies. Now conversion is one Spirit in God and also in you. 3. A moral transformation. It is that change which makes a man who has loved sin to shun it as he would a poisonous serpent. 4. A birth for humanity. It is to realise that you are born to be the brother or the sister of every one, and to prove it by your active goodness. It is that union with God which unites us to our fellow-man. III. I would urge you to be converted: because--1. Unless converted you are at war with God. How shameful to be at war with a loving Father! 2. The gospel assures you of pardon. 3. The Lord loves you. 4. God can convert you. (W. Birch.)Conversion I. What conversion is, and wherein it lies. The conversion to be treated of is not--1. An external one, or what lies only in an outward reformation of life and manners, such as that of the Ninevites, for this may be where internal conversion is not, as in the Scribes and Pharisees. 2. Nor is it a mere doctrinal one, nor a conversion from false notions before imbibed to a set of doctrines and truths which are according to the Scriptures; so men of old were converted from Judaism and heathenism to Christianity. 3. Nor the restoration of the people of God from backsliding when they are in a very affecting and importunate manner called upon to return to the Lord (Jeremiah 3:12; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 3:22; Hosea 14:1-4); so Peter when he fell through temptation and denied his Lord, and was recovered from it by a look from Christ, it is called his conversion (Luke 22:32). But-- 4. The conversion under consideration is a true, real, internal work of God upon the souls of men. (1) In the turn of the heart to God, of the thoughts of the heart. (2) Conversion lies in a man’ s being turned from darkness to light; the apostle was sent to turn them from darkness to light (chap. 26:18), that is, to be the instrument or means of their conversion by preaching the gospel. (3) From the power of Satan unto God as in the above place (chap. 26:18). Satan has great power over men in an unconverted state. (4) Conversion lies in turning men from idols to serve the living God; not merely from idols of silver and gold, of wood and stone, as formerly, but from the idols of a man’ s own heart. (5) Conversion lies in turning men from their own righteousness to the righteousness of Christ. (6) Conversion lies in a man’ s turning to the Lord actively under the influence of Divine grace; and by this phrase it is often expressed in Scripture as in Isaiah 10:21; Acts 11:21; 2 Corinthians 3:16. II. The causes of conversion.1. Not by the power of man; what is said of the conversion or turning of the Jews from their captivity is true of the conversion of a sinner that it is not by might nor by power, that is, not of man, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts (Zechariah 4:6). 2. Nor is conversion owing to the will of man; the will of man before conversion is in a bad state; it chooses its own ways, and delights in its abominations, it is in high pursuit after the desires of the flesh and of the mind. 3. God only is the author and efficient cause of conversion. 4. The moving or impulsive cause of conversion is the love, grace, mercy, favour, and good will of God, and not the merits of men. 5. The instrumental cause or means of conversion is usually the ministry of the Word. III. The subjects of conversion. Lost sinners redeemed by Christ are the subjects. (Theological Sketch-Book.)Conversion 1. All through the New Testament one great saving change, involving entirely new relations with God on the one hand, and with sin on the other, is represented as indispensably necessary, and one only, and it is to this great change that we give the name of “ conversion.” The word, particularly in the original, seems to be a suitable one to indicate it, looking at it from man’ s point of view, because it connotes a turning round and a turning towards, with a view to resting in. The word too, in common use, suggests just such a radical change. We speak of “ converters” that change iron into steel; of converting a sailing ship into a steamer, or an old-fashioned gun into a breechloader. 2. This great saving change is represented as the true starting-point of the spiritual life. It is therefore not a life-long work, for if all our days be consumed in making the start, what time is there left to that journey? The locomotive requires to be placed upon the turntable, and to have its position reversed, before it can proceed on its return journey. But if the whole four-and-twenty hours are consumed in getting the engine turned, what is to become of that journey? And where is the station-master that would be content to go on all day asking, “ Is that engine being turned?” or would feel content on hearing that the process was going forward? I. Conversion is closely connected with, but distinct from, repentance. Repentance represents the negative, conversion the positive, element. Repentance consists in the honest repudiation of the old, with the accompanying feelings of regret and humiliation; but conversion consists in the acceptance of the new, with all natural, spiritual exultation in God. Repentance is the discovery of the fatal disease and the mournful confession of it. Conversion is the appropriation of the remedy, the believing touching of the hem of His garment, with the firm persuasion, “ If I may but touch I shall be whole.” Repentance brings us down to the dust; conversion sets us amongst the princes and makes us inherit a crown of glory. II. Conversion implies an original attitude of aversion. “ An evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God.” And it is the presence of this attitude, more or less fully developed, that makes conversion necessary. Now this attitude is inherited from our first parents. Hence our position differs from theirs in this, that they had to fall beneath their created nature in order to turn from God, whereas we have to rise above our inherited nature to turn to God. Then, again, as it was by a definite moral act, an act of the will, that man turned away from God, so it is only by a definite moral act that man can be converted to God. And hence it is evident that no ordinance can render the conversion to God superfluous or unnecessary. This is surely a sufficient answer to those who allege that conversion cannot be necessary in the case of those who have been baptized as infants, unless they have lapsed into open sin. On the other hand, however, it must frankly be admitted that there are many of whoso conversion there can be no reasonable doubt, who yet cannot remember in the past any aversion, and hence cannot point to any distinct conversion. They seem to have loved and trusted their Saviour so long as they could remember anything. Again, there are others who, although they can recall a condition of aversion, cannot point to the hour of conversion. This seeming indefiniteness with some, no doubt, arise from temperament, or perhaps to defective teaching. Anxious souls, who wish to come to Christ instead of being directed at once to the Cross, are told that they must wait for certain experiences. But whatever be the true explanation we shall do wisely in thinking less of the accidents and more of the essence of this great change. The question is not when and how did your conversion take place? but, Has it taken place? III. Must conversions always be sudden? You hear not few affirm with sufficient dogmatism that they don’ t believe in sudden conversions except those on a death-bed. I must say, for my own part, that these are the only kind of sudden conversions that I am sceptical about. But my answer is not that all conversions are in their outward appearances necessarily sudden, but that there is no reason why they should not be so. If this matter of turning back again from sin and self to God can be settled promptly, none would wish to see it protracted; for it is only after this point has been passed that real religious experience begins. If conversion can be immediate, there is surely no sense in desiring that the process should be protracted. “ Behold, now is the accepted time,” etc. If conversion were one and the same thing as reformation, this might well require time; but if it be a mighty spiritual revolution wrought in man by the Holy Ghost, then it is by no means surprising that it should be completed as rapidly as Naaman’ s cure. Let us turn to our text. IV. Conversion is an imperative duty. The text is a direction couched in the form of a command. “ Be converted.” It may occur to you to object, Who can convert himself? If I am to be converted, it is God that must convert me. Now there is a certain sense in which this is quite true. The regenerating power can only come from God; but, on the other hand, man as well as God has his part in producing this great change, and it is to man’ s part in it that the word conversion almost invariably refers. Only once is the word used in the Passive Voice, “ Except ye be converted, and become as little children,” etc. In that passage the actual moral change is referred to. And it is well that the word should thus be used once lest we should lose sight altogether of the necessarily close connection that must exist between the turning on our part and the change wrought by God on His part. But in the present passage the word is active, “ turn again.” Many awakened souls are kept back from Christ because they cannot make themselves feel the great change that they think they ought to experience. They wait and hope and pray that they may be converted, instead of turning right round so as to face the God from whom they have turned away. Now to all such the voice of God through similar passages would seem to say, “ Turn ye even unto Me, saith the Lord.” V. Conversion is the correlative of aversion. Now in this aversion three distinct steps may be discerned. The first is taken in the aversion of the inner eye, the looking away from God; the next in the aversion of the will when we say, “ We will not have this man to reign over us.” We prefer to assert our independence; and then follows the aversion of the desires and affections. Now there are three corresponding steps in conversion. We begin to turn Godwards when we allow ourselves to recognise our inward needs, and turn from the empty cisterns that can hold no water, and confess, “ My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God.” That may be called the conversion of the desires. We take our second step in the submission of our wills and our decision to yield ourselves to God, and here usually the struggle is the most severe, and when this point is gained the hardest part of the battle is won. But there is a third step, the conversion of our inner vision. For even when our desires are fixed on God and our wills yielded to God, seeking souls are still not unfrequently kept in darkness just because they will turn their eyes to anything else rather than God. They will look at themselves, at their feelings, at their ill deserts, at their own faith, or rather at their want of it, at other people, and their experiences rather than at God. Now when St. Peter calls upon us to turn right round and face towards God, it is in order that we may so fix our gaze upon God as to discover what there is in God for us, and rest at peace in the joy of that discovery. But it would be of little use to call upon us to turn unless such an object were presented to us as should attract and retain our gaze when once we direct our vision towards it. The thought of God and of His holiness repels and even appals the awakened soul. But here it is that we learn the value of the gospel. It was not enough that Christ should bid us return to our Father; it was necessary that He should constitute Himself the way. VI. Thus we see the connection between the atoning work of christ and conversion. The result of that work is, that the sinner finds in God the very thing he has despaired to find in himself. Gazing on the Cross, he makes the astonishing discovery, “ Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.” Indeed, we may say that in the wondrous vision we find that which converts all our thoughts of God. He who gave His Son for me must needs be worthy of my confidence and love. “ Look unto Me,” I hear Him say, “ and be ye saved,” and unto Him I look and find that there is indeed “ life for a look at the Crucified One.” And this look is conversion; for everything about that Cross seems of a kind to produce a change of thought and feeling that might be called a conversion. I love my sins, but I look at that Cross, and I see in the agony and death of the Sin-bearer what sin really is, and what it must bring me to if I cling to it; and thus my view of sin is changed. I looked upon many of my sins as mere trifles; now I see how exceeding sinful sin must be in the sight of Him who is its Judge, and thus my estimate of the gravity of sin is changed. I once thought of God as though He were hard, austere, and unsympathetic; now I see how tender, as well as infinite, is His love. Thus my judgment of God is changed. I used to love to think of myself as my Own master, but now I see what man is without God, and so my views of myself and of my relations to God are changed. Thus in turning myself to God I turn my back upon my old self. The old is passed away, left crucified on yonder Cross, and all things are become new. But more than even this. Not only am I changed in all my views and feelings, but I am converted to God; that is to say, I am restored to my proper relations with God. Between Him and me there is now nothing but love, and so I am now in a position to enjoy His fellowship and to be strong in His power. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)Conversion is I. A change. A Scotch lassie, who heard Mr. Whitefield preach, was so impressed that she underwent a change of heart. When she presented herself before the Church to be admitted as a member, the deacon said to her, “ My child, is your heart changed?” She replied, “ Sir, I do not know whether it is my heart that is changed or the world, but I feel that something is changed; things are different now.” When a man is “ converted” he undergoes a change. Instead of being a servant of Satan, or living merely to please himself, he becomes a servant of God, and lives henceforth to try to please God. II. A substantial change; not merely in name, but in reality. A certain clergyman was preaching to black people. One of the men seemed much impressed, and said he would be a Christian. So the clergyman baptized him, made the mark of the cross on his forehead, and called him by a new name--“ Adam.” A week or two afterwards the clergyman had reason to believe that this man was not doing as he ought, and amongst other things that he was not fasting on Fridays. Accordingly, one Friday, he went to the man’ s cabin, and, as he expected, smelt the savoury scent of roasting beef. The clergyman said, “ Adam, you are breaking the law of the Church; you ought to be fasting; that is beef, not fish.” The man replied, “ Well, massa preacher, you cross me and call me a new name, and say I am Christian. So, massa, I take de beef and cross him, and put him in de water, and call him fish.” That is about as great a change or conversion as one man can give another. No rite can convert a living soul. Conversion is a personal act between the soul and God. III. A change within which transforms the outward life. IV. An enduring change. A man can get a new “ rig-out” for about half-a-crown in Petticoat Lane. You can get a coat and vest for a shilling, a pair Of “ unmentionables” for sixpence, a shirt for fourpence halfpenny, a collar and tie--such as they are, for a penny, a hat--what you call a “ pot,” for threepence, a pair of stockings also for threepence, and you may get a cane and a ring for a penny! And if you are good at bargaining, you may have a gold-like breast pin with a thing like a diamond thrown into the lot for good luck. While you are in the dark shop the whole thing looks moderately “ respectable.” The articles are not new certainly; nor second-hand; they are about tenth-hand. But when you walk out with your purchases on your back--well, you had better have a good-sized sheet of brown paper to wrap yourself in, for I suspect a decent gust of wind might blow them away altogether, or a shower of rain might dissolve them. The fact is the things are not substantial; they won’ t stand wear and tear. Man-made conversions are like those cast-off clothes--they are unsubstantial--they will not wear well. (W. Birch.)That your sins may be blotted out.-- The blotting out of sin This is the only passage in which the verb is directly connected with sins. The image that underlies the words (as in Colossians 2:14) is that of an indictment which catalogues the sins of the penitent, and which the pardoning love of the Father cancels. The word and the thought are found in Psalms 51:10; Isaiah 43:25. (Dean Plumptre.)Sin blotted out A little boy was once much puzzled about sins being blotted out, and said, “ I cannot think what becomes of the sins God forgives, mother.” “ Why, Charlie, can you tell me where are the figures you wrote on your slate yesterday?” “ I washed them all out, mother.” “ And where are they, then?” “ Why, they are nowhere; they are gone,” said Charlie. “ Just so it is with the believer’ s sins--they are gone; blotted out; ‘ remembered no more.’” “ As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Obliteration more than pardon I have spilled the ink over a bill and so have blotted it till it can hardly be read, but this is quite another thing from having the debt blotted out, for that cannot be till payment is made. So a man may blot his sins from his memory, and quiet his mind with false hopes, but the peace which this will bring him is widely different from that which arises from God’ s forgiveness of sin through the satisfaction which Jesus made in His atonement. Our blotting is one thing, God’ s blotting out is something far higher. (C. H. Spurgeon.)When the times of refreshing shall come.-- Times of refreshing Such times-- I. Are needed. Spiritual life is dependent on direct Divine agency. But as there may be life without health or vigour, so in the believer and the Church there may be real life but great languor, and when such is the case times of refreshing are needed. This Divine influence is often compared to rain, etc. (Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 34:26; Isaiah 61:11), and the result of its exertion is fertility and growth.1. Personal piety will be deep and personal activity energetic. These are here connected because they should never be separated. Piety without activity will degenerate into spiritual selfishness; activity without piety will be formal and mechanical. As spiritual life generally begins in the closet, it is there that it will be invigorated and revived. As the healthy man requires more sustenance and has a larger appetite than the invalid, so there will be a craving for spiritual food. As in health we crave for the fresh air of heaven, so we shall often ascend the mountain-top of communion with God. And this revived piety, taking cognisance of eternal realities, will prompt to corresponding activity in the cause of Christ. As such times are the result of spiritual influence, by that influence the love of Christ will constrain to holy and individual devotedness. 2. Domestic piety will be more manifest. If the flame of closet devotion be dim, that of the family altar cannot be bright; but when times of refreshing come the members of the household will catch the spirit of devotion, and those for whom parents have long prayed will give evidence of spiritual life. Here, perhaps, more than anywhere are such times to be desired. Worldly amusements, literature, principles, conformity, have in too many instances sapped the foundations of family religion. 3. Social piety will be revived. What dulness and formality there often is in our Church organisations and gatherings, and what a falling off in consequence. But get a season of refreshing, and the pastor will speak direct from the mount of communion a message from God, and Church officers and members, instead of availing themselves of any trifling excuse, will eagerly throng to the services and zealously work all the departments. Equally great will be the change in the habitual converse of Christians. Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth will testify of spiritual things. 4. Sinners will be converted and added to the Church. This has always been a characteristic of such seasons. Witness Pentecost, e.g.II. May be expected. We are not left in doubt as to the ultimate triumph of the truth. Christ yet will draw all men unto Him. But Christ works by agents, and since the success of the gospel is in proportion to the vigour of the agents, we are led both by the nature of things and the Divine promises to expect a renewal of spiritual invigoration from time to time. And as the fruitful showers of one year will not suffice for the next, but each has its own supply, so we are led to expect for each generation, and for each believer in his successive phases of experience and work, fresh supplies of reviving grace. And the recurrence of such seasons may be expected from the analogy of the past. They have always been sent when the Church’ s need has been great. It was so after the Exile (Haggai 1:14), in the days of the Baptist, at Pentecost, in Italy under Savonarola, in Germany and Switzerland, at the time of the Reformation, in America under Jonathan Edwards, etc. (Isaiah 51:9). III. Must be sought. While we refer their recurrence to the sovereignty of God, yet He has indicated the course which we have to pursue. “ I will yet for this be inquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them.” But if we regard iniquity in our hearts the Lord will not hear us, “ Repent ye, therefore, that the times of refreshing may come.” This exhortation is needed by dead Christians as well as dead sinners. IV. Will change the whole aspect of the Church. There will be--1. Clearer knowledge of Divine truth.2. More manifest spirituality.3. Greater joy. (R. C. Pritchett.)Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord I. What they are. The phrase might be read--1. “ Times of cooling,” in allusion to the custom of labourers, especially in Eastern countries, of retiring to the shade during the heat of the day to recruit their exhausted strength. And what are these hallowed hours, whether on the week days or on the Sabbath, but times of refreshing, affording an agreeable pause amid the busy scenes of life, enabling us to retire from the burden and heat of the day to “ the shadow of a great rock in a weary land?” Here grows the “ tree of life,” of which the grateful Church exclaims, “ I sat down under His shadow with delight, and His fruit was sweet unto my taste.” Here gently rolls “ the river of the waters of life,” “ whose streams make glad the city of God.” Here, like Nathanael under the fig-tree, we can review all ,’ the way in which the Lord our God hath led us,” and that is refreshing. Here we can contemplate the unfolded mysteries of redeeming love, and that is refreshing. We can inspect the work of grace in the heart, and that is refreshing. We can look into the promises and examine the covenant which is “ ordered in all things and sure,” and that is refreshing. We can think of heaven, and that is “ refreshing,” 2. Times of refection. The renewed soul has an appetite as well as the body, and the blessings of salvation are adapted to our necessities. “ In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things,” etc. To these rich provisions we have constant access. Here is food for all, and the whole in pleasing variety. Here is “ the sincere milk of the Word” for “ babes in Christ,” etc. 3. Times of humidity, softening, and moisture, when the genial showers or refreshing dews saturate and revive the thirsty bosom of vegetation. Apt emblem of the refreshing influences of the Holy Ghost, which “ come down like rain upon the new-mown grass, and as the showers which water the earth.” And how welcome these heavenly showers! How they refresh the soul of the minister, who, having sown the good seed of the Word, is anxious to see “ the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear!” How they revive the spirit of the people whose graces open and expand like “ trees planted by the rivers of water!” What a happy effect they have upon our religious institutions! What a sweet perfume, as a “ savour of life unto life,” do they produce, as you find in a garden after a refreshing shower! And what a beautiful bow upon “ the cloud of our mercies as in the day of rain,” do they impress, when they descend in concert with the Sun of Righteousness, like “ the bow of promise mid the storm.” II. The source whence they spring--“ The presence of the Lord.” This renders them doubly valuable. The gift is enhanced by the love which we bear to the Giver, especially when we recollect His motive, the way in which our supplies have been procured, the medium through which they descend, the impossibility of procuring others of equal worth, our own unworthiness and “ the fulness of joy and the pleasure for evermore” of which they are the pledge and the earnest. They come “ from the presence of the Lord,” as the pool of Bethesda was rendered medicinal by the presence of the angel; as the bitter waters of Marah became sweet by the influence of the tree which was cast into them; or as the sorrowing disciples were made glad by the presence of the Redeemer. That the blessed God is present with His people whenever and wherever they meet together in His name, requires no proof. He has promised, “ in all places where I record My name will I come unto you and bless you.” III. Their importance. What would the earth be without the genial showers which water it but a desert, whatever our skill or labour? Thus it would be in our Churches without Divine influences. Ministers might “ break up the fallow ground, and scatter the precious seed,” but it would not germinate. “ We should labour in vain, and spend our strength for nought.” But when the Spirit is poured out from on high, “ The wilderness shall bud and blossom as the rose.” The Holy Ghost is the fruitful source of vital religion. Without His fructifying graces, instructions, invitations, warnings, judgments, mercies, miracles--are all unproductive. But when He descends, “ like showers of heavenly rain,” the simplest means produce the noblest effects. And as the Holy Spirit produces vital religion where it has never existed before, so He revives it where it has withered, strengthens it where it is weak, and beautifies, expands, and causes it to unfold where it has been contracted and confined. IV. How they are to be obtained.1. By a conviction of their value. This is requisite to give a proper impulse to our solicitude. 2. By fervent and persevering prayer. We must ask in order that we may receive. For the blessings which we require the Lord will be sought unto. And “ if ye, being evil,” etc. 3. Prayer must be followed by an avoidance of those inconsistencies and declensions which “ grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” (W. B. Leach.)Religious revivals times of refreshing (text, and Psalms 85:6):--I have selected these words-- I. As the deep utterances of our longings for a revival in our own land.1. Do we not feel the need of it in ourselves individually? Religion begins with a man’ s self and works outward. “ When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Instead of saying, “ What lack I yet?” or “ thanking God you are not like other men,” rather cry, “ My soul cleaveth unto the dust. O quicken Thou me, according to Thy Word.” Are some secretly flattering themselves that they have not lived in open ungodliness? “ Ah, but where is the blessedness ye once spake of?” What report from thy closet? thy scene of daily labour? the house of God, the Sunday school? the chamber of the sick and dying? “ Wilt Thou not revive me again?” 2. Is there no need for a revival in our families? Have you set your house in order? Do you walk within your house with a perfect heart? Is there here no too indulgent Eli? Is there no parent troubled with an Absalom? Like Jacob, are you suffering from concealed idols? Difficulties are felt in these modern times by many a parent; but let the “ land mourn, every family apart,” and “ the voice of rejoicing and salvation shall be in the tabernacles of the righteous.” Let the family Bible, the family altar, and the family pew, secure the family blessing. 3. Is there no need for a revival in our Churches? But let us beware of that censoriousness which can see nothing but faults, and even feel a pleasure in exposing them. The ears of the world are open to these aspersions, and out of their mouths they condemn us. Mark you the example of Christ in the addresses to the Churches in Asia: where possible, praise is blended with censure, and praise has the precedence. 4. Our eyes naturally turn to our nation at large, and we inquire if no revival be needed. What is our national character, habits, and reputation abroad? Look at your senate, universities, markets, factories, press, theatres, prisons, the sins and miseries of your streets, by night as well as by day, and will you not “ sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof” ? The deep conviction of national sins precedes a revival. II. The source of a religious revival. Whence is it? “ From heaven, or of men?” What more perplexes the worldly philosopher than to see crowds of men, women, and children rushing to the prayer-meeting. On the Day of Pentecost “ they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking, said, These men are full of new wine.” But all this leaves the phenomenon of a genuine religious revival unexplained. That a real revival, as tested by the fruits of repentance and a holy life, is the work of the Spirit, we boldly aver. We argue this from the change effected. I appeal to the history of the Church. Say, whether you refer to the conversion of the three thousand, or of individuals, as the malefactor, Zaccheus, Saul of Tarsus, or the jailor, whether in every case it was not as with Lydia--“ The Lord opened the heart.” If any fact were necessary to confirm this view, it would be not only the notorious sinners that have been converted, but the humble and despised agents and agency employed. But let us appeal to the Scripture itself. What say apostles of their own success? “ Not that we are sufficient of ourselves.” “ So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.” “ Not by might, nor by power; but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” And the same Voice is heard saying, “ And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing,” etc. III. The joyousness of its character.1. This time is one of “ refreshing” from its effects on our own minds. Some of you may be awakened to discover the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and to be alarmed for its consequences. See the penitent at the footstool of mercy beseeching the royal forgiveness; mark the proclamation of the Sovereign’ s favour, and watch the change on the suppliant’ s countenance! “ I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” How different now the heart of the suppliant to the trembling with which he approached to present the prayer “ Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities!” Was it not so with the jailor when he “ rejoiced with all his house” ? Was it not so with the men “ pricked in their heart” ? “ They gladly received his word.” 2. Is it not a time of refreshing when we witness large accessions to the Christian Church? Roused to a feeling of compassion for the perishing world, the Church unites her joy on earth with the “ joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” But if the rescue of one sinner be such joy, what rejoicing when at these seasons Satan’ s empire is shaken to its centre, and he himself trembles for his kingdom? 3. Then the Churches themselves are so purified and separated from the world, that they not only believe in, but experience the communion of saints. The charity of every one of them towards each other aboundeth. Instead of being idlers, they are in “ labours more abundant” ; instead of being troublers they are peace-workers of Zion. 4. But we have not reached the height of the joy until we have associated religious revivals with the manifested glory of God. (J. S. Pearsall.)Revivals A revival is the spring of religion, the renovation of life and gladness. It is the season in which young converts burst into existence and beautiful activity. The Church resumes her toil and labour and care with freshness and energy. The air all around is balmy, and diffusing the sweetest odours. The whole landscape teems with living promises of abundant harvest of righteousness and peace. It is the jubilee of holiness. A genial warmth pervades and refreshes the whole Church. Showers of “ vernal delight and joy” descend gently and copiously. Delightful influences are wafted by every breeze. Where the dead leaves of winter still linger, the primrose and the daisy spring up in modest loveliness. Trees long barren put forth the buds of beauty and power. The whole valley is crowned with fragrant and varied blossoms. Forms of beauty bloom on every side, and Zion is the joy of the whole earth. If the spirit that renews the face of the earth is a spirit of beauty in the elegance of the germs, the tints of the buds, the verdure of the foliage, the splendour of the blossoms, and the witching glories of the matured fruits of Nature, “ how great is His beauty” when acting out His lovely and holy perfections in revivals of religion. (T. W. Jenkyn, D. D.)Revivals: True test of The divinity of revivals may be tested by their effect on the family. If they turn the heart of the parents towards their children, and the heart of the children towards their parents, they are of God. If they increase the love of the family; if they cause the tendrils of love to draw the members of the family closer and closer to each other; if under their influence blossoms and clusters of love hang in abundance on the family-tree, then you may be sure that it is the true religion that is revived. But if the family has no blessing, and the dew is on the Church, you may be in doubt whether it is a Divine blessing, or any blessing at all. If religious excitements make home dull, and parental and filial duties and relations tame or tasteless, they may be suspected of being spurious, carnal, worldly. And when there begins to be a desire for a revival of God’ s work, it is not wrong to desire that the congregation should be inflamed, and that there should be a multiplication of meetings, in which Christians, coming together, may exchange their thoughts and mingle their feelings; but it is wrong to suppose that a revival should begin in the Church. The family is a hearth raked up, and the fire must be unraked there. And every one must bring his home-brand and lay it on the altar of the Church. Then the revival in the Church will be genuine. Sometimes revivals begin in Churches and thence go into families. At any rate, either first or last, every true revival of religion must reach the family. A revival that does not reach the family is imperfect, if not spurious. (H. W. Beecher.)Revivals: Use of One of the blessings of revivals of religion is that they surround men with sympathies that work towards religious growth. Hours of conviction are benificent in this, that they shut men out from the world, and give them to themselves for the time being, and afford them the opportunity of dwelling in their thoughts upon things Divine and spiritual. Anything is favourable to advancement in Christian manhood which tends to countervail that flow of sympathetic action by which the mind is carried away from intercourse with Christ and God. (H. W. Beecher.)Revivals: Effects of In the revival shadowed in the vision of the valley of dry bones, there was first a noise, and then a shaking, throughout all the plain. Revivals always produce vigorous stirrings in a Church, and excitement in a neighbourhood. The smooth and chilling ice of the frigid latitudes of formality is disturbed and broken up; and all the barks and ships that were frozen in them are set at liberty. The snows of winter are melted from the face of the earth, and all men awaken to activity and labour. Revivals disturb the formalist, the indolent, the lukewarm, and the wicked. They produce a turbulence in the conscience, an agitation in the mind, tumult in the emotions, commotion in the sympathies, and vigorous animation in all the faculties. (T. W. Jenkyn, D. D.)Revivals, and seasons of coldness I remember one week New York was like a second Jerusalem at Pentecost. Merchants ran from counting-houses, and bankers from Wall Street and South Street, hungry and thirsty for an hour of noon-day prayer; and the atmosphere seemed laden with the perfumes of the Spirit, as I saw the orchards of England a short time since laden with the sweet apple-blossoms. Of the thousands that then set out toward Zion, with songs of joy and gladness, how many have held out, and who have held out? Only those who gave themselves fully up to Christ, and have followed Christ fully ever since; the truly regenerated with the Spirit, who have learned to know no other but Christ, and follow no other but Him. The Church gets filled in revival seasons, but it gets winnowed in seasons of coldness and indifference. Only sound piety holds out and keeps fresh at times when worldliness abounds, and popular and fashionable sins pour in like a flood. (T. L. Cuyler.)Revival: Waiting for Far in the woods of Maine, in these winter months, there are a hundred camps, and scores of axemen are busy cutting down the huge trees and measuring the logs and sorting them, and throwing them into deep gullies, where they will lie dry and undisturbed until the snow melts and the spring floods come; and then they will be borne out of the ravines into the ever deep-flowing river, and from thence to some Penobscot or Kennebec, and there collected together and bound in mighty rafts, they will float down to the tide-waters. So men are laying dry logs along empty channels, hoping that some revival freshet will come and sweep them down to the deep waters of piety. (H. W. Beecher.)Times of restitution and restoration In the text we have(1) the conditions of salvation by Christ: repentance, and conversion; change of mind, and change of life; reviewing the past with true contrition, and turning to God with full purpose of amendment: (2) the immediate result, forgiveness; the cancelling of sin; the obliteration of the guilty record; the “ casting all our sins into the depths of the sea” ; the so passing by, the so dismissing, the sins of those who truly repent, that He remembers them no more: and (3) the future result; “ that so there may come from God’ s presence seasons of refreshing” ; that so, the number of His elect being at last accomplished, He may send Jesus Christ, the Saviour, who is now in heaven awaiting the arrival of those times of restitution, restoration, reparation of all things which have been the great subject of Divine prediction from the first. The arrival of the times thus described is made to depend upon the repentance and conversion of man. I. The period of refreshing. The word thus rendered is properly a revival by fresh air; the consequence of letting in a breeze of cool and invigorating air upon one who has been long fainting under a sultry and oppressive atmosphere. Do not we want such times? Are we not all conscious of the oppressive weight of this world’ s atmosphere? Do we not all feel ourselves oftentimes fainting with the closeness and sultriness of the air we are forced to breathe? The oppression of persecution is rather “ a stormy wind and tempest” which has in it something of a wholesome severity, rousing our whole being into a more resolute and vigorous vitality. But the text speaks of that stifling heat which at once indisposes and incapacitates for exertion; of that sense of breathing an exhausted air, or living in a crowded cabin, which paralyses every energy, and at last forbids repose itself. How seldom does the refreshing breath of God’ s Holy Spirit revive Christians into the buoyancy of conscious life and health! How seldom does the sweet influence of the Divine presence lift them into that upper air where no earth-born cloud darkens their sky, and no noxious vapour damps or poisons their atmosphere! They can tell the times when this has been their bright experience. But far more often they sigh for light and air, hunger for food, thirst for water. In prosperity the air of earth is laden with a luscious perfume, lulling us into a stupor which is no repose. In adversity we seem to be confined within the walls of a sick-room,. from which worldly pleasure is banished, without the admission of a heavenly visitant. II. The time of restitution. What a tangled, disordered, inverted thing is the world as we see it! What a deterioration from any condition in which God could ever have pronounced it to be very good. “ The whole creation groaneth and travaileth,” etc. Only see, for example, bow the relations of life are disorganised! See what misfortunes, sorrows, spring out of the affections! See the hearts of fathers turned from their children, and the hearts of children from their fathers. See the weaker and the more trusting half of mankind made the sport and the victim of the stronger and the less sensitive. See the distinction of ranks now cruelly aggravated, and now violently obliterated. And under the government of a righteous and holy God can it be conceived that this state of things should be perpetual? Is not the very extent of the ruin a prophecy of the restoration? Can it be that God should thus have made all things in vain, and suffered His own beautiful handiwork to be thus marred and desolated finally? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 3:20 And He shall send Jesus. The Missionary Christ A missionary is “ one sent.” Jesus was a missionary when He came to save; He will be a missionary when He comes to judge. These missions have been loosely termed the First and Second Advents as though there were no others. But if the Old Testament theophanies were manifestations of Christ, then Christ came on a pre-incarnate mission. Then, again, He had aa important mission after the Resurrection; and further, we see from the text in conjunction with Acts 3:26 and His promise, “ Lo, I am with you,” that He has been engaged in a mission ever since the Ascension. So there are four advents which characterise the successive phases of the mission of the Son of God. The text refers to that in which He is now engaged. Note-- I. The missionary.1. The name “ Jesus” is generally used of the Saviour in His human capacity; and it is not without the profoundest interest that the Great Ambassador from on high is that “ same Jesus” who assumed our humanity to qualify Himself for a real brotherhood with our race. We have suggested, therefore, in the name sympathy, helpfulness, accessibility, companionship. While we carefully remember His august position on the throne of the universe, let us not forget that that throne is occupied by our Brother, and that therefore we may “ come boldly to the throne of grace!” 2. Christ is the official title which represents our Lord as embodying all that was meant by the “ anointed” personages of the Old Testament. He is the reality of which they were the type--the Messiah. (1) Christ, then, still discharges His teaching functions, and says many things which He could not say to His ancient disciples--not so much revealing new truth as unfolding fresh developments, exhibiting new aspects, and bringing it home in unlooked-for ways. (2) Christ is the Priest of His Church. Atonement was only one function. He ever lives to apply the benefits of His sacrifice, to make intercession, to pour forth His ceaseless blessings. (3) Christ is King to legislate, rule, and lead to victory. II. The Sender God (Acts 3:19). That Jesus was the Sent of God shows--1. The harmony of the missions of Christ incarnate and Christ glorified. No more frequent thought was in our Lord’ s mind than that He came from God except the cognate thought that He was glad to come. So our text regards Christ as still being sent, and, since the effects of His mission are so blessed (Acts 3:26), with the same joy. What dignity and blessedness does this give to those who receive Him! We are amazed at the condescension and love which marked the advent to Bethlehem; but under the same grand auspices does Christ come to our soul, home, church. 2. The relation of Christ. (1) To the Father. (a) Subordination. “ Send.” (b) Equality. God only could do what Christ is sent to do (Acts 3:26). (2) To the Holy Spirit. The “ times of refreshing” are regarded as emphatically the Spirit’ s, but our text shows that they are also Christ’ s. This harmony of operation is seen throughout the New Testament. And what God hath joined together let no man put asunder. III. The time; “ Times of refreshing.” Christ is always here, but He is not always manifest. But He is supremely manifest during periods of spiritual revival.1. In the revival of personal religion it is the vivid realisation of Christ that brings refreshment. Our dead, dry, barren times are when Christ is partially or altogether hidden. But when the clouds break the showers fall and the Sun of Righteousness shines forth, and all is glad and fruitful. 2. In the revival of Church life it is Christ brought home to the sinner, magnified by the saint, and honoured in all effort that is the prime cause. IV. The means. “ Preached unto you.”1. Christless preaching is never marked by a time of refreshing. There were learned rabbis prophesying in a valley of dry bones; but it was a rude fisherman that was the instrument of bringing them to life. This Peter did by simply preaching Christ. Scholastic philosophers were scattering their ponderous tomes on an age that was not only dark but dead; but it was a rude miner’ s son that awakened Europe into life. This Luther did by simply preaching Christ. Stately essays were read by cultured thinkers in that barren, arid eighteenth century; but untutored evangelists simply held up Christ and times of refreshing came. 2. As a means of revival, therefore, preaching Christ is the chief. Other things are important--architecture, music, visitation, schools, pleasant evenings, etc. But a Church may have all, and yet lack the one thing needful. But the Subject to be preached is a whole Christ: not His tender humanness apart from His sovereign dignity; not His precious promises apart from His atoning sacrifice. Let the whole Christ be preached accompanied by the power of the Holy Ghost, with and through whom He works, and “ times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” will come. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 3:21 Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things. Times of restitution of all things The “ times” seem distinguished from the “ seasons” as more permanent. This is the only passage in which the word translated “ restitution” is found in the New Testament; nor is it found in the LXX. version of the Old. Etymologically, it conveys the thought of restoration to an earlier and better state, rather than that of simple consummation or completion, which the immediate context seems, in some measure, to suggest. It finds an interesting parallel in the “ new heavens and new earth” --involving, as they do, a restoration of all things to their true order--of 2 Peter 3:13. It, does not necessarily imply, as some have thought, the final salvation of all men, but it does express the idea of a state in which “ righteousness,” and not “ sin,” shall have dominion over a redeemed and new-created world. The corresponding verb is found in the words, “ Elias truly shall come first, and restore all things “ (Matthew 17:11); and St. Peter’ s words may well be looked on as an echo of that teaching, and so as an undesigned coincidence testifying to the truth of St. Matthew’ s record. (Dean Plumptre.)The golden age--the restitution of all things 1. Restitution means the setting up again of that which has been thrown down. When a fallen pillar is restored to its position; or a plant, blown down, or crushed, regains its upright attitude; when a building, overthrown, is rebuilt--there is a restitution. 2. In the universe there has been a great overturning. The course of history seems to be a succession of failures--God setting up, some other power casting down. And, apart from revelation we could not tell what the end of all things would be. In the Word of God we have the assurance of a restitution--a setting up again of all things--a restoration out of the old, but higher than the old--the same and yet different. “ The city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.” I. The restitution of nature. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth--garnished with wisdom; blessed with love; and, surveying the whole, He pronounced it very good. But through the introduction of evil, a curse soon fell upon creation, and the earth underwent some change, in respect of its beauty and fertility. The world is regarded as full of beauty, notwithstanding its barren deserts, etc.; but had sin never entered, it would have been a scene of order and peace far surpassing our conception. The Cosmos we behold bears traces everywhere of great convulsions; and in this respect nature has been called “ a born ruin.” There are revolutionary forces which, if let loose, would rend creation asunder. Meantime these forces check each other; only occasionally are we reminded of their power by a quaking of the earth, or a peal of thunder. But the day is coming when these forces will overleap their present bounds, and involve universal nature in a catastrophe. The two agents appointed by God to work great physical and moral revolutions are water and fire. God has already employed water to change the face of the earth, and the current of history. The other agent to be employed in the destruction of the world is fire (2 Peter 3:10-14). Part, then, of the restitution of all things consists in the restitution of nature. In the beginning of revelation we see God’ s first work set up, but soon thrown down, or marred. In the end we read of its being set up again in higher form: “ I saw a new heaven and a new earth,” etc. The first creation was cursed, but in the second creation “ there shall-be no more curse.” The first creation has thorns and thistles, but with regard to the second, “ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree,” etc. The restitution will be not merely a return to primeval beauty, but the introduction of a far higher beauty. For then “ the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,” etc. Involved in the restitution of nature is the restitution of Paradise, “ The Lord God planted a garden,” etc. In this there was a perfect combination of the useful and the beautiful. It had trees “ pleasant to the sight and good for food.” A river, also, went out of Eden to water the garden. And so in the midst of Paradise restored there is “ the tree of life, with twelve manner of fruits,” etc., and “ a pure river of water of life,” etc. II. The restitution of man. This is intimately connected with the restitution of nature, as Paul shows in Romans 8:1. Look at man in his first estate. He was made in the image of God in nature and will. He possessed the glorious but perilous gift of liberty. And how did he demonstrate his freedom? Not as God had done in the production of good, but as Satan had done in the production of evil. He showed himself to be free by an act that destroyed his freedom. He was a broken creature, smitten with death. Being spiritually dead, temporal and eternal death was the necessary result. Besides, when man lost the image of God, he lost the sovereignty of nature, and having this dominion, he must have had powers vastly greater than those which remained with him after the fall. But man, the broken image of God, is to be restored. Man, the dethroned and prostrate monarch of nature, is to be reinstated in his sovereignty. This restitution begins in time, as a renewal of the spirit. At the resurrection the body is set up again in a far higher form, like the glorified body of the Redeemer. Then, too, the image of God being perfectly restored, man will enter on his true sovereignty again. The believer will be made a king and a priest to God.2. All this was seen to be accomplished in Christ, as the representative man. He took up the work at the point of ruin to which man had brought it, and from that regained all that man had lost. He magnified the law which man had despised; and fulfilled all righteousness. He encountered the tempter, and defeated him. The first temptation took place in a garden, and the result was that man was driven into the wilderness. Jesus resumes the conflict in the wilderness in order to restore the garden. He Himself is the image of God, and shows that He is in possession of the lost sovereignty over nature. When He was in the wilderness it is recorded that He was with the wild beasts, who lost their ferocity and rebellion in His presence. In this we have a passing glimpse of man’ s returning dominion over the lower creation; of the time when “ the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,” etc.; just as His miracles, manifesting His power over inanimate nature and the body of man, were a prophetic fulfilment of the great aspiration and effort of the human mind to regain the mastery of nature. III. The restitution of society. We find much reformation wanted here. Next to the great question--How shall man be just with God?--is the question, On what terms shall he live with his fellow-men? It is the problem of government. Next to the salvation of the individual is the construction of society. The disturbing element in humanity does not lie primarily in forms of government, but in the individual soul; and, therefore, all attempts to regenerate man from without, by ameliorating his circumstances merely, or placing him under a new political arrangement, have failed; for the root of all rebellion is the unrenewed heart. For a machine to work perfectly--even supposing the machine itself to be perfect--there are required honest and competent men to work it; and, therefore, Christianity begins with the individual, and regenerates society from that point.1. The first form of society is that of the family. Here we have the nursery of all other forms. If families are godless the Church cannot be prosperous. If they are immoral the city cannot be safe. If they are dis-organised the State cannot be strong. But what a dark tragedy broke up the first society of this kind! As we come down the stream of sacred history, we see that God always sets up His work again in the midst of some particular family. In the family of Noah the race makes a new start. In the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob a new covenant of grace is established. In the family of David the kingdom of the Jews is confirmed. In the house at Nazareth the foundation of Christendom is laid. But existing families are ever being broken up and dispersed. The institution itself, however, is a Divine idea that cannot perish, and in the restitution of all things the family reappears. God is revealed as the Father of Christ, “ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” 2. Next to the family is the city. Cain, who destroyed the first family, was the founder of the first city; an acknowledgment that man was no longer at home with nature; a city being a fortified place, surrounded by walls, to keep out intruders. Now, what man founded, God has adopted. After His people had wandered in the wilderness He led them to the promised land, and there built that famous capital of the old theocracy, Jerusalem. It was called the City of God, the Holy City. But it was ultimately visited by a terrible overthrow. “ But the city shall be built on her own heap.” In the restitution of all things a new Jerusalem rises into view, “ a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Christ has gone to the unseen world to prepare many mansions for His people; and in the revelation given to John there are glimpses of “ That great city, the holy Jerusalem.” 3. Next to the city is the empire, or union of cities and states. Very early the idea of universal empire took possession of the human mind, and in the immense tower erected on the plain of Shinar we have the first embodiment of that idea. In the very attempt to make such a huge confederation they were more divided than before. Their impious attempt brought down upon them a judgment that revealed their real but originally-hidden incongruities. Thus the first Babel prophesied the fate and gave its very name to subsequent systems, political and religious, which have attempted the impossible task of founding a universal empire, or Church on a false and godless principle. In itself, however, the idea of a universal empire is not false but true. The true tendency of the world is to reach a confederation of men, or parliament of the world, notwithstanding national differences. The discoveries of science and the reciprocities of commerce are aiming, consciously or unconsciously, at this stupendous result; which, however, they cannot gain by themselves. The highest end of science and commerce is to herald the kingdom of Christ, which carries in its bosom the highest law--the law of God, and the charter of universal freedom. The idea of the Church is that of a universal brotherhood under the fatherhood of God; and the realisation of this is the splendid goal of humanity. Christ is King of kings and the Lord of lords, and everywhere it is foretold that His kingdom will be universal and eternal. (F. Ferguson, D. D.)Restoration I. “ The restitution of all things” will be a clearing away of suffering. This is the special point of that mysterious passage in Romans 8:1-39. in which Paul speaks of the “ earnest expectation of the creature.” We see “ the creature,” rational and irrational, “ subjected to vanity” ; to a condition of anxiety and toil, unrest, disease, death; “ not willingly” --by no act or choice of its own--generation inheriting from generation its heirloom and entail of distress; and this, St. Paul adds, by the fiat of One who laid it under this subjection--we suppose him to mean, as the penalty of sin; yet that sin is not its own, that penalty not removable by present obedience, but having to be endured, to the bitter end, even by the innocent. The thought pressed upon the apostle, as it presses upon us. And he has one and but one escape from “ charging God foolishly.” He adds, with an emphasis which no power of voice and no skill of enunciation can satisfy, the two brief words, “ in hope” ; and goes on to explain that even before this distressed and disconsolate creature there lies a future of emancipation. Then shall it “ remember no more the anguish,” in the joy of a delivery and the transport of a new life. We would detain the apostle and interrogate him concerning these dark sayings. We would ask, Is it of earth as the scene of a future, an everlasting inhabitation; is it of a race of nature, to be cleared of sterility and unfruitfulness; is it of irrational creatures, by man requited too often with neglect or cruelty, that the words are written, “ The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the unveiling of the sons of God” ? Or does “ restitution” mean that nations, ignorant of Christ, destitute of the gospel, shall then, in some wonderful manner, “ walk in the light of it” ? But there is no voice nor any to answer us in these perhaps presumptuous questionings. Thou hast Moses and the prophets, Christ and the apostles--hear them. Soon shalt thou, faithful unto death, be reading these mysteries right in the very sunshine of the smile of God. Meanwhile, “ what is that to thee?” Christ says, “ follow thou Me.” Earth shall be restored to its original beauty; its face shall be wiped from tears, its scarred and seamed countenance shall be radiant again with a more than Eden loveliness: for it is one of those “ all things” which must receive “ restitution” when the heaven which has “ received” Him shall send Jesus back. II. Man, his soul and body, his very being and life, is among these “ all things” which are awaiting a restoration. Set before the mind’ s eye the character which you most admire, the person whom you best love--can anything but blind idolatry paint even him to you as perfect? But supposing that the very qualities which you love in their imperfection were but intensified and glorified; that the only change were in the refining away of the dross and alloy of the thing loved, would not the perfecting be a gain unmingled, the “ restoration” a joy unspeakable and full of glory? And if it has happened to any one to behold the gradual overclouding of magnificent faculties--the growth of small imperfections, till the result was almost the unloveliness of the lovely; if it has been yours to stand finally by the grave, and bury out of your sight, a face and a form once all but Divine to you, surely you have felt then that the one solace for the loving must be the thought of the restoration, in soul and body, of the loved. But if this be true in cases of exceptional loveliness, how shall it be in the average experiences of human character and attainment? Where is the man not soiled and spoilt by imperfections? What shall we say of faults and blemishes, of follies and meannesses, of failures and irresolutions and broken vows, as we are conscious of them within? Who that has seriously tried the struggle to be holy has not found himself vexed and irritated, if not reduced to despair, by perpetual failure? But if it be so, that I, this faulty man, ever failing, halting, vanquished--seeming to make no way in the race of duty, and purity, and eternal life--shall yet certainly, if I continue to fight, be more than conqueror when I die; shall be clean, sanctified wholly, filled with peace and love, made anew in more than all the thoroughness of the first perfection, when God looked upon all the work of His hands and beheld it “ very good” ; then I will arise, if need be, from a thousand falls in one day, “ cast down but not destroyed,” to say, “ Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy, for greater is He that is for me than all that can be against me.” III. That “ restitution of all things” which thus affects earth and the man has an aspect towards God. If there be one thing clear in the Scripture narrative, it is the nearness of God to the as yet sinless Adam. The hiding from God, the expulsion from Paradise, the subsequent approach through sacrifice, the first “ calling upon the name of the Lord,” which is mentioned as a feature of the exile--are all so many hints of a change in the facility, the nearness, and the constancy of access to God. The whole history of the race, the whole experience of the life, has been the commentary upon this parable. The sinner has been in hiding from the face of God. Calling upon Him has been an effort. Sin has made it so. Now it is one of the express revelations of “ the times of refreshing,” that then the conscious presence, the spiritual Sheehinah, the Divine companionship, will be restored. “ I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God,” etc. The greatest of the restitutions will be the restoration of God’ s presence. In the prospect of admission into the very presence of God, let us be willing to endure now the difficulty of the pursuit and the delay of the attainment. Every moment now spent in seeking God is an earnest of the time when we shall have found. (Dean Vaughan.) Acts 3:22-26 For Moses truly said unto your fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you … like unto me. The promised Prophet Note-- I. The appropriateness of God revealing Himself through a human being. For man is the Divine image, and hence God reveals Himself to man through a man, otherwise we could have no knowledge of God. The office of prophet is the most appropriate way of revealing God’ s will. When we carry on this line of thought we are landed in the idea that an incarnation of God alone could adequately convey to man the mind and nature of God. II. A single prophet after the similitude of Moses is to be the mediator for the ages. Now, only one Person answers this description, and that is Christ. He is incarnate God. God’ s Spirit He alone could take, and through its gift to men in the different ages make them the channel of Divine revelation (Acts 3:24). As a matter of fact “ the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” and the prophets were His instruments in the history of the Church. God has spoken in these last days by His Son; and the prophets between Moses and Christ were really the inspired messengers of the one great Prophet. This is the idea of Peter (1 Peter 1:11). III. The life and death of Jesus, therefore, become the climax of Divine revelation. The previous revelations were but shadows of this. A human history became the embodiment of Divine thoughts, mercies, and self-sacrifice. The blaze of Divinity that was intolerable at Sinai becomes not only bearable but entrancing in the face of Jesus Christ. “ We beheld His glory,” but it did not scare men as on the holy mount. IV. Disregard of the words of Jesus is punishable by death (Acts 3:23). “ If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.” If disobedience to Moses was visited in many cases by death, how much more disloyalty to Christ (Hebrews 10:28-31). The gospel has penalties of the severest kind for its rejection, as well as bliss beyond compare for its reception. The alternative is thus clearly set before us. (R. M. Edgar, M. A.)The Prophet like unto Moses Christ and Moses were alike-- I. As founders of dispensations. It was the greatness of Moses that he was employed by God in inaugurating a new era in the history of His kingdom. In this respect he stood at the head of the Old Testament line of prophets, and in a sense apart from them (John 1:17). He had the ordering and settling of the “ house” of God in the form in which it was to last till Christ came, who “ as Son over His own house” would revise its arrangements and reconstitute it on a better basis (Hebrews 3:2-7). Prophets subsequent to Moses stood within the lines of economy already established. They could enforce and maintain, but while predicting the advent of a new age in which great changes would be wrought, they had no authority to introduce such changes. It was reserved to Christ to so remodel Mosaic institutions, or abolish and supersede them, as to place the Church upon a permanent basis, and adapt it for the reception of the Gentiles. II. In the freedom and intercourse they enjoyed with God. Moses enjoyed, as was necessary, the freest intercourse with heaven. God spake with him, not in a vision, or dream, or in dark speeches, but “ mouth to mouth” (Numbers 12:6-9), “ face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10). This is made a feature of distinction between Moses and the later prophets. In Christ this peculiarity appears in a higher form. Intercourse with the Father reaches the highest degree of closeness and intimacy (John 14:10). Christ’ s insight into the Father’ s will was perfect (John 5:20-21), His communion habitual and uninterrupted. III. As mediating between the people and God. These points involve others. There was resemblance--1. In the degree of authority with which they were clothed, and in the mighty signs which authenticated their mission. 2. In the fulness and grandeur of their revelations. 3. In the severe penalties attaching to disobedience to their words (Deuteronomy 18:19; Hebrews 2:1-5; Hebrews 10:28-29). (J. Orr, B. D.)The resemblance between Christ and Moses As Moses was born in a strange land, so was Christ born in a world and country which knew Him not, in a city which rejected Him. To preserve His life Moses was laid in an ark of bulrushes, as Christ’ s life was preserved by the lowliness of the manger in which He lay. Both were of the house of Israel, and children, the one of a priestly, the other of the royal race. The jealousy of Pharoah put the life of Moses in jeopardy as soon as He was born, as Herod sought the life of Christ because of the same jealous fear, whilst both kings ordered the male children to be slain in order to preserve the stability of their respective thrones. Both were mediators between God and a sinful people, and as Moses pleaded for the children of Israel, so does Christ for mankind. Both Moses and Christ were legislators of God’ s people, the former for those under the old covenant, the latter for those under the new. As Moses led the people from slavery into the land promised to their fathers, so did Christ deliver His people out of the power of Satan and go before them into heaven. Both Moses and Christ proved the truth of their mission by miracles and signs. As Moses sent forth the twelve to survey the land and encouraged the people to persevere and to enter into Canaan, so did Christ send forth the twelve to teach the people by what means they might take possession of the spiritual Canaan. (W. Denton, M. A.)Reasons for repentance Peter urged the Jews to repent because-- I. They believed the prophets. Those prophets had told of the Messiah and His claims, and in those prophets they professed to believe. But they had rejected Christ, and hence the necessity according to their own beliefs of repentance. This appeal is a pertinent one to-day. II. They already claimed religious privileges (Acts 3:25). Hence their guilt in rejecting Christ. Abraham, the patriarchs and prophets had all been believers, and the blessings of the covenant could be attained only by faith. But faith implied repentance. How many value their privileges under the Christian dispensation, and yet live in sin! But these privileges call them to repentance. III. God had crowned all their former privileges by sending Jesus. Yet they had rejected Him. So now-- IV. Without repentance they must remain in a state of depravity. They would not be “ turned from their iniquities.” Those who do not repent and receive Christ remain among the enemies of God and in the bond of iniquity. V. Without repentance they must be excluded from the people of God (Acts 3:23). (W. Hudson.) Acts 3:25-26 Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant. The children of the covenant, the Saviour’ s first care I. All who have been dedicated to God by believing parents, are children of the covenant which God has made with their parents, and especially with Abraham, the great father of the faithful.1. The blessings of the covenant with Abraham were all included in three great promises. The first was, “ In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” ; the second, “ To thee and to thy seed will I give this land” ; the third, “ I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee.” Of these promises the first was made to Abraham as an individual, and as the ancestor of the Messiah, and we have nothing to do with it, except to receive the Saviour whose coming it reveals. The second was made to Abraham, considered as the progenitor of the Jewish nation; and this promise also has been fulfilled, and we have no concern with it, only so far as it has a typical reference to the heavenly Canaan. The third promise was made to Abraham, considered as a believer, in covenant with God; as the great father of the faithful, or of all who should believe with a faith similar to His own. Of this covenant circumcision was the seal which answers to our baptism. 2. And now the question is, Are the baptized children of professed believers, like the Jews, born in covenant, and stand in the same relation to God? Notice-- (1) It is frequently predicted that the Gentiles should be brought into covenant with God. Thus in Hosea, God says, “ I will call them My people which were not My people.” This passage is quoted by St. Paul, to prove our point, and in Isaiah the Jewish Church is assured that the Gentiles shall come to her light, that they shall come bringing her children in their arms, and that these shall supply the place of the children whom she had lost. (2) We learn from many passages in the New Testament, that all these promises were fulfilled. We are there told that Abraham is the father of all who believe, that the blessing of Abraham has come upon the Gentiles; that all who belong to Christ are Abraham’ s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Now one of the privileges which Abraham enjoyed, was the liberty of bringing his children into covenant with God, and one of the promises which was made to him was, “ I will be a God to thy seed after thee.” If, then, Christians are Abraham’ s heirs, they also have the same privilege; and God’ s language to every Christian parent is the same. It appears, then, that Christians stand in the same place, which was formerly occupied by the Jews; we take up what they laid down; we receive the privileges and blessings which they forfeited; and therefore if their children were in covenant with God, so, my Christian friends, are ours. This conclusion is confirmed by St. Paul when he says, “ If the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches,” i.e., relatively, holy as being dedicated to God in the ordinance of baptism. II. If these truths have been established, it follows, that we are authorised to address every baptized child of believing parents in the language of our text. To all such, then, I say, To you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, hath sent Him to bless you, etc.1. One of the privileges which the Jews enjoyed in consequence of being children of the covenant was, the enjoyment of the first offer of salvation. Thus, when Christ commissioned His disciples to preach the gospel, he charged them to begin at Jerusalem. This command the apostles strictly observed. They preached the gospel at first, we are told, to none but the Jews only; and St. Paul, addressing the Jews at Antioch, says, It was needful that the gospel of Christ should first be preached to you. So now God sends the offer of salvation first to the children of believing parents. In this respect He acts as a wise earthly prince would do. Were such a prince disposed to confer distinguishing favours, he would doubtless offer them to the children of his obedient subjects, who had sworn allegiance to him before he offered them to the children of rebels or strangers. Now your parents have sworn allegiance to God, and engaged to use all their influence to induce you to do the same. In token of their readiness to do this, they have solemnly and publicly dedicated you to God; and He has so far accepted this dedication, that He now sends you the first offer of pardon and salvation through His Son. At the same time He can confer these blessings upon you only by turning you from your iniquities; for so long as you cleave to them, it is impossible that Christ should bless or prove a blessing to you. At the same time you cannot be turned from your iniquities but by your own consent. Christ’ s language to you is, “ Turn ye at My reproof, and I will pour out My Spirit upon you, I will make known My words unto you. Come ye out from the ungodly world, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and be a Father to you, and ye shall be My sons and My daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2. And now I ask every baptized person what answer will you return to these invitations? While you were infants, God permitted your parents to act for you; but now you must act for yourselves, and stand or fall by your own choice. And what is that choice? Will you take your parents’ God to be your God? Will you take upon yourselves that covenant which they have made in your behalf, and perform its duties, that you may enjoy its blessings? Will you receive Christ as all must do who would receive power from Him to become the children of God? and as a proof of your willingness to receive Him, will you turn from your iniquities, and renounce all sinful pleasures and pursuits? 3. Permit me to suggest some considerations which may induce you to return such an answer us your duty and happiness require. (1) You are this day to determine whether God or the world shall be your portion, whether Christ or Satan shall be your king. One of these masters you must serve, but not both. (2) The choice you make will make a complete discovery of your true characters. If you choose to persist in pursuing worldly objects, it will prove that you are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; nay, that you are irreconcilably God’ s enemies, and that the tears, entreaties, and example of your parents cannot induce you to love Him. (3) Your choice is to be made for eternity. You are not to choose whether you will serve sin and Satan in this world, and God in the next; but whether you will be the slaves of sin, and, of course, the enemies of God for ever. (4) Your choice will decide, not only your character, but your doom. You must receive the wages of that master whom you choose to serve. 4. Will you, by your conduct, say to all about you, I am a wretch so totally devoid of goodness, that I prefer the world to God, hell to heaven? (1) If so, surely your guilt will be no common guilt; for you can make no excuse. You cannot even plead ignorance; for you have lived in pious families, and had a religious education. You reject a known, and not an unknown God. After seeing the difference between a life of religion and a life of sin, you deliberately choose the latter. Nay, more, you reject not only God, but your parents’ God; you violate not only the obligations which all His creatures are under to love and serve Him, but the peculiar obligations which result from your baptismal dedication to God. In addition to this, you will be guilty of the most inexcusable ingratitude. In giving you pious parents, God has conferred on you one of the greatest blessings which He could bestow. And will you requite Him for this favour by practically saying, I regret that my parents were pious, or that they dedicated me to God? (2) If so, remember that as your guilt will be no common guilt, so your punishment will be no common punishment. How awfully aggravated it will be, you may learn from the terrible threatenings denounced against the unbelieving Jews who, like you, were children of the covenant. Christ declares that the very heathen will rise up against them in the day of judgment and condemn them. They who know their Lord’ s will and do it not shall be beaten with many stripes. And will you then, by refusing to turn from your iniquities, pull down upon yourselves this terrible fate? Shall all the prayers and exertions of your parents only serve to increase your condemnation? Shall the baptismal water, with which you have been sprinkled, be converted into drops of liquid fire? You are like Capernaum, raised, as it were, to heaven by your privileges. Will you, by abusing or neglecting them, be yourselves cast down to hell--to the lowest hell? And now I wait for your reply. III. What answer shall I return to Him that sent me, to Him who sends His Son to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities? I suspect that most of you will return no direct answer, but plead for time to deliberate, for a little longer delay. But this cannot be granted. You have already delayed too long. The Jewish children were required to partake of the passover, and appear before God at the solemn feasts, as soon as they arrived at a proper age; and this, as we learn from our Saviour’ s example, was the age of twelve years. If they refused or delayed to comply, they were doomed to be cut off from the people; to lose for ever the privileges which they slighted. Now a large proportion of those whom I am addressing, have not only reached, but overpast this period of life. You ought then long since to have embraced the Saviour, and thus have become prepared to appear at the table of Christ, who, the apostle tells us, is our passover that was sacrificed for us. Already you are liable to be cut off for ever from His people, in consequence of delaying to receive Him; and will you then talk of a longer delay? God’ s language to you is, “ Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” “ To-day, if ye will hear My voice,” etc. I cannot but fear that some are still delaying a reply, and saying to the preacher as Felix did to Paul, “ Go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season I will call for thee.” But, my friends, I cannot depart without a direct and decided answer. Indeed, if you persist in delaying, I have one; for, in this case, to delay is to refuse. Beware lest there be among you any profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright; for ye know how that afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, and found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Conclusion: It was my duty first to offer Christ to others. This duty I have discharged, and am now at liberty to make the same offer to you. Your heavenly Father is more careful for your happiness than even your earthly parents. They refused or neglected to give you to Him in your infancy, but He has provided a Saviour, through whom you may present yourselves to Him and be accepted, The Gentiles accepted Christ, when the children of the covenant rejected Him. Will you then imitate their example? Will you give yourselves to that God whom the children of the covenant neglect? Will you accept the privileges which they despise? If so, the blessing of Abraham will come upon you and your families, as it has on thousands of the Gentiles; and God will make with you aa everlasting covenant, as He did with him, to be a God to you. (E. Payson, D. D.)Samuel The life of Samuel manifests-- I. A holy childhood Four things conduced to this.1. A mother’ s prayers.2. Dedication to God.3. A Divine message.4. Acceptance of the heavenly call. II. A noble manhood.1. He was a champion for God. God’ s service is ennobling.2. He was an instrument of God. (1) An instrument of defence to the people.(2) An instrument of vengeance, soul, etc.(3) An instrument of instruction. 3. He was a king maker and governor. III. A useful end. The great man often does as much in his death as in his life. Samuel, in the solemn moments of his end--1. Vindicated his life. Not in egotism, but as an example.2. Reasoned with and admonished the people. He urged them to serve the Lord. IV. A happy death. He had served God in life. God honoured him in death, and he went to his reward. Here we see the steps to happiness. Mothers, much of your child’ s future rests on you. Childhood, how important is your training! A useful life and a happy death follow this. (Homilist.) Acts 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you.Sent to bless you I. God sent Jesus to bless us. We should have thought that after the Jews had slain the prophets, God would have had no more to do with them; or that if He sent His own Son, it would be to take vengeance upon them. But when the Jews murdered Jesus, what would you expect God to do? A human father could scarcely forgive such murderers; it needs a God to do that. What did He do? This: He raised up Jesus, and not to punish evil-doers, but to bless. Many look upon religion as a sad thing; but it is the most joyous inspiration of life. Jesus is not a taskmaster; He gives rest to the weary and help to the heavy-laden. He charms the dullest life, sweetens the bitterest cup, salves the deepest wound, heals the most stricken heart, gives joy to the sorrowful, peace to the troubled, hope to the despairing, pardon of sin to the penitent, salvation from the power of sin to the believer, and eternal felicity to all who trust Him. II. God sent Jesus to bless us in turning away every one of us from our iniquities. Without sin life would be very joyous; but when we yield to anything which we know to be wicked, gladness at once departs. A man may gratify his wicked propensity, and by so doing satisfy, for the time being, his physical appetite, but the hunger of his soul for peace is not satisfied. The greedy boy, who hides behind the door, away from his brothers, to eat the whole of his big apple alone, is fully satisfying his appetite, yet he is unhappy, and comes from his feast vexed, sullen, and spiritless. Had he divided the apple amongst his brothers, what a joyous lad he would have been! Greediness, or any other sin, brings sorrow to the soul.1. The greatest blessing, therefore, that God can give us is to turn us away from our sins. We may turn away from sin in our outward life, and, at the same time, love and indulge it in our hearts; but Jesus would turn us from sin altogether; and in order to do so, He begins first with the heart. Make the fountain pure, and the stream shall be pure. The philosophy of the unbeliever tries to guide the human ship by outside pressure; but Jesus puts a rudder to it, and gives it a magnet of love to show its pathway in the trackless deep. He is not satisfied with half-measures. We must be turned away from our sins. There has been, unfortunately for the world, a church-organisation which has allowed its priests to sell indulgences for sin. But Jesus knows sin to be so hurtful, that He could not, at any price, give a licence to permit it. He came to take sin away. A man says, “ If I do not cheat, I shall have to go to the workhouse.” Jesus teaches us to reply, “ Under such circumstances you would be happier if you walked along an honest path to the workhouse, than on the road of cheating to a palace.” As you would hastily pass a house in which you know the small-pox to be, so would Jesus have us turn away from sin. May the Lord, likewise, turn away every one of us from our sins! 2. The text goes on to say, that God sent Jesus to bless us, in turning away every one of us from our iniquities. Then the worst man in the world is capable of being saved. Here is a man who has been guilty of many crimes, and is now standing at the bar to receive sentence. The judge may say within himself, “ No good can be done with this man; he has been twice in penal servitude, and we must now get rid of him altogether.” “ Penal servitude for life!” But God dooms no man to life-servitude to sin. Jesus comes to open the prison doors in the soul of every one of us; and the man who is the chief sinner of this age may be saved. Your life may be like a tangled string, which you have tried to unravel, but failing to do so, you have thrown it among the ashes. That tangled string wearied your patience, and you gave it up; but though your life just now is like the tangled string, Jesus is not weary of blessing you, and in this world He will never give you up. As every tangled string can be undone, so every sinful life can be converted. God sent Jesus to bless such as you; and His skilful fingers, His loving heart, and His patient Spirit will work in you until you are like Himself. III. Jesus turns us from our iniquities by--1. The powerful inducement of pleasing God. To call upon a man to turn from iniquity because it will be a good thing for himself is to appeal to his lowest motive, and is not the most successful way in winning souls. To bribe a man by promising something good if he will serve the Lord, or to intimidate him by the threat of the torment of hell, is a popular way of winning men, but it is the least successful. The most powerful force in the heart of a child is the love which constrains him to obedience, because if he did wrong he knew it would grieve his mother. Jesus draws us effectually from sin by reminding us of the loving heart of God; our sin grieves Him, and it should pain us to grieve His loving heart. 2. Revealing the goodness of God. His goodness in first loving us should draw us to Himself. After Jesus had risen from the dead, He said, “ Go and preach the gospel to every creature, beginning at Jerusalem.” He was not angry because the Jews rejected and crucified Him; and there was nothing in His heart but love to them. (W. Birch.)The servant of the Lord and his blessing Notice-- I. The boldness and loftiness of the claim which is here made for Jesus Christ.1. Long ago Peter had said, “ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And as long as Jesus Christ had been with them none of them had wavered in that belief; but the Cross shattered all that for a time. “ We trusted that it had been He that should have redeemed Israel.” There had been plenty of pretenders to the Messiahship (Acts 5:36), and death had disposed of all their claims. And so it would have been with Christ, unless He had risen from the dead. But the faith and hope in His Messiahship which had died with Him on the Cress, rose with Him to newness of life--as we see from such words as these. 2. Now the characteristic of these early addresses contained in chap. 2.-4., is the clear decisiveness with which they put forward Christ as the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. The Cross and the Resurrect el poured a flood of light on the Old Testament. Almost every word here has reference to some great utterance of the past, which now for the first time Peter is beginning to understand. (1) “ God, having raised up His Son Jesus.” The reference is not to the resurrection, but to the prediction in Acts 2:22. Now that prediction, no doubt, refers to the prophetic order, and the word, “ a prophet,” is a collective, meaning a class. But the order does not come up to the ideal of the prophecy. For the appendix to the Book of Deuteronomy is plainly referring to the prophecy, when it sadly says, “ And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses.” The prophetic order, then, was a prophecy by reason of the very incompleteness of the noble men who composed it; not only by their words, but by their office and by their limitations, they pointed onwards to Him who not only, like the great law-giver, beheld God face to face, but from the beginning dwelt in the bosom of the Father and therefore declares Him perfectly to men. The manifold methods and fragmentary portions of the revelations to the prophetic order are surpassed by the one final and complete utterance in the Son, as noonday outshines the twilight dawn. (2) “ His Son Jesus” means, literally, a “ boy” or a “ child,” and like our own English equivalent, is sometimes used with the meaning of “ a servant.” For instance, we talk about “ a boy,” or “ a maid,” or “ a man,” meaning thereby to express the fact of service in a graceful and gentle way; to cover over the harsher features of authority. So the centurion in Matthew’ s Gospel, when he asks Christ to heal his little page, calls him “ his boy,” which our Bible properly translates as “ servant.” The reasons for adopting “ servant” here rather than “ son” are these: that the New Testament has a distinct expression for the “ Son of God,” which is not the word employed here: and that the Septuagint has the same expression which is employed here as the translation of Isaiah’ s, “ the Servant of the Lord.” (a) Now it is interesting to notice that this expression as applied to Jesus Christ only occurs at this period. Altogether it occurs four times in these two chapters, and never again. Does not that look like the frequent repetition of a new thought which had just come to a man and was taking up his whole mind for the time? The Cross and the resurrection had opened his eyes to see that the dim majestic figure that looked out on him from the prophecy had had a historical existence in the dear Master whom he had lived beside; and we can almost perceive the gladness and surprise swelling his heart as he thinks--“ Ah! then He is ‘ My servant whom I upheld.’ Of whom speaketh the prophet this? Wonder of wonders, it is of Jesus of Nazareth, and we are His witnesses.” If you turn to the second half of Isaiah’ s prophecies, you will find that they might almost be called the biography of the Servant of the Lord. And whilst I admit that the collective Israel is often intended by the title “ the Servant of the Lord,” there remain other parts of the prophecy which have distinctly a person for their subject, and which cannot apply to any but Him that died and lived again. For instance, is there anything which can correspond to the words, “ when His soul shall make an offering for sin He shall see His seed” ? Who is it whose death is the birth of His children, whom after His death He will see? Who is it whose death is His own voluntary act? Who is it whose death is a sacrifice for others’ sin? Who is it whose days are protracted after death, and who carries out more prosperously the pleasure of the Lord after He has died? (b) But that name on Peter’ s lips is not only a reference to prophecy, but it is a very beautiful revelation of the impression of absolute perfection which Christ’ s character made. Here was a man who knew Christ through and through; and the impression made upon him was this: “ All the time that I saw Him there was never a trace of anything but perfect submission to the Divine will.” Jesus asserted the same thing for Himself. “ I do always the things that please Him” : “ Which of you convinceth Me of sin?” Strange claims from one who is meek and lowly of heart! Stranger still, the world, not usually tolerant of pretensions to sanctity, has allowed and endorsed the claim. (c) So the claim rises up into yet loftier regions; for clearly enough, a perfect and stainless man is either an impossible monster or something more. And they that fully believe that God’ s will was absolutely and exclusively done by Jesus Christ, in all consistency must go a step further and say, “ He that perfectly did the Father’ s will was more than one of us, stained and sinful men.” II. The dawning vision of a kingdom of world-wide blessings.1. Peter and all his brethren had had their full share of Jewish prejudices. But I suppose that when they found the tongues of fire sitting on their heads they began to apprehend that they had been intrusted with a world-wide gospel. The words before us mark very clearly the growing of that consciousness, while yet the Jewish prerogative of precedence is firmly held. “ Unto you first” --that was the law of the apostolic working. But they were beginning to learn that if there were a “ first,” there must also be a “ second” ; and that the very words of promise to the father of the nation which he had just quoted pointed to “ all the nations of the earth” being blessed in the seed of Abraham. If Israel was first to receive the blessing, it was only that through Israel it might flow over into the whole Gentile world. That is the true spirit of “ Judaism,” which is so often spoken of as “ narrow” and “ exclusive.” There is nothing clearer in the Old Testament than that the candle is lighted in Israel in order that it might shed light on all the chambers of the world. That was the genius of “ Judaism,” and that is Peter’ s faith here. 2. Then, again, what grand confidence is here! What a splendid audacity of faith it is for the apostle with his handful of friends to stand up in the face of his nation to say: “ This Man, whom you hung on a tree, is going to be the blessing of the whole world.” Why, it is like the old Roman story of putting up to auction in the Forum the very piece of land that the enemy’ s camp was pitched upon, whilst their tents were visible over the wall. And how did all that come? Was all that heroism and enthusiasm born out of the grave of a dead man? The resurrection was the foundation of it, and explains it, as nothing else can do. III. The purely spiritual conception of what Christ’ s blessing is. What has become of all the Jewish notions of the blessings of Messiah’ s kingdom? That had not been the kind of kingdom of which they had dreamed when they had sought to be first in it. But now the Cross had taught Peter that Him hath God raised up a Prince and a Saviour to give--strange gift for a prince to have in his hand--“ to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins.”1. The heart, then, of Christ’ s work for rice world is deliverance from sin. That is what man needs most. There are plenty of other remedies offered for the world’ s ills--culture, art, new social arrangements, progress of science and the like, but the disease goes deeper than these things can cure. You may as well try to put out Vesuvius with a teaspoonful of cold water as to cure the sickness of humanity with anything that does not grapple with the fundamental mischief, and that is a wicked heart. There is only one Man that ever pretended He could deal with that, and it took Him all His power to deal with it; but He did it! And there is only one way by which He could deal with it, and that was by dying for it, and He did it! So He has conquered. “ Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?” When you can lead a crocodile out of the Nile with a bit of silk thread round his neck, you will be able to overcome the plague of the world, and that of your own heart, with anything short of the great sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. 2. The secret of most of the mistaken and partial views of Christian truth lies here, that people have not got into their hearts and consciences a sense of their own sinfulness. And so you get a tepid, self-sufficient and superficial Christianity; and you get ceremonials, and high and dry morality, masquerading under the guise of religion: and you gel Unitarian and semi-Unitarian tendencies in churches. But if once there came a wholesome, living consciousness of sin all such mutilated Christianity would crumble. 3. So I beseech you to put yourself in the right place to understand the gospel by the recognition of that fact. But do not stop there. It is a matter of life and death for you to put yourselves in the right place to receive Christ’ s richest blessing. You can only do that by feeling your own personal sin, and so coming to Him to do for you what you cannot do for yourselves, and no one but He can do for you. 4. And notice how strongly the text puts the individuality of this process. “ Every one” --or rather “ each one.” The inadequate notions of Christianity that I have been speaking about are all characterised by this amongst other things: that they regard it as a social system diffusing social blessings and operating on communities by elevating the general tone and quickening the public conscience and so on. Christianity does do that. But it begins with dealing with men one by one. Christ is like a great King, who passing through the streets of His capital scatters His largesse over the multitude, but He reserves His richest gifts for the men that enter His presence chamber. Even those of us who have no close personal union with Him receive of His gifts. But for their deepest needs and their highest blessings they must go to Christ by their own personal faith--the flight of the solitary soul to the only Christ. (A. Maclaren, D. D)Christ and His blessing I. The parties concerned. Why was the first offer of Christ made to the Jews?1. Because they were the only Church of God for that time. And God hath so much respect for the Church, that they shall have the refusal and the morning-market of the gospel. 2. They were the children of the covenant (verse 25). God follows a covenant people with more offers of grace than others. 3. Christ came of them after the flesh, and was of their seed (Romans 9:5), to teach us to seek the salvation of our kindred first. 4. That He might magnify His grace and faithfulness, not only in the matter of the gospel, but even in the first offer of it (Romans 15:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15). 5. This was necessary too for the confirmation of the gospel. Christ did not steal into the world privately, but He would have His law set up where, if there were any falsehood in it, it might easily be disproved; and because the main of the Jewish doctrine was adopted into the Christian, and was confirmed by the prophecies of the Old Testament, they were the only competent judges to whose cognisance these things should be first offered. 6. That the ruin of that nation might be a fit document and proof of God’ s severity against the contemners of the new gospel (Acts 13:45-47). 7. That the first ministers might be a pattern of obedience, to preach where God would have them, to preach in the very face and teeth of opposition. II. The benefit offered: wherein is set forth the great love of God unto the people to whom the gospel comes.1. In designing such a glorious person as Jesus Christ: “ having raised up His Son Jesus.” 2. In that He gave notice, and did especially direct and send Him to them: “ hath sent His Son.” 3. Why He came among them in His Word: it was “ to bless them.” III. The blessing interpreted. They expected a pompous Messiah, that should make them an opulent and potent nation. But Christ came to convert souls unto God. IV. What it is to be turned from sin. Take these considerations:1. Man fallen, lay under the power and guilt of sin (Ephesians 2:1-3). So man was both unholy and guilty. 2. Christ came to free us from both these. (1) The guilt (Ephesians 1:7);(2) and the power (Titus 3:5). 3. To be turned from sin implies our whole conversion. Though one part only be mentioned, the term “ from which,” yet the term “ to which” is implied (chap. 26:18). 4. That remission of sins is included in our conversion to God (verse 19, chap. 5:31). V. It is a blessed thing to be made partakers of this benefit. Blessedness imports two things--1. An immunity from, or a removal of, the great evil, and that is sin. (1) The great cause of offence between God and us is taken out of the way (Isaiah 59:2).(2) We are freed from the great blemish of our natures (Romans 3:23).(3) We are freed from the great burden of sin.(4) Being turned from our sins, we are freed from the great bane of our persons and all our happiness (Psalms 32:1-2; Romans 8:1). 2. The enjoyment of positive good. It is a blessed thing to be turned from our sins because-- (1) This is the matter of our serenity, comfort, and peace here (Isaiah 32:17).(2) It is the pledge of our eternal felicity hereafter; for heaven is the perfection of holiness, or the full fruition of God in glory (Hebrews 12:14; Ephesians 1:13-14). (T. Manton.)Christ and His blessing I. God raised up His Son Jesus to be a prophet (verse 22, Deuteronomy 18:15).1. To teach the will of God (Isaiah 61:1). 2. To expound it to us (John 14:2; John 15:15). (1) By His prophets (1 Peter 3:19; Nehemiah 9:30).(2) Himself (Hebrews 1:1-2; Hebrews 2:2-3).(3) His apostles (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).(4) His ministers (Ephesians 4:11-12). II. God sent Him.1. By promise in the Old Testament (1 Peter 1:10-11; 1 Peter 3:19; Genesis 3:15). 2. In person in the New (Galatians 4:4-5). (1) First to the Jews (Acts 2:39; John 4:22). (a) He was first promised to them. (b) Born of them. (c) Manifested Himself first among them (Matthew 4:12; Matthew 4:17). (2) To the Gentiles also (Acts 2:39; Acts 11:18; Acts 15:7-9; Galatians 3:14; Genesis 22:17-18). III. He was sent to bless us (Genesis 22:17-18).1. To purchase a blessing for us (Galatians 3:13-14).2. To apply it to us. IV. His great blessing is conversion from sin (Psalms 1:1; Psalms 32:1; Psalms 23:2). lsit not a blessed thing to know--1. Our sins pardoned (Matthew 9:2).2. God reconciled (Romans 5:1).3. That we have an interest in Christ (1 John 3:24).4. To have a pacified conscience (2 Corinthians 1:12).5. To delight ourselves in the best things (Psalms 1:2).6. To be related to God (Galatians 4:6).7. To have all things blessed to us (Romans 8:28).8. To have an infallible evidence of our title to heaven (Romans 8:1; Matthew 25:46). V. Christ has purchased this blessing for us (Matthew 1:21; 1 Peter 1:18; Titus 2:14; 1 John 3:8).1. What? (1) Pardon; therefore conversion (Ezekiel 18:30; Acts 2:38).(2) Peace with God; therefore conversion.(3) Redemption from misery; therefore conversion (Luke 13:3).(4) Heaven; therefore conversion (John 3:16; Hebrews 13:14). 2. How? Note-- (1) All men are sinners.(2) Christ undertook to cleanse us from our sins.(3) This could not be but by purchasing the same grace we lost by sin.(4) No way to obtain grace but by the Spirit of God.(Ezekiel 36:27; Numbers 14:24).(5) God would not send His Spirit until man’ s sins were satisfied for, and so God reconciled.(6) Christ by His death satisfies for sin (1 John 2:2).(7) And so purchased the donation of the Spirit (John 16:7).(8) The Spirit sent into our hearts, turns us from sin (2 Thessalonians 2:13). (Bp. Beveridge.)The blessed mission I. God’ s gracious act, “ Raised up Jesus.” II. God’ s merciful purpose, “ To bless you.” III. God’ s blessed way, “ By turning every one of you,” etc. IV. God’ s great encouragement, “ To you first” (H. Allon, D. D.)The gospel blessing I. The work is not described only as Christ’ s, but rather as God’ s work in Christ. We are too ready to make a difference; to think of God as all justice, and of Christ as all love. In past days men had used a loose and unscriptural language about Christ’ s calming God’ s wrath. The language of Scripture is always this: “ God so loved the world,” etc. What things soever the Son doeth, these also doeth the Father likewise. There is but one will, one work. Never run away from God, but ever seek Him and see Him in the Son. II. Christ has a mission to us. There is no thought more delightful than that of the mission of Christ as He now is in heaven; of His having an errand, and apostleship still towards us (Hebrews 3:1). We are all called to from heaven: that is the meaning of “ partakers of a heavenly calling.” We are all like Saul of Tarsus when Jesus Christ spoke to him suddenly from heaven. Christ is calling to us. In His Word, by His minister, in conscience, by His Spirit also. And then, as we recognise this truth, we are told also to fix our thoughts upon Him as “ the apostle of our profession” (or confession). God has sent, is sending, Him to us, with a message, addressed to each one of us separately, “ every one of you,” not a vague, general, promiscuous mission, but a direct and single one to each. You are not lost in a crowd. If this be so, “ how shall we escape if we neglect so great,” because so minute and so personal, “ a salvation?” III. A mission of what sort? Is it that of One who comes from the dead to appal and to terrify? the apparition of a reprover and a prophet of evil? Hear the text: “ to bless you” ; to speak well of you; to declare good to you; and in the very act of doing so, to communicate the good of which He tells. Is not this the very notion of a Gospel? It is not a threatening, a reproof, it is not even a condition of acceptance, or a rule of duty: it does not say, like the Law, “ Do this, and thou shalt live” : its essential character is that of an announcement; tidings of something already done; the good news of some change which God has made in our state and in our prospects. And what is that? Surely that God forgives us, whatsoever we are. God sent Him not to curse, but to bless; not to judge the world, but to save. IV. How is this mission of blessing made effectual?1. Is it a flattering of human vanity, a lulling of human indolence, the intelligence that God has forgiven, and that therefore man may lie asleep in his sins that, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, and that therefore we may continue in sin if only to swell the triumphs of Divine grace? None of these things. “ Sent Him to bless you, in turning away each one of you from his iniquities.” 2. Does this description of Christ’ s work seem to militate against the former? Does any one say, Then, after all, the gospel is a law: it is only the old story once again, You must be holy, and then God will save? Oh the ignorance and the hardness of these hearts of ours! Is there no difference between working for forgiveness and working from forgiveness, between being holy because we are loved, and being holy that we may be loved, between the being commanded to turn ourselves from our sins, and the being blessed by finding ourselves turned from them by another? Your hearts tell you that there is all the difference! Which of us knows not something of the force of gratitude? Which of us has not felt that it is one thing to please a person as a duty, and another to please a person out of love? Which of us has not known the strange effect of a word or an act of affection, from one whom we are conscious that we have injured? how it sometimes rolls away the whole barrier between us, makes us ashamed of our ill-temper, and heaps coals of fire upon our head? Even thus is it with the man whom God has forgiven. How did David begin to inquire, “ What reward can I give unto the Lord for all His benefits that He hath done unto me?” and answer himself, saying, “ I will receive the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” : yea, I will love much, having been much forgiven! 3. But there may be some here present who cannot understand the connection of the words. They may be saying, I know that my sins are wrong; and I can understand being required to part with them: but how can it be a blessing to give up this pleasant thing which sin is to me? But does your sin make you happy? Have you found the pleasure of sinning as great as its anticipation? Have you found the morning after sinning a bright and pleasant awakening? Have you never known what it was to curse the fetter which bound you, and to long (even without hoping) to be free? Have you not sometimes looked back upon a past and now unattractive sin with bitter remorse, with astonishment at your own infatuation? Then that experience has shown you what it would be to look back upon a life of sin, from a world where it will be too late ever to repent. A thing which has all these marks of misery upon it cannot be happiness. If there is any power or any person, in earth or in heaven, who can set us free from this influence, the coming of that power or that person may indeed be said to be a blessing. Cost us what it may, it will be a blessing if it succeeds. And when that victory is wrought wholly through the power of love; through an assurance of free forgiveness; through the agency of an inward influence as sweet as it is constraining; how much more may it be so regarded! God grant that each one of us may know it for ourselves! (Dean Vaughan.)The blessing of Christ in the heart Lady Somerset at Chicago said that in a fisherman’ s but in the extreme north-east of Scotland, she saw a picture of our Saviour, and as she stood looking at it the fisherman told her its story: “ I was way down with the drink,” he said, “ when one night I went into a ‘ public,’ and there hung this picture. I was sober then, and I said to the bar-tender, ‘ Sell me that picture, this is no place for the Saviour.’ I gave him all the money I had for it, and took it home. Then, as I looked at it, the words of my mother came back to me, I dropped on my knees, and cried, ‘ O Lord Jesus, will you pick me up again, and take me out of all my sin?’” No such a prayer is ever unanswered. To-day that fisherman is the grandest man in that little Scotch village. “ I asked if he had no struggle to give up liquor; such a look of exultation came over his face as he answered, ‘ Oh, madam, when such a Saviour comes into the heart He takes the love of drink right out of it.’ This Saviour is ready to take every sin out of your heart if only you will let Him.” Christ’ s errand of mercy After the long, sharp winter, a bright, beautiful day comes like a benediction. As I looked up toward the welcome sun, this thought came into my mind: Yonder sun is ninety-six millions of miles away. These rays of light have travelled all that stupendous distance, and yet I have only to drop the curtain of my eyelid and I am left in total darkness. There might as well be no sun as to have his rays shut out at the last instant from this little doorway of my eye. Even so has the Lord Jesus Christ come from His infinite, far-away throne, on His errand of mercy, to a sinner’ s soul. That sinner has but to close up his heart’ s door and keep it bolted, and for him there might as well have been no redemption and no Redeemer. Eternal life is refused, eternal death is chosen at that very spot, the door of the human heart. (T. L. Cuyler.)The generous mission of Christ When Madame Sontag began her musical career she was hissed off the stage at Vienna by the friends of her rival, Amelia Steininger, who had already begun to decline through her dissipation. Years passed on, and one day Madame Sontag, in her glory, was riding through the streets of Berlin, when she saw a child leading a blind woman, and she said, “ Come here, my little child, come here. Who is that you are leading by the hand?” And the little child replied, “ That’ s my mother; that’ s Amelia Steininger. She used to be a great singer, but she lost her voice, and she cried so much that she lost her eyesight.” “ Give my love to her,” said Madame Sontag, “ and tell her an old acquaintance will call on her this afternoon.” The next week in Berlin a vast assemblage gathered at a benefit for that poor blind woman, and it was said that Madame Sontag sang that night as she had never sung before. And she took a skilled oculist, who in vain tried to give eyesight to the poor blind woman. Until the day of Amelia Steininger’ s death, Madame Sontag took care of her, and her daughter after her. That was what the queen of song did for her enemy. But, oh, hear a more thrilling story still. Blind, immortal, poor and lost, thou who, when the world and Christ were rivals for thy heart, didst hiss thy Lord away--Christ comes now to give thee sight, to give thee a home, to give thee heaven. With more than a Sontag’ s generosity He comes now to meet your need. With more than Sontag’ s music He comes to plead for thy deliverance. (T. De Witt Talmage.)God’ s plan for making us happy We are told, in a simple allegory, that when man was made in the image of God, one of the bright angels about the throne was appointed to wait upon him, and to be his constant companion. After this beautiful image had been marred by sin, Happiness could no longer recognise the Heavenly Father’ s likeness upon earth, and pined to go back to her happy home on high. Fallen and wretched man now wandered about searching for a friend to make good his loss. He looked on the fair face of Nature, and saw her gay and cheerful; but Nature assured him that she could offer no alleviation for his misery. Love appeared so bright and joyous, that man, in his disappointment, turned next to her; but she timidly shrank back at his approach, while her tender eyes overflowed with tears of sympathy. He now sought friendship, and she sighed and answered, “ Caprice, anxiety, and the fear of change are ever before me.” Disappointed at these repeated failures, man followed after Vice, who boasted loudly, and promised great things; but even while she talked with him the borrowed roses dropped from her withered brow, and disclosed the wrinkles of sorrow and the deep furrows ploughed by pain. Retreating in haste from the haunts of the vile enchantress, he now sought for Virtue, hoping that the secret of happiness might be learned from her; but she assured him that Penitence was her proper name, and that she was powerless to bestow the boon he craved. Brought down at last to the verge of despair, man applied to grim Death, who relaxed his forbidding aspect, while he answered with a smile: “ Happiness can no longer be found upon the earth. I am really the friend of man, and the guide to the blessedness which his heart yearns after. Hearken to the voice of Him who died on the Cross of Calvary, and I will, at last, lead man through the shades of the dark valley to the delectable mountains, where Happiness makes her perpetual abode.” The allegory which I have thus tried to repeat, is a mere expansion of the text. God does not secure happiness to His people-- I. By making all of them rich. Instead of saying, “ Blessed are ye rich,” He says, “ Blessed are the poor.” The only really happy rich man is the one who acts as God’ s steward, paying his lawful tithes to the Church, and dealing kindly with the suffering poor. Dr. Guthrie says: “ Money will buy plenty, but not peace; money will furnish your table with luxuries, but not you with an appetite to enjoy them; money will surround your bed with physicians, but not restore health to your sickly frame: it will encompass you with a crowd of flatterers, but never promise you one true friend; it will bribe into silence the tongues of accusing men, but not an accusing conscience; it will pay some debts, but not one, the least, of your debts to the law of God; it will relieve many fears, but not those of guilt, the terrors that crown the hour of death.” II. By bestowing on us the empty honours of the world. It is true, multitudes imagine that happiness is to be found in them; but experience always proves how grievously they were mistaken. The devil seems to have persuaded himself that even the Son of God could be tempted by such a bribe. A mandarin puffed up with a sense of his high position was fond of appearing in the public streets, sparkling with jewels. He was annoyed, one day, by an uncouth personage, who followed him about, bowing often to the ground, and thanking him for his jewels. “ What does the man mean?” cried the mandarin; “ I never gave you any of my jewels.” “ No,” returned the other; “ but you have let me look at them, and that is all the use you can make of them yourself. The only difference between us is, that you have the trouble of watching them.” III. By affording them a large share of worldly pleasure. Most of the things which are called “ worldly pleasures “ not only fail to make people happy, but leave positive misery behind them. And then, the terrible phantom, which, in moments of solitude and silence, must disturb the minds of the most frivolous--the end; when God shall bring all these things into judgment. When the Chevalier Gerard De Kampis, a rich and proud man, had finished his magnificent castle, he gave a great entertainment to all his wealthy neighbours. At the close of the sumptuous banquet, the guests made speech after speech, lauding their host to the skies, and declaring him to be the happiest of men. As the chevalier loved flattery, this fragrant incense was most acceptable; and nothing disturbed his equanimity, until one of the guests who had, thus far, kept silence, gravely remarked: “ Sir Knight, in order that your felicity should be complete, you require but one thing, but this is a very important item.” “ And what thing is that?” demanded the astonished nobleman. “ One of your doors must be walled up,” replied his guest. At this strange rejoinder several of the guests laughed aloud, and while Gerard himself began to think the man was mad, he preserved self-control enough to ask: “ Which door do you mean?” “ I mean that through which you will one day be carried to your grave.” The words struck both guests and host, and the proud man saw the vanity of all earthly things, and began from that moment to lay up treasure in heaven. IV. But by sending His Son Jesus, “ to turn away every one of them from his iniquities.” There can be no salvation for us, unless we are delivered from our sins. God only makes men happy by making them holy (Matthew 1:21). Lycurgus would allow none of his laws to be written, insisting that the principles of government must be interwoven with the lives and manners of the people, as the only sure way of promoting their happiness. He who would abide by the commandments of God must be able to say with David, “ Thy word have I hid within my heart.” He who will be received into the presence of God and enjoy the blessedness of heaven, is “ the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). We are made heirs of glory only by putting on Christ; but we are “ made meet for the inheritance of the saints” through a studied and careful conformity to the Divine precept: “ Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Say of no sin, however trivial it may appear, “ Is it not a little one? “ but following after holiness, let evil under every possible disguise be your abhorrence. (J. W. Norton, D. D.)The gospel turns men from sin If a physician were called to see a patient who had a cancer on his breast, the only thing to be done would be to cut it out from the roots. The physician might give palliatives, so that the patient would have less pain--or he might make his patient believe it was no cancer--or forget that he had a cancer near his vitals; but if the physician were to do this instead of removing the evil, he would be a wicked man and the enemy of his patient. The man’ s case was such that the only favour which could be conferred upon him would be to cut out the cancer. Now all agree that sin is the great evil of the soul of man. Nothing can make man more spiritually happy here, or fit him for happiness hereafter, but the removal of sin from his nature. Sin is the plague-spot on the soul which destroys its peace, and threatens its destruction unless removed. It is therefore certain that if the love of God were manifested towards man, it would be in turning man from sin which produces misery, to holiness which produces happiness. (J. B. Walker.)Turning away every one of you from his iniquities.-- The blessedness of conversion I. That the indulgence of sin is the grand source of human misery. We increase by our own transgressions the maladies to which we are naturally exposed: our understandings become more confused; our affections more depraved; our passions, appetites and tempers more unrestrained and virulent; our disappointments more bitter and acute; and all this progressive advancement in evil and misery is the consequence of increasing indulgence in sin. II. That christ especially blesses His people in turning away every one of them from their iniquities.1. In that as a prophet He enlightens their understanding to perceive the evil, the misery, and the ruinous consequences of sin, both as it regards the present and the future state. 2. This turning from iniquities is progressive; at first the gross and outward acts of sin are cut off, unlawful and expedient pleasures, and indulgences follow, many things of a doubtful and indifferent nature are then relinquished. The tongue, the temper, the thoughts, are gradually brought more and more under regulation and restraint; holy principles are cultivated; the spirit of fervent charity takes possession of the soul; and pity, meekness, forbearance, compassion, patience, holy resignation, lively hope, and heavenly joy increase and abound. (T. Webster, B. D.)The return of the affections to God The history of man on this side of the grave is like the history of the natural world: the seasons change; if the winter chills, the summer warms; if darkness wraps in its shade, light cheers with its brilliancy. Thus joy and sorrow, hope and fear, satisfaction and perplexity are mingled together. Under these circumstances it is very material to know whether there be any mode of defending ourselves against such an increase of sorrow, and of insuring to ourselves such an increase of comfort. Here in the text is a chart to the wanderer, a light to the benighted, a shelter to the forlorn, a certainty to the dubious! The misery of man lies chiefly in the circumstances of his moral condition; he is wretched under the effects of his iniquities. His remedy must be found in the return of his affections to God; God sent Christ to bless you by turning you away from your iniquities. The sorrows of man mainly issue from the depravity of his affections. He is guilty before God. Certainly his passions, earthly and selfish, spurn every barrier when occasions exasperate their movements. To restrain them under such excitements is as impracticable, as, by the weight of the dews of heaven, to chain down the fiery matter which a volcano is about to cast forth. But to come to individual experience. From whence does the largest portion of man’ s sufferings arise? Is it not from the disordered state of his affections? Is there not a disease of the heart, which is widely prevalent, and which no skill can heal? To reproduce happiness in a sinful being requires, therefore, a remedy applicable to the inward disease in his mind; a remedy which not only respects a new and favourable relation on the part of God, but also a new and holy state of the affections on the part of man. In other words, the happiness of a sinner will depend first upon, the conviction that God has pardoned him, and secondly, upon the consciousness that he loves the Being who has thus tenderly dealt with him. Now the remedy which Christianity brings forward to the view of him who believes it, is exactly of this kind. “ Jesus Christ came to bless you by turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” He holds out to us pardon and peace, and He gives us the disposition to love the nature and the heart from which that pardon flows! In this complex operation the means of human happiness are unfolded. The pardon of sin is complete and free, unclogged with any condition or qualification. “ There is no more condemnation,” but perfect reconciliation and peace. Now the belief in this truth, under the agency of the Spirit, conveys healing to the heart. Sin becomes loathsome when its consequences are thus made visible in the personal sufferings of Jesus Christ, and obedience to the will and mind of God then becomes identical with peace and happiness. Thus Christ blesses by turning away from iniquity, by procuring at once the pardon of sin, and by healing the disease of sin; by restoring peace in the relations between God and man, and by making God’ s character the glowing object of attractive imitation. (G. T. Noel, M. A.). Acts 4:1-22 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them.The captain of the temple was an officer of a sort which Luke mentions in the plural in his Gospel (Luke 22:4), and is several times mentioned in the Old Testament, as in Jeremiah 20:1. This officer, with his subordinates, had charge of the Levites, especially of those who kept the night watch in the temple. A hint at the forms and ceremonies which accompanied his duties may be obtained, perhaps, from Psalms 134:1-3, in which verses 1 and 2 are supposed to be the address of these strategoi, or captains or archons of the temple, and verse 3 the response of the Levite watchers. The talmudical name for this captain appears to have been the “ man of the mountain of the house [of the Lord],” and he is frequently mentioned in ancient Jewish writings. A little quotation will show a part of his duties: “ The man of the mount of the house [or temple] used to make his rounds among the several watches, with burning torches before him. If he found any of the watch not standing on his feet, he said to him, ‘ Peace be to thee.’ But if he observed one asleep, he struck him with his staff, and then was at liberty to set on fire his garments. And when he was asked by others, ‘ What is the noise in the court?’ he answered, ‘ the cry of a lazy Levite, whose clothes have been burned, because he slept on guard.’ Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said, ‘ Once they found my mother’ s brother asleep, and burned his garment.’“ It is most probable that this custom is alluded to in Revelation 16:15, “ Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked” etc. An official of corresponding power, but, of course, different duties, has charge of the temple enclosure in Jerusalem to-day. He is the “ Sheikh of the Sanctuary” ; and in addressing him the proper form is” Ya Sheikh,” or “ O Elder.” (Prof. I. H. Hall.)Peter and John before the council 1. The name of Jesus was the power that wrought the miracle; or to use the incomparable language of the preacher himself, “ by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before yon whole.” By the name we are to understand all the powers and prerogatives that centre in the Person. An ambassador borrows all his authority from the name of his sovereign. Paul, in the provincial court at Philippi, saved himself by invoking the name of Caesar. The inquisitors before whom Peter stood on this occasion supposed that Jesus was dead. It was, indeed, true that bodily He had vanished from the sight of men; but He had left behind Him a name in which resided the tremendous power of His spiritual presence, which was destined thereafter to be the working force in history until the whole world should be subjugated to God. For want of ability to discern this fact, Hume and Gibbon and all other undevout historians have been at their wits’ end. They have marked the operations of a mysterious force, working like a magnet, and leading the nations on toward a brighter, better day; but for the most part they have frankly acknowledged their inability to locate or characterise it. The name of Jesus is this unnamed factor in universal history. 2. The name of Jesus, though despised by these inquisitors, has taken precedence of all others in heaven or on earth. Or, again to quote the preacher, “ This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.” Christ dead? Ah, no! Could these ecclesiastics have looked forward through the centuries they would have seen His name written on all scrolls of honour, His Cross glowing on innumerable spires that were to point, like index-fingers, to His throne in heaven, and His kingdom spreading like a vast tabernacle to enfold the world. In vain do kings of the earth set themselves and rulers take counsel together against this Jesus. 3. The name of Jesus alone has power to save; in Peter’ s words, “ Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Among those who listened to the apostle that day there was probably not one who did not cherish some sort of hope of salvation; but if these words were true they were all leaning on broken reeds. (1) No doubt there were rabbis there who congratulated themselves on their acquaintance with current theology. They knew the technics of the argument between the schools of Shammai and Hillel, and were thoroughly adept in the traditions of the elders. But, without desiring to belittle the importance of dogma, it is right to say that the brain is a good way from the heart, and there is a vast difference between theology and religion. Many a man has, intellectually, a faultless creed who is nevertheless an utter stranger to vital godliness. But souls are not saved that way. A man may know all about the Nicene and the Ante-Nicene fathers, and all about creeds and symbols and theological systems, but if he has not made the acquaintance of Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, he shall not enter into life. (2) Then, doubtless, there were others in Peter’ s audience who hoped to be saved for their devotion to the Church. We cannot dispense with the Church; nor dare we cast reproach upon it, for it is the bride of Jesus Christ; nevertheless, to rely upon externals for salvation is to face an awful disappointment at the great day. This was the trouble with the Pharisees. (3) No doubt there were moralists also in this company, and, if so, Peter’ s word ruled them out of heaven. For morality, as such, however admirable, has no saving virtue in it. Emerson objects to the use of the term “ mere morality,” but what else shall we call that sort of legalism which takes no cogni-sance of the Lawgiver? The trouble with “ mere morality” is that it leaves uncancelled the mislived past; it has no power to atone for a single sin, while it ignores the claims of Jehovah. In saying that we say nothing against morality, for the law is good; but the atoning power must be sought for elsewhere. Peter’ s sermon had a remarkable effect upon the minds of his distinguished hearers. (a) They marvelled that “ unlearned and ignorant men” should have such forensic power. Bat they knew nothing of the influence of the Holy Ghost that rested upon them. (b) They “ took knowledge of these men that they had been with Jesus.” The ground of that conclusion lay in the fact that they had manifestly caught His Spirit. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Peter and John before the council A notable miracle had been wrought at the gate of the temple, and a notable sermon had been preached to the assembled crowd, who were filled with wonder and amazement. It is the sequel of that which had been thus done and said which furnishes our present theme. We notice-- I. The offence of the apostles. It was not that they had been the means of bringing healing and health to a disabled man. Most sympathetic souls doubtless were glad. Others, probably (are there not always such?), after a little, began to question this way of coming to his health. It was not according to the regular practice. It was a reflection upon the professed practitioners of the healing art. But this was not the grievance to those with whom the two disciples of Jesus are brought into speedy conflict. These were the ruling class, the Sadducees, of whom were also the officials, both ecclesiastical and civil, who arrested Peter and John and locked them up for more deliberate examination. These were the rulers of the Church in that day; but they were by no means the religious class. The offence of the apostles was not that they had healed the lame man, or even that they had been disciples of Jesus, but that “ they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” It was an offence of doctrine rather than of deed which excited the opposition of these Sadducean rulers. It was the offence of supernaturalism. But there was something more than this in it. Men oppose teachings often because the teachings conflict with the lives which they prefer to live. Supernaturalism always has its foes, for it implies a present God--a God who works, who sees and will judge. Ours is a Sadducean age. Natural science has engrossed the attention of the learned class to a large degree. They will accept mind cure or hypnotism, but not the healing touch of God. They will allow the inspiration of the poet, but not of the prophet. The offence of the Cross is not the only one which stirs up hostility. The offence of supernaturalism is now equally cause of anger and derision as it was in the days of Peter and John. II. The defence of the apostles. Thus arraigned and thus accused, the two disciples are put in ward until the morrow. This was the very time for which they bad been prepared--the very time to exercise their gift to be witnesses here in the very court of Israel. And that is what they were: not defenders of themselves, but sturdy, truthful, uncompromising witnesses to Jesus and the resurrection. So they rehearse the facts. “ You ask us who has done this good deed to the helpless man? Jesus has done it; Jesus the Christ, the Messiah for whom Israel has looked and longed. Nay, you know Him well, Jesus of Nazareth, the Man whom you so lately condemned to death, yes, ‘ whom ye crucified’ --He is the Author of this cure. For God undid your murder and raised Him from the dead.” So they bore testimony to the thing which had been done. But now they testify to the greater things which He can do. “ He is the only One by whom we can be saved. We disciples or your priests and Sadducees can be safe and be saved alone by Him whose name and power has wrought this cure.” The defence of those who believe in supernaturalism is not argument. You cannot reason about the particulars in a sphere which men refuse to recognise. What can you do? You can oppose your faith to their unbelief, your confidence to their incredulity. You can give your ringing testimony to what you know. Testimony will win the day for Christ sooner and more surely than reasoning; for it will secure a hearing for the reasons of the faith that is in the disciples. Witnesses are more important than advocates. A hundred reasons why it should be so are not half as strong as one “ It is so.” III. The change of the judges. After this form of a trial, the accusation and the defence, the court retires to consult. They cannot deny the facts. Facts are unfortunately stubborn things. What shall they do? “ Let us silence them,” they say; and so they bring the two unlearned men before them, and charge them, with all the authority they have, and with what dignity they can, “ not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” How well they were able to enforce their command the further record tells. It is not the last time in the history of the world that men of deep convictions have been met with a similar command. Right or wrong, it is impossible to correct men’ s thinking, or, for very long, their speaking, by the mere command or compulsion to be silent. The very command is a confession of weakness. To ask your foe not to strike again is to acknowledge your fear of him. You cannot silence witnesses. The fire which is in men’ s hearts cannot be smothered by the authority of courts, civil or ecclesiastical. The truth of God will overcome all lies at last in the kingdom of the truth, h the hot fires of experience the dross will be run off and the pure silver reflect the image of its Maker. All through this passage the name of Jesus is set forth as the source of power, of salvation, and of Divine teaching. (Geo. M. Boynton.)Bigotry I was once driven upon an Irish jaunting-car with a little child of four years of age. It began to rain, and a hood was placed over the child’ s head. I heard her mutter, “ That is such a pretty view.” I said, “ How can that be when your head is covered?” “ Oh,” she replied, “ I see my knees, my shawl, and my pretty little feet.” A good illustration of people who cannot see farther than the extremity of their own beautiful selves. (J. Alexander, D. D.)Ecclesiasticism has no exclusive rights The Church ecclesiastical is like a vast water company chartered to supply the Church spiritual from the great river of the water of life. But how absurd it would be for a water company to claim the right to interdict rain from heaven, or to say to the inhabitants of a particular district, “ You shall receive no water except it pass through the hydraulic machinery which I have constructed.” (General Gordon.)The first persecution of the apostles To the tempter God said, “ I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” But the hatred reigns in the breasts of the children of the devil, “ he that is born after the flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit,” while those who are “ counted to the Saviour as a seed” are told to love their enemies. The first-fruit of the enmity was the murder of Abel. The first-fruit of this enmity towards the Apostolic Church was the imprisonment of Peter and John. But it belongs to the disciples of a crucified Saviour to do good and receive evil. I. The imprisonment of the apostles (verses 1-4). Peter had said to Christ, “ I will go with Thee to prison “ etc., and our Lord had said to the sons of Zebedee, “ Ye shall, indeed, drink of the cup that I drink of.” And now we see--1. The first act of violence, which was the arrest of Peter and John. “ While they were speaking to the people” gracious words there was a rush in the assembly, and an iron hand was laid on the preachers, not by “ rude fellows of the baser sort,” but the priests, of whom Hosea said, “ As troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of the priests murder in the way by consent.” The Sadducees were then in possession of authority, which they employed to indulge in the enjoyment of this life, as they believed in no other, and were cruel to all who disturbed their ease. They were, therefore, “ vexed that the apostles preached, through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead.” For if He who was known to have been put to death was alive again, He was that “ Man by whom came the resurrection of the dead.” What was there in this to grieve any one? Is the present life so long that we should not wish for another? Or were these rulers so wicked that they suspected a future life must be to them a state of punishment? To wish to die like a dog belongs to those who wish to live like a dog. But, whatever men might think or say of the Resurrection, the question with magistrates should have been, What injury will this do to society? Will men be worse neighbours, or subjects, for believing that, after this life, they will rise, and be judged for the deeds done in the body? And yet, how many have felt the rude hand of violence for no other crime than preaching, through, Jesus the resurrection from the dead! 2. The first night which the apostles passed in prison is full of interest. See them led along to where criminals are lodged, the healed man following, not leaping for joy, but asking in sorrow, “ Is it a crime, then, that they have made me walk?” Arrived at the gaol, the authorities demand entrance for two prisoners, who have done--what? good to body and to soul. Shall we pity them? No; save your pity for their persecutors. For, if you say, “ But what must it be for pious men to pass a first night in a gaol?” I answer, but they are in a good cause, with a good conscience, and in good company; and with these three attendants a man may lie easy on a cold, hard, stone floor; and in a dreary dungeon pass a pleasant night. For now Peter blesses his Lord, that, instead of denying Him, he can suffer for Him; and John feels that he is indeed the disciple whom Jesus so loved, as to hand from His own lips the cup of suffering, that His “ beloved may drink also.” Call them not prisoners; their spirits are not imprisoned, but mount together to the mercy-seat, in prayer for grace to suffer well. And they knew that “ the Word of God was not bound,” that the Church now numbered five thousand. If the apostles were kept from sleep, it was for joy of such triumphs. But “ He giveth His beloved sleep,” which often refuses to shed its balm on royal eyelids, while it rests sweetly on theirs who, exhausted with labours and devotions, sink down, and, like Jacob, though with a stone for a pillow, see visions of God, heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending, in attendance on the:heirs of salvation. Thus Bunyan, passing through the wilderness, lighted on a den, where he slept, and saw what myriads have gladly kept awake to read. II. Their coming forth and trial (verses5-22).1. The court is particularly described, as of importance to the narrative. The great men lived in the suburbs, and now called a general meeting in the city. The rulers were probably the president and vice-president of the Sanhedrim; the elders the body of the council; and the scribes, the persons who acted as counsel, and clerks of the court. Annas was the high:priest, as Caiaphas had been. Alexander’ s name intimates a heathenish Jew; but he was then a man of note. John is thought to have been the Ben Zacchai, celebrated in the Talmud, who, forty years before the destruction of the temple, saw the gates open spontaneously, and said, “ I know thine end” ; for Zechariah prophesied, “ Open thy gates, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.” “ All the kindred of the high priest,” who were a species of nobles, were now assembled, as if their dignities were at stake. Listen to the examination: “ By what power, or by what name, have you done this?--you?” For the last word stands as if it were uttered in scorn: “ You, fellows, to have done this!” See how “ God taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and turneth the counsel of the wicked headlong.” For they venture not to deny the fact. The more contemptuously they treat the apostles, as unequal to such a work, the more they glorify Christ. But who ever heard of trying men for the crime of healing in a moment? Who would think of accusing a physician for curing thoroughly and speedily? They ask, what name has done it; as if alluding to the Jews’ notion of a magic virtue in the name of Jehovah, which modern Jews have affirmed Jesus learned, and by it wrought His miracles. Had the apostles themselves dictated the examination, they could scarcely have made it more to their mind; for it elicited-- 2. The defence which they made (verses 8-12). “ It was done in the name of Jesus, the Messiah of Nazareth, whose name we pronounced ere we wrought the cure. You, indeed, condemned Him to die on the Cross; but God raised Him from the dead, of which the proof is before you.” The rulers had asked after the wonder-working name, and they now know more than they wished; for what a stab must this have been to their pride! What a thunder-bolt to their consciences I They, aware that Jesus promised to rise again, had set a guard to prevent, and now are told that a miracle has proved it true. But see how Peter turns their attention from healing bodies to salvation for the soul. Who sees not here the fulfilment of Christ’ s promise to His apostles, “ be not anxious what ye shall say, for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say” ? 3. The council’ s embarrassment arose from the sight of the apostles and of the man they had cured. “ Seeing the freedom of Peter and John,” who spoke like men at their ease, and “ conceiving them illiterate and private” men, the rulers could not account for their unembarrassed air. They were not among the literati, nor in any public office, but in private secular life; and they were known to have been with Jesus, who was neither in high station Himself, nor attended by those who were; for it was asked, “ Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on Him?” But the man who was healed was another embarrassing sight, to which the council had nothing to reply. This embarrassment induced them to order all others out of the hall, ashamed to say before them, “ What shall we do to these men?” It is, indeed, difficult to know what to do with men who are tried for their good deeds; and still more with men who can work miracles. Often have persecutors seized their victims and then knew not what to do with them. Hence, with a confounding coolness, they plot to smother a miracle, that it may not spread further, as if it were an infectious plague. Thus commenced a long course of threats and orders, not less impious than vain. This was overruled, to bring out to view the great principle of religious liberty. From this time Christ is declared to be the paramount Ruler in religion. “ It is impossible for us not to speak what we have seen and heard.” Not to speak at all to any man in the name of Jesus! Bid us, neither breathe nor think! A religion of ceremony may be put down by brute force; but to hide the love of Jesus is as impossible as to “ hide the ointment of your right hand.” Having, therefore, threatened again, they let the apostles go; the people made it dangerous to punish (verse 21). Thus ended the first act of persecution, and thus commenced the triumph of religious freedom. III. The liberty of the apostles was improved in a manner worthy of the men and of their cause. Earth and heaven exhibit scenes full of instruction.1. On earth, the two confessors, “ being let go, returned to their own company” (verses 23-30). A night in gaol, and fierce threats, had wrought no change, except to increase their attachment to a cause that could not be gainsaid; and when restraint was taken off, as the bird whose string is cut soars away to its nest, they returned to their own company. Of the sufferings of a night in gaol, they say, they think, nothing. The threats, however, call forth a united prayer to God, expressing their submission to His Sovereign pleasure, and their confidence in Him as the Almighty Creator. They had astonished the enemy by their very courage; but they knew themselves too well to trust to this; for he that was a hero in the last battle may turn coward in the next; and therefore they ask for boldness. “ He giveth more grace” ; and they who ask it are the men who endure to the end. The apostles ask that “ God’ s hand might still be stretched forth to heal” ; though one such display of power had cost them one night in gaol. Attention to an apostolic prayer becomes us. Mark its Scriptural character; a large portion is the Word of God; its high rationality; for the Psalm quoted is not misapplied; its deep humility, with its lofty bearing; its superiority to self; with its consecration to the Divine honour; and then say whether these men were either deceivers or deceived? If we pray like apostles, shall we not wisely adapt our prayers to occasions as they arise? 2. Heaven responded to earth; for, they having thus prayed, a second Pentecost followed. As in the first, a mighty sound, like a roaring wind, roused attention; so now, an earthquake, which shook the place where they were assembled, spoke the descending God. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, in new and more abundant measures. Rich recompense for bonds and imprisonments. Conclusion:1. Let their testimony sink into your hearts, that “ there is salvation in no other name, but that of Jesus the Crucified.” 2. When you have believed, and found salvation in it, you will show the attraction of affinity as they did, who, “ being let go, returned to their own company.” 3. Triumph is the testimony of Jesus against all the terrors of persecution; which is a blunt weapon, that has ever failed of its object, from the hour that these apostles were let go, to this moment. (J. Bennett.)The first persecution of the Church The authorities were offended because-- I. The apostles taught. This is emphatically true of the priests, who looked upon themselves as the only lawfully constituted teachers.1. They considered that the apostles were not personally qualified (verse 13). “ Unlearned” means they had not been trained in Rabbinical lore--they were not brought up to letters--they were agrammatoi. Men in every age lay undue stress upon “ Grammar.” Not to have been trained in the public schools is of itself almost fatal to any man who aspires to the office of a teacher. But were not the priests right? It is necessary we should distinguish between scholarship and learning. Scholarship is proficiency in words and forms and opinions; learning is a large sympathy with life, and a deep insight into the eternal truth of things. In the priest we see scholarship; in the apostles learning; and the learning of the latter is infinitely preferable to the scholarship of the former. But the men of scholarship looked down contemptuously upon the men of learning. Does that surprise you? It has been repeated over and over again in the history of our own country. Did not the clergy sneer at the ministers of Dissent--Bunyan and his contemporaries--whom they now indeed emulate each other to honour? The best thing is to honour the living prophets, the next best thing is to respect and perpetuate the memory of the dead. One fact the history of the Church has indisputably demonstrated--that scholarship alone, however valuable it may be as an accessory, is not a sufficient qualification to teach the people. But though scholarship alone is not a sufficient qualification, yet learning is; and better still to have both scholarship and learning. The ministry of the apostles was characterised by learning, the ministry of the middle ages by scholarship; let us hope Chat the ministry of the future will be distinguished for its happy combination of the two. 2. They considered that the apostles had no official right to teach. They were idiotai--men of no profession, private individuals, in a word, laymen. And the professionals were very indignant that parties outside the sacred pale of the sacerdotal order, and not commissioned, should set themselves up as teachers. Laymen were considered very ignorant men; the idiotai suggested idiots. The priests claimed an exclusive right to teach. This, however, had not always been the case in Jewry. The ceremonies of religion had been entrusted to the priests, the teaching of the people to the prophets. But prophecy had long died out, and the priesthood had stepped into its place; and having once possessed themselves of the power they guarded it most jealously. Does this seem strange? The same thing has occurred over and over again. The now famous pedlar of Elstow was charged with insolence, irreverence, and disloyalty for daring to stand up to deliver himself of the truths burning in his soul. The police came suddenly upon him and immured him in Bedford gaol for twelve long years. Why? What evil had he done? This--that he, a layman, one of the idiotai, should venture to trespass on the prohibited preserves of the priests! This mischievous spirit is still smouldering. II. The apostles taught the people.1. Some felt vexed on personal considerations, for the apostles, labouring to enlighten and convert the people, were indirectly undermining the power of the priests. The heyday of priestcraft is generally the “ times of ignorance,” and it naturally desires the prolongation of those times. Peter and John held out the lamp of knowledge, and the authorities rushed upon the lamp-bearers and endeavoured to break the lamp. With what result? With the simple result of smashing the glass and letting the flame burn more intensely than before, and kindle five thousand other lamps. 2. Others felt annoyed on ecclesiastical grounds. The priests knew, through the instinct of self-preservation, that the enlightenment of the people meant virtually their deposition. The people had to receive implicitly and unquestioningly the word of priests and rabbis as to what the will of God was; or worse still, their interpretation of it. This monopoly plunged the people into an elaborate system of lifeless traditions and burdensome superstitions. And when the apostles demanded back the key of knowledge and desired to lead the people into the hidden dwelling place of truth, with what reward did they meet? They were cast into prison. Does that surprise you? No; for this history has been enacted over again in Christendom. The key of knowledge was taken away from Europe, and the Scriptures were allowed to lie in an unknown language. Luther on the Continent and Wycliffe in England endeavoured to unlock the treasures, to translate the Scriptures into the popular language, and to scatter broadcast the knowledge of the Divine will; and they were vilified, excommunicated, and hunted about for their pains. Nevertheless the translation of the Bible caused the Papal hierarchy to topple to its ruin in Germany and England. Mark that well. Priests still forbid laymen to peruse and expound the Scriptures--they must believe on authority. The essence of Romanism is to believe on authority. The essence of Protestantism to believe on proof. 3. Others felt annoyed on civil grounds. They would say as all despots have in effect said--“ Knowledge is power. If you educate the people you put into their hands a weapon which they have not the wisdom to use. What if they use it for revolution? To avert the evil, we will refuse the good.” That has always been the language of despotism; and forthwith it proceeds to fetter, and if need be, to kill the champions of popular education. No doubt knowledge is a tremendous power--especially religious knowledge; and often, alas! it has been converted to mean, vulgar ends. But are we to reject the use of a thing because of its abuse? Do not have fires, and you will have no conflagrations. Light, no doubt, does multiply the shadows; shall we on that account declaim against the sun? III. They taught the people, through, Jesus the resurrection from the dead.1. The teaching reflected deep discredit on the tribunals of the nation. The leading members of those courts had crucified Christ; but yet God had raised Him up from the dead. Now the Resurrection was a complete vindication of Christ’ s character; but to vindicate His character was to brand the character of His judges. Therefore those judges were irritated beyond measure. In their furious madness the infant Church saw the fulfilment of the prophecy (verse 25). You have seen a spirited unmanageable horse snorting wildly and plunging desperately--his eyes flashing fire, his nostrils breathing thunders. That is the very figure used in this chapter to describe the raging of the Jewish authorities against the gospel--they were like wild beasts, filled with foolish and unreasonable fury. 2. The teaching was new. The Pharisees were very much in love with the old, and were deemed wiser than their descendants. The Pharisees were the champions of orthodoxy, and in confederacy with the other sections of the Jewish Church put the apostles on their trial for healing the lame man. The Sanhedrim assembled--the court had to decide between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The miracle they could not deny. The question was, “ By what power or by what name have ye done this?” The whole trial turned upon that hinge. Were the apostles orthodox, yea or no? You know the conclusion they arrived at--the apostles were branded as heretics, and forbidden to heal or to preach any more in the name of Jesus. We should never forget that the apostles and the Saviour Himself, were charged with heresy and persecuted to death on account of it. This teaches us two lessons. (1) That we should be careful not to reject any doctrine because of its novelty, nor call the advocates of new opinions by bad, unpopular names. Every truth--of science as well as theology--was considered heresy on its first promulgation. The heterodoxy of one age is the orthodoxy, of the next. Truth is first crucified, then raised from the dead, then exalted to the throne and adored. (2) Not to refute what we deem heresy by imprisonment. Jesus Christ argued with the people of Jerusalem, and they took up stones to cast at Him. It is a very easy but a very foolish way to meet an argument with a stone. And yet it has been the universal practice till recently. The Christians hold certain views concerning life and death, and the Jews persecute them. Among Christians again, certain parties hold views different from the majority and they are burnt. Mankind are slow to learn than it is a cowardly thing to kill a man for an opinion. 3. Their teaching, moreover, flatly contradicted an influential section of the hierarchy. The Sadducees probably prided themselves on how little they believed. They would no doubt style themselves broad thinkers; but certainly they were not broad believers. Breadth of thought is in our time, too, preferred to breadth of faith. But there is something fundamentally wrong with the man whose broad thinking leads to narrow believing. Broad thinking should always lead to broad believing, and where the faith is feeble, it is to me a proof positive that the thinking is not broad, but lax. Anyhow, the Sadducees conspired to suppress the teaching of the apostles. In the Gospels the merciless hostility of the Pharisees is in the forefront; but in the Acts the fierce enmity of the Sadducees; for there the fact and the doctrine of the resurrection find a more prominent place. Scepticism knows how to imprison and behead its opponents as well as superstition. Unbelief, not faith, is the real source of persecution. Let men believe in God, and that He is stronger than the devil; in truth, and that it is more potent than error; in right, and that it will and must prove triumphant over might, and they can afford to be patient, they will see the futility of resorting to physical force. The truth of liberty is based in religion. What has unbelief done on behalf of liberty? It has written. What has Christianity done? It has bled. Infidels have pleaded for it, but Christians have died for it. Did their imprisonment check the mighty progress of the gospel? Nay, “ many of them that heard the Word believed.” Times of persecution are generally times of much spiritual prosperity. Some of the early martyrs had for their mystic symbol a candle surrounded by a crowd of angry men puffing as hard as they could to blow it out; but the harder they puffed the more brightly burnt the candle. The English Reformers were sorely harassed, but did they abandon the cause of Protestantism? No; some of them devised an anvil for their coat of arms with the striking motto “ This anvil hath broken many hammers.” “ The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)Typical religious persecution I. The persecutors were typical--the “ priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees.” Here we have--1. Men whose tenets were discredited--the Sadducees. 2. Men whose prerogative was invaded--the priests. 3. The subordinate, notoriously accessible to bribes--“ the captain of the temple,” the servant of the priests and the Sadducees, who would desire what would please them. Is there not here a type of the agency employed in all religious persecutions? Outraged orthodoxy, slighted privilege, and vile sycophancy have distinguished themselves in many ways and in various combinations in the attacks made on faithful reformers and evangelists from age to age. II. The ground was typical. The persecutors were “ annoyed.” God was not employing them. They were unable to give any explanation. And their own cherished notions were ceasing to command the respect of the people. Has it not been ever thus, when “ unauthorised” teachers have been more welcome and more successful than the official representatives of the Church? But the will of the Lord be done. III. The treatment was typical. They were--1. Stopped in their preaching. But “ the Word” had been effectually spoken. Those who wished and had determined to hinder were restrained until God’ s own time. 2. Apprehended. Their reasons were not met with counter-reasons. To deal with truth by physical force! What a confession of ignorance and weakness! 3. Imprisoned. That they could do; but they could not imprison or bind the truth, nor prevent it becoming the instrument of spiritual freedom to those who received it. IV. The encouragements were typical. The preachers--1. Had remained at the post of duty until forced away. They had nothing to reproach themselves with on that account. 2. Had the pleasure of knowing that the good work had progressed. 3. Had a whole night for meditation and prayer. In like manner have the Lord’ s persecuted servants been comforted and sustained since. (W. Hudson.)Apostolic trials Two men disclaiming all original power excited Jewish society by the performance of a miraculous deed. The excitement became in the long run bewilderment. The Jewish leaders were completely baffled. The facts of Christianity have been awkward stumbling-blocks in the way of unbelief. Opponents can see two sides to a theory, but to a fact it is vain to oppose a suggestion of fancy or a jeer of ill will. I. On the side of the Jewish leaders there was-- 1. Illiberality. “ Being grieved that they taught the people.” The highest pre-Christian culture! Christ alone has shown Himself the friend of universal man--slave or king. Christianity has a universal appeal. It is not a taper, it is the sun. 2. Shortsightedness. They put the apostles in prison! Fools! They could not put God in prison! Had the apostles been original workers the imprisonment might have met the case. The apostles were put into prison because they did good to the diseased and instructed the ignorant. Christianity is still the physical and moral regenerator of the world. The only charge that can be brought against it is that it continually seeks to do good. 3. Impotence. “ What shall we do?” etc. They “ threatened” the apostles: that is, they shook their fists at the sun in order to darken the world! They stamped on the sea shore to repel the tide! They sent a message to the wind stating that they would henceforth be independent of air! We see how small men are when they set themselves against truth. II. On the side of the apostles there was--1. Complete intelligence within the sphere of their ministry. Though they were unlearned and ignorant men, yet within the compass of their work they were wise and efficient. This is the secret of success. Know what you do know. Do not venture beyond the line of your vocation. Every preacher is strong when he stands on fact and experience. Christians must not accept the bait which would draw them upon unknown or forbidden ground. 2. Unconquerable courage in narrating and applying facts. Look at-- (1) The dignity of the address.(2) The calm and emphatic assertion of the name of Christ.(3) The direct and special impeachment of the hearers. “ Whom ye crucified.” “ Set at nought of you builders.” Dignity is proper in the preachers of truth. Christ is the life of Christianity--beware of lauding the system and forgetting the Man. Accusation is the work of every Christian evangelist. Prove the world’ s crime.3. Christian magnanimity in preaching the gospel (verse 12). (1) Man needs saving.(2) All men, even Christ’ s murderers, may be saved.(3) There is but one way of saving them. 4. Incorruptible loyalty to God and His truth (verse 19). “ Things that we have seen and heard.” What a field! Missions at home and abroad--schools, labours, sacrifices, death-beds. (J. Parker, D. D.)Teaching and persecution 1. Not only did Peter and John cure the lame man, they proceeded to “ teach the people.” Herein was their greatest fault. Christianity is a teaching religion. It seeks out all the people, and speaks the popular tongue. It is just here that preachers may learn their most useful lesson. Our danger is that we speak to the classes; the apostles taught the masses. We can never get back to that universal speech unless those of you who are educated and highly refined will support us. You must be content to be partially neglected in so far as intellectual luxuries are concerned, and must assist us in providing good wholesome bread for the common people. That is precisely the difference between Christianity and every other religion. Others say, “ Keep the people in the dark” ; this, “ Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Others draw a screen, as Pythagoras lectured from behind a curtain to his disciples, and from behind they mutter their unintelligible incantations; this lifts its red banner, throws it out upon the willing wind, and on it is written, “ This thing was not done in a corner.” Other religions are philosophies only; Christianity is a gospel as well. 2. A very marvellous thing occurs here, in a kind of parenthesis. The rulers put them in prison. “ Howbeit” !--God has His finger in this! He comes through very narrow spaces, and seizes very transient opportunities. “ Howbeit” --Wait there a while to get the full rush of this glorious announcement--“ many of them which heard the Word believed.” Why should not that be the case now, so that whatever may happen to the preacher within the next hour be may know, as he goes to his account, that he has left behind him a harvest before the time? 3. The morning came, and justice must be done. This question was hurled at them, “ By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?” Beware of turning your religion into a piece of metaphysical inquiry. It is at that point that Christianity is often defeated in her most beneficent purposes. The learned men wanted to analyse what we now call the modus operandi. Instead of accepting the man, the concrete, positive, indisputable fact, they wanted to lure the apostles, and those who followed them, into metaphysical quagmires and difficulties. Preachers do not answer the “ why” and the “ how” of merely inquisitive minds. Have the man himself with you, and let him be your argument. Christianity rests on facts, not upon opinions. If the Church of Christ has not the Man with it, any amount of mere philosophical theorising and speculation will do harm rather than good. Where is the man you have saved? Produce him. Where are the hungry you have fed, the ignorant you have instructed, the enslaved you have emancipated? Produce them. This is a fact not a quibble. By whatever means it is done the effect is certain, and the cause of such an effect must itself be good. 4. Peter and John will surely stammer before this glittering assembly I The maid that taunted the rough-spoken Galilaean was too much for Peter; when he sees Annas, etc., there will be no spirit left in him. How does the narrative road? “ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost.” That is a thousand Peters: Peter multiplied by the very Deity. Peter?--a straw blown away by the mocking wind, by himself. But Peter “ filled with the Holy Ghost” was a man of war clothed with heavenly panoply, eloquent with heaven’ s thunder, gracious with heaven’ s love. Have we received the Holy Ghost? The question is not, “ Are we well trained intellectually?” “ Have we read many books?” “ Are we able to conduct very subtle arguments?” We shall know whether we have received the Spirit by the fire that is in us. We have received the first baptism, we have been “ christened,” Christ-named, christianised in the sense of having been brought to the church, and had the initial water sprinkled upon our forehead; but have we received the Holy Ghost? There is no mistaking Him. 5. Peter having been challenged to give an account of the circumstance, made the eloquent reply which you find within verses 9 to 12 inclusive. Whenever Peter spake suddenly, on great subjects, he spake the very heart of God. How much he makes of Christ in the 10th verse! We seem hardly to have heard the whole style and title of Jesus before. We have them here. We have called the Saviour “ Jesus,” sometimes we have called Him “ Jesus Christ.” By some short indication of this kind we have made reference to the Redeemer. But how seldom have we given Him His full style and title!--“ Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him.” There is no mistaking that address. What Christ do you preach? We have heard of the Christ of the painter--a figure tenderly coloured, set in wondrous lights and shades. We have stood before it, and sometimes we have thrilled in its presence, and felt the waters stealing into our eyes. But that Christ never saved the Soul, it is only a creation of art. We have heard of the Christ of the poet. Christ has been spoken of in flowing rhyme and stately blank verse; but that Christ never came from the intellect into the depths of the heart in its deadliest remorse on account of sin. We must go back to the apostolic Christ if we have to realise apostolic conceptions and to win apostolic successes in the ministry. Peter might well have ended by the statement contained in the 10th verse, but Peter often found it difficult to conclude when Christ was the theme. How can a river end except in the sea? The little pool, the purling rill, soon sinks in the sand; but the river--deep, broad, fluent--moves on through channelled rocks and shady woods, on, on to the solemn sea. Peter went onward. Said he, “ This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner.” The place trembled under the vibration of that living voice! He might have ended there; but it was difficult, let us repeat, for Peter ever to end when Christ was the theme. So he continued, “ Neither is there salvation in any other,” etc. The original question was not one of salvation, it was merely a question of healing a lame man. But you never find the apostles confining themselves to the mere incident. Every miracle is only a text. Let an apostle heal a man’ s ankle-bones, and from those ankle-bones he swings clear off to Christ’ s world-saving Cross. “ If we have healed your ankle-bones, we meant it to be symbolic of the greater healing of your soul.” 6. Now, it was the turn of the Sanhedrim to be shut up and put “ in hold unto the next day,” and every day after that. When they saw the boldness of Peter and John “ they marvelled.” Any man that can be accounted for will never influence his age. He will make a splash in the pool; but the bubbles will be seen a moment, then will sink for ever. You never can make out the secret of a Whitefield. You never can make out the secret power of any man who makes a whole world hear him. If you could account for him you would be as great as he is. What then did the wise and influential Jews do? “ Threaten them.” You feel the difference of temperature between verses 11, 12, and verses 16-18. The apostles must not speak any morel There must be an end of this nuisance. Society is not to be disturbed by such propagandists. Peter, having heard the threatening, said unto them, “ Whether it be right “ That is the word that makes history, that thrills the ages. And the apostles having received this threatening, “ went to their own company, and reported,” etc. What a talk they had! How they reminded one another of the occasion of the movement! And when the company had heard it all “ they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said,… “ They too became eloquent. And when they had prayed, “ the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” Pentecost after Pentecost! Poor Church! Thou hast fallen upon empty times. They are but mean challenges that are addressed to us now. If we could be once more threatened with the prison and the stake, the rod of iron and the keen double-edged weapon, some of us might be heroes. At present we may be but common clay. (J. Parker, D. D.)Peter and John examined I. When God is carrying on any design for the manifestation of His glory great opposition will be made to it. Satan will not remain a quiet spectator, and his servants will be stirred up to his assistance. In this combination it ought not to surprise us to find, not only persons of profane principles and wicked lives, but some who, in consequence of their apparent attachment to religion, might have been expected to range themselves on the opposite side. When God way setting His Son on His holy hill of Zion, not only did the “ heathen” rage, who were ignorant of prophecy, and had not seen the miracles of Jesus, but the favoured “ people,” to whom the oracles of God were committed, and among whom the Messiah had appeared, “ imagined a vain thing.” II. God may expose his people to much discouragement when they are walking in his own way. The apostles preached Christ by express commission from heaven, and on their success depended the conversion of the world. Yet in the outset they were opposed by the supreme authority in the nation. In the course of their ministry they were subjected to danger and suffering, and most of them lost their lives in the cause. Superficial reasoners may conclude that God is at variance with Himself, retarding the execution of His own plans, and may complain that, instead of rewarding, He punishes men for their zeal and fidelity. “ But the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” By such dispensations He exercises the faith of His servants, and makes known His power in carrying on His designs in spite of the utmost efforts of His adversaries; while in the behaviour of His people, such examples of courage, patience, and love are exhibited, as afford no slight testimony to the truth of religion. Converts are made by the sufferings of the saints as well as by their doctrine. III. Christ requires no service for which He does not furnish them with necessary aid. He is no hard taskmaster. As His commandments are reasonable, so His grace strengthens us to obey them. When Peter and John were called to plead His cause before the Jewish council, they were “ filled with the Holy Ghost.” Hence did cowardly fishermen become undaunted apostles; hence have simple and uneducated men put learning to silence; hence have feeble and delicate women endured with unshaken firmness, cruel tortures, and death in its most terrible forms. “ As thy day, so shall thy strength be.” IV. Great is the truth, and it will prevail. It confounded and silenced the Jewish council; it made foolish the wisdom of the world, vanquishing its vain philosophy and sophistical eloquence by the plain doctrine of the Cross; it will, in like manner, triumph over infidelity, superstition, heresy, and licentiousness. From what it has already done we may calculate the effects which are yet to be expected from it (Psalms 110:2-3). V. Let us be careful to maintain a good conscience in our religious profession. This was the constant study of the apostles, and hence they considered not what was honourable in the eyes of the world, what was advantageous or safe, but solely what was right. It was God only whom they were resolved to obey, and they minded not the contrary commands and threatenings of men. You will never enjoy peace of mind, you will never act uprightly and consistently till you learn to regulate your conduct by the fixed standard of truth and rectitude, and not by the shifting opinions and fancies of men. Beware of the vain attempt to serve two masters. The result of such an attempt will be that you will serve neither of them fully, and will lose the reward promised by both. (J. Dick, A. M.)Righteous boldness Courage is of various sorts. Brazen courage is simply an outside affair, born of impudence. Many a timid soul will cower before it, but itself will always cower when rightly met. Physical courage is an affair of the body, born of mere brute force. There is a courage of love, conscience, conviction, action, repose. What is Christian courage? Let us to-day look back to the time when Christ’ s disciples were first under the fire of persecution and see-- I. Its occasion. Peter and John had healed a lame man, and to the wondering crowd preached Jesus and His resurrection. Out of patience with this continued talk about Jesus--the priests, because Jesus had denounced their hypocrisy and formalism; the Sadducees, because in Jesus was set forth the resurrection, which they scouted and denied--had got the apostles arraigned before the Sanhedrim. In the presence of this august body they proved what stuff they were made of. They had no friends at this court. Wealth, learning, fashion, pride, numbers, and even piety and the national faith, and the very oracles of God, were arrayed against these poor disciples. Peter stood in view of them all, calm and confident, a splendid illustration of the truth that “ the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1), and made his reply. II. Its secret. “ Filled with the Holy Ghost.” This made the difference between Peter before the ascension and Peter after it. It was not natural courage, “ to the manner born.” Peter’ s impetuous ardour often got him into trouble, but his courage failed him when put to the test. He could use his sword under sudden impulse, but his temporary boldness is followed by blank cowardice. He could leap from the ship in impulsive obedience, but he scarcely touches the waters before he cries out for fear. This is Peter by nature. But after Pentecost what granite-like firmness he exhibits! what courage of conviction! what unflinching loyalty to truth! what boldness in the rebuke of wrong! This is Peter by grace. The bank of sand is transformed into a rock of firmness. Impulse has given way to principle. Fear of man is exchanged for fear of God. III. Its characteristics.1. Courtesy. Peter gives the men of the court their appropriate titles, recognises their office and authority, and addresses them with deference and respect. Bravery does not consist in brusqueness and bravado and bluster. To speak the truth boldly one need not be a boor or a bear. There is a so-called maintaining one’ s self-respect which is simply a manifesting one’ s impudence. But the courtesy had no weakness in it. Where grace salts courage, the courage is not noisy or dogged or defiant, but marked by a quiet courtesy in the very repose of conscious power. 2. Prudence. The deed was “ good,” and Peter reminds them of it. It is well-doing they are to be examined about, not evil-doing. Peter first turns attention from the method to the thing. The work itself could challenge only gratitude and joy. Of itself it could provoke no opposition. One would think the healing of a lifelong cripple to be a matter about which there could be no two opinions. How can a corrupt tree bring forth such good fruit? He made the most of his circumstances. So will the highest courage always. While scorning compromise of principle, it presses into service every alleviating circumstance. It does not court a tilt or invite a conflict. 3. Frankness. The council demanded by what authority or name they had done this. They got for instant answer, “ By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Here Peter might have stopped. This was the truth, and nothing but the truth. But this was not the truth that put Peter in bonds. He knew he was a prisoner because of some other word that he had been bold enough to speak in the presence of the people, and in the frankness of righteous boldness that word must be spoken now in the presence of the court. “ Whom ye crucified,” for this had stirred the priests against him; and, “ whom God raised from the dead” ; for this had stirred the Sadducees against him (verses 1, 2). This is simply another Daniel (see Daniel 6:10). It was not necessary to pray with “ his windows open” ; but, having been open when he prayed in security, they must not be shut when the king’ s decree threatens with a den of lions any man that prays. Christian courage will wear no masks. The temptation to be compromisingly politic at the point of real danger is most plausibly insidious and subtle, and a brave spirit gets here its sorest test. The man of real Christian courage will die rather than be sheltered behind a truth withheld. 4. Fidelity. Peter had fully stated the facts. But here was a rare opportunity to bring out also the meaning of the facts. Peter might never get such a hearing again. So he makes the rejected Christ the glorious and chief corner-stone in Zion (Psalms 118:22; Ephesians 2:20). These trusters in Abraham and good works are thus told that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved. This was the top and crown of Christian courage. It was transforming the prisoner’ s bar into a pulpit. This is another John the Baptist ready to lose his head rather than fail to testify that his hearers are wrong. A brave soul will preach the gospel as fearlessly to the Sanhedrim as to a mass-meeting. Opportunity is obligation. IV. Its effects. “ They marvelled.” The first effect was profound surprise. Then they came to recognise them as men they had seen before in the company of Jesus. And beholding the cripple, a healed and living witness to the truth, “ they had nothing to speak against.” They were silenced completely, just as Jesus had said they would be (Luke 21:15). So now--1. Men wonder first at the boldness. They see nothing behind it, nothing to support it--no arms, government, material resource--and they are astounded. The world knows not its secret. The natural man has not entered into its hiding-place. 2. Then they have nothing to speak against. Christian courage has a wonderful way of disarming opposition. Opposition may still rage, as it did here, but it has no case, as it had not here. Conclusion:1. The Spirit of God can make the weakest saint bold.2. We can afford to trust Christ.3. Truth will sometimes smite to silence when it does not smite to heal. (Herrick Johnson, D. D.)Christ the power of God I. In times of trouble and persecution (verses 1-4) adding all the more to the Church. II. In giving aid to His disciples (verses 5-8). Fulfilling the promise to Peter of courage and right words. III. In the salvation of men (verses 9-12). The only name by which men can be saved is His. IV. In changing character (verses 13, 14). Making His disciples like Himself. (Christian Age.)The miracle at the Beautiful gate as an epoch Peter’ s discourse delivered on this text woke impulses and started efforts both amongst the adherents and opponents of the true religion that introduced a new order of things. Notice-- I. A new impulse to the world’ s antagonism to Christianity. Observe--1. The representatives of this antagonism--the world against the Church, the defenders of the false in theory and the corrupt in practice. Religion, “ the priests” ; politics, “ the captain of the temple” ; scepticism, “ the Sadducees” conspired to crush the young Church. The hostile sections of a wicked world are ever ready to merge their differences in an attack on the Divinely pure and good. Pilate and Herod became friends on a similar occasion. 2. The reason of this antagonism. The priests were “ grieved” because the apostles arrogated their teaching office; the captain because social tranquility was disturbed; the Sadducees because the resurrection was proclaimed. Wicked men hate truth for different reasons, and according to their passions and interests. 3. Its development. The persecutors (1) Imprisoned the apostles.(2) Arraigned them.(3) Threatened them. So the antagonism was strong in spirit, but futile in efforts. In sooth, all endeavours to crush truth are fruitless and self-confounding. II. A new demonstration of God’ s power in Christianity.1. In multiplying its adherents (verse 4). Though the clouds gather, the sun rises. The tides flow, though the force of the mightiest tempest bears against them; and God’ s truth moves on to universal empire, though earth and hell combine against it. “ Howbeit,” aye, and not only despite it, but because of it. Persecution does two things which give an impulse to the course of the Christian martyr. It presents on the one side such a hideous manifestation of evil as produces a social recoil, and on the other such an exhibition of Christian goodness as awakens sympathy and admiration. As the aromatic plant emits its sweetest odours by pressure, so Christian character gains charm by suffering. As the stars only shine at night, so the brightest virtues can only shine in trial. 2. In strengthening its advocates. See how they heroically expound their cause. (1) The miracle was wrought by Him whom they had crucified. (2) He whom they had crucified had become pre-eminent in the universe. What they had rejected God had honoured. Observe-- (a) That men in their enterprises often reject the Divine. (b) That though they reject the Divine, the Divine shall be honoured at last to their confusion. (c) That He whom they had crucified was the only One that could save them. 3. In confounding its enemies. (1) They were astonished, and two things would heighten the astonishment. (a) The intellectual and social position of the men. Pedants in every age consider those illiterate who do not know exactly that branch of learning in which they pride themselves. The linguist, e.g., despises the man who does not understand languages, although he may know much better the wonders of God’ s universe. So Peter and John were not up in Rabbinical lore, but were well acquainted with more important matters. (b) Their connection with Christ, the carpenter’ s son, and the crucified malefactor. (2) They were silenced. Facts are stubborn things. The way to silence Christ’ s enemies is to show them lame men walking. 3. They were perplexed. They felt that something must be done, but what they know not. Seventy of a nation’ s magnates were confounded by two peasants. It is heaven’ s law that the opponents of the truth shall involve themselves in inextricable bewilderment. 4. They were thwarted (verses 19, 20). Note here-- (1) That the will of God is the imperial rule of life, whether of monarch or slave. (2) That universal conscience sanctions the supreme law. “ Judge ye.” (3) That gospel truth, when fully felt, is an irrepressible force. “ We cannot but speak.” “ Necessity is laid upon me.” Conclusion. Mark the difference in the effect of Peter’ s discourse and that on Pentecost. None seem here to have been pricked to the heart, although the same truths were preached. Why? Doubtless because of the different character of the audiences. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The four chief props of apologetics Proof from--1. Miracles--the lame man.2. Prophecy and Scripture (verse 11).3. History (verse 21).4. The heart and experience (verse 13). (O. Smith, D. D.) Acts 4:2 They taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection.Apostolic teaching A tolerably full report of two or three of St. Peter’ s sermons is given us in the Acts, and we may assume that they are fair specimens of his ordinary preaching. A striking likeness runs through them.1. As to style he deals largely in quotations from the Old Testament, and shows how those quotations were fulfilled in Christ, adducing this correspondence as a proof of Messiah-ship. In respect of matter, it may be summed up in one sentence--“ Whom ye have slain, but whom God hath raised up.” It was not necessary for the apostles to bear witness to His death, for nobody disputed the fact. But His resurrection was not an “ open” triumph. It therefore resolved itself into a matter of testimony, which testimony formed the chief burden of apostolic teaching. Reading the Epistles we cannot help observing a slight difference in tone. The atonement receives more attention, and the doctrinal significance of the resurrection more than the fact. Addressing unbelievers they dwell on the simple facts. Addressing believers they take the bare facts for granted, and expatiate on their doctrinal significance. I. They taught. Teaching consists in(1) drawing out the mind and making it work on the object-matter presented to it; (2) presenting the object-matter to the mind, and bringing within its ken the proper materials of knowledge. The first is represented in “ education,” the second in “ instruction.” There must be power in the eye to see, and there must be light outside the eye in and on which sight may exercise itself. Eyes without light are purposeless; light without eyes is useless; good eyes and good light are necessary to clear vision. 1. Christianity educates men by teaching them to think. It leads out the mind, and develops its dormant faculties. The masses of men expend more thought upon religion than upon any other subject. The little thinking they do is chiefly in connection with the religion of Jesus Christ. And it stimulates thought not only in the vulgar, but also in the learned. Go to the British Museum; four out of every five books there discuss the problems of Christianity. There is a subtle, indescribable quality in Christianity eminently calculated to provoke thought. Just as the rising of the sun drives away slumber, the rays quietly but effectually tickling the drowsy eye into wakefulness, so Christianity pours such a flood of white radiance on the eyes that it feels constrained to open them. The presentation of Christianity to the mind constrains thought; and in the exercise of thought the world learns to think. The angel Uriel came down to Eden in search of the devil, and noticing a toad crouching at Eve’ s ear, he touched it with his mystic wand and up sprang an angel. A fallen one, it is true, but an angel still. Christianity possesses similar powers of transformation. If it only touch the rude, unlettered boor, there gradually will be unfolded a holy angel, glowing with enthusiasm for all that is noble and divine. The foremost nations are those which have come most largely under the influences of Christianity. The religions of the heathen are the greatest obstruction to their progress. Philosophy taught the learned to think, but Christianity aims at making every man a thinker, and man, to be a man, must be a thinker. 2. Christianity teaches men to know. That is the meaning of the word “ instruct” --to pile up in the mind the proper materials of knowledge. No amount of hard thinking answers its purpose, unless it leads to knowing. Now, Christianity brings within the sweep of our intellectual vision verities which before lay inaccessible. This confers a vast advantage on us as compared with the mighty minds which lay outside the sphere of revelation. The philosophers are renowned merely for their thinking--indeed, they evolved and formulated the laws of thought for all succeeding generations. Nevertheless, their knowledge was small in quantity and poor in quality. They had excellent eyes; still they did not see very far, and what little they did see was shrouded in obscurity. Did the fault lie with the eyes? No; they lacked light. But this much-needed light the gospel abundantly supplies. Our eyes, maybe, are not so strong as theirs; but the medium through which we see is clearer, and the objects have been brought nearer. 3. Thinking answers not its paramount purpose except as it leads to knowing; and Christianity conjoins thinking and knowing, thereby perfectly fulfilling our idea of teaching. There is a school of philosophy which disparages thinking, and runs down the metaphysics of the ancients. This school--sometimes called the Positive, and sometimes the Utilitarian--judges thought by its material results. Christianity avoids this extreme--it encourages thinking more or less for its own sake; the profoundest Christian thinkers feel impelled by a kind of natural instinct to grapple with the questions which baffled the giants of ancient days. Another school swings to the other extreme, and disparages knowing. “ If God,” says Lessing, “ was to hold Truth in one hand, and Search after Truth in the other, and offer me my choice, I should with all deference choose the Search after Truth in preference to the Truth itself.” This is a mistake. To think is well, but to know is better. To hunt for truth is commendable, but to catch truth is more satisfactory. The Greek philosophers hunted well, but it was very little they caught. We do not hunt so well, nevertheless we catch more. Our children know more of God and the soul and eternity than the most accomplished writers of classic times. Christianity lays more stress on thinking than the Positivists; it lays more stress on knowing than the Transcendentalists; and thus it is the reconciliation of the opposite schools of philosophy. II. They taught the people. There are two stages in religion.1. The first is that in which is awakened within us reverence for the High--worship of that which is above us. The first essential in the education of the race as of the individual, is to cultivate this sense, and this the religion of the Old Testament was eminently calculated to do. God is seldom mentioned, but some sublime epithet is appended. The religions of nature served to engender fear; but a religion of revelation was necessary to engender reverence. 2. But Christianity marks a second stage--it teaches us also to reverence that which is under us; not only to worship God, but to compassionate and succour the great masses of men. In Plato’ s Republic the population is divided into the philosophers who govern, the soldiers who fight, and the people who serve; and the people are immured in slavery the most abject and helpless. Plato never entertained the idea that the vast bulk of mankind are capable of being enlightened, elevated, made pure and wise. But Jesus Christ cherished a larger hope of the human race, the “ common people heard Him gladly.” John the Baptist sent to ask Him the evidences of His Messiahship. “ The blind receive their sight,” etc., replied He, and, as the crowning proof, “ the poor have the gospel preached unto them.” The Saviour adduces this as a more convincing evidence than even His miracles. It was easier to suspend the laws of nature than reverse the usages of society. 3. But Christianity cultivates reverence for the high and reverence for the low. Did it teach the first only, it would establish gigantic despotisms, and authority would crush out freedom. Did it teach the second only, it would establish anarchy, and freedom would destroy all authority. But laying due emphasis on both, it serves as the mainstay of authority, and the sure guarantee of liberty. To the subjects it says--Submit yourselves to those who are above you. To the rulers it says--Respect the liberty of those who are under you. And thus touching the two extremes of government and filling all the space between, it is the very religion which covers all the world’ s wants. III. They taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.1. They preached the fact of the resurrection by the example of Jesus. “ This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.” They preached it. They did not argue and weigh probabilities. The sages had thought and argued much, but left the subject in a state of chaotic uncertainty. What professes to be an historical fact must be judged by historical evidence, and the evidence the apostles brought forward was the undoubted witness of their bodily senses. We require no theories to confirm or confute that. But the Rationalists reply, “ The evidence would suffice to establish beyond controversy any event in the history of Greece or Rome; but no amount of evidence can serve to establish the miraculous.” That indeed is theorising with a vengeance! But you will notice that such reasoning shifts the ground of the argument from the realm of history to the province of science. Again we must remind sceptics that the resurrection of the Saviour is primarily an historical question. No amount of evidence can establish the miraculous! Then did they see miracles with their own eyes, still they would not believe. But any candid inquirer can see that such reasoning is not reason, but unbelief “ The man who denies that God can perform miracles,” says Rousseau, himself not on terms of amity with the Christian religion, “ is not fit to be reasoned with--he should be sent to the lock-up.” 2. They preached the doctrine of the resurrection. Christianity is first a religion of facts; and out of the facts grow the doctrines. First the Gospels, next the Epistles. First the foundation in history, next the development in doctrine. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. What, then, is the legitimate conclusion? That there is life after death. 3. “ Preaching through Jesus the resurrection from the dead,” the apostles’ doctrine was much in advance of the highest Gentile teaching. Philosophy unceasingly returned to this fascinating problem; but its utterances were vague, wavering, and contradictory. Is the soul of man immortal? Ages passed before the human mind was sufficiently educated to launch the question, and then philosophy could not return a decisive answer--it could only hope. Will the body survive death? Ancient speculation did not concern itself about this. Christianity has raised the masses of men to a loftier altitude of knowledge than the sublimest philosophers of the old world ever achieved, notwithstanding their strenuous lifelong efforts. 4. Their teaching is also much in advance of Judaism. Is man immortal? Very little is said on the matter in the books of Moses. No doubt it is implied, for Christ perceived it and beautifully evolved it in His conversation with the Sadducees; and we, reading the Pentateuch under the light of the gospel, can perceive in it certain other passages. As you come on to the Psalms the consciousness of immortality becomes more definite; Sheol becomes an important word in the writings of David and the Prophets. But still, when the Saviour appeared, Jewish opinion was divided as to the precise teaching of Judaism. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Acts 4:3-4 And they laid hands upon them … Howbeit many of them which heard the Word believed.The impotence and benefit of persecution 1. Peter had boasted, “ I am ready to go with Thee to prison.” He was not ready then, and hence the folly of his boast. He was ready now, and so did not boast, but doubtless reflected on his Master’ s words, “ Thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” 2. The time-honoured method of the opponents of truth was here practised, “ No case; abuse defendant’ s attorney.” You can’ t refute the preacher; lock him up. The only answer that pagan Rome had for Christians was prison and death; the only answer that papal Rome has is the same. 3. But the policy does not answer. The preachers as cheerfully accept the prison as the pulpit when their Master bids them, and may take as theirs the crest--an ox with the plough on one side and the altar on the other, with the legend, “ Ready for either.” Ready for work or for sacrifice, Nor does the policy answer in another sense. You may silence the teacher, but you cannot silence the truth. In the case before us “ many believed.” I. In spite of the apostles’ imprisonment. God’ s work goes on whether His agents are bound or free, living or dead. It is independent of its best and worthiest supporters. Peter and John are in prison, but the fact that many believed shows that even the chief among the apostles are not indispensable. How foolish, then, the unbelieving anxiety expressed in the question about this or that distinguished minister, “ Who can take his place?” Plenty, if God wills; if not the Holy Ghost will take his place.1. The preacher is imprisoned or dead, but the Word which does the work is not. Fragments of the Bible left behind by the missionaries in Madagascar did more for Christianity than their vocal teaching. 2. The preacher is imprisoned or dead, but his teaching and example are not. They remain in the memory to influence the life. The stone sinks in the water, but the ripples on the lake extend till they reach either shore. II. Because of the apostles’ imprisonment. Their endurance of persecution for the truth was a guarantee of their sincerity, and an exhibition of the power of the gospel on themselves. It is an easy thing to preach when Christianity is popular, but when unpopular, and when men notwithstanding are prepared to endure bonds or death rather than be silent about it--this shows that they believe in and enjoy the mighty power they preach. So in the milder forms of affliction. How many powerful sermons are silently preached from sick beds! (J. W. Burn.)Persecution a stimulus A certain amount of persecution rouses a man’ s defiance, stirs his blood for magnificent battle, and makes him fifty times more a man than he would have been without the persecution. So it was with the great reformer when he said, “ I will not be put down; I will be heard.” And so it was with Millard, the preacher, in the time of Louis XI. When Louis XI. sent word to him that unless he stopped preaching in that style he would throw him into the river, he replied, “ Tell the king that I will reach heaven sooner by water than he will reach it by fast horses.” (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Persecution for well-doing Sad, that so good news should find so bad entertainment! but happy for some, that as it was raised for so good a Word (Matthew 13:21), so occasioned by so good a deed done to an impotent man. Such may ever our sufferings be, that if a black shadow must needs follow us, it may be only because we walk in the light; and that if it prove our lot to hear and fare ill, it may be for doing well (1 Peter 3:17; 1 Peter 4:16; John 10:32). (A. Tuckney, D. D.)Peter and John before the council I. The arrest was brought about--1. While the service was being held (verse 1). The devil has a keen aversion to the proclaiming of the gospel, and will stop it if he can. 2. By ecclesiastical officials. In proportion as Christ is exalted, the Jewish idea of an official priesthood must lose its hold upon the minds of men. 3. By men who felt deeply--“ grieved.” The preaching of the gospel causes heaven to rejoice, and it brings joy to those who receive it, but these men were grieved because of it. How thoroughly even religious men may be out of touch with sympathies that emanate from God! What a pity there should be so much deep feeling wrongly directed! There has been quite a Niagara of human emotion, which, during the Christian ages, has spent itself in win in dashing against the impregnable rock of Christian verities. II. The detention. Tim apostles had started out to visit the temple at the hour of the evening sacrifice, but as that evening closed they themselves offered a sacrifice with which the Lord would be well pleased. The bars and bolts of the strong door might keep them in, but they could not keep Jesus out. Even on earth suffering saints have Often found what Thomas Cooper calls “ the paradise of martyrs.” III. The trial.1. Christ was honoured.2. There was a word for the rulers.3. There was a word for everybody. IV. The result.1. The rulers were impressed.2. The apostles were threatened.3. The apostles were released.4. God was glorified. To Peter and John this would be an all-sufficient recompense. (H. Thorne.) Acts 4:5-6 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers … were gathered together. The Sanhedrin in the time of the apostles 1. Of all the ancient Jewish institutions there is none which is of greater interest than that of the Sanhedrin. Though the name is not to be found in the Authorised Version, yet it occurs in the original no less than twenty-two times in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, where it is uniformly, but inadequately, represented by the expression “ council.” 2. There were two kinds of Sanhedrins. I. The great or supreme Sanhedrin consisted of seventy members and a president. Hence it is sometimes spoken of as the Sanhedrin of seventy-one members, and sometimes as the Sanhedrin of seventy, exclusive of this patriarch. To understand the constituencies from which these were chosen, it is necessary to remark that from time immemorial the Jewish commonwealth was divided into the three following classes: First, the priests. These, by virtue of their being descendants of Aaron, were the ministers of the sanctuary, and enjoyed certain privileges arising from the services they rendered in the private life of the laity. Second, the Israelites--the people at large who were distinguished by their princes or chiefs of the several tribes, and by the heads of the families called “ the elders of the people,” or, simply, “ the elders,” or “ rulers,” because they managed the affairs of their respective clans. The third class consisted of the literary laity, the custodians and transcribers of the Sacred Text, hence called the “ lawyers,” or the “ scribes.” The first class was represented in the Sanhedrin by its four-and-twenty chiefs, “ the chief priests.” The second class were represented by their four-and-twenty elders, whilst the scribes had two-and-twenty members.1. To belong to one of these three classes was simply a preliminary necessity, but it was also necessary to be of unblemished moral reputation, and without any physical blemish. Blindness of one eye, or even squinting, or lameness of one foot, or even repulsive appearance, was a disqualification. The applicant had to be the legitimate offspring of Jewish parents, in the prime of life, and wealthy. One who played dice, lent money on usury, or flew pigeons to entice others, was disqualified. He had to be a father of a family, so as to be able to sympathise with domestic affairs. He had to be learned in the Divine law and secular knowledge, and foreign languages, so that the Sanhedrin might not be dependent upon an interpreter. He was, moreover, required to have been a judge in his native town, and to have been promoted thence to the Small Sanhedrin which sat at the entrance to the temple hall. 2. The newly elected member had not to go through any special ceremony, since the ordination which he had received from his teacher on his appointment to a judgeship at his native town was deemed sufficient. About thirty years before Christ, however, the power to ordain, which had up to that time been vested in every teacher, was conferred upon Hillel I., the president of the Sanhedrin. With the permission of this functionary, any member of this assembly of notables, assisted by two non-ordained persons, performed this ceremony by calling him Rabbi, and by saying, “ Behold, thou art ordained, and hast the authority to judge even cases involving pecuniary fines.” The chain in the succession of ordination, however, was broken during the presidency of Hillel II., a.d. 330-365. 3. In the earliest times of the Jewish commonwealth the seventy-one members elected the most distinguished of their number as president, and the next in distinction as vice-president. The former was styled nasi (i.e., prince, patriarch), because he represented the civil and religious interests of the Jewish nation before the government abroad, and before the different Jewish congregations at home; whilst the latter was called “ the father of the house of judgment,” because he led and controlled the discussions on disputed points. The only one ineligible for the presidency was the king, because, according to the Jewish law, subjects were not allowed to contradict or differ from the monarch. Besides these two high officials, there was a referee, who examined the cases before they were brought before the Sanhedrin. There were, moreover, two notaries, and several menial officials corresponding to lictors, who are alternately called in the New Testament “ servants,” “ officers,” and “ ministers” (Matthew 5:25; Matthew 26:58; Mark 14:54; Mark 14:65, etc.). 4. The Sanhedrin held its sessions in the hall of squares which was situated in the centre of the south side of the temple court, between the courts of the priests and of the Israelites, and had doors into both. With the exception of the Sabbath and festivals, these sessions were held every day, from the termination of the daily morning sacrifice till the evening sacrifice. On these occasions the president sat on an elevated seat; on his right sat the vice-president, and on his left the referee, whilst the members were seated on low cushions, with their knees bent and crossed in Oriental fashion in a semicircle, according to their respective ages and attainments. They could thus see each other, and also be seen by the president and vice-president. Twenty-three, or one-third of the entire number of members, formed a quorum. 5. Besides being the depositaries of the legislative enactments which were called forth by the development of the domestic institutions and foreign relations of the Jewish commonwealth, the Sanhedrin had both to interpret and to administer the Divine law in its ecclesiastical and civil bearings upon the daily life of the community. All questions of orthodoxy or heterodoxy, morality and immorality, every pretension to prophecy or miraculous gifts, the legitimacy to perform the duties of priesthood, the necessity to extend the precincts of the temple or the boundaries of the city, the desirability of going to war, and even the conduct of the king, all these came within the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrim Though sitting at Jerusalem, its jurisdiction was recognised by Jews everywhere, so that their decisions secured unity of faith and uniformity of practice. 6. In trials of capital offences it required a majority of at least two to condemn, and the verdict of guilty could only be delivered the day following the trial, to enable the Sanhedrin carefully to go over again the whole evidence. The Sanhedrin who found the verdict had to fast all day, and the criminal was executed the day after the sentence. This leniency, however, was not extended to one who gave himself out as the Messiah, or was proved to be a false prophet, or promulgated false doctrines. The trial of such an offender was generally reserved for the forthcoming festival, when all the Israelites came up to Jerusalem. The accused was then tied in the presence of the pilgrims; he was condemned and executed the same day on the festival (Deuteronomy 17:13). But even to such a criminal a stupefying beverage was mercifully administered before his execution, to deprive him of consciousness and lessen his pain. In latter days, however, the sentence of death passed by the Sanhedrin had to be confirmed by the Roman procurator. 7. Whatever we may think of Jewish tradition, which affirms that the Sanhedrin is a Mosaic institution based upon Exodus 18:24-26; Numbers 11:16-24, still both the several classes and the number of members which constituted this assembly of notables are alluded to in the Old Testament Scriptures (Jeremiah 26:8; Jeremiah 26:16; Ezekiel 8:11, etc.; Ezra 6:8; 2 Chronicles 19:8; 2 Chronicles 19:11). The chain of presidents, however, can only be traced uninterruptedly to circa 170 b.c. For about a hundred and forty years the members elected the president from one of their midst. Thirty years before Christ, however, the presidency of the Sanhedrin became hereditary in the family of Hillel I. for fifteen generations; that is, from 80 b.c. to 425 a.d.8. To enable the student to see with which of the Jewish patriarchs the important events in the lives of Christ, the apostles, and the apostolic fathers synchronise, we subjoin a list of these fifteen presidents of the Sanhedrin with their dates of office: 1. Hillel Ib.c. 30-a.d. 102. Simon I. b. Hillel I10-303. Gamaliel I. b. Simon I., the teacher of St. Paul30-504. Simon II. b. Gamaliel I. 50-705. Gamaliel II. b. Simon II. a.d.80-1166. Simon III. b. Gamaliel II.140-1637. Jehudah I. the Holy b. Simon III.163-1938. Gamaliel III. b. Jehudah I.193-2209. Jehudah II. b. Simon III 220-27010. Gamaliel IV. b. Jehudah II.270-30011. Jehudah III. b. Gamaliel IV 300-33012. Hillel II. b. Jehudah III.330-36513. Gamaliel V. b. Hillel II. 365-38514. Jehudah IV. b. Gamaliel V.385-40015. Gamaliel VI. b. Jehudah IV. 400-425From the destruction of Jerusalem, however, to the death of the last president, the Sanhedrin held its sessions in different cities of Palestine. II. There were also Small Sanhedrins, consisting of twenty-three members, who were appointed by the Great Sanhedrim. Every town or village in Palestine, which had no less than one hundred and twenty representative men, had a smaller court, which held its sittings on Mondays and Thursdays in the market-place, or in a room adjoining the synagogue. There were two such courts in Jerusalem itself; one sat at the entrance to the temple mount, and the other at the entrance to the temple hall. With the exception of certain capital offences which belonged exclusively to the jurisdiction of the Great Sanhedrin, the Small Sanhedrin had the power to judge both civil and criminal cases, and there was no appeal against their decision to the Great Sanhedrin. It was only when the judges were divided in their opinion that they themselves consulted the Great Sanhedrim In such a case the decision given by the supreme court was absolutely binding upon the judges of the Small Sanhedrin. As a rule, the members of the Small Sanhedrin were elected to fill up the periodical vacancies in the Great Sanhedrim (G. D. Ginsburg, LL. D.) Acts 4:7-10 By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?The power in apostolic miracles The fact of the healing was recognised; and the logical conclusion, that it was a sign of the presence and working of some supernatural power, was not shirked; but the inquiry remained, “ What is your power and authority?” The word “ power” is that used of our Lord’ s miracles, and translated “ mighty works.” The term “ name” here stands for “ authority.” This the Sanhedrin asked because they regarded themselves as the highest religious authority in the land, and they could approve of nothing which had not been submitted for their sanction. They had to learn that God never will allow His grace to be tied with official bonds. Moses gave the high example of the noble spirit. “ Would God that all the Lord’ s people were prophets, and that He would put His Spirit on them!” We are led to consider the apostolic miracles, and what was thought of them. I. The people’ s thought of them. Miracles excited the interest of the “ common people.” This is true both of our Lord’ s miracles and of those wrought by the apostles. The great distinction between the two series is this--our Lord permitted His miracles to witness to Himself; but the apostles turned the people’ s minds from themselves. The “ common people” are more susceptible to the supernatural than the learned; partly because they are more simple, freer from prejudices; and partly because sentiment and imagination are toned and repressed by knowledge. The simplicity of the “ common people” has both its good and its bad side. They hardly knew What to make of St. Peter’ s miracle. It was not in their way to think the matter out. Enough for them that it was a sign of gracious power. They must be good men who were the agents of such good work; and so they were prepared to listen with the expectation that their word would be as good as their work. It is a safe principle that if a man’ s works are kind and good we may expect kindness and goodness in his words; and we may even assume that there will be truth in them. Our Lord taught us that by their works we may judge our teachers. II. The priests’ thought of them. The priests stand for the Sadducee section. They were not simple-minded, and so not prepared fairly to consider the apostolic miracle. They had taken up strong prejudices against our Lord which developed into active enmity, and secured our Lord’ s death. But their gratification passed into intense anxiety when the guard reported, and the disciples of the Crucified openly declared that He was risen. If that were true they were convicted of the almost inconceivable crime to a Jew, of judicially murdering the long-promised Messiah. In their straits they determined to put a bold face on the matter, and make violence serve their end. Perhaps they even succeeded in deluding themselves; and when news came of this miracle of healing they declared it must have been wrought by some malign power, some strange jugglery; and it was their duty to deal with these men as wizards and mountebanks. To these prejudiced priests the same rule may be applied as sufficed for the people, and the character and quality of the apostle’ s works should be allowed to declare their truthfulness, and explain the source of their authority. III. The apostles’ thought of thee (Acts 4:9-12). They firmly declare that they had wrought the miracle by Divine power entrusted to them; and that they had exerted that power by the authority of that very Nazarene whom they had crucified, but who was risen, and sending forth that grace of which the miracle of healing was an outward sign. The apostles teach us to look upon the miracle--and all the cycle of apostolic miracles--as being signs of--1. The Divine presence: the Lord was present to heal. 2. The Divine witness, giving public attestation to their teachings and preachings; and-- 3. The Divine work, which is to recover men from all the ill and woes brought in by sin, redeeming them from both sin and sin’ s effects. Conclusion: Miracles are fitting modes of persuasion only for the unscientific ages and peoples. They are witnesses to eye and feeling for those who are mainly influenced through the senses rather than through the mind. Therefore the age of miracles has ceased; and the ever-working miracle of God’ s converting and renewing grace in men’ s hearts and lives suffices to convince all open souls that Jesus the Risen is the One, only, all-sufficient Saviour still. (R. Tuck, B. A.)The pre-eminence and power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth These are manifest-- I. In the necessity for the gospel, and in its corresponding nature. Two correlative words summarise the whole Bible--sin and salvation. But our knowledge of these is not derived from the same source. There is a distinction between what is revealed and what is only recorded in Scripture. Salvation is revealed. But sin is only recorded. It was already in the world, and the consciousness of it was interwoven with human experience before salvation was proclaimed (Romans 3:20). The Scriptures assume this terrible fact. All their warnings, invitations, and promises are based upon it. All the rites prescribed in the Old Testament and all the forms of worship recognised in the New take it for granted. It lies at the foundation of all prayer. The Scriptures also directly assert it. “ All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The most formal and elaborate argument of the Bible (the Epistle to Rome) sustains these assertions. On the dark background of natural religion, by which all men are tried and found guilty, the glorious gospel shines resplendent. Jesus Christ is not a light, but The Light of the world, without which there is no deliverance from the power of darkness. God has laid at the foundation of all revealed theology, and of all Christian effort, that Stone which foolish builders have rejected, and has graven upon it this indelible inscription, “ Neither is there salvation in any other--for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” II. In the biblical history of that name. It is not a mere collection of arbitrary titles, but the embodiment of the Divine nature and purpose. The Elohim created the heavens and the earth; but Jehovah Elohim entered into covenant with man. This new name (Exodus 6:3) runs through and characterises the Old Testament economy, until its last prophet proclaims the promise, “ Jehovah whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple; even the Angel of the Covenant, whom ye delight in” (Malachi 3:1). The New Testament revelations begin with the fulfilment of the promise that closes the Old. Jesus is the human name of the Covenant Angel. In the synagogue at Nazareth He claims to be the Anointed of God, and from that time His words evoke the recognition of His nature and His mission. Andrew declares, “ We have found the Messias,” and Philip confirms the testimony. Nathanael falls down before Him, and says, “ Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel.” The woman of Samaria exclaims, “ Is not this the Christ?” Peter falls prostrate at His feet, crying out, “ Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” and “ No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” Now He is not only Jesus, He is Jesus the Christ, and “ Our Lord Jesus Christ.” That name is above every name. It translates the ineffable name of Jehovah into human speech, and interprets it to human hearts. It runs through and unifies all Scripture. It embodies the expressed essence of a thousand titles, by which all that is glorious and amiable in God and man, in heaven or earth, is appropriated to Him. III. In the constitution of His person. The Incarnation of the Son of God is the most stupendous fact in the history of the universe. This it is that makes His name Wonderful. This is the foundation God has laid in Zion, and calls upon men and angels to behold--the elect, tried, and precious stone, rejected of men, but made in the Divine plan and in human experience, the head of the corner. And that which demonstrates this stupendous fact as the power of God unto salvation is the revealed purpose that Jesus Christ should come in the flesh to be “ the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Among the human builders there are none whose speech is so utterly confounded, and whose wisdom is more manifestly taken in their own craftiness, than those who undertake to re-write the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to explain His mission, and the confessed power of His name, omitting the recognition of His Deity, and the cleansing power of His atoning blood. Regarded simply as a man and a teacher, He is a bundle of contradictions. For while we are not competent to set limits to the Almighty, we do know what man can do; and we know that no uninspired and deceitful man could have drawn this consistent portraiture of the incarnate God. It is only when we add to the human name and nature of Jesus--the Divine attributes and purposes of which the angels sang when they declared Him to be “ a Saviour who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11)--that we can apprehend the truth and grace which shine out in all His recorded ministry, or the power with which the story of His life comes home to the universal heart. IV. In the offices that name describes, and for the execution of which He is qualified by the constitution of His wonderful person.1. He is that Prophet whose coming Moses predicted, and for whose teaching he challenged an absolute credence. His instructions prepare the way for the effectual application of His sacrifice. 2. This Prophet is also the great High Priest, and by the one offering of Himself He has both satisfied Divine justice, and for ever perfected them that are sanctified. 3. Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ is King. His royal power underlies and gives efficacy to His prophetic and priestly offices. 4. These offices impart a Divine efficacy to the facts of His death and resurrection. He died as a Prophet and Martyr, to confirm His testimony. He died as a King, to conquer death, and him that hath the power of it. He died as a Priest, that by His precious blood He might redeem and purify unto Himself a peculiar people. V. In all true preaching of the gospel. The power of God unto salvation resides in the gospel, i.e., in the open proclamation of the truth as it is in Jesus; and demonstrates itself in them that believe. “ All power,” says the ascending Saviour, “ is given unto Me; go ye, therefore, and teach all nations.” So the apostles understood it, and because they believed, therefore have they spoken. When the Jewish council charged them to speak no more to any man in this name, they answered, “ We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard.” Wherein consisted their inability to keep silence? Doubtless they were constrained by loyalty to Christ. But their loyalty ran much deeper than the external commandment. It was but another name for a Divine sympathy and oneness with Him. (H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.)If we this day be examined of the good deed.-- Giving the reason Let us see that we can give a good reason for our work, both to ourselves and also to others. It is well for us again and again to question ourselves as to the real motives and, as far as we can predict them, the probable results of our actions. Let us see that we can give thoroughly satisfactory answers to questions about whose real meaning there can be no possible doubt. Questions such as these, Why do I teach in the Sunday school? Why ought I to teach? What should be the reason for and the object of my instruction? Don’ t let us be satisfied with merely general and indefinite answers, such as, “ Because it is right,” or “ Because it is known and admitted to be a good work.” The real answer should be of this kind, “ It is most important that these children and these young people should have a thorough knowledge of the life and words, the example and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. They should be taught to seek for and be guided by His Spirit, they should be prepared for the many temptations they will meet in the world. The conscience must be made tender and able to discern between good and evil. The will must be strengthened so that they may be able to persevere in that course of life which they perceive and know to be right. Moreover, since the conflict upon which they will enter will be of lifelong duration, it is most important that they should be trained to live a disciplined life; that they should be taught that the Church, besides being a school, is also an army, the members of which should lead disciplined lives; that they should learn that a means and a method and a safeguard is provided against all forms of temptation by means of this discipline.” The district visitor should also be able to answer the same questions. They must answer both themselves and others. From the nature of their work they are more likely to be criticised than the Sunday-school teacher; for they deal with those of mature years, with those who can form an opinion, and who are not slow to detect and judge their motives. Let people see, then, that our object is helpfulness. Teach them how many are, by sad experience, proved to be impotent to carry on the struggle of life; tell them how we would instruct them in the laws of life, and help and strengthen them to live happier and healthier lives. St. Peter pointed to effects produced; we must do the same; we must show men and women how those who are really obedient to the teaching of Christ and the discipline of the Church are more able to fulfil the duty to which God has called them. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.)May I never be disposed to apologise for any “ good deed” which I may have wrought in the name of Jesus, no matter who may be offended thereby. May I never be tempted to give to myself any glory for anything that has been wrought through me by the Holy Ghost. May I not be moved by any regard for the opinions of what is called cultivated society or the opinions of materialistic scientists to attempt to explain away, or explain on some natural principle, that which has been wrought by the supernatural grace of God, by the power of faith in Jesus. May I never be ashamed of Jesus because of the opprobrium thrown on Him by His enemies. Jesus of Nazareth: call Him so, bigoted churchmen; call Him so, powerful worldlings; call Him so, cultivated sceptics; but He is Jesus, and whether of Nazareth, or Bethlehem, or Jerusalem, or earth, or heaven, faith in His name has healed millions, and not a single soul has ever been healed by faith in any other name. (C. F. Deems, LL. D.)This is the Stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the Head of the corner.-- The corner stone is the top stone at an angle of the building of great weight and importance in their roofs, built of solid fiat stones, to admit of being walked upon. Christ as the Corner Stone united Jews and Gentiles, as He united the two natures, the Godhead and the manhood. His own name must have helped to endear this Psalm to the apostle (1 Peter 2:4-7). (Bp. Jacobson.)Men as moral architects These words, borrowed from Psalms 118:22, are also quoted by all the evangelists except John, and are applied to the Jewish leaders who professed to be the builders of the temple of religion. All men are builders in some form or another. Man is a constructive creature. Some are building scientific systems, some mercantile schemes, some social institutions. All are building their own character. The text suggests-- I. Man’ s great need as a moral builder--a foundation stone. A good foundation is essential to a good building.1. Is it a system that man is building? He must have a foundation principle which will give strength and unity to all the parts. 2. Is it an institution--social, political, or ecclesiastical? It must be based on some good reason. 3. Is it character? Whatever a man’ s governing disposition, whether sensuality, avarice, ambition, selfishness, or benevolence and religion, that is the foundation of his character. II. Man’ s great error as a moral builder. Men reject the Divine--1. In their system of thought. The world teems with intellectual buildings, some of a grand and imposing character; but they have no Divine truth for their foundation. These, like houses on the sand, are constantly tumbling down. The ever-swelling river of history bears on its bosom the wrecks of many such. 2. In their institutional arrangements. A truculent expediency, a false philanthropy, a perverted religious sentiment, form the basis of many political, social, and religious institutions. These cannot stand; many have tumbled down; some are tumbling now; all must go. 3. In their practical enterprises. Schemes of business are launched, great companies are built up, whose foundations are chicanery and fraud, and sooner or later they fail. 4. In their moral character. Man’ s character is made up of habits, habits are made up of acts, and acts start from principles which lie at the foundation. But the principles are not Divine. They are selfish, not benevolent; carnal, not spiritual; atheistic, not godly. All these are “ wood, hay, stubble,” and cannot last. III. Man’ s ultimate discovery as a moral builder. One day he will find the Divine, which he rejected, supreme.1. This is often fulfilled in the individual characters of men--in the history of all who have been genuinely converted. The stone which they once set at nought, through the renovating grace of God, becomes the head of the corner. Christ, whom they once despised, becomes their all in all. 2. This is being gradually fulfilled in the life of society. As the old systems, institutions, and enterprises in society which have been founded on wrong principles totter and fall, society begins to look out for a firmer foundation--for the Divine--and the rejected stone in many cases is becoming the head of the corner. The varied edifices in social life are becoming Diviner things. 3. This will be fully realised in the final history of the world. Christ whom the world had rejected, will be the subject of every thought, the spirit of every system, the spring of every activity, the sweetness of every pleasure, the glory of every distinction. He shall be all in all. What a terrible discovery for Christ’ s rejecters! (D. Thomas, D. D.)Christ the Head of the Corner Christ acts in a two-fold capacity in the building up of human life. He is the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:2; 1 Peter 2:4-7); and the stone which crowns the edifice and gives it completeness, unity, and strength. He is thus the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. The text sets forth Christ in the latter of these two capacities. Man without Christ is incomplete, disorganised, and weak; in Him he has perfection, oneness, and power. We see this-- I. In the history of the races. Before Christ came humanity lacked its full development. Never before the Advent was there an exhibition even in the ideal of what man could be. Just as man was the crown and perfection of God’ s handiwork in creation, so is Christ the crown and perfection of man. And wherever Christ is not accepted and placed in His true position, the fatal flaw of incompleteness is apparent. Note, too, the disintegration of humanity before Christ came, and where Christ’ s supremacy is not recognised. “ One is your Master,” etc., is the secret of the unity of mankind. Weakness, too, is stamped upon all ancient nationalities, in spite of high civilisation and bloated armaments, “ part of iron and part of clay.” Hence their non-survival. Internal weakness, prophetic of sure decay, is the fate of every nation that rejects the Head of the Corner. II. In the experience of the individual. These principles hold good of man’ s--1. Intellectual life. Ancient and modern antichristian philosophy were and are defective, lacked coherence, had and have no power to quicken. The truth as it is in Jesus alone can survive, because it has in it all that man needs to know, appeals to all his faculties, reason, imagination, etc., and thoroughly satisfies the mind. Then it is a complete and well-rounded unity, and by accepting it man’ s intellectual nature becomes at one with itself and with the other faculties. And finally the words of Jesus “ are spirit and are life.” 2. Moral life. “ One thing thou lackest “ is the allegation against all systems and men out of Christ, and how true Romans 8:1-39. is of all the unregenerate! “ Dead in trespasses and sins” completes the fatal category. 3. Business life. The fatal lack here is that of the ennobling motive, “ Do all to the glory of God.” Men are “ distracted” because of the want of a cohering commercial principle such as “ Ye serve the Lord Christ” would supply. And all enterprises are impotent to do more than supply man’ s physical needs which are not animated by the Spirit of Christ. III. In the government of the family. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other. Salvation in none other This is--1. The substance of every apostolic announcement.2. The experience of every pardoned sinner.3. The strength of every courageous confession.4. The foundation of all missionary preaching of the Church. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)Salvation in Christ alone I. Salvation is a subject of world-wide interest, for all need it.1. The infant at birth needs salvation, and unless kindly hands “ save” it, and minister to its necessities, it must perish. Through Childhood the saving interposition of others is needed. Even in manhood there is constant exposure to dangers, salvation from which is required. In age, sickness, and sorrow, how great is the need of temporal succour and salvation! 2. The unhappy fall of our first parents has involved all their descendants in ruin. By it the human race has been brought into imminent peril (Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23; Ezekiel 18:4). Nor is the danger of sinners the less real because they are ignorant of it, or affect to make light of it. See to it that you neglect not so great salvation. To give prior consideration to any earthly consideration, however pressing, is a terrible mistake. II. Salvation in Christ.1. With the general outlines of the plan of salvation in Christ we are all happily familiar. We know how the Divine pity was extended to man in his fallen estate (Job 33:24). Christ undertook our cause, and purchased our salvation by His death (Isaiah 53:5; Romans 5:6; Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18). Now, since Christ was really God, His sufferings had an infinite value, and His life might well be regarded as more than an equivalent for the life of guilty man; and since He was perfectly man, it was both possible and proper for Him to take man’ s place, endure his punishment, and procure his salvation, so that God can be, and is “ just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). 2. The conditions on which this salvation is bestowed are also familiar, viz., repentance and faith (Acts 20:21). Compliance with these conditions is necessary. Nor can you justly complain of this. The seaman, provided with chart and compass, and instructions as to their use, who refuses to follow his instructions, and perishes, has only himself to blame. The man who has taken poison, and refuses the antidote, will have but scant pity. 3. And how much does the expression “ salvation in Christ” include? (1) By it the mind is brought in contact with the entire range of human history. We are led to think of the fall of our first parents, the promise of a Deliverer in the seed of the woman, the types and shadows of the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, the incarnation of the Messiah, His atoning death, His triumphant resurrection and ascension, the mission of the Holy Spirit as His representative and administrator until He shall come again, His high-priestly intercession and mediatorial reign, the coming judgment of quick and dead. (2) Nor are thoughts connected with the salvation of the individual less full of interest. Salvation in Christ comprehends the first dawn of conviction of sin, the apprehension of the plan of salvation, the exercise of repentance and faith, the joy of forgiveness, adoption, and renewal, a life of holiness and usefulness, with its vicissitudes, its conflicts, and its triumphs, conquest of death, entrance into heaven, everlasting life in God’ s presence, where there is fulness of joy, the light of perfect knowledge, the glow of perfect love, the rapture of perfect felicity, and all this for ever. 4. This salvation, as it is needed by all, is adapted to all. Of all so-called faiths the gospel alone is equally suited to all latitudes and Lives. Some religions can only flourish in certain countries, just as some kinds of food are peculiar to certain climates; but this seed of the kingdom is like corn--wherever man lives it will grow. 5. And this greatest of all blessings, while adapted to all, is intended for all. It is cause for thankfulness that the chief blessings even of this world are not the exclusive property of the great and wealthy. And salvation may be the portion of the poor as well as of the rich. Moreover, it may be embraced by the illiterate as well as by the learned. 6. This salvation is in the name of Christ. Amongst the Jews a mystic virtue was supposed to be attached to certain names (chap. 19:14-16). And we rejoice to know that the name of Jesus is still the most potent of charms, and is invested with glorious mystic and saving properties. III. Salvation in Christ alone.1. With regard to the salvation of the race, of no other being except Christ has it ever been affirmed, “ He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Christ, however, having redeemed all, claims the homage and the hearts of all (1 Timothy 4:10). 2. As to the salvation of the individual, this, too, is to be had in Christ alone. (1) We cannot save ourselves. The poor sinner under conviction resolves, it may be, to “ turn over a new leaf,” but the first thing he does is to make a blot at the top of the next page. But even supposing he could succeed, what would it profit him while his former sins still cried for vengeance? For a sinner to undertake to lead a moral life henceforward is merely like a bankrupt promising his creditors that for the future he will always pay cash. Nor can we save ourselves by the merit of our penitence and faith. Impenitence is a perpetuation and aggravation of sin; but penitence has in it no atoning efficacy. And unbelief--the refusal to accept Christ--is a sin; but faith is not a meritorious act which earns salvation. (2) And as we cannot save ourselves, so also no other human being can save us. We would not undervalue the loving efforts of others for our salvation. Who can tell how much those of us who are now saved owe to the examples, counsels, prayers, and faith of pious parents and devoted friends? The conditions of salvation cannot be fulfilled by proxy. (3) Nor can any human system save us. (a) Look at the various systems of heathenism. How degrading and demoralising their teaching and tendency! (b) Sometimes an impious priesthood has professed to dispense salvation by external religious rites and sacramental efficacy; but such a claim is mere blasphemy. (c) Philosophy has often made proud pretensions as to the elevation and salvation of mankind, but her actual performances have not been such as to warrant boasting. Education and civilisation may do much for man; but with regard to his sorest need they are helpless. The greatest benefits which it is in their power to bestow may be enjoyed, and enjoyed to the full, by sinners whose end is everlasting destruction. In the great work of human redemption Christ is absolutely alone (Isaiah 63:1-3; Isaiah 45:22; Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 7:25). (A. O. Smith, B. A.)Salvation by Christ alone I. What is implied. That there is salvation for us in Christ, we appeal--1. To the typical representations of Christ. There were a great variety of sacrifices under the law which typified the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. To the positive declarations concerning Him. Nothing can be conceived more clear and strong than the Scripture declarations of Christ’ s sufficiency to save. How forcibly has the prophet marked the extent (Isaiah 45:22), the fulness (Isaiah 1:18), and the freeness (Isaiah 55:1-2) of His salvation! 3. To matter of fact. We can draw aside the veil of heaven, and point to some before the throne of God who are such monuments of grace as leave no doubt respecting the sufficiency of Christ to save any others whatsoever. Let us now turn our attention to-- II. What is expressed. It is of infinite importance to every one of us to know that, as there is salvation for us in Christ, so “ there is no salvation in any other.”1. There is not. (1) In whom else can we find the requisites of a Saviour? In whom can we find a sufficiency, either of merit to justify, or of power to renew, a sinner? If we should apply to the highest angel in heaven to give us of his merit, he would tell us that “ he himself is only an unprofitable servant; for that he does no more than is his duty to do” (Luke 17:10). If we should intreat him to change our hearts, he would confess his utter inability to effect so great a work. Shall we then look to ourselves? We are full of sin. (2) If there were any other Saviour, the most eminent of God’ s servants would have had some intimation of it. Abraham (Romans 4:3-5); David would probably have been acquainted with such an important fact in order to his own salvation; but he sought refuge in none but Christ (Psalms 51:7). We might hope at least that some information of this kind would have been given to the Apostle Paul (Philippians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 2:2). 2. There cannot be. We are warranted by the Scriptures to say that, consistently with His honour, as the Moral Governor of the universe, man could not have been saved without a Mediator: nor could any Mediator besides Jesus have been found to execute all that was necessary for our salvation. But there is yet another ground on which we may deny that any other could save us, namely, that if we were indebted to any other, either for righteousness or strength, we could not join in the songs of the redeemed in heaven, but must separate from the heavenly choir (Revelation 7:9-10), and ascribe to ourselves, or to some other, the honour of our salvation. And how would this comport with the dignity of Jehovah, who has determined “ that no flesh should glory in His presence” ? Address--1. The careless. Wherefore are men so indifferent about their spiritual concerns? Is it that they are in no danger of perishing? Surely the very circumstance of Christ being sent down from heaven to die for us is enough to alarm all our fears, and to convince us that, if the salvation offered us could be procured by none but Him, the danger of those who are not interested in Him must be inexpressibly great. 2. The self-righteous. It is difficult to convince those who are looking to Christ in part that they are really renouncing Christ altogether. 3. The desponding. By nature and practice. Let none complain as though they were beyond the reach of mercy: for there is nothing impossible with Jesus: “ with Him there is mercy; with Him is plenteous redemption; and He shall redeem Israel from all his sins” (Acts 3:16; Acts 4:10). (Theological Sketch-Book.)Salvation only from above In Germany there was a prison of exquisite beauty; its floors and walls were highly polished; it was roofless, and the prisoner could look out upon the beautiful sky. A prisoner was placed therein, and for a moment congratulated himself upon the polish and splendour of his apartments; he could freely breathe the fresh air and see the stars that decked the brow of night, or the sun that rose in glory; but after a time he observed that the walls were gradually approaching him, softly as the fall of the dew from the hand of night; noiselessly, as by the force of gravitation, those walls drew nearer, inch by inch, and as they came closer and closer the cold sweat stood upon his brow, for he saw that those walls were soon to embrace him in the arms of death. There was but one way of escape, and that was from above; a friendly hand might possibly be put down, but there was no such friendly hand for him. That represents the condition of humanity; the walls are approaching, there is but one way of escape, and the relief comes from above. The Son of the Highest from His Father’ s throne is reaching down His hand of power into our dungeon; our hope is to grasp it, or the walls of our dungeon will crush us to death. “ There is none other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.” (J. P. Newman, LL. D.)Salvation in Christ alone “ You have been a good child to your parents,” said the venerable George III. to his daughter, the Princess Amelia; “ we have nothing for which to reproach you; but I need not tell you that it is not of yourself alone that you can be saved, and that your acceptance with God must depend on your faith and trust in the merits of the Redeemer.” “ I know it,” replied the dying princess, with gentle resignation, “ and I could not wish for a better trust.” Christ the only Saviour “ Believe a dying man,” said Dr. Johnson in his last days to his physician. “ There is no salvation but in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.” Christ the only Saviour found out too late It is not long since that a prominent business man, when closely pressed by his pastor, who had lately come to the church, replied with a call force which was meant to put an end to further pertinacity: “ I am interested in all religious matters; I am always glad to see the ministers when they call; but I have in the years past thought the subject over long and carefully, and I have come to the decision deliberately that I have no personal need of Jesus Christ as a Saviour in the sense you preach.” Only two weeks from this interview, the same man was suddenly prostrated with disease; the illness was of such a character as to forbid his conversing with any one, and the interdict from speaking was continued until he was within an hour of death. A solemn moment was that in which a question was put to him, intimating he might talk now if he could--nothing would harm him. The last thing, and the only thing, he said was in a melancholy and frightened whisper, “ Who will carry me over the river?” (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Christ the only Saviour A young French nobleman, a particular friend of Napoleon III., becoming unaccountably gloomy in mind, and threatened with insanity, was urged by the Emperor to apply for advice and treatment to the celebrated Dr. Forbes Winslow. He came to London, and the great doctor, after careful questioning, discovered the character of his disease. He was tormented with a thought--and the thought was “ Eternity! where shall I spend it?” This haunted him day and night. Dr. Winslow told him he could not help him. He had sought in the wrong quarter for his cure. “ Is there no hope, then!” exclaimed the nobleman in despair. “ Yes; listen to me, and I will tell you how I was helped and healed” said Dr. Winslow. “ When I was younger I had your complaint; and I tried every resource but the right one. At last I carried my case to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, and He gave me health and peace. Go thou, and do likewise.” The nobleman was astonished, but he stayed while the doctor read to him the portions of Scripture that had been blessed to himself, and after prayer, light and comfort came to him. The new medicine had cured him. The way of salvation Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate; and yet it is something more, for God’ s salvation fixes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It first heals our wounds, removes our diseases, takes away our curse, puts our feet upon the rock Christ Jesus, and baying thus done, at last it lifts our heads to be crowned with the King of heaven. Some people, when they use the word “ salvation,” understand nothing more by it than deliverance from hell and admittance into heaven. Now, that is not salvation: those two things are the effects of salvation. We are redeemed from hell, and enter heaven because we have been saved. Observe here-- I. A negative fact. “ Neither is there salvation in any other.”1. Did you ever notice the intolerance of God’ s religion? In olden times the heathen respected the gods of their neighbours: but Jehovah put this as one of His first commandments, “ Thou shelf have none other gods besides Me.” The Christian religion is just as intolerant. The Brahmin may admit that there is salvation in fifty religions besides his own; but we admit no such thing. There is no true salvation out of Jesus. 2. What is the reason of this intolerance? (1) Because there is the truth with the Jew and the Christian. A thousand errors may live in peace with one another, but truth is the hammer that breaks them in pieces. A hundred lying religions may sleep peaceably in one bed, but wherever the Christian religion goes as the truth, it is like a fire-brand. Truth cannot afford to be yoked with error- it gives to error its due, declaring that it hath no salvation. (2) Because we have here the sanction of God. It would be improper in any man who had invented a creed of his own to state that all others must be damned who do not believe it; but since this religion is revealed from heaven, God, who is the author of all truth, hath a right to append to this truth the dreadful condition. We are not really intolerant, for we are but echoing the words of Him that speaketh from heaven, that there is no salvation out of Him. 3. Now persons say, “ Do you imagine, then, that none are saved apart from Christ? “ I reply, I don’ t imagine it, but I have it here in my text. “ Well, but how is it concerning the death of infants? Are they saved? and if so, how?” I answer, Saved they are beyond a doubt; but not apart from the death of Christ. Another says, “ But how about the heathen?” Holy Scripture saith but very little concerning them; but there are texts which lead us to believe that there are some who, led by God’ s Spirit, are seeking after Him; and it may be that the God of infinite mercy is pleased to make to them revelations, so that they may be made partakers of the blood of Jesus Christ, without having such an open vision as we have received. But this much is certain: no heathen, however moral--whether in the days of their old philosophy, or in the present time of their barbarism--ever did or ever could enter the kingdom of heaven apart from the name of Jesus Christ. 4. But it is a great deal better not to talk upon speculative matters, but to come home personally to ourselves. And let me now ask you this question, have you ever proved by experience the truth of this great negative fact? Once I thought there was salvation in good works, and I laboured hard to preserve a character for integrity and uprightness; but when the Spirit of God came into my heart, “ sin revived and I died” ; wherein I thought I had been holy I found myself to be unholy. After that I thought, surely salvation might be obtained, partly by reformation, and partly by trusting in Christ; so I laboured hard again. But after fagging on for many a weary day, like a poor blind horse toiling round the mill, I found I had got no farther, for “ Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” Perhaps I have in my presence some who are trying to gain salvation by ceremonies. You have been baptized; you take the Lord’ s Supper; you attend church; and if you knew any other ceremonies you would attend to them. As well might you labour to build your house with water, as to build salvation with such poor things as these. These are good enough for you when you are saved, but if you seek salvation in them, they shall be to your soul as wells without water, clouds without rain, and withered trees, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. II. A positive fact, viz., that there is salvation in Jesus Christ. Thou hast long been trying to find the road to heaven, and thou hast missed it. Guilt, like a heavy burden, is on thy back, and thou darest not yet cry for pardon. Satan whispers, “ It is all over with thee; there is no mercy for such as thou art: Christ is able to save many, but not thee.” Poor soul! Come to the Cross of Christ, and thou shalt there see something which shall remove thine unbelief.1. Come now with thy defilement, and look at Christ’ s purity; and as thou lookest at that purity, like the lily, and thou seest the crimson of His blood overflowing it, let this whisper be heard in thine ear--He is able to save thee, sinner, inasmuch as though He was “ tempted in all points like as we are,” yet He was “ without sin” ; therefore the merit of His blood must be great. Oh, may God help thee to believe on Him! 2. But this is not the grand thing which should recommend Him to thee. Remember, He who died upon the Cross was no less than the everlasting Son of God. If He were a mere man, a Socinian’ s or an Arian’ s Christ, I would not bid thee trust Him; but since He is none other than God Himself incarnate in human flesh, I beseech thee cast thyself upon Him: “ He is able, He is willing, doubt no more.” “ He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.” 3. Recollect again, as a further consolation for your faith, that God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of Christ. It is the Father’ s anger that you have the most cause to dread. Now, Jesus was punished in the stead of every sinner who hath repented, and God the Father hath accepted Christ in the stead of sinners. Ought not this to lead you to accept Him? If the Judge -has accepted the sacrifice, sure you may accept it too; and if He be satisfied, sure you may be content also. If the creditor has written a full and free discharge, you, the poor debtor, may rejoice and believe that that discharge is satisfactory to you, because it is satisfactory to God. But do you ask me how I know that God has accepted Christ’ s atonement? I remind you that Christ rose again from the dead. 4. Another argument is this--many have been saved who were as vile as thou art, and therefore there is salvation. The chief of sinners was saved years ago; that was the Apostle Paul: but even if thou should exceed him, still that word” uttermost” goes a little beyond you. I could turn to you myself, and tell you that surely there must be salvation in Christ for you, since I have found salvation in Christ for myself. Often have I said, I will never doubt the salvation of any one, so long as I can but know that Christ has accepted me. 5. To quicken thy diligence, however, I will conclude by noting that if you do not find salvation in Christ, remember you will never find it elsewhere. What a dreadful thing it will be for you if you should lose the salvation provided by Christ! For “ how shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation?” (C. H. Spurgeon.)One only way of salvation I. Other way of salvation there cannot be, for that one way is God’ s way; its divinity necessitates its exclusiveness. It is clear, that when man fell, he lay at the mercy of his Sovereign. To Him alone it pertained to determine these two points-whether the offender should have means of salvation at all; and then, what those means should be. If, in the exercise of the mercy in which He delights, Jehovah determined on man’ s salvation, and appointed and revealed the way, how can the conclusion be resisted that that way is the only way? The name by which we are to be saved must he “ given” ; i.e., it must have Divine appointment. If “ Jesus” be the name “ given,” then must it be the only name that can furnish any valid and satisfactory plea at the throne of the eternal God? If men could have been saved in ways of their own, God would not have devised one of His; and the very fact of His having done so is sufficient to show that men cannot be saved in ways of their own. It is related of Alphonsus, of Castile, that on having the Ptolemaic system of astronomy explained to him, he jeeringly said, that had he lived at the time, to give the Almighty counsel, he could have instructed Him to make a universe better. We now know that the scoff of presumptuous profanity was founded in sheer ignorance. And so it is in every one who fancies that he can dictate to God the way to save him. Men calling themselves philosophers have speculated whether God could have saved men in any other way than that which Christianity reveals, so as to forget the necessity of an interest in the way which He has accomplished. The question with us should be, what God actually has done, and if you admit that God has done what was best, you admit that He has done what alone He could do without ceasing to be God. II. We argue the same thing from the Divinity of the Executor of the plan; that is, from the person of the Redeemer. He is “ God manifest in the flesh.” Now if this is true, then that there can be no other Saviour must of necessity be as true. Either such a Mediator and such means of salvation were necessary, or they were not. If they were not, God could never have had recourse to them, for He is infinitely wise, doing nothing in vain, never using great means for little ends; and if they were, then all others must have been not only inadequate, but infinitely inadequate. The Mediator between God and man must either have been created or Divine. Then if a creature were sufficient, no matter how exalted, a Divine Mediator was infinitely above the exigency of the case; and if, on the contrary, a Divine Mediator was requisite, then was a created infinitely beneath the exigency of the case. We might base our argument, with equal conclusiveness, on the wisdom or the goodness or the justice of God. Take, in connection with the Divinity of the Saviour’ s Person, the sufferings which He endured. Then, if all this was not necessary, the adoption of such a plan was at variance with the Divine justice and goodness. III. We argue exclusiveness, on the ground that the plan revealed is the only one that bears to be tested by the principle of adaptation to what the existing case requires. This principle of adaptation is largely appealed to, as exhibiting the evidence of Divine perfection in the works of creation. This principle is as applicable in the moral world.1. The gospel plan of salvation is in the essential and elementary principle of it, as well as in its provisions, adapted to the circumstances of man as the party to be saved. As guilty and condemned, he needed pardon and justification; and these are provided for by the mediatorial propitiatory obedience unto death of the divinely constituted and Divine Saviour. As depraved and sinful, he needed renewal in the spirit of his mind, sanctification; and this is provided for him by the work of the Holy Spirit in association with the work of Christ. 2. It is the only scheme adapted to the character of Him who saves. There is no salvation in any other, because He is the only Saviour by whom, and His the only name by which, in saving the lost, the glory of God is in every point secured. IV. The last ground on which we rest the exclusiveness of the gospel method of salvation is the completeness of the salvation itself. It is a salvation worthy in all respects of God, and fully meeting the wants of man. It is a salvation from guilt, sin, suffering, death, hell, to a state of pardon and acceptance and favour, to the exercise of holy principles and holy affections, to life, to happiness, to usefulness, to heaven, and all for eternity. All God’ s works are perfect, and this not less than others. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)Jesus the only Saviour This passage is remarkable as forming part of a sermon by Peter--who thrice denied this very Jesus--and as having been first delivered in the hearing of the judges and murderers of Jesus. When Jesus stood before their tribunal, He told them that “ hereafter they would see the Son of Man standing on the right hand of power,” and when the sacred writer speaks of His second coming, he says, “ Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him.” Now, it must have been a foretaste of this fearful truth when His apostles stood in their presence. In illustrating this subject, let us-- I. Remove an objection. A difficulty arises in the minds of some, as if the doctrine savoured of intolerance. They rest satisfied with the general idea that Christianity is true and important, but do not feel that it is the only Divine religion. Now these views are precisely those of the ancient heathens, who would have allowed an image for Jesus as one amongst many idols. What they found fault with was the universal demand that every idol should be destroyed, and that Jesus alone should be regarded as the object of worship and the author of salvation. But this is evidently the very spirit of Christianity. No blood can cleanse sin but that which was shed on Calvary; no power can open the gate of heaven but that of Him who “ hath the key of David, opening so that no man can shut, and shutting so that no man can open” ; no power can overcome the “ strong man armed,” but the power of Him who binds Satan in chains and bruiseth him under the feet of His people. If men would only meditate on the solemn truth, that “ God spared not His only-begotten Son,” who “ died the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,” he would see that it is blasphemy to imagine that the salvation of man can be secured in any other way. For if so, God would have spared His only-begotten Son. Nor is there any ground for imagining that the doctrine of the text is at all inconsistent with just views of the benevolence of God. Suppose a body of men cast ashore on a desert island, smitten with disease, and famishing, and that in such circumstances one solitary ship was descried making towards the island, loaded with bread, but carrying an infallible physician, who offered to supply and heal the diseases of the people and to carry them to a land where they should hunger no more, and where there should be no more death--what would you think of the perishing men if they objected to all this because there was only one ship by which to escape, only one physician, only one supply of bread--because vessels had not been sent to all sides of the island, and bread of various kinds, and physicians of various qualities? Would you not think them insane and deeply ungrateful? Now this is the very case before us, only not nearly so strong. And what are we to think of such as object solely on the ground that God has not sent many deliverers instead of one; and instead of hailing the glorious offer, stand by callous and indifferent, and imagine that somehow or other they will escape, although death and famine are raging around. II. Explain the truth. I. We are said here to be saved by the “ name” of Christ. This is a mode of expression sometimes used in Scripture; as, e.g., “ The name of the Lord is a strong tower” ; where by the name of the Lord is meant God Himself. We speak of the “ greatest names” of antiquity, and of men filling the world with the “ terror of their names,” when in both cases we mean not the names but the persons. And so we are saved by Christ Himself, although in Scripture we are said to trust in His name. “ In His name shall the Gentiles trust.”2. The form of expression, also, in the first part of the verse, is peculiar. The apostle does not represent Christ as giving salvation as a thing disconnected from Himself, but as a thing existing in Him, as a great treasure-house of spiritual blessings in Christ, from whom all the members united to Him by faith derive strength, nourishment, and salvation. The general doctrine here is, that Christ is the only Redeemer as He was the only Creator; and that He only is able to create us again, as He was to make us at first. The special doctrine is, that this fulness of mediatorial power is laid up in Christ as the Head of His Church, and that it descends from Him upon all His members, like the holy anointing oil from the head of Aaron, which flowed down to the skirts of his garments. The general truth is, that Christ alone hath removed the curse of the law and silenced the accuser of the brethren. He hath died, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to God, and is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. The special truth is that it hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and that we become partakers of all the blessings which He hath purchased only when by faith we become branches of the true vine, living stones in the spiritual building of which Christ is the chief corner-stone. And these blessings are in no other. The merits of saints only exist in the imaginations of blinded idolaters; for every saint is by nature a child of wrath, even as others. If we desire blessings we must go to the Master of the house direct, for none of the servants can supply our wants. III. Show the concurrence of scripture in this truth. The whole stream of revelation from the beginning points to Jesus and His finished work. The law which was given by Moses pointed to that grace and truth which were to come by Jesus Christ. The prophets prophesied beforehand His coming and sufferings. The angels of heaven filled the air with melody at His birth, and announced that the great Deliverer had at length arrived. The Spirit of God descended like a dove, and rested on His head, and a voice from heaven said, “ This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him.” John, who baptized Him, said, “ Behold the Lamb of God,” etc. Old Simeon said, “ Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace,” etc. Philip said to Nathanael, “ We have found,” etc. And what was the uniform doctrine of the apostles? “ Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” And the song of heaven is full of Christ’ s atonement. (J. Begg, D. D.)Salvation exclusive but comprehensive I. The nature of this salvation. St. Peter might well have meant--1. Salvation from physical discomfort and pain. The circumstance was the healing of the cripple which the judges thought was effected by magic, but which the apostles ascribed to the name of Jesus, who had simply employed them. Pain and discomfort, although they may be transfigured by resignation, may yet crush out heart and hope, and our business in imitating God is to cure it if we can. Our Lord did by His apostles what He still does by generous hearts. The inspiring force of our hospital system is the grace and charity of Christ. 2. National salvation. This was the point of the reference to Psalms 118:1-29. Christ’ s way of delivering the nation was by becoming the corner-stone of its hope. For Israel was the real cripple. As a political body the Roman power had broken it. Still more was it crippled morally. The devotion of prophets and psalmist had died away, and in its place were Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. The old heart had been eaten out. What Israel wanted was new life, and its only Saviour was He who had healed the cripple. 3. Spiritual salvation. This was implied by the national, and the spiritual salvation of the nation implied that of the majority of its members. A nation is but an aggregate of individuals seen as such by God. To save men they must be taken one by one. Did not the Redeemer, who gave Himself a ransom for all, love me and give Himself for me? Does not the Spirit, by whom the whole Church is governed and sanctified, dwell in each separate soul? Does not a mother deal with her children personally? So Christ dealt with Peter, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, as if there were no other souls in existence. II. Salvation in this sense is no monopoly of Israel. What was Israel that she should claim the sole monopoly of the saving name? The final absolute religion could not but be universal. The question of the Gentiles had not been raised, but there was behind the apostles the broad commission. The old infection of nature still remains in the world. Who mill save it? Now, as eighteen centuries ago, Jesus washes out the stains of a guilty past, and gives new desires, aims, hopes, enthusiasms, and renews by His eternal Spirit what His enemies have destroyed. III. Salvation was exclusively confined to the power of the Lord Jesus. Christ was not one among many possible saviours; He was the only Saviour. And the ground of Peter’ s confidence was that he had not a human speculation or theory, but, as he firmly believed, the final, absolute, one truth. Error may pay its insincere and splendid compliments to that which contradicts it. Truth can only firmly, tenderly, unvaryingly say, “ It is I who save; neither is there salvation in any other.” “ No man cometh to the Father but by Me.” The apostles speak as men who had found the secret of life, hope, happiness, salvation, and their highest ambition was that others might share their privilege.1. When we affirm that there is salvation in none other than Jesus, we do not deny that other religions than Christianity have in them certain elements of truth. They would not exist if they had not. The element of truth in them enables them to resist dissolution. But they cannot save. 2. When we affirm that Christ alone can save men, we do not deny that other agencies can improve mankind. Education, etc. 3. But such influences as these are bounded by the horizon of time; they have no effects in the great hereafter. They are not opponents nor rivals; they move in a different sphere. 4. There can be no doubt that this conviction was in the first ages of Christianity, and has been since a great motive power in urging devoted men to spread the religion of their Master. (Canon Liddon.)Christ our only home On a huge cross by the side of an Italian highway hung a hideous caricature of the Beloved of our souls, who poured out His life for our redemption. Out of reverence to the living Christ we turned aside, disgusted, from the revolting image, but not until we had espied the words Spes unica, in capitals ever its head. Here was truth emblazoned on an idol. Yes, indeed, Jesus, our now exalted, but once crucified Lord, is the sole and only hope of man. Assuredly, O Lord Jesus, Thou art spes unica to our soul. “ Other refuge have we none, Hangs our helpless soul on Thee.” We found this diamond in the mire of superstition: does it sparkle any the less? (C. H. Spurgeon.)None other name A few persons were collected round a blind man, who had taken his station on a bridge in the City Road, and was reading from an embossed Bible. Receiving from the passers-by of their carnal things, he was ministering to them spiritual things. A gentleman on his way home from the City was led by curiosity to the outskirts of the crowd. Just then the poor man, who was reading from Acts 4:1-37., lost his place, and, while trying to find it with his fingers, kept repeating the last clause he had read, “ None other name,--None other name,--None … ” Some of the people smiled at the blind man’ s embarrassment, but the gentleman went on his way musing. He had lately become convinced that he was a sinner, and had been trying in many ways to obtain peace of mind. But religious exercises, good resolutions, altered habits, all were ineffectual to relieve his conscience of its load, and enable him to rejoice in God. The words he had heard from the blind man, however, rang their solemn music to his soul--“ None other name.” When he reached his home and retired to rest, the words, like evening chimes from village towers nestling among the trees, were still heard--“ None other name--None other name.” And when he awoke, in more joyful measure, like matin bell saluting the morn, the strain continued, “ None other name--None other name.” The music entered his soul, and he awoke to new life. “ I see it all; I see it all! I have been trying to be saved by my own works--my repentance, my prayers, my reformation. I see my mistake. It is Jesus who alone can save me. To Him I will look. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name--none other name--none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” The power of the name of Jesus A brave cavalry officer was dying of his wounds. He thought himself on the field, at the head of his gallant men, and fancied that a heavy gun was just in front of them ready to be fired. His distress was great. At length he thought the gun had been fired, and his men, badly cut up, were retreating. Here I interposed, saying, “ There is no gun there; you are safe among friends.” “ Let me alone,” he sternly replied; “ I must recover my command and renew the attack.” “ No,” said I, “ let us not think of battle scenes. You are soon to die. Let us talk of Jesus.” The mention of that name seemed to exert the powerful influence I had often heard ascribed to it. His agitation ceased at once; his delirium passed away; a smile lit up his pallid features. After a moment’ s silence, he said in a low tone, “ Jesus, Jesus! It is He who said, ‘ Come unto Me,’ etc. I want rest, I am weary.” Soon after he entered the glorious rest of heaven. (W. Baxendale.)The one saving name The text declares that Christ’ s is the only saving name on earth. Other terms are used elsewhere to indicate the paramount value of His religion over all other instrumentalities for man’ s well-being in this world and in that to come. But, either from an inadequate idea of moral evil, or from a failure to see the perfect fitness of God’ s remedy for it, this truth is yet widely unfelt or denied. Men resort elsewhere, and apply to this or that pretender, instead of the only infallible Physician. With some insufficient and temporary expedient, they patch up evils which the miraculous touch of the Son of God is requisite to cure. Lanterns and lamps are of no little use, but he would not be accounted wise who should propose to substitute them for the sun. Let us consider some of the substitutes which have been proposed by some men for the great instrument of man’ s highest good. I. Liberty--the goddess, as Mammon is the god, of the present civilisation. Summoned upon the theatre of Europe by the fearless voice of Luther, breaking forth in the tremendous throes of successive French revolutions, and winning her more complete triumph in the New World, liberty is one of the strongest passions of modern history. And no wonder. When you have entered the house of human bondage, and remembered its dreadful secrets, no wonder your blood boils. The Bastiles of tyranny have fallen before this potent indignation. Let them fall. All honour is due to those who have lifted the yoke from the neck of humanity, and said to myriads, “ Ye are men, go free.” But then we need only glance at the condition of the freest nations to see that Liberty can be no substitute for the gospel. Under her dominion men may know their rights, but they need another master to teach them their duties. Liberty must take law into her partnership, or she is but another name for license. And when the general relations of society are equitably adjusted, and justice done between man and man, what a wide empire of character is beyond her reach! National liberty, glorious boon as it is, is external. But the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free is carried into the inmost recesses of the mind. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty--Liberty from anger and malice and lust and drunkenness, and the whole legion of evil spirits wherewith society is possessed. II. Modern civilisation. The crying demand for a spiritual regeneration is postponed for external ease and luxury. When the sacred writer wished to describe the growing degeneracy of the chosen people, he said, “ Jeshurun [a term of endearment for Israel] waxed fat, and kicked.” That phrase describes the two great eras in a nation’ s growth: first, of prosperity; and secondly, of insolent power, forgetting right. Thus modern civilisation has woven so thick a veil, that many seem to be incapable or indisposed to see underneath the living texture of Divine laws, and our accountableness to the will of the Supreme. Strange and deplorable result, if home become so attractive that it should prove a rival to heaven! Sad mistake, if the charms of earthly friendship and comfortable life should dull our sensibilities to our holy relationship to God and Christ! We need to know that what is best and safest in this modern civilisation has flowed from Christianity; but that, so far as it is disconnected from Christ, as its controlling principle and sanctifying motive, it is base and soulless and dangerous; that there is hazard of entombing our souls in this magnificent earthly good. The splendid gift of life was not bestowed that we might dress in purple or fine linen, or fare sumptuously every day, or even that we might ride a mile a minute, cross the ocean in ten days, or send a despatch round the globe in the twinkling of an eye. He who rides a mile a minute ought to be using that grand conveyance on no fool’ s errand. He who can cross the Atlantic in ten days should feel himself commissioned to do some great and good work for man, when the Almighty has thus put in his hands the sceptre of the winds and waves, and they obey him. He who can send swifter than the sun’ s flight messages from clime to clime ought to charter the telegraph with some good tidings of good. Modern civilisation is all good and safe, when kept down at the proper secondary mark; but if it arise, and assume prouder titles, and the privilege of monopolising immortal capacities for mortal uses, the watchmen must cry aloud, and spare not. For none can look abroad, and not see that the world, so called, has got a fearful hold of men’ s minds. Everything, even virtue, is to be turned to profit. What does not bring money is not, in general, thought to be worth anything. Then is there no fear that we have another God than the Lord of heaven and earth, even Mammon, as the actual deity of our worship! Tried by every rule, and weighed in every balance, modern civilisation, as such, is found wanting. Ill can it suffice for its own temporal needs, and keep itself out of fire and water; how much less meet the great need of immortal man! Ill can it stand in the place of Christ for the healing of the nations. Its god is gold, its aim is self; too many of its governments are tyrannies; too many of its cities Sodoms; its highest honours are military butcheries; and its only tolerable deserts are discoloured reflections from His glory who died on the Cross. III. Reformation, philanthropy, a new organisation of society. The plea is ingenious, because it has some truth to give it countenance, that, notwithstanding Christianity has existed so many centuries, the dreadful evils of society have gone unreformed. True, but it is because it has been corrupted, both under Greek, Catholic, and Protestant forms. But there it is, in the life of Christ, in the books of the New Testament, and it will never suffer man to give sleep to his eyes until it has made all things new. It is said, also, by the reformer, that though men make institutions, institutions, in turn make men. For example, that you may preach heavenly-mindedness, but how can you expect any considerable amount of spirituality in the brutal camp, or in the damp, cold cellars of city pauperism? We confess we cannot. It becomes, accordingly, a matter of the last consequence that the permanent institutions of society, and the customs of the time, should all square with the Christian standard, Christ must sit as sole and final umpire upon all the great questions that now agitate society. And in this just judgment, whatever Christ, by His Word, rejects, we, who are His followers, must reject; and whatever He commands we must do, let whoever will say nay. So much we yield to reformation. But what we protest against is, simply, that moral reformation, or any new organisation of society, can take the place of the religion of Christ. For, in the outset, how could these great moral movements start, unless there were the heaven-derived and omnipotent influences of Christian ideas acting behind? This is the ever-flowing river that sets in motion all the wheels and complicated machinery of practical philanthropy. This is the exhaustless reservoir and lake that fills all the pipes, aqueducts, and fountains, and quenches a city’ s thirst, and cleanses a city’ s impurity. Christ is the reformer’ s wisdom and guidance and strength, and without Him he could do nothing. Then, again, grant that you could by a possibility get the world all reformed, the timepiece wound up and running well, properly more equalised, education and happiness universal. How long would the millennium last without Christ? Self is still there, and passion is busy, and the old man will again come to life though he has once been crucified with the lusts thereof; and then the world is as bad as it was before, and you have all your work to do over again. No; Christ is the only Sovereign and legitimate Reformer, as He is the Saviour of the individual soul, and those only who go forth in His name and spirit are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. IV. Education. We grant, indeed, that if the world is ever to be better and happier, it must be in no slight measure by a better family and common school nurture. But education, like all other great movements of benevolence, is powerless of good when disjoined from Christ. The culture of the mind exclusively becomes a doubtful good, if moral training keep not an even pace with it. Jesus, as the perfect representative of our spiritual nature, encourages the earliest moral training, He called children to Him, and pronounced His blessing upon them. At one time He set a little child in the midst, and bade His disciples be converted and become like little children, or they could not enter His kingdom. And He left it in charge to His apostles, “ Feed My lambs.” Education, then, in its higher forms, has the explicit encouragement of Him who knew what was in man. (A. B. Livermore.)One saving name We can destroy ourselves and each other, but we cannot save ourselves or each other. There are some dangers and evils from which we can save both ourselves and our fellows, but from the worst we can neither save ourselves nor others. All that in this case we can do for ourselves is to look to a Saviour, and for others to direct them to a Redeemer. We are seldom satisfied with what we have. Eve desired the forbidden fruit; and the Jews desired a Saviour entirely different from Him to whom the prophets had given witness, and whom God had sent. To this fact Peter calls attention, and then adds, “ Neither is there salvation in any other,” etc. Note here-- I. Salvation.1. Ignorance with respect to the highest subjects is compared to darkness; to be called out of darkness into marvellous light, is in part salvation. 2. Foolishness is ever attendant upon sinfulness. To receive wisdom from above, and to be made, concerning the highest ends and the best means, truly wise, is in part salvation. 3. The imagination is a faculty ever busy for good or evil. Unless connected with knowledge and wisdom, its fabrications are vain and wicked. To have all such imaginations cast down, is in part salvation.. 4. The heart of man is a tree bearing corrupt fruit, and a fountain pouring forth bitter water. To have created within us a clean heart and a right spirit, is in part salvation. 5. The will of man was created to correspond to the will of God, as a wheel within a wheel, but it has fallen from its place and revolves out of its sphere. Like the rudder of a ship, the will was intended to keep men true to the glory of God while compassing the broad way of God’ s commandments. But the helm is in the hands of pirates, and the vessel’ s prow is to the rock, or the quicksand, or the iceberg. To be delivered from a rebellious and wayward will, and to be made ready to do the will of God as an obedient child, is in part salvation. 6. Conscience is a faculty which many suppose can never become corrupt. But a man may do evil when he acts conscientiously, for there are evil consciences. To have the conscience cleansed and healed by the precious blood of Christ, and rectified by the Holy Ghost, is in part salvation. 7. God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:27). As the painting or the statue to its subject, as the mirror to the spectator, so was the first man, in the beginning, to his God. But the mirror is broken, and the statue is defaced, and the painting is rent, and the child has fallen and is disfigured and maimed. To have the mirror replaced, the picture renovated, the child healed, and the Divine likeness restored, is in part salvation. 8. With a sinful nature we are born. To have our sinfulness crucified and its dominion destroyed, is in part salvation. 9. The position of man was, in his first estate, righteous and filial. But we have fallen from our position by sin, and are accounted guilty and ungodly. To be justified, is in part salvation. 10. There is an evil spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience. To be delivered from his presence and power, is in part salvation. 11. There is evil in all human institutions and arrangements. God’ s world is good, but man’ s has much evil. To be made to overcome the world, is in part salvation. 12. Death has crept over our human nature, spiritual death. To be morally and religiously quickened, is in part salvation. 13. Punishment hangs over our guilty heads like a thunder-cloud pregnant with storm, and the impending tempest murmurs in our present sorrows. The wages of sin is death, and all the evils to which flesh and soul are heir are as instalments of the wages of sin. To have the firmament of life cleared of these clouds by the forgiveness of sins, is in part salvation. 14. Such are the derangements of evil, that the forgiven and regenerated are exposed to affliction, and it is appointed that they too should die. To be sustained in the hour of tribulation, to go down into our grave and to rise again, shouting, “ O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” is in part salvation. 15. Paradise was lost by Adam, but paradise is regained by Jesus Christ. To enter that garden as our own, and enjoy its innumerable delights, and to realise therein everlasting life, this is the consummation of salvation. This salvation God promised at the beginning, this God has provided, and this we offer you in the preaching of the gospel. II. Salvation in a person.1. Deliverances are sometimes wrought by things. The shipwrecked one is saved by clinging to a floating spar, the tenant of a house on fire by the trap-door in the roof. And deliverances are effected by things employed by persons, as by a crew in a lifeboat, a fireman and the fire-escape, a physician and his medicines. There are, moreover, persons whose profession is some work of salvation, as the medical practitioner, the fireman, and the lifeboat crew. 2. The salvation of which we have been speaking is not in the Divine purpose, or in the Divine fiat, or in anything, but in a living Saviour. 3. To be saved by a Saviour. (1) This shows our weakness, and in our weakness we see our wretchedness. We are like one drowning, bound hand and foot. We are like one exposed to the flames, and paralysed in every limb. We are like one poisoned, upon whom the sleep of death is already creeping. (2) This arrangement removes all cause of boasting from the saved. (3) It places the redeemed under special obligations. They are indebted to their Saviour as to none other. Father, mother, husband, wife, have done nothing for us compared with Him who saves us. (4) It renders the actual work of salvation a service of sympathy and love. Salvation comes not from a mere power or force, but it is connected with intelligence, affection, and volition, and is therefore not liable to failure. (5) it creates a new relation and connection. By our existence we become the offspring of God. By our entrance into life we have parents of the flesh. And these and other connections are natural. We have Creator, mother, father, perhaps brothers, sisters, in the ordinary course of providence. But a Saviour is distinct from all other relations. Blessed is the man who, looking toward one mighty to save, can say “ My Saviour.” A man may be an orphan and friendless, but with a Saviour anything but desolate, while he who, in the midst of the largest and most loving circle, has no Redeemer is not only a forlorn, but a lost man. III. Salvation in a person whose name is made known.1. Six thousand years ago the Saviour of men was simply called the seed of the woman. Then He was denominated the Shiloh, the Prophet, Wonderful, Root of Jesse, Righteous Branch, Jehovah our Righteousness. And the angel who announced the conception said, “ Thou shalt call His name Jesus,” etc. 2. Jesus is the name given among men as the name of the Saviour. To this Jesus give all the prophets witness as the Christ of God. This Jesus was proclaimed Saviour by the angel Gabriel, by another angel, and by a multitude of the heavenly host. This Jesus was introduced by one of the greatest prophets the earth has ever known. The works He wrought bare witness of Him. The heavens were thrice rent, and from the excellent glory a voice came, saying, “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Eclipse and earthquake saluted Him as the Saviour when He died; resurrection revived His renown, and ascension established it for ever, “ That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.” It is an interesting fact that the name Jesus occurs nearly seven hundred times in the four Gospels, Christ alone some sixty times in the Gospels and in the Acts, Jesus Christ but five times in the Gospels, and Christ Jesus not once in those books. We may regard Jesus as therefore the name given among men. 3. Joshua, to which name Jesus corresponds, is composed of a portion of the name Jehovah, and of a word which signifies salvation. So that the etymon would signify the Lord’ s salvation, or Lord of salvation. This name was given to the Son of Man, to a Bethshemite in the time of Samuel, to a governor among the cities of Judah in the days of Josiah, and to a high priest in the days of Haggai. The name, though in use, was not common, and it was given the Son of Mary with a special signification. 4. But who is this Jesus? He is God manifest in flesh. He has all the attributes and properties of God, but while on earth He “ made Himself of no reputation,” etc. He has all the attributes and properties of humanity, but without sin. In Him is all that is requisite for complete redemption. God has given this name--in writing to be read, by preaching to be heard; given it Himself that it may never be forgotten, and that it may be above every name; given it among men, that men may read and hear it, learn and repeat it, incorporate it with their prayers and their songs, and that it may become as familiar in their mouths as any household word. IV. Salvation limited to this person.1. There have been other names under heaven given among men. The Pharisees gave the name of Abraham, and said, “ We have Abraham for our father,” and the name of Moses, saying, “ We are Moses’ disciples.” The false prophet of the sixth century gave his own name. The Church of Rome gives the name of the Holy Catholic Church, the names of angels, saints and martyrs, and above all, the name of Mary. But Abraham was the ancestor of the Saviour, not the Saviour; Moses was a prophet of the Saviour, not the Saviour; Mahomet was self-deceived and a deceiver; the Church is composed of the saved, not of saviours; the angels minister to the heirs of salvation, they cannot save them; and Mary is indebted for her own salvation to her own son Jesus. 2. But not only have other names been put forward, but things have been presented as saviours. Thus, sacraments are given among men as means of salvation, and men-made creeds, and membership with particular churches, and good works. But these are given among men by men, and not by God. 3. It would be interesting to inquire into the causes of other names and things being put forward. Perhaps the chief cause is pride. We shrink from the practical acknowledgment of entire and absolute dependence upon the grace of God for our redemption; we despise the simplicity of faith, or we are not prepared to follow after holiness. But, however, this may be, “ neither is there salvation in any other.” 4. There is much mystery surrounding this name, the mystery of the holy incarnation, of the union of the Divine and human natures, of oneness with the Father, co-existing with subjection to the Father, of the temptation and agony, and of the “ Eloi, Eloi,” of the grave, and resurrection and ascension; but we cannot afford to neglect the name Jesus because of the mystery which surrounds it, because “ neither is there salvation in any other.” 5. There are differences of opinion concerning Him who bears this name Jesus. Some deny His Deity, others His true humanity. Some refuse to recognise Him as victim and priest, and do Him homage only as a teacher; others leave Him in the sepulchre among all the mighty dead. The unbelieving Jew still accounts Him an impostor, the believing Gentile crowns Him Lord of all. But amidst this diversity of opinion we may not say, “ I suspend my judgment.” We must on this subject make up our minds. Nor can we hold error without fearful peril, for “ neither is there salvation in any other.” 6. Many who say they are saved by Christ show no signs of redemption. As we look at them we say, “ Saved from what?” If they be saved, what must they have been before? There are men who boast that they are saved, who are such children of the devil, that many have said, “ If this be salvation, may Heaven keep it far from me!” But what then? Although many who say they are saved exhibit no signs of salvation--yea, more, although but few be saved--yea, more, if as yet not one soul has been saved, my text abides true, “ Neither is there salvation in any other.” 7. Many men think their own cases too singular to be saved by Christ Jesus. One man is sceptical, and his doubtings are, in his judgment, of the most extraordinary character. There have been sceptics many, but none like himself. A second was once an atheist or a deist, and in the denial of religious truth proceeded farther than he can conceive it possible for an infidel to go. A third has been a blasphemer. A fourth has been a licentious profligate. A fifth has been more cruel than a beast of prey. A sixth once wore the form of godliness while destitute of the power. A seventh once heard the Word with joy, but endured only for a while; tribulation arose and he was offended. The eighth has been a bitter persecutor. Now, each of these say, Jesus may save others, but He cannot save me. But whatever eminence a man may have in that which is sinful, if he be saved at all, he must be saved by the Redeemer of the least of sinners. There is one sun to rule our day, one moon to rule our night, one atmosphere round our globe in which to breathe and move, and not another. “ Neither is there salvation in any other.” Conclusion:1. And are there any persons here who believe not on Jesus? If there be, who can they be? Surely not the children of believing parents? Not those who are now, or who have been, in our Christian schools? Not the possessors of a New Testament? Not those who regularly or even occasionally hear the gospel? Not such as know this name Jesus? Or is it so, that the unbelievers here consist of these very classes? Not believe! Why do you not believe? This name, by faith in this name, saves. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John.St. Peter; or, true courage The grace of God, which St. Peter’ s character and story specially forces on our notice, is the true courage which comes by faith. There is a courage which does not come by faith, but from hardness of heart, obstinacy, anger, or stupidity, which does not see danger or feel pain. That is the courage of the brute. One does not blame it. It is good in its place, as all things are which God has made. It is good enough for the brute; but it is not good enough for man. You cannot trust it in man. And the more a man is what a man should be, the less he can trust it. The more mind a man has, so as to be able to foresee danger and measure it, the more chance there is of his brute courage giving way. The more feeling a man has the more chance there is of his brute courage breaking down, just when he wants it more to keep him up, and leaving him to play the coward and come to shame. Yes; to go through with a difficult or dangerous undertaking a man wants more than brute courage. He needs to have faith in what he is doing to be certain that he is in the right. Look at the class of men who in times of peace undergo the most fearful dangers. Not a week passes without one or more of them, in trying to save life and property, doing things which are altogether heroic. What keeps them up to their work? High pay? The amusement and excitement of the fires? The vanity of being praised for their courage? Those are motives which would not keep a man’ s heart calm and his head clear under such responsibility and danger as theirs. No; it is the sense of duty. The knowledge that they are doing a good and noble work, that they are in God’ s hands, and that no evil can happen to him who is doing right. Yes; it is the courage which comes by faith which makes men like St. Peter and St. John. “ I will not fear,” said David, “ though the earth be moved, and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea.” The just man who holds firm to his duty will not, says a wise old writer, “ be shaken from his solid mind by the rage of the mob bidding him do base things, or the frown of the tyrant who persecutes him. Though the world were to crumble to pieces round him, its ruins would strike him without making him tremble.” Such courage has made men, shut up in prison for long weary years for doing what was right, endure manfully for the sake of some great cause, and say-- “ Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” There is but one thing you have to fear in heaven or earth--being untrue to your better selves, and therefore untrue to God. If you will not do the thing you know to be right, and say the thing you know to be true, then indeed you are weak. You are a coward, and sin against God. And you will suffer the penalty of your cowardice. You desert God, and therefore you cannot expect Him to stand by you. But who will harm you if you be followers of that which is right? (Psalms 15:1-5.) There is a tabernacle of God in which, even in this life, He will hide us from strife. There is a hill of God in which, even in the midst of danger, and labour, and anxiety, we may rest both day and night--even Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages--He who is the righteousness itself, the truth itself. And whosoever does righteousness and speaks truth, dwells in Christ in this life, as well as in the life to come. And Christ will give him courage to strengthen him by His Holy Spirit, to stand in the evil day, the day of danger, and having done all to stand. (C. Kingsley, M. A.)Christian heroism The Church was born and nursed amid storms. The advocates of Christianity have frequently met with unexpected opposition and cruel persecution. Men whose office it was to promote the progress of truth have striven to impede its course. Persecution intimidates the weak, but ennobles and purifies the true. The text teaches us three things about the genuine disciple. I. That Christian men are inspired with Divine courage in times of persecution. “ They saw the boldness of Peter and John.” There is a wide difference between a Christian and a worldly man in times of trouble. The worldly man is timid, irritable, and restless; the Christian man is calm, courageous, and hopeful. Nothing can calm and strengthen a man more than a full assurance of God’ s protection. Three things show that the disciples were endowed with Divine fortitude.1. Look at their noble defence. Peter speaks courageously and eloquently for Christ. 2. Look at their bold attack. Peter charged his accusers with ignorance, they had rejected Christ; he charged them with sin, they had crucified Christ. 3. Look at their undaunted spirit. They were commanded to cease from preaching; but they remained steadfast to the truth. God can inspire His children with courage to meet the fiercest conflicts of life--to endure pain, to suffer poverty, to bear bereavement, to meet persecution. II. That Christian men are inspired with Divine wisdom in times of persecution. “ And perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men.” Christ had promised to impart wisdom to His disciples in times of danger. “ When they deliver you up, take no thought how and what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.” “ I will give you a mouth and wisdom that all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay and resist.” Three things show that the disciples were Divinely instructed.1. They were enabled to make a special declaration of the power of Christ. The examination was particular--“ by what name” they had performed the miracle. The answer was particular--“ by the name of Jesus.” It was a merciful work, a successful work, a Divine work. 2. They were enabled to make a suitable declaration of salvation in Christ: “ neither is there salvation in any other.” 3. They were enabled to make a public declaration of their faith in Christ: “ there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” They believed in the supremacy of Christ. They knew He was both the Sou and the Sent of God. His word was true. His work was complete. “ If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” Christian men ought to speak boldly in defence of the truth. Speak for Christ anywhere and everywhere, in the shop and in the market, at fasts and at feasts. Speak of His life, His atonement, His resurrection, His intercession. III. That Christian men are inspired with a Divine influence in times of persecution. “ And they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” The man who has frequent intercourse with Jesus will reflect his Master’ s spirit. Communion with Christ makes a man gentle, patient, courageous, devout, and zealous. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai his face shone with such a Divine lustre that the children of Israel “ were afraid to come nigh him.” The influence the disciples possessed is noticeable for three things.1. It was a visible influence. “ They saw, perceived, took knowledge of them.” There is something in the conduct, disposition, and countenance of a good man that reports itself; his influence is felt in the world, the Church, the family circle. A Divine life cannot be concealed; the light must shine. 2. It was a mighty influence. They silenced their accusers, they convinced their hearers, they converted five thousand men. 3. It was a spiritual influence. The miracle only excited attention, the word produced conversion. (Joseph Woodhouse.)Christian heroism We sometimes hear it stated that courage is a quality that is decreasing; that men are wise, enterprising, and refined, but not courageous. That opinion is not true even of physical bravery. It also ignores the altered conditions of life. If we look into life and see what is necessary to realise any great purpose in it, we shall conclude that opportunities are not wanting for the display of high heroism. The old bravery is not extinct, it is transformed and directed to better ends. It is the fortitude that comes from faith, love, and duty that is needed in these times. Christianity is the religion of heroism, as opposed to the creeds of expediency and prudence. It begets in us that temper of mind from which high achievements naturally flow. It reveals a universal conflict between truth and error in which true chivalry must be shown. The boldness of the mariner or the adventurer we may not all be called to rival, but the boldness of Peter and John we must all possess, if we are to fight our battle faithfully and attain the crown of life. Peter and John are examples of the new courage--the heroism of hearts inspired by love, and living for the benefit of others. Christianity had to fight. How did it bear itself in the conflict? Did it take counsel of safety, compromise, policy? No! what one is struck by in the action of the apostles is an audacity that is caution, a calmness that is power, and a love that impressed friends and foes. Peter declares that it is by the power of the risen Christ the healed man stood before them. That is the true explanation of all progress. The confidence, the contempt of suffering, the holy elevation of soul with which Peter uttered that statement filled all with surprise; they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. That was the result of Peter’ s boldness. R turned judges into criminals, and apostles into judges. It brought about their acquittal, and the still greater progress of their cause. If Peter had wavered, all had been lost. Similar devotion do we need to-day, not only for the conflict of Christian truth with error, but for the destruction of evil in laws, institutions, and habits, and for the every-day battle of life. I. Christian heroism results from fellowship with Christ. The sense of the heroic is in all men; the disposition to admire the great and exceptional in the lives and acts of men. Life would be very monotonous if all men occupied one level of power. The sameness of nature is broken up by mountains, torrents, cataracts, and by crises. So the torpor of social life is broken up, and a new sense of power reached, by the presence of heroes, and of the heroic. The hero is one whose faculties are raised to a higher plane of power than ordinary men reach. Before Christ came there had been such characters. In various countries and at different times they had appeared: military heroes like Alexander; political heroes like Pericles; intellectual heroes like Plato and Socrates; artistic heroes like Phidias; reforming heroes like Elijah, Buddha, Confucius; patriotic heroes like Moses and David. But, wonderful as were the doings of these men, they do not fully satisfy the sense of the heroic. Their mastery over nature was not complete; their knowledge was limited; their sympathies were not universal; their greatness was measurable. The world needed the expression of a higher enthusiasm. Jesus Christ realised and transcended all these conditions. The special qualities of all other heroes meet in Him. Consider His personality, His knowledge, His labours, His conflicts, His sufferings and triumphs. And now that He is exalted to the throne of the universe, and praised and adored as the glorified Son of God, what is His purpose towards His disciples? To impart unto them His own enthusiasm, courage, power, and glory. How does Jesus Christ infuse His spirit into His disciples?1. He reveals to them the high possibilities of their nature. The unheroic mind sees the actual as the measure of the possible. The heroic mind says, “ All things are possible.” Jesus Christ is the measure of human possibility. He sees and awakens the capabilities of men. He saw the possibilities of Peter, of Paul, of Augustine, of Luther, of John Howard, of Carey, and educated their faculties to realise them. 2. Jesus Christ gives absolute certainty about the truth He teaches. If Peter had doubted, boldness would have fled. 3. Jesus gives courage by demanding the surrender of self. All cowardice results from self-consciousness. Let self be devoted to a worthy end, fear dies. 4. Jesus Christ teaches us that heroism is the universal law of heaven. The heroisms of earth are the commonplaces of heaven. 5. Jesus Christ concentrates our powers on one great aim. Distraction destroys heroism. The balloon must be steered. 6. Jesus Christ sustains His followers by His presence. Peter denied Jesus when he was charged. The Master does not disown the servant, but stands by him. II. Christian heroism should be manifested in various spheres.1. In witnessing to Christ in common life.2. In faithfulness in temptation.3. In new methods of Christian service.4. In loyalty to personal conviction.5. In responses to special calls to duty.6. By the boldness of our prayers. III. Christian heroism produces great results. IV. Christian heroism is possible to all. Peter the denier transformed into Peter the heroic witness. Be not discouraged, cleave to Jesus, and in Him be strong. (J. Matthews.)The boldness of apostolic preaching I. The position and character of these men who were grieved at the apostles’ teaching of the resurrection. Most of them were Sadducees, rich, courtly, influential, holding the Pharisees in contempt as did the Pharisees the common people. A crisis was now impending. The impress of the Great Teacher was too great to be denied. Tone, look, manner, put the apostles’ training above suspicion. All had admitted the originality of Jesus as a teacher, and had opposed Him on this account. Lo! this originality has reappeared. The old controversy had suddenly returned. Jerusalem was in a moral upheaval. In this God’ s hand strikingly appears. To confront the Sadducees was the initial work of Christianity. The question of “ Jesus and the resurrection” must be settled at once. Other questions might be postponed till Sadduceeism received its deathblow. So the risen Christ confronted them everywhere and “ sore troubled” them. II. The consciousness of the Sadducees as to the power of Christianity. “ We cannot deny it.” If the miracle is undeniable, then the source, in the risen Christ, is undeniable. Only one resource remains--silence the preachers! But can they be silenced? The leader of the hour was lately a weak man, who quailed before a servant-maid. Now he stands, with John unflinchingly before the most formidable tribunal of the country. How is it? The secret escapes their own lips. “ The boldness” astonishes them, and they put it down to the fact that they had been with Jesus. Was this conscience? No. There was no sense of guilt here. It was fear. In the boldness of Peter and John they saw the answer to “ His blood be upon us and our children.” III. No one can have been with Jesus as a disciple and not show it thereafter in his spirit and action. The human heart was made for Him, and when renewed receives His fulness. This is the secret of Christian influence. (A. A. Lipscomb, LL. D.)Courage comes from faith Courage comes from faith! Faith always leads us out of self and teaches us to believe in the possibilities of others. No nature can be strong that is not enthusiastic, and no nature can be enthusiastic that has not faith. The man who has faith in other men and other things, and other manifestations of life and character than his own, will always have courage. And this faith of which we hear so much in the matter of religion is not only a Bible quality; it is a quality which is found in the busiest market-places of life and among the most successful of earthly heroes. Columbus bound in his prison was, after all, a stronger nature than the crowned Ferdinand upon his throne, for his faith realised an undiscovered continent. It was said of William Pitt, the younger, the Prime Minister of England at twenty-three years of age, that no one ever entered his closet, if it was for only five minutes, who did not come out of it a stronger and braver man than he was when he went in. Count Cavour, when he made Italy the free kingdom that it is, was once asked how he came to be so trusted by everyone, and said, in reply, that it was simply because he believed in men, and trusted them. There can be no courage without faith; for it is faith which bears our trembling natures away from their earthly moorings to some unknown, unseen reality, which exists because the soul believes in its existence. Serving God with boldness Mr. Moody told of a young man who attended his meetings at the Hippodrome in New York. He was long before he would confess to this belief in Christ, and when at length he did so, Mr. Moody asked him what had kept him back. He replied that he knew he had to make a clean breast of his profession to his room-mate, and he was deterred by the fear of being laughed at. Eventually he summoned up courage. He sat in his room reading the Bible, and presently he heard his mate coming up the stair. His first impulse was to shut the Bible and put it away in his trunk. His second thought restrained him, however, and he continued his reading. His bed-fellow came in and saw him with the Bible before him, and going up to him, said, “ Are you interested in such things?” “ Yes, I am.” “ How long have you been so?” “ Since Mr. Moody preached on such and such a text at the Hippodrome.” “ Well now, that is strange, I was impressed with the same address, and all these nights I have been trying to screw up my courage to read my Bible before you.” “ And I have only succeeded to-night in getting my courage up to read mine before you.” Mr. Moody remarked, “ We want men who have got boldness and courage. If it is right to serve God, then let them serve Him with boldness, without regard to what man will think.” And perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled.-- True religion the wonder of men This astonishment was the natural effect of the appearance of a true Christianity differing so greatly from all its surroundings, of an effect disproportionate to the apparent cause. Strange coincidence that in the moment of their amazement the rulers should give the true explanation, “ They have been with Jesus.” This should remind us, in the face of those powers now leagued against us, that we too possess a supernatural power, ever-victorious, be the combat what it may. This amazement-- I. Was the manifestation of the spirit of the world which relieves only in the visible, whether as to power, riches, or science.1. None of these characteristics were found in these men, therefore when the power of the invisible and Divine appears in them, it is beyond the comprehension of the world which ignores that the visible is the Son of the invisible, and lives by its inspiration. 2. It is remarkable that this amazement was felt by the representatives of a holy religion. One could understand the Romans, men of war, or the Greeks, lovers of art, or the worshippers of gods which were only personifications of natural or human feeling, feeling such amazement. But here we are in the land of the prophets, yes--but religion was in a state of decay, impregnated with the spirit of the world. Therefore its pride was punished and its wisdom confounded. II. Arose from the illiteracy of the disciples.1. Opposition does not exist between religion and science in itself, but between false knowledge and religion. Two conditions of religious knowledge proceed from the nature of its object, which is God. (1) The moral intuition of the heart and conscience. (2) The communication of the Spirit of God. Learning destitute of these conditions is ignorance, but having them the apostles could afford to be illiterate. See that learned man with his phylacteries. He reads the Scriptures, but understands nothing; compare him with the man who was born blind. Yes, these apostles, opening their minds to the teaching of the Master, have learned more than all the sages of Jerusalem. 2. Application to the present time. (1) Man objects to illiterate Christianity compared to antichristianity. But the objection must be overruled, for Christianity has knowledge rich and fruitful. Fear nothing, therefore. (2) God wills, perhaps, to lead us back to the intuitions of the heart and conscience. (3) Above all, we should learn the lessons of the upper room, that we may cause our contemporaries to acknowledge that we “ have been with Jesus.” (E. De Pressense, D. D.)Influence of unlearned but true piety Next came a negro servant. He was my next evangelist. I used to watch him in the field, and in the house, and even now, with my mature reflection, I cannot remember ever to have seen him do a wrong act. As I worked beside him in the field, he used to tell me his experience, and where he learned this and that hymn; and then he would sing as only the African can sing, and I used to wish that I could have such religion as that negro enjoyed. When we went to bed--he and I slept in the same garret, he in one corner and I in the other; some people would think it a dreadful thing to have to share a garret with a negro--when we went to bed he used to pile his pillows up behind him so that he could lie sitting up, take his hymn-hook, and fasten his candle up somewhere so that he could see. He would sing hymn after hymn with such relish and enjoyment, the big tears frequently rolling down his dark face, that I used to be cut to the heart with remorse, that I, a minister’ s son, brought up with every advantage, should be so much worse than a poor negro. I would lie there and pretend to be asleep, while all the time was singing right at my conscience, and I was crying heartily to hear him. Oh, how glad I should have been could I have changed places with that poor negro serving-man, if it hadn’ t been for cheating him I I think that lived, acted out religion does more good to children than all the talking that can be done, though talking certainly should not be omitted. That African did me more good than all the ministers that ever came to my father’ s house. (H. W. Beecher.)Unbelievers astonished There are two sets of problems which excite the attention of the unbelief of every age--intellectual and practical. The first provokes antagonism, the second, mostly wonder. It is with the second that we have here to do. Note-- I. The courage of the weak in the presence of irresistible might. What that might and that weakness were had been felt eight short weeks ago. Nor had the one grown weaker or the other stronger by lapse of time. Yet in the face of the power which could commit them to prison, to scourging and to the cross, these two helpless men deliberately brought themselves into collision with the authorities. The like has been witnessed in every age, when the tender child, the gentle maiden, the aged have dared the fires of martyrdom for the cause of Christ. The like is still witnessed in the conflict with the powers of darkness, the resistance to worldly solicitation, the endurance of contempt, poverty, and affliction even with gladness. Whence this courage? asks the infidel. Ah! we know. “ We have been with Jesus.” II. The victory of the ignorant when confronted with the wisdom of this world. What chance had these uneducated fishermen in the presence of whole college of learned Rabbis? Yet the Rabbis were made to look very foolish, and the fishermen won a triumph such as a philosopher might have envied. So has it ever been. It was so with Jesus as a child, it was so with Him as a man. “ Whence has this man letters?” It has been so with His followers ever since. How often has Christianity been slain in the opinion of its opponents! Scholarship has left no weapon unused. But the victory of Christianity is all along the line. And this not because of the labours of its learned “ apologists.” The disciples of Celsus were not vanquished by the treatises of Origen, but by the witness of obscure slaves and artisans. The tide of infidelity in the last century was not stemmed by Butler’ s “ Analogy,” but by the testimony of Kingswood colliers and Lincolnshire labourers. The good fight of faith to-day is not won by academic men in secluded cloisters, but by “ unlearned and ignorant “ successors of the men who could not but speak the things they had seen and heard. And sceptics marvel. They need not, for it is an open secret, “ We have been with Jesus.” III. The persistency with which christians adhere to a discredited cause. Here were men calmly avowing themselves disciples of a crucified malefactor, and prepared to be crucified themselves rather than abandon not simply His cause, but His very cross. It was this which astonished the cultured Greek and the practical Roman; it is this which has astounded both persecutors and onlookers ever since. The offence of the cross has not ceased, yet millions still glory in it. Wonderful, says the worldling, that these fanatics should renounce our pleasures and profits, and deliberately prefer a life of self-sacrifice and service of others. Wonderful, says the modern thinker, that men in the nineteenth century should hold to a creed formulated in the first. Not at all wonderful, says the Christian, “ I have been with Jesus.” IV. The reason of it all, which is the greatest wonder. How can there be fellowship with Jesus? And if that were possible, how can that fellowship make men bold in persecution, invincible in argument, enthusiastic in attachment, and so hold the field all through the centuries? Ah, perhaps we ourselves cannot tell. All we can say is, “ We have been with Jesus, and He has baptized us with the power from on high, which has made us bold. We have been with Jesus, and have learned of Him, and with His wisdom have been made wise. We have been with Jesus, and His love has created a union which death, life, angels, principalities, powers, etc., cannot break.” We can say nothing further to a wondering world except “ Come and see” ; then you will know what we know, but cannot speak. (J. W. Burn.)They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.-- Christians who have been with Jesus The apostles are called unlearned and ignorant, or private men, i.e., men of private education. They were not men who then appeared unlearned and ignorant. The freedom with which they spake, their knowledge of the Scriptures, and the force of their reasoning, convinced the rulers that they were at that time men of superior abilities and acquirements. But it was matter of wonder how these men who had only had a private education, and never had been instructed in the Jewish schools, should so speak; but the fact that “ they had been with Jesus” was sufficient to account for it all. It is here observable, that though Christ chose men of private education, yet He sent them not forth to preach until they had been for some time under His own immediate instruction’ : Paul, whose early education had been superior, was previously instructed in the doctrines of the gospel by Ananias. Even in that day, when uncommon gifts were bestowed by the Spirit, a preparatory education was ordinarily required for the gospel ministry. Novices were not to be introduced into so great and important aa office. How absurd is it, then, in this day, when supernatural gifts have ceased, for the unlearned and ignorant to assume, without a previous education, the work of public instruction!I. The expression “ being with Jesus” may be applied to--1. All who enjoy the gospel. Peter and John, and their fellow disciples, were admitted to familiar converse with their Lord. You have His gospel, which communicates the instructions they heard, the works they beheld, the example they followed, and the devotions in which they joined. In regard therefore to all the purposes of faith, knowledge and virtue, you may be with Him as truly as they were. If a living voice will touch the heart more sensibly, yet the written word is better adapted to enrich your memory and improve your knowledge. 2. The true believer. He has received the renewing influence of the Spirit of Christ, and experienced the sanctifying power of his gospel. This the first disciples had. Barely to behold Christ’ s works and receive His instructions, was but a small thing compared with this. But there are times when true believers have special intercourse with Christ. (1) In their private devotions.(2) In social worship. “ Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”(3) In the Holy Communion. II. Those who have been with Jesus. Should--1. Be watchful against all sin. You have seen Him who suffered death to redeem you from iniquity; how can you continue any longer therein? 2. As having been trained up under His instructions, excel in religious knowledge. 3. Show themselves to be like Him. Learn of Him to be meek and lowly, patient and contented, pious and heavenly. 4. Set their affections on things in heaven, for Jesus is there. 5. Like the apostles, discover zeal and fortitude in the cause of Christ. 6. Be loving. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)Fellowship with Jesus I. Life’ s truest fellowship. It is with Jesus.1. It is real. “ Enoch walked with God.”2. It is spiritual (Romans 8:1-39.).3. It is heartfelt (Luke 24:32).4. It is sustaining (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).5. It is efficacious (Romans 8:37; Philippians 4:13).6. It is constant (Matthew 28:20). II. The marks of life’ s truest fellowship.1. Simple faith (Acts 4:7-12).2. Manly courage (Acts 4:20).3. Sanctified wisdom (Acts 4:19).4. Decisive choice of associations (Acts 4:23).5. Faithful consistency of character in all things (Luke 1:6). III. The influence of life’ s truest fellowship.1. It awakens surprise. “‘ They marvelled.”2. It produces conviction. “ They took knowledge of them that had been with Jesus.”3. It disarms the enemy (Acts 4:21.) (Homiletic Review.)Been with Jesus I. We must be much with Him by meditating on His great love for us displayed in His sufferings on our behalf. II. We must be much with Jesus in studying the example He has set us. III. We must be much with Jesus in holding communion with Him. (Homilist.)Keeping company with Jesus I. It is possible to keep company with Jesus.1. In His Word.2. In the sanctuary.3. In the closet.4. At His table.5. In every path of service. II. Keeping company with Jesus will result in some assimilation of character.1. In proportion to the degree of intimacy.2. The constancy of the intercourse.3. The regard we have for our Companion. III. The resemblance to Christ, in habit and character, will be manifest to the world. The disciple rosy be unconscious of it, but. 1. God will see and reward it.2. Angels will note it and rejoice.3. Brethren will discern it and be encouraged or rebuked.4. The ungodly will be forced to confess it, to the honour of religion. (Homiletic Review.)Fellowship with Jesus I. As a spiritual possibility. By many lightly esteemed, by some ignored, and by others denied, fellowship with Him in His work, word, worship, is real (1 John 1:3). As real now as with the disciples of Emmaus, as with the youths in the fire, as with Paul, John, or Peter. II. As an essential experience. However ignored or denied, it a necessity of spiritual life. Christ cannot be known but by fellowship.1. It is the initial act of living faith. Consciously or unconsciously, each soul that seeks has fellowship. The woman touched hem of garment, and fellowship resulted, though she knew not its meaning. So in prayer of contrite as well as in sublimest communion. 2. It is the constant solace of earnest spirits: Mid life’ s perplexing problems and heavy sorrows, this is support. It is indispensable. The body would as soon forget to breathe as the heart to talk with and lean upon Christ. “ Lo I am with you alway,” is Christ’ s promise: “ I am continually with Thee,” is the heart’ s reply. III. As a moral inspiration The apostles possessed the secret of true courage. They, of all men, could be bold--1. Because they believed and did the right. They knew their mission and their message So be Divine; this made them invincible. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” “ Who is he that shall harm you if you be followers of that which is good?” 2. Because they believed and did the right from a right motive. They were no time-servers. Many can do the right when such doing is popular. Inquiring too often what will please, what will suit, not what is right, what will profit. 3. Because they believed and did the right from a right motive under the immediate inspiration of Christ. Here was the true secret of courage. “ Fear not, for I am with thee” ; “ Go in this thy might.” IV. As the secret of real influence. “ They took knowledge of them,” etc. Priests and scribes and rulers felt the force with which these men spoke. They exerted an influence which--1. Transcended social distinctions; they were but fishermen. 2. Surpassed educational attainments. “ They were unlearned and ignorant men.” 3. Lies within our reach. It was when Jacob had been alone with God that he was enabled to meet and to overcome his brother. Be much with Christ, and you shall be a prince amongst men. (W. H. Burton.)Fellowship with Christ essential to courageous testimony for Him I. In the presence of the world. To have heard or read of Him is not enough: we must be with Him; walk with Him in a consenting will, love Him as having first loved us, be joined to Him in one Spirit. They who have been with Jesus fear not the pomp, nor the scoffs, nor the threats of men. A man’ s religion before the world is one of those things by which his genuineness as a Christian are most readily tested. By testimony for Christ I do not mean an obtrusive introduction of His name and doctrines at all times; but a prudent uncompromising assertion of His rights and defence of His precepts and servants when occasion requires. II. Before the foe within, a more formidable feat. Many a man could bear testimony for Christ before a world in arms, who yet is ignominiously silent in the council chamber of his own heart. There--where he hopes, or fears, or loves--his Redeemer’ s name is not heard, his Saviour’ s precepts are not alleged, his Master’ s example is not heeded. Would you find a remedy for this and uplift the spirit so that it may assert Christian motives, press Christian rules of action, put forward Christ as his pattern? Christ must dwell in your heart by faith. III. In the time of sorrow. Ere we have gone on long in life, hopes betrayed, fears realised, joys dashed with bitterness, are every man’ s companions. And sorrow is a stern suggester of doubts and misbelief. Would you bear a consistent testimony in the presence of sorrow? Here, above all, you require the Saviour’ s presence. Hearing and reading of Him may do while the weather is fair, and the sails are set, and the sea is smooth; but when the sky is overcast, and the winds are awake, and the sail is torn, and the billows rage, we want Him in the boat to steer. IV. In the period of prosperity. If sorrows are open foes, successes are to us enemies in disguise. Many a man has borne noble witness to his Saviour in adversity, but how few have glorified Him in the broad sunshine of prosperity I It was the custom of persecutors to try not merely tortures to shake the constancy of the martyrs--these only a few craven dispositions heeded--but also to tempt them by the offer of advancement, of lands and houses, of rank and honours. And the father of persecutors follows the same plan. “ All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” How shall the man of wealth, the magistrate, the statesman, render a fearless testimony to the Master of his talents and time? Only in one way--only on one condition. That way is the way of reality--that condition, communion with his Lord for himself. “ They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” How different is the decent toleration of religion, the respectable patronising of God, His service and His people, the worldly-prudent care to grasp the world in one hand and just touch the refuge with the other; from the genuine Christian character, whose fountains gush evermore within, which is found always fearless on the side of God and good, submitting to obloquy if need be, enduring hardness as a good soldier of Christ. And there is nothing short of being with Jesus that will create such a character. You cannot put it on--it must result from the gradual accretion of many experiences, trials, failures, prayers, years spent under the eye and within the sound of the voice of the Saviour. You cannot build it up on the shifting sands of fashion, or on the soft and tempting soil of self-indulgence: its foundations must be on the holy hills, or it will never stand. V. In the hour of death. There will come a day when each one will be called to wrestle with the last foe: to bear, in the presence of his past life, and in the presence of those who are to outlive him, his witness to Christ. Would we meet death fearless, and in humble assurance that we have a part in One who has robbed him of his terrors? There is but one way, and that way is, to have been with Jesus during our lives. There is nothing but the reality of the Christian life, which can ensure the peace of the Christian’ s death. VI. In the day of judgment. Then who are they that shall escape the wrath of the Judge, whom the crash of falling worlds shall strike unmoved and fearless? There will be found a multitude whom no man can number, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Angels and men shall take knowledge of them, that they have been with Jesus. (Dean Alford.)The Christian’ s exemplification of religion I. By what marks men should take knowledge of the Christian that he has been with Jesus.1. By the exclusive dependence with which he regards Him as his Saviour.2. By the simplicity with which he acknowledges Him as a Teacher.3. By the fidelity with which he follows Him as his Example. II. To what end this manifestation is demanded of him.1. It were a motive of irresistible urgency (if no other existed), to one who knows his obligations to redeeming goodness, that He who bought him from the condemnation of endless death, is hereby honoured in the estimation of men. 2. To this powerful impulse I would add the animating consideration, that the conduct resulting from a spiritual and saving communion with Jesus Christ by faith, may be advantageous to others; and induce them to glorify God in the day of their visitation. Lessons:1. Remember, ye who profess to seek Jesus, that as the Jews took knowledge of the apostles that they had been with Him, so the world is taking knowledge of you. 2. If any here, like the chief priests and Sadducees, are taking knowledge of those who have been with Jesus, to blame the good part they have chosen--to cavil at the principles they profess, the joys they feel, the self-denial they practice, or the faith in which they delight--Let such ungenerous observers bear in mind Who hath said, “ Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)Communion with Christ discovered I. When may we be said to have been with Jesus?1. When we have been engaged in private devotion.2. When we have been attending public worship.3. When we have been partaking of the Holy Communion. There “ we dwell in Christ, and He in us.” II. By what proofs should men take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus?1. By our humility.2. By our zeal.3. By our heavenly-mindedness.4. By our holiness--hatred of sin, and determination to avoid it. (R. Davies, M. A.)The assimilation of character It is a law of our nature that we become like those whom we habitually admire and love. This is the principle according to which religions, whether true or false, react on men’ s minds and hearts for good or evil. By worshipping, men are assimilated to the moral character of the objects which they adore. In China, Buddhist priests have been heard to say, “ Think of Buddha, and you will be transformed into Buddha. If you pray to Buddha and do not become Buddha, it is because the mouth prays, and not the mind.” The same is true in the highest degree of Christianity: communion with God in Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, must have an assimilating effect, very gradual, indeed, but sure. “ There are,” it has been well said, “ some men and women in whose company we are always at our best. While with them, we cannot think mean thoughts or speak ungenerous words. Their mere presence is elevation, purification, sanctity. All the best stops in our nature are drawn out by their intercourse, and we find a music in our souls that was never there before. Suppose even that influence prolonged through a month, a year, a lifetime, and what would not life become? To have lived with Christ must have made us like Christ: that is to say, a Christian.” (W. Burner, M. A.)The odour of grace Men carry unconscious signs of their life about them. Those that come from the forge, and those from the lime and mortar, and those from the humid soil, and those from dusty travel, bear signs of being workmen, and of their work. One need not ask a merry face or a sad one whether it hath come forth from joy or from grief. Tears and laughter tell their own story. Should one come home with fruit, we say, “ Thou art come from the orchard” ; if with hands full of wild flowers, “ Thou art from the fields” ; if one’ s garments smell of mingled odours, we say, “ Thou hast walked in a garden.” But how much more, if one hath seen God, hath held converse of hope and love, and hath walked in heaven, should he carry in his eye, his words, and his perfumed raiment, the sacred tokens of Divine intercourse! (H. W. Beecher.)Fellowship with Christ: its visible effects Often when I am on the beach, or even from my window, I look across the bay; and I can just see a speck gleaming against the grey sands, or the surf-beaten, sullen-looking cliffs of Howth beyond; and I know at once what the speck is by its whiteness. At other times when the storm has come, and the waves are sweeping over the rocks, I see a light speck upon the dark cloud curtain; and I know it is a brave little sea-gull in its white coat. So when we have given ourselves to Jesus, it should be easy for those round about us to see that we have. When, like the bird on the sands, we are doing our lowly work, the white robe should be visible; and in sorrow and trouble the whiteness should gleam as it did in the lives of those men of whom we are told in the New Testament that others “ took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” (J. Bowker.)Communication with Christ the secret of power to bless men On Thursday evening, March 29, 1883, for above an hour all who had occasion to use the telephone in Chicago found it vibrating to musical tones. Private and public telephones, and even the police and fire-alarm instruments, were alike affected. The source of the music was a mystery until the following day, when it was learned that a telegraph wire, which passes near most of the telephone wires, was connected with the harmonic system; that tunes were being played over it, and that the telephone wires took up the sounds by induction. If one wire carrying sweet sounds from place to place could so affect another wire by simply being near to it, how ought Christians in communication with Christ in heaven to affect all with whom they come in contact in the world. The Divine music of love and gentleness in their lives should be a blessing to society. (Homiletic Monthly.)Communication with Christ the source of pulpit power It is related that one of his hearers once asked, “ How is it that Mr. Bramwell always has something that is new to tell us when he preaches?” “ Why,” said the person interrogated, “ you see Brother Bramwell lives so near the gates of heaven that be hears a great many things that we don’ t get near enough to hear anything about.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ’ s people--imitators of Him I. What a believer should be--a striking likeness of Christ. You have read lives of Christ beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is His living biography, written out in the words and actions of His people. A Christian should imitate Christ in--1. His boldness. This is a virtue nowadays called impudence, but the grace is equally valuable by whatever name it may be called. Christ dealt out honest truth; He never knew the fear of man; He stood out God’ s chosen, careless of man’ s esteem. Be like Christ in this. Have none of the time-serving religion of the present day, which only flourishes in a hot-bed atmosphere, a religion which is only to be perceived in good company. No; if ye are the servants of God, be like Jesus Christ; never blush to own your religion; your profession will never disgrace you--take care you never disgrace that. 2. His loveliness. The one virtue of boldness will never make you like Christ. There have been some who, by carrying their courage to excess, have been caricatures of Christ and not portraits. Let courage be the brass; let love be the gold. Let us mix the two together, so shall we produce a rich Corinthian metal, fit to be manufactured into the beautiful gate of the temple. The man who is bold may accomplish wonders. John Knox did much, but he might have done more if he had had a little love. Luther was a conqueror--still, if while “ he had the fortiter in re he had been also suaviter in mode, he might have done even more good than he did. So, while we too are bold, let us ever imitate the loving Jesus. 3. His humility. In England a sovereign will not speak to a shilling, and a shilling will not notice a sixpence, and a sixpence will sneer at a:penny. But it should not be so with Christians. We ought to forget caste, degree, and rank, when we come into Christ’ s church. Recollect, Christian, who your Master was--a man of the poor. 4. His holiness. II. When should Christians be this? For there is an idea in the world that persons ought to be very religious on a Sunday, but that it does not matter what they are on a Monday. Is there a time when the warrior may unbuckle his armour, and become like other men? No; at all times and in every place let the Christian be what he professes to be. I remember talking with a person who said, “ I do not like visitors who come to my house and introduce religion; I think we ought to have religion when we go to the house of God, but not in the drawing-room.” I suggested that there would be a great deal of work for the upholsterers in that case. “ How is that?” was the question. “ Why,” I replied, “ we should need to have beds fitted up in all our places of worship, for surely we need religion to die with, and consequently every one would want to die there.” Aye, we all need the consolations of God at last; but how can we expect to enjoy them unless we obey the precepts of religion during life? Imitate Christ--1. In public. Most of us live in some sort of publicity. The eagle-eyed, argus-eyed world observes everything we do; and sharp critics are upon us. Let us live the life of Christ in public. Let us exhibit our Master, and not ourselves--so that we can say, “ It is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth “ in me.” 2. In the Church. How many there are like Diotrephes, seeking pre-eminence, instead of remembering that there all men are equal--alike brethren. Let your fellow-members say of you, “ He has been with Jesus.” 3. In your houses. Rowland Hill once said he would not believe a man to be a true Christian, if his wife, his children, the servants, and even the dog and cat were not the better for it. 4. In secret. When no eye seeth you except the eye of God, then be ye like Jesus Christ. Remember His secret devotion--how, after laboriously preaching the whole day, He stole away in the midnight shades to cry for help from His God. Take care of your secret life. III. Why should Christians be this?1. For their own sakes. For their honesty’ s sake, their credit’ s sake, their happiness’ sake; let them imitate Christ. 2. For religion’ s sake. The professor who has not lived up to his profession; the man who eaters the fold, being nought but a wolf in sheep’ s clothing--such men injure the gospel more than the laughing infidel or the sneering critic. 3. For Christ’ s sake. “ If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” Be like Christ, since gratitude demands obedience; so shall the world know that ye have been with Jesus. IV. How He can be so.1. You must know Christ as your Redeemer before you can follow Him as your Exemplar. 2. You must study Christ’ s character. There is a wondrous power about that, for the more you regard it the more you will be conformed to it. I view myself in the glass, I go away, and forget what I was. I behold Christ, and I become like Christ. 3. “ But,” say you, “ we have done that, and we have proceeded but little farther.” Then correct your poor copy every day. At night recount all the actions of the twenty-four hours, scrupulously putting them under review. When I have proof sheets sent to me of any of my writings, I have to make the corrections in the margin. I might read them over fifty times, and the printers would still put in the errors if I did not mark them. 4. Seek more of the Spirit of God. Take the cold iron, and attempt to weld it if you can into a certain shape. How fruitless the effort! Lay it on the anvil, seize the blacksmith’ s hammer with all your might; let blow after blow fall upon it, and you shall have done nothing. But put it in the fire, let it be softened and made malleable, then lay it on the anvil, and each stroke shall have a mighty effect, so that you may fashion it into any form you may desire. So take your heart, put it into the furnace; there let it be molten, and after that it can be turned like wax to the seal, and fashioned into the image of Jesus Christ. Conclusion: To be like Christ is to enter heaven; but to be unlike Christ is to descend to hell. Likes shall be gathered together at last, tares with tares, wheat with wheat. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The true joyfulness of a witness for God I. On what it is founded.1. The experience of grace in the heart.2. The pure Word of God on the lip.3. The exemplary walk in the life. II. How it shows itself.1. In the pulpit by the joyful opening of the mouth.2. In the world by the fearless testimony of the truth.3. Under the cross by peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. III. How it works.1. To the confusion of the adversaries.2. To the building up of the Church.3. To the glory of God. (C. Gerok.)The means of silencing blasphemers I. Joyful perseverance in testimony. II. Exhibition of fruits of work. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed … they could say nothing against it. Practical testimony to Christianity “ Have you ever heard the gospel before?” asked an Englishman at Ningpo of a respectable Chinaman, whom he had not seen in his mission-room before. “ No,” he replied, “ but I have seen it. I know a man who used to be the terror of his neighbourhood. If you gave him a hard word he would shout at you, and curse you for two days ariel nights without ceasing. He was as dangerous as a wild beast, and a bad opium smoker; but when the religion of Jesus took hold of him he became wholly changed. He is gentle, moral, not soon angry, and has left off opium. Truly, the teaching is good!” (Homiletic Monthly.)Months closed and opened I. The mouths of the rulers were closed. They could say nothing against the miracle--1. As a fact. There was the man; that he was lame, that he now walked they all knew. There are equally incontrovertible facts to-day. Men are sober who were once drunkards, honest who were once thieves, and the enemy cannot deny it. 2. As blessed fact. Not a man amongst them but would have confessed that lameness was a misfortune, and the cure of it a blessing. Similarly when sceptics see lives, homes, circumstances transformed by the power of the gospel, they can say nothing against the blessedness of the transformation. II. The mouths of the rulers should have been opened. If they could say nothing against the fact they ought to have said something for it.1. They should have accounted for it. If they rejected the apostles’ hypothesis of the cure they should have framed one more satisfactory. And so now. The blessed facts of moral healing have to be accounted for, and sceptics are bound logically to account for them. The process requires painstaking and honest research, and candour when the conclusion is reached. But no one has ever reached but one conclusion which will satisfy all the conditions of the case--the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 2. They should have been grateful for it and encouraged its repetition. However much it may have gone athwart their convictions, at least the sum of human misery was by so much reduced and the sum of human happiness augmented--why, then, net more? The Marquis of Queensberry candidly confessed his disbelief in Christianity, but he could not ignore the blessedness of its results, and so in logical consistency with the knowledge which should have upset his illogical unbelief contributed to General Booth’ s scheme. III. The mouth of the rulers was opened.1. In secret confession of the truth of the fact (Acts 4:16). And there is much of this nowadays Not all of it is like that before us hypocritical. Many sceptics are privately convinced of the unsoundness of their position, and many heathen are secretly convinced of the truth of Christianity. Let us hope that both may come into the public light. But these rulers, like others to-day, “ love darkness rather than light,” etc. 2. In open prohibition of its repetition (Acts 4:18). What a result! Here were men objecting to other men being made healthy and happy. Why? Because it was done in an objectionable way. Let us not be surprised, for there are doctors who forbid the use of any remedies that are not in their pharmacopoeia, although the use of those remedies has been proved to be beneficial, and there are also Christians who forbid a certain style of preaching and preachers although they convert souls. 3. Ineffectually. The mouth of the rulers was opened to close those of the apostles, instead of which mouths which were open all along opened wider. (1) In emphatic and persistent testimony (Acts 4:19-20).(2) In powerful and prevailing prayer (Acts 4:24, etc.). (J. W. Burn.)The golden muzzle 1. It is no new thing for the gospel to be opposed. 2. Nor a strange thing for the great, the official, the powerful, and the influential to be foremost in such opposition. The opposition of ungodly men is-- (1) Natural, seeing that the heart of man is depraved.(2) Endurable, since our Lord and His apostles suffered it.(3) Harmless, if we commit the case to God.(4) Overruled for good by Divine grace and wise providence. 3. The best and perhaps the only way to silence opposition is by exhibiting the blessed results which follow from the gospel. 4. Those who would say anything if they could, can say nothing of what they would, when they see before their eyes the cures wrought by the word of the Lord Jesus. “ The man that was healed” is our best apologist. Better than Paley’ s “ Evidences,” or Butler’ s “ Analogy,” is the proof given by results. I. The gospel is vindicated by its results.1. On a broad scale in nations. England, the islands of the Pacific, Jamaica, Madagascar, etc. 2. In individual conversions from open sin. Some of the worst of men have become clear instances of the purifying power of the gospel. 3. In restoring to hope the comfortless and despairing. Very marvellous is its efficacy in the direction of healing mental maladies. 4. In elevating saints above selfish aims and designs, and inducing heroic consecrations. The biographies of gracious men and women are demonstrations of the Divine power of the Word. 5. In sustaining character under fierce temptation. Wonderful is the preserving salt of grace amid surrounding putrefaction. 6. In holy and happy death-beds. These are plentiful throughout history, among all ranks; and they never fail to convince the candid. Many another catalogue of results might be made. Many a man is unable to be an infidel because of what he has seen in his mother, wife, or child. II. Gospel-works and workers must look for like vindication. Nowadays men ask for results: the tree must bear fruit, or the cry is, “ Cut it down.” We do not shrink from this test.1. The minister must find in his converts a proof of his call, and a defence of his doctrines, methods, peculiarities, etc. 2. A society, college, or institution must stand or fall by its fruits. 3. The individual professor must abide the same test. 4. The Church in any place, and the Church on the largest scale, must be tried by similar methods. 5. Even our Lord Himself loses or gains honour among men according as His followers behave themselves. III. The gospel and its workers deserve vindication at our hands. Those who are healed should boldly stand with Peter and John as witnesses and fellow workers. This suggests a series of practical questions:--1. Has it produced blessed results in us? 2. Have we come forward to stand with the preachers of it in evidence that it has wrought our cure? Are we continually witnessing to the truth and value of the gospel of Christ? 3. Does the influence of the gospel upon us so continue and increase unto holiness of life as to be a credit to its influence? 4. Are there not points in our character which harm the repute of the gospel? Should not these be amended at once? 5. Could we not henceforth so live as more effectually to silence the opponents of the Word? Let the Church plainly see that her converts are her best defence: they are, in fact, her reason for existence. Let converts see the reason why they should come forward and declare their faith, and unite with the people of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Opponents silenced by Christian consistency The behaviour of some professors has often given the wicked an opportunity to reproach religion. Lactantius reports, that the heathen were wont to say, “ The Master could not be good, when His disciples were so bad.” The malice of sinners is such that they will reproach the rectitude of the law, for the obliquity of their lives who swerve from it. Oh that your pure life did but hang a padlock upon their impure lips! (William Secker.)Conversions the test of a good ministry Certain gentlemen waited upon Rev. Matthew Wilks to complain of the eccentricities of his discourses. Wilks heard them through, and then produced a long list of names. “ There,” said the quaint divine, “ all those precious souls profess to have found salvation through what you are pleased to call my whims and oddities. Can you produce a similar list from all the sober brethren you have been so much extolling? “ This was conclusive: they withdrew in silence. Acts 4:16 What shall we do to these men?for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done … we cannot deny. Healed men (1) The miracle Few things are more striking than the continuance and growth of Christianity; first, under the circumstances of difficulty and persecution; and next, under the conditions of maintenance to which it is restricted, viz., moral persuasion and impression. The Church is its own sufficient witness. It is of God, because it has so triumphed. The conditions under which its most signal triumphs have been won have been far removed from any that human sagacity could have devised. How often the things that threatened its destruction have proved the signal means of its salvation! The Jews prevail upon Pilate to crucify Jesus; that very death accomplishes His redeeming purposes. The Sanhedrin persecute the little Church, and break it up; but it simply scattered coals of living fire, which ignited everything they touched. So it has been a thousand times since. Tempests of persecuting passion have only carried in every direction the pollen of the Christian flower, which has fructified and brought forth a hundred-fold. Precisely this result was produced by this persecution: unwittingly it furnished occasion for one of the most signal triumphs of early Christianity. The whole issue turned upon the character of the alleged miracle, and upon the power whereby it was wrought. If it could be established that such a miracle had been wrought in the name and by the power of Jesus, the Christian doctrine was indubitably attested. The question therefore really was the relation of miracles to Christianity, the question that scepticism is discussing still. Only the Sanhedrin never thought of taking the ground of modern scepticism, which, not so closely confronted by contemporary fact, affirms that miracle is impossible. Their insinuation was the old Pharisaic blasphemy, “ He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.” It is not always deficiency of evidence that causes men to reject Christianity. I. The healing of this cripple is a striking illustration of the peculiar benevolence and grace of Christianity. Amid thousands who needed healing this beggar was the selected object. Lordly priests and wealthy nobles crowded the temple, some probably victims of painful disease, but to none of them were the apostles sent. It was surely in purposed and beautiful harmony with the character of the gospel that neither our Lord nor His apostles sought for illustrious patients. They did not, of course, exclude the rich. Our Lord gladly went to the house of Jairus, and to that of the centurion. To the poor, characteristically, the gospel was preached. They especially awakened the Master’ s compassion, because of their greater misery. There is a sense in which special solicitudes of the Christian worker will gather round the rich, whose peculiar spiritual peril the Master indicated when He said, “ How hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven!” It is not easy to make Dives conscious of his spiritual poverty. Men who receive their “ good things” in this life are in danger of neglecting the life hereafter. But it is the distinctive grace of Christ’ s gospel that to the very poorest its blessings may come. It saves the respectable Pharisee, but it has its greatest triumph and joy in saving the outcast publican. It comes to “ seek and to save the lost” ; to “ call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Its characteristic agencies are reformatories and ragged schools, theatre preachings and midnight meetings, city missions and missions to the heathen. When do its workers seek the palaces of nobles, or a place among the rich? Its glory is to fill its churches with “ healed men.” II. The promptings of the healed man’ s gratitude.1. Its piety. (1) His first movement was into the temple. The first use of his recovered limbs was in God’ s praise. The healing of his body had touched deep springs of religious feeling. Perhaps his disability had long taught him to pray. Such is often the severe yet gracious lesson of affliction. The rarer thing is that his healing prompted him to praise. Of the ten lepers cleansed, only one returned to give God thanks. (2) All great experiences of life appeal to religious emotions: in great sorrows we are passionate in prayer, in great joys rapturous in praise; only the religious feeling excited is often as transient as it is fervent. Whether or not this was so with this recovered cripple we are not told. But his fervour, and the courage with which he took his stand by the criminated apostles, are strong presumption of a radical and permanent piety. (3) Whatever the instrument of our blessing, it is God who makes it efficient. He therefore claims our supreme acknowledgment. If, therefore, I have received temporal healing, let me first pay to Him the “ vows which I made when I was in trouble.” If my soul has been healed, let me “ enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise.” What emotion can be so strong, what joy so exquisite, as those of the man who for the first time after his healing enters God’ s house? 2. Its human fidelity. (1) He “ held Peter and John “ in a grateful embrace. Next to him who saves us our gratitude is due to him who leads us to the Saviour. (2) Thankful to his benefactors, the healed man stood by them when they were apprehended by the Sanhedrin; glad to share their reproach and peril. And poor and unworthy will be our thankfulness if, when Christ is rejected or His servants are scorned, we slink away in shame or fear. III. In this perilous crisis of the infant Church it was saved by the presence and testimony of this healed cripple. What could these few peasants and fishermen have done against the might and hostility of the Sanhedrin? If, as is sometimes affirmed, Christianity be only human, the miracle of its establishment and propagation by such apostles, and under such circumstances, is surely as great as the miracle of the Incarnation. Five thousand converts within a few days, as the result of simple religious teaching, are surely as difficult to credit as the healing of the lame man. It was not the first time that Peter had stood before Annas and Caiaphas, who would exult in having in their hands again the leaders of the sect. What could be easier than to crush this accursed thing? The difficulty lay in certain incorrigible facts. The vitality of this pestilent heresy was derived from these facts. First, there were the notorious miracles which Christ Himself had wrought, crowned by His own indubitable resurrection. And now His followers seem to be working similar marvels. A fact such as this was worth a thousand arguments. It utterly baffled the Sanhedrim It compelled them to admit the miracle, and, with it, its undeniable inferences. The healed man, not the eloquence of its apostles, saved the infant Church. Such has often been the vindication of the Church; not the learning of its doctors, or the arguments of its apologists, but the spiritual life of some humble, simple-hearted disciple, who has justified its work by himself demonstrating its healing power. (H. Allon, D. D.)Healed men (2) The argument In religious systems the ultimate test of validity must ever be practical efficiency. Let us then apply this test to Christianity. Putting the argument in the broadest way, it stands thus: The fact of human sinfulness is proved from the universality of the consciousness of moral imperfection, and the assertion of the Christian Scriptures. Now philosophers, theologians, and moralists have set themselves to correct this evil, and to exert such influences as may quicken within men holy affections, and array their will resolutely and effectively on the side of purity and piety. The world has had along history. All kinds of experiments have been made in it. We know what was the faith, and what the kind of life that it produced in Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, China, and other non-Christian nations. We know how various forms of Christianity have worked in Europe. We know the effects of infidelity. And the comparative claims of these various systems are submitted to our verdict. Which of all the theologies, philosophies, or moralities propagated amongst men has been the most effective in making men good? We might rest the argument first upon a broad historical view of nations and peoples; we might compare Christian nations with idolatrous or Mohammedan nations; and point out how little non-Christian faiths have done to correct moral evil in men. We gladly admit that they have done something, and cannot question the true and noble elements of Buddhism, etc., and the very worst superstition is better than unchecked godlessness and vice. There may be religious traditions of a primitive knowledge of God which even a Bechuana has not lost. Yet who would hesitate to recognise the moral superiority of Christianity, and the greater practical power of its truths? A similar line of argument, secondly, might be maintained respecting different forms of Christianity. Just in proportion as it has been spiritual, biblical, have the nations who have received it been virtuous, noble, industrious, and powerful. The connection between Popery and the state of nations such as Spain, Austria, Italy, and Ireland, not to speak of France; and between Protestantism and the state of nations such as Germany, England, and the United States, is too obvious to need exposition. And one has only to think of the principles, religious, social, and political, of the two systems, to see that the result is inevitable. Sacerdotalism, in all its forms, is antagonistic to the noblest life of nations or men. But these lines of argument demand volumes for their adequate illustration. Let me take one or two of the fundamental elements of Christianity, and look at their adaptation to make men holy. I. The Bible. It is our authoritative religious book, claiming to be a supernatural revelation of the thought and heart of God. Is, then, the Bible, as tested by its history and practical moral power, the efficient instrument for recovering men? On many sides its claims are disallowed. It is denied that it is inspired--only as Plato, and Bacon, and Shakespeare, and Milton are inspired. It is not, we are told, even true as a history. Its chronology, statistics, science are false, its miracles impossible violations of natural law, its prophecies but remarkable coincidences or sagacious prognostications. There is in the Book nothing that may not be accounted for on natural principles. How, then, are its Divine claims to be vindicated? Christianity has scholars abundantly competent to reply to the scholars of infidelity. Nay, the chief learning and science, criticism and philosophy of the world, are Christian. Hitherto, moreover, every assault of hostile criticism has only called forth new champions, who by fresh researches and lines of argument have shown how impregnable and manifold its defences are. But the vindication of the Bible need not be left to learned argumentation. We may appeal to the religious character and achievements of the Bible. Alone among the religious books of the world it is a book of history; and further, itself has a history. The Bible is not like the Zendavesta, a book of liturgies; nor like the Vedic Hymns, a book of impossible legends; nor like the writings of Confucius and Plato, a book of moral philosophy; nor like the Koran, a book of mere doctrine and precept. Fundamentally and characteristically it is history. What, then, is the moral character of the Bible? and what have been its moral effects? Take as a test of the Old Testament the Book of Genesis. Is it history or is it legend, from God or of men? Do we need a Niebuhr to give us a reply? Nay, verily. Make what abatement we may for historic or scientific difficulties, indisputable religious characteristics remain.1. How are we to account for its characters, Abel, Enoch, Abraham? Hew is it that Abraham, the “ friend of God,” is not, like Hercules, a demigod or a hero? Always in closest intimacy with Jehovah, he is yet always as human in all his thoughts and actions as the men of to-day. How is it, again, that the Jehovah whom he worships is not like Zeus, an incongruous conception of supernatural attributes, human imperfections, and even vile passions. While the worshipper has no single trait of divinity, the Jehovah whom he worships has no single trait of humanity. How is it that these conceptions of the human and Divine, and of their relations, so incomparably transcend all the mythologies of the world, that in fundamental ideas we have neither surpassed nor altered them since? 2. How is it, again, that the morality taught in the Book of Genesis so singularly transcends even that of Plato; nay, that it is so wonderfully accordant with the moral conceptions and feelings of our own day? Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, are fully delineated, and their faults exposed. Wrong is never confounded with right. How came it to pass that when the philosophy of a Plato and the morality of an Aristotle were so signally defective, this old book of three thousand years ago anticipated the fundamental theology and morality of our nineteenth Christian century? Is not the only possible answer--These were men whom God had healed, and this is God’ s record concerning them? Difficulties of science or of history have no weight against these moral evidences, based as the former are upon ignorance or erroneous interpretation, which greater information might remove. But there can be no mistake about these positive features, and before the claims of the record can be rejected these must be accounted for. II. Turning to the New Testament, still grander moral delineations are presented to us. Peerless and Divine stands the moral portraiture of Jesus Christ. Whence is it? of man or of God? Whatever we may think about Christianity, Christ Himself is the greatest moral miracle of human history. Had Jesus never lived, could His character have been imagined? Has any conception of romance approached it since? Think of--1. His calm, majestic strength, His perfect self-possession and dignity, and yet His nature intense even to passion in its emotions. He denounces the Pharisees, but without a vestige of unholy passion; He drives out the money-changers, but without a spark of religious fanaticism. 2. The wisdom of His holiness. His is not the innocence that is ignorant of human life, it is the strength that is above it. 3. His self-consciousness and self-assertion. When He speaks concerning Himself it is to avow His human faultlessness, to assert His Divine perfection and prerogative. His character, He claims, has been subjected to unparalleled tests, and without the discovery of a single flaw. 4. The singular proportion and adjustment of His character. What a wonderful harmony of greatness and gentleness, holiness and pity, strength and sympathy; the grandeur of the loftiest manhood, the tenderness of the gentlest womanhood. We reverence as much as we love Him, we love Him as much as we worship Him. 5. His moral excellences in combination with His intellectual greatness. 6. His conception of His own kingdom. He, a peasant of the mountain village of Nazareth, conceives a kingdom of pure spiritual life, alike adapted to the ancient Asiatic and to the modern European, to the shivering Esquimaux and to the torrid Hindoo; a kingdom of universal brotherhood, in which all men are to be knit together in holiness and love. May we not, then, fairly appeal to the moral portraiture of the New Testament in proof that it is of God? Not merely to its healed men, but also to their Healer. Scepticism has had its men of genius--why has it never produced another gospel? Upon the moral integrity of its Christ Christianity is staked. He alleged that He wrought miracles. But if He never did them, the loftiest truth, the purest morality of the world is the offspring of a lie--a moral solecism so great that our entire consciousness rejects it. III. Nor are the effects of Christ’ s Gospel or the religious history of the Bible less conclusive. We know what Christianity did in apostolic times, when it came into contact with the unutterable depravities of Greece and Rome--what it found its converts, and what it made them. We know what it has done in every land to which it has come since; what just now Europe is in contrast with Asia, America in contrast with Africa. We know what fifty years ago the South Sea Islands were, and what--the officers of our navy and the intercourse of our merchant ships being witness--they are now. And its latest triumphs have been the most signal. A few chapters of the Bible, sometimes a single page, has sustained and propagated the Christianity of Madagascar; inspiring its converts with the virtue of saints and with the heroism of martyrs. No other book does this. Stand in a pulpit and read to men Plato or Milton or Bacon: where are their converts? whose hearts do they change? whose lives do they sanctify? Read to them the Bible, and healed men spring up everywhere, “ walking, and leaping, and praising God.” IV. We might take the distinctive doctrines of Christianity, and reason from them in the same way.1. No doctrine, e.g., has been more demurred to than the doctrine of atonement. It has been represented as unrighteous and immoral. It is sufficient to reply-- (1) That this, for eighteen hundred years, has been the fundamental doctrine of Christendom. The moral conscience of Christian men, so far from stumbling at its supposed moral incongruities, has gloried in nothing so greatly. (2) That if it be a false doctrine, men are misled the most grievously where they think themselves guided the most explicitly; and instead of being the most lucid, the New Testament is the most ambiguous of books. (3) That in its practical influence upon men’ s hearts and lives, this alleged error has been more potent and fruitful than all admitted truth. Whenever this idea is lost, whatever else is retained, religious life is chilled down, and grateful love is abated. Can we then imagine that all this is a delusion? that this gratitude has been falsely generated? this holiness illegitimately wrought? It cannot be; man’ s error can never be more potent than God’ s truth. 2. So with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It is objected to as loosening the bonds of responsibility, as encouraging a perilous laxity in morals; inasmuch as men who are taught that all their goodness is from God, and that a Divine power external to themselves must “ create in them a clean heart,” and “ renew them day by day,” are not likely to strive to be good. Again we appeal to the inexorable logic of fact, to healed men. Who in religious life are the most sensitive to sin, the most scrupulous in holiness, the most consecrated in service, the most beneficent in help? Beyond all dispute, they who theoretically believe, and who practically illustrate the new birth of the Spirit. In a word, we boldly submit all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity to this test of results. Conclusion: Every Christian minister, every town missionary, almost every member of a Christian Church, could adduce instances, some of them scores and hundreds, which would stand the test of any judicial investigation. No one rejects Christianity because its influences are pernicious, or Christ, because His teaching is immoral. When Christian men are charged with inconsistency, the very charge implies a standard far higher than any other in our social life. Reason with a sceptical objector, you may be ignominiously defeated. But the argument from moral result is unanswerable. The most ignorant can say, “ Whether this be of God or not I cannot tell; this I know, that whereas once I was blind now I see.” If the objector tells you what his philosophy is, you show him what your Christianity has done. He challenges the philosophy of your creed, you challenge the moral effects of his infidelity. Where are its religious penitents, its rescued reprobates, its Magdalens and prodigals? And if he has found no such moral power to make men holy, he will, if a true man, tell you with a sorrowful heart, how reluctantly he rejects your Christianity. He who feels no such anguish, or who chuckles over any discredit of a benign and holy Christianity, is simply a fiend and not a man. In this way, then, even gainsayers may be made to confess, “ That a notable miracle hath been done by these Christian teachers, is manifest to all them that dwell in the land, and we cannot deny it.” (H. Allon, D. D.) Acts 4:18-31 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor to teach in the name of Jesus. Christian courage I. Its test. The apostles did not wish to separate themselves from the Jewish Church, for it was while entering the temple that Peter and John restored the lame man. See these men, then, confronted by a positive command from the nation’ s highest tribunal to be silent, a tribunal, too, that had condemned their Master. National love, respect for law, pride of race, reverence for institutions hoary with age, strength of social ties, personal friendships, a shrinking from becoming disturbers of the peace, fear for personal safety--all these conspired to intensify the command “ not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” What now enables them to oppose the Sanhedrin’ s command? Their personal love for Jesus. To be silent is impossible. Bound to their nation by enduring ties, a stronger cord binds them to Jesus. “ We cannot but speak.” And speak they did, with added boldness. There are currents in the sea which, despite opposing winds and tides, move on their way unhindered, impelled by a mighty force hidden far in the depths. Such a force in the hearts of these disciples was love for Christ. II. Its manifestations. Men are sometimes called courageous when they are only reckless. The man of real courage will be bold enough, and calm enough, to act wisely. In the conduct of the apostles every mark of true courage is manifest.1. They show that their course is not prompted by impulse or passion. They are moved by deep convictions. They plant themselves on the highest conceivable ground, the sense of right. They have no ambitious ends to seek, no revenge to gratify, no popular applause to gain. “ Thrice armed is he who bath his quarrel just.” When the Empress Eudoxia sent threatening messages to Chrysostom in Constantinople to desist from his pungent reproofs, the golden-tongued preacher replied: “ Tell the Empress that Chrysostom fears nothing but sin.” Note, as an evidence of wisdom, how sagaciously the apostles appeal to this self-same principle of right in the minds of their accusers. “ Judge ye.” This sense that it is right to hearken more unto God than unto men, whether adopted in practical life or not, must and does commend itself to every man’ s conscience. Those who adhere to it gain the confidence of all. “ What,” was asked by a merchant of a poor boy applying for a situation, “ should you say if I were to tell you to work on Sunday?” “ I shouldn’ t come; for God has said, ‘ Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,’ and I shall do as God bus told me.” “ Then,” said the employer, “ you are the boy I am looking for.” 2. The apostles’ courage is seen in the company they keep. “ Being let go, they went to their own company,” etc. How changed the aspect! In the Sanhedrin the air was dense with suspicion and malice--here is love, purity, and the peace of heaven. Courage is of the right kind when it seeks to sustain itself by breathing an atmosphere like this. III. Its source (verse 31). The breath of God’ s Spirit upon their spirits. Christ did not send the apostles into trial without providing them with a power adequate to every want. Christians should learn to look to the Holy Spirit to work in them and for them whatever their needs require. If courage is the virtue needed here, then courage will be the product of the Spirit. Before the Sanhedrin the Spirit makes Peter bold; but afterwards the same Spirit made him deeply humble. John, originally a “ son of thunder,” was by the Spirit’ s agency so transformed as to become a renowned example of Christian gentleness. (Monday Club Sermons.)The apostles’ confidence in God In the breast of every earnest man this conflict resolves itself into a question of duty of expediency. The easy thing is to suit one’ s convenience; the hard thing is to do right. In the case of Peter and John there was a disagreement between the higher and the lower law. The powers that be are ordained of God; wherefore it is right to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, and be ready unto every good work (Titus 3:1). But if there comes a moment when the soul is hemmed in between the mandate of an earthly ruler and the word of Jehovah, the way is plain: God must ever hold the first place in the soul of a true man. We are resolved to do our duty though the heavens fall! In reaching this determination they were moved by two arguments--1. It was right. All considerations of mere prudence must stand aside for principle. Conscience has always the right of way. The meanest man on earth knows that God’ s service is above time-service. It was perfectly safe for the two disciples to submit that proposition to their inquisitors, as they did when they said, “ Judge ye.” 2. It was in line with the ruling motive of their lives. They had some time ago made up their minds deliberately to follow Christ. In that resolve there was no reservation; they had surrendered all. Now the matter is to be brought to a test; will they be loyal to their Master or not? There is no ground for hesitation. So Peter and John stood by their principles. It must have seemed to them as if they were facing death, but no matter. Now mark the immediate result. These disciples expected imprisonment, the lash, perhaps death, for their temerity; but God had His own plans.1. Their judges “ marvelled” at their courage and “ let them go” ! The angel of the Lord came and shut those lions’ mouths so that they could not hurt them. 2. The people “ glorified God for that which was done.” That term, “ the people,” represents an inconstant and untrustworthy factor; but in this instance the good work done upon the impotent man was so manifest, and the subsequent demeanour of Peter and John in court so heroic, that they were perforce convinced and moved to glorify God. 3. The two disciples were themselves emboldened for further service. They had tried God and found Him faithful, and they were ready to try Him again. The lad David was encouraged to go out against Goliath by the fact that God had once before delivered him from a lion and bear that had taken a lamb out of his flock. A man’ s courage is like his biceps muscle; it grows by use. 4. The whole Church was strengthened and enheartened by this event. Courage is catching. Heroes make heroes. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Obedience to God The Rev. Mr. Martini, from Spain, says: “ I have had the privilege of suffering a little--a very little--for the dear Lord, but in a sense it was my own fault, for I broke the law of my country. In Spain it was against the law for a Protestant to preach to a congregation of more than twenty persons, and that law I broke by addressing an audience of more than two hundred and fifty persons in the open air. I was holding a meeting of twelve persons in a small room, when certain persons entered and told me that there was a large number of people who wished me to preach to them in the open air. I thought, ‘ This is a call from God! Shall I obey God or man?’ I obeyed God, and broke the law of man; the consequence was that I was sent to prison for forty-six days. I was well treated by every one. The mayor and all the notables came to see me, and I gave them tracts and Gospels, besides preaching inside the prison to more than fifty persons at a time, although the law forbade me to preach to more than twenty persons at a time outside the prison.” God before man A heathen king had a Christian bishop brought before him, and ordered him to abjure his faith and sacrifice to the heathen idols. “ My lord and king,” said the bishop, “ that I will not do.” At this the king was furious, and said, “ Do you know that your life is in my hands, and that if I liked I could kill you? I have only to sign to my servants, and you are a dead man.” “ I know that,” answered the bishop; “ but before you kill me let me tell you a story. You can decide my fate when I have finished. Suppose one of your most faithful servants falls into the hands of your enemies, and they seek to excite him to rebel against you--to make him a traitor. He, however, remains faithful, and your enemies strip him, and drive him back to his country. Say, O king, when he came to you thus, insulted and outraged for your honour, would you not provide him with your best garments,, and cover his shame with honour?” “ So far, so good,” said the king, “ but what has all this to do with the case in hand? A pretty story enough, and well told, but I do not see the connection it has with you.” Then the pious bishop answered, “ Listen, sire. You may strip me of my earthly garments, but I have a Master who will clothe me with splendour, and fit me for His presence in glory. Shall I barter away my faith to save my garments?” Then the heathen king answered, “ You have conquered; go in peace.” Christian courage I. Manifested (verses 18-22). II. Sustained (verses 23-28). III. Increased (verses 29-31). (Christian Age.)Not to cease because despised What would the nightingale care if the toad despised her singing? She would still sing on and leave the toad to his dark shadows. And what care I for the threats of men who grovel upon the earth? I will still sing on in the bosom and ear of my God. (H. W. Beecher.)Christian courage Courage is one of the Bible virtues. It was one of the last words of Moses to Joshua: “ Be strong and of good courage.” It was almost the first word of the Lord on welcoming him to his new office: “ Be strong and of good courage.” It was the counsel given the twelve Hebrew explorers. David recalled the energising word in his charge to Solomon, and in the Psalms he rings out the same voice to all the saints: “ Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” The correspondent word “ boldness” is as often used in the New Testament. It applied to Christ Himself in His preaching; it was what Paul would have the Church pray for as a gift to him; and, as we see in this book of Acts, it was one of the distinguishing traits of the other apostles and the primitive Church. Mark, then, this instance of Christian courage-- I. As belonging to private and non-professional men This was the problem that first exercised the Sanhedrin--confidence where they looked for diffidence. They had not been trained in the schools as rhetoricians who might be expected to command their speech and self-possession before the tribunal or a popular assembly. It would have been a severe ordeal to some men of education and experience. Whence, then, the calmness of these obscure disciples? It was derived from Christ Himself. And so the Sanhedrin soon perceived. Christ, though no professed rhetorician, spoke with calmness, with knowledge and with authority, and these two disciples had taken their style from their Master. I have seen plain men, who had been brought up far from schools, but brought so near to Christ that they could not but speak of Him, and with such knowledge and calmness that they always gained a hearing. II. As maintained in the face of worldly array and authority. “ What will the world say of us?” is a question many persons ask with great solicitude. Some very strong men (like Napoleon) have been very weak here. What the world will do to us is still more startling, if it has a rod in its hands and a will to use it. It seemed as if the whole world was against these two Galileans, and likely to make quick work with them. The Shepherd had been smitten; how could the flock fail to be scattered? The people rather than the rulers were the audience on Pentecost. “ Your rulers” are spoken of as if absent. But now the great men began to be astir. How amazed was the Sanhedrin when these two plain men, instead of humbly begging pardon, calmly stood on their defence! They went over the gospel story as unembarrassed as if they were telling it to an audience of friends. III. As sustained by the sense of a divine presence. “ Whether it be right in the sight of God.” There being two here to judge us, which shall have the precedency? The rulers had not been with Jesus, and had not learned this lesson. If Jesus were at their side, what though the whole array of the Sanhedrin confronted them? Precisely this was what the Saviour had promised: “ Lo, I am with you alway.” IV. As having the support of pertinent and palpable facts. When the lame man heard of the apostles’ arrest, he went before the tribunal, ready to give his testimony and share their fate. Standing upright there on his feet, what could the Sanhedrin say? How else could the apostles feet at that sight but joyful and thankful that such a miracle of mercy had been wrought by their hands? This has always been a strong support in the work for God--the good results that have attended it. Paul felt this: “ I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” etc. V. As encouraged by the companionship of Christian men. “ They went to their own company.” In holy joy they lifted up their voices together in the triumphant words of the Old Testament Psalm: “ Why do the Gentiles rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” Their prayer went up for greater boldness in their Master’ s cause, and new wonders of grace as the fruit of it. (W. E. Knox, D. D.)The apostles’ confidence in God The suggestions and the truths which may be gathered from this lesson are many and varied, for example--The vanity of combinations and conspiracies against God as affirmed in Scripture and illustrated in history. The beneficent character of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The necessity and value of mutual sympathy. The power of united and believing prayer as taught in the New Testament. The care of God over His own. The disciples had in a measure been prepared for trouble by the pre-announcement of Christ: “ If they have persecured Me, they will also persecute you.” But now it was in sight, and under threat of pains and penalties they were charged to keep silence. But, like the three Hebrew children of Daniel’ s day, they needed no time for considering the question. We find no hint or shadow of one that indicates on their part any wavering of purpose. We look for the grounds of this confidence and courage, and find them incorporated in the lesson text. This confidence was based on the omnipotence of God, which was--1. A fundamental element of the irreligious faith. The Mosaic economy had taught them this. The history of their own people, which they still cherished, and the memories of which were dear to them, was full of illustrious evidences of the power and glory of Jehovah. They had not changed in becoming followers of Christ this fundamental faith in the God of their childhood and of their earlier manhood. This element of their religious faith was further buttressed by-- 2. The convincing events of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. The facts were then, as they should be now, the unanswerable factors in the propagation of the gospel. When they beheld “ the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” 3. In addition, the Holy Ghost within them enabled them to make forceful and persuasive the truth they advocated. It is true they were neither skilled in arms nor trained in schools; they had neither wealth nor social position, but God was with them, and they were invincible. Pentecost had made them all-powerful. Let us emulate their dauntless courage, touch the sources, as they did, of supernal power, make regnant in our lives the principles they enunciated, and then the world will be at our feet as it was at theirs, and we shall go forth, as did the apocalyptic rider, on the white horse, “ conquering and to conquer.” (John D. Pickles.)Boldness I. Commanded--1. Against God’ s enemies (Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:6; Joshua 1:9; Joshua 1:18),2. To keep God’ s law (Joshua 1:7; Joshua 23:6; 1 Chronicles 22:13).3. In testifying for Christ (Matthew 10:28; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Ephesians 6:10).4. In reproving sin (Isaiah 58:1; Micah 3:8). II. The source of--1. Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 7:19).2. Grace in Christ (2 Timothy 2:1).3. Distrust of self (2 Corinthians 12:10).4. Righteousness (Proverbs 28:1).5. Faith in Christ (Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 10:19).6. Trust in God (Isaiah 50:7).7. Fear of God (Acts 5:29).8. Faithfulness to God (1 Timothy 3:13).9. Prayer (verse 29; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:16). III. Reasons for.1. God only to be feared (Isaiah 8:12-14; Isaiah 51:12-13; Matthew 10:28; Hebrews 10:31; Hebrews 12:28-29).2. Those who trust in God are safe (Proverbs 29:25).3. God is with His servants (Isaiah 41:10).4. God can deliver (Daniel 3:17; Jeremiah 1:8).5. The Lord delivereth (Psalms 34:7).6. Right requires (verse 19).7. God will reward (Revelation 2:10). (S. S. Times.)Testimony not to be stifled Suppose that some savages have seen a cannon charged and discharged. Suppose that when they saw it charged a second time, dreading the consequences, they should gather stones and clay, and therewith ram the cannon full to the muzzle, by way of shutting in the shot, and securing the safety of the neighbourhood. They know not the power of gunpowder when it is touched by a spark. This is the sort of blunder into which the Sanhedrin fell. They thought they could stifle the testimony of the apostles by ramming a threat of punishment down their throats. They knew not the power of faith when kindled by a spark from heaven. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.--Apostolic heroism A great and prolonged conflict was approaching. How were the Christians to meet it? We have the answer here. The apostles’ heroism-- I. Was based on righteousness. “ Whether it be right in the sight of God” was a rebuke to those who were only consulting the interests of Judaism or their own. But that which is based on righteousness does not find favour with unregenerate human nature, and much so-called heroism has rested on wrong. II. Was sustained by reference to God. All is right which is right in His sight. The apostles then referred to the only true authority, doubtless devoutly and in faith. No wonder they were heroic, for the history of their nation showed that such reference to God had stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, etc. How could they fail with Omnipotence on their side? What could the Sanhedrin be to such men? Like faith produces like heroes everywhere. III. Was manifested in obedience to God. The apostles “ hearkened unto God” who had spoken by Jesus, and was now speaking by the Spirit--hence the healing of the cripple, and this defence. The man who was urged to do his duty on the battlefield because he seemed to hear the voice of his country was a hero; but how much more the apostles. They heard God Himself, and as long as He was obeyed what mattered it if men were displeased. IV. Bore the test of common human intelligence. “ Judge ye.” The principle was referred to as an axiom which might be evaded and practically disobeyed, but which could not be intellectually contested; and any position founded upon it is impregnable. When our ways please God we may safely submit them to the arbitrament of human judgment. V. Was the constant expression of the constraint of conscience. “ For we cannot but speak,” etc. To have acted otherwise would have been to violate their consciences by wilful unfaithfulness and neglect of duty. We have seen the works of Christ in the salvation of sinners: then how dare we be silent? (W. Hudson.)Moral heroism When John Knox heard of the projected marriage of Queen Mary with the Roman Catholic prince of Spain, he rose in the pulpit at St. Giles, Edinburgh, and told the congregation that whenever they, professing the Lord Jesus, consented that a Papist should be head of their sovereign, they did, as far as in them lay, banish Christ from the realm. Mary recognised her enemy. Him alone she had failed to work upon. She sent for him, and her voice shaking between tears and passion, she said that never prince had been handled as she: she bad borne his bitterness, she had admitted him to her presence, she had endured to be reprimanded, and yet she could not be quit of him; she “ vowed to God she would be avenged.” The queen sobbed violently. Knox stood silent until she collected herself. He then said, “ Madam, in God’ s presence I speak: I never delighted in the weeping of God’ s creatures; but seeing T have but spoken the truth as my vocation craves of me, I must sustain your Majesty’ s tears rather than hurt my conscience.” (H. O. Mackey.)Duty to God first The great classic dramas (the Antigone of Sophocles, e.g.) frequently deal with the complications involved in the conflict between duty to God and duty to earthly authorities. I. Man’ s claims are admitted. Family life and social order demand that some should rule and some should serve. Scripture requires due submission to government authorities on the ground that they are ordained of God, and that resistance to them is resistance of the ordinance of God. All right and reasonable demand of human magistracy are therefore to be loyally met as indirectly the claims of God. But no human authority may interfere with a man’ s spiritual religion. Man’ s claims are limited to conduct. God alone may rule in motive, thought, opinion and feeling. Even apostles had no dominion over the disciples’ faith. II. God’ s claims are admitted.1. He may as He pleases communicate His will either directly or indirectly by-- (1) His providential arrangements.(2) His written Word.(3) His Son.(4) His Spirit. 2. These claims must be absolutely supreme. They, indeed, afford the test of all other claims, which must be in harmony with these, if they are to be in any sense binding upon men. The relation in which man stands to God is that of the child who recognises no authority above that of his father. III. Should the claims of man and the claims of God come in conflict there can be no question as to which must yield. Here was such a conflict, and there were many such in the times of the prophets. The conflict is in regard to things--1. Absolutely wrong, as when the early Christians were required to swear by the genius of the Emperor. To cease to witness for Christ, or to yield where custom, fashion and caste require what is inconsistent comes under this category. 2. Doubtful. The conflict in this case is the gravest perplexity of life, and sends us back on first principles. No one, however, need find much difficulty who accepts such counsel as this, “ Be not conformed to this world,” etc. (R. Tuck, B. A.)Duty to God the supreme law The Word of God is not my word; I, therefore, cannot abandon it; but in all things short of that, I am ready to be docile and obedient. You shall have my blood, my life, rather than a single word of retraction; for it is better to obey God than man. It is no fault of mine that this matter creates confusion among you. I cannot prevent the Word of Christ becoming a stumbling-block to men. I know Well that; we must pay obedience to the civil magistrate, even though he be not a man after God’ s own heart; I am quite ready to pay that obedience in any matter that does not shut out the Word of God. (M. Luther.)The one question in conduct We have here-- I. A criterion of freedom. The two men are prisoners; but who will say that they are not free? Great things may be expected of any man when he has gained the moral liberty to put this question first. The liberty of a Roman citizen at that time was costly, but, like all mere political independence, stopped far short of this. It secured mortal rights; but it could never confer the conscience which inquires, or the power to perform, what is right. That distinction between rights claimed and right done runs very deep, dividing the world into two orders of souls. It may be pure selfishness that insists on its rights. It must be unselfish duty that chooses what is right and does it in singleness of heart. A new commonwealth had just risen from the grave of Christ, and here was its watchword. II. A test of Christian society.1. We have one outward witness to the religion of Jesus--the Christian propriety of domestic habits; the Christian talk of the railway and parlour; the Christian tone of literature; the Christian fashion of Sunday and ceremony. But as the eyes of God run over the Christian world, does He not seek some other proof? 2. This brings us to the vital point. Original Christianity is a religion of righteousness. Behold the Divine Man! Observe the proportions of His doctrine--how much about duty, character, the glory of right, the wretchedness of wrong; how little about anything else I Notice what kind of people hated Him--corrupt office-holders, hypocritical devourers of widows’ houses, traders in virtue and blood, etc. Notice what kind of people loved Him--men that wanted to be honest and true, women that wanted to be strong in charity and pure in heart. Infer from these passions that He crossed, and from the noble aspirations that He invigorated, what it was, after three years of loving work, that drove the nails through His hands and feet. Settle it with yourself in this way, what was the vital core of His ministry? Was it not righteousness in man? Was it not to set up a kingdom of “ right” ? Did not Christ come and die to beget by a new faith a race of men right-thinking, right-feeling, right-reverencing, right-working? He had now but just ascended out of sight. The power of His Spirit had illuminated His messengers. Two apostles there, knowing Him thoroughly, sure of His meaning, are told to shut their lips about Him. The blood scarcely yet dry at Calvary shows that these magistrates’ threats are not empty. But nothing comes into their minds but one open answer, not whether it be prudent, politic, safe, profitable, or even “ necessary,” but “ Whether it be right.” I take that to be the fundamental ground in practical Christianity. Many other things have been crowded into its place; things of high pretension and considerable value. But we had better go back to the beginning. For what is Catholic, Evangelical, Churchly, reasonable, true as Christ is true, we had best go nowhere else but there. This is -what we mean by the appeal to primitive antiquity and apostolical authority. They make the substance of personal Christianity to be a character that you can trust. Dogma, formularies, symbols, sermons, exist for character. It is the decisive test, as to every particular action, as to its being done or let alone--“ whether it be” --not lucrative, fashionable, popular, comfortable, but “ right.” Call Christianity a temple--this is its foundation; a kingdom--this is its law; a tree--this is the root; a stream--this is the spring; a creed--this is the conclusion of all its articles. 3. Does the world want this less now than ever before? Take two of the great departments of human conduct for a criterion. (1) Business life. It would seem that the highest law here, the ideal mercantile condition, would be that producers, sellers, and buyers should trust one another, and not be disappointed in that trust; that the money, the interest, the good name of each one should be safe in his neighbour’ s hands. But do not business men watch one another with distrustful anxiety? Are not the processes of trade and commerce methods of protecting one man from another’ s rapacity? What are all the complicated functions of the attorney, the court, the police, but a standing presumption that men will cheat if they can? Every little while comes a crash. Some hitherto unquestioned reputation collapses in disgrace. A merchant, a banker, a contractor, a trustee of orphans’ inheritances, fails; so fails that integrity, truth to his creditors, gratitude to his friends, fail in him and with him. The tumbling down of all the towers and steeples of the town ought to send less shock and gloom through the air. Then, on the other hand, there appears amongst you, now and then, a man of solid virtue--so true, so unbribable, that everybody does trust him, and is never betrayed. The very rarity and refreshment of the sight tell to the same conclusion. There is a widespread lack of simple reverence for the right. There is some defect in our training. Right is not first; it comes after profit, office, position. In the summing-up of Old Testament morality there were three requirements of God: “ Do justly” was the first of the three. In the new gospel test there are two conditions of acceptance for every nation; and working “ righteousness” is one of the two. (2) From business turn to social entertainment. Christianity is in the world of common social life not to prohibit it or to ask leave to look on, but to regulate it by its rule, helping to sweeten it by its charity, and to elevate it by its chaste nobility. Yet as one sees what passes, and listens to what is said, he wonders how often the participators ask of this or that feature of the spectacle “ Whether it be right.” Are the going or staying, the indulgence or rejection, the expenditure, style, talk, dress, drink brought to this Christian criterion of right and wrong? I speak of no artificial standard or rule; but does the question of duty, by any rule, of sin by any standard, get a fair and clear hearing of all. 4. In the gospel there are proportions. In one sense the bark of a fruit-tree is as necessary as the root or the sap, the limbs of the body as the heart. But after all we build badly, and we grow badly, unless we set things in their order, always with a view to the one end, and keep the essentials supreme. In the religion of Christ the one end is character. In the kingdom of God the honours are for those who are good and true; uprightness is the nobility; and the business of the citizens is not only to take the name of their King, and to bow in His presence, but to be like Him. An apostolic faith is not handed down, but it fails on the way unless it carries with it an apostolic conscience. Before Mammon, before the spirit of society, before gain and fashion, before all the world’ s rulers and elders and scribes, make your answer for God, each one alone, and then stand. In a way that will need no subtle imagination to explain, the grand issue of that old trial in Jerusalem will be yours also: “ All men glorified God for that which was done.” (Bp. Huntington.)Not man’ s, but God’ s voice to be heard The spirit of this reply is that calm but immoveable resolution in pursuing the course of duty which an enlightened conscience shall mark out. The reply of the apostles points out-- I. The rule of personal conduct; and this as consisting in an acknowledgment of the authority of the law of Christ, as regulating all the principles and actions of life. And here a very wide field opens itself, if we were to follow out this head at length. It takes in the whole length and breadth of the Christian character: it contemplates the servant of the Lord under all the conceivable circumstances of duty in which he may be placed in the world. Suffice it, therefore, to state generally that, in such a man, Christ sits as a King upon the throne of the heart. The line of duty being plainly marked out in the law of Christ, He follows it in the face of all the consequences that may ensue. He will not judge of the extent of his duty by what is acceptable, or otherwise, to those around him, but from the plain command of Christ. What will the world think of me? is a suggestion which frightens away “ the fearful and unbelieving” man from following that path which the voice of God within him pronounces to be right. The fear of being reckoned what is called “ righteous overmuch,” or of being deemed too rigid in his principles, reconciles him to practices which his conscience condemns. Like those base flatterers who crowd the courts of kings, and know no other standard Of good and evil than their prince’ s burnout, so, in whatever heart the fear of man reigns, that heart will avow neither doctrine, nor sentiment, nor practice, but such as are in good odour among men, however strongly it may be enforced in God’ s Word as truth, and however it may be inwardly felt to be such. But while discretion regulates the conduct of the courageous Christian, and points out to him the fit time and manner of acting, yet he will not fail to discover his true character. Remembering evermore the “ contradiction of sinners against Himself,” which his Lord underwent, and with a sense of eternal things fastened on his mind; recollecting, too, the sting he has felt in his conscience when he may have seemed, by his silence at least, to applaud sentiments and practices opposed to the spirit of the law of Christ, he is enabled, by the united influence of all these considerations, to be prepared to risk the loss of all things, rather than desert the cause of God. Such a man, such a Christian, will feel that the more ungodly are those with whom he converses, the more imperative the call made upon him to honour God in an irreproachable life: the greater the darkness which is around him, the stronger the obligation that rests upon him to shine forth in the beauty of holiness. By this were those eminent servants of God actuated, who, in the face of a burning fiery furnace, heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, could say to the king in whose power they were, “ We are not careful to answer thee in this matter.” This was the spirit of David, who said, “ I will speak of Thy testimony even before kings, and will not be ashamed.” II. The reply of the apostles expresses, with equal decisiveness, the leading principles of personal belief. If there be any part of His truth which it is plain that “ God hath highly exalted” ; if there be any one announcement upon which a mighty emphasis is laid by the constant repetition of it, and because it meets the view at all points, this ought to find a rank proportionably high in our own minds. This truth a Christian must learn to prize dearly, and for this earnestly contend. Such a truth, pre-eminently, ix that which teaches that “ we are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith.” But it is possible to hold such a system of doctrine, as shall pass for a Scriptural acceptance of this truth, while it is either a corruption of that truth, or even in its tendency subversive of it. He must be little conversant with his own heart who is not aware how reluctant man naturally is to be beholden to another for his redemption, even though it were to God Himself; and how unpalatable to the taste which Divine grace has not refined is that religion whose first claim is that all idea of personal merit be renounced. The courageous Christian finds here an exercise for his firmness. III. The occasion on which the two apostles announced this great principle suggests to us yet another application of it: it was when they had been preaching the truth of Christ that the prohibition which they resisted came forth from the council. Their answer, therefore, naturally reminds us of the foundation on which is to be constructed the rule of faith. Here, too, as in the former case, the course of a resolute follower of Christ is to be founded on a principle. It may not be self-willed, but it must be conscientious: not caprice, which is irresponsible, but reason, which is consistent, must be his guide. And the principle, on which the rule of his “ faith” is constructed, is obvious and distinct. In a matter so peculiar, and so closely affecting himself, as religion, he declines to listen to any voice except that which speaks to him immediately from heaven. Whilst he acknowledges, in common with one who wrote on the evidences of Christianity, and against the infidel, that, considering the circumstances in which man is placed, it is even highly probable that a revelation should be made to man; yet, for that very reason, because it is a revelation--something hitherto unheard of that God should speak to man--he requires that the voice which speaks shall be one that shall instantly be recognised to be the voice of God. If a Roman poet, familiar to us all, could say, “‘ Tis when he thunders from the sky that we believe Jove is really king there,” the Christian may, with much more reason, require that the voice to which he is called upon to attend in the things that everlastingly concern him shall be attended by credentials alike Divine. Those of us who admit this reason will, as a necessary consequence, take the Scriptures as our sole rule of faith. Had the Holy Ghost spoken unto us only a few enigmatical words, it had been necessary to spell and scan them with the most inquisitive earnestness, and to eke out from some other source a supplement to a communication so scanty. But, when we have a volume of such bulk, beginning with the foundation of the world, and ending with the last dispensation, it is not easy to understand upon what principle we are to look for any other communication (as from God) from any other quarter whatsoever. Nor, in thus upholding the undivided claim of the Scriptures to be the rule of faith, need any simple-minded advocate of truth be perplexed by questions that have startled some. If any should inquire how the Church is to extract from a body of truth lying scattered over so wide a surface her own confession of faith, the reply is that she can only do it by the study of that Scripture itself. To aid in ascertaining its meaning she will not disdain the writings of the pious and learned of all by-gone days; she will take them, however, as guides to her judgment, not as superseding it. The Word of God will thus be made the supreme authority; and if any should propose to modify the plain assertion of Scripture upon any point, the servant of Christ, tenacious of the principle he has adopted, will reply, “ Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” And yet it is remarkable that, in thus asserting the paramount duty of listening to no other voice than God’ s, he need not shut his ear to that of the Church; and this in two respects: first, because the Church has taught agreeably to God’ s teachings; and, far more, because such is the course acted upon by our Church itself. For what was the procedure of those men who drew up our doctrinal standards? They made the Scriptures the single court of appeal. With them tradition is not an assessor with Scripture upon the throne of judgment, but sits in a lower place. It may be no small satisfaction to an inquirer after the right way, thus to have it made clear to him, that he may be at once jealous for the honour of God, and not conceited]y negligent of the opinions of men. But, that the balance of truth in this matter may be duly preserved, it is well to urge that the rule of faith is not the blended voice of God and man, but that of God only. It was not until “ Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child Samuel,” that he bade him give to the voice this reply, “ Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” IV. There is yet another case which comes within the range of that broad principle which the apostles Peter and John laid down. That principle will furnish a rule for maintaining the purity of God’ s truth. Taking the Church from its commencement, it will be seen that error has been found in it of a more or less mischievous nature. Every period has witnessed its peculiar corruptions. And thus the men of each age have had a corresponding duty imposed upon them, to be very jealous for the Lord Of Hosts. The Israelites, when the whole generation that rebelled in the wilderness were cut off, entered into Canaan, and soon fell into the idolatry of their new neighbours. Other Christians, again, were for engrafting on it the pagan philosophy, for rejecting the Old Testament and the moral law--a specious and insinuating heresy. The vigilant sentinel would cry out to those who were in danger from this subtle enemy, “ Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, and not after Christ.” But, when it shall have been successfully maintained that it is “ right to hearken unto God rather than unto man” in all of these respects, the whole practical use of the demonstration may yet be lost. For some may say, “ You need a key which is to unlock to each individual the sense of the Scripture, a curb to the vagrancy of each man’ s private construing of that very voice to which you bid him hearken. Unless you will open a door to the entrance of as many varieties of opinions as there are men to frame fancies, another voice must be listened to.” Whoever will not yield up the very citadel of Christian liberty, must manfully defend the truth in this matter. It is in religion as in our daily conduct. There are certain laws of morals which are defined; and the conscience of each man is to make his own application of them to his own case. This is discipline under which we are all held, and from which none of us can escape. The keeping of ourselves from hour to hour is not by any specific rule provided for every case that can arise, but by the going back to some grand principle which we have the task of applying. If there be any truth in the foregoing remarks, then every one must gird himself with the armour of resoluteness; for a yet more subtle foe may be in the rear. When the unanswerable nature of our arguments shall have silenced the adversary, he may employ another expedient to wrest out of our hands the weapons which they grasp. The voice of God may have been so clearly heard by unwilling ears that it cannot be gainsaid; but there may be a demand set up for not speaking of these things, and for forbearing to characterise the opposed errors by such titles as probably belong to them. Under the specious plea of charity, and an abstinence from evil speaking, many, on whom the mantle of Peter and John may have fallen, will be “ straightly charged to speak no more” that of which they are inwardly convinced. “ We cannot but speak the things which we have heard and seen.” Truth, if it be such, must find its utterance; just as love will express itself, or any other emotion: “ Wisdom is justified of her children,” not by their suppressing, but by their declaring her claims: “ I tell you, if these should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out.” Why shall not this strong language of the Lord have a fitness always as heretofore? The remarks that have been offered, if they are to be practically applied, imply such a state of things in the Church as it is never joyous to contemplate. Courage implies danger--unshaken firmness is an attitude which tells of encroachment. It suggests itself as another reflection from this subject, how painful the sensation and the effects of a period of religious dissension! The occasion which calls for firmness is not one of serenity. (R. Eden, M. A.)God to be obeyed at all costs Unless I be confuted and convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by open and clear grounds and reasons, and also those sayings, adduced and brought forward by me, be confuted, and my conscience be captivated by the Word of God, I can and will recall nothing, because it is neither safe nor advisable to do anything against conscience. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. So help me God. (M. Luther.)Obeying God rather than men John Nelson, the Methodist stonemason, being once desired by his master’ s foreman to work on the Lord’ s day, on the ground that the King’ s business required despatch, and that it was common to work on the Sabbath for His Majesty when anything was wanted in a particular haste, Nelson boldly declared, “ That he would not work upon the Sabbath for any man in the kingdom, except it were to quench fire, or something that required immediate help.” “ Religion,” says the foreman, “has made you a rebel against the King.” “ No, sir,” he replied, “ it has made me a better subject than ever I was. The greatest enemies the King has are Sabbath-breakers, swearers, drunkards, and whoremongers, for these bring down God’ s judgments upon the King and country.” He was told he should lose his employment if he would not obey his orders; his answer was, “ He would rather want bread than wilfully offend God.” The foreman swore he would be as mad as Whitefield if he went on. “ What hast thou done,” said he, “ that thou needest make so much ado about salvation? I always took thee to be as honest a man as I have in the worlds, and would have trusted thee with £500.” “ So you might,” answered Nelson, “ and not have lost a penny by me.” “ I have a worse opinion of thee now,” said the foreman. “ Master,” rejoined he, “ I have the odds of you, for I have a worse opinion of myself than you can have.” The issue, however, was that the work was not pursued on the Sabbath, and Nelson rose in the good opinion of his employer for having shown a sense of his duty as a Christian. (Southey’ s Life of Wesley.)Protestantism was a refusal to live any longer in a lie. It was a falling back upon the undefined untheoretic rules of truth and piety which lay upon the surface of the Bible, and a determination rather to die than to mock with unreality any longer the Almighty Maker of the world. (J. A. Froude.)We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.-- Honest Christian speech I. That which the Christian has heard is worth repeating. He knew not God--words from heaven have revealed to him God. He was far from God--words from heaven have been the means of leading him nigh to God. His heart was at enmity towards God--words from heaven have been the means of reconciling him to God. He knew not how he could be pardoned--words from heaven have directed him to the Lamb of God. So timid was the Christian before he heard these words that he was like a soldier who trembles at the flutter of his own banner, and starts at the clangour of his own trumpet--words from heaven have so aroused his latent courage, that now, armour-clad, and sword, in hand, he glories in the battle of a true life, and instead of shrinking cowardly from the conflict, he now, in the thickest, sharpest warfare stands. Verily, worthy of the world’ s acceptation are words which are God’ s power unto salvation. And, think you, will the winds waft these words of God? Will the waters spread these Divine voices? Not your winds, O ye husbandmen, not your waters, O ye merchants; but the currents which carried Peter onwards when he said, “ I cannot but speak,” and the breath which moved John when He testified, “ We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” II. The spirit of faith inclines the Christian to repeat what he has heard.1. Observe the order in which religious belief and speech are hero placed. We have heard; and we cannot but speak. This is like Paul’ s language, and it is in harmony with that of David, “ I believed, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe, and therefore speak.” This order has been reversed, and much mischief has been the result. Are not children often made to say, “ We are members of Christ, we believe in God the Father Almighty, and in His Son,” while all evidence is wanting of such union, and of such faith? And converts, before they enter Christian communion, are often required to confess their belief in all the doctrines which that community holds. In some cases men publicly teach and preach before they believe, and the mischief of this false speech is most terrible. Immediately a lad has acquired a few religious ideas, he is often ushered into a Sabbath-school to speak. So soon as an adult is religiously impressed he must confess himself a Christian publicly, and speak. And when he has made a profession, he must be hurried into some sphere of Christian instruction to speak. Now where is the Nazareth in which Christ’ s disciples are brought up? Where the wilderness that precedes the showing unto Israel? Where the men who, like Paul, sojourn in Arabia before acknowledging Christ in Jerusalem? Premature effort makes weak Christians, and if you would have in Christ’ s Church strong Christians, men who can work, you will certainly keep all young converts for a time at Nazareth; and even after that you will sometimes send them into the wilderness. We have no confidence in number; our confidence is in the right men to do certain things. Faith comes by healing--faith grows by listening--doubts are dispersed by waiting and by inquiry. Moreover, listening, while it permits the honest, unwilful doubter to suspend his confession, is the best means of guiding such into that integrity of faith in which, like Thomas, they can address as living the Saviour whom they thought dead, and cry, “ My Lord and my God.” We cannot be always silent, that would be concealment; and we dare not be always reserved, that would mislead; we speak. There is something in the very principle of faith which moves to utterance. 2. But while it is of the nature of faith to incline to speech, that testimony which is the object of Christian faith, exerts the same influence. For what is it that the Christian has heard? Faithful sayings, worthy of all acceptation. And if his heart be right, sensitive, alive, it cannot be to him a matter of indifference whether or not men hear and believe that which he has heard and believed. The word that he has heard is a Divine word; and he would have others hear, that God may be glorified. It is the message of reconciliation; and he would have others hear, that they, too, may be reconciled. The origin, the worth, and the truth of the gospel, move the believer to speak. Its utility, its wonderfulness, the good-will to man that it induces, the believer’ s own conscience, obligation to the gospel, all move him to speak. If the Christian history appeared to him a fable, seriousness might bid him” hold his peace; if the Christian doctrine were doubtful, integrity will command silence; but the tendency of the believer’ s faith in the gospel is to move him to speak. 3. And beside the inward impulse, there is an external demand for honest, Christian speech. The disciple of Christ believes that which multitudes around him have not heard; and as he detects, by many symptoms, their ignorance, the spirit of faith saith, “ Inform them--speak.” He binds to his heart that which many reject; and the spirit of faith saith, “ Repeat that which you have heard, persuade, warn, speak.” He sees many perishing for lack of that remedy, of that provision by which he is saved; and the spirit of faith saith, “ Tell of the antidote to sinfulness--speaking.” The Christian in the midst of an ignorant community is like a fountain in the desert; a beacon on a dangerous coast; like his Master when surrounded by a multitude of the sick and needy in Palestine. Lepers are before him--he knows what will cleanse the leper. The palsied and the paralysed are around him--he knows what will re-animate the withered nerves. Divers diseases are exhibited to him--he knows what will remove them all. For sin in all its forms, for evil in all its workings and results, the Christian knows a remedy, and has a remedy. “ Then keep not silence about it, but of it--intelligently, lovingly, earnestly, incessantly, but seasonably, speak.” III. Considerations helpful to honest Christian speech.1. Multitudes, by voice and pen, are sneering at religious faith and speech. Be not driven from either by the sneers of men; but let us learn from them. There is some excuse for them. The world has heard the Church say she believes what the Church cannot prove that she has ever heard; and the world has had reason to suspect that some Christians speak that which they do not believe. Paul told Titus, “ There are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, whose mouths must be stopped.” So you see it is not simply talking about religion that the world wants and that the Church requires, but it is seasonable talking, talking about the right thing. 2. We increase our faith by listening. The mere prayer for increase of faith is not enough. How many precious moments in the day are lost, during which you might be directing your ear to Christ! Do not say that there is any incongruity between your listening to the voice of Christ, and your standing before a bench or behind the counter. Wherever it is right for you to be it is right for you to speak to your Saviour. And if you think that you honour Him by fancying that you must be in the place of worship to think of Him, or that you must have the Bible always open before you, you make a very serious mistake; for you want Christ with you everywhere. Thomas Carlyle recommends as a remedy for the false speech of the age, that the tongues of one generation should be cut out. But the cure for the truthless utterances of the Church will be found in placing listening to Christ before believing--in meditation upon the object of faith, and in placing speech after this meditation. Such bridling of the tongue will make perfect men; while clipping of the tongue, as Carlyle forgets, would only make maimed men; and God’ s way of redeeming a man is not to maim him, but to make him whole. 3. As it is not mere faith that saves us, but faith in Christ, so it is not religious speech that the world needs, but speech of true religion. As our interpretations of the Bible are not necessarily the Bible, so no Christian system is Christ, and some systems called by His name have no connection at all with Him. Do not let men hear so much about my views (for of what consequence are they?), our principles, our Church, our denomination, our fathers, our tradition, our theology; for amid these sounds men lose the only Name by which a sinner can be saved. (S. Martin.)The connection between believing the gospel and making it known I. What we conceive to be believing the gospel.1. Entertaining it in the mind, so as for the judgment to approve, from a conviction of its importance. 2. Yielding to it, as God’ s method of acceptance. 3. So feeling its influence as that the character shall be changed. This faith, generally speaking, comes by listening to Divine truth. “ Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” II. What we include in making the gospel known.1. Imparting spiritual knowledge to those with whom we are acquainted--husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, etc. 2. Giving Christian education. We commend the cultivation of the mind, but let us not neglect the sanctification of the heart. 3. Distribution of religious tracts, of books, such as “ Baxter’ s Call,” Romaine’ s “ Walk of Faith,” etc., but especially of the sacred Scriptures, which are able to make wise to salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ. 4. The preaching of the gospel. 5. Deportment becoming the gospel. III. The connection between the two. Where there is a real spiritual reception of the gospel there will be a publication of it arising from the following considerations.1. Sympathy with the distressed.2. Love to the Redeemer.3. Anxiety for the cause will induce this.4. The happiness to be possessed here and hereafter.5. The glory that will be secured to God. (W. Lucy.)The gospel cannot be concealed I have heard say that in the old Bread Riots, when men were actually starving for bread, no word had such a terribly threatening and alarming power about it as the word “ Bread!” when shouted by a starving crowd. I have read a description by one who once heard this cry: he said he had been startled at night by a cry of “ Fire!” but when he heard the cry of “ Bread! bread!” from those that were hungry, it seemed to cut him like a sword. Whatever bread had been in his possession he must at once have handed it out. So it is with the gospel; when men are once aware of their need of it, there is no monopolising it. None can make “ a ring” or “ a corner” over the precious commodity of heavenly truth. Neither can any one put this candle under a bushel so as quite to conceal its light. It cannot be hid, because there are so many that want it. They are pining, these myriads of London, these myriads all over the world; and though they hardly know it, yet there is a cry coming up for ever from them for something which they can never find, except in Christ. You may depend upon it you cannot stop the gospel being preached while there is this awful hunger after it in the souls of men. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Speaking God’ s Word If you really study God’ s Word, I believe you’ ll get so full of it that you can’ t help but speak it out. The reason so many don’ t care to work for God is, that they are so empty they cannot find anything to say. You can’ t bring water out of a dry well. There are two ways of getting water; the one is by pumping. Now many Christians are like these pumps, you have to pump a long time before you get anything. The other kind of well is what they call artesian; they just dig down until they come to the very fountain itself, hundreds of feet below, then up springs the water into the air, they don’ t need any pumping then. I wish Christians would be like artesian wells ever springing up to eternal life. (D. L. Moody.)Making Christ known to others Gideon Ousely was impressed with the thought that he ought to preach Jesus Christ to the people; he hesitated for a time till a voice came to him, as if asking, “ Gideon, do you know the nature of the evil?” He said, “ Yes, I do. I know the nature of sin.” “ Do you know the remedy?” “ Yes, I do.” “ Then go and tell it.” We know the nature of the disease, and we know the only remedy is God’ s remedy in Jesus Christ, and we must go and make the remedy known to those who are in the dark valleys of the shadow of sin. There comes to my mind the story of one of our own missionaries in Wales, who, when he was converted, was so full of joy that he ran out of the meeting shouting. A boy went up to him and said, “ What’ s to do? What’ s to do?” Then the man--Griffith Griffiths, well known to many of us--took sixpence out of his pocket, and said to the lad, “ Here, go and tell the people that God has saved Griffith Griffiths.” He gave the boy sixpence to do it. He felt that as soon as he knew Jesus Christ it was his business to make Jesus Christ known to others. (J. S. Balmer.)Christian testimony A gentleman, sitting in an arbour in the middle of a wood, saw an ant running along the surface of a rustic table which was in front of him. Knowing that ants are fond of sugar, and having a small lump of loaf sugar in his pocket, he placed it on the table, and set himself to watch the movements of the ant. As he expected, the ant soon discovered it, and began sipping. But it had scarcely partaken of it, when, to his great surprise, it scampered off and disappeared. A short time after, however, it returned, followed by some two or three hundred of its friends; from which it appeared that the ant had no sooner tasted the sweet morsel, than it went to invite its friends to become partakers of its joy. And so it is with all who have tasted the joy of salvation. No sooner does Christ become precious to their souls than, like Peter and John, they “ cannot but speak” of Him to others. Constrained to speak about Jesus An evangelist in an inquiry meeting asked a woman, “ Are you resting in Jesus?” Very indignantly she replied, “ It is nothing to you whether I am or not; besides, I would not speak about such a subject to any one but God!” In about a fortnight the evangelist was in another inquiry, meeting, and saw this same person speaking very earnestly to another woman. Drawing near to them, he heard her telling the stranger about her own conversion to Christ, and pressing the woman to follow Jesus at once. Much gratified, the evangelist, thinking to test her, said, “ Madam, madam, keep your mouth shut on that subject!” “ Keep my mouth shut!” she replied, with enthusiasm, “ I cannot do it, sir; I must speak about Jesus.” So when they had further threatened them, they let them go. A reluctant release I. It was accompanied with great wrong. “ They further threatened them.” The dreadful language which had hitherto stood in the place of argument was now made more dreadful. We see here proofs of iniquity, of a settled prejudice against Jesus and His work, and of absolute unwillingness to yield to the evidence of facts. But these threats were sure to be answered as the previous ones. II. It was a confession that the court was baffled. “ Finding nothing how they might punish them.” They had a mind to punish, they had done their best to do so, but severally and unitedly they had failed; and now prudence moved them to do what was no part of their pleasure. They barked and snarled, but were afraid to bite. Often have persecutors been in such a case. III. It was in deference to a prevalent popular sentiment. “ Because of the people.” The people were wiser than their rulers, and more religious. (W. Hudson.) Acts 4:23-37 And being let go, they went to their own company. Being let go We do not know what we or other people are until the restraint is taken off. We call ourselves free, but there is not an absolutely free man in the universe. We have the liberty of law. We have the freedom of a theocracy. “ The Lord reigneth,” and He would reign to no purpose if He did not restrain every creature, and restrain with singular meaning and graciousness the creature who bears His own image. I. Good restraints.1. Socially, in the lowest level. He is an ungallant and wholly undesirable man who is not restrained by the presence of ladies. But for that you could not tell what language he would have used. He could not be in his true self, not because there are ten great fiery commandments staring him in the face, but because of an all-pervading feeling of refinement. But if such men be let’ go, and join their bad set, you see their quality. 2. Or take the limits of hospitality. A man says, “ I cannot avenge this insult now, because I am bound to show hospitality; but being let go, I shall feel entitled to say or do things which at present I cannot.” 3. Or, still keeping within the scope of the question, the occasion makes the man. Say it is a solemn occasion, a funeral, people weeping because of the dead and gone. The modest man, at all events, halts, he is silent if not complaisant. He dare not say what he would at other times; but being let go away from the grave and the cypress shadow, you will see what he is really. 4. Look at, the subject religiously. Here we have the subtlest restraints. The tender memories, the old, old long ago, somehow, to kill that ancient time would be like strangling an angel. The old home feeling, the childish sounds, the old family usages, seem to keep us back with “ Beware I you had better not do it! Stand still!” Who can estimate the value of a religious education? First prayers, first little verses learned and sung by bird-like lips--who can tell how these things will go with the child when he becomes a man, full of care and tempted to sin? The little things which now are matters of amusement, may stand one day up and say to the man, “ You used to be a pure-lipped child, a loved and loving creature; a thousand prayers were offered for your salvation.” When you murder yourself, you murder a whole generation of mentors and suppliants. II. Bad restraint.1. A man is shut up in bad society, in a corrupt atmosphere. He never hears a word that touches his best nature; he longs for the higher and purer spaces; for moral liberty; he is a better man than he can be under his circumstances. God will make a difference, because He will have compassion upon some. He knows exactly what restraints are upon us, and what we would be if we could break the chain and fly upward into the blue heaven. 2. Others are crippled for want of means. We regard them as destitute of good deeds and high feeling, and we speak about them with our erring judgment. God will discriminate. He knows what the poor soul will be. There is a way out at the other end! Great moral freedom, liberty for giving the soul spaces to fly in, and temples to sing in not made with hands. God knows what munificence you would show if you had the liberty. 3. Many a man is misunderstood for want of liberty. He is waiting. I have known often splendid talents wait a long time for a chance. I have known men misjudged, contemned, spring up into their true selves when let, go. Their time has come; then you hear the music of their voice, and you know the length of their arm, and they were waiting--great men all the while. Conclusion:1. We each belong to a company, and until we have found our company, we are restless. We speak of being “ a fish out of water,” as fully expressing the condition of men who are not in their own company. Some of us are only half in our right society. We were born for the gutter and were destined for low companionship, and by a singular force of gravitation we turn to that which is unworthy. Others, again, are the contrary. They are forced to do the things they hate. They say, “ It is not our nature; it is not the place I was born into. These are not the surroundings God meant me to enjoy.” So by this discontent of soul God calls us to our own company. 2. But we may be converted! The lowest nature may be converted! The lowest nature may be made into the highest. The man who began with low desires may come to enjoy the desire for prayer. Conversion is the state which we are called upon personally to realise and represent. Mere restraint is not conversion. We are restrained from starting up in the midst of the service and going out. We seem to rise to the great spirit of the occasion, while we are in reality buying and selling, transacting our business. So we cannot tell what we are until the restraints are taken off, when we shall be left to our own company, and being let go, will only go downward. There are grades in devildom, and there is still a lower and lower, until we reach the pit that never ends. 3. Are we under the right influence? We cannot test it by mere laws, by mechanical arrangements and impositions. Only love can keep us, and love will keep us. And though we shall always have the liberty of doing wrong, we shall have within us the love which makes the use of that liberty an impossibility. Now ][ am about to let you go. Will you go to your own company? But, remember, young man, wisely trained at home, you have no business with that bad set. (J. Parker, D. D.)Our own company I. We all suffer a kind of imprisonment by our circumstances. There is--1. The chain of work. We and our children must live. And in order to maintain this life, we voluntarily give away every day a part of our personal freedom. This necessity is on the whole a beneficent one, and it is perfectly consistent with personal freedom in the truest sense. But still there is imprisonment of some of the highest faculties. Faith, hope, love, joy, can all indeed have exercise in work, but not their most perfect exercise. What a prison a great city is, and how many are in it with “ hard labour!” A fine morning dawns. You would like to wander away, to hear the gurgle of the country stream, to see the bloom on the trees, the bird on the wing, the clouds floating so restfully across the sky. But you are a prisoner. You can look through your bars towards the large and wealthy place but it is only a look. You must soon turn to your work. 2. The chain of habit. Not so much of a man’ s own habits as those of the society in which he lives--the conventionalities of life, in which every man is more or less bound. These are not at all insincerities, hypocrisies. They are generally a fair product of the state of society at the time. If our conventionalities were all away, some would be better, and some worse. So that all are in prison by them. There is a great resentment sometimes felt against those who break through; and such attempts generally end in submission. Take, for instance, our social gatherings. With all their freedom and geniality, there is considerable restriction imposed by the mere forms of society. One makes an endeavour to be natural and almost succeeds; but cannot quite. Another seeks to know his neighbour a little better, but the real man escapes him, and goes home to be known far more perfectly by his little children. Another endeavours to speak out his real sentiments; but the astonishment, pain, or disapprobation, make him almost regret that he has spoken--and certainly a little less likely to speak again. 3. The great strong chain of law. That is no doubt a grand safeguard of society. But while it protects it restrains. It protects partly by restraining. It makes some men more virtuous than they would be, and others a little less. A man could do some great good, and would, but the law forbids. He would only involve himself and ethers in difficulties and loss by making the attempt. Or he could do some evil. He has impure thoughts which might become actions; unjust longings which might become fraud, if the law were not there frowning defiance and suspending penalty. II. In these environing circumstances, there are, now and again, clear providential openings--by which the real man himself comes out, seen by others, or seen only by himself and God! A changing time is always a critical time.1. When the young man leaves home to come up to the great city, how intense is the parental and the friendly solicitude! “ He was safe here; but will he be safe yonder? Will he not slide or perhaps fall? Or will the change strengthen his will for goodness, and draw him more clearly into the ranks of Christ’ s faithful ones?” These are the searching solemn questions, but why do they arise? Because it is felt that even at home that youth was not fully known, because there are sleeping possibilities which other circumstances might draw out into actualities, and they are not quite sure how the scale might turn. 2. A change of residence in later life sometimes operates in the same way. There is then a complete break up in one class of associations. Living in the new neighbourhood seems to bring out a new man. It may be a better man, or it may be a worse. The gates of that social prison where before he was held in restriction, perhaps kept from ruin, have been opened, and he will show himself more as he is. 3. The continental journey is another opening of the wall. Persons then go to places the like of which they would never think of visiting at home, and altogether feel a freedom which they would in vain seek for with the ordinary circumstances of life around them. The freedom may be rightly used in putting aside the chains of opinion, prejudice, and custom; or it may be much abused. But it is freedom, and therefore develops some more of the reality of the persons than is usually seen in the walks of their home life. 4. Then again life as it goes on brings many opportunities for freer action and fuller display of the real inward man than ordinary circumstances permit. They are opportunities for good and for evil. To some they are “ the gates of righteousness,” into which they “ enter and praise the Lord.” To others they are but the door leading to an “ inner prison,” where their “ feet are made fast in the stocks.” III. When so released we go to our own company. Every night what multitudes hasten through the door of opportunity to their own company! The day keeps them in prison, the night brings release. Let us follow some, and see what company they keep!1. Take that young man for whom so much anxiety was felt when he left home. Enter with him--there is no company there. There is the little table for refreshment which is soon over; then he takes down the books to the study of which he will devote these evening hours--and that is the company he keeps. He is smitten with the love of knowledge, and what is far better, with the love of Christ. He is sure that he will have to serve Him in some sphere, and is resolved by study and prayer to make himself ready. 2. Or let us observe this young woman who has been busy all day with her needle. Blessings on her industry! honour to her virtue! peace to her home! To-night she is going to her own company before she reaches that home. There is to be a meeting for prayer, a great blessing is expected, and she must be there to ask among the rest. 3. Take another, a man. He has had what is called a heavy day; but, oh, what a lightsome welcome now that he is home I Little hands are soon in his, and little tongues are telling the wonderful things that have happened during the day; and smiles fall from another face, and there is a comfortable mingling of thought, and love, and sympathy, and heart with heart. The day opened to him the theatre of duty, the night thus brings him to “ his own company.” 4. Another; where is he going? Westward, but not out of the city. On he passes along the busy streets under the gas-lights, until he comes to the flaring entrance of the place where his company will be. With perhaps just one twinge of conscience he passes in, and there among the gaudy and giddy throng he sits for hours listening to the music, or watching the display. And these he says are the happiest hours of his life. That man has reduced his soul to a pitiable condition when, having all this world to choose from, that soul “ being let go,” finds its own selectest company in a frivolous throng like that. 5. And others go to places still worse, which we cannot describe; where the fires of Tophet are already kindled, where the guests are in the depths of hell, and there find “ their own company.” 6. But enough! Where do we find ours? We shall say no more of places now, but speak only about persons. Who are the persons in whose presence and society our souls find their best company? What is their character? What is their aim in life? What will be their end? Suppose we had been imprisoned with the apostles, and with them set free, should we have gone with them to their own company? When we are set free, now and again in the course of our own life, do we long for and seek fellowship with faithful souls and pure hearts? There are but two companies in the universe. Even now there are but two, although in this world they are to us inseparably mingled. The division and separation is taking place by degrees. The gospel makes it. We ourselves make in those selective moments of our life to which we have referred. But it will be made infallibly and visibly at last by the Lord Himself, when the sheep shall be on His right hand, and the goats on His left. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)Their own company The crystallising power in nature. What we call the force of gravitation is a force most mysterious and constant. But the force of gravitation is simple compared with this many-sided ramifying force of crystallisation. The reason--ultimate particles of matter are seeking their own company; these ultimate particles of matter are possessed of attractive and repellent poles; and as these atomic poles attract or repel each other the shape of the crystal is determined. There is as well a certain crystallising power sovereign in society. Men and women have attractive and repellent poles. By means of this social crystallising power many and various social shapes are being formed--not always beautiful and noble, sometimes evil, ugly, disastrous. Concerning this crystallising fact and force in society, in the light of this narrative, consider--1. Hindrance. See whole narrative as to how Peter and John were hindered from going to their own company. So, often, we are somehow hindered from seeking the company really most congenial to us. Work, social requirements, regard for reputation, lack of money, hinder. Apply to young men, etc. 2. Permission. “ And being let go” --work ceases, social requirements allow, special danger to reputation passes, wages are paid. Men are free. 3. Like goes to like. Character asserts itself. These apostles went to the company of the pure because they were pure. 4. Lessons. (1) It is a man’ s own company which nurtures what is predominant in him.(2) A man’ s own company discloses him to others.(3) A man’ s own company discloses him to himself.(4) A man’ s own company is the test of the regenerate life. We know that we have passed from death unto life if we love the brethren.(5) A man’ s own company settles his destiny. (Homiletic Review.)Being let go “ Being let go, they went to their own company.” That means for one thing that we do not know until straits come, what a man’ s heart and real disposition are. You have your children with you at home, and think that your children have a love for this, and a liking for that, and a strong desire for the other, but “ let them go,” and then you will see; as long as they are under parental restraints, you really do not know what they are. They must be tested by being let go. They go to their own resort, and to their own set. Oh, what painful things happen in family life when the children are old enough, and you must let them go, when home restraints are removed! Then you thought they loved whatsoever things were honourable and of good report, and they, perhaps, themselves thought it too. It is not so much hypocrisy as an illustration of the solemn truth that the heart is deceitful and full of evil things. Being let go, the real heart in them takes command, the real pilot takes the wheel and guides the vessel according to his liking. “ Being let go they went to their own company.” See, for example, the restraints of religion. I think I am a religious man, you think that you are religious people, but if in some way I could be let go from the ministry, and if you could be let go from the eyes that are upon you in this place, from the associations and routine that brings you here, where would you go? What is in the heart determines the life. To-night you are set free from business, and in a sense you are let go from the office, but are you, is your heart really let go? Are you going into the holy work before us to-night, or is it not the case that even while you are sitting here, that being let go, your heart is back to the stocks and shares, the buying and the selling, that even here your heart is seeking its true home, its true happiness.? It is not in this thing, is it? There are reasons why we come, why in a sense we like it, but let us be honest with ourselves. It is what we like that is the true man or the true woman. How does the heart go when we are let go? But if I have thus spoken of the dark side, bless God there is a brighter side, and I trust that we can even, when we meet here to.night, experience the happiness and brightness of the better side. When we come to the House of God, to the prayer-meeting, from all outward life, because we like to do it, we like to come, like bairnie with her mother, a wee bird to her nest, we fly home to God, to the Bible, to God and the Book of God, and the House of God, when we are let go. We delight when the cords are snapped, and when we can come into the House of God. Only during the day there is a kind of chafing restlessness within us. Oh that the evening would come that I might get to my own company I “ Being let go they went to their own company.” Just as at school, I suppose we looked as if we liked our school, we looked as if we were diligent, we had to be so outwardly, but when four o’ clock came and the doors were open, did you ever see the schoolboys that departed reluctantly, as if they could hardly cross the threshold and go away from the blessed place? We nearly tumbled over each other rushing away. Being let go, out we went home. And yet we were not hypocrites. It is that our heart was in it, and we were restrained; we were tied up, held back, but being let go, the full momentum and swing of our disposition got out. Thank God, then, for the bright side, and I would say you are encouraged to make much of the bright side. If you know God, then thank God, for that is a fruitful plant that never grew up in the dry dreary sand of our worldly heart. And if I speak to any to whom this word is sad, you say, “ Well, brother, I wish I was like it, I wish I could rush to the fellowship of God’ s people, as those apostles rushed to their own company, and as children rush home from school, and the tired business men flying home by bus and train to the sweetness and seclusion of their own homes in the suburbs. I wish I had that desire for the House of God.” There is more gladness of heart here than if I were in the theatre or music-hall, or giddy dance or banquet, with its so-called “ feast of reason and flow of soul.” Here the best and deepest, the truest thoughts in you get out, and lay hold of the deep, true, living, satisfying God. “ Being let go, they went to their own company.” It is that, let me just urge, that we should cultivate still more, this company and fellowship. Do not let a little keep us back. How disappointed the apostles would have been if they went to their own company, and found a small meeting when such great interests were involved. My father said, when he was a lad going to school, they had to take their own fire with them, the coals were not then provided as they are now, and every lad carried his peat under his arm. That was his contribution of heat. Bring your peat under your arm, and like one that is let go, like an arrow from the string, come gladly and brightly, and I will try and come with mine, and “ every little makes a mickle,” and it is wonderful what a roaring, open fire we may have, even in this dull neighbourhood of Regent’ s Square, what light and warmth before God, and to His praise. Let us come as the apostles did, when being let go they went to their own company. I like to think of the text in its final application. There is a day coming when we shall be let go. The dark side and the bright side of my text will receive its final and truest illustration then, for every man goes to his own place. And when the stroke of death cuts all our cords, and we drop this muddy vesture of clay, and are, at last, let go, we will hardly need the judgment day and verdict of God. Some will rise as glorious ones, treading the way unto the throne of God, and some will go into outer darkness, for they always loved darkness rather than light, and they will get it. Being let go, God at last will say, “ I will restrain you no more, I will argue with you no more, you would be free, be free. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still, he that is holy, let him be holy still. Be let go and find your own company.” This is the Lord’ s election. This is the natural law that runs through the spiritual world, even He that worketh in all our fellowships and friendships, our likes and dislikes, our drawings and repentings. It is being let go that a man finds his level, and seeks and gets his own company. At the great day when some of us go past the judgment seat on our way home, and hear the word, “ Come ye blessed,” it will just be a re-echo of this, for you have been always coming ever since you were converted. It was the end and trend, a focus of all your way and work. Only when some of us hear the thundering curse, “ Depart!” we shall understand then that we were, always cursed. “ I never knew you,” what a solemn word! How bright! How black! Thank God that grace can make it for you and me all bright. The Ethiopian can change his skin, the leopard can change his spots, the vilest can be changed, and changed by the abundant grace of Christ, received through simple faith in Christ. Another few minutes and you are let go, and you go to your own house, and a rebound will take place. The heart will slip round to its true base. Watch it, for God’ s sake, and your own. Being let go when the preacher’ s voice is still, the holy words are no longer spoken, the holy place with its associations no longer present here, God grant that it may be all bright. (J. McNeill.)Company ?:-- I. Every man has his company. II. Sometimes men are restrained from keeping the company of their friends. III. When these restrictions are withdrawn, men return to the company of their choice. Life itself is a restraint, separating us from the companions we have chosen, but when it ceases, its restraining power will cease too, and we shall go to “ our own company” in heaven or in hell. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Every man to his own place I. The disciples went to their own company. They naturally desired the society of those who had sympathy with them. II. Every person belongs to some company. There are two classes: saints and sinners. Affinities, proclivities, etc., are only subdivisions of these. III. Restraints of life may prevent our openly joining our company.1. Our work.2. Public opinion.3. Policy.4. Interest.5. Lack of courage. IV. When these are removed each person will go to his own place. What a change would follow if this world had no social, civil, or moral law laid upon it--every one a law to himself! The devil in man would make havoc in human history. This has been proved wherever restraints have been slackened. V. The test of character found here.1. What is our company?2. Are we restrained by work, circumstance, or policy from joining it?3. Is it a company God can approve of?4. What is our influence on it, and its influence on us?5. We shall go to our own place at last. (G. F. Humphreys.)Happy only in “ our own company” The following incident was told in my hearing in one of the villages of Canada to illustrate the truth, which so many ignore at the present day, that there must be a change of heart if we are ever permitted to enjoy “ the rest that remaineth for the ,people of God.” “ Some years ago there was to be a prize-fight at a certain place in England, and a party of men chartered a steamboat to take them to the place at the time appointed. Another steamer was engaged to take a party of Christians to different kind of fight--a fight against wrong-doing, that every soldier of Christ is called to engage in under the ‘ Captain of his salvation.’ The place of the last-named conflict was a Methodist camp-ground. Just as the last bell rang on each steamer (both were chartered to leave at the same hour--half-past two p.m.) two men were seen running towards the steamers as they were moving out from the wharf, and both sprang into what each one thought to be his own company. But, oh! what a mistake! the Methodist saw that he was among prize-fighters, and the prize-fighter found that he was among Christians. Do you suppose those men were contented and happy in their different company? Is a fish happy out of water? ‘ No, not happy, but miserable,’ you say. So each of those men were miserable because they were out of their element. The Methodist came to the captain, and said, ‘ Captain, I have got into the wrong steamer, and I am not going to stay here; it is like hell to be among these men who are cursing and swearing; take the steamer back and let me get out. I intended to go to a camp-meeting; yonder is the steamer I ought to be in.’ But his trying to get himself righted after he saw he was wrong was fruitless. Well, what about the other man? ‘ Oh,’ you say, ‘ he was all right and happy among those good Methodist people.’ But you are mistaken, for he was in a worse dilemma than the Christian man. He went to the captain and asked him to take the steamer back, as he said he must go to the prize-fight. But the captain said, ‘ No: our orders are to keep on our course as long as there is nothing wrong with the steamer, and we must obey.’ Then the man offered the captain money if he would turn back, but the captain was as determined to go on his voyage. By this time the Methodists thought they would ‘ show their faith by their works,’ by talking to the prize-fighter about his soul; but the prize-fighter could not endure it, so he went to the captain again and begged of him to bring the steamer a little nearer to the shore and he would jump into the water and swim to land.” (John Currie.)Every creature after its kind A mysterious, reciprocal attraction drew Peter and John together, although they were by no means alike. Perhaps their differences rendered them more suitable to each other; as a man’ s strength and a woman’ s gentleness bind two into one in married life. This noble pair were of the three chosen disciples, were companions at the sepulchre, and were together through all the stages of this incident. Now being free they go to their own. Like draws to like. When evil was to be done the rulers laid their heads together. “ Birds of a feather flock together” ; and if one bird has been for a time imprisoned, when the cage is opened it will fly straight and quick to the place where it left its mates. On this principle proceeds the pigeon telegraph. The instincts of animals are perfect in their kind. When a captive lamb is set at liberty it never halts until it has rejoined the flock. With equal exactness does the washed sow return to wallow with her fellows in the mire. Thus suddenly and surely did a worldling, who had for a time been arrested by the discourses of Jesus, leap back into his element of filthy lucre. As soon as there was a pause in the sermon he went to his own: “ Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.” An example of the opposite tendency in a renewed heart is seen in the possessed man whom our Lord delivered at Gadara. Being let go of Satan he went to his own--to his own Saviour and fellow disciples. How often when professing Christians go abrOad, they leave their religion behind them. It was never more than an external thing, a bondage, and therefore when removed the irreligious soul goes to its irreligion. A young man has been accustomed to the order of a Christian household. As the lines of restraint were laid on him while an infant, he is not very conscious of them. But he leaves for the great metropolis. If his religion has been only a cord round his neck, like the bit and bridle which holds the horse, he is now free; he will go to his own and seek the company of the careless or the profane. Cords of this kind were fastened on Judas, but when at last he was let go what a leap he made into his own place! Demas was brought for a time under the mighty influence of Paul, which, however, gave way one day, and to the present world, his chosen portion, gravitated Demas, as a stone sinks when you let it go. But the new creature acts after its kind as well as the old; when the chains of bondage are broken the captive returns to his Father’ s house. A youth who has got a new heart becomes an apprentice in an engineering establishment where his lot is east among the profane. In the first hour they discover that a saint is among them, and do everything that devilish ingenuity can suggest to make him one of themselves. If his religion had been a conventional gilding it would have been rubbed off in the first week; but as it was all gold the more it was rubbed the brighter it grew. The first evening came, and each went to his own company--the apprentice, articled by an eternal covenant to the Saviour, went to the fields, the flowers, the birds, with which he had been wont to keep company at home; then to his food, which he enjoyed with the fresh relish of a labourer, and the fresher relish of a child of God constantly getting daily bread from a Father’ s hand; then to his Bible, his own Book; then to his own Saviour, in faith’ s confiding prayer. A whole legion of wicked men will not overcome this youth--maybe he will subdue some of them and lead them captive to Christ. Yet another lesson. The grave has a greedy appetite, and all go to it. A strange place for Christ’ s members to be in! But some day they must be let go, and then they will go to their own company. An atom of air may have been imprisoned in some strong vessel at the bottom of the sea for ages. At last the vessel gives way, and the atom of air, though long an exile, has not forgotten its home, and will not miss its way. It rises in a sheer straight line through the thick heavy waters, nor halts till with a joyful burst it reaches its own. Be of good cheer, disciples of Jesus. Ye are of more value than many atoms of air. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Men will go at last where they are fit to go It is related of the distinguished Rev. Dr. Bellamy that he had seasons of deep despondency, when he was confident he was going to hell. His brethren often laboured with him in vain. One day, after all reasoning had failed, one of the ministers said, “ Well, brother, you know more about yourself than we do. To us you appear very well: but, after all, you may be a whited sepulchre--beautiful outside, but inwardly full of corruption. If so, you will go to hell. I should like, however, to know what you will do when you get there?” “ Do?” cried the doctor, with great animation and emphasis; “ what will I do? I will vindicate the law of God, and set up prayer-meetings.” “ All right!” said the brother; “ but in that case the devil will not keep you there; he will soon turn you out as unfitted for his place and company.” The doctor was happy. Men will go at last where they are fit to go; and those who spend their lives in the service of God would be poor company for the devil and his angels, while those who hate God and despise Christians here must have strange notions if they expect to be for ever happy with them hereafter. The disciples, “ being let go, went to their own company.” So all will go at last. (J. L. Nye.)Features of the apostolic Church By so simple a term is the infant Church designated--“ a company.” As soon as Jesus had ascended, we find that there was an assembly of His followers, who continued with one accord in prayer, resorting to an upper room (Acts 1:18; Acts 1:14). This small assembly was speedily increased by fresh adherents. Our Saviour never formally organised His Church: He left it to the operation of the human mind assisted by Divine influence. Men find it necessary to associate together for all important interests, and would be sure to do so for religious purposes. I. The nature of the Church.1. It is a voluntary company” one to which men are not born, but to which they attach themselves by choice and from conviction. Such assemblies were at first formed in various places, and were each called a church. The term was not then used, as it has since been, to mark the whole body of Christians in any district; but always either for the whole Church or for some particular society. In the former sense, we read that “ Christ is head over all things to the Church.” In the latter we hear of the Churches of Achaia and Macedonia; of the Church which is at Corinth, or at Ephesus, or even in the dwelling of a single family. 2. It is a separated company; a holy society; its members are called to come out from among the people of the world. 3. It is a spiritual society, as opposed to a merely civil association. Nothing secular properly belongs to the Church. Just as we cannot, by artificial embellishments, add anything to the real beauty of nature; so all that man has aimed to add, in the way of pomp and circumstance to the Church of Christ instead of adorning, rather disfigures it. 4. Though human instruments are employed in this society, yet it is wholly of Divine institution. All its varied offices and administrations are of Divine origin: “ He gave some apostles … for the edifying of the body of Christ.” 5. It is an immortal company. The individual members die; but fresh generations of saints are continually rising up in succession. The sacred lamp may be removed from one place, but it is only that it may burn brighter in another. II. The design with which the Church is formed.1. For the benefit of every individual belonging to it. The Good Shepherd, while He feeds the whole of His flock, has a particular respect to the state and wants of every member. As in the first age all had all things in common, so real Christians will now be ready to share their joys and sorrows; to help the needy in temporal wants; and most of all to cherish a spiritual union and sympathy. Christian intercourse unites the hearts of the saints, “ they that feared the Lord spake often together.” 2. For the salvation of others. III. The manner of its government. As every society, to be well-ordered, requires rules; so there are rules of Church government. These indeed are very few and very simple: real Christians need very little law; the law is for the lawless and disobedient: but theirs is the law of love; love is fulfilment of the law. (R. Hall, M. A.)The apostles at liberty I. The whole church is interested in the proceedings of its individual members. Peter and John gave their report to the whole company. It was a report of--1. Gracious success. A man had been healed, and therein the name of Jesus had been glorified. 2. Opposition, suffering, threatening. This is the kind of report which the Church will render until the end of its beneficent course. The two sides should be looked at together--the one will stimulate, the other will give new aspects of sin, and call for increasing devotion. II. The right method of treating opposition to the Kingdom of Christ.1. See what the apostles might have done. (1) They might have fled before difficulty. “ If we are exposed to all this we shall give up our work: we are not equal to it; it will be a losing battle, our enemies are so many and so strong.” (2) They might have formed themselves into a secret society for their own edification and comfort. Contemplation would have taken the place of service. 2. What they did do. “ They lifted up their voice to God with one accord,” and committed themselves to Him as unto a faithful Creator. A prayer offered under circumstances as peculiar will show the strength and purpose of the Church. It did show-- (1) The profound religiousness of the Church. Instantly the disciples flee to the Holy One. There is no paltering with second causes; no drivelling talk about difficulty. Opposition brought the Church face to face with God. (2) The clear doctrinal intelligence of the Church. They fell back upon the great histories and prophecies upon which Christ’ s kingdom rests. Again and again it is seen how thoroughly the early Church knew the sacred writings. This is the strength of the spiritual life. “ Let the Word of God dwell in you richly.” (3) A supreme desire for the glory of Christ. The apostles were referred to as “ servants.” It was for “ the Holy Child Jesus” that the suppliants were concerned. (4) Preparedness for further service (verse 29). III. The spiritual and social results which follow the right acceptance of service and suffering.1. A vast accession of spiritual grace. The disciples “ were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” 2. A vast accession of spiritual power. They “ spake the Word of God with boldness.” 3. The consummation of spiritual union. They were” of one heart and one soul.” 4. The ideal of social beneficence. They claimed nothing as their own, but had all things common. In such a case opposition became the occasion of infinite good. There was no wordy controversy, but a renewed dedication to Christ. All opposition should be met in the same way. (J. Parker, D. D.)Christian socialism The narrative gives us such a view of this as throws the secular thing into contempt, and reveals the lamentable imperfection of modern spiritual fellowship. From it we learn that early Christian socialism was-- I. Attractive. No sooner were the apostles free than they returned as if drawn by magnetic force to their chosen society. There were two things that rendered it attractive.1. Responsive listening. There is a law of mind which urges a man to communicate what he deems of great importance. It is also a law to seek the most responsive listeners. To those who will give a cordial hearing we go, rather than to the hostile or indifferent. True Christian socialism involves this. There the speaking brother will find an audience all candour and love. This is not the case in the cavilling, captious, secular socialism, and alas! not always in the Church where there is too often the prejudice that deafens the ear and closes the heart. 2. Sympathetic cooperation. For this we instinctively crave, and without it the strongest are weak. Without the breeze of social sympathy the sails of our spirits would collapse in the voyage of duty. Peter and John knew that they had this, and so were strong in prison and before, the council, and when “ let go” they instinctively found their way to their sympathetic brethren. Thus was Christian socialism attractive. Kindred souls flowed to it as rivers to the sea. What circle is so attractive as that which has-- (1) A common object of supreme affection.(2) A common class of dominant thoughts.(3) A common cause engrossing the chief activities of being. This is the ideal of Christian fellowship. Would that it were everywhere realised. II. Religious. This comes out in--1. Ascription. Here We have a recognition of God’ s-- (1) Authority. “ Lord, Thou art God.” The word is that from which “ despot” is taken. Deeply did the company feel the absoluteness of the Divine control. (2) Creatorship. “ Which hast made,” etc. (3) Revelation. “ By the mouth of Thy servant David.” (4) Predestination. They regarded all the enemies of Christ as unconsciously working out the eternal plans of heaven. 2. Supplication. Note-- (1) The substance of their prayer. They invoked (a) Personal protection. Behold their threatenmgs, i.e., those of verses 17 and 21. The meaning is, “ Guard us and frustrate the evil designs of our enemies.” (b) The power of spiritual usefulness. “ That with all boldness,” etc. Protection is desired for service, not because they dreaded martyrdom. (c) Miraculous interposition. “ That signs and wonders,” etc.: (d) “ Enable us to work miracles that we may be more successful in spreading the knowledge of Christ.” This power Christ had promised; they had an authority, therefore, to seek it.(2) The success of their prayer (verse 31). In answer there was-- (a) A miraculous sign, familiar to Old Testament saints (Exodus 19:18; Psalms 68:8). (b) An impartation of Divine power--to preach the gospel. III. Amalgamating (verse 32). Note in regard to this amalgamating force that--1. It was most hearty and practical (verse 34). The thorough unity of soul expressed itself in the surrender of worldly goods. Aristotle defines friendship as “ one soul residing in two bodies.” It was so here. The rising tide of brotherly affection bore away from their hearts all love of gain. 2. It consisted with a diversity of position and service (verses 35, 36). The apostles were both the spiritual and economical heads of the community. Material bodies may get so thoroughly fused as to lose all their individual peculiarities; but minds, however closely welded together by social love, will retain for ever their individuality of being, position, and mission. Social unity is not the uniformity of a regiment moving with one step and in the same garb, but rather like the variety of the landscape, each object clad in its own costume and bending to the breeze according to its own structure and style. It is not the sound of one monotonous note, but all the varying notes of being brought into sweetest harmony. 3. It was produced by the gracious favour of heaven. “ Great grace was upon them all.” (1) The love of God was the parent of their liberality.(2) This liberality brought the esteem of men. (D. Thomas, D. D.)They lifted up their voice to God with one accord.-- Resource in trouble I. God Almighty (verse 24). It is good sometimes to think of the affluence of the Divine power. Take, e.g., the central object in the heavens which God has made: the sun--diameter, 112 times that of our own earth; surface, 12,611 times that of our earth; volume, 1,400,000 times that of our earth. Sun’ s light--800,000 times greater than that of the full moon, 22,000 million times more than that of the most brilliant star. The sun--the source of light, heat, life. And yet, all the manifold action on this earth of ours is carried on by the two thousandth three hundred millionth part of the force radiation by the sun. For that is all the earth can grasp of the sun’ s rays given out in all directions. It is by this pitiable fraction of the sun’ s mighty power that all the earth’ s work is done. Now, God is a Sun--how limitless His power, etc. II. As All-Wise God. David, thousand years before, sang, yet prophesied: “ Why do the heathen rage,” etc. (verses 25-27). That is to say, that which was predicted is now taking place. Thou are not, O God, taken by surprise and disappointed. Disastrous as it seems to us, it is shining clear to Thee. III. An all-controlling God. “ For to do whatsoever,” etc. (verse 28). Mystery here, but comfort. Here is the great helpful truth that God controls. IV. This almighty, all-wise, all-controlling God, laid hold of by prayer (verse 24). No thought unto them that such a God could not answer. V. This almighty, all-wise, all-controlling God, laid hold of by prayer, that in them the Divine will may be accomplished. They do not ask to be released from persecution, but that in their present circumstances they may be enabled to accomplish their Christian duty (verse 29). They ask for magnificent self-surrender. Thus they take sides with God. They are as One with the nature of things. Defeat is impossible, Theirs must he the deliverance of victory. Application. Do not let your trouble get between you and God. Let your trouble shut you up to God. (Wayland Hoyt, D. D.)Prayer and the promises are doubly dear in extremities When I first went to sea, as the winds arose and the waves became rough I found difficulty to keep my legs on the deck, for I tumbled and tossed about like a porpoise on the water. At last I caught hold of a rope that was rolling about, and then I could stand upright. So when troubles invade we lay hold of God’ s faithfulness to His promises, and, holding fast, we can securely stand. (H. G. Salter.)Primitive worship No doubt there was something in it of a special character. It was held at a moment of danger. There was that, therefore, in the circumstances from which God’ s mercy has spared us. Should we be here at all, were it otherwise? Those of us who even in quiet times, when it is respectable to be a Christian, cannot conquer indolence, forego inclination, brave a smile or a sneer, in behalf of Christ; what would they do if the voice of the world turned altogether against Christ? Certainly, then, our thanksgivings should arise to God for having permitted us to live in quiet times. And then we ought to set ourselves to make our worship as much like theirs as by God’ s grace we can. I. The manner of this worship. “ They lifted up their voice to God with one accord.” Not their heart only, but their voice.1. Some have called this the first example of a creed, one of those joint utterances of a common faith which our Church has prescribed to us, e.g., in “ I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” “ Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth,” etc. 2. Others have seen in this the proof of the existence of a Liturgy. They have said that, in order to lift up their voice to God in these words, they must first have known them. We will not enter into these arguments: they at least want certainty. 3. It will be enough for us to observe, that, while one spoke, all followed; the well-known voice of St. John or St. Peter led, and they who heard found no difficulty in adding a humble voice, as well as a pure heart, to the words of supplication, accompanying the speaker to the throne of the heavenly grace, and saying the prayer after him. In this elementary point let us be earnest to resemble them. If the heart is engaged, the voice will not be withheld. II. Its nature. It was--1. Reverent. How profound is the adoration of God as the alone Great and Good and Holy! How solemn is the sense of that rightful sovereignty over all things! The least that can be looked for in this House of Prayer is reverence; the feeling of the sinful approaching the Sinless, the creature the Creator. 2. Scriptural. “ Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said.” It is not essential to prayer that it be in Scripture words, but it is essential that it be founded on Scripture doctrine; that our petitions be addressed to God as He is, and not to God as we fancy Him. And we can only know God as He is by becoming acquainted with Him in His Word. 3. Believing. Unbelieving men would have seen only Herod, etc., banded together against God and against His Christ, and said, What are we against the world? But their eye was not thus bounded. Above all human agency for evil, they saw the hand of God working wholly for good. The murder of Jesus, what was it? In itself, a Satanic, a diabolical act; in its consequences, the working out of God’ s counsel; the redemption of a world. 4. Practical. We are too ready to let our prayers stop with themselves; to be satisfied if a ray of comfort, if a passing thought of peace is left behind them. We have our reward, even as we prescribed it. But these worshippers looked to conduct, to duty, to future trials of their faith and constancy, and asked for grace sufficient. To quicken this zeal, to strengthen this devotion, they pray that God’ s hand may still be outstretched to heal; that He will never leave them without witness, but will give them daily proof that His holy Servant Jesus is indeed strong to help, mighty to save. We ought in prayer to bethink ourselves of coming trial; and while we trust God implicitly with the unforeseen, to ask His help expressly for that which we can see before us. One word of definite request is worth volumes of vague general aspirations. (1) In itself; because it is real and means something; because it is the address of a living man to a living God on a topic which concerns life. (2) In its effects; because one thing actually granted is a proof of being heard; is God’ s own witness to His own grace; is a token for good, shown and proved, encouraging confidence in Him who is not only the Giver of single blessings, but the Fountain of all goodness, and the very source of life. III. Its effects. An immediate sign followed it. The place was shaken. These things are of the past. Men then looked for outward signs, and wanted them, while faith was young. In this age there is no outward sign which scepticism could not account for: signs would not convince the infidel, and the believing ask not for them. But has God, then, no sign for His people? Has worship no sign of its acceptance? Is there nothing now corresponding to the altar-flame which attested God’ s regard to man’ s offering? Yes, there is an inward peace following upon Divine communion: a glow of faith, and a comfort of love, and a joy of hope, by which “ the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are sons of God.” He who seeks God with all his heart, on any occasion of worship, shall find Him, and know that he finds: he shall feel it good for him to be here, and he shall be sent on his way rejoicing. Filled with the Holy Ghost, by a conscious communication between his soul and God, he shall go forth, to bear a more manful and a more consistent testimony to the gospel. Conclusion:1. Expect great things from worship. Worship will be, in great measure, what you make it in your use and expectation. If you look for much, you will also receive much: if you expect little, you will also reap little. 2. Carry your worshipping thoughts forth with you. Let them not be dissipated by idle words, by foolish levity, just outside or even within these walls. The great enemy will watch you after this service, that he may catch away the seed sown. (Dean Vaughan.)The prayer of the Church at Jerusalem under persecution I. The prayer.1. It contains a distinct acknowledgment of God’ s almighty power. “ Lord, Thou art God,” etc. Our highest conceptions of the power of God are derived from the act of creation. Finite power can shape and fashion, but it can never create. (1) God created the heaven of heavens: the place where He has erected His throne, and where He is pleased especially to manifest Himself to the heavenly powers. There the humanity of Christ is seen. That world our Saviour has described as His “ Father’ s house.” If the Queen of Sheba fainted at the sight of the splendour of Solomon’ s court, what shall be thought of the temple of the great King? He created all the inhabitants of that world. Of these there are various orders. “ Thrones, dominions,” etc. Their numbers are great. All derive their existence from God, their immortality, their mighty intellect, their profound and comprehensive knowledge, their burning love, their rich and elevated enjoyments. (2) He made the visible heavens. The sun, moon, stars, and planets. Their magnitudes; the regularity and rapidity of their motions; the vast sweep of their orbits; all declare the greatness of His power. (3) He made the earth. Its plains and valleys, its deserts, its hills, its mineral substances, its refreshing springs, its daily and annual motion, with its changing seasons, the clouds which supply it with the fruitful rain, the winds which sweep over its surface, the atmosphere in which it moves, all attest the greatness of His power. He made all that the earth contains. The varieties of the vegetable kingdom; the fowls of the air, with the endless train of sentient creatures. Man, his outward frame, so “ fearfully and wonderfully made,” his mind, by whose sagacity the secrets of nature are penetrated, and the unruly elements and animals made subservient; and by which the knowledge of God is acquired, and a spiritual worship is presented. The lesson is that the mighty hand which fabricated all this is pledged to defend the Christian from evil. Hence this prayer. The storm of persecution was raging around. The danger is appalling; but God is near; and His people take refuge in His almightiness. What is the power of the rulers before the great Lord of earth and sky? “ The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe!” Here, then, is an example worthy of imitation. In every perplexity and danger, let us call upon God in prayer, and cover ourselves with His omnipotence. “ God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear.” 2. A distinct acknowledgment of God’ s governing wisdom (verses 25-28; cf. Psalms 2:1-12.). (1) Because the men who put our Lord to death did that which God had “ determined before to be done,” some have concluded that they were compelled. But as to the perpetration of it, this opinion is dishonourable to God, and injurious to piety. We shall prove that it is not the doctrine of Holy Scripture. (a) It was God’ s purpose that His Son should die. This was the appointed method of human salvation. Man had sinned, and could not be justified without an atonement. That atonement was therefore determined in the counsels of the Divine Mind before time began; for He “ verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” The death of Christ, therefore, was in effect declared in the first promise: was prefigured by the sacrifices of the old dispensations, and was attested by the prophets. But now note that so far as the Jews were concerned, the crucifixion involved a criminal inattention to the predictions of their own Scriptures. They wilfully shut their eyes against the light of the clearest evidence, as to His real character, arising from His miracles and teaching. To suppose that God should solemnly forbid all this wickedness, and reveal His wrath against it, and yet impel any of His creatures to commit it, is a foul aspersion upon His truth and holiness, as well as upon His justice and love. (b) It has been rashly concluded, that if the authorities had believed in Jesus, and forborne to lay violent hands upon Him, the Divine plan of redemption must have failed; but such apprehensions arise from very imperfect views of the depth of God’ s counsels. His wisdom could have devised a thousand means of securing the death of His Son independently of all sinful agency. If He “ does not need man’ s work,” in order to the accomplishment of His plans, He certainly does not need man’ s wickedness for any such purpose. But on such a subject it is useless to speculate. The death of Christ has been accomplished, and with it the world’ s redemption. (e) Some persons have thought that the prophecies imposed upon the Jewish people a necessity to put Jesus to death; but of this there is no proof. Prophecy, in this case, was simply an expression of God’ s foreknowledge. Had the conduct of the Jewish and Roman authorities towards our Lord been friendly, the Divine Mind would have seen it to be such; and prophecy would have corresponded with it. Simple foreknowledge no more influences a fact than after-knowledge; and the actions of a moral agent are no more determined by a mere prediction than they are by history. (2) In all the circumstances attending the crucifixion we have a striking display of the wisdom of God. The Jews unquestionably intended-- (a) To cover His name with indelible odium, but God has made it an occasion of the highest glory. (b) To subvert His spiritual kingdom. Vain men! The means which they adopted led Him to the possession of a dominion wide as the universe, and lasting as eternity. (c) By the frightful and tormenting death to which our Lord was subjected, to terrify and scatter His disciples. Here again we see the short-sightedness of man; the Cross was the means of binding the disciples of Christ to Him for ever. (3) Here, then, is another ground of confidence towards God. He who thus brought good out of evil is always the same. Men are often taken by surprise; but He sees the end from the beginning, and is therefore prepared for all events. 3. A direct application to God for His immediate interposition. They request that supernatural boldness may be given to the apostles in the exercise of their ministry. This is a very remarkable petition, and places in a striking light the singleness of heart of the first Christians. Ease, honour, liberty, friends, life itself, are all to be sacrificed, rather than the word of God should be bound. As one means of inspiring the apostles with the requisite “ boldness,” the Church pray that miracles may be continued and increased It is here assumed that miracles are the peculiar work of God: for had miraculous power been inherent the prayer would have been absurd. Miracles were indeed wrought by the instrumentality of the apostles, because they were intended to authenticate the system of truth which they were appointed to teach; but the miracles themselves were effects produced by the immediate exertion of God’ s power; and in every instance they depended upon His will. 4. The prayer is marked by the absence of all wrathful feeling. In preaching Christ the apostles violated no law; injured no man; they conferred the greatest possible good upon multitudes. While thus discharging their consciences, and benefiting mankind, they were censured, imprisoned, brow-beaten, and severely threatened. Yet the only allusion made to this cruel and unreasonable conduct is, “ And now, Lord, behold their threatenings.” How like their Lord who, when He “ was reviled, He reviled not again” !; and “ when He suffered unjustly,” He forbore “ to threaten.” In the same spirit Stephen suffered There was a time when the disciples proposed to punish inhospitable people with fire from heaven. But now they were actuated by holier feelings. The spirit of Christianity is a spirit of love. 5. The prayer presents a beautiful example of Christian unanimity. The assembled multitude “ lifted up their voices with one accord.” How different from the congregations of ungodly men, brought together for some worldly object, and actuated by selfishness, anger, or curiosity (Acts 19:32). Here is a complete unity of purpose and desire. Not a wandering eye, no listlessness, inattention, or formality; no silent lips; for here is no cold and unfeeling heart. The Holy Ghost has produced in them all an intense desire for the preservation and extension of the cause of Christ. Oh, when will our assemblies resemble this! When shall we cease to complain of late attendance upon our religious ordinances? of undevout worshippers? II. The answer which God graciously vouchsafed.1. They received a sensible token of the Divine presence. “ The place was shaken.” The entire fabric was moved by the power of God; but not a stone seems to have been displaced. The effect must have been somewhat similar to that produced on Jacob and Elijah (Genesis 28:16-17; 1 Kings 19:12-13). Only in this case there was no guilt to terrify; for their sin was purged; and the weakest among them was greater in Divine knowledge and heavenly enjoyment than the most distinguished prophet. To them, therefore, the presence of God was the cause of holy joy. Miracles are no longer necessary, and are therefore discontinued; but God is as really present in the assemblies of His people at this day as He was when they met in Jerusalem; and our whole spirit and behaviour in His house should correspond with this conviction. 2. They were favoured with a rich effusion of Divine influence. “ They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” This being the case-- (1) They were, of course, emptied of all that was opposed to His mind and nature; and whatever was defective in the piety of any of them was now supplied. Those that were weak in faith were now inspired with strong confidence. Each of them was entirely sanctified to God, and made perfect in every Christian grace. They were not only saved from all sin, but were filled with the fulness of God. They dwelt in God, by constant acts of faith and love; and He dwelt in them in all the fulness of His Spirit’ s power. It may be justly questioned whether the power of Christianity was ever more strikingly manifested than upon this occasion. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 4:25-28 Why do the heathen rage. Opposition to the gospel I. Its characteristics.1. Furiousness, “ rage,” a word signifying the neighing or snorting of highly excited horses--Like the prancing war-horse in the book of Job. It is metaphorically used to represent the noise and fury of insolent and overbearing men, and well represents the attitude of Christ’ s enemies. 2. Vanity. They “ imagine vain things.” Those who aspire to thwart the plans of Christ, to crush Christianity, live in a region of mad dreams. They are agents of consummate folly, and must fall victims to their own delusions. 3. Combination. “ Kings and rulers” were banded together. Ungodly men that differ widely in other things, are one in their antagonism to Christ. II. Its frustration. All that Herod, Pontius Pilate, etc., could do was just as much as God determined they should do. How great is God! He maketh His enemies to do His work. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before “ to be done.-- The hand of God “ For to do,” or be the means of doing, that by which Christ became the Saviour of the world. This was the effect, ‘ although the secondary agents were ignorant of it. In their blindness and sinfulness they did just so much and no more than God had determined to be done. God decreed the salvation of the world by the death of Christ, but He did not decree the means--man’ s sin; but overruled it to the accomplishment of His purpose. This is ascribed to the “ hand” of God, which in Scripture implies-- I. Power. This was displayed in the work of our deliverance from the slavery of Satan--the strong man; and this deliverance was effected by the suffering and death of Christ, in “ which the great power of God was displayed. II. Providence or direction. It was not Jewish malice that procured our redemption, but malice overruled by Divine providence. III. Operation. God by the death of Christ has wrought our redemption, and established His Church as a channel of salvation. IV. Mercy and grace. The work of our salvation was wrought through the mercy God bears towards us, V. Wisdom (Job 28:11; Ezra 8:18; Nehemiah if. 8, 18). (W. Denton, M. A.) Acts 4:29-30 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings. How a Christian ought to pray for his enemies I. Without anxiety and fear: for he prays to the King of kings. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” II. Without hatred and malice; for he prays against wickedness, not against the wicked. III. Without pride and scorn; for he prays not for himself, but for the cause of God. (K. Gerok.)Grant unto Thy servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word.-- The prayer of Christ’ s witnesses I. That they may speak and not be dumb.1. Speech is a chief gift of God and prerogative of man. Where there is a living spring it finds a channel, and where a living soul an avenue of egress. Neither can be imprisoned. On the other hand, where there is no spring, no channel is needed, and none is found. Among living creatures accordingly, where there is not a soul there is not speech; but in that one creature into whom God breathed a living soul, there is speech. Reverence human speech. It is the mark of a being who was made, and may be remade, a child of God; it is a Divinely formed capacity for a Divinely prescribed use. Dread false speech, proud, impure, profane speech, for these are the King’ s weapons used against Himself. 2. Why should they be silent who have tasted that the Lord is gracious? Let them tell to all what God hath done for their souls. Let the compressed love which glows in renewed hearts find expression in spoken praise. 3. Silence is a sin, if your cry might save a neighbour from stumbling over a precipice; if your neighbours are on the broad path and your word might lead them into the narrow one; if a brother is sliding back and your reproof might urge him on; if a believer is oppressed with doubts and fears, while your lips might pour the consolations of God into his weary heart. 4. The prayer points mainly to a public ministry, and yet nothing is said about sermons, or even preaching. “ That they may speak.” Whether the address be long or short, whether the audience be few or many, whether the style be eloquent or stammering, the pith and marrow of the whole matter is, that one man hoping in Christ and loving his neighbour, speaks to that neighbour about Christ’ s redeeming love. Out of this, as the germ, all true preaching springs. If its whole mass were by some chemical process reduced to its elements, this would be the essential residuum remaining indestructible after all ornaments and accessories had been melted away. II. That they may speak Thy Word. This supplies alike the authority and material of preaching. The seed is the Word; the sower need not scatter any other in his field. This alone is vital; this alone will grow. III. With boldness. Yet none assume too readily that he has attained this qualification. Here all is not gold that glitters. Beware of counterfeits. To rasp like a file on other people’ s tender points, because you have none of your own, is not the boldness here prayed for, but that of some of the inferior creatures. An essential constituent of courage is tenderness. In feudal times battle courage was only one half of knightly bearing; the other half consisted of a tenderness almost feminine. The boldness of speech Which costs the speaker nothing is neither beautiful nor successful. Paul was a bold man, accusing people of being enemies of the Cross, but he wept as he did so; and the tears did more than the reproving word. IV. With all boldness. Even courage may be one-sided. That is not true courage which is severe to the poor but quails before the rich. As the water of a reservoir will be lost unless the circle of its lip be kept whole on all sides, all the dignity and power of boldness vanishes when it fails on one point. Perhaps the weakest point of all the circle for every man is himself. A surgeon needs a stout heart when he has to operate on others, he needs a stouter to operate on himself. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Boldness in preaching Some preachers are traders from port to port, following the customary and approved course; others adventure over the whole ocean of human concerns. The former are hailed by the common voice of the multitude, whose cause they hold, the latter blamed as idle, often suspected of hiding deep designs, always derided as having lost all guess of the proper course. Yet, of the latter class of preachers was Paul the apostle Such adventurers, under God, this age of the world seems to us especially to want. There are ministers now to hold the flock in pasture and in safety, but where are they to make inroads upon the alien, to bring in the votaries of fashion, of literature, of sentiment, of policy, and of rank?… Where are they to lift up their voice against simony, and acts of policy, and servile dependence upon the great ones of this earth, and shameful seeking of ease and pleasure, and anxious amassing of money, and the whole cohort of evil customs which are overspreading the Church? Truly it is not stagers who take on the customary form of their office and go the beaten round of duty, and then lie down content; but it is daring adventurer who shall eye from the grand eminence of a holy and heavenly mind all the grievances which religion underlies, and all the obstacles which stay her course, and then descend with the self-denial and faith of an apostle to set the battle in array against them. (Edward Irving.)The servant and the slaves “ Thy servant David.” “ Thy holy servant Jesus.” “ Thy servants” (Acts 4:25; Acts 4:27; Acts 4:29). A word or two of explanation may be necessary as to the language of our texts. You will observe that, in the second of them, I have followed the Revised Version, which, instead of “ Thy holy child,” as in the Authorised Version, reads “ Thy holy servant.” The alteration is clearly correct. The word, indeed, literally means “ a child,” but, like our own English “ boy,” or even “ man,” or “ maid,” it is used to express the relation of servant, when the desire is to cover over the harsher features of servitude, and to represent the servant as a part of the family. Thus the kindly centurion, who besought Jesus to come and heal his servant, speaks of him as his “ boy.” And that the word is here used in this secondary sense of “ servant” is unmistakable. For there is no discernible reason why, if stress were meant to be laid on Christ as being the Son of God, the recognised expression for that relationship should not have been employed. Again, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, with which the Apostles were familiar, employs the very phrase that is here used as its translation of the well-known Old Testament designation of the Messiah, “ the servant of the Lord,” and the words here are really a quotation from the great prophecies of the second part of the Book of Isaiah. So, then, we have here three figures, the Psalmist-king, the Messiah, the disciples. Christ in the midst, on the one hand a servant with whom He consents to be classed, on the other hand the slaves who, through Him, have become sons. And I think I shall best bring out the intended lessons of these clauses in their connection if I ask you to note these two contrasts, the servants and the Servant; the Servant and the slaves. “ David Thy servant” ; “ Thy holy servant Jesus” ; us “ Thy servants.” I. First, then, notice the servants and the Servant. The reason for the application of the name to the Psalmist lies, not so much in his personal character, or in his religious elevation, as in the fact that he is chosen of God for a specific purpose, to carry on the Divine plans some steps towards their realisation. Kings, priests, prophets, the collective Israel, as having a specific function in the world, and being, in some sense, the instruments and embodiments of the will of God amongst men, have in an eminent degree the designation of His “ servants.” But then, whilst this is true, and whilst Jesus Christ comes into this category, and is one of these special men raised up for special service in connection with the carrying out of the Divine purpose, mark how emphatically the line is drawn here between Him and the other members of the class to which, in a certain sense, He does belong. Peter says “ Thy servant David,” but he says “ Thy holy servant Jesus.” There are many imperfect instruments of the Divine will; thinkers and heroes and saints and statesmen and warriors, as well as prophets and priests and kings; but amongst them all there is One who stands in their midst and yet apart from them, because He, and He alone, can say “ I have done all Thy pleasure,” and into My doing of Thy pleasure no bitter leaven of self-regard or by-ends has ever, in the faintest degree, entered. “ Thy holy servant Jesus,” is the unique designation of the Servant of the Lord. And what is the meaning of holy? The word does not primarily refer to character so much as to relation to God. The root idea of holiness is not righteousness nor moral perfectness, but something that lies beyond that--viz., separation for the service and uses of God. The first notion of the word is consecration, and guilt upon that and resulting from it, moral perfection. So then these men, some of whom had lived beside Jesus Christ for all those years, and had seen everything that He did, and studied Him through and through, came away from the close inspection of His character with this thought: He is utterly and entirely devoted to the service of God, and in Him there is neither spot nor wrinkle nor blemish such as is found in all other men. I need not remind you with what strange persistence of affirmation, and yet with what humility of self-consciousness, our Lord Himself always claimed to be in possession of this entire consecration, and complete obedience, and consequent perfection. Think of human lips saying, “ I do always the things that please Him” ! There followed in Jesus the morn! perfectness that comes from such uninterrupted and complete consecration of self to God. “ Thy servant David.” What about Bathsheba, David? What about a great many other things in your life? The poet king, with the poet nature so sensitive to all the delights of sense, and so easily moved in the matter of pleasure is but the type of all other servants in the fact of imperfection. In every machine power is lost through friction; and in every man, the noblest and the purest, there is resistance to be overcome ere motion, in conformity with the Divine impulse, can be secured. We pass in review before our minds saints and martyrs and lovely characters by the hundred, and amongst them all there is not a jewel without a flaw, not a mirror without some dint in it where the rays are distorted, or some dark place where the reflecting surface has been rubbed away by the attrition of sin, and there is no reflection of the Divine light. And then we turn to that meek figure that stands there with the question that has been awaiting an answer for eighteen centuries upon His lips, and is unanswered yet: “ Which of you convinceth Me of sin? The holy Servant,” whose consecration and character mark Him off from all the class to which He belongs as the only one of them all who, in His fulness, has executed the Father’ s purpose, and has never attempted anything besides! Now there is another step to take, and that is this. The servant who stands out in front of all the group--though the noblest names in the world’ s history are included there--could not be the Servant unless He were the Son. This designation, as applied to Jesus Christ, is peculiar to these three or four earlier chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. There is no sign that the proper Sonship and Divinity of our Lord was clear before them at this period. They had the facts but they had not yet come to the distinct apprehension of how much was involved in these. But, if they knew that Jesus” Christ had died and had risen again, and if they were certain that in His character of Messiah there had been faultlessness and absolute perfection, then it would not be long before they took the next step, and said, as I say, “ He cannot be the Servant unless He is more than man.” And we may well ask ourselves the question--If we admit, as the world does admit, the moral perfectness of Jesus Christ, how comes it that this Man alone managed to escape failure, and deflections from the right, and sins, and that He only carried through life a stainless garment, and went down to the grave never having needed, and not needing then, the exercise of Divine forgiveness? I venture to say that it is hopeless to account for Jesus Christ on naturalistic principles; and that either you should give up your belief in His sinlessness, or advance, as the Christian Church as a whole advanced, to the other belief, on which alone that perfectness is explicable: “ Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.” II. And so, secondly, let us turn to the other contrast here--the servant and the servants. I said that the humble group of praying, persecuted believers seemed to have wished to take a lower place than their Master’ s, even whilst they ventured to assume that, in some sense, they too, like Him, were doing the Father’ s will. So they chose, by a fine instinct of humility, rather than from any dogmatical prepossessions, the name that expresses, in its most absolute and roughest form, the notion of bondage and servitude. He is the Servant; we standing here are slaves. The true place, then, for a man is to be God’ s slave. The harsh, repellent features of that wicked institution assume an altogether different character when they become the features of my relation to Him. Absolute submission, unconditional obedience, on the slave’ s part; and on the part of the Master complete ownership; the right of life and death; the right of disposing of all goods and chattels; the right of separating husband and wife, parents and children; the right of issuing commandments without a reason; the right to expect that those commandments shall be swiftly, unhesitatingly, punctiliously, and completely performed; these things inhere in our relation to God. Blessed the man who has learned that they do, and has accepted them as his highest glory and the security of his most blessed life! Remember, however, that in the New Testament these names of slave and owner are transferred to Christians and Jesus Christ. “ The Servant” has His slaves; and He who “ is God’ s,” and does not His own will, but the Father’ s will, has us for His, imposes His will upon us, and we are bound to render to Him the same revenue of entire obedience which He hath laid at His Father’ s feet. Such slavery is the only freedom. Liberty does not mean to do as you like, it means to like as you ought, and to do that. He only is free who submits to God in Christ, and thereby overcomes himself and the world and all antagonism, and is able to do that which it is His life to do. The prison out of which we do not desire to go is no restraint, and the will which coincides with law is the only will that is truly free. You talk about the bondage of obedience. Ah! “ the weight of too much liberty” is a far sorer bondage. They are the slaves who say, “ Let us break His bonds asunder, and cast away His cords from us.” In the wicked old empires, as in some of their modern survivals to-day, viziers and prime ministers were mostly drawn from the servile classes. It is so in God’ s kingdom. They who make themselves God’ s slaves are by Him made kings and priests, and shall reign with Him on earth. “ If a slave, then a son and an heir of God through Jesus Christ.” Remember the alternative. You cannot be your own masters without being your own slaves. Better serve God than the devil; than the world; than the flesh. The Servant-Son makes us slaves and sons. It matters nothing to me that Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the law of God. So much the better for Him, but of no value for me, unless He has the power of making me like Himself. (A. Maclaren, D. D)By stretching forth Thine hand to heal. The Gospel of Pentecost I. The healing hand of God is extended. The hand is an emblem of power, and the gospel is the hand or “ power of God unto salvation.” The hand of God is seen in(1) The works of creation; above, around, beneath--everywhere. (2) The course of Providence; through all time, among all nations: it governs, guides, supports, defends. (3) The work of redemption. To this latter the apostles refer--“ The hand of God stretched out to heal.” The gospel--not a sword to destroy, not a rod to rebuke; but a gracious hand to heal. We need to be healed, for we are all bruised with the worries of life--its puzzling problems, its exacting work, its burdens and bereavements, its sins and sorrows. (a) The gentle ministration of the beauty and bounty of the world. (b) The sympathy and condolence of social love. He heals us by assuring us that He loves us; by the exhibition of His healing hand in the life of His dear Son; by actual aid; by exceeding great and precious promises. In the gospel God’ s hand is stretched out to heal. II. The thoughtful attention of man is arrested. The apostles prayed that signs and wonders might be wrought. They knew how prone men were to be thoughtless and inattentive, and that it needed some loud bell to be rung in the ears of the world. Under the Old Testament dispensation signs and wonders had been wrought to secure attention to the promulgation of the Law and the proclamations of the Prophets. The apostles were privileged to wield miraculous power, thus arresting the attention of their auditors. These things were(1) credentials of apostleship and(2) proofs of the supernatural in Christianity. III. The peerless name of Christ is exalted. The apostles fell into the background and hid themselves under the shadow of the Cross. In the name of Jesus they found the secret of unfaltering faith. To the glorious company of the apostles the name of Jesus was above every name; that name, as “ Servant,” as the Sent One, the true Messiah, excels all other names of ancient or modern times. Above the names of Peter and Paul, Augustine and Luther, Whitfield and Wesley, rises--Like the sun in his splendour--the name of the world’ s great Redeemer, the Essence of light and sweetness, the Symbol of purity and power, the Source of life and salvation. (F. W. Brown.)That signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy Holy Child Jesus. The Eternal Child I. This description--Child--seems to be an eternally appropriate characterisation of our Lord Jesus Christ.1. Is it not appropriate to Him as we dwell on the infinite past? Great as the mystery of His pre-existent life is, we cannot accept the authority of Scripture and deny that pre-existence. He was ever God’ s holy child. 2. Is it not appropriate of Him as we study His incarnate life o, earth? There are always in His conduct and character the simple beauties we admire in a child--freshness, sensitiveness, wonder, simplicity, even to the point of exquisite artlessness, which is the child’ s glory. He wanted everybody else to be a child even as He felt He was a child, and, so He said, “ Except ye become as little children ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” 3. Is it not appropriate of Him as we contemplate the life He is living now? He lives still, and lives to care for, to help, to bless us. “ He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us; for such a High Priest became us, who is holy, guileless, undefiled.” That guilelessness is the distinctive virtue of God’ s holy child Jeans. II. The history of this child Christ illustrates much in the life of many an one who is also God’ s child. As we have seen, Jesus Christ is in some senses unique as God’ s child--His only begotten Son. But in many aspects He is the Brother, the Type of every one who is God’ s child. “ He is not ashamed to call us brethren.” Remembering that, we notice--1. God’ s child may be born in very lowly circumstances. 2. God’ s child is often brought up in the midst of most adverse circumstances. We recall Nazareth where He was brought up who was “ God’ s holy child Jesus.” 3. God’ s child should early be accustomed to the means of grace. You find it said of God’ s holy child Jesus, that His custom was to go to the synagogue at Nazareth. 4. God’ s child will be the subject of the highest spiritual consciousness. 5. God’ s child will show that he is the subject of this highest consciousness by his daily life. 6. God’ s child must develop into a future of beauty and strength. Growth is the law of life. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The Holy Child Jesus I. The real humanity of Jesus.1. While we always contend that Christ is God, let us never lose the firm conviction He is truly man. His humanity was real, for He was born. The gate by which we enter upon the first life, He passed through also. In the circumstances of His birth He is completely human; He is as weak and feeble as any other babe. As He grows up, the very growth shows how completely human He is. “ He grows in stature, and in favour both with God and man.” When He reaches man’ s estate, He gets the common stamp of manhood upon His brow. “ In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.” The carpenter’ s shop must witness to the toils of a Saviour, and when He becomes the preacher still we read such significant words as these--“ Jesus, being weary, sat thus on the well.” We find Him needing to betake Himself to rest in sleep, and if sorrow be the mark of real manhood, certainly Jesus has the truest evidence of being a man. If to hunger and to thirst be signs that His manhood is no fiction, you have these. Since the day when the prince of the power of the air obtained dominion in this world, men are tempted, and He, though born pure and holy, must not be delivered from temptation. If, since we have fallen and must endure temptation, we have need to pray, so had He. Leave out sin, and Christ is the perfect picture of humanity. And lastly, as the whole human race must yield its neck to the great iron-crowned monarch, so must Christ give up the ghost. 2. Having thus insisted upon the humanity of Christ, let us gather a few reflections from it. 1. Let us marvel at His condescension. Cyprian well said, “ I do not wonder at any miracle, but I do marvel at this, which is a miracle among miracles, that God should become man.” That God should make a creature out of nothing is certainly a marvellous manifestation of power, but that God should take that creature into intimate union with His own nature--this is the strangest of all acts of condescending love. A prince who puts aside his crown, and clothes himself with beggar’ s rags to investigate the miseries of his country, is but a worm condescending to his fellow worm. An angel that should lay aside his beauty, and become decrepit, and walk the streets in pain and poverty to bless the race of man, were but a creature humbling himself to creatures a little lower than himself. 2. See the fitness of Christ for His work! He is a perfect man, and so “ can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing He was tempted in all points like as we are.” Being not ashamed to call us brethren, He can compassionate the ignorant and those who are out of the way. 3. Behold His near relationship and union to His people. He is no stranger, He is our Brother; nay, our Head. Not a head of gold, and feet of clay, or limbs of baser metal; but as we are, so was He, that as He is so might we be. 4. See the glory of manhood now restored! Man was but a little lower than the angels, and had dominion over the fowl of the air, and over the fish of the sea. That royalty he lost. But all this is given back to us. We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour. It is our nature, Jesus in our manhood, who is now Lord of providence, which sits upon the throne of God at this very day. 5. Rejoice that a blessed channel is opened by which God’ s mercy can come to us! 6. See what a door of access is thus opened between us and God! 7. See how safe we are! Our soul’ s estate was once put in the hands of Adam; he was a fallible man; how unsafe our salvation was then! The salvation of every believer now is in the hand of a man; it is the man Christ Jesus! But what a man! Can He fail? Can He sin? Can He fall? 8. Here is your adoption! You become sons of God, because Christ becomes a son of man. 9. Here is your acceptance! The man, Christ, is accepted, and you, since He stands for you, are accepted in Him. II. The humanity as it is here described--“ Holy Child.”1. Christ’ s humanity was perfectly holy. Upon this doctrine you are well established; but you may well wonder that Jesus was always holy. He is conceived of a woman, and yet no sort of sin cometh from His birth. He is educated in the midst of sinful persons. It could not be otherwise. He goes into the world, and as a physician must mingle with the sick, so He is found in the very worst of society. The harlot may speak to Him, and from the publican He turns not away, yet from none of these did He receive any corrupt influence. He is tempted, but the prince of this world came and had nothing in Christ. Imputation of sin would be the nearest approach to making our Lord a sinner; but let it ever be remembered that though Jehovah made Him to be sin for us, yet He knew no sin, and even in the conflict, when all the powers of hell were let loose against Him, and when God Himself had withdrawn--which would have hardened our hearts, but did not harden His. 2. Christ is called a “ Holy Child” because His character is more aptly pictured by that of a child than that of a man. If you conceive of a perfectly holy child, you have then before you a representation of Christ. There is that in holy childhood which you cannot find even in holy manhood. You note in childhood-- (1) Simplicity, the absence of all cunning. We dare not in manhood usually wear our heart upon our sleeve as children do. (2) Humbleness. There is a king’ s daughter, and here is a gipsy child. Leave them in a room and see if they will not be at play together in five minutes. If it had been the queen and the gipsy woman they would have sat as far apart as possible. Christ is King of kings. Yet He is always with the poor and needy. You do not find little children sitting down and planning how they shall win crowns, popularity, or applause. They are quite satisfied to do their father’ s will, and live on his smile. It is so with Christ. When they would have made Him a king, He went and hid Himself. (3) Obedience. Was it not so with Jesus His whole life long? (4) A forgiving temper. We know that sometimes the blood comes up in the little face, and a little angry quarrel ensues, but it is soon over. Well, with Jesus this characteristic of childhood is carried out to the fullest extent, for His latest words are, “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (5) There is something very sweet in this picture of Christ’ s humanity, because we are none of us afraid to approach a child. Come then, and tell Jesus everything. Whatever your trouble or difficulty may be, stand not back through shame or fear. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s holy Servant (see Acts 3:26):--The term translated in the Authorised Version here, and in verse 21, “ child” is more correctly rendered in verse 25, in regard to David, “ servant.” The word is so given in Matthew 12:18, where Isaiah 13:1 --part of the great prophecy of the Servant of the Lord--is applied to Christ. This prophecy and its fulfilment in Jesus was evidently running in the minds of the apostles throughout these discourses. The term “ holy” in conjunction with “ servant” suggests that God has servants who are-- I. Without holiness--creatures whom God has not endowed with a moral being, and can therefore render neither a holy nor an unholy service. This applies to the laws, forces, substances of nature to sun, moon, stars, the earth, and all its inhabitants except man. These perform an unconscious service. II. Unholy--creatures in antagonism to the Divine will; devils and evil men. These are servants by right, for God made them for service, equipped them for service, placed them in spheres for service, and gave them a work to do. But their powers and opportunities are occupied in endeavouring to thwart the Divine purpose. Do they succeed? Nay, they are servants in fact as well as by right. Let the conduct of the rulers, fitting types of their class, show this, and Judas also and his confederates in the Crucifixion. Their service is an unwilling service. III. Imperfectly holy. Such are true Christians, whose lifelong experience is gradual separation from sin and growing approximation to complete consecration to God. In both sides of this experience the Divine and human co-operate. The blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing them from sin, and they are cleansing themselves “ from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,” thus “ perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The Holy Spirit sanctifies, sets them apart for God. They “ present themselves living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God.” Their service is a conscious and glad service. IV. Holy. Such was Adam; such are the angels. But the holiness was not inherent in the first, for he fell; nor in the second, for some of their order fell. Angelic purity is Divinely imparted, and for their Divine work they are Divinely sustained. V. Divinely holy. Such and such only is Jesus.1. He is holy by nature--essentially, eternally. 2. His work is perfectly holy without a flaw, and such as God can accept without the least reservation. 3. His merits make the holiest holy. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed the place was shaken … and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Prayer effects miracles I. Internal.1. Hearts are savingly affected.2. Spirits are mightily strengthened. II. External.1. Houses are moved.2. Churches awakened.3. Enemies frightened.4. Mountains displaced.5. The world convulsed. (K. Gerok.)The blessings of spiritual worship I. The devotional supplication offered to God. “ They prayed.” It was--1. Earnest.2. United.3. Believing.4. Sincere.5. Specific. II. The visible evidence of the Lord’ s presence. “ The place was shaken where they were assembled together.”1. The unmistakable proof of Divine power.2. The reliable sign of Divine nearness.3. The full assurance of Divine protection. III. The invisible descent of the spirit. “ They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”1. The gift of the Holy Ghost was bestowed.2. The supply of the Holy Ghost was abundant.3. Every worshipper received the baptism of the Spirit. IV. The Christian courage of the disciples. “ They spake the Word of God with boldness.”1. The subject of their speeches.2. The fearlessness of their conduct.3. The activity of their labours. Lessons--1. To plead with God should be our first thought when surrounded with difficulties. 2. God will grant to our request some token of His presence and help of the Spirit. 3. The prayers of true worshippers bring blessings if we wait patiently at the throne of grace. 4. May we seek by holy fellowship to speak Divine truths without the fear of the world. (Alfred Buckley.)The gift of the Spirit dependent on prayer How well I remember a sermon I preached at a great outdoor meeting in the upper part of this State! For several days in that place prayer had been offered for the success of the service, and I had myself been unusually prayerful, and we had a Pentecostal blessing while I was preaching it. That afternoon I took the train for a great outdoor meeting in Ohio. I said to myself: “ This sermon was blessed to-day, and it is fresh in my mind, and I will preach it to-morrow in Ohio.” And I did preach it, but not in as prayerful a spirit, and I think no one else had been praying about it, and it turned into the most inane and profitless discourse that I ever delivered. It was practically the same sermon, but on Wednesday it had on it a power that comes from the secret place of thunder, and on Thursday it had on it no such power at all. Oh! pray for us! Poor sermons in the pulpit are the curse of God on a prayerless parish. We ministers and preachers want the power a man gets when he is alone, the door locked; on his knees at midnight; with such a burden of souls upon him that makes him cry out, first in lamentation and then in raptures. Let all the Sabbath-school teachers, and Bible-class instructors, and all reformers, and all evangelists, and all ministers know that diplomas, and dictionaries, and encyclopaedias, and treatises, and libraries are not the source of moral and spiritual achievement, but that the room of prayer, where no one but God is present and no one but God hears, is the secret place of thunder. Secret? Ah, yes! So secret that comparatively few ever find it. At Boscobel, England, we visited a house where a king was once hid. No one, unless it were pointed out to him, could find the door in the floor through which the king entered his hiding-place. When there hidden the armed pursuers looked in vain for him, and afterward through an underground passage, far out in the fields, he came out in the open air. So this imperial power of spiritual influence has a hiding-place, a secret place which few know, and it comes forth sometimes in strange and mysterious ways, and far off from the place where it was hidden. You can find it only by diligent searching. But you may find it, and some of you will find it, and I wish you might all find it, the secret place of thunder. (T. De Witt Talmage.)The second Pentecost Notice-- I. The praying.1. The exuberance of joy, the yearnings of sympathy, the wailings of sorrow seek--very commonly--Loud vocal expression. So the disciples lifted up their voice (Acts 4:24). 2. They prayed together. The soul loves sympathy in joy as well as sorrow. II. The sharing. Praying and shaking have often been found together. The foundations of the prison at Philippi were shaken. The Lord of old promised to shake the heavens, and not the earth only. The bones were shaken when Ezekiel prophesied in the valley of vision. In mighty prayer the electric current shakes the clouds of blessing, so that heavy showers descend upon us. Hearts are shaken, knees shaken, sinners shaken. III. The filling. Not half filled, not three parts, but completely. Not filled with doubts and fears, as too often people now are when they pray, but with the Holy Ghost. That is the sort of filling preachers or people, teachers or scholars, require nowadays. To be filled with the Holy Ghost is to be filled with faith, with power, with unction, with heaven. IV. The speaking.1. What did they speak? Not the praise of man: much less slander and reproach. Not the mere shibboleth of party, not idle or mischievous words, but the Word of God. How little do many professors speak of God’ s Word. But as David said of Goliath’ s sword, “ there is none like it.” 2. They spake it--how? Boldly. Of course, when they were full of the Holy Ghost they would little heed what men thought of them, said about them, or did at them. Many a fit of nervousness has been cured this way, (W. Antliff, D. D.)Early Church life Let us consider-- I. The prayer.1. Its occasion. The persecution of the apostles. 2. Its substance. It was seasonable, suitable, short, as all the prayers recorded in the Scriptures are; and though they had been so evil entreated yet they beseech God to stretch forth His hand, not to strike and to punish, but to heal. 3. Its success. God never said to the seed of Jacob, “ Seek ye My face in vain.” The sign of the acceptance of their prayer seemed much more likely to produce dread than to gender hope; but so God would teach us that He is greatly to be feared in the assembly of His saints; that He will be sanctified by all them that come nigh to Him; that there is something awful even in the dispensations of His grace; that He sometimes answers His people as the God of their salvation, by terrible things in righteousness. 4. Its effect. “ They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” They were now called to fresh duties, difficulties, dangers; and therefore they required fresh supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Their strength was made equal to their day, and they obtained accessions of illumination, of confidence, of courage, of peace, and of joy, and were prepared to stand complete in all the will of God. II. The preaching. “ And they spake the Word of God with boldness.” The very thing for which they had been praying. The very thing Paul beseeches of the Ephesians to implore on his behalf: “ that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly.” You see how little they were governed by the opinions of the people around them; that they did not walk in craftiness, nor handle the Word of God deceitfully, nor appeal to the fancies and wishes of the individuals before them; but by manifestation of the truth, they commended themselves to every man’ s conscience in the sight of God. Suppose a number of persons were to call on a minister on a Sabbath-day morning, and one of them should say, “ I hope, sir, you do not mean to-day to be severe against avarice, for my heart goes after my covetousness” ; and another, “ I trust you will not be severe against backbiting, for my tongue walketh with slanderers” ; and another, “ Do not represent implacability as being inconsistent with Divine forgiveness, for I never did forgive such an one, and I never will.” What would this minister say to these men? Why, if he were in a proper state of mind, he would say, “ Oh, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness! when wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” Our people are not likely to address us in this way, but this is the wish and meaning of many. “ Three things equalise,” says Bishop Hall, “ the grave, the judgment-bar, and the pulpit: the grave makes no difference, the judgment-bar makes none, and the pulpit should make none.” Daniel addressed Belshazzar as if he had been a common man. John the Baptist was to Herod as rough as the garment he wore. James the First said of one of his chaplains, “ Why, this man always preaches before me as if death stood at his elbow.” Why, dearth does always stand at the preacher’ s elbow, and he ought to be able to say with Baxter: “ I preach as if I ne’ er should preach again; and as a dying man to dying men.” III. The people (verse 32). Verily, if this be “ the golden age of Christianity,” we may well exclaim, “ How is the gold become dim!” Note--1. Their number, “ a multitude.” This accords with our Saviour’ s represcutation of His kingdom as in the beginning--Like a little leaven in the meal, and like a mustard-seed in the ground. But then this little leaven was to leaven the whole lump, and this mustard-seed was to become a tree. Our Saviour first opened His mind to twelve, and then to seventy, and then we read of five hundred brethren in Galilee and a hundred and twenty in Jerusalem; then three thousand at Pentecost. Then as a result of daily additions to the Church, five thousand. We concede that success by itself is not proof of the divinity of a cause. If we did, what should we then do with Mohammedism and Popery? But here we contend that the case is unspeakably peculiar, and that the instrumentalities employed were so perfectly in themselves inadequate to the result, that the effect must induce us to exclaim, “ This is the finger of God.” 2. Their character. “ The multitude believed.” The subject reported by the apostles had been unknown, or held in contempt, before; but now the people received is, not as the word of man, but as it was in truth, the word of God; and the belief became productive of godliness in the soul, and the influence of it worked effectually in them that believed. Is this always the case with belief? You believe! so do the devils--and tremble, and remain devils still; and wicked men may hold the truth in unrighteousness. Take heed, therefore; he is a vain man, says James, who says he has faith and has not works. 3. Their unity. They “ were of one heart and of one soul” --one object influenced them; one cause engaged them; one principle swayed them. It must be obvious that the views, and tempers, and inclinations of men are very various; and therefore they are only to be brought into a state of social connection by an object that is important and interesting to all: and you find such aa object as this in the gospel. Therefore, in the language of prophecy, it is said, “ All nations shall flow unto it,” as so many streams flowing from different sources towards the same fulness--the sea. When the brazen serpent was erected in the midst of the camp, it became the centre of attraction and regard. Our Saviour, in allusion to this, says, “ I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” If there were but one well for the inhabitants of a village or a town, why they must all repair to it or perish. Old Jacob, therefore, said when he was dying, “ Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” Isaiah said, “ To Him shall men come.” They were of one heart and of one soul; one in their need of the blessing, one in their desire after it, one in their valuation of it, one in their concern to diffuse it, and to extend it to all their fellow-creatures. They were as one family, as one body, where if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, and if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice. You will note here, as they were now so numerous in Jerusalem, they must have worshipped in various rooms, and have been addressed by various preachers; but though they were divided into so many parts, there were no parties among them. They had not yet learned to be carnal, and to walk as men, saying, “ I am of Paul, and I of Apollos.” 4. Their liberality. You have heard often of the communion of saints, and here you have it literally. Their property, by a conventual giving and receiving, being intermingled, became a kind of joint stock, from which every man drew according to his need. (W. Jay.)Waiting for the Spirit When tidal rivers meet the sea, a sight may often be witnessed very strange to the uninformed spectator. The day is fine, the breeze is steady and favourable, the rippling waters dance in the sunlight; and as the anxious watcher waits for the long-absent friend who is expected from a distant land, he rejoices in the favourable conditions which will hasten the happy hour of meeting. Eagerly he scans the horizon for the expected ship. Presently it appears, rapidly draws nearer, and the bounding heart shows its restless eagerness by a hundred sighs. But lo! the great vessel slackens speed, and presently drops anchor. Then from the horizon comes another, a stately ship, her snowy sails filled by the breeze. She, too, draws near, and turns away, or furls her sails and waits. And then another and another come, and are stopped on their course by some unseen barrier. Perplexed and impatient, the watcher appeals to a seaman, and gets for answer, “ Oh, it’ s the tide; they are waiting for the tide.” And behold, even while they speak there is a change in the aspect of the shore. The hurrying waters, which have been flowing so rapidly down to the sea, are stopped; they creep up again over the strand. From far away in the southern ocean a mighty wave is flowing on unseen. It rises and flows and fills the channels, and washes against the sea-wall, and reaches almost to the dock sills, and the gates are opened, and the waiting fleet wakes up to new life; anchors are raised; sails are spread; steam is once more at work; and the stately procession comes up the stream and into the harbour--the ocean steamer with its living freight of a thousand souls, the merchantman from the East with precious cargo of silks and spices, and lesser craft from their various voyages, and with their various stores of goods. (London Missionary Society’ s Report.)Conditions of the baptism of the Spirit Some of the older States in the great Republic across the Atlantic complain sadly of excessive drought. In bygone years the rain was wont to descend in copious fertilising showers; but now the clouds hover high in the air and float away to other regions. And why? Because the old-established States have been completely shorn of their ancient forests, and as a penalty they now fail to attract the clouds; or, if they attract them, they fail to draw from them the “ water of life.” What then do the inhabitants do under these blighting circumstances? They plant cannons in the high places of the land, and when they see a cloud sailing high in mid-air they fire their artillery; the air shakes, and in the shock the cloud rends and pours its precious contents on the thirsty soil--rain often descends the day after battle. That is the modern way of obtaining rain; but the grey-haired settlers declare the old way was better, and they are now busily planting trees in the denuded regions--trees will draw water from the clouds easier than artillery. In like manner the Israel of God is lamenting the excessive drought in the present day--some of you are longing for a “ season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,” you are fervently praying for the “ day of visitation.” We see the clouds of the Divine promises heavy-laden with water; but they sail high in the empyrean--no showers descend. What do the Churches do? They fetch the American revivalists, they send here and there for the big guns of the Christian ministry. The guns shoot, the air trembles, the clouds burst, the torrent falls. But it is a torrent, and like all torrents it drenches the surface and soon passes, and the earth is as parched as ever. I say nothing against your resorting to extraordinary means to force on a revival--forcing is now a complicated art, not only in horticulture, but in all departments of activity, temporal and spiritual. But I show you a more excellent way--cultivate more assiduously the “ trees of righteousness,” grow more vigorously in grace and knowledge, fulfil more faithfully your duties to men, and discharge more promptly your obligations to God and your Redeemer, and the clouds of the Divine promises, big with mercy, shall break in showers on your heads. Get you up, gird your loins, live lives of holiness and consecration, and soon you will hear the “ sound of abundance of rain.” (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)The secret of power I. The outpouring of prayer. “ When they heard, they lifted up their voice to God.” It would seem that not a word was said to one another. “ We know it was earnest and fervent prayer, because of the men by whom it was offered, because of the special source that gave the inspiration from which it sprang, and because of the result that followed. Prayer is the only preparation by which we can be meetened for the work, and the only power by which the work can be blessed. Not mere repetition of forms, either from printed page or stereotyped memory, but the uprising and outpouring of prayer like a living power out of a living soul, in which God the Spirit shall plead with God the Father the merits of God the Son, and then shall God’ s work be sustained by His grace, and be prospered by His Divine power indeed. Prayer without work is mockery; work without prayer is vanity, and must lead to despair, vexation, and grief. If Israel is to rally her broken ranks to the conflict, bearing her glorious standard, to march in undaunted power and all-conquering might against the Amalekites and all that assail her, it must be preceded by the uplifting of the arms upon the mountain above the plain. It must be special prayer, prayer with point, with a purpose, for your ministers, for all your instrumentalities. Gather them all like a golden sheaf into your arms, and bring them all into the presence of the God of all grace, and the Spirit of all power. Prayer that shall spring from a sense of our own responsibility to God for everything, the utter inability for anything of ourselves; prayer that shall bring down the Divine power to make us say, “ I can do all things.” II. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.1. All filled with it, not merely Peter, and John, and James. And so must it be with every servant of God. It shall be sought not merely for the minister, or the church officer, or the Sundayschool teacher, but for all, that it may give the tenderness of the still small voice; that it may be heard in the thunder of every Boanerges; that it may give Divine vitality and power to the sweet, soft music of every Barnabas; that it may be as a living two-edged sword out of the mouth of every Apollos; that it may be as the Divine fire that shall glow in all the reasoning of all Pauls; that the Church may become an embodiment of Divine life and power. 2. They were all filled--not merely drops and rivulets. It came like a river that proceeded from the throne of God; or rather the broad, deep tide from the fathomless ocean of the fulness of the Divine grace and glory above. It came and filled them, and overflowed, and poured its living tide throughout the world around them. And so it must be. “ Prove Me now herewith, and see if I will not pour out the blessing till there shall not be room to receive it.” We want more depth, and breadth, and power of religious emotion, and life, and faith, and service. Our life too often is so restricted in its dimensions, so feeble in its spirit, so low-toned in its vitality, and so circumscribed in the mode of its operation. We want as men of God to be filled with the fulness of God. 3. They were filled with the Holy Ghost--not merely with excitement, mental vigour and determination, indignation, compassion, grief, despair, but with the Holy Ghost. There is the power we must have. III. What followed. They all sprang to the work in which the two brethren had been previously engaged. “ They spake the Word of God with boldness” is spoken of all the brethren. There are none who have a voice that cannot speak and sing of other things; and there must be none that do not speak of Jesus. It must be spoken at all becoming times and with all becoming promptitude, for soon our voices will be hushed in the silence of the grave. (J. P. Chown.)Power to be witnesses 1. These feeble Christians moved the Hand that moves the world. The place was shaken, but not the people. The ground trembled, but they had found a refuge in God. It is after and in answer to prayer that the Lord arises to shake the earth. Quick and strong vibrations are felt in the political sphere. God’ s saints groan. God hears and answers in His own good time, and then the most firmly-rooted national, social, religious tyrannies totter and fall. The shaking was a sign that prayer was heard. They had acknowledged God as the Maker of heaven and earth. In answer He gives a token that Almightiness is at hand for their protection. The commotions of our day are encouraging to the Christian. Hollow hypocrisies are shaken in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain (Hebrews 12:27). 2. But besides this symbol of power, a more specific answer was given. “ They were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke the Word with boldness.” They did not fear their enemies, they distrusted themselves lest danger should shake them from their steadfastness. Now they have obtained what they asked, they are at ease, as is the magnet on the surging sea, fixed to its pole because loosed from holds, The steadiest thing in a shaking world is a disciple whose life, loosed from the dust, is hid with Christ in God. 3. Thus endued with power, all that was required of them was to bear witness to a fact: “ The resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” Christ had promised them power for this purpose, and now the promise was fulfilled. (1) The main characteristic of their witnessing was not “ great” eloquence or learning, but “ power.” When you travel by night through a mining district, you see mighty volumes of flame issuing from the furnaces. This is the ordinary accompaniment of the power, but it is not the power. The heat in the heart of the furnace is melting the metal. Do not despise dazzling accompaniments of preaching, but do not trust in them, for they may be the pithless flash from blazing straw. (2) This power seems to have been a special gift bestowed on the apostles, but a suitable portion was imparted to the whole company--“ great grace was upon them all” --a specific example of which was liberality and brotherly love. And thus the world had two things to say about them--“ Behold how they defy us; behold how they love one another.” Alas for the Church in our day--for we are weak where they were strong; viz., in courage to bear witness for Christ, and fervent charity among ourselves. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Work for those who are filled with the Spirit Is there nothing for men who are filled with the Spirit of God to do now? Are there no vile iniquities still going on buttressed up with immoral wealth and political chicaneries which may coexist very well indeed with all the pomposities of a fashionable religiousness; but to-day if there were but one stirring of the Spirit in our dead hearts would be spurned back to the hell from which they came? Look at the streets of London, shameless with prostitution; look at glaring and multiplied incentives to drunkenness which roll into the coffers of some one, a stream of wealth, tainted with the tears of women and the blood of men; look at the nefarious sweaters’ dens, where greedy Jews and Christians make their vile money out of human misery. Look at the universal worldliness around us, look at the passionate mammon worship, at the reckless competition, at the desecration of Sundays in the mere voluptuous wantonness of pleasure. Lock at the dangerous increase of the guilty madness of betting and gambling in every school, office, street among rich and poor. Look at the rapid degradation of our journalism by the paltry flunkeyism of gossip and the evil malice of slander; look at the bad and false spirit of our so-called religious newspapers. O God, give us saints; O God, pour out the Spirit of Thy might. Were it but in the hearts of one or two to slay these dragons and not fear their poisonous breath! O Christ, send us but two or three heroes for this new Thermopylae. O Holy Ghost, fill one or two hearts with Thy rushing mighty wind, and mitre one or two brows with Thy Pentecostal flame! Priests we have in plenty, and Churchmen, but oh, send us men filled with the Holy Ghost! (Archdeacon Farrar.) Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Unity among Christians to be desired Melancthon mourned in his day the divisions among Protestants, and sought to bring Protestants together by the parable of the war between the wolves and the dogs. The wolves were somewhat afraid, for the dogs were many and strong, and therefore they sent out a spy to observe them. On his return, the scout said, “ It is true the dogs are many, but there are not many mastiffs among them. There are dogs of so many sorts one can hardly count them; and as for the worst of them,” said he, “ they are little dogs, which bark loudly, but cannot bite.” “ However, this did not cheer me so much,” said the wolf, “ as this, that as they came marching on, I observed they were all snapping right and left at one another, and I could see clearly that though they all hate the wolf, yet each dog hates every other dog with all his heart.” I fear it is true still; for there are many professors who snap right and left at their own brethren, when they had better save their teeth for the wolves. If our enemies are to be put to confusion, it must be by the united efforts of all the people of God; unity is strength. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Unity requires dissimilarity Unity subsists between things not similar and alike, but things dissimilar or unlike. There is no unity in the separate atoms of a sand-pit; they are things similar; there is an aggregate or collection of them. Even if they be hardened in a mass they are not one, they do not form a unity; they are simply a mass. There is no unity in a flock of sheep; it is simply a repetition of a number of things similar to each other. But in Christian unity we find something very different, for the Christian Church is made up of dissimilar members, without which dissimilarity there could be no unity. Each is imperfect in itself, but each supplying the deficiencies of other members of the body spiritual, as do the physical members of the physical body. Now, if you cut off from the spiritual body any one member, as in the physical body, you destroy the unity of the whole body. (T. H. Leary, D. C. L.)Unity assisted by fire There was a blacksmith once who had two pieces of iron which he wished to weld into one, and he took them just as they were, all cold and hard, and put them on the anvil, and began to hammer with all his might, but they were two pieces still, and would not unite. At last he remembered what he ought never to have forgotten; he thrust both of them into the fire, took them out red-hot, laid the one upon the other, and by one or two blows of the hammer they very soon became one. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The social instinct I. God’ s voice assures us that “ it is not good that the man should be alone” : and knit into the very stuff of our personality is the instinctive dread of loneliness and the craving after intercourse with our fellow-men. We know that it is only in fellowship with others that the life which belongs to us as men can find its essential exercise and development. Conscience, justice, sympathy, honour, pity, love: these are but a few of the words whose whole wealth of meaning lies in a man’ s dealings with his fellow-men. Every principle of morality, every safeguard of reason, every canon of taste, depends for its significance, if not for its sanction, on our position as members of a great community: and it was by a true and deep insight that the Greek declared that he who would live in solitude must be either more or less than man. The social instinct is astir in the very act of self-consciousness: and I would show something of the reality of the satisfaction which is offered to it in the Church of Christ--God’ s answer to the needs of man. II. There are two ways in which we may measure the adequacy of any communion and fellowship into which we are invited. Sympathy lives, so to speak, in two dimensions: breadth and depth: and we may call it great either for the extent which it can cover, or for the inner depths which it can reach. So, too, it may be cramped and narrow, either because it moves within a scanty range, or else because its diffuse activity hardly goes below the surface of life. And in correspondence with these two measurements of sympathy, there are two distinct ways in which the desire for communion may seek and seem to find its satisfaction without reference to Christianity.1. On the one hand we may find an almost infinite scope for sympathy and fellowship, if we share or understand the wants and hopes and aims of our generation, and so bear our part in its corporate action. Probably there never was an age which offered wider range more varied opportunity, more hopeful schemes for such an exercise and development of the social instinct. Whatever help we have to give, we can pass at once into commerce with hundreds of our fellow-men. Whether the feelings with which we go out into the world are mainly benevolent, political, or scientific, we are at once admitted to a tract of interest and work in which the social instinct moves without the fear of limitation. 2. It is when the other measurement is forced upon us that we feel the practical defect of a purely natural communion, however wide and intelligent, with our fellow-citizens or with mankind. Every human soul has energies, mysterious and profound, which find no exercise or answer in that diffusive interest which is ever losing, in intensity what it gains in width. For while our inner life looks out to no horizon, in our social relations we are hemmed in on every side: in each wider range of fellowship, more of our personal feelings and convictions have to be repressed or misunderstood: as we pass from love to friendship, from friendship to acquaintance, from acquaintance to association, at each stage we feel that less of our true self is active and satisfied, that we are exchanging the full and blessed sympathy “ where hearts are of each other sure,” for the excitement and effectiveness of living in a crowd. And from the partial and superficial communion which thus beckons on and disappoints in ever-widening fields of ever more restricted feeling, most men turn to seek in friendship or in home a sympathy which has less to fear from the second measurement of which I spoke. Probably we all know the intense relief of passing from the jar or compromise of society at large into some inner sphere of love where “ we mean what we say, and what we would we know.” 3. And having found the refreshment and confidence of such sympathy, most men come to live a double life: passing across day by day from the diffuse and shallow fellowship of the wide world to the quiet trust and swift intercourse of the chosen few: trying to supplement the extent of one communion by the depth of the other: even as the great poet of our day cries-- “ God be thanked, the meanest of His creatures Boasts two soul-sides, one to face the world with, One to show a woman when he loves her.” But must we put away for ever all thought and hope of any communion which shall be at once both wide and deep? Is there any power which can bring the souls of men together in a sympathy without either exclusion or reserve? III. “ I believe in the communion of saints.” This is the answer of the christian church: she, and she alone, still clings to the hope and promise of a fellowship and sympathy which shall be at once deeper than any depth which a man can fathom in his own soul, and wider than the world itself: a brotherhood into which the most ignorant and outcast and sinful may through penitence find entrance, a brotherhood in which the most sensitive and thoughtful and exacting soul shall never feel or fear the touch of cruelty or stupidity, but ever be led on from height to height, from strength to strength, from glory to glory, by the answer of a love which never is out of sight, and yet never can be outstripped. By what means then does the Church propose to make good her promise of a sympathy both wide and deep? Must we look back for the plainest answer to these questions to the days when “ the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul” ? It is, in deed and truth, a humiliating necessity. But still we cannot doubt that the Divine spirit of that communion is with us now: we know that, for all the noisy and obtrusive quarrels which are the shame and plague of Christendom, the strong love which held together the souls of martyrs and evangelists, the love which was stronger than death, is among us still: that in pure homes, in the fellowship of Christ’ s work among the poor and suffering, we can still see, in the perfect harmony of self-forgetful work, the inherited secret of Christian unity and the earnest of its achievement in the Church triumphant. But there is one plain ground of fellowship which lies so near to the experience of our daily life, that it is easy for all to see and measure. For at the outset, Christianity, and Christianity alone, sets before us all one Lord. Alike in earth and heaven we are to be brought into the true fellowship one with another by a service and devotion which is not mutual but common: by seeking first the same Lord and Saviour. The real secret of sympathy is to love in the first place, not one’ s friend, but that which he loves better than himself: and the fulfilment of the social instinct is found in the concentration of all hearts upon the one true God. We shall better understand what the communion of saints may be, in proportion as we can give our hearts, our strength, our lives, to Him who gave Himself for us--to Him who, since He was lifted up from the earth, alone can draw all to Himself, and link them in the one sufficient sympathy of one unending Love. For “ if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” (F. Paget, D. D.)Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. Nothing our own Their conduct was answerable to so great a change as had been brought over their spirits. In several respects it was singular; such as befitted their special condition, but was nowise applicable to any other community or any after generation. Among these was the community of goods;--a usage into which they fell by a natural consequence of the relation in which they stood to one another and to the rest of mankind, and even by their own position and expectation upon the earth. They were few, and they were brethren. If they had been numerous, or if they had been divided, the idea would have been from the first as impracticable as it soon became. But at the outset it almost forced itself upon their observance. What was wealth to them? They were set upon a profession of self-denials. There was nothing that they cared to purchase or inherit in the places that were so soon, as they imagined, to be destroyed. Their minds were attracted but by incorruptible treasures and enduring abodes. For this reason it was, that none of them said “ that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.” Let us trace a few lines of reflection over so great a subject. What can we consider our own? Relatively, in certain connections, and to a certain extent, everything that we can conceive of. All the objects that delight the senses, all the pursuits that interest the attention, all the truths that occupy and nourish the mind, are ours. We have no need to become the proprietors of anything, in a commercial sense, in order to make it belong to us. The poor borderer upon a rich domain may use and enjoy it more than its real occupant and lord. He who borrows a book from a wealthy library may render it more truly his than it is the collector’ s, whose name is written in it, but whose understanding has never grown familiar with its contents. Whatever we can avail ourselves of for the purpose of our instruction, of our profit, of our happiness, is our own. Whatever we can put away at a calm distance from us, doing without it and feeling above it, is more than our own. The fruits of our endeavours are ours, the days of our being, the circumstances of our condition, the pictures of our fancy, the associates of our hearts. The universe offers itself to the eyes that can love its beauty, not only as a spectacle, but as a gift; and the very Lord of that boundless whole is manifested as the portion of obedient souls. Since everything we know is imaged in the mind, and the mind is ourself, we may call the powers of nature and the lessons of wisdom our tributaries, wherever those powers are surveyed or those lessons embraced. But if we are ready to be elated with such a description of the extent of the authority that has been committed to men, we have but to take into view that opposite truth which accords better with the expression of the text, and account that none of the things which they possess are theirs, in any absolute sense. We may say, with the apostle to his Corinthians, “ All things are yours.” But then we must add, in the words of the same great testifier, “ Ye yourselves are not your own; ye are Christ’ s, and Christ is God’ s.” Let us turn to this side of our theme, and remark some of the leading particulars that belong to it. None of the things which we possess are absolutely our own.1. Not our worldly goods. Who created them? He who made them to be transitory. Who bestowed them? He who has a right to take them back. For what purpose have they been lodged in the hands of prosperous men? For their special benefit and gratification? Yes. But for their occupation, their exercise, their trial also, and more. In the first place, the changes of events prove to us that we do not hold’ by any absolute tenure what we seem to hold; for how often it is suddenly snatched from us, or drained gradually away! So much for chances. And then come in the settled decrees of our condition and the demands of our consciences. Consider them both, and you will see how amply they vindicate the expressions of the text as applicable to all men and times and places. You will have no community of goods; and indeed we can scarcely conceive of any social project so unnatural, so unjust, so impracticable. Yet still the goods of the wealthiest cannot choose but flow into the community. He must part with them, whether he will or not, and regularly part with them. He can have no enjoyment from them but by their use, and their use is their perishing. They are not his but as they pass, and when they are gone whose are they? They must be spent and distributed, and return into the common stock from which they were amassed. Reflect further on what the various obligations of life admonish us ought to be. Are we not stewards and debtors, rather than owners and lords, in the portion that is allotted to us? Much is due to the service of our brethren; and all is in pledge to Him, to whom the whole must be accounted for. Benevolence, justice, and truth are greater apostles than Peter and James and John; and honest contributions must be brought and laid down at their feet. 2. Our friends and the objects of our affection are not our own. You look into the faces of those you love, and take them by their cordial hands, and they seem to be yours, because their countenances have been always bright towards you, and you are well assured that their help is ready in the time of your need. But how many such have circumstances parted, and misunderstandings estranged! And how often has death severed the tie which no trials of life could weaken! Children are in a sense your creatures. None can share with you your parental rights. I will not say, that they may so disappoint your hope as to leave little disposition to rejoice in their belonging to you; that they may so grieve and burden your lives as to lead you to wish that you had been childless. But at least you are well aware, that what no temptations of after days might be able to make unworthy of your regard, the decree of heaven may remove from your side. The infant and the youth are as liable to be summoned away in their unsullied freshness, as the grown man in the fulness of his strength and the midst of his labours; and how can you claim as yours what is so changing and so frail? Rejoice, rather, that they are in better hands and at a wiser disposal; that their portion is in the assignments of an eternal Providence; and that their true Proprietor is the Holy Father, whose angels have a charge over them here, and who will never dismiss those blessed ministers from their office of love. (N. L. Frothingham.)The unity of the early Church I. The unity. “ The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and sou!.” The Church of that day was a great contrast with the world, where there were “ wars and rumours of wars,” envious and jealous hatreds. Unity ever set forth in New Testament as a fundamental conception of the Church. Christ prayed for it. Apostles strove to preserve it. The ideal we should ever keep before us. II. The manifestation. “ Neither said any of them that aught of the things that he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.” This a convincing evidence of their unity. Teaches the surpassing love of that brotherhood of Christ. The principle is just as true to-day. The Church is a partnership in preaching the gospel and in good works. III. The causes. By examining the context we may discover some of the causes or conditions.1. Fidelity. They had been entrusted with the gospel. They had faithful leaders (Acts 2:14; Acts 3:12; Acts 4:3-8; Acts 13:19). They had faithful people (verses 24-30).2. Prayer (verses 24-30).3. Recognition of God’ s providence (verse 28).4. Holy Spirit (verse 31). Notice it came in answer to prayer. To believers (cf. chap. 2:4). Churches need renewals (cf. Acts 2:4; Acts 4:31)of Holy Spirit. IV. The results.1. Great spirituality. Scatter the embers of a dying fire and it goes out. Rake them together and you have warmth and glow. So with a divided and a united Church. 2. Great power. “ A city set on a hill,” etc. Such a Church can make the powers of darkness tremble. Keep this ideal before us and we shall be a united, spiritual, and aggressive Church. (E. E. Curry.)Apostolic socialism I. The reasons which led the first Christians to form themselves into a community having all things common.1. From the moment of the founding of Christianity the duty of living for others was insisted on. John the Baptist said, “ He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none,” etc. Nor was Jesus less explicit. “ Sell that ye have and give alms.” “ It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and many other passages which embody the principle of true socialism. 2. Doubtless some would urge that Jesus set the example of founding such a communistic society--not that He required all to part with their possessions, but it would seem that He did require this of the inner circle of apostles. “ Lo, we have left all and followed Thee.” “ Go sell that thou hast … and come follow Me.” Of this community Judas was the treasurer. 3. Remember again that this took place immediately after the outpouring of the Spirit, the natural effect of which would be the kindling of an enthusiasm which would make them capable of a self-sacrifice impossible to the natural man. It is evident, too, that poverty was very rife, and the newly invigorated affections rendered it impossible for a Christian to feast while others starved. II. Why was this socialistic scheme abandoned? For it is evident that it did not last long, since we find it nowhere else, nor even here a few years later. The truth is experience taught them that in the existing state of society Socialism would not work. Why? Just the sinfulness and selfishness of men. For society can only prosper if men’ s faculties are sharpened, and their energy and industry exerted to the utmost. And it is found that only competition can supply the motive which will induce men to do their best. No doubt if men were perfectly unselfish it would be otherwise, but they are not. When a man’ s comfort no longer depended on his own efforts, so that even if he worked harder than others he would fare no better, the spur to exertion would be gone, and he would do less, or even nothing, and thousands would prey upon others. Even the sharp law under which we live, “ If a man will not work, neither shall he eat,” is evaded by idle impostors and beggars, but how indefinitely would the number of these social parasites be increased if all had a common right to the wealth of the community. And then again Socialism would give scope for fraud and dishonesty. The basis of any such scheme is that rich and poor give alike all they possess into the common fund. Selfish men, like Ananias, would seek to evade this and to live at the public expense while retaining what others had relinquished. It was this that probably broke up the scheme. III. Why are these facts recorded? Not merely to teach that Socialism is a mistake, but that it is true as an ideal, but false as a practical system. Its essential underlying ideas are true. It is a Divine instinct which makes us long to give the same blessings to the poor which the rich possess. It is right that each should labour not only for himself but for all. And while we cannot bring all humanity into a communistic society, we must nevertheless keep the ideal of social regeneration on the basis of brotherly love ever before us. (A. M. Mackay, B. A.)Baptised purses Miss Margaret Winning Leitch, one of two sisters from Ryegate, Vermont, U.S.A., of Scottish parentage, formerly of the United Presbyterisn Church, now missionaries of the American Board in Ceylon, lately told her scholars the following incident: “ A man, being converted, was about to join the Baptist Church. When he was going down into the water to be baptised, upon a profession of his faith in Christ, he handed his pocket-handkerchief to a friend to hold. In doing so, his purse fell out. The friend said, ‘ I will hold that too; you wilt not want it to get wet.’ But the man replied, ‘ No, when I go down into the water I want my purse to be baptised with me, for that, as well as myself, must be consecrated to the service of the Lord.’” We may well agree with the missionary in her wish that there were more Christian workers with baptised purses. Remarkable liberality Perhaps there never was a more charitable man than John Wesley. His liberality knew no bounds but an empty pocket. He gave away, not merely a certain part of his income, but all that he had; his own wants being provided for, he devoted all the rest to the necessities of others. He entered upon this good work at a very early period. We are told that when he had thirty pounds a year, he lived on twenty-eight, and gave away forty shillings. The next; year, receiving sixty pounds, he still lived on twenty-eight, and gave two and thirty. The third year he received ninety pounds, and gave away sixty-two. The fourth year he received one hundred and twenty pounds. Still he lived on twenty-eight, and gave to the poor ninety-two. During the rest of his life he lived economically; and in the course of fifty years, it has been supposed, he gave away more than thirty thousand pounds. Accumulated riches rightly used If you go to St. Paul’ s Cathedral in London, I ask you to find out the monument to John Howard the philanthropist, and you will read upon it that the man who devotes himself to the good of mankind “ treads an open but unfrequented path to immortality.” Thank God, that path is not unfrequented now, and many capitalists realise their responsibilities. I was chaplain in Switzerland during August. One morning I was walking up a lovely valley by the banks of a river, and through a rich pasture land, enamelled with flowers, when I was overtaken by a young Swiss lad. He pointed to a mighty mountain at the head of the valley, covered with perpetual snow, and said in French, “ Why should the good God have made snowfields and glaciers? “ I pointed to the stream, and to the rich grass beneath our feet, and told him that the streams which enriched the valleys all around came from this snow mountain. So there are men who rise above their fellows like mountains above the valleys; riches have accumulated upon them as snow upon the lofty heights; but the sunshine of Divine love has melted the snow, which has flown down in fertilising streams, spreading gladness and prosperity around. (Canon Bardsley.) Acts 4:33 With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The power of the Apostolic testimony to the resurrection In what did this great power consist? I. In the great number of witnesses. Here were more than were necessary for the fabrication of a cheat, and too many to keep it long a secret (1 Corinthians 15:5-6). II. In the well-known character of the apostles. They were poor, timid and friendless; and, therefore, unlikely to devise, and unable to execute, a scheme for imposing a falsehood of this nature upon the world. Above all, they were proverbial for integrity in principle and conduct. Such qualities would render any evidence respectable. Will it be said that their simplicity exposed them to delusion? There were among them Peter, sufficiently acute, and Thomas sufficiently scrupulous. Will it be said that, as followers of Christ; they were interested in the success of this story. Alas! in what way could the story advance the interest of any of them, if Jesus was not risen? It would have been much more natural, as well as reasonable, for them, as indeed they did after the crucifixion, to have shrunk from the public view. III. In that there was among them consistence, boldness, and correspondent behaviour.1. They were perfectly consistent. Numerous as were the testifiers, there were no divisions, contradictions, or separate interests: and if there were some little variations in their narratives, respecting minute matters, these are reconcilable, and tend rather to confirm their accounts, by evidencing that there had been no combination. 2. They were undaunted. Though before, mortified with disappointment, and shaking with terror, they shunned even the light, they now openly and eagerly proclaimed that He who had been crucified, was risen from the dead. 3. There was also correspondent behaviour. They exhibited that life which the resurrection necessarily enforced. They were animated with that joy which it was calculated to inspire. They manifested that anxiety and diligence to maintain and propagate the religion of their Lord which it could not fail to produce. IV. In that they brought to their support the types and prophecies of the word of God. The argument was of wonderful power with those Jews who had cherished the revelations which the Most High had vouchsafed to them; and it is of astonishing import, of irresistible force to every man, who considers soberly the wonderful, the supernatural, the connected, the singularly significant nature, of the Jewish economy. V. In that it left His adversaries destitute of any satisfactory or reasonable replication. Much it behoved the rulers of the Jews to prove to the people, who were many of them struck with the miracles of Christ, that they had not “ crucified the Lord of Glory.” In their care to secure the sepulchre, they betrayed their anxiety to do so. And, blessed Lord, could they have produced Thy sacred body after the third day, with what triumph would it have been exhibited! But there was no such refutation of the resurrection. VI. In that it was accompanied with the confirmation and blessing of God, and produced great and extensive conviction. The establishment and rapid progress of a religion, whose Author was crucified, and its propagators twelve of the most despised men; of a religion so opposed to the strongest propensities of nature, so different from anything to which man had been accustomed, and so destructive to ancient, venerated, and congenial systems; and this, too, by means so simple, and seemingly inadequate to the object, is of itself a demonstration of the wisdom and power with which its witnesses unto the people spake. (Bp. Dehon.)Preaching the resurrection of Jesus Notice-- I. The great fact to which they gave testimony.1. This fact was of essential importance in the Christian scheme. All the great events of our Lord’ s history are of vast importance, both in themselves or in their relation to each other. What would the death of Christ have availed if He had not also risen? 2. The apostles were witnesses of it. Hence they were prepared everywhere to vindicate the doctrine of the Resurrection. II. The character of their testimony. “ Power” may refer to--1. The miracle they wrought. 2. The unction, the energy, the extraordinary influence of their ministry. 3. Their marvellous success. III. The abundant grace with which they were endowed. “ Great grace.” Application:1. Let us learn to give great prominence to the fundamental doctrines and facts of Christianity. 2. Let us remember that the success of our labours depends not only on what is preached, but very greatly on how it is preached. 3. Let us all, and always, mind to have great grace--the grace of humility, of patience, of charity, of faith--if we would have great success. (W. Antliff, D. D.)The resurrection of Christ historic 1. The resurrection of Christ is the most important event in all history. It expresses in itself the whole gospel of God to man. When a new apostle was elected it was that he might be “ a witness” to it. (1) This fact is the demonstration of all the other vital things in the gospel that went before it. By it Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power. By it God publicly owned Him in the face of earth and heaven, and testified to all things vital in His life and mission, to the sinlessness of His character, to the Divine truth of His teaching, and to the sufficiency of His atonement. (2) It is also the pledge and promise of all that is yet to come. It opens the gate of a future life; it is the pattern and the assurance of our own resurrection; the Church arose again in Christ, and each individual member of it has power and privilege to say, “ Because He lives, I shall live also!” 2. With truth therefore, this fact is put in the Scriptures, and in derived systems of theological thought, as the key-stone of the arch of Christianity. Take it away, and the whole system crumbles to pieces. Our preaching is vain; your faith is vain; we are yet in our sins; we have no more hope in Christ for this life, or for any other. 3. Such a fact, from its very importance, requires the very strongest confirmation, and, being a fact of history, confirmation of a strictly historical kind. I. The fact itself.1. It is a fact quite capable of proof. There is no difficulty in imagining it to have occurred. There are no invincible laws against it. There are no natural principles or instincts of the human mind which reject it. All that can be averred is that it is not in the line of our experiences. 2. What is sufficient evidence? All human laws assume that the testimony of two witnesses, when that testimony is unchallenged and when it is confirmed by collateral evidence, is enough. This is not to say that any two men would be believed in anything they might choose to say. They must be honest men worthy of belief, and must be able to show that they had adequate opportunity for ascertaining or observing the thing to which they give testimony, and that they were the dupes of no illusion, and that they were in full possession of their faculties. Then, the human mind is so constituted that it must receive their testimony. If it were not so; human society would be no longer possible; no important ease could be decided in any court of law; in fact, no law could be administered at all. II. The witnesses.1. How many are they? The first to see the risen Lord was Mary; then her companions, the other women, shared the privilege with her. Then John and Peter saw Him. Later in the day He met the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the evening He appeared to the brethren as they sat at meat; and again, a week later, to them in presence of Thomas. He came to the apostolic company by the lake; on the mountain more than five hundred brethren at once saw Him. It is probable that six or seven hundred people, at least, saw Christ after He was risen. True, we have not a separate testimony in writing from every one who saw Him. Writing in those days was not an easy matter. We have the testimony of the four Evangelists and of James, Peter, and Paul--to what? Not only to what they themselves saw and heard, but to the fact that a great many others saw and heard with them; and there is no denial from any of these. Here, e.g., is a letter which Paul writes to the Corinthians, which he must have known would not be kept a secret; and he asserts in it that Christ was seen after His resurrection by more than five hundred men, most of whom, he says, were then alive; and yet there is no contradiction. Corinth was full of objectors, and some of them would have been nothing loth to undermine his authority. The casual observation, “ Some have fallen asleep,” indicates that he knew many of the persons referred to, and that, had it been necessary, he could have given further details respecting them. 2. Are they honest men? Let any one read the Gospels and see. True, and honest, and simple-hearted are they, if ever such men were in the world. 3. As to their soundness of mind. Where is there any sign of weakness or of hallucination in these Gospels, or in the Epistles, from first to last? They seem almost too calm. It is impossible to conceive evidence more perfectly given. They were the subjects of profound emotion; but they knew that the world could have no interest in the state of their feelings, and that what they had to do was to tell faithfully and truly the great facts which had excited such feelings. 4. As to their opportunities for ascertaining the truth. They saw their risen Lord many times and in many places. They heard Him speak; they talked with Him; they touched Him; they saw Him eat; they felt His breath; they saw Him ascend to heaven. 5. But had they not something to gain by this history? Yes; they gained disrepute, persecution, spoiling of goods, as the price of their faithfulness. They gained bonds and martyrdom. If they did not believe it, their course of action makes them the greatest madmen the world has ever seen. 6. Their testimony was received undoubtingly by men of their own generation. It has been said that eighteen centuries is a long time across which to verify important historic truth. But it was grasped and held by those to whom it was near, who could judge of its truth as we judge of the occurrences of our own time, and who could not be deceived. Remember the wonderful effects this belief produced then; and now Christendom, with all the light and love and tenderness it contains, is the fruit of the faith that there is a risen Christ. Conclusion: Eighty years before the resurrection Caesar landed on the coast of Kent. Who thinks of doubting that? I suppose, if eternal salvation depended on believing it, there is not a sane Englishman alive who would fail of heaven; and yet the actual historic proof of this is far less complete, cogent, convincing, than the proof that Christ died and rose and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Men believe without any doubt or difficulty in the Sabine farm of Horace, where his friends quaffed the Falernian wine. We believe that Virgil died on a journey, and that he lies buried, at his own request, at the second milestone from Naples on the Puteolan way. We believe in the plough of Cincinnatus, and in the poison-cup of Socrates; but all kinds of conscientious scruples and honest doubts, which must be treated with great tenderness and delicacy, arise in some minds when they are asked to believe in the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. We feel inclined to say of such, everything in its own place. We would not break any bruised reed, or quench any smoking flax; but if any one will not take the trouble to examine the evidence for the resurrection, and yet will complain that he is unable to believe it, sympathy with such a person may be unfaithfulness to truth, and a slight even upon rationality, because he asks for comfort while rejecting light. Let men be honest and earnest in this great matter. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)The gospel of the resurrection Let us consider some of the reasons why the apostles attached such importance to the resurrection. It proved: I. That Christ was still living and had returned to His Church. His death had struck them with confusion and dismay, and their first feeling was one of profound loss. The resurrection was the return of their beloved Master. So we do not worship a dead Christ. He is not a memory but a presence. II. That Christ had not failed in His work. This was once their impression (Luke 24:21). But after the resurrection all was changed. Here was--1. Triumph over death. 2. The proof that God had accepted the great sacrifice. 3. The evidence that what seemed a hindrance was the very means by which the Saviour effected His work of redemption. III. That Christ was more than man. It was a triumphant refutation of Jewish error. They had mocked at His claims (Luke 23:35). Here was the vindication of them. Accordingly the apostles pressed this fact with great persistency (Acts 3:15). He could be no mere man that could break the bars of the grave. IV. The supernatural character of Christianity. If this is granted it is vain to cavil at lesser miracles. Admit this, and all anti-Christian objection crumbles to dust. V. That it is possible for man to be raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20). (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)Great grace was upon them all.-- Manifestations of Divine grace Grace sometimes denotes the full and undeserved compassion which our Heavenly Father manifests to a lost world. At other times, the term is employed to describe the subduing and sanctifying effects of this marvellous love. In the text it is to be understood as referring to both. Great grace was manifest-- I. In their earnest and united prayers. They held frequent communion with the God of all grace. This practice was habitual (Acts 1:14). On any unusual occasion of trial, prayer was their first and last resort (Acts 4:31; Acts 12:5; Acts 21:5). If “ great grace” is to rest upon believers in our time, it will be when they realise the cheering promise of their Lord (Matthew 18:20). No matter how small, or how great the number, nor from what quarter, nor the place of assembly, He--the Prophet, Priest, and King of His Church--will be present to bless. II. In their steadfast devotion to scripture doctrine. Indifference to Divine truth is always the sign that the spark of grace in the heart is near extinction. The first-fruits of the day of Pentecost, instead of dividing themselves up into rival factions, to suit their individual caprice, “ continued steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42). III. In their love one to another (verse 32). When a company of Christians in Numidia had been taken prisoners by barbarians, and the churches to which (hey belonged were unable to pay their ransom, they sent to the Church in Carthage. Bishop Cyprian no sooner heard of this than he set himself at work, and never relaxed his efforts until he had collected the necessary sum. This substantial token of brotherly kindness was not more gratifying than the letter of Christian sympathy and tenderness which accompanied it. “ In cases like these,” wrote the bishop, “ who would not feel sorrow, and who would not look upon a brother’ s sufferings as his own?” As the apostle says, “ When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). Therefore, we must consider the captivity of our brethren as our own captivity. We must see Christ in our captive brethren, and redeem Him from captivity who redeemed us from death. IV. In the holy joy and peace in believing with which they triumphed in every place. V. In the spirit and deportment with which they recommended their religion to the world (Acts 2:47). A Christian young man was asked what had led him to turn aside from his wild and thoughtless career to become a follower of Jesus. Was it a sermon or a book that had improved him? He answered very emphatically, No. Had any one spoken to him specially on the subject of religion? “ No. It was a Christian man, who boarded at the same house with me.” “ Did he ever talk to you about your soul?” “ No, never, till I sought an interview with him; but there was a sweetness in his disposition, a heavenly-mindedness about him, that made me feel that he had a source of comfort and peace, to which I was a stranger. His whole life was a sermon. I sought an interview with him. He pointed me to Jesus Christ, prayed with me and counselled me.” In this, and in all such cases, religion is preached most eloquently to the world. About twenty years ago, a Christian woman of London was asked to take charge of a Bible-class of three young women. Although the work was a very humble one, she shrank from its responsibilities, and, with many misgivings, consented to the trial. The first month’ s experience was so encouraging that she consented to go on with the work, and the class constantly increased in numbers. From fifty, it soon grew to eighty, and a larger room was provided. In the course of a few years the Bible-class became five hundred strong; and now, at the age of sixty-nine, the faithful teacher (Mrs. Bartlett) has fallen asleep in Jesus. She was not a woman of marked ability, but simply one who gave up her whole self to the service of the Lord. This was the secret of her success. She knew the members of her large class, and called them by their names. She visited them at their homes, and wrote letters to the absent ones. For each, and for all of them, she prayed unceasingly. Her pupils are scattered over the whole earth, and many of them are telling to others the good tidings she brought to them. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)Happy state of the primitive Church We shall now seek an illustration of the text, by inquiring wherein such eminent grace appeared in these primitive believers.1. Great grace appeared in their earnest and united supplications.2. If appeared in their steadfast adherence to the apostles’ doctrine.3. In a constant adherence to the worship and service of God.4. In their great love to one another.5. These primitive Christians were full of holy joy and peace in believing, and they triumphed in every place.6. Their spirit and deportment were such as recommended their religion to the word (Acts 2:47). They abounded in those Christian graces which are lovely even in the eyes of men in general. (Theological Sketch-Book.) Acts 4:36-37 Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas. Barnabas Surnames become necessary as soon as men form themselves into societies. They are then no longer adequately distinguished by the simple “ James” or “ John,” for others also bear the same name. Some personal characteristic, therefore, has to be selected: the trade, stature, complexion, or disposition of the man will suggest a title for him; he becomes known as James the Smith, or as John the Black, and probably transmits the surname to his posterity. When our Lord chooses His apostles they have to be distinguished in this way. There is Judas Iscariot, and Judas the brother of James. There is Simon Zelotes, and Simon surnamed Peter, etc. The apostles in their turn give surnames, and in the present instance the second name thrust the first out of recollection. “ Joses” is from this time known as “ Barnabas” alone. Our English translation interprets the name as “ the son of consolation.” Take “ consolation” in a strong sense, and that is right. The word is elsewhere rendered “ exhortation.” It answers to the old English use of “ comfort,” in the sense of strengthening, as well as soothing, as we have it in the phrase, “ the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.” I. We shall best understand the nacre by surveying the history. We know little of the antecedents of Barnabas. He was a native of Cyprus, the first stepping-stone across the great sea to the lands of the Gentiles. Its population was partly Greek, partly Oriental; and the kind of education which such a society would afford may have helped to make Barnabas a broader man than his brethren who had been born and bred in the closer atmosphere of Jerusalem. Tradition marks him out as among the seventy sent forth by Christ. Or he may have been one of the fruits of Pentecost. Some of those converts, we know, were “ men of Cyprus and Cyrene.” His first appearance has more of action in it than of speech. It was at the moment when, under the fresh impulses of their awakening, the disciples who had “ houses or lands” were parting with them for the relief of their poorer brethren. Conspicuous among them was Barnabas. It was a good beginning for a Christian ministry. “ Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” The interest deepens as we proceed. Six or seven years pass, and an unlooked-for and almost unwelcome proselyte presents himself. It is Saul, who finds himself an object of alarm and undisguised mistrust. The way is opening for a schism between them and this “ last of the apostles,” who seeks their sympathy, but who can dispense with it, strong in his own independent authority, and in the promised presence of the Lord. There was needed at that moment some well-known and trusted leader, large-hearted enough to become surety for the former persecutor, and to stand his friend. This friend was found in Barnabas. It was he who joined Peter’ s hands with Paul’ s, and who told the tale of the wonderful conversion in such a manner as to dissolve all doubt. The “ son of consolation” appears here at his appropriate work, reconciling those opposing forces with the sweet reasonableness of his own gentler spirit. He was selected, shortly afterwards, for a mission in which the same spirit would find scope. Tidings had reached the apostles of strange successes attending the gospel in Antioch, and they were not prepared for such an event. The baptism of Cornelius was in obedience to a direct revelation from heaven, but this larger movement appeared unauthorised, and might prove unwarranted. Barnabas was accordingly chosen to visit the spot and make inquiry. Now it is not altogether easy for any man to give unstinted commendation to a work in which he himself has had no share. He is apt to point out what might have been done better, rather than what has been done well. Finely in contrast with that tendency stands out the candid and generous behaviour of Barnabas. He “ saw the grace of God,” “ was glad,” and expressed himself in terms of warm congratulation and approval. Nay, he threw his own energies into the glorious enterprise, and “ exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord.” When he departed he left many further converts added to the infant Church, and the impression that “ he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” Next we find that by his urgency Paul was brought from the seclusion of Tarsus, and introduced to the field of work which lay ready for him in Antioch. It was through his generous co-operation that the ministry of the apostle of the Gentiles found favourable opportunities of exercise. But from that hour the lustre of his name begins to pale beside the fervent and forward energy of his incomparable companion. We find in the history no trace of any jealousy; but rather tokens of a noble modesty, akin to that of the Baptist when he drew back into the shade before the perfect light of Christ. This man, who, when others shunned Paul, had become his patron and protector, laying him under no common obligation, is now content to yield the precedence, and to walk loyally and lovingly at his side. When the missionaries differed--if we have to choose between the two--surely it was Barnabas who erred upon the generous side; for what he did was to take a faint-hearted brother whom Paul was too impatient to endure, and to give him that fresh chance of honourable service which made Mark “ profitable” ever afterwards to Christ and to His Church. II. All will acknowledge the peculiar charm which attaches to the true “ son of consolation.” There are men who everywhere leave behind them a sense of irritation, like winds that blow dust into face and eyes. They are the opposites to Barnabas. There was sunshine where he came. At his approach the feeble gathered strength, and trembling souls crept out of their hiding toward the light. Hard words were hushed in his company; the sternest grew gentle, and the very churl tried to be liberal. Yet it would be a mistake to suspect him of moral weakness and irresolution. The sunshine has its strength, as well as the wind, though it makes much less noise. Barnabas was once, to Paul’ s great wonder, “ carried away by the dissimulation” of others; but his very wonder--even Barnabas!” --shows how unusual the symptom was. For “ sons of consolation” are also sons of strong encouragement, who can themselves burn against injustice or hypocrisy, and inspire others with a kindred zeal. It is significant that heathen men “ called Barnabas Jupiter,” the name that embodied their poor conceptions of what was greatest and best, most fatherly, and most benignant. We recognise the presence of such men in our own generation. The temper of the moment may not tend to exalt them, or to press their example on our imitation. The sterner gifts may be mostly in request. We watch with mingled awe and admiration as some impetuous missionary spirit sweeps by, rousing the dull Church to a measure of its own activity. We applaud the controversialists, who contend for separate sides of truth, or for principles which they reckon overlooked. No doubt there is great need of them. Is there not need also of “ the son of consolation,” and may he not do as good a work as they? Surely it is not below the ambition of the strongest to play the part of Barnabas among the Churches of to-day. As long as so many timid, undecided souls remain, needing the tenderest touch and a patience almost motherlike to bring them to decision; as long as there are little children to be drawn into the Saviour’ s arms; as long as the Church has her backsliders to reclaim, and her doubters to direct and encourage; so long there will be ample occupation for such a man, and abundant reward. Nor will he live in vain, but rather to the highest purpose, if he be made instrumental, like Barnabas, in dissipating suspicions, and confirming friendships, between Christian brethren. (W. Brock.)A son of consolation While some good people are overpraised, there are others who hardly get their dues. One of these too much neglected worthies is Barnabas, the “ son of consolation,” or “ son of exhortation,” as some Bible scholars prefer to render it. How seldom do we hear his name mentioned either in the pulpit or the lecture-hall or anywhere else! Yet, to my fancy, he is one of the very noblest of the New Testament heroes. As a blind person may detect the presence of a rose by its fragrance, so this good man’ s character exhales a peculiarly sweet perfume of godliness to those who will study it. He was just the sort of Christian needed in all our Churches in these days. The Bible is very chary of eulogies; but it does not hesitate to call him “ a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit.” In some vital points he is a Christian to be copied.1. He was a native of the island of Cyprus, which was renowned for the worship of Venus, and the very name “ Cyprian” is still a synonym of impurity. But, as the brightest light is kindled on a point that comes out of a bed of charcoal, so this light-bearer of the gospel came out of a very dark region of debauchery and idolatry. His original name was Joseph; but another name was given him after his conversion to Christ. They christened him Barnabas, the son of consolation. That is a name to be proud of, and it comprehends a vast deal; it signifies a helper of the weak, a guide to the wanderer, a comforter of the sad, a succourer of the perishing, with an eye to discover misery and a hand to relieve it. My old friend William Arnot has well said that this name bespeaks a fine character. “ To possess consolation is to give it; not to give it is not to possess it. The more of it you have, the more you may give; and the more you give to others, the more you retain for your own use. This circle, when it is set a-going, moves perpetually, like the sea giving out its waters to the sky, and the sky sending back the boon by rain and the rivers to the sea again.” The power of this man lay in the same quality that characterised nearly all those first converts to Christianity, and that was their superabounding sympathy. Barnabas, if in New York or Brooklyn or London now, would likely be found in a mission church for the half or the whole of every Sabbath. He would show us how to bridge the chasm between wealth and poverty, and between Christian culture and city heathenism. On many an evening during she week he `would be found beside the squalid bed of sickness, or amid the swarming outcasts of the slums. When the members of our Churches become “ sons of consolation” in the broadest sense of the word, bestowing not merely their dollars, but their time, their presence, and the sympathy of their hearts upon the unchristianised masses, we shall have a primitive and Pentecostal revival. Personal sympathy is worth more to the poor, the suffering, and the neglected than silver and gold. Pulpits speak only for an hour or two, and then only to those who fill pews before them; it is by sermons in shoes--and plenty of them--that the suffering and the sinning only can be reached. The curse of too much of what passes for Christianity is itself selfishness. 2. There is another plume in the coronet of Barnabas. He was the father of systematic beneficence. We are told that having land he sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Having given his heart to Christ, he consecrated a goodly portion of his property to his Master’ s service. Some others of the new converts may have done this as soon as he; but he is the first one mentioned. He is, therefore, to be regarded as the pioneer in that long procession of systematic givers which reaches on to our times, and numbers in its ranks the Nathaniel Ripley Cobbs and James Lenoxes and William E. Dodges, and many other bountiful stewards of the Lord; and not only they who gave of their abundance, but every conscientious Christian who gives according to his means--however humble--and gives spontaneously. Barnabas did more than fling loose money into Christ’ s treasury. He sold real estate and contributed the proceeds. That looks as if there were real self-denial in the transaction, and that the man would stand a pinch for Christ’ s sake. When he was converted, the work reached not only the bottom of his heart, but the bottom of his pocket. (T. L. Cuyler.)A son of consolation Who is the man who, in his bereavement or pain, receiving comfort from God, radiates it, so that the world is richer by the help the Lord has given him? It is the reverent, the unselfish, and the humble man. The sunlight falls upon a clod, and the clod drinks it in, is warmed by it itself, but lies as black as ever, and sheds no light. But the sun touches a diamond, and the diamond almost chills itself as it sends out in radiance on every side the light that has fallen on it. So God helps one man bear his pain, and nobody but that one man is a whit the richer. God comes to another sufferer, reverent, unselfish, humble, and the lame leap, and the dumb speak, and the wretched are comforted all around by the radiated comfort of that happy soul. A son of consolation I. Barnabas was a Levite, yet he possessed land, which was contrary to the old law of Israel, but probably on account of great and frequent changes it was found impossible to maintain the ancient constitution in its integrity. Barnabas was a good name; but how rife is its opposite--the son of complaint, of gloom. To such a man everything appears in its darkest colours. He sees no green on the earth, and in the heavens no blue--all is seen through the medium of a jaundiced eye. Barnabas had much comfort himself because he had much to bestow on others. If we see streams flowing to refresh a neighbourhood we argue that the spring is full. His great contributions did not embitter his spirit. The flow of bounty from that man’ s hand acted as the flow of water from the drain on a ploughed field--it sweetened and made fertile the whole breadth of his life. It is the gorging up of water for want of outlet that makes the land sour and leaves it barren. Barnabas was a rich man, and therefore able to bestow practical consolation; but in thus expending his wealth he acquired the better and more enduring riches. II. Barnabas was a Levite, yet he was a son of consolation--how unlike many of the class to which he belonged, who “ despised others.” See, e.g., the parable of the Good Samaritan, Yet is not this note added to show that an order must not be blamed for the vices of individual members? Levi had a remote descendant called Caiaphas; he had another surnamed Barnabas. Let those who assail the ministry and other professions remember this. III. Barnabas was a Levite--a religious teacher. He could administer comfort from his lips as well as from his purse. Many can only give lip comfort; what we have, then, let us give cheerfully. (W. Arnot.)Of the country of Cyprus.-- Cyprus An island in the Mediterranean, one hundred and sixty miles long by fifty broad. A range of mountains runs through its entire length, called Oympus by the ancients, but now known by several names. Salamis, afterwards called Constantia, was one of the principal cities, and Paphos another. The island was colonised by Phoenicians at a remote period, and afterwards divided among petty tyrants when it became subject to the Persian yoke. Next it fell under the sway of Alexander, upon whose death it fell, with Egypt, to the share of Ptolemy Lagos. In the course of time it passed over to Rome, in whose hands it was during the New Testament period. Paul and Barnabas visited the island, and preached at Salamis and Paphos, where they left Christian Churches. When the empire was divided, Cyprus became part of the Eastern section. Richard I. took it in 1191, and sold it to the Templars, whose oppression drove the people into revolt. Richard resumed the sovereignty, and gave it to Guy of Lusignan, the expelled king of Jerusalem, in 1192. The Lusignans retained it for nearly three centuries, which was a flourishing period for Cyprus. The Venetians were its next masters, but in 1470 Selim II. seized it. “ No grass grows where the Turk sets his hoof,” and ever since ruthless despotism has wasted the fair island, so that from 1,000,000 in the days of Barnabas, the population has dwindled to 100,000. Now under British protection, and with British enterprise, capital, and missionary zeal, Cyprus may become prosperous once more. (F. A. Warrington.)Having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.-- Practical Christian beneficence The good Duchess of Gordon set her heart upon the erection of a school and chapel in a needy district of her neighbourhood. The Gordon estates at the time were so encumbered that she did not know where to find the necessary funds. In a letter to her friend Miss Howe, she described some of her efforts and the consequences. “ I took up to London,” she says, “ a gold vase that cost about £1,200 in hopes of selling it, but could not find a purchaser even at half price. I have still left it to be disposed of. The Duchess of Beaufort, hearing of my vase, thought of her diamond earrings, which she got me to dispose of, for a chapel in Wales, and her diamonds made me think of my jewels; and as the Duke has always been most anxious for the chapel, he agreed with me that stones were much prettier in a chapel wall than round one’ s neck, and so he allowed me to sell £600 worth, or, rather, what brought that, for they cost me more than double. The chapel is going on nicely, and I have still enough jewels left to help to endow it, if no other way should open. I do think I may with confidence hope for a blessing on this. It is no sacrifice to me whatever, except as it is one to the Duke, who is very fond of seeing me fine, and was brought up to think it right.” The chapel cost rather more than was expected, and the Duke, following up his wife’ s example, offered of his own accord to sell some of his own horses to make up the deficiency. (A. Moody Stuart, D. D.)The profit and rule of Christian beneficence “ Since I began to obey the law,” said a thriving merchant to me, “ I have not only been greatly prospered, but I have found my ability to give somewhat largely the greatest luxury of my life. The money is laid by; the call comes, and I am not tempted to the baseness of inventing excuses; I generally have something, not always enough, for every deserving appeal; I make short work of it, for time I cannot spare, and as soon as I get the facts, and am sure as to the claimant, I give him cheerfully what I think I owe to his cause.” I know another and a wealthier man, who said he and his wife had an understanding. When his wife thought they were rich enough to set up their carriage, the answer was, “ Yes, my dear; it will cost just so much a year; we can afford it, and you deserve it if you approve my increasing my charities by an equal sum.” Is not this the law of Christian luxury? I can buy such a picture, or give such an entertainment, only when I give an equivalent to Christ’ s poor and to the glory of His cross and crown. (Bp. Cleveland Coxe.). Acts 5:1-11 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. Ananias and Sapphira The word Ananias means “ grace of God” ; and the word Sapphira signifies just “ a sapphire,” the familiar jewel of brilliance and beauty. We should suppose these two people had an unusually bright prospect in the outset. Somebody there was who loved them enough to give them very fine names when they were little. Ananias lied; then it was that “ the grace of God” went out of him for ever. Sapphira lied; when a woman loses the truth, it is as if the last light went out of a sapphire. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Ananias and Sapphira Hitherto all has been progress and triumph. Faith has become enthusiasm. Earth caught the colouring, yea, the very life of heaven. Private ownership was swallowed up by social beneficence, and little restrictions and classifications were swept away by a generosity akin to the love of God. Now we come upon another aspect of affairs. We find a twist in the golden thread. The whole thing must come to a stop until this be rectified. Think of the Church standing still, though glowing with the enthusiasm of love, until judgment be satisfied! Why not treat the offence as a trifling one? Why not pass it over without notice? Because the Church is called unto holiness, and sin must ever bring down the anger and judgment of God. From the conduct of these people we see-- I. The vital difference between the spirit and the fashion of Christianity. We might say between a principle and a mere rule. Ananias tried to be a Christian from the outside. He put the hands of the clock to the right time, but left the mainspring broken and the pendulum still1. We may imitate Christ, and yet not know Him after the spirit. 2. We may mingle with Christians, and yet know nothing of the spiritual power of Christianity. The incident says, “ Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” II. The fatal temptation to give the part as the whole. Observe not the part instead of the whole: not to give the part distinctly and avowedly as the part; but to give it as if it were really all. This is illustrated--1. In speaking half-heartedly as if sincerely. 2. In giving a small contribution as if it exhausted our resources. “ I cannot afford more,” is the chief lie of the Church. 3. In concealing our convictions by using words with various meanings. 4. In having outward associations which do not express the whole tendency and trust of the heart. 5. In modifying vows according to changes in circumstances--young man dedicating himself to the ministry: young tradesman vowing to consecrate his property: young Christian vowing to offer a solemn testimony for Christ. III. The concealed sin as well as the public iniquity will be followed by the judgment of God. “ Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” “ How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”1. There is vet to be a reading of hearts. 2. Not only what we have done, but what we have left undone is to be judged. 3. Sins which apparently do no harm to society are to be punished. The voice of the judgment is, “ The wages of sin is death.” Application--1. The Church is to be holy.2. Though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished.3. Discipline is of greater consequence than numbers.4. The Christian power which heals one man destroys another. Contrast the cripple with Ananias. (J. Parker, D. D.)Ananias and Sapphira The apostolic Church had been welded into a remarkable unity of experience and purpose. All hours and places seemed filled with the presence of God. Men had forgotten their selfishness, and lived for each other and their Lord. Pentecost and millennium were apparently but a little way and a short time apart; and then suddenly, like lightning from a clear sky, came the crime of Ananias and Sapphira. The Church was the Church militant, and not triumphant, after all. The Judas among the apostles had, and was to continue to have, his descendants. The Church in the world was to be crippled and compromised by the world in the Church. The transaction was typical and the narrative suggestive. Notice, then-- I. The character of the sin. It was not simple falsehood. Misrepresentation, deceit, lying, in the ordinary affairs of life, are evils of incalculable magnitude; but this sin was the attempt to deceive and defraud God. In the fervour of their new-born faith and experience, men were parting with their property, and consecrating the price of it to Christ and His Church. Ananias and Sapphira had seen enough of the new religion to wish to be numbered among its followers; so they plotted to buy discipleship at a cheaper rate than their neighbours. In this they thought that they were measuring their business capacity against the business ignorance of Peter; in fact, they were trying to deceive the eyes that look through eternity. Many a man since has ventured upon the same experiment, In every community there are some who are convinced of the worth of religion, and outwardly unite with the Church. Neither their conduct nor their neglect is such as to subject them to discipline; and yet they are far from having made a complete surrender of themselves to God. Their religious life is a compromise. The bulk of their time and energy is devoted to self and the world; the dust and sweepings are offered to God. Fingers that glisten with diamonds drop dimes into the contribution-box. Luxuries are cheerfully paid for; but poverty and prudence are urged as excuses for mere pittances towards the cause of God. Ananias in broadcloth and Sapphira in silk Sit in the churches every sabbath, trying to cheapen the bargain with God, and cheating as well, by offering less than complete surrender. II. The origin of the sin. In general it was due to an evil heart, but its specific root was the love of money.1. Ananias and Sapphira, while they were not averse to the reputation of having made great sacrifices for the gospel, could not give up the pleasure of feeling that they had property; and so, as avaricious people, they “ kept back part of the price.” 2. Perhaps they desired to have the means of purchasing more luxuries than were enjoyed by those who “ had all things in common” ; and so, as selfish people, they “ kept back part of the price.” 3. Not impossibly, they were uncertain as to the permanence of this new faith, whose collapse would leave them without means of support; and so, as prudent people, they “ kept back part of the price.” In our day, when men are called to choose between piety and property, there are many who prevaricate, and end with a compromise. The great aggressive enterprises of the Church are crippled for lack of financial support, and yet a very considerable portion of the wealth of Christian lands is in the hands of professed disciples. They are prodigal in their prayers and hymns and exhortations, but close-handed with their money. Like the tree in the ancient legend, which uttered a moan and bled whenever a twig was broken off, they writhe when forced to give for the glory of God and the salvation of men. The old poison of avarice is still in the veins of the Church; and Christ is dishonoured, and thousands perish, because so many, who call themselves His followers, “ keep back part of the price.” III. The discovery of the sin. It seemed unlikely that the transaction would be made public. The land was probably sold to some one outside the company. Ananias and Sapphira would not circulate the story of what they had done. But there was an uncalculated factor in the equation. It affected the kingdom of God, as well as the real estate market. It was fair dealing as between man and man; as between man and God it was fraud, and so it was sure to be discovered. It is a truth which men are slow to learn, that there is a Divine detective system in the universe. It is easy to deceive the world. Men may consider us generous, when in reality we are pinched in our charities; they may call us self-sacrificing, when in fact self-pleasing is the sovereign motive of our lives; they may esteem us devout, when we are cold and formal: but what is our trickery worth, so long as there is One that knows us altogether? Dionysius constructed a prison, so that he could hear all that was said by the prisoners, and so made them self-accusers in the day of their trial. To God this world is one vast whispering-gallery, and every sin which men commit reports itself to Him. What a wonderful day that will be when the secrets of all hearts are made known! Men ought always to live as in the light of the Great White Throne. IV. The punishment of the sin.1. It was startling and severe. One moment Ananias and Sapphira stood before the apostle in the flush of life and health, with the lie upon their lips; She next they were in eternity, beginning the experience of its unchanging awards. The penalty might be judged extreme for a single sin: but (1) At the outset of the Christian Church it was important to emphasise the fact that the liberty of the gospel was not license. (2) More than that, the sin itself was significant. As the single blossom is evidence whether the stock is weed or flower, so this action was proof of a heart alienated from God. Grace is ample in its provisions, but strict in its conditions. The Redeemer will have the whole of men, or He will have none of them. “ Every branch that beareth not fruit, He taketh away.” 2. It was anticipative and representative. The judgment continues to be executed. Men now who attempt to defraud God are not beaten down as with a lightning-stroke; but, all the same, they die spiritually. (Monday Club Sermons.)Deception exposed and punished I. Impious deception.1. The possession devoted. “ Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession” (Acts 4:34; Acts 5:1; Leviticus 27:28; Ecclesiastes 5:4). 2. The part kept back (Malachi 3:8; Joshua 7:11; John 12:6; 1 Timothy 6:10). 3. Counterfeit benevolence. Lessons: (1) Has as its motive the praise of men rather than the approval of God.(2) Aims chiefly at making a big impression upon people.(3) Aims to give in such a way as shall most advertise the donor.(4) Always tries to get credit for giving more than it actually does. II. Immediate detection.1. The source of the sin (Acts 5:3; John 13:27; Ephesians 4:27; James 4:7). 2. The inexcusableness of the sin (Acts 5:4; Leviticus 1:3; Exodus 25:2; 2 Corinthians 9:7). 3. The nature of the sin. Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God (Psalms 51:4; Genesis 39:9; Luke 15:21). Lessons: (1) Sin is suggested by Satan.(2) No sin is unavoidable--“ Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie?”(3) Sin is inexcusable--no one can plead compulsion.(4) Sin is never concealed from the eyes of God.(5) Sin is not so much a trespass against men, as a trespass against God. III. Instant death.1. Ananias. (1) The judgment. “ Fell down and gave up the ghost” (chap. 13:11; Numbers 16:32; 2 Kings 1:12).(2) The effect. “ Great fear” (Leviticus 10:3; Numbers 16:34; Deuteronomy 13:11).(3) The burial (Leviticus 10:5; 2 Samuel 18:17; John 19:40). 2. Sapphira. (1) Her examination (Revelation 2:21; 2 Peter 3:9).(2) Her sin pointed out (Proverbs 11:21; Exodus 17:7; 1 Corinthians 10:9).(3) Her sentence (Proverbs 19:9; Psalms 55:23; Job 31:3; Proverbs 29:1). 3. The great fear (Psalms 111:10; Matthew 10:28; Philippians 2:12). Lessons: (1) Judgment may tarry, but it is sure to come at the last as a lightning stroke.(2) In the day of judgment all hypocrites will be exposed.(3) Judgment is not pronounced until opportunity for repentance is given.(4) Judgment upon one or two often is mercy to the many.(5) The judgments of God upon iniquity should cause a wholesome fear of the Lord.(6) The judgments of God are to be feared by the workers of iniquity. There are limits even to His forbearance. (Sunday School Times.)Ananias and Sapphira I. The sin. It was of no common magnitude. If we consider the circumstances we shall find--1. That this falsehood was an imposition on the society with which Ananias was himself connected. 2. That it was designed to defraud the apostles and the whole Church. 3. That he could plead no appearance of external temptation. 4. That his purpose was veiled under the pretence of religious principles. 5. That his sin was deliberately and presumptuously directed against tim Holy Spirit of God. II. The punishment.1. It was death. 2. It was inflicted without warning. 3. It immediately followed the presumptuous transgression. 4. It produced great fear upon all the Church, and upon as many as heard of it. III. Reflections.1. That men may enjoy high advantages, may make a fair profession of religion, and may obtain admission to its most sacred external privileges, and yet may remain slaves to vicious dispositions, and strangers to the fear of God. Other examples we have in Cain, Esau, and Judas. 2. That men may travel far in the journey of lifE before they meet with those peculiar circumstances which are fitted to discover and display their true characters. So it was with Balaam, Hazael, and Judas. 3. How corrupting, enslaving, debasing is the spirit of avarice (Proverbs 21:26; 1 Timothy 6:9-10). 4. The encroaching nature of sinful principles and dispositions. Covetousness led to deliberate, aggravated falsehood and fraud, and to impiety so presumptuous as to provoke the immediate judgment of God. One transgression of the Divine law renders others in some degree necessary, and at the same time renders the mind blind to the sad consequences that must result from them. 5. The odious nature and pernicious tendency of the vices of lying, fraud, and hypocrisy (Proverbs 6:16; Proverbs 6:19; Habakkuk 2:9; Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 1:14). Conclusion: The fearful punishment of these two false disciples leads to the consideration of--1. The omniscience of God. No human eye saw Cain murder his brother. Gehazi flattered himself that he was perfectly secure from detection. Ananias and Sapphira had no doubt prepared their plan with all possible secrecy; but they all forgot that “ all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” 2. How tremendous is the power of God over His creatures! He can bestow life, and He can withdraw it at His pleasure (Deuteronomy 32:39). (H. Thomson, D. D.)Ananias and Sapphira The sin and punishment of this pair of hypocrites present the first trace of a shade on the bright form of the young Church. As in Eden the enemy could not assert his evil sway in his proper form, so in his efforts in the Church he assumed a guise suited to effect his purpose--the guise of goodness. K foe within is more to be dreaded than a foe without. But no sooner did evil reveal itself within the Christian circle than the Spirit detected and judged it. The word “ but” put the conduct of Ananias and his wife in sharp contrast with that of Barnabas. Matthew Henry calls it the “ melancholy but.” We pass suddenly from the warm sunshine of the “ son of consolation” to the gloom of hypocrisy and fraud. Evil is often a close neighbour to good. “ The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” How near to each other are chaff and wheat! but the chaff is not wheat, and is finally separated from it. Teaching by opposites is an impressive method of instruction. I. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira. “ Lying unto the Holy Ghost.” In verses 3 and 4 the personality and deity of the Spirit are asserted in an incidental way. Peter varies the charge of lying to the Spirit in the third verse to lying to God in the fourth. It is noteworthy that a similar exchange of expression occurs in Psalms 78:36 --“ lied unto Him,” and verse 41, “ tempted God.” Numbers 14:1-45. clearly show that the righteous judgment which Israel’ s “ lying” to God and “ tempting” Him provoked was quite analogous to this of Ananias and Sapphira. Their case was aggravated far beyond that of Simon Magus or of Elymas. It resembles more closely that of Nadab and Abihu, of Achan and of Gehazi (Leviticus 10:1-20.; Joshua 7:1-26.; 2 Kings 5:20-27), but was more criminal, because committed against greater light and intensified by a more preferred hypocrisy. Let us note some of its aggravations.1. Their act was gratuitous. 2. It was marked by covetousness. 3. Unbelief also entered into their guilt. (1) They distrusted God. “ Suppose this community of goods should become exhausted, what then?”(2) There was the feeling that they would not and could not be detected in their deed. 4. The sin was preconcerted. They “ agreed together” to deceive the Church and the Spirit in the Church. The plan was concocted deliberately and dispassionately. 5. The devil’ s agency in the sin. The question “ why” implies that resistance to Satan’ s influence had been possible. Ananias is addressed, not as a helpless creature whom the enemy had made his tool, but as one who had made him his partner and abettor. “ Filled thine heart” means something more than to suggest or to encourage; it means affections engrossed and will dominated. II. Their punishment. It was instantaneous. As their sin challenged both the omniscience and justice of God, He at once vindicated the holiness and majesty of His character. But why were these persons so swiftly and severely judged? Have not men lied to God since? Let these points be noted--1. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was peculiarly heinous and odious. 2. At their death “ great fear came upon all.” To produce this was doubtless one of the objects intended. It was important also as a permanent testimony against similar offences in every age of the Church. 3. This judgment connects with God’ s dispensational ways. At the opening of an economy a standard is established designed to characterise the entire period. At the beginning any gross departure is immediately punished. The first sabbath-breaker, the trespass of Nadab and Abihu at the first founding of the priesthood, and that of Achan at the first entrance into Canaan, were punished with death. Such inflictions are at the start the exhibition of God’ s thoughts as to what the economy should be. Nothing false, hypocritical, or presumptuous is to be tolerated in it. III. The lessons.1. The Divine abhorrence of prevarication. If falsehood kindle among men the deepest resentment, what must be God’ s feelings toward the hypocrite? 2. The certainty of the exposure of hypocrisy. All that is required is some pressure. “ Be sure your sin will find you out” 3. Religious enthusiasm without grace is dangerous. People run fearful risks when they profess more than their spiritual strength can carry. In times of great religious excitement men pledge themselves to what they cannot fulfil. Or remarkable experiences are claimed; then trials are encountered, and failure succeeds. Pride forbids the acknowledgment of failure; professions are as loud as ever. And for all this there is no basis in fact--it is a mere mask to hide the true state of the heart. How much safer and nobler is the honest confession of a breakdown than such loud and hollow protestations! (W. G. Moorehead, D. D.)Ananias and Sapphira--the enormity of religious pretension I. The sin generating-power of avarice. “ The love of money is the root of all evil.” II. An undue attention to public sentiment. Ananias and Sapphira, without any heart sympathy with the community of goods, professed to adopt it because it was popular. They wished to appear as good as others, and did outwardly that for which they had no real respect. III. A spiritual connection with the evil one. “ He is a liar and the father of it.” IV. Religious contributions regarded as crime (verse 4). There was no necessity for them to give it. God does not want our property except as it expresses our loving loyalty. Better far to hold money as a miser than to give it if the heart does not go with it. Gifts to pacify conscience or for display, or to get it back with interest, is an insult to Omniscience. Great contributions may be great sins. V. A deliberate attmept to impose upon God and His Church (verse 9). VI. A solemn display of Divine displeasure. Conclusion:1. Social benevolence is the law of Christianity.2. The tendency to depravity is to counterfeit goodness.3. Satan’ s influence is no palliation of man’ s crime.4. Hypocrisy must one day be unmasked and punished. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The sin and the doom of Ananias and Sapphira Note-- I. A particular state of things occasioned by peculiar and temporary circumstances. Many who were strangers in Jerusalem would wish to remain; many would be detained longer than they anticipated; there might be serious consequences to some of them in relation to the synagogue, and they might be in danger of the confiscation of their goods; and perhaps there was an impression that the time was nigh when Christ would come, and when all property would cease. But, along with that, there was the gush of new feeling filling their hearts under the influence of their new faith. And so they clung to one another as really “ members one of another” ; and they showed it in this way. But--1. It was never laid down by the apostles as a principle of the Church. This is distinctly stated by Peter. It was necessary, however, for money to be got. The most spiritual society and plans cannot go on without money. Here were many who at this time, and as public men, could not be doing anything, and many who were likely to be drawn into difficulty through their new faith; and the easiest and simplest way, to men who were not political economists, was just to throw the money into a common fund, and to live upon that as long as they could. But it is evident from the Epistles that it never was taught as a part of Christianity, for they recognise differences of rank and circumstance, and they do not call upon the rich to throw everything into a common fund. They prescribe appropriate duties to rich and poor, but they do not say that these distinctions are to be done away. Christianity is not so absurd a thing. If it were a matter of positive obligation upon a Christian to part with private property because wrong in itself, terrible consequences would follow. If it is wrong in me to have house or land, it is wrong for me to sell it to anybody else. True, indeed, you may come in with the idea that it is wrong for a Christian to have these things, and that a Christian (or a church) is to sell house and land. But are you going to doom a part of the earth to be eternally “ the world” --unbelievers, to whom you will sell these things? Let us remember that the gospel is intended to be universal, and that you are not to lay down as a positive duty of the Church anything which all men cannot do. And all men cannot do this. As long as the earth lasts, there will be the land and fields and houses and private possessions; and if Christianity is to be a thing filling the earth, depend upon it, it never can do that if all people are to part with their possessions. Why, if Christianity is to be universal, the time will come when there will be nobody to buy. I do not think, therefore, that this is laid down as an obligation, or intended to be permanent, or that it involves in it a fixed principle that can become universal 2. It should, however, be remembered that a strong religious faith will bring Divine and eternal things very close to a man; and under its deep influence he will learn to hold cheaply the possessions of time, feeling that he knows not at what hour the Son of Man may come, when he must pass away from these things if they do not pass away from him. 3. Christians are to feel that they are members one of another, and that if one member suffers others must sympathise. But then the principle should be carried out fully; all men should remember that they are called upon to do this. And in this way the operation and influence of institutions and laws and habits are to be looked at and regarded, and everything which will operate with any crushing power upon a part of society; and the principle of pure humanity and Christian feeling should lead men to take out of the way what will injure a brother, and to impart of their substance and their sympathy for the promotion of universal happiness and tranquillity and comfort. 4. There are extraordinary times and circumstances when very extraordinary things may be required. There may be times when a peculiar and extraordinary call shall be made upon the liberality of the Church. And men in the Church may feel themselves called to a peculiar vocation; they may feel that God is urging them by His providence to the fulfilment of a mission for which they must free themselves from any entanglement. Barnabas had land, and he sold it, and he stood from that time forth a poor man, resting upon the Church; but then he was free to go anywhere--and he did go, fulfilling a mission to mankind. But you cannot make that universal with respect to all men. II. This state of things became a snare to Ananias and Sapphira, and led them into sin. I daresay a public opinion sprung up among Christians, and perhaps they might look rather coldly upon those that did not do what others were doing. I daresay there was some kind of distinction thrown about those who were conspicuous for sympathy of this sort. And it made Ananias and his wife wish for the distinction without being willing to pay the price for it. And so they agreed to sell their property, and to lay down a part of the price, pretending it was the whole, and then to stand there as if they had stripped themselves, and to be claimants upon the common fund. This sin had some tremendous aggravations. Note--1. The hypocrisy of the whole procedure. They were pretending, of course, to be moved by a Divine influence; to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit; pretending to give a sacred thing, “ Corban,” given up for the service of God and of His people--and yet they were not doing it. And it was to get an odour of sanctity. 2. The deliberateness of it. It was not a thing done upon sudden temptation. They had their object; they formed their plan; they determined upon it, and went about its execution. When they met again, could they pray? Oh! what an extinction there must be of everything like personal and conjugal piety when they rose up to do this thing! Ah! when men agree together to do a great sin, all religious exercises, religious intercourse are gone. 3. The public lie to the apostles in the presence of such of the Church as might be standing round, to the apostles as the ministers of God, to God Himself in the apostles by His Holy Spirit. There was the determination thus to tell this lie, and there was the performance of it up to the last point. 4. The dishonesty that would be involved in the after conduct of this man, in his taking (as he would) his share from the common fund, as if he had given up all, and yet he had secreted this something upon which he could fall back. The man had no faith; he could not trust God, nor the Church, nor the apostles of God; and yet he pretended to do it. 5. The source of the sin, which was his giving way to the suggestions of the devil. “ Why hath Satan filled thine heart?” And there was the consummation of Satanic suggestion--his presenting the fruit of it to the Church as if it was the result and work of the Spirit of God; for he stood there, not as doing a common act, but as doing a thing which was pre-eminently the fruit of the Spirit, and yet it was the fruit and the suggestion of the devil--as he might have known. III. The punishment.1. It was extreme and instantaneous. It was not a moderate act of discipline; the extreme penalty was inflicted in a moment. He was not put away--afforded time for confession and prayer, repentance and return, but he was struck dead as with lightning from heaven. A terrible thing this must have been. Only think of the members of the Church gathered about the apostles, and Ananias coming in with this money in his hand. Perhaps it might have been a considerable sum. Think of the feeling with which he was looked at by the poor and afflicted members of the Church; how they were gazing upon him, and thinking what an act of munificence it was, what a trophy to Divine grace, what a glorious manifestation of the power of faith and of religion and of God upon this man’ s heart; and in a moment Peter strips him, and God strikes him dead. 2. Observe that Peter merely charges him with the sin, accuses him, puts it to his conscience, and the-man trembles and falls. Peter did not inflict the punishment; Peter had no more power to strike him dead than I have to strike any of you dead. The apostles were not so put in possession of omnipotence. In every instance where omnipotence was put forth, it was not man that wielded it; it was God. The volition of the Divine Mind went through the man, and that did it. It was not the man Peter--aye, and it was not the priest Peter (as some would be disposed to think). We will leave to other priests the pretension to this power; we will leave to the Pope the pretension that he makes to employ the secular sword because Peter did it. We say it was not Peter that did it; it was God employing Peter. Let us see it so done again; and if the Pope with a glance of his eye can strike a man dead, let him do it if he likes; but no priest, no pope is to claim secular power if all that they can do is to fulminate their curses or to put us into gaol. When Sapphira comes, Peter goes further, and he tells her that she shall die, which he had not told her husband. I think the difference results from this--that Peter himself had had a revelation made to him. 3. There is every reason to fear that this outward visible punishment was but the prelude of utter separation from God--the condemnation of both. We can hardly suppose that there was an act of forgiveness at the very same moment with this act of indignation, and that while these persons were sinking down dead under the expression of the Divine anger their souls were in that state that they could be received to the Divine bosom--“ meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” 4. Things like these should make us very careful how we push short, general statements too far and erect too much upon a particular statement. It is said, “ The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” Ananias and Sapphira were a part of that multitude. Was this the “ one heart and one soul” that was diffused through them all? God forbid. It is said, “ The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” He added these; is this a specimen? They were either converted, or they were not. If they were really converted, and added to the Church, this is the issue; a dreadful fall. Or they were not converted, and yet added by an outward profession; and then they were not in that state in which they could be ultimately saved. Let us not build too much upon a single expression. They might as a whole be “ of one heart and of one soul,” but there might be many exceptions; the mass of those that were “ added to the Church” might be truly converted, but there might be exceptions. 5. The intention of such a punishment as this. (1) It was a strong manifestation of God’ s condemnation of hypocrisy in religion--saying one thing and meaning another--religious pretence, profession, without religion in the heart. God can do without your money, but He cannot do without your heart. If you profess to be His, you must be a reality. (2) Perhaps it might be intended also as a kind of guard and protection to the Church, to keep the Church from being increased and enlarged under the influence of motives that might arise from the temporary state of things in it--motives which might be connected with the casting of themselves upon the fund of the Church. God would rather keep the Church small, if it might be kept pure, than enlarge it by those who might come in from questionable motives and with questionable intents. (3) Another thing would be to produce a salutary awe upon the minds of the Church. “ Great fear came upon all the Church.” At the beginning of that He came forth with this majestic demonstration of His presence in order to make them feel how holy He was, and how purely and spiritually He was to be worshipped. Lessons:1. While extraordinary proceedings in the ancient Church cannot be literally precedents to us, there may be a principle in them worth following. The conduct of the Church is not a precedent to us with respect to property, but yet there is a principle in it, showing how Christians ought to feel with respect to being members one of another. So with respect to the conduct of the apostle, and the manner in which God interfered through him; that cannot be literally imitated, but that is no reason why there should not be discipline and an anxiety to preserve the fellowship of the faithful such as a Christian fellowship ought to be. 2. The seriousness that there is about a religious profession. I suppose none of you would like to be denied the name of Christian. Now I do not ask you what you are giving or professing to give to God, but I wish you to ask yourselves what you are keeping back. Some of you give your bodily attendance--your ear, eye, attention. Where is your heart? Are you keeping that back? and will this be acceptable? Some of you are giving your intellect; are you keeping back your affections? Some of you are professing publicly, like Ananias and Sapphira, to give up all by the manner in which you are associated with the Christian Church. What are you keeping back? Those of you “ that are rich in this world” --what are you keeping back of that which the Church needs? In a world like this, in the movements of the Church, this great missionary institution (and that is the proper idea of the Church, moving onward until it embrace the world), money must be had. God must have your money. How much are you keeping back? What driblets are the donations connected with religious societies compared to what some of them might be! And God has His eye upon that which is kept back as well as that which is given. Ah! there are some rich men in the Church who might dread indeed if Jesus Christ were to say, “ I will come unto you” ; if He were to come with the purpose of going over all their documents, and looking at all their books, and examining all their accounts, and seeing the actual state of their affairs, and marking and pointing out how accumulation was going on after accumulation, and if He were to look them in the face, and say, “ Well, now, after all this, what is it you do for Me? I give you all this; it is all Mine; by a waive of My hand I could deprive you of it to-morrow--every bit of it; and I entrust it to you; you are My steward; do you keep anything back?” 3. Even the honours, distinctions, reputation, that may be to be possessed or acquired in God’ s Church are things that are to be jealously watched lest they become temptations to sin. 4. The perfect confidence that Peter must have had in his own honesty when he acted in this way. If he did not thoroughly believe the resurrection, then he was a “ false witness for God,” and the apostle, standing up and accusing these persons of lying to the Holy Ghost, would himself be the great incarnation of a far worse lie. I think that impossible. 5. The devil cannot fill your heart and lead you into sin unless you let him. (T. Binney.)The beacon--Ananias 1. The case of Barnabas and that of Ananias sprang from the same movement and illustrate the same principles, yet they are reciprocally opposites. It is as necessary to moor a buoy over a rock or sand-bank as to show a light in a line with the safe entrance to the harbour. Barnabas is a light at the pier head; Ananias buoys a rock where many have perished, and warns the mariner from the place of doom. Both examples are useful. We may reap profit alike from the truth of the true and from the lie of the false. When our Lord taught His disciples how to pray, He placed near the humble suppliant of mercy a solemn hypocrite. When He taught the blessedness of pressing in while the door was open, He taught also how dreadful it is to be, even by a little, too late. This dual method is adopted everywhere in Scripture to enforce moral lessons. In morals as well as in physics you exert greater power when you apply an attraction on one side and a pressure on the other. 2. “ But a certain man.” The little word “ but” is the hinge on which great issues turn, e.g., “ The righteous is cast away in his iniquity, but the righteous hath trope in his death.” The door that swings on this sharp pivot opens and shuts the way of life. Sometimes, as here, it turns from light to darkness, and sometimes from darkness to light. 3. The deep, sad cause of the conduct before us was the stirring of the religious emotions without a corresponding quickening of the moral sense. There may be much devotion of a certain kind where honesty, truth, or purity is feebly rooted and liable to die out. It is often said in certain quarters that a non-professor is more trustworthy than a professor, the common fallacy of magnifying a few glaring examples into a general law. If those who count that all piety is a mask worn to gain an end would only think, they would find that their theory destroys itself. Because honest men seem to be religious people trust them. But if it were the common rule that religious men were dishonest, they would cease to obtain credit; it would not pay a villain to assume religion, and when it ceased to pay he would cease to assume it. So the argument goes to prove that pious men, as a rule, are honest; and yet there is truth in the calumny, and because of this it lives. Apart from conscious scoundrels there are those who, although moved in a period of religious fervour, have not acquired a proper sense of the binding character of the Ten Commandments. The Anti-nomian is not a dried fossil in tomes of polemical theology; he is a living species. But true believers need not faint. Tares grow up with the wheat, but the wheat prevails even here, and at the end the separation will be complete and eternal. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Ananias and Sapphira--Lessons of the narrative I. It is vain to expect that in this world the Church will ever be perfectly pure. I mean not only that imperfections will always adhere to the members of the Church because “ there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not,” but farther, that hypocrites will be found intermixed with the saints. The wheat and the chaff lie together on the barn floor. No precautions, however strict, can prevent their admission; no discipline, however vigorous, no doctrine, however faithful, will be able to expel them. II. We ought to guard against the predominance of any sinful passion, whether it be avarice, ambition, sensuality, envy, pride, or any other lust of the flesh or of the spirit. As “ one sinner destroys much good,” so one sin reigning in the heart counteracts the efficacy of the best means, and may carry us to a very great length in depravity. If the restraints of providence be removed, and a strong temptation be presented in favourable circumstances, it will precipitate us into such excesses as shall dishonour us in the eyes of men, and provoke God to pour out upon us the fury of His wrath. III. Impenitent sinners are always in danger of perishing by the vengeance of heaven. Judgment, indeed, is God’ s “ strange work,” but it is a work which a regard to His glory sometimes calls upon Him to perform. And when one victim falls, it is impossible to tell who shall be the next. A sentence of death is passed upon all unbelievers, the execution of which is delayed only by the long-suffering and patience of God. Let not men presume upon His patience, for, although Divine, it has its limits, beyond which it will not extend (Isaiah 33:14). IV. Let us, above all things, study to be sincere in religion. What will hypocrisy avail? Can our artifice impose upon God? (Hebrews 4:13). In vain did Ananias and Sapphira secretly concert their plan and assume the confidence of conscious integrity to quash any ,suspicion of their baseness. A good name, the esteem and friendly offices of Christians, and even worldly advantages, may be the recompense of dissimulation in this world, but what awaits it in the next? (Job 27:8). (J. Dick, A. M.)The first sin There is an old saying, “ The corruption of the best is worst.” The better a thing is, the worse is its spoiling. The greater the elevation, the greater the fall. And this is true both of profession and of reality. When a man who has talked loudly is at length unmasked as an impostor, his exposure is more terrible than if he had never affected great virtue. And when a man who has felt the truth and power of religion is overtaken by the enemy, it is sometimes found that he gives himself over more entirely to the grasp of evil than one who had never known what it was to serve another master. We look upon this scene almost as we look upon man’ s original fall; we seem to be reading of a paradise regained, when we are suddenly shocked and startled by the narrative of a paradise for the second time forfeited. Observe from the narrative-- I. That there is such a thing as acting a falsehood.1. Ananias did not expressly say that the sum was the whole price. It was his wife who told an express falsehood. Ananias only gave it to be understood. We have to do with a God of truth, and where truth is not, there in His sight is falsehood. We often think that, if we can avoid saying the exact opposite of the truth, it is enough. Learn, then, that wherever deception is, there is falsehood. And how many of our words are “ an attempt to steer dexterously between the truth and a lie” ! 2. But, even beyond this, there may be an acted falsehood. Ananias, witnessing the honest self-devotion of others. He, too, will seem to have counted all things but loss for Christ. Just as Barnabas brought the profits of his sale of land, so does Ananias bring his. Every one gives him credit, and he intends that they should do so, for a devotion which thinks only of things above, and a self-forgetfulness which cannot enjoy so long as others suffer. No word, it may be, is spoken, but the act itself says all this, and the doer intends that all this should be understood. Alas! how much of the conduct of many of us is indeed no better than an acted lie! How much is done to throw dust into the eyes of others as to our real motive, our real self! Even apart from the positive purpose of deceiving, how impossible it is to give others a true and just idea of us as we are! How does confession itself turn upon our lips into self-parade and boasting! It is so, perhaps, in mercy to others. We might draw others downwards if they saw how low are our own attainments; we might tempt them to acquiesce in imperfections against which God would have them struggle on in hope. God save us all from the falsehood of the tongue, and from the falsehood of the life, from the lie acted as well as from the lie spoken! II. What an illustration have we here of the “ love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” What made Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Ghost? Was the lust of money the wish to save something out of the surrender of their all to Christ? Thus it was that they lost both worlds, even by trying to gain both! What is it but the love of money which creates some of the most characteristic evils of society? I speak not now of that honourable industry in the business of a lawful calling, which is as much the duty as it ever can be the interest of a Christian. I speak of those precarious, adventurous, idle methods of gaining, upon which God’ s blessing cannot be asked, and upon which God’ s curse almost visibly rests. I speak of wants created by an expenditure habitually exceeding income, and supplied by the exorbitant profits of a single week in the year. I speak of examples set to the young of unlawful ventures, by which many a life has been drawn astray from the beginning, and many a hopeful career cut short by crime and infamy. I speak of a love of gain, which has made sons indifferent to a father’ s command and a mother’ s happiness, reckless in destroying the inheritance of sisters, and at last regardless even of a country’ s laws and the terrors of a wrath to come. Earnestly and affectionately would I warn the young of the fearful risks run by the first step into the region of chance. III. What a responsibility is involved in being brought near to God as members of His Church! Well may this be recorded as the consequence of the fate of Ananias, that great fear came upon all the Church, and upon as many as heard these things. Yes, there is a reality in our connection with Christ which must tell upon us for good or for evil. These means of grace, these opportunities of worship, have a meaning, whether we will or no, and we ourselves are fearfully and wonderfully concerned in it. We must spend our lives, think our thoughts, speak our words, and do our acts, in the sight and hearing of God. IV. How to cast out the fear of one another by the stronger and more impressive fear of God. Ananias and Sapphira committed this great sin in the hope of purchasing to themselves the good opinion of the Christian congregation to which they belonged. And they would have succeeded in this endeavour but for one consideration which they left out of sight. They would have succeeded in winning the esteem of man if they could only have kept God silent. And we also are daily tempted to live for the honour which comes to us from one another, and not for that honour which is of God only. When shall we give up this fatal habit of asking at each turn, What does the world say? what does the world do?--my world, I mean--the world of my family, my friends, my neighbourhood, and inquire rather, Is this right? Does Christ approve? Let me look up to Christ for direction. Let the whisper of His Spirit be my voice of admonition. And let me in all things thank the Lord for giving me warning. (Dean Vaughan.)The first tare among the wheat I. How the wicked one sows it. II. How the Lord of the field plucks it out. (K. Gerok.)Hypocrites appear after revivals After a refreshing shower which has made all the flowers to smile till the teardrops of joy stand in their eyes, you will see your garden-paths spotted over with slugs and snails. These creatures lay concealed till the genial rain called them forth to make their slimy way towards, whatsoever they might devour. After this fashion revivals, of necessity, develop hypocrites; yet who would deplore the shower because of the snails, and who would rail at “ times of refreshing” because mere pretenders are excited to make a base profession of a grace to which they are strangers? (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Divine judgment on duplicity The Church may defy the malice of her foes, but cannot afford to pass over faithlessness of professed friends. The Jews are borne with; hypocritical pretenders are visited with Divine vengeance. The sin here consisted in false pretence and misrepresentation. I. The Church is not a pure, unmixed society of perfected believers. Members of the Apostolic Church fell into gross sin. Perfection is not to be looked for in the nursery or school. The Church is a training-ground of the immature, and yet men unreasonably expect perfection. II. There is no absolute safety in the Church. There is danger necessarily involved in the weakness of all undeveloped life. The Church is not shielded from temptation. Wilfulness may lead to shipwreck of faith. New conditions of life involve new dangers. “ Let him that thinketh he standeth,” etc. III. Moral dangers may be increased by those who are nearest to us in the relationships of life. A man and his wife joined together in this sin. The perversion of family and social life to the degradation of spirits is not enough considered. If a husband induce his wife or a master his servant to violate conscience, neither need be surprised at reaping bitter fruit. IV. Wilful sin persisted in by members of the Church involves them in dire and awful calamities. “ Whose fan is in His hand.” (W. H. Davison.)Ananias and Sapphira Eden hardly puts forth its flowers before sin enters to cast a blight over everything. The Church is hardly founded before punishment falls on two of its members for their crimes. The fate of Ananias and Sapphira may seem hard. Their sin was not so heinous as some others that went unpunished. I. Some considerations which serve to mitigate the seeming severity of the punishment.1. The Church was in its infancy. Influences brought to bear upon it at that time were more effective than later on, when its character was more fixed. A sin was more consequential then. To have permitted Ananias and Sapphira to do wrong with impunity would have soon resulted in the corruption of the whole Church. An example must be made to deter others from repeating the sin. 2. The complete character of the sin is undescribed. Peter twice refers to it as a sin against the Holy Sprat (verses 3 and 9). This would suggest that the main element of the sin lay not in the external act, but in the condition of heart back of it. Sins are like icebergs--the larger part of them is unseen. We must not estimate the sinfulness of Ananias’ sin by its external impression upon us. 3. The Apostle Peter, in his relations with these unfortunate people, was under the immediate direction of the Holy Spirit. There was nothing of spitefulness or malice in Peter’ s conduct. The will he obeyed was the will of another: The outcome was therefore due wholly to the immediate interposition of God. 4. All life is God’ s, who gave it, and who may take it back to Himself whenever and in whatever manner He pleases without doing any injustice to any rights of the creature. That He took the lives of Ananias and Sapphira would have involved no injustice even if they had not sinned. 5. The loss of two lives was a means of saving many more. Others were deterred from sin. II. The sin itself.1. The action which turned out to be so wrong originated in a praiseworthy motive. To give up one’ s property in part or in whole for the helping of the other Christians was a noble sacrifice. The act was praiseworthy. 2. We are led to suspect, however, that their whole hearts were not set on this disinterested view of the matter. They felt the force of others’ example. The approbation of the Church which followed such gifts was worth securing. There was a considerable enthusiasm aroused in their hearts. They could anticipate the happiness of hearing others praise their noble giving. But their hearts were not truly in the gift. The act conveyed the idea of a higher type of feeling than they really had. 3. The difference of extent between his good feeling and the larger deed was at once filled up by another feeling, a bad feeling. How often in producing good actions are two quantities of diverse kinds thus at work! 4. In the heart of Ananias selfishness grew until it predominated, and correspondingly unselfishness diminished until it was outweighed. The formal act of benevolence of Ananias was a good act, but it was made bad by the preponderance of vanity among the feelings which led to it. He wanted to seem more generous than he truly was. There was more of vanity than benevolence in his gift. He sinned really, therefore, in doing what was formally good. 5. For his act was a falsehood. The two persons were not brought to death for telling a falsehood so much as for acting a falsehood. They pretended to be giving a whole estate when they were giving but a part of it. 6. Their act was purely voluntary. True, Peter recognises the agency of Satan in the matter (verse 3), but this is to be recognised in every sin. He is the tempter. He cannot compel us to sin; he can only suggest. Sin is null and void until of our own volition we affix our sign-manual to it. 7. Hence we are not surprised to find that Ananias and Sapphira were perfectly deliberate in their wrong-doing. Peter said to her, “ How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?” (verse 9). That word “ agreed” points to a plan. This is not an instance of a man’ s yielding to a furious onslaught of temptation when he has let himself be caught unprepared by it. Ananias and Sapphira show a fox-like shrewdness in their sinning. They planned it deliberately, and they carried out their plan. Their sin was not as light as it seems before we analyse it. III. The bearings of their sin.1. It immediately affected men. Ananias defrauded his fellows. By not doing as he declared he intended to do he was defrauding others of that which, to be sure, had once been his, but had now, by his own voluntary profession, passed out of his ownership. He virtually acted the part of a thief. 2. His sin was also against God. He lied to the Holy Ghost (verse 3); he tempted the Spirit of the Lord (verse 9). His soul was in a certain relation to God, and every sin of whatever character was a violation of that relation. We owe obedience to God. Duty is obligation heavenward. Sin, whatever it be in act, has its determining element in the heart. It is the heart’ s rebellion against its obligation to do the will of God. It is an offence against the sovereign Lord. 3. The two are identified; sin against man is sin against God. Ananias lied to the apostles; they were acting under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit. Whatever he did toward them he did toward the Spirit which was in them. A man who shoots a prince strikes at a kingdom. Whoever sins against a fellow-man aims a blow at God. Lying, stealing, adultery, murder, are sins against men, but at the same moment they are sins against God. God hides Himself, as it were, in humanity, so that what we do to men we do to God. 4. Ananias’ sin affected the Church. The importance of Ananias’ sin is raised to a higher power by the fact that it concerned the welfare of the Church of Christ. His punishment is interpreted by this special bearing of his sin. Sin is thus reduplicated. Every man has special functions and relations, and every sin committed against him passes on and has an unlimited reach in these relations. One man shoots another. He sins against that man. But he does more. He makes a wife a widow; he makes children fatherless; he bereaves parents, relatives, and friends; he removes a man from the community who has a special function in it; he offends against the whole commonwealth, against all humanity indeed. Oh, the awful reach of sin! No man liveth to himself, and no man sinneth to himself. 5. The sin returned upon Ananias and his wife, who connived with him, in terrible retribution. Its wages were paid to the last farthing. As these unfortunate people were carried out to burial how impressive the reply to the heart’ s question, “ Does sin pay?” 6. Yet this affliction was made to bear good fruit under the providence of God. The effect on the Church was salutary. There were no more Ananiases. IV. The inferences from this study.1. Man’ s accountability for sin. Satan suggests it, but man accepts his suggestion and is responsible for the result. 2. The folly of sin. As we look at Ananias and his wife, with their silly vanity, they seem almost irrational. To sin is truly, according to the plain-spokenness of the Book of Proverbs, to be a fool. To escape it we must be made wise by God. 3. Sin reaches to God. “ Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight,” says the most heart-searching confession of sin ever penned. 4. The consequences of sin are more than we can anticipate--more as they develop after we have planted them in the field of the world’ s life, more as they come back to us in the harvest of retribution. 5. Lying is an especially bad sin. So bad is it, that among sins which specifically exclude from heaven lying is particularly named. God is truth Himself. We are made to be like Him. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Ananias and Sapphira The question may be asked, Was not this punishment of Ananias and Sapphira too severe? No time was given for repentance; no opportunity was offered for them to consider their transgression, and to cry unto God for pardon. We may find answer to this inquiry, I think, in the following suggestions:--1. Their sin was an aggravated one. “ Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God,” were Peter’ s words to Ananias. The peculiar enormity of their sin consisted in its being committed against the Holy Ghost. They knew of the Pentecostal gift; and now they come with a definitely settled purpose to deceive the Spirit of God in the persons of God’ s chosen ones, thinking Him to be such a one as themselves. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that Ananias was not an ordinary believer, but a minister, and one that had received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the hundred and twenty. Yet he dared thus by dissembling to belie and shame that gift. 2. It was a deliberate sin. It was not committed as the result of a sudden temptation; but these two had consulted together about it, and had entered into a mutual agreement to work this deception upon the apostles and the Church. It was cold-blooded in every respect. There was apparently no necessity laid upon them by outward circumstances. Ananias shows himself to have been by deliberate choice a hypocrite. 3. Sin must have become the settled purpose of their lives. God does not pronounce condemnation unto death for an initial sin or for a series of sins. It is only when the soul becomes saturated with sin, when there is no longer hope of the man’ s bearing fruit unto righteousness, that God casts him off. It must have been a crisis in their inner lives marking the determination of their souls--a crisis not apparent to men, but open and plain to the eye of God. 4. The severity of this punishment may have been due in a measure to the conditions surrounding the Church at that early period. The Church was in its infancy. We may further learn from this lesson-- (1)That those who presume upon security and impunity in any sinful course are reckoning ignorantly and foolishly. “ Be sure your Sin will find you out.” (2) It is useless to bring half of self to God in consecration. (3) The wheat and the tares ever grow together in the earthly Church. (G. C. Osgood.)Ananias and Sapphira I. The sins of Ananias and Sapphira. No sin stands alone.1. There was love of praise. 2. There was covetousness, an inordinate love of money. They clung to their gold. 3. There was lying. 4. There was hypocrisy, the pretence of godliness where none existed. II. The revelation of God’ s character. Every Divine act is a revelation of God. What does this event show?1. God’ s omniscience. He saw the sin, though it was secret. 2. God’ s impartiality. He deals with His followers no more leniently than with His enemies when they do wrong. 3. God’ s justice. 4. God’ s power. III. The teachings concerning the Church.1. Its high moral standard. The power of the Church is in its purity. The Church must be better than the world if it is to save the world. 2. Its human imperfection. Let us not expect all the people in the earthly Church to be perfect. 3. Its responsibility. The Church is held to a high account for its members, and must put away every branch which is known to be dead. Ananias and Sapphira A well-matched pair, alike in ambition and in falsehood, Ananias and Sapphira. There are thousands of ways of telling a lie. A man’ s whole life may be a falsehood, and yet never with his lips may he falsify once. There is a falsehood by look, by manner, as well as by lip. There are persons who are guilty of dishonesty of speech, and then afterward say “ may be,” call it a white lie, when no lie is that colour. The whitest lie ever told was as black as perdition. There are those so given to dishonesty of speech that they do not know when they are lying. With some it is an acquired sin, and with others it is a natural infirmity. There are those whom you will recognise as born liars. Misrepresentation and prevarication are as natural to them as the infantile diseases, and are a sort of moral croup or spiritual scarlatina. Then there are those who in after-life have opportunities of developing this evil, and they go from deception to deception, and from class to class, until they are regularly graduated liars. I. First of all, i speak of aguricultural falsehoods. There is something in the presence of natural objects that has a tendency to make one pure. The trees never issue false stock. The wheat-fields are always honest. Rye and oats never move out in the night, not paying for the place they occupy. Corn shocks never make false assignments. Mountain brooks are always current. The gold of the wheat-fields is never counterfeit. But, while the tendency of agricultural life is to make one honest, honesty is not the characteristic of all who come to the city markets from the country districts. “ You hear the creaking of the dishonest farm waggon in almost every street of our great cities, a farm waggon in which there is not one honest spoke or one truthful rivet from tongue to tailboard.” The tendency in all rural districts is to suppose that sins and transgressions cluster in our great cities; but citizens and merchants long ago learned that it is not safe to calculate from the character of the apples on the top of the farmer’ s barrel what is the character of the apples all the way down toward the bottom. Milk-cans are not always honest. The producer sometimes practically says to the merchant, “ You get your money easily, anyhow.” Does he get it easily? Let those who get their living in the quiet farm and barn take the place of one of our city merchants, and see whether it is so easy. It is hard enough to have the hands blistered with outdoor work, but it is harder with mental anxieties to have the brain consumed. God help the merchants! And do not let those who live in country life come to the conclusion that all the dishonesties belong to city life. II. I pass on to consider commercial lies. There are those who apologise for deviation from the right and for practical deception by saying it is commercial custom. In other words, a lie by multiplication becomes a virtue. There are large fortunes gathered in which there is not one drop of the sweat of unrequited toil, and not one spark of bad temper flashes from the bronze bracket, and there is not one drop of needlewoman’ s heart’ s blood on the crimson plush; while there are other fortunes about which it may be said that on every door-knob, and on every figure of the carpet, and on every wall, there is the mark of dishonour. There are large fortunes upon which God’ s favour comes down, and it is just as honest and just as Christian to be affluent as it is to be poor. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 5:2 And kept back part of the price. The sin of pretence and its punishment They desired to have all the credit the Church would give them for acting as generously as Barnabas did, and yet, while getting credit for unselfish and unstinting liberality, to be able to enjoy in private somewhat of that which they were believed to have surrendered. And their calculations were terribly disappointed. They tried to play the hypocrite’ s part on most dangerous ground, just when the Divine spirit of purity, sincerity, and truth had been abundantly poured out, and when the spirit of deceit and hypocrisy was therefore at once recognised. It was with the apostles and their spiritual natures then as it is with ourselves and our physical natures still. When we are living in a crowded city we notice not strange scents and ill odours and foul gases; our senses are dulled, and our perceptive powers are rendered obtuse because the whole atmosphere is a tainted one. But when we dwell in the pure air of the country, and the glorious breezes from mountain and moor blow round us fresh and free, then we detect at once, and at a long distance, the slightest ill odour or the least trace of offensive gas. The outpoured presence of the Spirit, and the abounding love which was produced thereby, quickened the perception of St. Peter. He recognised the hypocrisy, characterised the sin of Ananias as a lie against the Holy Ghost; and then the Spirit and Giver of life, seconding and supporting the words of St. Peter, withdrew His support from the human frame of the sinner, and Ananias ceased to live, just as Sapphira, his partner in deceit, ceased to live a few hours later. It may well have been that this incident was inserted in this typical Church history to correct a false idea which would otherwise have grown up. The apostles and their followers were now realising their freedom in the spirit; and some were inclined to run into licentiousness as the result of that freedom. They were realising, too, their relationship to God as one of pure filial love, and they were in great danger of forgetting that God was a God of justice and judgment as well, till this stern dispensation recalled them to a sense of the fact that eternal love is also eternal purity and eternal truth, and will by no means clear the guilty. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)The nature of the sin That it was simply the sin of lying, is impossible to believe. He who calmly told them of their instant fate had himself lied most foully, and been forgiven. It is more plausible to maintain that their sin was something far worse than mere falsehood--that it was hypocrisy of the lowest type--that they could not endure to lack the praise of the noblest Christian conduct, or to make the necessary sacrifices--that they schemed to be considered the best, whilst they were, and knew that they were, very far below the best. All this is true and terrible, but does not satisfy us as an explanation of their awful end. I venture to suggest that Ananias and Sapphira suffered the extreme penalty, not as sinners, but as criminals; not in revenge for a flagrant insult offered to the Almighty, but as the due reward for a frightful wrong inflicted upon their fellowmen; not to accentuate the hideousness of a sin (for which purpose it had been unneeded and ineffective), but to mark the enormity of a crime which blasted the fairest prospect ever opened before the sons of men. It seems to me that they suffered death just as the dynamitards ought to suffer death, because in the recklessness of political hatred they destroy the lives of innocent people. Their crime was beyond all possible reach of human justice, therefore God Himself intervened to mark for once and all how great a crime, how vast a wrong they had committed in the sight of Heaven. Of what, then, were they guilty? What did they do? Before the deceit of Ananias and Sapphira communism was the rule within the Christian fold. It was practised freely as a natural, nay, a necessary part of a whole-hearted following after Christ. After the deceit of Ananias and Sapphira communism ceased to be the rule--apparently it ceased to exist. In the very next chapter we find, not communism, but “ charity,” with all its paltry greeds and grudges. Why was this? What became of the communism? I say that Ananias and his wife killed it. Such a state of things depends essentially upon mutual confidence, and they killed that confidence. The fatal blow had been given: and what had been an actual working system, perfect in its principle, and boundless in its promise, faded at once into a beautiful dream Co-operation in the labours of life does very well for beavers, for they do not deceive one another, nor does one desire to grow fat at his neighbour’ s expense, neither does another wish to take credit for having done what he has not really done. Why cannot Christian men he as true to one another, and to the society of which they form a part, as beavers? Ask Ananias and Sapphira. Before they began, there were no suspicions, no grudgings, no wealth, and no poverty, “ neither was there any among them that lacked.” When they had ended there were rich and poor, there was “ a murmuring” of one class against another, there was the foretaste of those monstrous evils which we deplore to-day. They only “ told a lie,” but that lie gave a mortal blow to the mutual confidence on which any system of communism has to rest. If it is only to-day that we are beginning to face the social problems of advanced civilisation in their naked ugliness, if it is only to-day that we are in a position to estimate the results of unlimited competition, and the reign of universal greed; if it is only to-day that we are becoming thoroughly frightened at the hideous contrast between the professed principles and the existing facts of Christian society; it is for this very reason only to-day that we are able to appreciate the true moral of that tremendous and unexampled judgment. The socialism of the first believers was the fairest work of the Holy Ghost--it was the truest following after Christ--it was the loftiest faith and the broadest charity translated into that simple language of everyday life, which must be read and loved of all men. The “ Magnificat” is the inspired hymn of gospel communism, it is the Marseillaise of the Christian socialist. Striking at once to the heart of the matter, rising at once to the principle of the new order, forestalling (like all inspired strains) the end from the beginning, it pronounces without mitigation, it exults without qualification, that “ He hath put down the mighty,” etc. (R. Winterbotham, M. A.)Making gain out of a pretence of godliness When Nineveh was burned under Sardanapalus, great quantities of treasure were known to bare fallen into the fiery ruins. Belesis, governor of Babylon, had been one of the conspirators against the dead king, and was aware of all the circumstances of the sack of the city. He told the other generals that in the midst of the fight he had at one time despaired of success, and then he had solemnly sworn to the immortal gods that, if victory were vouchsafed him, he would convey bodily all the ashes of the conflagration to Babylon, and deposit them in a vast temple which he would erect to receive them in honour of the propitious deities: he added that his tender conscience would not permit him to delay the fulfilment of his vow. No one could object to so pious a proposal; so Belesis set the whole army at work to gather up the remains of the fire. When the valuable mass reached Babylon he smelted the heaps in great furnaces, and enriched himself to a fabulous amount with the gold and silver that came forth. This he had understood all along; but he was neither the first nor the last man who has put forward his conscience to make gain out of godliness with a villainous deceit. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Keeping back the price We read in French history that Louis XI. once proffered the entire department of Bologne to the “ Blessed Virgin Mary.” He drew up a deed, signed, sealed; he delivered it to the proper ecclesiastics of the Church. But with a peculiar perversity he kept all the revenues and taxes, appointing every year new collectors who might secure the income rigidly for himself without any peril of being tampered with by the priests. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.) Acts 5:3 Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost. Satan is a Hebrew word meaning adversary or opponent, whether in war (1 Kings 5:4) or litigation (Psalms 109:6), often applied to human enemies, but in one place to an angel (Numbers 26:22), and with the article (2 Samuel 24:1), was a proper name without it (1 Chronicles 21:1), to the evil spirit or prince of the fallen angels, as the adversary and accuser of mankind (Job 1:7; Job 2:2; Zechariah 3:1-2; cf. Revelation 12:9-10). In this sense and application it is nearly equivalent to Diabolus (Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2), meaning slanderer, informer, false accuser; to which the English devil may be easily traced back, through the intermediate forms of the French Diable and Italian Diavolo. As the same being is the tempter of our race from the beginning (2 Corinthians 11:3), the name Satan sometimes has that special meaning (Matthew 4:10; Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33), and so it is used here. (J. W. Alexander, D. D.)Satan filling the heart The question contains more than one truth in reference to Satan. I. The existence and reality of Satan, that is to say of the evil spirit who is the prince of darkness, is throughout undeniably to be understood. It cannot here be considered as a mere allegory; the matter was too serious, and the speech of the apostle is much too impressive, severe and direct for that. II. Evil does not exist and grow isolated in the human breast, but is connectively interwoven with the kingdom of evil in the invisible world. And precisely the worst sins, the subtlest hypocrisy, where evil clothes itself in the holiest garments of light, are the operations of Satan. III. There are different degrees of the working of Satan, from the smallest temptation to the filling of the heart, i.e., entirely and completely taking possession of it, which is the terrible contrast to the “ fulness of the Holy Spirit.” IV. Man is responsible, and his will free even in relation to the powerful promptings of the devil. For Peter says not only Satan has filled thy heart, but asks why. And the reason he seeks lies evidently not in Satan, but in Ananias. “ Why hast thou permitted it?” The apostle indirectly testifies that man, if he will, may resist the devil (1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7). There is no irresistible power of Satan. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)Lying to the Holy Spirit Falsehood is particularly a sin against the Holy Spirit. It is a sin against-- I. His nature. One of His titles is “ the Spirit of Truth.” It is essentially inherent in Him. He cannot Himself be false, and falsehood cannot dwell in His presence. II. His word. Christ prayed “ Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth.” This is the instrument by which He accomplishes all His purposes; and He will use no other. He tells all the truth as it regards God, man, sin, and salvation, time and eternity. Of such Jesus says, “ Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” A lie is the rejection of the truth, and a direct resistance to the testimony and word of the Spirit. III. His work in the heart. “ Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” When God writes His law upon the heart it is as a standard of truth which He sets up there. Establishing it within us, He entwines around it all our principles, affections and practices, He makes us “ true men.” IV. The character which He forms in His people. They are “ of the truth,” “ do the truth,” “ speak the truth in their heart,” and are “ girt about with truth.” (J. Morgan. D. D.)The resistibility of evil The Bible is a book of personalities--it has nothing to do with personifications, streams of tendency, etc. Here the personality of the Holy Spirit is clearly recognised, and Satan is no figure of speech. The resistibility of evil is the greatest moral of the text. Satan’ s action is fully assumed, but Ananias is held responsible for the result: “ Why hast thou permitted it?” Now we are all quite ready to blame the tempting power for our bad conduct. Supernatural evil comes in like a flood, and we think there is much to be said for us if we are swept away. We are told that in the East robbers employ magic to effect their nefarious purpose, their victims lying, with their eyes open, helpless spectators of the spoliation of their homes. Some men persuade themselves that they are similarly helpless in the presence of the arch thief. Not so, says the text. You can resist the devil and he will flee. There is no enchantment in wickedness which may prevail against a sincere and steadfast soul. I. The very epithet we use to express the action of evil implies the resistibility of evil. Satan is the tempter, the initial action of evil is temptation. This is only another word for experiment or trial. It was the design of God (Deuteronomy 8:2), through certain discipline, to show Israel what was in His heart. Satan also tempts men, makes experiments upon their moral nature. But there is always this great distinction. God is ever aiming to realise the good that is in us, and to purge the evil; Satan to realise the evil and to purge the good. But uncertainty is of the very nature of temptation. When Satan makes an experiment upon us he may possibly succeed, he may possibly fail, according to the quality of our nature. He cannot coerce. Christ affirmed, “ The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me” Nothing that owned his sway. He was pure gold, and as such He went into the crucible, and as such He came out again. The alchemist sought to transmute base metals into gold; the devil seeks to turn gold into cinders, which can never be done in the physical world, much less in the ethical. If you are of baser metal in your inmost self--I do not care how much gilt you put on the surface, nor whether you have got the hall mark of the Church--if you are at the centre base metal when you are put into the crucible, base metal you will come out. But if there is nothing of the devil in us he can get nothing out of us. Loyal to the truth in your deepest thought and sympathy, the black storm may bow you down, but having done all, you stand; rotten at the heart, when the storm comes upon you, great is your fall. Experiment demonstrates: it does not necessitate. II. The method of its approach and action indicates the resistibility of evil. The devil uses deceit. Temptation is cajolery. Evil comes in the wriggle of the serpent. All this is consolatory so far as it reveals the weakness which underlies all wickedness. Strong men do not resort to these equivocal methods; they wear no masks, proffer no bribes, tell no lies. The devil comes as a conjurer, not as a conqueror. The fowler setting his net shows that we are free; the destroyer proffering his sorcerous cup confesses that he has no authority to smite or bind; and seeing the serpent wriggling in the grass, it flashes on us in a moment how easily we may bruise his head. Irresistibility does not trick itself out in motley disguises. Be true in the inward parts and you shall be more than conqueror. The “ properties” of a sorceror--mirrors, vapours, charms, incantations--will prevail nothing against the armour of light; the liar of ages will not deceive the simplicity of a little child (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12). The root of the whole matter is here. Do you love the truth in your inmost heart, and are you prepared to follow it at all sacrifices? Then no mystery of lawlessness or lying wonders, etc., shall lead you astray, but you shall hear a heavenly voice saying, “ This is the way,” and walking in it you shall be safe from the fear of evil. III. If evil were irresistible it would possess a power which God does not permit Himself to exercise. God respects the nature He has given, and does not compel us along any line of action. “ Behold I stand at the door and knock.” The heart of man seems but a but of clay, yet before its lowly door stands the Majesty of the skies asking admittance. God respects the freedom He first gave, and if ever He enters we shall have to turn the key. He knocks, but He does no more. God made the human heart to be opened only from within; and be sure what God will not do no other power shall be permitted to do. We have kept God out, and surely we can keep the devil out. The deceiver may post himself before the windows of our soul, and we cannot drive him away; but as sure as we are men he can never put his sooty foot across the red threshold of our heart except we agree to it (Luke 22:31). The French proverb is right, “ The devil goes away from a closed door.” The door of the soul is sacred: keep it shut, latch it with caution, bolt it with resolution, lock it with prayer, and all hell may gather about, as the Sodomites did about the door of Lot, yet they shall be baffled. But once have the door open, begin coquettings with evil, and the devil will soon be your guest and master. IV. Evil is being constantly vanquished. Nothing is more terrible than that we should be convinced of the invulnerability of evil. Cortes sought to make the Mexicans believe that a Spaniard could not die, an illusion which unnerved them in the day of battle. We must entertain no such belief about evil. The spirits of wickedness are being tramped under foot every day. The Bible is full of the records of victory over temptation and sin. What is the lesson of the victory of our Lord in the wilderness but the powerlessness of the devil in the presence of faith and purity. In His strength His victory is being ever repeated “ What’ s done we partly may compute, but we know not what’ s resisted.” We see the ugly side of life: if anybody goes to the bad we all know it. But all around us magnificent moral victories are being scored: if our eyes were opened and we could see everything that is going on many a sublime spectacle would inspire us with exultation. Now a young man has the cup of guilty pleasure pressed to his lips, but in the critical moment, on which hangs eternity, he dashes it to the ground; now a young maiden, by the grace of heaven, turns away from some alluring cluster, keeping her purity and her paradise; now a struggling tradesman prefers honesty to gold; now a politician loses an election rather than self respect. Poor human nature! We often get the worst of it, but not always. You have innumerable brothers and sisters in tribulation, who by God’ s grace in miry pathways walk with unspotted robes, and the same grace shall be perfected in your weakness. The Jewish tradition says, “ The devil cannot overcome except he first see your face.” Turn your face to the light and your back to the devil, and you shall never perish. Conclusion:1. If you do not want Satan to fill your heart, take care that God fills it first. Satan filled Ananias’ heart because it was empty. Of his brethren we read “ they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” Satan could do nothing there. Here is our safety. When the devil finds an empty brain he fills it with false ideas, wicked plans; when he finds empty hands he fills them with mischiefs; when he finds an empty heart he fills it with vanities, burning passions, vicious sympathies and delights. If you wish to be saved from temptation’ s power, keep your heart full of the love of God, your hands full of noble work, your mind full of high thought and desire. 2. You say, “ Satan has filled my heart; oh wretched man that I am.” There is hope. The dispossessing power is sufficient. It is hard for a landlord to dispossess a bad tenant. He will not go out for the telling, you cannot frighten, coax, starve him out, it is only when the king’ s officer comes that you will get rid of the objectionable party. It is terrible work indeed to get the diabolism out of our heart. The Rationalist says, “ I will persuade him out,” but iniquity does not yield to argument. The Optimist says, “ I will coax him out,” but passion does not yield to blandishments. The Legalist says, “ I will frighten him out,” but lust will not yield to law. The Ascetic says, “ I will starve him out,” but pride, selfishness, and sensuality do not yield to discipline. The Pessimist says, “ Death shall pull down the tabernacle, and so give us relief from the ghastly dilemma,” to find relief only in the destruction of the house is to confess ourselves utterly vanquished. Appeal from earth to heaven. The strong man armed shall bind the strong man and eject him. Seek the delivering Christ, and although your fetters have been riveted through years of transgression, you shall be led into liberty and peace. Evil irresistible! never. “ Thine is the kingdom, and the power,” etc. (W. L. Watkinson.)Insincere Christians an easy prey to Satan A good coloured man once said, in a class-meeting: “ Brethren, when I was a boy, I took a hatchet and went into de woods. When I found a tree dat was straight, big, and solid, I didn’ t touch dat tree; but when I found one leaning a little and hollow inside, I soon had him down. So when de debbil goes after Christians, he don’ t touch dem dat stand straight and true; but dem dat lean a little and are hollow inside.” The devil’ s trade wind One of W. Jay’ s peculiarities was the manner in which he would surprise his hearers by a startling sentence. Preaching on the repentance of Judas he took occasion to attack the love of money, and at the close of one of the divisions of his subject, he cried out, “ Avarice, avarice is the monsoon, the devil’ s trade wind from the Church into hell.” At another time, speaking of the inconsistency of many professors of the gospel, after making a powerful appeal, he exclaimed, “ Some of you, my dear brethren, are so inconsistent and undecided that if at this moment I saw the devil running away with you, I could not call out, ‘ Stop thief!’ --he would but carry off his own property!” Satan’ s worms of avarice A journal devoted to the interests of horticulture states that a gardener in the employ of a gentleman at Pittsford, New York, has recently solved a problem which has long perplexed him. In the garden under his care is a large lawn, on which he has bestowed much labour, and which was his especial pride. For some time past a small patch on this lawn disfigured it, for the grass that grew there was poor and withered, in marked contrast to all around. For a long time the gardener vainly endeavoured to discover the cause of its decay. One day, as he stood meditatively gazing at it, he saw several birds settle upon it and thrust their beaks through the sod with much diligence and satisfaction. The gardener had the curiosity to turn up a portion of the punctured turf, and discovered, to his amazement, that the earth beneath was alive with a greedy multitude of large white grubs, which had completely consumed the roots of the grass. He continued the work, and at every fresh removal of the sod the same phenomenon presented itself, until quarts of the larvae were gathered and destroyed. It is to be feared that the lack of vigorous life in some portions of Christ’ s vineyard, the Church, may have a similar cause. The root of the piety of the members is being destroyed by Satan’ s worms of avarice, ambition, and love of pleasure. (Christian Herald.) Acts 5:4 Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Lying unto God. I. The sin. Men lie unto God--1. When they use their profession as members of the Church for an instrument of self interest.2. By making false pretences in their routine of worship.3. By breaking their covenant of consecration.4. By the offering of insincere prayers.5. By self seeking in acts of Christian zeal. II. The retribution--1. Was the visitation of God.2. Often comes in the form of a de-moralisation of soul, which renders recovery impossible at the last. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The permanence of a lie A little boy to sell his paper told a lie. The matter came up in the Sunday school. “ Would you tell a lie for three cents?” asked a teacher of one of the boys. “ No, ma’ am,” answered Dick, very decidedly. “ For ten cents?” “ No, ma’ am.” “ For a dollar?” “ No, ma’ am.” “ For a thousand dollars?” Dick was staggered, A thousand dollars looked big--it would buy lots of things. While he was thinking another boy cries out “ No, ma’ am, because when the thousand dollars are gone and the things you have got with them are gone too, the lie is there all the same.” Ah, yes! That is so. A lie sticks. Everything else may go, but that will stay, and you will have to carry it round with you, whether you will or no--a hard and heavy load. (Biblical Museum.)Self deception A man never deceives himself so much as when he attempts to deceive God. (J. Caryl.)The retribution of falsehood George Eliot, in “ Romola,” powerfully illustrates in that remarkable book the embarrassments involved in one cowardly departure from truth. In the chapter headed “ Tito’ s Dilemma,” the occasion arises for Tito to fabricate an ingenious lie. Many chapters on we find him experiencing the inexorable law of human souls that we prepare ourselves for sudden deeds by the reiterated choice of good or evil that gradually determines character, and it becomes a question whether all the resources of lying will save him from being crushed. At another time we read: “ Tito felt more and more confidence as he went on; the lie was not so difficult when it was once begun, and as the words fell easily from his lips, they gave him a sense of power such as men feel when they have begun a muscular feat successfully.” The penalty is enforced a few pages later. “ But he had borrowed from the terrible usurer Falsehood, and the loan had mounted and mounted with the years, till he belonged to the usurer, body and soul.” Acts 5:7-10 It was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. Plain language I think that one of the master incantations, one of the most signal deceits, which we practise upon ourselves, comes from the use of language. There are words that we learn in childhood which we abandon when we come to manhood. Generally speaking, our fireside words are old Saxon words--short, knotty, tough, and imbued with moral and affectional meanings; but as we grow older these words are too rude and plain for our use, and so we get Latin terms and periphrases by which to express many of our thoughts. When we talk about ourselves we almost invariably use Latin words, and when we talk about our neighbours we use Saxon words. And one of the best things a man can do, I think, is to examine himself in the Saxon tongue. If a man tells that which is contrary to the truth let him not say, “ I equivocate” ; let him say, “ I lie.” Lie! why, it brings the judgment day right home to a man’ s thought. Men do not like it, but it is exactly the thing that will most effectually touch the moral sense; and the more the moral sense is touched the better. If a man has departed from rectitude in his dealings with another, let him not say, “ I took advantage,” which is a roundabout long sentence: let him say, “ I cheated.” That is a very direct word. It springs straight to the conscience, as the arrow flies whizzing from the bow to the centre of the mark. Does it grate harshly on your ear? Nevertheless, it is better that you should employ it; and you should come to this determination: “ I will call things that I detect in my conduct by those clear-faced, rough-tongued words that my enemies would use if they wanted to sting me to the quick.” (H. W. Beecher.)The sin in the purpose more than in the act It is said by sceptics that St. Peter’ s question to Sapphira, “ Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?” was a temptation to the sin of falsehood; but it is plain, from the story in the fifth chapter of the Acts, that Sapphira had committed herself to a fraudulent undertaking. The sin had been already committed when she adopted her sinful purpose. Peter’ s question was only to make the secret purpose known. It is an abuse of language to speak of tempting one to do what he has committed himself to do, We do not tempt a shopkeeper when we propose to buy what he wishes to sell. No more did Peter tempt Sapphira to become a liar. She was a liar before his question, quite as much as after her answer. The ethical principle is that it is the purpose, not the act, which constitutes the essential sin. The sin of Sapphira greater than that of Ananias 1. She had longer time for consideration. 2. Peter, by a yet more pointed question, gave her a much better opportunity for reflection, and for giving glory to God. 3. She answered still more shamelessly. 4. And is, therefore, obliged to listen more fully to her sentence, and to hear what has happened to her husband. (Rieger.)The perversion of the marriage bond In families where marriage is nothing more than--1. A fellowship of goods and a business transaction to become rich instead of a union of hearts in the Lord; or, 2. A union to the service of the world, the flesh, and the devil, instead of a pious resolution. “ I and my house will serve the Lord.” And, 3. A walking together to hell, it may be to a hell on earth, or to eternal perdition, instead of the married pair being helpers of one another’ s joys and blessedness, and striving how the one might bring the other to heaven. “ How is it that ye have agreed together?” --a serious question to every married pair. (K. Gerok.)Then she fell down straightway at his feet and gave up the ghost.-- Death by the visitation of God It would not be difficult to find some instances of direct and swift punishment even in modern times. In the old town of Devizes the tourist is led up to see an interesting inscription in the public market-place. It reads thus: “ The mayor and corporation of Devizes avail themselves of the stability of this building to transmit to future times the record of an awful event which occurred in this market-place in the year 1753; hoping that such a record may serve as a salutary warning against the danger of impiously invoking the Divine vengeance, or of calling on the holy name of God to conceal the devices of falsehood and fraud. On Thursday, the 25th of January, 1753, Ruth Pierce, of Pottera, in this county, agreed with three other women to buy a sack of wheat in the market, each paying her due proportion towards the same. One of these women, in collecting the several quotas of money, discovered a deficiency, and demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good the amount. Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share, and said she wished she might drop down dead if she had not. She rashly repeated this awful wish, when, to the consternation of the surrounding multitude, she instantly fell down and expired, having the money concealed in her hand.” (C. S. Robinson, D. D.) Acts 5:11-16 And great fear came upon all the Church. After judgment, revival The case of Ananias served several important ends. I. It bore a very emphatic testimony to truth. Falsehood in the world was a great barrier in the way of the Church. It was difficult to build even that Divine edifice without a foundation, without something in humanity of which it might take hold. Unless the Church find or generate truth it will not overcome the world; it will sink as in a mire. And so at the outset a miracle was employed to set truth as on a rock for ever. The death of Ananias and Sapphira is the arm of the Lord revealed to deliver the body of the Church in her youth from a consumption which, if not so checked, might have brought her down to an early grave, although no breath of persecution had ever blown upon her. We learn here the work of God to cast out of the body the poison that would undermine life is as stupendous as His work to shield the Church from the power of her foes. II. Great fear came upon the Church. It is a healthful symptom, a needed discipline. “ Lord, is it I?” “ Let him that thinketh he standeth,” etc. It was Christ who said, “ Remember Lot’ s wife.” Many centuries after the event, He directed that it should be kept in memory. These dark monuments have obtained a place in the Word that liveth and abideth for ever, that their warning may be available in all nations and times. Fear also came on as many as heard. As a natural consequence, “ of the rest durst no man join himself to them,” i.e., those who were not of them dared not pretend to be of them. The stroke of judgment scared the hypocrites. III. Believers were the more added. The judgment on false professors hastened instead of hindering conversions. The terror of the Lord effectually persuaded men to take refuge in His mercy.1. Believers were added to the Lord; not merely to the communicants roll. “ Your life is hid with Christ in God.” The life of the branch depends on being in the vine; although its fairness may depend on its being interlaced in bonds of love with other branches. 2. Multitudes were added. This is the common experience still. A great number came at one time with a rush: and a period of comparative barrenness supervenes. Again there is a revival, and again a time of coldness. Ask yourself, Has the tide risen in my time and carried in many on its wave, and am I left behind? But even when the heaving of the spiritual tide in our neighbourhood has ceased, the door is not shut. We are as welcome when we come one by one as when we press in with a crowd. 3. “ Both men and women.” There was a reason for specifying this. The gospel enfranchises and elevates woman. She owes to Christ not only her home in heaven, but her rightful place in the world. Nor women exclusively; for when the Word comes in power it makes quick work with that lordly pride in which men wrap themselves when they select philosophy or politics as their sphere, and leave religion to women. (W. Arnot, D. D.)And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought.-- Contrasts The wrath of God by the mouth of the apostles had consumed two hypocrites; but relief by the hands of the apostles happened to a great number of miserable people. The Lord proved thereby that judgment is His strange work, but that He delights in mercy. And as He shows His zeal against the wicked, so He does not turn His heart away from the wretched. (Apostolic Pastor.)Phases of the young Church The text presents the young Church as-- I. An organ of restorative power. The works were miraculous and material, but they may be regarded as specimens and symbols of those spiritual works which the true Church is constantly performing for the benefit of mankind. This restorative power was--1. Manifestly Divine. So little did the people regard the works as the effects of the natural powers of the apostles, that they considered the very shadow of Peter sufficient. The moral power of the Church to restore souls is also incontrovertibly Divine. No man, however exalted his piety, extensive his attainments, or brilliant his talents, can restore one lost soul. 2. Very extensive. Great were the crowds of sick folk, and various their diseases; but they were healed every one. So the healing power in the Church is equal to every case. II. An institution differently affecting different men.1. In some it produced a revulsion. “ And of the rest,” the class to which Ananias had belonged, “ durst no man join himself to them.” A church whose discipline is so severely pure, which will not tolerate untruthfulness, dishonesty, or selfishness, is sure to keep aloof the carnal, mercenary, and false. 2. In some it awakened admiration. “ But the people magnified them.” Incorruptible sincerity and high spiritual purity will always command the honour and respect of the unsophisticated multitudes. The common people heard Christ gladly, because He spoke the true thing in the true spirit. And so the people will always honour the Church for what is pure and noble in her members. 3. In some it effected a conversion (Acts 5:14). (D. Thomas, D. D.)The power of God with the apostles 1. As when the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and Abiram and their company, the people fled at the cry of them, and said, “ Lest the earth swallow us also” ; so the fate of Ananias and Sapphira operated as a warning to all who were of a like spirit, and made them afraid of tempting God by a false profession, lest they should be struck dead in like manner. But though the false hearted were thus restrained, those whose consciences bore them witness that they were upright before God were not discouraged, nay, they were even induced the more to unite themselves with the company of disciples. 2. The peculiar words, “ Added to the Lord,” do not stand in the text without a strictly appropriate meaning. Ananias and Sapphira had been added to the Church, but not to the Lord. The judgment executed upon them guarded the growing society from being corrupted in spirit as it increased in numbers. Alas! how often is this the case. The visible Church increases in numbers but decays in piety. The real prosperity of the Church, then, consists in two things--in its being enlarged, and in its being edified; in multitudes being added to the community, and believers added to the Lord. And there seem to have been two causes of this happy state of things. The apostles had prayed that the Lord would give them boldness to speak the Word by stretching forth His hand to heal, etc. In the text we find that the prayer was answered. And as the support which they asked was given, no doubt it was given for the end for which they asked it, namely, to embolden them in speaking the Word. We have then three things for consideration. I. The Word preached. “ Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Men cannot call on that only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved unless they know it; and they cannot know it unless it be revealed to them. And though it is in the power of God to reveal it without the instrumentality of men, yet such is not His ordinary method. “ Of His own will begat He us by the Word of truth.” If we are begotten again, it is “ not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.” Though he that planteth is nothing, and he that watereth nothing; though God alone giveth the increase; yet there must be the planter and the waterer. To expect the fruit from man without the blessing of God would be vain confidence; to expect it from God without the human means which He has appointed would be presumption. The true path of wisdom--the golden mean--in this case is, not to neglect the means of grace, and not to rest in them; to use them diligently, yet to look beyond them. There is a regard to instruments which is faulty, and when men glory in one above another, so as to say, “ I am of Paul, and I of Apollos,” etc., this is to ascribe to man what is the work of God; nevertheless, the preaching of the Word is a Divine ordinance, and ought to be attended to. II. The Word accompanied with signs confirming it. Though it has pleased God to withdraw the miraculous confirmation, is therefore all Divine confirmation of the Word withheld? Though gifts of healing have ceased, is there no way by which the Lord bears witness to His truth? Yes: there surely is, and that the most important of all. The body might be healed, but that healing would be only for a time; it must at length die, and the soul might be lost. The blind eye might be opened, and the natural light poured in upon its before insensible organs; but in a little while it must be closed again in death: and the soul might be consigned to the blackness of darkness for ever. The most important confirmation, and what is equally above the power of man, is that which quickens the soul that was dead in trespasses and sins; which opens the blind eyes, so that he who was spiritually blind may say, I see. He who is brought out of darkness into light, has the witness in himself; and while he lets his light shine before men, he may be a witness to ethers also; proving to them that there is a power of Divine grace working mightily in them that believe, and enabling them to do what in the strength of nature they could not perform. III. The benefits of healing conferred in answer to faith. These “ signs and wonders” were an evidence to all men of the power of God with them, a proof of their commission from Him, who thus set His seal to their preaching, and confirmed the truth of the doctrine which they taught. And the doctrine thus delivered and confirmed was variously received. Some believed, and some believed not. But multitudes believed: and these showed their faith by acting as men always do when they are fully persuaded of the truth of any report. They hasted to make their sick friends and relations partakers of the benefit. And we should go ourselves to Christ for the healing of our own souls in the first place; and then do what we can to carry our friends to Him. (J. Fawcett, M. A.)Of the rest durst no man join himself to them.-- The ungodly repelled I. That a living and spiritual Christianity repels the ungodly from the communion of the Church.1. It does so by awakening a feeling of hatred-- (1) Of God (Romans 1:30).(2) Of Christ (John 15:24).(3) Of Christ’ s disciples (John 17:14).(4) The Church is hated by the world in proportion to its purity (John 15:19). (a) The sinfulness of seeking to make religion pleasing to the world. (b) The condition of the Church, or believer, loved by the world. 2. It does so by producing feelings of fear and reverence. (1) When God comes forth in the more visible displays of His majesty in nature--in providence--in the judgment, the wicked tremble.(2) When the image of God is visibly on the character of man, reverence is thereby extorted from the wicked.(3) In like manner, when God is in the visible Church--when He makes it His pavilion, the world regards it with a constrained reverence (Psalms 14:5).(4) This feeling is not inconsistent with persecution.(5) Such a feeling will keep the world out of the Church. 3. It does so by acting upon the conscience. (1) Church membership, combined with practical irreligion, shows a conscience asleep.(2) This is encouraged by a low general standard among believers.(3) A living Christianity would be a check. II. That a living and spiritual Christianity is not easily imitated.1. It is by feigning Christianity that ungodly men enter the communion of the Church. 2. Human nature has a wonderful power in counterfeiting religion--assisted by the devil. 3. But the more spiritual that religion in, the less easily is it counterfeited--detection is more likely. 4. And the self-denial being generally greater, is not likely to be practised. 5. Hence, a spiritual Church will not be joined by worldly men. III. That being in a spiritual state, the Church possessed much of the spirit of judgment1. The Spirit is promised to the Church as “ a spirit of judgment” (Isaiah 28:6). 2. The statement of the text is connected with its exercise (verses 1-11). 3. This spirit is still needed--should be asked. 4. The ground of admission into the Church is a credible, profession; when it is declared credible, there is a judgment. 5. When the Church is spiritual, the possession of this Spirit of judgment will be moreapparent. (1) The grounds of each judgment will be more ample (Matthew 18:15-18).(2) The rule of judgment will be more Scriptural.(3) The application more enlightened.(4) The decision given, more free from the influence of worldly consideration. 6. This matter rests with the members of the Church. A languid body will not cast off disease. IV. That persecution was a test of discipleship.1. The world applies a test as well as the Church--sometimes a severer and more searching one. 2. But only when the Church is living. 3, The Church is not diminished (verse 14). (James Stewart.)Authority and faith This beautiful picture of the apostles ruling the infant Christian community and bearing a never-ceasing testimony to their Risen Lord, displays to us the great principles on which the Christian Church is founded. We find here the principle of authority and the existence of office in the Church--office and authority cheerfully recognised and submitted to. Of the rest of the Christian body none durst join himself to the apostles. Their office was of Divine appointment. There was nothing in this exceeding reverence with which the apostolic office was viewed inconsistent with the personal belief of every Christian in the Saviour as his Saviour, and in the gift of the Holy Spirit as given directly to him. How different would the Church of the present day be from that of those primitive times if there were now, as some suppose, an inconsistency between authority and faith, and a man must needs believe the less in Christ his Saviour the more he believes in the Church of Christ as a Divinely ordered system of authority and government I Rightly regarded by those who use it, and by those for whose benefit it is used, there is no earthly means which ought to help men so much to faith in the Lord as the Christian Church, set before men’ s eyes, witnessing to His story by its very existence, which began with the apostles, whom He chose and educated through all their weakness to carry on His work on earth when He had entered heaven, to help them from thence by His unfailing grace, end to fit them for an office and a work which, without Him, they could never have fulfilled. (Dean Travers Smith.) Acts 5:15 Inasmuch that they brought forth the sick.., that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow them. The shadow of Peter The miracles of Christ and His apostles were mainly miracles of healing--a fact to be well noted. The power to work these has been withdrawn; but the same object is still accomplished by the prayerful use of natural means. Still the heart of the believer is alive to the tender offices of compassion; still, in the shadow of the Christian, the sorrows of the unfortunate obtain relief. Charity may be not unaptly denominated the Christian’ s shadow. A shadow is the reflection of a substance: charity is a habit of conduct, reflected from a Christian disposition. A shadow represents, in some degree, the form and aspect of the substance; charity pourtrays, in outline, the figure of the child of God. A shadow moves with the substance it represents, attends and imitates it in every step and posture: charity accommodates itself, in equal vigour, to every change of capacity and circumstance;--in prosperity, is liberal; in adversity, considerate; humble in joy, cheerful in affliction. But a shadow can only be reflected by a stronger light than that in which the substance stands or moves. And what is that light? I. Shall we find that ray within? In the tenderness and fervency of our own affections? Many are the deeds of kindness prompted by instinctive feeling: but are not deeds of very different hue as often prompted by the same emotions? Are not “ evil thoughts, adulteries,” etc., things which “ defile a man,” the offspring also of the heart? And shall we think to derive our light from such a source? Shall we follow, in security, a guide so blind and treacherous? Nay, we are assured that “ the heart,” with all its flexibility of control, “ is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” So far from directing our judgment, it must itself be brought perpetually to justice; instead of holding “ a light unto our path,” it ever needs “ a lantern to its own.” II. Shall we look around us for that ray? And shall we find it in the selfishness and ambition of the world, the blandishments of man’ s admiration? It has become a practice somewhat too prevalent to urge the contributions of the wealthy, without regard to rectitude of principle or motive, on the pretext that, so long as charitable institutions are upheld, no matter with what design of their supporters, the object of such application is substantially realised. But there is a case of the giver to be taken into consideration; and the effect on his mind is decidedly injurious. He is taught to repose a merit upon actions which, under existing circumstances, assume a character entirely the reverse of meritorious. He is taught to attach an undue value to wealth, as a vital source, and not an accidental garb, of beneficence: to allow to charity its plenary importance in the rank of virtues, but to limit the scope of charity to the bare performance of alms-giving. And lastly, he is taught to look to man, and not to God, for his reward. Why else are we reminded of the generosity of those who have thought to make their peace with heaven fur the defects of an unprofitable life by bequeathing their possessions to the poor, when the near approach of death withdraws the further prospect of gratifications which have constituted the chief endearment of their lives? The poor enjoy their pittance, it is true; but at whose and at what expense? to those who give, the probability of that mortifying reproof hereafter, “ Who hath required this at thy hand?” To those who urged the gift, the sure and certain recompense of the ceremonious Pharisee, who preached sacrifice and not mercy, and put other burdens on the souls of men than the covenant of their Lord and Master. III. If we find it neither within us, nor around us, it remains only that we lift our eyes above us, even to that “ Sun of Righteousness,” who rose, the offering for our redemption, and the example of our duty, with “ healing in His wings.” “ From Him have we this commandment, that he who loveth God, should love his brother also.” “ The love of Christ constraineth us.” It is only under the influence of this prevailing motive that our principles and habits can be warmed into a generous concern for the whole household of Christ; it is only under the brightness of His presence that the Christian’ s shadow can be reflected. The frame of mind required for such an exercise of benevolence is the repose inspired by a firm and humble trust in the providence of the Almighty, and the efficacy of His Son’ s atonement; a calm and holy peace, which leaves the mind at liberty to toil, for righteousness’ sake, amid the sneers and censures of the ungodly, and, like the pattern of its daily practice, to “ go about doing good.” And what other influence can be named, capable of producing this blessedness of tone and spirit, but the constraint of the love of God? Will you say that inducements, at least of equal weight, are given us, in the dread of future punishment. But fear is, after all, but a flickering and inconstant meteor, totally incapable of reflecting that steady shadow we are now employed in contemplating. Think not I would deny the efficacy of an arrangement which converts even the fears and apprehensions of the sinner into occasions and instruments of good, and thus not seldom penetrates his soul through the only avenue unchoked by the brambles of worldly-windedness. I merely argue that the sensations of fear and terror are incompetent of themselves to generate that steadiness of principle and habit, that abandonment of selfish and carnal interests, that devotion of the heart and life to the will and purposes of the Creator, which manifests itself in a regard and concern for all the creatures of His hands. I say that an intermediate process must take place; that the inner man must be purified as well as roused; must first learn to love God, and then, and not till then, will love his brother also. There is not a star that twinkles in the firmament on high but has its appointed sphere of service and occupation: but from the sun alone we behold our fair proportions represented. There is not a motive, a feeling, in the constitution of a human being but may be made conducive, by God’ s blessing, towards the great end of his probation; but it is only beneath the love of God that the Christian’ s shadow lies unfolded. (P. Hall, M. A.)Casting shadows We all cast shadows, i.e., exert unconscious influences. Some men are always, without seeming effort or thought, making other people happy. But there are others whose presence depresses and saddens us. This is so in the secular sphere; but our unconscious influence spreads into wider areas. God works out His grandest purposes by undemonstrative agents. The earthquake and lightning are as nothing compared with attraction and heat. And so with human influences.1. Because our voluntary efforts are only occasional and interrupted, while our unconscious energy is everywhere operative and constant. 2. Our constant and silent energy is most expressive of our real character. Consider a few practical applications. I. It should impress us with a sense of the importance of human life. II. We are responsible for our unconscious influence. We may think to evade this on the ground that the evil we do is unintentional. But apply this to physical evil; to the case of Solomon’ s lunatic who said, “ I am in sport” ; or to the man who, exerting no positive influence, lets a blind man fall over a precipice. Just to do nothing is to do terrible evil; but in such a world no man can do nothing. Our whole mortal life is embodied force. III. Death does not destroy this unconscious influence. The Greeks used to term the disembodied spirit a shadow, an invisible presence, haunting the scenes of its former life, and though not in this sense yet, as abiding influences, the dead are still with us. On the one hand, Lord Byron, Bonaparte, Voltaire, etc., yet stalk the earth and gibber their influence; on the other, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Chalmers, still live. This truth is a warning to all workers of iniquity, but an encouragement to every true child of God. (C. Wadsworth, D. D.)Casting shadows in life Our text shows-- I. The power there may be in comparative trifles. As a metaphor few figures are more frequently used in the Scriptures than that of the “ shadow.” Sometimes it is suggestive of blessing, as “ the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,” or “ the shadow of the Almighty” ; sometimes the opposite, as “ the shadow of death.” A shadow! What is more insignificant? Intangible and unsubstantial, is it not the veriest trifle? Yet how solemnly impressive it is.1. The most irresistible forces of the world in nature are those that we can neither see nor hear. The earthquake’ s tread makes us tremble, and so does the roar of the hurricane. How appalling the thunder and lightning; but how far inferior are they in either benign or blasting influence to the quieter, subtler force of electricity, gravitation, heat, or light. 2. In science and civilisation the quieter forces have counted most. The grandest discoveries have usually emerged from some by-way of accident. The most thrilling pages of history are but chronicles of events that have nearly all turned on the pivot of some trivial circumstance. Mohammedanism was the product of a spider’ s web woven behind the fleeing prophet and deceiving his pursuers. The battle of Waterloo was suspended upon the co-operation of Blucher, whose life escaped the enemy’ s sword by the simple circumstance of wearing the cap of a common soldier, and for the reason that the clasp of his own helmet had broken. 3. Just so it is in religion. Are we not astonished often to find that the little things we say and do tell more radically and widely than some of our most demonstrative actions? Then, too, the very constancy of those trifles tells. Repeated blows of a little hammer may be more effective than the single downfall of the ponderous sledge. The clock strikes at intervals, the ticking is momentary; we hear the one, we do not notice the other; yet the hour stroke comes not if the ticking fails. II. As no shadow can be cast without light, our text illustrates the essential place Christ holds in all true religion, in the world and in the soul. If the sun be clouded, or the atmosphere hazy, no distinct shadows can be east. The sun must shine out to make shadows. So the distinctness of shadows of grace indicate the strong or feeble shining of the “ Sun of Righteousness.”1. Nationalities like Italy and Russia and South America tell us of “ the cloudy and dark day.” England and America, on the other hand, bourgeoned with beauty, tell of the sun shining warmly and clearly from a gospel sky. 2. As in the world, so in the soul. Saul of Tarsus, “ breathing out threatenings and slaughter,” stands in striking contrast with Paul, the singing pilgrim in the dungeon of Philippi, and the same man near martyrdom exclaiming, “ I am now ready to be offered up,” etc. Whence came the difference? Ah! Christ commenced shining upon him near that Damascene gate, and the light grew brighter and sweeter and clearer every day, so that he shouted, “ I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Peter and James and Jn exclaimed on a glory-lit summit, “ It is good to be here!” because “ Jesus in the midst” was the centre of the glory. Shadows of noble action and happy feeling can come from those only who are wont to bask in the light of “ One above the brightness of the sun.” III. Every one exerts an influence, quiet but real, unconscious but a fact. Every one casts a shadow. The ghost of Banquo no more persistently refuses to “ down at the bidding” of Macbeth than the ghostly shadow of the person or thing on which the sun is falling refuses to disappear. A man may simply stand still in a thoroughfare, he will soon find all eyes upon him, and all excitement about him. Every act, word, look, attitude, is a moral dynamic upon those around us. They are forces with which we are building or destroying. A whisper has often been clothed with the attribute of thunder. Unconsciousness of it is no argument against the fact. Peter was not thinking of the shadow he threw; much less how eagerly the sick sought it. So lasting is the influence that it lingers behind when the living have passed away. “ He being dead yet speaketh.” “ No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.” How startling the warning to the worker of wickedness, while the good may take its lessons of perpetual encouragement. “ The evil that men do,” and the good, too, “ lives after them.” This is true of great lives; it is equally true of the humblest. The intoning of Niagara can be heard farther away, but the rippling of the rill is just as real and sweeter. Mont Blanc witnesses to Divine power, but not more effectually than the violet tells us of the Divine skill and goodness by its beauty and fragrance. The eagle may soar higher, but the little canary has a sweeter song. As I mark the trivial act of the poor widow dropping her two mites, unconscious that any eye was watching, and then remember what a sermon that lowly act has been preaching to the world from that day to this; then am I ready to express the deep conviction that a shadow of influence beyond conception clings to the most obscure person; and often the humblest act. How this fact shows the dignity and importance of human life, and with what tremendous responsibility it invests it! IV. The sombre and empty character of some kinds of religion; only a shadow. The shadow is dark and intangible; alas if our religion be “ only that and nothing more” ! Pity that any should get but a gloomy, and so a false, impression of religion from the representation we give them. It has been said that “ every one lives for a funeral” ; but can we not wait for the funeral till life is over? Must we see it every day? “ We meet such people,” says a writer, “ every day, and they have always some new distress for us. Their sweetest smile is suggestive of the neuralgia, and their most cordial greeting depresses like an east wind. They go home at night like an undertaker to a funeral, and children cease singing, and wives refrain from smiles. They go abroad in the morning like a Scotch mist from the Highlands, to drizzle discontent in the street and market-place. They enter the house of God to render its songs of praise requiems, and its oil of joy ice water; and their religious light shines before men as heaven’ s sunshine through stained glass, and the priest at the shrine looks like a variegated ghost, and the reverend worshippers like brindled hobgoblins. A croaking raven is the device on their shields--a coffin with cross-bones the blazon on their banner.” Surely such a religious spirit and demeanour argue a wrong idea altogether of God and of truth. Peevish, morose, severe, fault-finding and censorious Christians are guilty, though they may not mean it, of dishonouring their Lord arid defaming the Church by the cheat of a shadow. True religion is sweet as the light, joyous as childhood, and benevolent as love. So the Scriptures represent it, and true hearts have ever felt it. V. The real benevolence and cheer there is, or ought to be, in genuine religion. Peter’ s shadow was eagerly sought by the sick ones or their friends, not because it was a shadow, but because to them it was the symbol of healing and cheer. So on whatever threshold the shadow of a Christian falls, in whatever company he moves, his coming should start a smile of pleasure; a manifest benison should beam in his face. “ Good-will to men” was the cradle song over the Saviour, and it should be perpetuated as an echo in the life of every child of God. Heaven, as represented to us, is all joy, and earth should resemble heaven as far as sin and suffering will allow, by the prevalence of an atmosphere of cheerfulness over it. There are those whose presence is like the ripple of water by the wayside, or the shadow of groves on a hot day like an oasis in a vast sandy desert, or the singing of the nightingale in the darkness. (J. M. McNulty, D. D.)The healing shadow Who ever heard of the shadow of a person acting the part of a physician? They had no right to suppose that any good would come of such an extraordinary plan, And they had certainly no right to make Peter cure their friends in their own way, by a device of their own, without consulting him first as to whether it would be agreeable or not. Now the remarkable thing is, though these people were thus ignorant and superstitious, neither God nor Peter found fault with them. They used Peter’ s shadow as a charm, and God made it to them what they wished it to be. Now, why was this? Because of the simplicity of their belief. And does not God often throw His power into the means which we ourselves devise, if we have only childlike faith? Little children come to church with their parents, and they are not always able to understand the meaning of the service. But their attendance is not useless on that account. If they place themselves in their simple faith under the shadow of God’ s house, the blessing will assuredly not be wanting. It is not an intellectual knowledge of deep mysteries that God values, but a simple faith in Himself. The shadow of a tree or rock is a very delightful and refreshing thing on a burning summer day. It cools the heated frame, and imparts vigour and strength to the languid body. And if an inanimate thing can do so much good by its shadow, you would expect that the shadow of a human being would be more effectual still. I do not know that the shadow of our bodies would help much to keep off the too hot sun from a friend, but most certainly the shadow or influence of a good character can help others a great deal. We read in the fairy tale of a Peter Schlemihl, the man without a shadow, who frightened everybody else, and was miserable himself. But in real life there is no such thing as a person without a shadow. We have all a shadow to our natures as we have a shadow to our bodies. They say that it was from the shadow thrown by the figure of a girl on a wall, on a sunny day, that the art of drawing a picture was first found out. And so from the shadows which people cast as they pass by on the way of life, we can draw their portraits in our own mind; and these portraits are wonderfully like--much more true to life than the old silhouettes that used to be cut out of black paper. “ If people’ s tempers should cast shadows, what would they be?” said a little boy once, as he walked beside a companion, and saw his shadow on the road. “ Jn’ s shadow would be a fist doubled up, for he is always quarrelling; and Andrew’ s would be that of a dove, for he is always amiable and pleasant; and Jane’ s would be that of a letter X, for she is as cross as two sticks; and my own shadow, what would it be?” He stopped short. He was afraid of what kind of shadow his own temper would cast. Now supposing you follow out the little boy’ s idea, and believe what is actually true, that you are throwing off impressions of what you really are all around you, and in fact can no more help doing so than you can prevent your bodies from casting real shadows on the road as you walk along; and each of you should ask himself or herself, What kind of shadow is my temper casting? It might perhaps surprise you to see yourselves as others see you. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Healing and hurting shadows This record is the indication of a belief that stirred some human souls in old times, and ought to stir them still--a belief that there is something in a shadow cast from one over another, of a deep and potent power; a deed done sometimes the hand has no part in; a word said the tongue never utters; a virtue going out of me, or a vice, apart from my determination; a shadow of my spirit and life cast for good or evil, as certain and inseparable as my shadow on the wall. For instance, there is some mysterious force by which men, the first time we meet them, cast a shadow of light or darkness we cannot account for, and cannot overcome. What these subtle influences are no man has ever told us. “ I do not like thee, Dr. Fell; The reason why I cannot tell; But--I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,” is the inner and instinctive verdict we pass on some men; probably, also, that some men pass on us. Their shadows hurt us: our shadows hurt them. Foremost of all shadows is the shadow of the home; where, four times in a century, God makes a new earth, and out of which he peoples a new heaven. I have sat bareheaded in the noblest Gothic cathedral on the earth. And for years I sat, in my youth, in a simple country church, joining in the old liturgies that, in one form or another, had been said or sung ever since the Saxon embraced the Christian faith. And once, I remember, I rose in the grey light, and stood alone by Niagara, while the sound of its mighty thunder rose up fresh and pure, unbroken as yet and undefiled by the clamour of those many changers who deserve a whip of not very small cords for profaning that place in which, of all places, the soul longs to be alone with her God. These were sacred places. But the holiest of all, the place whose shadow stretches over forty-five hundred miles of earth and sea, and forty years of time, and is still a shadow of healing, is a little place built of gray stone. There, bending over the picture in the great Bible, or listening to psalm or song or story, the child lived in the shadow of that home; and it became to him as the very gate of heaven, so dear and good, that no great cathedral, no grand scene in nature, no place for worship anywhere, can be what that grey-stone cottage was. I wonder whether we have any deep consciousness of the shadows we are weaving about our children in the home; whether we ever ask ourselves if, in the far future, when we are dead and gone, the shadow our home casts now will stretch over them for bane or blessing. It is possible we are full of anxiety to do our best, and to make our homes sacred to the children. We want them to come up right, to turn out good men and women, to be an honour and praise to the home out of which they sprang. But this is the pity and the danger, that while we may not come short in any real duty of father and mother, we may yet cast no healing and sacramental shadow over the child. I look back with wonder on that old time, and ask myself how it is that most of the things I suppose my father and mother built on especially to mould me to a right manhood are forgotten and lost out of my life. But the tender, unspoken love; the sacrifices made, and never thought of, it was so natural to make them; ten thousand little things, so simple as to attract no notice, and yet so sublime as I look back at them--they fill my heart still and always with tenderness when I remember them, and my eyes with tears. All these things, and all that belong to them, still come over me, and cast the shadow that forty years, many of them lived in a new world, cannot destroy. To make this question clear, if we can, let me open to you a glimpse of some shadows that are being cast in some homes every day, not over children alone, but over men and women also.1. Here is a man who has been down town all day, in the full tide of care, that from morning till night floods the markets, offices, and streets of all our great cities. Tired, nervous, irritable, possibly a little disheartened, he starts for his home. If it is winter, when he enters there is a bit of bright fire, that makes a bad temper seem like a sin in the contrast; a noise of children that is not dissonant; and an evident care for his comfort, telling, plainer than any words, how constantly he has been in the mind of the house-mother, while breasting the stress and strife of the day; while a low, sweet voice, that excellent thing in woman, greets him with words that ripple over the fevered spirit like cool water. And the man who can nurse a bad temper after that deserves to smart for it. There is no place on the earth, into which a man can go with such perfect assurance that he will feel the shadow of healing, as into such a home as that. It is the very gate of heaven. 2. But I will open another door. Here is a home into which the man goes with the same burden on him. When he enters querulous questions meet him as to whether he has forgotten what he ought never to have been required to remember. Plaintive bewailings are made to him of the sad seventy-seventh disobedience of the children, or the radical depravity of the servants; and a whole platoon-fire of little things is shot at him, so sharp and ill-timed, that they touch the nerve like so many small needles. It is in such things as these that the shadows are cast, that hurt, but never heal: that drive thousands of men out of their homes into any place that will offer a prospect of comfort and peace, even for an hour. 3. But let me not be unfair. The evil shadow may just as certainly come from the man. Here is another man in the mood I have tried to touch. All day long he has fretted at the bit; but society has held him in. He goes home too, but it is to spume out his temper. The very sound of his foot casts a shadow that can hurt, but can never heal. If his wife is silent, he calls her sulky: if she speaks, he snaps her. If his children tome to him with innocent teasings he would give a year of his life some day to bring back again, they are pushed aside, or sent out of the room, or even--God forgive him--are smitten. He eats a moody dinner: takes a cigar; bitter, I hope, and serves him right; takes a book, too--not Charles Lamb or Charles Dickens, I warrant you--and, in one evening, that man has cast a shadow he may pray, some day, in a great agony, may be removed, and not be heard. 4. Then again, what shadows of healing fall, in their turn, from the children! No affliction that can ever come through children ever equals that which comes with their utter absence; while the heaviest affliction to most, the death of the little one, often casts a shadow of healing that could come in no other way. I went one day to see a poor German woman, whose children had all been down with scarlet fever. Four were getting well again; one was dead. And it was very touching to see how the shadow of that dead child had come over the mother, and sent its blessing of healing through all the springs of her life. “ These are beautiful children,” I said. “ Oh, yes! but I should have seen the one that died.” While he was with her, he was like the rest. But now, when he was gone, he cast the shadow. The little shroud was turned into a white robe, that glistened and shone in the sun of Paradise, so that she was blinded; the broken prattle had filled out into an angel-song; the face shone as the face of an angel; and, all unknown to herself, God had laid her where the shadow of the little one up in heaven could touch her with its healing. And no shadow is so full of healing as that shadow of the child that is always a child in heaven. The most gentle and patient will sometimes feel a touch of irritation at the waywardness of the one that is with us; but no father or mother in this world ever did bring back any sense of such a feeling toward the one Chat is gone. The shadow of healing destroys it for ever. (R. Collyer, D. D.)Unconscious influence All things are engaged in writing their history. “ The plant, the pebble, goes attended by its shadow. The rolling rock leaves its scratches on the mountain; the river, its channel in the soil; the animal, its bones in the stratum; the fern and leaf, their model epitaph in the coal. The falling drop makes its sculpture in the sand or stone. Not a foot steps into the snow or along the ground but prints, in characters more or less lasting, a map of its march. Every act of man inscribes itself on the memory of his fellows, and in his own manners and face. The air is full of sounds, the sky of tokens; the ground is all memoranda and signatures, and every object covered with hints which speak to the intelligent. Unconscious influence Here was the apostle who had gone forth purposed to heal men; and one by one as they were brought up he commanded them to stand; and they stood whole. Thus he exerted a conscious and voluntary power. But as he passed along the streets, his shadow fell upon many, and they sprang up behind him, he knowing little or nothing of it; so that his shadow or unconscious influence, also, was working at the same time. Now, all of us have both kinds of influence or power--that which we understand and mean, and that “ which falls like a shadow, the existence of which we do not understand or recognise. I. Unconscious influence in a bad sphere. Men may act unconsciously in the production of trouble, far more than they themselves suspect; for their unconscious influence works according to the quality of that which is in them. When men pursue voluntary courses, they often hide the reality, and put forth that which is not real but simulated. Thus, perhaps, one makes himself friendly to a person whom he does not like, for purposes of business. Sometimes men suppress anger because good-nature will carry their purposes better. So that a man’ s overt and open conduct may not be in the line of nature. But there is an influence derived from that which you actually are.1. A proud man may carry himself intentionally in such a way that every one he meets is made to feel his inferiority. But a man may tarry himself in such a way that without the slightest intention he shall insult his fellow-men, and make a perpetual aggression upon them. Your pride does not always exert itself according to your will. It has a magnetism of its own. A man may carry in his hand, if he please, a mignonette, and he may carry it because it is sweet. He may also put fetid odours in his clothes. He may hide them, not wishing that others shall know that they are there. But they will make themselves known, whether he wants them to or not. So a man may carry himself in the strong qualities of his nature, wishing well; but if those qualities are harmful in their tendency he will produce mischief in spite of his good intentions. 2. A man’ s selfishness may act as good conductors of heat do. If you put your hand upon wood it seems relatively warm; and if you put it on iron it seems excessively cold. They are of the same temperature, as measured by the thermometer, only the iron, being a good conductor, has the power of drawing heat rapidly from your hand, while the wood, being a poor conductor, draws it but sparingly. So it is with men. Some men exhaust you, they suck you dry, and you know not what is the matter. A man may have a nature such that when you are in his presence you are perpetually conscious that your sympathy is drawn upon and exhausted. He is a good conductor. His effect upon you is to chill you. And he does not intend any harm. Unconscious selfishness always works in that way. A man may be consciously selfish and not half so offensive as a man whose selfishness is never positively aggressive, but who carries an inward nature that all the while and everywhere draws upon men, making the whole room and house uncomfortable. 3. So combativeness may take on forms which will detract from the happiness of every one. The more obvious forms, bad as they are, probably, if measured by the mischief which they work, would not be found to produce one-half the discomfort of society which arises from the latent forms--what we call ill-nature. It hovers in the air. It is in silence as much as in the short, sharp reply. So men oftentimes fill the circles in which they live with malign influences. They poison the air with suspicion, with envy, with jealousy. A look, a hint, a shrug, may convey the wretched insinuation; or the unconscious atmosphere of jealousy make itself felt. 4. I may mention, also the unconscious wrong which sorrow commits upon those who are about it. Sorrow is not a thing to be controlled altogether; and yet we must exhort men to beware of the extremely selfish tendencies and qualities of sorrow. You have a right, as far as you can, to lean on sympathising friends, and so relieve your sorrow: and men should help the sorrowful; but, after all one has no right to distribute his sorrow. This is true, too, in the matter of ill-health. Invalids are privileged persons; but they should not privilege themselves. Because one is sick he has no right to set aside all laws of love, and disinterestedness, and honour. 5. Men’ s good qualities even may act unfavourably upon other men. For example, a man may be perfectly upright, and yet carry his conscience in such a way that it is perpetually condemning men. There is a kind of arrogance of goodness. Deliver me from a person who never does wrong--and knows it; from one whose tongue never makes any mistakes--and keeps account of that fact. If there be anything that is provoking to a poor sinner--and most of us are poor sinners--it is one of these perfect people who move about without much temptation--a perpetual rebuke to us all the time--a kind of stinging censure to our infelicities and inferiorities. II. Unconscious influence in a good sphere. If the predominant faculties are sweet and gracious, then you will carry with you a sweet and gracious atmosphere, so that while you are doing good on purpose, you will be doing more good without purpose. There be men whom we might almost wish to have walk up and down in the street, in order to shed abroad their disposition--unconscious to themselves. There is goodness that means to be good; and there is a great deal of goodness which is better, that comes out from the eye, from the lips, or from the pores--I had almost said from the skin--and that is not conscious of being good. And when one dwells in such a royal bounty of kindness and goodness in himself that his very shadow, falling on men, makes them happy, that unconscious kindness and goodness is wealth indeed. When the train is stopped, the engineer springs from the locomotive and oils the machinery at every point, so that the oil runs in at all the joints. We look at him and at the engine, and admire them. But we never say a word to the oil, or about it. And yet the engine, and what it does, are largely dependant upon the lubrication which the oil brings. Now there are lubricators among men who keep the machinery of society oiled, so as to prevent its joints from wearing, and its journals from heating.1. Such a man is one who is thoroughly good-natured. Men are as much perceived that carry good-nature in society as spicewood is that carries sweet odours. There is no danger of there being too many men who are not easily irritated, who look on the bright side of things, and who tend to solace--men that you can cushion on, and not touch the hard angles of an exacting, conscientious spirit. It is a great comfort just to look at a man who is good-natured. I remember once riding on a cold night. I was so cold that I almost feared that I should freeze. After awhile I came across a blacksmith’ s shop. I saw a bright light on the forge. I wanted to get off and warm myself, but I was afraid that I should be so numb that I could not get on again. So I sat and looked at the fire a moment; and then I said: “ Well, I feel better just for looking at you,” and rode on. I have seen persons whose very presence, when the night was dark, and the way was difficult, and all things were freezing, filled you with comfort. There are thousands of times when men want to be thawed out. Men have power enough, but it is frozen; they need sympathy. And there are men who are supplying this element without knowing what they are doing. Many men are shot along the way of encouragement, and made to triumph, by some man who never dreams that he is doing anything for them. It is a good investment to have good-nature, and so much of it that you exhale it, as flowers do their odours; for you do not know who will take the comfort of it. 2. So, too, there is great inspiration in humour and in wit. Among the gifts which have been made to humanity, none in the lower sphere of virtues should call forth our thankfulness more than these. They civilise life. They carry with them a perpetual Blessing. 3. Still more are trust, devotion, humility. We think more of what Christ was, than of what He said or did. He always seems as one with a shining face. None go near Him without feeling the sanctity of His presence. None go near Him without feeling inspired toward good. 4. And so while we do and teach, our best work is that which we perform without knowing it. Silence under provocation is better than doctrine to many and many a man. Fortitude under trouble is a testimony to religion which is far better than a thousand proof-texts. In your boyhood, as you will very well remember, you used to write with invisible ink; and there was nothing for the recipient to do but to take the paper and hold it to the fire, and straightway out came the message. You are writing with invisible letters on thousands of children’ s hearts; on the hearts of passers-by; on the hearts of those whom you meet in every circle where you move. (H. W. Beecher.)Personal influence I. We all exert some kind of influence. The law of influence every atom has to obey. A bird can neither scatter its songful notes in the air, nor soar in the heavens, without setting in motion pulsations which vibrate through all space. So man is so closely united to his fellows by various ties that he cannot live unto himself. In our social gatherings we meet with some persons around whom there is a kind of atmosphere charged with enkindling and attractive elements; and we meet with others who have a something about them which is dampening and rapelling. As leaven influences the meal, so we in some way affect those with whom we come into contact. Now this influence is--1. Voluntary. Our Lord declared that the apostles should heal all manner of diseases. In this chapter we have a fulfilment of this prediction. The apostles voluntarily touched the sick and healed them. So, whenever we do anything with an aim, we exert voluntary and conscious influence. 2. Involuntary. The shadow which Peter cast upon the diseased restored them. Unintentionally and unconsciously a curative virtue went out from him. It is this influence which we all possess, an influence which flows from us, and floats about us insensibly (1) Like our shadow, this involuntary influence is noiseless in its working as the darkness of night, or as the moonbeams which transfigure the sea. But we do not imagine that its power is less because it operates so quietly. The shadow of Peter was heard not, yet it cured the suffering ones by the wayside. Time and sunshine are ever soundless, but are there any forces more omnipotent? (2) As our shadow is the similitude of our form, so our involuntary influence’ is the type of our actual self. Good words and deeds do not always spring from a good disposition. Young, in his “ Night Thoughts,” writes scornfully of worldly glory, and yet no man sought for it more eagerly than he did. Voluntary influence does not always indicate what a man really is, but involuntary influence does. How many there are who try to pass for what they are not. But in spite of their mask we feel when in contact with them that they are playing a false part. Our involuntary influence is as much the outcome of our real nature as the scent is the outcome of the plant,s life. It is a something which we cannot imprison--a something that will out. Our unintended influence, then, is the key to the quality of our being. (3) Our involuntary influence, like our shadow, is ever with us. It is not a mere appendage--a robe of which we can divest ourselves. Voluntary influence is necessarily intermittent, but involuntary influence is incessant. It is co-extensive with our existence. As a pebble when flung into a lake causes ripples to extend over its surface, so as soon as we enter the world we influence it in some degree. II. The secret of beneficial influence. Christian character. A man may have but little of this world’ s goods, and may occupy a lowly sphere; but if he has the Christ-like disposition, his influence, as was the shadow of Peter, will be rife with benediction. On the other hand, a man may possess extensive knowledge, immense wealth, and may move in the highest circles; but unless he has the Christ-like spirit, his treasures and status may fill him with pride; he may use them as instruments in the service of the god of this world, and render his influence as deadly as a pestilence. Or, prompted by some selfish motives, he may devote them very largely to benevolent purposes; but, lacking the true spirit, he produces in our minds a feeling of his hollowness and insincerity. If such an one would really benefit his fellows his heart must be renewed. Spirituality of character alone will give weight and value to riches, learning and position, when used in the service of Christ. If our voluntary influence is to be good, our involuntary influence must be good, and if our involuntary influence is to be good we must be right at the core. We must be quickened ere we can quicken. We must be recipients of the Divine ere we can be its distributors. Lord Peter-borough said of Fenelon: “ He is a delicious creature; I was forced to get away from him as fast as I could, else he would have made me pious.” Thus our influence will be a wondrous force for good in proportion to the holiness of our life. III. A few reasons which should urge us to exert a beneficial influence.1. Because of our responsibility. We are as responsible for the influence which our character pours out apart from our own will, as we are for the influence of the words we intentionally utter, and the deeds we intentionally perform. Surely, then, it should be our supreme effort to model our character according to the Divine plans. We should see to it that our foundation and materials are such as shall endure the fire-tests of the Judgment. 2. Because we owe so much to such influence. The good that men do is not interred with their bones. What would have been the character of our laws, literature, art, commerce, and morals, apart from the influence of those whose footfalls are no longer heard on earth! Do not sceptics and infidels owe their best privileges to the influence of those who were animated by the faith which they reject! 3. Because it will be a source of infinite joy. It will cause joy to well up in the heart now--a joy which springs from the sense of duty done, from a quiet conscience, from making others happy and noble. But who can depict the joy to which it will give rise in the future? 4. Because it is the will of Christ. “ Let your light so shine,” etc. (E. H. Palmer.)The mysterious power of a man filled with the Holy Ghost 1. He repels the wicked (verse 13), and attracts the good. 2. He is the torment of unclean spirits (verse 16), but gives rest to the weary and heavy-laden (verse 18). 3. To the enemies of truth He is as the savour of death unto death--Ananias and Sapphira; the priests and elders--and to souls desiring salvation, a savour of life unto life--the sick, and those who were added to the Church. (K. Gerok.) Acts 5:17-26 Then the high priest rose up. Vain efforts to oppose the gospel I. The effort in this case; by the imprisonment of the leaders of the gospel (Acts 5:17-18). The whole Jewish authority was in opposition. II. Its vanity.1. Because God was on the side of the gospel (Acts 5:19-24). (1). Sending His angel to release.(2) Infusing courage. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” 2. Because the people wanted and needed the gospel (Acts 5:20-21; Acts 5:25-28). The rulers were fighting against the deepest requirements of the human soul. The gospel is for the people. 3. Because Christ is a Prince as well as a Saviour (Acts 5:29-32). (Christian Age.)The priests and the preachers I. The devil some times makes use of the best instruments for the basest of his purposes. The Sadducees the best sect: the high priest the pick of his nation. II. Persecution must be reckoned as the cost of Christian courage. The age of martyrdom not yet closed. III. God’ s deliverances of His chosen often appear like miraculous interventions of His own hand (Psalms 91:11-12). IV. The true purpose of every Christian career is to “ go stand and speak to the people all the words of this life: by testimony or works.” V. The devil’ s minions are usually the earliest to become frightened when the fight really begins. VI. What satan fears most is good doctrinal teaching (Acts 5:28). VII. The grand principle of the gospel is unqualified obedience to God. VIII. The entire gospel is contained in the story of Christ’ s humiliation and exaltation. IX. The limit of human responsibility is found in stating the truth and living up to it. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The Sanhedrin and the apostles In considering the lessons to be drawn from this history we see-- I. How God overrules opposition for the good of His Church. It seemed indeed a dark hour for the cause of Christ when the apostles were shut up in the common prison, and left, apparently, in the power of their bitterest enemies. They were now beginning to realise the truth of their Lord’ s words: “ They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you,” etc. But they had no reason for despondency, for in that same prediction was also the promise of help: “ And it shall turn to you for a testimony.” In the faith of this they waited on the Lord. Nor did they wait in vain. It was a triumphant answer to the teaching of the Sadducees, who denied the existence of angels, and it was also calculated to instruct and elevate the faith of the Church. Nor was the lesson lost. As mercies granted make us bold to ask for more, so, we may believe, this deliverance was remembered on a subsequent occasion, when the disciples met together to pray for the release of Peter. But more especially was this event blessed to the apostles themselves. The angel who delivered them said, “ Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” Their trial and deliverance, after all, increased their qualifications to preach. Satan defeated himself. So it has ever been in the experience of God’ s faithful ministers. Many a sore trial or dark night of sorrow has fitted them to proclaim more clearly and positively the words of life. The apostles in prison, Paul in Nero’ s dungeon, and John Bunyan in Bedford jail, are events which show how God can make the trials and persecutions of His servants advance His glory and turn to them “ for a testimony.” We cannot but admire the prompt and faithful obedience of the apostles. To stand in that public place and teach in the name of Jesus was to expose themselves again to danger and death. Carnal prudence might say, “ You are now delivered; hide yourselves until this storm of indignation has swept by.” But no; these were men who thought more of Christ than of their personal safety. II. Rationalism confounded. The high priest and his council slept undisturbed by the visits of angels. On the morrow they were to pass sentence, But instead of their anticipated triumph came their discomfiture. Evil is never so near its defeat as when it seems to be in the hour of its triumph. The morrow came; the high priest, his council and the Sanhedrin were assembled, and officers were sent to bring in the prisoners. The officers return, with their faces proclaiming their amazement, saying, “ The prison truly found we shut with all safety,” etc. (verse 23). Here was something that confounded all their plans and put a new phase on the matter before them. Just when rationalism thought to put down the supernatural, lo! it appears in a new manifestation before them. The perplexity of the council is further increased when one came saying, “ Behold, the men whom ye put into prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.” When men escape from prison it is to hide themselves, but these prisoners go at once to repeat their offence. It was this conduct, as much as the strangeness of their deliverance, that impressed the senate. Then, as often since, men were made to see that there is a hidden spiritual force about the gospel which cannot be accounted for, save on the ground that the life of Christ is in it. III. The enemies of the gospel made to fear and respect those who are fearless in proclaiming it. The high priest and his council have now heard where their former prisoners are, but how were they to arrest them? A short hour before they deemed it enough to send the ordinary officers to drag them to their tribunal. But now (verse 26) they were compelled to show special consideration to the apostles, and the latter are set before the Sanhedrin with something of honour and deference. The meeting is most significant: it presents one of those striking contrasts between the old and the new which history now and then furnishes. On one side are men of this world, who have no aims or hopes beyond the grave--men of policy and self-interest, controlled in their actions by “ fear of the people” ; on the other side, men who are living for eternity, and who through the risen Christ have seen the glorified life beyond the grave--men whose conduct is shaped only by the fear of God. The issue between them is the struggle of the ages; they represent the parties of to-day. Which side are you on? (S. J. Niccolls, D. D.)Persecution renewed I. The apostles in prison. The high priest and the Sadducees “ were filled with jealousy.”1. Because of the popularity and success of the apostles (verse 12-16). The rapid growth of the Church was a threat to them. It presented to them the uneasy suggestion of some day being called to account for having crucified the Head of the Church (verse 28). 2. Because the apostles were still giving, with great power, their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (Acts 4:33). They were tolling the knell of the Sadducees as a sect. 3. The apostles represented the vital energy of this new sect. If they only could be silenced, the propagating power of the new faith would be gone. II. The apostles released. Observe--1. Its manners By an angel in such a way that the prison guards were unaware of their going (verse 23). 2. Its suggestions. (1) As to the power of God. Men had incarcerated His followers, but He took them out of their prison as easily as we take a fly out of the meshes of a cobweb. (2) As to the vigilant care of God. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge. It was not in His design to leave the apostles at the mercy of the Sanhedrin in this time of the genesis of His Church. By miraculously delivering them first, He would warn the rulers not to proceed too far. (3) As to the ministry of angels. For illustrative instances, take the succouring of Elisha under the juniper tree (1 Kings 19:5-7); the invisible celestial host round about Elisha at Dotham (2 Kings 6:16-17); the delivery of Peter from prison (Acts 12:1-11), etc. For the scriptural teachings relative to the mission of angels with regard to God’ s servants refer them to Psalms 14:7; Hebrews 1:14. But just here a caution is needed. Generally speaking, it is true that the Lord delivers those who fear and trust in Him, but it is not always so. He brought the apostles out of prison, but he suffered Stephen to be stoned. He delivered Peter, but He permitted James to be slain with the sword. There are circumstances where death is worth more than life. Whether He delivers or permits one to suffer, God acts towards His servants in the best, the wisest, and the tenderest way. III. The apostles in the temple. Note--1. That the apostles were not allowed to flee, they were released that they might return to the thick of the fray. 2. That with the release of the prisoners the mission of the angel ceased. They were to speak the words of eternal life. It is not by the eloquence of angels, but by the often faltering testimony of men, that the world is to be won to Christ. 3. That the apostles were to speak “ all the words,” not a part merely--to speak without fear and favour--to speak just as freely as though no Sanhedrin or prisons or crosses were in existence. 4. That they must have spoken that morning with peculiar power. The circumstances suggest that they could not have done otherwise. IV. The apostles on trial. Before they were brought to trial, the Sanhedrin “ were much perplexed,” and were particularly concerned as to “ whereunto this would grow.” They were in dread of miracles and of the influence of miracles. In the midst of their perplexity, the astounding information was brought that their late prisoners were doing openly what the Sanhedrin had forbidden them to do. But on account of the manifest favour of the people toward the apostles, the officers brought them without violence, fearing to be stoned if, in any way, they roughly treated them. When brought before the council the apostles--1. Were reminded of the prohibition which they had just been disregarding--a prohibition which the apostles, at the time, intimated that they must disregard. 2. Were accused now of trying to bring “ this man’ s blood” upon them. This man’ s blood, however, they had invoked upon themselves (Matthew 27:25). V. The apostles’ answer.1. It was bold. It laid down the principle, “ We must obey God rather than men.” That was like the reply of that heroic trio (Daniel 3:16-17). So Socrates at Athens, “ I honour and love you, but I shall obey God rather than you.” 2. It was faithful. In reciting the facts that impelled them to speak in spite of the prohibition of the Sanhedrin, Peter again pressed home the guilt of the rulers before whom he stood. God had raised up Jesus, whom they slew, and exalted Him with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour. 3. It was suggestive of mercy. Peter pointed out that God had exalted Jesus “ to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.” In this was an answer to the charge that the apostles were endeavouring to bring the blood of “ this man” upon them. They were--but for their redemption! Peter’ s address is short, but it contains the substance of the gospel. To the rulers as well as to the people in the temple, the apostles were enabled to speak “ all the words of this life.” 4. It gave the reason why they must speak. They were “ witnesses of these things.” They were chosen of Christ to speak. They were not alone in their witness. The Holy Spirit witnessed with them, and through them, and through others--thus Divinely confirming their testimony. And here was a hint to the rulers. If they would not accept the witness of the apostles, they should accept the higher witness of the Spirit. (M. G. Hazard.)Persecution renewed I. The apostles imprisoned and released.1. Put in prison (Acts 4:1; Acts 13:45; Acts 17:5; Luke 21:12).2. Led out of prison (Acts 12:7; Acts 16:26; Hebrews 1:14).3. Teaching in the temple. (1) The command given (Matthew 10:27; John 6:68; Acts 20:20).(2) The command obeyed (Proverbs 28:1; Isaiah 8:13; Matthew 10:28). 4. Sent by the council. (1) The sending.(2) The report (Psalms 124:7; Psalms 91:3; Ezekiel 34:22).(3) The perplexity (Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 2:44; Mark 4:32). 5. Lessons: Faithful witnesses for Christ-- (1) May count upon exciting the jealousy of those who are the enemies of Christ.(2) May count upon some kind of hostile interference by the enemies of Christ.(3) May count upon the ministries of angels in their behalf.(4) May count upon God’ s being alive to any dangers they may incur by witnessing for Christ.(5) May count upon God’ s delivering them when it is best for His cause that they should be delivered.(6) Are called upon to speak to the people all the words of this life.(7) Still cause the enemies of Christ to be perplexed with the question as to whereunto this gospel is to grow. II. The apostles on trial.1. The apostles brought (Matthew 14:5; 1 Peter 2:13). 2. The apostles examined. (1) The reminder (Acts 4:18; Daniel 6:12; Daniel 3:10).(2) The accusation. (a) Ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. “ Ye shall be My witnesses … in Jerusalem” (Acts 1:8). “ Shall go forth … the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). “ The earth shall be filled with knowledge … of the Lord” (Habakkuk 2:14). (b) “ And intend to bring this Man’ s blood upon us “ (Matthew 27:25; Acts 2:36; Acts 3:14). 3. Lessons: If the disciples of Christ are faithful-- (1) They will secure the respect and favour of the people.(2) They will find that deliverance from one trouble will not secure them from further trial.(3) They may some times be compelled to disobey the mandates of the authorities.(4) They will yet fill the world with their teaching.(5) They will bring the blood of Christ upon all men, either for their redemption or for their condemnation. III. The apostles’ answer.1. The declaration. “ We must obey God rather than men” (chap. 4:19; Daniel 3:18; Daniel 6:10). 2. The reason for the declaration. (1) The facts. (a) “ The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew” (Acts 2:24; Acts 3:26; 1 Corinthians 15:13). (b) “ Him did God exalt … to give repentance to Israel” (chap. 2:33; Philippians 2:9; Matthew 1:21). (2) Their relation to the facts. “ We are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Ghost” (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:8; Hebrews 2:4). 3. Lessons: (1) The fundamental rule for Christians, “ We must obey God rather than men.” (2) Christians should obey God rather than men. (a) Because of that which Jesus has done to purchase their perfect obedience. (b) Because of the exaltation of the One whom they serve. (c) Because they are witnesses for Christ, their witness being effective in proportion to their fidelity to God. (S. S. Times.)The activity and bafflement of the persecutors I. The apostles’ arrest and imprisonment. The new attack was occasioned by the things described in verses 12-16. Note--1. The feeling of the persecutors--“ Indignation.” 2. Their conduct. They laid hands upon the apostles and put them into the common prison, of all places the most revolting and disreputable. Thus, as ever, bigotry shows the weakness of its opinion and the malignity of its aims, by substituting force for argument, might for right. II. Their deliverance and commission.1. Their deliverance. On the former occasion they were released by the timid and apprehensive policy of their oppressors; here by a direct messenger from heaven. Prison walls, iron gates, massive chains are nothing to an angel. 2. Their commission. (1) Its subject. “ The words of this life.” The gospel is a record of “ words” that generate, nurture, develop, and perfect the true life of humanity. (2) Its sphere--“ the temple,” the most public place, when the greatest numbers could be reached. (3) Its expedition. They set themselves to work at once “ early in the morning.” 3. This deliverance and commission had a twofold effect upon their enemies. (1) It confounded them with disappointment. The wicked work in the dark, and Providence makes them the victims of their own plots. (2) It filled them with apprehension. “ They doubted whereunto this would grow.” Well might they fear. III. Their arraignment and defence.1. Their arraignment (verse 28). The language expresses-- (1) Their mortification at the disregard of their authority.(2) An assumed contempt for Christ.(3) Their reluctant testimony to the progress of Christianity.(4) The foreboding of a terrible retribution. To “ bring blood on the head” is a Hebrew idiom for having to answer for the death of another. They had cried, “ His blood be upon us,” now they deprecated that as the direst of judgments.2. Their defence (verses 29-32). We have here-- (1) One of the grandest of principles (verse 29).(2) One of the most wonderful of facts. “ The God of our fathers raised up Jesus.”(3) One of the most appalling of crimes. “ Whom ye slew,” etc.(4) One of the most glorious of communications (verse 31). Here observe-- (a) That Christ is exalted to the highest dignity--“ the right hand of God.” (b) That He is so exalted for the sublimest functions--“ to be a Prince and a Saviour.” (c) That in these functions He has to communicate to the world the greatest of blessings--repentance and forgiveness. (5) The most exalted of missions (verse 32). They were fellow-workers with the great Spirit Himself.(6) The most intense exasperation (verse 33). (D. Thomas, D. D.)The imprisonment and deliverance of the apostles I. The conflict of force.1. On the side of the persecutors (verses 17, 18).2. On the side of the persecuted (verses 19, 21). II. The conflict of argument.1. The Sanhedrin (verse 21).2. The apostles (verses 29,32). III. The conflict of policy.1. The violent party (verse 33).2. The moderate party (verses 34-42). Lessons:1. Man’ s extremity is God’ s opportunity.2. The moral cowardice of bravado. The Sanhedrin put the apostles in prison, but dared not ask how they got out.3. “ We ought to obey God rather than men.”4. The inefficacy of force to crush the truth. (J. Bennett, D. D.)The apostles persecuted 1. (verses 17, 18). There all evil power ends. The policy may admit of great variety in detail, but it is all summed up in that poor sentence. How differently it might have read remembering the dignity and culture of the Sanhedrim--“ Let us instantly dare them to controversy, and in the hearing of all the people put silence to their doctrine.” No; their only resource was physical force. It is the same thing in all ages. No man can answer the truth; he can only lay hands on the truth-teller. 2. But having looked at the darkness, let us see if it be all darkness (verses 18, 19). So the affairs of men are not bounded by what we can see, and measure, and add up. There are invisible agencies over which we have no control. All the stars fight for God, all the angels of heaven assist the good man. They have always identified themselves with Christian effort. They were with Christ in all the crises of His life; and now they were with Christ’ s servants in theirs. Men can shut us up; angels can deliver us. Men can do the destructive work upon our persons and ministry, whether in the pulpit, in the home, or in business; but God can do the constructive work, and set up again what has been shattered by violence. To know this is power, emancipation. The great difficulty is to realise the invisible. Lord, increase our faith! Give us those inward, all-piercing eyes that see angels everywhere, as the prophet saw them when the hosts of Samaria encamped round about him. 3. “ And when they heard that they entered into the temple early and taught.” The apostles were always prepared, never better at one time than at another. They could preach early in the morning; they could study in prison; they could face the highest men in the nation; they could answer questions extemporaneously and completely; they could heal the sick and teach inquirers at once. Are we in the apostolic succession? Have we not to go to books of reference? But the Christian professor ought never to have to go away in order to find a word for his Master. The Church is losing power by not living in the atmosphere of Christian thought, service, love. The apostles received their commissions from the angels; but had a little child said, “ There are some poor people in the temple who want to hear about Jesus,” the apostles would have accepted the call instantly. How can we teach Jesus if we do not know Him? But if He be our heart’ s delight and supreme love, then we shall always be prepared in the best sense to speak for Him, not artistically and in a literary sense, but with that all-piercing power that touches every man to the core. 4. No angel had called upon the Sanhedrin during the night. So they came in the morning to go about their day’ s work. But the prisoners were not forthcoming. Think of a whole court being put hors de combat. God is always making fools of those who oppose Him. The officers return. Hear their statement (verse 23). This is an aspect of the terrible power of God. He lets things remain just as they are, to all human appearance, but sucks the life out of them. He leaves prisons great shells. God can work so secretly, so completely. Circumstances have been your prison, and bewilderment, and prejudice, but an angel has come in the night-time and delivered you. 5. What a message was that of verse 25! Your expostulation has come to nothing. God has not touched a key in the girdle of the prison keeper, but He has used His own. The men were brought before the senate, and they said, “ We ought to obey God.” This was their strength. Not “ We had a vision, and were compelled to this act, otherwise we would have remained in prison and come.” Be gentle with some men. Peter denied his Master, and some of us would have expelled him for ever from the Church. But Jesus recovered him, and here he is, a hero. Have any of us slipped? There is no reason why we should slip for ever. Give a man an opportunity of getting up again. Those who heard Peter were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay him. I would we had more such preaching. Whether it is the knife is too short or blunt, or the hand too cowardly, we never get down into the heart. 6. There was one wise man in the council--Gamaliel. He called them to common sense. He told them of two men of marvellous pretensions who subsided into oblivion, and his argument was, “ Give the men time.” Time is the enemy of the bad--the friend of the good. If this be a nine-days’ wonder, do not let us be angry on the fourth day: five days more will show us what it is made of. He prevailed, and the council compounded with the occasion by simply beating the men they intended to slay. 7. When the apostles were dismissed, what think you they said? “ No more of this; we cannot endure being trampled on. We have done enough, now we will resume our ordinary tasks.” Nay, read verse 41. Their wounds were medals. You could never have had a sentence like this from a mere artist. No literary man could have hit upon this expression. Have you ever suffered shame? Did they obey the prohibition? No: daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to preach, teaching Jesus Christ. There was a new tone in their voices. Peter’ s suffering developed that womanly element without which a man can never be complete in any great ministry. What examples we have to follow! We see from their history the worst that can be done to us. “ Fear not them that kill the body.” 8. This history shows us whence true power comes. The power that bears affliction comes not out of our own hearts, but from heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 5:19-20 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors.Miraculous interposition Observe-- I. That human authority is powerless to oppose the will of God. The king on his throne, the judge on the bench, the soldier in his rank, etc., can only claim Divine protection when they discharge the functions of their office on the ground of truth, honour, and justice. Nowhere is obedience to true authority more emphatically enforced than in the Word of God; but nowhere is human authority, exercised contrary to righteousness, condemned with greater severity. Be assured that every sentence against the truth will be reversed. Every attempt to hinder the progress of the gospel will be punished. II. That God has instruments of the highest order to carry out His behests. There are many records in the Bible of the glorious services which angels have done to the Church. Are they not all ministering spirits? etc. When ordinary means are unavailable God can command extraordinary help for His people. Let us strengthen our faith by this truth. It is not wise to indulge in any speculation as to the manner or mystery of such interposition. Neither is it expedient to indulge in the sentimentalism which hands everything over to the Lord to be done by Him to save human energy. True faith never pries into God’ s mysteries; if it did, it would no longer be faith. True faith inspires all our energy in fulfilment of our duty. But, beyond this, faith trusts in a higher power when other means are exhausted. III. That no prison can detain the men whom God requires for the work. The greatest of all teachers had devoted all His time to instruct these men in the principles of the kingdom. They witnessed His mighty deeds, and were made participators of His power. The evidences of Christianity were inscribed on their consciousness, and that was the book which the ages would read. Furthermore, the Holy Ghost had descended upon them, and had endowed them with additional qualifications for their work. Many souls had been saved, and the Church duly formed. If the world might be redeemed, evidently God intended it to be done by their instrumentality. Can you conceive of any prison, or authority, that could silence the voice of truth, the voice of the Cross, the voice of God? A necessity was laid upon them to preach the gospel which not only they felt, but all the world must feel. The angel came, and said, “ Go, stand in the temple and preach the words of this life.” When the Lord says go, it is of no use for man to stand in the way with his feeble no. If we have a mission from Jesus to the world, however circumscribed our sphere to-day, God will send His angel to open the prison. If we are straightened, it is in ourselves and not in Him. (Weekly Pulpit.)Divine interposition A tide was kept back strangely for twelve hours once, and so a host of Christians in Holland were saved from slaughter by the Duke of Alva. A tremendous wind once scattered the Armada of Spain over the wide wastes of the North Sea, and so Protestant England was spared to the world. John Knox moved his usual seat away from before the window one night, pressed by a feeling he could neither understand nor resist; an hour later there came a musket-ball crashing through the glass and burying itself harmlessly in the opposite wall. Such things occur almost every day in some conspicuous and exposed lives. One man has a conviction that he must not take a certain train; another feels that danger lies in his embarking upon a certain ship: the train is afterwards wrecked, or the vessel is lost: now the man knows that God interposed and protected him; and he offers a new consecration of his life thus spared as the only return he can make. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Angelic interference and apostolic work The apostles might well say, as Elisha did, “ They that be with us,” etc. It is only to carnal eyes that the world ever seems to get the better of believers. Very formidable machinery is set in motion to silence the apostles; but the touch of an angel’ s hand makes it all vain. This, the opening of the prison doors, the angel could do; but there was a part of the work to be done which no angel could fulfil. And the mighty one who set the apostles free, bore the message which bade them, “ go and preach all the words of this life.” Let us accept these two lessons for use to-day and every day. By His angel hosts, as well as by all other means, the Lord works out our well-being. And if we rightfully boast that the agency is none the less mighty because unseen, so the blessings and deliverances administered to us are often unseen also but no less real. Along the channel and amidst the circumstances of ordinary things, our welfare is being as certainly wrought out, as if we saw prisons broken, or sickness healed, or the bitterness of death pass us by. It were but a poor faith that would limit our Lord’ s help only to extraordinary interferences of His power. The next lesson is two in one. The Master sends us help, and works mightily on our behalf to this end, that we may go and witness for Him. Next, we must never so trust in the forces of Divine aid put at our service as to look to them either to do our work or to make it needless. The weakest and most helpless of us, being helped of God, has some mission entrusted to him to make known “ the words of this life.” If we make it our rule to “ obey God rather than men,” we shall be maintained by God’ s resources instead of man’ s help. (G. S. Rowe.)Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.-- The proclamation and the power of the gospel Observe-- I. The manifestation of a power which provides for the continued publication of the gospel. An attempt was made to suppress truth by the imprisonment of its heralds. Evidently men are not to be judged by the positions they may be compelled to occupy. The best, as well as the worst, of mankind have occupied dungeons. God seemed to take no notice of the monstrous iniquity. But oftentimes there is a great calm before the storm. How breathlessly calm the army is just before making the terrible charge I And when God appears blind and deaf to the wrongs done under the sun, then it is that avenging angels grasp their swords and await in dread silence the word of command. For Jerusalem there was in store an all-consuming penalty; but the hour for its infliction had not yet come. Nevertheless, it was necessary for the enemies of the Church to be taught the absurdity, as well as the wickedness, of their opposition. First, they are allowed every advantage. They lodge and carefully guard their captive; then, as easily as light passes through the air, the prisoners pass through to liberty. You might as well attempt to chain down a ghost as any man, or cause, or truth, when God has said, “ Go forth.” II. The attractive description of the gospel couched in the phrase, “ The words of this life.” How often God comes to win our poor confidence, love, and service! It was when Jesus had scarcely done reproving the cities of Galilee that He said, “ Come unto Me all ye that labour,” etc. Marvellous in themselves, these words are more marvellous as coming from Christ at that particular moment, as if, though He seemed to have no fruit of His labour, He would plead with men again. And, similarly, the apostles had not only to preach, but to illustrate, in their own graciousness, the grace of God. They escaped from bondage, not to flee nor to be avenged, but to proclaim again the truth for which they had suffered.1. Such a proclamation involved of necessity a profound view of sin. We are dead, physically, when the air is no longer inhaled; mentally, when the truth produces no impression upon the mind; and spiritually, when God is unloved by our hearts. We may be the cleverest of the clever, and yet “ dead in trespasses and in sin.” 2. But Christ brings to believers a new life. He confers the Holy Spirit, who creates the blessed life--Christ in you, in your thoughts and aims, your consciences and affections. And if Christ be in you ye shall not be barren and unfruitful; sinful habits will fall off the soul, just as dead foliage drops to the earth in this spring-time, when the rising life within the tree puts forth tender shoots to dislodge the withered leaves which all the winter may have defied the angriest wind to tear them from their boughs. 3. Christ nourishes that life. All ministers, etc., are commanded to speak to the people all the words of this life. But can life be nourished by words? It depends. Golden plates, being empty, are of no avail for those perishing with hunger. Perfect wires, unconnected with a source of electricity, convey no message. Words also may be empty platters or mere wires; but may they not be infinitely more? “ God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” Some one announced to you, “ She is dead” --merely three words; but their meaning froze your blood. We have heard these words: “ Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Are they mere words? They may be; and yet they may be so filled with life by the Holy Ghost that they shall quicken in men’ s hearts a vitality that shall never fade away. III. The publicity of Christianity.1. No doubt the temple was a very convenient place because of the multitudes that resorted there. But who can fail to see another kind of appropriateness? It was there that men had seen types and shadows age after age. The gospel was to be preached as an interpretation of the old revelation; a key was supplied which made plain the cypher which had been obscure. 2. Further, it is evident that Christianity courts publicity. Christ is uplifted for all to see. So His missionaries are bound to be as plain and clear as possible. Who ever heard that the apostles arranged a dark seance, or preferred to speak their words in corners? The gospel is addressed not to a clique, but broadly to humanity. There is no man or woman or child anywhere who does not need Christ; and there is no one upon whom Christ would not shine. (W. J. Henderson, B. A.)Divine idea of Christianity There is a strong tendency to place the religion of Christ by the side of other kindred systems, and the Word of God on the same level with the Koran, Shasters, and writings of ancient philosophers and poets. This arises from a forgetfulness of-- I. This Divine definition of Christianity. “ This life.” As a life Christianity is distinguished from all other systems. It is the one only life--God given and God sustained. This life is confined to no sect. It is co-extensive with faith in Christ. It is a life which breathes, feels, loves, and hates. It has its own sphere, literature, food, world. II. This Divine designation of the gospel. As “ all the words of this life,” the gospel stands alone. When the Bible speaks all other books are silent. Men who try to discover the truth by the aid of ancient philosophers and religions are as those who light a candle in the middle of a cloudless day in order to discover the sun. The gospel is “ all the words of this life,” because it is the Word by which this life is--1. Discovered. Here the gospel stands alone. What amongst the vanities of the heathen ever discovered to a soul “ this life “ spoken of in the text? These leave men still in darkness and uncertainty, while “ life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel.” 2. Imparted. Here again the gospel stands alone. Men try to draw unfavourable comparisons between the writings of Scripture and those of uninspired men, but assuming that such comparisons are just, they give no advantage. The man who wants to reap a harvest does not scatter glittering pearls in his field because they look much better than his “ bare grain,” but knowing that his corn possesses an inherent vitality, which will reproduce itself manifold, he commits it to the soil. The gospel was never intended to satisfy the cravings of critics, but to impart “ this life.” 3. Sustained. This life has wants and cares, emotions and hopes, peculiar to itself. In the gospel we have that which exactly meets its necessities. You have soul needs, which all the words of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Shakespeare together would not satisfy, but which are more than satisfied by the gospel. In “ the words of this life,” you have that which strengthens and consolidates life’ s trust; inspires and sustains life’ s hope, and rekindles and inflames life’ s love. Christ is in them! That is the secret. He in the Word sustains the soul. 4. Governed. Here again the gospel is without a rival. The daily prayer of a true heart is, “ Order my steps in Thy Word,” and its daily testimony is, “ Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” III. This divine delegation of the church. “ Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people,” etc. There is no ambiguity here. The Divine commission was clear and simple. In this we see the Church’ s work to-day.1. “ The words of this life” are to be preached. Not by ministers only. “ Let him that heareth say, come.” 2. They only are to be preached. “ Speak,” etc. The apostles were not to go and draw comparisons between these words and others, they were to preach the gospel. They knew nothing amongst men but “ Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 3. They are to be preached earnestly. “ Stand and speak.” Let conventional forms and usages be forgotten. The theme demanded zeal. The old masters might sit and teach their philosophies, but as “ Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink.” so we must consecrate our whole manhood to this surpassing work. 4. They are to be preached exhaustively. “ All the words.” The pleasant with the painful; the doctrine with the promise; the ‘ warning with the invite. It was Paul’ s boast that he had not “ shunned to declare the whole counsel of God.” 5. They are to be preached universally “ to the people.” They were to classify men. Every creature is God’ s limit, and who ‘ is he that shall dare to circumscribe? To the converted and to the unconverted; to the “ elect” and to the “ reprobate” ; “ to the people,” indiscriminately and universally, we are to “ stand and speak all the words of this life.” (W. H. Burton.)The religion of the people Before Christ came, truth was considered to be the benediction of the few rather than the birthright of the many, the property of certain classes rather than the possession of the masses. But when Christ appeared He broke down the caste of light and learning, and brought the glorious truths of the gospel into the open market of the world. I. The command of the angel. It was in direct opposition to the command of the Jewish hierarchy. There occurs a period in all lives when there is a conflict between the higher and the lower, between the external voice of authority and the inward voice of conscience, a period when the soul must dare to assert the majesty of eternal right in the face of the whole world. When the Lord speaks to us, either in the written Word or through the voice of conscience, or it may be in the events of providence, we must disregard custom and creed and yield to the dictates of the still small voice within. II. The place of the apostles’ ministry. The temple of nature is one vast symbol of God. In the circle of sky above our heads, in the round ocean beneath our feet, we see the image of His eternity, in the light we see His perfection, in the lily His purity. Every common bush is aflame with the glory of God. And so it was in the temple at Jerusalem. It contained the symbols and the shadows of redemption. We have in the action of the apostles the recognition of the great principle of the right and privilege of every man who is filled with the Spirit to teach and to preach in the temple of the living God. III. The persons to whom the apostles spoke. It is the crowning glory of the gospel, that it appeals to the people and admits the masses into the inner shrine and sanctuary of truth. It is impossible to estimate the transcendent blessing which a cheap Bible has conferred upon mankind, and the liberty to read the sacred oracles in one’ s native tongue. IV. The purport of the apostles’ message. The life of Christ challenges the attention of the world. “ This life” is the life of God manifest in the flesh, the life of the Divine and the human in one person, the life of the Eternal looking through the windows of time. In Christ is the fountain of life. He came to give life, and to give it more abundantly. (J. C. Shanks.)Christianity, a voice to the people The record is instructive. Why not send the angel straight to “ the people” ? An angel could not be imprisoned. The Divine system of operation is not to get certain things done, but done in a certain way. He does not go out of the common course of things, unless it is absolutely necessary. He honours His laws and arrangements. In using men in the promotion of Christianity, He best advances its process of education, discipline, and development. Human thought, sympathy, and affection are awakened and matured both in the dispensers and recipients of the gospel, and thus this ordinance “ blesses him who gives and him who receives.” If angels are not employed to preach the gospel, then, it is because they would not be the best preachers. To angels they might be, but not to men. Note here-- I. The proclamation. “ The words of this life.”1. The reference is to Sadducean unbelief, A truth is most needed when it is least liked, and the age that rejects it should have it kept, with martyr constancy, before its eye. 2. “ Life” is the burden of the message. This, in its lowest state, is prized above all temporal blessings. Under a law of death, Christianity assures us of the perpetuity of our existence. It thus gives an infinite multiplication of the present life of man. What was a probability in the minds of wisest philosophers, became a proclamation in the mouths of Jewish rustics. 3. The existence of man hereafter is not, however, the only, nor the chief, prospect of blessing afforded by the gospel. Existence may be the bier of souls. Life, in its fulness, consists in the healthful and unfettered activity of the whole man. It includes, therefore, a perfect nature and a perfect state. Hence it is so frequently put for the whole of gospel goodness. “ He shall have everlasting life,” is the entire promise made to faith. Man is a moral being. This supposes that he has moral powers and moral responsibilities. Sin is a violation of his nature, and it subjects him to punishment. As sinful, he is evil within, and he is exposed to evil as an infliction. Both these are called “ death.” Carnality is “ death.” Punishment is “ death.” The design of the gospel is to remove and prevent this death; to renew our nature, and then put us into a scene and sphere in which all its dispositions and principles may have free course and be glorified; to make us right, and surround us with a right lot. The whole work of Christ, and the operations of His Holy Spirit are designed to quicken the soul, to bring out, unite, and purify its powers, and prepare it for a state in which there shall be no hindrance to, but every facility for its love and joy and work: in one word, that it may “ have life, and have it more abundantly.” Through Christ we are restored to God, His law, His likeness, His love, His service; and no otherwise can we find our true place and rule and end. 4. And what a beautiful light is the gospel thus presented in! How accordant is it with the deepest and most advanced thought! How natural is its mercy! How agreeable its provision! And how indispensable its blessing! How every other method and object would miserably fail! All ornaments, instruments, advantages--what are they apart from life? II. The place. “ The temple:” Do we not see in this publicity--1. The truthfulness of the gospel? The first preachers of the gospel did not secrete themselves, choose select audiences, go to strange people, nor wait until the matters of which they spake had been forgotten, or could not so well be sifted. Their message, intended for the people’ s benefit, was committed to the people’ s scrutiny. Based on history, they proclaimed it to those who had the fullest opportunities and means of trying its historical integrity. They knew that they spoke the truth, and knew that others knew it too. And what could convince them but Christ’ s resurrection and ascension? The gospel is the same to-day. It is open to the inspection of all. It comes before the people in its full utterances and evidences. It especially challenges investigation. It allows of no means of bringing men to its adoption but their conviction of its truth. And it promotes, as all reason and history go to show, a spirit of intelligence, dangerous to any system that cannot stand the test. 2. The indifference of Christianity. The whole state of the Jewish Church was corrupt. And the time had come when the gorgeous ceremonial ceased to be obligatory, and realism took the place of ritualism. I can imagine some who would not have used the temple at all. There have been reformers who would have shunned the place, or only have frequented it to warn men of the sin and folly of making use of it. So did not they. And this is but one instance of the moderation of the first preachers of Christianity. Jesus did not shrink from contact even with doubtful things around Him. And His servants addressed the people through their familiar ideas, and conciliated them by conformity to their habits. We find one now prudently circumcising a disciple, and now as prudently joining some who had a vow. These things bear marks of the healthy character of apostolical religion, not to say proofs of apostolical inspiration. Men always work fresh theories to death. And when I find the first preachers of the gospel as calm as they were earnest, making no account of secondary matters, but every account of matters of first importance, I cannot but admire the reasonableness of their faith, and am disposed to admit that, in this, they were “ taught of God.” 3. There is still a higher suggestion. The temple was the great symbol of the Jewish religion which had virtually passed away. In declaring the gospel in its porch, the apostles declared the fulfilment of all it was designed to signify. When the temple became a church, it was in the natural order of Divine Providence. What more meet than that the spot which had witnessed the premonitions of the gospel, should be the scene of its complete announcements? Nor must we stop at Judaism. There have been other great religions among men. In Christianity you have all these met and satisfied, and in it alone. It stands in the porch of humanity, and “ speaks all the words of this life.” III. The people. “ Speak to the people.”1. We have here a specimen of the genius and design of the gospel. (1) It knows nothing of the artificial distinctions of men; it regards man as man. “ There is neither Greek nor Jew,” etc. “ The common salvation” differs widely in the universality of its aspects from many false religions and philosophic systems. Christ addressed Himself not to a class exalted above the rest, but to the people generally. So did the apostles. No anxiety to reach and win the learned and mighty class prompted them. They preached to the Sanhedrin when brought before them, but their mission was not to classes, but to the “ people.” (2) And in speaking to the “ people,” they not only recognised their right to the gospel, but their power to understand and to profit by it. Their gospel was not a problem to be solved only by faculties specially trained, but a truth to be apprehended by undisciplined understandings, to be tested by common sense and common honesty, to be felt and appreciated by hearts untutored save by the Spirit of Divine love. While skill has often served only to perplex, and learning to encumber, and worldly pomp to corrupt, the gospel, the simple and the unlettered have “ received the kingdom of God as little children,” and felt it to be “ in power, and not in word.” While “ these things have been hidden from the wise and prudent, they have been revealed unto babes.” While the first have been making elaborate comments on the architecture of the temple, the last have been humbly worshipping before the glory; while the first have been cleverly criticising the wording of the invitation, the last have been feasting joyously at the table of the Lord. As men have sometimes altered it, it has been adapted only for the few; as God has given it, it is designed and fitted for all. (3) We say, “ for all.” For it is possible to err in two directions. We may leave out the great and wealthy as well as the poor and mean. We may depreciate humanity in high places as well as in low places. There is an aristocracy of poverty as well as of rank and riches. Pride may look up as easily as look down. The haughtiness of supposed unrequited merit may be a severer, bitterer thing than that of satiated self-esteem. The people may be flattered as well as nobles. And I am not sure that this danger has no existence now. There were two disciples in the Sanhedrin, as large a proportion probably as there were among the people. There were “ saints in Caesar’ s household.” If “ not many mighty and noble and wise are called,” it must be remembered that there are not many, speaking comparatively, to be called. But if the gospel do not exclude them, it includes others. For its design is to bless with “ life,” and the need and power of life is in the man, in every man. Might does not create it, weakness does not destroy it; riches do not buy it, poverty does not lose it. The blessed child of God may be clothed in rags; the heir of heaven may lie at the rich man’ s gate, covered with sores; “ the woman that was a sinner” may be the loved and commended of Christ. The poor widow may be the most honoured contributor to God’ s cause; and the crucified robber the first of His converts to be with Christ in paradise. 2. Let us obey the angel’ s charge. There are temptations to restriction. This mission may be harder and, in some respects, less profitable than that of others. But remember also, that, in others, it will be most fruitful. And “ the people” --the great body of the people mare in special need of these “ words of life.” Christianity, by the influence of its truths and principles, has raised the people, and will yet raise them to a higher social position. The views it gives of man’ s nature and relations must excite a desire for a position which the masses have not yet attained. It is impossible to mark the tendencies of our own day, without seeing that power is being wonderfully diffused. Whatever our views, whatever our apprehensions, be it desired or be it dreaded, persons and classes will be of less importance than they have been, and men in general will be of more. We may forbid the tide, but it will come in. With this destiny before the people, our duty is-- (1) To prepare them for their inheritance. Believing that the gospel alone can guide and develop and sanctify all our powers, give “ life” to nations as well as individuals, let us endeavour to diffuse Christianity, that the people may be faithful stewards in their solemn trust. I do not mean, however, do this from policy, but from principle. There is something mean and almost dishonest in using the gospel simply as a means of keeping people in order. It is as a “ word of life “ in all its channels--social, political, moral, religious life--that you should proclaim it. Proclaim it not from fear, but love. (2) To represent the gospel as intending to bless man by and through His soul. The gospel looks benignly on all attempts at reform and advaneement. It never forgets, though its professors have forgotten, that men have bodies, and through their bodies are to be reached. But let us not forget that the condition of men may be elevated without their hearts being sanctified; that ungodliness may dwell in circumstances of plenty, cleanliness, and health; that good wages may be associated with bad conduct, and healthy neighbourhoods with diseased souls. To hear some people talk, you might suppose that “ the kingdom of heaven” is nothing to sanitary reform, that there are no sanctuaries like improved dwelling-houses, no baptism like that of baths and wash-houses, no Lord’ s Supper to be compared to soup-kitchens, no method of quickening men in towns like that of having cemeteries out of town. We say not a word against these things. We wish them God-speed. But let us not estimate too highly the religious influence of these things, and while ye attend to them attend also, and supremely, to the greater things of spiritual salvation. (3) To exactly understand, and be well assured of, the nature and necessity of our own spiritual agency. We should guard against the precipitance of mere zeal and fear. It is said of a modern statesman (Lord Melbourne) that he was never alarmed except when he heard people say, “ Something must be done.” We must avoid the idea that there is mystery or miracle in the question. There is no great discovery to be made. We must not be impatient, supposing any sudden and surprising change is probable. We must beware of attaching too much value to institutional and instrumental changes, as if the great cause of popular alienation from the gospel lay in ecclesiastical buildings, offices, or economies. Above all must we not substitute the conversion of the Church to the world for the conversion of the world to the Church; not fall into the terrific blunder of trying to remove unbelief and sin by denuding Christianity of its peculiar truths and peculiar sanctities. The work of the gospel is not to change the wine into water, but the water into wine. The “ earth” suffers dreadful loss when the “ salt” no longer retains its “ savour.” (A. J. Morris.)Christianity a life 1. There are two ideas of life--necessary existence and voluntary action. Thousands of men live, pass away, and are nameless for ever. Others live in a higher sense--Live an idea--and hence leave behind them a heritage of good deeds and life-inspiring words. 2. The unit of life is the most strongly marked fact in the universe of God. It begins with an eternal thought in the existence of a supreme personality, and is traceable through every order of beings. We speak of a nation’ s history. What is it? The history of men and women in the aggregate ends of their actions. The Magna Charta and the Declaration of Independence, while expressions of national sentiment, are yet histories, to that extent, of every man whose voice and hands were raised in their defence or promotion. Every great working principle, every theory of reformation and progress must have a life-force behind it. Its recommendation, its truth, and its power are one with this vital force. The gospel of Jesus Christ has behind it this vital force in a transcendently striking fulness. It is pre-eminently a life. It is not a theory, but an experience; not a speculation, but a certainty; not an abstract idea, but a vital truth. I. It was spoken. Men live by what they speak. All that is left of human life in the past are the few ‘ scattered words of poets, seers, and philosophers, gathered up after the banquet of time. The words of the gospel were spoken by a man, the man Christ Jesus. It came welling up from the life-fountains, as His holy eyes looked on sin and sorrow. “ Language was given man to conceal his thoughts.” But the language of Christ brought them forth in a revelation of beauty and power. So Divine were these words in their meaning that, when rough men were sent to bind the people’ s Teacher, they were disarmed and went back to those who sent them, saying, “ Never man spake like this arian.” But His words were also linked with the power of life. Each was a life-principle. “ The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Yea, He was Himself the living Word--the eternal Loges--spoken from the beginning. Peter read this truth in the Master’ s early utterances, and boldly asked, “ Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” II. It was acted. Its precepts and promises were not spoken, like the philosophy of Greece, in the retirement of the academy, to a few disciples, but they were given to the thirsting multitudes in the midst of arduous toils. Christ worked while He preached. In the highest sense the gospel is a drama, enacted upon the stage of the universe. It represents itself, and its effect is its own eternal life-necessity and life-efficiency. The sympathy provoked in the hearts of its spectators also deepens the life-idea. It is not an aesthetic sentiment awakened by its delicate finish of language and character, or of profound emotion stirred by its tragic colouring, but of deep self-felt interest in the letter of its purpose and the efficacy of its sacrifice. Every scene in the grand drama is real. The real feet of the “ Man of Sorrows” pressed the sands of Galilee; a hand of flesh touched the blind eyes; a human heart wept tears through human eyes over the grave of Lazarus. Human blood was found on the cross, and stained the grass in “ the place of a skull.” A real body was laid in the new tomb of Joseph, and a glorified human body rose through ethereal depths, and on a cloud-chariot ascended to the kingdom above. III. It was lived. Christ practised what He preached. The great truths and heavenly virtues which He held up to others found illustration and shone with Divinest radiance in His own life. In an absolute sense, then, this gospel may be styled a life--a perfect life. None other is. It stands out in chiselled beauty and symmetry. The Child of children; the Brother of brothers; the Friend of friends; the Man of men; His life was confined to the proper channels of duty, while the perfect balance of His whole nature made Him ever the Just, the True, the Good. IV. It was felt. It felt not only for humanity, but felt with it; and came not only with a relief for human woe, but came to share that woe.1. There is a time in every life when sorrow and care are a strange and pathetic poetry. But after a while they become strangely real. Experience makes them part of life, and thus the chords of sympathy are struck through all the race. It was thus that Christ learned to sympathise with man. With man He quaffed the bitter chalice; with man, trod the path of thorns; with man, tasted death, and with him, slumbered in the grave. But He rose as the earnest of immortality to man’ s slumbering dust. 2. But this sympathy is not only with human sorrow, but also with human joy. It is a lyre strung with chords of grief and chords of joy. Sometimes they are struck in unison, sometimes singly, but always to throbs of human hope. The gospel is a religion of light. Gloom was never on His face. (H. M. Dubose.)Distinguishing properties of spiritual life I. The nature of the gospel, as here intimated. “ All the words of this life.” It is the design of the gospel to restore man to a certain life. With regard to its matter, the gospel is styled the word of truth; with regard to its end, the word of life. The apostles embraced Jesus Christ as “ having the words of eternal life.” There is a life, lost by the fall to man, restored by the gospel. Christians experience a great transition, no less than from death to life. Jesus Christ came to give life, and to give it more abundantly; the gospel being a fuller ministration of the blessings related to spiritual and eternal life than the Old Testament. This life consists in the effects of the gospel on the spirits of men. Their state is essentially changed by the introduction of this life: “ all things become new.” God, who was the object of aversion, becomes the object of love; God, who was disregarded, becomes the chief source of happiness; His favour, which was left out of sight, becomes the great prize and end of our being; we press after this beyond all beside. II. Some distinguishing properties of this life. None can form an adequate conception of it but those who experience it. This is the case with every kind of life; you could not judge of the life you live, unless you had experienced its functions, its pleasures and its pains. Similarly, the natural man cannot know the things of the spiritual; they must be spiritually discerned. This is--1. A supernatural and spiritual life. It is not produced by any natural causes or means; none can impart it to another, none can produce it in himself. God must give it; it is called a “ new creation,” “ born of the Spirit--born of God.” It is a life quite distinct from every other kind of life; there is vegetable life, distinct from sentient or animal life; and, above this, there is the life of reason, which reaches to the past and the future by reflection and anticipation, and diffuses existence over interminable space; but as far superior to this, as this is to the life of mere sensation, is the life of spirituality. 2. A most elevated life. It brings us into an alliance with the Father and the Spirit by Jesus Christ. He who has this life places his interest in heaven. He would not exchange the sufferings of this life for all that riches could purchase, all that pleasure could offer, all the glory of time; for he feels himself called to the station of those who are “ kings and priests to God” ; he is enabled to reign over his fleshly appetites and desires, and to sit down with Jesus Christ in heavenly places. Never shall we know what real dignity is till we experience this life. This is the life that Jesus Christ lived. 3. A holy life. It partakes the nature of its Author, the Holy Spirit; it is given for the very purpose of recovering man from sin to holiness; the necessity that existed for Christ’ s interposition springs entirely out of this design. It is a life which creates pure desires; wars against everything base and evil; makes men strive against sin even unto death. 4. A progressive life. All life is such, vegetable, human, and Divine. The views of a Christian become clearer, his faith strengthens, his consolations improve, and, if he has not so much fervour as at first, his increasing stability amply compensates for the decrease. The saints are described as rich and flourishing in old age. Grace is represented as at first a blade, then an ear, then the full corn; as a little leaven leavening the lump. The Christian pilgrim, forgetful of things behind, presses on to things before; he is never satisfied until he is with God; his path is like the light shining more and more to the perfect day. 5. An eternal life. “ I give My sheep eternal life.” As this life commences with the eternal purpose and Spirit of God, so it is destined to flourish with God for ever and ever. The life of believers is the same, in its essential spirituality, with the life of those who live in heaven; they have the same pleasures, the same devotion; they feed on the same bread, taste the same salvation, sing the same new song. Conclusion:1. He that has experienced this life has a knowledge of its value that surpasses all that description, even the description given in the Word of God itself, can impart to others. He has had realising foretastes of unutterable, unchangeable, interminable glory and felicity; he seems almost to have entered within the veil. 2. But without this life, heaven itself, as it is the exhibition of God, must prove a most unsuitable element. There must be a new heart, new tastes, a new life in the soul. They that have not this grand specific, must die in their sins. (Robert Hall.)The gospel message I. The substance of our message. It consists of “ words.” Too great a distinction is sometimes made between words and things. Brought together, ranged in the order of living thought, they are among the mightiest things on earth. But above all words of law and literature, statesmanship and science, military despatch and moral disquisition, pictorial and philosophical history, poetical and pathetic sentiment--are the words of this life.1. It is life from death. Not life following death, as in the order of vegetation, where the sap that has fallen down into the root comes up again to vitalise the dry and barren branches. Men do not carry in their souls the seeds of this new life; its appearance is not through a development, but through a regeneration. 2. It is life through death. You get this life through the sacrifice of the Great High Priest. God breathed into “ man’ s nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” That was all which was necessary for the first life. That you and I might have the second the Eternal Word becomes a man, that through death He might destroy and “ deliver,” becoming “ obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.” 3. It is life for death instead of it. Death in trespasses and sins is but the forerunner of another death, a death to deepen, grow, intensify itself, and not to end with the destruction of the body, but to go on consuming the soul without annihilating it. Our message includes words of death; we would solemnly repeat them, but they are in service to the words of life, they illustrate them by contrast. If the gospel proclaims life in exchange for death, then the terrors of the death enhance our conceptions of the life that delivers us from it. II. The illustrations of our message. Whether the apostles were sent to the temple because there so many types of the words of life were before them and the hearers, or not, certainly the temple was like an open picture-book, from which they could illuminate what they had to say. Judaism was “ a shadow of good things to come.” The apostles as they declared the words of this life stood in the midst of the shadow.1. Entering the temple, the apostles passed the brazen sea (Exodus 30:17-21). Through purification the Jews were to be saved from death. Through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost we live. The defilement of sin is the power of death--cleansed from that defilement we escape that death. Through the deep evil of our hearts we are shut out of God’ s presence, bathed in the water of the Spirit, made clean through the new birth, we can cross the threshold of God’ s palace, and bow before His throne, and minister in His service. 2. Beyond the brazen sea stood the altar. It proclaimed that “ without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Death for life; no life for the sinner but through the death of another. 3. Beyond and at the end of the temple was the veil (Leviticus 16:2). There was not access within the veil at all times even for Aaron, for the people at large there was no access at all. Most emphatically did this declare the holiness of Jehovah and the sinfulness of man. The drawn curtain before the Holy of Holies means that the gospel undraws it; rather, the death of Christ rends it in twain (Hebrews 10:3; Hebrews 10:16-22). Such are the words of this life, they show the way open; they offer the privilege of the High Priest to all; they offer it continually. III. The ends of our message.1. The inspiration of this life. “ How shall they call on Him on whom they have not believed?” “ Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Thus we speak that men may live, believing that God will put life into His own words when we utter them. We do not try to play the philosopher, but we would walk in the steps of the Hebrew prophet. We would study Ezekiel’ s vision, believing there is a lesson in it for us. 2. For the nourishment of this life. Peter describes the believer “ as born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,” and that which he recognises as the germ of life, he presents as the food of life. “ As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby.” The new life, God connects with means in its nurture as in its inspiration. The minister is not simply a herald, he is to be a pastor feeding his flock, a father taking care of his family. Christians want what will feed their spiritual life, and strengthen it, and refresh it, recover it when faint, revive it when feeble. 3. The diffusion of this life. It is communicative. He who conveys it to another has no less of it himself, but more. The heavens drop down rain; through a million channels does it flow to fertilise the land. Spiritual life comes from God, who makes you and me bearers of it to others. Conscious of having it and enjoying it, how can we help striving to give it to others who perish through the want of its blessing? (J. Stoughton, D. D.)The burden of the preacher--speaking in the temple The religion of the Pharisee was one of bodily forms, that of the Sadducee one of intellectual negations, and thus both were opposed to a religion the crowning characteristic of which was life. The ever-new life of the gospel comes to burst every lifeless ceremony, and so confound the Pharisee; it comes to open the graves and confute the Sadducee. The apostles were the representatives of this new life. Their touch brought health where there was sickness. Their words enlivened souls. What were the arguments of infidels and the authority of priests before this all-prevailing power? One of the last shifts of despotism was resorted to--they laid hands upon the men and dragged them out of sight. But as the Prince Of Life Himself burst the common prison of death, so He led these His servants forth from the common prison of Jerusalem, saying, “ Go, stand and speak in the temple,” etc. I. The character of the preacher’ s commission.1. He is sent by Christ. “ No man taketh this honour to himself.” Even Christ was the Sent of God. And of His disciples He said, “ As Thou has sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” The twelve were called apostles because they were sent by Him. When He left the earth He said, “ Go ye therefore And lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” How was He to be with them but by working and ruling spiritually in the midst of His Church, “ giving some apostles, and some prophets,” etc. They are the true successors to the apostles who, called from the world into the Church, are still further moved by the Holy Spirit to devote themselves to the work of the ministry. 2. Is furnished and supported by Christ. The question is, How is one man to minister to the wants of a congregation of men, and sympathise with all its multiform life--rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep; guide the erring, cheer the disconsolate, convince the doubting; have a word for the young, for the middle-aged, and for the old. Who is sufficient for all this? Looked at from the human side alone, no one is sufficient. He may have the strength of Samson, the brain of Shakspeare, the courage of Luther, the tenderness of Howard, the eloquence of Chrysostom; but if he has nothing more than what is human, he is unfit for his work. Whatever his natural advantages may be, he requires an unction from on high--he must be upheld and nourished, and guided by the Spirit of Christ. And he is so upheld. 3. Is responsible to Christ. To have Christ for one’ s Master is the chief of blessings. Men may misunderstand us, deal out scant justice, fail in sympathy, and forsake us, but Christ will not. No faithful act of any servant of Christ can pass unnoticed or unappreciated by Him, but we have this consideration also for our warning. If our faithfulness is noticed, so is our unfaithfulness. If Christ has done so much for the world, He will look after those whose business it is to watch for souls. II. The subjectmatter of the preacher’ s message. The subject is--1. A definite one. (1) It is all contained in one book; and it is embodied in one Person who is called “ The Word.” It is necessary that Divine truth should be put into human words, for they give stability and perpetuity to the Divine message. We can lay hold of them and keep them before the mind, and study them until they bud out with meanings thick as the buds and blossoms on Aaron’ s rod. They are the flowers from which we may sip the nectar of truth that is sweeter than the droppings of the honeycomb. If God’ s message had been delivered to men merely as a spoken word, and had come down through time as an unwritten tradition, it would have wanted clearness, certainty, and authority. (2) The preacher’ s message, then, has been written down in definite words, and he must keep to these. He is not at liberty to speak on any subject he pleases. There is truth in the stars, and it is the business of the astronomer to unfold that. There are sermons in stones, and it is the work of the geologist to make the stones preach their sermons. There is much wisdom in the conditions of human society, and it is the business of the statesman and the lawyer to teach us what it is. But the preacher has to expound the Word of God. Science and politics may illustrate his subject, but they do not form it. Passing events may present us with striking lessons, but we have to preach from the Bible, and not from the newspapers. But it may be said, Did not Jesus Christ preach from nature? Did He not find texts in the lilies, birds, waving corn, and little children? Not texts exactly, but illustrations. He Himself was the text, for He was the living incarnate Word of God, and He is our subject. The preacher makes no pretence to absolute originality. He is not the discoverer of a new country, but the guide to a country that has been discovered. As from the original languages the Bible has been translated into the living languages, so from the primitive life it must be translated into the modern life. The experience of the nineteenth century before Christ requires to be translated into the experience of the nineteenth century after Christ. (3) But although the Bible is the preacher’ s text-book, it does not follow that every one who takes a text from the Bible is a gospel preacher. The Bible has been used to arrest the march of science; to rivet the chains of the slave; to justify every form of despotism. From the words of Christ men have preached against Christ. They have taken His own words to disprove His divinity. Yea, Satan himself has often preached from a Bible text. The mere fact, then, that the text is taken from the Bible is no guarantee that the sermon is really a gospel-sermon. (4) Neither does it follow, although we select no particular text, that we do not preach Scriptural truth; for a discourse might be attached to no particular verse of Scripture, and yet be full of the Spirit of Christ. 2. A profound one. Life is a great deep. Who can fathom the soul amid the darkness that is within? disclose its origin in the darkness that is behind? tell its issues in the darkness that is before? If the gospel, then, has any reality and power it must say something satisfactory as to what we are, whence we have come, whither we are going, and what we ought to do. The gospel does this. The Bible is emphatically a Book of Life. Everywhere it is full of life. In the Old Testament there is the life of God; in the Gospels there is the life of Christ; in the Epistles there is the life of the Spirit--everywhere the life of regenerated man. It, is not a book of skeletons, but of beings clothed with flesh and blood. Like nature, it has an appearance of abruptness and disorder, which rests, however, on the eternal order. 3. A broad one. “ All the words.” “ The commandment is exceeding broad.” The gospel-kingdom is “ a place of broad rivers and streams.” What richness and variety there is in the Word of God. As the book stretches over a great breadth of time, so it stretches over a corresponding breadth of spiritual life. It has its high mountains on which the clouds of heaven are resting, in the doctrines of the Divine fore-knowledge, predestination, and sovereignty. It has its fruitful plains in the moral activities and good works of men. It has its city life in its civil and ecclesiastical arrangements. It has its quiet valleys in which lie the beauties of domestic life. And it has its great rivers in the principles that run from the beginning to the end of the book. The preacher, then, should not dwell exclusively on the mountain tops of high doctrine, nor should he stand always on the plain, preaching what is called mere morality. If men will insist on opening their eyes to one set of facts, and shutting them to another equally true set of facts, it is not probable that they will preach “ all the words of this life.” And whence come the narrowness of sectarianism and the bitterness of bigotry, but from a disregard of this truth--that the Word of God has many sides? III. The suitability of this message to the circumstances and wants of all men. The Word was to be spoken to the people in the temple, where they were wont to congregate, in a language they could understand. The types in the temple had now served their purpose as forms of worship, and preaching had now become the chief work of the Church.1. Speech is a noble faculty, whereby man resembles God, in that He reveals Himself by a word, and so comes into closer contact with his fellow-man. As an institution in society, public speech can never become obsolete; and as a part of the service of the Church it is coeval with the Church. Preaching is more essential to the Church than any other form of worship. Forms of worship belong to particular dispensations, but the preacher belongs to every dispensation. Whatever the form of worship in the antediluvian and patriarchal ages, there were always preachers. In the Jewish Church all the prophets were preachers. The reason is that the preacher’ s function, being simple and direct, is suited to every age. 2. It is sometimes said that the press is invading the domain of the pulpit. Not so; the press is a handmaid of the pulpit, and instead of silencing the preacher it gives him a voice that extends to the ends of the earth, so that every week we may hear one divine preaching in New York and another in London. As a propagator of religious literature the press ministers to the pulpit; and with regard to other matters, the publication of things secular and ephemeral, the press is here altogether out of the province of the pulpit, which has to do with the spiritual and eternal. The question is, How is a man to be most deeply impressed with Divine truth? We cannot answer by saying that he ought to stay at home, reading the Bible or a sermon, for in private he wants three influences which he has at Church. (1) The person of the preacher. There is a mysterious power proceeding from personality. The tones of the human voice and the look of a living man have great power to impress truth upon the soul. (2) Now this is wanting in books. There is the sympathy of numbers. The rapt attention of one may convict us of inattention, and the careless look of another may call forth a prayer, while the feeling that each is but the fragment of a great whole is fitted to solemnise the mind, as if there fell upon it the shadow of the myriads who worship God in heaven, and that that multitude shall stand before the throne of God. Such influences are wanting in solitude. (3) There is the influence of the other parts of the service, prayer and praise, in rendering the mind more susceptible of true and saving impressions, and this does not exist to the same degree in private. But some one may say, “ I get better ideas, and a greater number of them, from reading a book in private.” Well, it is a good thing to read and get ideas; but we all know a great deal more than we put in practice, and what we want, therefore, is gracious impulses to the performance of duty. And how are we to get these if we do not seek them in the way of God’ s appointment? In short, if books merely could convert the world, why did not God allow books to do it? Along with the written Word there has always been the spoken Word. 3. The words of the Bible suit all phases of life. It has pleasant pictures for the simple-minded, grammatical difficulties for the scholar, deep problems for the philosopher, guiding precepts for the practical, visions of beauty for the poet, hoary wisdom for the experienced, and songs for the dying in the dark valley. It has words for the father in his family, for the master among his servants, for the teacher among his scholars, for the judge on the bench, for the king on the throne. It has words for different states of mind: words of enlightenment for the ignorant, of conviction for the sceptical, of consolation for the bereaved, of warning for the thoughtless, of condemnation for the impenitent, and of forgiveness for the contrite in heart. 4. All earnest persons who come to the temple to worship God in simplicity of heart will hear words that will suit their case. And how varied are the wants represented in a congregation of worshippers! No two hearers altogether alike, but all alike in this, that they are by nature under one common condemnation, and must become partakers of a common salvation. The young are here with the world before them untried and unknown; they need a Saviour to keep them from the bitterness, unbelief, and vanity of the world. The middle-aged are here, with the world’ s work resting on their shoulders, and they need strength, wisdom, and the sweet charity of the Christian life to enable them to do that which is true, faithful, and kind. The old are here, with their histories in time about to be closed for ever; and they require to have their anchor cast within the veil, and to be at peace with God, and there are words of life for all. (F. Ferguson, D. D.)Preachers must reach the people A minister whose congregation numbers about forty all told rejoiced in the smallness of it, because he professed that a greater work could be done with a few than with a large number. In answer, a friend suggested that he should infer from that statement that a greater work could be done with no people at all. This reduced the hypothesis to an absurdity. “ I am sure,” said one, “ that the better a man preaches the smaller his congregation will become.” This shows what a large number of very excellent preachers we have in London. But our business is to reach the people somehow. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christianity and the people We read of Jesus, that “ all the people were very attentive to hear Him.” Moreover, the people retain the truth when they receive it. Note this fact in history: the Reformation in Spain was among the nobility, and it was the same in Italy, and the work soon subsided. In England the common people received the truth from Wycliffe, and it never died out. If you wanted to burn a haystack, you would set it alight at the bottom; and if you want a whole nation to feel the power of the gospel, it must first be received by labourers and artisans. The martyrs of England were largely taken from weavers, and such like. The people love the man “ chosen out of the people.” The Bible is their charter, the gospel is their estate, and when they know it they will retain it with heroic constancy. What is more, they will spread it. Christ’ s first preachers were of the people, and in the streets of London to-day, and in the Sunday-schools of England to-day, you will find that the people are to the front in holy work. We are glad to see the noble, the great, the rich, the cultured dedicated to our Lord, but, after all, our chief hope lies among the people. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Ministers must preach the whole gospel Dear brethren, it is forbidden us to omit any part of the gospel. I am very glad it is, for if we were permitted we should sometimes shirk the unpopular parts of it. Yet surely it would be very dangerous to omit any part of the gospel, would it not? It would be like a physician giving a prescription to a dispenser, and the dispenser omitting one of the ingredients. He might kill the patient by the omission. The worst results follow the keeping back of any doctrine; we may not see those results, but they will follow. Possibly only the next generation will fully display the mischief done by a truth concealed or denied. It would be a dangerous experiment for any one of us to make. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 5:21-26 And when they heard that they entered into the temple … But the high priest … called the council together.The characteristics of opposition to the truth The contrast is very graphic. The apostles in public disseminating the truth: the Jewish authorities at the same moment plotting in private for its suppression. The conference suggests at once the characteristics which mark opposition to the truth, and the motives by which the opponents are actuated. Sometimes, in a given conflict, the characteristics are displayed in the same natural order of development as here. At other times each mark distinguishes some individual or movement. I. Confidence (Acts 5:21). The apostles were locked up and therefore safe. It only remained to summon and sentence them. Then all would be over: the position of the authorities secured, and Christianity a thing of the past. So, in effect, have persecutors argued all through time. Christ was a babe at Bethlehem. All the babes at Bethlehem were murdered; therefore Herod was safe. Diocletian inscribed on pillars that the name of Christian was everywhere destroyed. Intellectual opponents have argued in the same way. How many times has Christianity been killed and buried from the time of Celsas and Porphyry to those of Voltaire and Tom Paine. II. Disappointment. The prison doors were locked, and the sentries were at their posts, but the prisoners were gone, So, in effect, has it ever been found. Doors do not always open and close at an angel’ s bidding to set the prisoner free; but his influence and his message finds its way somehow through the thickest walls. Paul was not less effective in a dungeon, nor was Bunyan. And though opponents may be permitted to wreak their full vengeance on their prisoner, martyrdom only enhances power. John the Baptist’ s influence is all the greater for his tragic death, and Christ lifted up on the Cross is drawing all men unto Him. Bishop Tunstall may burn Tyndale’ s Bibles, but that only provides Tyndale with the means of publishing more. III. Bafflement (Acts 5:23-24). The authorities felt themselves fairly brought to bay, and began to cherish the secret suspicion that these Galilean peasants would in the long run be too strong for them. And no wonder. The possibilities of the men for whom prison doors would open were boundless, and so they doubted whereunto these things would grow. And now the information comes that they were not only at liberty, but were doing in the most public place the very thing for which they had been imprisoned. This would only increase the bafflement. It was the same in the great persecutions of the early Church. The doubt whereunto these things would grow made even the philosophic Hadrian a persecutor, but eventually made the politic Constantine a Christian. The same doubt agitates the heathen as he sees his cherished convictions and constitutions crumbling and Christianity slowly but surely rising on their ruins. The same doubt agitates the sceptic as he sees his books dwindling in circulation and Bibles multiplying. IV. Fear. 1. Seen in the method of arrest (Acts 5:26). 2. But more powerfully in the dread lest their own imprecation, “ His blood be upon us,” should be fulfilled (Acts 5:28). “ Conscience makes cowards of us all.” Nor can it be denied that a large share of the anti-Christian attack all through the centuries is due to the fear of consequences. This will explain a good deal of its virulence. Conclusion:1. Christians must expect the truth to be opposed. “ What concord hath Christ with Belial.” 2. In spite of opposition Christians must maintain the truth. It is a sacred deposit to be defended at all costs. 3. Let Christians be animated by the thought that truth is mighty and will prevail. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 5:27-29 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council.The accusation this time is simply that the apostles had not complied with the former judgment--they were guilty of contempt of court. They had not, however, broken their parole, for they had given none, having declared that they would continue to preach in the name of Jesus. And now the judges are thinking not of truth and justice, but simply of their own safety (Acts 5:28). They believed that the apostles were working up the multitude to revenge the murder of the Saviour. It is interesting to observe how shy they were of introducing the name of Jesus; but in proportion as the rulers avoided it, the apostles proclaimed it. It was a stone of stumbling to the former which might grind them to powder: it was a strong tower to the latter, into which they ran and were safe. Peter’ s reply to the question was, “ We ought to obey God rather than men.” Whence had this man this wisdom and this courage? How much the world owes to Peter’ s reply! It is the foundation of all true liberty. Peter’ s defence is one of the finest specimens of pleading on record. It is clear and cogent; it is very short, but long enough. The speaker says all that is needful, and then stops. In this short space he defends himself, confounds his adversaries, and commends Christ. The address assumes the form of a syllogism which would not have been so remarkable on the lips of Paul, but which we are surprised to find in the unpremeditated defence of a simple and impetuous fisherman. After announcing the general principle that wherever God claims obedience man’ s claim must stand in abeyance, he shows that this case comes under the rule. The God of our fathers he takes care to trace all up to the God of Israel whom the Sanhedrin acknowledged--“ raised up Jesus whom ye slew.” The point of the arrow is at their breast again. In one sense he is in their power; in another they are in his. “ Him God hath exalted.” He pillories the priests as enemies of God and crucifiers of the Messiah. But this is not the dictate of revenge. He is feeling for an opening into the consciences of the judges, that he may introduce the gospel; and therefore now offers through the exalted Prince and Saviour remission of sins. The preachers have an eye to the magistrates, the bystanders, the officers, the young advocates, such as Saul of Tarsus, who might be hanging about the court. And who shall tell whether Saul, through Peter’ s word, received an arrow into his heart which would not out for all his intemperate zeal until he surrendered at Damascus. The witnesses were careful to sow beside all waters, not knowing which might bear fruit. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The apostles persecuted I. The arrest by the council. The arrest of Peter and his brother apostles took place at the instigation of the council before whom they were brought. It was the intent of the rulers to make the new doctrine odious by making its teachers criminals. Thus reasoned the rulers. Moreover, they believed that truth confined behind bars and stone walls could not be very dangerous. But how little they understood the nature of the truth! There is a vitality in ideas utterly beyond the power of man to conceive. When once they are fully grasped by and instilled into the mind they become living, permanent influences. The teachings were safely lodged in men’ s hearts outside the prison, and not confined within the prison. The rulers also made the mistake of supposing that they could prevent the growth of the gospel by the power of authority. “ Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this Name?” They had no doubt as to their power to suppress it. But human authority takes no account of the intense enthusiasm which truth inspires in men who believe it, and the degree of self-sacrifice which it can evoke. You can never be sure that your authority has stopped up all loopholes of escape. You can never be sure that your authority can inspire fear enough to terrify the advocate of it into silence. II. Peter’ s reply to the council. Here was another instance in which Christ’ s words were to come true, for He had said some time previously, “ But when they shall deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak” (Matthew 10:19). Peter, in his reply, admitted the truth of the charges. The apostles had indeed refused to recognise the authority of the council, because they recognised a higher authority. “ We ought to obey God rather than men.” Peter, however, goes still farther. Not satisfied with merely answering their charges, he assumes the aggressive by re-affirming the doctrines he had been teaching the people, and boldly sets forth the claims of Christ. There is no shadow of a spirit of compromise in his words. Peter makes the startling announcement that Christ was a Prince. “ Him bath God exalted … to be a Prince.” Peter, nevertheless, unflinchingly declared the new truth, that salvation was not in a system, but in a man. There was one more step necessary to complete Peter’ s argument, which was that he and his fellow apostles had irrevocably committed themselves to these truths. “ We are His witnesses of these things.” Thus the reply of Peter’ s threw the necessity of action upon the council. III. The release by the council. They began in bluster and ended in ignominious defeat. Gamaliel, the master mind among them, rises to state his position, having first, however, secured a temporary removal of the apostles. In private session he pleads for caution, his fundamental ground being that they cannot decide upon the merita of the case. They cannot tell yet whether this new movement is of God or of man. If it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; if it be of man, it will come to an end of itself. They had had two marked instances in their own history of the schemes of men coming to an untimely end-namely, those of Theudas and Judas. This incident in the history of the early Church clearly shows two or three things which it is well to note. And one is that ideas cannot be suppressed by persecuting their advocates; and yet the world is very slow in learning this lesson. To shut Peter in jail is no answer to the doctrine he taught, that salvation is of Christ. Fanatic, dreamer, bigot, heretic, are names freely hurled against individuals who are doing what they can for their fellow-men. But these titles have no more power to prevent thought or action than a thistledown can keep back the tides. The personal equation in persecution makes it the infernal thing it is. Another thing to be remarked is that persecution serves the hated truth a good turn by causing it to be clearly stated before the public. If you will consider the causes that called forth four of Peter’ s sermons, you will find that; it was the opposition or doubt of unbelievers. (E. S. Tead.)Did we not straitly command you.., and behold ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine.--Fidelity under intimidation Basil being offered the alternative of con, forming to the Arian creed or of resigning his bishopric, he answered the prefect, who was interrogating him, with calm dignity, that he could not obey the emperor’ s will, “ because it was inconsistent with that of his Sovereign Lord, and he could not worship any human creature, being himself a subject of that Lord, and commanded to be like Him.” “ Do you know his dignity to whom you speak?” asked Modestus. “ I do,” was the reply, “ and I respect it, but that of God is greater. We are both His servants, and among Christians greatness depends not upon rank, but upon faith.” The prefect threatened him with pains and penalties. The bishop smiled as he answered, “ What are such threats to me? He who has nothing to lose can scarce fear confiscation, and I have no possession save these mean garments and some few books. Neither does he fear exile who counts no spot on earth his home, being here but a pilgrim and sojourner, seeking safer place of rest; heaven is my home. Nor do I fear torture; my frail body would endure but little--you could strike but one blow, and my pain is past; I should but depart the sooner to Him, for whose service alone I am willing to live, and after whom my soul yearns.” Modestus could not forbear expressing his surprise at the boldness of the bishop’ s speech. “ Perhaps,” was the answer, “ you have not before met with a Christian bishop, or under such circumstances you would have found the same conduct.” The emperor yielded, and, his child being dangerously ill, the Empress Dominica even sought Basil’ s prayers on the young Galatus’ behalf. Acts 5:29 We ought to obey God rather than man. Ought The word “ ought” is but an old past form of the verb “ owe” ; it is, in fact, but another spelling of “ owed.” What, therefore, we ought to do, we owed to do; what we ought to be, are owed to be. To God we owe our lives; we ought to pay Him with our lives. What we owe to our fellow-man, is that which we owe it to God to do for an honoured creature of God. We ought to do it because we owe to do it. And yet we go on saying we ought to do and we ought to be, never thinking that what we ought we owe, and that what we owe we do not pay! (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Ought is the word which sets forth the sense of duty. It differs from all the other words of the language save those of cognate meaning--a word without moods, tenses, conjugation, above time, space, and circumstance, a word like eternity, perfect and complete in itself. Ought! Whence came it? Not from time, for it is not subject to the laws of time as other words; it is a stray word from eternity. In virtue of this word, the central word of conscience, man is in eternity, and eternity is in man. This word “ ought,” or, if you like, the truth which this word symbolises, the momentous truth of duty and obligation, is a “ great light” hung up in the sky of the soul for ever; and however bright the lustre of the sun in the material firmament of the senses, it pales by the side of the exceeding brightness of the “ great light which rules the day” in the inner heavens of the spirit. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)Obedience to God I. Its necessity.1. Commanded (Deuteronomy 13:4; Deuteronomy 10:12).2. The condition of acceptance with God (Exodus 19:5; Jeremiah 7:23).3. The condition of securing God’ s help (Exodus 23:22; Deuteronomy 7:9).4. Expected of God’ s people (Deuteronomy 27:9-10).5. More than burnt-offerings (1 Samuel 15:22).6. A fit return for God’ s mercies (1 Samuel 15:24).7. Must obey God rather than man (Acts 4:19-20; Acts 5:29).8. Exhorted (Jeremiah 26:13; Jeremiah 38:20).9. A proof of friendship to Christ (John 15:14). II. What it includes.1. Obeying God’ s voice (Exodus 19:5; Jeremiah 7:23). 2. Obeying God’ s law (Joshua 1:7; Isaiah 42:24).3. Bringing every thought into obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).4. Obeying the gospel (Romans 1:5; Romans 6:17; Romans 10:16).5. Keeping God’ s commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). III. How to be rendered. Should be--1. From the heart (Deuteronomy 11:13; Romans 6:1).2. Willingly (Psalms 18:44; Isaiah 1:19).3. Faithfully (Joshua 22:2-3).4. Undeviating (Deuteronomy 28:14).5. Constantly (Philippians 2:12). IV. Motives to.1. Promises to (Exodus 23:22; 1 Samuel 12:14-15; Isaiah 1:19). 2. Blessedness of (Deuteronomy 11:27; Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Luke 11:28; James 1:5).3. Disobedience punished (Deuteronomy 11:28; Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Joshua 5:6; Isaiah 1:20). (S. S. Times.)Obedience to God The proposition is one which receives an unanimous assent. It is a truth seen by intuition. If there be a God, and He has any will respecting our conduct, we ought to obey Him. We owe Him obedience on every account. He is our Maker, Proprietor, Benefactor, and a Being infinitely perfect, incapable of willing anything inconsistent with the strictest rectitude. We ought to obey Him. Ought we! Then why have we disobeyed Him? Out of thy own mouth will lie judge and condemn us. But since there are mistakes as to what obedience is and is not, let us-- I. Draw some distinctions.1. The mere doing of what God commands does not constitute obedience, unless we also abstain from what He forbids. Negative precepts are as obligatory as positive precepts. 2. Obedience must be universal. It must not only have respect to all that is forbidden and required. The same reasons exist why we should be conformed to the whole will as to any part of the will of God. If, therefore, any one disobeys God in any respect, he forfeits the character of obedience; and hence it is written, “ cursed is every one who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” 3. To obey God is not simply to act according to His will, but because it is His will. An accidental conformity of the will of man to the will of God is not obedience. It must be intentional. An atheist may do what God requires, but you would not therefore say that he obeys God. A man may do some things which God requires from some inferior consideration. Thus some are scrupulously honest, because dishonesty is disgraceful, or an inherent principle of integrity, and not out of regard to the Supreme Lawgiver. The very same elements go into the constitution of filial obedience. A dutiful son is one who does what his parent instructs, not because it falls in with his own inclination, or because he is to gain anything by it, but out of regard to the will of his parent. It is apparent, then, that there may be a great deal of morality and right acting among men where there is no obedience to God. 4. A doing according to God’ s will, out of a regard to God, does not alone constitute obedience. It depends on the nature of the regard. The regard may be servile--dread of the effects of God’ s displeasure at disobedience. It may be mercenary--expectation of reward for obedience. But the regard that is had to God in all acceptable obedience is the union of respect and love. 5. Obedience, to be acceptable, must be internal as well as external. External actions are really but the expression of obedience. In what is the law of God summarily comprehended but in a twofold exercise of the heart? “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.” All pious and charitable acts must, in His account, pass for nothing, unless they are the expressions of love, the obedience of the heart II. Characteristics of obedience. It must be--1. Constant; not occasional and interrupted. There exist the same imperative reasons why God should be obeyed at all times, as at any time. And the love of God, the principle of obedience, is not a fitful and feverish excitement, but a regular and healthful pulsation. 2. Unconditional. We ought to obey God, whatever the difficulty, the circumstances, or the consequences. There is no power of dispensation. And yet how many exceptions are taken on the mere score of inconvenience--e.g., as regards the Sabbath law. And must the laws of the great and dreadful God, whose majesty is such that all nations are before Him as nothing, bend to human convenience? What! is it our duty to obey God only when it is convenient and agreeable, or when it does not seem to interfere with any of our secular interests? 3. Supreme and primary, and not subordinate and secondary. This obligation takes the precedence of every other. They must bend to it. It will bend to none. Whoever is disobeyed, God must be obeyed. 4. Immediately, without hesitation. Delay is disobedience, even though it should be accompanied with the determination to obey hereafter. Is God’ s law fulfilled by good resolutions and dutiful purposes? 5. Unquestioning. We have no right to ask the reason of His commands, or their utility. It is enough that He commands. Some little Sunday-school girls were questioned in reference to the petition, “ Thy will be done,” etc. “ How do angels in heaven do it?” “ Immediately,” said one; “ actively,” said another; “ unitedly,” replied a third; and then there was a pause, when one little girl said ‘“ without asking any questions.” 6. Submission. The reasons for obedience to God’ s perceptive will are the same as those for submission to His providential will. “ Thy will be done,” means “ be Thy purposes accomplished, as well as be Thy commands obeyed.” 7. Sinlessness is necessary to the perfection of obedience, but not to its reality. Yet the desire and prayer, and aim and effort, and struggle to be free from it is. (W. Nevins, D. D.)Three classes of people I. The spirit of the believer. This is shown in the conduct of the disciples under persecution.1. A working spirit. As soon as set free, they are found in the temple at work for Christ. 2. A conscientious spirit. “ We ought “ is the principle controlling their conduct. 3. A witnessing spirit. Notice how strong and how clear is their testimony (Acts 5:30-32). 4. A rejoicing spirit (Acts 5:41). They were glad at the privilege of suffering for their Master’ s cause. II. The spirit of the unbeliever. Notice how this stands in marked contrast with the believer’ s spirit.1. There is the fear of men (Acts 5:26). While the apostles are fearless of popular opinion, their persecutors are fearful, and stand in awe of the people’ s wrath. 2. There is hatred against the truth (Acts 5:28; Acts 5:33). These men were not sincere seekers after the truth. The truth was the particular object of their enmity. 3. There is the spirit of persecution (Acts 5:40). Either the disciples were right or they were wrong. If they were wrong, the priests’ party need have no rear--their cause would come to naught. If they were right, it was a crime to beat them. But to repress truth by violence has been the aim of persecution in all ages. III. The spirit of indecision. This we observe in the counsel of Gamaliel. His plea may be interpreted as the utterance of a noble toleration or of an unprincipled expediency; perhaps both elements entered into it. Obedience to God rather than man A stern father one day, when he came home from his business, heard a noise as if some one were talking in his little boy’ s room. He asked his wife what it was. She told him it was Johnnie praying. This made him angry. He told his little son, in a decided tone, that if he dared to do it again he must leave the house and find another home. Like Daniel, dear Johnnie knew all he must suffer; but he determined to keep on praying. The next day his father came home and found him praying again. He went at once to his little room, and in a gruff voice said, “ Pack up your things and be off. I’ ll not have any of your praying in my house. You shall not live with me.” And so the poor fellow packed up the little that was his, and took his bundle and walked downstairs to say “ goodbye.” He went first to his mother and sister, and gave them the “ good-bye” kiss; and then, with a full heart, he leaned over the cradle and pressed his quivering lips to those of the little one he loved so much. His mother stood by weeping. How could he part with her? At last, throwing his arms around her neck, and with tears in his eyes, he sobbed, “ Good-bye, mother!” And then the little hero turned kindly to his stern father, and, holding out his hand, said, “ Good-bye, father.” But the father could not bear it any longer. He could not keep the hot tears from his eyes. No, he could not, after all, drive away his noble boy. “ Johnnie, you need not go now. Pray for me. I have been a wicked man to try to keep you from praying. I was wrong; you were right in praying. Oh, pray for reel” was all he could say. And Johnnie did pray. Yes, and the father prayed too. He became a converted man, and loved, with his family, to bow before the mercy-seat. (E. P. Hammond.)Obedience to God in spite of danger One Saturday there was a little boy named Jamie Brown pushing along the road on his way home. He had only travelled about a mile, when, at a turn of the road, three or four very wicked boys, who disliked him for going to church, and refusing to join them in mischief, came rushing out from a clump of trees with a fierce bull-dog, and said, “ Brown, you must say the bad words we tell you before you go another step, or we’ ll send the dog at you.” And then they began to swear, and speak the worst of words. Now there was one thing Jamie had learned at his mother’ s fireside, and that was, that it was wrong to take God’ s name in vain, and wrong to foul the tongue with bad words. But he simply said, “ Let me go; I want to get home.” “ Not one step farther,” said the biggest fellow, “ until you say these words after me. Swear this oath, and we’ ll let you go,” and he repeated wild and wicked words. “ I dare not say that,” replied the boy; “ and you have no right to ask me.” “ Swear the oath this moment, or we will let slip the dog.” “ I will not swear that oath; and you have no right to let slip the dog on me.” They gave him one more chance, and then let loose the dog. That night, as his mother and the other children sat round the fire, the brave boy told the rest of the adventure. It came into his head, as his savage persecutors were unloosing the dog, that God, who shut the mouths of the lions in the den where Daniel was, could shut the mouth of the fierce dog on that lonely road. And God did shut the mouth of the dog. The big, hulking scoundrels, more brutal than their dog, yelled it at the harmless boy. The dog barked furiously for a second or two, and went rushing up to him. But it neither bit nor offered to bite. And Jamie was delivered out of their hands. (N. T. Anecdotes.) Acts 5:31 Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.The end of the Saviour’ s exaltation Elevation is necessary to influence. Of what advantage is a candle under a bushel? While the sun is below our earth, all is dark and cold; but when he rises, he scatters his enlightening and enlivening beams. When the shrub rises up out of the ground, it requires support; but when it becomes a tree, the birds lodge in its branches. A man in the obscurity and contractedness of private life can only pour forth benevolent wishes and shed ineffectual tears. But give him pre-eminence, and thousands are protected by his power and enriched by his bounty. Take the case of Joseph, e.g. But a greater than Joseph is here. Jesus suffered from the hands of sinners; but His sufferings led to His exaltation. Some are exalted as princes who are by no means saviours. They sacrifice the lives of their subjects to save their own; but He sacrificed Himself for the welfare of His subjects. They are princes of war; but He is “ the Prince of peace.” They are princes of death; but He is “ the Prince of life.” They are princes and destroyers; but He is “ a Prince and a Saviour.” Let us take three views of the blessings which the exalted Saviour gives. I. Their meaning.1. What is repentance? The inquiry is necessary because of the counterfeits of repentance. Pharaoh, Ahab, and Judas repented, and yet died in their sins. An old divine tells us that “ Genuine repentance consists in having the heart broken for sin, and from it.” (1) The subject of repentance, then, is convinced of sin. He sees that it is the greatest evil in the universe. Hence he feels shame, grief, and contrition--especially when he apprehends the goodness of God. This dissolves the heart, and makes him “ sorrowful after a godly sort.” For the tear of evangelical penitence drops from the eye of faith; and faith while it weeps stands under the Cross. The pressure of these various feelings constitutes what we mean by having the heart broken for sin. (2) But the man has now new dispositions and resolutions; and hence a new course of life. He is delivered from the love of all sin, however dear before. He is freed from its dominion, and avoids its occasions. And this is what we mean by having the heart broken from sin. 2. And what is forgiveness? It does not render a man innocent. Sin contracts guilt, and guilt binds over to punishment; forgiveness cancels this obligation, and restores the offender to safety. And frequently among men forgiveness extends no further. But God takes pleasure in those whom He pardons, and indulges them with the most intimate friendship. When two individuals have been at variance, the hardest to believe in reconciliation is the offender. A man once offended Augustus, and the emperor, to show his greatness of mind, declared that he pardoned him. But the poor creature, fearing the declaration was too good to be true, desired his majesty to give him some present as a proof that he had really forgiven him. Thus anxious is the awakened mind. Such a free and full forgiveness after all his heinous provocations seems incredible; he therefore desires a token for good: and many pledges of the most perfect reconciliation the God of all grace affords. II. Their connection. This is not a meritorious connection, as if repentance deserved forgiveness, for they are both given; and how can one gift merit another? But there is between them a connection of--1. Propriety. It would not accord with the wisdom of God to for give one incapable of enjoying or serving Him--yea, one who abhors Him. If a servant or a child were to behave improperly, though goodness may incline you to pardon, you would naturally require a proper state of mind, and signs of sorrow, confession, and reformation; otherwise your forgiveness would look like connivance or indifference, and encourage a repetition of disobedience. 2. Certainty. No one ever really enjoyed forgiveness without repentance; and no one ever truly exercised repentance without forgiveness. On the other hand, “ He that confesseth, and forsaketh his sins, shall have mercy.” III. Their source. Some think repentance a very legal subject; but there never was a greater mistake. For, not to mention that our Lord “ came to call sinners to repentance,” and that the apostles “ went forth preaching everywhere that men should repent,” repentance is peculiarly evangelical. The law has nothing to do with it; it does not even command it; all it has to do with the transgressor is to condemn. It allows him neither liberty nor ability to repent; but the gospel gives him both, and Christ was exalted to effect the purpose of the gospel. And if repentance be a gift, can the forgiveness be a purchase? Hence two things follow.1. If we possess these blessings, we learn to whom we are to address our praise. “ In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” 2. If we want them, we see to whom we are to address our prayers. (W. Jay.)Exalted to give 1. The murderer is haunted by the ghost of his victim. This is a part of the sublime machinery of providence for the punishment, and so for the prevention of crime. All history teems with examples of this. Witness Herod--“ John the Baptist, whom I beheaded, is risen from the dead.” These high priests were compelled to undergo this inevitable sentence, “ Whom ye slew, God has exalted.” Their victim has risen, and the murderers tremble. They showed Him no mercy, and expect none from Him. But now that He is exalted, and His enemies in His power, instead of taking vengeance He offers remission. 2. The water is exalted into the heavens that it may give rain. In the same way He who comes as rain on the mown grass was exalted that He might give Himself as the Living Water. The exalted Giver bestows every kind of good. “ Every good and perfect gift is from above.” But the fundamental benefit, without which all others would be of no avail, is the twin gift promised in our text. 3. Repentance and forgiveness constitute one entire redemption. These two God has joined as He has joined the right and left sides of a body to make one organised life. To separate them is to destroy them. Forgiveness is an act of the Supreme God, repentance the act of sinful man, and yet both are the gift of the risen Redeemer. It is not like two portions of an extended straight line, but like two halves of a great revolving ring--as it goes rapidly round it seems as if this half were impelling that, and sometimes as if that were impelling this. From one point of view repentance seems to draw forgiveness, from another forgiveness seems to work repentance. It is true Christ says, “ If any man open I will come in” ; but it is also true that no one would open unless moved by the plaintive voice, “ Behold I stand at the door and knock.” It is opening from within that lets the Saviour enter, but it is the pressure of the Saviour that causes the fastenings of the heart to give way. 4. We cannot determine the precise point at which the process begins. I do not know the point in the circle which the Spirit touches to communicate motion. All I know is that He gives it motion, and that when one point moves all move. And this wheel is like Ezekiel’ s, so high that it is dreadful. The upper part is in heaven, while its lower edge rolls upon the earth. Forgiveness is an act done by God; the official act of the Judge on the great white throne. Repentance is a rending and a melting of the heart here upon earth. The lower part of the circle is in the chambers of the sinner’ s soul, and yet every movement of a hair’ s breadth is accompanied by a corresponding movement on high. So “ there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” These two were joined in Peter’ s own experience. When he had denied his Lord, “ the Lord looked on Peter” ; that look conveyed pardon, and the repenting disciple went out and wept bitterly. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Christ an exalted Prince and a glorified Saviour I. The exaltation of christ, properly speaking, consists of four parts--His resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of God, and His coming to judge the world. It is to His sitting at the right hand of God, however, that our attention is here called. And, regarding it, three circumstances are noticed in the text.1. The dignity to which Christ is raised. (1) The expression, “ with His right hand,” does not denote the agency by which, but the glory to which He is exalted. It intimates that our Mediator enjoys Divine honour at the Father’ s right hand, exercises Divine authority, and dispenses Divine government. This is a situation which no mere creature can occupy. I admit that the divinity of Christ being necessarily unchangeable, could not, strictly speaking, be humbled or exalted. But inasmuch as He took our nature into personal union with Him, He was humbled. And when His work was finished He dropped His lowly character, but not His human nature. Clothed in it He gloriously appeared before God on our behalf, and, as the reward of His undertaking, received, at His Father’ s hands, universal authority. (2) And let none suppose that the right hand of God in heaven denotes any visible proximity to the infinite Spirit, like nearness of place in the case of a prince at the right hand of an earthly sovereign. The human nature of Jesus, indeed, requires a local residence. But who can describe His dignity and glory in heaven? “ Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power,” etc. 2. The character in which He is raised, “ a Prince and a Saviour.” (1) As a Divine person, Jesus was never deprived of His royal supremacy, and therefore could never be exalted to a dignity from which He had never descended. But there was a dignity to which, as God and man in one person, He had never hitherto been formally raised, although from the beginning He had acted as King of the Church and Lord of the Universe. But this princely office arose entirely from the covenant made between the Father and the Son, which required from the latter obedience unto death, as absolutely necessary to His being formally installed into His regal authority as King in Zion. (2) And as the nature of Christ’ s kingly office is peculiar, so also is its exercise. His law, indeed, is still the immutable rule of righteousness. But there is exercised to obstinate sinners the most marvellous long-suffering; and to believers the freest and most astonishingly gracious forgiveness, joined with the choicest spiritual blessings. Such a mode of administration can only be accounted for on the principle that a system of mediatorial authority exists, in consequence of which “ sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed “ on unbelievers; and pardon, purity, spiritual protection, comfort, and eternal glory, secured to all the faithful. (3) But Christ is not only an exalted Prince, but also a glorified Saviour. We have seen that as a Prince He completely secures the happiness and dignity of His people. Rut deliverance from sin could never have been realised unless, like the high priests of old, He had entered into the holy place, and presented the blood of His atonement as the ground of His intercession. He saves to the uttermost all that come to God by Him, because He ever lives to make intercession for them. 3. The agency of the Father in the exaltation of His Son--“ Him hath God exalted.” We are here carried back to the council of peace, the agreement of the Divine persons in reference to the salvation of men. The Father was bound to exalt the Mediator when His work of humiliation was accomplished. II. Its blessed consequences. Amongst these are the glory of God, the establishment of order and harmony in the universe, the increased light thrown upon God’ s character and designs; but what chiefly concerns us is that the exalted Saviour bestows--1. Repentance. 2. Forgiveness. Conclusion: This subject ought to be improved, especially by-- (1) Those who have good reason to conclude that they are already in possession of these blessings. Such are under infinite obligations to the God of all grace, and forget not that it flows through the channel of Christ’ s mediation; and while you admire this salvation in its rise and progress and application, forget not to pray for the continued communication of grace to your soul. Remember that faith needs to be strengthened, and repentance deepened. (2) Those who doubt their interest in Christ are here encouraged. Your very sorrow is a hopeful symptom. It is well that you feel your unworthiness; and instead of making it an argument against coming to Christ, use it as a strong argument to lay vigorous hold of Him. (3) To those who are as yet destitute of Divine grace. These are of two classes. (a) The hypocrite knows that he is not what he pretends to be. Yet, notwithstanding your aggravated guilt, you are invited to the Saviour. (b) Let the self-deceiver open his eyes to his true state and character. You say you repent; but yours is a legal repentance, which consists in a dread of the Divine wrath. Such a sorrow works death. Repentance unto life, on the other hand, is that sorrow which flows from a believing view of the atonement of Christ and of the evil of sin, as manifested in the Cross, and is recognised to be genuine only by the fruits of holiness which result from it. (W. Orr.)A Prince and a Saviour I. Note Christ’ s titles and learn their meaning.1. A Prince. This tells of-- (1) Honour as the reward of His sufferings on earth. While He was here He was treated as a felon. What presents the Prince of Wales brought home from his travels! But the Prince of Glory took home with Him His wounds only. But the shame and the rejection are now ended, and in glory Jesus is manifestly a Prince, reverenced, obeyed, and honoured. (2) Power. His is no nominal princedom--He has both glory and strength. Unto Him is given the mediatorial kingdom, which includes all power in heaven and in earth, so that He is well styled “ the blessed and only Potentate.” There is no bound to this power: (3) Dominion. If Christ is to be yours you must let Him rule over you. “ He must reign.” He claims to be Master and Lord to those who ask salvation at His hands; and is not the claim a just one? Whom should we serve but the Lord who became a servant for our sakes? It must be so, or salvation is impossible. You must accept Jesus to be a leader and a commander to you, or you cannot win the battle of life. You must yield Him loving obedience, or He will not be married to your souls. His dominion is sweetly tempered by love; so that, as the prophet writes, “ Thou shalt call Me no more Baali,” that is, “ My Lord,” with a hardness of rulership, but Ishi, “ My Lord,” because Thou art my Husband. 2. A Saviour. Observe here-- (1) The perseverance of the Lord’ s love. He was a Saviour here; He is a Saviour now that He has reached His throne. “ The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost,” and now “ He is able to save them to the uttermost,” etc. (2) The prevalence of the work He achieved here. Here He was able to save, but His salvation was not complete, for He had not yet said, “ It is finished.” Now His redeeming work is done, and saving is a simple matter to Him. (3) His approachableness. You might be abashed at coming to a prince, but you may be encouraged in coming to a Saviour. 3. Put the words together-- (1) Prince-Saviour: one who is kingly in the salvation which He brings, and deals out no stinted grace, but makes us to receive of His fulness grace for grace. (2) Saviour-Prince whose glory it is to save, whose kingdom and power and dominion are all turned in full force to achieve the work of rescuing His people. II. Approach him, then, under these two characters.1. As a Prince. And how shall we do that? (1) With the sorrowful confession of past rebellion. “ Kiss the Son, lest He be angry.” (2) Accept His great purpose and submit to His rule. He is a Prince, therefore yield yourself to be His subject. The object of His rule is to make you love God, and to be like God. (3) Surrender everything to Him. If He has redeemed you then you belong to Him; henceforth you are not your own, you are bought with a price. (4) Pay your loving, loyal homage to your Prince. Behold Him in His glory, where all the angels cast their crowns before Him, while the elders adore Him with vials full of sweet odours. 2. As Saviour. (1) Confessing that you need a Saviour. (2) Believing that He is able to save you. (3) Submitting entirely to His processes of salvation. He will not save thee in thy way, but in His way; and His way of saving thee is to make thee feel the smart and bitterness of sin, to make thee hate that sin, and so to turn thee from it for ever. (4) Trusting Him as Saviour. III. Mark his gifts.1. Repentance. This does not mean to give space for repentance, nor to make repentance acceptable, but to give repentance itself. What is repentance? (1) It is a change of mind. (a) He can give thee to change thy mind about all the past, so that the things which pleased thee shall grieve thee, that which charmed thee shall disgust thee. (b) He can also change thy mind as to the present and the future, so that instead of looking for present pleasure thou wilt find thy delight in future glory realised by faith. (2) It includes a most needful sense of sin, and the Saviour can give thee this by His Spirit. (3) He can work in thee desires after holiness and hatred of every false way; He can take the guile out of thy soul as well as the guilt out of thy life. 2. Forgiveness. (1) He can pass an act of amnesty and oblivion for all thy sin. “ I have blotted out thy sins like a cloud, and as a thick cloud thy transgressions.” (2) When full forgiveness comes it brings with it the eternal removal of the penalty. The forgiven man cannot be punished. (3) With pardon there shall come a restoration of every privilege. IV. Ask Him for these gifts.1. Humbly. You do not deserve them. You have no claim to His love, and must not set up any. 2. Importunately. Do not come with a cold heart and a trifling spirit. Come with this resolve, “ I will not leave the Cross till my sins have left me.” 3. Believingly--believing that Christ can give, and that He is as willing as He is able. 4. Now. The Romans when they meant to bring things to an issue with an Oriental tyrant, sent their ambassador to bring his answer back--yes or no, war or peace. The messenger when he saw the king stooped down, and drew a ring upon the ground round the monarch; and then said, “ Step outside that ring, and it means war; before you leave that circle you must accept our terms of peace, or know that Rome will use her utmost force to fight with you.” I draw a ring round you, and I demand an answer. Sinner, wilt thou now be saved or not? To-day is the accepted time, to-day is the day of salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Jesus Christ a Prince and a Saviour I. A Prince. According to--1. His heavenly origin.2. His Divine credentials, even when in the form of a servant.3. His glorious exaltation to the right hand of God. II. A saviour.1. Already in the manger by His self renunciation.2. On the Cross by His sacrifice.3. On the throne by His intercession. III. A Prince and a Saviour.1. If He were not a Saviour He could not be a Prince--His fairest princely ornament is His crown of thorns.2. If He were not a Prince He could not be a Saviour--the efficacy of His sacrifice depends on His Divine dignity.3. As a Prince we must honour and obey Him, and as a Saviour love and confide in Him, in order to become partakers of His salvation. (K. Gerok.)Repentance the gift of Christ The doctrine of the gospel appears to be not only that Christ taught the efficacy of repentance, but rendered it of the efficacy which it is, by what He did and suffered for us; that He obtained for us the benefit of having our repentance accepted unto eternal life; not only that He revealed to sinners that they were in a capacity of salvation by what He did and suffered for them. And it is our wisdom thankfully to accept the benefit by performing the conditions on which it is offered, on our part without disputing how it is procured on His. (Bp. Butler.)Repentance and remission of sin I. The offices of Christ the Lord in His heavenly state, or what He is exalted to be, viz., “ a Prince and a Saviour.” II. The gifts at His disposal, or what He is able to bestow, viz., “ repentance and forgiveness of sins.” Application:1. Give to Him whom God hath exalted an exalted place in your thoughts and affections. 2. Give to Him, at all times, the daily homage of your faith and love and obedience. (1) Go to Him as the only Mediator between God and man, the sole appointed medium of all your communications with the most High God. (2) Go to Him, and give heed to Him, as presenting you at once with the noblest model, and strongest motives, in every duty. (3) Go to Him farther as the authorised source and dispenser of spiritual blessings to your souls. 3. See that you value these blessings which He is exalted to bestow, and that you faithfully seek them according to His Word. 4. Take, then, the full consolation and encouragement of having such an exalted Redeemer. (James Brewster.)Repentance and forgiveness There are some who would object to this phraseology as unsound, if it were not the phraseology of Holy Writ. It appears to savour too much of legalism, both because it is repentance--not faith--with which the forgiveness of sins stands connected, and because in the statement of the two things, repentance is placed first in order. But it will be seen upon examination that here, as everywhere else, the grace of the gospel and the authority of the law are equally recognised, and that there is not the slightest sacrifice of the one of these Divine dispensations to the other. I. Repentance and forgiveness of sins are here employed to denote the whole extent of that salvation which Christ has effected in our behalf.1. Forgiveness of sins denotes it as applied to our condition. We are in a state of guilt--Liable to God’ s displeasure, and under a sentence of condemnation. But Christ by “ suffering, the just for the unjust,” procures for us “ redemption, even the forgiveness of sins.” And thus, the only thing which separated between God and us being effectually removed, we are restored to His favour, and regain a title to every blessing. 2. Repentance denotes it in reference to our character. A change of character is as essential for us as a change of condition. Though pardon and eternal life had been procured for us, yet these we could not enjoy so long as we were alienated from God, by whom that pardon was to be granted and with whom that eternal life was to be spent. And accordingly provision is made in the gospel scheme for producing the revolution in our moral nature which is thus found to be indispensable. Of this revolution Christ is the author, as He is of every other benefit. In this way our salvation is complete. 3. The circumstance that faith is not specified does not amount to an underrating of its value, or a depriving it of its just province. Repentance includes faith, not only as one of its component parts, but as its essential feature. Faith, whether considered simply as a belief in the Divine testimony respecting Christ, or as an actual embracing of Him, and trusting in Him, enters into the very substance of repentance. Note that it is the “ repentance of Israel” that is especially spoken of. They had crucified Christ. Their repentance must necessarily have mainly consisted in a transition from their obstinate infidelity to faith in Jesus as a suffering Saviour. In like-manner the predominant sin of all who have not repented, is that Christ has been offered to them, and that they have refused the offer. So that when they repent, the great thing they have to do is to open their ears and hearts to the message which the gospel brings them concerning the Saviour, and to flee for refuge in His Divine person and finished work. II. Though repentance is first in order, it does not bear to forgiveness of sins the relation of cause to effect, and is not the condition of forgiveness. Were there nothing in the passage itself to indicate this we should be entitled to explain it by what the Bible says as to the nature of repentance--viz., that it cannot meritoriously contribute to the attainment of any blessing from God; and by the general analogy of Scripture, one of whose great objects is to strip all human moralities of every thing like good desert, or in cancelling the guilt of man. But we have no occasion to wander front the text. Forgiveness comes to us from Divine mercy. Christ is exalted to give it. And, represented as His gift, it is not traced to repentance as its source. Nay, the very juxtaposition of the two benefits serves to put them on the same footing- Repentance is just as much a gift as forgiveness. And if this be so, does it not; exclude altogether the idea of forgiveness being earned or deserved by repentance and virtually prohibit us from attaching any merit to the change that is effected in our character, more than to the change that is effected in our condition? And by, teaching us to assign the whole of our salvation to the achievement of Christ alone, does it not discountenance every feeling of confidence in our own performances, and bid us cherish as profound humility, in respect to our need of repentance, as in respect to our need of forgiveness? We must therefore simply regard ourselves as the mere undeserving recipients of both. We may recognise the distinction, that while the one is bestowed upon us, the other is wrought in us; but still for neither of them must we feel indebted to any virtue or efficiency of our own. III. Repentance is indissolubly linked with forgiveness, and unless the first is wrought in us, most certainly the second is not conveyed to us. Men are very apt to overlook this. The fear of hell is felt to be so awful that they are desirous to escape from it, and the hope of heaven so delightful that they willingly entertain it. And as the gospel proposes a plan, whose tendency is to deliver from the one and to encourage the other, they cherish the expectation that, through Divine mercy, all will be well with them at last. But all this while they have overlooked that moral change without which punishment cannot be shunned, nor felicity reached. Now it requires no elaborate train of argument to demonstrate the utter groundlessness and danger of such views.1. “ God commandeth all men everywhere to repent” --Christ has said, “ Except ye repent, ye shall all perish” and, with all the rich mercy which it unfolds, the gospel gives no one the slightest ground to hope for salvation, if the exhortation to repent is neglected. And do not you perceive that this position is a proof more ample and conclusive than anything else, that repentance is essential? Men are so much in love with sin that they not only cherish the prospect of going into heaven, though unprepared for it, but resolutely shut out from their view all that the God of heaven has told them of the necessity of a moral renovation, and deliberately rest upon the grace He has manifested, while they as deliberately maintain the character with which that grace is declared by Him to be completely irreconcilable. Wherefore, I would say to all such, look to this declaration of the Apostle Peter, in which repentance is as emphatically announced as forgiveness. It is honoured by having conferred upon it the precedence to forgiveness. At any rate, so closely are the two conjoined that you cannot look upon either without seeing both. 2. And besides this, consider repentance and forgiveness as proceeding alike from Christ. He died to purchase them--He is exalted to communicate them. And could this have been the case, unless both of them had been necessary for you? If both of them are thus demonstrated to be necessary for you, upon what principle consistent with duty or with safety can you be contented with only one of them? Are not you, in rejecting the other, doing what you can at once to frustrate the Saviour’ s sufferings on the Cross, and to dishonour the power which He exercises, the mercy which He manifests, on His throne? (A. Thomson, D. D.)The salvation in Christ I. Offered by Him--as the Prince and the Saviour. II. To be appropriated by us--in repentance and forgiveness of sins. (K. Gerok.) Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Ghost. The witness of the Word and of the Spirit The book of Acts is one continuous testimony to the Ascension. As the Gospels contain the record of what Jesus began, so the Acts contain the record of what He continued “ to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). Our Lord prolongs His days, and some of the earliest of the new “ days of the Son of Man” are recorded here. This word of St. Peter sums up the witness to the Ascension in a more compendious form than any other. It unites the two testimonies--of God and man--as they are not elsewhere--united. Let us consider these as-- I. The sum of the historical testimony to the facts of the gospel. That which the evangelists afterwards wrote the apostles now preach under the inspiration of the same Spirit, viz. 1. The Divine mission of Christ. “ The God of our fathers raised up His Son Jesus.” Peter is here, and as long as we follow him in this book, a minister of the circumcision. Jesus in His preaching is the promise given to the fathers of the Jewish covenant. “ Beginning at Jerusalem “ He testifies to the council, who, however, could only receive the first principles of the doctrine of the dignity of Christ. Hence the reserve with which the holy name is always introduced. It is not God’ s “ only begotten Son,” but His “ Servant” Son, whom He raised up of the seed of David, a prophet approved of God as the other prophets were. But St. Peter did not preach only for Jews. His words are so ordered as to bear the higher and broader meaning. The “ Servant” was not only a descendant of Abraham and a prophet like unto Moses; God “ raised Him up” in a sense that has no parallel. As Divine, Christ’ s goings forth were from everlasting; as human, He was raised up by a peculiar and heavenly generation. St. Paul at Antioch takes up Peter’ s words, and gives them the wider application. 2. The death of Christ. Here also we mark the specific application to Jewish hearers. St. Peter proclaimed Christ’ s death as it could only have been proclaimed to the actual crucifiers. The same message that offered them pardon painted their crime in its most awful colours. The death of Christ is the central theme of New Testament testimony as declared by human witnesses under the direction of the Holy Ghost. As a fact, it has the largest place in the record. Here only all the evangelists unite, and wherever we turn in the later scriptures the Crucifixion is always near at hand. This, however, is a light thing compared with the meaning of the event. The “ tree” becomes the “ Cross,” and it is placed in the centre of New Testament theology. While the work of Christ’ s mission is the whole sum of truth, the Cross is the whole sum of Christ’ s work, and it is at the foot of the Cross that the apostles survey the whole truth as it is in Jesus. 3. The exaltation of Christ. Once more we mark the influence of Peter’ s hearers. Every word is chosen to mark the contrast between the act of men and the act of God. They raised Him up to the tree; God raised Him up to a glory that was the measure of His humiliation. This is the testimony of the Holy Ghost to all mankind, and in a special sense. The apostles could only witness to Christ’ s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, but the Spirit throughout the entire New Testament proclaims through the apostles that Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. II. The saving supremacy of Christ as our Prince and Saviour at the right hand of the Father. It was declared by our Lord that the Spirit should glorify Him after His departure, and one part of that office He discharged by giving Him the new names acquired by His death.1. Christ became, by His ascension, the Prince of His people. He was not that in the deepest and widest sense until He was received into the heavens. Then God highly exalted Him because of the suffering of death. 2. So also He became our Saviour, in the most comprehensive sense only, when, all His offices complete, He began His mediatorial reign. “ His name shall be called Jesus,” said the angel; and by that name He was always known. “ Unto you is born a Saviour,” said the angels; but we never hear that name given Him till now. 3. But the full significance of the new name is found only in the combination. (1) He is the Saviour of the subjects of His kingdom, and none are His true subjects who are not delivered by His power from their guilt, their subjection to sin and the empire of Satan. The whole tenor of His instructions is faithful to the one idea of the gathering out of the world a people who are saved from their sins. As He began, so He ended with the “ kingdom of heaven.” This also was the burden of apostolic testimony. St. Peter (chap. 2.) proclaims a saving grace that rescues souls from an untoward generation and adds them to the Church as saved. And the Holy Ghost everywhere bears the same testimony. The kingdom is still not of this world. (2) And He is the Ruler over those whom He saves. Absolute submission to His authority is the law of His Church--a law to which the Spirit everywhere bears testimony. Our salvation is made perfect by holy obedience. This testimony, added to the former, completes the witness to the Redeemer’ s lordship in heaven. Those who would make Him a king over all men alike are rebuked by the declaration that He is a prince only as He is a Saviour. Those who would make Him only a Saviour are rebuked by the declaration that He is a Saviour only as He is a prince. III. The salvation which our Prince in heaven bestows on man upon earth. And here St. Peter preaches, as the organ of the Holy Ghost, the “ common salvation,” to use his own phrase, in a manner that is by no means common.1. Jesus in heaven is the Giver of repentance and pardon. These two words express the whole sum of salvation provided in Christ and proclaimed in His gospel. The former comprises all that is to be wrought in man as preparation; the latter comprises all that man, thus prepared, receives from Christ’ s mercy. The two together comprise “ all the words of this life.” 2. To these things bear the apostles witness, and so does also the Holy Ghost-- (1) As the vindicator of Christ’ s claims to all who hear the gospel, but more specifically to those who obey.(2) As the revealer of Christ’ s mercy. (WB. Pope, D. D.)Christian witnesses I. The respective witnesses--the apostles in the first case, and the Holy Ghost in the second. With regard to the apostles: we may remark, that their evidence, as it will bear the strictest scrutiny, so it is worthy of universal credit.1. These witnesses must have had the strongest reasons for what they affirmed, concerning the Saviour’ s resurrection--or they would not have espoused a cause so extremely unpopular and hazardous. 2. Next to their peculiar situation--the nature of the evidence which these persons gave affords the strongest grounds of confidence. They were eye-witnesses of the fact. 3. And this is further strengthened by the number of witnesses herein concerned. 4. The place where they declared the fact strongly confirms it. They chose the spot where the event happened--the city where dwelt the very murderers of the Son of God--as the first place in which to spread their report. 5. The time which they chose also is another evidence of their integrity. While the transactions of Calvary were yet fresh in the memory of all, and while the enemies of the Saviour were still in transports of joy on account of their supposed victory, His disciples boldly declared that He was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven. II. But there is a higher kind of evidence: The Holy Ghost also (Mark 16:20; Acts 4:33).1. This He did by enabling them to work miracles in confirmation of the truth. 2. The transforming effects of the gospel on the hearts and lives of men afford us another proof. 3. Consolation and peace afforded to the mourner are also in proof. His smile makes the poor, the needy, the trembling rejoice. Conclusion:1. The evidence of an ascended Saviour gives us encouragement for faith and prayer, and love, and praise. 2. How dangerous for sinners to disobey and dishonour Him! (American National Preacher.)God’ s chosen witnesses (text, and Isaiah 43:10):--Men bear for God two kinds of testimony--in-voluntary and voluntary. I. The Jews were involuntary witnesses. They had “ the law and the prophets.” They glorified in this. But their formalism and worldliness prevented them from seeing the meaning of these oracles of God. They were called into court, as it were, by God. “ Bring forth the blind that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears” ; “ Let all nations be gathered” and confronted with these Hebrews. Who among the heathen can announce coming and far-distant events, or even show former things? But the Jews can. The law and prophets in their hands--books seven centuries old--declare the history of man from the Creation and announce the coming One--“ My servant whom I have chosen” --seven centuries in advance. You Hebrews, God said by Isaiah (Isaiah 43:8), “ with eyes but seeing not,” hold these books in your hands. “ Ye are My” unconscious, involuntary “ witnesses.” So He may say still. These Hebrews nave, most tenaciously, and often at the hazard of their lives, held fast these sacred volumes through all these centuries. Peeled and scattered over the earth, they have guarded these documents while they have misread them; “ a blind people that have eyes” --shrewd, far-seeing, and intelligent in all other matters, but perverse and ignorant in this, they have remained involuntary witness-bearers to the veracity and supremacy of God. II. Christians are voluntary witnesses in a twofold capacity--as a Church and as individuals.1. Against atheism asserting there is no God, the Church proclaims: “ There is, and we know, worship and obey Him.” 2. Against paganism, with its many gods, the Church testifies: “ The Lord our God is one Lord.” 3. Against many-faced infidelity denying that there is any revelation from God, if there is a God at all, the Church avers: “ We have. God spake at sundry times and in various ways to the fathers by the prophets. In these last days He has spoken unto us by His Son.” 4. Against those who deny the manifestation of God in three persons, the Church keeps uttering its benediction: “ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” 5. Those who deny the necessity for any atonement may hear the Church declare: “ The wages of sin is death, but we have redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins,” and see her “ showing forth His death till He come” in her holy communion. 6. To sceptics who scornfully ask: “ Where is the promise of His coming?” the Church testifies: “ We wait for the Son of God from heaven. He will appear, and then all mysteries will be solved.” 7. To Romanists who assert that there are other mediators than Jesus, the Church proclaims “ one God and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.” 8. False liberalism may say to the sinner: “ Be sincere and you need no more” ; the Church echoes her Founder’ s words: “ Except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of heaven,” and those of His beloved disciple: “ Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” (J. Hall, D. D.)The evidence from experience Does the religion of Christ stand the test of the Baconian philosophy? I. We shall probably find Christianity a religion that will submit to the test of experience, because--1. It is a religion for all men. There is nothing in Christianity narrow, exclusive, sectarian. Now how can this be unless it be put to the test of fact? The masses cannot reason closely. 2. Only by commending itself to his experience will this religion do for any man all the time. There are times when philosophy and theology cannot sustain a man. In trouble and death mere reason will not sustain him. He must then know his support. 3. The method of experience has been found to be better fitted to give an understanding of things. The world knew little of the sciences till Bacon’ s time. One pound of fact is worth a ton of argument. It is probable, therefore, that God designing a religion for all men would so arrange that it could be subjected to the most convincing test. II. Does Christianity submit itself to tests that man can try? Yes; let us observe them--1. A verification of the promises of the Bible as touching (1) charity. Ask any man who has tried charity for twenty or thirty years if it pays.(2) Prayer. 2. Let us come to the heart of Scripture. We are told that he who believes will be saved. Can we know we are saved? If there is a fact in the universe of which we may be certain, it is that Christ reveals Himself to the believer as his Saviour. III. A few questions to those who still object.1. Is mystery confined to Christianity? I will undertake to explain the mystery of the Trinity to any man who will unfold the mystery of a single seed. 2. On the testimony of a few competent witnesses we believe in the wonderful revelation of the spectroscope. Millions of competent witnesses declare that they know by experience Christianity to be true. 3. Owen finds a fossil five hundred feet down. He says that animal lived on the surface because there are sockets for eyes. Nature makes nothing in vain. It must have lived where light was. Now in man we find yearnings, hopes that nothing but immortality can satisfy. Can you believe that God made light for the eyes, but nothing for the soul? Conclusion: Many doubt the possibility of knowing the forgiveness of sins. I say to a man, “ Saturn has three rings and eight satellites.” Says he, “ That cannot be, for I have conversed with many men who have looked at Saturn, but they never saw any rings or moons.” I apply the telescope to his eye; he looks, but sees nothing. Why? He is blind. (C. D. Foss, D. D.)The test of experience There are two methods by which conclusions are reached--the method of argument and that of experience. These have their representatives in Aristotle and Bacon. By the first we are led by reason; by the second fact. Which is the better method? A farmer ploughing his field turns to the light a bit of yellow substance. He examines it. It seems to be gold. He reasons; gold has been found in the neighbourhood; the geological conditions are all favourable, and it, has the appearance and gravity of gold. This is the first method. But suppose he takes that substance to the metallurgist, and an acid is applied that will take hold of nothing else but gold. He now knows through experience that it is gold. Take the case of character: you wish to know if a man is honest. You say he looks honest, has honest associates, comes of an honest stock. Now that is all argument. But suppose his partner says, “ I know he is honest; he has been with me for twenty years.” That is the method of Bacon--experience. Is it not the most conclusive? (C. D. Foss, D. D.) Acts 5:33-42 When they heard that they were cut to the heart. Cut to the heart The strict meaning of the verb describes the action of a saw, as in Hebrews 11:37. Used figuratively, it seems to imply a more lacerating pain than the “ pricked to the heart” of Acts 2:37, leading not to repentance but to hatred. The persons spoken of are principally the high priest and his Sadducean followers (Acts 2:17). (Dean Plumptre.)Preaching to the heart What would be thought of a doctor who, when called in to a suffering patient, should not at once prescribe the best and swiftest remedy without note or comment; but should proceed to discuss the comparative merits of homoeopathy and allopathy, with sly sarcastic glances at massage, hydropathy and faith-healing, then go on to describe, negatively, all the medicines which have been, or might be given; then positively to describe a remedy recently discovered by a young German doctor, saying he was not quite certain whether it would be effectual, but it was worth trying; that, in any case, with or without medicine, the patient would probably be cured, in this world or the next, and that in the course of a few years, such is the march of intellect in this enlightened age, a better remedy would, no doubt, be discovered? Equally foolish and wrong it is for a Christian minister, standing before a congregation, all suffering more or less from mental and moral disorders, doubts and fears, sins and sorrows, ignorance and self-deceit--all hungering and thirsting after righteousness, or if not, the more needing a warm-hearted gospel of truth and love to awaken in them a sense of unrighteousness--to make the staple of his discourse a series of clever hair splitting of words with all the opinions of commentators (A B C to Z) who had tried to find out (say) what St. Paul meant, perhaps winding up with the consolatory remark, that after all, it was not so much to be regretted that the true key to his meaning had been lost, as probably, if Paul had lived now, he would not only have used different words but held different opinions! Let us learn all that grammar and theology can put into our heads, but when we go into the pulpit we go not as grammarians, theologians, scientists, or philosophers, but as preachers to speak from the heart to the heart. Our people ask for bread, not flour and “ water; for water, not oxygen and hydrogen. (R. Bruce, D. D.)The victory of the truth Whoever will not receive truth into his heart, will perhaps be pierced to the heart by the truth. Even this is a victory. (Starke.)Four characters I. The character of the chief priests and elders; persecuting the servant as they had persecuted the Lord.1. One new feature there is in this persecution. Among the impugners of our Lord’ s own doctrine the Pharisee is the more conspicuous: it is he whose hypocrisy made him dread Christ’ s discernment and holiness, and whose very orthodoxy gave a self-sufficiency to his judgment peculiarly unfavourable to the reception of the truth. But no sooner has Christ left the earth than the opposite party becomes the assailant. And most natural it was that a gospel built upon a resurrection should irritate most strongly the sect which denied that great hope of man. While it was a mere tenet they bore it with composure; when it became a statement of fact, it was at once a struggle for life and death. Great as were the faults of the Pharisee, he had a shorter path to traverse if once his steps should be turned in the direction of Christ’ s kingdom. The Sadducee was a cold, scoffing, irreligious materialist. 2. And if there be a body of professed Christians who seek to divest the gospel of its supernatural character; who resolve its whole system of duty into respectability rather than holiness and good nature rather than charity; who practically make their nest here, and leave out of sight the world to come; then that body is the type of the Sadducee of other days; and those who have seen anything of the working of that spirit will be at no loss to understand how the Sadducee should outrun the Pharisee in the bitterness of his hostility to all that is distinctive and characteristic in the gospel. The spirit of the Sadducee is in all of us by nature, struggling in us for the mastery with that of the Pharisee and the Herodian. Each of these is but the development of one attribute of fallen nature. What is the Sadducee but the man who avows his disbelief in mysteries of which we all have too feeble a grasp? And what shall we say of those who have accustomed themselves to treat everything lightly till nothing is serious, who have a jest ready for every revelation, and a scoff for every demand of duty, till at length they can neither tremble at God’ s terrors nor believe in God’ s love? The Sadducees of our day do not gather themselves together in council to judge the disciples of the Lord: they themselves use the same name, and would be indignant at the denial of the title. But they hate, none the less, and they persecute too, those who truly believe; point at them as ignorant, as old-fashioned, as righteous overmuch, as slaves of the letter, as exclusive and positive and self-sufficient. May such persons ask themselves seriously this one question, Am I certain that I shall never want Christ in loneliness and sorrow, in age and sickness, in She hour of death, and in the day of judgment? II. And when we turn from this hostility are we not struck with the existence in these days of many a Gamaliel; Of many a man who is at once observant and candid, anxious to do nothing rashly, waiting, rather to examine credentials, or even to see the end, before he pronounces himself decisively either for or against the gospel?1. These men have much in them that is attractive, and at first sight all that is reasonable. What but good can come, we might inquire, of that prudent and sensible reminder, in a time of religious excitement and enthusiasm (Acts 2:38)? And no doubt such a voice is useful. Happy the nation which has such men amongst its counsellors, when an act of hasty tyranny is in danger of treading out the spark of grace and truth! This was the part of Nicodemus, when the case of One greater than the apostles was at issue. Not long afterwards this timid and doubting ally is found testifying a love and a devotion refused by men who owe to Christ their all. 2. But yet we must not overrate a quality which has so much in it of good. Candour, moderation, an open mind and a calm judgment are useful qualities, and at certain times may rise even into great virtues. But not all of them together will suffice to save a soul. There are just a few great questions on which minds ought to be made up; on which if the evidence we possess be not sufficient for conviction, it is our first and most bounden duty to seek and to obtain more. Such a question, above all others, is that of the truth and power, of the person and work, of the Messiahship and Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To be candid on this subject is better indeed than to be prejudiced, scoffing, or hostile; but he who is merely candid concerning Christ is in danger of a life-long suspense, of an ultimate indifference. Men of mere candour, are commonly men who in great emergencies disappoint, and in critical decisions are even worse than foes. Their presence is fatal to generous impulses, to noble enthusiasms. Erasmus was the Gamaliel of the Reformation; calm, critical, deliberative, discerning: but where would the Reformation have been if beside Erasmus there had not been a Luther? If all had waited to see whether this counsel or this work was of men or of God, by watching for its issue, the blow for truth had never been struck, and a reformed faith had never emerged from the mists of Papal darkness. In details, or on subjects of minor moment, it is harmless, it is right, to be Gamaliels; but on the one great question, of having, or not having a Saviour, that man is a fool who postpones his decision, a lost man who dies without making it. III. The common people who magnified the believers though they durst not join them, and who gladly used their beneficent and healing power. These too have their counterpart amongst us, There are men and women who reverence religion, who count the Christian alone happy, who delight to profit by Christian converse and to record the triumphs of the gospel, but who yet shrink from membership. Such persons are not against Christ, nor are they yet quite with Him. They are something more than candid inquirers; something far beyond men waiting, like Gamaliel, to see the end. Would that they could be induced to take just that one step which divides them from every hope and every comfort of a Christian! Would that they could be led to become not spectators only, but inmates of the sacred porch of Solomon! Believe only, not that Christ died for some, but that He died for thee; no longer an admirer but a partaker of the promises, yea, a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the very household of God! IV. The Altogether Christian. Hear his creed as it is rehearsed in this record. I believe that I ought to obey God rather than men; that God has exalted Christ to be a Prince and a Saviour; that the very purpose of that exaltation is that He may bestow repentance and bestow forgiveness; that God for His sake gives His Holy Spirit to all who set themselves in His strength to obey. This was the faith which enabled apostles to brave persecution, nay, to rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer shame, or even death itself, for the one sufficient name in which alone is salvation. Conclusion: Who can doubt which of those four characters is the one which it would be happiest to live with, safest and most glorious to possess in death? Believe only, and it shall be yours! (Dean Vaughan.)Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation of all the people.-- Gamaliel I. It is strange how a single name here and there secures remembrance.1. It is almost as when one looks out across the sea, and upon the surface, all grey and monotonous, there comes one flash of silver. Why should that especial wave have such peculiar privilege? It is not any larger than the rest, and is made of no different water; it is simply that it happened to leap just where the sun was smiting, and so it becomes illustrious. So the sun of history shines on this great sea of human life; and the special career which happens to leap just where the sun is striking catches his glory and seizes men’ s notice and remembrance. If the man’ s life is larger than other lives, so much the better,--it catches so much more of sunshine. If it is of special fineness, made of more lustrous stuff than Other men’ s, so much the better still--it turns the sunshine into a peculiar radiance. But still the essential thing is that it should leap at the right moment and should be turned the right way. With these conditions even a very common life becomes illustrious; and without them the largest and the finest character melts back into the bosom of the humanity out of which it sprung, unnoticed, unremembered. 2. These illustrious men when they appear are of more than merely phenomenal value. In their illumination the whole mass of humanity finds its illustration and understands itself. Each of them becomes the representative of some smaller group, to which he almost gives his name. Often, indeed, it is only a degenerate caricature of the higher nature which they present. The dogmatist names himself by the great name of St. Paul. The feeble sentimentalist counts himself the twin-brother of St. John. The dainty sceptic, dabbling in unbelief, takes the name of earnest, puzzled, simple-souled St. Thomas to himself. But, after all, there is a constant tendency in their association with the highest types of their several natures and tendencies to draw them upward and to make each of them a more worthy expression of his characteristic qualities than he could be if he knew it only in himself. In this truth lies one of the greatest advantages of the study of the representative men of human history. 3. I ask you to turn to the story of a man whose name flashes for a moment as the light of the New Testament history falls upon the life of Jerusalem at the beginning of the Christian Church. The flash is only for a moment, and yet the impression which it leaves is very clear. He is peculiarly a representative man, and the nature which he represents is one which appeals peculiarly to our modern life. II. Let us recall the history of Gamaliel. He was one of the most famous teachers of the Jewish law.1. All Jewish history declares that he was one of the ablest of the learned men of the nation. There were two schools among the Jews--that of Shammai, which was strict and narrow; and that of Hillel, which was liberal and free. Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, and belonged to his school. He was one of the few rabbis who allowed their students the study of Greek literature. He taught that all persons engaged in works of mercy, duty, or necessity, should be exempt from the more stringent Sabbatical traditions; he bade his disciples greet even the pagans on their feast-days with the “ Peace be with you.” In ways like these he showed the largeness of his spirit, and the people loved him. He was one of the seven among the Jewish doctors who alone have been honoured with the supreme title of Rabban. He lived to a good old age, and died about 60 a.d.2. In the New Testament Gamaliel appears twice, and both times in the most interesting way. (1) As a great preacher of toleration. Every great teacher and scholar ought to be aware of the mystery and of the mightiness of Truth, and therefore be prepared to see Truth linger and hesitate, and even seem to be turned back, and yet to keep a clear assurance that Truth must come right in the end, and that the only way to help her is to keep her free, so that she shall be at liberty to help herself. There is something in Gamaliel which reminds one of Milton. The one, like the other, seems to feel that any attempt to help truth save by securing her liberty is impertinent; that all attempts to make truth strong either by disarming her enemies or by choosing for her what weapons she shall fight her battles with, is not a homage to her strength, but an insulting insinuation of her weakness. The scholar of Truth must trust Truth; that is Gamaliel’ s ground. (2) And this character has close connection with the fact that he was the teacher of St. Paul. Such a teacher as that has a special interest. He is one of those men who give other men the chance to make history rather than make it themselves. They themselves are almost of necessity relegated to obscurity. The very splendour of the career of their pupils makes it impossible for the world to see them; as the flash of fire from the gun’ s mouth, and the rush of the burning shell on its tremendous way, makes it impossible to see the gun itself in whose deep heart the power of the explosion was conceived and born. (a) We can picture to ourselves Gamaliel watching Paul, and we can think of the calm large-minded teacher following the career of his fiery-hearted scholar, and, however he disagreed with what he thought his delusions, rejoicing in his faithfulness and force. (b) And if we look the other way, there are few things finer than to see the reverence and gratitude with which the best men of active life look back to the quiet teachers who furnished them with the materials of living. Even from the midst of his missionary journeys, and his prison in Rome, we are able to believe that St. Paul looked back to the lessons of faithfulness and generosity which he had learned of the great teacher of his youth. (c) There are some of us whose work in life seems to assume mainly this character. Parents, teachers, quiet helpers of other lives, it seems as if we were rather providing other souls with the conditions of living than living ourselves. In the apparent stationariness of much of our experience, seeing life flow by us, as the river flows by the tree, it is good to live thus by the life to which we try to minister, as the tree lives by the river whose waters it at the same time does something to colour and to direct. (3) But there is a larger view of Gamaliel than this. He has his relation not merely to St. Paul, but to the whole opening history of Christianity. There are some men whose whole influence is to keep history open, so that whatever good thing is trying to get done in the world can get done. The counsel of Gamaliel seems to point him out as being such a man. There are men who seem to shut up a community, so that, as far as their influence extends, if a new thought were waiting to be spoken or a new deed all ready to be done, it would be thrown back and made hopeless. Was not this exactly what Jesus charged upon the Scribes and Pharisees: “ Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. Ye neither go in yourselves; neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” ? They made great deeds, fresh thoughts, enthusiastic consecration to first principles appear impossible. There is a still stronger instance of the same blighting power in the record that Jesus “ could there do no mighty work, because of the people’ s unbelief.” It was possible for men so to shut up a whole district of the land that even Christ’ s marvellous power could not do its work there. And in our little circles are there not men so distrustful of the higher impulses, men so unbelieving and so scornful, that we see the young people, the earnest people, shut up their lives before them as the flowers shut up at night; and there is no hope for any great thing to be done or thought while they are there. I do not mean the sober, thoughtful, accurate, critical men who act like the healthy frost, which kills the gnats and mosquitoes, but makes every higher being live with a fuller life; but the men who are set upon making all the world live in their way, and who have no real faith in God, nor therefore in man. But there are other men who, not doing themselves perhaps great deeds, seem to make great deeds, or a least to make great life, possible. Such men, in our community, in our family circles, in our own little groups, whatever they are, any of us may be. We cannot make the wind to blow,--it bloweth where it listeth; but we can keep the windows open, so that when it blows the chambered life about us shall not fail to receive its freshness. III. Gamaliel believed in God.1. To him, surrounding all that man does and working through it, there is God. And with God are the final issues and destinies of things. Work as man will, he cannot make a plan succeed which God disowns; work as man will, he cannot make a plan fail which God approves. That is a noble and distinct faith. These words of Gamaliel are the words of all progressive spirits. They were the words of Luther, who opened Europe and made the best of modern history a possibility. Fitly do they stand to-day carved upon the pedestal of his great statue at Wittenberg. 2. Nobody can doubt that Gamaliel went back from the Sanhedrin to teach with all his might that Christianity was wrong. He had his thoughts, and he upheld them. He said, “ This is the truth” ; only, as he said that, he must have said also to his scholars--young Saul of Tarsus sitting there among them “ There are men here in Jerusalem--earnest, brave, enthusiastic, wofully deluded, as I think--who are asserting that the Christ has come, and that His reign has begun. I think these men are wrong. I give you my reasons. By and by you will see their fanaticism wither and dry up because no life of God is in it. But now let them alone. Believe your truth, assert it, prove it, live it: so will you do your best to kill this folly.” That was Gamaliel. That is the true spirit always. Men do not flee out of the furnace of bigotry only to freeze on the open and desolate plains of indifference. You believe, and yet you have no wish to persecute; and any reader of the history of faith--nay, any student of his own soul--knows how rarely these two conditions have met in perfect harmony. 3. Persecution sounds like a bygone word, and yet all persecution has not passed away. Social ostracism comes in to take the place of the more crude and violent punishments of other days, and persecution lingers still in a form yet more subtle--in the disposition to attach disastrous consequences in this world or the next to honest opinions which we hold to be mistaken; the desire to fasten ripen intellectual convictions those stigmas of wickedness which can belong only to personal character. When that last form of terrorism shall have passed away, then persecution will have finally perished. Man will cease persecuting his brother man, partly because he will outgrow the wish to persecute, but partly also because he will see how useless it is to persecute. We shall come in the end to welcome all the honest and earnest thought of men, partly because we see the good of it, however it differs from our own, and partly because we cannot help ourselves. It is by the combined forces of these two causes that every great progress of human thought has taken place. 4. And when all persecution goes, there will come a chance and a demand for the two forms of human influence which will then have all the work to do. When you have thoroughly believed that it is both wrong and useless to try to frighten your fellow-man out of his faith trite yours, then what remains? First, you may argue with him, tell him why you believe, show him how unreasonable his unbelief or his fanaticism is. And if you cannot argue, or if your friend is one to whose mind arguments bring no conviction, then you must live your faith. And then just trying to live out its own life, to turn its own assured belief into obedient action, gradually other people become aware that the true soul is bearing a witness to truth which must have power. In a live State the soldiers have their useful duty, but it is not the soldiers who make the State’ s true strength. Its faithful citizens, ,living their industrious lives within its institutions, which their lives are always filling with life, they are the true defenders of the State, making it strong, and making its strength impressively manifest to all the world. So the great faith needs learned reasoners; but it needs obedient servants and disciples more. 5. And that brings us back to Gamaliel. Was he, then, right? Could he then, can a man to-day, leave all to God and be quietly sure that He will vindicate the truth? A thousand fluctuations in the varying battle make us doubt. Many and many a time it seems as if between the error and the truth it were merely a question of which had the cleverest men upon its side. And yet you know that, if there be a God at all, Gamaliel was right. There must be time, there must be patience; but the real final question of two trees is the question of their roots. That which is rooted in God must live. The final glory of Gamaliel lies there. He believed that God was the only life of this world, that all which did not live in Him must die. We do not know whether Gamaliel ever became a Christian. The legends say that he did. History seems to say that he did not. But at least we know that if we have rightly read his character and story, he made the Christian faith more possible for other men, and he must somewhere, if not here, then beyond, have come to the truth and to the Christ Himself. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)The speech of Gamaliel at the Sanhedrin Note here-- I. Good oratory neutralised by a corrupt audience.1. The speaker. (1) His ability and position. Some suppose him to be the son of Simeon, who took the infant Jesus in his arms, and the grandson of Hillel, both famous Jewish doctors. The exalted title of Rabban was given him for his great wisdom. He had been president of the Sanhedrin, and was the tutor of St. Paul. He was popular too--“ had in reputation among all the people.” All this would give weight to his oratory, which would be wanting in a less distinguished man. (2) The course he recommended. Had he urged some abstract proposition, or a difficult or dangerous course of action, one need not have wondered at the ineffectiveness of his address; but the course he recommended was most reasonable and easy, “ Refrain from these men,” etc. (3) The argument he employed. (a) If the movement was undivine, opposition was unnecessary--it would come to nought of itself. In support of this, first, he gives facts referring to Theudas and Judas. Secondly, he states a principle--viz., that the human would perish and the Divine flourish. The argument is ad hominem, his hearers on their own principles were bound to take his advice. They professed to regard the new religion as an undivine thing and therefore need not take the trouble of opposing it. (b) If the movement was of God, opposition would be futile and impious. Attempts to crush the cause of God are as futile as attempts to roll back the tides of the ocean, or reverse the course of the planets--worse than futile, it is fighting against God. (4) The impression he produced--“ To him they agreed.” They could not but feel the force of his arguments. 2. So far, Gamaliel’ s speech seems powerful, and one might have thought that he would have gained his end. But no; they pursued their course of persecution (verse 40). What rendered this oratory so ineffective? The character of the audience. Prejudice warped their judgment and malice inspired their hearts. The eloquence of a discourse depends upon the mind of the auditory. Hence what is felt to be eloquence in one audience would not be in another. He is the most eloquent man in his sphere who advocates the wishes of his hearers: otherwise, though he reasons with the logic of Aristotle, and declaims with the power of Demosthenes, his eloquence will not be felt. Paul was a babbler at Athens. Let, then, hearers who would benefit free their minds from prejudice and listen with candour; and let speakers be above pandering to low tastes and sectarian sympathies. II. Culpable indifference justifying itself by plausible logic. The non-intervention here recommended may in some aspects admit of justification. Statesmen, e.g., have no right to interfere with the religious opinions and movements of the people, so long as there is no infringement of the rights of others. The conscience is sacred to God. Men may argue, but not coerce. Again, the advice may be justified on the ground of social philosophy, supposing Gamaliel believed Christianity to be an imposture. The way to give social power to error is to persecute it. But looking at it in a broad light the councillor displayed a reprehensible moral indifference. Because--1. As a man, he was bound to satisfy himself whether the apostles’ cause was of man or of God by honest investigation. 2. He had abundant evidence to satisfy himself on the question. 3. If it was the work of God he was bound to go heart and soul into it. We cannot therefore but regard his argument as formularised to apologise for his indifference. In this respect he is a type of a large class whose policy is to allow things to take their course and settle themselves whether true or false. III. A test by which the divinity of Christianity is established. “ If it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it.” Christianity has not been overthrown, but has gone on conquering and to conquer. IV. An example of the all-conquering spirit of genuine religion (verses 40-42). Observe--1. Their exultation in ignominious suffering which can only be accounted for by-- (1) A consciousness of rectitude.(2) A supreme affection for Christ. Love rejoices to suffer for its object.(3) A recollection that their Master suffered in the same way.(4) A fresh assurance of their genuine interest in Christ. He had told them that they should suffer (Matthew 5:11-12; Matthew 10:17-22). 2. Their invincibility in prohibited labour. No power could break down their holy purpose. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Gamaliel’ s counsel I. A good counsel.1. As a rule of judgment when we see the end of God’ s ways. Then at last it shall certainly hold good. “ Every plant which My Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.” 2. As a rule of conduct when carnal zeal will resort to carnal weapons in spiritual matters; and when no light has arisen as to whether a work be of God or man. In this sense Luther applied this counsel to the Elector of Treves as one undecided. II. A bad counsel.1. As a rule of judgment when, in the midst of the imperfect course of the world, good and evil are judged according to their external and temporary success. As a rule of conduct, when it is transformed into a pillow of laziness, to get rid of an inward and earnest decision, when God’ s Word speaks distinctly enough, and God’ s Spirit points clearly enough; and to avoid courageous acting and energetic witness-bearing, when we are really decided. (K. Gerok.)Gamaliel’ s counsel I. A good counsel.1. Of humility before God, the Supreme Judge.2. Of charitableness toward our neighbour who thinks differently, and perhaps erroneously.3. Of watchfulness over our passions. II. A bad counsel.1. Of a policy judging only according to outward success.2. Of a toleration toward that which is evil.3. Of an indifferentism undecided in itself. Conclusion: Better the deed of the apostles than the counsel of Gamaliel. (K. Gerok.) Acts 5:36-37 Before these days rose up Theudas. Theudas: an ancient personage with modern lessons Who Theudas was I do not know, and have carefully refrained from inquiring. Biographical details are of small importance when we are in search of substantial principles. The point of this passage lies in the fact that Theudas was a wholly insignificant person, just like a thousand other men who have made a noise in their day, drawn the gaze of the world for a few hours and then passed into silence and oblivion. The apostles are summoned before the council which has already resolved on their death. Then stands up Gamaliel--the teacher of Paul, a man “ had in reputation among all the people” --and reads the excited Sanhedrin a lesson out of their own national history. He says in substance: “ This alarm, this hurrying to and fro, this calling for the scourge and the dungeon, this breathless haste, is all the result of narrow vision and small outlook. Our own time is not the first to witness startling movements. ‘ Before these days rose up Theudas,’ and drew four hundred men after him. Yet that uprising which seemed so terrible has been almost forgotten. Wider horizon would make us calm. Learn the lesson of your past. God’ s great plan moves through the ages to its sure accomplishment. If this new teaching be not of Him, it will be like all the rest--a mere noise followed by a great silence. But if God is behind this teaching--beware lest haply ye be found to fight against God.” These words may imply that Gamaliel was almost ready to embrace Christianity, or they may indicate only that he was a broad and tolerant Jew. In either case the application to our restless, eager, disputatious age is very clear. Old formulae are recast, until many souls more timid than wise, loving quiet more than truth, cry, “ Alas I what shall we do?” The true answer cannot be given either by intense partisanship or by cynical indifference. The true answer is to be found in the unfaltering faith which sees God behind the shifting panorama of human thought and action, and knows that whatever lights may cross our firmament--whether glowing planet, shooting meteor, or steady star--He calleth them all by name in the greatness of His power. I. God’ s kingdom on earth is not a novelty. The first thing for us to remember is that the kingdom of God on earth is not a novelty, Christianity is not an experiment, and that “ before these days” ten thousand similar dangers have been triumphantly surmounted. The man who is not in league with the past cannot face the future. We need to see things in large perspective, to stand off from our little immediate task, as the painter stands away from his canvas, that he may return to it with surer touch. Even in the common responsibilities of daily life some knowledge of history is quite as important as acquaintance with the multiplication table. Let the man who despairs of our political leaders to-day read the story of the attacks made on Washington in the darkest days of the Revolution. Let the man who is bewildered by the sudden influx of new knowledge, and cannot adjust himself at once to the fresh truth poured into his mind, remember the great shock given to humanity--a shock which seemed to dislocate all systems of science and all hymns of the faith--when Copernicus proclaimed that this earth, instead of being the centre of the universe, for the sake of which sun and stars were created, around which the ordered sky revolved, was but a mote floating in the boundless void, an insignificant star sending its tiny ray into the infinite darkness. The present generation is specially deficient in historical perspective. Our life has been so swift, so wholly modern, that we are intensely individual, delighting often in segregation from the past. Thus, having small background for present endeavour, we grow restless and are easily tossed by conflicting winds. History says, too, as Nature to Emerson: “ Why so hot, my little man?” The history of the Christian Church is a splendid armoury for faith. The future of Christianity does not depend on what is won or lost this morning. The success of God’ s kingdom in the earth is not staked on the success of my little scheme any more than the coming of spring depends on the success of the pansy bed in my garden. That kingdom was before we came into being, it will endure when we are gone--it is the work of Him who was, and is, and is to be, the Almighty. Behind all the men that come and go, the theories that rise and fall, stands “ God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.” II. A background of triumphant history. We are writing now, but never before, “ 1892” on all our letters, notes, deeds. These figures are vastly more than a conventional argument. They are eloquent with strong assurance. They are like a flag brought home from battle, smoke-begrimed, blood-stained, bullet-torn, but bright with its original splendid colour, and vocal with great inspiring speech. We have no right to live as did the Church of the first century, when much was tentative and experimental. We have a background of triumphant history. Steadily is the kingdom of Christ spreading from the river unto the ends of the earth. Witty and keen have been the attacks on the faith--sometimes they have purged it from excrescences, oftener they have glanced off and rebounded. The opponents of Christianity are remembered because of the grandeur of what they attacked. In this Christian land we do not accept Christian faith to see whether it is true; we accept it as we accept the earth beneath our hurrying feet and the untroubled sky that overarches all. Hence we see the place and purpose of the Old Testament, whose peculiar function is to show us that God is behind and within human history, and that all history culminates in the revelation of Jesus Christ. God’ s primary revelation is not through the speech, but through events. The Old Testament precedes the New to show us God behind and within the nation’ s life, and when we once see and believe that, a historical Saviour becomes not only credible but inevitable. III. Use of the historical in scripture. A noble Christian man recently told me that in his private reading of the Psalms he always used an expurgated edition, from which all imprecatory and otherwise objectionable passages had been expunged. Surely this is the acme of religious prudery, and the fastidiousness of one who is totally devoid of the historical sense. If we expurgate the Songs of David, why not expurgate his life also? Surely his deeds of vengeance are worse than his revengeful prayers. Then having struck out from his life all that offends our purism, and having made him the man he ought to have been but was not, we shall be ready to remodel the entire history of Israel--very much as Cibber proposed to remodel Shakespeare, making King Lear to be at last rewarded for his suffering, and making the tragedy of Hamlet to end with the death of the king and queen and the happiness of Ophelia. When we have been through the Bible and struck out the great black record of human sin, we shall have banished the shining story of redemption also. The imprecatory Psalms are as truly the expression of a certain stage in Israel’ s life, and so part of the story of redemption, as the paintings of the early Byzantine school are part of the history of Christian art. What if the faces limned by those first Christian painters are hard and wooden? They are to us the priceless expression of a great endeavour which has made Iraphael and Da Vinci possible. To lift the Psalter to the level of the Sermon on the Mount is to spoil them both. But the most practical thing is still unsaid. When a man has attained the historical point of view, when his Bible is no longer a fiat surface like a Chinese picture, but a tong vista of historical persons and events, and the great story of God’ s love for man is seen slowly unfolding through the millenniums, when a man keeps himself familiar with God’ s working “ before these days,” he will possess a spiritual poise and central peace which nothing can disturb. It is a great thing to believe in a God who watches over my life and cares for me. It is a grander thing to rest in a God whose purposes are larger and longer than any concerns of mine possibly can be. I could not admire the Hudson River if I thought its only purpose was to fill my drinking cup. I could not wonder greatly at the sun if I thought its only purpose was to shine in at my window. I need a God greater than my need. I want a Saviour far beyond my private personal lack. If I do not believe in a God who has some grander work to do than to make me happy, I shall soon cease to believe at all. I shall soon find that God does not always make me happy, and then I shall lose faith. Through all ages runs His purpose. From everlasting to everlasting His great thoughts realise themselves in the ceaseless unfolding of creation, and our highest glory is not to bend His purpose but to bend our lives into harmony with it. Has any man come here in a state of tumult and alarm, perplexed by the problems of the time, and confronted by movements he cannot fathom? I bid you think of the God who before these days has guided His Church and ever will guide. Is any man here saying: “ God has forgotten me; my plan does not prosper” ? Is your plan, then, the first thing in your desire, or God’ s plan? Is it the building of your nest or the achievement of the world’ s redemption? He is the Alpha and Omega--we are to fit in somewhere in His Divine alphabet and spell out His eternal thought. (W. H. P. Faunce, D. D.)The false prophet and the true I. The false.1. Rises up of his own accord as Theudas and Judas.2. Boasts himself to be somebody.3. Draws away the people after him.4. Falls from heaven as a wandering star. Theudas and Judas perished, and their followers were dispersed. II. The true.1. Is raised up by God.2. Does not boast of himself, but gives glory to God.3. Leads souls to the Lord.4. Will shine as stars for ever and ever. (K. Gerok.) Acts 5:38-39 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone. The witness of history to Christianity 1. Christianity was on trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin. It had then no history. Now it has an history of more than eighteen hundred years. Wisely spake that wisest of Jewish Rabbis: Let us wait awhile and see. If it be of men, no blow is needed. If it be of God, no smiting will do it any harm. Leave it to history. Such was the appeal. We are ready now for the verdict. If Gamaliel were here I would be willing to leave it all to his candid judgment. Is Christianity a success or a failure? 2. This argument from history requires discrimination. Mere age makes out nothing decisive for a religion. Religions in general are apt to be long-lived; longer-lived than civil politics. (1) Those of Egypt, of Mesopotamia, of Phoenicia, of Greece and Rome, all lasted many centuries; and, while they lasted, might have made an argument of their longevity. But they are all dead now, and nobody names either of them as a rival of Christianity. (2) Brahmanism and Buddhism vary the problem for us. Here are very old religions. What is to be said of them? This; that they are like the old dead religions in having a limited domain. Not one of them has had much strength or currency outside of its own native land. They might as well be dead. They fight no battles, win no victories. (3) Mohammedanism makes the problem a still nicer one. Here is a religion, not merely of great age, but of great expansiveness and versatility. There is truth in it, these two great truths: that God is, and rules. In less than a hundred years from its origin men were praying towards Mecca over a wider territory than the Roman eagles had shadowed in nearly a thousand years. Why was it? Partly because they had been persuaded to do so. The argument for one God was better than the argument for many gods. And so idolaters were vanquished. Then the worship was simple, and the degenerate, sacerdotal, tawdry, idolatrous Christianity of the Orient went to the wall. But had no sword been drawn, Islamism must have stayed in Arabia, or have gone but little beyond it. For idolaters the alternative was Islam or the sword. For Jews and Christians Islam or tribute. And so the crescent shot along the sky. Christianity has had no such history. Its symbol has always been a wooden cross. Now and then it has drawn the sword, as Peter drew it in the garden; but only to be rebuked, as Peter was. Its beginning dates significantly from the gift of tongues. Not sword, but sermon was to hew its way for it. It must spill no blood but its own. Nor might cunning serve it. Wolves are fierce and cunning both. The disciples of the Man of Nazareth were sent forth like sheep and doves. Such was Christianity; the Christianity of Gamaliel’ s time. Let us see now what came of it. I. Its first conflict was with Judaism, with which it should have had no conflict at all. Judaism, then fifteen centuries old, was not human, but Divine. And Christianity had come out of it, as an apple comes out of its bud and blossom. But madness ruled the hour. They hanged their Prophet on a tree, hissing that awful prayer which God has been answering ever since: “ His blood be on us and on our children.” Many Jews, as we know, passed over into the Christian Church, in all, perhaps some ten or twelve thousand within the first six years. Then their most learned and ablest Rabbi, Saul of Tarsus, went over to the new religion. And his voice rang all along the northern shore of the Mediterranean, from Damascus to Spain, in countless synagogues, entreating his countrymen to follow him. It was their golden opportunity. And they lost it. Judaism, they shouted, is final. Not Judaism, answered the pupil of Gamaliel, but Christianity. This was the point at issue. In their madness the people thought they could tear the Roman eagles from their battlements and reestablish the fallen throne of David. They tried, and failed. Judaism was shattered when, as foretold by Daniel, the oblation ceased. Since then no smoke of sacrifice has ascended from Mount Moriah. Since then the story of our Christian sacrifice has gone round the globe. And almost everywhere it finds the forsaken and scattered remnants of that ancient people, over whose city the Redeemer wept. II. The second conflict of Christianity was with the Graeco-Roman civilisation. The whole theatre of ancient history, the whole garden of ancient letters, art, and social refinement, now acknowledged the supremacy of Rome.’ Christianity she greeted with contempt and scorn.1. In this lay the safety of the new religion. It thus had chance to grow. All over the Roman Empire its roots went down into the soil unnoticed. After a hundred years its branches were in all the air. There were at least two or three millions of Christians. They were a people by themselves, sifted out of society, organised, drilled, and handled by their leaders, as no other religious body ever had been. They could no longer be ignored. And then the leaven had been working upwards, as well as downwards, among the people. The commercial middle class furnished many converts. By and by philosophers and scholars began to come over, who boldly proclaimed the new faith as the final philosophy. Christianity could no longer be despised. Books had been written in its defence, and these books must be replied to. Then there came out on the heathen side such champions as Fronto, Lucian, and Celsus, learned and witty men, attacking Christianity with every known weapon of argument, abuse, and raillery. By and by, persecution began in terrible earnest. It was, however, chiefly the work of mobs, stirred up and hounded on by men whose interests were imperilled. Of the emperors, only Nero and Domitian, and they for reasons of their own, had dipped their hands willingly in Christian blood. Now, soon after the middle of the second century, persecution began to be a part of the imperial policy. It was assumed that the old Roman religion was essential to the welfare of the Roman State. It was seen that Christianity was getting the better of that old Roman religion. Bad emperors, like Commodus and Heliogabalus, who cared nothing for the welfare of the State, let the new religion alone. Able, patriotic, high-toned emperors, like Marcus Aurelius, Decius, and Diocletian, could not let it alone. Those were times of awful agony when the powerful Roman Empire, shutting the gates of the ampitheatre, leaped into the arena face to face with the Christian Church. When those gates were opened, the victorious Church went forth, with the baptism of blood on her saintly brow, bearing a new Christian Empire in her fair, white arms. It only remained for heathen frenzy to contest this verdict of Providence, as Jewish frenzy had contested the verdict of Providence in Palestine. Philosophers had been for some time at work, elaborating what we call the New Platonism, a strange conglomerate, which taught one God in the lecture-room and many gods in the market-place; which discoursed loftily of union with God; and stooped to magical arts. This was the informing spirit of that notable reaction and revival of heathenism which found a fit champion in Julian, who, burning with zeal for the old religion, resolved to put the new religion down. Did he do it? In less than two years after mounting the throne of the Caesars, he, pierced by a Persian arrow, confessed “ Thou hast conquered, O Galilean.” But Christianity, you tell me, did not save the life of the Roman Empire. No, it came too late for that. But Christianity prolonged that life; by a century or two in the Occident, by six or eight centuries in the Orient. III. The third conflict was with the Teutonic barbarians. In German forests Christian captives were the first evangelists. They had to learn a new language which had then no alphabet. The men that spoke it had no culture. In a hundred years those rude barbarians were reading their Gothic Bibles. From tribe to tribe the sacred message ran till, in another hundred years, the barbarian conquest of Rome was essentially a Christian conquest. From generation to generation the missionary work went on, till at last the whole Teutonic race in Europe, now numbering well-nigh eighty millions, took on a Christian civilisation, higher, stronger, more radiant than that of Greece and Rome. The Kelts, now numbering about nine millions, were also evangelised; the Slaves, now numbering nearly eighty millions, came later; then the Scandinavians, one of the finest races in history, now numbering some eight millions, whose old mythology is richer and grander than that of ancient Greece, and whom it took two centuries to conquer. And not one of the nobler historic peoples, once evangelised, has ever let go its hold of the gospel. The decayed churches of the Orient are only decayed, not dead, while the tide that went over them is evidently going out. IV. The fourth great conflict is with a lower type of heathenism at home and abroad, and is now in progress. There is, indeed, a conflict with science which is sharp enough just now, and many good people are needlessly alarmed about it. There are tidal waves in all human affairs, and scepticism, like everything else, comes and goes on its endless round. But every time Christianity sails through it all like an ironclad. The great mass of Christians have never troubled themselves about it. Augustine made an end of Manicheism. The great schoolmen of the thirteenth century silenced the sceptics of the twelfth. And out of the scepticism of the fifteenth century came the reaction that culminated in the Protestant Reformation. Christianity, the mother of universities, the nurse and patron of all high study, has no fear of science. No. The real strain and conflict of our day are more practical. Christianity has conquered all the best races in history thus far. Now, can it conquer to the bottom as it has already conquered to the top? Can it bring the whole human family, its lowest peoples with its highest, into one common fold? Can it evangelise the Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians, Africans, North American Indians? Can it evangelise its own cities, going down into the cellars, up into the garrets of its own heathens here at home? Hard as the task may be, Christianity stands squarely committed to it. If Christianity fails in this its supreme endeavour, it is not of God. But it will not fail. What it can do may be known from what it has done. We have carried the gospel into the huts of the bushmen, we shall yet carry it into every cellar and every garret of every Christian city. Let us be of good courage. It is not long we shall have to wait. (R. D. Hitchcock, D. D.)Gamaliel and his advice; or the policy of caution and neutrality Broadly speaking, men divide themselves into three classes in relation to Christianity. First, there are the open enemies, who never miss an opportunity of offering unto it the most energetic and violent opposition. Secondly, there are the earnest advocates and the zealous propagators of Christianity. Thirdly, but coming midway between these two classes, there is another, which we might term the cautious, timid, and perhaps temporising, neutral class. Speech after speech was delivered in favour of physical violence. At length Gamaliel arose. His speech was what we might call a moderate speech. It counselled caution, “ refrain,” “ take heed.” “ Do not lay rash and violent hands on these men.” “ Do not endeavour to stamp out this new religion or irreligion by rash and violent methods.” I. The favourable aspect of this policy. Let us point out what there is that is commendable in this policy of awaiting the test of time.1. Time certainly is a most searching and accurate test. It is very difficult to judge a movement that is in its infancy. By their fruits movements too are known. But then you must allow time for the fruit to appear and to mature. 2. Certainly this policy is opposed to that objectionable method of procedure which is characterised by “ zeal without knowledge.” There are those whose zeal in itself is really commendable; and they rush on rashly, never taking time to consider the bearing of present action on future events; they will run and risk their life to rescue a child in danger, but, perhaps, they will knock down half-a-dozen children on their way and do them serious harm. They will spend their best energies to advance a principle which they hold dear, but, perhaps, they will trample on many other principles which are equally true and Divine. “ Zeal without knowledge.” Their warm hearts are not under the direction of wise heads. Their action, while enthusiastic, is ill-directed. Well, Gamaliel and his friends are not guilty of this fault. They are never led into anything rash. If they err, they err on the safe side. They do not do much harm if they do no good. They will not hinder a good movement, though they may not help it. They will not further a bad cause, though they may do nothing to hinder it. Their policy is to refrain, to take heed, to take no action until time makes it quite clear whether the cause be human or Divine. 3. There is some amount of wise, cautious humility and devoutness also about this policy of Gamaliel and his friends. They greatly fear lest they should be found fighting against God, opposing His will and purpose. They knew that that would not only he fruitless, but sinful and blasphemous. It is a sad thing to find even a portion of one’ s life fruitless. Moral fruitlessness is a terrible calamity. To fight against God then is fruitless, for He must conquer in the end and our work come to nought. But it s also sinful, and even blasphemous. Blasphemy, properly so called, is speaking against God, but there is also a blasphemy which consists in acting against Him, in using those faculties with which He Himself has endowed us, to frustrate His will and purpose, and to further the ends and intents of the devil. Well, Gamaliel and his friends strove to steer clear of this evil. They are cautiously humble and devout. They would not for the world be found fighting against God. Hence their policy is to “ take heed,” to “ refrain,” to wait until time proves whether God be in the movement or not. II. The unfavourable aspects of this policy.1. It makes this mistake, it regards the external results of a movement as the unfailing test of its character. Or to put it in this way: It says, “ this movement succeeds--it is Divine; this movement fails--it is human.” Success or failure is taken as the test. But is it a true test? Some of the most successful movements have had the least of God in them, and some of the least successful have had the most of God in them. The followers of Buddha are more numerous than all other religionists. Is Buddhism more Divine because of that? It is evident then that external success is not an absolute test of the spirituality and Divinity of a religion, or of the character of a movement. Results I results! That is the great cry of the day. And it is almost thought that spiritual results can be got to order just like material results. You send your boy to the tailor for a suit of clothes; he gets it, you are satisfied. Do you send him in the same spirit to the master of the grammar school, saying, “ I want a good education for my boy, so much time, so much money?” The master would reply, “ Education is not to be had to order; there are other matters to be taken into consideration: has your son the ability, the application to learn? Without that I can do nothing with him.” If it is so with intellectual results, how much more so with moral and spiritual results. We cannot get true conversions to order; we may get spurious ones. Nor is it possible to count true converts. Men can count heads; but it takes God Himself to count hearts. Therefore the test of external results is not an absolutely safe test. Are we, therefore, not to aim for success? By all means. All the success that we can get; as many hearers, as many converts, as many Christian workers as possible. Only do not rely on external results as furnishing an unfailing test of the character of any work. This the policy of Gamaliel is guilty of. 2. Moreover this policy is productive of culpable inactivity and moral cowardice. Now the most critical period of any movement, or of any new religion, is its infancy. Then does it bear the severest brunt of prejudice and hostility. The severest period in the history of Christianity was the apostolic age and the ages immediately following. We ought to thank God that there were men brave enough and strong enough to overcome the first opposition. After a while it makes itself felt in the world; it proves itself to be a power for good. Now Gamaliel and his friends will join it. “ We are glad to see you even now, you Gamalielites; but you did not lend us a helping hand when the waves of opposition nearly swamped our ship; we and our cause would have perished for you; you looked out on us with timid, cautious, neutral eyes. But now that we have got to shore, and established our character and power, you seek to join our ranks. Come in; even at this hour we are glad to see you; only we must tell you that you have been guilty of culpable inactivity and of moral cowardice.” Gamaliel and his friends will only join a successful cause, but a flagging interest they will refrain from touching. On the other hand, take a movement directly the reverse of that to which we have alluded, not only not Divine, but sinful and calculated to do a terrible amount of mischief. In its earlier years its destructive features are not written in large letters, still they are written in such letters as the keen observer can read. What do Gamaliel and his friends do? They refrain from taking any action. They allow the evil, the mischievous movement to grow, to establish itself. They might nip it in the bud, were they to take prompt, decisive action. “ You cautiously timid, inactive Gamalielites, you are anxious not to be found fighting against God; wherefore are ye not equally desirous to fight for Him? You do not further His will when you allow evil to grow unchallenged and unopposed.” There are many of whom it may be said, “ They have done no evil.” But what evil have they opposed, what good have they done? Nothing! Then is their poor, harmless inactivity culpable in the sight of God. 3. Then there is that further error in this policy of neutrality and delay, viz., that it presumes too much on Divine power and relies too little on human instrumentality. It says, “ If that work or counsel be of God, He will make it successful; if it be sinful, then He will bring it to nought.” Now, how does God promote His purposes? Through good men. How does He baffle and bring to nought evil doings? Through good men. The old excuse for inactivity is, “ God will see to it.” No! He will not, unless you place yourself humbly in His hand and say, “ Send me, send me!” What was the excuse of our ancestors who were opposed to modern missions: “ If God means to convert the world He will see to that.” But He would never convert the world unless the men came forward and severally said, “ Send me, send me!” We can never rely too much on Divine power; we can never rely too much on human co-operation. Are we allowing Him to use us for that grand purpose? Or are we endeavouring to cover our culpable inactivity by the old excuse: “ The work is His, and He will see to it.” What is the conclusion of the whole matter? Every movement, social, political, religious, let us try to understand. Let us bring to bear upon it the faculties which God has given us, without prejudice and with prayer. Should it remain a mystery, let us wait, not listlessly, but with faces wistfully upturned towards heaven, solicitous to know the will of God. When light is given from heaven let us act accordingly, whether in favour or in opposition, act sincerely, with heart and soul. By doing the will of God, as far as it is revealed, we shall know more of the doctrine. (Henry Harries, M. A.)Gamaliel Gamaliel’ s feeling was this--“ God is the supreme ruler, truth comes from Him, and He will take care of it. What is not true has in it the seeds of its own destruction, and will sooner or later come to nothing. Men are very poor judges of what is true or false. God is the judge, time the test.”1. This conviction is the foundation of all true tolerance, liberality of mind, and of charity and candour in judging. For want of it we are often falsely liberal, or foolishly bigoted. 2. I need hardly say how this principle and conviction bears upon our daily life, or point out how much calmness, wisdom, and peace it would, if recognised, pour upon the distractions which surround us. We live in the midst of new things. In our religious, social and political life new and startling opinions meet us. Like Gamaliel we see old faiths and old institutions in Church and State, and old habits, relations, and customs in society crumbling away or threatened. (1) In religion, men have arisen who call upon us to go back to the beliefs and practices of bygone centuries. We may safely leave them in God’ s hands, who will make them work out His purposes, and establish whatever is in accordance with His will, and wither up what is false and foolish in their teaching. (2) The same thing may be said with respect to another department of human thought in which great activity prevails. Men of inquiring mind will examine, speculate, and try to solve the riddle of human life. And what is called science in our day claims to have made very startling discoveries, which have shaken, and will enevitably destroy, many an old belief. And why not? God makes men of inquiring minds, and He gives them light to discover new facts and truths. The agitation of the so-called Christian world, its hostility to our men of science, and its senseless alarm at their discoveries, when viewed in the light of Gamaliel’ s calmness and candour, are simply a proof how little Christianity exists amongst us, and what low and miserable ideas we have of God and His truth. (3) So again in those sad disputes between class and class which distract and disturb us. It must needs be that these things come in the course of this world’ s progress, and much sorrow, sin, and suffering will follow in their wake; and to the eye of the faithless, the future may, for a time, look dark. But how much comfort, too, the thought affords, that in this respect also God rules--is working out here, too, His purpose and plan--and how much calmness and wisdom is the example of Gamaliel capable of imparting, whilst it warns us to refrain from anything like the spirit of violence or hasty judgment, and to wait patiently to see how much of the counsel and work we deplore is of God and cannot be overthrown, and how much is merely of men and therefore destined to perish; and to rest assured that God has not forsaken us, or let the reins of government fall from His hands. (4) When tried by misfortune or sorrow, when harassed by the tempers or injustice of others, when suffering in pain or sickness, amid the sundry and manifold cares and perplexities which entangle us all, what an untold gain it would be to us if we would refrain from a hasty or sinful judgment, and keep in our feelings, tongue, and temper from the conviction that God was overruling even in the midst of these seemingly evil things; that a truth and a purpose underlie them all, and would wait and watch how much in them there is which is from God, how much from our own perversity, and how much from that source of evil from which all comes that opposes and seeks to thwart His Divine intention, and abide in the faith that nothing but what is true and good for us will endure, while all that is false and foolish will soon be swept away. 3. And if it should seem that an example such as that of Gamaliel is too much insisted on, that the preacher who again and again enforces largeness of mind, charity in judging, patience and gentleness in thought and action, together with the rest of the Christian graces and tempers, shows himself unmindful of his special work, and of his duty to teach the way of salvation for the souls of men; then I would submit that, in enforcing these things, we are setting forth man’ s salvation; for the soul which lives in the feeling and conviction that God our Father is constantly present, and overrules all things; that He will take care of the truth and of us when we stand upon it; the soul that tries to catch the Spirit of Christ, and to let it penetrate thought, temper, and action; the soul that waits to see what God will establish and what He will overthrow, that soul lives in the light of the truth; and he who lives in the truth, lives in the love of God; and where God’ s truth and love are, there is salvation, strength, and peace. (John Congreve, M. A.)The success of Christianity an argument for its Divine origin I. The argument from the success of the gospel of Christ. It may be regarded, like all other evidences, as an argument from miracles. Here are certain undoubted facts. They cannot be accounted for without the immediate hand of God. Note, then, that this success has been--1. Wide and extensive. In the early ages this excited universal attention both among friends and foes. About thirty years after our Lord’ s death, Tacitus tells us that an “ immense multitude” of Christians were either crucified or burned alive in Rome during the Neronian persecution, whence we may have some idea of the number of Christians in that capital. Forty years later, Pliny, in his letter to Trajan, states that in Bithynia the heathen temples had been deserted, and the victims used in sacrifice had ceased to be purchased. By the end of the second century Tertullian exclaimed, “ We are but of yesterday, and we have filled up every place: towns, islands, castles, boroughs, councils, camps, tribes, wards, palace, senate, forum; we have left you nothing but your temples.” In little more than three centuries the Roman empire became professedly Christian under Constantine; and all the efforts of his successor Julian could not avert the total downfall of Paganism. The wide diffusion of the gospel, though in a corrupt form, did not cease. It was extended from Britain to China, and the foundation was laid of the present Christian nations of Europe, which have never since abjured the religion of the Cross. It has become the religion of the New World, and the efforts of missions have, in recent times, given it a footing in parts of the earth the most remote from one another, and renewed its early triumphs. The spread and hold of the gospel is thus a truly wonderful fact, when we consider its scanty beginnings and forlorn prospects. Even an unbeliever who looks calmly at this astonishing fact may well feel something of the misgiving of Gamaliel. 2. Inward and radical. All experience shows how hard a thing it is to make men converts even to the mere outward forms of a new religion; and the attempt to convert men from one sanctuary to another--from the synagogue, for example, to the Church, or from Popish to Protestant temples--is still more arduous. We can judge of this matter from the widest experience; for we see what frightful sufferings have been in all ages endured, what wars have been waged, what mutinies have been stirred up, from men’ s reluctance to change their religion. Had the gospel only brought heathen nations into the same state that Christian nations are in at this day, though not a single person had been regenerated, it would have been something not easy to explain without calling in the power of God. But the true miracle begins with making man a new creature in Christ Jesus, and when we see this done everywhere among the polished Greeks and the wandering Scythians, among masters and slaves, among Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles--we are constrained to exclaim, “ This is the finger of God!” In this sense the age of miracles is not past, and never will be. What is the turning of water into wine to the turning of a sinner into a saint? Compare heathenism, even in its brightest scenes and noblest passages, with Christianity, the martyrdom of Socrates with that of Stephen, the life of Plato with that of Paul or John, the return of Regulus to die at Carthage in his country’ s cause with the advance of Luther to Worms to testify for Christ’ s truth. Where was there a Howard among the heathen? Where a Wilberforce? Where a Francis Xavier? Where anything corresponding to the honourable women who have laboured much in the Lord, and who, from the beginning, have been last at the Cross and first at the sepulchre? These are all facts to be accounted for, and with them the whole moral and spiritual influence of the gospel in life and in death; and so long as Christianity can produce them we feel that it is in a great measure independent of other signs and wonders. It bears upon its front the very seal of heaven. 3. Prolonged and renewed. When Gamaliel compared the gospel to the movements in the days of Theudas, or of Judas of Galilee, he was quite in order. Had the cause of Christ been no more Divine than theirs, it would, after some noise and commotion, have as speedily died away. There is something very impressive in the vitality of genuine Christianity. Persecution drove it from Jerusalem; but it returned and dwelt there when its Jewish persecutors were scattered and overthrown. The Roman Caesars arrayed against it the brute force of forty legions, but the empire with all its forces became subject to the Cross. There is a plant called the rose of Jericho, one of a class which, when withered by the scorching heats, rolls up its leaves into the form of a ball, and suffers itself to be drawn from the ground, and borne on the wings of the wind to a great distance, till, meeting with moisture, its roots again strike down, its leaves spread, and its rose-like colour returns in all its beauty. Thus did Christianity roll over the arid wastes of the Middle Ages, till, in the Reformation period, it reasserted its living power, and all but equalled its ancient glory: and since then the same sign has been repeated; for as it rolled harmlessly over the great desert of Popery, so has it, not less uninjured, crossed the dreary sands of infidelity which have spread out to intercept it, and expanded in our own days at home and abroad with all its primitive loveliness. Everywhere it puts forth the same flowers--zeal for God, love to Christ, pity for men. The self-renewing power of the gospel exceeds all fable. The converts of Polynesia, Ceylon, Burmah, Madagascar, speak all one tongue, and exalt one name which is above every name. Christianity has returned to the old seats of revelation, to Ur of the Chaldees, to Shechem, to Nazareth, to Bethlehem. It converts the house of Voltaire into a Bible depository, and the palace of Frederick the Great into a meeting-place of Christian union. II. Some objections to its force, which, however, one and all, turn out in its favour, and strengthen its validity. It is objected--1. That false religions have had great success in the world. Not to mention the various systems of idolatry, there is the delusion of the Arabian prophet which spread over a very wide circle with great rapidity, and even expelled Christianity from its ancient territories. But we may use here the tests already employed. (1) The spread of Mohammedanism, though extensive, has been far more limited than that of Christianity. With the instinct of some oriental beast or plant, it keeps to its own habitat, without going into all the world. (2) It has had no inward or radical success. Let it be granted that it set up the unity of God, and maintained some excellent moral lessons, it had in its bosom no doctrine of regeneration, no strict and unworldly discipline, no heaven of purity and spiritual blessedness; and, therefore, its success is as little parallel to that of Christianity as the success of a man who could mould pieces of tough clay into different human shapes would be parallel to that of a man who could endow these shapes with true life. (3) Its success has not been prolonged and renewed. It did not take long to reach its limit; and since then it has never been revived. It lies at this day effete and helpless, not only unable to heal the “ sickness” of the nations that embrace it, but itself their true disease, which they must shake off before they can have any promise either for the life that now is, or for that which is to come. (4) All this would have been true, and, I think, unanswerable, even had this false system, like the gospel of Christ, been introduced on its own merits, and supported by persuasion and argument. But, as we all know, it was propagated at the point of the sword. 2. That it has not been universal. Many are staggered by the slow progress of the gospel, and by the fact that it is not yet the religion of the majority of the human race. This difficulty admits of a complete answer. Consider how it limits the power of God. Upon this supposition He cannot reveal Himself to one or many without revealing Himself to all. Even one true conversion is a superhuman result, and much more a multitude of such conversions; and all that we are warranted to infer from the partial nature of the result is, that the Divine Author of the gospel has, for reasons known to Himself, not chosen everywhere to exert the same power. To hold that God must work at the full stretch of Omnipotence before we can know that it is God, is the same absurdity as to hold that a man must speak at the full pitch of his voice before he can be recognised. We must plainly know what God’ s intentions were before we find fault with the partial success of the gospel. (1) If He meant to punish the wilful rejection of His own gift this will sufficiently explain the non-conversion of the Jews. (2) If He meant to leave room for human co-operation, this will explain the slow progress of the gospel in professedly Christian nations. (3) If He judged it better to proceed by degrees, than at one sweeping stroke, this will obviate a host of difficulties connected with the gradual and interrupted march of Christianity. When are we to be satisfied? Suppose that the whole world was converted but one man, this objection would still hold good; nay, that solitary unbeliever could stand up and make the whole truth of God of none effect! It is enough that we see a power at work which has converted many, and which is able to convert all. 3. That this success has been less with those who profess to be influenced by the gospel, than might have been expected from a Divine religion. What evils have been associated with the Christian name, what scandals, what inconsistencies! But we must first of all separate between nominal and genuine Christians. The distinction exists among Christians alone; for no other religion is spiritual enough to allow of this division. Is the true Church, then, to blame for its nominal adherents and their evils? Nay, is not the tribute to its own light and truth and goodness all the greater that men seek to cloak even their vices under its venerable sanction? It is among true Christians that the true effects of Christianity are to be seen, and here we fearlessly join issue with objectors. And is there not in Christian lands a general purpose, somewhere deep down in the heart of the worldling, to become himself a Christian? “ Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” III. Some inferences which follow. The success of Christianity is--1. A tribute to the glory of the Saviour. Every onward movement is like a step in some solemn piece of martial music which sounds His praise. Every conversion is a trophy to His invincibility. Every land added to His sway is another crown placed upon His head. And the final conquest of the world will awake the final peal of the anthem to His glory. It is delightful to a Christian heart to identify the success of the gospel with the personal efforts and sympathies of the Redeemer. 2. A source of confidence to the Church. Christianity can never be in such danger again, as it has already triumphed over. Had it been of man, it had long ago come to nought. Its enemies have assailed it with every possible weapon, and searched every rivet of its armour. And therefore it moves a smile of pity when this hero or the other comes forth against the gospel, forgetful of the hosts that have sunk already in the attempt, like insects rushing against the flame, or birds of night glaring defiance at the sun. 3. A motive of conversion to the unbeliever. There is nothing so mournful as to be at once on the wrong, and on the losing side. To perish in a good cause surrounds the name with glory; but where is the wisdom, the magnanimity, the honour of dying a martyr to error, to folly, to sin and wickedness? This is not to be a hero, but a traitor; not to be a sacrifice, but a suicide! (J. Cairns, D. D.)Moral truths inextinguishable M’ Kenzie, in his North American tour, speaking of the country bordering on the Slave Lake, says: “ It is covered with large trees of spruce pine and white birch; when these are destroyed poplars succeed, though none were before to be seen.” Evelyn notices a fact very similar to this, which is observed in England, in Nova Scotia, and in the United States of America, that where fires have destroyed the original wood the new saplings which spring up are generally different species of trees. All these phenomena indicate the inextinguishableness or vegetable vitality; and on this point they may be employed to typify the inextinguishableness of moral truths in our world. No fires of insurrection, no deluges of persecution, no changes in the forms of human society by kings, or priests, or mobs have ever had the effect of obliterating moral ideas. They are inextinguishable, and spring up unaccountably in perennial beauty despite all social conflagrations and convulsions. (Scientific Illustrations.)The fate of antagonists to Christianity “ Gibbon, Voltaire, Chesterfield, Hume, and Paine,” said an unbeliever, “ are the champions of infidelity. Their works completely overthrow Christianity.” “ What!” said a Christian; “ overthrow Christianity! Are you aware of the way in which the Most High God has thwarted their designs and overruled their evil purposes? Let me tell you that in Gibbon’ s hotel at Lake Leman is a room where Bibles are sold. The printing-press from which Voltaire’ s infidel works were issued has been used to print the Word of God. Chesterfield’ s parlour, once an infidel club-room, is now a vestry, where Christians meet for prayer anti praise. Hume predicted the death of Christianity in twenty years, but he has gone to his grave, and the first meeting of the Bible Society in Edinburgh was held in the room where the prince of sceptics died. Paine, on landing at New York, was foolish enough to prophesy that in five years not a Bible would be found in the United States. But it is a fact that there are more Bible Societies to-day in America than in any other country in the world.” The unbeliever was silenced. (J. L. Nye.) Acts 5:41 They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer. Heroic for the truth I. The bitter antagonism of wicked men to the truth, as seen in their desperate attempts to arrest its progress in the world. The history of truth has ever been one of trial and conflict. He who was “ The Truth” had to contend with the antagonism of men; and the noble army of martyrs shows how desperate and determined have been the attempts of cruel, wicked men to arrest the course of truth. Arrayed against the apostles was--1. Social status. The Founder of Christianity was of humble origin, the apostles were of the common people; and of course the high priest and the rulers could not consent to be taught by them. So for ages persons of social rank and great worldly wealth have not favoured Christianity, but rather hindered it. 2. Legal might. The judges and the lawyers, who ought to have defended them, sided against them; and for centuries history repeated itself in this particular, and the strong arm of the law, instead of being extended to defend the truth, has drawn the sword to persecute and destroy. 3. Mental power. At the council there was the elite of the intelligence of the Jewish nation. And from that time until now there have been men of brilliant powers arrayed against the truth--powers worthy of a nobler employment and end. Polished and poisoned have been the arrows that have been shot at the army of the Cross. 4. Sympathy of numbers. Many believed, but many did not believe. Truth has always been in the minority, so far as numbers are concerned. Error has usually gained the show of hands. Men with high and holy purposes must expect comparative loneliness. It was so with the Master, largely so with the apostles, and has been so more or less with all intellectual giants and true moral reformers. 5. Antiquity. They were Nonconformists, and the Jews would feel the utmost disdain for those who dared to dissent from their national establishment. Those who opposed the apostles venerated Abraham and Moses; but Christ they regarded as an innovator and a sower of sedition. Error has still pretext for pleading that antiquity is on its side; for sin is as old as Eden. All these things were arrayed against the truth, and yet it won its way. And if these things could not impede it when it was a streamlet, shall they succeed now that it is a mighty river? If alien and hardy hands could not uproot the truth when it was a newly-planted sapling, shall any hands be able to lift it now it is a deep-rooted mighty tree? God is on the side of truth, and its early victories are a pattern and pledge of its constant and complete triumph over all antagonistic forces. II. The sublime heroism of holy men for the truth, as seen in their determined labours to accelerate its progress in the world. Notice--1. Its nature. (1) They could endure pain. They were not Stoics, but sensitive, generous men; and yet they endured torture even joyfully. (2) They could endure shame. Christ had endured the Cross and shame for them, and for Him they could endure. (3) They could brave dangers. It was no use for the council to threaten them. They were prepared to lose their liberty, and even life, rather than deny the name which to them was above every name. 2. Its secret. They were not fanatics, but calm, cool, and common-sense men. (1) They were witnesses of the facts they attested to. They knew they had “ not followed cunningly devised fables,” they had “ seen,” and “ heard” and “ felt” the things they proclaimed; and the council might as well have tried to argue them out of their own existence as out of their belief in the Lord Jesus. (2) They were filled with the Holy Ghost. Natural courage, physical pluck, would not have been enough to lead them to endure and hold out as they did; they required supernatural courage, and they had it. They were strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (3) They were inspired by a mighty name. Oh the power of a name! Poets, patriots, warriors, etc., have been stimulated and inspired by great and illustrious names; but here is “ a name that is above every name,” that has been more uplifting among men than any other lever name in the world. (F. W. Brown.)Four classes in the school of suffering I. Those obliged to suffer. II. Those willing to suffer. III. Those able to suffer. IV. Those permitted to suffer. (Hartman.)Rejoicing in tribulation I. What the apostles felt.1. Not mere resignation. It is reckoned a high Christian grace not to murmur at afflictive providences, but to submit--not trying to pierce the inscrutable, but saying, “ Thy will, not mine be done.” 2. Not mere acquiescence. This is a grace higher still, involving as it does the confession that God’ s will is good will, and God’ s way, however painful, the best way. Its language is, “ All things work together for good,” etc. 3. But joyfulness--perhaps the highest grace possible, being exultation that at whatever personal cost God’ s will is done. Certainly the most difficult grace to exercise, and one which goes clean contrary to all the tendencies of our nature. We naturally love ease, prosperity, honour; but when we are enabled to rejoice as the apostles did in pain, adversity, and ignominy we are more than conquerors. II. How to account for it.1. Not on the ground of the expectation of ulterior benefit. Many a man has rejoiced in the trouble and suffering which would certainly issue in wealth or honour. Witness the conduct of warriors and explorers. The apostles could gain nothing except further suffering. 2. Not on the ground of a hope of heaven. This has been the support of many a Christian martyr and sufferer, is quite legitimate, and was a source of comfort often to the apostles themselves, but it does not seem to have been taken into account here. 3. But on the ground that Christ counted them worthy to suffer for His name. It was suffering-- (1) For Christ’ s sake.(2) By Christ’ s appointment.(3) With Christ’ s support. (J. W. Burn.)Apostolic joy The history of the Church, as given in the Acts of the Apostles, shows the enmity of the carnal mind towards God. But the persecution to which the apostles were subject has its bright, no less than its dark side. It shows us the integrity--the courage of these men of God. Many have hazarded life from love of worldly honour and glory; self, in some form or other, has been the prompting motive; and they have won the applause of man. But a higher and nobler feeling has induced the followers of Christ to go to the prison and stake. I. The situation of these men of God. The circumstances in which they were placed were harassing and painful. The whole weight of the civil power was brought to bear upon them. They were also put to shame. They were men of high moral sensibility, and keenly felt the degradation attached to a public whipping, as if they had been robbers, yet they rejoiced. But what fault had they committed? They were punished because they preached pardon to the guilty, and salvation through Christ to them that believe. II. The judgment they formed of the treatment they received. They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of their Lord and Master.1. May this not have arisen from the conviction that opposition would redound to the Saviour’ s glory? They knew that His cause would in the end prevail, however it might for a season be hindered. 2. Moreover, they might have formed their judgment on a principle that regarded themselves. They knew that their ascended Lord had foretold the certainty of persecution, and now in the fulfilment of the prediction, they saw an evidence of the truthfulness of their Great Master, and of their relation to Him. They therefore rejoiced in the grace of God. III. On what grounds and by what means may we rejoice if we should be called to suffer for the name of Christ? It is still true, that through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom of God. Children have been persecuted by their parents for the sake of their piety and religious zeal. Servants have been mocked and dismissed from their situations on account of their faith. Tenants have been turned out of their houses and farms because they have obeyed the voice of conscience. And not a few have suffered in their trade, because they have followed their convictions in the worshipping of God.1. If we would be associated with the apostles in this case, we must reckon by faith--not by sight. A man may resign himself to the observance of the established usages of society, he may conform to the standard of the world’ s morality; but he will never submit to reproach for the name of Christ, unless he sees His Divine excellency, and loves Him in sincerity. 2. Again, if we would account it joy to be persecuted for the sake of Christ, our eye must be single in His cause. 3. In a word, finally, you must seek for a constant supply of the spirit of grace. These men of God were filled with joy in the Holy Ghost. (American National Preacher.)Joy in Christian work, and peace amid tribulation I. Many people can imagine Church workers feeling pleasure under certain conditions and experiences of their work--in its hours of success, and scenes of glad acceptance and sympathetic reception; but hardly any, without careful thought, could understand men professing themselves as happy after enduring such an ordeal as the apostles had just passed through. Yet let me point you to analogies. First take the case of the scholar, the man who loves and pursues knowledge for its own sake. Have we not heard of men who are content, nay, supremely happy in toiling on steadily and silently for years, wrapped up in and devoted to enlarging their ever-increasing stores of information? Such there have been and are, who deny themselves all other pleasures, even health, not to speak of worldly advantage or social advancement, who work on in silence and solitude, finding their one joy in their enthusiastic devotion to this their only object in life. Or take the case of the man of science. Not the man who studies literature or law or history, but the man who is engaged in wresting fresh secrets from nature; not in order to patent an invention and make a large fortune, but who loves nature and science for their own sake, whose one object seems to be making constant additions to the number of known facts or verified laws and operations. Again, have we not read of travellers and explorers perfectly possessed by their life of adventure; ever seeking to scale heights which no one else has reached, to penetrate further into unknown regions, and who for this purpose have endured almost incredible hardship and toil; to whom labours well-nigh superhuman seemed as nothing, who would face with readiness situations where they verily went with their lives in their hands? I might go on to speak of the love of the soldier, the engineer, the artist, the musician, for their callings. For we shall find that the greatest men in every sphere of life have had, as it were, a perfect passion for their profession, and have followed it not for any outside reward or emolument it might bring, but for its own sake. Now, may I take Christianity as a profession, and give the widest interpretation to the true Christian work? Is it quite impossible for the Christian worker to find such an interest in the work itself, apart from any hope of reward, as a scholar, an artist, a soldier finds in his profession? The true artist has a pure and enthusiastic love for art; the scholar’ s one object in life is knowledge; what, then, is the Christian worker’ s means and object of rejoicing? Must it not be in the increase of goodness? Christ and Christianity have but one object--the righteousness of man, the placing of good in the stead of evil. Notice how different the conduct of the apostles now from what it was previous to the resurrection. Then, at the advent of a few armed men, they had fled in terror and deserted their Master. Now, they were joyfully prepared to suffer persecution and death on His behalf. What had produced the change? What but a revelation of the true nature of their Master? II. With joy is closely allied peace. Peace is the inward state of feeling of which holy joy is the manifestation. The Christian lives in two spheres--in the world and also in Christ. In the first sphere he must be in a state of conflict with much he finds around him. But he lives also in close communion with his Master; and so far as he tries to do his Master’ s service, to obey His will, to be led by His Spirit, he is at peace. We are all, in one way or another, seeking for happiness. Physical life depends on conformation to the laws of nature. Spiritual life depends on conformation to the Spirit of God. The object of the will of Gad is righteousness, goodness, truth. This, if we would have peace, must be the object of our wills also. Hence, in the pursuit of goodness, even in the midst of tribulation, shall we find joy. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.)The effects of persecution Unless a grain of mustard-seed be bruised, the extent of its virtue is never acknowledged. For without bruising it is insipid, but if it be bruised it becomes hot, and it gives out all those pungent properties that were concealed in it. Thus every good man, so long as he is not smitten, is regarded as insipid, and of slight account. But if the grinding of persecution crush him, instantly he gives forth all the warmth of his savour, and all that before appeared to be weak and contemptible is turned into godly fervour, and that which in peaceful times he had been glad to keep from view within his own bosom, he is driven by the force of tribulation to make known. (St. Gregory.)The joy of suffering for Christ Guy de Brez, a French minister, was prisoner in the Castle of Tournay, in Belgium. A lady who visited him said she wondered how he could eat, or drink, or sleep in quiet. “ Madam,” said he, “ my chains neither terrify me nor break my sleep; on the contrary, I glory and take delight therein, esteeming them at a higher rate than chains and rings of gold, or jewels of any price whatever. The rattling of my chains is like the effect of an instrument of music in my ears--not that such an effect comes merely from my chains, but it is because I am bound therewith for maintaining the truth of the gospel.” Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Daily apostolic labours This is a suggestive picture of the life and work of the early Church. We like to trace enterprises to their beginnings, rivers to their springs. These were times of holy zeal and fervour which may be accounted for by four considerations.1. The apostles felt the impulse of a new undertaking.2. They held fresh in memory their intercourse with their Lord.3. They had the inward energy of the Holy Spirit.4. They were inspired by the truths they preached. The text is one of the best exhibitions of this energy, and suggests to us-- I. Our work. “ Teaching and preaching Jesus Christ.” That may seem to be the specific work of apostles and ministers, but in truth it is the work of every Christian. Moses wished that “ all the Lord’ s people were prophets” ; Jesus said, “ Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.”1. The subject. (1) Jesus, regarded as the object of love--in the infinite grace of His character, and in the persuasions of His self-sacrificing love. (2) Christ, as the object of faith--in His mission, death, resurrection. (3) Jesus Christ--sent of God to save from sin. 2. The mode. (1) Preaching, announcing, heralding, witnessing, proclaiming the Saviour present and almighty to save. (2) Teaching--careful and minute instruction in Christian facts, truths, duties. II. Our spheres. “ In the temple and in every house.” Not only in appointed sanctuaries, but also in--1. Society, which we are to leaven and purify for Christ with wise teachings and preachings. 2. Our houses--homes where family bonds and sympathies make for it a preparatory atmosphere. Our first circle to win for Christ is the home circle. But these two circles cannot be properly occupied in any one way or by any one agency. We want-- (1) A life voice, the testimony of a daily pure and helpful conduct.(2) A lip voice, the witness of wise, earnest, and loving words.(3) A works voice, the hallowing influence of good and gracious deeds. III. Our times. “ Daily,” i.e., always. Not a day should pass without some witness for Christ. Christ wants service from us on week-days as well as Sundays. We may preach--1. Christ’ s spirit, which is charity.2. Christ’ s will, which is holiness.3. Christ’ s salvation. (R. Tuck, B. A.)Ministerial fidelity and devotedness In this brief but emphatic record of the labours of the first apostles we may find a pattern after which to model ours, in the prosecution of that great work to which we have been set apart. I. Examine the comprehensive character of the ministerial office delineated--marking its adaptation to the end for which it was originally instituted. The recovery of the sinner--his restoration to the Divine image and favour, is the revealed purpose of God. We must not shun to declare the whole counsel of God. Herein we perceive what should constitute the staple of our preaching. It is Christ, in the glory of His person, in the all-sufficiency of His offices, in the riches of His grace.1. To preach Jesus is to announce Him as a Peacemaker, who brought in, by His one oblation of Himself once offered, an atonement. It is to herald Him as the Saviour, to the exclusion of all other humanly-devised methods, wherein salvation is sought; a Saviour, suitable and sufficient--suitable as man, sufficient as God--His deity being the altar upon which His humanity was immolated; “ the altar sanctifying the gift.” 2. To preach Jesus is “ to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins” ; a righteousness resulting from His obedience, at once active and passive, exacted and rendered as the sinner’ s substitute, and imparted unto all who exercise faith in Him. 3. Further, the title of Christ is applied to the Saviour. Christ, the anointed Prophet, Priest, Advocate, and King. 4. It is further recorded of the apostles that they did not restrict their labours to the service of the temple, but that they instructed “ from house to house.” “ We watch for souls,” and should therefore have our people under constant inspection, and ever-wakeful supervision. By such a course we shall best prove that we are indeed alive to their highest interests; by this will the cause of religion and morality and public tranquillity be best advanced; by this, too, shall we be best prepared for meeting that solemn inquiry, “ Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” 5. Another remark upon this part of our subject is suggested by the expression, “ they taught Jesus Christ.” It is in the power of conduct, as well as of words, to convey instruction. “ Ye,” said our Lord, “ are the light of the world.” Like a moral Pharos, enkindled from above, we are placed in a direct line with the haven of eternity, in order that, by the concentrated beams of purity of doctrine and of conduct, we may guide the endangered sinner across these perilous waters, wherein many are engulphed and for ever lost. We are to be “ ensamples unto our flock,” giving strength and power to our public admonitions by the consistency of our private deportment. That which we have “ heard and seen,” tasted, and are enjoying, we declare unto our perishing fellow sinners; and this invests our addresses with a charm and power which nothing short of it could possibly impart. Ours it is to utter testimony confirmed by experience; and who can fail to admit its force, in its peculiar fitness for the end designed? II. The constancy and fulness of dedication to their work exhibited by the apostles, furnishing for our imitation a just and impressive pattern. It was a noble declaration of the twelve, “ We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.” They appear to have been influenced by an “ inconceivable severity of conviction, that they had one thing to do.” Upon this one object the whole force of their mind was expended. For its furtherance they were content to suffer the loss of all things, deeming reproach an honour, suffering a privilege, a martyr’ s death a gain. The necessity for this self-sacrificing devotedness still exists, in order to our reaching the highest style of ministerial excellence.1. The ministry of the gospel, in its widest acceptation, is emphatically the work we have to do. Well may we, engaged in such an undertaking, affirm in the language of Nehemiah, “ I am doing a great work.” The magnitude of that work will be further seen in the diversity of the employment connected with its due discharge. To the Christian pastor belongs the study of human character in its every different aspect. He will have to adapt his resources to the peculiarities of every rank and age in the Church and in the world. 2. The disproportion between our powers and the undertaking upon which they are to be expended is another consideration calculated to prove the necessity for the accumulated force of all our powers in its performance. 3. Moreover, we may observe that the amount of our success will bear some proportion to our efforts. The seed will reproduce itself, and the greater the quantity sown in prayer and watered by that gracious influence which faithful sustained supplication calls down, the more abundant will be the crop. The manifestation of this success may be for a while denied; we may be permitted to toil on, witnessing but little fruit of our labour; nevertheless, the result is certain. (Henry Abney, B. A.)A model Christian ministry I. Its subject. Not things about Jesus Christ, but Himself. Creeds may satisfy the reason, but the heart craves a Person. The heart grows, but creeds are stationary. Christ and His fulness ever transcend our utmost need. A ministry of which Christ is not the grand theme is a misnomer--worthless and injurious: II. Its method. “ Preaching,” i.e., evangelising; “ teaching,” i.e., instructing those who have received the evangel, Notice--1. The great importance of these two things.2. The difficulty of doing both well.3. The difficulty of obtaining appreciation for both in one congregation. Yet the Church must have and exercise both. III. Its spheres.1. Public.2. Domestic (Acts 2:46). IV. Its frequency. “ Daily.” Here is a message for those who never enter the sanctuary except on the Lord’ s day. (W. Jones.)Apostolic ministration I. Its subject. “ Jesus Christ.” This was not one subject of many; it was the only one. Note that this is a subject of--1. Infinite importance. “ Neither is there salvation in any other.” You may be interested in many subjects; you may love music, history, etc.; but you may die to-morrow; and without an interest in Christ you are lost: and therefore to know how you are to be saved must be matter of infinite importance. 2. Unequalled suitableness. It is adapted to the moral necessities of all mankind. 3. Endless vapory. The mind of man is so constituted that it never can be happy without variety; and that variety is furnished us in the heavens and on the earth. But in Christ all God’ s various wonders meet; He is the great Centre of both worlds, in whom the glories of both are concentrated. I can hardly look at an object in creation without being reminded of Him; and the Bible is intended that whichever way I look it should preach to me about Jesus Christ. 4. Peculiar sweetness. What is so sweet to a starving man as food, to a weary traveller as rest, to the criminal as pardon? 5. Singular efficacy. It is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And what subject has the efficacy which this possesses? Mahometanism has converted its millions; but how? By the sword and by the allowance of sensual indulgence. Idolatry has its millions; but they curse their senseless and blood-thirsty deities for the slavery which they impose upon them. But without any carnal weapons, or human authority, the simple preaching of Christ, which first conquered the Roman world, brought England into the state into which it now is, and will, by its blessed conquests, finally convert and subdue the whole world. If you are alarmed at the vice and misery of London, see the trophies of the simple preaching of Jesus Christ. Saul, the persecuting bigot; Mary Magdalene, the habitation of foul demons; the thief on the cross, etc. 6. Eternal duration. Many subjects which are excellent in their nature, and adapted to the present wants of man, involve only the interests of time. But this one subject promises present peace and eternal felicity. I would be a Christian if its influence extended no further than the waters of Jordan. But although there is great blessedness now, it is but a taste of what is to come. II. Its method.1. Public preaching. This was according to the charge of our Saviour, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” and according to the plan of Divine wisdom. By the foolishness of preaching “ it pleased God to save them that believe.” And this is a mode adapted to the wants, habits, and the constitution of the human mind. People are fond of a crowd, and God has so ordained it, that by the preaching of the gospel multitudes should be gathered to listen to it. They could not spare the time nor the money that books would require, to derive the same instruction; therefore they are congregated to save both. The same attention employed in reading would not produce the same effects that are produced by preaching; there is a certain charm, enthusiasm in the human voice, the piercing look, the animated manner of the speaker, which no books in the world can supply. There is also something in the place; there is something charming to the mind in a place consecrated to the service of God. If ever the world is converted, preachers must be multiplied, and multiplied to an extent of which, at present, we have very little knowledge: we must not wait till new churches are built. We must convert school-rooms into preaching-places, and barns into chapels, and every house we can enter for a spot in which multitudes can be assembled to hearken to the words of life. This was the apostolical plan. John Mark’ s was the house where the people met together to pray for Peter’ s deliverance. The Church assembled in the house of Aquila and Priscilla. The Church assembled in the house of Onesiphorus. And if these cannot be obtained, then we must have open-air preaching, with the sky for a sounding-board and the multitudes around for a congregation. Every spot is consecrated. If you go on board a ship, Christ was there before, and preached there. If you go to the hills, the apostles preached there before you. If you go to the prisons, the apostles preached there before you. 2. Private teaching. They were net satisfied with public preaching, but they went to every house. This is the communication of the truth to individuals, as the other was the communication of the truth to multitudes. David had often heard Nathan speak in public; but he heard him in private to purpose when he came and related his parable, and then said, “ Thou art the man.” I doubt not that a part of this private tuition consisted in the application of the consolation of the gospel to individuals who have been pricked in their hearts, and their minds somewhat illuminated by the truth: they had to strengthen them that were weak, and to bring back those who had fallen away. But the chief end of this private tuition was, to seek out that which was lost. Now ministers are not only to teach and preach to them who will come, but they are to go to those who will not come. They are not only to invite people to come to the temple, but they are to go to their houses. III. Its constancy. “ Daily … they ceased not.” The influence of the Spirit of God produced three blessed states of mind.1. Burning zeal for their Master’ s glory. They went into “ every house” ; not only those into which they were invited; of the rich as well as of the poor; of the learned as well as the illiterate. And what though it was said, “ You have no business here; keep your religion to yourself!” Their Master’ s honour was what they attempted to sustain: and if men dishonoured them they bound the scorn to their brow, and gloried in their shame. 2. Ardent love for the souls of men. 3. Indefatigable perseverance in their work. (J. Sherman.)Teaching and preaching As preachers, the apostles proclaimed the gospel to men; and as teachers they expounded its doctrines and enforced its duties. In this they obeyed the command of their Lord, “ Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Go and disciple all nations,… teaching them.” During His own personal ministry He exemplified what He thus enjoined. “ He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” I. This command was laid not upon the apostles alone, but upon the ministry which they had so vigorously inaugurated.1. In the age which succeeded that of the apostles preaching and teaching were sedulously maintained by the Christians. From every congregation men seem to have gone forth as evangelists to make known the message of salvation; and in the assemblies of the believers, besides the reading of the Scriptures, a discourse delivered in the audience of the people formed a regular part of the service. Justin Martyr, in the former half of the second century, gives an account of how service was conducted in the assembly of the Christians on the Lord’ s day; and he says that after the reading of the Scriptures the president delivered a discourse of a hortatory character in which he admonished his hearers to reduce to practice what they had heard read. These discourses were homely, unartificial addresses, partaking rather of the nature of conversational utterances than regularly constructed orations or discourses. In the Eastern churches, where they chiefly were in use in the earliest age, the name homily was given to them, a word which signifies intercourse, converse, and secondarily, instruction. For a long time these homilies continued to be mere expositions of Scripture with practical applications and exhortations, often of the simplest character, but sometimes containing the results of careful investigation and profound thought, as in the case of Origen, whose homilies are still valued by scholars for their suggestiveness and the light they sometimes throw on the meaning of Scripture. 2. As Christianity advanced, and the Christian assemblies became more numerous and cultured, the addresses of the pastors came to be of a more ambitious, character, and to be formed more on the model of the oratory of the senate or the forum. The slightly elevated platform which at first was common.to the reader and to the preacher, was by the latter exchanged for, first, a loftier pulpit, and afterwards for a throne, from which the bishop delivered his oration. Gradually the ancient wholesome usage of expounding the prophetic and evangelic writings was relinquished, and discourses in praise of martyrs, or funeral orations, highly ornate harangues, and pieces of artificial rhetoric were in their stead offered to the people, who, captivated by the gaudy show, followed the usage of the theatre, and at the close of each eloquent burst, expressed their approbation by acclamation and clapping of hands. 3. During the Middle Ages, and on to the time of the Reformation,)reaching and teaching had well-nigh ceased. It is true, sermons continued to be written, and were probably delivered, but as they were in a tongue which only the learned understood, they were confined in their use to the clergy; and it is true also that enlightened rulers like Charlemagne and Alfred the Great saw the importance of the people being instructed in religion, and took measures to enforce on the clergy the duty of preaching to the people in the vulgar tongue; but how little prepared were the clergy may be gathered from the fact that the Emperor found it necessary to enjoin that “ bishops and presbyters are themselves to understand the Lord’ s Prayer, and preach it to all that each may know what he asks of God.” Now and then a man fired by holy zeal--a Tauler, a Wicliffe, a Huss, a Gerson, a Savonarola--preached the gospel to the people and taught them the truths and duties of Christianity, and doubtless there were faithful but unknown men labouring in retired districts. But for the most part, all through these dreary centuries, the pulpit was virtually a nonentity in Christendom, and the people perished for lack of knowledge. Things were at the worst when the dawn of a better day arrived, and, as Milton expresses it, “ then was the Sacred Bible sought out of the dusty corners where profane falsehood and neglect had thrown it, the schools opened, Divine and human learning raked out of the embers of forgotten tongues, the princes and cities trooping apace to the new-erected banner of salvation.” 4. All the leading reformers were assiduous and eminent preachers, and by this more than any other means they made good their position and effected a real and lasting revival of religious life among the nations. Since then, in all the Protestant Churches, preaching and teaching have been recognised as a chief duty of the Christian pastor; and even in the Romish and Greek churches the value of these is to a greater or less extent practically acknowledged. II. A tendency has shown itself of late to depreciate preaching as compared with the devotional parts of our public services. A cry has been heard for less preaching and more of prayer and praise. But after much consideration and observation I am brought to the conclusion, that not for instruction alone, but for devotion and spiritual quickening as well, it is needful that the preaching of God’ s Word should keep that place in the service of the sanctuary which the wisdom and the piety of our ancestors led them to assign to it. Consider well the following things.1. The testimony of experience is strongly in favour of the value of preaching as a means of sustaining spiritual life in the Church. Turn over the volumes of Church history and it will be found that the free add earnest preaching of God’ s Word has ever gone hand in hand with a lively state of religious feeling and an earnest and elevated devotion among the people; whilst, on the other hand, when the Church has relied principally on prayer and praise for the sustenance of her spiritual vigour, coldness, indifference, and formality have become characteristic of her members, and the pure fire of devotion on her altar has given place to a lurid and unwholesome flame. 2. Devotion being the utterance of feeling has no self-sustaining power. No emotion, high or low, holy or common, sustains itself; unless it be fed from without it becomes feeble and dies. But how is devotional emotion to be fed except by the Word of God? But it is by preaching and teaching in the sanctuary that the Word of God is chiefly and most effectually to be ministered to the people. 3. Whatever help devotional exercises may lend to She sanctification of the soul, they can never minister so directly to this as does the preaching of God’ s Word. If devotion fans the flame, it is preaching that must supply the fuel, and it is by it that the fire is to be kindled. Pure affections spring from holy thoughts, and holy thoughts are the offspring of Divine knowledge. 4. The proper hearing of God’ s Word is in itself an act of worship and devotion. If indeed it is merely to be pleased by an interesting preacher that people come to church; or if they come merely to sit in judgment on him or to enjoy an intellectual pastime or a sensational display--then truly they are as far from worship as if they were engaged in any secular pursuit or worldly amusement. But if they come to hear God’ s Word, bowing their minds and hearts to the utterance of the Divine mind and seeking the blessing which lies in the reception of the truth, then do they in that very act rise to a true devotion, and offer a worship which is acceptable to God. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)Preaching Christ I. The subject. To preach Jesus Christ aright we must preach Him in--1. His infinite and indisputable Godhead. Take away the Divinity of Christ from the gospel, and you have nothing whatever left upon which the anxious soul can rest. If Christ were not God He was the basest of impostors. 2. His true humanity. We must never make Him to be less manlike because He was perfectly Divine. We must have a human Christ, not of shadows or fancies, one to whom we can talk, with whom we can walk, “ who in His measure feels afresh what every member bears.” 3. His personality. A doctrinal Christ, a practical Christ, or an experimental Christ. I do not feel to be sufficient for the people of God. We want a personal Christ. This has been a power to the Romish Church--a power which they have used for ill, but always a power. Whatever we fail to preach we must preach Him. If we are wrong in many points, if we be but right here, this will save our ministry from the flames; but if we be wrong here, however orthodox we may pretend to be, we cannot be right in the rest. 4. His solitary mediatorship. Admitting the efficacy of the intercession of living saints for sinners, yet must we have it that the only Mediator in the heavens, and the only direct Intercessor with God, is the Man Christ Jesus. Nay, we must not be content with making Him the only Mediator; we must set aside all approach to God in any way whatever, except by Him. We must not only have Him for the Priest, but we must have Him for the Altar, the Victim, and the Offerer too. We must not permit for a moment the fair white linen of His righteousness to be stained by the patch-work of our filthy rags. 5. His authority as the only Lawgiver and Rabbi of the Church. When you put it down as a canon of your faith that the Church has right and power to decree rites and ceremonies, you have robbed Christ of His proper position. Or when you claim the office of controlling other men’ s consciences by the decree of the Church, or the vote of a synod apart from the authority of Christ, you have taken away from Christ that chair which He occupies in the Christian Church. 6. His dignity as the sole King of the Church. The Church is queen above all queens, and Christ her only King. If any of our acts violate the civil laws we are citizens, and we acknowledge the right of a state to govern us as individuals. But we maintain that the excommunication of a Christian Church can never be reversed by the civil power, nor are its censures to be examined, much less to be removed, mitigated, or even judged. 7. His supremacy as the King of kings. He has an absolute right to the entire dominion of this world. II. The surpassing excellencies of the subject.1. Blessed variety. There are many strings to the harp of the gospel. There are some brethren who are so charmed with five of the strings, which certainly have very rich music in them, that they never meddle with any of the others; the cobwebs hang on the rest while these five are pretty well worn out. Any man who preaches Christ will ensure variety in his preaching. He is all manner of precious perfume, myrrh, and aloes, and cassia. He is all sorts of music, He is everything that is sweet to the ear; He is all manner of fruits; there is not one dainty in Him, but many. He is all manner of raiment; He is golden raiment for beauty, He is the warm raiment for comfort, He is the stout raiment for harness in the day of battle. There are all things in Christ, and he that hath Christ will have as great a variety as there is to be found in the scenery of the world where are no two rocks alike, and no two rivers wind in precisely the same manner, and no two trees grow in precisely the same form. 2. It suits all sorts of people. Are there rebels? Preach Christ; it will suit them. Are there pardoned sinners? What is better to melt their hearts than the blood of the Lord Jesus? Are there doubting Christians? What can cheer them better than the name of Christ? Are there strong believers? What is stronger meat than Jesus crucified? Are there learned, polite, intellectual hearers? If they are not satisfied with Christ they ought to be. Are there poor, ignorant, unlettered men? Jesus Christ is just the thing to preach to them--a naked Christ to their simple ears. Jesus Christ is a topic that will keep in all climates. Stand in New Zealand in the midst of uncivilised men, stand in the midst of poetical Persia or fickle France, the Cross is adapted to all. III. The power of this subject.1. To promote the union of the people of God. There is a man there, he is almost a Puseyite. “ I do not like him,” says one. There is another man, a Presbyterian; he cannot bear Independency. “ Well, I like him a little better; but I do not suppose we shall get on very well.” There is another man, a very strong Calvinist. “ I shall not admire him.” Stop, stop! That man yonder, whom I called almost a Puseyite, was George Herbert; but what a Christian! What a lover of Jesus! You know that hymn of his, “ How sweetly doth my Master’ s sound!” That second man, the Presbyterian, who would not have liked George Herbert, was Samuel Rutherford. What a seraphic spirit! Well, now, I think, we will introduce Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Herbert together, and I am persuaded when they begin to speak about their Master they will find each other next of kin; and I feel sure that, by this time, Samuel Rutherford and George Herbert have found each other out in heaven, and are sitting side by side. That high Calvinist was Dr. Hawker. Now, I am sure, George Herbert would not have liked Dr. Hawker, and I am certain that Dr. Hawker would not have liked George Herbert, and I do not suppose that Samuel Rutherford would have had anything to do with either of them. But what a sweet spirit! He cannot take up his pen, but dips it in Christ and begins to write about his Lord at once. “ Precious Immanuel--precious Jesus.” Those words in his morning and evening portions are repeated again and again. Let a man stand up and exalt Christ, and we are all agreed. 2. Upon the heart of sinners. There is a person, now a member of my church, whose conversion was owing to the reading of that hymn--“ Jesus, lover of my soul.” “ Ah,” says he, “ does Jesus love my soul? Then how vile I have been to neglect Him!” There are scores whose conversion is distinct and directly traceable, not to doctrine--though that is often useful--nor experience, nor practice, though these are fruitful, but to the preaching of Christ. This is a seed which seldom rots under the clod. One may fall upon the stony ground, but it oftener happens that the seed breaks the stone when it falls. We ought to thunder out the threatenings of God, but they must never be the main topic. Judge not any man’ s ministry. The world has too often condemned the man whom God intended to honour. Say not of such an one “ He can do no good, for his language is rough and rude.” Say not of another that his style is too often marred with flippancy. Say not of a third that he is too erudite or soars too high. Every man in his own order. If that man preach Christ, whether he be Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, God will bless the Christ he preaches, and forgive the error which mingled with his ministry. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Preaching Christ Little beginnings have large endings. A man drops a small seed upon the earth, and it starts up and expands into a tree of a thousand arms. The slender rill that leaps from a rock presently increases to a stream, and the stream swells into a river, and the river, gathering as it rolls, becomes the arm of the sea; and then there is a mingling, a sweeping, and a spreading of the waters through the circuit of the broad ocean. And so of the rise and progress of the religion of Jesus. At first there was the utterance of a single voice in the solitudes of the wilderness, and next was the testimony of the Son of God to Himself in the village and in the city; forthwith was the gathering of the twelve, and a declaration from these of the gospel to the surrounding nations. Then arose from the apostles the great company of preachers multiplying and widening their circles of influence abroad the earth unto this present, and looking forward we anticipate the time when the whole world, now lying in darkness, shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the channels of the sea. Yes, whatever is or shall be, the aspect of the globe in the light and beauty of holiness cometh under God of preaching. This is the great lever, which by little and little is lifting the wide universe out of the bondage of ignorance and superstition. It was this which overturned the Mosaical economy, which struck to their centre and shivered the idols of the heathen, which enkindled a light, that the power of the most numerous and mighty of adversaries could not put out, which snatched from the grasp of Satan, which drew as brands from the burning, thousands of souls now ministering before the throne of the Lamb. I. Our obligations to preach Jesus Christ. It is the solemn object of our ordination, and we should be recreants from our vows, apostate from the articles of our faith, and traitors to the cause we professedly espouse, were we to gainsay the appeal that presses. To teach and preach Jesus is the great business of our days; whatever be the varieties of our talents, if the lines converge not to this centre our talents are abused; whatever be the plenitude of our strength, if it be not consecrated to this, our strength is worse than unprofitable. Our lamp must burn at the altar, our sinews must bear the cross. Our obligations to preach Jesus Christ rest upon the conviction--1. That sinners have need of Him. In their natural estate they area (1) Blind. (a) In their ignorance of the true God and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent. (b) To the interests of their souls, preferring the evil and rejecting the good, and turning their back to the only light which shines from to lead their steps to heaven. (2) Poor. (a) As despoiled of the privileges and honours of a happier estate. (b) As defrauded by an enemy of the birthright of the sons of God. (c) As cast from the affluence of the garden into the necessities of the wilderness. (d) As the heirs of bodily sorrows, and as the victims of an inwardly consuming anguish because of guilt and the judgment. (e) As the slaves of sin and the subjects.to death, temporally and eternally. (3) Naked. (a) As possessing no garment in their own righteousness, nor in that of others, wherewith they might stand clothed in the sight of God.(b) As wanting that white raiment which alone Christ can put on. 2. That in all the multifarious wants of man, Christ is the One, the near, the all-sufficient, the ever-living, the inexhaustible supply. The poor wandering and fainting flock lacks a shepherd to guide and cherish--Christ is the true Shepherd. The plague-stricken lack the hand of the physician to bind up and heal--Christ is the wise Physician, The deceived, the forsaken, and the abandoned lack the faithful adviser, the able defender, the counsellor for good--Christ is the unchangeable Friend, and the mighty Advocate, and the Prince of Peace. 3. That without Him everything is nothing, whilst with Him and in Him there is abundantly more than we can either ask or think to satisfy and enrich here, and to bless everlastingly. II. What it is to preach Jesus Christ.1. In substance. Let us analyse the title-- (1) Jesus--a name synonymous with Joshua, and meaning a deliverer--a deliverer from the bondage of sin; from the tyranny of Satan; from sin as a ruling principle and as a destroying violence; from the fears of the valley of the shadow of death and from the terrors of the deeper darkness beyond I A deliverer from these evils, and by what means? At what cost? By the offering up of Himself, the just for the unjust, by the shedding of His blood as the Lamb of atonement for the sins of the world. (2) Christ, i.e., the anointed. The anointed, the consecrated, through the Spirit. Do you acknowledge Christ in the separate glories of His offices aa having in each the seal and testimony of the Spirit? 2. The manner should be characterised with a spirit of simplicity, decision, faithfulness, affection, and the devotion of a holy zeal. The man should be forgotten in his message, the wise, after the rudiments of this world, should be hidden to himself and others in the office of the minister of Christ. III. The posture in which you should hear Christ preached.1. As fully sensible of the value of the privilege of hearing. What gem had not David plucked from his royal crown for one of the opportunities with which you are blessed? How lavish had priests been of their distinctions and prophets of their gifts in exchange for one hour of your sabbaths. And oh, the treasures expended and the blood shed for your present liberty. 2. As men personally concerned and addressed in every appeal and invitation and reproof, in every promise and curse. You should bring the application home, not fancying how well the preacher’ s word affixes to some one else. 3. With humility, keeping self in subjection, schooling down your natural arrogancy into the dependence and simple credence of the little child. 4. With watchfulness against the sins and temptations that are most prevailing; and with prayer to the Holy Spirit of God that He may impress, and sanctify, and guide you into all truth. 5. With faith receiving the mysteries of Christ as mysteries--as those deeper things of God, whose reception is for an exercise of faith here, and whose solution and discovery shall be amongst the felicities of eternity. (T. J. Judkin.)The right kind of preaching A sermon devoted to metaphysics is a stack of dry corn-stalks, after the corn has been ripped out with the husking-peg, a sermon given up to sentimental and flowery speech is as a nosegay flung to a drowning sailor. A sermon devoted to moral essay is a basket of chips to help on the great burning. What the world wants now is to be told in the most flat-footed way of Jesus Christ who comes to save men from eternal damnation. Acts 6:1-7 And in those days … there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews.Trouble the lot of the Church The Church on earth has always trouble; if it is not persecuted from without, disorders arise from within which is still more dangerous. (Starke.)The poor the treasures of the Church 1. They stir up its spiritual gifts.2. They exercise its brotherly love.3. They are its ornament before the world.4. They bear interest to it in eternity. When Laurentius the martyr was commanded by the Roman governor to bring out the treasures of the Church, he led forth the poor of the congregation. (K. Gerok.)The ancient bond between poverty and Christianity a blessing to both I. To poverty. Only in Christianity, in the kingdom of Him who became poor that we might become rich--1. Is the Divine right of the poor recognised. 2. Has the Holy Ghost awakened a genuine care of the poor. II. To Christianity. In the care of the poor.1. It has from the beginning developed its most Divine powers--Love, compassion, patience, self-denial, contempt of death, and trust in God. 2. It has proved before the world its right of existence in the world. (K. Gerok.)Dissatisfaction in the primitive Church There never has been a perfect Church, and never will be this side the Lord’ s coming. There is much here which has been reproduced in modern times. Consider-- I. The occasion and character of this dissension. The local association of believers was composed of men separated by various nationalities and degrees of culture. There was much freedom and simplicity, for under the influence of a first creative enthusiasm the need of order and discipline had hardly become apparent. Whenever that declined, dissension was inevitable. Christianised human nature is long before it shakes itself free from petty ambitions and other ignoble sentiments. That the outbreak came soon need awaken no surprise. Men need to be trained for a life of free self-government. The causes were here ready to manifest themselves whenever the occasion presented itself. There were two chief parties--Jews, born in Palestine, of narrow views and restricted sympathies; and Jews or proselytes born in other lands, who had been affected by the refinement, art, poetry, and beauty of Greek culture, and who spoke the Greek language. These differences were sure to provoke collision. But the predominating influence was Jewish, and the Jewish officers were blamed by the Grecian portion of the community for neglecting Grecian widows in the daily administration. A small thing suffices for a great disturbance when latent differences already exist. Sectarianisms and divisions of Churches have often arisen from matters of the smallest importance. Watch the beginnings. Church dissensions are created by wrong feelings much more than by the maintenance of great principles and sacred interests. But few will bear looking at from the Saviour’ s Cross or in the light of the Saviour’ s throne. II. The expedient resorted to.1. This was a new stage in the development of a complete Church life. What was demonstrably lacking was supplied. The Lord did not furnish His Church with an apparatus of government already complete. But He gave His Holy Spirit by whom it was to be guided according to the emergencies and needs of the times. 2. Here is a plain manifestation of apostolic initiation and of Church co-operation. The apostles proposed a plan which the members freely accepted, a procedure natural, seemly, orderly, and most efficient. This may be regarded as the charter of Church rights. The apostles consulted the laity to ascertain their opinions and desires. At the same time there is nothing of lawlessness here. Power was not wholly in their hands. The apostles actually appointed and ordained the seven Hellenists whom the people selected. The principle is of the first importance, for it is exactly what we know as constitutional government. 3. Here is the principle of division of labour, as essential to Church efficiency. As those already engaged in the daily administration were not equal to all the work, others were associated with them. It was enough for apostles to do their proper work in founding churches, preaching the Word, praying, seeking the supply of the Spirit, exercising spiritual and miraculous gifts, leading the Church in the ways of the Lord. Other men could and must do what was merely secondary and secular. In free Christian society the specialty of each is needed and is to be employed. There is room for all who have a mind to work; but none for idlers. Division of labour in this case prevented schism. A Church active and consecrated will keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 4. What a solemnity was attached to even the meanest work for the Lord in His Church! The deacons are presented to the apostles, who pray for them, and lay their hands on their heads, setting them apart to such duties. Prayer sanctifies all Christian endeavour. Work for Christ is never to be thought of in a mean spirit. It should be associated with what is best and highest in Christian life, and be done ever “ as under the great Taskmaster’ s eye.” (W. H. Davison.)Hellenist and Hebrew From the first the Church had held within its bosom two opposed tendencies. So long as its numbers were not too large, and its enthusiasm had not spent itself, this underlying division created no difficulty. A moment, however, was reached when the jealousy of Hellenist and Hebrew began to give promise of that deep schism which ended only by the extinction of one of the divisions (the Hebrew) altogether. I. The distinction between Hellenist and Hebrew. Its origin goes back to the captivity. Previously to this the Jews had dwelt as far as possible alone, but through that catastrophe they were scattered through all the huge empire which stretched from India to the AEgean. The numbers that returned under Zerubbabel, and again under Ezra, fell far short of the number of the dispersed; and it was impossible but that prolonged contact with pagan nations should greatly modify their customs and modes of thought. Especially was this the case during and after the wars of Alexander. 4. new spirit of commercial enterprise awoke within them as a new world opened to their wandering feet, and the ancestral faculty for acquiring wealth which their Palestine life had crushed, developed itself. While the home Jews recoiling from defiling contact with foreigners grew prouder and more narrow, their foreign brethren took on a strong tinge of Greek culture, and the spirit of secular gain broke down the feeling of separatism which had been the very kernel of ancient Judaism. All this tended to modify their religion, and for the better. Cut off from the temple ritual, they carried with them neither priest nor sacrifice; they carried only the Septuagint and the synagogue. What they retained was just what was portable, and what was most portable was most spiritual. When at last Christianity arose it found everywhere in the synagogues its first base of operations. It was from Hellenised Jews that Christianity obtained its first and best missionaries, and it is to them we owe it that the Church grew out of all risk of continuing a Judean sect and became the religion of civilised mankind. II. The murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews. Being men of higher average intelligence and energy than the villagers of Judea or the small traders of the capital, the former were not likely to acquiesce silently in any neglect on the part of the other. There was always a tendency amongst the Palestine Jews to pride themselves on retaining the purest type of orthodoxy, and to suspect as well as dislike their countrymen who had taken on Greek manners. On the other hand, it came very naturally to the foreign Jew to look down on stay-at-home and old-fashioned Hebrews as bigoted and ignorant. A grave danger threatened the young Church if her members imported into her communion such mutual jealousies as these; and the slight “ murmuring” about the widows’ rations meant nothing less. III. How the murmuring was allayed. The apostles took alarm, for the murmurs reflected on them. The work had evidently grown beyond their power of personal supervision, and now that one side of the Church grumbled about an unfairness some new arrangement was clearly called for. Even the apostles were no autocrats; the Church was an oligarchy which rested on a democratic basis. The supreme legislative power was felt to reside in the “ crowd of disciples.” What the apostles did at first was to initiate measures, and at the last to confirm appointments. But the adoption of the measure and the election of the officers were the work of “ the whole multitude.” This act--1. Established certain principles--the right of the Church to transact under Christ its own business; the ministerial, not lordly character of even its highest offices; the subordination of all material interests to its spiritual work; and the ultimate seat of Church authority in the whole body.of believers. Any Church system whose arrangements flatly contravene these principles must be held to have departed from primitive order. 2. Began the severance between the spiritual and temporal work of the Church. It became impossible to combine the serving of tables with the ministry of the Word. A division of labour was called for, and the apostles could not hesitate which side of their double office they should abandon. To bear witness to the saving work of Christ is not a secondary function of the Church, but its one task for which all other things must minister. The Church, however, declined to treat even its secular work as wholly unspiritual, and lifted it out of the atmosphere of mere business into that of worship. The candidates are to be full of the Holy Ghost as well as wisdom, and are set apart with solemn services. The only two among them of whom we know anything are known for the zeal and success with which they preached Christ. Stephen and Philip were a good deal more than almoners. IV. With the ordination of these seven men a new page of Church history opened.1. It marked a stage in the Church’ s progress towards separate existence. 2. It was the first step towards permanence. The apostles cannot live for ever; but if the new society has the power, under Christ, of founding new orders of office bearers, then it carries within itself the conditions of self-preservation and self-adaptation to changed times and perpetual progress. 3. It brought a new element to the front. The seven bear Greek names, which affords a presumption that they belonged to that section of the Church whose complaints had led to the election. The result, therefore, was this, that, through the murmurs of a few widows, those members of the Church were lifted into office who represented its most free, spiritual, un-Hebrew, and catholic elements. One man especially was thrust forward who was destined to rouse the narrow and ultra-national party of the Pharisees to persecution, as Peter had already roused the Sadducees, and whose death was to be a signal for the scattering of the Church. It was even to lead to the conversion of another man who should one day become an apostle himself and vindicate as an inheritance for Christendom that larger and more spiritual view of Christianity of which Stephen was the first exponent. V. The story rebukes our short-sighted alarms at the small dissensions and apparent disasters of the hour. We see the divided congregation; we hear its murmuring voices, but we forget to see the hand which guides the Church’ s destinies, and causes all things to work together for its good. (J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)The first disunion in the Church I. Its occasion. II. Its adjustment. III. Its blessing. (Langbein.)A picture of early Church life I. The murmuring in the Church.1. When it arose. With multiplying numbers, new dangers arose. It was more difficult to keep the unity for which the believers had been distinguished. Many a Church that has withstood adversity has been wrecked by prosperity. 2. How it arose. By the jealousy of the Grecians. If that was not stopped, there was a great disaster before the Church. How it came about that the Grecian widows were neglected, the record does not say. It may have been unintentional oversight, or the result of a feeling against the Greeks as being foreigners. It is worthy of note that the first two dangers to the early Church, hypocrisy and schism, arose from the distribution of its charities. II. The harmony of the Church. How was it restored? By the prompt, wise, and magnanimous action of the apostles. They did not wait for the “ murmuring” to become a pronounced disaffection. They did not rebuke the murmurers, nor try to justify themselves. They simply asked that the work might be put in the hands of others who could properly attend to it.1. They made a protest against doing the work at all. They were chosen of Christ to be His witnesses--not to dole out alms. The lower work was encroaching upon the higher. They were liable to be so much engaged in caring for the bodies that they could do nothing for the souls of men. 2. They showed to whom the work should be committed. They directed the disciples to look out seven men among them. (1) “ Of good report” --so that, to begin with, they would receive the approval of every one. The apostles went upon the principle of never putting a doubtful man into aa important office. (2) “ Full of the Spirit” --so that their godliness might be apparent. Men full of the Spirit would not be likely to do injustice through partiality--or become defaulters. (3) “ And of wisdom” --so that the funds would be wisely disbursed. The Church that has a charity fund has to look out that pauperism is not encouraged, that dead-beats are not supported, and that the really needy are generously cared for. 3. They declared what their own work should be. The world was famishing for the gospel more than the disciples for bread. Others could give the bread, but the apostles were chosen especially to give the gospel. First they would get from God, and then they would give to men. There is no giving without first getting. No water can be poured from an unfilled pitcher. III. The growth of the Church.1. The choice of the seven. The seven were chosen in accordance with the recommendation of the apostles. Their Greek names show how generously the Church acted in giving “ the daily ministration” largely into the hands of the element from which the murmurs had arisen. That made it impossible for Grecian Jews any longer to complain. The suggestion of the apostles “ pleased the whole multitude” ; for they saw that it not only would do away with dissensions, but would result in the greater efficiency of the apostles. The seven finally were inducted into office with as much solemnity as though they were to preach the Word instead of to serve tables! In those days no work for Christ, it would seem, was unworthy of a consecration. 2. The increase of the disciples. That, naturally, was the result of the increase of power resulting from the new state of things. The Church was a greater power, because in it there no longer was any division. The apostles were a greater power; for now there was no obstacle to giving their whole strength to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Notable among the accessions was the great company of priests that became “ obedient to the faith.” The new faith demanded of them so much that in their case obedience meant a great deal more than with others. IV. The witness for the church. Among the chosen seven there was one especially prominent from the first, Stephen. Observe that he was a witness for the Church--1. In his endowments. He was “ full of faith and the Holy Spirit” --“ full of grace and power.” The mere fact that a man is so endowed is a great testimony for the Church. 2. In the exhibitions of his power. He “ wrought great wonders and signs among the people.” He showed apostolic power, though he was not an apostle. The layman may be as full of the Holy Spirit and of the power of the Spirit as the minister. 3. In his encounters with adversaries. “ They were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake.” They were cunning, but he was wise. They were learned, but he was inspired. 4. In his appearance before the council. (M. C. Hazard.)On deacons I. The origin of the office.1. We are introduced to a class of people here called Grecians, who were proselytes to the Jewish worship, and Jews born and bred in foreign countries, whose language was Greek. In Acts 2:1-47. a long catalogue is given us of the countries from which they came. The home Jews, or Hebrews, looked down upon their foreign brethren as having contracted contamination by their long contact with the heathen. As a natural result, considerable jealousy sprang up between them. The Church did not create the division; on the contrary, its direct influence was to merge the two factions into one--they were all of “ one accord.” But in process of time the old spirit of rivalry manifested itself. The world often taunts the Church with having within its fold contentious and hypocritical people. But where have they come from? The Church has black sheep; but they were black when they first came in from the world, and remain black in spite of the cleansing influences around them. 2. The Grecians murmured. There was no open hostility, or any unseemly ebullition of temper. You place a shell by your ear, and hear the subdued murmur of the air as it winds its way through the intricate convolutions. That is the comparison of St. Luke--there was a low, half-articulate mutter. This disposition to grumble formed the gravest danger the Church had yet had to encounter. The earth is exposed to two perils--from storms without, and volcanic fires within. Of the two, the last is the most dangerous. Let the winds beat as they will, the earth continues firm. But when the internal fires burst forth, the earth quakes to its foundations. In ,like manner the Church is exposed to persecution in the world. This has attacked the Church repeatedly; but it did not fall, because it was founded upon a rock. But the gravest danger arises from within--the spirit of discontent in the members. 3. The Grecians “ murmured because their widows were neglected.” It appears that only the “ widows” received charitable relief, and of course those who were disabled by age or decrepitude. Men able to earn a living doubtless had to go and work. Who were the almoners? The text seems to hint that the apostles had partly delegated their power to certain members of the Hebrew party. The “ widows” were overlooked probably by accident, arising from defective organisation. But the Grecians insisted that there was a set purpose in it, and inquired for sinister motives, and, as is always the case, found them! Jealousy always distorts facts to suit its own morbid fancies. 4. The murmurings of the Grecians induced the apostles to “ call the multitude of the disciples unto them,” in order to confer together. The Jewish Church was constituted on mechanical principles. God Himself elected His own officers, and the nation was expected loyally to submit. But the Christian Church is a living organism; its functionaries are therefore dependent on the vote of the members. Governments are of two kinds--the parental and representative. The government of the Jewish Church was on the parental principle, the members being, in the language of the apostle, under age. But the government of the Christian Church is representative; it is self-government--its members having attained their majority. And in calling “ the multitude of the disciples unto them,” the apostles acknowledged the principle of manhood suffrage. But we must not forget the promise that the “ Spirit of Truth” should guide the Church into all the truth of government not less than the truth of doctrine. This promise holds good for us as for the age of the apostles. No doubt precedent has its value, and no conscientious Christian will speak lightly of the past history of the Church. But if webs be woven of it to tie the hands and bind the feet of the Church now living, we make of it a bad and unjustifiable use. The Church of to-day is as free as the Church of the first century, and is in as close communion with its Head as ever it was. But there is a distinction between the scripturalness of a doctrine or usage and the ecclesiasticalness thereof. What is taught by the apostles is not subject to alteration or capable of improvement. What St. Paul taught the Corinthian Church I accept without cavil or objection; but what the Corinthian Church practised I feel at liberty to adopt or reject. 5. Having summoned the “ multitude of the disciples together,” the apostles proposed “ they should choose from among themselves seven men of honest report” to supervise the distribution, which instantly quelled the discontent. In verse 1 they murmur; in verse 5 they are pleased. Were many in the place of the apostles they would have stood upon their dignity, and ignored the complaint; and the low “ murmuring” of verse 1 would have grown into loud and fierce denunciation in verse 5. But kindness, straightforwardness, and discretion at once surmounted the difficulty. Evil had always better be grappled with in its incipient stage. A small injustice is more easily remedied than a great one, and the facility makes the duty more imperative. Thus we are taught that the Church is a growth. It was not launched upon society with all its organisation perfected. Herein again it contrasts strikingly with Judaism. Moses was commanded “ to do everything according to the pattern shown him in the mount” --by Divine revelation. The people had to originate nothing--they had to receive everything. But the Christian Church is a living organism--it gradually unfolds from within. It began on the day of Pentecost without any regulations or offices except the apostolate. It was simply a germ, but a germ which had within it the “ power of endless life.” By degrees the germ grew and threw out new offices, just as the tree shoots out new branches. Its functions are the healthy outgrowth of its life. The diaconate is instituted when the temporal requirements of the Church urgently demand it, and not a day before. It is, therefore, idle to endeavour to give the Church a rigid, cast-iron shape for all countries and ages. The exigencies of time and place are to determine its outward form. II. The duties of the office.1. The “ seven men” were elected to “ serve.” The noun “ deacon” is not used, but the corresponding verb is--“ they diaconised.” Is there not a quiet hint to their successors to be more covetous of discharging the duties than of wearing the name? In the Acts we find only the verb; in the Epistles we find the noun. Here we perceive the fundamental law of language and of life; for language and life are at bottom one--first get the thing, next get the name. The probability is that these men were not officially styled “ deacons” --they were simply known as the “ seven.” Gradually, however, the Church felt a need for an official title, and from the verb it developed the noun. Living in an age noted for its appearances, we go about in the first place to invent names, and care but little about things. All our goods are electro-plate. But the primitive Church was living face to face with stern realities. If it could procure the thing, it let the name take care of itself. A deacon is one who ministers or serves. The same words are used to describe the work of deacons as that of apostles, the object only being different. In each case it was “ serving,” “ ministering.” A deacon etymologically means one who waits at table, who runs to do service. The very word signifies that diaconal work should be characterised by docility and alacrity. People of imperious temperament are scarcely fit to act as servers of the Church; instead of running themselves, their disposition is to bid others run. 2. “ They were elected to “ serve tables,” to attend to the temporalities of the Church. It was not, however, absolutely necessary that they should confine themselves to this; hard and fast lines are not known in the kingdom of God. Their chief duty is to manage the finances of the kingdom; but, that done, they may extend the sphere of their usefulness. The public mind is confused upon this subject. Preachers are supposed to have no right to meddle with the service of tables; the right they indisputably have, but the expediency may be questioned, except in very rare cases. On the other hand, deacons are supposed to be guilty of presumption when they preach. But they are guilty of nothing of the kind; for Stephen and Philip “ preach the Word” with irresistible power and success. Everywhere in the Apostolic Church are traceable the liberty and elasticity of life. “ The tools to him who can use them.” 3. The deacons are to “ serve the tables” of the ministers. We may rest assured that, whilst waiting on the tables of others, they did not leave the apostles’ table empty. One important object was to relieve the preachers of anxiety and distraction in their own peculiar work. 4. They are to “ serve the tables” of the poor. This was about the most impoverished period in Jewish history. Mendicants everywhere flocked the highways. “ The poor ye have always with you.” Many of them joined the Church, and the exceptional poverty called forth exceptional liberality. Many, “ having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” At their feet. Money should always be kept at people’ s feet. Many keep it in their safes, and, alas I many in their hearts. In this institution we discover the first germ of the philanthropic efforts of modern civilisation. Judaism doubtless stood alone among ancient religions for the humane feeling pervading it. Nevertheless, its highest result was negative--not to oppress or defraud. Being the first stage of religious culture, Judaism consisted in not doing evil rather than in doing good. The Old Testament dealt in prohibitions rather than in positive injunctions. But the gospel bids you do something. Christ went about doing good. In the text a committee of seven is organised to supervise the distribution of the doles. Occasional outbursts of benevolent impulses were witnessed in previous ages and other countries; now for the first time was a deliberate effort made to reduce impulse into system, and benevolence into an organisation. The “ seven men of honest report” constituted, I believe, the first “ board of guardians” in the world. Modern civilisation is replete with “ boards” --Poor Law Boards, School Boards, Boards of Guardians, and Boards of Health. But they are all natural developments of the board or “ table” of which the text speaks, to “ serve tables” being precisely the same as to serve boards. In the Gospels we witness the conception, in the Acts the birth of philanthropy. III. The qualifications for the office. 1. Integrity “ Honest report” --men of uprightness and straightforwardness. The funds being entrusted to their care, it is of prime importance that they be men above suspicion. Judas once “ kept the bag” ; but he was a thief. It is therefore of great consequence that men of strict integrity be put into this office. 2. Piety. “ full of the Holy ghost.” The judicious management of money requires the special aid of God’ s Spirit. Pecuniary interests occupy the middle ground, and are peculiarly liable to corruption. It is popularly imagined that, if a man is “ full of the Holy Ghost,” he cannot attend to temporal duties; that he is only fit to sing and pray. But it strikes me you do not want a very great deal of the Spirit to do that; but you want a great deal of Him to give and collect money. Show me a Church’ s collection books, and I can estimate pretty nearly how much of the Holy Ghost that church has. A Church of one hundred members giving fifty pounds a year towards the support of the gospel at home and its propagation in foreign parts, has not much of the Spirit. Wolff elaborated a system to reduce all truths of philosophy into truths of mathematics; and, if I had the leisure, I could invent a system to reduce the truths of theology into truths of arithmetic. A man says, “ I have faith.” “ Show me thy works,” urges James; the works are the measure of the Faith. You say, “ We have had a powerful revival.” I answer, “ Show me your collection-books.” A small collection means baptism by sprinkling; a large colleclection--well, baptism by immersion. 3. Wisdom. That a man is honest and pious is not enough. Without wisdom his administration will do incalculably more harm than good. Wisdom is a right application of knowledge (gnosis). But this implies two things. (First, that he possess the knowledge, to be applied. A deacon should be “ mighty in the Scriptures.” Ignorance should never hold office in the Church. God does not need our knowledge to carry on His kingdom; but He can do without our ignorance. Second, that he possess tact to apply his knowledge in the pursuit of his official duties. Men require to be managed with great delicacy and discernment. They are very sensitive instruments to play upon; a rude touch may snap the strings, and in vain you afterwards endeavour to get them to “ discourse sweet melody.” You have heard of Phaeton, the son of Sol; he was desirous of driving the chariot of the sky. Many persuaded him against the attempt, as he had not the necessary practice to guide with a steady hand its fiery steeds. But he insisted on driving; and he broke his own neck and sent horses and chariot spinning through infinite space. His intentions were good, but his skill was defective. And we have known men taking into their hands the reins of Church govern° recur--upright, pious men enough, no doubt; but for lack of tact they drew upon themselves no end of personal discomfort, drove the Church over the precipice, and plunged it into inextricable confusion. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)The election of deacons There is nothing concealed in the action of the New Testament Church. The case of Judas is not covered up nor made the least of. Ananias and Sapphira are not names Withdrawn because of the lies they told. And the murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews is not passed over without reference. The Church is not a secret institution, and was never meant to be a concealed force in society. Christianity abhors all official secrecy. It is a religion which lives in the daylight. Its registers are not hidden away in iron safes; its writing is written as with a pencil of the sun. Who would publish an expurgated edition of the Bible! We undertake to adapt our poets to modern tastes and readers. It is refreshing to belong to a Church that is so open and fearless. I. How was this difficulty of the early Church adjusted?1. To-day it would surely terminate in many instances with a secession; but the spirit that guided the Church aright; was the spirit of love. There can be no permanent difficulties where this is supreme. If a Church is only a religious debating society, then we shall determine: many issues merely by numbers. 2. The apostles argue the question out, from the standpoint of a clear conception of apostolic work. Your first conception will generally determine the whole course of your argument. Starting with a noble conception, a man will naturally fall into a noble course, and reach a useful conclusion. The apostles magnified their office. “ We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word.” And the apostles could pray! Just lately, in this very story, we heard them pray, and the place where they were assembled was shaken! And the apostles could also preach. They divided their hearers into two classes--friends and enemies. The mere critic could not play his little game at pedantry under the apostolic sermon. It was one of two things--repentance, surrender, crying to Heaven for pardon, or gnashing of teeth, and malignant hatred, the very fire of hell! 3. The apostles, conceiving their work to be of this high and supreme kind, were rather anxious than otherwise to escape the daily ministration of the tables, and gladly seized the opportunity of leaving this necessary routine to others who were ready to undertake it. This supreme conception of apostolic service was itself ennobled by the trust which the apostles reposed in the people. Christianity is the people’ s religion pre-eminently. There are those in the ministry of Christ who can testify that they owe all their comfort, prosperity, and influence to their trust in the people. The apostles did not select certain notables; but having to deal with a people’ s question, they consulted the people’ s instinct, and therein they have set an example to all Christian associations. 4. Whilst this was the case at the outset, it was impossible that the whole Church could constitute a committee of action, therefore the apostles said, “ Look ye out seven men,” who shall really be yourselves condensed. Such men as shall themselves be equal to the whole multitude. Large-minded, generous men, who can see every aspect of a case, and deal with noble wisdom with the practical difficulties of life. The qualifications of the seven are plainly stated. They were to be “ men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.” There are no merely secular duties in the Church. Church matters are not merely matters of political system. There is nothing done in Christ’ s Church--whether the opening of a door, the lighting of a lamp, or the preaching of the everlasting gospel--that is not to be done under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. A door may be so opened as to affront the Spirit of God; a visitor may be so shown to a seat as to manifest a truly Christian spirit on the part of the indicator. There is no part of our work in any section that is not holy unto the Lord. The ministry is one. I have no doubt that the men chosen in this text were better able to serve tables than the apostles. We have not all the same gifts. We must rid ourselves of the mischievous sophism which teaches us that some kinds of service are menial. There is no menial service in the Church, unless you make it menial by an unworthy spirit. 5. Looked at as a piece of Church statesmanship, can you suggest a single amendment to this policy? Do not the apostles vindicate their apostleship by their noble wisdom and practical sagacity? It is not every man in the apostleship who could have settled a case so. The ancient proverb tells us that “ every fool will be meddling.” The reason why some ministers are uncomfortable and unsettled is that they will meddle with things that they really cannot arrange. Impose a duty upon a friend, and show by your manner of doing it that you mean him to reveal his best quality. When this spirit seizes us, all distribution of labour will not be a division of front, but will rather show that the front is more united because the labour is wisely divided. Jealousy kills us all to-day. II. What was the effect?1. The Word of God increased (verse 7). A united Church means a world impressed by the noble scene. The Church of Christ is not united to-day. The noble purpose of Christ is marred by certain geographical distinctions and ecclesiastical arrangements, in the making of which Providence had neither part nor lot. The Church must be united before the world will be redeemed. Hence Christ’ s great prayer, “ May they all be one, that the world may believe.” We want the apostle now who can bring men together, who can magnify points of union, who can show that the Church, though divided on many minor points, ought to realise its vital union, magnify and display it, and thus Christ’ s soul would be satisfied. 2. Stephen was brought out (verse 8). They made him a minister of tables, and he became the first martyr. Stephen was developed by circumstances. Being put into this office, he developed his true quality of mind and heart. There are those who cannot be kept in obscurity, and who cannot be limited to merely technical publicity. What if this man had been unintentionally neglected? (J. Parker, D. D.)The first election of deacons I. The reason of their election.1. The temporal necessities members of the Church. “ Widows” are especially mentioned, in all communities the most deserving of aid. The Bible, therefore, particularly commends them to the compassion of the benevolent. “ Pure religion and undefiled,” etc. It is the duty of the Church to attend to the temporal as well as the spiritual necessities of its members. In this Christ has left us an example. The gospel is more a record of His beneficent acts than of His doctrinal ideas. 2. The absorbing work of the gospel ministry. This the twelve referred to as a reason. The deacons were elected not to rule, as some arrogant modern deacons fancy, but to relieve the preachers; so that, undistracted, they might give themselves wholly to their proper work. II. The method of their election.1. The Church had its part--to look out the seven most suitable men, a work requiring inquiry, good judgment, and responsibility. 2. The apostles had their part. (1) They originated the election. The suggestion for new officers came from them, not from the members; and they, not the members, called the Church together for the purpose. (2) They directed the election, describing the character of the men to be elected. (3) They confirmed the election. The men the Church elected were set before the apostles for ordination. Had they not, however, been up to the standard, the apostles had assuredly the right of rejection. III. The qualification for their election.1. Unblemished reputation. 2. Eminent godliness. 3. Practical sagacity. IV. The result of the election (verse 7). The election operated--1. By quelling the spirit of contention, which would obstruct the advancement of the Church. 2. By the augmented agency of the Church. Seven noble men set to work. 3. By enabling the apostles to give themselves entirely to the preaching of the gospel. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The first deacons chosen In the beginning of the preceding chapter, we had a sad account of an act of fraud and falsehood on the part of some that contributed to this common fund among the disciples in Jerusalem; and now we have an account of the murmuring of some of those who received it. The first was the offspring of great depravity; this is the result of human imperfections. The one was met by a very strong measure; this is met by conference, by advice, by calling into exercise the principles of common sense and the feelings of their common Christianity. I. The narrative. Notice--1. The increase of the disciples. In spite of the persecution which the Church was continually meeting with, we have continual statements of its prosperity and increase. I have no doubt that by this time the number of Christians in Jerusalem was ten thousand. 2. When you think about these ten thousand people, you see at once that this common fund cannot mean that all these people had given up all their property, and that there was a distribution made to every one of this whole multitude. What! had they given up their trades? had they left their workshops, their farms, and merchandise? No; they were going on, I suppose, fulfilling their daily duties. Then did they bring all their wages and profits, throwing all this into a common fund, and taking back every day what was required, more or less according to their circumstances? You cannot suppose any such thing. Why, if they were to call the whole ten thousand together every morning, and give them only a shilling each, there would be five hundred pounds wanted every day. We must look at this fund as just a provision for those who were in necessitous circumstances. 3. Now things went on for some time, till at last “ there arose a murmuring,” a dissatisfaction. Some began to feel that there was not proper attention paid them, and it reached the ears of the apostles, who proceed to make the arrangement here mentioned. You will see at a glance that previous to this somebody must have done this work. The thing had been done before. In Acts 2:44-45, it is said, “ All that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need” --i.e., each one at first distributed his own benevolence. The advance upon that you have at the end of the fourth chapter. The first rude idea was for every man to act for himself, and come with his hands full and his heart full, and just dispense according to the impulse of his feeling; and the first modification of that was, for all to bring what they had to give, and lay it down at the apostles’ feet, and so there would be something like regularity in the distribution, and investigation, and examination of the particular case and circumstances; whereas in the other way it could not be done, and one might be receiving from many. And that goes on, the apostles (I suppose) trying to do it. But not, I apprehend, without assistance from the hundred and twenty, who would probably all be Hebrews. But here were the Grecians; and there might be a feeling rising up, with no foundation, that there was a neglect of their widows in the daily ministration. So difficult it is, you see, even under the guidance of the Divine Spirit, and with the first love and strong affection of the early Christians, to get rid of all those party prejudices and suspicions which rise up in society and array class against class. But the murmuring comes to the ears of the apostles, and something must be done to meet it. 4. “ Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them,” Does that mean the whole ten thousand? Supposing there were not ten thousand? Could five thousand men transact business? Any of you that know anything about business, know how difficult it is to get anything done even in a large committee. In order to get through business, you must have a few heads, with strong hearts and hands connected with them, that will really do something. I cannot, therefore, feel myself warranted in stating that this is really to be taken positively and literally. I do not know where they would meet in Jerusalem--so many of them. I know that, afterwards, when Peter was in prison, “ prayer was made without ceasing of the Church,” meeting in a private house--in the house of the mother of John Mark; and I dare say there were little knots of such all over the city. I think, in this case, the principal part of those they would call together would be Grecians--the principal persons of that party--and it would be a full meeting, and open for any to attend who felt interested in the matter; but we cannot suppose that there was the whole, or anything like the whole, of the mass of Christians in Jerusalem. When they were come together, the apostles said, “ It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables,” which may mean, “ The thing does not work well, does not give universal satisfaction; we are doing the best we can, but it is not reasonable that we should be exclusively devoted to this thing; we have had our heads and our hearts full of anxiety about this matter, and we find it is not reasonable that we should ‘ serve tables,’ for we feel that in doing so we must ‘ leave the Word of God,’ and we must not do that; and therefore, as we have already made one departure from the first rude idea to a better, we must try now to get a best, and we propose now that seven men be looked out for this duty.” 5. “ And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they chose Stephen,” etc. It is remarkable that all these names are Greek; and this was probably done to satisfy the Grecians. Or if, in “ the multitude of the disciples,” there were included some of the principal persons among the Hebrews, then this marks also the kindly and liberal feeling among them, arranging that from that party and that class that complains, every individual of the seven was chosen. “ Whom they set before the apostles.” We do not know how they chose them. There was some meeting of the brethren--the more distinguished and influential, I think; and these individuals were fixed upon, and they were presented to the apostles. 6. “ And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.” I think this was just the solemn and public representation before the eyes of the people that they parted with so much of that power which they had hitherto exercised in relation to this business, and that henceforth these men were to be held responsible for the exercise of it. 7. There was peace restored to the Church; no longer divisions, or heart-burnings, or jealousies; and then, as the result, one might think, we immediately read again that “ the number of the disciples multiplied greatly.” Just as you find in the beginning of the fifth chapter, that when purity was restored, then as the result there was a great increase of the Church, so now peace and purity are favourable to all those affections and feelings and activities by which an increase of the body may be expected. The Word of God increased and prevailed in two ways. (1) With respect to the number of the disciples. (2) With respect to a particular class of person; so that some of the most unlikely men;--“ a great company priests, Were obedient to the faith.” Some people can hardly believe this; but “ why should it be thought a thing incredible with us,” that in those days of miracle and the pouring down of the Divine Spirit, there should be manifested the power of the faith and grace of Christ upon these men? II. The lessons. Now see--1. How difficult it is, even when men’ s hearts are in the right place and in a good state, to prevent jealousies and misunderstandings among a large body of people. 2. How a liberal, open, manly, common-sense pilicy, under the blessing of God, may meet and allay this sort of thing; when men will calmly look at it, and observe that something must be done, and endeavour in an open and honest spirit to do it. 3. What an admirable opportunity this would have been to mention something about priesthood! There are some men that are very fond of getting priests into the Christian Church; but here was a great number of real priests actually brought into the Church, and we hear nothing about them. They stand as simple disciples. Standing there upon the common floor of the Christian temple, they had a greater, purer, more elevated priesthood than that which they had sustained as the offspring of Aaron. 4. Have we the origin of the office of deacons here? They are not called deacons. The word, indeed, from which “ deacons” comes, is used in the account two or three times. It is used with respect to the apostles’ “ giving themselves to the deaconship of the Word” ; and then these men to “ the deaconship of tables.” The word “ deacon” is a very general term, signifying ministry or service, occurring a great many times in the New Testament. It is applied to the apostles, to Timothy, to Jesus Christ. But yet it did come to a technical and an official sense, and to signify a particular officer in the Christian Church, as the Church began to grow. And I think that this was the origin of the office of the deacon; though, perhaps, that office, in the course of time, took some degree of modification, as distinct from the one thing for which these men were appointed; for they were chosen with a very limited duty with respect to this particular thing. (T. Binney.)Dissensions and precautions I. The inner life of the primitive church.1. The election sprang out of the multiplying, and the multiplying begat a murmuring. Increase of numbers does not always mean increase of happiness and true spiritual life. God has made all things double one against another; and when He bestows such notable increase, He adds some counterbalancing disadvantage to keep His people humble. 2. The distribution of alms is always attended by jealousies and disputes, rendering the work one of the most unpleasant tasks which can be undertaken. Fretting and worry, weary days and sleepless nights, are often the only reward a Christian philanthropist receives. But here comes in the Acts of the Apostles to cheer. The apostles themselves did not escape the accusation of favouritism, and we may well content to suffer what they were compelled to endure. 3. The primitive Church was no ideal communion, but a society with failings and weaknesses and discontentent, exactly like those which exist in the Church of our own times. The apostolic Church did not disdain a mere economic question. II. What lay at the basis of this murmuring, and of the jealousies thereby indicated? If we wish to understand the course of events in the Acts, we must refer to the books of Maccabees, where is told the romantic story of the struggle of the Jews against the Greek kings of Syria, who tried to force them into conformity with the religion of Greece, which then was counted the religion of civilisation and culture. The result was that the intensely national party became bitterly hostile to everything pertaining to Greece and its civilisation. “ Cursed be he who teacheth his son the learning of the Greeks,” was a saying among the Hebrews; while again, we hear of Rabban Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, who used to embody his hatred of the Grecians in the following story: “ There were a thousand boys in my father’ s school, of whom five hundred learned the law., and five hundred the wisdom of the Greeks; and there is not one of the latter now alive, excepting myself here and my uncle’ s son in Asia.” Heaven itself was supposed by the Hebrews to have plainly declared its hostility against their Grecian opponents. Hence, naturally, arose the same divisions at Jerusalem. The bitter dissensions which racial and linguistic differences have made in the Church of every age are here depicted in miniature. The quarrels between East and West, Greeks and Latins, whites and negroes, European Christians and Hindoo converts, all turn upon the same points and embody the same principles, and may best find solution upon the lines laid down by the apostles. There are diversities of function and of work in the Church--a ministry of the Word, and a serving of tables. One class should not absorb every function. III. The people nominated, while the apostles appointed. They took the most effective plan to quiet the trouble which had arisen when they took the people into their confidence. The Church has been often described as the mother of modern freedom. The councils of old time were the models and forerunners of modern parliaments. How many a quarrel in life would be avoided, how many a rough place would be made smooth, were the apostolic example always followed. Men naturally resist a law imposed from without, without any appearance of consultation with them or of sanction on their part; but men willingly yield obedience to laws, even though they may dislike them, which have been passed with their assent and appeal to their reason. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)The division of work Some kinds of work are easier to learn than others. Some callings and professions require a long and special training, others are more easily acquired. All cannot teach, all are not called to the higher offices of the Church. The work of the Church may be compared to that of some extensive manufactory. Do not we seek from the raw, or at any rate from the unrefined material, to produce the perfect fabric? The material upon which we work is in every stage of refinement; it is of every class of texture. All have not to pass through the same process; what may refine some would surely damage others. We do not place the message in the same words before the uneducated and the highly cultured. And just as there are degrees of know]edge in the learners, so there may be in the teachers. Because we are not fitted to explain Christian truth to those who have learnt much, we have no right to conclude that there is no sphere in which we may teach. In a manufactory there are workers of every degree of skill and capacity, from the hewers of wood and drawers of water, to those by whose brain power, knowledge, thought, and foresight the working of the great concern is directed. The opportunities of the Church worker to-day are manifold indeed; and they vary according to the local conditions. Think how musical gifts and abilities may be devoted to the service of God, by making more beautiful, more devotional, the services of the Church, the mission room, the Sunday school, the cottage lecture! Think how financial and business capabilities may be employed in the careful management of various philanthropic agencies! How a knowledge of elementary science and the laws of life may be directed towards improving the conditions under which the ignorant and careless live! I might go on to speak of the work on behalf of temperance, purity, thrift. Then, again, a band of earnest district visitors is among the clergyman’ s very greatest helps. The abilities necessary for the successful performance of this work are within the reach of many. The first requisite is sympathy, the next a knowledge of human character. (W. E. Chadwick, M. A.) Acts 6:3-6 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men. The work of the Spirit in the deaconship of the Christian Church I. The reasons assigned.1. That the apostles might be relieved of secular duties. This did not arise out of any idea of superiority. They were the servants of all, ready to be, do, or suffer anything that might be for the glory of God and the good of men. Nor did it arise from any low estimate of the temporal interests of the Church. They were no ascetics. Temporalities were important in themselves, and in their influence on spiritual concerns. It arose out of their higher office and its absorbing claims. With these nothing must be allowed to interfere. However valuable the bodies of men, their souls were more so. What reproof is here administered to modern ministers and laymen! How many ministers are serving tables! And the offence is aggravated when this is the result of lay neglect. Both are sufferers--the minister whose mind is secularised, and the people who are less effectually instructed. 2. That the apostles might give themselves wholly to their proper duties. This is “ reason.” The duty of a minister is to aim at the conversion of sinners, and to employ all means to secure that. And the danger is lest his mind should be brought under any influence that would disincline or disqualify it. These ends are only to be gained by an entire devotion to the sacred calling. Paul says to Timothy, “ Give thyself wholly to them.” The philosophy is as sound as the sentiment is heavenly. The physician who would be successful in his profession must be devoted to it. So must the merchant and the labourer. The apostles were to give themselves to prayer in secret, and the Word in public. Without prayer there will be no heart for the Word--no success in it. Without the Word prayer will be a pretence and a mockery. Together they are omnipotent through grace. Let all the arrangements of the Church be such as to cherish and encourage their union. Let its temporalities be so managed by the members that the ministry may be relieved. II. The manner. Church officers in the apostolic age were chosen by Church members. Matthias was so chosen. The voice of the Church is essential to the validity of the ministry. Members have an interest in the minister they have chosen which they can never have in one placed over them without their approval At the same time guards are necessary.1. The purity of the Church. Its membership must not be a promiscuous community. Men of the world are incompetent to elect a Christian minister. 2. The sanction of the existing ministry. As these deacons were elected by the people, they were appointed by the apostles. Both had their rights and their duties. Either might refuse consent. And thus the one was a wholesome restraint on the other. What a consummate knowledge of human nature was manifested in the organisation of the Church! Its Author truly “ knew what was in man.” III. The qualifications (Acts 6:3; Acts 6:8). Note that these are the qualifications required for the management of temporal concerns. It must not be supposed, then, that mere business men can manage such. They have a sacred bearing; they must be conducted on holy principles, and be directed to holy ends. The meanest duties may be elevated by high motives. The deacons were to be--1. Men of honest report. Their conduct must be such as to command respect. The public seldom err in their judgment of men. They may dislike their piety and persecute them, but secretly they will honour them, especially if they are, as they ought to be, useful and amiable as well. 2. Full of the Holy Ghost. Not only should they be men of piety, but eminently so. 3. Men of wisdom. Piety, although the first requisite, is not the only one. There are men of whose godliness we may be persuaded, but in whose ability for the direction of affairs we have not confidence. 4. Full of faith. 5. As a result of all this there will be power--mighty influence for good. IV. The appointment.1. The disciples set the elected deacons before the apostles. 2. The apostles prayed over them. Without God it was felt that the whole procedure was vain. We must do nothing in the Church on which we may not ask His blessing. 3. Then they laid their hands upon them. The Spirit was sought for men who already had the Spirit, and this was to be a token of the increase of His gifts and graces for their new duties. V. The effects.1. Many evils were prevented of which no mention is made. (1) The discontent was silenced, for the cause was removed. (2) The apostles were not hindered or distracted by misunderstandings in the Church. 2. Better than this, much good was done. (1) The Word of God increased. It was preached more generally and powerfully, and a greater blessing rested on the preachers. (2) The most prejudiced, “ the priests,” were persuaded. The bitterest enemies were won to friendship, and so far the greatest barrier to the gospel was thrown down. “ When a man’ s ways please the Lord, He maketh his enemies to be at peace with him.” Conclusion: Note the connection between a right ecclesiastical polity and a successful ministration of the Word. Of course God can bless His Word under any polity; but there is a polity that hinders and a polity that promotes the truth. (J. Morgan, D. D.)Suitable men to be sought out by the Church A radical mistake has been committed in supposing it is necessary in all cases for the desire after the sacred office to rise up first of all and spontaneously in the breast of the aspirant. In consequence of this, many have thrust themselves forward who were altogether unfit for the work; while many, as eminently qualified for it, have been kept back by modesty. Does it not seem to be the work of the pastors and the churches to call out from among themselves the most gifted and pious of their members for this object? Should this matter be left to the inflations of self-conceit, the promptings of vanity, or the impulses, it may be of a sincere, but at the same time of an unenlightened zeal? Nothing can be more erroneous than that this call of the Church would be an officious intermeddling with the work of the Spirit in calling the ministry--for it may surely be conceived to be quite as rational a notion to suppose that the Spirit calls a person through the medium of the Church and its pastor, as to imagine that the commission from above comes direct to the heart of an individual--especially as the Church and the pastor, or at any rate the latter, is usually applied to, as a judge of the candidate’ s fitness for the work; and thus, after all, the power and the right of pronouncing a judgment upon the alleged call of this Divine agent are vested with the pastor and the Church. To affirm that an individual cannot be supposed to have a very great fitness for the office, unless his love of souls has been strong enough to prompt him to desire the work of the ministry, and that he is not likely to be very earnest in it, if he be thus sent, instead of his going of his own accord, is assuming too much; for on the plan here recommended, it is supposed that the individual who attracts the attention of the pastor is one who, in addition to true piety and competent abilities, has manifested an active zeal in the way of doing good. It is only on such an one that his eye would light, or to whom he would venture to make the suggestion. In nil the official appointments recorded in the New Testament, from an apostle down to a deacon, the people were requested to look out for suitable men, and not to wait till they presented themselves. (J. A. James.)Why seven deacons Some have asserted that it was so determined because seven was a sacred number, others because there were now seven congregations in Jerusalem, or seven thousand converts. Perhaps, however, the true reason was simply that seven is a very convenient practical number. In case of a difference of opinion a majority can always be secured on one side or other, and all blocks avoided. The number seven was long maintained in connection with the order of deacons, in imitation of the apostolic institution. A council at Neo-Caesarea, a.d. 814, ordained that the number of seven deacons should never be exceeded in any city, while in the Church of Rome the same limitation prevailed from the second to the twelfth century, so that the Roman cardinals, who were the parochial clergy of Rome, numbered among them merely seven deacons down to that late period. The seven chosen by the primitive Church were to be men of good report because they were to be public functionaries, whose decisions were to allay commotions and murmurings; and therefore they must be men of weight, in whom the public had confidence. But, further, they must be men “ full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” Piety was not the only qualification; they must be wise, prudent, sound in judgment as well. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word.-- Prayer and preaching Alternate or simultaneous, are the right and left side of a living ministry. The preaching work may be laboriously and conscientiously performed without comfort or success if the other side be from any cause paralysed. I watched once the operations of a brick-maker in a field of clay. There was great agility in his movements. He wrought by piece, and the more he turned out the higher was his pay. His body moved like a machine. His task for a time was simply to raise a quantity of clay from a lower to a higher level by means of a spade, lie threw up one spadeful, and then he dipped his tool in a pail of water that stood by. After every spadeful of clay there was a dip in the water. The operation of dipping occupied as much time as raising. My first thought was, if he should dispense with these apparently useless baptisms, he might perform almost double the amount of work. My second thought was wiser: on reflection, I saw that if he should continue to work without these alternate washings, the clay would have stuck to the spade, and progress would have been altogether arrested. I said to myself, Go thou and do likewise. Prayer is the baptism which makes progress quick. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Ministers should give themselves to prayer “ I was lately in company of one of our older ministers,” said a young minister the other day; “ one who has laboured long and with much success in some of the most difficult fields of the Church. The object of my interview was to learn from him the secret of success with which it had pleased God to crown his ministry in positions and places where others had failed. Instead, however, of directly giving me the information I desired, he told me with great sorrow the reason why he had accomplished so little, and said with unaffected sadness, ‘ My young friend, the mistake of my life has been that I have not prayed more. I fell into the error of most ministers--I studied and preached. I worked and worried too much, and I prayed too little. Could I live my life over again, I would be more with God and less with men. I see it all now--what wasted years of unrest I have passed, how much of my life was my own doing, and how little of God has been in my active ministry! I can now, in the evening of my days, only ask God to forgive my shortcomings, and to aid me in spending my few remaining years differently from the imperfect way in which I have served my Master.” Prayer and power A friend who knew Mr. Spurgeon many years ago, and who heard him preach on many occasions, says that he once heard him preach in one of our large towns in the afternoon and evening on a certain day; and that at the close of the afternoon service Mr. Spurgeon spoke of the consciousness that the service had not been what it should have been. His friend (then a student) admitted that he thought the preacher had not been himself in the preaching. Mr. Spurgeon, with a remark to the effect that it would never do to repeat the failure in the evening, went out into the woods to pray. Indeed, he spent the whole interval between the afternoon and evening services in prayer. The latter meeting was one of great power, and different in all respects from that of the afternoon. Many preachers of to-day might imitate Mr. Spurgeon’ s example with great advantage to themselves and their congregations. Prayer and ministerial success A minister observing a poor man by the roadside breaking stones with a hammer, and kneeling to get at his work the better, said to him, “ Ah, John, I wish I could break the stony hearts of my hearers as easily as you are breaking these stones!” The man replied, “ Perhaps, master, you don’ t work on your knees?” They laid their hands on them.-- Imposition of hands This action was of frequent use among the ancient Jews. The apostles must have remembered that it was employed in the designation of Joshua as leader of Israel in place of Moses (Numbers 27:18-23; cf. Deuteronomy 34:9), that it was used even in the synagogue in the appointment of Jewish rabbis, and had been sanctioned by our Lord’ s practice. They naturally, therefore, used this symbol upon the solemn appointment of the first deacons, and the same ceremonial was repeated upon similar occasions (see Acts 13:3; 2 Timothy 1:6; Hebrews 6:2). This ceremony was also employed by the apostles as the rite which filled up and perfected the baptism which had been administered by others (Acts 8:17). The ceremony of imposition of hands was so essential and distinguishing a point, that Simon Magus selects it as the one he desires above all others effectually to purchase, so that the outward symbol might be followed by the inward grace (Acts 8:19). Again in chap. 19. we find St. Paul using the same visible ceremony in the case of St. John’ s disciples, who were first baptized with Christian baptism, and then endued by St. Paul with the gift of the Spirit. Imposition of hands in the case of ordination is a natural symbol, indicative of the transmission of function and authority. It fitly indicates and notifies to the whole Church the persons who have been ordained, and therefore has ever been regarded as a necessary part of ordination. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)A man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.-- Stephen’ s faith and its source I. Stephen’ s faith. From the speech he made in defence we may gather some of the leading features of his faith.1. Stephen believed that God’ s hand was discernible in history. He gives a rapid survey of the Scripture story from the call of Abraham to the death of Jesus, and shows how all had been overruled by God. The common notion is that kings and statesmen make history. Stephen believed that God made it. To him the value of history was not merely that it told succeeding generations the things that had happened to their fathers, and the deeds their fathers had done, but that it revealed God, made known His character, principles, and relationship to man. The life and soul of history is God. It is noticeable that Stephen’ s speech is far from exact in its statements. Dean Stanley points out no less than twelve differences from the Mosaic history. But mere precision of record was not his aim. He desired to show the purposes of God. There may be the most minute exactitude of delineation, and yet no life. The true artist will sacrifice the rectitude of a line that he may express the soul of his subject. 2. Stephen believed that the most noticeable way-mark of the universal march had just been passed. It was the Cross of Jesus. So far the race had been journeying on and on to Calvary. 3. Stephen believed that Jesus, after His Cross and passion, had risen from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. 4. Stephen believed that the exalted Jesus still cared for, and could help His servants in all their labour and suffering upon earth. He beheld Jesus “ standing on the right hand of God,” as if ready to assist him, and he prayed to Jesus. II. Stephen’ s possession of the Holy Spirit.1. It was this that gave life to his faith. It is not the correctness of the creed that makes a man a Christian, in the highest sense, but the quickening power of the Holy Spirit. 2. If we would be useful as servants of God among men we must be baptized in the Holy Ghost. 3. Nay, we cannot live aright without this. 4. The most important question we can be asked is, “ Have ye received the Holy Ghost?” (J. Kirk Pike.)The character of Stephen I. The spiritual endowments by which he was distinguished. “ Full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.”1. The high and honourable office to which he was elected would demand the continual exercise of a simple affiance in the power, the faithfulness, the love of Jesus Christ--in the stability of that religion to which he was self-devoted--in the fulfilment of that promise (Matthew 28:20). 2. Stephen was also full of the Holy Ghost. As the Shekinah, the bright emblem of the Divine presence, descended from heaven and filled the holy of holies, so did a sacred influence from above fill the heart of Stephen, and make his body the temple of the Holy Ghost. II. The earnestness of his labour in the cause of Christ. He who is full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, proves the power of religion as a practical principle by abounding in every good word and work. His obligations to the Fountain of Mercy are so great, his deliverance so gracious, his hope so animating, his responsibilities so awful, that one master-feeling will occupy his mind--a desire to walk worthy of God, who hath called him to His kingdom and glory. III. To these qualifications of St. Stephen must be added his boldness in confessing Christ. A. Christian should indeed charge it upon his conscience to abstain, as much as in him lieth, from religious controversy. Unnecessary disputes, and oppositions of theological science, are most unfriendly to the love and power of Divine truth in his heart. But when his faith is assailed; when the foundation of every hope on which the soul rests is attacked by the daring impiety of the blasphemer, or the more covert insinuation of the secret infidel, let him remember that silence and indifference are treason against the Saviour who bought him with His blood. IV. Considering the closing events of St. Stephen’ s life in the order of the sacred narrative, we next remark his support in the hour of trial. He had such a view of his risen Redeemer’ s power and glory as strengthened him to abide unshrinkingly the fate before him; and such a foretaste of the bliss which awaited him as made him desirous to depart, and to be with Christ. V. The charity with which St. Stephen prayed for his murderers: “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” In this spirit of charity we must live and die if we hope for heaven. Never let us address God with a prayer for our own pardon, if we cannot unfeignedly pardon others their wrongs against us. VI. The confidence with which St. Stephen resigned his soul into the hand of Christ. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)The Christian full of faith and of the Holy Ghost Here is an example. How simply is the character sketched! and how distinctly is it stated whence it was that this man was what he was! Happy is that Church which has many such among its laity, “ men full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom.” How shall we know such? What is it that we are to seek when we wish to be such? I. Who and what is that man who is full of faith and of the Holy Ghost? Faith which believes the promise respecting the gift of the Holy Ghost, which relies upon His presence and help, which looks to Him continually, leans on His assistance confidently, is necessary to an individual’ s being full of the Holy Ghost: “ full of faith” and “ full of the Holy Ghost” are inseparably united: they twine together, they grow up each into their fulness together. The Holy Ghost is the author of faith: it is by His gift and operation that the faith of believers “ groweth exceedingly.” He reveals the truth “ from faith to faith.” And faith opens wider and wider the door of the heart for His reception; and faith, acting upon the promises, draws a larger and a larger indwelling of that blessed visitant. It is almost needless to say that the expression “ being full of the Holy Ghost” must mean being under the influence of the Holy Ghost--His influence exerted over the whole man, in all his powers, under all circumstances, at all times. It is by the Holy Ghost that he is guided. He is continually under the Spirit’ s teaching. That blessed Spirit is acting, with all his trials, by them to sanctify him. The influence of the Holy Ghost is upon the man in all that he thinks or does: this is the “ being full of the Holy Ghost.” Hence Christians are said to walk in the Spirit, to pray in the Spirit, to live in the Spirit. We go on now to the effects produced--those which others see visible in our disposition and conduct. The indwelling of the Spirit must be manifest to ourselves. In true Christians--for it is of them that we are now especially speaking--one of the chief and most evident of the operations of the Holy Ghost, where His influence is richly imparted, is the shedding abroad a love to God and a love to all real Christians. In close connection with love is hope, a confiding trust in God. “ And, because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6). With these, and perhaps springing out of these in a measure, love and hope, are conjoined joy and peace, the work of the Holy Ghost. “ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22), says the apostle: “ joy of the Holy Ghost” (2 Thessalonians 1:6), he says again. There are also exhibitions of Christian excellence--these come from the Spirit: there are works done by Christians--these are originated by the Spirit. Scripture is very clear and definite in its language. We must observe it where it is so marked and positive in its expression: it does not speak of goodness, charity, temperance, etc., as our own virtues, which we are to follow; but it calls them “ fruits of the Spirit.” “ But the fruit of the Spirit,” says St. Paul, “ is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” These, if really Christian graces, come from the Spirit’ s operation. He commences them; He nurtures them; He gives them their growth; He will bring them out to their full completion in another world. I would observe, too, that all these fruits of the Spirit must be sought by the Christian. Our Saviour denounces the breaking one of His least commandments. These graces of the Holy Ghost differ, in many respects, from those excellencies which the unchanged heart of man can exhibit. We may notice one of these graces in St. Stephen, that man “ full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.” Christian graces have their opposites, but both appear. Where the Spirit of God works it will be so. See in St. Stephen the lion and the lamb united: he is the lion in courage, as he meets his persecutors, as he stands up valiant for the truth: he is the lamb in meekness, as he kneels down and prays for his murderers, “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” II. Our sinfulness in coming short of this, or it may be even, solemn and painful as is the thought, in some instances, the not possessing it at all. Think how often His good influences have been quenched, His work upon the soul interfered with, and more or less marred! Be humbled on account of these things. Endeavour to see them rightly. Confess them. This is the only way to obtain blessing from God. III. The encouragements to our seeking this character, and, in dependence upon God, making it our object to be men full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. (J. E. Dalton, B. D.). Acts 6:7 And the Word of God increased. Good earnests of great success I. The means by which this prosperity may be procured. Nothing can avail without--1. The operation of the Holy Spirit and the smile from heaven. Paul planteth, Apollos watereth, and God giveth the increase. 2. The plain preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been struck with the downrightness of the testimony of the Reformers. It was so with Farren, Luther, Calvin, etc. They did not aim at lofty periods and flowing eloquence; but they just dashed right on with this one truth, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” And if we are to see the Church of God really restored to her pristine glory, we must have back this plain, simple, gospel-preaching. Sunday-school teachers, you must teach this same gospel. 3. Much holy living to back it all up. After we have done the sermon, people say, “ How about the people that attend there? Are they such people as you can trust? What about their homes? Do they make good husbands, good servants, kind masters?” And if the report of our character be bad it is all over with our testimony. The doctor may advertise, but if the patients are not cured, he is not likely to establish himself as being well skilled in his art; and the preacher may preach, but if his people do not live the gospel, they kick down with their feet what he builds up with his hands. The early Reformers were distinguished by the sanctity of their lives. When they were about to hunt out the Waldenses, the French king sent a priest to see what they were like, and be, honest man as he was, came back and said, “ They seem to be much better Christians than we are. I am afraid they are heretics, but I would that all Catholics were as good as they are.” This was what made the gospel victorious in those days. 4. Individual, personal exertion. No Church can have prosperity if only a part of the members are active. It was thought among Christians that we ministers were to do all the work, and that you were to sit still and enjoy the sermon, and perhaps pull it to pieces. Let me give you a parable. A certain band had been victorious in all their conflicts. But on a sudden they said in the council-chamber, “ We have at our head a most valiant warrior, one whose arm is stout enough to smite down fifty of his adversaries; would it not be better if, with a few such as he to go out to the fight, the mere men-at-arms, who make up the ordinary ranks, were to stop at home?” Now, the foremost champions, with fear and trembling, undertook the task and went to the conflict, and they fought well, and did great exploits. But still no city was taken, no province was conquered, and they met together and said, “ How is this? Our former prestige is forgotten; our ranks are broken; our pennons are trailed in the dust; what is the cause of it?” When out spoke the champion, and said, “ Of course it is so! How did you think that some twelve or fifteen of ‘ us could do the work of all the thousands? When every man took his share, we dashed upon the foe like an avalanche; but now that you stay at home and put us, but a handful, to do all the work, how can you expect that great things should be done?” So each man resolved to put on his helmet and his armour once again, and go to the battle, and so victory returned. And if we are to have the victory you must be every one of you in the fight. 5. Much earnest prayer. Nothing is impossible to the man who knows how to overcome heaven by wrestling intercession. According to your faith shall it be done unto you. 6. More intense glowing spiritual life. II. The results which flow from this prosperity.1. Souls are saved. John Owen said that if you bad to preach to a whole nation for a twelvemonth, in order to win one soul, it would be good wages. Richard Knill once said, that if there were only one unconverted person in the wilds of Siberia, and that God had ordained that every Christian in the world must go and talk to that one person before he would be converted, it would be an exceedingly little thing for us all to do. 2. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ is glorified. 3. The Church is edified. As those who promote sanitary measures for the benefit of the neighbourhood are thereby favouring the conditions of their own health, so the promulgation of saving knowledge throughout the world is augmenting the peace and the welfare of our own hearts, and of all who are already saved. III. The alternative. Either we must get a high state of prosperity, or else we shall lack what is to be dreaded to the very uttermost. I have seen congregations broken to pieces, and churches split up, and the bottom of it all has been because vital godliness has been drained out of the system. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Missionary hindrances and encouragements I. The hindrances.1. The apostles had to preach to them as sinners, who, because of their ungodliness and pride, necessarily hated the gospel, which opposes itself to these evils. 2. Besides these elements of opposition, which they possessed in common with their fellow-creatures throughout the world, there were national hindrances, formalism, self-righteousness, and exclusiveness. 3. The class that was most especially opposed to the gospel from their position in society were the priests. These were first pledged to their own system, as its teachers. Their pride as teachers would rise up against the idea of renouncing this system, to which they had been so long and so warmly attached. And then their interests, as priests, were likely to be altogether subverted by the substitution of the gospel for Judaism. Their power and their wealth were both at stake. II. Encouragements. The apostles were aided--1. By having to address to those whom they endeavoured to convert, the testimony respecting undeniable and signal facts. The Jews might oppose their various theoretical objections to the gospel, and doubtless did; but to all these the apostles could adduce in answer, plain great facts which they did not adduce from hearsay, but of which they were themselves the witnesses. 2. By the moral force of the doctrine which they had to convey. 3. By their personal character. 4. B the Divine assistance which was guaranteed. Conclusion: Our hindrances are just those which prevailed at the first preaching of the gospel, which were overborne and mastered by the first disciples of Jesus Christ, and therefore may be by His disciples now, for the very means which they possessed for wrestling with these difficulties are possessed by ourselves. (Baptist Noel.)Prosperous times I. The Word of God increased.1. The number of its preachers increased. Stephen and Philip certainly, and the other deacons probably, were added to the company of preachers. Times of revival are always times for recruiting the ranks of the ministry. 2. The preachers declared it with augmented industry and power, encouraged by signs of Divine approval, and by the favour of the people. 3. The people received it in constantly increasing numbers, and passed it on. II. The disciples multiplied.1. Converts were made. There is no surer sign of spiritual adversity than few or no conversions. For this architecture, music, wealth, etc., are no compensation. But a Church worshipping in some upper room where money is scarce, and ecclesiastical aesthetics non-existent, but where disciples are multiplied, is in a prosperous state. 2. They were made in the least likely place. In Jerusalem, the stronghold of Jewish bigotry, where that spirit was in the ascendant which had crucified the Master. Had this been in Galilee, where the prejudice was not so intense, it would not have called for so much remark. So it is a blessed thing when those predisposed in favour of the gospel--the children of pious parents, etc., are brought to Christ; but it is still more glorious when the Word of God is received by heathen, either abroad or at home. 3. They were made in great numbers. Not in ones and twos, but in multitudes. It is sad when a Church has to congratulate itself that it holds its own, and that the additions fill the gaps made by removals or deaths. No Church is prosperous which does not keep pace with the growth of the population. The same power which converted multitudes in Jerusalem can do the same in London. III. A great company of priests were obedient to the faith.1. They had everything to lose and nothing to gain, and so their conversion and adhesion to the Church was a great argument in favour of the truth of the gospel. And so it is in any age when notorious opponents are converted. 2. All their learning and prestige were now consecrated to the cause of Christ. Frequently the conversion of one man or woman in an influential position or of great ability is of more value than the conversion of scores of others, because of the higher vantage ground they occupy. 3. These, too, were converted in great numbers. There is nothing unreasonable in this. The power that can convert one can convert multitudes. 4. Their conversion was thorough, “ obedient unto the faith.” (J. W. Burn.)A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.-- The conversion of the priests an evidence of the truth of the Christian religion The Jewish priesthood was of great dignity and influence. The office was hereditary, and its members constituted a national aristocracy. Every priest could trace back his pedigree to Aaron, and no matter to what straits of poverty he might be brought his social position was unchanged. He was exempt from taxation and military service. The number of priests during the period of our Lord’ s life, Josephus estimated at twenty thousand. For reasons plainly to be seen, the Jewish authorities arrayed themselves in bitter hostility against the Prophet of Nazareth, and the most blood-thirsty of His enemies were God’ s anointed priests. The political condition of Palestine was then strange and anomalous. David’ s throne was occupied by a creature of the Emperor of Rome, and foreign soldiers kept the Jewish people in subjection. The Church outrivalled the state in degeneracy. Her priesthood, greedy, dissolute, and infidel, demanded unlawful fees for every temple service, disgraced the religion they professed, by the inhumanity and profligacy of their lives. With such a condition of things, no wonder that the Son of God met with the cruelty that He did: no wonder that even the chief priests were loudest in their clamours that He should die. When the Saviour rose from the dead, His scattered followers forthwith flocked about His standard, and began their great work of the conversion of the world. The first martyr, Stephen, laid down his life for the truth. On the very eve of his ordination to the office of deacon we are told that “ the Word of God increased, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” It is no longer merely a company of ignorant fishermen and soft-hearted women who are found to take sides with the crucified Jesus, but the very class of men who could have been least expected to make such a sacrifice. Surely, among all the evidences afforded of the truth of the Christian religion, this is one of wonderful force and significance. Had one or two priests yielded to the overwhelming proofs vouchsafed, that Jesus was the Messiah, it would have been a testimony of no little value; but how the weight of testimony is increased when we read that a great company of those who occupied this high social position abandoned everything, and exposed themselves to opposition, ridicule, contempt, persecution, and death, that they might carry out their convictions of duty, and prove, as no men have ever done more clearly, that the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of all acceptation. Once, the contemptuous question had been asked: “ Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?” (John 7:48). And yet, even then, many” among the chief rulers “ already believed in Jesus, “ but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42; John 19:38). The day was at hand when “ a great company of the priests” would acknowledge Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. Faith is here put for the Christian religion, and we are assured in this brief statement that they not only embraced the truths of the gospel as an act of the understanding, but that they pledged themselves to obey its requirements. Surely, then, they who, in our own day, claim to be unbelievers, ought to have very substantial ground to go upon before they rush to the conclusion that the multitudes who have embraced the Christian faith, and who have passed into another world, cheered and comforted by its promises, have all believed a lie! (J. N. Norton, D. D.) Acts 6:8-15 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. The last first I. The points in which Stephen was last.1. His position was entirely subordinate. The deacons were appointed to help the apostles in the lower part of their functions, and even this they did not presume to do without delegation from the apostles. We may imagine, then, the apostles retiring after the ordination to give themselves without distraction to their spiritual exercises. But it was with them as with Moses of old. God took of the Spirit which was upon them and put it on those who were to bear the burden of the people with them. Stephen, etc., became the Eldad and Medad of the New Testament. Nay, Stephen was an Elisha, upon whom a double portion of their spirit rested. 2. Stephen had probably never seen our Lord, but was in all likelihood a pentecostal convert. Otherwise how could such a man have missed nomination to the vacant apostleship? But it pleased the Lord to illustrate in him that the knowledge of Christ after the Spirit is the one requirement for sanctity. “ Whom having not seen, ye love.” 3. The apostles had forsaken all to follow Christ, but it nowhere appears that Stephen had gone through similar hardships. His fiery trials blazed out upon him all at once, and the language of our Lord concerning the late-called labourers adapts itself with nicety in his case. He could not be said to have borne the burden and heat of the day. So we learn that God has varieties of trial, and applies them to the different characters of His servants. For Peter there is a long, wearing warfare; for John a wearisome, desolate waiting; for Stephen the letting loose upon him at the opening of his career all the hounds of hell in one fell pack. Us, perhaps, He subjects only to those little crosses which form the burden of daily life. But we must consider that in crosses, as well as comforts, God chooses what is best for us. It is possible to reach a great height of sanctity by submitting quietly and lovingly to ordinary trials. II. The points in which he became first.1. He seems to have outstripped the apostles in spiritual intelligence, in appreciation of the breadth, comprehensiveness, and spirituality of the Divine plans. He was the morning star who ushered in the dawn of St. Paul’ s ministry. It is evident that the theology of the one was that of the other. St. Peter clung long to Jewish prejudices, and we have no reason to suppose that the other apostles were further advanced. 2. In zeal for his Master’ s honour, and devotion to his Master’ s cause, Stephen appears to have outstripped his contemporaries. Peter had denied his Lord, and long after, at Antioch, showed that he was not entirely emancipated from moral cowardice. But Stephen from first to last was as bold as a lion. 3. According to the omen conveyed in his name (a crown), he was the first to wear the crown of martyrdom. For most of the apostles it was also in reserve, but when they reached paradise they found Stephen already crowned. The labourer called at the eleventh hour had received his wages before those called in the morning. 4. In the brilliancy and number of his miracles Stephen rivalled if he did not outstrip the apostles (verse 8). Lessons:1. We should see contentedly and thankfully many alterations made in the old platform of religious thought. These are days of progress, and old-fashioned and high-principled people are made very sore by novelties. In this adherence to old ways and thoughts there is danger, while at the same time there is a safeguard. Still it is very necessary that sound conservatism does not degenerate into bigotry. Not every new idea and practice turned up by the spade of modern inquiry is bad. And as for keeping the platform of popular theology what it was half a century ago, it is impossible. So we can imagine our early Christians jealous for Christ’ s apostles, saying, “ I do not like this Stephen: he carries matters too far; his teaching about the temple is audacious.” Yet to Stephen’ s view the apostles came round in time. 2. It may be a stimulus to our will in the pursuit of holiness to remember that our last shall be first. Hitherto, maybe, we have made little, if any, proficiency in religion. But if now we are willing to redeem the time, we may advance. The blood and grace of Christ are forces as fresh as ever. (Dean Goulburn.)Stephen’ s miracles and controversies It is observable that no express mention is made of his performance of deacon’ s functions. He shot ahead of his position, and is only known as the brave champion and first martyr of the cause of Christ. Not that we must infer that he was neglectful of the duties of his calling. His routine of daily duty needed not recording. I. His miracles. Observe how carefully we are guarded against the supposition that he was a mere wonder worker. The historian does not merely record the miracles, but tells us of the secret of them, “ Stephen, full of faith,” etc. The man who acts in faith, whether he works a miracle or only achieves some great enterprise for Christ, simply lays hold of the power of God. So in the triumphs of grace. If I win a victory over a besetting sin, or am brought out unharmed from temptation, it is not in my own strength. The Bible knows nothing of inherent strength. The first element of all power is self-distrust. The vine branch has no sap, and consequently no power of fructification of its own; the sap must be sent up from the stem. A little child is quite incompetent to a long walk; but if in confessed impotence it throws itself into his father’ s arms, he will entry it through. Sanctification, in its source and efficient cause, is no more inherent than justification. “ In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” II. His controversies. It was said that in Jerusalem there were 480 synagogues. Among these several would be appropriated to Hellenistic Jews of whom Stephen was probably one, and thus his early associations as well as his office would bring him in contact with the members of these synagogues. It is worth noting that among his opponents were representatives of each of the three continents then known. First that of the Libertines or freedmen, i.e., Jews whose ancestors had been carried captive to Rome by Pompey and others, and had there, in process of time, been emancipated. Many of them would migrate to Jerusalem, and found this synagogue representing the Italian Jews. Cyrene and Alexandria were cities of North Africa. In the former the Jews were a fourth of the population. It was a Cyrenian Jew who bore our Lord’ s cross, and another joined in laying hands on Paul. In Alexandria two out of its five districts were inhabited by Jews. These African Hebrews would have their representatives in the holy city, who would build their own church and have their own congregation. The Asiatic opponents of Stephen would be furnished by the representatives of the Jews in Cilicia and Asia. The mention of the former is significant. For St. Paul was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, and according to tradition he appeared as a disputant against Stephen. But the result of the controversy was humiliating to Stephen’ s antagonists. “ They were not able to resist,” etc. (verse 10). No wonder Christ had stricken controversialists dumb by “ the mouth and wisdom” He promised to His disciples. As soon as Stephen’ s opponents felt his irresistibility his impeachment was arranged. Lessons:1. The conditions of successful controversy. The controversy which carries the inner convictions does not necessarily extort open confession. This may be withheld from pride or prejudice as here. How very few controversies are more than a skirmish of words in which both parties are exasperated! Yet truth ought to be able to win its way by its own force. The three qualifications for controversy are, “ a mouth,” or power of expression, “ wisdom,” or power of argument, and lying deeper and giving effect to both, “ a spirit--the Spirit of your Father.” In some modern controversies, nothing but “ the mouth” is exhibited, occasionally “ wisdom,” but it was “ the Spirit” as well as “ the wisdom” by which Stephen spoke which his adversaries were unable to resist. The naked logic of the intellect will not by itself convince, but the logic that is seconded by unction carries with it wonderful weight, 2. We may learn from the fact that Stephen’ s miracles formed but an introduction to his controversies, breaking open a passage for his arguments to reach the minds and consciences of men. Tell me not of an ecclesiastical authority whose dictates are to be received on its own ipse dixit. Stephen did not say after cleansing a few lepers, etc., “ These miracles prove that we are seat from God: now listen to us at the peril of your souls.” He and his colleagues came down into the lowly valley of disputation; they made a public appeal to the Holy Scriptures, and showed that Jesus was the Christ from documents admitted by their opponents. When men who could produce miracles in favour of their teaching entered the arena of controversy, how can any modern communion which has not the attestation of miracles make a claim to be believed on its own unsupported testimony? (Dean Goulburn.)The first Christian martyr The Book of Acts is composed upon a definite principle, to wit, what Jesus continued to do and teach after His ascension through the instrumentality of His followers. In the first five chapters this principle is illustrated in the doings and sayings of Peter. But when another steps on the arena in whom this truth is shown in a stronger light Peter is at once dropped; in the sixth and seventh chapters Stephen it is that occupies the forefront, then Philip, then Paul. The avowed object of the writer is not to show us Peter, but the “ hand of the Lord” ; and His hand is here more distinctly seen in Stephen than in Peter. Let us look at Stephen as-- I. A man (verse 3).1. He was an honest man, and had a reputation for honesty. Some people are honest, but they push bargains so hard that their honesty is suspected. “ Provide things honest in the sight of all men.” Not only be upright, but convince others of your uprightness. “ So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” “ Good understanding” ; on the margin, “ good success.” An unsullied reputation for integrity helps a man forward even in business--it wins the confidence of the public. 2. Underlying his honesty was his goodness--he was spoken well of by all who knew him. Paul afterwards said that a deacon “ must have a good report of them which are without,” i.e., he should not only stand well in the family and in the Church, but in the world. We should first be light; we should then “ shine as lights in the world.” “ Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify” --yourselves? No; but “ your Father which is in heaven.” I can look at the wall, but not through the wall; but I can look at and through the window. And a good character should be clear as glass, transparent as light--a character men can not only look at, but look through and see God beyond. II. A Christian (verse 5).1. He was “ full of faith” --a strong, healthy believer. Some of his fellow members were exceedingly weak in the faith, shy, timid, vacillating; but Stephen’ s spiritual life was deep and vigorous. He put unbounded confidence in the new religion; he “ held fast his profession.” “ By faith the elders obtained good report.” Not a great report, perhaps, but a good one. Other factors, such as learning and riches, are necessary to obtain a great report. But faith alone, if strong, will secure you a good report, which is better than a great one. By this Stephen “ still speaketh,” and is still spoken of. 2. He was “ full of the Holy Ghost” ; and to be “ full of the Holy Ghost” is better than to be “ full of faith.” Faith at best is only the human aspiring after the Divine; but to be “ full of the Holy Ghost” is for the human to possess the Divine. To trust God is good, to have God is better. One may be “ full of faith “ and yet not “ full of the Holy Ghost.” Many of the Old Testament saints were “ full of faith,” but none of them were “ full of the Holy Ghost “ --this is the sole prerogative of saints under the New Testament The faith of Abraham has never been excelled, but he fell into sins which could not be tolerated in the Christian Church. The apostles before the Pentecost were “ full of faith,” but on the Pentecost were they “ filled with the Spirit” ; and as a natural consequence a process of refinement was then commenced unknown to the religious experience of the Jewish Church. Under the Old Testament the Holy Ghost was “ upon” men, but under the New He is “ in” men--a sweetening, hallowing influence, refining the very fibre of our being. The iron cold has the same properties as the iron heated, but the one is black and dull; the other is white and vivid--the fire imparts to it its own qualities. Thus Stephen was pervaded by the refining fire of God. His whole being was transfused with celestial brightness, and therefore his character grew in fineness of texture. III. A deacon (verse 8).1. The fifth verse says he was “ full of faith,” the eighth (according to the best MSS.) that he was “ full of grace.” “ Grace” means favour. In its theological sense it signifies the Divine favour shown to sinners. But as used in the context it signifies the favour shown by Stephen to those with whom he came in contact. “ Grace” some suppose to have the same etymology as “ grease.” Be that as it may; but the body when well “ greased” is lithe and nimble, easy in its carriage, graceful in its movements. Now, what grease does to the body, grace does to the soul. Stephen was elected to distribute the charity of the Church. How did he do it? Did he haughtily impress the humble recipients of his bounty with their inferiority? Certainly not. He did it with grace--beautiful ease and comfortable homeliness. Modern Christians may here learn a valuable lesson--not to insult the objects of their beneficence in the very act of succouring them. “ Draw out thy soul to the hungry.” Thy money? Not only that, but thy soul. Give alms by all means, but give it with grace. 6, Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” 2. Being thus “ full of grace,” he was of necessity “ full of power.” The man devoid of grace cannot in the nature of things wield much influence. But the man habitually kind, polite, and obliging acquires an influence subtle but irresistible in the sphere in which he moves. Judging by the outward show, men are apt to mistake vehemence for power. Lightning is the strong thing in the popular imagination because of the flash and thunder accompanying it. But gravitation, whose voice is never heard, is the central force holding countless worlds in its grip. In like manner the man of wealth, learning, eloquence--the man who can flash and roar--is usually considered the powerful factor. But scan society more narrowly, and you will perceive that none of those things wield so much true power as grace. 3. “ He did great wonders and miracles among the people.” The same laws govern society now as then--get the grace and you will infallibly obtain the power. The great need of the present age is not physical but moral wonders. Think of our trains, steam packets, electric telegraphs, and telephones: what physical miracles can outshine these? It is within the reach of all to do wonders and to be wonders in goodness, IV. A disputant (verse 10).1. They were “ not able to resist the wisdom with which he spake.” He proved victorious in the debate, for two reasons. First, he was evidently a practised logician. His Greek culture and Hebrew studies made him a man of great resource in argument. His speech shows him to be a man of keen philosophic insight. The second and chief reason was that he had truth on his side. The synagogue of the Cilician Jews is mentioned--the very synagogue of which young Saul of Tarsus was a member. This fact, coupled with the profound interest he took in the trial of Stephen, demonstrates conclusively that he was present. Young Saul would unquestionably be quite a match to Stephen in a bare trial of dialectic skill. But Stephen, backed by the truth, was too strong even for Saul. A weak mind, supported by a great truth, can bring about the total discomfiture of the stoutest adversary. The paramount duty of every public teacher is to seek “ to be filled with wisdom,” that is, with good, sound, solid information. No amount of eloquence will make up for lack of matter. God can “ create out of nothing” ; and doubtless He has blessed sermons with little or nothing in them. In Genesis we read but once that He “ created out of nothing” ; but we read repeatedly that He “ created out of something” --the author being very shy of using the stronger word. That is the usual method of the Divine operation still. “ The preacher sought to find out acceptable words,” but “ the preacher” also “ was wise and taught the people knowledge.” The late Rev. Henry Rees, the great Welsh preacher, being asked which kind of sermon he thought most likely the Holy Ghost would bless to the salvation of the hearers, answered, “ The sermon most likely to effect their salvation without Him.” 2. His “ spirit” was as noteworthy as his wisdom. In a written sermon style is of great consequence. Now, what style is to a written, the spirit is to a spoken sermon. Stephen spoke with a marvellous spirit--he imparted warmth, beauty, life, force to his arguments. 3. “ They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit.” The wisdom alone they could. Dry argument skims only the surface of our nature, it does not stir the depths. “ Intellectual preaching” seldom moves people. Moreover, they could resist the “ spirit” alone; and in this day of sensationalism it is of some moment that we remember it. Mere “ hwyl,” however delightful at the time, leaves our hearers securely immured in sin. But the wisdom and the spirit joined will prove irresistible. Alas! to the cavilling Jews it was the savour of death. If they could not resist his preaching, they could and did resist his person. “ They suborned men--they stirred up the people--they caught him and brought him to the council.” V. A prisoner (verse 11, etc.).1. The speech he made serves to show-- (1) That he was profoundly versed in the Hebrew literature. It must be remembered that it was delivered at the spur of the moment under circumstances the most embarrassing. I am told that there are twelve discrepancies in it. How to account for them? Simply that Stephen was obliged to address his judges from memory without the chance of correcting himself by reference to the sacred Scriptures. Is it a cause of wonder that, in a review so minute and so searching, the valiant deacon should commit a few trivial mistakes? (2) His Greek culture and sympathy. It would be almost a matter of sheer impossibility for a man born and bred in Palestine to deliver it. Native Jews like Peter and John dogmatise; Hellenistic Jews like Stephen and Paul philosophise. (a) Stephen presents the council with a lucid and succinct philosophy of the national history. The same principle he proves to be running through Jewish history from the call of Abraham to the building of the temple. What is that principle? That true religion is independent of any fixed rite or particular locality, and that religious progress has always meant religious change, every change, however, involving progress on the part of God, but stern resistance on the part of man. What if God hath purposed to make another great change in the establishment of Christianity, and what if the Jews like their forefathers were making a resolute stand against it! (b) The critics are much exercised to know how his speech can be viewed as a refutation of the charge of blasphemy. But they overlook the fact that he does not defend himself except incidentally. His supreme desire is to vindicate not himself, but the truth. Herein Stephen, the martyr of Christianity, contrasts favourably with Socrates, the martyr of philosophy--both alike indicted for blasphemy. Socrates, to his honour be it said, scorned to stoop to any base or unworthy artifice to save his life; his thoughts nevertheless continually reverted to himself. The first personal pronoun bristles through his famous apology. But Stephen has neither “ I” nor “ me” on his lips so much as once--he wholly forgets himself in his intense eagerness to expound to the council the formative principles and historical career of the kingdom of God. 2. But if his speech was remarkable, his bodily appearance was more remarkable still (verse 15). (1) Solomon says, “ A man’ s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.” Notice the young man before his admission to college--his countenance is marked by a certain degree of heaviness and opacity, is devoid of expression for the simple reason that there is behind but little to be expressed. Observe him again at the termination of his course--his features are illuminated, his eyes flash pure intelligence. Put light within a marble vase and it grows translucent. And “ the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord” --Light the candle within and the face without will shine. (2) Now if wisdom is thus able to radiate through the veil of flesh, how much more goodness, and especially goodness and wisdom together? You can tell a good man by his very face. “ They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” That wickedness stamps itself on the features is an universally acknowledged fact. On the other hand, goodness restores grace to the faded features. Many men and Women, though plain enough from an artistic standpoint, possess indescribable charm. Believe me, young people, nothing will so improve your looks as deep piety. It is significant that the word translated “ good” in the New Testament may be also rendered “ beautiful.” Stephen was “ full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” and therefore “ they beheld his face as it had been the face of an angel.” (3) But is this all? I believe not. When Moses returned from Sinai, “ the skin of his face shone so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold it.” And the angelic lustre on Stephen’ s face was doubtless miraculous. But here as in other instances, the miraculous, so far from obscuring the natural, serves to illustrate it. It brings out into clearer prominence a law which, were it not for the transfiguration of Stephen, of Moses, and of Christ, would escape our attention--that genuine goodness is a Divine light within, whose inevitable tendency it is to make luminous both soul and body. In regeneration this Divine spark is struck, and sanctification is only the theological name for transfiguration. “ Be ye transformed in the spirit of your mind” : literally, transfigured--the very same word that is used to describe the transfiguration of Christ. The Divine brightness first makes luminous the dark, dull, obtuse soul, and then the dark, dull, obtuse body. But more especially is this spiritual luminousness to be witnessed upon deathbeds. Friends beautiful in life are still more beautiful in death. Their faces seem to catch the pure beams of eternity like mountain tops the first light of day. VI. A martyr.1. Look at the mad fury of his hearers. “ They were cut to the heart,” “ sawn asunder.” The prophets of old had been “ sawn asunder” by their stiffnecked forefathers; now they are “ sawn asunder” by the powerful ministry of Stephen. They further “ gnashed on him with their teeth.” Only in one other connection is this strong phrase used--“ there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It seems as though the uncontrollable fury of the damned seized the motley crowd. Hell seemed broken loose on the streets of Jerusalem. 2. But if the rabble were wild with rage, Stephen himself was calm and collected. (1) He first offered a prayer on his own behalf. He next prayed on behalf of his murderers. So deeply had he drunk of the spirit of the Saviour, that he unconsciously quotes His very words. Nowhere outside the religion of the New Testament do we behold such majesty and meekness in the grim presence of death. Pagans may die heroically--Christians only die forgivingly. (2) No wonder that such a man should see “ into heaven.” His body was in a state of incipient transfiguration; his eye, therefore, supernaturally strengthened, pierced beyond the azure, and swept the vast places of eternity. Men in the present day will receive only the testimony of the senses, and because they see not heaven and hell they will not believe. But are they sure the supposed weakness of the proof lies not in the weakness of their vision? Stephen looking stedfastly into heaven, “ saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” And if credit is to be given--and why not?--to the dying testimony of saints, his is not a solitary case. (3) But not only he saw into heaven, but heaven itself was “ opened.” There was an elevation of the human--there was also a condescension of the Divine. Under the Old Dispensation “ the way into the Holiest of All was not made manifest” ; but now heaven is “ opened.” “ After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven” --standing open. Since Christ entered, the doors have been standing open--to offer shelter and home to the weary and persecuted pilgrims. “ I see … the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” This is the only instance except twice in the Apocalypse that Jesus after His ascension is called Son of Man. Why called so here? Because He was an object clearly discerned by the bodily eyes of Stephen. To the eyes of faith lie is Jesus or Christ or Lord; to the eyes of the body He will for ever be the Son of Man. When St. John thinks or writes of Him, He is always the Son of God; but when St. John is rapt up in vision He is the Son of Man. When He first ascended He “ sat” to elbow His indisputable right to be there; but having established His right, lie sits or stands as occasion requires. Stephen sees Him standing--eagerly watching this momentous crisis in the history of the Church. And with this magnificent panorama floating before his view, the intrepid martyr “ fell asleep” --“ to sleep, aye, perchance to dream.” This sleep of Stephen has given to our burial grounds the Christian name of “ cemeteries” --they are places where our friends sleep; and “ if they sleep, they will do well.” (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)“ Grace and power” (R.V.):--These two words, “ grace and power,” are closely connected. Their union here is significant. It was not the intellect, or the eloquence, or the activity of St. Stephen which made him powerful among the people, and crowned his labours with such success. It was his abundant grace. Eloquence, and learning, active days and laborious nights, are good and necessary things. God uses them and demands them from His people. He chooses to use human agencies, and therefore demands that the human agents shall give Him of their best, and not offer to Him the blind and lame of their flock. But these things will be utterly useless and ineffective apart from Christ and the power of His grace. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)Then there arose certain of the synagogue … of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.-- Stephen disputing in the synagogues I. The sphere. Amongst the four hundred and eighty synagogues which existed in Jerusalem at this time some were frequented exclusively by the Jews of the Dispersion. Families which had removed from the same region of heathenism to settle for devotion or trade in the holy city clustered together for daily prayer in the same congregation; exactly as to this day in Jerusalem Spanish Jews (called Sephardim), who have dwelt there since 1497, are only to be found in their four synagogues, and German and Polish Jews (called Ashkenazim)in others. Here they fall naturally into three divisions.1. The Libertines (Libertini), or Freed-men from Rome. Some ninety years had now passed since Pompey carried off a multitude of Jewish captives; and their descendants, most of them manumitted by their masters, had either settled in the Trastavere, on the right bank of the Tiber, or been banished from Italy. It is possible that many of the four thousand whom Tiberius deported to Jardinia (a.d. 19) had found their way to their own land. 2. The Jews from North Africa, from Alexandria, and Cyrene, the capital of Libya, and where Tripoli now stands, both of which swarmed with Hebrews. 3. Asiatic Jews, from the province known in official language as “ Asia,” and always called so in the New Testament, from Cilicia, whose capital gave birth to Saul. II. With these various representatives of Hellenised Judaism the Church now came for the first time in contact. The elevation of Stephen had this for its result, that his spiritual and intellectual gifts found a wider and more public sphere. His duties brought him in contact with the poor brethren of his own section of the Church, and through them with their unbelieving neighbours. These opportunities he used for the preaching of the gospel. Stephen was much more than an almoner. He was a deep student of tim Old Testament, a theologian of unusual insight, a powerful reasoner, and an advanced Christian. In him we first find those gifts of healing which Jesus had given the apostles exercised by a man who was no apostle. In him, too, we find the promise fulfilled which had hitherto been fulfilled to Peter (Luke 21:15). His manner of speech, however, was unlike that of Peter. Peter was a witness, and preached by witness-bearing. Stephen was a student, and preached by exposition and controversy. These synagogues, to which no doubt he belonged, were homes of learning and bigotry. Intense enough and terribly sincere were the disputants whom Stephen encountered, but proud, narrow, self-righteous, and bitter; just the men to argue themselves into a bad temper, and, when beaten in logic, to fall to abuse. III. We are left to gather the subject of dispute from the result. From the charge brought against Stephen, from the evidence of the witnesses, and from his own defence, we gather that that great question was the bearing of the new faith on the old system.1. In his earliest sermons Peter had hinted that the advent of Jesus, His passion and resurrection, formed the consummation towards which Mosaism pointed, the accomplishment of the great hope which all the prophets had foretold, and for which Israel waited. This constructive teaching was not unpopular, and orthodox Jews did not cease to be so upon baptism. Up to this time the question had not been raised, What if the Jewish hierarchy and commonwealth reject it? Now, however, it was getting to be not unlikely that the Sanhedrin might excommunicate the Church. Suppose it did, was that to be conclusive against the Church? Must the new economy be fettered by the limitations of the old? Nay, did not the very coming of Him to whom the whole symbolic ritual pointed require its abolition, and initiate of necessity a new worship? 2. How far Stephen went in this direction it is impossible to tell, but on it his face was set. He was the first man who dared to think that the gospel was a Divine step forward, which existing institutions might refuse to accept, and in that case have to be dispensed with. He probably went a good way in depreciation of the Mosaic system. To be sure the false witnesses misrepresented him as his Master was misrepresented. Still Stephen must have said something like it, nor is it hard to guess in what sense he said it. The whole of Mosaic worship on its external national side was anchored on the rock on which the temple stood. There was nowhere else any altar, priesthood, etc. Moreover, the current faith of the people believed in all this external system, and in little else. So long as that stood, God was propitious and Israel blest; no matter how full the temple was of cheating or Jerusalem of uncleanness. This was the system which threatened to reject the gospel. As it had slain Christ, it seemed about to cut off from its fellowship Christ’ s Church. What did recent events prognosticate? The downfall of Christ’ s cause over the temple system? Stephen had read the history of his nation with other eyes than those of the rabbis. Underneath all the changes of Hebrew story he had learned to trace a Divine progress towards some spiritual end. He had not found in this latest phase of national religious life such a finality as his countrymen dreamed of. The most material, local, and unspiritual of all forms of Hebrew worship did not seem the form likely to be everlasting. But one thing he had found to mark the whole of his ancestral history. As often as God had led Israel forward through a moment of change into a fresh spiritual epoch of blessing, so often had His purpose been rejected by the bulk of Israel. This they were doing now, by idolising a material temple and rejecting a spiritual Christ. Here is the key to Stephen’ s long defence, which maintained--1. That a mode of worship limited to a single spot and a fixed ritual was by no means essential to God’ s service, but had been late in its origin and temporary in its purpose--being only one most recent stage in a very long and gradual process of Divine manifestation. 2. That at every critical turning in Israel’ s history Israel had mistaken the leadings of God, and resisted those who were sent to save it. (J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.-- The source of ministerial power It is impossible to listen to the ministrations of others or to watch carefully our own without perceiving great inequalities in respect of power. You will observe many devoted men who are amiable in their characters, zealous in their ministry, whose sermons are carefully prepared, who preach the truth faithfully, while, on the other hand, there is but little in their ministry of “ the demonstration of the Spirit and power.” On the other hand, you often see men of less intellectual calibre who produce an impression which even the unconverted cannot fail to feel. And this inequality is scarcely less observable in regard to one individual. You may frequently hear a sermon full of power in the morning, and one decidedly feeble, from the same minister, in the evening; and if you could ascertain the preacher’ s own opinion, you would find, in all probability, that he was best satisfied with the one which the people found the feeblest. Now, it is clear that this gift of power is pre-eminently the want of the Church of God, both at home and abroad. Note-- I. Stephen’ s power. It was--1. The power of persuasion (verse 7). 2. It was a power in controversial defence of truth (verse 9). 3. It was the power of searching and probing the heart to the very quick (Acts 7:54). 4. But there is one thing to remark, and it is this--when we look for power, we must not look for an easy, smooth, pleasant, triumphant victory. Stephen had all the power of which we speak, but it called forth the angry passions of the wicked, so that they rose up against him, and he fell the first martyr to the truth. Stephen’ s power, however, is just the very thing we want. We want persuasive power to bring in men, we want controversial power to maintain the truth, and we want heart-searching power to awaken sinners, even if it provoke them. This is the power to be sought and prayed for by the whole Church of God. II. Its sources.1. Wisdom. There was the same connection between wisdom and power in Micah, “ Now then, I am full of power, of the Spirit of the Lord, of wisdom, and of might.” There is the same connection in the prophecies of our blessed Saviour (Isaiah 11:1-16.)--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, was given to him. Light words, conceits, affectations, and outward display overthrow all thoughts of power. The man of God wants wisdom. He has to unfold the deep things of God, and he must not go lightly to the work. He is a steward in the Lord’ s household; he has to deal with a multitude of different dispositions, under different circumstances. Stephen’ s wisdom was pre-eminently Scriptural. There is only one of his discourses preserved, and that one is full of Scripture. He was not one of those who thought his own reason was anything when compared with the wisdom of God. He was not ashamed to draw all his conclusions from the Bible, and to base the whole fabric of his reasonings simply upon Scripture. The clearest evidence of the most consummate folly is the venturing forth in the strength of your own understandings. There may be wisdom in the simplest cottager, or the youngest child, far exceeding the loftiest flights of merely intellectual philosophy, Nor does it require anything extraordinary either in intellect or eloquence to produce such wisdom, for the Psalmist says, “ I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I know more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts.” 2. Faith. The connection between faith and power is a union frequently recurring. “ This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” Abraham “ was strong in faith,” but that may refer to one simple single act; “ full of faith” implies that the whole mind and character were completely imbued with it. It was like St. Paul, when he said, “ The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” But how is this faith displayed? (1) In dependence. It is the office of faith to lean. Self-satisfied men are confident in their own powers and do not care to lean. Timid, doubting souls are so perplexed by their misgivings that they are almost afraid to lean, but the sinner who knows his nothingness leans his whole weight on Christ. So it is in our own personal experience. Men are very apt to lean with one hand on Christ, and one hand on resolutions, or on the Church, or on the sacraments; “ but we must learn to lean with both hands on Christ,” and to lean the whole weight; and when you so begin to lean you will first taste the joy of peace and power. Men may go forth to preach leaning upon the excellences of a previous education, or on the advantages of his early youth. But what are these for the great work we have to do? (2) In expectation, for “ faith is the substance of things asked for.” If we pray for pardon without expectation of receiving it, or for the Holy Spirit without opening the heart in the full hope of his sacred entrance, or if we send men in the Lord’ s name, or go forth ourselves, to preach the gospel without expectations, where can be our faith? And is not this one reason why there is no more power in the Church of God? Do we not meet Sunday after Sunday with very little practical belief that souls will be born again through the preached Word? Perhaps a man begins with sanguine expectation, but after some months or years of hard toil he is ready to say with Peter, “ We have toiled all night and taken nothing.” Stephen was full of power; but he was first full of faith. He could grasp a fast hold of the Saviour, and so they were “ not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.” 3. All his wisdom, faith, and power were to be traced to a yet higher source--he was first full of the Holy Ghost. This has always been so. Micah was full of power, and he says, “ Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.” The great mountain shall melt before Zerubbabel; but “ Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Paul went to Corinth, not “ with excellency of speech, or man’ s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and power.” In Thessalonica his “ ministry came not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance.” Even Stephen and Peter and all the rest were powerless until the Spirit of God came, and then they were full of power, and soon thousands were added to the Church. It is clear, therefore, that if we desire power in our ministry, we must seek first for the gift promised by our blessed Lord and Saviour in John 14:17. In Stephen’ s case the two promises were fulfilled. The Spirit was with him, so that opposing powers were overcome under the influence of the Spirit. He was in him, so that when the stones were dashed at him there was a calm spirit of well-supported prayer. Conclusion: There is a mighty conflict raging--every day the conflict thickens. Depend upon it that these are not days for an easy, tranquil, indulgent Christianity. I might ask for money; I might ask for men--and we want them even more than money--but the great want is power to strengthen the whole Church of God. What is the use of men if God does not make them men of power? We do not want mere ecclesiastical machines, because we do not believe in mere ecclesiastical machinery. We want men filled with wisdom, faith, and the Holy Ghost. (E. Hoare, M. A.) Acts 6:11-15 Then they suborned men. The accusation of Stephen I. Its authors (Acts 6:9). Observe here--1. That moral perversity is common to men of every race. All these men, “ Libertines,” etc., differing widely in many respects, agreed in their antagonism to the true and Divine. 2. That theological controversy often irritates rather than convinces. II. Its spirit (Acts 6:10)--hostility to a truth which they felt an utter incapacity to deny. An unpalatable truth was forced upon them, despite of all their learning and logic, by the overwhehning arguments of one man.1. This mortified their pride. Nothing makes the soul so furious as to wound its pride. 2. This struck at their most cherished prejudices. III. Its subject (Acts 6:11; Acts 6:13-14). The charge here preferred would be considered by the Sanhedrin as the most heinous of crimes, sufficient to wake the vengeance of the nation. Blasphemous words against Moses, God, the holy place, and the law, a threat to destroy Jerusalem and change the customs of the Jewish nation! IV. Its weakness.1. The mode of procuring witnesses (Acts 6:11). Also that there should be men who prefer pelf to principle. Facts require no such support. 2. The appearance of the accused (Acts 6:15). (1) The face is the mirror of the soul.(2) Christianity makes the soul angelic. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The arraignment and transfiguration of St. Stephen It is necessary that the Bible should be brief. A book so important must be made portable by the hand and the memory. Accordingly, out of a vast mass of materials the sacred writers have been directed to the choice of a very few. The thirty-three miracles of our Lord are specimens; why should others yielding no fresh lessons be detailed? Tautology only weakens effect. St. Stephen supplied the inspired specimen of martyrdom, although there were many others. Conformity to Christ’ s sufferings according to that Word, “ Ye shall indeed drink of the cup,” etc. You have it here. Brave protest for Christ in the face of those who have power to kill the body--it is here. Joy in the hope set before the martyr--it radiates from Stephen’ s face. Love to persecutors mingled with stern faithfulness--it exhales like a precious perfume from Stephen’ s prayer. Studied imitation of Christ in the act of dying--nowhere is this more remarkably exhibited than in the death of Stephen. This providential conformity to the image of Christ, however (as distinct from the studied imitation of Him), is the first thing which strikes us. What befell the disciple is what befell the Master over again. I. The conduct of Stephen’ s opponents. Infuriated by defeat in argument, they resorted to calumny and violence. Agents were employed to set about a story of blasphemy. With precipitate violence--the word used is the one applied to the seizure of the demoniac by the legion of devils, and to the seizure of St. Paul’ s vessel by the fury of the wind--they laid hands on him and hurried him away to the Sanhedrin. The paid agents of the Hellenist synagogues pronounced the formal accusation, “ This man ceases not to speak,” etc. Now the actual deposition is to be made, and the witnesses feel that their words may be called in question, we hear no more of the big terms of Act 6:11. God is exchanged for “ the holy place,” and Moses for “ the law” . Full well they knew that Stephen had said nothing derogatory of Moses, much less of God. No doubt he had said much to this effect. Christ had predicted that not one stone of the temple should be left upon another, and Stephen echoed the prediction. Stephen too had probably seen further into the mystery of the admission of the Gentiles, and very possibly may have preached that Jewish rites were non-essential to salvation. But if Stephen had foretold all this, why are the witnesses stigmatised as false? Because they took his words out of the context which interpreted them, and gave them a totally different colour. Doubtless, like his Master, Stephen had the profoundest veneration for the temple and the law. But he had an intelligent apprehension of the place which each held in the system of true religion. He saw that both were elements of a preparatory discipline, and that now “ faith is come” the “ schoolmaster” was unnecessary. A man who says that a school book may be parted with when education is finished, by no means implies that school books are unnecessary while education is in progress. And if the words “ School books are valueless” were separated from his explanation of the circumstances, the witness would be false. By telling half the truth we may convey quite as wrong an impression as by a contradiction of the truth’ . Nothing is easier and commoner than to make sweeping charges against these who maintain suspected propositions, while wilfully ignoring their explanation of what they hold. I have no right to say that a man denies inspiration because he denies verbal inspiration; nor that he impugns the atonement because he dissents from certain popular views of it. II. Stephen’ s demeanour.1. He heard the calumnious charge. It is not hard to see what course natural feeling would take. In the first place there would be indignation; and then would come perplexity as soon as it became apparent that the charge was so worded that it could not be met with simple flat denial. With these feelings fear would mingle, and altogether painful discomposure and hesitation of mind would be produced which would communicate itself to the feelings of the accused. But in that exciting moment Stephen retained the most perfect serenity of spirit. When the accusation was advanced, every member of the court turned to see how the servant of Christ thus brought to bay would look. Greatly were they surprised, and for the moment disconcerted. This was no wan and haggard culprit; those features spoke of nothing but communion with the invisible God, of the love, joy, and peace which are the result of such communion (Acts 6:15)--a lower grade of transfiguration. The Sanhedrin are momentarily cowed, as the devil’ s agents are so often by the majesty of holy innocence. Possibly the radiance of Stephen’ s countenance reminded them of the similar radiance on Moses’ face, the result of similar communion with God. 2. Could there have been any nearer approach than this to our Lord’ s circumstances? He, too, had been apprehended with sudden violence; in His case false witnesses were suborned; His words, too, were twisted from their meaning, and finally His demeanour made His enemies quail. It may have been that this conformity to his Master’ s image was the secret of the supernatural joy that radiated from Stephen’ s countenance. Application:1. “ Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you” : do not consider it foreign to Christian experience. If the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, let not His soldiers claim exemption. Therefore, when the cross is placed upon us, let us rejoice in the resemblance between us and our Master, and in the prospect of perfect conformity which that resemblance guarantees. 2. Let the supernatural radiance of Stephen’ s features, caught from the contemplation of his Master, remind us of the spiritual transfiguration which should be daily proceeding in ourselves. “ Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed,” etc., and the secret of this is disclosed in “ We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed,” etc. (Dean Goulburn.)Stephen before his accusers I. The character of Stephen (Acts 6:8).1. He was “ full of grace and power.” That was his spiritual condition. Not all power, so as to be stern, tyrannous, overwhelming, but power characterised by love, geniality, sympathy, gentleness. Not all grace, lest he should be mistaken as a mere sentimentalist, who contented himself with exquisite expressions, without seeking their realisation in the sterner qualities of character. Stephen was by so much a complete man. 2. He “ did great wonders and miracles among the people.” That was his outer life. Mark the beautiful correspondence between the spiritual and the active. The one accounts for the other. With less of a spiritual quality there would have been less of social demonstration and influence. The “ wonder” was not a trick of the hand; it was an expression of the deep spiritual history of the soul’ s life. The “ miracle” was not painted on a board; it flamed forth from an inner and sacred fire. This description of Stephen should be the description of the Christian man and the Christian Church. Not a line can be added to this picture. We do no wonders and miracles. Why? Because we have so little grace and power. We have looked at the wrong end of this business. We have been wanting more “ wonders” and more “ miracles” instead of looking into the inner condition of the heart. Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good. II. His accusers.1. They were controversial, they “ disputed “ with Stephen. Controversy is not Christianity. It is most difficult for any man to be both a debater and a Christian. So long as the Church was in the era of suffering, she had no time for debate. Her controversies were then fights for life. The Christian life is always a controversy; but “ we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,” etc. Let us all beware of the spirit of controversy, which delights in the rearrangement of words and forgets that Christianity is a sacrifice, a life of obedience. 2. Being controversial, they were as necessarily unjust. They “ suborned” men to tell lies. The aim of debate is not to secure truth, but to secure some petty triumph, or to carry out to its melancholy end some rooted prejudice, or some discreditable antipathy. This is my fear of some collateral institutions which are formed in Christian churches. There are limits within which debate may be conducted to high intellectual advantage; but whoever enters upon a course of debate merely as such, without having as a supreme view to knowing, loving, accepting, and obeying the truth, puts his spiritual life to a severe strain. You will always find behind intellectual hostility to Christianity an explanatory moral condition. A man who does not love the light will use any excuse for getting out of it. Learn from this narrative--1. The danger which often accrues to truth from its supposed friends. “ We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” This is one of the earliest instances of heresy-hunting. Once for all, let us lay it down as an impossibility that bad men are judges of truth and falsehood. Men who had accepted a bribe came up to defend orthodoxy! No blind man is appointed as a judge of pictures, and no deaf man of music. But a bad man goes to church, and ventures upon an opinion as to the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of the preacher, and says, with intolerable impertinence, that he himself may not be what he ought to be, but he knows the truth when he hears it! What is your life? What is your spirit? What are your wonders and miracles? And what is the interior condition of heart which explains them? These are the questions that ought to be answered. Search into narrow, envenomed, and ignoble criticism in every age, and you will find that the men who speak most against blasphemy in doctrine are often the men who could not live otherwise than by telling lies. 2. The manner in which slander should be met. What was Stephen’ s condition at the time? Hearing these lies, he will surely spring from his seat and indignantly deny the impeachment! Some men say they “ cannot sit still and hear false statements about themselves.” If they were greater men they would learn the art of patience. Great bodies are calm. Stephen sat still, but his face gleamed like an angel. Could you have seen the other faces--with the significant leer, the harsh mouths--you would have known, without hearing the defence, who was right and who was wrong. Would that we could look more and say less! 3. The transfiguring power of Christianity. The face of Stephen shone like the face of an angel. This is typical of character. Whenever character is under the influence of Christian inspiration it shines. “ Ye are the light of the world.” It is typical also of the resurrection, the last grand miracle that shall be performed upon these common bodies. The face once dull shall be lighted up with an inward light that shall transfigure it into nobility and gracious expressiveness. “ It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” Christianity never takes hold of any man without making him a new creature, and without investing him with new beauty, nobility, and occasionally even splendour of expression. But whether this can take place in the body or not, it always takes place in the character, and the character determines the man. 4. We can all be full of faith or grace, and we can all do miracles and wonders. We have been too content to sit down under the impression that miracles have ceased. But what a wonder it would be, for example, if some of us ever helped a fellow-creature under any circumstances whatsoever! That wonder is possible to you. What a wonder it would be for some of us could we ever be met in a good humour! Wonders, miracles, signs! Why, the difficulty is to escape them! What a wonder it would be if some of us could be patient under suffering! You thought the age of “ wonders” was passed, because the merely introductory signs have disappeared! The blossom is gone that the fruit may come. And we of these latter times are called to exhibit the wonder of a disciplined character, the marvel of a sanctified temper, the glittering phenomenon of a truly obedient sonship. (J. Parker, D. D.)We have heard him speak blasphemous words.-- A false accusation with a semblance of truth We get in these words, in this false accusation, even through its falsehood, a glimpse into the character of St. Stephen’ s preaching. A false accusation need not be necessarily altogether false. In order to be effective for mischief, a twisted, distorted charge, with some basis of truth, is the best for the accuser’ s purpose, and the most difficult for the defendant to answer. St. Stephen was ripening for heaven more rapidly than the apostles themselves. He was learning more rapidly than St. Peter himself the true spiritual meaning of the Christian scheme. He had taught, in no ambiguous language, the universal character of the gospel and the Catholic mission of the Church. And the narrow-minded Grecian Jews, anxious to vindicate their orthodoxy, which was doubted by their Hebrew brethren, distorted Stephen’ s wider and grander conception into a charge of blasphemy against the holy man. What a picture of the future of Christ’ s best and truest witnesses, especially when insisting on some nobler and wider or forgotten aspect of truth. Their teaching has been ever suspected, distorted, accused as blasphemous; and so it must ever be. And yet God’ s servants, when they find themselves thus misrepresented, can realise to themselves that they are but following the course which the saints of every age have run, that they are being made like unto the image of Stephen, the first martyr, and of Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Saints, who suffered under a similar accusation. St, Paul’ s teaching was accused of tending to licentiousness; the earliest Christians were accused of vilest practices; St. Athanasius, in his struggles for truth, was accused of rebellion and murder; the Reformers were accused of lawlessness; John Wesley of Romanism and disloyalty; William Wilberforce of being an enemy to British trade; John Howard of being an encourager of crime and immorality. Let us be content, then, if our lot be with the saints, and our portion be that of the servants of the Most High. Again, we learn from this place how religious zeal can overthrow religion and work out the purposes of evil. Men cannot, indeed, now suborn men and bring fatal charges against them in matters of religion, and yet they can fall into exactly the same crime. Party religion and party zeal lead men into precisely the same causes as they did in the days of St. Stephen. Partisanship causes them to violate all the laws of honour, of honesty, of Christian charity, imagining that they are thereby advancing the cause of Christ, forgetting that they are acting on the rule which the Scriptures repudiate, doing evil that good may come, and striving to further Christ’ s kingdom by a violation of His fundamental precepts. Oh, for more of the spirit of true charity, which will lead men to support their own views in a spirit of Christian love! Oh, for more of that true grasp of Christianity which will teach that a breach of Christian charity is far worse than any amount of speculative error! (G. T. Stokes, D. D.) Acts 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly upon him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel The martyr of Jesus I. Stephen’ s circumstances and transfiguration.1. It was a.d. 37 that he died. The circumstances of that year in the government of the Jewish people were altogether exceptional. Pilate had left the country, and Judaea was, for the time, without any representation of the Imperial Government, and thus the power over life and property remained absolutely in the hands of the Jewish council. 2. Stephen, young, full of vigour, and as bold as he was intellectually strong, had stung into activity the furious hatred of the fiercest fanaticism. Foiled in argument, exposed to the jeers or contempt of those who watched the contest, they determined to have their revenge. 3. There were probably three component elements in the gathering of that fatal day.. (1) The mob of spectators no way uninterested in the trial. The question at issue was one which seemed to touch the quick of national exclusiveness--the tenderest point in a Jewish mind. (2) The bench of judges, which included the rank and learning of the Jewish hierarchy. Some had grown old in the lore of Judaism; some were young in years but versed in the study of the law; all were the possessors of the sacred Scriptures, whose meaning was shrouded from them in the dismal fog of darkened minds; all were the slaves of an iron tradition and the victims of a distorting prejudice. (3) Last in that strange assembly was one young man, with the hopes of life still fresh before him. With the joy, felt by all men who in any sense deserve it, of conscious strength and rectitude, he had committed an unpardonable crime; he had loved truth better than custom, faithfulness to conviction better than popularity; he had hated the stagnation of an unworthy tradition, and risen above the temper of the habitual respectability of his time. 4. The trial began. The witnesses were examined and performed their expected duty of falsehood. Then as the president’ s interrogation came, the eyes of the assembly were turned on Stephen. Certainly Jesus was with him, and His promise, that the true words would be “ given” in the hour of need, supported his spirit. Certainly heavenly powers were upon him, and the light of God’ s glory was streaming through his soul. Every eye was riveted on the face of Stephen, and the vision of that inner splendour flashed upon them with an unearthly loveliness. “ His face was like the face of an angel.” A face is the dial-plate of the soul. It takes the lights and shadows of varying feelings, hopes, and fears, and by expression records for others the inner variation of the movements of the soul. Hence the effect upon us frequently of a face in a crowd. Our eyes, resting for the moment upon the features of one happening then to be in rapturous joy or overwhelming sorrow, have rested--and we feel it--on the revelation of a human life. So some faces come to us, remembered indistinctly, and yet haunting our very dreams, moving us--by their slight and delicate tracery of pathos and suffering--moving us to the deepest, keenest sympathy. Now, what was the power of this face on which was riveted the gaze of the council? What? why, the angels are God’ s messengers; they see the face of the Father; they catch some expression of the uncreated beauty. Once on earth that had been seen in its real loveliness. Once it had awed the multitudes, subdued the intrusive band in the garden, flashed on Peter and melted him to penitence, gazed on the Magdalene and wakened her to heavenly love; now the likeness of its loveliness was seen on the face of the martyr, because in his soul was Jesus the crucified. II. His defence. The vision of the martyr was a mighty message; but his lips threw that message into words. There, at least, is outlined his message; there for us is trace his character. Note--1. That earnest desire for truth which is the first real requisite to its attainment. To kindle curiosity, to keep alive an honourable ambition in the young, not merely for reward, but for the acquisition of knowledge, is the duty of every good teacher. To know and apply the best that has been done and thought by those before us is the duty of all of us. And this desire for knowledge, when sanctified and ennobled by a reverent spirit and eager thoughts of God--how beautiful, how good it is! Alas I the fashionable spirit of doubt and unbelief, so often a mere cover for the laziness of an utterly worldly temper, is turning the ‘ noble-hearted young men of England into mere childish triflers. St. Stephen had evidently desired truth, and searched and studied the Scriptures, and that eager and loving spirit had had its reward. One reward was the vigorous intellectual grasp of the subject which he had to handle with readiness and under the appalling pressure of a trial for life. 2. Turn to the speech itself. (1) It indicates the noblest eloquence. True eloquence is one of God’ s choicest gifts. To abuse it is always terrible; because the possession of no weapon can involve a greater responsibility than of that one by which a single mind can sway a multitude. But eloquence has its degrees; the truest is primarily and intrinsically the eloquence of thought. If clear and powerful thought--alive with the vis vivida of genuine pathos or fiery feeling, and expressed in shapely words--be presented to the ear and mind of man, he has the rarest and the best. And in such cases even all we possess is the written record; even then the words have something of a power of life to penetrate through the thickest wrappings of the human soul. This has been felt in Demosthenes, Cicero, Chrysostom, Bossuet, Massillon, and Lacordaire. From the few recorded words of St. Stephen we feel the same. (2) Before the mind of the martyr was the vision of a world-wide religion, and this was in sharp contrast with the narrow and passing character of Judaism. Before his mind, also, was the true, the necessary, issue of the Mosaic teaching--viz., Christ and the wide reach and sacred sovereignty of the Catholic Church. The dignity of the speech was, of course, enhanced by the danger of the speaker; but in it, on the points of the argument, every syllable told. The subjects he handled needed all his vigour, as centuries have conclusively proved. They are just those subjects of the deepest importance which concern and interest us still--the character, office, and claim of the Church of our Master. (3) Stephen’ s elucidation of the meaning of Jewish history and worship was the fulfilling in word of the duty performed so nobly in his life, and so heroically in his death. In this he is to the humblest of us a splendid and real example. The beginning, middle, and end of that duty now as then, is--Jesus Christ. To be faithful to Him, in each of us, is to make sense of fact and of history. He gave a reasonable explanation to accepted facts. An everlasting Judaism, with all the rest of men excluded, would have been a senseless solution of the history of the Jewish Church. That Church was like a broken clue unless it eventuated in Catholic Christianity; Moses and his teaching would have been an insoluble problem unless worked out in Jesus Christ. The power of this first argumentative statement of these important truths was in the fact that it made Jewish history hang together; its astonishing dignity lay in this, that it was the first. III. The force behind him and its effect.1. No mental vigour on such a desperate crisis would have availed to any purpose unless it had been seconded by intrepidity of spirit. And this courage of St. Stephen was no physical excitement nor vulgar audacity. He was essaying the rugged and difficult track of Christian martyrdom on which many indeed have travelled after him, but none had passed before. And here be it not forgotten that we are scarcely conscious how strongly we are swayed by the voiceless testimony of those who have gone before. If public opinion is a mighty power in life, stronger at times is the public opinion of the dead. To feel behind him a long array of public witnesses, of tim achievements of brave generals and successful politicians, is for a soldier or a statesman to be confident in the inspiring genius of a great people. Noble ancestors help to noble deeds. And even in daily life, for some one else to have first succeeded, is to ourselves at least half the powerful element in our own success. Stephen, however, knew no merely human example; struggling for a cause, new, untried, and deemed altogether contemptible, he “ possessed his soul” with a heroic patience, and bore his part with literally unexampled courage. Christian, do you flinch from the duty placed upon you? Think--around you is a “ cloud of witnesses” ; behind you the long array of the greatness and the suffering of the Christian Church. I pause in passing to remind you that as it is easy to follow a multitude to do evil, so it is not altogether difficult to go on the side of goodness if it chance to acquire the patronage of the majority. But the real test of principle, the real exhibition of Christian courage is, when standing alone, perhaps the object of scoffs and taunts, you sternly take the path of duty and witness to Jesus Christ. 2. “ Sternly,” did I say?--that brings me to another feature in the martyr’ s character: its extraordinary wealth of tenderness. Tenderness in a Christian comes first--we cannot doubt it--from his sense of human weakness and human need. The scene at the death of St. Stephen reminds us of that at the death of Christ. And both are the outcome of the deepest tenderness; no mere softness of a natural kindliness, or a natural shrinking from others’ pain, but the true tenderness of a soul awakened to the depth of man’ s sorrows, and the greatness of his destiny. 3. Do you ask the secret of such a combination of tenderness and courage in any tempted man? There is one answer: An unshaken, a deep, a supernatural union with Jesus Christ. He first, in the fullest sense, obeyed the precept, or realised the prediction--“ Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” 4. Thus came the end. There are times when, from the spiritual blindness or the profound prejudice of an audience, the possibility of persuasion is gone. In such cases one duty remains to an honest man, the duty at all hazards of a faithful testimony. Such was the case with Stephen. All else tried in vain, this at last was left. It was the inspiration of such a duty that prompted his daring peroration. Obstinate resistance to Divine remonstrances had been their national, their historic danger; if persisted in, it was sure to be their ruin. At least they should be warned. “ Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,” etc. Hell was opened upon the souls of the judges, but heaven was, not merely on the face, but in the heart and on the lips of the criminal. Not to bow before Divine revelation is to join the ranks of the rebel angels. The judges had chosen sides; so had the martyr! IV. The issues of his martyrdom. A great life, even though it seems to end in failure, must have great consequences. Stephen was a pioneer in suffering and in the spread of truth. The immediate consequence was “ an open door” to a wider world than the Church could act upon in Jerusalem, because there the door seemed closed. Stephen was the first to clear men’ s minds, in some measure, of the mistaken dream that Christianity must pass through Judaism. And further, the impression made by his courage and his constancy could not have failed to be deep and lasting on many minds. On one we know it was. Saul had heard words that longed in his mind and rankled in his memory; had seen a vision that he could not forget, a first faint outline, surely, of that face which afterwards he saw in completed dignity amid the noonday glory of the Damascus road. We know that, to the end of his days, in deep penitence, in touching humility, in most loving sorrow, the intense and tender nature of the great apostle was penetrated by the sad memory of the death of Stephen. The revelation of the richer details of results is reserved for “ that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed.” V. Lessons.1. The soul must be true to itself. There may be a disloyalty to self, which is rather a spiritual suicide than a spiritual treason. “ Every soul seeking God faithfully is led by Him who is the Guide to truth. To be faithless to the voice that warns and teaches is so far forth to mar in us the image of the Eternal, and to paralyse spiritual power. 2. In the world of revealed faith all power of witness depends upon conviction. To act upon conviction is to work your lever from a fulcrum which affords scope to move a world. Conviction is the fruit of a temperate, a true, a prayerful life. Doubt is no basis of action. Do not trifle with your faith; hold prayerfully what you know; and pray, when there is any dimness, for the clearer light which is never withheld from those who earnestly seek it. 3. Act with courage upon conviction, and act with charity. The Christian needs unflinching firmness, with unflagging love. Whence come such powers so needed and so majestic? The answer is, from Christ. 4. Begin at once; begin now. None are too young to witness to Jesus. The young creature whose soul was battered out of the shattered body on that morning of martyrdom, might have pleaded youth as a reason for reserve. He did not. How noble, how beautiful, is a young life given to Christ! 5. When all possible struggle is over we may witness to Jesus by the calmness of a loving resignation. (Canon Knox-Little.)Moses and Stephen: the Old Testament and the New (text, and Exodus 34:30):--In reading this account one is led to think of a similar scene in the life of Moses.1. To be servants of the same God, they could scarcely be more unlike in their history, and they show in what divers ways the Divine workman may use his spiritual instruments. The life of Moses is probably the most complete of any man’ s. But not a single ray of light falls upon his death. Of the life of Stephen we know almost as little as of the death of Moses. But his last hours stand before us distinct and bright. 2. So unlike in other things, they have this in common, that each of them, on a great occasion, had a transfiguration--the reflection of the vision of God when He comes very near. 3. In setting these transfigurations over against one another, we have no thought of comparing the two men. Stephen fills a small range in the Book of God beside Moses. We shall compare them, then, in the periods to which they belong in God’ s revelation. We may compare-- I. That view of God which is reflected from the face of each of them.1. In the case of Moses it was “ God’ s glory” (Exodus 33:18; Exodus 33:22)--an appearance like that which was seen by him in the bush, and which hovered over the mercy-seat without any definite form, for one fixed aim of that dispensation was to check the tendency to shut up God in figures made with hands. It was a great and significant vision, raising the Mosaic system above all religions, and proclaiming that there is one God, who is light, and who yet can visit man in love. For corresponding to this vision came the voice with it (Exodus 34:6-7). There was much that was reassuring, but much also that was doubtful. It revealed the purity of God, but the image had no distinct features; and it promised mercy, but the way of pardon was not made plain. 2. Stephen “ saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” The glory which Moses beheld has now opened its bosom, and, issuing from it, there is seen “ the brightness of the Father’ s glory and the express image of His person.” The purity which in the day of Moses had no distinct features has formed itself into the countenance of the Son of God, and the mysterious mercy descends from God’ s throne by a new and living way in the person of the God-man Mediator, a Saviour risen from the Cross and grave. 3. These, then, were the views of God presented to Moses and Stephen. That the first was in the same line with the second cannot be doubted if we believe in the unity of the Bible and in the plan of God running through all the ages. It would be impossible to invert these views, for there was a fitness in their order. II. The effect of the view on the immediate witnesses.1. In the case of Moses the effect was mainly, if not entirely, an external brightness--“ the skin of his face shone.” Its beauty had something of terror with it. Those who were near could not bear its open look, and required to have it veiled. Moses was the representative of a system which was not characterised by profound spirituality, as is proved by the sad stains and inconsistencies which mark the history of some of its best members, and the readiness of the great mass of its adherents to cast aside its profession in the hour of trial. In some few it was a strong reality, but in the majority their religion was an illumination cast on them from without--a separable and perishable surface thing. 2. The illumination on the face of Stephen came from the action of the soul itself. It is said, “ the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh Moses,” but “ all that sat in the council looked steadfastly at Stephen.” It did not turn them from their purpose, their passion was too fierce, but it brought them to a pause, imprinted itself upon them, and, may we not suppose, came back in waking thoughts and nightly dreams, and deserted some of them never till they saw it again before the throne of God? For there is this difference further between mere brightness of face and the beauty of the soul which beams through it, that the one is seen entire at first and grows no more. It tends constantly to fade, and must fade. But the soul’ s expression grows evermore as we gaze into it, and it is in reminiscence above all that it rises to its perfect ideal. It was this angelic beauty which shone in the face of Stephen, and it was there because of the object he looked upon. “ His eyes were beautiful,” because you saw that they saw Christ. 3. Now these two forms of transfiguration belong each to its own period. The one is bright but formless, the shadow of the Shechinah on him who sees it, and inspiring even its friends with awe till they can look no longer. The other is the beauty of the soul that has beheld Christ, distinct and expressive, reflecting His Divine purity and tenderness, so mild that even those who hate it cannot choose but look and wonder, and, when they would thrust it from the world, must stop their ears upon the voice of Stephen, and summon blind passion to do its work. III. The crisis of life in which each of these transfigurations occurred.1. In the history of Moses it was in the fulness of his power and success as a Divine messenger. Great through his whole history, he had never been so great to the eye of man as at this moment. He had scattered, as God’ s vicegerent, disaster upon all opposition, and had led through the lied Sea an oppressed and terror-stricken nation to breathe into them a new life. He had been admitted amid scenes that, for outward grandeur, still stand unparalleled, into the closest intercourse with God, and the glory is there like God’ s mark on his forehead to tell where he has been and with whom. This hour is also in the very height of his natural and intellectual life. Many men gain their heart’ s desire as God’ s servants, only to die. Before Moses there lay stretched out years of usefulness and honour, which took their character and bore their results from this crowning period. 2. Stephen, on the contrary, is placed as a criminal before those who sat in Moses’ seat, and is charged with breaking in pieces the law which Moses gave. He has done nothing to shake the earth with wonder. He professes only to be a humble follower of One who died on a Cross. A cruel and ignominious death looks him full in the face. But the transfiguration of Stephen is far grander than that of Moses. The one is impressed with the temporal and external magnificence of the Old Testament, the other full of the spiritual glory of the New, which begins with a death as the salvation of the world, and shows us the shame of the Cross on its way to become the brightest crown in the universe. It is more honouring to the power of God to see it not merely sustaining a man in such terrible extremity but glorifying him. It is, indeed, most significant, that while, in the Old Testament, the approving light of God falls upon His servant in the midst of life, in the New it descends in the presence of death. It crowns him conqueror after a course of labour very ardent but very brief. Among God’ s servants, those who fail in the outward life may rise to the highest rank in the spiritual, and the fore-glancing tokens of it can be granted here. IV. The effects on the surrounding spectators.1. The impression made on the Israelites by the view of Moses was at first very great. A growth of obedient homage took place that was rarely equalled in their history. But it had not much depth, and soon withered away. They had seen many more wonders in Egypt, and had equally forgotten them. They went on to murmur against God and against Moses. 2. In the case of Stephen it may seem as if the impression were still less. Those who saw his face as it had been that of an angel, did not spare his life. But we know how a look lives years after the face is hidden in the grave. We can scarcely doubt it was so here. Can we question that the look of Stephen burned its impression into the heart of Paul, and that from the martyr’ s death the living preacher rose with an angel’ s power and zeal? 3. Here again these results are entirely characteristic of the two systems. The Old Testament began with outward demonstrations of the most striking kind, and they were needful in their time and place. But their effects were transitory. They served a purpose only as they helped the introduction of spiritual principles, in some such way as thunder accompanies spring showers, where the power lies not in the peal or the tremor, but in influences more gentle and less marked. Even in that ancient dispesation a practised ear can hear the words all through--“ Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” And, in the New Testament, this mode of working becomes fully apparent. It begins with the death of Christ as the grand means by which men are to be drawn to God. It manifests its Teal strength in the meekness and patience of its humblest followers--in their calmness in trial, their fortitude in danger, their forgiving spirit to their enemies, their unquenehed hope in the presence of death. Outward demonstrations have their use, but they are only the band of clay round the young graft to keep it safe till the current of inner life has established itself. V. The permanence of the transfigurations in the subjects of them.1. The brightness in the face of Moses faded away into the light of ordinary life as he receded from the great vision. It partook in this of the transitory character of the dispensation to which he belonged, and had its brightest light turned to our world. 2. In Stephen it was no passing glimmer of a setting sun, but that lustre in the morning clouds which shows him before he is above the horizon, and which is lost only in perfect day. In the death of Stephen it is intended we should see how thin the veil is between the two worlds--how the Lord stands on the very confine, sending across His look and arm and voice, so that ere His servant left the earth he saw his heavenly Master, heard His words, and returned His smile. (J. Ker, D. D.)The angelic glory on Stephen’ s countenance I. A resplendence of the glory of Christ, who says to His own “ In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer,” etc. II. A radiation of the inner confidence of faith, which knows that “ if God be for us who can be against us?” III. A reflection of the future glory, with which the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be Compared. (K. Gerok.)Man or angel I. What was it men saw on the face of Stephen?1. Not a supernatural aureola such, as the painters love to depict. But-- 2. The transformation of the human by the Divine, according to the natural law which connects spiritual states with corresponding bodily manifestations. The most transient emotions and impulses will betray their presence thus; how much more, therefore, the more constant elements of character and disposition? The changes of expression upon the face are, next to speech, the surest index to that inward world of thought and feeling and will which affects so powerfully our entire outward life. 3. The transmission of the Divine through the human. (1) In that upward gaze Pharisee and Sadducee were confronted with the reality of a spiritual world. (2) It served to hold them spellbound until the grand remonstrance had been uttered--as when Bishop Stanley, of Norwich, faced the tumultuous mob at his cathedral door, or Marshman was borne from his sick bed to quell the Birmingham rioters by his gentle presence. II. That of which this transfigured face was the prophecy and token. What if it were intended to present the chief end of man to be a minister and interpreter of the Divine? Who more adapted than he, standing as he does between two worlds, and enjoying if he wills the suffrages of both. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)The angel-face on man 1. The Jews were familiar with angels, and knew that some of the greatest things in their national history had been accomplished by their agency. It was easy, therefore, for them to see any resemblance between a human creature and an angel of God. 2. Here is a man who had the look of an angel, and yet was still a man. Nay, in this trying yet favoured moment, he towered as it were to the height of his manhood, and put on all its bloom. It was Stephen’ s beauty that shone in the face. It was the real qualities of Stephen’ s character that made that beauty. It would seem, then, that a perfect man and an angel are brothers. Or say an imperfect man, in a mood of perfectness, or when he is wholly Christian, a child of God when he is looking homewards, And if this be the way of it, then surely there is many an angel-face on earth, and much beholding of the same from the higher spheres. 3. Of course we do not associate the angel-look with any particular style of face. We know nothing about the personal appearance of Stephen: only this seems plain, that such as he was in type and by Divine intention, that he now became with great clearness, and in becoming that, of necessity put on the likeness of the angel. Yet, I think we may say that there are certain things common to the angel-face on man amid all the endless variety of type and form. I. Brightness. We cannot be wrong in supposing that there was something luminous on the face of Stephen. We always associate brightness with the angels. If they come like common men (as they did to Abraham on the plain), the veiled brightness soon begins to shine through. If they come in their own nature, and proper state, then “ the countenance is like lightning, and the raiment white as snow.” If Stephen’ s countenance had been dull or sad on that day, this in the text bad never been recorded of him. Why should any man wear darkness or heaviness on his face? There is something in the world which we may learn, there is something from God which we may have, that will change all to brightness. The true philosophy of life is to get the light within ourselves; and then to get the habit of looking for and seeing the light everywhere, according to that profound and beautiful Scripture, “ In Thy light shall we see light.” II. Calmness. Stephen was preternaturally calm in a scene of the utmost excitement. The test of a man’ s soul-state is often thus made very practical. He is tried by the pressure of the hour, by the hurry of the happening events. And it is not enough to have a general cheerfulness as the result of a survey of life and the world on the whole. There must be superiority to particular disquietudes, and a keeping of the heart in the stillness of grace, in the great and deep peace of God. It need not be disguised that this is sometimes a matter of supreme difficulty. But no one can hope to get the angel-face who furrows and flushes his own with daily excitements. The peace of God is to keep the heart and mind as a garrison is kept. Surely “ the helmet of salvation” should keep the head cool and quiet. The very feet should be “ shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” III. Benignity. This is the family likeness. For “ God is love,” and told us so in the visible form of His Son. And he that loveth not is not of God, and cannot wear an angel-face. The devil wears a kind of shattered splendour on his face. He is intellectual, he is calm; but there is no flush of benignity on his face; and by a long course of rebellion he has forgotten how to love. But those who, like Stephen, learn the lesson at the feet of Christ, and practise it among those who return good for evil, and seek the salvation of souls, they put on the image of the heavenly, and look like what they are--the children of the King! IV. Fearlessness. In Stephen’ s case consequences were what we call “ fatal.” But in the nomenclature of heaven fatal sometimes means vital. Courage in the highest sense always means safety. If an angel were here, to live for a while the life of a man, you would see what it is to be brave. You would see him pass through sorrows smiling, his heart borne up already with foretaste of the after-joy. Conclusion:1. He who would have the angel-face must look high and far. He must learn to look not so much at things, as through them, to see what is in them, and what is beyond. In a little while Stephen “ looked steadfastly up into heaven.” There is a look for a mortal man to give! A look which in his case was well rewarded, for “ He saw the glory of God,” etc. And that look gave him final victory. Men were gnashing their teeth, etc., beside him; they did not know that to him the pains of death were over. He had “ looked” himself into heaven. He had trodden the streets of gold. But this was not the first time he had looked into heaven. Ever since he became a believer he had been looking that way. “ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth.” You find them everywhere--in daily duties, in commonest things--but it needs the angel-eye to see them. Be an angel, or be a child in this; for the little child is not unlike the angel in its looking. Did you never see it on the little face--that calm, dreamy, distant look, that pierces quite through your world, and transcends all your ideas of prudence, and care, and duty, with a sublime indifference which is none the less grand that it is so simple? 2. Of course it is quite vain to attempt to put it on--the angel-face--directly, and by mental intention, as a soldier puts on his armour, or a king his royal robe. Could anything more absurd be conceived than this, that a man should say, “ Now I am going to look like an angel!” If you try to put any particular emotion into the features, it will not be suprising if the very opposite emotion should come instead. Try to look grand, and you may make yourself little. Try to look innocent, and (although you may not remember a single sin) the general consciousness of guilt may seize you and put its colour into your face. Have the angel within, and leave all else to come, as it will. Or, as in the case of Stephen, be “ full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost,” i.e., be a Christian man, through and through, and the Lord.. your God will put His “ beauty” on you, in one or other of its many forms, and in some supreme moments of life, in suffering, in trial, in death, may give your friends beholding you the privilege and joy of looking as it were upon the face of an angel. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)Character seen in the face There is a natural effect of the states of the spirit upon the countenance, which gradually progresses, and which amounts in a lifetime to a transfiguration. The infant has no expression in its face of good or evil, because it feels no good or evil. As it grows into childhood, there is little to be read there, save sometimes an inherited grossness of feature moulded by ancestral brutishness, or some lines of spiritual or intellectual expression that come down from the father and the father’ s father. Otherwise all is blank--the unspotted sheet on which many characters of exquisite beauty or unseemly blots may be thereafter marked. But as life progresses every deed seems to be written on the face. See how it is-- I. Is a life of vice.1. Evil passions and deeds trace the handwriting of sin; and every crime deepens the lines, and every bad thought extends them further. Beastliness of habit makes a beastly face. Hatred and revenge ossify the features to their own hardness. Drunkenness puffs up the drunkard’ s bloated face. The young have not written these characters on themselves so plainly as yet--they are hardly legible;--but age has imprinted them as indelibly as if they were carved in the rock. And this is the transfiguration of vice. 2. It is so perfect that there need be no other book of record for men than that which they write themselves upon themselves. Did Cain bear a mark on his forehead? It was the type or prediction of the thousands of marked brows which at the judgment shall require no testimony, and no sentence of the Judge, but shall, to all beholders, proclaim the sinfulness and the punishment. 3. Do we often enough think of this, that it requires not great crimes to debase the features of the form Divine, but that what we call little sins are just as surely day by day leaving their imprint? We suffer anger to possess us, and think that when it has passed we shall be the same. We cherish impure thoughts, supposing that they will in no way permanently affect us. We deceive our fellows without a thought that “ hypocrite” will be written in our faces. How often are these said to be little things which will be like stains upon the hands, easily washed away! But there is truth in the thought that blood of murder will not wash from the palm, and an equal truth that our so-called little faults, too, do daily stain or mould our countenances. Take care, then, of the inward impurity, that it may not come to it; that not only God, who reads the heart, but men also who read the face, may see the wrong of a wrong life by its marks. II. In the life of virtue.1. This also is a change which may progress from the earliest age at which moral character can exist. And we have often seen the good man’ s goodness written upon his outward appearance, and his purity of heart, like a subtle ether, penetrating through until it has surrounded him with a kind of atmosphere, and sat upon his head like a halo. Have you not seen it?--gentleness on the brow; calmness and purpose in the eye; purity of heart on the lips; temperance stamped on the features; the love of man in every gesture; and love and faith toward God in the air and expression. It is seen more in the aged, for it is a change which grows through long years. It grows sooner in such as have borne pain and sorrow, since they are the native soil of virtue. But it is, more or less, in all who live good lives. It is the mark by which God marks His beloved. It is the transfiguration of virtue. 2. This, too, is an evident preparation for the judgment or life to come. For it is written by ourselves--our own handwriting on the white page in which we come to this world clothed; our own signature which we shall carry when we go hence. And shall we fail to write this lovely record as we live here?--by faith marking on ourselves the graceful letters of faith; by brotherly kindness writing it on our face; by excellent and passionless emotions smoothing our brows; by holy love illuminating the beauteous margin of the whole manuscript; by patience and pain providing the border of glory which shall appear in the white hairs which are, in the good, a crown of glory. Ah! it is ours to rise at the last day with God’ s seal of baptism made a visible stamp on every feature by our daily fulfilment of baptismal vows. Conclusion: How does all this impress on us the folly of the thought that we can safely put off a holy life until near the end of life. Surely, if vice and virtue do thus stamp themselves upon the features, a man cannot for long years let avarice pinch his features and passions deform them, and then in a short time expect God’ s Spirit to paint upon them the beauty of goodness. The evil spirits against which we strive are slowly to be killed and drawn forth; and the good that shall he unto life will be slowly planted and nourished. Begin early. For it were better for the saint even to die young and have the glow of heaven on his face, and see his Lord on the right hand of God, and say in rapture, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” than a long life would have been, even crowned with all worldly prosperity. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)The glory on the countenances of dying Christians 1. As the glorious setting of an earthly life, ended in the peace of God. 2. As the glorious rising of an approaching eternity with its heavenly light. (K. Gerok.)The outward expression of the inward It is said that Raphael, the great master of the beautiful, in sketching any figure or group of figures, gave his first attention to the drawing and modelling of the limbs, adding the draperies only after he had satisfied himself as to these. By this method he succeeded in imparting to them an air of inimitable ease and truthfulness. In like manner, grace, the character-creating principle, begins from within, gradually but surely harmonising the outward man with the laws of the new nature, and so producing that “ beauty of holiness” which is so indescribable yet so familiar to us all. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)Heaven in the face A little boy going home one day, exulting in the fact that he had met Mr. Pennefather, was asked by his mother, “ What did he say to you?” “ He said nothing,” was the child’ s reply, “ but he beamed upon me.” His singularly attractive power, however, was not confined to children. An importunate beggar, who was one day telling his tale of want to a party of travellers, suddenly caught sight of Mr. Pennefather, and prefaced his appeal with the exclamation, “ You, sir, with heaven in your face !” A face shining for the Lord I cannot tell you the privilege it is to go forth as Christ’ s messenger. I have lately returned from a visit to China, and it has been, not an occasional thing, but quite the usual thing, to find the missionaries full of blessing and boiling over. One who reached China about a year ago was not there very long before the natives gave him a name--“ Mr. Glory-face” --because his face was always shining for the Lord. He left a large business in which over two thousand hands were employed. He left a very precious work for God, in which he had been happy and much blessed. But what was his testimony? “ The Lord promised me,” he said, “ a hundredfold more than all I left for Him. He has given me a very large hundredfold. It has been the best investment I have ever made.” (T. Hudson Taylor.)Judged by the grace An American minister quaintly said, “ Many Christians are like chestnuts: very pleasant nuts, but enclosed in very prickly burs, which require various dealings of nature and her grip of frost before the kernel is disclosed.” This reminds me of an incident in my experience. Some years ago, when walking with a dear friend in the West-end of London, we happened to meet a lady truly eminent for her good works, but, alas I possessing a stern, sombre expression of countenance. I remarked to my friend, “ That lady is a very earnest Christian.” She replied, “ I would not like to make her acquaintance, judging from her face.” Here was one of Christ’ s servants repelling instead of attracting to Himself. Truly it has been said, “ Gloominess, irritability, discontent, and touchiness are four things more catching than cholera.” . Acts 7:1-53 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?The high priest and his question This functionary was probably Theophilus, son-in-law of Caiaphas. The ex-officio president of the council called for the defence against the charge of blasphemy (Acts 6:13-14). The question, equivalent to guilty or not guilty, appears to have been put with great mildness, possibly under the influence of the angel-like aspect. (Bp. Jacobson.)And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken.-- Stephen’ s defence In order to understand this wonderful and somewhat difficult speech, it will be well to bear in mind that a threefold element runs through it. I. He shows apologetically that so far from dishonouring Moses or God, he believes and holds in mind God’ s dealings with Abraham and Moses, and grounds upon them his preaching; that so far from dishonouring the temple, he bears in mind its history and the sayings of the prophets respecting it; and he is proceeding, when interrupted by their murmurs or inattention, he bursts forth into a holy vehemence of invective against their rejection of God. II. But simultaneously and parallel with this he also proceeds didactically, showing them that a future prophet was pointed out by Moses as the final lawgiver of God’ s people--that the Most High had revealed His spiritual and heavenly nature by the prophets, and did not dwell in temples made with hands. III. Even more remarkably does the polemic element run through the speech. “ It is not I, but you, who from the first times till now have rejected and spoken against God.” And this element just appearing (Acts 7:9), and again more plainly (Acts 7:25-28), and again more pointedly still in Acts 7:35, becomes dominant in Acts 7:39-44, and finally prevails to the exclusion of the others in Acts 7:51-53. (Dean Alford.)Stephen’ s defence I. The source of his argument. The sacred history of the Jews which accusers and accused alike revered. In doing this he secured their attention by giving them to understand--1. That his faith in that history was as strong as theirs. 2. That he was thoroughly conversant with that history. II. Its point--that all God’ s dealings with His people pointed to those very changes which he was accused of advocating. This position he makes good by showing--1. That the external condition of the Church had undergone repeated changes. There was a change under (1) Abraham (Acts 7:2-8).(2) Joseph (Acts 7:9-16).(3) Moses (Acts 7:17-44).(4) David (Acts 7:45-46). 2. That the present external state of the Church had no existence before Solomon; and that even this was intended from the beginning to be temporary (Acts 7:47-50). III. Its application (Acts 7:51-53). Mark--1. The vile character he gives them. (1) “ Stiffnecked” --contumacious, rebellious.(2) “ Uncircumcised” --unsacred, impure. 2. The crimes he charges upon them-- (1) Resistance to the Holy Ghost.(2) An hereditary persecuting spirit.(3) The betrayal and murder of the Son of God. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The defence of Stephen 1. How does this speech happen to be here? It would be easy for the memory to carry a sentence or two; but who could record so long and highly-informed a speech? There was a young man listening with no friendly ear. His name was Saul. It is supposed that he related it to Luke. It is not a correct report. No man can report chain lightning. You may catch a little here and there, but the elements that lifted it up into historic importance, it was not in the power of memory to carry. You must not therefore hold Stephen responsible for this speech; they did not give him an opportunity of revising it. There is no statement here made that is not spiritually true, and yet there are a few sentences that may be challenged on some technical ground. Some persons imagine that they are inspired when they are only technical. They forget that you may not have a single text in support of what you are stating, and yet may have the whole Bible in defence of it. The Bible is not a text, it is a tone; it is not a piece of technical evidence, it is an inspiration. 2. The man who reported this speech to Luke made it the basis and the model of his own immortal apologies. Truly we sometimes borrow from unacknowledged sources, and are sometimes indebted to unknown influences for some of our best inspirations. That a man appointed with six others to serve tables should have become the first Christian martyr apologist, and should have given the model for the greatest speeches ever delivered by man, is surely a very miracle of Providence! How little Stephen knew what he was doing. Who really knows the issue and full effect of any action or speech? Life is not marked off in so many inches and done with; it may be the beginning of endless other acts nobler than itself. I. It is fair criticism to infer the man from the speech. What kind of man was Stephen, judged by his speech? He was--1. A man well versed in the Scriptures. From beginning to end his speech is scriptural; quotation follows quotation like shocks of thunder. Stephen was a man who had read his Bible; therein he separates himself from the most of modern people. I cannot call to mind one who ever read the Bible and disbelieved it. We all know many who abuse the Bible who have never read it. Not that such persons have not read parts of the Bible, which being perused without understanding are misquoted. Who really knows the Bible by heart? Some of us boast that we can recite five plays of Shakespeare. Who can recite the Book of Psalms? You call upon your little children to recite nonsense verses, which is well enough now and then; but which of your children can recite a chapter of St. John? Suppose some of us were called upon at a moment’ s notice to recite six verses of Romans? Only the men who know the Bible should quote it. Only those who are steeped in the Scriptures should undertake to express any opinion about it. This is the law in all other criticism, and in common justice it ought to be the law in relation to the inspired revelation of God. 2. A man who took a broad and practical view of history. It is as difficult to find a man who has read history as to find a man who has read the Bible. A man does not know history because he can repeat all the kings of England from the Conquest. You do not learn history from the books. From the books you learn the facts; but having ascertained the facts, you must make history. The novelist is a better historian than the mere annalist, because history is an atmosphere. It is not only a panorama of passing incidents; it is a spirit in which such men as Stephen lived. He was a member of a great and noble household, a link in a far-stretching chain, an element in a great composition. Why should we live the shallow life of men who have no history behind them? We are encompassed by a great cloud of witnesses. We have no right to disennoble ourselves and commit an act of dismembership which separates us from the agony, the responsibility, and the destiny of the race. In Christ we have all to be one. 3. A man who was forced into action by his deep convictions. That is a word which, has somehow slipped out of our vocabulary, because it has slipped out of our life. Who now has any convictions? Life is now a game, a series of expedients, a succession of experiments. It is not an embodied and sacrificial conviction. In those days men spoke because they believed. They had no necessity to get up a speech, to arrange it in words that would offend and be recollected by nobody. Without faith we cannot have eloquence. It is not enough to have information. If you believe Christianity, you will not need an exhortation to speak it. Speech about Christianity, where it is known and loved, is the best necessity of this life. The fire burns, the heart muses, and the tongue speaks; hence in the fifty-first verse yon find that Stephen was a man whose information burned into religious earnestness. Having made his quotation he turned round as preachers dare not turn round now. It was an offensive speech, and it would be unpardonable now. Why? Because it was truth made pointed, and that no man will ever endure. The man who would listen all day with delight to an eloquent malediction upon the depravity of the whole world would leave the church if you told him he was a drunkard or a thief. We live in generalities. So preaching is now dying, or it is becoming a trick in, eloquence, or it is offering a grand opportunity for saying nothing about nothing. It used to turn the world upside down. II. Let us turn from the man to the speech.1. Its literary form. We need no book of rhetoric beyond this great apology. Called upon, he addresses his auditors with courtesy as “ Men, brethren, and fathers.” He begins calmly, with the serenity of conscious power. He quotes from undisputed authority. Every step he takes is a step in advance. There is not in all his narration one circular movement. Having accumulated his facts and put them in the most vivid manner, he suddenly, like the out-bursting of a volcano, applies the subject, saying, “ Ye stiff-necked,” etc. This is the law of argumentative progress. Begin courteously, and beg the confidence and respectful attention of your hearers; but your speech will be their responsibility. They will not be the same at the end of the speech a they were at the beginning. A preacher may begin as courteously as he pleases, but having shown what God is and has done, and wants to be done, his conclusion should be a judgment as well as a gospel. 2. Its probable source. How did Stephen know all about the case? Suppose that Stephen was the second disciple who, on the road to Emmaus, heard Christ expound in all Scripture the things concerning himself. What if Saul reported Stephen, and Stephen reported Christ, and so the great gospel goes on from man to man, from tongue to tongue, till the last man hears it, and his heart burns within him! 3. Its main purpose--to disclose the method of Divine revelation and providence. Let us see whether what is related here agrees with our own observation and experience. (1) God has from the beginning made Himself known to individuals. Stephen relates the great names of history. Some names are as mountains on the landscape. We start our journeys from them, we reckon our distances by them, we measure our progress according to their height. God does not reveal Himself to crowds. It is not only in theology, but in science, politics, commerce, literature, family life, that God speaks to the individual and entrusts him with some great gospel or spiritual mystery. Why talk about election as if it were exclusively a religious word? How is it that one man in the family has all the sense? How is it that one man is a poet and another a mathematician? How is it that one boy can never be got to stay at home and his own brother can never be got to leave home? How is it that one man speaks out the word that expresses the inarticulate thought of a generation, though all other men would have been wise enough to discover it? (2) God has constantly come along the line of surprise. Revelation has never been a commonplace. Wherever God has revealed Himself Me has surprised the person on whom the light has fallen. The power of surprise is one of the greatest powers at the disposal of any teacher. How to put the old as if it were the new! How to set fire to common sense so that it shall burn up into genius! How to reveal to a man his bigger and better self! How has God proceeded according to the historical narration of Stephen? To Abram he said, “ Get thee out from thy country and from thy kindred.” We cannot conceive the shock of surprise with which these words would be received. Travelling then was not what travelling is now. No man could receive a call of that kind as a mere commonplace! Called to give up a reality in the hope of realising a dream! Joseph’ s life was a surprise--a greater surprise to himself than to anybody. How was it that he always had the key of the gate? Why did men turn to him? How was it that he only could tell the meaning of the king’ s dream? Then pass on to Moses. A bush flamed at the mountain base, and a voice said to the wanderer, Stop! Nothing but fire can stop some men! There are those to whom the dew is a gospel, there are others who require the very fire that lights the eternal throne to stop them and rouse their full attention. God knows what kind of ministry you need, so He has set in His Church a thousand ministries. It is not for us to compare the one with the other, but to see in such a distribution of power God’ s purpose to touch every creature in the whole world. (3) God has all the time been over-ruling improbabilities and disasters. We should say that when God has called a man to service the road would be wide, clear of all obstructions, filled with sunshine, lined with flowers, that the man leaning on God’ s arm will be accompanied by the singing of birds and of angels. Nothing of the kind is true to fact. Stephen recognises this in very distinct terms. God said that Abram’ s seed should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage, and evil entreat them four hundred years! In the face of such an arrangement can there be an Almighty providence? Yes. And Joseph was sold into Egypt. “ God-forsaken” we should say, looking at the outside only. And there were those who evilly entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children to the end they might not live. Moses himself was “ cast out.” Stephen does not cover these things up or make less of them. Nay, he masses them into great black groups, and says--Still the great thought went on and on! There is the majesty of the Divine Providence. Its movement is not lost in pits, and caves, and wildernesses, and rivers, and seas. The disasters are many, the sufferings are severe, the disappointments are innumerable and unendurable; still the thought goes on. Judge nothing before the time. So it is with our own life. Conclusion: Mark how exactly this whole history of Stephen’ s corresponds with Christ’ s method of revelation and providence.1. Did not Christ reveal Himself to individuals? Did He not say to the Abram of His time, “ Follow Me” ? 2. Did He not also use the power of surprise? When was He ever received into any town as an ordinary visitor? Who did not wait for Him to speak and look, and act? Who was not impatient with all the multitude lest they should interrupt any sentence of this marvellous eloquence? 3. Did He not also take His Church through improbabilities, disasters, and dark places? Has not His Church been evil entreated? Have not our Christian fathers been cast out? Have we not also our heroes, and sufferers, and martyrs, and crowned ones? Was not Christ always master of the occasion? Without a place whereon to lay His head, He was still the Lord. We remember our disasters; but the Church is the Lamb’ s Bride, and He will marry her at the altar of the universe! (J. Parker, D. D.)St. Stephen’ s defence How was Stephen’ s speech preserved? The notaries, shorthand writers, and clerks attendant upon a Roman court were accessible to the gifts of the richer Christians when they wished to obtain a correct narrative of a martyr’ s last trial. Secret Christians among the officials also effected something, and there were numerous other methods by which the Roman judicial records became the property of the Church. Probably St. Paul gave his disciple, St. Luke, report of what Stephen said on this occasion. I. The defence of St. Stephen was a speech delivered by a Jew, and addressed to a Jewish audience. Orientals argued then, and argue still, not according to the rules of logic taught by Aristotle, nor by the methods of eloquence derived from the traditions of Cicero and Quinctilian, but by methods and rules essentially different. What would satisfy Westerns would seem to them utterly worthless, just as an argument which now seems pointless appeared to them absolutely conclusive. Parallels, analogies, parables, mystical interpretations were then favourite methods of argument. St. Stephen was accused of irreverence towards Moses, and hostility towards the temple, and towards all the Jewish institutions. He begins his address to the Sanhedrin at the earliest period of their national history, and shows how the chosen people had passed through many changes and developments without interfering with their essential identity. There was a chosen people before the customs introduced by Moses. There may therefore be a chosen people still when these customs cease, having fulfilled their purpose. He was accused also of speaking blasphemous words against the national sanctuary. His argument now takes a different turn, and runs thus: This building is now the centre of Jewish thoughts and affections. But it is a mere modern thing as compared with the original choice and promise of God. Even when it was built, and in all its original glory, its temporal character was clearly recognised by Isaiah (Isaiah 66:1-2). The same truth had been anticipated by Solomon (1 Kings 8:27). Then there occurs a break in St. Stephen’ s address. Possibly the Sadducean portion of his audience had got quite enough. Their countenances and gestures bespoke their horror of his doctrines. Isaiah’ s opinion carried no weight with them as contrasted with the institutions of Moses; and so, borne along by the force of his oratory, Stephen finished with that vigorous denunciation which led to his death (verses 51-53). II. What a lesson Stephen’ s speech has for the Church of every age! His forecast swept away at once all the privileges and profits connected with the religious position of Jerusalem, and thus destroyed the political prospects of the Jewish people. Men never listen patiently when their pockets are being touched, their dearest hopes annihilated. Take the political world alone. We.now look back and view with horror the deeds wrought in the name of authority, and in opposition to the principles of change and innovation. We read the stories of Alva, and the massacres in the Netherlands, the bloody deeds of the seventeenth century in England and all over Europe, the miseries and bloodshed of the American War of Independence, the fierce opposition with which the spirit of liberty has been resisted throughout this century; and our sympathies are altogether ranged on the side of the sufferers--the losers and defeated, it may have been, for the time, but the triumphant in the long run. The true student, however, of history, or of human nature, will not content himself with any one-sided view, and he will have Some sympathy to spare for those who adopted the stern measures: He will not judge them too harshly. They reverenced the past as the Jews of Jerusalem did, and reverence is a feeling that is right and blessed. The opponents of political change are sometimes denounced in the fiercest language, as if they were morally wicked. The late Dr. Arnold seems a grievous offender in this respect. No one can read his charming biography by Dean Stanley without recognising how intolerant he was towards his political opponents; how blind he was to those good motives which inspire the timorous, the ignorant, and the aged, when brought face to face with changes which appear to them thickly charged with the most dangerous results. Charity towards opponents is sadly needed in the political as well as in the religious world. And as it has been in politics, so has it been in religion. Men reverence the past, and that reverence easily glides into an idolatry, blind to its defects and hostile to any improvement. It is in religion too as in politics; a thousand other interests--money, office, expectations, memories of the loved and lost--are bound up with religious forms, and then when the prophet arises with his Divine message, as Stephen arose before the Sanhedrin, the ancient proverb is fulfilled, the corruption of the best becomes the worst, the good motives mingle with the evil, and are used by the poor human heart to justify the hardest, most unchristian, deeds done in defence of what men believe to be the cause of truth and righteousness. III. The mistakes and variations which occur in Stephen’ s speech. They are mistakes such as a speaker, filled with his subject and speaking to an excited and hostile audience, might naturally make; mistakes such as truthful speakers every day make in their ordinary efforts. (G. T. Sokes, D. D.)Stephen’ s testimony 1. “ Mark the perfect man.” That object is worthy of regard anywhere; but here it is in a position peculiarly fitted to display its grandeur. Everything about the faith of Christians is interesting; but “ the trial of their faith is found unto praise,” etc. (1 Peter 1:7). The flame may live through the day, but it is by night that it is seen. “ Mark the perfect man,” but choose the time for marking him--towards the close: “ the end of that man is peace.” 2. Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin, not to be tried but to be condemned. When he distributed alms his face was pleasant; but when he stands before his murderers it is like the face of an angel. The sun is most beautiful at its setting, and if dark clouds cluster round they serve to receive and reflect his light, and so to increase the loveliness of the departing moment. 2. The specific charge against Stephen was that he spoke blasphemous words, etc; but the first portion of his speech must have gone far to refute it, for in the spirit of a devout believer he traces the course of Hebrew history. This is no reviler of the temple and the law, a renegade Jew who abjures Moses. His elegant apologetic essay by itself would have pleased his judges, as the story of the ewe lamb did the guilty king, and perhaps they may have begun to think “ this man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” 4. Stephen, I suppose, had a well-defined plan. He wished to win their attention and soften their hearts. When at last he saw the gates open he made a sudden rush, in the hope of taking the city by assault, and leading its defenders captive to Christ. And the plan was in the first instance successful. The Word proved quick and powerful. The sword ran into their joints and marrow. The immediate object is gained: there is conviction--“ they were cut to the heart.” But for those who try to win souls, as for those who try to win fortunes, there is many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip. Conversion does not always follow conviction. When such a home thrust takes effect a great fire of anger is kindled which will either turn inward and consume sin, or outward to persecute the preacher. In this case anger went the wrong way. 5. As the fury of the persecutors increased, so did the ecstasy of the martyr. The blast of their wrath against him, like the wind against a kite, carried him higher toward heaven. He saw “ the glory of God and Jesus.” The two lie close together, to Stephen they blended in one. If the glory of God were to appear without Jesus the spirit would fail. “ The Lamb is the light “ of heaven. An uproar ensued. The peace and triumph of the martyrs has always had an effect upon the persecutors. The drums were beaten to drown the last words of the Scottish covenanters. “ Argyle’ s sleep” on the night before his execution made his enemies’ blood run cold. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The God of Glory.-- Stephen’ s answers to the charge of blasphemy against God There was good reason for commencing his speech in the name of God. He thus in opposition to the current slander that he blasphemed God not only testifies his deep respect for God, and gives to Him the honour which is His due; but he has a positive reason for asserting the glory of God. Here, as in the subsequent part of his speech, he keeps in view the unlimited greatness, authority and sovereignty of God, according to which God is bound to nothing and no one, and can manifest Himself to whom, and how, and when He pleases. The expression in connection with “ appeared” brings to their remembrance the sublime and elevating glory in which the self-manifestations of God were wont to take place. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)Appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia.-- The earliest appearance of God to Abraham Of this particular appearance there is no account in Genesis 11:31. But a Divine command, which had already been given at that time, is implied in Genesis 15:7, and reference is made to this in Joshua 24:2-3; Nehemiah 9:7; Jdt 5:7-9. Philo and Josephus agree in representing the Patriarch as having been called twice, first from his kindred and country in Ur, secondly from his father’ s house in Haran, Terah having accompanied him in the former migration, and being dead before the second. This is one of several instances in which New Testament supplies facts supplementary to Old Testament--e.g., the prophecy of Enoch (Jude 1:14); the names of the Egyptian magicians (2 Timothy 3:8); the hope that sustained Abraham in offering Isaac (Hebrews 11:19); the acknowledgment of Moses (Hebrews 12:21); the motive which strengthened him to leave the court of Pharaoh (Hebrews 11:24), and Egypt (Hebrews 11:27); and the prayer of Elijah (James 5:17). (Bp. Jacobsen.) Acts 7:4-8 When his father was dead He removed him into this land. The difficulty as to the date of Abraham’ s migration Terah died at Haran at the age of two hundred and five (Genesis 11:32.). From Genesis 11:26 it has been inferred that Terah was not more than seventy at the birth of Abraham; and as Abraham left Haran at seventy-five (Genesis 12:4) it would follow that Terah outlived his departure sixty years. But it is nowhere stated that Abraham was Terah’ s eldest son, and the Rabbins reckoned him the youngest. Abraham’ s prominence in history as the father of the faithful and the friend of God accounts for his name being placed before that of Haran in Genesis 11:26. In like manner the name of Shem, the youngest, stands first among the sons of Noah (Genesis 9:18; Genesis 10:21); Isaac’ s name takes precedence of Ishmael’ s (1 Chronicles 1:28); Judah is placed at the head of the list of the sons of Jacob (1 Chronicles 4:1; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2), and Moses is mentioned before his elder brother Aaron. (Bp. Jacobsen.)And He gave him none inheritance in it … yet He promised, that He would give it to him for a possession.-- The faithfulness of God Of this we have three illustrations in the verses before us, which are all the more impressive because of their unlikelihood. We have God’ s fidelity-- I. To His promises (verse 5). Abraham, without a foot of land, and, being childless and nomadic, not likely to trouble himself about any, was promised that his seed should possess the entire country. We know that this came to pass, and through what a wonderful series of unlikely events it came to pass. This, therefore, is a good sample of all God’ s promises--e.g.,1. Of temporal good. Who that has trusted God’ s word in this particular ever knew it to fail? There is no promise of affluence, but there are abundant promises of sufficiency. Some of the richest pages in Christian biography are records of the extraordinary way in which God works the deliverance of His people in poverty, affliction, danger, etc. 2. Of salvation “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Who ever knew that to fail? It has been proved over and over again in the most hopeless cases. The infidel, men and women to whom abnormal vice has become a second nature, criminals on the verge of execution, have found it true, and in a manner in which the most sanguine could never have expected. 3. Of grace. The Christian is sometimes placed in circumstances of extraordinary trial. Extreme adversity and extreme prosperity, circumstances which have been gradually accumulating until they reach a climax, and circumstances which seem to gather like a thunderous cloud in a moment, expose the Christian to extreme peril. Satan seems to occupy an unshakeable vantage ground, and the good man seems to be helplessly entangled in his toils. Not so. Strangely is there opened “ a way of escape,” which would all along have been seen to be open but for temporary blindness of faith. 4. Of glory--the best illustration perhaps of the promise before us. Then there will be given to us what we most seem to want here, but which we have least ground to expect. The poor will have riches, the weary rest, the afflicted blessedness, and, most wonderful of all, the humble Christian worker the glad “ well done” and the crown of life. II. To His prophecies (verse 6). That this prophecy would be fulfilled was most improbable, a general characteristic of most of the Divine predictions. Men make shrewd guesses based upon wide experience and a careful induction of facts, and men marvel when what, to the clear sighted, seemed almost inevitable takes place. Much more should they marvel when God’ s Word--based upon what to the most sagacious human reason would pronounce to be no ground at all--comes true; only the wonder should be mixed with adoration. Here, e.g., is the prediction that a childless old man without a foot of territory should have a seed large enough to occupy the land; that a race that did not exist should pass through vicissitudes which are Sufficiently specified for a given number of years. Of alike character are the prophecies concerning Christ and His Church. This being the case with regard to fulfilled prophecies, surely there is good room for faith in those which have not yet come to pass. Having regard to the past who can cease to have hope for the Church or for the world. The Church has not yet come fully into its inheritance--but it is better off than Abraham, who had not a foot of his. III. To His threatenings (verse 7). The power here threatened was now, and at the time of the fulfilment of the threatening, the mightiest in the world. Yet Egypt was judged. The great world powers afterwards threatened--Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, were in their turn colossal in their strength, yet where are they to-day? And why? Let modern potentates heed the lesson--because they opposed the cause of God; a course as likely to succeed as the effort to keep back the sea with a broom. Conclusion:1. A sacramental guarantee was given for all this. God entered into solemn covenant with Abraham that promise, prediction, threatening--for all hung together--should be fulfilled, and sealed the covenant by the ordinance of circumcision. And what is a Christian’ s baptism but a seal of a covenant of promise involving everything else for this life and the life to come; and what is the Lord’ s supper but a memorial to all generations of the present support and ultimate triumph of the Church of Christ? 2. Lessons: (1) God takes time for the evolution of His purposes. Four hundred years was not too long for the working out of His purposes concerning Israel; four thousand years are not too long for Him to whom one thousand years is as one day. (2) Man must therefore wait. Patience is the grace supremely needed in this relation. Let us not, like faithless Israel, forget or despair. (J. W. Burn.)And God spoke in this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land.-- Sojourners in a strange land I. The sojourners--Abraham’ s seed the spiritual progenitors of believers. “ They that are of faith are the seed of Abraham.” The Jews were--1. A chosen people; so Christians are a chosen generation. 2. A separated people. In whatever circumstances we find them they will not mix. They would not in Egypt; they will not to-day. So a distinguishing mark of Christians is separation from the world--“ What concord hath Christ with Belial.” 3. A people owned of God--“ I will be their God; they shall be My people.” His own inheritance, portion, “ special treasure.” Observe also, that this people owned their God. In their feasts, sacrifices, offerings, first-born. God was to be owned as their God in all. They were not to take a journey nor engage in battle without first asking God. Another and a double mark of Christian character. 4. A blessed people. “ Blessed art thou in Israel,” etc., and all who are of the faith are recipients of “ the blessing of Abraham.” The covenant treasures laid up in Christ Jesus, the righteousness which is by faith. II. The sojourning. We should never consider the world through which we are passing as any other than a strange land. Do not think of building your nests as if you were to be always at home here. Leave the worldling to his toys, and let us contemplate the fact that we are only strangers and sojourners as all our fathers were.1. Abraham’ s seed are considered strange beings in this world--so strange, that they are held “ an abomination,” and positively offensive (Genesis 43:32). The case is not altered in the present day. “ The world knoweth us not, because it knows Him not.” “ The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,” etc. He who is “ born after the flesh” is still as bent upon persecuting him who is “ born after the Spirit” as in Paul’ s days. Nor can the servants of Satan, the soldiers of Sihon and Og, allow the Israel of God to pass through their territories unmolested. And yet I am anxious that all the seed of Abraham should be able so to live, that their very enemies may come to the same conclusion that the enemies of Daniel did (Daniel 6:5). 2. They are annoyed with strange things as they pass through this strange land with its-- (1) Principles.(2) Practices.(3) Persons. 3. Though grievously annoyed, yet they advance continually in the face of every obstacle and foe. Nothing stops them; on they must go. But how was it that no powers could arrest, no floods or plains intimidate, or armies vanquish Abraham’ s seed? Just because God went before them as their guide, a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. And is it not the same now? The Lord is a wall of fire round about them that fear Him. The real advancement of the seed of Abraham will always include these two things; an advancement in the knowledge of ourselves that shall lay us low; and in the knowledge of Jesus that shall elevate and cheer us. III. The kingdom beyond. It was Jehovah’ s good pleasure to give His people Canaan, and they got it not with sword or bow. They did not deserve it, for they were a stiff-necked and perverse generation, but it was Jehovah’ s good pleasure to give it to them, just as “ it is our Father’ s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.” Many things might be said about this kingdom; but note these: We shall then be so situated as to be above all annoyances, in a kingdom where there is not an unwholesome law; where there is not a dissenting voice from the will of the Monarch; where there is no infirmity, and nothing but joy, and peace, and righteousness. (J. Irons.)And that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.-- The duration of the sojourning Verses 6 and 7 are quoted, not with verbal exactness, from Genesis 15:13-14 according to the LXX. A parenthesis marked after “ land” and “ evil” would make it clear that the four hundred years are the length of the entire time during which Abraham and his descendants were to be sojourners, i.e., to have no country of their own. The Egyptian servitude did not begin till after the death of Joseph, and did not exceed two hundred and fifteen years. If the calculation is made from the weaning of Isaac, the interval is exactly four hundred years. In speaking, the round number was used instead of the precise total of four hundred and thirty years; which is given in the historical statement (Exodus 12:40), quoted Galatians 3:17, which the received chronology makes to be the interval between Abraham’ s going down into Egypt and the Exodus. The same variation is found in Josephus, who states in his history that the Israelites quitted Egypt in the four hundred and thirtieth year; but in a report of a speech of his own in the “ Wars” he gives the duration four hundred years. (Bp. Jacobson.) Acts 7:9-15 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; but God was with him.The patriarchs and their younger brother This picture of patriarchal life is not a flattering one, and was “ written for our learning.” Jacob, by no means a model son, was not a model parent, and was blind to the evils of parental favouritism so signally illustrated in his early history. There can be no doubt that his conspicuous preference for Joseph was the root, if not the immediate occasion, of the “ envy” of the text. Joseph’ s brethren, however, stand in a worse light. No one, much less a brother, should suffer for the faults of others. Even supposing that parental affection was having an ill effect on their young relative, fraternal influence ought have done much to check it; and brotherly chivalry should have suggested a less drastic course than that which they pursued. Note-- I. Their Motive--“ envy.”1. Its ultimate cause. Occasioned by Jacob’ s partiality, it grew to portentous proportions by Joseph’ s dreams. No doubt Joseph was very foolish to tell them his dreams, knowing, as he must have done, their attitude towards him, and, as he might have guessed, the motive which they would impute to him. Even Jacob protested against the dream which indicated that “ sun and moon” as well as “ the eleven stars” would have to bow down to the young dreamer. Hence Joseph has been credited with egregious vanity; but there is nothing in the narrative which is inconsistent with childish simplicity. 2. Its evil. Apart from its consequences, envy is the greatest curse with which a man can be afflicted. It is not hard to read between the lines and see the misery of the eleven patriarchs as they brooded over their brother’ s offence and plotted his ruin. We see the evil of it nowadays in the wretchedness of the men who nurse revenge, or who are covetous of their neighbours’ talents, position, or wealth. II. Their act. There are no lengths to which envy will not go.1. They plotted Joseph’ s murder, and how many men’ s reputation, fortune, or even life, have been murdered through envy! And they were guilty of it inasmuch as it was in their heart. 2. Reuben’ s timely interposition gave their rage time to cool, and Judah’ s cool calculation saw ultimately a personal advantage in sparing their brother’ s life. Envy at white heat studies only revenge regardless of consequences; envy with a dash of reason in it plots for one’ s own advantage at another’ s expense. Hence they argued, “ What is the use of killing him when sparing him means money.” So they sold him into Egypt. Not that their hard hearts were in the least softened, for they knew that in all human probability he was going into a life that was worse than death. III. Their frustration. “ But” --what a turn this little word gives for better or for worse I If we read something good about a man the conjunction prepares us for the inevitable detraction which follows. Naaman was a great man, “ but he was a leper.” The word, however, gives a bright turn sometimes to history, as in the text.1. Joseph was delivered out of all his afflictions. 2. He was made governor over all Egypt. The opposite of all they intended came to pass. How often are the designs of envy thus frustrated, and the evil passion smothered by what it hoped to consume! IV. Their humiliation.1. They became dependents on their evil-intreated brother. Imagine the situation. They were now begging bread of the lad whom they thought to murder; the eleven stars were prostrate before the star they thought to eclipse. Many other envious men have been brought into the same situation. 2. Joseph overwhelmed them with his forgiveness and generosity; showing the other side of revenge, and the proper attribute of the Christian towards those who envy him. “ If thine enemy hunger, feed him,” etc. Learn--1. How uncalculated forces in human life may operate to the dismay of the wicked and to the frustration of evil plans. The patriarchs, like all persecutors, left God out of their calculations. 2. How the very means employed to afflict the righteous may be the very instruments of their prosperity. Had Joseph not been sold to the Ishmaelites he had never been governor of Egypt. 3. How what is intended for the destruction of one may be the salvation of many! Had Joseph not been sold into Egypt, Egypt might not have had its bounteous harvest, and Joseph and his whole family might have perished. (J. W. Burn.)Examples of envy We shall find it in Cain, the proto-murderer, who slew his brother at the instigation of envy. We shall find it in the dark and gloomy and revengeful spirit of Saul, who, under the influence of envy, plotted for years the slaughter of David. We shall find it in the king of Israel, when he pined for the vineyard of Naboth, and shed his blood to gain it. Yea, it was envy that perpetrated that most atrocious crime ever planned in hell or executed on earth, on which the sun refused to look, and at which Nature gave signs of abhorrence by the rending of the rocks: I mean the crucifixion of Christ; for the Evangelist tells us that for envy the Jews delivered our Lord. (J. A. James.)Envy: its grounds As a shadow accompanies those that walk in the sun, so envy is a constant companion of those that excel others. As there is no shadow where there is no sun, so there is no envy where there is no prosperity. The infatuated Caligula slew his brother because he was a beautiful young man. Mutius, a citizen of Rome, was noted to be of such an envious and malevolent disposition, that Publius, one day, observing him to be very sad, said, “ Either some great evil has happened to Mutius, or some great good to another.” “ Dionysius the tyrant,” says Plutarch, “ out of envy, punished Philoxenius the musician because he could sing, and Plato the philosopher because he could dispute better than himself.” Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis because he could draw a stronger bow than himself or any of his party. Envy: its evils As the joys of the happy increase, the sorrows of the envious multiply. As a ship tossed with continual waves, so the envious is always in trouble of mind, repining at the success of others. (Cawdray.)Envy personally hurtful The adder and the toad have deadly poison in them, which hurt others, but not themselves; but envy is so deadly, that it killeth him that hath it, and others also. The envious man frets and pines away when others do well. He cannot eat or sleep quietly, unless some mischief falls on the person he envies. (Cawdray.)Envy self-destructive I remember reading somewhere in a Grecian story of a man who killed himself through envy. His fellow citizens had reared a statue to one of their number who was a celebrated victor in the public games. So strong was the feeling of envy which this incited in the breast of one of the hero’ s rivals, that he went forth every night, in order, if possible, to destroy that monument. After repeated efforts he moved it from its pedestal, and it fell, and in its fall it crushed him. An unintentional symbolic act was this, showing the suicidal action of envy on the soul. It is ever an element of misery, a burning coal which “ comes hissing hot from hell.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Envy: its good Envy, like the worm, never runs but to the fairest fruit: like a cunning bloodhound, it singles out the fattest deer in the flock. Abraham’ s riches were the Philistines’ envy; and Jacob’ s blessing bred Esau’ s hatred. (J. Beaumont.)Envy: its universality Envy is a weed that grows in all soils and climates, and is no less luxuriant in the country than in the court; is not confined to any rank of men or extent of fortune, but rages in the breasts of all degrees. Alexander was not prouder than Diogenes; and it may be, if we would endeavour to surprise it in its most gaudy dress and attire, and in the exercise of its full empire and tyranny, we should find it in schoolmasters and scholars, or in some country lady, or the knight her husband; all which ranks of people more despise their neighbours than all the degrees of honour in which courts abound; and it rages as much in a sordid, affected dress as in all the silks and embroideries which the excess of the age and the folly of youth delight to be adorned with. (Lord Clarendon.)Envy: advantage of benevolence over The benevolent have the advantage of the envious, even in this present life; for the envious is tormented not only by all the ill that befalls himself, but by all the good that happens to another: whereas the benevolent man is the better prepared to bear his own calamities unruffled, from the complacency and serenity he has secured from contemplating the prosperity of all around him. (Colton.)Joseph’ s afflictions and advancement I. His afflictions.1. Their causes. (1) The envy of the patriarchs.(2) The desires of Potiphar’ s wife.(3) The forgetfulness of the cupbearer. 2. In what they consisted. (1) Incivilities of his brethren.(2) Loss of liberty.(3) Exile from home.(4) False accusation and imprisonment. II. His advancement.1. God was with him.2. God delivered him out of all his afflictions.3. God gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh.4. Pharaoh made him governor, etc. (Biblical Museum.)Joseph a type of Christ I. In the afflictions he suffered.1. He was hated by his brethren.2. He was sold as a slave. II. In the beauty of his character. This is seen clearly in every recorded incident of his life, but especially--1. In the manner in which he resisted temptation.2. In the spirit of forgiveness he manifested. III. In the counsel he imparted.1. His counsel was wise (Genesis 41:33-40; Genesis 45:24).2. Wise because God directed. Joseph, like Daniel, taught of God. So of Jesus we read, “ Never man spake,” etc. (John 7:46). “ In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom” (Colossians 2:3). “ I counsel thee buy of Me,” etc. (Revelation 3:18). IV. In the deliverance he accomplished.1. From famine and death.2. For Jew and Gentile, for his brethren, also for Egyptians and all countries round Egypt (Genesis 41:56-57). V. In the exaltation he obtained.1. It was obtained through humility and fidelity.2. It was acknowledged even by his foes. So Christ is exalted (Philippians 2:5-11). (F. Joseph.)Joseph a type of Christ I. In his humiliation1. His father’ s beloved son, but his brethren’ s derision and offence.2. Conscious from childhood of future greatness, only attained by suffering.3. He was hated by his own; sold into the hands of sinners; falsely accused, and unjustly condemned. II. In his exaltation.1. Crowned with honour after trial, shame, and suffering2. Placed for a blessing over a famishing people.3. Recognised with trembling by those who once denied and persecuted him.4. Rewarding with favour and kindness those who did him evil. (Preacher’ s Monthly.)Pharaoh … made him governor.-- Joseph’ s exaltation He exchanges a captive’ s chain for ornaments of gold; the prison, garb for courtly vesture; the narrow walls of a jail for crowded streets, through which, amid acclaims that rend the skies, he is borne in a royal chariot. He was Potiphar’ s slave; he has become Potiphar’ s lord. He begged favours of a butler; the proudest princes of Egypt now live in his smiles, and tremble at his frown. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren.-- The second time There is a plain parallel between Joseph and Jesus, his brethren and ourselves. Certain classes of real seekers do not at once find peace: they go to Jesus after a fashion, and return from Him as they went. Our fear is that they may grow indifferent or despairing. Our hope is that they will go again, and before long discover the great secret, and find food for their souls. To this end we would follow the track of Joseph’ s story, and use it as an allegory for the benefit of the seeker. I. There is a something which you do not know. The sons of Israel did not know Joseph. Like them--1. You have no idea of who and what Jesus is. Power and pity blend in Him. He is far more than He seems. 2. You view Him only as great, lordly, unapproachable; a great and stern governor and tax-master. 3. You do not know that He is your brother, one with you in nature, relationship, and love. 4. You cannot conceive how He loves; He yearns to make Himself known; His heart is swollen big with compassion. 5. You cannot guess what He will do for you: all that He is and has shall be at your disposal. Picture the Israelitish shepherds in the presence of the exalted Egyptian prince, as he stands veiled in mystery, girded with power, and surrounded with honour. Little could they imagine that this was Joseph their brother. II. There is a reason why at your first going you have not learned this. Joseph was not made known to his brethren on their first journey, nor have you yet found out Jesus so as to know His love.1. You have not looked for Him. The sons of Jacob went to Egypt for corn, not for a brother. You are looking for comfort, etc., not for the Saviour. 2. You have not yet felt your sin against Jesus, and He would bring you to repentence, even as Joseph brought his brethren to confess their great wrong. 3. You have not gone with your whole force. As the brothers left Benjamin at home, so have you left some faculty or capacity dormant, or chill, in your seeking for grace. 4. You have a larger blessing through the delay; and the Lord Jesus will in the most seasonable hour reveal Himself, as Joseph did. Till then He refrains. III. There is great hope in tour going again to him. Joseph’ s brethren made a great discovery the second time; you are in similar circumstances to them. Go a second time; for--1. You must go or perish. There was corn only in Egypt; and there is salvation only in Christ. 2. Others have gone and speeded. All nations went to Egypt, and none were refused. Has Jesus cast out one? 3. You have lingered too long already, even as did Israel’ s sons. 4. A welcome awaits you. Joseph longed to see his brethren, and Jesus longs to see you. IV. There are forecasts of what will happen if you go. The story lends itself to prophecy. As the sons of Israel fared with Joseph, so shall you fare with Jesus.1. You will tremble in His presence. 2. He will bid you draw near. 3. He will comfort you by revealing Himself to you. 4. He will bless and enrich you and send you home rejoicing, to fetch all your family to Him. 5. He will rule all the world for your sake, and you shall be with Him, and be nourished by Him. Conclusion:1. Let us hasten to go to our Saviour the second time.2. Surely this is the season, for the Holy Ghost saith “ to-day.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)All his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. Seventy is given as the number, including Jacob, Joseph, and his two sons, in Genesis 46:27; Exodus 1:5; Deuteronomy 10:22. Here, however, Stephen had the authority of the LXX. of Genesis 46:27, which gives the number at seventy-five and makes it up by inserting the son and grandson of Manasseh, two sons and a grandson of Ephraim. With them it was probably an editorial correction based upon Numbers 26:27-27. Stephen, as an Hellenistic Jew, naturally accepted, without caring to investigate, the number which he found in the Greek version. (Dean Plumptre.) Acts 7:16-17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh. The fidelity of God to His promises What a faithful God! He does not forget His promise, but fulfils it even long after the death of the man. Mark this, thou disheartened teacher: thou mayest not see the use of this thy work, and thou mayest in the meantime with Abraham fall asleep; yet God will fulfil His promise after thy death. (Apostolic Pastor.) Acts 7:20-43 In which time Moses was born.Moses, a man of God and a man of the people I. From the people, according to flesh and blood. II. Above the people, according to spirit and character. III. For the people, in word and in deed. IV. Against the people, where the law of God was concerned. (K. Gerok.)Moses, a pattern of God’ s chosen instruments 1. The metal from which He takes them.2. The fire in which He forges them.3. The tests by which He proves them.4. The deeds which He performs by them. (K. Gerok.)Moses, a true reformer Every reformer needs--1. Profound knowledge and living experience of the heart.2. Clear insight into the times.3. Warm heart for the people.4. Heroic courage in the face of the world.5. Childlike humility before God and His Word. (K. Gerok.)The training of Moses, an example how God prepares His chosen instruments 1. By great dangers and mighty deliverances (Acts 7:21).2. By human instruction (Acts 7:22), and Divine illumination (Acts 7:30).3. By the experience of the world (verss 22-24), and quiet intercourse with our own heart (Acts 7:29).4. By deep humiliations (Acts 7:27-28), and high proofs of favours (Acts 7:32-34). Observe similar experiences in Joseph, David, Elijah, Paul, Luther, etc. (K. Gerok.)Moses and Christ I. Wherein Moses resembles Christ.1. Both accredited by God-- (1) By a wonderful deliverance in infancy (Pharaoh and Herod). (2) By their silent ripening for their great mission (Moses at court and in the wilderness; Christ in the cottage and the wilderness). (3) By their solemn call to office (Moses at Horeb, Christ at Jordan). (4) By the rich manifestation of the Spirit and of power . (5) By the deliverances wrought out by them. (6) By the judgments inflicted on an ungrateful and disobedient people. 2. Both rejected by their nation. (1) Their Divine mission was apprehended (Acts 7:27).(2) Their pure intention calumniated (Acts 7:28).(3) The freedom offered to the despised (Acts 7:39).(4) Their memory blotted out by an ungrateful generation (Acts 7:40). II. Wherein Christ is superior to Moses.1. Moses redeems from bodily, Christ from spiritual bondage.2. Moses redeems Israel, Christ mankind.3. Moses effects a temporal, Christ an eternal salvation.4. Moses acts as servant, Christ as Lord. (K. Gerok.)And was exceeding fair.-- Moses’ beauty God gave him that tallness when he was three years old, as was wonderful; and as for his beauty, there was nobody so unpolite, as when they saw Moses, they were not greatly surprised. Nay, it happened frequently, that those who met him as he was carried along the road, were obliged to turn again on seeing the child; that they left what they were about, and stood still a great while to look on him. (Josephus.)Beauty a Divine talent Beauty, if given to God, is indeed a talent not to be despised. It adds grace to our actions, a lustre to our virtues, and eloquence to our words. But if it be not defalcated to the service of God, it becomes a deadly poison, both to ourselves and others. (Dr. Wogan.)Beauty, its criterion If true, it increases on examination; if false, it lessens. (Lord Greville.)Virtue necessary to beauty Beauty unaccompanied by virtue is a flower without perfume. And when he was cast out Pharaoh’ s daughter took him up.-- Providence What God wills to live no tyrant can destroy. Pharaoh, who had given a cruel order for Moses’ death, must bring him up in his own court. The Lord knows how to protect His chosen, and makes their enemies their servants. (K. Gerok.)And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.-- Moses’ education I. The education of Moses.1. He was instructed by strangers. Pharaoh’ s daughter had him taught Egyptian learning at her own expense, as children have to be taught in schools by strangers. Instruction by parents not always possible, because of their ignorance, labour, etc. (1) God appointed a princess, as if to honour the teacher’ s office. People say any one will do; but if your watch-spring is broken, do you take it to a blacksmith? Can a common mind guide that delicate, ethereal thing, a child’ s soul? We want first-rate men. Miserable economy in parents! Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. You weigh your child’ s mind against copper. (2) Consider the influence of teachers. Three thousand five hundred years an Egyptian princess took a poor man’ s child and taught him. The result of that education is not over yet. Compare her influence with Pharaoh’ s. To rule in a single heart is greater than the proudest sway. The teacher is greater than the king. Here is a man perched on high, dressed in a little brief authority, with fingers pointing: That is he! And here is Christ with little children round Him. 2. He was under home influences. By a merciful arrangement Moses’ early years were entirely superintended by Pharaoh’ s daughter. His mother nursed him. The princess gave him instruction, his mother education. People think education reading, writing, etc.; loading the memory with information and making preparation for a profession; but that is only the wisdom of Egypt. We must distinguish between education and instruction. The former is to unfold nature; to strengthen good and conquer evil; to give self-help; to make a man. The teacher cannot give this. You want influence bearing on the heart. Now influence is given at home. God gives the father to impart strength of will, and the mother tenderness of affection. Moses owed his lawgiving, politics, etc., to the princess; his religion to Jochebed. Jochebed that woman of poverty and toil, her hands black with brick-making; Jochebed that woman of faith, ennobled to defy the might of Egypt. Mothers, know your work! God has given you the destinies of the world. Our schools fail for the want of mothers and home influences. 3. He was disciplined by circumstances. Pharaoh’ s daughter had done something, and Moses’ mother something, but there were other things needed beyond man’ s control. (1) He belonged to an oppressed nation: hence his patriotism--that deep, long devotion to one vast cause which only can be felt in such circumstances. (2) He was a banished man: hence his sympathy with the crushed. (3) He was a solitary man: hence his depth and solemnity of character. (4) He was a traveller: hence his knowledge of the world and man, and his enlarged views. 4. But he needed some sudden impulse. It came in the burning bush, and from thence the man of learning became the man of public action. Observe from all this-- (1) That education goes on through life. After he left Egypt and home his development continued. The lot of many is poverty: hence their fondness of character. It is often the lot of the orphan: hence may spring self-help; or, if the disposition be weak, bad habits. Riches may obstruct the child’ s moral growth, and produce, in spite of expensive education, only indolence of character. Again, we are disciplined by public circumstances. We live in time of war or peace, during a revolution, or in an age of trade, science, and philosophy--all this disciplines character. We talk of “ finished education.” Education only ends when a man is in his winding-sheet. Observe--education is useful to call forth power to grapple with and modify circumstances. Trees on the sea-coast or in stony soil are thwarted, yet they may be pushed by agriculture. The best agriculture is in Scotland, which has but a poor soil. (2) Education is God’ s work, for circumstances come from God. Teaching cannot do all; we must look for fruit from God. We must war for our best impulses, which come like a flash, unexpectedly. “ The wind bloweth where it listeth,” etc. Look back on our lives: what governed our most remarkable moments and alteration in character? Not systematic education; but some impression like that of Moses in the wilderness, that locked like chance--an impression from some great soul, or an old truth forcibly put. II. Its results.1. On his own character. (1) Mentally, it gave him the habit of inquiry. He turns aside “ to see why the bush is not burnt.” Other men would have simply seen the bush on fire. The first thing in education is to encourage this habit. When your child asks, “ What is the use of this?” etc., do not call it troublesome. But not in duty. “ Why” in phenomena is the acknowledgment of ignorance, but in practical duties it is the boast of presumption. (2) Morally, it gave him boldness and tenderness. Many men are bold, yet tyrannical; many tender, yet weak. The perfect character joins both. Moses was ever the champion of the oppressed--his brethren, Jethro’ s daughters. (3) Religiously, it gave him-- (a) Reverence. He takes off his shoes. (b) Obedience. God says, “ Go before Pharaoh,” and Moses braves the angry king. (c) Meekness. He was humble as a child. This is what is meant by education--mental power, moral worth, religious character. 2. On his nation the chief result was the elevation of the labouring classes. The Egyptian policy was to keep Israel down, to refuse them educational and political advantages, to prevent their increase. The task of Moses was their emancipation. So is that of every Christian. To elevate the labouring classes, however, is not to exempt them from toil. Labour is a blessing; it brings out strength of character. Nor is it to break down classes, but by Christianity and education to level up. Thank God the time has passed when the English policy was the policy of Egypt. The insane cry once was, “ The people must not be educated, because it will unfit them for their station.” Now the mighty chasm between rich and poor is filling up. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)Human learning recommended from the example of Moses I. Inquire into the education and attainments of Moses, who is here said to have been learned in all the wisdom of the egyptians. II. Deduce the lawfulness and explain the advantages of human learning, in opposition to those weak sophisms which some conceited novelists have imagined to the contrary. But there is little need of authority to recommend that which does so amply recommend itself. Such is the excellency of human learning, that it is impossible to conceive how anything so entertaining in the theory, so useful in the application, and withal so ornamental in the figure it makes, should be unlawful to be acquired, or should not, indeed, rather be highly worthy of the most laborious pursuits. The mind of man is capable of great improvements, not to be attained but by much pains and study: from whence we see every day the mighty difference between a liberal and sordid education. In the one, human nature seems only to resemble the rude lines of an unfinished piece, which may, indeed, discover the bulk that is designed, but without that beauty, order, and proportion which should recommend it. In the other it is, as it were, finished by the artist’ s hand, and seems to want nothing that should make it lovely and agreeable. I forbear to expatiate farther on the transporting pleasures which arise from learning; in regard its excellency is such that it serves not only to please, but profit, to improve the mind with useful lessons and instructions, as well as entertain it with delightful speculations. The necessity of virtue is more clearly discerned, and the measures of our duty are more easily prescribed, when men are able to perceive the consequences of their actions, and infer fit rules of life from their observation of the nature of things. They are likewise better able to gain advantage to themselves, and go the readiest way to work in any enterprise, when they know the connection between causes and effects, and have all the experience of former ages which learning can afford. Nor is its influence confined at home, but, diffusive of itself, extends to all that stand in any way related to us, The philosopher, studies not only for himself, but for the common benefit of human kind; and, by his useful discoveries, unfolds those secrets for the public good, which had been otherwise locked up in the profoundest silence. The power of medicine to heal diseases might have remained a secret, and mankind have been for ever destitute of wholesome remedies, were it not for such cultivation and improvement of the mind as human learning gives. I need not observe to you how the several arts of arithmetic, geometry, navigation, and the rest, conduce to the good order and government of the world, to the adjusting men’ s various rights and interests, to the symmetry, and thereby to the duration, of buildings, to the conjunction of countries far distant in situation, and thereby to the better carrying on of trade and commerce. Nor can you want to be reminded that an inquiry into the nature of moral good and evil must likewise be of general use, beneficial to the public as well as to the student, qualifying some for the information and tuition of others, to furnish them that have less leisure and abilities with true principles, and instruct them fully in the nature of their duty. And from the whole it will be obvious to collect what ought not to be omitted upon this occasion, that those first rudiments of literature we learn at school must needs be highly beneficial as laying the foundation for all the rest, and being, indeed, the proper groundwork upon which any part of human learning should be built. The enthusiast, in the first place, objects against it as deceitful or vexatious, or at best but useless. The deceitfulness of human learning he would build upon St. Paul’ s authority, who calls it philosophy and vain deceit, and warns his Colossians beware lest any man should spoil them by it. But they who make this objection would do well to distinguish between the different ends and uses to which learning is applied. The right end of it is to serve for the better illustration and discovery of truth; and when it is subservient to this purpose, the Holy Scripture is so far from condemning it, that it recommends it rather as highly beneficial. It is not then, you see, the thing itself, but the abuse or vain pretence of it the apostle blames. Nor are they less deceived in the argument they draw from the vexatiousness and uncertainty of human learning, which the wisest of men reckoned to be but “ vanity and vexation of spirit,” because that “ in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” For here again there is a pertinent distinction to be made between the study of human learning, looked upon as being itself our supreme good and happiness, and as a means only which may be subservient and conducive to it. It was Solomon’ s business, in his book of Ecclesiastes, to show that nothing but religion or the fear of God can make us truly happy. To that end, he observes the vanity of all other schemes of happiness, and among them, how even learning itself, though it bids fairer than the rest, is yet very defective, and will leave the man far short of happiness who has no higher aims, especially if he be (as without religion men are too apt to be) over-curious to search deeper than human reason can fathom, and unwilling to resolve everything at last into unsearchable wisdom and omnipotence. But this is no real disparagement to that wisdom and knowledge which, being kept subordinate and made subservient to religious purposes, does humbly admire what it cannot comprehend, and therefore can be no just objection against that right use of human learning which I am at present desirous to recommend. I have but one objection more to examine, and that is the freethinker’ s, who reckons every man ought to judge in all matters for himself, and not suffer himself to be influenced by the skill and learning of another; but especially that it is most unreasonable, by arts of rhetoric and moving eloquence, to work on the affections of vulgar minds, and so prevail with them to do that to which they would otherwise be most averse. Let it be returned that no man’ s liberty of judging is taken from him by having reasons offered to direct his judgment; but he ever judges with the greatest freedom who judges most consistently with the appearance of reason and truth. If the matter be such as he is capable of examining himself, he ought seriously to weigh whatever is thus offered, and either to reject or admit it, as shall appear most reasonable upon mature deliberation. But if the matter be above his reach, it will be but equitable to believe the learned in their own profession, since he can have no other way of discovering the truth. He is not to follow them where he finds they are in error, any more than he would wittingly take a cup of poison if it were recommended to him by a skilful physician. But then neither may he neglect their direction, where his own judgment fails or wavers, any more than he would refuse the medicine prescribed by his physician, for no other reason but because he is not thoroughly acquainted with the quality and power of those ingredients of which it is compounded--always remembering to apply himself to God for His special blessing and favourable assistance. And then, as to the other part of the objection, although I shall allow the moving of men’ s passions, where there are no reasons, either directly offered, or at least presupposed, for the conviction of their judgment, to be an absurd and unjust way of proceeding, yet so many are the instances where people act against their judgment, and are backward to do that which they cannot but confess fittest to be done, that it deserves to be esteemed, not a lawful only, but a necessary art, to stir up the affections, even where the understanding is sufficiently informed before. III. Inferences from all that has been said.1. Such being the manifold and great advantages of human learning, let us be thankful to Almighty God, who has made our nature capable of such improvements. It is sure a very easy return for the blessings we receive, to acknowledge the bounty of Him who gave them; and he must be most unworthy of the benefit bestowed who will not own it to be one. 2. Let those who are set apart to such studies be careful to improve the talents committed to their trust. 3. Let those who reap benefit from their labours of this kind value in return and esteem them for their works’ sake. The advantages, we see, are great which redound to the public from the studies of the learned; and therefore gratitude requires that the public should make suitable acknowledgments to those persons by whose means such advantages are derived to them. 4. Let us all, therefore, in our several stations and capacities encourage the study and increase of useful learning, by our exhortation, our contribution, or our own industry. (W. Berriman, D. D.) Acts 7:23-30 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren. The patriotism of Moses I. Long nursed--“ forty years.”1. Inspired by his mother. The precious time during which he was entrusted by the princess to the care of his nurse, Jochebed, would, we may be sure, be well employed, and subsequent opportunities would be utilised for reminding him of who he was, and of his possible destiny as the leader of his race. No throne in the universe is so potent as the mother’ s knee for good or evil. 2. Cherished among smothering influences. (1) Gratitude to his deliverer.(2) Egyptian learning and court training.(3) Prospects of advancement, even to the throne of Egypt. It must have required a very deep-seated patriotic instinct to have resisted all this. II. Prematurely exhibited.1. Without a Divine call. Moses acted on the spasmodic impulse of the moment. Here was a palpable opportunity--the first which presented itself--of showing his long-nursed patriotism, and the ill-usage of his brethren acted like a spark on a train of gunpowder. Many men call themselves to rectify certain evils, and mistake a seeming opportunity for the voice of God. Passion, however noble, is not inspiration. This is seen in its effects. That which leads to murder, however great the provocation, as in the case of Moses and the French Revolution, is manifestly not from heaven. When the hour comes the man will be inspired; let the man, then, wait for the hour. 2. Without the least chance of success. What was one man, even suppose that he was sure of the loyalty of the unorganised slaves, against the disciplined might of Egypt? This has been the mistake of well-meaning but impulsive patriots all through history, and the results have ever been fatal to the interests of those whom they would have served. III. Eventually rectified. Moses soon saw that force was no remedy, and that his people were hardly fit for immediate emancipation. What chance of liberation for a people divided amongst themselves? Union is strength; and Moses began to educate the people in the two great unifying principles--1. Fraternity. “ Sirs, ye are brethren.” Moses saw that the only hope for Israel was the cultivation of brotherly feeling. Other ties without this are ropes of sand. 2. Justice. “ Why do ye wrong?” The fetters of internal wrong-doing are far stronger than those imposed from without. Tyrants are safe when their subjects are depraved. If a community would successfully resist the iniquities of the powers that be, they must be law-abiding themselves. Agitators are at length recognising this principle, and passionately appeal to their followers not to break the law. IV. Ungratefully repudiated. When Moses smote the Egyptian no protest was raised; but on attempting to sow the seeds of self-deliverance he met with the fate of many reformers. Most people are willing to be helped; but when urged to help themselves, the whole situation is often changed. They had no objection to Moses being a ruler and a judge when he assailed the oppressor; but when he advised the oppressed to follow a more successful but prosaic and unromantic course, the worst feelings of jealousy were aroused. The public sentiment towards Cromwell was very different when he was driving out the Stuarts from that which was expressed when reducing the chaotic national elements to order. V. Suddenly abandoned. “ Then fled Moses.”1. Not, we may well believe, through sheer cowardice. Fear of Pharaoh had something to do with it, no doubt; but this was the fear of a man who felt that he would have to encounter the monarch alone. The cause was hopeless; he would have no following; it was useless to throw his life away. 2. Disgust, we may believe, had something to do with it. Why should he sacrifice himself for a people who would not even treat him with common gratitude. “ Those who would be free must themselves strike the blow.” Moses adopted the right course. He accepted the inevitable. The time was not ripe, nor was he--a lesson for all would-be patriots and reformers. VI. Divinely revived. That his patriotism died out in Midian is obvious from his reluctance to embark on the mission when the time had come. By minding other people’ s business he had lost everything; henceforth he would mind his own, And he did so for forty years. But all this time he was being Divinely qualified. His character matured, his old impulsiveness was gone. Cool reason took the place of spasmodic passion. He became familiar with habits and scenes which stood him in good stead for the next forty years. The time came, and when it came the fire of the bush laid hold of his soul, and the Divinely-inspired leader went to beard Pharaoh and to lead his brethren out of the house of bondage. (J. W. Burn.)A true leader of the people These words were spoken by the Christian martyr, Stephen, when he was standing before the Jewish council. He was accused of seeking to overthrow the institutions of Moses, and his mind not unnaturally reverted to the time when Moses himself was an innovator, and repelled by the ancestors of the very men who now taxed Stephen with seeking to change the customs which he had delivered to them. The passage in the life of Moses which Stephen relates gives us an example of-- I. The true leader’ s instinct. He went to see his brethren, and to look on their burdens. This is the instinct of a true leader. He does it from policy; for how can the general regulate the marches unless he knows how much the soldier has to carry? Or how can he prescribe methods of lightening burdens unless he knows of what they consist? But not only from policy; from piety and humanity. The true leader’ s nature comprises the true shepherd’ s nature--not the robber’ s or the mere hireling’ s. II. The true leader’ s mistake. He supposed the people would understand. A superiorly-gifted mind often finds a peculiar difficulty in judging of average human nature, and its calculations may prove to be ill-founded. III. The true leader’ s aim. It is to cause unity to be recognised; for what but unity can give the power which it is his nature and his function to wield? Here there was no absence of natural grounds of union. They had two of the strongest--oneness of race and a common oppressor. IV. The true leader’ s disappointment. That his efforts to promote union were in vain. But in the case of the Israelites, blindness was combined with jealousy. They saw in Moses only a man of their own order. “ His own received him not.” Stephen might well recall these circumstances when he was standing before that tribunal of his countrymen, which was perpetrating a still greater refusal. The repulse was a personal one; but the disappointment was far from being merely personal. (Homilist.) Acts 7:30-34 And when the forty years were expired there appeared to him an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.The burning bush A sign and a type-- I. Of Israel. As in Egypt, it resembled a degenerate and wild thorn hedge, burning, but not consumed, in the glow of the brick-kiln, and in the heat of trial. II. Of The Messiah. According to His human lowliness--a thorn bush, and Divine glory--the flame in the bush, inseparable in one person--the bush not consumed. III. Of the Christian Church, in its insignificant cross form, constant trial, and indistructible powers of life. This bush has now burned fez nearly two thousand years, and yet we have never seen its ashes. (K. Gerok.)Moses trembled.-- The fear of Moses I. Its nature.1. It was not slavish fear. 2. But pious humility. How good is it for a teacher, who must so often stand upon holy ground, to experience this trembling, not only at the commencement, but during the continuance of his ministry. II. Its effects. This filial fear and reverence will be--1. A barrier by which useless words, vain gestures, and other sinful things will be prevented. 2. An incentive to speak and act as before God, in God, and from God. (Apostolic Pastor.)Put off thy shoes. An exhortation to put off earthly stains and conceited pride in the presence of God.1. For ministers, in the study and in the pulpit. 2. For hearers in their church-going and at worship. (K. Gerok.)I have seen, I have seen the affliction of My people.-- The greater our need the nearer God 1. He sees the sufferings of His people.2. He hears the sighs of believers.3. He comes down at the proper time.4. He sends out His servants. (K. Gerok.)The people of God I. God has a people. “ My people.”1. Chosen by Him.2. In covenant with Him. II. Where they live. “ In Egypt.”1. A house of bondage.2. A transient residence.3. Among a strange people. III. What they suffer. “ Affliction.” In some shape or form this is the Christian’ s earthly lot.1. Inflicted by man.2. Permitted by God.3. Working out spiritual ends. IV. The Divine notice of their case.1. God sees their affliction.2. God hears their groaning.3. God works out their deliverance. (J. W. Burn.)This Moses … brought them out after that he had showed wonders and signs.-- The miracles of Moses and Christ The Divine authority of the Jewish lawgiver was chiefly seen and heard in thunderings and lightnings, great plagues and fearful judgments--in the darkened air, the flashing firmament, the corrupted waters, the divided sea, the rending earth, lamenting families, armies overwhelmed and terror-stricken nations: so that most emphatically does the sacred historian, in summing up the character of Moses as a worker of miracles, declare that none ever equalled him “ in all that mighty hand, and in all that great terror which he showed in the land of Egypt.” The glory of our Saviour’ s miracles is of a different kind, and better suited to the genius of His dispensation. He gave indeed abundant testimony that it was not for want of power He did not signalise His mission like Moses--when, e.g., over His Cross the sky was shrouded with a pall of funereal darkness, while fierce earthquakes tore the flinty rocks, and the temple vail was rent asunder by an unseen hand, and the buried dead arose. But the characteristic tone of the Redeemer’ s marvellous works was of another and a benignant kind. The Mighty Man of Wonders, by whom come grace and truth “ went about doing good.” Consolation and joy and bright-eyed health attended all His steps. Mercy went before His face; and at His heavenly smile diseases vanished, pain expired, fear ceased to quiver, sorrow dried her tearful countenance, the broken heart was made whole. (A. S. Patterson, M. A.) Acts 7:37 This is that Moses which said … a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Moses, a type of Christ How emphatic is the expression! “ This is that Moses!” You have a similar expression where the object was to set a special mark on a guilty individual. “ This is that king Ahaz.” In our text the object is to fix attention on the fact that the Moses who had brought Israel out of Egypt, was the very same who had predicted the coming of a greater prophet. Even this Moses for whom, in their blind attachment, they were about to reject the Messiah, had told them of the Christ. In the whole line of prophets there was not one who could be regarded as closely resembling Moses. In tracing the correspondence here alleged let us consider Moses-- I. As a leader and lawgiver.1. The condition of the Jews in Egypt depicted that of the whole human race given up for their sins to be the captives of Satan. And it could hardly fail to follow that, if our natural condition were thus imaged, some resemblance might be traced between the deliverers. Both Moses and Christ proved their commission by miracles. They both came to an enslaved race, and claimed authority to set free prisoners; and, when proof of their authority was demanded, they both wrought wonders which were beyond human power. There was much the same kind of opposition ranged against the one and the other--the magicians contending with Moses, and evil spirits with Christ. And the deliverance effected by the two was singularly alike. Moses broke off the yoke from the neck of a captive people, and Christ from the neck of the whole human race. But when Moses had made a passage for Israel out of Egypt the former tyrant pursued the freed tribes and sought to regain the ascendancy he had lost. And though Christ has redeemed us from the power of Satan, who knows not that evil spirits, eager to regain their former dominion, pursue those that follow the Captain of salvation? When Moses led Israel out of Egypt he did indeed tell them of a goodly land, but he did not at once put them into possession; but conducted them into a dreary wilderness, where they were exposed to continued trials. And we also hear of a beautiful Canaan, reserved for the followers of the Redeemer, but there is no immediate entrance; a wild desert has to be traversed, set thick with snares and peopled with enemies, and it is only through much tribulation that we can take possession of our heritage. 2. As a lawgiver Moses bore striking resemblance to Christ. It was a main part of his office to restore amongst the Jews the decayed knowledge of Jehovah, to re-institute a pure worship, and to establish laws which might mark them off as a peculiar people. But was not the condition of our race similar to that of Israel? There scarce remained any trace of truth in the popular theology; the whole Gentile race was given up to idolatry, and Christ had to instruct this world in the very first elements of spiritual truth. Moses led the children of Israel through the waters of the Red Sea, and then formed them into a church, with means and ordinances for producing and preserving acquaintance with God, obedience to His will, and hope in His promises. And Christ now conducts men through the waters of baptism into fellowship with His mystical body, that they may be taught in duty and trained for immortality. Moses restores the altars of God, delivers laws, institutes sacrifices; and Christ erects a visible Church, with ordinances and sacraments, that those who are in error may be taught, and those who know the truth may be confirmed. II. Moses as a mediator. The Israelites were assembled round Sinai to receive the commandments and the law of their God. There was nothing of the sublime and the terrible which did not attend the publication of the law. Appalled by what they saw and heard, the rulers of Israel said to Moses, “ Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee” ; and as soon as this petition was offered, God said to Moses, “ They have well said all that they have spoken” ; thus signifying His approval of the consciousness that fallen creatures cannot approach Him except through an intercessor, and in Deuteronomy 18:1-22, the prediction of the text is there made to follow immediately on these words of approval. As much as to say, “ They have asked a mediator, and a Mediator will I give them, in the fulness of time, who shall resemble thee in standing, as thou now dost, between God and man.” And is it not a resemblance most accurate?--for is it not the law by whose terrors we, as well as the Israelites, are affrighted? and was it not to shield us from the law--condemning every human being to everlasting death--that Christ Jesus arose, a Mediator between God and ourselves? In cases of conversion, there is ordinarily enacted much of that scene which is described as occurring when the Israelites stood around Sinai. The Spirit when He handles the moral law makes a man perceive that there has been no moment of his life in which he has not infringed its commands, and that there is no infraction so slight but it entails punishment. Then, for the first time in his life, a man knows rightly the awfulness of God; and then will he exclaim, with the Israelites at the foot of Sinai, “ This great fire will consume me: if I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, then shall I die.” Such a man will at once feel that he cannot stand in his own strength and his own merit face to face with his Maker. Therefore he has no alternative but that of leaving himself to be crushed beneath the weight of indignation, unless, indeed, he can find some being mighty enough and pure enough to rise up as an intercessor, and plead his cause with the Eternal One. Who will deny, then, that in respect of the mediatorial office, the prophecy quoted by Stephen had its fulfilment in Christ? III. In the particulars of his life. Moses was wonderfully preserved when the male children of the Hebrews were destroyed; and thus also was Christ preserved when Herod slew all the children in Bethlehem. Moses fled from his country, and then there came a message, “ Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life” ; Christ fled, in like manner, and then there came a message in almost the same words. Moses contended with the magicians, and forced them to acknowledge his power--Christ contended with evil spirits, and obtained from them a similar confession. Immediately before emancipating Israel, Moses instituted the passover--immediately before redeeming mankind, Christ instituted the Lord’ s Supper. When Moses had to appoint elders, he appointed seventy--when Christ chose disciples, He chose seventy. Into the land that was to be conquered Moses sent twelve men as spies--when the world was to be subdued, Christ sent twelve men as apostles. How did Moses overcome Amalek? By extending both arms, and keeping them stretched out. How did Christ subdue all our enemies? By suffering that His hands should be nailed to the cross. As a prophet, it was specially of the desolations which should overtake the disobedient Jews that Moses made mention; and, as a prophet, it was of the destruction of Jerusalem that Christ chiefly spoke. Moses had to deal with a perverse generation, who were not to be won over to the obeying God, and who, consequently, with the exception of two, all perished in the wilderness. And was not Christ sent to an obdurate people, and who, therefore, within about the same space of forty years, were almost all consumed by the anger of the Lord? Moses had to endure injurious treatment from his own family--his brother Aaron and his sister Miriam rebelled against him; and we are told of Christ, “ Neither did His brethren believe on Him.” Moses fed the people miraculously in the wilderness; Christ fed thousands miraculously in the desert. And in lifting up the brazen serpent, did not Moses typify Christ? In making a covenant by blood between God and his people, did he not again represent the Saviour, who, by His own blood hath “ brought nigh those who were sometime afar off” ? It was not until Moses was dead that the people could enter the Promised Land; it was only by the death of Christ that the kingdom of heaven was opened to all believers. It was, in one sense, for the iniquities of the people, that Moses died. “ The Lord was angry with me for your sakes.” In the fulness of his strength, when “ his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated,” did Moses go up to die; and when Christ was yet in the flower of His age did not He go up to the summit of Calvary? Before he went up to die Moses comforted the disconsolate tribes with an assurance that God would raise them up another Prophet; before Christ went up to die He said to His desponding disciples, “ I will not leave you comfortless; I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.” Moses was buried, but no one knew where his body lay; Christ was buried, and yet was His body in vain sought for by the Jews. Surely, if ever there was a wonderful resemblance, it is that which we thus trace in minute particulars, between Moses and Christ. (H. Melvill, B. D.) Acts 7:38 This is he … who received the lively oracles to give unto us.Living oracle Whatever sense “ lively” (A.V.) may once have had, it can only now mislead: it is limited to certain special characteristics of life; “ living” (R.V.) implies life in itself, life as a principle, life with all its manifold issues. The one is particular, the other is comprehensive. What more striking illustration could we have of this life, this vitality, than the great Bible Society, comprising members of many countries and churches, dispensing an income of more than £200,000 a year, dependent on gratuitous support, and bringing no gain to its members, concentrating all its energies and absorbing all its resources on the reproduction and the dissemination of one single Book--a Book, too, of which the latest page is some eighteen centuries old; claiming to have distributed already between ninety and a hundred million copies, and at this moment distributing year by year close upon three million of its volumes, whole or in part, in well-nigh every spoken language of the globe; however you may look at it this is a fact, to which the long roll of history presents not the faintest parallel. And yet this society does not stand alone. It is the handmaid of almost all the missionary associations throughout the world, to whatever church or whatever country they belong. I. Life involves growth; growth is at once a characteristic and an evidence of life. We speak of life in a plant or tree, because it puts forth leaves and flowers and throws out fresh branches. We do not speak of a crystal as living. A crystal may be a very beautiful thing, but one thing it wants--Life. This figure fitly describes the Bible as contrasted with other sacred books. It did not come into being all at once; it was not the product of one mind or age; it is not a book, but a library; it is legislation, chronicles, poetry, philosophy, epistolography, allegory, romance, apocalyptic. It spreads over some thousands of years; it traverses the history of the race from the earliest dawn to the full noon-day of an elaborate civilisation. It was not written in any one place; Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, all contribute. Now we find ourselves wandering with nomadic tribes over lonely pastures beneath the starry sky; now we are dazzled by all the splendid surroundings of an Oriental despot’ s court; now we are lodged in some humble peasant household, and now we stand face to face with the majesty and the insignia of the imperial law. Sea and land, mountain, field and forest, crowded city and trackless desert, each in its turn furnishes a theme for this ever-shifting drama. All the vicissitudes of human life, poverty, and wealth, mourning and joy, the marriage and the funeral, the secret communings of the individual soul, and the tumultuous activity of public life--all contribute their quota to its incidents. II. Life involves unity--a unity underlying the various devolopment. There must be some principle of life from which all the growth is evolved, which stamps its character on all the parts, which secures the harmony and coherence of the whole. We speak of the germ in the plant, of the soul in the man. So it is with the Bible. Amidst all these marvellous diversities of time, place, condition, form, subject-matter, there is a principle of unity which is also the principle of life. This unity is quite as real in the different parts of the Bible as in the different; parts of a plant, or in the different ages of man. The first chapter of Genesis finds its natural and appropriate climax in the last chapter of Revelation, while all the intermediate parts have their proper place in the sequence written though they were long centuries apart and gathered together we hardly know when and we cannot say how; the New Testament latent in the Old, the Old Testament patent in the New. Its fame can never grow old or out of date. And this principle of life, this animated soul--what is it but the Eternal Word speaking through lawgiver and captain and priest and prophet and king, speaking in the continuous history of a nation and in the chequered but unbroken light of the Church until at length He became incarnate in the man Christ Jesus. The many modes and the many parts of the Divine revelation were harmonised, explained, completed when in the last days God spoke through His Son. Contrast this infinite variety, these worldwide interests and associations with the monotony of other great books. The Koran is Arabian, the Vedas are Indian, the Zendavesta is Persian, the Bible alone is cosmopolitan. Other books for the most part have a oneness of treatment, of subject-matter, even of style. They are like the statue fused in a mould; it may have a beauty of its own, but it is rigid; it has no movement and no life, and the purpose served by all this is that life speaks to life. As a living thing the Bible appeals to the mind, affections, historical instincts, domestic sympathies, political aspirations. It arrests first that it may instruct afterwards. And here in this intimate union of intensely human sympathies and interests with intensely Divine teaching, this close alliance of heaven and earth, the Bible ever is a type, a reflection, a counterpart of the Incarnation itself. In the Bible God stoops to man, in the Incarnation God becomes man. Thus the Incarnation is the ultimate satisfaction of all religious craving and the final goal of all religious history, beyond which no other step is possible or conceivable. III. Life involves struggle. The Scriptures have proved themselves as living oracles by the controversies which they excite and the antipathies which they provoke. Is it not an eloquent fact that in the early persecutions, pre-eminently in the last and fiercest of all, the main object of attack was the sacred writings; that the foes of the gospel were ready enough to spare the lives of men if only they might take the life of the Book; that those were branded by their fellow-Christians with the name of traitor, not who had surrendered a human being, whether leader or confederate or friend, but who had betrayed the Book into the hands of the destroyer? Aye, these heathen persecutors were wise in their generation; they felt instinctively that these Scriptures were living things; that they were active and aggressive; that, as Luther said of St. Paul’ s Epistles, “ They have hands and feet--hands to grasp and feet to march; therefore they must be killed; they must be hurried out of sight.” Was Milton so far wrong after all when he said that one who killed a good book is worse than a homicide; for, striking at the very breath of reason, he slays an immortality rather than a life? And as it was with the Greek Bible in the days of Diocletian, so was it also with the English Bible in the days of Henry. What a testimony to its living power is the record of its early days when that great man, who has won for himself an undying name, not only in English Christianity, but in English literature also, an outlaw and a wanderer in a foregin land, fled from city to city, carrying with him the half-translated texts, the half-printed sheets of his new version, the parent of our English Bible of to-day! Can we reflect without the deepest thanksgiving on this magnificent irony of the Divine goodness that within a stone’ s-throw of the place where the gentle, tender-hearted, reasonable Tunstall committed to the flames the first issue of Tyndale’ s New Testament as a thing to be abhorred and detested by all faithful Christian people, his latest successor in the see of Durham is able this day to congratulate a large, powerful, and wealthy society on its distributing within a single year no less than one million and a half copies of the English Bible, whole or in parts? (Bp. Lightfoot.)The law of God, a living word I. In itself it is living--an efflux of the living God; and was thus for man, in a state of innocence, a lawgiving life, not killing and oppressing, but regulating and forming. II. In a state of sin it indeed at first proves itself as killing; it reveals spiritual death and threatens eternal; but even then it is not dead, but living, otherwise it could not as a fire burn in the hearts of sinners, and as a sword pierce them; and also it there operates to life, awakening the conscience and pointing to Him whose Word gives life. III. In a state of grace it is not dead and abolished, but objectively in Christ, the Revealer and Fulfiller of the law, it has become living and embodied; and subjectively by the Holy Ghost it is employed as a motive of life, and as a power of sanctification in the heart and life of the believer. (K. Gerok.)The Bible--its living freshness I heard a gentleman say yesterday that he could walk any number of miles when the scenery was good; but, he added, “ When it is flat and uninteresting, how one tires!” What scenery it is through which the Christian man walks--the towering mountains of predestination, the great sea of providence, the mighty cliffs of Divine promise, the green fields of Divine grace, the river that makes glad the city of God--oh, what scenery surrounds the Christian, and what fresh discoveries he makes at every step! The Bible is always a new book. If you want a novel, read your Bible; it is always new; there is not a stale page in the Word of Goal; it is just as fresh as though the ink were not yet dry, but had flowed to-day from the pea of inspiration. There have been poets whose sayings startled all England when first their verses were thrown broadcast over the land, but nobody reads their writings now; yet the pages that were written by David and by Paul are glowing with the radiant glory which was upon them when long ago the Holy Spirit spake by them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Bible--its life organic If the Bible were like a collection of stones, we might select some and put aside others, as less valuable and beautiful; and although in such selection we might make great mistakes, we should still be in possession of something more or less complete. But the Bible is like a plant, and all its parts are not mechanically or accidentally connected, but organically united, and hence a law of life rules here; and he who reveres life will neither add nor take away from the beautiful plant which the Father hath planted in and through Christ by the Spirit … Nobody asserts that a man would be killed if you cut off his hair and his nails. But there is a vital union of all his members. If you cut off my little finger I shall survive it; but it is my little finger you cut off, and it is a loss, a disfigurement. So with the Bible. It is not like a piece of cloth that you can clip and cut. It is a body, animated by one Spirit. (A. Saphir, D. D.)The excellence of the Scriptures I. The excellence of the scriptures.1. They are lively oracles so called-- (1) In contradistinction to heathen oracles which proceeded from the pretended responses of senseless idols or departed spirits under the artful management of impostors. The Bible is the voice of the living and true God. (2) Because they instruct men in the way of life. (3) The Scriptures of both Testaments are called by this name because they are the means by which God communicates the knowledge of His will and of the way of salvation. 2. If we consider the sacred volume merely as history it is the most complete, entertaining, and instructive ever written. We have a view of the world from its creation to its final dissolution. 3. How grand, solemn, and interesting are its doctrines. 4. It exhibits the most correct view of human nature. 5. It prescribes the most excellent precepts and rules of life. (1) It proposes the purest motives to virtue.(2) It teaches the noblest virtues in the sublimest exercises.(3) It furnishes the best defence against temptation, and the sweetest consolation in affliction.(4) It has instituted the most excellent means of moral improvement in the order and discipline of the Church. 6. It gives us affecting illustrations of God’ s attributes and providence in His various dealings toward the children of men. II. We are bound to convey the scriptures to succeeding generations (Deuteronomy 4:5; Deuteronomy 6:7; Psalms 78:1).1. If the Scriptures are of such importance to ourselves they are equally so to our children. 2. Their excellence demonstrates our obligation to transmit them. 3. If we regard the temporal much more ought we to regard the eternal happiness of posterity. The former is promoted, the latter essential depends on the knowledge of the Scriptures. 4. That we may transmit them (1) We must make a pious use of them ourselves: family worship.(2) Have them read in our schools.(3) Take care never to treat them with disrespect.(4) Never allow our children to read books which treat them with ridicule.(5) Maintain the preaching of the Word.(6) Show our belief in and reverence for the Bible by that holy and blameless life it requires. (J. Lathrop, D. D.) Acts 7:39-45 To whom our fathers would not obey. The sin of Israel I. Its manifold nature.1. Disobedience (Acts 7:39). There is hardly a phase of Jewish history in which this sin does not appear. It was manifested in the murmurings against Moses, in the wholesale transgression of the law, and in the rejection of the prophets. This is a crime which provokes universal reprobation as against parents; how sad that it should be so universally prevalent, and so loudly extenuated as against God. 2. Ingratitude. They were free, yet they hankered after the poor emoluments of their servitude. They preferred the succulent products of Egypt with slavery to the hard fare of the wilderness and liberty. Nay, even after their instalment in the land flowing with milk and honey, the fascinations of Egypt proved well nigh-irresistible. This was a poor return to God who, in response to their groanings (Acts 7:34), granted them the deliverance for which they cried. And are there no similar hankerings after, and even conformity to, the present evil world from which Christians have been redeemed? 3. Idolatry. This was the crowning sin and had its marked stages. They worshipped (1) “ The works of their own hands” (Acts 7:41), an imitation of Apis, perhaps, a god of the land from which they came. (2) The works of God’ s hands (Acts 7:42), the gods of the surrounding nations, honouring the creature instead of the Creator. (3) Devils (Acts 7:43). When men renounce the living and true God there is no knowing whom they may be prepared to honour. There are the same stages in the idolatry of modern Christian lands. Men worship (a) Their own fabrications--wealth, social position, fashion, pleasure, etc. (b) God’ s creatures--natural beauty, others, themselves. (c) Devils. There is not a vice before which some men are not prostrate. II. Its aggravations. Israel sinned in spite of--1. The presence and imperial influence of Moses, their mighty leader and God’ s appointed vicegerent. And so men sin to-day notwithstanding the presence and authority of Christ whom Moses typified (Acts 7:37), and the influence, strivings, and convictions of the Holy Spirit. 2. The theocracy, “ the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), and its visible centre and symbol “ the tabernacle of witness” (Acts 7:44). They were, however faithless, the people with whom God had entered into solemn covenant, and their periodical services in the tout of meeting were a virtual acknowledgment of the fact that the covenant was still binding. So men sin to-day, notwithstanding the existence, great services, and wide-reaching influence of the Church of Christ, whose origin, nature, history, and destiny are a standing witness for God and against sin, and in spite of churches, visible symbols of the invisible Church. 3. The “ lively oracles” which protested against iniquity in all its forms, and were meant to creates encourage, and guide in the life of righteousness. These oracles have since been multiplied and are now completed. They contain all that is needful to give and sustain life, and have the promise of both the life that now is and that which is to come. Yet men sin and doom themselves to death. 4. The most palpable manifestations of God’ s severity and goodness. Surely one would have thought that the plagues and the overthrow of Pharaoh were sufficient to deter from crime, and that their own precious deliverance and support would have encouraged obedience. Those who so argue forget that all history teems with the same manifestations, and yet men sin. III. Its punishment.1. Their sins. Their idolatry was at once their crime and their punishment (Acts 7:42), and as their crimes increased so they held them in the iron chain of sinful habit which grew in strength and intolerableness as the years passed by. “ Be sure your sin will find you out,” in the misery of a God-forsaken and degraded manhood. 2. The wilderness wandering. Those who murmur against God’ s dealings with them, and despise the grace which mitigates and blesses the rigour of those dealings, shall be condemned to endure them without alleviation. The Christian’ s way may be hard--but so is “ the way of transgressors.” The difference consists in God’ s presence with the one and His absence from the other. Surely this is enough to make the former a way of pleasantness and a path of peace. 3. The Babylonish Captivity (Acts 7:43). When the nation cast God off, God cast it off. Eventually Israel showed its preference for the great world powers to Himself, and He handed them over to one of them. A respite came which was unimproved, and the destruction of Jerusalem sealed the fate of Judaism. Of what sinner is that the type as indicated by our Lord? (Mat_24:-25.). (J. W. Burn.)And in their hearts turned back again into Egypt. The fascination of Egypt Throughout his speech Stephen treats the early history of Israel, as the French say, “ allusively,” --he talks about the past while he is thinking of the present. Here he implies that the Jews who rejected our Saviour were turning away from the true meaning of God’ s revelation to Moses into a time of comparative darkness--a mental and a moral Egypt from which they had been in a fair way altogether to escape. Let us consider-- I. The fascination of Egypt.1. This appears even before the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. It was the fascination at once of terror and of admiration. As they passed out from the fertile lands into the desert, their thoughts reverted to the vast burial-ground above Memphis, along the ridge of the desert. “ Is it,” they cried, “ because there were no graves in Egypt that thou hast taken us away to die in the wilderness?… It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians.” “ It was well with us,” they cried at Taberah, “ in Egypt.” “ Would to God,” they exclaimed at the report of the spies, “ that we had died in the land of Egypt,” etc. This fascination appears later on. It is seen in Solomon’ s marriage; in the welcome which Jeroboam seeks of the Egyptian court: in the tendency, rebuked by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, to “ trust in the shadow of Egypt.” Egypt became the home of a large colony of Greek-speaking Hebrews, and the descendants of the patriarchs counted for more in Alexandria of the Ptolemys than in Rameses of the Pharaohs. 2. This fascination is the more remarkable because the treatment which Israel experienced was frequently cruel, always unscrupulous. The patriarchs, indeed, had been welcomed by the usurping “ Shepherd Kings,” who welcomed all Asiatics as strengthening their position in a country which they ruled with difficulty. Of these, the Pharaoh Apepi, the friend of Joseph, was the last. He had scarcely passed away when the subject-rulers of Thebes, after a great struggle, expelled the Shepherd Kings. In the eyes of these new rulers the Israelites were not guests who had been invited to become subjects: they were the foreign dependents of a detested and expelled dynasty. Not one, but a long line of kings, “ knew not Joseph.” The eighteenth dynasty, including that greatest of Egyptian conquerors, Thothmes III., whose obelisk now stands on the Thames Embankment, reigned for two hundred years, and passed away, before the great heat of the oppression began with the third king of the nineteenth dynasty, Rameses II. And as Egypt endeavoured to crush the children of the patriarchs, so in a later day Egypt shattered the work of David and Solomon. It was at the Egyptian court that Jeroboam matured his schemes. It was the Egyptian Shishak who plundered Jerusalem and then engraved the story of his triumph on the walls of Karnak, where, in confirmation of the Bible narrative, it may be seen and read at this very day. Not to mention the invasion of Judah by Zerah, who was defeated by Asa, it may here suffice to recall the defeat and death of Josiah at the hands of Pharaoh Necho. Certainly, for reasons of her own, which were apparent enough two generations later, Egypt was prepared to assist Hezekiah against Sennacherib; but, on the whole, her treatment of the chosen people was anything but friendly. Yet; for all that, again and again during the long course of their history, Israel’ s heart “ turned back again into Egypt.” II. The causes of this fascination.1. The productiveness of Egypt due to the Nile, which washes down a rich soil from the highlands of Abyssinia and this may illustrate the cry of the Israelites at Taberah (Numbers 11:5-6). True they were on their way to a land flowing with milk and honest; a land where every man should sit “ under his vine and fig tree,” etc.; but for all that, the land of the Nile had, in their eyes, no rival. The flesh-pots of Egypt were, beyond all doubt, one cause of its attractiveness for the Hebrews. 2. The character of Egyptian civilisation. In Egypt human life was embellished with beauty and comfort such as would naturally impress a comparatively rude people like the Hebrews. When they became settled, and built cities and the Temple, everything was on a smaller and less splendid scale than they had left behind. Our grandest cathedrals are dwarfed by the Hall of Columns in the temple at Karnak, and we have never even attempted to rival such structures as the pyramids. Many centuries before the exodus, kings, like Amenemha III., of the twelfth dynasty, established a complete system of dykes, canals, lakes, and reservoirs by which the inundations of the Nile were regulated; or excavated vast artificial lakes like Moeris in Fayum to receive the overflowing waters, and so to secure a supply during the dry season for a vast extent of adjacent country. Egypt, too, long before Israel’ s sojourn there, had its literature and seats of learning; and On, or Heliopolis, the great temple of the setting sun, before which, originally, our obelisk on the Embankment stood, and where the ‘ patriarch Joseph married his wife Asenath, was also an university where Moses learned, as in a later age Plato and Eudoxus learned, all the wisdom of the Egyptians. It is impossible to do more than touch the fringe of this vast subject. When an Indian chief was asked why he did not join in the mutiny, he said, “ I have stood on London Bridge.” And if an ancient Israelite could say, “ I have stood on the ridge of the Libyan Desert, and have looked down on Memphis or on Thebes,” it might explain the feeling with which the member of the less civilised race would have regarded that vast and elaborate civilisation. 3. Its antiquity. A veneration for antiquity is a natural and legitimate sentiment, and not to feel it is to lack some of the finer elements of a well.balanced mind. This veneration is felt not only by scholars, or poets, or historians, but by men of a very utilitarian turn of mind. Look at the Americans who come to visit us in increasing numbers every summer. What is it in England, or in Europe, that interests them most? Not our manufactures, shipping, or public works. In these they are always our rivals, and sometimes our superiors. That which attracts them is a possession which a people cannot buy with money, or compass by industry, since it is the gift of time. In their eyes, our older literature, our ancient towns, our castles, our parish churches, our cathedrals, have a charm which they sometimes lack in the eyes of Englishmen. It might almost seem that to know the value of an ancient past it were necessary to have no share in it. Israel, we may think, was sufficiently ancient, but as compared with Egypt, Israel was but of yesterday. Homer knew of no city in the world so great as the Egyptian Thebes with its hundred gates. Yet, when Homer wrote, Thebes had been declining for at least three centuries. And Thebes was modern when compared with Memphis, whoso pyramids were ancient structures in the time of Abraham, and inasmuch as such work implies a long course of preceding labour and training, there arises a vista of a yet higher antiquity, the limits of which it is impossible to conjecture. 4. Its religion. This had in it, like all pagan systems, some element of truth, and a large element of falsehood. The worship to which St. Paul refers when writing to the Romans, of “ birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,” and which we still see in our museums, and on the walls of ruined temples, to us unintelligible and hideous, were but developments of a religious idea, which at first recognised the Deity everywhere in nature, and then identified Him with nature. In ancient Egypt a process went forward which may be observed in certain regions of modern thought: Theism sank to Pantheism, and Pantheism sank more and more nearly to the level of Fetichism. The Egyptians were always a naturally religious people. No people of the ancient world were so possessed with the idea of man’ s immortality. Their splendid tombs and pyramids were a perpetual profession of faith in a future after death. Israel felt the influence of this religion. We cannot mistake the influence of Egyptian models on the form of the temple, or the ark, or other details of the Levitical system. Here inspiration has selected what was good in heathendom, just as the first chapter of St. John’ s Gospel consecrates certain fragments of the language of the Platonic philosophy. Taken as a whole, the religion of Egypt was, with its many, and some of them debasing, errors, the religion of a great, serious people without a revelation; and as such it contributed one powerful element to the fascination which Egypt exerted over the mind of Israel. On two great occasions that power was apparent, with fatal effect. The first was when Aaron, in the absence of Moses on Mount Sinai, made a golden calf out of the earrings of the people. The second was when Jeroboam erected the two calves at Bethel and Dan, both doubtless suggested by the Egyptian worship of the sacred bulls, Apis and Mnevis. The influence of Egypt upon Israel might be traced in later ages, especially in Alexandria. Conclusion: Egypt as presented in Scripture is not mainly an historical study. When St. Stephen spoke, the Egypt of the Pharaohs had long forfeited independent existence. The Caesars who ruled it had but subjected its earlier conquerors. But the Egypt of spiritual experience which attracts souls by its manifold seductions to return to some mental or moral bondage--this Egypt always remains. The Psalmist couples Rahab with Babylon, and John with Sodom, as the mystic name of the great city of the ungodly world-power, “ where also,” he adds, “ our Lord was crucified.” Egypt is a standing type of this world-power, ever hostile to God; and from which, in all ages, elect souls must make their escape towards a land of promise, only, it may be, to reach that land after long wanderings in some intellectual or moral desert. Often to such will the past which they have renounced seem to them to be transfigured and idealised by memory. Often will they have misgivings whether the “ better part” of Mary was not, for them at least, a Quixotic enterprise. Often will they be tempted, like Israel of old, in their hearts if not more decidedly still, “ to turn back into Egypt” ; for the Egypt from which the Israel of God escapes is, like its prototype, undeniably attractive. Perhaps it satisfies man’ s lower appetites; perhaps it addresses itself to his sense of beauty and refinement; and it has been in possession, more or less, ever since human society has existed at all. It even has a religion of its own, cleverly lowered down and adapted to the varied instincts of human nature. Referring to some who, under his own eyes, yielded to its seductive power, St. Peter speaks with peculiar plainness (2 Peter 2:20-22). How are we to escape its subtle power save by loyal devotion to Him who spoke to Israel by Moses, and who died for us upon the Cross? Surely no baits to the senses can compete with the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. Surely the richest embellishments of man’ s outward life must pale before Him who is the uncreated Beauty. The most remote antiquity is but a second of time when it is measured against the High and the Eternal. The most reassuring religion will fail us if it will not stand the judgment of that day, when “ the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence.” Let us learn to guard the issues of our hearts, convinced that He only has a right to our affections who has said not less solemnly of the redeemed in our age than of the Redeemer in another, “ Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” (Canon Liddon.)And they made a calf in those days.-- Making an idol And who would ever have supposed it I when we remember how God had poured contempt on idols and idolaters; how they had been delivered, and how the visible symbol of the Divine presence was with them. I. The peculiarities of this sin. Men abuse everything, even the divinest things. Idolatry is the corruption of religion--the substitution of the material for the spiritual, of the lie for the truth. It had irresistible attractions for the multitude; it appealed to their senses and was a system of solemn and splendid licentiousness. The Hebrews had become tainted with it in Egypt, and manifested a proneness to it on many occasions. This golden calf was the Apis of the mythology of Egypt, who was a representative god, not worshipped on its own account, but as a symbol of the chief and supreme divinity. This throws light on the conduct of the Israelites. Moses was the mediator of that economy. He had gone up to commune with God; but forty days and nights had passed away. The people were becoming uneasy and unbelieving; they felt that they were alone in the wilderness. They wanted some symbol of God; they would not have wanted this if they had had Moses; but having lost him, they made a calf. They did not renounce God--they introduced the unhallowed ideas and practices of Egyptian idolatry into the worship of Jehovah. Thus “ they changed their glory” --that is, the invisible God--“ into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” The result was most debasing--“ They sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” They practised their lascivious rites at the very base of Sinai. The idolater will be like his god, he can never rise beyond his standard of perfection, and when men become worshippers of an animal, they become animal themselves. Idolatry is the substitution of the human for the Divine--the symbol for the reality. There may be no image, and yet idolatry. In after times men trusted in the temple, and not in God. Men now may trust in churches; in the forms of religion, and not in God or the gospel. Men may put baptism in the place of regeneration, and the Lord’ s Supper in the place of salvation by Christ, and thus overlook all the great verities and realities of a spiritual religion. II. The palliatives of sin. Aaron professed simply to have cast the gold into the fire, and the unexpected result was this calf. Men have always excuses or subterfuges. They charge their sins on the devil, or hereditary taint, or constitutional peculiarity, or the force of circumstances. We admit all this; but you can defy all in God’ s name and strength. There had been preparation and design, and great care in fashioning the mould for the idol. So it is, by a long, painful process, we form habits; but these determine character. Your character has been fashioned and graven by a sharp instrument, and all your feelings, thoughts, and deeds, like fused metal, are poured into this mould, and come out bearing its form. Many a worldly man has said, “ I never thought I should be what I am.” III. The partnership in sin. It was Aaron’ s making, but their instigation. They made the calf that Aaron made. When legislators, to gratify the people, enact laws that are opposed to the will of God--when a teacher of truth comes down from his high position and panders to the tastes and prejudices of his hearers--when fathers and mothers listen to the caprice and self-will of their children--in all these instances there is partnership. It is a fearful thing this. You may have moulded some character. Other men’ s sins may be yours. You originated them--helped them to the birth. When they were born, they grew into fearful forms without you. They are yours, however, you are partakers of other men’ s sins. IV. The reproductiveness of sin. Ages have rolled by. The people have entered the goodly land. There has been the reign of David, the golden age of Solomon. Once more the cry of the wilderness is heard, the echoes of which have slept for centuries--“ These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” There had been the division of the kingdom, and it was a master-stroke of policy on the part of Jeroboam to prevent the ten tribes going up to Jerusalem to worship. He felt that unity of worship would lead to unity of feeling. The people, however, must have a religion, and so he falls back on the calf worship. The people are taught that that worship cannot be wrong which had been devised and framed by the high priest in the wilderness. And so the sin lives again, and is reproduced. Sin is like some fearful taint which has been latent for generations, but suddenly manifests itself with new power. Conclusion: We are leaving far behind the forms of an old idolatry; getting beyond the worship of the laws and powers of nature, but the creature worship lives, and comes between Christianity and the world.1. Men may make an idol of self. There is no form of idolatry more debasing and deadly. 2. Men may make an idol of their physical nature. How much time do many of you spend in dressing up life as if it were a god. And there are others who say, “ What shall we eat, and what shall we drink,” as well as “ wherewithal shall we be clothed.” All their attention is concentrated on the physical. I have read of vines in Italy that cling to some strong tree and clasp it for support, but they suppress all its manifestations of life by the growth of their own. So the very strength and wondrous energy of our spiritual natures may give intense power to physical sins. 3. What is the idol men worship in this country? Is it not a golden one? “ Keep yourselves from idols.” (H. J. Bevis.)The folly of idolatry “ My father,” said a convert to a missionary in India, “ was an officiating priest of a heathen temple, and was considered in those days a superior English scholar, and, by teaching the English language to wealthy natives; realised a large fortune. At a very early period, when a mere boy, I was employed by my father to light the lamps in the pagoda, and attend to the various things connected with the idols. I hardly remember the time when my mind was not exercised on the folly of idolatry. These things, I thought, were made by the hand of man, can move only by man, and, whether treated well or ill, are unconscious of either. Why all this cleaning, anointing, illuminating etc.? One evening these considerations so powerfully wrought on my youthful mind that, instead of placing the idols according to custom, I threw them from their pedestals and left them with their faces in the dust. My father, on witnessing what I had done, chastised me so severely as to leave me almost dead. I reasoned with him that, if they could not get up out of the dust, they were not able to do what I could, and that, instead of being worshipped as gods, they deserved to lie in the dust where I had thrown them. He was implacable, and vowed to disinherit me, and, as the first step to it, sent me away from his house. He repented on his death-bed, and left me all his wealth.” Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch.--Moloch, the king of gods, from Malek, king, or from “ Melkarth” at Tyre, “ the god of the city,” and Saturn, or the Sun, are the same as Baal, or Baal Samen, “ the Lord of heaven,” in Phoenicia. In Kings 11:5-7, the name occurs under the forms of Moloch and Milcom, and is there spoken of as the abomination of the Ammorites. The worship of the deity was, as the names by which the idol was known in various countries will show, widely diffused. It was, in its origin at least, a kind of Sub,an worship, and hence the seven cavities in the image, and the seven chapels of its temple, in reference to the seven planets of the ancient cosmogony. That Baal and Moloch are one is evident not only from the characteristics of the god and his worship, but from Jeremiah 19:5; Jeremiah 32:35. He was a god of terror and destruction: the god of consuming fire, the burning sun, the god who smites the land with unfruitful-ness and pestilence, dries up the springs, and begets poisonous winds. See with reference to these characteristics 1 Kings 18:1-46.; where even his prophets are representing as in vain invoking him when the land was suffering from drought, and note the answer of Jehovah to Elijah in verses 44, 45. The most acceptable sacrifice to this god was little children. The idol had a bull’ s head, and his arms were outstretched. On these arms when glowing hot the victims were laid by their parents, and when, writhing from the heat of the metal, they rolled off, they fell into the flames below. Drums drown the cries of the children, and hence the place of sacrifice was called Zophet--a drum. Besides children animals Were offered, sheep, lambs, bulls, and even horses. (W. Denton, M. A.)Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness.-- The tabernacle of witness It was so called--1. Because of the ark which contained the tables of the law which were a perpetual witness between God and the people. A witness against them if they disobeyed, a witness for them if they obeyed--a standing evidence that they were entitled to its promises. 2. Because when Moses, or the high priest afterwards, would know the will of God, and went into the tabernacle, they there obtained an answer in their perplexity, and thus received perpetual witness of His truth who revealed Himself in the tabernacle: a witness that all who desired an answer to prayer should seek God in His house, and a pledge that there they should receive His guidance. 3. The tabernacle was in itself, as it stood before the eyes of the people, a witness to all His mercies whose tabernacle it was, a witness that He had delivered His people, and commanded them to serve Him. (W. Denton, M. A.)The witness in the wilderness I. Our fathers had the tabernacle. They had it moving as well as resting. I know not what ancient story or wondrous myth can approach in majesty the record of that long, tedious, and sacred march, imagination quite fails in the attempt adequately to realise either the moving or the resting. There are those who believe that those mystic inscriptions on the red rocks of Sinai date from that very time. Who will dare to say that it is not so--the whole story heaves with miracle. There was the mysterious shrine; it was, as the word literally translated means, a house of skins; but within were the palpitations of ineffable splendour, heraldries which accumulated in wealth as the pilgrims advanced on their journey. The tabernacle rested, surrounded by the tents of the tribes, and the pillar of cloud rested over the shrine. Probably many of the journeyings were accomplished during the night. Then, in the advance of the tabernacle, moved first the tents of Ephraim and Manasseh, with the sacred sarcophagus, enshrining the bones of the great Patriarch Joseph, strange and weird monument of his faith in the ultimate destiny of the exiled nation; and then as the strange caravan began to move, would rise the cry, “ Thou that dwellest between the cherubim shine forth,” and the pillar of the white cloud became a fixed red flame, a fire shooting forth a guiding light. So onward they passed until the Jordan was passed, then the tabernacle of testimony rested on the heights of Shiloh. II. But it was all a parable--a Divine shadow of that great invisible and spiritual society, the yet more mysterious Ecclesia, “ the Church throughout all ages,” on its mighty march through Time, with all its attendant omens and prodigies--for such is the Church everywhere a witness in the wilderness; such are all its varieties of ordinance. “ Ye are My witnesses, saith God, that I am the Lord.” It is the perpetual remonstrance against the sufficiency of the seen and temporal; it is a perpetual witness for the unseen and the eternal; it is a perpetual testimony for the existence of a spiritual perpetuity and continuity; it is a mysterious procession; infinite aspirations are infused into the soul of man. A transcendent idea; it is embodied and takes its shape ix what is called the Church. The tabernacle of testimony is the story of the Church and the soul--a witness for faith. The invincible assurance that all contradictions have interpretations, and that in all disappointments there lies latent a Divine satisfaction waiting to be born. Thus it is that we do not make our faith--our faith makes us, not we it. “ By their fruits you know them.” A world with no tabernacle of Divine testimony has a philosophy which only sees the worst, which goes on declaring its dreary monologue that this is the worst of all possible worlds, that sleep is better than waking; and death is better than sleep; a creed full of negatives, whose disciples carry a perpetual note of interrogation on their features, and who write and read books to propose the question, “ Is life worth living?” --in the presence of such thoughts, the sky shuts down upon us, there is no motive in life--as Emerson well says, “ this low and hopeless spirit puts out the eyes, and such scepticism is slow suicide.” (E. Paxton Hood.) Acts 7:47-50 But Solomon built Him an house. The temples of God Scripture divides the Divine dispensations into the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian. We read of three creations, or three classes of heaven and earth. The first is physical creation: “ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The second is Judaism. “ Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” Evidently the heaven and earth there alluded to are the ecclesiastical and civil polity of the Jews. The third creation is Christianity: “ Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; and the former one will not be remembered nor come into mind.” I shall examine these three creations, with a view principally of pointing out the successive dwelling-places of God. I. The first creation of nature. “ Heaven is My throne; and earth is My footstool. Hath not My hand made these things?” Abraham reared altars and offered sacrifices in the open fields. He had the earth for a floor and the sky for a canopy. The universe is a temple. Many people, I am aware, convert it into a warehouse, or a den of thieves. Alas I where are the worshippers? Nature is exceedingly beautiful; but go where you will, the buyers and sellers and the exchangers of money are there before you. God is present in Nature. The ancients saw Him in everything and law in nothing; We moderns have swung to the other extreme. But the true Christian view is to perceive God in law and through law and above law. God still works in Nature, not capriciously but methodically. The roses of this year are the embodiment of His freshest ideas. The rose is not a part of God, but God is in it as the source of its vitality and the principle of its beauty; and as long as it is a living rose, God will be its God, “ for God is not the God of the dead but of the living.” “ For God so clothes the grass of the field.” The great heart of eternity may also be felt throbbing in the wild flowers along the hedgerows. This spring God is creating a new heaven and a new earth. The earth looks as new to-day as if she were born only yesterday. The curtain of heaven looks as blue and clean to day as if it came from the factory only this week. But however magnificent the ancient temple of nature, God expresses His dissatisfaction with it. “ Where is the place of My rest’ ? Hath not My hand made these things?” The first creation does not afford rest to the Almighty--it is only a preparation for a better creation to follow. Nature hides more glory than it reveals, and God’ s noblest glory it cannot reveal at all. A second creation was needful. II. The second creation or Judaism.1. The first creation divides itself into two parts--matter and laws, substance and truths. But in the second creation God created only laws. He did not add to the matter, but He did add to the laws of the universe. The laws of Judaism again divide themselves into laws which are necessary and therefore eternal, and laws which are contingent and therefore temporary. The Lord delivered the Ten Commandments, those commandments are in a certain sense necessary and eternal. God did not make them--He only spoke them. But as for laws touching civil and ecclesiastical government, God made them. The splendid fabric of ritual with its tabernacle and sacrifice and priesthood was the creation of God--not of His arm like matter, but of His mind. 2. The second creation is therefore of an order superior to the first. Inasmuch as spirit is nobler than matter. It is more difficult to preserve a spirit than a planet in its right orbit. It is harder to keep the peace in the commonwealth of men than in the commonwealth of stars. In the first creation God was legislating for dead, inert matter; in Judaism He was legislating for free, living spirits. In every soul there is a heaven and an earth; aye, and if we do not mind there will be a hell there too. But originally there is a heaven--formed of love, imagination, and pure reason. There is an earth there also--the propensities which qualify man for social intercourse and worldly avocations. And to make laws for the heaven and earth of the spirit such as you find in the religious and in the civil code demanded more care and wisdom than to establish the earth and garnish the heavens. 3. As Judaism is thus an advance upon the system of nature, so God became more visibly and palpably present in the former than in the latter. He was pleased to concentrate the symbol of His presence in one special locality. Stephen speaks of God as the “ God of glory,” referring probably to the Shekinah. God under the Old Testament was manifesting His presence in a cloud of dazzling light. The name therefore by which He was known was the Brilliant or Shining One. It was long supposed that God etymologically meant good. But further investigation seems to point out that the English God, the Latin Deus, the Greek Theos, the Welsh Duw--all come from an old Aryan root signifying to shine. Men thought of God, and to what could they compare Him? To nothing else than the shining splendour of the light. “ God is light.” A kind of natural correspondence, therefore, subsisted between the Shekinah and God--the shining cloud and the shining One. During the Patriarchal dispensation the glory-cloud wandered up and down without a fixed habitation. But on the establishment of Judaism it found a convenient abode in “ Tabernacle of witness.” But this tabernacle was small in size and mean in appearance; therefore David desired to build a temple, and what David conceived, Solomon was privileged to execute. So far progress marks the history of religion among the Jews. The Shekinah thenceforth dwelt in the Holy of Holies--a visible symbol of the invisible God. 4. In what then did the fault of the Jews consist? In supposing that the Divine presence was restricted to the temple, and that there could be no Divine worship unless connected with the Jewish ritual. The local and temporary character of Judaism they entirely overlooked, which character Stephen in his oration forcibly urges on their attention. As God was worshipped acceptably before the building of the temple, so will He be worshipped acceptably after its demolition. The temple, however spacious and costly, could not afford God a permanent and congenial rest. “ The hour cometh when ye shall worship the Father neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem.” God is a Spirit, and what satisfaction can He find in mountains of dust, and what rest can He find in bricks and mortar however skilfully put together? Not that we would disparage a material temple--the House of God demands our profoundest reverence. “ Keep thy foot when thou goes to the House of God.” So long as God is pleased to dwell in it, it deserves our reverence; we drift, however, into error the moment we exalt the temple and its ritual above God Himself. Stephen therefore was not guilty of blasphemy. The temple on Moriah was only a stage in the onward march of the Divine economies. III. The third creation or Christianity. Evidently Stephen’ s argument does not properly conclude with Acts 7:49 --he is only paving his way to make a transition to Christianity. Neither do the prophet’ s words end there he points to a temple nobler and more spiritual and more pleasing unto God. “ To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” In these creations a certain gradation is observable, and corresponding with them, we read of three creative words. The first is the word “ Be” in Genesis, corresponding with the material creation. The second is “ I am” in Exodus, corresponding with the Jewish creation. The third is “ Immanuel,” corresponding with the Christian creation. In the physical universe is seen the Word of His might; in the Jewish the Word of His oath; in the Christian the Word of His essence. “ Therefore, even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.” Truths are of two kinds as we have seen necessary and eternal, contingent and temporary. That one is the first figure in numeration is necessary--God could not create a figure less than one. But that the earth revolves round the sun in twelve months is not necessary, it might be fourteen months quite as well. Christianity is a system of new truths, of truths which have been made. The Incarnation was not a truth always; it was not a truth in the days of Adam, of Abraham, or of Moses. But it is a truth to-day, a truth however which has been made. And the truths God has made are in a sense more wonderful than the truths He has not made. But what is it that principally differentiates the new creation of Christianity from the two preceding? The words of the text answer--“ God dwelleth not in temples made with hands; hath not My hands made these things?” We have here come upon a very important phrase--“ made with hands,” which suggests to us its opposites “ not made with hands.” They are the Scripture synonyms for the terms, “ natural” and “ supernatural” in modern theology. The first heaven and earth, and Solomon’ s temple were made with hands; and therefore God declined to acknowledge them as the place of His rest. Christianity is described as a “ stone cut out of the mountain without hands,” and is thereby elevated to the realm of the supernatural.1. The body or rather the human nature of Jesus Christ was not made with hands (Hebrews 9:11). The human nature of Adam was, and so was the human nature of his posterity. But the human nature of the Saviour was radically different. It was not as the apostle explains--“ of this building,” “ of this creation.” Christ is in it, but not of it. He was not produced by the intervention of the established laws of the world; He was the supernatural effect of the supernatural operation of God. “ The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” etc. That is, therefore, the reason why He is in a pre-eminent sense the temple of God. “ All the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily.” “ It pleased the Father that in Him shall all fulness dwell.” In Jesus Christ He finds a temple “ not made with hands,” a temple therefore more akin to His own eternal nature, and in Him He deigns to dwell for ever. “ This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” 2. The regenerate heart is not made with hands (Colossians 2:11). That to regenerate a man does not belong to the old system of things. No forces in the first universe, whether of mind or matter, can effect the spiritual renewal of our nature. And therefore is the second birth designated “ a new creation.” The spiritual circumcision of the heart belongs emphatically to the realm of the supernatural. No amount of intellectual light or moral influence can effect it. The natural man is said not to understand the spiritual; and no wonder--they do not belong to the same universe. They may be living in the same house, attending the same church; but, after all, they are separated by the width of a whole creation. “ Know ye not that ye are the temples of God,” etc. “ Will God of a truth dwell with man on the earth?” Yea, answers St. Paul, He will not only dwell with man, He will also dwell in man on the earth. It has now been made clear to us that God’ s proper temple is holy humanity, and under the Christian dispensation He has found the temple He so earnestly coveted. In the first creation we see me works of Nature; but God declares He cannot rest therein. In the temple of Solomon we see the works of art; but God again declares He cannot find in it the place of His rest. However magnificent, therefore, is the temple of Nature, God is not satisfied with it, for it is the work of His own hands. However splendid the temple of art, God is not satisfied with it, for it is the work of man’ s hands. But in Christianity--in Christ first, and in the Christian afterwards, He has a temple reared by His grace, a temple not made with hands, a temple in which He vouchsafes to dwell for ever. The temple of nature, the temple of art, the temple of grace, these three; but the greatest of these is the temple of grace. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)The true temple of God 1. The visible not to be despised (verses 46, 47).2. The invisible not to be forgotten (verses 48-50). (K. Gerok.)Composition Of The Church God’ s Church is not built of-- I. Gold and silver, i.e., worldly might and splendour. II. Wood And Stone, i.e., external customs and dead works. III. Parchment or paper, i.e., confessions of faith and forms of government. IV. But of living hearts.1. Founded on Christ by faith.2. United to one another in love.3. Growing up to heavenly perfection in hope. (K. Gerok.)Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will ye build Me?-- The universal nature of Christian worship These words of Stephen have sometimes been quoted as if they sounded the death-knell of special places dedicated to the honour and glory of God, such as churches are. It is evident, however, that they have no such application. They sounded the death-knell of the exclusive privilege of one place, the temple, but they proclaimed the freedom which the Church has ever since claimed; and the Jewish Church of the dispersion, by the institution of synagogues, had led the way in claiming--teaching that whatever true hearts and true worshippers are found, there God reveals Himself. But we must bear in mind a distinction. Stephen and the apostles rejected the exclusive right of the temple as the one place of worship for the world. They asserted the right to establish special places of worship throughout the world. They rejected the exclusive claims of Jerusalem. But they did not reject the right, and the duty of God’ s people, to assemble themselves as a collective body for public worship, and to realise Christ’ s covenanted presence. This is an important limitation of St. Stephen’ s statement. The great end of public worship is worship, not hearing, not edification even, though edification follows as a necessary result of such public worship when sincerely offered. The teaching of St. Stephen did not then apply to the erection of churches and buildings set apart for God’ s service, or to the claim:made for public worship as an exercise with a peculiar Divine promise annexed. It simply protests against any attempt to localise the Divine presence to one special spot on earth, making it, and it alone, the centre of all religious interest. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)A transcendent existence I. An omnipresent existence. One whose throne is heaven, whose footstool is earth, and to whom all places are alike. One who fills heaven and earth not merely with His influence, nor indeed, as the Pantheists teach, with His substance; but One who is everywhere as a Personality, free, conscious, active. All created existences are limited by the laws of space, and those that occupy the largest space are mere specks in immensity. Concerning the stupendous fact of God’ s Omnipresence observe that it is--1. Agreeable to reason, although incomprehensible. The denial of it would be a contradiction. A limited God would be no God. 2. Essential to worship. (1) To its spirit. Worship implies mystery. Take away God’ s incomprehensibility and you take away the power to evoke in the soul all the awe and wonder which enter into the very essence of worship. (2) To its constancy. True worship is not an occasional service confined to times and places, but an abiding attitude of the soul. “ God is a Spirit,” etc. 3. Promotive of holiness. Let men realise the constant presence of God, and how strongly will they feel restraint from sin and stimulus to virtue. 4. Assurative of retribution. Who can hide himself from the Lord? No sin escapes His notice. There is no escaping therefore from punishment. “ Whither shall I flee from Thy presence?” 5. Illustrative of heaven. There is nothing local or formal in heaven’ s worship. “ I saw no temple therein.” Then He is felt to be everywhere, and is worshipped everywhere. II. A Creative existence. “ Hath not My hand made,” etc. Because He made all, He owns all. Creatorship implies sovereignty, almightiness, and proprietorship. (D. Thomas, D. D.)What is the place of My rest.-- The place of God’ s vest I. God revealing Himself. By the aid of figures God discloses His spiritual character. Everywhere we see pictures, suggestions of the Divine. The boundary sky, with its serene height of blue; the midnight sky with its myriad worlds; mountains piercing the clouds or hanging in frowning precipice; great floods of water rolling in their ceaseless tides; all compel us to say, “ How marvellous are Thy works,” etc.1. Heaven is God’ s throne. A star in the far depths attracted the attention of an observer. It seemed to be but a single star, but a powerful telescope resolved into two which were really distant from each other five hundred times the distant between our earth and the sun. Who can conceive of such sublime spaces. What must He be whose throne rises higher than these stars, whose canopy is gemmed by myriad suns. 2. Earth is God’ s footstool. Here the microscope comes to our assistance. This great earth, with its millionfold objects seen and unseen, is but a resting-place for God’ s foot. II. God appealing to man to find Him rest. We should never have dared to represent God as seeking rest. The marvel of His condescension is that He is independent of His creatures, and yet seeks rest in them. If God were only wisdom or power then His rest might be found in the works of His hands. But every being seeks rest according to his character. The infinitely pure One can only find rest in holiness; the infinitely loving in love; the eternal Father in His children. III. Man vainly offering God rest in things. The first shrine for human worship was the open firmament of heaven. It was the only worthy one. The only befitting walls were the distant horizon and the everlasting hills; the only suitable roof was the illimitable sky. Yet from the first, through sin, this temple proved too vast and glorious for man to use. So he planted groves to circle God to a space; and consecrated mountain peaks to fix God to a point; and built temples and churches to narrow the infinite to human grasp. Too often man has offered his temples as a sacrifice in the vain hope that, satisfied with them, God would cease to ask for holier things. And even now men think to offer God rest in the beauty of our churches and the charm of our services, and give Him things instead of persons. And yet even we men cannot be satisfied with things; how, then, can we expect God to be. Our hearts cannot rest in the artistic fittings of our dwellings, the creations of genius, or the associations of culture. We want love; we must have persons. We are “ the figures of the true.” He, too, puts aside the things we offer Him, be they temple, or gold, or work, and pleads with us, “ My son give Me thy heart.” If we respond then He will accept our things, and things alive with holy love may find for Him the rest He seeks. (R. Tuck, B. A.) Acts 7:51-53 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Stephen’ s change of tone I. Justified.1. This was not the first Christian sermon that the Jews or the Sanhedrin had heard. Otherwise, possibly, such vehement and unsparing denunciations had been out of place. They had already heard of Christ twice from His inspired messengers, and he did not speak till the ecclesiastical rulers had shown a determined animus to put their foot on the gospel. It was to a council who had, and still were, resisting grace that Stephen spoke. 2. Stephen was addressing the authorities, and the tone of Peter towards them had been very different from his tone with the people (Acts 3:17; cf Acts 4:11; Acts 6:30). There was deep reason and equity in this difference. It was the Sanhedrin which had all along fomented the hostility of the people to Christ. The common people heard Christ gladly, and shouted Hosannah; and in the closing scene it was only at the persuasion of the chief priests and elders that they were induced to “ ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus.” They had, no doubt, their full share of guilt, and Peter charges them with being accomplices; but, as at the Fall, God recognises a difference in degree of guilt between man and the serpent, so those who are of the same mind with God draw a distinction between those who sin through weakness, and those who sin of malice prepense. It is against the latter that Stephen hurls his indignant invective. II. Accounted for.1. There was the natural friction which his own argument produced in his mind. As he traced the history of his nation, view after view opened upon him of the perversity, bigotry, and wilful opposition to truth which had characterised them at every period. They had only been too consistent in rejecting Divine messengers, and now by their rejection of the love and Spirit of God they had put the finishing stroke upon their sin. This repeated defiance of God galls Him, and kindles His holy indignation. 2. In all probability his quotation from Isaiah, so palpably adverse to their view of the temple, and so impossible to be answered stung them to the quick. This is indicated in the narrative, “ They while in the act of listening were cut to the heart and kept gnashing upon him with their teeth.” It is not difficult to picture the scene. Audible murmurs are heard as Stephen says, “ The Most High dwelleth not in temples,” etc. They make menacing gestures as wild beasts would spring upon their prey. There two scribes, reaching across to one another, have got a scroll between them, in which they are pointing to passages which they think confute him. One finger is on the words, “ I have hallowed this house,” etc.; the fist of the other contracts and is raised towards the prisoner. The young man from the Cicilian synagogue glances to and fro from the accused to Gamaliel. The great doctor had in a previous council made a diversion in favour of the apostles. But on that occasion it appears that the high priest had been under the influence of the Sadducees. Stephen’ s speech brought out into full prominence the anti-Pharisaic element of the gospel. And as he did so the eyes of Saul are turned wistfully to his great authority mutely asking, “ Will you plead for these Galileans now?” And Gamaliel’ s contracted brow answers “ No.” Then catching the symptoms of the storm long brewing, with that, quick apprehension which always characterises an earnest speaker, and seeing in a moment “ the wicked husbandmen” before him, he bursts forth in the words of the text. In the early part of his speech he is cautious, and avoids giving offence; “ He keeps his mouth, as it were, with a bridle, while the ungodly is in sight.” But at last his heart grows hot within him, and while he is musing upon the circumstances he has recited, the fire kindles; and at the last he throws away his caution and speaks in accents of burning indignation. Conclusion: What has been said may read us a needful lesson on the subject of spurious charity. Charity is not uniform suavity under all circumstances; it has in it a stern element of moral indignation which is the salt that keeps it from corruption. Charity never flatters a man in wilful sin, but tells him plainly that continuance means death; just as a surgeon, who desires nothing but the health of his patient, does not hesitate to perform a painful operation. And because heresy is mischievous to souls charity pays it no compliments. If some safeguards are required with perfect righteousness of indignation-- 1. Rid the mind of personal resentment.2. Be sure that it is vital error, and do not confound it with your view of it. (Dean Goulburn.)Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.-- Resisting the Holy Ghost I. The character here given of impenitent and ungodly men.1. Their leading feature is obduracy, which the Scriptures call hardness of heart. There may be a variety of dispositions, yet all merging in this spirit. (1) Stiff-neeked means nearly the same as stout-hearted; one who is unyielding and obstinate; who sets at nought the councils of God and follows his own. (2) Uncircumcised in heart and ears. Circumcision was a rite intended to point out the nature and necessity of spiritual renovation (Deuteronomy 10:16-18). 2. The obduracy of an ungodly man may be resolved into-- (1) Sensuality (Deuteronomy 21:18-20).(2) Pride and prejudice (Jeremiah 6:10-13).(3) Habitual negligence and the spirit of slumber (Isaiah 66:8; Isaiah 66:4; Isaiah 29:9-13). II. How ungodly men resist the Holy Ghost. That a creature should rise in rebellion against the great Creator might seem incredible, had we not demonstration of the fact. Gamaliel said, “ If this council, or this work, be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest ye haply be found even to fight against God.” There are many ways in which men do fight against God; but the most awful is in resisting the Holy Ghost. The Sovereign of the universe maintains a communication with our fallen world by the agency of His Spirit. Now this Divine Spirit is called--1. The Spirit of Truth. He revealed the will of God to us. When any one opposes Divine truth, he resists the Holy Ghost. The grand doctrines of the gospel are confessedly clear and plain in the Word. How then is it that they are not received? (Isaiah 30:8-13; John 3:19.) To those who prefer agreeable things, which flatter the roving imagination, and the unrenewed heart, a full exhibition of Divine truth, will ever be unwelcome. Herein consists the guilt of obstinate unbelief and impenitence. Hence, too, arises the sophistry which contrives a thousand subtle devices to nullify the Word of God. 2. The spirit of purity. He is the sole source and efficient author of sanctity. He has given a hallowed and peculiar stamp to the various precepts, ordinances, and institutions of true religion. Now, the man who labours to stain this stamp of purity resists the Holy Ghost. 3. The Spirit of Grace. God engaged to pour out the spirit of grace and of supplication. The favour of Jehovah is eminently manifested through the agency of the Holy Ghost. Yet, alas I great numbers resist this Divine Agent of mercy, stifling those convictions which are produced by His power. The truth is heard, but not heeded and applied. III. The tremendous consequences of resisting the Holy Ghost.1. Those persons who have long and obstinately opposed truth, are usually given over to a reprobate mind. The light which they have laboured so hard to exclude is withdrawn, and they are enveloped in the thick darkness they love. Compunction of conscience gradually abates till they are past feeling. “ My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” etc. “ Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.” “ For it is impossible for those who were once enlighted,” etc. 2. The future punishment of those who have resisted the Holy Ghost will be beyond expression dreadful. Though for a time they may be hardened, so as to have little or no fear, the justice of God is preparing their doom. He that despised Moses’ law, died without mercy, under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, etc. “ Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!” (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)Resisting the Holy Ghost I. The office of the Holy Spirit.1. Convincing.2. Entreating.3. Admonishing.4. Threatening. II. The means He uses.1. The Word.2. Examples.3. Conscience.4. Providential dealings. III. The modes of resisting Him.1. Inattention.2. Procrastination.3. Contradiction. (W. W. Wythe.)On resisting the Holy Spirit To resist the Holy Ghost is a sin of the deepest guilt. It is the basest ingratitude against God; for it is resisting the very means which God of His infinite mercy freely offers for recovering our souls from sin, and bringing us to Christ, our only Saviour. Does it not seem strange that against one so good, so merciful, so willing to help, and comfort us, we should ever be led to commit wilful sin?1. Christians of the present day approach towards this “ sin” several ways; and first whenever they despise or ridicule things belonging unto God. Should they persevere in these sinful habits, they may in the end lose all reverence for holy things; and then, if, with a soul indifferent to things spiritual, they die, have they a hope that their sin can be forgiven? Like the Pharisees of old, they seemed to have refused the very means by which they might have been brought to Christ. 2. There is another way by which Christians “ resist the Holy Ghost” ; and this, in the language of Scripture, is called grieving, or quenching, the Holy Spirit. In one sense every sin wilfully committed against God, every known Christian duty wilfully omitted, is grieving the Holy Spirit. But in a more especial manner Christians grieve the Holy Ghost when they refuse to receive those doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ which He hath Himself revealed; when the plain teachings of the Scriptures seem unto them “ foolishness.” 3. God’ s Holy Spirit is resisted also by every one who, in direct opposition to conscience, refusing the holy aid which alone could have preserved him, wilfully commits sin, knowingly violates the moral law of God. Such are some of the very awful considerations arising from the subject before us. Warned of the danger, let us watch and pray against it. Let us not resist the Holy Ghost in this our accepted time, and He will fit us for the full enjoyment of the salvation purchased by the blood and secured by the intercession of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (H. Marriott, M. A.)Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted.-- Devotion to the conventional I. The rejection of Christ was the national sin of the Jewish people. It was the act of the whole nation, the result of the full development of the then Jewish mode of looking at the world--the spirit of the age.1. The term, a national sin, wants a clear definition. It is used at present recklessly. Every party declares its opponents guilty of a national sin. But a national sin is not an evil done by any one party to the nation, but an evil done by the nation itself. I might mention courses of political action in which England has persisted for years, through all changes of party, which are of the character of national sins, but I will content myself with saying that one of the worst of national sins is the rejection or neglect of the great men whom God has sent to save or to teach the nation. It is a proof of the perfect culture of a people, when it recognises its great men, puts them forward at once and obeys them. 2. The man of noble genius, the prophet, or whatever else you call him, is the test of the nation. Those are lost who reject him--the whole nation is lost if the whole nation rejects him--for it is not he so much whom it rejects as the saving ideas of which he is the vehicle. The question whether Christ shall be accepted or rejected has again and again been placed before the nations. It was placed most completely before the Jews at the appearance of the perfect Man--is placed before each of us--since He was the representation of that which is noblest in humanity. This passive work was recognised by Simeon when he said, “ This child is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel.” It was recognised by Christ Himself when He said, “ For judgment,” i.e. for division, for sifting of the chaff from the wheat, “ am I come into the world.” And so it was, wherever He went He was the touchstone of men. Those who were pure and true-hearted saw Him and loved Him; those who were conscious of their need and sin believed in Him, drank deep of His Spirit, and found redemption and repose. Those who were base or false of heart naturally recoiled from Him, and, to get rid of Him, hanged Him on a tree. In doing so--and this was the deed of the mass of the people--they destroyed their nationality which was hidden in their reception of Christ. In a coincidence with this, the priesthood rejected Christ in words which repudiated their distinct existence as a nation--“ We have no king but Caesar.” He did nothing overt to produce this. He simply lived His life, and it acted on the Jewish world as an electric current upon the water; it separated its elements. II. The cause of this rejection was primarily devotion to the conventional, which is practically identical with want of individuality, one of the most painful deficiencies in our present society.1. Now the rectification of that evil lies at the root of Christianity. Christ came to ensure the distinct life, the originality of each man, to rescue men from being mingled up, indistinguishable atoms, with the mass of man. 2. The spirit of the world is in exact opposition to this. Its tendency is to reduce all men and women to one pattern. There must be nothing original in the world’ s language, eccentric, erratic. Custom is to be despot. We must all dress in the same way, read the same books, talk of the same things. We do not object to progress, but everybody must be levelled, and then collectively advance; no one must leave the ranks or step to the front. 3. This is the spirit which either cannot see, or, seeing, hates men of genius. They are in conflict with the known and the accredited modes of action. So it comes to pass that they are depreciated and neglected; or, if they are too great and persist, persecuted and killed. And, indeed, it is not difficult to get rid of them, for men of genius cannot breathe in this atmosphere, it kills them. The pitiable thing in English society now is, that it is in danger of becoming of so dreadful a uniformity that no original man can be developed in it at all. This, if anything, will become the ruin of England’ s greatness. 4. There is, it is true, a kind of re-action going on at present against this tyranny. Young men and women, weary of monotonous pleasures, are in rebellion, but the whole social condition has been so degraded that they rush into still more artificial and unnatural pleasures and excitements; in endeavouring to become free, they enslave themselves the more. 5. Those who might do much, do little. It is one of the advantages of wealth and high position that those who possess them may initiate the uncustomary without a cry being raised against them. But even with every opportunity, how little imagination do they ever display, how little invention, how little they do to relieve the melancholy uniformity of our pleasures, or the intense joylessness of our work! 6. Now this was precisely the spirit of the Jewish religious world at the time of Christ. Men were bound down to a multitude of fixed rules and maxims;. they were hedged in on all sides. It was the most finished conventionalism of religion, in spite of the different sects, which the world has ever seen. Then came Christ, entirely original, proclaiming new ideas, or, old truths in a new form, overthrowing worn-out ceremonies, denouncing things gray with the dust of ages, letting in the light of truth into the chambers where the priests and lawyers spun their webs of theology to ensnare the free souls of men, trampling down relentlessly the darling customs of the old conservatism, shocking and bewildering the religious society. He did not keep, they said, the Sabbath day. He ate and drank--abominable iniquity!--with publicans and sinners. He allowed a fallen woman to touch Him. Worse still, He did not wash His hands before He ate bread. He did not teach as the scribes did. He did not live the time-honoured and ascetic life of a prophet. He dared to speak against the priesthood and the aristocracy. He came from Nazareth, that was enough; no good could come from Nazareth. He was a carpenter’ s son, and illiterate, and no prophet was made, or could be made, out of such materials. And this man! He dares to disturb us, to contest our maxims, to set at nought our customs, to array Himself against our despotism. “ Come, let us kill Him;” and so they crucified Him. They did not see, the wretched men, that in murdering Him they murdered their nation also. III. Take the question now out of the realm of thought and history, and apply it practically. Ask yourselves two questions:--1. What would be the fate of Christ if He were suddenly to appear as a teacher in the middle of London? How would our orthodox religious society and our conventional social world receive Him? Desiring to speak with all reverence, He would horrify the one by His heterodox opinions, the other by His absolute scorn of many of the very palladia of society. Supposing He were to denounce--as He would in no measured terms--our system of caste; attack our most cherished maxims about property and rights; live in opposition to certain social rules, contemn with scorn our accredited hypocrisies; live among us His free, bold, unconventional, outspoken life; how should we receive Him? It is a question which it is worth while that society should ask itself. I trust more would hail His advent than we think. I believe the time is come when men are sick of the tyranny of custom of living in unreality; that they are longing for a new life and a new order of things, for some fresh ideas to come and stir, like the angel, the stagnant pool. I believe there are thousands who would join themselves to Him, thousands of true men from all religious bodies, and from those who are now plentifully sprinkled with the epithets of rationalists, infidels, heretics, and atheists; but there are thousands who call themselves by His name who would neglect or persecute Him, for He Would come among our old conservatisms of religion, our doctrinal systems, superstitions, priesthoods, and ritualisms, as He came of old. If we could accept the revolution He would make, our nation and religion Would be saved, if not it would be enervated by the blow and die. Realising these things, realising Christ speaking to us as He would speak now, we ought to feel our falseness. We may save our nation if we resolve, each one here for himself, to free ourselves from cant, and formalism, and superstition, to step into the clear air of freedom, individuality, truth, and holiness. 2. How far is the spirit of the world preventing you personally from receiving Christ? (1) Is your sole aim the endeavour to please your party, forfeiting your individuality? Then you cannot receive Christ, for He demands that you should be true to your own soul. (2) Are you permitting yourself to chime in with the low morality of the day, to accept the common standard, repudiating the desire to be better than your neighbours, and so coming at last to join in the light laugh with which the world treats immoralities of society or trade, or the more flagrant shame, dishonesty, and folly which adorn the turf--Letting evils take their course, till gradually the evils appear to you at first endurable, and then even beautiful, being protected by the deities of custom and fashion, which we enthrone instead of God? Are you drifting into such a state of heart? If so, you cannot expect to be able to receive Christ, for He demands that life should be Godlike; not the prudence of silence about evil, but the imprudence of bold separation from evil. 3. And to come home to the inner spiritual life, is your religion only the creature of custom, not of conviction? Have you received and adopted current opinions because they are current, orthodox because it is the fashion to be orthodox, or heterodox because it is the fashion to be heterodox? How can you receive Christ?--for where He comes He claims reality. Ye must be born again; born out of a dead, Pharisaic, conventional form of religion into a living individual union with the life of God. Two things, then, are laid before you this day--conventional religion, a whited sepulchre; personal religion, a fair temple, whose sure foundations are bound together by the twisted strength of the innermost fibres of the soul. (Stopford A. Brooke, M. A.) Acts 7:54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart.The procedure against Stephen I. The narrative. Full of faith and power, he did great wonders and miracles among the people. He is, therefore, singled out for special attack, not in relation to the reality of his miraculous pretensions, but on what, no doubt, his assailants felt with such a man would be their higher vantage ground, the open field of theological controversy. And herein they were foiled. Chosen as the disputants were most probably for their superior learning and abilities, they would doubtless look upon Stephen with much the same scorn as the armed warrior of Gath regarded the stripling of Bethlehem. But on coming to close hand strife, they found that human learning was a poor match against Divine gifts, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. This signal defeat compelled a change in their mode of attack. Satan has more than one arrow in his quiver, and whenever he has set upon a man to destroy him, will never be wanting. If reasoning fail, the adversary will try invective; invective silenced, he has recourse to falsehood; falsehood confuted, there are well laid engines of subtlety and fraud and brute force. All these means were successively employed against Stephen. The refuted argument was followed by the charge of blasphemy. The groundless charge of blasphemy had to be propped up by bribed witnesses, as these could only obtain a judicial hearing by the violent dragging of the case before the council; and in the very act of making his defence before this body, Stephen is seized, cast out of the city, and put to death. II. Its lesson. In reading narratives like this, we are prompted to look for some principles on which to account for the bitterness and violence which usually characterises religious persecution. Men, we know, will get angry sometimes if people differ from them in politics, and will even forget their charities when contending on the most ordinary topics of dispute; but the fury, the gnashing with the teeth, and the showers of stones, are only met with when that which is to be put down is the pure truth of God; when the object of popular hatred can have no end of his own to compass. The fact is a standing, undeniable testimony to the doctrine, that the carnal mind is enmity against God. If the feeling of the natural heart, which supervened upon the fall, had been only the negation of a former love towards God, leaving man to settle down into a Gallio unconcerndness, we should never have heard anything of the blood of martyrs. Men would no more have risen up against an apostle than against a philosopher. But the case we know to be far otherwise. Press upon the consciences of men in any age the obligations of spiritual religion; carry the lamp of God’ s condemning truth into the heart’ s chambers of imagery; disturb that untempered mortar with which men daub over the walls of their refuge of lies, and in an instant you wake up the old feud of our nature; the embers begin to glow again of an ancient but long-slumbering fire; you have touched the man in the very quick of his cherished delusion, and at once he stands up in stout and rebellious front against God. Neither has advancing civilisation done more than restrain the outward expression of this feeling. It may have taught men, when convinced of the utter futility of their own religious principles, that they cannot now have recourse to the rude retributions of a rude age--but it has not dispossessed them of their malignity, or altered the original antagonism of the natural mind to the reception of Bible truth, or the practice of Bible requirements. If I tell a Socinian, that in the sight of God his moralities are no more than so many disguised and garnished sins; if I tell a man of right creed and pious activities, that if he has not something besides this, the publicans and harlots shall go into heaven before him; if I say to the proud, the worldly, the over-reaching, the slander-dealer, the uncharitable, the blasphemer, and the Sabbath-breaker, “ Ye have not the Spirit of Christ, and therefore can be none of His” --yea, if I can so bring home these evidences of an unchanged heart to the individual conscience as that a man shall feel as if I were saying to him, Thou art the man whom, in your present state, the blood of Christ cannot reach; for whom the mansions of heaven can make no room; whose peace is a delusion, and whose hope is but a spider’ s web--spared though I may be from the gnashing teeth of unbridled rage, yet, while determined to stand out against conviction, the spirit of the persecutor is in that sinner’ s heart, and only to the age, and other accidents of social life, is it owing that men are not found to rush upon a faithful messenger with one accord, and to cast him out of the city, and to stone him. By nature men hate truth as the midnight robber hates the light. (D. Moore, M. A.)The first Christian martyr I. The man. The form of his name would indicate that he was a Hellenist; that is, a Jew born among the Gentiles, speaking the Greek language, tits name also signifies a crown.1. He was versed in the Scriptures. “ When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart.” Cranmer and Ridley learned the New Testament by heart. They also saw its truths in relation to present duties of life. This was the case of the first Christian martyr. He exposed the false view of the Jews toward the temple and the law. “ They were cut to the heart,” or, literally, they were sawn asunder in their hearts. It was not one staggering blow which did the work. The truth, laden with rebukes, was gradually making its way through their hearts, The personal application completed the work. 2. Stephen was spiritually enlightened. “ But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven.” We may not all have the privilege of Stephen to look into heaven in this life, but the Holy Spirit furnishes enlightening power. Spiritual breadth of vision follows. That creates confidence. Moses endured, seeing Him who is invisible; and the angel of God revealed himself unto Paul, saying, “ Fear not.” Here was the basis of Stephen’ s confidence. Facts of the visible world were newly impressed upon him. We see things here from a short range. Hence mystery and perplexity arise. He is sustained by a higher power, and looks with joy to the end. 3. He possessed a forgiving spirit. “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” This prayer is without a parallel outside of Biblical history and its influence. Confucius, Isocrates, Seneca, and other Gentile writers hinted at the golden rule in a partial or negative form. But praying for one’ s enemies has thus far been discovered only in the Bible and in the line of its influence. The Cross first brings it to view. II. Stephen witnessing to the truth.1. He witnessed that God’ s presence and favour were not limited to any set place. Stephen taught that God’ s presence was not limited to a favoured few. This was one link in the chain which drew away Christians from Jewish rites. The disciples loved the temple. Who could blame them? Here Jesus gave some of His choicest revelations. But lingering amid the incense and smoking sacrifices too long they may bind these practices, only belonging to the past, on the new society, and fetter its future course. They were providentially thrust out into new fields, as we may be, by apparent disasters, to secure in the end the best results. 2. Stephen bore witness that Christ had been elevated to glory and power. “ I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” Stephen was the first to bear witness to the fact of seeing Christ after His ascension. Paul and John were granted such visions later (Acts 9:3-4; 1 Corinthians 9:1; Revelation 1:12-17). Perhaps such witnessing was needed to encourage the early Church. It made visible things appear as a positive reality. It also confirmed Stephen’ s teaching. Christ had taught that spiritual worship anywhere was pleasing to the Father. It would follow that a peculiar privilege had been granted to Stephen. Any rabbi might have coveted it. The glory of God had appeared to him as well as Abraham and to Moses. If his face had shone like that of an angel, his words now had a heavenly support. 3. Stephen bore witness that Jesus receives His people after death. He did not formally affirm this fact, but prayed to Jesus to receive his spirit; or, in bold literalness, “ Take my spirit by the hand.” (J. H. Allen.)The first Christian martyr We have foregleams of the next life. Witnesses have had glimpses to which they have given testimony. I. Stephen was a man of affairs. He was no dreaming enthusiast, however intense his spiritual life. He was equal to the demands of new enterprises where originality in planning and fertility of resource were requisite. II. He, only a deacon, a layman, was full of faith and power. III. This testimony he gives when he must seal his sincerity with his life. He knew what extremes Jewish hate could reach. IV. He had given abundant proof of mental soundness and grasp in his resume of Jewish history and God’ s dealings. V. His spiritual elevation and fellowship appear, beautifully and gloriously, in his agreement in words and disposition with his dying master. Such a witness we can trust, however momentous the questions upon which he speaks. Points of Stephen’ s testimony--1. Heaven’ s glory gladly and easily appreciable by redeemed souls. Infinite the necessary remove of heaven’ s life from earth’ s, but God’ s redeemed ones can enter it with delight. However stupendous the transition, it is easy and quick; no narrowed and doubtful reception; the finite easily joins the infinite; the imperfect is neither shamed nor crippled by the perfect; the lowliest estate does not shrink or tremble as the highest glory suddenly bursts upon it. Stephen looked steadfastly. 2. Heaven is heaven because fined with God’ s personal presence. God’ s glory apart from His presence is inconceivable. The soul is made for God, and reposes only in Him. There its satisfactions are supreme and complete. Is God’ s conscious presence welcome here now? If not, how can we meet Him face to face when this life shall open upon the next and His flooding glory appear on every side? 3. Jesus, in His glorified humanity, has the highest place in heaven’ s honour, and welcomes His disciples as they follow Him. We are strongly impressed with Jesus’ manifold offices for His disciple band when with them in visible leadership. The story is dramatic in vividness and suggestive in teaching. But His personal relations now, His invisible leadership, mean much more every way. The glorified Jesus is the firstfruits of our redeemed humanity--in the fulness of time He will gather to Himself, to a full sharing of His glory, all who are washed in His blood and trained by His grace. 4. Dying saints are strengthened by foregleams, sometimes brilliant sight of heaven’ s inhabitants’ bliss. 5. The spirit survives the body, its powers expanded and quickened. We reason about continued life, the body laid aside; but hear the proof in the experience of one qualified to speak. Stephen saw Jesus, and to Him committed his soul. We shudder at the thought of going into utter oblivion, life annihilated. From this fear the dying Stephen brings sure release. 6. The saved soul, redeemed by the blood of Christ and quickened by Divine grace, can thoroughly forgive. No test of Christian character is more trustworthy than this. No personal resentments embittered His dying hour. Will our pillow be free from such thorns? They are sharp and fatal to dying peace or eternal safety. 7. Divine Providence utilises all events to the forwarding of its world-embracing plans. A great apostle was needed for the Gentile world. Here that coming apostle had his first special training. As Augustine has said, “ But for Stephen’ s prayers the Church would not have had its apostle Paul.” 8. A significant fact that this detailed account of Stephen’ s martyrdom stands alone. We needed it, that we might have this one vivid illustration of dying grace in a crisis so remarkable. 9. A typical instance of an apparent triumph of hostility to Jesus in His followers turning into overwhelming defeat. We tremble before assaults upon the Word of God, the organised Church and all related institutions; but such assaults, however successful in appearance, are but for the moment. Converts to Christ are, in most cases, born through the travail of some one. 10. Lighter trials may avail themselves of the same supports as came to the dying martyr. (S. Lewis B. Speare.) Acts 7:55-56 He being full of the Holy Ghost. The work of the Spirit in the proto-martyr Note how explicitly the character, attainments, and triumph of Stephen are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In the first notice of him he is called “ a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost.” So here in his death. Bearing this in mind, observe-- I. He looked up steadfastly into heaven, where his heart and treasure had long been. Where else could he look? Everything urged him to look away from earth and invited him to look up to heaven. He had no sympathy below, but there was all sympathy above. There were the redeemed who had gone before him, the angels, Jesus, his heavenly Father, all waiting to welcome him. So good is brought out of evil, and man’ s violence made to hasten the saint’ s blessedness. “ As thy days so shall thy strength be.” When earth casts us out, heaven waits to receive us. II. As he looked he saw the glory of God.1. In Isaiah 6:1-13. we may see the meaning of this glory, especially as interpreted by John. “ These things, said Esaias, when he saw Christ’ s glory.” The seraphim saw in Christ the glory of God--His mercy and His holiness, how He could be just and yet forgiving. So Stephen saw the Divine honour secured by that redemption for which he was called upon to die. 2. He saw Jesus standing, and the glory of God softened in the Person of his Saviour. He saw Jesus-- (1) Glorious after His humiliation. (2) Accepted by the Father, and in that the proof that His work was accomplished. (3) “ Standing,” to import that He was interceding, giving the Spirit, and that human nature was indeed exalted in His Person. III. In full harmony with these views he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”1. He had a clear apprehension of the soul’ s independence of the body. 2. He knew that as soon as his enemies had despatched him his soul would be admitted into glory. 3. He realised the sufficiency of Christ for his salvation. IV. How was he exercised towards his enemies? He prayed, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.1. What just views of Christ these prayers discover. 2. What a view does his conduct give of the power of Christianity. V. It was while he expressed such a spirit that he fell asleep. Learn from the example of Stephen--1. How to die in peace. 2. That the Spirit has brought great glory to Christ from the death of His people. 3. What shall be the glory of the martyr in heaven? (J. Morgan, D. D.)The true conception of worship I. Its nature.1. Negatively. It does not consist in-- (1) Mere external ceremony.(2) The mere utterance of any prescribed forms of prayer.(3) Any special attitudes of devotion.(4) Mere devotional feeling. 2. Positively. The true conception of worship is realised only in the vision of Jesus. This view--1. Respects His Divine-human character.2. Is centred in Jesus as Mediator.3. Is directed to Christ in His position of official dignity. III. Its characteristics. Stephen--1. “ Looked.” This was-- (1) Personal.(2) Present.(3) Anxious.(4) Intelligent.(5) Glorious. 2. “ Steadfastly.” The soul was in the act. It was no mere “ vacant stare” ; no idle, curious glance. 3. “ Into heaven.” He entered within the veil and worshipped with the spirits before the throne. He was not content to look merely at its burnished gates. 4. “ Saw the glory of God.” The instrument of vision was the eye of the soul. He saw by faith not the outer, but the inner, glory, of the temple of God. IV. Its moral condition. He was “ full of the Holy Ghost.” It is the power of the Holy Ghost that purifies the heart, spiritualises the conceptions, and develops the true worshipping faculty in man. Worship is a dead letter without such power. (John Tesseyman.)Looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing. The rapture of Stephen Let us regard this as-- I. A ravishing glimpse into heavenly realities. Divine manifestations usually fasten on something in the fortunes or thoughts of those who receive them. To Joshua, about to besiege Jericho, the angel of the Lord appears as a captain; to the wise men, whose study was astronomy, the revelation of Christ’ s birth was made by a star; to St. Peter and his fellow-fishermen, a sign of Christ’ s power is given in a miraculous draught of fishes. Stephen was now in the temple, and was familiar with the history of the shekinah of its holy place. He was before the high priest, with whose function on the day of atonement he was also familiar. With, then, this imagery in his mind he sees the shekinah of the heavenly sanctuary, and the great High Priest standing before God to intercede for the human race. II. A confession of Christ before those who had crucified Him. Stephen’ s mind was full of his Master’ s words when placed in similar circumstances, “ Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power,” and his declaration is tantamount to “ Lo, His words are fulfilled. I see your late Victim crowned with glory at the right hand of God.” III. A consolation and support to himself. Our Lord had warned the Jews that they would see Him “ sitting” ; Stephen sees Him “ standing.” The difference is significant. To the Jews He will sit as Judge; to Stephen He stands--1. As ready to assist him. A person who sits while contemplating the sufferings of another gives an impression of indifference. One who rises and advances towards us shows that he hears our cry and is willing to help. 2. As ready to plead for him. The earthly high priest sat before him as judge, fury on his countenance, and condemned him. The heavenly High Priest stands as his Advocate with the Father. 3. As ready to receive him in fulfilment of His own gracious words (John 14:2-3). IV. Conforming the martyr to the image of his Lord. At Christ’ s baptism “ the heavens were opened,” and in Gethsemane “ there appeared an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.” Thus was He prepared for the two great conflicts of the temptation and the passion. Now that the disciples might be made like Him it pleased God, in the first martyrdom, to vouchsafe the support of a heavenly vision, It was otherwise with James. He had no vision, but what had passed in Stephen’ s case must have given him support. “ He who welcomed Stephen will welcome me.” These different circumstances of the two martyrdoms open up the general plan of God’ s administration of His Church. “ We walk by faith, not by sight.” If every believer had such a vision there would he no longer any trial of character in faith, and the great object of our probation would be seriously interfered with. God’ s plan, therefore, is to give glimpses into the heavenly world only at the outset of a dispensation. But if our privileges are less high in this respect, we have the opportunity of exercising a nobler faith. “ Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.” V. Throwing into relief the obtuseness of the Jews. Blinded by their malicious fury, they can no more see Christ than Balaam could the angel. In this there is something very awful. A transaction was going on in the spiritual world, which intimately concerned them, of which they were totally unconscious. So it may be with us; and there is but one thing which can make the spiritual world a reality to us, and that is the faculty which penetrates into the unseen--faith. (Dean Goulburn.)Stephen’ s outlook and vision The eye of man is “ the window of his soul.” Through it, he himself looks out; and if any one stands high enough in his confidence, through it he may likewise look in. The direction of just one glance sometimes exhibits a whole character in a single flash of revelation: and this may be drawn forth by the same object. Lot looked down towards Sodom; thus he displayed his avarice. Lot’ s wife looked back towards Sodom; thus she disclosed her disobedience. Abraham looked forth on Sodom; thus he showed his faith after prayer. Note-- I. Stephen’ s outlook.1. Its expectancy. “ He looked.” He was now in search of help in his extremity; it was nowhere to be found in that neighbourhood. He looked off from everything earthly, sent his mind backward after some old promise, forward for some fresh revealing of hope, and upward beyond all pain and worry for himself or the young Church he loved. Our lesson is this: Give up all responsibility for the world’ s history into the hands of a faithful God. How some people distress themselves about the future of their children; forgetting that they lived somehow after their parents died. God lives always. 2. Its intelligence. “ He looked up.” He might have, in some way, sought help from the Roman government, or sympathy from his fellow-believers, but “ up” was the only way in which to look, for one who had read the Old Testament as he had (Isaiah 31:1). So we must rest for living help, and for dying grace, upon Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:2). 3. Its tranquillity. “ He looked up steadfastly.” There is here no quailing of the coward, no cringing of the captive, no weak sympathy for those who would mourn his death. Is it not strange that the one person in all the world who would fitly express his exact feelings was at the time standing? (Acts 20:24). And any sincere believer may depend upon his covenant-keeping God to give him perfect peace in dying, even under the most dreadful circumstances. 4. Its triumph. “ Into heaven.” True faith, eminent and dauntless, has an eyesight of its own, which will prove gloriously serviceable at the final moment of life. II. The vision. When Stephen looked up, what did he see? Two years afterwards, the “ young man” Saul saw the same grand spectacle (chap. 9:3-5). It made him an apostle (1 Corinthians 9:1).1. “ The glory of God.” Moses and Elijah appeared in glory with Christ (Luke 9:31). When Moses and Aaron saw it, it was like a pavement of sapphires (Exodus 24:10). The dying martyr saw an unutterable splendour. He sprang towards it with an impulsive gesticulation of discovery. He forgot where he was, and even ceased to think how unsympathetic an audience he had. 2. “ The Son of Man.” Our Lord called Himself by that name often, but no one else till this martyr died. The Son of God is still the Son of Man. Conclusion: Heaven is-- 1. The only real thing in the universe.2. The only hope worth cherishing.3. The only end worth striving for. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Stephen We get the keynote of Stephen’ s life and character in the text--“ He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly unto heaven.” That was not a mere outward gesture, a solitary act, but expressed the constant habit, the normal attitude of his soul. Habitually he looked through the things that are seen to the things that are not seen, and saw life in the light of God. He saw the glory of God--the one perfect revelation of the character of God--in the face of Jesus Christ. He looked through all the changes and.through all the apparent moral confusion of this world to the Divine reality behind. I. First of all, it is said, he was “ full of grace and power.” In the same chapter it is said he was “ full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.” Practically it is the same thing. “ Full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” and “ full of grace and power” : the one is the condition of the other. The one points to the inward fact, the thing which made him what he was; the other to the manifestation of that, the impression which he left upon those who came into contact with him.1. He was “ full of grace.” The expression suggests a type of character with qualities of its own, which not only calls forth our admiration, but which leads our thoughts upwards to God. There are persons who, in a special way, make us think of the Lord Jesus Christ. We recognise the character I am pointing at when we meet with it, although we may feel that we can only very inadequately describe it. It is a character partly like that of Christ Himself, but also in some essential particulars unlike it; like it in the presence of simple trust in God, and purity of heart, and prompt faithfulness of loving obedience; like it in the pain and indignation caused by falsehood and cruelty and meanness; like it in the love that seeketh not her own, that is not easily provoked, that beareth all things and hopeth all things; but also unlike it, not only in the imperfection that belongs to human goodness at its best, but in the profound humility which accompanies deep consciousness of sin, and the grateful love which springs from sin forgiven. Yes, we know very well that there is a character which has in it something distinctive, something peculiarly its own, even when it is very imperfectly developed, something that we recognise, and we know whence it is and how it cometh. We know whence it is, for it is grace; and we know how it cometh, for it cometh by that faith which realises the unseen and lives as in the presence of Him who is unseen, which habitually looks up into heaven, which has learned to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and which, as the result of beholding the glory of the Lord, reflects it, and is changed into the same image. 2. And being “ full of grace,” he was “ full of power.” The power here indicated was not simply that of working miracles, nor was it even intellectual force--the wisdom with which he selected from a memory well-stored with Old Testament Scripture, and the cogency with which he drove home his arguments, though that was part of it; but it was above all moral force of character, the power which always goes along with grace, and suffers no life where that is to be resultless. For grace in itself is power. We -an understand that Stephen was “ full of power” when he was pressing his antagonists in debate with arguments which they were unable to answer, and they retreated step by step, baffled and silenced, and at last slunk away abashed. We can understand it when we perceive how, while professedly dealing with the past, he was really holding up history before them as a mirror, in which they could see themselves, and observe that in one respect at least they were proving themselves to be the children of the fathers, by doing after their deeds; and we can understand it again, when his pent-up feeling at last finds vent in a burst of indignant denunciation, which must have made those men who held his life in their hands quail in his presence. We recognise that there was a power there; and perhaps it is not that in us which is most akin to the spirit of Christ, which is most quick to appreciate that kind of power; but how slow we are to realise that there was perhaps greater, wider, and more lasting power in the daily round of common duty, in the unnoticed ministries of charity, as he daily wended his way through the lanes and closes of the city among the poor committed to his charge, in his example of patience and self-mastery, in the help he gave by friendly counsel, in the silent influence of his ordinary life. It is good to covet earnestly the best gifts; but it is well to remember that there is something more excellent, for greater--greater in power--than all these is love, the love which is quickened and sustained by looking up steadfastly into heaven and beholding Jesus. II. It is in harmony with what we are told of Stephen--“ that he was full of grace” --that we read of that glory upon his face in the great crisis of his life. For grace is the inner beauty of the soul; this was the shining through of that inner beauty. Who cares to stop to discuss the question whether this was, in the commonly accepted sense of the word, miraculous? Does not that which is inward ever tend to find for itself outward expression? Do not the habitual emotions and cherished thoughts of the soul record themselves upon the countenance? And if the evil dispositions write themselves upon the face, do not the best feelings of the heart--does not grace--tend to do the same? Is there not something unmistakably its own in the eye of guilelessness and transparent openness? Does not the habitual trustfulness which rests on God come at last to reflect itself in serene placidity of expression? Does not love in its purest, intensest, self-sacrificing forms--the love of a mother, for instance--almost glorify? III. The inward likeness to Christ, which comes by steadfastly looking to Him, which was manifest in the life of Stephen, making it full of grace and power, was also conspicuous in his death. He is like his Lord in faith and in love.1. He is like Him in faith. There is similar confidence, yet with a significant difference. Our Lord in dying had said, “ Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” Stephen, in his last agony, commits his spirit not directly to the Father, but to Jesus, who has bought it with His blood, knowing in whom he has believed, and that He is able to keep that which is committed to Him against that day. 2. And, once more, in his dying hour, in showing himself strong in love, Stephen reveals how full his mind and heart are of the thought of his Saviour, and how deeply he has drunk of His Spirit. While the blinding volleys of stones are flying round him, crashing upon body and brain, the last effort of his yet clear consciousness is an act of prayer; and the prayer of Jesus for those who were nailing Him to the Cross is echoed in his expiring appeal--“ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” We can scarcely help tninking of a wonderful contrast. In the days of King Joash, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, the faithful friend and counsellor of the king, stood forth to rebuke the corruption of the popular worship. Like Stephen’ s, his warning provoked an outburst of popular fury; and like him, he received the earthly recompense of his faithfulness in being stoned to death, the king, with shameful ingratitude, being a party to it; and when he died, he said, “ the Lord look upon it and require it.” In what a different strain does the first Christian martyr plead. Since the old prophet’ s time a new revelation of Divine love had been given to men; a new example of human love had been set before them; a new motive of love had begun to work within them; a new spirit of love, the Spirit of Christ Himself, had been imparted to them; and of that Spirit Stephen was full--“ full of the Holy Ghost.” IV. This is the only narrative with any fulness of detail of any death in the New Testament, save One. Is it wrong to infer from this that in the New Testament greater importance is attached to the manner of a man’ s life than to the manner of a man’ s death; that in his conquering temptation in living, even more than in his triumphing over fear in dying, is the power of the grace of Christ displayed? At any rate, for once we are asked to contemplate a Christian in the hour of his departure. His was a stormy passage to the heavenly rest; but this is what we have to remember--what was true in his case is true as to the main things in all who have obtained like precious faith. There may be no brightness like the reflection of the heavenly glory lighting up the face; there may be no telling of a -vision of the opened heavens; there may be only pain and weakness, dull unconscious stupor, or a clouded mind; but none the less it is true that as here, so over every dying believer the Lord Jesus Christ stands to succour and to receive the spirit he commits to Him then, or has committed long before. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all His saints. Like Stephen they fall asleep, and awake to behold His face in righteousness, and shall be satisfied with His likeness. (A. O. Johnston, M. A.)Stephen’ s vision Notice-- I. The glorious scene that exists in the world above--“ the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” This Stephen saw; but it did not come into existence then; it was in existence before; it is in existence now. We find it difficult to give reality in our minds to distant and unseen things, My friend in some remote land is a really existing being, though I cannes realise his presence. None of us doubts the existence of countries on the other side of the globe. They are as real as though we beheld them. So of heavenly things. II. Those distressing scenes that often occur in our world below. Scenes like that are often acted in our world. They seem to be a part of our fallen world’ s sad inheritance. To some of us the injustice, cruelty, and evil tempers of those we live with, have embittered our lives. We must not murmur at this. It is to be endured patiently, just as sickness or any other calamity. Let us, as one fruit of it, long more for a world where we and all admitted shall be creatures of another mind--all happy one in another, as well as happy in our God. III. The conduct of the faithful Christian amid the distressing scenes of life. “ They gnashed on him with their teeth.” They were becoming wild in their rage against him: yet what does he? Strive to mollify their rage? Appeal for protection to the judges? Look round to find some one less violent than the rest, to interpose in his behalf? No; great as his danger appears, he looks above his danger. “ Full of the Holy Ghost, he looks up steadfastly into heaven.” The expression implies that he felt sure that there was help for him there. Here is the secret of bearing trouble well--it is not to keep our eyes on our trouble, anxious for any and ready to catch at the first alleviation of it; it is to look above our troubles, to get our whole soul riveted on Christ in the heavens. IV. The manifestation which the Lord sometimes makes of Himself to His expecting servants. Our Lord had promised His disciples that if they loved Him and kept His commandments, He will still manifest Himself to them. Now to draw our attention to this promise, and to assure us of the fulfilment of it, we may conceive to be the design of this wonderful vision. At this time most certainly he was loving his Lord, and proving his affection to Him by the danger in which he had placed himself for His sake. Here, then, was an opportunity for the Lord to show how precious to Him are the people that love Him, and how mindful He is of His own word. (C. Bradley, M. A.)Seeing the glory of Christ Dr. Owen, just previous to his death, said, “ I am going to Him whom nay soul has loved--or, rather, who has loved me with an everlasting love--which is the sole ground of all my consolation.” On Mr. Payne saying to him, “ Doctor, I have just been putting your book on ‘ The Glory of Christ’ to the press,” he answered, “ I am glad to hear it. But oh, brother Payne, the long-looked-for day is come at last, in which I shall see that glory in another manner than I have ever done yet, or was capable of doing in this world.” The presence of Christ in the dying hour Robert Glover, mentioned by Mr. Foxe in the “ Book of Martyrs,” though he was a man very gracious and holy, faithfully bearing witness to the truth, yet it pleased God to withdraw Himself and presence from him, insomuch that he was greatly distressed while he was in prison, and, opening himself to his friend; told him bow God had left and deserted him. His friend exhorted him still to wait on God, which he laboured to do, and the night before his execution spent much of that time in prayer; yet no comfort came, no manifestations of the presence of Christ. The next day he was drawn out to the stake to die for the truth, and as he went he mourned much for the presence of Christ; but when he came in sight of the stake it pleased God so to fill his heart and soul with comfort, and the incomes of His love, that he cried out unto his friend, “ Oh, Austin, He is come! He is come! He is come!” The good man was in the dark a great while, but when in the darkest time then Christ came. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The martyr’ s gaze on his ascended Lord But twice, so far as we know, since Christ’ s ascension has the cloud which received Him out of the sight of those first loving gazers opened its blinding folds--once for the conversion of the persecuting Saul, once for the support of the suffering Stephen. It was a great crisis in the history of the new faith. How much depended on the faithful endurance of that young champion! To him tortured men and women would look back from many a scene of agony, and take courage. But he had no example. To him, therefore, most fitly was this support vouchsafed. And mark the mode of its bestowal: “ Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven.” What a gaze was that! What faith, desire, love, need, supplication was gathered into it! And as he gazes, lo, the cloud melts away; being “ full of the Holy Ghost,” the power of intuition, so weakened in us fallen men, is supernaturally strengthened, and he sees Jesus standing, because it is the priestly attitude of the great Intercessor, and because the attitude of His intercession is the attitude of His help. And so He showed Himself as reaching out from the eternal shore into the billows of this bitter storm the pierced hand to be the stay of His martyr. And that sight changed all things to him. The lights of earth paled beneath its lustre; the sounds of earth were hushed by its ineffable harmony; the mighty throb which shot through his spirit deadened the power of marking any lower sensation, as he saw that sight of glory, and knew that contenance of love which was bent full upon him. He saw God’ s kingdom in its strength, its vastness, and its repose, and he was safe. How can the ripple around their darkened base stir those adamantine foundations? How can the hate of man pluck him out of that hand pierced by love and full of omnipotence? “ The Son of Man--the sharer of my nature.” And as the shadow of the great Intercessor falls upon him, transforming him into its own likeness, the dying martyr pleads for his murderers. And then, not as one shrinking back from pain, but as a soul in rapture, thirsting for its full fruition, he calls upon his manifested Lord to receive his spirit; until amidst that storm of murdering violence, calm as the hushed infant upon its mother’ s breast, he sinks into a rest sweeter than that of peaceful infancy, and falls indeed asleep in Jesus. For the sake of its great practical lessons-- I. We have here a notable instance of the way in which the whole of our holy religion rests on facts. We see what it was amongst its first confessors in a time of crucial experiment. It was not a set of beneficent maxima which leavened, and raised the tone of, society; not a set of lofty ideas which, gradually, with the help of time and distance, formed a highly-coloured medium through which reverence and affection could look back to the form of their first promulger, and gaze upon it with a wonder which at last invested him with the fancied attribute of a god. No! from the very first it was faith in a Person, Divine and human, beside His follower, and able and willing to hold him up in every struggle. Stephen’ s spirit did not cast itself upon sublime abstractions. No! he looks up steadfastly into heaven with the earnest, longing, searching glance of undoubting expectation, following the ascended form to where the cloud had received Him out of their sight; and before such a gaze the cloud melted, and he “ saw the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” II. If thus the word of God was a set of facts, any attempt to resolve it into a set of ideas subverts its very foundations, and destroys the whole edifice. For--1. This is to take a position altogether at variance with that occupied by the first believers, and thus to shake utterly their credit, inasmuch as, in this view, either they were so ignorant as to be misled, or so false as to mislead. Nor is this all; the great Teacher Himself appealed to these facts as the proofs of His commission (John 10:38; John 15:24). Either, therefore, the facts were real, or the Teacher was a deceiver. 2. It is not possible, consistently with any rules of reasoning, to make a selection from the facts, and yet seek to retain the ideas. A philosophy, being a speculation, may contain a multitude of great and true ideas, mixed with phantasies and fictions; and it is the office of higher intelligences to separate the precious from the vile. But in a system of alleged facts resting upon evidence, the presence of one falsehood shakes the truth of the whole fabric. This is the very issue to which St. Paul brings the whole question, “ If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” III. The light thrown hereby upon difficulties as to gospel miracles.1. These difficulties rest mainly on the supposed existence of a contradiction between the universally observed law of causes and effects, and the interposition of any intervening power to suspend or to invert those laws. Such pretended interruptions, we are told, no evidence could establish, and that a miracle therefore is impossible. The same conclusion is more gently insinuated by those who would have us think that miraculous power was nothing more than a deeper acquaintance with nature, enabling the operator to work a trick and to call it a miracle; to do, as some have done by savages, when they called to their aid the secrets of science to astonish by pretended portents the ignorance of the uncivllised. 2. But cast upon all these difficulties the brightness of St. Stephen’ s vision, and they are scattered in a moment; for it lifts us at once out of the dull level of naturalism into the new lights and shadows of the mountain of God. If one of these recorded facts be true and real, it is of itself enough to prove that the Lord of nature has for His wise purposes resolved to manifest to us, through our sensible faculties, His peculiar presence and His direct working; and this once admitted, the probability is in favour of the truth of any other well-attested miracles. For just as one flash of lightning evinces the existence of such conditions of the atmosphere as may be expected to produce a second, and so makes the coming of that second as probable then as at another time it would be improbable; so does one such direct proof of the manifested working of the Master’ s hand make it even probable that according to His wise purpose it may be followed by another. One such fact, therefore, proves that, we are not under a dispensation of nature but of grace; that we are introduced into a new atmosphere, to which we cannot apply the laws which governed that from which we have been transported; that we can no more argue as to what can and cannot be from the data of mere naturalism, than we could measure the laws of light by knowledge gathered from the darkness. 3. Here, then, we are led to the real cause of such difficulties. It is to be found in a want of hearty belief of the spiritual world. To any one of such a habit of mind all difficulties multiply spontaneously after their kind. It is with such spirits as with the bodies of men who live beside open drains, or are encompassed in the malaria of a marsh; they imbibe unconsciously at every pore the lurking poison: you must lift them up to higher grounds and purer airs if you would give health to their fever-stricken limbs. To heal these troubled spirits you must place them with St. Stephen on the mountain of God. If that eye, so diseasedly minute in its small criticisms; if that apprehension, so ready but so shallow in its power; if that reason, so feverishly captious in its questions; if that bent, narrow, trembling soul could but be lifted to those heights--could but be led to look up steadfastly into heaven--its difficulties would pass even unconsciously from it, and its cure be certain. 4. Here, then, is the true mode of meeting these difficulties: not by shutting our eyes feebly to them, not by turning away from them as though we were afraid of them; but by looking at them, not in the purblind darkness of a carping petulance, but in the light of these spiritual verities. To live in this light is our Christian birthright. We need not be with St. Stephen in the agony of martyrdom to attain to it. God has so made us that common life gives us daily opportunities, if we will but use them, of gaining this insight. To every soul so seeking Him He reveals Himself; the cloud opens; the form of the Son of Man is seen; and then belief is comparatively easy, and the difficulties which must remain, whilst they keep our faith humble and watchful, cease to be perplexing to the soul. 5. If this be so, then what becomes of the supposed morality of encouraged doubts in any Christian man? Surely we can see the utter falsehood of representing them as the patient reachings forth of an inquiring spirit for the light for which he longs Rather, assuredly, are they the wilful turning, through some fault of the flesh or of the spirit, away from the light; and instead of bearing the noble titles of reasonable and faithful inquiry, they should by every true heart be degraded to the discreditable category of suspicions nourished in cankered hearts against a father’ s truthfulness or a mother’ s honour. Dark and sad is the history of such a course. Its steps lead surely down from the mountain of light. The one only Sun which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, sinks for him who treads it in the mists which gather ever thicker and thicker round his blackening horizon. Worship in its fervour, prayer in its reality, and then trust, and love, and peace one by one are all extinguished--peak after peak loses the last lingering ray of the daylight--until all is dark (Isaiah 59:9-11). 6. It is not on the difficulties of belief alone, but upon all the struggles through which the life of God is maintained within our souls, that this vision of St. Stephen casts its light. Never cap the impetuous tyranny of appetite be subdued, and the soul and body kept in purity, save by these powers of the world to come. When the flesh is strong within, what shall aid us in the strife like looking up steadfastly into heaven and seeing the Son of Man as our helper? Or, again, as years go on, and these impetuous temptations of earlier life being somewhat past, new ones of a soberer, heavier, and more stupefying worldliness have taken their place, what else can so guard us against sinking into the dull, respectable, commonplace conformity with evil which, like the white ashes after the conflagration, succeeds so naturally to the burst of youthful indulgence, as the ever-living sense of our nearness to the Lord and of His perpetual presence with us? What can arouse watchfulness, keep prayer alive, kindle love, deepen humility, renew contrition, quicken zeal, minister support in sorrow, or awaken praises in the soul which God is graciously keeping, like the perpetual realisation by the eye of faith of what is now going on within the veil? (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)The exaltation of Christ I. To understand the nature and extent of that honour and glory to which the Redeemer is now exalted, first direct your thoughts to that state of humiliation to which He was once subjected upon earth. II. As the sufferings of the Redeemer had been severe beyond example, so is His triumph over every enemy complete beyond the power of description. It commenced at that moment when He broke asunder the chains of death, and rose triumphant from the tomb; and it was still more conspicuously displayed at the hour of His ascension to heaven. III. Consider the improvement to be made of this subject. The doctrines of the gospel either excite us to avoid the paths of sin by showing us the dangers with which they are beset, or they stimulate us to lives of faith on the Son of Man by displaying the rich rewards that await the righteous.1. Of the latter description is the doctrine of our Lord’ s exaltation; and the first obvious inference that flows from it is, that it furnishes a theme of joy and exultation to the true Christian. 2. Another lesson to be learnt from this doctrine is a firm reliance on the promises of the gospel. Of the truth of these promises, the history of our Saviour’ s sufferings and triumph affords the most ample evidence. 3. This doctrine affords a noble and most powerful encouragement to a life of faith on the Son of Man. Our blessed Redeemer ascended to the bosom of His heavenly Father, not less to prepare a place for His faithful followers than to enter Himself into His glory. 4. Consider the exaltation of Christ as teaching us to set a just and proper value on the things that belong to our eternal salvation, and as conveying to us the important lesson of placing our affection on things above, and not on things below. For what are the honours, the riches, and the pleasures of this world, in comparison of that glory which is at the right hand of God? (James Bryce.)Christ appears for His people in time of danger A little child in white was playing in the park. As long as she ran about on the grass, the nurse took little notice of her--she was safe. Presently the little feet chose a path leading down to the water, and the good nurse was after the little one in a moment--she was in danger. While we lie down in the green pasture of the 23rd Psalm, the Good Shepherd may not seem to notice us--we are safe; but when the sheep are among the wolves of Mat 10:16, the Good Shepherd will run to their help--they are in danger. Acts 7:57-60 Then they cried with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him. The first gospel martyr I. The matter for which he died. II. The Divine assistance which he experienced. III. The composure with which he passed away. (J. A. Krummacher, D. D.)The first Christian martyr I. The call of Stephen was to martyrdom. Neither he nor the Church knew the honour which awaited him. Note--1. That the humblest service leads to the highest. 2. How a man may enlarge a narrow sphere. We do not want so much men for large places as men to enlarge small places. 3. What God wanted of Stephen did not fully appear at the first. All that the Church could see was, that he had qualifications for a difficult trust. God bad a larger purpose. He wanted him, not to live, but to die. 4. That a man’ s greatest services may only begin when he is buried. 5. That no Divine cause hinges on a man. God always has another. II. Stephen was called because he was full of the Holy Ghost. Through the Spirit he--1. Had a message. 2. The power of a holy face. The baptism of the Spirit is an illumination. We have seen faces of men and women weal; and expressionless, dark and evil, through conversion glorified. The change at first is in softening, idealising. As it progresses, the peace of God is reflected in the features. In its completeness there is the manifestation of unearthly power. 3. He displayed the Divine union of severity and gentleness. 4. Had a vision. 5. Was sustained. He triumphed over pain. III. The effects of the martyrdom.1. On the world. He showed how a Christian could die. There had been deaths of disciples already, but they were shameful, dreadful: first Judas, then Ananias and his wife. But God now gave His people a grave to glory in. 2. On the Church (Acts 7:1). A general persecution was let loose. The Christians met the storm as they had been instructed by Jesus; they fled from the city and were scattered, but wherever they went they preached. Thus a part of the Divine plan appeared. In all ages persecution has been one of the greatest providential agencies for the spread of the gospel. 3. On the apostles. It was a discipline only paralleled by that which followed the crucifixion; but through it they were to become better leaders, and God would take care of His Church. They met the trial nobly. They stayed at their posts. The influence of their constancy upon the Christians, and also upon their enemies, must have been very great. 4. Upon the devout Jews. The persecution tested them. At the peril of their lives they paid the murdered man the reverence of burial. So the death of Jesus brought out Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. 5. On Saul. Upon him the impression was deep. His reference to the part he had had in the murder, when he was in his trance at Damascus, shows it. One of the goads against which, from that time, he kicked in vain, was then buried in his heart. The immediate result was to infuriate him. But he had received his death-wound. The cord of love held him. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)The first martyrdom Note-- I. Stephen’ s faith. He did not say, “ All these things are against me” ; if Christ had designed to own my work, He would not thus have cut it short; if this be the manner in which Christ’ s cause prospers below, how can I believe that He Himself lives and reigns above? Never was his faith so strong, or his vision so unclouded. While his enemies are rushing upon him he is rapt above earth and earthly things, and privileged to behold his beloved Master Himself standing at the right hand of God. II. His hope. In the midst of the uproar of angry voices, and of the flight of stupefying, crushing stones, he is calling upon his Master, not as a mere expression of pain or disquietude or weakness; or as the ignorant ejaculations sometimes heard from a sinner’ s deathbed, when for the first time the grasp of a mightier power is felt, which must be propitiated by abject invocation: not thus, but in the tone of one who “ knows whom he has believed.” III. His charity. As the mangled frame begins to totter to its dissolution, the dying martyr kneels. That posture with which we allow any little excuse to interfere, which many of us never practise even in God’ s house, which few of us would practise in a season of pain or sickness, he deemed the fittest attitude even for a dying man: he would honour God with his body as well as with the spirit: and then he cries aloud, in the hearing of his enemies still thirsting for his blood, “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!” He prays not, as some have done, that the murderers may find out their sin one day in punishment--not even that his blood may produce a speedy and an abundant harvest, but that that cruel deed may never be weighed in God’ s balances against its perpetrators. Thus he prayed, and in one case at least we know that his prayer was heard and answered. IV. His composure. He was laid to rest. He was lulled to slumber. The word itself is enough to take the sting from death. The ease of St. Stephen himself may assure us that no circumstances of death can prevent its being this to a Christian. It matters not whether the cause of death be disease or accident, the weapon of war or the stroke of the executioner. It matters not whether the scene of death be the house or the roadside, the field of battle or the desolate prison-house. There are three conditions of such a death. It must be--1. A rest from labour. “ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,” etc. (1) An idle, desultory, self-indulgent life has earned no rest. Night may come to such a life, but not the sweet sleep of the healthily wearied labourer. (2) Again, a rest from what labour? Not from common worldly occupations, such as have their reward (if anywhere) here, and have nothing stored up for them in the world unseen. He who would rest in Christ must first have wrought in Christ. It is Christ’ s labourer, not the world’ s, who, when he dies, falls asleep. 2. A rest with Christ. “ I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.” “ While we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” 3. A rest unto rising. A sleep not to be again broken is death, not sleep. A sleep only to be broken by terrific Suffering is no sleep: it is a frightful dream, a horrible nightmare. Such is the death of the wicked. (Dean Vaughan.)Stephen’ s martyrdom True Christian zeal will seek to do the highest work of which sanctified humanity is capable. Stephen is first heard of as a distributor of the alms of the Church to needy widows. Doubtless he used the office of a deacon well, and so purchased to himself a good degree. Although the onerous duty of serving tables might well have excused him from other service, we soon find him doing great wonders among the people; and not even content with that, we see him defending the faith against a synagogue of subtle philosophical deniers of the truth. He had a higher promotion yet--he gained the peerless dignity of martyrdom. Put a man without zeal into the front place, and he will gradually recede into his native insignificance, or only linger to be a nuisance; but put a man into the rear, if his soul be full of holy fire, you will soon hear of him. Observe I. The power of the Holy Spirit as developed in Stephen’ s death, in order that we may learn to rely upon that power. This power is seen in--1. The fact that although surrounded by bitter enemies, and having no time for preparation, Stephen’ s defence is wonderfully logical, clear, and forcible. This chapter does not read like an address delivered to a furious mob. He could not have delivered it with greater fearlessness had he been assured that they would thank him for the operation. To what do we trace this mouth and wisdom but to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Ghost exerts such a power over the human mind, that when it is His will, He can enable His servants to collect their scattered thoughts, and to speak with unwonted power. Moreover, the Lord can also touch the stammering tongue, and make it as eloquent as the tongue of Esaias. When we can study the Word, it is mere presumption to trust to the immediate inspiration of the moment; but if any one of you be called to speak for your Master when you can have had no preparation, you may confidently depend upon the Spirit of God to help. It is better to be taught of the Holy Spirit than to learn eloquence at the feet of masters of rhetoric. The Spirit of God needs to be honoured in the Church in this respect. 2. The manner and bearing of the martyr. He gazes steadfastly up into heaven. They may gnash their teeth, but they cannot disturb that settled gaze. What he beholds above makes him careless of the bloodthirsty foes below. The bearing of many of the martyrs has been singularly heroic. When the King of France told Bernard Palissy that, if he did not change his sentiments, he should be compelled to surrender him to the Inquisition, the brave potter said to the king, “ You say I shall be compelled, and yet you are a king; but I, though only a poor potter, cannot be compelled to do other than I think to be right.” The potter was more royal than the king. Now if you and I desire to walk among the sons of men without pride, but yet with a bearing that is worthy of our calling and adoption, we must be trained by the Holy Ghost. Those men who go cap-in-hand to the world, asking leave to live, know nothing of the Holy Ghost. 3. His calm and happy spirit. It is a great thing for a Christian to keep himself quiet within when turmoil rules without. To be calm amid the bewildering cry, confident of victory--this is so hard that only the Divine Dove, the Comforter, can bring us from above the power to be so; but when once the art of being still is fully learned, what strength and bliss is in it! 4. His holy and forgiving temper. He knelt down, as if to make them see how he prayed, and then he prayed with a loud voice, that they might hear. Surely this is a work of the Holy Spirit indeed! We find it not altogether easy to live at peace with all men, but to die at peace with our murderers, what shall I say of it? The prayer we have just mentioned did not die in the air; it passed through the gate of pearl, and it obtained an answer in the conversion of Saul. II. The source of richest comfort, with the hope that we may learn to look there. It was the end and aim of the Holy Spirit to make Stephen happy. How could this be done? By revealing to him the living and reigning Saviour at the right hand of God. If we have like precious faith with Stephen, since it is a great fact that Christ is there, there is no reason why oar faith should not see what Stephen’ s faith saw. He saw--1. That Jesus was alive. He was not serving a dead Christ; he was speaking for a Friend who still existed to hear his pleadings, and to accept his testimony. Stephen argued within himself, “ If Christ lives after crucifixion, why should not Stephen live, through Christ, after stoning?” 2. That Jesus saw him and sympathised with him. Is not that the meaning of the attitude which the Lord assumed? The Man of Sorrows is alive, and sympathises with His people still. “ In all your affliction He is afflicted.” 3. Jesus standing at the right hand of God. That was the point in dispute. The Jews said the Nazarene was an impostor. “ No,” said Stephen, “ there He is.” The people rage, the rulers take counsel together, but yonder is the King upon the holy hill of God; and to Stephen’ s heart this was all he wished. I have known what it is to be brought so low in heart, that no promise of God’ s Word gave me a ray of light, nor a gleam of comfort, and yet, so often as I have come across this text, “ Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him,” etc., I have always found a flood of joy bursting into my soul, for I have said, “ Well, it is of no consequence what may become of me so long as my Lord Jesus is exalted.” Like the dying soldier in the hour of battle, who is cheered with the thought, “ The general is safe; the victory is on our side.” I would like to put this telescope, then, to the eye of every sorrowing Christian. Your Saviour is exalted-- (1) To intercede for you.(2) To prepare a place for you.(3) As your representative. Because He lives, we shall live also. III. The comfort itself. We do not find that the appearance of Jesus stopped the stones. That is the plan of the present dispensation. The Lord Jesus does not come to us to forbid our suffering, nor to remove our griefs, but He sustains us under them. “ My grace is sufficient for thee.” How sweetly is Stephen’ s triumph pictured in those last words, “ He fell asleep.” This is the life of a Christian. When the world has been most in arms against a believer, it is wonderful how he has rested with perfect composure in the sight of his enemies. This shall be the death of the Christian. He shall shut his eyes to earth and open them to heaven. His body shall but sleep, to be awakened by the heavenly trumpeter. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Stephen’ s martyrdom On reviewing the whole narrative we cannot fail to be struck with three things--1. The professed patrons of religion engaged in banishing it from the world. The peculiar enormity of the crime is that it was done in the name of religion. 2. The most eminent future apostle accessory to the death of the most eminent disciple. This teaches us-- (1) How the conscience may be perverted. An action is not necessarily right because the author believes it to be so. (2) How concealed the spirituality of the law may be from its most diligent student. Some knew its letter, but had not learned the alphabet of its spirit. “ The letter killeth.” (3) How sovereign and almighty is the grace of God. Christ selected Saul to become His apostle, and the martyrdom of Stephen was one of the causes of His conversion. “ He is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham.” 3. The most useful man of his time allowed to be stoned out of the world as a blasphemer. Stephen appears in two opposite lights--as a victim and as a victor. Though crushed he yet conquered-illustrating the dark and bright sides of piety. I. The dark side. Stephen dying under a shower of stones. The world has ever hated vital Christianity. Two causes led to this result--1. He held convictions which clashed with the prejudices and worldly interests of his contemporaries. 2. He faithfully declared those convictions. Had he kept them to himself, compromised them, or toned them down to the corrupt spirit of his age, he would have avoided such an end as this. II. The bright side. Piety looked upon from the world’ s side is rather a miserable object--but not so when viewed from the spiritual side.1. Stephen was in vital connection with God. He was “ filled with the Holy Ghost.” 2. He had a glorious vision of heaven. Having God within him, everything was full of divinity. 3. His spirit was inspired with the sublimest magnanimity. 4. He had a delightful departure from the world. (1) He commended his spirit to Christ. This prayer implies-- (a) Consciousness that he had a spirit. (b) Belief that that spirit would survive his expiring body. (c) Unbounded faith in Christ to take care of his spirit. (2) He fell asleep. Implying-- (a) A welcome rest. (b) An anticipated rising. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The martyrdom of Stephen I. What was the secret of his meekness and his bravery? There must have been some Divine bestowment. Was it, then, some miraculous gift reserved for some specially chosen man? The secret lies in the fact that he was “ full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.” He did not leap into this character. There was no special charm by which these graced clustered round him: they were the gift of God to him as they are to us. The only difference between us and him is that he grasped the blessing with a holier boldness, and lived in a closer communion with God. It was not physical hardiness then. There are men whose bravery no one dare question, who have yet beer the veriest cowards in the face of moral duty, and vice versa. The Duke of Wellington once despatched two officers on a service of great hazard, and as they were riding the one turning to the other saw his lips quivering and his cheek blanched. Reining in his horse he said, “ Why, you are afraid.” “ I am,” was the answer; “ and if you were half as much afraid as I am, you would relinquish the duty altogether.” Without wasting a word the officer galloped back and complained bitterly that he had been sent in the company of a coward. “ Off, sir, to your duty,” was the duke’ s reply, “ or the coward will have done the business before you get there.” And the great man was right. There was physical timidity, perhaps the result of a highly-wrought nervous organisation, but there was an imperial regard for duty which bore him above his fears to triumph. Yes; and Church history can tell us many a story of sufferings endured for Christ by delicate and high-born womanhood. Martyrs are what they are from the “ demonstration of the Spirit and power.” II. The lot of the Christian is ordinarily an inheritance of persecution. There was nothing in Stephen’ s character to arouse hostility. But he was faithful, and his reproofs stung his adversaries to the quick; he was consistent, and his life was a perpetual rebuke to those who lived otherwise; he was unanswerable, and that was a crime too great to be forgiven.1. Persecution has been the lot of the Church in all ages. The prophets were scoffed, and some of them were slain. Nearly all the apostles wove the martyr’ s amaranth into their crown of thorns. Rome pagan persecuted, so has Rome papal, and even churches of purer faith. 2. But apart from ecclesiasticism altogether “ they that will live godly must suffer persecution.” The developments of the persecuting spirit are restrained by the advance of enlightenment, the decorums of society, the interlacings of interest, the silent unrecognised leaven of Christian faith; but depend upon it, if you are a Christian the world hates you and your practice still. The father may interpose to prevent his child’ s devotion, the husband withdraw his wife’ s privileges, or the custom may be withdrawn, the preferment withheld, the suspicion insinuated. There are a thousand ways by which the latent hate may be shown--in the shrug of the shoulder, the curl of the lip, the glance of the eye, the wave of the hand. 3. If you are persecuted take it as a proof of your legitimacy. I wonder almost whether the reason that there is so little persecution now is that there is so little faithfulness. Unfaithfulness to the Christian is like the Deluge to the world--a flood to drown it: persecution to the Christian spirit is like the Deluge to the ark--a flood to lift it nearer to heaven. III. Strength and grace are always given most liberally where they are most needed. In the early part of Stephen’ s life, when acting as deacon and evangelist, he had grace according to his day. When before the council the Spirit inspired his unpremeditated speech and gave him a vision of glory. And now amid the shower of stones he lay his head upon his Saviour’ s bosom and went triumphant home. “ As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Have you not heard from the lips of the now glorified that the time of their fiercest trial was the time of their most glorious deliverance? Have you not listened sometimes in the death-chamber, and wondered at the disclosures of the realities of heaven? IV. Death is not death to a believer. “ He fell asleep.” When men sleep they usually surround themselves with the most favourable circumstances. They demand quiet, they exclude light and sound. Stephen fell in circumstances very different, but when God wills a man to sleep it does not matter how much noise there is around him. In sleep there is--1. Repose. 2. Security. Men do not usually commit themselves to slumber without some prospect of safety; so there was security for Stephen’ s body in the grave and his soul in paradise. 3. Restoration; for after the night comes the morning. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)The death of Stephen Observe-- I. The malignant excitement of the Jewish council. We are shocked at the wickedness of which the heart of man is capable. It has many manifestations; but in no case is it so strongly marked as in the contrasts presented in instances of religious persecution. On the one hand, there is everything to conciliate regard; and on the other, there are the worst of passions. But how is this to be accounted for? Enmity to the truth of God; and hatred to them who hold it. Yet, think not that this spirit is confined to ages of persecution. It exists in ages of professed liberality. Be faithful witnesses of the truth; and you will see the enmity, and often hear the growl of the savage within, though chained. Be faithful to yourselves; and you will often find when truth and its preachers press hard upon your errors, the inquiry rising, “ Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” II. The attitude of the martyr.1. The fact that he was “ full of the Holy Ghost” intimates that he had in that moment a special visitation of Divine strength and comfort. How often does this appear in the Bible! Hence St. Paul remarks, “ We glory in tribulations also.” When the three Hebrew children were cast alive into the burning fiery furnace, “ one like unto the Son of God” appeared amongst them, so that not a hair of their heads was singed. When St. John was banished to the Isle of Patmos he was favoured with the presence of his glorified Lord and of the holy angels. All these facts are designed to teach us that the Lord is “ a very present help in the time of trouble.” 2. The immediate effect of this visitation was, that “ he looked up stedfastly into heaven,” a devout committal of his cause into a supreme hand. A man whose eye is fixed on heaven tramples equally underfoot the smiles and the frowns of earth. Here is no defiance, no retreating of man into himself in search of natural courage or other principles to sustain him. In Christian heroism man goes out of himself to a higher power, and becomes mighty through God. III. The vision vouchsafed to him. How appropriate it was to the two great purposes which to him were so important in that hour!1. To confirm his faith. Whether he had seen our Lord before does not appear; but he now saw Him in His glory. Here was faith rewarded and confirmed by the evidence of vision; just as all true faith shall finally be rewarded. For true faith fixes upon the reality of things. They exist, though the distance which separates time from eternity intervenes; and God does not work a miracle, as in the case of Stephen, to enable us to see. Still they are there, and the faith which the world despises shall be crowned with the glorious sight. Ah! how soon may God lift the veil and let the saint into the anticipated glories, and plunge the sinner into the forgotten horrors of eternity! 2. To inspire courage and comfort. It was a vision of Jesus-- (1) At the place of power and authority; everything below, therefore, was under His management and control. If the sovereign Lord permitted his enemies to destroy him, it was the part of the servant to bow. Still He is at the right hand of power, to control the rage of man, to choose the moment when His servant should thus glorify Him, to afford him almighty succour, to turn his death into a means of furthering His own eternal truth, and by opening His glory to receive his spirit. (2) Standing and looking down upon him. How could he then faint? There was Christ tacitly exhorting him by His look, “ Be thou faithful unto death,” etc. He looks upon us; let us take care that we sin not. He requires of us patiently to bear the cross, and to suffer with resignation. He will give us the help we need. Let us look to Him in habitual reverence and stedfast trust. IV. His death It was a death of--1. Prayer. He died calling upon God. No former grace was then sufficient, although important; for he knew how to call upon God. Let us now learn the habit of prayer. We shall need it to our last struggle. 2. Faith. Christ was recognised by the dying martyr, and into His hands the soul was commended. 3. Certainty. In the mind of Stephen there was no gloom as to the future. “ And now, O ye judges,” said Socrates, “ ye are going to live, and I am going to die. Which of these is best, God knows; but I suppose no man does.” “ I am going to take a leap in the dark!” exclaimed an infidel in the prospect of dissolution. The despairing sinner trembles at the sight of the great gulf. It is your privilege to die like Stephen. 4. Charity. A soul ripe for heaven can have no resentments. 5. Peace. “ He fell asleep.” (R. Watson.)The death of Stephen It is a glorious thing to be the first t achieve some great work--the first mariner to sail into an unknown sea, or the first soldier to mount the breach, and enter the beleaguered city--but nobler still to be the first to bear witness to a great truth, and to seal the testimony with one’ s blood. This honour was enjoyed by Stephen. In the story of his martyrdom we see-- I. A victim conquering. Stephen’ s murderers seemed to get the victory, yet in reality they were vanquished. No wonder that their victim triumphed, for persecution is always a sign of weakness. Persecution is always an attempt to accomplish the impossible. It is an endeavour to effect spiritual ends by physical means. Not all the Acts of Parliament, decrees of magistrates, rage of princes in the world can crush the soul that is strengthened by the grace of God. The martyr triumphs over his foes. II. A witness testifying. Stephen’ s martyrdom was an argument for Christianity.1. He bore testimony to the facts of the gospel story. What a convincing proof of the reality of these events! 2. He bore testimony to the power of the living Saviour. Nothing can inspire such enthusiasm and devotion as a person can excite. III. A hero crowned.1. A radiant vision. “ I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man,” etc. The spirit-world is nearer than we often think. If our powers were developed, what spiritual glories would flash upon us! 2. A celestial spirit. “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” --the martyr’ s prayer for his murderers. How unlike the world’ s spirit of revenge! 3. A profound peace. “ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” How striking the contrast between Stephen’ s calmness and the fierce excitement of his persecutors! (T. W. Mays, M. A.)The death of Stephen Let us regard this as refuting some practical mistakes. I. That character will save a man from harm. That would be so in certain conditions of society, but those conditions are not present in our life. Stephen was a man of blameless character, yet when he was called upon to make his defence, and had made it, his character went for nothing. The meanest criminal could not have received more malignant treatment. A bad world cannot tolerate good men. If we were better we should be the sooner got rid of. It is our gift of compromise that keeps us going. II. That truth needs only to be heard in order to be recognised and accepted. But show where truth has ever been crowned readily. Truth spoken to the true will always be so received, but truth spoken to the false challenges a contest of strength. III. That regularly constituted authorities must be right. You smile at the suggestion that one odd man can have the truth, and seventy regularly trained and constitutionally appointed men do not know the reality of the case in dispute. The Church must be right; we cannot allow ourselves to be bewildered and befooled by eccentric reformers and by individual assailants. All history reverses such opinions. The truth, it would seem, has always been with the one man. The moment another man joins him he is less than he was before. The sense of individual responsibility is almost lost. The Almighty seems to have elected the individual man, and through him to have spoken to the crowd or the race. But he has not God’ s message simply because he happens to be one. You are not great because you are eccentric. You are not wise because you are solitary. But being called and inspired, having the assurance of the truth, and being prepared to establish that assurance by daily sacrifice, go forward, and at the last the vindication will come. IV. That personal deliverance in trial is the only possible providence. That is the very idea that would recur to the simplest mind that could look at the case. It is the first rush at a popular riddle; but there is nothing in that answer. If that were God’ s method there would never be any need of deliverance at all. There must be something grander than this. The miracle was wrought within. “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Any miracle of merely personal deliverance set side by side with that miracle of grace would be an anti-climax and a pitiful commonplace. Any religion that will evoke such a spirit in its believers, and lead them under such circumstances to offer such prayers, needs no vindication of its divinity. V. That life is limited by that which is open to the eyes of the body. It would have been a poor case for Stephen but for the invisible. “ If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.” Moses endured as seeing the invisible. Stephen said, “ I see heaven opened,” etc. “ Blessed are the pore in heart, for they shall see God.” In great dangers God shows us great sights. What did Elisha ask the Lord to do in the case of the young man who saw the gathering hosts surrounding his prophet master? “ Lord, open his eyes that he may see.” That is all we want. The enemy is near: but the friend is nearer. Stephen’ s spiritual faith made him forget that he had a body. Think of trusting his spirit to a God that had allowed his body to be killed! This is the sublimity of faith. When the spirit is inspired, when heaven is opened, when Christ rises to receive the guest, there is no flesh, there is no pain, there is no consciousness but in the presence of God, the absorption of the heart in the infinite love. When the heart seizes God as an inheritance it fears not them that kill the body. (J. Parker, D. D.)Stephen’ s death I. Its general character.1. It was in the midst of his service. He had been appointed an officer of the Church to see that the alms were distributed properly, and thereby he did most useful service, for it gave the apostles opportunity to give themselves wholly to their true work, and it is no small matter to be able to bear a burden for another if he is thereby set free for more eminent service than we could ourselves perform. The care which Stephen exercised over the poor tended also to prevent heartburning and division. Bat, not content with being a deacon, Stephen began to minister in holy things as a speaker of the Word with great power. He stands forth as quite a leading spirit; so much so, indeed, that the enemies of the gospel made him the object of their fiercest opposition. Stephen stood in the front rank of the Lord’ s host, and yet he was taken away! “ A mystery,” say some; “ A great privilege,” say I. Is it not well to die in harness? Who wants to linger till he becomes a burden rather than a help? 2. In the prime of his usefulness. And is not this well? Well, first, that God should teach His people how much He can do by a man whom He chooses; well, next, that He should show them that He is not dependent upon any man. If our life can teach one lesson, and when that is taught, if our death can teach another, it is well to live and well to die. If God be glorified by our removal, is it not well? 3. It was painful, and attended with much that flesh and blood would dread. He died not surrounded by weeping friends, but by enemies who gnashed their teeth; no holy hymn made glad his death chamber, but the shouts and outcries of a maddened throng rang in his ears. For him no downy pillow, but the hard and cruel stones. Now this is all the more for our comfort, because if he died in joy and triumph, how much more may we hope to depart in peace! 4. It was calm, peaceful, confident, joyous. He never flinched while addressing that infuriated audience. He was as calm as the opened heaven above him, and continued so though they hurried him out of the city. He stood up and committed his soul to God with calmness, and when the first murderous stones felled him to the earth he rose to his knees, still not to ask for pity, but to plead with his Lord for mercy upon his assailants; then, closing his eyes, “ he fell asleep.” Believe, then, O Christian, that if you abide in Christ, the like will be the case with you. We wept when we were born though all around us smiled; so shall we smile when we die while all around us weep. Why should we expect it to be otherwise? Stephen’ s God is our God; the Holy Spirit dwells in us even as He did in him. 5. His mind was in a very elevated condition, Remark-- (1) His intense sympathy with God. All through that long speech of his you see that his soul is taken up with his God, and the treatment which he had received from Israel. (2) His exclusive attachment to the spiritual. All ritualism was clean gone from him. I dare say at one time Stephen felt a great reverence for the temple; but Stephen says, “ Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” It is noteworthy how the saints, when they are near to die, make very little of what others make a great deal of. The peculiar form of worship and the little specialities of doctrines which he made much of, will seem little in comparison with the great spiritual essentials when the soul is approaching the presence chamber of the Eternal. (3) His superiority to the fear of men. He looks like an immortal angel rather than a man condemned to die. The fitter we are for heaven the more we scorn all compromise, and feel that for truth, for God, for Christ, we must speak out, even if we die. (4) His freedom from all cares. He was a deacon, but he does not say, “ What will those poor people do? What will the apostles do?” He trusts the Church militant with her Captain; he is called to the Church triumphant. Why should it not be thus with us? Our Lord managed His Church well enough before we were born; He will not be at a loss because He has called us home. (5) His triumphant death. His name was Stephanos, or crown, and truly that day he not only received a crown, but he became the crown of the Church as her first martyr. II. Its most notable peculiarity. It was full of Jesus. Jesus was--1. Seen-- (1) As the Son of Man. This is the only place in Scripture where Jesus is called the Son of Man by any one but Himself. At all times it is a gladsome sight to see the representative Man exalted to the throne of God, but it was peculiarly suitable for this occasion, for the Lord Himself had warned the present audience about “ the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power.” (2) Standing--eager both to sustain and to receive him when the conflict was over. (3) At the right hand of God, the place of love, power, and honour. Now, when we come to die, we may not, perhaps, expect with those eyes to see what Stephen saw, but faith has a grand realising power. So long as we are sure that Christ is at the right hand of God, it little matters. 2. Invoked. Dying Christians are not troubled with questions as to the Deity of Christ. Unitarianism may do to live with, but it will not do to die with. At such a time we need an Almighty Saviour. (1) Stephen makes no mention of any other intercessor. The abomination of saint and angel worship had not been invented in his day. (2) Neither do we find him saving a word as to his good works, and almsdeeds, and sermons, and miracles. 3. Trusted. “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 4. Imitated, for the death of Stephen is a reproduction of the death of Jesus. Jesus died without the gate, praying, so did Stephen; Jesus died saying, “ Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit” ; Stephen says, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Christ dies pleading for His murderers, so does Stephen. Now, if our death shall be a reproduction of the death of Jesus, why need we fear? III. Its suggestion as to the kind of death which we may wisely desire. First, it is very desirable that our death should be--1. Of a piece with our life. Stephen was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost in life, and so was he full of the Holy Ghost in death; Stephen was bold, brave, calm, and composed, in life, he is the same amid the falling stones. It is very sad when the reported account of a man’ s death does not fit in with his life. It is ill to die with a jerk, getting as it were upon another line of rails all on a sudden. It is better to glide from one degree of grace to another, and so to glory. Death may be the fringe or border of life, but it should he made out of the same piece. A life of clay is not to be joined to a death of gold. 2. The perfecting of our whole career, the putting of the cornerstone upon the edifice, so that when nothing else is wanted to complete he man’ s labours he falls asleep. 3. Useful. Augustine says, “ If Stephen had never prayed, Saul had never preached.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Stephen’ s death a witness to vital Christian truth I. The character of Stephen; or what manner of man he was: “ full of the Holy Ghost.” Now this Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of all “ the Israel of God “ (John 14:25-26). What can be plainer, than that here is a Person distinct from either the Father and the Son, but intimately connected with both? And that He is not a principle, but a person. In this view, “ the fruits of the Spirit” are to be always distinguished from the Spirit itself; the gifts are not to be confounded with the Giver; the Spirit of faith will make a man die contentedly; the Spirit of purity will make him die composedly; the Spirit of truth will make him die consistently; the Spirit of comfort will make him die happily; the Spirit of might will make him die triumphantly. II. His confidence; or what he did: “ He looked up stedfastly into heaven.” Not only looked towards, but into, as one who had “ cast his anchor of hope within the veil,” and knew, therefore, where again to find it.1. “ He looked up,” we cannot doubt, with longing desire to be there. 2. With great indifference to all things here below. We would not tolerate neglect of your proper concerns; but the hour cometh when the possession of the whole world, will be of no avail; when its opinions can no longer influence, when its interests can no longer bind, when its friendships can no longer profit, and when its pleasures can no longer charm. If, then, you cannot “ look up stedfastly into heaven” for comfort, ah! you have nowhere else to look! 3. In prayer. Stephen knew that a martyr’ s grace was needful to a martyrs constancy. “ He prayed,” therefore, for himself; but also for his murderers--“ Holy hands must be lifted up without wrath or doubting.” III. His vision and encouragement; or what he saw--1. “ The glory of God, and Jesus.” As “ the glory of God” is seen most, resplendent in “ the face (or person) of Jesus Christ,” this was most probably the view with which his soul was blest. Somewhat of this, too, Esaias saw when at the surpassing brightness even the seraphim did “ ceil their faces with their wings.” 2. Jesus “ standing at the right hand of God,” amidst His shining hosts, sovereign and supreme, arising in order to be the first to receive the dying martyr’ s spirit; standing, as a priest “ who standeth daily ministering,” to offer up this “ sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour” ; standing, as a judge of masteries at the end of the goal or conflict, to hail the triumph of the candidate, and Himself confer the victor’ s crown! IV. His avowal; or, “ what he said.” “ Behold, I see the heavens opened,” etc. Here, then, St. Stephen gives a testimony to--1. The Trinity; for he himself was “ full of the Holy Ghent” : he saw the “ glory of God” the Father, and this manifested in Jesus standing at His right hand. He declared also-- 2. Christ’ s humanity--“ Son of Man.” His faith and hope of admission into heaven: “ I see heaven opened.” Can there be a doubt but that there is “ an open door, which no man can shut,” proposed to us? “ When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” V. His adoration; or whom it was he worshipped. “ They stoned Stephen, invocating and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Jesus, therefore, was the object of his adoration; He was the only God he invocated, and at his last extremity of suffering and distress--a period when, if ever, men pray with the utmost seriousness, and always to Him whom they conceive to be the mightiest to help. Nor is it an immaterial circumstance that this invocation was made at the very time when Stephen “ saw the glory of the Father, and was himself full of the Holy Ghost” ; so that neither ignorance nor inadvertency nor imperfection could occasion it. And as if conscious, too, that He who could succour could equally forgive, he prayed again to Christ--“ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” (W. B. Williams, M. A.)The massacre Stephen had been preaching a rousing sermon, and the people could not stand it. They resolved to do as men sometimes would like to do in this day, if they dared, with some plain preacher of righteousness--kill him. I want to show you to-day five pictures. Stephen-- I. Gazing into heaven. Before you climb a ladder you want to know to what point the ladder reaches. And it was right that Stephen, within a few moments of heaven, should be gazing into it. We would all do well to be found in the same posture. There is enough in heaven to keep us gazing. The whole universe is God’ s palace, but heaven is the gallery in which the chief glories are gathered. We have a great many friends there. As a man gets older, the number of his celestial acquaintances very rapidly multiplies. We have not had one glimpse of them since the night we kissed them good-bye and they went away; but still we stand gazing at heaven. II. Looking upon Christ. How Christ looked in this world, how He looks in heaven, we cannot say. Painters have tried to imagine His features, and put them upon canvas; but we will have to wait until with our own eyes we see Him. And yet there is a way of seeing Him now, and unless you see Christ on earth, you will never see Him in heaven. Look! There He is. Behold the Lamb of God. Can you not see Him? Then pray to God to take the scales off your eyes. His voice comes down to you, saying, “ Look unto Me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved.” Proclamation of universal emancipation for all slaves, of universal amnesty for all rebels. Behold Him, little children, for if you live to threescore years and ten, you will see none so fair. Behold Him, ye aged ones, for He only can shine through the dimness of your failing eyesight. Behold Him, earth. Behold Him, heaven. What a moment when all the nations of the saved shall see Him! III. Stoned. The world has always wanted to get rid of good men. Their very life is an assault upon wickedness. Out with Stephen through the gates of the city. Down with him over the precipices. Let every man come and drop a stone upon his head. But these men did not so much kill Stephen as they killed themselves. While these murderers are transfixed by the scorn of all good men, Stephen lives in the admiration of all Christendom. Show me any one who is doing all his duty to State or Church, and I will show you scores of men who utterly abhor him. If a steamer makes rapid progress through the waves, the water will boil and foam all round it. You may assault a good man, but you cannot kill him. On the day of his death, Stephen spoke before a few people of the Sanhedrin; this Sabbath morning he addresses all Christendom! IV. Praying. His first thought was not how the stones hurt his head, nor what would become of his body. His first thought was about his spirit. “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” There is within you a soul. What direction will it take? What guide will escort it? What gate will open to receive it? Oh, this mysterious spirit i It has two wings, but it is in a cage now, but let the door of this cage open the least, and that soul is off. The lightnings are not swift enough to take up with it. And have you no anxiety about it? Thank God for the intimation of my text, that when we die Jesus takes us. In that hour it may be we shall be too feeble to say a long prayer, not even the “ Lord’ s Prayer,” for it has seven petitions. Perhaps we ms.y be too feeble to say the infant prayer our mothers taught us, but this prayer of Stephen is so short, concise, earnest, comprehensive, we surely will be able to say that. V. Asleep. What a place to sleep in! Stephen had lived a very laborious life. But that is all over now. I have seen the sea driven with the hurricane until the tangled foam caught in the rigging, and wave rising above wave seemed as if about to storm the heavens, and then I have seen the tempest drop, and the waves crouch, and everything become smooth and burnished as though a camping place for the glories of heaven. So I have seen a man, whose life has been tossed and driven, coming down at last to an infinite calm, in which there was the hush of heaven’ s lullaby. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Acts 7:58 And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’ s feet, whose name was Saul. Stephen and Saul I. Stephen. The picture of a dying saint.1. He enjoys the Divine presence and power (Acts 7:55), “ Full of the Holy Ghost.” The power of God was present when His faithful servant was passing through the flood. 2. He is lifted above the consciousness of earthly surroundings, enemies, and gnashing teeth. 3. He enjoys a full view of heavenly glory (Acts 7:55). He saw in that hour what many would have given their all to see, the vision of his glorified Redeemer. 4. He shows the spirit of his Master (Acts 7:60). 5. He has a peaceful death, though dying by violence. “ He fell asleep,” though the storm of stones was crashing upon him. 6. He leaves a blessed memory (Acts 7:2). Though dead he was not forgotten. Godly men mourned him, and many years afterward his name was remembered (Acts 22:1-30.). Greater still, his influence endured; for the whole life of Paul was the larger echo of Stephen’ s dying address. II. Saul. We notice in him the picture of an honest persecutor.1. His spirit of leadership (Acts 7:58). The young man Saul already shows himself as a master of men. 2. His sincerity. Saul was faithful to his conviction, even while in the wrong (Galatians 1:13-14; Philippians 3:4-6). 3. His thoroughness. He must carry out his conviction, even to the bitter end. 4. His failure to check the gospel (Acts 7:4). The storm which was intended to destroy the gospel only served to scatter it over new soil and to cause new churches to spring up. Stephen and Saul The meeting here described was a memorable event in the Church’ s history, and suggests to us some important lessons. I. Do not think there are any chance meetings in this strange world of ours.1. It was no accident that Saul was by. This perhaps may be admitted; but never let us think that saints and martyrs live under a different form of Providential government from that of common men. Impiety will sometimes wear the cloak of humility, and talk of worms like ourselves being too insignificant to be watched at every step by the Eye that never sleeps. In such reasoning there is a twofold fallacy, (1) What is little, and what is great? Take into account the wide domain which stretches from God’ s central throne to the farthest limits of creation, and what is our world, and what are the grandest men who move upon its surface? But take into account, on the other hand, responsibility and an immortal nature, and the relation of dependence on an heavenly parent, with all that is involved in the rewards of loyalty and the perils of disobedience; take into account the great redemption, and the universal promise and the inspiriting thought that here God’ s purposes are being worked out, and then what about us is mean? which of us all, if bought with precious blood, can be overlooked and forgotten? (2) Even if some pass for great, and some are reckoned mean, in this strangely varied scene, still the two worlds intermingle at a thousand points. Something that looks little becomes the parent of an evil of portentous magnitude; or a deed, small at first as the mustard-seed, dropped into the ground at a venture, grows into a harvest of blessing by which a nation is enriched. The first link in a chain of events shall be a word spoken at hazard, a journey taken without a motive, a child’ s whim, a fool’ s false reckoning, but the last shall be a city consumed by conflagration, a kingdom convulsed by civil strife, a generation wasted and half devoured by the aggressions of war; yet the first link and the last were as certainly bound together as if an hour’ s interval only had elapsed between the original movement and its final consequences. 2. Saul and Stephen came together that day for good. And as God guided their steps, so God guides ours. You can tell of meetings, some of you, which have coloured your whole life, meetings which you never planned, meetings, it may be, with one unknown to you before, as the apostle was to the martyr, yet never forgotten, because step by step you can trace the occurrences which have grown out of that single interview, and which have done more, perhaps, to influence your condition or your character than all that you have deliberately planned for your own good through half a life. These thoughts are good for us, because the more we own God everywhere, and look on the common working world as His world, shaped by His wisdom, and brightened by His presence, the more diligently and cheerfully shall we do His will. II. We must not think that good teaching or example is like wasted seed, because the fruit is not at once apparent. Stephen died, and little thought who saw him die. His dying scene was like the conqueror’ s march; but even then room would have been found for one emphatic burst of thankfulness--to Him who can make the wrath of man to praise Him--if it had been revealed to him that one, who stood within his view, would soon rank as the champion of the Cross, and a master-builder of Christ’ s Church. He did not reap the harvest, nor see it reaped; yet was he sowing for it when he lived and died so well. So we may do good in the world that we never live to see. What is well done for God is never wholly lost; and half of what we fancy to be wasted may ripen and bear fruit when our course is ended. “ In the morning,” then, “ sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand.” “ The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.” III. Watchful eyes are upon us at all times, and we may be doing good, or doing harm, unconsciously, to some whom we know not now, and never shall know. St. Stephen thought, perhaps, that the men before him were all alike. He did not know that one in that crowd looked on with more eager interest and with deeper feeling than the rest. Nothing was aimed at Saul; for to St. Stephen he was but one of a hundred spectators, probably all strange to him alike; but every word was heard and remembered: and to a thoughtful, inquiring mind, an end that looked so holy must have seemed a wonder, if the dying man were indeed a profane blasphemer. Surely a lesson like that ought not to be lost upon us. If God has taught us by His Spirit, without going out of our way, or setting ourselves up to be preachers, we may wonderfully help the ignorant and ungodly to understand what living Christianity is. We may expound to them what can hardly be learnt from books, by the persuasive eloquence of a holy, consistent example. In the occupations and engagements of common life we may be testifying for God and preaching Christ, as St. Stephen was when he died. It is a blessed service rendered to the cause of truth and righteousness if we stand the test, and because God helped us to act faithfully, and speak wisely, the man shall trust us more henceforth, and receive our message more willingly. On the other hand, fearful mischief will ensue if the life contradict the lips. Parents, masters, remember this, and all of you who become teachers of others in any sense. Numbers, who are dull-sighted in other things, are sharp-sighted to detect the flaw when there is manifest inconsistency between words and deeds. (J. Hampden Gurney, M. A.)Stephen and Saul The Holy Spirit records Stephen’ s martyrdom, but does not enter into details of his sufferings and death, as uninspired recorders would have been so apt to do. The object of the Holy Ghost is not to indulge curiosity nor to harrow the feelings, but to instruct and move to imitation. Note here-- I. A suggested contrast. Stephen and Saul.1. These were both highly earnest, fearless men, yet at this time they were wide as the poles asunder. (1) Stephen spiritual; giving in his address great prominence to the spiritual nature of religion, and the comparative insignificance of its externals (verses 48-50). Saul superstitious, worshipping form and ritual, full of reverence for the temple and the priests, and so forth. (2) Stephen, a humble believer in the Lord Jesus, saved by faith alone. Saul, a self-righteous Pharisee, as proud as he could live. (3) Stephen, defending and vindicating the gospel of Jesus. Saul, giving his countenance, his vote, his assistance in the persecution of the servant of the Lord Christ. 2. Inquire if a Saul is now present. Call him forth by name. (1) Have you been a consenting party to the persecution of good men? You do not object to making Christian men the theme of ridicule. You smile when you hear such ridicule. (2) By your indecision in religion you aid and abet the adversary. In these ways the witnesses lay down their clothes at your feet, and you are their accomplice. II. A singular introduction to true religion. Many have been brought to God by means somewhat similar. The young man, whose name was Saul, met with the religion of Jesus in the person of Stephen, and thus he saw it with the following surroundings--1. The vision of a shining face.2. The hearing of a noble discourse.3. The sight of a triumphant death. These did not convert Saul, but they made it harder for him to be unconverted, and were, no doubt, in after days thought of by him. Let us so introduce religion to men, that the memory of its introduction may be worth their retaining. III. A remarkable instance of the Lord’ s care for His Church. The apostolical succession was preserved in the Church,1. Stephen’ s death was a terrible blow to the cause; but at that moment his successor was close at hand. 2. That successor was in the ranks of the enemy. 3. That successor was far greater than the martyr, Stephen, himself. There is no fear for the Church: her greatest champions, though as yet concealed among her enemies, will be called in due time. The death of her best advocates may assist in the conversion of others. IV. A gracious memorial of repented sin. Did not Paul give Luke this information concerning himself, and cause it to be recorded in the Acts of the Apostles? It was well for Paul to remember his sin before conversion. It will be well for us to remember ours.1. To create and renew feelings of humility.2. To inflame love and zeal.3. To deepen our love to the doctrines of sovereign grace.4. To make us hopeful and zealous for others. Let dying Stephen be cheered by the hope of young Saul’ s salvation. Let wicked young Saul repent of his wrong to Stephen. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen. The clearing shower of life When mists have hung low over the hills, and the day has been dark with intermittent showers, great clouds hurry across the sky, and the rain comes pouring down, then we look out and say, “ This is the clearing-up shower.” And as the clouds part to let the blue sky reappear, we know that just behind them are singing-birds and glittering dew-drops. So the Christian, on whom chilling rains of sorrow have long fallen, when the last sudden storm breaks knows it is but the clearing-up shower. Just behind it he hears the songs of angels and sees the glories of heaven. (H. W. Beecher.)Transfigured stones The stones which the world lifts against the witnesses of Christ are changed into-- I. Monuments of shame for the enemies of truth. II. Jewels in the crowns of the glorified martyrs. III. The seed of a new life for the Church of Christ. (K. Gerok.)Calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.-- Stephen’ s dying prayer This seems to teach us-- I. That stephen regarded Jesus Christ as very God. There are sundry places where this prime doctrine is not so much dogmatically asserted as clearly implied. These are, in one aspect, even more satisfactory than formal assertions, because so obviously sincere expressions of the heart, and show how this cardinal truth is interwoven with the believer’ s whole experience. Our text in the Greek reads, “ They stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” The intention of the evangelist was to state that Christ was the object of his prayer. In every office of the Redeemer the enlightened Christian feels that he could not properly rely on Him for salvation unless He were very God. “ It is because He is God, and there is none else,” that Isaiah invites “ all the ends of the earth to look unto Him and be saved.” But in the hour of death especially the Christian needs a Saviour who is no less than God. An angel could not sympathise with our trial, for he cannot feel the pangs of dissolution. A human friend cannot travel with us the path through the dark valley. The God-man alone can sustain us; He has survived it and returns triumphing to succour us, for He is God. Unless this Divine Guide be with us, we must fight the battle with the last enemy alone and unaided. II. To expect an immediate entrance into the presence of Christ. Stephen evidently did not expect that the grave would absorb his spirit into a state of unconscious sleep until the final consummation; or that any limbus, or purgatory, was to swallow him for a time in its fiery bosom. His faith aspired directly to the arms of Christ, and to that blessed world where His glorified humanity now dwells. He manifestly regarded his spirit as separate from the body, and therefore, as true, independent substance. The latter he relinquishes to the insults of his enemies, the former he commits to Christ. If only we are in Christ by true faith, the grave will have naught to do with that which is the true, conscious being, and no purgatorial fires after death can be inflicted upon believers; for “ Lazarus died and was carried by angels to Abraham’ s bosom.” To the thief it was said, “ This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” “ To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” III. To what guidance the Christian may commit his soul during the journey into the world of spirits. Heaven is as truly a place as was paradise. When we first arrive there we shall be disembodied spirits. But spirits have their locality. The clearer evidence, however, that heaven is a literal place is that it contains the glorified bodies of Enoch, of Elijah, of Christ, and of the saints who rose with their Redeemer. But where is this place? In what quarter of this vast universe? When death batters down the walls of the earthly tabernacle, whither shall the dispossessed soul set out? It knows not; it needs a skilful, powerful guide. But more: it is a journey into a spiritual world; and this thought makes it awful to the apprehension of man. The presence of one disembodied spirit in the solitude of night would shake us with a thrill of dread. How, then, could we endure to be launched out into the untried ocean of space, peopled by we know not what mysterious beings? How could we be certain that we might not lose our way in the pathless vacancy, and wander for ever, a bewildered, solitary rover amidst the wilderness of worlds? This journey into the unknown must issue in our introduction to a scene whose awful novelties will overpower our faculties; for even the very thought of them when we dwell upon it fills us with dreadful suspense. Truly will the trembling soul need some one on whom to lean, some mighty, tender guardian, who will point the way to the prepared mansions, and cheer and sustain its fainting courage. That Guide is Christ; therefore let us say in dying, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” It is a delightful belief to which the gospel gives most solid support, that our Redeemer is accustomed to employ in this mission His holy angels. “ Are they not ministering spirits?” etc. When Lazarus died he was carried by angels to Abraham’ s bosom. IV. The arms of Christ may be looked to as our final home. We are authorised to say, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” ; not only that Thou mayest sustain it in the pangs of dying, and guide it to its heavenly home, but that it may dwell with Thee world without end. “ Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am,” etc. Oh, blessed resting-place! In Thy presence is fulness of joy: at Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. Let us live and die like believing Stephen, and our spirits will be received where the God-man holds His regal court, to go out thence no more for ever. (R. L. Dabney, D. D.)The close of the Christian life I. There is a spirit in man distinct from the body. The body is the habitation of the soul, and only the instrument by which it acts. This is the frame of human nature, and agreeable to the original account of its formation. We find it represented as a principle of life (Genesis 2:7). The dust of the earth was animated by a living soul. The dissolution of our constitution is described by the wise man, agreeably to this account (Ecclesiastes 12:7). It is principle of thought and reason, of understanding and choice (Job 20:2-3; Job 32:8). It is represented as a principle both of natural and religious action: we not only live and move, but worship God in the spirit (John 4:24). It is represented as a distinct thing from the body, and of another kind (Matthew 10:28; Matthew 24:39; 2 Corinthians 4:16). And although we do not know the precise nature of a spirit, or the manner of its union with the body, which is a great mystery in nature; as neither do we the substratum or abstract essence of matter; yet we do know the essential and distinguishing properties of them. The soul is a thinking conscious principle, an intelligent agent, a principle of life and action, which bears a near resemblance of God the Infinite Spirit, and of angels, who are pure unbodied spirits. II. At death the spirit will be separated from the body, and exist apart from it. Though they are closely united to one another in the present state, yet the bonds of union are not indissoluble. But then as it is a vital principle, and all life and action proceeds from the union of soul and body; so the separation of the soul from the body is the death and dissolution of it. It is destroying our present being and way of existing: the body dies and returns to the dust when deserted of the living soul. This is plainly implied here, when Stephen prays, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” ; not only that he had a spirit distinct from the body, but that the spirit was now dislodging, and ready to depart from the body. It was to be then out of the body. So the apostle says (2 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:4; 2 Timothy 4:6). To the same purpose St. Peter says (2 Peter 1:14-15). The separation of soul and body is properly the death of our present nature. This came into the world by sin, and is the proper fruit of it. It is the sentence of the law executed upon the breach of it (Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:19). Our death is appointed by the Divine will, though we know not the day of our death. Nature tends to a dissolution, and gradually wears out, though no evil befall it; and it is liable to many distempers, and many accidents, which often prove fatal, and hasten a separation, III. The Lord Jesus will receive the departing spirits of good men. This was the matter of Stephen’ s payer. And we cannot suppose that he would have prayed in this manner, who was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, if the case had been otherwise; if it did not belong to Him to receive it, or He was not disposed to do it. This is a more distinct and particular account of the matter, and proper to the Christian revelation. In the Old Testament we are only told that the spirit returns to God who gave it, and who is the Father of spirits; but here we are told that the Lord Jesus receives our departing spirits. It is through the Mediator, and by His immediate agency, that the whole kingdom of providence and grace is now administered in all the disposals of life, and the issues of death. But what is the import of His receiving the departed spirits of good men?1. The taking them under His protection and care, He is their Refuge and Guide, to whom they fly, and whom they follow, when they go into a new and unknown state. He preserves the naked trembling spirit by a guard of holy angels from affrightment and amazement, from the terror and power of envious spirits, who would gladly seize it as a prey, and distress and terrify it, as the devil now goes up and down seeking whom he may devour. 2. He conveys them to God, and to a state of blessedness. What this state will be we can have no more clear conceptions than Scripture gives us, and what arises from the natural notions of a spirit, and the essential difference between good and evil. That they are in a state of activity, and in a state of rest and happiness, and vastly different from that of wicked spirits. IV. Christians should commend their departing spirits to Christ by prayer. This was directly the case here, and is the form of the expression, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” This prayer was directed to Christ in His exalted state, standing at the right hand of God, and in the quality of a Mediator, who ever lives to make intercession for us. But upon what grounds may a dying Christian offer up such a prayer to Christ? With what warrant and hope of success? I answer, upon good grounds and sufficient security.1. His great love to the spirits of men. Will He deny us anything when He freely gave His life for us? Will He forsake them at last, and leave them exposed in an unknown state, whom He has preserved all their lives, and wherever they have been in this? 2. His relation to them. He is their Lord and Saviour, their Head; they are His subjects and servants, His members and friends, to whom He stands in a special relation, and who is endeared to them by special marks of favour. And He is concerned in the protection and care of His faithful servants, as a prince is concerned to secure his subjects. 3. His ability and power to take care of them (Hebrews 7:27). 4. His engagements and undertaking. He who by the grace of God tasted death for every man, was to bring the many sons unto glory (Hebrews 2:9-10). And He would fail in His trust if any of them miscarried, and came short of the glory of God. Besides, He is engaged by His promise and faithfulness to preserve and secure them (John 10:28). Inferences:1. That the soul does not die with the body, or sleep in the grave. 2. We should be often thinking and preparing for a time and state of separation. 3. The peculiar happiness of good men, and the great difference between them and others. 4. We learn what is the proper close of a Christian’ s life. When we have finished our course of service, and done the work of life, what remains but the lifting up of our souls to God, and commending them into His hands? (W. Harris, D. D.)Prayer in death Passing inside, they looked toward the bed; Dr. Livingstone was not lying on it, but appeared to be engaged in prayer, and they instinctively drew backward for the instant. Pointing to him, Majwara said, “ When I lay down he was just as he is now, and it is because I find that he does not move that I fear he is dead.” They asked the lad how long he had slept. Majwara said he could not tell, but he was sure that it was some considerable time. The men drew nearer. A candle stuck by its own wax to the top of the box shed a light sufficient for them to see his form. Dr. Livingstone was kneeling by the side of his bed, his body stretched forward, his head buried in his hands upon the pillow. For a minute they watched him; he did not stir, there was no sign of breathing; then one of them--Matthew--advanced softly to him, and placed his hands to his cheeks. It was sufficient; life had been extinct for some time, and the body was almost cold: Livingstone was dead. (Life of Dr. Livingstone.)The martyrdom of Wishart Speaking of the martyrdom of Wishart, in 1546, Mr. Froude writes: “ In anticipation of an attempt at rescue, the castle guns were loaded, and the port-fires lighted. After this, Mr. Wishart was led to the fire, with a rope about his neck and a chain of iron about his middle and when he came to the fire, he sat down upon his knees and rose up again, and thrice he said these words: ‘ O Thou Saviour of the world, have mercy on me. Father of heaven, I commend my spirit into Thy holy hands.’ He next spoke a few words to the people; and then, last of all, the hangman that was his tormentor fell upon his knees and said, ‘ Sir, I pray you forgive me, for I am not guilty of your death’ ; to whom he answered, ‘ Come hither to me,’ and he kissed his cheek and said, ‘ Lo, here is a token that I forgive thee. Do thy office.’ And then he was put upon a gibbet and hanged, and then burned to powder.” Fellowship in death “ Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46). “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). I. Fellowship of suffering. II. Fellowship of vision. III. Fellowship of pity. “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” IV. Fellowship of attitude. With hounding might and “ loud” voices the last enemy was confronted and destroyed. V. Fellowship of burial. Devout duty to the dead. This is the work of the living. Let us bury our friends reverently. They have an undying history. Let us bury our friends sympathetically. They ask a brother’ s interest. Let us bury our friends hopefully. They have a lasting destiny. Lessons:1. This precious coincidence is surely not accidental. 2. Here is a proof of the true humanity of Jesus Christ. We wonder less that Stephen was like the Saviour than that the Saviour was so like Stephen. 3. How completely one are the Lord and His people! “ Thou shalt be with Me.” With Him heaven is not only near, but accessible. 4. Fellowship with Jesus Christ in life is the surest guarantee of His presence in death. (H. T. Miller.)The last request Human history is a record of the thoughts and exploits of human spirits. Wherever we touch the history of spirit, we find it invested with the gravest responsibilities. Wherever we look, we behold memorials of spirit-power. I am anxious to impress you with the fact that you are spirits, and that your history here will determine all your conditions and relationships in the endless ages! I. Man’ s supreme concern should be the well-being of his spirit. Because your spirit--1. Is immortal. Only eternity can satisfy it. It claims the theatre of infinitude! Yet many occupy more time in the adornment of the flesh, which is to turn to corruption, than in the culture of the spirit which no Lomb can confine! You pity the imbecility of the man who estimates the casket more highly than the gem, but your madness is infinitely more to be deplored if you bestow more care on the body than on the soul. 2. Can undergo no posthumous change, whereas the body may. There is no repentance in the grave. “ He that is unjust, let him be unjust still,” etc. Moral change after death is an eternal impossibility. Not so with the body; Christ will change our vile body, and make it like unto His own glorious body. 3. Has been Divinely purchased. “ Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things,” etc. 4. Is capable of endless progress. There is no point at which the spirit must pause and say, “ It is enough!” II. Man is approaching a crisis in which he will realise the importance of his spirit. Stephen was in that crisis when uttering this entreaty. Amid the commotion of the world--the strife for bread and the battle for position--men are apt to overlook the moral claims of their nature. But remember that there hastens a time in which you must give audience to the imperious demands of your spiritual nature! I have visited the prodigal in the chamber of death; and he who was wont to scorn the appeals of Christianity--who had drunk at the broken cisterns of crime--even he has turned upon me his glazed eye, and stammered out with dying breath, “ My soul!” I have stood at the bedside of the departing rich; and he whose aim it was to build around himself a golden wall--who considered no music so entrancing as that produced by the friction of coin--even he has turned his anxious gaze to me, and, with stifled utterance, has said, “ My soul, my soul!” I have watched the votary of fashion--whose ambition it was to bedeck his mortal frame, whose god was elegance, and whose altar the mirror--and even he has wept and cried, “ My naked soul, my naked soul!” I have stood in the chamber where the good man has met his fate: has he displayed anxiety or given way to despair? Nay, he exclaims, “ Into Thy hands I commend my spirit!” Now, seeing that the approach of this momentous hour is an infallible certainty, two duties devolve upon us.1. To employ the best means for meeting its requirements. What are those means? Those who know the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world, emphatically testify that they cannot meet the requirements of the spiritual constitution. Faith in Christ and obedience to His will constitute the true preparation for all the exigencies of life, and the true antidote for the bitterness of death! 2. To conduct the business of life with a view to its solemnities. “ How will this affect my dying hour?” is an inquiry too seldom propounded, but, when conscientiously answered, must produce a powerfully restraining influence on man’ s thoughts and habitudes. Few men connect the present with the future, or reflect that out of the present the future gathers its materials and moulds its character. III. Man knows of one Being only to whom he can safely entrust his sprit--the “ Lord Jesus.” This prayer implies--1. Christ’ s sovereignty of the spiritual empire. Whom does Stephen see? There are ten thousand times ten thousand glorified intelligences in the heaven to which he directs his eyes: but the triumphant martyr sees “ no man but Jesus only.” All souls are Christ’ s. All the spirits of the just made perfect are loyal to His crown. 2. Christ’ s profound interest in the well-being of faithful spirits. He said that He went to “ prepare a place” for His people, and that where He was, there they should be also. Now one of His people proves this. 3. Christ’ s personal contact with departed Christian spirits. Stephen acknowledges no intermediate state; looking from earth, his eye beholds no object until it alights on the Son of Man. Stephen’ s creed was--“ absent from the body, present with the Lord.” 4. Christ’ s unchanging relationship to human spirits. Lord Jesus was the name by which Christ was known on earth. How He was designated in the distant ages of eternity none can tell! But when He uncrowned Himself He assumed the name of Jesus, for He came to save His people from their sins! And now that He has returned to His celestial glory He has not abandoned the name. IV. Man alone is responsible for the eternal condition of his soul. You make your own heaven or hell, not by the final act of life, but by life itself. Your spirit is now undergoing education. Two results ought to be produced by your trials.1. They should discipline your spirit; bring it into harmony with the Divine will, by curbing passion, checking error, rebuking pride. 2. They should develop the capabilities of your spirit. Trials may do this, by throwing you back on great principles. But for trial, we should never know our powers of endurance. Trial brings out the majesty of moral character. (J. Parker, D. D.)Prayer in death A Christian should die praying. Other men die in a way fitting their lives. The ruling passion of life is strong in death. Julius Caesar died adjusting his robes, that he might fall gracefully; Augustus died in a compliment to Livia, his wife; Tiberius in dissimulations; Vespasian in jest. The infidel, Hume, died with pitiful jokes about Charon and his boat; Rousseau with boasting; Voltaire with mingled imprecations and supplications; Paine with shrieks of agonising remorse; multitudes die with sullenness, others with blasphemies faltering on their tongues. But the Christian should die praying; for “ Prayer is the Christian’ s vital breath,” etc. “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! “ This is the prayer of faith, commending the immortal spirit to the covenant care of Jesus. (Homiletic Review.)The sold From this prayer we infer-- I. That man’ s soul survives corporeal death. This was now a matter of consciousness with Stephen. He had no doubt about it, and hence he prays Jesus to take it. This is with all men rather a matter of feeling than argument. The Bible not only addresses this feeling, but ministers to its growth. II. That in death the importance of man’ s soul is especially felt. The “ spirit” was now everything to Stephen. And so it is to all dying men. Death ends all material interests and relations, and the soul grows more and more conscious of itself as it feels its approach to the world of spirits. III. That the well-being of the soul consists in its dedication to Jesus. “ Receive my spirit.” What does this mean?1. Not the giving up of our personality. Such pantheism is absurd. 2. Not the surrender of our free agency. 3. But the placing of its powers entirely at Christ’ s service, and its destiny entirely at His disposal. This implies, of course, strong faith in the kindness and power of Jesus. IV. That this dedication of the soul to Jesus is the one great thought of the earnest saint. It is the beginning and end of religion, or rather the very essence of it. The first breath, and every subsequent respiration, of piety is, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)St. Stephen a worshipper and witness of Jesus, more than conqueror of death and of the world Stephen is not a prodigy. He is aa example; he is a Christian; he is a believer, nothing more; nothing more than all of us would become and be this day if we were followers of his faith. I. He died in charity. II. He died as a true martyr, condemning the world, rearing the cross of Christ. His defence is no apology, as if he were pleading for life, or deprecating either death or their displeasure. Thus in Christ’ s spirit did he go forth, faking up his cross, and confronting all that was not of God in the world and in the Church. III. He died contending as a true martyr for the common, or catholic, faith. His was no sectarian stand, or fight. What was the Christianity for which he pleaded, and for Which he was ready to sacrifice his life against their dead form of godliness, and conventional faith, and mere Judaism? It was a Christianity that revealed the way of access to this living God, and admission to this communion in Jesus Christ; a Christianity that revealed that new and better covenant in which these unspeakable gifts of grace were now published as man’ s birthright, in the faith of which he became alive unto God, the faith of which was eternal life. IV. He died, as he had lived, by faith. That opened his eyes to “ see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” That made his face to the spectators in the council “ as the face of an angel.” The Holy Ghost wrought in him visibly. God thus sealed His martyr’ s ministry by a token which even his murderers could not deny, and said, as audibly as by a voice from heaven, “ Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Stephen-like, men in general, Christians and others, die as they live.1. There are, it is evident, few deathbeds like Stephen’ s. Those who are familiar with the history of the Church in ancient times could cite many a parallel to Stephen among the glorious company of its martyrs and confessors. Nor are modern biographies without instances corresponding or similar. But what are these, or the greater number still of unrecorded triumphs over death and suffering, to the multitudes that are different, to the myriads that furnish a contrast rather than a counterpart? To how few is death without a sting, a conquered enemy! 2. There are, perhaps, as few lives like Stephen’ s as there are deathbeds like his. What is the value of a deathbed testimony, even of triumph like Stephen’ s, if what has gone before has either ill corresponded, or has contradicted? Look at family life, and social life, and Church communion among us, as compared with the fellowship of Stephen’ s day (Acts 2:46-47). We shall then cease to wonder that there are few deathbeds like Stephen’ s. Stephen’ s was but the appropriate close of a consistent life. 3. The spirit, the faith of the Church certainly now is not Stephen’ s, nor like those of the Church of Stephen’ s day. How many fail to claim the fulness of the Holy Ghost, to walk worthily of their vocation by living in the faith of this vocation? 4. Hence the Church’ s weakness--want of faith like Stephen’ s; want of the Holy Ghost. Not a withholding on God’ s part of grace, or of the Spirit, but a want of response, or reciprocal action on ours. We are not straitened in Him, but in ourselves. (R. Paisley.)A watchword for life and death (Text and Psalms 31:5; Luke 23:46.)1. David said in his lifetime, “ Into Thy hand I commit my spirit.” In the hour of torture and dissolution Christ and His servant used almost the same expression. It is not, then, necessarily a dying speech. It is as appropriate to youth as to old age, to the brightness of life as to the shadow of death. 2. The greatest concern of man should be about his spirit. His clothes wear out; his house crumbles away; his body must return to dust: it is in his spirit alone that man finds the supreme possibilities of his being. Care for the spirit involves every other care. Regard the words as supplying-- I. The true watchword for life. Life needs a watchword. Our energies, purposes, hopes, should be gathered round some living and controlling centre. We stray far from the right line when we take ourselves into our own keeping. When we commit our spirit into the hand of God, three results accrue.1. We approach the duties of life through a series of the most elevating considerations. (1) We are not our own.(2) We are parts of a great system.(3) We are servants, not masters.(4) The things round about us are beneath our serious notice, except for momentary convenience or instruction. 2. We accept the trials of life with the most hopeful patience. They are-- (1) Disciplinary.(2) Under control.(3) Needful. 3. We recognise the mercies of life with joyful gratitude. The name of God is on the smallest of them (Psalms 31:7-8; Psalms 31:19). To the atheist the morning is but a lamp to be turned to convenience; to the Christian it is the shining of the face of God. All things are ours if the spirit be Christ’ s. What is your life’ s watchword? Have you one? What is it? Self-enrichment? Pleasure? The one true watchword is, “ Into Thy hands I commit my spirit,” my ease, my controversies, disappointments, whole discipline and destiny. II. The true watchword for death. If a living man requires a watchword, how much more the man who is dying! How strange is the country to which he is moving; how dark the path along which he is travelling; how short a way can his friends accompany him! All this, so well understood by us all, makes death very solemn. This watchword, spoken by Jesus and Stephen, shows--1. Their belief in a state of being at present invisible. Was Christ likely to be deceived? Read His life; study the character of His thinking; acquaint yourselves with the usual tone of His teaching; and then say whether He was likely to die with a lie in His mouth. And Stephen--what had he to gain if no world lay beyond the horizon of the present and invisible? Jesus and Stephen, then, must at least be credited with speak, ing their deepest personal convictions. It is something to us to show who have believed this doctrine. 2. Their assurance of the limitations of human malice. The spirit was quite free. Evil ones cannot touch the Divine side of human nature. Conclusion:1. When the spirit is fit for the presence of God, there is no fear of death.2. All who die in the faith are present with the Lord.3. Jesus Himself knows what it is to pass through the valley of the shadow of death.4. The prayer for entrance among the blest may come too late. We have no authority for the encouragement of a death-bed repentance. It is but poor prayer that is forced from a coward’ s lips. (J. Parker, D. D.)The dying testimony of Stephen I. The prayer of Stephen1. Stephen expected an immediate transfer of his soul, in the full possession of is powers and consciousness, from a state of earthly to a state of heavenly being. He understood its high relation to the Father of spirits; and expected from Him protection and provision for its unembodied existence. 2. The prayer of Stephen contained a plain, positive acknowledgment of the Saviour’ s proper Deity, as one with the Father, over all, God blessed for ever. II. The circumstances in which the prayer of Stephen was offered.1. Saint Stephen was, beyond all controversy, a man of uprightness and integrity. 2. Will it be answered, “ The integrity of Stephen remains unimpeached: he must, however, be ranked among those every-day characters, whose intellectual weakness is in some degree retrieved by the uprightness of their principles?” Such an apology will hardly serve the turn of those who impugn or deny the Divinity of our blessed Lord. For Stephen was a wise man, no less than a man of moral honesty and integrity. The knowledge and intellect of Jerusalem doubtless sat upon the seats of the Sanhedrin: yet they were cut to the heart with what they heard him declare, and could only answer “ by gnashing upon him with their teeth.” Now, it is not the part of wisdom to brave scorn, mockery, and death for an opinion unfounded in truth. Even Erasmus, one of the most amiable and learned men of modern times, who lived when the torch of the Reformation first shed its glorious light upon the benighted Church of Christ, confessed that, though he should know the truth to be on his side, be had not courage to become a martyr in its behalf. Was it, then, for one of Stephen’ s wisdom falsely to ascribe Godhead to Jesus Christ, when his life was endangered by the assertion, “ Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God” ? 3. I add, however, that Stephen was a partaker of knowledge more than human: he was a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. “ He had an unction from the Holy One, and he knew all things.” No man can say that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost. 4. Once more: Stephen was a dying man. Whatever our previous sentiments may have been, yet when the things of this world are passing fast away, and the realities of eternal existence are opening upon our view, the mists of delusion are dissipated, and the true light of conviction usually flashes upon the soul. III. The death by which the prayer was followed. Lessons:1. It is a deduction, easily and naturally made from our review of the passage, that doctrinal religion is not a matter so unimportant as rational divines would persuade us to believe. 2. I add that faith in doctrines, unattended and unevidenced by practical religion, will serve rather to condemn than to save. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.) Acts 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice. The best testament of a Christian To commend--1. His soul to heaven.2. His body to the earth.3. His friends to the Divine protection.4. His enemies to the Divine compassion. (Starke.)The power of Christ in believers I. He strengthens them to boldness in confessing, the power of which their enemies cannot resist. II. He adorns them with purity of conduct, which the tongues of blasphemers cannot stain. III. He fills them with a tenderness of love, which prays for their bitterest enemies. IV. He sweetens their dying with a blessed insight into His eternal glory. (Leonhard.)Stephen’ s three crowns I. The fair crown of grace, with which the Lord adorned him in life and death. II. The bloody crown of thorns, which he wore after his Saviour in suffering and death. III. The heavenly crown of glory, which was reserved in eternity for the faithful martyr. (K. Gerok.)The victory of dying Stephen I. He triumphs over the murderous cry of a hostile world by a look of faith to heaven. II. He overcomes the sharpness of death by a child-like surrender of his spirit into the arms of Jesus. III. He triumphs over flesh and blood by a priestly petition for his murderers. (K. Gerok.)The Cross of Christ reflected in Stephen, living and dying I. The shame of the cross.1. Before the same council.2. The like false accusations.3. A similar thrusting out of the city.4. The like unrighteous doom. II. The glory of the cross, displayed--1. In courageous defence.2. In patient meekness.3. In love, blessing its enemies--Jesus’ first and Stephen’ s last dying words.4. In a blessed hope of heaven. (K. Gerok.)Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.-- The request of Stephen The request--1. Of one dying.2. Of a soul that entirely forgets itself.3. Of a man who is striving after nothing but the kingdom of God. (Schleiermacher.)The magnanimity of the Christian spirit This is shown by--1. The victories it achieves over the corrupt affections of the human heart. 2. Its superiority to the principles, spirit, and practices of the world. 3. Its fortitude under the infliction of unprovoked injuries. 4. The support and consolation which it gives in seasons of pain and sorrow, and the victory it achieves over the king of terrors. 5. The benevolence and grandeur of its purposes, and the labours and sufferings which it prompts in the execution of them. (G. N. Judd, D. D.)Forgiveness: its nature A forgiving spirit is a noble, generous Christian virtue. It takes its rise in that love of God and man which is the fruit of the Spirit and the fulfilling of the law; it is made up of love and forbearance, united with the tenderness of compassion towards those who have injured us, and fortified by some just sense of our own sinfulness and need of forgiveness from God. In the full sense of the thing itself, it consists of the inward spirit of forgiveness and the outward act of reconciliation. It belongs to the heart, just as every other grace has its seat in the inner man. In this view of it, it is the opposite of revenge, which angrily seeks redress for injuries by inflicting injuries in return. It is the inward exercise of kindness and good-will toward our enemies. (G. Thring, D. D.)Forgiveness: its rarity in heathendom Of forgiveness, we cannot certainly say that it was unknown to the ancients; under certain conditions, no doubt, it was very common among them. In family life, in which all the germs of Christian virtue are to be found, it was undoubtedly common. Undoubtedly friends fell out and were reconciled in antiquity, as amongst ourselves. But where the only relation between the two parties was that of injurer and injured, and the only claim of the offender to forgiveness was that he was a human being, then forgiveness seems not only not to have been practised, but not to have been approved. People not only did not forgive their enemies, but did not wish to do so, nor think better of themselves for having done so. That man considered himself fortunate who on his death-bed could say that no one had done more good to his friends or more mischief to his enemies. The Roman Triumph, with its naked ostentation of revenge, fairly represents the common feeling of the ancients. Nevertheless, forgiveness of enemies was not unknown. They could conceive it, and feel that there was a Divine beauty in it; but it seemed to them more than could be expected of human nature--almost superhuman. (Ecce. Homo.)Forgiveness: its nobility Generous and magnanimous minds are readiest to forgive; and it is a weakness and impotency of mind to be unable to forgive. (Lord Bacon.)Forgiveness: a sign of a noble nature The brave only know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at. Cowards have done good and kind actions; cowards have fought and even conquered; but a coward never forgave: it is not in his nature; the power of doing it flows only from a strength and greatness of soul, conscious of its own force and security, and above the little temptations of resenting every fruitless attempt to interrupt its happiness. (Laurence Sterne.)Forgiveness: the mark of a Christian As a seal leaves a mark of itself in the wax, whereby it is known; so it is with every one who has a readiness to forgive others: for by it the Christian may know that God hath sealed the forgiveness of his sins upon his heart. (Cawdray.)Forgiveness: the power of Christ necessary to “ What can Jesus Christ do for you now?” said an inhuman slave-master, when in the act of applying the lacerating whip to an already half-murdered slave. “ Him teach, me to forgive you, massa,” was his reply. (Phillips.)And when he had said this, he fell asleep.-- Stephen’ s sleep I. Every man is bound to do something before he die.1. Every man is bound to be something, to take some calling upon him. We begin with our beginning, our birth. “ Man is born to labour” (Job 5:7; Hebrews). Howsoever honourable his station is, he is bound to do his day’ s work in the day, the duties of the place in the place. How far is he from doing so who never so much as considers why he was sent into this world, and in spite of all that God has done for him, and taught him in creation and redemption! Such a man passes through life as an ignis fatuus, which gives no light, and signifies nothing. He passes out of the world as a body out of a bath, when the water may be the fouler, but otherwise retains no impression; so the world may be the worse for his having lived in it, or else retains no mark of his having been here. When God placed Adam in the world He enjoined him to fill, subdue, and rule it; when God placed His children in the land of promise He enjoined them to fight against idolatry--to everybody some task for His glory. God made every man something, but many make the best of things, man, nothing. He that qualifies himself for nothing does so; he whom we can call nothing is nothing. God’ s own name is “ I am” --Being, and nothing is so contrary to God as to be nothing. Be something or else thou canst do nothing, and till thou hast done something thou canst not sleep Stephan’ s sleep. 2. Every man is bound to do seriously, sedulously, and sincerely the duties of his calling. He that stands in a place and does not the duties of that place is a statue, and a statue without an inscription. The duty in the text is speaking, “ When he had said,” a duty devolving upon ministers and magistrates, and unless they speak, and speak to purpose, they cannot sleep Stephen’ s sleep. But as in creation God does as well as says, so we must not only speak, but act. Therefore do not complain that God exacts the duties of thy place, and say not of it that it is good for nothing, for it is good for this that when thou hast discharged its duties thou mayest sleep Stephen’ s sleep. 3. The better to perform those duties every one shall do well to propose to himself some example to imitate in that calling, It was the counsel of that great little philosopher, Epictetus, whensoever thou undertakest any action to consider what a Socrates or a Plato would do in that case, and to do conformably to that. Here is an example which suits everybody. (1) Note this name, Stephen, a crown--the reward of faithfulness. Our names are debts; every man owes the world the signification of his name, and every additional name of honour or office lays a new obligation on him; and his first name, his Christian name above all. The duties of a Christianity must weigh down the duties of all other plans. (2) He became a disciple early, and therefore takes rank even before Paul. (3) He made his ambition only to serve Christ, and not in a high place, but as a deacon. (4) But Stephen’ s exemplariness consists not so much in what he did as in what he suffered. He cheerfully laid down his life for Christ’ s sake. To suffer for God is the greatest thing in the world, except God’ s sufferings for man. The latter was the nadir of God’ s humiliation, the former is the zenith of man’ s exaltation. Nor is it needful to suffer death to imitate Stephen. Every man who suffers injuries without resentment, who resists temptations from power or pleasure, who cheerfully bears God’ s crosses, is a true copy of Stephen. (5) Christ was his and our supreme pattern, as we see conspicuously here. II. To that man who hath done those things which the duties of his calling bind him to, death is but a sleep. There are two classes of men, those who die in the bath of a peaceable, and those who die upon the wreck of a distracted conscience--and the lives of each are correspondent to, and lead up to their death.1. The death of the wicked is not a sleep. (1) It is bloody conflict and no victory.(2) It is a tempestuous sea and no harbour.(3) A slippery height and no footing.(4) a desperate fall and no bottom. 2. The death of the righteous is a sleep. They do not only go to heaven by death, but heaven comes to them in death; their very manner of dying is an inchoative act of their glorified state: therefore it is not called a dying, but a sleeping, which intimates two blessings-- (1) Present rest. Now men sleep not well fasting; nor does a fasting conscience, a conscience that is not nourished with a testimony of having done well, come to this sleep. “ The sleep of a labouring man is sweet,” and to him that laboureth in his calling this sleep of death is welcome (Proverbs 3:24; Psalms 4:8). (2) Future waking is the resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:14). They shall awake as Jacob did, and say as he said, “ Surely the Lord is in this place, and this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven.” (J. Donne, D. D.)The death of Stephen I. In Stephen we have a pattern of faith. He knew and was persuaded that his gracious Redeemer reigned on high, that He was not unmindful of His followers on earth, and would keep that which was committed to Him till the day of His appearance. Depending on this hope, he died with a composure and magnanimity which religion alone can produce. II. In Stephen we have an example of unshaken constancy in obedience to God. When he was chosen a deacon to assist the apostles in managing the concerns of the Church, he had a high character for piety, integrity, and wisdom. Nor did he ever afterwards do anything to forfeit that character. On the contrary, the more he was tried, the more his virtues shone forth. Let his unshaken constancy be a pattern to us. Religion does not consist of fits and starts of devotion, of resolutions that are quickly made and as quickly abandoned, of that wavering and inconsistent conduct which always indicates unsoundness in the faith. It is a steady principle abiding in the heart and influencing the conduct. III. In Stephen we have a pattern of pious resignation. No complaining words proceeded from his lips. He discovered no distrust of the power, or the love of his Saviour. We may not have trials to endure, like Stephen, but we are placed in a situation which will afford ample scope for the exercise of resignation. We are subject to sickness, losses, and disappointments, together with innumerable vexatious circumstances, which we cannot prevent. We should ever remember that God is the sovereign disposer of all events; that He has a right to place us in what station, and expose us to what sufferings He pleases. But though the sovereignity of God over His creatures be absolute, yet we know that He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. These very sufferings may be the means of our salvation. Such considerations will prevent murmuring, and dispose us to a calm acquiescence in the appointments of Providence. This pious principle will diffuse its benign influence over the whole soul. It will soothe our sorrows, overcome our angry passions, and sweeten the bitter cup of life. The God whom we serve will grant us support and consolation here, and bestow upon us unspeakable happiness hereafter. V. In Stephen we have a pattern of forgiveness. If we examine the history of the world, we shall find that many of the evils which from age to age have afflicted mankind, have arisen from a revengeful and unforgiving spirit. In ancient times this spirit, exerting itself without control, diffused over every land its baneful influence, producing contention and strife and every evil work. This spirit, so adverse to human improvement, our Saviour set Himself upon all occasions to correct and to subdue. He inculcated brotherly love to an extent till then altogether unknown. “ Love your enemies,” etc., “ If we forgive not our brethren their offences, neither will God forgive us our offences.” This consideration should lead us earnestly to cultivate a meek and forgiving spirit. In this spirit there is a dignity, a magnanimity, an excellence, which the sons of dissipation and the votaries of pleasure may envy and ridicule, but which the Christian, who aspires to the inheritance of the blessed, will cherish as one of the highest attainments that can adorn his character. And while he does so, every revengeful principle will die in his breast. He will be at peace with all mankind, “ and the peace of God which passeth all understanding will keep his heart and mind through Christ Jesus.” (John Ramsay, M. A.)Death to the believer: what I. What death is to the believer.1. A sleep. The expression conveys a sweet idea of placidity and calmness. The day of life declines; the shadows of its evening fall around; wearied and exhausted nature needs repose; its strength is weakness, yea, it may be labour and sorrow, and in the appointed moment the believer falls “ asleep.” 2. Nor is it a troublous rest: it is a peaceful sleep. “ Mark the perfect man … for the end of that man is peace.” The stroke of death--the pain of dissolution, is, as it were, but the kind alarm which leads a child of God to shelter himself more closely in the bosom of God’ s paternal love. Since the Redeemer died, death has been abolished in its penal terror. By descending, too, into the grave, He has dispelled the grave’ s dark horrors, and sanctified the resting-place of His dear and believing people. The grave, therefore, is now no more than the bed where the mortal remains of the believer rest in peaceful hope. 3. A sleep from which he shall awake. “ Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” to reward them. The night of the grave will pass away; the morning of the resurrection-day will dawn, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Nothing shall resist the voice which will say, “ Come forth.” 4. A sleep into which, when once awakened, he will fall again no more. “ Death hath no more dominion over” Christ: death shall have no more dominion over one that believes and loves and serves Him, and is “ risen together with Him.” As surely as “ He that was dead, is alive again and liveth for evermore,” so surely shall the believer rise to live for ever. In the new heavens and the new earth “ there shall be no more death.” The purified and ennobled powers of a glorified saint, will be too vigorous ever to need repose again. No “ second death” awaits the believer. The gift of God is eternal life; “ whoso liveth and believeth in Him shall never die.” Thus “ the righteous hath hope in his death.” II. Whence it is he dies so calmly. Simply because he is a believer. By faith he becomes interested in all the benefits which result from “ the meritorious cross and passion” of Jesus Christ. Like the martyr Stephen, the believer--1. Partakes of the Holy Ghost. 2. Sees Jesus standing on God’ s right hand--not indeed as Stephen visibly, but by faith. And “ where He is those who believe on Him may be also.” In a persuasion of this sweet truth, the believer may smile in death. 3. Has a Friend, to whose care he may commit his departing spirit. Unspeakably precious is this privilege. Our earthly friends may go with us, in their kind solicitude, to the verge of death; but there the dearest ties must be severed, and a last adieu be bidden. One there is, however, that can be with us in the shadowy vale, support and cheer us through it, and while our mortal eyes are closing on all terrestrial objects, He can give to our faith such brightening views of celestial glory as will enrapture our departing spirits, and fill them with desire to wing their upward flight. As amidst the ocean’ s billows the shipwrecked mariner will cling with increasing tenacity to the floating plank, so amidst the agonies of death the believer lays a firmer and still stronger hold upon the hope of life in Christ. He sees his Lord above him: and whilst he hears the gracious words, “ Fear not, for I am with thee,” “ Receive my spirit,” may he cry; and very gracious will the Lord be to him at the voice of his prayer. “ So the Lord giveth His beloved sleep” ; and hence it is the believer dies so calmly. In conclusion let me exhort you--1. To awake from the slumbers of sin. How many, alas! are there “ dead in trespasses and sins” ! While they continue so, they cannot possibly “ sleep in Jesus” or “ die in the Lord.” Do not be saying in your heart, “ A little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep.” Take care lest your sleep in the death of sin be perpetuated till you sleep in the death of nature. Take care lest when “ many of them who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,” you rise--not to shine as the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever, but to shame and everlasting contempt. 2. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Him, to die peacefully, in the Scripture sense of the word, would be impossible. 3. To do immediately what you purpose doing. “ Now is the day of salvation.” (W. Mudge, B. A.)Death a sleep Sleep is not unfrequently used by ancient heathen writers for the same general purpose of denoting the termination of human life. The still, quiescent state into which man passes when he sinks into repose is no unapt image of what takes place in appearance when man expires, more especially if under circumstances of gentle dissolution. It was only in such circumstances that the metaphor would have been deemed appropriate by a heathen, and would not probably have been used in a case like the present. To one, however, who, like the author of this history, regarded the present life as introductory to a better world, and who held the doctrine of the resurrection, death under whatever circumstances was regarded as being merely a sleep. This language suggests two ideas. I. The state of the grave is not permanent: it is a sleep.1. Sleep is not the extinction, but a suspension, of the faculties, and extends only to the body. The mind continues its activity, and when we awake the two continue as before to act together. Death is not the final end of man. The stroke which consigns the body to the grave does not destroy the active, functions of the soul. It still subsists in a state of consciousness, and at the resurrection it will be again united to its corporeal companion. He whom Stephen saw standing on God’ s right hand had formerly suffered the pangs of dissolution. 2. On the subject of the resurrection many difficulties have been proposed and questions started, and some have taxed ingenuity in framing answers. But, perhaps the best answer is a short and simple one--the resurrection is an act of Omnipotence. If this is admitted, to speculate on the supposed obstacles to its accomplishment is useless. Is anything impossible with God? But independently of Divine revelation, there are many presumptions of the resurrection. Inanimate nature undergoes an annual death and resurrection. But however striking vegetable analogies are, they afford a far less satisfactory presumption of immortality than that which is derived from contemplating the sufferings of good men, and to which even their virtues in some cases contribute. Can it be that the man, like Stephen, shall have no other recompense for his virtues but pain and torture; while ease, affluence, and secular honours shall be the lot of those who have been his tormentors? II. The state of the grave will, to the Christian, be in its consequences improving. It is a sleep.1. All have experienced the feeling induced after a day of severe exertion. Both body and mind are jaded. You know likewise what in health are the feelings after a night of sound repose; you rise invigorated, and are in some respects new men. In this the resemblance holds between sleep and death. In advanced age the mind and the body equally exhibit symptoms of decay; and disease, at any period of life, will soon produce in both mind and body the effects which are produced by age. When they are reunited, after the body has been raised from the grave, we shall be free from former imperfections, and those numerous sufferings which are connected with the body will he no more known. It must be obvious, however, from this statement, that the analogy in this case is in some respects far less perfect than in the former. In awaking after the slumbers of the night, though invigorated in comparison of what we were at the time when, through the exhaustion of nature, sleep became necessary, there is no alteration in our general condition. It is otherwise after the repose of the grave. On the morning of the resurrection we will not only be different from what we were at the time when natural decay or disease brought on dissolution, but different from what we ever have been. 2. To render a future life an object of desire, it is necessary that it should be an improvement on the present. Take away from the enjoyments of this life the pleasure connected with the hopes of another, and a good man would have little inducement to resume it. If the feelings of the worldly man were analysed, it would perhaps be found that even in his case, at every period of life, it is the hope of something better that is his chief support. Much more is hope the principle of a Christian--a hope which is not restricted to the expectation merely of another life, but includes in that other the expectation of a better. In the Christian this hope will not be disappointed. Of this highly consolatory doctrine Stephen had an ocular demonstration. In what Jesus now is, Stephen saw what His followers shall be. (R. Brodie, A. M.)Death a sleep When a person is asleep what is it that rests? It is simply the muscles and the nerves and the weary limbs. The heart goes on beating, the lungs respiring and expiring; and what is remarkable in sleep, the soul never sleeps at all It seems that when one is asleep the soul often travels to far distant lands, or sails upon the bosom of the deep, amid the blue hills and green glens of other parts of the land; exploring, thinking, searching, studying. The soul is never literally dead (though it may forget) to every thought and object, to all that enters by the avenues of the senses. If sleep be the metaphor of death, it does not prove that the soul is insensible, but only that the body, the outward garment only, having been worn and wasted in the wear and toil of this present life, is folded up and laid aside in that wardrobe--the grave--a grave as truly in the keeping of the Son of God as are the angels in glory. (J. Cumming, D. D.)Death a sleep You cannot find in the New Testament any of those hateful representations of dying which men have invented, by which death is portrayed as a ghastly skeleton with a scythe, or something equally revolting. The figures by which death is represented in the New Testament are very different. One is that of falling asleep in Jesus. When a little child has played all day long, and become tired out, and the twilight has sent it in weariness to its mother’ s knee, where it thinks it has come for more excitement, then, almost in the midst of its frolicking, and not knowing what influence is creeping over it, it falls back in the mother’ s arms, and nestles close to the sweetest and softest couch that ever cheek:pressed, and, with lengthening breath, sleeps; and she smiles and is glad, and sits humming unheard joy over its head. So we fall asleep in Jesus. We have played long enough at the games of life, and at last we feel the approach of death. We are tired out, and we lay our head back on the bosom of Christ and quietly fall asleep. (H. W. Beecher.)The sleep of death Asleep amid a storm! “ He felt asleep” --not, he died, or he breathed his last, but he fell asleep. “ Death is but a sleep; we need no more shrink from dying than from our nightly beds; we may lie down to die with just as sure a hope of rising; we may look forward to it as the release from all the cares, all the work of life.” Moses of old had been warned of the time when he should “ sleep with his fathers” (Deuteronomy 31:16). The wise man talks of Samuel’ s “ long sleep” (Ecclesiastes 5:12). David, we read, “ fell on sleep” (Acts 13:36). Monarch after monarch is laid in his tomb, by the sacred writer, with the short epitaph, that he “ slept with his fathers.” Daniel prophesies of the time, when “ those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” (Daniel 12:2). Amid the convulsions by which Nature testified her horror at the dread hour of the Passion, “ the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose” (Matthew 27:52). So St. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). Such a faith speaks still upon the walls of the ancient cemeteries in the catacombs of Rome, where to this day the simple inscriptions are preserved, by which faith and affection marked the remains of their lost, in the first and second centuries after Christ. On one we read two words, “ Victoria sleeps” --or, “ Saturninus sleeps in peace.” --“ Zoticus is laid here to sleep.” --“ Domitian, artless soul, sleeps in peace.” --“ Antonia, sweet soul, in peace. May God refresh her.” --“ Arethusa sleeps in God.” --“ He sleeps, but lives.” --Laurinia, sweeter than honey, rests in peace.” --“ On the 5th of November was placed here to sleep, Gregory, friend of all, the enemy of none.” --Or, with a studied conciseness, “ Clementia, tortured, dead, sleeps; will rise again.” Faith loved to dwell upon an image which represented so sweetly her hope in dying. But reason here comes in aid of Faith; and the more closely we look into the nature of sleep and of death, the more exact is the resemblance we shall discern.1. Sleep, first of all, is a mystery to us. What wonder death should be? Sleep is one of the greatest mysteries of our existence here, so mysterious that were it not so familiar to us, we should every day be wondering about it, that out of the short life God has given us for our probation, full one-third should be spent in a state of inaction, when we can do neither good nor bad. Even so shall we lie inactive in our graves. Is it a mystery, again, how we die? And who can understand how we fall asleep? It comes upon us, we know not how. We cannot recollect it afterwards. Our consciousness dissolves, and we are asleep. And so it may be at death. We lie uneasily on our bed; we try to die: on a moment the last tie is loosed; and, we know not how, we are away. Sleep soothes every pain, forgets every care; angry tempers, disappointments, want, unkindness, all the miseries of life are left behind in a moment. And so it will be at death. A parting struggle or two, one last breath, and “ there is neither sorrow nor sighing, neither any more pain, for the former things are passed away.” 2. The hours of sleep level all the inequalities of life, and make the poor man as happy as the king (Job 3:17-19). 3. Sleep unlooses all the ties of life, and death breaks them. In sleep the soul is disengaged from the trammels of the body; and thus we may form a conjecture how it will exist separately from it hereafter. We lie asleep, the eyes are closed, the ears are deaf, the hands lie uselessly by our side; but the mind is busily at work, and revolves within itself all those images which have been conveyed into it in our waking hours. We can so, I say, guess how, amid the darkness and silence of the grave, the soul will be able to rehearse to itself all the experience of life; and with the avenue of the senses then cut off, will have material enough within itself for incessant activity and thought. 4. Sleep, instead of contracting the powers of the mind, gives keenness to the memory, and wings to the imagination. And will not this again help us to understand how, when we have left this material world behind us, and the sheath of the body no longer encases the soul and dulls her edge, that the emancipated spirit then will be able at a glance to recall with the exactest truth the entire history of life? And when we read of the books being opened, and the judgment set, and the dead, both small and great, being judged out of the things that were written in the books; what else may be intended here, than this book of memory and conscience, with every old impression revived afresh, so that the sinner sees all his sins before his face, and goes away to his own place, speechless and without appeal, self-condemned? In sleep the mind is emancipated from the restrictions of bodily life, and the limitation of time and space. A succession of images crowd into the minds and we live a life long in a night. This is a sort of foretaste of the freedom from material ties, which the disembodied spirit shall enjoy. 5. It is in the time of sleep, again, that the soul, half-loosened from the body, is most open to communications from the unseen world (Job 33:15-16). It was in the hour of sleep, in a vision by night, that the angel appeared to Mary, and to Joseph and to Daniel. The spirits of another world may have peculiar access to our souls when we are disengaged from this; and those that sleep in Jesus may so enjoy unrestrained communion with the innumerable company of angels. And the Father of the spirits of all flesh may thus be instructing and preparing them for His glorious kingdom. This long sleep of peace may thus be as needful for the expansion and perfection of our nature, as our nightly slumber is for the growth of our present frame, and for the refreshment of soul and body. Morning after morning now we each may thank our Maker, “ I beheld and awaked, my sleep was sweet; unto me” ; and every such arising we may hail as an omen of the day, when our eyes shall be opened to behold God’ s presence in righteousness, when we shall wake up after Christ’ s likeness, and be satisfied with it. Such a waking, who will not look up and hope after? Such a sleep, who need mistrust or fear? And would we know how we may so sleep with God? A quiet conscience gives the sweetest sleep. Night after night, let us take a closer and closer view of death, and then we shall not start from it when it comes. We shall lie down at last and be glad of it, just as we are glad to fall asleep. (C. F. Secretan, M. A.)The blood of the martyrs the seed of the Church Stephen was dead, and it might well have seemed that all the truth which was to be the glory and the thought of Christianity had died with him. But the deliverance of the Gentiles, and their free redemption by the blood of Christ, were truths too glorious to be quenched. The truth may be suppressed for a time, but it always starts up from its apparent grave. Fra Dolcino was torn to pieces, and Savonarola and Huss were burnt, but the Reformation was not prevented. Stephen sank in blood, but his place was taken by the young man who stood by to incite the murderers. Four years after Jesus had died on the Cross Stephen was stoned for being His disciple; thirty years after the death of Stephen his deadliest opponent died also for the same holy faith. (Archdeacon Farrar.). Acts 8:1-8 And Saul was consenting to his death. Three great figures in the Church I. The persecuting Saul. In this part of the narrative the name of Saul occurs three times (Acts 7:58; Acts 8:1; Acts 8:3). How quick the development and how sure! First of all, he watched the clothes of the men who stoned Stephen; then he expressed in every feature of his face satisfaction at the martyr’ s death; and then he took up the matter earnestly himself with both hands. He struck the Church as it had never been struck before. The taste for blood is an acquired taste, but “ it grows by what it feeds on.” This man Saul began as he ended. There was nothing ambiguous about him. A tremendous foe, a glorious friend! We see from this part of the narrative--1. The power of the Christian religion to excite the worst passions of men. It is a “ savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.” Christianity either kills or saves. We have become so familiar with it externally as to cast a doubt upon this. It has become possible for nominal Christian believers to care nothing about their faith. The age has been seized with what is known as a horror of dogmatism. But Christianity has no reason for its existence if it be not positive. Poetry may hold parley with prose fiction, because they belong to the same category. But arithmetic does not say, “ If you will allow me, I may venture to suggest that the multiplication of such and such numbers may possibly result in such and such a total.” Now, in proportion as any religion is true, can it not stoop to the holding of conversation with anybody. It is not a suggestion--it is a revelation. It is not a puzzle, to which a hundred answers may be given by wits keen at guessing; it is an oracle. Can you wonder, then, that a religion which claimed to be the very voice and glory of God, should have encountered unpitying and most malignant hostility? If it could have come crouchingly, or apologetically, and have said, “ I think, I suggest, I hope,” it might have been heard at the world’ s convenience. But being with angels’ songs true, it raised the world into antagonism and deadly conflict. So will every true life. We have no enemies because we have no gospel. We pass along pretty easily, because we annoy no man’ s prejudices or naughtinesses. We dash no man’ s gods to the ground; we stamp on no man’ s idolatries; and so we have no martyrs. In olden times Christianity attacked the most formidable citadels of thought, prejudice, and error, and brought upon itself the fist of angry retaliation. 2. That the success of the enemy was turned into his deadliest failure. “ They that were scattered” (Acts 8:4), did not go everywhere with shame burning on their cheek, nor whining and moaning that they were doomed to a useless life. They were made evangelists by suffering. That is the true way of treating every kind of assault. When the pulpit is assailed as being behind the age, let the pulpit preach better than ever and more than ever, and let that be its triumphant reply. When Christianity is assailed, publish it the more. Evangelisation is the best reply to every form of assault. 3. Christianity followed by its proper result. “ And there was great joy in that city.” Joy was a word that was early associated with Christianity. Said the angel, “ I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Where now is that singing, holy joy? We have lost the music, we have retained the tears. The revelling is now in the other house. II. The dead Stephen. Already there are two graves in the early Church. In the one lie Ananias and Sapphira, in the grave opened to-day there lies Stephen. In one or other of these graves we must be buried! Over the first there was no lamentation. Sad grave! The liars’ retreat, the hypocrites’ nameless hiding-place! Will you be buried there? Then there is the good man’ s grave, which is not a grave at all, it is so full of peace and promise, will you be buried there? The road to it is rough, but the rest is deep and sweet, and the waking immortality! Will you so live that you will be much missed for good-doing? III. The evangelistic Philip (Acts 8:5). Stephen dead, Philip taking his place--that is the military rule! The next man, Forward! “ Who will be baptized for the dead?” When Stephen was killed the remainder of the seven did not take fright and run away in cowardly terror, but Philip, the next man, took up the vacant place, and preached Christ in Samaria. Who will take up the places of the great men and the good men? Is the Church to be a broken line, or a solid and invincible square? These three great figures are still in the Church. Our Stephens are not dead. We see them no more in the flesh, but they are mightier than ever since they have ascended to heaven, having left behind them the inspiration of a noble example. John Bunyan is more alive to-day than he was when he wrote the “ Pilgrim’ s Progress.” John Wesley is more alive to-day than he was when he began to preach the Word in England. Your child is not dead when its memory leads you to do some kindness to some other child. Our fathers, heroic and noble, are not dead, when we are able at their graves to relight torches and go on with our sacred work. We cannot peruse a narrative of this kind without feeling that we are in a great succession, and that we ought to be in proportion great successors. (J. Parker, D. D.)Stephen and Saul One of the greatest demands that the Church makes on us is when she summons us to pass abruptly from Christmas Day to the feast of St. Stephen; from the peaceful joy of the holy family and angel songs to the violence of the mob; from the King of angels to the first who bore witness to his faith and patience. At a scene like that of St. Stephen’ s martyrdom it is a relief to place ourselves in the position of a bystander. There stands Saul, the very antithesis of Stephen, young and enthusiastic as he, but passionately attached to Pharisaism as Stephen was to the gospel. As we know Paul in his Epistles, his great characteristic gift was sympathy. How then could he have consented to this tragedy? I. The reasons for his consent.1. He was following the stream of opinion. All Jerusalem agreed that Stephen deserved his fate; and Paul had as yet no reason for resisting the will of the majority. 2. He was following the instincts of religious loyalty as he understood them. To him Stephen was a rebel against authority. 3. He was following the instincts of piety. The charge against him was that he calumniated God, Moses,the temple, and the law. The first was clearly an inference from the rest, and about the rest there was this much truth, that he no doubt preached to the Christians against attending temple worship. This he thought was at variance with the world-wide mission of Christ. Accordingly he proved before the Sanhedrin that there was nothing to show that God’ s presence was confined to the Promised Land, much less to a particular spot in it. All this to Paul was a blasphemous novelty. II. His reflections on the tragedy. When all was over the memories of what had passed came back, and as he saw Stephen’ s death in retrospect he felt the force of three forms of power--suffering, sanctity, truth.1. Suffering is power-- (1) When it is voluntary. This stirs in us a fellow feeling even when undergone for an object we condemn. (2) This power is great in proportion to the sacrifice it involves. The deaths of the very old or young touch us less than that of a young man just reaching and conscious of the maturity of his faculties. He gives the best human nature has to give. So it was with ,Stephen, and Saul as he remembered this young manly life crushed out felt the power of suffering. 2. Sanctity is power, greatest when associated with suffering. Stephen was not merely good, keeping clear of what is evil; he was holy. He had a spirit that reflects a higher world--“ full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.” This sanctity illuminated his bodily frame, and was made perfectly plain in his dying prayer. This was not lost on Saul. 3. Truth is power. When Saul heard of Stephen’ s declaration his whole soul rose against it; yet the ideas of Stephen’ s speech haunted the young Pharisee, and became the great characteristic positions of his after ministry. 4. These three characteristics of the martyr find their perfect ,embodiment only in Christ. III. Closing considerations.1. The view a Christian should take of an opponent of Christian truth--that of a possible convert and ally. 2. What persecutors can and cannot do. They can put clown a given belief by extermination as Christianity was crushed out in Northern Africa and Protestantism in Spain. But if persecution does not exterminate it only fans the flame, as did the persecuting emperors and Queen Mary. The persecution begun by the death of Stephen only contributed to the spread of the gospel. 3. The criminal folly of persecution by Christians since it is an attempt to achieve by outward and mechanical violence results which to be worth anything before God must be the product of His converting grace. 4. The signal service which martyrs have rendered to the world--enriching his country, church, age, with new and invigorating ideas of truth, and therefore while other sufferers die and are forgotten, the martyr rightly has his place in the calendar of the Church and in the hearts of her faithful children. (Canon Liddon.)After Stephen, Paul It is said of John Huss that, on a countryman throwing a faggot at his head, he exclaimed, “ Oh, holy simplicity! God send thee better light! You roast the goose now, but a swan shall come after me, and he shall escape your fire.” Oddly enough, “ Huss” is the Bohemian for “ goose,” while the meaning of “ Luther” is “ a swan.” Strong contrasts of moral character (texts, and Acts 9:5; Acts 9:11):--Here is moral character-- I. Quiescently consenting to the wrong (verse 1). From Stephen’ s death Saul would no doubt catch the inspiration of his future life. His Jewish education has fitted him for this crisis. He was quite prepared to guard the clothes of those who would slay a Christian. Here, then, he stands at his post calmly and unmoved, the subject of two extreme influences, the surging, passionate mob, and the earnest prayer of the martyr. This event was educational to Saul. The manly conduct, earnest speech, and saintly death of Stephen, would appeal to his diviner sentiments; while the tumult and murderous intentions of the crowd would influence his baser side. To which will he yield? All the force of his past life inclines to the latter. But cannot that pale face and devout appeal to heaven overcome his prejudice? No! he leaves the scene with a cold determination to make it typical of his future. But, as a thought may lurk in the mind, concealed and unrecognised, so the impulses awakened in the heart of Saul by this event only awaited the further touch of the Divine Spirit to make them the master powers of his soul. Who can tell the formative power which one event may exercise upon our lives? But let us not think that we can stand to look at sin without sharing its guilt. II. In determined hostility to the right (verse 3). This hostility was--1. Daring. “ The Church,” He might strive to pluck the stars from the Divine grasp, but to touch the object of God’ s peculiar care was beyond description bold. We wonder that men dare to attack the Church, or to plot injury against it. Such conduct is a proof of their hardihood, or they would be awed by her holy presence and Divine Protector. 2. Extensive. “ Made havoc.” It often appears strange that God should permit men to pursue, sometimes unchecked, a course of determined harm to His Church. This fact almost staggers reason, and only faith can repose in its rectitude and wisdom. But men need not take the sword; the tale of the tattler, the formality of the hypocrite is sufficient. 3. Impudent. “ Entering into every house.” What right had Saul in another man’ s house, and especially for such a purpose? A man’ s house is sacred, consecrated to family union and love. No stranger unbidden, no foe should enter. But religious bigotry thinks not of social usage, much less of Christian courtesy. 4. Inhuman. “ Haling men and women.” When bigotry once gets possession of a man, it yields to no argument, not even to that of tender womanhood. See what quiescent sin comes to. Men that commence by keeping the clothes of persecutors, soon become persecutors themselves. The path of sin is ever downward. III. Aroused and inquiring (Acts 9:5). The transitions of moral character are often--1. Sudden. Saul little expected in a few months to be praying to the very Being whose followers he was murdering; he was on an errand of rage, and he never thought that it would turn out a mission of mercy to himself 2. Overwhelming. Saul is almost stunned. His moral being is altogether confused. The change now working within his soul is too great to be made calmly. The only relief of his half-unconscious soul is the cry, “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” 3. Astonishing to others. What would the Jewish council say to the change that had come over Saul? The disciples of Christ received him half with suspicion. What an impression would his conversion make upon the general public! 4. Productive of great results to mankind. How many have received truth and benefit through the toils of the Apostle Paul during his life; and how many minds has he instructed, how many souls has he aided in life’ s struggles by his writings! Thus we see that the sudden changes that come over moral character are often productive of great results to the individual himself, and to mankind at large. IV. In communion with God (Acts 9:11).1. Prayer is an index to character. The praying man is not Saul the persecutor, but Saul the penitent sinner. Persecutors do not pray to Jesus Christ. Whenever you see a man in earnest prayer to Christ, you may have some idea of his moral character. 2. Prayer is a reason for help. Ananias was to go to Saul and instruct him, “ for behold he prayeth.” No matter what our circumstances, if we will but pray, God will send His aid and comfort. It is not the rule of heaven to help a prayerless soul. Do you know of a penitent soul, it is your duty to take to it a message of peace and hope. 3. A life commenced by prayer is likely to be useful. Has not Paul been useful to the Church and the world? And why? Was it not because God could say of him, “ Behold, he prayeth.” 4. God notices the first prayer of contrition and calls attention to it. “ Behold.” It is an interesting sight even to heaven. 5. God sends succour to contrite souls. Has He not frequently sent an Ananias to you, fellow sinner? What have been the moral contrasts of your life? Is there a Damascus journey amongst them? Conclusion: Learn not to entirely estimate the character of men from a past remembrance of them. Suppose an associate of Saul’ s who had known him in the earlier part of his life, but who had not seen him for some time, had spoken of him as a persecutor and Jewish bigot, how mistaken would have been his opinion, and how unjust to the converted apostle! We should not be hasty to pass an opinion on our friends from a past remembrance of them. They may have since undergone a moral change for the better. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)The wonderful ways of the Lord in the propagation of His kingdom 1. The martyr Stephen waters the Church with his blood.2. The raging Saul serves, even as a persecutor, unconsciously to the extension of the kingdom of Christ. 3. The fugitive Christians are the first messengers of the gospel to a distance. (K. Gerok.)And at that town there was a great persecution.--The persecution after Stephen Here we have-- I. A man who became the greatest apostle of Christianity acting as its most milignant foe.1. Saul was an accomplice in the martyrdom of Stephen, and rejoiced in it (Acts 7:58; Acts 22:20). 2. He was an infuriated leader in the general persecution. The word “ made havoc” is commonly applied to wild beasts (Acts 21:10; Galatians 1:6). Now the fact that this man became the greatest apostle Demonstrates-- (1) The greatness of his conversion.(2) The power of the gospel.(3) The infinitude of Divine mercy. II. Men rising above the most powerfully hostile circumstances.1. The apostles stood calmly in the scene where their lives were in the most imminent danger, and when most of their fellow disciples had fled. 2. Devout men discharged a duty most exciting to the rage of their enemies. Away, then, with the dogma that man is the creature of circumstances. He is only so as he loses his manhood. III. The most intolerant persecution furthering the cause of truth Persecution--1. Throws the persecuted more and more on their God. 2. It enables them to furnish in their lives a nobler manifestation of Christianity to the world; more earnest, united, devout. 3. It awakens general sympathy among men on their behalf, and thus disposes them to attend to their teachings. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The effect of persecution The sacred fire, which might have burnt low on the hearth of the upper chamber of Jerusalem, was kindled into fresh heat and splendour when its brands were scattered over all Judaea and Samaria, and circumcised Gentiles were admitted by baptism into the fold of Christ. (Archdeacon Farrar.)They were all scattered abroad.--The dispersion Jerusalem was naturally the chief scene of the persecution, and the neighbouring towns, Hebron, and Gaza, and Lydda, and Joppa, became places of refuge. It was probably to this influx of believers in Christ that we may trace the existence of Christian communities in the two latter cities. The choice of Samaria was, perhaps, suggested by the hatred of that people to the Jews. Those who were fleeing from a persecution set on foot by the priests and rulers of Jerusalem were almost ipso facto sure of a welcome in Neapolis and other cities. But the choice of this as a place of refuge indicated that the barriers of the old antipathy were already in part broken down. What seemed the pressure of circumstances was leading directly to the fulfilment of our Lord’ s commands, that the disciples should be witnesses in Samaria as well as in Judaea (Acts 1:8). (Dean Plumptre.)The extension of the Church I. God intended that His Church should be scattered all over the world.1. There was a tendency in our humanity at first to remain together; hence the first grey fathers endeavoured to build a central tower around which the race should rally. But God confounded their language, and scattered them that they might people the world. Jerusalem was first the central point of Christianity, and the tendency doubtless was to keep the centre strong. I have often heard the argument, “ Do not have too many out-stations, keep up a strong central force.” But God’ s plan was that the holy force should be distributed; the holy seed must be sown--to do this the Lord used the rough hand of persecution. One went this way, and one the other; and the faithful were scattered. 2. Every Church endowed with the Spirit will be spread abroad. God never means the Church to be shut up in a shell or, like ointment, enclosed in a box. The precious perfume of the gospel must be poured forth to sweeten the air. Now that persecution has ceased godly men are scattered through the necessity of earning a livelihood. Sometimes we regret that young men should have to go to a distance, that families should have to migrate. But does not the Lord by this means sow the good seed widely? It is very pleasant to be comfortably settled under an edifying ministry, but the Lord has need of some of His servants in places where there is no light; and they ought of themselves to scatter voluntarily. Every Christian should say, “ Where can I do most good?” And if we will not go afield willingly, God may use providential necessity as the forcible means of our dispersion. II. God’ s design is not the scattering in itself, but scattering of a purpose--to preach the Word. The word “ proclaim” is not quite so subject to the modern sense which has spoiled the word “ preach.” The latter has come to be a sort of official term for delivering a set discourse; whereas gospel preaching is telling the gospel out in any way. Note--1. The universality of the work of evangelising. All the scattered went everywhere; there does not seem to have been any exception. You thought it would read “ the apostles,” but they were just the people who did not go at all. Generals may have to stand still in the centre of the battle to direct the forces; but this was soldiers’ battles, and of this sort all the battles of the Cross ought to be. 2. There were no personal distinctions. It is not said that ministers preached the Word, scarcely anything has been more injurious to the kingdom of Christ than the distinction between clergy and laity. No such distinction appears in the Bible. “ Ye are God’ s Kle?ros” : all God’ s saints are God’ s inheritance. “ Ye are a royal priesthood.” Though God gives to His Church apostles, teachers, pastors, etc., yet not by way of setting up a professional caste who are to do all the work while others sit still. Every converted man is to teach what he knows. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The scattered Church; or good out of evil History is God teaching by example. The worst things in history are not necessarily without some elements which may be Divinely used for good. The reins never fall out of the guiding hand. The heathen rage. But the Lord sits as King in Zion. The contrasted lights and shadows of this narrative deserve, and will repay, closest attention. I. Human sympathy and kindness manifest themselves amid exultant cruelty. The phrase in relation to Saul means to approve, take pleasure and delight in what others have done. He was “ exceedingly mad” against the believers in Jesus. Amid such manifestations of cruel depravity there were devout men who carried the mangled remains of the martyred deacon to a reverent burial. The phrase refers to the better elements of Jewish society--the moderate men who hated persecution. Violence always overreaches itself. Sympathy is awakened when wrong is boasting its victories. Stephen dies; but those who fear God, although they have not adopted his faith, are emboldened to breast the currents of unjust opinion and to go in the face of the mob who applaud an infamous deed. It was the same in the case of Jesus, who was buried by Joseph and Nicodemus in Joseph’ s garden. History is full of such contrasts. Humanity has its recoil from injustice and violence. Successful villainy is always ruinous. Passions, ecclesiastical or political, satiated with blood, involve blunder as well as crime. Religious animosities are met by this immense force in human nature, and there is no withstanding the influence of that pity which unjust violence evokes. The tears shed over a martyred corpse are more potent than the mightiest engines of persecution. II. Adversity and persecution are overruled by the ascended Lord for the extension of the Church. The signal, by Stephen’ s death, was given for a general outbreak to exterminate the Christians. When wild beasts taste blood their fury becomes madness. “ As for Saul.” The word used means violent outrage and physical maltreatment. He made a ruin of the Church by brutal and bloody assaults on the persons of its members. Oriental religious fanaticism has always been tigerish in its cruelty. Beneath the Crescent have been wrought deeds of blood which have cursed and doomed Mahomedan fanaticism. The Lord reigneth. Christians are fugitives; but they carry Christianity wherever they go. New centres of Christian life and organisation spring up everywhere. When Rome drove out our own reformers they found leisure on the Continent to perfect translations of Holy Scripture in the mother tongue. God’ s hand was in it when the power of Rome was established in our land. Caesar “ meant not so, neither did his heart think so.” Beneath his eagles was borne the cross. Britain was conquered by the Romans that it might be conquered by Christ. III. A principle and an encouragement respecting Church extension. Fugitive believers are the first messengers of the gospel to distant regions. Philip was not an apostle, nor a pastor. His was a secular Office. But when those duties ceased through the scattering, he was still ready for service. Changing his place, he did not change his disposition. He found, new work for himself. While within the Church, for teaching and ruling, men receive a special call and ordination of the Lord, there is a service of Christ for which official appointment is not indispensable. Men who are Christians can and ought to make Christ known to those who are not. Order is seemly; but it is not to displace energy and zeal. (W. H. Davison.)Except the apostles.-- The apostles stayed bravely in Jerusalem They might be east into prison, or even put to death, but they would not go. They must be there to help and comfort the poor people in their danger. I have often read of shipwrecks, and have generally found that when the terrible waves were dashing over the ship, and the sailors were letting down the boats that the passengers might escape, the captain and the officers remained on deck to the very last. The apostles were like those brave officers. Will the ship sink? No; but if it should they will sink with her. But many others left the city. It was as right for them to go as for the apostles to stay. Several of them may have had little children dependent on them, for whose sake they must try to live and work. Then while they lived they could speak for Christ, and so do good to others. (S. G. Green, D. D.) Acts 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial. The burial of Stephen I. The devout men exemplified--1. The constancy of Christian friendship. They did not need the sound of his voice and the echo of his steps to remind them of the duties they owed to him. The friendships induced by Christianity are the firmest and most enduring. Our friend may be no longer on earth, but he lives with Christ and so is still ours. 2. The heroism of Christian friendship. These men were in danger of sharing their friend’ s fate. They might have said, “ What is the use of risking that now Stephen is dead?” But the instinct of friendship was stronger than the fear of danger, and they went forth confessing that they were followers of Him in whose name Stephen had died. Christian friendship is not influenced by selfish considerations. 3. The practical kindness of Christian friendship. A saint who dies in the midst of saints is sure to have a loving burial. He may be poor, but his claims will not be unheeded. II. The causes of their lamentation.1. Their own personal loss. One dear to them had been taken away. Our religion does not chide the tears of the bereaved. “ Jesus wept,” and manifested a tender feeling for the hearts of others when He said, “ Woman, why weepest thou?” 2. The Church’ s loss. Stephen seemed to be needed more than ever. Saul was becoming a terrible opponent, and there was no Stephen to answer him. A pillar strong with truth, and beautiful with love, was overturned when it was wanted to sustain the temple of God. A standard bearer had fallen when foes were gathering thickly about the camp. A shepherd was taken away when the flock was likely to be scattered. 3. The world’ s loss. The world could not understand this. It was nothing to the soldier, the merchant, the priest; but it was a far greater calamity than if Caesar had fallen from his throne. III. The alleviating circumstances. There was no need for the lamentation as far as Stephen was concerned.1. A little before he died he had a vision of Christ. 2. He died in the calm assurance of a life to come. 3. He died in love and charity with all men. (J. Marratt.)The burial of Stephen The action of these devout men-- I. Expresses affectionate sorrow for their departed friend. The religion of Christ does not destroy our feelings as men. It makes the already gentle and loving heart more loving and gentle still, and fills the stern, the frozen breast, with warm and generous feeling. What a change it wrought in that young man, at whose feet Stephen’ s murderers laid their clothes! The devout men were not yielding to unmanly or unchristian emotions. The religion of Jesus would moderate their grief, but it would not restrain their tears. Jesus Himself wept at the grave of a friend. And Stephen had been their friend. II. Implies that their sorrow would be chastened by submission to the will of God. They knew who had said, “ The hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service.” They also knew who had said, whilst Himself drinking a cup far more bitter than Stephen’ s, “ O My Father, if this cup may not pass from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.” And did they not know that that sufferer had left His disciples an example that they should tread in His steps? and that now He was Lord of all, and could dash His enemies in places, like a potter’ s vessel? And therefore these devout men would in submission say, amid all their tears, “ It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good. The Lord gave--the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.” III. Infers that they would be influenced by kindest sympathy towards Stephen’ s surviving relations. What was their loss compared with the loss sustained by such? The loss of a friend is not so great as the loss of a son--the loss of a father--the loss of a husband. To such the loss would be irreparable, or could only be made up by Him who is better than ten thousand sons, and who has said, “ Leave thy fatherless children unto Me, I will provide, and let thy widows trust in Me.” And would not these devout men sympathise with the widow and the orphan and the mother who had lost such a relative as Stephen? “ Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” IV. Leads us to suppose that they could not allow such an occasion to pass away without earnest prayer that this bereavement which the Church had sustained might be sanctified to the church’ s interests. The burden of their prayer would probably be, “ Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth,” etc. Who can tell what influence they had in the calling of Saul of Tarsus? Would they not also pray, “ Lord, teach us to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils, and trust alone in Thee” ? And would not these prayers be blended with thanksgivings for the grace given to their departed brother? V. Suggests the hope of a blessed reunion with their departed friend at the resurrection of the just. They sorrowed not as men without hope. They knew their brother had fallen asleep in Jesus; and surely they believed that them who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. VI. Would there not be renewed consecration to the service of God? The storm of persecution raged, and they were scattered by its violence--but not as flock that has lost or left the shepherd. No; rather scattered as rays of light, to become the lights of the world, to be as flames of fire in the service of the Saviour (Acts 8:4). And He that gave the word went with them, giving effect to the Word of His grace, so that the Word of the Lord had free course, and was glorified. So it ought ever to be. The work of the Lord must be done. It will be done, whether by us or not; but if not, we gain no reward. “ Work while it is called to-day--the night cometh in which no man can work.” (P. C. Horton.)Stephen’ s funeral I. A very select funeral.1. Pre-eminently select. “ Devout men” --not rich, learned, or titled, but good men; those who discharged thoroughly, from the purest motives, all the duties of life. (1) Virtuous, or true to themselves.(2) Philanthropic, or true to their fellow-men.(3) Godly, or true to the Most High. Christians--men of the highest type. 2. Suitably select. The good burying the good. The pious should care for each other to the last. 3. Wholly select. Occasionally funerals are very mixed. Some attend because the dead man had been a good customer; some because they were neighbours; some because of a necessary family connection; some as an expression of readiness to put the deceased out of the way; some from a denominational bias. Stephen’ s funeral was unmixed--composed of sincere and practical lovers of God and man. Perhaps heaven’ s inhabitants streamed to the balconies of the celestial city and gazed with wonder at the novel sight. II. A very sad funeral.1. There have been many non-attendant burials, not an individual present to grieve. 2. There have been largely attended funerals, but the signs of regret were correspondingly small; more talk than tears. 3. Stephen’ s funeral was attended by men of sense and sanctity, who rent the air with the cries of their broken hearts. (1) Their sadness was an expression of homage to the excellencies of the departed. (a) To great religious intelligence. (b) To moral and religious character. The gospel lived in him, and he in it. (c) To usefulness. (2) An expression of sympathy with the sufferings of the departed. It was the loss of-- (1) A leading man. (2) In a sudden manner.(3) By cruel treatment.(4) When he was most needed. (B. D. Johns.)The lamentation at Stephen’ s funeral This was something more than a conventional funeral. The people among whom it occurred were given to burial rites of elaborate and studied ceremonial. Like all orientalists, their mourning was chiefly marked by a painstaking and intentional publicity. With them grief for the dead meant baring and beating the breast, sprinkling or sitting in ashes, songs of lamentation, and the employment of mourning women. And so, when the martyred Stephen is buried, the customs are not changed. True, he was not merely a flew, but a Christian; yet the infant Church still clung to the cherished ceremonies of the elder, and what was usual was followed here. It was indeed the hatred and vindictiveness of Judaism which had slain this godly man, yet, when he is dead, the manner of his burial is the usage of Judaism itself. To have changed it would have been to have surrendered his claim as a veritable and loyal Israelite; and doubtless, also, to have grieved and wounded his surviving relatives. All the more because his death had been so cruel and distressing, would they have his burial decent and reverent and painstaking; even as when the nation buries some honoured soldier she surrounds his funeral cortege with every element of pomp and state and ceremony, as though she would atone for the hardships of his bitter and lonely end upon the field of battle by utmost tenderness and reverence in dealing with his lifeless body. And thus it was with the bruised and mangled form of Stephen. The funeral order of his race was carefully observed. But there was this difference--and it comes out with a singular and touching significance in two Greek words, used here only in all the New Testament: the mourning at Stephen’ s funeral was the mourning of unaffected feeling, and the attendants who followed him to his grave were not hired mutes nor paid mourners, but grief-stricken and godly men. This scene suggests the thought of the difference that there is in funerals. The Church has one common ritual for all her baptized dead. She does not attempt to discriminate either in her customs or her utterances. She is not a judge with such infallible insight that she can weigh character and prophesy of destiny. Most wisely, therefore, does she use one common office for all her dead, leaving scarce any discretion to her ministry, and uttering one uniform voice to her people. Her language is general, not specific. She writes as Inspiration has written before her, “ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,” but she utters no verdict of application in connection with their use. She speaks words of Christian hope; but they are coupled with the Scriptural conditions of all Christian hope. In a word, her language is that of Christian faith and trust; and while it is utterly devoid of any specific application of its very general terms, we feel that its tone is only what the tone of anything save a heathen burial ought to be. And yet, when we come to use it, we recognise what a really tremendous difference there may be in even the Church’ s funerals. As with Stephen’ s burial by the elder Church, there are the same preliminaries, the same customs, the same words, and yet, as there, there may be the widest and most radical difference in what those words and customs express. Have we not all witnessed funerals where even the sublime ritual of the Church seemed powerless to touch the heart or lift the thoughts? With utmost charity, with every willingness to leave the vanished life in the hands of a Love at once deeper and wiser than ours, we cannot bind that life and the Church’ s tones together. Somehow, they do not fit into, and form a part of, each other. Verily, “ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours.” But if they have not lived in the Lord, nor laboured for Him--we may say these questions are useless; but we cannot help asking them. On the other hand, there are other funerals where we use precisely the same ritual; where there is no diversity in usage or custom from what is wonted, unless in the direction of greater simplicity; where merely the Church’ s appointed words are said, and no others, and yet where the emotions of our own hearts and the very atmosphere of the whole occasion are utterly and wholly different. There is a deep and widespread sorrow, but it is a grief gilded with light. We listen to the words of inspired hope and promise, and, as we lift our eyes from the bier before us, lo! the clouds are parted, and we see how, to a Christian, the grave is only a low-brewed portal, through which, bending as he passes, he emerges into larger life and freer. (Bp. H. C. Potter.) Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the Church.The smiter smitten Read and compare the following passages, the text and Acts 14:19; Acts 9:1; Acts 23:12; Galatians 1:13 and 2 Corinthians 11:23; Acts 26:10; Acts 16:23; Ezekiel 18:25 and Galatians 6:7. All these experiences were undergone by the same man--the persecutor was persecuted; he who breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the saints was himself pursued by the vengeance of furious men. Note, then--I. That a man’ s life comes back upon him (Galatians 6:7). One feels in reading such experience that the sense of justice is satisfied. Had Saul after his conversion settled down into a state of Christian enjoyment there would have been a want of moral completeness. Paul himself would have been injured. He must reap what he had sown. Such is the severe but beneficent law which keeps all things equal. If any man could mingle bitter cups for others and never be compelled to drink them himself, he would soon become a devil. God shows him that his turn is coming. All history has shown this--e.g., Adonibezek, Agag, etc. The testimony of Holy Writ is consistent and emphatic. “ He shall have judgment without mercy that showeth no mercy.” See how literally and terribly this was fulfilled in the case of Paul. God forgot not one of his misdemeanours, and the most terrible of persecutors received the measure of his own fury. II. That a man’ s Christian experience must be affected by the unchristian life he has lived. One would suppose that after conversion all the former life would be done away. But physically it is not so, and why should it be so spiritually? Look at the reasonableness of the doctrine. A man has lived a self-indulgent life, been careless of the rights of others, etc. After all this he is converted; is he then to complain of the trials of the Christian way as if some strange thing had happened to him? Is there not a cause? Old neglects have to be made up; old wrongs have to be avenged. Is not the way of the Lord equal? We complain of the arduousness of the Christian way, but was the devil’ s way easy? What about the cost and consequences of vicious luxuries? We were selfish, tyrannical, inconsiderate, and is it likely that all this can have passed away without leaving deep effects on our life? Across our very prayers there will be blown the bitter wind of the land we have lived in so long; and through our tenderest charities there may be breathed somewhat of the old selfishness which once enclosed us in its prison. Let us, in honesty, trace many of our trials to the life we have lived in the flesh rather than to any arbitrariness of Divine grace. Conclusion: In reviewing these statements in the light of history and revelation we see--1. That the distribution of penalties is God’ s work and not man’ s. “ Vengeance is Mine,” etc. 2. That under all the apparent confusion of life there is a principle of justice. 3. That the greatest sufferings may be borne with patience and hopefulness. When did Paul complain of his lot? When did he say that he had suffered more than his share? From him let us learn how good a thing it is to suffer and be strong. (J. Parker, D. D.)Different kinds of martyrdom They say that martyrdoms are ended. It is true that the stake is abandoned; Bloody Mary is dead; Smithfield is a commonplace sheep-market, with only an inscription on one side of it to record the fidelity of John Rogers. And perhaps it is not necessary to force the rhetoric which calls Abraham Lincoln the “ martyr president,” or to assert beyond strict accuracy that an assassin could make President Garfield a martyr by shooting him. We need not plant ourselves upon a plane so high or so tragic as this. There are small martyrdoms for Christ’ s sake which in ordinary life are quite within the reach of our attainment. It is a very plain truth that we find in the line of the German poet, Heinrich Heine: “ Wheresoever a great thought is born, there always has been a Golgotha.” When any genuine man is called into conspicuousness, and forced to take a stand for an unpopular or advanced principle against obloquy and opposition, there will be persecution as common as “ the common prison” into which the apostles were hurried after they preached the resurrection. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Thoughts under persecution When I am driven from the city, I care nothing for it; but I say to myself, If the empress wishes to banish me, the earth is the Lord’ s, and the fulness thereof. If she would saw me in sunder, let her do it; I have Isaiah for a pattern. If she would plunge me into the sea, I remember Jonah. If she would thrust me into the fiery furnace, I see the three Hebrew children enduring that. If she would cast me to the wild beasts, I call to mind Daniel in the den of lions. If she would take my head from me, I think of John the Baptist. If she would deprive me of worldly goods, let her do it; naked came I into the world, and naked I shall go out of it. (Chrysostom.) Acts 8:4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word.The aggressive power of Christianity That it is pre-eminently by aggressive movements that the Church is to prosper. By this means she is to maintain spiritual life in her own soul--cause religion to flourish at home, and extend its triumphs abroad.1. The truth of this doctrine is suggested by the first impulses of the religious principle--the spirit of love in every Christian’ s bosom. False religionists, both among Pagans and nominal Christians, have, I know, taught that piety was a kind of dormant, contemplative spirit; that its power was to be manifested in patient endurance rather than holy action; in a voluntary withdrawment from the world to avoid its contaminations, rather than in resolute efforts to make the world better. The unsophisticated promptings of the new-born soul are always to active effort for God. This is strikingly exhibited in young converts. It is illustrated with great beauty in the conduct of Christ’ s earliest disciples. It conceives plans, it demands efforts, for the world’ s conversion. Every real Christian that lives in the spirit of religion may consult his own Consciousness on this subject. See the lives also of eminently holy men in later times--Baxter, Brainerd, Martyn, Payson, etc. 2. The doctrine I have stated further appears from the fact that truth is the grand instrument which God employs to overthrow the kingdom of Satan, and advance and establish the kingdom of His Son. The Word of God must not only be translated into all the languages of the earth, but it must be carried to every, man’ s door; nay, its great truths must be pressed home upon every man’ s conscience. What a mighty work here opens for Christians of every name! It is, moreover, eminently an aggressive work, a missionary movement. How are they to accomplish it by shutting themselves up in cloisters? 3. Both the necessity and the vital importance of the aggressive movements of the Church appears from the very attitude of a fallen world towards God. It is one of hostility to His character and opposition to His truth. The world will not come to the Church and crave instruction at her lips. As her Saviour sought her, so He requires her to seek sinners. In other words, she must make external and aggressive movements. She must not study so much her own comfort as her enlargement. 4. The whole current of Scripture precept and representation is in perfect accordance with this view of the subject. The Bible never instructs the Church that she is to conquer the world by her passive virtues--“ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” 5. The entire history of the gospel confirms this view of the subject. When has any signal advance been made in the work of human salvation, except by a movement similar to that described in the text? The Mosaic institution was peculiar. It was conservative rather than aggressive. Turn to a still later page in the history of the Church. How was it at the Reformation? How was it at the period when Whitefield and Wesley appeared? And just in proportion as any branch of the Christian Church, in the spirit of Christ, attempts spiritual aggression, in the same proportion its interests are prospered. It is seen fulfilling its high destiny. Remarks:1. We see why the Church is organised. 2. This subject also indicates the grand object of all preaching to the Church. 3. This discussion throws light upon the providences of God towards the Church. Now, as in former days, He allows heresies, persecutions, schisms, and various forms of affliction, from time to time, to invade the Church. Missionary efforts formed no part of their original plan; they were the plan of Providence. 4. This subject throws light upon the melancholy fact, “ known and read of all men,” that many Churches which have numbers, and wealth, and much secular influence, have no corresponding moral power. Woe to Churches and to ministers who are thus “ at ease in Zion.” (J. H. Tinsley, D. D.)The gospel--its propagation and effects I. It is the will of God to propagate His Son’ s gospel; and in all ways, through circumstances adverse or prosperous, He gives it free course. Sometimes it is by opening the commerce of nations, so that the messengers may occupy new fields; sometimes by some spark from a martyr’ s pile kindling a tire in a land or in a heart. Great as has been the effect of the patronage of kings, it has been as nothing in comparison with that constancy of faith even unto death, of which Stephen was its first instance, followed by those of whom our text speaks. This was all that remained of the effects of the first Christian persecution; an added testimony, a wider circulation, and a more decided devotion. II. What is this gospel?1. It is called “ the Word.” A word is the utterance of a mind, reason communicating itself. Do we believe that the gospel is the expression of God’ s mind, the communication of His will? It is a glorious view which is thus opened. God has spoken concerning us, and to us. That mystery which for ages and generations had enveloped the ulterior designs of the Almighty Creator touching His rebellious creatures is at last revealed. God has announced to us the forgiveness of sins through a Mediator and a Sacrifice; the sanctification of sinners, their recreation in His own lost image, by means of an indwelling Holy Spirit; that prayer is the one connecting link between us and these two unspeakable gifts; that it is His intention to raise the dead to an immortal existence, the character of which, for happiness or misery, will depend upon the life here led by us. These things are amongst the disclosures embodied in that Word which these dispersed disciples preached, and which we, if we be faithful to our commission, are preaching still and still hearing. 2. But, as they preached the Word, so Philip preached Christ (Acts 8:5). There was no difference between the two. Christ is “ the Word,” and is so designated because He is the Revealer of God: “ The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” To preach Christ, in His person, in His character, in His work, is to proclaim God’ s Word, in its simplicity, fulness, and strength. III. The credentials of this gospel. When we preach the Word, or Christ, how do we establish it? No doubt we go back to the evidences: we speak of God’ s triple seal, of goodness, wisdom, and power, as set to the words and works of Christ: These arguments are never worn out; nor can it ever be safe to disuse them. But when our Lord said, “ These signs shall follow them that believe,” He taught us to look for more than a mere historical proof. When Philip preached, certain results followed (Acts 8:7). Thus he could appeal to effects, and say, Judge ye whether a doctrine which brings with it these infallible signs be of man or of God. These visible tokens do not now attend our preaching, and we ought not to want them; and “ if we hear not Moses and the prophets,” if we refuse the doctrine of Christ and the apostles, neither should we be influenced by any outward sign. But a changed life, an altered spirit, the formation of Christian habits, and the diligent use of Christ’ s ordinances these are the true proofs of the gospel Word in our days; by these things other men take knowledge of its power and of its virtue. IV. The effect of the proclamation of the Word (Acts 8:8). It is long, we may fear, since in any whole place there was joy on account of the gospel. Let me ask then as to the individual soul, Which of you knows what joy is in things spiritual? Who, in days of health and prosperity, finds his happiness simply in Christ? Who, in days of sickness and disappointment, does not find to his consternation that the light of heaven is gone out too? Joy is the overflowing of happiness, the exuberance of a comfort and a tranquillity habitually felt within. Oh where is such joy as that of which our Lord spoke, “ These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” ? Levity there may be, and too much of it; cheerful spirits in some, domestic happiness in some, contentment and even thankfulness in a few; but where amongst us is that grace of Christian joy which seemed to flow so naturally, in other days, out of the very first reception of the tidings of a Saviour? And yet such joy lies nearer than we imagine: sin forgiven, the atonement believed in, the Holy Spirit cherished--it is the natural effect of these things to inspire joy. Ask of God the power to grasp them as realities, and joy will enter with them; a joy not of this world, a joy the very foretaste of heaven. (Dean Vaughan.)The liberty of prophesying The great majority of the dispersed Christians held no ecclesiastical office whatever. Yet they preached wherever they came, without being called to do so by official duty or express commission, but entirely from the internal pressure of faith, which cannot but speak of that which affects the heart, from the impulse of the Spirit by whom they were appointed, and from love to the Saviour to whom they were indebted for the forgiveness, of their sins and for their blessed hopes. According to human ideas of Church government and office, it ought not to have been so. But the Lord of the Church does not so confine Himself even to the office of the apostolate established by Himself, as that everything must take place entirely through it in order to be lawful, pleasing to God, blessed, and full of promise. Christ thus shows that no man and no finite office is indispensable and absolutely necessary; only He Himself is ever and everywhere indispensable. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)The aggressive character of Christianity A Christian is one who knows and receives as true what Christ has revealed in His Word, whose inward state (religious consciousness) is determined by that knowledge, and whose life is devoted to the obedience and service of Christ. Christianity is therefore a system of doctrine, an inward life, a rule of action. When, therefore, we speak of the aggressive character of Christianity, we may mean the antagonism of truth to error, the expansive power of the principles of spiritual life, or the opposition of good to evil in the outward life; or, as the Scriptures call it, the kingdom of God. We may mean by the aggressive character of Christianity, its inherent force, by which it tends to gain more and more the complete control of the individual man and of human society; by controlling all the forms of human thought, the inward character of men, and their outward conduct. I. Christianity is thus aggressive. It does tend and strive to subdue.1. This is variously taught in the Scriptures. It is compared to a stone, cut out of a mountain, which gradually fills the whole earth; to a tree whose branches extend over all lands; to leaven; to a temple in the process of erection; to the sun in its course through the heavens. 2. It is deducible from its nature. Truth is necessarily antagonistic to error, and holiness to sin. The one must strive to overcome the other, both in the individual and the world. Besides being a religion suited to the necessities of all men, and absolutely essential to their well-being here and hereafter, it cannot be embraced by the individual without the consciousness on his part of the obligation to uphold and extend it. A Christian, from the nature of the case, is fired with zeal for the glory of Christ and with love for his fellow-men. 3. It is illustrated in the history of the Church. The original promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’ s head has expanded into the whole system of Christian doctrine. The hundred and twenty disciples in Jerusalem occupied Syria, Egypt, Greece, Italy; and since then Christianity has gained the civilised world. It has banished idolatry, elevated man, and moulded human society. 4. It is proved in the experience of every Christian. His inward life is a progress. He passes from infancy to maturity. The truth becomes better known and more firmly believed. Indwelling sin becomes weaker, and grace stronger. Where this is not true, there is no true life. II. To what is this aggressive power due?1. Not to anything in itself as a system of truth. If revealed to the lost in the other world it would be powerless. If revealed to fallen men, sent in books or by living teachers to the heathen, it would, if left to itself, be universally rejected. The opposition of Satan and the evil heart would be too much for it. 2. Not to the subjective effect on the hearts of those who are led to embrace it. If nothing were done ab extra to induce the reception of the gospel, the inward effect and the outward agency would fade away. 3. But to the purpose of God and the co-operation of the Spirit. When a woman puts leaven into a measure of meal, she is sure that the whole will be leavened, because the effect is due to the operation of invariable physical laws. But when the gospel is introduced into a community, whether it will take root and extend, or not, depends on an ab extra sovereign working of Divine power. Hence a sense of dependence is to be acknowledged and cultivated. It is because Christianity is the life of God (i.e., of a present Christ)that it must prevail. 4. Although the gospel is thus dependent on supernatural agency for its preservation and extension, yet human co-operation is ordained as the means. Faith and love are the powers which we are to wield, depending on the Spirit of God. (C. Hodge, D. D.)The service of persecution to She Church The dispersed preached the gospel. Thus by the storm the seeds hitherto collected in one place are scattered hither and thither, and carried to a distance, where they germinate and bear fruit. Thus the Redeemer knows how to convert that into good which was intended only for evil; i.e., not only to hinder the contemplated wicked designs, but by means of them to obtain an unexpected furtherance of His kingdom. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)Sparks carried by the wind The storms of persecution are only winds which fan the fire of faith in the Church, and carry the sparks of truth to a distance. (K. Gerok.)Wider growth of the Church We spring up the thicker the oftener we are mowed down. The blood of the martyrs is their harvest-seed. (Tertullian.)The zeal of the apostles As a tree on fire kindles a whole forest into a flame, so the apostles, burning with the fire of heaven, have set in a blaze the whole world, and have filled it with the light of truth and the warmth of charity. (St. Augustine.)Useful incendiaries The apostles were as burning coals, scattered throughout the nations, blest incendiaries of the world! (Archbishop Leighton.)What true preaching is I do not suppose that these good men stood up in pulpits and gave sermons. This also is good; but for this there would often be no time; the men must make haste--their enemies were close upon them--they must flee into the next village! But, before they went, “ Just listen,” they would say. “ You ask why we are here, why we are in trouble and danger, what is the matter? We will tell you.” Then would come the sad tale of Stephen. And the Name that Stephen had loved would again be spoken; with the glad tidings that Jesus who had died was risen again, and was at the right hand of God, to save from their sins those who repented and believed in Him. “ And He has saved us!” those preachers would say; “ and He is ready to save you!” They might not be, all of them, very wise, but they could tell as much as this. And to tell this truly and earnestly is to “ preach the gospel.” May not even a child, then, sometimes preach? (S. G. Green, D. D.) Acts 8:5-8 Then Philip wont down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.Philip at Samaria I. The preacher--“ Philip.”1. His native place--“ Caesarea,” most likely.2. His official status--“ Evangelist,” and one of the first deacons.3. His new charge--“ Samaria.”4. His specific work “ Preached.”5. His theme--“ Christ.”6. His directness--“ Unto them.” He took aim at his audience. He did not take long range at antediluvian iniquity, but poured hot shot and shell into the living iniquities of Samaria. II. The preacher’ s success.1. He made a fine impression--“ The people with one accord gave heed,” were impressed with his (1) Teachings,(2) Character, and(3) Spirit. 2. He impressed them with his power--“ Seeing the miracles.” 3. He surprised them by his authority--“ Unclean spirits crying came out.” 4. He blessed them by his presence--“ Many with palsies.” 5. He gladdened them by his ministry--“ There was great joy in that city.” (T. Kelly.)Philip preaching at Samaria The early Christians were not disposed to leave Jerusalem. They had been counselled to abide in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high; but Pentecost had come and gone, and still they tarried. Perhaps they were in a measure constrained by their lingering prejudice against the gathering in of the Gentiles. The martyrdom of Stephen was the stirring up of the nest. The infatuated Jews who wrought that murderous deed may have fondly hoped that it would prove the death-blow of the little Christian Church. But God maketh the wrath of men to praise Him. Thus it is written, “ The disciples that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word.” The Church perforce begins her aggressive march. Providence made them all missionaries. The apostles alone remained in Jerusalem, which became henceforth “ a centre not of concentration, but of radiation.” I. Philip, the evangelist, comes to Samaria. Among those who fled from Jerusalem at this juncture was Philip, one of the seven deacons. He was a man full of the Holy Ghost and power, and with a special fitness for evangelistic work. On reaching the city of Samaria he began at once to “ preach Christ unto them.” In all the world there was probably, at that moment, no city whose conditions were more unfavourable to Christian effort. The people were half heathen at the best. Rejecting all of the Scriptures except the five books of Moses, they were addicted to all manner of superstitious observances. Just now they were under the spell of a certain necromancer, known to us as Simon Magus, who called himself “ The Great Power of God.” Under these circumstances a prudent evangelist might have thought best to pass on to more congenial soil. But Philip was not prudent in that wise. He followed the lead of Providence, the only safe plan. For “ he that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap” (Ecclesiastes 11:4). II. His coming is followed by a revival. Some men are a curse to the cities they live in; others are a blessing. At once he set about two things:--1. “ He preached Christ.” It is noteworthy how often we come upon this and similar expressions in the Scriptures--“ preaching the Word,” “ preaching the gospel,” “ preaching the Lord Jesus,” “ preaching peace by Jesus Christ.” Nothing is said about fine essay work in the pulpit or about profound scientific and philosophical disquisitions. No truth was presented which did not emanate from Christ as a sunbeam from the sun. The mission of a minister is to preach the gospel; and the gospel is the good tidings that Jesus saves. A hundred philosophers, bending all their efforts for a hundred years upon a single sinner would fail to save him, but one faithful herald of the old-fashioned gospel of the Cross can stir a whole city to its depth. Philip was only a deacon, an evangelist; there were many wiser men in Samaria; but, alas! the truth as it is in Jesus had not set their hearts on fire. So he had the advantage of them all. “ And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which he spake.” 2. And they were all the readier to listen to him by reason of the miracles which he wrought in the name of Jesus. “ For unclean spirits came out of many that were possessed; and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed; and there was great joy in that city.” The very best evidence of the truth of Christ’ s gospel is in its influence upon the community. Take a map of the world and mark off the countries where happiness and prosperity prevail in largest measure, and in every instance they are the countries that acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. The gospel, wherever it goes, proves its Divineness by working miracles of beneficence. And the Christian proves the truth of his message by showing what it has done for his own heart and conscience, and by dispensing of its virtues to all around him. So one man turned Samaria upside down. Before the people knew, probably before he himself realised it, they were in the midst of a great revival. III. Peter and John come to his relief. No better could have been selected than these two whom we so often find in each other’ s company--Peter the Man of Rock, and John the Son of Thunder. We may imagine the delight with which the faithful, overworked evangelist welcomed them. These apostles came, moreover, not only to preach Christ to the Samaritans, but to confer upon the Christian workers the charismata, or gifts of the Holy Ghost. On the arrival of these apostles the work went forward with renewed energy, but Philip was less conspicuous. No doubt he recognised their superior fitness, and was content to take a subordinate place. Where the mind of Jesus prevails there is neither clash nor jealousy. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Philip’ s ministry in Samaria Consider the suggestions arising from-- I. The scene of his ministry. In selecting the “ city of Samaria” we discover--1. His practical sagacity. Christ had been there and had prepared the way. 2. His obedience to Christ. Christ had commanded it (Acts 1:8). 3. His largeness of soul. They were a people hostile to his own, by political and religious prejudices. 4. His intrepidity of conduct. He was doing that which would put him directly against the Jews. II. The subject. “ Christ,” not Moses; Christ, not creed--the living Christ, the anointed of God, the Saviour of the world--probably:--1. As the burden of past promises, as “ Him of whom Moses and the prophets did write.” This is what we have to do. 2. As the foundation of all future hopes. His the “ only name given,” etc. No one else to look forward to. III. The reception (verse 6). They gave proper attention to what he said. What would be proper attention to a theme like this?1. Profoundly reverential. It is a Divine communication. 2. Devoutly grateful. Infinite love is displayed in the message. 3. Earnestly practical. Demanding most strenuous personal application. IV. The attestation. His miracles which were--1. Illustrations of the benign glories of his ministry. 2. Powers to impress the Divinity of his ministry. V. The influence (verse 8). They had been partly prepared for this by Christ’ s conversation with the woman. The gospel brings joy to a people because it is “ good tidings,” etc. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Philip preaching in a Samaritan city Philip-- I. Went down to a city of Samaria.1. Went down, i.e., from Jerusalem. The place physically was high; it was also the centre of government and worship--hence the expressions “ going up” and “ going down.” If there is one super-eminent mountain in a country the clouds of heaven congregate round it, and from it the water flows in every direction to refresh the land. Such, spiritually, was Jerusalem. The clouds gathered round it at Pentecost, and under the influence of the mighty rushing wind they were precipitated, and bore the gospel of grace to all nations. Christ’ s name and work is that central mountain now. The Spirit without measure is poured out upon Him. The Jerusalem that now is is His Church, around which all heavenly influences congregate, and from which they flow forth. Hence missions. Christians engage in mission work as mountains discharge rivers; they cannot help it, it is a law of their being. Love in redeemed hearts swells, and would rend them unless they opened. 2. To a city. The efforts of the first Christians were directed chiefly to the great cities. When the strongholds are won, the surrounding country is more easily occupied. Cities seem destined to play a greater part in modern than they did in ancient times. As yet no symptom appears of any natural law that shall check their increase. The thought of London makes the heart falter. But “ this is the victory that overcometh the world,” etc. Lord increase our faith. 3. A city of Samaria. It was near; it was needy. Its inhabitants were a mixed people with a patchwork religion. Samaria is near us to-day, and if we are willing to go, we need not lack a mission-field. II. He preached Christ unto them.1. He preached--the first and chief work of a missionary, as a herald of peace from the king to a rebel country. Teaching and printing are useful auxiliaries, but they must not usurp the first place. 2. He preached Christ. To this the teaching of the Bible constantly comes round. Not law, morality, philosophy, or even the Scriptures or true doctrine, but Christ. 3. Unto them--to each heart. Not a general scheme of redemption, but a personal Saviour to a personal soul. Let the sunbeams passing through ordinary glass be spread over your naked band and the effect is imperceptible; but let the rays pass through a convex glass and be concentrated on one point, and they will shine brilliantly and go to the quick. The gospel may be preached or heard in both these ways; hence its diverse effects. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The advent of the gospel to Samaria With the history of Philip commences a new stage in the development of the Church. In the first commission to the twelve the glad tidings were restricted to the Jews, to the express exclusion of the Samaritans. This, however, was cancelled in the final commission, and Samaria first and then the whole world were thrown open to the gospel. But the honour of executing this commission, in both its narrowest and widest extent, fell not to an apostle, but to a deacon. Samaria directly, and Africa indirectly, were evangelised by Philip, the forerunner of Paul in his work as Stephen was in his preaching. “ Coming events cast their shadows before.” The forms of Stephen and Philip, projected on the canvas of sacred history, give us some idea of the gigantic figure in reserve. What moved Philip is not recorded. Perhaps the persecution was specially directed against him, as his name occurs next to Stephen’ s, and because he was as a Graecized Jew more liberal than his brethren in Palestine. He went down to a (not the) city of Samaria, probably Sebaste or Sychar. The orderliness of the spread of the gospel should be noted. It was to begin from Jerusalem as its centre, and first to permeate Judaea, the province of which Jerusalem was the metropolis, and thence to Samaria, the contiguous province, and thence to the uttermost parts of the earth. Now this collocation of Samaria (between Judaea and the uttermost parts of the earth) is not so much to be understood geographically as morally. The Samaritans were Judaised Gentiles, just as the Hellenists were Gentilised Jews. And it is obvious that Judaised Gentiles might play the same part which Hellenists played--act as a bridge between Judaism and heathenism. The Samaritans were probably purely heathen by extraction, descendants of those with whom Shalmanezer repeopled the desolated country (2 Kings 17:1-41.), whose corrupt religion soon found for itself a local habitation and a name. Manasseh, the son of a Jewish high priest, being threatened with expulsion from the priesthood for contracting marriage with a Samaritan lady, permanently sided with them, built a rival temple on Gerizim, and founded a rival priesthood. The Samaritan Bible was a copy of the law of Moses, and that only, showing, however, many alterations of the text. Thus where Moses commands the people to build an altar on Mount Ebal, Gerizim is substituted for Ebal. Thus the Samaritan religion was a spurious and mutilated Judaism. And hence the antipathy of the Jews to them exceeded their antipathy to mere Gentiles. Nothing do men hate more than a caricature of themselves. Accordingly Samaritans were cursed in every synagogue, excluded as witnesses from Jewish courts of justice, and could never become proselytes. These rancorous prejudices were foreign to the Spirit of Christ, and He took every opportunity of counteracting them. But while He forbids all animosity against them, He gave no sanction to their religious claims. It will be seen, therefore, that a strict Jew of the high orthodox school would have had a vast deal of prejudice to surmount in carrying the gospel to Samaria. But Philip did not belong to this school. His circumstances and office would give him wider sympathies than were to be found among Hebrews of the Hebrews. The original diaconate was now broken up, and Philip, the distributor of alms, appears in the new character of evangelist--a striking proof that the wisest plans for Church government must be subject to modifications by the Providence of God. Yet while the form of the early diaconate passed away, its principles remained, and we hear of deacons at Philippi, and of a gift of “ helps “ at Corinth. A concluding word on the slow development of the ideas which were to form Christendom. The Church had much to learn after Pentecost, which experience and struggle only could teach. The outpouring was not a magical enlightenment on all points of truth, but rather the implantation of a principle of light and love, which was to work out its results according to the laws of the human mind. Placed under the guidance of the Spirit the views of the apostles became gradually clearer and wider. Pentecost did for society what conversion does for the individual. Conversion is a period of warm and lively emotions, but the work of sanctification, so far from being finished, has only begun. Our young strength has to be approved by trial, and our little knowledge to be enlarged by experience. So it was with the early Church. (Dean Goulburn.)Samaria made joyful I. The preaching of Christ. Christ is to be preached as--1. All almighty;2. All sufficient;3. Only;4. Gracious and compassionate, Saviour. II. Its happy effects.1. The blessings it brings.2. The prospects it unfolds. Conclusion:1. What reasons we have to be thankful for the gospel!2. What use are we making of it? (W. Dransfield.)Preaching Christ I. Christ is the proper subject of preaching. This means--1. That the subject of preaching was not the wisdom of the world. 2. That it was the revelation concerning Christ. (1) The nature of His person.(2) The character of His work in all His offices.(3) The method of salvation through Him: what we must do to obtain an interest in His salvation.(4) The duties we owe Him. II. Christ as the object of preaching. The objects which men have are various, and some selfish and degrading. Some preach Christ of strife and envy. Others have objects which are legitimate, but subordinate, as the temporal or eternal well-being of men. The true specific and appropriate object is the exaltation and glory of Christ; that He may be known, worshipped, and obeyed. III. Reasons why we should preach Christ. Because--1. He is our God and Saviour. 2. This is requisite to men becoming Christians. 3. To make men Christians is the best means of glorifying God, and the only means of promoting the happiness, holiness, and salvation of men. IV. To preach Christ is a grace. The reasons why it is so great a favour are because--1. It is the highest service of God and Christ. 2. To serve Him is the highest honour, and the greatest source of happiness. (C. Hodge, D. D.)How Christ should be preached I. As the messiah of ancient prophecy. II. As incarnate.1. Very man. 2. Very God. III. As crucified and risen.1. Atoning for sin.2. Triumphing over death. IV. As glorified.1. For Himself.2. For His people. V. As judge. Living to make Christ known:--I wonder how many Christian people here could have their biographies condensed into this line, “ He lived to make Christ known.” Might it not be said of one, he lived to open a shop, and then to open a second? or of another, be lived to save a good deal of money, and take shares in limited liability companies? or of a third, he lived to paint a great picture? or of a fourth, he was best known for his genial hospitality? Of many a minister it might be said--he lived to preach splendid sermons, and to gain credit for fine oratory. What of all these? If it can be said of a man, “ He lived to glorify Christ,” then his life is a life. Every Christian man ought so to live. Oh that my memorial might be: “ He preached Christ crucified” ! (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ not in the sermon The late Bishop F--, of Salisbury, having procured a young clergyman of promising abilities to preach before the king; and the young man having, in his lordship’ s opinion, acquitted himself well, the bishop, in conversation with the king afterwards, wishing to get his sovereign’ s opinion, took the liberty to say, “ Does not your majesty think that the young man, who had the honour to preach before your majesty, is likely to make a good clergyman, and has this morning delivered a very good sermon?” To which the king in his blunt manner, hastily replied, “ It might have been a good sermon, my lord; but I consider no sermon good that has nothing of Christ in it.” Christ in every sermon A lady named Ruth Montgomery, writing in an American journal, tells us of hearing a young man just entering the ministry, who visited her grandfather when she was a little girl, deliver an address on some public secular occasion. Years afterwards, when grown to womanhood, she heard the same speaker deliver a lecture of deep interest, in a town in the interior of New York. Standing at the entrance of the pew, as he passed down the aisle to the door, she shook hands with him, and said: “ I am little Ruth.” A smile lighted up his countenance, and he replied, “ Do you know that you said something to me when I was at your grandfather’ s that I have never forgotten?” “ Oh, no,” I said; “ it cannot be possible!” “ Yes, you did,” he replied; “ when I returned from the lecture, you said, ‘ Dr. D., you didn’ t forget to bring in the Saviour into your lecture.’ And I determined then I never would forget it. I have remembered it from that day to this, and tried to keep my resolution.” The duty of Christians to speak about Christ Many years ago, when S. D. Rickards was walking home with a young lady, talking to her of the good Lord and His willingness to help us (in accordance with a resolution made still farther back that he would never be alone with any young person without speaking concerning “ the better things” ), he found that she had been longing to be a Christian for a considerable time; she wanted to love and trust the Lord Jesus, but she did not know how. In the simplest way he told her how--that trusting Christ was no more difficult than trusting him. Did she believe that he would save her if he could, if she asked him? And when the reply came, “ Yes,” the question was put whether He, the Infinitely Good, was not much more to be trusted than a poor weak being like himself. Would He not be sure to save her if she asked Him, and could she not trust Him to say yes? A few days after, a little note came, thanking him for the conversation, relating how now she could say she trusted the Lord Jesus and was glad in Him, and adding these few words: “ If any one during the last three years had spoken to me as you did the other night, I should have been a Christian. It was just what I was wanting. I often wonder Christians talk so little about Christ.” (J. L. Nye.)And the people with one accord gave heed unto these things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.-- Fruit--joy I. The people listened to the messenger. There was great earnestness and unanimity. They did not oppose him or remain unmoved. It is a great advantage when an awaking becomes general. Solitary Christians are like solitary trees near the sea coast; the cold winds keep down their growth or kill them. But in a thick wood all contribute to shelter each. So quickly and generally did this harvest grow up to Philip’ s hand that we are compelled to believe that a sower had been previously at work. This was so. The Master had sown, the servant now reaped. II. The people both heard his doctrines, and saw his mighty works. We have the same doctrines and the same results in conversion, but not the miracles? Why? They were the credentials of the first preachers; why, then, cannot we have them to authenticate ours? For the same reason, perhaps, that the miracle of Creation has not been repeated. To set the world going powers were necessary that are not necessary now. The present organic laws are sufficient for the continuance of the species, but not to account for the commencement. Why, then, should it be thought impossible that God should exert a power to establish the gospel which was not needed afterwards? Existing spiritual forces are sufficient for all gospel purposes, and are mightier even than the miracles employed to establish it. III. There was great joy in the city. Hear this, ye butterfly flutterers, that flit from flower to flower, satiate with each sweet as soon as you alight upon it, and hastening unhappy to another, trying every flower all day, and at night bringing no honey home! Hear this, all ye who study hard to keep religion at arm’ s length, lest it should cast a gloom over your heart or home! When an earnest missionary who had risked his life for Christ’ s name preached in a city, the people, instead of growing gloomy, became glad. This is a phenomenon worthy of study. But do not mistake its meaning. The instinct which prompts the vain and worldly to keep religion away, lest it should destroy their pleasure, is a true instinct. Every creature’ s instinct is for its own preservation. To embrace Christ is to crucify the old man, who does not die without struggle and pain. But when he is put off a new nature is put on, and the new nature has new joys. What the Samaritans felt is the ultimate result, not the first effect, of preaching Christ offered to a city or a soul, and kept out seems a terror, but received becomes a joy which life cannot give or death destroy. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Genuine and spurious miracles Undesigned coincidences are a most satisfactory evidence of the truth of Scripture. We have one here. From the account of our Lord’ s sojourn in Sychar, given by John--a very different writer from Luke--we gather that the Samaritans were a simple-minded people, with childlike taste for the marvellous, and an equally childlike credulity, keenly anticipating the coming of a great Prophet and Deliverer, but having the moral faculties undeveloped. Now it is exactly among such a people that magic is likely to make way, as the narrative tells us it did. Thus the Samaritans of the Acts are true to the character incidentally ascribed to them in St. John. But among nations of a much higher civilisation there was at the time a susceptibility to magical arts. Religious ideas were in a state of fermentation, and religious minds in a state of high excitement. There was a general expectation of the advent of a great Ruler, due partly to the dissemination of Jewish ideas and associations through Israel’ s dispersion, and to the growing disbelief in mythology. Men must have some religion, and so intelligent heathens held on to the old forms, with an occasional sneer, for the want of a better, but they yearned for something truer and more satisfying. Now this state is connected with credulity and an appetite for signs and wonders; and wherever there is a demand there is sure to be a supply. And, to go beyond the phenomena to the causes, by the manifestation of God in the flesh, the powers of evil were stirred up to a desperate effort for the maintenance of their supremacy. Demoniacal possession was one result of this effort; a great swarm of impostors was another. Apollonius of Tyana is said to have performed miracles which are parodies of those in the Gospels. By the side of the genuine coin which God minted was issued from the devil’ s mint a whole school of counterfeit coins. The gospel was to fare as the law had done; when the sorcerers were able to do the same wonders as Moses up to a certain point, after which they are constrained to see “ the finger of God.” So here the magician is forced to acknowledge that God is in the gospel, and is baptized, though without change of heart. His policy was, without relinquishing the purpose of his life, to ascertain the secret of this new power: and he seems to have regarded baptism as a magical rite on a level with his own spells. And Luke, in describing his state of mind while beholding the miracles of the gospel, used the same Greek word which he employed to describe the effect of Simon’ s own powers. “ He bewitched the people of Samaria,… and beholding the miracles and signs which were done, he was bewitched.” Note some of the characteristics of Philip’ s miracles which distinguished them from those of the sorcerer. The former had upon them-- I. The seal of God’ s glory. The sorcerer preached himself--“ Gave out that he was some great one” ; whereas Philip “ preached Christ” and “ the things concerning the kingdom of God.” He announced that the devil’ s empire was broken, and that whosoever would come to God might have priceless blessings. Miracles of a corresponding character attested the message. Unclean spirits were expelled in token of Satan’ s shattered kingdom, and in evidence that a new power had come into humanity many were healed. At the sight of these miracles the people rejoiced. But mere wonders have no aptitude to produce joy. Simon’ s sorceries produced only amazement and dread. What produced the joy was the glad tidings which Philip preached. Where miracles redound, by many thanksgivings unto the praise of God, we may believe that they had their origin from God; but when they redound to the glorification of men, we may suspect them. II. The seal of love to man. They brought relief to suffering humanity. But not a word is said of the beneficence of Simon’ s miracles--they were simply wonders that bewitched folk. Conclusion:1. True miracles are never shown for their own sake, but for some doctrine which has to be attested by them. They are never advanced to make people wonder, but as signs to make them believe. Hence, as soon as the doctrine has gained a firm footing, the miracles cease. When marvels are professed to be wrought by some occult power, do not credit them unless they are in confirmation of some Divine message. 2. There is a correspondence between the character of a true miracle and the doctrine which it is wrought to establish. Thus, e.g., the plagues of Egypt were all directed to establish the superiority of Jehovah to the idols of Egypt, and those of Philip to prove that the gospel was good tidings of great joy. And the people saw the correspondence between the two (verse 8). (Dean Goulburn.)The spiritual miracles of the gospel I. Impurity is expelled. II. Weakness is strengthened. III. Sorrow is converted into joy. Joy--1. At the forgiveness of sins.2. In the enjoyment of God.3. In the hope of eternal salvation. (K. Gerok.)The only cure for soul disorders Some years ago I was at Birmingham when the onion fair was being held, and thousands of people came from the Black Country to attend it, and to witness the sights that seem to be a part of all such gatherings. The London Bible Society sent an agent to sell copies of the Bible. There was also a woman selling a patent medicine, and some young fellows from the Black Country went up to her, and one of them said, “ Missis, can you cure us?” “ What’ s the matter?” inquired the woman. “ Oh, we’ ve got the devil in us,” was the reply. “ No, young man,” said the woman, with a reverence for the truth that deserved something better than to be selling patent medicine, “ I cannot cure you. Your disorder is of the soul; my physic is only for the body. If you want to be cured, you must go to the man that’ s selling Bibles yonder.” (J. S. Pawlyn.)And there was great joy in that city.-- The grounds of Christian joy There was joy on account of-- I. Temporal mercies. The circumstances attending the benefits, as well as the benefits themselves, would render this joy peculiarly great. For many hopeless maladies were cured instantaneously and completely, neither subjecting the patient to any painful operation, nor leaving any portion of the distemper unremoved. And their joy would be still more enhanced by perceiving the hand of God in all this, and that it was illustrative of the mercy and power on which they might rest their confidence in Him for future and higher blessings. For they welcomed the redeeming message thus recommended and attested, and embraced the faith and hope of the gospel. Now, when any blessing is put into your lot, your hearts will doubtless be affected with joy. And the joy will be in proportion to the native sensibility of your minds and to the blessing received. But the great subject of anxiety should be that your joy shall be worthy of the faculties with which God has endowed you, and of those sentiments and anticipations which He has taught you to entertain. What is the nature of your joy after temporal benefit? Is it a mere animal excitement, like the gratification of the brutes when they are getting their hunger and thirst appeased, or when they are liberated from pain or confinement? Or is it the feeling of those worldlings who are happy only when their lower appetites are ministered to? In order for the joy to be Christian, those blessings by which the emotion has been excited must be considered as to their origin and as to the higher purposes which they are designed to subserve, both in your present and your future condition.1. You are joyful for temporal benefits, but remember that these are not the fruits of your own exertion, or of the benevolence of your fellow-men, or of fate or accident. They are the gifts of God. The kind interpositions here recorded were miraculous; but if you have taken your principles and impressions from the Holy Scriptures, you will not need a miracle to lift your contemplation to Him by whom a mercy has been manifested. Every comfort you will regard as descending from heaven. And how sweet and satisfying is that joy which you draw from this reference of every blessing to God! Were you to be informed that any happy event which had befallen you originated in the contrivance of an individual, who combined with general worth a strong and disinterested attachment to you, would not this discovery add much to your pleasure by giving birth to sympathies which could not otherwise have existed? And if this individual should turn out to be the father whom you had done much to displease, would not this increase the enjoyment to a still higher degree? And must not this be realised in a style which no reciprocity of kindness between man and man can ever exemplify, and in a degree which no display of mere human generosity can ever create, when you are able to receive all the good things of life as proceeding from the hand of your Father in heaven? And in proportion as you see the finger of God in whatever contributes to your preservation and your comfort will your joy be regulated, not by the greatness of the prosperity which gives occasion for it, but by the Divine bounty which it indicates whether it be great or small. 2. But besides this, you should be joyful in the experience of temporal good, because it restores or increases your means of personal improvement and of social usefulness. There can be little doubt that many of the rejoicing Samaritans felt in this way. From their having been subject to various infirmities, they must have been not only debarred from useful exertion, but have even been a burden both to themselves and to their friends. But when freed from such bodily calamities, the faith they embraced in consequence of this Divine interposition would lead them to employ their recovered powers in advancing their own good and the good of their neighbours, and to rejoice that the ability was restored, while the inclination was also given, to glorify God in practical acknowledgments of His healing mercy. And, as under the impulse of this holy ambition every, thing which retards your progress will be a subject of regret, so whatever tends to promote it will make you glad in proportion to its power of adding to the warmth of your piety and the extent of your virtue. Nor can you fail to be conscious of the same emotions in reference to the welfare of others. (1) You were long confined, perhaps, to a bed of sickness, which has interrupted your course of active duty. Now that, through Divine mercy, you are permitted to exchange the chamber of disease for the scene of wonted industry, you indulge in the gladness of soul which such a transition is fitted to inspire. But are you glad merely that you are again permitted to partake of the amusements, or mingle in the business, of the world? No; your gladness, if it be Christian, will rather arise from this--that you can now follow out the important purposes for which your Lord has qualified you. (2) Perhaps you had a dear friend in whom you trusted for advice and encouragement; and as it had pleased God to afflict him, so it has pleased God to give him back to your prayers and your affections. But you must have poorly appreciated his value if you did not hail his return, not merely on the ground of friendship, but because you were to be again blessed with his counsels and admonitions and example. (3) Or perhaps you have been rescued from worldly embarrassments which had checked you in the cultivation of your talents, and almost destroyed your power of promoting the good of your fellow-men. And in the relief from these embarrassments this will hold an influential and distinguished place, that you have recovered that by which you can make greater progress in the things that are excellent, and be instrumental in furthering the grand interests of humanity and religion in the world. II. Spiritual mercies. Philip preached Christ to the Samaritans, and they embraced Him as an all-sufficient Redeemer, and by baptism vowed to undertake all the duties of their Christian profession. Now, if we have welcomed the gospel as they did, we must be similarly affected with joy. The gospel is of such an interesting description, and is so calculated to work upon the principles and susceptibilities of our nature, that whenever it meets with belief and obedience it cannot fail to produce joy. So much is this the case that Christianity is distinctively “ good tidings of great joy.”1. Let us only think of the information which Christianity conveys, that we may see how necessarily it excites gladness. (1) Do we rejoice to learn that some temporary evil that we greatly feared has been averted? Well, then, we learn from the gospel that the greatest of all calamities is provided against so effectually that there is “ no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” (2) Do we rejoice to be assured that some earthly friend to whom we had given just offence is willing to reinstate us in his favour? Well, then, the gospel assures us that God Himself, whose favour is life, whose displeasure is death, but against whom we had sinned, has made such arrangements that our iniquities may be blotted out, and our peace with Him regained and secured. (3) Do we rejoice to be told that a distemper which threatened to be mortal may be arrested? Well, then, the gospel tells us that death, which we so much dreaded, is deprived of its sting--stripped of its terrors--and that it need not be feared any more. (4) Do we rejoice when, through the unmerited kindness of some relative, we have the reversion of a fortune or an estate which we must soon leave to others? Well, then, the gospel informs us that God has reserved for us “ an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” 2. But it behoves us to have this feeling of interest in the blessings of the gospel created and established according to the Scriptural method. Some people are comforted and gladdened by the discoveries of the gospel without any good warrant. They imagine that merely because a Saviour is provided, and a wink of redemption accomplished, they may banish all their fears and be “ joyful in the Lord.” Whereas, according to the gospel scheme, this fact is of no avail to any sinner till it is received by him, and submitted to by him, “ as a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.” Now, this attainment is made by faith in Christ, and the moment that Christ becomes our Saviour joy exists there, and ought to be cherished there, as sanctioned by Him from whom the pardon and salvation which produce it have been derived--as itself a privilege which He confers, equally valuable and divine. We are not to rejoice because we believe, as if our joy were to arise from anything within ourselves, but because the Saviour, in whom we trust, is all-sufficient for us. Thus it was with the Samaritan converts. They had great joy. But it was an immediate sequence of their “ believing the things that Philip preached concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ.” There may be a strong faith, and there may be a weak faith. The clearer and more multiplied our evidence is of the truths of the gospel, and of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ in whatsoever that evidence may consist, the more vivid and vigorous will be our faith; and the more vivid and vigorous our faith, the more lively, substantial, unmingled will be that joy which faith, in its every degree, is fitted to produce. And, therefore, that we may abound in joy, let it be our care and our study to abound in faith. 3. But remember that the same authority which commands you to believe and to rejoice, also presents to you delineations and enforcements of a character which you must possess, otherwise all your “ religion is vain.” The faith which you repose in Christ, and which gives joy to your heart, is a faith which receives Him, that He may redeem you from the power and pollution of sin, and consecrate you to the service of God; and were it possible for you to believe in Him to the exclusion of that part of His saving character, your joy would be presumptuous and delusive. So that spiritual joy and spiritual renovation are inseparably united. And as you believe and rejoice, so you must give all diligence to abound in godliness. The Samaritans acted in this manner. We do not read of their after conduct; but so far as the narrative goes they did all of which their time and opportunities admitted. They were baptized--and this implied incalculably more than it does among us. By undergoing the rite, they braved all the terrors of persecution, and pledged themselves to maintain that purity of demeanour which the washing with water signified. A holy life, in reference to our spiritual joy, is of vast importance in two ways. (1) It is the test by which we are to ascertain that our joy is not false and delusive. There is a joy which proceeds from frames, and feelings, and fancies. To guard against a deception so fatal, it is necessary that we “ examine ourselves whether we be in the faith,” wanting which the gospel speaks nothing that is good to us, and whether we are entitled to be glad in the Lord as our Lord, our Saviour, and our portion. (2) While practical godliness thus satisfies us that we are not rejoicing without warrant, the more we possess of that character, the stronger evidence do we obtain of our interest in the blessings of redemption, and the stronger reason have we for encouraging ourselves in that joy with which the blessings of redemption are so well fitted to fill the spirit. (A. Thomson, D. D.)Joyful import of the gospel I. It is deserving of remark, that the seat of this holy triumph was “ the city of Samaria.” Well may it be said, “ The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom like the rose;” for such indeed was the city of Samaria. Thus the Lord builds up Jerusalem, and gathers together the outcasts of Israel (Psalms 147:2; Isaiah 56:6-8). II. The joy which now prevailed in the city of Samaria is fully accounted for by the cause which produced it. Joy is never incited but on some great occasion, and the seasons of religious joy are distinguished by some interesting or extraordinary occurrence. Such was the joy and gladness at the preparation for building the temple of Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 24:9), at Hezekiah’ s passover (2 Chronicles 30:25-26), at the rebuilding and dedication of the city wall (Nehemiah 12:43), at the birth of Christ (Luke 2:10-14), at the appearance of the star to the eastern magi (Matthew 2:13), and at the ascension of our blessed Saviour (Luke 24:52). All these were great events, and furnished an abundant source of joy and rejoicing. We may therefore expect something great and interesting in the present instance, to fill a whole city with joy--and what was it?1. Is it not ground for joy that the Lord is come into the world to save sinners? 2. Is it not ground for joy that Christ has laid down His life for us, and redeemed us unto God by His blood? 3. Is it not a matter of great joy that Christ is risen from the dead? This proves that He was the true Messiah, that His sacrifice is accepted, and that justice is fully satisfied. 4. Is it not matter of joy, too, that Christ has ascended into glory, and that He ever liveth to make intercession for us? 5. That through faith in His name there is forgiveness of sin, and acceptance with God? 6. Is it not a source of joy that this gospel is now sent to all nations? 7. Was it not a special matter of joy to the Samaritans, that they themselves had believed the gospel? Reflections:1. If, then, the gospel bring tidings of great joy, why is it reproached as tending to gloom and melancholy? Can anything be more unreasonable and unjust? 2. Why do individuals despond while there is such an exhibition of mercy? Because they do not hearken to the gospel, nor receive the record which God hath given of His Son. 3. Why do not Christians possess more joy and peace in believing? Because we have not more religion, do not live more under the influence of the gospel. Lord, increase our faith. (J. Benson.)The joy of salvation John Bowen, afterwards Bishop of Sierra Leone, being, while a young farmer in Canada, converted by a sermon, wrote in his diary, “ I experienced such an ecstasy last evening in prayer that I doubted if I were in my right senses. Christ was slain for me. I could give myself up to Him unreservedly. I cannot describe my sensations of joy. I could not praise God sufficiently for the great scheme of salvation. I remained a long time giving thanks and praying that such a heavenly joy might not be taken away from me.” Joyousness of Christianity Religion is good both for a man’ s body and soul, both for time and eternity. It has the promise of the life that now is, and also of that which is to come. It not only teaches men to govern their spirits, but also to take care of their bodies; not only to watch over their tempers and dispositions, but also to manage, in a prudent manner, their worldly business. If men were truly religious, they would not only have brighter prospects for heaven, but they would also have far more cheerful and happy homes on earth. Religion brightens everything it touches. It strengthens the weak, comforts the disconsolate, encourages the despondent, lifts up those that are bowed down, and fills the mind, even amid worldly anxieties and cares, with peace and joy and hope. The unique effects of the gospel There was never found in any age of the world, either philosophy or sect, or law or discipline, which could so rightly exalt the public good as the Christian faith. (Lord Bacon.)The Christian city 1. All around Philip was the misery and sin of a great city. He told them of Him who had come to relieve misery and forgive sin. As a symbol of the new life which he told them of, he touched some of their sick and their health came back to them. Not merely a few scattered souls caught the new inspiration; it seemed to fill the air and flow through all the life of the whole town. 2. There is something clear and peculiar in this joy of a whole city over a new faith. We can all feel it when a thought or an emotion which has lingered in a few minds starts up and takes possession of a whole community. It is as when a quiver of flame which has lurked about one bit of wood at last gets real possession of the heap of fuel, and the whole fireplace is in a blaze. There came a time when Christianity, which had lived in scattered congregations, at last seized on the prepared mind of the Roman Empire, and all Europe was full of Christianity. So it is a phenomenon possessing its own interest and demanding its own study, when beyond Christian souls you have a whole community inspired with the feelings and acting under the motives of Christianity. A city as well as an individual is capable of a Christian experience and character. It is more than an aggregate of the experience of the souls within it, as a chemical compound has qualities which did not appear in either of its constituents; it is a real new being with qualities and powers of its own. 3. Christianity is primarily a personal force, and only secondarily does it deal with communities. The souls of men must be converted; and out of those the Christian Church or the Christian State must grow. To begin by making the structure of a Church or a State, and expect so to create personal character, is as if you began to build a forest from the top. This is the error of all merely ecclesiastical and political Christianity. But none the less is it true that when a great multitude of personal believers, who have been fused together by the fire of their common faith, present before the world the unity of a Christian Church or nation, that new unity is a real unit, a genuine being with its own character and power. 4. We see the Church possessed as a whole of qualities which she must gather, of course, from her parts, but which we can find in no one of her parts. She is more permanent, more wise, more trustworthy than the wisest and most trustworthy of the men who compose her membership. Tile city is a being dearer to us than any of the citizens who compose it. Many a man goes out to war and gives his life gladly for his country who would not have dreamed of giving it for any countryman. The Bible is full of this thought. Israel is more than any Israelite; Jerusalem is realer and dearer than any Jew. The New Testament reverts to the individual, but it too advances towards its larger personality, and leaves the strong figure of the Christian Church and the brilliant architecture of the New Jerusalem burning upon its latest pages. 5. But let us come to our subject. Is anything more to be expected than that here and there throughout a city men and women should be Christians? Can we conceive of Christianity so pervading the life of a community that the city shall be distinctly different in its corporate life and action from a heathen city? Christianity, or the change of man’ s life by Christ, has three ways in which it makes its power known. It appears either as truth, as righteousness, or as love. Every soul which is really redeemed by Christ will enter into new beliefs, higher ways of action, and deeper affections towards fellow-men. Now take these one by one, and ask if a city is not capable of them as well as aa individual. I. Look first at faith.1. Perhaps this seems the hardest to establish. There was a time, we say, when cities had their beliefs, when no man could live comfortably in Rome without believing like the Pope, or in Geneva without believing like Calvin. Then every proclamation was based upon a creed. But see how that is altered now. A thousand different beliefs fight freely in our streets, and it is almost true that no man is the less a citizen for anything that he believes or disbelieves. But this implies that the only exhibition of a faith must be in formal statement. It ignores for the city what we accept for the individual, that the best sign that a man believes anything is not his repetition of its formulas, but his impregnation with its spirit. It may have grown impossible, at least for the present, that cities should write confessions of faith in their charters; but if it is possible--nay, if it is necessary--that the prevalence through all a city’ s life of a belief in God and Christ and the Holy Spirit should testify of itself by the creation of certain spiritual qualities in that city, then have we not the possibility of a believing city even without a written creed or a formal proclamation. Just look at London. This is a believing city. And why? Not because an occasional document is solemnised with the name of God, nor because a few verses of the Bible are read each morning in your public schools, but because that spirit which has never been in the world save as the fruit of Christian faith prevails in and pervades your government and social life, the spirit of responsibility, of trust in man, and of hopefulness. This is the Christian faith of your community, showing in all your public actions. It has not come by accident. It has entered into you through the long belief of your fathers which you yourselves still keep in spite of all your scepticisms and disputes. 2. If we doubt this, we have only to forecast the consequence if a heathen belief were prevalent. We have some men who disbelieve intensely and bitterly in every Christian doctrine. The spirit of these men we know: it is hopeless, cynical, despairing. If they are naturally sensual, they plunge into debauchery; if they are naturally refined they stand aside and sneer at or superciliously pity the eager work and exuberant feeling of other men. Now fancy such men’ s faith made common. What would be the result? Would any generous work be done? Could either popular government or an extended system of business credit still survive, since both are based on that trust of man in man which is at the bottom a Christian sentiment? Would you not have killed enterprise when you had taken hopefulness away, and given the deathblow to public purity when you had destroyed responsibility? 3. No, the city has its Christian faith. Its belief is far from perfect: it is all stained and broken with scepticism, but it is vastly more strong than many of you believe. Every now and then comes a revival. “ What does it mean?” we say; “ when men seem settling placidly down into unbelief and indifference, all of a sudden this great outbreak? People crowding by tens of thousands to hear some homely preacher, the city shaken with the storm of hymns, thousands confessing their sins and crying out for pardon?” Is it not clear enough what it means? Here many of the men to whom the people most looked up have been sending down to the uplooking people the barren gospel of their scepticism. But by and by they have pressed too terribly upon the spiritual consciousness; the sense of God, the certainty of immortality, has risen in rebellion; the great reaction comes; the wronged affections reassert themselves. One must rejoice in such a healthy outburst. To complain of its extravagances or faults of taste is as if you complained of the tempest which cleared your city of the cholera because it shook your windows and stripped the leaves off your trees. 4. The methods by which this faith may be perpetuated and kept pure are open to endless discussion. No doubt the city in which it is liveliest stands the most in danger of ecclesiasticim on the one hand, and of dogmatic quarrelsomeness on the other; but about this one fact we are most clear, that a city may believe, and as a city may be blessed by its belief. It seems to open an appeal to any generous and public-spirited young man, to which he surely ought to listen. Not only for your own soul and its interests you ought to seek the truth, but for the community, because these streams of public and social life which run so shallow need to be deepened with eternal interests, because your faith in God will help to make God a true inspiration to the city’ s life. Remember the simple old parable in Ecclesiastes 9:14-16. Wisdom in the Old Testament means what faith means in the New. II. Righteousness.1. A man who is a Christian holds certain truth, and then he does certain goodness. And every city has a moral character distinguishable from, however it may be made up of, the individual character of its inhabitants. This is seen in two ways. (1) In the official acts which it must do, the acts of justice or injustices by which it appears as a person acting in its official unity among its sister cities. (2) In the moral atmosphere which pervades it, and which exercises power on all who come within it. You send a child to live in some heathen brutal community where vice is in the very atmosphere, and he is certainly contaminated. What is it that contaminates him? Not this man’ s or that man’ s example, but the whole character of the city where he lives. The brutality is everywhere, in all its laws, its customs, its standards, its traditions. You send him back to live in old Pompeii, where the abominations which modern times have uncovered and made the subject of cool archaeological study were live things, the true expression of the heathen city’ s spirit. As he enters in you see his soul wither and grow spotted with corruption. Then bring your boy and put him here in Christian London. It is not only this or that Christian whom he meets. It is a Christian goodness everywhere: in the just dealing of the streets, in the serene peace of the homes, in the accepted responsibilities and obligations of friends and neighbours, in the universal liberty, in the absence of cruelty, in the purity and decency, in the solemn laws and courteous ceremonies--everywhere there is the testimony of a city wherein dwelleth righteousness. And when we think how imperfectly Christ has been welcomed and adopted here--how only to the outside of our life He has penetrated, then there opens before us a glorious vision of what the city might be where He should be wholly King. 2. We dwell on the iniquity of city life in modern times. But it is not the riotous and boastful wickedness of heathen times. Men have at least seen clearly enough the Christian standard to be ashamed of what they are not willing to renounce, and hide in secret chambers the villainies which use to flaunt upon the public walls. It is one stage in every conversion of the converted city as of the converted man. The next stage is to cast away the wickedness of which one has become ashamed. Of cities in the first stage there are instances everywhere through Christendom. Of the second stage--of the city totally possessed by Christ and so casting all wickedness away, there is as yet no specimen upon the earth, only the glowing picture of the apocalyptic city, the New Jerusalem. That sounds very visionary and far away; but consider that to bring about that city so different from your London you need only vastly more of the same power that has made your London so different from Pompeii. 3. Again we come to a lofty ground of appeal. If you are pure and true remember that your righteousness is not for yourself alone, nor for the few whom you immediately touch; it is for your city. I am speaking to business men who may help to put a more Christian character into business life; to women of society who may make the social character of the town more Christ-like; to young men on whom it rests to develop or to destroy for their city the character that their fathers gave her. If you fail, you Christian men and women, what chance is there for the city? III. Charity. When a man becomes a Christian, he believes right, and then he does right; and then he tries to help his fellow-men. And now again the question comes, can a city too do good as the issue and utterance of its Christian character? The Christian character of charity is very apt to elude us, and the connection of a charitable act with Christian faith is lost. You say it is all impulse when you give your money to the poor; but what is the impulse? Is it the same as the savage’ s? Has Christianity done nothing to keep down the other impulse to harm, and to strengthen this? And so you say the city’ s charity is all economy; her hospitals are merely expedients for saving so much available human life. But who taught her this economy, and that a human life was worth the saving, and how is it that the most highly organised among un-Christian nations have had but the merest rudiments of hospitals? No! The charity of a city is a distinct testimony to one thing which has been wrought into the convictions of that city--the value of a man; and that conviction has come out of Christian faith. A poor neglected creature drops in the crowded street; a horse strikes him, and the heavy waggon crushes him as he lies; or in the blazing summer sun he is smitten to the ground insensible. Instantly the city--not this pitying man or that, but the pitying city--stoops and gathers him up tenderly, and carries him to the hospital, which it has built. Is there no Christ there? Once there was a city which, when Christ came to it, hated and scorned Him, and would not be satisfied till it had seen Him die in agony. To-day here is a city which, if Christ came to it in person, would go out and welcome Him, would call Him Lord and Master, and hang upon His words and glory in the privilege of giving Him its best. In that first city there was no hospital; in this new city the hospitals stand thick for every kind of misery. Has not the Christian city a right to hear the Saviour’ s words as if He spoke to her: “ Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto Me” ? Who doubts that if the city were tenfold more Christian than she is the hospitals would be multiplied and enriched till it should be an impossibility for any sick man to be left unhelped. Deepen the city’ s Christianity and the city’ s charity must deepen and widen too. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.) Acts 8:9-24 But there was a certain man called Simon Simon the Magian unmasked and put to shame This Simon was the first heretic in the Christian Church, the first to claim its fellowship while out of sympathy with its fundamental truths. His mistakes were many and grievous.1. He began with an unscrupulous ambition. No sooner had Peter and John begun to confer the gifts of spiritual power by the laying on of hands than Simon saw that his own juggleries were cast into the shade. All that he perceived were the outward phenomena; the inward grace did not occur to him. 2. He was guilty, thus, of utter insincerity. His pious airs and phrases, while he worshipped with the Christians, were all make-believe. His heart was wholly unchanged; he was still an unregenerate sinner, in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. 3. He was grievously mistaken as to the purchasing power of money. He thought that money could do anything. His mind was so utterly sordid that he was as honest as he could be in proffering coin for the sovereign gifts of God. There are men in our times who seem to have a like confidence in filthy lucre. Their very souls grow yellow as they bow before their wretched golden god. They subordinate all things to persona[ gain. Friendship, beneficence, patriotism, and piety are of value only, as they can be made to serve their selfish ends. 4. He was a blasphemer. He should have been appalled at the mere thought of tampering with the influence of the Divine Spirit; but “ fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” God was nothing to him, and sacred things were of value only to grind at his mill. It is well that Peter and John had the courage to unmask this miserable impostor. There is no telling what harm he might have done otherwise in the early Church. As it is, he vanishes from our sight cringing under a terrific warning and whining for an intercession which, had it been offered, would have seemed to him only another of the apostles’ masterly conjurations. Farewell to him! And may no disciple of his ever again pollute the pure atmosphere of the Church of God! (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Christianity true and false I. The traits of a true Christianity.1. It has growth. A true gospel has germinative power; it propagates itself; it is a seed which springs up wherever it is dropped, whether in Judea, Samaria, or Antioch. 2. It has breadth. It overcomes the prejudices of race and nation, breaks the bounds of sect, and brings Jews and Samaritans into one fellowship. 3. It has power (verse 7). The physical miracles of the apostolic age were pictures of spiritual power in all ages. Even now the gospel drives out unclean spirits and gives power to the impotent. Men can see the results of its power though they may not understand its source. 4. It brings joy (verse 8). Every soul truly converted tastes the joy of salvation, and is glad with an indwelling happiness. 5. It has discipline (verses 14-16). The Church recognises a central authority, to which all its workers are loyal. 6. It has high moral standards, which are not framed to suit base natures nor influenced by worldly considerations (verses 20-23). II. The traits of a false Christianity. Even in the true Church, and in its purest days, there was to be found a Simon the sorcerer.1. The false Christianity is often concealed under the formal rites of the Church service. Outwardly Simon was a baptised member, inwardly he was a hypocrite. 2. It is revealed in the spiritual manifestations of the Church. When the Holy Ghost descends, Simon is at once detected. 3. Its spirit is that of selfish ambition, seeking for power over men rather than power with God. 4. It should be dealt with promptly, rebuked unsparingly, and should find no countenance in the Church. 5. It may find mercy and forgiveness if the false disciple will seek the Lord. Simon Magus, or wrong-heartedness This short sketch reminds us--1. That men in every age have been prone to deify great wickedness. 2. That great wickedness, to answer its end, has often identified itself with religion. 3. That true religion exposes all such imposture. We take Simon as the representative of wrong-heartedness. Note--I. Its essence--covetousness. “ He offered them money.” In relation to this observe that--1. It is opposed to mental improvement. It necessarily blinds the eye and limits the intellectual horizon: whereas benevolence elevates the mind, gives vastness to the view, and places every object in the full light of heaven. 2. It is condemned by moral consciousness. There is a principle within which is an infallible indicator of the soul’ s health, and this ever condemns covetousness, The selfish man wears out his self-respect, and stands before God and himself a wretched man. 3. It is condemned by the verdict of society. Society may flatter but it cannot respect a covetous man. Hence men assume the features and speak the language of benevolence. 4. It is incompatible with moral order. This requires one-ness, mutual attraction. But selfishness repels from one another and from God. 5. It is denounced by Scripture. Covetousness is declared to be idolatry, against which as the most revolting form of depravity the heaviest judgments are denounced. II. Its tendency--ruin. This is no constitutional infirmity claiming palliation, but a disease of the heart. As in physics, so in morals, if the heart be wrong the most serious consequences are imminent. The text reminds us of three evils.1. It involves the greatest sacrifice, “ Thy money perish with thee.” Peter took it for granted that he would perish. A good man’ s money lives in its consequences. 2. It precludes an interest in religion, “ Thou has neither part nor lot,” etc., i.e., in Christianity with its glorious doctrines, promises, and provisions. 3. It necessitates great personal wretchedness. Covetousness is at once-- (1) A hitter “ gall,” and(2) A slavish life, “ bonds.” III. Its cure.1. Prescribed. (1) Repentance--a change in the controlling disposition. (2) Prayer--conscious dependence upon God. (3) Forgiveness. Covetousness is a sin against God, and for it a sinner must be either forgiven or damned. Repentance and prayer are essential to pardon. 2. Ignored. Simon did not attend to the heavenly prescription. He did not repent of his sin although he deplored its consequences lie did not pray for himself, but he asked Peter to pray for him, and not that his heart might be changed, but that the consequence of his sin might be averted. Observe the two evils ever prevalent in false religions. (1) Selfishness. To avoid misery is the leading idea in the religion of millions. (2) Proxyism. The tendency to trust others in religious matters is the foundation of all ecclesiastical imposture and the great curse of the world. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Simon the sorcerer Look at-- I. The condition in which Philip found the city of Samaria. You find there the condition of the whole world represented. Samaria was diseased, possessed, and deluded. These are the conditions in which Christianity has always to fight its great battle. Christianity never finds any town prepared to co-operate with it. We are none of us by nature prepared to give the Christian teacher a candid hearing. We “ hate the fellow, for he never prophesies good of us.” The literary lecturer pays homage to his audience, but the preacher rebukes it, humbles it. The early preachers did not trim, and balance, and smooth things. It was because they did fundamental work that they made progress so slow, but so sure. The world is--1. Diseased--there is not a man who is thoroughly and completely well. If he suppose himself to be so, he is so only for the moment; he was ill yesterday, or will be to-morrow. You stand up in the mere mockery of strength; it is when we lie down that we assume the proper and final attitude of the body. How ill we are, what aches and pains! 2. Possessed. Possessed with demons, unclean spirits, false ideas. Why make a marvel about demoniacal possession, or push it back some twenty centuries? We are all devil-ridden. Out of Christ we are mad! 3. Deluded. Samaria was bewitched. Understand that somebody has to lead the world. In republicanism there is a sovereignty. In a mob there is a captaincy. There is only one question worth discussing so far as the future is concerned, and that is who is to rule. To-day you find men making churches for the future. You might as well make clothes for the future. My question is, who is to be the man, the life, the sovereign of the future? Christ, or Simon? As Christians we have no difficulty about the result. II. Philip’ s course in Samaria.1. He took no notice of Simon. There are some persons who think we ought to send missionaries to argue down the infidels. Let us do nothing so foolish. There is nothing to be argued down. Argument is the weakest of all weapons. If occasion should naturally arise for the answering of some sophistical argument, avail yourselves of it, but do not imagine that Christianity has to go down to Samaria to fight a pitched battle, face to face with Simon Magus. 2. He preached Christ. Simon had been preaching himself. Philip never mentioned himself. Thus Philip did not argue down Simon, he superseded him. The daylight does not argue with the artificial light. The sun does not say, “ Let us talk this matter over, thou little, beautiful, artificial jet. Let us be candid with one another, and polite to one another, and let us treat one another as gentlemen talking on equal terms. Let us thus see which of us ought to rule the earth.” The sun does nothing but shine! What then! Men put the gas out! “ Let your light so shine before men,” etc. (J. Parker, D. D.)Simon the sorcerer The phases of human conduct do little more than repeat themselves along the ages. “ There is nothing new under the sun.” Dugald Stewart remarks, “ In reflecting on the repeated reproduction of ancient paradoxes by modern authors, one is almost tempted to suppose that human invention is limited, like a barrel-organ, to a specific number of tunes.” A period of deep religious and emotional feeling is always apt to be accompanied by a superstitious and mystical craving. Stephen’ s martyrdom brings to light two typical characters at once; Saul with harassing persecutions, and Simon with delusions calculated to deceive even the elect, and the spurious professor was more dangerous than the violent foe. Note from the story that-- I. Mere working of wonders does not prove that a man comes from God. For the marvellous performances may not be miracles at all. In every age founders of religious systems have attempted what silly people have accepted as veritable interpositions of God. Human credulity is swift to assert that what is mysterious is divine. So fortune-tellers, spiritualists, necromancers, and quacks have swayed men and led women captive. II. Miracles are at the best only evidences of Christianity. Of themselves, they never converted a soul. The genuine wonders wrought by Philip mocked this magician; as in Moses’ time, there was one supreme limit beyond which no human sleight of hand could go. Simon astonished, but Philip healed. So they left the impostor and went over to the Christian deacon in a body (verse 12). Not that Philip was more eloquent or persuasive than Simon; not that his miracles stirred them more; but Philip preached Christ. Marvels arrest the mind, and that is in demand when audiences are dull;: but it is the Spirit of grace only who touches the heart. How curious it must have appeared to those spiritually-minded converts that Simon Magus at last came over into the Church. III. The best method in dealing with error is to proclaim the truth, and leave results to God. We are to advance the banner of Jesus Christ right out into the field brightly as if we trusted it, and most opponents will melt away before the mere marching of God’ s host, without even a skirmish (verse 13). IV. It is generally prudent to wait for a little before admitting untested persons into Church membership. It is a most interesting question, to be decided according to individual and local circumstances, how long one is to be delayed in ascertaining his own mind before he becomes publicly committed. These incidents are worth study in our modern times; for if the apostles could be deceived, it is possible for Church officers now. V. Growth in spiritual graces renders one more gentle in feeling and more charitable to others (verses 14, 15). The apostolic company at Jerusalem were glad to hear what the Lord was doing, and Peter and John went over to the scene of action, and began to pray that God would bestow the gift of His Spirit. We cannot forget that the last wish of John’ s concerning the Samaritans was that fire might fall on them (Luke 9:52-56). He was older now, and kinder, and gentler. VI. Order ought to be observed in the official organisation of the Church (verse 17). These little significant forms are not to be lightly esteemed. The people had received that gift of the Holy Ghost by which their hearts had been renewed; but not the extraordinary gift by which they could work miracles. There was no physical transmission of anything in this laying on of hands; it was a mere sign. And it is not likely that all converted persons in Samaria were endowed with this superior gift; some discrimination must have been made according to fitnesses of character or grades of office (1 Corinthians 12:8-11). VII. Every sin has its measure of deserved retribution, and meets its appropriate monument (verses 18-20). This hypocrite’ s fate it has been to add a new word to our language; so, everywhere the Bible goes, that wicked thing which he did is held in everlasting remembrance. VIII. The essence of a sin resides in the intention: (verse 22). Solemn admonition is given in the intimation that a wicked man is held responsible for his “ thought” (Isaiah 55:7). Peter’ s expression would look like a curse, if it were not for the suggestion that repentance and prayer might yet find the door open for pardon. IX. Profession of religion is not real piety. (American Sunday School Times.)Simon the sorcerer, an admonitory example of a false teacher I. He gave himself out to be some great one. False teachers do not seek the glory of God, but their own. II. He bewitched the people. False teachers seek to dazzle by popular arts, instead of enlightening and converting. III. He believed, was baptized, and continued with Philip. Thus the unbelieving often speak the language of Canaan, because they observe that it is effective; and contract a hypocritical bond of fellowship with the servants of God, in order to cover their foul stains with the cloak of pretended sanctity. (K. Gerok.)Simon Magus and Simon Peter I. Simon the upright.1. As a zealous servant of his Lord whom he serves everywhere with joy, in Samaria as in Jerusalem. 2. As an earnest admonisher of sins, which he reproves with holy zeal. 3. As a faithful guide to the way of salvation by repentance and prayer, which he knew from his own experience. II. Simon the impure.1. In the lying nature of his heathen magic. 2. In the hypocrisy of his deceitful Christianity. 3. In the defective nature of his superficial repentance. (K. Gerok.)Saul, Simon, and Philip I. The upright enemy. II. The false friend. III. The faithful servant of the Lord. Each indicated according to the disposition of his heart, his manner of acting and his fate. (K. Gerok.)The sin of Simon On a general view of this passage, notice-- I. The difference between the gospel, miracles and those of a mere magician like this Simon.1. Power by itself is an ambiguous sign. There are other powers in the world besides God’ s. Powers which have broken loose from Him, which oppose Him, and which He permits, for a time, for the trial of His people, and for the overthrow of His foes. Such a power was that exercised by this sorcerer. It came for the exaltation of a creature; to make beholders say, “ This man is the great power of God.” It did not come to attest anything--to say, I have a message for you from God; and if you ask how you are to know that it is from God, this is the sign. That is the true use of power, in connection with Divine truth. It ought to come as the third part of God’ s triple seal: first goodness, then wisdom, then power. That was the use which Jesus Christ made of power. This has never been the order of an impostor. He may astound and bewitch men with sorceries: but he will never succeed in counterfeiting those other parts of God’ s seal, which the truly wise will wait for before they call either him or his the great power of God. 2. We are all in danger of too much worshipping power. Money is power, and talent, and rank, and office, and knowledge. But all these are of the earth, and will perish with it. Power-worship is too often devil-worship. Let the power you worship be all God’ s power. You will know it by its signs; by its pointing upwards; by its drawing you towards God; by its making the unseen world real to you, and the world of show and semblance less attractive. II. The existence of a visible as well as an invisible Church. We see how men fight against this truth. Men have been weary of the formality and hypocrisy and heartlessness which had taken possession of the visible fold, and have sought to go apart with a few, of whose consistency and devotion they could be assured. But there was a Simon Magus baptized by Philip the Evangelist, and recognised as a member of the Christian community by two of the apostles themselves. “ Let both grow together until the harvest,” is the rule of Divine wisdom as much as of Divine forbearance. If you attempt to judge, you will err both ways: you will often be taken in by loud profession, you will oftener be driven into uncharitableness, into injury of souls. While the day of grace lasts, we must shut out from hope and from privilege no one who desires and claims either. And if others were to sit in judgment upon us, where should we be? We need patience, but we need severity too; patience from others, severity from ourselves, and a union of both from God. III. This particular sin which requires in the case before us so stern a reproof. Simon offered money to the apostles to share their gift with him. He would purchase the Holy Ghost with money. The very idea is blasphemy. The law of this land calls a particular offence, that of buying and selling sacred offices in the ministry, by a name derived from that of this man, Simony. But this is not the only nor the chief sense in which we can be guilty of the sin of Simon. Simon had that mercenary mind which St. Paul calls the root of all evil. He thought that money could do everything. He deified money. Knowing what it was to him; how he taught, practised sorcery, and aimed at popularity, and set himself up as some great one for money; he took it for granted that every one else regarded money in the same way. Alas! “ let him that is without sin among you” in this matter “ cast the first stone” at him! If there are none now who seek to buy God’ s gifts with money, at least are there not some who consent to sell their own souls for money? Oh these dishonesties in trade, in speculation, in trusts, yes, even in charity! If we really cared for God’ s gifts, I can even fancy that some of us might offer money for them. If we do not offer money for God’ s gifts, is it not because we care ten thousand times more for things which money can purchase? But I will tell you what no money can buy: it cannot buy any one of God’ s highest gifts; it cannot even buy health, eyesight, comeliness, affection, repose of conscience, hope in death, or a single ray of the love of God. And therefore a man who learns by long habit to think that money is everything, is as much what the Scripture calls a fool, as he is what the Scripture counts a sinner. The sin of Simon is the being altogether of the earth, and yet expecting to have heaven too. It is the bringing all that is base and mean and corruptible, and expecting to receive--not in exchange for it, but along with it--all that is spiritual and eternal and Divine. To such a spirit it may well be said, “ Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter,” etc. (Dean Vaughan.)The sin of Simon; or trading in holy things The way in which the Holy Ghost is introduced here throws light upon apostolic usages and upon problems of Christian life in all ages. Compare Acts 19:1-7, in which, however, there is a difference, inasmuch as the disciples had not advanced beyond the teaching of John. They had not so much as heard of the Holy Ghost. The Samaritans were favoured with distinctive Christian teaching and baptism, but lacked that experience which we identify with conversion, viz., the receiving of the Holy Spirit. This, alas, is not peculiar to that age. Multitudes now are Christians, and yet not Christians. Strange paradox! Many become Christians by persuasion, conform to rites, live moral lives, without attaining consciousness of Divine sonship. We are not justified in excluding such from our assemblies; but their condition is full of danger, and renders them liable to fall into the gravest sins. To all such let Simon be a warning. As to his offence, notice-- I. What it was.1. An insult to God. It could not have been the unpardonable sin, however, since the apostle holds out hope of forgiveness; but it may have been one of those sins which prepare for and predispose to it. (1) It betrays a low estimate of the Holy Spirit. One who could speak as Simon did must have regarded Him very cheap! No more than a piece of sordid merchandise! Of a like character are all conceptions of monopolising spiritual privileges, of selling or buying such, or of bribing God by money, good works, etc. (2) It was a contradiction of the principle on which the gospel is based--grace not works--that no man might boast or presume. Grace is the ground not of pardon only, but of every Divine gift. 2. A desire through Christianity to aggrandise self. Spiritual life springs from, and consists in, the crucifixion of self. In Simon self was alive and rampant. With him as with so many professors it was self first and God and righteousness afterwards. Every Christian worker should examine his heart and see whether he is serving self or the Master. II. How he fell into it. This can never be fully answered; it is a part of the “ mystery of iniquity.” But note--1. His previous life tended to lead him into such an error. He was a magician. One who blended the mystical doctrines of Eastern wisdom with the practice of sorcery, and prepared the way for the subsequent monstrous growths of heresy, called by the general name of Gnosticism. 2. He had not yet fully understood the gospel. Probably he had learnt only a few of its doctrines, and those only imperfectly. 3. He was inwardly a stranger to Divine grace. He had not yet been converted. This defect is at the root of most heresies. III. Its punishment--destruction.1. Imminent and impending. The sentence was not only uttered by the apostle, it was inherent in the sin itself. 2. Graciously postponed. His might have been the fate of Korah and Ananias, etc. God gave him space for repentance. (St. J. A. Frere, M. A.)Simony The traffic in Church matters and spiritual gifts. I. From what it proceeds--a covetous and ambitious heart. As Simon was for so long held in estimation and had bewitched the people, but was now displaced by the Christian evangelists, so he now resolved to regain his old status by money. Thus have all, who by impure means attempt to force themselves into the ministry, no other designs than to serve the idols of honour, sensuality, or mammon. On this account the Church has regarded Simon as the father of heresies and the type of sectarianism; for the mainspring of almost all founders of sects is love of power, which, united with arrogance, by its audacity and hypocrisy, bewitches the people cleaving to externals. II. What it supposes. A bitter and unrighteous heart. His heart was full of gall, i.e., envy towards the apostles, and the preference given to their preaching above his arts; of unrighteousness, for notwithstanding his Christian profession he would be no follower of the Cross, but a proud miracle worker. He apparently attached himself to the apostles, but in heart was offended at them. Hence hypocrisy. He thought to bewitch these servants of Jesus with money as he had bewitched the people with magic, and himself with honour and mammon. Consequently unrighteousness towards the apostles, and a low estimation of their office and persons. Envy and jealousy, an earthly disposition and a low estimation of the ministry and its office bearers, mark even still the followers of Simon. III. At what it aims. Not grace, but power. He did not wish to save souls by the preaching of the gospel, but only to acquire for himself a name by deeds of supernatural might. In this are all like him who desire the office but not the grace: who have in view not the service of Christ, but personal dignity and prerogative; and those, too, who are covetous of gifts for the office--learning, eloquence, etc. but dispense with the qualification of holiness (Luke 10:20). IV. How it acts. Simon offered money. Few offer actual money, now, for the ministerial office, but many employ means no less base. How often must this or that patron be gained over by crooked ways 1 How often is the office converted into a marriage portion! V. What it entails. Simon along with his wicked designs retained a slavish fear of Divine punishment. He dreads damnation but will not have salvation. So all Simonists are slaves. They carry about them an evil conscience, and can have no true freedom in their ministry. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)The fortune hunter We see here--1. The power of ignorance. Simon used sorcery and the people were bewitched. Society in all ages is troubled by these artful characters, and strange to say people are ever ready to submit to them. 2. The power of religion. The sorcerer and his dupes believed the gospel. At dawn the unclean animals of the night flee to their dens; so gospel light chases away the morally unclean. We notice-- I. The duty of the Church towards the ungodly (verse 14). Wherever the primitive Church found a tendency toward the truth, they were ready to help. The true spirit of the gospel removes all party walls. Jew and Samaritan, black and white, etc., are all brethren according to the New Testament. Let us follow His example Who came to seek and to save the lost. II. The existence of good and evil in the Church Judas was among the twelve, false teachers were at Corinth, etc., heretics abounded in the early churches, superstition was rampant in the Middle Ages, strange errors abounded in reformed communities. Why? Because of the limited knowledge of men. Christ likened His kingdom to a net full of fishes--good and bad. The Church may suspect many, but to select is dangerous, because of the imperfect knowledge of the selectors. The Church is often censured because of its imperfections, but, its enemies being witnesses, it is the best of moral schools. III. In the life of men there are events which exhibit the master principle (verse 18). Simon saw here an opportunity of making his fortune. A bad man may go through the routine of Christian duties, deceiving and deceived, but some event will happen which will discover the inner man. This will not be usually in great public matters, but in small things connected with the home or shop. Simon was one of those fortune hunters which are so numerous to-day, whose God is Mammon, whose Bible the Ledger, and whose creed Gain. A quite incidental circumstance, of whose issue in an opposite direction he was quite sure, found him out. Thus the devil makes fools of the wisest. IV. When the evil is found out it is the duty of the Church to reform it. Peter’ s conduct is an example to the Church in all ages, and teaches us that church discipline should be administered--1. Impartially. God is no respecter of persons. Simon’ s policy had paid him well; he was rich and powerful. But Peter cared nothing for his position. Woe to the Church which palliates evil because of the social status of the offender. Achan in the camp means disaster in the field. 2. Compassionately. Though Peter spoke the truth frankly, he opened up the path to mercy (Galatians 6:1). V. Bad men when disciplined will often have their own way. Peter told Simon to repent and pray, but Simon only wanted immunity from punishment in his own wicked course. So now God offers pardon on certain conditions, but men refuse the conditions, and go on pleasure seeking, mammon worshipping, hoping that at last some good man’ s prayer will secure mercy. (W. A. G.)Sudden conversions not always genuine Fish sometimes leap out of the water with great energy, but it would be foolish to conclude that they have left the liquid element for ever; in a moment they are swimming again as if they had never forsaken the stream; indeed it was but a fly that tempted them aloft, or a sudden freak: the water is still their home, sweet home. When we see long accustomed sinners making a sudden leap at religion, we may not make too sure that they are converts; perhaps some gain allures them, or sudden excitement stirs them, and if so they will be back again at their old sins. Let us hope well, trot let us not commend too soon. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 8:14-25 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John.The first Church visitation I. The occasion. There is--1. Christian life to be fostered (verse 14).2. A want in the Church to be supplied (verse 16). II. The visitors.1. Peter--apostolic zeal.2. Evangelical tenderness. III. The functions.1. Prayer in the name of the Church (verse 16).2. Imposition of hands in the name of God (verse 17). IV. The effects.1. The strengthening of the Church (verse 17).2. The sifting (verse 18). (K. Gerok.)The deputation to Samaria This must have been a most instructive experience to John. The apostle who would have prayed for destructive fire is himself sent down to Samaria to invoke the falling of another flame that burns but does not consume! We cannot tell what we may yet do in life. Amongst our old enmities we may yet find our sweetest friendships. Do not seek to destroy any man, however much he may reject you or misunderstand you. A time may come when you can render him the service of prayer. I. The apostles receive a report from Samaria (verse 14). The text is now easy reading, but there was a day when it was a grand story. It is the dawning of a new day, the winning of a great battle; that day the Gentiles were admitted into the kingdom of Christ. We lose so much by forgetting the circumstances of the case. This is a verse now read as if it had no atmosphere. What is it that we lose in history? The atmosphere; that which gives the novelist or the dramatist supremacy over the dry, technical, and most learned annalist! The dreariest part of every missionary meeting to many persons is the reading of the report--a reading which should bring all the Church together in its noblest enthusiasm, shouting as a conquering host--“ Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.” II. When this report was made the apostles sent down Peter and John. Was Peter then really “ sent down” ? We thought that Peter would have sent down other men! Yet how delicate the tribute to his undoubted primacy of love and enthusiasm! He it was who was selected to go down. There is nothing papal here. The Pope is not “ sent down,” he sends down. Our greatest men should always be sent down to the villages under circumstances such as these. Our very grandest prcachers ought to be our missionaries. III. When Peter and John were come down what did they do? This will reveal the right aspect of apostolic influence and office. Let us read the text in a way of our own, “ Peter and John sat upon a great and high throne, and waved over the astounded Gentiles a staff that was supposed to have singular power in it, and the amazed and wonder-struck villagers fell back before such dazzling dignity and bewailed their own unworthiness.” That would be poor Scripture! How does the text really read?1. When they were come down, they prayed for the villagers. Pray for inquirers; do not overpower them. Pray in great religious crises, and thus magnify the event, and do not lessen it. Do we pray now? Do we ask as if we meant to have what we ask? 2. They prayed that Samaria might receive the Holy Ghost. Then what had Samaria already received? Only the first baptism. Water will do you no good. It was meant to be a beginning, not an end. We have believed, but have we received the Holy Ghost? People imagine that when they have believed, the work is done. As well tell me that when you have put the fuel into the grate the fire is lighted. We know the truth, what we want is the burning spark I There is no mistaking that. No man can mistake fire. You may paint it, but you cannot warm your hands at the flame on the canvas. Fire is like nothing but itself. It separates man from man, yet unites man to man. It burns up selfishness; purifies, glorifies. It gives a man individuality. It detaches him from the common crowd and gives him a singularity of his own. When the Church has received the Holy Ghost she will be unlike every other community. When the pulpit has been baptized by the Holy Ghost it will stand alone in the supremacy of its power. At present it is the retreat of the mumbler, the living of the essayist. Our religion is at present an argument, our desire is that it may become a passion! IV. Simon, hearing that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was received, offered them money.1. It is easy to abuse this man, but he acted a most natural and rational part, considering his training, avocation, and the influence he had acquired. He had lived all his life in the market-place; he had never breathed a purer air; he knew but one world, and one language. He saw only the outside--which of us sees any further? We think because we have been to church we are Christians. That is precisely the reasoning of Simon. There has grown up a custom which is known as Simony. He who would hold his place in the Church by virtue of haying bought it is guilty of it. But simony is not in the pulpit alone. We may buy influence, status, and authority in the Church by the use of money. Who is there that does not imagine that everything can be bought? Yet how little in reality can we buy with money! Can you buy sound judgment? Poetic fire? Prophetic insight? Any form of spiritual and enduring power? Know ye that money has hut a little world to live in, and that the highest gifts are not to be purchased with gold. God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and strong in power. To the poorest man He says, “ Take this gospel and preach it.” A manger will do for a cradle when there is in it the Saviour of the world. Do you suppose that because you have little money you have little power, life, responsibility? What have you? You may have the power of prayer! You may be able to “ speak a word in season to him that is weary.” You may have the gift of hope and the faculty of music, and you may be able to lift the load from many a burdened heart. Poorest man, do not despair! You may be rich in ideas, in sympathies, in suggestion, and in all the noblest treasures that can make men wealthy with indestructible possession. 2. There was probably no fixed sum in the mind of Simon. If such a bestowal as that of the Spirit could be effected upon him, money should not stand in the way. This was the hour of apostolic temptation. Silver and gold they had none. Money is always a powerful temptation to the empty pocket. It is very easy when there is no temptation to say what we should do; but when the money is in the hand of the tempter, and when in one moment more it may be in our own, and when the thing asked for in exchange is itself a good thing, where is the man who can return a denial with the emphasis of thunder, and the accent of lightning? The Church is always tempted in this same way. We must always reject the unholy patronage. Do I address a minister who preaches to a moneyed pew? Your ministry will be blighted with well-merited condemnation. Do I minister to a Church that could accept secular patronage in order to preach a settled and determined theology? Such a Church would have sold its birthright for a contemptible price. Faith must spread its own daily board. Love must pay its own way. Do I speak to some who represent very feeble communities? Do not ask any man to help you, unless his help be the inspiration of love. Never be bribed into silence. Never keep back the truth of God, lest you should forfeit status or income. It is not necessary for any man to live, but it is necessary for every man to be loyal to Christ’ s truth. When the king came to meet Abram, and offered him great hospitality and patronage Abram said, “ No, lest thou say, I have made Abram rich” The chief power is spiritual, not financial. But the church has wonderfully fallen under the fallacy which teaches that the Church ought to be socially respectable. V. How was it that the apostles were enabled to escape this potent temptation? The answer is that they had a true conception of the spiritual election and function of the Church (verse 20). The Church had not then become a machine. Ordination was not then a thing to be arranged. It was inspiration. Men are now “ prepared” for the ministry. Now we “ educate” men for the pulpit. Educate men for the ministry!” Thy education perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God” could be purchased by schooling. Get all the education you can; be the best-informed man of your circle; but inspiration makes a minister and makes the Church. “ Not by might, and not by power,” etc. Are you, young man, considering whether you will enter Christ’ s ministry or not? Then pray God you may never enter it; for it is not a question for consideration. There are those, shame on their grey hairs, who are telling us that if the Church would offer more money to the young men of our “ better families,” they might possibly give themselves to the ministry! A malediction from heaven be upon such thoughts! Does Christ want the members of our “ better families” to be kind enough to accept position as His ambassadors, and expositors, and friends? He will choose His own ministers. He will see to it that the pulpit is never silent. VI. Peter spoke in his own characteristic tone. (verses 21-23). His speech was not a mere denunciation. His moral dignity is positively sublime, and yet, having uttered the word of malediction, he shows that the true object of the denunciation of wrong is to save the wrong-doer. Here is the gospel in an unexpected place. After such a thunderstorm who could have expected this voice of lute and harp? Repent! Forgive! Give up no man. Do not spare his sin; hold the fiercest light over it, but point the wrong-doer himself to the possibility of forgiveness through repentance and supplication. VII. Simon did not--nor could he be expected to--seize the spiritual idea which ruled the apostle’ s thinking. His reply is most natural, though often condemned (verse 24). He asked for prayer, so far he was not wrong. He suggested the prayer “ that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.” There he failed to see the right meaning of prayer. We must not go to God in supplication merely to escape penalty, but to escape sin. Yet let a man come through any gate that first opens, only let him come! If one man should come through hatred of sin, if another man of lower mould should say, “ I fear hell; God have mercy upon me.” Let him also come. Every man must pray as he can. You cannot send the heart to school to teach it how to pray. Where the pain is, the prayer should be. (J. Parker, D. D.)The apostle’ s visit to Samaria I. The effacement of Philip. Like the Baptist; before our Lord, Philip retires when Peter and John come on the scene: There is something touching in this willingness to be eclipsed. Philip might naturally have felt that he had borne the burden and heat of the day, and that the apostles’ success was due to his efforts. “ He had laboured” (words spoken about Samaria), “ and they had entered into his labours.” He had dug the soil, sown the seed, watered it, until the field was white; and now it only remained for the apostles to reap. Nor is he in the least jealous. His aim was the reverse of Simon’ s, and accordingly any increase and confirmation of faith was a matter of joy. Only those who after honest labour have been superseded by men of more brilliant gifts can appreciate the trial and the grace to bear it. II. The apostolic deputation.1. The men chosen. (1) Peter’ s presence was required by his position in prophecy and providence. Our Lord had entrusted him with the keys of the kingdom of heaven, indicating that he was to throw open the gates of the gospel dispensation. (2) John is so constantly associated with Peter, that we are not surprised to find them companions here. But it is a striking coincidence that he who, giving vent to the prevailing hostility against the Samaritans, called for fire from heaven to consume them, should, now that a more loving spirit actuated him, be selected to call down the fire of God’ s illuminating and quickening grace. 2. Their official act. (1) This forms the scriptural ground for the rite of confirmation. Baptism is in the nature of a contract into which Christ enters with the soul, and the practice of infant baptism makes it almost a necessity to have some period at which a baptized child may consciously, and of his own accord, enter into this contract. How suitable, then, that they should receive the completion of their baptism by prayer and the imposition of hands. This consecrates, as it were, the baptized person to the royal priesthood, and sets him apart solemnly for the service of Christ. Yet, while we discover in holy Scripture the germ of this rite, we do not regard confirmation as having the universal necessity or virtue of a sacrament. For the gift of the Spirit was vouchsafed independently of the imposition of hands, as in the cases of Cornelius, Saul, and the Ethiopian eunuch. 3. Their treatment of Simon. Once before bad money been offered to Peter, in order to gain a fair reputation. Ananias had laid money down at his feet, wishing it to be understood as the whole. Simon now does the same thing to win power and influence. The secret of the apostles’ power was just what he wanted to regain his lost influence and eclipse Philip. What he coveted was not the Holy Spirit, but the power of communicating the Spirit to others. And what he cared to communicate was not the grace of the Spirit, but His gifts, And there can be little doubt that what he offered money for, he intended to win money by. Peter’ s reproof, and his insinuation of the difficulty of saving a character so far gone in evil was not too strong for the occasion. Had there been a single stirring of conscience, a single aspiration after goodness, the rejoinder would have been far more lenient. 4. The contrasts of character in the Church. Here is Simon the apostle, a man of the most intense disinterestedness, who had forsaken all to follow his Master, confronted with Simon the sorcerer, who had nominally embraced Christianity as a possible means of wealth and power. What a natural repulsion must there be between the minds of the two when each gets an inkling of the other. (Dean Goulburn.)The Church and the world Between no two things is there a greater contrast. The contrast is a double one--between the natural and supernatural, and between the holy and the sinful. With respect to the first, they are for each other; and therein lies the task of the Church. With respect to the second, they are against each other; and therein lies the danger of the Church. Both the task and the danger are exemplified here. I. The Church in the world.1. The extension of the Church in the world. (1) The words of our departing Lord (Acts 1:8) are the theme of all Church history, as well as that of the first days. The evangelical history of the first thirty-four years of our dispensation conducts us from Nazareth to Jerusalem. The apostolic history of the same number of years leads us from Jerusalem to Rome. The bridge between Jerusalem and the heathen world was Samaria, a field planted by our Lord, whose prophecy of the harvest there (John 4:35-38) was now fulfilled in Philip, driven thither by persecution. The storm destroys flowers, but scatters seeds--a consolation for the Church in every age. (2) Philip was a guardian of the poor, but the Holy Ghost made him an evangelist. The liberty of the Spirit is not bound by human order. He founded the Mother Church of Missions at Antioch by means of private Christians, and the Church of Rome by men unknown; prisoners brought the gospel to the Goths in Europe. He “ bloweth where He listeth.” (3) In the days of Jesus, Samaria had been greatly moved; then there arose a sorcerer who won the people. Hunger grasps at any food, for which reason also they accepted the word of salvation. The conversion of the Samaritans was a sign for the Jews (Matthew 21:43), and the apostles understood it well. The spread of the gospel is always a sign of warning. In our days the age of missions has begun anew. May not this be a sign that the word of grace will depart if we esteem it slightly. “ Buy,” says Luther, “ while the market is at your door. Gather in while the weather is blight and fair. Use the word of God’ s grace while you have it. The Jews had it once; but they lost it, and now they have nothing. Paul brought it to Greece; but they lost it, and now they have the Turk. Rome and Italy had it; but they lost it, and now they have the Pope. And you Germans must not think that you will have it for ever; for ingratitude and contempt will not suffer it to remain.” 2. The Church preserving its unity in the world. The apostles send Peter and John to sanction the work of Philip, and to incorporate the Christians into the Apostolic Church. The rending of the body of Christ into such a multitude of sects is to be deeply lamented. Unceasingly should we think of the words of Jesus (John 17:12). But a self-conceived, self-made unity, only leads to schism. Unity gives strength, but only true unity--unity in the truth. 3. The testimony of the Church in the world (verse 15-17). It must not be understood that the baptism of Philip was ineffective, and that laying on of apostolic hands made it so. The action of the Holy Ghost is twofold. He is a Spirit of life and a Spirit of work. He makes us children of God and servants of God. The first work of the Spirit was accomplished through Philip, the second through the apostles. The first is alike in all, the second manifold. God gives various gifts of service, and these are not necessarily and obviously miraculous. The gifts of knowledge, doctrine, guidance, etc., have nothing striking in themselves, and yet they are as much gifts of the Spirit as others. Without the power and blessing of God’ s Spirit, all our toil and skill are vain; but with that, our work gives evidence to the world that the Church is the possessor of heavenly powers. II. The world in the Church1. The gathering of the world into the Church. The net cast into the sea collects all manner of fish. The condition of the Church is necessarily mixed; the wheat and tares must grow together here. When the reapers come at the Judgment, then will the Church be pure. Let us judge not, lest we be judged; but let us see to it that we are the children of God. 2. The spirit of the world in the Church. What is the spirit of the world and the spirit befitting the kingdom of God (Matthew 20:25-28). The world strives to rule, the Christian rejoices to serve; the one wants to be great, the other is willing to be nothing. It was not enough for Simon to be a Christian; he wanted to play the same great part as before his baptism; and to use the powers of the Spirit for the gratification of his self-seeking mind. And yet his sin grew from the corrupt soil of the heart, which is the same in all. Scarcely is the pride of the natural man driven out, when there comes the pride of the spiritual man. And, as Luther says, “ the white devil is worse than the black.” How hard it is to seek nothing but the favour of God, whatever man’ s opinion may be. 3. The Church’ s judgment on that spirit. “ Thy money perish with thee”--i.e., all thy arts by which thou thinkest the powers of the Holy Spirit are to be obtained. How marvellous will it appear when, at the Judgment, those now esteemed “ great “ will be cast out, and the little ones esteemed great (Matthew 7:22, etc.). This judgment we can only escape by a penitent judgment of ourselves. (Prof. Luthardt.) Acts 8:17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.Confirmation According to-- I. Its origin. No sacramental institution of our Lord, but a time-honoured ordinance of the Church. II. Its import. No substitution for, or repetition of baptism, but a ratification of baptismal confession and grace. III. Its effect. No infallible communication of the Spirit, as here by the apostles, but an incalculable spiritual blessing for susceptible hearts. (K. Gerok.) Acts 8:20-24 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee.The impotence of money I do not know that the age in which Simon lived was especially a commercial age; but whatever may have been its distinctive peculiarity, there cannot be much doubt about ours. There have been successive ages, each of a characteristic type, as, e.g., the age of the shepherds, illustrated in the long centuries of pastoral life in the East; the age of conquest, as depicted in the story of the Persian kings; the age of the arts and of letters, as seen in Greece; the age of civic rule and military despotism, as revealed in the history of Rome; the age of religious enthusiasm, as traceable in the history of the middle ages and the crusades; the age of luxury, as found in the France of the Louises, and of revolution, as found in the France of the Buonapartes. But, though in all of them men recognised the uses of wealth, and sought it, in no one of them was the conception of its capabilities so fevered and exaggerated as in our own. We are living in times when men not merely believe that wealth is of all things the most desirable (men have believed that from the time of the rich young man), but when they believe also that there is nothing that cannot be purchased with money. And therefore it is that this answer of Peter is so timely. “ This power you covet is communicable, but you cannot buy it! You have seen these common people quickened into a disclosure of powers such as your poor arts have never dreamed of; but the wealth of an empire could not purchase the least or lowliest of them.” “ Well, what of it?” one might answer. They are not the gifts and powers that I crave. But the things I do crave can be purchased with money. I look about me and see that there is nothing so potent as wealth. I find that in society nothing covers so many faults as money; that neither birth nor death are separate from the questions, “ What will he inherit?” or “ What did he leave?” That while we scorn the French marriage of convenience in name, we observe in fact; that poverty, if not a disgrace, is an impertinence; that every taste that I cultivate makes wealth more desirable and poverty more irksome; that while I can acquire the habits of luxurious living with facility, I can surrender them only with pain; and finally that, no matter how selfish or unscrupulous has been my career, it is only necessary that it shall have been exceptionally successful to secure for me, when dying, the applause of mankind. Wherein, then, consists the folly or even the error in my owning also that everything that I do care for can be purchased with money? That error and that folly consist in this: that these gifts of the Spirit which Simon would fain have bought with money are but the type of every other best gift in all the world, and that of these as of those, it is everlastingly true that they are not for sale. Recall some of them for a moment, and see if it is not so. I. Health. Some of us have drifted into one of those European refuges of the invalid like Ems or Karlsbad; places where people whose lungs or limbs or livers are diseased have come together to drink the waters and submit to the regimen, or be washed whole again in the baths. Oh, those melancholy processions of gloomy-visaged and despondent men and women! I have heard of one of them bursting into a storm of passionate denunciation because a healthy-looking servant had entered his apartment. How dared such an one insult him with the offensive contrast of her unwelcome presence! And yet the one was only a peasant girl, and the other a prince and a millionaire. Would he not have been willing to have shared his millions if he could have bought with them the other’ s single gift of health? Unfortunately, however, it is not for sale. II. Next in rank is that higher boon of mental culture. There are hundreds of thousands of men and women who rarely know a day without an experience of pain, who yet are possessors of a secret which makes them habitually insensible to it. There are accomplishments in which they can so lose themselves that, for the time, nothing unwelcome really touches them; and above all, in the pages of a book, they can so pass out of the consciousness of their outer world into the consciousness of that inner world to which the poet, or the historian has introduced them, that penury and loneliness and pain will be for the time being forgotten. But such a pleasure as this is not purchasable. Indeed, just because high living is usually so fatal to high thinking, the pleasures of culture are almost prohibited to the merely rich. Now it does not matter that such persons have never known (because incapable of knowing) the joys of high intellectual activity and so cannot greatly miss what they have never tasted. What they do know is that weariness of ennui, that proneness to idle gossip, to coarser indulgence which is the everlasting tendency of an habitually luxurious life. So thoroughly is this understood where wealth is hereditary that occupations have to be created as a defence against the dangers of their peculiar circumstances. But when such occupations are wanting, the intellectual apathy is at times a hideous and appalling nightmare. III. More tragically is this true in the domain of the Affections. Love is not for sale; and That mysterious sentiment which must be won and deserved--not purchased, never goes along with a jointure nor can be made over with transfers of real estate. There have been plenty of people with no capacity for such an affection who have bartered themselves for some one else’ s possessions, but in selling their persons or their accomplishments they have usually sold all that they had to sell The power of greatly and unselfishly loving another was not in them, and what they had not to deliver they could not sell. But, where in any man or woman there has been such a capacity, the heart has steadily and invariably refused to follow the beckoning of mere worldly possessions. If any one else loves us, we may be sure that it is not for what we have, but for what we are. IV. And that reminds me of one other unpurchasable possession--a good conscience, or peace of mind. The world has always had in it people who, having lived selfish lives, have striven, before they were done with life, to square accounts by the lavish distribution of their means. All along they have been uncomfortably conscious of the compassion of thoughtful men and quiet women. And when they have encountered such they have been dimly sensible that these people had a secret of peace, of hopeful and certain anticipation, of which they themselves knew nothing. Oh, what would they not give if they could buy that! Nay, more, as they look backward what else would they not give if they but had it to give, if somehow they could transform those cruel and accusing memories. But that peace of God which passeth all understanding, passeth all price as well! Conclusion: I want to say one word to the young. You are living in an atmosphere where the loudest bid that is made is the bid for money. Be afraid of an idolatry so poor and mean! Money, in itself considered, is neither good nor bad. It is an instrument. You may have it without being bad and you may be without it without being good. But to live for it, to fret because you are without it, is the death of all nobleness and the doom of aspiration, There must have been some hours in your life when your heart has thrilled with a genuine aspiration, and when, sitting alone, you have pored over the page that has told you of the great names that have made humanity immortal, and who, as they moved onward and upward have left behind them the lustre of a nobility that can never pale. And at such moments, surely you have longed to be like those nobler beings and to follow their radiant footsteps. Cling to that longing and follow it, for, sooner or later, this love of goodness will bring you into the presence of One who is the divinest of all. And yet, how poor He was! How utterly and absolutely Christ triumphed without the aid of money. Nowadays there is no enterprise, however uoworldly its aims, that must not rest upon a pecuniary basis. And yet there has lived in the world One, who from first to last was penniless. Since He came and went away, what colossal fortunes have been heaped up, what mighty combinations of capital have ruled the credit of the civilised world and made even princes and sovereigns to fawn obsequiously upon their possessors. What has become of them? Who remembers them? But all the while the sway of that Galilean peasant who had not where to lay His head, broadens and deepens and advances. Would you possess the secret of His resistless spell? Verily, if like Simon you come to buy it with mere money, you and your money shall most surely perish together. But if you come discerning that the gifts of God are gifts which money cannot purchase, then indeed you may hope to learn that secret, which shall make you rich for ever! (Bp. H. C. Potter, D. D.)Gift and purchase As we read Peter’ s words, their very sound brings out the nature of the sin, for their terms express the contradiction that is involved in the misuse of money. To purchase a gift is evidently impossible. One of the two words must be wrong. Either the thing is not a gift, or else we have not purchased it. Is the world, is our life, a gift or a purchase? Between those two ideas we are for ever vacillating. Our belief in God says it is a gift; our lives of activity and energy say it is a purchase. We talk of Providence, and then are discouraged at our misfortunes or our failures, as if we had never heard of such a thing as God’ s providence. We pray for all blessings, temporal and spiritual, and then congratulate ourselves when we have put ourselves in a position to obtain them. Now, into these lives, for ever tossed between these two ideas, enters the element of money. Its one reason of existence is purchase. We cannot eat it or wear it; the man who hoards it for the mere pleasure of looking at it is acknowledged to be a pitiable fool. Can we not see how at once this universal thing, so necessary and so much desired, throws all its weight on the side of purchase in our view of life? It makes one continual barter. Purchase is a necessary element of life, and money represents it. It is needed for our independence; without it we sink down into gift-receivers from out” fellow-men. The strong, self-reliant character that belongs to men of business comes entirely from their holding so natural a relation to their fellow-men they receive what they pay for, they expect to be paid for what they give. That is the simple law of honest trade and of honest manhood, and woe to the man who attempts to avoid it, whether by begging or gambling. The very money which he receives is a rebuke to him, as it tells him of the universal existence of that law of purchase between man and man which, like all other laws, will punish the man who violates it. But when money, with the principle which it represents, begins to enter into our relation to God, then the contradiction comes, and the sin with it. Just as living on men’ s gifts spoils our true relation to them, so trying to purchase of God spoils entirely the true sense of our relation to Him. God must give: that fact is written in our belief of Him as our Creator, our great Superior, infinitely above us. It is the fact that is repeated in the tone of authority that fills every revelation of Him; it is the thought of every heart that cares to look for Him in the earth around us. There is no God if we can purchase things of Him. Money is utterly atheistic in its very central principle when taken out of its proper place; and, as men heap it up, we have only the repetition of the old-storied struggle of the giants who heaped mountain upon mountain, all of which were so good in their places on earth, that they might reach to heaven, and unseat God from His throne. As money grows in power and influence, this will be its destructive power upon men’ s lives. Beware of this danger; it meets all, as they pass out of childhood’ s state of gift-receiving into manhood’ s time of purchase. There is nothing with which to meet it but the simple knowledge of God cultivated by every means which is thrown about us, and by every spiritual influence which can be brought to bear upon us. The relation to God must be learned more and more closely in all its special features. The thought and the effort must be fixed directly on Him by morals, by religion, by worship, by study, by prayer. Never more than in these times, when money is the world’ s great power, did mankind more need the simplest, purest, most childlike belief in God, that life may be truly complete on both sides, toward man and toward God. The two sides will not remain without effect upon each other. The dependence of the one will soften and save from cruelty and haughtiness the independence of the other. He who knows that he is constantly receiving from One above him cannot be cruel and exacting toward one below him; nay, he cannot keep from being like his great, bountiful God in sweet acts of charity. The independence of the one will add a sense of responsibility and power to the other; he who appreciates the power that God has given him among his fellow-men will more gladly enter the service of that God to whom he owes so much, thankful for the opportunity to do something. And see how, once more, the relation between rich and poor is touched by this higher view of God as a constant and manifold Giver. Must the poor man stand aside, and see his neighbour, who has money, go before him in opportunities of doing good, in acquisition of high and refined motives and character in life? From how much does the want of money shut him out? Of how many of God’ s gifts does it deprive him? Of but one--ease of bodily relation toward his fellow-men, one of the most dangerous gifts that can be bestowed. Shall he stand mourning for that one, while all the time God waits to bestow character here, salvation hereafter, while moral possessions and eternal life are open to him, and means of doing good by personal growth and work which wealth can never buy are at his hand? “ Thy money perish with thee.” Money is perishable--in substance, form, possession. Our souls are immortal. Which shall affect the other? Shall we and our money perish together? or shall our lives, knowing our God, lift up the money by the devotion of us to whom it belongs? Shall it dazzle us with its glitter, and prevent our seeing God? or shall we save it by our power of serving God? We are the greater, surely, and to us God has opened a path out of this bondage in which earthly things are for ever holding us. Walk in it; break the chain, golden though it be, that binds our immortal souls to this earth; and seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and with that gift all other gifts shall be a blessing, and not a destruction. (Arthur Brooks.)Simony assumes various forms Simon desired to obtain spiritual power and office, not in the Divine method, but in low, earthly ways. Money was his way because it was the one thing he valued and had to offer; but surely there are many other ways in which men may unlawfully seek for spiritual office and influence in the Church. Many a man who would never dream of offering money in order to obtain a high place in the Church, or would have been horrified at the very suggestion, has yet resorted to other methods just as effective and just as wrong. Men have sought high position by political methods. They have given their support to a political party, and have sold their talents to uphold a cause, hoping thereby to gain their ends. They may not have given gold which comes from the mint to gain spiritual position, but they have all the same given a mere human consideration, and sought by its help to obtain spiritual power; or they preach and speak and vote in Church synods and assemblies with an eye to elections to high place and dignity. An established Church, with its legally secured properties and prizes, may open a way for the exercise of simony in its grosser forms. But a free Church, with its popular assemblies, opens the way for a subtler temptation, leading men to shape their actions, to suppress their convictions, to order their votes and speeches, not as their secret conscience would direct them, but as human nature and earthly considerations would tell them was best for their future prospects. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.-- The natural heart In meditating upon the story of the Samaritan impostor, and studying our own depraved nature in it, we may remark-- I. That the natural heart has no knowledge of Divine things.1. According to some modern teachings, all men have a religious instinct, and worship God in some honest way, which, as He is a kind God, must be acceptable to Him. On analysis, we shall find that this is only either the action of a guilty conscience or of a poetic fancy. In the one case the man has a vague idea of retribution for his sins, and strives in some crude way to appease the offended divinity. In the other, the same disposition of mind which makes the painter and the poet makes the dreamy weaver of cobweb thoughts about the unseen. There is a desire to avert evil, and a blind ceremonial in consequence, or there is a constructive imagination indulging in its exercise. 2. But is this religion? Is this knowing and serving God? Can this satisfy the heart and purify the life? The religion of pagan nations is largely the product of this instinct. Does a comparison of these with Christian nations lead us to covet their condition? The religious instinct is of no higher character than the eating and drinking instinct, as far as true religion is concerned. They are both of the earth, earthy. Men are cut off from God by sin, and they can return only by the use of Divine means. 3. That which Simon brought out into full relief was simply the common character of the natural man. Divine things are treated with low, earthly affections, and, of course, as low, earthly things. Simon in trying to buy God’ s power was no worse than the many who try to buy God’ s pardon. 4. The prominent sinners of Scripture are only prominent by reason of their circumstances, not their sin. That is common to all. Pharaoh, Balaam, Doeg, Ananias and Simon are only types raised up high enough for all to see. II. That man’ s wickedness before God is in the condition of his heart. Men posit sin in overt acts, and fail to explore the pollution of their hearts. Our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount endeavours to correct this fatal error, and shows that the seat of murder, etc., is in the heart, and that the sins may there reside when these outward exhibitions are avoided. Simon’ s desire, not his request, was his sin. God saw the wickedness in his heart. He cannot allow wickedness concealed any more than wickedness in display, and can receive none except as the unholy heart is renewed. This fundamental truth is what the poets and philosophers ignore. They would reform man on the basis of the old evil heart. They would make the outer circles of life pare, and leave the core rotten. If, however, they say that the heart of man is pure, how then did it ever produce such universal impurity in life? But some will say, “ We believe the heart must be renewed, but why cannot man renew it himself?” In reply, we say-- III. That only God’ s power can renew the heart. When the affections are in the wrong, how can their own influence take them out? Where is the first impetus to come from when that which forms the force of the life is fixed upon evil? Do you take refuge in the thought that there is some element of good in The heart, and that this at last accomplishes the renewal? Then why does it not always accomplish it? Any exceptional case destroys your theory, for Nature always works in the same way. But, besides that, how could the good element in the heart overcome the bad unless it had a majority? And if it had a majority, how came the heart ever to go wrong? No. The evil heart cannot renew itself. God alone can do that. Its condition without God is described as being in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity, wretched and helpless. The bound prisoner cannot loosen himself; another must do it. The conspicuous examples of this truth, such as the drunkard and the gambler vainly striving (in order to save their bodies or their property or their reputation) to stop their excesses, are only specimens of a universal rule. IV. That the hope of man is in prayer. “‘ Pray the Lord.” The “ if” was not a doubt whether God would pardon if Simon prayed, but whether Simon would ever pray. Prayer must have penitence as its spirit. “ Repent.” It must have a deep conviction of personal sin. Simon seems to have been too far gone to have any such conviction. Hence we find him only afraid. Though Simon apparently did not take the road to pardon and to God, we see in Peter’ s injunction what the road is. It is prayer to God. The heart needs His forgiving grace. That grace, through Christ’ s sacrificial death for sin, fills the Divine reservoir, and is ready to be outpoured on every seeking soul. Prayer is that act of faith which makes the connection with this reservoir; the acceptance of the Divine power, which is waiting to be gracious to every sinner. (H. Crosby, D. D.)A right state of the heart I. By a man’ s heart we are to understand his prevailing views, dispositions, and desires. When these are such, as his situation requires, then his heart is right in the sight of God. “ Now man by sin has lost God’ s favour and ruined his soul. But by grace he is placed in such a situation that he may recover God’ s favour and save his soul. The offers of salvation are made to him. When therefore he accepts this offer, when his prevailing views, dispositions, and desires are such as, in this situation, they ought to be, then his heart is right in the sight of God. II. What are the particulars in which this state of heart consists. When the heart is in a right state--1. It is deeply humbled before God on account of its sinfulness. God sees that all men are great sinners, that sin is a dreadful evil. When a man, then, esteems himself to be a little sinner, or perhaps hardly a sinner at all; when he endeavours to excuse, or even to justify whatever he has done amiss, it must be clear that his heart cannot be right before God. In order to be right he must think of sin as God thinks of it, and feel his own depravity. 2. It thankfully believes in Christ for the pardon of his sins. God, who is rich in mercy, is not willing that sinners should die eternally. He hath, therefore, provided for them a way of salvation. So long, then, as a man rejects God’ s offers of pardon and continues at enmity with his Maker, how is it possible that his heart can be right in the sight of God? It never can be right till he obey the gospel, and comply with the terms of it. And these terms are “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” 3. It longs after holiness. God is holy and would have all men to be holy. How is it possible, then, for the heart to be right in His sight, if it does not love what He loves, and desire to be what He is? III. The necessity of its being so. Till a man’ s heart be thus right in the sight of God--1. He can have no interest in the promises of the gospel. Call to mind what these promises are, as well as the persons to whom they are given. “ Blessed are the poor in spirit,” etc. “ He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” “ Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall find mercy.” “ This is the promise which God hath given us, even eternal life,” etc. “ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” “ Sin shall not have dominion over you,” etc. “ Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness,” etc. Now, how is it possible for a man to have any share or lot in the matter, whose heart is not right in the sight of God? 2. He cannot perform the duties of religion. This is not merely to go through the forms of religious worship. This a man may do irrespective of the state of his heart. To perform the duties of religion is to perform them in a spiritual manner, with a penitent, a believing, and an holy frame of mind. But how can this be done by those who are unhumbled in heart, who have no living faith in Christ, nor any real desire after holiness? 3. He cannot taste the pleasures of religion. Consider what they are. They spring from a sense of pardon; from God’ s love shed abroad in the heart; from communion with Him. Now what can the man unhumbled, unbelieving, and unholy, know of these? 4. He can have no meetness for the enjoyment of heavenly happiness in the life to come. The things which constitute the happiness of the saints in light are that they see and serve God. They are with Christ, they behold His glory, and sing His praises. But to the unhumbled, the unbelieving, and the unholy, heaven then would not be heaven. They have no taste nor meetness for it, and consequently they have no part nor lot in the matter. (E. Cooper.)Right hearts As Sir Walter Raleigh laid his head on the block, the executioner, before lifting the dreadful axe, said, “ Does your head lie right, Sir Walter?” Sir Walter turned his face to the headsman, saying, “ You know, good friend, it matters-not how the head lies if the heart be right.” Then he laid his head on the block, and in another moment the head of the brave man rolled on the straw of the scaffold floor. Sir Walter’ s last speech is an everlasting truth. Nothing comes amiss when the heart is right; but a man may have all the riches of England, yet if his heart be not right he will have fits of misery, which would make his friends avoid him if he were not rich. But you may find another man who lives at the top of a house in a back room, and chiefly on bread and weak tea; yet if that man’ s heart be right in the sight of God, he rejoices evermore and in everything gives thanks. Have you a right heart? If you have not, it is the cause of all your trouble; it is making your life one long toilsome weariness. The language of a wrong heart is, “ Oh, dear, is it always going to be like this?” Many and many a time you may hear a wrong heart sigh, “ Oh, I am so tired of my life!” Men can do great things. We can draw down electricity and send our message on its wings across the ocean in a moment. We dig down into the bowels of the earth for our light and heat; we sail on the wings of the wind; we dive to the bottom of the sea for our pearls; we make spindles to pull out and twist a thread so fine as to excel that of a spider; we put together looms to weave the most beautiful and intricate patterns: and have made a hammer which can either crack an egg, or dash a piece of steel into powder. But there is one thing we cannot do; we cannot make a human heart right. If your watch should get out of order, you know that it can be set right; but some of us have tried many years to patch up our heart; but it is the one thing which humanity cannot do; it is the act of an Almighty Being to fix aright the human heart. What a blessed position if we could say, “ My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed!” The French have a proverb, that if a man would enjoy a happy life, he must have good digestion and a hard heart. That may be a wise worldly proverb; but I will tell you a better, that if your heart be right in the sight of God, you may have a had digestion, and yet enjoy a happy life. It is a good thing to visit the hospital and see those still, pale, painful faces, and hear some of them say, “ It’ s all right!” What! with broken limbs, with crushed body, with cancer within and sores without, “ all right” ? Yes; when the heart is right with God, your life shall also be right at all times. Your heart cannot be right nor your life happy-- I. Unless you feel the presence of a loving, forgiving, and helpful God at all times. During a drought I noticed a mountain torrent pouring its stream ,of water from rock to rock. Whence this flow of water? It comes from the Creator’ s reservoirs inside the mountains. Kneel down, put your ear on the heather, and in the stillness of the mountain solitude you will hear the water trickling beneath from God’ s hidden reservoir to the torrent yonder. When the rain teems on the hills, the surface water flows into the streams, but a much larger quantity of water quietly sinks through the earth into great cisterns which God has provided there; and these cisterns pour themselves out through crevices in the rock by a natural syphon arrangement. Whenever I place my ear to the ground to listen to the quiet trickling of the underground water-supply, it reminds me of God! He is invisible, but near; and there is never a time when the flowing of His love is suspended. There are times of drought when the underground cisterns are emptied, and then, of course, if you put your ear to the mountain, you will hear no trickling of water; but there never is a time when a man can find a place in the world without God. Some people have an idea of the presence of God which they do not put into daily use. You have certain garments which you put away in summer and bring forth in winter. So, some people keep in their minds an idea of an ever-present God; but they do not make a daily practical use of this idea. When there is a fever, or a railway accident, or something terrible, they rush to their memory-box for the idea which has been kept wrapped up there, and cry, “ O God, help me!” Such a life is miserable. The idea of a present God should be like garment which is always suitable and comfortable at all periods. III. Unless we know that God is nigh at hand and not afar off. Here is a gentle girl earning her living amongst strangers. She is much tempted in her position, and longs for help; and feeling that if she does not get it, she may fall, she goes to the telegraph office to send a message to her father far away. While she waits there, it comforts her to know that the click of the instrument is a message coming from her father, saying, “ My child, keep up your heart and do your duty!” The message cheers her, but she goes away to her lonely lodging saying, “ Ah, if father were only nearer.” Likewise, the soul which is wearied with its trials and sins, needs a loving and forgiving God nigh at hand. A distant God cannot comfort us; we need a God to abide with us; such as we have in the heavenly Father who manifests himself to us in Jesus. See in that room, at midnight, lies a timid child, who in the darkness is afraid. But while she is trembling, she bears her father cough in the other room; and, in” a moment, the child is comforted. Likewise, when we are in the darkness of sorrow, or bereavement, or affliction unto death, we are always afraid unless we can feel that God is near. Some years ago, one of my children one night when I went to kiss her while she lay in bed, said, “ Papa, are you going out to-night?” I replied, “ No, dear!” She said, “ What are you going to do?” I answered, “ Going to write in the study.” She said, “ Then will you put your hat on the chair, and when I am afraid, I shall see by your hat that you are at home, with me!” So the promises of Jesus are tokens to us of our heavenly Father’ s love and care. But we need something nearer than the telegraph, closer than a cough in the other room, more tangible than a hat on a chair. It is comforting to have an idea of a God somewhere; but oh, how much more consoling to feel that He dwells in our heart! When we walk in a garden at night we can feel the sweet perfume of the silent flowers, and even in the darkness of night the flowers though silent speak to us. And he will probably exclaim:--“ Oh, what lovely flowers; how delighted I am with this sweet garden!” The blind man cannot see the flowers, but they speak to him with the sweet odour of their fragrance and comfort. Most of us grope through life in the dark; but as we grope, we feel at times that God is touching our spirit, and we say, “ Oh, blessed fact, God is speaking to me.” III. Unless it is inspired with love to Jesus for laying down His life on the cross. A young English nobleman, an officer in the Life Guards, was charged with the serious offence of forgery; but he was not guilty. A younger brother had done the deed; and the brave soldier took the blame on himself, and bore the burden of a guilt that was not his own. He enlisted as a private soldier under the French, who were then at war in Algeria. While there, he won the admiration of the French and the respectful fear of the Arabs. But there was one French colonel who hated him. Why? A beautiful Arab princess was taken prisoner whom the colonel seized as his victim; and the English nobleman revealing his name and rank, threatened that if the Frenchman did not act righteously towards the lady, he would expose him. The colonel yielded, and sent the princess back to her father, but, after that, he hated the English nobleman, and sought an opportunity of disgracing him. One day, the colonel taunted the noble private, and stung him so keenly that he pulled the coward from his horse and dashed him to the ground. According to French military law, there was only one verdict for such an offence--death. Now it happened that this nobleman, unknown to himself, had won the heart of a pretty French girl, a vivandiere--a woman who sells to the soldiers provisions and liquors--whom he had treated with polite kindness. When she heard that he was condemned, she galloped off to headquarters and obtained a reprieve. Away she sped with the precious pardon, and when she came near the camp, she saw the signal that the last moment had arrived. A shrill cry was heard: “ Wait! in the name of France.” But the stern word of command sounded out upon the silence, “ Fire!” and the girl’ s cry came too late. But while the volley was being fired, more fleet than the bullets, she had flung her arms about him, and then turned her head backward with her brave smile as the balls pierced her own bosom. She dropped on the ground, and he caught her up, saying, “ My child! they have killed you! What am I worth that you should perish for me!” Looking up quickly at the sorrowing soldiers, he exclaimed, “ Oh, that you had fired one moment sooner!” She heard him, and in an unspeakable look which revealed her secret, she said, “ I cannot speak as I would. But I have loved you. All is said!” Then she gave a tired sigh and the brave, loving creature lay dead in his arms with her head on his breast. He obtained his release, and his younger brother having confessed his crime, he was reinstated in his old position. Years passed away, but whenever the name was mentioned of the young creature who had lain down her life for him, he would bow his head as before some sacred thing. I have told you this touching tale in order that you may be reminded of Jesus who laid down His life for you and me. Does not your heart bow in tenderness at the sound of His name? Then consecrate your life in return for that wondrous love which bled and died to save a wretch like you. Oh, that you would believe that Jesus died for you! See, here is a boy who in the darkness of night is playing by swinging on the teagle chain of a lofty warehouse. He is swinging in and out of the top room, when suddenly the break gives way, and the chain rattles over the wheel carrying the boy quickly down. It is quite dark, and the poor boy hangs there holding on with both hands; but he is getting tired, and he fears he will be dashed to pieces in the yard below. Now one arm drops helpless, and finding his strength giving way, he shrieks in terror, and falls; but instead of being dashed to pieces, he finds that he has dropped only two or three inches from the ground! In his fright in the darkness, he feared he might fall a hundred feet, when he was really close to the ground. Likewise, some of you are in dreadful misery on account of your sins; but if you would trust Jesus, you would find yourself at liberty. Drop into His arms! He is aa near! Believe that He died instead of you. Venture to think that He really loves you. The proverb is applicable in great things as well as small. “ Nothing venture, nothing have.” (W. Birch.)Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart be forgiven thee. Peter’ s admonition to Simon the sorcerer I. The wicked intentions of men require pardon. “ The thought of thine heart.” Simon did not obtain his wish; but it was in his heart. The essence of the sin was there. He laid the plan, and began its execution, but was foiled. Hence Peter lays stress upon what was in the man’ s heart. He had been received into the fellowship of the saints; but this availed nothing so long as he was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Something was out of order in the man, and that the main thing: “ Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for,” etc. The apostle would not allow him to console his conscience with the mere circumstance that he had failed in his attempt. In the new creation the Holy Ghost, therefore, makes the heart His first care. This is the citadel, which having been captured by grace, the whole man is gained for Christ. To be clean, we must be cleansed from secret faults; and not until the thoughts of our hearts are forgiven shall we stand justified before the Lord. II. The means by which the wicked are to seek peace with God. “ Repent … and pray.” The foundation of duty and privilege in the spiritual kingdom is the blood of the Lamb, but there is another vital fact involved in our rescue from sin. It is a moral being who has sinned, and who requires the sovereign remedy of grace. The activity of his moral nature must assert itself. Though only willing in the day of God’ s power, he must not expect to be dragged like a stone to the fountain of cleansing, or like a brute to the altar of mercy. God’ s Spirit meets him in the path of sin, and this is His charge: “ Repent therefore of this thy wickedness.” The sacrifice of Christ has made an open door for penitence. “ Him hath God exalted,” etc. If the sinner repents in an evangelical manner, he will be found in Christ. III. The bare possibility of success should encourage the sinner to use this means of grace. “ Pray God if perhaps,” etc. In what are called worldly adventures, men are not only willing, but eager, to take their chances, and though a thousand chances are against it, they bend every energy toward its attainment. Can it be that the soul is not worth a venture? “ What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Peter did not intend to deny the validity of the promises, or to cast doubt over the effectiveness of repentance or prayer. His misgiving arose from Simon’ s own state. He may have thought it highly improbable that Simon would ever become at heart a better man. In accordance with the text we sing, “ Venture on Him” ; but we imply no venture of risk, but one of courage. The uncertainty of your salvation is, indeed, alarming, but it lies in your neglect of the means of grace. If there were but the slightest possibility of Christ’ s being able to save you, it would be amazing stupidity in you to slight Him. It is not a possibility, but a certainty. “ He is able also to save them to the uttermost,” etc. (H. R. Raymond, D.D.)For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.--The gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity I. This man’ s state. In a state of nature as evidenced by his covetousness, ambition, and hypocrisy. This state is called--1. The gall of bitterness because it is bitter (1) To God; which appears by the bitter sufferings of Christ (Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 26:38). (2) To every good man as felt in their first awakenings, bitter remorse (Matthew 26:75), bitter reflections. (2) To the impenitently wicked (Mark 9:44). 2. The bond of iniquity (Proverbs 5:22). This bond is-- (1) Strong. (2) Reproachful (Proverbs 14:34). (3) Unprofitable. II. How it was perceived. By its fruit (Matthew 12:33; Matthew 12:35). A man’ s state may be discerned--1. By his ignorance of Divine things.2. By the company he keeps.3. By the books he reads.4. By his places of resort. (S. Barnard.)Sin and salvation How true and comprehensive this description of the sinner’ s State! Our first parents thought the forbidden fruit of the sweetest, they found it of the bitterest, and this transgression involved in their miserable gratification involved bondage to evil. True parable and prophecy of the history of their sinful discendants. How sweet the intoxicating draught to the drunkard, but how bitter the consequences, especially the enslaved habit. So with all evil. Note here that-- I. SIN is--1. The gall of bitterness. The term bitter is applied by us to-- (l) Disappointment. When a man makes a speculation which turns out badly, or transacts business that does not pay, centres his hopes on objects which elude him, he Buffers a “ bitter disappointment.” Does sin turn out well? Does it pay? Has it ever fulfilled man’ s aspiration? (2) Hard circumstances. When a man is deplorably poor, or overtaxed, or afflicted, we say what a “ bitter lot.” He then surely must suffer the quintessence of bitterness who is destitute of God’ s riches, who groans under the devil’ s burdens, and who suffers from the mortal malady of sin. “ The way of transgressors is hard.” (3) Ruin. When a man has made his last throw and lost, when he is hopelessly bankrupt, or when he suffers the fate of a felon, we exclaim, “ How bitter!” What, then, must be the feelings of a man who has gambled away his life, who has become bankrupt in morals, who has soon to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. 2. The bond of iniquity. Sin is the servitude of-- (1) The mind which it imprisons in the sphere of matter.(2) The affections which it sets upon earthly things.(3) The will which it paralyses for good. II. Salvation.1. Sweetens every bitter lot. It brings-- (1) Pardon to the sinful.(2) Comfort to the wretched.(3) Rest to the burdened.(4) Heaven. 2. Liberates the most enslaved. It gives freedom of thought, heart, and will. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 8:26-39 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go.Man versus angel Why didn’ t the angel go himself? Because this was a mission where a man was worth more than an angel. In the Lord’ s plan of salvation there is a place for redeemed sinners as witnesses for Christ, to do a work that no angel could accomplish. It is not for us to say that God could have had any better plan than this. As the plan stands, the man is needed for its prosecution. The best that an angel can do is to come as a messenger from God, and tell the man to arise and go. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D)Toward the south … unto Gaza, which is desert.--Gaza The history of the city so named (appearing at times in the English verson-- Deuteronomy 2:23; 1 Kings 4:24; Jeremiah 25:20 --as Azzah) goes even as far back as that of Damascus, in the early records of Israel. It was the southernmost or border-city of the early Cananites (Genesis 10:19), and was occupied first by the Avim, and then by the Caphtorim (Deuteronomy 2:23). Joshua was unable to conquer it (Joshua 10:41; Joshua 11:22). The tribe of Judah held it for a short time (Judges 1:18), but it soon fell into the hands of the Philistines (Judges 3:3; Judges 13:1), and though attacked by Samson, was held by them during the times of Samuel, Saul, and David (1 Samuel 6:17; 1 Samuel 14:52; 2 Samuel 21:15). Solomon (1 Kings 4:24), and later on Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:8) attacked it. It resisted Alexander the Great during a siege of five months, and was an important military position, the very key of the country, during the struggles between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae, and in the wars of the Maccabees (1Ma 11:61). Its name, it may be noted, meant the “ strong.” (Dean Plumptre.)Unto Gaza, which is desert 1. When Philip is introduced to us, we find him engaged in promising work, and there was much still to do. Philip might justly have supposed that he would be allowed to remain in such a rich and suitable field until he had exhausted all its possibilities. And yet he was Divinely summoned to abandon it and go away to the desert. This place was at the extreme south, farthest removed from all the scenes and associations of Philip’ s life, and if he had reasoned he would naturally have wondered much why he should be sent to such an out-of-the-way place. What good could he do there? And yet he immediately obeyed the Divine command. And as he did so the will of God was made known to him. He found there a more fruitful field of usefulness than even Samaria. Scientific men have shown us the wonderful arrangements by which insects and flowers are brought together in order to carry out the ends of the vegetable world. The blossom is furnished with a honey-cell, is painted with brilliant hues, enriched with fragrance, and shaped in a particular way, in order to attract and guide insects, by whose agency the plant may be fertilised and enabled to produce seed. More wouderful still are the providential arrangements by which God brings together the soul and the Saviour. 2. Some may say that it was not worth while to take Philip away from the great task of converting multitudes for the purpose of saving a single stranger. Bat such persons have not so learned of Christ, who said, “ What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” and who told the parable of the lost sheep. But it was not the salvation of a single soul only that was involved. The Ethiopian eunuch was a great dignitary, next in rank to the Queen of Ethiopia; and the influence which the conversion of such a man might be expected to exercise would, in the nature of things, be immense and far-reaching, and tradition ascribes to him the conversion to his new faith of Candace and of many of her subjects, and he may have prepared the way for the wonderful work which took place among the Ethiopians at a later period, when the whole nation became Christian, and the ancient prophecies of Scripture, that Ethiopia would yet lift her hands to God, were fulfilled. The superiority in religious faith and in all the arts of life which the Abyssinians enjoy over all the benighted children of the sun may be attributed in the first instance to the work of the Ethiopian eunuch. We have a similar instance of the wise methods of Providence in Paul being obliged to abandon his large and important field of labour in Asia, and to go over into Europe, which seemed to him, in comparison, a desert place. 3. The scene of the eunuch’ s conversion was admirably adapted for the purpose. When Jesus was about to cure the deaf and dumb man, He took him aside from the multitude; and when He was about to open the eyes of the man born blind, He took him by the hand and led him out of the town. Jesus isolated the men that, apart from the interruptions of the crowd, they might be made more receptive of deep and lasting impressions. And so was it with the Ethiopian eunuch. He had taken part in all the solemn services of the grandest of Jewish festivals. A proselyte of rank and influence like him, moreover, would receive much attention. But the atmosphere of the Holy City was unfavourable to the quiet meditation which clears the inner eye, develops the spiritual life, and opens the heart to receive the truth of God. And so what he could not obtain in the crowded city he found in the lonely desert. A spirit of inquiry had been stirred up within him; and here nothing would distract his thoughts. When Philip joined himself to him his mind was made plastic and his heart sensitive to spiritual impressions. Shut out from the world, alone with God and the works of His hands, reduced to their primitive simplicity, both the eunuch and the evangelist felt how dreadful was this desert-place. It was none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven. There the ladder was set up by which the benighted African climbed to the light and the joy of heaven. He found there not only water by which he was baptized as a Christian, but in his own soul a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 4. This incident is a type of what often happens in the experience of God’ s people. Our Lord Himself on one occasion left the busy, crowded cities where He was carrying on a most beneficent ministry, for the lonely desert, in order that there He might cure the solitary demoniac, who, in his turn, was the means of a wonderful spiritual awakening among the people of Decapolis. Peter was sent from the large maritime city of Joppa, where he could preach to persons from all parts of the world, in order to instruct a single Gentile family in the small town of Caesarea. And so God bids His servants still leave the ninety and nine and go after the one lost sheep. We fancy that we need to get together large meetings in order to produce a deep and widespread impression. But crowds have not always been helpful in the matter of progress. Not unfrequently, by their distractions, they have placed hindrances in the way. A man has in a crowd no calmness of mind to think, but is swayed exclusively by the feelings of the moment. Our Lord’ s own best work, so to speak, was not done in crowds; and the sayings of His that sink deepest into our hearts were uttered when conversing with a solitary woman beside well or near a tomb. The fickle crowds fell away from Him in His hour of need; but the solitary souls whom He called to Him one by one from the sea-shore and the receipt of custom, and the desolated home, clung faithfully to Him to the last. 5. But we may give a wider application to the lesson. Whatever outward circumstance or inward motive induces us to leave the crowd and go down unto “ Gaza, which is desert,” for rest and meditation, we may be sure that it is the prompting of the angel of the Lord. We need to obey the Divine injunction more frequently, for our religious life is too social; it depends too much upon the excitement of meetings and associations, and is too often incapable of standing alone. It is urgently required, therefore, that not only in the enjoyment of the means of grace, but much more in their absence, we should work out our own salvation. We need more of the blessed solitude of prayer. It was at the back side of the mountain on which he fed his flock that the vision of the burning bush appeared to Moses. In the front he saw no door opened in heaven. And so, too, if we are to behold something of the sight which Moses beheld, and to be changed in some measure as he was changed, we must often retire to the background of the mountain on which we live and labour. If we refuse to go voluntarily unto “ Gaza, which is desert,” God will providentially compel us. He will make a desert around us, so that under its bitter juniper-tree we may learn the true lessons of life. The gain to individuals themselves and to society by the training of enforced loneliness cannot be overestimated; and wanting in the best and highest qualities is that man or woman to whom Christ does not say, at one period or other of life, “ Come ye yourselves apart into a desert-place and rest awhile.” (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Philip on his way to Gaza, a type of a true minister 1. The pious obedience with which he follows the impulse of the Spirit.2. The apostolic courage with which he lays hold of a soul strange to him.3. The evangelical wisdom with which he fans the spark into a flame.4. The priestly unction with which he seals, at the proper moment, the saved soul to the Lord.5. The Christian humility with which, after the work of salvation is completed, he steps behind the Lord. (K. Gerok.)Philip and the Ethiopian I. God’ s providential direction in individual life. “ And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip.” This meeting of Philip, and the Ethiopian was not the result of mere accident or chance. A species of pre-established harmony existed between these two souls before they were conscious of each other’ s existence in this world. An angel messenger gives the directions by which they were to be brought together. Frequently we speak of accidents determining a man’ s destiny, forgetting that in the vocabulary of God there is no such word as chance. It seemed a mere chance that Moses was discovered by Pharaoh’ s daughter. “ But Eternal choice that chance did guide.” A dusty pilgrim overtaken on the desert road by the chamberlain of a Pagan queen, that is all the world’ s wise ones see in this incident of our lesson; but in this chance meeting there is the hidden fire of a Divine purpose. Behind all life’ s varying scenes--its, joys, its sorrows, its social positions and its political ambitions, its individual cares, its national crises--there is the guiding hand of God. What comfort to shortsighted, burden-bearing pilgrims, to think that God’ s angels are ministering spirits marshalled under King Jesus to guard and defend us against the assaults of our great adversary, the devil, who is continually striving for our destruction. II. The willing and obedient servant. Notice the nature of the directions given by the angel, and what was involved in obedience thereto. Verse 26 gives us the text of the angel’ s commission to Philip. In a sense Philip is to proceed under sealed orders. The directions are simple in terms as far as they go. Go to a certain road. Yet in a sense they are vague and indefinite. Sixty miles of desert highway, with the haughty, wicked city of Gaza at the southern terminus, was a command seriously requiring some more definite statements as to what duty was to be met, and where the field of future work was to be found. The angel had revealed to Philip just enough to indicate some of the difficulties in the way. To ordinary human nature such directions would make room for two or three questions of a very practical character just here. Natural, indeed, would have been the questions, Why limit the sphere of my ministry by taking this unfrequented way? Here I am in the populous city, multitudes are being stirred with the gospel message, converts coming every day. Because of this there is great joy in the city. Why, then, must I be side-tracked? why leave the city appointment to take the country charge?’ That was the voice of expediency, and we will always find crouching somewhere in the near neighbourhood of that voice the cowardly tempter. And thus the tempter speaks: A long desert journey on foot, a lone pilgrim, prowling wild beasts, night coming on, and no shelter! Philip, there is danger ahead, “ lions are in the way.” Besides, if you reach Gaza, and it is revealed to you that there is your new field of work, consider what difficulties and dangers await you. Gaza is hardened in crime, bitter in its rebellion against God. It is one of the most ancient cities of the world. Joshua could not subdue it. It was assigned to Judah, but even that warlike tribe could not retain its possession. Yet to have yielded to his fears, to have doubted the Divine wisdom, would have been to have lost the opportunity of meeting the man for whose conversion Philip was the Divinely appointed instrument: “ Only the willing and obedient shall eat of the good of the land.” We have heard inspiring sermons on that word “ Come” of the gospel, and truly it is a blessed word, inviting weary hearts to the sweet asylum of rest found in Jesus Christ. But, as believers in the Cross of Christ, have we realised the blessed privilege of that other great word of the gospel, that small yet mighty word “ Go” ? “ Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.” “ Go, work to-day in My vineyard.” It was the inspiration of that great word that moved Philip to obedience. We dare not leave this thought of loving obedience to the commands of God without emphasising another fact in this connection, namely, that in proportion as we obey present revelations of God’ s will, future and fuller revelations will appear. Philip had plainly revealed to him the direction he was to take, “ Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way that … is desert.” This command was sufficient for prompt action at that hour. Philip had capital enough at that moment to go right to work for God in the new field. When the hour of opportunity came for other work than walking a desert highway, verse 29 informs us that another revelation was given. Philip is on the journey, he is overtaken by the chariot of the Ethiopian; “ Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” This higher revelation was given to Philip through obedience to the former revelation. God always furnishes revelations of duty in instalments according to the necessities of the hour and the measure of our faith. The way at first may seem dark. The commands of God may seem foolish to the demands of expediency. Human reason may stagger and fall and refuse to go farther. But to the eye of faith the “ inventory of the universe is in heaven.” He will reveal place and method when the hour of opportunity strikes. III. A bible-reading traveller. How seldom do we see the Word of God in the hands of travellers to-day! If you want to be conspicuous and regarded as a little “ cranky,” take your Bible and read it on the railroad train. This Bible-reading traveller offered Philip a better chance to preach the gospel to him than the average hearer furnishes the preachers of to-day. He was prepared for the message. It is a significant statement in the lesson that Philip “ opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” The eunuch had come from a period of profound meditation on the Word of God to hear the gospel sermon. Many times have we heard the casual remarks dropped from the lips of the careless hearer as he retired from church: “ The preacher did not strike me to-day.” “ He did not reach my need.” “ I don’ t think he prepared that sermon with his usual care.” Dear friend, what about your preparation as a hearer by an hour’ s thought on the Word of God, or a few moments’ earnest meditation on the interests of your soul before you heard that sermon? You come from the wild clamour of the Stock Exchange; you come from the cankering cares of the business week, and expect the man in the pulpit to banish all this influence in the short hour of service, and feed you with the “ bread of life,” without one moment’ s preparation by earnest prayer or devout reading. Again, this Bible-reading traveller had some difficulties in the way of his receiving the truth as it is in Jesus. He had his doubts, as we all have. But he did not make an idol of his doubts and set it up as an object of worship. Almost in the same breath whereby the Ethiopian expressed his doubt he uttered the words of his confession of faith, “ I believe that Jesus Christ” is the Son of God, and that moment the recording angel wrote his name in the Book of Life. IV. The rejoicing christian. Our Bible story ends well. The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Philip had been the instrument of converting the eunuch to Christ, not to the preacher. The soul that truly finds Christ does not backslide when the evangelist goes away, or when the minister changes his appointment. He is in possession of the Divine Comforter as Companion. The man has entered a life of trust whose elements are joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. (E. M. Taylor.)Worker and seeker I. The Earnest worker.1. He is in full fellowship with the Spirit, quick to receive Divine influences, and living in the atmosphere of Divine companionship (verses 26-29). 2. He is obedient and self-denying, prompt to go wherever sent, ready to exchange a large field for a small one, Samaria for the desert (verses 26, 27). 3. He is aggressive, eager to get at his work, running to meet the one with whom he is to labour, and at once beginning the conversation without waiting for an invitation (verse 30). 4. He is skilful. He speaks kindly and cheerfully to the Ethiopian. “ Philip’ s only recorded words contain a pleasantry” (verse 30). 5. He is scriptural, taking the Word of God as his text, and showing how every page points to Christ (verses 30-35). 6. He is practical, leading to personal faith in Christ and to union with the Church (verses 35-37). 7. He is broad in his views, recognising the privilege of Gentile as well as Jew to be saved and baptized (verses 37, 38). II. The sincere seeker It is hard to say whether the worker or the seeker in this lesson shines in the brighter light.1. He is a noble seeker, a man of high rank and many public cares, yet a humble follower of God (verse 27). Christian politicians are not so numerous as they should be (verse 27). 2. He is a diligent seeker, living twelve hundred miles away, yet journeying to the temple and reading the Scriptures on the road (verses 28, 29). 3. He is a teachable seeker, eager to learn the truth, willing to be instructed by a layman far below him in social position, and ready to embrace any opportunity to learn the way of salvation (verses 30-34). 4. He is a believing seeker, exerting personal faith in Christ, and receiving Him as his Saviour (verse 37). 5. He is a confessing seeker, not ashamed to profess Christ in the presence of his company (verse 38). 6. He is a rejoicing seeker, going on his way happy in his new experience. A special infusion Note here-- I. The practical care of God for the individual souls of men.1. The object of all this whole transaction was one single conversion. Not only will God have all men to be saved, but He will have each man separately to be saved--showing the universality and the minuteness of His love and care. 2. Through such single agencies God’ s chief and most abiding work is ever wrought in our world. Each soul that is really brought thus to God becomes in its turn a little centre of light and life. We must never count any time wasted that is spent upon one human being. And let no man count his own soul’ s culture a thing of trifling moment. He, too, may be the evangelist, if not of a nation, yet of a family or of some one precious soul. II. The importance of being always ready for duty.1. Philip had to take a long journey in quest of one convert, and without knowing that he was to make one convert. Oh, what excuses should we have made! How should we have urged the disproportion between the means and the end; She distance, the difficulty, the improbability, the waste of strength and time; till we should have persuaded ourselves that we never were called to it. 2. God does not now speak to us by an angel, yet there is often something within which says, There is such or such a person whom you might benefit. And these inward promptings are easily resisted; but they are the tests of our Christianity. They say to us, Here is something which you might do for your Saviour. Perhaps it may fail; but there is a chance also of its succeeding. If you feel your debt to Him as you ought you will go and do it. If a man always find an excuse for putting it aside and is glad when something makes it impossible, he has upon him the mark of the unprofitable servant, who was satisfied to dig in the earth and hide his Lord’ s money. 3. On the other hand, how frequently is an effort of this kind consciously rewarded! You have roused yourself to leave your warm fireside; you have walked through rain or snow to the poor man’ s cottage, and you regarded it all as a penance; how often have you found that the visit was singularly seasonable; and it was your happiness to be an evident instrument in God’ s hand for the refreshment or restoration of a soul. III. The importance of being always in pursuit of good.1. The Ethiopian was studying God’ s Word: eager to hail a new teacher. To him that hath shall be given. This man had an Old Testament. Many of us would have said--for we say it now--I can make nothing of it; it only puzzles me; but the Ethiopian, like Simeon, like Nathanael, like older saints still, desired to look into the mysteries of the ancient Scriptures. And therefore they saw what to others was mere confusion. There is a growth in knowledge proportionate to a growth in grace. 2. Many of us err grievously in this respect. We have no patience in the things of God. We take it for granted that in God’ s truth a thing must either be self-evident or unimportant. In this one, this greatest science of all, we consider study superfluous. IV. The importance, both for strength and for comfort, of holding a simple gospel. Many of us pass through life without one single experience of the effect of the gospel upon this stranger. We are so mistaught, or else so slow to learn; we are so afraid of presumption, and so fond of adding something to the work and word of God, that we never reach anything that can call itself the glad tidings of Jesus, or send us forth on our way rejoicing. What Philip preached, what the Ethiopian received, was something which needed but one conversation for its statement, and but one hour for its reception. Out of this gospel flows all peace and all strength. (Dean Vaughan.)Changing spheres: a word for workers I. Arise, and go! And if the Church at Samaria was as unblieving as the Churches often are to-day, they said, “ What a mistake!” To take Philip away just as he is getting to know us so well. And to Philip it must have seemed harsh. In the very midst of his successful work, there came Peter and John to take it out of his hands, and he is sent away to the desert--above all places! And so many towns and villages were pressing him to come and tell them of Jesus. Really, it seems a waste to send a man like that to such a place. That is certainly not what Philip would have chosen. So, then, the appointment of the worker needs be in wiser hands than his own. It is not what the Church would have chosen for him. So the worker must look to a higher authority than the Church. No; there is but one way of safety for us. We don’ t know what we need for our own discipline or usefulness. This sphere may be attractive; but who can tell what condition of affairs will come about there? what particular gifts will be needed? what temptation the worker may find there? The Lord knows it all. And the only safety is to let Him have His own way with us. But our very practical age smiles at this religious weakness. “ That sounds all very well, my dear sir, and was, no doubt, the right sort of thing in an age of miracles. But, depend upon it, nowadays--The Lord helps those that help themselves.” But the teaching of the Book of God is, “ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” II. And he arose and went. There see the secret of the man’ s power. There are no “ buts,” no “ Nay, Lord,” no loitering, no turning aside, like Jonah. God would not have used him in Samaria if there had not been this putting down of self that made him ready at a moment’ s notice to be off to the desert. I watched an old man trout-fishing, pulling them out one after another briskly. “ You manage it cleverly, old friend,” I said. “ I have passed a good many who are doing nothing.” The old man lifted himself up, and stuck his rod in the ground. “ Well, you see, sir, there be three rules for trout-fishing; and ‘ tis no good trying if you don’ t mind them. The first is, Keep yourself out of sight. And the second is, Keep yourself further out of sight. And the third is, Keep yourself further out of sight still. Then you’ ll do it.” “ Good for catching men, too,” I thought, as I went on my way. There was the secret of Philip’ s usefulness. He kept himself out of sight. He dared not go picking and choosing for himself. The Master said, “ Go the way that is desert.” That settled it. To Saul there comes the word of the Lord, Go, smite the Amalekites, and all that is theirs. But Saul spared of the best to sacrifice unto the Lord their God in Gilgal. A very thoughtful and pious arrangement, surely. No. Forth came Samuel with that dreadful inquiry and menace. Obedience is the secret of service. If we could go into the storehouse of our great Lord, whence His mighty men have fetched their gifts, what should we choose? Here are splendid gifts of intellect, eloquence With which to thrill men, deep knowledge of the human heart, courage that will not give in, faith that never wavers, hope never dimmed, and charity carrying her kind heart in every look and tone and manner. No, there is something higher and better than all these. “ I am crucified with Christ.” III. The desert becomes a fruitful field. Philip sets out. He reaches the dreary desert. What a place for this earnest worker I It is all right. The Lord has sent him here. Now afar off the dust rises, and a prince comes this way in his chariot. And here are some things which we shall do well to imitate.1. Catching sight of the traveller, Philip did not rush off at once “ to talk to him about his soul.” Not they that be zealous merely to win souls shall shine as the stars, but they that be wise. Philip waits for orders; he does not stir until he gets them: “ Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” Of course, idle folks will use this doctrine as an excuse. But never mind; they would do nothing if they had not the excuse, so there is nothing lost. The Master will net waste His special orders upon them that are not ready to obey. Only let a man live waiting for the Lord’ s word, and near enough to hear Him, and that man shall not lack a plain direction. “ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” Uzzah dies because unbidden he stretches out his hand to steady the ark of God. How often thoughtless hands are reached out in the service of the Church, meaning well but really harmful, because not bidden of the Lord. 2. When the Lord bids him go, he does not hang back because it is a rich man in a carriage. He had been a plain man working amongst simple people. And as he caught sight of the trappings of this Ethiopian prince he might well have thought twice before he moved towards him. The intelligent foreigner watching our ways of working might come to the conclusion that rich people have no souls; or else that they are sure of getting to heaven. Tracts, City missionaries, out.door services, etc., are all for the poor. And yet the rich are just as far from the kingdom of heaven, and have more difficulty in getting there. To Philip it was nothing who this man was, or what: the Lord had sent him; that was enough. 3. And Philip ran--the arrow is loosed from the string. And well he might run. The opportunity would soon be lost. The chariot was speeding on its way, and a dignified loiterer would have missed it. “ The King’ s business requireth haste.” And that the King has sent him is enough; he need not wait until he can get an introduction, or is fit to be presented. So the simple evangelist bursts upon the nobleman and asks, “ Under-standest thou what thou readest?” It was all right. How could it possibly be otherwise? God had sent him; and He always makes things fit in perfectly when we do but perfectly obey. IV. When God sends us on His errands He makes a way for us. Philip found the nobleman in the middle of a passage that gave the opportunity of preaching Jesus. Perplexed and wondering, he was at the very point where Philip could step in to help him. “ And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.” Think, if we had been sent on this errand how we should have come along nervous and afraid as to what our reception would be. And when it all opened up so, how we should wonder at it! Yet is it really so very wonderful that our great Father, who sets the stars their courses, and orders the coming of the seasons, should be able to time our affairs so as to make them fit? If the regulator of our going were not so often pointing to “ fast” or to “ slow,” instead of keeping God’ s time exactly, we should wonder when things fell out otherwise. But turn aside for a moment to see a sight worth looking at. Philip has gone into the lonely desert at the Lord’ s bidding--and he finds a “ chariot” to ride in, and a prince, “ of great authority,” for his travelling companion. He never had so much honour paid him in Jerusalem, or even in Samaria. And is it not always so? The moment we set foot in the wilderness we are the Lord’ s guests, and He ever keeps His table right royally furnished. He has brought Israel into the wilderness--but it was a blessed change! No more the muddy water of the Nile, but the sparkling brook; no more the rank vegetables, but manna, fresh every morning. Elijah has got away into the wilderness, and the ravens brought him bread and flesh morning and evening. The thousands that followed Jesus into “ a desert place, did all eat, and were filled.” John goes forth to the desert isle of Patmos, found his glorified Master, and the visions of the eternal city, and the fulness of joy at the Lord’ s right hand. The Master Himself goes into the wilderness, but, “ behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.” It is true still. That country toward the south hath a goodly aspect--it faceth heavenward. When the Lord bids us go the way to Gaza, it is no more desert; it is the garden of the Lord. As they rode on together, Philip preached Jesus to the nobleman. And he believed and was baptized, and “ went on his way rejoicing” --went, most likely, to open a whole country to Christianity. So Philip never did a better day’ s work than when he went forth at the Lord’ s bidding unto the way--which is desert. (Mark Guy Pearse.)Comparisons and contrasts The conversion of the eunuch suggests a comparison of his case with that of present-day hearers of the gospel. I. Compare the privileges enjoyed. What had he?1. The Scriptures. But only the Old Testament. We have more, the New as well as Old. 2. He had a preacher, but, so far as we know, only one, and only heard one sermon. We have the constant ministration of the Word, line upon fine and precept upon precept. 3. He had the Holy Spirit, awakening and influencing his mind and heart. We have more, for He has striven often in our hearts. II. Compare the responsibility sustained. Ours greater by as much as our privileges are greater. To whom much is given of him much shall be required. III. Compare conduct which resulted.1. He prized and read his Bible. To-day sadly neglected, even by those who profess to value it. 2. He was possessed of a sincere desire to know the way of life. How few to-day seem to concern themselves about the great question of salvation. 3. He paid earnest attention to the preacher’ s words. How many careless, thoughtless hearers to-day, all eyes and ears for the sights and sounds of earth, but blind and deaf to all that pertains to heaven. 4. He applied to himself the truths he heard. Philip “ preached unto him Jesus.” Many to-day hear for other people, or hear as though what they heard in no way concerned them. Surely, here the contrast is in favour of the eunuch. IV. Compare experience which resulted. He went on his way rejoicing. Have we found any joy in the gospel? Some have, but many have not. Are we not bound to confess that with fewer privileges his conduct is such as to put to shame the indifferent and unbelieving hearers of the gospel to-day? (Homilist.)A typical evangelist: A striking conversion The first Christian labourer has fallen, but a great stride is now to be taken. Stephen is dead, but Philip takes his place. That is the military rule. There was no panic or running away in cowardly terror, but Philip, the next man, took up the vacant place, and “ went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed unto them the Christ.” “ And there was much joy in that city.” An electric shock went through it. And no wonder, for multitudes were blessed and led to faith in Christ. Our problem of to-day is the city--the city crowd, the city poor, the city criminals, the city multitude out of work--and that problem is to be solved on the lines of Philip. Let us see to it that we are content with nothing less. It was while Philip was in the midst of this great enterprise--changing the very face of the city, pulling down the strongholds of darkness--that the incident occurred which is narrated in this paragraph. I. A typical evangelist.1. Notice that the Lord directs His servants in the path of duty. “ An angel of the Lord spake unto Philip.” But why an angel? Why this extraordinary method of guidance in this particular case? Why this unusual honour placed upon Philip? Dr. Goulburn suggests that this external message of the angel directing Philip where to go was here vouchsafed as God’ s answer to the thoughts and doubts which were then springing up in His servant’ s mind. For though Philip was doing a great work, yet he had received an unpleasant check which must have caused him some annoyance. Simon Magus’ wickedness had come to light, and it had met with an apostle’ s censure. In the simplicity of his heart Philip had admitted this bad man into the fold of Christ, and it might easily have occurred to him that he ought to be more cautious, that his evangelistic zeal was too great. Then, had he been right in preaching to these Samaritans at all, and admitting to baptism a race hitherto held accursed? He had dared to brave the opinion of many good men, and one result had been that such a bad character as Simon Magus had crept into the Church. The Lord, who watches over His people and sees all their difficulties, comes therefore to his rescue, and, by one of His ministering spirits, conveys a message which assures His fainting servant of His approval and of His guidance. “ An angel spake.” How often this is so! God’ s servants are filled with a glorious discontent with the rate of progress they are making, and enter upon new and bold enterprises for Him; they try experiments in His service, they do and dare roach, and for a time perhaps see nothing but disaster and failure and opposition where it might be least expected. Then, when their hearts are cast down and perplexed, He sends His angel with a message of encouragement. Was it not so with Elijah? “ As he lay and slept under the juniper tree, behold an angel touched him.” “ An angel.” Was there a visible representation? We cannot tell. The text gives no hint as to the character of the messenger. Philip went on his journey under Divine direction--this is the great thing for us to remember--and that direction is within our reach; though the form may vary the fact remains. He is in full fellowship with the Spirit, quick to receive heavenly influences, and living in the atmosphere of Divine companionship. Such a man as this does not often miss his way. And when the way is made clear he proceeds with great confidence. 2. Notice His prompt obedience. “ He arose and went.” “ He went,” not knowing the purpose for which he was sent. He went forth with sealed orders. “ He walked by faith, not by sight.” “ He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Yet what a work he was doing in this great town of Samaria! What a wide door for usefulness! It was a great trial to his faith. It required a mighty effort of will to fall in with this Divine plan. That he knew it to be Divine did not make it more easy to flesh and blood. Duty is Divine, and we all know it; but knowledge of its Divineness does not remove our difficulties in the performance of it. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe tells us that the first and last word uttered in the meeting-houses where she worshipped as a child was “ submission.” And in this department of our Christian lives, that of service, this is the first and last word. Philip had learnt that all true spiritual power lies in submission to the Divine will. “ If I do this, what will So-and-so say? And shall I not be putting myself in a disagreeable position?” When God meets with such an one who just says, “ Lord, just glorify Thyself in me,” He can use him, and does use him. 3. He is aggressive and eager for work. “ Behold a man of Ethiopia.” “ And Philip ran to him.” Ethiopia was an influential kingdom south of Egypt, corresponding to what we know as Nubia and Abyssinia. And this traveller was making his way home after worshipping at Jerusalem. There were two great roads open to him leading to Gaza, and he had chosen the desert one, passing through districts inhabited then, as now, by only wandering Arabs. “ And Philip ran thither to him.” There is no waiting, no hesitation, the work is there and it must be done. When God gives us a call, how many of us creep and limp instead of running to obey it. 4. Philip falls in with the Divine order in this respect, that much of our work lies in the personal dealing with individuals. “ Behold, a man of Ethiopia.” In our aggressive zeal we are all liable to overlook the individual. Hitherto Philip’ s labours had been among masses of people, but now, by Divine command, he is withdrawn from this large sphere of usefulness, and sent to deal with a single man, attended, probably, only by two or three retainers. It has been observed that this is the first instance on record of a private ministration of the gospel. The lesson is to be continually kept in mind. Even the apostles, who had a commission to “ go and teach all nations,” and in virtue of that commission might have challenged the whole universe of immortal souls as their audience, did not think themselves exempt from the labours of private administration. Are we not all, as Christian workers, no matter what position we take in the campaign, too desirous of crowds and too little occupied with the units of which they are composed? Dr. Stalker, in his latest work to preachers, says: “ Gentlemen, I believe that almost any preacher on reviewing a ministry of any considerable duration would confess that his great mistake had been the neglect of individuals. If I may be permitted a personal reference. When not long ago I had the opportunity, as I was passing from one charge to another, of reviewing a ministry of twelve years, the chief impression made on me, as I looked back, was that this was the point at which I had failed; and I said to myself that henceforth I would write “ Individuals” on my heart as the watchword of my ministry.” Philip was now wisely engaged in individual work. 5. Philip, under Divine direction, went outside and beyond the ordinary methods. “ And the Spirit said, ‘ Go near and join thyself to this chariot.’” “ And Philip ran to him.” What spiritual freedom characterises the whole incident--its scene not the temple, not a Christian congregation, but the wilderness; its time not a Sabbath but a workday, when men may harness horses to chariots and go a journey; the minister not an apostle, but one who had been designated to a more or less secular ministration. I heard a preacher say the other day: “ We shut up our religion in churches; we limit it to days; we restrict it to services. And by shutting it in, we shut it out, and we shut others out too.” How true this is! II. A striking conversion. Let us briefly turn our attention specially to the Ethiopian and his striking conversion.1. He is “ a man of great authority” seeking after truth. He was Chamberlain of the Queen, and held the post of First Lord of her Treasury. The Samaritans among whom Philip had just been labouring, and where he had great success, were a simple people, and the converts, as far as we can judge, were chiefly of the lower class, not persons of station and influence. But here is a man seeking light of large wealth and high position and of some education--the first minister at a Queen’ s Court. “ How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God,” hardly because their possession entices the heart to trust in them for a contentment and a satisfaction which they never can bestow. But the man be[ore us is also a courtier and a politician. To judge from what we often hear of the political world, we might, for some countries at any rate, invent a new text, “ How hardly shall they that are politicians enter into the kingdom of God.” 2. He is an earnest seeker after truth. Philip “ heard him reading.” He was reading aloud after the manner of Eastern nations. It is more easy for some minds to learn by the ear than by the eye. Its attention may have been called to this portion of Holy Scripture during his visit to the temple, or he may have met the apostles. At any rate, he was making a diligent use of the means of grace. He used the light he had, and eagerly sought for more. What a contrast this man in high position presents to many in the upper ranks of society of to-day! “ Agnostics” many label themselves, and when they have spoken this word they appear to think that they have done everything that can be rightly expected of a human being. 3. He is a perplexed seeker after the truth. “ Understandest thou … ?” “ How can I except some man should guide me?” The passage in Isaiah was a difficult one, as taught by Jewish instructors, to understand. It seemed almost impossible to put together the idea of Christ as a sufferer, as despised and slain, and the promise that He should be a glorious King, triumphing over the world. Only the facts could solve the problem. I would say to you, Do not be distressed if you meet with obscurities and are bewildered by religious mystery. Again and again every thoughtful man meets with “ things hard to be understood.” Difficulties we shall always have which our finite minds cannot solve. 4. He is a teachable seeker of the truth. “ And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him.” He made no idol of his perplexities. He welcomed help directly it was within his reach. 5. The truth being announced to him, he accepts it, confesses it, and rejoices over it. “ And he baptized him.” “ He went on his way rejoicing.” (A. Wood, B.A.)And, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority, under Candace. The Ethiopian 1. The visit of the eunuch could not have been at a more opportune moment. Jerusalem was still thrilling with the tremendous sacrifice that had just been consummated. During his stay the apostles had stirred all Jerusalem with their doctrine, and Stephen had died for the faith. Never was a soul thirsting for peace and truth so near to their source; and yet this Ethiopian passes whole days in Jerusalem without hearing the name of Christi How was this? Follow his steps and you will understand. He betook himself to the temple, for he came to worship, and of course met there priests and Pharisees, whose most strenuous desire was to conceal Christ and to silence His followers. Fools! They know not that at a little distance are assembled in an upper chamber some of those despised Galileans who hold the destinies of the world in their hands, and the fulfilment of the law and the prophets. Poor Ethiopian! why do you not know the way to that upper chamber? Blind leaders have misled him. One would say he is the plaything of an inexplicable fatality. But no! God is watching over this soul that seeks Him. 2. On leaving Jerusalem he takes with him the Holy Scriptures. That which Pharisees have so sedulously hidden from him, Isaiah will set before him. Fifteen centuries later, a German monk stirred, as was this Ethiopian, by profound aspirations, after having vainly sought peace in lacerations and penances, went to another holy city in order to adore the God of his fathers. Day after day he wandered through it, halting at every place of pilgrimage, meekly believing their legends. Rome was then governed by Julius II., the warrior pontiff; it was at the time when Machiavelli said that atheism went on increasing in measure as one neared Rome. Everywhere reigned the scandalous traffic in holy things. Luther went back terrified. “ Rome,” said he, “ is built upon a hell.” What was it which saved him? The Scriptures, which he found again in his monastery at Wittenberg. And so it has been with many since. 3. Queen Candace’ s steward then went on his way reading the Scriptures. He read without understanding them, yet he persevered. Where, amongst us, are they who are willing to study the Scriptures in the spirit of this heathen? People often say, “ We have sought truth, have read our gospel, but no light has come to us; our hearts have remained cold.” True! Study the gospel as a mere critic, and it will remain an object of study to you and nothing more. God does not reveal Himself to mere intellectual inquirers; those whom He promises to satisfy are they who, like the Ethiopian, are hungering and thirsting for righteousness and truth. 4. Philip was on the road taken by the stranger. Here we have one of those coincidences called fortuitous, but which, from our text, we see to be an intervention of God. There is no such thing as chance. 5. What strikes us in the first words of the Ethiopian is his good faith. He avows his ignorance. Is it such a difficult thing to avow ignorance? One would hardly think it, for nothing is more common than to hear, “ I do not know,” in matters of religion. But there are two ways of saying those words. In the mouth of many they mean, “ What does it matter to me? I do not want to know.” And why not? Because, to know God is to know His claims upon us. To know ourselves--O my brethren! who does not shrink from this painful knowledge? But that day when, anxious for truth, with heart dismayed before those dark mysteries of sorrow, sin, and death, you cry, “ I do not know,” it will be in a very different spirit; those words will then be a prayer rising up to God. When a man, animated by the spirit of humility, says, “ I do not know,” he is already very near the truth. 6. A singular abuse has been made of the next words. “ How can I understand except some man should guide me? You see,” it has been said, “ it is evident that by themselves the Scriptures are unintelligible. It is therefore necessary that an authority established of God have the sole mission to explain them.” Let us examine this; without doubt the Scriptures contain many mysteries. But a revelation without mystery were unheard of. In borrowing the language of men, Divine truth cannot find in it expressions capable of presenting it with sufficient lucidity. How can beings trammelled by time and space, e.g., and with no other means of reasoning save by recourse to these two mediums--comprehend a Being for whom time and space are not? But without taking such high ground, there are in Scripture difficulties of date, place, origin, grammar, translation, history, and science. Needless to say that here piety cannot take the place of learning; and that nothing would be more absurd than to see ignorance usurping doctoral authority. This reservation made, there is, however, one thing which has ever struck men of good faith, and that is the marvellous lucidity of the gospel upon everything that touches essential questions--those of grace, pardon, and salvation. I take it, therefore, that it is a positive act of treason to prohibit the free circulation of the Bible among the people, under pretext of its obscurities and the possible errors that may ensue from wrong interpretation. Look at those nations which have been nourished upon the generous milk of Holy Scripture. Is it not a certain fact that they are the only ones that are making steady progress towards light and liberty? This said, let us see what is the true idea contained in my text. “ How can I understand,” cries the Ethiopian, “ except some man should guide me?” Herein I see the confirmation of the Divine law which created the Church. We are not made to stand alone. “ No man liveth to himself.” From our first steps we have been led by others; and the Church’ s work in forming of our ideas and most personal convictions is immense. Like the Ethiopian, not one of us would have understood the greater part of those truths to which we are most attached if he had not had some guide to say to him, as did Philip to Nathanael, “ Come and see.” The Church is the witness to, not the lord of, truth. 7. Here, then, we have Philip sitting beside the Ethiopian, explaining the Scriptures to him. His task was easy; for, by one of those coincidences in which there is an intervention of God, the eunuch’ s eyes had lighted upon a passage of Isaiah which had deeply moved him. Hearken to the mysterious words uttered by the prophet so many ages before Christ, and say if they do not impress you by their startling, pregnant nature (Isaiah 53:1-12.). Gather together all the features of this mysterious picture, and you will understand tim exclamation of the Ethiopian’ s (verse 34). Endeavour to explain this prophecy by the sole inspiration of nature. Suppose an Israelite, dreaming of the future greatness of his nation, had essayed to describe the hero who was to bring it about; is it not evident that he must have depicted him as a triumphant avenger? By what strange reversal of ideas is it that a totally different ideal is here presented to us? Weigh well the value of the expressions here employed; judge if one can conscientiously see in them merely the description of an Israelite who immolates himself in order to save his nation; see if this be not a spiritual work which is here predicted; if, above all, it be not sin which is here to be expiated. 8. We can understand the light cast upon this obscure text by Philip’ s burning words, and his words, penetrating to the innermost depths of the man, stirs his soul and begins the work of conversion. One of those dramas takes place unknown of the world, but which the angels of God look upon. Looking only on the surface, who would ever have suspected its importance? The smallest public event, the most insignificant battle would have attracted far more attention. But the gospel, which does not even make mention of the successive Caesars who governed Rome, concentrates upon the destinies of a few people unknown to the world in whose hearts God has established His kingdom. There are hours that are as years; such are those moments when some great decision is being made. 9. The Ethiopian is now wholly gained for Christ, and he cries, “ See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” What hinders you, rash man, are all your future earthly prospects. Are you aware to what you are exposing yourself in becoming a follower of this new faith? Are you not taking for conviction what is but a passing sentiment? Do you know anything of this Philip? Can you, upon the faith of his words, take a step the consequences of which will affect your whole after-life? See the path you are to follow, already watered with the blood of martyrs. No matter; he will be baptized. Like a soldier who binds himself by a solemn oath, if need be, to die for his colours, so he desires, by this open act, to irrevocably bind himself to the service of Jesus Christ. He receives baptism, and goes on his way rejoicing. Conversions of such nature are now so rare that they are nowise believed in. People believe in a gradual change of heart; they are unwilling to give credence to the sudden manifestations of mercy which attest in too signal a manner the intervention of God. This mistrust is in part due to the spirit of the age, which is more given to calculation than to enthusiasm or to heroism. (E. Bersier, D. D.)The Ethiopian convert: a typical man The Ethiopian still lives amongst us. Let us look at this man as-- I. An inquirer.1. He was in a bewildered state of mind. I do not rebuke the bewilderment of honest inquiry. In the realm of spiritual revelation things are not superficial, easy of arrangement, and trifling in issue. Do not be distressed because you are puzzled by religious mystery. The most advanced minds have had to pass through that experience. But the path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Do not make idols of your perplexities. You know that there is a subtle temptation to talk about your doubts as those of a man whose mind is not to be put off with solutions that have satisfied inferior intellects. Be honest in your bewilderment. 2. He was teachable. He said, “ I wonder what this means; would that God would send some director to lead me into the light:” Teachableness is one of the first characteristics of honesty. If you are self-trustful and dogmatic you are not a scholar in the school of Christ, and deprive yourself of all the gifts of Providence. Yet how few are teachable! So many of us go to the Bible and find proofs of what we already believe, but the true believer goes unprejudiced, humble, honestly desirous of knowing what is true. 3. He was obedient. A revelation cannot afford to be argumentative. Any gospel that comes with hesitancy or reserve vitiates its own credentials, and steps down from the pedestal of commanding authority. The eunuch, having heard Philip, obeyed. “ Here is water, what hindereth me to be baptized?” He would have the whole thing completed at once. So many persons are afraid that they are not fit, prepared. They have heard the gospel a quarter of a century or more, but still they are wondering about themselves. Such people are trifling. What hindereth him? No man should hinder you from coming to Christ. I fear sometimes that the Church makes fences, over which men have to climb, but in the gospel I find only one word for all honest, teachable men--welcome. Hindrances are man’ s inventions. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 8:28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.Oriental reading If the eunuch followed the general custom of the East, he was not only reading to himself aloud, but so as to be heard easily and distinctly by any one in the immediate neighbourhood. The prayer, or praying, of the Orientals is not usually very noisy, but their reading is a continual sound. They study aloud, read their sacred books aloud, and rehearse their lessons aloud, to an extent that is not seen among the Occidentals, nor enjoyed by an Occidental listener. When there are many together, the babel is astonishing. The idea that it might disturb any one never enters their heads. But the Orientals do many things with noise which we of the west prefer to do with quietness. Our talking seems painfully low and still to them, as theirs seems painfully loud and noisy to us. Yet the Orientals are not very much beyond the ordinary Italians in that respect. (Prof. I. H. Hall.)The Word of God, the best reading for a journey, not only on the way from Jerusalem to Gaza, but on the way through time to eternity.1. We forget thereby the hardships of the way.2. We look not aside to forbidden paths.3. We make thereby blessed travelling acquaintances.4. we go forward on the right path to the blessed goal. (K. Gerok.)Reading the Scriptures I. Some remarks on this subject. It is a duty--1. Incumbent upon all.2. In accordance with the dictates of reason.3. To be performed irrespective of rank and condition. II. Instruction respecting it.1. Before you read consider whose book it is.2. Read with a teachable spirit.3. Practise what you learn.4. Never read without prayer. (J. Clayton, M. A.)Reading the Scriptures: its advantage The Word of God is the water of life; the more you lave it forth, the fresher it runneth: it is the fire of God’ s glory; the more ye blow it, the clearer it burneth: it is the corn of the Lord’ s field; the better ye grind it, the more it yieldeth: it is the bread of heaven; the more it is broken and given forth, the more it remaineth: it is the sword of the Spirit; the more it is scoured, the brighter it shineth. (Bp. Jewel.)Method of Bible reading determined by need and purpose Ah! the way a man reads the Bible--how much that depends upon his necessity. I have unrolled the chart of the coast many and many a time, particularly in these later days, since there has been so much interest attached to it. I have gone along down with my finger, and followed the shoals and depths in and out of this harbour and that, and imagined a lighthouse here and a lighthouse there that were marked on the chart, and have looked at the inland country lining the shore, and it has been a matter of interest to me, to be sure. But suppose I had been in that equinoctial gale that blew with such violence, and had had the command of a ship off the coast of Cape Hatteras, and the lighthouse had not been in sight, and my spars had been split, and my rigging, had been disarranged, and my sails had been blown away, and I had had all I could do to keep the ship out of a trough of the sea, and I had been trying to make some harbour, how would I have unrolled the chart, and with two men to help me to held it, on account of the reeling and staggering of the vessel, looked at all the signs, and endeavoured to find out where I was! Now, when I sit in my house, where there is no gale, and with no ship, and read my chart out of curiosity, I read it as you sometimes read your Bible. You say, “ Here is the headland of depravity; and there is a lighthouse--born again; and here is the channel of duty.” And yet every one of you has charge of a ship--the human soul. Evil passions are fierce winds that are driving it. This Bible is God’ s chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbour is, and how to reach it without running on rocks or bars. If you have been reading this book to gratify curiosity; if you have been reading it to see if you could mot catch a Universalist; if you have been reading it to find a knife with which to cut up a Unitarian; if you have been reading it for the purpose of setting up or taking down a bishop; if you have been reading it to establish or overthrow any sect; if you have been reading it so, then stop. It is God’ s medicine-book. You are sick. You are mortally struck through with disease. There is no human remedy for your trouble. But here is God’ s medicine-book. If you read it for life, for health, for growth in righteousness, then blessed is your reading; but if you read it for disputation and dialectical ingenuities, it is no more to you than Bacon’ s “ Novum Organum” would be. It is the book of life--it is the book of everlasting life--so take heed how you read it. In reading it, see that you have the truth, and not the mere semblance of it. You cannot live without it. You die for ever unless you have it to teach you what are your relations to God and eternity. May God guide you away from all cunning appearances of truth set to deceive men, and make you love the real truth! Above all other things, may God make you honest in interpreting it, and applying it to your daily life and disposition! (H. W. Beecher.)Reading the Scriptures: unprofitable method of To some the Bible is uninteresting and unprofitable, because they read too fast. Among the insects which subsist on the sweet sap of flowers, there are two very different classes. One is remarkable for its imposing plumage, which shows in the sunbeams like the dust of gems; and as you watch its jaunty gyrations over the fields and its minuet dance from flower to flower, you cannot he!p admiring its graceful activity, for it is plainly getting over a great deal of ground. But in the same field there is another worker, whose brown vest and business-like, straightforward flight may not have arrested your eye. His fluttering neighbour darts down here and there, and sips elegantly wherever he can find a drop of ready nectar; but this dingy plodder makes a point of alighting everywhere, and wherever he alights he either finds honey or makes it. If the flower-cup be deep, he goes down to the bottom; if its dragon-mouth be shut, he thrusts its lips asunder; and if the nectar be peculiar or recondite, he explores all about till he discovers it, and then having ascertained the knack of it, joyful as one who has found great spoil, he sings his may down into its luscious recesses. His rival of the painted velvet wing has no patience for such dull and long-winded details. But what is the end? Why, the one died last October along with the flowers; the other is warm in his hive to-night, amidst the fragrant stores which he gathered beneath the bright beams of summer. To which do you belong?--the butterflies or bees? Do you search the Scriptures, or do you only skim them? (J. Hamilton, D. D.)Reading the Scriptures: motive for Other books can nourish our minds, but only God’ s Word can feed our souls. The great prophecy A few years ago a Brahmin of the highest caste, profound in all the history and language and religion of Brahma, came to England. By chance, or rather by special providence, a copy of the Scriptures fell into his hands. He devoured it with avidity; he did not consult any one to interpret for him a single passage, but the light broke upon him, and what produced the greatest effect upon his mind was that which converted Lord Rochester on his death-bed. He read Isaiah 53:1-12., and compared it with the account of the crucifixion, and became a profound Christian. That man is now in high favour with the Nizam of Hyderabad, and has founded a church which has several hundred Christian worshippers. (R. Bruce.)Reading the Scriptures: fruits of A Roman Catholic priest in Belgium rebuked a young woman and her brother for reading that “ bad book,” pointing to the Bible. “ Sir,” she replied, “ a little while ago my brother was an idler, a gambler, and a drunkard. Since he began to study the Bible he works with industry, goes no longer to the tavern, no longer touches cards, brings home money to his poor old mother, and our life at home is quiet and delightful. How comes it, sir, that a bad book produces such good fruits?” Reading: kinds of The first class of readers may be compared to an hour-glass; their reading being as the sand: it runs in and runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class resembles a sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtier. A third class is like a jelly-bag, which allows all that is pure to pass away, and retains only the refuse and dregs. The fourth class may be compared to the slave of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worthless, preserves only the pure gems. (S. T. Coleridge.)Reading: results of good and bad Do not buy, do not borrow, do not touch bad books. One book may decide thy destiny. The assassin of Lord William Russell said he committed that crime as the result of reading the romance, then popular, entitled “ Jack Sheppard.” George Law was made a millionaire by reading a biography in childhood. Benjamin Franklin became the good man and philosopher that he was by reading in early life Cotton Mather’ s “ Essays to do Good.” John Angell James, as consecrated a man as ever lived in England, stood in his pulpit and said: “ Twenty-five years ago a lad loaned me a bad book for a quarter of an hour. I have never recovered from it. The spectres of that book have haunted me to this day. I shall not, to my dying day, get over the reading of that book for fifteen minutes.” A clergyman, travelling towards the West, many years ago, had in his trunk Doddridge’ s “ Rise and Progress.” In the hotel he saw a woman copying from a book. He found that she had borrowed Doddridge’ s “ Rise and Progress” from a neighbour, and was copying some portions out of it, so he made her a present of his copy of the “ Rise and Progress.” Thirty-one years after, he was passing along that way and he inquired for that woman. He was pointed to a beautiful home. He went there. He asked her if she remembered him. She said, “ No.” Then, he says, “ Do you not remember thirty years ago a man gave you a copy of Doddridge’ s ‘ Rise and Progress’ ?” She said, “ Yes; I read it, and it was the means of my conversion. I passed it round, and all the neighbours read it, and there came a revival, and we called a minister and we built a church. The church of Wyoming is the result of that one book which you gave me.” The reading of Homer’ s “ Iliad” made Alexander a warrior, and the reading of the “ Life of Alexander” made Caesar and Charles XII. men of blood. It is well known that Rochester was, for many years of his life, an avowed infidel, and that a large portion of his time was spent in ridiculing the Bible. One of his biographers has described him as “ a great wit, a great sinner, and a great penitent.” Even this man was converted by the Holy Spirit in the use of His Word. Reading the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, he was convinced of the truth and inspiration of the Scriptures, the Deity of the Messiah, and the value of His atonement as a rock on which sinners may build their hopes of salvation. On that atonement he rested, and died in the humble expectation of pardoning mercy and heavenly happiness. Acts 8:29 Then said the Spirit to Philip, Go near.Lessons from the desert ways These two men were alike in a few respects, but in all others different. Both were travellers, both were stewards, and each had authority. But one was rich, the other poor. One was the steward of a great queen, and returning to her court and to the charge of all her treasure; but the other was going clown to Gaza which is desert, in trust with the gospel ministry and the commission of the Most High. Here is an instance to the point; men were feeling after Christ, in the unsatisfied hunger of the soul. Whatever impression that equipage may have made on Philip, as he looked, he was greatly in error if he thought, “ Here is probably a haughty man of the world!” Appearances deceive. The humble and meek may be in kings’ courts; under the robe of wealth and state may beat a heart uncorrupt before God. This person, for example, had the charge of vast earthly treasure, and yet his thoughts are far away; he is meekly reading the Word of life, and seeking the pearl of great price. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)Guidance in doing good There was an unseen chance of serving a fellow-man down in a distant desert. Christ offered that chance to this Christian preacher. If a true believer’ s heart is alert, and his temper willing, the Lord will surely put him and keep him in the way of doing good. Only he must watch for heavenly providences to summon him, and instantly obey. I. No exertion should be considered too difficult, no prospect too discouraging, if doing good is our purpose. Philip cheerfully started to go sixty or seventy miles just to save a single soul. “ He arose and went.” Sprang to meet the command. On the other hand the eunuch traversed more than half a continent to render God worship and find peace. II. Sometimes the Holy Spirit chooses the best people in the unlikeliest places. Christ had saints in Caesar’ s household and Herod’ s family; so there was a seeker after truth in the court of Ethiopia. III. Religious convictions are of inestimable value, and ought to be cherished as we would cherish life itself. The eunuch had been all the way, to Jerusalem without any helpful illumination of grace. Bat he will net give up without the blessing; so he searches the Scriptures on his way back, in spite of the tediousness of the journey. IV. It is wrong to be fastidious about opportunities. Wherever souls are, in the desert or not, there let us try to save them. V. We are never to despise the day of small things. Philip, like our Lord at Sychar, had an audience of one-but he preached notwithstanding. VI. The measureless worth of a single chance of telling a fellow-being about Jesus Christ. Philip had not met this man before: there is nothing to show that he met him again. A moment lost might have been the loss of a soul. VII. Courtesy is never lost on anybody in this uneasy and somewhat rough world. A churl would have told this stranger to move on and attend to his own concerns. VIII. Notice the Ethiopian’ s humility. He was ignorant and acknowledged it. To be conscious of ignorance is the first step to knowledge. IX. Whoever desires to no good must find out where the Spirit is leaning him, and simply and humbly follow on. X. Watch even chariots passing by. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The meeting Marriages, they say, are made in heaven; i.e., the steps of two, both being God’ s dear children, are so directed that after each has passed over many windings, the two paths converge, and the two lives meet and melt into one like two rivers, flowing thenceforth one broader, deeper, stronger stream. Meetings that are of shorter duration, and partnerships that are less intimate, come under the same rule. “ It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” If God’ s purposes in creation require the meeting of two circling worlds, He will so arrange that the two shall touch at the very point of space and time which He has designed. The same might and wisdom have been at work to arrange a meeting wherever one earthen vessel charged bears Christ, and another empty receives Christ at a brother’ s hand. This case is recorded as a specimen of the Lord’ s way. Such meetings occur now, and ye know not the day nor the hour when the messenger sent by God to meet you may heave in sight--in church, street, lonely path, or home. Those who desire to meet him will not miss him. Though the place was desert and the path dimly traced, and the time not told at all, Philip and the Ethiopian met with all the exactitude of tides and seasons. These meetings, long prepared and wisely arranged, are sometimes lost through obstinate unbelief. What a meeting was that between Paul and Felix! How far up the lines of preparation for it ran; and how skilfully they were held by God until the missionary and the ruler met! Now, Felix, or never. “ Go thy way,” etc. Fool! You will never get another. He thought he was only politely putting off the Christian: in reality he was rudely rejecting Christ. To lose such a meeting may be to lose your soul. Philip ran to meet the eunuch. Hitherto he had walked, perhaps slowly. So when two objects attract each other by hidden magnets, their mutual motion towards a meeting is scarcely perceptible at first; but when they have approached near the movement quickens, and they traverse the rest of the space at a rush. (W. Arnot, D. D.)A providential meeting At one of Mr. Moody’ s meetings in Belfast, the Rev. Wesley Guard mentioned an incident of which he said the facts had just been related to him. It was to the effect that a farmer, living three miles out in the country, wanted to come into the meeting one day, but was unexpectedly detained, and did not know how he would get there in time. He started, and presently he heard a car coming behind him. When it came up the vehicle was stopped, and the man said to the driver, “ Thank you, sir, for giving me a lift.” “ I did not offer you a lift; but as the horse stopped you had better get up.” The farmer got up, and they drove on. After a little conversation the driver confessed that he was in great distress about his soul, and the tears began to fall. The good man told him the way of life, and there and then as they journeyed on the car the gentleman found salvation. Said he, “ I can see now why the horse stopped; it was that I might get into the light.” Little events leading to great In walking across Alpine glaciers, travellers often come upon narrow and apparently insignificant fissures, that seem to be merely superficial cracks; while the guides know that, if one but sounds them, they shall be found sinking down, fathom after fathom, to the very bottom, and sometimes, though small to the eye externally, they are cavernous, and at the bottom torrents rush and roar in silence, for so far down are they, and so in covered, that their angriest noises are smothered. It is just so in human life. The most insignificant incidents often lead to great events. Often, if we hear God’ s voice in the small matters of life, and obey His commands, we shall find that we are led on to great things. Philip was told in what direction to go, and by going in that particular direction he met the Ethiopian, and was able to lead him to Christ. A timely visit It is recorded of Mr. Dod, one of the Puritan ministers, that being one night late in his study, his mind was strongly inclined, though he could assign no reason for it, to visit a gentleman of his acquaintance at a very unseasonable hour. Not knowing the design of Providence, he obeyed and went. When he reached the house, after knocking a few times at the door, the gentleman himself came, and inquired if he wanted him upon any particular business. Mr. Dod, having answered in the negative, and signified that he could not rest till he had seen him, the gentleman replied, “ Oh, sir, you are sent of God at this very hour, for I was just now going to destroy myself,” and immediately pulled the halter out of his pocket by which he had intended to commit the horrid deed, which was thus prevented. Acts 8:30-39 And Philip ran … and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? Understanding the Word 1. Notice the preliminary fact that the Scriptures challenge investigation. “ Let us reason together,” says Isaiah. The Bible is a definite and positive force. You can no more eliminate it from the world’ s life than you can take oxygen from its atmosphere, or Columbus and Constantine from history. The life and words of Jesus invite, demand intelligent study. 2. These Scriptures are a growth. The Word of God is not “ dropped ready-made from heaven.” 3. Our understanding of the Word is a growth. We must get more and more the true perspective. I. What rules of interpretation are we to adopt?1. At the outset we assume the fact that the Word is not a sealed volume, but a plain book, in the study of which reason, common sense is needed. Rationalism enthrones reason above the Bible, we need not go to the other extreme and ignore it. We find necessary facts in the Scriptures. Things, indeed, there are which are hard to be understood, but we need not magnify difficulties into doubts. To recognise difficulties is not sinful, but doubt, at least, is not holy. We are to remember that God is not limited to our comprehension of Him. We cannot rule out all difficulties. Faith has its place as well as reason. 2. The Scriptures, in the next place, appeal to our moral nature, the conscience, affections, to hope and fear. Christ says, “ I will tell you whom ye shall fear.” The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Love, too, lifts the veil from many a mystery. This is true in even human friendship, but in a grander sense love is an interpreter of God. We quarrel with the facts of His character and government until we learn to love Him. Then all grows plain. The Word of God meets the soul’ s yearning for pardon. The conscience of Felix was appealed to, and he trembled. Christians need to make their consciences more discriminating and sensitive. 3. Again, we are to interpret the Word of God in its unity and rest upon it as God’ s truth, not content with fragmentary facts. Our spiritual universe is more than one story high. We cannot leave our belief in a future existence. Deep and reverent scholarship shown in the study of Divine truth has always been honoured of God. We ought to be content only in a large outlook. II. Perils in methods of interpretation.1. Some come to the Scriptures for a purpose and bend it to a theory. 2. Others come to the Scriptures with a captious spirit to pick out faults and errors. 3. Some cultivate a merely intellectual, speculative knowledge, and know nothing of the gospel as the power of God unto salvation. 4. Others are literalists. They make a great deal about the horses in Revelation and their colour. 5. Others, still, go to the opposite extreme, and spiritualise everything. 6. The Bible advances as a positive revelation, definite and fixed, while science every year abandons one theory after another. (M. Burnham, D. D.)Asking questions A Persian philosopher being asked by what method he had acquired so much knowledge, answered, “ By not allowing shame to prevent me from asking questions when I was ignorant.” The Bible Philip had been summoned by the Spirit of God into the desert of Gaza. It may have been to save him from the intoxication of success. We all know how prone we are--when God gives to us success--to take the credit to ourselves. It may have been therefore on this account, to save Philip from being puffed up by pride by his popularity and power, that he was summoned thus into the wilderness by God. We do not say that he was so puffed up; if he were, Simon Magus would have a thorn to prick the bladder of pride on this account. But we do say that ofttimes in our own case, God sees fit to call us aside for awhile with Him. In Philip’ s case it may rather have been to save him from the paralysis of despair: For now no sooner was his work tested, than the very best of his converts failed. Doubtless there would be heart-searching in the mind of Philip himself. “ Was I too anxious to get that man?” “ Did I soften the terms of the message so as to win him on my side?” “ Was I sufficiently satisfied with the deepness of the work which he professed had taken place?” But God is a good Master, though this Simon Magus had so egregiously failed. God was about to give Philip another soul, one in whom he might indeed rejoice, and of whom--though perhaps he would never see him again--he might hear how gloriously he was carrying on the work of God in a distant land. Now there are four questions I think suggested here. In the first place, “ What are you reading?” In the second place, “ Understandest thou what thou readest?” And then the third question asked by the Ethiopian eunuch himself, “ How can I understand?” And lastly, “ What doth hinder me from obeying these precepts?” I. What teariest thou? This is distinctly a reading age. Take heed what you read. Beware of any impure books which may vitiate the imagination. Beware of any flippant and frivolous books which may make you tired of the monotony of daily life. Beware of any sceptical books, which blasphemously and irreverently decry God and His Holy Word. I know that there are men who say that you must read both sides of a question. I don’ t see why, if a man chooses to publish a libel upon my wife, I am obliged to wade through it on the plea of reading both sides of the question. How much is read which will scarcely bear inspection. Here this eunuch is travelling back to his own country. He had no need to be afraid of Philip asking him the question, “ What readest thou?” There was no need for him to hide the book under his carriage cushion, and say, “ Nothing” ; no reason for a blush to come across his face. We know if he had lived in the nineteenth century, the Word of God would have been about the last thing that he, as a seeker after truth, would have considered it right to read. But not so in that century. It is as an earnest, honest seeker after truth he studied God’ s own Word, and asked, “ What saith the Scripture?” Ah, some of the heathen will rise up in judgment against us. We read of a wild Pathan giving one-third of his month’ s pay in order to obtain a copy of the Word of God. II. But Philip’ s question is directed, not merely to what it was he was reading, but he asked him, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” This is very important. God deals with us, not as horse or mule that has no understanding, but He puts before us a Word that requires all the best efforts of our intelligence and reason. The first great requisite of good ground to receive the seed is this--that a man understand the Word. III. Now comes the question, “how can I understand?” “ How can I,” said the eunuch--how can I understand?” The first thing you can do is to ask the Author to explain it. If you were reading any book you could not quite understand, and the author is in the next room, it is very easy to go to the author of that book. The author of this book is God the Holy Ghost, and you can ask Him to explain it far better than any commentator. IV. Then lastly comes the question, “what doth hinder you from being baptized?” The eunuch knew this: If it is true, I must come out and confess. (E. A. Stuart, M. A.)Alacrity in God’ s service “ Philip ran to him.” That is the way a man goes at the Lord’ s work when he is full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. He does not shuffle along in a half-hearted way, as if he were not sure whether to go or to hold back; or as if he thought that to-morrow or an hour hence would be as well as now for duty doing. He just runs as if everything depended on his not losing a minute. And if the man whom he is sent to is in a chariot, and has a fair start of him, he has need to run. A great many opportunities of doing the Lord’ s work are lost because of delay. There are times when resting and waiting are in order; but when we know of a soul in need, and when we have had a prompting from the Holy Spirit to go to that soul, the one thing for us to do is--to run. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D)A weighty question I. It supposes that we read the Bible. Is this correct, or does this half heathen put us to shame? II. It discloses our natural blindness. Is not our Bible reading often an unintelligent reading, our Bible a book not understood? III. It excites us to seek the true Interpreter and Guide. He it is who spake by Philip--the Spirit of God, who always lives and operates in the Church. Lessons:1. Readest thou what thou hast?2. Understandest thou what thou teariest?3. Obeyest thou what thou understandest? (K. Gerok.)Understandest thou what thou readest?-- 1. How this chamberlain came to be a proselyte we do not know. The book which he was so fond of reading may have been the means; certainly it has answered that purpose thousands of times. At any rate, he followed the light he had. Be true to truth as it comes to you. If God gives you only common candle-light, make good use of it. Those who are willing to see God by the moon of nature shall soon be illuminated by the sun of revelation. 2. Having become a proselyte, the eunuch made a long and perilous journey to Jerusalem. After he had enjoyed the solemn feast he returned; and while he travelled along he read the very best text that Philip could have selected. The like conjunction of Providence and the Holy Spirit constantly occurs in conversions. How often have the talks of young men by the wayside been reproduced by the preacher! 3. This nobleman is reading--a hopeful sign. In these days we need hardly exhort young men to read. But then Philip asked, “ What readest thou?” and that suggests a necessary inquiry. Much that is read nowadays had far better be left unread. Souls have been ruined by reading a vile book. Young men, you will read--but Sake heed what you read! The best of reading is the reading of the best of books. I do not like to see in a lending-library all the works of fiction needing to be bound two or three times over, while the books of sober fact and solid teaching have never been read, since they have not even been cut. 4. It was a very sharp-pointed question that Philip put to this gentleman. We find it tolerably easy to put questions to a man who is poor, but how shall we approach the rich? We have sermons for the working classes, why not for the Houses of Parliament. Are there any bigger sinners anywhere than you might find in those two chambers? 5. The Bible was meant to be understood, and it benefits us in proportion as we get at the meaning of it. The mere words of Scripture passing over the ear or before the eye can do us little good. “ I read a chapter every morning,” says one. Quite right; keep that up; but “ Understandest thou what thou readest?” “ Well, I learn the daily text.” Yes, but “ Understandest thou what thou readest?” That is the main point. The butterflies flit over the garden, and nothing comes of their flitting; but look at the bees, how they dive into the bells of the flowers, and come forth with their thighs laden with the pollen, and their stomachs filled with the sweetest honey for their hives. This is the way to read the Bible. A thoughtful book needs and deserves thoughtful reading. If it has taken its author a long time to write it, it is due to him that you give his work a careful perusal. If the thoughts of men deserve this, what shall I say of the supreme thoughts of God? I. What is the most important thing to be understood in this book? I believe that it is contained in the passage which the eunuch was reading. Already he had noted the words, “ All we like sheep have gone astray,” etc. What is wanted is that we understand--1. That we have all gone astray. He who does not know that will not care for the Shepherd who comes to fetch him back again. 2. That salvation is the gift of Divine mercy to the guilty, and is never the reward of human merit. Christ did not come to save you because you are good, for you are not good. I hear the doctor’ s brougham rattling down the street at a great pace; but it never occurs to me that he is rushing to call upon a hale and hearty man. So Christ came not “ to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 3. That “ the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” ! Now every man who believes in Jesus may know that his sin was laid upon, borne by, and put away by Christ. A thing cannot be in two places at one time. You cannot bear it, but Christ bore it; you are to accept Christ as your Sin-bearer, and then you may know that your sins have gone. II. What is the test of a man’ s understanding his Bible?1. That Jesus Christ is everything to him: for Philip, who did understand it, when he explained it, preached unto the eunuch Jesus and nothing else. I try to preach Jesus, and I love to meet with people who delight in this theme. Every young man, when he believes in Jesus, should give himself to Jesus, heart and soul, for ever. “ That’ s the kind of young man for my money, for he is O and O,” said a certain person, meaning, “ Out and out for Christ.” Jesus was out and out for us; there should be no half-heartedness in our dealings with Him. If we have read Scripture aright, we ‘ have not received the kind of Christianity which sanctifies us on Sunday, but enables us to he dishonest throughout the week. I like this eunuch for proposing that he should be baptized. He was not advised to do so, but he gave himself up to do the Lord’ s bidding at once. Whichever way the Scripture bids you dedicate yourself to God, set to work about it, and let it be done at once. 2. That they made him glad, for this eunuch “ went on his way rejoicing.” The man who from reading his Bible goes forth with a pious resolution that he will make everybody as miserable as he can, wants converting again. 3. That they make him care about the salvation of others; for this Ethiopian nobleman, when he got home, I have no doubt, spread the gospel throughout his native land, and was probably the founder of the Abyssinian Church. One of the holiest instincts born in a renewed man is that of longing to save others. Being saved, we wish to co-operate with the Saviour in His gracious work. 4. That his message to others is what the message was to him--Christ, Christ. You have nothing else to employ as the means of good, except the salvation of Jesus, and there is nothing else worth telling. III. What can be done to obtain such a desirable understanding of the scriptures?1. When you read a passage which you do not understand, read it until you do. Here is a little boy whose father is an artizan, and uses a great many technical terms. The boy is apprenticed, and wants to know all about it, and therefore he listens to his father, and when the day is over he says to himself, “ I heard my father say a great deal, but I do not understand much of it.” “ But you did understand a little of it?” “ Oh, yes.” To that little he is faithful, and day by day he adds to his store of information, learning more by the help of that which he already knows, and at length he can talk like his father, using the same words with understanding. So when I do not comprehend a chapter, I say, I will hear my great Father speak, even if I do not understand at first what He may say to me, and I will keep on hearing Him until at last I grasp His meaning. Do as the photographer does, when he allows an object to be long before the camera until he obtains a well-defined picture. Let your mind dwell on a passage, till at last it has photographed itself upon your soul by the light of God. 2. Always read with a desire to understand. Have the crackers with you to crack the nuts, that you may feed upon their kernels. 3. Pray for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. When I cannot understand a book I write and ask the author what he means. Can we do that with the Bible? You may consult learned commentators, but that is not half so satisfactory as to go to the Author of the Book. Remember that you can also go to the Maker of your mind, and He can open it to receive the truth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)A personal question At our meeting for prayer and fasting last Tuesday, a brother, who was, I think, the best man amongst us, made a confession of cowardice, and we all looked at him and could not understand how he could be a coward, for a bolder man I do not know. He told us that there was a man in his congregation who was a wealthy man. If he had been a poor man, he would have spoken to him about his soul; but, being a wealthy man, he thought it would be taking too much liberty. At last one of the members happened to say to him, “ Mr. So-and-So, have you found a Saviour?” and bursting into tears, the man said, “ Thank you for speaking to me; I have been in distress for months, and thought the minister might have spoken to me. Oh, I wish he had; I might have found peace.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Humility in an inquirer “ Understandest thou what thou readest?” asked Philip of the eunuch. And the great man candidly acknowledged that he understood it not at all. And therein he showed his real greatness, for an intellectual liliputian would have made believe that he understood it all. The most insufferable ignoramuses are the men that are omniscient. The writer well remembers that upon one occasion, in his early ministry, during a protracted meeting he approached an old sinner, who seemed to be thoughtful, and, sitting down beside him, undertook to open up to him the way of life, but the aged reprobate scornfully said, “ Young man, you cannot tell me anything.” And after that we did not try, nor would it have been worth while. He was wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. There is more hope of a fool than of such a man. A genuine inquirer is always humble, and ready to welcome truth from whatever quarter it may come. A lord treasurer, seated in his chariot, did not think it beneath him to be instructed by a travel-stained evangelistic tramp whom he picks up on the road. “ How can I, except some man should guide me?” was a form of speech that did the distinguished Ethiopian infinite honour. A man possessed of such spirit has commonly not very far to seek. “ To this man will I look,” saith the Lord, “ who is of an humble and a contrite heart, and that trembleth at My word.” “ The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way.” While such a spirit is essential to every seeker after Christ, it should characterise followers of Christ at every stage of experience. Those who have taken the deepest sea soundings and have climbed the loftiest mountain heights realise most profoundly the limitations of their knowledge, and are evermore the most willing to learn. And he who thus acknowledges his ignorance is in a fair way to mend it, for like the Ethiopian eunuch he is ready to reach out for the guidance of a friendly hand, and commonly he has not far to seek. (Baptist Teacher.)Bible reading The Bible should be read-- I. Intelligently. Very often the time spent in Bible reading is time wasted, There is a certain sect in the East whose priests use a praying machine, and there are people who read the Bible every day, but they read like machines. Reading the Bible does us no good unless we understand what we read. I have met with people who have gone abroad to a beautiful country, just to be able to say that they had been there. They never noticed the beauties of the scenery, their one object was to get to a certain place and then get back again. So it is with many Bible readers. Their one object is to get through so many chapters or verses. Some of the first discoveries of gold in Australia were made by accident. A man saw a mass of rock, and struck it carelessly with a pickaxe and broke it, and found that it contained gold. Now some parts of the Bible may appear like the rock, hard and uninteresting, till we can work into them, then we find gold. II. Prayerfully. We may make mistakes about the Bible as well as any other book. If you were to read some medical works, and had not received the education of a doctor, you would soon fancy that you had several different diseases; and if you were to try to treat yourself for them you would probably become really ill, or perhaps die. In the same way people may make mistakes about the Bible. A lady once came to me during a mission utterly miserable because she thought she had committed “ the unpardonable sin,” without knowing what it was. John Bunyan nearly went mad at one time from the same mistake. We must have light to read the Bible by; light given directly by God in answer to prayer; and from the teaching and explanation of God’ s Church. Men of science have just taught us how to store electricity, so that we can lay in a stock of it just as we lay in coals, sufficient to light our lamps for a given time. Well, we can store light to understand the Bible by; the more we pray over our Bible the more light we store in ourselves. III. Meditatively. Food not digested is almost as bad as poison; and so many people get positive harm from their Bible reading because they do not digest what they read. As properly digested food makes our bodies what they are, flesh, and bone, and blood, and muscle, so God’ s Word properly digested makes a member of the Church a Bible Christian; in the true sense of the term. IV. To find Jesus there. You know how they collect gold dust? They take the soil which has been dug out, and wash it in running water, carefully watching for the sparkling grains. Well, we should take what we have dug out of the Bible by study, and examine it carefully, and look into it again and again till we find gold, signs of Jesus Christ. When we approach one of our English towns or villages, the most conspicuous object is the tower or spire of the church or minster rising above ell other buildings and casting its shadow over all. So when we approach our Bible reading we should see Jesus first, and His Cross rising above all other topics, and casting its shadow on every page. V. With the aid of the spirit. There is an instrument called an AEolian harp, which is silent till placed where the wind can blow upon it, then its strings give forth sweet music. Your Bible will be silent to you till the breath of God blows upon it, then it will be the music of the gospel to you. Old legends say that when the rising sun shone upon the statue of Memnon, in Egypt, the figure uttered tuneful sounds. So when the sun of the Holy Spirit shines upon the pages of your Bible, God will send forth thence His voice, yea, and that a mighty voice. “ Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” VI. Personally. Do not try to fit the warnings and teachings and threats of the Bible on others, but on yourselves. People too often study God’ s Word to find out their neighbour’ s sins, instead of their own. They need the sharp message--“ Thou art the man!” In the old days of Greece, they tell us of a philosopher who went about from place to place with a lantern, and when asked what he was seeking, he answered that he was looking for an honest man. We are too fond of taking the lantern of God’ s Word, and examining our neighbours with it. Let us try to turn the light more strongly on ourselves. VII. To revise what you read. I heard of a poor woman who heard the account of the Saviour’ s sufferings read; she was very ignorant, and being told that these events happened long ago, and in a foreign land, expressed a hope that after all the account might not be true. I believe that many people read the Bible, or hear it read, and never feel it, never realise its truth. It is a custom in Greenland for a stranger, when knocking at the door, to ask, “ Is God in this house?” If the answer, “ Yes,” is given, he enters. Let the Bible ask you this question. When you read God’ s Word, listen for God’ s voice asking you the question--“ Is God in this house?” Is it well with thee, is it well with the husband, is it well with the child? Let your Bible speak to your innermost heart, and let your answer be, “ Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” (H. J. W. Buxton.)Fruitful Bible reading A hint as to-- I. Casual perusal of the Bible. When a man employs his occasional leisure in endeavouring to master a subject we have no need to question his interest in it. The study of the Bible in a railway carriage is a course which any Christian would be glad to pursue if he could do it unostentatiously. Travellers like the eunuch are not numerous. Men prefer the novel. But the grand lesson is the use of passing opportunities for following up what we have learned of the Lord, and fitting us to hear more of Him. II. The exercise of thought which the Bible demands. It cannot be “ understood” without fixing the mind on its statements, arid trying to perceive what they mean. Many truths are perfectly clear, but others are so recorded as if God were aiming to make us search, pray, watch, and be humble. And so with the study of nature. We cannot understand it by mere gazing. III. The instructors the spirit will provide for the thoughtful Bible student. The Spirit moved Philip. To warrant the expectation of spiritual help two conditions here illustrated must be fulfilled.1. The eunuch was reading the Scriptures for himself. He was not taking the account from others, but was perusing the very words which “ holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2. He was conscious that help was needed. So help came in this unexpected way. It is not that teachers are few, but that our eyes are dull. The best helps, teachers, commentaries, etc., are useless without the Spirit of God. IV. The great purpose of the Spirit that of leading readers of the Bible to Christ. The written Word is to tell of the living Word, and would never have been written but for that. (D. G. Watt, M. A.)Intelligent reading of Holy Scripture I. Many do not understand what they read. Through--1. Ignorance.2. Lack of teachers.3. Want of spiritual insight.4. Prejudice. This is a great moral loss. II. How we may understand what we read. By--1. Attention.2. Meditation.3. Prayer.4. Aid of the Holy Spirit.5. Help of friends and ministers. III. Why should we understand what we read? The Bible is--1. The Word of God.2. The way of salvation.3. The joy of the sanctified heart. Is the Bible an open book to us? (Family Churchman.)The relations between Holy Scripture and the Church 1. This interview is a specimen of the private ministration of the gospel, and teaches us how such ministration should be opened and conducted. Philip fell in, not only with the eunuch, but with the train of thought his mind was pursuing. It is surprising how many good and even Scriptural words utterly fail to take hold of the mind, because not in a state which requires that particular counsel. Now as there is in nature a specific for every physical disorder, so there is in God’ s Word a specific for every spiritual malady. If the right specific is offered to an individual, he appropriates it; it is what his conscience requires; but if the wrong, no effect or a bad one is produced, not because it has lost its virtue, or is essentially deleterious, but because there is no correspondence between it and the patient’ s state. Now in order to offer men remedies to meet their case we must study the direction of their thoughts. And when we come upon them off their guard, and observe how they are occupied, we can obtain a clue to their thoughts. The Ethiopian was reading the Scriptures as if he took pleasure in them, which showed him to be a religiously minded man. What followed brought out his docility and willingness to be enlightened. So Philip, guided by Providence and by the turn of his bearer’ s mind, spake a word in season. 2. Our Lord had instructed His disciples to “ salute no man by the way.” In common intercourse men begin with trifles before they pass on to topics of importance. But trifles do not befit the character of God’ s messenger. So Philip does not open the conversation by talk about the weather or the crops, but begins at once with the business of his mission. He was abrupt, judged by the standard of the world’ s manners, but not as regards the Ethiopian’ s state of mind, who therefore invites him up into his chariot. Alas that our thoughts, unlike his, should be exercised so much on secular things that spiritual remarks seem to us an intrusion and a want of tact! 3. The eunuch’ s response, “ How can I understand,” etc., intending to express nothing more than the sentiment of the moment, contains an important principle. The Scriptures are the Church’ s law, they contain all principles of faith and duty, and are given by inspiration of God. Moreover the Church stands on them; for if the acts and the commission of Christ to His disciples did not exist the Church would have the ground cut from under her. In this point of view Scripture is paramount to the Church and prior in order of thought. Yet the Church is prior to Scripture in order of time. No book of the Old Testament was written before Moses, and yet from the time of Abel there were believers. No book of the New Testament had been composed at this time, yet there was a flourishing Church in Jerusalem. And each one of us, as we come into the world, is approached by the Church, e.g., in baptism, before he can be approached by the Scriptures. That is the principle on which godparents, who represent the Church, and on which religious teachers act. The child is taught by catechisms compiled by the Church, but gathered out of Scripture. Now, suppose a man competently educated, but whose mind has been left a blank on religion, were to sit down to compile a creed for himself out of the Bible, how many years would he take? The mind must proceed in the first instance upon human authority; but in after days, having been imbued with the faith, he can recognise it in Scripture, and see how it can be proved thereby. The Bible can be with none of us the original teacher of truth, but we must not shrink from the duty of testing by this infallible criterion what we first receive on human authority. We have no fear that the Catholic faith will be shaken by this examination if made in the spirit of prayer. Yet as regards lesser points of belief about which there are two opinions a word of caution is needed. Correct conclusions are scarcely likely to be arrived at if we discard the commentary drawn from the sentiments of the primitive Church. Take, e.g., infant baptism. There are passages from which it may be inferred that it is conformable to the mind of Christ. Yet it would be too much to say that it is proved from the Bible. But if you allow the usages of the early Church to be any evidence of what apostolic practice was, then the evidence is overwhelming. The relations between the Church and Scripture are illustrated by those between the judicial and the legislative power in the State. A judge has no authority to make the law: that is made by Parliament; he is only the interpreter and the administrator. On the one hand the judge is as much under the law as those whom he tries, and on the other, juries would often go wrong unless the judge directed them. Well, Scripture is the law; the Church is the judge; the individual soul is the jury. In interpreting the Scripture the individual soul needs the guidance of the Church, which if he rejects, he rejects the aid God has given him for arriving at a right conclusion, and kicks down the ladder by which he has risen to what he knows of Divine truth. And yet should the Church, as Rome has done, impose new articles of faith, he must break with such a society. Whenever the judge imposes new laws, it is time to side with the law against the judge. (Dean Goulburn.)Directions for profitable study of the Word of God I. Dost thou read the scriptures at all? Is such an inquiry necessary in a community professedly Christian? Yes, there are multitudes whom God continually solicits by the Bible in vain. Books that corrupt, or dissipate, or at best amuse, are read, to its exclusion. “ I have written unto them the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” The humble inquirer who asks, “ What must I do to be saved?” needs the voice of the book of God to say, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Christian pilgrim needs its guidance to direct him to rest; and he who has grown in grace equally requires its help. It is like the line of the architect, as needful to lay the top stone as to lay the foundation. And yet how many professing Christians suffer the truth to solicit them in vain! Your own reason and human advisers can no more renew a lost soul than they can create a living man. And yet the voice of God in the Bible is too often unheard. Neither the terrors of the law compel, nor the love of the gospel allures. The unwise mariner may not feel the want of his chart or his compass while the sea is calm and his way apparently clear; but as he would feel his deadly error in leaving them behind him when the winds lash the waves into fury, and he knew not whither to turn for help, so the time of sorrow, darkness, sickness, death will come; and then what will ye do, when the redeeming God of the Bible is to you an unknown God? II. “ Understandest thou what thou readest?” “ The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,” etc. He wants the sight, the hearing, the touch of faith. Many understand not because--1. They read it with cold indifference. They may take it up occasionally, but it discloses nothing that meets their case, because they are ignorant of their want. Is it wonderful that they should see no beauty in Christ, and no merit in His atonement, who have never realised their sin? 2. It aims a death-blow at the pride of self-righteousness. The Abana and Pharpar of our own Damascus seem more efficient, as they are always more grateful to the natural man. The gospel will be understood as a remedial revelation, only when Divine grace shall make us willing to come, naked and empty handed, to Him who justifieth the ungodly. 3. It opposes the prejudices of unrenewed men. We approach it, too frequently, rather that we may find materials there on which to build up our own system than to find Christ and salvation. But God’ s immutable truth will never adapt itself to the miserable shibboleth of our device. 4. It utterly condemns sin, and men love sin. “ The carnal mind is enmity against God.” III. In what manner the scriptures may be savingly read. The conduct of the Ethiopian will furnish us with a directory, by teaching us to study them--1. With constancy and diligence. He beguiled his journey by reading the prophet Isaiah, who testified so wondrously of Christ. And Christ says, “ Search the Scriptures,” etc. Be not contented with cold, formal, occasional reading; but look into them, as he who is in search of a mine digs deeply, follows each vein, and minutely examines every appearance of the gold which his heart covets. 2. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Thus Philip began with the passage in Isaiah, and preached unto the eunuch Jesus. Read your Bibles with their references; see how the law shadows forth the gospel, how the mind of God in one place corresponds to the same mind in another. Such an examination will assist you more surely than all the commentators; for the Holy Ghost will always be found the best Expounder of His own Word. 3. With prayer. As the dial bears all the hours of the day marked upon its surface, but will not show the time unless the sun shine upon it, so doth the Word of God disclose all His mind, but not to saving apprehension, unless by the light of the Eternal Spirit. To the worldly wise, the Bible is a letter written in cypher. The Holy Ghost interprets the writing by bringing His people to the secret of a sanctified experience, as a clue to those high and dear mysteries of grace which before were hid from their eyes. 4. Seeking the help of others, who have been taught of God. “ And he desired Philip,” etc. Thus Apollos availed himself of the help of Aquila and Priscilla. 5. With humility. Imitate the teachableness of the Ethiopian. “ God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” “ Learn of Christ, for He is meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (R. P. Buddicom.)The seed sown and the harvest reaped 1. Sometimes a sermon is reported word for word, at others the substance only. The report of Philip’ s sermon is the briefest, yet most complete. “ He preached to him Jesus” --not only Jesus, but Jesus unto him, then and there. Here often our preaching fails. The gospel is fully declared; but Jesus is not pressed on the conscience of every man. The outspread rays make all the ground bright; but the concentration of the rays on a spot makes it burn. The Ethiopian understood the message, believed, and was baptized. 2. He went on his way. He is not instantly carried home. He pursues his journey under the hot sun, and on the hot sand. Christ prayed not that His disciples should be taken out of the world. The winter is as cold and the summer as warm to them as to others. The Ethiopian began that journey before he had accepted Christ; and now that he is a Christian he does not turn aside; and when he reaches his home he will attend to the duties of his office. So, Christian, if your business was lawful before, you need not desert it after you become a Christian. And, besides, the eunuch would do more good in Ethiopia than in following Philip northward. Everywhere the earth is corrupt, and needs salt. 3. He went on his way rejoicing. Surely it is not a sorrowful thing, whatever people may say, even in this world to know that the next is all your own. 4. Observe what power a thirsting soul exerts, not over earth, but over heaven. An empty human heart, longing for living water, can command all the fulness of the Godhead for its supply. The longing soul of this Ethiopian not only drew Philip from his successful ministry, but forgiving love from its fountain in God. In certain sandy tracks travellers sometimes fall in with a living plant, whose leaves when cut give off refreshing water. How comes this? Because that lowly herb has all the waters of the Atlantic at its disposal. A multitude of microscopic mouths open in every leaf. These suck from the air what moisture it contains, and the air, thus divested of a portion of its moisture, draws from the distant ocean to fill the void. Blessed are they that thirst, for they shall be satisfied. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The conversion and baptism of the eunuch 1. Note the circuitousness of the method by which they were brought about. This man had just visited Jerusalem on an errand of devotion. The apostles still remained in the city, and frequented the temple. Why was it not arranged, therefore, that he should fall in with one of them? Instead of this, an angel is sent to an evangelist, bidding him travel in a distant region, where he falls in with the eunuch. Perhaps the answer is that this arrangement was most significant of the designs for His Church which God was then unfolding. The ministry of the deacons was the dawn of that of Paul--freer, wider than that of the apostles. It was far more conformable, therefore, with the then state of the Christian dispensation that, instead of receiving the gospel in the confined atmosphere of the holy city, the Ethiopian should hear “ a voice crying in the wilderness,” the freer breezes of which were a symbol of the liberty with which God’ s Word went forth to the ends of the earth. 2. Whatever the reason, the practical teaching is obvious. Men often find God where they least expect to meet Him. We may find Him in the desert, and miss Him in Jerusalem. There is a difference in this respect between the laws of nature and those of grace. In the one, the effect is tied to the means; in the other, good impressions are not limited to ordinances. The Spirit is often pleased to act independently of His ordained channels. A casual interview with a stranger, a book read on a journey, some striking incident or scene, has often proved a means of grace when sermons and sacraments have failed. The avenues by which God reaches the hearts of men are almost as various as their characters. 3. The reason for the eunuch pitching upon Isaiah lift may have been because it was part of a section which also embraces chap. 56., where such encouragement is given to eunuchs. But whatever his motives, the text, applying as it does only to the Christ he knew not, perplexed him, and gave Philip the opportunity of preaching Him in whom the prophecy was fulfilled--“ Jesus,” not Christ the Messiah of the Jews, through whom he could offer an universal salvation. 4. The Ethiopian drank in the good news, and requested enrolment among the disciples of the new faith, and Philip could make no objection. Had not God brought him to the spot for this very purpose? Let us now turn to the practical reflections to which the passage gives rise. Note-- (1) The spiritual freedom which characterises the whole incident--its scene, not the temple, but the wilderness; its time, not the Sabbath, but a work-day; the minister, not an apostle, but an officer more or less secular. And yet the great features of this procedure of Divine grace are the same as those we find everywhere. Our Lord commissioned His Church to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, etc., and had said to Nicodemus, “ Except a man be born of water,” etc.; and St. Paul speaks of Christ as “ sanctifying and clearing the Church by the washing of water by the Word.” Two elements, according to these passages, enter into the idea of admission into the Church--the action of the Word of God on the conscience, the outward sign of washing with water. Both these are found here. Philip, it is true, preached not in a church, but in a chariot; not to many souls, but to one; still, it was preaching, and then there was baptism. So that there was here a Church according to the definition, “ a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments administered.” “ A congregation!” you will say. Yes. “ Where two or three are met together in My name,” etc. What a consolation to ministers whose congregations are thin! One good listener is better than one hundred indifferent ones. (2) The immediate administration of baptism to one whose knowledge must have been immature. It was the same in the case of the Philippian jailer. No doubt the circumstances warranted the act, whereas now ordinarily a probation would be wise. Yet it must be remembered that baptism is only matriculation, not graduation, in the school of Christ; and in the great commission, the teaching which qualifies for baptism is distinguished from that which succeeds it. It is not the amount of a catechumen’ s knowledge which is to be looked to, but his spiritual receptivity. 3. The passage which proved the means of the eunuch’ s conversion is one which describes the meek and resigned passion of the Saviour, and was the means also of the conversion of the celebrated Lord Rochester. The subject with which it deals was the means of a mighty awakening in Greenland, after long and fruitless efforts, to get at the hearts of the people. Our Lord predicted that His Cross should prove the supreme attraction, and Paul determined to know nothing but it. (Dean Goulburn.) Acts 8:32-38 The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter … Then Philip … began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Philip’ s sermon I. The text. “ He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,” etc. Here is no difficulty, but there are two difficulties following which require explanation.1. “ In His humiliation His judgment was taken away.” He appeared in such a condition that Pilate, though convinced of His innocence, did not consider Him of importance enough to risk anything for His deliverance. “ Taking away His judgment” means the denial of the rights of legal justice. 2. “ And who shall declare His generation?” Some have referred this to His eternal generation from the Father; some to His being conceived by the Holy Ghost; others to His resurrection; others again to His spiritual seed. But there are only two probable meanings: (1) Who shall declare the manner of His life? Before the execution of criminals, proclamation was made, “ Will any one testify anything in favour of the condemned?” Sometimes they saw one hastening with a long white flag, and exclaiming, “ A witness is come.” But there was no white flag on Calvary! “ They all forsook Him and fled.” (2) Who shall declare the generation of men in which He lived? Thus Luke says, “ He shall suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.” Therefore there was no one in this sense to declare His generation, the wickedness of the men in whose day He lived, suffered, and was slain. II. The sermon.1. It was unpremeditated. The apostles were admonished not to meditate beforehand, for “ it should be given them in that same hour,” etc. And ministers should never be at a loss to say something about Christ. Our Saviour says “ Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto an householder,” etc. Ye would not deem him a good housekeeper who, if a friend calls suddenly, could not bring something to feed him. Sometimes a minister’ s best thoughts will be those produced by present circumstances and present feelings. Baxter was once preaching, when there occurred a tremendous storm which threw his audience into great consternation. He paused and exclaimed, “ My brethren, we are assembled this morning to prepare against that day when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat; the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up.” This hushed and calmed the audience. When Peter was preaching, a multitude exclaimed, “ What shall we do?” but Peter was not disconcerted. 2. Its subject was Jesus, as it was in Samaria. This was his constant practice, nor was it peculiar to him. Paul said to the Corinthians, “ I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” The Saviour, when He commissioned the apostles, instructed them to preach in His name. This is the subject which, though so old, is always so new; and not only a faithful saying, but “ worthy of all acceptation.” In order to be useful to others we must preach the truth as it is in Jesus; “ for “ there is salvation in no other.” 3. This sermon was very Scriptural: “ He began at the same Scripture,” and this was a good beginning; but we must extend the thing. According to Christ’ s own testimony there are things concerning Him in all the Scriptures. “ Search the Scriptures, for they are they that testify of Me.” Divide them, arrange them as you please, and you will find that He is “ all in all.” Wherever, therefore, you step on this holy ground, immediately a star is in motion, going before you till it stands over where the young child is; wherever you listen, you hear a voice saying, “ Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” ; wherever you open the leaves in this sacred book, “ His name is as ointment poured forth.” (W. Jay.)Philip’ s sermon I. The subject of Philip’ s preaching.1. The “ Scripture” here referred to was one of the most striking prophecies concerning Christ. It is very minute, and seems to unite the most opposite extremes; so that this Jewish proselyte might well inquire, “ Of whom speaketh the prophet this?” (1) The mysterious person mentioned by the prophet was to be treated with hatred and scorn (Isaiah 53:2; Isaiah 53:8). (2) He was to suffer from God as well as from His countrymen (verse 10). (3) He was to be free from sin (verse 9). (4) He was to be an example of perfect meekness and submission under all His sufferings (verse 7). (5) He was to be subjected to a violent death, with which some peculiar circumstances were connected (verses 8, 9)(6) He was to rise from the dead (verse 10). (7) He was to have a progeny, be invested with great power, and to carry on a prosperous work in the earth, under the Divine approval, and to His own satisfaction (verses 10, 12). Here, then, we have a prophecy most comprehensive in its range, most minute and singular in its details, which alone, in all its particulars, is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. To what conclusion are we then brought by a comparison of the prophecy with the events of our Lord’ s history? First, that the prophet was inspired; for no human sagacity could foresee, at a distance of more than seven hundred years, the facts which he has described: and, secondly, that Jesus is the Son and the Christ of God. None but a Divine person could endure the sufferings He underwent, could redeem, and govern, and save mankind; and Jesus was anointed of God to accomplish these momentous objects. Philip therefore preached Jesus to the Ethiopian, and when this subject was presented to his candid mind conviction immediately flashed upon his understanding and conscience; and being inspired with a love of the truth, he “ received Christ Jesus the Lord.” 2. In this prophecy several of the leading truths of Christianity are explicitly asserted. (1) The universal sinfulness of mankind. “ All we like sheep have gone astray,” etc., and it is assumed not only that we have “ infirmities” and “ sorrows,” but also “ sins,” “ transgressions,” “ iniquities.” (2) The fact of Christ’ s substitution in the place of sinners. His “ soul” was made “ an offering for sin” ; our “ iniquities were laid upon Him” ; “ He bare the sin of many,” etc. (3) The universality of Christ’ s atonement. The remedy is as extensive as the evil. “ The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” (4) The use which Christ makes of His atonement with regard to God. He “ made intercession for-the transgressors.” (5) The fruit of Christ’ s atonement with regard to fallen man. The sufferings which He endured were “ the chastisement of our peace “ (Romans 3:24-25). II. The manner in which the Ethiopian received the evangelical message.1. With deep seriousness and attention. The man who had renounced idolatry, who had become a worshipper of God, who had taken a long and dangerous journey that he might render to Jehovah the homage He required, was not a man to treat any question of religion with indifference. His heart was evidently deeply impressed with the things of God. The relations in which men stand to their Maker, the obligations which He has laid upon them, the provision which He has made for their salvation, the final happiness of the just, and the perdition of ungodly men--these are subjects which none but either the grossly ignorant or wicked will ever treat with levity. Every wise man will perceive that, if Christianity is true, it is worse than madness to neglect it, and will make it his first and most anxious concern to inquire into its nature and claims; that he may not run the terrible risk of neglecting that mercy which, when it is once passed away, will never return. 2. With exemplary meekness and humility. He did not resent the inquiry of Philip, abrupt as it might seem. No feeling of self-importance, as a man of office and rank, induced him to turn away. With the utmost frankness he at once confessed his ignorance, invited Philip into the chariot, solicited instruction, and assumed the character and.attitude of a learner. This is precisely the spirit in which Divine light is received. The wrangling disputant has a thousand objections to offer before he can admit one single principle of evangelical truth, and when all those objections have been met his dark and vain mind is as far from true wisdom as it was when he began his idle toil. The philosopher, full of his own speculations, has almost everything to unlearn before he can receive the truth as the instrument of his salvation. 3. In faith. That he trusted in Christ as his Redeemer and Saviour we have ample proof in the subsequent part of the narrative. 4. In the spirit of submission and obedience. As the Ethiopian was “ swift to hear” and to understand, so was he prompt to obey. When his understanding was enlightened, the assent of his will was gained. Being instructed in “ the doctrine of baptism,” he waited not to be earnestly and repeatedly urged to a compliance with the Lord’ s command. He was the first to propose the immediate administration of the ordinance; that he might at once practically declare his subjection to Christ, and receive the salvation which the gospel reveals as the fruit of His passion. III. The happy result of his conversion--“ He went on his way rejoicing.” He was miraculously deprived of his teacher, but he was left in possession of a treasure which filled him with sacred joy.1. He doubtless rejoiced that he had found the truth. To be ignorant of God, and of the things belonging to our peace, is one of the greatest calamities. 2. As a believer in Jesus Christ he rejoiced in the favour of God. The favour of God is better than life, as His wrath is more terrible than death. 3. The approbation of his own conscience would be another ground of rejoicing. Conscience is a powerful instrument both of happiness and of misery. 4. He rejoiced to be the bearer of good tidings to others. A regenerated heart yearns over men who are dying in their sins, and at the same time it burns with desire to promote the honour of the Lord Jesus, and the extension of His kingdom. Under the impulse of these feelings a believer cannot be silent on the subject of his religion. He who had so unexpectedly found mercy could not be indifferent to the spiritual wants and claims of his own countrymen. 5. In common with all true believers he rejoiced in hope of eternal life. Conclusion: The subject forcibly reminds us--1. Of the great benefit connected with the public worship of God. Bad not this noble Ethiopian attended the temple at Jerusalem the probability is that he would have remained a stranger to the Christian salvation. 2. That the great object at which we should aim in the use of God’ s ordinances is the knowledge of Christ as our Saviour. The Ethiopian, with all his sincerity, failed in this grand point, and an angel was employed in providing for him the requisite instruction so that he might believe to the saving of his soul. 3. Of the necessity of missions to the heathen. (T. Jackson.)Jesus and the Scriptures I. The unity of scripture. And that “ same Scripture,” while so eminently illustrious, is only one of many innumerable scriptures at which Philip might have begun and by which he might have sustained his proclamation of the Jesus. Gather into your hands, as so many threads, all “ the same scriptures” from which Philip might have pursued his theme, and delightedly gaze on the Pattern into which the New Testament fashions them. Can the charm of their unity be surpassed? II. The end of scripture. To set forth Christ, to attract human thought and fix it on Him, is the steadfast aim to which everything is subordinated. Many are the “ voices of the prophets,” but they swell into only one chorus of which He is the song. III. In the intensity of the converse of Philip and the eunuch we see the interest of scripture commended. No fact grows more patent than the world’ s need of all that the Scriptures assure us of Jesus. There is no light from heaven if it does not shine in Him, no bread from heaven if He does not supply it. IV. In the issue of this converse we see the power of scripture manifested. “ He went on his way rejoicing.” The fulness, variety, and harmony of Scripture; the compassion, wisdom, steadfastness of God through all the preparatory measures which led up to the advent of Jesus; the power, grace, and life brought by Him; rest of mind in this truth, and of heart in this mercy; the new creation into which the receiver of Jesus passes and rises--these were some of the glorious elements of this man’ s joy; and meditation, prayer, experience, would but deepen that joy, as he passed further and further away from the “ old things,” and further and further into the “ new things” prepared and ensured for ever to them that love Him. (G. B. Johnson.)Preaching Jesus, not self St. Bernard, preaching one day very scholastically, the learned thanked him, but not the godly; but another day he preached plainly, and the good people came blessing God for him, and gave him many thanks, which some scholars wondered at. “ Ah,” said he, “ yesterday I preached Bernard, but to-day I preached Christ.” ‘ Tis not learning, but teaching; not; the wisdom of words, but the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit that is welcome to saints. (R. Venning.)Preaching to one I remember, years ago, one Sunday that I had to preach at the Chapel Royal; and in those days the old duke used to attend service there, and when he was in town the congregation may have numbered generally some seven or eight persons, but when he Was out of town perhaps two or three. And on this occasion he was out of town. Well, the morning prayer was over, and the clergyman who had said it had to leave for duty elsewhere; and by the time I had mounted the pulpit the clerk had gone into the vestry to stir the fire. I was left alone with the congregation! Under the circumstances it would have been ridiculous to have preached the sermon, and I went down to the congregation and told him so. He said--it was a young man I knew--“ Oh! I have come a long way on purpose to hear you preach. I beg you will proceed.” “ No!” I said, “ I really can’ t. Besides, how personal you would find the sermon. But I will walk across the park with you, and give you the heads of my sermon as we walk along.” Then I and Samuel Wilberforce, Esquire, walked across the park together. (Dean Hook.)Preaching to one person One very stormy Sunday Dr. Payson went to church more from habit than because he expected to find anybody there. Just after he had stepped inside the door an old negro came in, and asked if Dr. Payson was to preach there that day, explaining that he was a stranger in the town, and had been advised to go to his church. “ Upon that,” said Dr. Payson, “ I made up my mind to preach my sermon if nobody else came.” Nobody else did come, so the doctor preached to the choir and the negro. Some months afterward he happened to meet the negro, and stopping him, asked how he enjoyed the sermon that stormy Sunday. “ Enjoy dat sermon,” replied the old man, “ I ‘ clare, doctor, I nebber heerd a better one. Yo’ see I had a seat pretty well up front, an’ whenebber you’ d say somethin’ s pretty hard like ‘ gin de sins ob men I’ d jess look all roun’ ter see who you’ s a hittin’ , and I wouldn’ t see nobody on’ y jess me. An’ I says to m’ self, he must mean you, Pompey, you’ s sech a dretful sinner. Well, ductor, dat ar sermon set me a thinking what a big sinner I war, an’ I went an’ jined the Church down home. I’ se a deacon now.” Acts 8:36-39 The eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?The baptizing of the eunuch Note-- I. That to an obedient and cheerful hearer the word of God is never preached without success. This one discourse prevailed through God’ s mercy to the enlightening of the eunuch’ s mind; it wrought also upon his affections in such a measure that nothing was more desired of him than to show himself a Christian, and to have some pledge of the favour of God. The Word never is unprofitable where it meets with such an auditor. Learn, then, the true cause why there is no such profiting of the Word preached as there should be and was in purer times. Then one sermon won many; now, many sermons scarce prevail with one. Surely the cause is men want that ready, cheerful disposition, which the good people in those times had; then they sued to be taught, as the eunuch here, those at Pentecost, the Antiochians, and the jailer. II. That where the heart is truly touched, and the soul indeed turned unto God, there is a desire to be partaker of the sacraments. The apostles urged the use of the sacrament upon the people yielding to the doctrine as a trial of them. If they had refused it, their hypocrisy had been soon discovered; if they embraced it, it was an evidence that their hearts were seasoned as was meet. Thus John Baptist bound his hearers to the sacrament (Matthew 3:1-17.), and Peter, “ Amend your lives and be baptized” ; and after that order did the rest proceed. There be just causes of desiring the sacrament in him that is enlightened.1. He knows the use of the sacraments to be God’ s ordinance, and therefore, in obedience to His will, he will make conscience thereof. 2. He conceives them to be “ seals of the righteousness which is by faith,” assurances of society with Christ; for which cause they must needs be sweet unto his soul. 3. He apprehends them to be badges of his profession, and of his service unto Christ, and therefore he cannot but desire them. 4. He believeth them to be bands of the communion of saints, and in that respect he must needs affect them. In these days there is not that respect to the sacraments that there should be. Baptism we have received in our childhood, but what man of many laboureth to make the right use of it? And as for the Lord’ s Supper, generally it is made no more reckoning of than some three-half-penny ordinary, save only at some season of the year. Certainly this is an argument of scantness of grace amongst men. There cannot but be a stomach to the sacrament, where there is felt sweetness in the Word. III. That in whom there is any truth of Christianity, in him there is also a desire to make it known to the world that he is a Christian. It was an evidence of great resolution in this convert to return into his own country as one of that sect which was everywhere spoken against. This is the nature of true conversion, albeit, it may stir but weakly at the first, and seem almost not to dare to show itself, yet, when it is come to a fuller growth, then there will be a desire to show the colours of the Lord Jesus. So Nicodemus, when he was but a beginner, came to Jesus by night. Yet in time he joined with Joseph in the interring of our Saviour. This deserves to be commended to the care of all that fear God, that howsoever the vain applause of men be not to be hunted after, and it be hypocritical and pharisaical to practise the duties of godliness to be seen, yet it is necessary to make it appear what we are, and that we be not ashamed of it. Will some say, This is a needless exhortation, for we have done as much for the showing of ourselves to be Christians as this eunuch did? I answer, that albeit baptism might be a witness unto this man’ s Christianity, among a people not esteeming it, yet some further thing is necessary to the end our sincerity may appear. There be some things as hateful among the men of this generation as the name of a Christian could be among the Ethiopians, as, namely, for a man to make conscience of his ways to show himself fearful to offend God, to follow after holiness. IV. That he that administereth the sacrament ought to be careful to instruct the people in things necessary to the comfortable partaking of it. Every one that is entrusted with the dispensing of the sacrament is bound to acquaint the people carefully upon what conditions only they may receive it to their comfort. The doctrine appertaining to the right use of the sacrament is part of the counsel of God, and therefore not to be secreted by him that desireth to be pure from the people’ s blood. V. That since the coming of Christ there is no precedence of one place above another for the administration of holy things. Here is baptism administered by the wayside, and that in an ordinary river the sacrament had been no whit better to the eunuch if he had received it in some hallowed place, or in some consecrated vessel. Formerly the worship of God was limited to a certain place, but Christ being manifested, who was the Body of all former shadows, the distinction of places is abolished, and neither is God’ s worship tied to Jerusalem, nor to Gerizim. Therefore Christ’ s forerunner exercised his ministry openly in the wilderness, and baptized in the river Jordan; and our Saviour preached in mountains, by the seaside, and out of boats, anywhere where the audience was. So the apostles after, preached in houses, in fields, and baptized in any river which came next to hand. “ Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in My name,” etc.; there is no exception of place, so that in other things the due form be observed. Conclusion: This may put us all in mind what use to make of our baptism.1. So often as we think upon our baptism, it ought to be a spur to holiness. A servant to a great man, when he looketh upon his livery, cannot for shame be an enemy to him of whom he had received it; the sight of it is rather a common caller upon him to be faithful to him into whose service he is entered. So baptism is the cognizance of a Christian, and by it we have taken on us to wear the colours of our Captain; the very thought thereof should restrain us from doing the business of Satan, and work us by all means to the willing obeying of the Lord, to the studying, learning, and practising of His will. How excellent were it, if in doing of anything, which we rush upon without any scruple, we would say to ourselves, Is this according to promise, is this agreeing to the vow of baptism? 2. To those that thus make use of baptism as a motive to obedience, it is a storehouse of much comfort. When men’ s titles to land be in question, they fall to perusing their sealed evidences; and so a Christian must often look to the will and deed of his heavenly Father sealed up in baptism, and by it he shall have comfort. (S. Hieron.)The open door of the Church As you read this story you get the impression that the way into the kingdom of heaven, in the days of our Lord and His apostles, was a very obvious and straightforward way to any willing to enter it. It might cost one an inward struggle to consent, but to one consenting, the way of entrance was plain, even if it was not easy. Such an one might find difficulties in himself; but he would have no hindrances put upon him in the name of the Lord--nothing but helps and encouragements. How wide open “ the happy gates of gospel grace” did seem to stand in those days! And what a simple business they seemed to make of it! Not a word about a judicious deliberation and delay in the case of new converts. Not a word about preparing them by catechism, or taking them awhile on probation, or about examining them on their religious experience. “ Here is water; what hinders me from being baptized’ ?” says this eunuch; as if to one who had learned about Jesus Christ and wished to be His disciple and follower, it was the most natural thing in the world. And at once the evangelist seems to answer, “ Of course; why not?” And right then and there he baptized him. I. Rites. Our Lord, providing for the need which His believing followers would have of some way of declaring their discipleship in visible form, named two ordinances. The commonest acts of daily life--the daily bath and the daily meal. The bath, by which one coming to Him signified his putting away, from that time forth, of the sinful, defiling service of the world, and his new, clean life of consecration to the:Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and the supper, in which he remembers his Master and Friend, declares his dependence and allegiance, and shows his Lord’ s death until He comes. II. Experiences. Needless, it should seem, to declare that the experience of other disciples was meant to be a help and encouragement to each one of us in one way into the heavenly kingdom. Looked at in any large and reasonable way, the lesson from the vast diversity in the spiritual history of true and holy Christians is a lesson of unbounded encouragement. He who is the Way, and the Door to the way, does not care by what path we come up to Him, if only we do come. III. Doctrines. God’ s truth is very plain; very easy; and oh, how helpful! What confidence it gives you toward Him! As He declares to us the great fact of the reconciliation of the world to Himself in Christ, how it wins us to trust in His plain, faithful promise, and to rest in the perfect peace of Him whose mind is stayed on God! (L. W. Bacon.)Baptism, Water in Some one sent to know whether it was permissible to use warm water in baptism? The doctor replied, “ Tell the blockhead, that water, warm or cold, is water.” (Luther’ s Table Talk.)Baptism and the visible Church One of the parish ministers preaching at Whitewell Chapel, Mr. Philip Henry and his family and many of his friends being present, was earnestly cautioning people not to go to conventicles, and used this as an argument against it, “ that they were baptized into the Church of England.” Mr. Henry’ s catholic charity could not well digest this monopolising of the great ordinance of baptism, and thought it time to bear his testimony against such narrow principles, of which he ever expressed his dislike in all parties and persuasions. Accordingly he took the next opportunity that offered itself publicly to baptize a child, and desired the congregation to bear witness “ that he did not baptize that child into the Church of England, nor into the Church of Scotland, nor into the Church of the Dissenters, nor into the Church at Broad Oak, but into the Visible Catholic Church of Jesus Christ. (Whitecross.)The Word and the Sacrament There are two means of grace which mutually complete each other, and the one must not be valued over the other, or despised in comparison with the other. When the sacrament is despised, the body of the Church falls to pieces: when the Word is set aside its spirit dies. (K. Gerok.)The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more.-- The rapture of Philip and the eunuch The eunuch was the earliest first-fruits of the Gentile Church, his baptism was therefore authenticated by a remarkable operation of the Spirit of God, both on the part of its subject and its administrator.1. The subject went on his way rejoicing, and in order to connect his joy with the Spirit we have but to remember that the first-fruits of the Spirit are “ love, joy, peace.” 2. The missionary was “ caught away” by the Spirit--the same word as that of Paul, “ caught up into the third heaven,” only there the region was invisible and heavenly, and the apostle knew not whether he was in or out of the body; here the transportation is merely to another spot of earth, and was clearly “ in the body.” The same word is used of those who are alive at Christ’ s coming, who shall be “ caught up together” with the dead in Christ “ in the clouds.” Hero the transport will be of the glorified body, not to another spot of earth, but into the air. The more complete parallel, however, is the case of Ezekiel, of whom we read on several occasions that “ the Spirit took him up,” etc. And that the prophets underwent this kind of transport frequently may be gathered from the apprehensive words of Obadiah to Elijah (Kings 18:12), and from the petition respecting Elijah (2 Kings 2:16). 3. There is something striking in this instantaneous confirmation of baptism which reminds us of the descent of the Spirit on our Lord at His own, and we may parallel with it the old legend that at St. Augustine’ s baptism, he and Ambrose, the administrator of it, were so filled with the Spirit that they burst forth alternately into the “ Te Deum.” Note-- I. The bodily transport of the evangelist.1. This was miraculous, but we may learn from it-- (1) That there may be an operation of the Spirit on the body of man. “ I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.” “ He that raised up Christ shall also quicken your mortal body.” We commonly regard the body as an encumbrance, and look to our disenthralment from it by death. But St. Paul, who felt painfully enough the infirmities of his body--“ We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened” --yet cautions us against supposing that he wished to lay down his body at death, “ not for that we would be unclothed,” etc. Nor while he felt the burden of the flesh did he ignore the possibility of the body’ s consecration, and the noble uses it may serve (Romans 12:1). Let us, then, conform our view to Paul’ s. Let us consecrate our eyes to God by mortifying their lusts, and by studying His words and works; our ears by turning them from flatteries and sinful enticements, and by opening them to His Word; our hands, by labouring in our vocation, and by giving alms; our feet, by making them carry us on errands of mercy, etc. (2) That the minister’ s ambition should be to lead men to Christ and leave them there. The Baptist pointed his disciples away from himself to the Lamb of God, and, without a single pang of envy, saw them following the Lamb, and thus fulfilled his own joy. So with Paul, “ We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” But while the minister may not personally obtrude himself, it is quite possible to thrust his office into undue prominence. Christ did not send us to preach His ministry, but Himself. 2. Philip was found visiting the district afterwards traversed by Peter, thus again preparing the way for apostles. He had had a most interesting and refreshing conversation with the eunuch, and it must have occurred to him that thus it might please God to open a door for the evangelisation of Ethiopia. But now he was snatched away and planted down in a town full of heathen associations. The lesson is, that spiritual refreshment must be succeeded by work. The Christian must not expect to spend his life in delicious feeling. II. The mental transport of the convert. The evangelist was carried away in one direction, the Ethiopian in another; which may be the force of “ for” , or “ for” may mean the convert’ s ecstasy was so great that he did not notice Philip’ s departure. This seems strange, and hardly the conduct due to so great a benefactor. But we must remember that the ordinary ministerial tie could scarcely exist between these two strangers who had only known each other for an hour. And then, again, a glorious field had been opened to the eunuch in the new light thrown upon the Scriptures. But like all such strong emotions, the joy would presently subside, when Philip s absence would be noted; and this, with his advent, so miraculous, would confirm the convert’ s faith, as assuring him of a personal interposition of God. This joy, however, is the great evidence of having received Christ. It was so with the Samaritans (verse 8), and with the jailer. Have we this evidence? Do not let us deceive ourselves. In the sunshine of life it is possible to mistake happiness for joy. But happiness arises from circumstances, joy from an internal spring in God. (Dean Goulburn.)He went on his way rejoicing.--The rejoicing life I. In what it consists. I have read of a man who, though possessing all the good things of this life, declared that he had never known one happy day. And here is one who “ went on his way rejoicing.” What makes the difference? The one knew and loved his Saviour and Friend, the other had not so learned Christ. Of all secrets the best is the secret of a happy life. Some people imagine that it consists in having plenty of money, but money cannot cure a sick man or sweeten a bad temper; some that it lies in having good health, but a healthy man is not happy if he is discontented; others that it lies in great positions, but we know that many of the greatest statesmen and rulers have been haunted by fears and anxieties; others again that it may be found in scenes of continual amusement, but they are mistaken. There was once a famous comic actor whose appearance always created laughter. Once he went to consult a doctor who did not know him, and told him of his low spirits and bad health. The doctor advised him to go and see the famous clown, and his patient answered, “ Alas! I am that unhappy man.” No, the secret of a happy life is to be found only in God. David, St. Paul, Mary, and others found it so. II. Why is it that we have so many gloomy Christians? It is because they have not learned to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Friend. They believe in Him as some one else’ s Saviour perhaps, but have not realised Him as their own. This is not because they have too much religion, as the scoffers say, but because they have not enough. Be sure of this, that if your religion does not make you go on your way rejoicing, you have not learned it aright. But why are we who come to church not equally happy? The same seed is sown in all our hearts, but our hearts are not all the same. I have got a stony plot in my garden, and however much good seed I sow there, it won’ t grow. So it is with some of our hearts--they are not prepared, and the good seed falls as on a stone. Our first care, in learning the secret of happiness, should be to pray to God, the heavenly Husbandman, to prepare our hearts that we may receive the Word, and find the joy of that good part which no man taketh away from us. Sometimes people tell us that their food does them no good--they eat and drink, yet they waste away. Why? Because there is something wrong with their digestion. The food is good enough, but the mischief is in themselves. If religion does people no good, the fault is not in the religion, there is something wrong inside them, they cannot digest their spiritual food. They have lost a healthy taste for what is good; some sin is spoiling their taste for religion; they are like children whose appetite is clogged with unwholesome sweetmeats, so that they cannot enjoy honest food. You know that if you sow good seed in your field or garden, but suffer the thorns and thistles to grow, the good seed will have no chance. So it is with our lives--the good seed of God’ s Word cannot grow if we allow the thorns to choke it. And how abundant those thorns are! There is the thorn of pride. A young girl or lad is reproved for doing wrong. Instead of expressing sorrow, the one who is in fault stiffens their neck. Religion cannot benefit such an one. Then there is the thorn of bad temper. Some people hear the message of Divine love, and go home and straightway fly into a passion, and so the good is lost. III. How to lead the rejoicing life.1. Let us be sure that we are on the right way; if our way be not a rejoicing way, it is not the right way; we must quit it, and start again. Have you ever seen a child which has lost its way, wandering along crying? Well, when you have put that child into the right road, all is changed. We who are not happy in our religion are the children who have lost their way. “ Hold Thou up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” 2. If we are once on the right way we cannot help rejoicing, because we have so much to be thankful for. The man who takes all the good things which God sends him, and never feels thankful, cannot expect to be happy. I have read of a man who was once telling his religious experiences at a public meeting; he dwelt upon his trial, his troubles, and the hardness of the roar on which he had to travel. Presently another man spoke, and said, “ I see our friend is living in Grumbling Street. I lived there myself once upon a time, and nothing prospered with me. I never had good health, the air was bad, the house was bad, the sun never seemed to shine there, and no birds ever sang in that street. I changed my residence. I moved into Thanksgiving Street, and now I have good health. The days are bright, the sun shines, the air is pure, and the birds sing oftener than anywhere else. I advise our friend to change his quarters, there is plenty of room in Thanksgiving Street.” One great secret of happiness is to be thankful--“ in everything give thanks.” A woman who was too poor to cover her little boy with extra bedclothes to shelter him from the snow, which drifted through the broken wall, used to shelter him with boards. One night the little fellow asked, “ Mother, what do the poor folks do who have no boards to cover their children with these cold nights?” That little child was thankful, even for a bit of board! But to be thankful we must be contented; that is another great secret of happiness. The poorest Christian has all that he needs, “ as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” He has God for his Father, Jesus Christ for his Saviour, the Holy Spirit for his Guide, and heaven for his home. 3. You must love your brethren, and strive to help them along the road. If you would be happy yourselves, try to make others so, “ learn the luxury of doing good.” There is a beautiful story of a woman who had met with many trials and sorrows, yet was always cheerful, as though she were always in the sunshine. When she was dying, a stream of golden sunlight streamed across her bed, and a butterfly lighted on her breast. As she breathed her last the beautiful insect flew upward into the sunshine. So passes away a Christian soul into the light of perfect day, and goes on its way rejoicing. (H. J. W. Buxton, M. A.)Divine working in the unions and separations of man I. Divinity bringing men together. II. Divinity separating men from one another. They had to part, but who parted them? “ The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more.” Two thoughts are suggested.1. Their attachment; was already strong. Christ brings souls together, and centralises them in Himself. 2. The separation was only bodily. Souls thus united cannot be separated--no distance, no time, no force can do it. Indeed, bodily separation often deepens and intensifies soul attachments. III. Divinity uniting and separating men for the highest ends.1. The eunuch departs with a new joy. “ He went on his way rejoicing.” 2. Philip departs to prosecute his evangelic mission. “ But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.” Thus the Divine Spirit that united and separated these men did it not only to bless them, but through them to bless undoubtedly countless throngs. Thus Divinity ever works for beneficent ends. (Homilist.)Spiritual joy I. The causes of this Ethiopian’ s joy.1. He had heard the best of all news. 2. He had seen the most glorious of all sights (Isaiah 35:1-2; Isaiah 35:5-6). He saw the glory of the wisdom of God, of the power of God, of the holiness of God, of the justice of God, of the faithfulness of God, of the grace and mercy of God, manifested in the salvation of men; therefore “ he went on his way rejoicing.” 3. He had found the richest of all treasures. He could say, with an air of spiritual pleasure, as the two disciples did (John 1:41) I have found Him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote; I have found riches Of goodness, riches of grace, riches of glory, unsearchable riches, a kingdom that cannot be moved, a crown of life, a crown of righteousness, and a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 4. He had attained to the greatest of all honours. He was made a servant of the King of heaven; and some suppose that from this time henceforth he became a preacher of the gospel of His kingdom. Nay, “ not only a servant, but a son; a son of God, by faith in Jesus Christ. If a son, then an heir; an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ.” 5. He had got his title-deeds to heaven and eternal glory ratified and sealed. 6. He was blessed with all spiritual blessings, and had obtained the most glorious prospects for time and for eternity. II. The nature of this joy.1. The Holy Spirit is the author of this joy. It is planted in the heart by the power of the Spirit, it is drawn forth into exercise by His Divine agency. 2. The knowledge of our interest in Christ and God as our reconciled God in Him is the source and spring of this joy. 3. All the tribulations to which the people of the Lord are subjected in this present state cannot extinguish this joy. 4. The Word and ordinances of God are the means of communicating joy to the souls of the people of the Lord, and they are the means of feeding this joy. 5. The Christian himself, when in the highest raptures of spiritual pleasures, cannot fully describe the excellence of this joy. 6. This joy is perfected at death, and prolonged to all the endless ages of eternity. III. Inferences.1. Learn that pure and undefiled religion is not a melancholy thing. 2. That the Lord knoweth them that are His. 3. From this subject at large see the danger of returning home from the ordinances of God without your proper errand. 4. From this subject learn that men may wait long on God in the ordinances of His grace before they meet with Jesus. The man who gets a saving sight of Christ, though not till the last day of the feast, though not till the time of the preaching of the last sermon, the presenting of the last prayer, the singing of the last praise, the pronouncing of the blessing--nay, though not till he be on the road to his habitation, he will nevertheless go on his way rejoicing. 5. Is there a broken-hearted believer, under painful apprehension, that though he has been seeking Jesus, he has not found Him, and now saying, in the bitterness of his soul, I must go on my way sorrowing? Godly sorrow is not only consistent, but is inseparably connected with this joy in the Lord (Isaiah 29:19). (John Jardine.)Address after communion Your condition is in several respects similar to that of this man, He had solemnly avouched the Lord to be his God: you, with equal solemnity, have this day done the same. He had just received one seal of the covenant of grace” you, this day, have received the other. He had a long journey before him: ye also are travellers through this wilderness, toward the promised land of rest. In these circumstances I take occasion to address you with a twofold exhortation. I. Arise and go forward. Many who mistake the nature of this ordinance are very anxious and busy for a few days in making a sort of formal preparation for it. Then their countenances are demure, and their conversation is precise, and their attendance upon the most protracted services of devotion indefatigable; and this they call religion, and trust in its merit to absolve them from all the dishonest, worldly, uncharitable, and ungodly practices of which they are guilty in the other periods of their time. But I trust that ye have not so learned Christ. Let your present attainments, instead of satisfying you, only incite your zeal and ambition to rise still higher in the excellencies of the Divine life. Do not flatter yourselves with the prospect of uninterrupted ease and unclouded enjoyment; but consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself when at any time ye are weary or faint in your minds, and study to know Him in the power of His resurrection, and in the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death. Exercise yourselves daily in mortifying the deeds of the body; in crucifying the flesh, with its affections and lusts; and in opposing your inclinations as often as they oppose your duty. Thus labouring to be examples of patience, meekness, contentment, and to come behind in no good thing to which you are called; go on in the strength of the Lord. II. Rejoice as you go on.1. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, then rejoice that ye have passed from death to life, and that there is now no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus. 2. Rejoice that you are advanced to the dearest and most intimate relation to all the persons of the ever-blessed Godhead. By your new birth ye are become the sons of God, members of Christ, and temples for the Holy Ghost. 3. Rejoice that God has made with you an everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things and sure. 4. Rejoice that the life which is begun in you is an immortal principle that can never be extinguished. 5. Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Even amidst our most sublime delights we are conscious of a certain blank in our feelings which reminds us that this is not our rest; but in the presence of God there is fulness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore. (R. Walker.)Christian joy How is it that so few are like this eunuch is a very solemn and practical question. Some easily dispose of it.1. They tell us, we are not now in days of persecution, and that when God tries His saints, He stands by His saints with peculiar consolations. No doubt He does so; but the Word of God that is written, not for that day, but for all days, sets before us this truth--that gladness of heart is the very element of our dispensation. 2. Neither do they dispose of this matter who account for it by the sovereignty of God--alleging that God has so appointed it, and that therefore we must be contented without it. What God’ s secret purposes are we know not; but what His Word is, we know--“ Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice.” Note, then-- I. How the scripture describes the joy that is here spoken of. It is especially marked out as a “ fruit of the Spirit.” If you turn to Philippians1. it is described as the fruit of faith. “ Your furtherance and joy of faith.” In Hebrews 3:1-19. rejoicing is said to be the fruit of hope. “ The rejoicing of the hope” --that rejoicing that hope giveth. It is needful to lay some stress upon this description because some imagine of joy as if it were always some ecstatic state of mind. It is rather the highest exhibition of peace. High peace and low joy come so near to one another that it would be difficult to draw the line of distinction. But joy may still stop short of that which is ecstatic. A man may be “ joyful in the Lord,” peacefully and quietly. And numbers imagine, too, that one who “ rejoices in the Lord” is one who always rejoices in Him; as if there were no ebb and flow. But if this is a holy joy, it must be affected by sin; and you may be assured that that man’ s joy that is not affected by sin never came from God. It is the joy of a sailor that has faith for his cable and hope for his anchor, but he is in the midst of the stormy ocean, and continually does he stand exposed to all the changes of the storm, tempest, and the treacherous calm. It is the joy of a traveller through a wilderness, which he finds to be a wilderness, for it would show a want of sensibility (and a want of holy sense too) not to feel it so; but a man may have the keenest sense of the desolation of the wilderness, and yet realise this joy in his soul. It is the joy of a penitent; one who knows what is the element of a broken heart and contrite spirit; for where faith is repentance is, and they that have “ joy in believing” know it to be the joy of a penitent spirit. It is the joy of a returning prodigal, and they who know the most of what this holy joy is can understand the most of what that state of mind is--“ Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” There are many things said concerning this joy which I cannot touch on. I would only say, “ the stranger intermeddles not with it” ; it is a joy that is “ unspeakable, and full of glory.” It is a union of opposites. The more a man rejoices after this sort, the lower he walks before God; the lower he walks before God, the more he ascends in holy desires after Him. II. The inducements which are given us to go on our way rejoicing.1. God’ s command. I do not object to its being called a high privilege; but the highest point of all is God’ s command, “ Rejoice in the Lord alway.” Do not trifle with this Word of God. It may be one of the holiest precepts if the Holy Ghost should lay this upon your soul. And if it leads us into a serious inquiry wherefore it is not so, it shall be one of the most sanctifying inquiries both as it regards the causes that lead to it and the effects that follow from it. 2. The example of the family of God (1 Thessalonians 1:6; Philippians 3:2). 3. The privileges of a believer. Does he look at God in the greatness of His perfections? All His perfections are the favour of God, the light of God’ s countenance, the strength of God’ s arm, the love of God’ s heart, the hearing of God’ s ear, and the omniscience of God’ s mind (to say nothing of His justice, His holiness, His faithfulness), all surround His child day by day, night by night, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Do we look at the covenant? All that I can want is there; the pardon of my sin, the acceptance of my person, the sanctification of my soul, the help to strengthen me in my hours of need. III. Some of those hindrances that prevent the child of God from “ going on his way rejoicing.” I do not speak now of those who have no right to joy. Ah! there are some whose joy I should be glad to see turned into heaviness. And there are numbers of God’ s children that cannot rejoice. They are living at an uncertainty with regard to their “ election to God.” But with regard to those who do know something of what joy is, let me give you a word of caution that you lose it not. Beware of--1. Unbelief. It is the great hindrance (Psalms 77:1-20.). It led Asaph to write hard things, not only against himself, but against God. 2. Low views of Christ; In proportion as Christ sinks, everything sinks in you. 3. A hasty spirit in dark dispensations (Psalms 116:1-19.). 4. Worldly entanglements. 5. An uneven walk. Indulged sin, indulged neglect, the tampering with sin upon the conscience will quite prevent the joy of a man’ s soul. 6. All selfishness in religion. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)Christian joy I. The source. “ He went on his way rejoicing,” because of--1. The great discovery he had now made. He had found a Redeemer--Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write. (1) As a man awakened to a sense of spiritual danger, he must have felt the need of a Saviour prior to this. (2) As a proselyte to the Jewish faith, he must have been expecting the “ consolation of Israel” ; all the faithful longed for the “ coming one “ at this time. And nosy he discovers the deliverer in Jesus of Nazareth. 2. The great, change which he had now experienced. His mind was enlightened and his heart was changed. No thoughtful man could have reflected on what had now taken place within him without feeling grateful and happy. The joy of the bondman is great when delivered from the slavery of earth; but the joy of the emancipated is greater. We read of an ancient race who had been slaves for many years, and who were at last released; and when the great blessing of liberty was tasted by them they cried for several hours, “ Liberty! liberty! liberty!” Some years ago we redeemed 800,000 of West Indian slaves, and we are told that when the night of their emancipation arrived the excitement among the poor slaves became most painful, and when the midnight hour came the shouts of gratitude and joy were utterly beyond description. The deliverance of the slave of sin is a greater source of joy still. 3. The clearer views he must have had of God’ s nature, and the character of His dispensations. He was a worshipper of the living God before, but his views must have been very contracted in regard to the object and nature of worship. He confined his ideas of worship to one place far distant from his own home. He must have thought, too, that it was by becoming a proselyte to Judaism only he could be saved, “ salvation being of the Jews.” But now his mind was expanded by Divine truth, and he has broader views of the Father of Spirits, and of the spirituality of his religion. The wilds of Gaza were now converted into a house of God, and the very gate of heaven. 4. The prospects of usefulness; the hope of doing good in his own country. Every good man is happy at this. Having tasted that the “ Lord is gracious,” he is ever anxious to tell others of “ what God has done to his soul.” When a true-hearted man has any good news to publish, he feels a burden resting on his soul and finds relief only when he accomplishes his mission. This is especially the feeling of a true Christian. Religion is expansive in its very nature. “ She seeketh not her own.” 5. The glorious scenes opening before him in eternity. His views of futurity must have been unsatisfactory before he became a hearer of Philip. The heathen had but faint notions of a future life, and even among the Jews the idea of immortality was not clearly understood. Many of the saints of the Old Testament were “ all their life subject to bondage through fear of death.” But now “ life and immortality were brought to light through the gospel,” and the Ethiopian was filled with the “ hope of the glory of God.” II. The lessons. We find here--1. A noble example of regular attendance on the means of grace, and the study of the Holy Scriptures. 2. That true happiness is connected only with true piety. Happiness is not found in wealth, honour, or worldly pleasure. This distinguished man possessed all these before his conversion; but till now he was not happy. Nor does true happiness consist in mere outward forms of worship, or mere profession of religion. The eunuch was a convert to the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish religion; yet never before this do we find him “ going on his way rejoicing” from the great feasts. His soul was not satisfied with shadows. Now he finds the reality, and he finds “ joy and peace in believing.” The path of duty is the path of safety, it is also the path of pleasure. 3. That the grand theme of the gospel ministry in all ages is Jesus and His Cross. (H. P. Bowen.)Happiness and joy Happiness, according to the original use of the term, is that which happens, or comes to one by a hap; i.e., by an outward befalling, or favourable condition. Some good is conceived, out of the soul, which comes to it as a happy visitation, stirring in the receiver a pleasant excitement. It is what money yields or will buy--dress, equipage, fashion, luxuries of the table; or it is settlement in life--independence, love, applause, admiration, honour, glory, or the more conventional and public benefits of rank, political standing, victory, power. All these stir a delight in the soul which is not of the soul, or its qualities, but from without. Hence they are looked upon as happening to the soul, and in that sense create happiness. But joy differs from this as being of the soul itself, originating in its quality. And this appears in the original form of the word, which instead of suggesting a hap, literally denotes a leap or spring. The Latin has exult, which literally means a leaping forth. The radical idea, then, of joy is this--that the soul is in such order and beautiful harmony, has such springs of life opened in its own blessed virtues, that it pours forth a sovereignty from within. The motion is outward not toward, as we conceive it to be in happiness. It is not the bliss of condition, but of character. The soul has a light in its own luminous centre, where God is, which gilds the darkest nights of external adversity--a music charming all the stormy discords of outward injury and pain into beats of rhythm and melodies of peace. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)The joy of the first Christian experiences What delight there is to us in first things! The first primrose pushing through the clods telling of winter gone, and summer on the way; the first view of the sea in its wondrous expanse of power; the first sense of peace that came through faith in Christ as a Saviour. A certain authoress who became very famous, speaks of the exquisite sense of delight she felt when she began her first literary work in the reviewing of books: the opening of the first parcel was as the “ bursting of a new world” on her eyes. Dickens describes how he dropped his first published paper stealthily one evening at twilight, with fear and trembling, into a dark letter-box up a dark court in Fleet Street, and his agitation when it appeared in all the glory of print--“ on which occasion I walked down to Westminster Hall, and turned into it for half an hour, because my eyes were so dimmed with joy and pride that they could not bear the street, and were not fit to be seen there.” (H. O. Mackey.) Acts 9:1-3 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples.Saul, a persecutor Saul was an educated young man, and that he should engage in the work of persecution strikes us as anomalous and unnatural. In young men we naturally expect a frank concession of freedom to think and generous and chivalrous impulses. We are not much surprised when we find intolerance as men advance in life, for age is conservative, and may be narrow and bigoted. Young men are often sceptical and unsettled in their notions; they question the correctness of opinions long held to be true, and employ themselves in adjusting new discoveries to received truths. But the very nature of this process tends to make them liberal, for they cannot deny to others the liberty they claim for themselves. Old men, however, are confirmed believers or unbelievers; and hate to be opposed or unsettled. Hence we are not surprised that the Sanhedrin should be composed in a great part of “ elders,” nor that the principal functionaries of the “ holy office,” should be men of advanced years. Yet few men, young or old, have been so furious in persecution as was Saul (Acts 8:3; Acts 22:4; Acts 26:9-11; Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:13; 1 Corinthians 15:9). I. The prevalence of persecution. The manner in which new views have been received is one of the most remarkable things in history. The public tears of Pericles were necessary to save Aspasia, suspected of philosophy; but all his eloquence could not save Anaxagoras for having taught that there was an intelligent cause of all things. Socrates was put to death for teaching the same thing. Aristotle only saved his life by flight in order, as he said, to save the Athenians a new crime against philosophy. Plato was twice thrown into prison, and once sold as a slave. Galileo was imprisoned for maintaining that the sun is the centre of the universe. The Saviour was crucified, and in almost every country His religion has encountered opposition and secured a triumph only as the result of a baptism of blood and fire. II. Its causes.1. The war of opinion. A man’ s opinions are a part of himself, and become as dear as life or liberty. They are the measure of his reputation and influence, and are the result of all his experience and studies. To attack them is, therefore, to attack him; to overthrow them is to take away all that constitutes his claim to notice while living, or to remembrance when dead. This remark has additional force, if the matter is connected with religion. To attack this is to assail that which must be dearest of all to the heart of man, inasmuch as it may leave man in a world indisputably wretched with no hope of a better. Religious opinions, therefore, have been among the slowest to make progress; the strife in regard to them has been the most bitter; and freedom of religious speech has been among the last of the victories secured by the conflicts of past ages. 2. Vested interests. There are institutions, endowments, orders of men, customs and usages, that grow out of forms of doctrine. All the religions of ancient and most of modern times were sustained by law. Rome indeed recognised those of other nations, but then it was a principle that while each country recognised the rest, it allowed no attack on its own. When, therefore, Christianity attacked all forms of idolatry, it arrayed against itself all the malice of a mighty priesthood, and all the power of the State; and the result is well known. 3. The sanction given by religion to the corruptions of the human heart. The plan of the Prince of darkness has been to secure this for the indulgence of passion. Hence to attack vice, as true Christianity always does, and to carry a pure morality over the world, was to array against itself the power of all the religions of the earth. 4. The fixed aversion of the heart by nature to the holiness which God requires of man; to the scheme of salvation by the Cross, which is an “ offence” to one class, and a “ stumbling block” to another; to the doctrines of human depravity and of a just and changeless retribution, which grate hard on the natural feelings and are repulsive to human pride. III. Its effects.1. It has become, as the result of these trials, a settled principle that nothing which is good and true can be destroyed by persecution, but is established more firmly and spread more widely. It has led men to look with favour on what is persecuted; created a conviction that a right has been violated; awakened sympathy, stimulated inquiry in regard to the persecuted sentiments; and made the persecuted more firmly attached to their principles, and more eloquent in their defence. It has long since passed into a proverb that “ the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Imperial power and every device of human ingenuity has been resorted to in order to extinguish it; and it may be assumed now that if Christianity is to become extinct in the world, it must be by some other means than by persecution. 2. In like manner, persecution becomes a test of the reality of religion. It is not, indeed, a direct demonstration of its truth. The advocates of other systems have borne persecution patiently, but although this does not prove that they were suffering for the truth, yet it may be still true that the mass of men will somehow see in the endurance of Christian martyrs an argument for the Divine origin of their religion. The number has been so great--they have borne their sufferings so patiently--they have met death so calmly--so many of them have been distinguished for intelligence--and so many of them were witnesses of what they affirmed to be true, that the general impression on mankind is that sufferings so varied, so protracted, so meekly borne, could be only in the cause of truth. 3. The results of persecution are worth all which they cost. The results of the imprisonment of Galileo, of the sufferings of Columbus, etc., are more than compensated for. And the happiness which has been conferred on the world by Christianity since the fires of persecution were first kindled, and that which the world will yet enjoy when it shall be diffused over all the earth have been and will be more than a compensation for all the sufferings of all the martyrs. (A. Barnes, D. D.)The conversion of great men As it is in the exquisite mystery of printing, the great difficulty lies in the composing and working of the first sheet, for by that one many thousands are easily printed; so the work of the ministry is to convert great men. In uno Caesare multi insunt Marii In one great man are many inferiors contained. When the great wheel of the clock is set a-moving, all the inferior wheels will move of their own accord. How zealous was St. Paul about the conversion of Sergius Paulus, the deputy of the country! He knew well enough that to take such a great fish was more than to catch many little ones, though the least is not to be despised. (Calamy.)A remarkable conversion This incident occurred many years ago in the heart of the Black Forest in Germany. It was at the dead of night. The place was lighted by torches, which cast a ghastly glare through the surrounding gloom. Savage looking men, fully armed, were sitting round in a circle. One of their number was holding up something in his hand. These men were robbers. That evening they had robbed a stagecoach. According to their custom, they were now engaged in selling by auction among themselves the articles that had been stolen. Travelling bags, different articles of clothing, and various other things had been disposed of in this way. Last of all a New Testament was held up. The man who acted as auctioneer introduced this “ article” with some wicked remark, which threw the company into a roar of laughter. One of the company suggested, as a joke, that the auctioneer should open the book and read a chapter, as he said, “ for their edification.” This motion was seconded, and carried unanimously. Opening the book at random, he began to read with an air of mock solemnity. As he went on reading, laughs and jokes were heard all round. While this was going on one man in the company, the oldest member of the gang, and who had been their ringleader in all that was evil, became silent. He sat with his hands clasped on his knees, lost in deep thought. It happened that the passage the auctioneer had just read was the very one he had heard read thirty years before, at family prayer in his father’ s house, on the morning of the day when he left that home for the last time. In a moment all that scene came back to his memory. He thought of his father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and all that had made that home so sweet and happy to him then. Since leaving home he had never opened a Bibles never offered a prayer, and never had a thought of God or of eternity. But now, in a moment, his soul seemed to wake from that long sleep of thirty years. He thought of God; he thought of his wicked life, and was filled with sorrow and shame and fear. He was so occupied with these thoughts and feelings, that he took no notice of what was going on around him, till one of his comrades clapped him rudely on the shoulder, and said, “ Now, old dreamer, what will you give for that book? you need it most of all, for you have been the biggest sinner among us.” “ That’ s true,” said the startled robber. “ Give me that book, I’ ll pay you the full price for it.” The next day the robbers scattered, and went into the neighbouring towns and villages to sell what they had got by robbing. The man with the Testament also went away. But he did not wish to sell anything. He sought a quiet, lonely place. There he remained for several days, reading that wonderful Book of God, shedding bitter tears over his sins, and earnestly praying for God’ s pardoning grace. God heard his prayer. He found pardon and peace in believing, and became a new man. After awhile he went into one of the nearest towns to see a minister of the gospel. There he heard that the gang of robbers to which he had belonged had all been taken prisoners. He told the minister, whom he went to see, all about his previous life, and the change he had experienced. Then he gave himself up to the officers of justice. The rest of the gang were all put to death. But his free confession and evident repentance saved his life. He was put in prison, indeed; but, as he continued to behave like a truly penitent man, he was soon pardoned and released, and taken into the employment of one of the princes of that neighbourhood, and he proved a blessing to those about him all his days. (Christian Age.)“ Murder will out” In one sense, if not in the common understanding of that phrase. If hatred is in a man’ s heart, hatred will show itself in a man’ s words and acts; for “ out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” And if hatred does show itself in a man’ s words and acts, it is because hatred is in his heart. It is of no use for a man to say that his harsh and bitter words don’ t mean anything; that they are only on the surface. They do mean a great deal; they mean that under the surface he is fully as bad as he shows himself above the surface. And as it is with men so it is with children. When a child stamps and screams with anger, and “ just wishes nurse or teacher was dead,” that little one is breathing out the threatenings and slaughter which are in that little one’ s heart. Parents and guardians ought to have this truth in mind in dealing with the children of their charge. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus.--Soul’ s commission We learn from 2 Corinthians 11:32-33, that Damascus was at this time under the government of Aretas, the king of Arabia Petraea. How it came to be so, having been previously under Vitellius, the Roman president of Syria (Jos. ‘ Ant.” 14:4, § 5), is not clear. It is probable, however, that in the war which Aretas had declared against Herod Antipas, in consequence of the Tetrarch’ s divorcing his daughter in order that he might marry Herodias (see Matthew 14:3; Luke 3:14), he had been led, after defeating the Tetrarch (Jos. “ Ant.” 17:6, § 1), to push his victories further; and, taking advantage of the absence of Vitellius, who hastened to Rome on hearing of the death of Tiberius (A.D. 37), had seized on Damascus. In this abeyance of the control of the Roman power, Aretas may have desired to conciliate the priestly party at Jerusalem by giving facilities to their action against the sect which they would naturally represent as identified with the Galileans against whom he had been waging war. The Jewish population at Damascus was, at this time, very numerous. Josephus relates that not less than ten thousand were slain in a tumult under Nero (“ Wars,” 2:25), and the narrative of the Acts (verse 14) implies that there were many “ disciples of the Lord” among them. Many of these were probably refugees from Jerusalem, and the local synagogues were called upon to enforce the decrees of the Sanhedrin of the Holy City against them. (Dean Plumptre.)If he found any of this way.--The way We have here the first occurrence of a term which seems to have been used familiarly as a synonym for the disciples of Christ (Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14; Acts 24:22). It may have originated in the words in which Christ had claimed to be Himself the “ Way,” as well as the “ Truth” and the “ Life” (John 14:6); or in His language as to the “ strait way” that led to eternal life (Matthew 7:13); or, perhaps, again, in the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3) cited by the Baptist (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3) as to preparing “ the way of the Lord.” Prior to the general acceptance of the term “ Christian” (Acts 11:26) it served as a convenient, neutral designation by which might be used by others wished to speak respectfully, or, at least, neutrally, instead of the opprobrious epithet of the “ Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5). The history of the term “ Methodists,” those that follow a distinct “ method” or “ way” of life, offers a partial but interesting analogue. (Dean Plumptre.)The way I. The way is for lost wanderers. The very expression suggests man’ s need of a way, i.e., of salvation. This need arises out of--1. Men’ s ignorance, errors, sin, danger. Men are lost, and no created power or wisdom can recover them and make them safe. 2. Men’ s practical progressive nature put them in the right way, and then they need leading and keeping in it. A religion adapted to mankind must not only restore the wanderers, but further them on the right road. II. This Way is Christ. “ I am the Way,” “ the new and living Way.”1. Every way leads from some place. Christ leads from the land of bondage darkness, death. He both makes and shows a way out of a state of sin and condemnation. 2. What is the Way? The Lord, who delivers and conducts His emancipated ones in the way of obedience and righteousness by His Spirit. The new way of life adopted by the first Christians impressed beholders, who hence gave them the title of the people of “ the Way.” 3. To what end? (1) To God.(2) To heaven. There is fulness of satisfaction in this provision and prospect. III. The way is wisely planned and made. It is--1. Clear and plain, not to be mistaken by those who are resolved to find it. 2. Straight and narrow. It is the one only way from which the traveller must not deviate. 3. Safe. Narrow, but not too narrow for him who will keep it. IV. The way is for all men. Then--1. Discover it. It is not hard to find it: Be not misled. Take no other. 2. Walk in it. It is one of two. It leads to life, the other to destruction. It is in vain to praise it unless you make it yours. 3. Perseverance in it. Only such as continue in it can reach the goal. 4. Point it out to others. All true Christians live for this. (J. R. Thompson, M. A.)And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus.--Damascus The city has the interest of being one of the oldest in the world. It appears in the history of Abraham (Genesis 14:15; Genesis 15:2), and was, traditionally, the scene of the murder of Abel. David placed his garrisons there (2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Chronicles 18:6), and, under Rezon, it resisted the power of Solomon (1 Kings 11:24). Its fair streams, Abana and Pharpar, were, in the eyes of the Syrian leper, better than all the waters of Israel (2 Kings 5:12). It was the centre of the Syrian kingdom in its alliances and wars with those of Israel and Judah (2 Kings 14:28; 2 Kings 16:9-10; Amos 1:3; Amos 1:5). Its trade with Tyre in wares, and wine of Helbon, and white wool is noted by Ezekiel (chap 27:16, 18). It had been taken by Parmenion for Alexander the Great, and again by Pompeius. It was the birth place of Nicolaos of Damascus, the historian and rhetorician who is conspicuous as the counsellor of Herod the Great (Jos. “ Ant.” 12:3, § 2; 16:2, § 2). At a later period it was the residence of the Ommiyad caliphs, and the centre of the world of Islam. The beauty of its site, the river which the Greeks knew as Chrysorrhoas, the “ Golden Stream,” its abounding fertility, the gardens of roses, made it, as Lamartine has said, a “ predestined capital.” Such was the scene which met the bodily eye of the fanatic persecutor. The historian does not care to dwell on its description, and hastens to that which met his inward gaze. Assuming the journey to have been continuous, the approach to Damascus would come on the seventh or eighth day after leaving Jerusalem. (Dean Plumptre.)St. Paul on the way to Damascus How many thoughts have been awakened by the approach to the most ancient of existing cities! Abraham, as he journeyed from the far East, drew near to Damascus, and Elisha, as he journeyed from Samaria (2 Kings 8:7), and Ahaz when he went to meet the king of Assyria (2 Kings 16:9), and Mahomet who, as he approached it, exclaimed, “ Man can have but one Paradise in life--my Paradise is fixed above” ; and turned away lest that glorious city should tempt him from his mission. But of all the travellers who, “ as they journeyed came near to Damascus,” there is none who has such an interest for us as the great apostle. Let us consider-- I. Paul’ s conversion. Conversion--i.e., “ a turning round” from bad to good, from good to better, is necessary for us all. We are sometimes inclined to think that bur characters, once formed, can never be changed. This is not true. Our natural dispositions and faculties rarely change; but their direction can be changed; and the difference between their upward and their downward direction deserves the name of conversion. Paul, in great measure, remained the same as before--he retained his zeal, his power, his energy; but the turn which was given to these qualities gave a turn to his whole life, and, through him, a turn to the life of the whole world. He approached Damascus a furious persecutor; he entered it a humble penitent; he left it a great apostle. So is it with us. Much about us never can be changed; but much about us can and ought and, with God’ s help, will be changed. We are all on the road, not to Damascus, but to some end or object. To every one of us, as to St. Paul, that end or object will at last appear in a light totally different from what we now expect; and on that changed light may depend our happiness or misery, our usefulness or uselessness. II. How it was brought about.1. By the vision of Christ. How this entered into his soul we know not; but that it did enter there is sure from all that he afterwards did and said. And it is this same communion with Christ which still is the most powerful instrument of making every human soul better, and wiser, and nobler than it was before. 2. By calling to his mind the true knowledge of what he was doing. He thought that he was doing God service by trampling down an heretical sect. That voice from heaven told him that in those poor Christians he was persecuting the Great Friend and Deliverer of the world. So it is still; often we think that we are all right; that no one can find fault with us. And yet all the while, as God sees us, we are injuring the very cause we wish to promote; those of whom we think so little may be the very likenesses and representatives to us of Christ. “ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” 3. By the appeal to the best part of his own heart. “ It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” --against the goad, against the stings, of conscience. He had doubtless already had better feelings stirring within him from what he had seen of the death of Stephen and of the good deeds of the early Christians. In this way his conversion, sudden as it seemed at last, had been long prepared. His conscience had been ill at case; and in this perplexity it needed only that one blessed interposition of his merciful Lord to recall him to a sense of his better self. And each of us has a barrier against sin set up within him against which we may kick, but which will, thanks to the mercy of God, long resist our efforts. III. What resulted from it. This is too great a subject to be spoken of here in all its parts. But one single point is put before us by this morning’ s lesson (Acts 24:25). If we wish to make St. Paul’ s conversion and doctrine anything more than a mere name, we shall try to bear away from the road on which it took place the thought of at least these three things--the duty of justice, and self-restraint, and the certainty of a judgment to come. (Dean Stanley.) Acts 9:3-19 And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heave.The heavenly light As the supernatural reflects the moral in all the miracles of the Bible, so in the conversion of St. Paul. We have here-- I. An emblem of the gospel. “ a light from heaven.” All knowledge is light. But as the light here was peculiarly dazzling, so the gospel is a special revelation of God’ s will. It is heavenly light, because--1. Of its Divine origin. The apostles denied that they preached “ cunningly devised fables.” As the eye is made for the light, so the soul is made for Divine truth. The gospel speaks with so much clearness and authority, that conviction is carried home. Would anyone have convinced Saul that he saw merely the blaze of a torch. Nor can anyone persuade the believer that he is only influenced by the words of man? “ Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 2. Of its benign influence. The light and heat of the sun come like every good and every perfect gift, from the Father of lights. As heaven is bright and loving, so the gospel is the good news of salvation to men. It brings the peace and smile of heaven. There was darkness before, but now God hath shined in our heart. 3. It leads heavenward. Christians are not pilgrims because they are forced by time to move on, but because they have the light, and move in the right direction. II. An illustration of Divine methods. “ Suddenly there shined a light.”1. The sovereignty of the Divine will. God has no need of consultations with His creatures. His wisdom is infinite, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Romans 11:33-36). How unexpected the scene near Damascus. You ask, why God has done this? and the only answer is, “ I am that I am.” You must accept the Saviour on this ground: it is the will of God. 2. The decisiveness and finality of the Divine acts. The appearance to St. Paul was as emphatic as it was sudden. There was no mistake as to the source of the communication. Jesus met with Saul, not to parley with him, but to acquaint him with the ultimatum of the court of heaven. You perceive this in Paul’ s answer. The gospel is of none effect unless it carries with it its final appeal and authority. 3. The mercifulness of the Divine purposes. God comes to save, and not to destroy our souls. (Weekly Pulpit.)When need is greatest God is nearest Proved-- I. To Saul. When sin rose highest the Lord snatched him back. II. To the Christians at damascus. When the enemy was even before the gate, the Lord called, “ Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.” (K. Gerok.)Saul’ s conversion I. Saul before conversion. He seems to have been aroused to supreme violence by the martyrdom of Stephen. Like some beasts of prey which grow uncontrollable the moment they taste blood, this restless zealot “ breathed out threatenings,” a metaphor which reminds one of pictures of war horses snorting fire from their kindled nostrils. We see then--1. That a young man can be thoroughly moral and yet be anything but a Christian. Compare what Paul said of himself about this period of his life (Acts 23:1) with what he writes about his correctness according to the standard of those times (Philippians 3:4-6). 2. That a young man can be very conscientious and honest, and yet not be a Christian (Acts 24:16). Everybody admitted that Saul acted up to his convictions. What he thought to be right, that he did swiftly and fearlessly (2 Corinthians 1:12; Acts 26:9-11). 3. That a young man can be very zealous in religion, and yet do more injury than good. What our Lord thought of the Pharisees we know, but He never credited them with indolence (Matthew 23:15). But Saul prided himself on being one of the “ straitest” of them (Acts 26:4-5). There is a zeal not according to knowledge: and it makes a vast difference what a man believes, even if he is sincere; for the more sincere he is, if he be wrong, the worse it is for him and everybody else. 4. That when a young man becomes a true Christian he perceives the sorrowful mistake he made before (Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:12-16; 1 Corinthians 15:9). II. Saul’ s conversion. Observe here--1. How surely fixed is the unseen limit beyond which rebellious sinners are not permitted to go. God sometimes suffers a bad man to succeed in a bad cause, so as to make his arrest more abrupt, and his final failure more overwhelming. He did not stop Saul at Jerusalem; He let him prance his proud steed across Palestine; then He interposed, and with one flash of His presence He ended that high career. 2. How surely fixed is the Divine grace within which a penitent sinner can find safety. The issue is always narrowed down to two persons, God and the human soul; that is the reason why God takes conversion sovereignly into His own hands, and that is the reason why we cannot repent or believe for each other. Mark the words “ thou” and “ me” at the beginning and at the end of the conversation. It was as if Christ had told Paul, the conflict is between Me and thee; and then it was as if Paul told Christ he admitted it, duty is from me to Thee. When that supreme point in a soul’ s history is reached, and never before, it is easy to find peace; for the soul stands before a merciful God at last. Conclusion: The lesson leaves this proud persecutor in a pitiable condition of humiliation. But Saul is happy; he has become Paul. He takes a new commission; he is a “ chosen vessel” now (Acts 5:15). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Conversion of St. Paul The festival of the Conversion of St. Paul falls aptly near the end of the Epiphany season, for it was brought about by a manifestation of Christ, and that vouchsafed to one who, though himself a Jew, was chosen to “ be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.” The manifestation on the road to Damascus was of Christ glorified. St. Paul alludes to this distinction in the Epistle to the Galatians (Galatians 1:1). The apostle, like the original twelve, was called by Christ Himself; but it was his special and solitary honour to have been “ commissioned by the risen and glorified Lord.” There are three manifestations of Christ in glory, or rather three to whom these epiphanies were vouchsafed--St. Stephen, St. Paul, and St. John. Over and above their special purposes in relation to the persons to whom our Lord appeared, these unveilings of Christ, since the “ cloud received Him out of our sight,” help us to realise the continuity of His work in heaven. St. Paul was drawing near to Damascus. It was about noon. The city may be seen from afar. The desert is passed. The eye feasts itself upon the green avenues through which the ancient capital is approached. In the distance may be descried the faint outline of its white buildings standing out against the azure sky. Saul catches already the murmurs of “ the rivers of Damascus,” and the ripple of the rivulets which glisten and sparkle and leap amongst the tangled brushwood. The perfume from the Syrian gardens, in which shrub, and fruit, and flower, are intermingled in wild profusion, which refresh the weary traveller, have little charm for him. He is “ breathing out” slaughter. His mind is filled with the thought of how many disciples of Christ he may lay violent hands upon, and bring “ bound unto Jerusalem.” There is, however, another image which will rise up before his memory. There is the face of a young man, his eyes uplifted towards heaven. Saul hears again his dying prayer, and the thuds of the stones which are falling around him; he cannot shake off the remembrance--the courage and the forgivingness of the youthful martyr--“ Thy martyr Stephen” (Acts 22:20), what was it sustained him? When--“ suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” The Church usually celebrates the martyrdom of the saints, the end rather than the beginning of their spiritual course. But, as she marks in her Calendar the conception and nativity of our Lord’ s mother, and the birth of St. John the Baptist, so she keeps a festival to commemorate the conversion of St. Paul. It is the great turning point in Saul’ s history, a change somewhat out of the range of the ordinary operations of grace. We call it in our collect a “ wonderful” conversion. Let us inquire into the cause of Saul’ s conversion, and secondly, note what is marvellous about it. I. The narrative of St. Paul’ s conversion is three times told in the Acts of the Apostles, besides the apostle’ s allusions to it in several Epistles. From all we gather that the great change in Saul’ s convictions was brought about by a vision. It was the result of grace, though two factors, as we shall presently see, combined to produce it. Grace may come to us from without or from within. Grace in both these ways moved the soul of Saul of Tarsus. God appeals to us both through outward objects, and by His voice within. By the preaching of the gospel, by the working of miracles, by the events of Divine Providence, by the influence and power of good example, He can speak to us. He spoke to Saul in a vision. There are those who deny, or at least doubt, the supernatural character of the event. Saul “ fell to the earth,” they say; but this might have taken place through natural causes. The whole might have been the result of a thunderstorm, a sunstroke, a fit, or simply might have arisen from mental hallucination. But Saul’ s companions in travel also heard the “ voice,” though they saw not the Form, nor caught the words. They “ saw indeed the light, and were afraid.” The light “ above the brightness” of the midday sun, St. Paul says, when standing before Agrippa, not only encircled himself, but “ them which journeyed with” him, and all fell to the earth together. It was at noon when all in Eastern climes is hushed and still, and beneath a cloudless sky, that this happened. All Saul’ s prepossessions, all Saul’ s interests from an earthly point of view, his reputation and his honour, are against the change which at that moment was wrought. St. Paul is no visionary, but a man of masculine mind and clear judgment. Intellect appears to predominate over the imaginative faculty in the apostle, if we may judge from his Epistles. God speaks sometimes in visions to His saints. These visions are of different kinds; some addressed to the mind, others to the imagination, some to the eye of sense. St. Paul’ s was of the last kind, like the burning bush which Moses saw, and from the midst of which the voice of God was heard; so Saul saw with his eyes, and was blinded by the glory which he beheld. But grace from without is not enough. The fact that only one of the two thieves who were crucified with Christ repented will be sufficient to show that man may have the grandest opportunities and neglect them. The vision was rich, indeed, in revelation upon which St. Paul gazed--Jesus glorified--“ I am Jesus of Nazareth,” not only “ I was.” The memories of earth will not be expunged by the waters of Lethe from the soul as it passes into the eternal world. Jesus is still “ Jesus of Nazareth.” His history is a part of Himself. Saul, as he was persecuting the Christians, looked back to Christ, thought of Him only in reference to His mortal life in the past. Now he realises a present Christ--that which some who have been brought up as a Christian fail to do--and, moreover, learns the truth that Christ is one with His members, and that in persecuting them he was persecuting Him. It was, then, a rich external revelation of truth to Saul, but it needed inward grace that it might become victorious. The soul must be illumined also from within. The inspirations of that Spirit whose work it is to “ receive of” Christ and reveal Him unto us, must be vouchsafed. And this also was granted. “ It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’ s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me” (Galatians 1:15-16). The cause, then, of St. Paul’ s conversion, as of all others, is the grace of God. But there is another factor which has ever its share in the work of conversion--the human will. God does not destroy our moral accountability. Even in the case of St. Paul, whose conversion was in many ways “ wonderful,” it rested with himself whether he would or would not yield to the grace which was given him. He distinctly asserts that he was “ not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19). It was a moment not only of rich revelation, but also of entire self-surrender, when Saul exclaimed, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” II. We have considered how the grace of God, from without and from within, and the cooperation of the human will, changed Saul into Paul, the persecutor into the apostle. Now look at the greatness of the event; in what respects it was wonderful. The justification of a sinner is ever a great event. St. Paul’ s conversion was wonderful because of the sharp antagonism between his previous and subsequent life. This antagonism is common when of a moral kind. Such a sharp contrast may be traced between the life of St. Mary Magdalene or St. Matthew, before their conversion and after. But it was the strength and violence of St. Paul’ s religious opinions which underwent this remarkable change. He was blinded by prejudice and passion.1. It was wonderful, in that the grace of God overtook him in the very act of sin, as he was drawing near to Damascus, in the very acme of opposition and of violence. Souls sometimes prepare the way for God’ s grace by outwardly ceasing from sin. The stone of evil habit is removed from the door of that sepulchre before the voice of Christ penetrates into the realms of the dead. But St. Paul’ s experience is an illustration of the mission of God the Son to mankind--“ While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 2. The change was “ wonderful” too, in its suddenness. Conversions may be suddenly or gradually effected. St. Peter’ s is an instance of a spiritual evolution, the gradual development of a vocation: Paul’ s of a sudden and more violent change. The former is a type of what is normal; the latter, of what is wonderful or extraordinary. God turns water into wine at Cana in a moment, but this was a miracle. He brings wine regularly out of the vine by means of the natural processes of growth and culture. Nor again, must we exaggerate the suddenness of St. Paul’ s conversion, though we admit that it was wonderful. St. Stephen’ s martyrdom had made an ineffaceable impression on his mind. Revolutions do not take place in history without a long series of events which lead up to them, though they seem to burst upon the world in a moment: so with the great apostle, though sudden was the change, there were doubtless preparations of grace going before it. 3. Lastly, it was wonderful in its completeness. There is usually the gradual growth, oftentimes the fluctuations or relapses. The new life has “ first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” But in St. Paul’ s case, as in the miracle of Cana, which we have already alluded to as in some sense its analogue--the miracle of turning water into wine, “ the good wine” surpassed the ordinary produce of the grape; so the operations of grace seemed to have been so condensed in the soul of St. Paul as to bring fruit to perfection at once. He seems not to pass through what spiritual writers describe as the stages of purgation, illumination, and union with God, but attains at once to a vigorous spiritual life and a burning love for Christ. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)Conversion To consider, then, the circumstances of St. Paul’ s conversion as an outline of our own. “ He fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him.” It is, accordingly, mostly amid terror and amazement that men are restored to God. God has impressed a law on the natural world also, that healthful cure can, for the most part, only take place through bitterness and suffering. The cures of our bodies picture to us the cures of our souls. The progress may be more or less painful; but bitterness is mixed in all. Those who have felt it say that the restoration of suspended life is far more suffering than apparent death. Restored circulation has pain; every touch of our body, whereby health is given back, has pain; well-nigh every healing medicine is bitter or revolting to our taste. By this universal law God would reconcile us to those merciful bitternesses, whereby He corrects our vitiated love for the destructive sweetnesses of this world, and cures our sickly tastes and appetites, teaching us to find no sweetness but in Him. So He prepares us beforehand to look to them as healthful, and find therein our health. Yes! sorrow, sickness, suffering, loss, bereavement, bring with them precious hours. God blinds us, like Saul, to the world, that, like Saul’ s, He may open our eyes to Him. He strikes us down, that He may raise us up. We should not be eager to escape sorrow, but only, through sorrow, to escape death. But pain of body, and sorrow of heart, have their end; if not sooner, yet in the grave: terror of soul has of necessity no end. Time, if it does no more, reconciles to sorrow, but not to fear. Man can endure the past, because it is past; the present, because it must end: but fear for the future, when the future is eternity, has no end. Yet it was through fear that God brought St. Paul to Himself; “ and he trembling and astonished said.” Nay, so wrapt up in this fear and awe did the heavenly voice leave him, that for three days and three nights he neither ate nor drank, but prayed. In fear He struck him to the ground; in fear and blindness, though with hope, He raised him. Fear, exceeding fear of hell, is one of the most usual ways in which God brings us back to Himself. It needs not that others have warned us of it, Children may hear of it, as it should seem, when man intends it not to reach them. But God brings it home to their tender consciences. To “ cease to do evil,” and “ learn to do well,” is the whole of repentance, but such repentance is not learned without sorrow, sorrow, heart-searching in proportion to the sin. “ God,” it has been said, “ willeth to save sinners, but He willeth to save them as sinners. If He saved them by a simple change of heart, without any repentance for their past life, He would save them as innocent. He wills that they should feel ‘ that it is an evil thing and bitter to have forsaken the Lord thy God.’” God Himself, in His miraculous conversion of His chosen vessel, St. Paul, kept him three days and three nights without relief. During that long space of fixed sorrow and humiliation, intenser than we have ever felt, He allowed not his mind to be ministered to by man. How much more may we be content to bear sorrow and fear, who, wherein we have sinned, have sinned against the light, not of the law only, but of the gospel; not against the light shining around us, but against the light, lightened within us; not against a revelation made without us, but grieving the good Spirit of God placed within us. Sorrow then and aching of heart, brought upon us by God, are mostly the means by which God brings back His prodigal children; sorrow or fear without us, to grow by His grace into a godly fear and dread within us. And as we cannot make ourselves sorrow, so we should beware how of ourselves we cease to sorrow, or use the promises of the gospel to heal our pain rather than our sickness. St. Paul lay there where he was stricken, until God said to him, “ Arise.” It is a fearful thing to see how people, on an imagined conversion, contrive to forget what they have been, or remember it only to thank God that they are not now such. Yet the sorrow is not to end in itself. St. Paul had to arise and do God’ s bidding; and we must arise, and with him ask, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” With him too we must do it; keeping back nothing when we ask, and shrinking from nothing which is laid upon us. Such was St. Paul’ s conversion. He freely offered up all, and took all. All he had been he gave up; what he was not he, in God’ s hand, became. He was a ravening wolf, he became a lamb; the persecutor, he became persecuted. So was he in all things, and that exceedingly, transformed into the opposite of what he was before. And this is the most hopeful sign of a real healthful change wrought in us, when we become in life other than we were before; if we, like him, become blinded to the world, and see only in the world Him who was crucified for us, and “ with Him” are ourselves “ crucified to the world” ; if for ambitious, we become lowly; for proud, humble; for angry, meek; for impatient, patient; for self-indulgent, self-denying; for covetous, liberal. Nor, again, are we to hope to have all our way plain before us, or to see His face equally clearly, as when He first by His merciful severity checked our wayward course, and recalled us to ourselves and to Him. By merciful interpositions, if we heed them, He sets us, from time to time, in a right course, but then He leaves us to the ordinary channels of His grace, and the guidance, which He has provided in His Church. Even to St. Paul He declared not at once, all He had in store for him. (E. B. Pusey.)Saul of Tarsus converted This event, which happened on the Damascus road about the year 37 A.D. was truly one of the most momentous of history. The meaning of this remarkable occurrence reaches out a long way. Indeed, since the New Testament is the final revelation for the Christian Church on earth, the power of Saul’ s’ conversion must be felt to end of time. I. Its meaning first, of course, concerned himself.1. He was convinced of the truth of Christianity. By Christianity we mean the doctrine that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. By what sort of an argument was Saul convinced of the truth of Christianity? The reasons for his becoming a Christian were both external and internal. The miracle was double, and whatever any one of any school of thought might require as a sufficient ground for such a tremendous change as was brought about in Saul is actually supplied in his case. He became a Christian really and rationally. 2. By this change Saul was led into an entirely new kind of life, not only in his heart, but in his work. Christianity was not only his creed, it was his business. Saul was to abolish Judaism as a half-way step to Christianity; he was to preach salvation to the Gentiles as Gentiles. To this change, planned by God to be brought about through Saul, our conversion is due. This work was to be done through a life of unusual obedience to Christ. Its type is presented to us at the very opening of Saul’ s Christian career in the question, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” 3. And how was all this brought about? Wholly of the grace of God. Saul did not convert himself, did not designate his work to himself, did not characterise it With suffering, did not furnish his own spiritual equipment for it. All was from God. II. Saul’ s conversion had a great influence on the Christians of his day.1. It showed them that God’ s care was over them. 2. It showed that God’ s power was behind His care. It is not enough to watch unless one is able to help. God knew and God was able. If He could make a man like Saul of Tarsus over into a follower of Jesus He could do anything; for this was the impossible, ordinarily speaking. 3. Saul’ s conversion showed the early Christians that God would use means for their blessing and the furtherance of His work such as they had not expected. III. To Christian truth always Saul’ s conversion has especial value.1. In the line of Christian doctrine it has force. Saul’ s experience was not in a dream or in a vision. It was in broad daylight, under normal conditions. Thus he beheld Christ in glory. Christ then is alive, He is glorified, and His glory is not spiritual alone, but of such a kind that it can be apprehended by other ways than by thought upon His character. He can be present wherever He chooses in His glorified body, and can reveal Himself when He likes. The doctrine of the existence and work of the Holy Spirit is touched upon in the story of Saul’ s conversion. 2. Saul’ s conversion has immense value in the department of apologetics--the defence of Christianity. There is a problem here which mere naturalism has never been able to solve. Saul presumably was able to know either a stroke of lightning or a sunstroke if he had experienced it. An attempt has also been made to explain Saul’ s conversion on psychological lines. Because at once (verse 5) he addresses Christ as Lord (Kyrie, which in this place is nothing more than the ordinary word of salutation to a superior), and because Christ (verse 5) says it is hard for him to kick against the pricks (which means only that opposition to Christ is useless), it has been thought that Saul’ s conscience had been troubling him and making him wonder if perhaps Jesus were not the Christ, and so preparing him to be converted on a slight occasion. But the record gives not a hint of any such psychological preparation. Out of deliberate and bitter antagonism Saul was converted to Christ. The conditions were as unfavourable to his conversion as they could be made. No stronger evidence for the miraculous, supernatural character of Christianity could be offered. If Saul did not see Christ, then the strongest convictions of the clearest minds cannot be respected, and no thinking whatever is ever worth anything. 3. Saul’ s conversion has an especial relation to Christian mission. There are some special notes worth making in addition to these, in connection with the conversion of Saul. (1) All men need conversion. Saul was a good, moral, even godly man before he became a Christian. (2) No one is too hard a subject for a possible future Christian. (3) The outline of the soul’ s progress in conversion is the same for all. (4) Grace is the only means of our salvation. All is from God. (5) There is a work for everyone who is made Christ’ s. We are elected to work. (6) Our work is accomplished through suffering. What we gain we pay for. Let us not grudge the cost. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)The conversion of Saul I. The truth of Christianity. II. The sovereignty of God in the conversion of men. What has he, in regard to his salvation, which he did not receive? It is needful, in this connection, that we should be cautioned in regard to two points.1. The conversion of Paul, while it illustrates God’ s sovereignty, does not exhibit any uniform plan as to the exercise of that sovereignty. He saves men by different ways. 2. We need to be reminded, by way of caution, that the sovereignty of God in the conversion of men gives no encouragement to continued impenitence. Therefore, harden not your heart. Reply not against God. Presume not on His forbearance. III. The riches of Divine mercy towards the chief of sinners. (H. J. Van Dyke.)Saul’ s conversion God’ s glorification God is such an Artificer, that He has pleasure only in difficult masterpieces, and not in trifling pieces of work. Also He works with special pleasure from the block. Therefore He has from of old selected especially very hard wood and stones in order to show His skill in them. (M. Luther.)The conversion of Saul The three greatest facts in redemptive history in the order of time and importance are the advent of Christ, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the conversion of Saul. Consider Saul-- I. As an enemy to the cause of Christ. His enmity was--1. Intense, as we gather both from the narrative (verse 1) and the man’ s character. He was a man of-- (1) Strong intellect, which gave power to his passions.(2) Strong impulses, which gave force to every purpose.(3) Invincible conscientiousness, which led him to the greatest cruelty without flinching. 2. Practical. (1) He gets his persecuting plans legalised (verse 2).(2) He prosecutes his commission. (a) Promptly. (b) Thoroughly (Acts 8:3). II. As conquered by the revelation of Christ.1. The nature of this revelation. (1) By symbol. “ A light from heaven” --probably the Shekinah glory--not recognised as such by his companions, but seen by Saul to be the garment in which He clothed Himself whom Saul was persecuting. (2) By words. (a) In the same tongue in which He had conversed during His earthly ministry. (b) Emphatic. Jesus often used such repetitions, to fix attention. “ Martha, Martha.” “ Simon, Simon.” (c) Most exciting. “ Why persecute Me? What injury have I done to thee?” 2. Its effects. It brought him-- (1) Into conscious contact with Christ.(2) To a complete submission to the will of Christ. III. As exhibited in the service of Christ (verse 20). What a change is this! The messenger engaged to enlist Saul is here introduced. Ananias was especially selected and especially directed. Note here--1. The reason assigned for the message received. Paul’ s prayer, which reached the heart of Christ, was answered in the mission of Ananias. 2. The manner in which the message was at first received. Reluctantly (verses 13, 14). 3. The Divine argument with which the message was again urged (verses 15, 16). Saul’ s subsequent history realised all that is here stated (Acts 25:1-27; Acts 26:1-32; Acts 27:1-44; 2 Corinthians 11:23-28). 4. The manner in which the message was carried out. (1) Affectionately. “ Brother Saul.”(2) Faithfully. Ananias does not go in his own name, but in Christ’ s.(3) Effectively. No remedies were applied, but the cure was perfect. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The conversion of Saul Look at the conversion of Saul-- I. As illustrating the great moral change which is essential to the salvation of every sinner. Note--1. The feelings developed in connection with it. (1) A vivid consciousness of Christ.(2) Anxious inquiry.(3) Profound contrition.(4) Earnest prayer. 2. The display of human and Divine in effecting it. (1) There is the human in Saul. The Divine is not sufficient to account for Saul’ s conversion; for it was as strikingly displayed in the eases of Pharaoh, Salaam, and the witnesses of the crucifixion. God created us without our consent, but cannot save us without it. There was something in Saul that made him susceptible to the Divine influence. He was conscientious, and reverenced the Divine will as far as he knew it. (2) There is the human in Ananias. God usually converts man by man. 3. The thoroughness of the change. How vast the difference between the man of verse 1 and the man of verse 20. II. As supplying a cogent argument in favour of the Divinity of the Christian faith. Lord Lyttleton has ably demonstrated this. The argument may be thus shaped:1. If the testimony of Paul concerning Christ be true, Christianity is Divine. Jesus was the grand theme of his ministry--Jesus the promised Messiah, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world. If you believe Paul, you must believe in Christ. 2. If the conversion of Saul is a reality, his testimony must be true. This conversion shows that he had all the qualifications necessary to bear a credible testimony. (1) The necessary intelligence. He was no blind fanatic, but saw, heard, and felt Christ. (2) The necessary candour. If a witness is prejudiced, his testimony is vitiated; but Paul’ s prejudices were all against Christ. (3) The necessary disinterestedness. He had everything to lose, and nothing to gain. III. As affording hope of mercy to the greatest sinner (1 Timothy 1:16). (D. Thomas, D. D.)The conversion of Saul 1. Philip was sent to the eunuch of Ethiopia, and he made excellent work in that direction. Why was not Philip sent to the next man? He also rode in a chariot, and he also was deeply interested in religious questions. As well have sent a lamb to a lion! Is there no method in these providences? Does success in one case mean success in another? Will one kind of preaching do for every kind of hearer? Who will go to Saul? Not a man. Saul must be struck with lightning Divine. The thunder must take him in charge! 2. Christianity wrought a marvellous change upon a man of conscience. Saul was in a singular sense a most conscientious man. He was not a ruffian. He was a Pharisaic saint. He was a sincere man. There is nothing in all human history so terrible in opposition as conscience that is not based on reason. 3. Every man is born into the family of God by what may be called a miraculous conception. The new birth is always a miracle. Saul was converted miraculously. You were converted miraculously. We approach some mountain heights so gradually, that we are hardly aware that we have been climbing until we find ourselves without any further height to ascend. So it may be with many conversions. The great question for us to settle is. Are we really in Christ? 4. Christianity always creates the most marked experience of the individual mind. In the eunuch the experience was one of joy. In Saul it was one of thoughtfulness and prayer. (J. Parker, D. D.)The conversion of Saul We have heard opinions about what we term sudden conversions. Some persons do not believe in them. But here is the first word that is objected to! It is an Old Testament word. Suddenness was approved by the Lord of the Jewish Church. “ The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple.” Mark the harmony of that particular feature of the incident with the Divine purpose. A slow, deliberate, intellectual transformation would have been a moral violence under circumstances so peculiar. What could be more harmonious in all its particulars and relations than the conversion of the eunuch? A man quietly reading in his chariot and filled with wonder as to the meaning of the mysterious Word, what more seemly than that a teacher should sit beside him and show the meaning of the sacred mysteries? But here is a man “ yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter” with such a man you cannot reason; God therefore suddenly strikes him to the ground. Let us admire this providence of arrangement and this inspiration of incident, as well as the stupendous conversion itself. Do not reprove the suddenness until you understand all the circumstances. The very suddenness may itself be part of the occasion. Now, look at the incident as showing-- I. Saul’ s relation to Judaism--i.e., to his past life. Does Jesus Christ condemn Judaism? No. He Himself was a Jew. There is not a word of chiding in all the speech. The only thing that was being done was that Saul was hurting himself. “ Why kick against the pricks?” The persecutor only hurts himself. The bad man digs a hell for himself. Christ did not condemn the personal attitude of Saul. Saul was a man of the Old Testament, which says “ an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The heretic and blasphemer must be stoned. Saul was therefore keeping strictly within historic lines and constitutional proprieties when he said, in effect, “ This novel heresy must be stamped out with force.” Christianity does not condemn Judaism; it supersedes it. Christianity takes it up, realises all its types, and symbols, and ceremonies. Judaism is the dawn, Christianity is the full noontide. Christianity brings to maturity and sweetness all the roots and fruits of the Judaism. The Jew is simply a man who has not come on to the next point in history. But for Judaism, there could have been no Christianity. We are debtors to the Jew. The Gentiles never converted themselves. The Jew was sent to the Gentile. The most stubborn prejudices were turned into the most anxious sympathies, and this is the crowning miracle of the grace of Christ. II. His conversion as the greatest triumph which Christianity has accomplished. This was the master miracle. Who is this man? A Jew, of an ancient and honourable pedigree; a student, a scholar, a man of high and influential station. There lay within him capacity to do anything that mortals ever did. His hand once upon the prey, the prey was dead, unless the fingers be unloosed by Almightiness. Jesus Christ Himself directly undertakes his conversion, and works thus His supreme spiritual miracle. When Saul was converted, there was more than one man changed. There is a conversion of quality, as well as a conversion of quantity. Statistics cannot help you in this matter. Let a Saul of Tarsus be converted, and you convert an army. He will not let the world allow him to travel through incog. We can go through the house, the market, and the exchange, without anybody identifying us! Saul of Tarsus will never pass without recognition, and no town will he be in without setting up his holy testimony. Conclusion:1. The Lord uses a remarkable expression in verse 11. “ Behold, he prayeth.” Had he not been praying all his lifetime? In a certain sense, yes; but whilst saying prayers, punctilious in ritual, exemplary in all the outward observances of his Church, Saul had yet, in a Christian sense, never prayed. Prayer is a battering ram which only a Christian arm can work. 2. Another remarkable expression we find in verse 16. “ I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’ s sake.” Mark the harmony of this arrangement. God knows what we are doing, and He pays to the uttermost. “ Be not deceived, God is not mocked,” etc. Adonibezek said, “ As I have done, so God hath requited me.” Samuel said to Agag, “ As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women.” Saul was in this succession, a student in that school of compensation. Saul was now made to feel how exactly true these terms were (cf. Acts 8:3 with Acts 14:9; Acts 9:1 with chap. 23; Acts 26:10 with Acts 16:26). Do not suppose you can escape God. (J. Parker, D. D.)The conversion of Saul I. As illustrating moral contrasts. Saul, who went out to persecute, remained to pray (verses 1, 11).1. He breathed hotly. How changed in a little time! for his face is turned upward to heaven, and its very look is a pleading supplication. What has occurred? These effects must be accounted for. Have they any counterpart in our own experience? Have any of us passed from fierceness to gentleness, from drunkenness to sobriety, from darkness to light, from blasphemy to worship? Then we understand what is meant by this most startling contrast. This is precisely the work which Christianity undertakes to do. It undertakes to cool your breath, to take the fire out of your blood, to subdue your rancour and your malignity, and to clasp your hands in childlike plea and prayer at your Father’ s feet. Such is the continual miracle of Christianity. Jesus makes the lion lie down with the lamb, and He causes the child to hold the fierce beast, and to put its hand with impunity on the cockatrice den. Other miracles He has ceased to perform, but this continual and infinite surprise is the standing testimony of Christ. 2. When Saul was a Pharisee he persecuted; when Saul became a Christian (verse 22) he “ proved.” As a Pharisee, he said, “ Destroy Christianity by destroying Christians.” Having seen Jesus, and entered into His Spirit, does he now say, “ The persecution must be turned in the other direction; I have been persecuting the wrong parties” ? No! Standing with the scrolls open before him, he reasons, proving that this is the Christ. When he was not a converted man, he never thought of “ proving” anything. Now he stands up with an argument as his only weapon; persuasion as his only iron; entreaty and supplication as the only chains with which he would bind his opponents. What has happened? Is there not a counterpart of all this in our own experience, and in civilised history? Do not men always begin vulgarly, and end with refinement? Is not the first rough argument a thrust with cold iron, or a blow with clenched fist? Does not history teach us that such methods are utterly unavailing in the extinction or the final arrest of erroneous teaching? Christianity is a moral plea. Wherein professing Christians have resorted to the block and the stake, they have proved disloyal to their Master, and they have forgotten the spirit of His Cross. You cannot make men pray by force of arms. You cannot drive your children to church, except in the narrowest and shallowest sense of the term. You may convince men of their error, and lead men to the sanctuary, and, through the confidence of their reason and the higher sentiments, you may conduct them to your own noblest conclusions. How far is it from persecuting to praying? From threatening and slaughter to proving? That distance Christ took Saul, who only meant to go from Jerusalem to Damascus, some hundred and thirty-six miles. Christ took him a longer journey; He swept him round the whole circle of possibility. It is thus that Jesus Christ makes us do more than we intended to do. He meets us on the way of our own choice, and graciously takes us on a way of His own. 3. In the opening of the narrative, Saul was a strong man, the chief, without whose presence the band would dissolve. And in this same narrative we read of the great persecutor that “ they led him by the hand.” What has happened? We thought he would have gone into the city like a storm; and he went in like a blind beggar! We thought he would have been met at the city gate as the great destroyer of heresy; and he was led by the hand like a helpless cripple! Woe unto the strength that is not heaven-born! When we are weak, then are we strong. You are mightier when you pray than when you persecute. You are stronger men when you prove your argument than when you seek to smite your opponent. Saul led by the hand; then why need we be ashamed of the same process? Who will despise the day of small things? Presently he will increase in the right strength; not the power of transient fury, but the solid and tranquil strength of complete repose. II. As giving us glimpses of Christ. He is--1. Watchful. “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.” He left, yet did not leave. He is invisible, yet watchful; looking upon Saul every day, and looking at the same time upon His redeemed Church night and day. Events are not happening without His knowledge. He knows all your antagonistic plans. As for you Christians, He knows your sufferings, and oppositions, and through how much tribulation you are moving onward to the kingdom. 2. Compassionate. “ It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” He pitied the poor ox that struck its limbs against the sharp and piercing goads. This expostulation repeats the prayer of his dying breath. He does not bind Saul with his own chain; He throws upon him the happy spell of victorious love. 3. Consistent. “ I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name’ s sake.” When Jesus ordained the disciples to go out into the world, He laid before them a black picture, and told them that they would be persecuted; and now, when He comes to add another to the number, He repeats the ordination charge which He addressed to the first band. III. As showing the nature and purposes of spiritual vision. All these things were seen in a vision. Say some of you, “ We have no visions now.” How can we have? We may eat and drink all visions away. The glutton and the drunkard can have nothing but nightmare. A materialistic age can only have a materialistic religion. We may grieve the Spirit, quench the Spirit; we may so eat and drink and live as to divest the mind of its wings. It may be true that the vision has ceased within a narrow sense, but not in its true spiritual intent. Even now we speak about strong impressions, unaccountable impulses, uncontrollable desires, unexpected combinations of events. What if the religious mind should see in such realities the continued Presence and Vision which gladdened the early Church? IV. As demonstrating that Christianity does not merely alter a man’ s intellectual views or modify a man’ s moral prejudices. Christianity never makes a little alteration in a man’ s thinking and action. Christianity makes new hearts, new creatures. Other reformers may change a habit now and again, may modify a prejudice, a temper, a purpose with some benign and gracious intent; but this Redeemer wants us to be born again. “ If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things have become new.” There drop from his eyes “ as it were scales,” and, with a pure heart, he sees a pure God. (J. Parker, D. D.)Saul’ s conversion Three distinct lines of thought appear in this lesson, each concentered in a person--Saul, Ananias, and Christ. I. Let us notice the steps in Saul’ s conversion, and find in them the story of every seeking soul.1. Sin. We see in Saul an open, active, determined, and cruel enemy of Christ. We see a persistent enemy resisting the convictions of the Holy Spirit, kicking against the pricks of his own conscience, yet an honest, sincere enemy. “ I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:13). 2. Conviction, Saul’ s conviction was sudden, yet gradual. Gradual, for he had been striving against the influences of the Spirit (verse 5) ever since he had seen the transfigured face of Stephen; sudden, when the culminating instant came. In a moment he awoke to the consciousness of his guilt. 3. Decision. “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” That sentence marked the crisis of a life, when Saul chose Jesus as his Master. What mighty results followed that instant’ s decision! 4. Seeking. For three days Saul was in an agony of prayer, seeking the Christ whom he had persecuted. The delay was not because God was unwilling, but because Saul was not yet in the right condition to receive the blessing. 5. Salvation. At last the scales fell from his eyes, and Saul saw Christ, not as his enemy, but as his forgiving Saviour. II. Another line of thought is suggested in Ananias, the helper in Saul’ s conversion.1. He was a man. God uses men, and not angels, to point souls to salvation. Even Saul of Tarsus, though called by Christ Himself, is taught the way of faith by a fellow man. 2. He was a believing man. Saved himself, he was able to show others the way of salvation. Only the man who has himself seen the Lord can show Him to others. 3. He was a man of character. Notice what is said of him in Acts 22:12. Those who win souls must be men of good report. 4. He was in close and complete communion with Christ, enjoying direct revelation and holding familiar converse with his Lord. “ He who would have power with men must have power with God.” 5. He was an obedient worker, fulfilling the Divine command, even when it sent him into danger; for it seemed perilous to visit a persecutor with the message of the gospel. III. There is also a suggestive subject in Christ as revealed in Saul’ s conversion.1. A living Christ. Only a little while ago Jesus died on the Cross, and was buried in the sepulchre. Yet now a living form stands forth, saying, “ I am Jesus!” 2. A Christ with individual notice. He saw Saul’ s journey, knew his purpose, and recognised his character. He knew how Saul had striven against the Spirit. He called Saul by name, and called Ananias by name also. Christ in heaven has knowledge of men and events on the earth. 3. A Christ of infinite sympathy with His people. “ Why persecutest thou Me?” He felt the blow at His Church more keenly than the spear thrust into His own body. In all our afflictions as Christians Christ is afflicted. 4. A Christ who sees the best in every man. Ananias saw in Saul only the enemy and the persecutor. Christ saw in him “ a chosen vessel” and an apostle. He sees in every soul infinite possibilities. 5. A Christ with transforming power. He can transform Saul into Paul, Stephen’ s slayer into Stephen’ s successor, an enemy into a champion. What Christ could do with Saul He can do with any man. The conversion of Saul:--Let us regard this-- I. As illustrative of the truth of Christianity. In the case of the apostle, nothing but evidence the most decisive could have effected such a change, in such a man, and at such a time.1. He had the common prejudices of a Jew against Christianity and its Founder. 2. He was a Pharisee, and had the peculiarly inveterate prejudices of his sect. 3. He was a man of worldly ambition. 4. His very sincerity as a persecutor proves the power of that evidence which could convert such a man into a disciple. 5. The temper of his mind when the great event occurred which led to his immediate conversion, was only calculated to indispose him for conviction. On this we remark-- (1) That he could not be deceived, either in the light or in the voice; or, supposing that to have been barely possible with him, yet, surely, not with those who accompanied him, at the same time. Nor could he be deceived in the fact of his blindness, and of his supernatural healing by Ananias, who gave him instruction. (2) Nor was he a deceiver. St. Paul was a good man; and that is our security that he would not deceive. If he were not a good man, where shall we look for one? But if he were a good man, then is the account true, for he could not have been deceived; and Jesus did meet him in the way, and the religion of Christ is from God. II. As showing the power and grace of the Saviour. This was manifested--1. As to the Church-- (1) By the conversion of its destroyer. (2) By the revelation of its oneness with Christ, and His intense interest in it. “ Why persecutest thou Me?” 2. As to Paul himself, we see it in the illumination of his mind, in the extinction of his worldly temper, the conquest of the love of applause, the moral strength that was communicated. III. As furnishing important practical lessons. We are reminded--1. That love is the test of religion. 2. That our salvation is of God. 3. That true religion implies conversion--the change of the whole character. 4. That the end of a thing is better than the beginning of it. 5. Let us be thankful that God raised up this great light for His Church. Let us study his writings, and imbibe their spirit. Let us glorify God in him. (R. Watson.)The conversion of Paul I. Its circumstances.1. It was without any preliminary preparation or special instruction. 2. It was without human instrumentality. 3. It was attended with a miraculous display of light and sound of words. 4. The physical effect of these displays: blindness and prostration. II. Its nature. A sudden and entire change in his views of Christ.1. He had previously regarded Him as a mere man, as a bad man, unfaithful to His ancestral religion, and as an impostor, one falsely pretending to be the Messiah. Honestly, i.e., really entertaining these views, he thought it his duty to persecute the followers of Jesus, and to arrest the progress of the new religion. 2. This was very wicked because-- (1) His views of the Old Testament and its prophecies of the Messiah were due to a carnal state of mind. (2) The evidence of Christ’ s Divine mission was such that none but a wicked person could reject it. Hence Paul considered himself the chief of sinners--a clear proof that honesty of conviction does not exonerate. 3. These false views of Christ were instantly rejected. (1) He saw Him to be the Lord, i.e., a Divine Person, the Son of God (Galatians 1:16). (2) He saw Him to be God manifest in the flesh. He believed that Jesus, a man, was the Son of God. (3) He saw that Christ was the promised Messiah. This was the truth that he at once preached (Acts 22:20). III. Its agency.1. Not by the outward circumstances. 2. Not by the revelation of Christ to his sense of vision. The wicked at the last day shall see Christ and flee from Him. 3. But by the immediate power of God (Galatians 1:16). So our Lord said to Peter, “ Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father.” IV. Its effects.1. Entire submission and devotion, a willingness to renounce anything, and to do anything that Christ required. 2. This supposes the recognition of Him as God. So Christ became at once the supreme object of worship, love, and zeal. 3. It made him one of the greatest, best, and happiest of men. 4. It secured for him a place among the redeemed in glory. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Paul’ s conversion a type of the Reformation I. Before both. Christ was persecuted and believers afflicted. II. At both.1. The light from heaven.2. Repentance of heart. III. From both.1. Evangelical preaching in the Church.2. Evangelical missions in the world. (K. Gerok.)The conversion of St. Paul 1. That blessed war of aggression which Jesus Christ wages upon the evil one is a war which is made to maintain itself. Christ’ s soldiers are His captured enemies. Perhaps the most notable instance of this is the conversion of Saul. Jesus Christ never encountered a bitterer or an abler foe; never won a mightier captain for His army. This conversion brought to the Church immediate rest from persecution, and prepared for the ultimate extension of a free gospel to the world at large. 2. Now, the important fact, that such a man suddenly abandoned the Pharisaic theology and became the Church’ s foremost preacher, amply justifies the detail with which the story is here related. The immediate occasion of Saul’ s change of life was quite as exceptional as the change itself was eventful. It was no ordinary case of a man led to believe in Jesus Christ through the evidence of others, the testimony of the Church, or the force of spiritual need. It was quite unique--a case which has no parallel. The agent in this man’ s conversion was not a mortal man, his fellow. It was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who called him personally. The apparition was not an inward vision such as appeared afterwards to Ananias. It was a veritable return of Him who went up from the Mount of Olives. And this personal manifestation of Him whom the heavens had received, is, I suppose, solitary in Christian history. The evidence is therefore exceptionally strong. Of course such a transaction cannot be compared with public events, like the death or resurrection of Jesus, to which many could testify. Here there could be no eye or ear witness but one. His evidence alone is to be had, and it is explicit. For it was upon the fact that he had personally seen his risen Master, as the other apostles saw Him, that Paul rested his claim to the privileges of apostleship. And the evidence of Paul was confirmed by the vision of Ananias, and was accepted as conclusive by the Church of Christ at the time. 3. Now, I suppose it may be due to the emphasis laid on this solitary appearance of Christ that so little has been told us of the internal history of the conversion. But who can tell the spiritual processes of any conversion? and why should we pry too curiously into the mysterious, secret place where, under cover of the darkness, the Spirit of God broods over the soul whom He will renew with His great grace into the likeness of the Eternal Son? The general nature of the change, however, which passed over Saul, is, I think, to be pretty well made out from what we know of the man before and after. Up to the moment when the glory smote him, this man was a Hebrew of the extremest type, and it needs no great insight to see that, to such a man, the preaching of repentance and faith in the Cross of a crucified deliverer from sin must have been simply gall and wormwood. So he flung himself into the work of stamping out this hateful heresy. Yet, all the while, I think it probable that Saul’ s mind was not quite at ease. I gather from the first words Jesus spoke to him, as he lay upon the road, that all had not been quite serene in the soul of the persecutor. Jesus had, ere this, been trying to get him into the right way. Some words heard in controversy, some meek victim’ s patience as he haled him to prison, some great craving of his own heart, some breath, in a quiet hour, from the Spirit of God--something must have stirred within this man, who looked, to other men, so resolute, and who told himself he was so right, a suspicion that, after all, the Nazarene might not be altogether wrong. And Saul had kicked against these pricks. Ah, which of us, from our own experience, cannot understand his case? To which of us has it never happened, that when we were well contented with our religious state, some ghastly doubt looked up all of a sudden and troubled us; some fear lest, after all, our standing might not turn out to be so very safe, and our religion so very real? But suddenly, in the glare of light that covered the scene at noon, a man appeared whom Saul believed to be a dead impostor. And the shock given to his whole being was as awful as it was sudden. Everything in the narrative speaks of instantaneous and utter collapse. We trace it in the few and timid words which he is able to stammer out. “ Who art Thou, Lord? What shall I do?” If Jesus was the living God, then he, Saul, had always been rotten, hopelessly rotten. The old is shattered forever; it lives no more. Gamaliel’ s pupil, the Sanhedrin inquisitor, the blameless Pharisee, the slayer of Stephen--this old man is dead. 4. What were the meditations which filled up these three days before he began to pray? We do not know. But I think we shall not err if we concede the grand discovery of these days to have been the discovery of a spiritual law which condemned his legal righteousness as being, in his own later words, loss and dung. He needed no man now to tell him that his way of pleasing God, as he thought, had been a hideous blunder, since he had absolutely laid persecuting hands on Christ, thinking he was doing God service. Back through all his past life, his memory must have gone, discovering, bit by bit, that what he had called righteousness became, to his astonished soul, pride, discharity, sin; what he had called gain became utter spiritual loss. And in the end, when the need of atoning blood to wash such sin away, and bring Divine forgiveness, grew up within his soul into clear consciousness, then, at last, indeed, he began to look up out of his prostration and collapse. God began to reveal His Son in him by giving him the first hint of the Spirit of adoption. His mind reverted for help, turned round about in his loneliness to the names of those very disciples down in his notebook that he had come to arrest, and now, in a sweet vision, he seemed to see one of these friends of Jesus come into the home where he lay helpless and in darkness, and give him light. See how Jesus Christ must smite down that He may lift up. He first came in person by the way and brought judgment, darkness, horror, and almost death. He came now, the second time, by the gentle words of His humble servant, came by the blessed sacrament of His Church, and so coming He brought light, peace, and the hope and desire of a new and better life. Conclusion: St. Paul’ s conversion substantially is repeated in the history of ten thousand souls.1. The same appalling discovery that the exterior observance of piety which one took for righteousness is no righteousness, but dead works, because not animated by the spirit of love to God, has been made times upon times since Paul made it. And if it is not often that God’ s disclosure of Himself bursts upon a man with such violent catastrophe as here, it will be your highest wisdom to see whether or not you have made the Pauline discovery, and learned the Pauline lesson. 2. One unexpected day has often revolutionised a life. We all live in the presence of spiritual forces, which may, at any moment, get unlooked-for access to us. A stray word, a new acquaintance, a book you open, some sudden disaster, may prove, before you know it, the very turning of your history. But let none be idle waiters on critical moments in Providence. “ Seek the Lord while He may be found.” (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)The conversion of St. Paul I. Its circumstances.1. In the Bible proper names frequently had meanings. Now this Saul, or Shaul in Hebrew, and especially in Arabic, means not only asked for, but to seek diligently or to be sought out. And here you have in the very name the history of every sinner who comes to God; he is not one who is seeking God first, but one who is sought for. Was it not the case even with Abraham? “ And He said, Abraham, Abraham; and he answered, Here am I.” Did Moses call God first, or seek for God? Far from it; “ Moses, Moses; and he said, Here am I.” 2. In what state was this Shaul at the moment he was sought out? “ Yet breathing out threatenings, “ etc. Such a man cannot have been in his sound senses. And you may see his own candid confession of that. (chap. 26.). I “ compelled them to blaspheme.” I experienced something of this lately at Cairo. From eleven o’ clock in the night till three o’ clock I was with several Jews, who continually tried me to say “ only once, only once, curse the name of Jesus.” And why did he do this? “ Being exceedingly mad against them.” And it is said--“yet breathing out.” Why yet? Something must have gone on before, which might have changed his opinions and his conduct. And many such things went before, but without use to him. The Son of God nailed on the Cross had fulfilled every prophecy regarding His sufferings. Here is Stephen praying amidst the shower of stones, “ Lay not this sin to their charge” ; a thinking mind, like Paul’ s, one should suppose would have been struck with this. And he “ went unto the high priest.” He had the approbation of the ecclesiastical authorities. We can have the approbation of the world and the orthodox churchmen, and yet be still far from God. He desired of him letters that if he found any of this way. I was often struck with this expression, when I heard the Arabs speaking about religion; they do not say “ the religion of Jesus,” but “ I want to know your way.” “ What is your way?” And do we not often find this the ease in England? Speak to men about vital conversion, and they answer, “ Oh! I am not of that way.” 3. “ And suddenly.” We find often that the grace of God comes suddenly. And so we find frequently that genius is awakened. An Italian forty years of age lived at Rome, and went every day to St. Peter’ s, but he never was struck with the masterpieces of Raphael; but one day he went there, and suddenly struck with them his genius awakened, and he exclaimed, “ I am also a painter” ; and from that moment he became the great painter Correggio. So very often the grace of God comes. A man is journeying on and on carelessly towards eternity, when, suddenly struck by the grace of God, he exclaims, “ I am also a sinner ransomed.” Paul saw a light--that described Isaiah--“ The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light” --“ the Sun of Righteousness.” “ And he fell to the earth.” I had an exact illustration of this when I was brought to Turkisthaun in slavery. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 9:4 He fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? The Lord’ s word I. Consolation. This word is a two-edged sword; it carries comfort to those who are within, and reproof to those who are without. It is spoken to an adversary; but it is spoken for a friend. The first comfort given to fallen man was in a word spoken to his destroyer (Genesis 3:15). In the same way Israel was comforted, “ Touch not Mine anointed,” etc. Here, too, the Head will sustain the members by a reproof addressed to the Master. I scarcely know a more comforting word than this. Nowhere is the oneness of Christ and His disciples more clearly expressed. The Speaker is not now the Man of Sorrows: all power has been given into His hands. As you experience pain when any member of your body is hurt, so Christ cries out when an enemy’ s hand strikes some poor saint in Damascus. For this is the privilege of all Christians. Safety is secured, and therefore measured, by the power, not of the saved, but of the Saviour. The Queen’ s flag is the aegis of the temper woman as well as the stalwart warrior, and woe to the man who strikes either. Let Saul venture to say, Lord, when did we persecute Thee? The King shall answer, “ Inasmuch as ye did it,” etc. Here is my safety--I am His, part of Himself. We shall be able by and by to number up God’ s mercies, and nothing will be sweeter than the discovery of those signal rescues which Christ has achieved for us while we, like an infant sleeping in a burning house, were aware neither of the flame that was already singeing our garments nor of the strong arm of that brother who bore us beyond its reach. II. Reproof. While the word carries consolation to the disciples, it bears terrible reproof to adversaries. Mark here--1. That although Saul is an enemy to Jesus, Jesus is no enemy to Saul, and the word is spoken not to cast him out, but to melt him down, and so win him near. In His glory, as in His humiliation, Jesus being reviled reviles not again. He draws a clear distinction between the converted and the unconverted, but it does not lie in that the first are received and the second rejected, but in this, that those who are already near are cherished as dear children, and the distant prodigals are invited to turn and live. Nor can we be surprised at this generosity. If, when we were His enemies, He won us, we cannot wonder that the door is still open for those who are without. 2. The form of the address betrays the tenderness of Jesus. The repetition of the name expresses sharp condemnation and tender pity. When you intend simple approval or disapproval you call the name only once; when you intend to condemn and win back you duplicate the call. “ John” may be the prelude to either praise or blame, but “ John, John,” always means that he is doing evil, and that you mean him good (see John 20:16; cf. Luke 10:41-42). It is the double call that Christ is addressing to the world today; at the great day it will be single--Depart ye cursed, or Come ye blessed. 3. In Saul’ s case the redoubled stroke was effectual. He grieved for the sin that was rebuked, and accepted the mercy that was offered. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The persecutor I. It is the general character of unconverted men to be of a persecuting spirit. “ Cain,” says Luther, “ will kill Abel to the end of the world.” Speaking of Ishmael and Isaac, the apostle observes, “ As then he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now.” The more zealous and holy believers are, so much the more will the malice of wicked men be levelled against them (Galatians 4:29; James 5:6 : 1 John 3:12-13). There are, however, different kinds and degrees of persecution. Though we are not in danger of bonds and imprisonments, yet the enmity of the wicked will show itself, either by injuries, unneighbourly treatment, vulgar abuse, or by one means or another. The Church of Christ has always been as a lily among thorns, or like a bush on fire, but not consumed (Psalms 55:21; Acts 22:4; Hebrews 11:35-39). II. Christ has His eye upon persecutors and is acquainted with all their ways. He also views things in their proper light, and calls them by their proper names. What Saul called doing God’ s service, He calls persecution. There is not a step which His enemies take but He marks it well, nor a pain His servants feel but He beholds it with an eye of pity. Saul is on his way to Damascus, unobserved by the disciples, who were now accounted as sheep for the slaughter: but the Shepherd of the flock sees the enemy coming to devour, and stops him in his wild career. III. The kindness or injuries done to His people, Christ considers as done to Himself. Let persecutors think of this and tremble. The union between Christ and His people is intimate and endearing; it is like that between the vine and its branches, between the head and the members. If the branch be cut off, the vine will bleed; and when one member suffers, the members suffer with it, and also the head! The same love that induced the Redeemer to suffer for His people, constrains Him to suffer with them. Christ is more tender of His body mystical than He was of His body natural, and is more sensible of His members’ sufferings than He was of His own. Amidst all the cruel treatment He Himself met with, he never said, “ Why scourge ye Me? why crucify ye Me?” But when Saul threatened destruction to His disciples, He calls to him from heaven, “ Why persecutest thou Me?” IV. Christ’ s call to the persecutor was to convince him of sin and this is the first step towards conversion. This lays the foundation of repentance and faith; for we cannot repent of sin while insensible of its evil nature, nor do the whole need a physician, but they that are sick. Saul trembled at the voice which spake to him, and being astonished at the number and magnitude of his sins, as well as at the forbearance and compassion of the Saviour, cried out, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” He is now willing to be directed, and to obey Christ as his Lord. V. The calls of Christ are earnest and particular. From among the rest of mankind He singles out the man towards whom He has designs of mercy. Thus He chose Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, and Zaccheus, whom curiosity had led up into a sycamore tree. And of the company that were going to Damascus, one is distinguished from the rest, and addressed by name. Hence his companions heard a voice, but knew not what was said. Ministers speak to all their hearers, and not to one more than another: but Christ speaks to the individual, and does not speak in vain. They draw the bow at a venture; but He aims at a certain mark, and never misses. Farther: Christ’ s call was earnest and pressing. There is something vehement and affectionate in the address: Saul, Saul! The Lord saw the danger he was in: He therefore warns him with a loud voice from heaven, and both pities and pardons his delusion. We see that all intercourse begins on Christ’ s part. His is preventing mercy, and previous to any inclination or endeavours on our part to seek after Him. VI. Persecution is a great sin and when brought home to the conscience of an awakened sinner, it is found to be so. It is so unreasonable as to admit of no defence, and none is made.1. Is there any reason on My part? What injury have I done thee? For which of My good works dost thou persecute Me? 2. Is there any reason on the part of My people? Because they are My disciples, are they therefore worse parents or children, subjects or servants, friends or neighbours? Nay, are they not the salt of the earth, and the light of the world? 3. Is there any reason on thy part? Dost thou claim a right to judge for thyself: and have not they the same right? Who made thee thy brother’ s judge? Thou thinkest that truth is on thy side, and it is natural for thy neighbour to think the same. Dost thou allege the commission from the chief priests? Who authorised them to grant such a commission? Dost thou plead the Divine glory? Can God be glorified by a conduct contrary to all the feelings of humanity? 4. Will such conduct answer the end proposed? Force and violence may make men hypocrites, but cannot produce conviction. Will reproaches and injuries be more effectual than kind treatment and persuasion? Conclusion:1. Christ’ s question to Saul should not only convince us of the evil of a persecuting spirit, but lead us to avoid and abhor it, as utterly contrary to the very genius of Christianity (Acts 26:10; 1 Corinthians 15:9). 2. From this example let not the most atrocious sinner, nor the bitterest persecutor despair, if brought to a sense of their evil conduct (1 Timothy 1:16). (B. Beddome, M. A.)The case of St. Paul in persecuting the Church It was about two years after our Lord was gone to heaven. Saul, for a year or two before, had behaved as blind zealots are used to do, with great warmth and fury. He was then in the heat of his youth, about thirty years old, very honest and sincere in his way, and exceedingly zealous for the law of his God. The prejudices of education were so strong, and his natural temper withal so impetuous, that he stayed not to examine into the merits of the Christian cause. But as he very well knew that his own religion was from God, he too hastily concluded that this other, now pretending to rival it, could not be Divine also. I. Saul as a persecutor and the guilt he contracted in being such. However sincere he had been in doing it, however fully persuaded in his own mind that he was serving God in it; yet he never reflected upon it afterwards but with shame and regret, with a penitential sorrow and remorse for it (Acts 26:9; Acts 22:20; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Corinthians 15:9). Saul, considered as a persecutor of the Church of God, cannot be acquitted of prejudice, partiality, and precipitate judgment, in a cause which demanded cool deliberation and the most scrupulous care. II. What may be pleaded to alleviate his guilt in it, on account of which he found mercy. He himself has intimated that, though he had been some time a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, yet he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly, in unbelief. He did not know that the Christian religion was from God, and that the Jewish was to cease and give way to it. He meant and intended well while he was doing amiss: this is his excuse. It may be said in answer, that he might have known better, if he had been pleased to examine. Very true, he might, and therefore he is blameable; but still his heart was honest and good, and therefore his mistake was pitiable and pardonable. His ignorance was not altogether affected and wilful, but had a great mixture of natural temper and human frailty to alleviate and qualify it. Our Lord, knowing the integrity of his heart, was pleased to overlook his failings, and to receive him into His own more immediate service. He approved his upright zeal, which wanted nothing but clearer light and a better direction. He indulges him the favour of a heavenly vision, condescends to speak to him from above, and finds him as willing and ready upon correction to embrace and propagate the Christian religion as he had before been to persecute and destroy it. III. The exceeding great goodness of our Lord, both to St. Paul and to the Church, in this affair. How gracious were the words which our Lord spake: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? Next, He gave the good man a seasonable and a very affecting caution. I am Jesus, the Saviour of the world; it is hard for thee to contend with. One so much mightier than thou art: step thy career, and retreat in time. These were moving arguments, and pierced to the very soul. But, what is still more considerable, was the exceeding goodness therein shown to the Church in general. It was not only taking off a very furious and dangerous enemy; but it was making of him one of the kindest and best of friends. There was no man better qualified to serve the Church, both by preaching and writing, than St. Paul. He had great natural abilities, improved by a liberal and polite education; to which also were superadded many extraordinary supernatural gifts. IV. The proper use and application.1. Let us learn from the instance of St. Paul how much it concerns every man to take care that he judges right in all matters of high consequence especially, and that his conscience be duly informed. Infinite mischiefs may arise from an erroneous conscience and a misguided zeal. 2. From the same instance of St. Paul learn we a ready submission and obedience to truth and godliness when sufficiently propounded to us. Lay we aside all inveterate prejudices and stubborn reluctances, as soon as ever we have light enough to see that we have been in an error, and that we ought to retract. 3. Learn we from the whole transaction, the truth and certainty of our Lord’ s resurrection and ascension into heaven, His power and majesty there as Lord of all, and His exceeding goodness in looking down from thence to take care of His Church here below; and how dangerous a thing it will be, and how fatal to the undertakers, to persist in any attempts against Him. (D. Waterland, D. D.) Acts 9:5 And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? Pressing questions of an awakened mind The manifestation of Jesus subdued the great man into a little child. He inquires, with sacred curiosity, “ Who art Thou, Lord?” and then surrenders at discretion, crying, “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” I. The earnest inquirer seeking to know his Lord.1. He is not only willing to learn, but he is eager to be taught. If men were but anxious to understand the truth, they would soon learn it and receive it. 2. The subject he wished to be taught. You have heard that Christ is the Saviour, let your ambition be to know all about Him. Saints on earth, and even saints in heaven, are always wanting to have this question more fully answered, “ Who art Thou, Lord?” (1) What is Thy person? Learn well that He is man, thy brother, touched with the feelings of thy infirmities, yet is He God eternal, infinite, full of all power and majesty. (2) What are Thy offices? He is a Prophet; thou must be instructed by Him. He is a Priest; He has offered sacrifice, and thou must accept it as being for thee. He is a King, and thou must let Him govern thee. (3) What are Thy relationships? The Son of the Highest, and yet the brother of the lowest. King of angels and of kings, and yet the friend of sinners. 3. What were the results of having this question answered? (1) When Paul knew that He whose face had shone upon him brighter than the sun was Jesus of Nazareth, he was seized with contrition. When Christ is unknown we can go on refusing and even persecuting Him; but when we clearly perceive that it is the Son of God and the bleeding Lamb whom we have refused and persecuted, then our hearts melt; we beg His forgiveness, and cast ourselves at His feet. (2) Hope was encouraged, for though Paul at the sight of the Lord Jesus must have been full of bitter anguish, it was by that same sight that he was afterwards comforted. Art Thou He who came to seek and to save that which was lost? Then is there hope for me. Oh, then, I will trust Him. (3) It led him to complete submission. He said, “ Is this Christ whom I have rejected Lord of all? Then it is indeed hard for me to kick against the pricks. If all power be in His hands, then to oppose Him is as hopeless as it is wicked. O Lord Jesus, be my king.” Some human leaders have had such extraordinary influence over their soldiery that they have been cheerfully obeyed, even at the cost of life. The Christ of God has a superlative power over all hearts that know Him. See how Paul felt His influence, and scoured the world to win Christ’ s lost ones. 4. He sought instruction from the best possible Master; for who can tell us who Christ is but Christ Himself? Here is His book. It is the looking glass. Jesus is yonder, and He looks into it, and you may see His reflected image; darkly, however, at the best. So, too, when you hear His faithful servants preach you may see somewhat of Christ; but there is no sight of Christ like that which comes personally to your own soul by the Holy Spirit. II. The obedient disciple requesting direction. “ Whosoever believeth in Jesus has everlasting life” is the basis doctrine of the gospel; but you may not believe in Him and then live as you like. Hence the question, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” The apostle here puts himself into the position of a soldier waiting for orders. He will not stir till he has received his officer’ s command. Before it used to be, “ What will Moses have me to do?” And with some now present it has been, “ What should I like to do?” Now take heed that Christ be your Master, and nobody else. It would never do to say, “ What would the Church have me to do?” nor even “ What would an apostle have me to do?” Paul said, “ Be ye followers of me, even as I am also of Christ.” But if Paul does not follow Christ, we must not follow Paul. “ Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel, let him be accursed.” “ One is your Master, even Christ.” This obedience is--1. Personal. I have little enough to do with my neighbours. They have their duty; but, Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do? Other persons must follow the light they have; but, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Let it separate the nearest ties, let it cause your past friends to give you the cold shoulder, let it subject you to persecution even unto death; you have nothing to do with these consequences, your business is to say, “ Show me what Thou wouldst have me to do, and I will do it.” Note again-- 2. Prompt. He does not ask to be allowed a little delay. If you would have salvation, you must be ready to follow Christ tonight. Tonight, it may be, is the time when the Spirit of God is struggling with you, and if resisted He never may return. 3. Unconditional. Saul little knew what the doing of his Master’ s will would involve, but he was prepared for it. Oh, you that would be Christians, do not suppose that it is just believing something--an article of a creed, or undergoing a ceremony--that will save you; you must, if you are Christ’ s, yield yourselves up to Him. Conclusion: It is by knowing Christ that you will learn to obey Him, and the more you obey Him the more easy it will be: and in obeying Him you will find your honour. Paul at this day stands in a most honourable place in the Church of God, simply because being called of God to do His will he did it faithfully even to the end. (C. H. Spurgeon.)It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.--The ways of sin hard and difficult You often hear of the narrow and rugged road which leadeth unto life; and some of you, I am afraid, have not courage enough to venture upon it. You rather choose the smooth, broad, downhill road, though it leads to death. It must be owned, that a religious life is a course of difficulties, and it is fit you should be honestly informed of it; but then it is fit you should also know that it is disagreeable and difficult only as a course of action is difficult to the sick, though it affords pleasure to those that are well. There are difficulties in the way of sin, as well as in that of holiness, though the depravity of mankind renders them insensible of it. It may be easy and pleasing to you to sin, just as it is easy to a dead body to rot, or pleasing to a leper to rub his sores. If it be hard, in one sense, to live a life of holiness, it is certainly hard, in another sense, to live a life of sin; namely, to run against conscience, reason, honour, interest, and all the strong and endearing obligations you are under to God, to mankind, and to yourselves. I. Is it not a hard thing to be an unbeliever, while the light of the gospel shines around us with full blaze of evidence. Before a man can work up himself to the disbelief of a religion attended with such evidence, and inspiring such Divine dispositions and exalted hopes, what absurdities must he embrace! what strong convictions must he resist! what tremendous doubts must he struggle with! what glorious hopes must he resign! what violence must be offered to conscience! what care must be used to shut up all the avenues of serious thought, and harden the heart against the terrors of death and the supreme tribunal! How painful to reject the balm the gospel provides to heal a broken heart and a bleeding conscience, and the various helps and advantages it furnishes us with to obtain Divine favour and everlasting happiness! How hard to work up the mind to believe that Jesus was an impostor, or at best a moral philosopher! or that the religion of the Bible is the contrivance of artful and wicked men! These are no easy things. There are many sceptics and smatterers in infidelity, but few, very few, are able to make thorough work of it. Such men find the arms of their own reason often against them, and their own conscience forms violent insurrections in favour of religion; so that whatever they pretend, they believe and tremble too. They find it hard, even now, to kick against the goads: how much harder they will find it in the issue! Christianity will live when they are dead and damned, according to its sentence. Infidels may hurt themselves by opposing it; as an unruly stupid ox, their proper emblem, may hurt himself, but not the goads, by kicking against them. II. Is it not hard foe men to profess themselves believers and assent to the truth of Christianity and “ yet live as if they were infidels? If you believe Christianity--1. You believe that there is a God of infinite excellency; the Maker, Preserver, Benefactor, and ruler of the world, and of you in particular. How, then, can you withhold your love from Him, and ungratefully refuse obedience? Is not this a hard thing? Does it not cost you some labour to reconcile your consciences to it? This would not be easy to the mightiest archangel. And if it be easy to you, it is in the same sense that it is easy to a dead body to rot. Your strength to do evil is your real weakness, or the strength of your disease. 2. You believe the doctrine of redemption through Jesus Christ. And is it no difficulty to neglect Him, to dishonour Him, to slight His love and disobey His commands? Does not at least a spark of gratitude sometimes kindle which you find it hard to quench entirely? Does not conscience often take up arms in the cause of its Lord, and do you not find it hard to quell the insurrection? Alas! if you find little or no difficulty in treating the blessed Jesus with neglect, it shows that you are giants in iniquity, and sin with the strength of a devil. 3. You must believe that holiness is essentially to constitute you a real Christian, and prepare you for everlasting happiness. And while you have this conviction, is it not a hard thing for you to be only Christians in name, or self-condemned hypocrites? Is it an easy thing to you to keep your eyes always shut against the light, which would show you to yourselves in your true colours? 4. You believe in a future state of rewards and punishments. And since you love yourselves, and have a strong desire of pleasure and horror of pain, how can you reconcile yourselves to the thoughts of giving up your portion in heaven, and being engulfed forever in the infernal pit? III. Is it not hard for a man to live in a constant conflict with himself? I mean with his conscience. When the sinner would continue his career to hell, conscience, like the cherubim at the gates of paradise, or the angel in Balaam’ s road, meets him with his flaming sword, and turns every way, to guard the dreadful entrance into the chambers of death. The life of the sinner is a warfare, as well as that of the Christian. Conscience is his enemy, always disturbing him; that is, he himself is an enemy to himself, while he continues an enemy to God. Some, indeed, by repeated violences, stun their conscience, and it seems to lie still. But this is a conquest fatal to the conquerors. IV. Is it not hard for you to deprive yourselves of the exalted pleasures of religion? Is not this doing violence to the innate principle of self-love and desire of happiness? Can you be so stupid as to imagine that the world, or sin, or anything that can come in competition with religion, can be of equal or comparable advantage to you? Sure your own reason must give in its verdict in favour of religion. And is it not a hard thing for you to act against your own reason, against your highest and immortal interest, and against your own innate desire of happiness? (S. Davies, A. M.)Kicking against the pricks This expression is highly characteristic of the Saviour--1. From its figurative form. While He was on earth, without a parable spake He not unto the people; and speaking out of heaven He still adopts the parabolic style, as He did in Patmos. He does not say to Saul, “ It is injurious to thee to resist My appeals,” that would be mere abstract fact, but He puts it more pictorially, “ It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” 2. From the tenderness of the rebuke. It is not, “ It is wicked of thee to resist Me.” The Saviour leaves Saul’ s conscience to say that; nor “ It is hard for My people to bear thy cruelties” ; nor “ It is very provoking to Me, and I shall ere long smite thee in My wrath.” No, it is not, “ It is hard for Me,” but “ It is hard for thee.” We have in the parable of the text-- I. An ox. No other beast is driven by a goad.1. “ How low is man fallen that he can be compared to a brute beast!” “ Oh,” saith the proud heart, “ cloth God compare me to a beast?” Ah! and it is the beast which hath cause to complain rather than you; for what beast is that who has rebelled against God? Do not be angry, for if you knew yourself you would cry with Asaph, “ So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before Thee.” Penitent sinners have wished that they had been beasts rather than men, feeling as if sin had degraded their nature below the meanest reptile. 2. But courage! The ox is a valuable animal. The text does not liken a man to a wild beast without an owner, but to an ox for which its master careth, and for which he hath paid a price. “ I,” says Jesus, “ whom Thou persecutest, redeemed thee, with My own precious blood; thou art Mine, and I will break thee in. Why dost thou kick against Me? I have paid for thee too dearly to let thee be lost.” 3. The ox is dependent upon its master for the supply of its needs. “ The ox knoweth its owner.” Thou, who art an enemy to God, dost thou not know that thou art the object of His daily providence? We have been worse than oxen. We have not known the hand that feeds us, but have kicked against the God from whom all our mercies have been flowing. 4. An ox is a creature of which service is rightly demanded. So does God expect of those creatures whose wants He supplies that they should do His bidding. Wherefore should God keep them, and they do Him no service? For if He gets nothing out of thee, He will not forever spare thee. The bullock which is not good for its master in the furrows shall soon be good for the butcher in the shambles. 5. The ox is a perverse creature, not easily made accustomed to the yoke. Hence the rough and cruel instrument used by the Eastern husbandman--a long stick with a sharp prong at the end. Ah, how perverse are our wills! We will not go in the right way; we choose the wrong naturally. We go to the fire of sin, and we put our finger in it, and we burn it; but we do not learn better; we then thrust our hands into it, and though we suffer for it we return and plunge our arm into the flame. 6. Yet the ox is a creature which can be of great service to its master. When it becomes docile, it is one of the most valuable possessions of the Oriental husbandman. And when once the brutish heart of man is conquered by Divine grace, of what use he is. II. The ox goad. A cruel instrument, but one thought by the Oriental husbandman to be needful for the stubborn nature of the ox. God has many ways of goading us, but He does not use that where gentler means will avail. I should think that a kind man would speak to his ox, and might get it into such a condition that it would be obedient to his word. Now God does bring His people into such a state as that. God does not come to blows with men till He has first tried words with them. Before the tree is cut down there is a time of sparing, in which it is digged about if haply it may bring forth fruit. But when words are of no avail, then the Lord in tender mercy adopts sharper means, and comes from words to blows and wounds--that He may come in all His power to heal.1. Some of us felt the ox goad when we were children. Under the government of our parents we were often very restive, and felt it hard to sin. 2. Since that time some of you have felt the irksome goad in the good advice of friends with whom you have been situated. You do not like to be talked to about religion. 3. The teachings of God’ s Word acts like a goad to unconverted men. I have known people come in here, and the sermon has made them feel so angry that they could almost have knocked the preacher down, but yet they could not help coming again. They could not tell why, but they could not stop away; and yet they hated the truth they heard. When a man thinks enough about the truth to begin to fight against it, I am in hope that the truth will never let him go till it has fairly beaten him into better things. 4. At times the Lord will goad us by personal afflictions; a sickness, a failure in business, a loss of property, a disappointment in marriage, or the death of friends, or a gradual decay of the constitution, or the loss of a limb or an eye. Loud voices these, if men had ears to hear. Some of you have had so many afflictions that the Lord might well inquire, “ Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more.” 5. Sometimes God stirs men with the common operations of the Holy Ghost in their consciences. Saul was being goaded at that very moment when Christ said, “ Why persecutest thou Me?” And take care you do not resist these goadings. “ See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not,” etc. III. The kicks. The ox when wounded is so foolish as to dash its foot against the goad, and consequently drives it deeper into himself and hurts himself the more. This is the natural manner of men till God makes something more than beasts of them.1. Even when we were children we rebelled against our teachers; prayer was distasteful, the Sabbath was dull, and the house of God wearisome, and therefore we kicked against them. 2. As some of you grow up, you took to sneering at those who kindly advised you. Many, the moment they get a word of counsel from any person, treat him at once as an enemy, and vow that they will take no further notice of such a “ cant.” Many sinners when the Word of God is too hot for them, take to cavilling at it, or disputing over it. A man who is reproved by a sermon will perhaps feel that he must give up his drunkenness. “ But,” say she, “ I will not give up my drunkenness; I do not want to do that, and therefore I do not believe that the sermon is true.” Or another says, “ If this is correct, I must shut up my shop on the Sunday, and so lose my Sunday’ s profits. I cannot afford to lose money, and therefore I will abuse the preacher.” The guilty conscience cries, “ I will pick a hole in the minister’ s coat, because he has found one in mine.” 3. There are many who persecute God’ s people. They cannot burn them, nor shut them up in prison; but they vex them with cruel mockings, they twist their innocent actions into something wrong, and then they throw it in their teeth. 4. Certain profane men have gone so far as to kick at God Himself. Mind that He does not answer you, blasphemer. IV. The result. Christ says, “ It is hard.” It has been very hard for your mother, for your families, for your neighbours and employers; Christ says it is hard for you. You know that sin does not make you happy. You have had your swing of it, and you are miserable. You are afraid to die. Do you know what will very likely be your history if you run into sin and persist in it? You will make your present afflictions grow worse, and cause your present losses to accumulate. You are kicking against the pricks, and are making the wounds already received ten times worse, and so it always will be so long as you keep on kicking. He that is converted to God finds it hard to have been a sinner so long. His repentance is bitter in proportion to the greatness of his sin. Those who are saved late in life feel that their sins will be their plague till they die. A man does not go and plunge into the ditch of sin without bearing the stench of its vileness in his memory all his life. An old song that you used to sing will come up and defile your closet prayers, and perhaps the recollection of some unholy scene will trouble you even when you are at the sacramental table. The apostle Paul always bore the memory of his sin. “ God forgives me,” said one, “ but I never can forgive myself.” V. The good counsel.1. Since it is hard for you to kick against the pricks, and there is nothing to be got by it, cease. 2. Yield thy heart to the goadings of Divine love. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Saul’ s goads The figure of speech is borrowed from a custom of Eastern countries: the ox driver wields a long pole, at the end of which is fixed a piece of sharpened iron, with which he urges the animal to go on or stand still or change its course; and, if it is refractory, it kicks against the goad, injuring and infuriating itself with the wounds it receives. This is a vivid picture of a man wounded and tortured by compunctions of conscience. There was something in him rebelling against the course of inhumanity on which he was embarked, and suggesting that he was fighting against God. It is not difficult to conceive when these doubts arose. He was the scholar of Gamaliel, the advocate of humanity and tolerance, who had counselled the Sanhedrin to leave the Christians alone. He was himself too young yet to have hardened his heart to all the disagreeables of such ghastly work. Highly strung as was his religious zeal, nature could not but speak out at last. But probably his compunctions were chiefly awakened by the character and behaviour of the Christians. He had heard the noble defence of Stephen, and seen his face in the council chamber shining like that of an angel. He had seen him kneeling on the field of execution and praying for his murderers. Doubtless, in the course of the persecution he had witnessed many similar scenes. Did these people look like enemies of God? As he entered their homes to drag them forth to prison, he got glimpses of their social life. Could such spectacles of purity and love be products of the powers of darkness? Did not the serenity with which his victims went to meet their fate look like the very peace which he had long been sighing for in vain? Their arguments, too, must have told on a mind like his. He had heard Stephen proving from the Scriptures that it behoved the Messiah to suffer; and the general tenor of the earliest Christian apologetic assures us that many of the accused must on their trial have appealed to passages like the fifty-third of Isaiah, where a career is predicted for the Messiah startlingly like that of Jesus of Nazareth. He heard incidents of Christ’ s life from their lips which betokened a personage very different from the picture sketched for him by his Pharisaic informants; and the sayings of their Master which the Christians quoted did not sound like the utterances of the fanatic he conceived Jesus to have been! (J. Stalker, D. D.) Acts 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will Thou have me to do? Saul of Tarsus converted These words-- I. Are illustrative of a singular transformation of mind. We would not forget the attendant miracles. There is the light, the voice; but we now would speak of the secret place of the spirit. There shines a more marvellous light; there resounds a voice, which “ shakes not the earth only, but also heaven.” This is not the effect of surprise. Astonishment is mingled with it; but it was not the ordinary emotion; it was amazement, admiration--lofty, tender, profound, awestricken. It is not the working of self-righteousness. Belief but seeks its proof; submission but asks its test. It is the loosing of the rebel’ s weapon from the rebel’ s hand. It is not “ going about to establish a righteousness of its own,” it is the incense of that sacrifice which God approves. This language is distinguished by--1. Deep compunction. He feels that his sin is of no common aggravation. It is as though all the strokes he had ever dealt now rebounded on his spirit. It is not mortified pride, abortive ambition, lacerating remorse. It is a gentler and a more amiable humiliation of spirit. Still it is bitter. Here is self-reproach. Conscience has started from its sleep. It is a “ godly sorrow working repentance, which needeth not to be repented of.” And until we are thus lowered we are strangers to that repentance which the apostle embodies as he describes. 2. Strange illumination. The “ beam” is plucked out from his eye; the “ veil” is torn away from his heart. What a world of new interests, realities, relationships, burst upon him! His right is wrong; his faith is unbelief; his earnestness is treason; his truth is error. All those “ old things” must pass away. For the first time patriarchs and prophets are seen as frowning upon him; for the first time, “ the hope of Israel” and its “ consolation” condemns him; for the first time, the “ lively oracles” ring alarms of danger in his ear. And then Jesus stands up to him, no longer a butt for ridicule, a stumbling stone for reproach, but “ altogether lovely.” How could he have wronged that beauty that fills heaven with praise? 3. Earnest devotedness. It is not impulse--the relief of a mind bewildered and perplexed. There is an intentness upon all that is benevolent. The malignity is turned to love to Him whom he has till then hated, and to that people whom he has hitherto oppressed. And mark how this tendency of his soul, sudden as it was, was sustained. Enters he the polished city? Is he wrecked upon the savage isle? Is he dragged into the amphitheatre, where execution awaits him? Still as serenely he cries with unshrinking spirit, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” 4. Entire revolution. Here is a new creature. He falls a sinner; he rises a saint. He falls an unbeliever; he rises a champion. He falls a hater of the gospel; he rises an apostle of it. He falls a blasphemer; he rises a martyr. He falls a hater of the Saviour; he rises, so that “ for him to live” henceforth “ is Christ.” II. Suppose adequate causes for the production of such a change. The conversion of the apostle, though attended by prodigies, was no miracle itself, i.e., that which is opposed to the particular laws of the subject on which it is wrought. The change wrought upon the apostle’ s mind is not contrary to the nature of that mind; it is contrary to its misdirection, enmity, darkness, but it is agreeable to its understanding, affections, and modes of volition. Yet at the same time it is all that is wonderful and there must be causes adequate for its production. It took place--1. By the impress of power. This power is creative; it therefore acts immediately upon the mind. We have not access to each other’ s mind, nor have angels; but at the same time there is a full access which God may claim. He knows the heart, and touches all its springs, and unlocks all its wards, and pursues all its avenues, and intricacies, “ God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts.” Think, therefore, of this energy as direct; coming from the Father of light and from the fountain of power, reaching at once the heart which, however rebel it may be, is under His control and sway. Nor is it different as to ourselves. We may not know the hour, but if we have ever the heart opened, the Lord hath opened it; if we have ever a will at one with God, He worked within us first “ to will and to do.” 2. By the revelation of truth, It is not improbable that there was some natural process at work. Saul would know the types and predictions, so that when the beam fell upon them he had but to read them at once, and to construe them concerning Him whom he had hitherto opposed and withstood. But it was far more than a natural process. There came a light from God, not only in the sense of power, but in the sense of “ quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.” And what truth was disclosed? “ The truth as it is in Jesus.” He seized it. It was not by an intuition--because that implies some power of his own; but it had all the rapidity of such an intuition. He saw it in its dimensions, in its proportions, in its harmony; the system arose before him in its symmetry, in its breadth, in its perfection. Everything connected with the Saviour. The same as to ourselves. Others may teach us; but unless we have the teaching of the Spirit, taking of the things of Christ, there may be light in us, but the light is darkness--and “ how great is that darkness!” 3. By the sensibility of love. We may think of that soul as replete with all the most dire passions of enmity and of revenge. But now comes the strongest of all attractions, the most potent of all influences--love to God and love to man. Jesus to him is precious. What would he not do, what not endure to show how he loves that Saviour, and all who exhibit His image and promote His cause? It is this that causes us to relent and makes us yield. When this love is “ shed abroad in our heart,” every thought is “ brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” III. Furnish us with important lessons and rules for its investigation. Conversion may be considered a part of the gospel, as it is a doctrine always inculcated by it--and as it is a blessing accomplished wherever it is preached, and the effect of its being applied. And therefore we may take a view of Christianity beyond a mere theory of speculative truth; we may consider it as God’ s constant doing in the earth. Now, as conversion amongst ourselves may be counterfeited, let us take this conversion and see how it will be to us a key to all.1. Conversion is sovereign. For we cannot assign any reason why one man is converted and another is not. It is not of “ him willing,” or “ him running,” but of “ God showing mercy.” You say, “ that there is a predisposition.” But how came that predisposition? We do not mean to say that there are not reasons moving the Divine mind; but the reasons do not exist in the sinner himself. Think now of this man. You would have been surprised if Pilate had been the convert, or Caiaphas; why more surprised, then, that the convert is Saul of Tarsus? Have you any explanations to assign for it? There is one--one alone; “ He quickeneth whom He will.” 2. Conversion is wrought by a power fully sufficient. It would have been easy to have dashed that “ vessel of wrath” into pieces; but was it not difficult to make “ a chosen vessel” of it, and “ to prepare it to glory” ? And yet there was no difficulty to that power which did it. “ Is anything too hard for the Lord?” When we think of His power in conversion as equal to any power in the creation of a world or in the resurrection of the dead, then have we the right notion of that power; but not until then. It is power--but not mechanical, not physical--power expanding the powers, wielding the movements, brooding over the rudiments of the mind--the mind becoming supple, passive to that power; eager with all its energies still, with all its accountability and determinateness still--as the clay in the potter’ s hand. 3. Conversion in itself must always be sudden; there can be no interval between an unconverted and a converted slate; we pass “ from death unto life.” But then the consciousness of a change may not rest upon instantaneous evidence. But let us not argue against the suddenness of conversion. 4. Conversion may be accompanied with circumstances very uncommon and extreme. One heart shall open like the Philippian prison, battered by the earthquake and all its avenues and doors thrown open by the shock; another heart may open like the full-blown rose tremulous in the breeze, bathed with the dew, blushing to the sunbeam. If God takes the one method, or if He adopts the other, what is that to thee? Leave Him to work in His own way--according to His own pleasure. 5. We need not despair of the conversion of any. Have we any friends of whom we have said, There is no hope for them in God? Why? Because we have shaped our thoughts according to ourselves. But “ His thoughts are not our thoughts,” etc. What if He have “ thoughts of peace” after all? What if His ways are “ mercy and truth” after all? “ The prey” may still be “ taken from the mighty.” Malefactor as he is, that day he may “ be with Jesus in paradise.” 6. There must be a practical exhibition of our conversion. No matter what our reverie by day, or our vision by night, our conversion must be reduced to one standard; it speaks only one language--“ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.)The law of Christian life He who had come from heaven, and had stooped to conquer the heart of the proud Pharisee, must have a purpose in all this. To know that purpose is Paul’ s chief desire. It is only when the will is surrendered to the will of Christ, and Christ is taken as Saviour and Lord, that the life of God begins to grow in us. Viewing this subject broadly in relation to ourselves, let us learn first-- I. How desirable it is that we should all have from the beginning the plan of our life clearly before us. No work of any kind can be effectively done without a plan. The mind necessarily proceeds to action after processes of thought, prevision, anticipation of results and foreseen obstacles. Instinct acts from immediate impulse. The man who dispenses with purpose in action, and lives for the occasion, has no certainty, or consistency, is the slave of every passing impulse, and accomplishes little in the battle of life. If all nature were not bound together by a plan, it would be a chaos, in which kingdom would war against kingdom, and all would end in disaster. If the history of a country do not proceed upon a plan in which successive generations cooperate, there is no cumulative progress in its life. The Hebrew race followed a plan. Why was Carlyle able to accomplish so much and so well as a historian? Because in early days he selected his precise vocation as a historian, and settling down in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, he, year after year, with growing power and speciality, dealt with the events of those times in his lives of Cromwell and of Frederick, and his history of the French Revolution. Why was Darwin able to effect so much for science? Because he recognised early in life as his special destiny the study of living forms, and the conditions of their existence, and gave all his life to that branch of science. Such a habit saves us from the weakening effect of distracting aims. It raises us above the power of opposing circumstances. It stimulates activity. It produces dependence upon God. It develops energy. II. The plan of our life is in the mind of Christ. He alone has the knowledge, power, all-embracing sympathy, patience, and perfection to make the plan blessed for us and for all. III. Jesus Christ progressively unfolds to his disciples his life plan for them. He did so to Paul. But it was revealed through Ananias, a general outline--the details after. Christ’ s plan is adapted to our capacity--as strength grows we grasp it more clearly. IV. The will of Christ maybe certainly known by us. Paul in this case did. In most of his subsequent experiences he knew the mind of Christ in truth and conduct. May we know the will of Christ certainly in these days? Yes! We have the words of Christ. We have the Spirit of truth. We know certain facts in nature and laws in science. We may also have spiritual certainty. V. Times when we should specially breathe this prayer.1. When burdened by sin. 2. When seeking the blessedness of a higher life. 3. When our way is uncertain. Such prayer will be answered. God’ s will be made plain by obedience. (J. Matthews.)The question of an awakened sinner I. This language is expressive of deep concern. We sometimes wonder that men are not more concerned about what they must do to be saved. By nature they are blind and dark (Isaiah 59:10). Saul felt his danger, etc. Concern as to the manner of salvation. “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” How shall I escape the damnation of hell? What means must I employ? A man lost in the Australian bush is not only concerned about the fact of being lost, but as to the way out of the trackless wilderness. II. It is the language of astonishment and terror. “ He trembling and astonished said,” etc. We have seen men tremble under conviction. III. This is the language of decision. Saul meant to do whatever God should tell him. Many persons profess to be seeking the Lord for years. Why is He not found of them? because it is painfully manifest that they are not decided. IV. The gospel alone supplies a satisfactory answer to this question. Conclusion:1. Have we asked this question?2. This is a matter of paramount importance. (G. T. Hall.)Man’ s part in conversion I. In men like Paul no sooner is there a vision of truth than there is a new resolution for duty. Saul had seen a new sight. One look at that majestic and tender countenance changed his anger to repentance. But he did not spend much time in gazing at the radiant spectacle. It purposely vanished from him. He did not call his fellow travellers to admire it as a wonder; he looked instantly for some new work. Such tremendous exercises and convictions are not meant to end in mere emotion. So the convicted jailer, “ Sirs, what shall I do to be saved?” So the young man, “ What good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And so the people, the publicans, the soldiers to John the Baptist, “ What shall we do then?” It is the sincere cry of every earnest nature with a new and Christian view of life.2. There is a supernatural element and there is a natural one in St. Paul’ s conversion; the one for our faith, the other for our imitation. After the first glow of religious interest there comes a period of suspended energy; sometimes of reaction; sometimes of miserable complacency--a looking back to see how far we have come; or sideways, to see who is coming with us. “ Suffer me to go first and bury my father” : “ What shall this man do?” The strained sinews are relaxed. Here is the test of a true renewing. Can you survive that point of peril? If not, it is not a genuine work of the Holy Spirit. Your will was not converted, only your feelings; and as they are the transient, variable part of us, they are easily converted back again to falsehood and selfishness. Hence, the very question that belongs just there is this, “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” How shall the better feeling pass into a better character? In the history, notice-- I. A personal concern. “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” --not “ this man” ; not people in general; not older or better people, but myself. To Saul it was no time for anything but personal feeling and acting. Conscience told him what the vision meant, and the voice confirmed the findings of conscience. No wonder that he cried out “ trembling and astonished,” as if there were no moment to be lost, and as if there were no other soul in the universe but himself before the Judge. To those, then, who have begun to inquire what they shall do, the first counsel is, Keep it before you as a personal concern. Do not try to throw your uneasiness off by saying you are no worse than your neighbours. Make no cowardly attempt to shift your responsibility upon others--whether society, your education, employers, tempters, or unfaithful religionists. Remember how many souls have missed their salvation by halting between a general interest and a particular consecration. II. Doing the first simple duty; and for Christ’ s sake, because He has required it. Human judgments would, very likely, have expected something “ comporting better with the dignity of the occasion.” After such a supernal manifestation, surely life will not have to settle down into its tame uniformity again? Curiosity would expect some remarkable mission at once. Pride would suggest a sudden elevation into grand undertakings. But no; the first step must be plain and practical. The vision over, St. Paul must march on as before--outwardly as before--only with a changed errand and another heart. Above all, there must be no pause of indolence. “ Arise, and go into the city,” etc. After any spiritual excitement, or start forward, there is apt to come a contempt for familiar tasks. But see how the Scriptures rebuke this dangerous vanity; and how profoundly they interpret human nature. After that rapturous night when Jacob saw the splendour of heaven, and the angels of God, the next morning he arose, put together stones for a memorial, and went straight on his journey. Naaman expected some magnificent demonstration of miracle. But no; it was simply, “ Go, bathe seven times in Jordan.” “ Too simple, too common,” he said. Yet that was the way to health. At their first call, the fishermen that were to convert the world were not sent out with banners and trumpets. Drop your fishing nets and come after Me, in a quiet, obscure, daily doing of My hard work, and in due time you shall be kings and priests unto God! The healed leper was only to go home and tell what great things God had done for him. The “ young man” was looking for some unprecedented sacrifice; but to go and increase his charity to those poor people he had seen so often was more than he could bear. No, the true self-sacrifice is not on high or in strange places. Back to the old scenes, the dull shop, the unsocial, unexciting day’ s work, the tedious routine of the office; but if you take with you the new Spirit, which has beamed upon you in your blessed hour, then all the dull task work will be transfigured in that light. Go straight to the nearest, plainest duty, and “ it shall be told thee” there, in the opening path of Providence, what thou shalt dc next. III. Silent seclusion and meditation. Observe how effectually the apostle was shut up to himself. First, a blindness, then three days of absolute privacy, fasting, thinking, afterwards three years in Arabia. He needed this cooling air of stillness and loneliness. His passions had been fiery, terribly tempestuous. Not long before he had taken a ferocious delight in Stephen’ s martyrdom; and now, sitting at the feet of that Jesus, he had that scene to remember. Food enough for meditation! Like the outward form of the Master, that old life must die, and lie “ three days” hid in a sepulchre, before the new created man could be “ risen with Christ.” There is a lesson for us of this bustling age in that strong, penitent man, fasting, repenting, shut in his dark room, thinking, praying. When the deepest springs of life are moved by any grand experience we cannot speak: we ought to be still. Even nature, whenever she discloses to us her grander scenery, shuts our lips. After that call from heaven the apostle longed for silence, and it came. Such seclusion is sometimes our salvation. Every real renewal is a winepress that must be trodden alone. IV. Submission to a visible religious authority. Ananias, a representative of the Church, was sent to encourage him, and to introduce him to the Church. If Paul’ s strong nature needed guidance and help, our weak ones need it no less. What Ananias and the miracle and the heavenly voice were to him, one Book and the ministry and the ordinances are to us. This sounds very commonplace, I know. Visions are more exciting, ecstasies more transporting, sentimentalists will say it is uninteresting; pseudo-spiritualists will say it is formal; novelty seekers will say it is old fashioned. But remember, the supposition now is that you are in earnest about making yourself a Christian man, and are willing to take the practical, sensible means. One of these, a chief one, is a study of the Bible--the textbook of the Christian knowledge. Whenever it is displaced, Christian character loses richness and depth. One reason why our modem religion is superficial, weak, irreverent, is that the intimacy with that nourishing inspiration declines. Nor can you separate the Bible from the Church. Our busy society has so little in its influence that is really spiritual--it offers so few helps to a weak soul struggling to maintain a Christian conversation--that we do all need to replenish our inner light and love and strength from supernatural and sacramental fountains. V. The appeal to Christ by prayer. St. Paul spoke first, not to himself, not to Ananias, not to any friend on earth; it was, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” There is no such thing as growth in a holy life without communion between the heart and Him. For every perplexity and despondency, a fresh supplication: “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” and He will show us. He has promised that He will. “ Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find.” (Bp. Huntington.)An eager inquiry The words are-- I. An earnest appeal for Divine mercy. Saul was conscious of his great wickedness in persecuting Christ, and doubtless thought that he would have to “ do” much to secure forgiveness. The reply, “ Arise,” etc., must have given him hope. The period of three days was one of great anguish, but relief came through Ananias, and Saul received his sight and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Nothing is said about forgiveness, but this is surely included in the gift of the Spirit, for the one is of no use without the other. So Peter said to the penitents at Pentecost, “ Repent and be baptized … and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Does anyone here inquire, “ What shall I do?” The answer “ is nigh thee even in thy heart,” etc. II. A hearty desire for consecration to God’ s service. The question means not only, “ What must I do to be saved?” but, “ What must I do to serve Thee?” God wills--1. That we should hold communion with Him. This Saul did during the three days at Damascus. “ Behold he prayeth.” He had prayed before, but only as a Pharisee--outwardly; now he came into actual contact with God, and poured out his soul before Him. 2. That we should exemplify the power of the gospel in our daily life. “ As ye have received Christ as Lord, so walk in Him” in your personal capacity, in your domestic relations, in your secular employments, in your religious and Church duties. 3. That we should help to diminish human misery. Our Master went about doing good, not only to the souls, but to the bodies of men. His religion is not only one of faith and hope, but of charity. “ Pure religion and undefiled,” etc. “ Whoso hath this world’ s good,” etc. 4. That we should seek to bring men to Christ. It was revealed to Paul that he should be a preacher, and right well did he fulfil his task. Although all Christians are not called upon to be preachers, yet all are expected to do something to save souls. In the family, Sunday school, workshop, by the sick bed, etc. We may all work for the Master. In conclusion:1. This life is the only opportunity we have for working in reference to the world to come. 2. Our position in heaven will be determined by our activity on earth. 3. Our work and therefore our reward will be proportioned by the degree to which we yield to the constraint of Christ’ s love. (J. Morris, D. D.)The Christian’ s life Standing on a platform when the train, shooting out of some dark tunnel, dashes by with the rush of an eagle, and the roar of thunder; or, seated upon some lofty rock, when the mountain wave, driven on by the hurricane, and swelling, foaming, curling, bursts, and, passing on either side, rushes to roll along the beach--than these I know no situation, under heaven, where a man more feels his weakness. What hand could stop these flying wheels; or, seizing the billow by its snowy main, hold it back? Only one--God’ s own right hand. Great miracle that! A greater is here, in the sudden omnipotent arrest of Saul. With what impetus he moves on his career, and, breathing flames and slaughter, he rushes on his prey; but in a moment he is arrested in mid career, changed into little child. The hand that bent the arch of heaven has bent his iron will; and, now yielding himself up to Christ, he lies at His feet. Let us now consider what is implied in this question of his. I. That every true convert submits himself to the will of Christ. It is not, What will my minister, parents, friends, etc.; but what wilt Thou have me to do?1. This submission to another’ s will is the most difficult of things. It is easier to bend iron than a stubborn will. Does not every parent find it so? Happy are the children that have learned to say to a wise, good, Christian father, what Jesus said to His, “ Not My will, but Thine be done.” This submission to the will of another, the first, best lesson, the battle of the nursery, trains us for the battle of the world, and also the Church. And thus are we to yield our wills to Christ, not saying what would I wish, or what will this or that one say? but Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth. In the church, in the place of business, in the family, in the world, What wilt Thou have me to do? There is a passage in the history of St. Francis that may throw light on this subject. The rule of the order which he founded was implicit submission to the superior. One day a monk proved refractory. He must be subdued. By order of St. Francis, a grave was dug, and the monk was put into it. The brothers began to shovel in the earth. When the mould had reached the wretch’ s knees, St. Francis bent down, and, fixing his eye on him, said, Are you dead yet--do you yield? There was no answer; down in that grave there seemed to stand a man with a will as iron as his own. The burial went on. When at length he was buried up to the neck, to the lips, St. Francis bent down once more, Are you dead yet? The monk lifted his eye to his superior to see in his cold, grey eyes no spark of feeling. Dead to all the weaknesses of humanity, St. Francis stood ready to give the signal that should finish the burial. It was not needed; the iron bent; the funeral was slopped; his will yielding to a stronger, the poor brother said, “ I am dead.” Popery is not so much a contradiction as a caricature of the truth. I would not be dead as these monks to any man. The reason which I have got from God Almighty is to bend blindly before no human authority. But the submission I refuse to man, Jesus, I give to Thee--not wrung from me by terror, but won by love. I wish to be dead, not as that monk, but as he who said, “ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live.” Saul, the persecutor, was dead; but Paul, the great apostle, lived. “ Yet not I,” he adds, “ but Christ liveth in me,” etc. 2. Were it so with us, what happy, good, brave, devoted Christians we should be! I have seen a servant come in the morning to his master for orders, and leave to spend the day in executing them; and would that every one of us would go morning by morning to Christ, saying, with Saul, Lord what wilt Thou have me to do this day? There would be no difficulty in getting money for Christ’ s cause, or people to do His work. I have read how a troop of cavalry, dashing at the roaring cannon, would rush on to death; and how the forlorn hope would throw themselves, with a bound and a cheer, into the fiery breach, knowing that they should leave their bodies there--it was the will of their commander. And shall Christians do less for Christ? Are you your own? We have one Master in heaven; and if it be true that He bought us with His blood, what right has a Christian to himself? II. That every true convert feels his individual responsibility. It is not only, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? but What wilt Thou have me to do?1. In looking over some vast assembly one reflection naturally suggests itself--What power is here! You may smile at him who, standing by the cataract of Niagara, instead of being filled with admiration, began to calculate how much machinery that water power would turn. But it is a serious, stirring thought to think how much moral machinery all this power now before me could turn for good, were every scheming brain and busy hand, and willing heart, engaged in the service of God. What honour would accrue to God! what a revenue of glory to Jesus Christ, and what invaluable service to religion! It is impossible to estimate the power that lies latent in our Churches. We talk of the power latent in steam till Watts evoked its spirit from the waters, and set the giant to turn the iron arms of machinery. We talk of the power latent in the skies till science, seizing the spirit of the thunder, chained it to our service--abolishing distance, and flashing our thoughts across rolling seas to distant Continents. Yet what are these to the moral power that lies asleep in our congregations? 2. And why latent? Because men and women neither appreciate their individual influence, nor estimate their individual responsibilities. They cannot do everything; therefore they do nothing. They cannot blaze like a star; and, therefore, they won’ t shine like a glow worm; and so they are content that the few work, and that the many look on. Not thus are the woods clothed in green, but by every little leaf expanding its own form. Nor thus are fields covered with golden corn, but by every stalk of grain ripening its own head. You say, What can I do? oh, I have no power, nor influence, nor name, nor talents, nor money! Look at the coral reef yonder, which stretches its unbroken wall for a thousand leagues along the sea. How contemptible the architects; yet the aggregate of their labours, mocking our greatest breakwaters, how colossal! I know that all cannot be bright and burning lights; but see how that candle in a cottage window sends out its rays streaming far through the depths of night. Why should not we shine, though it should be to illumine only the narrow walls of our country’ s humblest home? 3. Consider how the greatest things done on earth have ever been done by little and little--little agents, and little things. How was the wall restored around Jerusalem? By each man, whether his house was an old palace or the rudest cabin, building the breach before his own door. How was the soil of the New World redeemed from gloomy forests? By each sturdy emigrant cultivating the patch round his own log cabin? How have the greatest battles been won? By the rank and file--every man holding his own post, and ready to die on the battlefield. And if the world is ever to be conquered for our Lord, it is not by ministers, nor by office bearers, nor by the great, and noble, and mighty; but by every member of Christ’ s body being a working member, and saying to Jesus, Lord what wilt Thou have me to do? III. That the life of the true convert will be one of deeds. What wilt Thou have me not to believe or to profess, but to do.1. I do not set deeds against doctrines, nor have I any sympathy with the fashion of setting small value on creeds; saying, It matters little what a man believes, if he does right. A man cannot do right unless he believes right, since every effect must have a cause. I know that doctrines are not deeds; that the foundation is not the superstructure. Yet that night when the rains descend, and the floods rise, and the winds blow, happy is the man whose storm-beaten house stands founded on a rock, and happier still the man, when the hour comes which shall sweep away all confidence in human merits, whose hopes of salvation stand on the Rock of Ages. Call creeds, as some do, but the bones, and not the living, lovely, breathing form of true religion; still, what were the body without the bones? Not less important the place that doctrines hold; and therefore I say, hold fast the profession of your faith. 2. Still, faith without works is dead. Useless the creeds that do not influence our conduct; the preaching that leads to no practice. Prayer meetings, sermons, are good; but they are not, as some make them, banquets where you are to enjoy yourselves. Would you see their proper use? Look at yon hardy and sun-burned man, sitting down in his cottage to a simple meal; and rising from the table to spend the strength it gives him at the labours of the field. So Sabbaths and religious services are to strengthen us for work--otherwise our religion is no less selfish than the lives of epicures. Our object should be to get strength to do God’ s work in this world, and to follow Him who, as our pattern as well as propitiation, went about continually doing good. Christ is the propitiation of none of whom he is not also the pattern; and on the last day you will never be asked what was your denomination or creed. No! It is fruit, not leaves nor even flowers, that is the test of the tree. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and east into the fire. Alive to this, what good we should do! how busy we should be! There would be no time for sin; little even for rest. Rest? What have we to do with that? From His cradle to the grave, did Christ ever rest? “ My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Earth for work, heaven for wages. “ There remaineth a rest for the people of God.” (T. Guthrie, D. D.)The two-fold subjection of humanity to God--Pharaoh and Paul (text, and Romans 14:11; Exodus 10:17):--The passage from Romans, taken from Isaiah 45:23, predicts the universal subjugation of mankind to the Divine will. This does not mean universal salvation, for the subjugation is two fold, the one represented by Pharaoh, the other by Paul. I. The one is by a conviction of God’ s terrible power, the other by a conviction of His love. Pharaoh felt that further rebellion would be ruin, and for a moment “ bowed the knee.” Paul felt that further rebellion would be a crime against that tenderness that could plead, “ I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” So it is ever. Wicked men and devils are made to bow by a sense of God’ s power. Good men and angels bow from a sense of His love. II. The one involves anguish, the other happiness. In what a state of agony was Pharaoh when he said, “ Intreat the Lord for me.” But what joy came to Paul as the voice of Mercy said, “ Rise, stand upon thy feet,” etc. The one therefore involves heaven, the other hell.1. In the one there is a sense of absolute slavery, in the other of perfect freedom. 2. In the one there is a sense of despair, in the other of hopefulness. 3. In the one there is a sense of Divine antagonism, in the other of Divine favour. III. The one becomes a ministry of destruction, the other of salvation. Pharaoh, the moment the panic abated, rushes on and brings destruction to himself and his hosts; Paul begins a ministry which issues in the salvation of myriads. Conclusion: It is not for us to determine whether we shall bow the knee or not--we must--but how: by a sense of God’ s power or of His love, by coercion or choice? (D. Thomas, D. D.)Our mission I. Every man has his mission.1. Life is awfully significant.2. Duty renders it sublime. II. Our mission may be ascertained--1. By observing our position and circumstances.2. By listening to the voice of God. III. Our mission may be accomplished.1. Impossibilities are not required.2. God is pledged to give the needful strength. (W. W. Wythe.)The Christian for the times The great apostle was a man for the times in which he lived. “ The Christian for the times” must be-- I. Spiritual. He must be “ converted” on the conditions of repentance and faith. II. He must be intelligent. Must know the Scriptures. III. He must be tolerant in spirit. The age of intolerance is past. IV. He must be progressive in his methods. V. He must be aggressive in spirit. “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” To go is to be aggressive. VI. He must be liberal with his possessions. VII. He must possess stability of character. (J. Robinette.) Acts 9:7 And the men who Journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man (text, and Acts 22:9): The sights and sounds of life Here is a record of the supernatural in the life of Paul and his companions. The fact that these phenomena were at midday, and that the apostle’ s fellow travellers were also sensible of them demonstrates that both the voice and the light were objective realities. The slight discrepancy between the two accounts confirms their authenticity. Identity of statement by two different persons after an interval of twenty-five years would excite suspicion. But it may fairly be supposed that all that Paul means is that they heard not articulate voice but mere sound. The same sound that communicated no idea in the one case, conveyed a message from Christ in the other. And the same light which revealed nothing to “ the men” revealed the Son of God to Paul. This extraordinary circumstance indicates what is common in human life. A voice fraught with deep meaning to some, is a mere empty sound to others; a light revealing the grandest realities to some, discloses nothing to others. I. Men’ s lives in relation to material nature show this.1. The lights of nature reveal-- (1) To the thoughtless multitude nothing but mere sensuous forms--just what they reveal to the brute. (2) To the superstitious, unearthly existences--dreaded as demons or worshipped as gods. (3) To the sceptical philosopher, nothing but a grand system of well-organised forces working by its own inherent impulse resistless as fate. (4) To the enlightened Christian, a wise and loving Father. 2. The voices of nature, too, which are boundlessly varied, and set in every key, convey different impressions to different minds. (1) Nothing but mere sensation.(2) Superstitious awe.(3) Scientific intelligence.(4) Thoughts from God. II. Men’ s lives in relation to human history show this. The lights and voices of history reveal varied and almost opposite things.1. To some it is without any governing law. Its social, mercantile, political movements are ascribable only to blind impulse and capricious passions. 2. To others it has only the governing law of human might. Some explain all on the principle that the strong preys on the weak. The progress and decline of commerce, the rise and fall of empires, the fate of battles are all ascribable to superior might. 3. To others it is governed exclusively by evil. The devil is in the schemes of the trader, the thunders of the orator, the craft of the priest, and shapes the destiny of the race. 4. To others it is governed by the mediatorial plan of God. The restorative purpose of heaven is seen running through the ages. Even the bitterest sufferings are regarded as parturition throes giving birth to a higher order of things. III. Men’ s lives in relation to the inspired oracle show this. The Bible has wonderful lights and sounds, but nothing is more true than that they differently affect different men. Ecclesiastical history, theological polemics, as well as the religious life of our own age, are fraught with illustrations of this. The sceptic and the believer, the Papist and the Protestant, the Socinian and the Trinitarian, the Churchman and the Nonconformist are striking examples. IV. Men’ s lives in relation to the gospel ministry show this. How differently the same sermon is regarded by various members of the congregation. The sermon which as a Divine voice speaks to the conscience of some, has no meaning to others; or which, as a Divine light, flashes moral conviction and reveals Christ to some, is either not seen at all, or regarded as a mere glare of human genius or enthusiasm. Conclusion: This subject--1. Reveals a distinguishing attribute of human nature. Men have the power of hearing and seeing with the soul. All that the brutes see and hear terminates in the region of sensation. Ezekiel, Isaiah, John, our own Milton show what men can see and hear with the organs of their soul. The pure in heart see God. Man, in one word, has the power or receiving, modifying, and interpreting the impression the outward makes upon him. 2. Explains the great difference between spiritually and carnally minded men. Men are divided into two classes, those who live to and for the flesh, and those who live to and for the Spirit. Why is this? The one hears and sees in the sounds and sights of life what the other does not. The spiritual realises the spiritual even here. 3. Presents an object in life after which all should strive--viz., to get the eyes and ears of his soul so quickened as to see and hear the Divine everywhere, as the Lord did for Elisha’ s servant. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Acts 9:8-9 And Saul arose, and … they led him by the hand. Hand led A wonderful change in the soul of which this was the symbol. I. The hand yielded.1. Confession of futile character of past opposition. Sense of helplessness. 2. Trust in a newly discovered guide. II. The hand grasped. Soldiers accompany Saul, or strangers to him; they yet represented Divine guidance given in weakness. The responsibility of those who offer to guide. III. The hand kept--a type of soul attitude. Continue with Christ. True progress was the outcome of being led. We shall be brought to the great ends of life by being led. We shall attain rest. We need to gain that submissiveness embodied in “ Lead, kindly light.” (A. F. Muir, M. A.)And was three days without sight.--What Saul felt in his seclusion and saw in his blindness Only one other space of three days’ duration can be mentioned of equal importance. The conflict of Saul’ s feelings was so great and his remorse so piercing that he could neither eat nor drink. He could have no communication with the Christians, for they had been terrified by the news of his approach, and the Jews could have no sympathy with his present state of mind. He fasted and prayed in silence. The recollections of his early years--the passages of Scripture which he had never understood--the thoughts of his own cruelty--the memory of the last looks of Stephen--all these crowded into his mind, and made the three days equal to long years of repentance. And if there was one feeling which above all others kept possession of his heart it was that suggested by Christ’ s expostulation, and this feeling would be attended with thoughts of peace, with hope and faith. He waited on God; and in his blindness a vision was granted unto him. (Dean Howson.)Saul at Damascus Just as an eagle which has been drenched and battered by some fierce storm will alight to plume its ruffled wings, so when a great soul has passed “ through fire and water,” it needs some quiet place in which to rest. Like Moses, like Elijah, like our Lord Himself, like almost every great soul in ancient or modern times to whom has been entrusted the task of swaying the destinies by moulding the convictions of mankind--like Sakya Mount, like Mohammed in the cave at Hira, like St. Francis of Assist in his sickness, like Luther in the monastery of Erfurt, Paul would need a quiet period in which to elaborate his thoughts, to still the tumult of his emotions, to commune in secrecy and silence with his own soul. (Archdeacon Farrar.)The three days’ sepulture for the inward man I. The old must pass away.1. The old light is gone.2. The old enjoyments are no longer palatable.3. The old activity is paralysed.4. The old friends are away. II. The new is quietly preparing.1. A new light is kindling within.2. A new salvation is rising up in the soul.3. Strength is collecting for a new calling.4. New friends are standing at the door. (K. Gerok.) Acts 9:10-18 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus called Ananias.Ananias of Damascus 1. Most people have watched a little steam tug busily towing some great ship down stream or out into the sea. The tug is almost extinguished by the giant hull that floats behind, and returns unnoticed into port, while, observed of all observers, the big ship spreads her white sails to the breeze, and, like a noble bird upon the wing, speeds her silent but majestic flight across the waves. The conversion of Saul, and the glorious work which he achieved, are household words in our Christian communities, and evidences of our Christian faith. Every one is familiar with the start of that goodly vessel, with the voyages it made, and the precious cargoes which it carried. But that ship also had its steam tug, who appears at the crisis, does the work appointed to Him and then vanishes. 2. How a Christian Church had grown together at Damascus we know not; but some of the scattered disciples, doubtless, fled thither after Stephen’ s death, and converts were added from among the native Jews. Thus far Jews and Christians seem to have lived on peaceable and even friendly terms, far removed from the controversies of Jerusalem. Ananias himself was universally respected. He was known as “ a devout man according to the law,” and “ had a good report of all the Jews which dwelt in Damascus.” Such are the men whom our Lord loves to employ, men of unblemished character, “ sanctified and meet for the Master’ s use,” etc. 3. It does not follow that Ananias held any official position in the Church. We have a perfect right to consider him a private Christian, with no special gift of public speech or pastoral authority, but holding the warrant which belongs to all disciples, to preach the gospel. Ananias’ s commission is only what may come to any one of us, and for which we should be prepared. True, the Lord spoke to him “ in a vision” ; but He may speak with equal emphasis by the whisper of His Spirit, or the indication of His providence; and our attitude, like his, must be that of the girded loins and watchful eye--“ Behold, I am here, Lord.” 4. The work prepared for Ananias is now unfolded to him. In the “ street called Straight” stood a house, belonging to a well-known citizen, Judas; and there lies a blind man, wanting help, which Ananias is to give. The man is expecting him: for he too has had a vision of such an one coming. And mark the motive for going. “ Behold, he prayeth” ; that is the sight which attracts the eye of the Lord, and ought to kindle the zeal of the disciples. Are you beginning to pray? The ear of Christ has caught the sound. It comes floating up to the high heavens, through all the thunder of the angels’ adoration, and the ceaseless murmur of the universe, heard as surely as an infant’ s cry reaches the mother’ s ear amidst the bustle of the house. He sees you; and He will stir up some Ananias to come to you. 5. The street is called Straight, the house is the house of Judas, and so far all is plain; but the man in the house--what is his name? The sound of his name fell like a thunderbolt; “ inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus.” Shall Ananias put his head into the tiger’ s mouth? Shall he carry the pearl of the gospel and east it down at the feet of its bitterest calumniator? “ Lord, I have heard by many of this man,” and I had rather have nothing to do with him! How often has the same answer started to our lips at some distasteful call of duty. But these difficult errands are really our noblest opportunities. “ Go thy way,” Ananias; thou art to have part in a work with the fame of which the world shall ring! That persecutor is “ a chosen vessel unto Me.” To that devout disciple it is granted to take Saul of Tarsus by the hand, to introduce him into the Church, and to send him forth upon his mission of self-sacrifice. May there be no such honours waiting for us? John Bunyan was first enlightened by the simple Christian talk of some poor women, spinning on the summer’ s evening at their cottage doors. Sir Hope Grant is said to have been brought out of utter indifference by overhearing a group of private soldiers at prayer. The mouse lets loose the lion. Only let us cultivate simplicity and faith, and yield a prompt obedience to the call of duty, and to us too may fail some glorious trophy of Divine favour. 6. Brave believer as he was, Ananias reached the house, and found the man. He seems like some skilful and friendly physician in his treatment of the difficult case, and shows us how to deal with the inquiring. (1) Before him lies the man whose hands have been imbrued in Christian blood. He would have had Ananias himself in prison before now, if he had not been hindered. But it is all forgotten and forgiven. Friendly hands are laid on those blind eyes, and a voice, full of pathos and pity, says, “ Brother Saul!” The salutation with which one Christian was wont to salute another--breathing so different a spirit from rigid Pharisaism. It seemed to take in the poor forlorn sinner to a family fireside, with its warmth and light. If we want to do men good, they must be our “ brothers.” Never stand, like some old pillar saint, on your high pedestal of virtue and talk down to the people at your feet. Go and sit at their side; put your hands on them; make them feel at home with you; and even if you have to do with the most wicked, speak to him as man to man, on the common footing of the love of God. (2) There, is moreover, a cheerful assurance in the tone which Ananias takes. He might have come to that chief of sinners with stern words of condemnation. He comes with words of hope and with acts of blessing. The falling of the scales from Saul’ s eyes was but a symbol of the spiritual enlightenment which Ananias was permitted to bring to his benighted soul. 7. What a commission we Christians have and with what alacrity should it be done l Happy must be the surgeon who with delicate skill can give sight back to the blinded eye, and bid it look out once more on sky and earth, and springing flowers, and human faces. But higher and happier still the calling of the disciple, who may send forth a brother man rejoicing on his pilgrimage to the eternal sunshine of heaven. 8. Nor does Ananias reckon his task yet complete. We preach the gospel to men, and then too often let them go. It matters much to a young disciple that he should be clearly told what to do next. And now to Saul’ s eager inquiry, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” comes the appropriate answer, “ Arise and be baptized,” and then, “ join thyself to the disciples.” Was it not a joyful day when Ananias entered the Christian assembly, leading by the hand that changed and humbled man, and witnessed the good profession which he made? And have you been the means of guiding a soul to Christ? That is good; but now complete your work. Bring your friend into the Church, among fellow Christians, whose experience may instruct and edify him, and with whom he may find a spiritual home. (W. Brock, jun.)The good Ananias: a lesson for believers I. The man.1. He was simply a private person. He is not described as pastor, or evangelist, or deacon: yet he was the channel for communicating the Holy Ghost to the great apostle. The Lord did not send to Paul an apostle, lest any should have said that Paul received his commission at second hand from those already in office. I see in many of you special qualifications for certain uses, which your being church officers or preachers might take from you. 2. He was a disciple. He sat at Jesus’ feet and learned of Him, and therefore was ready to instruct Saul. How can you teach others that which Christ does not teach you? 3. He was “ a devout man” (Acts 22:12). Nowadays we greatly need more devout men, men of prayer, devoted men: for the strength of the spirit of man lies in fellowship with the Spirit of God. And he that has power with God will not fail to have power with men. 4. He had “ a good report of all the Jews which dwell in Damascus.” They hated Christians, but they could not help respecting this devout man. The world had then, as it still has, a respect for those who walk with God. If we are to be useful to our fellow men we must deserve their esteem. 5. He was thoughtful for the Church of God. He was grieved at the afflictions of the saints in Jerusalem, and he feared for his brethren in Damascus. He is the first to call Christians “ saints,” or holy ones. He had evidently noticed with delight this point of their character. All the servants of God should take an interest in the condition of the Church. It is one mark that a man is right towards God when he is right towards the family of God. II. His posture. He was familiar with the Old Testament, and remembered how the Lord said, “ Abraham,” and the patriarch answered, “ Here am I,” and how Samuel and Isaiah said the same. Did not this indicate that--1. His heart was responsive to the Divine voice? God speaks to us many times and gets no answer. Happy is he who can say with David, “ When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face,” etc. If there be a call to duty, or a prompting to sacrifice, does your spirit say at once, “ Here am I” ? 2. He was ready. He did not ask, “ What for?” but “ Here am I,” ready for anything. Are we free from reservations? Whatsoever the Lord saith to us, are we prepared to do it? What drawbacks there often are! But blessed is that man who says “ Ready, aye ready!” 3. He was all there. “ Ananias.” “ Here am I.” In prayer, in singing, how often it happens that the mind is wandering--we are not there. There is such a thing as preaching, and doing service for God with a portion of yourself. I often see upon a sunny wall a chrysalis, and when I go to take it down, I find that the summer’ s sun has shone upon it and the insect has developed, and left nothing but an empty case behind. How often in the pew we find the chrysalis of a man, but where is the man? Wait till tomorrow morning, and see him in his shop; there is the man; or, to follow up the figure, there is the butterfly. But if ever a man ought to be all there, it is when he is called to the service of God. He should marshal all his faculties, and every faculty should reply, “ Here am I.” The whole of a living man is something worth having, but a fragment is only fit to be buried. III. His direction. When he had thus said, “ Here am I!” the Lord gave him his orders in detail. I do not say that the Lord will give us orders verbally, and I would have you not mistake your own whims for God’ s voice; but I do say believe that God’ s voice is calling you to that service which providence places in your way. God still guides His servants when they are willing to be guided. Ananias had his orders as to--1. Where he should go. The Lord knows the street and house where the sinner lives who is to be blessed by you. Only wait upon Him, and if you go in His name He will take care that you are not sent to the wrong person. 2. To whom he was to go. The Lord knows the individual whom you are to bless, and all about him. Though you have no verbal directions, yet the person who falls in your way, if you will but seek to do God’ s work to him, will turn out to be the person whom God intends you to bless. 3. When to go. Perhaps he had not yet left his bed, for it was a vision of the night; but he was to “ Arise and go.” God’ s errands are so important that we must not delay their performance. Why he was to go. Because the Master was there already. God had inspired the prayer of the blinded persecutor, and now he was about to answer it by Ananias. Where God has ploughed we are to sow. Of that preparation you know but little, but your own duty is clear enough. 5. What he was to do when he found Saul; he was to lay his hand on him. There is a great deal in the touch of an earnest man. If you stand half a mile off from a man, and throw the gospel at him, you will miss him; but if you go close to him, and lay hold upon him, and show that you have an affection for him, you will, by God’ s blessing, lead him in the right way. IV. His difficulties. These were--1. Very natural. There is a promise that the leopard shall lie down with the kid, but it is not surprising that the kid should at first shrink from the monster; and so this simple-minded man was startled at the idea that he was to visit the malicious man who had sought the lives, of Christians. 2. Were such that he could tell the Lord about them; and whenever you feel any difficulty, if you can lay it before the Lord in prayer, there may be unbelief in it, but there will be no wilful sin in it. 3. Unfounded. If he had thought for a minute he would have concluded that if Saul prayed he must have ceased to persecute. Do we not lose opportunities of doing good by dwelling too much upon the past characters of those to whom we are sent? Utterly hopeless people are often the most hopeful when we have faith enough to approach them. Be hopeful that He who placed this sinner in your way and you in the sinner’ s way has designs of love which are about to be accomplished. V. His comfort. The Lord reassured His servant by reminding him--1. Of the doctrine of election. “ He is a chosen vessel unto Me.” Here was one whom God had chosen to bless, though Ananias knew it not. 2. That He had chosen this man to a great purpose. “ To bear My name among the Gentiles.” A great sinner is to be made a great saint. A great opposer is to become a great labourer. Who knows how largely God may use the sinner whom we seek to save? You teachers may be teaching Luthers or Melancthons, holy men and women who shall serve the Lord abundantly. 3. That He would go with him--“ For I will show him,” etc. You are bidden to teach an individual and you fear that you have no strength, and, therefore, you cry, “ Lord, I cannot show this man the truth.” The Lord replies, “ I will show him.” VI. His obedience. It was--1. Prompt. He went his way with all speed. 2. Exact: he entered into the house, and, putting his hands on him, said, “ Brother Saul.” He did as he had been bidden. And if I deliver my Lord’ s message just as He gave it to me, then my Lord is responsible for the success of it, and not myself. 3. Loving. “ Brother Saul.” You cannot win souls by putting on a morose countenance. Do not be afraid to call the individual “ Brother” ; but take care that you mean it. Ananias did not use the term as a cant expression, but his spirit and feeling were brotherly. 4. Wise. He did not pompously say, “ I am an ordained official, and therefore speak with authority” ; but “ The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared,” etc. When he alludes to Paul’ s former course, he only gives a hint of it--“ the Lord that appeared to thee.” He does not say, “ as thou camest to persecute us,” but he allowed conscience to do its own work. He gives the items of his errand--“ that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” 5. Faithful. “ Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.” The tendency with many is to say nothing upon that point. VII. The results. They were--1. Immediate; for Paul received his sight, was comforted and baptized at once. 2. Extensive; for this Paul became a preacher of the gospel to every land. Go ye, then, wherever God sends you. Everybody is not a Paul, but yet you may find a Paul among your converts. The pearl fisher plunges into the sea; he does not know whether or no he shall bring up a pearl that will decorate an emperor’ s diadem, but he searches the deeps in that hope. No matter though the fisherman himself may be coarse and rugged, yet he may light upon a priceless pearl. And you, whoever you may be, plunge into your work with whole-hearted devotion, and you shall yet discover some hidden jewel which shall adorn Immanuel’ s diadem. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight.Straight street Is distinguished-- I. As the temporary abode of a remarkable stranger. “ One Saul of Tarsus.”1. Remarkable for intellectual ability.2. For prodigious force of character.3. For undivided concentration of purpose.4. For conscientious religious conviction.5. For tragic success in persecution.6. For startling change of career. II. As a locality visited by a Divine messenger. “ And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go,” etc. That Heaven--1. Is intimately acquainted with the homes of the good.2. Sometimes utilises the homes of the good for its own purpose.3. Invariably immortalises such occasions by the Divine presence. III. As the scene of the greatest conversion. “ Behold, he prayeth.” The conversion was--1. Unexpected in its occurrence.2. Miraculous in its agency.3. Bitter in its experience.4. Prolonged in its process.5. Unique in its purpose.6. Worldwide in its results. This one conversion was a universal revival. (B. D. Johns.)The dwellers in “ the street called Straight” I am afraid that if Ananias had been sent to that street to inquire for some of us he would not have found us living there. This street is a very interesting one, because--1. The people who live in it are honest, and would not do a dishonourable thing for all that you could give them. Thus there are many people who do not think it worth their while to live in that street; still less do they think that anyone can succeed in business there, as they will have to compete with people who live in other streets, and who will do very unworthy things for the sake of gain. Thus they think they are bound to do some crooked things or they will be driven out of house and home by competition. And so there are many people who refuse to live in “ the street called Straight,” because it has no “ Lying Corner” or “ Cheating Alley.” But we must remember that the only sense in which we can be rich is not having a lot of money to our credit in the bank. The richest man after all is the man who has got a good name, which cannot be bought for money; so that if a man loses occasionally in pounds, shillings, and pence by living in “ the street called Straight,” he gains in having a nobler spirit, a finer character, and a more beautiful life. 2. The people who live in “ the street called Straight” are truthful. They will not tell a lie on any account, even if it gets them out of a difficulty. Now, I wonder how many of you children live in this street? 3. Those who live in “ the street called Straight” are self-denying. They will gladly do a kindness, if by so doing they can help their neighbour. Ah, there is wonderful neighbourliness in this street. 4. Those who live in this street keep everything very clean. They sometimes may be mistaken, but they are very pure in their motives. (D. Davies.)Enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.--Behold he prayeth These words are the hallmark of genuine conversion. “ Behold, he prayeth” is a surer witness of a man’ s conversion than, “ Behold, he singeth, or, readeth the Scripture, or, preacheth.” These things may be admirably done by men who are not regenerate; but if a man really prays, we may know that he has passed from death unto life. Prayer is the autograph of the Holy Ghost upon the renewed heart. Hence the Lord gave to Ananias his sure indication that Saul of Tarsus was a converted man, by saying to him, “ Behold, he prayeth.” In Saul’ s case, this indication was very specially remarkable: “ Behold, he prayeth” had a peculiar meaning in relation to this converted Pharisee. I shall have to show you this at length. It was thought a great wonder that King Saul, of the Old Testament, prophesied. So unexpected and singular was the event that it became a proverb: “ Is Saul also among the prophets?” But it was an equal marvel when this more modern Saul was seen to pray. Is Saul of Tarsus among those who pray to Jesus for mercy? The Lord from heaven Himself mentions it as a prodigy, he points to it as a thing to be beheld and wondered at, for He says to His servant Ananias, “ Behold, he prayeth.” This expression concerning Saul of Tarsus is remarkable, for-- I. It implies that he had never prayed before. This is very striking, for Saul was a Pharisee, and therefore a man who habitually repeated prayers; but He who searcheth the hearts, and knew what prayer is, here declares that now at length he begins to pray. What his friends would have put down as a great mass of prayer, the Lord makes nothing of. I want to push this fact home upon those who in a formal manner have always prayed and yet have never spiritually prayed.1. Real prayer must be spiritual; and Saul’ s prayers had not been such before. Words are but the body of devotion: the confession of sin, the longing for mercy, these are the spirit of prayer. A man may have repeated the choicest words, and yet not have prayed at all. A man may utter no word whatever, and he may be praying most effectually, as Moses and Hannah. Anyhow, that prayer which is not spiritual is not prayer; for “ God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” If the spirit does not commune with God, there may have been music and oratory, but there has been no prayer. 2. Saul had never offered prayer of the kind which the Lord can accept. He knew the letter of the truth according to the ceremonial law; but he did not know the spirit of it as it is embodied in Jesus. He had been going about to establish his own righteousness, but he had not submitted himself to the righteousness of Christ; and therefore in his prayer he had not been traversing the road which led to the heart of God. If you employ a servant to do a work, and he persists in doing another thing, however industriously he works, he will receive nothing at your hands. So if you pray in a way which God has never ordained, you will not receive anything of the Lord. 3. Saul had never made mention of the name of Jesus. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved; there is none other name by which we can hopefully approach the mercy seat. Saul had rejected that name, and had come in his own. 4. Real prayer cannot come from men whose characters are contrary to the mind of God. Their lives have effectually pleaded against their lips. Saul of Tarsus was opposed to the Son of God; how could he be in favour with God Himself? If we set ourselves in opposition to His gospel, while we pretend to be knocking at heaven’ s gate we are turning the key against ourselves. Saul had been a persecutor, and how can a persecutor pray? If you have the spirit of hate in you, it nullifies your devotions; for prayer ought to be the flower and crown of love. Friend, if you are living an ungodly life, I do not care how regularly you bend your knee in seeming devotion, there is nothing in it. 5. Saul with all his prayers had never truly prayed, because humility was absent from his devotions. His prayer was the expression of thankfulness that Saul of Tarsus was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law blameless. In the courts above, where outward appearances are nothing, and God looketh at the heart, his pious harangues were not reckoned to be prayers at all. II. It is implied that it was a remarkable thing for such a person now to pray. “Behold, he prayeth!” It is a very difficult and marvellous thing for a man truly to pray who has been all his lifetime praying in a false way. It is a miracle of grace to bring a proud Pharisee to plead for mercy like a penitent publican. It is not half so wonderful that an irreligious man should begin to pray as that a vainglorious professor should begin to pray; because--1. He has been a formalist for so long, and so rooted in the habit of formal devotion, and so contented with it. It is easier to attend a thousand masses, or to go to church every day in the week, than to offer one true prayer. 2. Of self-righteousness. In Christ’ s day, the publicans and harlots entered the kingdom before the Pharisees. It is a great thing to conquer sinful self, but it is a greater thing to overcome righteous self. The man who is downright bad and feels it, asks for mercy; but these people are bad at heart, and do not feel it: therefore they will not seek the Lord. 3. Of prejudice. He has made up his mind that he will not see the light of God, because he believes in his own light. 4. Even religious fervour may become a hindrance when that ardour is for a false faith. The earnest formalist is cased in steel, and the arrows of the gospel glance from him. III. It is Divinely declared that he did pray. One would have liked to have heard him. See him now! This fine, good man! How humble he is!1. His prayers began with a full and grievous confession of sin. He offered neither excuse nor extenuation, except “ I did it ignorantly, in unbelief.” 2. Now you will find him acknowledging his great need--a new heart and a right spirit. 3. I think I can see mingled with that prayer the lowliest adoration. How he would worship Jesus of Nazareth as his God now that he was conquered by Him! 4. Consider what pleas he had. Pleading is the truest and strongest part of prayer. Assuredly he urged the promises, “ Let the wicked forsake his way,” etc., “ Come, now, and let us reason together,” etc. “ Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God.” How the fifty-third of Isaiah must have flashed in on his mind! 5. And all this must have been steeped in a wonderful fervour. Before, you might have said to yourself, “ He is saying his prayers,” but this time it was as when a man wrestleth for his life. IV. It is evident that the Lord accepted my prayer. I know it from the text, because--1. God bore witness that he did pray. 2. He was about to answer the prayer. He had Ananias in readiness to go and comfort the poor blinded penitent. God is about to answer your prayer if you have cried to Him. Perhaps the man is present who will speak to you. 3. He called attention to it by a “ Behold.” We have heard of many marvels concerning which men cry, “ Behold” ; but that which strikes God most is a sinner praying. God does not say, “ Behold Herod on his throne,” or “ Behold Caesar in his palace.” Conclusion: I am afraid there are many of whom it would have to be said, “ Behold, he never prays!” What a sight--a man created by his Maker, and daily fed by His bounty, who never worships Him! And yet when he does pray, God makes a wonder of it. It is his first prayer this morning. He has reached home and is kneeling by the side of that bed on which he has slept so often without prayer, and he cries, “ O God, I do not know what to say, but be merciful to me a stoner, and forgive my sins.” I hear the rustling wings of angels as they gather around the sacred spot. Anon they fly upward, crying, “ Behold he prayeth.” Years pass on, young man, and you come to middle life and are exposed to sharp temptation. Good spirits watch you. You remember that day when you first prayed; and you go upstairs, and say, “ Lord, many days have passed since, and I have not ceased to cry; but now I am in special trouble. I beseech Thee, deliver me!” And angels sing and the devils mutter, “ Behold, he prayeth.” The young man has grown old, and has gone up to the same room for the last time. “ Behold, he prayeth.” Prayer, which has long been his vital breath and native air, is now “ His watchword at the gates of death,” etc. The shining ones gladly meet the soul that is on Jordan’ s bank when they hear the voice, “ Behold, he prayeth.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Saul praying Notice-- I. The person who speaks--“ The Lord.”1. He whom Peter preached.2. He whom Stephen saw.3. He whom Saul heard.4. He whom Ananias served. II. The person spoken of--“ Saul.”1. A native of Tarsus.2. A persecutor of the Church.3. A sinner arrested.4. A penitent converted. III. The act described--“ Prayeth.”1. It was becoming.2. It was necessary.3. It was beneficial.4. It was exemplary. IV. The attention demanded--“ Behold.”1. What grace has done.2. What grace can do.3. What grace must do.4. What grace leads to. (A. Macfarlane.)Prayer the evidence of Paul’ s conversion I. The circumstances which led Paul to pray. His understanding was convinced, his will was subdued, his heart was converted, and his soul was saved. II. The character of Paul’ s prayers. What was there in them which rendered them acceptable?1. The prayers of a sinner thus humbled, we may feel assured, were offered up in humility. From the proud and self-sufficient Pharisee he is transformed into the humble and self-denying penitent, “ striking on his breast and saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” 2. And not only were his prayers offered up in humility, but we cannot doubt of their earnestness also. Convinced of sin, and deeply anxious for the salvation of his soul, he “ utters strong cries” in the hope that they may enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, and meet with an answer of pardon and peace. 3. We may naturally conclude that Paul also prayed in faith, after the recent wonderful revelation made to him. Our Lord Himself, indeed, acknowledged and accepted his prayer, when He said, “ Behold, he prayeth!” Then did that new light break in upon his soul, which “ shone more and more unto the perfect day,” and which so wonderfully displayed itself in his arduous work of the ministry. III. The light in which God regarded the prayers of Paul, and in which He regards the prayers of all who offer them up in the same spirit that he did. God regarded them as a mark of his real conversion, and as such approved of and accepted them. (J. L. F. Russell, M. A.)Saul of Tarsus praying We live in a world of changes. Seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, etc. Human affairs are as variable as the seasons. But no changes are so important and interesting as those of a moral nature. It is painful to see a fellow creature proceeding from evil to evil; but how pleasing is it to see a sinner plucked as a brand from the burning! To one of these remarkable changes we are referred in the text, from which we are led to remark-- I. That the Lord knows where we are and how we are engaged. What was this house of Judas? An inn? If so, it was a sad situation for a man in spiritual distress; and never did an inn before or since accommodate such a passenger. Perhaps it was a private dwelling belonging to one of his acquaintances. If so, what would be the emotions of the family as he entered! But however this may be, the Lord knew--the street--the very house in which he was; and what he was doing there. It would be easy to multiply similar instances, e.g., that of Cornelius and Peter, Nathanael, Zacchaeus. He knew how to guide Cornelius in sending to Joppa for Peter. “ The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Let sinners think of it; and never dream of secresy in their guilt. Let hearers think of it; and remember that God is privy to all the workings of their minds while in His worship. Let the righteous believe this; and remember that though they are poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon them. And, oh! thou dejected penitent, think of this and be comforted. “ To this man will I look,” etc. II. However the Lord may try them, He will not suffer praying souls to call upon Him in vain. Saul was deprived of sight; and thus all his gloomy thoughts were turned inward upon himself, and the anguish of his mind was such, that he probably could eat nothing. All that he had heard was this, “ It shall be told thee what thou must do” : but this was general, and capable of various explanations. But says the Church, “ Come, and let us return to the Lord … in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.” And here this was literally accomplished. “ I never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me, in vain.” Joseph was a type of the Redeemer. His behaviour to his brethren was for a time apparently very unkind. But the trial was necessary: and at length giving way to the compassion which his prudence had restrained before, he said, “ I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt--but be not grieved.” Thus Christ leaves Saul three days without comfort; but it was in order to lay deep the foundation of a superstructure that was to rise so high. And all the time Saul was praying, He was hearing; and longing to succour and relieve Him. What is the use you ought to make of this? To persevere. God’ s delays are not denials. He has reasons for what we deem severity, founded in a regard to our welfare. You cannot be in a worse condition than David was: but hear him. “ I waited patiently for the Lord,” etc. Say not, therefore, “ My hope is perished from the Lord--why should I wait for Him any longer?” If you draw back, you are sure of destruction; but if you go forward, you are certain of success. Ask, and it shall be given you, etc. Perhaps some messenger of mercy is now on his way. III. Though the Lord can accomplish His work without human instrumentality, He is pleased to make use of it. The voice from heaven could have told Saul at once what he must do--but a messenger shall be employed. He could have sent an angel--but he shall learn it from the lips of a man of like passions with himself. His terror would not make him afraid. With him he could hold free intercourse and familiar conversation. He could speak to him from his own experience; and therefore sympathise with him. It would be also useful to Ananias as well as to Saul. By doing good to others we benefit ourselves. It certainly was designed to prevent our undervaluing means, under a notion of depending on Divine agency. Here let us however beware of two extremes. Let us not, on the one hand, overlook instruments in relying on God; nor, on the other, overlook God in using instruments. It is not the sun that warms us, but He by the sun: it is not food that sustains us, but He by food. “ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos,” etc. IV. Things done in our own apprehension, and in the opinion of others, are frequently nothing in the judgment of God. “ Behold, he prayeth!” And what was there strange or new in this? Was he not of the straitest sect of the Pharisees? And were they not more distinguished by their prayers than by anything else? Yes. Yet Saul had never prayed till now. See the difference drawn by an unerring Judge in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. V. Prayer is a good evidence of conversion. “ Go, Ananias; he is ready to receive you. Go, and be not afraid of him--the man is changed--he is become a new creature--‘ for, behold, he prayeth.’“ “ The spirit of grace” is always a spirit “ of supplications.” Be it remembered, however, that this mark is better applied exclusively than inclusively. A man may pray, and not be in a state of salvation; but he that does not pray, cannot be in a state of salvation. No man can be a partaker of Divine grace that lives without prayer. What then is the condition of many! (W. Jay.)Paul’ s first prayer Here was-- I. An announcement. “ Behold, he prayeth.” It was the announcement of a fact which was--1. Noticed in heaven. Saul had been led to cry for mercy, and the moment he began to pray God began to hear. See what attention God paid to Saul. He knew the street where he lived, the house where he resided; his name; the place where he came from, and that he had prayed. God may not regard battles, nor care for the pomp and pageantry of kings; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, the ear of Jehovah is wide open. Poor sinner, thy prayers are heard. Where was it--in a barn? At thy bedside, or in this hall? There is one thing which outstrips the telegraph. “ Before they call I will answer, and while they are speaking I will hear.” 2. Joyous to heaven. (1) Our Saviour regarded it with joy. The Shepherd rejoices more over that lost sheep than over ninety and nine that went not astray. (2) Angels rejoiced too. Why, when one of God’ s elect runs into sin, angels gaze with sorrow. Presently the man is brought under the sound of the gospel. The angels say, “ Behold, he begins to hear.” At last he cries from his inmost soul, “ God have mercy upon me!” The angels say, “ Behold, he prayeth.” Then they set heaven’ s bells ringing; “ there is joy among the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” (3) There are others that rejoice, besides the angels, our friends who have gone before us, and our ministers most of all. 3. Most astonishing to men. Ananias lifted up both his hands in amazement. Sometimes I look upon such-and-such individuals and say, “ Well, they are very hopeful; I trust there is a work going on.” Soon, perhaps, I miss them altogether; but instead thereof my good Master sends me one of whom I had no hope--an outcast. Then I am astonished, “ I should have thought of anybody rather than you.” There was an old sailor, one of the worst men in the village. He came into the chapel, however, when one was preaching from Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. And the poor man thought, “ What! did Christ ever weep over such a wretch as I am?” He came to the minister, and said, “ Sir, sixty years have I been sailing under the colours of the devil; it is time I should have a new owner; I want to scuttle the old ship; then I shall have a new one, and I shall sail under the colours of Immanuel.” Ever since that moment that man has been a praying character. Yet he was the very last man you would have thought of. Somehow God does choose the last men. God is more wise than the chemist; He not only refines gold, but He transmutes base metals into precious jewels. The conversion of Saul was a strange thing; but was it not stranger that you and I should have been Christians? 4. A novelty to Saul himself. All he had ever done before went for nothing. I have heard of an old gentleman who was taught, when a child, to pray, “ Pray God bless my father and mother,” and he kept on praying the same thing for seventy years, when his parents were both dead. After that it pleased God to touch his heart, and he was led to see that, notwithstanding that he had often said his prayers, he had never prayed. So it was with Saul. Now comes a true petition, and it is said, “ Behold, he prayeth.” There is a man trying to obtain a hearing from His Maker. He speaks Latin; but God pays no attention. Then the man tries a different style; procures a book, and prays the best old prayer that could ever be put together; but the Most High disregards his empty formalities. At last the poor creature throws the book away, and says, “ O Lord, hear, for Christ’ s sake.” One hearty prayer is better than ten thousand forms. II. An argument. “ For, behold, he prayeth.”1. For Ananias’ safety. Ananias was afraid to go to Saul; he thought it was very much like stepping into a lion’ s den. God says, “ Behold, he prayeth.” “ Well,” says Ananias, “ that is enough.” You may always trust a praying man. A master likes to have a praying servant, if he does not regard religion himself. He who communes with God in secret, may be trusted in public. Two gentlemen were travelling together in Switzerland. Presently they came into the forests; and you know the gloomy tales the people tell about the inns there. One of them, an infidel, said to the other, a Christian, “ I don’ t like stopping here, it is dangerous.” But they went into the house, and presently the landlord said, “ Gentlemen, I always read and pray with my family before going to bed; will you allow me to do so tonight?” “ Yes,” they said, “ with the greatest pleasure.” When they went upstairs, the infidel said, “ I am not at all afraid now.” “ Why?” said the Christian. “ Because our host has prayed.” “ Oh!” said the other, “ then it seems, after all, that you think something of religion; because a man prays you can go to sleep in his house.” 2. For Paul’ s sincerity. Secret prayer is one of the best tests of sincere religion. If Jesus had said, “ Behold, he preacheth,” Ananias would have said, “ that he may do, and yet be a deceiver.” If He had said, “ he has gone to a meeting of the church,” Ananias would have said, “ He may enter there as a wolf in sheep’ s clothing.” But when He said, “ Behold, he prayeth,” that was argument enough. A young person comes and tells me about what he has felt and what he has been doing. At last I say, “ kneel down and pray.” Then I am a little more satisfied, and I say, “ I did not mind all your talk, I wanted your prayers.” But if I could see him pray alone then I should feel sure. 3. Of Saul’ s election, for you read directly afterwards, “ Behold, he is a chosen vessel.” Some say, “ How can I discover whether I am God’ s elect?” Do you pray? If so, never be afraid of non-election. III. An application.1. To the children of God. The best mark of our being sons of God is to be found in our devotion, and as a natural consequence the more we are found in prayer the brighter will our evidences be. Perhaps you have lost your evidence, and I will tell you where, in your closet. Prayer is the ship which bringeth home the richest freight--the soil which yields the most abundant harvest. 2. To the ungodly. A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. I beseech you, as you love yourselves, contemplate what will become of you if you should at last die without prayer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Prayer in not being able to pray I went home from my church one Sabbath evening, and a few days after a man and his wife who had not been accustomed to pray met me, and said, “ We had a wonderful time at our house last Sabbath night.” I said, “ What was it?” “ We went home from church, and though we had never had prayer in our house, yet I called my family together, and after I had read a verse or two (I am a pretty good reader) I could read no further. My voice broke, and then I stopped, and we knelt down and I began my prayer, and I said, ‘ O God,’ but the thought that we had never had prayer in our house so overwhelmed me that I could get on no further with my prayer; and then my wife, who is a Christian woman, began to pray, but the thought that Christ had at last come to our house had so overwhelmed her too, that she only advanced with one or two sentences, and we could not pray, and there we lay on the floor, and cried and cried, but we could not pray.” “ Oh,” I said to him, “ my brother you did pray. You don’ t know what prayer is. Prayer is the sigh of the heart, for before even your first tear touched the earth, God, I think, despatched an angel from the throne, and he thrust his wing under the falling tear and caught it, and sped with it backward towards the throne of grace; and as that tear glittered in the light of the celestial throne, all heaven broke forth into full chant, crying, ‘ Behold, he prayeth.’” (T. De Witt Talmage.)Unlikely men praying In a well-known seminary in New England, a notice was placed on the outside of the door of a room occupied by a student. “ No admittance” was the legend inscribed in bold letters on the notice. The occupant of the room was not the kind of a man who would be likely to be so busy with his studies as to dread interruption, and he was, besides, a young man fond of society. His motive for affixing the notice was a mystery to most of the students. A few, however, understood it. A revival of religion was in progress in the seminary, and some young men interested in it had agreed together to visit every non-Christian member of the institution and plead for Christ personally with the individual soul. This young man had heard of the arrangement, and put up the notice to warn off his expected visitors. The little band of praying students resolved to test the virtue of prayer in opening the bolted door. Fervently they committed the case to God, entreating Him not only to unbar the door, but also and especially to unlock and take possession of the stubborn heart within the door. And never can they forget the thrill of wonder and joy which they felt when the message, “ Behold, he prayeth!” was announced to them. While they were appealing to God one of their number knocked at the bolted door, and to his great surprise, as he listened for a response, heard the most earnest cries and sobs within. The Holy Spirit had evidently gained “ admittance” not only into the room, but into the far more strongly bolted heart, and the bitter enemy of the revival was pleading for mercy. In a short time the door was opened, the “ Notice” was removed, the praying student was welcomed; and the result was, that in a day or two the enemy joined the ranks of the friends of Christ. Acts 9:13-16 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man.An encouraging lesson from Paul’ s conversion The conversion of Saul was one of the most remarkable facts in Christian history. It was important as a testimony to the power and truth of the gospel; as securing for the Church its ablest advocate, as giving a mighty impetus to Christian missions, and as securing for Christianity the master mind who formulated its theology and shaped its mode of thought and action. The Pauline mark will never be erased from the page of Church history. That, however, is not my business at present. I would rather remind you of the conversion of Paul as teaching the fact of the Divine interposition in the Church. God has been pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe; and it is by the communication of one earnest heart to another that men are usually converted. Such, however, was not the way by which Paul was converted. The Church has reason to believe that while she uses all the power committed to her, there will be interpositions of a power far higher than her own, which will work for her great successes. While Barak fights below, the stars in heaven shall also fight against Sisera.I. There are other productive forces at work for the Church besides her teaching.1. The work of the Spirit. All the success of the Church comes through Him, but have we not reason to expect that the Holy Ghost will occasionally display His power, by working apart from the ordinary agencies of the Church? We have heard of persons who have not been accustomed to attend the house of God, who have not been reading religious books, and yet in the middle of their work they have been filled with penitent and devout thoughts, and have known cases of persons intending to perpetrate vice, who have, nevertheless, been struck with certain reflections which they had never recognised before, and have been led to become men of holy lives. Why should not the Holy Spirit do so still? 2. The intercession of our Lord. Our Lord prays for those we never thought of praying for: and shall there not come to them grace in due season? 3. The incessant intercession of the faithful. Of course, this brings success to instrumentality, but there are prayers which are offered in connection with no particular agency. They are like the clouds which ascend from the sea, as the sun shines on the waves; they fall on the fields which have been sown by man, but they also drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side. Who shall say that Saul’ s conversion was not traceable to the prayer of Stephen? Yet there was no distinct connection such as could be defined. Who shall say that the gatherings in Jerusalem for prayer, may not have had about them power with God for the conversion of the persecutors? Yet we do not see the same connecting link as between the prayer meeting in the house of John Mark’ s mother, and the escape of Peter from prison. Pray on, for though there should seem to be no connection between your prayers and the salvation of the sons of men, yet this shall be one of the forces in operation which shall not spend itself in vain. 4. The aroma of the truth in the world. The truth is mainly spread by plain earnest statements of it, but there is also a savour in truth, whereby even in our silence it spreads itself. Where the gospel of Jesus Christ comes, it impregnates the social atmosphere, it permeates society, it has an effect far beyond its local habitation. Many men who have not yet bowed before the deity of Christ, have unconsciously learnt much from Him, and what they think to be their own is but a blessed plagiarism from Jesus. Even the philosophies of men have been all the soberer, and the laws of men all the gentler, because of the existence of the gospel. Men cannot live in the midst of Christians, and yet altogether shut out the influence of Christianity. 5. The influence of Christian life and of Christian death. Wherever the Christian acts up to his profession, those who observe him take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus; and as example speaks more loudly than precept, we may look for very marked results. The eloquence of Christian holiness is more potent for conversion than all the speaking of Christian orators. So, too, when the ungodly sees a Christian die, that happy death will be a potent agency to arouse, to win the heart for Christ. 6. All the work of God in providence. I might truly say of the Church that the stones of the field are in league with her, and the beasts of the field are at peace with her, for all things work her good. Sickness, when it stalketh through the land, is a powerful preacher to the unthinking masses. When death has come into the house, it has frequently happened that hearts were impressed that were hard as iron before. As God sent the hornet before His conquering Israel to overthrow the Canaanites, so doth He send providences to work together, for our help, that the truth may prevail. 7. Conscience, which though sadly impaired leans to the right side. II. From these sources we may expect remarkable conversions.1. Those who were formerly violently opposed to the truth through prejudice. Paul was opposed to Christ not because he was opposed to truth, but because he thought that Jesus was not the Messiah. Once convinced that he was wrong, he followed the right at once; and we may hope that interpositions will occur in which the Holy Spirit will enlighten the darkness of men who are honest in their darkness, and that they, seeing the light, will embrace the gospel. 2. Those who have been doing much mischief to the good cause, and who are resolved to do still more (verses 13, 14). Do not despair of a man because he is industriously opposed. Anything is better than indifference. 3. Those who are beyond the reach of ordinary ministries. We sometimes regret that the voice of a thoroughly faithful ministry is seldom heard in the courts of kings; but for all that the Lord can reach those whom we cannot reach; He can, in life or in the dying hour, come to the hearts of men whose ears were never reached by any testifier to the truth. Paul would not have heard a preacher of Christ; but the Lord hath a way where we have none. 4. Those who will be most earnest. A man who feels that God has had singular mercy upon him, feels that being much loved, and having had much forgiven, he must render much service. 5. Those who will become profoundly evangelical. I trace Paul’ s evangelism to the fact that he was so remarkably converted. He saw in himself the boundless power, the infinite mercy, the absolute sovereignty, of God; and therefore he bare witness more clearly than any other to these Divine attributes. Courage, then, the noblest minds will yet he engaged in the service of our Master. The leaders on the enemy’ s side shall yet be champions in our Master’ s army. III. This occasional sinking of instrumentality answers admirable ends. This might be thought to be a dangerous thing for the industry of the Church, for some are always ready enough to clutch at excuses for leaving God’ s work alone. But there are admirable reasons for the Lord’ s sole working; for these interpositions--1. Disclose the presence of the living Christ. We too often forget this, and yet the power of the Church lies in Christ. In the Romish church its power over devout minds lies in no small degree in the fact that the person of Christ is much loved and reverenced; but you seldom see Christ in any but two attitudes--as a babe in His mother’ s arms, or else dead; scarcely ever is He set forth as the living Lord. That Church which, not forgetting His birth, nor His sacrifice, yet most clearly recognises that He still liveth, is the Church that shall win the day. 2. Remind us of the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit. The tendency nowadays is to expunge the supernatural; but for all that there is a Holy Spirit. In proportion as that truth is made clear to the Church by her personal experience, the Church will be girt with power from on high. 3. Unveils many of the Divine attributes. Men so remarkably converted are sure to display the sovereignty, power, grace, and long-suffering of God. 4. Aids very much the faith of the Church. When she is beginning to droop and to sink, then it is that these remarkable conversions come in and inspirit the whole band. 5. Startles and impresses the world. What knows the world of the conversion of those who have sat in these pews ever since they were children? But let some gross blasphemer or persecutor preach the faith which once he sought to destroy, and the whole land is astonished. IV. All this by no means lowers the value of instrumentality. For--1. Such cases are rare. One Saul is struck to the earth; but Peter preaches at Pentecost, and three thousand are pricked in their hearts. One Colonel Gardner, on the night he was about to commit a great sin, saw, or fancied he saw, the appearance of our Lord, and heard the words, “ I have done all this for thee, what hast thou done for Me?” but there were fifty thousand perhaps in Scotland and in England at that time who were brought to a knowledge of the truth by the ordinary methods of mercy. 2. These cases involve human agency somewhere. Saul struck down, but how does he get comfort? Does that come by another voice from heaven? It might have done; but the Lord takes care that the very instrumentality which is put aside in one place shall be honoured in another, and so Ananias must be sent forth to bless the penitent. Conviction may be wrought by the Holy Spirit without means, but in the full decision somewhere or other Go& will use you. 3. These conversions are a provision of a most remarkable instrumentality. “ I have called him” --not to be a singular article for exhibition--but “ to be a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My name among the Gentiles.” Remarkable converts become themselves the most indefatigable servants of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Undue alarm at evils I. We live in a day of bold, aggressive wickedness, as personal, public, palpable as that of Saul, e.g., Sabbath breaking, licentiousness, intemperance, infidelity, gambling, corrupt literature, etc. II. The civil authorities sanction and uphold or fail to suppress these curses, as in the case of Saul. III. Like Ananias, Christians and moral reformers are unduly alarmed at the power and civil authority of these evils. Right is mighty and will prevail (Ephesians 6:10-20). IV. Like Ananias we should lay aside our fears and timidity, and, seeing the right, go out and meet these foes face to face. V. How shall we do this great work.1. By earnest personal effort rebuking sin.2. By combined and consecrated Christian effort.3. By invoking civil as well as Divine power. Prohibition of wrong is God’ s law, and professedly man’ s also. Politicians cannot or will not save us. (T. S. Love.) Acts 9:15 He is a chosen vessel unto Me.A chosen vessel I. Its material. All the vessels in your house--the strong bowls, the fine vases, and the china tea cups--are made of earth, though some soils suit the potter better than others. And so the whole world is the Great Potter’ s field, and Christ’ s “ chosen vessels” were all at first of the earth, earthy. The apostle tells us that he was the chief of sinners, and that he owes all to the grace of God. What hope for all! Splendid vessels are now made from mere rubbish, broken glass, and old bones, and so the Divine Potter’ s art can triumph over the rudeness of the most unpromising materials. II. Its maker.1. That beautiful cup is not self-made. The potter took the clay, tempered, moulded, baked, painted, and fired it, and then put his mark upon it. And Christians “ are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” I have known a boy saying to his minister, “ Please will you convert me too.” “ I am one of your converts,” a man smelling of whisky once said to Rowland Hill. “ I can believe it,” replied Mr. Hill, “ you look very like my bungling work.” 2. In making chosen vessels, the potter attends to the chief parts of the work himself; for all depends on the skill of the workman. With his own hand he mixes the materials, and trims the fire. 3. The potter must also have complete power over the clay, and travellers in the East notice how thoroughly it is in his hands. Many vessels are made partly of flint or granite, but these rocks have first been ground into the softest powder. And Christ’ s chosen vessels are all fashioned in contrite hearts. Contrite means rubbed together and made soft, exactly as stones are ground into the softest clay in our potteries. And youth is the yielding and moulding time in life. The world has a strange power of hardening the soul into an unbending frame. III. Its use.1. None of Christ’ s vessels are for ornament only, they are all “ meet for the Master’ s use.” A great house has some choice vessels, preferred for their size, strength, or beauty. Such a vessel was the apostle. Christ’ s name was the water for the thirsty and balm for the wounded, and Paul was the vessel in which that heavenly treasure was carried round and offered to all. But the humblest vessel has its use. A poor broken cup may hold the water that saves the life of a dying man, and the humblest Christian may carry Christ’ s name to a perishing sinner. 2. The vessel of the heart is already full, and must be emptied ere it can be filled with this heavenly treasure. The Rev. Narayan Sheshadri tells us that as a young Brahmin he was full of pride and self-righteousness. But as he began to think for himself he was emptied of one thing after another, till he was left with nothing in which he could trust. Then the name of Christ filled his soul, and he longed to bear it to the heathen around him (comp. Philippians 3:4-9). 3. Again, an emptied vessel cannot be filled unless it be rightly set and open a-top. It is a Chinese saying that “ the light of heaven cannot shine into an inverted bowl.” Let your soul be opened heavenwards widely and hopefully, and then the abundance of grace will fill and warm your whole being. IV. Its beauty.1. Our makers of vessels strive to unite the useful and the beautiful. Our text may mean that Christ’ s name was to be carried on as well as in the vessel, just as the costly vases in palaces bear the name and fame of the maker before kings. Bernard Palissy once saw a white enamelled cup, and resolved to discover the secret of so beautifying vessels. He spent all his money and sixteen years of his life in making the discovery. He was often at death’ s door, had burnt all his furniture for fuel, and his body was lean and dried up from hard work. At last he made some of the chosen vessels, and these have borne his name among nations and kings even to this day. Thus Paul bore his Creator’ s name far and wide, and multitudes “ glorified God in him.” 2. Christ’ s vessels are not all made in one mould. Every Christian should have a beauty of his own, and the charm of that beauty lies in its individuality. Some of the most beautiful of Christ’ s vessels are found among day labourers and cottagers. Many a face deformed by lifelong hardship and disease has been brightened outwardly from inward joy and goodness. The coarsest features have often been adorned by the beauty of the soul within. Such was the case of Joan of Arc, who, the historian says, grew beautiful when the great idea entered her. 3. You can hardly believe what efforts great potters have made to add beauty to their vessels. A Duke of Florence spent ten years in discovering the way to make porcelain. Louis XIV was so interested in this work that, greatest monarch in Europe as he was, he seriously proposed becoming a potter himself. Many have reached perfection in this field, and have ennobled clay as if by miracle. Their masterpieces have an incorruptible beauty; no liquid can stain them, no fire can blacken them, no knife can scratch them. Yet they are as smooth to the touch as an infant’ s flesh. Place a candle behind them and they resemble a fine face lighted up with the best emotions. If potters have done so much for clay, shall they not condemn us if we do not earnestly seek to have the beauty of the Lord our God upon us? If a heathen philosopher reproached a rich man with having silver plate and earthenware principles, should we not reproach ourselves that we are so eager to possess every sort of beauty, except the beauty of the soul? When shall the “ beauty of holiness” find as passionate admirers as the beauty of art has in all our cities? Piety is the finest art under heaven. Many there be who say, “ A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” yes, this chosen vessel is a joy forever to its possessor and to all beholders who know its worth. 4. The secret of making some choice vessels has been lost because it died with the man who had it; but the secret of spiritual beauty is open to all. God is the Great Beautifier, and He will perfect what He begins. He will give the finishing touch to His chosen vessel--perhaps in the sacred fires of affliction--and, having thus perfected its comeliness, He will place it in His mansions above. (J. Wells, M. A.)Vessels chosen, charged, and used I. A vessel.1. The world is full of the instruments which God employs. Every flower, leaf, tendril is designed and fitted for carrying on some process in the vegetable economy. 2. In animals every member of the body is a tool with which Creator and creature alike work. The eye, ear, tongue, foot hang at hand in the workshop ready for the worker’ s use. 3. Each separate part of creation, again, is an instrument of God. The internal fires of the globe are His instruments for heaving up the mountains and making the valleys. The clouds are vessels carrying water from the ocean to every portion of the thirsty land. The rivers are waste pipes for carrying back the soiled water that it may be purified for subsequent use. The sun is an instrument for lighting and warming a troop of revolving worlds, and the earth’ s huge bulk a curtain for screening off the sunlight at stated intervals, and so affording to weary workers a grateful night of rest. 4. Chief of all implements is man--made last, made best for his Author’ s service; broken, disfigured, and defiled by sin, but, capable of working wondrously yet, when redeemed. God has not cast away the best of all His instruments because it was marred and polluted. A soul won is the best instrument for winning souls. II. A chosen vessel. God can employ the evil as His unconscious instruments, or make them willing in the day of His power. When He had chastised Israel by the King of Babylon, he broke the rod and threw it away. In other cases He turns the king’ s heart as a river of water, and then accepts the willing homage of a converted man. It was a polished and capacious vessel that the Great King wrenched from the grasp of the arch-enemy near the gate of Damascus. He was Christ’ s chief enemy in the world. God looks down from heaven on this man, not as an adversary whose assaults are formidable, but as an instrument which may be turned to another use. Arrested at the crisis of its course by a hand unseen, it is turned upside down, emptied, and then filled from heaven’ s pure treasures, and used to water the world with the Word of life. Saul of Tarsus, called to be an apostle, is a conspicuous example of Divine sovereignty. He did not first choose Christ, but Christ chose him. III. A vessel unto me. Two things lie in every conversion; the man gets an Almighty Saviour, and God gets a willing servant. The true instinct of the new creature burst forth from Paul’ s breast--“ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” The answer, sent through Ananias, indicated what he should be, rather than what he should do: “ He is a chosen vessel unto Me.” We get a glimpse here of the two tendencies, the human and the Divine. I shall do, says the disciple in the ardour of a first love; thou shalt be, answers that wise and kind Master, who knows that the spirit is willing, but the flesh weak. I shall bear the vessels of the Lord, volunteers the ransomed sinner; the reply is, Thou shalt be the vessel of the Lord. It is a great thing that I should take up instruments and do a work for Christ in the world, but it is a greater that Christ should work out His purposes with me. This is our security alike for safety and usefulness. The star that is in His right hand is held up so that it cannot fall, and held out so that it shines afar. IV. A vessel to bear My name. Paul was a vessel firmly put together, and filled to overflowing, before Jesus met him. At that meeting he was emptied of his miscellaneous vanities, and filled with the name of Christ. See an account of the whole process by his own pen (Philippians 3:4-8). Nature abhors a vacuum; and in nature, whether its material or spiritual department, a vacuum is never found. Each man is full either of his own things, or of Christ’ s. The name of Christ is the precious thing wherewith the vessel is charged. So full was Paul of this treasure that he determined to know none other. V. To bear My name before Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel. This bread of life, like the manna which fell in the wilderness, is given to be used, not to be hoarded. To be ever getting, ever giving, is the only way of keeping both the vessel and its treasure sweet.1. The form of the expression indicates that in this ministry self-denying courage is required. Perhaps the series, in this respect, constitutes a climax. It is easier to speak of Christ to the Gentiles than to kings, and to kings than to His own chosen people. In our day, too, there are various classes who need the testimony of Jesus. Those who possess it should be prepared to bear it about in every place, and hold it forth in any company. If we quail where the majority profess to be on our side, what would have become of us if our lot had been cast when its disciples were obliged to comfort an adverse world? But perhaps we should not speak of more courage being required to maintain a good confession in one place, and less in another: for with God it is as easy to keep the ocean within its bed, as to balance a dewdrop on a blade of grass; and the same principle rules in the distribution of grace to disciples of Christ. Without it the strongest is not sufficient for anything, with it the feeblest is sufficient for all. Our martyr forefathers who were enabled to make good confession at the stake would, if left to themselves, have denied their Lord under the blandishments of a godless drawing room. Not before Gentiles and kings, etc., are we summoned to bear witness for Christ; but in a place and presence where the temptation to deny Him is equally strong. A Christian young man in a great workshop, a Christian young lady in a gay and fashionable family, is either carried away like chaff before the wind, or stands fast by a modern miracle of grace. 2. We are so many vessels labelled on the outside with the name of Christ, what we are really charged with may not be seen at a distance, or discovered in a day. Those, however, who stand near these vessels will by degrees find out what they contain. By its occasional overflowings, especially when violently shaken, the secret will be revealed. Some are looking on who do not believe that the Spirit which fills us is the Spirit of Christ; and they lie in wait for evidence to prove their opinion true. For their own sakes let them find it false. 3. But an indolent, earthly selfishness, under pretence of humility, cunningly suggests the distinction between a common ungifted man and the great apostle of the Gentiles. He was a worthy witness, but what could we do, although we did our best? If you are a sinner forgiven through the blood of Christ, in the greatest things Paul and you are equal, unequal only in the least. In the economy of grace a shallower vessel serves nearly every purpose as well as a deeper, if both are full of Christ. In nature the shallowest lake, provided it be full, sends up as many clouds as the deepest, for the same sunlight beams equally on both their bosoms. Nay, more; as a lake within the tropics, though shallow, gives more incense to the sky than a polar ocean of unfathomable depth, so a Christian of few gifts, whose heart lies open fair and long to the Sun of Righteousness, is a more effectual witness than a man of greater capacity who lies not so near, and looks not so constantly to Jesus. Conclusion: In the coarser work of breaking up His own way at first, God freely uses the powers of nature and the passions of wicked men; but for the nicer touches near the finishing, He employs more sensitive instruments. A work of righteousness is about to be done upon a jailer at Philippi. Mark the method of the omniscient Worker. The earthquake rent the outer searing of the jailer’ s conscience, and made an open path into his soul. But what an earthquake could not do, God did by a renewed human heart and loving human lips. From the same chosen vessel that Ananias had visited at Damascus, the ointment was poured forth which healed the jailer’ s wound. Thus God works today both in individual conversions and in widespread revivals. Bankruptcies, storms, diseases, wars, are charged to batter down the defences, and then living disciples go in by the breach to convert a kingdom or win a soul. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Saul and Luther chosen vessels I. How he prepared them.1. He selected the right materials--a Pharisee for the destruction of Pharisaism, a monk for the overthrow of Popery, yet in both cases the right man. 2. He laid hold of them at the right time-- (1) When the enemies of the faith were at their strongest.(2) When the need of the Church was deepest. 3. He forged them in the right fire. The fire was the flame of repentance kindled by the Holy Ghost, the hammer was God’ s Word. By these means was Paul, as the noblest Damascus blade, forged at Damascus, and Luther in the cloister cell at Erfurt. II. How he used them.1. To the confusion of His enemies; Paul and Luther both warriors of the Lord, cutting swords, different from a John and Melancthon. 2. To the protection of His friends: the faithful pastorate of Paul, the loving zeal of Luther. 3. To the use of all: not by attaching ourselves to human means and swearing to human words, but by being directed to Him, whose servants and instruments Paul and Luther were. (K. Gerok.)The character of St. Paul I. He is a vessel. The word means either an “ instrument” in the hands of the Divine Agent to carry out His purposes, or a “ vessel” into which the Lord Jesus poured abundantly of His mind and His love. We are not fountains which give forth. “ All our springs are in Thee.” God is an infinite Spring giving inexhaustibly forth; men are empty vessels receiving everlastingly of His fulness. The difference between men is not in their power to originate, but in their power to take in. II. A vessel unto me, i.e., Paul was now the actual possession of Christ. Heretofore he was in the service of the great enemy, and was the ablest and the most dangerous opponent the young Church had yet encountered. But the vessel was wrested from the enemy, and henceforth is a vessel separated unto and honoured in the service of Christ. III. A chosen vessel.1. A choice vessel; “ earthen,” it is true; but there is a great difference in the quality of even earthen vessels. Chemical analysis, it is said, discovers considerable difference in the quality of human brains. The brain of the rustic is coarse and gritty, whereas that of the man of genius is fine, smooth, silky, and sensitive. Be that as it may, Paul was a vessel manufactured with the greatest care out of the finest materials. He was “ separated unto God from his mother’ s womb.” God even then thought of the purpose to Which he was to be devoted, and proceeded to fashion him accordingly. The same law runs through grace as through nature--the perfect adaptation of means to ends. If God has any special design to accomplish, He always seeks to bring it about by the most suitable means. Saul would have been a public man if he had never been an apostle. He would have been an orator if he had never been a preacher. The raw material of an apostle was wrought into his original make. 2. He was chosen or ordained of God unto the work of the apostleship. “ He is a vessel of election unto Me.” The doctrine of election has been wrongly taught and falsely apprehended. The Scriptural doctrine is that God chooses man before man chooses God, and the latter is only the faint echo of the former. The Divine election should be viewed in much the same light as the Divine love. “ We love Him because He first loved us.” “ Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” The fundamental principle of all false religions is that man chooses his God. IV. To bear my name. Paul bore the name of Jesus--1. In his intellect. His capacious mind had no room for anything else. “ I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge,” etc. The glorified Form appearing unto him on the way to Damascus photographed itself so deeply upon his mind that it could never afterwards be effaced. “ To me to live is Christ.” Sir David Brewster says that Sir Isaac Newton once gazed so steadfastly on the sun that for days after, turn which way he would, he constantly beheld the image of the sun. And Jesus impressed Himself so deeply in the “ great light” on the mind of Paul that ever afterwards, whichever way the apostle looked, he always perceived the reflection of Christ. 2. In his heart. Paul may be compared to an “ alabaster box of precious ointment” --the box is valuable, but the ointment is more precious. “ The name of Christ is like ointment poured forth.” Paul was possessed of much genius. But only when he received the unction from the Holy One did he fill the world with his perfume. You can quote other ancient authors of surpassing beauty, but I defy you to quote any where the fragrance is so sweet and so abundant. Carry the rose about you and you will scatter scent wherever you go. And Paul’ s writings are sweetly scented with leaves from the Rose of Sharon. Christ is an “ offering of sweet smelling savour” to men as well as to God. A lump of clay has been made fragrant by being thrown into the midst of a bed of flowers. And although Christians in their original state are not a whir better than other men, yet by holding fellowship with Him whose “ garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia,” they catch the fragrance. 3. In his ministry. He “ shall bear My name before Gentiles,” etc. And in verse 28 we see him beginning to fulfil the prediction. What then prompted him so powerfully to bear the name of Christ to perishing millions? To return an adequate answer, two factors must be taken into consideration. The first was a vivid, heartfelt conviction of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Where the sense of sin is weak the sense of ministerial responsibility is shallow. But the second and more powerful element was his intense love to the Saviour (2 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 5:14). The terror moved, the love constrained. The mill wheel may be turned either by a current of water flowing underneath or else by a stream falling upon it from above. But of the two the latter is the more efficient. In Paul the two currents worked together--the terror from beneath and the love from above; and as a consequence imparted unusual impetuosity and rapidity to his revolutions. V. Before Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. The wide scope of his ministry required--1. Certain social qualifications which the other apostles did not possess. Paul enjoyed all the privileges and exemptions of a Roman citizen. Born at Tarsus, he became master of the Greek tongue and sensible to all that was refined in classic life. A pupil of Gamaliel, he was deeply versed in Scriptural and rabbinical lore. Thus in him all that was best in the three dominant types of civilisation met--the freedom of the Roman, the language of the Greek, and the theology of the Jew. 2. Great intellectual culture. The sphere of his labour embraced all classes and ranks of men. Moses, the founder of Judaism, was “ learned in all the learning of Egypt.” Paul, too, the foremost apostle of Gentile Christianity, was learned in all the learning of his own and other nations. We are here introduced to a grand evangelistic principle--the Saviour ordained the most accomplished of the apostles to be His missionary among the heathen. The greatest knowledge is always the best instructor of ignorance. 3. Much moral courage. Before, literally in the face of, Gentiles and kings. Paul would have to encounter innumerable obstacles which only the greatest courage could surmount. And perhaps true courage never towered more sublimely than in his life. Conscience was keen and strong in him, and scrupulous fidelity to its voice marks his whole career. Indomitable strength of his will is nowhere seen to better advantage than in the presence of difficulties. The eagle never soars so high as he does on the day of tempest--the wilder the gale the loftier his flight. Lord Chatham, it is said, made his crutches add to the grandeur of his oratory; and Paul, dangling his chains in the face of his judge, made the most impressive peroration in the literature of eloquence. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Acts 9:16 For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’ s sake.The service of suffering I. Suffering is one of the ways in which we may serve God.1. The remarkable feature here is, that though it is a part of St. Paul’ s call to his mission, God does not say, “ I will show him how great things he must do,” but “ how great things he must suffer.” The service of work is subordinated to the service of suffering. And whenever St. Paul makes a retrospect of his own life he always takes the same view. As, for instance, in that catalogue in 2 Corinthians 11:1-33, the hardships and sorrows far outstripped the actions--the active being literally only two--“ journeyings often,” “ the care of all the churches,” --the passive at least twenty-seven. 2. And no wonder that St. Paul accounted more of the service of suffering than of the service of work. Was not it so with his Master and ours? What makes the Saviour what He is to us, is not what He wrought, but what He encountered; not what He did for the Father, but what the Father did to Him. 3. And in a world like this it must be so always. Every man being witness, it is a harder thing to suffer than to work. Much greater is the number of them that work well, than of them that suffer well. In the fruits of the Spirit the passive grow the highest. For four thousand years, the service of God was the service of sacrifice; and the service of sacrifice was essentially the service of suffering. And living, as we do, in a dispensation in which still “ the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now,” etc., it would be sad indeed if we could not believe that there is a way in which every suffering thing does service to God. 4. Or take the same thought a step higher. What makes any word, or any work, or any thought which man ever offers to God, service? Is not it the Cross of Christ, the gathering point where the suffering of the whole universe meets? Is not, then, all service ultimately the service of suffering? The worship of a world of sin must be, to a very great extent, the service of pain. And we cannot thank God too much that the service of suffering which sin has made may, through Christ, go up the best of all service to Almighty God. 5. But if any man be tempted for a moment to think that his sufferings can add ought to the efficacy of the death of Christ, or that anything he can ever bear will give the slightest degree of merit to the kingdom of heaven, let that man carefully study that account of the saints in Revelation 7:1-17. II. How may we, by God’ s grace, make suffering service? Have faith that your suffering, in some way, known or unknown, is service, and by that faith it is. And indeed, if you accept your suffering from Christ, and bear it in and consecrate it to Christ, it will have such a savour of Christ in it, that it cannot help to go up and to be service in heaven. The service of suffering may be divided thus--1. The direct service of suffering to God is to accept it from a Father’ s hand. Ask no questions, but look up trustingly. Say if it be but “ Amen,” and as soon as you can, “ Hallelujah.” Think, “ This suffering of mine is Christ suffering in me. It makes me more one than I ever was before with Jesus Christ.” 2. The service of suffering in sanctification. Whenever you pass into it, let your first prayer be, “ Lord, for whatever end Thou hast sent this trial, let that end be fulfilled to me, in me, by me, to Thy glory.” The purposes of suffering for sanctification are-- (1) Humiliation. To that end you must connect your sorrow with what? Sin? Not most. With the pardon of sin, with the love of God. (2) Purity. Sorrow, passing through the heart, acts like a moral chemistry--the sin precipitates to the bottom; and so it leaves the water of the cup of life pure. Or rather, it is fire, to destroy the nature and self which, thank God, are consumable; and to leave the gold of grace, which, thank God, is not consumable. The best service which ever goes up to God is His own image. And God’ s image is purity. (3) Consecration. The Christian, passing through suffering, is a servant gone into his Master’ s presence to receive orders. 3. The service of suffering to man, or more strictly, to God through man. (1) Intercession. You are sent up to your room, to a lonely place on the mount, to pray for others who fight in the plain. Therefore you cannot work that you may pray. (2) Testimony. Bear your witness--by silence, by looks, by speech, by a sweeter smile than when all was bright, by a kinder accent to the faithfulness of God, and the sufficiency of His grace. David was very great in the service of testimony. “ It is good for me that I have been in trouble,” “ In the multitude of the sorrows which I have in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul.” (3) Sympathy. We never truly sympathise with what we have not felt. Therefore Christ sympathises with all, because He felt all. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)Suffering for Christ’ s name’ s sake When Dr. Mason, a missionary in India, asked his converted boatman whether he was willing to go to the Bghais, a neighbouring tribe, to tell them of a Saviour’ s love, he reminded him that, instead of twelve rupees a month, he would receive but four rupees. “ Can you go to the Bghais for four rupees?” asked the missionary. The heathen convert went by himself and thought and prayed, and came hack to Dr. Mason. “ Well, Chapon, what is your decision?” “ My father, I cannot go to the Bghais for four rupees a month, but I can go for Jesus.” And for Jesus he went. Acts 9:17-23 And Ananias,…putting his hands on him said, brother Saul.Saul converted I. The ministry which helps to complete the great change. If the appearance of the Lord to the persecutor was miraculous, the work was not completed without ordinary instrumentalities. “ There was a certain disciple named Ananias.” This indicates--1. The Lord’ s interest in the prayer, confession, and sadder experiences of the contrite heart. He heeds the sighing of the imperfect, even while receiving the adoration of the perfect. “ Behold, he prayeth!” 2. The Lord’ s wisdom in His dealing with the penitent. He dealt with him in the way of revelation. He inspired the vision of human help coming to aid the convicted man in his extremity. After great marvels, Christ leads Saul on by means of common Church agencies. The pride of Pharisaism was here directly attacked. This man’ s religion was not to rest on any mere human authority. In Christianity the ordinary is more essential and valuable than the special and extraordinary. 3. The characteristics of the ministry of Ananias. (1) It was conceived and performed in the spirit of true brotherhood. “ One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” Brotherhood is a note of valid Christianity. (2) Its authority was found in the commission of the Lord. This humble man felt the dignity of his Divine office, but he knew that he had only fulfilled it when Christ alone was exalted. (3) It was one of enlightenment. “ There fell from his eyes as it had been scales.” The physical change was only the type and symbol of the change perfected within. “ The entrance of Thy Word giveth light.” Here, then, is intelligence, devotion, brotherhood, the common ministry of the faithful; these present the conditions of healthful Christian life. II. Forgiven, but disciplined. One tendency of Christian society just now is towards a neglect of due and careful Christian culture. Men want a gospel which confers a boon, but does not demand a duty, which secures forgiveness, but does not provide for holiness. Saul’ s early Christian history supplies important lessons concerning Christian culture. “ Then was Saul certain days with the disciples.” Here is--1. Believing fellowship. Saul became a disciple and was baptized. He was designated as a learner in the school of Christ. When a man feels the throb and impulse of the Divine life within him he is moved to seek Christian fellowship. To stand aloof is contrary to the spirit and genius of Christianity. A fitful attendance at the Table of the Lord does not satisfy the requirements of Christian obligation. 2. Special culture and training for the life work. Although Saul had been constituted a disciple, and had received spiritual gifts, he was not therefore equipped for lifelong ministries. Spontaneous fellowship does not imply spontaneous readiness for Church ministers. The quiet life of brotherly fellowship was followed by a season of silent, sedulous, earnest, secret preparation for the appointed task. Between the “ certain days” of fellowship of verse 19th, and the “ straightway he preached Christ” of the 20th, you have interposed the time of retirement spent by him in study, meditation, and prayers in Arabia. A scholar among the most learned of his age and country, he must commune with his own heart and God before he can calmly and fully, with that marvellous wisdom which all the ages have admired, preach the gospel to the people. A sacred reticence is becoming and healthful. There is no encouragement here to the presumption of a glib ignorance, which waits neither for the Divine calling, nor the Church’ s sending. Silence in the desert prepares for the usefulness of thirty years. 3. The life-long spiritual and moral discipline. Forgiven, there were yet consequences of the old life to be borne and endured. He went to Damascus to persecute. At Damascus he was persecuted. He took part in the stoning of Stephen. At Lystra he was stoned. He imprisoned many; he was himself a prisoner. He went about to establish his own righteousness, and the Judaizing teachers of his own old doctrine poisoned the founts of his joy in the churches he founded, and tried to turn away from him the grateful love of his converts. (W. H. Davison.)Christian brotherliness I. The brotherly movement. As soon as his difficulties were removed Ananias “ went his way,” etc.1. Many who are required for beneficent ministries to the sick, poor, or sinful never hear the call of duty. 2. Others hear it, but do not go. Either they do not care to go, or regard it the duty of the object to come. Saul was not sent to Ananias, but Ananias to Saul. The nations were not told to go to the apostles to be discipled, but the apostles to go and disciple the world. Some cannot come, many will not. Hence the example of Him who “ went about doing good.” 3. True brotherliness goes-- (1) Promptly. Ananias questions no more. (2) Courageously. “ Went into the house.” Many who are brave enough to meet a certain class of people in the street, hesitate when they come to the house. Street preaching requires less courage than house-to-house visitation in the slums. (3) Without ceremony. It mattered not whether Judas’ house was a palace or a cottage, Ananias was on business that must not be hampered by social etiquette, so he entered into the house. The Christian worker must not be rude, but he need not be servile. The business of the King of kings should give His servant an entree anywhere, and that business often requires haste. II. The brotherly touch. “ Putting his hands upon him.” Many good and kind people go, but they are at a loss what to do when they arrive. This is due sometimes to clumsiness or sheer nervousness. Owing to this often the very thing is done which should be left undone, and needless embarrassment and pain is often innocently given. But the spirit of brotherliness should be educated, and then there will be no difficulty about brotherly contact. A brother of low degree should have no hesitation at shaking hands with a brother of high degree; nor should a wealthy or cultured Christian withhold his hand from a poor or ignorant brother. Saul’ s social status, gifts, etc., were altogether beyond those of Ananias, yet Ananias “ put his hands upon him.” A touch will sometimes go farther than a word or even a gift, or when it accompanies them will double their worth. III. The brotherly word. “ Brother Saul.” There is nothing, perhaps, more pathetic in all sacred literature than this utterance under these circumstances. The word has become vulgarised, and in certain lips is a mere official or cant expression; but there is life and power in it yet. And may the time be far distant when in our Church gatherings “ Mr.” shall supplant “ Brother,” and “ Gentlemen” “ Brethren.” The term is significant of--1. Common relationship to a common Father.2. Common rights to the same privileges.3. Common duties.4. Common hopes. IV. The brotherly service.1. Ananias was the means of restoring Saul’ s sight, and thus symbolises the work of all those who, having light themselves from “ the Father of lights,” impart it to the mentally, morally, or circumstantially blind. 2. Ananias was the means of communicating the Rely Ghost, as are all those who strive for the conversion, holiness, or consecration of others. 3. Ananias was the means of introducing Saul to the society of the believers. Without arguing the vexed question whether Ananias was a layman, and by baptizing Saul vindicated the validity of lay baptism, we may assuredly trace the good man’ s influence in Acts 9:19. Conclusion:1. “ Sirs, ye are brethren.”2. Act as brothers. (J. W. Burn.)Divine brotherhood I. A brother received by Christ, though not acknowledged by Christians.1. We ought to reject none. Those “ far off” may be “ made nigh.” 2. We should not look too closely at a man’ s past. Change is possible in any case when grace works. II. A brother suddenly adopted.1. God’ s grace is mighty and sudden, so do not gauge another’ s condition by your own experience. Do not construct rules for the Holy Spirit’ s working. 2. Do not judge of another’ s conversion by your own. III. A brother through the appointed means.1. He submitted to Christ. 2. He prayed. 3. He believed. All who desire to join the brotherhood must submit to these conditions. Otherwise he is an alien. IV. A brother in suffering and labour (2 Corinthians 2:23-28). (J. W. Munday.) Acts 9:19-20 Then was Saul certain days with the disciples … And straightway he preached Christ.The society of the good I. The tendency to Christian intercourse is generated by the love of Christ. The love of Jesus in the heart is the magnet. Dr. Doddridge asked his little daughter how it was that everybody loved her. She answered, “ I know not, unless it is that I love everybody.” It is a great task to reconcile sinners to each other. We love the brethren because He loves us all. II. Christian social intercourse preserves the best associations. The tabernacle of Moses, the harp of David, the cross of Jesus, the faith of Abraham, the experience of Paul, are all heirlooms which preserve the family history. Bring all the drops of water together and you have an ocean; so the experiences of the Church when gathered form a great store. III. Christian social intercourse points to the lasting fellowship of heaven. Christians never say, “ Good-bye.” The last petition in the upper room before the crucifixion was, “ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.” (Weekly Pulpit.)Damascus to Caesarea I. The events intervening between Damascus and Caesarea.1. As soon as Saul was baptized he joined the Christian brotherhood, and publicly declared his new conviction that Jesus was the Christ. I do not think that that continued long. Either through the force of external persecution, or by Divine intimation and guidance, probably by both, he was led to leave Damascus. And in Galatians 1:1-24 he tells us that he left Damascus and went into Arabia. Arabia lay round about Damascus and my own expression is, that he did not go further from Damascus than would secure safety and solitude. He was not employed in preaching, but in receiving those communications from Christ which were to perfect his knowledge of the gospel. There he studied the Old Testament under a new teacher; reading it by a different light from that which had been held in the hand of Gamaliel. 2. Then, when fully prepared for all that he had to do, he returned to Damascus, and there, with greater boldness and vigour, proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God. But the Jews could not stand this, and determined to kill him. And we learn from a passing allusion in 1 Corinthians 11:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3, that in their plans against his life they got the cooperation of the political and military powers. But in a basket, let down from the window of one of the houses, which in Eastern cities very often overhang the wall, Saul was placed by his friends, and, descending, so escaped his enemies’ hands. 3. He then put into execution what he had cherished as a purpose. He determined to go to Jerusalem to see Peter (Galatians 1:18-19). It is probable that he had seen Peter before the Sanhedrim He knew that he was one of the foremost men amongst the apostles, and therefore he wished to visit him--not to acknowledge his supremacy, nor to get from him any authority, but as an intimate friend and disciple of Jesus. On his arrival Saul very naturally wished to join himself to the disciples. But they were in doubt and fear about him. But Saul met with Barnabas, who believed Saul, and believed in him, and who introduced him to Peter and James, who were probably the only apostles who happened to be then at Jerusalem. Saul was then received with cordiality and confidence, and had at once accorded to him fraternal recognition. 4. The apostle was only at Jerusalem for a fortnight (Galatians 1:18-19). He lodged with Peter, who, as a married man, could perhaps best accommodate him. It is rather odd that he should have become representatively the head of a priesthood who are not allowed to marry! It was very natural that Saul should suppose himself peculiarly fitted for preaching in Jerusalem that faith which, a little time before, he sought to destroy. He made the attempt, and, Grecian as he was, did the very thing that Stephen had done before, and perhaps in the very same synagogue using probably many of the martyr’ s arguments. His hearers were not subdued by his appeals. It was not his work; Christ had something else for him to do. There was a conspiracy, too, against him in Jerusalem, as there had been at Damascus; and, in addition, there was a concurrent Divine intimation urging his departure (Acts 22:17-21.) The apostle was at once “ obedient to the heavenly vision,” and his friends got him safely out of Jerusalem and “ brought him down to Caesarea.” II. The points which require explanation.1. In the history there is no mention of the journey into Arabia, a very important event in the life of St. Paul. But note-- (1) An omission is not a contradiction. When two writers, referring to the same time, are found to differ only in that the one omits what the other records; the one may he only the supplement to the other. (2) The history in the Acts is so constructed that an actual journey somewhere may possibly underlie it. There are two periods mentioned. “ Then was Saul certain days with the disciples at Damascus,” giving the idea of a limit to the period. He was “ certain days” there with the disciples--well, what then? Why, at the end he was not with them. Then he had left them. Then afterwards--though this is not mentioned, it is implied--he was with them in Damascus again; and this time, after “many days” there occurs the conspiracy. Between the “ certain days” and the “ many days” a journey, because an absence from Damascus, may come in, which might be into Arabia as well as to anywhere else. (3) Then, again, the Epistle to the Galatians and the history in the Acts are perfectly independent productions. Neither was written from the suggestions of the other and made to harmonise with it. If the historian had invented this story from reading the letter he would have put in the journey to Arabia; if the letter writer had invented the letter from reading the history he would not have put in the journey. This independence being admitted, all the coincidences rise into strength as evidences of the perfect truth and trustworthiness of both. (4) There can be no doubt that Galatians was written previously to the Acts. Now Paul and Luke were very often “ companions in travel,” and there is every probability that the historian wrote under the eye of the letter writer, and yet neither of them sees the inconsistency between the account given by the one and the known contents of the letter of the other. Neither of them thinks it worth while with a stroke of the pen to put it all right. It is perfectly evident that they who knew all about it did not see any difficulty in what perplexes us so much. 2. The difficulty of accounting for the way in which Paul was received by the disciples at Jerusalem. Surely they might have had such full information of all that had occurred, as to receive with acclamation the illustrious convert. But observe-- (1) That the Jewish way of talking about time is worth recollecting. Fourteen months would be three years, if the first month was the last in one year, and the last month was the first in another, with one whole year lying between. But three years, even thus reckoned, is a long time. Yet the possible compression of the period, in the way indicated, is worth being referred to. (2) But will it not be curious if the visit into Arabia--which is itself a difficulty--should be just the very thing which enables us to explain the more difficult point before us? I will not say that Paul was running before he was sent; but he might be trying to speak before he was fully equipped for his work. Hence it was, that his Master told him to go into seclusion that he might fully learn all that was necessary for him to know. In consequence of this, he disappeared from Damascus. It is quite possible that none of the disciples knew what had become of him. His companions would go back with some story or other of a strange occurrence which had happened on the road. Whatever it was, it had led him seemingly to recant his opinions. But he was gone off. It was impossible to say what it all meant, or in what character he might next appear. Of course the enemies of the truth would know how to make the most of this, and to frighten the faithful by dark insinuations of what their emissary might yet do. Supposing, therefore, that he was not very long in Damascus, even the second time, he might preach in the synagogues, and yet, in the confusion and disorganisation of the period, intelligence of this might not reach Jerusalem in any authentic or reliable form. The disciples would thus necessarily be in the state in which we find them. Fears, which simple ignorance might engender, would be strengthened if their unscrupulous enemies were known to insinuate that Saul was only playing a deep game. 3. The difference between the statement in the text of the circumstances under which Paul left Jerusalem, and the account which Paul gives of it in chap. 22. Luke attributes it to a conspiracy, Paul to a vision. But this is only the two sides of the same event--the Divine and the human. There is the historian naturally confining himself to the outward fact. But Paul is letting you into the interior. In the complete view we get the united action of Divine authority with human love. It is nothing, after all, but the old story over again of the gold and silver shield. 4. Paul told Agrippa that he “ showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God.” But in the text he went up to Jerusalem, was taken down to Caesarea, and sent forth to Tarsus. In Galatians, he says, that after going up to Jerusalem, he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ. How is this to be reconciled? (1) When Paul is writing to the Galatians he is confining himself to the period which transpired before his going to Tarsus. Well, the letter and the history perfectly coincide. We find here that he had gone up to Jerusalem, had been there a short time, had gone hurriedly down to Caesarea, and went thence into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Of course he was unknown to the churches of Judaea, and all that they knew about him would be what they might happen to hear. (2) But when he stands before Agrippa and says, “ And then to the Gentiles,” he refers to his great distant missions. Now, previous to his doing that, you will find afterwards that he came up from Antioch through Judaea to Jerusalem, and then went back again, perhaps a different way. On this journey he would have an opportunity of preaching in the villages and towns of Judaea, of which, we may be sure, he would fully avail himself, Thus both accounts are perfectly true and consistent, only they refer to different times. (T. Binney.)Straightway I. The importance and duty of promptitude in religious matters. This quality standing at the beginning of the new course, and for the carrying out of the new convictions, has much instruction for us.1. There are many beginnings in the world which stand alone, or which shine out in mocking contrast to all that comes after. Many a rosy morning becomes a cloudy noon, precursor of a stormy night! Many a man who starts in life well, swerves and wavers as he goes on. The divine life has to our eyes the same uncertainties about it. We have to wait for proof, for fruits, and for patient continuance to the end. Yet in some beginnings we can see conditions which, continued, lead to a triumphant issue. One of these, very prominent in the history, of St. Paul, is promptitude. 2. Promptitude is a prerequisite of success. A beginning is only a beginning, and yet much depends on how it is made. Some beginnings are like the spring on the mountainside, gushing into life and flowing clearly; some are like waters from a mossy soil, trickling, oozing, so little visible and so uncertain, that you cannot tell where they begin. But here is a vigorous, clear beginning. As soon as Paul saw his duty he did it. “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” had been his prayer. The answer is, “ You know Me now. You have persecuted--now preach” ; and he did so “ straightway.” In giving the history of this very time, Paul himself tells us in the Epistle to the Galatians that “ immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” If he had so conferred, it is almost certain that his whole course would have been different. Some would have said: “ Stay awhile until the memory of your career as persecutor has died away.” Others would have said: “ Be cautious. Do not commit yourself thus early. Your present convictions may be only transient. It can do no harm to wait.” Had he gone to Jerusalem, Peter, who said to the Master, “ Not so, Lord,” would have been quite as ready to say “ Not so” to the servant. And probably all the apostles would have advised caution and delay. But Paul was right, and his promptitude saved him from many difficulties which else would have beset his course. It raised his conversion above suspicion. It opened his way. It confirmed his faith. It enlarged his knowledge. It gave him an advantage against any who might be his enemies. It put him in possession of the ground. It made retreat more difficult. It made him a fit example for all who are beginning the Christian course to the end of time. The first sign of a rectified condition will always be the prayer, “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” The next wilt be to do it “ straightway.” 3. The thing to be done will, of course, be different in different cases. In a sense, everyone who receives the gospel must preach it. There are some who favour reserve in regard to religious feeling and conviction. It is said that such things ought to be felt rather than expressed. That is not the teaching of the Bible. “ We believe and therefore speak.” “ We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” “ Ye shall be witnesses,” etc. not silent witnesses surely. Such was the original law, and there is no reason to believe that it has ever been changed. Are, then, men who can now speak best on such a subject to speak least? Because thoughtless people sometimes talk not wisely and not well on religion, must thoughtful people seal their tongues in silence and keep all dark till the day of death? Each man ought, in his own measure and way, to preach. For a quiet man to speak in conversation, is as much as for a public man to write. For one man to offer prayer in a house, would be more than for another to preach in a pulpit. Or with some, a change of habit and life may be the most expressive thing they can say or do. The question as to the form which the duty of the new state shall take is a question which one can never settle for another. But the principle is this--that there is to everyone something to be done, by look, or speech, or action, or habit--or all of these together--to be done for Christ as soon as you believe in Him; and that that thing ought to be done without delay. II. Its advantages.1. “ Straightway!” And your new consciousness will become clear, as it never will do by repression. Doubts gather around the inactive mind, over the slumbering reluctant will, as mists above the stagnant pool. Work in spite of them; work through them on to duty--and they are gone. 2. “ Straightway!” And the outer difficulties will be dispersed, and you will see them no more. He who begins on the yielding system will find that the difficulties that hinder the soul’ s first alacrity will hinder it more and more. There are some animals which will not molest you if you face them, but they will follow you if you flee. 3. “ Straightway!” And you will give to your soul one of the first and most indispensable conditions of growth. Children would sicken and die if they were kept in a state of inactivity. 4. “ Straightway!” And you will lay the first stones in the great edifice of habit. We are in a large measure the creatures of habit; but would it be better if we were all impulse and emotion? No. It is no small part of our greatness that we can build our life into strength as well as beauty by the stones of habit. 5. “ Straightway!” And you will end no small part of the lesser miseries of life. For, not a little is the result of duty undone--a word unspoken, an action postponed. 6. “ Straightway!” And the enemies of our true life and of the gospel of Christ are taken at advantage. All their plans are broken, their prophecies of evil are set at nought--by the simple yet sublime plan of going, without hesitation, right on to duty or endeavour. 7. “ Straightway!” And timorous friends--the discouraged, the weak, the halting--receive, as it were, a new inspiration. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)The new convert History is made up of epochs and eras. An epoch is a pause in the sequence of events; a marked moment, at which the reckoning of time rests and begins anew. An era is the interval between two epochs; the period which intervenes between two of those milestones of history, by which the memory assists itself in keeping count of time. In all good histories the epochs are strongly marked. Give the great turning points of a life, and we can almost fill up the era for ourselves. The conversion of St. Paul is a pause and a signal memorable for all time: the years that follow, while he is a learner even more than a teacher in Christ’ s school, need but briefer notice, though one full of instruction for us who ponder it thoughtfully. St. Paul himself adds some particulars in Galatians 1:17-24.1. He states that three years elapsed between his conversion and his first visit to Jerusalem as a Christian. The history in the Acts speaks only of “ many days.” But this is no contradiction. In 1 Kings 2:1-46 we read that Shimei “ dwelt in Jerusalem many days” ; and then the next verse opens thus, “ And it came to pass at the end of three years.” The expression “ many days” is large enough to cover a period of three years. So it is here. 2. In the same passage St. Paul mentions a journey into Arabia, of which we have here no notice. The region intended is differently understood: it may have been that Arabia which borders very closely upon Damascus itself. And the purpose of his journey is not mentioned--whether it was undertaken as a first missionary enterprise, or whether to afford him a season of secluded meditation. St. Luke’ s account of St. Paul’ s life is full of omissions, except during that part of it in which he was with him. We are thankful for what he tells, and we are glad to supplement it from the Epistles of St. Paul himself. 3. The same passage tells us the length of his stay at Jerusalem, and with which of the apostles he then became acquainted (Galatians 1:18-20). Why this earnestness of expression? Because St. Paul is vindicating the independence of his own apostleship. He did not receive his gospel at second hand. It was three years before he saw one of the apostles; when he at length visited Jerusalem it was but for fifteen days, and during the whole of that visit he saw but Peter and James the Lord’ s brother. Thus was verified Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:11-12. Notice in the text-- I. Paul preaching (verse 20). “ We preach not ourselves,” he said some years afterwards, “ but Christ Jesus the Lord.” St. Paul never found it necessary to change his subject. It lasted him for his life. But what was it? The dry monotonous repetition of one doctrine? Need I ask this of any reader of his Epistles? Well may he speak there of “ the unsearchable riches of Christ” ; of “ all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily.” He found in Christ an inexhaustible wealth of comfort, of sympathy, of help, an unlimited supply of grace. And this was what he sought to communicate. That is true preaching; the endeavour to unfold a reality and a happiness first felt within. And he could do this at once--“ straightway.” He could tell, as a matter of plain proof, that he who had come out to persecute had been arrested by a stronger hand, and constrained to confess that One whom he had scouted as a crucified and dead man was indeed living in the fulness of strength at the right hand of God. II. Paul in seclusion. We are not to suppose that St. Paul’ s knowledge was at once complete, or his spiritual life perfected. Doubtless it was during this interval of three years that he learned many of those things of which he has left the record in his Epistles--many of those “ revelations of the Lord,” e.g. And may it not have been that that deep experience of the conflict with indwelling sin, which he details so strikingly in Romans 7:1-25, was then especially gained? It is a great error to suppose that an apostle, because he was specially called and equipped, was therefore raised out of the ordinary experiences of the Christian life within, was exempted from the trials which other men endure in rising from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. And the same error runs on into a province in which it is not a mere loss of comfort, but a grave and sometimes fatal deception. Men talk as if conversion were the whole of a Christian life. Conversion is a great thing, but conversion must be tried by these tests--first, is it the commencement of a change? and secondly, is it the commencement of a progress? A conversion which begins and ends with itself lacks every sign of that which Scripture so designates. A conversion trusted in as a security for salvation, usurps the very place of the Saviour Himself, and becomes at once a delusion and a snare. III. Paul mistrusted. How lifelike are the lessons of Scripture. Which of us cannot understand the shrinking of verse 26. St. Paul felt heart and soul with the disciples, and longed to exchange with them that sympathy which only Christians know, and which it is misery to them to be constrained to hide. “ But they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.” It was natural: the memory of their beloved Stephen, and of many others, hunted down by his relentless rage, could not but rise within them at the sight of him, and make it difficult to believe that the professed change was real. But these things turn to the gospel for a testimony: the thought of what Saul was only increases the miracle of what he is; such a change, so thorough, so astounding, is one of the standing evidences of Jesus and the resurrection. But at the time it was hard to credit. This was the punishment of long hostility to the Saviour. Doubtless he bore it meekly and confessed that it was his due. But ought not the record make us all fearful of discouraging the nascent faith of others? Take heed not to quench the smoking flax. IV. Paul encouraged. How well does Barnabas justify the appellation “ Son of Consolation.” He knew the whole history of the new disciple, and therefore he lost no time in mediating between him and those who doubted him. He brought him to the apostles, and declared to them his history. Thus, like Andrew, he acted as the encourager and helper of another in coming to Jesus. It is a blessed office this of the peacemaker; more especially when the peace made is not of earth only; when it affects the soul also; whether in its dealings with Christ Himself, or in its relations to Christ’ s servants. What is the aim of a visitor of the poor, in its highest aspect? Is it not this--to bring to the apostles--in other words, to bring to Christ Himself--those who, but for such aid, might be lost sight of, and be left in disregard, in suspicion, in darkness? How often has the work of Christian charity been privileged to perform this highest office! A Christian care for the body may be made available to save the soul. (Dean Vaughan.)The marks of true conversion I. Joyful confession of Christ (verse 20). II. Willing endurance of the enmity of the world (verse 23). III. Humble intercourse with believers (verse 26). IV. Godly conduct in the service of the Lord (verse 28). (J. P. Lange, D. D.)Evidences of conversion When Saul, in answer to his inquiry, “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” was told that he was to go as best he could into the city and seek for further advice there, it was a trial of his faith which ranks alongside of that of Abraham. For where in the great town of Damascus was there a place or a comrade to receive a lonely blind man into shelter? Who would tell him his duty? But hope begins with any Christian the moment he follows up the light he has. I. What was there in this story specially belonging to Saul and hence of no essential value in ordinary use now?1. It arrests the imagination to think of such a reception for one who had reasonably supposed he would come in triumph as the Inquisitor-general from Jerusalem. But it is not necessary for anyone now to pass through those personal trials. 2. His intense fright and prostration. The words “ trembling and astonished” do not belong to the Bible. Indeed, much more than this is left out of verses 5 and 6 (see R.V.). In his own accounts of his conversion, given before Agrippa, and before the mob, he did use the expression, “ It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks,” and he did ask, “ What shall I do?” but he never in any instance said he trembled, for he was not that sort of man. He was contrite and submissive, but he was not scared. 3. His vision. We must carefully discriminate between what belonged to this man’ s commission as an apostle, and what belonged to his conversion as a man. If the Lord ever makes a new apostle, it is possible He may deal with another man in the same way; but it is not necessary to see a luminous sign, nor to hear a supernatural voice, in order to be a faithful, honest, and even an assured follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. His physical catastrophes. The circumstances of any conversion are quite separate from the conversion itself. It cannot be a necessity now to be violently thrown on the ground. Suffering is not necessarily repentance. II. What was there which was essential and exemplary for permanent use?1. His entire intellectual acceptance of the doctrine of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of men. And that carried the whole Christian creed with it. Jesus Himself pressed this necessity in His name (Luke 6:46). He admitted it to be His own rightful designation (John 13:13). And the apostles made it to be the form of doctrinal confession of Christianity (Acts 2:36). When Saul saw Jesus, he suspected his terrible error, and asked, “ Who art Thou, Lord?” And when the answer came, “ I am Jesus whom thou persecutest,” then he knew the truth, and took it to his heart as he called that Being, knowing Him to be Jesus--Jehovah. 2. His immediate commencement of first Christian duty (verse 9). The earliest low cry of an infant is the definite evidence of life: it breathes. So we sing, “ Prayer is the Christian’ s vital breath.” Paul knew the importance of an evidence like this; for he wrote afterwards about it (1 Timothy 2:8). 3. His change of purpose. Saul’ s life swung around instantly and entirely both in feeling and in fact. He had loved to persecute Christians: now he loved to love them. He had hated and derided Jesus of Nazareth; now he accepted Him heartily as the promised Messiah. He had been “ exceedingly mad” ; now he was commensurately humble and penitent. He had been under commission from the chiefs of his bigoted nation; now be said simply enough, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” 4. His one ambition. He had been thinking that he verily did God service by his laborious and passionate zeal in persecution; now he kept at work for the mere joy of doing some loving thing for God. He rested by faith in the merits of a Redeemer crucified (Galatians 2:20). He put off the old man, he put on the new (Colossians 3:9-10). He now desired only to be found in Christ, and to be found like Christ. In one lengthy passage of an epistle, he discloses his clear purpose, his passionate wish, all condensed into a single paragraph which really is worth studying word by word (Philippians 3:7-14). 5. He gave himself at once by public committal to the friends of the Lord Jesus. He told over and over again the story of his conversion (Galatians 1:20-24). At Damascus he was “ with the disciples” (verse 19). Even under cold prejudice at Jerusalem, he “ assayed to join himself to the disciples” (verse 26). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Saul preaching I. The preacher as evidencing the truth of Christianity.1. What were the moral antecedents of this man? In general terms he was what we all are by nature--the children of wrath, even as others. But in addition to that there was a strong development of the carnal mind which brought out his enmity against God in a most striking light. He was a virulent enemy of Christ and of His Church. Such a sworn foe must have been the last man the Church had supposed would have become not only a convert, but a preacher. One could almost as soon have expected Caiaphas or Pilate. By no previous process of training was this wonderful work accomplished; but in a moment when his heart was bound with enmity against Jesus and the truth, the proud heart and the rebellious will were broken and subdued. To what can you ascribe it but to the power of God? The hand that had just grasped the weapon that was to slay was now clasped in prayer. The knees that never trembled when he stood by Stephen were now smiting for fear. The eyes that had gloated on the agonies of martyr were now overflowing with tears of penitence. I pause to ask you if this is not a fact in evidence which must carry to every ingenuous mind the conviction that the religion that could change such a heart as that of Saul of Tarsus must be Divine? 2. What was his subsequent course? Follow his career from the moment that he said, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” till he closed it by a martyr’ s death, and there is not in the annals of the Christian Church a character so evidencing the truth of the gospel as that shown in Saul. 3. It is of little consequence what may have been our antecedents--whether we have been persecutors of Churches, or Pharisees, wrapping ourselves up in our own righteousness--we must all pass through the same spiritual change that he did. II. The preaching as illustrating the nature of Christianity.1. “ Straightway.” He asked no authority from man. He applied for no orders. He passed through no theological training. From the moment of the discovery of Christ he became His preacher. I would not have you infer that a man may devote himself to the ministry apart from a previous training; for the conversion of the apostle was miraculous, and he had been trained in one of the first schools of the times; so that when by the power of Christ his heart was changed, he had all the intellectual discipline that was essentially necessary to become an able minister of the New Testament. And yet, if it please God to convert a man of intelligence, I see no reason why that man, now his heart is glowing with the love of Christ, should not straightway preach Christ. The authority that we receive is not from man. Ordination is but a recognition of the Church; a pledge on the part of our brethren of their prayers, sympathies, and confidence. 2. But what did Saul preach? “ Jesus.” There may be much preaching so denominated that claims no title to the character. Man may preach theology without God, Churchianity without Christianity, Christianity without Christ, the Bible without revelation, the Cross without atonement. Man may do all this, and not preach Jesus. The theme of this newly awakened convert was all summed up in one precious and Divine name--Jesus Christ. III. The place of preaching as manifesting the power and triumphs of Christianity.1. He had to cope with (1) the pharisaical Jews. There was much that the Jew had to allege in favour of his religion. He could claim the oracles of God’ s Word as sustaining him. And yet the apostle adapted not his subject to meet the prejudices or objections of the Jews, but he met them by a simple uplifting of Christ and unfolding of the gospel. (2) The Greek philosophers. It was here that his learning came to his help. If God gives a man intellect and furnishes his mind with learning, God intends that he shall employ these powers in the advancement of His truth. But mark, although his reasoning was logical and profound when he confronted the philosophers of Athens, his theme still was Christ. (3) And thus this man, wherever he went, whoever were his audience--whether he confronted the Jews in the synagogue, the sceptics of Athens, or the jailor at Philippi, Christ Jesus was his grand, his only theme; and no theme but this will ever meet and overcome the enemies, the false religions, and the oppositions of the world. Let men go forth, making Christ their great theme, and such is the voice of that, accompanied with the power of the Spirit, that it would silence all the enemies of the Church. 2. What is it so to preach Christ? (1) Saul preached Christ as the Son of God, and we cannot properly preach Christ without in the very foreground placing this grand article of our creed--that Christ is essentially Divine. The whole fabric of Christianity rests upon this. Cut this from under us, and on what do we stand--in what is the sacrifice for sinners? in what our hope for eternity? But if my Saviour is God, then my hope is resting on Deity, and I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I commit unto Him until that day. (2) We must preach the sacrifice, the atonement of Christ, without qualification or reserve. This is a day of much reserve in the statement of those great cardinals of our faith. But the work of Christ is what it ever has been. No change in modern modes of thought or of opinion has altered the essential doctrines of Christianity. We are not to adapt our preaching to the education or the politics of the times. We are to preach the same glorious gospel which Paul preached when he uplifted the Cross of Christ as the only hope of a lost and ruined world. What a grand feature was that in his ministry--Christ the Saviour of sinners! “ This is a faithful saying,” etc. (O. Winslow, D. D.)Saul preaching Christ I. There is an unofficial preaching of Christ incumbent upon every one who is converted by His grace. As soon as one experiences the renewing power of the Spirit, he is brought under the most powerful constraint to make known the benefits he has received, and to commend ¢o others his Saviour. Saul is a noble example of this generous testimony for Christ.1. It was prompt. “ Immediately.” There was no dalliance with duty, no waiting upon frames and feelings. Love, gratitude, joy, a desire to retrieve the wrongs of the past, a yearning to direct others, above all a desire to honour Christ, led him at once to herald forth the name of Jesus. 2. It was brave. He did not simply enter his name upon the roll of the disciples, nor content himself with speaking privately to his former acquaintances, nor open some private apartment where the Jews might hear his testimony; but on the Sabbath day, when the synagogues were thronged, Saul, in the face of friend and foe, made public confession of Jesus. 3. It was uncompromising. He did not undertake to strike a balance between his own convictions and the prejudices of his hearers. He did not confess Jesus as a good man, or as an inspired prophet, or as a supernatural being above angel. He “ proclaimed Jesus that He is the Son of God.” II. A higher and official preaching of Christ is incumbent upon those, and those only, who are duly called and qualified to enter upon it. This is the preaching which Saul did after his return from Arabia. A study of his course throws much light upon the prerequisites to the gospel ministry. It must be preceded--1. By a Divine call. The call of Saul was extraordinary in its method (Acts 26:16), but in essence the same that every minister must have. There must be an impression deeply wrought by the Spirit that it is our duty to serve God in the ministry--a conviction that grows stronger as it is prayerfully deliberated upon, and does not yield in prospect of the sacrifices which such a life entails. 2. By thorough preparation. One would have supposed that Saul, graduate of the school of Gamaliel, a man of broad literary culture, a master of the law, an acute theologian, a ready debater, an eloquent orator, might receive his commission at once. But there were schools for the ancient prophets. The twelve were for three years under the personal tuition of our Lord. Saul must first go into Arabia, and, like Moses and the Baptist, come under the immediate tuition of Heaven. There he received what he so expressively calls “ my gospel” (Galatians 1:11). If such tuition were needful for one so thoroughly furnished, what shall we say of those who would have young converts rush into the vows and responsibilities of the ministry? 3. By orderly commission. The usual method then, as now, was through the Church authorities. But with the ordinary office of the preacher Saul was to unite the extraordinary office of the apostle. His commission, therefore, was made an extraordinary one. Instead of going up to Jerusalem to receive ordination from the apostles, he went into Arabia, and there received it immediately from the hands of the Lord (Galatians 1:1). A Divine commission is as necessary now as it was then. III. The matter, manner, and effects of preaching Christ are the same in all ages. They are strikingly illustrated in the passage.1. The matter is the same. Saul sounds here the keynote of his whole after-ministry. He preaches “ Jesus, that He is the Son of God.” Upon His Deity he bases the whole system of doctrines that he proclaims. To this he adds the evidence of His Messiahship. He establishes His claim as the anointed Prophet, revealing the Father; the anointed Priest, making atonement; the anointed King, reigning until all enemies are subdued. This is the gospel which every minister is commissioned to preach, which every layman is under obligation unofficially to teach. Nothing can supersede it. It will bear no admixture of human philosophy, it will submit to no arraignment at the bar of human reason. It, and it alone, goes down to the deep necessities of the human heart, and has power to lift man up into the life of holiness and into the light of hope. 2. The manner is the same. Saul’ s preaching was (1) Scriptural. He confounded the Jews by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. He who does this stands upon high vantage-ground. It is the men who are “ mighty in the Scriptures” whose teaching is crowned with success. (2) Fearless. “ Boldly.” He did not hesitate through fear of prejudice or opposition. He did not consult the partialities or caprices of his hearers. Never was such preaching needed more than now. It requires courage to deal faithfully with the consciences of impenitent sinners and worldly-minded church members. (3) Humble. “ In the name of the Lord Jesus.” He assumed no authority or superiority of his own. He was but the mouthpiece through whom Christ spake. He relied upon the power of Christ to make his message effectual. 3. The effects are the same. (1) The apostle found in Damascus and at Jerusalem what he did everywhere else, “ To the one we are the savour of death,” etc. In every community two classes will appear--enemies and friends. (a) With the former the enmity of the carnal heart will be aroused, and will lead on to persecution. If the Jews in Damascus and Jerusalem cannot gainsay Saul’ s arguments, they can at least “ lay wait to kill him.” (b) But very different are the effects upon another. Saul soon found himself surrounded by a body of disciples--“ his disciples,” as the R.V. teaches us in verse 25. Faithful work for Christ will not be left without result. (2) The fruits of faithful teaching are gathered after the teacher is gone. Saul has been “ brought down to Caesarea, and sent away to Tarsus,” but the Church of God remains, and “ has peace, being edified,” etc. (T. D. Witherspoon, D. D.)The testimony of Christ I. The source from which it must proceed. A heart apprehended of Christ and converted. II. Its contents. Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of men. III. Its success.1. Astonishment.2. Blessed fruits. (K. Gerok.)Paul’ s ministry at Damascus I. The character of his Spiritual change.1. It was radical. He preached Christ as the Son of God, what he had previously given his whole being to deny. Saul the persecutor becomes Paul the apostle. 2. It was genuine. He preached in the synagogues, where he was well known as the High Priest’ s commissioner--the worst place for an impostor, but the best place for one who wished to make some atonement for his past life. 3. It was startling. The people were “ amazed,” as well they might be. II. The nature of his new faith (verse 22). It was--1. Growable--“ he increased.” The more he examined Christ’ s claims, and reflected on His truths, the stronger grew his confidence and affection. Christianity is not a dry notion, but a living germ. Once planted, every earnest thought about it will only serve to strike its roots deeper. 2. Discussable. It was a thing Paul felt he could take into the synagogues and submit to competent critics. Christianity is no mystic sentiment that admits of no explanation, nor a musty sentiment that totters on scrutiny; it is intelligible in its facts, and rational in its theories. 3. Demonstrable. “ Proving.” By manifestation of the truth he commended himself to every man’ s conscience in the sight of God. III. The spirit of his first auditors (verse 23). Their malignity was--1. Deadly. They sought to kill him. Violence has always been the argument of bigotry, which no man knew better than Saul; but truth ever seeks to kill error by saving the advocate. 2. Deliberate evil as well as good has its plans. 3. Frustrated (verse 25). In his deliverance we see-- (1) The way in which Providence delivers the good. God could have launched a thunderbolt and crushed Saul’ s enemies; but as is usually the case God saved him by his own caution and the assistance of the disciples. (2) The inevitable doom of evil. God “ taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)The first essay of a warrior of Christ He must-- I. Inviolably swear allegiance to the banner (verses 20, 23). II. Diligently employ his weapons (verse 22). III. Modestly take his place in the ranks (verses 26, 28). IV. Courageously look the enemy in the face (verses 22, 29). V. Obediently retire at the signal. (K. Gerok.)The probation years in the ministerial office Note here the first official--1. Tasks.2. Joys.3. Sufferings. (K. Gerok.)Conversion leads to Christian activity Sir James Young Simpson, Bart., M.D., is a name that will shine in the annals of Scotland, and as a star of the first magnitude among her numerous eminent men. The son of a poor baker in Bathgate, who had much ado to keep his head above water, he rose to receive the honour of a baronetcy from the Queen, “ in recognition of his professional merits, especially the introduction of chloroform.” His public life was always marked by outward consistency, and by an observance of the externals of religion, numbering among his friends some of the leading divines of Edinburgh, where he lived and laboured. But he was unacquainted with the power of religion until 1861, and the person who was most instrumental in the marked change which was wrought was an invalid lady, one of his patients, whose quiet words spoken, and whose letters of grateful Christian interest written to him, took hold of his heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In one of her letters she said, having written in the kindest possible way concerning him and his household: “ What is to fill this heart to all eternity? When benevolence shall have run its course, when there shall be no sick to heal, no disease to cure: when all I have been engaged about comes to a dead stop, what is to fill this heart, and thought, and these powers of mind? Only the God-Man! If then, why not now?” In this way he was led to Christ, and soon began to undertake active and public Christian work. The grass was scarcely green on the grave of his long-afflicted son Jamie, when we find him giving a public address to medical students, speaking of himself as “ one of the oldest sinners and one of the youngest believers in the room,” and earnestly entreating them to open the doors of their heart and receive the Saviour. “ In Christ,” said he, “ you will find a Saviour, a Companion, a Counsellor, a Friend, a Brother, who loves you with a love greater than human heart can conceive.” (The Quiver.)And straightway he preached Christ Henry Ward Beecher left college with no thought of the Church, was rather a wild youth, and, with two companions, followed the pioneers to the backwoods to shoot, hunt, and fish. In the midst of this wild life he happened to hear a Methodist minister, and the truth struck home to his heart. The effect was instantaneous. Like Saul, when he was struck down on his way to Damascus, his first question was, “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” Beecher’ s enthusiastic nature admitted of nothing else. He sold his rod and gun for a horse, and began to move from place to place, preaching to the backwoodsmen. This was the beginning of Beecher’ s ministry. Acts 9:23-25 And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him … Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.Paul’ s deliverance by the basket I. God wages war with pride in every form.1. There is, perhaps, no greater wonder than that man should be proud. Turn where we will, everything seems to teach humility. The grass whispers, “ You are dependent on us for food.” The beasts say, “ You have to borrow our strength.” The clouds drop down a voice: “ If we descend not upon you, you die.” 2. And God, from time to time, makes man learn this lesson, whether he be His friend or foe. Frogs, flies, lice, locusts--all petty in themselves, become terrible to proud Pharaoh; and worms become fatal beneath the royal purple, when the proud Herod is to be destroyed. 3. To none does God more unmistakably teach the folly of pride than to His own people. A great part of life’ s discipline is just a self-emptying in this respect--that man may learn that God is all-in-all. The greatest of God’ s servants are, from time to time, reduced to be dependent upon the poorest earthly instrumentality--Elijah upon a handful of meal; Jeremiah upon old rags and clouts, as he is drawn up out of the pit; Paul upon a basket. God so often uses poor instrumentalities for accomplishing the deliverance of His people, because the tendency of man is to glorify the instrument (Habakkuk 1:16). 4. God will fix man’ s eye upon Himself. 5. God would show His lordship in energising them. II. The good effects of a knowledge of this. If we see plainly that God often uses very poor earthly instrumentality--1. We shall not despair in great troubles, because great ways of deliverance are not opened up before us. Goliath, armed in his panoply of brass, must surely be met with something in proportion; but God teaches the secret of the smooth stones of the brook--the proportion that He knows of, though we knew it not. Many a child of God is like the lion entangled in the meshes of the net, that found deliverance by the nibbling of the mouse. 2. We shall be very cheerful in our times of trial, feeling that there are possibilities of deliverance all around us. “ With God all things are possible.” The man of God is taught that he has resources in everything. 3. We shall be in a very humble frame of mind, ready to receive help from any direction. Sometimes God has to make His people ready. The spirit of Naaman is too much in them; they have Abanas and Pharpars of their own, which they think better than anything else, unless it be something very striking and grand. And, sometimes, our blessing comes by a very humble hand. During one of his severe illnesses, Bengel, the great commentator, sent for a student, and requested him to impart a word of consolation. The youth replied, “ Sir, I am but a pupil; I don’ t know what to say to a teacher like you.” “ What,” said Bengel, “ a divinity student! and not able to communicate a word of Scriptural comfort!” The student, abashed, contrived to utter the text, “ The blood of Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth us from all sin.” “ That is the very word I want,” said Bengel; “ it is quite enough” ; and, taking him affectionately by the hand, dismissed him. The great commentator was ready to receive the blessing from the hand of the humble student; and God was ready to give it. 4. We shall be hearty to use the means we have at hand. We never know what such means will do until we try. There is a wonderful elasticity in little means, when God is giving them His blessing. In taking down the scaffolding of a huge mill chimney, the men forgot to affix the rope by which the foreman, directing their operations from the top, was to descend. Amid the frantic cries of the poor fellow above, and of the crowd below, the shrill voice of his wife was heard exclaiming, “ Tak’ off thy stocking, lad, and unravel it, and let down the thread with a piece of mortar.” Presently the little thread came waving down the chimney, and reached the outstretched hands waiting for it; then it was attached to a ball of string, which Jem was asked to pull gently up. To the end of the string was attached the forgotten rope, which was drawn up in turn, and amidst cries of “ Thank God!” was fastened to the iron, and bore the man safely to the ground. That is as good an instance as we could find anywhere of making good use of little means, and let us follow it ourselves. 5. The circle of possible aids will be enlarged. We are very apt in time of trouble to take very contracted views of the circle in which God is likely to work. We shut out all the little ways of help, and then the great ones are reduced to very few indeed; and as a necessary consequence, down sinks our heart in distress. We need continually to be reminded that even the stones can be made bread. 6. We shall be kept humble in the day of prosperity, not knowing when, and for how much, we may be indebted to little things. (P. B. Power, M. A.)Humiliating deliverance (Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:32-33). Saul had returned from his Arabian retirement, and his powerful preaching aroused the animosity of the Jews. The Ethnarch, under the king of the Nabothaean Arabs, sided with them, and watched the gates of the city to take Saul. It was a close investment, and with such powerful enemies the chances were all against him. At this juncture a device occurred to his friends, recalling that of Rahab (Joshua 2:15), and David (1 Samuel 19:12). It was a humiliating circumstance, and is placid by Paul amongst “ the things that concern my infirmities.” Most men would have banished it from their thoughts and concealed it. Of such odd and inconvenient things the religion of Christ can make splendid use. This was-- I. An instance of peculiar discipline.1. That there was something in Paul’ s mental constitution requiring to be so dealt with we may be certain--over-sensitiveness, a sense of personal dignity, pride of race. In such ways we get the starch taken out of us. 2. There was need for the most contradictory qualities in an apostle. He had to be strictly upright, yet “ all things to all men” ; firm and stern in rebuking sin, yet gentle and forgiving the penitent; keenly sensitive to the claims of the Master and His representatives, but oblivious to mere personal consideration. Whilst he had to confess that he was less than the least of all saints; he had to withstand “ pillars,” and those who “ seemed to be somewhat to the face” (Galatians 2:1-21). Of the stiff Pharisee God was making a keen and flexible weapon. 3. This circumstance was in a line with his confusion on the highway, when he was “ led by the hand.” That it made a deep impression on his mind we learn from the minuteness of the description after so many years. He uses the specific word for “ rope work hamper,” while Luke employs the more general “ basket.” 4. Many would have hesitated to avail themselves of such a means of escape as making them ridiculous, and thus detrimental to authority and usefulness. II. A test of the faith of the disciples. There are many who cannot receive the truth for its own worth. Moral influence is with them bound up with personal position and external dignity. Yet a humble exterior is no proof of real lowering. Splendour may cloak corruption and spiritual death. The appearance of an apostle dangling in a rope basket was therefore a trial to the new converts. One might fancy themselves exclaiming, “ Where is the miracle, the Sign?” So Paul banters the Corinthians--I am a fool! “ bear with me.” With men God ever pursues this reparative process, dissolving the temporal and accidental from the essential and eternal. III. A specimen of the irony of providence. In certain historical events one seems to detect such a mood, especially in the cries of nations and churches. The O.T., e.g., in the stories of Moses, Jacob, Gideon, is full of them. The means of checkmating the enemy of souls is reduced to a minimum--a ridiculous, preposterous circumstance, but it is sufficient. And when one compares the huge preparations and complex machinery of Satan with the simplicity of the Divine instrumentalities, the power and wisdom of God are thrown into relief. There are traces of a contempt for Satan in the Bible. Let us take heart, then, as we think of the grim laughter of the angels over abortive schemes and transparent blunders of the prince of darkness. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)The methods of Divine providence I. Never involve an unnecessary miracle. Had occasion required it, all the forces of the universe would have been at Paul’ s disposal. The circumstances were apparently desperate, but not beyond the God-directed ingenuity of brotherly hearts. God helps those who help themselves--and God’ s ministers. A chariot of fire is not harnessed when a rope basket will do. In trouble or work expect deliverance or help, not from some striking supernatural interposition, but rather from some humble source overlooked because so commonplace and seemingly inadequate. II. Often involve curious expedients. An ambassador of Christ making his escape in a rope basket! Yet spies, defeated warriors, and kings have been glad of the even more ridiculous disguises. And God’ s people in escaping persecution or seeking truth must not be, and have not been, particular as to what people think. Carey posed as an Indigo planter, Zacchaeus perched himself in a sycamore tree, and the Bible had to be smuggled into Italy under a lady’ s crinoline. III. Are frequently the simplest and the easiest of adoption. There would be no trouble in getting a basket. Saul would have had no difficulty in making one if necessary. And when hit upon, how much more effective this plan must have seemed than a score of others that possibly may have been entertained--bribing the governor, dodging the guard, etc. How often God rebukes us by setting aside our apparently clever but really cumbrous contrivances, and using the humblest instruments. Shamgar’ s ox goad, Samson’ s jaw bone, David’ s sling and stone, wrought wonders at times impossible to the whole might of Israel. IV. Are always the best under the circumstances. The question for Saul is the question for this practical age--not “ How does it look?” but “ How will it do?” And the rope basket did admirably. It was soft, light, strong, and no one would dream of looking for an apostle in it. Do not then criticise the form which a given method of providence may take? Whatever it may be, it is the best because God employs it. V. Differ according to various requirements. Paul was often afterwards in peril, but never had occasion to use the rope basket again. This would have been useless in a similar crisis (chap. 23), where a band of soldiers was required. Because God delivers us in a given fashion, or blesses us in a certain way at one time, it does not follow that the specific acts will be repeated. There is as much variety in the methods of providence as in the methods of nature; both deal with needs as they arise. (J. W. Burn.)Providence: its methods strange only to us I looked upon the wrong or back side of a piece of arras (or tapestry): it seemed to me as a continued nonsense. There was neither head nor foot therein, confusion itself had as much method in it--a company of thrums and threads, with many pieces and patches of several sorts, sizes, and colours; all which signified nothing to my understanding. But then, looking on the reverse, or right side thereof, all put together did spell excellent proportions, and figures of men and cities; so that, indeed, it was a history, not wrote with a pen, but wrought with a needle. If men look upon some of God’ s providential dealings with a mere eye of reason, they will hardly find any sense therein, such their muddle and disorder. But, alas! the wrong side is objected to our eyes, while the right side is presented to the high God of heaven, who knoweth that an admirable order doth result out of this confusion: and what is presented to Him at present may, hereafter, be so showed to us as to convince our judgments in the truth thereof. (T. Fuller, D. D.)Providence, interposition of A story is related--in connection with the ejectment of the two thousand ministers from the Church of England--of Henry Havers, of Catherine Hall, Cambridge. Being pursued by enemies who sought to apprehend him, he sought refuge in a malt house and crept into the kiln. Immediately afterward he observed a spider fixing the first line of a large and beautiful web across the narrow entrance. The web being placed directly between him and the light, he was so much struck with the skill of the insect weaver, that for a while he forgot his own imminent danger; but by the time the network had crossed and recrossed the mouth of the kiln in every direction the pursuers came to search for him. He listened as they approached, and distinctly overheard one of them say, “ It’ s of no use to look in there; the old villain can never be there. Look at that spider’ s web; he could never have got in there without breaking it.” Acts 9:26-30 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem he essayed to Join himself to the disciples.Saul’ s emotions on returning to Jerusalem He was returning to it from a spiritual as Ezra had from a bodily captivity, and to his renewed mind all things appeared new. What an emotion smote his heart at the first distant view of the Temple, that house of sacrifice, that edifice of prophecy. Its sacrifices had been realised, the Lamb of God had been offered; its prophecies had been fulfilled, the Lord had come unto it. As he approached the gates, he might have trodden the very spot where he had so exultingly assisted in the death of Stephen, and he entered them perfectly content, were it God’ s will, to be dragged out through them to the same fate. He would feel a peculiar tie of brotherhood to that martyr, for he could not now be ignorant that the same Jesus who in such glory had called him, had but a little time before appeared in the same glory to assure the expiring Stephen. The ecstatic look and words of the dying saint now came fresh upon his memory with their real meaning. When he entered into the city, what deep thoughts were suggested by the haunts of his youth, and by the sight of the spots where he had go eagerly sought that knowledge which he had so eagerly abandoned. What an intolerable burden had he cast off! He felt as a glorified spirit may be supposed to feel on revisiting the scenes of its fleshly concern. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)Saul’ s first visit after his conversion to Jerusalem I. His admission to Church membership.1. Sought. “ He essayed,” i.e., endeavoured to join himself to the disciples. Amongst them was Peter--an object of special attraction (Galatians 1:18). He had heard, doubtless, of his wonderful sermon at Pentecost, and otherwise from the Christians at Damascus. James was there, too, the Lord’ s brother. This endeavour to get into the new fellowship indicated-- (1) A wonderful change in his social character. Three years before, the disciples were the object of his indignation. (2) The law of social life. There is a craving for intercourse with those of kindred thoughts, sympathies, and alms. 2. Obstructed. “ They were all afraid of him.” It would seem that he had no letters of commendation from Damascus, owing to the hurried manner of his escape. So that we are not surprised at the panic here. This obstruction, however, must have been-- (1) Painful to him. He had been a Christian three years, had held fellowship with the disciples at Damascus, had preached boldly there, and had studied the Christian faith and cultivated the Christian life in the Solitudes of Arabia. So he must have felt it hard, though just, to have been now suspected. (2) Natural. Purity and peace required caution, and the apostle’ s case was a suspicious one, with the persecution fresh upon the memory. 3. Attained. This was through the kind offices of Barnabas, a man known and honoured by them, and possibly an acquaintance of Saul’ s. As Cyprus was only a few hours’ sail from Cilicia, Barnabas, in introducing Saul, pleads on his behalf the only sufficient qualification for Church membership (verse 27). 4. Enjoyed (verse 28). He would-- (1) “ Come in” to them with some new thought, new impressions, new deeds wrought for Christ, which would stimulate and cheer the brethren. (2) “ Go out” with their prayers, counsel, love, bracing him for heroic work. Blessed the man who has a spiritual home. Such homes are where moral giants are trained. II. His proclamation of the gospel (verse 29).1. The subject of his ministry. “ In the name of the Lord Jesus” --a subject he once hated, and which he preferred to many subjects which, as a man of genius and learning, he might have taken. He viewed everything through it, and judged the world by it. 2. Its sphere--“ Grecians” --Hellenistic Jews. The same zeal which had combated Stephen now defended the cause for which he died. 3. Its style. (1) “ Boldly.” Nothing but an invincible courage could have enabled him to appear before such an audience on such a theme. (2) He “ disputed.” He did not, as a fanatic would, declaim, but submitted theses for discussion. 4. Its results. (1) Persecution to himself.(2) Increased sympathy of the Church (verse 30). (D. Thomas, D. D.)Saul at Jerusalem 1. It was in blindness that he had first entered Damascus, and now he is forced to flee from it under the friendly cover of darkness. As he proceeded to Jerusalem, he could not pass the scene of his conversion without a holy shudder. Every turn of the road must have reminded him of his eastward journey. But he hurries westward a changed man. And he must have wondered how he should meet his instigators, and have surmised how they would curse him. And if he passed the place of Stephen’ s martyrdom, his soul must have trembled in its gratitude to sovereign mercy. 2. His arrival created as much doubt among the Christians as it had done at Damascus. He did not attempt to take them by storm, and parade the glory of his conversion, but humbly sought admission, but his veracity was questioned, and they deemed him to be a wolf in lamb’ s clothing--no small trial for one who had done and suffered so much under his new convictions. But Barnabas kindly interfered and vouched for his sincerity, and then was he admitted to fellowship. 3. The apostle of the circumcision and the apostle of the Gentiles dwelt for “ fifteen days” under one roof. What conversations, discussions, and projected enterprises from two minds so unlike in structure and discipline, and yet so very like in zeal and courage! Peter loved Palestine, yet Paul loved it none the less that his heart embraced the world. The former felt at home in the sphere of the Old Testament, the other stretched beyond it while he did not forsake it. Peter did what he knew to be his duty in repairing to the house of Cornelius, but he did not feel at perfect liberty to repeat such deeds; while the untrammelled Paul exclaims, “ Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I magnify mine office.” In a word, Peter was like the Jordan, the stream that belonged exclusively to his fatherland, though a foreigner, like Naaman, might once be healed in it; but Paul resembled the “ great sea,” which washes the shores of the three continents. Saul stayed only a fortnight in Jerusalem, but he was not and could not be idle. Four features of his preaching come into view. I. The class to whom he addressed himself were the hellenists. The Jews born in Judaea were victims of narrowness and prejudice: the “ genius of the place” held them in bondage. But the Jews born and brought up in other countries had mingled with other races, and their minds were expanded with literary and commercial intercourse. As one of them, Saul specially appealed to them. For there are certain ties of blood, education, and language which are to be recognised even in the advocacy of the truth. Saul did not fling the gospel in the face of the high priest, nor go to the temple and harangue the fanatical crowds. He was no unreasoning fanatic, unable to hold his tongue or control his temper; no agitator, reckless as to circumstances. He was, indeed, a man of one idea, but it did not so overmaster him that he knew not when, how, and where to develop it. II. His preaching took the form of disputation. He did not come forth simply with a “ set speech,” but after he spoke he allowed the free criticism of all his statements. He met his opponents openly and fully, prepared to reply to their questions and to respond to their challenge. One opponent might question his interpretation of the law or the prophets; or another would affirm some base thing about our Lord’ s life, or some stupid and malignant thing about his religion, while to the one and the other Saul would speak with loving soul, reasoning out the validity of his interpretation and teaching the truth as to the facts of the Master’ s career and death. And though another disputant, with a leer and a frown, should refer to his conversion, the allusion could neither shame nor intimidate one who “ had seen that Just One, and heard the voice of His mouth.” III. His preaching was bold, for his convictions were thorough. He believed, therefore he spake. Had there been any suspicions that possibly after all he might be in error--then his preaching might have been faltering. But Saul’ s mind could not admit the possibility of a doubt; and the glorified Jesus being his shield, he was not alarmed at “ what man shall do.” He could not modify, and he would not recant. Pressed on every side by the Grecians, he was impervious alike to execration and ridicule--a mighty man of valour, clad in “ the whole armour of God.” IV. He was bold in the name of the Lord Jesus, i.e., he not only preached Christ, but he claimed His express authority for so preaching Him. Timidity would be treachery to his Master, cruelty to the world, and unfaithfulness to his own convictions. And all this brave outspokenness was not the arrogance of a “ novice,” but the courage which one feels who has vowed fidelity both to God and to man, and who is supported by the grace which never fails. Conclusion: That Saul’ s appearance should impress some needs not be doubted, but the multitude refused to believe. Nay, they went about to slay him. In the meantime he had enjoyed a remarkable vision in the Temple, in which he saw Christ and heard Him say, “ Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me.” As Saul had been only two weeks there, he wished to remain a little longer, and, probably with the advice of Peter, thought of selecting Jerusalem as a field of labour. Another scene like Pentecost might be anticipated, and Peter might be hoping much from the ardour, erudition, and eloquence of his junior colleague. Man proposes, but God disposes. But as Saul did nothing without a reason, he honestly tells the Lord why he had come to labour in Jerusalem (Acts 22:19-20). The ground taken by Saul is very intelligible. The population of Jerusalem had known what he was, and he wished them to know what he had become. Therefore he thought that on the spot where such points were notorious, he had a special claim to be heard against himself and in favour of that system which he had adopted from the best of all reasons. Moses, when summoned to go to Egypt, pleaded want of eloquence; Gideon would not march till the fleece had been wetted, nay, till the omen had been reversed; Jeremiah urged his youth and inexperience when called to the prophetic office; Jonah set sail for Tarshish, instead of proceeding to Nineveh; Ananias, when bidden to seek out a stranger who had recently arrived at Damascus, demurred; and Saul, thinking himself possessed of special qualifications for a sphere of labour which he preferred, was backward toward that very work for which he had been born and called, and in which he so soon achieved signal success, and won imperishable renown. “ Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God?” “ The right man in the right place,” has become a popular expression for mutual adaptation. Saul did not verify the saying either in Damascus or Jerusalem, but it might be truly predicted of him through his whole subsequent career, when he spoke, travelled, toiled, and suffered, as one “ appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” (J. Eadie, D. D.)Church membership I. The character of the persons on whom the duty of Church membership devolves.1. It is the duty of all who call themselves Christians to separate themselves from the world and to unite themselves with a particular Church; yet, before they can do this in a scriptural manner, they must exercise repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; they must “ first give themselves to the Lord, and then to His people according to His will.” Personal must precede social religion. “ A Christian is the highest style of man” --he is a disciple of Christ; he believes His gospel; he loves Him; he imitates His example; he yields obedience to His commands; and he lives, not unto himself, but unto Him who died for him and rose again. 2. That none but such persons are qualified for Church membership is evident from the New Testament. In the case before us, when “ Saul essayed to join himself to the disciples,” they did not receive him till they had ascertained from Barnabas that he was a disciple indeed. And when the apostle wrote to the Churches he had formed he addressed them to “ the saints” --to the “ beloved of God” --to the “ faithful in Christ Jesus,” etc. And if persons of another character gained admission, they were “ to put away that wicked person,” and to “ withdraw from every brother that walked disorderly.” 3. Besides this direct evidence that personal piety is an essential prerequisite for Church communion, there are other considerations to show its necessity. Without personal piety-- (1) A man can have no spiritual communion with the Church--“ for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2) He is morally unable to promote the great objects for which the Church of Christ was established. (3) His Church membership may only serve to confirm his self-righteousness and self-deception. 4. The Church would soon lose its distinctive character, and possess nothing of religion but the name. II. The indispensable duty of all such persons to unite themselves in membership with a Church of Christ. This appears--1. From the fact that the Christian Church is instituted by the authority of Christ. He is “ the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” “ Upon this rock,” says He, “ I will build My Church.” “ The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” Besides, when Christians are addressed, it is not only in their personal, but also in their social capacity. They are described not as scattered stones, but as a spiritual temple--not as a house only, but as a city--not as distinct and separated individuals, but as “ fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” And the will of Christ, in this respect, is quite in accordance with the social character of man, and with the natural tendency and influence of personal piety. Not to unite with His Church, therefore, is to disregard His authority, to impeach His wisdom, and to set an example of spiritual celibacy, which, if followed by all, would subvert his institutions, and render a Church of Christ entirely unknown. 2. The uniform conduct of the primitive Christians. In the pure and primitive ages of Christianity, the several Churches contained the whole number of the faithful. Then everyone who acknowledged himself a Christian felt it to be a duty to join himself to the disciples of Christ, though he thereby risked his property, his liberty, and his life. 3. The command of Christ, relative to the celebration of the Lord’ s Supper, “ Do this in remembrance of Me,” was a command given, not to an individual, but to a society. It was to be celebrated by “ those who came together in the Church.” The same authority which commands, “ Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is,” also commands this, and you act in defiance of that authority, whether you forsake the public worship of God, or neglect communion with the Church of Christ. III. The advantages which a prompt performance of this duty will secure. Your communion with the Church of Christ--1. Will warrant the exercise of confidence in prayer, and authorise you to expect the blessing of God. Whilst you live in the neglect of this duty, I do not see how you can consistently exercise the one, or expect the other. When we reverence the Redeemer as our Lawgiver, we may consistently expect Him to become our Intercessor, and when we ascend the hill where His blessing is promised, we may confidently expect that there it will be commanded. 2. Will furnish you with additional means and motives for perseverance in holiness. You will be brought under the immediate charge and care of the pastor, and become associated with brethren who will watch over you with charity, and sympathise with you in your sorrows and your joys, and pray for you. Besides which, you will be surrounded with obligations to circumspection, arising from the sacredness of your relationship. You will then be no longer an isolated individual, like a flower in a wilderness, wasting its sweetness in the desert air, dimmed in its beauties, and stunted in its growth; but, being planted in the house of the Lord, you will flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon, still bringing forth fruit even in old age. 3. Will be a source of much holy peace and joy. There is a sweet and sacred pleasure which springs from the conviction of having acted according to the Divine command. IV. The objections and apologies by which those who neglect this duty attempt to justify or to excuse their conduct.1. “ I am not yet qualified for Church membership.” If by this you intimate that you are not Christians, then your fear is just; or if you refer to the righteousness which is of the law, you have not yet attained it, and you never will. But perhaps you mean a more mature and perfect character. If so, you have mistaken the design of the institution. The Church is formed expressly for the reception of all who repent and believe the gospel; and they are commanded to enter it, not when their Christian graces are matured, but in order that they may be matured. It is at once a nursery for the babe in Christ, a school for the education of the young man, and a sanctuary for the refuge and repose of “ such an one as Paul the aged.” 2. “ I can go to heaven without being a member of a Church.” Does not the ingratitude and presumption which this objection manifests, render it unworthy of a reply? Is there not a degree of haughtiness and flippancy in such a sentiment, which betrays a heart which is not right in the sight of God? Suppose you do go to heaven without it--will the recollection of your neglect and disobedience be any source of pleasure to you when you get there? Go to heaven without it! Shame on the man who professes to follow the Lamb, and yet tells us that he can travel to heaven by trampling on His institutions, and enter there, not by the door, like an honest man, but by some other way, like a thief and a robber. 3. “ I have a relative or friend who is not willing that I should become a member of the Church.” Now, if you were to state this apology fully, you would add, “ and therefore I have determined to consult his will rather than the will of Christ.” But further, if your relative or friend be not pious, is your present conduct likely to make him so? Will he not suspect your loyalty and love to the Redeemer, and learn by your example to be negligent and disobedient? If your relative or friend will not accompany you to the Cross and to the Church, you must go alone. 4. “ I fear that the Church will not receive me.” No Church constituted according to the New Testament will refuse to receive you if you profess and manifest repentance and faith. If you are a Christian, however young and feeble, Christ has received you, and it would be at our peril to reject you, for the Church is not ours. 5. “ I fear that, at some future time, I may bring dishonour on the cause of Christ.” But is there nothing dishonourable in your present conduct? Besides, are you more likely to be safe in the world than in the Church? And is Christ less likely to preserve you when you are keeping His commandments? (J. Alexander.)Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.--Barnabas and Saul The first association of two names, afterwards linked together for good or evil, is fraught with interest. How much more the earliest combination of Barnabas and Saul--to issue in widespread blessing for the Church and the world. It is significant, however, that Barnabas alone had the genius to detect the genuineness of Saul’ s conversion, and his latent possibilities. How many splendid lives have been gained for the Church, in the teeth of the Church’ s opposition, by the kindness and sagacity of some one man. I. What Barnabas did; as exhibiting the conduct of a true brother.1. “ He took him.” (1) Sympathised with his painful position. (2) Relieved him from his embarrassing isolation. (3) Identified himself with him by taking his stand on the same platform. And thus-- (4) Effectually helped him in circumstances, where from his previous record he was powerless. 2. He “ brought him to the apostles.” He was not satisfied with sending a letter of recommendation, or with telling Saul to “ mention his name” --a cheap and easy method often adopted nowadays--but went with him to vouch for his character, and to accept all responsibility for him. How many good Christians today are outside the fold because of the unjust suspicions of their fellow Christians! And how much room there is for a Barnabas in those Churches where mere orthodoxy or respectability rule instead of the Spirit of Christ. II. What barnabas said: as defining the character of a true convert.1. “ How that he had seen the Lord.” The vision of Christ as Saviour and Lord essential to true conversion. Paul himself confesses as much (Galatians 1:15-16). 2. “ That he had spoken to Him.” “ Behold he prayeth” was the assurance Christ gave to Ananias of Paul’ s conversion. 3. “ That he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.” Paul tells us that when a man believes, he will speak. “ With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” (J. W. Burn.)Sympathy: its practical value To the generosity and clear-sightedness of Joseph of Cyprus, on this and on a later occasion, the apostle owed a vast debt of gratitude. Next only to the man who achieves the greatest and most blessed deeds is he who, perhaps himself wholly incapable of such high work, is yet the first to help and encourage the genius of others. We often do more good by our sympathy than by our labours, and render to the world a more lasting service by absence of jealousy, and recognition of merit, than we could ever render by the straining efforts of personal ambition. (Archdeacon Farrar.) Acts 9:31 Then had the Churches rest.Quiet times The right use of quiet times is a great secret of Christian living. Human life is made up of alternations of storm and calm, of trouble and rest. It is so with the life of an individual, a nation, or a Church. The earlier part of this chapter indicated a time of trouble. But now the chief persecutor has himself felt the force of truth. Then again the Emperor Caligula was making an impious attempt to place his own image in the Temple, and so the attention of the Jews was wholly occupied with plans for frustrating his design. They had no time to persecute. So the Churches had peace: how did they use it? Did it make them indolent, unfruitful, unfaithful, quarrelsome? Two things are said of them: they were-- I. Edified.1. The whole Church is one building, planned by one Architect, carried on by one Builder, designed for one end, to be the habitation of God. This thought is full of comfort. It shows us that however small the place of each one, yet each one has his place, and that, if it be not filled, there is a blank, be it ever so small. Is not that honour enough? Does it not say to each, See that thy place be not a blank, or worse? 2. The Church of each land, age, town, is a building. It may be but a fragment, a buttress, or a pinnacle of the universal Church; but you all know how any building would look if one buttress fell; and therefore you will not count it a small thing if some such position belongs to our community. This congregation of ours is a building. Is it then being built up? is it rising, in solidity, unity, beauty? is it giving signs, more and more, of its destination as a habitation of God? 3. Each human soul is a building. What a question is it, for each one, How is that building which is I myself, getting on? Are the foundations deeply and soundly laid in the faith of Christ? Is the superstructure rising day by day gradually, regularly, quietly, yet consciously, perceptibly, visibly? Am I growing in grace? more and more prevailing over sinful passions? better able to do the work which He has given me? Times of tranquillity ought to be times of edifying: alas I too often they are times of suspended energy. II. Multiplied. A time of peace ought to be a time of outward as well as inward progress. It was so of old. How is it now? Is there zeal in founding or reinforcing missionary institutions? Alas! you know that with much philanthropy there is little gospel zeal amongst us; that, where a thousand pounds can be gathered for a work of charity, it is hard to collect ten for a work of piety. And is the Church at all multiplying at home? Can we point, by tens, or fives, or units, to new persons brought to be worshippers by agencies now working amongst us? We are not left in the dark as to how this may be done. The Church multiplies, by its own progress, in two things: walking in--(1) The fear of the Lord, etc. Christ deserves not only our love but our fear. Does that seem strange? Is He not our “ merciful and faithful High Priest,” “ the Propitiation for our sins.” Yes! The words are written for our comfort, but not to make us careless about our sin. There is nothing which so solemnises the mind as the thought of an absolutely disinterested and unbounded love. It says of itself, “ How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” To “ trample under foot the Son of God,” to “ count the blood of the covenant, wherewith we are sanctified, an unholy thing,” must indeed be of all crimes the blackest and the most fatal. And that is what men do every day for want of this very fear of which the text speaks. To walk in the fear of Christ is one-half of Christianity. (2) And then, so walking, there is room for “ the comfort of the Holy Ghost.” This is not a mere soothing influence within; it is a cheering power without also. The same word is rendered exhortation. God comforts by cheering on; by encouraging to action. We may try the reality of our comfort by this one test: Does it stir me up and spur me on to action? Does it say not, Rest from work, but, Rest in working? (Dean Vaughan.)I. The different parts of the description here given.1. The Churches “ were edified.” A Church may be edified by the addition of new members. The Church is a building, and those added to it are living stones; and by the addition of such stones the spiritual temple advances to completion. Such, however, cannot be the meaning of the word here; it means rather, “ Growth in grace” ; advancement in the principles and fruits of Divine love. The Churches were composed of individuals, and as the wealth of a country consists in the aggregate wealth of the individual inhabitants, and the national wealth increases in proportion as the wealth of individuals increases, so with the Church. If we desire the edification of our own Christian society or the Church of God generally, the first requisite is our seeking personal advancement in knowledge, faith, and holiness; and the second is our using all the appointed means for promoting the same among our brethren. Edification includes-- (1) Growth in knowledge. All other growth arises from this. There is a kind of knowledge which hinders edification. “ Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.” Knowledge that engenders self-conceit tends to the destruction of love; and whatever opposes love is a foe to all genuine spirituality and improvement. Yet there can be no edification without growth in the spiritual discoveries of the mind. The Bible contains the inexhaustible resources of wisdom, and the study of it is indispensable to edification. (2) Increase in faith. This is the natural effect of growth in spiritual knowledge. The Word of God, like His other works, contains in it the marks of its Divine origin, and the more it is known the more its source will be perceived and felt. (3) And connected with growth in faith there is a corresponding growth in all the graces and virtues of the Christian character. All the ingredients in the composition of inward, vital godliness, arise from the influence of Divine grace upon the heart and life, and must be in proportion to the growth of faith. 2. They walked “ in the fear of the Lord.” This-- (1) Imparted a becoming solemnity to all their social meetings for worship, and a corresponding dignity and propriety to all who were present. (2) Implies a sacred conscientious regard in all things to His authority. (3) Suggests that this was the superior dominant principle, and that the fear of man was suppressed and kept in control. 3. They walked “ in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.” Edification and practical godliness were associated with spiritual enjoyment. The comfort of the Holy Ghost is comfort of which the Spirit of God is the great Author. To walk in this comfort is to enjoy harmony within, and to display it externally to have the powers of the mind and the affections of the heart engaged in duty. This comfort, then, is not an indolent, inactive enjoyment. It is only to be found in active service, not in a life of ascetic seclusion, or in feelings of spiritual epicurism. There is an intimate connection between walking in the fear of the Lord and walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. All pretensions to the latter without the former are vain. There is no true legitimate comfort from the truths of God except to those that walk in the ways of God. II. The connection subsisting between them and especially between the character of the churches with their multiplication. An undue regard to members has often done incalculable mischief. Increase is desirable, but it must be increase of those whose hearts are right with God. With Him respectability consists not in numbers but in character. He had a few names in Sardis who had not defiled their garments. But, as a corrupt body, the Church of Sardis is admonished, and “ there is joy before the angels of God.” We rejoice more in an addition to than in the continued safety of the sheep. We delight in seeing all the jewels of the Saviour’ s crown continuing to shine with pure lustre; but our delight is still more elevated when a new jewel is added to it. It is in this respect that missions to the heathen are so supremely interesting. Notice, then, a connection between--1. Rest and edification. In the Church as well as in the state, times of difficulty and trial often call forth latent powers, and produce remarkable men where they were least expected; but it too generally happens that to the members of a persecuted body such seasons are not times of steady thought, and deliberate and persevering study of Divine truth, and consequently of general improvement. A state of rest, on the contrary, affords opportunities for much study of the Divine oracles; for private and social meetings for conversation, and prayer, and mutual excitement. Let it be a serious question whether the rest which we enjoy is duly improved by us for the purposes of edification? 2. Rest and increase. (1) A state of rest affords opportunities and leisure to attend to the interests of others: for preaching and using without restraint all the means for the conversion of sinners. (2) Rest sets others free from the fear of attending at the proscribed places where the obnoxious doctrine is taught. Good cannot be done to the souls of men unless they are brought under the sound of the gospel. 3. The state of the Church as described--increase. Where these characteristics obtain-- (1) The influence of the character of Churches upon the augmentation. In illustrating this we may observe--there is an augmentation of holy and active zeal for the glory of the Redeemer and for the salvation of souls, which God blesses with success. (2) There is combined with the effort to promote the truth the practical exemplification of its influence. When the truth is recommended, not merely in words, but by the exhibition of its power--then, under the blessing of God, it makes a successful appeal to the consciences of men, and finds its way with efficacy to the heart. (3) There must be a most spiritual, strengthening effect on those who minister in holy things, to preach the gospel. The sight of a listless, lukewarm, divided Church, will act like a heavy drag on the spirit of the pastor. But when the Church prospers, when the members become edified, and walk in the fear of the Lord, and when they are united, affectionate, zealous, steady, constant, prayerful--this is the very zest of a pastor’ s life. (4) The Church will be mighty in prayer. Prayer is a means of edification and a measure of its progressive amount. If believers are not growing in the spirit and exercise of prayer, they are not growing in grace. It is a common observation, and the principles of the Word of God lead us to believe it, namely, that revivals of religion have been preceded by more than an ordinary predominance of prayer among the people of God for the success of His cause in all lands. (5) There is secured an increase of the blessing of the Redeemer, and of supply of His grace. “ Every branch in him that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” And this proceeds upon a general principle, elsewhere laid down by Him. “ Whosoever hath, to him shall be given,” etc. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)The characteristics and multiplication of Christian Churches I. The grand characteristics by which Christian Churches ought to be distinguished. We observe here--1. The Church is governed by the practical influence of religion. “ The fear of the Lord” is the scriptural equivalent for the whole of practical religion, and involves devout reverence of the Divine attributes, and continued obedience to the Divine commandments. Churches are places where impenitence and unbelief should never come; where the depravity of the human heart should be expelled by the energy of redeeming grace; where every heart should be imbued with the love, and should be devoted to the service of God, and where every individual soul should be growing and meetening for the possession of holiness in heaven! True it is that, from time to time, there come among our communities those who have not the fear of the Lord, but “ these are spots in our feasts of charity.” They have no part and no lot in the matter. 2. Churches enjoying the consolations of religion. “ The comfort of the Holy Ghost” signifies, of course, the comfort which the Holy Ghost, in His character of Comforter, is intended to bestow upon those who are truly walking in the fear of the Lord; and that comfort must be regarded as consisting in feeling that they are possessors of vital piety: of a personal sense of their interest in the work of redemption; taking away from them the spirit of fear, and implanting within them the Spirit of adoption, administering to them sufficient strength for all circumstances, and filling them with emotions of joy and gratitude. But the enjoyment of the consolations of religion must be regarded as arising from practical devotedness and eminence in piety. The inspired historian mentions one characteristic as a cause and the other as an effect. The Spirit administers comfort where the Spirit receives honour; and where the Spirit is grieved there the Spirit is restrained. His awakening influences precede, His consoling influences follow. II. The blessings which Christian Churches, as thus distinguished, may anticipate. These Churches were multiplied.1. There are two principles connected with this multiplication of Christian Churches. It is intimately connected-- (1) With the state of religion amongst those persons who belong to them. They were multiplied because they were walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. The connection between the holiness of Christians and the conversion of sinners is in Scripture most distinctly stated. “ Let your light so shine before men,” etc. (see also Philippians 2:14-16; 1 Peter 2:11-12). If the unconverted world see you inconsistent they will be disgusted, but let them see you walk in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and then the very meanest of you will be himself a powerful minister of religion, will become “ a living epistle of Christ, known and read of all men.” Your communities will increase in reputation, and in augmenting numbers, and your spiritual privileges will be enjoyed by men, who but for your holiness would yet have remained in “ the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity,” but whom you shall have to present, finally, as your glory, as your joy, and as the crown of your rejoicing in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. (2) With their exertions. Every believer is set apart, not only for holiness, but for exertion; and if Christians be idle, in whatever class of life they may be found, they are guilty of the most shameful breach of trust. The Church at Jerusalem was one mighty mass of activity (Acts 2:42, etc.). And when they were scattered abroad by persecution, every man was transformed into a preacher of the gospel (Acts 8:4). Now this is the legitimate consequence of walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost; but it is too much undervalued and forgotten. Are ministers expected to be arduous and incessant, while their Churches are to remain indolent and torpid, just to coolly receive their message, or else to criticise their defects, and to be discontented at their want of success? There wants to be sent another Pentecostal fire, which shall touch all ranks and classes, kindling in their bosom the flame of that zeal which shall never be quenched till death. 2. This multiplication is a most desirable and happy event. There appears to be, in the language of the historian, an element of pleasure, but there are nominal Christians in modern times to whom it produces no pleasure at all to hear of the multiplication of Churches. There are two reasons, however, why this event is so desirable and so happy. Its intimate connection-- (1) With the promotion of the glory of God.(2) With the present and final blessedness of man. (J. Parsons.)Rest and prosperity of Churches Our text-- I. Describes the Churches of the Holy Land.1. Their nature. (1) They were congregations, or assemblies, of good people. And they are described as being more than one in the same country. (2) They were not material edifices; although I do not object to, but prefer, that application of the word. (3) They were not promiscuous associations, constituted by chance, nominal profession, outward and involuntary rites; they were real Christians. (4) They were not national communities, for we read not of “ a Church,” but “ Churches.” 2. Their quiet. “ Then had the Churches rest.” (1) This denotes the commencement, not the continuance, of a state of peace. “ Then” --after the persecution of chap. 8:1-4. It was the calm after the storm, the joy coming in the morning, after the weeping that endured through the night, and therefore the more precious. (2) The causes of this return of quiet. (a) The conversion of Saul. “ The grace of God was exceeding abundant towards him.” His opposition was destroyed, not by his punishment as a foe, but by his transformation into a friend. Is there no encouragement to us in this? His conversion is set forth by himself as a “ pattern” of the power and the mercy of the gospel. Then let Christians pray. (b) The solicitude and alarm of the Jews. At Alexandria the Jews suffered dreadfully from the Egyptians, and in Judea and elsewhere were in imminent peril of ruin. An attempt was made to bring the statue of Caligula unto the Holy of Holies, in consequence of some offence he had taken at the conduct of the Jews. Nothing could produce greater consternation. So they were too concerned about their own affairs to meddle with those of others. God can “ restrain the wrath of man,” as well as make it “ praise Him.” He can control the circumstances as well as change the character of our foes. “ Saul returned from pursuing after David” when the “ Philistines invaded the land.” 3. Their experience and conduct. (1) “ They were edified” --built up “ as lively stones, a spiritual house.” (a) When the storm ceased they set earnestly about the completing of their moral temple. Persecution is unfavourable to religious, as war is to secular, commerce. It dispirits, diverts attention, employs resources, and intercepts communication. Peace, however, permits the full and unfettered employment of the Church’ s gifts and graces for their appropriate and appointed purposes. The Churches before us were edified when they had rest. Their principles became broader in their base, and more perfect in their symmetry. Their faith increased in intelligence and earnestness. As a natural result of this, they cherished and expressed that filial reverence for God which is called for by His majesty and mercy; and they sought and submitted to all the intimations and the influences of the Spirit of Christ. (b) This was their course. They “ walked” according to this rule. It was not an occasional, but a constant thing. It described them in their relations as men of the Church and as men of the world. And what was the result? 4. Their increase. “ Were multiplied.” They received large accessions from the world. There was more Christianity, and so there were more Christians. Saints were sanctified, and sinners became saints. These are the two elements of Church prosperity, the two ends of Church association. Christians are thus connected that they may promote each other’ s spirituality, and that, by the union of their graces and the combination of their energies, they may be as light to a dark, and salt to a corrupt world. And these two things are inseparably connected. The Church cannot grow in grace without diffusing grace. II. Sets them before us for imitation. The text was written for our use. Consider--1. The connection between the rest and the edification of these Churches. “ They had rest, and were edified.” They made spiritual advancement while they enjoyed civil repose. They did not spend the season of calm in luxury and sinfulness. (1) Often quiet deteriorates the Church. The favour of the world has been often far more injurious to her than its hatred and opposition. When the civil sword has been turned against the Church, she has often “ lived more abundantly” ; when that sword has been turned against the enemies of the Church, she has often as miserably died. (2) Our text, however, says that rest is not ruin, of necessity. And all Churches in their condition may have this character. It is quite a mistake to regard affliction as indispensable to spirituality. And yet how familiar is the language, “ The Church is got into a bad state: it wants the fire of persecution to purge it from its dross.” And if nothing but persecution would bring the Church into a good state, let it come, and the sooner the better. But Christians should not be dependent on the malice of their enemies for the welfare of their souls; nor can it be imagined that the wicked are the “ salt” of the Church, without which it would speedily go into utter corruption. (3) On the contrary, the “ rest” of the Churches is both a motive and a means of their prosperity. We should be stimulated by gratitude to a devout and diligent employment of the privileges so peacefully possessed. And then it affords the occasion for devotedness. The attention is not diverted by danger. There is the power of a regular and undistracted attendance on all the institutions of Christianity. The mind is left free from a dispiriting anxiety to study “ the great things of God’ s law,” and the machinery of means can play away without injury or interruption. See you not how all this applies to us? We have rest in a fuller measure than the Churches of Palestine. What is, what ought to be, the effect? Alas! they are not the same thing. 2. The connection between the edification of these Churches and their increase. (1) The piety of a people is necessary to the safe and profitable enjoyment of their increase. A Church not eminently holy may suffer from great multiplication. Enlargement will tend to vanity and self-sufficiency. Perhaps we may find in this the reason why some Churches remain so stationary. It would hurt them to be otherwise. (2) It is for the benefit of those who are added to a Church that it should be greatly good. Who can think without concern and pity of a multitude of souls being joined to a worldly Church? (3) The godliness of a Church is a prime means of its increase. God blesses an eminently spiritual Church. For there will be prayers with labours, not instead of them--the only prayers that God will hear. And those labours will possess a character of earnestness and uniformity. The spirit of self-denying love and zeal will pervade the entire body; “ he that heareth will say, Come” ; each individual, like his Master, will “ seek” in order to “ save.” Nor is this all. The holy character of a Church in itself has no mean influence in “ winning souls.” The exhibition of holiness is calculated to arrest attention by its singularity, and to produce impression by its force. The religion of Christ has suffered more from the inconsistencies of its friends than the opposition of its foes; its professors have created more objections than they have answered; and the proof of its divinity may be drawn from its preservation in spite of its adherents. Had all Christians been like Jesus Christ, or anything like Him, the world would have become Christian. And the holiness of Christians is especially important in an so practical as our own. The question is being asked of everything, “ For what good?” Christianity must stand the test--it has always claimed to be tried by it. It depends on Christians, however, what shall be the actual and immediate results of such a trial. For all these reasons, the sanctification of Churches is necessary to their proper spiritual extension. There is an extension which Christ does not approve, and which men do not profit by--an increase of dimensions which resembles that premature growth which issues in consumption, if not rather that extension of the body which takes place at death. But the legitimate enlargement of Churches must come of their internal prosperity. Would you, as Churches, be increased? You must be quickened. A revival of religion must commence with the religious. (A. J. Morris.)Prosperous Churches I. Their external circumstances. “ Rest.” The hurricane of persecution was now hushed, and under the genial influence of peace they grew. Peace in the nation is the time to build houses and develop resources. Peace in nature is the time for sowing and cultivation. Persecution, like storms, may deepen the roots of piety when it exists, but is unfavourable to the dissemination of seed and the growth of fragile plants.1. This external condition Churches in England now have. We can sit under our own vine, etc. Once our Churches were very differently circumstanced--e.g., under Mary and the Stuarts. 2. This condition we are bound to improve. Great is our responsibility. All the waste land should be cultivated. Every spot brown with barrenness should be made emerald with life. II. Their mutual relation. There was--1. Organic independence. These Churches are spoken of as distinct; they were doubtless distinct organisations, each having its own laws, managing its own affairs, and knowing no head but Christ. 2. Spiritual unity. They are all spoken of as belonging to one generic class, subject to one general condition, and pursuing the same order of life. And there is vital unity between all true Churches--the unity of spirit, aim, headship. They were “ all members of one body.” That which really unites Churches is not “ unions,” “ conferences,” etc., but Christ’ s spirit of truth, love, and goodness. III. Their internal condition.1. Living in godly reverence.2. Receiving sacred influences. IV. Their leading signs. Increase--1. Of strength.2. Of numbers. Strong Churches, like strong nations, will colonise. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The Churches increased I. What is meant by walking in the fear of God?1. A habitual and profound veneration for His character and institutions. 2. A humble and unreserved submission to His authority. The influence of this fear will extend to all the powers and faculties of the soul. It will-- (1) Constrain the understanding to submit implicitly to the authority of God’ s revealed will.(2) Influence the will, rendering it pliable and submissive, and conforming it to the will of God.(3) Control and regulate the affections.(4) Guide and govern the imagination. 3. A holy jealousy of ourselves, end a watchful care to avoid everything which may grieve, displease, or provoke Him to forsake us. Now, as Churches are composed of individuals, it follows that when all or nearly all the members of a Church live under the habitual influence of this principle, the Church will walk in the fear of God; and all the duties which are incumbent on it will be diligently and faithfully performed. These duties are-- (1) To provide the means of grace and of religious instruction for itself, its children, and those who are immediately connected with it:(2) To faithfully maintain the discipline of Christ in His house.(3) To assemble at proper seasons for social worship.(4) To take care of the religious education of its children.(5) To assist feeble and destitute sister Churches with pecuniary aid according to their ability. II. What is meant by walking in the comforts of the holy ghost? Having--1. Peace of conscience, or peace with God, arising from a persuasion wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit that we are pardoned and accepted in the Beloved. 2. A strong and well-grounded hope, arising at times to a full assurance, that we are adopted into God’ s family, and that consequently we have a title to all the privileges of His children. 3. Foretastes of the joys of heaven. III. When the members of Churches habitually walk in this manner, great additions will be made to them. This is probable when we consider--1. That such a life and temper will naturally and most powerfully tend to convince all around them of the reality and happy effects of religion, to remove their prejudices against it, and to show them that its possession is highly desirable. 2. That this state of things is exceedingly pleasing to God, and naturally tends to draw down His blessing. Them that honour Him He will honour. 3. That, when Churches walk in this manner, it proves that God is pouring out His Spirit upon them, and that a revival of religion is already begun. (E. Payson, D. D.)Complementary forces in the Christian life I. We are apt to regard these two forces--fear and consolation--as contradictory.1. “ The fear of the Lord” marks an abiding characteristic of the Christian life--i.e., the fear which dwelt in our Lord Himself must dwell in His disciples. Christ “ was heard in that He feared.” He was penetrated by a sense of religious awe and conscientiousness, and was delicately alive to the will of His Father; and thus He had power with God and prevailed. “ The fear of the Lord,” like the love or the glory of the Lord, is to be participated in by His disciples, and is altogether a noble thing. It is an anxious state of mind lest we should wound the love of God, violate the law of righteousness, or fail to reach the highest sanctification of character (1 Peter 1:16-17). 2. “ The comfort of the Holy Ghost” is also an indispensable element. As the name of “ Comforter” as applied to the Spirit of God means also “ Helper,” “ Advocate,” so the idea of comfort implies that of efficient succour, and the idea of efficient succour that of comfort--the deep satisfaction imparted to the soul by the energy of the Spirit of God--“ strong consolation,” as we have it in Hebrews. The primitive Christians felt this, and walked in its power. Some praise ancient heathenism because, amid all its absurdities, it was a cheerful religion. Now, it must be acknowledged that Christianity is not a “ cheerful religion” in the sense in which they were. Christ brought out the deeper meaning of life, and we have far deeper reasons for seriousness than men could possibly feel prior to the Advent. The superficial hilariousness of pagan worship was an impossibility to those who knew the Holy One of Israel, who had seen the awful beauty of Christ, and who were expecting the manifestation of that perfect universe into which nothing can enter that defileth. But, on the other hand, Christ has given us such reasons for bravery and hope in the moral life as men never knew before. Do we fear lest we fail to realise the wondrous love of God? “ The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.” Do we tremble lest we fail to recognise the mind of God? “ When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” Do we shrink to contemplate the wide gulf which comes between us and the perfection of our Father in heaven? The Spirit assures us of sonship, and gives us the earnest of the promised inheritance, and urges us forward to share in God’ s everlasting glory and blessedness. II. So far from these two phases being, incompatible, they are complementary. In nature apparently contradictory forces blend, and in blending produce the grandest results. Widely as oxygen and nitrogen differ, they are complementary gases, and combined make the sweet and vital atmosphere. Attraction and repulsion are also complementary forces whose combined action preserves the universe in harmonic movement. So the resultant of the double action of the heart is life and health. Thus is it in Christian experience.1. Fear is not inconsistent with-- (1) Peace. “ Then had the Churches rest,…walking in the fear of the Lord.” (2) Love. The disciple of love fell at his Master’ s feet as dead. (3) Hope. Peter, who has so much to say about the terrible day of the Lord, is full of hope. (4) The highest world and the fullest felicity. Those who stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of gold, sing, “ Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy.” 2. And so “ comfort” is not inconsistent with any grace of the Spirit. Thoughtfulness and a full assurance; a constant eye to the imperative ideal which is so far above us, and to the glorious grace dwelling so richly in us; a vivid sense of our high and holy calling, and of the dangerous path of pilgrimage which leads up to it; the recollection of “ the jealous God,” and of the God “ keeping mercy for thousands” ; the anticipation of judgment and glory, are coordinate and cooperative moods in the working out of our salvation. 3. The danger lies in the omission of either. (1) How faulty the piety in which fear has no place! in which there is no trembling before the holiness of God, no overwhelming sense of the gravity of our position, no gazing with awe into the dread eternity how surely mine! The brighter the star, the more it trembles; and the purest saints, the bravest heroes of all times, have stood “ in fear and in much trembling.” (2) Not less faulty is the piety in which comfort has no place--legal, tormenting, morbid religiousness! Pale sorrow must consort with blooming joy; weakness must lean on strength; sweet comfort must soothe awesome fear. Only in the equilibrium of these opposite forces do we attain the fulness of life and the fulness of its blessing. Our grandest moments arise in the union of two opposing emotions (Genesis 28:16-17; Matthew 28:8). III. Whilst we cultivate both sentiments, we must maintain both in due proportions. Most of us are under temptation to yield this or that undue preeminence, and the reason is found both in our constitution and our circumstances.1. To exaggerate the sentiment of fear is the peril of some. An old writer tells us of a strange tribe which dwelt in caves because they were afraid of the sunshine; many devout people are afraid of the sunshine of the mind. Such are burdened with a sense of imperfection, condemnation, peril, and are slow to consider the gracious aspects of the Divine character, the inspiriting and mighty aid of the Comforter. Let those of a certain temperament watch against this danger. Let God lead you into green pastures. “ Abound in hope,” and you shall find yourself more than conqueror. 2. The peril of others lies in exaggerating the element of comfort. These chiefly ponder the element phases of religion, and remember that “ like as a father pitieth his children,” etc. They dwell more on the promises of Christ than on His requirements. Those need to be reminded of the sterner side of things. “ Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” etc. All our austere thinking must be relieved by gracious hope, and our bounding joy chastened by the hallowed fear. “ Rejoice with trembling.” IV. The text exhibits fear and comfort, not as alternative, but as co-existent and concurrent moods of the soul. At one and the same time they walked “ in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.”1. The two streams ought to mingle in one full tide of feeling. “ Happy is the man that feareth alway,” and blessed is he also who rejoices evermore, and in everything gives thanks. In the geologic world, for distinct and protracted periods, different gases prevailed; now you have the Carboniferous epoch, and then some other element predominates: but in the perfected earth the various gases mingle in due proportions, and the life and beauty of the whole orb are secured and perpetuated. In the cruder and more imperfect stages of our religious history, periods of anxiety are succeeded by periods of jubilation; but in the higher and riper development of the soul there is more simultaneousness in our moods, and they happily mingle in one deep and rich experience. In the Psalms we frequently find the most rapid transitions of thought, the mingling of most diverse emotion--gladness suddenly becoming thoughtful, and again, sorrow smiling through her tears. And the same comprehensive experience finds expression in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 4:8-10; 2 Corinthians 6:9-10). So far from deprecating this, we must regard it as God’ s wonder-working order, and direct our self-culture accordingly. The artist ranges over the whole chromatic scale, and makes his picture so grand because the colours are so skilfully mixed; the musician rapidly passes from key to key, from stop to stop, and because he does so creates commanding music; thus in the believer’ s life it is the constant concurrent appeal to law and grace, to responsibility and privilege, to the God of righteousness and the God of love, to heaven near and heaven distant, that finally gives to the character that full and finished beauty of which all artistic perfection is but the coarse figure. 2. The concurrence of these two habits of feeling secures the highest welfare of the soul. It was whilst the first Churches walked in this fear and comfort that they were “ edified” and “ multiplied.” The truest condition of Christian life is not found in the comparative absence of feeling. The text represents the soul as full of force and movement. A uniform experience is thought by some a satisfactory sign. The truth is far otherwise. How much grandeur would be lost to the world if the mountains were levelled; how much fruitfulness, and history, and poetry, and art! Somewhat thus is it with the soul. The true soul is full of great contending emotions, the upheavals and subsidences caused by the Spirit which worketh in us mightily; and in the exaltations and humiliations, the soaring hopes and lowly fears, the confidence which touches the heights and the apprehensions which reach the depths, lies the perfecting of the soul. The more life the more feeling, the more feeling the more life. 3. In an experience which contains the full measure and compass of feeling we secure the stability of the soul. The perfect lighthouse is a mighty column rising out of the rock, the very ideal of strength; yet it is a reed shaken with the wind, and because it bends it stands. It is thus with the highest and safest characters. There must be strength of mind, of principle, of faith, or it is impossible that we should bear the strain of life. And yet with all this there must be that sensitiveness which is ever the sign of sublimest strength. “ Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” (W. L. Watkinson.)Honourable fear There is a filial fear. There is nothing more solicitous than love. A mother knows fear in connection with those children that she loves, but it is not degrading fear. The child, anxious to please, looks with waiting expectancy to see if its task has pleased father or mother. The child that is learning to write, or that is studying art, and, making sketches, brings them to the teacher or to the parent, comes with a kind of trembling apprehension lest they shall not be approved. That is honourable. That has the approval of affection itself, and it is ennobling. But the fear of anger, the fear of penalty, the fear of our own suffering and loss, is admirable only in very remote degrees, and occasionally, when other motives fail. And yet there is a filial fear, a love fear, which not only is permissible, but is honouring and uplifting. (H. W. Beecher.)The Church at rest Some men seem to think that the glory of the Church consists in being let alone. What they esteem above all other things is peace. A green mantling pool of what they call orthodoxy, with a minister croaking like a frog solitary--that is their conception of a Christian Church in a state of prosperity. But, according to the Bible, we are warriors. The battles we fight, however, are not battles of blood, but battles of love and mercy. We are sent to carry, not the sword and the spear, not rude violence, but conceptions of higher justice, nobler purity, wiser laws, and more beneficent customs. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. With these we contest, and we will contest, against rage and wrath and bitterness, knowing that He that called us and sent us is the God of battles, and will guide us and give us that victory which, if worth anything, is worth achieving in the severest conflict. For victories that are cheap, are cheap. Those only are worth having which come as the result of hard fighting. (H. W. Beecher.) Acts 9:32-43 And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.Lydda The Lud of the Old Testament (1 Chronicles 8:12; Ezra 2:33; Nehemiah 7:37; Nehemiah 11:35), was a town in the rich plain of Sharon, one day’ s journey from Jerusalem, founded originally by settlers from the tribe of Benjamin, and retaining to the present day its old name as “ Ludd.” It is mentioned by Josephus (“ Wars,” 3:3, sec. 5) as transferred by Demetrius Soter, at the request of Judas Maccabeus, to the estate of the temple at Jerusalem (1Ma 10:30; 1Ma 01:38; 1Ma 11:34). Under the grasping rule of Cassius, the inhabitants were sold as slaves (Jos., “ Ant.” 14:11, sec. 2). It had, however, recovered its former prosperity, and appears at this time to have been the seat of a flourishing Christian community. In the wars that preceded the destruction of Jerusalem it was partially burned by Cestius Gallus, A.D. 66 (Jos., “ Wars,” 2:19, sec. 1), all but fifty of the inhabitants having gone up to the Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem, and was again occupied by Vespasian, A.D. 68 (Jos., “ Wars,” 2:8, sec. 1). When it was rebuilt, probably under Hadrian, when Jerusalem received the new name of AElla Capitolina, it also was renamed as Diospolis (= city of Zeus), and as such was the seat of one of the chief bishoprics of the Syrian Church. It was, at the time when Peter came to it, the seat of a Rabbinic school. Gamaliel, son of the great rabbi who was St. Paul’ s master, and himself honoured with the title of Rabban, presided over it, and was succeeded by the great Tarphon. The question which we naturally ask, who had planted the faith of Christ there, carries us once more on the track of Philip the Evangelist. Lying as it did on the road from Azotus to Caesarea, it would lie in his way on the journey recorded in Acts 8:40, as he passed “ through all the cities” ; and we may believe, without much risk, that he was Luke’ s informant as to what passed in the Church with which he was so closely connected. (Dean Plumptre.)Summarised service I. How did there happen to be any saints at Lydda? That place does not appear before. There are saints in unexpected places. Yet not unexpected to the attentive reader. Lydda lay between Azotus and Caesarea (Acts 8:40), and Philip no doubt had founded a Church there. How summarily our work is occasionally mentioned: In many a hurried phrase there are service and suffering, trial and triumph, which only God can recognise. We hear it said of the minister, that he called and offered prayer. By the clock it was but a few minutes, but into those minutes he condensed the experience of a lifetime, and spared not the blood of his very heart. Suspect any epitome which counts but as small dust the details which make up the service and suffering of the Christian toiler. II. Peter found his way to the saints. How? Do we not all find out our otherselves in every city to which we go? When the surveyor would find out metallic strata, he takes the, magnet, and sees how it dips, and says, “ Here you will find what you are in quest of.” We pine for our own, and fall with second naturalness into the ways of the company of which we form a part. It would do some of us good if we could be shut up with savages for a few days. How we should then yearn for the most defective Christian we ever knew! III. The saints are nameless. There is something better than a name. There is character. There you find no personal renown, but you find a solid quantity of spiritual being. It is towards that estate we should constantly be moving, to the great republic of common holiness. IV. Peter found the man who is to be found in every city. Locally called AEneas, but everywhere called the sick man. The genus remains unhealed--a continual appeal to the Petrine spirit. We are not all in the front rank of the ministry; because we cannot do the first and supreme class of work, it does not follow that we are to sit idle. You can bring to AEneas the Christian friend, and there is no grief but one that cannot be mitigated by Christian love. We hear nothing of Peter’ s doings here except this miracle; but as Philip had done much at Lydda without any record, so Peter may have done much beside this miracle. The miracle itself was a sermon. For “ all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.” V. Now we come to Joppa, where there dwelt a woman who “ was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.”1. She died! How is that? There are some people whom we almost wish would die, and die they will not; and others whom we want to live always wither and die. There seems to be such a waste of nobility and service in this mysterious Providence. But we may be wrong in that outlook as we are in others. Why should not the good ship land? Why should we shed tears when the noble life vessel touches the shore? It is so that God trains us, prunes us, and prepares us for the wider revelation and the higher service. 2. Peter was sent for. He came the nine miles to see what could be done. How natural was this. There are times when the strong man is sent for, and these are times of darkness, trouble, personal and social despair. But there is always a strong man to send for. In that sense we must have “ all things common,” and none must say that ought that he has belongs to himself alone. It is in this spirit of Christian communism that we must keep society from putrefaction and souls from despair. There is a hint of the One who “ sticketh closer than a brother.” When your house is very dark, send for Jesus. But you are not to wait for such crises. Send for Him today, when the table is laden with flowers and every corner of the dwelling is ablaze with His own sunlight. Beautiful was the scene in that house at Joppa (verse. 39). 3. How did these widows come to be thus associated? Who took any interest in their welfare? If you read again chap. 6. you will find arrangements made for needy widows, and to the name of Philip. So this man lives in his works. At Lydda he founded a Christian society; at Joppa he organised help for widows. Philip does not appear before us in name; but he leaves behind him memorials of his wisdom and beneficence. 4. How is it that we like the garments better when the seamstress is dead than when she was making them? That is a fact everywhere. The little child’ s toy becomes infinitely precious when the tiny player can no longer handle it. And the two little shoes are the most precious property in the house when the little feet that wore them are set away in God’ s acre. Let us love one another whilst we live! Not a word do I say against the sentiment which enlarges the actions of the dead, but I would speak a word for those who are sitting next you and making your own house glad by their deft fingers and loving hearts. 5. Now we come to the first miracle of the kind to which apostolic strength was summoned. Up to this time the apostles had been healing divers diseases; but now the apostles grapple without the visible Christ with actual death. We may well pause here in the excitement of a great anxiety. “ Peter put them all forth.” That was what Christ did! Some battles may be fought in public, others have to be fought in solitude; so “ Peter put them all forth.” “ Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,” etc. Have you ever prayed in the death chamber with none there but the dead friend? How eloquent has been your dumbness! When you were weak, then were you strong. “ And” --oh, conjunctive that makes one tremble!--“ turning to the body,” now is the critical moment, “ said, Tabitha, arise.” “ And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.” Let your miracles come through your prayers. Let your prayers always end in the amen of a miracle. What is the use of your solitude and your prayer, if when you turn round you cannot work some miracle of love? (J. Parker, D. D.)Peter at Lydda Look at this miracle-- I. As expressing the genius of Christianity. AEneas, a wretched sufferer for eight long years, Peter restored to health, thus expressing the benign spirit of the new religion. Christianity is--1. The offspring of mercy. It is a stream from the eternal fountain of love.2. The revealer of mercy. “ Herein is love,” etc.3. The organ of mercy. Through it humanity is to be redeemed from all evil. II. As symbolising the mission of Christianity. It was a restorative miracle. The mission of Christianity is restorative. Christ came to seek and to save. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It does not create new faculties; but it restores the soul--1. To God’ s knowledge.2. To God’ s fellowship.3. To God’ s image. III. As indicating the power of Christianity. “ Jesus Christ maketh thee whole,” etc.1. The restorative power is derived from Christ.2. It is derived from Christ by faith. IV. As representing the influence of Christianity. Men “ turned to the Lord.” This is to turn--1. From the creature to the Creator.2. From the destroyer to the Restorer.3. From the wrong and miserable to the holy and happy. (D. Thomas, D. D.)AEneas I. Was truly sick.1. Had he not been really sick, the incident would have been a piece of imposture; but he was hopelessly infirm. Now, as there is no room for a great cure unless there is a great sickness, so there is no room for God’ s great grace unless there is great sin. Jesus Christ did not come into the world to save sham, but real sinners. 2. The man had been paralysed eight years. The length of its endurance is a terrible element in a disease. Perhaps yours is no eight years’ malady, but twenty-eight, or forty-eight, or, perhaps, eighty-eight years have you been in bondage under it. Well, the number of years cannot prevent the mercy of God from making us whole. You have a very long bill to discharge, while another friend has but a short one; but it is just as easy for the creditor to write “ paid” at the bottom of the large bill as the smaller one. 3. His disease was incurable, AEneas could not restore himself, and no human physician could do anything for him. Your soul’ s wound is incurable. There is no soul physician except at Calvary; no balm but in the Saviour’ s wounds. II. Knew something about Jesus; because, otherwise, when Peter said, “ Jesus Christ maketh thee whole,” AEneas would have inquired what he meant. Now, lest there should be one here who does not know Jesus Christ, and how it is that He is able to heal sin-sick souls, let us briefly tell the old, old story over again. III. Believed on the Lord Jesus.1. He did not believe in Peter as the healer. Peter does not say, “ As the head of the Church, I, by power delegated to me, make thee whole.” Peter preached too clear a gospel for that. That is the purest gospel which has the least of man in it, and the most of Christ. 2. Much less had he any faith in himself. He did not say to Peter, “ But I do not feel strength enough to get well” ; nor “ I think I do feel power enough to shake off this palsy.” Peter’ s message took him off from himself. “ Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.” That was what the man had to believe; and it is what you also must believe. 3. With his faith AEneas had the desires which showed that it was not mere speculation, but solid practical believing; he anxiously wished to be made whole. Oh, that sinners anxiously wished to be saved! I never heard of men reckoning a cancer to be a jewel; but there are many who look upon their sins as if they were gems, so that they will sooner lose heaven than part with their lustful pleasures. 4. And what did AEneas believe? (1) That Jesus could heal him, AEneas. John Brown, do you believe that Jesus Christ can cure you? I do not care what your faith is about your wife’ s ease. Can you grip that, and reply, “ Yes, He is able to save me” ? (2) That Jesus Christ was able to save him there and then, just as he was. He had not taken a course of physic, nor been under galvanism to strengthen his nerves and sinews, and prepare him to be cured, but he believed that Jesus Christ could save him without any preparation. When you think what Christ is, and what He has done, it ought not to be difficult to believe this. IV. Was made whole. Just fancy, for a minute, what would have been the result if he had not been made whole.1. What dishonour it would have been to Peter! Peter said, “ AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole” ; but there lies AEneas as palsied as before. Everybody would say, “ Peter is a false witness.” 2. What dishonour would have been brought upon the name of Jesus! Suppose you were to believe in Jesus, and yet were not saved. Then He has broken His word, or lost His power to save, either of which we are unwilling to tolerate for a minute. If thou believest in Jesus Christ, as surely as thou livest Jesus Christ has saved thee. 3. Then the gospel would not be true. Shut up those churches, banish those ministers, burn those Bibles; there is no truth in any of them if a soul can believe in Jesus and yet not be saved. V. After he was healed, acted conformably. “ Peter said unto him … Arise, and make thy bed” ; and he did so directly, Now, if any of you say tonight, “ I have believed in Jesus,” remember you are bound to prove it. You are to go home and show people how whole you are. This man had been lying there eight years, and could never make his bed; but he proved he was healed by making his bed for himself. You will have to prove this by--1. A consistent, holy life.2. An unselfish life. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Peter working miracles I. At lydda.1. Peter came to the saints at Lydda--an early and favourite title for the disciples of Christ. It has no official application, but belongs equally to all believers, and no disciple should shrink from it. Its primary and principal sense is one set apart as sacred. Believers are called saints, not because they are of eminent sanctity, but because they are set apart as sacred to God. This primary meaning, however, implies the secondary, subjective sense of moral holiness. It is to be regretted that the abuse of this inspired name should have led the Reformed Church into neglect of its apostolic use. 2. In the Church at Lydda, Peter found a case of incurable paralysis. Christianity, by removing causes and supplying antidotes, reduces the area and violence of physical diseases. But the gospel is designed chiefly for the more terrible moral diseases of mankind. Would it impugn the fair name of AEneas if we regard him as the type of a paralysed believer or Church? 3. The profit of faithful pastoral visitation is seen in the discovery of paralysing conditions. This palsy may be any evil quality of character or life sufficient to prevent spiritual activity and growth. There is but one relief--in a miracle of grace, a revival stirring all the depths of the soul. 4. “ AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole; arise, upright, make use of the power Jesus gives thee; prove thyself sound by the activities of a healthy life; show to all the saving power of Jesus Christ by acting as one whom He has saved.” Peter does not mention himself, but acts in the meekness of a true servant. He thus presents an admirable example of that combination of modesty and power so characteristic of real greatness. 5. The faith of Peter in the power of Jesus is manifest, not only in the positive declaration of what Jesus was doing for AEneas, but also in the imperative “ arise” given to one hitherto paralytic. The faith which works miracles on the bodies of men no longer remains with the ministry; but that is of small account to the faith that works miracles on the souls of men. 6. Though no mention is made of the faith of AEneas, it appears in its fruit. The human source of that faith was the faith of Peter. Did all who undertake to speak in the name of Jesus Christ do it with firm conviction in the presence and power of Jesus to save, their faith would never fail to be fruitful in the faith and conversion of others. 7. There was no concealment on the part of AEneas of the Christian work effected in him. The fame of his healing spread through all the region. The multitude thronged to see the paralytic, now whole; and when they learned the Divine name in which it was effected, they were converted, and openly took their stand with the Church of Christ. This result, so natural and logical, is a reason why a converted man should make known Christ’ s work within him. II. At Joppa.1. The apostolic visitation of Peter was an upward as well as onward progress, a rising from one great work to a greater, until its sublime culmination in the house of Cornelius. In the Church at Joppa was a prominent disciple. Among her Syrian friends she was known as Tabitha, her Greek acquaintances called her Dorcas, while we would have spoken of her as “ the Gazelle.” The graceful form and pliant movement, and large, gentle, loving eyes of the gazelle, after all, do not express such attractive beauty as the portrait of Dorcas: “ a woman full of good works and almsdeeds” ; nor does the rarest physical beauty ever gain such a hold on human affection as is portrayed in the pathetic grief of this Church of Joppa over her untimely death. 2. New Testament biography is brief, but comprehensive. Two pen strokes describe the supernatural workmanship in Dorcas--she was a disciple and a saint. She was Mary and Martha in one--as a disciple, she sat at Jesus’ feet; as a saint, she served Jesus in ministrations of charity. A disciple, she confessed Jesus; a saint, she consecrated herself, in all her possessions and capabilities, to Christ. She did not aspire to the place of teacher or ruler, but took a natural sphere in the abundant and varied womanly work of the Church. Dorcas presents a model worthy the study of every Christian woman. 3. “ She was sick and died.” This chamber of death is to witness what has been often witnessed since--a natural side, the gloom and grief and agony of bereaved affection; and the supernatural side--the wrestling prayer and submissive comfort of faith in the assured rest and resurrection of the dead. 4. And then the stricken Church sent for Peter. They were expecting no miracle. It was too late for the exertion of the power of a healing like that of AEneas. They were in sore need of light and comfort, and they turned to one on whom Jesus had bestowed other and greater gifts than physical healing. The apostle left a happy and rejoicing Church at Lydda; it was a sad and tearful congregation that greeted him at Joppa. It was said her loss was irreparable. But we know better: Providence is not limited to one Dorcas, or two. The fruit of the Spirit is ever ripening. We do daily meet sisters of charity--not, indeed, flaunting a pharisaic zeal in the garb of a religious order, but dressed as women ought to be--who consecrate their means and time in sacrifices of beneficence. 4. Peter desired to be alone with the dead. Was it the instinct of Christian meekness, or recalling the example of Jesus in the house of Jairus? The crowded presence of this weeping company was not in harmony with the great emotion now surging in the apostle’ s heart. Alone, he would be more free in prayer for the guidance of Jesus in this crisis. The thoughtful minister, when preparing for Christian work--all the more if it be unusual or critical--prays in the closet, and not before men. Nor does Peter appeal to Jesus in vain. 5. How natural is the story of this resurrection! The eyes of “ the Gazelle” once more open. He presented her to the Church alive, her old life of love, sympathy, and beneficence. She would not be less a Christian for having been in Paradise. A few hours of heaven, as was the case with Paul, and John, and Tennent, gives new motives and fresh impulses to Christian consecration. 6. The news thrilled the Church with joy, and all Joppa with wonder. This is not recorded to meet the demands of scepticism, but because of the effect of the miracle on the activity of the Church, and on the many who believed and were added to the saints; to conduct and confirm which work “ Peter tarried many days in Joppa.” 7. If the life of Dorcas was a blessing to the Church and world, even more fruitful of good was her death. It roused the Church through grief and surprise to tears of repentance, gratitude, and love. It led them to confession and prayer in seeking heavenly sympathy and comfort. The awakening of her body was the awakening of many sleeping souls to life in Jesus Christ. Let the Church hear the cry, “ Arise! awake at the word to the work of Jesus.” (G. C. Heckman, D. D.)Peter working miracles We are told that faith in miracles is passing away. No doubt in some quarters it is; and unhappily the same is to be said of much else that is good and true. It does not follow, however, that such faith is opposed to human reason, nor that it is likely ever to lose its hold on the human heart. It is certain that, if there be a personal God, He can reveal His presence by signs and wonders; and equally certain that, if occasion requires, He will. I. The time was a season of rest. Saul of Tarsus had been converted; the storm of persecution had subsided; and Peter, with unresting activity, was on a round of Church inspection, imparting courage, and working miracles of convincing and persuasive power. II. The scene was northwest from Jerusalem. Lydda was from Jerusalem about a day’ s journey. Joppa, nine miles beyond. At both these places there were Churches. So rapid had been the progress of the faith in Jesus! III. The subjects were both alike and unlike. The one was a paralytic; the other, a dead disciple greatly beloved for her good works. Both were well known, and known to be beyond human help. Again, while one was a beloved disciple, there is no evidence that the other was a disciple at all. For aught that appears, AEneas was a common sinner, who had heard of Jesus, but had never attached himself to the company of His followers. Thus the miracle was not only an unmistakable work of Divine power, but also the outgoing of Christian love. IV. The manner. These wonders were wrought by Peter indeed, but in the name and power of another. Never did the apostles claim to work by any other power than that of Jesus. V. The purpose was two fold. In part it was the simple relief of suffering and cure of sorrow. But Peter had a deeper purpose. If miracles were immediately beneficial, they were also and specially “ signs.” And, with the apostles, they were signs not only of God’ s approval of their teachings and work, but also of the continued presence and power of Jesus. VI. The result. Their two-fold purpose was accomplished. Not only was suffering relieved and sorrow turned to joy, but far and near it was seen and owned that Jesus was still at hand and mighty to save. VII. Practical considerations.1. Jesus is still a living and acting Presence with His people. The continued nearness of Christ is the hope and strength of the individual believer, the warrant of the Church in its aggressive work, and the pledge of its final victory. 2. The breadth of our Christian work. Our Saviour had it as a part of His mission to relieve physical distress. He commissioned His disciples to do the same. More than this, by precept and example He planted the spirit of human kindness in the hearts of His followers. Straightway it began to show itself in them. It did not more truly appear in the miracles of Peter than it did in the good works and almsdeeds of Dorcas. Already this has wrought great changes in the face of society; but by no means has all been accomplished which needs to be done. This, then, is a part of the service which the Master expects of His present followers. The redemption He proposes is for the whole man--body, soul, and spirit. 3. One important way to promote religious conversions and revivals. It was the love, as well as the Divine power, which shone in the miracles of Peter, which won the hearts of so many at Lydda and Joppa. Often does the missionary first win his way to Pagan hearts by ministries of bodily healing. 4. The crowning aim in all Christian service. With the Saviour, this was never the mere relief of physical suffering or trouble. He would have them know that He had power to forgive sins, and raise the spiritually dead to life eternal. So it was Peter’ s supreme purpose to multiply and confirm Christian converts. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)Working like Christ These two miracles are both evidently moulded upon Christ’ s miracles; are distinct imitations of what Peter had seen Him do. And their likenesses to and differences from our Lord’ s manner of working are equally noteworthy. I. First, notice the similarities and the lesson they teach. The two cases before us are alike in that both of them find parallels in our Lord’ s miracles. The one is the cure of a paralytic. The raising of Dorcas corresponds with the three resurrections of the dead people which are recorded in the Gospels. And now, note the likenesses. Jesus Christ said to the paralysed man, “ Arise, take up thy bed.” Peter said to AEneas, “ Arise, and make thy bed.” The one command was appropriate to the circumstances of a man who was not in his own house; the other a man bed-ridden in his own house. And then, if we turn to the other narrative, the intentional moulding of the manner of the miracle, consecrated in the eyes of the loving disciple, because it was Christ’ s manner, is still more obvious. Well now, although we are no miracle workers, the very same principle which underlay these two works of supernatural power is to be applied to all our work, and to our lives as Christian people. I do not know whether Peter meant to do like Jesus Christ or not; I rather think that he was unconsciously dropping into the fashion that to him was so sacred. Love always delights in imitation; and the disciples of a great teacher will unconsciously catch the trick of his intonation, the peculiarities of his way of looking at things--only, unfortunately, outsides are a good deal more easily imitated than insides. Get near Jesus Christ, and you will catch His manner. Love Him, and love will do to you what it does to many a wedded pair, and to many kindred hearts, it will transfuse into you something of the characteristics of the object of your love. It is impossible to trust Christ, to obey Christ, to hold communion with Him, and to live beside Him, without becoming like Him. And if such be our inward experience, so will be our outward appearance. Jesus Christ, when He went through the wards of the hospital of the world, was overflowing with quick sympathy for every sorrow that met His eye. If you or I are living near Him we shall never steel our hearts nor lock up our sensibilities against any suffering that it is within our power to stanch or to alleviate. Jesus Christ never grudged trouble, never thought of Himself, newer was impatient of interruption, never repelled importunity, never sent away empty any outstretched hand. II. Further, note the differences and the lessons from them. Take the first of the two miracles. “ AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed.” That first clause points to the great difference. Take the second of the two, “ Jesus Christ put them all forth, and stretched out His hand, and said, Damsel, arise!” “ Peter put them all forth,…and said, “ Damsel (Tabitha), arise!” But between the putting forth and the miracle he did something which Christ did not do, and he did not do something which Christ did do. “ He kneeled down and prayed.” And Jesus Christ did not do that. And Peter put forth his hand after the miracle was wrought; not to communicate life, but to help the living woman. Christ works miracles by His inherent power; His servants do their works only as His instruments and organs. The lesson, then, of the difference is that Christian men, in all their work for the Master, and for the world, are ever to keep clear before themselves, and to make very obvious to other people, that they are nothing more than channels and instruments. The less the preacher, the teacher, the Christian benefactor of any sort puts himself in the foreground, or in evidence at all, the more likely are his words and works to be successful. And then, further, another lesson is, be very sure of the power that will work in you. What a piece of audacity it was for Peter to go and stand by the paralytic man’ s couch and say, “ AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole” ! Yes, audacity; unless he had been in such constant and close touch with his Master that he was sure that the Master was working through him. And is it not beautiful to see how absolutely confident he is that Jesus Christ’ s work was not done when He went up into heaven; but that there, in that little stuffy room, where the man had laid motionless for eight long years, Jesus Christ is present, and working? But do we believe that He is verily putting forth His power, in no metaphor, but in simple reality, at present and here, and, if we will, through us? We are here for the very purpose for which Peter was in Lydda and Joppa--to carry on and copy the healing and the quickening work of Christ by His present power, and after His blessed example. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Acts 9:36-43 Now there was at Joppa.Joppa or Yafa means beauty The modern name is Jaffa or Yafa. It is a seaport town of Palestine, about forty miles northwest of Jerusalem, of which city it was the port in the days of Solomon, and has so remained down to the present day. At Joppa was landed the timber from Lebanon used in the first building of the temple (2 Chronicles 2:16), and in its rebuilding after the captivity (Ezra 3:7). At Joppa, Jonah took ship for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). Here lived “ Simon the tanner,” by the seaside, upon whose housetop Peter had his “ vision of tolerance” (Acts 10:9-16). During the Crusades, Joppa was taken and re-taken several times by the opposing forces. It has been sacked three times since coming under the rule of the Turks--once by the Arabs in 1722, by the Mamelukes in 1775, and by Napoleon I in 1799. The modern town is increasing in numbers, its population now being estimated at above eight thousand. (S. S. Times.)A certain disciple named Tabitha.-- Dorcas I. Tabitha, which by interpretation is called dorcas.”1. The historian bestows considerable care on the name. “ Tabitha, Dorcas, Gazelle” --they are the Aramaic, Greek, and English equivalents. Whereas we in the present day go to the flowers for names, the ancients went to animals. A bold man would be compared to a lion; a beautiful woman to a “ gazelle.” 2. That St. Luke directs special attention to the name is a presumptive proof that it was expressive of the rare beauty of the maid who bore it. She was comparable to the gazelle--the most exquisite figure in poetry to set forth high physical attractions. Read the Canticles, and the poet has no apter figure to set forth the glory of Solomon or the beauty of his bride than roe, hart, hind, gazelle. In Dorcas, then, we behold beauty allied to Christianity; and beauty is recommended to us, not because it is beautiful, but because it is good. The classic theory of life exalts beauty above all things; but the gospel theory makes goodness paramount, and makes beauty itself pay homage to goodness. II. Tabitha was a disciple. From the sphere of beauty we pass to the sphere of knowledge.1. She was a disciple. Discipleship is common to all believers. The apostles in their relation to Christ were on a level with ordinary believers. 2. She was a female disciple. The word here used is not found anywhere else. The masculine form is used often enough, but not the feminine. In ancient Greek the word was not used because the thing was not known. (1) Christianity has given woman what Plato and Aristotle never did--the rank of discipleship. The schools of the philosophers were made up exclusively of men, but “ honourable women, not a few,” sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him. Judaism truly had its “ court of the women,” but that was more like a sheep pen. The genius of Judaism was separation, not communion. But “ in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, but a new creature.” (2) But though the gospel has lifted woman to the rank of discipleship, it has not raised her to the rank of apostleship. Dorcas also did much good; but she still continued in the privacy of discipleship. The moral rather than the intellectual is the true sphere of womanhood. The “ rights of women” have been much pushed to the front lately; and women are not without danger of forgetting their “ duties” in the more exciting question of their “ rights.” Considerable tact is necessary delicately to balance the two. In the text the Church accords to Dorcas her rights--she was a disciple; but Dorcas only thought of her duties, and right faithfully did she fulfil them. III. Tabitha was a disciple full of good works. We now ascend from the region of beauty and faith to the region of character.1. Mention is specially made of Dorcas’ s works. In her are perceived the true development of the Christian life. Her natural powers are hallowed in discipleship; her discipleship is perfected in beneficence. When the Christian life stops short in discipleship, it remains in the embryo stage, and is in danger of dying of inanition. Knowledge gets refined, chastened in work. Water is filtered as it flows onward in its channel. Water stagnant breeds miasma. In like manner knowledge, as long as it remains mere theory, becomes morbid and unhealthy; but let it run out in good works, and it will grow healthful and clear. 2. Dorcas’ s works are said to be good. Upon what then does the goodness of an action depend? (1) Upon the manner of doing it. Dorcas did not undertake to accomplish a thing and then leave it in disorder and confusion. No; she finished her task neatly and pleasingly, A slovenly life cannot be said to be a good life; its negligence seriously detracts from its goodness. Quality is of greater importance in the kingdom of God than quantity. “ Well done,” not much done, “ thou good and faithful servant.” In creation “ God saw,” not that it was great, but “ that it was good.” “ Be ye imitators of God like dear children.” Every night review the work of the day to see if it is good. (2) Upon the character of the doer. “ Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.” A bad man--bad works; a good man--good works; that is the established law of the moral world. Dorcas was first a disciple, next full of good works; she was first made good, then she did good. Herein consists the vital difference between Christianity and Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism proposes to improve the surroundings of men--to secure them better houses, wages, food, etc. Christianity proposes to improve the men themselves, being fully persuaded that if it can better the men, the men will soon better their circumstances. 3. Dorcas not only did good works, but was “ full” of them, implying that her heart was the source of her works--the faith of her discipleship flowed out in deeds of benevolence. Look at the natural and the artificial tree. The fruit adorning the one is the ripe unfolding of the inward vitality; but the fruit suspended to the other has no union of life with the tree. No one can be inwardly full unless there be a spontaneous overflow in the daily life. And Dorcas’ s faith in the Saviour gushed out in works of beneficence to man. There was no spasmodic strain, no painful effort--doing good seemed to be natural to her. Christ’ s “ meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him.” The birds in May are so full of life that they feel inwardly constrained to give it free vent in song. And there are men and women, too, who find it their chiefest pleasure to do good. It is as easy for them to bless their fellows as it is for the sun to shine. And then every attempt to do good, whether it succeed or whether it fail, returns back upon the soul in an increase of solid strength. The leaves, which in spring come out of the life of the tree, in autumn fall thick around its roots and enrich the soil for it to draw nourishment therefrom the ensuing year. “ Mercy is twice blessed--it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” Faith and good works, discipleship and usefulness, represent the receptive and the transitive sides of religion. One without the other is dead. IV. “ Tabitha was a disciple full of almsdeeds which she did.” Here we come to the sphere of action.1. “ Almsdeeds,” not almsgifts. “ When thou doest,” not givest, “ alms.” Throughout the Saviour lays stress not on giving but on doing alms. “ Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” The charity must come, not merely from the treasury, but from a tender and sympathetic heart. 2. They were not almsdeeds which she purposed or of which she talked, but almsdeeds which she “ did.” No mention is made of parents or husband; she was probably a maid leading a solitary life. Will she then spend her days in idleness or vain sentiment? No; she will adopt the orphans for her family, and serve Christ in the persons of the poor. She will translate sentiment into practice. In the ironworks steam is not blown off at once into the air; it must first do work, and it is worth nothing except it work. And in our public services it is good to have our emotions well boiled at times. But we are not to let the steam blow off into the air, but to utilise it for the practical purposes of life. Sterne could weep over a dead ass, and yet allow his mother to starve for want of bread; but John Howard was never seen to shed a tear. 3. These almsdeeds consisted principally in coats and garments for the poor. The primary meaning of “ spinster” is one who spins, and if need be, sews for the benefit of the family and society. The imperfect tense “ was making” shows that Dorcas made sewing for the poor the main business of her life, and thus redeemed dressmaking from the degraded service of the world. St. Paul exhorts women to be “ stayers at home” ; on the margin, “ workers at home.” It is not enough that they stay at home; they should also work at home, and save themselves from the cankerous miseries of ennui. Some people possess genius for goodness--they create and invent, whereas others can only travel in the beaten paths. Robert Raikes, the founder of Sunday Schools; Charles of Bala, the founder of the Bible Society; William Wilberforce, the liberator of the slave--they all had a marvellous genius for striking boldly out in new directions. To the same class of benefactors belongs Dorcas--she invented a new method of doing good; and her method has been perpetuated and her name immortalised in the annals of the Christian Church. “ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.” You should endeavour to find work for yourselves, and the work for which you are best adapted. But if you possess not the genius to find work, follow diligently in the paths already marked out. Dorcas was only a sweet violet blooming in the shade; but her fragrance has filled all the churches of Europe. And Christian charity is quite competent to deal with honest poverty; but no efforts of the Church can ever overtake guilty pauperism. Our duty, then, is to dry up the fountain. You may give coats and garments, food and fuel; but the evil will remain unabated till the traffic in intoxicating drinks is restrained. V. Tabitha became sick and died.1. In the prime of life. The words leave the impression upon one that her sickness was short and violent. Probably she caught a fever on one of her visits to the poor, and suddenly died. But mark--nothing is said of the frame of her mind in her sickness; indeed, the Scriptures are generally reticent about the deaths of the saints. Men who live piously and devoutly must die in the peace of God. 2. In the midst of usefulness. Why, we cannot tell. Theology and philosophy have faced the question, but cannot solve it. But if theology cannot solve it, it can help to bring the heart to acquiesce in it. “ Why were you born deaf and dumb?” asked a gentleman of a young lad. A strange light flashed in the boy’ s eyes, and he wrote quickly, “ Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight.” 3. Dying in the midst of life and usefulness, she was naturally much lamented. The Church hurriedly sent a deputation to Peter; and when he arrived the “ widows wept, and showed him the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.” They could not speak much for their tears; but they could exhibit the work; and the widows’ tears and garments were more eloquent than any panegyric. The poor have no grand way of manifesting their sorrow; but they can weep genuine tears, and point to the coats and garments graciously given them by the hand of Charity. VI. Dorcas was raised to life again. The Church at Joppa sent to Peter. They did not tell the apostle in words what they wanted; but their acts showed it, and he understood it. Thereupon Peter turned them all out, and turned himself to the Lord in prayer; he afterwards “ turned to the body, and said, Tabitha, arise.” The miracle of resuscitation was performed: “ and when he bad called the saints and widows, he presented her to them alive,” and doubtless she continued the same good work as before--she finished the coats and garments she had only begun. The thread that was broken was mended--the good work still went on. This incident reduces the vast drama of the world to a scale we can grasp. Men and women die; the work of life remains incomplete. Reason staggers. Is there a time of restitution coming? Yes; they that are in their “ graves shall be raised up” ; the thread of life will be mended--the work begun will be finished. “ We spend our years as a tale that is told.” But alas! many die in the midst of telling their tale, they die before fully disclosing the rich meaning of their existence. Shall it never be continued? Oh, yes; “ the voice that is dumb shall again speak, the hands that are cold shall again serve. We can write on the tombstones of our friends--“ to be continued.” (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)Dorcas I. Her character: “ a certain disciple.” But in her case, discipleship included not only the belief and profession of Christ’ s doctrine, but also a conformity to His example. Her religion was not only real, but eminent. She “ was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.” There are many whose life is filled up with vanity and vice, but is entirely void of godliness. And there are others who are satisfied with low and common attainments. Dorcas “ was full” --not full of pretences, words, hearing sermons, and public assemblies, all of which are often the mere “ form of godliness.” Hers was the religion of the heart and life.1. The particular objects of her beneficence. “ Widows” --a class of claimants upon kindness and charity more often mentioned in the Book of God than any other, unless it be “ the fatherless,” who are commonly noticed along with them. And, surely, none have greater demands upon our tenderness and compassion, and none have richer promises. It would seem that Dorcas peculiarly selected this class of characters for her beneficence. And as the charity of an individual cannot be universal in its efforts, would it not be well for those who wish to do good to have some definite plan of usefulness to pursue? Only, here two cautions are necessary. The one is, not to bind ourselves down so exclusively to anyone class of beneficiaries as to be unable or unwilling to aid other claimants. The other is, not to lay such stress upon our own objects of charity as to think slightly or meanly of those which may be preferred by others. 2. The nature of her charity. Furnishing the poor widows with clothing. There are many cases in which it will be found much more useful to supply the poor with necessaries than to give them the value of these things in money. Many poor persons have a wish to appear decently clad; and upon this ground they excuse themselves from the house of God. How desirable is it to meet their wants in this respect! 3. The manner in which she supplied the relief. The benefits were of her own manufacture. She did not get them made; her alms were not only her gifts, but her deeds. There are some who are ready enough to give who never do anything. Others there are who can do nothing in a way of pecuniary assistance. But there are innumerable ways of being useful; and if you are compelled to say, “ Silver and gold have I none,” it becomes you to add, “ Such as I have I give; my prayers: my tears; my attentions; my exertions.” 4. The promptitude of her beneficence. It was immediate, not deferred or delayed; but “ while she was with them.” Some are future benefactors. They do not refuse, they only procrastinate. “ Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give,” for in the meanwhile he may be no more, and you may be no more. Some are benevolent when they leave us. But dying alms are commonly suspicious: they arise from necessity rather than choice. There is little merit in distributing what you can hold no longer. Be, therefore, your own executors. II. Her death. Religion does not exempt us from the common calamities of life. This peculiar consideration, indeed, attends the death of the godly, that they are disposed of infinitely to their advantage. But this very consideration also aggravates our grief. In proportion to their gain is our loss. There is nothing, perhaps, in Providence more mysterious than this: that the useful should be snatched away in the midst of their days, while the unprofitable and mischievous are suffered to continue; that a Voltaire should live upwards of fourscore and ten years, while a nation prematurely mourns over a Josiah, the poor widows over Dorcas, their friend and helper. But God has a right to do what He will with His own; and very often these dark dispensations are enlightened and relieved by some effects which serve to discover their design. At this season Peter was sent for and came. It seemed useless, but he knew it was well to be “ ready to every good work,” and he knew that “ the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” No sooner was Peter arrived than a scene was presented that was sufficient to melt a heart much less tender than Peter’ s (verse 39). Here we may remark that the value of persons is sometimes not known till they are gone. This is the case, indeed, with all our mercies. The praise of this good woman was like her alms, real and sincere. Here are no hired mourners, no verses, no eulogy; but garments which her own hands had made; and widows with their tears. The best posthumous fame you can acquire is derived from the commendation of facts; from a child you instructed, a sinner you reclaimed. The best proofs of your importance are to be found in the affections and benedictions of your fellow creatures while you live, and in their regrets and lamentations when you die. I hate dry-eyed funerals. Though it is distressing, it is also satisfactory to see genuine grief. Do all thus die? Do oppressive masters? Do the hard-hearted, and the close-fisted? Peter happily can do more than “ weep with them that weep” ; and he applies himself to his work. He “ put them all forth.” First, from a principle of humility; he did not wish to be seen. And, secondly, from a principle of importunity; company might have hindered the intenseness of his devotion. III. Her resurrection. Peter prayed and Dorcas arose; and then Peter “ gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and presented her alive.” Oh! for the painter’ s pencil! Oh! to see him giving, and them receiving this present! “ There, take your benefactress, and dry up your tears.” This is very instructive. It shows us that kindness was the principle of the miracle; not self applause. Then Peter would have required her to follow him as a standing proof of his supernatural powers: but he resigns her to those who stood in need of her services. And does not this show us the importance of beneficence? Were we left to judge, we, perhaps, should have thought it better for Stephen to have been raised up than Dorcas. But God revives the one and leaves the other in the grave, perhaps, to teach us that our thoughts are not His thoughts; that persons whose excellencies are of a retiring character may be more important in the eye of Heaven than those who are more brilliant and marvellous; and that, in some cases, a good life may be as valuable as good preaching. Whom does He, by a miracle, bring back from the arrest of death? A hero? a politician? a philosopher? No! One who made garments for the poor! And does He not hereby show us that He takes pleasure in those who, like Himself, delight in mercy; and that “ He is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love, in ministering to the saints” ? In a word, does He not say, “ Them that honour Me, I will honour” ? But you ask, was this a privilege to Dorcas?--to be brought back into a vale of tears, and again to have to “ walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” after she had happily passed it?--I answer, Yes! It was a marvellous distinction conferred upon her; and it added to her usefulness, and to her reward. The saints on earth have one privilege above the saints in heaven. It is in the means and opportunities of doing good. (W. Jay.)Dorcas raised to life The faith of this woman was of the highest type; her belief was more than a theological assent to the truth; her faith worked by love and purified the heart. “ This woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.” Notwithstanding the faith of Dorcas “ It came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died.” There are several considerations that press upon us in view of these facts. Sickness is not necessarily an indication of sin on the part of the individual attacked by disease; neither is illness to be attributed to a lack of faith. It is God’ s purpose to let the physical forces of the universe take, in most instances, the natural courses He has made; He has good reasons why diseases should be allowed, in the majority of cases, to develop through the various stages of their natural history. Sometimes we can see the good that comes to us from illness; not unfrequently it brings forth the fruit of a new purpose. There are times, however, when for His glory God interferes with the natural order of things, and brings to pass supernatural results. As the Church members turned their faces heavenward, God put it into their hearts to send for Peter, a dozen miles away at Lydda. Perhaps Peter had not the slightest idea what he would be called upon to do, but he started out. By the time he had reached the city he had received Divine illumination as to the course that ought to be pursued. Entering into the house, “ Peter put them all forth,” that his mind might not be distracted from any suggestion that the Spirit might make to him, and he “ kneeled down and prayed.” Others equally deserving a resurrection had died and were buried without a word of prayer for their resurrection. Stephen, “ a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” was not called back from the spirit world. It was for the glory of God that the first martyr was taken by “ devout men” from the bloody stones that had been hurled at and upon him, and carried “ to his burial.” It was for the good of the kingdom of God that Peter was inspired to ask for the return of Dorcas to her work, and Christ heard the petition He had Himself put into His servant’ s heart. The results. There was joy in the household of Dorcas; the night of weeping had passed, and the morning of joy had come. The results abundantly justified the exhibition of miraculous power in the cities of Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea. The inferences drawn from the healing of AEneas and the raising of Dorcas, so far as the topic in hand is concerned, may now be stated.1. Holiness is not a bar to disease, although a Christian life tends to health and longevity. 2. Remedies are to be used under the advice of skilled physicians. 3. God usually permits diseases to run through the varied stages of their natural history. 4. There are times, however, when it is for the glory of God’ s kingdom that the Head of the Church should arrest disease by the direct action of His own Spirit. 5. When it is the purpose of Christ to “ bear our sicknesses,” He illuminates the minds of certain faithful disciples, impressing them with the belief that petition offered for healing will be granted. 6. Faith exercised upon the gift of especial illumination will be honoured. 7. No person has been raised from the dead since apostolic times; therefore no illumination has been given for this purpose; supposed illuminations have been hallucinations. 8. The highest type of faith expresses its needs according to the best knowledge at the time, and trustfully leaves the outcome to Him who has said, “ Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” (J. M. Durrell.)Dorcas I. The life of dorcas. The brief biography is exceedingly full, though it is comprised in a single verse (verse 36).1. Her appearance. It is a most absurd notion that useful women must be commonplace in their looks. The name given to this excellent Christian worker suggests that she was attractive and graceful. 2. Her character. One word is here employed, nowhere else to be discovered, that some assert it was here invented for this occasion--“ a disciple” ; in its ordinary application this means a learner, but the term here is new, and signifies a female learner. Those were days of degradation for the weaker sex until Christianity came. 3. Her activity. She could not have merited the name of the agile denizen of the desert, if she had not been as brisk as she was affectionate. 4. Lessons. (1) “ Handsome is that handsome does.” When a Christian lady gives herself to real work for those who are in trouble, there springs up a rare, new, unconscious beauty even in her features, which spreads over her whole life like sweet, bright sunshine. (2) Dorcas was “ full of good works,” and not of good wishes alone. So her needle was as noble as Moses’ rod, or David’ s sling, or Shamgar’ s ox goad; for it was her answer to the Lord’ s question (Exodus 4:2). (3) All these works were done by, not the “ Dorcas Society of Joppa,” but by Dorcas. Evidently this was not a woman who bought off from labour by a contribution. Perhaps she was so busy in making “ coats and garments,” that she had no time to make an association. Some people lose a great deal of force in running around to get machines, and then lose more yet in running the machines they get. Organisation sometimes helps; but too much is apt to hinder. It has been known that the election of one secretary has taken more of zeal than would have fitted out three missionary boxes. II. The death of Dorcas.1. Even the best of people may die early. 2. Even Christian people may mourn sometimes. 3. We are bound to weep with those that weep. Very fine example is this of the oneness of sympathy among the primitive believers; they sent up to Lydda for Peter to come and aid them with counsel in their sore distress. III. The resurrection of Dorcas. Peter’ s action must be laid alongside of Elisha’ s (2 Kings 4:33). Also with Christ’ s (Mark 5:40-41).1. It was done by the sovereign and miraculous power of God. All talk about collusion, trick, animal magnetism, is not worth discussing. 2. But Simon’ s faith shines more illustriously than ever. When the rationalists point to his close imitation of the “ Talitha” of Jesus in his “ Tabitha” we may thank them for a beautiful suggestion; it is likely he did think of his Master then. 3. Imagine Dorcas’ s surprise when she first opened her eyes. How strange it is that no one of those persons who were raised from the dead ever attempted to tell the story of what they saw or heard. As one of the ancient Christian poets said of Lazarus, she was superstes sibi--her own survivor. 4. Still she did not set up for a saint, and go on exhibition. She simply went to work once more among the widows. All Joppa heard of it, and many believed in the Lord. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Dorcas: the lessons of her life and death I. The good are the really rich. Those who are full of good works and of almsdeeds are better off than those with full bank accounts. II. Good works are the test of Christian life. If one is not fruitful in good works, he is not joined to Christ. III. The good are not spared by death because of their good works. His sickle cuts down the fairest flowers as well as the obnoxious weeds. IV. Death shows how much the good are appreciated, as it shows, also, the little value of a money popularity. V. The deeds of the good remain to testify for them after death has taken them away. (S. S. Times.)The Christian needlewoman There is in Joppa a woman with her needle, embroidering her name ineffaceably into the charities of the world. In the room where she sits are the pale faces of the poor. She listens to their plaint, and with gifts she mingles prayers and Christian encouragement. Then she goes out, and all through the street the cry runs: “ Dorcas is coming.” That night a half-paid shipwright reaches home; sees his little boy well clad, and they tell him: “ Dorcas has been here.” But there is a sudden pause in that woman’ s ministry. All through the haunts of wretchedness the news comes: “ Dorcas is sick!” And now, alas, for Joppa! there is wailing. That voice which had uttered so many cheerful words is hushed; that hand, which had made so many garments for the poor, is cold and still. In every place in that town, where there is sickness, or hunger, or guilt, or sorrow, there are despairing looks and streaming eyes as they cry: “ Dorcas is dead!” They send for Peter. He urges his way through the crowd, kindly orders that the room be cleared, prays, and in the strength of Him who is the resurrection, exclaims: “ Tabitha, arise!” We see in this subject Dorcas-- I. The disciple. If I had not seen the word “ disciple,” I would have known this woman was a Christian. Such music as that never came from a harp which is not stringed by Divine grace. I wish that the wives, and mother, and daughters of this congregation would imitate Dorcas in her discipleship. Before you sit with the Sabbath class, or cross the threshold of the hospital, etc., attend to the first, last, and greatest duty--the seeking for God and being at peace with Him. II. The benefactress.1. History has told the story of the crown and of the sword; the poet has sung the praises of nature; I tell you the praises of the needle. From the fig-leaf robe prepared in Eden, to the last stitch taken last night, the needle has wrought wonders of kindness. It has preached the gospel, it has overcome want with the war cry of “ stitch, stitch, stitch.” Amid the mightiest triumphs in all ages and lands, I set down the conquests of the needle. 2. I admit its crimes. It has butchered more souls than the “ Inquisition” ; it has punctured the eye; it has pierced the side; it has struck weakness into the lungs; it has sent madness into the brain; it has pitched whole armies of the suffering into crime and wretchedness. 3. But now I am talking of Dorcas, I shall speak only of the charities of the needle. This woman was a representative of all those women who make garments for the destitute, knit socks for the barefooted, prepare bandages for the lacerated, who make up bales of clothing for missionaries. 4. What a contrast between the benevolence of this woman and a great deal of the charity of this day! Dorcas did not spend her time planning how the poor of Joppa were to be relieved; she took her needle and relieved them. She was not like those who sympathise with imaginary sorrows, and then laugh at the boy who has upset his basket of victuals, or like that charity which makes a rousing speech on the benevolent platform and goes out to kick the beggar from the step. The sufferers of the world want not so much tears as dollars, not so much smiles as shoes, not so much “ God bless you’ s” as jackets and frocks. There are women who talk beautifully about the suffering of the world, who never, like Dorcas, take the needle and assault it. 5. I am glad that there is not a page of history which is not a record of female beneficence. The Princess of Conti sold all her jewels that she might help the famine struck. “ Maud, the wife of Henry I, went down amid the poor, and washed their sores and administered to them cordials. But why go so far back or so far away? Before the smoke had gone up from Gettysburg the women of the North met the women of the South on the battlefield, forgetting all their animosities while they bound up the wounded and closed the eyes of the slain! III. The lamented. There may have been women there with larger fortunes and handsomer faces; but there was no grief at their departure like this at the death of Dorcas. There are a great many who go out of life and are unmissed. There may be a large funeral, high-sounding eulogiums, a marble tomb, but the whole thing may be a sham. The Church has lost nothing; the world has lost nothing. It is only a nuisance abated, or a grumbler ceasing to find fault; or an idler stopped yawning, or a dissipated fashionable parted from his wine cellar. While, on the other hand, no useful Christian leaves this world without being missed. When Josephine was carried out to her grave, there were a great many women of pride and position that went out after her; but I am most affected by the story that two thousand of the poor of France followed her coffin, wailing until the air rang again, because they lost their last earthly friend. “ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them!” IV. The resurrected. In what a short compass the great writer put that, “ she sat up!” What a time there must have been when the apostle brought her out among her old friends! How the tears of joy must have started! You and I have seen the same thing--not a dead body resuscitated, but the deceased coming up again after death in the good accomplished. If a man labours up to fifty years of age serving God, and then dies, we are apt to think that his earthly work is done. No! Services rendered for Christ never stop. A Christian woman toils for the upbuilding of a Church through many self-denials and prayers, and then she dies. Now hundreds of souls stand up and confess the faith of Christ. Has that Christian woman who went away fifteen years ago nothing to do with these things? The good that seemed to be buried has come up again. Dorcas is resurrected. After a while all these womanly friends of Christ will put down their needle forever. After making garments for others, someone will make the last robe for them. Then, one day there will be sky rending, and that Christian woman will rise from the dust, and will be surrounded by the wanderers whom she reclaimed, by the wounded souls to whom she administered. The reward has come. Dorcas is resurrected! (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The appropriate duty and ornament of the female sex 1. I shall not inquire whether the female mind is, in all respects, the same with that of the other sex. Whatever opinion may be formed on this subject, we shall all agree that women ought not to be considered as destined to the same employments with men; and, of course, that there is a species of education, and a sphere of action, which more particularly belong to them. There was a time when a very different doctrine was growing popular: viz., that in education and employments all distinctions of sex ought to be forgotten and confounded. This delusion, however, is now generally discarded. But an error of an opposite kind has gained a lamentable currency. This is, that the station of females is so humble, and their sphere of duty so limited, that they neither can nor ought to aspire to extensive usefulness. This is the mistake of indolence or of false humility, and is plainly contradicted by reason, Scripture, and experience. 2. The contrast between the representations of Scripture and the sentiments of the world seldom appears in a stronger light than it does on the subject of which we are now speaking. In the codes of modern infidelity and licentiousness, as well as among uncivilised nations, woman is exhibited as the mere servile instrument of convenience or pleasure. In the Bible she is represented as the equal, the companion, and the help-meet of man. In the language of worldly taste, a fine woman is one who is distinguished for her personal charms and polite accomplishments. In the language of Scripture, she is the enlightened and virtuous mistress of a family, and the useful member of society. The woman who is formed on the principles of the world, finds no enjoyment but in the circles of affluence, gaiety, and fashion. The woman who is formed on the principles of the Bible, “ goeth about doing good.” The business of the one is pleasure; the pleasure of the other is business. The one is admired abroad; the other is beloved and honoured at home. From the representations of sacred writ it is manifest that the ornament and the duty of the female sex are as appropriate as they are important, and that they pertain especially to the relations which they bear as-- I. Wives. On their temper and deportment, more than those of any other individuals, it depends whether peace, affection, order, and plenty reign in their dwellings, or waste, confusion, discord, and alienation disgrace them. II. Mothers. Children, during the first years of their lives, are necessarily committed almost entirely to their care. And the impressions which are then made generally decide their character and destiny for this life and for that which is to come. III. Domestic relations.1. How much may every daughter, by dutiful and affectionate conduct towards her parents, promote the happiness of the whole household, and by her example contribute to the improvement of all around her! 2. How much solid good may every sister daily accomplish by assisting to educate her younger brothers and sisters, in promoting the regularity, order, and comfort of the family, and in recommending, by her whole deportment, the wisdom of economy, the sweetness of benevolence, and the purity of holiness! 3. How much may every female servant contribute to the advantage of the family! It was a little maid in the house of Naaman, the Syrian, that directed her master to the prophet of the Lord. IV. As members of society. Let no woman imagine that she has nothing to do beyond the sphere of her own household.1. In every walk and hour of life she may be contributing something to the purity, the order, and the happiness of the community. The influence of the female character in forming public taste and public manners is incalculable. No false sentiments can have much prevalence against which they resolutely set their faces. No corrupt practices can be general or popular which they are willing to expel from society. 2. To the female sex also properly appertains a large portion of those offices of charity to which we are constantly called. They are best acquainted with domestic wants, and are the best judges of domestic character. They have more sympathy, tenderness, leisure, and patience than men. Let me apply this subject--1. By inferring from what has been said, the unspeakable importance of female education. If the female character be so important, then the formation of that character must be equally so. 2. By recommending the character which has been drawn especially to the young. It is a character which involves the highest honour, and which embraces its own reward. It ought to be your ambition to possess and to evince a sound understanding, and a respectable portion of literary knowledge. But it ought to be more especially your ambition to cultivate your hearts. To be so many Tabithas, adorning the doctrine of God your Saviour, and diffusing happiness among all around you, would be infinitely more to your honour, as well as your comfort, than to stand in the list of those masculine females who, while they gain a proud civil preeminence, really disgrace their sex. 3. By encouraging those who are engaged in female charitable associations. “ Be not weary in well-doing.” Your task is arduous; but it is still more delightful, and shall “ in no wise lose its reward.” 4. In conclusion, “ the time is short, and the fashion of this world passeth away.” Like Dorcas, we all must soon sicken and die. Do we resemble this excellent woman, in our character and hopes, as well as in our mortality? We cannot resemble her unless we are disciples indeed. We may “ give all our goods to feed the poor,” and “ our bodies to be burned,” and yet be nothing more than “ a sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal.” But those deeds of charity which spring from a living faith in a living Redeemer; those works of obedience which are performed from a principle of love for His name--these are “ the good works and the almsdeeds” which shed a lustre around the bed of death. (S. Miller, D. D.)The useful are sometimes snatched unexpectedly away (verse 37):--With many it is ebb water before the tide be at full. The lamps of their lives are wasted almost as soon as they are lighted. The sand of their hourglass is run out when they think it is but newly turned. But success before God depends not on the duration of one’ s life. The husbandman may pluck his roses and gather his lilies at midsummer, and he may transplant young trees out of the lower ground to the higher, where they have more of the sun. The goods are his own. The heavenly Husbandman makes no mistakes. (S. Rutherford.)The poor should be cared for (verse 36):--Charity should be warmest when the season is coldest. That is the time for coals and blankets. It will warm your heart to warm poor people’ s bodies. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Power in the gospel Here is a lesson which shows the power of the gospel in two directions--the elements of gospel power and the effects of gospel power. I. The elements of power in the gospel. What forces are disclosed in these verses?1. We see the power which dwells in organisation. This is hinted in Peter’ s journey “ throughout all quarters.” The bands of disciples throughout Judaea were united under a central head and with a form of discipline. Unity gives power. 2. We see the power in sympathy. Peter found the palsied AEneas; Dorcas sought out the needy and sorrowing; and in the Church we note the interest which prompted the sending for Peter. This care for others has ever been an element of power in Christianity. 3. We note also the power in character. A character like that of Dorcas could not remain concealed. One who lived to do good could not help exerting an influence. The character and influence of God’ s people are most potent factors in the spread of the gospel. 4. But mightier than all human elements is the Divine power of the gospel. AEneas arose to health, and Dorcas was called back from death through the supernatural power of a living Christ. These were the tokens of a power for which no human philosophy can account in the history of the Church. Miracles more wonderful in the conversion of souls are of daily occurrence. II. What effects of gospel power do we see in this story?1. Holiness; expressed in the name “ saints” applied to the followers of Christ. Christianity has given to the world a new ideal of character. 2. Practical works of usefulness. Christians have been at work feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, relieving the needy, ever since the days of Dorcas. Every hospital and asylum and charitable institution on the earth is a tribute to the power of the gospel. 3. Growth. Verses 35 and 42 call attention to the growing numbers of the Christian Church. The gospel is a seed reproducing itself by the million. This is another result of its inward power. 4. Victory over death. The restoration of Dorcas to life was only a feeble type of the more wonderful triumph of the Christian over the grave. Hers was a few hours after death; ours may be a few centuries. Both her restoration and our resurrection are wrought by the same power. (Monday Club Sermon.)A devoted woman An American paper tells the story of a woman who, because tired of a life mainly employed in dressing and eating, resolved to devote herself and her money to a nobler purpose. At the close of the war she went to a sandy island off the Atlantic coast, where about two hundred persons were living in poverty and ignorance, and established her home there, with the intention of benefiting the inhabitants. She began with teaching, by example, how to cultivate the land lucratively, and was soon imitated. Next she established a school for the children, and afterwards a church. Now the island is a thriving region, with an industrious and moral population, the change being the work of one woman. Noble womanly service When even the old coloured woman Katy, who earned her own livelihood; who sold cakes from day to day; who in her lifetime took forty children out of the poor house, and taught them trades, and bound them out in places of prosperity; who took no airs upon herself; who lived on the abundance of her poverty--when she died out of her sphere nobody thought to ask, “ What has become of her?” She was buried, perhaps, so obscurely that no person could say, “ I am sure here is where her old rattle-bones lie.” But there went up heavenward a radiant procession, amidst an outburst of song, heralding the approach of some bold conqueror, crownless and sceptreless. It was the resurrected spirit of this servant of God. She lived at the bottom here, but there she lives in eternal fame. At last she broke into her crown of light, and ascended her throne, and took her sceptre. Thou that art doing noble things and asking no praise; thou that art living to do good because it is sweet to do good, and be like Christ, and bear His cross, and walk with Him in sorrow, go up, thy Christ waits for thee. And come down, thou hoary head of power that on earth art despoiling God’ s fair creation as food for thy lowest appetites, and living in selfishness for thyself alone; there is no road between thee and God that does not break short on the gulf between earth and heaven. The last shall be first, and the first shall be last. Seek for glory, but be careful what kind of glory you seek. Work for fame, but look out that you work for the fame that addresses itself to the top of the brain, instead of that which addresses itself to the bottom. (H. W. Beecher.)Traits of a noble woman We have seen many beautiful tributes to lovely woman, but the following is the finest we ever read: Place her among the flowers, foster her as a tender plant, and she is a thing of fancy, waywardness, and folly--annoyed by a dewdrop, fretted by the touch of a butterfly’ s wing, ready to faint at the sound of a beetle or the rattling of a window pane at night, and she is overpowered by the perfume of a rosebud. But let real calamity come, rouse her affections, enkindle the fires of her heart, and mark her then! How strong is her heart! Place her in the heart of the battle; give her a child, a bird, or anything to protect, and see her in a relative instance, lifting her white arms as a shield, as her own blood crimsons her upturned forehead, praying for her life to protect the helpless. Transplant her in the dark places of the earth, call forth the energies to action, and her breath becomes a healing value, her presence a blessing. She disputes, inch by inch, the stride of stalking pestilence, when man--the strong and brave--pale and affrighted, shrinks away. Misfortune haunts her not. She wears away a life of silent endurance, and goes forward with less timidity than to her bridal. In prosperity she is a bud full of odours, waiting but for the winds of adversity to scatter them abroad--pure gold, valuable, but untried in the furnace. In short, woman is a miracle, a mystery, the centre from which radiates the charm of existence. (Great Thoughts.)Caring for others You have heard it said, and I believe there is more than fancy in the saying, that flowers only flourish rightly in the garden of someone who loves them. I know you would like that to be true; you would think it a pleasant magic if you could flush your flowers into brighter bloom by a kind look upon them; nay, more, if your look had the power, not only to cheer, but to guard them. And do you think it not a greater thing than all this you can do for fairer flowers than these--flowers that could bless you for having blessed them, and will love you for having loved them, flowers that have eyes like yours, and lives like yours, which once saved you save forever. Is this only a little power? Far among the moorlands, far in the darkness of the terrible streets, these feeble florets are lying with all their fresh leaves torn, and their stems broken--will you never go down to them, nor set them in order, nor protect them from the fierce wind? (J. Ruskin.)The work for Christian women A Christian lady, who was engaged in work for the poor and degraded, was once spoken to by one who was well acquainted with both the worker and those whom she sought to reach, and remonstrated with for going among such a class of people. “ It does seem wonderful to me that you can do such work,” her friend said. “ You sit beside these people, and talk with them in a way that I do not think you would do if you knew all about them, just what they are, and from what places they come.” Her answer was, “ Well, I suppose they are dreadful people; but if the Lord Jesus were now on earth, are they not the very sort of people that He would strive to teach? And am I better than my Master? Would He feel Himself too good to go among them?” A poor, illiterate person, who stood listening to this conversation, said with great earnestness and simplicity, “ Why, I always thought that was what Christians were for.” The objector was silenced, and what wonder? Is not that what Christians are for? If not, then what in the name of all that is good are they for? (Christian Herald.)Tabitha, arise.-- The resurrection of Dorcas--a type I. There precedes--1. Sorrow and sympathy of a mourning Church: the weeping widows. 2. Prayer of God’ s believing servants: the praying Peter. 3. The awakening call of the Divine Word: Tabitha, arise. II. There follows--1. The first signs of life in an awakened soul: she opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. 2. Friendly assistance for the life yet weak: he gave her his hand and lifted her up. 3. Loving reception into the Church: he presented her alive. 4. A blessed impression upon many. (K. Gerok.)The home mission, a call to our time I. To whom addressed. Arise, spirit of love. Hear its evangelical Christianity. And if men will not hear it, then shame them, ye women, who from the days of Tabitha have always been foremost in works of love and heroic deeds. II. Wherefore addressed. Great is the need of the time, and great the obligation of rescuing love. III. Whence addressed. Not from without. The work of home mission is no mere matter of fashion; the arm of the world can be of no use in it; the Lord Himself must be present, Peter must come; God’ s Word with its strength, the Church with its blessing, the spiritual office with its love. (K. Gerok.). Acts 10:1-48 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion.Peter’ s vision The record of the advance of the young Church gives in quick succession three typical conversions: first, that of the eunuch, a foreigner, but a proselyte to the Jewish faith; secondly, that of Saul, born and bred a Jew; thirdly, this of Cornelius, a Gentile seeker after God. Within the range of these experiences the whole world was compassed. The highest apostolic sanction for an unfettered gospel was the need of the hour. I. The vision of the Roman (Acts 10:1-8). The home of Cornelius lay thirty miles north of Joppa. Built by Herod the Great in honour of Caesar Augustus, the seat of the Roman rule in the land of the Jews, a city of splendour, with spacious artificial haven, having a temple erected to the emperor that held his statue as Olympian Zeus, and lying, as it did, within the sacred territory, yet a centre of Grecian influence and plagued by the corruptions of a pagan worship, Caesarea afforded every possible phase of contrast to the age-long intolerance of Peter’ s countrymen. Rome’ s wide empire flashed before the eye of this true-born Italian, nor could he dream that faith in a Nazarene peasant would give the Cornelian name its truest honour. Yet he was one of those rare souls of whom not a few have illuminated the darkness of heathenism, whom heart hunger leads to the truth. He was a “ devout” man. He “ feared” God. The second word is simply a closer definition of his religious character. His “ fear” was not a superstitious dread of the wrath of God, but a brave man’ s dread of failing to do the will of God. Furthermore, his piety had power in it, and this, mingled with peace, won over to his faith “ all his house.” No man’ s religion can, without great hurt, fail to set forth the two sides of the character of his God. In the man who orders his household in the fear of God “ mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Cornelius, constant in alms-giving and prayer, draws near to the kingdom of God’ s Son. The kingdom is about to be entered. The order is, “ Now send.” The time had come. The outlying Gentile world had grown sick at heart. The “ middle wall of partition” was falling to the ground. Cornelius, for the pagan world, was to learn that the Cross was the centre of the circle, and Peter, for the Jewish world, that the circle was as big as the globe. The Divine direction is very exact. Both of the apostles’ names are given. Whether Cornelius knew it or not, Philip, a resident of Caesarea, might have been called to his side within an hour. But Philip was not the man for the occasion. Of all men Peter was best fitted to preach Jesus to Cornelius, of all men the one most needing the results of his preaching. “ He will tell thee what thou oughtest to do.” These words emphasise two important truths:1. They point to the value of human agency in the salvation of men. The value of human testimony to a historic fact was never lost sight of in the foundation of the Church. The answer to Hume and Strauss may be found in the meeting of these men. A man not a myth has entered our world, and God has committed to men first of all, not to books, nor papers, nor tracts, the publishing of the gospel. The true witness of true men is the surest way of redeeming China to God. A shipload of Bibles sent to Africa will, unaided, amount to little. Ten holy men turned loose will leaven it for the twentieth century, The man and the book together are invincible. 2. They point to Jesus as the consummate revelation of God. When He can be found all else is insufficient. And it was because He could be found that Cornelius was not, could not be, allowed to remain where he was. His devoutness was not enough. No one dare teach that faith in specific doctrines of Christianity is superfluous. The opening words of Peter’ s sermon cannot be bent to prove that all religions are of equal value or that faith in the Redeemer is needless. II. The vision of the Jew (verses9-20). God’ s providences make a perfect fit. The messengers reached the tanner’ s door not an hour too soon, not a moment behind time. Was the man on the house top ready? A great thing was about to happen. A huge prejudice had come to its death. Let us pause to scan the past life of the fisherman. He had been in part prepared for the nearing duty. A more scrupulous Jew would not have entered a tanner’ s house. Peter lodged there. He had not been without much previous training. He had been taught, tried, had fallen, had been forgiven and restored to honour. Yet he was not ready for a worldwide need. The words of Jesus never took the place of the educating activities of after life. Peter had been called to be a “ fisher of men” (Matthew 4:19). He had heard the centurion commended (Luke 7:7). He had learned how meats defile, and how they do not (Mark 7:18). Near the tragic close of his Lord’ s life he had seen that certain Greeks sought Him (John 12:20), and that in them the Gentile world was welcomed. Yet he was not ready. Like his fellows, he saw in the direction of his prejudices. “ It required the surgery of events to insert a new truth into their minds.” Yet he was God’ s best man for this hour, for, as Bruce has well said, “ Everything may be hoped of men who could leave all for Christ’ s society.” To learn that spirit is more than form, and that God is not partial, was a great lesson. Through the opening in heaven a “ great sheet” was let down, held “ by four rope ends” (Alford), or “ attached with four ends, namely, to the edges of the opening which had taken place in heaven” (Meyer). In it were all kinds of animals without exception, clean and unclean. From these Peter was told to choose. With old-time bluntness he refuses. He knows not who speaks, but calls him “ Lord.” What did it mean? Little wonder that he was “ perplexed.” The most outward mark of difference between Jew and Gentile had been set at naught. He knew why these regulations had existed (see Leviticus 11:1-47 and Deuteronomy 16:1-22). The descendants of Abraham were not alone in making distinctions of animals. Yet none others were so thorough as those of the Jews. “ The ordinance of Moses was for the whole nation. It was not, like the Egyptian law, intended for priest’ s alone; nor like the Hindu law, binding only on the twice-born Brahman; nor like the Parsee law, to be apprehended and obeyed only by those disciplined in spiritual matters. It was a law for the people, for every man, woman, and child of the race chosen to be a ‘ kingdom of priests, an holy nation’ (Exodus 19:6).” He “ thought” on. Was the “ hedge” between races to be destroyed? Possibly. Was the vision meant for his own enlargement of privilege? Surely not. The sight, the order, shocked his sanitary creed, his patriotic sentiment, his conscience. It was hard for a Jew to yield even to a command from the skies. His “ thought” may have taken in the city spread below. (R. T. Stevenson.)Peter’ s vision Jesus Christ is the focus of all good tendencies in history. His light, lighting every man that cometh into the world, is their origin; His triumph is the conclusion toward which they move. The story of Cornelius and Peter shows the bringing together in Christ of two great religious elements--that of devout paganism and that of faithful Judaism. Both make sacrifices, for in Judaism as well as in paganism there is somewhat that is to be left behind. Yet in both there was imperfection. Cornelius had yet to put on the gospel life, Peter had yet to renounce the imperfect Jewish life. Both needed advancement more closely toward Christ, where they could meet as one. I. Cornelius, the Gentile, is one of the noblest figures of pre-Christian life that we have. It has often been pointed out that the Roman centurions are always well spoken of in the New Testament. But Cornelius is more plainly set before us than either of the others.1. As a man Cornelius is deserving of our admiration. We see in him a high religious longing. He was not a dabbler in speculation, such as he might have been if he had been a Greek, or a Roman of a hundred years later. He was one of the sort of men Archdeacon Farrar has called, “ seekers after God” : men like Socrates, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius; men to whom the utmost heathenism could offer in the way of religiousness was unsatisfying (as God meant it to be) to the wants of the soul. The quantity of religiousness offered by the Roman religion was not at fault; there was an abundance of theory to appeal to the mind, plenty of supernatural legend about the gods, and a ritual elaborate enough to gratify the most ardent longing for the externals of worship. But there was not that quality in it all which could appease the cravings of the heart. It was not Divine. Cornelius longed for something better. He had been led to Judaism. Here were no idols, here were no debasing legends of deity, here was real spiritual religion. The purity and spirituality of the Hebrew monotheism, and the loftiness of its code of morals, must have come like a revelation to thoughtful hearts. They came so to Cornelius. The God of the Jews was a better God to him than Jupiter. Yet Cornelius made a discriminating use of Judaism. Cornelius penetrated to the eternally true elements of the Hebrew religion, and disregarded those parts of it which were merely typical and temporary and had no power to satisfy the soul. For his characteristics, named at some length, are spiritual and not ritualistic. He was “ a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house” (Acts 10:2). The word devout, it is true, says Lechler, “ may be applied even to a strictly pagan form of devoutness.” It designates a worshipful bent of mind, full of reverence toward Heaven. But in Cornelius’ case this reverence was rightly directed, for it rose toward the true God. It is said also of Cornelius that he “ gave much alms to the people (of Israel), and prayed to God always.” His religiousness was shown not only in devoutness, but in the outward life. “ Because,” says Calvin, “ the Law is contained in two tables, Luke in the first place commends Cornelius’ piety; then he descends to the second part, in the fact that he practised the duties of charity towards men.” That such a man should have no influence was impossible, above all in those days when the possibilities of the pagan religions were exhausted and men were reaching out after something more satisfying, after that, indeed, which Cornelius had found. We are not surprised, therefore, to learn that “ all his house” joined him in his fear of the true God (verse 2). A man like Cornelius, reverent and thoughtful, cannot but influence others toward the same traits. And the reason for this was his strength of character. Roman soldiers were not, as a general thing, very reverent. Out of this same strength of character also, doubtless, came his patience. He had prayed earnestly to God, we know not for how long, but no unusual answer had come. 2. Such a man in himself is a delightful study in character; but he is much more valuable in this case because of his spiritual significance in relation to the gospel. He shows us plainly, by his obedience to it, the obligation of the universal law of living up to the light one has. Religious emancipation is by means of the principle of exhaustion. You use an imperfect form of religion faithfully, and you are led out of it into something better. So those who, like Paul, were zealous Jews were offering themselves to God as fit subjects for something higher still. Because all phases of belief have in them the potency of better things, men are rightly to be judged of God by their use of what they have. And no one need fear, whatever his present phase of belief Godward, that his aspirations toward something better are ever overlooked by God. The angel said to Cornelius, “ Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God” (verse 4). It is a comforting thought that not a single hope for religious advancement in any human soul is ever overlooked by God. Cornelius was a good man, a religious man. Even these, however, did not merit the gift of the gospel. The best of men can never claim anything at God’ s hands, because even the best of men never use all their privileges and perfectly fulfil the will of God. But although Cornelius had not by his life come to deserve the gift of the gospel (which is impossible), he had by it prepared himself for the gospel, and plainly evinced to God his desire for it, although the knowledge of just what it was that he desired and craved for had not crossed his mind. To those who ask it shall be given, and by his good life Cornelius had shown himself to be one of those who ask. God gives grace in exchange for grace. Using what light we have leads on to the desire for more, until we are led to want Christ, who is the final and best gift of God. II. Peter, the Jewish-Christian, gives us a study in advancing Christianity. Cornelius shows how Judaism helps to Christ; Peter shows how Judaism must be thrown off in order to reach Christ. The same thing which is set before us as a help in Cornelius is shown a hindrance in Peter. Do you wonder that a man’ s early training should stay by him? Was it not intended so to stay? Peter’ s prepossession against Gentile ways of living was fortified by the knowledge that Jewish life was founded upon Divine ordinances. The things unclean to Judaistic thought had not been made unclean by the Jews themselves, but by the very declaration of God. And yet it was narrow. It did not rise to the idea that God might be planning to displace even His own work. Peter could not see that a thing might be instituted of God and yet be temporary. He could not advance to the full conception of the possibility of progressiveness in God’ s revelation. Not that there was anything defective, improper, or bad in any part of God’ s ancient work. Bat He meant it for a certain purpose which was temporary. And it was a wonder so great that it took a miracle to dispel it. So hard is it for us to get away from our own set ideas of how God must work when He works at all. And yet God can do the difficult, even what seems the impossible. He can give a form of religion to men that seems perfect, and then He can displace it by another to which the former is but as night to noonday. Peter was to learn that a Gentile soul as such is as ready for the kingdom as a Jewish soul as such, if it is truly longing for salvation. And as this came to him it brought a lesson in humility, for he learned that the judgment of God was far better than his own. He had his prepossessions, founded in the very Word of God. He was asked to give these up by the same God. Here seemed inconsistency, impossibility. But Peter must yield. The ways of man must submit to the ways of God. Our conceptions of God, religion, piety, must all yield before God’ s thoughts. And if He displaces His own revelations by better ones who shall say Him nay? III. The general lessons of our study are apparent.1. Cornelius and Peter, Jew and Gentile, both had visions granted by God. God is no respecter of persons. Some very ignorant, uneducated man, despised in our eyes, may find the truth as well as we. 2. Christ takes what is best out of all as the foundation of advance into new truth concerning Himself. God’ s Spirit makes a preparatio evangelica everywhere. 3. All men need progress religiously--progress not beyond Christ, but progress deeper into the mysteries of the sublime truth given to us in Him. Let no one ever say he has no more to learn about the Son of God. (D. J. Burrell D. D.)Dreams The subject of dreams and dreaming is a fascinating one. There have been many extraordinary dreams; but there is an element of mystery in all dreams. They are witnesses to our spiritual nature. They reveal the spirit that is in man. They give us glimpses of the inner life of the soul. Sometimes they may indicate our moral state. Some dreams are the children of an idle brain; others are shaped by the master passion of the soul. President Edwards entered all his dreams in his diary, and carefully examined them. He looked upon them as indicating the real bias of his waking thoughts. Good seeds sown in the day meant a good crop of dreams at night. Undoubtedly there is much truth in this view. Dreams are sometimes instruments of Divine teaching. The Holy Spirit speaks to men by dreams and visions. “ Many of the inspired parts of Scripture came through that channel. Jacob, at Bethel, saw the ladder of mediation between heaven and earth in a dream. Peter received his commission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles in a dream. The spirit world was unfolded to Paul in visions. He saw heaven, but not with his mortal eyes; and heard the language spoken there, but not with ears of clay. The panorama of the ages passed before John in Patmos while in a state of bodily unconsciousness. The Spirit of God can waken the resources of thought in man, and impress his mind without disturbing a single eyelash, or one beat of the heart.” “ For human weal Heaven husbands all events, Dull sleep instructs, nor sport man’ s dreams in vain.” (G. H. James.)Cornelius 1. Caesarea was situated on the Mediterranean, about thirty miles north of Joppa. It was built by Herod the Great, B.C. 22, and named after his imperial patron. It was a civil and military capital, the residence of the Roman procurator. It was garrisoned mostly by native soldiers, bat there was one cohort composed of volunteers from Italy, and over a division of that there was the centurion Cornelius. He belonged to an illustrious clan which had given to the state some of its most distinguished men; but greater than the glory of Sulla and the Scipios, who had made the Cornelian family everywhere renowned, is that which is conferred on this centurion in verse 2. 2. Cornelius was not a proselyte, for had he been Peter would have had no difficulty, and Acts 15:14 is decisive against it. He belonged to that large class of thoughtful men who had become weary of the worthlessness of paganism. He had outgrown idolatry, and perhaps made himself familiar with the Septuagint, and certainly was convinced that God was the hearer of prayer. He might have become a proselyte, and possibly was contemplating that step when he heard of Jesus, and being a genuine truth seeker he determined to wait for light. This will enable us to understand the object of his fasting and prayer. There had come to him the inevitable question, “ What wilt thou do with Jesus, that is called Christ?” and in his anxiety as to the answer he cried to God for light. And not in vain (Acts 15:3-6). 3. In response to the Divine direction he dispatched two of his servants and a soldier to Peter; but God had gone before them, and was even now preparing His servant for their appearance (Acts 15:9-16), who received a symbolic revelation of the fact that the restrictions of the Mosaic law were removed, and that the distinction between Jew and Gentile was abolished. It indicated that creation itself had been purified, and rendered clean for our use by the satisfaction of Christ. But Peter did not understand it so, but was helped by the message of the servants of Cornelius, and putting the two together he determined to go to Caesarea. As a precaution he took six brethren with him. Convinced that some important event in the history of the Church was going to happen he desired to have Jewish witnesses: an action which shows that, in spite of his impulsiveness, he was not destitute of prudence. 4. On arriving Peter found a considerable assembly, and after a preliminary discussion and explanation delivered a sermon as remarkable as any recorded in the history. While he was speaking the Holy Ghost descended, which-- (1) Certified the truth of Peter’ s words. (2) Proved to Peter and his companions the genuineness of the faith of these Gentile converts. (3) Indicated that those who received Him should be then and there admitted to the Church (Acts 11:17). 5. This was the Pentecost of the Gentiles, and so Peter opened the door for their admission as the Lord had promised him. Thus the infant Church took a new departure, and entered on that worldwide mission in which it is still engaged. Learn then-- I. That the way to get light is to act up to what we have and pray for more. Cornelius had not found Christ (Acts 11:14), but he had found something, and “ whereto he had attained he walked by that rule.” This is a uniform method of God’ s procedure (Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalms 112:4; Matthew 25:29; John 7:17; James 1:5-6). F.W. Robertson stayed himself up with this principle during that dark wrestle with doubt in the Tyrol. Everything else went from him, but he could hold by this: “ It is always right to do right” ; and in the acting out of that he regained his hold of Christ. II. That in all spiritual matters we should be prompt.1. Cornelius lost no time in sending for Peter; nay, after Peter came he took in all he said while he was speaking, and so received the Holy Ghost. Do, therefore, at once what is needed to secure your soul’ s welfare. When Pharaoh was asked by Moses when he should entreat the Lord, he said, “ Tomorrow!” and you marvel at his folly. You would have said, “ The sooner the better” ; but beware lest you condemn yourself. “ Today, if ye will hear His voice,” etc. You need not send to Joppa, “ The word is nigh thee” (Romans 10:8-9). 2. But the promptitude of Peter is quite as noteworthy (Acts 15:29), and we who have to deal with men about their souls should take a lesson. I once preached to an enormous audience in a circus. When I had finished I was quite prostrated, and while in that condition a man wished to speak with me about the way of life. I made an appointment for the next morning. But he never came. And I have written down that as one of the lost opportunities of my life, and its memory has been a spur to me ever since. “ The King’ s business requires haste.” Now--alike for preacher and hearer--is the accepted time. III. That preachers and hearers are prepared for each other by God. Cornelius is led in a peculiar manner to send, and Peter to go: when they come together the result is blessing. It is the same now. The preacher is led through a special spiritual history; he is guided to the choice of a particular subject, to treat it in a peculiar way, to preach it at some distant place. The hearer is brought through circumstances of trial perhaps; he is led on a certain day to a certain place of worship, how he knows not, but there he hears the message God sends for him. It seems as he listens that the preacher must know his past life, and so speaking to his circumstances he is blessed in his conversion. This is no uncommon history. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)The character and conversion of Cornelius I. The character of Cornelius.1. He was a devout man, and one who feared God. His morality was not of that mean character, or dwarfish stature, or unhallowed allowance, which satisfied the scanty requirements of paganism and idolatry. He had reverence for the demands, he had zeal for the glory, he had impulse from the love of God. 2. He was a charitable man. To heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, was his delightful employment. 3. He was a man of prayer. Here lay the great excellence of his character; here the grace which sanctified every other, implanted by the Holy Spirit in his heart; and here the secret of that mercy of which he was made a partaker. His supplication was no transient, hasty homage of the lip or knee, but the settled habit of his mind, the unwearied uninterrupted practice of his life. 4. He was a man of family religion. II. The course of Divine dealing towards Cornelius. Lessons:1. God is no respecter of persons. 2. What should be the character of ministerial labour and duty. (1) The more earnestly and faithfully a minister of religion labours, the more certainly will he find cause to know that the way of God is not as his way, nor the thoughts of God as his thoughts. (2) The more earnestly a minister is engaged in private prayer for himself, and for the success of the great cause of mercy and of man in which he is engaged, the more surely will he learn the mind of God, the more enlarged will be his views, the more certain his success in preaching the gospel. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)Cornelius We learn from the history--1. That it is possible to live a life of piety under unfavourable circumstances. 2. That goodness, wherever found, is noticed and remembered by God. 3. That God gives more light to him who is conscious of his need of it and who humbly seeks it. 4. That in order to impart this greater light the human ministry of the Word has been appointed. (James Owens.)Cornelius I. He was a devout man. This takes him out of the ranks of those whose religion is not a religion of devotion. The religion of too many is a religion of fashion. They are expected to go to church, to pray and sing and hear while there, but they are glad when it is over, and that it will not have to be repeated for a week. As a devout man Cornelius was--1. Thoroughly in earnest. Earnestness alone will never take a man to heaven, but no one ever got there who was not in earnest. 2. Impressed with the majesty of God. He had realised something of the glorious character of Him with whom he had to do. Are you overshadowed by the august presence of the Most High? If not, you are not in the same category as Cornelius. II. He feared God with all his house. He took an interest in the well-being of his subordinates. He did not regard himself as a mere ruler. Too many officers treat their men as mere automata, made to stand before them in a line and go through their evolutions like machines. Is it a matter of solicitude with us that our servants should feel the power of God’ s grace? How many ladies speak to their maids about their souls? III. He gave much alms to the people. He was a man of large-hearted liberality. How many professing Christians would be startled if they asked the question faithfully, “ What proportion of my income do I give to God?” Remember the generosity of the Pharisees, and our Lord’ s declaration, “ Except your righteousness shall exceed,” etc. IV. He prayed to God always. How many are content with a few hurried moments of prayer, and think that a trouble.1. He prayed for greater light. Many are perfectly satisfied with their attainments, or even with their non-attainments, and prefer darkness or twilight to light. 2. He prayed like a man who expected to receive the answer. Would anything surprise some of you more than if God were to answer your prayer? 3. When his prayer was partially answered, he took pains to secure the full blessing. V. We have said a good deal in Cornelius’ favour: Now what do you think of him? Some may say, That is an excellence I cannot hope to attain. Stop! Cornelius, with all his excellence, was an unsaved man. Let me not be misunderstood. He had been faithful to the light he had, and if he had been called away he would have been judged according to that, and not by a standard that he was unacquainted with. Peter lays down this principle clearly in Acts 15:34-35. But Cornelius was so far unsaved that if when the gospel reached him he had rejected it, he could not have escaped condemnation (see Acts 11:14). You cannot save a man who is saved already. If so good a man could yet be a lost soul, what must be the case with many here? (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)Cornelius of Caesarea 1. In religious biography “ army Christians” have a recognised place and honour for simplicity and thoroughness. To the soldier the very conditions of his life render compromise an impossibility. In discipline, in the habit of obedience, in the self-restraint and self-effacement required of the true man in arms, are also to be found true elements in the education of the man of God. In Bible history, many of those whom we most admire were warriors--the simple Joshua, the lordly Gideon, the “ Sweet Singer” David, the pious Josiah; and in what book is more praise given to worth than is given to faithful Ittai, grateful Naaman, “ My sergeant Cyrus,” the courteous Julius, and the nameless but immortal centurion of Capernaum? 2. When introduced to us, Cornelius is an officer of the Roman garrison stationed at Caesarea, then the civil capital of Judaea. His name at once attracts attention. What the name of Howard, or Russell, or Talbot is to English, or Douglas, or Gordon, or Stewart to Scottish history, that was the gens Cornelia to the City of the Seven Hills. A cadet of a noble house we may therefore conceive him to have been. The benign influence of noblesse oblige would be upon him and help to preserve a stainless name from stain. The regiment to which he was attached seems to have been one of special honour, and the position of an officer in it would be correspondingly eminent. Later on we encounter an officer of an “ Augustan” cohort at Caesarea, Julius, the courteous custodier of St. Paul. It is quite possible that Cornelius and Julius may have been officers of the same regiment, which would readily account for the kindly feeling which the latter manifested towards his prisoner. 3. As regards the piety of Cornelius the narrative speaks enthusiastically (verse 2). This eulogy seems to describe a “ proselyte of the gate.” The more exclusive Jews made the “ gate” to be as high and forbidding as possible, but the Hellenists gloried in the tribute paid by every inquirer to the spiritual supremacy of the prophets, and encouraged them to study the Scriptures and to attend the synagogues. So it came that there was, more or less loosely, connected with the synagogues in almost every great centre, a floating body of students of all shades of opinion, from those who were merely attracted by the simple and central principle of the unity of the Godhead, on to those who were on the threshold of circumcision. Among these it is strange if we cannot find room for one to whom the terms applied to proselytes are given, “ devout,” and “ one that feared God” ; who gave alms to Jews; observed the Jewish hours of prayer, and was manifestly familiar with the Jewish Scriptures. 4. The narrative at once lets us see that this man is thoroughly in earnest. He is one of those “ violent” ones who take the kingdom of heaven “ by force.” We find him spending a whole day (verse 30) in fasting and prayer. At the ninth hour (3 p.m.), the hour of evening prayer, the answer comes. He had heard about Jesus ; his mind, enlightened by Jewish prophecy, and unobscured by Jewish prejudice, saw neither “ stumbling block” nor “ foolishness” in a suffering Saviour. The angelic visitor does not constitute himself the expounder of Divine truth; he only tells where such an expounder may be found. The miracle ceases, as it always does, at the earliest possible point. 5. There is a fitness in the Roman from Caesarea seeking the Jew at Joppa. For Caesarea was new-built and heathen; Joppa from time immemorial had been the port of Jerusalem, a town Jewish in all its history and relations, and associated with many of the most stirring events of Jewish history. It is still further fitting that the city of Jehovah should linger on, like the Jewish people, dejected but not destroyed, whilst that of Caesar has ceased to be. 6. But meanwhile a preparatory work had to be accomplished in the mind of the prejudiced fisherman of Galilee. It is impossible for one who has not encountered it to gauge the mastering tyranny of religious caste. Our class distinctions exist in spite of religion, under its mollifying influence, and, when they pass beyond certain bounds, under its ban. But in caste religion adds its sanction to the distinctions, and stereotypes and stamps them as Divinely appointed, permanent and necessary. Caste had crept into the Jewish Church. The Jews, instead of regarding themselves as Heaven’ s instruments for the sake of others, had come to plume themselves on being Heaven’ s favourites for their own sake. The atmosphere of such a caste pride is like a spiritual sirocco, drying up the moisture of charity, and parching into an unbrotherly Pharisaism. In such an atmosphere St. Peter had been born and bred. Then he and the other disciples are called of Jesus Christ. For three or four years they are within the sweep of His liberalising love. Then comes Calvary, the Resurrection, and thereafter Pentecost. On that day Peter expounded the prophecy: “ I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.” Surely the truth has now entered into him, and will never more leave room for caste. But no I It is in him still, living and strong, and He who “ knows what is in man” has a feeling for His servant’ s infirmity, and provides that special symbolic teaching which he needs before he may dare to enter upon the work whereunto he is now called. 7. Thus prepared the apostle goes with the messengers of the centurion. And now the two are face to face. It is a strange meeting--the servant of Christ and the soldier of Caesar. That Cornelius did not resent or recoil from such a teacher proves at once how truly religion had done its royal work within him. Two men more opposed as to race, birth, breeding, and habits, can scarcely be conceived; and it could not but be that there was much in the peasant calculated to rasp the Patrician, yet the soldier of Caesar deems it no dishonour to bow the knee before the legate of Jehovah. 8. We need not trace the interview through its details. The significant fact--one of overwhelming importance in the development of the idea of the Church--is that Cornelius and his household are received as Christians, not through the preliminary “ gate” of circumcision, but directly through that of baptism. What the significance of that fact was it now concerns us to see. The infant Church was surrounded by dangers on all sides and far ahead. It had to face those which arose from the hostility of the world’ s governments and from the contact of Oriental theosophies. But its nearest, and deadliest danger arose from the Church from which itself sprung. Springing forth from the bosom of Judaism, the Christians were, at the outset, regarded as a Jewish sect, amenable to Jewish ecclesiastical law and discipline. They worshipped in the synagogues and in the temple. In this aspect the danger was that the hierarchy might crush them. This was a danger that could be measured. But the Church’ s friends were more to be feared than her foes. Those without might cruelly seek to destroy, but those within conscientiously sought to corrupt. Every Jew was brought up to believe that the Law was eternal in its minutest details, ceremonial and judicial. Other than Jews might enter the kingdom of God, but only by the entrance of circumcision. The majority of the Jewish Christians carefully dovetailed their conceptions of the Messiah into conformity with this fundamental requirement. The popular thought placed the law first; and the Messiah was to be gloried in as the magnifier of its scope and the extender of its authority. If we rightly understand this prejudice, so deeply bedded in the Jewish mind as to be with difficulty dragged out of the hearts of even apostles, we shall be in a position to understand the danger to the Church from the influx of Jewish converts. They came into the Church devoutly believing Jesus to be the Messiah; but they continued to believe that, first of all, He was a Jewish Messiah, and all the citizens of His kingdom must first become Jews. This was the position assumed by an active and aggressive party “ they of the circumcision,” i.e., “ Judaizing Christians.” The position taken up by the Church and by all the apostles, but most strongly by St. Paul, was antagonistic to this. The law was but a pedagogue to lead up to Christ; in all its ceremonial it was local and temporary, designed for a special purpose of preparation, which purpose was accomplished when the Saviour came; it was therefore no longer required. Here was the momentous issue, whether Christianity will shrink into a mere Jewish sect, or swell into the Catholic Church. When we consider the character of the danger, we cease to be surprised that Paul became a “ chosen vessel” to bear the gospel to the Gentiles, free from all the demands of a ceremonial Judaism. Neither the training nor the temperament of St. Peter fitted him for the task; the cause was therefore taken out of his hands. In those of St. Paul it was safe. But let us not forget that the older and less qualified man was the instrument selected of God for the introduction of the first heathen into the Church. As was to be expected from the presence of such a party as I have described, his action was promptly challenged at Jerusalem. The defence was a simple narrative of facts. “ What was I that I should withstand God?” The reply was satisfactory to the Church, and ought to have been final to all. But caste dies hard. 9. And so we have the noble Roman recognised as a member of the Visible Church. The baptism did not make him a Christian; it proclaimed a fact that already existed. God owned him first; man afterwards. (G. M. Grant, B. D.)Cornelius; or, new departures in religion Cornelius marks the beginning of a new epoch. Like the first flower of spring he is the sign and herald of the new forces at work changing the face of the whole earth. His history carries us to the final fighting ground of the “ decisive battle” between the narrow and fettering forces of Judaism and the catholic energies of Christianity. He stands at the head of Gentile Christianity, and is to Saul of Tarsus what John the Baptist was to Jesus Christ. Coming up out of the darkness of heathenism, he bursts upon the vision of the Church like a flash of unexpected light. No prophet announces his advent; no visible teacher prepares him for his work. He is outside the “ churches,” but in the kingdom. The building of the City of God offers room for the lowliest worker as well as demands the man of transcendent gifts. It welcomes the inconspicuous Ananias of Damascus not less than the famous pupil of Gamaliel, and advances to its perfection by the experience and toil of Cornelius, the Roman soldier, as well as by the practical wisdom of James, the chief pastor of the Christian flock in the holy city. Let each man, therefore, heed the light he now sees, do the duty that is next him, fill with unfaltering faithfulness his own sphere in the Divine will, and it is enough. God orders our way. If we know and do our own work all is well--its value, its near or far off results, we cannot estimate. In some callings men easily assess their gains, and take their true place in a graded scale of workers. We cannot. They know what they earn. We never do. Gold is easily counted; but where is the ledger account of new ideas disseminated, of spiritual renewals accomplished, of human justice and right established, of souls made true, and peaceful, and strong? Saul, unlikeliest of all the Jews to human seeming, will take up and advance the labours of the martyred Stephen; and Cornelius, unlikelier still, for he is not a Jew, will make the crooked straight and the rough places plain for the advent and ministry of the Apostle of the Gentiles. I. Approaching in this spirit of trust and hope and ardour, the study of Cornelius, as he appears in Luke’ s history, revealing the methods and movements of God in securing new departures in religion, we note first that Cornelius gathers into himself in cooperating fulness the chief providential forces of the age, and so becomes the fitting instrument for incarnating and manifesting the remedial energy and wide range of the religion of the Saviour. The historian compels us to see that Cornelius is a Roman. The whole atmosphere is Roman! How, then, could he whose chief business it was to trace in his two Gospels the gradual growth of Christian work from Nazareth to Rome, pass by this first Christian Roman of them all, as he is led into the clear radiance of “ the light of the world.” Cornelius was not a proselyte. He is still within the circle of alienated heathendom, and yet by one step he passes into the school of Christ, and enters into living relations with Him, without being detained for a moment or a lesson in the training school of Moses. It is this which marks the crisis. Herein is the revolution. The germ of the Christian religion is planted in this uncircumcised, uninitiated Gentile, finds in his devout yearnings for God, loyalty to Christ, generous love of the needy, and beautiful largeness of soul, the appropriate conditions for rapid and sure development, and forthwith gives incontrovertible signs that though the planting may be Peter’ s, yet the increase belongs first to the germ itself, and has been secured, in the Divinely-prepared soil, by the operation of the Spirit of God. Religious particularism is in Him exposed, condemned, and cast out for evermore. God’ s great “ universalities of love, provision, and ministry to souls” are manifest; Christianity has a new starting point, and henceforth pursues a new line of progress. As a river it had entered into human history in Nazareth and Jerusalem, and had made its channels deep and wide; here in Caesarea, at the borders of the non-elect world, it starts along a new course, cuts for itself wider and deeper channels, and makes everything to live whithersoever it comes. So the Judaism in which Christianity was born is left behind, and that transference of the religion of Jesus to the Latin world, by which it was to work as a regenerating leaven in the European races, is commenced. In Cornelius the centurion, the glorious gospel of the blessed God makes its auspicious start for the Great West. Now this, it must be remembered, is the first proof of the realisation of the world purpose of God in the gift of revelation. “ The universe,” as Renan has said, “ is incessantly in the pain of transformation,” and goes towards its end with what he calls “ a sure instinct,” but with what we believe to be a Divinely-redeeming impulse; that end being the salvation of all men through a universal religion. The first fathers of the Hebrew faith caught a glimpse of that world-embracing aim, and the exile of Israel in Babylon lifted it on high, brought it into the life of the people, so cleansing their conceptions of God and man, and preparing them for their worldwide mission. Then the victories of Alexander the Great brought in their train the diffusion of the Greek language, Greek thought, and Greek culture, throughout the world. To these beneficent ministries were added the discovery of new routes to the East, the development of traffic, and the commingling of the different races of men; all to be perfected and crowned by the ascent to the summit of power of Roman Imperialism, and the shaping of the nations into that one political federation which became the basis for that universal civilisation which was the material condition for the reception and dissemination of a really universal religion. But for us, living in the midst of dreaded religious changes, the biography of Cornelius is not only an argument, but also a message of peace and hope. It bids us trust in the living God--the God who is a consuming fire, but whose fires only burn up the waste materials of old religions to make room for the building of the new and better edifice. The kingdom of truth and of redemption is His. He rules it, and all new departures in religion are under His sway. He prepares for its advances by processes out of sight, continues the succession of heroic souls, who free us from the tyranny of dead dogmas; who gather up the results of His manifold working in all the departments of life, scientific and social, political and religious, and who then, vitalising and unifying them all by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, lead the life of the world to higher and heavenlier places. Lessing says: “ The palace of Theology may seem to be in danger through the fire in its windows, but when we arrive and study the phenomenon we find it is but the afterglow from the west which is shining on the panes, really endangering nothing, but yet for a moment or two attracting all.” Let us not fear. The God of Cornelius is the Father of Jesus Christ, and the Saviour of all men. II. Advancing to a further point in the record, it appears that God perfects the spiritual education of Peter by Cornelius; ill short, He finishes the work that was commenced on and in the chief apostle by John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, by the agency of a saint of paganism. Peter was a dull scholar, and required to be converted a good many times. It was a hard task to surrender his Jewish exclusiveness. All his traditions and preferences were against the sacrifice. He could not see the bearing, and did not admit the far-reaching applications of the truths he proclaimed. Thus the soldier comes to the aid of the seer. So the saint of heathendom goads into bold and aggressive action the disciple of Jesus Christ. Christianity advances through vision and service; through prophets on the heights of meditation and warriors confronted with crowds of foes in the valleys of evil. Some men require arousal. They see, but they stand still; they know, but they will not do. They linger shivering on the brink, waiting for the leadership of a more venturesome spirit. We need one another. The men of intelligence require the men of action; the press cannot dispense with the pulpit, nor the pulpit with the press: even apostles may learn from the humblest inquirers. The Reformation, prepared by Erasmus and the Humanists, waits for the moral fervour and splendid courage of Martin Luther. Peter, leader and apostle though he was, owes an unspeakable debt to the God-trained soldier of Caesarea. III. Truth, like a torch, the more it is shook it shines. The new light in the house of Cornelius sends out its radiance to Jerusalem, arresting the attention and arousing the opposition of the fathers and brethren of the new Christian society. Peter appeared before the Church and told his simple tale. The appeal was victorious. God was understood and glorified, and the verdict was given by the Church with heartiness and praise, saying, “ Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life.” Is not that the way God is working amongst us today? Is He not preparing a glorious future for the Churches by the work and experience of individuals here and there, in and out, of the Churches? Cornelius is a religious reformer. God puts into his experience the truths of His Gospels in their widest range, and thereby they are built into, and operate as part of, the working energies of the Christian system. The centurion himself, in the fulness of his spiritual gifts and achievements, demonstrates that God is not a respecter of persons and races, but of aims and faiths, of yearnings and character. The unit of the Christian theology is a Christian man; a man who has come to Jesus Christ as he was, with all God has done in him and for him, with all he has acquired, in intellect and character, at home and in contact with men; and has come through Jesus Christ to the possession of the ideas, motives, and powers of the Holy Spirit; and is by that Spirit made a new man. I adopt the language of Milton: “ Now once again by all concurrence of signs, and by the general instinct of holy and devout men, God is decreeing some new and great period in this Church, even to the reforming of the Reformation itself.” Let us be hopeful and patient. No knowledge can be a menace to the truth of Christ Jesus. It must glorify Him. The wise men will bring their gifts and lay them at the feet of Christ. A new Cornelius--now outside the Churches not unlikely--will God give to His children who, himself freighted with the rich results of the intellectual, social, and spiritual activity of the century, will force us into the presence of God, to hear what He Himself has commanded His Peters to say to us; and He will fellow the preaching with such signs of salvation and power, that the Churches will gratefully say: “ Then hath God granted unto the learned and scientific, and to the social outcast also repentance unto life.” IV. Finally, the portrait of Cornelius, together with the glimpses we obtain of Peter, reveals the men in whom God preferably works for the truest spiritual progress of men.1. Cornelius is a “ devout man.” He cultivates communion with God. Strong impulses urge him towards the higher significance of life, prepare his spirit for visions of the unseen world, and open his soul for the larger faith he avers, and the sublime inspirations he receives. 2. With this intense spiritual yearning he blends a wise management of his house, as if himself consciously under God’ s authority, and responsible for the well-being of those under him, so theft some of his soldiers catch the infection of his devoutness, and his domestics share his solitude to hear God’ s messenger. 3. In him also is seen the Roman love of rectitude and fair dealing. He is a “ just man.” 4. He has not taken advantage of his place to plunder, as too many others did. But he gave much alms to the people. His social sympathies were as strong as his religious. You cannot hope to take any helpful part in hastening the arrival of an era of purified and enlarged thought of God, of intenser love of God and men, of spiritual quickening and social regeneration, unless, conscious of your weakness and sin, you make it your business, whilst believing in Him “ who is the propitiation for our sins,” to walk in the light as He is in the light, and so to have fellowship with men and experience that continuous “ cleansing from all sin” which is the pledge and guarantee of Divine adequacy for faithful and fruitful work. (J. Clifford, D. D.)Cornelius, an example of piety Here is one man who is a truth seeker, and there is another who is a truth teacher. One has what the other needs; but they are unknown to each other, and separated by a great chasm. How can they be brought together? God commissions an angel to appear to Cornelius, and to tell him to send Peter. God appears to Peter, and shows him that “ nothing that He has made is common or unclean.” The scholar and the teacher are soon face to face; and then, “ while Peter spake, the Holy Ghost fell on those who heard the word.” This incident shows that every step in the work of conversion is known and arranged by God. The text affords a beautiful illustration of-- I. Personal piety. “ Cornelius was a devout man, and one that feared God.” A devout man now is one that is devoted to the service and worship of God. This word seems originally, however, to have had the meaning of thoughtful, serious, and reverently inclined. Cornelius had not found “ the pearl of great price,” the “ one thing needful,” but he was an earnest seeker, prayerful, and, according to his light, sincerely pious. The Word of God--1. Points out the necessity of personal piety. It affirms first that “ we have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God” ; and then, “ that without holiness, no man can see the Lord.” Jesus said, “ Except ye be converted,” etc. 2. Explains the nature of personal piety--a change of heart that leads to a change of life. Godliness is Godlikeness--in thought, and spirit, and life: “ If any man be in Christ he is a new creature,” etc. It is possible to observe the outward forms of religion without experiencing its saving power, and to have a name to live, but to be dead. Knowledge, liberality, morality, prayer, cannot save us. “ Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” II. Domestic piety. “ With all his house.” We are not told how many members it contained, nor whether they were old or young; but we are told that they feared God. Cornelius not only renounced idolatry himself, but he taught his children to renounce it. If we want our children to give themselves to Christ, we must lead the way. Example is better than precept. Domestic piety adds very much--1. To the general comfort of the family circle. In the most orderly households there may be much to disturb the peace and try the temper, but where the home atmosphere is pervaded by a devout spirit, there will be a kindliness of speech and a tenderness of spirit that will lighten the burdens of life. 2. To the spiritual welfare of the family circle. The “ curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked” ; but “ the Lord blesseth the habitation of the just.” The poor man may not enjoy the dainties that are found on the rich man’ s table, or the pictures that adorn his walls; but “ the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow thereto.” Are we not more anxious about the mental culture and the social status of our children than about their spiritual growth? Do not our prayers pull one way and our lives another? III. Practical piety. “ Who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.” It is not every servant that has a good word for his master. If there be any defect in a man’ s character, no one can detect it sooner than his servant. But Cornelius’ s servant says, “ His master is a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nations of the Jews.”1. True piety manifests itself-- (1) In generous deeds. This was not a speaking, but a shining religion. He sounded no trumpet, but his light streamed forth, like the light from a lighthouse, far over the troubled sea of life. True piety must report itself. Benevolence is one of the natural fruits of piety. “ Pure religion and undefiled before God,” etc. (2) In a prayerful spirit. This combination is very beautiful. Work and worship; profession and practice; grace and generosity. (J. T. Woodhouse.)The character of Cornelius, the first Gentile convert to the faith of Christ Although it seemed good to Almighty God, under the old dispensation, to separate for Himself a peculiar people, and to make Himself known to them in a wonderful manner, He gave frequent intimations that this knowledge should, in the fulness of time, be extended to the Gentiles also. In this incident, in the conversion of Cornelius, we behold the rise of that mighty stream which has poured its healing waters over so large a portion of the civilised world, fulfilling in its course the prediction of the evangelical prophet: “ The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isaiah 9:2). I. The character of Cornelius. He is introduced in the text as a Roman soldier, a centurion, an officer of considerable rank and distinction, in the cohort or regiment called the Italian band, quartered at Caesarea. He had been a heathen, but by the grace of God had been delivered from the vain and idolatrous worship of the gods of his own country to serve the true and living God. How, or in what way, this change had been effected, we know not with any certainty. It is not improbable that, in consequence of his residence in Judaea, the scriptures of the Old Testament had fallen in his way, and he had been led to study them in an unprejudiced and teachable spirit, and had become convinced that the gods of the heathen were no gods, and that the God of Israel He was the true and only God. He is introduced to us as “ one that feared God with all his house.” And such must ever be the result of an honest fear or reverence of God, drawn from the Word of God, and wrought by the Spirit of God. It is the “ beginning of wisdom” : it works in the mind of the individual to produce conviction. But conviction once produced, it stops not with the individual; it moves him to exert his influence for the benefit of others, and especially of those of his own household; and, if we are right in our conjecture that it was from the Holy Scriptures that the centurion had become acquainted with Israel’ s God, there can be little doubt that these same Scriptures would be employed by him as the means of instructing those about him. If you, like Cornelius, fear God, are you not afraid to neglect His Word? Let me urge it upon you to assemble your children and the members of your house once at least on every day, and read aloud some portion of that blessed Book, and then conclude with a few words of supplication. But it is stated of Cornelius, whose conduct suggests to us these remarks, that he “ prayed to God alway.” It may be, that whilst I have been urging on you once at least each day to gather your families together for a few minutes to read the Word of Life, you have been finding out excuses in your manifold engagements, and saying within yourselves, “ It is impossible, it is utterly impossible: at such an hour I have to be at such a place, and at such and such a time to do such and such things: it is quite impossible.” Listen to me, if it be really and truly impossible, God may possibly accept the excuses you have been framing. But here the question naturally arises, Had Cornelius, concerning whom it is recorded that “ he prayed to God alway,” no engagements? Had he, a Roman soldier, appointed to command at least a hundred men, and to communicate continually with the authorities at Rome concerning the conduct of the refractory Jews, at this time subjects to the emperor his master, had he nothing to do? Might he not easily have found excuses? But how, it may be inquired, could he, if thus fully occupied, how could he possibly pray to God alway? Listen to me whilst I endeavour to supply the answer. He feared God, felt reverently and gratefully His mercy in making Himself known to him; and he was afraid lest, if left an instant to himself, he might, at some time or other, relapse into his former state of idolatry and heathenism; and it was his aim, therefore, to live in a constant spirit of prayer, so that the fire might ever be burning on the altar of his heart: his very duties were so performed, and his mind so carefully regulated by continual meditation upon and intercourse with his heavenly Friend, that it was no exaggeration to say of him, “ He prayed to God always.” Cornelius was a soldier--a profession, generally but too hastily, supposed unfavourable to the growth of grace in the heart. Undoubtedly some callings seem, from their very nature, to afford larger opportunities of the means of grace and association with God’ s dear children than do others: but I should say, in general, that the state of all others the most unfavourable to vital godliness is a state of idleness and inactivity. God appoints us duties; and it is, I am thankful to be enabled to state from extensive personal experience and observation, quite possible diligently to attend to them, and yet sedulously to cultivate the paramount interests of the immortal soul; nay, more, so to perform things temporal that they may minister to the attainment of things eternal. In this view of the subject, let us stay a moment to see what the profession of Cornelius would teach him. First, then, his profession would teach one who prayed to God alway, faithfulness to his earthly sovereign, who had committed to him the overseership of that portion of the Roman empire; and thus such a one would be reminded of the fidelity and integrity which he owed to his heavenly Master, to his own soul, and to the interests of those who formed his household. Next, his profession, the very life of which is vigilance, would suggest the need there is of continual watchfulness, lest “ the adversary, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour,” “ should obtain an advantage over him.” I will mention only one other lesson which he would learn, referred to in pointed terms by the apostle in 2 Timothy 2:4 : “ No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath called him to be a soldier.” To sit loosely by all earthly matters. I might pursue the thought: and if you were each to tell me what are the occupations to which God has called you--whether you be one to whom God has committed the responsibility of wealth and influence; whether you be lawyer, physician, student, man of business, mechanic, handmaid, or domestic servant--it would not be difficult to make out before you how each particular department of your earthly calling might be made subservient to the growth of some spiritual grace, and to suggest the exercise of that blessed state of mind which possessed Cornelius, who “ prayed to God alway.” But the Roman soldier did not restrict himself to his privilege of prayer; neither was he watchful only, as became him. We are therefore in no respect surprised to find it written of him that he “ gave much alms.” He discovered a liberal disposition in relieving the distresses of the poor, as well as a peculiar fervour of mind towards God by the constancy and devoutness of his prayers. His benevolence and his piety were intimately connected, and they reflected a lustre upon each other. They who are always asking, and as constantly receiving, will not fail to be continually communicating. Other particulars are recorded of this most exemplary soldier which I can only cursorily glance at. In the thirtieth verse we read that it was “ while fasting” that the “ man in bright clothing stood before him” ; in the twenty-second verse that he was a just man, and “ of good report among all the nation of the Jews” ; and this notwithstanding the hatred which they entertained towards the Romans, whose servant Cornelius was; so justly had he conducted himself, so “ unspotted had he kept himself from the world,” that God had given him favour in their sight, and he was well reported of “ amongst all the nation of the Jews.” How lovely and consistent is his character in the view of man! There is not a shade upon it to dim its lustre. II. The reasons wherefore he was selected from the heathen world as the first convert to the faith of a crucified Redeemer. Some have thought it “ vain for us to seek the reason wherefore he obtained this honourable preference,” and have contented themselves with the reflection that “ God distributes His favours as He pleases.” This is indeed true: “ He giveth not account of any of His matters” (Job 33:13); but I think a reason may be gathered from the history itself, viz., that “ such was his amiable character before his extraordinary call, that he seemed less likely than many others to offend the prejudices, of the Jews.” I do not think this enough. I think the facts of the case supply a more probable and instructive reason. Something more was needed in the counsels of Jehovah than this bright and lengthened catalogue of gifts and graces. What I shall the man who is exemplifying in his daily walk and conversation an amount of excellence so near perfection that there is, perhaps, no merely human character in the New Testament which surpasses it--does he need to be “ told words whereby he and all his house may be saved” ? and shall there be no salvation for them without? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 10:4 Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.Prayers and alms I. The conjunction of alms deeds with prayer. Cornelius joined them, and he is therefore commended for “ a devout man and one that feared God,” and God graciously accepted them. Therefore our Saviour (Matthew 6:1-5) joins the precepts of alms and prayer together. It was also the ordinance of the Church in the apostles’ times, that the first day of the week, which was the time of public prayer, should be the time also of alms (1 Corinthians 16:1). Which institution seems to be derived from the commandment of God in the law twice repeated (Exodus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:16). The Primitive Church after the apostles followed the same precedent, and our own Reformed Church asks God “ to accept our alms, and receive our prayers.” II. The power and efficacy which prayer and alms have with God. God is said to remember our prayers when He grants them, our alms and good deeds when He rewards them, or, in a word, when He answers either of them with a blessing; as on the contrary He is said to remember iniquity when He sends some judgment for it (1 Samuel 1:19; Nehemiah 5:19).1. Prayer. What is it that prayer hath not obtained? It hath shut and opened heaven and made the sun and moon to stand still. It is the key that openeth all God’ s treasures. For spiritual blessings, Cornelius we see obtained thereby illumination and instruction in God’ s saving truth (see James 1:5; Jeremiah 31:18-20; Psalms 32:5-6). Prayer also obtaineth corporal blessings. When heaven was shut and it rained not, Elijah prayed for rain, and it rained. Hannah prayed for a son, and she conceived. If we be sick, “ the prayer of faith shall heal the sick.” Nehemiah prayed that he might find favour in the sight of King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 1:11), and found it (Nehemiah 2:4). But some man will say, If prayer have such power and efficacy, how comes it to pass that many even godly men oft pray and yet speed not? I answer-- (1) We pray not as we ought, either-- (a) We pray not heartily or constantly (Luke 18:1). (b) We rely not upon God (James 1:6). (c) We make not God’ s glory the end of what we ask (James 4:3). (d) We may ask something that crosseth the rule of Divine providence and justice. (2) We are indisposed for God to grant our request. (a) When some sin unrepented of lies at the door and keeps God’ s blessing out (Psalms 50:16; Proverbs 28:9; Joshua 7:10-12). Or-- (b) We appear before the Lord empty; we do not as Cornelius did, send up prayers and alms together; we should have two strings to our bow when we have but one. For how can we look that God should hear us in our need, when we turn away our face from our brother in his need? (3) Add to all these reasons of displeasure a reason of favour, because we ask that which He knows would be hurtful for us. As, therefore, a wife and loving father will not give his child a knife or some other hurtful thing, though it cries never so much unto him for it: so does God deal with His children. (4) Moreover, we must know and believe that God often hears our prayers when we think he doth not. (a) When He changes the means, but brings the end we desire another way to pass (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). (b) When He defers it till some other time when He thinks best (Daniel 9:1; 2 Chronicles 36:22; Revelation 6:10-11). (c) When He gives us instead thereof something which is as good or better. 2. Alms. Not thy prayer only, saith the angel, but thine alms also are come up for a remembrance. For alms is a kind of prayer, namely, a visible one, and such an one as prevails as strongly with God for a blessing as any other (Psalms 41:1-3; Proverbs 19:17; Proverbs 28:27; Proverbs 11:25; Ecclesiastes 11:1). These are for corporal blessings, and of this life. But hear also for spiritual blessings, and those of the life to come (Psalms 112:9; Luke 16:9; 1 Timothy 6:17; Matthew 25:34-35). III. The reasons why God requires them and why they are so pleasing unto Him: which reasons when they are known, will be also strong motives.1. Prayer. The reasons why God requires this are these-- (1) That we might acknowledge the property He hath in the gifts He bestows upon us: otherwise we would forget in what tenure we hold them. (2) That we might be acquainted with God (Job 22:21. Now acquaintance we know grows amongst men by conversing together. So by accustoming to speak to God in prayer we grow acquainted with Him. (3) That our hearts may be kept in order. For to come often into the presence of God breeds an holy awe, and makes us to call our sins to remembrance with sorrow. Men are afraid to offend those into whose presence they must often come to ask and sue for favours; and if they have offended, the first thing they do will be to sue for pardon. 2. Alms. We are to offer alms-- (1) To testify our acknowledgment of whom we received and of whom we hold what we have. For as by prayer we ask God’ s creatures before we can enjoy them; so when we have them there is another homage due for them, namely, of thanksgiving, without which the use of the creature which God gives us is unclean and unlawful to us (1 Timothy 4:4). Now our thanksgiving to God must express itself in work and deed; that is, we must yield Him a rent and tribute of what we enjoy by His favour and blessing; which if we do not, we lose our tenure. This rent is two fold: either that which is offered unto God for the maintenance of His worship and ministers; or that which is given for the relief of the poor, the orphan, and the widow, which is called alms. (2) That we might not forget God (Matthew 6:19-20; Luke 12:33). The proper evil of abundance is to forget God and our dependence upon Him, the remedy whereof most genuine and natural is to pay Him a rent of what we have. (J. Mede.)Prayer and almsgiving I. Prayer.1. Its nature--the ascent of the mind to God. When the soul lays aside the thoughts of all things else and converses only with God, then it prays. (1) When we speak to so glorious a Majesty we ought to begin by confessing our unworthiness (Ezra 9:6-9; Psalms 51:1-5; Daniel 9:3-5). (2) And as we are to confess our sins so we are to beg for mercy. (3) And as we must desire of God what we want, so must we praise Him for what we have (Psalms 107:8). 2. The reasons why it is acceptable to God. (1) In praying we come as near as we can to the principal end of our creation, which was to enjoy communion with God. (2). Hereby we acknowledge His supremacy over and propriety in the world, by paying daily homage and tribute of thanks. (3) Especially we give Him the glory due to His Name which is the ultimate end of His, and ought to be of all our actions (Psalms 50:23; Psalms 24:1). 3. How to perform it acceptably. (1) You must know that it is a duty of that weight and moment that it is not to be undertaken without due preparation beforehand. (a) Lay aside all earthly thoughts. (b) Bethink yourselves of the mercies for which you should pray and those for which you should give thanks. (c) Get your hearts possessed with a sense of God’ s transcendent excellency. (2) Having thus prepared yourselves set upon the work itself: and while praying-- (a) Remember what you are doing and carry yourselves with that reverence which becomes sinful creatures (Hebrews 12:28-29). (b) Be sure to observe the wise man’ s counsel (Ecclesiastes 5:2; Isaiah 66:1; Genesis 18:27-32). (c) Have a great care to keep your thoughts and affections together (1 Corinthians 14:15). (d) Pray in faith, desiring nothing but in the name of Christ (John 16:23). (3) After prayer--that it may be accepted and answered-- (a) Recollect yourselves and consider the sins you have confessed that you may avoid them, and what mercies you have begged that you may expect them (Mark 11:24; James 1:5-6).(b) Trust in Christ for the acceptance and answer of your prayers (Mark 11:24). 4. Its advantages. (1) Such solemn addresses to the Most High will refine and enlarge your conceptions of Him, and so you will be more and more acquainted with Him, and in and through Christ ingratiate yourselves with Him (Job 22:21). (2) This will also be an excellent means to keep our hearts in a continual awe of Him. (3) This is the most powerful way to prevent all evil and secure all good. If we lack wisdom, by prayer we may get it (James 1:5). If we be sick, by prayer we may be recovered (James 5:15). If our sins be many and great, by prayer they may be pardoned (Psalms 32:5-6). If our graces be weak, by prayer they may be strengthened (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). II. Almsgiving.1. The nature of this duty--the supplying of others’ necessities to the utmost of our power whatever they may be--feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, relieving the afflicted, being kind and liberal to all. 2. Its reasonableness. (1) God, as He is the Maker, so is He the Owner of all things, and therefore we can have nothing but what we receive from Him. He is the Landlord, you His tenant, and He requires you to pay Him rent to be employed in His immediate service, or else for the relief of His poorer servants (Matthew 26:11). (2) He has imposed this duty to make you always mindful of your obligations to Him. A confluence of earthly enjoyments is apt to make us forget Him (Hosea 13:6; Deuteronomy 32:15-18). Hence Agur feared riches (Proverbs 30:8-9). (3) God requires this duty because this is the means whereby He has provided for persons who are destitute of other maintenance (Malachi 3:8; Proverbs 3:27). Seeing, therefore, God has strictly required this duty, and there being such reasons for it, it cannot but be acceptable to Him, and its neglect displeasing. What we do to the poor He regards as done to Himself (Matthew 25:40-45; Proverbs 14:31). 3. The manner in which it is to be performed. (1) Purely out of obedience to God, for His sake who first gave. (2) Universally--to everyone in need, i.e., not to our own friends only, nor only when we are in a good humour, or applied to, or likely to get credit. (3) Not reluctantly (Deuteronomy 15:10; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Romans 12:8; Acts 20:35). (4) Proportionably to what God has given us (1 Corinthians 16:2). (5) Sincerely, and not to gain applause. III. The connection between the two. Both went up to heaven together. There can be no true piety towards God that is not accompanied with charity towards our neighbour. This applies to all acts of piety. No man can fear, honour, obey, or trust in God who is not kind to his brother. As for its principal act--prayer--the teaching of Scripture is plain that it will not be accepted if severed from alms. Hence Christ joins the two (Matthew 6:1-6), and Paul (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), and Moses (Exodus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:16-17). (Bp. Beveridge.)Praying and almsgiving 1. Alms are the correlative of prayers, branches from a common stem--the moral law, which enjoins love to God and love to man. The man who really prays fulfils the first branch; the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man, such as was Cornelius, is the expression of man’ s duty to God. It is called “ incense” partly from its reaching the Throne of Grace, as incense soars to the sky; partly from its spiritual fragrance and acceptability. And the man who acts in the true spirit of almsgiving equally fulfils the second branch. The act passes further than our neighbour; it comes before God as a memorial and finds also in the fragrant, soaring incense its Scriptural emblem (Philippians 4:18). 2. Thus prayer and almsgiving are coordinate, which alone lends a value to the latter. We have been suspicious of it as though we heard a legal ring instead of genuine gospel coin, a means of justification by the law, instead of faith in Christ. But almsgiving need be no more a work of human merit than prayer. Neither can justify the sinner; that is the prerogative of Christ’ s atonement. But both “ come up for a memorial before God” when offered in faith, even in such imperfect faith as that of Cornelius. 3. But as it is not every so-called prayer, so it is not every alms of which this can be predicated. In both the act has become detached from the spirit which alone can render it acceptable. Prayer is performed merely because conscience or She usages of society exact it. And alms are extorted reluctantly with the feeling that any petition for them is an importunity of which we would willingly be rid. In such cases neither are acceptable. 4. If either is to come up as a memorial before God it must be offered not on a casual impulse, the mere inspiration of a happy moment, but on principle. As regards prayer this is acknowledged. No one thinks he has acquitted himself of his duty unless he has prayed systematically. No one could satisfy his conscience by lifting up his heart to God only when he found himself in a happy frame. For-- (1) The duty which is left to a convenient season is sure to find no season convenient: he who is apt to defer sailing till wind, weather, and tide are all in his favour is apt to end in not sailing at all. (2) Prayer is not simply the duty of the individual soul, but an act of homage to God: thus they must be offered systematically. All this is conceded as regards prayer, but as regards almsgiving how different the view generally taken. Instead of recognising a certain proportion of his income as being due to God, the modern Christian abandons himself for the most part to appeals, and helps those objects only when his sympathies are stirred. A charity sermon awakens a kindly interest, or there are cases of distress personally known, and he responds without the slightest idea of the proportion his alms bear to his resources. 5. Modern almsgiving being thus for the most part the result of impulse rather than principle, has adjusted itself to the sentiments of the majority. Money must be had for benevolence; and as it is not to be had upon principle, it must be had by an appeal to sensibilities, or even by more questionable methods. Inducements to give are held out by the showy oratory of the public meeting, the little dissipation of the bazaar, or the luxury of the public dinner. The least objectionable form is the charity sermon. But even this is not the true way. If the standard of Christian sentiment and practice at all resemble that of early days this would be unnecessary (1 Corinthians 16:1). The Primitive Church acted on this precept, and a trace of their practice is found in that office of the Holy Communion called the offertory. In the course of the liturgy, or service of communion, offerings of money, food, or clothing, were made by the congregation, which went to the poor, the bishop, the fabric of the church, and the subordinate clergy respectively. Chrysostom tell us that the Christians never entered church without giving alms; so deeply were the minds of our fathers imbued with the connection between alms and prayer. Now without enforcing the same form we may surely say that the methodical principle is as binding as ever. 6. All that is necessary in order to this is a little time, trouble, and moral courage. Let us settle what proportion of our income is due to works of piety or charity. The proportion will vary as it is subtracted from a very narrow income or a very large one; but that being settled, all that follows may be done with a small expenditure of time. A private account is opened showing on the one side all our receipts and on the other our charitable expenditure. This is examined periodically, and should it appear that the expenditure comes up to the proportion we have determined upon, well and good; should it exceed (a rare occurrence) the excess may be balanced by retrenchment; should it fall short it should be made a point of conscience to make it up at once. If everyone would act thus the resources of deserving charities would never fail. 7. But benefits of a much higher kind would accrue to the giver. It would greatly contribute to that peace of mind which is so essential an element of spiritual progress. And again the very satisfactoriness of the process would lead to a further advance in the same direction. He who has conscientiously given one-twentieth this year may be urged to give one-tenth next. The appetite for Christian liberality will grow when it is healthily indulged instead of being morbidly stimulated. And that wretched feeling that every fresh appeal is an exaction would cease. 8. The offerings made to God out of this treasury, if made with faith in His name are represented as memorials of us in heaven. The beautiful act of the woman in Simon’ s house was rewarded in a similar manner. Do you desire that your name should be known in heaven? Aspire with devout prayers and seek Christ with devout sympathies in His representatives. Multiply acts of faith and love, and these will keep alive remembrance of you in the heavenly court, where no remembrance is without a requital. Cornelius was recompensed by the visit of an angel and an apostle, the glad tidings, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Dean Goulburn.)Giving as an act of worship I. What is worship?1. It will be a sufficient answer to say that love, faith, and obedience are the graces chiefly exercised. We cannot worship whom we do not love, in whom we do not believe, or whom we refuse to obey. All these graces are implied in praise, thanksgiving, confession, supplication, and intercession, and where they exist we have all the essential conditions of acceptable worship. 2. But external acts are required as well as internal conditions. Under the Old Testament the offering of sacrifices, etc.; under the New, the sacraments together with such other forms as may be expressive of this required inward state. 3. That we may not hide our light under bushel--that we may give tangible form to our love, faith, and obedience; that God may be publicly glorified, and that those about us may be benefited, we are required to worship Him in the use of external and visible forms. II. Are these essential conditions of worship ever found in almsgiving? Giving is a most natural expression of these graces. They are implied in the word “ memorial” --that which brings to remembrance (Leviticus 2:2-16). The same Greek word in the Septuagint. Observe: All giving is not worship. If it is not unto God, if done grudgingly, if done with low conceptions of the duty, it may be offensive. III. Advantages of giving as an act of worship.1. It lifts the whole department of Christian duty to a higher plane. It removes it from the region of beggary. It no longer treats God as if He was some Lazarus seeking the crumbs that otherwise we would give to the dogs. 2. It makes giving a joyous service. 3. It makes giving a means of grace. (W. F. Beatty, D. D.)Giving and praying The venerable Father Sewall, of Maine, once entered a meeting in behalf of foreign missions, just as the collectors of the contributions were resuming their seats. The chairman of the meeting requested him to lead in prayer. The old gentleman stood, hesitatingly, as if he had not heard the request. It was repeated in a louder voice; but there was no response. It was observed, however, that Mr. Sewall was fumbling in his pockets, and presently he produced a piece of money, which he deposited in the contribution box. The chairman, thinking he had not been understood, said loudly, “ I didn’ t ask you to give, Father Sewall; I asked you to pray.” “ Oh, yes,” he replied, “ I heard you, but I can’ t pray till I have given something.” (N. T. Anecdotes.)Devotion and beneficence A coloured Presbyterian deacon was in the habit of shutting his eyes, while he sang with great unction, “ Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel!” and not seeing the contribution plate. “ Oh, yes!” said the plate bearer; “ but you just give something to make it fly.” Prayer and gifts A poor man who had a large family gave them a very comfortable support while he was in health. He broke his leg, and was laid up for some weeks. As he would be for some time destitute of the means of grace, it was proposed to hold a prayer meeting at his house. The meeting was led by Deacon Brown. A loud knock at the door interrupted the service. A tall, lank, blue-frocked youngster stood at the door with an ox goad in his hand, and asked to see Deacon Brown. “ Father could not attend this meeting,” he said; “ but he sent his prayers, and they are out in the cart.” They were brought in, in the shape of potatoes, beef, pork, and corn. The meeting broke up without the benediction. Nor did the poor fellow suffer during his whole confinement. The substantial prayers of the donors became means of grace.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The best almsgiving S. Carlo Borromeo, the great patron of idle almsgiving, came hither (the palace and church buildings of Caprarolo) to see it when it was completed, and complained that so much money had not been given to the poor instead. “ I have let them have it all little by little,” said Alessandro Farnese, “ but I have made them earn it by the sweat of their brows.” (A. J. C. Hare.)Beneficence, Godlike Men resemble the gods in nothing so much as in doing good. (Cicero.)Beneficence known to God A poor Irishwoman went to a venerable priest in Boston, and asked him to forward to Ireland her help for the famine sufferers. “ How much can you spare?” asked the priest. “ I have a hundred dollars saved,” she said, “ and I can spare that.” The priest reasoned with her, saying that her gift was too great for her means, but she was firm in her purpose. It would do her good to know teat she had helped; she could rest happier thinking of the poor families she had saved from hunger and death. The priest received her money with moistened eyes. “ Now, what is your name?” he asked, “ that I may have it published.” “ My name?” said the brave soul, counting over her money; “ don’ t mind that, sir. Just send them the help--and God will know my name.” Beneficence recompensed by God A poor man came one day to Michael Feneberg, the pastor of Seeg, in Bavaria, and bogged three crowns, that he might finish his journey. It was all that Feneberg had; but as he besought him earnestly in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus he gave it. Immediately afterwards he found himself in great outward need, and seeing no way of relief, he prayed, “ Lord, I lent Thee three crowns; Thou hast not yet returned them, and Thou knowest how I need them. Lord, I pray Thee give them back.” The same day brought a messenger with a money letter, which Gossner, his assistant, reached over to him, saying, “ Here, father, is what you expended.” It contained two hundred thalers, or about one hundred and fifty dollars, which the poor traveller had begged from a rich man for the vicar; and the childlike old man, in joyful amazement, cried out, “ Ah, Lord, one dare ask nothing of Thee, for straightway, Thou makest one feel so much ashamed.” (H. T. Williams.)Beneficence, a Christian obligation As the moon doth show her light to the world which she receiveth from the sun; so we ought to bestow the benefits received of God to the profit of our neighbour. (Cawdray.) Acts 10:9-16 On the morrow … Peter went up upon the housetop to pray.Retirement necessary for prayer Have you noticed that if all day long there is not a knock at the door, there will be one if you retire to pray? It is wise to do as the Saviour says, “ Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut to the door, pray to thy Father that seeth in secret.” That shutting of the door means that we are to seek secrecy, and to prevent interruption. A little boy, who was accustomed to spend a time every day in prayer, went up into a hayloft, and when he climbed into the hayloft he always pulled the ladder up after him. Some one asked him why he did so. He answered, “ As there is no door, I pull up the ladder.” Oh, that we could always in some way cut the connection between our soul and the intruding things which lurk below! There is a story told of me and of some person, I never knew who it was, who desired to see me on a Saturday night, when I had shut myself up to make ready for the Sabbath. He was very great and important, so the maid came to say that someone desired to see me. I bade her say that it was my rule to see no one at that time. Then he was more important and impressive still, and said, “ Tell Mr. Spurgeon that a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ desires to see him immediately.” The frightened servant brought the message; but the sender gained little by it, for my answer was, “ Tell him I am busy with his Master, and cannot see servants now.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Peter’ s vision 1. When Cornelius, the Gentile, prayed in his house, it was at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer among the Jews; when Peter, the Jew, prayed, it was at the sixth hour, or noon, which was not one of the stated times. This is worthy of being noticed as occurring at a time when in far greater matters the Jews were about to become as the Gentiles, the Gentiles as the Jews. This is the second instance of the great honour put upon prayer. A praying Gentile is the first uncircumcised person admitted into the Christian Church. A praying apostle the instrument employed to bring about this happy consummation. And to each was his own blessing given at the very time when he was in the exercise of prayer. It is well for Christians to have fixed hours of prayer; and though they should not be in bondage to such hours, yet without good reason they should not depart from them. There is in our hearts such a backwardness to so spiritual a duty, that if we do not charge it upon our conscience to observe the hour, the world will find us other employment. Peter observed the time, and was careful also in selecting the place for prayer: in the temple at the stated hours, at other times in the best adapted part of the house. He affords in this an edifying example. The house of God is open to all: at the stated times the rich and the poor may repair thither; and, surely, on the Lord’ s day, all, unless distance or sickness hinders, should offer both their morning and their evening sacrifice. As to private prayer, many have not the advantage of a private apartment. But men can accommodate themselves to circumstances. Noise is a disturber of sleep; but men who live in the midst of noise can sleep in the midst of it as if in the stillest solitude. And thus a poor Christian may pray with much collectedness in the midst of interruptions which would altogether discompose others, and what a man’ s house does not afford the open field does. 2. But wherever a man is praying, the great point is to let prayer be his one business, to be absorbed in it. Peter, while he prayed, was in a trance; the world was altogether shut out from him. A man in prayer should have his senses, memory, imagination, closed against all other objects, and should converse with God alone. This would be the way to behold heaven indeed opened, and blessings of every kind descending upon him; for prayer is the key which opens heaven, unlocks its sacred treasures, and brings down the richest gifts both of providence and grace on the head of the supplicant. 3. Yes, every good and every perfect gift is from above, etc. And the vision of Peter affords a lively illustration of this truth. If, instead of buying what we know has been killed in the slaughter house, we saw a vessel descend from heaven, and if, after we had taken out of it what was sufficient for our repast, we saw it again taken up into heaven, we should feel that the food thus given was indeed sent down from God. But in that case the truth would not be more certain than it is now. For, whence came these creatures into being? Who gave them the properties which render them fit for meat? And who keeps up the successive generations of them from age to age? For a season, and to answer a particular purpose, a great restriction was put upon these creatures. But from the beginning it was not so. The grant to Noah is unlimited--“ Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things.” And now that the law with its ceremonies and carnal ordinances is abolished, to us this original grant is restored in all its fulness. We know that “ every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” Oh, why do we not thus sanctify our meals? To do so would give a sweetness to the humblest fare, and exalt our ordinary repasts into means of grace. And surely, when all things are become lawful to us, and no other restraints laid on us than those of charity and temperance, our larger liberty demands from us more abundant thanksgiving. But the doing away of all distinction between clean and unclean in meats is a light matter in comparison of the doing away of all distinction between clean and unclean in persons. The Jews considered all but themselves unclean. To remove this prejudice, the vision significantly taught that God had cleansed them, in order to comprehend which we must understand two things. First, that He looked upon them as clean, as fit to be received into the covenant. Every person who is born into the world is really unclean--Jew and Gentile alike, for there is no difference. But hitherto God regarded the Jews as clean, and admitted their children by circumcision into His covenant, giving them the seal of righteousness by faith, while the Gentiles He accounted unclean, and such were not admitted without circumcision. But now men of every nation were accounted clean, and could be received into the Church by baptism on professing their faith in Christ; and the children of such parents were holy, and would be admitted into the Christian Church by baptism. But the gospel covenant not only cleanses from legal uncleanness; it provides also for inward cleansing and meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. (J. Fawcett, M. A.)Peter’ s vision The world has had seven birthdays.1. The creation.2. The day of the unfolding of redemptive purpose.3. The call of Abraham.4. Christmas Day.5. Ascension Day.6. The Day of Pentecost.7. The day which banned the distinctions of race and creed and opened the kingdom to all. I. The new revelation in its manner and method.1. Peter had sought retirement for prayer. Prayer has a subjective influence. Perceptive faculties are refined and stimulated. Christ’ s physical form was transfigured. 2. After prayer there was ecstasy. Intuition quickened by the Holy Spirit. Equivalent to the “ opening” of eyes and ears. Not delirium or rhapsody. Men should cultivate “ the faculty divine,” and expect the Spirit to “ take the things of Christ and show them” (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). II. The meaning of the vision.1. The abrogation of the ceremonial law as of binding obligation (Romans 14:14; Romans 14:17). 2. The separations of men no longer lawful. The narrowness of old Judaism contrary to the all-embracing spirit of gospel grace. No class is to be favoured at the expense of another. Two great ideas are thus suggested. (1) That of the Divine Fatherhood.(2) That of the brotherhood of man. (Preacher’s Monthly.)The Petrine vision at Joppa There is something very restful in the picture drawn for us of St. Peter at this crisis. There is none of that feverish hurry and restlessness which make some good men and their methods very trying to others. St. Peter, indeed, did not live in an age of telegrams and postcards and express trains, which all contribute more or less to that feverish activity and restlessness so characteristic of this age. But even if he had lived in such a time, I am sure his faith in God would have saved him from that fussiness, that life of perpetual hurry, yet never bringing forth any abiding fruit, which we behold in so many moderns. It is no wonder such men’ s fussiness should be fruitless, because their natures are poor, shallow, uncultivated, where their seed springs up rapidly but brings forth no fruit to perfection, because it has no deepness of earth. It is no wonder that St. Peter should have spoken with power at Caesarea and been successful in opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, because he prepared himself for doing the Divine work by the discipline of meditation, and thought, and spiritual converse with his risen Lord. I. The place.1. Joppa has been from ancient times the port of Jerusalem, and is even now rising into somewhat of its former commercial greatness, specially owing to the late development of the orange trade, for the production of which fruit Jaffa or Joppa has become famous. Three thousand years ago Joppa was a favourite resort of the Phoenician fleets (2 Chronicles 2:16). At a later period, when God would send Jonah on a mission to Gentile Nineveh, and when Jonah desired to thwart God’ s merciful designs towards the outer world, the prophet fled to Joppa and there took ship. And now again Joppa becomes the refuge of another prophet, who feels the same natural hesitation about admitting the Gentiles to God’ s mercy, but who, unlike Jonah, yields immediate assent to the heavenly message, and finds peace and blessing in the paths of loving obedience. 2. It was with Simon, the tanner of Joppa, that St. Peter was staying. Tanners as a class were despised and comparatively outcast among the Jews. Tanning was counted an unclean trade, because of the necessary contact with dead bodies which it involved. Yet it was to a tanner’ s house that the apostle made his way, and there he lodged for many days, showing that the mind even of St. Peter was steadily rising above narrow Jewish prejudices into that higher and nobler atmosphere where he learned in fullest degree that no man and no lawful trade is to be counted common or unclean. II. The time. Joppa is thirty miles from Caesarea. The leading coast towns were then connected by an excellent road. The centurion’ s messengers doubtless travelled on horseback, leading spare beasts for the accommodation of the apostle. Less than twenty-four hours after their departure from Caesarea they drew nigh to Joppa, and then it was that God revealed His purposes to His beloved servant. The very hour can be fixed. Cornelius saw the angel at the ninth hour, when he “ was keeping the hour of prayer.” Peter saw the vision at the sixth hour, when he went up on the housetop to pray, according to the example of the Psalmist (Psalms 55:18). St. Peter evidently was a careful observer of all the forms amid which his youthful training had been conducted. He did not seek in the name of spiritual religion to discard these old forms. He recognised the danger of any such course. Forms may often tend to formalism on account of the weakness of human nature. But they also help to preserve and guard the spirit of ancient institutions in times of sloth and decay, till the Spirit from on high again breathes upon the dry bones and imparts fresh life. St. Peter used the forms of Jewish externalism, imparting to them some of his own intense earnestness, and the Lord set His seal of approval upon his action by revealing the purposes of His mercy and love to the Gentile world at the noontide hour of prayer. III. The vision. To the mere man of sense or to the mere carnal mind St. Peter’ s hunger may seem a simple natural operation, but to the devout believer it appears as Divinely planned in order that a spiritual satisfaction and completeness may be imparted to his soul unconsciously craving after a fuller knowledge of the Divine will. And if St. Peter’ s hunger was taken up and incorporated with the Divine plan of salvation, we may be sure that our own wants and trials do not escape the omniscient eye of Him who plans all our lives, appointing the end from the very beginning. St. Peter was hungry, and as food was preparing he fell into a trance, and then the vision answering in its form to the hunger which he felt was granted. The hour had at last come for the manifestation of God’ s everlasting purposes, when the sacred society should assume its universal privileges and stand forth resplendent in its true character as God’ s Holy Catholic Church--of which the Temple had been a temporary symbol and pledge--a house of prayer for all nations, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the Great King, until the consummation of all things. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)The vision of Peter 1. “ A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven” (John 3:27; James 1:17). As a single seed of corn cannot unfold itself without the quickening influence and care of God, so the immortal seed, through which we become “ the first fruits of His creatures,” must be vivified by the Almighty! We do not see this influence descend; we only observe the unfolding after it is completed. We see the rose bloom, but not the act of blossoming; but how can we doubt the care of an Almighty hand, or the wafting around it of an invisible breath? All depends on God’ s blessing (2 Corinthians 3:5). How could we come to God if God had not first come to us! He must bless our labour, and work in us both to will and to do. This work of God in us is a mystery, yet not altogether incomprehensible; it is like the visible and palpable influence of the sun. In order to exhibit this truth we have here a visible example of the invisible influence of God, and of the descent of His Holy Spirit. We may also be assured from the history that if we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all things that we need shall be added unto us. 2. The gospel history has depicted with peculiar openness the character of Peter. The Lord had given him the surname of “ Rock,” not merely in reference to what he should become, but also to that which he was by nature. He was distinguished from the rest of our Lord’ s followers by an impetuosity of temper which seems to have been born with him, and which showed itself by obstinately holding any opinion which the mind had once embraced. None of the disciples gainsaid our Lord so often as Peter. When Jesus told them of His approaching sufferings, he said, “ Be it far from Thee.” When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, Peter withstood Him. In his fall also, in spite of his better judgment, he showed a stubborn obstinacy. He also subjected himself in Antioch to the severe reproof of Paul, when, to please the Jews, he once more came under the bondage of the Levitical law, to the offence of the Gentile Church. The Bible has never been silent with regard to the human weakness and errors of its heroes. 3. It appears to have been particularly difficult for the apostle to comprehend the counsel of God with regard to the calling of the Gentiles. Though he had announced at Pentecost that the Lord was about to call those who were afar off, yet he did not say this from himself, but from the Spirit of the Lord. The time and the hour, the grand moment of the second birth of the world, was now come. Our Lord had often alluded to it before, “ Other sheep I have which are not of this fold,” etc. On another occasion He praised and rewarded the faith both of a Canaanitish woman and a Gentile centurion. He had also commanded His apostles to go to all nations and preach the gospel to every creature. Peter, who found it so difficult to wean himself from the old covenant, had to begin the work of God among the Gentiles. The beginning, however, must first be made in himself. 4. Peter went up about midday to pray on the flat roof of the house. The Jews were fond of praying there under the open heaven, because they were here undisturbed, and could turn their face towards the temple. In this circumstance we may perceive how Peter continued faithfully to observe the rules and customs of Judaism, little aware that they were soon to cease, and give place to the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth. After he had finished his prayer “ he became very hungry, and would have eaten,” but he must now be fed with other food. He was entranced, i.e., transported out of his natural state into a supernatural one; his outward senses were closed, but the eyes of his inner man were opened, that he might behold heavenly things. “ He saw heaven opened,” etc. This was done thrice, to strengthen the impression of the Divine testimony. In this vision we behold the condescension of our Lord. The whole of revelation is a letting down, a humanisation of the invisible God; through it alone can man come to his heavenly Father and become His child. Almost all the Old Testament consists of types and similitudes. Even in this day of light we see through a glass darkly the secrets of the future and perfected kingdom of heaven; yet the time shall come when we shall see them face to face. Thus the Apostle Peter, like all the prophets who were before him, was led to a higher knowledge gradually. We see also in this vision that something entirely new was about to begin in the kingdom of God upon earth. The prophet had for ages foretold it; and our Lord Himself had ordained and predicted it; but the contracted view of the disciples could not distinguish it; therefore the thing itself was done, and they were led to comprehend it slowly and gradually. The lightning’ s flash destroys the aged tree; but the gentle daylight develops a new life out of what seems passed away and decayed. This new light removed the old covenant and declared the new, by which all the Gentiles, without the law, were led into the path of grace. 5. The time of distinction and separation was now to cease (Ephesians 2:13-16). “ Kill and eat,” said the voice; the same which commanded Isaiah to write, “ They shall bring an offering unto the Lord out of all nations,” (chap. 66); the same which inspired Paul to say in Romans (chap. 15), “ That the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.” The sanctification of the Gentiles has been going on, even to the present day, and will continue to go on until all be fulfilled which God has promised. Conclusion: We have visions and words from heaven no longer; we have both in our Bible; nor is there ever awanting a manifestation of the mind of God in daily occurrences, in providential events, and, above all, in the secret history of our souls; thus beholding God in everything, what is in itself common and unclean becomes purified and sanctified; and in this way is the grace of God revealed to all men. (F. A. Krummacher, D. D.)An apostle dreaming 1. Aspiring! Hungering! Sleeping! Such manner of creatures we are; strange conjunctions of spirit and flesh, of heaven and earth; in whom “ thoughts that wander through eternity” are stopped by needs and cravings identical with those of “ all cattle and creeping things” ; in whom are arms that reach after the Infinite, with the stomach and the appetites of the behest; one minute lost in lofty meditation, the next yawning for bed, or responding with moist mouth to the odour of baked meats. Yet, “ where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” and there eating and sleeping are never wholly of the earth earthy. The meal refines more or less toward the grace of a sacrament, and again and again into the slumber heaven opens. There is an ethereal way of getting your dinner, in which the soul both gives and receives; and some men are greater often in visions than others in their intensest and most active wakefulness. The apostle who prayed, slept after a godly sort, was capable of being Divinely touched and taught through his dreams. There is a latent heavenliness in the flesh of an eminent saint, and there are heavenly possibilities in the saint’ s sleep. He is more susceptible at all times to communications and impressions from the Lord. 2. Some men can hardly afford to stand at ease and unoccupied without running the risk of immediate invasions from beneath. An habitual downward bent leaves them open in their dreams to hell. But to the pure and lofty heart, its loose, lazy intervals are frequently among its most growing and nourishing times, when that which it loves supremely, and is accustomed to cultivate, visits it without being sought, when its very quiescence becomes a clear mirror, in which new Divine messages form and flash. If only we are earnest, thoughtful, and nobly aspiring, we need not be afraid in the least to pause and play now and then, nor imagine that such occasional abandonment must be fruitless in relation to our higher aims. We are revealed by that which flows in upon us in empty, unemployed moments; and blessed are they to whom in these moments the best has first and facile entrance, whose vacancies angels rush to fill, and with whose earthiest elements heaven can freely mix and blend. 3. But no heavenly susceptibility, however large and fine, will exempt us from having to ask at times, What is it? Is it phantom or reality? Is it God or devil? St. Peter was left wondering whether the strange scenery amidst which he had been moving in the land of slumber was really the shrine of a Divine communication, or merely a coloured vapour exhaled from the sensation of hunger. And how often, in our waking moments, have we been visited with mental glimpses or impressions that we could not understand! “ Why,” he asked, “ have I seen this thing, which yields to my inquiry no fruit of admonition or instruction?” Yet such fruit it was designed to yield him, and would, ere long; not, however, by continued brooding over it, but in the course of events. Let him wait until summoned to come down to men who are even now on their way to the tanner’ s house, and then all will grow clear. Well, is it not often thus, that life comes in time to explain the Divine reason, concerning which we have wondered, perhaps fretfully, why we were submitted to them, and have thought that they might have been spared us without loss or detriment? And yet long afterwards, maybe, we have discovered that they were not for nothing. In some later crisis of life we have found them contributing to excite and strengthen us for it. We have lived to find in our life the fruit of some of those experiences, the Divine message of which we have been unable to read, have lived to learn that they were needful for us and could not have been spared. We have felt as, in listening to the deputation from Cornelius, St. Peter felt with respect to his mysterious dream. Ah! this is why they occurred; this is what they were intended to fit us for! (S. A. Tipple.)And he save heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending.--The comprehensiveness of the gospel The gospel is here compared to-- I. A great sheet. A small sheet would not suffice to convey the truth God was about to reveal--that all nations were to be gathered into His Church. Judaism was only a small sheet, just big enough to cover Palestine. But Christianity was a “ great sheet” --a clear hint as to its cosmopolitan character. Christianity as let down from heaven is larger than as reproduced inhuman creeds; as revealed by God it is larger than as apprehended by man. The tendency of man is to narrow the love of God, to contract the Divine sheet till it becomes no bigger than a pocket handkerchief. But just as the creation is larger than science, so is the Church of God greater than any one particular Church. Just as God is greater than man, so is the Divine revelation more comprehensive than any creed formulated by human wisdom. “ Our little systems have their day,” etc. II. Let down from heaven. The idea of the comprehensiveness of the gospel has come down from God.1. You will not find it in heathenism. The idea of universal fellowship based on universal equality never occurred to any philosopher. True, there was a dark, unconscious feeling after it. Plato’ s republic was a strenuous groping after the Christian kingdom of God; but it falls far short of it, because it places the ground of unity in the intellect instead of in the spiritual nature. That is only a republic among philosophers; the labouring classes are reduced to a condition of hopeless servitude. 2. You will not find it in Judaism. A few prophetic intimations were given in the Old Testament that the Gentiles would pay homage to the Messiah; but how they were to reap the benefits of redemption was not known. Now, however, the mystery is made known, but the majority of the believers utterly failed to realise it, and sought to discredit it. Upon this truth hinged the great controversy of the apostolic age; and so novel was it, so contrary to the current of thought of the age, that it took the whole lifetime of the apostles to establish it. A great truth is always slow to be apprehended by the masses of men. Take, for instance, gravitation. At the time of Sir Isaac’ s death no astronomer above forty years of age believed in it. Take again the principle of Free Trade; today England is the only country which thoroughly believes in it, and not all England. But these truths were not by any means of the same consequence to society as the important truth taught Peter. III. Knit at the four corners. The gospel is to extend its frontiers and to exert its influence over the four quarters of the globe.1. God began with a family. He calls Abraham and separates him to Himself. In Genesis, accordingly, we find family religion the first step in the recovery of the lost world. In Genesis God has a cause, though not a kingdom--just a few worshippers, but no visible organisation. 2. After the family comes the nation. Out of Abraham’ s posterity God formed a nation for Himself. That is progress. It would not do to take any nation. It was necessary to have a people whose fundamental characteristic was religiousness; and it was equally necessary to train them, else they would constitute a kingdom of the devil. Judaism was not a very spiritual kingdom, but it was the best which could be established under the circumstances, and served as a nucleus for a more spiritual kingdom to come. But this kingdom could only be continued on two conditions: that it be small in extent, and that it be fenced off from the rest of the world. If it were wide in area, the sense of oneness in the subjects would have been weakened, if not destroyed, in the early stage of spiritual education. If it were not partitioned off, there would be such a rush of world life into it that the Divine element would soon be quenched. The laws of this kingdom, however, as of every new kingdom, point to defensive, not aggressive, measures, which is as much as it can do for centuries in presence of the huge world powers; and in order to defence it must be consolidated in one country and one nation. 3. But as the family merged in the nation, so the nation must merge in the world. The text evidently points out that another bold move forward is about to be made. Peter is directed to go and convert Cornelius, an uncircumcised heathen. His conversion created more excitement than any single conversion on record, not because one more soul was added, but because of the new principle it embodied, the new policy it served to inaugurate. Circumcision was here declared to be nothing, and uncircumcision nothing, but to many they were then everything. This shows a marvellous change in the policy of the kingdom. Henceforth it is to act on the aggressive. It is no longer to be confined to one people--it claims all nations. “ God shall enlarge Japheth, and He shall dwell in the tents of Shem.” Shem means concentration, Japheth expansion. Therein we have summed up the characteristics of religion among the Asiatics and Europeans. IV. Containing all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. Peter is here taught that the distinction between clean and unclean is abolished.1. We trace here the same progress. First, the family is made clean. Through the fall the whole creation had become common and profane. Is it to remain so? Is God to be forever cheated out of the world His hands had made? No; He resolves to reclaim it. Not, however, all at once. God will make a beginning by separating one family. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are each separated, made clean unto God. 2. Will God stop there? No; the order of His operation is progress. The Israelites, like all other nations, were by nature unclean, lying under the curse. But by the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant they were made clean. But this nation is the “ first fruits.” Not only man had become unclean, but the irrational creation. Sin struck the universe with leprosy to its very heart. The animal creation, therefore, needs to be made clean. The clean nation must have clean food. God accordingly cleanses certain species of animals. Behold then a small proportion of the rational and irrational creation made clean by the establishment of the kingdom of God. In Genesis all the world, with the exception of one family only, is unclean; but in Exodus, one nation, at least, and a certain proportion of animals, have been made clean. That is progress anyhow. 3. Is the rest of the world to remain under the dominion of sin? No; the kingdom of God under the New Testament undertakes the task of cleansing the whole universe. The difference once established between the Jews and other nations is annulled, not because the Jews are made unclean, but because the Gentiles are made clean. The whole world was lying under the curse, and therefore unclean; but Jesus Christ was made a curse for the world, and consequently lifted it from men and animals. Since His sacrifice the world in its totality is clean, not morally, but judicially. What Judaism did ceremonially for one nation, Christianity has done efficaciously for all nations. The whole world is now clean. All mankind now virtually belong to the kingdom of God, and it is the paramount duty of the Church to take possession of them in the name of the Redeemer and make them so in reality. “ What God hath cleansed call not thou common.” “ Clean” --this is the keyword of the kingdom of God. Beauty was the keyword of Greek civilisation; strength of the Roman; but the keyword of Christianity is “ clean.” V. After the vision came the interpretation.1. Peter thought on the vision. This truth of revelation was to become a truth of reason. The Church is to continue its study of the Divine Word till all the truths of revelation become at last truths of reason. Revelation answers its purpose only as it becomes the legitimate property of reason. Take, e.g., the existence and unity of God. When this truth was revealed to Israel, no man in the native light of reason had a clear perception of it. But the reason has at last been educated up to it. So again with the moral law--the eternal difference between right and wrong. When this truth was revealed to Israel it was in advance of reason. But the reason has been gradually educated up to it. The Incarnation is still in advance of reason. But then is it never to enter reason? It is no more unbelievable to Christians than the unity of God to the Hebrews; and as the latter has passed from the region of mystery to that of reason, so I believe will do the former. Take again the truth made known in the text--the equality of Jews and Gentiles. At the time it was made it was far in advance of reason. Peter thought on it and believed it; but his whole history shows he had never been able to think right into it and through it. To the last it was to him more of a truth of faith than a truth of reason. But this truth is gradually working its way into the universal reason. 2. But Peter was not left to unravel the meaning of the vision--the clue was afforded him by the arrival of messengers from Cornelius. God always explains His supernatural revelations by natural events. Providence is the best commentary on the Bible. Just when God was stirring large thoughts in Peter respecting the universality of the gospel, He was also working in Cornelius to send a messenger to the apostle desiring a fuller knowledge of salvation at his hands. God often brings about these secret correspondences. Hardly is there an important discovery made in science but two or three inventors, ignorant of each other’ s designs, claim it as their own. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)Creeping things.--The presence of “ creeping things” in the sheet is a voice-- I. Manifesting God.1. The largeness of His mercy. This sheet was a great sheet, and it included “ creeping” things. Satan aims at contracting our views of God; at making us think that He has no room for us, or that He has no room for others. 2. The sovereignty of God’ s grace. He makes as much of the creeping things hidden away, despised by men, as of the four-footed beasts. He sent His messengers out into the highways and hedges to compel the poor to come in. 3. The minuteness of God’ s arrangements. The lesser were not lost to sight in that great sheet; they were presented to the apostle’ s eye in their proper place, as well as the four-footed beasts. 4. The depth of God’ s condescension. Proud man would have gathered into that sheet only what was of apparent value; it would never have entered into his mind to think about the creeping things at all--to tame a wild beast would be something, but what credit or honour or profit could he get out of “ creeping things!” II. Directive to ourselves. And this--1. When we are oppressed with a sense of our insignificance and meanness. Satan, for his own purpose, helps on this thought. He says, “ I can understand God caring about so and so, he is worth something; but who knows or cares about you?” Then we are troubled about the little capacity we have for glorifying God, and Satan marshals before our minds all our weaknesses, our unfavourable position, our want of intellect or wealth. And how shall we meet all this? Only by falling back upon God Himself. We cannot explain His making any account for us, any more than we can for His including “ creeping things” in that great sheet let down from heaven. Then, again, the child of God is often tempted to have heart sinkings about the future; but let him remember that God has His eye on every particle of the believer’ s dust. It is recorded of Lady Maxwell that she was at one time much troubled by the curious temptation that she was so insignificant she would be liable to be passed over hereafter. But we may meet all such temptations as Monica, the mother of Augustine, met the surprise of her friends at Ostia, when they expressed their wonder that she did not fear to leave her body so far from her own country. “ Nothing,” said she, “ is far from God, and I do not fear that He should not know where to find me at the resurrection.” The small, as well as the great, are remembered in the grand distribution of rewards. 2. When we compare ourselves with those who seem to have some pretensions. The creeping thing seems ready to shrink into nothingness when placed side by side with the four-footed beast. Very often we review the character of such and such a believer, and we say, “ Oh, if only I were like this man, I might feel some comfort.” But remember the great beasts had no cleanliness, except from the solitary fact of being in the sheet, and so the safety and acceptance of small and great alike are due to the goodness of the Lord. 3. In forming our estimate of others we shall not exalt the great ones nor despise the weak ones if we remember well what there was in this sheet that Peter saw. 4. We have also the comforting thought that, however humble, we have our place. We may be small, and of no reputation, but the Lord thinketh on us, has a place for us, and this should be enough. And as regards our affairs, it is true that they are mere straws in comparison with the great affairs of others; we have only to do with shillings where they have to do with thousands of pounds; we have only to do with aches and pains, where they have to do with life and death. But He who fashioned the creeping thing knows its needs, and He who fashioned us knows ours. (P. H. Power, M. A.)Rise, Peter; kill, and eat … Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. Peter’ s blunder: a lesson to ourselves “ Not so, Lord,” is a very strange compound. “ Not so Lord,” is an odd jumble of self-will and reverence. We are not without fault in the matter of incorrect speech. In our utterances there has been faith mixed with unbelief, love defaced with a want of submission, gratitude combined with distrust, humility flavoured with self-conceit, courage undermined with cowardice, fervour mingled with indifference. Note here-- I. That the old man remains in the christian man. Though crucified, it is long in dying, and struggles hard.1. Peter was Peter still. I think that if I had read Peter’ s life in the four evangelists, and somebody had newly shown me the present text, and asked, “ Who said that?” I should have been sure that it was Peter. The best of men are but men at best. And Peter, after the Holy Ghost has fallen upon him, is, nevertheless, Peter; the accent of his words still bewrays him. 2. Peter here shows how readily he fell, not precisely into the same sin, but into the same kind of sin. This Peter who said, “ Not so, Lord,” is the same man who rebuked his Master, and said, “ That be far from Thee, Lord.” It is the same man who at supper time refused his Master. When the Lord was about to wash the disciples’ feet, Peter said, “ Thou shalt never wash my feet.” And this is he who flatly contradicted his Master, and said, “ Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will not I.” He did this in his earlier days, but after the Holy Ghost had come upon him, yet he still tripped in the same place where he used to fall. What were your faults before conversion? Guard against them now. You notice about Peter, then, this thing still remaining, that he blurts out what he feels. Be it for bad or good, prompt deliverance of his mind is still the characteristic of Peter. He was always blundering because he was in such a hurry. I may be addressing young folk here who are very impulsive, and speak all in a hurry things which they afterwards are sorry for. Be on your guard against it. It is a strength if it be rightly managed. Give me the man who in a good cause does not think twice, but acts upon the warm impulses of a ready mind; but that same characteristic, if not kept in proper order by the Spirit of God, may lead you into a world of mischief. You cannot call back the words which now cause you to bite your tongue with regret. 3. Yet Peter as Peter still has good points, for he owns all this. Luke could not have recorded this incident in the Acts of the Apostles unless Peter had personally told him, and when Peter was brought up before the other apostles for what he had done, he confessed, “ But I said, ‘ Not so, Lord’” --always outspoken, honest, and clear as the day. In this let us be at one with him. II. The old man generally fights gospel principles. This “ Not so, Lord,” applied to--1. The abolition of the ceremonial law. Peter was to know that those laws, which forbade the eating of this and that, were now to be abrogated. All of us are apt to err here, for we incline to attach undue importance to matters which are proper and useful in their places, but which are by no means essential to salvation. Where Jesus has made no rule we are not to make any. None are unclean whom He has cleansed. Yet this lesson is not soon learned by sticklers for propriety. 2. The equality of men before the law and under the gospel. An evangelist attracts the poorest and worst. This ought to be great joy, but in certain cases it is not. Many in effect say, “‘ Not so, Lord.’ I do not like sitting next to one who smells so vilely, or to a woman of loose character.” Never let us set up the tyranny of caste, and rebuild the middle wall of partition which our Saviour died to throw down. We sprang of a common parent, and for men there is but one Saviour. 3. The gospel principle of free and sovereign grace. You war against this yourself when you are conscious of having done wrong, and therefore doubt the grace of God; as if God wanted some good in us before He would bestow His grace upon us. A diseased man is fit to be healed, a poor man is fit for alms, a drowning man is fit to be rescued, a sinful man is fit to be forgiven. III. The old nature shows itself in many ways. “ Not so, Lord,” is the cry of our unregenerate part against--1. The doctrine of the gospel. Some persons do not believe the gospel because they do not want to believe it. They studiously omit to read all such parts of Scripture as would enlighten their minds. It is mine to believe what the Bible teaches; it is not mine to object, and cry, “ Not so, Lord.” 2. Duty. We can do anything except the special duty of the hour, and as to that one thing, we say, “ Not so, Lord.” Yonder young woman knows that according to God’ s “ Word she must not be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. Now, she was quite willing to be baptized, to give her money to the Lord, and, in fact, to do anything except that one act of self-denial. Yet I do not know what sorrow you will make for yourself if you really break that salutary rule. Take you the precept, and knowing that it is God’ s mind concerning you, never dare even for a moment to hesitate. “ Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” 3. Processes of sanctification. We are anxious to bear fruit, but we do not care to be pruned; we are glad to be delivered from dross, but not by the fire. 4. The dispensation of the kingdom. We like not that God should bless men by a sect to which we do not belong; we are envious for our own Moses, lest the irregular Eldads and Medads should eclipse him. 5. Our sufferings. Whenever you are called to endure trial, do not complain of the particular form it takes. Perhaps it is great bodily pain, and you say, “ I could bear anything better than this.” This is a mistake. God knows what is the best for His child. Do not cry, “ Not so.” “ Oh, I could bear sickness,” says another, “ but I have been slandered!” Thus our will asserts its place, and we pine to be our own god and ruler. This must not be. A dear sister had quarrelled with the Lord for taking away her husband, and she would not go to any place of worship, she felt so angry about her loss. But her little child came to her one morning and said, “ Mother, do you think Jonah was right when he said, ‘ I do well to be angry, even unto death’ ?” She replied, “ Oh, child, do not talk to me,” and put the little one away, but she felt the rebuke, and it brought her back to her God, and back to her Church again, humbly rejoicing in Him who had used this instrumentality to set her right with her Lord. 6. Our service. The Lord says, “ Go into the Sunday school.” “ Not so, Lord; I should like to preach,” says the young man, and thus he misses his life work. Who would employ servants who, when they are told to do this or go there, should say, “ No, sir; I prefer another engagement” ? IV. It is a great pity when this kind of wilfulness stands in the way of usefulness. In some things Peter was--1. Too conservative. He says, “ Not so, Lord,” and some read it, “ Never, Lord, never, Lord, for I have never” ; that is, “ I must never do a thing I have never done.” Many are of this mind; they cannot advance an inch. Many will only act as others act; they must keep in the fashion, even though they fall asleep in the doing of it. This kind of routine forbids enlarged usefulness, prevents our getting at out-of-the-way people, and puts a damper upon all zeal. 2. Propriety hinders very many; decorum is their death. Shake yourself up a little. If you are too precise may the Lord set you on fire, and consume your bonds of red tape! 3. Some are hindered by their great dignity. We have seen very great little people, and very little great people who have given themselves mighty airs; but we have never seen any good come of their greatness. God seldom sends His Elijahs bread and meat by peacocks. If you go into the houses of the poor very finely dressed, and you “ condescend” to them, they will not want to see you any more. Let I grow very small, and let J grow very great. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The idolatry of self-will He that will not submit himself to nor comply with the eternal and uncreated will, but, instead of it, endeavours to set up his own will, makes himself the most real idol in the world, and exalts himself against all that is called God, and ought to be worshipped. To worship a graven image, or to make cakes and burn incense to the queen of heaven, is not a worse idolatry than it is for a man to set up self-will, to devote himself to the serving of it, and to give up himself to a compliance with his own will, as contrary to the Divine and Eternal Will. (John Smith.)Sectarian narrowness Whitefield, on arriving at Edinburgh, found great commotion among the Presbyters, who would not hear him preach unless he declared himself on their side. “ I was asked,” he says, “ to preach only for them until I had further light. I inquired why only for them. ‘ Because,’ said Ralph Erskine, ‘ they were the Lord’ s people.’ I then asked were there no other Lord’ s people but themselves; and supposing all others were the devil’ s people, they certainly had more need to be preached to; and therefore I was more determined to go into the highways and hedges, and that if the Pope himself would lend me his pulpit I would gladly proclaim the righteousness of Christ therein.” (J. R. Andrews.)Common and unclean things Ruskin, in his “ Ethics of the Dust,” calls our attention to the silent forces of nature, which never appear so grand as when they transmute baser materials into higher forms. We see the pool of slime transformed by the action of light and heat, repose and quiet, so that the clay hardens into blue sapphire, the sand into burning opal, the soot into flashing diamond. And even Jesus never appears so glorious in loveliness as when we see Him transforming the very filth and slime of society into gems fit to burn and shine in an immortal crown. (A. T. Pierson.)The beautiful in the common brought out by cleansing In Florence there is a fresco by Giotto that for many ages was covered up by two thicknesses of whitewash. It is only within a very few years that the artist’ s hand has come and removed that covering, and the fresco has come out clear and beautiful. Sometimes we see a person whom we feel inclined to despise, and think of little value, but God comes to him, cleanses him by removing his sin, and reveals a beauty in him that we little dreamt of. The ground of the antipathy between Jew and Gentile The distinction between clean and unclean meats was one of the insuperable barriers between the Gentile and the Jew--a barrier which prevented all intercourse between them because it rendered it impossible for them to meet at the same table or in social life. In the society of a Gentile a Jew was liable at any moment to those ceremonial defilements which involved all kinds of seclusion and inconvenience; and not only so, but it was mainly by partaking of unclean food that the Gentiles became themselves so unclean in the eyes of the Jews. It is hardly possible to put into words the intensity of horror and revolt with which the Jews regarded swine. They were to them the very ideal and quintessence of all that must be looked upon with an energetic concentration of disgust. He would not even mention a pig by name, but spoke of it as “ the other thing.” When in the days of Hyrcanus a pig had been surreptitiously put into a box and drawn up the walls of Jerusalem, the Jews declared that a shudder of earthquake had run through 400 parasangs of the Holy Land. Yet this filthy and atrocious creature was the chief delicacy at Gentile banquets, and in one form or other one of the commonest articles of Gentile consumption. How could a Jew touch or speak to a man who might on that very day have partaken of the abomination? The cleansing of all articles of food involved immediately the acceptance of Jews and Gentiles on equal footing to equal privileges. (Archdeacon Farrar.)What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common.--The cleansing of all meats by Christ Doubtless Peter remembered that remarkable parable of Jesus (Mark 7:14-19) of which he and his brother disciples had once asked the explanation. Jesus in few words, but with both of the emphatic formulae which He adopted to arrest special attention, had said, “ There is nothing from without a man entering into him which can defile him.” What He had proceeded to say--that what truly defiles a man is that which comes out of him--was easy enough to understand, and was a truth of deep meaning, but so difficult had it been to grasp the first half of the clause that they had asked Him to explain a parable which seemed to be in direct contradiction to the Mosaic Law. Expressing His astonishment at their want of insight, He had shown them that what entered into a man from without did but become a part of his material organism, entering “ not into the heart, but into the belly, and so passing into the draught.” “ This He said” --as now for the first times perhaps, flashed with full conviction into the mind of Peter--“ making all meats pure,” as he proceeded afterwards to develop those weighty truths about the inward character of all real pollution, and the genesis of all crime from evil thoughts, which convey so solemn a warning. To me it seems that it was the trance and vision of Joppa which first made Peter realise the true meaning of Christ in one of those few distinct utterances in which He had intimated the coming annulment of the Mosaic Law. It is doubtless due to the fact that Peter, as the informant of Mark in writing his Gospel, and the sole ultimate authority for this vision in the Acts, is the source of both narratives, that we owe the hitherto unnoticed circumstance that the two verbs “ cleanse” and “ profane” --both in a peculiarly pregnant sense--are the two most prominent words in the narrative of both events. (Archdeacon Farrar.)The transition from the Old to the New 1. We have here one of the great hinges on which history turns. Peter’ s vision opened up a new era; and here, too, as in every act of the human life drama, is made visible the hand of God. He stood by man in the dawn of his personal history, and spoke to Adam face to face; in the dawn of the patriarchal era, and spoke to Abraham as the Father of the family relationship; in the dawn of political life, and spoke to Moses the head of the nation as the God of nations; at last, at the dawn of the world’ s consciousness of its final vocation, God made the fact of the God-manhood the spring from which eternal progress should proceed. 2. The questions raised by the narrative are not met by the consideration of Peter’ s narrowness, nor of the liberal teachings of the vision. The apostle’ s views were narrow as the discipline of the school is narrow to the student, and that of the student to the man; but they were God’ s handiwork, and Peter was only pleading God’ s Word against another which seemed to be opposed to it. You will ever find some of the truest lovers of liberty among the partisans of ancient forms, while the man who throws up his cap and cries liberty is often the veriest tyrant at heart. Nathaniel was resisting the idea that good could come outer Nazareth when Jesus said, “ Behold an Israelite indeed,” etc. Note-- I. The exclusions of the Mosaic law.1. Here was the school in which Peter learned his prejudice (Leviticus 11:2-20; Deuteronomy 14:3-21). It is easy to speak of his proud and arrogant Judaism (Ezekiel 4:14 is a parallel case). But as we live and learn we get more distrustful of the so-called spirit of progress which cares not what it destroys, so that it may reach its Utopian goal. An intellect quick to seize novelties is mostly found in conjunction with a vain and shallow moral nature, and is sure to disappoint. The moral qualities are those which tell, and among the deepest of these is reverence; and one gets to bear with the slow movement of a reverent spirit for the sake of the great prizes it wins for mankind. The men who work most solidly at the construction of the new are men who are most deeply rooted in the old. You cannot build from balloons, but must have firm foundations. 2. Consider the philosophy of the Mosaic system. Man is a being of a double nature. An animal cannot go far wrong about food; he has an instinct which tells him what is good and what bad. But man is far more richly furnished with appetites, and with objects which gratify them. Why? Because God intended to teach him that appetite is not a sufficient guide, and that he must bring judgment into play. This remark applies far more widely than to matters of eating and drinking; our habits, associates, work, are to be by the elections of a will guided and governed by a reason which acquaints itself with the mind of the Creator. When man was in his first estate this was a simple “ of course.” Hence the liberty of Adam (Genesis 2:15-17) and of Noah (Genesis 9:1-3). But man again corrupted his way, and the wanton indulgence of appetite became the great bane and destroyer of mankind. So God took the Jewish people, and instructed them in the art of discernment of moral choice. His way with their food is but a specimen of His way in all the education of their souls. And men had to ask about everything--“ Is it lawful?” The aim of the discipline being that they should ask, “ Is it good?” and make their election accordingly. Pork is a harmless thing to us; eaten freely in the East, leprosy results. But the real question is, Why does not the law put the prohibition on the simple ground--it is not for your good? This leads me to another principle. 3. In the early stages of human culture nothing is strong enough to curb man’ s desires and to stimulate the exercise of discernment but religion. There is hardly one thing precious to man’ s secular life which has not been won for him by the force which religion has brought to bear on his natural powers. The knowledge of letters was kept alive solely by the desire of man to read and understand the Word of God and religious books. The desire to calculate rightly church festivals began all the investigations and triumphs of modern astronomy. Monks established the truce of God, and only by the strong hand o! religion could the horrors of war be mitigated. The right of our dead to undisturbed repose was secured by the cross of the Church under whose shadow the ashes of our ancestors lay. And God began from the beginning with the Jews, and made the simplest matters of right or prudence matters of religion from the very first. They were to eat, and fulfil every function of life “ because the Lord their God” would have it so. II. The progress of society has tended to release men from these bonds, and to bring all that concerns man’ s welfare under the influence of the special faculties which have charge of the separate departments of life.1. Of old men wrote books for the glory of God; and the religious guardians of men judged whether they fulfilled that purpose and might be safely read. Now men write books simply to tell what they know, and it is left to the taste of society to read them or not. Of old men abstained from meats because they were an abomination to God; now He leaves them free to judge and to choose that which they find to be for their good. Peter might still practise an abstinence which a Roman might regard as idle, but Peter would not be suffered to let that stand in the way of the conversion of the world. The child full-grown was to judge for himself where his legal tutor had hitherto judged for him. Paul fully understood this (Romans 14:1-9). And so it is with all things. A man may eat in England not what he likes, but what he finds to be for his good. So with fast and feast days services, places, etc. 2. But is this use of the natural faculties a less sacred religious duty than was of old obedience to a religious law? Certainly not. The secular duty becomes sacred to the spirit, and the whole life is brought under the broad religious obligation of a freeborn son to a gracious God. “ Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” The progress of Christianity tends to place all man’ s acts under the rule of his natural faculties given to him for this very end, and to make the right use of these faculties the most sacred duty of his life before God. First law, then liberty, in order to the discovery of the Diviner law, “ the perfect law of liberty,” wherein to continue is to be blessed. God has made all life sacred. He gives up some, to claim the whole; but to claim it, not peremptorily as a Master, but lovingly as a Father, who seeks not your works, but yourself. 3. God hath cleansed all things to the godly, but to the ungodly nothing is clean. There is nothing common or unclean but a common and unclean soul and its life. That is essential uncleanness, and only one Fountain can cleanse it, only one Spirit consecrate it. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)Now while Peter doubted … the men which were sent from Cornelius … stood before the gate.--The messengers of the centurion at Peter’ s door How proud heathenism knocks humbly at the gates of Christ’ s kingdom. I. The great gulf which had to be overpassed.1. Roman pride.2. Jewish prejudice. II. The heavenly power which paved the way.1. With the centurion, the drawing of the Father to the Son.2. With the apostle, the emancipating Spirit of Truth, and the constraining love of Christ. III. The propitious welcome.1. On the part of the messenger’ s humble request.2. On the part of Peter’ s friendly reception. (K. Gerok.)Doubt: its cause and cure Peter was a type of the better class of sincere, humble, open-minded doubters. There is no affinity between his case and that of the inveterate, conceited, and propagandist sceptic who airs his infidelities as symptomatic of genius, and bids thereby for leadership in modern thought. But there is considerable resemblance between the apostle and a large class who deserve from us what he received from God--sympathy and guidance. I. The cause of doubt.1. Prejudice arising from early education. Peter only held what he had been taught upon parental, ministerial, and even Divine authority. Much of modern doubt is a mere matter of prejudice. Ideas received as truths from others clash with what Christians believe to be Divine truths, and the former are preferred. 2. Habit. The ingrained custom of eating only “ clean” meat, and conversing only with “ clean” men, incapacitated Peter to conceive of the abandonment of ceremonial distinctions. And so there is a sceptical habit of thought which grows with indulgence, and which almost without any volition on the part of the doubter bars the entrance of Christian truth. 3. Narrow views of God’ s dispensations and purposes. What God meant for a time only, Peter held He meant forever. So sometimes the sceptic fastens on some temporary act or partial principle of the Divine administration as types of the whole. He raises objections, e.g., against suffering, overlooking its disciplinary character, or against the immoralities of some of God’ s agents, forgetting that God makes the wrath of men to praise Him. 4. Mental unrest. The vision was the cause of Peter’ s doubts. His mind was in a state of chaos, as the foundations of all that he held dear and certain seemed to be undermined. All the convictions instilled by training, ingrained by habit, and deepened by narrow but intense thought, suddenly began to give way--a state of mind familiar to sincere doubters. The truth has not dawned, but all that justifies scepticism as a defensible intellectual mood has disappeared. II. Its cure.1. The illumination of the Spirit of God. Reason will not resolve doubt, hence the futility of mere controversy. Truth must be apprehended by the heart, and only He who made it, and knows what it needs, can reach that. Pray, and sooner or later the Comforter will guide you into all truth. 2. Promptitude and activity in duty. “ Arise and get down.” Brooding over it will only intensify that morbidity of mind which is its most fruitful soil. Working will at least find an outlet for the imprisoned sentiments which knock so painfully at the interior walls of the soul. And get about some practical employment at once. Delays are weakening. 3. Obedience to Divine impulses. These are seldom still in the seeker after truth. What God’ s Spirit did to Peter miraculously He does for us naturally by impressions, opportunities, strange feelings leading or driving us now here and now there. But as Peter’ s going with the men led to the dissolving of his doubts, so if any man will do God’ s will he shall know of the doctrine. 4. The cure is often effected by unexpected incidents, and in unlikely ways; but the man who prays, works, and is obedient to the light he has, will find these lying across life’ s ordinary path. (J. W. Burn.)While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said … Arise.-- Devotion and action The Spirit calls the apostle from prayer and meditation to action. The contemplative life is but the preparation for the active, as the active is strengthened by solitude and contemplation. The man of God needs both, and either without the other is a maimed and imperfect life. (Dionysius of Carthage.)A Divine call to preach I was present at the Rev. Peter Mackenzie’ s oral examination. At the close the president said, “ All may retire except Mr. Mackenzie.” When by himself he was asked, amongst other questions, “ What led you to preach?” He answered, “ After my conversion I was asked to address the Sunday School, and did so. Then two local preachers asked me to go with them to try and preach. I hesitated, and they said they would call for me. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 10:24-33 And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea.And Cornelius waited for them. Model pastoral visitation I. The preparation for it.1. With the household, an earnest desire for salvation.2. With the minister, a holy impulse honest exhibition of the state of their heart. II. On the part of the pastor, a powerful testimony of Christ and His salvation. III. The fruit thereof.1. For the hearers; strengthening and vivification by the Holy Ghost.2. For the minister; joy in the Lord over rescued souls and the increase of His kingdom. (K. Gerok.)Peter and Cornelius The incident before us teaches-- I. That christianity can eradicate the most inveterate habits. Until this hour Peter had not understood the world-conquering mission of Christianity, so that when the messengers of Cornelius met him he was the very embodiment of ceremonial sanctity. He must now feel the expansive power of Christianity--and run to the moral rescue of a branded Gentile! In achieving this eradication of habit, no compulsory agency is employed. Conviction is produced by illumination. How was it in the case of Peter? There was--1. Visible revelation--the descending vessel was patent to his vision. 2. Oral communications. “ What God hath cleansed that call not thou common.” 3. Concurrent personal evidence--“ while Peter doubted himself, the men which were sent from Cornelius” stood at his door. 4. Divine instigation--“ Get thee down, and go with them.” 5. In all this, however, there was nothing beyond moral suasion. Peter’ s conviction was won, hence he avers, “ God hath showed me.” Is aught so mighty as religious conviction? Has it not shaken thrones, convulsed dynasties, and made the history of humanity glorious? It is by the force of conviction that Christianity is to eradicate moral evil. II. That the propagation of christianity has been devolved on human instrumentality (Acts 10:5-6). The angel might have been delegated and thus obviated the necessity of Peter’ s ministry. But there are three all-sufficient reasons for the employment of human agency--1. Man can practically attest the advantages of Christianity. He testifies to what he has experimentally realised. It is not a “ thing of beauty” to his outward eye, but a reality and a power in his soul. 2. Man can sympathise with the peculiar difficulties which beset the human mind. The Christian has passed through the purifying process. Hence, having “ passed from darkness to light” himself, he may guide others into the mysterious way. When he meets the doubter, the anxious inquirer, the tempted, he can sympathise with each phase of human experience, and thus is qualified to propagate the gospel. 3. Man can expose the delusiveness of sin. He has experienced its hollow and heartless treachery. This gives him power in reasoning with the Felixes of society. When they recount their pleasures, he can testify of their bitterness. These qualifications were combined in a superlative degree in Peter. Could not he attest the advantages of Christianity? III. The true method of expounding christianity. Mark the directness of this sermon! Wherever the preacher travels he never loses sight of Christ. If he reverts to the “ children of Israel,” he connects them with Jesus; if he traverses the Holy Land it is to track the footprints of the Saviour; if he refers to the Great White Throne of time’ s final day, it is to point to the Redeemer Judge.1. There are lessons for preachers here. The world is to be saved by the preaching of “ Christ crucified.” 2. There are lessons for listeners here. For what purpose do ye assemble? Cornelius summoned the apostle “ to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” Come for mental gratification and your hope may be turned to confusion--come to commune with the condescending Deity and answers of peace will refresh your soul! 3. Peter emphatically preached the gospel. His address was not an essay upon the gospel nor a dissertation upon any of its doctrines--it was a bold and powerful proclamation of “ remission of sins” through faith in Christ. In modern days such a sermon might be termed commonplace--scholars might describe it as being fit for unlearned plebeians, and critics might charge it with want of finish: notwithstanding this, however, can we imagine anything more exquisitely adapted to the necessities of Cornelius and his fellow auditors? Adaptation, in fact, is the true secret of power. Paul could reason, Apollos could declaim, and Peter could present the gospel with condensation and comprehensiveness unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries. So, in the modern Church, every man must work in his own order; each, however, striving to exalt the Cross as being at once a pledge of infinite love and the medium of human salvation. IV. The connection between human agency and Divine power (verse 44). This fact shows us--1. That human agency is not self-sufficient as to spiritual results. It is not in man to raise the Lazaruses of society from their moral death. They may “ roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre,” but God alone can relax the tyrant’ s grasp. 2. That, apart from the delivered Word, there must be distinct Divine influence. The word had been spoken, and in addition to the oral message there was a distinct effusion of the Holy Ghost. While, therefore, we “ search the Scriptures,” and give ear to the human ministry, we must implore the presence and benediction of the Eternal Spirit. Conclusion: Lingering near this house in Caesarea, one may overhear lessons vitally affecting our personal peace and destiny as well as witness the triumph of evangelical truth. We learn--1. That spiritual perfection is an impossibility apart from Christ. Cornelius was an evidently religious man, yet he lacked the true light; something more was needed to purify and perfect his character. 2. That man’ s worth is to be estimated by his moral condition. “ In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness.” The time will come when every man shall be estimated according to his character. 3. The transcendent honour connected with Christian usefulness. Was ever man crowned with higher honour than that of being the instrument of leading sinners to a knowledge of the true Saviour? (J. Parker, D. D.)Peter and Cornelius 1. Surely this is put on record as a pattern of the Lord’ s chosen way of doing His work, by making each one who receives His grace a centre for making his own immediate surroundings bright therewith. Cornelius “ called together his kinsmen and near friends.” 2. When each agent in the Lord’ s service obediently fulfils his own task “ without gainsaying or tarrying,” all the manifold parts fit together in a wondrous completeness of success. It is one portion of a perfect design which the Master accomplishes when He works in you to serve Him. Another portion of the same design He is preparing elsewhere. Obedient faith brings the portions together. 3. When Peter received the Lord’ s Word about “ the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” he little thought that it would be given to him to throw open the gates of the kingdom to the Gentile world. Glad surprises of result are given also to the humblest and weakest disciple, who simply takes each step of service, waiting on Jesus with dutiful love. 4. In the few full words of Peter here, we are made to feel how all the gathered riches of the old covenant are completed and freely given to all in Christ, so that “ whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” This “ the law could not do.” (G. S. Rowe.) Acts 10:28A man that is a Jew. The Jew I can conceive of no object more profoundly interesting than this--“ a man that is a Jew!” All that is venerable in antiquity, sacred in religion, rich in story, sublime in poetry, cleaves to this extraordinary race. But for such a man infidelity would have lost one of the most unanswerable proofs of her falsehood and her folly. I. His common claims as a man. A recent pope was passing through Rome; a Jew, fallen in a fit, lay prostrate on the pavement; the people who saw him, like the priest and the Levite, passed by on the other side; but the sovereign pontiff, alighting from his carriage, ran to his help. “ He is a Jew!” they cried, as if in horror of a contact so contaminating. “ He is a man!” cried the pontiff; and, like the good Samaritan, he hastened to his relief, saw him safely conducted to his home, and sent his own physician to attend him.1. He is a man as well as a Jew, although he is a Jew, and all the claims that humanity can present to the sympathy of the species belong to him. He, too, may make the appeal, so long urged in vain by the enslaved African, “ Am I not a man and a brother?” You owe to him the performance of a brother’ s part; and if you fail to render it the voice of your brother’ s blood will cry against you. 2. He Is a man, the offspring of the same parent, the workmanship of the same Creator, as fearfully and wonderfully made as you are, the same life blood flows in his veins, the same heart throbs in his breast, and to all the ills to which flesh is heir, he is subject as well as you. 3. That man that is a Jew has a soul, precious as yours. God’ s breath inspired it; His Spirit endowed it; and He who has emphatically said, “ All souls are Mine,” claims it as His own. Think of the faculties with which it is endowed, its vast capacity of happiness or misery, the perilous circumstances in which it is placed under the curse and condemning sentence of God’ s violated law, and the dread eternity it is destined to inherit if it pass into it unforgiven. 4. And was not the same precious blood shed for its redemption? On what other ground than this can you seek with any degree of propriety, or with any hope of success, the salvation of the Jews? And if it be so precious, what an argument does that consideration furnish for our best efforts to promote the salvation of the soul for whose redemption even that was not esteemed a price too great. II. The claims peculiar to him as a Jew. He belongs to a race--1. Venerable in antiquity. Who can boast of a heraldry or of a history like theirs? A heraldry whose emblazonment is from heaven, and a history whose records are written by inspired pens. The origin of other nations is veiled in obscurity and so blended with fable that it is hard to separate fact from fiction. But here is a people, all whose story is drawn out in lines of accuracy and in characters of truth. And is it not an affecting spectacle to behold a people, thus hoary with the accumulation of ages, treated with contumely, and left to perish? 2. Which once enjoyed the special tokens of the Divine favour. Now, indeed, they are trodden under foot of the Gentiles. But they were a great nation once. They, and they alone, could boast a pure theocracy, and laws given from heaven. Are a people, then, once thus signally owned and honoured by God, to be regarded with indifference or contempt? A people too, whose abandonment by God is not final, and whose restoration to His favour shall assuredly come. I am not sure that the tardy progress of the Christian cause may not be, in some measure, attributed to the unconcern which Christians have manifested towards Jews. 3. To which we are laid under the deepest obligation. There is nothing great or good that we possess but we are indebted for it to the Jews. The best of books, the best of gifts, we owe to them--the sacred volume and the Saviour of the world. Who is the most ancient and the most authentic of all historians--but a Jew? What poets can compare with theirs? Beloved they must be, for the fathers’ sake if not for their own; and though we may well despair of ever paying the debt due to them, still, by our efforts for their welfare, we will testify that we are not altogether unconscious of or unwilling to acknowledge it. And think how long this debt has been contracting, while scarcely a fraction of the interest has been paid. Societies there are expending hundreds of thousands on the distant heathen, but how few there are interested in the restoration of the lost sheep of the house of Israel! 4. To whose conversion prodigious advantage must accrue. If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? The Jews, in the event of their conversion, will become the most zealous and successful missionaries; while the Church herself, aroused by this event to a life and energy and unanimity unknown to former times, will take the field against the common foe in numbers compared with which all present figures will appear contemptible. Who can go forth and announce the faithful saying, “ worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and add, with the same emphasis as the Jew, “ of whom I am chief” ? 5. For whose salvation there has never been a period more favourable than the present. Already there seems to be a shaking amongst the bones in the valley of vision. The Jews begin to be weary of the long delay that attends the coming of their vainly expected Messiah. They have their misgivings as to the correctness of their views. They feel as though the system to which they have so tenaciously clung had waxen old and was ready to vanish away. Hope deferred begins to make the heart sick. They long for some better teaching than their Rabbins give, and for some more satisfying and sustaining influences than their Talmuds and their Targums yield. In this state of things their enlightened and intelligent men are more disposed to converse and argue upon the subject of the Messiahship of Christ in former times. And most assuredly when infidelity, under the guise of rational Christianity, is overspreading the continent, we shall do well to seek the conversion of the Jews. Infidelity can meet no antagonist more formidable than a learned, intelligent, and converted Jew. (T. Raffles, D. D.)God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.-- A beautiful faith in the sparks of divinity in every human soul I. Its good ground.1. By creation. (1) After the image of God.(2) All from one pair. 2. By redemption. (1) God will have all men to be saved.(2) Christ sends His apostles to all nations. 3. By experience. (1) In the heathen world.(2) In the pastoral oversight of criminals. II. Its beneficial influence.1. For the Christian contemplation of the world and conceptions of history in general.2. For Christian intercourse in daily life.3. For the Christian ministry. (K. Gerok.)The value of common things A rich nobleman was once showing a friend a great collection of precious stones whose value was almost beyond counting. There were diamonds, and pearls, and rubies, and gems from almost every country, and had been gathered by their possessor at the greatest labour and expense. “ And yet,” he remarked, “ they yield me no income.” His friend replied that he had two stones which had only cost him five pounds each, but which yielded him a very considerable income, and he led him down to the mill and pointed to two toiling grey millstones. (W. Baxendale.) Acts 10:29 Therefore came I unto yon without gainsaying.Pastor and people I. Concerning the true minister, I affirm that--1. He is a special creation of Divine grace. The mantle of the prophet is not personal property; God is its owner, and He Himself must determine who shall be invested with it. (1) The processes through which men reach the pulpit are diverse; but if true, each has been guided by the Divine eye. Some require years of mental preparation; others are summoned at once from obscurity. What then? Shall each question the Divinity of the other’ s mission? God forbid! “ There are diversities of operation, but the same Spirit.” He who spoke the universe into being can suddenly qualify men to bear the standard of the Cross. He also who has established the processes of creation may gradually train men. We must therefore test the Divinity of each man’ s mission more by the results secured than by the discipline undergone. Every true minister is a special creation of Divine grace, just as every planet is a special creation of Divine power. He does not enter upon the publication of the gospel as a profession, but us a vocation. “ Woe is me if I preach not the gospel.” You may as well attempt to arrest the whirlwind, or roll back the planets, as to silence the God-created minister. Kings and councils have attempted the task; but above the fury and clamour of hell this voice has sounded, “ Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Aye! that is one secret of the true minister’ s power--he has “ seen and heard” his Divine Master. (2) The Divinity of this mission is in no wise affected by the variety of manner which may be adopted by individual ministers. Each man has his own style of working, and is never so effective as when he is natural. The whirlwind has a mission, and so has the zephyr; the summer sun and the wintry blast are alike useful; and so in relation to the spiritual ministry one man speaks in tones of thunder, and lays his grasp upon the pillars of the temple of sin. Another speaks in tenderness, and stretches forth a helping hand to those that “ have no might.” One man is peculiarly qualified to make havoc among the ranks of infidelity; another is constructive, and builds up the Church in its most holy faith. In the Christian ministry you find the accomplished scholar, the eagle-eyed critic, the eloquent orator. But you must not expect in any one man a summary of qualifications; take each in his own sphere, and be thankful for what he is, rather than regretful for what he is not. Do you depreciate the sun because without fragrance? the rose because without light? 2. He seeks the highest spiritual culture of his auditors. (1) The sanctuary is not an academy in which the sciences are courted, or in which learned predictions are to be delivered. Men are less anxious to understand a technical theology than to be brought into contact with the life-giving religion of Jesus. After the anxieties of life, after fellowship with men destitute of Divine sympathy, your spirits require something more than scholastic criticisms. (2) There will be great diversity in the character of my hearers. I shall not address all in the same strain, nor always luxuriate amid the green pastures of doctrine, assurance, and promise. I shall erect the standard of eternal rectitude, and give men to feel their true moral stature. I shall tear the mask from the hypocrite, and lay hold on the prodigal and try to woo him to repentance. (3) The power of the Church consists in its piety. There is force in genius; but, contrasted with the strength of piety, it is weakness. There is power in money; but the pauper whose heart glows with love to the Saviour is a mightier power than the millionaire. Holiness is power; with it we are valorous as giants--without it we are “ reeds shaken with the wind.” Holiness is peace. The peace which exists apart from holiness is a treacherous lull. The mischief maker can secure no sympathy in a holy Church; every ear is closed to his slander, and every tongue ready to rebuke his impiety. II. Concerning those who wait upon the ministry.1. The pastor has a right to expect-- (1) Their punctual and regular attendance. This is necessary to enjoyment. The devotional part of the service is of the highest importance. And even, taking the lowest ground, there is something opposed to public decency and rectitude in late attendance. (2) The exercise of a charitable judgment. While the enemy rages, let the friends unite! If you prove faithful, I shall calmly survey any external storm! (3) An abiding interest in their prayers. Without prayer we shall perish. Prayer gives strength, elevation, self-oblivion. (4) Their zealous cooperation. A minister feels himself strong just in proportion as he possesses the sympathy of his people. 2. The people must not expect-- (1) Uniformity in the mode of address. Ministers are but men. Their physical functions may be deranged, their social peace may be invaded, their souls may be distracted, and all such disturbances will produce an influence on their ministry. We must, therefore, be discriminating and sympathetic in relation to pulpit services, and must at all times endeavour to secure in worship what is lacking in meditation. (2) A system of theology in every sermon. Some auditors are unreasonable enough to expect a preacher, in every discourse, to commence at the creation and end at the harps of heaven, paying special attention to intervening circumstances. My object will be to analyse each text, and to develop the meaning peculiar to it. I hold most tenaciously the great doctrines of Scripture; but it would be impossible to discuss these in connection with every Scriptural statement. At the same time it will be my aspiration ever to exalt Jesus as man’ s only and all-sufficient Saviour! (3) Periodical visitation. Much time will be required to prepare for the pulpit, and the calls of the sick, the dying, and the penitent shall secure my fullest attention. (J. Parker, D. D.)The design of the Christian ministry Let us consider the reasons under which a people ought to act when they seek the aid of ministers. I. Personal salvation. The end of the ministry is the salvation of men--not the performance of ceremonies, nor the pronouncing of discourses. The forms and shadows of the Levitical priesthood have passed away; and disputation and laboured oratory have their places in the schools. Could we speak with the tongues of men and angels, or open to you mysteries, yet eloquence and learning would not be a reason why you should have sent for us. What is the harmony of periods, if all is to end in words? What are the researches of the study, if all is to terminate in the increase of your knowledge? The question with us is, how we may turn any talents with which God has endowed us to the account of your salvation. II. Instruction in the truth. Salvation and truth are inseparably connected. Cornelius sent for Peter, that he might “ hear words of him.” Words of Jewish tradition or Gentile philosophy? No; but “ words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.” You have sent for us, then, to declare the truth; but have you considered its nature and extent? And can you bear it? It is not all comprehended in the love of God. Can you bear to be slain by the law? Can you bear the ministry of the Baptist? Can you bear to be told that, virtuous as many of you may be, you must seek this salvation as sinners, and that, if any man will be Christ’ s disciple, he must deny himself daily, and take up his cross, and follow his Lord? Can you bear to have it enforced upon you, “ Be not conformed to this world,” and to be reminded that there must be no intermission in duty; that you must run with diligence the race set before you, and war a good warfare? If you have sent for us for this “ intent,” you may say, “ Thou hast done well that thou art come.” May you therefore so “ purify your souls by obeying the truth,” that you may “ know the truth, and the truth may make you free!” III. Faithful and constant application and enforcement of truth. Ministers ought to be better skilled in Divine knowledge than the majority of their hearers; but it would be a false view that the ministry is appointed to teach us constantly some new thing. It is, on the contrary, no less important that we should apply and enforce known truth. For--1. Conscience often sleeps, add needs another to awake it. 2. We are prone to judge others. The ministry is appointed to oblige us to judge ourselves. 3. We are liable to religious delusions; and we avoid those truths which would disturb us. The minister of Christ must declare the whole counsel of God; and the very truths you need are thus pressed upon you. 4. All sinful habits and passions raise a haze and mist about themselves; and it is for the Christian ministry to dispel that delusive atmosphere. 5. All temptation, too, places a bias on the judgment. You only see the fruit pleasant to the eye, and to be desired to make one wise. It is for the ministry to remind you that God hath said, “ In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Or your temptation may be to discouragement and unbelief; and then it is for us to call your attention to the great and precious promises. IV. The establishment or continuance of the ordinances and discipline of the Church. St. Peter here opens the Church to the Gentiles. They come in; and this was their mercy and their privilege; and so it ought to be esteemed by us. For a Christian Church is one of the most important institutions on earth. Its members are in special covenant with God. Sabbaths are observed, public assemblies are held; and in these the Divine presence is both promised and realised. Christian fellowship is enjoyed. The Church is an association formed to make war upon sin and error. Here the aged are comforted and strengthened; children are brought to Christ, and trained up for His service; and servants made free by the truth. In the Church there are holy rules of living and acting in force. Baptism is administered; and “ by eating” of the sacramental “ bread, and drinking of that cup,” the followers of Christ “ show forth His death till He come.” Did you send for us to maintain or subvert this beautiful order? “ To maintain it,” I know you say. We rejoice to meet you oil this ground. Well, then, be co-workers with us, or the end will fail. Conclusion:1. If you have proposed important ends in sending for us, these impose important duties upon us, which we cannot perform but by special assistance. We shall need your candour, and, above all, your prayers. 2. Maintain the teachable spirit. Except a man receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he cannot enter therein. 3. Be “ intent” upon growth and advancement in knowledge and piety. (R. Watson.) Acts 10:30-48 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting.Peter at Caesarea We welcome his revelation that the grace of God has so boundless a reach; that in His government men are accountable not for knowledge which they have not, but for what they have. It suggests certain practical lessons like the following: I. It is our privilege to exercise a wide charity toward religions which differ from our own. We have the authority of Scripture for recognising the truth wherever found. No one of the apostles stands more resolutely for sound doctrine, for righteous living, than Paul; yet more than once he takes pains to quote from heathen writers opinions that are correct as far as they go. He believed that so far as they had any truth, it was the truth of God. We have a feeling sometimes that to acknowledge anything of good in one who is not a Christian, or in a Church with which we have no fellowship, or in a nation that is in spiritual darkness, is disloyalty to God; but we are really doing Him larger honour to believe that something of His image is left in His creatures everywhere; that, in the plenitude of His grace, His Spirit is working to some extent in all men the fruits of righteousness; that He only demands of His creatures, in Christian or in heathen lands, to follow the knowledge which they have; that “ in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.” II. We may be inspired by the virtues of the pagans. It is a part of charity not only to recognise virtue anywhere, but to be willing to copy it. That is a high attainment in the study of this grace. If a man is, in your judgment, a heathen or a heretic, it is humiliating to admit that he can teach you anything of goodness; but perhaps he can. He may have some excellencies that are far beyond yours in the same line. Why should you not make these a subject of study and emulation? Certainly it is not disparaging the Christian system; it is not reflecting upon God; they all came from Him; they are not the product of the human will; they are fruits of the Spirit, and in copying them you are but copying God. For example, the Stoics, who knew little of Christianity, had rules for right living as exalted in some particulars as those prescribed by Christian men in any age. One of their philosophers says of human depravity: “ Let us first persuade ourselves of this, that there is not one of us without fault.” “ If you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad.” That is as strong as the Saviour’ s words: “ They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Another, writing of self-examination, refers to an old scholar who, when the day was over and he went to rest, used to ask himself, “ What evil have you cured today? What vice have you resisted? In what particular have you improved?” That would be a good rule for Christians. Here is another precept: “ What ought not to be done, do not even think of doing.” Virtues like these were taught by a few, at least, centuries before the Christian era. There seems ground for the opinion that the prevalence of these to such an extent helped to prepare the world for the gospel, as St. Augustine admitted that he had been led first toward Christianity by the stoical teachings of Cicero. A flower that springs up in a field of weeds and surprises you with its fragrance, is as really the work of a Divine Creator as that which grows in a gardener’ s bed. Virtue is always Divine, and wherever she leads it is safe to follow. III. We ought to be grateful for the light of christianity. But why, if there is so much to commend in the pagan philosophers? What need is there of the gospel? This simply: religion is something more than a system of ethics. If it be asked more definitely what was it that they lacked as compared with us, the answer is many sided; but this is its substance: they lacked Christ. Here, then, is a vast gulf between those sages and ourselves. They did not have the idea, as we do, of a personal God--a Father, a Friend. More particularly they did not know Jesus, did not have Him as a guide. With all their beautiful precepts, they had no example; they did not know of anyone who had ever obeyed these laws. One of them writes, “ Follow the guidance of nature: that is the great thing.” What a rule for a weak human being! One of them speaks of waiting for death with a cheerful mind; but look back a sentence or two, and see what he means: “ What, then, is that which is able to enrich a man? One thing, and only one--philosophy.” That is as far as their wisdom rose. That is why we have reason for gratitude that we know of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of men. He is “ the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” “ Every man,” whoever, wherever, whatever he is. If anyone claims that he is sufficient in himself, and needs no Divine revelation other than that which comes from his own consciousness, he is making a fatal mistake; he cannot quote Cornelius as an example. (T. J. Holmes.)Peter at Caesarea Peter’ s bringing of the gospel to Cornelius, and Cornelius’ subsequent baptism, seem very much matters of course to us; but they were revolutionary. They were like John Wesley’ s ordination of men to preach the gospel in America. Thenceforth he knew he had violated the canons of the Church of England. Thenceforth Peter knew that he had repudiated Judaism as a necessary preparative to Christianity. I. Cornelius’ preparation. No man can make himself worthy of God’ s blessing. But one can so prepare himself for the Divine blessing, that it shall come more easily down and find a quicker acceptance. In this sense Cornelius had made ready for God. He says he was fasting at the time the special revelation came to him, and, indeed, it was at the very moment of prayer (verse 30). God’ s ways of dealing with men conform to none of the laws which we might construct. We cannot say that religious exercises, in which Cornelius was engaged, offer the only occasions when God may come to men. We recall Balaam, addressed when on an ungodly mission; we recall Saul, converted while journeying to persecute the saints. But these revelations were not in congruity with the soul’ s antecedents. They came by crushing down opposition. Yet we are safe in saying that such is not God’ s usual way of granting insight into His truth. We cannot bind God by law; but conversely we can assert law of ourselves, and say confidently that prayer and all religious exercises are used by God in leading us into new visions of truth. The angel told Cornelius that his prayerful and upright life had commended him to God for His blessing (verse 31). What God remembered was not Cornelius’ worthiness of a blessing, but his fitness for a blessing, shown by the desire for it, witnessed to, by a prayerful and righteous life. Cornelius’ life commended him to God not as accomplishment, but as a sign of aspiration. A good man is one who wants to be better. For such God’ s blessing is surely prepared. Being of such a temper of mind, it was natural that Cornelius showed an immediate acceptance of God’ s revelation and an immediate obedience toward it (verse 33). II. Peter’ s address was the fuller form of God’ s answer to Cornelius. The appearance of the angel, and the directions he gave, were only preliminary to something else. This was furnished by Peter; it was the revelation of Christ as a Saviour. Peter’ s address divides itself easily into three parts--1. The introduction (verses 34, 35) lays down the double statement that God is no respecter of persons, but that a good man, whatever his nationality, is accepted of Him. The special lesson needed by Peter and the other leaders of the Church then was that circumstantials make no difference to God. The passage has been immensely abused by misinterpretation. It has been supposed to teach that all religions are equally pleasing to God; from which has been deduced the inference that our duty is to let men alone in their religions, and not try to convert them to Christianity. But if Cornelius was already in the proper condition Godward, why did he need conversion? Again, the passage has been used to teach the doctrine that if one is a good man, and tries conscientiously to do his duty towards his fellow men, and reveres God, he is all right, is “ accepted with Him,” and needs nothing more. Faith in Christ is thus not enumerated among the things necessary to reconciliation with God. But if to fear God and to work righteousness were enough in Cornelius, why did Peter preach to him the gospel? The truth is, “ accepted” here does not mean accepted as all he ought to be, but accepted as a proper subject for that work of conversion which tends to make one what he ought to be. 2. The main part of Peter’ s address describes the life and function of Jesus (verses 36-42). The external facts of His career are touched upon in such a way as to show the solid grounding of His supernatural work upon indisputable material fact. 3. The application of Peter’ s address (verse 43) makes the doctrines concerning Christ which he has just stated practical and pointed. Christ is given to men that “ whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” The other functions of Christ do not press so immediately upon us as His office as a Saviour. To miss this is to miss all that He would have us know. III. The blessing from on high came while Peter was speaking. The Holy Ghost fell upon them (verse 44). No distinction of nationality was observed by the heavenly Visitor. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Cornelius and Peter I. Ready to hear the Word. Cornelius was a Roman centurion--in modern phrase, heathen. How did he become ready to hear the Word?1. By prayer. At the time the angel came he was engaged in prayer. This prayer was not a mere form. (1) He had not stopped just when the ninth hour expired, but had persisted in his supplications “ until this hour.” It is fair to infer from that, that he was in earnest about something. Such prayers only are effective. General prayers, that seek for nothing specific, get just what they seek, and no more. It is safe to take the mission of the angel as an answer to Cornelius’ prayer, and to deduce that Cornelius was praying that he might be shown the way of salvation (Acts 11:14). (2) The angel came in response to his prayer. No celestial messengers are sent where the prayers are merely formal. 2. By a vision. His vision was not a dream or a trance. “ He saw in a vision openly” (Acts 10:3). He was wide awake, as one engaged in earnest prayer could not help but be. “ A man stood before me in bright apparel.” Cornelius tells how he looked. Luke tells what he was (Acts 10:3.) When Cornelius saw him, he was affrighted, and said, “ What is it, Lord?” The celestial character of his visitor, the circumstances of his appearing, and the fear that sinful mortals must ever feel in the presence of sinless immortals, combined to compel Cornelius to accept without questioning whatever the angel might say. 3. By the angel’ s words. They were-- (1) Words of assurance. “ Thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance.” Faith now takes the place of an angel in assuring all who approach the throne of grace that their prayers have prevailed. Neither are their alms or good deeds forgotten. “ God is not unrighteous,” etc. The declaration that his prayers and his alms were gone up for a memorial before God, gave comfort and prepared for further revelation. (2) Words of direction. “ Send therefore to … Peter.” Whatever Peter might say had celestial endorsement beforehand. Many hearts are Divinely made ready for the reception of the gospel, when the Spirit moves one to speak the words of life. But observe, the angel himself did not tell the story of the Cross to Cornelius. He left that to Peter. No one can tell the story of redemption so well as one who himself has been redeemed. That Cornelius was thus prepared to hear the Word is made evident-- (a) By his sending for Peter. He sent “ forthwith.” He was in haste to hear. (b) By his commendation of Peter. “ Thou hast well done that thou art come.” Cornelius believed that Peter was about to do that which would show him that he was right in disregarding the ceremonial barriers between Jew and Gentile. (c) By his declaration to Peter. “ Now therefore we are an here present in the sight of God to hear.” Cornelius had improved the time while waiting for Peter to come (verse 24). He was in earnest to learn the way of life, not only for himself, but for all of his friends. II. Proclaiming the word. We turn now from Cornelius to Peter.1. The truth perceived. (1) “ Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” Until this moment, Peter had not known why he had been sent for, nor the real meaning of his vision. So far he had interpreted the vision to mean nothing only that he must not hesitate to associate with the Gentiles, to whom he was sent. But now he sees it meant a great deal more--spiritual as well as social equality. This was no new thought (Deuteronomy 10:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Job 34:19). But Peter and others had been thinking of this as true only as between Jews. He had not realised the truth he himself had declared (Acts 3:25). (2) “ But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him.” Mark here two things-- (a) Peter’ s change of standards. His criterion for judging was outward no longer. He instantly dropped the notion that circumcision was necessary to salvation. All essentials were suddenly reduced to two--fearing God and working righteousness. (b) That those two essentials were not enough. They made Cornelius “ acceptable,” but not accepted. If anyone, by good works, could be saved, there was no need for Cornelius to hear about Christ the Saviour (verse 2). But his good works did not satisfy God, nor did they satisfy himself. Salvation cannot be purchased with good works. The only adequate price for that is the precious blood of Christ. 2. The truth preached. Note-- (1) That Peter did not tell anything new. His auditors were aware of the story of Christ. “ Ye yourselves know.” It was “ the old, old story” that was effective, and that will be effective to the end of time. (2) That he verified what he did tell. He offered himself and the other apostles as witnesses of the death and the resurrection of Christ. He offered also the prophets as witnesses, and probably showed how the sufferings and atoning death of Christ were symbolised in sacrifices and foretold in prophecy. III. Blessed by the word. “ The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word.” Notice--1. The time. “ While Peter yet spake.” There was no laying on of apostolic hands. The conferring of the gift was as direct from God to those Gentiles as it had been to the Jews on the day of Pentecost. 2. The abundance. “ Was poured out.” 3. The manifestations. “ Heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.” They were affected and endowed in the same way that their Jewish brethren had been. Thus this Pentecost of the Gentiles proved their right to an unquestioned place in the brotherhood of the saints--their baptism of the Spirit to baptism by water. (M. C. Hazard.)Peter and Cornelius Here we have a Conservative Jew and a Liberal Gentile. The Jew wants to keep things as they are. He is quite content to preach Christ to his countrymen. The Gentile, on the other hand, has come to feel that all truth is not confined to the systems of his fathers. He has heard of Christ, and wants to know more of Him. So the narrative shows how, in the providence of God, these opposite men meet at the Cross, and there forget their differences as they learned that God is no respecter of persons. Let us consider-- I. A good preacher.1. Opinions greatly differ on what constitutes a good minister of Jesus Christ. Some say educate your men; others say you will educate all the fire out of them. Some say that the minister must take an active part in social movements; others, that he must do nothing of the kind. Some think he must give his strength to visitation; others, that he must be strong in the pulpit. Some leave a man’ s ministry because he is too noisy; others, because he is too quiet. Some object to men who do not rush to the door to shake hands with everybody; others object to such familiarity. 2. But there was one thing about Peter that all may imitate--he was a man of prayer, as every good preacher, teacher, Christian must be. Christ Himself was. Nothing great or good can the man of God expect without prayer. While Elijah prayed the fire fell; in answer to prayer Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’ s dreams; while the little Church prayed at Pentecost the Holy Ghost came down; while the disciples prayed Peter was released from prison; and as he prayed on the housetop God gave him the vision. You cannot preach, but you can pray, and that will make the weak strong. II. The remarkable congregation (verse 33). Observe--1. They were all in time. No notice was put up in the porch, saying, “ You are requested not to enter during prayer.” No one disturbed the singing or preaching. We are not told that anybody came in knocking down half a dozen hymn books and attracting attention to the last new bonnet. 2. No one went to sleep. Judged by modern practice that was remarkable. Our fathers must have been wakeful people, for they would listen to sermons two hours’ length in straight-backed pews. Now the pews are so shaped and furnished as to invite sleep. 3. They were anxious to hear. That, too, was remarkable. How vastly different would be our worship if we came in that expectant condition! How helpful would be the preacher’ s word! Once a week worship, empty seats, and deserted churches would be things of the past. III. The very striking sermon.1. It was very short; one could have wished it longer. The main objection to long sermons is that the quality is not in proportion. 2. It was full of Christ, although the Name appears only twice. We should not be always repeating the Name, but all our sermons and lessons should be as full of Christ as they can carry; and our daily life and conduct too. You need not forever carry a Bible in your hand. When your little one draws a cat she is obliged to say so underneath, or no one would recognise it; but by and by she will draw what will describe itself. So all should be able to recognise the Master in us. “ Let your light so shine,” etc. So let it be with your lessons. Christ is to be your diamond; set it as you like, but be sure it is seen. 3. One which declared God’ s impartiality (verses 34, 35). “ God cares for lowly toilers,” etc. IV. The glorious effects (verse 44). We learn that--1. Peter did not labour in vain. He had immediate results; you may not; but wait God’ s good time. 2. The people did not hear in vain. How could they, listening as they did. (G. Leach, D. D.)The gospel to the Gentiles The hasty and impetuous Peter had now become, under the influence of transforming grace, a considerate and self-governed man. But though he had lost his impetuosity and was fast losing his prejudices, he had not lost his vigour nor his readiness to give effect to conviction. After one night of calm reflection, diligent search, and earnest prayer, he was ready to set forth on his errand. At the door Cornelius meets him with an act of homage to the exalted character of his visitor, which was already familiar to a Roman in the case of his emperor, but which the apostle refused as an act of superstition. The minister of Christ, even if he be an apostle, is still but a man: in that identity of nature with his people lies as much his strength as his weakness. Compassed, like them, with every infirmity, he can both feel for the sins and the weaknesses of others, and also comfort them with the comfort wherewith he himself is comforted of God. Now, therefore, having come, he must know for what intent they have sent for him. Cornelius answers by recounting the story of his vision. Ten verses comprise the whole of St. Peter’ s answer; the whole of that, revelation which was to be the eternal life of Cornelius and his house. Note that-- I. The gospel was a record of facts; and out of the facts grew the doctrines. It was not a mere lesson of morality. It did not say, Do your best and God will accept you, It did not say, Care not about opinion, or doctrine, if only your life is right. Cornelius, whose life was blameless and exemplary, still needed Christ, and the Holy Spirit for his salvation. His diligent use of the light he had, brought him more light: such is God’ s rule: but it did not enable him to dispense with it. What showed God’ s acceptance was, God’ s teaching, God’ s illumination; not God’ s acquiescing in his condition, and leaving him as he was.1. And when that teaching and illumination came, what was it? It was the account of a Person; of One who, though Himself man, had altogether changed and reversed man’ s condition; had broken the yoke of sin and Satan in instances numerous and decisive enough to show that He could do it in all; had lived a life such as never man lived, and spoken words such as never man spake; had then given His very life as a ransom for many; had died upon the Cross to take away sin, and after dying had also risen again to be the living High Priest, the Mediator and the Advocate with God, of all who believe; to be both the Judge of human kind, and also the Atonement and the Propitiation for human sin. It was our apostles’ creed which formed the original gospel to the Gentiles. 2. And is it not so still? And has that gospel now lost its savour? Must we look out for some other because the first is worn out? So the world judges, and the Church has too much caught the infection. We fear that even Christian sermons are too much estimated now by their eloquence or their novelty, and too little by their proclamation of Christ Himself. God help us to come back to the simplicity and (with it) to the strength of St. Peter’ s first sermon to the Gentiles! II. God in a remarkable manner bare it witness.1. While the narrative was proceeding, the gift of Pentecost was poured upon the hearers. The fire of the Lord fell, and attested the sacrifice. By an inversion of which we possess no other record in Scripture, the inward gift preceded the outward dedication. Elsewhere baptism went first, and the gift of the Spirit followed. God is a God of order, but He is not restricted by His own laws. Nothing less than the Pentecostal sign would have furnished an irresistible argument for this first Gentile baptism (Acts 11:17-18). 2. Yet, lest any should draw from this an argument against the importance of forms, it was required that the outward sign should follow. How presumptuous then, in later times, to say, Because the form is not all, therefore the form is nothing! if I have the Spirit, I may dispense with the baptismal water! God has been pleased, in His two holy Sacraments, to remind us that in this life we are body as well as soul, and that the two elements of our being are wonderfully and fearfully commingled. The body acts upon the soul; the soul, in all its volitions, must act through the body. 3. Those who talk slightingly of forms are seldom those who know most of the Spirit. Not without form, though not by forms only, can the work of Christ be carried forward in the world. If the doctrine of the gospel had been launched in the world without the institution of a Church, it might have waxed feebler, generation by generation, until at last it actually died and vanished away. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And we all know how much our faith owes to the possession of a house of prayer, regular seasons of worship, and a standing ministry to lead and to guide and quicken our devotion. Take away all these things, or any of these things, and where should we be? Destroy this temple, make its services rare or repulsive; let there be no one to exercise a regular ministration; let there be no visitation of the sick, no care for the poor, no catechising of the young; and who does not know how serious would be the loss to himself and to the cause of good? I know not whose faith would stand the test of an utter denial of all help either from public worship or from private ministrations; an absolute removal of that candlestick, the Church, which is not indeed, but which yet holds, the light of the Word, the lamp of the truth. Let us not lose, my brethren, by lethargy of soul, the advantages which God has given us. (Dean Vaughan.)Complemental ministry In the Garden of Plants at Paris a certain rare tree grew for many years. It was a thriving and mature plant. Year by year it was covered with blossom, and year by year the white blossoms were shed on the ground leaving no fruit behind. After every promise it remained barren still. At last one season, although nothing extraordinary had been observed, after flower came fruit; it swelled apace, and in due time ripened. The tree for the first time brought to maturity self-propagating fruit. They sought and found the cause. Another tree of the same species, but bearing flowers the counterpart and complement of this, had then for the first time blossomed in a garden at some distance. The small white dust from the flowers of that other tree, necessary to make the flowers of this tree fruitful, had been borne on the feet of bees, or wafted by the wind into their bosom, and forthwith they bore fruit. This in the natural department is the work of the same all-wise God, who prepared Cornelius for receiving Peter’ s word, and brought Peter with the word to Cornelius. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come.--Cornelius’ s sending and Peter’ s coming I. Cornelius’ sending was--1. The outcome of a felt want. Heathenism, Judaism, devotion, moral excellence, noble birth, popularity were insufficient to fill the void in this good man’ s soul. 2. After prayer, or he might have sought the counsel of Jewish rabbi, Gentile philosopher or candid friend who would have directed him to ritual, wisdom or self-complacency, but never to one by whose words he might be saved. 3. By Divine direction. (1) To an unlikely man.(2) At an unlikely place. “ God moves in a mysterious way.” but always in the right way. II. Peter’ s coming. Peter did well in coming, for thereby--1. He conquered his Jewish prejudices. This was well for himself. Bigotry and exclusiveness are everywhere self-hindering and harmful. 2. He opened the door of the gospel to the Gentiles, thus anticipating and preparing for the worldwide mission of Paul. 3. He satisfied the aspirations of a genuine soul, and in doing so who knows what else? The influence of the converted centurion could not but have been felt in the army. Did Cornelius take the gospel to Rome? 4. He was the means of converting an entire congregation. What a phenomenon! (J. W. Burn.)Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.-- A model congregation It was-- I. Earnest, which is obvious from--1. The religious character that was given to it. It was composed of Cornelius and his family. The centurion’ s religion (verse 2) was-- (1) Domestic, “ all his house.”(2) Generous, “ he gave alms to the people.”(3) Habitual, “ he prayed to God alway.” There were no frivolous spirits among Peter’ s listeners. 2. The invitation they gave the preacher, “ Immediately therefore I sent to thee.” II. Solemn, “ Before God.” The expression implies belief in--1. The existence of God--they were neither atheists, pantheists, nor polytheists. 2. The presence of God, not merely His influence. 3. The claim of God. He is our Maker, Proprietor, Judge, demanding the homage of our souls. 4. This belief was grounded in such a consciousness that would sweep from their minds all that was secular, sceptical and frivolous, and fill them with a profound solemnity. III. Inquiring. “ To hear all things,” etc. They were assembled not as a matter of custom, not to sit passive and be acted upon by the preacher, not for a mere performance, but to inquire. In this inquiry they were--1. Profoundly religious. They were in quest of the Divine, “ Commanded thee of God.” They were not seekers after Peter’ s private speculations, but after the Divine Will. 2. Thoroughly free, “ To hear all things.” Their minds were untrammelled by prejudices, unbiassed by dogmas. They wanted to know the whole counsel of God. May not such a congregation be regarded as a model? Such a congregation would not have tolerated the pulpit crudities and priestly assumptions of modern times. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The model congregation Is it true that it was composed of men who were neither Jews nor Christians, and that it met in the first century of the Christian era; yet there are many points in which it might be an example to nineteenth century Christian congregations. They were present-- I. Everyone. When was it ever said of a modern congregation, “ We are all here present” ? Naturally, all cannot be; but how many are absent, who might have been present, if animated by the spirit of Cornelius and his friends! II. Punctually. When Peter arrived, Cornelius met him with the announcement, “ We are all here.” Want of punctuality is an evil in our services. Some are always late. They lose part of the services; they disturb the minister and congregation. In many eases it is a mere habit, that could be overcome by a little attention. III. With a definite purpose. “ To hear.” How many motives influence attendance nowadays! Some are present to see, some to criticise, some from habit, some to while away the time, some from curiosity. IV. With prepared hearts. “ Now, therefore.” We are here expectantly. If the minister ought to prepare to speak, not less ought the people to prepare to hear. Our Lord solemnly warns us: “ Take heed how ye hear.” V. With reverent spirits. “ Present before God.” This was an act of solemn worship. They did not come to sit at the feet of some popular preacher. “ The worship of Dr. will be resumed next Sabbath,” said an usher to some persons who were leaving the church, upon learning that their favourite minister was not to preach that day. VI. With attentive ears. How many absent-minded men there are in our congregations! They could not say, “ We are all present.” Wandering thoughts are servants of the devil. This congregation expected “ to hear all things that were commanded of God.” There were, evidently, no sleepers among them. A parishioner, upon his deathbed, confessed to his pastor that he had not heard a sermon for years--his thoughts had habitually reverted to his business as soon as the text was announced. Worshippers ought not to have their bodies in the house of God, and their hearts, with the fool’ s eyes, in the ends of the earth. VII. With one mind. No divisions in this congregation. They were all, with one accord, in one place. VIII. With a right idea of the preacher. They wished to hear the things that God commanded him to speak. They cared more for the message than the messenger. If some of our congregations would think more of God’ s deliverance and less of man’ s delivery, it would tend to their spiritual edification. IX. To hear the whole counsel of God. They wished to hear all things that God commanded. A modern congregation must have some fortitude before it asks for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. X. With a spirit of obedience. The word which we translate “ to hear” oftentimes, as in this case, means “ to hear and obey.” It is well to be ready to hear all of God’ s commands; better to be ready to obey them. Results:1. The gospel was faithfully preached (verse 34). Faithful hearers make faithful preachers. 2. The Holy Ghost was giver (verse 44). “ Peter yet spake these words presence and the Word:-- I. The great fact and truth realised by Cornelius: “ Now, therefore, are we all here present before God.” II. The devout and sincere purpose of heart expressed: “ To hear all things,” etc.1. “ Now therefore,” etc. Evidently spoken by a man who had before recognised and felt God’ s presence in his life and ways. We are of a truth alway in God’ s presence if we knew it: but there are times when the reality breaks forth with special power for special purposes. But there are other times and ways beside those in which we are met together for public worship, when we may be made feel that we are “ present before God.” All time and place, thought and feeling, are sacred when this great and holy truth is impressed upon us, “ the Lord God is there.” (1) Have we never felt we were present before God, in our own soul and conscience? Have we never felt within, that there was another Presence besides our own, that penetrated and searched our inmost thoughts? (2) We may feel we are present before God in His works. (3) In the course of the Divine providence, its ways and dealings. Behind and above all these busy outward actors, scenes of engagement, there is the Divine Seer and Actor, and His hand is outstretched upon every man, woman and child. Were our eyes opened to see the greatest truth and reality of this scene of our existence and probation, we should feel no words were so true as these; “ Now, then, are we all here present before God.” (4) Again in the dispensation of truth and privilege vouchsafed to us, God is and comes very near to us. What in fact is Divine truth but the immediate touch, teaching, and reality of God? (5) Our parents, specially if pious parents, are they not witnesses to us of God’ s presence, authority and grace, seeing they are given and appointed to represent Him and lead us to Him? II. We must have regard to the sincere devout purpose of heart expressed: “ To hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” Here are three things to be noted: the preacher; his message and its source; the receptive state of mind and heart among the hearers.1. The preacher was Peter the apostle, who, when Cornelius would have worshipped him, on entering his house, said, “ Stand up, I myself also am a man” (verse 26). It has been well and wisely observed, not the angel but the man must preach the gospel to Cornelius. Even salvation itself came to us through the man Christ Jesus, God laying hold of us through the medium of our own nature. Peter had all the experiences of an ignorant, weak, failing, sinful man, and of a man forgiven, converted, transformed, consecrate, Divinely taught and led. Such experiences, with their vital, soul thrilling power, could never proceed from the tongues of angels. 2. Next Peter’ s message and its source: “ All things that are commanded thee of God.” Cornelius had no idea of any self-made or man-made gospel. We now come-- 3. To the state of mind and heart in the hearers: “ To hear all things that are,” etc., that are commanded us also, through thee as the Divine organ and representative. The mind of Cornelius was not passive, but as the whole chapter shows, was in intense action and engagement; and he knew and felt by the present living testimony of God’ s Spirit and truth in his own spirit, that the things which Peter spake came from God and were commanded of God. It is God Himself who calls us to the obedience of His gospel. It is not man’ s gospel, but His, commanding us in His name, on His authority. Let man stand aside, that God may be heard and obeyed. (Watson Smith.)The ideal congregation I. The ideal congregation will be present at the appointed place betimes. “ Now therefore we are all here.” II. The ideal congregation will never fail to have unanimity of representation as far as that is possible. “ We are all here.” If it could be said truly, all who could be are here, we would have great reason to rejoice. III. The ideal congregation will be reverent. “ We are all here before God.” IV. The ideal congregation will be attentive. “ We are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” They do not come to see or be seen, but to hear; not to be gratified or entertained, but to be spiritually profited. V. The ideal congregation will re sympathetic. There were some communities in which the Lord Jesus Christ could not perform mighty works. There are congregations so cold and unresponsive that the preacher’ s thoughts are chilled in transmission. A man can’ t be packed in ice without freezing. The Church has a great deal to do with making the minister. Many a sermon has caught its glow and power from the sympathies of those to whom it was delivered. A genial summer is not more effective in calling forth buds and blossoms, than warm hearts are in drawing out all that is best and noblest in a preacher’ s soul. VI. The ideal congregation will be receptive. Like nature in the spring time, with every tree and flower and grass blade open to receive the gracious ministries of heaven. VII. The ideal congregation will be unprejudiced. “ We are all here before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” Prejudice is the hardest thing to cope with, for it is not amenable to conviction even when the evidence is overwhelming. “ Argument cannot do the work of instruction any more than blows can take the place of sunlight.” Not what suited their tastes and harmonised with their preconceived notions, but all that was commanded of God. It would be well if congregations now came together with this absolute simplicity and guilelessness of disposition. VIII. The ideal congregation will be obediently disposed. “ All that is commanded thee of God.” Nothing can be of real value in God’ s sight which does not shape itself into obedience. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The reciprocal duties of a minister and of his people I. Let us consider the duty of a minister of religion, which, though not explicitly laid down, is nevertheless implied in the words of my text: he is to teach “ all things that are commanded him of God” ; not teaching for doctrines the commandments of men; not setting forth human tradition as of equal importance with the oracles of the living God, but, in humility and godly sincerity, declaring the truth as it is in Jesus. Let us now consider more particularly what the minister is commanded to teach.1. He is commanded to remind his hearers that they are all “ by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath” ; that they are very far gone from original righteousness, and are of their own nature inclined to evil. 2. Having shown his hearers their state by nature, and their utter helplessness and inability to deliver themselves from this spiritual bondage as slaves of sin and Satan, he is authorised to point out to them a way of deliverance. 3. We are commanded to set before our hearers the precepts, as well as the doctrines, of our holy religion; to tell them plainly that profession without practice, that faith without works, will be of no avail to them (Matthew 8:20). I have dwelt on the duty of a Christian minister: permit me now to invite your attention-- II. To that of our hearers, which is implied in my text: “ We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” “ Take heed how ye hear.”1. Receive the Word with an humble and a teachable mind. This is the disposition that was so exemplified in Mary, when she sat at the feet of Jesus, and listened to the sweet expressions that dropped from His lips. This is the disposition recommended by St. James in the following words: “ Receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.” It is to be feared that many of our hearers enter into the sanctuary strangers to this temper; more eager to judge than to hear; ever on the alert for an opportunity to condemn; putting every phrase to the rack, if it accords not with their notion of propriety. 2. Hear with faith. “ The Word preached,” says St. Paul, “ did not profit the Jews, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” : it had no influence on their conduct, because they did not believe what they heard. 3. If ye would hear with profit, be constant in prayer, not only in the church, but in the closet. “ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” Remember “ the preparation of the heart in man is from the Lord.” Paul may plant, Apollos water; but it is God only that giveth the increase. 4. Be ye practical hearers. St. Paul represents some as “ ever hearing, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” “ Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (J. Hughes, M. A.)Congregations to be well fed with the truth Dogs often fight because the supply of bones is scanty and congregations frequently quarrel because they do not get sufficient spiritual meat to keep them happy and peaceful. The ostensible ground of dissatisfaction may be something else, but nine times out of ten deficiency in their rations is at the bottom of the mutinies which occur in our Churches. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The best remedy for small congregations Mr. Christopher Richardson, minister of Kirk Heaton, in Yorkshire, was much followed. A neighbouring minister, Whose parishioners used to go to hear him, complaining once to him that he drew away his flock, Mr. Richardson answered, “ Feed them better, and they will not stray.” Punctuality in attendance at church An earnest minister once had the misfortune to succeed a tardy man who had had the congregation in charge for some years. He despaired of reforming them in great matters if he could not reform them in small. He found them in the habit of meeting at twelve o’ clock, though the hour appointed and agreed upon was eleven. The preacher knew his duty, and began at the minute. The first day after his settlement, his sermon was well-nigh closed before most of his congregation arrived. Some actually arrived just at the benediction. They were confounded. He made no apology. He only asked the seniors if they would prefer any other time than eleven o’ clock, and he would be sure and attend. A few weeks passed and the church was regularly full, and waiting for the minute. The preacher never failed in twenty years, except in a few cases of indisposition, to commence at the hour appointed. His congregation soon became as punctual and circumspect in other matters as in their attendance at church. (Cyclopoedia of Illustrative Anecdotes.)A model congregation This congregation may be held up as a model in three things. I. Punctuality of Attendance. “ Now therefore are we all here.”1. All were present. No absentees. 2. All were present in proper time. They were waiting for Peter, and not Peter for them. No coming in during service, and disturbing both preacher and hearers. II. Devoutness of spirit. “ Before God.” Realised God’ s presence. This would inspire--1. Humility (Exodus 3:2-6; 1 Samuel 16:7; Genesis 18:27; Isaiah 6:5; Job 42:5-6). 2. Sincerity. Here, if anywhere, there should be truth (Isaiah 57:15; Psalms 51:6). Hypocrisy may walk the earth invisible to men, but not to God. 3. High expectation (Matthew 18:20). Here the Father is present (Romans 8:32). Here the Son is present (John 6:48-53; Matthew 23:26). Here the Holy Ghost is present (John 6:63; John 16:15). We should attend upon ordinances with diligence, preparation, and prayer. Come to God’ s house fresh from the company of the gay and the thoughtless, and with no real seriousness of spirit, and is it any wonder if you are not benefited. III. Practicalness of purpose. “ The more part knew not wherefore they had come together” (Acts 19:32). Not so here. Had a clear, settled, well-understood purpose.1. To hear. Sense of God’ s personal interest and love (Romans 10:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; John 13:17). 2. To hear what was commanded of God. Looked above the messenger to Him that had sent him. Recognised the Divine authority of the truth. Without this there can be no real good (Exodus 3:13; Deuteronomy 5:27; Hebrews 4:2). 3. To hear all that was commanded of God. Law and gospel. The whole counsel of God. There should be fearless honesty both in speaking and hearing. (William Forsyth, A. M.)A model audience I. It was noted for punctuality.1. A sense of the importance of the service. Men generally careful to secure a front seat at theatre, entertainment, banquet. Religion paramount.2. It secures the whole of the service.3. It is helpful to the preacher.4. It makes the service enjoyable. II. It was noted for reverence.1. Conscious of the Divine superintendence.2. Regard for the Divine dignity.3. Awe of the Divine purity.4. Engagement in Divine service. III. It was noted for attention.1. Unprejudiced attention.2. Docile attention.3. Practical attention.4. Successful attention. They believed and obeyed. (B. D. Johns.)Concerning audiences, preachers, sermons, and conversions I. The audience.1. Before the preacher began this “ innovation” takes place--the audience spoke up to the preacher, the pew to the pulpit. It was a splendid audience, though not very large. How earnestly they came together! What a solidarity there was! No wandering thought or eye, but all was focused; calm and purposeful both in body and soul; so that ere the preacher began, one man could speak for all, “ Now therefore are we all here present before God.” May this audience bring its contribution to the preacher, while it expects the preacher to bring his! The contribution he has a right to expect is, that the people should come united, full of expectation, led into the temple like Simeon by the Spirit of God, at the very moment when Jesus came. No chance, no haphazard in this gathering. We have not come here to spend an idle hour. When asked, “ Where have you been this morning?” --it is wrong to answer “ Oh, I dropped in to Regent Square.” You did not drop in nor drop out. The Lord’ s providences for the whole of the week have been hedging up your way, and securing that you should be here. Fall in with God’ s arrangement. 2. I like to dwell on the word all. The people were invited, and they came. This morning the very hour invites us. I know there are many excuses. You can tell me about young children, sickness, waiting on the sick, fogs, east winds, long distances, wet days, etc. In many families, at ten o’ clock on the Sabbath morning, attendance at church is still an open question. It is no open question on the Monday morning, “ John, will you go to work today?” “ Oh,” said a farmer in Scotland, when a minister rebuked him for not attending church, and said, “ You know, John, you are never absent from the market.” “ Oh,” was the reply, “ we maun gang to the market.” Unconsciously it came out. To come to the house of God was not so urgent. But when we look at this audience we see the benefit of setting ourselves the task of coming with a purpose to God’ s house. It will need planning and self-denial. Some of you are here today only because you have trampled upon a hundred obstacles. And some are not here because they have given way to things which will not be allowed to stand in the way of tomorrow’ s engagements. 3. And then when we all come-- (1) The Lord marks how we have pressed forward to meet Him. I think there is no sweeter sight to His holy eyes than to see the people wending their way to His house. “ Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (2) And when you come in this expectant way, how it helps the reception of the sermon! How we have all suffered from coming to the house of God in a disorderly, hurried way, both as regards body and soul! Then you look up to the preacher and expect him to work miracles on your higgledy-piggledy soul. 4. “ We are all here present before God.” (1) Try to realise God’ s presence; get past outward and temporal things, and call upon your soul to pass into the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High. Compel your soul to grasp the thought--“ Surely God is in this place” ; and instead of saying, “ I knew it not,” let us say, “ We know it, and wait for a clearer revelation of His presence.” This is holy ground. Where you are sitting God has converted men ere now. Canst thou come where God has done His mightiest work, carelessly, heedlessly, and merely as a matter of custom and routine? Thou art occupying the room of men and women who today are before the eternal throne. This word is true: “ We are all present before God” --and therefore let there be nothing unworthy of such a Presence and such a place. (2) And how the thought of God’ s presence will help to focus our attention; to take our eyes off each other, and off the preacher! How it will help to prepare us to receive God’ s Word! How it will reduce to a minimum the over-critical spirit! Said a preacher to myself, “ I notice when I give out my text, my people settle down and settle back; but, I am afraid, not so much to hear what I have to say as to watch how I get through.” 5. “ To hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” They came to hear God’ s Word. You know that today there is a tendency to say, “ Hearing has been too much magnified. What I come to God’ s house for is to worship. The preacher gets far too much space.” There may be something in that, but it is exaggerated. What was central here, and what must always be central in a gathering of saints or sinners is the preaching of God’ s Word, and the attending thereto by the hearer. That is worship at its highest. All the powers of the soul get their highest use and their fullest freedom when God’ s Word is faithfully and lovingly proclaimed. Faith cometh by hearing. II. The preacher.1. I have been speaking straightly to you, but now your turn comes. The pew has a right to say to the preacher, “ Now, give us what God has told you. There are many things that might interestingly occupy an hour; give us, however, the thing that brought us here.” And this is needful, for we get so immersed in favourite lines of reading which unconsciously colour our utterances, so that we need from the audience--“ Now, preacher, God’ s Word and truth; all things from Him today, and nothing else. Never mind about reconciling science and revelation; we can get that in our magazines and read it at home. Give us today what really concerns us, ‘ All things commanded thee of God.’” Peter needed that. He was a narrow, bigoted Jew, and he would never, of himself, have preached to Cornelius and his company the sermon they needed. At the best we are but men, and of narrowness and prejudice we have our share. Therefore there is tremendous need that the preacher should be in God’ s hand, and come from God’ s presence with his soul and voice attuned to a large, full, free, and glorious utterance of the gospel of the grace of God. Leave as to ourselves, and there may be some little glimmering light in our preaching, but only a little: there may be light from every quarter, to use the phrase of the day, save the Sun! The Lord blow out all our penny candles. His light has come. We need to come forth from God, He having poured into us something of the fulness of His mind and heart. 2. “ Then Peter opened his mouth.” Do not run over that phrase and say, “ Of course.” A number of us cannot open our mouths when we preach--it is the most piteous mumbling. Sabbath school teacher, preacher, “ Open your mouth, and teach the people, as your Lord did and His chief apostle.” Let it be seen in the very manner of our speech that our mouth is open, for our heart is enlarged; that it comes, not feebly and faint and constricted, but glad and full and free, for the Lord is with us. Do not say, “ I have no eloquence; I have a stammering tongue.” Who made man’ s mouth? “ Have not I the Lord? Open thy mouth; behold I put My words into thy mouth.” What does Isaiah say? “ Lift up,” he says--and how much it is needed in this namby-pamby, over-refined, hypercritical age--“ Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up; be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God.” “ Peter opened his mouth.” He lifted up his head, and let go! We put down ours, and hold on! III. The sermon. It was the old gospel. It was new and fresh then. That is one thing that one does sometimes envy the first preachers for; for they had seen Him and His glory. Peter preached Christ, not theology, not a creed; but Jesus, sent for a particular purpose by God; how that, carrying out that purpose, He had died on the Cross and risen again, and that through Him is preached forgiveness of sins. That is where the gospel began then, and where it begins today--forgiveness of sins to a devout man, and one that feared God, and made prayers, and gave alms. People would have said today, “ with an audience like that, what you want to do is not to take them to the Cross. Show them Christ, of course; but Christ as the great ideal and embodiment of all that is good, and a devout, God-fearing man like Cornelius will be enamoured with Him and make Him his Leader and Pattern.” “ No,” says Peter; “ We preach the Christ who died for sin to everybody.” A French officer, whose ship had been taken by Nelson, was brought on board Nelson’ s vessel, and he walked up to the great admiral and gave him his hand. “ No,” said Nelson; “ your sword first, if you please.” That is the gospel. IV. The result. There is a new name brought in here. I have talked of Cornelius, of Peter, of Jesus, of God the Father, but here is another name. While Peter yet spake these words about Jesus, “ The Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the Word.” Cornelius possibly had heard of Jesus as a name of reproach and blasphemy. Now, Jesus leapt up into his heart as his Friend and Saviour, and God. That is the miracle of the Gospel. That is what the Holy Ghost does. If you know Jesus Christ, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you. Peter was there, as the preacher is here; and the sermon; but the Holy Ghost gives the increase and blesses the Word, and without Him fruit cannot be. (J. McNeill.)Attending at ordinances enforced We have here--1. A call to Peter related--“ I sent.” 2. Peter’ s compliance with the call commended, “ Thou hast well done that thou art come.” 3. An address made to Peter when he was come. In which take notice-- (1) Of a congregation, though small? yet well convened (verse 24). (2) An acknowledgment of God’ s presence in a special manner in religious assemblies, “ We are all here present before God.” (3) The great end of their meeting was their soul’ s edification, to hear, i.e., to hear and obey. And here is what the minister is to preach and the people to receive: “ what is commanded of God.” The extent of both is “ all things.” Observe--1. When God discovers His mind in any particular to a person or people, it is their duty presently to comply with it without delay. The contrary was the fault of Balaam, and of the Jews in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:1-30).2. It is a blessed thing for a people to call that minister to whom God Himself directs and inclines them. Cornelius did not so much as know Peter by name (verse 5), but he goes to Gods and God directs him. 3. It is a commendable thing in a minister of Christ to comply with the call of God and His people, though it should be offensive to some, and not very agreeable to his own inclinations. The doctrine arising from the text is--“ It is the duty of a people to attend on ordinances.” In discoursing from this I shall-- I. Give reasons why people should attend on and be present at ordinances, where God has set them up among them. Because--1. God has commanded it (Hebrews 10:15). The Lord calls His people to be present there, wherever it is. Thus there was the tabernacle in the wilderness, and afterwards the temple, and the synagogues. It was the practice of Christ Himself to attend these places (Luke 4:16). 2. The public assemblies are for the honour of Christ in the world. They are where His honour dwells, where His people meet to profess their subjection to His laws, to receive His orders, to seek His help, to pay Him the tribute of praise. 3. These assemblies are the ordinary place where Christ makes His conquest of souls (Romans 10:14). The gospel is Christ’ s net wherein souls are caught. And it is always good to be in Christ’ s way. 4. They are Christ’ s trysting place with His people, the galleries wherein our Lord walks (Exodus 20:24). What a disadvantage had Thomas by his absence from one meeting where Christ met with the rest of the disciples! 5. The delights of Christ and His people meet there; for ordinances are the heaven on earth. Christ delights to be there with His people (Psalms 86:2.; Luke 22:15). And they delight to be there with Him, and for Him (Psalms 84:1; Psalms 48:2; Psalms 27:4; Psalms 122:1). 6. The necessities of all that mind for heaven require it. Had the ordinances not been necessary, God would never have appointed them. Have not Christ’ s soldiers need of them to clear their rusty armour? do not dead souls need them to quicken them? sleepy souls, to awaken them? II. Show in what respects people are before the Lord at public ordinances. The Lord is everywhere present (Psalms 139:7). But we are before Him in a special manner in the public assemblies. He holds the stars in His right hand, and walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. Christ is in the assemblies of His people--1, Representatively. He has His agents there, His ministers, who are the Lord’ s proxies to court a wife for their Master’ s Son (2 Corinthians 11:2); His ambassadors to negotiate a peace betwixt God and sinners (2 Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 10:40),2. Efficaciously. The Word of the Lord is a powerful word. Christ is there giving life to some, strength to others, and death’ s wounds to others (Micah 2:7; Psalms 45:5; Hosea 6:5). 3. As our witness. Men’ s eyes and the devil’ s eyes are upon us; but this country in regard to the public service of religion. Our forefathers put their clocks on the outside of their places of worship, that they might not be too late in their attendance: we have transferred them to the inside of the house of God, lest we should stay too long in the service--a sad and an ominous change. (R. Watson.)Don’ t grumble about the fodder “ Now, deacon, I’ ve just one word to say. I can’ t bear our preaching! I get no good. There’ s so much in it I don’ t want that I grow lean on it. I lose my time and pains.” “ Mr. Bunnell, come in here. There’ s my cow Thankful--she can teach you theology!” “ A cow teach theology! What do you mean?” “ Now, see, I have just thrown her a forkful of hay. Just watch her. There now! She has found a stick--you know sticks will get into the hay--and see how she tosses it to one side and goes on to eat what is good. There, again! She has found a burdock, and she throws it on one side and goes on eating. And there! She does not relish that bunch of daisies, and leaves them and goes on eating. Before morning she will have cleared the manger of all, save a few sticks and weeds, and she will give milk. There’ s milk in that hay, and she knows how to get it out, albeit there may be now and then a stick or weed which she leaves. But if she refused to eat, and spent the time in scolding about the fodder, she, too, would ‘ grow lean,’ and the milk would dry up. Just so with our preaching. Let the old cow teach you. Get all the good you can out of it and leave the rest. You will find a good deal of nourishment in it.” Interested hearers A gentleman once said to Rowland Hill, “ It is sixty-five years since I first heard you preach; and the sermon was well worth remembering. You remarked, that some people are very squeamish about the manner of a clergyman in preaching; but you then added, “ Supposing one is hearing a will read, expecting to receive a legacy, would you employ the time in criticising the lawyer’ s manner while reading it? No: you would give all your interest to ascertain if anything were left to yourself, and how much. Let that, then, be the way in which you listen to the gospel.” Different kinds of hearers There are four different kinds of hearers of the Word--those like a sponge, that suck up good and bad together, and let both run out immediately; those like a sand glass, that let what enters in at one ear pass out at the other, hearing without thinking; those like a strainer, letting go the good, and retaining the bad; and those like a sieve, letting go the chaff, and retaining the good grain. (T. Boston, D. D.)Various kinds of hearers One is like an Athenian, and he hearkeneth after news; if the preacher say anything of our armies beyond the sea, or council at home, or matters of court, that is his lure. Another is like the Pharisee, and he watcheth if anything be said that may be wrested. Another smacks of eloquence, and he gapes for a phrase. Another is malcontent, and he never pricketh up his ears till the preacher come to gird against some whom he spiteth; and when the sermon is done he remembereth nothing which was said to him, but that which was spoken against another. Another cometh to gaze about the church; he hath an evil eye, which is still looking upon that from which Job did avert his eye. Another cometh to muse; so soon as he is set, he falleth into a brown study; sometimes his mind runs on his market, sometimes of his journey, sometimes of his suit, sometimes of his dinner, sometimes of his sport after dinner; and the sermon is done before the man thinks where he is. Another cometh to hear; but so soon as the preacher hath said his prayer, he falls fast asleep, as though he had been brought in for a corpse, and the preacher should preach at his funeral. (H. Smith.)Truth liked as a sentiment, but disliked as a law of life A man comes to New York on an errand of fraud. He is seeking to take an estate away from the rightful heirs, because he has some little legal advantage. He has resisted his conscience, and suppressed all his reluctances, and his purpose is fixed. On arriving here he goes to the theatre--that school of morals!--and witnesses a play, the point of which turns on the defrauding of heirs by an old rich uncle--just the same thing as he is attempting. The various parts are gone through with, and everybody cries, and he cries, and he goes away feeling, “ How mean it is for a man to supplant poor orphans in that way!” He cries over and denounces the very act which he is himself performing. You know that such things take place. There are hundreds of men that love to hear about temperance, and go and get drunk. There are many men that love to hear about truth, and lie like witches afterwards. There is nothing more common than instances which go to show that we like as a sentiment things that we do not like as an ethical rule. Oftentimes, when a thing comes to us as a rule of conduct, and lays its law on us, and demands our obedience, we resist it; but when, instead of that, it comes to us as on emotion, we like to lie upon its bosom, as a duck lies on a swell of water. Wicked men like to undulate on these moral elements. They like to go to sea on the gospel. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. God the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him I. To show by what marks we shall know whether we ourselves, and others, are sincere in the fear of God.1. The first mark of sincerity in the concerns of religion is having carefully endeavoured to find our duty. For if we take a matter of this importance upon trust, and leave custom and fashion to choose our opinions, we must confess that we are very fortunate if we are in the right. Interest and indolence are always on the side of giving in to popular systems. If loss of esteem and authority attend embracing any opinion, men examine timorously, and are afraid of evidence; and when reason begins to strike, then they ask themselves, Have any of the rulers of the people believed on Him? They creep and fix their sentiments upon others, and like the ivy, never ascend higher than that which chance has given them for a support. But the foundation of Protestantism and Christianity is another method of examination: we must throw aside the world and all the consequences that may attend it, and have our thoughts wholly on our duty. We must empty our minds of every favourite prepossession, and receive the kingdom of God like little children; have no opinion of our own, and no desire that either this or that doctrine or action should be true and our duty; but only that we may know what is truth and our duty. No person can pretend that he has not abilities, because all that is required is that they use the abilities they have. If with an honest and teachable heart they desire to do the will of God, His promise and His goodness are engaged that they shall know the truth in everything, on which their everlasting happiness depends. And if we find difficulties in performing this duty, and ourselves liable to mistakes, it ought to fill us with modesty and diligence, with mutual forbearance and charity, and then our very errors may be useful. 2. The second mark by which we may judge whether we are sincere is by working righteousness, and doing everything we know to be our duty. The end of faith is practice, and the only thing valuable in knowing our Master’ s will is that we may obey Him. We may therefore comfort ourselves with being sincere in our fear of the Lord, if we join a religious performance of the duties we know with our endeavouring to go on to perfection. And we religiously perform our duty if we are virtuous in secret, as well as in the eye of the world. We must perform the whole of our duty if we truly fear God, and not choose some darling folly to indulge in secret, and flatter ourselves that He hideth away His face and will not see it. We must throw aside at once all our vices, and caution most against that we are most willing to palliate and excuse, and be in every known instance obedient. It is true indeed that God has given us no commands but what is our interest and present happiness to obey; but if we perform them upon the low motives of convenience only, they are the actions of a man of prudence, but cease to be the offices of religion or Christian graces. 3. The third mark of sincerity in our fear of God is expressing our zeal for things in proportion to their real value. 4. Another mark by which we may manifest a sincere fear of God is our being charitable to those who differ from us in our sentiments. 5. The last mark I shall mention, by which we may know our sincerity in seeking for the will of God, is by the methods we use to convince others of the truth of what we ourselves embrace and believe II. Which brings me in the second place to show why this virtue entitles us to the favour of God.1. And first, it is all that we can possibly perform. The text tells us that God is no respecter of persons, and therefore He must have put it into every man’ s power to please Him: but He hath given them nothing besides their whole abilities, and therefore, if these are employed with honesty and fairness, God can expect no more. The knowledge which is sufficient to recommend a poor man, obliged to take care by his industry for the subsistence of his family, may be inexcusably little in those who are raised above such low solicitudes and enjoy leisure and improvement. 2. The second reason why this is so pleasing to God is because it will improve our natures. God who created man to communicate happiness to him, must be pleased to see him advance to all the perfection and felicity He gave him capacities to enjoy. 3. The last reason why this sincere fear of God, expressed by diligently inquiring after His will, is so pleasing to Him, is because it will always teach us those things which are most truly useful and worth knowing. This discourse may be thought liable to one objection, viz., that if sincerity is the only thing required to make us acceptable to God--and that may belong to men of every religion--therefore all religions are equal. But to answer this objection, which would have never been thought so much as plausible, had it not of late been so often, and with so much delight, repeated, if it be granted that men may support their lives by herbs and acorns, would it not be a strange conchasten to infer from thence that we esteem a country which produces that food only equal to one flowing with milk and honey? Yet the case is exactly the same and exposes the absurdity of the objection. III. The conclusion I would draw from what I have said, suitable to the design of the day, is this, that thence we may learn to soften our conduct toward all well-disposed men that differ from us. (Thomas Rundle, LL. B.)God no respecter of persons Here we have one of the many strong contrasts between God and man. I. Why God is no respecter of persons as man is. Because--1. Man’ s estimate is of very limited compass as to the number of persons taken account of--God’ s is universal. Men can take account of but very few persons for either respect or contempt. Look at the multitude of the inhabitants of a great city, or province, what a great majority of them we can have no individual estimate of at all! And then, think of a nation--and the whole world. There are, indeed, a few distinguished persons who have a character in the estimate of a great part of the civilised world, but what a diminutive number do these make! But God has His estimate of every person of the entire race. 2. The whole world of mere exteriors is as nothing to God. Man is the dupe and idolater of them all over the world. Nothing so mean or bad, but if a fine appearance can be thrown over it, it becomes as a god to him. But God estimates men in their intrinsic qualities. What an infinity of superficial shows part off from them under that inspection! What a different thing must man appear when all these are fled! And if men could be presented thus to one another, what would become of most of the human gods of human idolatry? The feebleness of our vision cannot do this entirely. But it is true, also, that we are far too willing to be imposed on by the delusive show of the world. 3. Men are respecters of persons from self-interest. They are looking up to certain men, and thinking what advantages they can confer. It were but trifling to show how the Divine Being can be under no such influence in His estimates. 4. Men respect persons because others do, without well knowing any other reason why. As a number of persons collected at a spectacle will quickly draw a multitude, so let an individual come to be accounted of importance by a portion of society, and the rest soon follows. God has no opinion in the universe to regard but His own. What is it to Him that one diminutive creature after another adds its slender intellect in affirmation of the judgment of a crowd? In every view, He is infinitely superior to the influence of all the causes by which men are made to be “ respecters of persons.” II. Contemplate this Divine superiority in reference to several of those things which command men’ s highest respect. We all see how men are affected towards persons of--1. Great wealth. What deference--what attention to what is said--what prompt compliance! Suppose the impression a man not known to be rich makes shall be simply that of his apparent personal qualities--his dispositions--his sense--his manners. And suppose it then to become suddenly known that he is very rich, what a difference! A very considerable degree of misconduct or vice does not put the rich down in society. They can at once defy opinion, and be sure of obsequiousness. What a state of human sentiments is this in the sight of God! He “ is no respecter of persons.” 2. High station in what is called birth, rank, and power. In former times (and in many parts it is so still) the multitude have regarded this class as actually being of some mysteriously higher order of human nature. Still there is quite enough “ respect” to gratify their utmost pride--pompous titles of honour, a vast parade of state and ceremony. The ground is cleared for them, in society, wherever they appear; their mere will, or caprice, is considered as authority, without requiring a reason; the worship of God itself is deemed to be vastly honoured if they deign to pay it some formalities of attention. Every conceivable palliation is adduced, by force, in their behalf, to extenuate the grossness of sin; and pompous funeral celebrations are given them when they die. Now turn the thought to God. Think! If He had any partiality like this, what would become of His government? What would then have been His dispensations in Egypt, in Babylon, in Judaea? What would then be the condition of the oppressed, when they cry and appeal to Him? He looks on all these distinctions as the mere transitory accidents of the mortal condition. He requires the same self-abasement, and repentance, from all these loftier persons, as by the meanest--or they reject them at their peril. And His great messenger, Death, makes, as it were, melancholy sport of all these robes of grandeur. 3. Great mental endowment. And this is different from the others, in being a more intrinsic quality. And from that cause, and from its being less obvious to vulgar apprehension, it has nothing like so many idolaters. Nevertheless, it has always been an object of perverted regard. Every epithet appropriate to divinity has been applied. There are, at this hour, many enthusiastic admirers of human talent, who are despisers of God! In behalf of men of great talent there has been and is a disposition to suspend or abrogate the most essential laws of morality. And short of such an extreme, respect of persons may be excessive. There are persons who have no relish for truth, but as displayed in the style of genius or eloquence; as if the grave matter were nothing, and the decorations were all. There are some who habitually indulge contempt for all who are not distinguished by mental superiority, of whatever excellence otherwise. But think of Him! What is all this in His sight? The Being whose intellect pervades all things. What is the greatest human intellect compared with the least angelic spirit? What may even that spirit be, compared to the most elevated created mind? What is that--what are all minds together, as compared with the mind of God? (J. Foster.)God no respecter of persons Here we note--First, Peter’ s acknowledgment of his former mistake, in which are three things.1. The preface. “ Then Peter opened his mouth” --a Hebraism indicating that he is about to speak something weighty on mature deliberation (Matthew 5:2; Psalms 8:2; Psalms 78:2.)2. The means of his conviction. “ Of a truth I perceive” --a phrase used of those who are persuaded to change their opinion on full conviction. 3. The error that God was such a respecter of persons that He would not reveal Himself to any but Jews. Here we see-- (1) That God’ s people may err. Peter had read the prophecies about the calling of the Gentiles, and had received Christ’ s commission to disciple all nations. So we often hear the truth expounded and yet perceive it not. Therefore we had need to be careful lest we be ignorant of an obvious truth. (2) That the godly, when convinced, confess their errors. Controversies would soon end if we could learn Peter’ s modesty. Second. Peter’ s positive assertion of the truth now learned. I. What is respect of persons? Regard for that outward condition whereby one differs from another.1. Gifts of the body. It is not the strong or the beautiful that are accepted of God, but the good and holy. (1) He is strong in a spiritual sense, not that overcometh another man, but that tameth his own flesh (Proverbs 16:32) and vanquishes temptation (1 John 2:14). (2) So not beauty but grace makes us amiable in the sight of God (1 Peter 3:3-4). 2. Gifts of mind. Learning, etc., may make us more serviceable in the world, but do not commend us to God (Genesis 3:1; 1 Corinthians 3:18). 3. Gifts of estate, rank, quality. The blood of the poor is of the same colour as of the rich (Acts 17:26). Social distinctions have no weight with God (1 Corinthians 1:26; Job 34:19; Revelation 20:12). So with bond and free (1 Corinthians 7:22; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25). 4. Nationality. Some peoples lie nearer the sun than others, but they are all alike near the Sun of Righteousness (Galatians 3:28). 5. Religious profession and privileges. Cornelius was a good man, but wanted circumcision, and was accepted, while many a carnal Jew was rejected (Romans 2:9-11). If by outward profession there be a people nearer God than others, they have the privilege to be first rewarded if they do good, but to be first punished if they do evil. II. In what sense is this denied of God?1. He is no respecter of persons in His government. This is forbidden to man (Leviticus 19:15); and so denied of God (1 Peter 1:17). God may be considered as a righteous Governor and as a free Lord. In the latter capacity He may do as He seeth meet. Hence of His free mercy He called the Gentiles, and gives the grace of His gospel to one and not to another (Matthew 20:15). We can plead no right either by merit or purchase. On the other hand God governs man by a law, and judges according to that law (Cf. Romans 9:16 and 1 Corinthians 9:24). 2. He is no respecter of persons in His gifts of grace (Matthew 11:27). III. What is the meaning of this qualification? “ That feareth God and worketh righteousness.”1. Fear is the principle of obedience. Not that this excludes faith in Christ (John 15:5; Hebrews 11:6; Hosea 3:5). (1) Holy fear is of two kinds. (a) The fear of reverence, which is necessary that we may not offend God (Jeremiah 10:7; Revelation 15:4). (b) The fear of caution, which is necessary to make us watchful against temptations (Hebrews 4:1; 2 Corinthians 10:12; 1 Peter 5:8). (2) Why is this frame of heart pitched upon? (a) That we may carefully abstain from what displeases God (Genesis 39:9; Philippians 2:12). (b) Because it produces a diligent endeavour to approve ourselves to Him. 2. Working righteousness is the fruit of this sense of God upon our hearts. This is required-- (1) In respect of God that we may honour Him in the world: for our obedience makes our esteem of Him visible (2 Thessalonians 11, 12; Acts 10:2). (2) It is for our own comfort. When we obey God it leaves an evidence in our consciences (1 John 3:19; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Proverbs 3:17). Comforts are the rewards of obedient children (Psalms 11:6). IV. The meaning of the privilege. “ Is accepted of Him.” He that feareth God, etc. 1. Is sure of God’ s favour and protection (Philippians 1:6). 2. God will increase this, for He delighteth to crown His own gifts (Proverbs 4:18; Proverbs 10:29). 3. God will perfect it and reward it (Psalms 15:2; Psalms 106:3). (T. Manton, D. D.)God no respecter of persons I. A point newly perceived. “Now.” That so great an apostle should confess this shows that his Roman chain was not yet made, and that his brother apostles (chap. 11) had no idea of his infallibility. Job in scorn said to some in his time, “ You are the only men, you perceive all” ; but Moses did not (Numbers 15:34), nor Elijah (2 Kings 4:27). But Caiaphas perceived all (John 11:49); not so Peter here, and Paul (1 Corinthians 13:9). Of a truth we perceive Peter comes not near his successor, who perceives all that is to be perceived at once, and gets Caiaphas’ knowledge by sitting in Peter’ s chair. But it is not only this they differ in. For Peter took Cornelius up (verse 26); his successor lets Cornelius’ s lord lie. The Samaritan woman said, “ The Messiah when He is come will tell us all.” Yet when He came He said even to Peter, “ What thou knowest not now” (John 13:7). I speak this for some who are far enough from Rome but think they perceive all God’ s secret decrees. Luther well said that everyone has by nature a Pope within. Even they that believe it not of Rome are easily brought to believe it of themselves. “ Of a truth I perceive” will bear two senses--“ I perceive that I did not before,” or “ I perceive that the contrary whereof I conceived before.” Not to perceive is only to be ignorant, but Peter had held quite contrary. Ignorance is but privative, this positive, and so an error--an error in the great mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16), a part whereof was preached to the Gentiles. And this error he held in common with his brethren. This only we are to look to, that with Peter we be not wilful, but ready to repent, when shown our error. Then we may conclude that if we be otherwise minded God will show it unto us (Philippians 3:15). II. What that point is.1. Privative--that “ God is no respecter of persons” --i.e., in Greek and Hebrew “ faces” which show themselves first (1 Samuel 16:6). Under the face we understand the facing; under the person everything that personates and makes personable--country, condition, birth, riches, etc. Men respect all this, but it is nothing to God. Was Peter, then, ignorant of this? No, for Moses had said it (Deuteronomy 10:17), and Elihu saw it by the light of nature (Job 34:19). And so Samuel (1 Samuel 16:7) and Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 19:7). The answer is that Peter knew it before, but not as now. We know many things by book and speculation, which, when we come to an experience of it, we say, “ Yea, I know it indeed,” as if we had never known it before. Experimental knowledge is knowledge in truth. Was this Peter’ s knowledge? No; for he, as we, have experience of it daily. God deals His gifts of nature--outward: beauty, strength, etc.--inward: wit, memory, judgment--without respect of persons. He bestows them on the child of the mean as soon as of the mighty. So it is in wealth and worldly preferment (Psalms 113:7), and in God’ s judgments. And no man had better experience of it than Peter, who, a poor fisherman, was accepted to be an apostle (Galatians 2:6). What shall we say then? Though he could not but know this general truth, yet he thought that there were exceptions, not of persons, but of nations, and that of all nations the Jews alone were accepted of God (Amos 3:2; Psalms 147:20). This had run in Peter’ s head, but he perceives he was wrong, and that by Cornelius’ vision compared with his own. 2. Positive. “ In every nation,” etc. Solomon in effect said as much long before (Ecclesiastes 12:13). (1) “ Feareth” and “ worketh” jointly. Not the one without the other--neither fear which works not, nor works which do not come from God’ s fear in our hearts. Pharisaic personations, Paul’ s “ mask of godliness” (2 Timothy 3:5), Peter’ s “ cloke” (1 Peter 2:16) God cannot accept. God Himself told Samuel (1 Samuel 16:7) that He “ looks not as man looks.” Man looks upon the outside, God looks within. The inwards were God’ s part in every sacrifice. He looks first at the heart, and in the heart to the affections; of all affections that of fear; of all fears that of God. How comes God to be feared? We fear evil, but there is no evil in God. Ans.: Not for any evil in Him, but for some evil we may expect from Him, if we fear not to offend Him, by doing that which is evil, which punishment is not evil but just. Paul, knowing the terror of this, persuades men (2 Corinthians 5:11). This fear to suffer evil for sin makes men fear to do the evil of sin or to forsake it (Job 1:1; Jonah 3:5). (2) Separately. (a) First, fear--because it is first; “ the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 111:10). It was the first passion that was raised in Adam (Genesis 3:10). Then he began to play the wise man and forethink of the folly he had committed. Fear is a bridle to hold us in or turn us from evil (Proverbs 3:7). Another reason is, fear is most general. It goes through all--heathens, as is shown in the case of Nineveh; beasts, as in the ease of Balaam’ s ass. And this fear, if it have its full work to make us depart from evil, is wisdom complete (Job 28:28; Ecclesiastes 8:12); for of the seven spirits which are the divisions of one and the same Spirit, the last and chief is “ the Spirit of the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:2). Regard not them who say that this is no New Testament doctrine, for even there it abideth. There it is the dawning of the day (Malachi 4:2). It is as the court is to the temple, as the needle that first enters and draws after it the thread that sews all together. Not to fear is the next way to fear. The work of fear is to make us cease from sin; ceasing from sin brings with it a good life; a good life carries with it a good conscience; and a good conscience casts out fear. This for the introduction, and ever after, when faith is entered it is a sovereign means to preserve (Philippians 2:12; 1 Peter 1:17; Matthew 10:28). So, then, this fear is not Moses’ song only (Revelation 15:3-4). (b) But works also. Is God all for within? Accepts He of nothing without? He accepts a good righteous work too if it proceed from His fear in the heart. God would have us begin with “ fear,” but not end there. For neither fear alone nor faith alone is accepted of Him. If it be true fear such as God will accept, it is not a dull, lazy fear, his fear that “ went and digged his talent in the ground.” God will have his talent turned above ground, and not have religion invisible within. And observe that it is not “ that doeth,” but “ worketh righteousness,” i.e., that makes it a trade. “ Learn it,” says Isaiah (Isaiah 1:17), as one would learn a handicraft to live by; learn it and make an occupation of it, after Christ’ s example (verse 38). This “ righteousness” is described in verse 2. III. God’ s acceptation.1. He will take them-- (1) Where they be to take; but where they are not He cannot take. Our “ alms,” alas! are shrunk up pitifully; “ prayer” swallowed up with hearing, and feasting substituted for “ fasting.” (2) But it is said that there is no faith here, without which it is impossible to please God. But would Cornelius have spent his words and chastened his body without some faith? Would he have called upon a God in whom he did not believe? (Romans 10:14). Nay, he must have believed that God is, that He may be sought, and that He will not fail them that seek Him (Psalms 9:10; 2 Corinthians 8:12). The flax did but smoke, but Christ quenched it not, etc. He took him as He found him, and that in order to bring him nearer the ways of His salvation. (3) But now, lest one error beget another, take this--that he was, and we shall be, accepted, gives us some heart; and that he was but accepted takes away all self-conceit. It is neither our fear nor our works, but God’ s gracious acceptation. God counts them worthy and so makes them worthy. His taking our works of righteousness well in work is their worth. There was another centurion whom the elders of the Jews dignified highly; but he indignified himself as lowly (Luke 7:4-6). So with Job (1:8, 9:15, 10:15). See Ephesians 1:6. Our work is to get men to do well, but not to ween of their well-doing. 2. To what end accepted. The profession of religion by baptism. (Bp. Andrewes.)God no respecter of persons “ Oh,” you say, “ I am such a little plant; I do not grow well; I do not put forth as much leafage, nor are there so many flowers on me, as many round about me.” It is quite right that you should think little of yourself; perhaps to droop your head is part of your beauty. Many flowers had not been half so lovely if they had not practised the art of hanging their heads. But “ supposing Him to be the gardener,” then He is as much a gardener to you as He is to the most lordly palm in the whole domain. In the Mentone garden grows the orange and the aloe, and others of the finer and more noticeable plants; but on the wall to my left grow common wall flowers and saxifrages and tiny herbs such as we find on our own rocky places. Now the gardener has cared for all of them, little as well as great. In fact, there were hundreds of specimens of the most insignificant growths all duly labelled and described. The smallest saxifage will say, “ He is my gardener just as surely as he is the gardener of the Gloire de Dijon or the Marechal Neil.” Prejudice Prejudice is one of the greatest enemies to human welfare. Of all the train of mental ills with which we are affected it is one of the most difficult to be eradicated.1. Prejudice has given protracted vitality to countless social abuses. One of the best remedies for this evil is to inspect closely the grounds of our cherished prepossessions, and to ask, Why do I do this? Why do I feel so? 2. The strongest prejudices are religious. What is given to us by tradition from our forefathers, familiarised to our earliest associations, we can hardly bring ourselves to question or examine, and we often hold as enemies those who differ from us even in minor points. As we generally feel more earnestly about religion, to our prejudices here we may trace all those religious feuds and bitter persecutions which have disgraced the page of history. 3. In the context we have a memorable instance of relinquishment of the strongest possible prejudice, so strong even in a good and noble man that direct Divine interposition was necessary for its removal. Notice-- I. Spiritual excellence, and not the accidents of external condition, alone avails with God. Take some illustrations confirmatory of this from--1. The Scriptures: e.g., the choice of Abraham, Moses, etc. 2. The dispensations of Providence. (1) Wealth and power are administered impartially. (2) Health is equally shared by rich and poor. (3) Genius: our poets, legislators, inventors, orators, and divines have more frequently emerged from the cottage than from the mansion. (4) So with the blessings of happiness, life, and age. Death which spares not the hovel spares not the palace, just as the wind fades the cottage flowers as well as the productions of the conservatory. 3. The administration of the benefits of redemption. Not many mighty are called, yet there are some--Wilberforce and Bunyan. Only one door of mercy to all. “ Whosoever will,” etc. 4. The day of judgment and its results. “ We shall all stand before,” etc. II. Why has God no respect of persons except in relation to moral goodness?1. Accidents in condition seemingly great to us bear no such relation to Him. This world is like a grain in the balance of His mighty creation. Its revolving centuries are but “ as yesterday when it is past.” He surveys all toils, plans, etc., serenely as the stars look with undisturbed light on mortal things. 2. They are not the essential elements of our being. They spring from birth, etc. They are not the man, and pass away with time. III. Why does God supremely value spiritual excellence?1. It is the true basis of worth in every intelligent creature. It is so of angels, and of man as man. “ In every nation,” etc. 2. It is God’ s own spiritual reflection, and therefore the true basis of friendship with Him. God’ s moral nature must take cognizance of its kindred elements. Here, then, is consolation for all. None are too lowly or poor to be the accepted friends of the Lord of the universe. (J. Foster, B. A.)On the reception of new truth 1. The main purpose of the Acts is to unfold the broadening spirit and form of the Church of God. It is a history of transition. On its first page the Christ ascends. As the heavens, into which He rises, overarch the whole world, so His gospel spreads its wings for its worldwide flight. Soon the Spirit breathes upon the apostles, and they begin to act under an inspiration as free and wide as the wind that typifies it. On every page some barrier gives way; with every line the horizon broadens. One feels as if sailing in a great ship, under a bounding breeze, out of a narrow harbour into the wide sea. 2. With this change of scene there is corresponding change of personal attitude; conversions not only in character, but in opinion; it is a record not only of repenting and turning, but of broadening. Valuable as this book is as a record of events, it is more valuable as introducing the life of the Spirit, and as showing how the faith of ages develops into liberty and the full life and thought of humanity. 3. The incident before us is a happy illustration of this in its assurance of possible sainthood outside of the Church, yet showing its hard conditions, telling us how the centurion’ s devout aspirations carried him into the realm of vision, and brought upon him an inspiration greater than any that came upon his blind yearnings after righteousness. Here also is a somewhat similar experience of Peter. Sleep is not vacant of spiritual impression. Into that mystery the Spirit may come as unto its own, and say what it could not when the man is hedged about with wakeful and watchful powers. Shakespeare puts the deepest moral experiences of men into their dreams. 4. Notice how God not only enlarges and broadens the views of these men, but does this in the direction of Himself. For there is an enlargement of view that is mere breadth without height; it grows wise over matter and force, creeps but never soars, deeming the heights above to be empty. In preceding centuries the mind shot upward, but within narrow limits. There was no look abroad; nature was simply to be used as found, not studied for further uses. Hence, there was great familiarity with the lore of religion, but dense ignorance of the laws of matter and of human society. Today the reverse is true. It is interesting to note how this tendency pervades classes that apparently do not influence one another: thus the scientific class and the lighter literary class; neither reads the works of the other, yet in each we find the same study of matter and man, and the same ignoring of God and the spiritual nature. Or, compare the man of universal culture with the average man of the world, who reads the newspaper, and keeps his eyes open on the street: the latter knows little of the former, yet we find them holding nearly the same opinions about God and the faith, vague and indifferent; but both are very observant of what is about them. And all this is for some wise end. It had become necessary that man should have a better knowledge of the world, and of his relations to it and to society. Hence his attention is directed thither by a Divine and guiding inspiration, and no thinking man can be exempt from it. The only danger is lest the tendency become excessive, and we forget to look upward in our eagerness to see what is about us. It is the office of Christian thought to temper and restrain these monopolising tendencies and secure a proper balance between them. “ God fulfils Himself in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world.” 5. I have fallen into this train of thought by reflecting how God led Peter away from his small notions of religion, and brought him into a higher and larger conception of Himself. As we read the story we wonder at the readiness and ease with which Peter gave up old habits of thought and entered into new ones. What is the explanation? I. It is in the nature of religious changes that they shall occur suddenly. There may be, there must be, long seasons of preparation, but the transition is instantaneous. Saul goes a-persecuting, and a light above the sun’ s dazzles him into instant submission. The Holy Spirit comes like a rushing wind upon the disciples, and in an hour they are new men. The jailer hears and believes in a night. Luther, while toiling up the holy stairs, holding to salvation by works, drops that scheme on the way, and lays hold of the higher one of salvation by faith. Ignatius Loyola in a dream has sight of the Mother of Christ, and awakes a soldier of Jesus. It is often so. We do not so much grow into the possession of new spiritual truths as we awake to them. Their coming is not like the sunrise that slowly discloses the shapes and relations of things, but is like the lightning that illuminates earth and sky in one quick flash, and so imprints them forever on the vision. Character is of slow and steady growth, but the revelations of truth that inspire character are sudden. A new outlook is gained, and the man is changed, as, in climbing a mountain, it is some sharp turn in the path that reveals the new prospect which inspires the onward march. Some can affirm that it was in a moment that the charm of poetry, the pleasurable consciousness of thought, the passion of love, the dignity of manhood, the obligation of service, the sense of the Divine goodness, came upon them. II. Peter got sight of larger and more spiritual truths than he had been holding. When what claim to be truths are of equal proportion, we balance them, or try one and then the other; but as soon as one asserts itself as larger and finer we accept it instantly. Peter had been used to believing that God was a respecter of persons, but when he caught sight of the fact that God has no partialities, his true-loving nature rushed at once toward the greater truth.1. We have an appetence for new spiritual truth, and take to it readily. This does not imply that we are to go about peering into the corners of the universe to find new truths, nor that we are to sit down and manufacture them. Truth already exists; there is now all there ever will be. All we have to do is to take it; to hold ourselves open to it; to do God’ s will, and we shall know it. The fundamental Christian idea is God seeking man, not man seeking God. We make but a poor figure when we attempt to think out a religion. It is not a search after God, but a revelation of God. We ourselves can find nothing. The main thing for us to do is to get out of the caves of sin and self-conceit into the open air, where the sun shines and the Spirit breathes. 2. There is also in such truth a self-attesting power that tends to secure instant reception. When one comes to me with a new machine, or a new theory of government, or of matter, or life, I hesitate; but when I see a new disclosure of the Divine love, or a fresh exhibition of humility and patience, or of some new adaptation of Christianity to human society, I at once believe. It is simply another candle brought into a lighted room. 3. This self-attesting quality goes farther and becomes commanding. Peter says, “ God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” It is one of the subtle workings of all high truth that it vests itself, as by some instinct, with the Divine attributes. 4. I have had in mind thus far not any new truths, but rather a fresh and expanding vision of other sides of many-sided truth. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as new truth; but there is such a thing as fresh sight of the truth. We can hardly do anything worse for our moral growth than to hold it in such a way that it may not change its form. Not that one is to hold his faith as in a constant flux, or suffer himself to be blown about by every new wind of doctrine, but rather that he should attain the two-fold attitude of alertness and passivity: passive to the Spirit that is ever breathing upon us, and alert to note and follow the unfolding revelation of God in the world. III. Having spoken generally, i shall now speak more particularly of some of these truths. To call attention to this intermingling of permanent and changing qualities.1. Take that of the Trinity. It has another look today from that it wore a hundred years ago. It is the characteristic thought of God at present that He is immanent in all created things, yet personal, the life of all lives, the soul of the universe. With such a conception of God, it becomes easy to see how there should be a Son of man who is also the Son of God, and a Spirit everywhere present and acting--a paternal heart and will at the centre, a Sonship that stands for humanity, a spiritual Energy that is the life of men, and through which they come into freedom and righteousness. This conception of God may be brought into the category of science, and even be required by it. 2. So of the atonement: it has always been putting on new forms and yielding a richer life. It is the most elastic of the doctrines, and we are getting to understand it as containing the law and method of life for every man: “ He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” 3. So also of regeneration. It has been held simply as a moral necessity, having its basis in sin; but we are beginning to see that Christ taught it also as a psychological necessity. We must be born again, not merely because we are wicked, but because we are flesh and need to be carried forward and lifted up into the realm of the spirit,--a constructive rather than a reconstructive process. 4. In the same way the doctrine of Divine sovereignty is resolving into the universality of law. Science, with its doctrine of an original, ultimate force, advances more than half way towards this assaulted truth. 5. Or take the doctrine of sin, its inheritance and its relation to the personal will. The doctrine of heredity as found in the pages of science, the doctrine of freedom as found in the pages of philosophy and the observation of life, yield nearly all we care to claim. 6. So, too, of the miracles. Modern intelligence has grown so wide that it embraces both law and miracle in one harmony. No one now defines one as the violation of the other. An assertion of “ the reign of law” does not disturb us so long as we are conscious of the hourly miracles wrought by personality. 7. Take next retribution. It will never be denied so long as men have eyes to trace cause and effect. Just now we are finding out that it is not a matter of future time, but of all time; an eternally acting principle. The true preacher of retribution makes it clear that the wages of sin is death, and emphasises the two features of retribution that alone are effective, its nearness and its certainty. 8. Take the inspiration of the Bible. There is not now, and probably never will be, any generally accepted theory, simply because inspiration cannot be so compassed; as Christ said, “ Thou canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.” It is the breathing of God upon the soul. We are getting to speak less of the inspired book, and more of the inspired men who wrote it. The revelation, therefore, will have a two-fold character: it will be Divine and human, the one conditioning the other; not an imperfection, but rather the only kind of revelation that could serve our needs, for the line of revelation from God to man must run through the human heart. But without a theory, we are reading the Bible with fuller faith than ever before. The more light we bring to it from nature and study and experience, the clearer its truths stand out; in such light it is becoming its own evidence, and no more needs an apologetic theory than a candle needs an argument for illumination. IV. But a thoughtful mind will ask, how happens it that christianity has this two-fold feature of a permanent essence and a shifting form? The answer will take him into that world of thought recently opened, the main feature of which is the law of development. The timid may linger on the threshold, but once in, the atmosphere is found friendly. It is not something to be quelled, but an ally to be pressed into service. What it does for every other department of thought it may do for the faith--open another door between the mystery of the external order and the human reason. Recognising this principle, we can read the Old Testament, and need no other explanation or apology than it affords. The sayings of the Christ become principles and revelations of eternal truth. The mustard seed, the leaven, etc., not only fall in with the principle, but attest Christ’ s absolute knowledge of it. It will be noticed that the reception of new truth has been spoken of in two ways that are apparently contradictory: one as quick and as by instant revelation; the other gradual, a growth or development. They are not inconsistent, but represent the two-fold nature of truth as having a Divine source and element and a human ground and element, and the two-fold nature of man as spirit and mind. These methods play into each other. One prepares the way for the other. One is slow, and keeps pace with the gradual advance of society and a like development of the individual. The other is quick, is allied to the mysterious action of the Spirit, which knows not time nor space, and accords with the loftiest action of our nature. I gain knowledge slowly; I gain the meaning of knowledge instantly. (T. T. Munger.)The outside saints When we assume the certain exclusion from God of all born subjects of false religions, is not Peter’ s vision as truly for us as for him? The Old Testament denounces idolatry, it is true, but these denunciations were not made to the idolaters, but to God’ s own people dwelling in a clearer light. So when we say, “ There is none other Name,” etc., do we not fall into the mistake of not observing that it is those who have heard of the name of Christ, that are put under this ban, and not Pagan people who have never heard of Him? If in every nation he that feareth God, etc., is accepted of Him, how many may there be who never heard of Christ, to whom God is an unknown God, who yet are so far right with God as to be fitly joined with us in the common hope! They compose a Church beyond the Church who, without a gospel, have learned to walk in God’ s private light. A glance at certain great first principles would induce the hope that many more than one commonly suspects are harvested for the kingdom.(1) That God loves all men impartially, having the desire to be loved by all. (2) That He is never afar off from any, but is putting in them a desire to seek and to find Him. (3) That the Spirit of God is going through all minds, drawing their inclinings towards the inborn grace that will be in turn His finding of them. My present object is to show how God finds access to outsiders, and engages them in a felt devotion to His friendship, by an examination of Bible examples. 1. Take Enoch. There was no Scripture or Church in his day. He lived a solitary life of walking with God. He was probably derided by his contemporaries, which made it his necessary comfort to live “ in the testimony that he pleased God.” And this was not audible, but was the witness of the Spirit who came in the door of nature set open wider by his faith till finally he became so leavened by the Divine affinities that he was translated. 2. Noah was a preacher of righteousness without a Bible, and there was no person out of his own family who had any care for religion. And the oracle that found him so verified itself as to put him on building the ark; for God, by a process which he could only trust, and not understand, was preparing him to be the father of a better age. 3. With Abraham the Church begins, and yet he is prepared by an outside training. He had no written revelation or organised religion. But he came out a profoundly religious character, from amidst idolaters, so that he could receive a life call at first hand, and take the necessary guidance in that call. 4. Moses was brought up as the son of Pharaoh’ s daughter, separated from his race, and trained in all the learning of the Egyptians, a training which shows itself in all his politics. Then in Midian Jethro, an outside, but grandly religious man, comes to help him in his religious development. So Moses was a virtual outsider till his call in the burning bush. 5. Then take Balaam, the beauty and evangelical richness of whose oracles are inimitable. He was a soothsayer, but while divination had been forbidden to the Jews, it had not been forbidden to the Mesopotamians. And therefore it was only natural that he should mix enchantments with his oracles--just as our astrologers and alchemists sought religious light with mixtures of incantation. He was certainly faithful to his convictions, against the blandishments employed to win his consent. 6. Job is not a Jew, and his book not a Jewish book. Its piety is real, but out of all connection with Bible history. And thus you have one of its most remarkable books of Scripture, a theodicy for after ages, the work of an outsider. 7. Cyrusis one of the best characters of ancient history, and the reason of his conduct towards God and His people is given by Isaiah, who declares that God unseen has holden his right hand, and raised him up in righteousness. 8. At the very opening of the New Testament we encounter the Magi, religiously related to Cyrus, priests of the Merle-Persian religion, watching the stars to spell God’ s oracle, and becoming so spiritualised in habit as to be not unfitly honoured by the guidance of a star to Christ. 9. The Syrophoenician woman, whose faith was so heartily commended, was Pagan born, but by some heavenly guidance went to Christ for help. 10. The case of the centurion was like that of Cornelius, about whom Christ says, “ I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” And He did not stop there, “ I say unto you, that many shall come from the east,” etc. 11. I might turn off here to such as Numa, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus, Plato, and Socrates, and look directly into the workings of the religious nature in many thoughtful men outside revelation, and see their notions of God, their expressed longings for a revelation, their gropings, and almost findings. Their yearnings sometimes put them in a state in which they lay hold of Christ at the very first discovery, even as a starving man of bread. 12. And if we go apart still further--among the savage tribes, we find many traditions that seem almost to have the sanctity of a revelation, and now and then a character assuming the distinctions of genuine piety. So we see that God has had His witnesses in every age of the world apart from His covenant and the institutions of His grace. From all this we may learn the following lessons: I. We are not to judge that the mere possibility of a revelation outside the Bible supersedes the want of it. That was not the opinion of God when He sent His angel to Cornelius to put him in the way of one who should teach him Christ. The souls most enlightened have sighed for a veritable revelation. Having gleams, almost visions of God, they wanted it the more. Christ, the Bible not wanted! Just as well to be without a revelation! What could show the unsupportable destitution of such a state better than the gropings and only casual findings of hungry millions? II. Let no one turn the blame upon God that what is so much wanted everywhere is not everywhere given. Doubtless God might rain Bibles, but He must also rain written languages, and the power to read them. And then the readers would want to know how the book grew to be a book, the revelation how revealed. If a Bible could be got up mechanically as showers in the sky it might justly be concluded that all men ought to have it. But it has first to be incarnated, and so revealed through humanity; for truths must be enunciated in persons. Bibles could not be made faster than men are good enough to have revelations made through them. III. We are not to push the dissemination of this gospel by any false argument that dishonours God. Tell us not that every man ignorant of Christ must perish. Why should we push ourselves to this work of gospelling the world, by putting it on that He has given no possibility of life to millions? Rather let us tell what God is doing for them, what possibilities He opens for them, and how certainly He sometimes gains them to His love. Then as we are so gloriously privileged let us give them our privilege. IV. Let us have it as one of our most sacred duties to the Bible, not to use it so as to shut ourselves and all that have it away from God’ s immediate revelation by it. The external revelation is not given to be a substitute for the internal, but a guide into it. We are to find God after all by an immediate knowledge like all the outside saints, only with the help of the Bible which they had not. The Bible is received only when spiritually discerned: i.e., when it brings us in where God is, to know Him by our faith and love, and have Him in a first-hand knowledge, even as Abraham had, or Job, or Cornelius. If we desire to know Boston, the map of the way will not show it, but will only take us thither, and let us get the knowledge for ourselves. The Bible in like manner tells us how others found God, that we may find Him also. Conclusion: Let us cast a glance into that future life, in which all righteous souls are gathered. Many of them will belong to the class of inside saints, some to the class of outside; the former will have known Christ all their lives and been fashioned by His Gospel and character; the latter will now meet Him perhaps for the first time, and will salute Him as the unknown Friend they had always with them. To meet with these outside saints--outside no longer--how blessed it will be! And what a beautiful variety they will give to the general brotherhood! “ Other sheep I have which are not of this fold,” etc. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)The law of Christian enlargement I. It has been made an objection to christianity that it involves a system of religious privileges limited, for some two thousand years, to a single nation: and although the New Testament proposes a more catholic plan, still it makes itself responsible for the Old. How is this consistent with the benevolence of a God whose love is wider than the world?1. Long before this separation of Israel, God declared that it was not a permanent law. At the very moment when the selection began, an explicit prediction was carefully annexed to it that it would be expanded into a grand brotherhood of the world. Abraham, in whom the special calling began, was the very man to whom the Lord said, that among his descendants there should be a “ seed,” a certain wonderful Son, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed. That mysterious Shepherd-king of the whole human flock was to have a Hebrew mother (Galatians 4:4), so as to connect the special preparation with the universal blessing: but that He might be free of every possible human restriction, His Father was to be the Father of all that live. The promise in Genesis is as broad and as catholic as the preaching in the Acts. 2. Is there anything in this selection that justifies it? Why does a missionary gather in a score or two of children, out of hundreds, into a school, leaving the rest for the time untaught? When a Christian merchant wants to benefit paganism, why does he choose out one or two native youths of bright parts and send them to England for an education, instead of scattering spelling books among the heathen houses? When you want to introduce into a manufacturing interest an improved machinery, why do you send a single student to the best engineering school instead of exhorting the agents and masters of the mills to improve themselves in that department of science? The principle is that of selection and concentration, for the sake of a general benefit, and such is the nature of the human mind and of human society that practically this is the better and shorter way. Now, when Moses was lying all unconscious of it in the little rush basket in the Nile, the great problem was how to stop the race from going any further wrong, and how to turn it about, and get it ready for the setting up of a Divine order. And this was to be done not by thrusting in of an arbitrary revolution which would simply set the outward works all right, but would leave the springs of spiritual life--love, choice, energy, faith--all untouched. The thing wanted was to bring in and set up these grand interior holy forces in the soul. God took, therefore, the practical way. He chose out one nation, and sent it to school to learn the prophetic rudiments of Christianity and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This is the key to the scheme. Was not the plan magnificent? Can the best critic or the shrewdest objector suggest a wiser? And when we take a view of the whole Old Testament history, with all its strange incidents, its erring heroes, and faulty saints, intermingled with its splendid virtues, its sublime loyalty, its eloquence and poetry, and its supernatural prophecies, is it not a very poor thing indeed to carp at an unexplained passage here and there, or to sneer and cavil at some half-veiled feature in the majestic working out of the design? And all this while the original intention was never forgotten. When the Jew should have been drilled and taught, the Gentiles would be gathered in. No sidereal motion in astronomy, no regularity in celestial cycles and orbits wilt be more sure than the rising, in the due time, of the Epiphany star--“ A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of My people Israel.” 3. Another explanation to relieve the alleged narrowness of the Jewish religion is its constant progress as it goes on. With the intensest hostility to everything foreign; with an intolerance and superciliousness all the more tenacious because bound up with their religious scruples, there was ever a mighty hope of the breaking down of all international walls, and the gathering in of all to an equal share with themselves in the peace and glory of the Messiah’ s dominion. The strain grows louder and more confident all along till, in Malachi, we have it resounding in that sentence, to which the famous saying of the great orator, where the morning drum beat of the British Empire circles the earth, is but a feeble figure: “ From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles,” etc. II. Give a few moments to a use of St. Peter’ s words which will bring them down to ourselves. “ In every nation he that feareth God,” etc.1. The sense here is not theological, but popular; so that they are wide of the mark who suppose that the apostle means to take back all that he preached of every man’ s need of repentance and faith. He means this:--In every nation, now that Jesus Christ has come, there is an equal access to the open door for every tongue and tribe and people. The Pentecostal signs mean nothing less. There are no external disqualifications, and no internal incapabilities for being saved. “ Fearing God and working righteousness” is the ground of acceptance, not meritoriously, into heaven, but into the privileges and helps of the Church as the school for heaven. Christ died for all. The Church is Catholic. And while St. Peter spoke, “ on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” 2. So the Word and Spirit of Christ go on constantly filling out our small measures of charity and hope--breaking up our petty judgments, enlarging our sympathies for all classes. We have a great many personal and private limitations. (1) The circle of our own purely personal interests. Christ, by the Cross of His sacrifice, makes a constant remonstrance against these; and unless we catch His spirit, and give up self for service, we can be none of His. (2) The circle of the family. This is a little wider, but often only a little. We may only see ourselves, and love ourselves, in our children. But our doctrine requires us to see whether our absorption in our own domestic pleasures restricts our sympathies for strangers. (3) The circle of our own social set--a very dangerous as well as subtle enemy to true spirituality and nobleness. All the mutually admiring and complacent members just reflect each other’ s prejudices, study to please each other’ s whims, and so, of course, must stop growing in all that constitutes greatness of heart. Then there is the circle of business engagements, where the slave of mercantile ambition, or routine, sacrifices home, church, and his higher life for the poverty that is starving him. (4) The circle of patriotic attachments. Scarcely yet--Christian as we claim to be--has the idea of the brotherhood of nations entered into the statesmanship, much less into the politics and legislation, of even civilised man. 3. We are not to suppose that Epiphany signifies to us a mere sending out of a few missionaries to foreign countries. Done earnestly and heartily, that is worth doing, and, the more we do it, the more Christian-like we become. Men may say they prefer to give their missionary money nearer home, where they see what becomes of it. But remember that it is by setting up standards and beacons, Christianising a few here and there, even when results look small, that a great testimony to Christ is finally given. (Bp. Huntington.)He that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.--Piety and virtue both required by the gospel Religion consists of two constituent branches--faith and practice.1. The fear of God, in the most extensive sense of it, denotes the whole of piety; all those devout affections of soul, reverence, love, gratitude, and truth; and all those external acts of worship, prayer, and praise, which we are bound to pay to the Supreme Being. 2. Righteousness, in its most general meaning, signifies the whole of moral virtue; and to do works of this kind is not barely to abstain from acts of injustice and oppression, but to abound in offices of kindness and humanity. I. Piety without virtue, faith without morality, falls short of the christian character, and will not be accepted by the Supreme Being. There is no part of religion more binding upon mankind than justice and beneficence. From our situation in society, in the midst of our fellow creatures, dependent on one another, we are taught to cultivate humanity as the most useful virtue in life. From our Christian obligations we are bound to practise universal benevolence, not merely as an ordinary virtue, but as the distinguishing quality of a true Christian. What, then, shall we think of the immoral devotee, the man of prayers without good works? He wants the most godlike disposition of heart, and the most substantial virtues in life. He wants the distinguishing character of a Christian, and an indispensable qualification for eternal glory. His devotion is either a hypocritical appearance assumed to impose upon the world, and to serve his own ends; or it is only a transient glow of devotion raised occasionally in the mind, which, like the morning cloud and the early dew, soon passeth away; or, which is oftener the case, it is the superstitious observance of a mistaken and corrupted mind, which would substitute a form of godliness in place of virtue. True piety is a principle which regenerates the heart and reforms the life. II. Morality without piety, good works without faith, a regard to society without the fear of God, is equally insufficient to salvation. There is no sentiment of mind which is more deeply founded in nature and reason than a sense of God and of religion. Devotion is no enthusiastic rapture. It is only the exercise of affections which form a part of our constitution, and are essential to the human mind. We are formed by nature to admire what is great, and to love what is good. You treat great men with marks of respect. And is no reverence due to the greatest of all beings, to the King of kings, and the Lord of lords? You profess esteem for worthy characters, and have you no regard to the infinite perfections of the Divine nature? To remain unmoved at the view of infinite goodness implies the utmost degree of corruption. Such a person must, indeed, be far from the kingdom of God. Depravity of heart, however, is not the only crime of the mere moralist, the man of good works, without faith. His discharge of the moral duties, upon which he values himself, must be exceedingly defective. A sense of what is right, a regard to honour, and the instinct of benevolence, may work upon men’ s minds, and engage them to do many good actions. But those natural principles are too weak to resist the force of corrupt passions. Such is our propensity to vice, and so numerous the temptations to sin, that far stronger restraints are necessary. Accordingly, the man of mere morality is always inconsistent in character. If it be fair on one side it is strained on the other. Though he practise some virtues which deserve to be applauded, he is guilty, at the same time, of vices which tarnish his reputation; and thus, while he is confessedly devoid of piety to God, he is defective in justice and charity to men. III. The sufficiency when united. The union of these amiable qualities forms the character, not only of the respectable man, but of the true Christian. Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. The true Christian, the man who fears God, and works righteousness, is not merely entitled to acceptance through Christ. He is also qualified for the enjoyment of future glory. His charity joins him to man; his piety unites him to God. (A. Donnan.)Acceptance of God There is no argument here in favour of heathenism.--it is rather an argument in favour of Judaism. Cornelius’ s character was not the result of classic culture, but of classic culture supplemented by Divine revelation. Seeing, then, that he was accepted of God before his conversion, why not let him and others like him alone? Simply because they cannot let themselves alone. They are still conscious of a painful void in the heart, which only God in Christ can fill. To be “ accepted of God” is not the only desire of the heart; man wants to be perfected. Judaism would enable a man to be accepted; but it could not “ make the comers thereto perfect.” “ For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did.” This, then, is the reason why Cornelius needed the gospel--the gospel alone could fill the desires of his heart and perfect him in goodness. And what aspect of the gospel did Peter present to him? First, that God in Christ came to seek man, to do him good. In this Christianity differed from all the heathen religions. The latter always represent man seeking God but never finding. One of their own writers was at last obliged So exclaim--“ Man cannot find God, God must therefore find man.” Read the Bible and you discern in every page, not man seeking God, but God seeking man. But Peter not only spoke of the Saviour’ s life, he dwelt also upon His death. Other religions declared what man ought to do for God; this religion declares what God has done for man. The preaching of the gospel thus tended to revolutionise the world. The world, so to speak, is thrown off its centre. In ancient astronomy the sun revolved around the earth: in modern astronomy the earth revolves around the sun. We see a corresponding change in the science of religion. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 10:36-37 The Word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ.St. Peter at Caesarea to a Gentile company 1. Christ gave to Peter “ the keys of the kingdom of heaven” --not keys of heaven, not keys of the Church, militant or triumphant, but keys of the kingdom of heaven on earth. St. Peter used one at Jerusalem to open the kingdom of heaven to the Jews; a second at Samaria, to open it to the Samaritans; a third at Caesarea, to open it to the Gentiles. We know that the Lord designed Saul to be His apostle to the Gentiles, but there was obvious advantage in the employment of Peter to open the door. He was known to all as a strict Jew; and if he was satisfied of the extension of God’ s grace to the Gentiles, that would go far to abate the prejudice of the Hebrew Christians. 2. At Caesarea Peter did not make the occasion for his speech. It was made for him by Jesus, who was now directing from heaven the activities of His servants in the foundation and extension of the Church. 3. At Jerusalem the apostle began by removing a misconception from the minds of those whom he addressed; at Caesarea he acknowledged the removal of a misconception from his own mind. The definiteness and decision which marked his address were admittedly suited to a military audience. He also showed both tact and fairness in putting his statements on ground which was common to all. At Jerusalem he had spoken to Jews, and therefore rested on the ground of the Old Testament. But at Caesarea, though Cornelius was doubtless acquainted with the Septuagint, the ancient Scriptures were not to Gentiles what they were to Jews. Such adaptation is in harmony with common sense, and must be practised if justice is to be done to religious truth. To missionaries it is indispensable. A missionary to the Jews must reason from Moses and the prophets. But to the Gentiles it is not of much consequence to learn how the gospel is related to “ Moses’ law.” What they need is to hear of One who has come “ to destroy the works of the devil,” and to transfer men “ from darkness into marvellous light.” This principle of adaptation shows itself clearly in Peter’ s train of thought. His speech was-- I. A rehearsal of facts of which the audience was already cognisant (Acts 10:36-39). Though Jesus had never visited Caesarea, its inhabitants could not be unaware of the facts of His life and death. The fact that He had been accused before Pilate of high treason, and had been crucified as King of the Jews, must have attracted the notice of military men. St. Peter affirmed that this Jesus was no revolutionary agitator, but a preacher of good tidings of peace; though, as the apostle happily observed in a parenthesis, He was Lord, not of Israel only, but of all mankind. He did not touch the imperial rights of Caesar, and yet at the same time He was far above all the Caesars. The word and authority of Jesus had been attested by good deeds and works of healing; and these again were accounted for on this ground--that God, who had sent Him, was with Him, and anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and with power. If there was any hesitation to believe this, Simon Peter and his companions were ready with personal testimony; and although the speech was not interrupted by any question, we can well suppose that in the “ certain days” which he spent at Caesarea, St. Peter told many an incident which his own eyes had seen in his Master’ s career. Such a Prophet, such a Healer, the Jews had slain. The fact was already known, but the apostle saw fit to lay emphasis on the entire innocence of Jesus. He did so in order to remove any impression which may have lurked in the minds of an Italian officer that One whom the Roman governor had sentenced must have in some measure deserved His fate. II. The announcement of a new fact, which changed the whole aspect of the case (Acts 10:40-41). God had raised up Jesus from the dead on the third day. No allusion to the 16th or 18th Psalm meets us here. Quotations from these were for a Jewish, not a Gentile, audience. What they cared for was sufficient proof; and the apostle adduced the proof with an exactness admirably suited to the occasion. He said, not that his Master was seen to rise, but that He was seen after He had risen; not that He was seen by as many as saw Him crucified--for the Christ-rejecting Jews were to see Him no more--but that He was Been by duly qualified witnesses, chosen by God. And in what way can any historical fact of an unusual nature be more sufficiently proved? If any allege that not even God can raise the dead, we have no argument with them here. But grant that the thing is possible with God, and then say what conditions of evidence would satisfy the mind. All mankind could not be present, so that it is a question of sufficient evidence. Now, in regard to Christ’ s resurrection, note that--1. The witnesses were sufficiently numerous--men and women, apostles and less prominent disciples; one at a time, then two, then eleven, then seven, then “ five hundred brethren at once.” 2. They were of unblemished character. The rulers despised them as unlearned, but could never prove deceit. One of them, James, was honoured of all classes in Jerusalem as “ the Just.” 3. They were Christ’ s close companions, and could not have mistaken any other for Him. 4. They had ample opportunity to identify Him; for they not only saw and heard Him, but “ did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead.” 5. They told the story from the beginning, and at the greatest possible risk to themselves. They laid on it at once the whole weight of the cause which they maintained; if it was a lie or an illusion, the Church would fail. 6. They adhered to it till their last breath; and not one of them could be induced to modify the statement that the Lord had risen. III. A statement of the power and glory of the risen Jesus (verses 42, 43).1. “ This is He who is ordained of God to be Judge of the living and the dead.” St. Peter had touched on this at Jerusalem, when he spoke of the “ time of restitution of all things,” addressing Jews, and confining himself to the sphere of Jewish expectation. But now he stated it in the way most suited to impress Gentiles. There was a special fitness in the first announcement of this to Gentiles being made to a Roman officer. The Romans were men of the sword, the sceptre, and the judgment seat. The Emperor was looked up to by the world as lord of all. And he, too, was judge of all, for appeals went up from all regions of the known world to the supreme throne of judgment at Rome. The apostle Peter had a startling statement to make to those men, which involved no treason against Caesar, and yet made the Emperor’ s glory pale. 2. “ Through His name everyone that believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins.” This came in well after the previous announcement. He who will be the Judge is now the Saviour. To this truth St. Peter said that all the prophets were bearing witness. Not the prophets of the Old Testament, which would have no significance for Roman soldiers, but prophets of the new age, as foretold in the ancient oracle of Joel (see Acts 11:27; Acts 13:1). As in music one does well to end on a full clear note, so the apostle did well to close with this abundant testimony to the blessing of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Good news to the Gentiles! It was such an assurance as none of their prophets, priests, or philosophers could give. And then this blessing was to be obtained on so simple a plan as faith in His name. He had not time to call on them to believe, for he was gloriously interrupted in his address. Soon as the good tidings of pardon fell from his lips, the audience was suffused with spiritual tenderness--“ The Holy Ghost fell on all of them.” Mark what power resides in one short, clear sermon on Jesus Christ, when God has prepared both preacher and congregation. A hearty, straightforward preacher, brethren with him who are in prayerful sympathy, and an audience penetrated by the feeling that they are all assembled “ before God” --what may not such a combination secure! That day was the Pentecost of the Gentiles. It is inaccurate to pray for another Pentecost, because the dispensation of the Spirit cannot begin again. But it is a constant duty to pray that the Spirit may continue to demonstrate to the hearts of men that word of salvation which is preached. (D. Fraser, D. D.)The Messiahship of Jesus Peter places foremost-- I. The prophetic office of Christ. God has proclaimed peace by Him; hence the message of peace, the Word, the doctrine of Christ, comes into the foreground. Next come the works of Christ (verse 38)--the deeds harmonised with the Word. The Word proclaimed, the deeds effected, peace and salvation. The deeds corroborated the Word; and if Christ were now to cease to bestow salvation, freedom, peace on enslaved souls, His Word of the gospel would find no more belief. II. The priestly office of Christ.1. In His death (verse 39).2. In His resurrection, by which the atonement was completed and accepted.3. In His bestowment of the virtues of His atonement--remission of sins through faith. III. The kingly office of Christ.1. He is Lord of all (verse 36).2. He is Judge of quick and dead (verse 42). He is highly exalted, the Lord of all men, Jews and Gentiles, so that all are bound to honour and obey Him. The climax of this glory is that Christ is appointed Judge of the world, even of the dead; so that His kingly power embraces even the lower regions, and generations long since dead, as well as those who are still unborn. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)Peace I. This peace, which was not only preached to the Jews by Christ, but was procured for all by His life and death, was--1. Peace with God, through the blood of Christ offering atonement for guilt and removing the ground of enmity. 2. Peace within--the ceasing of the conflict of earthly passion through the subjugation of the will. 3. Peace between man and man, between Jew and Gentile, through the breaking down of the middle wall of partition. II. As the gift was peace, so are the means by which this is assured to mankind.1. The ministers of the gospel are messengers of peace. They were neither Roman centurions nor Roman legions, but Peter and Christian disciples. 2. The weapons by which this peace is procured are weapons of peace (Galatians 5:22-23)--gentleness, goodness, meekness. In this the mildness of the gospel is contrasted with the stern punitive character of the Mosaic law. III. This Preacher of peace is Lord of all. His sceptre is one of peace, for those who yield obedience to His law will not fear man (1 Peter 3:13). His sceptre is an almighty sceptre, so that where He bears rule no enemies can hurt (Romans 8:31). (W. Denton, M. A.)Negotiations for peace I. Reasons why those are not reconciled to God should desire peace with Him.1. It is not commendable to be at enmity with any of the wise and good; but when it comes to opposition to God, who in his right mind can do other than bewail it, and desire to see it ended by a gracious peace? Strife against evil, injustice, and tyranny is honourable, but no possible benefit can arise from a conflict in which we are on the wrong side. “ Acquaint thyself,” then, “ with God, and be at peace, for thereby good shall come unto thee.” 2. The war in which you are engaged is an unjust one. It never ought to have been begun; and what ought never to have been begun had better be dropped as soon as possible. Sin is war against right, love, happiness. To love evil is dishonourable, wrong, unfair, and the conscience of man tells him it is so. What evil hath our Creator done us that we should go to war against Him? Doth He not command His sun to rise upon the evil as well as the good? If He were a cruel tyrant, I could understand your warfare; but the Lord is full of mercy, and His name is love. 3. He who began it has been terribly defeated. Our first parents were the dupe of an older rebel. Apollyon, once an angel, would fain have become equal with his Maker, but he was banished from heaven, and then resorting to this lower region, seduced our race. Little has he gained, by this stratagem, overwhelming has been his defeat. Jesus has led captivity captive. He whose heel was bitten by the old dragon has broken the serpent’ s head. Revolt, then, against him. What right has the devil to reign over you? He neither made, preserved, or blessed you; evil only, and that continually, will he do unto you. Strike for your freedom at once, and shake off his galling yoke. The wages of sin will be death; why continue in so unprofitable a service? 4. The force which is brought against you it is utterly impossible for you effectually to resist. It is well when we contemplate warfare to see whether we are equal to the combat. Who with one thousand can meet him that cometh with twenty thousand? Consider ye this, ye that forget God. Can your puny arm hope to rival the right hand of Jehovah? As well might you seek to dry up the Atlantic, or bid Niagara leap up the rock instead of down! Let not the wax contend with the fire, nor the stubble with the flame. A man stands in the way of a steam engine rushing on at express speed; he knows that according to the laws of nature its weight and velocity effectually prevent his staying its course. Do you call it courageous on his part that he stands on the track and defies the iron horse? It is madness, suicide. God will not alter His laws for you. They are just and right; wherefore should He change them? Fire will burn, and if a drunken madcap persists in thrusting his arm between the bars of a furnace, shall fire cease from its nature to secure him immunity from his folly? If a man expose himself to the rush of an avalanche, can he expect the rolling mass to suspend itself in mid air for him? If a mariner will go to sea in a vessel worm-eaten and unseaworthy, will the waves pity the barque? If a man will act contrary to natural laws, he must suffer for it; and it is just so with moral laws--certain results follow from sinful courses of action. Yield, then, to the Divine wisdom which has rightly ordained the consequences of sin. Do not necessitate your own destruction. 5. Any resistance which you may be able to offer will be carried on at a very fearful price. You will have to bear the expenses of the war which you foolishly prolong. Even if you should yield ultimately, you will regret rebellion as long as you live. Even when they are forgiven, your iniquities will be a source of danger; for though God heals the wounds, we shall carry the scars to our graves. And if you should not receive God’ s saving mercy, these rebellions are noted against you; and when the Great Judge comes, you shall be made to feel the weight of His terrible hand. 6. Your total defeat is absolutely certain sooner or later. No man ever did set himself against God and prosper for long. Look at Pharaoh. O sinner, thy fate may not be to be drowned in the Red Sea, but worse than that--thou will be shut in forever where hope is shut out. 7. It will be altogether to thine advantage to be at peace with God. It will be for thy present happiness, and thy eternal welfare. Were there no hereafter, it is profitable to have God for our Friend; but when we think of the eternal future, the most superficial consideration suffices to convince us of the necessity of being reconciled to God. II. The terms on which peace may be negotiated. Wouldst thou have peace? Then learn--1. The great sine qua non is, that peace be made through an Ambassador nominated of God--namely, His Son. “ Preaching peace by Jesus Christ.” There will be no peace between God and any man who despises Christ. Reject that name, and there is no other whereby you can be saved. This Jesus Christ is God, knowing the mind of God, and able to negotiate with Divine authority. But He is also man, and therefore fitted to deal graciously with man. He is fit to be a daysman, and arbitrator, since He has sympathy with thee and equality with God. 2. The great difficulty is put away which might have prevented peace, for the justice of God which thou hast provoked has been satisfied by Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus has made recompense for the injury done by human sin. God asks no price of thee. If thou hadst the wealth of the Indies, the Lord would despise such a bribe. He asks no suffering from thee. It would be no satisfaction to Him to see thee suffer, for He delights in happiness. Neither does He ask thee to achieve merits. Thou couldst not if He should demand it. God, therefore, graciously tells thee that He is full of mercy, delighting to forgive; and all He asks of thee is to trust unfeignedly in His only-begotten Son. Then down with thy weapons of rebellion; confess that thou hast erred. Now, is this hard? Nay, man, look to the Cross, and hate thy sin; for sin nailed the Well-beloved to the tree. III. The claim which ought to be urged wherever the gospel is preached. “ He is Lord of all.” This means--1. That Jesus Christ, who died on Calvary, is Lord of all mankind. Because Christ has “ power over all flesh,” we preach the gospel to all flesh. You are not ruled so much by the iron sceptre of an absolute God as by the silver sceptre of the Mediator. “ Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.” 2. If Christ be Lord of all, then I may with safety rely upon Him. Oh, then, trust Him, for all power is His. He is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. 3. Because Jesus is Lord, I pray you to yield Him reverence and serve Him. He is your liege Lord and sovereign. History tells us that the Welsh could not bear the yoke of an English king, but wanted a native prince; and therefore their English conqueror brought before them his own son, born in their own principality, and they accepted him as Prince of Wales. God reigneth over us, but that we may love His reign He has anointed His own Son our own Elder Brother, King of kings and Lord of lords. 4. Be it also known that Jesus the Saviour must be received as Lord in the souls of those whom He redeems. You must obey Him, or your trust is hypocrisy. If we trust a physician we follow his prescriptions; if we trust a guide we follow his directions; and if we fully rely on Jesus, we obey His gracious commands. The faith which saves is a faith which produces a change of life, and subdues the soul to obedience to the Lord. 5. I do not put this to you as a matter of choice; I demand of you that you obey Him, and receive Him as the Christ of God. Do you refuse the summons that I give you now as His officer tonight? Then take heed what you do, for as the Lord liveth you shall answer for this in the great day of His appearing. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Peace through Christ When the Romans by conquest might have given law to the Grecians at Corinth, in the solemn time of the Isthmian games, their general by a herald unexpectedly proclaimed freedom to all the cities of Greece. The proclamation at first did so amaze the Grecians that they did not believe it to be true; but when it was proclaimed the second time they gave such a shout that the very birds flying in the air were astonished therewith, and fell dead to the ground. But if you will have a better story, take that of the Jews, who, when at first they heard of Cyrus’ s proclamation, and that the Lord thereby had turned the captivity of Sion, they confess that, at the first hearing of it, they were like men that dreamed; but afterwards, their mouths were filled with laughter, and their tongues with singing. Now, the peace that the Grecians and the Jews had was but the peace of a people, or a nation, and a great blessing of God, too; but how much more reason is there that our affections should be strained to the highest pitch of joy and thanks, when we hear of the proclamation of the peace of conscience--that peace which is not of our bodies, but of our souls? (J. Spencer.)He is Lord of all.--Lord of all I. By right, as the Creator. II. By merit, as the Redeemer. III. By sift, as the only-begotten of the Father. (St. Bernard.)Lord of all I. The claim here made.1. This claim is made by the whole Bible; notably by Paul (Ephesians 1:21), by Peter (1 Peter 3:21), by John (Revelation 1:17-18; Revelation 19:16). 2. Christ is Lord of all, and the telescope has not revealed a star, nor the microscope an atom, that is not subject to Him. The spirits of darkness cannot elude His Lordship, and the spirits of light glory in it. We too are subject to it, whether we will or no. But Christ wills to connect us with Himself by other ties than that of His irresistible control. He wants us to choose to be bound to Him by ties of faith and love, and then we shall delight to follow Him, and find the most perfect union with Him. 3. If you reject this claim, whom will you serve? Self? You cannot make a worse choice. (1) Put the reins in the hands of your senses, and you know whither they will drive you. (2) You will fare no better, though more respectably, if you bow your neck to covetousness--the ambition to be rich. (3) The love of applause and honour is only less injurious; it may inspire in soldiers heroism, but it substitutes man’ s judgment for God’ s law and conscience. (4) The love of power is just as bad a master. See what it made of Alexander and Napoleon! II. What yielding to this claim will do in and for you.1. It will bring you to your knees in humble acknowledgment of your guilt, and in grateful recognition of God’ s love in offering reconciliation. Christ does not come suing your heart and service as blameless. You are “ His own,” but you have not acted as His own. He finds you in a state of rebellion, and the first word He speaks to you is “ Repent.” It was by the way of the Cross that Jesus went to the throne, and you must go the same way. 2. It will place you under a law the most beneficent and pure; one which will make your heart and life unselfish. It will not make a man in any sense effeminate, but will inspire manliness with grace. 3. It will bring you aids and influences without which you will find yourselves unable to overcome the evil or attain the good. The road is a difficult and perilous one, and you have neither the wisdom nor the strength to avoid the dangers or to overcome the hardships. It should be good news that Christ gives both. III. What have you to object to this claim?1. You want to be left alone and not be troubled. Is this manly? Happily for you, you don’ t act on this principle elsewhere. When you are in want of a situation, you search for one till you find it. You go to work at the set hour, and keep at it till it is finished. How, then, can you suppose that it will be well with you in the higher concerns of your soul, if you fold your arms and commit yourselves to the care of chance? The ship, if left to itself, will founder; the soul, how can it escape destruction if left to drift where it may? 2. The rule of Christ is too exacting and too wide. But what would you think of a law which would make purity, truth, and honesty contingent on circumstances? Christ demands the whole of your being, that He may bless body and soul to all eternity, and prohibits all compromise with sin because sin is everlasting ruin. (J. Kennedy, D. D.)Jesus Lord of all I. What? “ Lord.”1. Jehovah, demanding our worship. Jesus claims Divine honours, and His servants gladly render them. 2. Sovereign, demanding our homage, loyalty to His throne, pride in His name; zeal, valour, and activity in the extension of His realm. 3. Master, demanding our service. A good subject has not only to defend his sovereign’ s dominions in war, but to build up their prosperity by persevering industry. Our work is to grow in grace and to promote that growth in our fellow Christians. II. What of? “ All.”1. In the widest sense, of all creation, from the most colossal world down to the minutest molecule. All matter, and all the laws by which He permits matter to be influenced, are His, and He does with them according to the pleasure of His will. 2. In a narrower sense, of all created intelligences. He is Lord of angels, who obey Him willingly; of devils, who obey Him unwillingly; of men, who are divided into two classes-- (1) Those who disobey Him, but whose disobedience is overruled to serve His purposes. (2) Those who gladly obey Him, and find in their obedience an exceeding great reward. III. By what right?1. An original right, as God. “ All souls are mine.” 2. A filial right, as Son of God. “ Heir of all things.” “ All power is given unto Me.” 3. A redemptive right, as Saviour. “ Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price.” 4. A victorious right, as Conqueror. 5. A donative right, by the glad surrender of the will of those constrained by His love. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth.The ministry of Jesus I. Its nature and characteristics. It was--1. Active--“ went.” He did not sit passively and receive applicants: like many nowadays, who are either indolent, or think it sufficient to satisfy a claim when made, or else are afraid of encountering too many claims. 2. Incessant--“ about.” Not to one place, but everywhere; not in the straight line of duty or circumstances, but in, out, and around. Much of modern charity is partial, and confines itself to “ deserving” cases, or those who have superior claims on the ground of kindred, neighbourhood, nationality, etc. 3. Inquiring--“ went about.” Jesus “ sought” that He might save. Many of the objects of His compassion were those who lay outside the beaten track and had to be found. 4. Practical--“ doing,” not simply “ speaking,” although sympathetic words are helpful: but a little assistance is worth a good deal of pity. 5. Really beneficent--“ good.” It is to be feared that much of so-called charity does more harm than good. 6. Victorious--“ healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” Destruction has often to precede construction. The devil has to be vanquished before good can be done. II. Its sanction. “ God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost.”1. This was fore-announced (Isaiah 61:1-3); and when the prophecy was so abundantly fulfilled nothing but the blindness of criminal unbelief could refuse to see it. 2. This was abundantly given to Christ and claimed by Him. 3. This demonstrated His Messiahship. He was the anointed-- (1) Prophet--to declare man’ s need. All need is not conscious. Men have to be convinced of the existence of their deepest requirements. How many are bound by the fetters of sin, and yet are senseless to their slavery. (2) Priest--to provide for man’ s need. Through His mediatorial work Christ becomes the grand storehouse of God’ s riches. (3) King--to supply man’ s need. “ All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” “ He is able to do exceeding abundantly.” He received gifts for the rebellious. III. Its power. Christ was anointed with “ power.”1. He was equal to every emergency. When the wine failed He turned the water into wine. Those whom physicians gave up as incurable He healed with a touch. When the disciples were in danger of perishing in the storm He rebuked the winds and the waves. When Lazarus was dead He recalled him to life. And all this without delay and without exertion. 2. His power was acknowledged by all: nature, men, devils. IV. Its reward. “ God was with Him.”1. Encouraging.2. Approving.3. Rendering effectual. (J. W. Burn.)Who went about doing good.-- The first philanthropist Here, then, it is necessary to consider to whom St. Peter was addressing himself. Before him stood the centurion Cornelius, probably a few comrades, and certainly some Jews, who on an occasion like this would not have had the largest place in the apostle’ s thought. The persons of whom St. Peter was chiefly thinking were Cornelius and the other soldiers present, above all Cornelius. The band to which Cornelius belonged consisted of Italian levies, and Cornelius, as his name shows, belonged to an old Roman family, and when St. Peter says that our Lord, during His earthly life, went about doing good, he knew perfectly well that such an account of that life would have appeared anything but tame, commonplace, inadequate, to those whom he was especially anxious to influence, because it was so sharply contrasted with anything that they had left behind them at home. For that great world in which Cornelius and his comrades had been reared must indeed have made the men and affairs of Palestine, generally speaking, seem by comparison petty enough--as we would say, provincial. Everything outward at Rome, the world’ s centre, was on a splendid scale. The public buildings, the temples, the baths, the public shows, everything connected with the army, everything connected with the machinery and the apparatus of government, was calculated to impress, and even to awe the imagination. But there was one overshadowing defect, in that great world which would have come home with especial force to the minds of the class from which the rank and file of the Roman forces were chiefly recruited. It was a world without love. It was a world full of want and suffering, and the whole of the great social and political machine went round and round without taking any account of this. Commenting on this fact nearly three centuries later, Lactantius, after describing the salient features of heathen life, adds: “ Compassion and humanity are peculiar to the Christians.” Now, isolated efforts to relieve suffering, gifts to the needy, liberality of the orators and the inscriptions, these largesses to the people, these public works, these costly entertainments, as Cornelius and his friends knew well, were not the outcome of love. They were forms of an expenditure which was essentially selfish. The main object of such expenditure was to secure that sort of popularity which means political power. It was repaid, if not in kind, yet substantially. The Roman people, under the system of imperial largesses and entertainments, increasingly hated work. It cared only for such ease and enjoyment as it could wring out of its rulers. It became utterly indifferent to everything in its rulers except their capacity and willingness to gratify itself. In order to do real good, the eye must rest not on what is prudent in, or on what is expected of the giver, but on what is needed in the recipient. And thus mere liberality, if active, is blindfold, while charity seeks out its objects with discrimination and sympathy; liberality has no eye for the really sore places in the suffering and destitute world. Nothing was done systematically in that world with which Cornelius and his friends were familiar for classes or for individuals who could make no return. There was no sort of care for widows or for orphans. And if here and there there were schools, like those under Severus, their main object, when we come to examine them closely, appears to have been to provide recruits for the Roman army. And all this was in harmony with principles laid down by the great teachers of the ancient world, such as Plato and Aristotle. In Plato’ s ideal state the poor have no place, beggars are expelled or left to die, as injuring the common prosperity. In Aristotle’ s account of the virtues, the most promising, from a Christian point of view, is generosity; but on examination, generosity turns out to be a prudential mean between avarice and extravagance. The generous man, we are told, gives because it is a fine thing to give, not from a sense of duty, still less at the dictates of love for his fellow creatures. It is no wonder that, when these were governing principles, there were few efforts in that old world, to which Cornelius had belonged, that deserved the name of doing good. When, then, Cornelius heard from St. Peter of such a life as that of our Lord, and had further, in all probability, asked and received answers to the questions which St. Peter’ s description suggested, he would have listened to a narrative which had all the charm, all the freshness of a great surprise. Those poor lepers, and paralytics, and fever-stricken peasants, could make no return to their Benefactor, and He did not ask for any. And this, Cornelius would have observed, implied nothing short of a new ideal of life and work. The highest and greatest good which He did was done for the souls of men. To have done everything for man’ s bodily frame and leave his spiritual being untouched would have been a poor and worthless kind of doing good in the estimation of Jesus Christ. The lessons by which our Lord brought men to know and to love the Father and Himself, the pardon which He won for them on the Cross, the grace which He promised them after His Ascension, were His chiefest benefactions. But besides this He did abundant good in the physical, material, social sense. It has been said that Christ our Lord was the first Social Reformer. If by social reform be meant the doing away with all the inequalities between classes, or even the removal from human life of the permanent cause of a great deal of physical suffering, it cannot be said that this description of Him is accurate. He showed no wish whatever in any sort of way to interfere with the existing structure of society. He insisted on Caesar’ s claims to tribute, He prescribed obedience to the Scribes and Pharisees who sat in Moses’ seat. His real work was to point to truths and to a life which made the endurance of poverty and distress for a short time here so easy, as to be in the estimate of real disciples comparatively unimportant, but at the same time He relieved so much of it as would enable human beings to make a real step forward towards the true end of their existence. If our Lord was not, in the restricted modern sense, the first social reformer, He was undoubtedly, in the true and ample sense of the word, the first philanthropist. He loved man as man, He loved not one part but the whole of man, He loved man as none had ever loved him before or since, He died for the being whom He loved so well. And when our Lord had left the earth the spirit of His work became that of a Christian Church. It, too, after its measure, went about the world doing good. The New Testament guides us through the first stage of the subject. The wealthier Churches of Greece were directed to lay by small offerings every Sunday, so that when the apostle came by to fetch the collection the money might be ready for the poor Churches in Palestine. The poorer members of the Church were regularly supplied with food at the Agape or love feast. Widows were especially provided for. It would be impossible here and now to notice the various activities of Christian work in the primitive times which followed the Apostolic age. Early in the third century, if not in the second, there were houses for the reception of poor widows; orphans were brought up at the expense of the Church by the bishop, or by some private person. Thus, for instance, after the martyrdom of Leonidas at Alexandria, his boy, who became the celebrated Origen, was brought up by a pious woman who lived in the city, and an excellent man, Severus, is named as having devoted himself in Palestine to the education of all children--they were a considerable number--whose parents were martyrs. In the middle of the third century the Roman empire was afflicted by a pestilence which, according to the historian Gibbon, destroyed not less than half the population. It broke out at Carthage while St. Cyprian was still alive. There was a general panic, all the heathen that could do so fled; they avoided contact with infected persons, they left their own relations to die alone. Corpses were lying unburied about the streets, and there were rogues who seized the opportunity of making horrible profits. Cyprian summoned the Christians to aid him in doing all that could be done. He was everywhere encouraging, advising, organising, helping the sick and dying with his own hands, and each man under him had, and knew that he had, his appointed task. Some of the Christians were anxious to confine their aid to their fellow believers, their feelings against the heathen had been irritated by a recent persecution, and they knew that another persecution was impending, but they received no countenance from their bishop. “ If,” exclaimed St. Cyprian, in a sermon preached at this crisis, “ if we only do good to those who do good to us, what do we more than the heathen and the publicans? If we are the children of God, who makes His sun to shine upon the good and the bad, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust, let us now prove it by our own acts, let us bless those who curse us.” One class of persons who were especial objects of primitive Christian charity were those who were sent to work in the mines. They were almost naked; they had the scantiest supply of food; they were often treated with great cruelty by the inspectors of public works. We find from the letters of St. Cyprian these poor people were special objects of his attention; he regularly sent them supplies by the hands of a trusted sub-deacon; and he wrote to them continually, assuring them of his sympathy and his prayers. And another work of mercy in which the primitive Church especially interested itself was the improvement of the condition of the prisoners. The prisons in old Rome were crowded with persons of all descriptions--prisoners of war, especially after the barbarian inroads; prisoners for the non-payment of taxes and for debt--subjects on which the Roman law was very severe; prisoners for the various kinds of felony; and, when a persecution was going on, prisoners for the crime of being Christians. These unhappy people were huddled together, it is little to say, with no attention to the laws of health or to the decencies of life, and one of the earliest forms of Christian charity was to raise funds for the redemption of prisoners by payment as a specially Christian form of mercy. Cyprian raised large sums from his flock to purchase freedom for prisoners of war. It would be impossible within our limits to do any sort of justice to this vast subject--the manner in which the ancient Church of Christ carried on, both in the higher and the lower senses of the term, her Master’ s work of doing good. The most unshowing and unromantic methods of doing good may be the most acceptable. To work at a night school, to keep the accounts of a charity, to get up Sunday breakfasts for poor people, may mean more in the eyes of the Infinite Mercy than to dispose of immense charitable resources, or even to be a great teacher or ruler in the Church. The vital condition of doing good, whether it be spiritual or physical good, is that simple unity of purpose which springs from disinterestedness, and this can best be learned at His blessed feet, who remains the first and the greatest of philanthropists, since in life and in death He gave Himself for us, that whether we wake or sleep we might live together with Him. (Canon Liddon.)The model life He “ went about doing good” -- I. Because He was God manifest in the flesh. II. As the one great aim of His life. The painter or sculptor gives himself up to days and nights of arduous, patient labour, it may be for years, over some favourite piece of art; his soul is inspired, cheered, sustained by the motives which his own genius and the art which he worships supply. The philanthropist pursues his scheme for the amelioration of human misery with an intensity that brooks no delay, with an absorbing interest which robs him of his sleep by night, and fills all his waking thoughts by day. But what is all this devotion to an earthly object compared with the Divine intensity of Christ in the prosecution of His life works and that in the midst of perishing multitudes? His life work was not that of delineating the human form on the glowing canvas, or the breathing marble, but the work of bringing back a lost world to peace, of reproducing the Divine life and the Divine image in the soul of man--not a mere work of fancy, but of faith, not a mere display of genius, but of goodness, not the redressing of a wrong, or the lessening of human suffering, but nothing short of a new creation in the soul that was dark and dead, sunk in trespasses and sins. III. With a constancy and devotion that never failed. Notwithstanding all the hostility that met Him, He continued with unabated ardour. IV. To all WITHOUT exception. Like the stream that loves to linger amid its village homes, nestled amid the shadows of mountains, and the embowering foliage of ancestral trees, where there is little to disturb the even tenor of daily life, it was the special delight of our Lord to move amongst the homes of the poor and the lowly, and pour the riches of His grace around their humble dwellings. But like the rill that will not rest from the moment it bursts on its way, but travels onwards to the sea in ever widening course, and passes on through quiet villages and sweet homesteads till it becomes a great river, bearing on its bosom the mart of nations, the blessings of commerce, and making everything glad and beautiful where it flows, the stream of Divine goodness in the life of Jesus, beginning first in the mountain home at Nazareth, amid the village retreats of Galilee, went forth from that seclusion to carry its rich dower of blessings to villages, towns, and cities, and to pour its treasures at the feet of all classes and conditions of men. He was free to all, as the light of the sun, the air of heaven, the waters of the deep, broad river. His sympathies for man and all his concerns were strong, pure, enduring. V. By His instructions, as well as by His works of healing. These miracles live in history as great, godlike facts, His words live in the heart, and by sanctifying the inner, bless and dignify the outer life. VI. As an example to His followers in all time coming. (Alex. Wallace, D. D.)The Christian’ s encouragement to seek and do good I. Illustrate the view of Christ’ s character given in the text.1. The kind of good which He dispensed.2. The extent of good which He thus dispensed.3. The great diligence which He exercised in doing good.4. The spirit of compassion with which He did all this good.5. The unwearied patience and perseverance with which He continued to do good. II. Application:1. You are thus instructed and encouraged to seek good from Christ.2. You are thus instructed and engaged to do good as Christ did. The shortest description and the surest mark of every true Christian is this, to be a doer of good. (James Brewster.)The life beneficent There is in this Scripture furnished for life a test, an enterprise, a habit. I. A test. Christ went about doing good. By precisely this question, whether your life is beneficent, are you to test your life.1. Test your speech by it. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. 2. Test your amusements by it. Do they do you good in the way of recreating you for better toil; do they exert no harmful influence upon others? 3. Test your business by it. Is the general outcome of your business beneficent; and do you carry it on in beneficent fashion? 4. Test your use of time by this question. Are you putting your time to high and holy uses? 5. Test your position and culture thus: Are you the readier to serve the higher you get up? II. There is here suggested an enterprise for life. Christ went about doing good. He personally did it--did not content Himself with doing good by proxy. Christ went after the chance of doing good; did not simply wait for the chance to come to Him. III. There is suggested also here a habit for life. Christ was not intermittent in this matter. It was the habit of His life to go about doing good. Oh for Christians of such pithy pluck that they will habitually keep hold of duty! (W. Hoyt, D. D.)The benevolent conduct of Jesus I. The conduct of Jesus. He “ went about doing good.”1. Jesus did good to the bodies of men. He opened the eyes of the blind; He gave hearing to the deaf; and He raised the dead (Matthew 11:5). 2. He did good to the souls of men. The ignorant were instructed y Him in the essential doctrines and duties of religion (Matthew 5:1-2; Luke 19:47; John 8:2). He strengthened the weak and wavering, and comforted mourning penitents (Matthew 5:4; Matthew 11:28). 3. Our Lord went about doing good. He was an itinerant preacher. And to accomplish His merciful designs, He frequently visited large and populous places, and places of public resort. 4. The motives of our Lord in doing good were pure and perfect. He was moved by the transcendent goodness of His nature to acts of kindness. 5. Jesus persevered in doing good. It was His constant employment, and He was never weary of it. 6. In all the works, and in all the ways of our Saviour, His lovely temper and amiable conduct shone with resplendent glory. How unlike the renowned conquerors and tyrants of the world, whose glory has been acquired by blood and slaughter! II. We should endeavour to imitate the conduct of Jesus.1. That we may do so, let us study the character and conduct of our great Exemplar. To this end we should carefully read His public and private discourses, examine His temper, and weigh His conduct. 2. But those who copy after His blessed example, must have the mind which was in Him (Philippians 2:5). 3. Having acquired the mind of Jesus, let us endeavour to imitate His conduct. We cannot imitate His miracles; the attempt would be presumption; but we should endeavour to copy His benevolent actions. 4. Let us proceed in these works of love, as the Lord may enable us. More than this is not required; and less than this will not be accepted. 5. This conduct will please the Lord, who is good to all, and whose tender mercies are over all His works (Psalms 145:9). He blesses us that we may be a blessing (Genesis 12:2).1. In the world, and in the visible Church, we have many bad examples; but we must not follow a multitude to do evil (Exodus 23:2). 2. There are a few in the Church who may be followed in some things; but whatever their excellencies are, we cannot safely follow them in all their ways. 3. But we have a perfect example in the conduct of our Saviour; and we are bound by the most sacred ties to walk in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). (Theological Sketch book.)Going about doting good We have all heard of the celebrated Cook, the circumnavigator who went round the globe. Wherever Cook landed he was noticed by the boatmen to go up away from them a bit, and he was seen to take little packets out of his pockets and keep on going round, throwing them out of his hand and circulating them. He belted the whole world with English flowers. He took packets of our seeds, and at those places where he landed he took care to walk a little bit away and sow some of the seed where most likely it would grow. Hence other navigators have been surprised to find that English flowers were growing where they never could have dreamt of seeing them. That is how we ought to do--get some of the precious seed into your own soul, and carry it with you wherever you go. Have it with you on the trip to the seaside, or even to Switzerland, or have it when you stay at home. Always sow the seed of kindness and true happiness, above all the gospel of Jesus Christ, for in this you will be following Christ, of whom it is written, “ He went about doing good.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The ways of doing good (children’ s sermon):--When we hear of any great man we always want to know how he lived, and what he used to do--General Washington, e.g., Benjamin Franklin, Christopher Columbus, Alfred the Great, etc. But you may put all great men together, and, compared with Jesus, they are only like stars compared with the sun. “ Jesus went about doing good” because He was so able to do it. He hadn’ t much money; for though He made the world, when He was here, He said, “ The foxes have holes,” etc. But though He had no money to give away, He could do good in hundreds of other ways. Then, again, He went about doing good to show us how to live (1 Peter 2:21). And this is what I wish to talk to you about, viz., four ways in which we should all try to do good. I. By becoming christians ourselves. True Christians are the most useful people in the world. Many of our houses have iron rods running from above the top of the chimney down into the ground. Those lightning rods carry the lightning off and prevent it from doing any harm. And true Christians are like lightning rods. When God is angry with the wicked, He is often kept from punishing them on account of the good Christians who live among them. You see this in Abraham’ s prayer for Sodom and Gomorrah. You know how useful the light is. Well, Jesus said to His disciples, “ Ye are the light of the world.” If we were travelling along a dangerous road, the light would show us the road, and how we might keep out of the pits. Now, this world is a road full of dangers. But true Christians see them and know how to avoid them. And if we would be lights in the world, showing people their danger and how they may escape, we must become true Christians. Here is a watch, a very useful thing. The inside is full of works, and in the midst is the mainspring: that makes the watch go and keep good time. But suppose the mainspring is broken, will it keep time? No. So I must take it to the watchmaker, and get a new mainspring. Now, our hearts are like a broken mainspring, and we must take our heart to Jesus, and ask Him to change it; to put a new mainspring in the broken watch of your soul. Then it will be ready to keep time, to do good. II. By trying to make others christians. Suppose you were travelling through a desert with a company of friends. You have no water, and are almost perishing from “ thirst. You separate and go in different directions searching for water. Presently you find a spring. You kneel down and take nice long drink. And then of course at the top of your voice you would cry out--“ Come this way; where is water!” And this is just the way we should feel when we become Christians. A little heathen girl was taken from New Zealand to England to be educated. She became a Christian. Before this she was so pleased with England that she didn’ t care about going back. But as soon as she learned to love Jesus, she said: “ Do you think I can keep the good news to myself? No; I want to go home and tell my friends there about Jesus.” Some time ago an old man became a Christian, and asked himself how he could be doing good. He made out a list of his old associates, which contained one hundred and sixteen names. Some of these were the worst men in the town. He began to pray for these. He talked to them and gave them good books to read. Some refused to listen, and others made fun; but still he went on praying and working for them. And what was the result? Why, within two years, one hundred of them had become Christians too! That was doing good indeed! A Christian gentleman while travelling on a steamboat, distributed some tracts. Many read them carefully. But one gentleman took one of the tracks and doubled it up, and then cut it into little pieces and scattered them over the side of the boat. But one of the pieces stuck to his coat. He looked at it a moment before throwing it away, and found on one side only the word “ God,” on the other the word “ Eternity.” He threw it away; but these two solemn words--“ God” and “ Eternity” --he could not get rid of. They haunted him wherever he went, and he never had any comfort till he became a Christian. III. By helping the sick and poor. Jesus was always especially ready to help the poor. He told His disciples that whenever they did a kindness to one of His poor He would consider it as done to Himself. And James tells us that true religion consists in “ visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” We find poor people everywhere, and children can do good in this way as well as grown-up people. Mary Parsons was a bright, happy little girl, because she was always trying to do good. One day a lady called in to see her mother. This lady had just been visiting a poor old woman eighty-six years old, who lived by herself in a dark, damp cellar. Mary listened with great interest while the lady was speaking, and then she said, “ Oh, mother, please let me carry her over some breakfast and dinner every day: we have so much left.” Mary was so earnest about it that her mother said she might do it. No matter how anxious her little sisters were for Mary to play with them; no matter whether it was hot or cold, wet or dry, Mary never got tired. Sometimes she would read the Bible and sometimes take her doll’ s frocks and sit down by her side, and chat away merrily to amuse her. And the poor old woman speaking about her one day, her eyes filled with tears, said, “ Oh, she brings a ray of sunshine with her every time she comes, and it seems to brighten my dark room long after she is gone. God bless her! She is one of the dear lambs of Jesus, I am sure.” Now Mary was only eight years old when she began to do this. Is there no poor old woman, or sick and hungry child, in your neighbourhood to whom you can take food from your table that would not be missed? IV. By being kind to all. Jesus was all the time speaking kind words and doing kind things. Read what He said to the widow of Nain, and what He did for her. Two ragged barefooted boys were going along one of the streets of New York. One was perfectly happy over a half-withered bunch of flowers which he had just picked up. “ I say, Billy,” said he, “ wasn’ t somebody real good to drop these ‘ ere posies just where I could find them--and they’ re so pooty and nice? Look sharp, Billy, mebby you’ ll find something bime-by.” Presently the boy exclaimed, “ Oh jolly, Billy, if here ain’ t ‘ most half a peach, and ‘ tain’ t mush dirty neither. ‘ Cause you hain’ t found nothin’ you may bite first.” Billy was just going to take a very little taste of it, when his companion said, “ Bite bigger, Billy, mebby we’ ll find another ‘ fore long.” What a noble heart that poor boy had in spite of his rags and dirt! He was “ doing good” in the fourth way that we are speaking of. (R. Newton, D. D.)The example of Jesus in doing good I. His great work and business in the world was to do good. What He did, and we in imitation of Him ought to do, I shall reduce to two heads.1. Doing good to the souls of men, and endeavouring to promote their spiritual and eternal happiness. (1) By good instruction. And under instruction I comprehend all the means of bringing men to the knowledge of their duty, and exciting them to the practice of it; by instructing their ignorance, and removing their prejudices, and rectifying their mistakes, by persuasion and by reproof; and by making lasting provision for the promoting of these ends. (2) By good example. And this our blessed Saviour was in the utmost perfection. And this we should endeavour to be. For good example hath a secret influence upon those with whom we converse, to form them into the same disposition and manners. It is a living rule that teacheth men without trouble, and lets them see their faults without open reproof. Besides that, it adds great weight to a man’ s persuasion, when we see that he advises nothing but what he does, nor exacts anything from which he himself desires to be excused. As, on the contrary, nothing is more insignificant than good counsel from one that does not follow the advice which he is so forward to give to others. 2. Procuring their temporal good, and contributing to their happiness in this present life. And this was a great part of Christ’ s business in this world. And though we cannot be beneficial to men in the miraculous manner that He was, yet we may be so in the use of ordinary means; we may comfort the afflicted, and vindicate the oppressed, and do a great many acts of charity which our Saviour, by reason of His poverty, could not do without a miracle; we may take a poor child and bring him up in the knowledge and fear of God, and put him into a way wherein, by his industry, he may make a fortune, and be able to relieve hundreds of others. Men glory in raising magnificent structures, and find a secret pleasure to see sets of their own planting to grow up and flourish; but surely it is a greater and more glorious work to build up a man, to see a youth of our own planting take root in the world, and to shoot up and spread his branches so that we, who first planted him, may ourselves find comfort under his shadow. And those who are in the lowest condition may do great good to others by their prayers. For “ the fervent prayer of righteous man availeth much.” II. His diligence in this work. This will fully appear if we consider--1. How unwearied He was. He was not only ready to do good to those that gave Him opportunity, and besought Him to do it, but went Himself to seek out objects. 2. How self-denying He was. He neglected the ordinary refreshments of nature, that He might attend this work. He was at everybody’ s beck and disposal. Nay, He was willing to deny Himself in one of the dearest things in the world--His reputation and good name. 3. Consider the malicious opposition and sinister construction that His good deeds met with. For His casting out of devils, He was called a magician; for His endeavour to reclaim men from their vices, “ a friend of publicans and sinners” ; for His free and obliging conversation, “ a wine bibber and a glutton.” 4. How cheerfully, notwithstanding all this, He persevered! It was not only His business, but His delight; “ I delight (says He) to do Thy will, O My God.” Conclusion: The subject will be of excellent use.1. To show us our defects. How does this blessed example upbraid those who, instead of “ going about doing good,” are perpetually intent upon doing mischief? And those likewise who, though they are far from being so bad, yet wholly neglect this blessed work of doing good? And this too under a pretence of being employed about other duties, They are so taken up with prayer, and reading and hearing sermons, and sacraments, that they have scarce any leisure to mind the doing of charitable offices. Others spend all their zeal about some controversies in religion; and therefore think it but reasonable that they should be excused from those meaner kind of duties, as those who serve the king in his wars used to be exempted from taxes. But “ pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” 2. To persuade us to the imitation of this blessed example. Let us “ go and do likewise.” The work itself is such that men should not need to be courted nor urged to it. But dwell upon these considerations. (1) It shows an inclination and desire to have others happy as well as ourselves. Those who are of a mean and sordid disposition love to contract themselves within themselves, and like the hedgehog, to shoot out their quills at everyone who comes near them. But the noblest and most heavenly dispositions think themselves happiest when others share with them in their happiness. (2) It is the most pleasant employment in the world. This Cato boasts of, as the great comfort of his old age--“ that nothing was more pleasant than the conscience of a well-spent life, and the remembrance of many kindnesses done to others.” Sensual pleasures are not lasting, and leave a sting behind them. But the pleasure of doing good remains, and the reflection upon it afterwards does forever minister joy. (3) It is to imitate the highest excellency and perfection; it is to be like God, who is good and doth good, and to be like Him in that which He esteems His greatest glory, and that is, His goodness. (4) It is one of the greatest and most substantial duties of religion; and, next to the love and honour which we pay to God Himself, the most acceptable service that we can perform to Him. It is one half of the law, and next to the first and great command, and very like unto it: in the excellency of its nature, and in the necessity of its obligation. (5) It will give us the greatest comfort when we come to die. (6) It is attended with the greatest consideration I shall offer to you--which is reward both in this world and the other. (Abp. Tillotson.)The example of Christ I. Look at the life of our Lord as here described.1. That life was very short, three and a half years at most; but it was long in point of action; it was filled up with works which will stand forever. No one ever made such a mark on the earth as our Lord. 2. Here is one of the great “ notes” that no infidel can explain--Who Christ was, whence Christ came, why Christ did what He did, and left the mark upon the world that He certainly left. Had He money wherewith to bribe the world and make men follow Him? He was poor in every way. Had He power to turn men to follow Him as Mahomet had? His followers were a few publicans and fishermen. Whence, then, the power that Christ had? How account for the effect that He produced on the world? There is no accounting for it all, but on the Christian theory that Christ was God manifest in the flesh. 3. When we look on the life of our Lord, how unlike it is to the conquerors who have shaken the world! Run your mind over the long list--Caesar, Alexander, Napoleon, etc. What mark their victories? Death, wounds, poverty, sorrow, ruin. Then turn to the life of that King of kings, and Lord of lords. See the amazing contrast. He brought life and immortality to light; He opened up to men hopes for the present and for the future; the way of peace between God and men. He did good-- (1) To bodies. No disease was too loathsome for Him to show kindness to. (2) By His words. Think how they have travelled through the world for eighteen hundred years, and wherever they have gone, they have been the comfort and peace of those who have received them. Think how a text, dormant it may be for many long years, has revived when the time of trial and sickness comes. (3) Continually. Wherever He went He brought blessing with Him. (4) By His witness against sins and superstitions of the generation among which He lived. (5) By His patience. “ When He was reviled, He reviled not again, when He suffered, He threatened not.” 4. Learn here-- (1) The wickedness of human nature. Think for a moment how this wonderful Person was treated. (2) What constitutes greatness in the sight of God. He is the good man, not who had the highest title and greatest position, and the largest amount to pay for income tax, but he who does the greatest amount of good. Our Lord says, “ He that will be great among you, let him be as your minister.” II. The duty of christians to follow his example.1. I doubt whether that is as much looked at as it should be. We seldom look at more than one thing at a time, for men are so occupied. When they first feel their sins they think only of Christ as a Saviour, and they are apt to forget that He is our Pattern and Example. Yet Christ and the apostles ever insisted upon it. We ought to ask ourselves continually, “ Is there anything of Christ ever seen in my tempers, efforts, conduct, home, business?” Am I walking in Jesus Christ’ s steps? Am I, like Him, endeavouring to do good? 2. You and I were never meant to be idle, nor to be always trying to get good for ourselves. Many, however, run from place to place; hear sermon after sermon, are always thinking of getting; but we are not meant to be always receiving; we are meant to be doing for Christ and for Christ’ s cause. 3. Men may say, “ What can I do?” There is always something that everyone can do. There is no one who has not some influence upon some one or other. If you have a single grain of influence throw it into the scale of good, and not into the scale of evil. Parents can do good to their children; masters and mistresses to their servants. 4. To labour for this does ourselves good. Little by little we find graces grow in proportion as we try to exercise them. And it helps forward the cause of Christ in the world. The eyes of many are upon you, and if the watching, envious world sees you a mere idle Christian, thinking only of your own enjoyment, but never trying to do good, the world will think little of your religion. But when they see you walk in the steps of the Saviour, striving to make all around you happy, it sets the world thinking. There is no book or set of lectures, which ever does so much good to sceptics as a Christ-like life. 5. This was the way of the old Christians; their ways and manners made the heathen think. This was the conduct of the followers of old John Wesley. It was part of that wonderful man’ s first principle to impress the necessity Of doing good. “ Now, then, what are you going to do? We do not want any drones in our hive; we want everyone that becomes a member of our body to do something for the glory of God, for the benefit of man.” (Bp. Ryle.)Christ our Example We ought to follow Christ in taking all opportunities of doing good. I. What are the good works we should do in imitation of Christ?1. Works of piety. (1) Internal (John 4:24). (a) Love (Matthew 22:37). (b) Fear (Proverbs 23:17). (c) Faith. (d) Trust (Proverbs 3:5). (e) Submission (Luke 22:42). (2) External; as praying, hearing, etc. 2. Works of equity (Micah 6:8). (1) Distributive (Romans 13:7; Matthew 17:27).(2) Communicative (Proverbs 3:27-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:6). 3. Works of charity (1 Timothy 6:17-18). (1) To pity others in misery (Matthew 15:32; Matthew 20:34).(2) To pray for their felicity (Luke 23:34).(3) To supply their necessities (Matthew 20:34). Consider-- (a) Without this there is no true religion (James 1:27). (b) By it we imitate God (Luke 6:36). (c) Whatsoever we have more than is necessary is given for this end. (d) God, notwithstanding, will repay it (Proverbs 19:17). II. What things are necessary for our imitation of Christ in doing good?1. Exerting the utmost of our power in doing it (Ecclesiastes 9:10).2. Managing all the circumstances aright.3. Doing it constantly (Luke 1:74-75). (1) Negative. (a) Not for the applause of men (Matthew 6:1). (b) Nor to merit anything from God (Luke 18:10). (2) Positive. (a) Subordinately for our own safety (1 Corinthians 9:24; 1 Corinthians 9:27). (b) Ultimately for God’ s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). III. In what sense are we always to be doing good.1. So as never to do evil (1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5).2. So as always to be designing good.3. So as to embrace all opportunities for doing good (John 4:7-8; John 6:25). IV. Why should we be always doing good?1. We are commanded (Luke 1:74-75; Psalms 34:13).2. We are always receiving good.3. Our beings were first given, and are now continued to us, that we might always be doing good (Isaiah 1:2-4).4. When we are not doing good we are doing evil (Psalms 37:27). (Bp. Beveridge.)Our great example “ Who went about doing good.”1. Such was the recollection of one who was amongst the nearest and dearest companions of Jesus. Peter had in recollection the aims and habit not of one day, but of every day. 2. We are living in times when “ many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased.” All classes are restless; the facilities of travelling are inducements to that restlessness. We do not grudge what science has done to annihilate distance and make moving to and fro easy. 3. But here, as elsewhere, are dangers. Facilities for evil may be made out of what God intended only to be facilities for good. “ Some people,” says Pascal, “ wish to move about the more, only that they may just talk the more. For the mere pleasure of seeing, without the pleasure of telling, would have little force upon many.” Let us remember, in these days, when so many of us are about to part company for awhile in the excursions of the summer, that we have a Christian rule to walk by in all our journey--a rule which has its example in Jesus, “ who went about doing good.” 4. The text describes what was the very law of the Redeemer’ s nature. He was shown to be the Son of the living God in the active, unwearied beneficence of His life. God’ s providence over this world is active. It is not beneath the dignity of the Almighty to regulate particular events. And the history of Divine interference and legislation is told in these words--“ He went about doing good.” The active beneficence of the Divine Being is concealed from our eyes behind the curtain of matter; but is exhibited to us in the person of Jesus. And I may go a step further. If active benevolence was a necessary feature in the perfect character of Jesus, because of His relationship to His Father, so active beneficence should be a necessary feature in the real Christian, because of his relationship with Christ. And now think a little of His sphere of active benevolence. It took in the whole range of human distress. And His ministrations of mercy were equally to the evil and the good. And the labour was incessant too. His very rest was devoted to the relief of spiritual and bodily want. And yet the humanity of Jesus wanted calm recreations, still retirement, just as yours and mine does. Note, too, another circumstance. We are all ready to be beneficent when we are sustained by large sights, and great occasions; but how was it with our Divine Master? The isolated case, which no eye saw but His own, His mind and heart were as much absorbed in it as if the appeal of a multitude was before Him. Amongst the poorer sort He was always found comforting, healing, feeding, teaching. 5. That we may be Christlike in active beneficence, we must seek more of that faith which works by love, and is careful to maintain good works. This is the only principle of Christian obedience. Having faith in Him, let us adopt Him as our example. Let each one, then, ask himself, “ Am I living for myself or for my Saviour? Does my faith show itself in works of active beneficence?” All have some talent. Only one thing is wanted--unselfish love. If you are converted, you can go and tell others what conversion is. If you pray, you can go and tell others what prayer is. If you have a sick neighbour, you can visit him. You could take a class in the Sunday school; or fill up one of the many chasms in the District Visiting Society. And, my poorer brethren, because you are no scholars, do not think that you cannot imitate your Master, and go about doing good. You may speak a word in season to your poor neighbours, and you may shine as a light in the world. (C. J. P. Eyre, M. A.)The Saviour’ s active benevolence He went about doing good-- I. By His miracles, which not only compelled attention to His instructions, and demanded assent to His claim of being Divinely sent, but were all deeds of mercy. Not one of them was a useless or vengeful display of power. His first miracle contributed to the social enjoyment of a festive occasion; and His last was the healing of a man whom one of His own disciples had wounded. Objection has, indeed, been made to two of our Lord’ s miracles on the ground that they were not of a merciful and useful character. One is that by which the demons were sent into the herd of swine. Here, it is said, an injury was inflicted on the owners. But it may be answered that the first and main object was merciful--the restoration of the lunatics to their right mind. Secondly, the injury inflicted was not done revengefully, but punitively. To keep swine was contrary to the Jewish law. The other miracle is the withering of the barren fig tree. But the tree probably stood in the highway, and was therefore no one’ s property; and on the other hand, the occurrence, was one of great profit to the disciples. II. By His instructions. In an age when the art of printing was unknown, and when manuscripts could come into the hands of but few, the oral mode of communicating knowledge was the only way in which instruction could reach the multitude. How indefatigably Jesus went about, “ teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” That His teaching was altogether good His recorded precepts are abundant proof. If He stirred up the people, it was with admiring wonder to hear the words of grace and truth which He spake; it was to repentance and holiness, to faith and obedience, to love and piety. III. By his example. His conduct was a clear and holy commentary on His words. His life transcended, if possible, His instructions; because it is so much more difficult and rare to live unexceptionably than to instruct wisely. His character was tried in many scenes and under diverse circumstances; and in all appeared pure, like gold tried seven times in the fire. And they who know the power of example, and the efficacy which practice gives to preaching, and the great part which being good is of doing good, will perceive that our Saviour’ s example is an inseparable portion of His benevolence. Conclusion: If the benevolence of His miracles did not make its due impression on the Jews, let us not be likewise insensible to that mark of their truth and divinity. If but few of them were converted by His doctrine, let not us also blindly refuse the proffered light and salvation. If they were not affected by the bright consistency of His example, let us give it more attentive heed ourselves, and transfer it with more exactness to our own conduct. (F. W. P. Greenwood.)The Life of Christ Here is the life of our Lord comprehended in a single sentence. Note-- I. The business which our Lord followed. As all ordinary men have their callings, so our Lord had His. It was none of those occupations by which the gains of this world are acquired; it was the holy business of “ doing good.” One part of this was the “ doing good” --1. To men’ s bodies. And what a list might be enumerated of His benefactions! How many blind eyes were opened, etc. None applied to Him in vain. None were sent from Him unrelieved. 2. To men’ s souls. (1) By His holy ministrations. What a preacher of righteousness was He, and in what a variety of ways did He address the hearts of men! (2) By His death. Our case was such as all the preaching in the world could not have rectified. We were dying sinners. We wanted a salvation to be wrought for us; and the only way of doing us effectual good was to provide us one. So Christ crowned all His other acts of goodness by the goodness of His Cross. II. The way in which He carried on His business. “ He went about.” Just as the trader goes about with his wares, and is unwearied in pursuit of gain, so Jesus “ went about” upon the business of blessing man. The great enemy “ goeth about seeking whom he may devour,” and the Great Friend went about seeking whom He might do good to; and literally, for whithersoever the blessed Jesus travelled, He was a traveller on foot. I know not a more striking illustration of our text than is contained in Matthew 9:1-38, which contains the story of a day spent by Him. III. What improvement can we make of the text? Let me ask you--1. Do you want to have good done to you? If so, behold your Benefactor! He that “ went about doing good” when upon earth, is now as ready to do good to you from heaven. 2. Are you copying His character? Jesus is set forth not as the Saviour only of His people but their Pattern. We may do good-- (1) By our examples. (2) By our exertions; watching for opportunities of usefulness, and endeavouring to be a help and a comfort, both in spirituals and temporals, to all about us and around us. (A. Roberts, M. A.)The matchless life Christ went about, not like a Pharisee, to make a show; not like the Romans, to parade military prowess; not like the Greeks, to display worldly wit and wisdom; but to do good to the bodies and souls of men. During the great work of creation, God, in each step, pronounced it “ very good” ; and when God entered upon the work of human redemption He did good, and at its close He exclaimed, with perfect satisfaction, “ It is finished.” He did not go about getting good, or becoming good, but dispensing good. He did good because He was good. By laying emphasis upon each of the five words before us, we shall see their beauty and feel their power. I. The life of Christ was full of benevolent effort--who went about doing “ good.” How different this from what it might have been! He might have performed miracles of vengeance, as Moses did; He might have come as a judge, to condemn. He remembered mercy, He dealt not with men after their sins. He did good to all, at all times and under all circumstances. His goodness was pure, unmerited, and free. He went about, not to get to Himself a name, not to climb to positions of worldly influence and power, nor to serve His own ends, but to show by His own example the beauty and blessedness of His precept, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The benevolent acts He performed for the bodies of men were symbols and types of what He would do for their souls. In His gospel Jesus still goes about doing good, for Christianity is philanthropic in its spirit. II. Practical effort--“ doing.” He was no dreamy, sentimental philanthropist, imagining Utopian plans, nor did He spend His life in pronouncing eulogiums upon goodness, and in endeavouring to stimulate others in that direction. He became, not the president or secretary of a society to do good, but He went about doing the good Himself. Societies are good, but they must never supersede individual effort. Christ did good with His own hands--earnestly, heartily, personally, perpetually; not by proxy, but enjoyed the luxury of being His own almoner. What an example for us to go and do likewise! III. Extensive effort--“ about.” Not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Galilee. His miracles were not performed among a select company, but out and about among all sorts and conditions of men, in secular as well as in sacred places. What an example for the Christian Church; His followers are to begin at Jerusalem, but they are to go out also into all the world. The blessings of Christianity are not to be kept within select limits, or enjoyed by one class. The catholicity of the benevolence of Christ should lead us to regard every living man as our neighbour. IV. Willing effort--“ went.” God sent His Son, but it is equally true that Jesus Christ came. It was from no compulsion, but from choice. It is interesting to notice how many of the benevolent acts He performed for men were done unsolicited. He went to those who could not and to those who would not come to Him, that they might be blessed. V. Personal effort--“ who.” When we remember the Deity of Christ, we see that it was the great Creator going about and doing good to His creatures; the Lord of life and glory condescending to attend personally to the wants and woes of fallen men. He might have sent angels, who would gladly have gone about upon so merciful a mission; but He came Himself. (F. W. Brown.)The model home mission and the model home missionary Our Lord’ s ministry was a home mission. “ I am not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Afterwards there sprang out of His home work the foreign mission, when they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the gospel. And herein we see His wisdom, for it will be of little avail to attempt much abroad unless there be a solid basis at home, in an earnest sanctified Church, affording a fulcrum for our lever. When England is converted, then shall she become the great herald of Christ’ s gospel to other lands. We have before us-- I. A model home mission.1. Christ selected as His great instrument the preaching of the gospel. He would have His followers depend upon the same agency. Other godly efforts are not to be neglected; but first and foremost it pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 2. In connection with His preaching we find the Master forming a seminary for the training of ministers. After He had called Peter and John, and others, He at first admitted them, as it were, into His evening classes; for they pursued their ordinary business, and came to Him at fitting seasons for instruction. But after awhile they separated themselves from all the pursuits of business, and were continually with their great Teacher. They learned how to preach as they marked how He preached. He even taught them to pray. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 10:39-43 And we are witnesses of all things which He did.The apostolic testimony I. Its substance.1. Christ’ s miracles. “ All things which He did.” These miracles were-- (1) Declarative of His Divine power, and thus credentials of His Messiahship. (2) Symbols of His saving influence. As there was a miracle in every parable, so there was a parable in every miracle. Thus, when Christ opened blind eyes, it typified the restoration of spiritual sight; when He healed disease, it showed His power over the paralysis and leprosy of sin; when He raised people from the dead, it proclaimed His ability to raise from the death of trespasses and sins. 2. Christ’ s crucifixion. “ Whom they slew.” This was the central fact of all apostolic testimony. It was the burden of Peter’ s earliest message and latest epistle, and the ruling theme of all Paul’ s ministry. This was not only (1) Martyrdom for truth, or(2) An example of self-sacrifice, but also(3) Atonement for sin. As the preacher afterwards testified, “ He bore our sins,” “ He died the Just for the unjust,” and redeemed us with His “ precious blood.” 3. Christ’ s resurrection (Acts 10:40). This was declarative of-- (1) His Divine Sonship.(2) His victory over death and the grave.(3) The acceptance of His atonement.(4) Our resurrection, of which His was a pledge and type. 4. His second coming (Acts 10:42). This was a matter of revelation, not of eyewitnessing, but it was the inevitable outcome of all they saw. Christ was to come-- (1) As Judge, and assert openly His universal Lordship.(2) As Raiser of the dead. 5. Remission of sins through faith in Christ (Acts 10:43). Thus we have in the first sermon to the Gentiles the whole gospel in substance, and the main articles of the Christian creed. II. Its authority.1. The testimony of their senses. They were trustworthy men. They could see, and actually saw, and had no inclination or inducement to make a false report; and their clear knowledge and full conviction gave body and strength to their testimony. 2. The Divine choice and command. They were selected because they had seen, and were commanded to tell what they saw. Hence they were not lecturers on history, which they would have been without a Divine call, but missionaries of a gospel. 3. Their own sanctified impulse. They could not but, out of the love of Him who had died for them and rose again, declare the things they had seen and heard. III. Its method.1. It was not simple declaration. Merely to say that they saw Jesus, etc., would have excited interest, stimulated inquiry, imparted information, and perhaps have founded a school, but would never have converted a soul or established a Church. 2. It was persuasive preaching. Their aim was not merely to secure belief in certain truths, but to save souls; and so “ it has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.” How faithful, earnest, telling, and successful this preaching was these early sermons testify. IV. Its rearing on ourselves.1. We are not eyewitnesses, but we may be heart witnesses. We have not seen Christ’ s physical miracles, but we may be the subjects of His spiritual miracles. We have not seen the crucifixion, but we may receive the atonement. We are not witnesses of Christ’ s resurrection, but we may feel its power. 2. Being heart witnesses, we are bound to testify what we feel. (J. W. Burn.)St. Peter’ s boldness, delicacy, and candour 1. We look for boldness in St. Peter; and we find it in those words, “ We are witnesses,” etc. He takes upon himself and his colleagues all the responsibility; they are prepared to stand by the truth of the facts which they allege. We feel the value of this emphatic announcement; miracles, to be believed at all, must be believed on testimony which is beyond suspicion and which cannot be shaken. 2. Then, for his delicacy, we find it in the suppression of all reference to the part which Romans took in the crucifixion of our Lord; no word of Pontius Pilate, or Roman soldiers, or sentinels over the tomb. Any one who read the account for the first time would conclude that none but Jews and dwellers in Jerusalem had a hand in His death; especially as the nailing to the Cross, which was essentially a Roman punishment, is softened down to the expression, “ hanged on a tree,” which was as essentially a Jewish. He might well spare the feelings of such men as he saw before him; men in spirit, as well as in fact, utterly guiltless of the blood of Jesus. 3. And for the apostle’ s candour, we trace it in his assertion that God had shown the risen Saviour “ not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us.” “ An announcement,” as Paley remarks, “ which no impostor would ever have made.” (E. T. Marshall, M. A.)Him God raised up the third day, and shewed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses.-- The privacy of Christ’ s resurrection no argument against the truth of it There is no article of the Christian faith more necessary to be embraced, more undeniably to be proved than that of Christ’ s resurrection. But our modern unbelievers have been at the woeful pains to furnish the world with arguments against this fundamental article of the Christian faith, the overturning of which they too well know would be no less than the entire extirpation of all religion. Happy had it been, say they, for the Christian cause in general if the proof of Christ’ s resurrection had been made a little more public. For whatever may be said in apology for St. Thomas’ s incredulity, it cannot be doubted but that, had our Lord appeared personally to the high priests and rulers after He was risen, made an open entry into Jerusalem, and frequented the temple and other places of public concourse, that every eye might see Him, He would have given the world fuller satisfaction than in remitting us to the testimony of His apostles, who were all His own creatures, and consequently evidences against whom we may make a just exception. But let us answer this vain objection, and see whether the privacy of Christ’ s resurrection was not more agreeable to the majesty of the Almighty, and also no less convincing to those who were in any tolerable disposition to be satisfied.1. And there is no one will deny but upon the certainty of Christ’ s resurrection lies all the stress of the Christian religion, and likewise that all necessary means of convincing the world of the truth, and confirming them in the reality of it, were highly expedient; but then it should be remembered that Christ now, after His resurrection, was not to condescend to any action beneath the majesty of His Divine nature, which He had then more fully assumed. And, besides, of all men living, none ever had, or could render themselves more unworthy of this extraordinary, I had almost said unnecessary, way of conviction than the unbelieving Jews and chief priests. Another thing let me observe to you. They had long rejected all the evidence our Saviour had given them, and when they could not directly deny the truth of any of the miracles He wrought, they rather chose to impute them to the assistance of darkness; and can it with any justice be urged that such men should again be favoured with such a visitation, especially after His summoning Lazarus from the grave, which was so far from removing their prejudice that they after even waxed more inveterate against Him. 2. Again, let us suppose that our Lord had made His personal appearance before the high priests and rulers after He was risen, yet, if you remember, how little they were moved and affected with the relation of the centurion at His death, and with that of the soldiers at His resurrection, with the shock the whole frame of nature felt, and when everything else was moved, except themselves, can you imagine they would immediately have been convinced, and worshipped what they so lately had scoffed and crucified. 3. Suppose, then, He had made this public entrance, and they had been convinced of His Divinity, what sort of creatures must we conceive them to have been, able to sustain themselves under this shock? Something more inhuman than we can imagine them. Could flesh and blood behold the glorified Son of the Most High, whom just before it had arraigned, condemned, and executed, and live? The more of majesty and terror He had appeared in, the greater, and more insupportable, must have been their dread, and the more of love and compassion the greater and more abundant their confusion. 4. Now the method which our Saviour took, and the account the Scriptures give us of it, was neither attended with any of these inconveniencies, which would otherwise have happened, nor any ways defective to procure our assent. He neither exposed Himself to fresh insults nor laid the Jews under a necessity on the one hand of adding still to their sin by denying Him in His glorified Person, nor endangered their lives on the other by exhibiting to their view the reproach that a late crucified, but then eternally crowned Jesus, would have been to them. As to that expression used by our modern unbeliever, wherein he calls the apostles creatures of our Saviour, and consequently evidences against whom exception might justly be taken, I say it is unfair and ungenerous. Every circumstance proves they actually were as St. Peter, in the words of my text, styles them, “ Witnesses chosen before of God,” and they not only called themselves so, but likewise were enabled to confirm the same by undeniable demonstrations of such power as could only be given them by Him whose witnesses they were. (S. Eccles, M. A.)Witnesses of the resurrection Why did not our Saviour show Himself after His resurrection to all the people? Why only to witnesses chosen before of God? Because this was the most effectual means of propagating His religion through the world. I. Consider what would have been the probable effect of a public exhibition of His resurrection. Suppose our Saviour had shown Himself as openly as before He suffered crucifixion, preaching in the temple, talking to His disciples, etc., the people would perhaps have shouted hosannas once more, but the impression would soon have passed away; and then only a few of the multitude would have had an opportunity of testing the reality of the fact that He had risen. In all probability they would have denied the miracle. II. He showed Himself to a few, because, humanly speaking, only a few could be made instruments. No one could become witnesses of the fact of His resurrection who did not know Him intimately before His death. The apostles alone had this knowledge. III. Every great change is effected by the few, and not by the many. By satisfying the few, the many would be influenced. The few, thoroughly convinced, become convincers of the many. This is always the case. The twelve apostles overturned the powers of darkness, and established the kingdom of righteousness. (J. H. Newman, D. D.)It is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.--The Mediator--Judge and Saviour I. Our Divine Mediator’ s position involves two offices. We are not now living under the immediate government of God, but under the reign of the Mediator. Jesus as Mediator has become--1. Our Judge. “ The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” “ To this end Christ both died, and rose, End revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” In this capacity Christ has judicial authority over all men, and He will try all of us at the last, as He is even now sitting in judgment upon all our acts and thoughts and intents. We shall each one appear before His great white throne, and if any are condemned, His lips shall say, “ Depart, ye cursed” ; if any are glorified, from His lips shall proceed the sentence, “ Come, ye blessed.” That judgment will be authoritative and final. 2. A Saviour. “ That through His name whosoever believeth in Him should receive remission of sins.” He has the sovereign right of condemnation or justification. He has authority to pass by transgression, His atonement has made it possible for Him to do this in perfect consistency with tits character as Judge. And the same universality which pervades the Mediator’ s dignified proceedings as Judge is to be seen in His condescending operations as Saviour. He is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him. Let the two offices dwell together: “ He is a just God and a Saviour.” II. Both these offices regard men as sinners. I am sick to the death of hearing men talk about the goodness which is latent in human nature. The case of Cornelius makes it evident that the best natural religion needs to be illuminated by revelation, and instructed by the doctrine of the Cross.1. Christ comes to judge because there are sinners to be judged. If you find me a nation which has no tribunals, no punishments, it must either be the scene of utter anarchy, or else a nation where all obey the law, and such a thing as a criminal is unknown. The setting up of the last great assize, and the making of that assize to have reference to all men, and the appointment of the supremest Person in existence to conduct that assize--all these facts imply guilt somewhere, and abundance of it. 2. Christ comes to save because there are sinners to be saved. He comes to remit sin; but there can be no remission of sins to those who have never transgressed. However wide the “ whosoever” is, so wide is the guilt: the remedy measures the disease. 3. Putting the two things together, the very fact that there is a Mediator at all regards man as fallen. God could have dealt with us immediately, without an Intercessor, had we been as the first Adam was before his fall. It is by reason of sin’ s influence upon the race that it became necessary that there should be a “ Daysman that might lay His hand upon both,” and deal with God in His Divine Person, and yet deal with fallen man in His humanity. III. The qualifications required by our Lord as Judge materially comfort us in looking at Him as Saviour.1. As Judge, Jesus-- (1) Has full authority: He is fully commissioned of God to acquit or to condemn. Oh, then, if He gives me pardon through His blood, it is a free pardon under the King’ s own hand and seal. (2) Possesses the amplest knowledge. A judge should be the most instructed, or he is not fitted to decide in matters of difficulty and importance. Jesus Christ as Judge is incomparably fit to judge men, for-- (a) He knows men thoroughly. He is Himself a Man, and knows all about us by experience as well as by observation. (b) He knows the law. Hath He not said, “ Yea, Thy law is within My heart” ? No one knows the law of God as Jesus did, for He kept it in every point. (c) He knows what sin is. He has lived among sinners as a Physician, making a specialty of the disease of sin. Though He had no sin of His own, yet all sin was laid on Him. (d) He knows the punishment of sin. A judge must know what penalties to award. Jesus knows this well enough, for He Himself also hath once suffered for sin, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. 2. Inasmuch as Christ is qualified to be Judge, it equally qualifies Him to pardon. For-- (1) He knows thee thoroughly, and can cleanse thee thoroughly. He knows the law, and therefore He knows how legally to acquit, so that no further question can be raised. Since He knows the penalty, because He has borne it all, He will take care that none of it shall ever fall on us. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’ s elect since God hath justified? (2) All the personal qualifications of our Lord as Judge remarkably tend to make the pardon of His people the more blessedly clear, for as a Judge He is very just. “ Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness.” Well, then, when He forgives it must be just to forgive. IV. Our knowledge of the first office of the Mediator is necessary to our acceptance of him in his second capacity. This was why Peter preached it; this was why Paul before Felix reasoned concerning righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. This is why the Holy Spirit Himself convinces the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. If you do not believe in Christ as your Judge, you never will accept Him as your Saviour. V. The saving work of Christ’ s mediatorial office is that which concerns us most at this present time.1. Note the words, “ Shall receive remission of sins.” What is this? It is the causing of sin to cease to be. God in wondrous mercy is prepared to forget your sin, to blot it out, to cast it behind His back, to cast it into the depths of the sea. 2. Note that this is to be done in Christ’ s name. There is no other name in which pardon can be bestowed. 3. This is to be had through faith. 4. This blessed news has reference to everyone in the whole world that will believe in Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Jesus, the Judge I. The message.1. This begins with the assurance that there is a moral government. There is a Judge over the race of men. Men are not permitted to do whatsoever is right in their own eyes. The race is not left to anarchy: Jesus Christ is Head of all. 2. We have to go on to say that there will be a judgment. Consider-- (1) The character of God. Being the Ruler of the world, He must do justice. We should count any man a miserable counterfeit of a monarch if he never administered justice. And “ the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’ s works” will not permit offenders to insult His laws with impunity. (2) The character of man equally involves a judgment, for he is evidently a responsible being. We count not the cattle of the hills or the fish of the sea responsible; no one blames the wolf that he ravens, or the lion that he devours; but when we come to think of man, we regard him as a creature whose actions have a moral quality about them, and are either right or wrong. Surely, where there is responsibility there is a law, and where there is a law there must, some day or other, be rewards for well-doers and punishments for malefactors. (3) The present tangled condition of the world’ s history requires that there should be a day of rectification at the end of time. We often see the wicked prosper, while the righteous are abased. The Judge of all the earth must do right; and how can this be but by a final adjustment in which it shall be clearly seen that, though the wicked prosper for a while, they are as bullocks fattening for the slaughter; and though the righteous suffer for a while, it is but as the gold suffers in the furnace, that it may come forth purified? (4) Moreover, there is in the consciences of most a testimony to a coming judgment. I will not say of all men, for I believe that some manage so to drug their self-consciousness as at last to quiet all their fears; but yet the most of men believe in a judgment to come, and in their more thoughtful moods are alarmed thereat. 3. This judgment will be conducted by the Man Christ Jesus. He will be thus enthroned, I suppose, partly because it is involved in His mediatorial office, in which the Lord hath put all things in subjection under His feet. But specially remember that the Judge is the Man Christ Jesus. There must be special reason for this honour done to the manhood of our Lord, or it would not be so continually insisted upon (Daniel 7:13; John 5:22; John 5:27; Matthew 25:31-32; Matthew 13:41). Be ye sure, then, of His impartiality. He is God, yet Man, having an intense sympathy both with the King and with the subjects. 4. This judgment will concern all mankind. He will judge the quick and dead; that is, those who will be alive at His coming He will judge, as well as those who have already died. The summons will exempt no man. Here and there a criminal escapes the vigilant eye of human law; but there shall be no such instance at the coming of the Lord. 5. A few words concerning this judgment. It will be-- (1) A very eminent one. It will be a judgment fixed by the peremptory ordinance of God, for the text saith that He hath “ ordained” Jesus to sit as Judge. The whole trial will be most solemnly conducted (1 Thessalonians 4:16). (2) Very searching, into deeds (2 Corinthians 5:10); words (Matthew 12:36); every secret thing (Ecclesiastes 12:14). (3) Very exact. It will proceed upon evidence and documentary testimony, and slander and hearsay will not be mentioned there. “ The books were opened.” (4) Very severe; for things will not be judged by their outward appearance, but put to thorough test and trial. 6. The sentences will be so just as to be indisputable, and even the condemned will own the justness thereof. That verdict will be final and irreversible. When Jesus has once pronounced it, there will be no appeal, no suing out of a writ of error, no reversal of the decree. “ These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” II. The evident importance of this message.1. This may be gathered from the text. (1) “ He commanded us.” Then God must know that there is a great necessity for its being declared. (2) “ To preach” --to herald, to proclaim. Lo, we this day precede the great Judge, as the trumpeters go before our judges on assize day, and this is our cry, “ He cometh! Jesus, the Judge of quick and dead!” (3) “ To testify.” Having given the proclamation, we are then to bear witness solemnly, and to speak the fact over and over again for God, adding our own belief that it is surely true. (4) “ Unto the people” --not to some few, but to all. 2. There is importance in this from other reasons. (1) It sheds a great light upon the future of the ungodly. (2) It reflects great glory upon Christ. Ye may despise Him, but He is your Master after all. (3) It has a beneficial effect upon our everyday life. I constantly hear people say, “ Tell the people about something that has to do with today--about cleanliness and honesty, and all that.” But if I want men to live righteously, I know of no motive that can have greater weight than this. You are stewards; you will have to give in your account. Will anybody tell me that this is unpractical? If God will judge men at the last, it behoves men to see how they live today. (4) It has a convincing and awakening power. Men tremble when they hear of judgment to come, and they are led to cry,” What must we do to be saved?” This is the plough which makes furrows for the good seed; the surgeon’ s knife which prepares for the reception of the healing balm. Years ago a gentlewoman had been spending an afternoon at cards, and the evening at a ball. She came home very late, and found her maid servant reading a book. “ Ah,” said she, “ are you still poring over your dull books? They make you moping and melancholy.” The lady retired to her chamber, but she slept not. In the night she was troubled, and fell a-weeping. She tossed to and fro; and at length she called her maid. She said, “ Madam, what ails you? I thought I left you very merry and well.” “ Oh,” said she, “ but I looked over your book, and I only saw one word, but that word stings me: I cannot sleep; I cannot bear it!” “ What word was it, madam?” “ It was that word ‘ eternity.’ Oh, maid,” said she, “ it is very well for me to sport and play and waste my time as I have done; but oh, eternity, eternity, eternity! How can I face eternity?” And so that night was turned to prayer. I could wish the like might happen now to many of you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ’ s coming to judgment This last act of Christ is a special part of His exultation and honour, bestowed upon Him because He is the Son of Man (John 5:27). Wherein we have four things to be distinctly considered--1. The subject of it, Christ. Judgment is the act of the undivided Trinity. The Father and Spirit judge in respect of authority and consent, but it is the act of Christ in respect of visible management and execution. 2. The object. The quick and dead--i.e., all that at His coming do live, or ever have lived. This is the object personal, and in this is included the real object: viz., all the actions (2 Corinthians 4:5; Romans 2:16). 3. The fountain of this authority is God the Father; for He hath ordained Christ to be the Judge. 4. The infallible truth, or unquestionable certainty of all this. He gave us commandment to preach and testify it to the people. We had it in charge from His own mouth; and dare not hide it. This truth, that our Lord Jesus Christ is ordained by God the Father, to be the Judge of quick and dead, stands upon the firm basis of Scripture authority (John 5:22; Acts 17:31; Romans 2:16). Three things will be opened here. I. First, the certainty of a judgment. This is truth of firmer establishment than heaven and earth.1. As the Scriptures aforementioned (with 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36, etc.) do very plainly reveal it: so the justice and righteousness of God require it should be so (Genesis 18:25). Righteousness requires that a difference be made betwixt the righteous and the wicked (Isaiah 3:10). But no such distinction is fully made in this world (Ecclesiastes 7:15; Habakkuk 1:13; Ecclesiastes 3:16-17; James 5:6-7). 2. Man is an accountable being. His actions have a relation to a law (Romans 14:12; Matthew 25:14-15). 3. What need we seek evidence of this truth, further than our own conscience? II. The nature and manner of this judgement.1. It will be a great and awful day (Jude 1:6). Three things will make it so. (1) The manner of Christ’ s coming will be awfully solemn (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). (2) Much more the work itself. For it is to judge the secrets of men (Romans 2:16). To sever the tares from the wheat. To make every man’ s whites and blacks appear. (3) And no less the execution of the sentence. 2. It will be a critical and exact judgment, every man will be weighed to his ounces and drachms. The name of the Judge is the Searcher of Hearts. No hypocrite can escape. Justice holds the balances in an even hand. 3. It will be a universal judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:12; Revelation 20:12). 4. It will be a judgment full of convictive clearness. 5. It will be a supreme and final judgment, from which lies no appeal. III. This judgment makes for Christ’ s honour. For--1. This act of judging pertaining properly to the kingly office; Christ will be glorified as much in it as He hath been in either of the other. We find but some few glimpses of the kingly office, breaking forth in this world. Now that office will shine as the sun in the midst of the heavens. 2. This will be a display of His glory in the highest, before the whole world (2 Thessalonians 1:10). 3. This will roll away forever the reproach of His death, Inferences: Is Jesus Christ ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead?1. How great then is the security believers have, that they shall not be condemned in that day. Who shall condemn, when Christ is Judge? 2. How miserable a case will Christless souls be in at that day! They that are Christless now will be speechless, helpless, and hopeless then. 3. How are all concerned to secure their interest in Christ, and therein an eternity of happiness to their own souls, by the work of regeneration? 4. Then look to it, all you that hope to be found of Him in peace, that you avoid those sins and live in the daily practice of those duties which the consideration of that day powerfully persuades you to avoid or practise. (1) See you be meek and patient under all injuries and abuses for Christ’ s sake (James 5:7-9). (2) Be communicative, public-hearted Christians, studying and devising liberal things for Christ’ s distressed members (Matthew 25:34-35). (3) Be watchful and sober, and see that you be not overcharged with the cares and love of this present life (Luke 21:34-35). (4) Improve all your Master’ s talents. Take heed of the napkin (Matthew 25:14; Matthew 25:18). (5) But above all, be sincere in your profession (Luke 12:1-3). (J. Flavel.)The certainty and circumstances of a future judgment I. There is a judgment ordained by God and to be declared to men. The Holy Scripture teacheth us--1. That God hath appointed a determinate time for this judgment. “ A day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.” 2. That in order to this judgment all the actions of men are with greater exactness registered in books. “ The books were opened.” 3. That, in order thereto, there shall be a general resurrection of all persons, both just and unjust. 4. That then all persons so raised shall be presented at the bar of our Lord, to answer and undergo their trial. 5. That then and there every thought, word, and work of men shall be thoroughly disclosed and discussed; so that it, together with its due quality and desert, shall plainly appear. 6. That on each man, according to the true quality of his doings, a definitive sentence shall pass, whereby he shall be acquitted or condemned. 7. That according to the purport of this sentence a discrimination shall be made; and to one party a gracious reward; to the other, a sore punishment. 8. That all this shall be transacted in a regular, public, and most solemn manner, in open court, in the face and audience of all the world, before angels and men. 9. That the judgment shall pass to the full conviction and entire satisfaction of all that are present; so that each one concerned therein shall be forced in conscience to acquiesce in his doom, as most just and equal. II. The judge ordained; Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Why it should be so, many reasons may be assigned.1. It was requisite that the judge should be visible, and audible; such whom the parties concerned might discern and converse with, in order to their clearer and fuller satisfaction, or conviction: such our Lord, the Son of man, clothed with glorified flesh, will be. 2. This Judgeship is a good part of that regal office which God did confer on Christ; giving Him a power over all flesh, all authority in heaven and earth. 3. It is an office of too great eminence to be imparted to any other. “ Worthy is He alone to receive the book.” 4. He alone also capacities proper for this judicature: that Divine faculty of searching men’ s hearts; wisdom to know all matters of fact that ever were, and to discern the right in every case; absolute goodness, perfect equity and immutable love of right, and that exact temperament of affection toward men which is requisite to the distribution of equal justice toward them, according to due measures of mercy and severity. 5. By this designate on the glory of God is especially promoted: His wisdom appeareth in constituting one so in all respects most fit to discharge the office; and His goodness, for since it was requisite that a judgment should pass on us, how could the terror thereof be better allayed than by putting it into the hands of His Son? How also could He exhibit a more illustrious instance of His justice and love to righteousness than in advancing Him to so glorious an office, who, out of perfect compliance to His will, did freely stoop so low, and gladly undergo so much? 6. Just it likewise was that to Him should be consigned a power to reward His friends and do Himself right on His enemies. 7. This appointment is conducible to our edification. (1) It is apt to raise in us a high reverence of our Saviour; and consequently to dispose us to the observance of His laws and imitation of His example. (2) It is a matter of special comfort and encouragement to consider that hence assuredly we shall find a fair and favourable trial; since it is no enemy, but our best friend. III. The objects, or the extent of the judgment ordained. All, without exception. IV. Application: The doctrine is calculated--1. To make us circumspect and vigilant; for, since we must render an account of every thought, word, and action, what exceeding reason have we, with most attentive and accurate regard, to mind whatever we do! 2. To beget and preserve sincerity in us. What a folly is it to delude men with false appearances, or rather by them to abuse themselves; seeing they soon will be rightly informed, and we grievously disgraced for it! 3. To render us serious in all our thoughts, opinions, affections, actions; suppressing all proud conceits, all admiration of these transitory things, all wanton joys; for-- (1) Why should any apprehension of worldly state, of any endowment, puff up our minds, seeing the day is near at hand which will quite level men? (2) Why should we value those splendid toys, or that sordid trash, which men here do so eagerly scramble for; which then evidently will be discountenanced? (3) Why, having affairs on foot of such vast importance, should we amuse ourselves with trivial matters? (4) How shall we dare to embrace the serpent of sinful excess? (5) And how can we be easily transported into wild merriments, if we consider how infinitely serious business lieth on us; how nearly our everlasting welfare lieth at stake? 4. To engage us carefully to improve all the talents by God’ s providence and grace committed to us. Hath God bestowed-- (1) Wealth on us? this will engage us so to use it in God’ s service. (2) Power? this should induce us to use it moderately and fruitfully. (3) Any parts, wit, knowledge? this should move us to employ them in drawing men to the practice of virtue and piety. (4) Honour or credit among men? this may oblige us to use it as an instrument of bringing honour to God. 5. To induce us to the observing strict justice and equity in all our dealings. “ Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because God will judge and avenge for all these things.” 6. To breed charity in us; in giving, in forgiving, in judging and censuring of men. 7. To support and comfort us, as against all other wrongful dealing, so against all unjust and uncharitable censures, groundless slanders and surmises, undeserved reproaches of men; for that assuredly at that judgment right will be done, and innocence cleared. 8. To preserve us from being deluded and poisoned by the more favourable opinions of men. For “ God seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.” 9. To encourage us to “ judge ourselves so that we be not judged,” or not condemned with the world. 10. To guard us from infidelity and from impatience in regard to the providential dispensation of affairs here. “ We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” (I. Barrow, D. D.)Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. Forgiveness of sin I. The blessing conferred--“ Remission of sins.” Remission is to remove the guilt of sin, that the punishment of it may not be inflicted upon the sinner. God alone can fully forgive sins in this way; and He does it eminently, so that not a vestige of it remains. Remission implies--1. An offence, and consequently an offender. We have offended God. 2. A sovereign act. It is a pure act of grace and love. 3. A complete and perfect act. He does not forgive the greater offences and omit the smaller ones; neither does He forgive the smaller and leave the greater ones unpardoned. II. The unlimited nature of the blessing. “ Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” The qualification necessary in the recipient of the blessing is to believe. This includes penitence for the past offences, and a full reliance on Christ for pardon. There is no respect of persons--“ Whosoever.” This may be regarded alike in respect to nations, in respect to class, and in respect to moral character.1. The Jews were still “ slow of heart to believe” that the Gentiles were to be partakers of the grace of the gospel. There is no distinction of race or colour of skin. “ Whosoever believeth” among all nations, and languages, and tribes, and shades of mankind, shall receive remission of sins. 2. As the blessing of forgiveness is applicable to all nations, so it is also to all classes. 3. Moral character does not exclude from the blessing. Some have run to a greater “ excess of riot” than others; still there is no distinction made. III. The medium through which the blessing is conveyed--“ Through His name.” God could not, consistently with His justice and holiness, forgive sins without atonement. IV. The universal testimony borne by the ancient prophets to the fact that sin must be forgiven through Christ--“ To Him give all the prophets witness.” Soon after the entrance of sin it was intimated that it should be remitted through the Saviour. The door of hope was opened when God said, “ I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” We refer to some of the prophecies on this point. Isaiah tells us--“ He was wounded for our transgressions … and with His stripes we are healed.” “ He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.” Jeremiah says--“ This is His name, the Lord our Righteousness.” We see, then, that Christ is the medium of communication between God and man. If we shall be reconciled to God it must be through Him. (Homilist.)The universality of the gospel It was John Berridge who thanked God for “ that blessed word ‘ whosoever,’” in the gospel invitations and promises. “ If it had been written, ‘ John Berridge may come,’ there might have been a doubt as to who was meant by it; for there may be a hundred John Berridges in the world. Rut with that word ‘ whosoever’ just there, there is no room for questioning.” Whosoever will, may come. Whosoever comes, shall receive. If you or yours are without remission of sins, whose fault is it? Way to accept remission of sins To accept pardon and its peace, not from any perception of God’ s power to pardon, but from the conviction that love carries pardon with it; to accept it as the inevitable consequence of gratitude and growing affection; to accept it, feeling the preciousness and sweetness of the Divine paternal love; to accept it, and by it to be led through sickness and trials of every kind; to accept it, and find that it is enough for every emergency; to accept it, and feel that it is all, and in all--if that does not fashion the character more potently than conscience and reason, then character is no more the effect of a cause, and cause and effect are disjoined. Christ, the preacher’ s great theme The best sermon is that which is fullest of Christ. A Welsh minister, when preaching at the chapel of Jonathan George, was saying that Christ was the sum and substance of the gospel, and he broke out into the following story:--“ A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he foolishly went to the old minister and inquired, ‘ What do you think of my sermon, sir?’ ‘ A very poor sermon indeed,’ he replied. ‘ A poor sermon! it took me along time to study it.’ ‘ Ay, no doubt of it.’ ‘ Why, then, do you say it is poor: did you not think my explanation of the text to be accurate? ‘ ‘ Yes.’ ‘ Were not the metaphors correct and the arguments conclusive?’ ‘ Yes.’ ‘ Why, then, do you say that it was a poor sermon?’ ‘ Because there was no Christ in it.’ ‘ Well, there was no Christ in the text, we are not to be preaching Christ always, we must preach what is in the text.’ So the old man said, ‘ Don’ t you know, young man, that from every town, village, and hamlet in England, there is a road to London?’” and so from every text in Scripture there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures--that is Christ, and my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, “ Now, what is the road to Christ?” then preach a sermon running along that road to Him. ‘ And,’ said he, ‘ I have never yet found a text that had not a plain and direct road to Christ in it; and if ever I should find one that had no such road, I will make a road, I would go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master.’” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 10:44-48 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word.Peter’ s preaching I. The effects of Peter’ s preaching. It--1. Converted Gentiles. Peter preached the gospel (Acts 10:34-43). And the gospel thus proclaimed is never in vain. Man’ s oratory may please the ear: it is the Word of God, applied by the Holy Spirit, which alone can convert the heart. God often works suddenly and unexpectedly. A thoughtless sinner enters a church, pays no attention; but all at once some word strikes his ear. It is an arrow from the Divine quiver. He quits the Church converted. It was thus with this congregation. “ While Peter yet spake,” intending, probably, to say much more, “ the Holy Ghost fell” --just as while Ezekiel was prophesying the dry bones moved. 2. Astonished Jews (verses 45, 46). (1) The proof that Peter’ s preaching was owned of God, was the gift of the Holy Ghost. The converts spake with tongues, and thereby showed their qualifications and willingness to go as missionaries in foreign lands, and at once used their tongues to magnify God. And this is ever the effect. Whether the convert speaks in his own or foreign language, he will glorify God by telling others of Christ’ s pardoning love and redeeming grace. (2) The astonishment of the six Jewish disciples who had come from Joppa with Peter arose from prejudice. It probably gave them some uneasiness, because that “ upon the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” They conceived that these blessings belonged exclusively to their own nation. Had they understood their Scriptures, they would have known that this event had been long ago predicted. Beware, therefore, not only of prejudice, but also of ignorance of the Scriptures. How many are being carried away by all kinds of delusions from this neglect of the Word of God! Some are settling down in a dependence upon the outward ceremonies of religion, because forgetful that a man may have “ the form of godliness” without its “ power.” Some are trying to combine the love of the world with the service of Christ, forgetful that “ No man can serve two masters.” Some are panic struck at the existence of infidelity, forgetful that “ In the last days scoffers shall arise.” II. Peter’ s acknowledgment of the holy spirit’ s work (verses 47, 48). This inquiry of Peter shows us--1. How unsound are the views of the Society of Friends, who affirm that the baptism of water is unnecessary, if we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We must never forget, however, that it is an ordinance of Christ. We admit that, like the thief upon the Cross, a believer may enter Paradise without baptism; still, our Lord’ s own words are--that “ he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” The same remarks apply to the other sacrament. Many approach those emblems with devout joy and gratitude and experience the richest blessing. But others turn their backs upon that precious ordinance, which was appointed by none other than our Lord Himself. 2. How erroneous are the views of those who hold that baptism is invariably accompanied by the gift of the Holy Ghost. These converts received the Holy Ghost first, and were baptized afterwards. It was with them as it was with Abraham. Abraham first believed and then was circumcised. And our Church says that before an adult is baptized he must have repentance and faith; both which are the fruits of the Spirit working in the soul. These we could not have as infants; bat we must have them now, otherwise our infant baptism is a delusion. How wrong, therefore, is it to speak of regeneration accompanying, by necessity, infant baptism! Jewish children, at eight days old, were admitted into covenant by circumcision; and we conclude that the children of Christian parents should be brought into the Christian covenant by the rite of baptism: but then, to dogmatise upon the effects of infant baptism is to dogmatise where the Word of God is totally silent. 3. How wrong they are who exalt baptism at the expense of preaching. Peter felt (as Paul) that his grand commission was not so much to baptize as to preach the gospel; for “ he commanded them to be baptized.” III. The anxiety of the converted soul for spiritual instruction (verse 48). Peter, in another place, describes believers as “ newborn babes,” desiring “ the sincere milk of the Word, that they might grow thereby.” These converts gathered themselves together, as in the presence of God, to hear Peter preach; and after they had received saving instruction, by the blessing of the Holy Ghost, they were anxious to obtain further benefit from Peter’ s ministry. Learn that those of you who have received the Holy Ghost need the further ministry of the Word. It is a sure proof that there is spiritual good going forward when we perceive this thirst for larger acquaintance with the love and the work of the Saviour. (C. Clayton, M. A.)The direct results of Peter’ s sermon I. The effusion of the holy spirit.1. It came to those who heard the Word. The gospel is the channel through which the Holy Spirit in His regenerating influences flows into the soul; the chariot on which the Divine Conqueror goes forth to crush the soul’ s enemies, and to bring it forth to freedom, light, and glory. True, He works through all nature for various purposes, but for salvation He works through the Word. 2. It produced miraculous as well as moral effects. The recipients spoke with “ tongues.” In what language they expressed their gratitude we are not told. Now as at Pentecost new thoughts and emotions require a new dialect. Change the thoughts and feelings of the world and you will change its language. II. The administration of baptism (verse 47). From this we conclude that baptism is--1. A symbol of the Spirit’ s action on the soul; not only perhaps in His cleansing influence, but in the mode of communication--“ poured out.” 2. A ceremony of easy observance, “ Can any forbid water?” which implies-- (1) That the water was in the house. (2) That water could be brought. Christianity is an universal system, and any ordinance that cannot be attended to anywhere and always has no vital connection with it. 3. A service of subordinate importance. Peter does not baptize; He has a higher work. Christ baptized not (John 4:3), and Paul said, “ Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Preaching and success “ How comes it,” demanded a bishop of Garrick, “ that I, in expounding Divine doctrines, produced so little effect upon my congregation, while you can so easily rouse the passions of your auditors by the representation of fiction?” The answer was short and pithy--“ Because I recite falsehoods as if they were true, while you deliver truths as if they were fiction.” (Clerical Anecdotes.)The Holy Ghost given There are two things we may notice concerning Peter’ s discourse-- I. The important topics it embraced. “ While Peter spake these words.” What words? Christ was the theme of this sermon; and is the grand subject of our ministrations. We tell you of Him, in the dignity of His person, the perfection of His character, the fulness of His grace, and the suitableness of His salvation. In Peter’ s address there are five things he mentions respecting Christ.1. His mediatorial qualifications (verse 38; see also Isaiah 61:1).2. The activity of His life. “ Who went about doing good.”3. The fact of His death (verse 39).4. The power of His resurrection (verse 40).5. The extent of His dominion (verse 42). II. The Divine Influence With Which It Was Accompanied.1. Its import. “ The Holy Ghost fell on all,” etc. There are three principal things He does: He-- (1) Enlightens the mind.(2) Convinces the conscience.(3) Sanctifies the soul. 2. Its objects. Those “ which heard the Word.” “ Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord.” 3. Its extent. “ On all them that heard.” What vast numbers were converted to God in the first ages of Christianity! Two reflections naturally arise out of this subject--1. The importance of the Christian ministry.2. The necessity of the Spirit’ s agency. (E. Temple.)The descent of the Holy Ghost I. Some circumstances that preceded this descent.1. The time of the miracle--“ While Peter was speaking.” The Holy Ghost cannot go at a slow pace; it is the devil in the serpent that creeps, but the Spirit as a dove flies. As regards the centurion we may say, “ When God teaches, how fast a godly man learns.” Christ did His miracles in an instant. It is true that there is a growth in knowledge, and ignorance is overcome by degrees; but when the Holy Ghost takes a man into His school, He deals not with him as a painter who makes an eye, an ear, etc., and passes his pencil a hundred times over every muscle and hair, and in many sittings make up one man, but He deals as a printer that in one strain delivers a whole story. The time, then, was when Peter prepared by the Holy Ghost was to prepare others for the Holy Ghost. “ When he spoke,” i.e. 2. Preached to them. For to him who has a spiritual taste no honey is so sweet as the Word of God preached according to His ordinance. If a man taste a little of this as Jonathan did, though he think his eyes enlightened, it may be to his death (1 Samuel 14:27). If a man read the Scriptures a little, superficially, he ‘ thinks he sees everything clear as the sun: but he may find wormwood in this honey,’ because he finds “ the wages of sin is death,” and he will take no more of the honey, viz., that “ when a sinner repents he shall find mercy.” As the Essential Word, the Son is Light of light, so is the written Word--one place takes light of another: and if thou wilt so read and hear that thine affections mislead thee; if thou hear sermons so that thou art glad when sins are rebuked that thou art free from, and art deaf when thine own sins are declaimed against, thou wilt take so little of this honey that Jonathan’ s case will be thine. The Scriptures are made to agree with one another, but not to agree with thy particular humour. But yet the counsel is good on the other side too (Proverbs 25:16). Content thyself with reading and hearing what is clear and profitable, and perplex not thyself with those things which God has not revealed. 3. “ Whilst he yet spake.” The Spirit did not leave them to future meditations, but spoke at once to their consciences. As a gardener takes every bough, and places it against a wall where it will produce most fruit, so the Holy Ghost places the words of the preacher, one upon an usurer, another on an adulterer, another on an ambitious person, another on a briber, when the preacher knows of none of these. 4. Nay, it is not only “ whilst he was yet speaking,” but as St. Peter says in the next chapter, “ As I began to speak.” It was then when, whilst, and as soon as, he preached; but Peter had some preparation as we know from the vision, and with the subject of his preaching he was well acquainted (verse 43). So while his manner was extemporal, his matter was prepared. II. The descent itself.1. The Person who fell. As the Trinity is the most mysterious part of our religion, so in the Trinity the Holy Ghost is the most mysterious Person. But these mysteries are not to be chewed by reason, but to be swallowed by faith. We professed the three Persons in one God at our baptism, and have sealed that contract in the other sacrament: and this is bur eternal life. There is a Holy Ghost, and He falls down on those who hear the Word. 2. It is as wonderful that He should fall down from heaven and yet be in heaven. “ How art thou fallen” (Isaiah 14:12) was asked of a being who should never return. But the Spirit fell so from, that He remained in heaven. This Dove did more than that which was sent from the ark (Genesis 8:7). 3. But there is more than a descent, even an earnest communication, a throwing, a pouring out of Himself. He falls as waters that cover that it falls on, as an army which conquers and governs that on which it falls. But He falls otherwise on the ungodly; on him He falls like hail, and leaves him in impenitence because be hath despised the Holy Ghost. But when the Spirit puts on the nature of a dove, and a dove with an olive branch, and that in the ark--i.e., testimonies of our peace and reconciliation with God, in His Church--He falls as that kind of lightning which melts swords and hurts not scabbards--He shall melt thy soul, and not hurt thy body. 4. Further, this falling of the Holy Ghost was not such an insinuation that He conveyed Himself into these particular men for their salvation, but such a powerful and diffusive falling as made them work for others. A great doubt was removed by them whether it were lawful to receive Gentiles. So this falling was not an infusion of justifying grace merely, but also such an infusion of gifts as might edify others. Good hearers, then, became good preachers. (J. Donne, D. D.)The outpouring of the Spirit I. What it is. “ The Holy Ghost fell,” i.e., “ descended” --1. As lightning, flashing conviction suddenly, startlingly, effectually. 2. As rain, gentle, refreshing, fertilising. 3. As cataracts and water floods, destroying and bearing away all obstacles. 4. As fire consuming stubble, purifying dross, and turning the true metal into its own nature. The Holy Spirit thus convinces of sin, prepares the heart for the Word, vanquishes unbelief and self-will, consumes sin and inspires enthusiasm. II. What it accompanies. The preaching of the Word. “ While Peter yet spake.”1. The Spirit honours the instrument of His own making. “ Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” and what they said He reinspires, and makes the gospel the power of God unto salvation. Sometimes He works directly, sometimes with other instruments--prosperity or adversity, sickness or restoration, the commonplace or extraordinary events of life, life or death, for “ the wind bloweth where it listeth” ; but usually it is by the Word. 2. Let men not dishonour this instrument. (1) The tendency is to disparage preaching and exalt devotion, but without preaching there will be few converted worshippers, although there may be many who draw near with their lips whose hearts are far from God. (2) If preaching is to be tolerated it must be short. But this usually comes from people who can sit out three hours at a concert or a play, whereas they tire with half an hour of the “ words of eternal life.” 3. The preacher’ s duty is to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or not. But let him so preach as to win the ear; then he may expect the same results as Peter had. “ My Word shall not return unto Me void.” III. With what it is followed.1. On the part of the beholders--astonishment. (1) It was astonishing in itself. It ought not to have been in the case before us, for we have the record of three similar manifestations, of which these spectators must have heard from Peter, if they were not actual witnesses. Let us not blame them, for nothing would surprise an average church today more than a revival, although “ we have heard with our ears and our fathers have told us,” etc. (2) It was astonishing in the subjects of it. Yet it ought not to have been, for it had been clearly predicted, as Peter announced at Pentecost. But we must not judge them harshly, for the Church today, with a wider knowledge, throws up its hands in wonder at the conversion of any one of more than ordinary depravity. 2. On the part of the subjects. (1) Testimony. They spoke with tongues--miraculously endowed in this case. But when the Spirit comes, does He sanctify the heart and not the tongue? Our modern proprieties permit the use of every other instrument, but lay an embargo on the tongue. But the Scripture saith, “ Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (2) Praise. They magnified God the Author of this good and perfect gift. If conversion does not lead to rapturous thankfulness, it may well be suspected. (3) Baptism--obedience to Christ’ s particular requirement, and involving all else in the way of duty. 3. On the part of Peter-- (1) Continuous instruction (verse 48). (2) Vigorous defence of his policy (Acts 11:1-18). (J. W. Burn.)Holy Spirit: His workings inscrutable What is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit? It is the doctrine of the interworking of the Spirit of God upon the souls of men. I have no philosophy about it. All I say is this--that God knows what is the secret way in which mind reaches mind: I do not; you do not. I do not know why words on my tongue wake up thoughts corresponding to those words in you. I do not know why the soul of man, like a complex instrument of wondrous scope, is played upon by my words, so that there are waked up in it notes along the whole scale of being. I do not understand why these things are so; but, unquestionably, they are so. I do not know how the mother pours her affection on the child’ s heart; but she does. Two stars never shone into each other as two loving souls shine into each other. I know it is so; but I do not know why it is so. I do not know how soul touches soul, how thought touches thought, or how feeling touches feeling; but I know it does. (H. W. Beecher.)The Holy Spirit needed for effective preaching Mental power may fill a chapel; but spiritual power fills the Church. Mental power may gather a congregation; spiritual power will save souls. We want spiritual power. We know some ministers before whom we shrink into nothing as to talent, but who have no spiritual power, and when they speak they have not the Holy Spirit with them; but we know others, simple-hearted, worthy men, who speak their country dialect, and who stand up to preach in their humble sanctuary, and the Spirit of God clothes every word with power; hearts are broken, souls are saved, and sinners are born again. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Holy Spirit needed for regeneration It may be that during a sermon two men are listening to the same truth; one of them hears as attentively as the other, and remembers as much of it; the other is melted to tears or moved to solemn thoughts; but the one sees nothing in the sermon, except certain important truths well set forth; as for the other, his heart is broken within him and his soul is melted. How is this? I reply, because the mysterious Spirit of the living God goes with the truth to one heart and not to the other. Yonder sinner only feels the force of truth, and that may be strong enough to make him tremble, like Felix; but this man feels the Spirit going with the truth, the Spirit causes him to pass into the state of salvation. This change takes place instantaneously. It is as miraculous a change as any miracle of which we read in Scripture. It may be mimicked, but no imitation of it can be true and real. Men may pretend to be regenerated without the Spirit, but regenerated they cannot be. It is a change so marvellous that the highest attempts of man can never reach it. We may reason as long as we please, but we cannot reason ourselves into regeneration; we may meditate till our hairs are grey with study, but we cannot meditate ourselves into the new birth. This is worked in us by the sovereign will of God alone. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Holy Spirit needed to make ordinances effectual In vain do the inhabitants of London go to their conduits for supply unless the man who has the master key turns the water on; and in vain do we think to quench our thirst at ordinances, unless God communicates the living water of His Spirit. (H. G. Salter.). Acts 11:1-8 And the apostles and brethren … heard … And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him.The dispute in the early Church Learn--1. That even among God’ s saints no one has been without blemish and folly. 2. That we must not put down the faults of the saints to wickedness. 3. That when we truly recognise and experience the universal love of God we shall be able to judge better of many events in God’ s kingdom though they occur without the limits of our own Church. (Biblical Museum.)Rents in the primitive Church These are here represented-- I. For humility--in order to observe from them the power of the enemy, who never neglects to sow tares among the wheat. II. For comfort--in order to recognise in them that nothing new befalls the Church in the divisions of the present day. III. For doctrine--in order to see from them how the rents are to be healed by the power of evangelical truth and love. (K. Gerok.)The ecclesiastical opposition We have here-- I. A striking imperfection in the first Church. “ The apostles and brethren heard” ; and the point to be considered is the highly improper state of mind which the information produced. Instead of rejoicing at the event, and congratulating Peter, they called him to account as a criminal. This imperfection teaches us--1. That antiquity does not confer infallibility. There are churches which are constantly referring us to the ancient and patristic for the final settlement of theological questions. Nay, there are men of antiquarian proclivities in every Church who refer to the past for the unerring and the perfect. Now, the fact that the Apostolic Church was imperfect exposes this folly. 2. That Christianity does not perfect its disciples at once. Some of these men had attained the rank of apostles, and yet had many errors to correct and habits to overcome. Christian excellence is a growth only, the germ of which is given at conversion; and unless the soil is well looked after, and the noxious weeded out, it will continue a frail and imperfect thing. Christians must “ grow in grace,” etc. II. A great man censured for a feeble work; which teaches us--1. That Peter was not regarded as an infallible dictator in spiritual matters. The circumstance that he was called to account by the whole body of Christians goes against the assumption that he was vicar of Christ--the pope. “ Call no man rabbi: one is your Master, even Christ.” 2. That men’ s works must not be determined by the judgment of contemporaries. The best works have generally met with contemporary censure. Men ahead of their time awaken envy and alarm. The greatest theologians have been the heretics of their age, and the greatest heroes its martyrs. III. An inspired apostle conciliating his brethren. There was nothing of the haughtiness of modern primacy about Peter. He might have heard in silence and withdrawn in contempt, or denounced their ingratitude and narrowness. Instead of that he listens attentively, and offers a calm, generous, dignified reply.1. He recites facts--those of the previous chapter, with the exception of his sermon which was productive of such mighty results. He bases his defence, not on what he said, but on what God did, which-- (1) Indicates his own modesty;(2) rebukes vanity in preachers. 2. He makes an appeal (Acts 11:17). This is the logic of his address--God had unmistakably indicated His will; who was he that he should oppose it? III. A glorious victory over an old prejudice (Acts 11:18).1. They heartily acquiesced in the fact: “ They held their peace,” feeling that the apostle had done the right thing. 2. They devoutly rejoiced in the fact: “ They glorified God.” That which had pained them now filled them with delight. 3. They joyfully declared the fact: “ Then hath God,” etc. (1) Salvation is the life of man.(2) Repentance is essential to salvation.(3) Repentance is the gift of God through the gospel ministry. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The best testimony of the servant of God against opposition and misapprehension 1. The Divine injunction of which he is conscious.2. The eyes of men under which he acted.3. The tranquillity of spirit with which he can vindicate himself.4. The fruits of his work to which he is permitted to point. (K. Gerok.)Religious contention is the devil’ s harvest. (Fontaine.)Sectarianism, the strife of brethren I recollect on one occasion conversing with a marine, who gave me a good deal of his history. He told me that the most terrible engagement he had ever been in was one between the ship to which he belonged and another English vessel, when, on meeting in the night, they mistook each other for enemies. Several persons were wounded and both vessels were much damaged by the firing. When the day broke great and painful was the surprise to find the English flag hoisted from both ships. They saluted each other, and wept bitterly together over their mistake. (W. Williams.)Bigotry, Narrowness of What a circumstance is that, that in 1624, at the request of the University of Paris, and especially of the Sorbonne, persons were forbidden by an arret of Parliament, on pain of death, to hold or teach any maxim contrary to ancient or approved authors, or to enter into any debate but such as should be approved by the doctors of the faculty of theology. So, again, after the telescope had been invented, many of the followers of Aristotle positively refused to look through the instrument because it threatened the overthrow of their master’ s doctrines and authority; and so when Galileo had discovered the satellites of Jupiter some persons were infatuated enough to attempt to write down these unwelcome additions to the solar system. (Paxton Hood.)Bigotry is concealed selfishness Sir Humphry Davy, when he introduced his “ safety lamp,” which has saved so many valuable lives, declined to take out a patent for it, saying that his sole object was to serve the cause of humanity. What of men who claim prescriptive rights to the gospel of Jesus Christ! (W. Baxendale.)Peter reports to the Church 1. The importance of the centurion’ s baptism rested not simply on its being the issue of a series of Divine interpositions, but on its being accepted as the commencement of a new era. Its recognition by the Church, however, hinged on its having been brought about by God. Hence Peter’ s narrative was necessary before the new conditions of membership could be welcomed. 2. The news reached Jerusalem before Peter, and in an imperfect form, viz., that Peter had been treating uncircumcised men ecclesiastically and socially as though they were circumcised. Why they did not know, and hence they hardly knew whether to be glad or vexed. 3. Peter gave his report when “ they of the circumcision were disputing with him,” i.e., those who afterwards came to form, and had when Luke was writing formed, the Judaizing party. The strong Jewish prejudice which was to work such mischief must have already been latent in the minds of many baptized Jews. This was the first occasion on which that prejudice was stirred into activity. The apostles would have inquired into the spiritual side of the transaction--the reception of Christ by heathen--whereas the question raised was merely that of “ eating.” Nor would the heads of the Church have used the phrase rendered softly “ men uncircumcised,” an untranslated expression of rude and displeased contempt. 4. Peter met the question with a calm and careful narrative of facts. It can hardly fail to startle those who know how his name has been used to cover the most unbounded claims, that he should be reduced to justify his apostolic action. Yet this is in perfect accord with the whole New Testament. The Church is never represented as a close oligarchy, much less as an empire with an infallible head. Before the assembly of the faithful this “ Prince of the apostles,” this Rock Man, to whom Jesus had given the keys, was content to plead, and that on a matter which could justify itself, and to disputatious brethren whom he might have treated with contempt. 5. Peter passed over matters already known to detail the circumstances which prepared him for the reception of Cornelius--the vision, the coincident arrival of the messengers, the monition of the Holy Ghost--a threefold strand spun by a celestial hand, which drew him with a force he dared not withstand. So far the incident had been personal; now came the corroborative evidence of the six brethren who were witnesses that the Master’ s promise to baptize His disciples with the Divine Spirit was fulfilled. Nay, more; God had bestowed that Spirit on the original disciples, not because of their Jewish birth or circumcision, but simply because they had believed on Christ. To the Gentiles, therefore, who believed had now come the very same “ free gift,” to prove that “ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision.” In Peter’ s words there lies, as in a seed, the whole doctrine of free grace and justification by faith, and no better commentary on them can be found than in Galatians 2:15-16, which was addressed to Peter when he renounced for a time the position that he here defends. 6. The general enthusiasm over this new-won freedom and the happy consciousness of a wider brotherhood broke forth in praise. It might have been hoped that the Church would now pass from its subordination to the Mosaic law into the spiritual freedom of Christ. Alas! the rise of a Gentile Church at Antioch soon after came to be viewed with rivalry, and a synod at Jerusalem could not compose the strife. Upon Peter’ s vacillation Paul became the rock which turned aside from the Gentile Churches a current which would have swept Christianity into Mosaic legalism and exclusiveness. Yet in their convictions the two apostles were one. 7. The limitation which for so many centuries confined God’ s favour to one tribe was one which must have forever shut out us and our fathers. In His wise pleasure He bad elected Israel, and might have let the election stand. But the very election contemplated ultimate catholicity. Israel was made a guarded focus of light just that it might one day enlighten the Gentiles. But, in spite of their prophets, they kept to their tribes what God had given to mankind. Thus it came that the grace of life had to tear itself away from their grip to overspread the globe. Yet it was by the hands of Jews after all that the grace of God was first conveyed to Gentiles in Caesarea, and by Jewish missionaries that the gospel has at length reached ourselves. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)Peter to Jewish Christians 1. This differs from the previous speeches of the apostle (except the first), in that it is not an appeal to men to become Christians, but an explanation to Christians of a fresh course of action taken in the service of Christ. 2. While Peter tarried at Caesarea the apostles and brethren heard with surprise of this unexpected victory of the gospel. He was well aware of the necessity for a full explanation, and therefore went straight to Jerusalem, and with excellent judgment took the six Jewish Christians from Joppa who had baptized the believing Gentiles, who could corroborate his story. 3. “ They that were of the circumcision contended with him,” not apparently about the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, or even their baptism, but about his eating with them. They were displeased that an apostle had broken a tradition of strict Judaism. 4. Such a condition of mind we regard with wonder and pity; and yet something very like it is far too common in modern Christendom. Who has not seen Christian faith miserably united with small-minded prejudices? And this also we see, that narrowness of sympathy goes with dulness of perception. These Jews could not see anything more important than the question whether Peter did well or ill in sitting at table with the uncircumcised. So now: the more that men make of external restriction in religion, the more they incapacitate their minds for appreciating what is spiritual and permanent. Note-- I. The position taken by even the leading apostle.1. The name of Peter has been used to cover the claim of supremacy advanced by the Pope. But here we see that the brethren were not afraid to “ contend with him” ; and he made no attempt to silence the objectors by dint of authority, but patiently explained his action till he won their approval. Is it not plain that there was no such thing as Popedom known to St. Peter? There was not even oligarchic government by the apostles. The Church had leaders and guides; but the wisdom of Christ was imparted to the whole body, not to a few conspicuous members only. 2. It is not well that anyone should reckon himself above question from the brethren. It is quite possible that they may find fault through ignorance; but in such a case Christ’ s servant must not give way to irritation, but calmly explain what they have misunderstood. Let him tell the unvarnished truth, and leave it to the heavenly Master to vindicate him. II. The best way to remove misunderstandings among brethren.1. Nine-tenths of the fault finding comes of defective information. The objectors here knew but very partially what Peter’ s conduct had been, and none of the reasons. They heard that he had been living among Gentiles, but nothing of the visions or of the spiritual results. They certainly laid themselves open to a sharp reproof. But the apostle did not even make complaint. He wished to conciliate their better judgment, and preserve peace in the Church. 2. This, too, conveys, a most valuable lesson to those who find their course of action called into question. It will be often found that fault finders proceed on most inaccurate information; and, by doing so, they lay themselves open to retort. But the object of Christ’ s servant should be not to triumph over an unreasonable brother, but to gain victories for the truth and maintain peace and charity. III. The most effective answer to sticklers on points of order.1. St. Peter did not enter into an argument upon the permanence of those restrictions which had separated the Jews from the Gentiles. He was himself scarcely prepared for such an argument, though a new light had been cast into his mind by the vision. No such light, however, had fallen on those at Jerusalem; and it would have been worse than useless to argue. Peter took them on ground which no Christian could call in question. As the Word of life was being preached to the Gentiles the Holy Ghost fell on them, just as on the Jews at Pentecost. Did not that one momentous fact settle all questions, overcome all misgivings? 2. This way of handling a difficulty makes short work with many Church controversies about holy orders, correct ritual, and the like. In ways that we consider exceptional, and through the labours of persons whose ordination has but an uncertain validity, thousands have been converted from sin to righteousness. This seems to us to be matter of fact which only a desperate bigotry can ignore? Surely when we see that sinners are turned from their evil ways our simple duty is to acknowledge the work of God whenever and wherever He pleases to work and give Him thanks. IV. The true place and justification of baptism. The Gentiles at Caesarea having been baptized with the Holy Ghost, it was impossible to deny to them baptism with water. Indeed, there are not two baptisms, but one, having an outer form and inner sense. The former requires water, the latter the grace of the Holy Spirit. Superstition holds that the former always involves the latter, and therefore urges people to be baptized, or to have their infants baptized, in order that by that rite they may receive the Holy Ghost. This is “ Christening” of which the Bible knows nothing. It is enough to trace the dispensation of baptism through these early chapters. At Jerusalem they that received the Word of salvation were baptized. At Samaria they that believed the good tidings were baptized. On the road to Gaza the Ethiopian treasurer first received Philip’ s preaching of Jesus, and then was baptized. At Damascus, Saul, through the intervention of Ananias, was filled with the Holy Ghost. Then “ he arose, and was baptized.” So here. Conclusion:1. Peter’ s speech had a marked success. The Jewish brethren “ glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance into life.” Would that they had cherished this mood! What controversies would have been avoided! What trouble might have been spared to Paul! 2. These disciples had a clear conception of repentance-- (1) In its origin as the gift of God’ s grace; (2) in its issue as “ unto life.” And with this doctrine ought “ the fallow ground” of men’ s hearts to be broken. It is God’ s command; it is God’ s gift; it is God’ s encouragement: “ Turn ye; why will ye die?” (D. Fraser, D. D.) Acts 11:8 But I said, Not so, Lord.Not so, Lord How mental and moral characteristics cling to a man even after he has received grace! It is a false theory of conversion which represents human nature as changed. Grace is a principle working a slow and gradual change--“ First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” The leaven was hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened. Peter is the same before and after conversion--strong-willed, vehement, and impatient of contradiction. He is here seen meeting the Divine directions with outspoken resistance. Here is-- I. Presumptuous resistance of Divine wisdom and grace. The most perilous endowment of a mortal is free will. All possibilities of evil and good are contained in this great endowment. How near the true use of will stands to its abuse! Will changes into wilfulness. “ I will” becomes self-assertion, denies the rights of others, sets man in array against the rights and claims of God. This was Peter’ s moral weakness, the source of errors and sins. Strong-willed, he had firmness. It had grown into self-assertion and presumption. There was a clear openness about him in his sinning; he was not a sneaking, backdoor sinner, and not a polished, sniveling hypocrite. It is better so. There is more hope for such a man than he who sins secretly; but it does not lessen his guilt. On several occasions Peter thought he knew better than the Lord. He said, “ The Son of Man shall be rejected,” etc. Peter answered Him, “ Be it far from Thee, Lord. This shall not be.” Jesus said, “ I have prayed for thee.” Peter’ s reply was, “ I am ready to go with Thee, even to prison and death.” Jesus said, “ Whither I go thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt afterwards.” Peter says, “ Lord, why? I am ready.” And then the Lord warned him: “ Verily the cock shall not crow,” etc. The Master bade His disciples tarry in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. Peter, instead of waiting, set about electing an apostle. Here the Lord was disciplining him, that he might open the door of the kingdom to the Gentiles. “ Arise, Peter; kill and eat.” He refuses point blank, and begins to justify refusal. There is a good deal of Peter in most men. They generally act as though they knew better than God what ought to happen and what they ought to do. This spirit gets into men--1. When they object to the provisions of Divine wisdom and grace. Some sinners want to show God the conditions on which sin ought to be pardoned and heaven secured. Some are not content with unbelief and rebellion; they find fault with the scheme of mercy. Why should not God let the guilty go free? 2. The same spirit is manifested in all murmurings against Providence. How strange are the vagaries of the restless will! Men say God is all-wise in the ordinations of life, and sing, “ Thy will be done!” But let a sickness come, a project miscarry, one dearer than life be smitten, and what rebellion there is! Often what we call resignation is only the exhaustion of nature after a useless fight with the inevitable. 3. All refusal to follow the leadings of Providence grows out of this resistance to the all-wise will. God is a guide. He has a way of life for each. Men miss the providential way; they will not simply trust and follow. They want certainty. “ The bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” and when God says, “ Forward,” they say, “ Let us alone,” or “ Let us choose a new leader and go back to Egypt,” or they shut all up with a “ Not so, Lord.” Christ says to a young Christian, “ Come out and be separate.” The reply is. “ Not so, Lord. I can use the world without abusing it.” The Lord says, “ Honest poverty is better than dishonest riches.” “ Not so Lord; I mean to be generous to the poor, to help Thy cause.” II. The consequences of this presumptuous rebellion. “ Not so, Lord,” takes a man out of the circle of Divine and helpful benedictions and cooperations. He who will not have God for a friend when he may shall not find Him when he would. Men resent presumptuous opposition and folly. They think it a wonder God does not. But here are all the irregularities created by sin, and they work out a punitive discipline. Under the Divine government presumptuous and rebellious men come into contact with the negative action of the Divine laws, and cannot avoid their chastisement. But God’ s harsh ways are kindnesses. Thorns in the hedge, which tear us as we attempt to get out of the right way, are admonitions to us to go back. Things go awry; troubles, worry. What is it all but the reaping what we have sown? Sensitive nerves suffer pain to warn us against what causes pain. If God be resisted, pain must follow, for we are out of the way of peace. Our wisdom is to submit to God, accept His plan of mercy, look unto Jesus, walk in His way. “ Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, lead Thou me on.” (W. H. Davison.)Human ignorance contradicting Divine wisdom Peter had before this supposed that he knew better than the Lord what was right. Accordingly, this “ Not so, Lord,” was very Petrine. God was going to honour Peter by giving him the second key wherewith he would open the kingdom to the Gentiles. Peter is shocked at the idea, and says,” Not so, Lord.” He not only refuses to obey, but offers a reason. His refusal and his buttressing argument were both shivered to atoms by the Lord’ s reply: “ What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” I. Poor, weak, ignorant man is found contradicting and correcting the almighty and all-wise God. If God had a human heart, the thing would not happen twice from the same person. The Divine fire would consume the presumptuous soul. But God is not a man. He patiently endures all man’ s presumptuous folly. Many, arguing from impunity, go on to increase their rebellion against God. “ Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily,” etc. But this daring resistance to God is not confined to unbelievers. Our text shows that a Peter can say, “ Not so, Lord.” There may be politeness in the form, but in the matter it is rebellion and nothing else. It is a declaration that “ I know better than God.” What is complaint of our lot (which God has arranged) but a saying, “ Not so” ? What is refusal to follow the clear leadings of Providence but saying, “ Not so, Lord” ? And then we wonder we are not prospered. As if children in open rebellion could prosper! II. All the forlorn experiences of Christians come from them saying, “ Not so, Lord.” An Abraham going unhesitatingly to offer up his son at the Divine command is given us as a marked example of spiritual attainment. If ever man could have said, “ Not so, Lord,” it was Abraham. He might have said, “ Lord, I cannot commit murder; and I cannot commit sin against my natural affections. Furthermore, what will people say of it? Not so, Lord; I cannot do this thing.” But that which made Abraham’ s name the synonym of faith, and which exalted him to the very highest rank in sainthood, was a humble, unquestioning, immediate obedience. Compare him with Jacob, who was fond of saying, “ Not so, Lord,” and see the difference. A young Christian starts out in life. The Lord says to him, “ Come out and be separate from the world” ; and the young Christian replies, “ Not so, Lord, for if I can marry into that influential family it will be of great benefit to me, and I can persuade my wife to become a Christian” ; and so, repenting his “ Not so,” he marries and is soon led into the entanglements of a thoroughly worldly society. To another young man the word of the Lord comes, “ They that desire to be rich fall into a temptation,” and the young man responds, “ Not so, Lord--there must be exceptions. I want to be rich in order to do more good.” And so this young man starts on a career for gold, and whether he grows rich or ends his life in poverty, his life is a wretched failure on the side of God. III. The soul that says, “ Not so, Lord,” must necessarily meet with evil. The unfortunate experiences are not accidents, but belong to the Divine system of government. Every departure from God’ s way has a sting in it, that we may be stung into going back into the right way. Conscience does a godly service to every Christian wanderer. It is harsh in its kindness. But the work of conscience is supplemented by events around us. Are you finding things going awry? Are troubles multiplying? Look and see if you have not been saying, “ Not so, Lord.” David suffered greatly from his children, and two “ Not so’ s” stand out conspicuously as the cause of it all. What a man soweth that must lie also reap. If we resist God’ s commands, we shall certainly meet a reversal, because we are out of the only way where He insures our peace. It is of God’ s mercy that those reactions occur, just as it is of God’ s mercy that if I run a nail in my foot I am pained. IV. The very opposite spirit to that which we have been contemplating is the spirit of humble inquiry for God’ s will. It becomes us to be distrustful of our own knowledge and wisdom. James describes God as giving wisdom liberally to all who ask Him. We surely need not be discouraged. Now, the only method for every child of God to pursue is to go to God for everything, to seek constantly the Divine guidance. “ But,” someone says, “ how can you tell when it is God’ s will?” Let me answer, “ If you stand a quarter of a mile off from your father, you will be sore puzzled to know what he says; but if you go within five feet of him, everything will be plain. So, if you stand away from your Heavenly Father, you will undoubtedly be much at a loss to know what is His will; but if you live near to Him, you will have no difficulty of this sort. Now, it is true (and Peter is an example of it) that a Christian may live near to God and understand His will and yet say, “ Not so, Lord.” A paroxysm of self-confidence may seize him even in the very presence of God. It is a sad commentary on our feeble faith. The reaction in such a case is overwhelming. Peter’ s “ Not so,” when Jesus told him of a coming Calvary, was the direct antecedent of the threefold denial and the deep scar which it made on his whole life. Such a catastrophe arises from breaking what should be the invariable rule of going to God for everything. “ Pray without ceasing” is the Divine injunction and its fulfilment is this life which is habituated to rest upon the Divine support and guidance. The thought of opposing God’ s will would cause a shudder in such a soul. As in the case of a little child, it feels that independence would be only misery. (Howard Crosby, D. D.) Acts 11:14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.Words whereby we may be saved I am about to tell you such words; yet I am far from supposing that this announcement of my purpose is calculated to ensure to my message that attention which it demands; for man is interested about anything rather than the salvation of his soul--and yet, “ what should it profit” man? The soul once lost is lost forever. I. Every man’ s first and chief concern ought to be about the salvation of his soul.1. Every man is a sinner, and without salvation he must perish. You may be too proud to acknowledge this, or too much occupied to give it attention, or too indifferent to ponder it, or ready to deny it in the sense which we contend. Well, “ you make God a liar, and His truth is not in you,” for “ God has included all under sin.” Perhaps you will point me to that abandoned woman, or to that bloody blasphemer, or to that iron-hearted jailer, and bid me go preach this doctrine to such as these. Ah, the question is not whether you have sinned like this or that man, but whether you have sinned at all, for so it is written, “ Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Oh, you will say, I never did anybody any harm, I have been a kind parent, an upright tradesman, my reputation without a blemish; but that is not the question; the question is, hast thou “ loved the Lord thy God with all thy heart” ? etc. I see you shudder and shrink back! I hear you cry, “ But God is merciful” --so He is, but then, if you appeal to His mercy, you give up the point, you confess yourselves sinners, for if you be not sinners you may appeal with confidence to His justice. 2. Every man’ s first and chief concern ought to be about the salvation of his soul, because, being a sinner, he is placed by his sin in circumstances of the most imminent peril. The wretch that trembles on the brink of a tremendous precipice, over whose head a sword is suspended by a hair, upon whom the volcano is ready to burst or the earth to yawn, is in safety compared to that sinner who has transgressed the law of God, and is exposed by his transgression to His righteous indignation and wrath. Oh, then, what will you do to be saved? Will you present an atoning sacrifice for your sins? Where will you obtain it? Have you wealth to purchase it? The ransom of ten thousand monarchs would do little, rivers of oil and oceans of blood are not sufficient. Do you propose to work out a righteousness whereby you can be justified in the sight of God? How can you do it? Can an imperfect creature work out a perfect righteousness? and even if you could for the time that is to come, how would it avail for the atonement of the sin that was past? Listen, it is our business to tell you the response to this cry from heaven. II. The gospel is the only source from which satisfactory information is obtained on this most momentous of all subjects. Take this question, “ What must I do to be saved,” to the system of modern infidelity or of ancient philosophy. What answer do you get? The sneer of derision, or the sullen silence of despair--they cannot tell. Take it to this Book, and the answer is instant, decisive, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” What does the violated law of God demand? Perfect obedience. Behold it in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does justice demand an infinite atonement? Behold it in “ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”1. In the gospel there are words whereby we may be saved, and the salvation they announce is precisely adapted to the sinner’ s case. You are guilty, but there is forgiveness for you, and you are condemned, but there is a righteousness that justifies you freely; you are a rebel and an outcast, but there is an Advocate that pleads for you; you are polluted, but there is “ a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.” 2. These are words whereby you may be saved individually. Let us hear your personal history. I hear one say, “ I am a child of pious parents, and I have sinned against early instruction and impressions!” Well, but thou mayest be saved! I hear another, “ I trampled under foot a father’ s admonitions, and despised a sainted mother’ s tears, and brought down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave!” Well, but you may be saved! I hear another say, “ Ah, but I mingled with infidels and apostates, I mocked the Bible, at God, I blasphemed Christ!” Ah, but you may be saved! 3. But while these are words whereby you may be saved, rejecting these, you must perish. “ He that believeth not shall be damned.” “ How shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation?” (T. Raffles, D. D.)Saved by the Word 1. Cornelius was no common publican or sinner, but possessed all the qualifications of a saint, if a saint can grow in the sell of this earth, without a seed from heaven. If any man could be just with God apart from Christ, surely this is the man. Yet the Word of God treats him as a sinner, and tells him what he must do to be saved. There is no escape from the force of this case. It effectually shuts out all hope of merit. The difficulty of attaining a conviction of sin is greater where sins are less gross. Hence publicans and harlots go into the kingdom more readily than Pharisees. 2. By what means shall Cornelius be saved? By words. Strange when the loss is so deep and real that words, articulated air, should bring deliverance. It was natural for Naaman to toss his head in contempt at the proposal of a bath in Jordan as a cure for disease, and there is a class of scholars in our day who sneer at the proposal to cure sin by words. They have no confidence in doctrines that enter the mind from without; they would rather trust to principles that spring up within. Beware of wandering into the mist here. Words become life or death when God employs them to proclaim His will. God said, “ Let there be light, and there was light.” “ Lazarus, come forth,” and he came. Even in the ordinary experience of life men are saved or lost by words. An ocean steamer is rushing through the water--two words, “ Breakers ahead!” from the watchman, “ Starboard hard!” from the master, words that passed away as breath on a breeze, saved five hundred human beings from a watery grave. Humanity is like that ship, and God sends words whereby we may be saved. 3. Truth, like spirit, is invisible till embodied, and words are the body of truth. They may be spoken, or printed, or wired, it matters not what form they assume, they are the body in which truth dwells. Satan embodies himself in words whereby man may be destroyed, the Holy Spirit in words whereby we may be saved. Take heed how ye hear; the missing of a word may be the loss of a soul. (W. Arnot, D. D.) Acts 11:18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.Repentance unto life Consider-- I. Certain false repentances.1. Trembling beneath the sound of the gospel is not repentance. “ Felix trembled,” but had no sorrow for sin. 2. You may be “ almost persuaded” to turn to Christ, you may even desire the gospel, you may even go upon your knees in prayer, and yet have no repentance, for you may get no further than Agrippa’ s “ almost.” 3. It is possible for men to positively humble themselves under the hand of God, and yet they may be total strangers to repentance. Ahab humbled himself, but did not turn from sin. 4. It is possible that you may confess your sins, and yet may not repent, for you may acknowledge your transgressions, and yet have no abhorrence of sin. 5. You may do some work meet for repentance, and yet you may be impenitent. Judas made restitution, but “ he went out and hanged himself.” II. True repentance.1. Let me correct one or two mistakes. (1) That there must be deep, horrible manifestations of the terrors of law and of hell before repentance. Terrible thoughts are very often not the gift of God at all, but the insinuations of the devil; and even where the law worketh these thoughts, they do not enter into the essence of repentance. “ Repentance” is a hatred of sin; a turning from sin and a determination in the strength of God to forsake it. (2) That they cannot repent enough. But there is not any eminent degree of “ repentance” which is necessary to salvation. There are degrees of faith, and yet the least faith saves; so there are degrees of repentance, and the least repentance will save the soul if it is sincere. 2. And now what are the signs of true “ repentance” in the sight of God? (1) There is always sorrow with it. More or less intense, it may be, according to the way in which God calls, and previous manner of life; but there must be some sorrow. Not, however, that you must shed actual tears. Some men cannot. (2) Practice--practical repentance. “‘ Tis not enough to say we’ re sorry, and repent, and then go on from day to day, just as we always went.” We know tree by its fruit; and you who are penitent will bring forth works of repentance. (3) Does it last or does it not? Many of your repentances are like the hectic flush upon the cheek of the consumptive person, which is no sign of health. (4) Do you think you would repent if there were no punishment? Do you repent because you know you shall be punished forever if you remain in your sins? Every murderer hates his crime when he comes to the gallows. If you knew that you might give up your life to sin with impunity, would you still desire holiness? If so, you need not fear but that you have a “ repentance” which is “ unto life.” III. The blessed beneficence of God in granting to men “ repentance unto life.” It is the marvel of Divine mercy that it not only provides the way of salvation, and not only invites men to receive grace, but that it positively makes men willing to be saved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The propagation of the gospel in foreign parts I. I begin with the blessing or benefit here said to be bestowed. “ Repentance unto life.” Repentance is the infinite and inestimable gospel privilege, which the grace of God does, in and through Jesus Christ, allow to sinful men, and the happy consequence of this being no less than eternal life, it is therefore styled repentance unto life. As to the import of the word “ repentance,” the expression in the Greek plainly signifies a change of mind; and the Scripture sense of the word implies somewhat more than that, and takes in besides a thing which naturally follows it, or is caused by it, viz., an alteration likewise of practice or behaviour, a changing or turning from one course or custom of life to another. By “ life” here some indeed understand that present most blessed and desirable state and condition in which sinners are placed by repentance; whereas before this they were in a state of wretched darkness, no better than spiritually dead. And this is undoubtedly a true and good notion of repentance unto life, viz., that repentance is that which brings men to live like themselves, i.e., happily and at ease and with comfort; which it was not possible for them to do, so long as they continued in their former course, For that was irregular and disorderly and unnatural; and whatsoever is so is a certain enemy to quiet, and utterly destructive of true satisfaction. I see no inconvenience in considering life in this place in both acceptations, viz., the rational and religious life which repentance brings men to here, and that blessed and immortal life to which, upon their true repentance, they are to be advanced hereafter. For they are of very near affinity to each other. Life considered in the former sense is the certain forerunner of life considered in the latter, and the latter is the undoubted effect of the former, and a greater benefit or blessing than both of them together cannot be desired or imagined. And happy is it for us, happy for the whole race of mankind, that God has dealt out so great a blessing with so liberal a hand. For-- II. The persons it is bestowed upon. “ The Gentiles.” We find that this favour was not confined, as the Jews, upon the first promulgation of the gospel, imagined it to be, to one people and nation, so that none besides themselves were to be partakers of it. By the term Gentiles the Jews understood all that were not of their own people and country and religion.. Heathens and nations and Gentiles are synonymous expressions in Holy Scripture, as may be seen by the following texts: 1 Samuel 8:20; Psalms 44:2; Psalms 79:1, and by many other places. These were the people whom the Jews, in comparison of themselves, greatly scorned. “ Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou” (Isaiah 65:5), was the scornful language of the Jew to the poor neglected Gentile. And this distinction between the Jews and the other nations, or Gentiles, was also mightily kept up even in the time of our Saviour; nay, perhaps never was at a greater height than then. So little aware were they, at the time of the appearance of the Son of God, of the gracious errand upon which He was sent, which was to break down the partition wall that was betwixt Jews and Gentiles, and to make both one, imply two things considerable.1. I say, here is implied the wide and universal extent of this blessing, which seemed to the Jews very strange and wonderful. 2. Here was likewise a great difficulty and stumbling block in their way, and that was, that the people on whom this favour was conferred seemed to them, on other accounts, so utterly unfit for it, besides their not being of their stock and country. The Gentiles were persons that wholly set themselves against God, and were addicted to all manner of idolatry, but as for themselves they were a holy and a peculiar people. Nay, St. Peter himself, till convinced by the fore-mentioned miracle, was of this mind. He was for keeping up the distinction of clean and unclean till God Himself commanded him to the contrary. III. The agreeableness of this method of proceeding with the nature and attributes of God and with the several declarations He had made to this purpose by His prophets. Now they had great reason to think it highly probable that even to the Gentiles God would grant repentance unto life, from the three following considerations.1. From the contemplation of the boundless mercies and infinite goodness of God. The infinite goodness of God, if the Jews had attended to that consideration, might have rendered it to them highly probable that God would allow to the Gentiles also access to eternal salvation, or, in the words of the text, “ repentance unto life.” These attributes, though inseparable from the idea of God, the Jews most plainly overlooked, or else they would never have gone ‘ about to confine God’ s blessings and engross His favours wholly to themselves, but must have argued after this, or the like manner, with themselves. “ God being, as the very natural notions of Him do imply, a God of infinite and unlimited goodness, surely He will not continue to shine upon us only, but will dart the rays of His bounty over all the world. He is not, as Esau suspected of his father Isaac, furnished only with one blessing, but has an unexhausted fountain of blessings, and will therefore undoubtedly visit other nations in His good time with the same. For they likewise are the work of His hands as well as we. They, too, are of the same make, and have enstamped upon them the like Divine and heavenly image with ourselves. They are preserved by the continual care of His providence, and do already enjoy the common blessings of this life, such as health and strength and sunshine and rain.” 2. The Jews might have argued the great probability of this, from the extraordinary great need the Gentiles had of the blessing here spoken of, and that whether they considered their number or their condition. As to their number they were vastly the greater part of the world, the inhabitants of Judaea being very few and inconsiderable in comparison of those of all the earth besides; and yet that only, like Goshen in Egypt, was a land of light, whilst other parts were overspread with darkness and ignorance; and this suggests to us also the consideration of their condition. And the more sick the more need had they of a physician. Such sinners as they had the greatest need of all to be called upon to repentance. Their necessities were great, their indigences and wants were pressing and crying out for help; and these were such things as could not but plead strongly for them, with a good and merciful God, that they too might have a share in the blessed redemption effected by the Son of God. 3. This was not an instance of the Divine goodness barely to be hoped for from those lovely attributes of God, His mercy and loving kindness, but it is what God had promised and foretold He would do (Genesis 22:18; Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 9:2; Isaiah 5:2; Psalms 98:3; Haggai 2:7). IV. The great reason that persons already admitted to the blessing of the gospel, have to use their hearty endeavours, that it may be enjoyed by others as well as by themselves.1. In the first place, I say, gratitude to our Lord and Saviour, who hath redeemed us with His most precious blood, should make us not only pray that the kingdom of God may come, but should make us as on the one side, highly delighted to see it flourishing, so, on the other, uneasy whenever we see either any of the subjects of Christ’ s kingdom in danger of falling away from Him, or others (who might, would we but take the pains to gain them, become subjects of His kingdom), not so much as knowing the Lord that bought them, nor consequently capable of bringing their thoughts and actions to the obedience of Christ. 2. And in the next place, this is the greatest instance of charity to man that is possible (1 John 5:12). If, affirmatively, the belief of the gospel be the way to life, and negatively, there be no other way beside it, how great a blessing, how valuable a privilege do we suffer men to want by letting them continue in unbelief? But to this it may be said, with regard to the infidel part of the world, Ignoti nulla cupido. As they have not heard of the joys of heaven, so it is not to be supposed that want of knowing the gospel can cause in them any uneasiness. But then we are to consider that the rewards of the gospel are a great prize, and to miss of that prize is a great loss for any to sustain, who might, if we so pleased, have had an opportunity of obtaining it. In the meantime, their being at present sensible, or not sensible, of their loss, makes no manner of alteration as to the truth and reality of it. With regard to persons who are in a lethargy, whilst they lie under the power of their distemper, and are utterly insensible of the badness of their own case, it cannot, because they are so, be therefore said of them that they are well. No; bystanders know the contrary, and pity them, and if they have any humanity will endeavour to relieve them. Just so should Christians act with regard to the Gentile world. We know how wretched a state the heathen world was in at the time of the promulgation of the gospel. And what reason have we to think that, at this present time, it can fare better with any people who have not amongst them the gospel of Christ to free them from these evils? Has not the common enemy of mankind, now as formerly, the same frailties and corruptions of fallen man to work upon? Or has he, since the mischief he did to our first parents, abated anything of his inveterate hatred to our race? (Bishop of St. David’s, 1736.)Repentance unto life Consider--1. A blessing granted; repentance unto life; so called, to distinguish it from legal repentance, and the sorrow that is unto death. This true repentance is unto life; for, by God’ s appointment, it must go before eternal life; and whoso have it shall be sure of that. 2. The parties to whom it was granted; “ the Gentiles,” those who were once without hope and without God in the world. 3. The author of it, “ God.” It is His gift, as well as faith is. He works it in the heart. The doctrine of the text is, “ Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience;” Note-- I. The kinds of repentance.1. Legal, such as was in Judas, and is not saving (Matthew 27:3), being produced by law terrors, without gospel grace changing the heart. 2. Evangelical, which is that in the text, and is the only true and saving repentance. The general difference betwixt them lies here, that in this last, one repents of his sin as it is sin, or offensive to God, as David did (Psalms 51:4); in the other, only as it brings wrath on him (Genesis 4:13). II. Its general nature. It is a saving grace (2 Timothy 3:25), disposing the soul unto all the acts of turning from sin unto God.1. It is not a transient action, a sigh for sin, a pang of sorrow for it, which goes away again; but an abiding grace, a new frame and disposition, fixed in the heart, disposing one to turn from sin to God on all occasions (Zechariah 12:10). 2. Nor yet a passing work of the first days of one’ s religion, but a grace in the heart, setting one to an answerable working all their days. 3. It is a saving grace, distinguishing one from a hypocrite, and having a necessary connection with eternal life. III. Its author.1. Not men themselves; it is not owing to one’ s natural powers (Jeremiah 22:23). The stony heart is beyond man’ s power to remove. 2. It is God’ s free gift, and wrought by the power of His Spirit in the heart (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Jeremiah 31:18-19). Sometimes notorious sinners become penitents, as Manasseh, Paul, etc. The knottiest timber is as easy for the Spirit to work as any other. The means the Spirit makes use of is the Word; hence we read of preaching repentance. And (1) The law serves to break the hard heart (Jeremiah 23:29). It is like the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah’ s coming. Hence it is called “ the Spirit of bondage” (Romans 8:15). (2) The gospel serves to melt the hard heart, like a fire (Jeremiah 23:29); and so bow and bend it toward God. The soul is driven by the law, but drawn by the gospel. IV. Its springs.1. A true sense of sin. (1) A sight of it (Psalms 51:3). The man’ s eyes are opened to his sinfulness; the evil of his sin, its misery and danger to himself, and the dishonour it does to God. (2) A painful feeling of it (Acts 2:37; Acts 16:30). This is necessary, because otherwise the sinner will never part with his sin, nor prize Christ and His grace (Revelation 3:17). 2. An apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ (Joe 2:12-13). Not mercy for mercy’ s sake, bug Christ’ s sake. This is necessary. For without it, one will either-- (1) Go on in secret despair, casting off the thoughts of his case, and making the best of it he can (Jeremiah 2:25); or (2) Lie down in tormenting despair, like Judas. Both which will fix sin in the heart, and bar out repentance. V. Its parts.1. Humiliation. The sinner goes from God by the highway of pride and self-conceit, but always comes back the low way of humiliation. Grace pulls him down from the seat of the scorner, and lays him at the Lord’ s feet (1 Peter 5:6). In it there is-- (1) Sorrow for sin; (2) A holy shame for sin (Romans 6:21). They see now their spiritual nakedness and pollution. (3) Self-loathing (Ezekiel 36:31; Luke 18:13). (4) Penitent confession (Jeremiah 3:13), accusing and condemning themselves. 2. Conversion, or returning-- (1) From sin,(2) To God and holiness. (T. Boston, D. D.)Apostolic and modern missions compared The passage I have chosen as the subject of our present inquiry informs us of the impressions produced on the minds of the Jewish converts at Jerusalem by St. Peter’ s relation of the circumstances and success of his first mission to the Gentiles. The passage implies the previous operation of prejudice; it records the confutation of that prejudice; and it illustrates the argument in support of missions which arises from their success. I. The passage implies the previous operation of prejudice--a prejudice against missions to the Gentiles. “ They held their peace.” Then they had before opposed them. Was there anything in the character and genius of the gospel that could warrant the indulgence of this prejudice? No. How can we account for their prejudices against missions? They can be ascribed to their strong nationality, their religious distinction, and their material views of the Messiah’ s reign. The old Jewish spirit was specially exclusive. II. The passage records the confutation of their prejudices. “ When they heard these things, they held their peace.” Their prejudices were refuted and their objections silenced by the facts which the apostle reported. III. The passage illustrates the argument for the support of missions arising from their success. Success, abstractedly considered, is not the invariable criterion of a Divine religion, or the unequivocal proof of truth. The success of the false prophet of Mecca and of the Jesuits in China, on account of the way in which that success was won, proves nothing as to the value of their mission. But the success of the gospel does. It is a success against the passions, prejudices, and habits of mankind, won by moral means, and moral means alone.(1) The success explains and vindicates the object of missions.(2) The success supports and confirms our expectations.(3) The success demands increased exertions. (J. Fletcher, D. D.)Repentance to life granted to the Gentiles The wise man hath said, “ He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame to him.” Without waiting for the reasons of the apostle’ s conduct, his Jewish brethren had contended with him. They listened to his explanation, and their reproaches are converted into praise. Upright minds may err in opinion and feeling, but they are accessible to evidence. They deny not themselves the pleasure and advantage of fresh discoveries in the path of truth, because they cannot endure the proof of their own fallibility. I. Its nature.1. In general. Repentance is distinguished by infallible signs. Not only does it awaken fear, by considerations of consequences, but hatred, by a perception of its intrinsic malignity. Such a repentance never fails to produce meet fruits. The subject of it abandons the sins he mourns, and enters on a new and holy course. Such was David’ s repentance, but not Herod’ s or Judas’ s. 2. This repentance is unto life. The life with which it is connected is of the highest order; not animal life, alike the gift of worms and man; not mere intellectual life, by which man bears resemblance to angels, whether holy or fallen; but spiritual life, consisting in a right bias and employment of natural powers; its business, the service--its bliss, the enjoyment of God. True repentance originates in a principle of this life, implanted by the Holy Spirit, introduces into a course of it on earth, and issues in the eternal perfection of it in heaven. II. Its Author and Giver. So hardening is the deceitfulness of sin, that repentance to life would never have become the inmate of the human bosom, but as a gift from God. I. Who, except the merciful Author of our being, grants space and opportunity to repent? Why was not the persecuting Saul cut down in his sins? The prolongation of existence is the continuance of opportunity to return to God. He is “ long suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” The long suffering of God waited on the people of the old world. They disregarded, and they perished. Let their example be our warning.2. He who grants the opportunity also bestows the means. Are some awakened by the preaching of the gospel? It is His appointment. Are others affected under the reading of the Word? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Is a third aroused by afflictions? They are the chastisements of their heavenly Father’ s hand. If, in a further instance, the counsel and prayers and holy example of friends have been instrumental, whose gift are they? And, if in any cases the effect has been the result of a concurrence in these various kinds of subordinate agency, from whom do they all descend? 3. The best adapted means, however, will be unavailing unless the Father of lights bestow the Spirit of repentance. Jesus is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, that He may give repentance. Shall the necessity of this heavenly gift be pleaded to excuse a neglect of the means of repentance? Nothing can excuse it. Penitence is God’ s command as well as His gift; and the Spirit which produces it is promised to him who seeks. III. Its effects on Christian beholders. The joy here was--1. Benevolent. The good man knows the way of transgressors to be hard. He thinks of the tremendous end that awaits them; of the felicities in which penitence results. 2. Devout joy. He beholds in the repentance of a sinner a glorious triumph of almighty power over the might and artifice of Satan, and the ignorance, pride, and obstinacy of the human mind; of Divine mercy over its awful demerit. He contemplates an immortal mind debased and polluted by subjection to sin, emerging from its degradation, and resuming its primitive beauty. And thus it is an exultation like that of the angels of God. Such a blessing granted to an individual may well kindle joyful admiration of Divine goodness and power, but extended to many the effect should be proportionably augmented. If the bestowment of this blessing on others be a just ground of exultation, what pleasure and gratitude should it awaken when conferred on ourselves? Of a blessing, so preeminently important, can any regard themselves as destitute, and abide in tranquillity? (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.) Acts 11:19-21 Now they which were scattered abroad … travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch. Christianity at Antioch I. Its entrance into antioch. Here (Acts 11:19) we discover--1. Evil overruled for good. The very efforts to crush the gospel gave it new vigour and a wider sweep. Thus it has ever been. 2. The invincibility of Christian courage. The fugitives did not flee from the cause they had espoused, nor relax their efforts to advance it. While true courage does not consist in callous indifference to danger, it demands at all risks eternal fealty to principle and duty. 3. The legitimacy of lay preaching. It is significant that the planting of Christianity here, and in numerous instances since, has been the work of private men holding no ecclesiastical office whatever: which shows-- (1) That it is the duty of everyone who knows the gospel to proclaim it. (2) That those who would restrict preaching to the professionally ordained are opposed to the best interests of man and to the genius of the New Testament. 4. The universality of the gospel. It is a system as suited to the Greek as to the Hebrew mind, and equally essential to the highest interests of both. II. Its achievements at Antioch, which--1. Involved a Divine change in the characters of many (Acts 11:21). Observe-- (1) The Divine power which attended their ministry.(2) The faith which their ministry generated.(3)The revolution which their faith effected. 2. Attracted the attention of the mother Church (Acts 11:22). This was natural. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The Church at Antioch Persecution was the first means of propagating the gospel. Blow on the candle, and you extinguish the flame; blow on the fire in the grate, and you increase it. The reason is in the hold the fire has upon the combustible substance. If the hold is slight, blowing will put it out; if deep, will intensify it. Christ came to send fire on the earth; the fire ate its way down to the very depths of the disciples’ spirits. Saul “ breathed out threatenings,” etc.; but the breathing only fanned the fire. Observe that this Church-- I. Was established by lay agency. These men were not commissioned by any ecclesiastical authority to preach. They did it instinctively. The flowers do not require to be told to blossom; let the sun but shine, and they do it without being told. Birds do not need an almanack to remind them that May is come, and that the season for outdoor concerts has arrived. And as soon as a man has knowledge of the Saviour, he feels an impulse to tell others of Him. Some Churches object to what they call irregular teachers. They forget that there are two ordinations. Sometimes the human and the Divine meet in the same person; sometimes they diverge. If you can get the two, well; if not, give me the Divine, let who will have the human. The hand of an apostle had not been laid on the heads of these disciples. But what of that? “ The hand of the Lord was with them.” If that “ hand” is with a man, surely the bishop’ s is not vitally essential. II. Was established among the Gentiles.1. It was the first Gentile Church. Verse 19 tells us that they “ preached the Word to Jews only.” But the following verse tells us that the natives of Cyprus and Cyrene preached to the “ Greeks” also. The text, therefore, marks a new epoch in the history of the kingdom of God. Christ had plainly intimated the admission of the Gentiles into the fold. But the disciples understood Him not, and for years confined their labours to “ Jews only.” And when Peter ventured to preach to Cornelius, he was put on his defence. We are prone to look upon the primitive Church as our pattern; but the infant Church cannot be a pattern to the Church in its maturity. Shame upon us if modern Churches are not much better than primitive! How narrow and bigoted was the Church of Jerusalem! How contentious and immoral the Church of Corinth! But life proved too much for prejudice; whilst they of the circumcision were contending the Church was instinctively extending its frontiers--it claimed the Gentiles also as its inheritance. 2. Three stages are traceable in the growth of this idea. (1) From the establishment of the Church in the wilderness down to the Babylonish captivity, it was strictly Jewish. Not but that there was provision made in the law for the stranger and the alien; but the system was more tolerant than the men, and born Jews only were allowed to participate in its manifold privileges. (2) But during the Captivity, Jews and Gentiles were brought into frequent contact, and better knowledge led to kindlier feelings. The Jews, therefore, on their return, attached to their temple a court of the Gentiles. Such a thought never entered the mind of Solomon or of his architects. Henceforth they displayed a missionary spirit, and compassed sea and land to make one proselyte. True, they did not pull down the wall; but they did put a few gates in it through which the Gentiles might be admitted. But mark--they were not received as Gentiles, but as Gentiles circumcised. (3) The third stage is that indicated in this chapter. The wall is being pulled down, and Greeks may become Christians without first becoming Jews. The Jewish Church was like the chrysalis containing life in an undeveloped state; the Christian Church is the chrysalis emerging in the winged butterfly. In Judaism the Word of the Lord was standing; in Christianity it is flying. “ And I saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel.” III. Was flourishing in grace.1. When the Church at Jerusalem heard of the great things that had taken place at Antioch, “ they sent forth Barnabas” mainly for his natural fitness (Acts 11:24). “ Good” signifies more than mere moral worth; it means that he was a kind, genial, loving man. Many men--good, morally speaking--are stem and hard. But Barnabas was a man of a very gracious disposition--a very attractive man. A rash, haughty, domineering man, coming down upon a Church to which he was a stranger, would do more harm than good. But Barnabas--a son of sweetness and light--would disarm opposition, and secure confidence. 2. No sooner did he arrive in Antioch than “ he saw there the grace of God.” If you have true religion in the heart, it is superfluous to declare it. If it is in the heart, it will be seen in the life. An ancient poet tells the painters of Greece, in a period of great art decadence, to write under their pictures the names of the animals they portrayed, implying that without the name it would be impossible to tell one animal from another--a very bitter satire upon the painters. And some men’ s religion is such that you would never suspect it unless they carried about them the label; they do not shine before men, that their good works may be seen, etc. But the moment Barnabas’ s eye caught the canvas, he could tell the picture. Nay, so decided was the likeness between them and Christ that the public recognised it, and there “ the disciples were first called Christians.” 3. “ He exhorted the people that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” Barnabas is by interpretation the “ son of consolation” or exhortation. From this word we can partly judge of the character of his preaching; his exhortation brimming over with comfort, full of cheer and encouragement. His preaching was fine and stimulating rather than deep and convincing. He had the good sense to know this, and therefore hastened to Tarsus to fetch Saul. Barnabas would be worthy of grateful remembrance were it only for this one act. Barnabas exhorted the people; but when Saul came to his help, the “ exhorting” became “ teaching” ; deeper thoughtfulness characterised the ministry. The people were before growing in grace--they are now growing in knowledge. Man has both a heart and a head. And every true minister, if he cannot accomplish the two-fold work himself, will, like Barnabas, seek another to help him. The dahlia is a gorgeous flower, but it has no fragrance. The perfection of a flower consists in exquisiteness of colour combined with deliciousness of fragrance. And the perfection of Christians consists in the combination of grace and knowledge. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)Success of preaching Christ I. The import of preaching Christ.1. The season in which these words were spoken.2. The persons addressed--Jews only.3. The impediments in the way--prejudice, ignorance, unbelief.4. The topics announced. (1) The harmony between Christ and the Old Testament representations of Him. (2) The certainty of His resurrection and ascension into heaven.(3) The design of the whole in its adaptation to them as sinners. II. What was connected with this preaching.1. The Divine authority and approbation.2. Divine aid and support.3. Power attending their ministry. III. The effects produced. “ Many believed and turned to the Lord.”1. “ They believed.” (1) They credited the facts relative to Christ.(2) They entered into the spirit of the whole design. 2. “ They turned unto the Lord.” (1) Renounced Jewish prejudices and ceremonies.(2) They renounced justification by the law.(3) Became holy in their lives, and manifested the fruits of the Spirit. Application:1. God acts mysteriously in accomplishing His important designs.2. God never wants means to fulfil His gracious intentions.3. All instruments and means, though weak in themselves, are mighty through Divine power. (W. Kent.)The first preaching at Antioch 1. It needed a vision to impel Peter to preach to Cornelius, but here some Cypriote and African Jews, with no vision, command, nor precedent, with nothing but the truth in their minds and Christ’ s love in their hearts, unconsciously do the thing about the propriety of which there had been such serious question in Jerusalem. 2. Verse 19 is a repetition of words in an earlier chapter. The writer returns to take up another thread of his narrative contemporaneous with those already pursued. Three distinct lines of expansion appear to have started from the dispersion of the Jerusalem Church--Philip’ s mission to Samaria, Peter’ s to Cornelius, and this work in Antioch. 3. This, the effort of a handful of unnamed men, was the true “ leader” --the shoot that grew. Philip’ s work, and Peter’ s, were side branches, which came to little; this led on to a Church at Antioch, and so to Paul’ s missionary work, and all that came of that. Notice-- I. The spontaneous impulse which these men obeyed. Wherever they went they took their faith with them, and, as a matter of course, spoke about it. The coals were scattered from the hearth, but that did not put the fire out, but only spread it. They had no special injunction “ to preach the Lord Jesus.” They believed, and therefore spoke. Such a spontaneous impulse is ever the natural result of--1. A personal possession of Christ. In regard to worldly good the instinct is to keep the treasure. But even in the natural sphere there are possessions which to have is to long to impart, such as truth and knowledge. And in the spiritual sphere this is emphatically the case. The old prophet spoke a universal truth when he said: “ Thy word was as a fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Deep conviction and strong emotion demand expression. True, sometimes the deepest love can only “ love and be silent,” and there is a just suspicion of vehement protestations. But for all that, it remains true that a heart warmed with the love of Christ will give it forth, as certainly as light must radiate from its centre, or heat from a fire. 2. True kindliness of heart. We cannot truly possess the treasure for ourselves without pity for those who have it not. What kind of Christians must they be who think of Christ as “ a Saviour for me,” and take no care to set Him forth as “ a Saviour for you” ? What should we think of men in a shipwreck who were content to get into the lifeboat, and let everybody else drown? What should we think of people in a famine feasting sumptuously on their private stores? 3. Loyalty to Christ. If we are true to our Lord, we shall feel that we cannot but speak up and out for Him. He who lives among rebels and is afraid to show his colours is already a coward, and is on the way to be a traitor. Our Master has placed in our hands the honour of His name, and the carrying out of the purposes on which His heart is set. How can we be loyal to Him if we are not constrained to respond to His trust in us, and if we know nothing of the “ Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel!” II. The universal obligation on all Christians to make known Christ.1. In these early days the Church had a very loose organisation. But these fugitives had among them none even of the humble office bearers of primitive times. Neither had they any commission from Jerusalem. Whatever functions may be committed to Church officers the work of telling Christ’ s love to men belongs to everyone who has found it for himself or herself. “ This honour have all the saints.” 2. Whatever may be our differences as to Church order and offices, they need not interfere with our firm grasp of this truth. “ Preaching Christ” implies no special method of proclaiming the glad tidings. A letter to a friend, a sentence in casual conversation, a lesson to a child on a mother’ s lap, or any other way by which the great story of the Cross is told, is as truly preaching Christ as the set discourse which has usurped the name. 3. We profess to believe in the priesthood of all believers, in opposition to sacerdotal assumptions. Are we as ready to recognise it as laying a very real responsibility upon us, and involving a very practical inference as to our own conduct? Every Christian is solemnly bound to take heed to this: “ Freely ye have received, freely give.” III. The simple message which they proclaimed.1. “ Preaching Jesus as Lord.” Their message was a proclamation of the person and dignity of their Master, the story of the life of the Man, of the Divine sacrifice by which He had bought the right of supreme rule over every heart; and the urging of His claims on all who heard of His love. And this, their message, was but the proclamation of their own personal experience. They had found Jesus for themselves to be lover and Lord, and the joy they had received they sought to share with these Greeks. All have not the gifts which would fit for public speech, but all who have tasted that the Lord is gracious can tell somehow how gracious He is. The first Christian sermon was very short, and it was very efficacious, for it “ brought to Jesus” the whole congregation. “ He first findeth his brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias.” Surely we can all say that, and shall long to say it, if we are glad that we have found Him, and if we love our brother. 2. Notice, too, how simple the form of the message. “ They spake.” It was no set address, but familiar, natural talk to ones and twos, as opportunity offered. What we want is that Christian people should speak anyhow. What does the shape of the cup matter? What does it matter whether it be gold or clay? The main thing is that it shall bear the water of life to some thirsty lip. All Christians have to do is to tell the good news-- (1) Simply and faithfully, as one who only cares to repeat what he has had given to him. (2) Confidently, as having proved it true. (3) Beseechingly, as loving the souls to whom they bring it. Let His mighty salvation, experienced by yourselves, be the substance of your message, and let the form of it be guided by the old words, “ It shall be, when the Spirit of the Lord is come upon thee, that thou shalt do as occasion shall serve thee.” IV. The mighty Helper who prospered their work. “ The hand of the Lord was with them.” However feeble our hands, that mighty hand is laid on them to direct their movements and to lend strength to their weakness. It is not our speech, but His presence with our words by which a great number shall believe and turn to the Lord.(1) There is our encouragement when we are despondent. There is our rebuke when we are self-confident. (2) There is our stimulus when we are indolent. (3) There is our quietness when we are impatient. (4) If ever we are tempted to think our task heavy, let us not forget that He who set it helps us to do it. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Primitive Christianity Wearied of manifold errors and corruptions, we listen gladly when we hear of this. But, alas! those who are most ready to adopt the name are the most ready to abuse it. They boldly set out in search of it, but they lose their way in the Dark Ages, and never emerge into the Scriptural light that shines beyond. Three things appear at this point. I. The ministry of men. These evangelists kept back their own names, but put forward their Lord’ s; their only record is the multitude they brought to the Saviour. Persecution was the blast which spread the living seed. Being themselves Jews they preached at first to Jews only. The first opening into the wider world was made by Peter, but being made the crevasse widened rapidly. The theme of these evangelists was “ the Lord Jesus.” Doctrines cannot arrest and control men: they are like spirits not embodied: they elude us. But when the soul of doctrine is embodied in a person we can apprehend it, and when that Person is Jesus faith looks and lives. Primitive preaching is to tell the story of Jesus until hearts of stone give way and flow down like water. II. The hand of the Lord. The instrument human, the power Divine (1 Corinthians 3:9), just as in the cultivation of fields. Man breaks up the ground, watches, weeds, drains. The God of nature does nothing which man can do for himself. He gives rain, sun, and air. So in the cultivation of souls, as here, after man has done all he must wait for the hand of the Lord to give the increase. III. The fruit that followed. “ Believing” and “ turning to the Lord” stand in interesting relation to each other--the one the root, the other the fruit. The root of a tree lies out of sight, but the fruit can be both seen and tasted, and by it we know the tree. To believe is the secret act of the soul; to turn, etc., is the visible course of the disciple’ s life. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Primitive Christianity I. Extension. Verse 19 is a condensation of Act 11:1-18.1. To the amazement of the early Christians the Word took effect upon others besides Jews. In this way the gospel became quite as much a revelation to Jews as to Gentiles. They saw that Christianity was not a local lamp, but a sun, and as its glory brightened the distant hills and made the far-off valleys sing with new joy, they were glad; they felt themselves invested with a new responsibility, and stirred with a new hope. Some such passions should fill our hearts when we see far-off men touched by the power of Christ. Herein is a proof of the Divine origin of Christianity. All other religions remain at home. Christianity is an aggressive religion. If its professors are non-militant they give the lie to their own faith. In the universality of the Christian offer I see its Godhood. Luxuries are only here and there, but necessaries are everywhere. Wines do not grow everywhere. But men need water, not wine. Some of God’ s gifts are local and individual, but whatever is necessary to salvation is to be spoken in every language of earth. 2. There are two typical instances in the narrative. Christianity touched the mind of the centurion. Let him represent Roman strength, sternness, law, dignity. Christianity touched the Grecian mind. Let that stand for refinement, elegance, philosophy, for the completing line of human thought and service. Christianity becomes Roman to the Roman, Grecian to the Grecian--a great rock to the rocky man, a rainbow to the dreaming genius, a summer light to the poet’ s fancy. No other religion does this. II. Recognition. What was the effect of the news upon the Church? At once they sent Barnabas to inquire.1. When he came he saw the grace of God. There is no mistaking it. It is like nothing else. Imitations perish under scrutiny, but the real grace of God grows upon examination. He did not find a number of technical theologians, skilful disputants. He found men praying, with eager minds, with forgiving souls, more on high than below. 2. When Barnabas saw this he was glad. Is the farmer glad when he sees corn growing upon land on which it never grew before? It is so the Christian feels when he sees strange men turning to the faith. Are we glad when we see men converted? Do newly-converted men find a warm, cordial, comforting atmosphere in the Church when they come in? 3. Having made this recognition, Barnabas said, “ Now with full purpose of heart you must cleave unto the Lord!” Exhortation will do more than suspicion. A word of encouragement is what young beginners in the Christian race require. You who gave your heart to Christ a week ago or a month since--persevere. 4. Why did Barnabas take so much interest in these new converts? Because “ he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” Good men see goodness in other men. Evil be to him who evil thinks. The good man comes to be made glad. With a charitable spirit, and benign and hopeful heart, he looks upon the work, and it must be very bad if he does not see in it something to quicken his own faith, and deepen his own grace, and heighten his own love to God. 5. What was the consequence? “ Much people was added unto the Lord.” Barnabas did not go to Antioch for nothing--the work grew upon him, and now he said, “ Saul must come.” So he brought him to the Syrian capital, and there for a whole year they taught much people. Thus are spheres found for men, and thus have men sometimes to tarry at Tarsus till their proper Antioch is found. But God will find it. III. Proof (Acts 11:27-30). Were the men at Antioch really converted? Read in Acts 11:29 the proof. These men have received the Lord Jesus; and instantly on hearing that men who are partakers of the same faith are in prospect of want, they send to such men under the name of “ brethren,” according to their ability. This is how Christianity works. Here is the communism of the Church. The formal communism of chap. 2. soon broke down, but the spiritual communism must continue forever. Wherever there is Christian need, Christian brotherhood must be acknowledged. The Cross broke down the middle wall of partition, and made the human family one. Conclusion: “ And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” This name stands above all other names today. Of no man is so much expected as the Christian. The man who despises your faith expects from you on its account what he expects from no other man. So he answers himself. After having traduced your Lord, and disproved your documents, and cast scorn on your theology, if you do anything that calls down his displeasure he is the first to accuse of treason to the faith you profess. I ask for no higher intellectual and moral recognition of the purity of the religion of Jesus Christ. From no atheist is so much expected as from the weakest Christian. By Christians I understand Christ-ones, and were we what we ought to be there should be no other designation. (J. Parker, D. D.)The spread of the gospel Here we trace a series of providences-- I. In the instrumentalities. As the gospel was to be first preached to the Jews, it was fitting that Jews should be the first to proclaim it. Between that people, however, and all other nations, there existed formidable barriers. When, therefore, the time was come for them to be broken down, some medium must be found less hampered than the Jews by prejudice, and at the same time so far Jewish as to have received from the Jews the gospel. Such a medium was afforded here (Acts 2:19) by Greeks who had become Jewish proselytes. Belonging to a class “ who sometime were afar off,” to whom should they turn so naturally as to their kindred, the Greeks? As, when the fulness of time was come for Christ to be born, God had prepared Gentile watchers to be looking for His star, so when the gospel was ready for the world the same Providence had prearranged that messengers fitted for the work should be ready to be to it as wings to bear it on its worldwide flight. It is ever thus. He who has prepared the gospel for the race, prepares means for its extension. In this God has often been in advance of His Church. When she has faltered He has opened ways into regions beyond, where His preordained messengers might plant Christian standards. II. The place. Antioch was a centre of commanding influence. If the new religion could be planted in this queen of Gentile cities, with her wealth, her culture, her sources of widespread influence, her teeming thousands, then the followers of Christ would stand on vantage ground unequalled. And this was substantially accomplished. Antioch became a Christian city. In the time of Theodosius it is alleged that one half of her population were professed followers of Christ. Between the years 252 and 380 A.D., ten Christian assemblies were here convened. Here Paul exercised his first systematic ministerial work, and from this point he started on all his missionary journeys. Here Chrysostom was born, and here Ignatius wielded his mighty power for the Christian faith. Thus, this city, where the first Gentile Church was gathered, exerted for centuries a controlling influence in spreading the new religion. From this let us, who are now entrusted with the gospel, learn--1. To be bold. Christ calls for no timorous messengers. Christianity is in this world to conquer, and it will. 2. To plant the gospel in centres of influence. There were other cities than Antioch, but none of so extended and controlling influence. III. Is shaping the immediate results.1. The name by which, for all ages, the followers of Christ are to be known (Acts 2:26). To the formation of this word each of the three leading nations of earth made a contribution. The thought is Jewish, denoting “ The Anointed One” ; the root, Χριστ, is Greek; the termination, ιανοὶ, is Latin. Thus, in the providence of God, the same three nations whose differing dialects proclaimed above the Cross, “ Jesus, the King of the Jews,” now unite in forming a word which for all time shall be applied to those who follow Christ. 2. The breaking down of jealousies between Jewish and Gentile converts, as seen in (1) The mission of Barnabas.(2) The generosity evoked by the prophecy of Agabus. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)The spread of the gospel I. Believing in Christ’ s name. In this story three forces are to be noted.1. Persecution (Acts 2:19). The devil made nothing when he stirred this up. The blood of the martyred Stephen was the seed of many Churches. 2. Conservatism. “ Speaking the Word to none save only to Jews.” Conscientiously seeking “ the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Unlike Peter, they had had no vision. They were acting under the impulse of hereditary bigotry and natural affiliations. 3. Progression. “ Some of them … spake unto the Greeks also.” Notice-- (1) That it was only “ some of them.” When an old bondage is to be thrown off, emancipation comes to individuals before it comes to the many. (2) That it was not native Jews. Men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who had associated with Greeks as well as with Jews, it was as easy for them to speak to the one as to the other, and, not blinded by Jewish prejudice, they could see their equal right to the benefit of the sacrifice upon Calvary. (3) That they were unknown men. In the time of Chrysostom about 100,000 were reputed to be Christian--here truly a great result from the efforts of a few obscure men. (4) That their work was a simple one. They held up Jesus as Saviour and Lord--that which any other earnest disciple of Christ can do, and must do if the world is to be evangelised. (5) That their work was immediately attested. “ The hand of the Lord was with them.” II. Known by Christ’ s name. Let us see how this came about.1. The work reported (Acts 2:22). 2. The work approved. (1) The sending. The case of Cornelius had prepared the Church at Jerusalem for such tidings. Perhaps they were afraid that the workers might do some things ill-advised, but they showed their sympathy with the work by sending such a man as Barnabas. (2) The rejoicing. The joy of Barnabas was the best sort of approval. Barnabas knew the Lord’ s handiwork when he saw it. (3) The exhortation. Barnabas believed in the perseverance of the saints--not in putting the hand to the plough, and then looking back. God wants no ninety-day recruits in His service. His enlistment roll is for life. Note, that continued fidelity to Him comes from “ purpose of heart,” rather than purpose of the will or conviction of the head. (4) The man. “ For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith.” This statement is given as the reason why Barnabas so instantly showed his sympathy with the work among the Gentiles. 3. The work assisted. (1) By the countenance that Barnabas gave to it. “ And much people was added to the Lord.” As a representative of the Church at Jerusalem his approval would give the work a new impetus, as being done under the sanction of the Church. To this was added the force of his own personality, made potential by his goodness and possession of faith and the Holy Spirit. (2) By the united efforts of Barnabas and Saul. The work too great for one. The glory of much of Paul’ s career is due to the man who believed in Paul, and gave to him his opportunity. Many a man who is no Paul himself may set a Paul to work. The revival, as such, appears to have been over, and they devoted themselves to instructing these converts in the new faith they had professed. 4. The new name. “ The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” III. Helping believers is Christ’ s name (Acts 2:27-30). The starving Jewish believers at Jerusalem learned how good it was to have brethren not of the direct seed of Abraham. The Gentiles and Jews indeed had become “ one flock, one Shepherd.” (M. C. Hazard.)The diffusive Tower of the gospel As there is in all living objects a reproductive capacity, so the gospel has in it a certain vitality which ensures its diffusion. Our Lord illustrates this in His parables of the wheat and the mustard seed. The incident of the text is a singular illustration of this wonderful potency. Note, here-- I. The stimulating power of the gospel.1. These men of Cyprus and Cyrene continued without the least abatement of zeal to preach the gospel whilst in the very act of fleeing for their life. The storm of persecution seemed rather to fan the flame of their holy enthusiasm. 2. This enthusiasm is the Christian’ s normal condition. The religion of Jesus is a religion of love and gratitude, and where these emotions abound they never fail to kindle enthusiasm. In the face of this, an apathetic, unimpassioned Christian is an anomaly as incongruous in conception as a frozen sunbeam or a petrified flame. The sun floats in an atmosphere of flame, which is the source of its marvellous influence over scores of worlds, of its power to quicken their myriad forms of life. The true Christian is a moral sun surrounded by an atmosphere of enthusiasm. 3. This enthusiasm, born of love and gratitude, constitutes the gospel’ s most effective guarantee for its diffusion. For in nothing is this enthusiasm more assiduously manifested than in efforts to spread the story of the love which kindled it. 4. This enthusiasm the gospel is ever capable of awakening. So long as its power of benefiting men remains, so long will its power of awakening gratitude remain, and where this gratitude exists there will be enthusiasm ever impelling men to self-sacrificing labours for Christ. 5. This spirit should, however, be manifested not in the ministry alone, nor in the more official walks of Christian service, but should permeate equally all its humbler forms. Wherever present it illumines the most commonplace things, and invests the humblest service of God’ s house with sublime dignity. II. Its assimilative power--its power of raising men’ s minds into loving unison with its own spirit and aim. This comes out in relation to these men in the fact that they preached the gospel to the Greeks--uncircumcised heathen.1. It was a course of action for which they had no precedent, and was opposed to all their previous notions. Such views came even to apostles only as the result of extraordinary training. Could it come to them otherwise than by the broadening and heart-expanding influence of the gospel itself? They rightly apprehended that a scheme so rich in grace and wisdom must comprehend all nations. As with the ancient Jews, so is it with many modern Christians. There is a tendency to regard the grace of God as the special monopoly of a sect. Such feeling will cramp every effort to extend its operations. The gospel must be viewed as a thing destined for humanity, and it is only in the measure that Christians rise to this conception that their hearts will receive that breadth which will bring them into sympathy with every institution having for its object the realisation of its world-embracing aims. 2. But this new departure involved considerably more than the breaking away from Jewish traditions. In preaching to the Jews, the utmost that they had had to encounter were Jewish prejudices regarding the Messiah. They both believed in the Scriptures; but in presenting the gospel to the Greeks they were brought face to face with idolatry--a foe which enlisted every element likely to secure the sympathy of corrupt human nature. They had also to confront philosophies commended by the highest culture. Before these men could have ventured to initiate such a stupendous campaign, they must have had the most unfaltering conviction that the gospel was fully adequate to grapple with every form of opposition that the heathen world could furnish. Have we not in the firm, unwavering faith of these men in the gospel a most fitting lesson for the times? There are still to be encountered prejudices as strong as Jewish intolerance, abominations as foul as ever characterised ancient heathendom, assumptions of science and philosophy far more daring and arrogant than those of apostolic times. Like these men, we must not only believe that the gospel is for all men, but, also, that it is a power capable of overcoming every opposition standing in the way of it reaching all men. III. Its utilising power. These persons were not recognised preachers, but men constrained to engage in the work by force of circumstances. Had they been persons of official standing their names would have been given. Philip, who was a deacon, is mentioned by name when his evangelistic labours are referred to. The lessons are--1. That efforts to promote the spread of the gospel are not to be confined to those formally set apart. Offices are necessary. Christ has ordained them. This was essential to ensure order and steady systematic labour. Unofficial labour is subject to ebbs and flows, and hence the need of a duly appointed class to ensure regular and unbroken efforts. In countries subject to long droughts extensive systems of irrigation are provided to ensure a steady supply of moisture. But the falling rain, however intermittent, is no less welcome. Similarly the irregular services of voluntary workers are peculiarly acceptable to Christ, and He has not only sanctioned but enjoined such. 2. It is a great defect that ordinary Church members have come to regard all efforts to promote the cause of Christ as an obligation resting solely upon the official portion of the Church. Consequently-- (1) They make no personal effort to promote the salvation of their fellow men, and manifest the utmost indifference with regard to Sabbath school work and the operations of kindred agencies. (2) The effect of this notion upon the official section of the Church is no less disastrous. It becomes the prolific source of some of the worst evils of priestism. The ministry becomes isolated from the people, and is lifted up with an undue sense of its authority, and surrounds itself with an air of cool official propriety. 3. The highest ideal of a Christian Church, and the one which is most in harmony with the primitive type, is that in which both official and voluntary agencies are found skilfully blended and wisely cooperating. (1) Those spiritual energies and aspirations awakened by the influence of the gospel in the breast of every Christian would by voluntary labours obtain a proper channel for development and usefulness. Personal piety would gain considerably in breadth and depth by being called upon to act and interest itself on behalf of souls; and officers, looking on the results, would be “ glad,” and would work with redoubled ardour, and so many would be turned to the Lord. (2) By these efforts Christianity becomes clearly recognised. “ The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” (3) Generous sympathies are evoked (Acts 2:27-30). (4) Gifts are multiplied. This Church abounded in prophets and teachers. (5) Spheres of usefulness are indefinitely widened. To this Church was allotted the great honour of being made the centre of the first systematic efforts to evangelise the world. It seemed fitting that a Church, thus composed of Gentile converts, should become the principal channel for communicating the blessings of the gospel to their own brethren in the flesh (chap. 13:3). (A. J. Parry.)How the manifold gifts of Christians contribute to the general use 1. Those who are received as guests give the gospel as a present in return (Acts 2:19-21): 2. Those who possess the Word in abundance impart it to those who are in the first beginnings (Acts 2:22-28). 3. Those who are blessed with earthly wealth assist those who have nothing (Acts 2:29-30). (Lisco.)The essentials of successful work 1. Undaunted courage in opposition to the world (Acts 2:19).2. Docile attention to the Divine intimations (Acts 2:22).3. Brotherly concord among the labourers. (K. Gerok.)Christ all in all to His Church I. The central subject of preaching (Acts 2:20). II. The light and power of believers (Acts 2:21; Acts 2:23). III. The example and model of ministers (Acts 2:24-25). IV. The name and watchword of the Church. (K. Gerok.) Acts 11:21 The hand of the Lord. The hand The word “ hand” occurs in Scripture no fewer than 1,295 times. Man is the only being on earth that is furnished with two hands. Some other creatures have claws, but not hands. They cannot do as you can, make the thumb meet all the four fingers, so as to seize and hold all the most minute objects; nor can they perform one thousandth part of the skilful acts that man can perform with his hand. What other creature, e.g., can make a watch, or a needle? And there is power in man’ s hand as well as skill; he can apply force in ways which none of them can approach. I. In relations to God Himself, the word “ hand” is used--1. To denote His eternal purpose and almighty power (Acts 4:28; Acts 4:30). 2. To denote His mighty power to keep, defend, preserve (John 10:28-29; Isaiah 49:2). 3. To express His rich, providential provision for the wants of all His creatures (Psalms 104:28; 1 Chronicles 29:16). 4. To signify God’ s right to be, as He is, the sovereign disposer of all circumstances, persons, and events (Psalms 31:15; Job 2:10). 5. When His inflictions and corrections are referred to (Judges 2:15; Psalms 32:4; Hebrews 10:31). 6. To denote His power to help (Psalms 74:11; Ezra 7:6; Ezra 7:9; Ezra 8:18; Ezra 8:22; Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 2:18; Psalms 80:17; Luke 1:66). As an expression for God’ s Spirit, putting the spirit of power into us, as well as of love and of a sound mind (Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 3:14; Ezekiel 3:22; Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 37:1). We can be strong for any high and arduous duty only in His strength; all power indeed, all energy of purpose, all special skill in any art, cometh of Him. And not only is this spoken of as God’ s “ hand” as the mover, but the term is applied to the agent--the doer of the particular thing. The men of the world are spoken of as God’ s “ hand” ; and His hand is also to be upon all them for good who seek Him. The “ right hand,” as specially denoting power, is an expression that often occurs in Scripture, and is almost always applied to God (Psalms 16:11; Psalms 17:7; Psalms 20:6; Psalms 21:8; Psalms 44:3; Psalms 45:4; Psalms 45:9; Psalms 48:10; Psalms 60:5; Psalms 63:8; Psalms 74:1; Psalms 48:13; Psalms 62:8; Mark 16:19; Hebrews 1:3, etc., etc.). II. In relation to man the word “ hand” is used--1. To denote power in all its various applications (Proverbs 3:27; Ecclesiastes 9:10). To “ give one’ s hand” is an expression which signifies to pledge peace, promise security, swear friendship, make an alliance. 2. To denote help (Psalms 16:8; Psalms 73:23; Psalms 142:4). 3. To indicate possession, as to rend it out of the hand of anyone denotes deprivation (1 Kings 11:11-12). 4. For the giving of advice (2 Samuel 14:19; 2 Samuel 14:5). 5. For deliverance from the power and oppression of others (Exodus 18:9-10). 6. To denote work of any kind (Luke 1:1; Luke 9:62; Acts 20:34; Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 12:24). (S. Jenner, M. A.)A great number believed, and turned, to the Lord.--Conversions desired I. The end which we desire.1. That men may believe the testimony of Christ to be true. There are some who have not reached as far as that: they reject the inspired Word, and to them the incarnation, etc., are so many old wives’ fables. There are also many who profess to believe these things, but their only reason is that they have been taught so, and it is the current religion of the nation. But we want more than this faith of indifference, which is little more than unbelief; we want men to believe for themselves because they have felt the saving power of Christ. We pray that nominal believers may treat the doctrines of revelation, not as dogmas, but as facts. 2. That men may savingly believe by putting their trust in Christ. A man commits his soul to Christ for safe keeping, and that saves him. He makes the Saviour trustee of his spiritual estates. 3. That men may so believe in Jesus that they may be turned unto the Lord. This means-- (1) To turn from idols to the living and true God. We desire that faith in Jesus may lead you to give up the objects of your idolatrous love, yourselves, your money, your pleasures, the world, the flesh, the devil. (2) To turn from the love of sin. He who looks sinward has his back to God--he who looks Godward has his back to sin. (3) That henceforth God shall he sought in prayer. The man who lives without prayer lives without God, but the man who has turned to God is familiar with the mercy seat. (4) To yield yourself obediently to His sway. Faith is nothing unless it brings with it a willing mind. II. The power by which this can be attained. “ The hand of the Lord was with them.” Be encouraged; the hand of God--1. Is upon men before we speak. I am studying a certain subject, and praying for a blessing on it, and in a chamber, which I have never seen, one of my hearers is smitten with a sense of sin, or troubled with uneasy thoughts, or rendered hopeful of better things, and thus he is being made ready to accept the Christ whom I shall preach to him. Sickness and pain, shame and poverty, often produce a condition of mind most hopeful for the reception of the gospel. Sow, brother, for God has ploughed. Go up and build, for God has prepared the stones and made ready the foundation. 2. Upon the teachers and preachers themselves. There are strange impulses which come over us at times, which make us think and say what otherwise had never crossed our minds, and these work with power upon men’ s minds. 3. Upon the hearts of men when the gospel is preached. Not only is the Spirit in the Word, but over and above that He makes men-- (1) Recollect their sins. Men who have been giddy and careless and forgetful have on a sudden found themselves reviewing the past. (2) See the beauty of holiness. When the preacher proclaims the way of salvation the Spirit leads men to admire it and to long for a share in it. Yes, it is not the preacher, and it is not altogether what the preacher says, but there is a power abroad as potent as that by which the worlds were made. III. The desirableness of our object. Because conversions--1. Promote the extension of truth, godliness, and virtue. 2. Make men happy. If religion be indeed a source of joy to yourself, you are inhuman if you do not wish others to drink of it. 3. Save men from hell. 4. Increase the Church. Self-preservation is a law of nature, and the Church can never preserve herself except by increasing from the world by conversion. 5. Promote the glory of Christ and give Him to see the travail of His soul. 6. Augment personal blessedness. IV. How we may promote its attainment.1. We must distinctly aim at it. As a rule, a man does what he tries to do, and not that which is mere by-play. There is the target, and if you continue to shoot into the air long enough an arrow may perhaps strike it; but if you want to win the prize of archery you had better fix your eye upon the white and take your aim distinctly and with skill. 2. We must press upon men the truths which God usually blesses (Acts 11:20). If we do not preach Christ we shall not see souls saved. Who ever heard of a Unitarian Whitfield, or a Socinian Moody gathering twenty thousand people to listen to a Christless gospel? We must equally avoid the modern intellectual system in all its phases. How many conversions are wrought by displays of genius, fine rhetoric, etc.? Certain views as to man’ s future are equally to be kept clear of, if you would be the means of conversion. Diminish your ideas of the wrath of God and the terrors of hell, and in that proportion you will diminish the results of your work. Other crotchets and novelties of doctrine are also to be let alone, for they are not likely to promote your object, and will most probably divert men’ s attention from the vital point. If you want a harvest, look well to your seed. If I had to sow my fields with wheat I would not take any but the very best. 3. We must feel a solemn alarm about souls. Believe their danger, their helplessness, that only Christ can save them, and talk to them as if you meant it. The Holy Spirit will move them by first moving you. 4. There must be much prayer. In your closets, at your family altars, and in your prayer meetings be importunate, and the hand of the Lord must and will be with you. 5. There must be direct personal effort on the part of all of you. Great numbers may be saved by my preaching if the Holy Spirit blesses it, but I shall expect larger numbers if you all turn witnesses for Christ. We must expect converts. “ According to your faith so be it unto you.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 11:22-26 Then tidings of these things came to the ears of the Church,…and they sent forth Barnabas.A St. Barnabas the need of the hour You know the strain and the stress of the situation recorded in my text. We are speaking of Antioch, to which Barnabas is sent. Here, then, we have a strong, central, organised Church, going its own way on somewhat new lines, with a new environment, with a new development. And yet it causes a great deal of anxiety in those who are left at home in the old places in Jerusalem. This strong, assertive child of theirs, to what will it grow, what will happen to it? The very preachers who founded it made them at Jerusalem nervous. The gospel was in them as Stephen had proclaimed it; and they knew it was for the Greeks as well as for the Jews. It was the Greeks that were flocking in, from beyond the strict borders of the old race, and it was out of this people the Church grew. Such a Church would sit light by the old traditions. It was a new capital for Christianity, with altogether Gentile associations; and habits, and customs, and interests, and environment, and style of thought, and even of language, would none of them be Jewish. How different! And it was all going on so fast! “ To what lengths are they going at Antioch? Where will they stop?” And so there was a bitter problem to solve, then as at all times; and it is difficult for us to realise how deep their anxieties would go; how possibly the Twelve would be almost as anxious as any. They might share the alarm with perfect loyalty. And then they had so much to think of--those Twelve at Jerusalem. There were the angry, hot-headed Pharisees, who believed in such numbers after the Lord had risen. They came pouring into the Church; but they were half Pharisees still. Their prejudices were very strong; and they had always been in terror of these Gentile converts; and here were the people at Antioch going ahead in a way just to give these people a sort of excuse to say, “ Ah, we told you what would happen if these foreigners were let in!” And naturally the apostles say, “ Well, we must be tender to these Jewish converts of ours, we must consider them, they are sensitive; there may be a recoil, a schism, if we do not hold in those at Antioch.” We can measure how terrible the danger was by remembering how fierce was the storm when it did finally burst on the head of St. Paul. So severe was the crisis, so imminent the peril. And yet all was warded off; the storm that afterwards broke on St. Paul was kept clear for the moment, and it was all done by one man. One name, the most honourable and beautiful; one name that could hold things together for the time; one name that could persuade, conciliate, win confidence, and avert wrath. It is the name of a man of healing, of advocacy, of intercession, of prevailing comfort--Joses, who was called Barnabas, the Son of Consolation. Now, Barnabas held this unique position, that each side of the controversy had a claim upon him. First for Jerusalem. He is, as we know, the very model and hero of the earliest Church in Jerusalem. In those very first days of the Church, when it still lingered on the Temple steps, when the apostles were altogether dominant, even then one name is singled out as specially catching the spirit of the hour--Barnabas, the Levite, who, “ having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” As if to say that in that beautiful little Church, out of the host of people who were so good, one was supremely good, and he was Barnabas. He had the very spirit of generosity and charity that marked that hour. And yet Barnabas was not himself a Jew of Jerusalem; he was not a man who had been hedged in by all the ancient barriers and customs of the Jewish life. No; he was from Cyprus; he came from the very place to which these Antioch preachers had gone. He was a Jew of the Dispersion; he had got the temper and mind of a Jew who had lived in close contact with the Gentile life; and so disposed, he had been quick to understand, accept, and trust St. Paul. He was in sympathy with the Church at Jerusalem; he was in sympathy with the freer, bolder doings of the Church at Antioch. He would know these men who were going forward with such a dash. “ Let Barnabas go” --that was the end of all these consultations. It was not a hostile mission, but one sent to allay a little alarm caused by wild rumour and exaggeration. Barnabas is just the man to review, to advise, to control anything amiss, to give confidence if he approves. So it was decided--“ They sent forth Barnabas.” It was a delicate mission; and we know what happened, and how well he carried it out. We read of his wisdom, his sympathy, his width, his firmness, his insight, his courage. He came, and he saw “ the grace of God.” Not suspicious, jealous, no standing aloof and refusing to acknowledge it. No, he saw it--it was “ grace.” Only he gave them some warnings against unsteadiness, “ exhorting them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” And then he does a most bold thing. He, so far, recognises that it is grace, true and real, that works at Antioch, that he determines to forward it with all his might; and he goes to Tarsus, where Paul is still in hiding, unable to work in a Church that suspects him. So he made the stroke of strokes--brought Saul to Antioch. That was the beginning of the work of St. Paul, of his ministry to the Gentiles; and all came from Barnabas, who had the courage to hold out his hand to Saul, and give him twice over to the Church. So triumphantly did he keep the unity of the Church and avert the storm. Antioch goes on growing apace, Barnabas and Paul working hand in hand for a whole year, “ assembling themselves with the Church and teaching much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” “ Barnabas,” the mediator between the contrasted forces that press for mastery over the fortunes of the Church. Ah! yes, we need his name still, today as much as ever. There is always a Jerusalem and an Antioch in the story of the Church. There is always an Antioch being occupied, always some new centre of action to be taken up, some new post on the line of advance, some new venture to be made, breaking new ground. There must always be a new Antioch where the fresh forces of civilisation and culture are active--forces which the Church must go out to, and establish herself in the midst of them. They cannot be reached from the old centres. There must be some adaptation of methods to reach them. Then Jerusalem too. There is--there always ought to be--“ Jerusalem” behind us--the witness to the Eternal Truth, the unchanging apostolic deposit, on which the passage of time marks no alteration; there must always be the infallible experience, which touched, which felt, and knew the Word of God--the old, firm, solid centre, whence indeed all new effort must take its rise. Jerusalem--the sacred hearth of the holy fire whence all other fires were lighted; the ancient home, dear to all who name the One Name, Jesus Christ--Jerusalem, the mother of us all. There must always be Jerusalem, and always Antioch; but the difficulty is to keep the two together. Each will be apt to misjudge and to think the worse of the other. Each will judge the other by its most perilous adherents. At Jerusalem they will hear of nothing of Antioch but what is headstrong, reckless, rash, audacious, insolent. At Antioch they will be groaning at the rigid stiffness and obstinacy, nervous timidity, narrowness, and suspiciousness of Jerusalem. So there will alway be the need of a Barnabas, ready to pass from the one to the other centre; gracious, capable, sympathetic, loyal to the backbone; yet appreciative, sensitive, inside the movement, strong yet benign. Such men save the Church at each sharp crisis in her story. We want this son of advocacy to hold us together, someone who is courageous without hardness, conciliatory without weakness, who is so strong that he can afford to be firm. We shall want him in days to come I doubt not. We remember the simple qualification that the Bible gives of St. Barnabas--“ He was a man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” That is all we want--someone sound and healthy to the core, someone felt to be morally wholesome, to have a good heart and a good nature all through, with nothing perverted or twisted about him, a man who has proportion and balance, and all his gifts in genial exercise. That first, “ full of the Holy Ghost” --that Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of advocacy, who is so strong, who is so sweet and gentle--that Holy Ghost who is the very power that binds these two opposite gifts. He is the Spirit of fire, of vehement decision, the unconquerable purging force. And yet the Spirit of the wind--the Spirit so pliable, so elastic, so sensitive, so free, so moving, so quick, so ready to pass in and out, “ blowing where it listeth.” The fire and the wind, strength and gentleness--that is the power of this blessed Spirit of God. Barnabas has both gifts; and we want a Barnabas nourished by the Holy Ghost, and so lifted and transformed by the power of Him who is fire and wind, to be full of faith, to be full of loyalty to the living Christ. (H. Scott Holland, M. A.)Barnabas at Antioch I. What Barnabas was.1. “ He was a good man” --a man of a kind, affable, and courteous disposition. This “ goodness,” which is one of the fruits of God’ s Spirit, should characterise all Christians. It-- (1) Adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour. (2) Attracts the notice of the unhappy worldling. (3) Wins the affections of the young. 2. He was also full of the Holy Ghost. An amiable disposition does not make a Christian. There are many whom we esteem for their sweetness of character, but who, like the young man that Jesus loved, yet lack one thing--the gift of the Holy Ghost. (1) No man can be said to be a true Christian till the Holy Spirit has shown him his guilt, and led him to the Saviour. (2) No man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. (3) The sons of God are led by, pray, walk, and live in the Spirit. 3. He was full of faith. He had the most implicit confidence in the remedy he was to apply to the souls of men. II. What he saw. “ The grace of God” --i.e., its effects. These are sometimes seen in men’ s--1. Countenances. Wisdom “ maketh the face to shine.” “ A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.” And what can make the heart so merry as the assurance of salvation? Stephen’ s face was as “ the face of an angel.” Thus, too, was it with Moses. The believer may not be conscious of this heavenly expression. Others, however, will observe it. 2. Conversation. “ Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” A man cannot himself feel the value of the Saviour without commending His preciousness to others. 3. Conduct. A tree is known by its fruits, so are believers known by their works. III. What he felt. He was glad because--1. Souls were saved. A thirsty traveller would not rejoice over a dry well, nor a musician over a tuneless organ. Nor will the believer rejoice over ordinances, however well administered, unless he has evidence afforded that Christ is faithfully preached, and that good is being done to the souls of men. 2. A public profession of Christ was made. “ With the heart man believeth, but with his mouth he maketh confession.” Nothing gives so much consolation and influence to a minister and his people as when they first see one and then another coming out from the world and joining themselves boldly to the Lord’ s side. 3. Christ’ s presence was vouchsafed. Excellent as are a pure creed, a large Church, and an attentive congregation, the faithful minister will esteem them but formal and unprofitable unless he can see resting upon his labours Christ’ s presence and blessing. IV. What he did. Barnabas knew the weakness of the flesh and the power of Satan; and hence, although he saw the grace of God, he rejoiced with trembling. He saw the tree covered indeed with blossoms, and this made him the more anxious lest any of those blossoms should be blighted. He therefore exhorted these disciples. In every age similar exhortation has been needful. There are now, as there were then, false teachers, and temptations to seduce men from Christ into the world. Suffer ye the word of exhortation.1. Do I address any who are growing weary in well-doing?--any who are beginning to be backsliders? I have an errand, O worldly professor, to thee: “ Remember Lot’ s wife.” Arouse yourselves, then, and do your first works. 2. I am doubtless addressing some who do not wish to be considered as religious professors. Now you I cannot exhort “ to cleave unto the Lord,” for you have never yet come to the Lord. To you I address this: “ If in that day the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (C. Clayton, M. A.)The mission of Barnabas I. Authenticated the genuineness of Christianity at Antioch. Verses 23, 24, shows us that personal Christianity--1. Is essentially identified with Divine grace. It-- (1) Originates in it. “ Of His own will begat He us.”(2) Is sustained by it.(3) Is a reflection of it. 2. Is an observable fact. Barnabas saw it. It is not an inoperative sentiment, a light under a bushel. It must reveal itself. (1) The ruling spirit of life is new. There is a new heart. Old things are passed away. (2) The master purpose of life is new. The aim is not how to serve self or the world, but to glorify God. (3) The prevailing conduct of life is new. Converted men are about their Father’ s business. 3. In its extension delights the heart of the good. They know that as it spreads-- (1) The world’ s happiness will be promoted. It is the only power that works off social, political, and moral evils. (2) God’ s character will be revealed. It clears away all that conceals the moral beauty of God. 4. In its development is dependent on personal efforts. Though it originates in Divine grace, it is only kept by cleaving to God. II. Gave a new name to the disciples.1. Though given in derision-- (1) It towers above every other name.(2) Represents the highest thinking.(3) Stands for the Divinest sympathies.(4) Is the inspiration of the grandest enterprises.(5) Produces the sublimest characters. 2. Is destined to supersede all other names that have usurped its place. III. Developed a new spirit of beneficence (Acts 11:27-30). This was--1. Individual. “ Every man.” There was no one who did not contribute something. 2. Proportionate. “ According to his ability” --not according to what others did or expected. 3. Prompt. They did not postpone it for future consideration. 4. Judicious (Acts 11:30). (D. Thomas, D. D.) Acts 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad.The grace of God I. Its source.1. God is the God of all grace (1 Peter 5:10).2. God is the giver of (Psalms 84:11).3. God’ s throne is the throne of (Hebrews 4:16).4. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of (Zechariah 12:10; Hebrews 10:29).5. Christ was full of (John 1:14).6. Came by Christ (John 1:17; Romans 5:15).7. Given by Christ (1 Corinthians 1:4). II. How described.1. As great (Acts 4:33).2. Abundant (Romans 5:20-21).3. Rich (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:7).4. Exceeding (2 Corinthians 9:14).5. Manifold (1 Peter 4:10).6. All-sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).7. True (1 Peter 5:12).8. Glorious (Ephesians 1:6; Ephesians 1:9). III. Its necessity.1. Necessary to God’ s service (Hebrews 12:28).2. Necessary that Jesus may be glorified in the saints (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12).3. Necessary to prevent pride (Romans 4:4-5; Romans 11:6; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians if. 7-9).4. Saints are what they are by (1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 1:12). IV. Its recipients. Saints--1. Are heirs of (1 Peter 3:7).2. Receive from Christ (John 1:16).3. Abound in gifts of (Acts 4:33; 2 Corinthians 8:1; 2 Corinthians 9:8; 2 Corinthians 9:14).4. Should be established in (Hebrews 13:9).5. Should be strong in (2 Timothy 2:1).6. Should grow in (2 Peter 3:18).7. Should speak with (Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6). (S. S. Times.)The grace of God I. What are we to understand by the grace of God?1. His free love or favour (Ephesians 2:5), by which believers are delivered from the curse of a broken law, from wrath, from the guilt, love, and dominion of sin.2. A Divine principle in the heart (2 Peter 3:18; Colossians 3:16). II. How this grace may be seen.1. In spiritual quickening (Ephesians 2:1).2. In the work of conversion.3. In the outward deportment (Matthew 7:17; Matthew 12:35).4. By the company kept.5. By the places of resort frequented (Psalms 84:1-2). III. The effect the sight had on Barnabas.1. He was glad-- (1) That sinners were called,(2) That their lives were reformed.(3) That Christ was believed on.(4) That the gospel was received.(5) That God was glorified thereby. 2. He exhorted them to cleave unto the Lord. (1) Unto His Person.(2) To His blood for pardon.(3) His righteousness for acceptance.(4) His fulness for supplies of grace. (S. Barnard.)A glorious sight and a good man 1. That persecution, instead of silencing, has spread the gospel. “ Tidings of these things.” What things? The persecution which had Saul for its instigator, Stephen for its martyr, and the widespread distribution of Christians for its effect. 2. That God can render any pious agency in His Church soul saving and successful. The founders of this Church at Antioch, which was destined to play a most conspicuous and commanding part in the history of the Church, do not appear to have been apostles, or regular ministers. 3. That whenever God extends His Church, the Church should add to her concernment and care. The Church at Jerusalem does not appear to have taken umbrage at what was going on at Antioch. They did not say, “ This is irregular, we must interdict it; this has not had our sanction, it must receive our condemnation.” They would not pronounce a judgment until they had investigated the cause. They selected a true and trusty messenger; they sent him, as far as I can see, not as a spy, or a critic, or a censor, but as a friend, an inquirer, a counsellor. The eye of Barnabas filled his heart. He was “ glad.” I. What he saw. He saw “ the grace which (is) of God” (τὴνχάριντὴντοῦθεοῦ), i.e., the grace which is manifestly, unmistakably, of God. But how could he see that which in itself is invisible? The grace of God is as viewless as the wind, as impalpable as gravitation. It is a life, and it grows; a leaven, and it leavens the lump; but we might look in vain to see the growth of life, or the influence of leaven. How then did Barnabas see the grace of God? He saw it, as other invisible things are seen, by its effects. We cannot see the wind; but when the trees rustle and their leaves wave, we know that it is because the wind blows. We cannot see gravitation; but when the earth rotates, producing day and night, and revolves, producing the seasons of the year, with their characteristic varieties and attractive beauties, we see by these effects that gravitation is at work. We cannot see the tree grow; but we know from its foliage and its fruit that it must have grown. It is thus the invisible puts on visibility; and “ the invisible things” --even of God Himself--“ are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” Where the grace of God is, ignorance of God, both shameful and baneful, gives place to a knowledge of Him which is as wondrous as glorious. Virtue supersedes vice, holiness displaces wickedness, the liar becomes truthful, the blasphemer reverent, the cruel merciful, the selfish beneficent; in fine, God’ s grace transforms the lion of violence and vice into the lamb of innocence and uprightness. Now, Barnabas saw the wondrous effects of God’ s grace upon the Grecian believers at Antioch. He saw idolaters discarding their gods, and turning to the “ Living God.” “ Is not this the finger of God?” II. what he felt. Great sights always produce inappreciative observers, powerful emotions. The stupendous works of God, the splendid productions of art, and the manifold inventions of genius, in this way fascinate the eye and stimulate the mind of those who study them. But for a devout mind no sight is so pleasing, and no work so glorious, as the progress and peace of God’ s Church. Of what character was his gladness?1. Sympathetic. We are sometimes glad, and sometimes sad, we know not why. Now, it was holy unction, associated with a holy gathering, and admitted by a holy sympathy, that led Barnabas, “ when he saw the grace of God,” to be “ glad.” 2. Intelligent. Sympathy is a distinguished power in man, but it is not a distinctive prerogative. It exists, often in a larger degree, in the “ inferior creatures” around him. But if they feel, if they love, if they rejoice like him in virtue of a sympathetic nature, they are not like him endowed with the powers of reason and the appliances of ratiocination. So here, Barnabas not only felt when be saw this sight, but he thought; and whether he looked upon it with a sympathetic eye, or reflected with an intelligent mind, he saw equal cause for gladness. For what did this work imply? It implied the presence and the propitiousness of God. It implied the triumph of truth over falsehood, and of Christ’ s beneficent rule over the devil’ s foul usurpation. If, then, Barnabas had looked upon this spiritual phenomenon as a Christian philosopher only, he might well have been, as he was, “ glad.” 3. Religious. If, however, as a social and an intellectual man, Barnabas found gladness in the contemplation of this scene, how much more as a religious man and a gospel minister? It was his religion, indeed, that gave complexion and character to the whole case. It was his goodness that gave to him his gladness. Hence Acts 11:23, declaring his gladness, is conjoined with Acts 11:24, describing his goodness. “ For he was a good man,” etc. III. What he did. Barnabas was called Paraclesis (a name similar to that given to the Holy Ghost), and, in harmony with his name, he “ exhorted them” (παρεκάλει)--encouraged them, comforted them. Now, his exhortation related to three distinct objects.1. To God. In fine, God alone is the great Guide, the Almighty Guard, the impregnable Fortress, and the everlasting Friend of His people; and to cleave unto Him is at once their duty, their safety, and their glory. Then think how suggestive this word “ cleave” is. To cleave to anything is to grasp it firmly, to hold it tenaciously, and to prefer to be torn in pieces rather than to be torn from it. It is thus the ivy cleaves to the oak, the sailor hangs to the rope that is to rescue him from a furious sea and a watery grave, and thus Ruth “ clave” unto Naomi. “ Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her” ; and the incident teaches how much more there is in cleaving than in kissing. So let young converts, and even aged saints, cleave unto or continue “ to abide with the Lord” ; then they will avoid every by-path. 2. To their own hearts. “ With purpose of heart.” There is tremendous force in these words. Without a purpose a man in this world will never become a power--never! Abraham and Moses, Paul and Peter, Augustine and Peter the Hermit, Luther and Knox, Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer, wielded great powers because they were swayed by great purposes. But of all purposes, that of the heart is this most thorough. It quails in presence of no danger. The eye may fail to see the shore from which we sail; the hand may fail to hold its grasp, or may be severed from its object; but when the eye is lost in distance, and the hand is no longer capable of grasping, the heart “ clings” to a land it cannot see, and to a person or cause it cannot grasp--“ clings” with infinite longing and undying love. 3. To their entire number. He exhorted them “ all.” This shows-- (1) His impartiality. He did not select for special regard the rich, the learned, and the Hellenist, to the exclusion of the poor, the unlearned, and the Hebrew. (2) His discrimination, He knew full well there were duties which were not common to all Christians. (John Stokoe.)Apostolic generosity in encouraging goodness The character in which St. Barnabas is here presented to us is that of a person greatly rejoicing in other men’ s goodness. He was glad when he saw the grace of God in his brethren. Of his doing so, there are several other instances; indeed, almost the whole of his conduct towards St. Paul is full, from the beginning, of such generous and affectionate joy. Now, concerning this disposition to rejoice in other men’ s goodness, it is much easier to see how amiable it looks in others than to practise it one’ s self in good earnest. Do not men envy others, not merely for their outward advantages, but for their goodness itself; especially for those parts of goodness which they themselves have not the heart to imitate? It is an ancient story, told of a virtuous heathen, that when a loud outcry was once raised against him, and he was to be banished from his country, a person of whom he asked a reason why he gave his vote against him, replied, “ I have no objection to you, but I am quite tired of hearing everyone call you the Just.” And so throughout life, there is a disposition in the unrenewed heart to grudge all those graces which go too far beyond itself; a disposition the very opposite to that which the Holy Ghost wrought in St. Barnabas by faith. He rejoiced, but these are sorry, on beholding the grace of God. It certainly must require no small faith to believe that it is better on the whole for others to do the good which you desire than for it to be done by yourself. St. Barnabas must have his heart steadily fixed on the unseen rewards prepared on high, to make him acquiesce thus joyfully in his companion, St. Paul, receiving so much more of the encouragement provided for apostolical men in this life. Such self-denial, when regularly kept up, and not only indulged now and then, out of laziness or partial affection, is one of the clearest tokens that God’ s Holy Spirit is with men, preparing them for eternal glory. And it is seen in nothing so much as in making persons continually watchful, to cherish and confirm one another in every good purpose of heart; in which respect the Spirit of the gospel is most directly opposed to the evil and selfish spirit of this age. For I know not how it is, but people, under pretence of liberty of one sort or another, are come to be, very generally, quite indifferent about the grace and salvation of others. Surely the hard, indifferent way in which too many of us treat the thought of our neighbour’ s condition towards God is sadly like Cain’ s way: sadly like the temper which led to a brother’ s murder. The Christian, Catholic, renewed heart is altogether different from this; it is not at all satisfied, as men of the world are, with persons going on decently and quietly; it wants them to be inwardly sound and pure; first of all to have a good “ purpose of heart,” and then to persevere in that purpose, “ cleaving” to our Lord and Saviour continually. That anxiety about your neighbour’ s soul, which Christian love causes you to feel, will be a continual, a watchful, a self-denying, but, for the most part, a silent principle. It will show itself in deeds rather than in words, in timely prevention of mischief rather than in late and loud remonstrance. It will not be very sanguine, nor reckon too much of any good which appears to be done, knowing that we are all by nature unstable as water. Nor yet will it be too soon disheartened or disconcerted, knowing that there is hope even of the worst, and that constant efforts and prayers, with the Church of God to your aid, will, by the aid of His good Spirit, prevail against everything but hardened obstinacy. Above all, this care of others’ good purposes, to be at all like that of St. Barnabas, must be accompanied with scrupulously good example; even as it is here said of this holy apostle, very emphatically, that “ he was a good man.” Finally, the good advice of St. Barnabas, here given to the people of Antioch, may well serve as a kind of watchword for all Christians of every station, in times when the Faith and the Church are being violently assailed by their enemies. Then is the time to practise a holy obstinacy; not to mind if you be not able to give reasons, and talk knowingly about things, but “ with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord” ; that is, to abide by what the Church has taught you let people say what they will. This will be called bigotry and stubbornness; and they who are wise in their own conceit will insist on your giving a reason for everything. Well, then, let your reason be given, not in words, but in a holy life. (Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times.”)Barnabas I. His history and character.1. His ancestors had settled in Cyprus, for what purposes we know not. There Barnabas was born. He was called at first Joses, but after his conversion to Christianity, Barnabas, perhaps because of his estate--he was a wealthy man, and relieved the necessities of the poor--or because by his preaching he consoled the people of God, and encouraged sinners to come to Christ. 2. Ministers often differ considerably. Some are sons of thunder, others have “ the tongue of the learned.” Now, never oppose ministers to each other. Their situation, natural complexion, gifts, graces, are different; but the Church needs them, and can well employ them all. Let Paul therefore plant, and Apollos water; let one comfort the feeble-minded, and another be set for the defence of the gospel; let one lay the foundation, and another build thereon. Each has his own work, and each shall have his own reward. 3. Much of the dispositions of persons may be discovered by the objects which awaken their attention and desire when they first enter a country or a town. Some are immediately looking about for scenery, some for curiosities, some for trade, some for buildings, some for libraries, some for pictures. Barnabas was alive to something else--it was “ the one thing needful.” He immediately looked after the cause of God. II. His discovery.1. “ The grace of God” is a principle. Seen it must be to God, “ to whom all hearts are open” ; and known, it may be, by the individuals themselves. But how can it be seen by other’ s? I know only one way: by its effects. You cannot see life, but you can see the man alive. You cannot see health, but you can see the freshness and vigour of the healthy man. You do not break a tree to examine the rind, or open it to examine the wood, to know of what sort it is; a tree is known by its fruits. God says, “ I will put My Spirit within them.” But who is to know this? Read on--“ and cause them to walk in My statutes.” James says to the professor of religion, “ Show me thy faith without thy works. I will show thee my faith by my works” : I will show thee the spring by the stream; the sun in the shining; the creed by the conduct. 2. When may we be said to “ see the grace of God” ? I expect to find in a man in whom there is a work of grace-- (1) A change in his outward conduct. If he has been vicious before, he learns to be virtuous; the drunkard becomes sober, etc. (2) A love of good men; for like not only begets, but also attracts, like. “ We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (3) A peculiar attachment to the Scriptures. (4) A regard for the Sabbath. I am sure that the righteous man always “ calls the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of the Lord, honourable.” “ The grace of God,” therefore, will lead a man to regard the means of grace. (5) Speech seasoned with grace. Physicians look at the tongues of their patients. Ministers should always examine the tongues of their patients. If these are disordered, they may be assured something else is disordered; for “ out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (6) A temper conformed to the spirit of Christ. Some, in exculpation of their fretful or fierce tempers, say, that the grace of God is sometimes grafted on a crab tree; yes, but when the tree is so grafted, we expect that it will bring forth fruit, not according to the stock, but according to the scion. (7) Family piety. (8) Consistency. 3. With regard to the visibility of Divine grace, there are three things which I must remark. (1) We may, after all, be deceived with regard to it. The imitation may be so nice and fine as to impose upon the most judicious observers. None of the disciples suspected Judas; and Peter, after baptizing Simon Magus, was careful to write of Stephanas, “ A faithful brother, as I suppose.” (2) You are not to consider persons as destitute of “ the grace of God,” when their lives are blameless, and they are regular at the means of grace, and in their discharge of the duties of religion. When things are fair in character, you are not to go motive hunting. It is better to be occasionally deceived, than to live always in a temperature of suspicion. (3) Divine grace is compatible with infirmities; otherwise we should exclude all from the possession of it. Our Saviour does not “ despise the day of small things.” Let us follow His example. III. His pleasure. What he saw was not a pleasing sight to all men. It was a hell to Satan to see how things were now going on; and there are those who too much resemble him. The elder brother did not rejoice when he saw the prodigal received, and there are Pharisees now who are ready to say, “ Go to heaven with publicans and harlots” ! But the salvation of the sinner is “ the pleasure of the Lord.” The Saviour here “ sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied.” The angels “ rejoice over one sinner that repenteth.” And every convert may say, “ They that fear thee will be glad when they see me.” We may consider Barnabas as a partaker of this pleasure.1. As a man of piety. Whenever a man is converted, God has a subject born. Here is one in whom He is then glorified passively, because he displays traces of His perfections, actively, as he is now “ made willing in the day of His power.” Can a man of piety see this and not rejoice? 2. As a man of benevolence. Barnabas was pleased when he saw the poor healed, the hungry fed, etc. But he knew that the body was nothing to the soul, or the time to eternity. What is every other attainment compared with that godliness which is “ profitable unto all things” ! Besides, every subject of Divine grace is not only blessed in himself, but he is made a blessing to others. Can a man of benevolence look on such, and not rejoice? 3. As a minister who had come here from preaching. There are some who cannot rejoice to see things done by others, especially, if they do not belong to their own communion. But if a man has the spirit of Barnabas, he will be able to say, Let God employ what instruments He pleases, therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. IV. His concern. “ Exhorted them.” Observe--1. The importance of his admonition--that they would “ cleave unto the Lord,” i.e., the Lord Jesus. Him they had received; in Him they were to walk. Had we heard Barnabas, it would have been something to this effect: Cleave to Him as your Teacher, as your Redeemer, as your Support in all your duties and in all your conflicts, as your Comforter, as your Master, as your Example. 2. The nature of it. He “ exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord.” Now this impulse--not only conviction, but resolution--always issues out of the heart; and what is religion, unless the heart is engaged from the beginning to the end? Where the man can say with David, “ My heart is fixed,” he will push on notwithstanding difficulties, and will convert hindrances into furtherances. 3. Its extensiveness. He “ exhorted them all” ; not only those who were weak in the faith, but those who were strong; not only the young, but the old. When was Solomon’ s heart led away? In his old age. And does not Paul even say to that fine young man Timothy, “ Flee youthful lusts” ? (W. Jay.)The experience and work of Barnabas I. The fact which he observed. The grace of God operating in the converts. Note--1. That conversion is always the result of Divine grace--that is, God’ s free and sovereign favour. “ For by grace are ye saved, through faith,” etc. True conversion thus resulting from Divine grace always becomes apparent and manifest by its effects. In place of the works of the flesh there will be the fruits of the Spirit, in place of carelessness, impenitence, unbelief, worldliness, and, peradventure, open and flagrant crime, there will be seriousness, there will be contrition, faith, holiness, love to God and to man. II. The emotion with which, in the contemplation of the fact, he became inspired. “ He was glad.” This gladness is justly excited because of--1. The personal happiness which the operation of Divine grace in conversion secures to those who feel it. 2. The honour which the operation of Divine grace in conversion secures to the Godhead In every conversion there is a display of the Father; for by His purpose the conversion was accomplished, the conversion was directed. There is a display of the Son; for by His sacrifice the conversion was purchased. There is a display of the Spirit; for by His agency the conversion was effected. III. The exhortation which, in connection with the emotion, he expressed and urged. Mark--1. Its nature. Purpose signifies firm and resolute determination. “ Cleave to the Lord” is an expression of Hebrew origin, and it occurs two or three times in the earlier part of the Old Testament Scriptures in a striking manner. To cleave to an individual seems to imply the act of a man anxious to obtain a blessing from another--a man who lays fast hold on his person, being resolved not to permit his departure until the blessing has been obtained; and this is the spirit in which we are exhorted with purpose and determination of heart to cleave unto the Lord. We ought to be steadfast in cleaving to the principles of the Lord; in obeying the commandments of the Lord; in promoting the praise and the glory of the Lord. And each one in whom Divine grace has operated must have it as a constant desire, that in the spirit of steadfastness he may be preserved till death. For this purpose, use the means which God has been pleased to appoint--meditation, the study of His Word with prayer, social conversation with those who are established in the faith and hope of the gospel, diligent and devout attendance on the public ordinances and means of grace, and then the result will be accomplished, and you will cleave unto the Lord. You will emphatically be kept from falling, and be presented faultless before the presence of the Divine glory with great and exceeding joy. 2. The reasons by which this exhortation may be enforced. “ Cleave to the Lord” -- (1) That you may not produce disgrace to the gospel you have professed. (2) That you may continue and complete the joy of those who have rejoiced over your conversion. (3) That you may partake of the highest joy in this world which Christianity can impart. (4) That you may become endowed with capacities of usefulness to the hearts of others. (5) That you may prepare for that final recompense which will be your portion throughout the eternity of heaven. (J. Parsons.)The experience and work of Barnabas I. The grace that Barnabas saw.1. What a man sees depends on what he looks for. An architect would have seen buildings, a merchant wares, a soldier fortifications. And Barnabas had an eye to business. He saw a temple built of living stones; to win souls was the gain he coveted; and like a good soldier he calculated how these teeming thousands might be made subjects of His King. True, he saw sights that made him weep, but he does not mention them any more than a navigator reports the vast tracts of water over which he travels. The business of the latter is to report the discovery of islands standing out of the waste of waters, of the former the state of the Church which stood out amidst the waste of sin. 2. Barnabas had this grace in himself, or he would never have seen it in others. Philosophers saw the same people and pronounced them vile fanatics, and many today would have done the same. God’ s grace is only to be spiritually discerned. 3. But this grace is nothing less than the free pardon of sin, bestowed by God and accepted by man. II. The gladness he experienced. Incidentally it throws light on his own character. Tell me what gladdens or grieves a man and I will tell you what he is. The prosperity that made him glad was--1. Spiritual. Men with an eye and a taste like his are wanted now. We are carried away in a mighty tide of material progress; but the gospel is a more precious treasure than all our inventions. 2. Possessed and exercised by others. There is no finer feature in a man’ s character than the tendency to rejoice in a neighbour’ s good. “ Charity envieth not.” 3. Produced by others. It is easy for a minister to be glad when he sees his own work prospering; but it requires no little piety to rejoice over another’ s. But God teaches us that converting power does not reside in an arm of flesh. Unknown refugees founded a Church in Antioch while gifted apostles seemed to be spending their strength in vain. 4. Heightened by the contrasted masses of moral misery around. 5. No sentimental or selfish emotion. He brought Saul to share it. III. The exhortation that he gave. That they should cleave to the Lord. There is nothing here about sacramental grace, the true Church, or a consecrated priesthood. In primitive Christianity everything was made to depend on personal union to a personal Saviour. There is mystery here. Yes, and I have seen a huge piece of iron hanging on another not welded or glued, but clinging with such a tenacity that it could bear my weight and its own. A wire charged with an electric current was in contact with its mass, and hence the adhesion. What that wire is to it, love is to us. We love Him, for He first loved us. Those who would keep a man close to God by brandishing the terrors of judgment before him, turn the wrong pole of the magnet to the steel and thereby repel instead of attract. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The exhortation of Barnabas I. What he saw. “ The grace of God,” and wherever that grace is made visible there we are to recognise a brother. Augustine said, “ Where Christ is there is the Church.” True! but where is Christ? Wherever Christlike men manifest a life drawn from, and kindred with, His life. And so we say where the grace of Christ is visible, there is the Church. That great truth is sinned against by the successors of the more Jewish portion of that Church who sent Barnabas to Antioch, who exalt sacraments and priests to the same place as the Judaizers did the rite of the old covenant. The attempt is about as wise as to try to measure a network fine enough to keep back a stream. The true answer to all that assumption which confines the free flow of the water of life to the conduits of sacraments and orders, and will only allow the wind that bloweth where it listeth to make music in the pipes of their organs, is simply the homely one which shivered a corresponding theory in the fair open mind of Barnabas. It used to be an axiom that there was no life in the sea beyond a certain limit of a few hundred feet. And then when that was settled, the Challenger put down her dredge five miles, and brought up healthy and good-sized living things. We have all been too much accustomed to draw arbitrary limits to the diffusion of the life of Christ among men. II. What he felt. It was a triumph of Christian principle to recognise the grace of God under new forms, and in so strange a place. It was a still greater triumph to haft it with rejoicing. We are apt to forget the strength of the convictions which these Jewish Christians had to overcome. Hence the context seems to consider that Barnabas’ s gladness needs explanation, and so it adds, “ for he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” And there is much to overcome if we would know this Christlike gladness. Our natural interest in the well-being of our own Churches makes our sympathies flow most deeply in denominational channels. And then come in abundance of less worthy motives, and we have but a very tepid joy in anybody else’ s prosperity. Let us set a jealous watch over our hearts that self-absorption, or denominationalism, or envy do not make the sight a pain instead of a joy; and let us remember that the eye salve which will purge our dim sight to behold the grace of God in all its forms is that grace itself. III. What he said.1. The exhortation itself, The sum of all objective religion is Christ--the sum of all subjective religion is cleaving to Him. From, whatever point we approach Christianity, it all resolves itself into the person of Christ. He is the revelation of God; theology properly so called is but the formulating of the facts which He gives us. He is the perfect exemplar of humanity! Wrenched away from Him, Christian morality has no being. He is the sacrifice for the world, the salvation of which flows from what He does, and not merely from what He taught, or was. There is a constant tendency to separate the results of Christ’ s life and death, and unconsciously to make these the sum of our religion and faith. Therefore it is well to mark how vividly these early Christians apprehended a living Lord as the sum and substance of all which they had to grasp. We begin to be Christians, as this context tells us, when we “ turn to the Lord.” We continue to be Christians, as Barnabas reminded these beginners, by “ cleaving to the Lord.” Let us cleave to Him-- (1) By continual renewal of our first faith in Him. The longest line may be conceived of as produced simply by the motion of its initial point. So our progress should not consist in leaving our early acts of faith behind us, but in repeating them over and over again till the points coalesce in one unbroken line which goes straight to the throne and heart of Jesus. As in some great symphony the theme which was given out in low notes on one poor instrument recurs over and over again embroidered with varying harmonies, and unfolding a richer music till it swells into all the grandeur of the triumphant close, so our lives should be bound into a unity, and in their unity bound to Christ by the constant renewal of our early faith. Each moment must be united to Christ by its own act of faith, or it will be separated from Him. So living in the Lord, dying in the Lord, sleeping in Jesus, we shall at the last be found in Him at that day, and shall be raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (2) By habitual contemplation. There can be no real continuous closeness of intercourse with Him, except by thought ever recurring to Him amidst all the tumult of our busy days. The Church has forgotten how to meditate. Many of us are so busy thinking about Christianity that we have lost our hold of Christ. Cleave to the Lord by habitual play of meditative thought on the treasures hidden in His name, and waiting like gold in the quartz, to be the prize of our patient sifting. And when the great truths embodied in Him stand clear before us, next must come into exercise the moral side of faith, the voluntary act of trust, the making our own of the blessings which He holds out to us. (3) By constant outgoings of our love to Him. The same love which is the bond of perfectness between man and man, is the bond between us and Christ. Cold natures may carp, but love is justified of her children, and Christ accepts the homage that has a heart in it. The order is faith, love, obedience, that threefold cord knits men to Christ and Christ to men. For the understanding a continuous grasp of Him as the object of thought. For the heart a continuous out-going to Him as the object of our love. For the will a continuous submission to Him as the Lord of our obedience. For the whole nature a continuous cleaving to Him as the object of our faith and worship. 2. Its sufficiency. If Barnabas had been like some of us, he would have said, This irregular work has been well done, but there are no authorised teachers here. The first thing is to give these people the blessing of bishops and priests. Some of us would have said, A good work has been done, but these people are terribly ignorant. The best thing would be to get ready as soon as possible some manual of Christian doctrine. Some of us would have said, No doubt they have been converted, but we fear there has been too much of the emotional in the preaching. Plain practical instruction in Christian duty is the one thing they want. Barnabas knew better. He did not despise organisation, nor orthodoxy, nor practical righteousness, but he knew that all three, and everything else that any man needed for his perfecting, would come, if only they kept near to Christ, and that nothing else was of any use if they did not. (1) We spend much effort in perfecting our organisations, and I have not a word to say against it. But heavier machinery needs more power in the engine, and that means greater capacity in your boilers and more fire in your furnace. (2). A definite theology is needful, but the basis of all theology is the personal possession of Him who is the wisdom of God, and the light of the world. (3) Plain straightforward righteousness and everyday morality come most surely when a man is keeping close to Christ. The same life is strength in the arm, pliancy in the fingers, swiftness in the foot, light in the eye, music on the lips; so the same grace is Protean in its forms, and to His servants who trust Him, Christ ever says, “ What would ye that I should do unto you? Be it even as thou wilt.” The same mysterious power lives in the swaying branch, and in the veined leaf, and in the blushing clusters. With like wondrous transformations of the one grace, the Lord pours Himself into our spirits, filling all needs and fitting for all circumstances. Therefore for us all, individuals and Churches, this remains the prime command, With purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Visible grace Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Not only be honest, but let your honesty be seen. “ A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” “ Show forth the praises of Him who hath called you.” As Bengel remarks in connection with our text: “ A gem should not merely be a gem; it should be properly set in a ring, that its splendour may meet the eye.” Exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Cleaving unto the Lord The only rational religious belief is that goodness is almighty, and the great Being, who comprehends all goodness in Himself, our Father. We owe Him everything, for He hath both made and redeemed us, and we should cherish towards Him the devoted affection of a son to his father, such as was shown in the following story. A little boy, the son of Sir George Staunton, was with his father, during his return to England, on the deck of the ship Lion. The father, imagining that a French man-of-war was going to attack them, desired his son to go below. “ My father, I will never forsake you,” was the youth’ s spirited and affectionate reply. So, when God’ s way seems the path of danger, we should resolve to stand to it at all cost. Determined purpose of heart The Pastor Jacob of Oroomiah, Persia, writing to his son, in Manchester, narrates the following: “ I have a young Mohammedan friend whose name is Koola Bak. For nearly a year and a half he has been coming to my house to hear the Word of God. On account of his being so Christ-like, some wicked people went and complained to their Great Moshtahed, or priest. He was taken to the Moshtahed’ s house and asked what was his faith. He replied, ‘ In Jesus Christ.’ Upon hearing this the Moshtahed rose up in great rage and beat him with his stick on the head. He again asked him the same question three times. The young man gave the same reply each time. He was then bound upon a beam and beaten by three servants with switches until the blood gushed out of his back and feet. Shortly afterwards the young man came to my house with his bleeding body and told me all about it. He said to me: ‘ Pastor, I will not give up Christ, even if I am to be killed. I believe that He is my Saviour, and is able to deliver me from these wicked people, who try to torment me because of my belief in Jesus.’ A few days after this incident took place, the Moshtahed sent a gift to the young man and asked his pardon. The next day the Moshtahed with his brother visited the young man’ s house, and they still try to win his heart, but he boldly said, ‘ No, it is impossible for me to forsake Jesus, in whom I have believed as my Redeemer.’ So they left him and went their way.” Religious persistency Barnabas was the Son of Consolation.” But exhortation is as needful as consolation, and he could stir up as well as comfort. He knew that it was not sufficient to begin well; it is the end that proves and crowns the whole. I. The aim of the exhortation. Barnabas urges his hearers to cleave unto the Lord. The exhortation is urgently needed--1. Because there is a natural tendency in the human heart to cleave to inferior things. 2. Because He is the only one worthy of our regard. He is the only Teacher, Saviour, Helper, Protector. The only Comforter, for He is the God of all comfort. II. The character of the duty. “ With full purpose of heart.” This implies thoroughness and persistency.1. Without the heart religion is a poor business. So in anything else. Unless the affections and purpose are enlisted a man enters upon his business concerns with listlessness and apathy. 2. Without the heart nothing else can be given. It is principle God looks at. Outward actions weigh but little with Him. But it is here “ full purpose of heart.” The whole soul is thrown into the work. It is not a divided heart. (Homilist.)Religious steadfastness I. We exhort you to this decision and manifestation of character. “ Cleave unto the Lord,” consecrate yourselves to Him. II. We exhort you to adhere to the fundamental truths of the gospel. “ Cleave unto the Lord” in His personal character as revealed in the sacred Scriptures. III. We exhort you to cherish a spirit of charity to all who differ. The difference of Christians on minor points proves the truth of the great ones on which they are agreed. IV. We exhort you to promote the worship of God. Attend to private, to family, and to public worship. V. We exhort you to vigorous attempts to recover sinners. (J. Liefchild, D. D.)Cleaving to the Lord I. The exhortation.1. It supposes those to whom it is directed to be already entered upon a religious course of life. 2. It requires the habitual exercise of all the graces of the Christian life; the constant performance of every commanded duty. 3. It requires that we make an open and honest profession of our adherence to the Lord. 4. It requires that we persevere in our adherence to the Lord to the end of our lives. We must hold on our way, and wax stronger and stronger as we proceed. II. Some motives and arguments.1. That the same reasons which at first determined you to choose the ways of God, are equally forcible for inciting you to persevere in them to the end. 2. That all the bribes which can be offered, in order to seduce you from your adherence to the Lord, are vain, precarious, and unsatisfying. 3. What obligations you lie under to this Lord to whom you are exhorted in the text, to “ cleave with purpose of heart.” 4. That this duty, although difficult, is by no means impracticable. All necessary aid is provided for you, and ready to be conveyed to you as often as you shall ask it. III. Some directions.1. Labour to have your minds as richly furnished as possible with true Christian knowledge. 2. Besides the speculative knowledge of Divine truths, you must also labour to acquire an inward experience and relish of them. 3. If you would cleave with steadfastness unto the Lord, attend constantly to the inward frame and temper of your hearts. Make conscience of watching over your most secret thoughts. 4. “ Be not high-minded, but fear.” Remember what our blessed Lord said to His disciples, “ Without Me ye can do nothing.” A holy diffidence of ourselves is the true temper of a Christian, and will both serve to keep us out of the way of temptation, and teach us to act with the caution of men who perceive their danger and are careful to shun it. 5. Avoid, as much as possible, the fellowship of wicked men. 6. Beware of neglecting the instrumental duties of religion. (R. Walker.)The subjects of Divine grace exhorted to cleave unto the Lord I. That the conversion of sinners to the Lord is justly ascribable to His grace. II. That where the grace of God is enjoyed it will be seen in its effects.1. All who profess to enjoy the grace of God should be careful thus to show it--On principles of prudence; that their own eternal salvation may be secured (2 Peter 1:5-10). On principles of piety; that God may hereby be glorified (Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 4:11-12). On principles of benevolence; that their weak brethren may be strengthened (Hebrews 13:13), and that their pastors may hereby be comforted (1 Thessalonians 3:8; 3 John 1:4). As an incitement to holy diligence, on this generous principle, our text teaches us-- III. That when the grace of God is seen it affords pleasure to well-disposed minds. “ When he saw the grace of God, he was glad” ; and his joy was both pious and pure.1. His joy on this occasion was pious. It was the joy of a saint excited by seeing the grace of God manifested, and sinners saved. He was glad, as “ a good man,” or a lover of mankind; because hereby many were benefited, being raised to a state of safety, happiness, and honour (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:1-6); and the welfare of the civil state was also promoted (Proverbs 14:32). He was glad, as a holy man; for he was “ full of the Holy Ghost.” Hence he was glad, because the felicity of angels was hereby augmented (Luke 15:10). Christ was hereby most pleasingly satisfied (Isaiah 53:10-11); and God was hereby glorified (Isaiah 61:1-3). He was glad, as a faithful man; for he “ was full of faith.” Hence, he confidently expected the fulfilment of God’ s Word (Psalms 2:8). He beheld in these converted Gentiles the earnest of Christ’ s universal dominion, and could exclaim with David (Psalms 72:19-20). 2. His joy on this occasion was pure. He was glad, though the subjects of this grace were Gentile strangers; it was not the joy of bigotry: and though he was not the instrument of their conversion, it was not the joy of self-complacency. 3. His joy on this occasion was exemplary; worthy of our imitation. Wherever the grace of God is seen we should rejoice: without bigotry, this is unchristian (Ephesians 5:24), and without envy, for this is devilish (James 3:14-16). Our text teaches us-- IV. That cleaving unto the Lord is the indispensable duty of all Christian converts.1. By the Lord is meant our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Guide (Psalms 48:14), our Sovereign (Matthew 23:8), our Strength (Psalms 46:1), and our Foundation (Isaiah 28:16). 2. It is the duty of Christian converts to cleave, unto the Lord. Cleave unto Him--By habitual attention (Acts 3:22-23), by persevering obedience (Hebrews 5:9; Psalms 106:3), by importunate prayer (Hebrews 4:16), and by entire dependence (1 Peter 2:5-6; Jude 1:21-22). 3. All Christian converts should thus cleave unto Him. All, of every age, of every religious attainment, and of every station in the Church (John 15:5; Hebrews 3:12). 4. We should thus cleave unto the Lord “ with purpose of heart.” This should and must be the object of our deliberate choice (Deuteronomy 30:19-20), of our steadfast resolution (Joshua 24:15), and of our incessant care (1 John 2:28; Philippians 3:16). Our test teaches us-- V. That affectionate exhortation is conductive to the steadfast perseverance of believers in Christ. “ He exhorted them,” etc. Here we may observe--1. To whom this exhortation should be addressed. As cleaving unto the Lord is a duty required of all Christians, so we find all of every description exhorted in the oracles of God. Private Christians are urged to this (John 15:4; Colossians 2:6); and public characters are also thus stimulated to exertion (1 Timothy 4:16). 2. By whom this exhortation should be employed. It should be given--By all those to whom the care of souls is committed (1 Corinthians 14:3; Colossians 1:28), and by all private Christians in their mutual communications (Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:24-25). 3. How this exhortation should be enforced. It should be urged by the consideration of our own total insufficiency (Jeremiah 10:23; 2 Corinthians 3:5), of Christ’ s all-sufficiency (Hebrews 7:25), of Satan’ s malice, who purposes and seeks to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8-9), of the dreadful evils to which apostacy would expose us (Hebrews 10:38; Revelation 3:11; 1 Chronicles 28:9), and of the blessings with which God is engaged to crown unfainting perseverance (Galatians 6:9; 2 Peter 1:10-11). Converts exhorted Barnabas knew that it required quite as much “ grace” to go on as it does to begin. And he knew how only they could secure it, by cleaving unto the Lord. I. The importance of a purpose. When there are religious feelings, and convictions, the great thing is to gather them all up to some distinct object. This “ purpose” must not be only of the deliberate intention of the mind, but a “ purpose of the heart.” But then feeling needs a focus. If you wish to keep a thought, turn that thought into action, else it would all evaporate. Give it an object, and it will live. The question then is, what fixed “ purpose of heart” can we make for ourselves today? I advise you to determine--1. That henceforth it shall appear to all men “ whose you are and whom you serve.” 2. That your besetting sin--temper, or selfishness, or indolence shall be conquered. 3. That you will be more real and earnest in your private devotions. 4. That you will throw more love into daily life, and be more attentive to all home duties. 5. That you will exercise greater care, and more regularity, in your religious duties. 6. That you will undertake some new work for God; become a Sunday school teacher, or a district visitor, etc. Now if you would live for any such purpose, you must be much in prayer. Put less trust in your own good intentions. Be looking up for sustaining grace, for the great gift of perseverance. II. The great purpose of Christian life is to cleave unto the Lord.1. This means to be feeling that He is your very life; and to be always trying to make Him closer, and closer. It is God’ s word for marriage: “ A man shall cleave unto his wife.” 2. Only remember the power of this “ cleaving” comes not from you who “ cleave,” but from Him who all the while draws and holds you to the “ cleaving.” He has “ apprehended,” i.e., “ laid hold of you,” that you may “ lay hold” on Him. 3. Meanwhile, be very jealous of anything coming in to separate you for a moment, for that moment that you are separated from Christ your soul dies! 4. But do not be content even with mere nearness. There must be oneness. If you are really a believer, you are one with the Christ, just as any member in your body is at this moment one with your head. And, oh! what life, strength, safety, heaven is here. Your life is in Him. Where you are, at this moment, He is. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)New disciples admonished To cleave to the Lord is--1. To adhere to Him as the Revealer of the Truth, and to the Truth as revealed by Him. 2. To make Him the object of our constant faith. 3. To abide in His commandments. 4. To follow His example, who went about doing good and bore His Cross. 5. To abide in Him who is the fountain of grace and the Giver of the Spirit. 6. To cling to Him as our Portion and Happiness. (J. W. Alexander, D. D.)Cleaving to the Lord At the oceanside, where cliffs jut out to the waves, certain molluscs may be found sticking tightly to the rocks. Each mollusc clings so tenaciously that the concussion of the waves cannot smite it off. The secret of its hold is that the mollusc is empty. If it were filled either with flesh or with air, it would drop off immediately. This beautifully illustrates the condition of every sincere, humble, conscientious believer, who has been emptied of self, and therefore clings, by a Divine law of adhesion, closely to the Rock of Ages. If he should become puffed with pride and self-conceit, or gorged with fleshly indulgence, he would yield to the waves of temptation and be swept away. Acts 11:24 For he was a good man. The feast of St. Barnabas the apostle: tolerance of religious error The text says that “ he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” This praise of goodness is explained by his very name, Barnabas, “ the Son of Consolation,” which was given him, as it appears, to mark his character of kindness, gentleness, considerateness, warmth of heart, compassion, and munificence. His acts answer to this account of him. The first we hear of him is his selling some land which was his, and giving the proceeds to the apostles, to distribute to his poorer brethren. The next notice of him sets before us a second deed of kindness, of as amiable, though of a more private character. “ When Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.” Next, he is mentioned in the text, and still with commendation of the same kind. How had he shown that “ he was a good man” ? by going on a mission of love to the first converts at Antioch. On the other hand, on two occasions his conduct is scarcely becoming an apostle, as instancing somewhat of that infirmity which uninspired persons of his peculiar character frequently exhibit. Both are cases of indulgence towards the faults of others, yet in a different way; the one, an over-easiness in a matter of doctrine, the other, in a matter of conduct. With all his tenderness for the Gentiles, yet on one occasion he could not resist indulging the prejudices of some Judaizing brethren, who came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Peter first was carried away; before they came, “ he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were come, he withdrew, and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch, that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.” The other instance was his indulgent treatment of Mark, his sister’ s son, which occasioned the quarrel between him and St. Paul. “ Barnabas determined to take with them,” on their apostolic journey, “ John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.” He is an ensample and warning to us, not only as showing us what we ought to be, but as evidencing how the highest gifts and graces are corrupted in our sinful nature, if we are not diligent to walk step by step, according to the light of God’ s commandments. Are we sufficiently careful to do what is right and just, rather than what is pleasant? do we clearly understand our professed principles, and do we keep to them under temptation? The history of St. Barnabas will help us to answer this question honestly. Now I fear we lack altogether, what he lacked in certain occurrences in it, firmness, manliness, godly severity. I fear it must be confessed, that our kindness, instead of being directed and braced by principle, too often becomes languid and unmeaning; that it is exerted on improper objects, and out of season, and thereby is uncharitable in two ways, indulging those who should be chastised, and preferring their comfort to those who are really deserving. We are over-tender in dealing with sin and sinners. We are deficient in jealous custody of the revealed Truths which Christ has left us. We allow men to speak against the Church, its ordinances, or its teaching, without remonstrating with them. To be kind is their one principle of action; and, when they find offence taken at the Church’ s creed, they begin to think how they may modify or curtail it, under the same sort of feeling as would lead them to be generous in a money transaction, or to accommodate another at the price of personal inconvenience. Not understanding that their religious privileges are a trust to be handed on to posterity, a sacred property entailed upon the Christian family, and their own in enjoyment rather than in possession, they act the spendthrift, and are lavish of the goods of others. Undoubtedly, even the best specimens of these men are deficient in a due appreciation of the Christian mysteries, and of their own responsibility in preserving and transmitting them; yet, some of them are such truly “ good” men, so amiable and feeling, so benevolent to the poor, and of such repute among all classes, in short, fulfil so excellently the office of shining like lights in the world, and witnesses of Him “ who went about doing good,” that those who most deplore their failing, will still be most desirous of excusing them personally, while they feel it a duty to withstand them. Such is the defect of mind suggested to us by the instances of imperfection recorded of St. Barnabas; it will be more clearly understood by contrasting him with St. John. Now see in what he differed from Barnabas; in uniting charity with a firm maintenance of “ the truth as it is in Jesus.” So far was his fervour and exuberance of charity from interfering with his zeal for God, that rather, the more he loved men, the more he desired to bring before them the great unchangeable verities to which they must submit, if they would see life, and on which a weak indulgence suffers them to shut their eyes. He loved the brethren, but he” loved them in the Truth” (3 John 1:1). Strictness and tenderness had no “ sharp contention” in the breast of the beloved disciple; they found their perfect union, yet distinct exercise, in the grace of charity, which is the fulfilling of the whole law. I wish I saw any prospect of this element of zeal and holy sternness springing up among us, to temper and give character to the languid, unmeaning benevolence which we misname Christian love. I have no hope of my country till I see it. Many schools of religion and ethics are to be found among us, and they all profess to magnify, in one shape or other, what they consider the principle of love; but what they lack is a firm maintenance of that characteristic of the Divine nature, which, in accommodation to our infirmity, is named by St. John and his brethren the wrath of God. Regarding thus “ the goodness” only, and not “ the severity of God,” no wonder that they ungird their loins and become effeminate; no wonder that their ideal notion of a perfect Church is a Church which lets everyone go on his way, and disclaims any right to pronounce an opinion, much less inflict a censure on religious error. But those who think themselves and others in risk of an eternal curse dare not be thus indulgent. Here, then, lies our want at the present day, for this we must pray--that a reform may come in the spirit and power of Elias. Then only can we prosper (under the blessing and grace of Him who is the Spirit both of love and of truth), when the heart of Paul is vouchsafed to us, to withstand even Peter and Barnabas, if ever they are overcome by mere human feelings, to “ know henceforth no man after the flesh,” to put away from us sister’ s son, or nearer relative, to relinquish the sight of them, the hope of them, and the desire of them, when He commands, who raises up friends even to the lonely, if they trust in Him, and will give us “ within His walls a name better than of sons and of daughters, an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” (J. H. Newman.)A good man Has-- I. A good creed. Divine truth is the basis of all holy and devoted life. A good man has just views of Deity, of the method of salvation, of the present life, and of that which is to come. II. A good heart. It is not possessed as natural to himself. The declaration with respect to the human heart is that it is “ deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” We require, therefore, to have it renewed. And, hence, the promise under both Testaments is, that God will take away the heart of stone and give the heart of flesh--that is, He will give us new dispositions; He will reclaim us from our corrupt affections. Hence, therefore, we are said to be born again, to have received the Holy Spirit, of which Barnabas was full. III. A good life. The Christian’ s life is essentially right. It is governed by the fear of God; it is moved by love to Himself; and it is dedicated to the glory of His name. (The Pulpit.)What a good man is and how he becomes so All words describing moral excellence tend to deteriorate, just as bright metal rusts by exposure, and coins become illegible by use. So it comes to pass that any decent man, with an easy temper, and a dash of frankness is christened with this title “ good.” The Bible is more chary. Christ rebuked a man for calling Him good, because he did so out of mere conventional politeness. But here we have the picture in the Scripture gallery, catalogued “ He was a good man.” Note-- I. The sort of man whom the judge will call good.1. Barnabas was a Levite of Cyprus. A Jew who had so come in contact with foreigners that many a prejudice was beaten out of him. We first hear of him as taking a share in the burst of brotherly love, so as to entail an after life of manual labour. Next, when the older Christians were suspicious of Saul, Barnabas, with that generosity which often sees deepest, was the first to cast the aegis of the protection of his recognition round him. In like manner here, when Christianity developed in a suspicious direction, Barnabas was sent, and being a “ good man” he saw, and rejoiced in goodness in others. The new conditions led him to enlist Saul’ s services, to engage with him in missionary service, and then, without a murmur, to allow his junior colleague to take the first place. Then came the quarrel in which he lost his friend, and we hear of him no more. 2. Note the lessons. (1) That the tap root of all goodness is reference to God and obedience to Him. Not that nothing is good that is done without reference to God, but the noblest deed done without this reference lacks nobleness. (2) That the truest goodness is the suppression of self--a characteristic of the whole life of Barnabas. (3) That the farther traits of character are preeminent in Christian goodness. All this man’ s virtues were of the meek and gracious sort, which make but a poor show by the side of some of the tawdry splendours which the vulgar world calls virtues. A thrush or a blackbird is but a soberly clad creature by the side of paroquets, but the one has a song, and the other only a screech. So there is comfort for us commonplace people. We may be little violets, if we cannot be flaunting tiger lilies. 4. That true goodness does not exclude the possibility of falling. The Bible is frank in telling us of the imperfections of the best. Often imperfections are exaggerations of characteristic goodness. Never let gentleness fall away like badly made jelly into a trembling heap, and never let strength gather itself into a repulsive attitude. But remember that only One could say, “ Which of you convinceth Me of sin.” II. The Divine Helper who makes men good.1. This Helper is not merely an influence but a Person, who not only helps from without, but so enters that their whole nature is saturated with Him. 2. Strange language, but does not the experience of every man who has tried to make himself good show its necessity? Think of what is needed to make us good--the strengthening of the will which we cannot brace sufficiently by any tonic or support we know of; consider the resistance with which we have to cope from our passions, tastes, habits, occupations, friends, etc. You have got the wolf by the ears for a moment, but your hands will ache presently in holding him and what then? Ah, you need a Divine Helper, who will dwell in your hearts and strengthen your wills to what is good, and suppress your inclinations of evil. 3. The great promise of the gospel is precisely this. The first word is “ Thy sins be forgiven thee,” the second, “ Arise and walk.” The gift of pardon is meant to be introductory to what Christ calls emphatically “ the gift of God,” the fountain of living streams of holy life and noble deeds. He who is good must surely delight in seeing us good, and must be able to turn us into His own likeness. 4. “ Full of the Holy Ghost,” as a vessel might be to its brim of golden wine. Does that describe you? Full! A dribbling drop or two in the bottom of the jar: whose fault is it? Why with that mighty rushing wind to full our sails should we be lying in sickly calms? Why with those tongues of fire should we be cowering over grey ashes? Why with that great tide should we be like dry watercourses? III. How that Divine Helper comes to men. “ Full of … faith.”1. No goodness without the Spirit, no Spirit without faith in Christ. If you open a chink the water will come in. If you trust in Christ He will give you the new life of His Spirit. 2. The measure in which we possess the power that makes us good depends on ourselves. “ Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.” You may have as much of God as you want, and as little as you will. The measure of your faith will determine at once the measure of your goodness, and of your possession of the Spirit that makes good. Just as when the prophet miraculously increased the oil in the cruse, the stream flowed as long as they brought vessels, and stayed when there were no more; so long as we open our hearts for the reception the gift will not be withheld, but God will not let it run like water spilled on the ground. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The moral sympathies of a good man It is interesting to distinguish the historic names of the Church, and to recognise the forms of greatness that we associate with them. As were Peter and Paul and John in the apostolic age--men distinctively practical, intellectual, and spiritual, so it has been in every age since. The Church has had its practical workers, men full of spiritual earnestness and power--its dauntless and fervid preachers, its Chrysostoms, Fenelons, Whitefields, Baxters, Wesleys; its apologists, its men of broad intellectual views, its teachers, its controversialists, its Augustines, Luthers, Pascals, Butlers, Chalmers. And it has had its contemplative, spiritual men--men full of goodness, and practical solicitude, charity in them triumphantly reigning over knowledge, and tongues, and prophesying. Such were Bernard, Fenelon, Melanchthon, Fletcher of Madeley, Watts, and Doddridge. In this latter class we should assign a place to Barnabas. Note-- I. The evangelist’ s idea of a “ good man.” He evidently means more than that he was merely a good-natured man, and more than that he was simply a virtuous man. He was good in the sense in which the work was good; himself a converted, a spiritual man; good in the sense of being “ full of the Holy Ghost and faith.” In the highest and scriptural sense of the term, no man can be good who is unspiritual. A man’ s goodness must regard God as well as man; spiritual obligations as well as social ones. The most moral imperatively needs conversion; for what is conversion but the awakening in a man of the thought of God; the quickening in him of the love of God; the producing within him of sympathy with God; the restoration of him to the image of God; the begetting within him of a feeling of practical gratitude to God, which makes him do everything to please and to glorify God? A man may be very virtuous, and yet be utterly godless. As such he is only half a good man. The “ faith” which is attributed to Barnabas was his spiritual recognition and reference; he “ walked by faith, not by sight” ; lived ever “ As in the Great Taskmaster’ s eye” ; did all things with a spiritual reference, and to a spiritual end. A man can preach only as he believes, and he will preach vividly or dully, tamely or earnestly, in proportion as he believes. II. It was in virtue of this eminent spiritual goodness that he rejoiced in the work which he saw going on. It was contrary to his national and dispensational theories; it shocked many of his prejudices; his instructions were to discourage, if not prohibit it; but the spiritual sympathies of the saint were too strong for the notions of the theologian, for the proprieties of the ecclesiast, for the dignity of the commissioner. He sees the manifest work of grace; and who is he that he is to gainsay it. He is learning that our proprieties are not always God’ s methods; that God often chooses uncanonised ways and unconsecrated agents to do the mightiest things. The work appeals to the good man’ s heart; it touches his spiritual sympathies. He sees sinners converted, however irregularly; he “ sees the grace of God, and he is glad.” And should we, were we men of holier hearts, of stronger spiritual sympathies, have so much difficulty with our ecclesiastical theories and proprieties? If our piety were more fervent, we should more vividly appreciate the preciousness of men’ s souls, and the unspeakable blessing of their salvation; and in our joy over the fact we should scarcely care to ask who had done it. Wherever we saw a spiritual work done, there we should recognise God’ s worker, and rejoice over spiritual conversion by whomsoever effected. If we be good as Barnabas was good, we shall rejoice with his joy whenever we see what he saw. III. The spiritual goodness which led Barnabas to rejoice in the good that had already been done, led him also to cooperate with it; and thus “ much people were added to the Lord.” He found a work of conversion going on; and instead of contenting himself with mere commendation, he gave himself heartily to cooperate with these irregular men and their irregular work. He had energies to contribute, an influence to exert. Who was he that he should stand aloof when God Himself was working? If it be ours to work, in the mere peradventure that God will work with us, assuredly we may not without culpability withhold our effort when He is palpably working. Who but He can awaken solicitudes about salvation, and out of the sinner evolve a saint? And when these results are seen, we need be in no doubt whose work they are. And eagerly and fervently should we strive for the honour of working with Him. All good men do this. They wilt turn away from your strifes of doctrines and modes; but demonstrate your devoutness by your spiritual achievement, and then, just in proportion to their goodness, they will come and help you. IV. The goodness of Barnabas was the cause of his success. And so it will ever be. Men are not converted by demonstrations of the gospel, but by inspirations of it. Men are never reasoned into spiritual life; they are quickened into it. We must ourselves be what we seek to make others. We can raise them no higher than our own level. I am not faithful to Christ merely because I eloquently and urgently preach His gospel; He demands of me that I be what I preach--His “ living epistle, known and read of all men.” Learning may be desirable, eloquence needful; but piety is essential: it is the basis and power of all spiritual work. (H. Allon, D. D.)Characteristics of the good man A good man is-- I. A converted man. “ In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” “ There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” These statements are not inconsistent with the fact, that there is a natural conscience in man, and that there are amiable feelings urging to noble and generous actions; nor can it be denied that, apart from the power of Divine grace, there is often a striking superiority of one man above another. But the qualities of unconverted men come far short of goodness; nay, they serve to show more strongly the wickedness of the human heart, which resists the dictates of natural conscience, and the admonitions of the Word of God. We must, therefore, be “ transformed, by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” The eyes of our understanding must be enlightened, our affections must be fixed supremely on God. We must be dead to sin, that we may live unto righteousness. Till then, sin must have dominion over us. II. A man who believes in Christ and makes open and steadfast profession of his faith. Infidelity is obviously incompatible with true goodness; for it is the wilful deliberate rejection of the truth. But unbelief, in the sense of the refusal of a sinner to accept of Christ as his Saviour, is equally incompatible. How can it be otherwise? All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. A Saviour has been provided, and, in the riches of the Divine beneficence, has been freely offered to men. Can there be any goodness in the heart which remains unmoved by love like this? Is there anything but the spirit of unholy rebellion in the breast of that man who refuses to comply with the first duty of a perishing sinner? No, a life of holy obedience must have its beginning in submission to the righteousness of Christ as the only ground of acceptance. And this faith we must openly and steadfastly profess. Believing with the heart unto righteousness, with the mouth we must make confession unto salvation. This is one of the evidences of the sincerity of our faith, the proof to ourselves, and the world around us, that our faith is a true and a saving faith, and not merely the cold speculative belief of the doctrine of Christ. III. A man of piety and devotedness. Who can deny that it is one of the first duties of man to love God, and to seek to please Him? He is the all-perfect Jehovah, the fountain of our being, and the source of all our happiness; one whom we are under the strongest obligations to love, and fear, and serve. If it be our duty to love and honour our fellow men, much more it is our duty to love and honour God. This will appear still more evident if we consider that where there is no piety, the opposite dispositions must have the ascendency in our souls. If we do not love God, we must be at enmity with Him (Matthew 6:21; James 4:4). IV. A man of active and enlightened beneficence. The Second Commandment of the law is as essential to real goodness as the First. Love to men never fails to flow from love to God. Love is the fulfilling of the law; it completes the character of a true Christian. No gifts or endowments, however excellent, can compensate for the want of Christian love. But all beneficence is not goodness. There is the beneficence of sudden impulses; the beneficence which needs to be awakened by touching representations; the beneficence of the Pharisee, who doeth his alms before men to be seen of them; extorted beneficence compelled by the example of others--the beneficence of fashion or custom, not of religious or even moral principle. True goodness or beneficence is different from all these. It has its root in a renewed heart. It is constant and uniform--a habit not an act--an ever-flowing stream, not the effervescence of momentary feeling. A good man loves his fellow men, and because he loves them he is earnestly desirous of promoting their real welfare. His “ liberal mind deviseth liberal things.” V. A man who endeavours to regulate his whole temper and conduct by the maxims and precepts of the gospel of Christ. He recognises the law of God as the only rule of his life and conversation. The law is not made void, it is established, by faith. Other men are governed by the principles of the world, principles often decidedly at variance with the law of God, and the morality of the gospel. A good man steadfastly refuses to submit to their authority. VI. A man who earnestly desires the advancement of the Divine glory and the establishment of His kingdom. “ None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself,” etc. This desire is not confined to the duties of prayer and praise. The good man is actuated by a holy solicitude that every part of his conduct may be so entirely in agreement with the law of Christ, as to curb and restrain the wickedness of the ungodly, and to strengthen and encourage the hearts of true believers in the diligent pursuit and practice of true holiness. (P. McFarlan, D. D.)Goodness, as illustrated in the character of Barnabas Mark-- I. The good man as depicted by the world.1. There is the decent and orderly man. He is so regular in his attendance on the ordinances of the Church, so decorous in all his proceedings, that if you venture to ask whether, while he bears the form of godliness, he also manifests the power thereof, you are decried as uncharitable, and never to be satisfied. “ What is goodness, if such a man as this is not good?” 2. Then comes the liberal, open-hearted, and benevolent man. If you examine whether his liberality may not be thoughtless profusion, whether his benevolence may not be a mere natural feeling, whether other parts of his conduct uphold or contradict the supposition of his goodness, you are encountered with declarations that a better man never existed; and are silenced with the perverted text, that “ charity covereth a multitude of sins.” 3. Then comes the industrious and frugal man--so laudably diligent in his business, so careful to provide for his family! If you intimate a doubt whether his labours exemplify any disposition beyond covetousness or mere worldly prudence, you are treated as a man determined to find fault, as one whom neither generosity nor frugality can please. 4. The next person is the cautious man. His object is never to give offence. He says civil things of every person; yet not so civil of any person as to excite the jealousy of another. He attaches himself to no party; but endeavours to induce all severally to regard ]aim as well inclined to their cause, and yet, while his conduct is a tissue of time-serving insincerity, he is generally allowed to be “ a very good sort of man.” 4. Another is the easy, good-humoured man. He is so pleasant, so harmless, so neighbourly! Every person whom he meets he appears delighted to see. It is thus that, possibly without possessing a single estimable moral quality, he obtains far and wide the denomination of as excellent a man as ever was born. 5. The last character is the “ man of honour,” who studiously practices whatever is creditable, and avoids whatever is discreditable, in the class of society in which he moves. Ask him why he shuns any particular practice. Does he reply, “ Because it is sinful? “ The expression is foreign to his lips. He answers, “ Because it is mean, low, degrading, unbecoming a gentleman.” Why does he pursue a specified line of conduct? Because it is acceptable to God? He thinks not of such a standard. He pursues it because it has the stamp of fashionable estimation. Destitute, it may be, of a grain of true religion, this man is regarded by multitudes as a model of perfection! II. The good man as portrayed in Scripture. Barnabas--1. Was full of the Holy Ghost. The words describe him as sanctified by Divine grace, as being no longer of the world, even as Christ was not of the world, and as filled with the fruits of the Spirit, with all righteousness and godliness, with holy views, principles, tempers, desires, purposes, “ which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.” 2. Barnabas was full of faith. His faith was sincere, cordial, warm, energetic, productive. It was not a cold and naked assent to the historical truth of the actions of Christ, such as he might yield to a true account of Pontius Pilate or of Judas. It was not a barren speculation dwelling in his head as a portion of abstract knowledge, like a curious principle in mechanics, or a subtle theorem in astronomy. It was faith in a Saviour. On that Saviour, to whom he owed all, he depended for all. To that Saviour he looked with assurance for strength and guidance. He knew in whom he trusted. His works were the fruits of faith, and his faith was manifested by his works. 3. “ When he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad.” He would have rejoiced had he beheld no more than the tranquillity and outward comfort of his fellow Christians. But the delight which swallowed up all other motives of joy was to behold the growing establishment of the Church of Christ; to behold sinners turning with abhorrence from their iniquities, and glorifying the Lord their Redeemer by newness of life. 4. “ Exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” The joy of Barnabas did not waste itself in idle contemplation. His love of Christ constrained him to labour for Christ. His love of man impelled him to the assistance of man. How many sufferers previously (chap. 4:36, 37) experienced from his compassion the comforts of food and raiment! He went about as a minister to mankind of those blessings, which exclusively confer complete and durable consolation. (T. Gisborne, M. A.) Acts 11:25-26 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul.Saul brought to Antioch; buried talent called forth to its appropriate field of labour How Saul had been employed all this time (Acts 9:30) we have no means of ascertaining. We cannot well doubt that he would bring the claims of Christianity before philosophers and urge the proofs that Jesus was the Messiah in the synagogue; nor can we doubt that his labours would be in some degree successful. The work at Antioch required one like Saul, and in our age a telegraphic despatch would have summoned him; but then Barnabas had to go and find him. Notice-- I. The emergency which had then occurred in the Church. Observe that--1. The ideas of Christians up to that time had been limited. It was a slow process by which the attention of the apostles was directed to the regions beyond Palestine, and even then their thoughts were directed to Hebrews. 2. The events at Antioch could not well be mistaken as bearing on this point. The gospel had been preached there to heathen with great power and success. 3. The name Christian was conferred and adopted just as this enlarged view of the nature of their religion was becoming the common view of the Church. II. The ample field, on which the talents of Saul, now summoned from obscurity, might act.1. Antioch itself. This Syrian capital, by its wealth, its commerce, its accessibility, its communication with the other parts of the world, its numbers, was one of the most important centres of influence; and we may readily understand, therefore, why he was called by Providence to labour there. 2. The world itself would be suggested as a field for which Saul was especially qualified; and which, in his call, he had been designated to occupy. The new idea was one which could not be confined in its operations to Antioch, for the principles which made it proper to preach the gospel there, made it proper to preach it everywhere. The events now occurring could not but suggest to a mind like Saul’ s the fact that the whole world was to be visited by like influences of the Spirit of God. III. The arrangements for calling talent forth to accomplish the Divine purposes.1. Talent is found in one of these forms. (1) In preparation for the future. (2) In obscurity. (3) Employed in a purpose corresponding to the design for which it was created. (4) Perverted and abused. These forms may exist separately, or two of them may be combined. Thus talent in preparation, and as yet in obscurity, may be combined, for the occasion may not yet have arisen to call it forth. We have no reason to doubt that while Saul was in Arabia and in Tarsus he was preparing for his great work. 2. There is talent created in each age of the world, for all the purposes of that age. It is not developed from the past; nor is it the production of the mere laws of nature or hereditary; it is as much a new creation as would be the introduction of a new world. There was nothing in Stratford-on-Avon that could produce Shakespeare; nor anything in his father of which “ Lear,” and “ Hamlet,” and “ Othello” could be the development. The mind of Shakespeare was as really an act of creation as the creation of a world. So with Johnson, Milton, Michael Angelo. These minds were made of such capacity, power, and adaptedness to a particular end, as God pleased; and were brought upon the earth at, when, and how He saw best. There is a difference between the Divine arrangements for the physical wants of the world, and for its mental and moral wants. In the former case, long before man was upon the earth, God had created all that the race would need in all its history. Mind, on the contrary, He brings upon the earth as it is wanted. At every period there is a class of minds needed to carry the world forward in its ordinary course--in working the fields already cultivated. As, however, the world’ s most marked advances are not by a steady ascent, but rather per saltum, so (when the time arrives for such a new elevation) God creates the mind or minds fitted to the occasion. Thus some great lawgiver, poet, painter, soldier, philosopher. Such men as Moses, Caesar, etc., lay the foundation for new epochs, and such “ epochs” really constitute the history of the progress of the world. 3. Under this arrangement much talent may be hidden; much may be in a state of almost unconscious preparation. How little did Washington, amid the quiet scenes at Mount Vernon, how little Oliver Cromwell, on his farm, dream of the great part each was to act in the history of the world! The emergency came. There was enough for those great men to do, and God had endowed them with talent sufficient to do all that was needful to be accomplished in their age. 4. Emergencies do arise to call forth the talent which God has conferred. When liberty is endangered, when reforms are to be effected, when the world is to he prepared for some new and signal advance, then talent before hidden is brought forward to do its work. Such--in a more eminent degree than aught else--was the period when, after so long a preparation, and when “ the fulness of the time was come,” the Son of God was called from His obscurity in darkened Galilee. Such also--subordinate to that higher purpose, but still so marked in its character as to constitute a new epoch in the world’ s history--was the calling forth of Saul to act his part on the great theatre of human affairs. (A. Barnes, D. D.)The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. What the world called the Church, and what the Church calls itself Nations and parties often call themselves by one name, and are known to the world by another. These outside names are generally given in contempt; and yet they sometimes hit the very centre, and so by degrees get to be adopted as an honour. So it has been with the name “ Christian.” It is never used in the New Testament by Christians about themselves. It occurs here in Agrippa’ s half-contemptuous exclamation, and in 1 Peter 4:16. Consider-- I. This name given by the world to the Church, which the Church has adopted.1. Observe the circumstances under which it was given. A handful of Jews from Jerusalem had come down to Antioch, and there they preached the gospel to heathen, and their success has for its crowning attestation that it compelled the sarcastic Antiochenes to find out a new name for this new thing; to find out a new label for the new bottles into which the new wine was being put. Clearly the name shows-- (1) That the Church was beginning to attract the attention of outsiders. (2) That there was a novel element in the Church. The earlier disciples had been all Jews. But here is something that could not be called either Jew or Greek, because it embraces both. The new name is the first witness to the cosmopolitan character of the primitive Church. (3) That even these superficial observers had got hold of the right notion of what it was that did bind these people together. They called them “ Christians” --Christ’ s men, Christ’ s followers. If they had called them “ Jesuits” that would have meant the followers of the mere man; but it is not Jesus the Man, but Jesus Christ, the Man with His office, that makes the centre and the bond of the Christian Church. 2. Plain lessons lie on the surface. (1) The Church should draw to itself the notice of the world not by advertising, and ostentation, and singularities. If you are live Christians it will be plain enough to outsiders. What shall we say of leaven which does not leaven, or of light which does not shine? Are the world’ s names for themselves enough to describe you by, or do you need another to be coined for you? The Church that does not provoke the attention of outsiders is not the Church as Christ meant it to be. (2) The clear impression made by our conduct should be that we belong to Christ. The eye of an outsider may be unable to penetrate the secret of the deep sweet tie uniting us to Jesus, but there should be no possibility of his overlooking the fact that we are His. He should manifestly be the centre, guide, impulse, pattern, strength and reward of our whole lives. Do you think that, without your words, if you, living the way you do, were put down into the middle of Pekin, the wits of the Chinese metropolis would have to invent a name for you; and, if so, the name that would naturally come to their lips would be “ Christians” --“ Christ’ s men.” If you do not, there is something wrong. (3) It is a very sad thing when the world’ s inadequate notions of what makes a follower of Jesus Christ get accepted by the Church. The name “ Christian” ran all over Christendom in the course of a century and a half, largely because it was a conveniently vague name. Many a man is quite willing to say, “ I am a Christian,” that would hesitate a long time before he said, “ I am a believer” ; “ a disciple.” II. Side by side with this vague, general, outside name the more specific and interior names, by which Christ’ s followers at first knew themselves.1. “ Disciples,” the name employed almost exclusively during the time of Christ’ s life upon earth, sets forth Christ as being the Teacher, and His followers His scholars, who learned at His feet. Now that is always true. He teaches us still by the record of His life, and by the living influence of that Spirit whom He sends forth to guide us into all truth. But that name is not enough, and so after He had passed from earth, it unconsciously and gradually dropped out of the lips of the disciples, as they felt deepened bond uniting them to Him who was not only the Teacher of the Truth, which was Himself, but was their sacrifice and Advocate with the Father. And for all who hold the essentially imperfect conception of Jesus Christ as being mainly a Teacher, either by word or by pattern, it is worthy of consideration that the name of disciple was speedily felt to be inadequate to represent the bond that knit men to Christ. 2. Teacher and scholars move in a region which, though it be important, is not the central one. And the word that was needed next lifts us into a higher atmosphere. Believers, they who yield not merely intellectual submission to the dicta of the Teacher, but living trust in the Redeemer. We believe a truth, we trust a Person; and that trust is the one thing that binds men to God, and the one thing that makes us Christ’ s men. Apart from it, we may be very near Him, but we are not joined to Him. By it, and by it alone, the union is completed, and His power and grace flow into our spirits. 3. The name “ saints” has suffered perhaps more at the hands both of the world and of the Church than any other. It has been by the latter restricted to the dead, and further restricted to those who excel, according to the fantastic, ascetic standard of mediaeval Christianity. It has been used by the world with a bitter emphasis to mean a pretender to be better than other people, whose actions contradict his claim. But the name belongs to all Christ’ s followers. It makes no claim to special purity, for the central idea of the word “ saint” is not purity, but separation. The New Testament idea of saint has in it these elements--consecration, consecration resting on faith in Christ, and consecration leading to separation from the world and its sin. And that must be the experience of every true Christian. All Christ’ s people are saints, not as being pure, but as being given up to Him, in union with whom alone will the cleansing powers flow into their lives and clothe them with “ the righteousness of saints.” 4. Brethren--a name much maltreated both by the insincerity of the Church, and by the sarcasm of the world. An unreal appellation which has meant nothing, so that the world has said that our “ brethren” signified a good deal less than their “ brothers.” But the main thing about that name is not the relation of the brethren to one another, but their common relation to their Father. As society gets more complicated, as Christian people get unlike each other in education and social position, it gets more and more difficult to feel that any two Christian people, however unlike each other, are nearer each other in the very roots of their nature, than a Christian and a non-Christian, however like each other. It is difficult to feel that but for all that it is a fact. And now I wish to ask you whether you feel more at home with people who love Christ, or whether you like better to be with people who do not. The duties of your position, of course, oblige each of you to be much among people who do not share your faith; but for Christian people to make choice of heart friends, among those who have no sympathy with their love to Jesus Christ, does not say much for the depth and reality of their religion. A man is known by the company he keeps, and if you deeply feel the bond that knits you to Christ, and really live near to Him, you will be near your brethren. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The name “ Christian” I. When it was given.1. Not until twelve years, apparently, of most intense life, persecution, growth, did the Christians receive any abiding name, which serves to show us that God cares for things, not names. God makes the things, man gives the names; yet how much controversy is merely about names. 2. Not until after the disciples had become known among the Gentiles. The Jews would never have given us this holy name. II. Where. In Antioch. Which was--1. Beautiful. Situate on the Orontes, where it breaks through between Lebanon and Taurus; the scenery magnificent, itself splendidly adorned, and surrounded with groves and gardens. 2. Rich. The capital of Syria and the third city of the world; centre of traffic between east and west. 3. Pleasure-loving. The meeting place between the lively Greek and self-indulgent Eastern, with every inducement and advantage for enjoyment. 4. Wicked. Antioch was exceptionally depraved. Borne was horribly bad; but when the satirist wished to say that Rome was made tenfold more corrupt, he wrote that Orontes had emptied itself into the Tiber. 5. Heathen. Here were the notorious groves of Daphne, where Apollo was worshipped with all magnificence and vice. III. Why. That is not quite so certain; but we may safely say that it came about thus: The Antiochenes noticed some among them who differed from others. The beauty of the place they regarded with sober admiration; its riches and business they cared little for: they were industrious, used no trickery, abandoned many trades altogether, and did not grieve much if they lost their money; its amusements they shunned, and as for the sins of the place, they both avoided and rebuked them. Then the heathen were astonished, and asked, “ Who has taught you this? Who has given you this new-fangled view of the beauty, wealth, pleasure, and sin (as you call it) of Antioch? Who has forbidden you to worship our gods?” To this the answer was ever, “ Christ has told us that the world and its beauty pass away; but He has told us of a new heaven and earth far better. He has taught us to think but little of the world’ s wealth, for He has given us treasure in heaven. He has taught us to look for higher pleasures, and to beware of yours, lest they lead us to sin and death. He has taught us above all to know and hate sin, and not to give to your gods that which is His due. “ So,” the Antiochenes would say, “ this is your God.” “ Yes,” they would reply, “ we are His, and cannot take the absorbing interest you do in the beauty, wealth, pleasure, sin, and idolatry of Antioch.” Some among the heathen would believe, the rest would scoff and call them “ Christians.” (R. Winterbotham, M. A.)The Christian name 1. At first sight this might seem to be a piece of information such as is to be met with in an old chronicle, or in Notes and Queries, and it probably was meant to correct the idea that the disciples were first called Christians at Jerusalem. But we have here much more than this. 2. The name of a man or society is not like a label, which may be detached from a piece of lifeless furniture; it is a factor of which account must be taken for good or evil. Men have borne names which they have felt to be a stigma--an active cause of discouragement and failure. Men have also inherited names which have lifted themselves into a fellowship with a past of high effort. And, in religion names have a mighty power of shaping thought and sympathy. This applies to the greatest of names--Christians. I. How came the disciples by this name?1. It comes into view together with the first attempt to preach the gospel to the pagan world. The Jews would not have given it. They believed in a coming Christ, but rejected the true Christ. But His appearance was an entirely new and original idea to pagans, and the constant repetition of His name would suggest to the keen-witted Greeks to call the disciples Christians. 2. It is probable that the name was a nickname, meant to suggest that those who could do nothing but talk about their Christ were a set of fanatics to be laughed out of existence. The ease was parallel to the feeling about Christ crucified at Corinth. II. There were other names by which the disciples were known.1. Before: Brethren, Disciples, Elect, Saints, Faithful. 2. After: Gnostics, men who had a knowledge of Divine things--Theophori, Christopheri (God bearers, Christ bearers), Nazarenes, and at Rome especially, impostors, magicians, Galileans, sophists, atheists, Sarmentitii, desperate men, who were indifferent to death; Parabolani, men who lived only to die, Biathanati, men whose garments smelt of the faggot, etc. 3. Since: Catholic, a name of commanding power, but this describes a quality, Christian, the substance of true religion; the one views it in relation to mankind, the other in its source and author; Catholic might be dissociated from Christ--Christian never. III. The import and glory of the Christian name. The apostles highly prized it: James calls it “ that worthy name” ; St. Peter a name for which it is a glory to suffer. It is a great distinction--1. To be a learner in the one great school of truth. This is the very least that the name can mean, just as those who followed Plato were called Platonists. 2. To be in the service of such a commander as Christ. We know the feeling which attaches in our army to being in the best regiments; to be in the regiment led by Jesus Christ across the centuries, ought to satisfy a nobler ambition. 3. To be endowed with a new nature--that of Christ the Lord. Compared with this, how poor is “ noble” birth! A Christian is a member of the aristocracy of heaven. IV. The responsibility of the bearers of this great name.1. It is a summons to unity. (1) Because it distinguishes the disciples from others it has been stigmatised as a badge of division. Human, it is contended, would represent a more adequate bond of brotherhood. But the aim of Christianity is to make one synonymous with the other and the name is a pledge that it will one day do so. (2) This name is borne by millions of Christian worshippers who are divided widely from each other. But the name implies amid all their divisions the substantial loyalty of all to Christ. 2. It is a call to holiness. “ Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Application: Let us remember this name-- (1) In the morning.(2) At night.(3) In the hour of death. (Canon Liddon.)The Christian name We may consider this name in various views; as a name of distinction from the rest of the world, who know not Christ, or reject Him; as a patronymic name, pointing out the Founder of the Christian Church; as a badge of our relation to Christ as His servants, His children, His bride; as intimating our unction by the Holy Spirit; as Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit, or above measure, as a name of appropriation, signifying that we are the property of Christ and His peculiar people. But my present design confines me to consider the Christian name-- I. As a catholic name, intended to bury all party denominations.1. The name Gentile was odious to the Jews, and the name Jew to the Gentiles. The name Christian swallows up both in one common and agreeable appellation. He that hath taken down the partition wall, has taken away partition names, and united all His followers in His own name (Colossians 3:11; Galatians 3:28; Zechariah 14:9). 2. It is but a due honour to Christ, the founder of Christianity, that all who profess His religion should wear His name; and they pay an extravagant compliment to his ministers when they take their denomination from them. Had this humour prevailed in the primitive Church there would have been Paulites from Paul, Peterites from Peter, Johnites from John, Barnabites from Barnabas, etc. Paul took pains to crush the first risings of this party spirit in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:12-15). But alas! how little has this convictive reasoning of the apostle been regarded. Not to take notice of Jesuits, Jansenites, Dominicans, Franciscans, etc., in the popish Church, where, having corrupted the thing, they act very consistently to lay aside the name, what party names have been adopted by the Protestant Churches, whose religion is substantially the same. To be a Christian is not enough nowadays, but a man must also be something more. But where is the reason or propriety of this? I may indeed believe the same things which Luther or Calvin believed: but I do not believe them on the authority of Luther or Calvin, but upon the sole authority of Jesus Christ, and therefore I should not call myself by their name, as one of their disciples, but by the name of Christ, whom alone I acknowledge as my only Master and Lord. 3. To guard against mistakes on this head I would observe that every man has a right to choose for himself in matters of religion. In the exercise of this right he will find that he agrees more fully with some particular Church than others, and thereupon it is his duty to join that Church; and he may, if he pleases, assume the name which that Church wears, by way of distinction from others; this is not what I condemn. But for me to glory in the denomination of any particular Church as my highest character, to lay more stress upon the name of a Presbyterian era Churchman than on that of Christian; to make it the object of my zeal to gain proselytes to some other than the Christian name; to connive at the faults of those of my own party, and to be blind to the good qualities of others, or invidiously to misrepresent or diminish them; these proceed from a spirit of bigotry directly opposite to the generous catholic spirit of Christianity. II. As a name of obligation upon all that bear it to be Christians indeed, or to form their temper and practice upon the sacred model of Christianity. To be a Christian, in the popular and fashionable sense, is no difficult or excellent thing. It is to be baptized, to believe, like our neighbours, that Christ is the Messiah, and to attend upon public worship once a week. In this sense a man may be a Christian, and yet be habitually careless about eternal things; a Christian, and yet fall short of the morality of many of the heathens. To be a Christian in this sense is no high character; and if this be the whole of Christianity it is very little matter whether the world be Christianised or not. But to be a Christian indeed is the highest character and dignity of which the human nature is capable. To be a Christian is--1. To depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19). What, then, shall we think of the profligate, profane Christians, that have overrun the Christian world? Can there be a greater contradiction? A loyal subject in arms against his sovereign, an ignorant scholar, a sober drunkard, a charitable miser, an honest thief, is not a greater absurdity, or a more direct contradiction. Therefore, if you will not renounce iniquity, renounce the Christian name. Alexander had a fellow in his army that was of his own name, but a mere coward. “ Either be like me,” says Alexander, “ or lay aside my name.” 2. To deny yourselves and take up the cross and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). To deny ourselves is to abstain from the pleasures of sin; to deny our own interest for the sake of Christ. To take up our cross is to bear sufferings, to encounter difficulties, and break through them for His sake. To follow Him is to trace His steps and imitate His example whatever it cost us. These are the terms if you would be Christians. These He honestly warned mankind of when He first called them to be His disciples (Luke 14:25, etc.). What, then, shall we think of those crowds who retain the Christian name, and yet will not deny themselves of their sensual pleasures, nor part with their temporal interest for the sake of Christ? A Christian, without self-denial, and a supreme love to Jesus Christ, is as great a contradiction as fire without heat, or a sun without light, a hero without courage, or a friend without love. 3. To be a follower or imitator of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21; Romans 7:22; Philippians 2:5). Conclusion: I might add that the Christian name is not hereditary, but you must be born anew of the spirit to entitle you to this new name; that a Christian is a believer, believing in Him after whom he is called as his only Saviour and Lord, and that he is a true penitent. You may hence see--1. That the Christian character is the highest in the world, it includes everything truly great and amiable. To acquire the title of kings and lords is not in your power; to spread your fame as scholars, philosophers, or heroes, may be beyond your reach; but here is a character more excellent, more amiable, more honourable than all these, which it is your business to deserve and maintain. And this is a dignity which beggars and slaves may attain. 2. That if all the professors of Christianity should behave in character, the religion of Christ would soon appear Divine to all mankind, and spread through all nations of the earth. It would be as needless to offer arguments to prove it Divine as to prove that the sun is full of light: the conviction would flash upon all mankind by its own intrinsic evidence. (S. Davies, M. A.)The Christian name I. What. All that the name has come to mean was quite unintended by the Antiochenes. But the question now is not what these ancient people meant, but what, after nineteen centuries of Christian literature and life, it has come to mean. Undoubtedly it comprehends--1. Faith in Christ.2. Love to Christ.3. Imitation of Christ.4. Union with Christ, with all the effects which flow from these, such as obedience to Christ’ s will, loyalty to Christ’ s cause, fellowship with Christ’ s people, profession of Christ’ s principles, and the blessed hope of being with Christ forever. Without each of these in a greater or less degree no man is entitled to the Christian name. II. Where. At Antioch.1. An unlikely place, one would think. Why should the worshippers of physical beauty, the slaves of lust, the devotees of gain, the priests of a false religion, and the teachers and disciples of an agnostic philosophy care a straw about the followers of a crucified Jew whose teachings ran counter to all their desires, practices, traditions, and disbeliefs, much less trouble to give them a new name? But experience should teach us that people are not so indifferent as they seem. With every motive to ignore the Christianity of today, people are earnestly noting and talking about it. 2. Really a most likely place. Here Christianity stood out in marked contrast to all the Antiochenes had ever known. It was a new thing. Its positive belief, purity, charity, brotherhood, stood in contrast with the prevalent scepticism, iniquity, and selfishness of the place. Light cannot but be seen in darkness, and of all places Christianity must have been most conspicuous at Antioch. It compelled attention, and the symptom of this attention was the name Christian. 3. The best place. No city in the world except Rome and Alexandria afforded such facilities for the dissemination of the knowledge of this name. Antioch was the Liverpool of the age. Let once a religious movement get well rooted in the great northern port, and all the world will soon hear of it. III. By whom.1. Perhaps by matter of fact men who wanted a word which they could use in current conversation and be universally understood when talking of this new movement. Just as when a name was required to describe the followers of Aristotle or Plato in ancient, and of Luther and Pusey in modern times, the convenient designations were Aristotelians, etc. 2. Perhaps by wits and scoffers, who gladly availed themselves of the opportunity of fixing the name of a crucified malefactor on fanatics whose tenets were only worthy of laughter or scorn. 3. Perhaps by admirers who saw a resemblance between the disciples and all that was known of Christ. IV. When. When a new name was required to describe a new thing. Up till now all Christians were Jews, but even now there were such characteristics that marked them off from the rest of their race that a separate designation was required. When, however, Greeks came into the fold a distinctive name became imperative, and one was found which covered both Jew and Greek. V. Why. Because the disciples were--1. Consecrated to Christ.2. Always talking about Christ.3. Ever seeking to secure disciples for Christ. VI. With what results. The name--1. Gradually superseded every other name.2. Still towers above every other name. All genuine Christians are glad to subordinate denominational distinctions.3. Will eventually be the only name. (J. W. Burn.)The disciples called Christians I. Although everyone admits that the appellative “ Christian” is derived from our great Master Christ, there is considerable variety of opinion as to the way in which it was so derived.1. The view taken by one class of expositors is, that this appellative was first given in derision and contempt. 2. A second opinion is, that the title in question was first assumed by the Christians themselves, as a new and significant distinction. 3. But a more probable account of this matter is, that the name Christian was first adopted by Divine appointment and authority. (1) The word translated “ called,” in the text, is sometimes used in the sense of “ to warn, or appoint by Divine authority.” (2) The mere fact of the first use of the term “ Christian” being recorded in so abbreviated and important a history as that of the Acts would argue that it was an event of much interest to the Church of Christ in all succeeding ages. (3) As it is mentioned in immediate connection with the teaching of Barnabas and Paul, it is not unreasonable to infer that those holy men instructed the disciples at Antioch not only to believe in Christ, but also to adopt His name. II. Having considered the derivation and meaning of the name, we must not inquire respecting the character; for it is one thing to be called a Christian, and another thing to be one. Suppose that, with the New Testament in our hand, we were required to give some account of one of those early Antiochian Christians; we should, without fear of contradiction, assert the following particulars:--1. That he was a man who received and believed the doctrines of the Lord Christ. 2. Our disciple at Antioch, one of those first called Christians, would place his confidence in the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, and in Him alone. 3. He would be one that yielded implicit obedience to the commands of the Son of God. 4. He would consider the Lord Jesus Christ as that perfect and illustrious example he was bound by every obligation to imitate. (1) Do Christians imitate the Lord Jesus?--then are they an inoffensive people; for He was “ holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). (2) Are Christians imitators of Christ? then are they a useful people; for He “ went about doing good,” and then “ gave Himself a ransom for all.” (3) Are Christians people who follow the example of the holy Jesus? then are they a holy and devout people; for He frequented the temple and the synagogue, to pray in public; and retired to the mountain’ s summit, to pray in private; and in that exercise sometimes wasted the hours of the night! III. It only remains to deduce certain consequences in which we have all an intimate and deep concern.1. The first is, that no man can become a Christian, in the evangelical sense of the word, without the intervention of Divine mercy and power. 2. The next is, that as a religious designation, the term “ Christian” is of itself quite sufficient; and that all sectarian additions are but proofs of the infirmity or depravity of men. On this subject I venture to advise-- (1) That you esteem denomination as Christian, only as its members embrace the truth, imbibe the spirit, and obey the commands of Christ; and-- (2) That you glory in the name of “ Christian,” and make no account of any other. 3. It is clear from what has been advanced, that to assume the name without sustaining the character of a Christian is a serious evil. No man can be so called without being eternally better or worse for it! 4. It is evident from the whole, that to be called a Christian, and to be one, is the supreme happiness of man! Oh the honour! to have that dear, that sacred, that exalted name, named upon us! Christians!--happy people! Innumerable, exceeding great and precious promises are theirs. Then why hesitate a moment to become an entire and decided Christian? To this high and unspeakable honour you are all invited; Oh, spurn not this mark of infinite mercy, condescension, and love! (James Bromley.)The Christian nickname A father once planned a pleasant surprise for his son who was just beginning to think for himself. In a corner of his garden he wrote with his finger his boy’ s name in soft mould. The furrows he then sowed with seeds of cress. A few days after this, as was expected, the astonished lad came running in with the news that his name was growing up out of one of the flower beds. Then, with the explanation immediately rendered, followed the lessons--that nothing comes by chance; that many mysteries can be traced out very easily by a little patient study; that it is possible for men to seem to do many things of their own accord, when really it is God who overrules even the powers of nature to His own glory; and that, noble and excellent a thing as it is to have a Christian name, it is always worth while to ask where it comes from, and what it actually means. Here is a use for the illustration at once. Our young people, coming into life, find the name of “ Christian” meeting their eyes at every turn, almost as if it had grown up out of the ground of human history with no hand to plant the seed. I. Where was it that the name was first received? Twenty miles from the Mediterranean, just at the point where Syria joins Asia Minor, stood a town so magnificent that even the fastidious Greeks called it “ Antioch the beautiful,” and the Romans “ the Queen of the East.” But, as too often happens in this world, Antioch was as vile as it was beautiful. No man cared for God or for his fellow man. II. Who gave the name? The Romans or the local inhabitants of Antioch under their sway. The term reads like the rest of Latin appellations. They called the followers of Herod “ Herodians,” of Vitellius “ Vitellians,” and so they easily invented the name of “ Christians” from the name of Christ. Hence we see that in the beginning it was a mere nickname; probably they hissed it out hatefully, and pointed their fingers at the man who gloried in a crucified Leader. All we need to say, however, is that the beautiful city is today lying in unsightly ruins; and if anyone were to ask what Antioch was, the answer would be, the town where “ the disciples were first called Christians.” That nickname preserves Antioch from being forgotten. III. What does the name mean? One who goes after Christ as His Redeemer and Pattern. Change only one of the letters, and we have the whole significance; a Christian is a Christ-man. And this includes these things at the least: one who has learned about Christ; one who trusts to Christ for pardon; one who resembles Christ in his life; and one who gives to Christ his entire heart in a lasting love.1. The first of these it might be assumed we all have already. Those person would be called heathen who had never been told of Jesus’ life and death. 2. But, most of all, we need to see that we are sinners; then we shall perceive how gracious God was in sending His only Son to die for us; and then we shall be ready to accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour. 3. Then, to be a Christian means that one shall grow like the Saviour. God has given us four portraits of Him in the Gospels. These we can study constantly. 4. Then we are to give our hearts to Christ in a loving service. We are to go about doing good, as He did. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)What is it to be a Christian 1. The Divinity of Christ is the object of the Christian’ s worship. 2. The condescension and atonement of Christ are the objects of the Christian’ s gratitude and trust. 3. The life and teachings of Christ are the subjects of the Christian’ s example and belief. 4. The reign of Christ is the object of the Christian’ s confidence and joy. 5. The return of Christ is the object of the Christian’ s expectation. “ Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” (Homiletic Monthly.)Christian life The history of Christianity at Antioch is on a small scale the history of Christianity in the world. Study the growth of one tree, and you will have a knowledge of the laws which regulate development in the vegetable world. The flowers that bloom today obey the same laws as did those of Paradise, and the Churches of today spread themselves after the same fashion as did that of Antioch. It is of the first importance, then, that we should know all that the name Christian means. I. Choice. Choice does not rule everywhere. We did not choose whether we would have life, parents, name, country, or not. And there are some things connected with Christianity which may be put in the same list--Christian land, books, thoughts, facts, etc. We are not Christians because we live among these circumstances, any more than a man becomes a horse by being put into a stable, any more than a sheep’ s clothing makes a sheep. Doubtless there are thousands who believe that baptism makes them Christians, just as Pagans believed that, by going through certain rites, they obtained the favour of the gods. But the New Testament teaches that Christianity is to be chosen. There must be first a willing mind--not a mere non-rejection of Christianity, but a clear acceptance of Christ. There is something inspiriting in this. Christ appeals to our manhood. He does not treat us like children to be led by the hand, nor compel us to a kind of religious slavery, but teaches us to stand erect in our humility. II. Obedience. Authority is essential to all life. Natural life must be regulated by well known rules, which we did not invent, but which we found invented for us. So with spiritual life and communion. We may be improving their outward forms and adapting them to the changing culture of the age. But we must build on the same foundations, and progress on the same principles as the earliest Christians did--in one word, bow to the authority of Christ. The Church has suffered from the usurped authority of kings, parliaments, bishops, mobs; but the Church’ s true Head is Christ. Alas for the Churches, they have too often lived as though the Head were a mere caput mortuum. But the Head of the Church is a mind that thinks of its difficulties and trials; it governs a hand that can guide it in all its devious paths; it moves a will that can defend it, and has a mouth by which the law of God can be made known. III. Separation. One of the reasons why Christians were so much hated was that they stood aloof from the common enjoyments of life. But this was inevitable, for the festivities and customs of Greece and Rome were so leavened with idolatry and sin that indulgence in the one involved complicity with the other. The early Christians consequently were in danger of asceticism, and were tempted to confound what was innocent with what was sinful. Society, thanks to Christian influence, is not now so corrupt. And yet our danger lies in too much laxity and indifference. Depravity has not been charmed away, and there is no less peril in the world’ s friendship today than there was eighteen hundred years ago. If, then, we would do good service in the world we must separate from its evil. The hope of the Church is in its clean hands and pure heart. Separation from all known evil is the mark alike of the Christian soul and the Christian community. IV. Willingness to suffer for Christ (1 Peter 4:16). (S. Pearson, M. A.)What constitutes a Christian A friend of mine was staying at a farm in the South of Scotland. The district was supposed to be very religious; and one afternoon, while sitting in the dining room, my friend and the hostess fell into a conversation about Church affairs. The lady was quite well informed of the difference between these two great branches of the Presbyterian Church, the Free and the Established; but when her visitor asked if there were many real Christians in the parish, she only stared in blank amazement as she replied, “ Why, we are all Christians.” “ But,” continued her friend, “ it is true Christians I mean, not merely nominal Christians, but men and women who have really trusted Christ with their souls, and are trying to convince and persuade their fellows to do the same.” But the distinction between real and nominal Christians seemed too subtle for her, and all she replied was, “ But we are all Christians, we were all born Christians!” Her guest, however, was determined, if possible, to bring home the difference to her, and mentioning a man welt known in the locality for his drunken and disorderly habits, asked, “ Would you call K--a Christian?” “ Yes, I suppose he must be.” “ Then there is G--,” mentioning a gentleman equally well known for his godly and philanthropic life, “ would you call him a Christian?” “ Yes!” --the “ yes” came more heartily this time. “ Then both these men are Christians. There is no difference between them.” “ Oh, yes, there is a difference.” “ Then what is that difference?” But she would not attempt to define it. She wished to keep that comfortable delusion that we are all Christians, whose principal Christian duty is to go to church on Sunday and put a penny in the plate. It is from such lukewarm, nominal Christians that the Church must shake herself loose before she can take her true place as a militant force against the powers of evil. (H. Hamilton.)Nominal Christians To what sort of a character should we attach the name of Christian; what life is it deserves that? The medals given to the Indians at the treaty of Red River were supposed to be of silver, but were really of a baser metal. Said an Indian chief, striking his in such a way that the deceit was apparent, “ I think it would disgrace the Queen, my mother, to wear her image on so base a metal as this.” What is it to be a Christian A little child was once asked what it was to be a Christian, and she wisely answered, “ It is just to do what Jesus would do if He was a little girl and lived at our house.” A Christian by profession and practice The Christian man is to be something like a physician. You know we call a physician a professional man. Well, how does he profess? There is a large brass plate on his door and a big bell, and everybody knows what the brass plate and the bell mean. That is part of his profession. What else? How does he profess to be a physician? He goes into company, and his dress is like anybody else’ s. You do not see a box of lancets hanging at his side; you do not observe that he is dressed in any peculiar costume. He is a physician, and he is always a physician; but his profession is carried on by his practice. This is how a Christian’ s profession is to be carried on, by his practice. The man is a physician professionally, because he really does heal people and write prescriptions and attend to their wants. I am to be a Christian in my actions, my deeds, my thoughts, my words. Therefore, if anybody wants a Christian, I should be known by my words and my acts. When we used to go to school, we would draw houses, and horses, and trees on our slates, and we remember how we used to write “ house” under the house, and “ horse” under the horse, for some persons might have thought the horse was a house. (C. H. Spurgeon.)What constitutes a Christian Four things are necessary to constitute a Christian.1. Faith makes a Christian.2. Life proves a Christian.3. Trials confirm a Christian.4. Death crowns a Christian. What is a Christian A young convert arose in the prayer meeting and said, “ A few days since the foreman of my room came to me and said, ‘ Henry, are you a Christian!’ I replied, ‘ Yes, sir, I am. At least I am trying to be. I look to the Lord for strength and grace!’ And then I could think of nothing better to say, so I thought I would ask him a question; so I said, ‘ Mr. Smith, are you a Christian?’ He replied, ‘ I go to church!’ Then I didn’ t know what to say. But a few days before this conversation a boy of about twelve years old came into the shop and asked for work. When the foreman told him he had none for him, he told a pitiful story of the sickness of his father and mother. The foreman then asked him if he had ever worked in a jeweller’ s shop, and he replied, ‘ No, sir, but I have worked next door to one!’ So, when I could not think what to say to my foreman, this came into my mind, and I said, ‘ Mr. Smith, do you remember the little boy who came in here the other day and said he once worked next door to a jeweller’ s shop?’ ‘ Yes.’ ‘ Do you think that working next to a jeweller’ s shop made him a jeweller?’ ‘ No.’ ‘ Do you think that going to church makes you a Christian?’ Who does not see that the answer of this young convert razes to the earth all the refuges of our dear friends away from the Saviour, who have become accustomed to substituting fallacies for reasons, and good deeds of their own for faith in Christ’ s blood and New Testament obedience? Many who are deferential and reverential in the presence of the gospel’ s proclamations say that, while such a way as it prescribes is doubtless proper for most people, they must be allowed to present, as the ground of their hopes, their uniform kindness to Christian ministers, their constant readiness to aid in their support, their presence and devout behaviour in church service, their compassionate and self-sacrificing ministrations to the unfortunate, their honourable business dealing, and their high regard, generally, for the rights of men. These are grand things. True Christianity is very far from discarding them; it insists upon them. But with equal vigour it protests against their substitution for the “ faith which works by love.” This is evidently working “ next door to a jeweller’ s shop.” (Christian Age.) Acts 11:27-30 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.Fruit from the Gentiles 1. The relation between the old Church at Jerusalem and the new at Antioch was that which St. Paul, writing under parallel circumstances, described in Romans 15:27 (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:12-15). It was a becoming acknowledgment of the vast debt under which all the world must lie to the Jew, but it was no repayment of it, when rich Antioch sent bread to starving Judaea. Jerusalem sent prophets, Antioch sent back corn. Agabus appears once again (Acts 21:10), and again as a predictor of disasters. This is the more noticeable that prediction was not the usual function of the prophetic order of the apostolic Church. They were men whom the Spirit had gifted with persuasive speech, and insight into truth. We have lost the name, but the thing remains. 2. The prediction of Agabus had a practical design. He foretold the dearth that the Church might act upon it, and on the hint they acted. The reign of Claudius was one of disaster; in the opening year it was Italy which suffered from the failure of crops; in the fourth, Palestine; in the eighth and ninth, Greece; in the eleventh, Italy again. It was to the second of these dearths that Agabus pointed which occurred in A.D. 45-46. We are here on sure chronological ground, and know that the want was so great that many were starved to death. A new convert to Judaism, the Queen of Adiabene, was so struck with the condition of things that she sent to Alexandria and Cyprus for supplies; and her son also, as Josephus tells us, contributed great sums of money to the same object. 3. On such occasions it was usual for the foreign synagogues to remit aid, as at this hour numbers of indigent Jews in Jerusalem are sustained by the charity of their European compatriots. The Church at Antioch, however, did not contribute through the synagogue, and in this separate assistance there is the first historical recognition of the fact that church and synagogue had parted company; that to be a Christian cut off a Jew from the charities of his own people; and that henceforth the tie of fellow Christian was to prove a stronger bond betwixt Jew and Gentile, than any other which bound Jew to Jew or Gentile to Gentile. A new force had entered into humanity, the name of Christian had already begun to dissolve ancient unities and to reconcile ancient feuds and to construct on the ruins of race hatreds a catholic society. 4. It is true to this day that Christianity plants in genuine Christian hearts a brotherhood which can cross the barriers of nationality. When the Reformation revived the primitive faith, the newly-formed Churches of Germany, Switzerland, England, etc., were brought into close and friendly relations. They exchanged famous teachers, sheltered one another’ s confessors, shared each other’ s fortune, and leagued their political influence for their common good. The Evangelical Churches of our own day have shown a similar readiness to succour feeble and struggling foreign congregations. If ever that decaying virtue called patriotism is to lose itself in a more cosmopolitan charity, it must be on a Christian, not on a socialistic, basis. It is sad to see the best hearts of Europe groping after the foundations of a new civil order in which all men shall be brothers while they cast off the name of One in whom alone the principles of love and freedom and authority meet. It is sadder still to see a Christian Church so rent by animosity that instead of demonstrating to distracted peoples where to find the true secret of brotherhood, it rather repels from Christ those who are most passionate for peace and fellowship. But when Jerusalem shall not envy Antioch nor Antioch vex Jerusalem, when Churches that are poor in this world are rich in faith, and those who are rich in this world are “ ready to distribute,” then will men learn that to be a Christian is to be free of a universal commonwealth whose citizens are all equal and all loving. 5. The Gentile Church made its gift more precious by sending it through its most honoured members. It is notable that just before we part with the mother Church, we hear for the first time of its being ruled by presbyters (verse 30). This official name, the most venerable and Biblical of all ecclesiastical distinctions, frequently recurs, at first associated with apostles at Jerusalem, and afterwards with deacons or alone in the Churches of Ephesus, Crete, Philippi, etc. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)Early Christian beneficence I. The want predicted. The prophets’ functions were two fold: to forth-tell, i.e., to utter the present truth in forceful and convincing language, and to foretell future events. The latter entered largely into Old Testament prophecy, rarely into the New. The office has survived, and the former and more important function is discharged by the Christian ministry; but what has become of the latter? That the future should be an utter blank, that the Church should live from hand to mouth, that Christians should be mere opportunists, is dead against the doctrine of the Divine presence in and leadership of the Church. What had become of Christianity, not only in great crises, but in its normal developments, if it had lacked “ seers,” “ men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do” ? Inspired prediction has ceased, and men can no longer tell with minute circumstantiality what a century may bring forth. But men are endowed with sagacity, prudent forethought, keen foresight, and in politics, business, etc., often make their calculations with the nicest accuracy, and lay plans which only extraordinary contingencies frustrate. It is this faculty that the great Head of the Church now consecrates and employs--when the Church places them at His disposal which, alas, is not always the case. It is the duty of Christians to be on their watch tower and to look out for advantages, and not only within the citadel economising resources or strengthening fortifications, e.g., a town Church should anticipate the migration of the surrounding population to the suburbs, and make timely provision for future extension. If, however, it is content with its own immediate work, and with the supply of its present needs, it may find itself, as many a city Church has done, utterly stranded. Again, the home Church should ever keep its eye on emigration to our colonies. How many descendants of Christian people have grown up practically heathen from the neglect of this! Once more, as regards ecclesiastical buildings--churches, schools, etc. there should always be room for expansion, or, lacking accommodation, adults or children will go elsewhere or go nowhere. Lastly, to recur to the text, how requisite it is that wise and timely provision should be made for the necessities of the poor. The poor we have always with us, and we know from bitter experience that their wants are augmented in winter. Yet we allow winter to come, and when the evil is on us, there is a terrible spasm of effort to collect money, hold sewing meetings, open soup kitchens, etc. How much better to make timely provision in the summer when resources are more ample, and when we might encourage the poor themselves to “ put by for a rainy day.” II. The want met.1. In the spirit of brotherhood. “ Disciples … brethren.” They were people of different races, and the Christians at Antioch had been regarded with none too much of charity by the Church at Jerusalem. Tilts, however, was unnoticed. It was enough that “ brethren” were in trouble, and “ disciples” could relieve them. There were poor at Antioch no doubt; but Christians had not then learned to confine their benefactions to their own communities. How many rich Churches with few or no poor need this example! 2. Universally. “ Every man” did something. It is an unhealthy state of things when contributions are confined to the more opulent of a congregation. Christians sadly need teaching the privilege as well as the duty of giving. 3. Conscientiously. “ According to his ability.” (1) Not according to some arbitrary rule. Tithing in many cases would be far more than the poor could afford, but far less than the rich. (2) Not according to mere inclination. This fluctuates, and at one time impels a man to be unjust to himself and at another unjust to others. (3) Not according to urgent solicitation. Agabus asked for nothing. (4) But according to ability at the time. 4. Delicately. “ By the hands of Barnabas and Saul.” A gift is enhanced by the medium through which it passes. If you cannot give yourself, see that your gifts are conveyed by those who will not make it disagreeable to receive them. 5. Wisely. To the elders of the Church, who best know the cases to be relieved, and can distribute economically and kindly. (J. W. Burn.)Practical Christianity 1. It is impossible for us to read this record without being struck with the spirit and devotion which stamped the character of Divinity upon the religion in connection with which it is shown. It was one of the remarks made by a heathen author in those days, “ See how these Christians love one another.” Men looked to their opinions, and could not accept them--to the peculiarities of their religion, and were offended by them. But there was an argument which these Christians could adduce, which an unbeliever could not impugn; it was a positive, practical, evident demonstration of the power of God. 2. The history is soon told. Light loves to radiate. For a long time Christian light was centred in Jerusalem, but there came a time when God chose to disperse that central light. Men, imbued with Christian faith and love, were scattered abroad; and among them were some who went as far as Antioch preaching the Word. Christianity is catholic; is also reflex in its operation: it is not one of those lights which fall upon a non-reflecting surface. It is intended that God should shine upon individuals, and that individuals in their turn should shine upon each other. “ Let your light so shine before men,” etc. Christian light had come from Jerusalem to Antioch, and these men of Antioch necessarily sought for some opportunity of showing their gratitude. They could not send them light, for this they had, perhaps, in a more perfect form than themselves. But they were rich, and the others were poor; for the Christians at Jerusalem had beggared themselves by their liberality in times past. And so, when the occasion arose, the men of Antioch made a bold and a noble determination that “ every man, according to his ability, should send help to the saints in Judea.” Not that they passed resolutions merely; nor that they went through that parody of benevolence that you find in public meetings, where you shall find men hold up their hands in accordance with some proposition that they never intend to carry out. The men of Antioch determined to do; and as they determined they did. I. The occasion which produced this liberality. The destitution assumed two features--1. It was predicted. There was no exhibition of harrowing details--no picture of widespread distress--held before the men of Antioch. It was a thing to be. Nevertheless, these men acted upon it as though it were, and prepared to meet it. What does this teach us? (1) The simplicity of their faith. They had nothing objective to look to which told them of the existence of distress. They looked, perhaps, at the state of the soil, at the state of the atmosphere, at the circumstances of times past; but there was nothing to create apprehension. All was quiet, except the voice of prediction; and God, who seeth not as man seeth, told them that the famine was coming. And what did they do? Other men might have stood by in silent expectation, or have derided the prediction, but these men took prophecy for fact. In these days, probably, when men walk by sight in place of by faith, they would have said, “ Wait till the calamity comes.” No, said these men; it has come. “ Come where? There is no trace of it!” God has predicted it, and in the simplicity of their faith that was enough. (2) A positive refinement of benevolence. There is a certain vulgarity of benevolence. In these days we have to place before men a picture of calamity, to come down to statistics, to state the absolute startling facts. But these men looked not for facts. They were prepared to act upon the intimation, and they required no appeal to their feelings; they took the fact as given at their hands by God. 2. It was universal. The Jewish historian tells us, it was over the entire world, and that multitudes died on account of it, and therefore these men of Antioch were included in it. What might have happened then? They might have said, When that dark calamity falls, it will touch ourselves; we shall come to the time of high prices, of scant food, of short employment; let us therefore be wise now in the principles of political economy, and lay by for our own destitution. No. Notwithstanding that they themselves stood on the very threshold of the disaster, they passed a resolution which they carried out into action. II. The motives by which these men were probably actuated.1. The smallest and lowest of the dictates of humanity. There are feelings within feelings, and circles within circles, and humanity is not the less practised because Christianity is received. You shall find it among heathen nations. It was one of the noblest sayings of antiquity, “ I am a man, and hold nothing that concerns human kind to be strange to me.” Those men of Antioch were men. They felt for others. It was not simply that the men at Jerusalem were Christians--they were men, and because they were men, it was in the first place that they determined to help them. 2. But there are principles not built upon the mere instinctive and natural feelings--a love to men, on account of their being brother Christians. The disciples determined to send relief to the brethren. These men had never looked upon each other face to face, nor exchanged a thought. What then? Sons of God in Jerusalem--sons of God in Antioch--members of the same family of Christ looked upon each other as brethren! We oftentimes ask ourselves the meaning of the expression, “ The communion of saints.” You have an exhibition of it here. Did not the men of Jerusalem feel, “ We have sent light to Antioch” ? And did not the men of Antioch feel, “ We are going to return it after our poor fashion” ? What is all that but communion? There is such a link in the natural world, where you shall see the loadstone drawing to it the particles of iron that approach to it, imparting the same quality to the particles which it touches, and thereby drawing these particles the one to the other. And it is the peculiarity of Christian truth, to bind believers the one to the other. Why? Because, first of all, they have been bound to Christ. 3. Gratitude. The very best of blessings which one people could confer upon another, had been by the men of Jerusalem conferred upon the men of Antioch. They had sent to them their spiritual things; it was no wonder that they should reap their carnal things. 4. The love that they bore to Christ, and which constrained them to love one another. And it is that principle, after all, that tells. “ He that loveth God will love his brother also.” III. The modes in which their benevolence was manifested. We have oftentimes heard the charge of want of judgment brought against Christians. “ They have all things but common sense.” Now, look at the steps taken by the men of Antioch. The distribution of their charity was marked by three features.1. Universality and proportion. “ Every man” was expected to feel for the brethren, and to show that feeling by contributing according to his means. It was not one of those things which a certain class or section was to take upon them. Now, why need we adopt house-to-house visitation, but because there are multitudes in this world who are content to stand by, and to see others bear the burden, and push it from themselves. Eighteen hundred years ago, that was not the course taken by the men of Antioch. There was no working upon the passions of people and constraining them to give. It was a simple method of giving in proportion to means. The matter was thus left to each man’ s conscience to say what his ability was. Look at thy means. See whether, in the midst of thine affluence, comfort, and family expenditure, thou mayest not knock off something that is not absolutely necessary, and bring it to the rule of thine ability. Ask thyself not what thou wishest to do, not what thou mayest be seen to do, not what others are doing; but give in proportion to thy means. Is it not a righteous principle?--a principle recognised in Scripture. “ Upon the first day of the week let everyone lay by according to his ability.” Is it so? If so, then must you learn a lesson from these poor, enthusiastic Christians in Antioch. 2. Promptitude. They did not trust to second impressions, or to second suggestions; and wisely. Upon hearing of a great deal of distress, our first emotions are generous; our second emotions are narrowed. At first, there is a burst of feeling; we draw out our purses, and almost pour out their contents. Second thoughts however come; but these men of Antioch would not trust themselves to second thoughts. No, said they; we had better act at once, before the blessed influence has left us. They put it out of their own power--out of their own hands. (Dean Boyd.)Apostolic philanthropy Van Lennep tells us that among the Nestorian Christians dwelling in the fertile plain of Ooroomia, Persia, charity assumes an almost apostolic form; for it is their yearly practice to lay by a certain portion of their crops in order to supply the wants of their brethren living among the rugged mountains of Koordistan, whose food often fails them altogether, or is carried away by their more powerful enemies. Deeds of charity are highly extolled in the Koran, but the Mohammedans ignore these precepts, so the value of such acts by the Christians is more particularly felt where the rulers take no interest in works of public utility. The law of brotherhood The Irish famine (1847) touched the hearts of outside and distant peoples to a sentiment of their common humanity which was never stirred in them before to such fine issues. In America this fellow feeling pervaded the whole population, North and South, black and white, bond and free. The very slaves in the South, at their rude cabin meals at night, thought and spoke of the hungry people somewhere beyond the sea, they knew not in what direction. And they came with their small gifts in their great hands, and laid them among the general contributions, each with a heart full of kindly feeling towards the suffering. Never was there such a rummaging in cellars, garrets, wardrobes, and granaries in the United States for things that would be comfortable to the hungry and needy. The barrels and bags of flour, wheat, and Indian corn, the butter, cheese, and bacon sent from the prairie farmers of the Western States, were marvellous for number and heartiness of contribution. From a thousand pulpits a thousand congregations of different creeds were invited to lend a hand to the general charity in a few earnest and feeling words about the Universal Fatherhood of God and the Universal Brotherhood of Men. (Elihu Burritt.). Acts 12:1-19 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church. Herod the king The previous life of this prince had been full of strange vicissitudes. The son of Aristobulus and Bernice, grandson of Herod the Great, brother of the Herodias who appears in the gospel history, named after the statesman who was the chief minister of Augustus, he had been sent, after his father had fallen a victim (B.C. 6) to his grandfather’ s suspicions, to Rome, partly perhaps as a hostage, partly to be out of the way of Palestine intrigues. There he had grown up on terms of intimacy with the prince afterwards known as Caligula. On the marriage of Herod Antipas with his sister, he was made the ruler of Tiberias, but soon quarrelled with the tetrarch, and went to Rome, and, falling under the displeasure of Tiberius, as having rashly given utterance to a wish for the succession of Caligula, was imprisoned by him, and remained in confinement till the death of that emperor. When Caligula came to the throne he loaded his friend with honours, gave him the tetrarchies first of Philip, and then that of Lysanias (Luke 3:1), and conferred on him the title of king. Antipas, prompted by Herodias, came to Rome to claim a like honour for himself, but fell under the emperor’ s displeasure, and was banished to Lugdunum in Gaul, whither his wife accompanied him. His tetrarchy also was conferred on Agrippa. Coins are extant, minted at Caesarea, and bearing inscriptions in which he is styled the Great King, with the epithets sometimes of Philo-Caesar, sometimes of Philo-Claudios. At the time when Caligula’ s insanity took the form of a resolve to place his statue in the temple at Jerusalem, Agrippa rendered an essential service to his people, by using all his influence to deter the emperor from carrying his purpose into execution, and, backed as he was by Petronius, the Governor of Syria, was at last successful. On the death of Caligula, Claudius, whose claims to the empire he had supported, confirmed him in his kingdom. When he came to Judaea, he presented himself to the people in the character of a devout worshipper, and gained their favour by attaching himself to the companies of Nazarites (as we find St. Paul doing in Acts 21:26) when they came to the temple to offer sacrifices on the completion of their vows. It would seem that he found a strong popular excitement against the believers in Christ, caused probably by the new step which had recently been taken in the admission of the Gentiles, and fomented by the Sadducean priesthood, and it seemed to him politic to gain the favour of both priests and people, by making himself the instrument of their jealousy. (Dean Plumptre.)James, Herod, and Peter How strangely our prayers are sometimes answered! James and John had prayed that they might sit, the one on the right and the other on the left of the Lord when He came to His kingdom. And now the cup and the baptism came to James in the form of a terrible and disgraceful martyrdom. May I covet the best gift, not the most conspicuous position. May I keep in remembrance that they at the front fall first. But may I not shrink from the front if it be the will of the Lord to assign me that position. “ Peter was kept in prison.” Kept in prison! All work suspended, and apparently all usefulness at an end. Peter, the most active of them. What does the Lord mean? This question comes up so often in Christian experience. To suffer James to be killed and Peter to be imprisoned would not be our way of propagating the Church. Now, I pray that I may never be scared for the cause of Christ. For my personal comfort let me learn from Peter’ s case that the Lord may not always keep me out of the hands of the enemy, but He will keep those hands from destroying me. I may see the two soldiers to whom I am chained, blot not the ones that in secret are pouring out prayers for me. Oh, the unknown helpers! The unseen forces of the universe are stronger than the visible agencies. (C. F. Deems, LL. D.)The martyrdom of James One might have expected more than a clause to be spared to tell the death of a chief man, and the first martyr amongst the apostles. I think the lessons of the fact, and of the slight way in which the writer of this book refers to it, may perhaps be most pointedly brought out if we take four contrasts--James and Stephen, James and Peter, James and John, James and James. Now, if we take these four I think we shall learn something. I. First, then, James and Stephen. Look at the different scale on which the incidents of the deaths of these two are told; the martyrdom of the one is beaten out over chapters, the martyrdom of the other is crammed into a corner of a sentence. And yet, of the two men, the one who is the less noticed filled the larger place officially, and the other was only a simple deacon and preacher of the Word. The fact that Stephen was the first Christian to follow his Lord in martyrdom is not sufficient to account for the extraordinary difference. The Bible cares so little about the people whom it names because its true theme is the works of God, and not of man; and the reason why the “ Acts of the Apostles” kills off one of the first three apostles in this fashion is simply that, as the writer tells us, his theme is “ all that Jesus” continued “ to do and to teach” after He was taken up. Since it is Christ who is the true actor, it matters uncommonly little what becomes of James or of the other ten. What is the reason why so disproportionate a space of the gospel is concerned with the last two days of our Lord’ s life on earth? What is the reason why years are leaped over in silence and moments are spread out in detail, but that the death of a man is only a death, but the death of the Christ is the life of the world? James sleeps none the less sweetly in his grave, or, rather, wakes none the less triumphantly in heaven because his life and death are both so scantily narrated. If we “ self-infold the large results” of faithful service, we need not trouble ourselves about its record on earth. But another lesson which may be learned from this cursory notice of the apostle’ s martyrdom is--how small a thing death really is! Looked at from beside the Lord of life and death, which is the point of view of the author of this narrative, “ great death” dwindles to a very little thing. We need to revise our notions if we would understand how trivial it really is. From a mountain top the country below seems level plain, and what looked like an impassable precipice has dwindled to be indistinguishable. The triviality of death, to those who look upon it from the heights of eternity, is well represented by these brief words which tell of the first breach thereby in the circle of the apostles. II. There is another contrast, James and Peter. Now this chapter tells of two things: one, the death of one of that pair of friends; the other, the miracle that was wrought for the deliverance of the other from death. Why should James be slain, and Peter miraculously delivered? A question easily asked; a question not to be answered by us. We may say that the one was more useful for the development of the Church than the other. But we have all seen lives that, to our poor vision, seemed to be all but indispensable, ruthlessly swept away, and lives that seemed to be, and were, perfectly profitless, prolonged to extreme old age. We may say that maturity of character, development of Christian graces, made the man ready for glory. But we have all seen men struck down when anything but ready. Only we may be sure of this, that James was as dear to Christ as Peter was, and that there was no greater love shown in sending the angel that delivered the one from the “ expectation of Herod” and the people of the Jews, than was shown in sending the angel that stood behind the headsman and directed the stroke of the fatal sword on the neck of the other. James escaped from Herod when Herod slew him, and could not make him unfaithful to his Master, and his deliverance was not less complete than the deliverance of his friend. But let us remember, too, that if thus, to two equally beloved, there be dealt out these two different fates, it must be because that evil, which, as I said, is not so big as it looks, is not so bitter as it tastes either; and there is no real evil, for the loving heart, in the stroke that breaks its bands and knits it to Jesus Christ. The contrast of James and Peter may teach us the equal love that presides over the life of the living and the death of the dying. III. Another contrast is that of James and John. The close union and subsequent separation by this martyrdom of that pair of brothers is striking and pathetic. By death they were separated so far: the one the first of all the apostles to “ become a prey to Satan’ s rage,” the other “ lingering out his fellows all,” and “ dying in bloodless age,” living to be a hundred years old and more, and looking back through all the long parting to the brother who had joined with him in the wish that even Messiah’ s kingdom should not part them, and yet had been parted so soon and parted so long. Ah! may we not learn the lesson that we should recognise the mercy and wisdom of the ministry of death the separator, and should tread with patience the lonely road, do calmly the day’ s work, and tarry till He comes, though those that stood beside us be gone. IV. Lastly, James and James. In his hot youth, when he deserved the name of a son of thunder--so energetic, boisterous I suppose, destructive perhaps, he was--he and his brother, and their foolish mother, whose name is kindly not told us, go to Christ and say, “ Grant that we may sit, the one on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left, in Thy kingdom.” That was what he wished and hoped for, and what he got was years of service, and a taste of persecution, and finally the swish of the headsman’ s sword. Yes! And so our dreams get disappointed, and their disappointment is often the road to their fulfilment, for Jesus Christ was answering the prayer, “ Grant that we may sit on Thy right hand in Thy kingdom,” when He called him to Himself, by the brief and bloody passage of martyrdom. So let us leave for ourselves, and for all dear ones, that question of living or dying to Him. Only let us be sure that whether our lives be long like John’ s, or short like James’ s, “ living or dying we are the Lord’ s.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Herod vexes the Church 1. The scene changes. After intimating that the door was open among the Greeks, the historian shows us that it was shut among the Jews. By His apostles as well as in His own Person Christ came to His own, and His own received Him not. 2. The king who appears here was mild in his natural temper, but fond of popularity. The persecution was not of his own motion, but to please the Jews, as was the case with Pilate. 3. Keeping Judas out of view--this is the first breach in the apostolic circle. The Church had learned to walk by faith, and even the fall of an apostle will not crush them now. In the case of James, the Lord shows that He will not always interfere to protect His servants, and in the case of Peter that He will sometimes, lest the spirit should fail before Him. This first apostolic martyrdom marks a law of the kingdom, and illustrates the Master’ s word, “ My kingdom is not of this world.” Not an inch of territory will Christ maintain for Himself by the sword. 4. Observing that no Divine power was put forth, either to protect James or to avenge him, and finding that one murder procured him favour, Herod determined to perpetrate another. Peter was imprisoned, but the remainder of the king’ s wrath it pleased God in this instance to restrain. “ Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was made,” etc. a remarkable antithesis. Man proposes, but God disposes; and the prayer of faith reaches the Disposer’ s hand. James was suddenly seized and taken off, but there was time to pray for Peter. God opened the door of opportunity through Herod’ s desire to keep all quiet till after the passover; the Church eagerly entered that door. 5. Peter meanwhile was sleeping, and his sleep brought as much glory to God as his wakefulness, although he had sung psalms till the rafters rang again. He slept in Gethsemane through weakness of the flesh: he sleeps here through the strength of his faith. How sweet to lie down every night ready, if the Lord will, to awake in heaven! (W. Arnot, D. D.)Herod and Peter I. Herod’ s persecution.1. “ Now about that time” --we know that troubles never come alone. A time of famine was prophesied (Acts 11:28). Famine might kill slowly; Herod would find a quicker way! How well it would have been when Herod “ stretched forth his hand” to have kept it there! Such would be our way. God’ s thought has a wider compass, and He needs more time for the exemplification of His purpose. 2. “ He killed James the brother of John with the sword.” This was not a Jewish method of killing people. But what is crime if it cannot be inventive? What if a king cannot take a short cut to the consummation of his purpose? Beheading is quicker than stoning! The wicked cannot wait. They need no further condemnation. Justice can wait. “ Though hand join in hand the wicked cannot go unpunished.” 3. Having performed this trick of cruelty, Herod proceeded further. That is the natural history of wickedness! It gathers momentum as it goes. You cannot stop with one murder. You acquire the bad skill, and your fingers become nimble in the use of cruel weapons. Murder does not look so ghastly when you have done it once. How many people have you murdered? Murder is heartbreaking; life-blighting; hope-destroying! “ He proceeded further.” The one glass needs another to keep it company. Crimes do not like solitude; and so one crime leads to another. If you calf do one sin, the whole life is lost. We are not thieves because of a thousand thefts; we are not liars because of a thousand lies; we find our criminality in the opening sin. Therefore, what I say unto one, I say unto all, “ Watch” ! 4. “ Because he saw it pleased the Jews.” There are those who like to see you play the fool and the criminal, but what will they do for you in the critical hour? All the while Herod thought he was king; in reality he was a slave. Sometimes the judge has been the prisoner. Sometimes the conqueror has been the loser. Herod lived upon the popular pleasure. Therein he tarnished his crown, and sold his kingdom, and lost his soul! II. Peter’ s deliverance. In verse 5 there is a pitched battle. Read it: “ Peter therefore was kept in prison:” there is one side of the fight; after the colon--“ but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him.” Now for the shock of arms! Who wins? Prayer always wins. You can only be of a contrary opinion when you take in too little field. There is no action of any importance that is bounded by a single day. Such prayer as this is irrepressible. The prayers you could keep down if you liked will never be answered. This prayer was answered by a miracle, in which observe--1. Last extremities (verse 6). Have we not been in that very same darkness, when we were to be injured, or impoverished, not seven years from date, but the next day? Have we not taken up the pieces of the one loaf and said, “ This is all” ? So far, then, you have no difficulty about the miracle. 2. Appearances dead against us. Thus--two soldiers, two chains, and the keepers keeping the door before the prison! These were compliments to Peter! The devil cannot avoid paying us compliments all the time he is trying to destroy us. Why all this arrangement about a man like Peter? Why all these temptations addressed to a man like one of us? It is a reluctant but significant tribute to the character whose destruction is contemplated. Have not appearances been dead against us? No letters, no friends, no answer to the last appeal, no more energy, no more hope, the last staff snapped in two. So far the miracle is true. 3. Unexpected deliverers. Have we no experience here? Is it not always the unexpected man who delivers and cheers us? “ But a certain Samaritan came where he was,” that is the whole history of human deliverance in one graphic sentence. “ Man’ s extremity is God’ s opportunity.” “ It is always darkest before the dawn.” All our life properly read is a chain of unexpectedness. Deliverance shall arise from an unthought of quarter! 4. Spiritual transport (verse 11). Have we not sometimes taken down our harp from the willows and struck it to some new tone of joy and gladness and hope? Peter did not understand this miracle at first. He thought he saw a vision. “ And when Peter was come to himself he said” --that is the point we must wait for. We are not “ ourselves” just now. Our eyes are dazed by cross lights, and we cannot see things in their right proportion, distance, and colour. Do not let us imagine that we are now speaking final words or giving final judgments. Innumerable visions float before my wondering eyes. The righteous are trodden down; the bad man has a plentiful table. The little child is torn from its mother’ s arms. What is it? When we are come to ourselves we shall know and praise the Lord, whose angels have been our ministering servants! (J. Parker, D. D.)Herod and Peter I. The value of small accuracies in the expressions of the inspired history. Paley places the first verse among his evidences of Christianity, because Herod is called “ the king.” For he declares that there was never a period, for more than thirty years previously, nor was there ever subsequently at Jerusalem one who wielded such authority as entitled him to the name of monarch. No one except this Herod, and he only during the last three years of his life, could have been properly called “ the king.” II. How little the New Testament makes of the martyrdom of even the best of men. Only two words in the Greek describe James’ s execution: “ killed--sword.” The Bible does not dwell upon the deaths of Christians so much as upon their lives. Whitefield used to remark, “ You will have no dying testimony from me, you must take my living witness for my blessed Lord.” III. That there is a limit set to the wickedness of the wickedest of opposers (verse 3). Herod was a time server and a trimmer. His political motto is found in “ It pleased the Jews.” He thought he had made a hit when he slew John’ s brother. But even in that crime he only helped to fulfil a prophecy of Christ (Mark 10:39). So Herod “ proceeded further” ; but all he was suffered to do was “ to take Peter.” There he had to pause before a higher power. The all-wise God permits sin to move on for a while, but He may be trusted to interpose when the time for restraining wrath arrives (Psalms 76:10). IV. That prayer is the welcome instrument of communication between separated friends (verse 5). A friend when I was abroad sent me a letter with a triangle in it. At the top of it he wrote “ the mercy seat” ; and drew for the base a rough wavy mark, which he meant for the ocean; then he wrote his initials at one angle and mine at the other. He felt that I knew that the shortest path to those we love is around via heaven, where our faithful High Priest is to receive our petitions. V. That true religious trust is always tranquil and undismayed (verse 6). Peter must have understood that he was now in the power of a wild bad man. He could not expect to fare any better than did James. But evidently he was not in the least troubled. This old fisherman meant to have as easy a night of it as was possible with the poor accommodations. He took off his outer garments and sandals before he lay down, as was his habit anywhere. And now think of it: while Herod in the palace was uneasy, and the soldiers wide awake, and the outsiders getting ready for “ no small stir” (vers18), and the disciples holding an agitated prayer meeting, and an angel on the errand of relief, so that it seems to us as if the whole exterior world was disturbed, Peter went quietly into a sweet good sleep as usual. We have no record of his experiences, but we conjecture he said over the old psalm (Psalms 34:7). VI. An affecting illustration of the unhurried exercise of God’ s patient power (verse 8). The angel had nothing to fear there in the prison, and he knew Peter could take all of time and care he needed without danger. It was not necessary that he should dress in the dark; the messenger from heaven lit up the room for him, and calmed him with tranquil words of direction; and the apostle put on his shoes and his loose garment before he started. The chains had already been removed so cautiously that they made no clanking. There was no hurry nor confusion; when God takes care of a man, He takes good care. How calm God is in the heavens where He reigns; and how little He respected the ingenuities of Herod (Psalms 2:4). We have no wonder that Peter afterwards quoted Isaiah’ s words with a fresh turn of interpretation after such an experience (1 Peter 2:6). The only thing Herod could do the next morning was to kill his own soldiers; Peter was cut of his reach. Why are we so troubled? How calm is the service of such a Saviour as ours (Isaiah 40:22). VII. If people are surprised by answers to prayer, it is because they do not “ consider.” Peter’ s conclusion (verse 11) is in edifying contrast with the petulant rebuke which Rhoda received from the Christians (verse 15). He had “ considered the thing” (verse 12). That must be the reason why he was not “ astonished” as they were (verse 16). Rhoda was not “ mad,” only “ glad.” A clearer mind was never known than Peter had, only he had now and then to “ come to himself,” and get his bearings. The one grand conclusion is found well phrased in the remark of Christian in “ Pilgrim’ s Progress.” After some days of useless suffering, he suddenly exclaimed, “ Why, I have all along had in my bosom a key called Promise, which is able to open any door in Doubting Castle!” What is the reason anyone now is afraid of the power of Giant Despair? (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)A short-lived triumph We have here a royal persecution in its beginning, progress, and end. We see it in its success, failure, and punishment. We have before us a whole career, in its pride and its humiliation, its triumph and its discomfiture, its short-lived arrogance and its frightful dismay. That is the aspect of the chapter towards them that are without. Its aspect towards the Church within shows what danger, anxiety, and death itself is to the Christian; enough to bring out great graces and to exercise faith and patience, but not enough to make a single true heart doubt where safety, strength, victory lie. Let us look-- I. On the dark side of this picture. There is a king stretching forth his hands to vex certain of the Church.1. His first act of aggression was directed against an apostle. “ He killed James the brother of John with the sword.” Such is the short record of the first and only apostolical martyrdom of which we have any record in Scripture. Far more was told of the martyrdom of the deacon Stephen. Such is the character of the Scriptures. One thing is dwelt upon and another briefly told. Simplicity, naturalness, undesignedness, absence of rhetorical trick and stage effect, this we notice throughout, and we think we can see it to be of God. Thus one of the chosen witnesses passed away early from his work to his reward. It was scarcely fifteen years, I suppose, since he had first heard that word which had changed him from a fisherman into a fisher of men. He had been one of the favoured few in various striking occurrences of the Saviour’ s life and ministry. He had been one of two brothers, who, in days of ignorant zeal, had proposed to call fire from heaven upon a Samaritan village, and who, again, in days of a no less ignorant ambition, had asked to sit on His right hand and on His left hand in their Master’ s glory. Boanerges, sons of thunder, He had named them, in days when the impetuosity of nature had not yet been checked by the influence of grace. But now this was past; past too the mighty transformation of Pentecost, and the devoted years of the ministry which that day had opened. To him, first of the brothers, is that prophecy fulfilled, “ Ye shall drink indeed of My cup,” etc. And see how lightly the inspired record passes over that great transition. Not one word of the circumstances. No death bed scene, no dying testimony, save indeed that best of testimonies which the death itself afforded. He had given his life in one sense; now he gave it in another. Nothing is made of it. He did his duty; and to him, as a matter of course, belonged the recompence of the reward. 2. The fate of the next destined victim is widely different. He too seems to be marked out for martyrdom. The appetite for blood is ever whetted by its indulgence. It was a crowded time in Jerusalem: strangers from all parts of the world flocked together to the festival; and the spectacle of an apostle’ s execution was to be their pastime in the intervals of religious duty. Such is religion when it is once possessed and saturated with bigotry, fanaticism, and party zeal! All seemed to promise well and surely for the persecutor and his people. Peter then was kept in the prison: by night and by day he is the one care of sixteen armed men. Surely nothing can elude such vigilance? So might man well judge. There is one, there is but one, impediment, which brings us to-- II. The bright side of the picture.1. “ But there was fervent prayer going on by the Church unto God concerning him.” Is there not great meaning in that little word “ but” ? The Church below was calling in a help, not of man, to counteract man’ s design. Little would Herod or his friends account of that; but He who neither slumbers nor sleeps has Israel in His keeping, and let no man presume to say, apart from Him, what one day or one night may bring forth! 2. The last night is come, but not gone. Peter sleeps, while the Church prays: it is their time for action, it is his for repose. “ In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” ; “ Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.” What if his martyrdom is to follow close upon that of James, and they who were so lately partners in a fisher’ s calling, and have since been associated in a noble ministry, are to be speedily reunited in a blessedness not of this world--“ lovely and pleasant in their lives, and even in their deaths not divided” ? 3. “ And, behold an angel of the Lord stood near,” etc., etc. God does nothing in vain: He begins where man must end, and ends where man can begin. Deliverance achieved, reflection follows. “ He comes to himself,” and to the right conclusion. 4. And whither shall he now betake himself? He knows the deep anxiety with which the Church of which he is a pillar must have regarded his imprisonment; so he bends his steps first to one of the homes of the Church. His knock brings to the door a maiden of the household; not at once to open--for they were hard and evil times, and peril might lurk in the admittance of a stranger--but to hearken to the voice which should tell its errand and report upon it to those within. The voice which calls to her is one well known. She had heard it often, we doubt not, leading the devotions of that pious home: she knew it at once for Peter’ s, and for very joy ran in before she opened. Her tidings were incredible. “ They said, It is his angel” ; one of those ministering spirits who have in their charge the heirs of salvation, and who, in the character of the angels of Christ’ s “ little ones, do always behold the face of His Father who is in heaven.” But no; there is no mistake here, and no apparition; the angel’ s office is ended, and Peter himself, in flesh and blood, is seen, when they open, to stand before the gate. Silencing with a motion of the hand their eager and wondering exclamations, he tells his own story and bids them, while he departs elsewhere for security, to carry the report of his miraculous deliverance to James, the Lord’ s brother, and to the brethren at the headquarters of the Church. III. The narrative would be incomplete without a record of the end of the persecutor and his instruments.1. Just as when the faithful three were thrown into the furnace, “ the flame of the fire slew those men” who acted as his executioners; even so the activity of Peter was fatal to the soldiers to whose charge he had been consigned. Disappointed rage must have its victim. If it cannot be an apostle, it must be an apostle’ s keeper. But the retribution ends not there. 2. Herod himself goes down from Jerusalem to Caesarea. There was at this time a feud between him and the people of Tyre and Sidon. They were ill able to part with his friendship, and came to him therefore imploring reconciliation. This was the crowning point of Herod’ s triumphs. With an ambition glutted with success, and a vanity inflated by flattery, he appeared gorgeously arrayed. Flattery ran on into impiety, and they all with one accord shouted, “ It is the voice of a God and not of a man.” This cry was the signal of the Divine punishment. “ Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him,” etc. Conclusion:1. The chapter before us is an epitome of all history. In it the world and the Church are arrayed on opposite sides, the hosts of God and of Satan being marshalled for the encounter. On the one side there is kingly power, on the other poverty and insignificance; but the one calculates without the Divine arm on which the other depends. For a time the one succeeds, in the end the other wins. Herod is eaten with worms, but the Word of God grows and multiplies. 2. The practical lesson is to learn the power and practise the grace of that effectual fervent prayer which availeth much. (Dean Vaughan.)And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.--James’ noble end, or “ precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” I. Before man--a melancholy death.1. Bloody and cruel: the noble head of the apostle falls under the sword of the executioner. 2. Premature and sudden: he quits this earthly scene before effecting anything important in his apostolic calling. 3. Without glory and quiet: he departs uncelebrated by the world, unpraised even by the Word of God. II. Before God--a noble end and a beautiful death.1. He had fulfilled his vocation here below: not how long, but how we live, is the chief matter. 2. He dies in the service of His Lord and preaches as powerfully by his death, as his fellow disciples do by their word. 3. He hastens towards his heavenly destination, whilst he as the first among, the brethren receives the martyr’ s crown, and is honoured by sitting where he desired at Christ’ s right hand. (K. Gerok.)The bleeding James and the rescued Peter or, God leads His people-- I. By many paths.1. James’ short hour and Peter’ s long day of work. 2. James’ sad end and Peter’ s glorious deliverance. II. To one end.1. Both promote the kingdom of God--James by his death and Peter by his life. 2. Both carry off the crown of life--James after a short contest, Peter after a long service. (K. Gerok.)The martyrdom of St. James As the apostle was led forth to the place of execution the person who had accused him was so touched with the courage and constancy which he displayed, that he repented of what he had done, came and fell down at his feet and earnestly begged pardon of what he had said against him. St. James tenderly raised him up, kissed him and said to him, “ Peace be to thee, my son, and She pardon of all thy faults.” At this, his former accuser publicly professed himself a Christian, and so both were beheaded at the same time. (Clement of Alexandria.)Early death 1. This is one of those incidents in sacred story which had we lived in the apostolic age would have moved our wonder if it did not shake our faith. The Church is yet in its infancy, and already a chief pillar is moved, leaving the edifice deprived of what was certainly one of its best supports and fairest ornaments--one, in fact, of its twelve precious foundations. What token was there here of Divine love watching over a Divine institution? How shall such a dispensation be reconciled with what we believe of the power, and wisdom, and mercy, and justice, and love, and truth, and faithfulness of God? 2. On the Festival of St. James, we never can do amiss if we refresh our memories by recalling the events of the apostle’ s life. And this is soon done. Originally a disciple of the stern Baptist, and therefore a man of no common earnestness, James was brought to Christ by the report of his brother John--and therefore was the fourth to become a member of the apostolic band. Subsequently, we are shown his former call to apostleship. On him, with his brother, our Lord bestowed the title “ son of thunder” ; and (no unapt illustration of the name!) the two proposed to call down fire from heaven on the inhospitable Samaritans. But subsequently there is nothing characteristic recorded of St. James, with the single exception of his ambitious desire for a chief place in the kingdom of Messiah. He was indeed highly distinguished on other occasions--as when he was made a witness of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and yet more of our Lord’ s transfiguration. Again, he was with our Lord during His agony, and lastly, he was one of the four who heard His prophecy on the Mount of Olives. But of the characteristic events of his life none are recorded--save his call; the token of a fiery spirit alluded to; his ambitious aspiration; and his death. 3. When we say something similar of other members of the apostolic body and rehearse the meagre chronicle of the recorded lives of the other apostles, we all secretly feel that their unrecorded history must have made full amends, by its fulness and variety, for the scantiness of the gospel record. Thomas in India; Matthew in Ethiopia; Andrew in Scythia; Philip, Bartholomew, and the other James--the life must have been most varied, and doubtless was most eventful. But in the case of James we know that this was not the ease. His history brings home to us the familiar phenomenon of a precious life early shortened--a burning spirit suddenly quenched--a large and a brave heart, which was willing to do and to dare all in his Master’ s service, early laid to rest; the goodly promise of his youth and early manhood all unfulfilled--the work which he longed to do left unaccomplished--a legacy of tears left to friends and kindred; a subject of wonder and perplexity to all. 4. I do not pretend to have anything of importance to say on this difficult problem. (1) The uses of bereavement to the survivors have been often insisted upon. No doubt it is a salutary medicine--just as salutary as it is inexpressibly bitter and repugnant to the natural taste. In this way we speak of the death of children especially; but the wonder is greater when men of grand promise are taken away in their prime, especially at any great crisis of affairs. We are more perplexed at the sight of a John Baptist imprisoned at the end of a year’ s ministry, a James beheaded before his ministry on a great scale had begun. Add that the first was slain at the instigation of a dancing girl, and the other at the caprice of a cruel tyrant--and the wonder is complete. “ Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” Will not the wrath of heaven fall on the head of the guilty? Rather--Why was not this prevented, and the life prolonged to the full term of years allotted to man? (2) But do we not, in all our reasonings on this and similar subjects, confine our regards much too exclusively to this world?--think of time and its concerns, too much; the things of eternity and of God, too little? Since, however, this life is inappreciably short in comparison of the life to come--and the concerns of this world inconceivably petty if contrasted with the concerns of the next; we should, in our meditations on the subject now before us, never fail to give a considerable place to the possible share which the concerns of the other life may have in determining the affairs of this. What shall we say, then, of the deaths of the young and the promising--nay, of those whose promise has begun to ripen into performance--so reasonably as this; that it would certainly appear that they were wanted elsewhere? that their appointed work in another world could no longer be kept waiting for them? that they had done quite enough here below to warrant their removal; and that therefore, and only therefore, they were removed? (3) Shall we not, too, further open our hearts to the comfortable thought that the race, however brief, may yet have been fully run? that the spirit may have been perfected, although in an increditably short space of time? that the allotted work may have been accomplished, although the bud of life has scarcely yet expanded into a blossom? and that wondering angels may have already carried away the subject of so many tears to the enjoyment of an imperishable crown? (Dean Burgon.)The quiet disciples of the Lord, how they yet bear testimony for Him 1. Though not by shining gifts, yet by the meek and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God. 2. Though not by mighty deeds, yet by patient suffering and holy dying. 3. Though not in the annals of the world’ s history, yet in the brotherly circles of the children of God. (K. Gerok.)Times of trial testing times Then is tested-- I. The sincerity of faith in suffering and death (verses 1-3). II. Brotherly love in watching and prayer (verse 5). III. Spiritual peace in rest and waiting (verse 6). IV. The power of God in rescuing and helping (verses 7-11). (Florey.)The weapons of the Church in the contest against its enemies 1. Inflexible courage in witnessing.2. Quiet patience in suffering.3. Unwearied perseverance in prayer. (Leonhard and Spiegel.)Lessons for the Church The Church--1. May expect to be attacked by its enemies so long as it has any. 2. Often has had to sustain the loss of leaders who seemed to be almost indispensable. 3. Has had to learn that God will not always interfere to save his servants from death--that one’ s death may be of more service than his life. 4. Often has had to suffer from those who attacked it simply to curry favour with others. 5. Has been taught that many a seeming calamity has turned out to be a blessing signally manifesting the glory of God. 6. Has found that prayer is its best weapon in fighting with persecution. 7. Has found through prayer that God could overcome the enemies whom it was too weak to encounter. (S. S. Times.) Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him.In and out of prison (children’ s sermon):--1. There is more than one way of getting into prison. (1) If you were a minister, and some prisoner wanted you to speak to him about his soul, you might get in to him. (2) If you wanted to see inside you could get an order from the Home Secretary. (3) If you were so unhappy as to have a friend there you might see him at stated times. (4) You might become a prisoner yourself by breaking the good laws of the country: but there was a time when our laws were bad, and people were imprisoned for doing right. This was the case with John Bunyan and with Peter. 2. There are several ways of getting out of prison. (1) Some break out themselves--but this would be impossible to those who like Peter were not only behind strong walls, but chained to a soldier. (2) Friends break in and take them out--but this involves the risk of their being killed, and many prisoners would prefer to remain rather than this should occur. (3) The Sovereign sends a pardon and lets them out. Now Peter knew that he could not break out, and that his friends were not strong enough to take him out, and that Herod was not good enough to let him out. So his friends went to a greater King who told one of His angels to take him out. 3. The angel found Peter asleep. When night has come it is the proper time to go to sleep. If you have done no wrong and have finished your work you can go to sleep very well. You feel that your father is in the house, and he will take care of you. Now Peter knew that his head might soon be cut off, yet he could sleep comfortably, because he felt that his Father was in the prison with him, and that if Herod did kill him he would go to heaven. Now notice-- I. What the angel did for Peter. He came into the cell, and the soldiers could not prevent him any more than they could the angel from rolling away the stone from the Saviour’ s tomb. He filled the prison with light so that Peter could see; then he had to wake Peter up. When you have gone to sleep very tired you have to be shaken before you can awake. So Peter had to be struck by the angel, and then when he was a little awake he lifted him up as though he were a little child. Then Peter’ s chains fell off. II. What Peter did for himself. He put on his clothes and shoes. When a boy is able to dress himself his father will not do it for him. Neither will. God or His angels do for us what we can do for ourselves. And when a child is old enough to walk his mother will not carry him. So the angel, who might have carried Peter and set him down among his friends, told him to walk. III. What the iron gate did for the angel and Peter (verse 10). There are two ways to open a gate--by using a key, or by breaking it open as Samson did. But Peter did not unlock the gate, nor did the angel break it open. It opened as if it knew that God wanted to let the angel and Peter out. This is what we call a miracle. Let us see what we can learn from the story.1. That you may pray people out of trouble. When you pray for anyone you carry him to God upon your mind. If your brother were ill you could carry him in your arms to the doctor, or you might tell the doctor about him. When Jesus was on earth many were carried to Him in the arms of others; but some, like the Syro-Phoenician woman’ s daughter, were carried upon the mind. This is what Peter’ s friends did. And so we may carry anyone whom we love to God when they are far away and we want them blessed. 2. How strong a power prayer is. It was stronger in this case than Herod and his prison and his soldiers. And it is stronger now than sin and Satan. (W. Harris.)Peter prayed cut of prison It is not the perseverance but the fervency of this prayer which is really in the mind of the writer. The margin of the Authorised Version, and the text of the Revised, concur in substituting for “ without ceasing,” earnestly; and that is the true idea of the expression. I. Now, the first thought that suggests itself to me is based on the first word of our text, that eloquent but. It brings into prominence the all-powerful weapon of the unarmed. Peter was kept in prison, and we know all the elaborate precautions that were taken in order to secure him. But he was lying quietly asleep. There were some people awake; the Church was awake, and God was awake. Peter was kept in prison; but what vanity and folly it all was to surround him with soldiers and gates and bars when this was going on. “ Prayer was made earnestly of the Church unto God for him.” On the one side was the whole embodied power of the world, moved by the malignity of the devil; and on the other side there were a handful of people in Mary’ s house, with their hearts half broken, wrestling with God in prayer; and these beat the others. So they always do, but not always in the same fashion. No doubt there were plenty of prayers offered for James, but he was killed off in a parenthesis. Let us remember, too, that this is the only weapon which it is legitimate for Christian people to use in their conflicts with an antagonistic world. To stand still unresisting, and with no weapon in my hand but prayer to God, is a strong impregnable position which, if Christ’ s disciple takes up, in regard of his individual life, and of the Church’ s difficulties and enemies, no power on earth or hell can really overcome him. The faith that keeps itself within the limits of its Master’ s way of overcoming evil is more than conqueror in the midst of defeat, and that life is safe, though all the Herods that ever were eaten of worms should intend to slay. II. Further, notice the temper of the prayer that prevails. I have already said that the true idea of the word of my text is earnestness, and not of perseverance or persistence. The author of the Book of the Acts, as you know, is the evangelist Luke; and he uses the same words as descriptive of another prayer: “ Being in an agony He prayed the more earnestly,” he says about the Master in Gethsemane. The disciples, when they prayed for their brother, were fervent in supplication. Ah! if we take that scene beneath the olives as explaining to us the kind of prayer that finds acceptance in God’ s ears, we shall not wonder that so much of what we call prayer seems to come back unanswered upon our heads. Air will only rise when it is rarefied; and it is only rarefied when it is warmed. And when our breath is icy cold as it comes out of our lips, and we can see it as a smoke as it passes from us, no wonder it never gets beyond the ceiling of the room in which it is poured out in vain. I dare say--for they were but average people after all--they prayed a deal more fervently to get Peter back amongst them because they did not know what they were to do without him than they prayed for the spiritual blessings which were waiting to be given them. But still they prayed earnestly; and if you and I did the same we should get our answers. And then, remember that, of course, this earnestness of petition is of such a kind that it keeps on till it gets what it wants. Although the word does not mean “ without ceasing,” it implies “ without ceasing,” because it means “ earnestly.” A man that does not much care for a thing asks languidly for it and is soon tired. And this is how many people pray: they ask for the thing and then go away, and do not know whether God ever gave it them or not. But others, who really want the blessing, plead till it comes. These good people were praying the night before the execution; no doubt all day long they had been at it, and nothing came of it. The night fell, they continued, nothing came of it. But, according to the story, the answer came so late that Peter had barely time to get to the Christian home that was nearest before daybreak. And so at the very last possible moment to which it was safe to defer Peter’ s deliverance, and not a tick of the clock sooner, did God send the answer. He does in like fashion with us many a time: and the great lesson is, Wait patiently on Him. Rest in the Lord, nor faint when the answer is long in coming. III. And now the last point that I would suggest does not lie so much in my text itself, as in its relation to the whole incident. And it is this--that fervent prayer has often a strange alloy of unbelief mixed with it. You remember the end of the story, so life-like and natural; how Rhoda in her excitement leaves Peter standing at the door in peril, whilst she rushes into the house to tell everybody what had happened. Then, while they are arguing inside, as to whether it is Peter or his angel, see how Peter keeps on hammering at the door. “ Peter continued knocking.” There we see the whole nature of the man in that graphic phrase. How true to nature is what was going on inside! The people that had been so fervently praying for the answer could not believe it when they got it. The answer stood, waiting outside, to be admitted, and they could do nothing but discuss whether it was Peter’ s angel or his ghost. And through all our lives there will be more or less, in varying proportions, of this strange alloy of fervour with coldness, and of faith with wavering unbelief, and in our most believing prayers a dash of unpreparedness for the answer when it comes. There is another thing that may be suggested, and that is that we should, if I may so say, expect to get more than we expect, and believe that however large may be our anticipations of what God will do for us if we trust ourselves to Him, the answer when it comes will be astonishing even to our widest faith. “ He is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Peter in prison He was imprisoned unjustly, and therefore it was no prison to him, but a sanctuary with God’ s light irradiating it. Peter saw and heard more here than others do in palaces. There are a thousand prisons in life. He is in prison who is in trouble, in fear, in conscious penitence without having received the complete assurance of pardon; he is in prison who has sold his liberty, who is lying under condemnation, who has lost his first love. But whatever our prison is God knows it, can find us, can make us forget our outward circumstances in inward content, can send His angel to deliver us. Peter had been in prison before, and had been miraculously delivered. Fools never learn wisdom; for the people who had shut him up before had seen that you cannot really imprison a good man. His influence increases by the opposition that is hurled against him; goodness turns hostility into nutrition. Who can put an apostle into such a position as Jeremiah was thought to be occupying? You can put his body there, but his soul is swinging around the horizon, and his heart is among the singing angels. You cannot imprison the soul. But a man may lose the liberty of his spirit, and when he gives up the key of his soul he is already in perdition. (J. Parker, D. D.)Peter in prison; the weakness of Satan Every chapter in Church history develops the old decree that enmity should exist between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. This is the underlying spring of all the commotions, anarchies, persecutions, and wars of the ages. But the “ old serpent” assumes no serpentine nor supernatural form in carrying out his aims, but the form of a man--here the form of a malignant and servile king. “ On thy belly shalt thou go.” Note what Satan cannot do. I. Render unavailing the intercessions of the good (verse 5). It would have been easier for Herod to have controlled the winds of heaven than to have neutralised the prayers of these poor people. Satan was mighty in Pharaoh, but a few of the oppressed ones prayed and their deliverance came. He was mighty in Nebuchadnezzar, but God’ s people prayed and were rescued from his demon grasp. II. Destroy the peace of a good man (verse 6). Think of the place--a dark, filthy cell, Think of his position--linked to two wretches from whose nature he must have recoiled with horror. Think of those who watched--sixteen soldiers. Think of the time--the night before execution. Yet Peter sleeps; which suggests--1. A gracious providence. “ He giveth His beloved sleep.” Sleep is one of God’ s choicest gifts. How it drowns our cares, restrings the harp of life, binds up our energies afresh. What more did Peter want than sleep? Had he the most comfortable chamber in Herod’ s palace could he have had more than sleep? 2. An approving conscience. A condemning conscience would have kept sleep away. Peter knew that he was engaged in the right work. 3. A sense of security. He had no fear about the future. He had committed himself to the care of Heaven. “ God is our refuge and strength.” III. Hinder the visit of angels to good men (verse 8). The Bible teaches not only the existence of angels, but their ministration Note--1. The ease with which an angel does his work. The walls, gates, etc., presented no obstruction. The chains fell off without effort, and Peter led through his guards without a struggle. God’ s greatest agents work quietly. 2. The extent to which an angel does his work. Only what a good man cannot do for himself. Peter could tie on his sandals, etc., but could not snap his chains. IV. Cannot prevent the frustration of his own purposes (verse 11). That Herod’ s purpose was frustrated is seen--1. In the deliverance of Peter. This deliverance was-- (1) Consciously Divine. “ I know of a surety.”(2) Very wonderful. The disciples were incredulous. 2. In the progress of truth. “ Go show these things unto James,” etc. What an impulse this fact must have given to the new cause! 3. In his confusion (verses 18, 19). Satan’ s plans may be very subtle in their structure, vast in their sweep, imposing in their aspect, and promising in their progress; but their failure is inevitable. They must break down, and their author and abettors must be everlastingly confounded. Take heart, ye children of the truth; as soon as God’ s day comes “ there will be no small stir” amongst God’ s enemies (D. Thomas, D. D.)Peter in prison, sleeping between two soldiers A beautiful picture of-- I. Christian faith, which in prison and in the horrors of death lies sleeping like a child in the bosom of God. II. Divine love, which stands with its eyes open over its sleeping and bound children day and night. (K. Gerok.)Peter’ s passion, and the Church’ s compassion 1. When the devil draws his sword, he flings his scabbard away; and though he strike not, yet he hath it always ready. It was already dyed in the blood of James (verse 2); and now he strives to latch it in the sides of St. Peter also. 2. These words present unto us the true face of the Church militant: one member suffering, and all the members suffering with it; St. Peter in chains, and the Church on their knees. Though they cannot help him, yet they will pray for him; and they will pray for him, that they may help him. I. Peter’ s passion.1. His imprisonment. A prison one would think were not a fit place for St. Peter. Will God suffer this great light to be confined, and this pillar to be shaken with the storms of persecution? Shall he who was to teach and govern the Church now stand in need of the prayers of the Church? It is a common sight to see Herod on his throne, and St. Peter in prison. But in this world it matters not where he is confined who is already out of the world. St. Peter lost not his peace with his liberty, nor was he a saint less glorious because he was in prison. Imprisonment and persecution are not only good, but blessed (Matthew 5:11), as our Saviour says. 2. The motives which induced Agrippa to keep him in prison. You may perhaps imagine that zeal for religion drew his sword. We read indeed that Herod was “ a great lover of the Jews” and their religion, but it was not this. Religion may be the pretence, but the cause is his crown and kingdom. It was to please the people who could make his throne secure. But as Seneca says, “ He that strives to please the people, is not well pleased himself with virtue: for that art which gains the people, will make him like unto them.” If Herod will please the Jews, he must vex the Christians, and be as cruel as a Jew. II. The Church’ s compassion.1. And you may know them to be Christians by this (Matthew 5:48). And therefore Tertullian tells us that amongst the heathen, professors of Christianity were called Chrestiani, from a word signifying “ sweetness and benignity of disposition.” Is St. Peter in prison? they are not free. Is he in fetters? their compassion binds them in the same chains: and though he alone be apprehended, yet the whole Church doth suffer persecution. For it is in the Church as in Pythagoras’ s family, which he shaped and framed out unto his lute: there is-- (1) “ An integrity of parts,” as it were a set number of strings. (2) An apt composition and joining of them together. The parts are coupled and knit together by every joint (Ephesians 4:16); even by the bond of charity, which is that virtue which couples all together. And then-- (3) Every string being touched in its right place and order begets a harmony. 2. But compassion will not rest in the heart, but will publish itself. If you see it not active in the hand, you shall hear it vocal in the tongue (Psalms 119:131). It will pour forth itself in prayer. The prayers of the Church are the best weapons. This prayer was-- (1) The prayer of the whole Church. (2) It was “ instant and earnest.” For “ Fervent prayer availeth much.” Otherwise, if it be faint and heartless, it is but breathed out into the air, there to vanish; it is lost in the very making, and, like a glass, in the very blowing falls to nothing; yea (which is worse), it is turned into sin. We may think perhaps that it is a great boldness thus to urge the Majesty of heaven; but we much mistake the God we pray to. He loves to be entreated; He commands us to be urgent. We must knock, and knock again. Though He hear not, we must call till He do hear; and though He open not, we must knock till He do open (Matthew 11:12). Thy hunger will make thy meat the sweeter; and thy frequent prayer will not only obtain, but enlarge thy soul and make it more capable of that good which thou dost long for. (A. Farindon, B. D.)Peter asleep Peter was in his cell, and if we could borrow the jailer’ s lantern and visit that dungeon, we should find a “ quaternion of soldiers” watching the manacled apostle. Two of them are in the cell and two are before the door. If the prisoner escapes, the guards must pay the forfeit with their lives. This is stern Roman law. The keepers, therefore, are wide awake. Perhaps some of the leaders in this wicked persecution are awake and busy in preparation for the auto-da-fe on the morrow. Around at the house of Mary, the mother of John surnamed Mark, are a company of God’ s people who cannot close their eyes on that eventful night. They are holding a prayer meeting and entreating God to interpose and spare their brother “ Great Heart” from his cruel doom. It was the right sort of prayer, for the Greek word describes them as straining in supplication; for they realise that this is their last resort. But, in the meantime, where is Peter? Lo, he is fast asleep! The children of heaven are awake to pray for him; the children of hell are awake to destroy him. But the heart for which other hearts are throbbing dismisses its own anxieties, and falls asleep as quietly as a tired child on its mother’ s breast. There were many things to keep him awake during that doleful night; there was a far away wife, and perhaps a group of children up in that home on the shore of Galilee, and he might have worried his parental heart about them. John Bunyan, when in prison for Christ’ s cause, tells us that this parting from my wife and children hath often been to me in this prison as the pulling of my flesh from my bones. Especially from my poor blind child, who lay nearer my heart than all I had besides. But I must venture you all with God, though it goeth to the very quick to leave you. So did the heroic apostle venture all with God. Family, home, labours for Christ, the welfare of the Churches, and his own life, were all handed over into God’ s keeping, and he, like a trustful child, sinks to rest in his Father’ s arms. So God “ giveth His beloved sleep.” Here is a lesson for us all. How did the apostle attain that placid serenity of spirit? As far as we can understand, he attained it by keeping his conscience void of offence, and by anchoring his soul fast to God. An uneasy conscience would never have allowed Peter to cover himself under the sweet refreshment of slumber. Troubled child of God, go look at that most suggestive scene in that Jewish gaol. Paul knew that his martyrdom was just at hand, but he had made Jesus Christ his trustee, and he felt no more uneasiness than he did about the rising of tomorrow’ s sun. Both those men were just what you profess to be, no more and no less; they were Christ’ s men. They had no more promise than you have, and no other arm to rely on than you have. In this world, so full of difficulties and diseases and disasters, there are a great many anxieties that make people lie awake. “ Tomorrow morning I will go and draw that money out of that bank,” says the uneasy merchant, who has heard some suspicions of the bank’ s solvency. Distrust of our fellow creature’ s honesty, or truthfulness, or fidelity is sad enough, but a Christian’ s distrust of his Saviour and his Almighty Friend is a sin that brings its own punishment. Half of the misery of life comes from this very sin. There was a world of truth in the remark of the simple-hearted nurse to the mother who was worrying over her sick child: “ Ma’ am, don’ t worry; you just trust God; He’ s tedious, but He’ s sure.” (T. L. Cuyler.)Peaceful sleep at night Dr. Alexander was often heard to say in substance as follows: “ Clergymen, authors, teachers, and other persons of reflective habits lose much health by losing sleep; and this because they carry their trains of thought to bed with them. In my earlier years I greatly injured myself by studying my sermons in bed. The best thing one can do is, to take care of the last half hour before retiring. Devotion being ended, something should be done to quiet the strings of the harp, which otherwise would go on to vibrate. Let me commend to you this maxim, which I somewhere learnt from Dr. Watts, who says he had it in his boyhood from the lips of Dr. John Owen: Break the chain of thoughts at bedtime by something at once serious and agreeable. By all means break the continuity, or sleep will be vexed, if not even driven away. If you wish to know my method of finding sleep, it is to turn over the pages of my English Bible without plan, and without allowing my mind to fasten on any, leaving any place the moment it ceases to interest me. Some tranquilising word often becomes a Divine message of peace.” (Lady Bountiful’s Legacy.)Peril and prayer I. Danger. Peter might say, “ There is peril for me.”1. Intimated in the sayings of our Lord (John 16:2; John 21:18-19). Has the dark day at last come? 2. In the race now on the throne. The race of Edom. In the Old Testament always hostile to the Church. Well did the Herods sustain the traditions of their race. Herod the Great sought to kill Christ; his son slew the Baptist; and his son had just put James to the sword. In this connection note a striking providence. The family was at this time numerous; in a century scarcely a descendant remained; and like many a petty Asiatic dynasty, might have passed into oblivion. But God set them on a hill, brought them into contact with the Divine kingdom and the King. So brought under this central light, all their dark deeds become illuminated for the warning of all time. They knew not the part they played. Our relation to the kingdom of God should be our chief concern. We may then leave fame and all other results to Him. 3. In the man’ s motives. Everything depended on his pleasing the Jews. He had imperilled the favour of Caligula by resisting the contemplated outrage of erecting the emperor’ s image in the temple. Claudius was now emperor, and to stand well with him it was necessary to secure the favour of the people. The opportunity now was to strike a fatal blow at Christianity. 4. In the deeds of Herod already done. The persecution of the Church, the murder of James, one of the inmost three. Distinguished service no exemption from suffering. 5. In the respite given. For some unknown reason it was intended to make Peter’ s trial solemn and public. Strict regard, therefore, was paid to the traditional law that no feast day could be a day of judicial trial. Sentence was therefore deferred till after the Passover. In the motive and deliberateness of the respite read certain doom. 6. In the character of the imprisonment. No chance of escape. Peter had been delivered before; now extra precaution. 7. The last night had come. Lessons:1. In direst extremity the Lord’ s people may be at peace. Note-- (1) Peter’ s conscience is at rest. A step between him and death; but asleep. (2) He expects no deliverance. No watching! Delivered, he will believe his deliverance to be a dream (Psalms 126:1). 2. Man’ s extremity is often God’ s opportunity. For the highest illustration, see Romans 5:6. II. Hope. Observe the “ but.” The might of prayer is set against the power of Herod.1. Time was given for prayer. Contrast with the case of James. 2. The prayer was special. They wanted one thing. No vague generalities. 3. Earnest--stretched out, strained--prayer at white heat. Same word is used of Christ’ s prayer in the garden, and in James 5:16. 4. Ceaseless. One prayer would not suffice. As the imprisonment went on prayer went on. For the style of the prayer, read Acts 4:24-28. 5. Rose with the terror of the exigency. In the dead of the night, as the last hope was dying away, “ many were gathered.” 6. Courageous. Nothing could have been more obnoxious to the government than this act, if discovered. 7. On a large scale. Perhaps as many were gathered as the house could hold; some in one room, some in another. 8. Grounded on the words of the Lord Jesus. One disciple would remind of one promise, another of another, e.g., “ Ask, and it shall be given,” “ Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name,” “ If two of you shall agree.” We know some who were present. None so notable as Saul (cf. Acts 11:30, with 12:25). The late persecutor now praying for the persecuted! Knocking! Perhaps this emissaries of Herod! Away Rhoda! See! III. Deliverance. Supernatural, yet how simply told. IV. Surprise. Perhaps Peter knew of this prayer meeting, and so wended his way thither. Note here--1. The genuineness of the history. An impostor would have made the disciples welcome the answer to their prayer. The history makes them astounded. Which is truest to the deepest things of life? 2. Truth oft mingles with superstition in the best minds. “ His angel.” It is true that for everyone there is an angel guardian (Matthew 18:10). It is not true that he can assume the form and voice of the person guarded. 3. The grace of expectation does not always accompany the spirit of prayer. It does sometimes (1 Kings 18:42-44). 4. Deliverance came at the very last moment (Acts 4:18). (H. T. Robjohns, B. A.)A prayer meeting in apostolic times I. They confined their efforts to prayer. II. They continued in this effort. They must have had strong faith. III. They reaped the benefit. The answer--1. Filled them with amazement.2. Was superabundant.3. Was speedy. (Stems and Twigs.)The story of a prayer meeting and what came of it I. The Church suffering. The name of Herod is to the Christian Church almost all that Ahab is to the Jewish, and Peter comes before us in these earlier chapters of the Acts as another Elijah--the prophet of fire. Herod stretches out his hand to vex certain of the Church, which must have been driven to its wits’ end. Stephen had already been stoned, and almost all the leading men had been scattered. And now the Apostle James is slain. The trembling Church clings about Peter. And now Peter is carried off to prison; and Herod is going to put him to death as soon as the Passover is over. How the hearts of the Christians must have sunk down within them, sick with helplessness! Oh these dreadful times, when it seems so hopeless, so useless to do anything more; the conflict is so unequal! II. The Church praying. Then comes a blessed “ but.” “ But prayer was made without ceasing.” Though every other door be shut, this one is ever open. We have seen in our day what has been called an attempt to go back to primitive custom in the Church. We can do nothing better, if only we go back far enough. I find no controversy about vestments, no going to law about attitudes, no mystery of the mass, but I find prayer constant, everywhere. The primitive Church was born in a prayer meeting, and in the prayer meeting she renewed her strength. The prayer meeting is the thermometer of the Church--it tests what degree of warmth there is. The prayer meeting is the barometer of the Church, and points us to showers of blessings or to seasons of drought. The Church’ s warming apparatus is in the prayer meeting room. The light that is in the Church comes in that way. A praying Church is a mighty, prosperous, resistless Church. He helps the Church most who sets himself to make the prayer meeting most largely a success. Let us turn to this company. “ I don’ t see any hope whatever,” says one; “ if we had only somebody of influence to plead with Herod, but we all are so poor. And then there are all these rulers and Pharisees urging him on.” Then says some simple soul timidly, “ I think we had better pray about it.” But nobody noticed it. Then another sighs: “ Herod has declared his purpose, and the Jews will take care to keep him up to it.” “ No hope,” says another bitterly; “ Peter is inside that iron gate and those stone walls, chained to soldiers and watched by sentries! Poor Peter! there is not a chance for him.” “ I think we had better pray,” says the simple soul again, more urgently. “ Really, brother, do be practical! Whatever can prayer do in a case like this?” ask they all impatiently. “ What can it not do?” says the simple soul. “ Ah, but you see God works according to law,” says another very solemnly. That silences them all. The simple soul doesn’ t know what law means; most likely none of them do. They only think of it as something very dreadful indeed that shut Heaven’ s door and left Peter hopelessly in prison. And so Peter might have perished and the Church have died out--all because God works by laws! But now there is a familiar knock, that told of an earnest and resolute man. “ Ah, here is Brother Faith,” says the simple soul, looking up brightly. “ Well,” says Faith, “ what are you going to do?” “ Have you got anything to propose?” at last one asks doubtfully. “ Yes,” Faith answers, “ I happen to know One who has great influence with Herod, and could get him to change his mind about this matter. And besides that, He has the key of that iron door, and He can open it. And as for the soldiers, they are bound to do His bidding. I think we had better speak to Him.” “ Who can do that but Caesar?” they ask in a tone of disappointment. “ And however are we to get at Caesar? Besides, there is no time to communicate with him.” “ No,” says Faith, “ I mean One here in Jerusalem, our Heavenly Father.” “ But God works according to law.” “ True,” says Faith, “ and isn’ t this a mighty, deep, abiding law, that ‘ like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him’ ? And is not this a law, that ‘ if we know how to give good gifts unto our children, our Father shall much more know how to give good gifts to them that ask Him’ ? I believe in law,” says Faith, “ but I believe at the back of all law, its source and strength, is the heart of our Father God. He can help us, and He will. Let us pray.” And without more ado Faith knelt down, and one by one all followed and they began to pray. Oh Faith! verily thou hast logic and philosophy and common sense and the promises and everything on thy side--for thou hast God. As they pray on they get to the very heart of God. Was not this poor trembling Church the very Bride of God’ s dear Son, for whom He had lain down His life? What then? If God had given His Son for their sakes, could He withhold His help? Oh Herod! you cannot succeed against this. This little company has got hold of Omnipotence. III. Leaving the company let us see how it fares with Peter. Poor Peter! the sentence has gone out that tomorrow he must die, amidst every condition that should afford his enemies a gloating triumph. Little wonder if we find him cast down, beset with grief and fear. But look, here he lies, asleep. Well, what else should he be doing? Of old he slept because the flesh was weak; now he sleeps because his faith is strong. Ah, it is the very climax of faith when it has learnt to sleep. Many a man can fight the good fight of faith, who cannot sleep the good deep of faith. Now suddenly the dungeon is illuminated as with the glory of the Lord. Then Peter saw the angel, he felt the fetters loosened, and forth he went. Then the angel was gone, and Peter stood under the starry heavens--free. At first his thoughts went up to God to thank Him for His great deliverance. Then his thoughts went away to the little company that had met in prayer for him. He found the door shut! The prison gate fell back before him; but here were they, praying that Peter might be fetched out of prison, and they had forgotten to leave their own front door on the latch for him. The only place that Peter found impassable was the house of his friends! Have we not heard of the little maiden who when the church met to pray for rain took her big umbrella with her; and when the congregation came out to find their prayers answered, they almost forgot to be thankful in their concern about their dresses and bonnets, whilst she went safely sheltered on her way? When you begin to pray, let faith set the door of expectation open. So is it that many go on praying for forgiveness, and they forget to go to the door to see if the Saviour is there. Many are praying for the peace and joy of the indwelling Christ, and lo! He Himself is standing without knocking and waiting if they would but open unto Him and let Him come in. Poor Peter! it seemed a cold reception for him, standing there and knocking thus. Eventually Rhoda, hearing someone, creeps timidly to listen. They were times of peril, and all kinds of dreadful things might happen; and fearfully she asked who it was. It was Peter. And in very joy, without staying to open the door, she ran in and carried the good tidings--“ Peter is come.” “ Nonsense,” said one, “ you are mad.” Ah, they were a little like us of today, it seems. “ But I am sure it is he: I heard his voice,” persisted the damsel. Then said one and another rather frightened--“ It is his ghost.” It is wonderful what people will believe in sooner than believe in answers to prayer. Then the company crept timidly to the door. Yes, there was Peter himself, and he told them how the Lord had sent an angel and delivered him. Then they saw why this mystery of Peter’ s imprisonment had been permitted--that they might prove the mighty power of prayer. And Peter went forth beyond the reach of Herod. But a little time after, Herod was smitten by the angel of the Lord. Do let us believe in God, and let there be no limit to our faith, since there is no limit to the power and goodness of our God. We have access to the same God; let us make much use of it. If Herod be dead, his successors are still very much alive. There are many rulers of public opinion who do stretch out their hands to vex the Church. Others are there whose lust hates that which condemns their indulgence. Our power to triumph over our foes is in our power to pray. What hosts are there who lie away from the reach of the gospel! How can we get at them? Amongst us there are old besetting sins, that are riveted upon wrist and ankle, binding men and women in a miserable bondage, making them useless to the Church--avarice, ill-temper, worldliness, lukewarmness, prejudice, pride. Their gold is under lock and key, and it wants a strong angel of the Lord to loosen it. They are shut up in an inner dungeon of indifference or laziness, bound by the opinion of those about them, as Peter was by the chains of the soldiers. What can we etc.? Let but prayer be made without ceasing of the Church unto God; and rulers shall be powerless for mischief, and prison doors shall be opened, and again it shall be recorded, “ The word of God grew and multiplied.” (Mark Guy Pearse.)Release from prison as an answer to prayer An aged woman came to one of our chapels bowed down with sorrow. Her husband was constable of the village and consequently responsible for the conduct of the people. A murder had been committed in the village, and news of it had reached the ears of the magistrate. The murderer had escaped, the magistrate was very angry, and said he would punish the constable instead of the murderer, as is often done in some parts of China; but he was an old man, so the magistrate took his son instead, and everybody said that unless the murderer could be found he would lose his head. So she had come with her heart almost breaking to know if Ah-kying, the native helper, could assist her. He told her that to go and plead with the magistrate for her son would be useless; but he could pray to God for her; that God would hear and answer prayer, and help her if they prayed to Him. The mother said she would gladly pray to God if she knew how. So they knelt down together. Ah-kying told the Lord all her trouble, asked God to deliver her son, and also that both mother and son might be saved from eternal death. She returned to her home, told her husband and neighbours how this Christian had prayed to God, and how confident he was of his prayer being speedily answered. Day after day passed, and still no news of the poor prisoner; but one afternoon, just as hope was beginning to die away, she saw coming towards the house her son, alive, set free from prison. He could not understand it himself, for he had not the least expectation of being released. That morning the magistrate had sent for him, had him beaten, then set him at liberty. Great was the joy at his return. The mother told him about Ah-kying’ s prayer, and for weeks they walked about eight miles to the chapel to worship the God who had answered prayer, and saved the son from death. (W. Rudland, Missionary in China.)Continuance in prayer During my recent visit to Italy, when in the hotel, I desired the attention of the waiter, and observing the button to be pressed, I applied my thumb as instructed, but no waiter appeared; I repeated the experiment several times, with no better success. Presently another visitor entered, and, hearing my desire, asked if I had rung the bell. I told him I had, without success. “ Ah,” said he, “ you do not understand; I have been here before,” and placing his thumb upon the button, he kept it there till the waiter appeared. That is how we must pray: keep up continuous application until the answer arrives, (C. H. Spurgeon.)Prayer and protection In the year 1793, when Ireland was in a state of rebellion against England, some discontented spirits in county Wexford thought that now was a favourable opportunity to vent their spleen upon the small settlement of Moravians dwelling in that district. They had long threatened to make an end of them, and when would they get a better chance? The Moravians expected some such attack, and resolved to trust not to their own strength or weapons, but in God. They gathered in their chapel, and with earnest prayer besought Him to be their shield in the time of danger. The attacking party drew near; they had expected to meet with opposition, and were prepared for butchery and the wildest excesses, but instead of that they beheld those whom they had come to slay on their knees before God. They heard the earnest prayers for protection, and stranger still, for forgiveness and pardon for their intending murderers. When their song of praise rang out in the still air there was not one in all that ruffianly band who would have raised a hand against these sweet singers; they felt powerless to harm them. They stayed all that day in the settlement, then with one accord departed, without having injured a single individual or having stolen a single article. So the Lord looked after His own, and did help and protect those who had put their trust in Him. (J. McGregor.)Safety through prayer In 1872 a missionary in the city of Cadareita, Mexico, made it a special subject of prayer that the Lord would open the way for the return of himself, his wife and child to the States for a little season, the circumstances seeming to indicate this as a duty. The needed means were provided, but the country was in a state of revolution, and his friends tried to dissuade him from going, as General Cortinas would probably cross their path, who was a murderous man and regarded as having a special hatred for Americans. He determined to go forward, however, trusting to Divine protection, and they started for Matemoras, some three hundred miles distant, two hired men and their wives accompanying them, the brethren “ promising to pray daily for their safety.” “ The third morning, after commending ourselves as usual into the care of our covenant keeping God,” he relates, “ we started on our journey, and soon espied the troops of General Cortinas two miles distant, marching toward us. We again all looked to God for protection, and then went on until we met the advanced guard, who commanded us to halt and wait until the general came up. Riding up to our company with the salutation, he asked whence we came and whither we were going; he then asked the news from Nueva Leon. After replying to his question, the missionary inquired if the road was safe between his party and Matamoras. He replied, ‘ Perfectly; you can go on without any fear, and as safely as you would in your own country’ ; then bidding us good morning, he rode on, not even inquiring about or examining any of our baggage.” Upon reaching Brownville, Texas, friends pronounced the conduct of General Cortinas as truly a miracle, for they “ could not have believed him capable of such kindness to Americans so in his power.” Answered prayers (text and Philemon 1:22):--The two passages cover the entire subject. Here are prayers of the same kind as when a mother asks God to restore her sick child, or a Church asks a beloved officer to be spared. I. The similarity in the two cases. The circumstances are almost identical. In both cases the Church pleads for the life of an apostle from the hands of a blood-thirsty tyrant, and in both cases the prayer is answered. Learn--1. The region into which prayer may enter. Men say this is only the personal, inward, and spiritual. To pass from ourselves to affairs of human government and laws or to nature is vain. The examples here are against these statements and show that prayer has a voice in the action of our fellows, in the arrangements of life, and in the laws of nature. 2. Prayer has direct results therein. Good-humoured sceptics say, “ Pray for others as much as you like that they may be delivered from nature’ s laws, and from human wrong--it may do you good in the way of deepening your sympathies, but outward results are impossible.” But we see here that through the prayers of the Church Peter and Paul are restored to liberty. 3. Prayer does not always receive the answer desired. Peter and Paul were in prison again, and without doubt the Church prayed for their release. The apostles were released indeed, but by death, not to earthly toil but to heavenly rest. It is a misrepresentation that the Church teaches that the good asked for is always given, Christians pray not with a desire to impose their will upon God and His universe. When the answer is not given according to their desire, they are content to believe that it is in respect of things they would not have desired could they have known as God knows. 4. Yet prayer is a mighty power in the affairs of men--a mighty weapon in the hands of the Church. How unequal the forces; Herod or Nero, with prisons and soldiers, and on the other side a few weak men and women bowed in prayer. Yet note which wins. 5. The Church is resistless for the purposes of her great mission when fully armed with the power of prayer. A king once led forth his steel-clad chivalry to place a despot’ s yoke upon the neck of a free people. Just before the battle he saw their ranks bending to the ground. “ See,” he cried, “ they submit already.” “ Yes,” said a wise counsellor, who knew them better; “ they submit, but it is to God, not to us.” And in a few hours the king and his army were scattered. Let the Church, as she stands face to face with opposing forces, submit to God in prayer and every foe will be vanquished. II. The distinction between the two cases. The same answer is given, but in different ways. In the first case there is direct Divine interposition, in the other nothing miraculous. Paul pleads his case, is adjudged innocent and set free. Learn--1. The blessedness of the man who lives and moves in an atmosphere of prayer, around whom cluster as guardian forces, the petitions of the people of God. 2. The exalted privilege of being identified with the visible Church. Men may speak lightly of it, but is it a light thing to be remembered by thousands in their prayers? III. The relation of the one case to the other. The one explains the other. A miracle teaches us that God is everywhere working, and that the ordinary operations of nature are but the veil behind which He screens Himself, and which in the miracle is for the moment removed. Learn--1. Not to expect supernatural operations in answer to prayer. 2. To recognise God in the natural, and to accept the answer when it comes in the ordinary course of events. It is a miserable condition of mind that sees God in the rescue of Peter but not in the rescue of Paul. (W. Perkins.)The liberating power of prayer Mr. Elliot, who laboured as a missionary among the American Indians, was eminent in prayer, and several instances are recorded of remarkable answers having been given to his petitions. The following is striking:--Mr. Foster, a godly gentleman of Charlestown, was, with his son, taken by the Turks; and the barbarous prince, in whose dominions he was become a slave, was resolved that, in his lifetime, no captive should be released; so that Mr. Foster’ s friends, when they had heard the sad news, concluded that all hope was lost. Upon this, Mr. Elliot, in some of his next prayers before a great congregation, addressed the Throne of Grace in the following very plain language: “ Heavenly Father, work for the redemption of Thy poor servant Foster. And if the prince who detains him will not, as they say, dismiss him as long as himself lives, Lord, we pray Thee, kill that cruel prince; kill him, and glorify Thyself upon him.” In answer to this singular prayer, Mr. Foster quickly returned from captivity, and brought an account that the prince who had detained him had come to an untimely death, by which means he had been set at liberty. “ Thus we knew,” says Dr. Cotton Mather, “ that a prophet had been among us.” Peter prayed out of prison Learn from the narrative-- I. The true unity of the Church. Paul tells us that when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and here we see how the assault made on Peter affected all the saints in Jerusalem. They felt regarding him as Luther felt regarding Melanchthon when, with amazing boldness, the reformer told the Lord that he could not do without his Philip. They had in him not an interest of benevolence alone but one of identity. Peter’ s extremity was their extremity. So let one child in a home be smitten all the members are deeply affected. Let some public spirited patriot be stricken, and the whole nation feels the blow. But even more keenly the Christian feels the affliction of a brother in Christ. There is nothing which merges relationship into identity so thoroughly as the gospel. In Christ we are all one; and so each feels the other’ s woe. And then Christ feels with us; “ in all our affliction He is afflicted.” This is the true brotherhood. Better than all secret lodges, or mystic grasps, or talismanic passwords is this union with Christ. The Church ought to be the most helpful and loving society in the world; and if it were there would be no craving among men for some other association to meet their needs. II. The power of earnest, believing united prayer. The answer in this case was long delayed. The last night had arrived, yet they continued, and lo! at the darkest hour the dawn broke. Here is an example for us. We are not warranted to expect such answers as this, yet God would sooner work a miracle than suffer His faithfulness to fail, or let His cause be put back. For the resources of the universe are at His command, and it is equally easy for Him to answer prayer through the ordinary operations of His providence, or through bringing new causes into operation. What we have to remember is that He is the hearer of prayer. Did we do so there would be more definiteness, directness and business-like purpose in our petitions. Is it not a fact that when we have, concluded our devotions it would often puzzle us to tell what we have been praying for? And then when we have asked for certain things, we have become discouraged because we have not had an immediate answer. Why are God’ s answers delayed? It may be because we are desirous of sharing in the glory of the answer; or because God wishes to mature patience and faith; but in any case if we were more definite and continuous we should see more frequently the results. They tell us of the fixed laws of nature; but who dares maintain that He who fixed those laws cannot use them for the purpose of answering His people’ s prayers? There are postal laws in this country; but are the facilities for answering letters open to all but those who made them? And yet men who are using the laws of nature every day to help their fellows--e.g., medical men--will deny to their Author the same liberty. Nay, more; if I do not post my letter may I not telegraph for a message boy and send him on with an immediate answer? And am I breaking postal laws to do that? Yet I may send my little liveried messenger, but God may not send an angel! III. While earthly glory fades, the Word of God endures forever. Like a foam bell on the stream Herod dazzled men’ s eves for a moment with the reflection of the sunlight; and then like it too, he burst and disappeared--while “ the Word of God grew and multiplied.” (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)The deliverance of Peter 1. A triumph of Divine power.2. A reward of apostolic fidelity.3. A fruit of intercessory brotherly love.4. An overthrow of proud tyrannical rage. (K. Gerok.)The deliverance of Peter From the narrative learn the following lessons-- I. If ever our enemies get hold of us, they will hold us as fast as they can. Herod was not content with ordinary means of keeping Peter in custody. He was too great a prize to be lost. Mark you, if by any fault of our own we ever fall into the hand of our enemies, we need expect no mercy from them. And if without fault we be delivered for a little season into their hands, whoever may be spared, the Christian never is. Men will forgive a thousand faults in others, but they will magnify the most trivial offence in the true follower of Jesus. Nor do I very much regret this, for it is a caution to us to walk very carefully before God in the land of the living. The Cross of Christ is in itself an offence to the world; let us take heed that we do not add any offence of our own. It is “ to the Jew a stumbling block” ; let us mind that we put no stumbling blocks where there are enough already. “ To the Greek it is foolishness” ; let us not add our folly to give point to the scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the gospel. We pilgrims travel as suspected persons through the world. Not only are we under surveillance, but there are more spies than we reck of. II. When a case is put into God’ s hands, He will manage it well, and He will interfere in sufficient time to being His servants out of their distress. Peter’ s case was put into God’ s hands. Well, we can leave it there. But it is the last night! Yes, but just at that last and darkest hour of the night, God’ s opportunity overtook man’ s extremity. A light shone in the dungeon. Peter was awakened. God never is before His time; nor is He ever too late. But see, there is Peter asleep! doing nothing! Well, and the best thing for him too, for the case was put into God’ s hands. Suppose Peter had been awake, what could he do? Had he been fretting and troubling himself, what good could he have done? Sleep on, blessed slumberer! Well might Herod envy thee. Thy spirit is free; and it may be that in thy dreams thou art rejoicing “ with a joy unspeakable, and full of glory.” When the case is taken into God’ s hands, and you and I feel that we can do nothing for ourselves, we may take sleep, and while we sleep, His watchful eyes do keep their ceaseless guard, and at the right time deliverance comes. III. When God comes to deliver His people, all, the circumstances which seem to go against their deliverance shall only tend to set forth the more His glory. What contempt He puts upon chains, etc. I know of nothing that seems to illustrate more God’ s splendid triumph over man’ s cunning than the resurrection of Christ. So, Christian, rest assured that everything that looks black to your gaze now, shall only make it the brighter when God delivers you. IV. No difficulty can ever occur which God cannot meet when He makes bare His arm. The chains are gone, the warders are passed, but there is that iron gate. You get fretting for months about the iron gate, as those holy women did for hours, who went to the sepulchre and said, “ Who shall roll us away the stone?” There was no stone to roll away! And when you go to this place, you will find that there is no iron gate there, or it will open of its own accord. Oh, how often have we had to wonder at our own folly. V. The omnipotence of prayer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The deliverance of Peter We obtain here a pleasing view of-- I. The deep and tender sense of brotherhood which pervaded the early Church. This is one of the best gifts which the gospel brought to men. It is indeed the primary, unique element of the human race as a special, distinct creation. Sin struck a disastrous blow at this distinguishing principle. If reclamation should ever come for the race, this principle must be called into life again. Men must be taught not only to know God as a Father, but each other as brothers. And so we perceive that Christ made this brotherhood the basic element of His kingdom. How beautifully did the early Church display this principle! How closely were they joined together! How generously they sold their property for the common good! Out of the fruitful soil of loving brotherhood sprang up the intense concern of the whole Church for Peter. It is the true cement which binds Christians of every name and country together in an indissoluble bond. It is the only sentiment of sufficient power to arouse the Church to carry the gospel to the millions yet lying in the shadow of death. II. The Church in the attitude of prayer for an imperiled brother.1. It was a praying Church. When they had returned from the ascension, they all continued with one accord in prayer. When they would select one to fill the place made vacant by Judas, they prayed. When they had received three thousand souls into the Church they continued steadfastly in prayers. When Peter and John returned after their first arraignment, the whole company lifted up their voice to God. As the result of this habitual prayerfulness “ they were filled with the Holy Spirit,” “ they spake the Word with boldness,” the multitude of them that believed “ were of one heart and of one soul,” “ and great grace was upon them all.” 2. By the habit of prayer the Church was prepared for trying emergencies (verse 5). Here was a great emergency. Through this dreary week prayer was their constant occupation. They had no carnal weapons, no distinguished friends at court, no treasures to offer as a ransom; but there was a Power above the might of kings, standing ready to be invoked, and to this Power they made their appeal. 3. They prayed in concert. All hearts were touched, all minds agreed. 4. They prayed unceasingly. Through the long week, amid the distractions of the crowded city, with the danger of a bloody persecution, they prayed. There was no relaxation of energy, no manifestation of doubt, no giving over of entreaty. The vision of their father Jacob wrestling at Mahanaim may have risen before them, or the thought of the unbroken vigils of their Master may have come to strengthen them. Three potent elements met and mingled in their prayer: namely, their sense of need, a present God, and the undoubting conviction that He was able and willing to help. Could it be less than unceasing? 5. They prayed to the point. It was all for Peter. Self was forgotten. There were no diffuse and rambling petitions, no grooved sentences or high-flown expressions, or dull repetitions, certainly no prescribed form. They could not run wide of the mark: “ Hear us for Peter in his lone prison.” 6. To God direct they spoke. No appeal to angels; no mention of Mary, no saint is thought of as a helper, not even Stephen, or the saintly James, fresh in heaven from his baptism of blood. No living man is called on to help; no message is sent to Herod. They cast themselves on God nakedly. The case is urgent, and the mighty Presence alone filled the scene. III. The issue. The festival week is over. The day is fixed to bring Peter forth to his doom. It is the morrow. But the Church is still praying. One place of meeting is full. Most likely all the places of assembly were similarly attended. Peter was asleep in his cell, chained by each arm to a soldier. There is no thunderstorm, no earthquake. No jailer is bribed to release Peter. An angel is in the prison. He aroused Peter. Peter followed him and was free. (W. G. Craig, D. D.)Peter’ s deliverance from chains, an image of our gracious deliverance from the chains of sin I. The severe imprisonment.1. The chains.2. The keepers.3. The sleep. II. The merciful deliverance.1. The messenger from heaven with his joyful light and awakening voice.2. The awakening with its fears and joys.3. The first walking, with its hindrances and aids--walking as in a dream through the first and second watch, and the iron gate. III. The glorious liberty.1. The firm standing on one’ s own feet.2. The joyful reception by the brethren.3. The impotent rage of the world. (K. Gerok.)The security of God’ s servants The true servant of God--1. Can rest in peace even when seemingly in the power of those who intend to take his life. 2. Is never fully in the power of his enemies, God never irrecoverably surrenders him. 3. Has celestial messengers sent to his comfort and deliverance. 4. Is cared for, not only in great, but also in small matters. 5. Though for the while not recognising the fact, yet soon will be sure to see that God has helped him in every deliverance from trouble. (S. S. Times.)Aspects of sainthood On the whole narrative we note--1. The saint’ s tribulation. Peter in prison--various sorts of prisons.2. The saint’ s treasure, Peter slept--peace of heart.3. The saint’ s power. Prayer in Mary’ s house.4. The saint’ s deliverance. God interferes.5. The saint’ s duty. Peter must gird himself and bind on his sandals, and cast his garment about him and follow the angel. Divine interposition This old-world story is full of encouragement and instruction for the men today. It teaches-- I. God knows all about His children. Beyond the bare fact of Peter’ s arrest, the disciples were in profound ignorance. The secrets of the Roman prison house were well kept. But God kept watch over Peter, knew in what cell he was confined, the names of his guards, and just where, when, and how to send His angel. Peter had no occasion to feel solitary or forsaken. God’ s children are never alone. The shipwrecked sailor adrift on a spar in mid-ocean; the traveller lost in the trackless desert; the pauper dying in the attic with no friend to speak a word of comfort--all these, if they are God’ s children, are cheered by His presence. Human experience is so full of enforced solitudes that this is the most precious of all truths. Our recognised afflictions are not the hardest to bear. The tears we shed in secret, the disappointments of which we never speak, the sorrowful hearts which we hide under smiling faces--these are the things that test and strain the fibre of manhood. It greatly helps us to bear troubles like these, to remember that God knows all about them. II. God keeps Himself informed about His children in order to help them. He kept watch of Peter in order that, when the right time came, He might deliver him from prison. He keeps watch of you and me that, when our need is too sore for our unaided strength, He may put the right hand of His omnipotence underneath the burden. Providence is pro-vid-ence--the foreseeing and arranging that precedes helpful doing. Men have too mechanical an idea of life. Our common blessings are supposed to come in what we call the “ order of nature.” The farmer who rejoices in a bountiful harvest says: “ It was because the seed was good, and the soil was good, and the season was propitious, and I spared no pains.” True, but back of all these recognised conditions was God, giving the seed its vitality and the soil its fertility, etc. III. When God helps His children He expects them to help themselves. It was possible for God, in working a miracle for Peter’ s deliverance, to have wrought out every item of it. But that is not the Divine method. There were some things which the apostle could do for himself, and only what he could not do for himself was done for him. In the Divine economy of the universe there is no provision for idleness. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 12:7-10 And behold the angel of the Lord came upon him.The tender offices of angels towards the saints of God It enhances the moral dignity of the Christian that he should have such exalted beings in constant attendance upon him. It seems to bring God nearer to us, to bridge over the measureless void between the finite and the infinite, to feel that in sickness or in sorrow, or in mental darkness, they are present with us who have just come from God’ s presence. The hand supports us which a moment before had been tuning to lofty melody the harps of God. They bring themselves to our doors, that we may have a bright and hallowing presence in our houses and among our children; they are witnesses in the place of our holy assemblies; they stand as weeping friends stand by the bedside of the departing righteous, while in the end of time they shall arrest the ministers of desolation in their worldwide havoc, saying, “ Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.” So near, so loving, so constant are the tender offices of angels towards the saints of God. No worship do we offer them; they will have none. They ask only to be loved by us as guardian friends, to be honoured by our consistent walk, to be thought of as humble servants of the Lord Jesus, “ sent forth to minister unto them who shall be heirs of salvation.” (D. Moore, M. A.)Angel visits in the night 1. When we climb to some mountain height, and look forth upon the broad landscape in the blaze of the bright moon, it seems as if our earth were the universe, and the sun were a single globe of fire hung in the heavens to give it light. When we stand upon the deck of the ship in mid ocean it seems impossible that there can be anything else but the sun and the sea. When we look up to the silent sky at night, it seems as if the bright array of stars were only campfires kindled on the plains of heaven to guide some wanderer through the solitudes of earth. When we go down into the depths of the cavern it seems as if we were alone in the universe, and when we mingle with the multitude it seems as if man and earth were everything. All these natural and uninstructed impressions conspire to narrow the range of our thought, and shut us up to the occupations of man alone. It is, therefore, a salutary disclosure that we are not the only actors in the busy scenes of daily life. There is no solitude where we may not have the unseen companionship of beings that think and feel and work more mightily and constantly than ourselves. 2. And these invisible partners of our toil, and sharers of our spiritual life, have sometimes stepped forth from behind the curtain to show us that we may have witnesses of our conduct when we think ourselves most alone. And these celestial visitants have shown themselves better acquainted with human history, and better able to do our work, than we ourselves. They have defeated great armies, overthrown populous cities, sent forth and arrested the pestilence. They have rested under the shadow of oaks at noon, as if weary, eaten bread, as if hungry, received hospitality, as if coming in from a journey, guided and protected travellers, rolled away the stone from the tomb, kindled the fire of the altar, clothed themselves in garments that shone like the lightning, and appeared in so common a garb as to be taken for wayfaring men needing lodgings for the night. It gives us a higher and truer estimate of our own place in the great commonwealth of intelligent beings, to find that we are objects of intense interest to the inhabitants of other worlds. It enlarges the range of our thought, and lifts our desires and aspirations above all earthly and perishable things, to know that our present habitation is only one little province of a universe of worlds; and that this mighty empire is bound together by ties of intelligence, cooperation, and sympathy, to its utmost extent. 3. The deliverance of Peter shows that these mighty visitants have little regard for the pomp and splendours of earthly state. Suppose a prophet had said the day before that on that night a mighty being from the central province in God’ s great empire would visit Jerusalem, and only one man in all that city would be honoured by receiving that celestial messenger--could any have guessed that that man would be found in prison? There were many other persons besides Peter, many other places besides a prison for an angel to visit. But the angel did not show himself in the palace of the king. He did not enter the temple. He did not address himself to the pilgrims at the feast. The one man, whom that mighty servant of God had come to see, was shut up in stone walls, asleep on a stone floor, bound with iron chains, etc. If the very chain with which Peter was bound were now kept in Jerusalem, every intelligent traveller would wish to see it. And not necessarily from any superstitious regard, but from the feeling that Christian faith and suffering consecrate everything they touch. If the cell were preserved any intelligent traveller would think it something to remember and to tell of, that he had entered that cell. So much consecration do rude homes and vile dungeons derive from the faith and toil and suffering of the servants of God. Let love to Christ become the law and the life of everything we do, and then the place where we toil, and the home where we rest, will become as attractive to angels as the dungeons where the martyrs suffered. 4. Peter slept so soundly that only the sound of the angel voice, and the touch of the angel hand could awake him. A man with a good conscience can sleep on a very hard bed, and in the midst of very great danger. The anxieties and perils of life and the dread of death would not weary and wear us out so much if we went to our daily duties with such high and happy faith in God as martyrs have shown in the prison and the flames. If we fully believed that God has given his angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways, we could fulfil our day of duty without fear, and we could gratefully accept such sleep as God gives to his beloved when the night comes. I know the doctors say that sound sleep comes of a good digestion. And while I do not deny that, I know another--that a good digestion depends greatly upon a good conscience. To be in the best health of both body and mind, we must be at peace with God. And it makes very little difference how humble or exalted the chamber in which we lie down to rest, if we have done our duty well, and trust wholly in Him who giveth His beloved sleep. The sleep that renews the life, and restores the soul, and gives a foretaste of heavenly rest, is the sleep which God gives to them that love Him. The time is not far distant when the sleep of death will steal upon us all. What strange and bewildering joy it will be to be waked from that last sleep by the touch of an angel’ s hand! What surprise it will be to the soul to find itself able to obey that command, “ Rise up quickly,” and to follow the angel guide to the paradise of God! 5. The care with which Peter was kept was a confession that even Herod was afraid of him. And we have much reason to be obliged to the king for making the guard so strong; just as the sealing of the stone and the setting of the watch over the sepulchre of Jesus, only helped and confirmed the demonstration of His resurrection; just as we may well thank the proud and passionate Voltaire for saying he was tired of hearing that twelve men established Christianity throughout the world, and he would yet live to hear it said that one man had banished Christianity from the face of the earth. We may count ourselves debtors to the remorseless criticism which has exhausted the resources of learning and industry in the endeavour to shake our confidence in the sacred records, for all its efforts have only served to lay bare the everlasting foundations on which our faith rests. We may be thankful for the bigotry which determined to crush out the spirit of Christian liberty. 6. Peter was accustomed to see miracles; and yet I do not wonder that he was bewildered and thought he had seen a vision that night. If we try to imagine the circumstances, we shall the better understand his feelings. At last he has time to think. The bewildered man begins to come to himself. He recognises the place. And so God’ s angel shall come in the appointed time to deliver the disciple of Jesus from the prison of the flesh. And oh, how much more glorious than the change which so bewildered the mind of the apostle! We try in vain to express in words the blessed bewilderment of the happy soul in the first moment of waking from the sleep of death to the life of heaven. It is here that we sleep and dream. The great reality of life is yet to come. Here the soul is bound, like Peter in the prison, with two chains--one the burden and sorrow of life, the other the fear of death. Faith in Christ alone delivers us from the double bondage. Faith in Christ alone can prepare us to be waked by the touch of the angel of death, and to see ourselves surrounded with a greater light than shone in the prison of the apostle when his angel deliverer said to him, “ Arise, follow me.” (D. March, D. D.)The ministry of angels I. With James they were employed to convey his soul to glory. II. With Peter they were instruments to deliver him from bonds. III. With Herod they were agents of God’ s vengeance. The iron gate. Difficulties giving way This incident may be used to illustrate certain important truths. I. That matter is the servant of spirit. Matter is found in diverse forms. But we can only win the use by conquest. Take iron as a sample. It is stored up in the earth. Its discovery an era. From that moment man rose in power. What countless uses are now made of iron! And as with iron, so with other materials: everything has its use. There have been great discoveries in the past, there may be greater in the future. But mark our responsibilities. We are the heirs of all the ages. If “ much given,” “ much required” (Luke 12:48). Such is the law; always, matter should be made subordinate to the good of man: the lower should serve the higher. II. That difficulties give way before men that are moving in the path of duty. The ministry of angels still goes on. They are for us, and not against us; and often, in ways unknown to us, they may be employed for our good. Be this as it may, the release of Peter shows us how we too may obtain deliverance. First, we must put ourselves under the guidance of God, and at His call we must go forward bravely, without faltering (Psalms 37:5). Difficulties are a test. They show what spirit we are of. Difficulties are a challenge; they appeal to our manhood; courage mounteth with occasion. Difficulties are an education. It is not ease, but effort that makes men. “ Our antagonist is our helper,” said Burke. III. That, walking under the guidance of God, our path shall ever be toward what is higher. Peter and the angel. So ever--Onward; from darkness to light; from restraint to liberty; from the presence of the evil to the companionship of the saints; from fear of death to glory, honour, and immortality in the city of God. How striking the contrast in the case of Herod! His pride had a terrible fall. An angel was sent to him; but in judgment. The oppressor is dealt with differently from the oppressed. Dr. Watts says: “ Death to a good man is but the passing through a dark entry, out of one little room in his Father’ s house into another which is fair and large, lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining. Oh! may the rays and splendours of my heavenly apartment shoot far downward, and gild the dark entry with such a cheerful gloom as to banish any fear when I shall be called to pass through.” (William Forsyth, A. M.) Acts 12:12-25 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark.John Mark 1. Two names are here, one Jewish, the other Roman; the latter adopted at first as a secondary one, and gradually superseding the former, just as “ Joses” grew into “ Barnabas,” and “ Saul” became universally known as “ Paul.” Thus we have “ John, whose surname was Mark” ; but later always “ Mark” or “ Marcus,” the Jewish name being entirely gone. 2. The scenes of this man’ s youth are not difficult to imagine. His father is never mentioned, but his mother is of note in the Christian community. She has a house commodious enough to receive a number of its members when they desire to meet. She has servants; the name of one of them we know, “ Rhoda,” or “ Rose.” There would meet, on various occasions, the choicest spirits of the early Church. Barnabas was Mary’ s nephew, and would often be her guest. Peter must have been an intimate friend. We find traces of these connections in the Epistles. “ Marcus, sister’ s son” (or rather cousin) “ to Barnabas,” is the designation given to him in Colossians, and in Peter’ s first Epistle he is called “ Marcus my son,” no doubt in the spiritual sense, as Timothy stood related to Paul. Mary was a devout and courageous woman, ready, even when Herod’ s sword was loose, with a welcome for all who loved the Lord. It was a fine moral atmosphere for a youth to breathe: a godly mother, praying friends, missionaries and martyrs and apostles coming and going there; and a bracing one withal, with frequent winds of fierce opposition raging around something it must have been to be a son in the house to which Peter came that night, and to have been in the company when cousin Barnabas introduced Saul of Tarsus. But, so far, we have proceeded mainly on conjecture. Mark’ s recorded history begins about the year A.D. 44, the era of the earliest mission to the heathen. 3. When Barnabas and Saul were set apart for this work, it was settled that Mark should accompany them as their “ minister,” or servant. It was the excellent custom of the older evangelists to associate the younger with them; just as Moses chose Joshua for his assistant, and Elisha “ poured water on the hands of Elijah.” The design was to inure them to the discipline of the missionary life, and to instruct them in its duties. It was the squire learning to win his spurs in the Christian chivalry by attendance on the knight who had won them already. And what could be more suitable, or full of promise, than that Mark should serve his first campaign under Barnabas. 4. But what sudden change is this, occurring when that missionary journey has been but a little while begun? “ John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.” Short words, but how significant and disappointing! After witnessing the awful judgment on Elymas, and the glorious conversion of Sergius Paulus; after seeing how Paul could smite, and how Barnabas could heal; after feeling some thrill of holy emulation in his own bosom, does he now give up the Christian work? What motive can have turned him back? Matthew Henry says, “ Either he did not like the work, or he wanted to go see his mother.” A fit of homesickness, in fact! Perhaps also Paul, himself so hardy and self-sacrificing, was a little impatient with the young man, and treated him with an outspoken severity not pleasant to endure. Mark was no traitor, for his heart was true at bottom; but he was at present a coward, too soft to suffer hardship, and he had forgotten to count the cost. A failure, it would seem; a hand taken from the plough; a ship, scarcely out of dock, and already stranded on the shore! What a sorrow to that noble mother to see her son return like this; better he had been borne home dead upon his shield than have cast it away in dishonourable flight. 5. Five years must be supposed to pass. Barnabas and Paul have accomplished their journey, and returned. The great conflict with the Pharisaic party at Jerusalem has been fought out. The two missionaries are panting to be at work again. And of all men, who should appear, applying to accompany them, but the deserter Mark? Paul has never seen him since that unhappy parting at Perga; and he does not mean to be deceived a second time. Barnabas must do as he thinks right, but Paul will rather break their own old companionship, and go by himself. Then Barnabas will break it too. Barnabas takes the more hopeful, more indulgent view; he has probably heard better things of his young cousin. The decision of the “ son of consolation” is to give him another chance. “ And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus.” How often has that “ other chance” been the making of a man! 6. Another blank occurs here. We lose sight for ten years of Barnabas and Mark. Barnabas may be dead; and Mark appears again, and, singularly enough, in the Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon. But can it be the same man? Another stamp is set now upon his name by the very hand that was once ready to brand “ deserter.” Surely our stranded ship floats again! Our fallen brother has lifted himself up, with heaven’ s help, and is on his own feet, pressing forward with as stout a heart as the bravest. Barnabas was right; there was a true heart in the man after all. 7. We turn to the first Epistle of Peter, and Mark is now at Babylon; what an indefatigable traveller he has grown, and what a heart has he for labour! And he is found with aged Peter, his father in the faith. Presently Paul is writing again; it is the last of all his letters, the second to Timothy. His friends have left him; he is cold, and he is ill, and, with all his steadfast faith in the Divine support, he craves for a little human sympathy. Therefore let Timothy, if it may be, come quickly from Ephesus, where he is, bringing cloak and parchments, and his own filial care; and let him bring also some other tried and trusty brother, as a second source of consolation. Who, then, shall the chosen one be? “ Take Mark, and bring him with thee” ; a “ profitable man,” the very man for a minister, a servant, a friend! Mark, the runaway? Even him; for years have passed since then, and the timid stripling has become the resolute and energetic veteran. 8. One further reference remains, a large and a long one; for it is a whole book of Scripture--“ the Gospel according to Mark.” All the early traditions agree in attributing this to Mark, as the scribe and interpreter of Peter. And thus the image which remains is not that of the fugitive youth, but of the missionary, the faithful companion of the chief apostles, and one among the four evangelists. 9. On the northern coast of Devon there spreads a bay, along which the sea comes tide after tide, washing a broad beach of tiny shells; but you may search the shore for hours, and find no perfect specimen: the shells are broken. I can conceive many a disheartened traveller in life’ s hard journey sitting down on that beach, and saying, “ Behold the image of my own experience, of my broken resolutions, unaccomplished purposes, and perpetual failures!” Even in the Christian Church there are not a few who feel that they have failed of the high aims, the noble impulses, which warmed and quickened them at first! To any such disheartened souls this story of Mark’ s recovery should come like a trumpet call of hope. Never too late, while life lasts. Once more to the front! If Paul does not trust you, Barnabas will. If Paul does not care for you now, he may come to lean on you with all his strength. And One, of whom you know, clearer-sighted by far than that shrewd apostle, tenderer of heart than that “ son of consolation,” marks your struggles, and prays for your success; and He, as you arise, will breathe into your ear those words of unutterable hope and encouragement, “ Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.” (W. Brock.)And many were gathered together praying.--The special prayer meeting It was a great wonder that the infant Church of Christ was not destroyed. She was like a lone lamb in the midst of furious wolves. With what weapons did she protect herself? The answer is--prayer. Whatever may be the danger of the times, and each age has its own peculiar hazard, our defence is of God, and we may avail ourselves of it by prayer. But this is not all: the newborn Church not only escaped, but it multiplied. What made it grow? The answer is that on all occasions “ many were gathered together praying” ; and if our Churches are to live and grow they must be watered from the self-same source. We have heard a great deal of talk in certain sections of the Church about going back to primitive times; but unfortunately what they call the early Church is not early enough. If we must have the early Church let us have the earliest Church of all. Notice-- I. The importance which the early Church attributed to prayer meetings.1. As soon as we begin to read in the Acts, and continually as we read on we note that meetings for prayer had become a standing institution in the Church. They were not met to hear a sermon, although that is proper, but praying was the business on hand. The eminent speaking brethren seem to have been all away, and perhaps the Church was too much engrossed in intercession. There is a serious flaw in the arrangements of a Church when such gatherings are omitted or placed in a secondary position. The private Christian will read, and hear, and meditate, but none of these can be a substitute for prayer: the same truth holds good upon the larger scale. 2. It appears, however, that while prayer meetings were a regular institution, the prayer was sometimes made special. It adds greatly to the interest and fervency of prayer when there is some great object to pray for. Here the special object was Peter. They prized the man, for they saw what wonders God had wrought by his ministry, and they could not let him die if prayer would save him. Why not pray for a certain missionary, or some chosen district, or class of persons, or order of agencies? We should do well to turn the grand artillery of supplication against some special point of the enemy’ s walls. 3. These friends fully believed that there was power in prayer; for, Peter being in prison, they did not meet together to arrange a plan for getting him out. It looked as if they could do nothing, but they felt they could do everything by prayer. They thought little of the fact that sixteen soldiers had him in charge. If there had been sixteen thousand these believing men and women would still have prayed Peter out. Let it never be insinuated in the Christian Church that prayer is a good and useful exercise to ourselves, but that it would be superstition to suppose that it affects the mind of God. As surely as any law of nature can be proven, we know both by observation and experiment that God assuredly hears prayer. 4. This prayer was industriously continued. As soon as Herod had put Peter into prison the Church began to pray. As in times of war, when two armies lie near each other they both set their sentries, so in this case Herod had his sentries, and the church had its pickets too. As soon as one little company were compelled to separate they were relieved by another, and when some were forced to take rest in sleep, others were ready to take up the work. Some mercies are not given to us except in answer to importunate prayer. There are blessings which, like ripe fruit, drop into your hand the moment you touch the bough; but there are others which require you to shake the tree again and again, until you make it rock with the vehemence of your exercise, for then only will the fruit fall down. I would pause here, and urge my brethren to attach as much importance to prayer as the early Church did. Some prize active agencies, but prayer is the steam engine which makes the wheels revolve, and really does the work, and therefore we cannot do without it. Suppose a foreman were employed by some great builder to manage works at a distance. He has to pay the men their wages weekly, but he forgets to write for cash to go on with. Is this wise? Keep up a constant communication with heaven, or your communications with earth will be of little worth. You may go on preaching and teaching, and giving away tracts, and what you like, but nothing can possibly come of it when the power of Almighty God has ceased to be with you. II. The number assembled.1. This is a rebuke to some here present. The text says, “ Many were gathered.” Somebody said that two or three thousand people had no more power in prayer than two or three. That is a grave mistake in many ways; but clearly so in reference to each other; for have you never noticed that when many meet together praying, warmth of desire and glow of earnestness are greatly increased. Have you not observed how one brother suggests to another to increase his petition, and so the petitions grow by the mingling of heart with heart, and the communion of spirit with spirit? Besides, faith is a cumulative force. “ According to thy faith so be it done unto thee” is true to one, to two, to twenty, to twenty thousand. 2. This is not a very common occurrence, and why is it that so many prayer meetings are so very thin? Gentlemen who do not get home from the city and have their dinner till seven o’ clock, cannot be expected to go out to a prayer meeting. They work all the day, so much harder than working men. Some of you who have your delightful villas are very careful of your health, and never venture out into the evening air at prayer meetings, though I rather suspect that your parties and soirees are still kept up. After all, this is a personal matter. How are we to increase the number? Not by complaining of those who stay away, but by coming yourself. The largest numbers are made up of units. 3. I am not sure that quite so many would have been gathered together that night if it had not been that Peter was in prison. Ministers laid aside by illness find their people pray better, and perhaps one reason for his being afflicted was God’ s desire to stir the hearts of His people to intercede. Now, the best way to do good to your pastor is to pray to be kept in a right condition, and not need his sickness as a stimulus to prayer. III. The place of assembly. A private house, and I want to urge my brethren to consecrate their houses by frequently using them for prayer meetings. There was a meetness in their meeting in this particular house, for the family stood in a very dear relationship to Peter. Peter in his First Epistle refers to “ Marcus, my son.” Mark would be sure to pray for his spiritual father. There is sure to be prayer for the pastor in the house where the pastor has been blessed to the family. Mark was not all we should like him to have been, but he might have been a useless Christian, and never have used his graphic pen for the Lord had not the good people come to his house. The house received a blessing, and so will you, too, if your house shall be every now and then opened for special prayer. Prayer meetings at private houses are very useful, because friends who would be afraid to pray before a large assembly are able to feel free and easy in a smaller company in a private house. Sometimes, too, the social element is consecrated by God to promote a greater warmth and fervour, so that prayer will often burn in the family when perhaps it might have declined in the public assembly. IV. The time of this prayer meeting. At dead of night. Now, if the time for prayer meetings be an inconvenient hour, and I should think the dead of night was rather inconvenient, nevertheless go. Better hold prayer meetings at twelve o’ clock at night than not at all. But the dead of the night was chosen for safety. Let the time fixed for modern prayer meetings be an hour suited to the habits of the people. V. The success of the prayer meetings as an encouragement to us. The answer came so speedily that they were themselves surprised. It has sometimes been said that their astonishment was the result of unbelief. I doubt that, for their prayer did set Peter free, and therefore it could not have been unbelieving prayer. I trace their surprise to their probable expectation that Peter would be delivered at a different time and manner. And God can send us surprises quite as great as this. We may pray for some sinner, and while we are yet praying we may hear him cry, “ What must I do to be saved?” We may offer our prayers for the sleeping Church, and while we pray it may be answered. (C. H. Spurgeon.)And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. Rhoda “ Rhoda” means “ a rose,” and this rose has kept its bloom for eighteen hundred years, and is still sweet and fragrant. What a lottery undying fame is! Men will give their lives to earn it; and this servant girl got it by one little act, and never knew that she had it. Now there is a very singular resemblance between the details of this incident and those of another case, when Peter was recognised in the dark by his voice, and the evangelist Luke, who is the author of the Acts of the Apostles, seems to have had the resemblance between the two scenes, that in the high priest’ s palace and that outside Mary’ s door, in his mind, because he uses in this narrative a word which occurs, in the whole of the New Testament, only here and in his account of what took place on that earlier occasion. In both instances a maid servant recognises Peter by his voice, and in both she “ constantly affirms” that it was so. Luke felt how strangely events sometimes double themselves; and how the man that is here all but a martyr is re-enacting, with differences, something like the former scene, when he was altogether a traitor. I. We may notice in the relations of Rhoda to the assembled believers a striking illustration of the new bond of union supplied by the gospel. Rhoda was a slave. The word rendered in our version “ damsel” means a female slave. Her name being a Gentile name, and her servile condition, make it probable that she was not a Jewess. If one might venture to indulge in a guess, it is not at all unlikely that her mistress, Mary, John Mark’ s mother, Barnabas’ sister, a well-to-do woman of Jerusalem, who had a house big enough to take in the members of the Church in great numbers, and to keep up a considerable establishment, had brought this slave girl from the island of Cyprus. At all events, she was a slave. In the time of our Lord, and long after, these relations of slavery brought an element of suspicion, fear, and jealous espionage into almost every Roman household, because every master knew that he passed his days and nights among men and women who wanted nothing better than to wreak their vengeance upon him. And now here this child slave, this Gentile, has been touched by the same mighty love as her mistress; and Mary and Rhoda were kneeling together in the prayer meeting when Peter began to hammer at the door. In God’ s good time, and by the slow process of leavening society with Christian ideas, that diabolical institution perished in Christian lands. Violent reformation of immoralities is always a blunder. “ Raw haste” is “ half-sister to Delay.” Settlers in forest lands have found that it is endless work to grub up the trees, or even to fell them. “ Root and branch” reform seldom answers. The true way is to girdle the tree by taking off a ring of bark round the trunk, and letting nature do the rest. Dead trees are easily dealt with; living ones blunt many axes and tire many arms, and are alive after all. Thus the gospel waged no direct war with slavery, but laid down principles which, once they are wrought into Christian consciousness, made its continuance impossible. But, pending that consummation, the immediate action of Christianity was to ameliorate the condition of the slave. The whole aspect of the ugly thing was changed as soon as master and slave together became the slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. That slight, girlish figure, standing at the door of Mary, her slave, and yet her sister in Christ, may be taken as pointing symbolically the way by which the social and civic evils of this day are to be healed, and the war of classes to cease. II. Note how we get here a very striking picture of the sacredness and greatness of small common duties. Rhoda came out from the prayer meeting to open the gate. It was her business, as we say, “ to answer the door,” and so she left off praying to go and do it. So doing, she was the means of delivering the apostle from the danger which still dogged him. It was of little use to be praying on one side of the shut door, when on the other he was standing in the street, and the day was beginning to dawn; Herod’ s men would be after him as soon as daylight disclosed his escape. It is not unnecessary to insist that no heights or delights of devotion and secret communion are sufficient excuses for neglecting or delaying the doing of the smallest and most menial task which is our duty. If your business is to keep the door, you will not be leaving, but abiding in the secret place of the Most High, if you get up from your knees in the middle of your prayer, and go down to open it. The smallest, commonest acts of daily life are truer worship than is rapt and solitary communion, or united prayer, if the latter can only be secured by the neglect of the former. Let us remember how we may find here an illustration of another great truth, that the smallest things, done in the course of the quiet discharge of recognised duty, and being, therefore, truly worship of God, have in them a certain quality of immortality, and may be eternally commemorated. III. The same figure of the damsel named Rhoda may give us a warning as to the possibility of forgetting very plain duties under the pressure of very legitimate excitement. “ She opened not the door for gladness,” but ran in and told them, Yes! And if, whilst she was running in with her message, Herod’ s quaternions of soldiers had come down the street, there would have been “ no small stir” in the Church as to “ what had become of Peter.” Now joy and sorrow are equally apt to make us forget plain and pressing duties, and we may learn from this little incident the old-fashioned but always necessary advice, to keep feeling well under control, to use it as impulse, not as guide, and never to let emotion, which should be down in the engine room, come on deck and take the helm. It is dangerous to obey feeling, unless its degrees are countersigned by calm common sense illuminated by Scripture. Sorrow is apt to obscure duty by its darkness, and joy by its dazzle. It is hard to see the road at midnight, or at midday when the sun is in our eyes. Both need to be controlled. Duty remains the same, whether my heart be beating like a sledge hammer, or whether my “ bosom lord sits lightly on its throne.” Whether I am sad or glad, the door that God has given me to watch has to be opened and shut by me. IV. Lastly, we have here an instance of a very modest but positive and fully warranted trust in one’ s own experience, in spite of opposition. They had been praying, as has often been remarked, for Peter’ s deliverance, and now that he is delivered they will not believe it. Nobody ever seems to have thought of going to the door to see whether it was he or not, but they went arguing with Rhoda as to whether she was right or wrong. The unbelief that alloys even golden faith is taught us in this incident. Rhoda “ constantly affirmed that it was so.” The lesson is--trust your own experience whatever people may have to say against it. If you have found that Jesus Christ can help you, and has loved you, and that your sins have been forgiven, because you have trusted in Him, do not let anybody laugh or talk you out of that conviction. If you cannot argue, do like Rhoda, “ constantly affirm that it is so.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Rhoda I. Her name. Miriam and Rhoda are the only two girls of the Bible whose names we know. A learned German has written a book on “ the names of women taken from flowers.” He shows that these names mark the qualities which we expect to find in girls. Now Rhoda is the Greek name for a rose. It is the first part of the word “ rhododendron,” which means “ rose tree.” In the olden times, as nowadays, people hoped that girls would be in the home what the rose is in the garden: that they would add a charm, a beauty, and a sweet perfume to life. I have read somewhere that a rose is carved on a girl’ s tombstone in France, with these words underneath, “ She was just like that.” The rose, however, is as famed for its speedy decay as for its sweetness and beauty. But when the ancients gave this name to their girls, they meant that, as they would wear, so they would justify and deserve their name all their days. Some, however, grow like the rose that has shed its leaves, and kept only its bare thorns. Others resemble the autumn flower, whose leaves are highly coloured while its sweet savour is gone. Some are like the rose into whose bud the cankerworm has crept; some are like the rose planted among thorns, which shows its wounds as well as its beauty; and some are even like the rose that is soiled and trampled in the dust of the highway. But Rhoda was a girl who deserved her beautiful name, and wore it well. For she was good; and to be good is to be beautiful with the best beauty. In old languages they used to call the bad ugly, and they do so in some parts of the world at this day. The good and the beautiful are really the same, when the matter is rightly understood. The grace of God is the grand beautifier. It makes people graceful, that is both good and beautiful. II. Her company. It is the very best in the world; she is among the Christians. Whether she was the slave or the daughter of Mary, we know not; but it is plain that she was among the Christians not by chance, but by choice, or else she would have gone to bed, or fallen asleep, like Eutychus. But Peter had hardly done knocking when she was at the keyhole, asking who was there. She knew his voice at once in the dark, and so must have been intimate with him. She was like the blind girl who, unexpectedly hearing her old minister at a meeting, shook with excitement, and said aloud, “ Oh, that’ s my minister!” And Rhoda’ s gladness shows where her heart was. What efforts many make to get into what they call “ good society” ! This restlessness to be something which we are not, causes a world of misery. But Rhoda easily gained admittance to the very flower of human kind. They who come to Christ at once enter into the most splendid society in the world. Who would be foolish enough to shut herself out from that glorious band which embraces the best of every age and nation, all God’ s heroes, and the noble army of the apostles and martyrs? III. Her courage. Every Christian then was a hero for God; for he ran the risk of poverty, prison, and death. It was so in this land two hundred years ago. In Rhoda’ s days it needed double courage to be a Christian in Jerusalem, for the maddest of the Jews lived there, and Herod’ s sword was smoking with the blood of the saints. James, one of their leaders, had just been slain; and Peter was in prison, ready to be offered up. Rhoda, who shared the dangers, must have also shared the courage of the apostles. It was as much as her life was worth to attend that prayer meeting. One small touch in her story gives us a hint of her dangers. When Peter knocked, she did not open the door till she knew who was knocking: they were afraid of Herod’ s soldiers. Persecution has passed away, but none the less on that account do you need the courage you admire in Rhoda. For mean, false shame is one of the worst of your snares. Pray that you may have the free and fearless spirit of those bold hymns which you love to sing: “ Dare to be a Daniel” ; “ Stand up for Jesus.” Be ready with a round, rousing No, when sinners entice you. IV. Her service. Though only a girl, we see her here doing service. It was very humble; for she was as one who keeps a door in the house o! God. But she did her part, and did it right heartily. And God asks no more of you. Angels are perfect servants of God, and this chapter gives us a specimen of their way of serving. Watch the angel delivering Peter from prison, and take him as your model in doing God’ s work. How swiftly he works! Most pictures give angels wings, to denote the swiftness of a willing mind. Thus when Rhoda’ s heart was full of joy, she ran on her errand. Be this your resolve, “ I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.” Gratitude makes wings grow on the feet of life. And how humbly the angel does his work! He does not even mention his name, but hastens back to God, to whom he gives all the glory. An old minister was once preaching a funeral sermon upon the death of an “ elect lady,” who had been his helper in Christ. She was angel-like in humility; and he compared her to a fair taper in a room, which is bright to others, but is itself hid in the shade made by its own light. You, too, may have an angel’ s spirit in doing the work God has put into your hands. (J. Wells, M. A.)And they said unto her, Thou art mad.--Surprised by answers to prayer Mr. Muller, of Bristol, believes in God for the support of his benevolent institution, and God supplies him with all his needs; but whenever you speak about him you say, “ What a wonderful thing!” Has it come to this, that in the Christian Church it is accounted a marvel for Christians to believe in the promises of God, and something like a miracle for God to fulfil them? Does not this wonderment indicate more clearly than anything else how fallen we are from the level of faith at which we ought constantly to live? If the Lord wants to surprise His people, He has only at once to give an answer to their prayers. No sooner had they obtained their answer, than they would say, “ Who would have thought it!” Is it really surprising that God should keep His own promise? Oh, what unbelief! Oh, what wretched unbelief on our part! We ask and we receive not, because we do not believe in God. We waver; we must not expect to receive anything at His hand except what He chooses to give as a gratuity; an act of sovereign mercy, not a covenanted blessing. We do not get what we might have as the reward of faith, because we have not got the faith that He honours. I like that story of a godly old woman, who, when told of God’ s answering prayer, supplemented with a reflection, “ Is not that wonderful?” replied, “ No, it is just like Him. Of course He answers prayer; of course He keeps His promise.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Forgetfulness through joy On one occasion, in Limehouse chapel, a woman dressed in her working clothes appeared amongst the penitent inquirers. After being taught the way of salvation and prayed with, she found, peace in believing. She suddenly remembered that her house was locked and the key in her pocket, and told us that, in leaving home, she had no thought whatever of a religious service. Seeing the chapel lit up and hearing the singing, she entered, heard the sermon, was convinced of sin, and remained to pray, with the result already mentioned. Rhoda, seeing Peter standing at the gate, was so overjoyed that she forgot to let the liberated apostle in; so the woman at Limehouse, rejoicing that she herself was made free indeed, forgot that her house key was in her pocket, and that some of her family might be knocking at her door unable to enter. (T. McCullagh.)The girl who was called mad This girl-- I. Had a beautiful name. Many Jewish and other parents gave to their children the names of certain plants, trees, and flowers. Hadassa, a myrtle; Susanna, a lily; Tamar, a palm tree; Rhoda, a rose. That is beautiful, because it leads us to think of the garden in summer, and one of the prettiest flowers there. Have you such a name? Be thankful. Have you not such a name? Be content. It was given to you by others. They, and not you, are responsible. Besides, to grumble about it is to do no good. The time may come when it will be your duty to give names to children. Select those only that are associated with lovely things. Let all the words which you employ in writing and speaking be of the same description. II. Was a domestic servant. Her duty was to open the door when anyone knocked. In this respect she has advantages over those in other situations. She is more free from--1. Care. Nothing to pay for except her clothing. 2. Danger. Has not to go out in all kinds of weather. Sheltered from rains and storms. 3. Temptations. Others may have greater liberty. This often leads to temptations which do not come to the domestic servant. 4. Risk of losing her situation. Her class not so numerous as others. Masters and mistresses value a good servant, and will keep her as long as she does her duty. Nothing degrading about such a situation. To serve in a good family is exceedingly honourable. To show this the Bible has recorded some of the names and doings of domestic servants. III. Was a Christian.1. She was serving in a Christian home. 2. There was a prayer meeting in that home, and she loved to be there. 3. She was quite familiar with the voice of one of the apostles. Your parents, teachers, and, above all, Jesus, wish you to be Christians. IV. Was very cautious. It was night. All around lonely and still. Some one knocking at the door. Instead of opening it at once, she said, “ Who is there?” Never open the door at night till you know who is on the outside. Be cautious in all other things--in writing to, speaking about, and acting in the presence of others. V. Was accused of madness. When she heard Peter’ s voice, she was so glad that she could not open the door. The same thing has often happened; and the praying company, instead of believing her, said she was mad. This did not make her angry, for she knew that she was right. If you know you are right, and others say you are wrong, be not angry, but calm. The truth sooner or later will appear to others as it does to you. (A. McAuslane, D. D.)But Peter continued knocking.--Christian persistency That’ s right. Bang away! If Christians will not bestir themselves at your first call, hammer at them until they do. There is nothing like persistency for overcoming the sluggishness and sloth of half-hearted faith. The preacher, or the teacher, or the parent, or the Christian worker in any sphere, who turns away from the door of the heart he wants to enter, simply because it is not opened at his first call, is not really deserving of success in his mission. “ Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” If it is not opened the first time, knock again. If it is not opened after ten times knocking, continue knocking until it is opened. When the door is opened, you can enter in. But until it is opened, your duty is to keep up a knocking. (H. C. Trumbull.) Acts 12:19-25 And … Herod … went down from Judea to Caesarea. The death of Herod This journey of Herod is described by Josephus. It would seem that he left Judaea in disgust and spleen because Peter had escaped from his hands. We are next informed that “ Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon,” etc. Judaea being an agricultural and a pastoral country, and Tyre and Sidon being mercantile countries, the latter were dependent on the inland trade for their support, and therefore it would have been almost ruin to them if Herod had carried his thoughts into execution; for the expression “ highly displeased” means that he contemplated war. They, therefore, came to him in the most submissive manner, and bribed Blastus to use his influence. Herod having acceded to their request, and being a vainglorious man, determined to receive the ambassadors of Tyre and Sidon with a display of royal splendour. He also made an eloquent oration, probably reminding them of his own great condescension in receiving their ambassadors and granting them peace; and then “ the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him.” And when the tyrant was dead, it is added, in striking and beautiful contrast, “ But the Word of God grew and multiplied.” Note-- I. The miserable end of Herod. Observe--1. The extreme emptiness of earthly splendour. How wonderful it is, that with such a lesson as this continually recorded in the page of history, and in our own experience, we should still need to be reminded of it; for it seldom happens that any grand ceremonial takes place without there being some circumstance connected with it to stamp vanity upon it. But it is not merely in the dazzling circumstances of courts and kings that the worldliness of man’ s heart is shown; it is ingrained in us all. We are by nature lovers of this present world; and even when they are not actually removed, God often embitters to us our idols, and although we clearly see our own folly in idolising them, yet we cannot tear the idols away. We are all hastening towards the grave; and, painful as it must be, it would be very wholesome if we could look upon each other’ s countenances, and feel an abiding sense that dissolution must soon come. Parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, dear as they are to each other, must soon part. Oh! that we could meditate then upon this; and when we see a great king thus awfully cut down--when there seems but a step between the gorgeous apparel and the filthy worm--let us pause, learn how short our time is, and pray that we may not set our hearts upon the fleeting shadows of the world, but may seek to lay up treasure where “ rust and moth doth not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” How blessed, to think that there is a garment which shall never be exchanged for the worm, that there is a crown which shall never fall from our heads, that there is an abode where sorrow cannot come! Who would believe it, to see men frantically pursuing things that are not worth the having? 2. An awful instance of God’ s wrath against the persecutors of His Church and people. This man had killed James, etc. What a change is here. A little while, and Peter is safe, and the proud and mighty Herod is the prey of worms. “ So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord” ; and so must they perish, if they die in their sins. There are few sins which are followed up with more signal punishment than the persecution of God’ s saints. We see this in the fate of those who persecuted Israel, and it would be easy to show, from the history of modern Europe, that there has not been a power, papal or heathen, which has persecuted the Church of God, but the Lord has rendered an awful retribution into their bosoms. “ He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye.” There is no organ so delicate as the apple of the eye. The smallest puncture there will give pain over the whole body. How strikingly is this illustrated in the case of Saul. “ Why persecutest thou Me?” And our Saviour says that it would be better for a man who persecutes the saints of God “ that a millstone had been hung around his neck, and he had been cast into the depths of the sea.” And let us remember that it is the spirit of the persecutor which God looks at. You may say that men are not now sent to prison and to bonds for serving Christ. But ungodly men show the same disposition as ever to persecute. They point with the finger of scorn; they apply names of contempt, and endeavour to injure reputation. This is nothing else but the spirit which lifted the hand of Herod, and all that were like him, to persecute the saints of God. Happy are they who are “ persecuted for righteousness’ sake,” but woe be unto them that persecute them. 3. God’ s jealousy of His own glory and condemnation of human pride. The sin for which he was eaten of worms was only a negative sin. When the people said, “ It is the voice of a god, and not of a man,” Herod did nothing, said nothing; but it is added, “ Immediately the angel of the Lord smote him.” And why? “ Because he gave not God the glory.” Oh, what a little sin does this appear! How singular that this man should have been suffered to go through a long career of cruelty, oppression, and profligacy, ending with the murder of God’ s saints, and that the blow should be withheld until he had committed this apparently little sin--namely, not to reproach the people for their idolatry! Now this is well worthy of our serious consideration, because it is just by such things as these that we are led to the secret root of sin, and led to detect its hidden springs. It is of no use just to cut off the tops of the weeds in our gardens; we must pluck them up by the roots, or they will grow again. So it is with sin. The case of Herod is not a singular one. It is very remarkable, that we read of many instances in the Old Testament in which persons known to be of the most profligate and wicked character, and nations and people of the most debauched habits, have had the judgments of God poured out upon them, not for what are ordinarily considered great crimes, but for the crime of pride and exaltation against God (Isaiah 10:5, etc.; 47:10; Daniel 4:1-37.). It is perhaps said, “ But this is an uncommon sin.” Certainly in its full development it is; for all are not kings, nor can they array themselves in royal apparel; but as to the sin itself, it is universal. Oh! how many are there amongst us who spend their lives “ in arraying themselves in apparel!” The love of personal admiration is one of the most universal sins of our fallen nature. From the queen upon her throne down to the meanest of her subjects, the love of dress and personal display is an indigenous sin in the hearts of all of us, according to our various stations in life. But, you observe, it was not for his apparel that the people admired Herod, but for his oration. Here is the pride of oratory, the pride of intellect. There are many who utterly despise the former, who feed eagerly upon the latter; and the more intellectual our sin, the more subtle it is, and perhaps the more venomous and deadly. There is no pride more detestable in the sight of God than intellectual or spiritual pride. And here again you see the love of flattery, the love of the admiration of our fellow creatures. There is scarcely any human being insensible to this. If there be any avenue by which you can infuse folly into a wise man’ s heart, it is by flattering him. Oh! how mean and little do we seem when these bosom sins of ours are stripped open! How many a splendid action, how many an apparently virtuous one, how many a seemingly self-denying one, becomes a detestable and abominable sin, when the secret self-love and self-admiration that guided it is exposed! “ God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” “ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.” II. The progress of the gospel, notwithstanding all these events (verse 24). Remarkable juxtaposition of facts! Here is the persecutor eaten of worms, and gives up the ghost. Poor, feeble, wretched man! he can do nothing against God and His truth; and while he is dying, the Word of the Lord multiplies. This is a sort of recurring chorus in the whole history of the Acts. Thus it was after the deliverance of Peter and John, after the doom of Ananias and Sapphira, after the death of Stephen, and the conversion of Saul. What an idea does this give us of the omnipotence with which the Word is clothed, and of the mighty purposes of God concerning it! He hath said, “ So shall My Word be, that goeth forth out of My mouth,” etc. And so it has been throughout the whole of the history of Christ’ s Church militant here upon earth. Infinitely diversified is the story; there is no history so romantic as that. The Church, founded upon a Rock, never can be shaken; the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; men and devils may unite, but they shall be “ eaten of worms” and “ give up the ghost” ; while the “ Word of God” shall “ grow and multiply.” Let us repose our minds on these glorious considerations. It is the consolation of every well-regulated Christian mind that all the things which we see around us, however untoward, work together for the purpose of God. The Lord will show who is right and who is wrong; the work of every man will be submitted to the fire, and we shall then see which was the gold, and which the wood, hay, and stubble. Meanwhile His people have a confidence that they are serving a Master who cannot be defeated, and obey Him who has all things in His hands, and who said to another persecutor, “ Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above.” (Dean Close.)The death of Herod I. He would not glorify God. To exceed a just proportion, even in that which is good, is sometimes blameful; too much justice; too much love. But to give God the glory is a duty unto which we are bound with an infinite devotion. Wherefore if God gave children by seventies, He asked but the first born. Every hour of our time is His benevolence; yet the law is only to keep the Sabbath day. The earth is the Lord’ s, and yet His portion is but the tenth; but of His glory, it is His own entirely; He will not part with it. Themistocles, demanding tribute of the men of Andria, told them that he had brought two powerful advocates to plead his cause--Persuasion if they pleased, Violence if they refused. These two apparitors go before the glory of the Most High. Doth it like you to bless His name? So God is glorified by the devotion of His creature. Doth it like you to exalt yourself? Then He will be honoured in your confusion. He that swells to the greatest in this world shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. When the heathen traduced the Christians that they debased their emperor and made him less than the God of heaven, “ Know you not,” says Tertullian, “ that this is the eminency of your emperor to be less than God?” The heathen said that everything which grew too tall was thunder blasted, and that great fortunes, when they came to excess, did end in shameful ruin. As Virgil says of his bees, that one hive will fight cruelly against another; but cast a little dust into the air, and the fray is parted. So when the pride of man swells with vain opinion, methinks the casting of a little dust should pluck down our stomach, the base mould of which our flesh is made. Says St. Austin, “ Set aside this corrupt leaven of ostentation, and all men are but men, as naked in their pomp as when they were born, or when they shall be buried.” It was pride that dethroned the bad angels, and it is that which makes man stubborn against the law and refractory against faith, blow there are four ways whereby this daring vice of pride doth diminish from that which should be given to God’ s glory.1. It is a sin no less ungrateful than presumptuous to enjoy wit, and art, and memory, and the blessings of the best portion, and to forget God. Everything that renowns us, feeds us, preserves us, is but a crumb that falls from our Master’ s table. 2. Violence is done to God’ s glory when conscience will acknowledge that God doth give all; but arrogancy will infer that man deserves all. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the free gift of God the Father, the unction of the Holy Spirit, are turned quite aside, like a river from his own true channel, when it falls into such a soil that thinks it deserves it. When good works sue to be called merits, they are like the ambitious men of the world, that spend their whole revenue to buy some gaudy title of honour; and when they have it, they want substance to maintain it. 3. The third transgression is a lofty stomach, that will seem to be no less than to have no equals. The proud man is deciphered by the single horn of the unicorn, who would be solitary in all God’ s graces, and without a companion; whereas the congregation of the militant church is compared to a field of wheat, where all the ears of the field are of an equal growth, and if any stalk over-top the rest it is lank and without fructification. They that are not contented to be equal with the common condition of men, shall never be equal with the angels; and he that despiseth the gifts of God in his fellow servants, is not the man that gives God the glory. 4. There is one feather more in the tail of pride, and full as long as the rest: when they arrogate to themselves that which indeed they have not. Christ hath said we cannot add one cubit to our stature; no, nor make one hair of our head black or white. Why do ye practise it, then, O ye gaudy beauties! to bring that about which Christ told you was impossible? I have seen books of meditations whose subject was to let all men know that they are vain, and sinful, and ignorant, and yet they were dedicated to some great man most virtuous and most religious. Presume not to take false titles upon you, as Herod encroached upon the name of God Himself. But as to the pride of Herod, it is a monster that riseth up into two heads--1. A tongue full of vain and insolent speech. 2. An ear obnoxious to the flattery of the people. Of both in their order, and for your edification. It was Epaminondas’ s praise that he seldom met with a man that knew more than himself or spake less; and so the least doers inch out their poor works with much talk. As the artificial prospective to the eye, so is the tongue unto the ear an hollow instrument to make everything seem bigger and fairer than it is. The beasts, the birds, the serpents may be sooner tamed, says St. James, than the tongue of man. Worse than these creatures is the tongue of man; fiercer than the beasts, more flitting than the birds, more poisonous than the serpents. It is a member of the body that can taste everything but itself, and knows how all things relish but its own pride and bitterness. And as we are taught from hence to set a watch before our lips, so let us learn from Herod’ s example to circumcise our ears, to renounce the flatteries of evil men. The French proverb says that the boiling pot doth discover the little pea which is in the bottom of it, and the applause of a little vainglory doth discover the disposition of the mind of man more than any other passion. Says Seneca, “ Glory is the fire that kindles virtue when it provokes virtue to good achievements; but when glory begets nothing but the desire of glory, it is but childish popularity.” All flattery is the corruption of true glory; but to flatter any man in his vices is a sacrilege against virtue. It is a note of a reprobate that he speaketh good of the covetous, whom God abhorreth. To flatter vice is to promote Satan’ s kingdom; to flatter princes is to destroy their kingdoms; to flatter princes, as the Sidonians did Herod, is to pluck down God’ s kingdom. The Athenians, who were but Gentiles at the wisest, could not endure such injury to be offered to the God whom they knew not, but put Timagoras, their ambassador, to death, because he adored the king of Persi like a god. II. God was glorified in him.1. He, the king. The obedience of the law was violated; but the castigation of the law cannot be avoided. Machiavel, among his irreligious principles, says that all the credit of great enterprises depends upon success; for if Caesar had miscarried in his civil wars, his infamy had been more odious than Cataline’ s. Mighty sinners run into mighty destructions; and such conspicuous offenders as Herod was, leave themselves as a beacon. Where is his eloquence now? Where is his costly garment? Where is the outcry of the Sidonians that canonised his tongue for the voice of a god? Take heed lest you forfeit your own possession of the earth for denying God the possession of heaven. The Sidonians gave Herod so much of heaven, that they lost him all the earth but a grave. St. Chrysostom asks why the people giving the first offence, yet Herod is punished, and the principal malefactors acquitted. (1) Josephus gives the reason: he should have reproved and abhorred their flatteries. He should have rent his spangled garment, as St. Paul did at Lystra. Woe will be to thousands that suffer so many unsavoury words to fly about their ears and not reprove them. (2) God will take a more exact account of great men’ s actions than of the vulgar multitude, because their lives are conspicuous and should be exemplary; and if their life is infectious unto many, so their doom will be dreadful unto many. (3) The people were not altogether free from chastisement. Look now upon him that was your idol, ye Sidonians! Imagine with what astonishment the whole assembly was dissolved, if their consciences were not as full of worms as Herod’ s body! (4) Clemency and justice, when they meet together, attend how they may punish few and save many. If Herod suffer the malediction, one man feels the smart, and the whole assembly may repent and be saved. (5) Let the rabble go home in peace for this time; they were not all white for harvest upon that day, but behold the end. Where is Caesarea now? Or who almost knows the Sidonians? They have learnt to know by dear experience that thunder and judgment is the voice of God, and not an eloquent oration. 2. He was smitten by an angel of the Lord. Strange wickednesses procure strange kinds of death. If the earth will not avenge them, the angel of the Lord will come down and fight. Do the trees of paradise deserve to have a cherubim set before them with a flaming sword? And shall not all the host of heaven stand about the majesty of the Most High, and see the honour of His name preserved? 3. Immediately he was smitten. In such splendour of attire, in such celebrity of attendants, before the face of strangers, among those who in their hearts were no better than his enemies; never did he come out of that chair of the scorner, from that throne wherein he was canonised, till he was stripped of all dignity. It is the most dreadful thing upon earth to be suddenly apprehended by judgment. But let the Christian pray every morning as if he should see the sun rise no more; every evening as if he should see the sun set no more; be ready to meet the bridegroom at midnight, and yet despise not that supplication, “ From sudden death, good Lord deliver us.” 4. Lest he should glory that he was smitten by no less than an angel, behold the meanest of all creatures, the worms, are made his executioners! He that humbled himself to be a worm and no man, he is exalted above men to the right hand of God. He that would have been Deus non homo, a God and not a man, is dejected below a man, and made a worm. This disease is more observed in histories to be the arrow of the Lord against sinners of high presumption than any other. Thus Sylla died; thus Antiochus Epiphanes; thus Herod the Great; thus Arnulphus, that spoiled the churches of the Christians; thus Phericides, that gloried he never offered sacrifice, and yet lived as prosperously. (Bp. Hacket.)Herod’ s death I. Wherefore has it found a place in the Acts? Not as if it had been a punishment for the murder of James, but also because political events are not matters of indifference to Christianity. II. What are we to learn from it? That the commonweal can prosper, not by flattery and yielding to the lusts and passions of men, but only when we are free from both, looking to the eternal and unchangeable will of God. (Schleirmacher.)Herod smitten by the angel--an old picture of human society Here we have-- I. National interdependence. The Phoenicians wanted what the Palestinians had, and vice versa. This is a glorious fact in God’ s government of man. Throughout the earth one zone produces what other zones want, and the peculiar products of each contribute towards the consummation of man’ s well-being. This interdependence serves--1. To stimulate human activities. It presses ever on the sense of need and love of gain, and thus keeps man’ s faculties ever on the stretch contriving and constructing methods to work the soil to the greatest advantage, and to increase facilities of transit. He makes seas his high road, electricity his messenger, winds and fire the carriers of his commodities. 2. To check all monopolies. There are narrow souls who would keep all their land produces to themselves. Ignorant alike of the laws of the universe, the genius of the world, and their own insignificance, they vainly talk of national independence. Nature laughs them to scorn. Creature independence is a solecism. 3. To promote international concord. (1) A free commerce throughout the world is one of the best means by which men may become mutually acquainted. Buyers and sellers mutually show themselves in their transactions. (2) It advances interest in man. It is to the interest of traders to be on terms of amity and free intercourse. The commercial interests of the world are against war. (3) But the higher concord, the brotherhood of soul, commerce can only effect this as it becomes thoroughly inspired and ruled by those principles which were embodied in Him who came to break down all partition walls. II. Class wickedness.1. Unbounded arrogance on the part of the ruler. (1) The “ set day” some think was in honour of Claudius’ return from Britain, which he had reduced to a Roman province. Anyhow, the occasion was a grand one. Caesarea was crowded with pleasure seekers. The king enters that theatre which had been erected by his grandfather. The stone seats, rising in a great semicircle, tier above tier, were covered by an excited multitude. (2) The king magnificently arrayed makes an oration. What he said we know not; but we may be sure it was very “ grand,” like modern “ orations” --as gorgeous as his costume, as arrogant as his pretensions. Probably it dealt with the message he received through Blastus. Herod is a type of his class. The haughtiness of rulers is proverbial. Many treat their fellow men as if they themselves were a race of gods. (2) Base servility on the part of the ruled. Who can credit the shrewd Phoenician traders, the cultured Greeks, and the religious Jews with sincerity here? It was simply that base flattery which has been the sin and curse of the people in all ages. It is not uncommon, even in these days of enlightenment, to see men crushed by the injustice of rulers shouting hosannas in their ears. There is no greater obstruction to free government, wholesome law and national advancement, than the servile spirit of millions to those above them. No government can help the man who respects not the high prerogatives of his own humanity. III. Retributive justice. Angels have often done such work before (Exodus 12:21; 2 Kings 19:35; 2 Samuel 24:16; 2 Chronicles 32:21). The justice of this man’ s fate is clear. Surely he who had killed James, imprisoned Peter, and massacred his own guards, and now accepted Divine homage, deserved the end which befell him. Such instances of retributive justice had occurred with Pharaoh, Belshazzar, etc., but they are confessedly rare as compared with the number of notorious offenders. Yet they are sufficient to show that there is a moral government in the world, and to prophesy the coming of a time when retribution shall be fairly dealt out to all. IV. Remedial forces.1. The Word of God. This “ grew and multiplied.” The seed was growing everywhere, and the fruit was the antidote to the world’ s evils, the provision for the cravings of the human soul. Herod had done his best to crush it, but it went on, and as it advanced it elevated and blessed. 2. The agency of the good. Here are Barnabas, and Saul, and Mark, all working to help on the true and the right. (D. Thomas, D. D.)This world’ s honour Death strips us of this world’ s glory as a boot jack draws off your boots. Another wears my boots when I am dead, and another wears my glory. It is of little value. (Martin Boos.)Fleeting honour It was a custom in Rome, that when the emperor went out upon some grand day in all his imperial pomp, there was an officer appointed to burn flax before him, crying out, “Sic transit gloria mundi” ; which was done to put him in mind that all his honour and grandeur should soon vanish away like the smoke from the burning flax. The law of reprisal When we consider the almost invincible power which the crustaceans derive from their armour, their muscular vigour, their ferocity, and their numbers, we ask how is it that they have not depopulated the shores where they meet none but victims, no enemies capable of contending with them upon equal terms? For formidable as they are to all the tribes of molluscs and zoophytes, what have they to fear--except in a few countries certain littoral or amphibious mammals which, for the most part, only attack them as a last resort, preferring prey more easily devoured, and assisting them in their work of extermination rather than fighting them? Their tyranny then seems at first sight absolute and without counterbalance. Such, however, is not the ease. The crustaceans undergo at certain epochs a fatal crisis, which delivering them up defenceless to external shocks and the blows of their enemies, places an easy vengeance within the reach of the oppressed. These epochs are their sloughing times, when, willy nilly, with great difficulty, and at the cost of the most painful and sometimes the deadliest efforts, they are forced to shed their armour of proof, to expose their living flesh barely covered with a thin soft pellicle, and to bury themselves piteously under the sand until the calcareous secretion shall be reformed and solidified anew. This is their season of fear and fright. Their hiding places are easily discoverable, and once unearthed the disarmed brigands are lost beyond redemption. Myriads perish in this manner, devoured by other animals, crushed among the stones, or dashed in pieces against the rocks by the movement of the waves. Thus Nature enforces her law of reprisal. The power of all tyrants and oppressors has its fixed limits. The quarrelsome crustacean and the despotic king are alike subject to the hour of retaliation. (Scientific Illustrations.)Danger of flattery Whitefield, when flattered, said, “ Take care of fire: I carry powder about me.” Flattery answered When the French ambassador visited Lord Bacon in his last illness, and found him in bed, with the blinds drawn, he addressed this compliment to him: “ You are like the angels, of whom we read and hear much, but have not the pleasure of seeing them.” The reply was the sentiment of a philosopher, and not unworthy of a Christian: “ If the complaisance of others compares me to an angel, my infirmities tell me I am a man.” Flattery rebuked A flattering priest told Constantine the Great that his virtues deserved the empire of the world here, and to reign with the Son of God hereafter. The emperor cried, “ Fie, fie! for shame! let me hear no more such unseemly speeches; but, rather, suppliantly pray to my Almighty Maker, that, in this life and the life to come, I may be reckoned worthy to be His servant.” Royal piety One of the first acts performed by George III after his accession to the throne, was to issue an order prohibiting any of the clergy who should be called to preach before him, from paying him any compliment in their discourses. His Majesty was led to this from the fulsome adoration which Dr. Thos. Wilson, prebendary of Westminster, thought proper to deliver in the Chapel Royal, and for which, instead of thanks, he received from his royal auditor a pointed reprimand, his Majesty observing that he came to chapel to hear the praises of God and not his own. (Clerical Anecdotes.)The certainty of retribution As you stood some stormy day upon a sea cliff, and marked the giant billow rise from the deep to rush on with foaming crest, and throw itself thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could stay its course, and hurl it back to the depths of ocean? Did you ever stand beneath the leaden, lowering cloud, and mark the lightning’ s leap, as it shot and flashed, dazzling athwart the gloom, and think that you could grasp the bolt and change its path? Still more foolish and vain his thought, who fancies that he can arrest or turn aside the purpose of God, saying, “ What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? Let us break His bands asunder, and cast away His cords from us!” Break His bands asunder!--How He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh! (T. Guthrie, D. D.)God’ s ministers of retribution An angel was the agent of judgment here, but worms were the ministers of vengeance. But God can dispense with superior ministers altogether. No need that He should grasp ten thousand thunders, or come riding on the wings of the wind. A grasshopper, a wire worm, a taint of air, the sporule of a microscopic mass, the bacillus of an invisible animalculae--ah! these loathly nothings are potent enough in the hand of God to abase into dust the majesty of man. Julian would fain have trampled Christianity into the dust; a devious arrow, and Julian was struck down before the face of his enemies. Napoleon insolently remarked that God he usually found on the side of the strongest battalions; softer than feathers, melting at a breath, fell on the plains of Russia the white flakes of snow, and Napoleon was a fugitive, and his grand army lay wrapped in its ghastly winding sheet. (Archdeacon Farrar.) Acts 12:24-25 But the Word of God grew and multiplied. The progress of God’ s Word This progress--growth and multiplication of God’ s Word--was displayed-- I. In the men of that period.1. The spirit of every age or movement of history is reflected in its leading characters. The Elizabethan age; the American Revolution; the age of Pericles. 2. Displayed in its leaders or exponents. (1) In Barnabas we see tenderness and generosity.(2) In Paul strength and genius.(3) In John Mark imperfection, but eventual usefulness after failure. 3. In its enemies. It defied Herod’ s craft and power, and its success was coincident with his doom. II. In the march of events.1. “ Happy is a land when it has no history,” is true only of the old and false conceptions of history. 2. God’ s Word did not return unto Him void. (1) Gentile Christianity was launched on the stream of ages.(2) Thus the policy of Christianity, of the Church as a missionary, world-evangelising movement, was fixed by whatever force lies in the example of the primitive Church. III. Is the advance of ideas.1. Pentecost did not end, but only began, the enlargement of mind to take in God’ s thoughts. 2. The minds of the disciples gained that flexibility as to method and inflexibility as to principle by which they could go “ to every creature.” “ All things to all men, so that I might by all means save some.” “ We must obey God rather than men.” 3. The New Testament itself--especially all of it except the four Gospels--shows how the minds of men were enlarged and inspired to apply the “ Word of God” to human wants; and here, in an almost literal sense, it “ grew and multiplied.” Conclusion:1. Thus it appears there is a sense in which the phrases, “ new theology,” “ advanced thought,” etc., may represent a state of things thoroughly satisfactory, upon which the Church and the world are to be congratulated. 2. It equally appears that all true progress in religious thought and action is made by men whose instrument is the Word of God, and whose power and guidance are supplied by the Holy Spirit. (J. P. Otis.)The success of the gospel in the days of the apostles I. The Word was opposed.1. By the Word we may understand the gospel of God our Saviour. 2. Jewish prejudices opposed the gospel. 3. Heathenish superstitions were opposed to the Word. 4. Human learning was opposed to the Word of God. The Greeks and Romans excelled in learning; but that learning produced bad effects. 5. The devil opposed the gospel, by his influence and agency on the hearts of men. 6. In spreading the Word, the apostles had to endure many grievous afflictions, both from wicked men and evil spirits. II. Opposition did not prevent the rapid success of the gospel; for the word grew and was multiplied.1. The Word is fitly compared to good seed. 2. This seed was sown by the apostles in prepared hearts; and it cannot bring forth good fruit unless the heart be prepared. 3. When the Word sinks into the heart, and takes deep root, it produces holy tempers and holy actions; and when we abound in these, the Word grows in us, and our prayers go up to God with acceptance. 4. The Word is multiplied when many are converted to God by the instrumentality of converts. III. But what were the principal causes of the extensive promulgation of the gospel in the age of the apostles?1. The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, conferred on the apostles, and on many in the Church, promoted the success of the gospel. 2. Another cause of the rapid spread of the gospel in those days was the burning zeal of the apostles and primitive Christians. 3. Divine power attended the Word. 4. The holy tempers, and the holy conduct of the apostles, and of the first believers, produced powerful effects on the hearts of the people. 5. The unity of the Church gave success to the Word. 6. Persecution promoted the cause of Christ, and gave success to the Word. 7. Judgments poured out on wicked men, and on persecutors, gave success to the gospel. 8. The united prayers of the Church gave success to the Word. Inferences:1. How widely different was the propagation of Christianity from that of Mohammedism! The one was by the force of truth and holy example; but the other was by the sword and acts of violence! 2. The effects of primitive times have reached us in these last days. 3. We lay no claim to apostolic gifts; but God has opened a wide door, in our day, for the spread of His gospel. (Theological Sketchbook.)The success of the gospel I. The Word was opposed by--1. Jewish prejudices.2. Heathen superstitions.3. Human learning.4. Kingly cruelty.5. The devil, by his influence on the hearts of men. II. This did not prevent its rapid success.1. The Word is good seed.2. This seed was sown by the apostles in prepared hearts.3. When this seed takes root it produces holy tempers and actions. III. The principal causes of this success.1. The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit.2. The burning zeal of the apostles.3. Divine power.4. Church unity.5. Persecutions.6. Prayer. (Pulpit Sketches.)The success of the gospel I. The Word of God grew in--1. Convincing.2. Converting.3. Sanctifying.4. Comforting.5. Stimulating power. II. The Word of God multiplied--1. In the number of believers who embraced it.2. In the number of preachers who proclaimed it.3. In the extent of territory over which it spread (chap. 13:4, etc.). III. The Word of God grew and multiplied notwithstanding--1. The might that was arrayed against it. (1) The tyranny of Herod. (2) The pleasure of the Jews. State authority and sectarian bigotry were combined for the first time since the crucifixion to oppress the Church; how often since has this unholy alliance been made for the same end! 2. The persecution it endured. (1) The vexation of Christians, espionage, loss of goods, etc.(2) The martyrdom of James.(3) The imprisonment of Peter. IV. National prosperity was imperilled, but the Word of God grew and multiplied. There is more than appears in verse 20. Tyre and Sidon as purely commercial cities were largely dependent on the purely industrial interior for the supply of merchandise, and the interior was dependent on those cities for its very sustenance. The prosperity of both was threatened by a war which would further aggravate the situation. Tyrants may frown, and people may cringe, but the Word of God is independent of both. V. Human glory was humbled, and kingly power was destroyed, but the Word of God grew and multiplied. Read verses 23 and 24 as one, and the intended contrast is clear. “ All flesh is grass … but the Word of God shall stand forever.” The Roman, German, Italian, and English potentates who oppressed the Church are in their graves, but the Word of God grows and multiplies still. VI. The Word of God grew and multiplied by means of--1. Prayer--the normal condition of success throughout the ages. 2. Striking interpositions. These are exceptional, but are always at hand if need be. Here we see-- (1) The deliverance of Peter by an angel.(2) The death of Herod by an angel. 3. Earnest evangelists (verses 25-13:3). (J. W. Burn.)The invincibility of the Word The truth of God is not only invulnerable, it is invincible. Smallest of all seeds dropped upon the gorgeous temple floor of the world’ s heathendom, lo! it burst into fragments the starred mosaics, and split the monstrous idols till they fell and crushed their worshippers. The one main reason why the triumph of Christianity had from the first all the certainty of a law was this--God is in her, and therefore shall she not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early. (Archdeacon Farrar.)The vitality of the Word How strange, how providential has been its history! and how deep ought to be our attachment to a Book so mercifully made our inheritance! From the Churches of the primitive times it passed (as ecclesiastical tyranny grew strong, and would not brook a collateral authority) to the seclusion of the monasteries for many a long and barren century; but God was with it through the darkness, and He brought it forth in His own good time. It was like those seeds of which naturalists tell us, that lie for ages dormant and unfruitful in cells beneath the earth, but whose vitality has never been lost, and which, when brought upon the surface, shoot up with vigour into all the beauty of luxuriant vegetation. Such has been the story of the written Word. (Prof. Archer Butler.)The enduring kingdom We have here the kingdom of Herod and Agrippa, as a type of all earthly kingdoms, brought into contrast and collision with the enduring kingdom of Christ the Lord. In many points of view--in similarity and in opposition--the parallel is most peculiarly striking. The rise of both was unobserved. Herod’ s had grown up from nothing. There had been a time when he was living as a mere hanger-on upon the court of Tiberius. He was gifted with those powers by which such men rise in such courts. As he ingratiated himself with Tiberius, the visions of greater things would begin to fill his earthly soul. He was the grandson of the great Herod; perhaps he might yet make himself a name greater than that of the prosperous founder of his house. But upon this early sunshine fell the blackness of a sudden frost, and nipped the opening bud of his greatness. He was accused of wishing the emperor dead, and so the rising Idumaean found himself in a dungeon, and not upon a throne. Then followed the tyrant’ s death, and again Herod rose to favour. He was made king of Batanea and Trachonitis by Caligula; and by Claudius of Samaria and Judaea also. He was one of the few who thoroughly succeed, as it is called, in life; and he governed his kingdom with great splendour and success. He affected popularity; wished to reign in the hearts of his subjects; was a man who would stretch a point that he might do so. But all suddenly at noonday his sun sank in outer darkness. Puffed up with the applause of his subjects, he took to himself, as the great founder of his own fortunes, the honour which belonged to God only. An angel hand strikes him; and, as self-exaltation had been his master sin, so the circumstances of his death are made humiliating in their accidents as well as sudden in their issue: he was eaten by worms. His kingdom passed away; the cunning web which had been woven so successfully, the fruit of youthful enterprise, of mature experience, of long labours, of late and, as it seemed, complete success: all was torn away by the first counterblast which the Almighty sent forth to scatter it. “ But the Word of God grew and multiplied.” Here is the contrast. Here is a kingdom which “ fadeth not away.” With this, Herod had just come into collision; but now he himself was gone; and that despised kingdom “ grew and multiplied!” The blood which he had shed to quench it, made but its flame burn brighter and spread around in wider circles. And the cause of this power of growth is suggested in its very title: it was “ the Word of God.” It was not the mere creature of outside circumstance; it was not a kingdom formed by Caligula’ s passing favour, augmented by the goodwill of Claudius, and built up and widened by the policy of Herod; it had a life within, which was life for all men. Now from this contrast there flow one or two necessary consequences. I. That this kingdom of the Word of God will at last subdue all opposition. That which we have seen in this chapter of the Acts has been going on ever since the day when the angel smote Herod. It is going on round about us now.1. It is going on in the world of nations. Thrones have been built up since, higher than King Herod’ s; the nations of the earth have gone out to wonder at their greatness. Caesar and Charlemagne, Clovis and Solyman, and how many more, have heard in their day the flattering cry, “ It is the voice of a god!” And they have passed away, with their dynasties and their institutions: the great world stream has flowed on, and, as its waves have swept by, they have overwhelmed what was once so great, until their very record has departed. And still the Word of God has “ grown and multiplied.” The outward forms of Christ’ s kingdom abide, as fresh as they were in their earliest morning. Still does baptism admit into this kingdom; still does the simple breaking of bread, and the pouring out of wine, endure amongst us. And, if possible, yet more marvellous still, its inward power over countless multitudes is just what it was of old; still they tremble under the Word spoken; still soul after soul melts in contrition, kindles in love, rejoices in exultation, waits in hope, when the words which are the words of that kingdom of the unseen Lord sound in their ears; still in their trouble men gather together, as they did in the house where Rhoda went to the door at Peter’ s knocking; and still deliverances are given in answer to those supplications, and angels from heaven bear to the saints of the King the succour they need. And now what does all this foreshadow? What but that this kingdom which alone has in it this principle of life shall endure forever? that it shall break in pieces all that are against it? 2. Ah! that which is thus plain in the worldwide history of nations is just as true in the detail of all private life. There, too, are the two kingdoms: the one full of show for vain men, the other full of strength for believing men. There are great promises of success, of rising in life, of acquiring a name, of a man’ s enjoying his pleasure; and there is an angel ever ready to strike at his noonday of seeming success every such worldly-minded man. There is a “ Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; and then whose shall this be which thou hast stored up for thyself?” And there are dungeons and chains on the other side, the following Christ in self-denial and self-sacrifice; and with these there is still, as of old, a portion in the Church’ s prayers, angels’ visits, and a God and Father who sends them for our deliverance. Surely, then, it is plain which of these kingdoms will endure. II. The blessedness of being engaged upon the side of this living power. We look into God’ s Word, and we see the worthlessness of all outer things; the utter vanity of Herod’ s pompous worm-eaten enthronement; the blessedness and the glory of Peter’ s dungeon, of saints’ prayers, of martyrdom, of being the care of angels, and the children of the Highest; and our hearts are a little stirred, perhaps, and we have half resolved that we will seek this portion for ourselves; and then we look into the great world, and we are fooled again by the sounds of empire and greatness. Ay! and we look into our own little world; and do we not find it hard to remember and to feel how blessed it is, when God so orders it, for us to be disappointed and calumniated, and despised, and brought low, and afflicted? Do we not every one of us know how thoughts of ease and of comfort, how ambitious longings to be a little greater than we are, a little richer, a little higher in the world’ s estimation--how this clings to us? Do we not every one of us know how the secret curse of the world’ s measure and the world’ s judgment creeps back upon us almost unawares? Do we not know how ready we are to forget in practice the blessedness of being of that little flock which shall yet possess the kingdom forever? III. And then put these together. If there be this blessedness in being upon God’ s side, and if there be this glory in bearing it truly in mind--may we not gather this further inference, that it is our wisdom to set ourselves diligently to act upon the truth that we confess? For it is only by acting upon it that we can make head against the temptation to forget it. This was the wisdom of the apostles remember how in their day, when the world threatened them, they went first unto their own, and “ lifted up their voice, and said.” They made their cry to Almighty God, and then having made their prayer they went forth again into that evil world, and began directly to act for Christ; and in that union of retiring for secret prayer, to draw His strength down upon them, and then simply going forth to act in that strength, as though He was present with them, they were enabled to keep their own hearts firm and their own heads clear, amidst the dizzying and amazing circumstances of their daily life. And we must do the same, each one of us, if we would make head. There must be with us this mixture of prayer to God and of work for God. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.). Acts 13:1 Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers.The nature and sources of the narrative We now lose sight for a time of the Church of Jerusalem and the apostles, and in the place of Jerusalem, Antioch becomes the centre of Church history. Indeed chaps, 13 and 14 form an independent and self-contained memoir from an Antiochean point of view. And it has, not without plausibility, been supposed that Luke has here made use of an original document and inserted it in his book, which document may have proceeded from the Church at Antioch, or may have belonged to a biography of Barnabas, or may have been a missionary narrative which Barnabas and Saul had made. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)The first designatory and valedictory service to missionary work In this text notice-- I. Those members of the Church at Antioch as conspicuous men. They were stars. Among the thousands connected with the Bible, only a few are named, so they must have been special noteworthy men:--“ Barnabas,” “ Simeon, that was called Niger” --black. It has the same root as negro. “ Lucius” of Cyrene, an African settlement. Simeon was black. He might have been an African; and Lucius was for certain. “ Manaen,” brought up with Herod the tetrarch. It was the old custom to have a sort of adopted child as companion for young princes, thus forming what would seem a companionship for life. A man who had lived in court would be a fine man, but his living with Herod throws another light upon things. He was “ brought up” in court--then he had heard John the Baptist thunder and lighten in his preaching. “ Brought up” in court--then he knew John in prison. Was he one of John’ s disciples? “ Brought up with Herod.” Then he knew that woman, the wife of the steward, who ministered so to Jesus. “ Brought up with Herod.” Then he was at the crucifixion when Jesus was “ set at nought,” when on bended knees the cruel shout was raised, “ Hail, King of the Jews.” Probably that was the crisis that brought him out. Now, here we find him among the disciples, not with Herod, but his name written in the Lamb’ s book of life. He leaves the court and goes into the tents at Antioch, struck his sword, and is here a soldier of Jesus Christ. The Church of Christ is composed of wonderful variety. II. We have a new speaker--“ The Holy Ghost.” Who and what is the Holy Ghost? No one can answer. The Holy Ghost never intended that we should. The doctrine of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is a tremendous doctrine. We cannot draw a circle round infinity; we cannot even understand ourselves. How, then, can we understand God? We must leave the question, for it cannot be questioned. There are two very plain things--1. That the Spirit is a person, not simply an influence.2. Not only a person, but a Divine person. III. We have an important command--“ Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work,” etc.1. Here is a beginning--the first mission to the heathen. The Acts of the Apostles is a book of beginnings. We read of the first fear, first hope, first joy, first sermon, first prayer meeting, the first sinner converted, the first Christians, the first baptism, the first Lord’ s supper, and now the first instance, by order, of men set apart for the work of missions. There were no Christians in England, in Spain, in Italy then. Everything then had to begin. And the Holy Ghost said, “ Now” is the time to begin. 2. Here is a wise choice. “ Now, there were at Antioch in the Church prophets and teachers.” So Barnabas and Saul were not called away till they could be spared. The two captains were not removed till the ship was officered. Note, they were the best men. Not inexperienced or young, but the kind the Holy Ghost requires to send out--the very Barnabas and the very Saul. The Church may spare Barnabas and Saul now. 3. Here are propitious circumstances. “ As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted.” As they were going on in their ministry. It was a special meeting, because they were fasting. They wanted to know something, and as they were inquiring the Holy Ghost spake. (1) The Holy Ghost requires that He Himself should call persons to the ministry before the Church calls them--“ I have called them.” We cannot make ministers or missionaries. When we call them, we only ratify the call of God. (2) Those who go should be sent out by the act of the Church. (3) Missionaries are separated men. Separate from home, separate from the refinement of life, separate from wealth, separate from those who have watched them grow into Christians, separate from old companions, separate from the elders of the Church, separate by the rolling sea, separate by the mountain, separate by the wilderness. (4) “ Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work,” etc. This work is a work. (G. Stanford, D. D.)Prophets and teachers The two were not necessarily identical (Ephesians 4:11), though the higher gift of prophecy commonly included the lower gift of teaching. The former implies a more direct message from God, coming through the Holy Ghost; the latter a more systematic instruction, in which reason and reflection also bore their part. (Dean Plumptre.)Simeon that was called Niger. The name seems to indicate the swarthy complexion of Africa; but nothing more is known of him. The epithet was given to him, probably, to distinguish him from the many others of the same name, possibly, in particular, from Simon of Cyrene. (Dean Plumptre.)Lucius of Cyrene.--Probably one of the company of “ men of Cyprus and Cyrene” (Acts 11:20) who had been among the first evangelists of Antioch. On the ground that Cyrene was famous for its School of Medicine, some writers have identified him with the author of the Acts, but the two names Lucius and Lucas are radically distinct, the latter being contracted from Lucanus. (Dean Plumptre.)Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.-- Manaen This statement has been interpreted to mean that he was Herod’ s foster-brother, and the Vulgate translates the term by one which signifies “ fed from the same breast.” But all that is implied is that Manaen and Herod were companions in studies and amusements. In the same household Joanna the wife of Chuza the steward was a believer in Christ. Thus early had the Word of God been known and acknowledged in a royal court. God indeed has had from the first those in all ranks who served Him--Moses, Obadiah, Daniel, and the “ saints in Caesar’ s household.” As now, so it has ever been, those with the same advantages make a different use of them. Manaen, numbered amongst the first ministers of the Church; Herod, remembered for his part in the murder of John and Christ. (W. Denton, M. A.)Manaen This is the only record that we have of this man. Yet it is impossible not to find a melancholy interest in the juxtaposition of characters and lives so strangely contrasted. At the very time that the one foster-brother was prominent among the ministers of Christ, the other was living in a dishonoured exile with a dark past and a hopeless future--a fact of daily experience, viz., that the lives of men may begin, in the closest companionship, and under nearly the same conditions, and yet the end of the one shall be honour and the other shame.1. The name Manaen was connected earlier with the Herods. When Herod the Great was a boy, an Essene of this name, believed to possess prophetic gifts, met him as he went to school, and reading, perhaps, in his features the signs of an insatiable ambition and an indomitable will, hailed him as “ king of the Jews.” He stood in somewhat the same relation to him that Ahijah did to Jeroboam. As with the son of Nebat, so with the son of Antipater, the early prophecy was not forgotten. When he attained the summit of his power he would fain have attached the prophet to his court as friend and counsellor. What the identity of name renders probable is that on the refusal of the old man the king transferred his offer of patronage to his son, or grandson, and had brought him up as the companion of one of his favourite sons. If so, the first great event in the life of Manaen must have been the change from the stern purity of the life of the Essenes to the pomp and luxury of the court of Herod. Soon this would be followed by a yet greater change. Antipas and Archelaus were sent to receive their education at Rome, and Manaen would naturally share this training. He may have heard of the arrival of the “ wise men,” and could not have been altogether ignorant of the Messianic hopes which animated the people. The very name which he bore (Menahem, the comforter), bore witness of this hope. 2. One so brought up would continue to be attached to the royal household, and Manaen may have adopted the life and the principles of those with whom he lived. He may have acquiesced in the king’ s incestuous marriage, but we can estimate the effect which the teaching of the Baptist must have had upon him. Here he saw a life, like in form to that devotion which he had known in his youth, the reappearance of the prophetic character, the open and fearless speech, as of a new Elijah, and as we find traces of the influence of the Baptist’ s teaching within the circle of Herod’ s attendants, it is reasonable to think that he too must have come under it. 3. The first trace is in Luke 3:14, where “ the soldiers” were literally “ men on a march” to the war with Aretas, the father of the wife whom the tetrarch had divorced in order that he might indulge his guilty passion for Herodias. The line of their march would take them down the valley of the Jordan, and so they would pass by the chief scene of the Baptist’ s ministry. From that hour there must have been many among the attendants of Herod who were disciples of John. 4. The next trace meets us in John 4:46, where the word “ nobleman” means an attendant of the king, i.e., of the tetrarch Antipas. I do not assume the identity of this “ nobleman” with Manaen, but I point to it as one of the tokens of the Baptist’ s work as “ preparing the way of the Lord,” even among Herod’ s followers. The nobleman thus believed, and Herod’ s court now included some who were disciples, not of the Baptist only, but of the Prophet of Nazareth. 5. The imprisonment of John brought him into yet closer contact with the tetrarch’ s immediate followers. Even Herod himself “ heard him gladly.” It is clear from Matthew 11:2-3, that some of the Baptist’ s disciples were allowed free access to him, and who so likely as attendants of the prince? If we believe that every word which our Lord spoke at such a time was full of meaning, “ they that wear soft clothing and are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ houses,” may have been those who were halting between two opinions, “ like reeds shaken by the wind,” whom it was necessary to remind that the true servants of God were to be found, not “ in kings’ houses,” but in prison. 6. The narrative of the circumstances of the Baptist’ s death includes notice of the feast of “ lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee,” amongst whom must have been the “ nobleman” of Capernaum, and the “ steward” of Herod’ s household, and the king’ s “ foster-brother and friend,” who must have shuddered with an unimaginable loathing. It was time for them to make their choice. 7. At or about this time, some at least did make it, and among them was she who “ ministered to Christ of her sustenance,” e.g., “ Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’ s steward.” This she could hardly have done, according to the Jewish law of property and marriage, without her husband’ s consent. 8. It may be that up to this point the foster-brother had continued faithful to the relationship which that name involved. But soon the course of events brought about a disruption of it. The ambitious intrigues of Herod Agrippas (Acts 12:1-25) enabled him to assume the disused title of king. This gave him a higher dignity than that of his uncle the tetrarch, and the pride of Herodias was stung to the quick, and she gave her husband no peace until he had taken the fatal step of leaving his tetrarchy, in the hope of obtaining the privilege of regal rank. But the attempt failed, and he had the mortification of seeing his tetrarchy merged in the kingdom of Agrippa, and was exiled first to Gaul and then to Spain. The tradition that Pilate also was banished to the former province, suggests the probability that the two may have met once again there, to test the value of the friendship which had been purchased at so terrible a price. 9. About this time we have the first actual mention of Manaen. Unknown as he is to us, he stood then on the same level as Barnabas, in a higher position than St. Paul. Whatever his past life had been, it had led him to this. But what calls for special notice, as showing the tendency of the Baptist’ s teaching, is the fact that he is found at Antioch, not at Jerusalem. The words of the Baptist, “ God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham,” contained by implication the whole gospel of the calling of the heathen, and Manaen must have seen that they did so. At Antioch, too, he must have taken upon himself the new name, and to one who had seen Antipas and Jesus face to face it must have been a joy unspeakable to cast off all connection with the Herodiani, and to take his place among the Christiani. In him, the prophetic form of utterance which had reappeared in John after long centuries of desuetude was powerful. As the disciples of John fasted oft, so he and those who were with him “ fasted” as they ministered to the Lord. From his lips and theirs came the words which marked out the fittest labourers for the new and mighty work. One who had begun with the training of an Essene, and the teaching of the Baptist, now gave the right hand of fellowship to the two new apostles, not of “ the twelve,” as they went forth to their work among the heathen. 10. To such a man the Gentile Church, in its infancy, must have owed much. He alone of all the earlier teachers of the Church may have sojourned in the imperial city. From him the Apostle of the Gentiles must have had encouragement and support, and there is a probability that the debt is even greater. St. Luke’ s life as a Christian must have begun at Antioch, and if so, then he must have known Manaen, and from him he may have learnt many of the facts of the history of the Baptist, and the details of Herodian history, of which the third Gospel is so full. Conclusion: Whatever interest may attach to the juxtaposition of the two names of Manaen and Antipas, is deepened and strengthened by this fuller study. The danger of the weak will--untrue to its own convictions, and therefore losing them altogether, or keeping them only to its own condemnation--the power of earnestness and faith to triumph over the temptations of outward circumstances and perilous companionship are seen more clearly. Our inquiries, too, will have added something to the conviction as we read the Gospels that we are dealing, not with “ cunningly devised fables,” but with true histories, dropping hints, after the manner of all true histories, naturally and incidentally, suggesting more than they tell, and rewarding those who seek diligently with new insight into the facts which they record. (Dean Plumptre.)Manaen and Herod, the different effects of a secular education It would be natural to expect that children who grew up together under the same examples and instruction should appear in the same religious character in after life. But in this case the result was otherwise. One became a minister, the other a libertine. Manaen was a man eminent for faith and virtue, learning and ability, or he would not so soon have become a prophet in this celebrated Church. Herod was vicious and debauched in private life; haughty, cruel, and tyrannical in his government, and was the murderer of the Baptist. Herod made no virtuous improvement of his early advantages; Manaen early became religious and escaped the corruptions of the world. Men’ s lives are not always answerable to the advantages they enjoy. The same gospel which is a savour of life and a rock of salvation to some, is a savour of death and a rock of offence unto others. The difference between these two men is observed in other families. How is this? I. There is a great diversity in natural temper.1. There is in all an inclination to evil, but in a different degree. 2. It is the wisdom of parents to watch the various tempers and propensities of their children. II. Different worldly prospects often make a great difference in character and conduct.1. Herod was of royal descent, and had early prospects of a throne. Manaen had no such object, and was more at liberty to admit the sober concerns of religion. 2. Different passions and capacities put young men on different pursuits. Some through natural indolence and diffidence fall so low in their designs that they never rise. Others are animated by an ambition that proves a snare. Others, again, set out with a governing aim to please God. III. The sovereign grace of God must be taken into account. Men are dependent on the Holy Spirit. He strives with them. Some resist, others yield. IV. Reflections.1. The particular care which was taken in apostolic times to secure men of learning and ability as public teachers. The unlettered men whom Christ called were trained by the Master Himself. Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. Timothy from a child had known the Scriptures; Apollos was mighty in them. Luke, Stephen, and others appear to have had superior literary abilities. The apostles cautioned ministers to lay hands suddenly on no man who had not had time to furnish his mind. 2. The duty of parents to pay particular attention to the different dispositions of their children. Some must be ruled with great rigour, others with more lenity. 3. The young may here see that no worldly connections, temptations, etc., will excuse them in the neglect of religion. 4. The young are here cautioned not to abuse the grace of God. 5. Let the young be rational and discreet in forming their worldly prospects. (J. Lathrop, D. D.) Acts 13:2-13 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul.The completion of the apostolate This act was no conferring of the apostleship by the prophets and teachers; the apostles themselves had received no power from Christ to do that. Both the vocation and its bestowal could only come direct from God. Barnabas and Saul were appointed to fill up the vacant places caused by the execution of James the son of Zebedee, and by the withdrawal of James the son of Alphaeus from apostolic to episcopal work, and thus the number of those bearing the apostolic mission was restored to its normal condition of twelve. The apostolic college always consisted of twelve men at a time, and therefore the Apocalypse knows only of twelve apostles as foundation stones of the holy city. (Prof. Von Dollinger.)Bodily abstinence Deep, earnest thoughts have often stirred in me on bodily abstinence, as the condition of helping the spirit through the strait gate of opposing animalism, into the sweet and holy Paradise element. There is an element of which Jesus is the Prince, and there is an element of which Satan is prince. While we appropriate the elements of the nethermost prince, we may be strong in the powers of nature, but perhaps not so strong in the life that is hid with Christ in God; for in the exercise and indulgence of our fleshly appetites we do not breathe deeply enough to inspire the holy element of our risen Prince. Finding that deep and holy spirit breathing was suspended during bodily enjoyments, godly souls have often interdicted the gratifications of the flesh, in order to help their spirits in the God-ward direction. (J. Pulsford.)Mission and commission (with Timothy 1:6):--In words such as these we have a picture out of that earliest life of the Church, of which the books from which I take it tell the story. How fresh and vivid it is! What high enthusiasm, unhesitating self-sacrifice! We look at the mighty forces against which the first Christian disciples hurled themselves, at the spiritual torpor, the black hopelessness, the unutterable moral degradation to which they made their appeal, and we wonder at their audacity--or their faith! No hostility daunted them; no tremendous bulk of evil deterred them. They were on fire with a consuming purpose, and they did not stop, whether to measure their task or to discuss its difficulties. This, we say, is the fruit of a great enthusiasm. It always works this way, and it would be without results if it did not. Yes, but the moment we look a little closer at the story of this enthusiasm we shall see that along with it there was something more. It has been common to disparage the gifts of the first founders of Christianity, and to seek to make the more of its distinctive characteristics by making as little as possible of the men who illustrated them. They have been described as insignificant among the great of their own day; and measured in one way they were. But when we come close to some at least among them we cannot so easily disesteem them. One among them was chosen to be the leader among his fellows. Can anybody who reads the story of his life find it easy to believe that he had not in him that natural genius of leadership? The voices that have stirred the world, the messages that have thrilled and enkindled cold and discouraged hearts, have not been the voices and messages of fools. And does anybody suppose when the Church at Antioch fasted and celebrated its solemn Eucharist, and prepared to choose who were to go forth on its high errands, that Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and the rest of them were there at haphazard? Out from these half-dozen men, more or less, were to be chosen two to be consecrated on that memorable day to a great and memorable work. Do you suppose that they did not seek for eloquence (if they could find it), for sympathy, for the quick power of understanding another’ s perplexities, for that infinite hopefulness of human nature which, I sometimes think, is quite its finest quality? We may be sure they did. And no less sure may we be that when Barnabas and Saul were singled out from among their associates for the rare dignity of suffering and loneliness and privation in their high office, they were chosen because, among any set of men, and in whatever service, they would sooner or later inevitably have come to the front. Yes, but how were they singled out? “ There came a voice,” etc. Whose voice was it? Were those men called thus to their high office by the high acclaim of a public assembly? For myself I have little doubt that before the Voice that spoke those few words was heard there had been heard another and more multitudinous one. That city of Antioch contained the first Church organised among the Gentiles, and it became in time the centre of those missionary activities by which the Roman world was evangelised. The prophets and teachers who began the work were supplemented later by Barnabas and Saul; end step by step in the simple story we may trace the unfolding of the organic life of the Church. There was an assembly first, and then there came to be the ecclesia--and it was this community of the brethren, it may easily have been, that, with more or less formality, first indicated its preferences, and pointed its finger of designation towards the men who were fittest and worthiest for the higher service of the Church. But this was not mission. That came into view when we read that the Voice which said “ Separate Barnabas and Saul” was the voice of the Holy Ghost. It is not only “ separate” ; it is “ separate Me.” It is not only for the work ye are to separate them, but “ for the work whereunto I have called them.” And thus we come into the presence of that unique distinction which forever differentiates the enthusiasm of the disciples from all other enthusiasms. It was the enthusiasm of a new creation by the power of a Divine breath. It is the sevenfold power of God the Holy Ghost. Call it an influence, water it down to be a cult, disparage it as so much mysticism, verily you will have to tear yonder story to pieces before you can get that element out of it! Bereft of the mission and work of the Holy Ghost, calling, arresting, convicting, convincing, enlightening, transforming, empowering--the whole fabric of primitive history becomes somehow invertebrate, and crumbles into a shapeless mass of incident and talk. But a still further question remains. What was not alone the evidence or token of that mission, but its authentication? Was this the whole story of that mission--that certain men being assembled together, a voice said, “ Separate Me Barnabas and Saul,” and that then those who were named separated themselves and went away, and henceforth did their work as men fully and sufficiently authorised and empowered thus for its discharge? On the contrary, there is something more in the history, which we may not arbitrarily leave out, and which is just as essential to its integrity as anything that has gone before. “ When they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them,” etc. Certainly there is no obscurity here. Juggle with the words as one may, he cannot separate the inward call and the outward ordinance, the spiritual mission and the factual commission, the Divine empowerment and the human authentication of it. There is a way which is of God’ s appointment; there is a ministry which He first commissioned, and which they whom He first commissioned passed on and down to others. Its authority does not come up from the people; it descends from the Holy Ghost. And, as in the beginning, its outward and visible sign was the laying on of apostolic hands upon men called, whether to this or that or the other service--pastoral, priestly, or prophetic, yet still to an apostolic ministry--so it has been ever since. We turn from this scene at Antioch to those memorable ministries that came after it. One of them stands forth conspicuous above all the apostolates of its age--unique in its energy, unapproachable in its heroism, incomparable alike in the power of its preaching and in the inexhaustible richness of its writings. What fine scorn there is in those writings for that retrospective piety which lingered regretfully among the beggarly elements of the elder order and ritual--what impatience of the latter, what bold assertion of Christian liberty, what intense ardour of spiritual enthusiasm! Yes; but what scrupulous respect for authority, what careful observance of apostolic tradition, what reverent use of appointed means. There came a day when St. Paul is to set apart a youthful son in the faith to be an overseer of the Church in Ephesus. How does he do it? Does he tell him of the work that he is to do, and then simply dismiss him to do it? Does he say, “ Go, my son, and tell men in Asia Minor the story of your Lord’ s love, and write me occasionally how you are getting on” ? Not such is the meaning of that clear and unequivocal language which he uses: “ Stir up the gift of God which is in thee” --and which is in thee, not by inherited cleverness, or acquired learning, or popular endowment--but “ by the laying on of my hands” ; or, as the same fact is elsewhere stated, “ Neglect not the gift that was given thee … with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” And thus once and again does this apostle of a spiritual religion guard against that disesteem of the outward institutions of the Church, without which history demonstrates that religion runs thin and runs out. (Bp. H. C. Potter.)Church enterprises, how they must begin in order to be blessed 1. Not with worldly computation, but from the impulse of the Spirit. 2. Not with a premature shout of triumph, but with humble prayer. 3. Not trusting to human names, even those of Barnabas and Saul, but in the name of the living God on whose blessing all things depend. (K. Gerok.)The messengers of the gospel, how they should be sent to the heathen I. On the call and intimation of the Lord.1. Those who send must be moved not by their own spirit, but by the Holy Ghost. 2. Those who are to be sent must be chosen, not according to the dictates of human prudence, but according to the evident marks of Divine grace. II. With holy behaviour.1. Those who send should fast, i.e., abstain from all superfluities in order to have enough for the wants of the heathen. 2. They should pray; the prayer of the sender cooperates mightily with the word of the preachers. 3. The messengers should depart with the imposition of hands; regularly ordained if they are to have an orderly ministry for the salvation of the heathen and the advancement of the Church. (Lisco.)Church offices; their value dependent on the Divine choice of the Officers The meanest office imposed on one according to the Divine call is worthy to be received: the greatest dignity is not worth running after. (Rieger.)The first missionary ordination at Antioch I. Why did the first missionaries proceed from Antioch?1. On account of the flourishing condition of that Church. 2. According to the peculiar will of Divine wisdom. II. The appointment of the first missionaries.1. What men were appointed? (1) Barnabas, the Son of Consolation.(2) Paul the scholar. 2. Their ordination. (1) Called by the Holy Ghost.(2) Separated by the Church. (Lisco.)The first foreign mission I. Separated by the Holy Ghost. Missions are of Divine origin. Saul had been chosen for the work, but the Holy Spirit had finally to give the word of command and direction. With regard to these pioneers in mission work, note--1. The Church from which they were called. It was a strong Church. It had a large membership, and men inspired to declare the will and instruct in the Word of God. Important as Saul and Barnabas were, there were those who could carry on their work after they were gone. The Holy Spirit does not ask any Church to cripple itself even for the sake of missions. 2. The circumstances of their calling. The Church was just in the condition to hear the Divine call. They were offering their services to the Lord, and God designated what their service should be. The Church or the man that offers all to God will be made use of somehow and somewhere. 3. How they were called. “ The Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul.” Observe here-- (1) The personality of the Holy Spirit. “ Separate Me I have called.” (2) The rulership of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had said that when the Comforter should come, He would be the one to guide the disciples. This declaration now was being fulfilled. To Him believers should look for direction. (3) The cooperation of the Holy Spirit. He did not say, “ I have separated Barnabas and Saul,” but “ Separate Me Barnabas and Saul,” that they might have back of them not only the authority of the Spirit, but the authority of the Church. Doubtless this was done that the missionaries might feel that they were sent forth by their brethren as well as by the Holy Ghost. 4. Who were called. “ Barnabas and Saul,” the two chief factors in the edifying of the Church at Antioch. The Holy Spirit chose the two best men, the men that least could be spared. It is a grave mistake to send out to foreign fields third or tenth-rate men. Few Churches ever have made the sacrifice for the mission cause that was made by the Church at Antioch. 5. For what they were called. “ For the work whereunto I have called them.” The “ uttermost part of the earth” was in the thought of Christ and of the Holy Spirit alike. Their oneness is suggested in the wording of the call. 6. How their call was responded to. Cheerfully and promptly. II. Sent forth by the Holy Ghost.1. The missionaries departing. “ So they … went down,” etc. They were not only called by the Holy Spirit, but directed by Him as to their journey. That guidance continued, the Holy Spirit not suffering Paul to go into Bithynia, or to preach the gospel in Asia. Those who are called of the Spirit may trust to the Spirit for direction. 2. The missionaries at work. “ They proclaimed the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.” They entered upon their work with wisdom--making use of the regular channels for religious effect. Where pulpits were all ready for them they did not try to find new ones. They tried to reach God’ s chosen people first as a means of reaching others. III. Rebuking by the Holy Ghost.1. The two missionaries were to score one more triumph for Christianity as against paganism, like that which was achieved by Philip in Samaria. 2. The sorcerer overcome. (1) His opposition evidently had a mercenary inspiration. He was afraid of losing a powerful and generous patron. (2) His rebuke-- (a) Was inspired by the Holy Spirit. More inspired denunciation is needed, but there is already too much of that which is uninspired. (b) Justly characterised the man. Elymas was “ full of all guile and all villainy.” He made his living by fraud and trickery. He was “ a child of the devil” --doing the devil’ s work by seeking to turn men to destruction. He was an “ enemy of all righteousness” --hating the true as much as he loved the false. He was perverting the right ways of the Lord, and trying to make them seem like wrong ways. For such men today there ought to be the same righteous wrath and severe rebuke. (3) His sentence. In this, inspired by the Holy Spirit, there was for the sorcerer-- (a) Terror. He was to feel the hand of the Lord upon him in judgment--to experience the power of God whom he had defied. (b) Hope. It was to be for “ a season” only. He was to have opportunity for repentance--to be blinded for a while that he might come out, if he would, into the marvellous light of the children of God. (4) His punishment. He was blinded physically as he had blinded others spiritually. The impostor was unmasked, and deprived of his power to harm. The false had met with the true, and had been vanquished. 3. The proconsul convinced. The prompt, punitive miracle “ taught” the proconsul-- (1) That his old teacher really was a “ child of the devil,” instead of being a true prophet. Hence it showed him his danger. (2) That Barnabas and Saul (henceforth Paul) were teachers accredited of God, and therefore to be heeded. (3) That God was not to be trifled with, but to be feared and followed. And the proconsul, being ready to accept the truth, believed. The hand of the Lord was outstretched to save him as it had been outstretched to smite Elymas. The opposer of truth always will feel its weight--the seeker after truth always will receive its help. (M. C. Hazard.)The first foreign mission “ Westward the star of empire takes its way” : and the same may be said about the star of truth. A new departure is now to be noticed in the policy of the Church, Propagation had thus far grown out of persecution; here is the first deliberate organisation--and that on behalf of foreign missions. Notice-- I. This beautiful picture of the Church in Antioch.1. Strong people make a congregation strong. This body of disciples numbered among them a group of fine intelligent Christians. Besides the unnamed “ prophets and teachers,” we recognise Barnabas and Saul, both brilliant, eloquent, scholarly men. It is not prince merchants, nor members of congress, nor fashionable women, that usually build up the piety of our families, unless they are devoted workers, and are constant in prayer. 2. Even inconspicuous Christians can be exceedingly useful. Nobody knows who Simeon was; Lucius received a message from Paul (Romans 16:21), but that is all that is heard of him. Manaen is not mentioned elsewhere. These are only a few among the plain Church members in Antioch--persons who often accomplish most for Christ today. 3. The missionary spirit is the first fruit of Divine indwelling in the hearts of believers (Psalms 66:16). It is not always the most vigorous Christians who are content to sit down and wipe their weeping eyes the moment they think they can read their title clear to mansions in the skies. 4. Those in high service may expect to be invited higher. These people were ministering to the Lord faithfully where they were, when the Holy Spirit gave them the chance of starting the first foreign mission in history. It is a pity that good men forget the chief glory of being Christians, which is to spread the truth swiftly and widely and vigorously. II. This sudden appointment of missionaries. We shall find much instruction concerning evangelistic methods.1. The Church should choose its best men for foreign missionaries. The great systems of infidelity are to be besieged by the finest generals the Church can select. 2. The Holy Spirit will tell such praying people whom to commission, Three times does this mention of the Holy Ghost occur. The high authority of the ministry comes straight from Christ; all the Church can do is to follow where He leads. 3. The missionaries should be well supported in each enterprise. Our Lord told His disciples to go forth two by two (Mark 6:7). There is great comfort in companionship (Proverbs 27:17). The most pathetic spectacle in this world is that of one foreign missionary in some distant heathen city. Paul never grew plaintive until he was alone. Elijah never lost his courage until he was alone. 4. Those sent out in prayer will be likeliest to return in triumph (Acts 14:26-27). III. The account of the voyage and the general results of the mission. Let us notice--1. Some of the successes. (1) They had a safe voyage. The Mediterranean is exceedingly vicious, as Paul had reason afterwards to know. The Lord will make His providence protect those whom His grace sets apart for risky endeavour. (2) They found free chance to preach the gospel. It is quite a grand success always to have an open door. The chief man in the city gave them a hearing. There is hope in every case when people give the chance for conversation. 2. Some set backs. It was to be expected that Satan would show himself somewhere. Things were getting serious for him: so he stirred up opposition from two sources. (1) Earliest there came trouble from one of the devil’ s children (verse 10). But God turned the wrath of man into praise (Psalms 76:10). (2) Then there came trouble from one of God’ s children. Mark left the company; Paul’ s heart was grieved (Acts 15:36-40). It is sad to get weary in well-doing (Luke 9:62). Young Christians must be steadfast. Mark did better afterwards (Colossians 4:10-11). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The first missionary journey 1. “ In the Church,” --how much is implied in these three words! Why this separateness of indication? Why not refer to the human family as a whole; the greater which includes the less? There must be some meaning in this society within society. Who ever speaks of society as a grand sum total of human life? The integer is broken up into innumerable fractions, but there is one fraction which says that it will and must become itself the whole number--that fraction is the Church. How many men does it take to make a Church? Two! Where do they meet? Where they please! What pomp and circumstance are requisite to constitute them into a Church? How much money? How much learning? None! Then they must be very weak? No: the side on which Omnipotence fights cannot be weak. Then they may be very poor? No! The side that banks in heaven can never be short of treasure. But they must have some place to meet in? Not necessarily. Under a tree will do, or in the middle of a meadow, or in the dens and caves of the earth. And the moment two men come together to constitute a Church, nothing further is requisite but the presence of Christ. The Church is composed of redeemed and regenerated men. They are one in Christ: diverse in everything that enters into the composition of humanity, yet one in Him who breaks down all middle walls of partition. Why do they not, then, “ cleave unto the Lord” ? When we pray we are one; when we speak to each other we are divided. Then why do we not pray, and let opinion alone? We have torn the seamless robe of Christ into innumerable rags! Christianity has now become a tissue of opinions; once it was a world-shaking faith. Pray on! Worship is the union of the Church! 2. “ Certain prophets and teachers,” --different gifts, but the same subject. The prophet had a higher gift than the teacher; the teacher read a book that was written with pen and ink; but the prophet read a book that was going to be written. We have excluded the prophet from the Church; we call him “ heterodox,” unsafe, not always to be relied upon; men speak of him with many parenthetic qualifications; they write about him with so many footnotes that the substantial text is reduced to a minimum. Yet it is the prophet that must lead us. 3. “ The Holy Ghost said.” The Holy Spirit dwells in the Church; there He can whisper and touch gently the minds which He seeks to affect. Had we listened more, had we invited fuller confidences from heaven, we should have known that “ the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” The Holy Spirit must be our genius, our ability, our inspiration, our wealth. It is the function of the Holy Spirit to elect His own ministers: do not let us meddle with God in this matter. A. minister is not a manufacture--he is an inspiration! “ Pray ye the Lord of the harvest,” etc. There our interest may well cease. Young men are not to be driven into the ministry; they are called to particular work and to particular places. The Lord hath a candlestick for every candle; He allots the place as well as calls the man. 4. A singular combination of the human and the Divine you will find in verses 3, 4. When the Church “ had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul they sent them away.” That is the human side. “ So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost,” presents the Divine aspect. This was a joint work of the Spirit and of the Church. This is the solution of the whole controversy about the Divineness of our salvation and our share in it. “ Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you.” So then we are fellow workers with God. 5. The two men sent forth by the Holy Ghost and the Church had their way made clear for them. God will take care of His own ministers. No minister of Christ in all this world but has friends. You may meet an Elymas, but you will also meet a Sergius Paulus. But the true ministry develops the evil spirit of the times. We sometimes hear timid people saying that this or that movement may be good, but certainly there has been a great deal of rioting on account of it. Wherever Barnabas and Saul are, Elymas will put in his claim, and there will be controversy in any town whose possession by the sorcerer is disputed by those who claim it in the name of Christ. We are disabled by timidity. Did Barnabas and Saul write home that opposition having arisen, they would return by the next boat? They were not given to returning except with victory, or to equip themselves for further Christian assault! 6. It is beautiful to mark how Saul takes his right position by a most natural process. Nothing can keep down a man whom God has appointed to the throne. There will be no controversy, for Barnabas was a good man, and he instantly knew where the power was, and he stood aside with the graceful courtesy which is taught and acquired only in the school of heaven. 7. “ Then Saul” wrought his first miracle. He fixed his eyes on the Sorcerer, and said: “ O full of all subtilty,” etc. Truly his speech was then not “ contemptible!” Stung by fire, he turned into a mighty and thrilling speaker. That fire we have lost. We talk to Elymas in syllables of ice; we look at him with vacant eyes, he returns our unmeaning stare. We shall presently hear Paul’ s first speech. Truly he begins in this chapter! He has been at home waiting, wondering, reading, thinking, and praying; and now his turn has come, and in this chapter we see his first miracle, and hear his first thunder, and know that the king of men has arisen in the Church! (J. Parker, D. D.)The first missionary journey 1. At Antioch there was a very large Christian society. But, however large, it is always spoken of as “ the Church,” and not “ the Churches,” as was the case in Judea and Galatia. We do not wonder, therefore, at finding that there were several instructors, as was probably always the case. Variety of gifts, division of labour, adaptability for special service, a governing body, with other advantages, were naturally secured by this arrangement. In the present case it is very likely that each of the persons named was a man of some consideration and culture. God is a God of order; and however, in introducing into the world something new, men who are rude and unlettered may be employed, yet when things get into a condition that is to be permanent, then laws come into operation which belong to the ordinary requirements of common life. When you have not inspiration, you must have men who have original power and acquired knowledge, and cultivated faculty, which become “ spiritual gifts,” fitted for “ the work of the ministry and the edification of the body of Christ,” when they are sanctified by God. 2. There was something special about the exercises in which we find these men engaged. They were fasting and praying perhaps under the influence of the state of things in the persecuted Church in Judaea, and because there was a growing feeling amongst them that they should be making aggressions upon the world. As they fasted and prayed the Holy Ghost said, “ Separate Me now, Barnabas and Saul,” etc. They had been called long before, and had been endowed with gifts and authority, but now they were to be solemnly set apart to go to their special “ work.” They went forth, seeing perhaps the first step or two before them, but not knowing whither they were to be led. 3. In being called specially to set forth on a work of this kind, I do not know whether they were directed, or whether they were left to decide for themselves. If the latter, several circumstances and motives might have influenced them. Saul had been to his native place; what was more natural than that they should now go to Barnabas’ s? And then the Church at Antioch owed its very existence to men of Cyprus. A sense of obligation to Cyprus, as well as the natural feeling of Barnabas, might determine them to go there first. 4. The first place they came to was Salamis, where they preached in the synagogues; it is not said with what success, unless there be an underlying implication of success, when it is said that “ they had also John to their minister” ; in which capacity, as Peter did not baptize Cornelius, and Paul tells us that “ Christ sent him not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,” he probably assisted Barnabas and Saul by taking that work. 5. From Salamis they passed on through the island, to Paphos, but most likely preaching as they went. We have here, in vivid type, an image of that grand contest between truth and error which was then beginning--the age, with its inquiry and philosophy, looking on. First of all we have “ a certain sorcerer,” the representative of corrupted Judaism and perverted intelligence. He has got a wonderful amount of knowledge from the study of the Divine Word and the science of the day, but he seeks to turn it to selfish purposes, and by false pretensions impudently pretends to be possessed of supernatural powers. This sort of thing was very common in that age, just as it is now, when some of the most gifted are to be found putting faith in communications from the dead--communications which never are anything that seems worth coming from “ Hades” to tell! But, on the other hand, you have in Paul Judaism refined, elevated, purified--its prophecies fulfilled, its dark sayings illuminated, and the old faith developed into that high and perfect form of truth which is in future to rule the world. Then, in Sergius Paulus you have the age looking on. Sergius Paulus was “ prudent,” most probably an earnest philosophical inquirer, who had seen the absurdity of idolatry, and the insufficiency of scepticism, and in search of truth was ready to welcome it however it came. He thinks he may learn something from Bar-Jesus, and therefore he listens. He hears of the other strangers, and he “ calls for” them. When the two are brought together they are found to be opponents. Truth in the one instantly detects the lie in the other. Then there comes forth, at last, a manifestation of Divine power. Immediately there fell upon Elymas “ a mist and a darkness,” etc. An outward and visible type of his spiritual state, and of the vanity of his pretensions! Instead of being able to be a guide it was his place to ask for those who might lead the blind. The intelligence of the age, in the person of the deputy, was subdued by “ the power of God and the wisdom of God” --and thus he became an unconscious prophecy of what was afterwards seen in the Roman empire, and what will one day be seen in every part of the “ round world.” 6. But now there comes a change in the language of the narrative. “ Barnabas and Saul,” which we have always had before, now gives place to “ Paul and Barnabas.” It is very singular that this change should take place just where this illustrious convert is introduced. It can hardly be thought, however, that Saul took the name of Paul out of compliment to the deputy. It is most probable that he had always had the name, and it came to be used in consequence of his becoming recognised as the Apostle of the Gentiles. 7. Passing from Cyprus, they went over to the continent, and got to Perga, and there Mark left them. We must not be too hard upon this young man. His conduct, no doubt, was very disappointing and mortifying to his uncle, and it greatly displeased Paul. He was inexperienced, and perhaps naturally timid. When he got to Asia, and saw the savage aspect of the country, heard of rivers and robbers, his young heart probably failed. Perhaps he thought that he was not called like Paul and Barnabas, and it is also very likely that his natural feelings towards Peter, his spiritual father, who was more to him than either Paul or Barnabas, had something to do with it. So the two men had, henceforth, to journey alone. 8. They travelled on; and probably the journey was such as to lead to the reference which we have in one of the apostle’ s letters to “ perils of waters, and perils of robbers, perils in the city, and perils by the heathen,” etc. At last they got to Antioch in Pisidia. There were a good many Jews in this city. On the Sabbath day they “ went into the synagogue,” where they were recognised in the synagogue as brethren, though strangers. Their personal appearance indicated, possibly, that they were not ordinary men; or they had been long enough in the town to give rise to some curiosity. After that part of the service was concluded, in which the “ minister” brought out the scroll, and read portions of the law and the prophets, the rulers sent to Paul and Barnabas, saying, “ If ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on” --expressing both national and religious unity, which made the Jewish people one throughout all the world. Paul began by addressing himself both to the Jews and proselytes, and then “ reasoned out of the Scriptures.” Referring to the history of the people, he sketched it from God’ s first choice of them, through their fortunes in Egypt and the wilderness, down to the time of David. He then came out with the statement, “ Of this man’ s seed hath God raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” He then referred to the ministry of John; the fulfilment of prophecy in the rejection and death of Jesus; and the fact that God had raised Him from the dead. After further “ reasoning out of the Scriptures,” he came to the grand Christian proclamation:--“ Be it known unto you” (verse 38). This was not the end of his speech, but it was the end of his argument; and the Jews who had listened up to this time rose up, were offended, and made for the door. Seeing them pressing out, Paul added the warning “ Beware” (ye who are moving away) “ lest that come upon you” (verses 40, 41). They went their way, but the Gentiles were left, and after Paul had spoken to them, the congregation dispersed. Some of the Gentiles, glad to learn what they had heard, with some of the Jews, accompanied Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them as they went along, and persuaded them to “ continue in the grace of God.” What a week it would be that followed! And the next Sabbath “ almost the whole city came together.” There were many of them who never would have gone under ordinary circumstances, and the Jews were offended. “ Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold” (verse 46). When they turned to the Gentiles, every man and woman amongst them who had anything like religious earnestness in them in seeking after eternal life, “ glorified the word of the Lord, and believed.” (T. Binney.)Barnabas and Paul sent forth The original destination of Saul of Tarsus, when he was called to the apostleship, was to the heathen--or, as we should now say, to a missionary life (Acts 9:15; Acts 22:17-21; Galatians 2:8; Romans 11:13; Galatians 1:16; Ephesians 3:8). The appointment of Saul and Barnabas to this work was an important event in each of their lives, determining their own future course. It was important as the manifestation of a more just view of Christianity itself; it was the first development of the idea which has since gone so essentially and so far into the civilisation of the world: viz., that Christian nations should send to the heathen a knowledge of that to which they owe their own elevation. The following points here occur as proper to be illustrated. I. The barriers which hinder the spread of a new religion.1. Differences of nationality. Where nations belong to different races--where their independence has been established as the result of wars, where they speak diverse languages, where they have different religions, where they have peculiar manners and customs, where they are rivals in trade, where one is warlike and another peaceful--all these, and kindred things, constitute barriers not easy to overcome. Thus to the ancient Jews the whole world was divided, “ Jews and Gentiles,” producing in their minds the feeling that they were the peculiar favourites of heaven, and that all others were outcasts. Thus the Greeks divided the world into “ Greeks and Barbarians.” In modern times, a similar instance occurs among the Chinese, who regard themselves as the children of heaven, the “ Celestials,” --and all others as “ outside Barbarians.” In a world thus divided, any new religion that claims to be universal must find serious obstructions. 2. Distinctions in social life--of rank and caste. These exist within a nation, dividing the rich and the poor--the learned and the ignorant--the bond and the free; or they are based on a derivation from royal blood, an aristocracy or a priesthood. 3. Diversities of colour and complexion. The class favoured with what they deem a fairer complexion, have not only sought to enslave those of a different colour, but they have been slow to believe that, even in the eye of God, a dark skin is not an emblem of a darker debasement than is found under a white one, and seem to imagine that even the blood of the atonement fails to efface the distinction, and to place them in any manner on a level. This is the most formidable barrier of all. 4. Separate religious beliefs. The idea still prevails that the religion of each nation is, by the purpose of the Creator, their own--designed like their laws, customs, climate, mountains, etc., to separate them from other people--a religion good for them; adapted to them; intended for them; and not to be changed for another. II. The difficulty of overcoming these barriers. This difficulty exists--1. In those who regard themselves as of the more favoured class. How difficult for them to offer to others the same privileges as themselves, or to admit that others are on the same level! To counteract this narrow feeling in the apostles required all the skill of the Saviour Himself; and after three years’ teaching it required a special revelation to convince Peter that he should go and carry the gospel to a Gentile. 2. In men’ s unwillingness to receive a communication in favour of a new religion from one of inferior rank or condition. Who knows not what a mighty obstacle this was when the gospel was preached at Athens, at Ephesus, at Antioch, at Rome? How hard it is for a master to receive the lessons of religion from those whom he regards as slaves--a prince from one of his own subjects--a rich man from a beggar--a philosopher from one occupied in the humbler arts. With what contempt would a Brahmin turn away from one of humbler “ caste” who should undertake to teach him the nature of true religion. The relative condition of nations has changed in our times, and the missionary goes out under better auspices. He goes now from a land of civilisation, and science, and art, to those lands where such things are unknown; yet still this difficulty exists. Take, for illustration, the Chinese. An obstacle exists in their case as stern as in the case of Athens or Rome. III. The teachings by which Christianity triumphs over these obstacles. It declares--1. That mankind are one race; the children of a common parent; on a level before God. No truth more vital, more far-reaching, more powerful in its bearing on human rights and human liberty, more potent in elevating man, has ever been proclaimed to the world. Revelation describes the creation of man as the creation of a single pair, and declares that “ God hath made of one blood all nations of men.” The doctrine of depravity which it urges pertains to men everywhere, as derived from the fall of that one pair; and it makes no exception when it says that “ all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The Redeemer gloried in the title “ Son of Man,” for He came not to take on Him the nature of the Caucasian, the Ethiopian, or the American, as such--but the nature of man. 2. That the work of Christ had respect to all men; and whatever there was in the atonement, as such, was designed for one as much as for another. There is no higher argument that can be addressed to men to prove their equality, than to say to them that they all have been redeemed by the same blood. 3. That the hopes inspired by the gospel are the same for every human being. When it makes known a heaven for one, it unfolds it for all. And it is a great thing to go forth to a world where men are separated from each other, and to say to them that, in the hope of immortality, they are all placed on the same level before their Maker. 4. That the way of salvation is the same for all. No one has any priority of claim by his rank, or enjoys any peculiar facilities for salvation by his titles or his wealth; and no one is excluded, or placed in less favourable circumstances, by his poverty, his ignorance, his servile condition. The prince and the sage are not more welcome to heaven than the poor and ignorant. 5. That all men are invested with the same natural rights to the light of the sun, to the tides, and the winds, and the stars; the same right to limb, and liberty, and life;--the same right to the air, and to the productions of the teeming earth, and to a spot wherein to sleep the long sleep when they are dead. Conclusion:1. The gospel cannot be preached without sooner or later breaking down every false distinction. 2. Christians, admire and adore the goodness of that Universal Father who has sent the messages of grace to you, so that you are “ no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” Our ancestors were heathens. The gospel raised them from their low condition. Be it ours to spread the religion to which we owe so much. Other nations have a right to it; and it would elevate them as it has done our fathers and ourselves. (A. Barnes, D. D.)A place found at last for Saul No place had been found big enough for Saul; Damascus, Jerusalem, Antioch--none of these could hold him. He had to go. There was that irresistible and expansive force about him. To shut him up in those rotten old cities, full of prejudice and artificiality, was like shutting up dynamite in an eggshell. Saul burst his fetters: he was beginning to feel his freedom. The world hunger took possession of him--the wide sea was before him--the future beckoned to him--the time was come and he had to go, and he went eagerly, elated, triumphant. The Church at Antioch probably heaved a great sigh of relief as he departed--they probably saw rocks ahead. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)The strength of missionary work It consists in-- I. The call of God, which it follows. II. The fidelity of the labourers, whom it sends. III. The prayer of the Church, on which it relies. (K. Gerok.)The best travelling attendance for a departing missionary 1. The Divine call concerning him.2. The impulse of the Spirit within him.3. The prayers of the Church behind him.4. The sighing of the heathen world before him. (K. Gerok.)Missions, home and foreign A gentleman once said to Dr. Skinner, who was asking aid for foreign missions, “ I don’ t believe in foreign missions. I won’ t give anything except to home missions. I want what I give to benefit my neighbours.” “ Well,” the Doctor made reply, “ whom do you regard as your neighbours?” “ Why, those around me.” “ Do you mean those whose land joins yours?” “ Yes.” “ Well,” said Dr. Skinner, “ how much land do you own?” “ About five hundred acres,” was the reply. “ How far down do you own it?” inquired Dr. Skinner. “ Why, I never thought of it before, but I suppose I am half-way through.” “ Exactly,” said the Doctor; “ I suppose you do, and I want this money for the Chinese--the men whose land joins yours at the bottom.” Obligation of Christians to send out missionaries A Karen convert in Burmah who was taken to America, and was asked to address a meeting upon their obligation to send out missionaries. After a moment of thought he asked with a good deal of meaning, “ Has not Christ told you do it?” “ Oh, yes,” was the reply, “ but we wish you to remind them of their duty.” “ Oh, no,” said the Karen; “ if they will not mind Jesus Christ, they will not mind me!” The duty of sending the gospel to the heathen The possession of the gospel involves the duty of giving it to those who have it not. If the Jewish Christians of the apostolic days had not performed their duty in that respect, we should not have it now. Yet probably they regarded the Gentiles as quite as hopeless as we are apt to regard the savages of Patagonia. When in 1788 William Carey ventured to advocate an effort being made to send the gospel to the heathen, Rev. John Ryland, a venerable minister, reproved him. “ When God pleases to convert the heathen,” said the clergyman, “ He will do it without your help or mine.” But the son of that minister was one of the first to join in the great rejoicing when forty years later William Carey could tell of thousands of heathen who had received the Holy Spirit. The duty might involve difficulty, but he who loved his fellow man, and knew how much good the gospel would do to any who accepted it, would be anxious to preach it at any cost to himself. Blessing sent to others Loch Katrine, embowered among the highlands of Scotland, a poem in water, immortalised in story and song, till it seems almost transfigured with a glory beyond its natural beauty and charm, is yet the source of the water supply of the city of Glasgow, flowing down among the homes of the poor, cleansing the filth from the streets, bringing refreshment, cheer, comfort, cleanliness, and health everywhere. So to everyone who has the living water--and all the more if it is possessed amid wealth, culture, education, talent--is given the privilege of sending the living water in copious streams to the heathen, to the poor, to the sinful, to all who are in need. Work of missions I remember, when in Wales, seeing the men working in the quarries there. A man is suspended by a rope half-way down the stone quarry, and I have seen him there for a length of time boring a hole in the rock; and after spending much care and toil and time in boring the hole to a sufficient depth, I have seen him fill it with some black dust, and if I did not know what power lodged in that black dust I should say, “ What a fool that man was to spend so much time in boring a hole in the rock, and then fill it up again!” But I know that that black dust is powder. There is a wonderful explosive power in it. And then when he has filled the hole with powder he has applied his fuse and lighted his match, and while the fuse was burning in the direction of the powder he has taken the opportunity of fleeing to a distance by climbing up the rope to the mountain top. Well, that is just what many of our missionaries are doing abroad. At present they are preparing the way. They are cutting a hole into the very rock of heathendom, and they are filling it up with the powder of Divine truth. What we want is fire from heaven to touch it. And God is doing it. He is preparing the people. By and by we shall have a mighty upheaving in this rock of heathenism and ignorance and superstition, and from it polished stones to adorn the temple of our Lord. (R. Roberts.) Acts 13:3-12 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Undying fame History has contemptuously obliterated from her annals the names of countless kings, who have set forth from their capitals for the scourge or conquest of nations at the head of armies, and with all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war; but centuries after these conquerors are in their turn forgotten, whom she still deigns to commemorate, she will preserve in the grateful memory of mankind the names of these two poor Jews, who started on foot, staff in hand, with little, perhaps, or nothing in their scrip but the few dates that suffice to satisfy the hunger of the Eastern traveller. (Archdeacon Farrar.)So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia.--Seleucia The port of Antioch, distant by land fifteen miles; by water, through the windings of the Orontes, forty-one miles. Built by the first Seleucus, it had by this time attained the privileges of a free city. Polybius described a very extensive excavation, which was the only communication between the city and the sea; and vestiges of its slopes and tunnels are still conspicuous. Two piers, the remains of its once magnificent harbour, retain the names of Paul and Barnabas. (Bp. Jacobsen.)And from thence they sailed to Cyprus.--The first missionary ship I. Its bold crew.1. The great Paul.2. The noble Barnabas.3. The youthful Mark. II. Its fresh wind.1. The east wind filled the sails.2. The Holy Ghost inspired the teachers. III. Its favourable anchorage. The renowned Cyprus, with its natural beauties and sinful abominations. IV. Its great prizes.1. The sorcerer vanquished.2. The governor converted. (K. Gerok.)Cyprus The population of the island was largely Greek, and the name of the chief town at the east end recalled the history or the legend of a colony under Teucer, the son of Telamon, from the Salamis of the Saronic gulf. It owned Aphrodite, or Venus, as its tutelary goddess, Paphos being the chief centre of her worship, which there, as elsewhere, was conspicuous for the licentiousness of the harlot priestesses of her temple. The copper mines (the metal Cuprum took its name from the island), farmed by Augustus to Herod the Great, had attracted a considerable Jewish population, among whom the gospel had been preached by the evangelists of Act 11:19. An interesting inscription--the date of which is, however, uncertain, and may be of the second or third century after Christ--given in M. de Cesnola’ s “ Cyprus” (p. 422), as found at Golgoi in that island, shows a yearning after something higher than the polytheism of Greece: “ Thou, the one God, the greatest, the most glorious name, help us all, we beseech Thee.” At the foot of the inscription there is the name “ Helios,” the sun, and we may probably see in it a trace of that adoption of the worship of Mithras, or the sun, as the visible symbol of Deity, which, first becoming known to the Romans in the time of Pompeius, led to the general reception of the Dies Solis (= Sunday) as the first day of the Roman week, and which, even in the case of Constantine, mingled with the earlier stages of his progress towards the faith of Christ. The narrative that follows implies that the prudence or discernment which distinguished the proconsul may well have shown itself in such a recognition of the unity of the Godhead; and it is worthy of note that M. de Cesnola (“ Cyprus,” p. 425) discovered at Self, in the same island, another inscription, bearing the name of Paulus the Proconsul, who may, perhaps, be identified with the Sergius Paulus of this narrative. (Dean Plumptre.)Cyprus and its people Cyprus was by no means a reputable island: it was devoted to the goddess Venus, and you can imagine what her worship was, and what would be the fruitful licentiousness which sprang of it. It was the native country of Barnabas, and, as he was at first the leader of the missionary party sent out by the Church of Antioch, it was fit that Barnabas and Saul should begin preaching there. Landing at one end of the island the two apostolic men traversed it till they came to Paphos, where the Roman governor resided. Now, this Paphos was the central city of the worship of Venus, and was the scene of frequent profligate processions and abominable rites. We might call it “ the place where Satan’ s seat is.” Athanasius styled its religion “ the deification of lust.” Neither men nor women could resort to the shrine of Venus without being defiled in mind and depraved in character. Yet it was no business of the apostles to stop away either from Cyprus or Paphos because they were the resorts of the gay and vicious; but the rather there was a special need for them to go thither with” the purifying waters of the gospel. The more wicked the locality the more need for Christian effort in that very spot. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Saul in Cyprus 1. Evangelistic work hitherto had been sporadic, the mere result of circumstances, or the prompting of spiritual instinct. The Church had made no direct effort to carry the truth abroad. But now Antioch has the honour of sending out the first heralds of the Cross. The vessel which carried them bore in the highest sense the fortune of the world. The two strangers were inaugurating a new era, and commencing a work which should be repeated, until every people shall have its sanctuary and its Scriptures, and the world bow to the happy reign of the Lord Jesus. 2. The evangelists landed at the nearest port, that of Salamis, which had a number of synagogues, while other towns usually had but one. It is to be borne in mind that numerous proselytes must have been in those synagogues, for paganism had greatly lost its hold, and the unsatisfied spirit of many sought refuge in Judaism. Such minds were the more easily impressed by the gospel, for they would find in it a doctrine that spoke to their inmost longings. A preference was given to the Jews. How could it have been otherwise? It was impossible even in the apostle of the Gentiles to throw off the attachments of blood and kindred. 3. Barnabas and Saul went through the whole isle as far as Paphos, a place infamous for its temple and dissolute worship. Here the gospel came again into contact with the magic of the East. Already it had confronted Simon at Samaria. Bar-Jesus--son of Jesus or Joshua, “ was with the governor” --had attached himself to his court, and probably exercised no little sway over him as a confidential adviser. The proconsul had apparently thrown off the religion of his country, but had adopted none other. His soul was groping in darkness, scarce knowing what it yearned after. To a mind in such a state any doctrine claiming Divine authority is welcome, and the theology of this Jewish magician must have to some extent commended itself. It brought with it the unity and spirituality of the Divine Being--a refreshing doctrine to a mind wearied out with the very names of numberless divinities. But he was not satisfied, and the same desire that brought him under the power of Elymas led him to send for the preachers of a new religion. He could not be supposed to know much of the gospel, yet he seems to style it “ the Word of God,” for it was in its character of a Divine revelation that he wished to hear it. It was not speculation or philosophy that his soul thirsted after. 4. The addresses of the evangelists produced a deep impression on the mind of the proconsul. The sorcerer could not suffer those impressions to be deepened. His selfish schemes would all vanish if his patron should yield to the teaching of this two strangers. So he sought “ to turn away the deputy from the faith.” How, is not known; probably by sophistry and malignant insinuation. But so pertinacious was he and dexterous, that an example must be made of him; and Saul’ s first miracle must be one of judgment on a spiteful and irreclaimable adversary. The contest was, whether Elymas the sorcerer or the truth of Christ was to have the ascendency. 5. Saul, henceforth to be named Paul, has been during this mission rising to a full conception of his apostolical dignity and prerogative. “ The Spirit of God came upon him” to do a mightier act than Samson ever did by the same influence. Intensely conscious of his position and what it involved at that awful moment, and looking on the wizard with an eye that read his soul, the anathema burst from his lips. “ Filled with the Holy Ghost” --armed with a supernatural power to chastise the incorrigible--Paul said: “ O full of all subtilty” --a master of low cunning and ingenious retort. “ And all mischief” --facility of evil-working. “ Thou child of the devil” --not a child of Jesus, as thy name is--proving thy lineage by showing thy father’ s spirit and doing thy father’ s work. “ Thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” Not only the gospel, but also the old dispensation, which he contrived either to give a crooked turn, that it might lead in an opposite direction, or made it such a labyrinth that none could find their way in it save such as paid him for the clue. 6. The apostle adds the terrible words (verse 11). This challenge was Paul’ s first conscious putting forth of supernatural power. Strange that his earliest miracle should be one of doom--the infliction of such a blindness as in the moment of his conversion had come upon himself. That blindness was a symbol of Elymas’ spirit and work. His moral sense was blunted, and in attempting to sway Sergius Paulus, it was the blind leading the blind, while he needed to be led himself. His sin might be read in his judgment. His boast was of insight, but he was taught that he saw nothing. Infliction coming direct from God’ s hand, often takes its shape from the crime. Ham mocked his father, and his doom was one of servitude, under which a father’ s claims are ignored, Abimelech wished to add Sarah to his harem, and sterility was the penalty of his household. Israel, God’ s first born, are kept in bondage, and Pharaoh’ s first born fall before the destroying angel. Jeroboam put forth his hand against “ the man of God which had cried against the altar in Bethel,” “ and his hand dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.” When Herod accepted homage as a god, his godship “ was eaten up of worms, and gave up the ghost.” 7. Paul had risen to the dignity and authority of his apostolate. He had a “ power to edification,” though it now assumed a terrific aspect; and the deputy, awed and overcome, believed, “ being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” He was awe-struck, and unable to refuse his assent. He could not allow the sorcerer to trifle with him any longer, nor durst he longer “ halt between two opinions.” Thus judgment and mercy have been often associated. “ Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God!” (J. Eadie, D. D.)The first missionary intelligence An emblem of all succeeding, representing missionary work-- I. In its manifold courses.1. Externally, Seleucia and Cyprus, by sea and land.2. Internally, to Jews and Gentiles. II. In its severe contests.1. With heathen vices--the worship of Venus at Paphos.2. With heathen superstition--the Sorcerer Elymas. III. In its blessed victories.1. The powers of darkness are overthrown.2. Souls are gained. (K. Gerok.)Paul’ s fitness for his mission He was a Jew, well up in the literature and prejudices of his countrymen. That surely would be a great help to him as he passed from Jewry to Jewry. He was fairly well read in Greek, and tolerably fluent; speaking it, however, as a ready Englishman is apt to speak French, with a bad accent and a faulty construction, but rapidly, impetuously, and to good purpose. Greek was the passport language in those days as French is now. Then Saul was a Roman citizen--by that he saved his life more than once. And lastly Saul had a large heart, a great fund of humanity. This made him fit to treat on equal terms with princes like Agrippa, without being above slaves like Onesimus. Saul had, too, the restless enterprise of all Nature’ s great missionaries, explorers, and conquerors. In the early clays he was extraordinarily rash and reckless, and always utterly fearless, regardless of personal comfort and suffering--a perplexing and somewhat difficult person to work with, no doubt. In controversy unyielding, but subtle and full of tact in trying situations, and with an abnegation of self at all times perfect. In person, according to tradition, Saul was short in stature, with perhaps a stoop, rather bald, with black hair early streaked with grey, and a full beard; a defective eyesight, and perhaps a slight impediment in his speech. “ His bodily presence,” men said, “ was mean, and his speech contemptible.” But his soul made itself felt. People soon forgot what he looked like when he began to speak. There was a charm about him that few could resist. Such was Saul of Tarsus. Not man’ s conception of a popular preacher, but, taking him all in all, almost an ideal apostle to the Gentiles. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)And when they were at Salamis.--Salamis The Greek capital of the island on its eastern side, the nearest port to Seleucia, at the mouth of the Perdicas, the largest river in Cyprus, a little to the north of the Venetian capital, Famagusta. Under its subsequent name, Constantia, given when it had been rebuilt by Constantine after an earthquake, Salamis had Epiphanius for one of its bishops. Lactantius reports, that human sacrifices were offered there periodically till the time of Hadrian. (Bp. Jacobsen.)They preached … in the synagogues.-- To the Jew first There is always a gain in touching others at the point of sympathy, rather than at the point of divergence. A lawyer who would win over a jury, addresses himself first to the one man who is clearly on his side of the case, rather than to the eleven men who are against him, to begin with. The wife who proposes to carry her own way quietly, starts out by agreeing with her husband at some point; and with that beginning she will have him agreeing with her at the main point, before she is through with him. There is sound philosophy in this way of working, and God’ s plan is always the perfection of philosophy. The Holy Ghost led the first foreign missionaries to begin their work abroad in the synagogues of their Jewish brethren. The Holy Ghost would now lead every Christian worker anywhere to look first for points of sympathy or agreement with those whom he would win over or influence, rather than to start out by recognising, and battling, differences and prejudices, which will thus be made to stand as permanent barriers to an agreement, when they might have been quietly passed, and left behind permanently. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)“ They preached the Word of God” Those Christians have done most service who have in every instance trusted the Word for the power of the truth in it. Dr. James W. Alexander put in one of his letters, near the end of his career, the statement that, if he were to live his public life over again, he would dwell more upon the familiar parts and passages of the Bible, like the story of the ark, the draught of fishes, or the parable of the prodigal son. That is, he would preach more of the Word of God in its pure, clear utterances of truth for souls. When the saintly Dr. Cutler of Brooklyn died, the Sunday school remembered that he used to come in every now and then during the years of his history, and repeat just a single verse from the superintendent’ s desk; and the next Lord’ s day after the funeral, they marched up in front of it in a long line, and each scholar quoted any of the texts that he could recollect. The grown people positively sat there and wept, as they saw how much there was of the Bible in the hearts of their children, which this one pastor had planted. Yet he was a very timid and old-fashioned man; he said he had no gift at talking to children; he could only repeat God’ s Word. Is there anybody now who is ready to say that was not enough for some good? (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)They had also John to their minister.--John Mark Saul and Barnabas were highly educated men. Mark was a friend of the fisherman Peter--young, active, a useful courier, no doubt, but not in his habits or tastes the social equal of his companions. From the first Mark does not seem to have been one of them. His heart was still at Jerusalem, his sympathies were Judaic, his natural friend and master was Peter, not Saul. He had his own work, but he soon found he was not called to the Gentiles. No, Mark! When you get to Perga and see those wild hills of Pisidia in the distance, when you think of those heathen cities beyond, those treacherous lone countries, you wont care to face them. Your mother is at Jerusalem, your teacher also is there; you cannot assimilate brother Saul’ s strong anti-Judaic doctrines, just yet at least; you don’ t share his contempt for ceremonies. You are a little nettled at one so new to the work (not one of the twelve) posing as an authority not quite in accord either with Peter or James, and yet habitually, and without question, stepping in front of Barnabas. Saul thinks you lukewarm. You are not exactly that. Nevertheless, you will “ not go with him to work” --you will return to Jerusalem. Perhaps you are right. You have your own work; do it in your own way. Had you gone with those two you might never again have sat at Peter’ s feet, collected his memoirs, written that priceless, brief, matter-of-fact statement--the earliest, the most authentic of the Synoptic documents--which was once called Peter’ s Gospel, and which we know as the Gospel according to Mark. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos.-- Paphos Now Baffo, at the western extremity of the island, about a hundred miles from Salamis, on a rocky eminence about a mile and a half from the sea, with a small harbour, which at certain seasons affords no shelter from the prevalent winds. The city was restored by Augustus, after suffering most severely from an earthquake; but in Jerome’ s time its site was covered with ruins. (Bp. Jacobson.)Paul in Paphos Or the preaching of the Cross in its power to conquer the world. It conquers-- I. The sinful lusts of the world. In the lascivious myrtle and rose groves of Venus, the apostle plants the Cross of Christ as the symbol of repentance, and of the crucifixion of the flesh. II. The false wisdom or the world. The deceits of Elymas dissolve before the light of evangelical grace and truth. III. The power and weapons of the world. The Roman proconsul surrenders as a prisoner to the Word of God. (K. Gerok.)They found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus.-- Prevalence of sorcery The incident presents a true picture of the times. At that period impostors from the East, pretending to magical powers, had great influence over the Roman mind. The East, but recently thrown open, was a land of mystery to the western nations. Reports of the strange arts practised there, of the wonderful events of which it was the scene, excited almost fanatically the imagination both of the populace and the aristocracy of Rome. Syrian fortune tellers crowded the capital, and appeared in all the haunts of business and amusement. The strongest minds were not superior to their influence. Marius relied on a Jewish prophetess for regulating the progress of his campaigns. Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar sought information from Oriental astrology; Juvenal paints to us the Emperor Tiberius “ sitting on the rock of Capri, with his flock of Chaldaeans round him.” “ The astrologers and sorcerers,” says Tacitus, “ are a class of men who will always be discarded, and always cherished.” (H. B. Hackett, D. D.)Elymas the sorcerer The word is Magos, the same as that used for the” wise men,” Matthew 2:1, but it is obviously used here in the bad sense which had begun to attach to it even in the days of Sophocles, who makes Edipus revile Tiresias under this name, as practising magic arts (“ OEd. Rex.,” 387), and which we have found in the case of Simon Magos, the sorcerer. The man bore two names, one Bar-Jesus, in its form a patronymic, the other Elymas (an Aramaic word, probably connected with the Arabic Ulema, or sage), a title describing his claims to wisdom and supernatural powers. We have already met with a character of this type in the sorcerer of Samaria. The lower class of Jews here, as in Acts 19:14, seem to have been specially addicted to such practices. They traded on the religious prestige of their race, and boasted, in addition to their sacred books, of spells and charms that had come down to them from Solomon. (Dean Plumptre.)Paul and Elymas 1. Among the chief enemies to the gospel in early times was the sorcerer. He was the degenerate descendant of the astrologers and wise men of the courts of Pharaoh, and Babylon. They interpreted dreams, explained the language of the stars, and had knowledge of the laws of nature. We can account for their ascendency. It would be easy, e.g., for the wise man to account for the cure of disease, by ascribing it to his power over occult qualities or evil spirits. A mysterious look would do much! 2. They were the Jesuits of antiquity. Their one object was to make all things work together for the glory of their order. The stars, the past, the future, the dream, the disease, the earthquake, the eclipse, were all taxed for their interest. All depended on making men think that they had influence over nature. Thus their power rested on a lie. 3. The light of the East was waning, the craft of the sorcerer, therefore, moved westward, and the Rome of Tiberius was inundated with them. I. The sorcerer lives on from age to age. He belongs to no particular profession, he is in all. There is the sorcery of the political economy school; the magician of literature; the false prophet of science; last, but not least, worse than all, is the Church Magus, who calls attention to himself instead of directing it to God. To make use of the Bible, of sacraments, of heaven and hell, to terrify men into conviction of our authority and influence, is the essence of modern sorcery. The ancient used a star, the modern a cross; the old Magus availed himself of diseases of the body, the new of diseases of the mind. For one man to stand up and proclaim himself to be possessed of power or privilege not possessed by all, is to write Elymas in large letters on his forehead. II. Yes! And the curse of elymas is on you! The gospel darkens and blinds this sorcerer, by showing what are “ the right ways of the Lord.” The apostle disclaimed all power. He came to turn men away from man; to say that all were sinners, he the chief; that all must turn to God, from all false and hollow supports; and being converted from man to God, they became, through faith in Christ, priests--offering up their bodies a living sacrifice through Christ. And anyone who calls away the attention of the priestly people offering themselves to God, to himself, is a thief and robber. The glory of the gospel is that it gives glory to God only. “ Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,” etc. The glory of the gospel is, that it points sinners to God, away from all human, secret ways of giving aid. These are the “ cunning craftiness,” the “ sleight of men,” which the apostle denounces; the “ enticing words of man’ s wisdom,” “ the hidden things of dishonesty,” which he disclaimed. The doctrine of the universal Christian priesthood, of the one sole High Priest, is, therefore, Paul meeting Elymas. This it is most needful to ponder; for human indolence, guilty fear, and love of power are all equally interested in the support of the sorcerer ecclesiastic. III. They are blind, both sorcerer and victims. How blind to think it a greater thing to make himself mysterious, than to be simply a channel of God’ s truth to a soul! How blind to think it better to seem than to be! How much more glorious to break in on superstition with, “ We are men of like passions with you,” and come to turn you away from idols to the “ living God” ! How much greater to wake men up to a sense of their priesthood, than to claim an exclusive priesthood which degrades them! There is absolutely, then, but one way of dealing with Elymas and his victims, that is to preach the whole truth of Christ respecting the lofty privileges of the sons of God. We cannot, if we would, strike the sorcerer blind. He is blind, blinder he cannot be; but we can proclaim the truth he hides. We can tell them that the only way to be sure of “ the doctrine of the Lord,” is to receive and experience its gracious influence; that we preach “ the unsearchable riches of Christ, to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.” (B. Kent, M. A.)Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man.--Sergius Paulus The first great trophy of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. I. Taken from the midst of a hostile camp. A Roman, a man of power, a man of education. II. Wrested from a crafty possessor. Elymas the sorcerer, as the representative of the falsely praised art of human sophistry. III. As a permanent ornament to the apostle. Supplanting his Jewish name. (K. Gerok.)A prudent man In a worldly point of view, nothing could be considered more imprudent, than for a prominent man, in a Pagan empire, to recognise the claims of the prophet of Galilee, who had so lately been crucified at Jerusalem. Sergius Paulus ran the risk of losing, not only his office, but his life, and yet the Divine record describes him as “ A prudent man.” The cunning, artful man is not prudent, neither is he always prudent who is most successful in the pursuit of worldly gain. Prudence is discovered in the preference which it gives to every object according to its relative value. And what better evidence can we have of it, than the choice of an everlasting portion in heaven, instead of being content with the short-lived pleasures of sin? How fearfully, in the great day of account, will the Holy Spirit of God vindicate this use of the term, when all other wisdom shall be proved to have been folly, and all other prudence insanity, except that which leads men too seek diligently for the pearl of great price, and when they have found it, to sell all that they have to purchase it! Are you acting the part of “ a prudent man,” in God’ s sight? Alas! in how many hundred ways has this point been brought home to the conscience of some thoughtless worldling, who is hardening his heart against it now! One can almost hear his imprudent resolution to delay, although he does not put it into words. A railway passenger observed three persons in the same car with himself, in three very different conditions. The first was a maniac, guarded by his keepers, who was on his way to an asylum, perhaps to spend weary years. Another was a culprit, in chains, on whom the iron hand of justice had seized. The third was a bride, gay and joyous, speeding onward to her new home, where a warm welcome awaited her. Thus are we all flying towards eternity; some, the veriest madmen, because they neglect to care for their souls; some, condemned culprits, for grievous violations of Divine law; and some, prepared for a Father’ s welcome to the heavenly city. We all belong to one of these classes. Which one? (J. N. Norton, D. D.)Christian prudence I. Its nature.1. The cunning man is not prudent.2. The worldly-minded, persevering for their own advantage in this life, are not prudent.3. Conceit of our own wisdom does not prove us among the prudent. II. Its sphere. It is seen--1. In an insatiable thirst for useful knowledge.2. In the preference it gives to every object according to its relative value.3. In the subordination of the passions.4. In foresight of, and provision for, circumstances.5. In a willing subjection to reproof.6. In a capacity to be silent on fit occasions.7. In observing the fittest seasons for the improvement of opportunities. III. Its means and motives.1. Be it your concern to imbibe a fixed sense of its vast importance.2. Consider the numerous evils sure to result from its absence.3. Remember that prudence sweetens all the endearing charities of domestic life.4. Prudence increases and facilitates the means of doing good.5. Prayer and an intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures are the grand means of its successful cultivation. (G. Clayton.)Prudence, false James I once said of armour, that “ it was an excellent invention, for it not only saved the life of the wearer, but it hindered him from doing harm to anybody else.” Equally destructive to all usefulness is that excessive prudence upon which some professors pride themselves; not only do they escape all persecution, but they are never able to strike a blow, much less fight a battle, for the Lord Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Prudence imprudent Prudence, in its ordinary and most inadequate sense, has done little for the world, except to tease and hinder many of its masters. It would have kept every mariner from the deep, and deterred every traveller from the desert; it would have put out the fires of science, and clipped the wings of poetry; it would have kept Abram at home, and found Moses a comfortable settlement in Egypt. Beware of imprudent prudence; it will lull you to sleep, and bring you to a nameless and worthless end. Prudence defined Prudence is that virtue by which we discern what is proper to be done under the circumstances of time and place. (Milton.)Prudence is the art of choosing He is prudent who among many objects can distinguish that which deserves the preference. (L. M. Stretch.)Prudence is practical wisdom, and comes of the cultivated judgment. It has reference in all things to fitness, to propriety, judgment wisely of the right thing to be done, and of the right way of doing it. It calculates the means, order, time, and method of doing. Prudence learns of experience, quickened by knowledge. (S. Smiles, LL. D.)Prudence: its necessity for self-protection The child who has only sailed his paper boat on the edge of a placid lake, might wonder what was wanted with enormous beams and bars of iron, innumerable bolts and screws, and clasps, and bars of metal, in making a ship. Ask the sailor and he will answer. He says we must be prepared for something more than calm days, we must look ahead, the breakers will try us, the winds will put us to the test, we may come upon an unknown rock; we must be prepared for the worst as well as for the best. We call this prudence. We condemn its omission. We applaud its observance. What of men who attempt the stormy and treacherous waters of life without having any regard for the probable dangers of the voyage? (J. Parker, D. D.)Seeking for the truth The position of Sergius Paulus was just this. On the one side were the spirit-stirring reports of a Divine message; and on the other, this false prophet plying all his subtle arts to discredit it. The situation is not an uncommon one. A young man often finds himself standing between his evil genius and his faithful friend, without very clearly discerning which is which, or wavering between the tidings of salvation and the spells of infidelity, and the question with him is, in which direction shall he turn? like a traveller standing where two roads meet, at the foot of a guide post, unable in the grey twilight of morning, to read it, and knows not which will lead him to his home. In the case before us, the deputy was a “ prudent man,” i.e., thoughtful, having a spice of common sense; and therefore he “ sent for the apostle,” etc. I. The deputy, being in doubt, seeks farther light.1. It is natural to suppose that some features in the reports which had reached him impressed him favourably, and that others were perplexing. Elymas, playing upon his old prejudices, would take care to exaggerate some and to explain others away, and to feed his Roman pride; but after all his arts were exhausted, the deputy still desired additional light, and determined to act for himself. All this suggests to us an honest mind. He does not rush to a conclusion; does not all at once swear by Bar-Jesus or by Barnabas, or even take a middle course, and dismiss the whole matter from his thoughts; but he determines to get more knowledge. 2. Now, there are many professed truth seekers in the world who vaunt their love of truth and proclaim certain principles with unflinching boldness. But they never go a step out of their way to catch the sound of any voice but their own, or of their own school. Their reading is all on one side; and their beliefs float along with the same tide as their worldly interests. But he who unfeignedly sets himself to the pursuit of truth, welcomes her in every situation and guise. It is not this system or that which he seeks. Truth is the pearl of great price, for which he is prepared to sell all that he has, even if it be found beneath his feet and entrusted with miry clay. II. The deputy desired to hear the Word of God.1. Barnabas and Saul did not come with a philosophy or a new theory. They claimed to speak in the name of God, and to be entrusted with His own Word, and it was this which the deputy was anxious, or, at least, curious, to hear. 2. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, for us to conceive the thrill of interest which the very phrase the Word of God would awaken in a devout, truth seeking, heathen soul, and yet most natural. The soul was made for God. In its fallen state it is unconscious of this. But when God is pleased to breathe upon it, it begins to yearn after Him, and soon finds the signs of His presence, but it wants to hear His voice. 3. Imagine, then, the impetuous rush of feeling when the deep silence is broken by the voice of God; or when only the report comes--God has spoken! But someone may say, but, after all, it may really not be the Word of God, but some specious fabrication. Possibly, for many false prophets had gone out into the world, as, e.g., this Elymas the Sorcerer. There was the possibility that Paul and Barnabas might be pretenders of the same kind. But suppose your father had gone to a distant part of the world, and after a long absence you were hoping for his return, would not every new voice, every reported arrival naturally excite the question, Is this he? And if the news reached you that a gentleman from a far country had arrived at a distant port, answering somewhat to the description of your father, how eagerly would you set out to ascertain the fact and to rush into his arms! But if the tidings arrived that your father had returned, though, after all, it might be a false report, yet how enthusiastically would you fly to meet him! So, in like manner, if you hunger after your heavenly Father, and anything comes in the shape of a message from Him, you will certainly determine to hear it. It may possibly, after all, not be His word, but you will hear it. There can be no harm in hearing it. It may be your Father’ s arrival. III. The deputy desired to hear the word of God at first hand.1. It is always best to go to headquarters for our information. Judge not of any man, or system, or Church through the eyes of another, but look and see with your own. There must have been all kinds of rumours in reference to Paul and Barnabas, rumours exaggerating, disparaging, caricaturing, or falsifying. Now, there are many people in our day, and, no doubt, there were some then, who would have contented themselves with these flying reports, and would, perhaps, have helped to distort and to spread them. Or they might have made a selection, each taking up just those elements which were most congenial with his own tendencies. But the sensible man who wanted to know the truth would have done just what the deputy did--“ sent for the apostles.” Pay all proper respect to the judgments of others, and open your ears to every voice which may possibly direct your way; but, in dependence on the guidance of God’ s Spirit, examine and judge for yourself; for you are responsible for yourself, and you have your account to render at last to God. 2. But I would especially urge this course in reference to your own study of the Word of God. You desire to hear it. Then do as the deputy did. The Scriptures are in your hands, and you can read them for yourselves. This is the best school in which to learn spiritual truth. Do not be content with the mere assertions of others as to what is contained in the Scriptures; but like the noble Bereans, search the Scriptures themselves daily, to see if these things are so. But take care how you deal with them; not hastily or lightly caught by the sound of words, or the first blush of a text; not taking out of it what you have first put in, but making it your earnest endeavour to draw from it what God has intended to teach and nothing else. Before all things, therefore, invoke the Divine Spirit of light and truth. Then take the best help you can get, in order to reach the real meaning; compare one part of Scripture with another. This may be a toilsome labour, but it is gainful. Men do not shrink from the labour and dangers of mining. The Scripture is a mine, which must be worked with equal earnestness and hard labour, but with infinitely more profit (Proverbs 2:3). In this manner the Bible becomes its own witness, and proves itself to be the Word of God. IV. The deputy having desired to hear the Word of God, was favoured with a wonderful display of its Divine power. But the Spirit of truth, here as everywhere, was too mighty for the spirit of lies. Here was the man who was going to enlighten others, himself immersed in darkness; he, who was going to lead all wanderers, is seeking someone to lead himself by the hand. There, as you see him staggering and groping about in bewilderment, how striking is the emblem of the dismal confusion of his soul! He had opened his eyes to stare impiously at the glorious Sun of truth, and its beams have blinded him. The Roman is astonished at the doctrine of the Lord, and, convinced by such overwhelming evidence, becomes a believer in the gospel of Christ. Observe--1. That the form in which this Divine manifestation was made was one of power. This was the one thing which the Romans reverenced. They had little taste for the speculations of philosophers, or for the tenderness of poets. They were not fascinated by the arts, unless, indeed, in the creations of stately and massive buildings; but they were profoundly impressed with power. They had aspired, not without success, to be the masters of the world, and to give laws to subject nations. Sergius Paulus was a Roman, and had come with these proud conceptions to rule over Cyprus. A gospel preached by a few poor Jews, having for its object a crucified Jew, would naturally appear to him a weak and contemptible thing, which no eloquence could render worthy of his notice. But when Paul, speaking in the name of the living God, hurled the thunderbolt of His vengeance against an impostor, the pride of the Roman was subdued into a humility of wondering reverence. 2. That the power of God is here put forward to expose imposture and to unmask pretence. It was a false prophet who was thus smitten with blindness. It was the lurid light of cunning and lies which was quenched by the sunbeams of truth. The Roman ruler must have in this event recognised the awful presence of a God of purity, whose eye pierced into the inner chambers of the soul, and to whom lying lips are an abomination. And therefore he believed. If you will earnestly bring yourselves into contact with the Word of God, you, too, in like manner, will become the witnesses of its Divine power. But there is a mist and a darkness still ready to fall on those who, like Elymas, deal in hypocrisies. Beware how you stifle your hidden convictions, or disguise your real character, or deal in hollow pretence. (J. M. Charlton, M. d.) Acts 13:9-11 Then Saul (who also is called Paul). The crisis in Saul’ s history and his change of name From this point Paul appears as the great figure in every picture, and Barnabas falls into the background. The great apostle now enters on his work as preacher to the Gentiles; and simultaneously his name is changed. As “ Abram” was changed into “ Abraham” when God promised that he should be the “ father of many nations” ; as “ Simon” was changed into “ Peter” when it was said, “ On this rock I will build My Church” ; so Saul is changed into “ Paul” at the moment of his victory among the heathen. What the plains of Mamre were to the patriarch, what Caesarea Philippi was to the fisherman of Galilee, that was Paphos to the tent maker of Tarsus. Are we to suppose that the name was now given for the first time--that he adopted it as significant of his own feelings--or that Sergius Paulus conferred it on him in grateful commemoration of the benefits he had received, or that “ Paul,” having been a Gentile form of the apostle’ s name in early life conjointly with the Hebrew “ Saul,” was now used to the exclusion of the other to indicate that he had receded from his position as a Jewish Christian, to become the friend and teacher of the Gentiles? We are inclined to the opinion that the Cilician apostle had this Roman name before he was a Christian. This adoption of a Gentile name is so far from being alien to the spirit of a Jewish family, that a similar practice may be traced through all the periods of Hebrew history. Beginning with the Persian epoch (B.C. 550-350), we find such names as Nehemiah, Sehammai, Betteshazzar, which betray an oriental origin, and show that Jewish appellatives followed the growth of the living language. In the Greek period we encounter the names of Philip, and his son Alexander, and of Alexander’ s successors--Antiochus, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, Antipater; the names of Greek philosophers, such as Zeus and Epicurus; even Greek mythological names, as Jason and Menelaus. When we mention the Roman names adopted by the Jews the coincidence is still more striking--Crispus, Justus, Niger, Drusilla and Priscilla might have been Roman matrons. The Aquila of St. Paul is the counterpart of the Apella of Horace. Again, in the earlier part of the Middle Ages we find Jews calling themselves Basil, Leo, Theodosius, Sophia, and in the latter part Albert, Benedict, Crispin, Denys. It is indeed remarkable that the separated nation should bear in the very names recorded in its annals the trace of every nation with whom it has come in contact and never united. It is important to our present purpose to remark that double names often occur in combination, the one national, the other foreign. The earliest instances are Belteshazzar-Daniel and Esther-Hadasa. Frequently there was no resemblance or natural connection between the two words, as in Herod-Agrippa, Salome-Alexandra, Inda-Aristobulus, Simon Peter. Sometimes the meaning was reproduced, as in Malich-Kleodemus. At other times an alliterating resemblance of sound seems to have dictated the choice, as in Jose-Jason, Hillel-Julus, Saul-Paulus. Thus satisfactory reasons can be adduced for the apostle’ s double name without having recourse to the hypothesis of Jerome, who suggests that as Scipio was called Africanus from the conquest of Africa, and Metellus Creticus from the conquest of Crete, so Saul carried away his new name as a trophy of his victory over the heathenism of the proconsul Paulus, or to the notion of Augustine when he alludes to the literal meaning of the word Paulus, and contrasts Saul the unbridled king, the proud, self-confident persecutor of David, with Paul, the lowly, the penitent, who deliberately wished to indicate by his very name that he was “ the least of the apostles” and “ less than the least of all saints.” Yet we must not neglect the coincident occurrence of these two names just here. We need not hesitate to dwell on the associations which are connected with the name of Paulus, or on the thoughts which are naturally called up when we notice the critical passage where it is first given to Saul. It is surely not unworthy of notice that as Peter’ s first Gentile convert was a member of the Cornelian house, so the surname of the noblest family of the Cornelian house was the link between the Apostle of the Gentiles and his convert at Paphos. Nor can we find a nobler Christian version of any line of a heathen poet than by comparing what Horace says of him who fell at Canute, “Animae magnae prodigum Paulum,” with the words of him who said at Miletus, “ I count not my life dear unto myself,” etc. And though Saul most probably had the name of Paul at an earlier period, and that it came from some connection of his ancestors (perhaps as manumitted slaves) with some member of the AEmilian Pauli; yet we cannot believe it accidental that it occurs at this point of the inspired narrative. The heathen name rises to the surface at the moment Paul enters on his office as apostle to the heathen. The Roman name is stereotyped at the moment when he converts the Roman governor; and the place where this occurs is the very spot which was notorious for what the gospel forbids and destroys. Here, having achieved his victory, the apostle erected his trophy, as Moses, when Amalek was discomfited, “ built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi--the Lord my banner.” (J. S. Howson, D. D.)Filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtlety and mischief.-- Sin and its punishment Paul’ s rebuke, of course, applies to the specific iniquity of Elymas, but with a master hand the apostle at the same time delineates the characteristics of sin in general. The punishment of Elymas is also typical. I. Sin. 1. Its subtle methods. There is nothing straightforward about sin; nor can there be: for were its nature and consequences clear, it would be universally shunned and abhorred. Its methods, therefore, must needs be crooked and insinuating. Evil is dressed up in the guise of good. The fruit of the tree was made pleasant to the eyes of Eve. So is it all through time. 2. Its mischievous effects. It debases the body, degrades the mind, debilitates the will, and damns the soul. 3. Its Satanic paternity. “ The serpent was more subtle than all the beasts of the field.” The devil injects the sinful thought, guides the sinful resolution, helps the sinful action, and enjoys the sinful effect. 4. Its enmity to righteousness. Right and wrong are not coordinate powers which, like adjacent states, can flourish side by side and enter into peaceful alliances with each other. They are ever in irreconcilable antagonism, and the prosperity of the one is absolutely dependent on the destruction of the other. 5. Its perversion of the right ways of the Lord. This is the essence of sin. It is not simply negation, but perversion; and its highest achievement is to secure the acceptance of evil under the guise of good. Elymas, as a Jewish prophet, armed with the authority of a Divine dispensation, threw a spell over the mind of the proconsul, and endeavoured to use his usurped authority for selfish and villainous purposes. Wherein does he differ from the modern hypocrite? II. Its punishment.1. Its subtlety is detected. (1) Sometimes sin overreaches itself; it is not sufficiently comprehensive in its views. Ahab calculated on getting Naboth’ s vineyard, but did not calculate on Elijah. So here Elymas overlooked the possibility of the advent of a Paul. (2) Sometimes its detection is the result of some extraordinary Divine agency--“ Saul, filled with the Holy Ghost.” The common saying, “ Murder will out.” How often, by a trivial oversight on the part of the criminal, or by some trifling coincidence, has a great crime been revealed. 2. Its mischievous effects are turned upon the sinner. He who sought to blind the intellect of Sergius Paulus is himself made blind. “ Be sure your sin will find you out.” 3. The son inherits the father’ s punishment. Satan is the prince of darkness, and his children are doomed to walk in darkness. The dark ways in which the devil leads his victims leads to “ outer darkness.” 4. Its enmity to righteousness is met by the righteous God. “ Though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished.” 5. Its perversion is met by perversion. “ He went about,” etc. (verse 11). (J. W. Burn.)Reproof: how a true servant of God uses his office of 1. Not in carnal passion, but in the Holy Ghost (verse 9). 2. Not with worldly weapons, but with the sword of the Word, by which he discloses the evil state of the heart (verse 10), and announces the judgment of God (verse 11). 3. Not for death or condemnation, but for warning and for the salvation of souls. (K. Gerok.)The punishment of Elymas was I. In correspondence with the transgression. He who blinded others is himself blinded. II. Striking and convincing for the spectators. III. With all its severity conducive to amendment by an intimation of the Divine mercy. Paul himself, at his conversion, had been blind for a season, and knew from his experience how profitable this darkness was for internal collection and composure of mind. (Apostolic Pastor.)The exceptional character of the miracle The miracles of the New Testament are generally distinguished from the Old by being worthy works of mercy. Two only of our Lord’ s were inflictions of severity, and those were attended with no harm to the bodies of men. The same law pervades the miracles of the apostles. One miracle of wrath was worked by Peter and Paul; and we can see sufficient reasons why liars and hypocrites like Ananias and Sapphira, and impostors like Elymas, should be publicly punished, and made examples of. A passage in the life of Peter presents a parallel which is closer in some respects with this interview of Paul with Bar-Jesus. As Simon Magus, “ who had long time bewitched the Samaritans with his sorceries,” was denounced by Peter “ as still in the gall of bitterness,” etc., and solemnly told that his heart was not right in the sight of God; so Paul, conscious of his apostolic power, and under the power of immediate inspiration, rebuked Elymas as a child of that devil who is “ the father of lies,” as a worker of deceit and mischief, etc. He proceeded to denounce an instantaneous judgment, and according to his prophetic word, the “ hand of the Lord” struck the sorcerer, as it had once struck the apostle himself--the sight of the magician began to waver, and presently a darkness settled on it so thick that he ceased to behold the sun’ s light. This blindness of the false prophet opened the eyes of the deputy. That which had been intended as an opposition to the gospel proved the means of its extension. We are ignorant of the degree of this extension in Cyprus. But we cannot doubt that when the proconsul was converted, his influence would make Christianity reputable; and that from this moment the Gentiles of the island as well as the Jews had the news of salvation brought home to them. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)Seeking to turn men from the faith Unprincipled white men have often been great stumbling blocks in the way of Indian evangelisation. An Englishman made his boast that he could induce the Indians again to drink; and providing himself with ardent spirits, he moved in his canoe over to the island where the Indians were encamped. Leaving all at the shore, he went up to the camp, and, inviting the Indians down, brought forth his bottle. “ Come,” he said, “ we always good friends; we once more take a good drink in friendship.” “ No,” said Captain Paudaush, “ we drink no more of the fire waters.” “ Oh, but you will drink with me; we always good friends” ; but while this son of Belial was urging them to drink, the Indians struck up, in the tune of Walsall, the hymn they had lately learned to sing-- “ O for a thousand tongues to sing The great Redeemer’ s praise!” And while the Indians were singing, this bacchanalian, defeated in his wicked device, and looking completely crestfallen, paddled away from the island, leaving the Indians to their temperance and their religious devotions! An enemy off righteousness Mr. Beecher once met Colonel Ingersoll, a great American atheist, and Colonel Ingersoll began to discourse on his atheistic views. Mr. Beecher for some time was silent, but, after a time, asked to be allowed to tell a story. On being requested to do so, he said, “ As I was walking down town today, I saw a poor man slowly and carefully picking his way through mud, in the endeavour to cross a street. He had just reached the middle of the filth when a big, burly ruffian, himself all bespattered, rushed up to him, jerked the crutches from under the unfortunate man, and left him sprawling and helpless in the pool of liquid dirt, which almost engulfed him.” “ What a brute he was!” said the colonel. “ What a brute he was!” they all echoed. “ Yes,” said the old man, rising from his chair, and brushing back his long white hair, “ yes, Colonel Ingersoll, and you are the man. The human soul is lame, but Christianity gives it crutches to enable it to pass the highway of life. It is your teaching that knocks these crutches from under it, and leaves it a helpless and rudderless wreck in the Slough of Despond. If robbing the human soul of its only support on this earth--religion--be your profession, why, ply it to your heart’ s content. It requires an architect to erect a building; an incendiary may reduce it to ashes.” Seeking to turn men from the truth A boy was impressed in one of Mr. Moody’ s meetings. But his mother said he was “ good enough without religion,” and threw her influence against Mr. Moody’ s efforts to win him to Christ. She succeeded, and some time after Mr. Moody found him in the county jail. “ How came you here? Does your mother know of it?” “ No, sir, and pray don’ t tell her. I came in under an assumed name, and am going to Joliet State prison for four years. She thinks I am in the army.” And Mr. Moody often heard her afterwards, mourning that her boy was killed. Acts 13:12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed.Two Pauls and a blinded sorcerer Note-- I. Opposition to the faith.1. Elymas “ withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.” This is true the world over. The greater the opportunity the greater the opposition. The devil is ever on the lookout to defeat the servants of God and hinder the effect of truth. 2. But opposition is overruled for good. The intense opposition of Elymas only served to draw the attention of the deputy more intently to the doctrine of God’ s Word. But more than this: when Saul pronounced upon him the solemn judgment of God, the proconsul saw that it was in very deed the Word of God. The blinded sorcerer, seeking someone to lead him by the hand, was a visible witness for the truth against which he had fought. So that the overthrow of the opposition made the victory of truth the more conspicuous. And this is always so. II. Aids to faith. I have not called miracles causes of faith, for they do not cause it, although they may lead up to it. What Sergius Paulus saw did not make him believe, but it helped him to believe. What did he see, then?1. The great courage of Paul. In another case boldness struck a blow at unbelief, for when the rulers saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled. In this case the effect would be the same. Saul fixed his eyes on Elymas as though he were perfectly master of the situation--as indeed he was, and without hesitation or apology addressed him, “ O full of all subtlety,” etc. Intense conviction in the mind of Paul led him to speak thus plainly and sternly, but it was not the heat of his own spirit, for he was filled with the Holy Ghost. Let every teacher of Christ be thus filled, and then let him speak boldly, as he ought to speak. Come not forward with your “ ifs” and “ buts” and “ peradventures” to prove God’ s Word. Tell out the message God hath told thee, as from Him, and not as thine own opinion! 2. God’ s judgments. If Sergius Paul was deeply impressed with Paul’ s boldness, he was still more deeply moved when he saw Elymas stricken with blindness. 3. God’ s wonders of mercy. Conversions are the standing miracles of the gospel, the best attesting seals the truth can have. I knew a man who was of a fierce temper, a troubler to his own household; I have seen that man since his conversion, and the lion has become a lamb. We have seen persons revelling in licentiousness, but they have heard the gospel and become chaste. What has wrought this? What teaching must that be which accomplishes such marvels? III. The source of faith. It is “ doctrine,” or faithful teaching, which brings men to Christ. Let those who despise doctrine beware, for the doctrine of the Cross is only foolishness to them who perish. Under the influence of the Holy Ghost the plain teaching of the Word of the Lord leads men to believe in Jesus. I do not think it is any great good for a preacher to cry, “ Believe,” if he never tells you what is to be believed. There is plenty of this kind of preaching about, and the result is sadly transient and superficial. If we do not preach the great doctrine of the atoning sacrifice, we have not put before men the basis on which their faith is to be built. Justification by faith and regeneration by the Spirit must be taught continually. The proconsul was, no doubt, astonished to see Elymas blinded, but he was a great deal more astonished at the doctrine which Paul preached when he began to tell him that salvation was not by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ; that the way to be accepted of God was not by presenting to the Lord anything performed by us or felt within us, but by laying hold upon the righteousness which Jesus Christ has wrought out and brought in. When he heard this good news he might well be astonished, and yield his heart to Jesus. The most astonishing thing in the world is the gospel. Come, then, and candidly study what is to be believed. If you desire to know God you shall know Him. The great Father is not far from any one of you. There is the light! It is not dim, nor far away. The fault is in your eyes if you do not see. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The conversion of Sergius Paulus I. He saw. Probably no special stress is laid upon the seeing, yet the fact that opportunity was given him to see is worthy of emphasis. Had the Church of Antioch loved their own better than the things of Christ, the missionaries had been kept at home. If we turn over the opportunity of Sergius and examine its obverse side, we shall find written thereon a duty and a privilege. Paul, who felt it and obeyed it thus early in his career, later states it (Romans 10:13-15). The great salvation is provided for all; let it be carried to all. No violence is done human thought or the spirit of the gospel by discerning, in the proconsul’ s opportunity to see, the Church’ s opportunity to send. Paul came and preached, therefore Paulus saw and heard. II. He was astonished. The transition from sight to faith is explained in the astonishment produced by the matter and manner of the doctrine of the Lord. Two teachers, each professing to possess the oracles of the Highest, had confronted each other with contradictory doctrine. The mind of the heathen deputy, unrestful and discontented with the fables of Roman mythology, must have been perplexed with these rival claimants for his faith and devotion. But the purer doctrine had the prevailing power, and Paulus wondered at the doctrine of the Lord, and admired it. Then came the proof that the story of Divine love was no bright fiction nor sweet poem, but a genuine fact and power in the world among men by the method of the teaching--persuasively to him who was ready to hear--judicially to him who was determined to resist. It could sue or subdue. III. He believed. The simplicity and freshness of youth adorned and invigorated the gospel of that early day. The deputy’ s mind was not perplexed by half a dozen kinds of faith, each with a technical name requiring special instruction to understand. The story of the living, personal Christ, what He had said and done, and what He wanted and waited to do, was the simple and unformulated theology of that earliest day. Sergius Paulus, in believing, was conscious of no such abstract process as that of accepting a theory or adopting a system. This might come afterwards; but when he believed he simply trusted himself into the care of God, he took Him at His word. The Roman proconsul became the Christian disciple; faith gave him a higher rank and a sublimer title. He had before represented the emperor of the world. He then represented the One “ seated on the right hand of God.” The name “ Roman proconsul” pales before the title Heir of God. (J. R. Danforth.)Paul’ s first convert from heathenism When Napoleon landed on his return from Elba, and one man came and presented himself as willing to serve the Emperor, “ Here,” said Napoleon, “ is one recruit at least.” So may we say when we have converts, “ Here is one recruit, and thank God for one; for the same attractive influence which draws one will draw multitudes more.” We have got the right medicine, we have got the right power, and therefore let us hope that there is a harvest to be reaped now. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The conversion of one soul The conversion of one soul by the gospel should be to you a hopeful sign that God intends to convert others. For see, the cholera is raging in certain towns, say, on the continent, and a physician has been studying the disease. He has administered a variety of drugs, but in every case without success. He has prescribed different methods of treatment, but in no case has he succeeded in effecting a cure. At last he has hit upon the right drug, and, administering it, he sees his patient rallying, strength evidently given by the medicine; the struggle ends favourably, and the patient rises to life and health. “ Now,” says the physician, “ I know that I shall have a harvest of men who will be preserved from this disease, because the same medicine which heals one will heal two, will heal twenty, will heal a thousand, or even twenty thousand; it only has to be administered; that one person has been healed by this compound, and it is clear that as many more may be healed as are willing to receive it.” Brethren, we do not lack this sign with regard to the gospel. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Opposition helpful to the gospel In all probability the opposition of Bar-Jesus may have called the attention of Sergius Paul more intently to the doctrine of the Word of God. When a certain doctrine is neglected and half forgotten by the Church of God there rises up a bold heretic who rails at the truth most bitterly, and then Christian people remember it, defend it, and propagate it. A Colenso attacks the story of the Exodus, and all eyes are fixed upon Moses and the tribes of Israel. Some critic or other attacks the Book of Deuteronomy, and straightway we get a host of books about Deuteronomy; all the scholars of the Christian Church begin to study it, and as a part of the Word it is valued exceedingly. This Elymas finds fault with the gospel, and Saul and Barnabas are thus called upon to clear up the points at issue, and by refuting the magician’ s malicious errors they make the truth the more apparent to the mind of the proconsul. So far so good. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 13:13-52 Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia.Perga in Pamphylia Because Perga was little known Pamphylia is subjoined. It was an ancient city on the river Cestrus, about seven miles from its mouth. The stay in it was very short, and there seems to have been no preaching till the return journey (Acts 14:25). Some of the perils from robbers and rivers (2 Corinthians 11:16) may have been encountered at this time. (Bp. Jacobson.)And John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.--The defection of Mark We are not to suppose that this implied a rejection of Christianity. A soldier who has wavered in one battle may live to win a glorious victory. Mark was afterwards not unwilling to accompany the apostles, and actually did accompany Barnabas again to Cyprus (Acts 15:37-39). Nor did Paul always retain his unfavourable judgment of him (Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11). Yet if we consider all the circumstances of his life, we shall not find it difficult to blame his conduct, and to see good reasons why Paul should distrust his steadiness of character. The child of a religious mother, who had sheltered in her house the Christian disciples, he had been a close spectator of the wonderful power of the religion of Christ, and had been a minister of the apostles in their successful enterprise; and now he forsook them when they were about to proceed through greater difficulties to more glorious success. We are not left in doubt as to the real character of his departure. He was drawn from the work of God by the attraction of an earthly home. “ Either he did not like the work, or he wanted to go and see his mother” (M. Henry). (J. S. Howson, D. D.)The departure of Mark and the continuance of the apostles 1. Any one who turns back from God’ s work does himself an injury. 2. The work will go on, no matter who turns back. 3. Those in the work should seek every fit opportunity to proclaim the Word. 4. Those in the work should seek the regular and appointed channels for proclaiming the Word. 5. Those who seek for opportunities for work will have opportunities given them. 6. Those in the work should make use of all their tact to make the Word acceptable. 7. Those who are earnest and persistent in the work, guided by the Spirit, will be successful. (S. S. Times.)John Mark I. Consider, first, his--what shall I call it? Well, if I may use the word which Paul himself designates it by, in its correct signification, we may call it his apostasy. It was not a departure from Christ, but it was a departure from very plain duty. He was quite ready for missionary work as long as it was easy work; quite ready to do it as long as he was moving upon known ground and there was no great call upon his heroism, or his indolence; does not wait to test the difficulties, but is frightened by the imagination of them; does not throw himself into the work and see how he gets on with it; but before he has gone a mile into the land, or made any real experience of the perils and hardships, has had quite enough of it, and goes away back to his mother in Jerusalem, Yes! and we find exactly the same thing in all courses of honourable life. Many begin to run, but one after another, as “ lap” after “ lap” of the race course is got over, has had enough of it, and drops on one side; a hundred started, and at the end the field is reduced to three or four. And so, in regard of every career which has in it anything of honour and of effort, let this man teach us the lesson not swiftly to begin and inconsiderately to venture upon a course, but once begun let nothing discourage. “ Nor bate one jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward.” Some of you need the word of exhortation and earnest beseeching, to contrast the sluggishness, the indolence of your present, with the brightness and the fervour of your past. And I beseech you, do not let your Christian life be like snow--when it first lights upon the earth, radiant and white, but day by day more covered with a veil of sooty blackness until it becomes dark and foul. II. Look, next, in the development of this little bit of biography, to mark’ s eclipse. Paul and Barnabas differed about how to treat the renegade. Which of them was right? Would it have been better to have put him back in his old post, and given him another chance, and said nothing about the failure; or was it better to do what the sterner wisdom of Paul did, and declare that a man who had once so forgotten himself and abandoned his work was not the man to put in the same place again? Barnabas made a mistake. It would have been the cruellest thing that could have been done to his relative to have put him back again without acknowledgment, without repentance, without riding quarantine for a bit, and holding his tongue for a while. He would not then have known his fault as he ought to have known it, and so there would never have been the chance of his conquering it. God treats His renegades as Paul treated Mark, and not as Barnabas would have treated him. Ready, and infinitely ready, to forgive and to restore, but needing to see the consciousness of the sin first, and needing, before large tasks are committed to hands that once have dropped them, to have some kind of evidence that the hands are stronger and the heart purified from its cowardice and its selfishness. Let us learn the difference between a weak charity which loves too foolishly, and therefore too selfishly, to let a man inherit the fruit of his doings, and the large mercy which knows how to take the bitterness out of the chastisement, and yet knows how to chastise. Mark’ s eclipse may teach us another lesson, viz., that the punishment for shirking work is to be denied work. You have been asked to work--I speak now to professing Christians--duties have been pressed upon you, fields of service have opened plainly before you, and you have not had the heart to go into them. And so you stand idle all the day now, and the work goes to other people that can do it. And God honours them, and passes you by. Mark goes away to Cyprus, he does not go back to Jerusalem; he and Barnabas try to get up some little schismatic sort of mission of their own. Nothing comes of it; nothing ought to have come of it. He drops out of the story; he has no share in the joyful conflicts and sacrifices and successes of the apostle. The punishment of indolence is absolute idleness. Beware! all of you professing Christians, lest to you should come the fate of the slothful servant with his one buried talent, to whom the punishment of burying it unused was to lose it altogether; according to that solemn word fulfilled in the temporal sphere of this story, on which I am commenting. “ To him that hath shall be given,” etc. III. Again, consider the process of recovery. Concerning it we read nothing indeed in Scripture; but concerning it we know enough to be able at least to determine what its outline must have been. There is only one road, with well-marked stages, by which a backsliding or apostate Christian can return to his Master. And that road has three halting places upon it, through which our heart must pass if it have wandered from its early faith, and falsified its first professions. The first of them is the consciousness of the fall; the second is the resort to the Master for forgiveness; and the last is the deepened consecration to Him. No man that wanders into the wilderness but comes back to the King’ s highway, if he comes back at all. IV. And so, lastly, notice the reinstatement of the penitent renegade. Notwithstanding the failure, notwithstanding the wise refusal of Paul to have nothing to do with him years before, he is reinstated in his old office, and the aged apostle before he dies would like to have the comfort of his presence once more at his side. Is not the lesson out of that, this eternal gospel, that even early failures, recognised and repented of, may make a man better fitted for the tasks which once he fled from? Just as they tell us--I do not know whether it is true or not, it will do for an illustration--just as they tell us that a broken bone renewed is stronger at the point of fracture than it ever was before, so the very sin that we commit, when once we know it for a sin, and have brought it to Christ for forgiveness, may minister to our future efficiency and strength. The sin which we have learned to know for a sin and to hate, teaches us humility, dependence, shows us where the weak places are; sin which is forgiven knits us to Christ with deeper and more fervid love, and results in a larger consecration. Think of the two ends of this man’ s life--flying like a frightened hare from the very first suspicion of danger or of difficulty, sulking in his solitude, apart from all the joyful stir of consecration and of service; and at the end of it made an evangelist to proclaim to the whole world the story of the gospel of the servant. God works with broken reeds, and through them breathes His sweetest music. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Abandonment of missionary work Felix Carey, a nephew of the great Dr. Carey, the Indian missionary, was, like his uncle, devoted to missionary life. He abandoned his sacred calling, however, to become an ambassador to the court of Burmah. Speaking of the change, Dr. Carey said, “ Felix was a missionary, but he is now shrivelled up to an ambassador.” (W. Walters.)They came to Antioch in Pisidia.--Antioch in Pisidia Seleucus Nicanor is said to have built nine cities to which he gave his own name, Seleucia, and sixteen which he called after his father Antiochus. Amongst these are the Syrian and the Pisidian Antioch. Six others were called Laodicea, after his mother, and at least one after Apamea, his wife. This recurrence of the same name is a cause of some confusion when considering either the geography or history of this part of Asia. Antioch in Pisidia is situated on a table land of a ridge of hills on the confines of Pisidia and Phrygia, to which latter province it is sometimes, but inaccurately, reckoned to belong. It lies north of Perga, and east of Apollonia, and the roads which radiated from it in every direction made it a port of considerable importance, commercial as well as military. The city was originally founded by Magnetes, and subsequently refounded by Seleucus. It was, however, of little importance until Augustus made it a Colonia, and a free city with the Jus Italicum, from which circumstance it is sometimes called Antiochea Caesarea. Until that time it was distinguished for the worship of the moon, as a male deity, and large numbers of priests were supported by the rich endowments belonging to the temple at this place. The population was a very mixed one, with a larger amount of the Latin element than was usual in the cities of Asia Minor. The Jews were probably not numerous, as we only read of the synagogue, not, as at Salamis and other places, in the plural. It is referred to in the New Testament, in Acts 13:14; Acts 14:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:11. Many of the inscriptions and coins belonging to the Pisidian Antioch are for this reason in Latin. This city is now entirely deserted, and its site, having been long unknown, has only been rediscovered in modern times. (W. Denton, M. A.)The continental mission I. The Word accepted.1. Giving up the work. The return of Mark very much displeased Paul. In his eyes a deserter was worse than an enemy; no man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, was fit ever again to be taken into such service. Hence, when Barnabas would have given him another trial, Paul would not consent. But Barnabas was right. His kindly nature was better than the stern, uncompromising disposition of Paul. Barnabas was “ a good man,” his goodness leading him to lean toward the erring. Under his training and influence Mark recovered the character he had lost, so that at last Paul himself said, “ He is useful to me for the ministering.” In his dealing with Mark, Barnabas again proved his right to the title, “ Son of Consolation.” 2. Going on with the work. It was a small force, numerically, that moved upon the intrenched idolatrous hosts of Asia Minor. By the desertion of Mark, the army of three had been reduced one-third. But the soldiers of Christ are not to be estimated by their numbers, but by the personality in and back of them--the Holy Spirit. 3. The opportunity for work. They followed the course pursued by their Master before them. They reverenced the Sabbath, and had regard for its institutions. They so commended themselves by this, and by their devout behaviour, as to receive from the rulers the invitation, “ Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation, say on.” The result was a surprise to those who gave it. A word of exhortation was given, the like of which they never had heard before. What they heard was to them a revelation. (1) Paul declared that God, who had done such great things for His chosen people of old time, had now, according to promise, completed His work of grace by giving unto Israel a Saviour (verses 17-23). (2) Paul went on to prove the truth of this assertion by showing-- (a) That Jesus’ advent was prophetically preannounced by John, His forerunner (verses 24, 25). (b) That Jesus rose from the dead (verses 26-37). After reciting how the Messiah was slain, Paul proved His resurrection, first, by the fact that He was seen of chosen witnesses; second, by quotations from the Psalms, which showed that this resurrection was nothing more than a fulfilment of the promise made unto the fathers. (3) Paul declared that “ through this Man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins.” (4) Paul warned his hearers of the fatal consequences of despising this offer of salvation. 4. The fruit of the work. The address of Paul-- (1) Aroused a general interest (verse42). It is a good sign when there is a general desire to have a sermon repeated. (2) Secured many converts (verse 43). These had become so obedient to the truth, that the apostles needed only to urge them “ to continue in the grace of God.” (3) Bitter opposition was aroused (verse 45). Jealousy has been the secret of the opposition to many a new religious movement. The Jews here were jealous of their new leaders, and of the hold they and their doctrines were getting. II. The Word rejected.1. The bold word (verse 46). They were not cowed by the opposition. They had within them a moral courage, born of the Spirit and of a conviction of right, that made them more than a match for their opponents. Bold words, uttered under such circumstances, make revolutions in opinions. 2. The spoken word. The Divine order was Jews first, then Gentiles. The Jews were the natural sons of the household, and therefore had the first right to the Father’ s proclamation of a new inheritance for all of His children. 3. The word thrust away. Note-- (1) That those who reject the gospel judge themselves to be “ unworthy of eternal life.” The choice that a man makes determines his personal worth. God demands no more worthiness in men than that they shall accept the offer of salvation. (2) That when men demonstrate that they are unworthy of eternal life, it is the duty of Christian workers to turn to others. There is no use in labouring in a barren field, when a rich harvest can be reaped near by. Better save ten, than work on unavailingly with one. 4. The word of command (verse 47). The redemption of the Gentiles was no new addition to the plan of salvation. From the beginning God intended that those who sat in darkness should see a great light. His eye was fixed upon “ the uttermost part of the earth,” as well as upon the land of the covenant. 5. The word glorified (verse 48). They proved themselves to be worthy of eternal life, for many believed, “ and the Word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout all the region.” III. The Word persecuted. Note--1. The unbelieving Jews. They demonstrated that they were unworthy of eternal life by conducting themselves as though inspired by the evil one. 2. The believing disciples. “ The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost.” The persecutors, on the contrary, were filled with jealousy and with hate. They succeeded in driving away Paul and Barnabas, but the apostles left behind them a peace and joy that could not be banished. The missionaries were expelled, but the gospel had come to stay. (M. C. Hazard.)And went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.-- Paul at Antioch In these verses there are many inferential lessons: e.g., verse 26. We are not to cast our pearls before swine; it was to those who feared God that Paul spoke of the great salvation. To him that hath shall be given; those who fear God shall be led to the knowledge of His truth. Verse 27. Ignorance is a frequent cause of crime; hence the importance of educational effort. It is possible for us to misunderstand the things with which we are most familiar. How little we know of the tendencies of our actions; they may actually accomplish the very opposite of what we intended. Verse 28. A blameless life will not necessarily exempt from hatred and persecution. Hatred is irrational; let us be on our guard against its perverting influences. Verse 29. There is a limit to all that men can do to us, and it is soon reached. Verse 34. The men of the greatest influence and activity soon reach the end of their course and pass away; only Christ remains the same efficient power in all generations. Note here-- I. Paul’ s method of preaching the gospel to the Jews. He urged them to accept it because--1. In Christ were fulfilled the promises made to their fathers. This Paul used to establish by copious quotations from the Old Testament, his object being always to prove that Jesus was not the founder of a new religion, but the Messiah of whom the prophets had spoken. 2. The ignorance and wickedness of the Jewish rulers had led to the accomplishment of predictions that could not otherwise have been fulfilled. 3. By the resurrection of Christ God had completely reversed this condemnation by men. 4. Christ confers on them who believe on Him greater blessings than could be obtained from the Mosaic law. II. Lessons to be learned from this method.1. Let us endeavour to conciliate those whom we seek to convert. 2. Let us make Christ the central theme of our teaching. 3. In our presentation of Christ and all truth, let us adapt ourselves to our hearers. What a contrast between this address and that on Mars Hill! 4. Yet no fear of offending the prejudices of our hearers must lead us to keep back any portion of the truth. 5. While always maintaining the spirit of love, let us not hesitate, if need be, to persuade our hearers by the terrors of the Lord. (R. A. Bertram.)Paul at Antioch I. He brought a great message. It was not an ingenious development of a trivial theme. No doubt the account of the sermon is only the merest outline, but it calls to a living interest in the few great themes of the gospel. A true religious knowledge is not an infinite number of anatomical bits of information about the Bible. He whose heart and mind are filled with the thoughts of God’ s sovereignty, and Christ’ s redemption and the resurrection life, has a true knowledge of the revelation. Other things are important only as they throw light on these. II. He reinforced his message by the power of his own intense conviction. He was not half persuaded merely of the truth he preached. It was a message to the utterance of which he had given his life, upon the truth of which he had staked his own destiny. III. The gospel message thus brought to Antioch revealed the hearts of her citizens.1. The Jews Were narrow, unteachable, holding what truth they had in unrighteousness: they judged themselves “ unworthy of eternal life.” 2. The Gentiles awakened to a transient interest in a new religion, in their sudden excitement betokened their lack of thought and earnestness in receiving the grace of God. They were the “ stony-ground” hearers. 3. The “ devout women of honourable estate” were able to influence the municipal authorities, and to stir up persecution against the apostles. In so doing, they passed judgment upon themselves, separating themselves from the greater number of “ honourable women,” who elsewhere greatly aided the apostles in their labours. 4. The Roman authorities, tolerant of the Jewish religion because careless about all religion; deprecating excitements, solicitous for peace; easily persuaded, for the sake of quiet, to banish the disturbers--their irreligious nature is disclosed to us. Thus the gospel revealed the hearts of all. It compelled all to take sides. And so now men cannot come into the full light of the gospel without showing what manner of men they are. IV. The message not only revealed character--it formed character. God’ s Word does not leave men as it finds them. The gospel has power to quicken the conscience; but when the clearer voice of conscience is disobeyed, estrangement from God is deepened. More evident and remarkable was its transforming power upon those that believed. They were “ filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.” V. The opposition of the Jews to the message suggests that there is a limit to responsibility for the proclamation of the gospel at given times and places. Having clearly set before the Jews the claims of the gospel, Paul had discharged his obligation (verse 46). Every man who has learned from the gospel what the state of the natural heart is, and what the power is by which God renews the heart, and what the channel is through which Divine grace comes to men, has learned enough to be fully accountable for his own salvation. To him the Church has performed her mission and discharged her obligation. When she has set before you the gift of God, which ix eternal life, you must judge yourself worthy or unworthy of it. VI. The gospel brings abiding and increasing blessings to those who receive it (verse 52). The persecution of Paul and Barnabas did not shake their faith. By the presence of the Holy Ghost they were freed from shame and fear, and filled with joyous hope. (W. G. Sperry.)Paul’ s first, recorded speech 1. Paul and Barnabas did not violently separate themselves from old traditions and religious companionships. The Christian is not the enemy of the Jew; he owes everything precious in his civilisation and in his hope to the Jew. There was a custom in the synagogue which we have not in the church. The rulers of the synagogue, noticing distinguished persons in the audience, would invite them to address the assembly. In the olden time they believed that the Word was its own defence, that the fire of the Lord would disinfect whatever it touched, and that to be in the synagogue was to be deeply religious, and loyal to the spirit of the house. These things have all changed. Men can be in the Christian church in an unchristian spirit. The mere verbalist, yes, and even the mocker, may find his way into the church, and be only too glad to have an opportunity to contradict what he did not understand. The usual challenge having been given, Paul stood up. That was an event in history. In that brief sentence you have the beginning of a battle which was concluded with these words--“ I have fought a good fight,” etc. Paul did not stand up by himself. Men are lifted up. Every action of the loyal life is an action of inspiration. The good man lays no plans, and makes no arrangements which can exclude the sudden and incalculable inspiration of God. 2. This is Paul’ s first recorded speech. I like to be present at beginnings. There is a subtle, tender mysterious joy about planting roots and sowing seed, covering it up and leaving it in the darkness; then what a surprise it is to come back in due time and find the green lancet puncturing the soil and coming up to look at the light it has been groping for all the while! Sometimes our first speeches were very poor because they were our own. We made them, wrote them out, graved them upon the unwilling memory, and they were like something put on, not growing out; and so we begged our friends, who were unhappy enough to be able to quote some portions of them, to forget them if they could! But the first speeches of the Christian defender were incapable of improvement. They were as complete as the fiat of God which said--“ Let there be light: and there was light.” 3. Paul based his apology on the model of Stephen. We cannot tell of what elements our life is made up. It is no one shower of rain that makes the summer green. We are gathering from every point all day long. Paul was no student of rhetoric when he listened to Stephen; but Stephen’ s speech, like all vital speech, got into the man, and became part of his intellectual and spiritual life. Paul began as Stephen did, with a narrative of Jewish history. To their credit be it spoken, the Jews were never tired of hearing their own history. Are we patient under the citation of the facts which make up our history? We cannot live in sentiment. You cannot build a castle in the air that you can live in; it must be founded upon rock, however high up into the air you may carry it. This was the great law of Jewish eloquence and Jewish appeal, basing the whole argument upon the rock of undisputed history. Do not some of us occasionally say, “ Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and His love” ?--therein we are partly Jewish--that is our story! As the Jews began from the formation of themselves as a people, we begin at Bethlehem, and in proportion as we are in the right spirit and temper, we are never tired of hearing the old, old story. 4. Notice in this speech what we may call Paul’ s grip of God. I know not any speech of the same length in which the sacred word occurs so frequently. The factor we have omitted from our sermons is only--God! We are afraid or ashamed of His name; we pronounce it hesitatingly, mincingly, timidly. Paul did not use it so; he hurled it like a thunderbolt; he measured everything by that grand standard. All through history he saw a Figure after the similitude of God. You can dislodge a man from any position but that. 5. As we find Stephen’ s character in Stephen’ s apology, so we may find Paul’ s character in Paul’ s exposition. Mark his courtesy. He was no rough intruder, but a gentleman born, and indestructible all through and through, polite, refined, courteous, gentlemanly. His tact is most wonderful; he notices how the assembly is made up--he is a poor speaker who takes no note of his hearers. Paul saw not only the Jews, but the Greeks and proselytes, who, wearied with the absurdities of polytheism, had come to believe there was one God, a spiritual, invisible, eternal God! So Paul accosted both classes, “ Men of Israel” --always distinguishable, never to be confounded with others--“ and ye that fear God” --converted from mythology to true spirituality of thought--“ give audience.” How delicately he puts the case in verse 27! 6. How wondrously Paul introduced the right way of quoting Scripture! There is hardly a quotation which he makes here which is not a double or a treble quotation turned into one: e.g., verse 22 cannot be found in the Old Testament; it is at least three passages made into one. It is all in the Bible, but is in no one place in the Scripture. He does not quote the Bible who quotes mere texts. The Bible is larger than any one text that is in it. There is a spirit of collocation and a spirit of quotation, a Bible spirit that can bring from east, west, north, and south lines that shall focalise in one intense and dazzling glory. 7. Paul’ s voice surely had a quiver in it which no reporter could catch--for in reports we do not get the tonic colour and force of speech--when he said, “ God gave unto them Saul,” etc. (J. Parker, D. D.)Paul’ s first reported sermon Note three great facts which he was anxious to impress on their attention. I. That their Scriptures, which exhibited God’ s special kindness to them as a people, contained the promise of a Messiah. After reminding them of certain striking facts in their history, showing how wondrously kind God had been to them as a people, extending from verses 17 to 21, he directs them at once to the great prophetic truth that there was, according to their Scriptures to, come a Messiah. He states--1. That David was to be the progenitor of that Messiah (verses 22, 23). 2. That John the Baptist, one of the greatest prophets of their age, was to be His forerunner (verses 24, 25). This fact, namely, that their Scriptures pointed to a Messiah, they would be prepared, of course, readily to admit. Hence he proceeds to another fact arising out of this which would not be so easily admitted. II. That the Messiah predicted by their Scriptures had actually appeared on the earth (verse 26). He states facts that occurred in the history of the Messiah while here.1. That He was crucified and buried according to their Scriptures (verses 27-29). In their Scriptures they would find an account of just the treatment He actually met with on the earth. 2. That God actually raised Him from the dead, also, according to their Scriptures (verse 31). He states that His resurrection formed the glad tidings which they had to declare unto them (verse 32). He states that His resurrection was a fulfilment of their Scriptures (verses 33-35). In quoting these passages he seemed to anticipate that some of his audience would say that they referred to David; but this he declares is impossible, as that David “ was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.” The other great fact we discover in this sermon is-- III. That this Messiah is the Mediator through whom the world is to be saved. He states--1. That faith in Him will secure the forgiveness of all sins (verse 38). That the rejection of Him is of all crimes the most to be deprecated (verses 40, 41). (1) That sometimes the Divine judgments following the rejection of God’ s Word have been foretold. It is the principle of the Divine government that punishment shall ever follow unbelief. Numerous instances in the Bible might be cited. The apostle quotes a case here where such punishment had been predicted (Habakkuk 1:5). The original design of the prediction was to proclaim the ruin that would come upon the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans. The reason why that ruin came on them from God was their unbelief. (2) That the judgments that have followed unbelief in past times should be taken as types and warnings of those that will follow the rejection of God’ s Word in Jesus Christ. Thus the apostle uses Divine judgment here. The passage which he quotes from the Septuagint, not by any means with literal accuracy, he cites to show, not that this particular prophecy will be fulfilled in the experience of the rejecters of Christ, but that something as terrible. From the language we may infer-- (a) That the judgment, when it comes, will fill the victim with amazement--“ Behold, ye despisers, and wonder.” What wild amazement seized the antediluvians, the men of Sodom, etc., when the judgment came. (b) That the judgment, when it comes, will effect utter destruction--“ perish.” (c) That the judgment that is to come is incredibly tremendous. It is “ a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul in his introductory discourse already a complete Paul 1. The profound interpreter of Scripture (verses 17, 33).2. The large-hearted Apostle of the Gentiles (verses 16, 26).3. The truly evangelical preacher of the faith (verses 38, 39).4. The undaunted witness of the truth (verses 40, 41). (K. Gerok.)“ I will make you fishers of men” The apostles, in obedience to this saying, have--1. Cast their net in many places (verse 13). 2. Suffered not themselves to be hindered in their work, though some went back (verse 13). 3. Regarded every time of work as opportune (verse 14). 4. Taken advantage of every place (verse 14). 5. Disregarded no request in order to testify of the grace of God in Christ Jesus (verse 16). (Lisco.) Acts 13:17-41 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers. The hours on the world’ s clock 1. Moving slowly forward as the hours of the Eternal God, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and of the long suffering God, whose patience has borne with this perverse world, as it did with Israel for forty years in the wilderness. 2. But unceasingly progressing to the end appointed of God--of the world’ s redemption, and the world’ s judgment. (K. Gerok.)The history of the kingdom of God The history of the world in the light of the gospel transfigured into the history of the kingdom of God. I. Its place is sketched out before in the eternal counsels of Divine wisdom, power, and love. II. Its sections of time are stations on the progress of humanity to its destination. III. Its heroes are the vassals of Christ, and willingly or unwillingly the servants of His kingdom. IV. Its end is the glorification of God in humanity. (K. Gerok.)The providence of God in the history of Israel An encouraging type of the Divine government of mankind. I. Wherein this providence is recognised.1. In the history of Israel. 2. In the history of the world. II. What influence the certainty of this Divine government should have upon us.1. We should be comforted with the sure confidence that the issue of things will be the best. 2. We should do our part, in order that the Divine plan of salvation may be more and more realised. (Lisco.)Christ, the world’ s Saviour I. Foretold in the old testament (Acts 13:16-25.)II. Rejected by his people (Acts 13:26-29.)III. Preached as the salvation of believers (Acts 13:30-41.)(Lisco.) Acts 13:18 And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness.Divine forbearance toward human perverseness retraced The goodness of God to man and the ingratitude of man to God form a very striking and affecting contrast. No one can seriously review his own history or that of the Church of God for any given period without being impressed with these two thoughts. How man tries God! how God bears with maul Consider-- I. The period of time. How long? “ About the time of forty years.” This was the period during which Israel was wandering in the wilderness. This time was appointed by God Himself. Modern travellers go the whole distance in some two or three weeks.1. Thus we see how more or less of time may be spent in the same journey. The journey of life occupies sometimes a shorter, sometimes a longer period of time. The little infant sometimes accomplishes, in a few hours, all the space which lies for man between the cradle and the grave, while others are forty years, or sometimes forty years twice told, in completing the same journey. There is a strange diversity as to the length of life. Certainty and uncertainty are here wonderfully intermingled. The certainty, as to any number of persons of the same age, that they will on an average live so long--the utter uncertainty, as to individuals, how long this or that person may live--are very instructive. Our conclusion ought to be, “ My times are in Thy hand.” It is for God to determine the limits of our wanderings; it is for us to use the space allotted us with fidelity. 2. For the time allotted is also throughout a season of responsibility. We surely see this in our text. Throughout that period the Jews were observed by God, as persons responsible to Him for their use or abuse of their privileges. And it is so with us. Our birth in a Christian country, in one age of the world rather than another, with certain advantages and opportunities more or less favourable--all form part of the circumstances of our responsibility. And this responsibility goes with us throughout our life, although some may carelessly forget, and others presumptuously deny it. There is “ a book of remembrance” with our God, in which is recorded a faithful history of our lives. We cannot blot out a letter in that book. There is One, who can. “ I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgression,” etc. 3. The time is also a time of mercies. (1) Those forty years with Israel were years of mercies. There were mercies in their deliverance from Egypt, in the provisions of the wilderness, in their education by the moral law showing the holiness of God, and by the ceremonial law showing forth His mercies in Christ Jesus--in their guidance by that pillar of a cloud by day and that pillar of fire by night--in their preservation amid hostile nations, etc., etc. (2) But are not our years years of mercies? (a) If Christians indeed, have there not been mercies of conviction, conversion, justification, regeneration? Mercies in our education by the law leading to Christ, and by Christ writing the law by His Spirit upon our hearts--mercies also in our guidance by the Word and Spirit, and Providence, mercies too in our recoveries from sickness, etc., etc. (b) But if some of you are not Christians, yet your past years have also been years of mercies. God has dealt very mercifully with you, in sparing you so long. Seek then that God’ s mercies of forbearance may lead you to know His mercies of loving kindness in saving you also through His dear Son. II. The fact. “ Suffered He their manners.”1. They provoked God in the wilderness. “ Harden not your heart,” says the psalmist, “ as in the provocation,” etc. Scarcely had they entered the wilderness, when they began to murmur at Marah. They go but a little further, when again they murmur for bread. Soon after at Massah and at Meribah for water. They come to Sinai, and there they fall into idolatry. Then at Taberah again they complained. Then how badly the spies behaved. After this was the rebellion of Korah, and murmurings again and again. Is not the term used in our text exceedingly appropriate and expressive? Could any people have behaved much worse than this called the people of God? 2. Thus then He had to “ suffer their manners,” and He did suffer them with a patience that is truly wonderful. Yet, observe, it was not with the weak patience of one who gives up the rod of government, and leaves a people to “ do what is right in their own eyes.” His patience was that of one who yet showed Himself just and holy. He sent repeated punishments; He gave many warnings; He plied them with remonstrance and expostulation. III. The instruction for us. They were very like us, and we have been very like them. Let any one of you review any definite portion of his life and he will be alike humbled and surprised to see how like he has been to those, whose “ manners God suffered in the wilderness.” More indeed has been expected from us, because more has been given.1. They murmured repeatedly, and so displeased God. “ Neither murmur ye,” says the apostle, “ as some of them also murmured.” And yet what fault more common? Many murmur if “ their bread and their water” be scarce, when they had much better be praying, “ Give us our daily bread,” and be trusting to Him who has said, “ bread shall be given them and their water shall be sure.” There are who murmur for “ the flesh pots of Egypt,” and complain because they are debarred from some of the pleasures of the world. 2. The Israelites were guilty of idolatry, and Christians are exhorted, “ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Nor is the exhortation needless. To love riches as the world do, is to be an idolater of Mammon. To love pleasure is to be an idolater of pleasure. To love sin is to give to sin what belongs to God. Who of us can review life for any term of years, and not now own that in some or in many or in all of these ways we have been idolaters? (J. Hambleton, M. A.) Acts 13:22-23 He raised up David. David David is one of the grandest men in the Bible, and his character is more fully portrayed than that of any other with one exception. The sweet singer of Israel was royally dowered with charms of the person, with gifts of the mind, and with susceptibilities of the heart; and, from a youth up, he was as one who is well beloved, and therefore rightly named. He was great in all the faculties of his soul, and has not been placed higher in the esteem of the Church than his virtues have warranted. It has been questioned how he could be called a man after God’ s own heart, and his crimes have been sketched with nauseating fulness. But the Church no more defends them than he did or the Bible. I. Why then are his sins so fully presented?1. That we may see how full of infirmity are the best of men.2. That we may see how efficacious grace is to overcome them.3. That we may see how bitter is the sorrow of the truly penitent, and how wide is the door of mercy. II. Why is he called a man after God’ s own heart?1. David was chosen by God.2. As thus chosen he would more strictly observe the revealed will of God.3. David was a man of fervent piety, of swift repentance, and of the deepest spiritual aspirations.4. He was large-hearted, true as a friend, affectionate as a father, and ever ready to be reconciled with his foes--to forgive and forget. In these attributes of a fatherly heart he resembled God. III. Three inferences from his history.1. This life is not an encouragement to commit sin or to continue in sin, but an encouragement to those struggling to be delivered from their sins. 2. Any one may be called a man after God’ s own heart, if his life is marked by the same religious fervour, by the same sincere penitence, and by the same deep longings after God by day and by night. 3. We must seek after likeness to God in our moral nature--in our likes and dislikes. (Homiletic Monthly.)The ability to see the beautiful How much easier it is to see defects than to see beauties, in anything at which we look. No art education is requisite to the perceiving of a broken arm or a nose, on an ancient Grecian statue, or of the weather stains on its marble surface; but it does require a trained eye and a cultivated taste to recognise the lines of beauty, and the tokens of power, in a discoloured and a battered fragment of a master work of art. And so it is in the reading of a book, or in the observing of a character: the ability to perceive that which is worthy, and that which is admirable, is higher and rarer than the ability to perceive errors and flaws. No teacher or scholar has been too stupid to see David’ s faults. Only here and there has one been noble enough, and clear-eyed enough, to recognise the exceptional high qualities, and the transcendent attractions of character, which lift David above his fellows. And so, again, this truth is continually being illustrated. Let him who would have the credit of superior ability be careful not to criticise or to condemn too freely; for that is a sure mark of inferiority. The power to point out beauty and worth, where others would pass it by, is, in itself, a proof of excellence. Why can not all aim at that higher standard? (The Sunday School Times.)A man after Mine own heart.--The sins of the saints 1. We all know of the frequency with which testimony is given to God’ s affection for David. Speaking of him to his successors, He always holds him up to their admiration (1 Kings 9:4). And the writer of the Chronicles sums up the life of any monarch who had turned into devious ways in such words as those of 2 Chronicles 28:1. 2. Now, God did not choose the Psalmist-warrior as we choose our friends, by a sort of self-blinding; discerning in them gifts and graces which to all other eyes they obviously lack. God will never prefer a man to hold such a position in His thoughts as David held, without some just cause of esteem. The assertion that God takes an unworthy man into His preeminent affection because He wills to do so tarries in it its own contradiction, God, like man, has to obey the law of His nature, and that law is that He can only choose what is right and good. Even the passage, “ Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated,” must not be interpreted to mean that He loved the less worthy and condemned the better. Otherwise we strip God of His noblest attributes, and make Him inferior to man in the moral equities of reason and conscience; and, in the words of Bacon, “ It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of Him, for the one is unbelief and the other is contumely. Plutarch saith well to this purpose: ‘ Surely,’ saith he, ‘ I had rather a great deal men should say there was no such man as Plutarch, than that they should say there was one Plutarch who would eat his children as soon as they were born, as the poets speak of the god Saturn.’“ 3. Now, this representation of God’ s preference for David seems not to be justified when you turn to his life. Of course in estimating the man we must take into account the morality of his age, his moral superiority to the contemporary sovereigns, and the temptations kings were subject to, and we ought not to judge him by the light of these later times, but by the light that was given to him. But our purpose is not to extenuate or minimize David’ s sins, but to vindicate God’ s joy in him. Doubtless there were in David’ s life hours of nearness to God, times of serenest reliance, and trust, and joy in God, and faithful service, and prompt obedience. But there were also in this same man’ s life depths of infamy. What, then, was this something that dwarfed the glaring defects of the life? We shall understand this if we consider-- I. The proper way to estimate the sins of the saints. It is our custom to fix our eyes on any virtuous or vicious action we have found out in a man’ s life, not caring to inquire whether it is the expression of virtuous or vicious principle. Now, we ought to a great degree to overlook the outward details, be they blemishes or merits, and estimate the man by the principles on which he is deliberately endeavouring to mould his character--by the moral spinal column that in the main holds his life together. Neither Noah’ s act of drunkenness nor Moses’ murder of the Egyptian on the one hand, nor Balaam’ s truthfulness nor Judas’ penitence or remorse on the other, should depreciate or exalt them in our eyes, as neither of these actions or mental states are traceable to vital principle. Now, David’ s sins, gross and coarse though they were, were accidental; they belied the principle on which he was painfully endeavouring to mould his character; and so God, who looks upon such frailties “ with larger, other eyes than ours, making allowance for us all,” forgave and overlooked the casual blemishes, the life in the main being faithful and true. His sins brought awful retribution upon him, for God’ s forgiveness only cancels the alienation between the human and Divine mind. What he sowed, that he reaped; but, when the anguish of penitence filled his spirit, the enmity which the sin had established between his mind and God’ s became a thing of the past, and David was restored to the grace and favour from which he had temporarily lapsed. For there was in this man a soul that, often plunged in the mire, refused to abide there, and ever strove to rise up and take its flight to a serener and purer atmosphere. If I do the sin I would not, the sin which is not in keeping with the moral habits I am faithfully endeavouring to acquire, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And if I delight in the law of God after the inner man, and see another law in my members warring against this law in which I delight, and by which I aspire to live, and leading me into great and grievous sins, then, though with my flesh I serve sin, with my mind I serve God, and I claim to be judged to be what I am in my aspirations and hopes. II. We shall understand God’ s love and praise of David if we reflect that love and praise are due, not necessarily to the man who lives most virtuously, but to the man in whose life the moral struggle has been most faithfully maintained. There are many men virtuous because it is constitutionally easier for them to be virtuous than not. Purity that springs from a heart that keeps pure because it never warms, can lay no claim either to human or Divine admiration. There is nothing meritorious in automatic goodness. But there is something great and heroic in the life of the man who has had all his days to fight with moral infirmities and passions, and who, though often conquered and crushed, has risen again with resistance in his heart and defiance on his lips to renew the contest. This is what I find in God’ s love for David, and in the way Scripture always refers to him. No more difficult life problem has been given to mere man than was given to him to solve. Look under what trying conditions he contrived to keep his heart subject to the fear of God. One day we find him a shepherd lad, the next the hero of Israel, and in rapid succession court musician, king’ s son-in-law, the freebooter of the wilderness, the leader of outlaws, the mercenary soldier, the monarch, the exile, and finally the monarch again. And this leads me to conclude with a question which has often perplexed us--the unequal distribution of moral natures, one man receiving from God a nature prone to goodness, another a nature prone to evil. We have men with constitutional infirmities saying, “ God has given me a nature that prevents me ever being a saint; why should God punish me for not being that which the rigorous necessities of the nature He has given me makes it impossible for me to be? I am not responsible for my nature. It is my fate.” Yes; and David’ s life was lived and is written to be your answer, and throw light upon your case. There is your nature: easy to be brought within the power of goodness or difficult, it is your work. Others with a milder task set before them may march from moral victory to moral victory. But if you have not left the evil within you to govern you, but have resolutely essayed to drive it out, and subject your lower nature to the sovereignty of your higher, God will pronounce His “ Well done” upon you. Failure is no sin, faithlessness is; and, judged by this standard, there may be more of the grace of God, more of the divinest moral energy, more conscience, reason, and love admitted into the heart, and shaping the life of a man fighting, like David, against the infirmities of his flesh and the savage bias of his nature, though the fighting be unsuccessful, than in the heart and life of many a saint to whom goodness comes easy. (J. Forfar.)Of this man’ s seed hath God … raised … Jesus.--Christ, the Son of David, more than David I. According to his spiritual disposition.1. David a man according to God’ s own heart to do all His will (verse 22).2. Christ, God’ s own Son, fulfilling in perfect obedience His Father’ s work. II. According to his career.1. David ascended the throne through lowliness and hardships.2. Christ humbled to death on the Cross, exalted to the Father’ s right hand (verses 27-31). III. according to the sphere of his work.1. David as king over Israel, a shepherd of his people, and a terror to his enemies.2. Christ as the Saviour of the world, an Eternal Prince of Peace to His people, and a terrible Judge to the despisers (verses 38-41). (K. Gerok.) Acts 13:25 John fulfilled his course. On the duty, happiness, and honour of maintaining the course prescribed to us by Providence The life of every individual may be compared to a river: rising in obscurity, increasing by the accession of tributary streams, and, after flowing through a longer or shorter distance, losing itself in some common receptacle. Whilst a stream is confined within its banks, it fertilises, enriches, and improves the country through which it passes; but if it deserts its channel, by stagnating in lakes and marshes, its exhalations diffuse pestilence and disease around. Some glide away in insignificance: whilst others become celebrated. Some are tranquil and gentle in their course; whilst others, rushing in torrents, dashing over precipices, become objects of terror and dismay. But, however diversified their character, or their direction, all agree in having their course short, limited, and determined. Thus human characters, however various, have one common destiny; their course of action may be greatly diversified, but they all lose themselves in the ocean of eternity. Few have appeared on the stage of action whose life was more important than of John. His course was a very extraordinary one. John was called to a very singular work; his ministry formed an epoch in the history of the Church. It was the connecting link between the two dispensations. His career was brilliant, successful, short, and his end violent and tragical. I. That there is a prescribed course or sphere of action appointed to every individual by the Author of our nature.1. We are not a race of independent creatures sent into the world to follow the dictates of our own will. We are not our own; we belong to another. To do God’ s will, to serve the end of His government, and to promote His glory; these are the great ends of our existence. Thus our Saviour Himself when in this world was devoted to His Father’ s will. “ My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me,” etc. And we live to no purpose, or to a bad one, but as we conform to this. 2. But, although this is the universal principle by which all are to be actuated, yet it admits of great and numerous variations in its practical application. The manner in which an apostle, for instance, was called upon to do this, is not that in which an ordinary teacher is to do it; nor the manner of an ordinary teacher that of a private Christian. The duties of a sovereign are different from those of his ministers; and those again, from the duties of inferior magistrates; and of magistrates, from those of private subjects. Of the rich it is required “ to do good and to communicate” ; of the poor, to be prudent, diligent, careful; and so on. Although the end is the same in all, yet the manner in which this end is viewed will be various: the rays of light, when blended in day, are simple and of a uniform colour; but when they are refracted through a prism, they exhibit all the colours of the rainbow. II. That there is a set and limited time allotted to that sphere and course of action: “ There is an appointed time to man upon the earth.”1. The course of man is not indeterminate, but has its limits. If “ a sparrow falleth not to the ground without His knowledge,” much less can the death of a human creature take place without His interposition. Whether we fall premature victims to disease, or perish by what men call accident, or sink under the burdens of age, still it is according to the will of God, “ whose counsels shall stand, and who will do all His pleasure.” 2. It is short. “ Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth.” Whether we drop in infancy, from the cradle to the grave, or are cut off in youth; whether we attain to manhood, or even to old age; still, we soon reach the end of our course, and often without passing through its intermediate stages. 3. It is rapid and impetuous; its waves follow each other in quick succession, and many are engulfed almost as soon as they appear. Early in infancy the stream glides away like a summer brook, and leaves the fond parent mournfully to recall the pleasure he received in contemplating its unsullied purity and its playful meanders. Of those who set out with us in this journey of life, how many have disappeared from our side! III. Our happiness and our honour consist entirely in completing the course which God has assigned to us. Here we are liable to fall into two great mistakes.1. That there is some other happiness and honour than that which is to be found in fulfilling our course, in occupying that sphere of duty which God hath been pleased to assign us. Some are looking, for their satisfaction, to the pleasures of sin; others to the gratification which the world affords; some attach their notion of happiness to some external situation not yet found, and imagine it is to be met with there. Settle it in your minds that the only happiness worth seeking--that which will live in all circumstances, and abide the vicissitudes of life, consists in fulfilling our course, conforming to the Divine will, and this fountain of water flows for the refreshment of the meanest peasant, as well as of the greatest monarch. 2. That we should be able to conform ourselves to the will of God, and to our own sphere of action, better in some other state; and being therefore dissatisfied with that precise state in which His providence has placed us. The wisdom of each consists in fulfilling His own course. The course of John the Baptist was difficult, obstructed with afflictions, and beset with dangers: but he fulfilled it. How many objections might he have formed against the precise course assigned him! The poor may easily imagine how amiably and liberally they should have acted if their lot had been cast among the rich; and the rich, on the other hand, how safely they should have been preserved from a variety of snares, if they had been screened by the privacy of the poor. The young will ascribe their errors to the impetuosity so natural to their age; and the aged wish for the energy which belongs to youth: their time, they plead, is passed; it is too late for them to change. But all these are great mistakes. It is not a change of state that we want, but a change of heart. The grace of God will keep us humble in prosperity, cheer us in adversity, sustain and direct us in life, support us in death, and go with us into eternity. Finally, let each of us attach himself with more seriousness, alacrity, and fervour than ever, to the proper duties of his station; let each consider in what instances he fails to fulfil his course. The memory of John the Baptist is perpetuated with honour, because he “ fulfilled his course” ; while that of Herod and Pontius Pilate are covered with infamy. Which of these characters will you imitate? Whenever the gospel is preached, this alternative is presented of “ shining like the sun forever; or of awaking to shame and everlasting contempt.” (R. Hall.) Acts 13:26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.To you I. What is the word of this salvation?1. It is the testimony that Jesus is the promised Saviour (Acts 13:23). 2. The word which promises forgiveness to all who exhibit repentance of sin, and faith in the Lord Jesus (Acts 13:38-39). 3. In a word, it is the proclamation of perfect salvation, through the risen Saviour (Acts 13:32-33). (1) It is comparable to a word for conciseness and simplicity. (2) It is a word, as being spoken by God, and as being His present utterance even at this moment. (3) It is a word; for it reveals Him who is truly “ the Word.” (4) It is a word of salvation; for it declares, describes, presents and presses home salvation. (5) It is a word sent, for the gospel dispensation is a mission of mercy from God, the gospel is a message, Jesus is the Messiah, and the Holy Ghost Himself is sent to work salvation among men. II. In what manner is the gospel sent to you?1. In the general commission, which ordains that it be preached to every creature. 2. In the fact that the gospel is preached in our land, the Bible is in every house, and the word is proclaimed in our streets. 3. In the providence which has brought you this day to hear the word. Very specially may you be sent to the preacher, the preacher sent to you, and the special message be sent through the preacher to you. 4. In the peculiar adaptation of it to your case, character, and necessity, h medicine which suits your disease is evidently meant for you. 5. In the power which has attended it, while you have been hearing it, though you may have resisted that power. It would be a sad thing if we had to single out even one, and say, “ This word is not only sent to you” ; but we are under no such painful necessity. III. In what position does it place you? In a position--1. Of singular favour. Prophets and kings died without hearing what you hear (Matthew 13:16). 2. Of notable indebtedness to martyrs and men of God, in past ages, and in these days; for these have lived and died to bring you the gospel. 3. Of great hopefulness; for we trust you will accept it and live. 4. Of serious responsibility; for if you neglect it, how will you escape? (Hebrews 2:3). It puts it out of your power to remain unaffected by the gospel. It must either save you, or increase your condemnation. IV. In what manner will you treat this word?1. Will you decidedly and honestly refuse it? This would be a terrible determination; but the very idea of so doing might startle you into a better mind? 2. Will you basely and foolishly delay your reply? This is a very dangerous course, and many perish in it. 3. Will you play the hypocrite, and pretend to receive it, while in your heart you reject it? 4. Will you act the part of the temporary convert? 5. Will you not rather accept the word of salvation with delight? Suppose the gospel should be taken from you by your removal to a place where it is not preached, or by the death of the minister whom you so greatly esteem. It would be just. It may happen. It has happened to others. Refuse the heavenly message no longer, lest your day of grace should end in an eternity of woe. (C. H. Spurgeon.)To you is the word of salvation I remember when Mr. Richard Weaver preached at Park Street Chapel, in his younger days, he came down from the pulpit, and ran over the pews to get at the people, that he might speak to them individually, and say, “ you,” and “ you,” and “ you.” I am not nimble enough on my legs to do that, and I do not think I should try it if I were younger: but I wish I could, somehow or another, come to each one of you, and press home these glad tidings of great joy. You, my dear old friend, it means you! You, young woman, over there to the right, it means you! You, dear child, sitting with your grandmother, it means you! “ Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The word of salvation I. The general character of the gospel. The gospel is “ the word of this salvation” --1. As being the sole authority on which we ascertain the possibility of that salvation. Without it we should be inextricably bewildered on the question whether or not our salvation could be made consistent with the character of God. (1) We may learn much respecting the Divine character without the aid of written revelation. The “ heavens above, the earth beneath, the waters under the earth,” startle us with the conviction that He who made them and still preserves them must necessarily be a God of wisdom and knowledge. We gaze on the stupendous structure and mechanism of the universe, and we perceive inscribed on every part of it the signs of an almighty hand. We look upon the creatures of various kinds that people this world of ours, and we remark indications equally expressive of the goodness of Him “ by whom all things consist.” And in addition there is, in the law He has promulgated, a revelation of His perfect purity and justice. (2) But whence are we to ascertain His mercy? Or by what means may we discover that “ God may be just and yet the justifier” of those who have broken His commandment? From other quarters we look for information in vain. Or, if an answer come, it is to assure us that God “ will by no means clear the guilty.” (3) It is the gospel only, which satisfies us in this great inquiry, Here and here alone we learn that in the restoration of our nature, mercy and truth may meet together, and righteousness and peace embrace each other. 2. As it reveals to us the plan and means of our “ salvation.” It opens to us the very principle and motive in which the plan originated, by assuring us that “ God so loved the world,” and that it is “ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He hath saved us.” Do we inquire in what manner the purpose of this grace and mercy was carried into practical effect? We are informed it was by the gift of His well-beloved and only-begotten Son. Are we desirous of knowing in what respect this Son was given? We learn that though, “ being in the form of God,” yet He “ humbled Himself” and “ took upon Himself the form of a servant,” and finally was put to death. Do we inquire, what was the immediate issue of the amazing series of sufferings through which He passed? We are assured that on the third day He “ rose again from the dead,” and that therefore “ God hath highly exalted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins.” Are we concerned to know by what means we are to receive the benefit of all this love and condescension? Directions clear and numerous are set before us, so that we need not miss our providential way. 3. As being the instrument by which it is effected. It is not merely the wisdom of God, or the grace of God, it is also “ the power of God unto salvation.” The gospel is indebted for its former and its present triumphs, not to the zeal or eloquence of its ministers, but to that Divine power which was breathed into it on its original promulgation, and which still continues to make it effectual. “ Not by power, nor by might, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” 4. The character of the gospel as a “ word of salvation,” becomes still more strikingly apparent, when it is compared with preceding revelations. (1) Let it be compared, for instance, with the law of Moses. That law was eminently-- (a) A word of terror. How different were the circumstances under which “ grace and truth came by Jesus Christ to those under which the law came.” Instead of being terrified and driven back with “ thunderings and lightnings,” we are encouraged to “ come with boldness to a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,” etc. (b) A word of condemnation. How different are the accents in which the gospel speaks to us. For, whilst it fully secures the glory of the Divine holiness, it assures us at the same time “ that through this Man is preached unto us the forgiveness of sins.” (2) And the gospel is distinguished from all preceding revelations, as in comparison they were at best but words of promise. In their clearest discoveries they were but as the dimness of the twilight which precedes the glory of the risen day. (3) And in contrast with false systems of religion, which, as regards their effects on the habits of civil life and of domestic society, are systems of destruction and cruelty, the gospel is a “ word of salvation” ; since it instructs us to “ do ourselves no harm,” and directs us to love our neighbour as ourselves. And if it be contrasted with such systems, with regard to their effect upon man’ s spiritual and eternal interests, they appear not only systems of cruelty to the body, but also systems of awful destruction to the soul. II. The practical duties which result from its communication. It has not indeed been sent to you as it was sent originally to the Jews, by special revelation from heaven, or by the personal ministry of Christ. Still it has been sent. And the practical duties are--1. To receive implicitly the “ form of doctrine” which that word inculcates. In matters which depend on human authority we have a right to doubt, and if we please, to contradict and to deny. But the “ word of the gospel” is not” the word of men” ; it is “ in truth the word of God.” As such, it is clothed with an authority which precludes at once all right on our part to question any doctrine it proposes. “ Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker.” 2. To gratefully accept the benefits it offers. 3. To expect that salvation which constitutes the subject of it. The very reason why, notwithstanding your repeated rejection of this word, it has continued to be sent to you, has been that God willeth not the death of a sinner, but would rather that all men should repent and live. 4. To send it to others. For every benefit bestowed upon us involves an obligation to be “ merciful even as our leather who is in heaven is merciful.” (Jonathan Crowther.)The word of salvation I. Needed. “ What must I do to be saved?” the question of questions.1. Men are lost, and need saving from the consequences of their wandering. 2. Men are under condemnation, and need saving from the threatenings of the broken law. 3. Men are sundered from God, the Fountain of life and blessedness, and need saving from the death that never dies. 4. Men are in bondage to sin and evil habits, and need saving from that dire captivity. And where is the saving word? Nature is dumb on the subject of salvation; conscience emphasises the existence of the evil, but is silent as to the remedy; philosophy has grappled with the problem, but has left it where it was; educational and reformatory measures have removed a few symptoms, but left the root of the disease untouched. History is the arena on which many saving experiments have been tried; let the student say which has succeeded. II. Best. 1. From whom? (1) Not from man. The patient is unequal to effect his own cure. The declaration of the text is a disclaimer of originality to an age sick of original efforts to cure an inveterate disease--a disease, too, beyond the power of original physicians even to understand. The office of the gospel preacher is simply to tell what he has been told in the clearest way. (2) From God who knows the evil thoroughly; who pities and loves the sinner; who desires above all things his salvation, and has made abundant provision for it in Christ. 2. To whom. “ You,” whoever you may be. (1) Jews ineffectually striving to work out their salvation by the works of the law. (2) God-fearing Gentiles endeavouring to construct a salvation out of the elements of their morality. (3) Sinners of every degree. III. Accepted.1. Heard. Hence the need of Scripture study, and attendance on the ministry of reconciliation. Ignorance is inexcusable in a land of Bibles and churches. 2. Believed in. A sick man who has no faith in his doctor or his prescriptions will hardly be persuaded to take his prescriptions. So there must be an assent to the verity and divinity of the gospel message. 3. Embraced. Not simply with the intellect, but with the heart. “ With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” When may the word of salvation be accepted? Now. For it is needed now; it is sent now. The need for it will not grow less by lapse of time; nor will time make it more acceptable. (J. W. Burn.)The word of salvation I. To whom sent. To all sinners, for all sinners need it, and it is suited to the case of all. II. For what purpose sent. As a word of--1. Pardon to the condemned sinner.2. Peace to the rebellious sinner.3. Life to the dead sinner.4. Liberty to the captive sinner.5. Healing to the diseased sinner.6. Cleansing to the polluted sinner.7. Direction to the bewildered sinner.8. Refreshment to the weary sinner.9. Comfort to the disconsolate sinner. (R. Erskine.)The word of salvation delivered I. The true character of the gospel which we preach. It--1. Reveals salvation clearly.2. Offers it freely.3. Confers it actually on all who will receive it. II. The commission which we hear in relation to the gospel. We must address--1. Those who on account of their attachment to the law suppose themselves not to need it.2. Those who through their alienation from God and His law suppose themselves beyond its reach. (C. Simeon, M. A.)Words of salvation Even in the ordinary experience of life men are saved by words--the words of their fellows. When a blind man avoids a precipice, and turns into a path of safety at the warning voice of a benevolent passenger, he has been saved by words. When the various portions of an army make a combined movement by orders of its chief, they are saved from ruin, and placed in safety, by words. Words, false and meaningless, however reverently they may be received, will not save, and on the other hand, words true and Divine will not save those who despise and neglect them. (W. Arnot.)A message of salvation It has been stated that Addison, the great essayist, found peace by believing in Christ ere he died. But it has remained for a recent biographer of Addison to inform us how it came about, for he was never known to have had any clerical friends who would be likely to influence him. It is now stated that a pastry cook sent home a pie on Christmas Day and under it he placed a page of Richard Baxter’ s “ Call to the Unconverted.” Addison, upon perusing it, purchased the whole book, which was the means of leading him to Jesus. Words of salvation providentially sent A young man in America was once at work upon his farm. He was careless about religion--indeed nobody had ever said a word to him about it; and as he had no Bible and only worldly friends, there seemed little chance of his ever hearing of Christ and salvation, and of heaven and hell. On this particular day, it was a bright morning in early summer, he had to take his cart, drawn by oxen, along the high road. He was thinking of nothing except his daily work and his daffy bread. A gentle breeze was blowing, and as he went along it stirred a little piece of paper which had been lying by the roadside, so that it fluttered in front of him. But on went the young man, the oxen and the cart, all the same. When he had gone a short way farther, however, a thought came over him, “ I wonder what that bit of paper was--I’ ve a great mind to go back and see.” And, stopping his team, he did go back. He picked it up and read it as he walked along. It was a leaf out of the Bible. The summer passed away with its flowers and sunshine, and the corn grew ripe, and was gathered into the garner; there was another harvest, too, standing ready for the sickle. The young man who had found the leaf lay upon a sick and dying bed. A sore disease had smitten him, and his parents knew there was no hope of his life. They were stricken with grief, but he--oh, he was rejoicing! And now his lips were open to tell them what he had never told before. The leaf out of the Bible had brought to him first the sense of sin and then the knowledge of a Saviour. He sought for a whole Bible, and ever since it had been his constant companion, and now, though called almost suddenly away from life with all its happiness, he knew whom he had believed, and he was ready. He had an anchor, sure and steadfast, for the Lamb that was slain to take away sin had taken away his sin. And without a doubt or a fear he entered into rest. Salvation, for all If I were to come as an accredited agent to you from the upper sanctuary, with a letter of invitation to you, with your name and address on it, you would not doubt your warrant to accept it. Well, here is the Bible--your invitation to come to Christ. It does not bear your name and address; but it says, “ Whosoever” : that takes you in. It says, “ All” : that takes you in. It says, “ If any” : that takes you in. What can be surer and freer than that? (T. Chalmers, D. D.)Salvation, common The gospel river of life does not branch out into divers streams. There is not a broad sweep of water for the rich, the intellectual, and the cultivated, and a little scant runnel where the poor may now and then come and get healed by the side of its precarious wave. There is no costly sanatorium beneath whose shade patrician leprosy may get by itself to be fashionably sprinkled and healed. Naaman, with all his retinue watching, must come and dip and plunge like common men in Jordan. There is no sort of salvation except the one ransom and deliverance that is purchased for rich and poor together by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the poor beggar, his garment ragged from the havoc of a hundred storms, and his flesh bleeding from the ulcers of a hundred wounds, may dip eagerly into the same Bethesda, and emerge unscarred and comely as a child. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)Salvation, neglecting Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple neglect. By neglect of education, children grow up in ignorance; by neglect, a farm grows up to weeds and briers; by neglect, a house goes to decay; by neglect of sowing, a man will have no harvest; by neglect of reaping, the harvest would rot in the fields. No worldly interest can prosper where there is neglect; and why may it not be so in religion? There is nothing in earthly affairs that is valuable that will not be ruined if it is not attended to; and why may it not be so with the concerns of the soul? Let no one infer, therefore, that because he is not a drunkard, or an adulterer, or a murderer, that therefore he will be saved. Such an inference would be as irrational as it would be for a man to infer, that, because he is not a murderer, his farm will produce a harvest; or that, because he is not an adulterer, therefore his merchandise will take care of itself. Salvation would be worth nothing if it cost no effort; and there will be no salvation where no effort is put forth. (A. Barnes, D. D.)Salvation, simplicity of A physician who was anxious about his soul asked a believing patient of his how he should find peace. His patient replied, “ Doctor, I have felt that I could do nothing, and I have put my case in your hand: I am trusting in you. This is exactly what every poor sinner must do in the Lord Jesus.” He saw the simplicity of the way, and soon found peace in Christ. Acts 13:27-32 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not.The rejection of Christ I. Its ground.1. Ignorance of Christ Himself. (1) Of His Divine Sonship.(2) His mediatorial authority.(3) His saving mission. Had they known all this, “ they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 2. Deafness to the voices of the prophets who predicted Him. Here we have the two-fold ground of all rejection of Christ. If men only knew Him, and recognised the force of those many prophecies which find their fulfilment only in Him, the acceptance of His Person and saving benefits would be inevitable. II. Its inexcusableness.1. Christ was with them, and demonstrated His Divine personality and mission by many infallible proofs--His sinless humanity, His miraculous works, His wonderful teaching. Christ is not with us in the same sense; but we have the record of His life, which renders His modern rejection none the less inexcusable. 2. They heard the prophecies frequently read; and had they listened without prejudice, they must have seen how they all converged in Him. So now. 3. There was no cause for His rejection (Acts 13:28). He did them no harm, but ever strove to do them good. Why do you reject Him? Is it not because you will not come to Him that you may have life? III. Its frustration.1. Their rejection, in its most aggravated form, only fulfilled the prophecies which went before on Him (Acts 13:27; Acts 13:29). 2. God reversed the humiliation of death which they inflicted on Him by raising Him from the dead. What to them was the end of His mission, proved only its beginning. 3. Their rejection proved the origin of that gospel which Paul was now preaching to the wide world. Nor is this rejection any more successful now. “ Whosoever falleth on this stone shall be broken,” etc. (J. W. Burn.)Nor the voices of the prophets. The voices of the prophets Some men ask, If the prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, why did they not all speak in the same manner? Why these varieties of style? I will answer that by asking another question: Why do not all the pipes of the organ give one and the same sound? What awakens all the sounds but one and the same blast from the wind chest? If there be a monoblast, why is there not a monotone? Because the pipes are of different shapes and sizes; the awakening breath is one; the intonation varies with the shape and size of the pipe. The inspiration was one, but the style and manner varied with the disposition and character of the individual employed. (H. McNeile, D. D.)Messianic prophecy: its characteristics Christ is the only Person whose life was written beforehand; as, e.g., in the time, place, and manner of His birth; in the kind of life He was to lead, the kind of teaching He was to give, the kind of death He was to die. The strength of prophecy lies in its chain of references to Christ, from the first mention of the “ seed of the woman” to the virgin-born Immanuel; from the sufferer whose heel is bruised in terms of the earliest promise, to the “ Man of Sorrows” in Isaiah 53:1-12; from the peace-giving lawgiver of a yet uncrowned tribe to the heir of David, who enters the long established seat of rule as a king. Even the predictions that bear on the Church of God and its universal progress are but the sequel to those which foretell the personal Christ, and they then reflect the light of His exaltation; nor can the judgments of the Jewish nation be dissociated, as the depth of their fall is but the measure of the grace and truth that were in Christ, and for rejecting which they were to be cast away. (Principal Cairns.)Messianic prophecy: its fulfilment When we see the predicted mission of the Messiah so faithfully fulfilled; when we see the great world’ s history bending itself to the birth of Jesus in the “ anno domini” of its dates and superscriptions; when we see that the world has moved as in deepest sympathy with the humble Nazarene, working ever in His behalf; when we behold all events marching onwards through the centuries to the beat of time, preserving, as Napoleon thought, “ a celestial order,” to accomplish one given result, the universal and final ascendency of the Son of David; when we see that all opposing systems can no longer hold comparison with the religion given to the world by Him than can the pale, thin, extended crescent ring of the setting moon hold comparison to the full blaze of the unclouded noonday sun; when we discover that this mighty One issued from the House of David before its fall, and from Bethlehem in the days of Herod, must we not acknowledge that He is the Being whom the prophets declared to be one with the Father Almighty? As we see Him standing alone among the millions of the race, the only pattern of absolute perfection, whose entire life, without inclining a hair’ s breadth to either side, pointed straight upwards to heaven--as all the separate and wandering rays of prophecy that had sparkled through the Divine Word are combined and concentrated, and rest, as with a sacred halo, on His head--how can we do otherwise than proclaim our convictions in that prophetic, startling, and sublime word, “ Immanuel!” --“ God with us” ? (Credo.)Ignorance of prophecy I was visited by a very distinguished young Israelite, who had seen me distributing the sacred volume, and I proposed that we should read a portion of Scripture together. He agreed on the condition that it should be from the Old Testament; and I read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. “ But,” said he, “ that is in the New Testament.” “ No, no,” I replied. “ There, take the book. Read it with that true heart which I perceive in you, and you will find what you seek.” He has found his Saviour, has accepted Him, and confesses Him with joy. (Pasteur Hirsch.)Necessity of an unprejudiced study of prophecy It is evident from this, and from Luke 23:34 and Acts 3:17, that the predictions of Holy Scripture may be accomplished before the eyes of men, while they are unconscious of that fulfilment; and that the prophecies may be even accomplished by persons who have the prophecies in their hands and do not know that they are fulfilling them. Hence also it is clear that men may be guilty of enormous sins when they are acting according to their own consciences and with a view to God’ s glory, and while they hold the Bible in their hands and hear its voice sounding in their ears; and that therefore it is of unspeakable importance, not only to hear the words of Scripture, but to mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, with humility and prayer, in order to understand their true meaning. Therefore the Christian student has great reason to thank God that He has given in the New Testament a Divinely-inspired interpretation of the Old, and has also sent the Holy Spirit, the Divine Interpreter, to abide with the Church. If the Jews and their rulers had not been swayed by prejudice, but, in a careful, candid, and humble spirit, had considered the evidence before them, they would have known that their promised Messiah was to be the Son of God, and that He was thus revealed as such in their own Scriptures, and thus His miracles would have had their due effect upon their minds. (Bp. Chr. Wordsworth.) Acts 13:32-34 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise … God hath fulfilled.The glad tidings I. What they are. The origin of the gospel conception is connected with Jewish history. The people were often assailed by enemies, and in Jerusalem they waited with anxiety to learn the issue. By agreement, a messenger was to be sent, and especially when God crowned them with victory. And as the watchman lifted up his eyes, and the people saw the sight, they cried, “ How beautiful upon the mountains,” etc. Hence, when the angel spoke on the plains of Bethlehem, he used words with which the shepherds were familiar. So when our Lord rose, He gave the disciples commandment to proclaim these glad tidings, to which Paul was obedient here. What, then, is the gospel?1. It is news. Man did not know it--could not find it, or invent it. Not the least proof that the gospel comes from heaven is that it is beyond the intellect and contrary to the temper of man. 2. It is good news. All the attributes of goodness are in it. “ Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” 3. It is good news about a Person, and that Person the Son of God--the adequate revelation of the Father--and Son of Man--the typical manifestation of humanity. The Person also the atonement for the world’ s guilt, and its Deliverer from condemnation and death. II. To whom they are sent. “ To you” --i.e., everyone.1. To the sad heart. They come to the wakened mind, to the alarmed conscience, to the despairing spirit. What glad tidings to know that the burden of guilt has been borne and the punishment of sin endured by Christ! 2. To a sad world, whose disappointment, sorrow, and tears makes it a very Marah, which nothing can sweeten but the Cross. III. With what end. To produce joy--pure, deep, everlasting. (J. Aldis.)God’ s promises fulfilled God is always true to what He promises to do. He will fulfil every word of what He has promised; yet how few take Him at His word! When I was a young man I was clerk in the establishment of a man in Chicago, whom I observed frequently occupied sorting and marking bills. He explained to me what he had been doing; on some notes he had marked B, on some D, and on others G; those marked B he told me were bad, those marked D meant they were doubtful, and those with G on them meant they were good. “ And,” said he “ you must treat all of them accordingly.” And thus people endorse God’ s promises, by marking some as bad, and others as doubtful; whereas we ought to take all of them as good, for He has never once broken His word, and all that He says He will do will be done in the fulness of time. (D. L. Moody.)The resurrection of Christ glad tidings He speaks of Christ’ s resurrection-- I. As an accomplishment of prophecy (cf. Psalms 118:22, with Luke 20:17). We must not, however, suppose this to be an uninteresting fact; for the apostle further speaks of it-- II. As glad tidings to the soul. To the disconsolate disciples the tidings of Christ’ s resurrection were doubtless exceeding joyful. But they ought to be no less so to us, since that event ascertains--1. The virtue of His sacrifice. Had He not risen, His death had been in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:17-18). But His resurrection clearly proved that He had satisfied the demands of law and justice. 2. His sufficiency for our help. If He were still dead, it would be in vain to look to Him for help. 3. The certainty of our own resurrection. Because He liveth, we may be sure that we shall live also (John 14:19). As a further improvement of this passage, permit me to observe--1. How deeply are we interested in the writings of the Old Testament! In them are promises of which we receive the accomplishment. 2. What enemies are they to themselves who despise the ministry of the gospel! 3. What a near relation subsists between believers in all ages! (Theological Sketch book.)The resurrection of Christ the great promise I. God promised to the patriarchs and prophets that He would raise Christ from the dead.1. To Adam, as we read in Genesis 3:1-24. The whole four themes of revelation are contained in these words: the first coming of Christ in the flesh; “ her seed.” His death; “ thou shalt bruise his heel.” His resurrection, and the present state of the Church; “ I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” His coming in glory, when He shall bruise the serpent’ s head. 2. To Abraham (Genesis 22:1-24; cf. Hebrews 11:17-19). Isaac was dead, in design; and on the third morning he was raised up. In this transaction Abraham saw the day of Christ, and rejoiced. This would also be a promise to Isaac. 3. To Moses also. Let us examine some types. (1) The manna represented Christ coming down from heaven, that the Church might feed on Him and live. We learn that a portion of manna was to be brought into the holy place, and there set before the testimony of the Lord. Which teaches us that He who came down from heaven was also to go up thither again, to appear in the presence of God for us. (2) In Leviticus 14:1-57, we read of the law of cleansing the leper. There was a bird killed, and a bird flying away. The living bird was to be sprinkled with the blood; the resurrection of Christ is available through the atonement, and the atonement through the resurrection. (3) So in the history of the two goats. One was to be slain; over the other the priest was to confess all the sins and trespasses of the people, and to send him away into the wilderness. So it is not on Jesus crucified merely that our sins are laid, or they would be there still. But the glory of the gospel is this: “ He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.” (4) In Leviticus 23:1-44, we read of the waving of the sheaf. “ Christ is raised from the dead, and is become the first fruits of them that slept.” And as the first fruits were to be waved the morning after the Sabbath, which was the first day of the week, on which day Christ also rose. 4. To David. The second Psalm is immediately connected with our text. On the morning of the resurrection, God owned His beloved Son: then He said, “ Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” Again, in Psalms 16:1-11, “ I have set the Lord always before me,” etc. Then, again, in Psalms 118:1-29, “ The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner,” etc. Which passage is also quoted by Peter, in Acts 4:1-37, when questioned as to the miracle performed on the impotent man. 5. To the prophets. In the context there is one remarkable quotation, from Isaiah 55:3. In that Christ is raised, never to die again; therefore He says, “ I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” 6. We are taught this promise also by the history of Jonah. “ As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’ s belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” II. He performed this promise. He did what He said. The day after the crucifixion of Christ the priests and Pharisees, who were His enemies, came to Pilate and said, “ Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again,” etc. On the day after the Sabbath “ there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord came and rolled back the stone.” What avails the vigilance of Roman soldiers against the angels of God! The Lord afterwards showed Himself alive, by many infallible proofs, to Mary, to two of His disciples on their way to Emmaus, to ten of His disciples when they were assembled with the door shut for fear of the Jews. To some of them at the sea of Tiberias, etc. But some will say, “ Were the disciples proper witnesses?” In a court of justice, what are the requisites of a competent witness? He must have known the person of whom he speaks, so that he may know him again when he sees him. And also he must be trustworthy. Now the disciples were fully competent. They knew Christ. And that they knew themselves to be competent witnesses, and that they knew it was necessary that they should be so, is evident from the words of Peter (Acts 1:21). And they were trustworthy also. We know the nature of man too well not to know that he will say anything to gain favour. But what did they gain? Scourging, bonds, imprisonments, death. III. Therefore we declare unto you glad tidings. And how is the resurrection of Christ glad tidings? Because--1. It has caused the gospel to be preached. It would not have been preached had it not been for this event. 2. It shows that the justice of God is fully satisfied, and sin fully expiated. 3. It directs our minds to our great Intercessor. “ It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again; who has also appeared in the presence of God for us.” 4. It excites and maintains a lively hope. “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” etc. 5. Through this hope it draws up the affections of the soul, and mortifies the deeds of the body. The man who believes that Christ has died and rose again, and whose life is “ hid with Christ in God,” turns away with disgust from that which satisfies others. 6. It is the ground of our expectation of His second coming. If He be not risen, He cannot come again; but He is risen, and He will come again. (H. McNeile, D. D.)The sure mercies of David. The words do not seem in themselves to have the nature of a Messianic prediction. To those, however, whose minds were full to overflowing with the writings of the prophets, they would be pregnant with meaning. What were the “ sure mercies of David” (Isaiah 55:3) but the “ everlasting covenant” of mercy which was to find its fulfilment in One who should be “ a leader and commander to the people” ? We may well believe that the few words quoted recalled to St. Paul and to his hearers the whole of that wonderful chapter which opens with “ He, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” The Greek word for “ mercies” is the same adjective as that translated “ holy” in the next verse, “ holiness” being identified with “ mercy,” and so forms a connecting link with the prophecy cited in the next verse. (Dean Plumptre.)Sure mercies Consider-- I. What these mercies are.1. The knowledge of God in Christ. “ God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts,” etc. Great is this mercy. By this alone we are delivered from idolatry. No man can worship the true God, except in Jesus Christ. The poor ignorant heathen is not the only idolater. The Deist, Rationalist, the man that flatters himself that above all men he is the farthest removed from idolatry, is nevertheless worshipping an idol, which he himself creates--the imagination of his own heart. 2. Forgiveness of sin by Christ. The present completeness of this blessing is the distinguishing feature of true religion from all false religion whatever. And therefore the very outset, the very A B C of the gospel, is, “ By this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” 3. Renewal of heart in Christ. Unto the perfection of man’ s happiness, association is indispensable. Man cannot live alone; fellowship with God there cannot be without holiness of heart, leading to sincere obedience. Here, then, is a great mercy--that the man to whom God has given the knowledge of Himself, and to whom He has proclaimed forgiveness of sins, shall also experience in himself such a renewal of his affections, that, instead of shrinking from God, he shall now find a congeniality, a sympathy, an association, and begin to find a happiness of companionship, without which no man can really be happy. These are some of the mercies spoken of in this text. And they are at the same time, as you may observe in the margin of your Bibles, “ holy or just things.” They are “ holy” -- (1) Or God would never have done them.(2) As the purchase of the holy One.(3) As procured according to law.(4) In their results. II. How these mercies are obtained. In answer to this inquiry, consult the prophecy in Isaiah 55:1-13, the passage referred to by the apostle. Here is a threefold exhortation to hear: the first in connection with the satisfying of the soul--“ Hearken diligently, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself” ; the second in connection with coming to the Lord--“ Incline your ear and come unto Me” ; the third in connection with everlasting life thus given--“ Hear, and your soul shall live.” Now, mark these: “ hearken” --“ incline your ear” --“ hear.” They are all explained by that great truth which the apostle proclaims when he says, “ Faith cometh by hearing.” We have all these mercies by faith, because we have Christ by faith, and in no other way. God has appointed this medium in order that the attainment might be manifestly of grace--not of study, not of time, not of hereditary descent, not of instruction by man. Now, see what is attained by the appointment of this medium. It is confidence. Faith is confidence; faith places God and man in their proper places--God in authority, man in dependence. Man fell through an attempt to be independent. Man is recovered through a willingness to be dependent. This is attained through the appointment of faith as the medium through which the blessings are conveyed; and “ faith comes by hearing” --hearing “ the Word of God.” Hence the importance of the ministry of the Word. You cannot have the Word proclaimed without a voice to proclaim it; you cannot have a voice without a man to raise it; you cannot have a man without sustenance and support. III. The description here given of these mercies. “ Sure.”1. They are infallibly “ sure” to rest on all for whom they were designed. 2. They are immutably “ sure” to all on whom they rest. (H. McNeile, D. D.) Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation.The life, character, and death of David I. The general character of the man. We shall not attempt to extenuate his sins. But let his penitential Psalms bear witness for him, that no judgment can be passed upon him more severe than that which he pronounced upon himself. Which of the saints has not been more or less guilty? But Scripture teaches us to form our judgment, not from one or two prominent particulars, but from a comprehensive survey of them all. Let us consider some of them.1. In very early life David appears to have been a sincere believer. The incidents of the lion and the bear discover both his faith and his habit of ascribing all his success to the Divine help. Again, when Samuel was directed to anoint a successor to Saul, the preference of David is expressly grounded upon the state of his heart. From these considerations we conclude that David, even among the sheepfolds, was a child of grace, and that the fields of Bethlehem echoed with the earliest effusions of that Divine harp which still contributes to the edification of the saints. 2. Remark the high principle under which David acted in relation to Saul. We find no schemes of daring ambition, no crooked policies. Twice, when his enemy was delivered into his hand, he only cut off a portion of Saul’ s robe, to use it as a testimony of his integrity. When, at length, the guilty monarch lay under the vengeance of Heaven, grief is the predominating sentiment which he expresses in a noble elegy. 3. Note the holy dispositions for which he was conspicuous throughout his life. His Psalms exhibit a heart supremely delighting in God. Who can deny his love to the Divine Word, his attachment to the services of the sanctuary? Happy is the man whose heart is filled with the same affections! 4. Remember that his conduct, though sometimes criminal, presents no permanent deviation from the path of rectitude. If he offends, it is not long before we hear him say, “ I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant; for I do not forget Thy commandments.” The general tenor of his life Is not broken; but, for the most part, it is indisputably holy. 5. Survey him in his decline, when his head was white with age; what a fine picture does he exhibit of gratitude, humility, and devotion! Nothing is more impressive than the picture of this aged saint, in solemn convocation, delivering the treasures provided for the work of God into the hands of his successor. Like another Moses, he spends his last breath in faithful admonitions to his people and to his son. Thus, his course was emphatically as the shining light, admirable in his youth, troubled, yet not less illustrious in manhood, fruitful in old age: a glorious morning, a day overcast with long continued tempests; but, at evening, like the setting sun, which seems to grow more ample and refulgent, in proportion as it draws nearer to the horizon: and, finally descending among the fleecy clouds which reflect its brightness, and curtain it with glory, leaves a long track of light behind--emblem of that grateful remembrance which a good man commands from his survivors, and of the rising again to immortality, with the prospect of which religion illuminates the sepulchre. II. The description given of his life.1. Which suggests-- (1) That the life of every man ought to be profitable to his contemporaries. God has bound up the race in families, societies, and kingdoms, that each may act in his sphere for the common advantage of all. Therefore the life of that man who has not served his generation is a public detriment, perhaps a pestilence. (2) That he who serves God takes the best and surest method of serving his generation. Our Divine Master declares that His disciples are “ the salt of the earth.” The righteous are lights to their own age, and often prove, like David, instructors of posterity. (3) That he who serves his generation upon right principles is serving God. All the actions of a pious man, whether secular or sacred, are religious, consecrated by the motives and sentiments under which they are performed. God sanctifies them, and converts them into sacrifices. (4) That to be acceptable to God our conduct must be governed by His revealed will. 2. Now let us survey David in his relations. In these we shall see that the eulogy of the text is fully justified. (1) To estimate his political conduct, it will be sufficient to contrast the kingdom when he received it with what it was when bequeathed to Solomon. In like manner the kingdom of his great antitype began in weakness and suffering; proceeds through rebuke and opposition; yet cannot but finally prevail, in virtue of that covenant which is “ ordered in all things, and sure.” (2) Consider David in his relation to the Church. The composition of the Psalms was a grand epoch in the history of revelation; and its illustrations of religious experience are so copious and exact as to express the thoughts and feelings of believers to the end of time. In addition to this great work, we find him at one time bringing the ark of God to the tabernacle; at another, appointing the settled order of public worship; then collecting materials for the future temple; but the noblest feature of all is the spirit of love to God, and zeal for His house, by which they were dictated. 3. Let us follow him into his family. We find him following his own determination, “ I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” We can obtain but a glimpse or two, yet these are highly satisfactory. After a day of arduous public service, “ then David returned to bless his household.” The affecting terms in which he deplores that his house “ was not so with God,” shows us that it was not lost sight of in the multiplicity of his official engagements. 4. But, after all, David’ s eminence as a saint appears most in the regulation of his own heart. We will not dwell upon the frequency of his devotions, nor upon his diligence in studying the Divine Oracles. But remember how careful he was to examine his own soul, and how earnestly he implores the scrutiny even of the Omniscient Eye! Remember his jealousy, lest “ secret faults” should cling to him unobserved, and the sins of his youth pass unrepented and unforgiven. Oh! remember how, when sunk in depressions, he challenges his very griefs, lest they should prove unsanctified, and rouses his own spirit to a renewed exercise of trust! “ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? hope thou in God.” He was a sinner, I know; but it is through spiritual tribulations and tempests like these that every sinner must find his way to heaven. Great offenders that offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart, may mount to thrones of glory, when Pharisaic boasters shall be cast into “ outer darkness.” III. The record of his death.1. Notice the terms employed. Death is a sleep, and the grave a house, where departed saints repose in honourable company. It is true that, under the Jewish dispensation, the future was wrapt in deep obscurity; but the darkness was not altogether impenetrable, or else how should David comfort himself? “ As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness,” etc. The expressions of the text are full of consoling thoughts. We resign ourselves to sleep without fear. If we believe that death is but a sleep, why do we contemplate it with dismay? In both, the functions of life are but suspended, not extinguished. Whatever were the infirmities of ancient saints, they all left the world with holy dignity. Though they had but dim shadows of heavenly truth to guide them, they have taught us how to live; and, though their views of eternal glory were far less distinct than ours, by their example we may learn how to die. 2. David must go the way of all flesh. Neither the love of God, nor the admiration of His people, nor his eminent fidelity, can exempt him from the universal decree. The fairest, wisest, noblest, holiest heads must lie down alike in the dust. A day of mourning over fallen greatness or departed usefulness leads us to imagine that our loss cannot be repaired; but a Solomon rises in the place of David. Thus the work of God goes on. Never let the Church despair, though kings and prophets die. 3. The Son of David lives; “ the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (D. Katterns.)The service of the age 1. Few things are more painful than unfulfilled lives. A broken column is their expressive symbol. Beauty smitten in the springtime; little children taken; the promise of life cut off and blasted--all suggest painful mystery. 2. Some lives are morally unfulfilled; powers have been wasted. They did not “ stir up” the gift that was in them, and their power was never fully ripened into fruitful service. 3. Others, while not accomplishing all their purposes, are not to be numbered with those who have failed. In the studio of the dead sculptor there is a statue wanting the last touches, a block just marked, works in various stages of their growth. But, we remember, the finished works whose beauty shall be the delight of the generations to come. That is not an unfulfilled life. 4. David served his own generation according to the will of God--rounded off completely the work given him to do. Illustrious as ruler, he was much more so as “ the sweet singer of Israel.” The figure is that of the sailor in the ancient galley, who served in the lowest tier of seats, where the work was most important and arduous. The generation is compared with the stately vessel thus impelled--David “ rowed onwards” his own age, added his efforts to those of others to secure its progress and to render it illustrious. I. The true man’ s vocation. He is set apart as “ the servant of the age.” Our own generation has immediate claims upon us. The dead are not touched by our influence or moved by our activities. The future we cannot reach save through present faithfulness. Now is our acceptable time. There is no work, or wisdom, or device in the grave.1. In this service the force of individual character is of the utmost importance. Men affect and mould men more by what they are than by what they profess or do. But there is also a conscious service to which men are appointed. Each successive age presents the common human characteristics in some special development or relationship. The age has its special questions and needs, its special section of the purpose of the Almighty to fulfil. True men are born for the time, not of it. The age is philosophical, and the teacher is the prominent figure. It is warlike, and the soldier plays his part. It is instinct with the craving for something better, and the reformer comes to the front. It is longing for knowledge of the unseen or preparation for it, and the fervid evangelist answers the question, What must we do? Sometimes it is eclectic, and various actors crowd the stage. But one thing is amazing, whatever the general characteristic, the vastness of the work which may be, and often is, accomplished by single individuals. Masses, generations, never move onwards by themselves. They follow a leader. Hence earnest natures force on reformations. Such men have removed mountains; created new philosophies; won a people’ s freedom, and raised their own generation to heights of renown. But where the results may not be as palpable, the service of the age may be as real and as effective. There are prayers to be offered, ignorant ones to be instructed, fallen ones to be rescued, errors to be corrected, lonely hearts to be ministered to, and wounded ones to be healed. Such services may not be meet subjects for the historian, but they are written in the books of Divine remembrance. 2. The service of the age implies living sympathy with its sorrows and sins; identity of interest and aim. True men are of generous heart. Acquiescence in things as they are destroys capacity for service. What a craving the true man has for something better! Greatness of heart, mighty energy, and patience are needed when the service of the age involves a climbing of Calvaries. The kingdom of Christ was founded when He hung upon the Cross. But the sorrow which wrung the Redeemer’ s heart was intense because of His identity with a doomed nation and a perishing world. He bore our sins, and carried our sorrows. Nothing essential to human well-being can be indifferent to us if we would serve faithfully. II. The true man’ s service of his own age is divinely conducted and fashioned. “ By the will of God.” This implies--1. The inspiration of this service. God suggests the form of service, and guides the faithful to it. His own love in the heart prompts it. 2. The means of this service. There are Divine provisions and remedies for the age’ s necessities and ills. The special forms of service will harmonise with the great spiritual redemption God is working out in human history. All real human rights were consecrated in the Cross. All true reformations spring out of the Cross. Baptized into its spirit, the true servant becomes qualified for the highest achievements. 3. The Divine designation of the worker and his work. God distributes gifts, and suits men to His purpose. “ There was a man sent from God.” So Peter, Paul, Luther, the martyrs were sent. This is true of times. They are in His hands. The faithful live for the work’ s sake, and die for the work’ s sake. Life is prolonged, for service is to be continued. Life ceases, and the service becomes a memory because it is finished. III. The rest of the true servant of his age. The long day of rowing is over; and tired with long continued exertion, David laid himself down and fell asleep, and was gathered to his fathers.1. Sleep is the image of death in contrast with the activity of the working life; then, as a natural, orderly sequence to it; but also as a condition precedent to new activities for which its recuperative influence is essential. 2. But also there was a gathering to the fathers. This does not mean being laid in the family burying place, for David was not laid in it. He was gathered to the general assembly and church of the first born in the realms unseen. At last the golden gates are thrown open for the servants of the King, who on distant fields upheld His cause, carried His banner, kept the faith, and they are all together in one assembly at home with the Lord. What a blest assembly to which our dead have been joined! What an august prospect opens before those who are faithful unto death! (W. H. Davison.)A servant of the age I. Our age--the people of the nineteenth century now resident upon earth. For this lasting earth was destined to be the successive habitation of thousands of generations. “ One generation passeth away,” etc. The edifice has lasted for ages, and is much as it was in the morning of time; but its tenantry are ever changing. Notwithstanding the alterations in the material world, there is nothing new but souls. For each the Father of spirits builds an earthly house, and everyone who has answered the Divine purpose of its short residence ascends to the “ house eternal in the heavens.” It is a solemn thought that earth as well as heaven is a world of spirits. These are the generation we are to serve. II. The spiritual service we owe it. Other services are demanded, but these are inferior in worth and consequences. Many serve their age not according to the will of God. There are, e.g., those who investigate matter, study the human frame, shed fresh light on the origin, nature, and destiny of mind, dedicate themselves to education or reform; in a word, those who labour to promote man’ s temporal interests. Amongst these, indeed, are some of the holiest men in the world; but there are others who are wholly dead to God. Yet these latter often subserve the religious interests of the age, but without professing it or knowing it. III. How are we to serve the spiritual interests of the age? We must--1. Be the servants of God. In Philippians 2:15-16, Paul described the moral character of his age. In its mind, morals, laws, institutions, etc., it was “ crooked and perverse” ; and he reminded Christians placed in their age that it was their office, by living holiness and new truth from heaven, to direct their perilous course in the deep towards that land of life and glory. And finally he taught them that to be fit for this they must be and act as sons of God. Divine worship was then, and is now, the first qualification for serving souls. With God’ s power, love, and will within us what wonders may we do! 2. Study the age. An age does not know itself; just as an individual, it dislikes self-examination. The ages of Rome, Greece, Persia, Assyria, Noah, nay, even Paradise, did not know themselves. Yet every age has had its prophet. Enoch read his age, and served it. So did Noah, Abraham, Moses, John, etc. And if past ages were only efficiently served by those who studied them, how important that we should study our own! To do this certain qualifications are necessary. E.g., there must be correct views of the Divine government, a clear, observant eye to discern the signs of the times, and, as a key to the interpretation of those signs, an acquaintance with the religious history of past ages. No two ages are alike, or can be. We must therefore study its peculiarities--its distinguishing privileges; its predominant virtues and sins; its moral tendencies and wants; and, above all, its first duties to the age which is immediately to follow. 3. Spread our affections over the length and breadth of it. Love for souls is one of the Divinest virtues which God breathes into our nature. The reigning philosophy of every age has denied or overlooked the spirituality of man. It is only the man whose spiritual nature has been divinely awakened that feels the love of heaven: it is only he who can send it forth on the world. Greatly as we value natural love, we must not mistake nor substitute it for spiritual love. Love for souls as souls is not a passion of earthly growth; love for their justification, renewal, and union with God is a holy fire from heaven. Let us take care lest the best things we have--our schools, benevolent societies, churches, religion, should have more to do with “ the life that now is” than with “ the life that is to come.” This love we should spread over our age. And how numerous and constraining are our obligations! God has given us hearts capacious enough to embrace the human family, and can we reflect on the love of God who spared not His own Son without feeling our hearts burn for the restoration of all souls to their Father’ s bosom? 4. Ascertain the particular department of service assigned us by God, and be thoroughly devoted to it. By self acquaintance, by consulting the wise and faithful, by the teachings of Providence, by prayer, let us learn what our mission is, and then in the name and power of God let us live only to fulfil it. IV. Why should we serve our age?1. It is the will of God. This is our law, but can we love and obey it without knowing what it is? God has not left us to infer His will from His works and ways. His paternal love has given us a book which reveals as much of His infinite will as it is necessary for us to know on earth. And if God wills us to serve our age it must be right to do so, and we may rely upon His help. He expects the right use of what He gives--nothing less, nothing more. To serve our age is a difficult work, but let us not be discouraged, for there is an infinite fulness of power for us in God. 2. It has faithfully served us. What have we that we have not received through the instrumentality of our age, either temporally or spiritually? Let, then, a holy sense of our numberless obligations to the age bind us to its spiritual service. 3. This is the only age we can directly serve, and both the age and ourselves must soon appear before the Lord of all ages. Let us work, then, while it is day. (Caleb Morris.)Life: its mission and opportunity I. Its mission--to serve your generation. That is what the most worthless do, being slaves to the opinion, fashion, and spirit of the time. But the word is not bond service. David served his age not as a slave his master, but as a rower his captain. Others again, possessed by the spirit of the evil one, ask, “ How can I make my generation serve me?” The Christian asks, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do that I, like Thee, may do good to this race?” This good must be done under the inspiration of faith in God and faith in man. What is this latter? Suppose yourself in a heathen city crowded with temples, priests, idols, and idolaters. Instead of looking on with disgust or despair, you must look upon them as God’ s degenerate offspring, but capable of becoming His true children once more. The good that God calls us to do is every work of His, no matter what. Some think that Christian good is only for the soul, but God regards man as one composite being. The great principle of the Mosaic legislation as much as of the gospel is that God sets Himself by the side of every man, and takes his part as long as he is in the right; and He invites to that man’ s side every other man to be his friend; and whatever a man does to another in the way of benefit the Lord accepts it as a tribute to Himself: e.g., the farmer is to leave the gleanings for the widow. Why? “ Because I am the Lord of the harvest, of the rich farmer, and the poor widow.” So with the prohibitions not to mock the deaf or put stumbling blocks in the way of the blind. A wrong done to the poor is an offence to God. But always remember that man does not live by bread alone, and seek in all temporal benefit to wake up in a man some consciousness of Him from whom all blessings come. So, then, select your path according to the indications of Providence, but determine by the grace of God to leave the world better than you found it. II. Its opportunity--your own generation. David may have wished himself back in the days of Abraham. “ I might have clone something in that old time, but what can I do now?” So we say sometimes. And yet if we are to do anything it must not be for any other generation but our own. And how much ampler our opportunity! How long would it take for David to get his psalms known in his own dominions? How long did it take to get them known in Europe? Whereas a good man’ s thought in Leaden today may be fermenting the whole world in less than twelve months. You cannot serve the past, you must accept it. But which past? In the case of David there was the past of Saul and the past of Samuel. And so to us there are two pasts, and the one you accept will determine your service of the present, and by serving the present you can serve the future. David is serving you today. Carry you on the grand succession. III. Its source and standard. “ The will of God.”1. There would be no working for the benefit of the world were it not that God’ s will is goodwill to men. He wills the salvation of the lost, the comforting of the mourner, etc. See that will expressed in the bounties of Providence, in the Bible, in the Cross. “ He that spared not His own Son” --let that fill your heart and move you forward to seek the welfare and salvation of the world. 2. The will of God is the standard of the mission. That will appoints you your time to be born and to die, the bounds of your habitation, the sphere of your duty. God did not give to David the sphere of Samuel. Each man in his own place. Your point is not to do everything that is to be done, but what God would have you do; not what your romance or ambition would find to do, but “ what your hand findeth to do.” If you can lay your hand upon it, that is the proof that God means you to go to work. If you cannot reach it, pray that He may bring it nearer; but don’ t spend time in praying for the distant while you neglect the near. IV. Its close. “ He fell on sleep.” What a blessed end to a life of labour! (W. Arthur, M. A.)Public spirit As God is pleased to employ human agents in carrying on His designs in this world, so He never fails to find those persons who are best qualified to answer His purpose (verse 22). The Lord saw something in David which neither he nor Samuel saw when he was sent to anoint him and set him apart for the service of God. Nor was the Divine choice misplaced; for as soon as David appeared in public he seized every opportunity of promoting the cause of God and the good of his fellow men. Let us consider-- I. What it is to live a useful life. There is a sense in which all men are useful. Pharaoh, Haman, and the King of Assyria were instrumental in bringing about the designs of Providence. They intended to accomplish their own ambitious designs, but God overruled all. But in order to be useful in the sense of the text--1. Men must live in the exercise of supreme love to God. They must give Him the throne in their hearts before they can take their proper place at His footstool. 2. Men must have a spirit of universal benevolence. Every man ought to love his neighbour as himself, and live in the exercise of that charity which seeketh not her own. 3. Men must faithfully perform the various duties of their stations. As God has endowed different men with different talents, so He has assigned them different parts to act upon the stage of life. And it is only by moving properly in their proper spheres of action that they can become the most extensively serviceable to the world. II. Such a life will terminate in a happy death. For--1. It contains a source of pleasing reflections upon what is past. 2. It contains a source of agreeable anticipations. Those who have taken delight in serving God on earth may look forward to the happiness of serving Him in a higher and nobler manner in glory. 3. It will meet a glorious and ample reward beyond the grave. Conclusion: It appears from what has been said. 1. That real religion is necessary to qualify every person for the station he fills. 2. That usefulness forms the most beautiful character in the eyes of the world as well as in the sight of God. David, while he served his own generation by the will of God, was greatly admired and applauded. 3. The goodness of God in prolonging the lives of His faithful servants. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Three great principles I. The principle of greatness--To benefit others. II. The principle of success--working in accordance with the will of God. Philanthropists may effect a temporary reformation. Philosophy may awaken thought. But only he who works out earthly information in the light of Divine revelation can benefit his generation. III. The principle of destiny. By benefiting his generation--1. David benefited the world in all ages.2. Promoted his own eternal salvation; and--3. Glorified God. (Homilist.)The work and the end of life I. The duty.1. It may seem a humble thing to do, but what else is there for the greatest of us? To serve your generation. The next will have its own ways of thinking and acting. If anything of yours should survive, it will be but to be criticised, disparaged, incorporated and lost in the new. Be satisfied if you can serve your own generation, and when we have made generation mean only town or parish or family, we must be satisfied still. It is not for the creatures of a day to affect either universality or permanence. 2. To serve your own generation. Not to lord it over, not to stamp your mind or will upon your generation, but to serve it. How humbling, yet how salutary a description! The greater a man is the more has he to serve. A sovereign is but a servant. How much more a tradesman, a lawyer, a physician, a clergyman! If it is a humble it is also an honourable and even a sacred service. To do good to, to help forward the men, women, and children with whom it has pleased God that we should spend our few days or years on earth. What a summons is this to every possible work of charity! What a motive does this give to diligence in visiting the poor, in supporting schools, in trying to set forward every effort and enterprise of good! II. The end. Sleep is the Christian name for death.1. Because it is a gentle thing. It has already lost its sting by reason of the forgiveness of sins. The sting of death is sin; and he whose sins have been dismissed is set free also from the fear of death. 2. Because it is a refreshing and a restoring thing. The weary man wants rest. And the forgiven man who, in the strength of that forgiveness, has for many years been serving his generation, needs rest; he must renew his strength before he enters upon the occupations of the world of resurrection and of eternal life. 3. Because a Christian after a pause will awake, and be satisfied, when he awakes, with God’ s likeness. (Dean Vaughan.)The true life ever worth living I. The sweet reasonableness of the true life. “ David served.” There was a man of like passions with ourselves; and he lived out his life, a truly human life, a life of rare powers, of rich and varied endowments, of widest-ranging experiences and most exquisite sensibilities; and of that life the simple but sublime summation lies in this spirit-given word, “ served,” and service, according to highest, holiest wisdom, is supremely reasonable and worthy of man; for still that voice is sounding, “ I came to minister.” Such a life of all “ reasonable service” opens to every man. How, you ask me, has it then become possible for men to ask, “ Is life worth living?” The possibility lies largely in the lives. There are lives, alas! which almost demand the grim reply of blunt-spoken Samuel Johnson, “ I do not see, sir, the necessity for your living.” Lives of service fit into this universe of reason, for our universe is most reasonable. All God-made things serve. Thus they show their reason. There is a need-be for them; they move to ends. Whatever truth may be in evolution, this for me is at present the chief truth--all the past has served unto this present, all this present is seen aiming at some coming fulness; and here I bow before the holy reason of an all-ordaining will. II. The range of the true life. “ Served his generation.” This true life, lived with rational purpose and with heroic patience under law and by love, this reasonable life of Christ-like service, is no mean, contracted, slavish thing of low and narrow aims and dismal drudgery. It is wide. It is strong. It is joyous. It has the sweep and the freshness of the sea in it; round and round it courses, generously leaving the broad shores and stealing with a resolute gentleness into every little quiet nook. It has the beauty and the strength of the mountain in it; it gladdens every healthy eye, and uplifts the weary into fresh power. It has the outstreaming gladness and the beneficent onroll of the great continental river in it; it brings its rich tributes from afar and deals them out freely adown its long-drawn banks. It claims its “ generation” for its field. With the boldness of purest charity it owns no bounds save the stretch of its own years and the outreach of its own love-constrained forces. David served his own generation. How variously he served! As the shepherd lad in the Judaean farmer’ s home; as the young minstrel before the maddening king; as the brave, cool, self-mastering soldier in days of trial and of triumph; as the faithful friend and the eager patriot; as the singer of the deepest songs of the pious heart and unwearying worker for the coming temple; as the Prince of Judah and King of Israel; as the saint--ay, as the sinner. And how patiently he served! from elastic youth to decrepit age. Let us go and do likewise. Let us serve our generation, our whole generation; all the circles of life that, in wider and yet wider spheres, sweep around us. We are central. Souls are ever insular. My own selfhood is the centre of my possible activity. All around me sweep the concentric circles of impressionable life. Here we see the inspiration, the grandeur, the far-reaching projection, yes, the endless perpetuity, of the true life. Our lives go down the centuries and out into eternity in the following lives of those who have been blessed and uplifted by our own. Ideals of youth; yes, have them! cherish them! It is sometimes stingingly said, oftener sneeringly thought, that the man of ideals is not the man for the rough, real, practical work of his times. Young men, be not deceived! Never were there men of loftier ideals than the Hebrew seers. They were preeminently the men of and for their times. III. The rule for the true life, “ According to the will of God.” Yes! according to this will; here we meet the regulative principle for these resolute, aggressive lives. Under the law of God: O surest bulwark of freedom! With the counsel of God: O sublime advice! After the pattern of God: O glorious ideal! It is the child recognising the paternal voice falling from the throne of love. The “ I ought” of my soul is its answer to the “ I will” of my King. Regulated movement is everywhere. Shall I not know it? “ Thy will be done” is nature’ s universal cry. Shall I stand in the profane without? No “ unchartered freedom” mine, for I am child and He is Father; therefore am I not without law, but under law. There is for me, as for all things, the chief end. My chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. His plan then, His will, must be my law. Now, God’ s law is ever the same, for He is one and changeless. But that one will has its personal, special, individual applications to each man, and to each man in each age. The infinity of its author is reflected in that law’ s inexhaustible fulness and its endless variety of possible adaptations. Like Paul it can make itself all things to all men, and that, too, in order to win each to the high and blessed life which God would have him live. Like God’ s ever old yet ever fresh face of nature, the Word of God has new features for each new student, for each moral artist, each soul sculptor working out his own realisation of the one grand ideal--the true life for godlike man. The work varies with the man and with the varieties of the man’ s age. Innovations are the law and the life of human society, specially within its field of highest, intensest activity, which is, or ought to be, the Church. Paul’ s work is not the Baptist’ s; the Baptist’ s is not Malachi’ s; Malachi’ s is not Isaiah’ s; nor Isaiah’ s Elijah’ s; and yet to each the law of the Lord was a light and a lamp. “ In that purest light of Thine we see all things clearly” --no shade of the many-coloured, ever-moving web of life left out of view! IV. The reward of true life. David’ s was two fold. It was both human and Divine. Men honoured him. God crowned him. Men honoured him; “ he was laid unto his fathers.” He passed into the ranks of the never-forgotten, the honoured, the beloved dead, whose memories make the past a power and the future a joy. Live in the Spirit; and so become the fathers, the progenitors of the progressive centuries; make them fresher, sweeter, saintlier; then, indeed, men will rise up and call you blessed, acknowledging that the potent wine of your loving, laborious lives is stimulating them. And God, your own God, will not be unfaithful to forget your works of faith and your labours of love. God did indeed remember David and all his travail. David won the Divine recognition; and, in signal manner, God has kept guard over his life work; his royal line lives on in David’ s greater Son, and his sweet songs go singing down the centuries, the guide of our childhood to God and the comfort of the parting soul. God accepted David’ s work, and enshrined it in His holy places. That Davidic work was manifold, but its three highest manifestations were David’ s literary, political, and religious activities. A new literature, art, and song! How we need them! New states of society, and happier forms of national existence! How the world is crying for them, and the cry sharpens into agony in the lands most civilised! The new temple, the living temple of the Spirit-born, the Christlike! Oh, blest solution of a thousand, thousand problems! (J. S. McIntosh.)St. Paul’ s epitaph on David The text is capable of three different constructions. The Authorised Version gives it in the form just read to you. “ David, after he had served his own generation by the will (counsel) of God, fell on sleep.” The Revised Version gives it in another way: “ David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell on sleep.” The margin of the Revised Version suggests a third arrangement: “ David, after he had served his own generation by the counsel of God, fell on sleep.” In all forms of the sentence we have the threefold thought of a generation, a service, and a counsel of God concerning it. There may be longer, more detailed, more laudatory epitaphs--the fashion of the last century covered the walls of our churches with elaborate and fulsome panegyrics, amongst which this short sentence of St Paul’ s might have seemed scanty and grudging in its meed of praise--but the truer taste and more reverent feeling of our own age will appreciate the more expressive, and in reality the more majestic, brevity, “ He served his generation, and fell on sleep.” The text presents us with two pairs of synonyms: Life is Service, and Death is Sleep. I. Life is service. One rendering says, the service of God. Another rendering says, the service of a generation. But the most ignorant of thinkers or scholars will see no conflict, scarcely a divergence, in this variation. The moment the idea of service has attached itself to the idea of life enough has been done to preclude any practical uncertainty as to its nature or object. To be told that this life is not self-contained, not self-centred, not dominant, and not independent, but, on the contrary, that it is a ministry and a service as much as if I were receiving the wages and wearing the livery of an employer, is a surprise and a shock at the first hearing, or would be so if it were heard in the heart, heard as a revelation and heard as a call. Who shall pretend to say that the service of the generation may not have in it the service of a second or a third or a tenth generation, by reason of the impression made by its elevation, by its purity, by its benevolence, by its wisdom, upon the very ideas and principles of human living? It is given to a few men to leave a memory behind them in the shape of immortal writings, powerfully affecting the thought of all nations and languages, sometimes starting afresh into a novelty of influence at some great crisis of history, and moulding the taste or the judgment of posterity by a power only strengthened by lapse of time. Such men are necessarily few and far between. But speaking of average men, and of men above the average, men who have not one of these exceptional embassies, whether of transcendent genius or of Divine inspiration, to a worldwide and age-long audience, it is true--painfully true, or instructively true, as they hear and as they read it--that they can, at the best, serve but one generation, and then must “ see corruption.” Great ability, great knowledge, great sagacity, great personal influence, great oratory, great generalship, great statesmanship, all are of the generation. There is nothing in any one of these of a nature to live on after the death of the possessor. We have seen all these by turns wield enormous power and yet pass away. In this place it is not inappropriate to speak of knowledge as ephemeral. The man who has only read, never written, the man who has spent his strength in accumulating from libraries and observatories--the man who has written, and written largely, and for a world of readers, while he was here to hold them--is as much lost to the succeeding generation (for there is a fashion, as well as a progress, even in knowing) as the brilliant talker who was the fascination of society, or the persuasive ecclesiastic of the pulpit or the confessional. Commonly, if life reaches anything like its natural limit of the threescore and ten or fourscore years, all these powers of which we have spoken wane and fade before the reaching. Not to mention probabilities of physical enfeeblement, the latter days of the life are, from perfectly distinct causes, less brilliant than the earlier--less active, less conspicuous, less impressive, less attractive, less influential. It is the rarest thing in the world if a man remains to the end so much as in sympathy with his generation. When at last the fulness of the time is come, and he is laid to his fathers to “ see corruption,” it is but in a very few hearts that he leaves either a void or an impression. “ He served his own generation, and then fell on sleep.” This is all that can be said of him. Shall we count this a small thing? Is it not enough if it can be said with truth of any man? If there is here the reproof of human vanity, is there not also here the repose of human restlessness? To serve one generation, is not this large enough and grand enough to satisfy any reasonable ambition? We fear rather lest some here should be saying, It is too large and too grand for such as I am! “ He served his own generation” ; yes, it is much to say of any man. A generation is a vast thing, an inconceivable thing, while we so speak of it. We must break it up into its elements before we can apprehend it. A generation in the mass and in the gross is the whole number of living and thinking beings alive at one time upon this great earth. How can a man imagine himself to be serving all that multitude? It is to fill the post assigned with diligence, with seriousness, with unselfishness, with God in sight. It may be done equally by prince and peasant, by master and servant, by man and woman. No one touches his generation at more than a few points--most people touch it but at one. That point of contact is the place of service; he serves his generation who serves faithfully that particular town or village or hamlet, that particular neighbourhood or family or home which is, for him, the little fragment or morsel of the generation as a whole. There is this also to reconcile us to the humbler and less conspicuous places of service--that the smaller the surface covered the deeper commonly and the more intense is the influence exercised. These are the compensations of the humble service, and of the generous Lord who takes it for His own. There is another sense, also, in which the thought of life as service has a tranquilising and even equalising influence. We have seen that the extent or space covered by it is nothing--so is it also with the duration of time. Some of the most telling “ services of the generation” have been accomplished within the span of a few years. The thought of the “ generation” is pregnant with applications. It reminds us of the succession and series of the inhabitants of each spot of this earth. It reminds us that there is no standing still and no looking backward, but a perpetual movement and reaching forth, in the collective life of God’ s human family. To serve one’ s generation is to help it on. We ought to be ashamed of contributing nothing to the old sum, such as we found it, of human notions and of human practices. Each true servant of his generation does in some real, though to himself unconscious way, help to make the next generation after it better and happier. Certainly in this place of brief generations we have seen, we have felt it so! Something survives of each life of service. Something is immortal of each beautiful life! Some one is assisted in being good by each servant of the past. What has not David done for them that came after? The thought never came to him, but the thing was done. Who does not turn in trouble to that man’ s compositions? Who stays to say to himself, David lived so many hundreds of years before Christ, how then can he sound the depths of Christian sorrow and Christian ecstasy? He was as much the commissioned minstrel of the universal Church of God as Moses was its lawgiver or Isaiah its prophet. And yet David was no saint, if saintliness were perfection. Oh, if this thought of serving the one generation were once rooted and grounded in us--if the last suggestion of the manifoldness and unexpectedness of the ways and forms of serving were but worked out by each one in reference to his own experiences, the joyous and the grievous, as it ought to be, there would be an end in us forever of all restlessness and all mortification, there would be a definiteness and a concentration of purpose in us all; we should know exactly where we stood and how, we should feel it honour enough and to spare for the like of us if it could be written by the finger of God at last on the tomb of our resting, “ He served his generation … and fell on sleep.” “ He served his generation,” and in doing so he served “ God’ s counsel” concerning himself. How reassuring amidst all adverse appearances, how comforting amidst all misgivings and all gainsayings, to know that God has a will, has a “ counsel” concerning each life! We are not the casual, accidental, haphazard things that infidelity would make of us. God had a “ counsel” concerning each one, in fixing the place and the time, the conditions and circumstances of His being. Let us fulfil their high destiny! Enough if of one of us this may be the record, “ He served the counsel of God,…and he fell on sleep.” Who shall tell us, concerning one of whom this is God’ s record, that that sleep shall have no waking? The very words which tell of it, that it is a “ laying” or “ adding” or “ gathering” to our fathers, seem to make the funeral itself a reunion. In the light of such revelations, death a falling on sleep, burial a gathering to the fathers, even the thought of “ seeing corruption” shall lose for us its terror. (Dean Vaughan.)Serving our generation I. First, then, what is it to serve our own generation? This is a question which ought to interest us all very deeply. Though our citizenship is in heaven, yet, as we live on earth, we should seek to serve our generation while we pass as pilgrims to the better country. What, then, is it for a man to serve his own generation?1. I note, first, that it is not to be a slave to it. It is not to drop into the habits, customs, and ideas of the generation in which we live. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not only for one generation, it is for all generations. It is the faith which needed to be only “ once for all delivered to the saints” ; it was given stereotyped as it always is to be. That man serves his generation best who is not caught by every new current of opinion, but stands firmly by the truth of God, which is a solid, immovable rock. But to serve our own generation in the sense of being a slave to it, its vassal, and its varlet--let those who care to do so go into such bondage and slavery if they will. Do you know what such a course involves? If any young man here shall begin to preach the doctrine and the thought of the age, within the next ten years, perhaps within the next ten months, he will have to eat his own words, and begin his work all over again. 2. In the next place, in seeking to answer the question, What is it to serve our own generation? I would say, it is not to fly from it. If he shall shut himself up, like a hermit, in his cave, and leave the world to go to ruin as it may, he will not be like David, for he served his own generation before he fell asleep. If you do not take your stand in this way, it can never truly be said of you that you served your generation. Instead of that, the truth will be that you allowed your generation to make a coward of you, or to muzzle you like a dog. 3. If we ask again, What is it to serve our generation? I answer, it is to perform the common duties of life, as David did. David was the son of a farmer, a sheep-owner, and he took first of all to the keeping of the sheep. Many young men do not like to do the common work of their own father’ s business. The girl who dreams about the foreign missionary field, but cannot darn her brother’ s stockings, will not be of service either at home or abroad. But serving our generation means more than this. 4. It is to be ready for the occasion when it comes. In the midst of the routine of daily life, we should, by diligence in duty, prepare for whatever may be our future opportunity, waiting patiently until it comes. Look at David’ s occasion of becoming famous He never sought it. If you are to serve God, wait till He calls you to His work: He knows where to find you when He wants you; you need not advertise yourself to His omniscience. If you want to serve the Church and serve the age, be wide awake when the occasion comes. Jump into the saddle when the horse is at your door; and God will bless you if you are on the lookout for opportunities of serving him. What is it, again, to serve our generation? 5. It is to maintain true religion. This David did. He had grave faults in his later life, which we will not extenuate; but he never swerved from his allegiance to Jehovah the true God. No word or action of his ever sanctioned anything like idolatry, or turning aside from the worship of Jehovah, the God of Israel. 6. To serve our own generation is not a single action, done at once, and over forever; it is to continue to serve all our life. Notice well that David served “ his own generation” ; not only a part of it, but the whole of it. He began to serve God, and he kept on serving God. How many young men have I seen who were going to do wonders! Ah, me! they were as proud of the intention as though they had already done the deed. Some, too, begin well, and they serve their God earnestly for a time, but on a sudden their service stops. One cannot quite tell how it happens, but we never hear of them afterwards. Men, as far as I know them, are wonderfully like horses. You get a horse, and you think, “ This is a first-rate animal,” and so it is. It goes well for a while, but on a sudden it drops lame, and you have to get another. So it is with church members. I notice that every now and then they get a singular lameness. Yet more is included in this faithful serving of our generation. 7. It is to prepare for those who are to come after us. David served his generation to the very end by providing for the next generation. He was not permitted to build the temple; but he stored up a great mass of gold and silver to enable his son Solomon to carry out his noble design, and build a house for God. This is real service; to begin to serve God in early youth; to keep on till old age shall come; and even then to say, “ I cannot expect to serve the Lord much longer, but I will prepare the way as far as I can for those who will come after me.” II. In the second place, let us ask a question even more practical than the first: what parts of our generation can we serve? It is truly written, “ None of us liveth to himself” : we either help or hinder those amongst whom we dwell. Let us see to it that we serve our age, and become stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks to those by whom we are surrounded. We shall serve our generation best by being definite in our aim. In trying to reach everybody we may help nobody. I divide the generation in which we live into three parts.1. First, there is the part that is setting. Some are like the sun going down in the west; they will be gone soon. Serve them. You that are in health and vigour, comfort them, strengthen them, and help them all you can. Be a joy to that dear old man, who has been spared to you even beyond the allotted threescore years and ten, and praise God for the grace that has upheld him through his long pilgrimage. 2. The second portion of our generation which we can serve is the part that is shining. I mean those in middle life, who are like the sun at its zenith. Help them all you can. 3. Specially, however, I want to speak to you about serving your own generation in the part that is rising; the young people who are like the sun in the east, as yet scarcely above the horizon. In them lies our hope for the future of God’ s cause on earth. In the first place, they are the most reachable. Happily, we can get at the children. Moreover, the children are the most impressible. What can we do with the man who is hardened in sin? The salvation of the children ought to be sought with double diligence, for they will last the longest. Remember, too, that those who are converted when children usually make the best saints. We ought to look after the children, again, for they are specially named by Christ. He said, “ Feed My sheep” ; but He also said “ Feed My lambs.” Look after the children of this generation, again, for the dangers around them at the present time are almost innumerable. III. What will happen to us when our service is done? “ David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” The day’ s work is done; the worker is weary; he falls on sleep: what can he do better? It was all “ by the will of God.” To what part of the sentence do you think that clause belongs? Did David serve his generation by the will of God; or did he fall asleep by the will of God? Both. Guided by the will of God, he did his work on earth; and calmly resigned to the will of God he prepared to die. Even when passing away, he served his generation by giving Solomon some last charges concerning the kingdom, saying, “ I go the way of all the earth; be thou strong and show thyself a man.” Over both his life and his death may be written the words, “ By the will of God.” David is an example of what will befall those who know Christ, at the end of their service.1. He did not go to sleep till his work was done. “ David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” Do not want to die till you have done your work. 2. But, next, we are told that when his work was done, he fell on sleep. Did his soul sleep? By no means. It is not his soul that is spoken of here, for we read that he “ saw corruption.” Souls do not see corruption. Paul is speaking of David’ s body. “ He fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.” His body fell into its last, long sleep, and saw corruption. If you like to take the words in the wider sense, he was asleep as far as the world was concerned; he had done with it. No sorrow came to him, no earthly joy, no mingling with the strife of tongues, no girding on his harness for the war. 3. Does not this word further mean that his dying was like going to sleep? It usually is so with God’ s people. Some die with a considerable measure of pain; but, as a rule, when believers pass away, they just shut their eyes on earth, and open them in heaven. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Scriptural ideal of a good man’ s life and death We have in the text an inspired representation. I. Of a good man’ s life.1. It is distinguished as a service on behalf of others. David “ served” his own generation. The word is expressive of laborious usefulness. It intimates that the “ man after God’ s own heart,” was not content with idle wishes, fruitless theories, abortive projects. And still, wherever there is true goodness, there will be the effort to “ serve.” “ No man liveth to himself.” The grand model of holy living was among His followers “ as one that serveth.” He “ came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” 2. It is specially devoted to the benefit of his contemporaries, “ his own generation.” He acquired a familiarity with the wants and woes of the men and women around him, and laboured to supply and alleviate them. Though good men may, and must, do many things that will only yield fruit in after days, they will seek to have “ understanding of the times,” and to know what they ought to do to promote and conserve the welfare of those around them. Where there is want, they will strive to supply it; where there is ignorance, they will strive to dispel it; where there is weakness, they will strive to uphold it; and where there is guilt, they will be pitiful and tender, if by any means the wrong-doer may be reclaimed. Think how soon the opportunity of helping will have slipped away from us. Our own “ generation,” how it is diminishing every day! In a very little while, we ourselves, as members of it will have disappeared. 3. It is regulated by a paramount regard to the will of God. Of David, God said, “ I have found a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfill all My will.” The early promise was not belied. Now, if there be one thing that is more distinctive of good men than any other, it is just this high regard for the will of God. To know that, is their most earnest desire; to do it, is their most strenuous endeavour. II. Of a good man’ s death. Note--1. That little word “ after.” “ After” he had lived his true life. “ After” he had fulfilled his mission. “ After” he had accomplished his day, then he died; not before. We are thus taught that the time of a godly man’ s departure out of the world is definitely appointed. It is not an affair of chance. It is ordered of God. “ Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” --so precious that He prearranges all the circumstances of their death, directs its causes, and ordains its period. Each of us is “ immortal till his work is done.” “ God’ s witnesses,” says Henry, “ never die till they have finished their testimony.” 2. The peculiar character of a good man’ s death. David, when his work was done “ fell on sleep” --as the tired labourer, when his daily toils are ended, wends his way to his much-loved home, and calmly lays him down to rest, without a thought of anxiety or dread; glad that the hour is come, thankful for its provision. (C. M. Merry.) Acts 13:38-39 Be it known unto you … that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified.The gospel message I. The blessings which the text exhibits--forgiveness and justification.1. Forgiveness implies offence, and have not we transgressed the law of God, which is “ holy, just, and good” ? Divine forgiveness is a blessing of the highest worth. Whom the Lord pardons He pardons freely and completely. Hence He is represented as passing by transgression, not imputing iniquity, blotting out sin, casting it behind His back, sinking it in the depths of the sea, and remembering it no more. 2. But this leads to the other blessing--justification, “ an act of God’ s free grace, whereby He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.” It is not a work wrought in, but an act passed upon us. It is also an act of God--“ It is God that justifieth” : and His act, not merely as a gracious Sovereign conferring a favour, but as a righteous Governor and Judge doing that which is every way equitable. The blessing includes not only the pardon of sins, but the acceptance of our persons. It is not only exemption from punishment, but restoration to favour; not only release from danger, but admittance into a state of high honour and real safety. II. The extent to which they reach. “ The forgiveness of sins” means all sins; “ justified from all things,” i.e., from every charge which from any quarter can possibly be brought against us. Their atrocity shall not hinder any more than their number. Hence this clause, “ from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Moses justified from some sins. Sin offerings were appointed to expiate smaller offences; but these did not avail in cases of more flagrant crimes; the sentence of the law against such offences was death, and no exemption was allowed. Nor could the legal sacrifices ever take away guilt from the conscience, except as the penitent offender, through them, had a believing reliance on the promised Redeemer. But the justification which the gospel sets forth extends to all classes of transgressions. III. The medium through which these blessings are conferred. “ Through this Man,” and “ by Him.”1. By Him these blessings were proclaimed. He preached the gospel with His own lips: He forgave the sins of many. He commissioned His apostles to announce the same things. And He has instituted the gospel ministry, whose grand object is the publication of what He Himself and His apostles published. 2. Through Him they are also procured. As it regards forgiveness, “ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” As it regards justification, “ As by one man’ s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.” He is, “ made of God unto us, wisdom and righteousness.” But all this implies the substitution of Christ. He suffered not only for our good, but in our place. “ He who knew no sin was made sin,” a sin offering,” for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” IV. The persons by whom these blessings are enjoyed. “ All that believe.” On the doctrine of forgiveness this is the language, of Scripture; “ Through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” On that of justification it is equally clear, “ Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” And what is believing? It is not an inward feeling which cannot be accounted for. It is not a presumptuous persuasion, which a man acquires he knows not how, that his state is certainly safe. It is giving credit to the truth of God’ s Word; a resting of the soul on that which He hath graciously revealed, so as to fall in heartily with the method of salvation made known in the Scriptures. As to the influence of faith in the justification of a sinner, it is evident faith does not effect it--“ It is God that justifieth.” Faith does not procure it--“ It is Christ that died.” But faith receives it. But mark the expression--“ By Him all that believe are justified” ; whether young or old, rich or poor, learned or illiterate, etc. Conclusion: From this subject learn--1. The encouragement which springs from the love of Christ!2. How just is the condemnation of impenitent transgressors!3. How free is the salvation of the righteous! It is “ not of works, lest any man should boast.”4. What a motive to gratitude and obedience! (T. Kidd.)Through this Man I. The way of a sinner’ s forgiveness--“ Through this Man.” And notice--1. There is no other way. 2. There is no need of any other way. This “ Man” satisfied all the requirements of God and man. 3. God will accept no other way. “ There is none other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved.” II. The nature of the way of man’ s forgiveness.1. It is rational--consistent with justice, with mercy, with weak men, and a great God. 2. It is gracious; free from cost, easily attained, a blessed gift only to be accepted, an offer of love. 3. It is complete. It makes a man holy as well as safe. It fits for heaven as well as separates from earth. 4. It is full. There is no distinction or separation of classes or sorts: all are admitted to partake of its provisions. There is no sin it will not cover, no hardness it will not overcome. 5. It is absolute. There is no revocation or withdrawal. It was a transaction made once for all between Father and Son. (Homilist.)The true aim of preaching Paul’ s mode of preaching, as illustrated by this chapter, was first of all to appeal to the understanding with a clear exposition of truth, and then to impress that truth upon the emotions with earnest exhortations. This is an excellent model for revivalists. They must not give exhortation without doctrine, for if so, they will be like men who burn powder but have omitted the shot. At the same time let such of our brethren as are passionately fond of mere doctrine, but having little of the marrow of Divine mercy or the milk of human kindness stand rebuked by the example of the apostle. He knew well that even truth itself must be powerless unless applied. We cannot expect that men will make an application of the truth to themselves. Let us now notice-- I. Paul’ s subject, the subject of subjects--the great master doctrine of the Christian ministry. The “ forgiveness of sins” is a topic interesting to everyone in proportion as he feels the guilt of sin. To those good people who fold their arms and say, “ I have done no wrong either to God or man,” I have nothing to say. You need no physician, for you are not sick.1. The Christian minister tells men the exclusive method by which God will pardon sin. “ Through this Man.” The Lord Jesus has a monopoly of mercy. Into the one silver pipe of the atoning sacrifice God has made to flow the full current of pardoning grace. If you will not go to that, you may be tempted by the mirage, you may think that you can drink to the full, but you shall die disappointed. God will forgive sin, because the sin which He forgives has been already atoned for by the sufferings of His dear Son. You know the story of the young Roman who was condemned to die. But his elder brother who had often been to the front in the battles of the Republic, came and showed his many scars, and said, “ I cannot ask life for my brother on account of anything that he has done for the Republic; he deserves to die, I know, but I set my scars before you as the price of his life, and I ask you whether you will not spare him for his brother’ s sake.” Sinner, this is what Christ does for you. 2. It is our business also to preach to you the instrument through which you may obtain this pardon. All that thou hast to do is to come to Him as thou art, and trust in Him where thou art. Cling to the Cross, thou shipwrecked sinner, and thou shalt never go down while clinging to that. You will be saved, not by repentings and tears, not by wailings or workings, or prayings. When thy soul saith by faith what Christ said in fact--“ It is finished,” thou art saved, and thou mayest go thy way rejoicing. 3. We are also enjoined to preach about the character of this forgiveness of sin. (1) When God pardons a man’ s sins, He pardons them all, never half leaving the rest in His book. Luther tells us of the devil, in a dream, bringing before him the long roll of his sins, and when he recited them, Luther said--“ Now write at the bottom, ‘ The blood of Jesus Christ, God’ s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.’“ (2) It is a full pardon and it is a free pardon likewise. God never pardons any sinner from any other motive than His own pure grace. It cost the Saviour much; but it costs us nothing. (3) It is irreversible. Whom God pardons He never condemns. Let Him once say, I absolve thee, and none can lay anything to our charge. (4) Present pardon. It is a notion still current that you cannot know you are forgiven till you come to die. If you reckoned a clear profit of ten thousand pounds upon some speculation, and somebody said to you, “ It’ s all foolery!” the proof would be unanswerable if you had received the amount. So the Christian can say, Being justified by faith we have peace with God. II. The congregation which Paul addressed. Never mind the Jews and Gentiles. The verse is quite as applicable here as it was there. “ Unto you.” My friend, it is no small privilege to be where this message can yet be heard. Tens of thousands have gone the way of all flesh, unpardoned. What would they give to have another opportunity? I said that this was a privilege; but it is a privilege which some of you have despised. Those who heard Paul had never heard it before. Many of you have heard it from your youth up. All the exhortations in the world are to you as if they were spoken to an iron column or a brazen wall! Why will ye die? When you die we shall have to think, “ Ah, that man is lost, and yet unto him was preached the forgiveness of sins!” Well, notwithstanding that you have neglected the privilege, it is still preached unto you. Fain would I point with my finger to some of you, and say, “ Well, now, we really do mean you personally.” III. What became of them.1. Some of them raved at a very great rate, until Paul shook off the dust of his feet against them, and went his way. But there was another class (Acts 13:48). Here was his comfort--there were some upon whom there had been a blessed work, and those “ some” believed. Now, you need not ask the question whether you are God’ s elect. If you are God’ s chosen ones, you will know it by your trusting in Jesus. But if thou believest not, thou art in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. May eternal mercy bring thee out of that state at once. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Preaching the forgiveness of sins I. An alarming fact in man’ s moral condition implied. Sin is--1. Human.2. Personal. II. A Divine method of pardon declared.1. Forgiveness.2. Justification. III. This blessing offered on easy and honourable terms. Not by purchase, doing, meriting, but by believing--1. In God’ s love.2. In Christ’ s readiness and power to save.3. In God’ s truth that He will save all who believe. IV. This method and offer of salvation constituted by God a standing proclamation in His Church for the world. (J. Ross.)The forgiveness of sins 1. Not the forgiveness of crimes. There may be sin where there is no crime. Crimes are social, between man and man, between man and human law. Crime can be measured, weighed, and punished. But who knows sin? Only God. I can forgive a crime, but I have no jurisdiction in the province of sin. If I have done you wrong and am sorry for it you can on the spot say, “ There is an end of it” ; but after that I must have some plain talk with God. After I have apologised I have still a grievous discontent with myself. How to get clear of that? and whilst I am debating this serious question a sweet voice says to me, “ Be it known unto you,” etc. That is the word which a self-convicted, sin-burdened soul most eagerly delights to hear. But he must have felt the bitterness and guiltiness of sin before he can feel the need of such a gospel. When his heart is in a right state then the Cross becomes heaven to him, and the gospel the cry of God seeking His lost child. 2. In making this statement I lay all who are not yet forgiven under a tremendous responsibility. A man cannot hear a gospel sermon and be the same after as before. You are on one side of a great swollen river and want to cross it to get home. I come and say, “ Be it known unto you that I have found a bridge.” The fact of my telling you so alters the complexion of the whole case. You must prove me a liar before you can get back to your former state of negative responsibility. You are bound to say, “ Where?” I am bound to tell you where; and if, after having pointed out the bridge, you will not go home those on the other side have a right to condemn you. Brethren, you are on one side and truth on the other. An infinite distance lies between; but Paul says it is bridged by Christ. You are bound to accept or disprove the statement. If not to die. You are suffering from a great plague. I come and say, “ Be it known unto you, I have found a balm which has never failed.” Your state of responsibility is changed from that moment. Prove me false, or accept the remedy, or die. We are dying, and Jesus is set forth as the forgiveness of sins. No man, therefore, can hear that statement, and be the same after it as before. 3. How little is this word “ forgiveness” understood, however we may assume we understand it. We sometimes ignorantly say, “ Why does not God forgive all men, and make an end of sin?” He cannot. You cannot. We must be willing to be forgiven. I may say, if you have wronged me, “ Sir, I forgive you,” and you may contemptuously refuse to be forgiven. “ But if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive,” etc. Did He forgive the Pharisee? How could He? The Pharisee confessed nothing. Whom did He forgive? The poor self-accusing creature who cried, “ God be merciful to me a sinner.” So it is with us. 4. When God forgives, what happens? He forgets. “ I will remember no more.” Where there is no forgetting there is no forgiving. What does God do with our sins when He has forgiven them? He casts them behind Him. Where is that? He puts them away as far as the East is from the West. How far is that? 5. Here, then, is forgiveness. God is waiting I am authorised to say. Are you ready? “ But I do not understand.” Sir, your understanding will damn you, if you use it so. Do you feel your need? Then believe. The apostle distinctly says there is only one way--through faith in Christ. If there were but one door to this hall, and the guide said, “ This is the door,” what folly to seek elsewhere or try to climb up to the windows. To take his word simply is to save time and promote comfort. But Paul is only one man--then I call the innumerable multitude who have believed his word and been forgiven to corroborate him. (J. Parker, D. D.)Full and free pardon I. Through this man. Such a man as there never was nor will be--“ God manifest in the flesh,” “ the brightness of His Father’ s glory, and the express image of His person.” In consequence of this union He becomes the proper object of our faith, and therefore the proper object of our preaching. If Jesus Christ were but a mere man, we could not have preached pardon through Him. What merit could there be in the actions or sufferings of a mere man? For, when he had done all, he would only have done what was commanded him. Gold in bullion is valuable, but it is not the circulating medium of the country, and, before it can become so, it must be melted down and stamped with the king’ s arms and image. Now, if Christ had been the best of mere men, His actions and sufferings would have been mere gold in the bullion, not the circulating medium. But when I consider the Divine nature in union with the human, then I see that they are stamped with the king’ s arms and image, and thus they become the circulating medium of salvation, and they will pay every man’ s debts on this side hell. II. We point you to this Man on the Cross, and you there see Him bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. There is infinite merit in the sacrifice of this Godman. Prophets looked at Him on the Cross, and they saw and proclaimed pardon through Him, and the sole song of heaven’ s joy is, “ He has redeemed us to God by His blood.” We cannot tell why Jesus Christ did suffer and die, except on the ground of atonement. He could not suffer and die on His own account. “ The soul that sinneth it shall die” ; but, as Jesus Christ never had sinned, therefore He had no right to die. On the contrary, by the letter of the law, he had a right to live. “ Do this and thou shalt live.” Rationally, we can give no account except this: “ He died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” When you look at the Cross, and see the infinite value of the sacrifice, you need not wonder “ that we preach through this Man the forgiveness of sins.” III. This is just the very blessing we want. “ Look at the poor man condemned to be hanged. A messenger might be sent to say, “ His majesty has graciously taken your ease into consideration, and I have brought you a purse with a thousand sovereigns.” The poor man would say, “ What good can they do me? I must be hanged tomorrow.” “ Well, but I have another message; he has considered your case, and sent you the title deeds to an estate of £50,000 a year.” “ What will that do for me? I may be hanged to morrow.” “ Stop; I have another proposition to make; I have brought you his coronation robe, the richest robe that ever covered a monarch.” The man bursts into tears; he says, “ Do you intend to mock me? What a creature I shall appear when I ascend the scaffold with the coronation robe! But what, no news--none at all?” “ I have another word; his majesty has taken your case into consideration, and sent you a pardon, signed and sealed by the great seal of the king. Here, I have brought you a pardon--what do you say to that?” The poor man looks at him and says that he doubts it is too good news to be true. Then he leaps and praises. But the messenger says, “ I have not done; I have got you the pardon, and here is the purse of gold, the title deeds, and the robe into the bargain!” So we preach pardon through the blood of the Lamb, and more than simple pardon. Not merely is the displeasure of God removed, but His favour enjoyed. Not merely is the pardoned sinner made a subject, but a child, brought to the king’ s palace, and made an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. IV. And how must we obtain it? “ Whosoever believeth.” Where a sinner believes the testimony of God, that he is a guilty sinner, sees the evil of his sin, the danger of his state, and feels a deep abhorrence of himself, a deep hatred to sin, and breathes out his soul in prayer--I do not say that he shall obtain remission of sins, but that is a preparatory operation that must take place, more or less, in all our souls. Remission of sins is not attached to believing God’ s record concerning Himself, but the eye turns itself out of itself, out of its own sins, out of its own weakness, and fixes itself upon the Lord Jesus Christ, in the dignity of His person, the virtue of His sacrificed the prevalence of His mediatorial office, this riches of His love. And then, when it looks to Jesus, there is in Christ everything that the guilty sinner wants. Here is the pardon presented, but he can bring no price. What, then, can he do? Why, he can open his hands and receive the blood-bought, freely-offered pardon for all his transgressions. V. There is no other system in the world that, at the same time that it brings pardon to the sinner, brings the highest glory to God. Here is pardon, the fullest and the freest. Even in the Mosaic economy there were some sins for which there was no propitiatory sacrifice, and consequently those who lived under that economy could not be justified from all things. But the soul that believeth on Jesus Christ is justified from all things. And then it brings the highest glory to God, for He is glorified in the very exhibition of pardon to a ruined world. Some may say that to look for mere pardon and acceptance is a narrow and selfish principle; that we should look to a higher object, viz., the glory of God. Well, when I am pardoned, God is glorified, the plan of salvation, the merits of Christ, the goodness and holiness of God are glorified. When our Lord was a babe in the manger, angels sang, “ Glory to God in the highest.” I think we can sing it better now that He is a prince on the throne. We cannot glorify God without loving Him, and how can we love Him without being pardoned? Having much forgiven, we love much; and when we love much, we shall glorify God. We glorify God when we prize Him. When the sinner obtains pardon, he says, “ I will praise thee, though Thou wast angry with me.” God is glorified by our devotedness. We glorify God with our bodies and our spirits, which are His. (W. Dawson.)Justification by faith Consider-- I. That mankind are naturally, and without Christ, in a state of guilt and condemnation. This proposition is here implied; it is that upon which the whole statement of the apostle proceeds; for it would be idle to talk of “ forgiveness of sins,” and to press it on the acceptance of those who are not sinners. God made man holy. To holy man he gave a holy law, which partook of the nature of a covenant. The language of it was, “ Do it, and thou shalt live; but in the day that thou transgresseth, thou shalt die.” The first man, the federal head of the whole human race, did transgress, and by transgression forfeited, for himself and for our race, the blessing of obedience, the blessing of the covenant, and incurred the penalty of the law--that is, he forfeited the right to life, and he incurred the punishment of death. From him we all derive a nature which--like his after his apostasy--was alienated from God, and inclined to evil The effect of this is that, when temptations occur, we all act again the part which he acted before us. “ All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” “ The wrath of God abideth on them.” II. That proof this natural, condition men cannot extricate themselves. “ Ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” This undoubtedly includes a reference to the sacrifices and other ritual observances of the law. But we are sinners of the Gentiles, and are in no danger of relying on Jewish ceremonies. It is necessary, however, that we be convinced that we cannot be justified by the works of the moral law. To show you this you have only to look at what kind of obedience it is that the law requires when it says, “ Do this, and thou shalt live.” In order to your justification by law, the law requires an obedience perfect--1. In its principles and motives. The law of God is spiritual, and will not be content with an external obedience. “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” etc. This law of God is so spiritual that it charges an idle thought as actual wickedness, a licentious desire as adultery, anger of heart as murder. Now, will any man stand the scrutiny of such a law as this? 2. In its practice and performance. On the one hand there are some who appeal to what they think the very tolerable, or even commendable regularity, of their outward conduct, and they ask whether they may not claim to be justified. Our last observation met their inquiry. But there are others who allow they have done that which they ought not to have done, but appeal to the supposed goodness of their hearts. “ We meant well. We have failed in the performance, but will not God take the will for the deed?” Now, the second observation is meant to correct that. The law will not take the will for the deed, or the deed for the will. “ Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” There must be actual and perfect performance in order to sustain the plea on the ground of your own works to life eternal. It is not enough to say that you thoroughly approve of the law; you may approve of it, and yet transgress it. It is not enough to say that you really desire to fulfil the law; the law makes justification depend not on desiring to keep the law, but on actually keeping it. It is not enough to say you have really used your strenuous endeavours to keep the law of God. The question is not whether you have been endeavouring, but whether you have performed it to the letter. Now how is it possible that any of us should stand on that ground before God? 3. In its extent, “ In all things.” It is not enough, therefore, to show that you have kept some of God’ s precepts. It is very possible that you may have continued in those parts of the law regulating your intercourse with the world, and yet have been extremely faulty in reference to those parts which relate to your feelings and conduct towards God. Now can you meet God on such ground as that? 4. In its duration. Think again of the passage already cited. Cursed is he that continueth not from the first moment at which personal responsibility commences to the latest period of his life “ in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” Oh! how inconceivably vain are all self-righteous hopes! III. That what the law thus fails of accomplishing, through no defects of its own (for it is in every respect perfect and good), but through the perversity and weakness of human nature, the gospel offers freely to impart.1. “ Forgiveness of sins,” that is, the remission of the penalty due to the commission of guilt. (1) This is not the alteration or diminution in the slightest degree of that intense abhorrence of sin which God must ever feel. He does not come to the conclusion, upon a view of all the particulars, that because the law has been severe the sinner is to be excused. It is part of the imperfection of human laws that such things as these sometimes occur, but which never can occur in reference to the perfect law of an infinitely wise and righteous lawgiver, who makes no mistakes, who has no errors to correct. (2) But though there is no change in God’ s views of sin when He pardons it, there is great and almost infinite change in its consequences in His dealings with the sinner. When sin is pardoned, that curse is entirely taken away, and the blessedness of righteousness comes in. 2. The same transaction, substantially, is called “ justification.” To be justified is to be accounted righteous, and to be treated as righteous. And the pardoned man, being thus at the same time accounted righteous, becomes entitled to blessings of unspeakable value. He has peace, is adopted into the family of God, is entitled to the inheritance of children. IV. That for this great and unspeakable blessing provided for us in the gospel we are altogether indebted meritoriously to the Lord Jesus Christ. “ Through this Man … and by Him.” The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us for the purpose of saving us. You owe your pardon, justification, and all subsequent blessings--1. To this Man’ s holy and spotless life. The perfect purity of our Saviour was essential to His becoming an accepted sacrifice for the sins of men. According to the law none but a lamb without blemish could be accepted. 2. To this Man’ s death on the Cross. Not all the condescension implied in His assuming our nature, not all the sublimity of His doctrines, could have availed to the salvation of men. 3. To this Man’ s resurrection from the dead. He “ was delivered for our offences, but raised again for our justification.” Hence to the apostles “ Jesus and the resurrection” was the great point to which they bare testimony. Not that His resurrection was the meritorious consideration on which God extended pardon, but that the resurrection bore a satisfactory attestation to the death which did atone. For if there had been no real death, there could not be a real resurrection. 4. To this Man’ s ascension and to His mediatorial administration of all the affairs of His spiritual kingdom. “ He has ascended on high; He has led captivity captive; He has received gifts for men,” etc. The dispensation of those blessings which He procured for our race is entrusted to His own hands; out of His fulness it is that we receive the grace of penitence and faith, and that seals the pardon by the Spirit of adoption. V. That, in order to the personal appropriation of the blessings thus procured by Christ, faith is required as the appointed instrument. “ By Him all that believe are justified.” No unbeliever is justified. Let us learn from this that the forgiveness of sin is not a very rare and extraordinary thing. Some objectors say that the enjoyment rather belongs to persons of eminent attainments in religion, or that it is the recompense for some eminent sacrifice for Christ and conscience. But the text says that “ all who believe are justified.” And this is in accordance with St. John’ s testimony: “ I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you, for His name’ s sake.” So that even the weakest believer has the forgiveness of sins. What, then, is that believing to which such important consequences are attached?1. It is not merely education, the faith which results from our having the privilege of being born in a Christian land. It is not the historical faith merely which results from the exercise of our judgment upon Divine revelation, its evidence, and its contents. The heart must be brought to bear on the truth thus apprehended, the will must embrace it, and the affections must be called forth and exercised by it. It is a “ believing with the heart” that is “ unto righteousness.” There may be the “ evil heart of unbelief” where there is not the smallest approach to theoretical and speculative infidelity. 2. And then, to come a little nearer still, it is not merely that going out after God in penitential desire, and with that measure of hope and anticipation which belongs to the true penitent. A man effectually convinced of sin cannot but go out after Christ in penitential desire, for he perceives that without Christ he is undone. This faith implies the actual laying hold upon Christ by the power of the Eternal Spirit with believing, trust, and reliance. 3. Do you wish to get a clearer and more distinct view of it? I tell you how it is to be done; you must make the experiment; you will never understand it till you practise it. In the exercise of penitent and self-renouncing and self-despairing feelings turn your eye to Christ; look on Him that you may be saved. Look off from everything else; look off from yourself, from every other pretended saviour; look to Jesus; and while you are thus looking, the aid of the Holy Spirit will be imparted to you, and you will perform that special and distinct act of faith which is trusting on Christ, which is believing with the heart unto righteousness; and while you are performing, when you thus perform it, you will understand it better. (Jabez Bunting, D. D.)Forgiveness is free for all who believe I recollect in Martin Luther’ s life that he saw, in one of the Romish churches, a picture of the Pope, and the cardinals, and bishops, and priests, and monks, and friars, all on board a ship. They were all safe, every one of them. As for the laity, poor wretches, they were struggling in the sea, and many of them drowning. Only those were saved to whom the good men in the ship were so kind as to hand out a rope or a plank. That is not our Lord’ s teaching; His blood is shed “ for many,” and not for the few. He is not the Christ of a caste, or a class, but the Christ of all conditions of men. His blood is shed for many sinners, that their sins may be remitted. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Salvation is through Christ only I recollect a story told of William Dawson, whom our Wesleyan friends used to call Billy Dawson, one of the best preachers that ever entered a pulpit. He once gave out as his text, “ Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” When he had given out his text he dropped down to the bottom of the pulpit, so that nothing could be seen of him, only there was a voice heard saying, “ Not the man in the pulpit--he is out of sight--but the Man in the book. The Man described in the book is the Man through whom is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” I put myself and you and everybody else out of sight, and I preach to you the remission of sins through Jesus only. I would sing with the children, “ Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Shut your eyes to all things but the Cross. Jesus died, and rose again, and went to heaven, and all your hope must go with Him! Come, my hearer, take Jesus by a distinct act of faith this morning! May God the Holy Ghost constrain thee to do so, and then thou mayest go on thy way rejoicing! So be it in the name of Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s forgiveness A Christian worker says: “ We were asked one day to call and see a poor woman who was very ill. We found her worn and faint, in a state of extreme discomfort and poverty. In the room were screaming children, whose mother was loudly bidding them ‘ Be still, or she’ d beat them,’ so that at first it seemed doubtful whether the invalid would be able to listen to anything. ‘ It’ s all there,’ said the poor woman, laying her hand on her chest, ‘ and don’ t leave me night nor day. I can’ t get rid of the burden!’ Our efforts to arrange the pillow and straighten the rags meant for bed clothes did not afford any relief.’ No, my dear, it’ s not that, it’ s not that. Its all my sins as I’ ve done ever since I was a child: they come up before me, and lie there so heavy. They tell me I must die; but I can’ t.’ ‘ Now, listen, and I will tell you of a man who felt just as you did, only perhaps worse. He was so bad that he could not keep from roaring day and night. He could not lie still as you can; and he said, “ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. When I kept silence my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me.” ‘ Oh,’ broke in the woman, ‘ that’ s like me; and what did he do?’ ‘ I acknowledged my sin unto Thee. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord’ ; and on explaining what this was, the poor woman started up in bed, took hold of my arm, and, with an eagerness beyond description, asked, ‘ What did the Lord say? What did God say to him?’ ‘ And Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin; for this shall everyone pray unto Thee.’ No more need be told. The woman acknowledged her sins, and David’ s God spake forgiveness to her heart through Jesus Christ. From that day the burden was gone, and the praise that rose from that sick bed continuous.” Justification by faith Luther sought rest for his troubled breast in self-denial and retirement as a monk, but did not find it. In 1500 he started as a delegate for Rome, hoping to find relief from his burden there. As he came in sight of the city he fell on his knees, exclaiming, “ Holy Rome! I salute thee.” He was disappointed and shocked at the wickedness which he found there. The people said to him, “ if there is a hell, Rome is built over it.” At last he turned to ascend Pilate’ s staircase, thronged by the superstitious crowd, upon his knees. He toiled from step to step, repeating his prayers at everyone, till a voice of thunder seemed to cry within him, “ The just shall live by faith.” Instantly he rose, saw the folly of his hopes of relief through works of merit. A new life followed his new light. Seven years after he nailed his theses to the door of the Wittenberg church, and inaugurated the Reformation. (Christian Age.)From which ye could not be Justified by the law of Moses.--The superiority of the gospel to the law The law cannot save, “ for by the deeds of the law no flesh is justified” ; but the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The law is all righteousness--the gospel all grace. The law can only justify the just; the gospel justifies the sinner. The law is a royal chariot that will convey the perfect man to heaven, but it is a Juggernaut car which crushes the rebel under its wheels. The law can only declare a man just; the gospel makes him just. The law demands obedience, but it never helps men to obey; the gospel effectually helps those who cannot help themselves. The law cries out, “ Do this and live” ; the gospel, in gentler tones, says, “ Believe and live.” The law has a prison in which to punish; the gospel has a reformatory in which to save. The law is a taskmaster sternly commanding; the gospel is a philanthropist generously helping and inspiring. The law can only show the sins; the gospel, with an almighty fling, casts them into the depths of the sea. The law can say, “ If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who shall stand?” The gospel gives the grand reply, “ There is forgiveness with Thee.” The law can say, “ Sin hath abounded” ; the gospel, “ Grace hath much more abounded.” The law has not saved one soul; the gospel has saved its myriads. Thank God that where the law fails the gospel triumphs. (J. Ossian Davies.) Acts 13:40-41 Beware therefore.A solemn warning to the ungodly We are, in this world, represented as being remarkably under the influence of self-love; but, with regard to the eternal future, the self-love of man is strangely perverted and enfeebled. One of the main objects of the sacred writings is to grapple with this fatal tendency, and one mode is to announce men’ s danger by reason of their sinful folly; and also the only method by which that danger can be averted. Notice-- I. The infliction to which this solemn caution relates. What is it that we have to beware of? You will find in the context that it is “ the anger,” or “ the wrath of God” (Acts 13:41; Isaiah 29:14; Habakkuk 1:5). Observe--1. The cause from which the threatened anger arises. God created the universe for His praise, and filled it with all the elements of happiness. And when we find Him going forth amid the threatenings of vengeance, to what is the change to be ascribed? To the introduction of sin. The first transgressors were angels who kept not their first estate, and are reserved, under chains and darkness, unto the judgment of the great day! Afterwards man became a sinner, and “ by one man’ s disobedience, many have been made sinners.” Hence it is that there comes the threatening. Now, is there anything in this but an equitable arrangement of consequence as following cause? 2. The operations in which that wrath is manifested. (1) We have tokens around us of the anger of God against sin. In the barrenness of the wilderness; in the scorching of the summer heat; in the withering of the wintry frost; and in disease, pestilence, and death. (2) And then we must not forget that there are examples of His vengeance of a temporal nature. The deluge, the destruction of the cities of the Plain, the plagues of Egypt, the punishment of the Jaws, etc. (3) And have there been no manifestations of the wrath of God against sin in modern times? (4) But is there nothing beyond? We have spoken of temporal evils, but we hear of many announcements in the sacred writings of “ the wrath which is to come.” II. The considerations by which this solemn caution may be especially enforced. Beware of this wrath--1. On account of the suddenness with which it is frequently inflicted. “ Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with a stroke.” “ He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, aid that without remedy.” There are examples which God has given, in order to illustrate and confirm these general declarations. For example, Nabad and Abihu, Korah and his company, Belshazzar, Ananias, Herod. And have we had no instance of the infliction of the wrath of God in our own times and amongst ourselves? Beware! for the wrath of God, on account of sin, may come upon you unawares. 2. Because when inflicted it causes irreparable ruin. We are not speaking now of temporal evils, but of the future state (Luke 13:24-30). III. The conduct to which this solemn caution should lead.1. Men are to embrace the refuge which God has provided from the wrath to come. The Governor of the universe has, while preserving the honour of His justice, magnified the riches of His grace, and He is willing that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And if men, feeling their guilt and their danger, will but come unto Him in the exercise of faith, they shall be forgiven. 2. The resort to the remedy which has been provided must be without delay. Why should we delay? You bare delayed long enough. You have often been invited, and often summoned to beware. Remember--1. The brevity and uncertainty of life.2. The hardening influence of sin. (J. Parsons.)Behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish. The destruction of despisers I. The character of these despisers.1. There are some who despise all religion, and reject even those fundamental principles which revelation presupposes; such as the existence and providence of God, the difference between moral good and evil, and the freedom and accountableness of man. 2. There are some who pretend to believe the truths of natural religion, but despise all revelation. From the supposed sufficiency of human reason for all the purposes of religion, they conclude that no supernatural discovery ever has been or ever will be made. 3. There are some who acknowledge in general the truth of the gospel, but despise its peculiar doctrines. 4. There are those that profess to believe the gospel in all its essential doctrines, and yet in their hearts and lives oppose it. II. In what respects, it may be said, they will perish wonderfully. Here are two things asserted.1. Destruction awaits contemptuous sinners. Whatever may be the condition of heathens, who never heard of Christ, awful must be the fate of those, who, having heard of Him, despise and refuse the only Lord who bought them. “ They who believe not, shall die in their sins” ; they are “ condemned already, because they believe not in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” If obedience to God is necessary to salvation, faith in Christ must be necessary; for this is the command of God, “ That we believe on Him whom He hath sent.” 2. This destruction when it comes will be wonderful. (1) Unexpectedly. A punishment which they little thought of will therefore fill sinners with wonder and astonishment. It is said of Jerusalem, “ Because she remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully.” The Scripture represents the destruction of sinners, in general, as coming upon them by surprise. (2) Exceeding all present conception. There is a strange punishment for the workers of iniquity. Some temporal judgments are so great, that they are called strange and marvellous works. How much more strange and marvellous will be the future punishment of despisers? “ God will perform a work which they would not believe, though a man should declare it to them.” “ Who knows the power of God’ s anger?” We cannot conceive-- (a) the great anguish of a self-condemning conscience. (b) That positive punishment which awaits sinners. (c) The distress of total despair. (3) Wonderful, compared with that of other sinners. Despisers will be distinguished in the world of misery from others. Moses having enumerated the singular privileges of the favoured people, says, “ If ye will not observe to do all the words of this law, the Lord will make your plagues wonderful.” The gospel abounds in warnings of this kind. “ If the word spoken by angels was steadfast,” etc. III. Let me enforce the caution in the text. “ Beware,” etc. In mercy to our guilty world, God has sent His Son to make the purchase, proclaim the offers, and state the terms of eternal salvation. To us the word of this salvation is sent. The question now proposed is, Will you accept it? If you will accept the benefit you must submit to the terms of it. You must repent and yield to the government of the gospel of Christ. If you will not do this, you despise His gospel, and all the blessings which it reveals. Consider what it is that you despise. It is a gospel preached by the Son of God from heaven; confirmed by miracles, preserved in the world by a merciful providence, and transmitted to you by peculiar favour. How worthy, then, of your thankful acceptation! To despise this is to despise that pearl of great price, to purchase which you should be willing to sell all that you have. To despise this is to despise God’ s greatest gift, even the gift of His own Son, who came to seek and to save them who were lost. Judge, now, what must be the consequence of this contempt. Know ye, that your judgment lingers not. The Lord will soon arise, that He may do His strange work. (J. Lathrop, D. D.) Acts 13:42-52 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words.Growth of apostolic power 1. There are always unexpected hearers arising to give encouragement to the preacher. Strangers are there, who spring up, and say, “ This is the gate of heaven.” The Gentiles hailed the Word as strangers might hail tidings of home. We know some things not by direct intellectual instruction, but by subtle and inexpressible sympathy. We feel that certain words are true. We may not know music technically, but surely the dullest man knows when the right tune is being sung. The Gentiles heard a strange speech that day, yet they knew it. The Lamb was slain before the universe was built. The gospel comes to a measure of preparation. Somehow in the most savage breast there rises up an answering voice, saying, “ This is what I have been waiting for.” 2. But preachers have to find out their hearers. Paul and Barnabas were no doubt amazed at the desire of the Gentiles. The invitation would have come naturally from the Jews. It would be a pleasant thing if our neighbours would invite us to this or that renewal of service, but they go away and leave us. But we are not alone; for God, who is able to raise up out of the stones children unto Abraham, raises up strange hearers, unknown hearts, and from them comes the cry which we cannot refuse to answer. 3. We think we have expressed the very last formula of science when we say the same causes produce the same effects; in all moral questions the axiom is not only doubtful but untrue. The Jews were “ filled with envy,” the Gentiles were “ filled with joy.” How do you account for that? It was the same Sabbath, preacher, doctrine, congregation. There the same cause did not produce the same effect. You are not dealing with cause and effect only in a case of this kind; you are dealing with the middle quantity, human nature. Like goes to like. The same preacher cannot minister to all people. A man may dislike this ministry or that solely because he may not understand it or be in sympathy with it, but to another man it is the very breath of heaven. Thanks be unto God, every true Paul has at least some few Gentiles who understand and love Him. 4. “ Now, when the congregation was broken up” (Acts 13:43). Was it then all over? Congregations should never break up in the sense of terminating spiritual ministry. There were after meetings. Beza says that herein is a justification for mid-week meetings and lectures. “ Now when the congregation was broken up, the people dispersed, and referred no more to the matter.” Does the text read so? It would read so if it had been written today. I never hear anyone make reference to the solemn engagements of the sanctuary after they are over. It is a decency observed, a ceremony passed through, a fact accomplished. In the olden time Christian service used to be the be-all and the end-all of the life of those who engaged in it. Here is life in the olden time (Acts 13:44-45). That was life I a man could preach then! Sermons were thunderbolts! Religious services were not opportunities for sanctified slumber; they were calls, as with the blast of a thousand trumpets, to the standard and to the sword of the Lord. 5. In the forty-sixth verse the ministers become new men. “ Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold.” There is history in these words; it was a critical moment; it was one of two things--the Jews by their blasphemy prevailing, or the apostles of Christ saying, “ The day shall be ours.” Some men are so easily put down. Paul and Barnabas were not made of such material; history is not made of such stuff! Somewhere, in symbol or in speech, you must find the heroic element in every true man. I know nothing of that marvellous love of Christ that never mentions His name; that never touches His memorial bread or wine; that never gives Him a cup of cold water. Be ours the Christianity that is heroic and self-sacrificing. Let the world know that we are followers of the Cross. When I read that Paul “ waxed bold,” I am not surprised; but when I read that Barnabas waxed bold, I wonder if he would have done so if Paul had not been there. Barnabas! take care that your strong brother is always nigh at hand when you go out to do Christian work, for in his strength you may be strong. 6. “ As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” How many poor souls have stumbled there, as if a door had been shut in their faces, whereas there is no door but an open one to the heart of God! Never found what you call good theology upon bad grammar. Happily these words, the most learned men tell us, might be read, “ And so many as set themselves in order” were saved; as many as took up this matter; as many as accepted the Word; as many as disposed themselves in soldierly order and array went on to victory and honour. There can be no more terrible blasphemy than for any man to think that God has a spite against him, and will not let him be saved. God would have all men to come unto Him and be saved. 7. Notice an extraordinary expression. In Acts 13:46 “ the Jews were filled with envy” ; in Acts 13:52 “ the disciples were filled with joy.” It is always so with the gospel; it is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death; it makes a man a worse man, or a better man. But “ My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” The apostles said, “ It was necessary that the Word of God should first be spoken to you” ; but after that comes the withdrawal of the opportunity, the taking away of the light, the shutting of the hospitable door. This may be our last chance!” He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (J. Parker, D. D.)The results of Paul’ s first reported sermon I. A general spirit of religious inquiry (Acts 13:42). A sermon has done much when it has broken the monotony of thought, and excited the spirit of religious inquiry. II. The conversion of many of the hearers (Acts 13:43). The fact that Paul and Barnabas exhorted them to continue in “ the grace of God” implies of course--1. That they had received it. Had been converted.2. That there was a danger of losing it. III. A great excitement amongst all classes (Acts 13:44). The words of Paul had struck into the heart of the population, and set the minds of all alive. During the previous week his sermon was the one subject of talk in all circles. All felt anxious to hear more; so that now, at the dawn of the Sabbath day, they gather in crowds to hear the wondrous truths again. The gospel breaks the stagnant atmosphere of the mind, and unchains the strong winds of thought. IV. The stirring up of a bitter persecution (Acts 13:45). When the Jews saw the crowds of Gentiles flocking to the apostles, and treated by them as on terms of equality with the chosen people, their envy was kindled, the fiendish flame raged in their bosoms, and they began to contradict and blaspheme. They dealt in calumny, reviled them as heretics and false teachers. True and powerful sermons will excite antagonism as well as win converts. V. The increased power of the apostles in their work (Acts 13:46). Like all true men, they grew greater in the presence of difficulties, and braver as perils thickened around them. Opposition never intimidates great natures in a good cause. On the contrary, it brings out their manhood in defiant attitudes. In the text we have three things--1. The gospel offered by a Divine plan. “ It was necessary,” etc. Why? Because Christ had commanded that the Jews should have the first offer. There were reasons for this. Their offer to the Jew “ first” was-- (1) The strongest proof of the sincerity of their own faith. The Jew lived on the very scenes where the great facts of Christianity occurred. They were eyewitnesses of the whole. (2) The strongest proof of the mercifulness of their system. The Jew was the greatest sinner; the Jews crucified the Lord of life and glory. 2. The gospel rejected by an unbelieving people. “ Judge yourselves unworthy!” Is not this withering irony? The Jew thinks himself unworthy of eternal life! Proud spirits; they considered nothing too good in heaven or earth for them; they felt themselves worthy of heaven’ s choicest gifts. (1) Man’ s conduct is his true verdict upon himself. A man is not what he may think he is, or say he is, or what others may judge he is. His everyday life pronounces the true sentence upon himself. (2) Man’ s sentence upon himself when he rejects the gospel is terribly awful. “ Unworthy of everlasting life.” The man who rejects the gospel declares by the very act his thorough unfitness for eternal life. He dooms himself to eternal death. 3. The gospel promoted by earnest men. “ Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” We have no time to lose. Souls by millions around us want the salvation we are commissioned to offer. We have offered it to you. You have rejected it. Adieu, we hasten to other spheres. Two things are suggested here-- (1) A lamentable condition for a people. These unbelieving Jews are left--the apostles turn from them--the gospel is withdrawn. A greater calamity this than if the sun went down and left their heavens in sackcloth. Mercy will not always continue with a people. “ My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” (2) An obvious duty for a ministry. It was right for these gospel labourers to leave a rocky, sterile, and unproductive soil, and try elsewhere. Their field is the world. Ministers are justified and often bound to leave their sphere of labour. That ministry which is unsuccessful in one sphere is often prosperous in another. The apostles wrought wonders amongst the Gentiles. 4. The gospel designed for the world by the mercy of God. “ For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying,” etc. They assured them fruit of God’ s special kindness to them. VI. A practical acceptation of the gospel by a large number of the Gentiles (Acts 13:48-49). The idea is, that as many as were disposed unto eternal life--the gospel--believed in it; and this is evermore the case. VII. The expulsion of the apostles from their coasts and their departure to Iconium (Acts 13:50-52). “ Devout” in the sense of being proselytes, “ honourable” in the sense of social rank. The persecuting Jews used the influence of these women to banish the apostles. Women have often been used as tools in the hands of persecutors. The persecutors so far succeeded that the apostles withdrew. “ But they shook off the dust of their feet against them.” The act does not mean indignation. No fires of revenge or resentment glowed in their bosoms. It was a dramatic act expressing abhorrence of their conduct in desecrating the most sacred of missions. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Now when the congregation was broken up.--The congregation and its dispersion I. The congregation.1. It is a wonderful thing when we reflect upon it. It differs from every other gathering. It is a mixed assemblage. Persons of all ages and of all ranks are here. Persons who meet nowhere else meet here. The house of mourning and the house of feasting alike contribute their quota to this one gathering. In this one place there is silence, except from certain authorised speakers, or at certain prescribed points. To the words of a man, one of themselves, all are bound to listen in respectful silence. 2. The inference which all must draw from such a scene is that there is a consciousness of a great want--the want of the knowledge of God, communion with God, directions from God. Men cannot do without a religion, and that religion must have its exercises. It could scarcely be accounted for, except on the supposition that there is a God, whom to reverence is man’ s first duty, whom to know is life. And this supposition condemns us. We do not (it may be) know God, and we do not reverence Him. What the congregation does, the individual does not. 3. We may well form a high estimate of this great institution. What is done here tells upon the life; yea, upon the eternal life. Carelessness of thought, the entrance of the world and the devil into the heart here, does involve consequences of which none can set the limit. When we come together, as St. Paul says, in one place, it must be either for the better or for the worse. II. The breaking up of the congregation.1. He who sees the gradual emptying of this holy place, and pictures to himself the various scenes to which the worshippers are returning, may well look after them anxiously, and wonder where and how the seed sown is to have its development, if at all. Whither will the All-seeing eye track its dispersion? Shall there be any deed of darkness done by one who is now hearing the Word of God? Shall there be around any hearth thoughts of unkindness or words of dispute and bitterness? Or shall there be any lying down to sleep unblessed by prayer? Surely, if the sight of a congregation has its solemnity, the sight of its dispersion is more solemn and more anxious still. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’ s table and of the table of devils. 2. In this case, an apostle had been the preacher, his topic was a new gospel, and the impression made had been such that the audience wanted to hear the same sermon again. And yet even when Paul preached, even when One greater than Paul preached, some believed the things that were spoken, and some believed not. It is even so now. Those who were satisfied with the hearing went away; those who desired to live by it stayed behind. Is there nothing now to correspond with this distinction? Where amongst us are the religious proselytes who follow the ministers when the congregation is broken up; use, in other words, the opportunities afforded them for a more private and personal instruction, link together the Sunday services by a chain of holy effort and assiduous devotion in the week between, and thus set themselves with all earnestness to grow in knowledge and in grace? 3. Paul and Barnabas felt that an attentive congregation, though a great blessing, is an ambiguous sign. They knew the precariousness, as well as the importance, of the spiritual life, and never rested satisfied with one symptom or evidence of a strong impression. They spoke to these new disciples, and persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. It is a great thing to set out well; it is more to run well: it is more still to end well. (Dean Vaughan.)And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together;…but when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy.--Denominational envy And are not religious bodies sometimes guilty of this sin? Has it no existence in the breasts of professing Christians of different denominations? Is there no envy in Dissenters towards the Church of England, or of the Church of England towards Dissenters? Of Baptists towards Paedo-baptists, Paedobaptists towards Baptists? Of Methodists towards Congregationalists, and Congregationalists towards Methodists? What meaneth that disposition to suspect and traduce each other, which is but too common amongst all the divisions of the Christian Church? If one denomination prospers, are not all the rest too apt to look on with envious eyes, because theirs is likely to be eclipsed or diminished? Are not all the little arts of detraction most busily employed, and a hundred tongues made voluble to arrest the progress and limit the prosperity of the rising sect? And how much of this spirit is often seen in the conducting of rising congregations of the same denomination! What ill-will is often cherished by the members of the declining cause towards those of the prosperous one, and only because they are prosperous! They can never hear of the success of their neighbour society, their sister Church, without feeling and appearing uneasy and displeased, as if an injury were done to them; they profess to be incredulous of the fact; they suggest that it is more in outward show than reality; they do not scruple to mention drawbacks in the talents or perhaps the inconsistencies of the minister; detraction, yea, even slander, is employed against some of the members of this “ prosperous” society, as it is sneeringly called. Such even in Christian Churches, or rather in the minds of some of their members, are the operations of envy. (J. A. James.)Envy at the success of the gospel A witness-- I. Against the envious.1. Their secret pride.2. Their evil conscience.3. Their internal unhappiness. II. For the envied. There must be something in it.1. A truth which cannot be denied.2. A good against which we cannot contend.3. A blessedness which cannot be mocked away. (K. Gerok.)The opponents of the gospel injure only themselves 1. They disclose their evil hearts (Acts 13:45).2. They make themselves unworthy of eternal life (Acts 13:46).3. They disgrace themselves by the bad weapons they employ (Acts 13:50).4. They do not arrest the victorious course of truth (Acts 13:48-52). (K. Gerok.)Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said,…seeing ye put it from you, and Judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.--Unworthy of eternal life I. That clearly we all are, however exorbitant may be our estimate of our own excellencies. Finite merit can never entitle us to an infinite reward. If it were ordained that for each year lived in perfect virtue we were to have meted out to us one year more of heaven, he would be a rash man who would affirm that the reward was insufficient. But suppose that for each such year we were to have a thousand years in glory, who would dare to say that the reward was not far in advance of our deserts?1. Try and form some idea of everlasting life, that you may be the better able to realise how little you can merit it. (1) It stands contrasted with all forms of life in this transient world. We read of some who seem to have lived to an extraordinary age in primitive times. Yet each record ends with the words, “ And he died.” Even Methuselah had to come to this at last. I have seen trees in England that possibly may have been growing in the time of Caesar, and there are trees in America that may have been young in the days of Moses, but even these have to die at last. Let your mind wander backwards until you reach the time when man first appeared, and back further through the long ages in which animal life assumed a thousand forms of wonder and beauty, while type after type appears only to pass away. Go back further still through those past ages whose history is written only in “ scarped cliff and quarried stone,” until you reach the period inconceivably remote, when the earliest forms of life began to exist. Look back beyond that to the time when the world was desolate and lifeless, and back beyond that to the time when it was but a stormy aggregation of gases and vapours, and back beyond that to a time when the planet had no separate existence; and as you contemplate these vast geological periods, which have to be measured by millions of years, reflect that all these are but as a watch in the night as compared with everlasting life, and then tell me who can merit such a destiny as that. (2) Try to present the wondrous vision of the future. Everlasting life! the glory of an age that has no period; a God-like life--a life in which existence itself must be an unmixed boon, because all that could interfere with its blessedness has passed away forever; and as you contemplate the wondrous object, pause and ask, “ What can I do that I should win for myself such a prize?” 2. But now look at the other side. Although eternal life is so glorious, yet there is not a man in this congregation who can bring his own heart to be satisfied with the prospect of anything less. Promise to yourself, if you will, a thousand ages, or multiply that thousand by any number of figures, yet let it be understood that there is to come a term at last, sooner or later, and at once there is a bitter drop in your cup of pleasure. 3. But now place these two definite conclusions side by side--that we none of us can deserve eternal life, and that we cannot be satisfied with anything short of it. Bring these two facts together, and then you will find yourselves landed in one of two further conclusions--either that man is to be disappointed, and that human life is to be the victim of death, or else eternal life must become ours without our meriting it, that is to say, by deed of gift on the part of Him who alone has the power to impart it. Nothing can be more plain than the utterances of the New Testament upon this point (John 10:27-28; Romans 6:23; 1 John 5:9-11). 4. But if God has given it, why is it that we do not possess it? The answer is, that a gift needs to be accepted as well as given. The gift has not been given to each sinner severally, but it has been treasured up in the Son for all. “ He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Over and over again we are taught that our eternal life is dependent upon our faith in Christ as God’ s provision for our need. Now it is obvious that this faith is not an exhibition of merit, but rather a confession of helplessness. Hence clearly it follows that this life is only to become ours by deed of gift. We may receive a gift by an act of simple faith, but something more than faith is required to earn it. If, for instance, the condition had been prayer, we might have felt entitled to some sort of favourable consideration because we had struggled so long and so patiently. Or if the condition had been fasting, etc., we should have felt that our penances had established some sort of claim upon God’ s mercy. Or had the condition been almsgiving, should we not have felt as if we had paid a very considerable, if not a sufficient, price for this wondrous boon? But faith is at once the simplest and the least meritorious of conditions, and in ordaining this God has not only proved that eternal life is a gift, but that it is a gift that none need find it difficult to appropriate. 5. And this leads to the next point, that there is no excuse for us if we do not possess ourselves of eternal life. If we had to earn it we might well despair. But what have we to say for ourselves if we are so blind to our own interests as to refuse to accept everlasting life as a gift? Are you possessed of eternal life? You have no right to remain uncertain about this. It is not too much then to say that you may become possessed of this blessed gift today. Will you spurn such a splendid gift as this? And will you barter this for fleeting trifles, and thus judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life? II. But you say, “How can we avoid judging ourselves unworthy of eternal life if, as you have yourself shown, this is our real condition? If We are unworthy of it, nothing is gained by our abstaining from judging ourselves to be so.” This objection brings us to ask, “ In what sense were these Jews judging themselves unworthy?” Obviously not in the sense in which we have used the words; had that been so, they would have been the more disposed to listen to the messengers who brought it as a gift. It is one thing to be absolutely unworthy of any particular benefit, and another to prove relatively unworthy of it when it is brought within our reach. If a benevolent man chooses to take a homeless street Arab and offer him the benefits of a comfortable home, it is clear that this fortunate boy is receiving treatment that he can lay no claim to; he is absolutely undeserving of it. If, however, his benefactor chooses to bestow all this kindness upon him, it is a deed of gift, and the unworthiness of the boy is no bar to his enjoying it. But suppose the silly boy does not know when he is well off, turns his back upon his benefactor, and prefers the gutter to the mansion--what do we say of him now? It is with quite a different meaning now that we affirm that he is unworthy of his benefactor’ s goodness; and so absolutely we are all unworthy of everlasting life. But when God brings this unspeakable gift within our reach, we judge ourselves relatively unworthy when we treat the priceless treasure as though it were not a thing worth having. Now this is the great sin of man. “ Ye put it from you.” All I that is how we pronounce sentence upon ourselves. Men put it from them--1. When they are too busy with other concerns to pay any attention to this. The making of money, the improvement of our social position, the politics of the day, the claims of science or of art, these things are allowed to absorb the attention, while the great question, besides which all other things are mere trifles, How shall I inherit eternal life? remains unanswered and unconsidered. 2. When they endeavour to feel satisfied with a religion that does not impart this gift. 3. When they allow themselves to be blinded by prejudice, or held in bondage by the opinions of others. This was the way in which these Jews of Antioch put it from them. The first thing to be settled before we touch doctrines or party creeds is the question of life. 4. When they treat it with contempt, sneering at it as cant and hypocrisy, instead of examining carefully the nature of the spiritual phenomena occurring before their eyes. 5. By clinging to the sins and follies of which the apostle says so truly, “ The end of those things is death.” We cannot sow the seeds of death and reap the harvest of life. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.--The apostles turning to the Gentiles I. The results of the apostles’ labours are set before us in their variety.1. We see their success. At Antioch “ came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God” (Acts 13:44). At Iconium “ a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed (Acts 13:1). The quality of this success was, most encouraging. 2. This success was the cause of opposition. The Jews at Antioch, jealous over the impression made by Paul, contradicted what he said, and even cursed the name of Jesus and all concerning Him (Acts 13:45). Confront evil with the gospel, and you must expect an answer, as the sign that your challenge is satisfactory. A gospel which raised no opposition would be questionable. 3. Out of this opposition came failure. The apostles had to leave Antioch under the ban of the law with their work unfinished. Such is the mixed result of Christian work always. We know no place where the gospel has entered to convert every heart, where no opposition of any sort has arisen to check the peaceful conquest, where every soul has remained wholly true to the Lord Jesus Christ. No. The gospel wins its way by struggling with evil. II. The causes of this variety of results are hinted at.1. Man is shown to be responsible himself for his attitude toward the gospel. The Jews, to whom Paul preached first, rejected the gospel, and Paul told them that they had judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life (Acts 13:46). The Gentiles of Antioch, on the contrary, by their deeds, by their gladness at receiving the gospel and their glorifying God for it (Acts 13:48), showed that they were worthy of it in Paul’ s sense. So there is a curious paradox in the coming of the gospel to men: men think it comes before them to be tested as to its truth, whereas it comes to test them as to their character, whether they are worthy to receive it or not. The responsibility for the result therefore rests with them. 2. At the same time Paul points to the mysterious fact that God works in the choice of men. Man chooses; and God is choosing in man’ s choice. For God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Therefore Paul says (Acts 13:48) that “ as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” He shows us first the earthly stage, with the will of men directing events. Then he draws back the curtain and shows us God at work directing things His way, through the direction of men. But how shall we reconcile the two, the sovereignty of God with the freedom of the human will? They are irreconcilable to a finite mind. III. The conduct of the apostles in view of these diverse results should be noticed.1. As opposition arose in the form of contradiction, the apostles “ waxed bold” (Acts 13:46). They told the Jews of Antioch plainly that they were unworthy of everlasting life and showed it by their deeds. They were not afraid of men. The strength of Christian confidence needs opposition in order to be fully seen. 2. As they left Antioch they warned its inhabitants most solemnly: “ they shook off the dust of their feet against them” (Acts 13:51). This was a common Jewish symbolical act. 3. But the apostles did not stay in hostile Antioch while other fields lay untouched; they went on to Iconium. And when this, too, showed itself hostile, they “ fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about” (Acts 13:6). They were but human. They did what they could. When they could do no more they went to new places, and so on and on. In our Christian work we are to do the best we can, using our wisest judgment, going on from Antioch to Iconium, and from Iconium to Lystra, if need be. But in all we are to remember that God works in our presence and in our absence; and even by preventing our active work may do through us better things than we know. 4. For all their hardships the apostles had an abundant joy (Acts 13:52). And it was just when conscious of their failure that this joy was given. It takes the night time and the prison to bring out the best songs. Earthly disappointment is God’ s opportunity. Luther wrote his hymns of Christian exultation when his enemies were nearest to overcoming him. IV. The general lessons of the passage are easily seen.1. Humanity is a vast democracy in the presence of the gospel of Christ. There is no distinction of persons here. All fall short of the glory of God. All men are equal. The proclamation is to every creature. Let no man say ever that the gospel is not meant for him. 2. Salvation is of grace. The plan of it was formed away back in the counsels of eternity. 3. Every man is responsible to God for his relation to Christ. Our deeds are our own judges. 4. The Holy Spirit goes up and down the world seeking whom He may comfort. Turning to the Gentiles In this brief declaration we gather-- I. The deliberate judgment of the Jews. Theirs was no hastily formed opinion. They had learned what were the central truths of the gospel, and they deliberately said, “ If the Gentiles are to receive this message, we put it away from us.” Abraham saw Christ’ s day, and was glad. The ritual of the old covenant was typical of what should come. The life and death of the Redeemer fulfilled the words of their prophets. It was such a people, with such privileges, who, in rejecting the fulfilment of their own faith, judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life, or decreed their own sentence of condemnation. The fact, historic in their case, is repeated every day. By our own deeds we decree our own judgment, by accepting or rejecting the truths of the gospel. No one will be condemned who has not by his own deliberate choice condemned himself. II. The decision of Paul. It must be admitted that all his sympathies had been with the Jews. He too had once rejected Christ. He stood before the great crowd in Antioch, and heard their words of blasphemy. The Jews had formed their choice as between Christ and the Gentiles; the choice of Paul was made between Christ and the Jews. He chose Christ, and weaned himself from all his early associations. How keen a rebuke to many in all ages! Every one is called upon to choose between the gospel and its enemies. The question is not concerning family or business connections, how these would be affected by our choice. “ He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Paul’ s foes were “ they of his own household.” Thus is Christian heroism the highest of all, never asking man’ s opinion in order to follow it, but doing what Christ enjoins, whether men will hear or forbear. III. The blessing of the Gentiles. It was the early dawn of the promised day. From henceforth there should be no difference between the children of men. “ The light to the Gentiles” had come. It is no wonder, therefore, that “ when the Gentiles heard this they were glad.” No body of men can reject the Word and cover up its truths from others. Whom and what one class rejects, another class will receive. There is no faithful minister but can find work somewhere. Whom one Church refuses, another calls. But the Gentiles, among whom we belong, may exercise the same spirit in other ways. Christ came to seek and to save the lost. It is possible that many a disciple may forget those who live in the hedges, and for whom the gospel feast has been spread. It is possible for us to become so Jewish as to think God despises whom we, in our sinfulness, despise. (D. O. Mears.)The use of opportunities of grace Such was the speech of the apostles Barnabas and Paul to the Jews who dwelt at Antioch, in Pisidia. That an opportunity had passed by them; that, being solemnly offered to them, they had rejected it; and now that it had left them. This was being fulfilled at that time all over the world, wherever the Jews had been scattered--to them “ first was the news of this salvation sent” --they were first to be called into Messiah’ s kingdom. But the Jews would not hearken, and so these gracious purposes of God were defeated--the offer of salvation passed from them to the Gentiles; their birthright departed from them. The first blessing was lost; and this was a loss which they could not now repair. It is a leading principle of that rule under which we are living--I mean, that all through our lives God is setting before us, at certain times, certain opportunities, upon our employment of which our after life will depend; that we are continually beset by opportunities which may be used, and which may be lost--but which, if lost, are lost forever. And, first, see how this has always marked the dealings of God with man. Begin at the very first opening--when God created Adam and Eve, and blessed them, and placed them in paradise. They were placed there in a state of trial; they had the opportunity of obedience or of rebellion. If they obeyed, there were before them the choicest of God’ s blessings. We know that they transgressed, and that they lost this opportunity. And now look at God’ s dealings with the children of Israel, which we are told are expressly recorded to instruct us in His ways. God chose them to deliver them from their hard slavery in Egypt, and to plant them in the land of Canaan. Here was their trial, their opportunity; and if they had obeyed, doubtless they would have gone straight up into the land, and God would have prospered them so that they would at once have taken possession of it: but they rebelled, and they lost their opportunity. God threatened to destroy them; but upon their repentance, at the intercession of Moses, He spared and pardoned them. But to what were they admitted by this pardon on their repentance? Not to the same blessing which they would have had. This was lost, and lost forever. Now they were told that, though accepted, they should not enter into the land of promise, but that their children should enter in if they were obedient. And again, in the case of those children, when at last they got possession of Canaan; God promised to cast out at once all their enemies, if they made no alliance with them, nor spared them. Here was their opportunity, and if they had used it, they would have had ever after a peaceable possession of their land; but they neglected it, and what was the result? God forgave them, and told them their enemies should not overcome them; but they had lost the full blessing--He would not now cast out these remnants of the people of the land, but suffered them to remain to be a perpetual grief and trial to His people. And to take only one more instance from the Old Testament. We read in 2 Kings, chap. 13, that the prophet Elisha, just before his death, promised, by a sign to the king of Israel, certain victories over his enemies, the Syrians, and he bade him, in token of his trust in the promise, smite on the ground with his arrows. Here was his opportunity; but, being weak of faith and faint-hearted, he “ smote thrice upon the ground and stayed.” And what was the prophet’ s conduct? He told him that he had lost this opportunity--that it was gone. “ Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria until thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.” And now, from the history of God’ s dealings with men in Holy Scripture, turn to what we see in life around us. Here we may mark on every side the constant action of the very same rule. We may see it in the growth and strengthening of our bodies--childhood and youth are the appointed opportunity for this growth; if there be then provided food, and exercise, and the like, and so the frame is kept healthful and vigorous, the body reaches its full strength and stature; and, on the other hand, a starved and sickly childhood and youth will lead surely to a stunted and weakly manhood, and this can never be wholly replaced; a certain measure of health and strength may be afterwards regained, but not the full measure--that is lost, because the opportunity of growth is gone. And so it is in all around us. Seed time comes but once in the year, and he who loses that, may weep in vain for a harvest, but he cannot reap. And so it is with a man’ s business and his fortune. See, then, how this principle runs through all of God’ s dealings with men; and now see how forcibly it applies to the higher and better life of our immortal souls.1. First, then, it applies most awfully to the whole space of a man’ s life here, as a preparation for eternity. Here is his trial--his opportunity--extending over more or fewer years, as God may appoint; but, be it shorter or longer, forming altogether his only opportunity of preparing for eternity, and if lost, lost therefore forever. 2. But this principle applies not only to the whole of our lives here, as our only opportunity of preparing for eternity, but also to all the particular circumstances of life, through some of which we are every day passing; and it is this which I would desire you more especially to notice. Take a few of them as examples of the rest, and begin with the very first. When by baptism we are brought into the fold of Christ, some measure of God’ s most Holy Spirit is then doubtless given to us. Now here is a special opportunity; for, if these strivings of the Spirit of God be attended to--if the child, is a holy child, and does not, by resisting the Spirit, drive Him away, his heart is purified in an especial manner; the habits grow up pure, and there is a meekness, and gentleness, a purity and simplicity, a tenderness of heart, and a deep quiet delight in God’ s service, which is most rarely known in its entire fulness by those who have wandered from God, and lost the first opportunity of a religious childhood. Here, then, is an opportunity of gaining a blessing, which, of God’ s mercy, may last all our life through, and which if lost cannot be regained. And this early blessing is the type and earnest of others which, all our life through, are waiting upon unnumbered opportunities to pour upon us in all their fulness. From the greater occasions of our life--from our holy vows at confirmation--from the marriage blessing, and the funeral separation, down to every duty and temptation of our common days--from the monthly eucharist to the Sunday’ s worship. And now, from this view of the character and condition of our life, there flow many and most important lessons. Two or three of the chief of these shall be pointed out to you in conclusion.1. And, first, this subject teaches all of us a lesson of habitual watchfulness. What a picture is this of life! how full is it of the seeds of things! how great a blessing or how great a loss lie hid continually under its most common opportunities! 2. Let us learn, secondly, another lesson--and that, one of humiliation. Let the most watchful look back upon his course, and how thickly will he see scattered all along his path the memorials of too frequent negligence--lost opportunities; each one, like broken urns, with its blessing spilled upon the ground and its grace wasted. 3. Lastly, with humiliation for the past, let us learn, for the time which yet remains, a lesson of earnestness and patience. (Bp. Samuel Wilberforce.)Man’ s need and God’ s help There is no great boldness in reading that now, and it does not precisely appear that it was a very bold speech in them; but it was. So we find constantly, in the apostle’ s ministry, that while he began with the Jews, they very soon turned against him, and he had his chief success among the Gentiles. It is very hard for old men or the ruling class to have young men or a new class come in and take the reins out of their hands. Among the Jews the word “ Gentile” was a hedgehog, all bristling. It was one of those words of indignation which exist in every language, and which change in every period, by which men express the pent-up prejudices and hatreds which are collected in them with regard to certain classes and certain tendencies. It was very bold, therefore, in Paul and Barnabas to say what they did--that the Gentiles were more worthy of Christ than the Jews were, according to the testimony of the Jews. Now, by reason of changes that are going on I observe a good deal of disenchantment. It is a very painful thing, I think, for a man of any sensibility to give up that which has come down to him from his childhood, and which carries with it the memories of his father and mother and of his own early life. What you believe when you are young you cling to with great tenacity. All the mystery and charm that the imagination and the twining affections inject into any thought or belief renders it exceedingly precious and beautiful. As when Nature etches--in the winter--on panes of glass, pictures which no artist dare touch, because to touch would be to mar, so there are these natural inspirations of childhood’ s early days, which are exquisite, charming, and which, if they are marred, are beyond rectification. Alas! that the kindling of a fire in the stove for domestic uses should destroy all these pictures, and that the wonderful picturesqueness of Nature should melt with the growing convenience of the household! If you are losing all your early thoughts and imaginations, if you are losing all sense of sanctity, and nothing else comes to take their place, woe is you! Scepticism is to human life what the arid sands of the Great Sahara are in Africa--unpopulous, ungarden-like, useless, dreary, death-dealing to those who dwell in them. But if, while you lose the poetry of early impressions, you are somewhere else gaining a firmer foothold, and are subjecting yourself to impressions that are mightier--that is, that run more nearly with the educated tendencies of a just reason--then you lose no power over the moral sense: you even gain power over it. When I was a student in Amherst College I used, in autumnal days, to go up on the tower of the chapel in order that I might see the clearing off of those mists which would steal in with the darkness, and cover with a silver veil the whole of that magnificent panorama of the valley of the Connecticut--a beautiful valley full of sparking villages and undulations of land. When I came very early in the morning--though never before the sun had come up--this vast landscape had its own new mountains. I saw that the mist, following the secret touch and the warmth of the coming sun, had lifted itself up: and there were elevations here and openings there which, as compared with the shores of mist round about them, looked like deep seas. There were fantastic rifts and scarfs, and everything that was strange and weird, and shadows of hills as yet undispersed. As I stood and looked upon that picture, and made it more picturesque, I was filled, and I filled it, with my own work. The sun, steadily rising, and penetrating, and agitating, drank up the vision; and in half an hour the whole thing had taken wings and faded away into vacuity, and there was nothing of it to be seen; but when it lifted there were Mount Holyoake, Mount Tom, Sugarloaf Mountain, Hadley, Northampton, all the mountains and villages, and a great territory of peaceful and beautiful farms. The mist had gone, to be sure, but the landscape was as charming as the mist had been. So when men, looking back upon the beliefs of other days, see that they take wings and fly away, woe be to them if there is nothing under them; but blessed are they who, when the mist picture is gone, see the substantial earth lying sweet and beautiful underneath their sight. Upon this state of facts I propose to give an account of what is the substance matter of the New Testament teaching, and to ask you whether religion as it is taught there is not justified, by your experience and by your moral sense, to your reason. (H. W. Beecher.)Turning to the Gentiles The history reminds us of-- I. The narrowness of orthodoxy. To be right in our opinions is immensely important; but history shows that orthodox people are apt to dislike the progress of opinions. Moreover, we are all apt to think ourselves orthodox; and so Protestants are apt to be grieved when they hear of the success of Popish missionaries, and vice versa. More is thought of the progress of the one or the other than of the overthrow of idolatry. So here the Jews instead of rejoicing that the Gentiles were leaving heathenism were envious at their becoming Christians. II. The possibility that excellent persons may become the tools of bad men (verse 50). Otherwise, in this case, the envious Jews would have been harmless. The Jews persuaded these ladies, and the ladies their husbands, that the apostles were dangerous men. Just as priests in Roman Catholic countries stir up excellent people to persecute Protestant teachers. Similar things happen in this country. Always suspect those who incite you to dislike your neighbours. III. The fate of the benefactors of mankind. We must not take it for granted that beneficence will be rewarded with gratitude, but that more often than not we shall meet with the fate of Paul and Barnabas. IV. The right method of dealing with prejudiced and obstinate sceptics. After having placed before them the considerations which ought to convince them, let us go to others who will listen more readily. To argue further with them will only inflame their self-conceit; and there are multitudes yearning for the truths these men reject. Life is too short to be wasted in duels with men who will not receive the truth. V. The glorious fact that Christ is the saviour of the world. Not of Jews only. Let this thought check us when we are inclined to be intolerant. He is the Saviour of all who believe--whatever their doctrines may be. Let this comfort us when we are suffering from intolerance; those who hate us may excommunicate us, but they cannot cut us off from Christ. VI. Christian joy is independent of outward circumstances (verses 51, 52). The loss of the apostle had its compensations. (R. A. Bertram.)The severe farewell 1. Not the language of cowardly fear of men, but of resolute obedience to the intimations of the Lord. 2. Not an expression of proud contempt, but of commiserating pity towards the despisers of salvation. 3. Not a signal to a lazy retreat, but to a new field of labour. (K. Gerok.)The gospel for the Gentiles In Flanders there is a pretty legend told of a place called Temsehe. A clear fountain was in a farmer’ s field. He was a churlish man, and would not let the villagers go into his field to draw water from it one hot summer, when the land was parched, and all the wells were dry. Then a holy maiden, living there, went and filled a sieve with water, and shook it over the neighbouring common, and wherever a drop fell, there sprang up a living fountain. Now the old Jewish nation was much like that farmer, that would keep Divine grace for itself alone. It would have the living fountain of spiritual life for its own use only, and deny it to the Gentile world. But then came the apostles, who took up the living water given them by Christ, and scattered it over all the wide earth. (Baring Gould.)Gather the outcasts If you have been mainly labouring with the children of godly parents, and these refuse, turn you to the slum children. If you have tried to bless respectable people, and they remain unsaved, try those who are not respectable. If those to whom it was natural and necessary that the word should first be spoken, have put it from them, turn to those who have hitherto been left out in the cold. Take the Lord’ s hint in this apostolic history, and distinctly turn to those people who are not yet gospel hardened. Turn to those who have not been brought up under religious influences, but have been looked upon as without the pale. That, I believe, is the Lord’ s mind towards the Church of today. Let her break up fresh soil, and she will have richer harvests. Let her open new mines, and she shall find rare riches. We too often preach within little circle where the message of life has already been rejected scores of times. Let us not spend all our time in knocking at doors from which we have been repulsed, let us try elsewhere. If you work for Christ among those who are in our religious circles, and fail to win them, the field is the world, and the larger part of that field has never been touched as yet. We have laboured for London; but if London counts itself unworthy of eternal life, let us think of Calcutta, Canton, and the Congo. If these near ones will not reward our endeavours, let us be of enterprising spirit, and do as traders do, who, when they find no market at home, strike out new lines. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Light for men who are to see If I saw a wise man going into a blind asylum, laying on gas or making preparation for the electric light, I should feel sure that he had a view to people who can see; and if none but blind people could come into the building, I should conclude that he anticipated a time when the poor blind folks would find their eyes again, and would be able to use the light. So, as the Lord has set Jesus to be a light, you may be sure that He means to open blind eyes. Jesus will enlighten the people, souls will be saved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Jesus a Saviour for all God has not appointed His Son to save a few dozen people who go to a particular meeting-house. He has set Him to be a light to the nations, and He means He shall be so. This encourages us to labour among all classes. Jesus is a fit light for the upper ten thousand, and some of them shall rejoice in that light: He is equally set to be a light to the teeming millions, and they shall rejoice in Him, too. What God has appointed must be carried out. Jesus is yet to be a light to outcast people--to the persons of whom we have never thought favourably, the classes whom even philanthropy has felt ready to abandon. This is God’ s set purpose concerning His Son Jesus, and His omnipotence will carry it out. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Seeing the sun The Burman Missionary tells the story of an old man who, years ago, when a heathen, came in possession of a copy of the Psalms, in Burmese, which had been left behind by a traveller stopping at his house. He began to read, and before he had finished the book he had resolved to cast his idols away. For twenty years he worshipped the eternal God, revealed to him in the Psalms, using the fifty-first (which he had committed to memory) as a daily prayer. Then, having occasion to go to Rome, he fell in with a white missionary who gave him a New Testament. With joy unspeakable he read for the first time the story of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. “ Twenty years I have walked by starlight,” he said. “ Now I see the sun.” A light of the Gentiles Dr. Vanderhemp was a Dutch military officer, and then a distinguished physician. For some years he was a sceptic, but he was converted. When converted, he gave up all for Christ, and, at the age of fifty-one, sailed for South Africa, where he laboured amongst the natives for thirteen years with singular self-denial. Well did the venerable Moffatt say of him: “ He came from a University to teach the alphabet to the poor naked Hottentot and Kaffir; from the society of nobles to associate with beings of the lowest grade of humanity; from stately mansions to the filthy hovel of the greasy African; from the army to instruct the fierce savages in the tactics of a heavenly warfare under the banner of the Prince of Peace; from the study of medicine to become a guide to the Balm of Gilead and the Physician there; and, finally, from a life of earthly honour and ease to be exposed to perils of waters, of robbers, of his own countrymen, of the heathen, in the city and in the wilderness.” The great alternative The Jews contradicted, the Gentiles were glad as effects of the same gospel. The gospel is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. As on the highest Alps, up there where the summits join the clouds, there are masses of ices which, when acted on by the sun, pass down as refreshing streams, beautifying and fertilising the country through which they pass, and side by side with those, other masses of ice which, when acted upon and loosened by the same sun, rush down as roaring avalanches, carrying death and destruction in their path, and at last dashing themselves to pieces on the crags beneath; so it is to men to whom the gospel comes. It may be with one man operating as “ the power of God unto salvation,” blessing him and making him a blessing, whilst with his neighbour, if it is not producing this benign effect, it is hardening his heart, adding fearfully to his power for evil in the present world, and preparing for him the darker condemnation of the next. If the gospel is not the sun to soften the wax, it is the sun to harden the clay. (J. A. Macfadyen, D. D.) Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. Right relation to the truth On hearing the gospel the Gentiles-- I. Were glad.1. This should be, but alas is not, the uniform effect of gospel hearing. (1) Some are indifferent, for they feel no need of it. (2) Some are critical. They may feel their need, but are not disposed to receive the gospel as a supply for their need. (3) Some are hostile and reject the gospel utterly as a possible supply for their need, and look elsewhere--to formalism, infidelity, worldliness. 2. These Gentiles were glad. (1) They heard attentively, with candid minds, with eager desire. They were convinced and so they believed, and the Word of God had its proper effect on them; it became “ Good tidings of great joy.” (2) This gladness was that of conscious pardon, satisfied longing, Divine acceptance, joyful anticipation. 3. If the gospel has not made those who profess to have accepted it glad, it is probably for one or two reasons. (1) They have not received the whole of it. A spoonful of water will not quench thirst, but will only aggravate it. (2) They have received it in an adulterated form. II. They glorified the word of God. This was the inevitable result of their gladness.1. They were thankful for it. Thanklessness dishonours the gospel. The least that a man can do who receives a gift is to express his gratitude for it. 2. They praised it. Specimens of such praise we have in the Psalms--notably in Psalms 119:1-176. It is refreshing to turn to this record in an age of Bible disparagement. When a man receives a gift he is not only thankful for it, but examines it, or puts it to some use, so that he may properly appraise its value. Every candid examination of God’ s Word, and self application of its truth, will give it enhanced worth. 3. They made it known to others (verse 49). The gospel is not meant for its immediate recipients. It is a gift for men. Only as it has “ free course” is it fully “ glorified.” Conclusion: Gladness is the inspiration of true service. It is as steam to machinery. Has the gospel made you happy? Go then and make others glad. (J. W. Burn.)The first last and the last first I. The first last.1. Who are the first? Those who have earliest experienced the Divine love, and are considered most richly endowed. 2. Why do they become last? Because they do not use to their salvation the love of God, and become proud of their gifts. 3. How do they become last? By receiving, according to the measure of their small fidelity, only an inferior position in the kingdom of God (Matthew 20:10), or, as the reward of their complete unfaithfulness, by being excluded entirely from the blessings of that kingdom (verse 46). II. The last first.1. Who are the last? Those who are called at a later period, and who possess inferior gifts. 2. Why do they become first? Because the knowledge of their defects makes them desirous of salvation. 3. How do they become first? By being themselves in the kingdom of God, and assisting in its wider extension (verses 49, 52). (Lisco.)The Word of God the revealer of the thoughts of many hearts I. Of the Gentiles--i.e., of those who were hitherto at a distance and strangers to the Word of God (verses 48, 49).1. They rejoice in its contents.2. They praise the grace of God.3. They receive it by faith.4. They taste the blessedness of believing. II. Of the Jews--i.e., the self-righteous who will not be saved by grace (verse 50).1. They are inflamed with hatred against the evangelical message.2. They interest others against it.3. They persecute the messengers of salvation. III. Of believers, who experience in themselves the power of the Word.1. Their faith is not perplexed by calamity (verse 51).2. They experience holy joy (verse 52).3. They grow in the grace of God through the Holy Ghost (verse 52). (Lisco.)The gospel appreciated by the outcasts The man who has grown accustomed to luxuries is the man who turns his meat over, and picks off a bit here, and a bit there; for this is too fat, and that is too gristly. Bring in the poor wretches who are half-starved. Fetch in a company of labourers who have been waiting all day at the docks, and have found no work, and in consequence have received no wage. Set them down to a joint of meat. It vanishes before them. See what masters they are of the art of knife and fork! They find no fault; they never dream of such a thing. If the meat had been a little coarse, it would not have mattered to them; their need is too great for them to be dainty. Oh, for a host of hungry souls! How pleasant to feed them! How different from the task of persuading the satiated Pharisees to partake of the gospel! Go for them, beloved! Lay yourselves out to reach poor, needy souls. They will come to Jesus, though the self-righteous will not. (C. H. Spurgeon.)As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.--Eternal life 1. The Jews put from them the Word of God, and thus judged themselves. This was not a Divine judgment; that came afterwards to ratify and give effect to what was done already. And the judgment that the Jews by the rejection of Christ passed upon themselves, unconsciously but really, was that they were unworthy of eternal life. Their case is typical. Men who despise the gospel do now for themselves what will be done for them at the Day of Judgment. 2. The Gentiles, on the contrary, accepted the gospel, and thus fulfilled the conditions on which eternal life was given. They thus judged themselves, and were judged worthy--i.e., qualified, ready--for eternal life. “ Ordained” is misleading. The original is a military word suggestive of the putting an army in order, drawing it up for battle--the disposition of the troops. “ As many as were disposed” --i.e., were in an attitude for--“ eternal life, believed,” i.e., accepted it. The Jews were in no such attitude--hence their unbelief, and loss of eternal life. I. Eternal life is--1. A quantitative term--everlasting duration. But this is its lower meaning. This is true of all souls. The wicked as well as the good will live forever. But the life of the former will be “ the death that never, never dies.” 2. A qualitative term. What sort of life? Not bare existence, but a life of eternal-- (1) Union with God.(2) Holiness.(3) Happiness. II. The disposition for eternal life. The Gentiles who were so disposed--1. Heard the Word of God with gladness. Then how indisposed must those be who in our modern congregations are indifferent to it, or who hear it captiously, or only to reject it. 2. Accepted it, and more than that, they glorified it. It met their ease thoroughly, and they felt and acknowledged that it did so. Thus they were in an attitude for eternal life, and so-- 3. Believed. “ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” 4. Enjoyed eternal life. “ They were filled with joy” --the evidence of it, “ and with the Holy Ghost” --its source. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 13:49 And the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.Gospel missions We feel persuaded that all of you are of one mind in this matter, that it is the duty as well as the privilege of the Church to proclaim the gospel to the world. But we have not been successful to the extent we might have expected. What is the reason of this? Perhaps we may think we find that reason in the sovereignty of God. But still we must look at home for the cause. When Zion travails, she brings forth children; when Zion is in earnest, God is in earnest about His work. We must not, therefore, arbitrarily look for the cause of our failure in the will of God, but we must see what it is that renders our success so trifling in comparison with the tremendous results of apostolic preaching. I. We have few apostolic men. Here and there we may have one or two. We had a Williams, we had a Knibb, but they have entered into rest. We have one or two still remaining. We say, “ God bless such men as Moffatt!” But cast your eyes around, and where can we find many such men? They are all good men; they are better than we; but we must still say of them that they differ from the mighty apostles in many respects. I am not speaking of missionaries only, but of ministers too. We have not men with--1. Apostolic zeal. Converted in a most singular way, by a direct interposition from heaven, Paul, from that time forward, became an earnest man. He had always been earnest, in his sin and in his persecutions; but after he had received the mighty office of an apostle you can scarcely conceive the awful earnestness which he manifested. His zeal was so burning, that he could not (as we unfortunately do) restrain himself within a little sphere; but he preached the Word everywhere. Where are the men like that man? We have no eyes now like the eyes of the Saviour, which could weep over Jerusalem. If ministers were more hearty in their work of preaching, then we might expect great success; but we cannot expect it while we go about our work in a half-hearted way. 2. Apostolic faith. What did Paul do? He went to Philippi; did he know a soul there? No. He had his Master’ s truth, and he believed in the power of it. He was devoid of pomp, or show, or parade; he did not go to a pulpit with a nice cushion in it to address a respectable congregation, but he walked through the streets and began to preach to the people. He went to Corinth, to Athens, alone, single-handed, to tell the people the gospel of the blessed God. Why? Because he had faith in the gospel and believed it would save souls, and throw down idols from their thrones. But nowadays we have not faith in the gospel we preach. How many there are who preach a gospel which they are afraid wont save souls; they insert little bits of their own to it in order, as they think, to win men to Christ! When I have faith in my doctrines, those doctrines will prevail, for confidence is the winner of the palm. He who hath courage enough to grasp the standard, and hold it up, will be sure enough to find followers. We want a deeper faith in our gospel; we want to be quite sure of what we preach 3. Apostolic self-denial. We are mere carpet knights and Hyde-park warriors. But I hear some whispering, “ You ought to make a little allowance.” I make all allowance. I am not finding fault with those brethren; they are a good sort of people; but I will only say, that in comparison with Paul, we are little insignificant Lilliputian creatures, who can hardly be seen in comparison with those gigantic men of old. II. We do not go about our work in an apostolic style.1. There is not enough preaching by ministers and missionaries. They sit down interpreting, establishing schools, and doing this, that, and the other. It is the tendency of the times to decry preaching, but it is “ the foolishness of preaching” which is to change the world. 2. A great mistake has been made in not affirming the divinity of our mission, always holding out this, “ he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.” The gospel is lowered by controversy. How did Mahommed come to have so strong a religion? He said, “ I have received a revelation from heaven.” It was a lie, but he persuaded men to believe it. Did he prove what he said? Not he. “ You must,” he said, “ believe what I say, or there is no Paradise for you.” There is a power in that kind of thing. 3. We have not enough of the Divine method of itinerancy. Paul was a great itinerant; he preached in one place, and there were twelve converted there; he made a church at once; he did not stop till he had five hundred; but when be had twelve, he went off to another place. We, nowadays, go and settle in a place, make a station of it, and work around it by little and little, and think that is the way to succeed. No, no! ravage a continent; attempt great things, and great things shall be done. There should be fixed ministers and pastors, but those who are like apostles should itinerate far more than they do. III. We have not apostolic churches.1. Where is our prayerfulness compared with theirs? 2. We have not the apostolic mode of liberality. In the apostles’ days they gave all their substance. It was not demanded of them then, and it is not now; still we have run to the other extreme, and many give nothing at all. IV. We have not the Holy Spirit in that measure which attended the apostles. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 13:50-52 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women.Jewish tactics The fact brings before us another feature of the relations between Jews and Gentiles at this period. They “ compassed sea and land to make one proselyte.” They found it easiest to make proselytes of women. Such conversions had their good and their bad sides. In many cases there was a real longing for a higher and purer life than was found in the infinite debasement of Greek and Roman society, which found its satisfaction in the life and faith of Israel. But with many, such as Juvenal speaks of when he describes (“ Sat.” 6:542) the Jewish teacher who gains influence over women, “ The trembling Jewess whispers in her ear, And tells her of the laws of Solymae” (i.e., Jerusalem). The change brought with it new elements of superstition and weakness, and absolute submission of conscience to its new directors, and thus the Rabbis were often to the wealthier women of Greek and Roman cities what Jesuit confessors were in France and Italy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Here we get the darker side of the picture. The Jews stir up the women of the upper class, and they stir up their husbands. The latter were content apparently to acquiesce in their wives accepting the Judaism with which they had become familiar, but resented the intrusion of a new and, in one sense, more exacting doctrine. (Dean Plumptre.)But they shook off the dust of their feet against them.--When should a servant of God shake off the dust of his feet? 1. When he has not only knocked in a friendly manner, but also boldly kept is ground.2. When he has been called on to proceed, not only by men, but by God.3. When not only the door here is closed, but when he also sees it opened elsewhere for successful work. (K. Gerok.)Israel’ s temporary rejection 1. Wickedly caused by themselves, through pride and ingratitude.2. Righteously ordained by the Lord in virtue of holiness and truth.3. An admonitory example to Christianity, and also an impressive call to go after the lost sheep of Israel. (K. Gerok.)And the disciples were filled with Joy and with the Holy Ghost.--Holy joy I. The prosperity of the Word of God is a special source of rejoicing to Christians. It was not an ordinary gladness, but the special and overflowing joy which can only be stirred up by extraordinary manifestations of the grace of God. We are full of joy--1. Because we are saved. Deliverance from danger and death is ever a source of gratitude. A soul rescued from the power of sin and the consequences thereof, is a theme of the highest inspiration, whether we think of the value of the soul, or the price of deliverance. The brave rescuer risks his life to save others. Jesus died to save mankind. 2. Because Jesus sees of the travail of His soul. 3. At the prospect of seeing the glory of the Lord filling the earth. Every step onward which the Word of God takes, revives the hope of universal restoration. II. The presence of the Holy Ghost in the heart is a special source of support to Christians. The Comforter sustained them in their trial.1. They were full of holy courage. The circumstances of the disciples at Antioch were depressing. Devout and honourable women, with the chief men of the city, had raised the storm of persecution. The apostles were driven out of the city. The number of believers was small, and probably they were poor; but the source of their strength was the power of the Spirit in their heart. They could not be cast down while they were under such influence. There could be no darkness while the glory of the Lord shone within them. 2. They were full of consecration to their work. They were resolved to labour on until the name of Jesus would become universal. The light which shone on their path revealed the triumph of faith. 3. They were full of assurance that Jesus’ name would become glorious in the earth. (Weekly Pulpit.)Joy in the Holy Ghost When I was a country minister in Scotland, some time ago, the most joyous person in my parish was a poor old woman whose every joint was knotted with rheumatism; her husband was a poor labouring old man, her home a crowded hut, yet her life was bright and cheerful. When I was dejected I used to visit her, and after ten minutes conversation my load would be tightened. She diffused gladness wherever she was, because the Holy Spirit dwelt in her as a temple. (Dr. Boyd.)Spiritual experience The description is brief but noteworthy. I. It records an experience--spiritual, real, and exemplary. There was emotionalism, high and holy; and it was visible. The elements were simple, but grand.1. “ Joy.” 2. “ The Holy Ghost.” Each is suggestive, and both were prominent features of those early times. They are, too, co-related. Instead of spirituality and gladness being antagonistic, the soul is joyous just because it has the Holy Ghost; and the fruit of the Spirit’ s influence is a more perfect, joy, so that the more largely we possess the Spirit, the greater becomes our joy. II. The degree and measure of this experience deserves consideration. It was not the possession of a favoured few, but of the “ disciples.” By them it was possessed, not scantily, or partially, they were “ filled” with it. These emotions did not spring from external circumstances, but were independent of them and superior to them: they were, despite outward adversity (see Acts 13:50-51, and Acts 14:22). III. The attainment of like experience can never be deemed impossible when we remember the exhortations of Scripture, and the testimony of “ disciples” --learners in the school of Christ. “ If ye being evil know how,” etc. If possible, how advantageous to us would such an experience prove! joyous in itself; an evidence; an energy; a foretaste. (J. P. Allen, M. A.)Full of joy and of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:39):--There is a striking resemblance between the condition of the eunuch deprived of his teacher and of these raw disciples, in Pisidian Antioch, bereft of theirs. Both were very recent converts; both had the scantiest knowledge; both were left utterly alone. Now this phrase, “ full of the Holy Ghost,” is not an uncommon one in the Acts of the Apostles; and the Writer is fond of connecting with it other graces, of which it is declared to be the cause. So they were to be “ men full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom” ; and of Stephen we read that “ he was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” The text traces the joy of these solitary Christians to the complete possession of that Divine Spirit. So filled, we shall have an all-sufficient Teacher for all our ignorance; a Companion for all our solitude; a fountain of joy in all our sorrow. And the stories before us may help to illustrate these three things. I. First, then, note here, the all-sufficient Teacher for our ignorance. Think, for instance, of that Ethiopian statesman. An hour or two before he had said, “ How can I understand except some man guide me?” And now he is going away into the darkness, without a single external help, knowing only the little that he had gathered from Philip. He had not a line of the New Testament. He had nothing but a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, but he went away with a glad heart, quite sure that he would be taught all he needed to know. And these other people at Antioch, just dragged out of the darkness of heathenism, with no teaching beyond the rudimentary instruction of the two apostles for a few days--they, too, were left by their teachers without a fear. We trust far too little to the educating and enlightening power of God’ s grace in the hearts of men who have no other teacher. And if Christian people more really believed the promise of their Master, “ He will guide you into all truth,” they would be more likely to realise the promise, and be all taught of God. Only remember the instrument of that Divine Teacher is the Word of God. And if we, as Christians, neglect our Bibles, we shall not get the teaching of the Spirit of God. And remember, too, that that teaching is granted to us on plainly defined conditions. There must be a desire for it. And there must be patient waiting and solitary meditation. Let us take the lesson, and whosesoever scholars we may be, let us enroll ourselves in the school of the Master, and learn from that Spirit who will guide us into all truth. II. Now, note, secondly, the Companion in all our solitude. Think of the loneliness of this man on the Gaza road, or of that handful of sheep in the midst of wolves at Antioch. And yet they were not alone. “ Full of the Holy Ghost,” they were conscious of a Divine presence. And so it may be with us all. We are all condemned to live alone, however many may be the troops of friends round us. Every human soul, after all love and companionship, lives isolated. There is only One who can pass the awful boundary of personality which hedges off every man from every other. Besides the natural, necessary solitude in which every human soul lives there are some of us, no doubt, on whom God, by His providence, has laid the burden of a very lonely life. God’ s purpose in making us solitary is to join Himself to us. Left alone, nestle close to Him. Beside the natural and the providential solitudes there is yet another. We must make a solitude for ourselves if we would have God speaking to us and keeping us company. Solitude is the mother country of the strong. To be much alone is the condition of sanity and nobleness of life. No man’ s religion will be deep and strong unless he has learned to go into the secret place of the Most High, and shut his doors about him, and there receive the fulness of that Spirit. III. Lastly, notice the joy in all the sorrow. “ Full of joy and of the Holy Ghost,” says the latter of the two texts. That collocation is familiar to the student of the New Testament. You will remember the apostle’ s great enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit, “ Love, joy, peace.” And in another place he speaks to the members of one of his Churches, and tells them that they had “ received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost.” So then, whoever has this Divine Guest dwelling in his heart may possess a joy as complete as is its possession of him. I need not remind you how that Divine Spirit, that enters into our souls by faith, brings to us the consciousness of forgiveness and of sonship, nor how it fits the needs of every part of our nature, and brings all our being into harmony with itself, with circumstances, and with God. But I may remind you that not only does this Divine Spirit in us make provision for joy, but that, with such an indwelling Guest, there is the possibility of the co-existence of joy and sorrow. It is no paradox that the apostle gave forth when he said, “ Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Even in the midst of the snow and cold and darkness of Arctic regions the explorers build houses for themselves of the very blocks of ice, and within are warmth and light end comfort and vitality, while around is a dreary waste. But remember that this joy from the Spirit is a commandment. I am sure that Christians do not sufficiently lay to heart that gladness is their duty, and that sorrow unrelieved by it is cowardice and sin. We have no business to be thus sorrowful. But remember the conditions. If you and I have that Divine Spirit within us we shall be enlightened, however ignorant; companioned, however solitary; joyful, however ringed about with sorrow. If we have not, the converse will be true. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Persecution not inconsistent with joy As if a man should throw precious stones and jewels at another, with intent to kill him, and the other should gather them up and enrich himself with them; even so do persecutors enrich the children of God, that they may rejoice being worthy to suffer for Christ’ s sake. (Cawdray.)Joy a Christian evidence The ordinary idea is that a Christian is sombre, but that is a perversion of the gospel. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy in the Holy Ghost, and if God comes into the soul, we may expect that the result will be the imparting of the element of joy which is so eminent in him. Sometimes through secular instruments God makes us joyful, for He employs the whole world to work out His purposes; but sometimes, by seemingly breaking upon the spirit of His people, He makes them joyful. You cannot tell why you are so musical at times. On some days you are full of music. There are some hours that are radiant above all other hours. And when these transpire among God’ s people, it is not an unfair thing to infer that they are signs of Christ’ s presence with them. (H. W. Beecher.). Acts 14:1-18 And it came to pass in Iconium. Iconium A considerable city of Asia Minor, generally considered as belonging to Lycaonia. It lay in a fertile plain at the foot of Taurus, on the great line of communication between Ephesus and the more eastern cities of Tarsus and Antioch, and the Euphrates. From Pliny’ s description it would appear to have been a populous and important city at the time of Paul’ s visit. Under the Byzantine emperors it was the metropolis of Lycaonia, was subsequently captured by the Turks, and made the capital of an empire whose sovereigns took the title of Sultans of Iconium. During this period of its history it acquired its greatest celebrity. It is now called Koniyeh, and has a population estimated at from twenty to thirty thousand. The houses are mostly of stone or sun-dried brick, and are poorly built, except the mosques and palaces. The place contains some remains and inscriptions, mostly of the Byzantine period. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)The ministry of the apostles at Iconium Here are four things noteworthy. I. An extensive conversion (Acts 14:1). The preaching that ends in enlightened practical faith is that which Christ ordained, and what the world wants. There is a preaching that produces-- 1. Mere passing emotion.2. Superstition.3. Scepticism. II. A violent opposition (Acts 14:2). The spiritual victories they won in the synagogue roused the antagonism of the unbelieving Jew, who used his great social influence to their injury. They “ stirred up the Gentiles,” i.e., excited and embittered their minds with hostile passions. It is ever true that those who reject the gospel seek to deter others from accepting it. “ Ye go not in yourselves, and prevent those who would,” is a Divine allegation, ever true of the rejectors of Christianity. III. A Divine demonstration. Opposition neither drove them at once from the sphere of their labour, nor lessened the displays of Divine power. Divinity appears--1. In their subject. The “ Word of His grace,” His gracious Word, the gospel. Whatever doctrines men draw from the gospel that are not gracious, are not true. 2. In their spirit. “ Speaking boldly.” They show a heroism more than human in continuing and speaking in the very scene of persecution. 3. In their miracles. The stronger the evil one appeared in Iconium opposing the mission of the apostles, the higher rose the manifestations of God in their behalf. “ As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” IV. A social separation (Acts 14:4). “ Divided” --the Greek word from which schism is derived. There was a rent created through the ministry of the apostles. Such unity of sympathy as existed before in the population was divided, and part flowed towards the Jews and part towards the apostles. The searching ministry of the apostles made bare the hearts of the people. Those who took part with the Jews made “ an assault” upon the apostles. The storm raised, however, was under the direction of God. It was a Divine breeze, to bear the precious seeds of truth to regions farther on. The apostles fled unto Lystra and Derbe, not from fear, but from the instinct of duty. (D. Thomas, D. D.)At Iconium I. What the missionaries did. They went immediately to work. They did not stop to complain of the treatment they had received at Antioch. Persecution made them change their place, but not their purpose. Neither did they abandon their method of working. Though they had turned to the Gentiles, they had not turned away from the Jews. II. How the missionaries spoke. So convincingly, that Jews as well as Greeks believed. Care should be taken so to speak as to give effect to the Word. III. How the missionaries were opposed. As was natural, the Jew who did not accept the gospel, was its bitterest enemy. The man who is acting against God and his own conscience must permit himself no rest. He cannot endure To see others accept what he has rejected. Hence he tries to make the souls around him “ evil affected.” IV. How the missionaries were prospered.1. They continued their work. Not because of the opposition, but in spite of it, and for the reason that so many were believing. So long as a harvest was to be reaped, they would not abandon the field. 2. They spoke boldly. The threatening cloud of danger did not abate their courage. “ Boldly in the Lord.” Their courage came from Him, and not from themselves. 3. They were borne witness to by the Lord. He spoke through their hands as well as their lips. He made it impossible for any but the incorrigible to doubt that they were His ambassadors. 4. They divided the city (Acts 14:4). The division appears to have been pretty even. Whether evenly or not, the gospel always divides a community. Every one must be on the one side or on the other. V. How the missionaries were driven out (Acts 14:5). They were not rash as well as bold. There was no call here to lay down their lives. So, being persecuted in this city, they followed the Saviour’ s injunction, and fled into the next. “ And there they preached the gospel.” Persecution was God’ s plan for propagating His gospel. Having furnished certain seeds with wings, God sends rough winds for their transportation. (M. C. Hazard.)Mode of preaching the gospel adapted to success I. There is a mode of preaching the gospel which is adapted to secure the faith of hearers. The gospel itself is adapted to beget cordial faith and repentance in men. For evidence of this, I would call your attention to the fact that the Holy Spirit employs the gospel for this very purpose. II. To point out some of the things which are essential to such a mode of preaching the gospel. I would remark that to secure a manner of preaching the gospel adapted to success, it seems essential--1. That it should be preached with a heart deeply intent on the very design of securing the cordial faith and obedience of hearers. Cicero has justly remarked, that if the feelings with which you represent a fact and the fact itself do not accord, you have not in reality presented the truth, but have misrepresented it to the minds of your hearers. 2. That it should be preached as a system of consistent truths, bearing with one harmonious design on the great object of repentance and salvation. 3. That it should be preached in a way of application to the hearers, so as to call for the decision of their hearts at the time. From this subject I remark--1. The dependence of preachers of the gospel on the cooperating power of the Holy Spirit to give success to their labours, is of all reasons the weightiest why they should speak in a manner adapted to beget repentance and faith in their hearers. 2. We may learn what are some of the important qualifications for a skilful and successful handling of the Word of life. (E. T. Fitch, D. D.)Iconium and Lystra The work done in these two places, together with the varied experiences of the missionaries, may suggest that-- I. The manner of presenting gospel truth has much to do in producing results on the hearers. They “ so spake that a great multitude believed.” Paul afterward told the Corinthians, “ that he came not with excellency of speech,” etc. He evidently did not disregard the character of his audience, the kind of evidence he should produce, and the manner of expressing his thoughts, any more than he showed carelessness as to his subject, which was always “ Christ, and Him crucified.” Increase depends more upon the good seed and soil, and warm rains and sunshine, than upon the sower, yet the skilful sower is the successful husbandman. So in the economy of grace the teacher and his methods have a prominent place in the production of results. To the teacher the responsibility of speaking rightly is as great as the responsibility of trusting supremely. II. Present the truth as wisely as we may, different results will be produced among the hearers. “ Part held with the Jews and part with the apostles.” There were divisions in Iconium before, but so soon as the Word was spoken the people were newly classified. III. The wisdom of preserving an untarnished reputation on the part of those who would win souls to the truth. We read, “ long time therefore they abode.” Wherefore? Because the “ Gentiles had been stirred up and their minds evil affected against the brethren.” Whatever the allegations were, the two resolved to stay and confront those who circulated them, and live down their calumnies. It took a “ long time,” but the end to be gained was worth the time it took to reach it. Very often the enemy tries to weaken the power of the teacher by damaging his reputation. It may take a “ long time” to lift the name fairly above the cloud, but for the sake of the truth we love and the souls we would help it may be duty to abide where we are till this is done. IV. Popularity need not, and must not, turn from steadfastness to the truth. At Iconium they were bad men, to be shunned. They stood that test, and by their lives gave the lie to the base charge. At Lystra they are not men, but the chief among the gods, the great Jove and his attendant. But they refuse the homage and make the offering a text from which to preach a telling sermon against all forms of false worship. V. Miracles, even when admitted, have but little influence in leading bitter opposers of the truth to accept it. They deified the worker, and then stoned him. Miracles strengthened the faith of those who believed on other testimony; but neither where philosophy ruled, nor where untutored Nature guided, did the supernatural lead the mind set bitterly against God to accept him. VI. God’ s claims may be fearlessly maintained anywhere. It is the first time the gospel has met idolatry pure and simple, and it promptly and confidently offers a better God than the greatest in their list. Notice the marked difference between Paul’ s method of attacking idolatry and that adopted by the modern opposers of the God Paul worshipped. He would take every idol out of Lystra, but he would leave a God far better in their stead. But these would take away our God, and then leave us alone and hopeless with the ruin they have wrought. VII. How fickle is the favour of men! The distance is short between the garlands and the stones, between “ Hosanna!” and “ Crucify him!” but the favour of God endureth, and it satisfies the soul. VIII. Let us beware of writing all adverse things as disadvantageous. I doubt if there was a place in all Paul’ s wanderings to which he looked back with such delight as Lystra, because it was the home of Timothy, the best beloved, the choicest fruit ever given to his ministry. “ Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong come forth sweetness.” (T. H. Hanna, D. D.)Perils of missionary life The peril of-- I. Misconstruction. It is always easy to pervert what a preacher says, and so arouse prejudice (Acts 14:2). We are not told just how these jealous Israelites sought to inflame the Gentiles. In one instance (Acts 19:26), opposers raised the workingman’ s question. In another (Acts 16:20-21), it was wickedly suggested that an attack on social and political institutions was concealed under the pretence of inculcating religion. There is a tale considered authentic in the papal church, of one called “ St. Thekla,” who was converted by Paul. She had been previously betrothed to a heathen, but now refused from conscientious scruples to marry him. So the ingenious opposers might have told the populace that this was the way in which Christianity was going to break up their closest relations. Anything can be started among ignorant people. II. Positive violence (Acts 14:5). No one can recall one of a hundred histories of cruelty and death inflicted by popular outbreak under malicious instigation, without knowing that there is always the one danger, in every land and generation, of losing life (Mark 8:35). III. Spiritual distrust of God. The day of miracle working has passed away, but great risks have to be run, and now and then the hearts of God’ s people fail them through fear. We detect here nothing of this sort; Paul stands up and works a stupendous miracle, without apparently a misgiving or a tremor. Characteristics of apostolic preaching I. Paul made his preaching first. He performed miracles. But the miracle was a secondary thing--but a bell ringing. The disciples were commissioned to preach, and the triumphs of the gospel are owing to that. But the term covered teaching and “ religious conversation.” The Saviour preached to the woman of Samaria. But that mode of discourse is peculiarly preaching in which the truth is presented to masses of hearers. At Iconium, at Lystra, and in fact everywhere, with Paul preaching was the first and the leading agency. God has honoured this above all others. II. Paul preached boldly, i.e., fearlessly, unequivocally, but especially with power. The preacher should be persuasive, but above all, powerful. This trait Paul very highly valued. He urged his disciples to pray for him, that he might speak the Word boldly. The Spirit endues us with this holy boldness. By this we commonly intend plain speaking upon politics, temperance, morals, etc. But in nothing do we so need boldness as in the preaching of the simple truths of redemption. III. Paul’ s preaching was watchful. He had spiritual discernment to see the effects of his preaching (Acts 14:9). Preachers of his discernment are ready for digression. Earnest preachers are bent upon saving, not sermons, but men. Paul stopped his discourse when he saw that the cripple had faith to be saved. He saw an opportunity to extend the interest in his message. How much fruit we lose from lack of spiritual watchfulness! Deacon Safford was deeply interested for a young man in his Sunday school class. One day Dr. Kirk preached a sermon which seemed to the deacon precisely adapted to reach his young friend. He watched him. He thought he saw the evidences of conviction in the intent face. In passing out of church he said in a low, earnest tone, “ What are you going to do about it?” The impression was fixed. By that timely word the young man was saved. The gift of the Spirit is as needful to make us watchful as to make us bold. IV. In his preaching Paul followed up impressions made. Long time he tarried in Iconium. The ability to follow up a work is quite distinct from that to begin it. Many persons can make an impression, but want the knowledge, the patience, or perhaps the interest, to develop it. Revivalism outside the Churches involves the danger of producing a class of immature, weak, enthusiastic disciples, who may be left at critical stages of experience; ready, with proper care, to become established Christians, but ready also, without long and wise nurture, to become enemies or schismatics. Faithful Christian work in the pulpit, the Sunday school, the home, will aim at two ends--conversion, and the training of converts. V. The theme of Paul’ s preaching was the gospel. When the first Moravian missionaries were about leaving for Greenland, a solid and pious minister advised them to give the natives “ a sound body of divinity, beginning with the being and attributes of God, following with the doctrine of sin, and thus leading on at last to Christ and the Cross.” This learned counsel was followed, and for several years their labour was in vain. One day, at a funeral service, quite by accident, a missionary told the story of the Cross, and explained its meaning. To his astonishment the truth made a profound impression. Conversions followed. Thereafter the missionaries began with the Cross. (G. R. Leavett.)Strike, but hear us Themistocles, the Athenian general, by warmly urging a point in a council of war, is said to have so provoked the displeasure of Eurybiades, the Spartan, the commander-in-chief, that the latter lifted up his cane over his head in a menacing posture. “ Strike,” said the noble Athenian, “ but hear me!” He did hear him, and the country was saved. And why may not a Christian act, or rather forbear to act, on the same principle, and for an infinitely greater end, even the eternal salvation of his enemies? What else has been the language of the noble army of the martyrs from the beginning? Have they not practically said to an enraged world, “ Strike, but hear us” ? (A. Fuller.)The courage of devoted Christians The Shanghai correspondent of the Bombay Guardian narrates the following suggestive item of information: “ The captain of a steamer, plying on the Yangtse river, told me that when he stopped on a dark night at one of the stations on the bank, several of the inland missionaries came on board among a crowd of Chinese seeking a passage in the steerage, as they invariably do. They had encountered a mob of anti-foreign natives, which it is still very easy to do in this country, and had been well pelted and bespattered with mud. One of the ship’ s officers, seeing especially the ladies in their humiliating condition, exclaimed with the customary profanity, that he wondered they did not leave the Chinese to go to hell if they preferred to do so. That is the world’ s view of the case; and, as I said to the captain, there would have been no other view in the world today if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had not taught it and set an example of it, and bestowed the grace for the imitation of it.” Courage requisite in reformers There is nothing which the world resents so much as an attempt to carry out a better measure than existed before. A man who would benefit the world must take leave of his own reputation first; for the world never let a man bless it but it first fought him; it never let him give it a boon without first giving him a buffet. If with one effort you should raise a tree twenty feet high, so as to make it forty feet high, you would not do more violence to its roots than you do to society, when you attempt suddenly to elevate it above its former level. If there were a hundred violins together, all playing below concert pitch, and I should take a real Cremona, and with the hand of a Paganini should bring it strongly up to the true key, and then should sweep my bow across it like a storm, and make it sound forth clear and resonant, what a demoniac jargon would the rest of the playing seem! Yet the other musicians would be enraged at me. They would think all the discord was mine, and I should be to them a demoniac. So it is with reformers. The world thinks the discord is with them, and not in its own false playing. All those rosy philosophers who go dancing along the ways of life, and expect to reform men through ease and pleasure, and are surprised when at first snowflakes are thrown at them, and then icicles, and then avalanches, had better fold their gauzy wings at once. They are not wanted. They are not of that heroic race who advance the world. (W. H. Beecher.)Effects of gospel preaching Wherever the gospel is proclaimed with power--1. It secures believers. The Word of God does not return to Him void. 2. It secures some bitter enemies. It divides every community into two parties. 3. People are not content with merely rejecting the gospel for themselves. They stir up the minds of others to make them evil-affected against its preachers. 4. The Lord is sure to bear witness unto the Word of His grace. 5. Its preachers must expect personal attacks of some kind or other. (S. S. Times.)Proper witness bearing I. Wherein it consists.1. Not in the degree of the external sufferings endured on account of faith, but in the measure of the fidelity displayed for Christ. 2. The apostles waited on their ministry with perseverance and joyful courage, and therein lay their fidelity. 3. They forsook the places which had become dear to them as soon as they were made away, that the Lord had no further use for them there. II. Why is it so difficult? Because--1. There is nothing in it to flatter our refined selfishness. There is wanting the “ halo before the world,” for fidelity is clothed in homely garments. 2. It destroys self-will. Perhaps death was easier than flight. III. In what lies its blessing.1. It secures God’ s will, not man’ s. 2. Therefore it is rich in fruits of all kinds-- (1) Faith (Acts 14:1).(2) Divine manifestation (Acts 14:3).(3) The conversion of calamity into blessing (Acts 14:7). (Lisco.)Persecution turned into inspiration The apostles had finished their work at Antioch in a storm. Can that be true; the gospel dividing quiet cities into hostile camps? Surely the heavenly Word will bring heavenly peace along with it. No! The Son of man came not to send peace on the earth, but a sword. But now that the apostles have come to Iconium they will act in a different manner and correct their mistake. No; there again we have angry division, and stoning! How is this? These histories throw some light upon-- I. What is called unanimity. Unanimity is no virtue, nor sincerity, nor earnestness; we must ascertain what the unanimity is about, and what men are sincere and earnest in, because good fire may be used for forging of bad instruments. Surely it was a pity for two wandering tentmakers to go from town to town disturbing the unanimity of families and of townships! Why not let families and corporations alone? Why this propagation of a fighting faith? This is the way of Christianity. It will not let people alone. Hence we find some light thrown upon-- II. Christian doctrine. It was not a little puzzle to please the fancy, nor a pyrotechnic display to gratify children. It saves or slays. What wonder if it came upon sleepy towns like a thunderstorm? Christianity is not a compromise; it does not propose to give a little and take a little, and make a pacific arrangement with anybody. Christianity insists upon having everything; it makes room for nothing else. What wonder, then, that everywhere it broke up families. Seeing your hand locked in evil friendship, it does not hesitate to rend your hearts asunder. Christianity says, “ Behold, I make all things new.” It will not say to a man, “ Hand me your work, and I will complete it; it comes with a mighty hammer, and shatters our idols and all our best performances. III. Christian service. Christian service--1. Is the supreme passion; it puts out everything else, it has no partnerships, no relations except those which it can press into its own sacrifice. 2. Exposes to daily danger. If we have escaped the danger, it is because we have escaped the service. When did we ever rebuke a wrong-doer? We have talked about him when he was not there--that I admit; and that has proved our unchristianity. When did we ever say to a man face to face--“ You lie” ? That would now be called discourtesy; but when were we ever licensed to be courteous to falsehood? Christianity is not a book of etiquette--it is a book of commandments, a gospel of righteousness as well as a gospel of compassion. When did we ever stand before a house and say, “ This house must come down if the price be fivefold what it will fetch in the market; it is a trapdoor into hell, and it must fall” ? Let a man say that, and he will soon see that England is like Antioch and Iconium. But if we come into the church, pass through the services, and lose ourselves in controversy that has no heavenly savour, I wonder not that, lulled by some theological narcotic, we think we are going to heaven. It is no heaven we are going to! It may have written heaven above its portals, but that inscription is a lie! “ If any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he shall suffer persecution. 3. Divides public opinion (Acts 14:2). That is how it ought to be always. There are those who say they do not believe in sensationalism. What do they believe in? Are they in sympathy with the ministry of their own professed Lord and Master? If Christianity were amongst the Churches today, men, instead of criticising sermons, would go out and borrow any chair, or stand on any stone at the street corner, and if they could not preach the gospel, they could at least read it. Fifty thousand men at the street corners today reading, with one voice, the third chapter of John!--why, apostolic times would have come back again! Nothing divides society like Christianity: its voice is, “ Come out from among them, and be ye separate; the good to the right, the bad to the left.” 4. Survives all ill-treatment. The time had come when the Jews determined to use the apostles despitefully. And as soon as the apostles became aware of it they “ fled unto Lystra and Derbe” ; and then in verse 7, as if nothing had happened before, “ there they preached the gospel.” They preached better for their persecution. We should have wonderful preaching if we had more stoning. We should, too, have wonderful hearing as well as wonderful preaching! If we had to steal into the church by some back way, and had to listen in fear and trembling lest the oppressor should lay his iron grip upon us--oh, how we should listen! Do not say that Antioch was at peace until the apostles visited it; there is a so-called peace that is only a false name for death. IV. So-called heresy. The heretics may be Paul and Barnabas with modern names. If men come amongst us denying the Bible, then have no part or lot with them; but if men of spotless character and sacred devotedness arise and say, “ We have found the interpretation of this Scripture or of that,” hear them, though many an old notion may be displaced. We use heretics of that kind most basely! What was the fault of Paul? This: that he said a prophecy has been fulfilled--nothing more; and so he was stoned. And Christianity has its prophecies; Christian doctrine has yet its issues brighter than our fancy has measured; and if any man shall say, “ Let us together read the Holy Word, and hear what I believe to be its true meaning,” let us not take up stones against him, but listen, knowing “ that God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Holy Word.” (J. Parker, D. D.)Which gave testimony unto the Word of His grace.--God’ s testimony to the Word of His grace I. The propriety of this appellation: “ the Word of His grace.” The gospel is so called, because--1. It originated in unmerited mercy, and was sent to us as a matter of free favour. 2. It is a proclamation of grace and mercy. The law is a ministration of wrath, accusing, convincing, and condemning the sinner. The gospel reveals the grace of God, as abounding in our salvation. 3. It is grace alone that renders it effectual. Sinners own their conversion, saints their edification, mourners their comfort, and the oppressed their relief to it. But it derives all its influence and energy from the grace of the Holy Spirit. The gospel reaches only the ear; grace renews and sanctifies the heart. The gospel is a means, but God performs the work, and to Him we must ascribe the glory. II. The way in which God bears testimony to the word of his grace.1. By miracles wrought in confirmation of it. 2. By raising up a constant succession of ministers to propagate and defend it. He who sends the message, can be at no loss for want of messengers. As soon as one earthen vessel is broken, the heavenly treasure is put into another; and though the grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away, yet the Word of the Lord endureth forever. 3. By the awe impressed upon the consciences even of wicked men. God will magnify His Word, whether it be a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. Felix’ s trembling, Agrippa’ s being almost persuaded, and Simon Magus’ s hypocritical profession, were so many testimonies, though involuntary ones, to the truth of the inspired Word. 4. By rendering it effectual to the salvation of all them that believe. Having tasted its sweetness, and felt its power, the believer has the witness in himself. When the dark understanding is enlightened, the conscience awakened, the heart softened, and the sinner truly converted, what greater proof can we have of the power and efficacy of the gospel, or of its being worthy of its Divine Author? 5. By the life and conversation of such as walk worthy of the gospel. The grace of God revealed in the gospel, teaches “ men, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly” etc. What can be a stronger confirmation of the reality of religion, than the change it produces in the lives and manners of its professors? 6. By the triumphant deaths of His saints. To see a Christian exulting in death is an amazing instance of the power of faith, and of the reality of true religion. Many an unbeliever has turned pale at this, and been confounded with the evidence which he had not power to resist. (B. Beddome, M. A.)God’ s testimony to the Word of His grace I. This gospel is the Word of God’ s grace because--1. It is the revelation of His grace. Its very errand is to make known that “ by grace are ye saved, through faith” etc. 2. It is the history and delineation of the grace of God. Study the Bible with this key, then, from the first promise to the last you find that the keynote of grace sounds through the whole glorious concert. 3. It is the great instrument of grace; for God works by His gospel; and it is “ the power of God.” II. The Lord gave testimony to the word of His grace, and He does so still.1. God has given testimony to the Word of His grace-- (1) In that wondrous chain of prophecy of what was come upon the world. The chain is still unbroken, though we may not always see it--as is the case sometimes in a chain across a river, the two ends are visible, but the chain is in the depth of the river--but it is not the less knit together because you cannot trace it. (2) By miracles. 2. But it is said with some plausibility, these supernatural signs were wrought in times past; show us some now. Now, this challenge may be fairly met. Surely every reflecting and reasonable man will admit that, as far as mind surpasses matter, so much further must the mighty power put forth in the mind surpass that put forth in the body. Therefore, whether is it the greater miracle, to make the deaf spirit to hear, the dumb spirit to sing, the dead spirit to have life return to it, or to raise the bodily infirm or dead? But were these miracles confined to the past? Could we not show these scornful philosophers who tell us there is nothing wonderful or preternatural now, the infidel, who has become devout and humble? not the drunkard, who has become sober, the publican and the harlot, who have become just and pure? 3. God bears testimony to the Word of His grace, and to that only. It is natural that He should be jealous of His own blessed specific, lest it should be either marred or corrupted by human traditions, or macerated by man’ s vain and subtle explaining it away, or destroying its miraculous nature. Wherever the simple grace of God has been set aside by self-righteousness on the one hand--as it is largely by the Church of Rome--or, on the other hand, its mysterious and miraculous character denied by those who deny the divinity of Christ and the efficacy of the atonement, there may have been some moral influence; but where are the results that show the new creature? The apostles, reformers, martyrs, with one voice proclaimed that God bears testimony to the Word of His grace. Application: It is in the power of the humblest and plainest to give one of the very best evidences of the power of the gospel that ever can be given, by leading a holy life. (H. Stowell, M. A.)God’ s testimony to His Word I. The miracles which the apostles wrought in attestation of the truth of their doctrine. And when the infidel sneeringly asks, “ What connection is there between truth and power, or can the truth of a doctrine be established by a miracle?” we reply, by asking him, “ What connection is there between a man’ s signature and the validity of the bill or bond which he has subscribed? What connection is there between the credentials of an ambassador and his right to transact the business of his sovereign?” Miracles are God’ s subscription to the truth of Christianity; and as no man could have wrought them unless God was with him, so in proportion to their number was testimony given to the gospel of grace. II. The sufferings to which the apostles and first Christians were exposed. III. The early and rapid propagation of the gospel. Considering the circumstances in which Christianity was introduced, we should not have been surprised had it made but slow progress in the world. Not only are its principles distasteful to the natural feelings of mankind; it opposed itself to the firmest prejudices, to the most established opinions of those to whom it was first addressed. IV. God still testifies to the truth of the gospel by accompanying its proclamation with a spiritual influence. (James Jeffrey.) Acts 14:4-7 But the multitude of the city was divided.The effects of the gospel I. Division. “ Behold I come not to cause peace, but division.” So said the Master; so felt the disciples.1. The gospel causes division in-- (1) The man himself--between inclination and conviction; interest and conscience; intellect and passion. (2) Families, between parents and children; brothers and sisters, etc. (3) Society. The gospel has often sundered life-long friendships and associations. 2. Why? (1) Because of the incessant vigilance and activity of the great enemy of the gospel, who stirs up opposition to it. (2) Because of the revolutionary power of the gospel. Men do not like to have the old convictions, customs, etc., disturbed. There is no objection per se to the existence of the gospel, if its possessors will only keep quiet. Professing Christians who make no effort to disturb existing arrangements live quietly enough. (3) Because of the intolerance of the gospel. Had Christians in ancient times been content with a place for Christ in the Pantheon there would have been no persecutions; it was because they claimed for Christ the only place, that excited the ire of heathendom. And men of all shades of opinion today would allow Christianity a place as a system of thought or ethics; but it is when she claims for herself absolute and undisputed supremacy in politics, society, business, etc., that the conflict begins. II. Opposition. Part held with the Jews.1. Sympathetically. There is an opposition nowadays which does not proceed to active antagonism. Indifference to the gospel is sympathy with its foes. “ He that is not for Me is against Me.” This form of opposition is the most difficult to deal with. An army would sooner meet its enemy than pass through a country secretly at league with the enemy. What the gospel has to dread is not infidel propaganda, or blatant vice; but mere intangible negativism. This we find not only outside the Churches but within. 2. Actively. This opposition exists in various forms. (1) Intellectual--controversy.(2) Political--bad laws.(3) Moral--vicious influence.(4) Social--evil customs.(5) Physical--persecution. III. Acceptance. “ Part with the apostles.” This acceptance is--1. Secret. There are thousands like Nicodemus, in heathen and Christian lands, whose whole sympathy is with the gospel, but who, for domestic or social reasons, withhold profession. This is not to be commended, but condemned; nevertheless, in estimating the forces for and against the gospel it should be considered. If it shows a heart yet unrenewed, it is evidence of feelings touched, intellect convinced, and perhaps will trembling in the balance. Such should be encouraged to not only hold with the apostles, but to stand boldly by their side. 2. Public. To take part thoroughly with the apostles is-- (1) To defend their gospel. (2) To assist them in their work. Something more is required than to listen to their teaching and to attend ordinances at which they preside once a week. Yet how many who profess to be decided Christians do no more. The work of the gospel requires the help of every disciple; as a matter of fact an average congregation yields one worker to ten members. (J. W. Burn.)And when there was an assault made … they … fled unto Lystra and Derbe.--The permitted flight of the servant of God How it takes place. I. After the conflict, as with the apostles here; not before, as with Jonah. II. In obedience to the Lord, and not from fear of man or carnal tenderness. III. With weapons in their hands, as the apostles continue to preach with unbroken courage, not after having cast their weapons away. IV. To a new field of conflict (Derbe and Lystra), not to rest. (K. Gerok.)And there they preached the gospel.--Gospel preaching A new and characteristic incident in the life of that sweet singer of Israel, Miss Havergal, comes to light in the recently published autobiography of her sister. The former was conversing with a minister who was not disposed to press home the gospel message. “ Oh, why don’ t you preach the gospel of Christ?” she exclaimed. “ My congregation are well educated and well acquainted with the truths of salvation; if they were Zulus, I should preach differently,” was the reply. “ Then let me be a Zulu next Sunday,” was the rejoinder, “ and just preach at me.” A real gospel sermon was the result. It might pay a minister now and then to imagine some Zulus among his auditors, and prepare his sermon accordingly. The preaching of the gospel I. The nature of the gospel. In etymology, the term signifies “ glad tidings.” In theology, the thing signified is the glad tidings of salvation through Christ. The gospel is the new law as distinguished from the old; for there is much gospel in the old, and much law in the new. The gospel is the foundation of a sinner’ s hope as distinguished from the rule of the creature’ s conduct. It is called “ the gospel of the grace of God,” because the whole system originated in the free and unmerited favour of God; “ the everlasting gospel,” because it occupied the mind of God from eternity, and its blessings extend to the end of time; “ the ministration of glory,” because it combines the attributes of Jehovah; “ gospel of the kingdom,” because it is the basis on which the whole empire of the Redeemer rests. It includes in itself our Lord’ s divinity and atoning sacrifice, the justification of the sinner by faith, the renovation of the heart by the Holy Spirit, the universal invitation to all sinners to avail themselves of its provisions, the promise that all that believe shall be saved. II. To preach the gospel is to exhibit--1. The crucifixion of Christ as a fact, in connection with the design of that fact, as connected with the moral government of God. 2. Christ in the divinity of His person. The divinity of Christ is essential to His atonement. 3. The atonement and righteousness of Christ, as the exclusive foundation of the sinner’ s hope of acceptance before God. 4. The death of Christ as the great means, in the hand of the Spirit, for the sanctification of the sinner’ s heart. 5. An invitation of mercy co-extensive with the aspect of the atonement, and both as co-extensive with the wretchedness of human guilt and misery. 6. The supreme and ultimate object of the Christian’ s hope, namely, the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He shall come without sin unto salvation. III. The importance of preaching the gospel. Consider--1. The sublimity of its ultimate design--the salvation of the soul. The proudest monuments of genius are not worth a thought, compared with the salvation of one of those children that belong to your Sunday school. 2. Its collateral benefits on the individual and society. I am aware that education is the idol of the day, that knowledge is sounded forth; and let it be sounded forth, for it is not good for the soul of man to be without it; but we are mistaken if we suppose that anything short of a preached gospel will purify society or elevate the human race, and meet the moral necessities of men. 3. Its adaptation to effect these things. Where can we find such a message from God to engage us? Where such power calculated to subdue our hearts? Where such a token of good-will towards the sinner as in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? 4. Its effects in the world. Conclusion: Learn--1. The main purpose of a Christian place of worship--the preaching and hearing of the gospel. 2. The great business and duty of the minister of religion to preach Christ. 3. How important it is to private Christians, to feel their obligation to provide places of worship! 4. If it is our obligation to preach the gospel, it is yours to receive it. (J. Angell James.)The gospel ministry I. The subject which the text presents to our attention--“ The gospel.” If you examine the gospel as it was preached by Christ and His apostles, you will discover that merely to inculcate Christian virtues or to describe a future state, is not preaching the gospel. Every system must have some leading principles which are essential to it, and when these are renounced or overlooked, the system itself is opposed or concealed. Look at the meaning of the word “ gospel” --“ Glad tidings of great joy,” etc. Therefore, to preach the gospel is to imitate the angelic host, to preach Christ. If there be not a full and plain declaration of “ Christ and Him crucified,” then there is an awful void in the preacher’ s message. We are as the heralds of mercy, to exhibit the atonement and righteousness of Christ, as the exclusive foundation of the Christian’ s hope of acceptance before God. Without the doctrine of justification by faith there can be no gospel. Let it only be alleged, or even hinted, that there is something more than the work of Christ necessary for the reconciliation of a sinner to God, and the silver trumpet falls from the lips of the preacher, and, to be a little more particular, we may remark that the Christian minister must proclaim Christ to his hearers as--1. A suitable Saviour. We are enslaved, and need a Redeemer; diseased, and need a physician; perishing, and require a benefactor; condemned, and want pardon. Christ is our King, Benefactor, Physician, Redeemer, Saviour. 2. An Almighty Saviour. He is the maker and upholder of all things. “ It pleased the Father that in Him all fulness should dwell.” See whom He has saved! Many of the most guilty of the human race. And this assures us that He can “ save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him.” 3. A willing Saviour. His invitations are given to all sinners, without exception. 4. An everlasting Saviour. He “ is the Author of eternal salvation” ; He gives “ a kingdom that cannot be shaken” --“ a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” II. The manner in which the gospel is to be proclaimed, namely, by preaching. When the Saviour ascended up on high, He “ received gifts for men.” “ And He gave some apostles,” etc. But for how long was this to continue? “ Until we all come to the unity of the faith,” etc. The gospel trumpet is to be blown until its sound shall be succeeded by the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. The office of preaching is not only a wise institution, but one of paramount importance. This will be seen if we appeal to it.1. The declarations of God. What was to crown, according to Jeremiah, the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity into their own land? “ I will give them,” says God, “ pastors after Mine own heart,” etc. What does Isaiah consider as a compensation for all the calamities of life? “ Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity … yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more.” 2. The adaptation of preaching to extensive usefulness. There is no mode of communicating information that can awaken half the attention, or excite half the interest, that the ordinance of preaching does; it is not only the understanding speaking to the understanding, but the heart speaking to the heart, and the conscience to the conscience. So that by this engine, if rightly used, every power of the mind is effected, and every feeling of the soul is touched and excited. 3. Its design. The profession of a lawyer is important, because it affects our property; and that of a physician, because it concerns our health; but these are nothing, when compared with the soul and eternity; and with these, the ministerial office is peculiarly concerned; and by these, it is infinitely dignified. III. The condition of those places in which the gospel has been proclaimed.1. Every such place is peculiarly favoured. In other places there is no heavenly bread, no water of consolation for the support of the soul. Capernaum, a little fishing place, was “ exalted to heaven,” because there Christ preached the gospel. You should think of this when you change your residence, and when you make excursions for health. On such occasions ask, not only, “ Is there a good air? Is there delightful scenery?” but also, “ Is the gospel proclaimed there?” 2. Its inhabitants are awfully responsible. If you perish, you will have no cloak for your sin, and no alleviation of your punishment. “ It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, at the day of judgment than for you,” if you neglect the gospel. (T. Gibson, M. A.)The gospel for all “ Go into all the world,” was our Lord’ s command to His disciples, “ and preach the gospel to every creature.” They might have said in objection, that some parts of the world were philosophical and refined; that other parts were uncivilised and rude. Their Master held those objections to be nothing worth. Hence we find them in Jerusalem, for one place; we find them by and by in Ephesus and Athens; and here in what may fairly be called a rural and outlandish place. There, exactly as in other places, they just did what that text declares. “ There they preached the gospel.” Where? Anywhere. I. Because in every place the gospel is wanted. Man may be regarded as addicted to religion. Man has never been found without having as to his intellect the power, and as to his heart the solicitude to use that power, of trusting to some objects which are superior to himself. Hence it is, that we have all manner of religions very generally. The Hottentot has his religion, and the Esquimaux has his. But now, how comes man to be thus affected everywhere? I believe that it is by a necessity of his nature. Men want to have strength found them for their weakness, and light for their darkness, and wisdom for their ignorance, and pardon for their sin. You may find Atheism trying to get that instinct out of man’ s nature; but you will find humanity revolting from it; and, if it has not got the true religion, it will somehow or other try to content itself with a false. Why is it that men will put up with heavy self-denial and sacrifice of the very best, and sometimes to an unknown God? Here lies the mystery of it all--“ they have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” They want to have their relations with their Maker rectified into the position whence sin took them. And unto that position the gospel offers to bring them. Whether a man be a peasant or a prince, whether he be a Pagan or a nominal Christian, the man stands in need of that gospel; let that be preached to him, and he accept it, and the aspirations of his humanity are all met; his troubled heart is tranquillised, and his guilt forgiven. “ There they preached the gospel” : in the antipodes; here, in some mission room, aye, and by the side of some sick and dying bed, in a London attic, “ there they preach the gospel” : why? Because nothing but the “ glad tidings of great joy” would avail for the misery and spiritual want that are discovered there. II. Because in every place under heaven the gospel may be proclaimed. Different forms of religion to a large extent have arisen out of the circumstances of the particular place, or have got associated almost exclusively with the peculiarities of some time, or apostle. There is, e.g., Hindooism, that needs such a place as Hindostan with its great rivers. The religion of the Caffre is well adapted to all the region of Caffraria. Mahomedanism tells all its votaries that they are not to touch food from sunrise to sunset. Now, how could that be attended to in those lands where the sun never sets and rises for weeks together? A disciple of Vishnu or Brahma could not proclaim his religion here so as to carry into operation all its requirements. It was not made for man, it will not do for man. But this heaven-born gospel of ours, the land does not exist to which you could not take it; the man cannot be found by whom its sacred precepts and doctrines might not be received and followed out. Spiritual ill its nature, and simple in its ritual, it can go anywhere. “ There they preached the gospel.” There among the luxurious groves of the Asiatic; there among the consolidated snows of Lapland. III. For everywhere the gospel is adapted to all the circumstances of mankind, be they what they may.1. There are peculiarities touching age and with all those peculiarities there come corresponding necessities. The young man looks forward to his life; everything appears to him bright and auspicious: he is brimful and overrunning with human life. Now the gospel puts before him another medium, and in God’ s light tells him to see light; tells him to understand that there are difficulties and adversities and vicissitudes, but bids him trust, and not be dismayed, for all that. There is the man of business, and there the gospel stands, not telling him to exchange commercial life for conventional, but to buy, sell, and get gain as seeing God who is invisible. Then there is the mother in the midst of her family, the old man, etc. “ There they preached the gospel.” To be sure they did; whatever may be the variety of our necessities, the gospel has a word, and has provision for them all. 2. There are the differences of constitutional temperament. Some men are lively, others taciturn; and there are gradations between these two extremes. “ There they preached the gospel,” because it was not a thing for a great occasion, or for the salvation of the soul only, but in this present evil world to be as a portion in due season. Is impulse required, or restraint, or equanimity? The gospel provides it all. I have seen it take a selfish man and make him generous; take a timid man and make him brave; take a man proud and austere, and make him congenial and kindly. 3. There are peculiarities in intellectual power, and in corresponding intellectual attainment. Now, take the man that is not very intellectual, and the man that is profoundly intellectual; they both want the glad tidings; to both of them are the tidings preached. There was “ The Dairyman’ s Daughter,” and there was Sir Isaac Newton. When the one was weary with his intellectual work, and the other with her unintellectual work, where did they go? They sat down by the same Book, read about the same Saviour, and both of them set their seal to it that God is true. 4. There are peculiarities as to guilt and criminality. All men are not alike bad; there is the minimum and there is the maximum of human guilt. The gospel is adapted to the drunkard, to the profane, to the voluptuous, to the outcast of every kind; not that he may go on living in sin that grace may abound; but suited to him, to “ bring him up out of the horrible pit and the miry clay.” IV. Because anywhere the blessings of the gospel may be proffered universally, and to individual persons. We must not call uncommon what God has called common; we must not restrict what God has left unlimited. (W. Brock, D. D.)The insufficient and the efficacious What will convince and convert men? What will revive and enlarge the Church of God? Many means are useful; one only is efficacious.1. The voice of God in nature is not sufficient.2. Miracles do not avail.3. Zeal, however ardent, comes short.4. Machinery, perfect though it be--good preaching, a strong Church, all the ordinances of God’ s house, Sunday schools, etc. does not convert souls or give life to the people of God. The only efficacious instrument is God’ s truth, the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel faithfully preached and made efficacious by the agency of the Holy Ghost, as it was at Lystra and at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and as it is now wherever the conditions are faithfully observed. (Homiletic Review.) Acts 14:8-18 And there sat a certain man at Lystra. Paul and Barnabas in Lystra I. The incident.1. The case of the cripple resembles that of the man at the gate Beautiful; and a particular statement of it is given, to show the reality and the greatness of the miracle. It was not an incidental, but a radical infirmity which was removed. He had been lame from his birth. His cure, therefore, would appear to all to be the effect, not of superior skill, but of supernatural power. Thus the design of the miracle would be gained, which was not only to relieve the patient, but to demonstrate that God was present with Paul and Barnabas, and consequently that their doctrine was true. Miracles are a sign “ to them that believe not.” They are not merely prodigies intended to raise wonder. To the Jews the argument from prophecy was sufficient; and accordingly, we find the apostles insisting much upon it in their discourses to that people. But to the Gentiles it would not have been addressed with propriety, because they were not acquainted with the prophecies. Miracles, however, were an obvious and easy species of evidence. 2. Paul perceived that the lame man had “ faith to be healed.” This faith seems to signify either a general belief of the power of Barnabas and Paul, or rather of Jesus Christ, whose ministers they were, to cure his infirmity; or a persuasion that a cure would be performed upon himself in particular. In the former case, his faith was founded on the account which he had heard of the character and miracles of Christ, and of the gifts of healing which He had bestowed on His apostles; in the latter it was the effect of a supernatural impression on his mind. This faith Paul perceived by the power of discerning spirits. “ Paul therefore said, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked,” and the cure instantly followed the command. 3. Paul said, “ with a loud voice.” The circumstances in which the miracles of the gospel were performed leave no room for suspecting that they were dexterous impositions on the credulity of mankind. They were not done in a corner, but in the chief places of concourse. The juggling tricks of heathenism need only to be strictly examined to be rejected with contempt; whereas the miracles of Christianity are displays of omnipotent power, which will be the more admired the more closely they are considered. 4. The evidence of miracles is not irresistible, but may be counteracted by the power of prejudice. The Jews attributed those of our Saviour to Satanical influence; the Gentiles believed that those of the apostles were operations of magic; and the inhabitants of Lystra were disposed to turn this miracle into an argument in favour of their own idolatrous religion (Acts 14:11, etc.). As soon as the idea was adopted, that Paul and Barnabas were gods, the people assigned to them their respective names. If the gods had condescended to visit the city of Lystra, religion required that they should be received with appropriate honours; but the sacrifice was prevented by the zeal of Barnabas and Paul, who “ ran in among them, saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We are fellow mortals.” Their being of “ like passions” with themselves would not have appeared a good reason why Paul and Barnabas should not be worshipped: for Jupiter and Mercury, and all the rest, if history might be credited, had given many shocking displays of them. But if they were fellow mortals, beings subject, like others, to disease and death, it was evident that they were not gods. Mortals, indeed, there have been, who demanded religious honours; and base flatterers have not been wanting to comply with the extravagant request. Some of the Roman emperors were deified during their lives. But, surely, the worshippers and the worshipped must have secretly regarded one another with mutual contempt. Jealous of the glory of the true God, the apostles rejected, with abhorrence, any honour offered to themselves which intrenched on His prerogative. 5. In the Old Testament the heathen gods are frequently styled vanities. Of the deities, whom the blinded nations adored, some had no existence except in the imagination of their worshippers; and the rest were dead men and women, whom the gratitude and admiration of posterity had consecrated. Their images, in which a Divine virtue was supposed to reside, were alike unworthy of religious honours and incapable of doing good or evil, as inanimate matter in any other shape (Psalms 135:16-18). These pretended gods, and their unprofitable service, the apostles call upon the men of Lystra to forsake, and henceforward to worship “ the living God” --Jehovah, the self-existent Being, the source of life to all who breathe. 6. But if the God, whom Paul and Barnabas preached, was the true God, why was He so late in asserting His claim to their homage? To obviate this objection against the Christian doctrine as a novel system, the apostles add, “ Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.” Although He did not leave Himself altogether without a witness, yet He employed no extraordinary means to stem the torrent of apostacy. No prophet arose among them to reprove their errors and restore the knowledge and service of the Creator. “ The times of this ignorance He winked at,” seeming to take no notice of it, as a man closes his eyes that he may not observe what is passing around him. Every nation was suffered to adopt whatever form of religion was most agreeable to its taste. Idolatry seems to have begun early after the flood. It was practised in the family of Abraham prior to his call (Joshua 24:2). 7. But this idolatry was inexcusable, because “ God did not leave Himself without a witness,” etc. No man, who consults his reason, can consider the productions of the earth as the result of chance, because chance signifies no cause of any kind, but merely expresses bur ignorance. It is not less irrational to imagine that vegetation is the effect of certain independent qualities or powers of matter. Wherever we observe design, reason and experience point to an intelligent agent. The process by which “ our hearts are filled with food and gladness,” consists of so many steps all conducting to a specific termination, that no person can survey them without an immediate conviction of the existence and providence of God, The heathens, amidst all their ignorance, were not so atheistical as some modern philosophers. They erred only in overlooking the true Author of their enjoyments, and returning thanks for their fruitful seasons to Jupiter, and Ceres, and Pomona, instead of acknowledging the various productions of the earth to be the work of one God, “ from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift.” II. Its lessons.1. We learn from this passage that the contemplation of nature should be rendered subservient to the purposes of piety. Man is delighted with the view of what is sublime and beautiful, and with instances of curious contrivances and exquisite workmanship; but the ultimate design of this delight is to conduct him to the knowledge and love of its Author. Philosophy will afford us much entertainment by unfolding the secret operations of nature; but the pleasure of the unlettered Christian is incomparably greater when he traces, in the grand outlines of creation, the footsteps of his Father, and the smiles of His goodness. 2. Let us give thanks to God for our deliverance from idolatry. It is not to reason that we are indebted for this deliverance. We indeed find no difficulty in proving that there is only one God, who ought to be worshipped; but to demonstrate a truth already known is a much easier task than to discover a truth buried under the rubbish of prejudice and superstition. The wisest and greatest men of antiquity were polytheists. Were Christianity banished, the absurd and exploded systems of Paganism would be restored. No sooner had the French nation renounced the religion of Christ than they began to worship the Goddess of Reason. 3. As we profess to be the servants of the living God, let us remember that it is a pure and spiritual worship which He requires. He must not be treated as one of the idols of the Gentiles, to whom their votaries presented the empty homage of ceremonies and oblations. Then only do we serve Him when we present to Him the offering of our hearts, commit ourselves to the direction of His wisdom, submit to His authority, and regulate our thoughts and actions by His law. (J. Dick, D. D.)Apostolic service and temptation 1. This man would not be admitted into a drawing room; he would be a spot on any feast of high conviviality; but Christianity always begins with the cripples. It will begin anywhere. Its one cry is, “ Give me a man,” and in reply to this the cripple has always been given. This is the defence of the Church, that it shuts out no man, but finds a seat even for the cripple who cannot stand. 2. Paul perceived “ that he had faith to be healed.” That man is here; don’ t tell me you are not a Christian; your being here means Believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. What you want is the faith to use faith, confidence to use the power you have. The great, kind sea waits for you. It is a great easy nurse, and says, “ Come, throw yourselves right upon me, and you shall not sink.” Who can tell but that some poor soul now may say, “ Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” ? If so, this will be the day of miracle. 3. I wish we could be as sure that Paul is here as that the cripple is. You have here an illustration of Paul’ s insight into character. Not long since we noticed that Barnabas “ saw the grace of God.” What eyes those men had. They knew faith when it was only a light in the face, a gleam in the eye. There is more faith in the world than the preachers have yet conceived. We make great mistakes in confounding one character with another, and in mistaking the symptoms that are offered in order to deceive the very elect. Many a man laughs to keep you off the scent; whilst under his assumed gaiety his heart is suffering from the bite of an adder. Many a man is silent who wants to speak. You have thought him cold, distant, indifferent, whereas in his heart he has been saying, “ Would God I knew how to begin.” Let us pray for the spirit of discerning, and so use that spirit as to bring men who have taken one step on the right road forward on their journey. 4. Why did Paul speak “ with a loud voice” ? Some people object to loud voices--they say they could hear quite well if the preacher did not exert himself so. It is not enough to hear--you must overhear. An utterance must not deliver its own syllables only, but take with it heart, fire, life. If you had spoken with a sublimer audacity you would have elicited a nobler reply. People knew that Christ spoke with authority, and Paul’ s heart went with his voice, and his every syllable was glorified into a power. 5. Not only had Paul keen insight into the character of others, he had also keen insight into his own spirit. That kept him right. The high priest of Jupiter was prepared to offer sacrifice to him; but he cried, “ We also are men of like passions with you.” Their self-knowledge was, humanly speaking, their salvation. If we knew ourselves we could not so inhale the incense of adulation as to lose our balance. Let all men know themselves to be but men, and then eulogium will bring with it honest encouragement, and instead of offering sacrifices, we shall offer the nobler homage of confidence and love. 6. This narrative throws some light upon Christianity itself. Christianity makes people do what they never did before. The man had never walked. Christianity does not make us do things a little better than we did them before; it makes us do things we and the world thought it impossible for us ever to do. When the priest of Jupiter saw what was done, he was prepared to put the knife to Jupiter’ s own throat. Christianity must vindicate itself by the men it makes. Convince the priests of Jupiter, not by eloquent reasoning, but by noble manhood. 7. The man “ leaped and walked.” You cannot leap long--the law of gravitation is against that--but you can walk all your lifetime. A man leaping always is beside himself; a man walking has serious business, and he is going to do it. We cannot live in raptures, but we must leap at first. Those who have seen God, and have received of His strength, mount up as on the wings of eagles: then they run, then they walk. It would be pleasant to see some of us leaping a little. Without enthusiasm, what is the Church? It is Vesuvius without fire; it is Niagara without water; it is the firmament without the sun. (J. Parker, D. D.)Worship: the false and the true I. Man worship. Look at--1. The great miracle. (1) The cripple. His condition was, humanly speaking, hopeless. So the sinner (Romans 7:18; Psalms 51:5). (2) The cure. Look at the steps. (a) “ The same heard Paul speaking.” The gospel came with healing to the soul before healing was given to his body. (b) Perceiving how undoubting was the man’ s faith in Christ as a Saviour, Paul saw that he would have just as much faith in Him as a healer. (c) “ Stand upright on thy feet.” To that clarion call all the energies of the lame man’ s being responded. The sense of impotence gave place to a sense of power. There was a second miracle in the leaping and walking; for with man walking and leaping are the result of many trials and failures. 2. The great mistake. The miracle set the people reasoning. By no mere human power could such a wonder be performed; therefore these men must be gods. Even the priest of Jupiter himself came to do priestly homage. II. True worship. Some would have let the people suppose for a time that their surmise was true. It would give them influence, and gradually, they could turn attention away from themselves to Christ, etc. But the false never can represent the true. How did Paul and Barnabas act?1. Self-worship rejected. (1) The apostles’ horror. Evidently no such temptation had appealed to them. (2) The apostle’ s declaration. “ We also are men,” etc. Capable of suffering, and hence unlike gods. (3) The apostles’ mission. “ Bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from these vain things unto the living God.” The worship of the living God is the only one that brings returns. All other worship is empty of results--a waste of time, of means, of energy--an eternal disappointment. 2. True worship enjoined. The sermon of the apostles is short, but it presents God-- (1) As Creator. “ Who made the heaven,” etc. God was “ living,” while their gods were of stone, or of their own imagination. He was self-existent--their gods were “ vanities.” (2) As Father. (a) Indulgent. “ Who suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.” He would not compel their adoration, but left it to themselves to find out that evil was hurtful, idolatry nothing but vanity, and that the wages of sin is death, (b) Faithful. “ Yet He left Himself not without witness, in that He did good.” The apostacy of the nations did not cause God to turn away from them. With infinite patience, born of infinite love, He continued to treat them as though they were His children. (c) Provident. “ And gave you from heaven rain,” etc. With wonderful kindness our Father “ maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good,” etc. His love and goodness continually plead with men to repent. “ And with these sayings scarce retained they,” etc. The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. It is as hard sometimes to turn them as it is to turn the course of a river. (M. C. Hazard.) Acts 14:9-10 The same heard Paul speak: who … perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said … Stand upright.Faith to be healed I. What preceded his faith? Faith cometh by hearing; but the bearing of what? The gospel (Acts 14:7). Yes, he declared to these ignorant, superstitious fanatics the very same truths which he spoke to his enlightened Jewish brethren. He makes no difference between the education of his hearers in different places. To Ephesian sorcerers, to philosophic Athenians, to Corinthian merchants, to rustic Leptrians, his only message is the gospel. What, then, was this gospel which Paul preached everywhere?1. It was a gospel of facts. Every time Paul preached he told the following unvarnished tale: God beheld men lost and ruined. Out of love to them He sent His only-begotten Son, who lived a life of innocence and perfect obedience. He was crucified, rose again, and ascended up to heaven, where He sitteth at the right hand of God, from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 2. There were certain doctrines flowing out of the facts. To wit, that Jesus Christ had offered a full atonement for the sin of His people, so that whosoever would believe on Him should be saved. Then would come the doctrine of pardon, how God could be just, and yet the Justifier of him who believeth. 3. And out of these there sprung certain commands: “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shelf be saved.” “ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” “ Well,” says one, “ do you think the world will be turned upside down by this?” It has been and will be again. In vain do men attempt to find a nobler instrument. This is the great battering ram which shall yet shake the bastions of error. This is the true Excalibur, which, if any man knoweth how to wield it, shall cut through joints and marrow, and make him more than a conqueror. Do ye ask, then, where this man’ s faith came from? It came from Paul’ s preaching of the gospel. II. Wherein lay this man’ s faith?1. Paul perceived “ that he had faith to be healed.” As he listened to Paul he thought, perhaps, “ That seems to be the truth; it is the truth; I am sure it is true; and, if so, perhaps I may be healed; I--I--I think I may; I hope I may; I believe I may; from what Paul says of Christ’ s character, I think He must be willing to do it.” Then Paul said to him, “ Stand upright on thy feet,” and he did so in a moment, for “ he had faith to be healed.” 2. You say, “ It does not appear that Paul had any previous communication with the cripple.” Now I know from my own experience that it is no uncommon thing for someone to arrest the preacher’ s attention. The group of countenances before him might to the first glance of a stranger look confused and inexplicable, as a Chinese grammar to those who know not the language. But a practised eye can learn to read the one as well as the other. The languor and indifference of some; the curious inquiring look of others; the cold, critical attention of more, form a picture which often reacts upon us, and kindles a desire to reach those who, for a brief hour, hang upon our lips. But there will sometimes be one who has faith dazzling in his very eyes, seeming to drink in every syllable, till the preacher becomes as absorbed in that man as the man had been in the preacher. And while he pursues the discourse, he perceives that at last this man has heard the very truth which meets his case. Preacher and hearer, unknown to all the rest of the audience, have secretly saluted each other, and met on the common ground of a vital faith. 3. Shall I describe this “ faith to be saved” ? You have “ faith,” but you have not fully exercised it. Now, you believe that Jesus Christ is God’ s Son? “ Yes.” That He has made a full atonement? “ Yes.” That He is worthy to be trusted? You depend on nothing else? “ No.” Then you only need that gracious command--“ Stand upright on thy feet.” III. The spiritual teaching of the miracle and of the blessing conferred. Are there not many, who though they have “ faith to be saved,” are still limping? The reasons may be different in different cases.1. Some have been so stunned by grief on account of sin, that while they do believe that Christ is able and willing to save, they cannot get a hold of the fact that they are saved. “ Stand upright on thy feet,” thou trembling sinner. If thou believest in Jesus, whatever thy fears may be, there is no cause for them. 2. Some are still lame, though they have faith, through ignorance. They are waiting for something, they hardly know what, to embellish their faith, or to fortify it with signs and wonders. All that you have to do with is this--“ Do I believe in Jesus?” If you do you are saved, Stand upright on your feet. 3. How many, too, are kept lame because of a fear of self-deception. Away with that affectation of modesty, saying, “ I hope” ; “ I trust” ; but “ I feel such doubts, such fears, and such gloomy misgivings,” that is a vain unseemly questioning of God. 4. Others, again, cannot stand upright because they are afraid that if they did begin they would go back again, and so bring dishonour to Christ. This would be a very proper fear if you had anything to do with keeping yourselves, but Christ gives you His promise to preserve you even to the end. 5. Then possibly there is one here who cannot stand upright because of his many sins. Sinner, stand upright on thy feet, for “ all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Faith to be healed 1. Faith is the one condition indispensable whenever one would receive blessings from God. 2. We must be willing to look for and recognise even feeble faith (Isaiah 42:3). It requires alertness and charity, 3. Christians must instantly honour true faith when they find it, not stop to question, and to search, and to disturb it. 4. He who has greatest faith of his own will detect faith in others most quickly. 5. Our Lord is wont to see faith sometimes when we declare we cannot. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The efficacy of faith Take a piece of wax and a piece of gold of the same magnitude; the wax is not valuable with the gold; but as this wax is placed at the end of some will, by virtue of which some great estate is confirmed and conveyed, so it may be worth many hundred pounds. So faith, considered purely in itself, doth challenge nothing more than any other graces: nay, in some sense it is inferior, it being an empty hand; but as this hand receives the precious alms of Christ’ s merits, and is an instrument or channel through which the blessed streams of life flow to us from Him, so it doth challenge a superiority over, and is more excellent than, all other graces whatsoever. (J. Spencer.)Essential faith Why is faith so essential? It is because of its receptive power. A purse will not make a man rich, and yet, without some place for his money, how could a man acquire wealth? Faith itself could not contribute a penny to salvation, but it is the purse which holds a precious Christ within itself, yea, it holds all the treasure of Divine love. If a man is thirsty, a rope and a bucket are not in themselves of much use to him, but yet if there is a well near at hand, the very thing that is wanted is a bucket and a rope by which the water can be lifted. Faith is the bucket by which a man may draw water out of the wells of salvation, and drink to his heart’ s content. You may sometimes have stopped a moment at a street fountain, and have desired to drink, but you found you could not, for the drinking cup was gone. The water flowed, but you could not get at it. It was tantalising to be at the fountainhead, and yet to be thirsty still in want of a little cup. Now faith is that little cup, which we hold up to the flowing stream of Christ’ s grace; we fill it, and then we drink and are refreshed. Hence the importance of faith. It would have seemed to our forefathers an idle thing to lay down a cable under the sea from England to America, and it would be idle now were it not that science has taught us how to speak by lightening; yet the cable itself is now of the utmost importance, for the best invention of telegraphy would be of no use for purposes of transatlantic communication if there were not the connecting wire between the two continents. Faith is just that; it is the connecting link between our souls and God, and the living message flashes along it to our souls. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 14:11-13 The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.The theology of heathendom In the words and acts of these heathen Lystrians, there comes out the native theology of human hearts everywhere and in all conditions. There are three great theological beliefs involved in their conduct: I. That the Divinity is always manifest in the miraculous. Though logically, perhaps, it could not be proved, man everywhere believes it. Whenever anything extraordinary in nature occurs, the human spectators, as well in civilised as savage states, involuntarily feel that God is at work. This doctrine, thus held by the heart of depraved humanity, accords with the teachings of the Bible. II. That the Divinity assumes human forms. “ In the likeness of men.” This was the general belief of heathendom. This may be regarded--1. As a dim memory in the soul of paradise, where God held fellowship with man. 2. As a prophetic sentiment of that grand incarnation “ when the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.” III. That the Divinity is to be worshipped when appearing in the human form. These heathens, believing that Barnabas was Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, began their worship, Now, the theology which comes out from the hearts of these heathens, and which is written in the souls of all, serves several important purposes.1. As an eternal hindrance to the reign of atheism. Atheism is a contradiction to the profoundest faith of the human heart. Whatever system of doctrine is contrary to the intuitions of humanity cannot stand. 2. As indicating the responsibility of heathens. “ There is a light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” God has left no man without some measure of inner light. 3. As presumptive evidence in favour of the gospel. The gospel agrees with the primitive beliefs of human hearts. 4. As a guarantee for the spread of Christianity. The congruity of Christian theism with the theism of the soul is a pledge of its ultimate triumph. The gospel brings God to man in miraculous works and in a human form, and all this that he might worship. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The worship of success How ready the world is to pay tribute to apparent success! If a physician works a startling cure; if a commander wins a great victory; if an author writes a popular book: if an inventor contrives a wonderful machine; if a financier rolls up a vast fortune--the world looks up to him and calls him great. There are, indeed, those who are ready to give him homage beyond what mere man ought ever to receive. It is rarely an intelligent tribute which is paid to such a man. The display of his power dazzles the eyes of those who observe him, and they are ready to worship him because he possesses what they lack and long for. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius.--A well-known legend recounts how Jupiter and Mercury had once wandered through this region in quest of shelter and entertainment, which was everywhere refused until they came to the cottage of Philemon. When, then, the people saw the miracle, and heard the words of Paul and Barnabas, they thought that the gods of their old legend had again come down to them. In calling Barnabas Jupiter it is supposed that they were guided by the greater age, and probably the more dignified appearance of this apostle over his companion, whose bodily presence was weak, while the greater eloquence of Paul procured him the name of Mercury--the God of eloquence. (W. Denton, M. A.) Acts 14:15-18 Sirs, why do ye these things? Apostolic sincerity In a position similar to that of Herod, they act in an opposite manner (Acts 12:22). And yet there was no small temptation in the matter. They might think this idolatrous prejudice must be excused: there is a spark of truth in it; the esteem for our persons may be serviceable in the spread of the gospel; the idea of the appearance of gods on earth may lead to the doctrine of Christ the Son of God. But that would be nothing else than to suppose that the end sanctifies the means. How often do we thus act? And always to the detriment of the truth and honour of God, which we thought to promote. The apostles took vigorous measures; they tore asunder the web of this delusion when it was yet forming itself, instead of helping to complete it; and God permits them to succeed. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)The danger of accepting false homage Let no one say, this is nothing, for a creature, conscious of his infirmity and mortality, to refuse to be worshipped as a god. Alas! we have painful evidence that it is something. For, not to mention the deification of emperors, one of our own countrymen, Captain Cook, suffered himself to be taken for one, the god of war, in the Sandwich Islands, and to be worshipped with idolatrous ceremonies, thinking it afforded a fortunate opportunity of swaying the savage mind. Alas! the savages killed him whom they had adored. (J. Bennett, D. D.)The flatterer repulsed When the French ambassador visited the illustrious Bacon in his last illness, and found him in bed with the curtains drawn, he addressed this fulsome compliment to him: “ You are like the angels, of whom we hear and read much, but have not the pleasure of seeing them.” The reply was the sentiment of a philosopher and language not unworthy of a Christian: “ If the complaisance of others compares me to an angel, my infirmities tell me I am a man.” (Biblical Museum.)Effects of turning to God “ I saw with mine own eyes, when in Africa two or three years ago,” says the Rev. W. Allen, “ the notorious skull temple, or Juju house, not long ago the scene of the most ghastly horrors; I saw the very men who had been the high priests of Juju, and ringleaders in all kinds of atrocities; I saw the accursed grove where human victims were constantly slain, and twins cast out to die; but the temple had fallen into ruins, the skulls were crumbling to dust, the idols lay grovelling on the ground, the grove was the highway to God’ s house, and the once cannibal priests and people were all assembled in church, and joining with earnest fervour in the worship of Almighty God. And since then, and within the last two years, the tottering temple has been deliberately razed to the ground, the human skulls decently interred, and all the detestable tokens of their former idolatry, some of which had been procured at a tremendous cost, and had been regarded as of priceless value, were handed over to Bishop Crowther, forwarded by him to me, and are now in London. In lieu of their former skull temple the natives have erected at their own expense, at a cost of not less than £2,000, a church which seats two thousand people, which is now Bishop Crowther’ s cathedral, and at the consecration of which over three thousand natives were present.” The sublimity of Christianity and the worthlessness of human popularity I. The sublimity of Christianity. This is seen--1. In the spirit it generates. It is the characteristic of mean-natured men that they seek homage from their fellows. Many of the heathen emperors put themselves up as gods; and there are those now in every circle who are craving to be the idols of their sphere. But here you have two men to whom the highest honours were unanimously and enthusiastically offered--repudiating them with a holy indignation. What gave them this spirit? Christianity! The man who has this spirit is too great, not only to seek, but to receive the honours which worldly men covet. 2. In the God it reveals. (1) The absolutely living One--“ the living God” ; not like their gods, dead idols. His life is the life of the universe. (2) The universal Creator. (3) The patient Governor of men. Their conduct was offensive to Him, and opposed to His requirements; but He allowed them full scope for the play of their intellect, genius, and passions. (4) The constant Worker in the universe. The operations of nature were only His power in action. He works everywhere in nature, always doing good, and all His works are “ witnesses” of Himself. This discourse of the apostles shows how they adapted their subject to their hearers. When they address Jews, they deal with the Hebrew Scriptures; when they address heathens, they expound the Bible of nature. 3. In the revolutions it effects. The work of Christianity is to turn souls from the false to the true, from the shadowy to the real, from the creature to the Creator. The gods of men are vanities, whether Jupiter or Mercurius, or worldliness, fashion, pleasure, or pride. What a grand thing, then, is Christianity! All the systems of men to it are as tapers to the sun. II. The worthlessness of human popularity. How long did this public desire to worship the apostles continue at Lystra? It had a very brief existence (verse 19). What a rapid reaction! The enthusiastic adorers are transformed to malignant foes; the men who are honoured as gods one hour, are treated the next as wretched criminals deserving death. This is popularity. “ Hosanna” today, “ Crucify” tomorrow. What a worthless thing! How much beneath the man to value, still less to court. He who worships popularity worships--1. A corrupt god. So long as the world is depraved, the popular thing must be wrong. 2. A capricious god. It approves today what it denounces tomorrow. Little men go after popularity, and their little souls adore it; great men are followed by popularity, and their great, natures care nothing for it. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The apostolic testimony against heathenism Derbe and Lystra would be as different from Iconium and Antioch as villages in India would be from the larger towns of the presidencies. But we need not go so far to find illustration. In spite of railways, telegraphs, newspapers, and cheap postage, there are many quiet places in our own land where the pulses of our great national life are feebly felt, and where the people are living very much as their fathers did fifty years ago. The gospel message confronts totally fresh circumstances. At Lystra there was heathenism densely ignorant and loyal, there were superstitions much less easily dealt with and destroyed. Three things are here declared-- I. A living God of redemption, as against hero worship. I do not see much to choose between the ancient heathen deification of heaven, and its more modern form of the canonisation of saints. I do know, however, that the men so dealt with would recoil from such worship. There was only one that accepted homage and worship. Angels and apostles repudiated it. And yet there has always been a readiness to offer homage to the heroes in every age, and especially when the honour is useless to him to whom it is paid. The fathers persecute and slay the prophet, whose sepulchre their children build. Is it wrong, then, that men should honour human greatness? By no means. No true man can read of heroisms of calm, patient endurance, as well as of daring, without having his nobler pulses stirred. But hero-worship has its dangers. It may be paralysing instead of inspiring. Because, when you come to think about it, a man’ s heroism is a lonely and incommunicable splendour. And the greatest men have their imperfections. Then what glad tidings are these of the apostles of the Christ, leading the generous and appreciative instincts of men aright! Our hopes and prayers, our trusts and appeals, are turned to Him from whom all heroes have their nobility, and in Him all we also may live and move and have a grander being. Our life is in the living God, and the gospel has not done its perfect work until the trust of the soul is drawn up away from all things lower and temporal, and fixed upon Him whom to know is life eternal. Then in our own kind and way we shall have heroes also. II. A living providence as against the worship of natural forces. Who shall say that this is aimed but at the superstition of a barbaric age, and that there is no such heathenism now? Heathenism is ignorance. Anciently it was an ignorance by reason of the clearer truth having been not yet proclaimed. Today it is an ignorance through rejection of the message of the Most High. The older heathenism is the nobler of these two. But better, happier than either, the glory of the gospel which points to the living God, who is the careful, loving Providence of all His children. To know this is to fear no evil; it is to live in the house of the Lord continually. III. A living God of righteousness and true command, as against self-will. Who shall tell us what is right and good? Man’ s own reason and instinct, the agreement of society. Thus speaks heathenism, and its morality has been a disastrous failure. The nations who have walked, and still walk, in their own ways, are not the benefactors of the world. The gospel says national interests lie in the path of national duty. Selfishness is never right. Violence carries its own death sentence. A man is too wayward to guide his life in safety, too weak, too changeful to be left to fashion his own destiny. Thank God for the word He has spoken and the doings of His activity; good unto all, even to the unthankful and evil. The very heart of the glad tidings is the fact of a personal, living Lord. Not a force, not a general drift of things, but a Father, who is eager to redeem His children unto Himself. (D. Jones Hamer.)The pastoral office I. Its true spirit. The minister of Christ is a man of “ like passions” with his hearers, and his success depends on his establishing a sense of oneness with them. This is one of Paul’ s grand themes. It behoved Christ “ to be made like unto His brethren.” II. Its perils. Notwithstanding the levelling attacks on it, an undoubted respect for it still exists. In this lies danger. Our people place us on a high pedestal on which we are expected never to stagger. Should we fail in any degree our influence is diminished. If it be enjoined that men should account ministers “ stewards of the mysteries of God,” it is no less plainly declared that “ we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves.” III. Its week. To call men to “ turn from vanities to the living God.”1. No vanity can satisfy the human spirit.2. God is ready to welcome all who turn to Him. (M. B. Hogg, B. A.)The living God.--The living God Is God real? This is the question of the ages. Four philosophers are discussing it together. The first says, “ There is no God.” This is the atheist. The second says, “ I cannot tell, and therefore I do not think about it.” This is the agnostic. The third says, “ I cannot be sure that God is, nor what He is; but I think He is thus and so, and I act upon this supposition.” The fourth says, “ God is: I know Him.” This is the apostle of religion. We have to ask, Which of these four has the facts on his side? In regard to the first, he stands alone, and is in the difficult position of having to prove a positive by negatives. He must sweep the universe from end to end, and show that it is empty, and prove that an effect may exist without a cause. The second and third stand together in theory, though they differ in practice. They both admit the idea of God, but they cannot discover the reality. The second says that he will have nothing to do with it. But the third declares it is so beautiful that he will worship it and make it the guide of his life. Now, in regard to their common view, one thing is clear. It is unreasonable. For if there were no God it would be impossible for us to find traces of Him. But if He is in the universe, there must be evidences of His being and power. We have, therefore, an antecedent probability in favour of the fourth view. I. The world is full of God. He is on every side of you. You touch not His substance, nor see His face, but He is here as really as light, gravity, electricity, though you cannot see them. You know them; they are manifested by their workings. So God is manifested in the world. There are three forms in which this manifestation comes to us. Power, wisdom, beauty.1. Look at these mighty forces which permeate our globe. Do not all these tell us of a living fountain of force? The heathen saw in a lightning flash a thunderbolt hurled by Jupiter. We call it an effect of electricity. But what is electricity but an effluence of an Almighty Will? 2. But consider how wonderfully these forces, and the material substances which they are incessantly changing, are adapted to the production of certain definite and desirable results. No intelligent person can fail to see in the universe that which in any human production we should call wisdom, though on a scale much more vast. How intricate and majestic the combination of forces which keeps the heavens balanced; how skilful and exact the construction of the eye! 3. And then, the beauty of it all! Whence is this derived? If the universe were but a vast machine, what power could it have to touch our spirits? Why should our hearts leap up when we behold a rainbow? It is but the refraction of certain rays of light in certain drops of water. An orchard in the springtime; a field of golden grain in summer, etc., these are but chemical effects, the natural results of the changes of the seasons. Why should they be so lovely? Surely the grain, the fruit, the snow, could have been produced just as well without beauty. Who has informed them with this gracious splendour? God it is whose presence makes the world alive with beauty: He it is whose vision thrills us when we know it not. II. In the moral world we touch Him yet more closely: He reveals Himself to us as a person. Here we stand in another world from that which is known to our senses. Absolutely different from the feelings of wonder or delight at the things which are seen is the sentiment of moral obligation, the distinction between right and wrong, the voluntary movement of the soul under the laws of good and evil. No external force, no law of nature, no command of man can create that which we call duty; and yet it is a reality which we cannot question. Nothing in the universe is more real than this, and in this I touch God. He it is that commands and binds me. He reveals to me this world within the world, and summons me to live aright. The universe is filled with His voice, saying, “ Thou shalt,” and “ Thou shalt not.” But, mark you, there is no constraint laid upon me. My will is free. I can, I must, choose for myself between good and evil. And here is the wonder of it; here is the manifest presence of the living God. For if the moral law were natural and impersonal, it would bind us resistlessly as gravity or electricity. III. We find God in the world as an historical reality. Just as we know the reality of the Persian, or the Grecian, or the Roman empires by their records on stone or parchment, by the traces which they have left in the world, so we know that God is a reality by the records sod results of His dealings with men. If you deny all traces of a supreme Providence, the history of the world becomes an inexplicable fable. How has the race been preserved in numberless perils? how have human industry and knowledge and character been unfolded and developed? how, amid the crash of falling empires and the dust of ruined civilisations, have learning and virtue been kept alive, and the happiness of humanity enlarged century by century; if it be not by the indwelling and in working of an almighty and all-wise Governor? God in history is a reality. And more than this, we have the actual record of His special dealings with men and nations. The Bible is a history of men and of God. Above all, He has shined forth clearly in the person and life of Jesus Christ. This Divine-human Master and Saviour of men is to us the unshaken evidence of the reality of God. When we see Him we see the Father, for He and the Father are one. IV. In the spiritual life, the life of faith and hope and love and prayer, we meet and touch the living God. No mere vision of distempered sleep was that experience of Jacob, by the ford of Jabbok. It was a reality. When the tide of penitence sweeps over the soul, and we are humbled in the dust crying for pardon, have we not felt the touch of His forgiving hand laid upon us in secret? Have we not cast ourselves in faith upon Him whom we see not, as one who leaps into the darkness, and found our Father’ s everlasting arms embracing, bearing us up? (H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.)Which made heaven and earth. God in Nature as-- I. The Almighty Creator (verse 15). II. The Holy Governor (verse 16). III. The Gracious Preserver (verse 17). (K. Gerok.)God known by His works It is said of the great Galileo--who had been accused of infidelity, because he asserted that the earth went round the sun, in apparent contradiction to the language of Scripture--that when questioned by the Roman Inquisition as to his belief in God, he pointed to a straw lying on the floor of his dungeon, and said to his accusers, that from the structure of even so insignificant an object as that, he could infer the existence of an intelligent Creator. The book of revelation and of nature There are two books whence I collect my divinity besides that written one of God, another of His servant, Nature--that universal and public manuscript that lies exposed to the eyes of all. Those who never saw Him in one have discovered Him in the other. Surely the heathens knew better how to read and join these mystical letters than we Christians, who cast a more careless eye on these common hieroglyphics, and disdain to suck divinity from the flowers of nature. (Sir T. Browne.)Natural religion, its uses and defects I. God may be known by the light of nature (Romans 1:19-20).1. His existence; for it is certain that nothing could make itself, but must have been made by someone. Who but God made the worlds? 2. What He is, viz., that He is a Spirit, perfect in wisdom and power. 3. His absolute dominion over all things (Genesis 14:19), and His right to dispose of all things as He pleases (Romans 9:20). 4. That though He is the absolute and natural Lord of all things that He has made, yet He is pleased to deal with His rational creatures in a way of moral government, and will reward them according to their works. Conscience may discover so much of the natural law and will of God as a righteous Governor if it be properly and wisely employed (Romans 2:14-15). 5. That He is a universal Benefactor to mankind, even above and beyond their deserts, and notwithstanding all their provocations. The text declares this. II. What are the various uses of this knowledge of God, which is attainable by the light of nature?1. To convince men of sin against the law of God, and to lay all mankind under a sense of guilt and self-condemnation. The Apostle Paul begins with this doctrine in the first chapter of Romans. 2. As it is designed to awaken men to the practice of their duty, so it has had some influence on mankind, at least by the fear of punishment, to keep, preserve, and restrain part of them from the extremest degrees of wickedness. Where there has been nothing of this knowledge, mankind have almost lost their superior rank among the creatures, and degenerated into a brutal nature. 3. It gives some encouragement to guilty creatures to repent of their sins, and to return to God by a general hope of acceptance, though they had no promise of pardoning grace. And this was the very principle upon which some of the better sort of the Gentiles set themselves to practise virtue, to worship God and endeavour to become like Him. 4. It serves to vindicate the conduct of God as a righteous Governor in His severe dealings with obstinate and wilful sinners both here and hereafter. This will leave them without excuse in the great day when God shall judge the secrets of all hearts. Their own consciences will accuse them and bear witness against them (Romans 1:20-21; Romans 2:15; Romans 3:5-6). 5. It prepares the way for preaching and receiving the gospel of His grace. St. Paul (Acts 17:22, etc.), by discoursing first on natural religion comes at last to awaken men to repentance, and preaches Jesus with the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment (verse 31). III. What are the defects or imperfections of it?1. It is but a small portion of the things of God which the bulk of mankind can generally be supposed to learn merely by their own reasonings. The bulk of mankind, even in the learned nations, did actually know but little of the true God, or of their duty towards Him, or the way of obtaining future happiness. 2. The light of nature, even in those things which it did teach the heathen world, is but dim and feeble, and leaves mankind under many doubts and uncertainties in matters of considerable importance (Acts 17:27). “ The world by wisdom knew not God.” 3. All the knowledge of God which they arrived at by the light of nature had actually but little influence to reform the hearts or the lives of mankind (verse 16). See the iniquities numbered up in a large and detestable catalogue (Romans 1:1-32.). 4. This knowledge of God by the light of nature doth rather serve to show men their sin and misery than discover any effectual relief; and in this respect it comes infinitely short of what the revelation of the gospel of Christ hath done. Reflections:1. Since the rational knowledge of God and natural religion has its proper uses, and especially to lay a foundation for our receiving the gospel of Christ let it not be despised. There may be some necessary occasions for our recourse to it in a day of temptation, when our faith of the gospel may be tried and shaken. 2. Since this knowledge of God, which is attainable by the light of nature has so many defects, let us never venture to rest in it. 3. Since the nations which have only the light of nature are forced to feel out their way to God through such dusky glimmerings, let us bless the Lord that we are born in a land where the Book of Grace lies open before us, as well as the book of nature, to teach us the knowledge of God and His salvation. (I. Watts, D. D.)Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness.-- Witnesses for God I. The text in its immediate bearing--that God hath a “ witness” of Himself.1. In His visible creation. “ Which made heaven and earth,” etc. Look at nature, composed of an endless diversity of organised substances. Examine these, and you will see that each part is admirably adapted to its particular end. The design indicates a designer. The universe could no more make itself, than a watch could make itself. Intelligence is equally visible in the contrivance by which the minutest creature puts out its smallest antennae to the warm sun, as in the very movements of the solar system. God “ left not Himself without a witness” also of tits power; that evidences itself in carrying on the influence under which each thing severally performs its own functions. 2. In His providence. To wisdom and power He has superadded goodness. The great end in view is a benevolent end. The Creator is the Governor. He appointed certain seasons for the benefit of man; and this the apostles referred to. And this too amidst human unworthiness, superstitions, and idolatries. Justly had He swept away a rebellious people; but goodness withheld the sword, and it only pierced the cloud to let down fatness upon their heads. In the midst of wrath He “ remembers mercy.” Amidst the wonders of the visible creation are not many of you living “ without God in the world” ? Ask this yourselves; and ask, in all your unworthiness, in all your proneness to idolatry, if aught can restrain the Divine and righteous indignation but the Divine goodness. II. The text under its more amplified consideration. God has other “ witnesses.”1. The Bible--a standing exposition of His will, record of His laws, exhibition of His perfections; containing His judgments against sin; presenting His remonstrance against offending man. But the Bible--pregnant with the great scheme of human redemption; unfolding His new covenant; rich in promises to “ all who call upon Him.” The Bible is the grandest, the most magnificent monument of the love of God. 2. The Church. God has never been without a band of holy men upon the earth. They have been its salt to preserve it from a universal putrefaction. It is as old as Abel’ s day. It lived in the forms of patriarchal life. And from the time of Christ, amidst all the malice of the wicked, and the assaults and conspiracies of hell itself, its existence shall continue until the Church militant becomes the Church triumphant. God, in the foundations of His Church, in its appointed ordinances, in the burden of its devoted preachers, in the conversion, the blessed experience of its members, has a witness upon earth. 3. The Holy Spirit. He is a “ witness” of God whom believers have within them, in an experimental knowledge of the truths and comforts from God, where all before was the utter darkness of ignorance and the barrenness of perished hopes. 4. The reason of man. This, in its healthy exercise, when it is unwarped by prejudice, makes certain discoveries of God in the moral relations which His character bears to us; and out of which great responsibilities grow. Reason, that in admitting His claims, draws an inference of the guilt of man in not fulfilling them; but whereby man, in His own eyes, becomes obnoxious to punishment, is a “ witness” of God. 5. Conscience. If by its fears and its pains, painting a judgment to come, a man is restless and perturbed, there is in it surely a witnessing for God in the verity of His Word, “ Be sure your sin shall find you out.” 6. Believers are the witnesses of His faithfulness, of His power, of His love. (T. J. Judkin.)God’ s witnesses It has been perhaps too much the fashion to leave out this topic from our teaching. The Christian minister’ s one business is to preach Christ. But is he therefore bound to narrow his teaching to some one or two of Christ’ s doctrines? I do not find our Lord Himself, nor His apostles, refusing the topics of what is called the religion of nature. These things are the avenues of the gospel. I. God’ s witnesses.1. Paul says distinctly that nature is God’ s witness (Romans 1:20). Men may argue themselves out of anything: and so they may argue themselves out of the belief that this fair world, with its bright lights and its fruitful seasons, its ordinances of day and night, of life given and life replenished, is a proof of a personal Creator. But we can heartily echo the wise saying, “ Nature could no more have made me, than fashion could have made the coat I wear.” 2. And Providence too is God’ s witness. We can say with perfect confidence to any young man whose course in life is still undecided for good or evil, there is no doubt that that power, whatever it be, which presides over the course of the world is a power which loves righteousness and hates iniquity. If you live morally and religiously you will live, on the whole, happily. Act as if there were no God, and you will live to curse the day when you first gave way to temptation. Somehow or other human life is so ordered that in the long run it is well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. 3. And who shall deny that God has a witness also in the human conscience? What is this strange thing within me which presumes to sit in judgment upon myself? this thing which certainly I did not place there, and which however I may disregard and disobey I cannot wholly dethrone, but something through which God still communicates with me still threatens, punishes? These elementary evidences are too much left out or slurred over in our modern teaching. And they lie under all that is more distinctively Christian. It is only a man with a conscience to whom Christ can call. It is only a man whom Nature has instructed and Providence has disciplined who can feel the mercy of a gospel or see any beauty in a Saviour that he should desire Him. My brethren, have we all learned these elementary lessons? For these also, like the gospel, may be first disregarded and at last denied. And then, with them, goes all else; all living sense of responsibility, all godly fear, all quickening and sustaining hope. 4. Nor has God left Himself without a witness to you. You did not bring yourselves into being, nor can you preserve for one day, by any choice or any providence of your own, the very spark and seed of life. And as the gift, and the continuance, of being, so also the things which have befallen you; sickness and health, sorrow and joy, failure and success, danger and deliverance, neglect and love have been rather ordered for you than chosen by you. And not only so; but something within tells you how tenderly and how forbearingly you have been dealt with; that you have not been forgotten in trouble, nor let alone ill sin, nor rewarded entirely according to your wickedness: the lot assigned you has been even more medicinal than penal, and yet more evidently considerate and personal than either. These things your better self confesses to you; and the experience of life has been to you God’ s witness. II. To what? To His own being and character. To the fact that there is a God, and that He is this and not that; a God of truth, not of falsehood; a God of holiness, not of evil; a God of love, not of hatred. You remember how often these words close a paragraph of the Old Testament prophecies; “ And ye shall know that I am the Lord.” Even so it is with those evidences of which we have spoken. They are to make God known to man. And for what purpose? As a point of theory or of doctrine? As a display of Divine greatness to end with itself? Not so: but for this end which is worthy of God; “ This is life eternal, that they might know Thee.” “ That by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature,” etc. This knowledge can be communicated only through Jesus Christ; only by the Holy Spirit of God working in man’ s heart as the Spirit of the Eternal Father and of the Eternal Son. (Dean Vaughan.)The beneficence of God, manifested in fruitful seasons, a witness for God God never wrought a miracle to confute an atheist, because His ordinary works are sufficient. Yet many move among the works of God, without acknowledging their Divine Author. How useful to all such might be the serious study of our text. Consider-- I. The beneficence of God. This is too copious a thing to speak of as it deserves. Its origin is in past eternity; it extends throughout eternity to come. Think of a Being, all-perfect, all-powerful, all-wise, employing His mighty energies in perpetually doing good. What an immense amount of happiness He must be continually diffusing! It is true, God has other attributes, some of sterner aspect. He is the moral Governor of mankind; bound to punish all iniquity. And visitations of the Divine wrath against sin are no proofs against the Divine beneficence. It is also true that God’ s own people, who now love Him, do also suffer; but our very sufferings are sent in beneficence. They come with a message of our Father’ s love; they are softened by His kind pity; they do us good while they stay; they leave a fragrant remembrance when they go. II. Its manifestation in “ fruitful seasons.”1. God “ gave us rain from heaven.” So Jeremiah: “ Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain?” So, too, Zechariah: “ Ask ye of the Lord rain … for the idols have spoken vanity.” The rain coming in its season, is the gift of God. In giving rain God uses means; vapours, being exhaled from the sea and the surface of the earth, gather into clouds, and clouds being condensed by cold descend in showers; but who gave these laws to Nature? Is Nature God? Is she not rather a handmaid to Deity? Philosophers often stop at the second causes; and having shown how certain causes produce certain effects, seem reluctant to say who is the cause of these causes. Not so the apostle. “ He gave us rain from heaven.” Their danger was, to attribute to idols what was the gift of God. There is a danger now of making second causes idols. “ Behold,” says Elihu, “ He maketh small the drops of water,” etc. Think what the earth would become if God were to withhold the rain in its season. 2. God gives the rain, and the rain helps to make the fruitful seasons; but God is their true Author. He created the earth with its properties suited to vegetation; He made the plants; He has preserved their succession; He “ giveth seed to the sower.” The very strength and skill of the cultivator of the soil are from Him. And thus “ He gives us fruitful seasons.” Some, indeed, more so than others; but this is, that our dependence may be felt, our obligations owned, our prayers and our praises called forth. Take the seasons altogether through a considerable series of years; do we not find that fruitfulness is their general characteristic, unfruitfulness the exception?--while the Divine goodness is continually manifested both in giving and withholding, the very harshness in the latter case being meant as a salutary chastening. III. The witness for God which is manifested beneficence bears in all countries.1. Although “ in times past God suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, He left not Himself without witness.” The “ rain” was His “ witness” ; all its showers testified of His power, His providence, and His beneficence. “ Fruitful seasons” were His “ witnesses” ; the spring with its opening buds, the summer with its chaplets of flowers, autumn with its golden sheaves, the very winter with its well-stored fruits, all testified of God in the ears of nations, too often unheeding the voice from heaven and bent on their own ungodliness. How clear is Scripture in showing the inexcusableness of heathenism and idolatry! 2. Now surely, if the beneficence of God in “ giving rain and fruitful seasons” was a witness for God to heathens, it is so also to us. To how many careless, thoughtless and ungrateful people, even in Christian lands, are the “ fruitful seasons” a witness for God, leaving them without excuse! (J. Hambleton, M. A.)Man must have some religion Lord Chesterfield, being in Brussels on one occasion, supped with Voltaire and a Madame C., his disciple. “ I think,” said the lady, “ the British Parliament consists of some five or six hundred members, the best informed and sensible men in the kingdom, does it not?” “ It is so supposed, madame,” was the formal reply. “ What then,” continued she, “ can be the reason they tolerate so great an absurdity as the Christian religion?” “ I suppose, madame,” said his lordship, “ it is because they have not been able to substitute anything better in its place; when they can, I doubt not but that in their wisdom they will readily accept it.” Chesterfield, in his sly, ironical reply, went on the assumptions-- I. That some religion men must have. This he shared with the most sagacious men in all ages. It has been inferred--1. From the teachings of the past, as found in history, tradition, and fable. From the beginning to this hour, wherever the foot of man has trod, religion has been found. 2. From the necessity of religion to the well-being of society. All great legislators and statesmen have seen this and acted accordingly; for, as De Tocqueville remarks, “ Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.” 3. From the manifest requirements of the individual. Every man stands in manifest need of religion, and that, however it may be with the living, when men come to die, almost all wish this want were supplied, and regret that they had not before taken measures to supply it. 4. From a consideration of human nature and the elements which compose it. The religious instinct belongs to it as much as any other. This religiousness is no accident: it comes of man’ s weakness and dependence as a finite being; of his intelligence, which looks for and is not satisfied without a first cause, personal and infinitely wise; above all of his conscience. Till this is torn from man’ s breast, he must believe there is a ruler over him in the heavens. II. That if any is nowadays adopted it must be Christianity. The choice is only between Paganism, Mohammedanism, Deism, and Christianity.1. The first may be dismissed at once. When the world, under apostolic teaching, renounced heathenism, it renounced it forever. 2. The claims of Mohammedanism may be disposed of with like despatch. All that is contained in the Koran, which commends itself religiously to our judgment, has been taken from the Bible: the rest is folly and impurity. Bereft of external advantages, there is nothing within to recommend it, either in its origin, history, or spirit. The adoption of such a system by persons brought up under Christian influence is not to be thought of. 3. But what about Deism or natural religion--a system which acknowledges God, but rejects revelation and Christianity. Well, we need a religion which will with authority and certainty instruct us about the nature and character of God, and our relations to Him. We need it to assure us of and guide us to immortality. We need it to help us to bear the burdens of life; to strengthen us in holy living, and to cheer us with bright and well-grounded hope, and make us more than conquerors over death. So much for the individual’ s wants. But for society we further need a religion that will take strong hold on the general mind, and by its own inherent energy, acting through appropriate means on the public conscience, will purify and elevate it, giving us honesty in business, moderation and forbearance in ordinary intercourse, and kindliness and affection in domestic life. Now, can Deism accomplish these purposes for the world? (1) It has never proved its sufficiency by the actual accomplishment of these ends for any community. It lacks power. It has no aggressive energy. It was never the permanent religion of a nation. (2) An actual inspection of the system itself shows that it must needs be so. It is, indeed, not so much a system of unbelief as of unbeliefs. It is destructive, not constructive. Deism comes not with authority: it speaks as the Scribes. It is not the voice of God: it even spurns the idea that God has ever spoken to the race: it is confessedly the voice of man, In the matter of religion man needs the direct interposition of Divine authority. A religion, without such authority, is like a bank note, well engraved it may be, but lacking the proper signature. Further, Deism has no outward standard to which all may resort for information and direction. In all matters touching government (religion is governmental) we need a written constitution. We need it for protection and convenience. In civil and religious matters we want to know our duties and the rights of the government; and we further need to have them recorded where all may find access to them. Without such record we should be at the mercy of our own fickleness, of the crafty assaults of the plausible, of the weakness of the human memory, and of the strength of human passion. But Deism has no sacred book; no standard to walk by. Our conclusion then is, that the high purposes of religion for the world cannot be answered by Deism. 4. Thus has God shut us up to Christianity. God hath not left Himself without witness. By the very nature which He hath given us, the circumstances in which He has placed us, and the facilities which He has supplied to our hand (to say nothing of miracles, and prophecies, and various other historical, moral, and critical proofs), He has plainly and unmistakably shown where truth, interest, and duty lie. As by a voice from heaven He has said of Jesus: “ This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.” “ This is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” (W. Sparrow, D. D.)Revelation to be expected I. Revelation necessary for man.1. To give us more light respecting God. The light of nature shows us that there is one God, who is intelligent, powerful, righteous, good. But what do you find flooding almost the entire world? Polytheism--the belief that there is not simply one God, but many. And not only so; there is not a single instance of a nation rising out of its belief in many gods, and by its own culture attaining to the knowledge of one God. 2. To give us more light in reference to our duty. Some heathen moralists taught much and admirably respecting human duty, but they also taught what was the very reverse. But we have to look not at what one or two have reached through their unaided powers, but at what have been the prevalent views and moral practices of the world. Read the close of the first chapter of Paul’ s Epistle to the Romans. A man will in character take after the being he worships. The heathen gods were immoral. What could you expect, therefore, but to find the people as vile at least as the imaginary beings they worshipped. Nay, immorality of the foulest kind was a part of the worship of the gods. Both Cicero and Cato throw their apologetic mantle over the grossest vices. 3. To give us more light on human destiny. Taking the light of nature alone, there is good ground for the conclusion that the soul is immortal, and that sin will not go unpunished. But philosophers, who reasoned well of a future state, lost faith in their own conclusions. And then how dim and shadowy the notions of the future world! The druids believed in something like the transmigration of souls. The Scandinavians had their Flame world and their Mist world, and their Valhalla for the brave, and their Hellheim for the coward. The Greeks and Romans had their Tartarus and their Elysium. 4. To give us new power. We not only need more power than nature gives, but more power than nature has. The heathen moralists knew a great deal more than they practised. Whatever their amount of light, they never acted up to it, and had no power to act up to it. What was also needed was a new passion. Suppose, as some have averred, that you can extract a perfect code of morals from heathen teachers, there is one thing you cannot do, and that is make men love it. Kindle in the heart such a flame of love as burned in the heart of Paul, and then you will have done something to establish your position. 5. To give man comfort. Human sorrow is a great subject; and what is the root of our sorrow? It is sin. The conscience is guilty, and hence remorse, anxiety, and fear. Nature spake of God’ s goodness, but when man cried for mercy there was no answer. Nature spake of righteousness, and told him that sin would be punished; but when he asked if there could be no forgiveness, nature was dumb. That man might have peace for his conscience, joy in his grief, and hope in his death, a revelation from God was needed assuring him that there is forgiveness with Him. II. Revelation likely for gun. The grounds of this hope are--1. The constitution of the human race. Humanity has descended from a single pair, and is continuing to multiply. The population of the globe is over 1,200,000,000, add to this the millions that have died, and the question raised is: Is it likely that God would have made man to multiply, if He had had no intention of counteracting in some way the ruin of his sin? I hardly think it, and therefore I see here something which begets the hope of a revelation. 2. The struggle which we see everywhere between good and evil. Sin certainly has the mastery, but it is not a mastery which is unchallenged. Now, if man had been abandoned of God, I can hardly think we should have had this struggle. Nay, more, look at the world, and say if it seems made for a race of beings who are as certainly given over to extinction. Is this not a world in which there is much goodness? “ Thou hast sinned, but hope still; these are the two sayings that predominate in the vast murmur of nature.” 3. The fatherly relationship of God to man. This idea is certainly one which obtains full recognition only in Christ, but wherever God has been acknowledged, He has been understood and worshipped as a Father. Now, we know what an earthly father’ s feelings are. Can we suppose that they are less strong and less tender in God? Now look at man’ s necessities on the one hand, and God’ s fatherly compassion on the other, and then say if it is likely that God would make no revelation of Himself, and give no relief. Rain from heaven.--Rain a Divine blessing Rain indicates sovereign power and goodness--“ it tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.” In seasons of eastern drought, when the earth is parched, when “ the field is wasted, and the land mourneth, and the new wine is dried up,” when the dread of hunger appalls everyone, and even the dumb brutes are looking up to heaven in stupid despair; then it is felt that man cannot help himself, that he must only wait and long and pray till the clouds begin to gather, for he is conscious of being wholly in the power of a higher Will. Day after day passes, and the sun looks down on burnt pasture, dry channels, and a cracked and dusty soil. At evening there are hopeful symptoms, but they are vanished before the morning. The heavens are anxiously scanned if the smallest speck may be discovered, and the imagination often creates it. It is hoped that the wind may veer, and every breath excites, and then belies such an expectation. Spirit and energy are gone--“ dimness of anguish” is seen on every countenance. Men dream of floods, and waken to more disappointment. They can do nothing, and devise nothing, to better themselves, No wonder, then, that the giving of rain was associated with Divinity. It is pointedly asked in a Greek drama, when the existence of Jupiter is denied--“ And who then giveth rain?” as if this were proof beyond all doubt. In Southern Africa, where the idea of God is nearly effaced, there is still a belief in a Supreme Power, whose awful prerogative is, not to create men or govern them, but simply to give rain--a gift which is felt to be so necessary, and withal is conferred or withheld in such precarious and variable times and quantities; the dreaded Deity is He who brings them what they so much want, and on the gift of which they can never count--He is the rainmaker. Nay, in that dry upland region of Lycaonia water was often scarce; the heaven as iron, and the earth as brass, and water fetched up from deep wells was so precious as to be sold for money. It was with peculiar point, therefore, that the apostle turned his audience to God--who is doing good--giving rain from heaven. (J. Eadie, D. D.)Fruitful seasons.--Fruitful seasons are I. The gift of God. “ He gave,” “ He fills.” Among the numerous scenes of beauty with which the world is furnished, there are few more calculated to delight the eye and heart than a rich autumnal prospect. It is delightful to allow the mind to rest on a wide extent of country whose plains are richly covered with waving fields of corn, and the mountains clothed with verdant pasturage, or overshadowed by the stately forest. It is delightful to reflect what a prodigious amount of enjoyment is prepared for sensitive and rational beings by the fruits of the earth arriving and arrived at maturity. It is natural to put the question, Whence originates so rich a scene?1. Man is a proud, vain creature, and he is very apt to take the credit of almost everything to himself. Even in what is the production of human ingenuity and industry, man has but little to boast; it is merely the result of powers, which God bestowed on him, on materials bestowed by God. But there is seen less to nourish pride when contemplating the riches of harvest. Man has been at work, but human ingenuity and labour have done but little in producing the results. Man can plant and water, but man cannot give the increase. He cannot cause it to rain on the earth, to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. 2. But it may be said that it is to be traced to the eternal laws of nature, to the independent qualities and powers of matter. It is not very easy to attach meaning to these phrases; we question their existence altogether if they mean anything more or less than a name for the ordinary way in which the great Supreme Agent has been accustomed to manifest His wisdom and power in producing certain effects. And if we were to admit the existence of “ the eternal laws of nature,” or “ the independent qualities and powers of matter,” they could not satisfactorily account for the result; for surely they must operate always precisely in the same way, It the productions of the earth are to be attributed to them, we should naturally expect that all seasons would be alike. Nothing is more self-evident than that what is in itself inert can act only as it is acted upon. And it is a principle of our nature which we cannot resist, that whenever we perceive an end steadily prosecuted, and means employed in order to gain that end, there has been the operation of a superintending being--there has been intelligence at work. The language of the Bible is the language of sound philosophy. “ Thou visitest the earth and waterest it,” etc. II. A witness of God to men. When God gives us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, He gives us a testimony with regard to--1. His existence. We reason from the effects to a cause. There is no way of accounting for the regular motion of the earth, but by admitting that there does exist such a Being, infinitely wise, powerful, and good, as the Being whom we describe by the name of God. 2. His power. All the created powers in the universe cannot produce the humblest weed that grows in our fields. If we allow our minds to reflect on what is necessary, in order to the production of a fertile harvest, we shall be struck with amazement at the display of the power of God. Think of what is exhaled in the shape of vapour from seas, and rivers, and lakes, in every part of the earth--taken into the upper regions of the atmosphere, and there condensed, and sent down on the earth in the shape of dew and of rain--insinuating itself into the soil, making the seeds that are imbedded there to expand and grow upward. Thus God brings forth the various fruits of the earth to maturity, and furnishes abundance of food for man and beast. 3. His wisdom. How wonderfully does God adapt different soils to different grains--different grains to the constitutions of different animals! How wonderfully does He regulate the various degrees of heat, and cold, and moisture, so as to gain the great end of producing abundance of salutary food for His prodigious family of sensible and irrational beings. “ How wonderful are Thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast Thou made them all.” 4. His goodness. Think what a quantity of suffering is prevented by an abundant harvest. What mind can form any conception of the horrors produced by a single season failing? And there is also the communication of an incalculable measure of happiness. No mind can form any conception of the degree of enjoyment that is produced through the world in consequence of the bounties of harvest. 5. His sovereignty. Every season is not a fruitful season; and the same seasons are not equally fruitful in every district of the same country, or in different countries. The same God, who, when He causes it to rain on one land, withholds rain from another--punishes one part of the world with scarcity, whilst He blesses another with plenty. It is the voice of God proclaiming, “ Be still, and know that I am God: have not I a right to do what I will with My own? None shall stay My arm; and none dare say to Me, What doest Thou?” 6. His patience. The pensioners upon the Divine bounty are rebels against it. Surely, though God be not slack concerning His threatenings, as some men count slackness, He is long suffering, not willing that any should perish. Oh, how hardened are men’ s hearts not to feel the force of this appeal. (J. Brown, D. D.)The witness of harvest We are met to acknowledge the goodness of God in giving us the fruits of the earth in their season. It is a supreme function of the Church to idealise common things, to give a religious interpretation to all the great interests and occasions of our earthly life, and by means of prayer and praise, silent meditation and spoken discourse, to make men and women more truly and deeply conscious of the Eternal Presence and Care. The harvest is really an occasion which has a direct relation to all our lives. For us the sun shines and the rain falls, and the order of creation keeps its unbroken course, and the miracle of growth and fruition is yearly wrought. Agriculture is not only the oldest but the most fundamental of all human industries. Our whole social order rests upon it, and all our interests and activities are affected by it. We live by bread, though not by bread alone. Our daily bread is the material basis of all our higher functions and energies--trade and politics, science and art, law and poetry, religion and philanthropy.1. A harvest thanksgiving service is helpful to us by making us include what are called the works of nature in our devout meditations. There are not a few religious people upon whom the manifestations of power and wisdom, of beauty and goodness in the natural order of the world are in a great part thrown away. In his diary of his travels on the Continent the saintly Fletcher laments the delight he took in the beauty of the Rhine as an evidence of his worldliness, and the type of religionists which he represented is far from being extinct. We need not judge them; only we have a right to turn to the book of Job, to the Psalms, and the parables of Jesus to prove that the highest order of the religious mind is that which is most alive to the spiritual significance of material things. By the whole-souled religious man nothing natural is treated with indifference. Every instance of beneficent order and ministry deepens his sense of the Divine wisdom and goodness. The moving life of nature is a parable of the higher life. 2. A harvest thanksgiving service is a distinct and beautiful confession of God as the living God, in whom we and all creatures and things live and move and have our being. Anything that helps to quicken and deepen this confidence is of real use when there is a spirit abroad in the world which would wither and destroy it. Physical science is in the ascendant, and the language of the ancient Scriptures which represents God as the living God, the living Spirit of thought, order, power, beauty, and goodness that pervadeth all things, does not appeal to us as it once did. The danger to faith is not in results and theories, but in the excessive and exclusive concentration of men’ s minds on the material side of things; in such an absorbing attention to one class of facts that other facts of transcendent importance are slighted or ignored. Indeed, all the great results of our latter-day knowledge instead of making the world less divine make it more divine, and if their significance was by us truly realised, then, instead of being set forth in abstract propositions and mathematical signs they would be expressed in poetry and set to music. The gains of science, instead of being the losses of faith, only enlarge, make more wonderful and glorious, the temple in which God is seen and worshipped. But there is another form of modern thought which some seem to think strikes at the root of the faith which gives meaning to this service, and is simply fatal to the spirit of thanksgiving to God. It is a human Providence, we are told, which makes us what we are and gives us what we have, and if we are to give praise and glory to anyone for the things which make the world beautiful, and human life fair and good and worth living, let it be to humanity, to the men in past and present times through whose thought and labour and sacrifice this hard, unfriendly earth has been subdued, and discoveries and inventions have been made, and all the things which are covered and expressed by the word “ civilisation” have been won. It is little or nothing that any deity outside humanity does or has done for us; let us be grateful to mankind. Yes, grateful to mankind we ought to be; but must our gratitude end there, and the sacrifice of our thanksgiving be only for human altars? Nay! After we have done all that is meet and right in the way of expressing our gratitude to the human race and to individual members of the race, we still have left in our hearts an immense fund of gratitude which can only spend itself on one object, one Being, one God, the Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all. The earth, God has given to the children of men, and like all God’ s best gifts we have to work for it in order to win it. And whence the power to work? In the last and final analysis we must ascribe all to God, confess the human providence to be after all the Divine Providence, and bow down before the Deity who not only transcends but is immanent in His creation and in His children, the ultimate and everlasting Source of all. 3. A harvest thanksgiving service is a recognition of the Divine presence in the regular courses and ordinary processes of nature. Among men from age to age the extraordinary phenomena have been regarded as most Divine. “ If the sun were to rise but once,” says Bishop Hall, “ we should all be ready to turn Persians and worship it, but because we see it rising and setting every day no man regardeth it.” Like the Jews of old, unless we see signs and wonders we will not believe. But to the devout and deep-seeing man the whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord, its sights and sounds a constant and continuous revelation of the living God; and for him to be impressed with the thought, “ Surely God is here,” things do not need to be invested with scarlet robes. The daily dawn, the depths of the midnight sky, the spring flowers breaking from the earth, the loveliness of June, the golden glories of the autumn, the outspread snow, are to the wise man none the less wonderful because they are familiar. 4. A harvest thanksgiving may also remind us that in our sowing and reaping, in our buying and selling, and in all our material interests and concerns we have to do with God. What atheism worse than that which excludes God from the world of daily life, which gives us practically a world without God except so far as the Church is concerned, which conceives the Lord of heaven and earth to be only interested in ecclesiastical assemblies and conferences, in missionary and evangelistic schemes, and societies for converting Jews, and such like things! We need to be reminded again and again that there is but one God, one law, one life, that the kingdom of God ruleth over all, over our cornfields as well as over our mission fields, over our shops as well as over our churches, over our domestic and business relations as well as over our holy orders and our ecclesiastical connections, over farmers, tradesmen, bankers, architects, lawyers, clerks, artisans as well as over bishops and curates, Scripture readers and travelling evangelists. Until we believe this and act upon the belief, the life that now is will never be what God meant it to be, and what it ought to be--a Divine discipline and service, holy throughout unto the Lord. 5. A harvest thanksgiving service reminds us in a very vivid and impressive way of the ever-old and ever-new fact of the Divine goodness. There are three aspects of the Divine goodness which the harvest more especially puts before us: first of all its free character. Its bounty is God’ s flee gift. Though we must work with God to get the Divine blessing out of many things, for we are not God’ s paupers but His children, yet from the help we get from the daisy at our feet to the unspeakable help that comes from the Christ dying on the Cross, it is all in a most real and profound sense the free gift of God. Then, secondly, harvest speaks to us of the universal character of the Divine goodness. The ungodly man who obeys faithfully the natural conditions which are but another name for the Divine order and will, succeeds as well as the godly man, even better, if the godly man is ignorant, indolent, and careless. God is good, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Then, again, harvest speaks to us of the constancy of the Divine goodness. While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness! Thanksgiving is born of a reasonable spiritual confidence in the Divine goodness. The mystery and sublimity of the universe may excite wonder and awe, but only the sense of the essential goodness of the universe can awaken and nourish gratitude. Gratitude in its highest sense and noblest quality is only possible to the man whose religious faith enables him to trust the world and life as meaning good to him and to all men. But how is gratitude to be shown? Only let gratitude be felt, and it cannot help showing itself. Words of thanksgiving are good when they are sincere, and expression develops and strengthens the inward feeling. But words are not the only form of self-expression, nor the highest. And how displeasing to God must be some kinds of thanksgiving--empty words, or the thanksgiving of successful wickedness, of men whose good things have been got by cheating and lying, by unjust and unbrotherly competition, and by grinding the faces of the poor! The praise God likes best is the praise of the life. Not in words only, but in acts of sympathy and loving kindness, in love giving itself in service to mankind, in lives consecrated to truth and goodness, to duty and charity, let our souls ascend now and always in thankfulness to God. (John Hunter.)The witness of the harvest Nothing is more worthy of note in St. Paul’ s methods than the care which he always took to adapt himself to the varying conditions and characters of those amongst whom he laboured. This statement concerning his mode of work is amply borne out by the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles. His theme was always the same, but his method of presenting that theme was constantly changing with his change of place and circumstances. He had but one gospel to preach--the gospel of Christ crucified; but he preached that gospel with an ever-varying accent and with great manifoldness of expression. At Athens he found his text not in Jewish lore, but in the altars of their gods, and in that literature of which every Greek was lawfully proud. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 14:19-28 And there came thither certain Jews … Who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city.The fickleness of the Lystrians It would not be difficult to find a parallel to this among modern converts, and it is easy to account for it. The Jews would be ready with another interpretation of the miracle. They would say that it had been accomplished, not by Divine agency, but by some diabolical magic, as once they had said at Jerusalem (Matthew 12:24). The Lystrians, whose own interpretation had been disavowed by the apostles, would readily adopt the new theory suggested by those who appeared to be well acquainted with the strangers. Their feelings changed, with a revulsion as violent as that which afterwards overtook the barbarians of Malta, who first thought Paul a murderer and then a god. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)Fickleness of the populace One of the most curious stones in the world is found in Finland, where it occurs in many places. It is a natural barometer and actually foretells probable changes in the weather. It is called “ semakuir,” and turns black shortly before an approaching rain, while in fine weather it is mottled with spots of white. For a long time this curious phenomenon was a mystery, but an analysis of the stone shows it to be a fossil mixed with clay and containing a portion of rock salt and nitre. This fact being known, the explanation was easy. The salt, absorbing the moisture, turned black when the conditions were favourable for rain, while the dryness of the atmosphere brought out the salt from the interior of the stone in white spots on the surface. How many men are like these rocks, variable and changeful according to their surroundings. At one moment they will applaud a certain person, or course Of action, but when their enthusiasm cools down they will seek to destroy the one they had previously exalted. It was so in the days of our Lord and the apostles, and is so still (Acts 14:11-19). The stoning of Paul 1. Stones are the answer of those who have no arguments. 2. Those who have no arguments are wont to try to inflame the passions of the people. 3. When God has a great work for a man to do, his enemies cannot take his life. 4. When a true servant of God is made to suffer in one city, he will not cease to work, but will go on to the next. 5. When a true servant of God is made to suffer, he will intermit his work as little as possible. “ On the morrow,” if he can, he will take it up again. (S. S. Times.)Stoning the gods (text and 2 Corinthians 11:25):--That is no ordinary heap of stones. See, there is blood on it, the blood of one of earth’ s best sons. Only a dozen years between the man who held the clothes of Stephen’ s murderers and the martyr Paul, for he was a martyr then in intention, and for anything we know he literally died for the truth, For he tells us, “ Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell.” Persecutors may become helpers. The pirate may yet carry lawful cargo. Do you wish it were so? Then haul down your ensign and run up the white flag and red cross. Cease to do evil, learn to do well. “ Sermons in stones.” Yes, there are many homilies in such a blood-stained stone heap as this. I. The way the world uses its benefactors. Stone the man who healed the cripple! That is the way we always do. Does not the world often starve its geniuses? Who expects wealth for an inventor? The history of poets and painters tells us of hunger and nakedness. Some of the books that live were written in garrets and cells. Don’ t expect gratitude if you are doing good. You will be better off than God if you get thanks for kindness. Look at the Cross. II. Bigotry brutalises ignorance. “ Certain Jews persuaded the people.” You have the history of persecution epitomised in that nineteenth verse. The priests have pulled the strings before today, and are trying to get hold of them now. Let us beware of ignorance. Education has always been the foe of priestcraft. But let us not content ourselves with our children learning everything but the Word of God. Popery has no chance so long as the Bible is understood by the people. Do not fear new ideas. There will be quite enough to throw stones at the man with a new idea without your throwing one. If a man loves God he has been promised “ a crown of life,” and you will not like, should you see him crowned, to think of the time when you threw a stone at his head! Religion will not save you from bigotry; there are no bigots like religious ones. Let us learn to tolerate the man who loves God, seeing that we shall have to live with him forever. III. Persecution is limited in its results. “ Once was I stoned.” Paul lived twenty years after this, but never was stoned again. The enemy had tried to do it before, but was not able. I was stoned, not killed; at least, though left for dead, I rose up and came into the city. The foes of God may beat out our brains, but they cannot kill the truth. Paul did not give up the work to which he was called because he had to suffer. No, brave little man. He comes into Lystra again. Here was good for evil. Mark how the Christian hero makes his very sufferings useful, telling the Church, and every scar illustrated the truth that “ we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” By and by he visited Lystra again, and found fruit remaining. How true it is that the blood of the martyr is the seed of the Church. Such men as Timothy are cheap at such a price. Let us trust God, even when we are hurt in doing good; out of our wounds there may flow that which shall heal many. (T. Champness.)The next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.-- From Derbe to Antioch I. The apostles’ work on the way shows that duty in them was superior--(1) To fear. They pass through the scenes where they had endangered their lives. “ They counted not their lives dear unto them.” (2) To convenience. They could have reached Antioch much easier and sooner. Their work was-- 1. Indoctrinating. The apostles confirmed them in the faith-- (1) By urging duty. They had embraced the faith, and there were strong influences tending to loosen their interest in it. There is no better way of strengthening our souls in the faith than by continuing our duty in relation to it. Obedience is the best interpreter of doctrine. “ He that doeth the will of God,” etc. (2) By inculcating principle. “ We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God.” The principle is that trial is the condition of true elevation. We must sow in tears to reap in joy. The vine must be pruned to make it fruitful. Heavenly dignities are reached, not as some voyagers reach their haven while sleeping, but as heroes reach their laurels by agony. “ These are they that have come up out of great tribulation,” etc. What a Divine work was theirs! What is the work of the mere sage, hero, politician, artist, compared with the work of making souls strong in all that is true in thought, holy in sympathy, and righteous in purpose. 2. Organising. “ And when they had ordained them elders in every Church.” Because the oldest men are supposed to have the greatest knowledge and experience, the most influential officers in the Church are spoken of as “ elders.” The Churches were young and inexperienced. The apostles, therefore, took from their number some of the most competent to take charge of the Churches in their own absence. 3. Dedicating. “ And had prayed with fasting,” etc. They did not commend them to the officers they had appointed, but to “ the Shepherd and Bishop of souls.” Probably they had no prospect of seeing them again. II. Their work when they reached Antioch (verses 26-28).1. This is the first missionary meeting, and therefore of special interest. (1) The scene was Antioch, and no fact in its history was more important than this. There were many good reasons for holding the meeting here. (a) It was a very populous place, and the meeting was likely to obtain large publicity. The two great sections of the ancient world, Jews and Gentiles, would have an opportunity of knowing something about the triumphs of this new religion. (b) Its wealth, too, would enable it to render support to the good cause. (c) It was, moreover, the place whence the mission had originated (Acts 13:1). (2) The deputation was Paul and Barnabas. These two men were very different. Barnabas does not seem to have had the force and fire of Paul; still, however constitutionally dissimilar, they were morally harmonious. They were missionaries. Missionary meetings should be addressed by missionaries rather than by men who have only long purses or tongues. (3) The audience was the Church. The mission was theirs, they had probably contributed to its support, and they were bound to sustain it. (4) The speeches were narrations. They “ rehearsed all that God had done.” They did not deal in tricks of oratory to wake loud applause. They merely “ rehearsed” --related what they had done; and they had wonderful things to tell. 2. The following things are taught by this first missionary meeting:--That the missionary enterprise-- (1) Is unquestionably right. It is based upon the authority of Christ, and supported by the conduct of the apostles. “ Go into all the world,” etc. (2) Demands our prayers. Paul and Barnabas had been “ recommended to the grace of God” (see also Acts 13:1-3). The true missionary should have the prayers of the Church. (3) It is the cause of the Church. “ They gathered the Church together” ; not any particular officers. It was that which concerned every individual member. (4) Has a history worth relating. These missionaries “ rehearsed all that God had done with them.” We have a short account of their tour (chaps. 13 and 14). There is no history no interesting or valuable as that of the triumphs of the gospel--She strongest arguments for the common origin of the race and the Divinity of Christianity. (5) Is under the special direction of God. This missionary deputation regarded Him as giving access to the Gentiles. “ He had opened the door.” There has been an immense amount of clap trap about this. Men have spoken of war as opening the door for the gospel of peace. Violence must ever shut the door of the heart. The breaking down of the walls of China by military violence, instead of opening a door for the gospel, may only be the building up a barrier. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The close of the first missionary journey 1. The enemy can be as active as the friend; sometimes we think can outdo him in energy. The Jews had no easy work to get to Lystra. They also had to travel the hundred and thirty miles which separated the towns. But what is that when the heart is burning with hatred? 2. Paul was but once stoned, and he never forgot it! “ Once was I stoned.” No man can forget that experience. Those who stoned Stephen lay down their clothes at a young man’ s feet whose name was Saul. The wheel of Providence turns round! There is justice at the very heart of things. 3. They left Paul, “ supposing he had been dead.” Many a time has Christianity been stoned and “ supposed to be dead,” but the error is in the supposition. Whatever is true rises again. It may be thrown down; over it all hell may have a moment’ s laugh--but it finds its feet again! “ Truth is great, and must prevail.” 4. The next day Paul travelled twenty miles with Barnabas to Derbe; and the thought came to them that they would go, step for step, along the road they had come. People do not know you on one visit. Paul and Barnabas, therefore, went back, “ confirming,” etc., with this line added: “ we must through much tribulation,” etc. We cannot copy pathos. We must learn it by life. We may not write our sermons with ink, for then they would be but rhetorical emptiness. We must live them. Paul was suffering when he said those words. There was a subdued sob in the man’ s emphasis as he said this. Strangers might not detect it, but the speaker himself was conscious that a new thread--a golden one--was being run through the web of his eloquence as he exhorted the Christians to accept tribulation, not as a discredit, but as an endorsement. 5. Paul and his colleague came back to Antioch. Into no speech with which I am acquainted is so much meaning condensed as there is in verse 27. Look at it. (1) “ And when they bad gathered the Church together.” How easily we say these words! How much they may possibly involve! The Church did not live on the open street, or in the fine houses. The Church was a scattered people, perhaps often communicating secretly--despised amid the pomp and splendour of the Syrian Antioch. But why not tell the little missionary story on the open thoroughfare to the passers-by? Because it is useless to speak to men in an unknown tongue. Only the Church can understand the speech of the Church. (2) They connected the whole story with God. The statement does not read that Paul put his hand upon his head, and said, “ Oh, what I have suffered for you!” Stoning and hunger and peril and persecution--these things God has done! It is because we do not recognise that fact that we suppose ourselves to be the victims of circumstances and the butt of enemies. It is part of the Divine education. The Lord reigneth. 6. They left one impression upon the Church--how God “ had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” There is no whine in that tone! They were very heroes. Instead of saying, “ The way is very difficult,” they said, “ The door is open.” The stoning was a very little thing when the apostles thought that the Gentile provinces were to be added to the empire of their Lord. 7. Nor was this all. An incident happened not recorded here. Twenty years afterwards Paul wrote a letter to his “ own son in the faith,” and in that letter he said, “ Thou hast fully known my … afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra,” etc.; and in the loving Timothy, who would carry on his own noble work, he found a compensation for the stoning at Lystra. We do not always know what we are doing, but the Master knows, and that is enough. (J. Parker, D. D.)The end of the first missionary journey I. Suffering for the faith. Willingness to suffer for Christ is the highest test of devotion to Him. Persecution soon unmasks hypocrisy, while real piety has a face that appears the more beautiful and saintly.1. The stoning of Paul. Note-- (1) The persistency of the persecution. “ There came Jews thither from Antioch,” over a hundred miles away, “ and Iconium,” near fifty, to carry out the purpose they had failed to execute in their own cities. The hatred of the gospel was as remarkable in the one case as was its power over the hearts of men in the other. (2) The fickleness of popular favour. “ Having persuaded the multitudes.” The multitudes were in a condition easily to be persuaded. Their vanity had been wounded. They had supposed Paul and Barnabas to be gods, and having made a blunder so mortifying, their resentment was natural. Therefore, when these Jews intimated, as probably they did, that the miracle was worked through Beelzebub, the reverence of the people was changed to horror. There is no truth in the apothegm, “ The voice of the people is the voice of God.” (3) The stoning of Paul. Stoning was the sign which marks the deed as the Jews’ . Had Lystra been a Jewish city, they would have scrupulously taken the apostle outside its walls. But here they had no ceremonial punctiliousness. And after the stoning was over, they dragged the supposed lifeless body outside the gates, thus subjecting their victim not only to indignity, but to further injury. His recovery. Observe--(1) The fidelity of the disciples. Their affection for Paul, and their mourning for his death, are hinted at in their gathering around his body. (2) Paul’ s unexpected recovery. Perhaps a miracle here is intimated; but it looks, rather, as though the apostle merely had been stunned. His work was not yet over. God had still greater things for him to do--and to suffer. 3. His departure. Paul was indomitable, He did not lose a day’ s work because of his stoning. Such a witness for Christ is a host in himself. II. Confirming in the faith.1. Preaching the gospel. The missionaries were as eager for souls as ever. The cause that we suffer for becomes the more dear to our hearts. At Derbe the two appear to have met with no opposition. Paul omits it in the list of places where he suffered (2 Timothy 3:11). 2. Confirming the disciples. (1) The return of the apostles. They went back to the very places out of which they had been driven. They could have gone a nearer way, but duty called them again to face danger, and they obeyed the call. (2) Their work. They devoted themselves to the upbuilding of the disciples they had won. In this they set a lesson for the Church of today. They confirmed the converts, first, by exhortation. Such exhortations on the part of those established in the faith do young converts good. Second, by warning. “ That through many tribulations,” etc. The apostles did not represent the Christian life as a bed of thornless roses. Their words were emphasized by the marks of Paul’ s recent experience. Men make the best soldiers who enlist expecting to face great dangers. 3. Organising the churches. In their up journey, a body of believers had been gathered in each place. On their way down, the apostles “ appointed for them elders,” giving them a form of organisation apparently much like that of the synagogue. The object seems to have been not so much church government, as the securing of leaders to whom the disciples could look for encouragement and instruction. Thus the two missionaries ensured permanency to their work. III. Reporting the progress of the faith.1. Returning home. The return journey was a sort of triumphal tour, very different from the going. Then they were unknown--now, multitudes of disciples were eager to give them greeting. Persecutions awaited them then--blessings now. They came back, as come the husbandmen from the harvest fields, with their arms full of sheaves. 2. Reporting to the Church. The first missionary report contained-- (1) What God had done with them. They did not rehearse what they had done. (2) How God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. The door the Jews had shut God had opened, and it has never been shut since. (M. C. Hazard.)End of Paul’ s first missionary journey I. Paul coming forward as the greatest missionary to the Gentiles.1. What position he should take, how he would discharge the duties of his office, were unsettled questions when he was separated to this work. When the parties set out, their names stand Barnabas and Saul. Now the pen of Luke seems naturally to write, Paul and Barnabas. 2. He went out with the sanction of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit today, as then, calls and makes genuine missionaries; not churches, not missionary societies. We cannot say how this call may come. We are not to look for visions and voices. The knowledge of one’ s own powers, the circumstances of life, the trend of thought, and the outward invitation from authorised sources, it may be, may constitute a clear call of God. 3. He wrought miracles to attest his place as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Elymas and the lame man at Lystra. 4. More remarkable, and far more lasting in its power, was Paul’ s true eloquence. He so spake that great multitudes believed. Now, to produce these immediate effects, we ought to remember that he did not address those to whom the gospel was a tale that had been told. This is the position of the modern Christian audience. But the mind of Paul was originally broad, penetrating, and fertile. He had been well trained, and to his native strength and careful culture must be added his marvellous experience at conversion. Yet his chief power was that which we may share--the power of the Holy Spirit. 5. Throughout the journey Paul showed the highest forms of Christian courage. The journey was attended with manifold perils. He was stoned and left for dead at Lystra. In all this he bore up bravely and patiently. He endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. He fought the good fight of faith. In all respects, he came back to Antioch approved as a workman. II. The rejection of Christ by the Jews. They were in all the places whither the apostles came. It was natural and necessary for the apostles to make the offer of salvation to their own countrymen first, nor was this in vain; but the fires of jealousy burst forth when they heard the Gentiles invited to come to their own feast. So Paul was compelled to take a new and definite position, saying, “ Lo! we turn unto the Gentiles.” Unto the Gentiles! Has the Church of Christ remembered the words of Paul, and been true to his spirit? Christ’ s ministry was chiefly to the lapsed and overlooked classes. Centuries of history show little effort on the part of the Christian body to reclaim the lost sheep wandering in the wilderness. III. The open door among the Gentiles. At Cyprus, Sergius Paulus was eager to hear God’ s Word. At Antioch, the whole city came out to hear Paul. Even the superstition that led the Lycaonians to propose Divine honours to Paul and Barnabas was in itself a force that might be turned to useful channels. The heathen were not prejudiced against the gospel as the Jews were. IV. The establishment of churches. The new faith must have a new form. It would not do to let the zeal of first love expend itself in individualised work. There must be organisation and order. We cannot determine precisely the form of these young apostolic churches, nor is it necessary that we should. Christ left no external organisation, but gave over this work to the Holy Spirit who should come to guide into all truth. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)The best gain of a servant of God returning home 1. Wounds received in the service of his Lord (verses 19, 20).2. Souls gained for the kingdom of Christ (verses 21-23).3. Psalms sung by the assistance of God (verses 26, 27). Apostles and Crusaders on the same track Conrad and Louis, each with an army at first of seventy thousand men, marched through part of the districts traversed by Paul and Barnabas alone and unprotected. The former came to fight the battle of the Cross with human power, and their journey was encompassed with defeat and death; the latter, too, passed through much tribulation, bus from victory to victory, for the Lord was their tower and shield. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)And when they had preached the gospel.--The minister’ s work I. Preaching. Announcing the glad tidings; proclaiming that gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, and so securing conversions. II. Teaching. Instructing the converts in the doctrines, displaying the privileges, and enforcing the duties of the new faith. III. Confirmation--establishment in the faith. IV. Exhortation. Stimulus and encouragement to higher privilege and nobler endeavour. Acts 14:22 We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God. Continuance in the faith I. The disciples had been but newly converted to the faith, and they required to be established through grace. They were very likely to have been discouraged by the sufferings of the apostles, their instructors in the faith. They may have begun to fear that they had not counted the cost of religion: they had looked on the bright side of their profession; they had glowed with the zeal of new converts to Christ. But they might now have begun, for the first time, to discover that religion has its dark side. It is altogether probable that they had found it easier to make resolutions than to keep them; and to be exalted in hope more practicable than to be weaned from the world. We see, then, at once the bent and the need of the soul; its bent, to fall back, after the fairest professions of religion; its need, to be daily strengthened and advanced in the saving gifts of Divine grace. The seed may be withered by the early blight--the slender flame may be extinguished by the rising blast. Watchfulness must be added to knowledge, and prayer to watchfulness; and the seat of religion must be not in the imagination nor the affections merely--not in the understanding even, as separate from the heart, but in the soul. II. The apostle, in the text, “ exhorted them to continue in the faith.” The source of all final perseverance in religion is doubtless the grace of God. The means by which that grace operates on the heart is by a “ continuance in the faith.” The apostles Barnabas and Paul, we must suppose, on this occasion opened to their new converts the whole foundation of Christian belief--the whole body of Christian motives, and a corresponding practice. To the Jews amongst them they appealed from their own Scriptures, and showed the prophecies that had gone before: respecting Jesus and His great salvation. To the Gentiles they preached, no doubt in kindred strains, Jesus and the resurrection, Christ and Him crucified. Here was, no doubt, a faith, which both admitted and required, and would reward, inquiry. The more they reflected upon the great truths of the gospel, the more they observed the state of the world around them, the more they would hail the glad tidings of the gospel. It was a revelation of truth, a communication of strength, from God to men. It embraced that which was most suitable to their wants, and most agreeable to their hopes. It promised, on the most sure grounds, pardon of sin, peace with God, renovation of the heart. This is, then, the faith in which still we exhort you to continue. It is that which we invite you to gain, and then to hold fast even to the end. It is no single effort of the understanding embracing these Divine truths, no words of confession. It must be a deliberate consideration of the grounds on which your faith is built, and all your hopes depend. It must be a comparison of the feelings of the heart with the standard of Divine truth. It must be an application of the great truths of Scripture to all the circumstances and relations of life. It must be a daily viewing of things through the glass of God’ s Word, and a reference of all events to the future and eternal world. III. We are warned that the walk of faith will not be altogether a thornless path--the triumph of faith not a bloodless victory; “ and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” The words are introduced in the text with an abruptness in the language, which shows the strong impression on the mind of the apostle delivering them, of their nature and truth. Each apostle was ever anxious assuredly to impress on the minds of his converts, no less than on his own, the costs, as well as the gains, of religion. It may be doubtless necessary that outward afflictions should first bring home the wandering sinner to God. His past life may have been conversant with companions who must be forsaken, and habits to be renounced. He will, at all events, find himself placed in a world that will little understand the principles on which he is acting, and that may deride the faith which he professes, or the purity which he exhibits. Nor can he feel otherwise than painfully affected at the sight of wickedness around him. (C. J. Hoare, M. A.)The necessity of tribulation In some of the most delicate manufactures of the country, the web in a rude and unsightly state enters a vessel filled with a certain liquid, passes slowly through, and emerges continuously at the opposite side. As it enters the cloth seems all of one colour, and that dim; as it emerges it glitters in a variety of brilliant hues arranged in cunning figures. The liquid is composed of biting acids; and the reason why the fabric is strained through it is that all the deforming and defiling things which have adhered to it in preceding processes may be discharged, and the figures already secretly imprinted may shine out in their beauty. If it were allowed to remain one minute too long in the bath the fabric would be destroyed; but the manufacturer has so tempered the ingredients and timed the passage that while the impurities are thoroughly discharged the fabric comes out uninjured. In wisdom and love the Lord has mingled the ingredients of our tribulation, and determined its duration, so that none of his should be lost, and so that every grace of the Spirit should be brought out in all its beauty. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The necessity of tribulation It would seem to be a great hardship to a lump of iron ore, if it were conscious, that it should have to be melted, separated from its accretions, beaten together into a bar of pure metal, then heated again and cooled suddenly, exposed in this way in quick succession to the most rapid and intense changes of temperature, and hammered furiously while these terrible processes are going on. “ Why can not I be left in peace,” it might say, “ in my condition as ore? I am contented with that form of life.” Yet it is only by such processes that it can be promoted in quality from the sluggish state of raw metal, compounded with alloy, to steel. (T. Starr King.)The condition of tribulation The expression is used in the sense of travelling through: as if they lay about our road. And this is an encouraging similitude. It sets us forth as superior to the tribulations: and sets them forth as our appointed way, not to have the mastery over us, but to be faced and left behind, just as the traveller faces and leaves behind the dangers or rough places of his road. “ Tribulation,” a term implying “ crushing” or “ fretting” ; that outward galling which narrow and intricate ways, or long borne burdens, produce on the traveller. It is a word joined by St. Paul to another signifying “ narrowness of space to move in,” and which we render “ anguish,” as representing the Latin angustiae,” narrowness of space.” It is then through many of these gallings, these narrow inlets, or pressing burdens, that our way must be made to the land of rest. Let us trace the fact-- I. In its rise. First of all, strait is the gate itself that leadeth unto life. Through one mental process in the main do men enter into the life of the Spirit. And though that life issues in the best expansion of the whole man, yet this introductory process is eminently a contracting one. When a man for the first time opens his eyes on God’ s true state, and his own; when he first sees what God demands of him, and what he has to render to God, the sight is one which shrinks up whatever he may before have thought of anything that is his own; it is a tribulation, a passing through a strait, too narrow for any of those encumbrances which lay about and almost constituted his unrenewed and worldly being. This lies at the very head of his course, and cannot be avoided. Many endeavour to avoid it; and no doubt it is easy enough: but in doing so, they miss the way to the kingdom of God. They stand with the strait gate before them, looking up the narrow path. Between it and the broad way are several tracks, not so difficult, and better frequented; decoys which the enemy has constructed--the ways which seem right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.1. There is the comely track of formalism--spanning the valleys of humiliation with its perfect arches, piercing the toilsome steeps with its readier and smoother approaches. There, is no tribulation; daily, conscience is set to sleep with choicest music; daily, the satisfied eyes gaze on the fair pictures of self-denial and piety. 2. Then there is the wide and smooth path of worldly profession, where all that is rough and unpleasing in religion is avoided and cast aside. Tribulation enough there is indeed in such a course, but not of the right sort for our purpose; forever and anon the rough unmannerly protest of God’ s inward witness breaks through, and in laughter the heart is sorrowful. And tribulation enough to come: for the hope of such an one shall perish. II. In its nature, it is two fold, essential and incidental; that which every Christian must feel, and that into which he is liable, from varying circumstances, to be thrown.1. He is guilty; unworthy; grieves God’ s Holy Spirit; does the evil thing he has resolved against, and the good which he has determined to do falls unwrought from his hands. And from this springs grief and trouble continually. Nor does such necessary trouble come from self-contemplation only. “ Rivers of water,” said the psalmist, “ run down mine eyes, because men keep not Thy law.” And then “ everyone that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution.” The world will not endure tranquilly one who lives above the world. “ If they have hated Me, they will hate you.” 2. This last-mentioned tribulation seems, from its varying aspect, to form our transition to those which are incidental: not necessary to every child of God, but sent to some in full measure, to some in less degree, and to others perhaps hardly at all; providential chastenings of our heavenly Father, the sicknesses, dejections, and bereavements of the people of God. These troubles are in fact our highest privileges. To be allowed to enter into the fellowship of Christ’ s sufferings--do we not ever feel this to be our truest exaltation in life? III. Its progress. “ Tribulation worketh patience.” Oh blessed advance! from suffering, to “ Father, if it be Thy will” ; from patience to “ approval” --the passing through and coming out of the fire tested and fit for the Master’ s use. Would you have a counsellor in the things of God? Take a Christian who has known sorrow. Would you have a comforter and a Christian friend? Consort with one who has known sorrow. Wouldst thou thyself become mature in Christ, a ripened and ready Christian, glorifying Him largely, and bearing witness to Him with power? Oh refuse not, pass not by, the cup of tribulation; learn obedience from the things which thou hast suffered; be thou, as He was, made perfect through sufferings. But this is not all. And now in the end, let us look onward and upward. Let us stand with the beloved apostle, and behold that great multitude. “ These are they which came out of great tribulation!” (Dean Alford.)Tribulation: its necessity and issue I. Tribulation. You may think something more consolatory might have been looked for from Barnabas than “ much tribulation,” but we recognise the voice of “ the son of consolation,” when those sorrows are represented as preparing us for heaven. But we must take care not to misapply his words.1. Though the kingdom is to be entered through “ much tribulation,” there may be “ much tribulation” which does not lead to the kingdom. Admitting that all suffering is the consequence of sin, yet what man endures now is at most but a temporal punishment. There is no expiatory power in our sufferings. You are not to think that because “ many are the troubles of the righteous,” that everyone who has many troubles must therefore be righteous. 2. There is, however, a different, though equally erroneous inference, which may be drawn from our text. When a man, whose course of life on the whole is one of evenness, reads of entering the kingdom through much tribulation, there is great likelihood of his suspecting that he is destitute of the chief evidence of being a child of God. If the greatness of trouble distress and harass one Christian, the very want of trouble may be a trial to another. But-- (1) Life is not finished yet; there may remain time enough for many calamities. It does not take long to darken the brightest sky, when God has once commanded the clouds from above. (2) May it not be that the want of trial is thy trial; unbroken sunshine may be a trial as well as continued strife. (3) The “ much tribulation” is not made up exclusively of what the world counts distress. It consists generally in conflicts with our own evil hearts; in the grief occasioned by our sin; in the sorrow of finding the Divine image so faintly traced--the power of corruption still so strong--the will so biassed--the effections so depraved. And have you nothing of this? (4) And then the tribulation of the text arose mainly from persecution. But has the trial of the Cross ceased? Is there no longer any “ persecution for righteousness’ sake” ? The world must dislike genuine piety as that by which it is condemned; and it ought to make us doubt whether our piety be genuine if it do not cause a clash between the world and ourselves. Have you been faithful in reproving sin? Have you drawn a line with due breadth and distinctness between the world and yourself? No wonder that the world does not persecute you, when you do not openly separate from the world! II. Its necessity and issue. The text describes affliction as the ordinary instrument through which God fits His people for their glorious inheritance. God thereby disciplines His people; detaches them from earthly things; refines their affections. It is in the furnace of trial that He burns out of us the impurities of indwelling corruption. For whatever tends to increase present holiness, tends equally to increase future happiness. Not, indeed, that the tribulation is indispensable. God, if He pleased, could make us ready for the kingdom through some other process; but the “ much tribulation” is His ordinary course. I understand from this what St. Paul means when he says, “ We glory in tribulations.” He found tribulation grievous in itself, but he gloried in it as a preparation for heaven. Of what avail would it be, that the palace should be prepared for the inhabitant, unless the inhabitant be prepared for the palace. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Tribulation and its uses I. The declaration that the people of God must through tribulation enter the kingdom of God.1. That they are an afflicted people there can be no doubt. And not only so, but those whom God blesses the most He afflicts the most. Take, e.g., Abraham, Jacob, Job, Moses, Paul, etc. But not only these, all the saints must expect it. The Word tells us not, “ we may” but “ we must.” Sometimes we forget that it is God’ s appointment, that it cannot be otherwise. 2. Many reasons might be given for this. (1) That we may know and feel what that body of sin and death is that is within us; and it is no small blessing to have a thief that is in the heart detected. (2) That we may know the value of Christ, as the brother born for adversity. We are most of us like children on board a vessel when a storm comes, we think of nothing but the storm. The life of faith looks to Him who is the pilot. (3) The great secret of all this living in much tribulation is, that we may live out of ourselves and to God. The Word of God is full of promises; and we never find their worth but as we are placed in circumstances that make them needful. We need not ask a hungry man to eat if the bread is placed before him. II. The exhortation. “ Exhorting them to continue in the faith.” The great remedy for this much affliction is, not to be looking at the affliction; it is to continue in the faith. Whether we regard faith as the doctrine of Christ, or as continuing in faith, living not to ourselves, but to God--in either point of view it comes to the same truth; it is the life of faith. Happy is the man who, the more the waters come upon him, the higher he rises. We can honour Christ in nothing more than in the life of faith. III. The prospect. We sometimes read of a Chinese taking a traveller through a wilderness, and then bringing him at once into a beautiful garden. He passes over craggy rocks, through brambles and nettles, and everything offensive; and then in one moment his guide brings him into the most lovely exhibition of the powers of nature and art. Just so is it with God: He takes us through a world of brambles into a garden of Eden, and if we have more foretaste of it we should think of it more. If a man eats grapes, he cannot avoid being reminded that there is a place where grapes come from. The way to be living above the troubles of life is to be much in the anticipation of glory: for as surely as the earnest is given, so surely shall the eternal reality be enjoyed. The great principle is to be looking forward to future glory. But we want more than this; we want a present Christ and if we are living by faith we shall possess this. God wants our hearts for Himself. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)The path of tribulation I. The road to the kingdom of God. The text does not mean that all who are the subjects of suffering shall be the inheritors of glory. So far is the one from securing the other, that unless suffering is improved, the trials of this life will only add to the guilt and misery of eternity. What is meant is that tribulation is found a means of sanctifying the family of God, and that it is a means so extensively employed and blessed for that purpose that it may with propriety be represented as the road to the kingdom of God. II. The travellers--The disciples. There are many who walk in the paths of suffering who are not Christ’ s disciples; but the path now in view is the path of holy suffering: Jesus Christ Himself travelled this road. The best friends of God, in every age of time, have travelled it. The prophets (James 5:10). The apostles (1 Corinthians 4:9-13). Let, then, the traveller on this road know, not only that God’ s best friends have preceded him, and that many will follow Him; but let him also know that he forms a part of a large and goodly fellowship (1 Peter 5:9). III. The necessity for their travelling by this road. As men we are fallen sinful creatures, and therefore we must meet with punishment, and as Christians we are imperfect creatures, and therefore we must meet with discipline. IV. Its termination. It conducts to God’ s heavenly kingdom. The world receives a very different treatment from the master it serves, from that which Christians receive at the hands of Jesus Christ. The prince of this world promises his servants a happiness in this life, which he can never afford; but is either altogether silent about the end of their course, or deceives them with the expectation of a felicity which they will never attain. Christ predicts tribulation; but then He more than counterbalances the tribulation by the present joys of religion; while He promises glory at the end of their course. In the kingdom of God there will be no more tribulation. Sin, which is the grand scourge of man, will obtain no admittance there; consequently sorrow, which is the inseparable companion of sin, shall be equally excluded (Revelation 21:4; Psalms 16:11). In the kingdom of God the tribulations of this life will increase the happiness of the former sufferer (Hebrews 12:10-11; Revelation 7:14-17). (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)The way of tribulation I. Its travellers: all true Christians; “ we” ; therefore do not wonder at it. II. Its necessity. “ We must” ; therefore do not shun it. III. Its nature: rugged and long; “ through much tribulation,” therefore prepare for it. IV. Its end: blessedness; “ the kingdom of God” ; therefore do not neglect it. (K. Gerok.)The way to the kingdom This verse exhibits the ordinary Christian curriculum. Paul and Barnabas pass through a whole district expressly to teach this. The instruction is the same in every city.1. “ The kingdom of God,” in its widest sense, denotes the Church, under all its forms and dispensations. In New Testament usage, the reference of the phrase is to Messiah’ s kingdom. Either in its initial and visible state here, or in its perfected condition in a future life. The latter is its meaning here. We who are in the kingdom in its incipiency here, “ must through much tribulation enter into” the perfection of the same kingdom hereafter. 2. In this way heaven and earth do not lie far asunder. The one grows out of the other. Heaven is the summer of the year of which we have in this world the wintry beginning. And from the first there is a looking springwards, and even a touch of summer in the soul that is panting towards it. Even physically there is no vacuum between this lower and the higher world, while, morally, there stretches between them “ a new and living way,” by which all the faithful are going up to heaven, yet carrying something of heaven with them as they go. The toilsome journey through this world of peril and sin is not merely the passing of so much time until the dawning of the day; it is an express progress by the right way to the city of habitation. 3. Entertain the thought that going through earthly tribulations is entering in. It is not that we must pass through all the straits and pressures of this life, and then the entrance will be given according to the dictate of an arbitrary will. If we “ continue in the faith,” the entrance is accomplished: death then is but a servitor to open the gate: the grave is but a side room where we leave a vestment which will not be needed for a while, and which meantime will be changed into a glorious robe fit for immortal wear. 4. Think for a little of this unalterable, yet very gracious necessity of this lifelong “ must.” For this is not a truth that comes to us naturally. Look, for instance, at a palace or a gentleman’ s estate. They are talked of far and near for their beauty. Suppose one sets out for the purpose of seeing them, what will he expect to see when he comes near? Rough roads, neglected fields, thorns and briars up to the very gate and doors? No. That being the focus and centre of all, it “ must” have meet setting. Well, God is taking His children to a kingdom! to a “ house” with “ many mansions,” and our natural thought would be that as soon as they turn face heavenwards, there will be, not only a great inward, but also a great outward change. There will, now, be something of the bloom of the garden on everything; and as they go on, the way will become more pleasant, obstructions in it fewer, and more easily over come. But against that theory of life lies this text. Of course there are many exceptions. Multitudes of infants go to the perfect kingdom of God almost as soon as they are born. Also, there are great “ varieties” of experience among those who live. The principle is not one of mechanical exactness. Nor are we to conclude that tribulation is measured out according to character--much of it to the sinful, and less to the pure. In some instances the reverse of this is the truth--the finest gold sometimes lies molten in the hottest fires. “ We must” -- I. For probation. A man must be proved before he can be approved. A thing--or still more, a man--may look fair, and be useless. In mercantile and public life, men are advanced from lower to higher place only after successful probation. God tries and trains men, before, and for, advancement. The advancement is to be very great: the trial must be very true. And in order to be true it must be severe and searching. II. For purification God’ s fires are hot, but they are purifying. He Himself is “ a consuming fire” only to what is evil: He is a purifying and preserving fire to all that is good. But is not all tribulation punitive? No. It is not possible to trace all suffering up to sin in the suffering person. Broken laws bring down their penalties; and is so far as tribulation consists of penalty, of course it is punitive. But many a sufferer, in his little human measure, “ bears the sins” of others. If in the sufferer there be faith, all that is punitive is yet so assuaged and filled with grace that it is purifying far more than punitive. Thus proving, and purifying, run on together to the very end, when the death fire will burn out the last dregs of corruption, and perfect the life-process of conformity to the image of Christ. III. In order to the attainment of a real and deep fellowship with Christ. Christian fellowship is life in Christ. All that life is, or contains of good, of growth by grace to glory, is “ in Him.” We have joy in Him; “ That My joy might remain in you.” We have peace in Him; “ My peace I give unto you.” And strength, the “ strength” that “ is made perfect in weakness.” And should, then, the trouble of life be excluded? No. It is the unchanging law that we “ bear about with us in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” This is “ the fellowship of His sufferings” from which in due time fellowship in glory will arise. IV. For the sake of others. God often uses the suffering of one for the sanctifying of another. Here is a house through which a spirit of worldliness would soon flow; but up in the top room is a little sufferer from whose bed every day flows out another spirit which keeps the house in dewy softness. Or, one in maturer life, and, in so far as man can judge, ripe for the better state, is kept lingering here, a living lesson of patience and gentleness, a living proof to many of the all-sufficiency of the grace of Christ. As “ no man liveth,” as “ no man dieth,” so no man suffereth to himself. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)Consolations on the way to the kingdom 1. Have I lost my goods, and foregone a fair estate? Had all the earth been mine, what is it to heaven? Had I been the lord of all the world, what were this to a kingdom of glory? 2. Have I parted with a dear consort--the sweet companion of my youth; the tender nurse of my age; the partner of my sorrows for many years? She is but stepped a little before me to that happy rest, which I am punting towards, and wherein I shall speedily overtake her. In the meantime and ever, my soul is espoused to that glorious and immortal husband, from whom it shall never be parted. 3. Am I bereaved of some of my dear children, the sweet pledges of our matrimonial love, whose parts and hopes promised me comfort in my declined age? Why am I not rather thankful it hath pleased my God out of my loins to furnish heaven with some happy guests? Why do I not, instead of mourning for their loss, sing praises to God for preferring them to that eternal blessedness? 4. Am I afflicted with bodily pain and sickness, which banishes all sleep from my eyes, and exercises me with lingering torture? Ere long this momentary distemper shall end in an everlasting rest. 5. Am I threatened by the sword of an enemy? Suppose that man to be one of the guardians of paradise, and that sword as flaming as it is sharp, that one stroke should let me into that place of inconceivable pleasure, and admit me to feed on the tree of life forever. Cheer up, then, oh my soul: and upon thy fixed apprehension of the glory to be revealed, even in the midnight of thy sorrows, and in the deepest darkness of death itself, sing then to thy God songs of confidence, of joy, of praise and thanksgiving. (Bp. Hall.)Difficulties in the way The old proverb tells us that the way to the stars lay through difficulties. To reach high ground we must expect hard climbing. It is so in the life of the world. Look at the great soldier: the country honours him, crowds shout his praises. But to gain his position, he has endured hardness. Look at a famous painter at his work, How easily he seems to cover his canvas with almost living forms. But you forget the years of patient toil, and study, and self-denial. I. If we are to gain the high places of heaven we must expect obstacles in our way.1. But the true Christian will not be driven back by difficulties. Diogenes wished to become the pupil of a famous cynic philosopher, and was refused. Still Diogenes persisted, and the philosopher raised his staff to smite him. “ Strike,” said Diogenes, “ you will not find a staff hard enough to conquer my perseverance.” And so he had his wish. Let no blows be hard enough to drive us back from the kingdom of heaven. 2. For us all there is the Hill Difficulty to be climbed, and the Valley of Humiliation to be entered. We are proud of our schemes, and God sweeps them all away like a cobweb. We trust to our own righteousness, and God allows us to fall into a terrible temptation, like David. We thought, like St. Peter, that we could stand, and, behold, we have fallen. We trusted in our own strength, like Samson, and the Philistines, our sins, have bound us hand and foot in the prison. 3. Sometimes the difficulty lies right across our path like a rock, or like a baud of armed men. Once in battle an Austrian general was surrounded on all sides by the enemy. He sent a message to his commander asking whither he should retreat. And the answer came back in one word--“ Forward!” That is the watchword of every true Christian man. II. The greatest obstacles in our path to heaven are--1. The world which hinders us on our heavenly journey in the form of bad company. Many a pilgrim has lost his way by forming godless or careless acquaintances. 2. The flesh. Who has not the desire to go forward in the path of duty, and yet suffered himself to listen to the whisper, “ A little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep” ? Who has not found the bad thought, hated and unwelcome, yet forcing itself upon him at the holiest seasons? Well, if we are to continue our journey to heaven we must be masters of our flesh. It is better for us to enter into life maimed or blind, than to have two eyes, all that we desire or wish for, at the cost of our own soul. 3. The devil. Sometimes he comes as a roaring lion, openly attacking us; sometimes he comes as an angel of light, whispering soft, tempting promises in our ears. III. The way to meet these difficulties.1. Do not think too much of them beforehand; meet them bravely when they come, but do not meet them half way. When a man builds a house he does not stay to think what a long task it is; he just goes on day by day adding brick to brick, till the whole is finished. Let us day by day try to do our duty, to build up a little bit of a holy life, and the difficulties and obstacles will be overcome. 2. Then we must trust ourselves to our Guide. If you were to try to climb some of the Swiss mountains you would come to places where it would be impossible for you to proceed alone. Then your guide would bid you to trust entirely to him, to allow yourself to be bound to him, and to have no fear. In all the difficulties and dangers of our pilgrimage we must trust ourselves entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)The process of purification I. The universality of tribulation. No one who has thoroughly observed the conditions of life can avoid coming to this conclusion, that suffering forms a large portion of human history. Youth encounters troubles; then, as life advances, there are deeper sorrows. And as we get older still, life assumes the character of a struggle, and ofttimes in the very midst of it, “ man goeth to his long home.” Not that this constitutes the whole of life; but we do live in a world whose Creator appears to have consulted something else besides the happiness of His creatures. II. The reason for this.1. If we were to discover, say some plant, so widely distributed that we could not go into any one region of the globe without beholding it, our reason would at once compel us to the conclusion, that its universal existence proves some universal purpose, and that its secret must sooner or later be discoverable. Sorrow is universal, and there must therefore be a reason for its being universal. Paul says in our text, “ we must” ; “ it is the order of things, that through much tribulation we enter the kingdom of God.” Wherever he went he found trouble; and he found everywhere necessity for the same line of argument; he had to “ confirm,” that is, to strengthen the souls of the disciples; to exhort them to continue steadfast in the belief of Christianity as a message of glad tidings, notwithstanding all their present trials. 2. But does the kingdom of God here mean heaven? Not exclusively. It means the government of God. The kingdom of God means the government of God; and “ tribulation” is derived from the Latin tribulum, the threshing instrument or roller by which the Romans separated the corn from the husks. 3. Tribulation looked at in this light is capable of the most extended application. We may apply it to youth, at its very entrance upon the real discipline of life; to some thoughtful mind, harassed with doubts; to the active, hearty, energetic man of business, who may in this day of unnatural competition be tempted to practical falsehoods, to neglect the soul for the body; to the man of fixed income, whose family cares are a perpetual embarrassment. III. What is meant by the kingdom of God and how does tribulation facilitate our entrance into it? The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but--1. “ Righteousness,” and righteousness is only attainable by tribulation. It is not easy to be good. 2. “ Peace” : and this is another happy result of tribulation. By nature we do not love peace. You have seen the horse broken in for man’ s use. Now peace, the very opposite of all this discontent, only comes through the discipline of tribulation. 3. “ Joy in the Holy Ghost.” But this in the present life only comes through the tribulation of penitence; and the happy throng above have come out of great tribulation. (W. G. Barrett.)Through tribulation to glory We have here-- I. The designation of heaven--the kingdom of God. A kingdom has its king, its laws, its social relationships. It conveys the idea of locality and grandeur. It is both a place and a state. II. The particular characteristic of heaven. It is the kingdom of God. It will therefore be inconceivably great, inconceivably holy, inconceivably blessed and happy. III. The difficulty of admission. To get there we must pass through much tribulation. No man gained heaven without difficulty. He must be tried and purified as in a furnace. He must endure the assaults of Satan. He must overcome his natural evil nature. He must struggle with unbelief, persecution, pain. But he shall enter in and obtain joy and gladness, Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Homilist.)We grow best under weights We learn that it is out of struggles that we must get the nobleness and beauty of character after which we are striving. One of the old Scotch martyrs had on his crest the motto, Sub pondere cresco . On the crest was a palm tree, with weights depending from its fronds. In spite of the weights the tree was straight as an arrow, lifting its crown of graceful foliage high up in the serene air. It is well known that the palm grows best loaded down with weights. Thus this martyr testified that he, like the beautiful tree of the Orient, grew best in his spiritual life under weights. This is the universal law of spiritual growth. There must be resistance, struggle, conflict, or there can be no development of strength. We are inclined to pity those whose lives are scenes of toil and hardship, but God’ s angels do not pity them if only they are victorious; for in their overcoming they are climbing daily upward towards the holy heights of sainthood. The beatitudes in the Apocalypse are all for overcomers. Heaven’ s rewards and crowns lie beyond battle plains. Spiritual life always need opposition. It flourishes most luxuriantly in adverse circumstances. We grow best under weights. We find our richest blessings in the burdens we dread to take up. (J. R. Miller, D. D.)Tribulation, its necessity Many Christians are dull, and stupid, and useless, because they have not had disaster enough to wake them up. The brightest scarf that heaven makes is thrown over the shoulders of the storm. You cannot make a thorough Christian life out of sunshine alone. There are some very dark hues in the ribbon of the rainbow; you must have in life the blue as well as the orange. Mingling all the colours of the former makes a white light; and it takes all the shades, and sadnesses, and vicissitudes of life to make the white lustre of a pure Christian life. Acts 14:26-28 And thence sailed to Antioch … And when they were come, and had gathered the Church together, they rehearsed all that God had done.Apostles and Crusaders at Antioch: a historical contrast If when we contrast the voyage of Paul and Barnabas across the bay of Attalia with the voyage of those who sailed over the same waters eleven centuries later, our minds are powerfully drawn towards the pure days of early Christianity, when the power of faith made human weakness irresistibly strong, the same thoughts are not less forcibly presented when we contrast the reception of the Crusaders at Antioch with the reception of the apostles in the same city. We are told that Raymond, “ Prince of Antioch,” waited with much expectation for the arrival of the French king; and that when he heard of his landing at Seleucia he gathered together all the nobles and chief men of the people and went out to meet him, and brought him into Antioch with much pomp and magnificence, showing him all reverence and homage, in the midst of a great assemblage of the clergy and people. All that Luke tells us of the reception of the apostles after their victorious campaign is what he says in the text. Thus the kingdom of God came at the first “ without observation” --with the humble acknowledgment that all power is given from above, and with a thankful recognition of our Father’ s love to all mankind. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)Missionary enterprises I. There is great need in the world for missionaries.1. There was great need for them in the days of the early Church.2. There is much more need in the present day. II. It is the duty of the Church to take up the subject of foreign missions, because--1. The Church of all earthly things is the most, and indeed only, capable.2. The Church itself, having received the glad tidings, ought from gratitude to make them known to others. III. This duty, if rightly performed, will surely meet with success. Not necessarily at first, but eventually. IV. It is the Saviour’ s command that the gospel should be preached in all lands. (T. Newsome.)Missionary reports 1. It is well that missionaries should occasionally return. Their return will strengthen them, and again arouse the Churches to a new interest in the missionary cause. 2. The true missionary will report, not what he has done, but what God has done with him. 3. The true missionary will report holy God has opened the door of faith to those to whom he was sent. (S. S. Times.)The report of the mission This was the first missionary report ever presented. Of late years these rehearsals have been common. And it is well that it should be so, provided that the accounts are truthfully given and the results anxiously weighed. Let us observe-- I. The object of the apostles’ mission.1. You all know how ill any work must be done which has not a definite aim. What would a carpenter’ s, a builder’ s, a lawyer’ s, or a physician’ s work be without some end set before it? Too often in religious matters this is left out of sight. A clergyman, as it is said, “ performs duty” --that is, he has gone through the public service, etc. But was that his end, or only the means to his end? A serious question. Far too often we do make these duties ends: if we can perform our duty (as it is sometimes said) creditably, we are ready to say, “ I have done my duty; I have gained my end.” But who does not see that no amount of labour thus accomplished necessarily implies the slightest sense of the real work of the ministry? Where is the end in all this? No builder would satisfy his employer by merely being seen so many hours each day at his work, if nothing came of it, or nothing but crooked walls, leaking roofs, etc. It is even so in things spiritual. He is not a good workman who has nothing to show for it but his toil. True, in these matters, unlike the other, men cannot by any skill or any devotion secure his object: God gives, and withholds; and he who thinks that his own labour or even his own prayer can guarantee success has not yet learned his first lesson in the school of Jesus Christ. St. Paul’ s object is forcibly expressed in his own words, “ That ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God.” Turning, conversion, was and still is the end of the ministry. 2. If this is indeed the meaning of our office, and its responsibility, can any exhortation be more needful than that which bids the congregation remember its object and so aid its work? If its end is to turn you to God, yours surely will be the chief loss and the chief misery if it fails. II. Its methods. We are struck by its unity, and we are struck also by its variety.1. St. Paul appears to speak quite differently to the Jews at Antioch and to the idolaters at Lystra. With the one he argues from the Scriptures; with the other only from the book of nature. And how can it be otherwise if a man is in earnest? Does the physician proceed, without inquiry, to apply one mode of treatment everywhere, and expect the recovery of health, which is his object, to reward such unreasoning efforts? Even so it is with the physician of the soul. His first business is to ascertain where men stand, what men know and believe. Till he knows something upon these points, he can only employ the bow at a venture. To speak to a man of salvation when he has never been conscious of danger, to offer a man forgiveness who has never trembled at sin, is to cover up the mischief instead of extirpating it, to comfort a man in his sins instead of rescuing him from them. Till the people of Lystra knew that there was one God, it was idle to say to them, “ Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” On the other hand, those who already possessed the evidence also of a Divine revelation, those whose fault it was to count themselves safe because they had honoured God with a ceremonial worship, must be instructed out of that revelation itself as to the sinfulness of sin, as to the need and the promise and the coming of a Saviour, in the language of a prophet in whom they believed. 2. More than half the failures of our ministry arise from inappropriate teaching and from inappropriate hearing. There is a man here, as there once was when Jesus Himself was the Preacher, possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil. He comes hither, drawn perhaps by custom, perhaps by a wish to gloss over his lost state, perhaps by an instinctive longing to lull the disquietude of his soul. This man meets Jesus here. But too often it is only a hearing of the sound--something about guilt, about atonement, about the mercy of God--and the man goes away as he came; what he has understood he has misapplied; the unclean spirit is still there, soothed, calmed, lulled, like the surfeited snake till its next fit of hunger. That man ought to have been told of God in conscience before he was told of God in redemption. Till he has trembled at judgment to come, till he has cried out against himself as a sinner, he can scarcely profit, he may even be fatally injured, by the offer of a pardon which he wants not, or of a Saviour whom he will only crucify afresh. 3. What cannot be done by the preacher must be done for himself by the individual hearer. Let a man ask himself, “ Is that word for me? Does that suit my case? God give me the spirit of wisdom in hearing, lest ‘ that which should be for my health be to me the occasion of falling.’” III. It had also a careful regard to the carrying on of that which was well begun.1. In the form of regular supervision. “ They ordained elders in every congregation.” He who is turned to God still needs training. It is a comfort to us to believe that our assemblies for worship and instruction had their origin in the institutions of the primitive Church. It is not the one reception of the one great truth which will secure us from the risk of falling away. The minister has to learn; and if he do not learn, his ministry will soon become a vain repetition, a barren and a wearisome form, both to himself and to those who hear him. Even so is it with the congregation. They too have need to learn in the school of God; and the services of this place ate designed to help them in learning. 2. In the form of well-instructed expectation (verse 22). Neither our Saviour nor His apostles ever misled men as to the nature of the Christian life below--that it must be a conflict, and therefore a life of tribulation. (Dean Vaughan.)Apostolic rehearsal I. What did the apostles rehearse in the ears of the Church? “ All that God had done with them.” Not all that they had done of themselves, by dint of their own efforts, by the power of their own persuasion. Not how many good sermons they had preached, what overflowing congregations were attracted to hear them, or what unbounded applause had been bestowed upon their ministry. Nor did they make their sufferings the theme of conversation: yet they were “ destitute, afflicted, tormented” (Hebrews 11:37). “ They related all that God had done with them.” Not what the Almighty had performed by His own immediate agency, independent of all human instrumentality; but what He had done by their hands, as the servants of His will.1. God had by them communicated instruction in Divine things to the people whom they addressed. 2. They not only taught many: they were also made the happy instruments of leading a great multitude to believe in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. God made them the instruments of confirming the souls of the disciples. 4. God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. II. To whom the apostles rehearsed the things which God had done by their instrumentality. “ They gathered the Church together,” etc. Let us inquire, what were the discriminating marks by which the primitive Churches were distinguished?1. By their disunion with the world. The primitive Christians had their “ conversation in the world” (2 Corinthians 1:12), and mixed promiscuously with human society, “ working with their own hands” (1 Corinthians 4:12). They were not “ slothful in business” ; but “ fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). Notwithstanding, they held no unnecessary intercourse with ungodly men, never selecting them as companions; for “ the friendship of the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4). Although they were in the world, they were not of it. 2. The members of the primitive Churches were distinguished by the sanctity of their characters, and the consistency of their conduct. Each of them could adopt the language of St. Paul (Galatians 2:20). The principles by which they were actuated were faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and love to His holy name. III. What were the motives that induced the apostles to rehearse what God had done with them?1. We may conceive that it was done to express the warm and grateful effusions of their hearts. 2. The apostles rehearsed what God had done by their means, to gladden the hearts of others. 3. They rehearsed what God had done by them, as a public acknowledgment of the obligations under which they were laid to Him. (R. Treffry.)And how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.--God opening doors:--He who has the keys of David can open all doors. No preacher must assume these keys to himself, but must pray that God, who only can use them effectually, will do so. And if anything is to be effected for the salvation of souls, God must open four doors--the door of the preacher’ s mouth, the doors of the hearer’ s ear and heart, the door of heaven. (K. Gerok.)The door of faith I. This metaphor sets forth that the simple act of trust in God, as revealed in Christ, is the way by which we pass into the house of God. Christ says, “ I am the Door,” and faith is the means of access. This faith is the outer door, the vestibule which leads to the real opening by which we enter into all the mystery and the sweetness of the Divine home. It is a very little, low door. There are a great many much more pretentious ways to God held out to men. There are the doors of contemplation, of asceticism, of ceremonial, of a self-righteous, proud, purity of life; but a man cannot get more than a step inwards if he tries them. But there is a narrow portal yonder, and if a man will go down upon his knees, and if he will leave his sins outside, it will be like one of those narrow passages with a little tiny aperture in it, where a hunted race used to take up their abode, and which widened out into a broad apartment where a man could stand in safety and warmth and home. We go through this narrow door of trust, but we come out into the large room of our Father’ s house. II. The other side of the metaphor suggests the means by which God can enter into us. The door into our hearts is faith. There is no possibility, in heaven or in earth, for God to come with His blessings into any man’ s heart except through the door of that man’ s faith. You take a flask, seal it hermetically, tie a bit of canvas over the mouth of it, pitch that with tar, and plunge it into the Atlantic; and the inside of it will be as dry as if it was in the midst of African deserts. And as long as a man’ s heart is hermetically sealed, which it is by the absence of faith, it is all one to him, as if there were no mercy. The ocean of mercy and love is all outside of him. Notice, in passing, how small a thing a door is--just a piece of timber worth a few shillings. Yes! but if a king comes in, there is a dignity about it. Faith in itself is nothing; it is precious because it is a means by which we lay hold upon precious things. III. This door is to be kept open by ourselves. We read of Lydia’ s heart being opened by the Lord; and we read of Christ knocking at the door, waiting for our opening of it to Him. These are two halves of a great truth. Lydia’ s heart would never have been opened had she not willed. You are responsible for exercising and for continuing to exercise this act of faith. This is one of those doors that shut to in a moment if not clasped back. Day by day we must get rid of the world’ s rubbish that tries to choke up the doorway, by prayer, by effort to expel the evil. The Lord stands before each of us and summons us, “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory shall come in.” Let us answer, “ Come in, Thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest Thou without!” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The open gate of salvation The trouble with many people is that they want to have a hundred curious questions about God and heaven answered before they come to Christ and trust in Christ. They do not act so in other matters. If a man is out in the woods at night and has lost his way, he does not sit down on a log and wait for the sun to rise, or for someone to kindle a bonfire that shall illuminate the whole forest. No, no. If the glimmer of a candle reaches his eye, no matter how faint and far away, he rejoices--he begins at once to move in that direction. The light shows that he can be saved if he will follow it. And it is so with even the feeblest shining of the light of life which reaches a man. Let him be faithful to what it reveals, and he is sure of salvation. Says Dr. Parkhurst: “ Light is a sure guide, because, unlike sound, it goes in straight lines. If you were to strike the tired, diminished end of a sunbeam a million, million miles from the sun, you are on the certain track of the sun the instant you begin treading upwards the glittering highway that that sunbeam spreads out for you. And wherever and howsoever far out upon the circumference of Christ’ s character you take your position and begin threading inward any one of its radiating lines, you move by a line as straight as a sunbeam towards the heart and centre of the entire matter. One radius is as good as another for finding the centre. Each of the twelve gates thresholded a main avenue of the heavenly Jerusalem.” The gate of heaven is not away up yonder; it is wherever we look to Christ as the Opener of heaven to the penitent and believing soul. He said, “ I am the door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” The gospel, whenever we study it as earnest seekers after truth, presents to us one of the pearly gates of paradise. God’ s open doors There are few men who would pass through a gold mine, having full permission to carry away with them choicest specimens of its choicest treasures, who would not make good use of such an opportunity. All along the highway of life God is setting before each traveller opportunities to be and to do which are far more valuable than the richest treasures of gold or gems which earth offers. These opportunities are so many open doors which lead to the treasure houses of God, prepared for all who seek, and offered to all who ask. (H. W. Beecher.). Acts 15:1-29 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised … ye cannot be saved.Disturbers of the Church I. Certain men came down from Judea.1. Probably they were not appreciated at home.2. They brought all their intolerance with them.3. And the Church at Antioch had to suffer.4. One bigot inside a Church can cause more dissension than two sceptics outside. II. When certain men come down from Judea.1. They may sometimes be profitably invited to go back again.2. It is the wisest course to seek advice from the great Head of the Church. (S. S. Times.)Controversies and contentions We have had dissensions before with unbelieving Jews or unconverted Gentiles; but we have now to come to controversies within the Church. There are three of these here:-- I. A controversy that resolved itself ultimately into one of doctrine, though it began with ritualism.1. In all great movements it is always found that for some time the new and the old overlap each other, and that more or less of collision takes place between them. Men with certain fixed habits of thought and feeling may be compelled to accept some great truth; but they may not be able to accept it with all its conditions, or with all its logical consequences. This was the case in the Church with respect to the relations between Jew and Gentile. Certain Pharisaic members of the Church in Jerusalem accepted the Messiah as the Saviour of the world on the condition of the other nations becoming Jews! They could not understand how that which had once been established by Divine authority could pass away. Certain of these men came down to Antioch and began to disseminate their opinions. Paul and Barnabas met the men by argument, but the Church became so disturbed, that it was judged expedient to get some settlement of the question from the apostles. 2. Paul and Barnabas accordingly went to Jerusalem, and the former refers to this visit in Galatians 2:1-9. Nor is there any discrepancy between the two accounts. Paul might be deputed by the Church, and at the same time be moved by revelation. The deputation might have been in consequence of the Divine guidance which Paul had received, or it might have been in consequence of the deputation being appointed that the apostle was directed to avail himself of it for a kindred object. This probable double object of the journey is worth attention. During the journey from which Paul had just returned, the powers of an apostle had been displayed. When he returns to Antioch he does not put down the controversy by authority. He felt, perhaps, that, as the elder apostolic men had not heard what “ God had done by him,” his position, as the commissioned apostle of the Gentiles, had by them yet to be recognised. This, then, was a personal matter, which might yet be important to his action and influence. It was in relation to this, as I apprehend, that he had the “ revelation” he refers to. As deputed by the Church, he went for the settlement of the controversy; as Divinely directed, he went “ privately to them of reputation,” that his authority might be recognised. 3. But there is another matter. Paul says “ he took Titus with him,” while Luke does not mention Titus. Blot mere silence is no argument; while Titus may have been one of the “ certain other” (verse 2). But, even if not, the apostle may have chosen “ to take Titus with him” in connection with his own special object. He determined to have what was in dispute, not only as a matter of argument, but of fact. Hence he appeared with a converted Gentile, determined, as the apostle of such, to stand by the side of one confessedly uncircumcised, thus proclaiming his equality as a brother in the Lord. 4. The deputation was received by “ the whole Church and the apostles and elders.” Paul and Barnabas gave a general account of their ministry, and immediately some of the Pharisees raised the question (verse 5). It was then determined that a day should be appointed when the elders and the apostles should consider the matter. Now, my idea is, that between this preliminary meeting and the day when they came together for the discussion, Paul and Barnabas had that private meeting with the apostles which he mentions in Galatians 2. It is very likely that the Pharisees at the first meeting, knowing that there was a Gentile with Paul, demanded that he should submit to their rite of initiation. The apostle was quite prepared for this, but gave way to it, “ no, not for an hour.” He at once consulted with those “ who were of reputation,” and communicated to them the gospel that he preached among the Gentiles. They received the communication, recognised Paul’ s apostolic character, and “ gave to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship.” 5. Seeing how impossible it is to do public business in a great assembly unless you have the thing marked out beforehand, I think this private interview was used for coming to such an agreement as decided the leaders as to the course to adopt. When they “ came together,” just as in our House of Commons a number of comparatively undistinguished men are allowed to spend their strength while the leaders reserve themselves to wind up the argument--a number of unnamed individuals opened the controversy. After the matter had been thoroughly “ ventilated,” it became the duty of the leaders to interfere. (1) Peter got up and referred to a matter of fact in which he was the principal actor--the conversion of Cornelius, which he regarded as proving the equality of Jew and Gentile in Christ. “ Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul.” Just notice how little things may possess great significancy. On the journey “ Barnabas and Saul” was changed to “ Paul and Barnabas” ; but here, where Barnabas was so well known, how natural it is that he should be made prominent! It is a stroke so fine that a fiction writer would hardly have thought of it. (2) “ Barnabas and Paul” then rose up, and they, too, referred to facts. (3) Then James, the president, addressed the assembly. As the others had referred to what God had done, he referred to what God had said. He showed that the old prophecies were the basis of the new facts; that they had reference ultimately to the Gentiles being received into the Church. He suggested, therefore, that they should not trouble the Gentile converts by the impositions of the law, but should recommend them, as a matter of expediency, to abstain from certain things which were necessary for the preservation of social intercourse between them and their brethren. This suggestion was accepted. But something else was also recommended; and here you will observe what capital business men these apostles were. The suggestion of James was reduced to writing, and they elected some of their own body to go to Antioch, to confirm, by word of mouth, what was said in the letter. What an admirable arrangement this wast The men went down to Antioch and “ delivered the epistle.” “ The Gentiles were glad, and rejoiced for the consolation.” II. A rebuke provoked by an outward act, but which sprang from loyalty to truth (Galatians 2:11, etc.)The conduct attributed to Peter was just like him. He was a man of impulse, an earnest, sincere man, but wanting in moral courage, and sensitive to others’ opinion. Besides, it is quite in keeping with human nature, that social feelings, custom, and prejudice should be practically stronger than a decision of the understanding. You may proclaim by law that the negro shall be recognised as a man and a brother; and yet you will find that white men shrink from the negro, though perfectly assenting to the righteousness of the law which would place him at their side. Some even of your eloquent orators, who talk largely about human equality, may be found to bow to a social prejudice. It is human nature, and it is constantly to be seen in respect to ecclesiastical parties. Peter’ s pusillanimity was contagious. Others “ dissembled with him,” and even Barnabas was for a season seduced. Paul, who looked at things in their principles and issues, saw in such conduct far more than Peter suspected. Hence his “ withstanding him to the face,” etc. The error of the Judaisers and the error of Peter are the faults of human nature. Few are there, indeed, in any Church who do not need to be reminded that “ the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,” etc. III. A dispute arising out of personal feeling (verses 36-41). Barnabas, when he came back from Jerusalem, had most likely brought down his nephew Mark with him, or he might have accompanied Peter; and Barnabas wished, when the second journey was proposed, that he should go with them. Paul would not hear of it. There were no doubt faults on both sides. Barnabas might have been too lenient; Paul too severe. It is no use attempting to smooth over matters. The men were wrong, and evidently gave way to bad temper and strong words. The “ paroxysm was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder the one from the other,” and the pious work of their joint apostolic visitation of the churches was given up! From the infirmity of the men, and the honesty of the historian, much may be learnt. In conclusion, take the three things in reverse order.1. This schism between Paul and Barnabas was but temporary. We find that afterwards Mark was associated with Paul, and served with him in the gospel. Barnabas and Paul, too, were brought into friendly relations again. It was impossible for such good men, alike servants of the Most High God and fellow workers with Him, “ to keep their anger forever.” 2. It was the same with respect to Paul and Peter. It was just like Peter--with his warm, loving, and honest soul, his tenderness of conscience, and genuine humility--to refer, in one of his Epistles, to those of his “ beloved brother Paul,” though he probably knew that one of them contained the record of his weakness. 3. In regard to the “ council,” we learn the evil of aggravating sectional differences, and insisting on them as terms of communion and salvation. Ritual peculiarities, matters of Church government, external and secondary things which are not of the essence of that “ faith” which unites to Christ, and “ purifies the heart,” are not to be raised into walls of separation. “ Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” (T. Binney, D. D.)Church controversy From this interesting chapter learn that - I. controversies are unavoidable, and are a sign of life and activity. They are preferable to the peace of the graveyard. It is through controversy that truth is developed and error defeated. All the great doctrines, the Trinity, the Incarnation, justification, etc., have come out as pure gold from the furnace of theological dispute. Only, let controversy be conducted in a Christian spirit, and with a single eye to the cause of truth. II. The best way to settle a controversy is by full discussion and personal conference. Even inspired apostles did not decide the question by mere authority, but travelled all the way to Jerusalem to secure a general understanding, after giving a full hearing to the opposition. It is good for Christians to come together, to think and talk together. In the multitude of counsellors there is safety. One man may be wiser than a whole multitude, but if he can convince the multitude, his judgment is all the more powerful. III. Synodical conferences are clearly sanctioned by apostolic example and precedent. But the time and number are left to expediency. They may be annual, triennial, or occasional; local, diocesan, provincial, national, or oecuminical; advisory, or legislative; all depends upon the necessities of the Church, which vary in different periods and countries. IV. The composition of a synod should be democratic. The apostles might have decided the controversy by their own personal weight and authority; but they preferred to confer with the brotherhood, and to allow a free and open discussion. The council of Jerusalem consisted of “ the whole Church” (Acts 15:6-22). It is therefore a departure from apostolic practice if synods have become purely clerical and hierarchical. This is contrary to the principle of the general priesthood of the laity, which gives every believer the right to take an active part in the government and all the general interests of the Church. (P. Schaff, D. D.)Controversy, frequently the result of misunderstanding Some time ago I went down to the Lookout Mountain, and an old resident said to me, “ Our soldiers fought bravely up there above the clouds; but sometimes the mists were so heavy that they could not distinguish friends from foes, and struck at each other.” (J. M. Buckley, D. D.)Controversialists It’ s a great pity we can’ t agree better. They are small, insignificant beings who quarrel oftenest. There’ s a magnificent breed of cattle in the Vale of Clwyd--the most beautiful vale in Wales. They have scarcely any horns, but an abundance of meat; yet if you ascend the hills on every side, there, on the heights, you find a breed which grows scarcely anything but horns, and from morning to night all you hear is the constant din of clashing weapons. So there are many Christians who live on the heights--but on very cold and barren ones. Everything they eat grows into horns, the strength of which they are constantly testing. (J. Thomas.)Controversy among Christians I saw once a little incident in Scottish history. It was at the time when conflicts were being waged between two factions in Scotland. One of them was represented by the garrison in the old castle at Edinburgh and the townspeople were on the other side. They fell into a very serious fight about surrendering the town. It was the easiest thing in the world for the castle to subdue whatever force was brought against it. Those of you who have been there know how commanding a position it occupied. In a very little while they opened a terrific cannonade on the town. They were soon subdued. It was an easy victory. But they found that the explosions of their cannon had shaken the rock beneath them and opened the fissures so widely that the waters in the wells that the garrison lived upon had run away into nothing. I don’ t believe we can afford to be victorious over each other, and that Christian denomination that holds its own by the destruction of any other one will find that its fissures beneath will carry away the water of piety and grace on which it lives. (C. S. Robinson.)A catholic platform Dr. Duncan was in Leghorn, Italy, when two godly shipmasters came to the port--the one from Leith, the other from England--the one a Presbyterian, the other a Wesleyan. The Wesleyan came and asked him to preach in his ship. “ Oh,” said he, “ I could not do that; for you see I am a Calvinist and you are an Arminian, and I might say something to injure your feelings.” “ Sir,” was the reply, “ what we wish you to do is to come and preach against the devil.” That is certainly a catholic platform. Calvinist and Arminian should always be agreed to preach against the devil, and in the name of a common Master. Controversies, after effects of “ Old religious factions are volcanoes burned out,” says Burke; “ on the lava and ashes and squalid scoriae of old eruptions grow the peaceful olive, the cheering vine, and the sustaining corn.” Those who have seen the sides of Vesuvius can well appreciate the force of this image. There indeed may be seen tracts of desolation; bare, black, and lurid, beyond any other which earth can show. These are where the sulphur still lingers and repels every effort of vegetation. But there are also tracts, close adjoining to them, and even in the midst of them, where the green vineyard, the grey olive, the golden orange, and the springing herb mark that, out of the attrition and decomposition of the ancient streams of lava, the vital forces of nature can assert themselves with double vigour, and create a new life under the very ribs of death. So it is with extinct theological controversies. So far, indeed, as they retain the bitterness, the fire and brimstone, of personal rancour and malignity, they are, and will be to the end of time, the most barren and profitless of all the works of man. But if this can be eliminated or corrected, it is undeniable not only that truths of various kinds take root and spring up in the soil thus formed, but that there is a fruitful and useful result produced by the contemplation of the transitory character of the volcanic eruptions which once seemed to shake the world. (Dean Stanley.)The gospel not a matter for controversy, but for use A huge fragment of rock from an adjacent cliff fell upon a horizontal part of the hill below, which was occupied by the gardens and vineyards of two peasants. It covered part of the property of each; nor could it be easily decided to whom the unexpected visitor belonged; but the honest rustics, instead of troubling the gentlemen of the long robe with their dispute, wisely resolved to end it by each party excavating the half of the rock on his own grounds, and converting the whole into two useful cottages, with comfortable rooms and cellars for their little stock of wine, and there they now reside with their families. After such a sort will wise men deal with the great doctrines of the gospel; they will not make them the themes of angry controversy, but of profitable use. To fight over a doctrine is sorry waste of time, but to live in the quiet enjoyment of it is the truest wisdom. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christian liberty I. Disputed. The Church at Antioch was made up of both Jews and Gentiles (Acts 11:19-23), living in complete harmony. The Church was prosperous. When this is the case the devil tries to get in and break up its concord. Here--1. There were those who affirmed that, “ Except ye be circumcised,” etc. Note-- (1) The doctrine which meant that the law, with all its requirements and penalties, was still in force. (2) The advocates of the doctrine. “ False brethren” (Galatians 2:4). They assumed an authority which they did not possess, and which was repudiated by the Church (verse 24). 2. Paul and Barnabas were their opposers (Galatians if. 5). It will be interesting to turn to Paul’ s indignant utterances against circumcision as a saving ordinance (Galatians 5:2; Galatians 6:12, etc.)And yet this same Paul afterwards circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3). But not as necessary to salvation, only that he might preach salvation to the Jews more acceptably. Here he fought the doctrine without compromise, because it was declared to be essential to salvation.3. The result (verse 2). Paul went up by revelation as well (Galatians 2:2). Note-- (1) Those sent. Paul and Barnabas, who had the confidence of the Church, and who had been the opponents of the doctrine. Among the “ certain other of them” was Titus (Galatians 2:8), and probably some who believed in circumcision. (2) The wisdom of sending. It sent the dispute where it would receive an authoritative answer. There is no need of a Church being torn asunder by any controversy when it acts in the manner and with the spirit of the Church at Antioch. (3) The journey. To Paul and Barnabas it was almost a triumphal march (verse 3). II. Denied.1. The reception. Paul and Barnabas were accorded, seemingly, a formal and cordial welcome. To men of repute, such as James, Cephas, and John, Paul privately explained the gospel he had been proclaiming among the Gentiles (Galatians 2:2); and in this public gathering he and Barnabas “ rehearsed all things that God had done with them.” 2. The attack (verse 5). In the council, therefore, the question was sharply and clearly drawn as to whether faith in Christ was alone sufficient for salvation. III. Proved. Observe--1. The composition of the council (verse 22). There was no mere pontifical decision. Peter only argued the case, and voted like the rest. Nor did the apostles alone give judgment, but “ the whole Church.” 2. The arguments before the council. (1) Peter’ s. (a) God chose that by his mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. It was not Peter that moved in the matter, but God. Peter’ s scruples had to be overcome. (b) The reception of the Holy Spirit was conclusive evidence, for God knows the heart, and He never would send the Holy Spirit to take possession of those that were alien. (c) Their uncircumcision did not stand in the way of the cleansing of their hearts. His exhortation was short and to the point (verse 10). The difficulty of bearing the yoke of Moses is set forth in Romans 7:7-14. Christ, in contrast, says, “ My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Peter ends by declaring, “ But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they.” Not “ they in like manner with us,” but “ we as they” --without our circumcision! (2) Paul and Barnabas’ s. They simply declared the miracles and wonders that God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. (3) James’ . He makes it manifest that the acceptance of the Gentiles is no new thought, but had been pre-indicated in the Word of God (Amos 9:11-12). This appeal to prophecy, together with the evidence that God was moving in the matter, settled the controversy. The threatened schism in the Church was avoided, and liberty in the faith became a perpetual birthright. So was it that” the glorious liberty of the children of God “ was vindicated. (M. C. Hazard.)Times in Church history There is a time-- I. To build and a time to break down (Ecclesiastes 3:3).1. To build the fence of the law of the Old Covenant.2. To break down that fence in the New Testament. II. Of contention and of peace (Ecclesiastes 3:8).1. Brotherly contention in order to find the right.2. Brotherly peace after it is found. III. To speak and to be silent (Ecclesiastes 3:7).1. To speak boldly when it concerns convictions.2. To be silent when it concerns obedience to God’ s will and brotherly unity. (K. Gerok.)The first ecclesiastical council--the nature of the dispute Science informs us that the fiercest hurricanes revolve around a perfect centre of calm. This chapter tells us of disturbance in the centre of the Church. A little examination of this dissension will show that it is, more or less, a type of all Church disputes. It was a conflict between-- I. The ritualistic and the spiritual (verse 1).1. The names of these breakers of Church peace are not given, nor do we require them. They were not persons of any authority. Their religion had more to do with the senses than with the souls with the form than with the spirit. I can conceive of them urging-- (1) That the law of Moses was the law of God, and therefore immutable. (2) That the religion of Messiah was to develop, and not abrogate, the Levitical economy. 2. The new religion was, on the other hand, preeminently spiritual; it taught that “ circumcision or uncircumcision availeth nothing,” etc. II. The traditional and the progressive.1. For many ages the Gentile who sought religious light could only obtain it through the Jew. These Judaising teachers had felt that what had been must continue. They were institutional conservatives--they could not give up the past. 2. On the other hand, Christianity was preeminently progressive; it made the old a mere starting point. It left Palestine for the world, the Jew for the race, the temple of Jerusalem for the temple of the universe, teaching men everywhere that “ God is a Spirit,” etc. III. The fettering and the free. To bind the Gentile converts to this Jewish rite would be to enslave their souls; hence Peter exclaimed, “ Why tempt ye God to put a yoke on the necks of the disciples?” To tie the soul to a ceremony is to enslave it, and this those bigots now sought to do. They would fetter the limbs of a new faith with the trammels of old ceremonies. Christianity is freedom; it invests the soul with “ the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)The first ecclesiastical council. the settlement of the dispute I. A deputation from the Church at Antioch and a full discussion of the subject at a general assembly of the Church (verses 4, etc.)(1) It was a general synod, not a mere meeting of the apostles and elders. It is not necessary to believe that every Church member was present, but that all were represented. (2) It was a popular assembly. Notice-- 1. The speech of Peter. It is noteworthy that there is no assumption of superiority on Peter’ s part. He speaks only as one of their number, strongly, but with deference to the common judgment. He shows that Jewish ritualism was-- (1) Unnecessary. He quotes his own experience in proof of this, and states that his ministry to the Gentiles was-- (a) By the appointment of God. “ God made choice among us.” (b) Divinely sanctioned. “ Giving them the Holy Ghost.” (c) Productive of the same spiritual results. “ Put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” This work the gospel effects as well without Jewish ritualism as with it, and achieves it in connection with faith and the agency of the Holy Ghost. (2) Inexpedient (verse 10). (a) Ritualism is an intolerable yoke. (b) Men, by their bigoted conduct, may tempt God to put this yoke upon people. Were England to renounce her Protestantism, she would tempt God to put the yoke of Popery upon this country. (3) Contrary to his faith (verse 11). This is the last speech we have of Peter. Adieu, great apostle! 2. The speech of James. The speech of Peter produced such a deep impression, that, amidst breathless “ silence,” Barnabas and Paul arose. Their speeches are not recorded; only so much is said about them as to show that they were historic. But the speech of James is given. He was chairman, summed up the matter, and gave his judgment. He accepts the position of Peter, and supports it by a prophetic quotation, which points to a great restoration-- (1) Among the Jewish people. The building up of that which was in ruins.(2) That would lead the Gentiles to seek after the Lord.(3) Effected by that God who sees the end from the beginning. 3. The decision contained four prohibitions. Against-- (1) Food which had been offered to idols.(2) “ Fornication” --mentioned in connection with idolatry, because horrible licentiousness mingled with the devotions of those heathens.(3) “ Things strangled” --things held in abomination among the Jews, and in high esteem among the heathens.(4) “ Blood” (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 10:14; Deuteronomy 12:23; 1 Samuel 14:34). II. A deputation back to Antioch with the results of the deliberation (verses 22, etc.)The apostolic letter may be regarded--1. As a homage to the right of private judgment. It is not an enactment enforced by penalties, nor a mere moral appeal addressed to a corporate body; it is directed to the judgment of every member of the Church in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. The questions at issue were vital to every man, and to every man appeal is made. The whole Bible recognises this right. 2. As a condemnation of ecclesiastical decrees. Its benign and tender spirit, touching references, popular and advisory features, are in striking contrast to the deliverances of later councils. Little men, who claim to be the successors of these apostles, have issued decrees whose arrogance and intolerance insult the Christian name. 3. As a charter of the Church’ s liberties. With this letter issuing from the great council of the mother Church at Jerusalem, the result of apostolic deliberation and heavenly guidance, we claim a liberty from the reign of ritualism. III. The assembling of the Church at Antioch to receive the communication from the mother Church (verse 30). The whole Church is assembled. Paul and Barnabas, Barnabas and Silas, deliver the letter, which yields great “ consolation.” The strangers exhort the brethren and confirm them, and after a little while return home. Conclusion: Such was the method of settling this first discussion in the Christian Church. How simple, wise, and successful! Would that more recent councils had imitated it. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The assembly at Jerusalem 1. Previous apostolic speeches were for the most part statements or vindications of the gospel. The only one which prepares us for the present discussion is that of Peter in explanation of his conduct towards Cornelius, which for a time silenced the murmurers. But the question was not dead; it only slept awhile, and awoke with energy when the gospel was openly carried to the Gentiles in Syria and Asia Minor. 2. The “ apostles and elders” were seated in order, as constituting a Christian Sanhedrim On the earlier occasion we read of “ the apostles and the brethren.” In the interval, presbyters had been appointed. There is no mention of an institution of this order, as there is of that of deacons; and for this reason--that the latter was a new order; but the Jews had always had elders, and, as a matter of course, continued that order in the new Christian fellowship. Along with their acknowledged leaders were assembled many of the private Christians. 3. As battles have often begun with the skirmishing of light troops, that could decide nothing, but could search and clear the ground for the onset of the battalions that were to decide the fortune of the day, so in this assembly there was much informal discussion before the leaders spoke. At last it was evident that the “ much questioning” was not moving the subject any nearer to solution, and so-- I. “Peter rose up.” It had always been his way to take the initiative; and the illustrious part he had played on and since the day of Pentecost entitled him to much honour and deference. He saw no need for lengthened discussion. He was guided to his conclusion by the knowledge of facts. The matter was in his view virtually settled by the case of Cornelius. It was not the bent of this apostle’ s mind to plough his way through a deep or careful argument; but he knew how to grasp relevant facts, and make them tell. Why should the objectors “ tempt God” by assuming that He would not save Gentiles elsewhere as He had saved them in the house of Cornelius? And for what end did they seek thus to restrict the mercy of God, and limit the range of the Christian Church? Was it to impose on the Gentiles a yoke which even Jews had been unable to bear? One thing was quite certain, that salvation for all men was “ through the grace of the Lord Jesus” ; and no ceremonial or traditional restriction on that grace could be allowed. We can imagine the satisfaction with which St. Paul, who understood the question better than anyone, listened to this clear evangelical statement. He remembered it, and was obliged to remind St. Peter of it on a future occasion at Antioch, when that apostle acted in a manner inconsistent with his speech. St. Peter always spoke with effect, and the whole assembly felt the force of his unanswerable words and “ kept silence.” So far truth and charity had gained the day. II. The silence was broken by the missionaries, perhaps by pre-arrangement with the leading apostles, perhaps on the happy inspiration of the moment. Barnabas seems to have spoken first--a judicious arrangement, because he had a stronger hold on the confidence of the Church at Jerusalem. Neither were likely to surrender any just claim of Judaism without good cause. Barnabas was a Levite, and Paul a carefully educated Pharisee, who even in youth had been a Sanhedrist. They did not so much argue as narrate what God had wrought, the logical deduction from which was that if God has not refused those Gentile converts on account of their uncircumcision, why should the Church refuse them? And if God gave to them His Holy Spirit, why should men hesitate to give them baptism? III. St. James then moved the judgment of the court. This fell naturally to him on account of his position as president. His character gave great weight to his opinion, and he was not implicated in any personal intercourse with Gentiles, as Peter was. This is the only speech of St. James which has been preserved. It consists of four sentences:--1. He recognised the importance and relevancy of the case referred to by his colleague, whom he characteristically styled in the Hebrew form “ Symeon.” 2. He went to the Old Testament to find prophetic sanction. A mind like his craved some ground of Scripture, as well as of observation and reason. He found it in Amos (9:11, 12; LXX.)The prophet had foretold that the fallen tabernacle of David would be rebuilt, and that a blessing would fall on the Gentiles. The erection of the Church of Christ, the Son of David, was a restoration of the tabernacle of David; and there came into prominent view those words which intimated that the Lord’ s name would be “ called” on by the Gentiles. Was not this being fulfilled in the conversion to Christ of a people whom God was now calling out of the heathen world for His name? And, if so, it certainly was not necessary for them to conform to the separate rites of the Jews.3. In pursuance of this view, he proposed a decision of the case. The Gentile converts should not be harassed by the Jewish law. Enough that they should conform to certain rules of abstention which could not be called irksome, and which might in some degree conciliate those who were apt to regard all Gentiles alike as unclean. 4. In his last sentence he touched with soothing hand the susceptibilities of the more keen Jewish partisans, and his counsel became the unanimous resolution of the whole conclave. The Gentile liberty was secured, and, at the same time, the peace of the whole Church was promoted. Conclusion: The whole discussion suggests--1. The advantage of holding Christian assemblies for the adjustment of difficulties. The narrative is fatal to the Popish system of Church government; for there was open discussion, and the decision went out with concurrence of the whole Church. It is also incompatible with a bare system of independency, which leaves every local church to steer its own course. It is easy to point the finger at councils which have been bigoted and superstitious; but these were not constituted like this. Give us a council of the elders of the Church, as the trusted leaders, deliberating in presence of their brethren, and you furnish the best possible instrument for adjusting difficulties, allaying jealousies, maintaining truth and peace. 2. The debt of gratitude due to those men who settled what are now to us dead controversies. The questions that tormented early Christianity are nothing now but matters of remote history. Thanks to the men who refuted these heresies, and above all to the Spirit of Truth who enabled them to maintain sound doctrine l The question of circumcision which troubled the infancy of the Church so much is now quite dead. But we should remember that our liberty in Christ was won only by a hard struggle, and should honour the men, who broke down the claims of an arrogant Judaism, But oven this decision did not settle the question. St. Paul had still to fight it out in almost every Church. Thanks to him most of all, and then to other Jewish brethren who championed our freedom from a Jewish yoke! (D. Fraser, D. D.)The assembly at Jerusalem: a model I. Its occasion: a life question of the Church (verses 5, 11).1. Not of faith, for concerning that there was no dispute, and that no assembly can finally decide. 2. But of life, of the practical application of the incontestable truths of faith to ecclesiastics ordinance and Christian practice. II. Its spirit--truly evangelical. A spirit of--1. Truth, depending on the Word of God and Christian experience.2. Love, seeking not its own, but the good of the whole. III. Its result--a blessing for the Church.1. Progress by the decisive victory over antiquated external ordinances; but--2. On the ground of steadfast Christian faith and love. (K. Gerok.)The assembly at Jerusalem: its importance I. The question that was discussed: a question concerning salvation. II. The spirit in which it was discussed: a spirit of love and truth. III. The rule according to which it was decided: God’ s testimony in word and deed. IV. The confession which lay at the foundation of the resolution determined on (verse 11). (K. Gerok.)Law and gospel God hath written a law and a gospel: the law to humble us, and the gospel to raise us up; the law to convince us of our misery, and the gospel to convince us of His mercy; the law to discover sin, and the gospel to discover faith and Christ (J. Mason, M. A.)Essentials and non-essentials A gentleman who was in company with the Rev. John Newton lamented the violent disputes that often take place among Christians respecting the nonessentials of Christianity, and particularly Church government. “ Many,” he said, “ seem to give their chief attention to such topics, and take more pleasure in talking on these disputable points than on spiritual religion, the love of Christ, and the privileges of His people.” “ Sir,” said the venerable old man, “ did you ever see a whale ship? I am told that when the fish is struck with the harpoon, and feels the smart of the wound, it sometimes makes for the boat, and would probably dash it to pieces. To prevent this, they throw a cask overboard, and when it is staved to pieces they throw over another. Now, sir,” added Mr. Newton, “ Church government is the tub which Satan has thrown over to the people of whom you speak.” Acts 15:3-6 They therefore, being brought on their way.Working on the road 1. For a little time the noise of controversy ceases. Paul and Barnabas might have taken a much shorter way to Jerusalem; but Paul, like the Master, always wished to do some work on the way. When Christ was apparently hastening to a particular locality, He would often on the road stop to do some intermediate miracle. So Paul said, “ We will make this a missionary journey.” So they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria--the district where Philip had done his wonderful works. We should all leave footprints behind us; people that come afterwards should know that we were there first. 2. Follow the apostles. They find a line of Churches all the way, generally speaking, from Antioch to Jerusalem. There were houses of call on the road. The pioneer had, by sacred influence, said, “ Other and stronger men will be coming this road some day--be prepared for them.” We, too, walk on roads that have been well trodden for us. We take the roads of a country as a matter of course. Who ever thinks of roads, or could suppose that a poet could wax eloquent upon road making? Yet even so common a thing as a road is essential to civilisation. Surely as they passed along Paul and Barnabas would often think of Philip, and would often hear of him in the homes where they lodged. It is pleasant to see, in little wayside houses, the pictures of Wesley and Whitefield, and pastors of humbler name, who have lived in the locality. These pictures are texts. Despise not your forerunners. 3. What peeps we get into the domestic life of the time! The two men coming into a house turned it into an historical temple. There are some visits that transfigure the localities in which they are paid. And the little common feast, and the sort of talk which passes between men and unites men’ s hearts! Forget not the little idylls that help to make up the massive poetry of great histories. There were little occasions, as well as great ones, in the development of the Christian story. Handgrips, and special prayers, and visits to the sick chamber, where the tenderest of all supplications were breathed, and still the men passed on, having to maintain a valiant and historical testimony in the face of the first council of the Christian Church. 4. As they went along what did they talk about? “ Declaring the conversion of the Gentiles.” There ought to be great joy when soldiers come from the field of war with the latest news. We soon rough down, by dumb applause, the stumbling missionary who tries to tell us that the blood-red banner is floating higher than ever in the wind! The early Christians were full of their subject; we easily slip out of ours. They had but one theme, only it included all other themes. They took pleasure in their work; they liked Sunday better than Monday--nay, they made Sunday seven days long. 5. In Acts 15:4 note that the Church is spoken of in its unity. We have made it into a thousand. I do not object to denominations any more than I object to regiments; but as I expect all the regiments to bow to one throne, so I would expect all denominations to have common ground upon which they can have a common altar. Being received by the Church, the two speakers stood up to tell their tale. Have we no tale to tell? If a thief broke into your house, you would tell everybody about it. If your house was on fire, all the neighbourhood would know it. A man who has a tale to tell tells it; and he is right in doing so. We are not unwilling to speak, but we have no story to relate. 6. Look at Acts 15:5. The contention was Pharisaic. Not many of them believed, and those who did were greater opponents as believers than as unbelievers. There are hinderers in the Church as well as outside. This position was not only Pharisaic, it was founded upon a narrow reading of the letter. If Christianity is a square with well-defined walls, there are men who could stand in the middle of it and defend it bravely; but if Christianity is a horizon which recedes as we advance, and which has room enough within it for other universes tenfold larger than our own, they become bewildered, the letter is of little use to them, and so they make four corners for themselves, and subside within the prison of a creed. It is difficult for some men to see the bud in the seed. Christianity has its blossom as well as its root, its fruit as well as its blossom. The type only lives by its little self until the fulfilment comes, and then it passes away. They who upheld the law of Moses were Pharisees. How marvellous the providence that a Pharisee of the Pharisees was sent to answer them! They would have made short work of other men, but there arose a very prince of the blood, and in his presence they met an unexpected and successful check. A man who knows a smattering of a language may astound the villagers who never heard of it; but let a man arise who knows the language perfectly, and then the blatant pretender will fall away in shame. God grows His own men, and will always find His own champions. Let us rest in the God of truth, and the truth shall never be in want of a man of adequate capacity and needful eloquence to show its grandeur and enforce its claims. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 15:7-11 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up.Peter’ s speech Mark-- I. The time when peter spoke. “ When there had been much disputing.” That was the critical moment. Speeches acquire force from the time at which they are delivered. Wise men keep back as long as possible. Thus their wisdom goes for twice the value which it would be appraised at did they speak earlier in the discussion. Many a man who is not of first-rate ability allows all the ready tongues to talk first, to relieve their feelings, to show their weak ability, and to secure what noise, mistakenly called applause, they can. Then when the assembly has fatigued itself, and would be only too thankful for a deliverance from the wordy confusion, he rises, puts together the different opinions, finds the middle line, and invites the controversialists to join along that line of compromise. They hail him as a Daniel, though Daniel he is none! He came in at the right time. This is the way in all great assemblies. Peter, then, is growing in grace and knowledge. There was a time when he would have been heard first. Now that he has waited until there has “ been much disputing,” he will make his noblest speech. II. Peter kept to facts. Over some ground we walk very daintily, because we are not quite sure of it; but Peter walks upon solid rock. “ Men and brethren, ye know this is not a question of a speculative kind; I will ask you to walk with me over a road macadamised with facts.” As Christian men, we might have gone farther upon our journey if we had not tried to cut it short by crossing bogs and swamps. The longest way about is often the shortest way home. How does Peter come to speak this new language? He has been in conference with Paul. Privately Paul has bad interviews with them “ which were of reputation.” There are private processes of education going on in every life and in every house. We feel that Peter has touched the man to whom we owe doctrinal Christianity! He was an apt scholar. Keep company with the wise if you would grow in wisdom. III. In Peter’ s speech you have a whole system of Divinity. I know of nothing outside this deliverance. Here you have--1. The Trinity “ God,” “ the Holy Ghost,” and “ the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Trinity must assert itself; it does not ask to be proved. 2. Divine sovereignty. “ God made choice.” “ God gave them the Holy Ghost.” “ God put no difference between us and them.” 3. The whole scheme of Judaism. A yoke which could not be borne, but needful at the time. We must have chafing before we can have rest. God must show us what the law really is in all its details and tyrannous demand, before we cry out for mercy, pity, and grace. 4. Salvation by grace (verse 11). IV. Peter surpasses himself in the breadth of his Christian philosophy.1. He must have in all his thinking as its vital point Divine action. In fact, he says, “ Men and brethren, this is a question that involves the Divine sovereignty; that being so, I start with this fact, that I went to the Gentiles against my convictions, my prejudice, my inclinations; but the law of gravitation drew me; it was God that inspired and directed me.” The reason why we have so many superficial theories of life is that men exclude Divine action. It is not evolution that perplexes me, but creation; and I find no fuller answer than “ God created the heavens and the earth.” And so in the evolution of circumstances, the development of spiritual and moral history, I cannot consent to begin at some point indicated by a creature as limited as myself. Here, again, I say, “ My difficulty is not with evolution, but with creation; and to that difficulty I find no answer so commanding, so gracious, as, ‘ Men and brethren, ye know that a good while ago--God.’“ All the chapters of the Bible are hewed out of the quarry of its first verse! 2. Then Peter gives us a doctrine which has become commonplace to us; as uttered from his mouth it was a miracle. “ And put no difference or distinction between us and them.” We ourselves being the Gentiles received into the great Abrahamic circle, do not feel the value of the inclusion as we ought to do; but the men who were inside that enclosure, and thought they completed its circumference, when they saw a rent made in the circle of the covenant, and hordes of uncircumcised Gentiles coming in, were appalled and disgusted. What could you say to such men? Could you propose a theory of social evolution to them? They would have burned you with their angry glances! Peter went right into the broken circle, and said, “ Ye know that a good while ago--God!” There are times when we must gather up our whole enthusiasm and reasoning and hope into the Divine name, and hurl it, like an infinite thunderbolt, against all the petty action and conceit of a narrow-minded age. Think of a Jew acknowledging that God put no distinction between himself and a barbarian! You do not wonder that Peter should afterwards write: “ Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 3. And then how broad again his philosophy becomes when he says, “ Why tempt ye God?” This urging of the law beyond its intended province is a temptation of God. This is not obedience; not homage; it is temptation. Even Divine ordinances are not to be thrust beyond Divine boundaries. Paul himself never made a grander speech. How singularly and wondrously God trains one man until he is almost another! (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 15:8-9 God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness.God’ s sovereignty It is the sovereign’ s stamp which settles the question as to the right of a coin to be counted current among loyal subjects of that sovereign. When God puts His stamp of approval on a man, or on a woman, or on a movement, that fact ought to weigh beyond any individual opinion as to the original propriety of such an approval. It may seem to us that the elder and more imposing Eliab is far better suited to the kingship than the youthful rustic David; but when God decides in favour of the latter, it is time for us to reverse our opinion on this point. So, also, as to preachers and methods of preaching, as to denominational peculiarities and modes of working, as to special agents and agencies in Christian endeavour; not what we thought God would approve, but what we find God has approved, ought to weigh most with us in deciding the question of our accepting or belittling that instrumentality or undertaking. Gamaliel’ s warning is as timely for our day as it was for his, in many a matter of treating Christian work and Christian workers. In opposing those who claim to stand for God, while they differ with us, we may “ be found to be fighting against God.” (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Purifying their hearts by faith.--Purity of heart I. Its nature.1. By the “ heart” we must understand the inner, as opposed to the outer, man--the spirit and not the flesh. Circumcision--indeed any external ceremony, even Christian baptism can only affect the outer man. The text, therefore, in opposition to mere ceremonial purity speaks of purity of heart. 2. It is implied that the heart of man is by nature impure (Romans 1:28-32). Perish then the delusion that the human heart is good! 3. It is to the purification of the heart that the text calls attention. Things are commonly said to be pure when they are simple and unmixed; and purity of heart implies sincerity and simplicity, as opposed to the base mixtures of hypocrisy and deceit The work of Christian purity is commenced in regeneration There is “ a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” There are new views, principles, feelings. But these things are at first immature (1 John 2:13). The law of progress is stamped on the whole economy of Christianity. Perfect purity is the goal at which it aims. This implies-- (1) A complete deliverance from sin--its pollution and power. This is obviously implied in the word “ pure.” And here arises the difficulty, whether a perfectly pure state of heart is possible in the present life. Many contend only for the subjugation of sin, and not for its destruction, affirming that whilst the spirit remains in the flesh sin must remain in the spirit. But this is to ascribe some moral power to the flesh which it does not possess; sin is spiritual (Mark 7:21-22). Now Divine grace either can or cannot counteract this fearful state of things. If it cannot, then the work of human redemption, professedly effected by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, was inadequate. But if the grace of God can counteract the influence of sin, the question is settled. “ For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” “ Christ loved the Church … that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” “ The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.” But, say some, the work cannot be completed till death. Now, if this mean by death, it destroys itself, for death is an enemy whose office is simply to separate the soul from the body; if it mean at death, it may soon be exposed--for if Divine grace can purify the heart a moment before death, why not an hour? why not a month? why not a year? why not twenty, or even fifty years? why not now? (2) And because all sin is destroyed, love fills the heart. Hence obedience results from purity; “ this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Every spring of feeling, and all the arcana of thought are sanctified by its magic touch. The wandering eye, the listening ear, the loquacious tongue, the busy hands, the willing feet are all actuated by the ruling principle of love to God. II. Its author. “ The Holy Ghost,” as Peter elsewhere says. “ Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit first convinces of the necessity of purity; for it is by His inward illumination that we discover the corrupt state of the heart. If we welcome this discovery we shall sorrow for and hate this indwelling sin. The same Spirit will create a strong desire for deliverance, which if cherished will express itself in earnest, wrestling prayer. This will be followed by the encouraging excitement of humble hope, and the filial confidence that the desire shall be granted. Whoever thus cooperates with the Holy Spirit, the Divine Author of purity of heart, will eventually be brought to the exercise of that faith which casts out sin and purifies the heart. The reason that so few Christians obtain this great salvation will now be manifest. They do not obey the truth, whereas the law of the Spirit is that we are sanctified through the truth. “ Ye have purified your souls, in obeying the truth through the Spirit.” III. Its means. “ By faith.” All salvation is obtained by faith.1. Its warrant is the promises, (see Ezekiel 36:25-29; Deuteronomy 30:6; 2 Corinthians 6:16). These are the believer’ s fulcrum. They do actually supply to him what Archimedes once boasted as his only deficiency to rival Omnipotence. “ Give me a place on which to stand and I will move the world.” But the promises of God supply the believer with a fulcrum by which he may move both earth and heaven. 2. The object of faith is the “ precious blood” of Christ (Acts 26:17-18). IV. Its scope. It is offered to all. Whatever differences or distinctions men may make, God makes none. There is no difference with respect to--1. Our need of this great change. Throughout the world human nature is the same. “ There is none righteous, no, not one.” 2. The mode of purification. In every case it is by faith. (H. J. Booth.)Faith purifying the heart from I. Pride.1. This is setting up the honour of self above the honour of God. It is self-worship, and refuses to recognise any righteousness but self-righteousness. 2. What is the very prime object of faith! What do I receive into my heart if I realise Christ’ s work for me? Is it not this, that the mighty God, He who is greater than the greatest, higher than the highest, laid aside all His glory, and came down into the very depth of humiliation for me? If I live Christ, how can I worship self? When faith has once entered, what room is there for pride? Where is the boasted glory of man before the Eternal Word, who became flesh, and by the very hiding of His glory manifested it--through Him humiliation entered into His exaltation? Where is human merit, when once the fulness of the rich stream of God’ s unmerited grace is shed over the soul? No; the life of faith is the death of pride. 3. But does faith substitute nothing for self thus dethroned? Far from this. With the sense of a man’ s own worthlessness comes the sense of his Redeemer’ s worth--comes love to God, the true answer and return of God’ s love to him. This last, faith apprehends; that other, faith renders. The humility of those who are born of the Spirit is exactly in proportion to their appropriation of the work of Christ. As He increases in a man’ s esteem, self decreases. And thus humility is the true work of faith. II. Covetousness--the inordinate valuing of created objects--the esteeming self not by self alone, but by the things wherewith self is surrounded and enriched.1. We have in man all degrees of this sin, from the ambition which grasps empires to the miserly greed which hoards the farthing. And the secret of the sin is the same throughout all--the creature, not the Creator; my own possessions, not God’ s gifts; my position my promotion, my increased income--not my stewardship before God; it is in every case a direct consequence of the substitution of self for Him. 2. And in every case faith in Christ is as directly opposed to it. If my inner regards are really fixed on Him who gave all He had, yea, Himself, for me, where is there room in me for covetous desires? Will not he whose life is hid with Christ in God be laying up treasures in heaven rather than on earth--be enriching his home rather than his tent in the wilderness? III. Self-indulgence--the love of pleasure--the inordinate valuing of our own delights in created objects. How does faith deal with this all but universal tendency? Who is its object? Is it not He who has solemnly told us that none can be His disciple without daily self-denial? Can a man be justified by faith in Him and disregard these His words? Understand me: the Christian who lives by faith in Christ can and does enjoy life in the best and highest sense; but he cannot be a seeker of pleasure--cannot surrender his noble privilege of self-denial for the bondage in which he sees the children of the world fettered. (Dean Afford.)Faith purifying the heart Peter was enabled through his experience to answer those who said that unless a man was circumcised he could not be saved. There is nothing like practical work for Christ to teach us Christ’ s truth. For the most part heretics are a set of theorisers. They do nothing, and then criticise those who are doing hard and successful service. Give a man practical work for Jesus and keep him at it, and he will, like Peter, learn as he goes on, and, like a river, filter as he flows. Peter could not continue to believe in restricting the gospel to the Jews after the conversion of Cornelius. His actual service refined his theory. If those who ruled botanical science never saw a flower, would you wonder if they ran into gross heterodoxies of belief? Let us consider the point upon which Peter’ s argument depends. I. The agent of heart purification--faith. There was nothing but faith in the case of Cornelius, faith born of hearing, and resting alone on Jesus.1. Faith purified directly, not by month after month of contemplation; for, to the astonishment of the circumcised believers, the Holy Ghost fell upon them there and then. 2. Water baptism did not aid therein. The Lord will not permit us to mix up even His own ordinances with the work of His Spirit in purifying the heart by faith alone, and God forbid we ever should fall into such an error. 3. Do not, then, be looking for pure hearts within yourselves before you come to Christ by faith. Do not look for the fruits before you have the roots, but look by faith to the great Purifier, however impure you feel your heart to be. II. The secret of its power. Believing other things does not purify the soul; why does believing the gospel? I answer, because--1. God works by it (Acts 15:8). You know the old story of the sword of Scanderbeg, with which he used to cleave men in twain from the crown of the head downwards. As one looked at it he declared that he saw nothing about it to make it so fatal a weapon; but the other replied, “ You should have seen the arm which was wont to wield it.” Now faith looked at of itself appears to be contemptible; but who shall resist the everlasting Arm that wields it? This greater than Hercules careth little for the weakness of the instrument; but, behold, He cleanseth the Augean stable of our nature with no other agency than childlike faith. 2. God is at work in the heart by His Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit comes as a heavenly fire to consume sin, as a flowing stream to cleanse away evil, and as a rushing mighty wind to chase away all that is foul and polluted in the stagnant air of the soul. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of holiness, and as He always dwells with faith, being its Author, its Strengthener and Guardian, where faith comes the heart will speedily be purified. III. The seat of its action--the heart. Faith changes the current of our love, and alters the motive which sways us: this is what is meant by purifying the heart. It makes us love that which is good and right, and moves us with motives free from self and sin: this is a great work indeed. Hence the change which faith produces is--1. Radical and deep. It is a small matter to wash the outside of the cup and of the platter. 2. Thorough and complete. “ Rend your hearts and not your garments.” Faith lays the axe at the root, and heals the stream at the fountain head. 3. Operative throughout the whole life. A diseased heart means a sickly man all over. Neither can you have the heart right without its telling upon the entire nature. 4. Permanent. Restrain appetites which still remain, and the dog returns to his vomit; purify externals and leave the nature untouched, and the sow that was washed goes back to her wallowing in the mire. 5. Acceptable with God, who searcheth the heart. Man judgeth according to the outward appearance, but God looketh at the heart. IV. The mode of its operation.1. Faith believes in sin as sin, and sees the horror of it as an offence against a holy and gracious God. 2. Faith delights to set Christ before the heart and to make it gaze upon His side pierced by sin, and therefore hates the sin which slew its best Friend. 3. Faith delighteth much in the Person of Christ, and therefore she sets before the soul His incomparable loveliness, as the well-beloved of saints. Thus is enkindled a vehement flame of love to Him, and this becomes a powerful purifier, for you cannot love Christ and love sin. 4. Faith has a wonderful art of realising her gracious privileges. What manner of persons then ought you to be? 5. Faith has yet further a wondrous power of bringing near the things to come. What could more effectually purify the heart than the vision of heaven which faith presents to us? 6. Power is gained by faith through pleading the promises of God. “ Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” 7. Faith daringly lays hold upon the power of God Himself. How she smites the Philistines then! 8. Faith brings us real power to conquer sin by applying the blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus is the life of faith and the death of sin. All the saints overcome through the blood of the Lamb. 9. Faith gives us power against sin by mixing herself with all gospel ordinances--with hearing, communions, prayer, Bible study. Faith will enable you to draw nourishment out of ordinances, and make you vigorous against sin. 10. Faith rouses the new man to intense resistance of sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 15:11 We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved.The Christian’ s creed A confession-- I. Of penitence, which rests on a clear consciousness of sin. II. Of humility, which attests the demerits of good works. III. Of faith, which has recognised the riches of God’ s love in Christ. IV. Of joy, which is founded on the peace of a pardoned heart. (Leonhardi and Spiegelhauer.)Salvation by grace Consider-- I. The peculiar blessing of the gospel. Salvation. This implies a bondage, in which the whole human race is involved. Not content with its sway in this world, sin pursues the sinner even beyond the grave. “ All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” In the midst of this universal corruption,--the voice of the Eternal, re-echoed by the sinner’ s conscience, rolls--“ The soul that sinneth it shall die.” “ Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” Is not this a yoke from which deliverance is essential? Yes! and from this the gospel proclaims deliverance: “ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” ; and His disciples are emancipated, not only from the guilt, but also from the power of sin. II. The channel through which this blessing is conveyed. “ Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Salvation is not the reward of merit, but the gift of grace; not the purchase of man’ s desert, but the unearned bounty of God’ s free favour. As it is freely offered, so must it be freely accepted. No unbelieving doubts and hesitation on account of the magnitude of the gift and our own unworthiness to receive it; no Pharisaical standing-out upon conditions which, if required, could never be fulfilled; but a humbling sense of our own unworthiness, coupled with a grateful sense of God’ s undeserved mercy. Free grace shines conspicuous throughout the whole plan of man’ s salvation. It was grace that planned the remedy ere yet the disease was felt; it is grace that renders that remedy effectual. The Church was hewn out by grace, and by grace all its members are, as lively stones, built into a spiritual temple; and when the whole edifice shall be perfected, the Headstone thereof shall be brought forth with shoutings, crying “ Grace! grace!” unto it. Unhumbled men will doubtless be offended at this, and rejecting salvation as a gift, will endeavour to earn it as a reward by seeking to establish some distinction between themselves and more vulgar sinners; but this is all labour in vain. It has pleased God to pronounce, on the one hand, that “ by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight” ; and on the other, that man is “ saved by grace through faith.” Salvation through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only salvation recognised in the Bible; the only salvation that will either exalt the holiness, vindicate the justice, and magnify the mercy of God, or speak peace to the sinner’ s conscience and assure him of acceptance with God. Such, then, is the peculiar blessing of the gospel. A salvation altogether of grace, decreed by the grace of God the Father, wrought out by the grace of God the Son, and applied and rendered effectual by the grace of God the Holy Ghost. III. The extent to which this blessed salvation reaches. “ We shall be saved, even as they.” There is no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile; but “ the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.” Our commission, as ministers of the gospel, is as extensive as the globe on which we live. And this is true also of the various degrees of affliction and of crime. (W. Le Poer Trench, B. D.)Grace--the one way of salvation Consider the text as-- I. An apostolical confession of faith. “ We believe.” We will call it the “ Apostle’ s Creed,” and it has quite as clear a right to that title as that which goes by the name.1. The apostle did not believe in-- (1) Ritualism. All his testimony is concerning the grace of Christ. He says nothing whatever about ordinances, ceremonies; and those are the true successors of the apostles who teach you that you are to be saved through the free mercy of God. (2) Self-righteousness. Peter did not say, “ We believe that through doing our best we shall be saved like other people,” nor even “ that if we act according to our light, God will accept that little light for what it was.” If we are ever saved at all we must be saved gratis, not by wages; by God’ s love, not by our own merits. Those who preach mere morality, or set up any way except this, preach another gospel, and they shall be accursed, even though they preach it with an angel’ s eloquence. (3) Salvation by the natural force of free will. He takes the crown from off the head of man in all respects, and gives all glory to the grace of God. 2. Take this creed to pieces. It implies the doctrine of-- (1) Human ruin. Peter saw this most clearly, or he would not have been so explicit upon man’ s salvation. (2) The atonement. What does the apostle mean but the grace which came from the Cross of the Saviour? What the sun is to the heavens, that the doctrine of a vicarious satisfaction is to theology. Take away the cleansing blood, and what is left to the guilty? II. The converted moral man’ s statement. A company of Jews have assembled to discuss a certain matter, and some of them say, “ Well, perhaps these Gentile dogs may be saved; yes, Christ told us to go and preach the gospel to every creature; therefore, no doubt, He must have included them--we do not like them, though, and must keep them as much under our rules and regulations as we can; we must compel them to be circumcised.” Now, you expect to hear Peter say, “ Why, these ‘ Gentile dogs’ as you call them, can be saved, even as you.” No; he turns the tables, and says, “ We believe that you may be saved, even as they.” It was just as if you should say, “ We believe that a drunkard, etc., may be saved,” and I respond, “ You may be saved even as these.” What a rebuke that would be! This is precisely what Peter meant.1. Now, some of us were favoured with Christian parents, and consequently never did know a great deal of the sin into which others have fallen. This is cause for great thankfulness; but if you ever are saved, you will have to be saved in the same way as those who have been permitted to plunge into the most outrageous sin. In this respect we are all alike; we are born in sin, and alike are we dead by nature in trespasses and sins, heirs of wrath, even as others. 2. Moreover, the method of pardon is the same in all cases. I never heard of but one “ fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’ s veins.” That fountain is for the dying thief as much as for you, and for you as much as for him. III. The confession of the great outward sinner when converted. Now, I will speak for you. We shall be saved, even as the best are saved.1. Yonder sits a very poor believer. Now, do you expect that when you get to heaven you will be placed in a corner as a pauper pensioner? “ Oh, no!” you say, “ we shall leave our poverty when we get to glory.” Some of our friends are rich, but we believe that we shall be saved, even as they. 2. Others of you are poor in useful talent, You cannot preach, or conduct a prayer meeting, etc. Well, do you expect that the Lord Jesus will give you a second-hand robe to wear at His wedding feast, and serve you from cold and inferior dishes? “ Oh, no! Some of our brethren have great talents, and we are glad that they have; but we believe that we shall be saved, even as they.” 3. Most likely there is some doubting brother here--Mr. Much-afraid, or Mr. Little-faith; but, how is your heart? Do you believe that you will be put off with a second-rate salvation--will be admitted by the back door into heaven? “ Oh, no!” say you; “ I am the weakest lamb in Jesus’ fold; but I believe that I shall be saved, even as they who are the strongest in grace.” 4. I will suppose that there has been a work of grace in a prison. There are half a dozen villains there, but the grace of God has made new men of them; and, if they understood the text, as they looked across the room and saw half a dozen apostles, they might say, “ We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as those apostles are.” 5. I will select the three Marys whom Jesus loved and who loved Jesus. These holy women, we believe, will be saved. But I will suppose that I go to one of our Refuges, and there are three girls there who were once of evil fame: the grace of God has met with them. These three might say, humbly, but positively, “ We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we three reclaimed harlots shall be saved, even as they.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Common salvation I. An anticipation of an invaluable blessing. “ Salvation” implying deliverance from spiritual danger, the enjoyment of spiritual good, the attainment of heaven. Man’ s state rendered redemptive interference necessary. Law was followed by rebellion: rebellion involves penal consequences.1. The Scriptural statements of man’ s guilt and danger. 2. Observation and experience verify the Word. 3. The individual involvement in guilt and danger. 4. The necessary elements of salvation. Freedom from debasement, defilement, fear of death and judgment and what lies beyond. The bestowment of life, immortality, heaven. II. The method by which this blessing is to be secured.1. The Incarnation was for the purpose of securing human salvation. Determined in the councils of the Father; types prefigured it; prophecy proclaimed its approach until the fulness of the time came. The necessary proofs of His appointment were the voice from heaven, miracles, witness of Scripture to His character and mission. 2. The manner in which He met the requisite conditions of human salvation. He was a great teacher, but He was more at the last supper, in the garden, on Calvary. There salvation effected. The fire fell and consumed the sacrifice which must otherwise have consumed the world. 3. Christ’ s sufferings were propitiatory, and formed part of a plan essential to the manifestation of the Divine mercy. Apart from Christ’ s atonement there is no salvation. 4. The Saviour rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and presents there the memorials of His sacrifice. 5. The principle upon which this salvation is bestowed. Through grace, unmerited mercy. Penance and merit are excluded. III. The types which will be followed in the bestowment of salvation and the extent to which it shall be carried. “ Saved even as they.” The mistake of Jewish converts that they had some advantage. Their attempt to impose circumcision.1. This salvation is available wherever the sovereignty of God applies it. (1) This is true of the various nations. Of all to whom it has been sent we can say we shall be saved even as they. (2) This is true of all the varieties and degrees of crime. (3) This salvation binds its recipients in perfect union, “ Neither Jew nor Greek.” (James Parsons.) Acts 15:12 Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul. Apostolic testimony 1. When Paul speaks we want to know what Paul says. But some men must be their own reporters. So we turn from the Acts to the opening verses of Galatians. Where Luke contents himself with a summary, Paul passes into detail. Some reports are too condensed, and therefore unjust. The minister “ called and prayed.” We do not say that he walked miles, and that when he prayed his heart wept. 2. Paul says he went up to Jerusalem “ by revelation.” If he had gone up to Jerusalem awed by its position and fame, he would have picked out dainty inoffensive words that would win the ear of many. In reality, Paul went from heaven to Jerusalem, and withered its contemptibleness under the majesty of the visions from which he had just turned his eyes. We have dropped the word “ revelation” except on the Sabbath, when we venture to say it sometimes. We have meaner words--such as impression, feeling, etc. These are inoffensive terms; an atheist might use such mock jewellery. The apostle said, “ I went up by revelation. I knew that the truth was with me, and I was anxious only that Christ’ s Cross should be lifted up and seen everywhere as the one way of salvation.” 3. Was Paul then afraid of Jerusalem, and “ pillars,” and “ men of reputation” ? Paul was anxious to let the leaders of the Church know exactly what he had been preaching, so he had a private interview with those who were of reputation. Could we have heard him then! Speaking to a sympathetic audience, to men who had seen the Lord! Paul had no fear about his gospel. He said, “ I have been preaching salvation by Christ; now, brethren, what say you?” 4. Paul was not ashamed of his Gentile converts. He took Titus with him, and said, “ This is a Gentile convert. He has begun in the Spirit; is he to be made perfect in the flesh?” Always vindicate your arguments by your converts. 5. Paul illustrates by anticipation the right of private judgment. To those “ who were of reputation,” “ who seemed to be pillars,” he “ gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour.” And speaking of those “ who seemed to be somewhat,” he said, “ They added nothing to me.” Where, then, was submission to papal authority? Here is one man who stands up in the Church, and says, “ This is the gospel which I have received, which I will preach, for which I mill live, for which, and in which, I will die.” “ I am crucified with Christ,” etc. That was the true assertion of private judgment: not the expression of an individual will, but the expression of a personal loyalty to a living Christ. 6. Paul showed the true nature of real and enduring unity. In effect, he said: We may be one without seeming to be united. There are men to whom circumcision is a hereditary rite. There are others to whom it would be an intolerable yoke. Now, let us go, the one to the circumcision, and the other to the uncircumcision; for I know that as this gospel spreads it will be seen at the last that neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. 7. But the council could not break up so. “ One thing,” said the council, “ shall unite us--that we remember the poor.” The poor have ye always with you. So they all--the circumcision and the uncircumcision--in philanthropy showed their union in the Lord, who lived to redeem the human race! Speculative theology divides men; practical philanthropy unites them. Let us unite where we can. Never inquire into the creed of a needy man. The man is hungry; the creed must be bread. When he has eaten his bread you may ask him questions. Begin where you can; wherever the heart door is ajar, go in; wherever opportunity is offered, speak the living word or do the helpful deed. Always seek for the centre of union, and always avoid the cause of division or distrust. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 15:13-29 And after they had held their peace, James answered.The decision of the council This was a crisis in the history of the Church. The greatest disasters might have befallen it at this critical time. The man who saved the Church was Paul. There was in him a fine spirit of conciliation as to methods and usages; but when it came to the liberty of Christ, and the independence of the Church, he stiffened into inflexibility, and he “ gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour.” The little picture before us enables us to look into the detail of early Church life. Note here-- I. The place of human thought and independence in the consideration of Christian problems. No man was hooted down on either side. In modern Christian controversy we have all seen lamentable spectacles. It makes one ashamed of the Christian cause when orthodox men employ a heterodox tone for the purpose of putting down an opponent. Take care how you maintain a good cause. I have seen an infidel display a nobler spirit than has been shown by his nominally Christian antagonist. Here the discussion was full, impartial and thorough; due deference was paid to the apostles and elders; all things were done decently and in order. II. The beginning of Christian liberty. A wrong step here, and Christian liberty would have been lost. Paul was raised up at the very moment of time. He who made havoc of the Church now kept it together. Under the illumination of Paul the horizon of James widened. Sometimes the Church needs inspiration more than information. When the grate is full of fuel, what is wanting is a light. James began to see that Christian liberty was founded on prophecy. How did James become so great a man all of a sudden? Because he had touched the Pauline spirit. Great men make great men. We do not need a new Bible; we need new readers. It was actually found that in the Old Testament this very question had been settled. In every synagogue Moses was read, and nobody understood him. III. The sight way of treating new converts. They were to begin by not doing things. The trouble with our new converts is that they are converted on Monday, and on Tuesday promoted to places of eminence. The apostles said, “ Brethren, you will do well to begin by not doing certain things.” That is where we ought to begin. IV. The happier aspects of controversy. But for this controversy, who knows when Paul and James might have been brought together? And after the controversy was over, the bishop writes: “ Our beloved Barnabas and Paul.” James looked at the question partly from the characters of the men, and he called them “ men that have hazarded their lives for our Lord Jesus Christ.” So judge in every controversy, This proof of devotion must go for something in the exciting controversy. It is not enough to be clever; we must be true. What have we done for the Lord Jesus? (J. Parker, D. D.)Wherefore my judgment is, that ye trouble not them which from among the Gentiles turn to God.-- A triumph of spirituality and liberty A few lessons come to us from a study of that first Ecclesiastical Council. I. We see in this conference the true way of settling difficulties, both between churches and between individuals--it is by conferring together. That does not mean by writing letters, or making assertions at arm’ s length, but by getting near to one another so that the persons distrusted may be seen and understood. If that letter had been sent from the Church at Antioch to the Church at Jerusalem, and Paul and Barnabas had not been seen--a living spirit can never be put into cold words--the judgment of the council might have been different; and St. Paul would have continued on his way, and there would have been a breach between those who ought to have been united. I have come to feel that letters almost always make more difficulties than they mend. Let those who misunderstand one another come together, take each other by the hand; while one says to the other, “ Now, perhaps, I do not understand you; you explain your meaning; let me explain mine.” Few enmities could withstand that process. Only an egotist of the first water ever believes that he has all the truth. The life in nature has one manifestation in a flower; another in a tree; another in an animal, another in a man; none conflict; they are only varying manifestations of the one energy which pulsates from the sun. We have one name for the sum of life and all the manifestations of energy, and that is, the universe. The universe of matter and life is too vast for any individual to comprehend--how much more incomprehensible is the spiritual universe! Differences of opinion on doctrine and ritual will arise. There is but one right way to adjust such differences between individuals or in churches, and that is for those who feel themselves growing apart to take the first opportunity to look into each other’ s eyes and clasp each other’ s hands as brothers, and then bring all the things which separate into light. II. The Council at Jerusalem makes very clear the distinction between liberty and authority in the Christian life. Christians recognise only one authority, and that is God. Just so fast and so far as the will of God concerning them can be learned, they are under obligation to obey. We are at liberty to believe everything that is true, and to do whatever is right and expedient; all encroachments on this liberty are to be resisted; and in the last analysis we ourselves must decide what is true, wise and right. How easy it would be if someone else could decide for us! Men are made strong by the exercise of their faculties. Those representatives of the venerable Church in Jerusalem came to Antioch with their “ Thus saith the law,” and there the law was written in cold black letters as it was supposed to have been written by Moses himself, and they said: “ Can you get away from that?” If the letter was to decide, the case was already closed. But St. Paul believed that there had been another revelation; that while law had been best for one time, it was not for all times; that he had a commission from Christ to preach His gospel wherever there were souls to be saved; and so, turning away from the letter, he boldly and confidently followed the spirit. But while we emphasise liberty and individual responsibility, we cannot fail also to see that, if we really desire to know what is true and right, we must be very careful about going contrary to what is generally believed to be truth and right by those who we have reason to believe are Christians. If, for instance, in this Church of nearly seven hundred and fifty members, seven hundred believe that one course of conduct is wrong, and one believes that it is right, that one ought to be very sure that he has not been influenced by prejudice, conceit, or some evil motive before he concludes that he is right and all the others are wrong. This Council at Jerusalem illustrates the proper relation of liberty and authority. When the Jewish party asked to have Titus circumcised, and so indicate that the law was still binding, Paul indignantly refused. When the meddlers came from Jerusalem and stirred up a misunderstanding, he said: “ Well, let us confer together” ; in other words, “ I am willing to find all the truth that there is anywhere; the only authority is in truth and right--that is in the revealed will of God--and all men are free from all other obligation except the obligation to obey the true and the right.” To learn that, he was willing to go to Jerusalem. So should we be, or to go anywhere else. III. This contest in the early Church makes plain the contrast between spirituality and formality in religion. Men are everlastingly inclined to put emphasis on things of no importance. The Pharisees who tithed mint, anise, and cumin are not yet all dead. Formality says: “ If you observe certain rites, you are doing all that is required of you.” Spirituality says: “ Have the mind of Christ; wherever you can do good, do it; pray without ceasing; no one place alone is holy, but all places are equally holy because God is everywhere; live the life of love, and open your hearts in the day and in the night so that the Spirit of Truth may lead you at all times.” Why do we have so many denominations? What is it that separates Christians but this everlasting tendency to put emphasis upon form rather than life? Life can always be trusted; it will make its own form. All we need to be anxious about is to make sure that our poor weak human hearts are open to the Divine life. No ceremony is of any value except so far as it contributes to growth in the spiritual life. The apostle violated all the traditions by which he was surrounded, but in doing so he tore a rift in the world’ s darkness, and made it possible for the sunlight of the grace of God to flood a struggling race. But the question presses, If we are to trust the Spirit rather than forms, how are we to know whether a man has the Spirit? Well, first, what difference does it make whether we know or not? Who made us judges? “ To his own master he standeth or falleth.” But we may know whether men have the Spirit. “ By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one toward another.” (A. H. Bradford, D. D.) Acts 15:23-29 And they wrote letters.The Apostolic letter 1. A model of brotherly love and Divine wisdom.2. A pattern for the modern Church.3. A great standing deliverance from all ceremonial and ritualistic observances. Improvement--(1) Be not narrow-minded.(2) Trust in Christ and not ordinances. (J. Dowse.)The yoke broken I. The relation of Christianity to Judaism. The decision was an admission that the Jewish ordinances were not permanent or essential. That old system had only “ a shadow of good things to come.” It educated for the gospel, and having accomplished this its work really ended. The gospel succeeded. Christ was declared to be the end of the law to everyone that believeth; and the apostle to the Gentiles said, “ He is not a Jew which is one outwardly,” but “ We are the circumcision which worship God,” etc. To insist on the continued obligation of the Mosaic customs would be like drilling a reader in the alphabet. As well might the butterfly keep up its caterpillar existence--fly and crawl at the same time. For the Gentiles to practise the customs of the Old Law would be both irksome and also liable to lead to the error that salvation was dependent on these observances. Against this danger Paul most carefully guarded. The epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians are the strong ramparts which were erected to oppose it. II. The tolerant spirit of Christianity. It seems strange to have such an example in the infant Church, since toleration is usually the fruit of long experience. Even more surprising is it, when we consider the antecedents of the men who displayed it. They were Jews, of a most bigoted race. One of the hardest lessons for men to learn is to unlearn, and act contrary to early convictions. Though they themselves, through force of habit, continued to observe the national customs, they would not bind the Gentiles to do the same. It is strange that this decision should have been ever forgotten. The intolerance which has resulted from losing sight of it has been the disgrace of Christianity. The greatest names have been in fault here. As an old divine says, “ Whilst we wrangle here in the dark, we are dying and passing to that world which will decide all controversies: the safest passage thither is by peaceable righteousness.” III. Christianity, while tolerant in spirit, has its self-denials (verse 29). If, after their conversion from heathenism to Christianity, they still continued to eat meat offered to idols, and to frequent the idolatrous feasts where it was served, they were more likely to relapse into their old heathen life. “ Evil communications corrupt good manners.” The same thing in effect has to be perpetually guarded against. The Christian of today must, for his own spiritual good, beware of certain worldly habits and indulgences, lest he go back to the world. (A. H. Currier.)Saying, ye must be circumcised and keep the law.--Legal Christians Thousands and tens of thousands of Christians yet live in the dreary shadow of legalism. God is only Lawgiver and Judge to them; and their experience is limited, first, to self-condemnation and suffering, then to violent endeavours of the spirit, or of the body, or of both to throw off this suffering, with results, sometimes of exhaustion, and sometimes of unnatural peace, and then to reaction into moral indifference, arising from a totally unsatisfied heart and soul. There are thousands of persons who think that they are Christians because they are endeavouring to live aright, but they are Christians because they are endeavouring to live aright no more than a person is at home because he is trying to go there, though he does not know the way. A child that has lost its father’ s house, and that is striving to find it, is not at home, but is a wanderer; and the person that is simply endeavouring to live aright, and nothing more, and that when he measures his life by the law of God, as interpreted to him through his own conscience, is conscious of daily breaking that law in every direction, is no more a Christian than a wanderer is a child at home. For a Christian is one that has found his way home, and to the fatherhood of God, and not one that is merely seeking to do his duty. A Christian is a child under the parental roof, saying, “ Abba, Father.” (H. W. Beecher.)Our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Two heroes I. The principles by which they were actuated.1. The highest admiration for their Lord and Master.2. An entire consecration to His service. We must honour Christ-- (1) From gratitude.(2) From duty. II. The work they undertook. “ To proclaim the name,” etc. This was--1. An arduous duty.2. A disagreeable toil.3. A continuous self-sacrifice. III. The reward they attained.1. A reward of their magnanimity.2. The approbation of God.3. An immortal crown. IV. The instruction they impart.1. That there is something more precious than life or pleasure--Christ.2. That however humble our sphere we may hope to accomplish something for our Lord and Master.3. That whatever efforts we may make for our Master’ s glory shall be acknowledged and rewarded by God. (Preacher’s Analyst.)The motto of Christian service During the American war with England, a young midshipman named Joel Abbot was serving under the United States flag. Winning the good opinion of the commander, he was put in the way of promotion by being commended to Macdonough, then controlling the forces on Lake Champlain. Reports were received that the English were accumulating a large supply of spars at Sorel. Could not the spars be destroyed? Who would undertake the task? Joel Abbot was sent for. Grimly the commander asked him if he were willing to die for his country. “ Certainly, sir: that is what I came into the service for,” was the prompt reply. Entrusted with the dangerous commission, Joel Abbot fulfilled it in the spirit of his words. The perils and privations of his exploit were so great, that although he came back alive, he was completely prostrate for a considerable time, and his recovery was slow. Later, a sword of honour was voted him for his gallantry. How is it with soldiers of the Great King--workers for Christ? The test word of this service is “ Self-surrender for Christ.” A life hazarded for Christ A touching story is told as characteristic of the missionary spirit by a friendly writer in the Contemporary. Rev. John Robinson was suddenly summoned one day to the Leper asylum to baptise a dying convert. My friend went in fear and trembling, baptised the dying man, consoled him, and then was seized with a throe of mental agony. It is the custom of many missionaries on receiving a neophyte, especially if sick, to give him the kiss of peace. Mr. Robinson thought this his bounden duty, but he was himself a half-breed, and he was absolutely persuaded of the Indian theory that leprosy, though non-contagious in the case of a white man, is frightfully contagious in the case of one with native blood in his veins. He hesitated, walked to the door, and returned to kiss the leper on the lips and then to lie for days in his own house, prostrated with an uncontrollable and not an unreasonable nervous terror. A superstitious fool, the doctor thought him. True soldier of Christ, say I, who, when his duty called him, faced something far worse than shot. Christian self-devotion For some time after Mr. Hunt settled in Somasoma, one of the Fejee Islands, his life was in daily danger from the hostile and cannibal savages. But he went on with his Christian work, and when the captain of an American warship heard of their threats to kill and eat the missionary, and sent to offer him an asylum on board his vessel, Mr. Hunt declined with thanks, saying that he regarded the horrible depravity of the natives as only an additional reason for risking his life to convert them. Life hazarded in Christ’ s cause I. The spirit which is described in the text. Several particulars are included here.1. Their ardent love for Christ Jesus. It was not always thus with these men. Paul’ s object was to root out the name of the Saviour. What occasioned then this marvellous change? In his case they were very extraordinary means. In other cases, the means are ordinary. The Spirit of God convinces them of sin, shows them that they have no help in themselves; but must accept Christ and His cross. And then they love Christ. They love Him (1) For dignity of His person. (2) For the perfection of His atonement. They “ love Him because He first loved them.” (3) Because He has taken their nature and their cause to heaven. When they see this, it is impossible but their hearts should glow with love to such a Saviour. The life He so dearly bought becomes His, and they “ hazard it” willingly in His service. 2. Their high estimation of the gospel. Man is a depraved creature. This depravity exhibits itself in different forms; in one country in idolatry, in another in blasphemy, etc. Philosophers have bent over the scene and wept, and politicians have devised innumerable schemes to recover fallen creatures. But they have failed. Now God sent the gospel to redeem and sanctify man. Now the men, that “ hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus,” believed that there was “ no other name whereby men might be saved” ; and therefore they published it. They had the conviction of an enlightened understanding, and an experimental enjoyment of the truth. 3. Their tender compassion for lost souls. Christ’ s value met their enlightened judgment. “ What shall it profit a man,” etc. They saw millions of immortal spirits, hurrying on to irremediable woe. Now when the men had this remedy, and saw souls in this condition, and had their hearts lighted with the heavenly fire, you do not wonder that they went forth and “ hazarded their lives” to communicate it to lost souls. 4. The aggressive spirit in which they attempted to set up Christ’ s kingdom. They did not wait till a petition came from these miserable souls, requesting them to send the gospel; or till a door was opened by some special act of the government of the country, or a change of opinion took place among the people; but wherever they could open their lips for Jesus Christ, there they went, though edicts were issued against them, and they were imprisoned and reviled and threatened with death. 5. Their exalted character in the opinion of the Church. They selected them to go on an important embassy, as men who copied most of their Master’ s spirit. It appeared to them, that the chief excellency was in “ hazarding their lives for Him.” Doubtless many in their day considered them very visionary men, and thought they had better not plunge rashly into things; but “ the apostles and elders,” those who had love to Christ, thought their zeal their glory, and held it up to the imitation and approbation of the Church. II. Lessons.1. We see in the text a picture of fallen and of regenerated humanity; and among which class are you? Here is one class of men, opposing those who come to them with the gospel; here is another, ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. “ He that is not with Me is against Me.” 2. A suitable apology for all those who exhibit the same conduct. By many it has been upbraided as zeal without knowledge. But here is the answer; it is done “ for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” A soldier “ hazards his life,” it may be, for fortune, for fame, for honour. But here are men who “ hazard their lives,” without honour, fame or fortune, “ for the name of Jesus Christ.” 3. One of the modes by which God augments the number of His servants and the efficiency of their service. “ The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” It is not the cold, calculating, cautious men, who carry measures either in Church or in state; but the men who “ hazard their lives” for the cause which they undertake. 4. The honour which God puts upon us by permitting us to send out such men to evangelise the world. 5. A spirit worthy of imitation. Who is willing to “ hazard his life for the name of our Lord Jesus?” (J. Sherman.)The true missionary Once, in lifting from its shelf a certain folio, there fluttered out from between its leaves a paper dated 1763. It had evidently been mislaid as soon as it was written, and one hundred years after, just where the writer left it, I found it. It ran thus, “ We beg to certify that the bearer, Mr. John Wyers, is well known to us, and we do hereby commend him to all Christian Churches where, in Providence, he may come as a godly minister who hath much devoted himself to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This was signed “ David Fermie, Thomas Blackett.” My text is a line out of an old letter of introduction written by the elders of the Church at Jerusalem. Now, this old certificate is not to be torn up for waste paper as a thing that is now dead and done with. It is a live thing, it is wanted now, to show what kind of missionaries are wanted, and how the armies of Christ in the field of foreign service are to win the day. Just take the words as they stand. I. Men. An ancient lawgiver said, that what Sparta wanted was not a wall of bricks but a wall of men. “ Men,” said a certain sarcastic journalist, “ are cheap.” No. If “ men” be what is meant by certain advocates of “ muscular Christianity,” then men are cheap, but when I look at Paul I remember that it is not muscle that makes a man. If you mean by a “ man,” an undesigned result of molecular forces, then men are cheap, and they ought to be, but a man is not the consummation of a tadpole. If by “ men” you mean an average human being, men ought to be cheap; but many a human being passes for a man who is not so much a person as a thing. What I mean by “ man” is a son of Adam, who has been born again, and who is therefore a Son of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and of whom we may say, “ Like father, like son.” I want to blow into infinite space the mean, false notion that anything will do for a missionary; anything will not do. Before you are a missionary you must be a “ man.” II. That have hazarded their lives. This, in itself, is not matter for plaudit. Most extreme must be the case, when the author of life sanctions the hazard of life. But, while grace makes us understand the sanctity of life, grace inspires us with a will to give ourselves to the service of something higher than life. That man is not worth calling a “ man” who lives to save himself. The man who answers to the standard we are now looking at, is a man who, being called to the service of Christ, is prepared, if need be, to hazard his life for that service. III. For the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This means that the men hazarded their lives--1. Out of love to Christ. The name of a person is the person to whom that name belongs. We all know the rousing, or soothing, or melting magic of a name. But no name has such power to stir the hearts of men as the name of Jesus Christ. When it was first uttered to the Jews, it stirred their hearts to hatred. Among the most inexorable and deep haters was Paul. He breathed out threatenings and slaughters till Jesus stopped him. After that, the love of Christ set his life on fire. What have we hazarded for Christ? Where is your love to Christ? Is that the thing you call love? Then love knows how to take care of itself; looks upon religion as a question of safe investment and social respectability; sometimes joins the Church like a traveller taking his ticket who books himself quite through, wraps his rug around him, and goes to sleep till the train stops; hates originality like the plague. What you call love I call prudence. But love, whether to God or man, tends to scorn of consequence, and to the forgetfulness of self. 2. Out of obedience to Christ. “ If ye love Me keep My commandments.” The commandment now waiting for our obedience is, “ Go, make disciples of all nations.” Now it is strange the first thing men in general do is to give their opinion about this. One man is of opinion that it is unnecessary; another, that it is impossible; another, that we should look at home; another, that we should civilise first; another, that every nation has already its own religion fitted to its own nationality. But Christ waits not for our opinion but our obedience. The question is how we can best obey. Some can best obey in this way, some in that. The principle is not that Christians should leave work at home for work abroad, but that all Christians are charged with the evangelisation of the world to do it between them. Though the difficulties may be massive, they are not your concern. “ Charge,” is the captain’ s cry. Say, as the negro said, “ Does Jesus Christ ask me to jump through that stone wall? Here I go at it.” 3. In the service of their fellow men. It is a great service to save lives, and a noble thing when men do it at the hazard of their own. Lady Edgeworth, in the days of King Charles II, had suddenly to defend the family castle at Lissom, in the absence Of her husband. In doing so she had to go down and fetch powder from the castle vaults. On her return she said to the woman who had gone with her, “ Where did you put the candle?” “ I left it stuck in the barrel of black salt.” Then did that glorious lady go down to the spot where the candle was burning into the powder, and put her hand round it like a cup, and lift it up and take it out, and so at the hazard of her own life saved the lives of others. Dear, glorious lady, that was well done. The lifeboat with its brave crew shoots out into the night over the swaying hills of water, to snatch twenty men off from a wreck. On their return, when the cry comes on the wind, “ All saved,” my heart gives a great bound, and I say, “ There is a noble service nobly done.” “ The Son of Man came not t¢ destroy men’ s lives, but to save them” ; and if it be a great thing to save the lives of bodies through the hazard of our own bodily life, it is a small thing to hazard it to save the lives of souls. Conclusion: We learn from these men-- 1. How our faithful and mighty Master through all hazards keeps His servants alive until their work is done. 2. Only men like these hazard their lives, and the men who at Christ’ s call to service most totally give themselves up, most totally let themselves go, are the men whom the “ King delighteth to honour.” (C. Stanford, D. D.)Who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.--Preference for the spoken word The Dean of Rochester said: A woman said about a certain preacher, “ He’ s a very nice gentleman, but he has no deliverance.” He himself had been wont for years to preach written sermons. One night, to his horror, the church was so dark that it was impossible to read his sermon. He passed through a brief period of anxiety. Then, thinking, “ Have I nothing to say to these people? Am I really a servant of God?” He threw himself on the Holy Spirit’ s help, and spoke as best he could. The churchwarden apologetically told him that the people said “ It was the best sermon he had ever preached, and they hoped he would never read another.” “ Nor did I,” said the Dean; “ and then I awoke not to find myself famous, but at any rate more useful than I had been before.” The spoken word A preacher is, in some degree, a reproduction of the truth in personal form. The truth must exist in him as a living experience, a glowing enthusiasm: an intense reality. The Word of God in the Book is a dead letter, it is paper, type, and ink. In the preacher that Word becomes again as it was when first spoken by prophet, priest, or apostle. It springs up in him as if it were first kindled in his heart, and he were moved by the Holy Ghost to give it forth. He is so moved. (H. W. Beecher.) Acts 15:28-31 For it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and to us.The Holy Spirit and the Church Here we have-- I. The spirit guiding the church.1. This was in accordance with the Saviour’ s promise. 2. This was demonstrated by the previous history. Pentecost; the mission of Philip to Samaria, and to the Eunuch; that of Peter to Cornelius; that of the disciples to Antioch, and that of Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus and Asia Minor. With each of these the work of the Spirit was directly connected, and each pointed to the widening of the Church’ s boundaries so as to embrace the Gentiles. 3. This is guaranteed still, and may be detected. (1) In the evangelistic impulses of the Church.(2) In the doors of opportunity opening to the Church--the second invariably following the first. II. The spirit’ s guidance acknowledged by the church. “ It seemed good,” etc.1. “ And to us” is not an assumption of co-ordinate authority, for the Church is a creature and servant of the Spirit. It simply means acquiescence in the decision of the Spirit as indicated by recent events and no doubt by special inspiration. 2. “ And to us” gives weight to the Spirit’ s decision, inasmuch as-- (1) Part of the Church had been opposed to what was now clearly the mind of the Spirit.(2) Part of the Church had known the Spirit’ s mind, but had taken no further steps.(3) Part of the Church had fully acted in the disclosures of the mind of the Spirit. So the divided Church was now united upon the only true basis of union. This is a lesson to the Church in all ages. When men, in spite of early training, prejudice, etc., give themselves to the work of God, what a mighty testimony to the Spirit’ s guidance. III. The spirit’ s guidance seen in the decision of the church.1. In the liberality of its sentiment, “ Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” 2. In its sanctified common sense. Certain things were “ necessary” in order that Jews and Gentiles might work together. (J. W. Burn.)The upshot of the first ecclesiastical assembly a triumph of the Holy Ghost 1. As a Spirit of freedom over the yoke of external ordinances. 2. As a Spirit of faith over the illusions of our own wisdom and righteousness. 3. As a Spirit of love over pride, obstinacy, and narrow-mindedness. (K. Gerok.)The first principles of Church life and action 1. In things necessary, unity (Acts 15:11).2. In things doubtful, liberty (Acts 15:19).3. In all things, charity (Acts 15:7; Acts 15:11; Acts 15:20). (Irenaeus.) Acts 15:36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren … and see how they do.Church visitation Paul felt that he was not called to spend a peaceful though laborious life at Antioch, but that his true work was “ far off among the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21). He knew that his campaigns were not ended; that as a soldier of Jesus Christ, he must not rest from his warfare, but must endure hardness, that he might please Him who had called him. As a careful physician he remembered that they, whose recovery from sin had begun, might be in danger of relapse, or to use another metaphor, he said, “ Come, let us get up early to the vineyards: let us see if the vine flourish” (Son 7:12). We notice here for the first time, a trace of that tender solicitude concerning his converts, that earnest longing to behold their faces, which appears in the letters which he wrote afterwards, as one of the most remarkable and attractive features of his character. Paul was the speaker, not Barnabas. The latter’ s feelings might not be so deep, nor his anxiety so urgent. Paul thought, doubtless, of the Pisidians and Lycaonians, as he thought afterwards at Athens and Corinth of the Thessalonians, from whom he had been lately taken (2 Thessalonians 2:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:10). He was “ not ignorant of Satan’ s devices.” He feared “ lest by any means the tempter had tempted them, and his labour had been in vain” (1 Thessalonians 3:5). He “ stood in doubt of them,” and “ desired to be present with them” once more (Son 4:2). We are here reminded of the importance of continuing a religious work when once begun. We have had the institution of presbyters, and of councils, and now we have an example of that system of Church visitation, of the happy effects of which we have still some experience, when we see weak resolutions strengthened, and expiring faith rekindled, in confirmations at home, or in missionary settlements abroad. (J. S. Howson.)The pastor’ s visit to his flock Solomon tells us that “ to everything there is a season,” etc. Among these he specifies a time to plant and a time to build up. The husbandman must not only sow, but he must use other arts of cultivation, to ensure the abundant crop; and the architect must not content himself with laying the foundation, but must rear the superstructure. Thus, too, it should be with the ministers of the gospel. There is a season when they are to break up the fallow ground, and one in which they should examine whether their labours have been successful--a season when, having laid the basis, they are to build thereon, and raise to higher elevation that structure which is to grow into a holy temple of the Lord. I. Let me offer some prefatory remarks which rise out of the text.1. Christianity is a religion of benevolence. Those greatly mistake its character who suppose that its possessors are to become recluse. Nor does it merely refine and direct our social affections, in reference to the ordinary engagements of life, but it renders their subject solicitous for the best welfare of those by whom he is surrounded. It was on the principle of holy love giving birth to pious zeal, that Paul and Barnabas went among the heathen preaching the gospel of the kingdom. They were solicitous for the improvement of those who had received the truth in the love of it. Here is a test by which to try our ministry--we are not to be content with calling men “ out of darkness into marvellous light,” but we must be anxious for their advancement in religion. 2. Christian ministers and people should stir one another up to works of usefulness. Barnabas was incited to this particular part of his work by Paul. Now this teaches us to provoke one another, “ to love and to good works.” This association is important. It often happens that one has knowledge but no wisdom, ardour but no discretion, and therefore his companion may act as a regulator to the rapid movements of the watch or a machine, etc. Besides which, “ two are better than one,” in counsel, strength, courage, probable success, because, bye combination of their talent and energy, they may accomplish what the solitary individual could never effect. 3. Wherever the disciples of Christ travel, they should endeavour to do some good on the spots which they visit. 4. Expectations of fruitfulness in proportion to the means of cultivation are justly cherished. Paul and Barnabas visited the Churches, hoping to witness the auspicious results of their missionary efforts. II. Indulge in some close interrogations as to your state.1. Personally. (1) Sinners! How is it with you? Have you reaped any advantage from the discourses which you have often heard? (2) Believers! How do you do? What of your knowledge? is it more clear, extensive, deep? What of your faith? does it embrace more firmly the testimony of Jesus? What of your love? is it more fervent? What of your patience? does it bear with more submission the afflictive dispensations of providence? What of your zeal? (3) Backsliders! How is it with you? Have you seen your error and mourned your departures from God? (4) Afflicted Christians! How do you do? Are your trials mortifying your corruptions? (5) Young people! How do you do? (6) You that are advanced in life! how is it with you? Are you like old trees stretching your fibrous roots wider and deeper into the earthly soil on which you stand? 2. Relative. My inquiry is, whether you whom God has set in families have established an altar in your houses. Is there a spirit and life in your sacred transactions? And are you guarding against those hindrances to these engagements which will multiply upon us without great caution? Do you, mothers, take your little ones alone, and converse with them about Him who says, “ Suffer little children to come unto Me” ? Do you, fathers, charge your offspring to fear the Lord in their youth? But, perhaps, some will say, we have no families. Have you any leisure hours? Are you living an idle and a selfish life? 3. Collectively. Suffer me to ask whether as a Christian society you are constantly bearing one another on your hearts before God in prayer--whether you are regular in your observance of the Lord’ s Supper, and are walking in love, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself for you? whether you are sustaining the several institutions connected with your place of worship? III. Glance at the advantages which are likely to result from this inquiry.1. It will tend to the removal of obstructions to the prosperity of our Christian society. The artificer and the engineer frequently look into the works of the watch, or the wheels and different parts of the machine, that they may remedy any defect which examination may discover. The husbandman often walks along the fields which he has sown, to notice whether the weeds are growing there; and he cuts down the thistles and nettles, which would hinder the growth of the corn. Thus we may discover and correct those evils which are apt to creep into the best constituted communities on earth. 2. It sets the minds of many at work. The spirit of anxiety on behalf of yourselves will necessarily produce a solicitude on behalf of your families, etc. Thus all reap the benefit. 3. May I be allowed to make a reference to our own ministerial encouragement and satisfaction? You, who are in business, are not content unless you are making a profitable concern of your avocation, and are grieved if you are not making a good percentage on your capital. And do you think that we do not long for success in our occupation of saving souls from death, and winning them to Christ? 4. To all which I will add, that another result will be the extension of such an aspect in the Church, as to produce a favourable impression upon spectators without. They will see that Christianity is not a mere profession, but a real and important business. (J. Clayton, A. M.)Revisiting the Churches I. Revisiting the churches. The converts’ old faults still clung to them in part, and their union in the same Churches stirred up strifes. They were but weak bands in the midst of worldly and licentious communities. No wonder that their spiritual father felt the necessity of confirming their faith (Acts 16:36; Acts 16:41). Brief report of a large work, parts of which are more fully disclosed in the epistles. Such labours are the main work of every pastor, too commonly underestimated in comparison with revival effort. The evangelist comes to a people with many advantages, and no wonder that he succeeds. But the hardest work yet remains--to lead the new converts from the excitement of revival scenes to the steady activity and growth to daily religion in commonplace surroundings. II. The new work. Old scenes arouse longings for new service. On the edge of the light the darkness is terribly visible. The better to do this new work, Paul finds a companion to take Mark’ s place in Timothy, who had doubtless been converted with his mother and grandmother during the apostle’ s first visit, and had already gained the confidence and praise of the Church. He is circumcised, simply to avoid needless irritation of Jewish prejudice, and then ordained, making a good profession before many witnesses. The work in Phrygia and Galatia is told in a single sentence, with that inspired reticence which is more surprising than speech. Paul and his companions seem to have been inclined to devote themselves to a region so important and receptive; but God was calling them another way. We note in passing that this heavenly control is attributed first to the Holy Spirit, then to the Spirit of Jesus, then to God. So Ananias and Sapphira are said to lie to the Holy Ghost, unto God, and to tempt the Spirit of the Lord. These unstrained allusions show how deeply fixed in the early Church was the doctrine of the Divine Trinity. Very striking, also, are the disclosures of the Lord’ s guidance of His servants. In planning his journey to this point, the apostle depended upon what we may call business sagacity--his knowledge of the Churches and their needs. Now pushing on to promising work, he is suddenly turned away by direct supernatural interposition. Then comes the most vivid disclosure, calling to strange and overwhelming tasks. How like the Christian life of today! At one period our path leads on in common, uneventful ways. We realise no Divine guidance, no special care or appointed mission. Again, in the thick of useful labours, we are hindered, forbidden. Sickness, loss, failure, etc., sharply arrest us, to our wonder and grief. But there are glorious hours when the call comes divinely clear, as it did to Paul at Treas. The blood of Trojan and Greek had stained the earth where he stood. Xerxes, Alexander, and Caesar had lingered here, and crossed to their conquests. But the grandest event which ever happened on that shore was the vision and the cry which led the gospel of Christ into that continent which ruled for centuries the mind and the heart of the world. Conclusion: One great truth breathes through the whole--the living Christ is always present in His Church.1. How else could He trust us with such interests?2. How else could we bear such responsibilities. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)Paul’ s second missionary journey I. The work resumed.1. Working together. The Council at Jerusalem had been an interruption, but was more profitable to the Church than if the apostles had kept on with their work. For the settling of great principles, at times even a revival may well stop. And the principle which they went to settle was one that strengthened the nerve of revival effort among the Gentiles. 2. Working apart. (1) The cause of the separation, from which we learn that a quarrel can arise-- (a) Over a very good cause. (b) Between very good men. (c) Between very good friends. (2) The results of separation. A division of the field of labour. By this the whole field was more quickly revisited, and Mark made into a good worker for Christ. II. The work prospered.1. The workers increased (Acts 16:1).2. The Churches increased. The Churches were strengthened by the visit, and so “ increased in number daily.” Each day was a birthday of souls. There were no blank days in their books of record. III. The work enlarged.1. Guided by the Spirit. Twice the Spirit did not allow the missionaries to preach the Word where they were inclined to proclaim it. He suffered them to work in Galatia and Phrygia. In the latter region they gathered some disciples (Acts 18:23), and in the former there grew up some Churches as the fruit of their labours (Galatians 1:2). But they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia, and when they essayed to go into Bithynia, the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not. 2. Called by the Spirit. “ Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” Now they understood why they had not been permitted to preach in Asia, or to go into Bithynia. God had closed those doors that He might open to them a wider one. The call of the heathen today for the gospel is a call of the Spirit. (M. C. Hazard.)Paul’ s second missionary journey I. A new journey decided on.1. The reason for this decision. It shows Paul’ s zeal. Had he not already done his share of this perilous work? It was very pleasant at Antioch. It needs a missionary fully to understand the sweetness of that simple phrase, “ with the disciples.” It was not only pleasant to abide at Antioch; certainly they were very useful there, “ teaching and preaching this word of the Lord.” Why not let well enough alone? What an appalling mass of work yet remained to be done at home! But God saw that the best thing for Antioch herself was to send forth her best men to distant and still darker fields. The missionary force sent to Antioch, and then to Asia Minor and to Europe, did not weaken--it strengthened--the Church at Jerusalem (Acts 15:3-4). It rolled back to the Churches at home accumulating and mighty evidence of the power and faithfulness of their living Lord. 2. The preparations for the journey. Who shall form the party? Important question! It is a vital matter, both for their happiness and their usefulness, that they should be congenial companions--especially that they should feel great confidence in each other. Paul felt that he must be sure of his comrades. Still, it is not strange that Barnabas should have favoured his young relative. They could not agree, and accordingly they wisely decided to divide the field. So, to a great extent, our missionaries do today. It would be somewhat difficult for Methodists and Baptists and Presbyterians and Episcopalians all to work together in the same party and on the same ground. And they need not. The field is large enough to give to each body a place of its own. Yet their hearts are one. Paul chose Silas, already well known and useful, for his companion, and after a farewell meeting in which the Church with prayer and words of love “ commended them to the grace of God,” the two departed. II. The plan of their journey.1. The former fields were revisited. (1) What did those fields need? (a) Sympathy. He knew that the converts must suffer “ much tribulation.” And there are tens of thousands of Christian converts in heathen lands today in equal need of sympathy from us. (b) Inspection. “ Let us go again and see how they do.” Read closely the allusions in the Acts and Epistles to the first Churches, and you will see that they needed careful supervision. These converts had just been plucked out of utter paganism. Even their elders and preachers were in many cases men who had never seen a Christian example except for a few days in Paul. It was inevitable that errors and abuses should creep in. This necessity is the same now. (c) Instruction. A thousand questions plain to us were new and full of perplexity to them. Discussions about so simple a thing as the meats they might eat arose, and there was need of special warning and teaching respecting some matters of the most ordinary morality (chap. 15:29). Think of Paul in the fulness of his Christian knowledge and his power burying himself for years in remote provinces to teach these weak, dark-minded people the first beginnings of Christian truth on such points as these! It may well rebuke the folly and fastidiousness of any Christians who feel themselves too nicely educated to take a Sunday school class, and the vanity of any preachers who think themselves too gifted to expend their lives on the heathen or even on a “ country parish” in their own land. (2) What they gave. (a) Multiplying converts. Paul found that the Churches he had planted “ increased in numbers daily.” His visit gave them a new impulse. The parallel between missions then and now is still maintained. In no part of Christendom today is the rate of increase in the Churches equal to what we see in the Churches planted in heathen lands. (b) Ripening Christian character. These converts were “ established in the faith.” Notwithstanding the faults to be expected both in Paul’ s day and ours, there has always been witnessed growth in knowledge and grace, and on every field lives which have filled the hearts of our missionaries with joy. (c) Most notable help. From the neighbourhood of Derbe came Timothy. The annals of modern missions tell of numbers who, without his advantages, have more than equalled the devotion and courage of Timothy. Have you ever read the life of Quala, the native preacher of Burma, or of Papehia, the first fruits of Tahiti? 2. New fields were opened. Phrygia and Galatia, large provinces north of Lycaonia, are traversed by them. There also Churches sprang up as the result of their labours (1 Corinthians 16:1). At a point about a hundred and fifty miles from the coast Paul would stand with Bithynia on his right, mountainous, but wealthy and populous, a favourite region with the emperors of Rome; on his left Asia, with its great ports and cities, Ephesus, Sardis, Thyatira, Laodicea, Philadelphia, Smyrna, with vast populations sunken in idolatry and utterly ignorant of the gospel. What a field! And it is just at hand. It seems a well-laid plan, but it is for some unknown reason “ forbidden by the Holy Ghost.” Paul then turns northward; but again “ The Spirit suffered them not.” Mysia also, under the same Divine intimations, they are compelled to “ pass by.” It must have seemed a strange providence! What is this unknown plan which God has laid? At length they reach Troas. It is a great mercantile city. Is this their destination? No. Thus far all their own plans are thwarted, although no doubt formed with thought and prayer. But they need not mourn. They are now to see God’ s plan disclosed. That night there is given to Paul a vision: “ There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.” Yes, to another continent the seed of the gospel is to be borne. It is to be planted. God shall watch over its growth and spread in those new lands. Then Paul may return and preach in Asia. (1) It is a circumstance useful for us to notice that even so good a man as Paul is often led by God in the dark. (2) A lesson is found in Paul’ s interpretation of the vision. That Macedonian phantom called for help. Upon the wharf at Troas stood four wayworn travellers, unknown, penniless. What succour had Greece to ask from them? There never had been a civilisation on earth equal to hers, and yet there she lay, wretched and guilty beyond anything which we are permitted to describe. What wonder is it that when Paul heard that prayer for help he “ gathered assuredly that the Lord had called him to preach the gospel unto them” ! Give the gospel, first of all, if you would give sure help to any people. Would you help a fellowman? Tell him of Christ. Would you help your country? See to it that every village and every lane in her crowded cities is reached by the gospel. Would you help this unhappy world? Then hasten in the spirit and the wisdom of Paul to bear the gospel to every Macedonian shore. (A. Mitchell, D. D.)Paul’ s second missionary journey 1. Christianity is essentially missionary in its purpose.2. God will direct by hindering or helping His servants in doing His work.3. God wants the best equipped servants for missionaries.4. God will not allow honest differences among His servants to hinder “ the gospel’ s progress.5. God will always give increase in numbers where His people are established in the faith.6. The gospel will have accomplished its purpose only, when there shall be none to cry--“ Come over and help us!” (J. M. King, D. D.) Acts 15:37-39 And Barnabas determined to take with them John. The contention between Paul and Barnabas The contents of this chapter are famous for two things, that had most contrary events. The one, how a great variance was concluded with a happy concord. The other, how a small variance did proceed to an unhappy discord. The great variance was, whether such as were converted to believe in Christ must continue in the observation of the law of Moses. For some in the first verse of the chapter were so rigid that they held, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. This point was decided. And they that were Jewish were overborne by a moderate determination agreed upon by all the apostles and elders that met at Jerusalem. But when matter of doctrine and deep dispute could not divide the Church, Satan laid a smaller stumbling block in their way, and the two most holy servants of God, Paul and Barnabas, dashed their foot against it; and they that plucked a beam out of their brother’ s eye were troubled with a mote in their own. It was not about a point of doctrine, but upon a circumstance of a person, no way considerable to the main benefit of the gospel, that begat a quarrel and a disjunction between them. Rather than Barnabas would suffer Mark to be discountenanced, he would forsake Paul. Rather than Paul would consent to Mark’ s readmission, he would forsake Barnabas. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder the one from the other. Upon the handling of the text in several points--1. We must enter in at a breach. Here was a contention. 2. This struggling was not between mean and ordinary persons, but between the champions of the holy cause, between Paul and Barnabas. 3. It was not carried with meekness and cool temper, but it swelled high, it was παροξυσμὸς, a sharp, a fretful contention. 4. They fell not out for anything that touched the life of truth, or the honour of Christ; the fortunes of Greece, as the proverb is, did not lie upon it; it was only about the accommodation of a person, whether Mark were fit for the present work: that was all the matter, and no more. 5. As small a matter as it was, it waxed to a separation, and to disjoin these two in body as well as in mind. They departed asunder the one from the other. Now I resume all this again. I. And that which we meet first of all at the door of the text is contention. None of the least sins, none of the least punishments. For if Babel itself could not be built up among discord of tongues, how much more can Sion never be well built up with discord of hearts? If the nets be broken, the fishers of men may catch a draught, but they can keep nothing. Cut a seed of wheat in twain, and the pieces lose the nature of fructification. If words be not well put together they will make no sense; and if men’ s senses do not well join together in one profession, they will make no Church. Contention is the devil’ s wedge to rive asunder the Cross of Christ; it turns order into a heap, amity into jangling, unity into schism, and truth into heresy. The work of men is contention, the way of God is peace. We are sure He is in the still voice, and we are sure that He is not in the whirlwinds of controversies and uproars. Be it therefore propounded what we should do as well as pray, that we may be one, and that no contention fall among us. First bring a supple, a soft, a tractable mind, that hath a good affection to agreement, and I will undertake to furnish you with rules enough, that if you differ in no greater things than Paul and Barnabas did (yea, what if they were greater?) you may soon greet one another with the kiss of peace. “ Only by pride cometh contention,” says Solomon (Proverbs 13:19). He that is wise in his own opinions will never want occasions to begin them, nor arguments to maintain them. And he that thinks the yielding party loseth in his honour, had rather lead and perish than follow after and be preserved. But humility is limper, and will easily bend; it is never given to contradiction; it stands not upon vain points of reputation, to carry the sway in every opposition. For let the wrangler get the better in obstinacy, the modest Christian shall overcome in charity. Mortify self-love, and peace will please you better than victory. The best that he can say for himself that continues in contention is, It is unreasonable that I should yield, for I am in the right. It were no hurt for a modest judgment to suspect itself in that confidence of persuasion. After this which I have required, that men be not rigid, but humble and flexible, the rules to be kept for composing smaller debates, and my text reacheth to no other, are these:1. There is no exception to be made against the sentence of the law under which we live. 2. As the kingdom hath statute law, so the Church hath canons, which served our turn, to much benefit, in the best ages, before imperial laws came forth to help us. 3. When some cases fall out, for which neither laws nor canons have provided, custom hath much force to decide them. Long permission is a tolerable confirmation. 4. If it fall out that laws are silent, and customs are contrary one to another, then, by the privilege which we have above beasts, we must resort to reason. 5. I report me to the apostles, how they handled a discord in this chapter. Some would have all the ceremonies of Moses kept, which would have made the Gentiles become Jews, and not Christians. To prevent all schism, the apostles and elders fall upon that course, which we call media consilia, a middle temper. Some ceremonies the Gentile shall conform unto, that will appease the Jew. Some ceremonies the Jews shall forego, that will edify the Gentile. 6. What think you of arbitration? And the fewer arbiters the better. When many take the thing in hand, commonly it is so long a doing that it is never done. Make the appeal then to few. II. Though there are so many remedies to stop contention, law, canons, custom, reason, middle temper, arbitration, yet my text tells you they do not always prevail, for the most considerable members of Christ’ s body were at odds, Paul and Barnabas, which is the next point. Had they been enmities with infidels and pagans, with those that are without, they had been natural: for “ what agreement hath light with darkness?” But this was a war at home, among themselves, a civil war. God help us if the right hand fight against the left, when both are made to defend the body. When the rams of the flock contend, the poor sheep that look on must stand amazed. But I stand to this doctrine, that Paul and Barnabas, and such good men as they are, may pursue a good meaning in a contrary way one to another, and be guiltless. For it is the ignorance of good men, and not their perverseness, which makes them seek the true end by multiplicity of means, and very opposite. Cloth of the same making hath not always the same dye. And they that are propense to glorify one God in the same Church, with the same charity, do not always build with the same materials. Paul loves the Church as well as Barnabas, but he would not offend it for want of justice. Barnabas loves the Church as well as Paul, but he would not offend it for want of clemency and compassion. Here is one wool and one cloth, but dipped in two colours. Then I let you see, that for their part that do equally consent to maintain the true gospel, the inequality of their judgments may be inoffensive. I would I could say for our own parts, that the dissensions of our Reformed Churches were unblamable, and that there were no transgression against charity in our discords. And no wonder if there be turbulent opinions in the congregation of malignants; for the best of God’ s servants draw not the same yoke without a little jogging of the ark, there was a contention between Paul and Barnabas. III. Nay, to our wonder, it rested not there, it exceeded the bounds of meekness, for in the third point my text says it was παροξυσηὸς, a sharp contention. “ An unanimity of opinions is not necessary to friendship,” says Aristotle very well. Dear friends may retain the sweetness of love together, and yet vary in some conclusions of judgment. The dissensions of them that keep benevolent minds are not failings out, but wranglings. As Paul resisted Peter to his face (Galatians 2:11) boldly, but charitably. His confidence for the truth became him, and his inoffensiveness commended him. It was otherwise at this bout between him and Barnabas; passion and provocation transported them both so far, that it was a sharp contention. The Greek word παροξυσμὸς hath a cursed meaning in it. When a disease hath intermitted awhile, and begins its access and violence again, that is called a paroxysm of sickness; and when a babble is worse and worse louder and louder, that is a paroxysm of contention. These two, that had been fellow soldiers under Christ’ s banner, in so many travails, in so many perils, in so many persecutions, they cannot bear with one another with patience; and they that were ready to die together cannot live together; they that were the strongest confederates in the world are the strongest opposites. Oh what a fickle and fallacious thing is the concord of men! Yet I must not say that the sharpness between two such sweet olive branches had any taste of the acid of reproach, or that they pierced one another with opprobrious speeches. I do not onerate them with any such accusation. Have they no regard of their common brotherhood in Christ, who are not satisfied to contend, but they must mix sharpness with it? And no small quantity. A sting is a little matter; they tear one another in pieces as with the paw of a lion. Their pen drops nothing but gall and venom, as if their quill were plucked from the wing of a cockatrice. And who is there of a candid and a clean soul that will not sooner be gained with the coolness of charity than with the heat of rage. IV. Having acquainted you that Paul and Barnabas did disagree, and not simply so, but with some eagerness and provocation, might not a solid judgment suspect that some great offence had thrust itself in between them? You shall find it otherwise, that the contention was in no weighty cause; it touched not the life of truth, or the honour of Christ. The verse before my text will tell you all in the beginning of it, “ Paul thought it not good to take Mark with him.” And our translation gives it more than is due to it, as I conceive. We say that “ Paul thought it not good,” as if it were a matter of good or evil. Much better thus, as I apprehend, “ Paul thought it not fit.” It was not what was good, for it was good either way, but what was more fit and meet that made the controversy. “ This is fit,” says one; “‘ Tis not so fit,” says his partner; a poor beginning for a sharp contention. It may be supposed, as I find it in part in a good author, that Barnabas pleaded on this wise for Mark. He had shrunk indeed from his calling, and left Paul at Pamphilia; but it was not strange in a novice to be a little daunted, when he was in jeopardy of his life. But give him his due, he had not renounced the faith, but retired home for fear of the world’ s anger. Yet he defended not this fault, but repented, and bewailed it. Now he would fain begin afresh, for he felt himself by the grace of God more strong and resolute than ever. Should not indulgence be shown to his unfeigned repentance? Surely the son of so good a mother deserved some mildness and favour from the presidents of the Church. And what was more proper to Christ’ s commissioners than to reconcile offenders that had gone astray? These reasons prevailing not with Paul, you may imagine with me, if you please, that his sentence was to this purpose. That they are worthy of great reproof that make excuses, and follow not Christ when He calls them. An easy pardon would flatter him in his fault; this repulse would make him know the magnitude of his sin. And why might not Paul have remitted a little of his rigour to have gratified Barnabas? And why not Barnabas have taken the denial friendly to content Paul? Sacrifice small and indifferent things to the fruition of peace. To hold fast to our conclusions in petty matters with all the strength of our will and wit is not constancy, but a worse thing. V. This is the last point, and the saddest word of the text, this ἀποχωρησις, the departing asunder. To come even with the time I will fall presently upon the use.1. This is utterly against our Saviour’ s rule, “ Go and be reconciled to thy brother” (Matthew 5:24). A wound will never be healed but by drawing the parts together that were dissolved. Affability and sweet conversation strikes fire out of a flint. But disjunction of persons is an eclipse of friendship, till the light of one doth shine with a propitious aspect upon the other. I know that in the case of these two apostles, though they were prevented with an error, yet shortly after their unkind farewell they returned to their Christian temper, and afterwards in sundry texts of Scripture Paul did put himself in the same scale with Barnabas, as with his sworn brother, as 1 Corinthians 9:6 : “ I only, and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?” And Galatians 2:9 : “ James, Cephas, and John … gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship.” Here is another thing worthy our consideration. If Paul and Barnabas had both gone to Cilicia, Cyprus had wanted them; or if both had gone to Cyprus, Cilicia had wanted them. Now they were singled they propagated the faith of Christ both by sea and land. Barnabas sailed into Cyprus, and Paul journeyed into Cilicia. This was not like a bowstring snapped asunder; but they were two strings to one bow, and that which was division to themselves was multiplication to the gospel of Christ. Finally, they performed what they intended, to “ visit their brethren in every city, where they had preached the Word of God” (verse 32). All governments, in all ages, have approved this to be the best way to conserve unity. It is impossible to avoid a multitude of corruptions in faith, and not to contract a prodigious licentiousness in discipline. Paul and Barnabas supervised the several cities where they had laid the foundation of evangelical faith; and, like careful rulers, interposed the power with which Christ had endued them, to keep their brethren dispersed far and wide in one. Though they were two upon a small disgust, yet they remembered there was but one Shepherd and one sheepfold, whose peace they studied to preserve by their pastoral vigilancy. (J. Hacket, D. D.)The dissension between Paul and Barnabas The two men were bound together by early associations, perhaps had been schoolmates at Tarsus. When Paul came to Jerusalem, Barnabas was the first to trust and welcome him. They were both devoted to the work among the Gentiles, and had shared the dangers and the glories of the first missionary tour. This companionship ended with the controversy about Mark. However unfortunate, it was not strange. Barnabas had reason for his confidence, Paul for his distrust. Both were right, both were wrong. They could agree only to disagree; and the second missionary tour was begun in unhappiness. Many familiar suggestions arise from this scene. I. Very good men may have faults. These two had confessed at Lystra that they were men of like passions with us, but now each seems to have forgotten that; neither will make allowance for the other. We cannot expect always to have our own way, even when we are in the right. Were it certain that oar opponent is wholly in the wrong, we have no right to forget that, notwithstanding this error, he may be a good man. Trust his proved character. Do not lightly imperil a fellowship which has grown up in kindly helpfulness. A few hot words may undo the love of years, as a few blows of the axe cuts down the oak of a century’ s growth. The Master had only faulty disciples, but He never lost one real friend. What would have become of them, of us, did He dwell upon real faults as much as upon possible virtues? II. Personal characteristics and surroundings affect the judgment. Barnabas was Mark’ s uncle; he knew him better than Paul could, and loved him better. The trusting spirit which had welcomed the newly-converted persecutor now received the repentant backslider; yet this charity of itself did not prove the young man was deserving of such a trust. Charitableness and affection become leniency, putting unfit men into responsible positions. Courage and self-denial stiffen into severity in judging weaker brethren. III. One sin brings other sins and many sorrows. Mark’ s weak shrinking shamed himself, dishonoured his Lord, and betrayed these true yoke-fellows into a pitiable strife. IV. Christ uses imperfect labourers. He has no other. God must make the folly and wrath of man to praise Him, since folly and wrath appear even in true disciples. V. True Christians will not remain at variance. How glad we are for that message from Paul to Timothy, “ Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry” ; and for the commendatory mention of Barnabas ten years later, in writing to the Corinthians. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)The quarrel of Barnabas and Saul The fact that such a scene is recorded proves the genuineness of the men. Had it been their object to impose upon mankind, such a scene as this would have been either not mentioned at all, or would have appeared in such a form as to conceal altogether what is morally offensive. As genuine men, they reveal themselves to us in the costume of real life, with all their imperfections about them. Note here-- I. That probability is no certain guide for us in judging the future. To all who were acquainted with these apostles, nothing could have appeared more improbable than that they should ever quarrel. They were both good men, they were old friends. They had been fellow labourers for a long time. They were apostles too, acting under the inspiration and direction of Christ. Under such circumstances, could anything appear more improbable than that such men should quarrel? Yet they did. We look to the future, and say, probably such an event will happen; yet how often the future falsifies our calculations and disappoints our hopes. II. That little things are often more trying to the temper than great. These men for years had been in the most trying circumstances together. They had contended together with the bigoted Jew and the idolatrous Gentile. They had just returned from Jerusalem, where they had engaged in a most exciting debate, and seem to have gone through the whole of these things with unbroken equanimity. But now the mere question as to whether John should accompany them produces great irritation. Now this seems to us a small matter compared with other things that engaged their united attention; and yet it was this that broke the harmony of their friendship. It is often so. Call men together to discuss small questions, and they will quarrel; call them to work out a great object, and they will be cordial and unanimous. The best way to promote Church union is to engage in great works. Flies irritate the noble steed more than the roll of the chariot wheel. III. That Christianity allows scope for discretionary action. These apostles took upon themselves to decide as to whether John should accompany them or not. No principle was involved in it--it was a mere question of expediency. We are allowed no discretionary action either as to moral principles or cardinal truths. But there is much in connection with the methods of extending Christianity that is left entirely with our judgment. Hence the discussion at Jerusalem was under the direction of the Holy Spirit. But here there was no special direction. Many such questions are left for such treatment--Church government, etc. IV. That the best of men are not absolutely infallible. When the apostles spoke and acted under the inspiration of the Spirit, they were infallible. But they did not always thus speak and act, as the event we are discussing shows. There is but one perfect example, and thank God there is One; and He is to be followed through evil as well as good report. V. That under the gracious rule of heaven evil is made subservient to the progress of good.1. An increased area of usefulness. Instead of one district for both, which was contemplated, there was one for each. It led Paul into Europe. 2. An increased power of usefulness. Instead of two men there were four. VI. That earnest work will inevitably rectify our tempers. They had not been parted long, I presume, before every particle of animosity went out. We find Paul referring kindly to Mark (Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 1:24), and also to Barnabas (1 Corinthians 9:6). (D. Thomas, D. D.)The quarrel about John Mark As a general rule there is nothing more miserable than to dwell upon others’ short comings. I call attention to the faults of three disciples to see that the old Adam is not utterly killed in the best of men. I. The sharp quarrel between Paul and Barnabas. Mark, fired perhaps by the zeal of Paul, or impelled by the roving fancy of youth, had gone with the two to Antioch. They then took him on a missionary tour, but just when most needed he deserted. By and by, when another tour was in contemplation, Barnabas proposes to try him again. Paul refuses, and the contention was sharp. The only wise thing about the whole matter was the separation. It is far better for men who cannot work comfortably together to separate. If the contention had been patched up neither could have gone to the work with wholeheartedness. There were faults on both sides, but it would be difficult to say on whom the lesser blame rested. On the one hand there was the brave consistency which felt that a weak and irresolute man was not to be trusted with such a perilous mission; on the other there was the honest conviction that Mark was worth another trial.1. The most godly men are still liable to sudden falls. A man never becomes so advanced in holiness as to get beyond the danger of old faults of temper. Let us seek the grace that makes a man the conqueror of his own spirit. 2. Those who are engaged in the same work may have antagonistic views on matters of prudence. It is no use trying all to see with one eye. Meanwhile we must have the spirit of charity, and bear with schemes which seem stupid and court failure. II. The different stages of Mark’ s life which these verses reveal. The unpromising youth often surprises us by superior development. Soldiers who have quailed before the first fire have afterwards distinguished themselves as brave men. So with Mark. Barnabas’ encouragement, combined with the sharp tonic administered by Paul, made a man of him. Both are needed today. III. The honourable confession of Paul that Mark had turned out better than he had expected. (E. H. Higgins.)Paul and Barnabas, their contention and separation I. The apostles were not going forth as the delegates of a supreme central legislative assembly.1. There was union between the Churches, but that was purely spiritual.2. The visit was perfectly natural.3. Being a second visit, it was calculated to show that they were not ashamed of their principles, nor afraid of their opponents. II. Stability of character was necessary to usefulness in such a mission.1. Friendship is no reason in itself why a man should be promoted to office.2. Fickle men are not to be trusted in the service of truth when there is difficulty in the way. III. Differences of opinion should not lead to the abandonment of principle.1. Some wreak their vengeance on the cause of truth.2. When two men cannot agree to toil in the same corner of the vineyard, let them honestly divide, and betake them to other departments.3. The holiest men may have ruffled tempers sometimes.4. The apostle afterwards received Mark into fellowship. “ To err is human--to forgive, Divine.” (J. Parker, D. D.)The separation of Paul and Barnabas We are now out in the open air again (verse 35). For some days we have been in a stifling atmosphere, listening to great men debating the vexed question of circumcision. We feel our need of rest, after the passionate excitement through which we have gone. We will now live amongst friends, and be quiet and trustful, and grow in our apprehension of Divine purposes. Yet this is not to be. We come out of one contention into another. This is life all through and through--namely, a series of conflicts. Observe-- I. Paul’ s love of work--“ Let us go again.” Paul was bitten again with mission hunger. He himself was earnest; therefore he could not tolerate insincerity. There was no breach in his all but infinite integrity, and therefore a flaw in other men was not an accident but a crime. In his criticism of Mark, Paul gave a criticism of himself. Paul meant his work to be solid and enduring. This was the very purpose he had in view--namely, to consolidate young believers and immature thinkers and students; and to take with him, on such a mission, a man who himself had turned back from the plough, was an irony which vexed his soul. His purpose was to “ confirm the Churches,” to make them stronger and stronger; and to be working with an instrument which had already broken in his hands was a moral irony, from which his very spirit recoiled. Everything depends upon the kind of work you are going to do. There is a place in the Church for everyone, and that is the problem which the Papacy has solved. The Papacy can use all sorts of men; Protestantism can use only one or two kinds. We must learn to employ men in proper departments who do not come up to the Pauline standard of excellence. Do not throw away any man for the sake of one fault, or even two. There may be a great deal of soundness in the apple that has upon it one patch of rottenness. II. Barnabas’ charity. He is willing to give a man another chance in life. By so much he was a great man. From the point of righteous discipline, there can be no doubt of the grandeur of Paul; but a man who would give a youth another chance seems to me to have in him the true spirit of the Cross. Take heed how you administer discipline. Thank God for the few men here and there who are willing to try us again! We owe them our lives: we ought to live for them. We have hitherto considered Barnabas only a well-disposed, loving man, who would sit down or stand up, go or come, just as some superior nature might suggest or require. Such are often amongst the sternest men. Barnabas said to Paul, “ No!” and even Paul could not change that No into a Yes. Afterwards the judgment of Barnabas was vindicated. Barnabas was in this respect a further-sighted man than Paul. There is only one infallible Person in the Church, and he is its Lord. Paul was but a man at the best; he himself said so. “ Who then is Paul and who is Apollos?” In this respect Barnabas was a greater man than Paul. He is the true intellectual reader who says about a young man, “ He has the Spirit of God in him, and the indestructible seed of the kingdom.” And he who, twenty years after, simply gives in to facts is not a man of penetration at all. Young man, live in the warm sunshine of those who hope the best about you. You owe nothing to the men who affirm your excellence when they cannot deny it. III. There are mitigating circumstances in this controversy.1. Both men were honest. It is something to have to deal with honest men, even when they oppose you. 2. The contention was not about the Master. Paul and Barnabas did not take two different views of Christ. They are not going to found separate theological sects. 3. The work was not abandoned, but was doubled. The destinations they selected were revelations of the spirit of the men. Barnabas goes into obscurity, Paul rises like a sun into a broader firmament. 4. The parties afterwards become reconciled. We have already said good-bye to Peter; so now we must say good-bye to Barnabas and Mark. At this point they both retire from the Acts of the Apostles. The withdrawment is in a kind of thunderstorm. Surely this cannot be all. Such lifelong friends cannot part in this way! We must know more about this. In 1 Corinthians 9:6 we hear again about Barnabas, and in 1 Peter 5:13; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11 we hear again about Mark. Well done, Mark! Well done, Paul! Few men have moral courage to correct themselves openly, to repair wrongs which, however unconsciously, they once inflicted. (J. Parker, D. D.)Unity in disunion I. St. Paul’ s proposal (verse 36) to revisit the congregations was a proof of his sense of the precariousness of the Christian life. Throughout his Epistles we have the expression of the same spirit. He has scarcely left a place, when his anxiety about the well-being of his converts becomes too painful for him to bear. He sends back his only companion, and consents to be entirely solitary in a strange city, if he may but gain the desired tidings as to the stability of those whom he has left behind. It was so already at this early point in his ministry. It is a good thing to form new plans, originate new machineries, and carry the ministrations of the Church into homes and haunts which they have not yet penetrated. But in all this we must take heed lest we be chargeable with not well following up a work which has been well begun. When an impression is by God’ s grace secured, still it may fade and flag and at last disappear if it be not vigorously and earnestly and constantly renewed. Oh, how precarious is the work of grace in the most promising of us all! What snares does Satan lay for the young, the newly confirmed, the just awakened, the recently reformed! So soon is the ground once cleared again overgrown; so soon is the impulse once communicated checked and impeded; so soon is the seed once sown snatched away, or scorched in its first budding, or choked finally in its growth; that there is need to say in the words here before us, “ Let us go again,” etc. II. The result of the proposal. Barnabas shared St. Paul’ s feeling. But in settling the details of the enterprise a grave difference presented itself.1. The subject of this dissension was a Christian subject. They were at variance as to the best way of prosecuting Christ’ s work. It was not a quarrel arising out of this, that one of the two had gained, what both could not have, of the riches or honours or pleasures of the world. It was not that one had disparaged the ability or the probity or the spirituality of the other, and that this must awaken in the natural mind a resentment to be shown in retort or cherished in malice. Happy should we be, if our faults were only those of an excess of zeal and tenacity in reference to the work of Christ and the interests of souls! 2. That infirmity was redressed in the wisest and best of ways. It was with the dissension of two apostles, as with the dispute of Abram and Lot, Where no Divine law compels coexistence, separation is oftentimes the best cure for discord. “ Live and let live.” If two of God’ s servants cannot see things alike, let them agree to see them differently. If they cannot act together, they can at least believe together, and hope together, and together love. If each has Christ’ s work and glory at heart, they will all be reconciled by the great reconciler: death, which is the gate of heaven, will make the crooked straight, and the rough places plain. 3. Separation was in this case followed--we know it--by concord. III. The various aspects of the history.1. The Holy Scriptures are no flattering tale. There is no screening, no palliating, of the infirmities of holy men. If men will make mischief of this they must. If men will say either, Because a saint did this, therefore it cannot be sin; or else, Because such a man did this, therefore he cannot be a saint: they are left to do so. The business of the Holy Scriptures, in these respects, is with facts, not with inferences. That Book which paints not men as either demons or heroes; that Book which tells me just what is true, and teaches me how to rise out of this which is truly the natural man into this which is as truly the Christian man; how to mourn over myself without despairing, and how to deal justly with others and yet not condemn; that I call a true Book: I see there man as he is, and God as He is: I see there a light to my steps, because it describes truly the wilderness which I traverse, and because it shows me how and by what guidance I can traverse it in safety. And if I see that the Book describes all else truly, because according to my daily experience of man and of man’ s world, then I can believe it when I see that there is one Person, just one, and one only, whom it paints as indeed without sin; perfect Man, as much in the blamelessness of His life, as in the completeness of His nature. 2. This passage sets before us an all-working and all-ruling and all-restoring Providence of God. Out of evil comes forth good. Out of human infirmity there grows Divine strength. The unity of the work is broken, but out of the one divided there has sprung a two-fold completeness. (Dean Vaughan.) Acts 16:1-3 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and behold a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus.Timotheus 1. The first of Paul’ s missionary journeys reached its furthest limit at Lystra--the most uncivilised place he ever visited. Even here, however, he left a Church which he now found standing steadfast, and among its members a youth of peculiar promise, who bore the now famous name of Timothy. 2. On the mother’ s side Timothy was a Jew. Both mother and grandmother were devout, and it is therefore surprising that “ his father was a Greek,” and probably a heathen. Mixed marriages were held in horror by orthodox Jews. At Lystra, however, Jews were few, and the rigour of custom must have been relaxed. Timothy had never been circumcised. But what might escape remark in Lycaonia, would prove a scandal elsewhere; and with his usual practical judgment, Paul “ took and circumcised him” before he led him forth to work. 3. The spiritual ancestry of Timothy is as clearly marked as the natural. Prepared for the willing reception of the gospel by the godly education of his childhood, he became Paul’ s “ own son in the faith.” In the interval between the two visits he had advanced to a character of marked ability and usefulness. Paul, always on the watch for helpers, saw the materials lying ready for a noble missionary life. “ Him would Paul have to go forth with him.” And with this period we connect the numerous allusions to his ordination service. The Church appears gathered in solemn assembly. He makes “ a good profession before many witnesses.” Then the apostle explains the labours and the risks of the Christian warfare, and charges his “ son” to be brave, patient, and believing. The laying on of hands succeeds; and the prayer of the Church rises to heaven on his behalf. Nor in vain; for to that moment is referred the special anointing of the Spirit which fitted the young man for his future ministry. And, amid smiles and tears, we see him going forth into the great world, in the footsteps of the Captain who had chosen him to be a soldier. 4. Timothy’ s work constantly widened in range and in importance. Very young when he went out with Paul, it was fitting that he should at first remain in the background. But, from references in the epistles, we discover how usefully and industriously he was employed. From Corinth he is sent to the Thessalonians, “ to establish and comfort them in their faith.” From Ephesus he is sent to the Corinthians “ to bring them into remembrance” of the truth they seemed to have forgotten. He passed through his apprenticeship in a loyal and loving spirit; and presently rose to be a master, with enterprises of his own. Still comparatively young, he is left at Ephesus with an Herculean task on his hands. He becomes the recognised successor of the great apostle, invested with an authority hardly inferior to his own. When that apostle’ s end draws near, and he seeks someone to be his comforter and executor, it is to Timothy that the summons is sent; and we learn, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, that he was imprisoned for Christ, and, if tradition is to be trusted, he died at last a martyr’ s death in the streets of his own turbulent Ephesus. 5. With little beyond allusions to guide us, it is difficult to decide on Timothy’ s qualities. His bodily health was feeble, and required stimulants; his natural disposition appears to have been as sensitive as Paul’ s, and perhaps deficient in forwardness and courage. The situation of affairs at Ephesus was at the time extremely difficult and even dangerous. The bravest might easily have lost heart in such an atmosphere, and would have needed to sustain him every motive which an apostle could supply. Paul did not think meanly of his follower. On the contrary, he speaks of his unfeigned faith, his unwearied service, his strict fidelity. He declares that in all the chosen hand of his fellow labourers there is none so disinterested, so full of sympathy, so much after his own heart. More dazzling names than his are to be seen in the firmament of the early Church; Apollos flames across the sky, leaving behind the brilliant sparks of his Alexandrian rhetoric: but the star of Timotheus brains on with a gentle, gracious, and unfading lustre, holding forth the word of life. 6. Whatever the contrast between Timothy’ s mission and ours, his character is one which, in its strength, its modesty, and its devotedness, may be ours. Character is a building of which God is the architect, and all the designs are His. But the building rises stone on stone, and is the work of many different hands; and it is useful to inquire what influences we can trace as helping to make this man what he was. (1) One was the Bible. “ From a child” it had been his great lesson book. And now, in this great age of making books, where, by common confession, is there a book that will do for character what the Bible does? (2) No less helpful were personal influences. The Bible is the best of books; but the character of those who teach it adds immensely to its power. Now the earliest Scripture lessons of Timothy were mingled with the happy associations of hours spent at the feet of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. When they and he were parted, the same good work was carried on by apostolic hands. How much may be done to impart interest and impressiveness to the Word of God! The desire to see her child become another Timothy lives in many a Christian mother’ s heart: does not the power to make him so, under the Divine blessing, lie largely in her hands? The Bible class, wisely conducted, becomes the very garden of the Lord, where the young plants are nourished to a full stature and strength. (3) Yet, after all, the main human force at work in the formation of Timothy’ s character was Timothy himself: for the determining will was his own. (W. Brock, jun.)Timothy; or maternal goodness I. Timothy’ s beauty of character is traceable throughout his life. He was not converted from sin and shame in mature life. From a child he knew the Holy Scriptures experimentally, as well as being the founts of doctrine and the rules of conduct. A young man, just budding into strength and freedom, he became a Christian, whose character endeared him to the community of which both his grandmother and mother were distinguished ornaments, and whose gifts, exercised and proved, commanded the Church’ s admiration. Every way it is important that the young should feel that their youth belongs to Christ. It is contrary to the spirit and intention of our holy religion to treat them as the subjects of a depravity which must have its way, and consign them to years of separation from God. A young soul may be rendered hopeless of spiritual good through misrepresentation of the actual facts of life. Children naturally fall into what you say they are. The Saviour of men is the Saviour of the young. He who took them in His arms and blessed them, is always longing for the homage and affection of fresh, young hearts. He deprecates one hour spent in the service of evil. The history of Timothy proves the possibility, and shows the beauty of Divine life in youth. II. the sacred influence of a mother’ s piety. Eunice was a Jewess--and to “ the unfeigned faith which dwelt in her” is to be traced the spiritual development of Timothy. How many of the most renowned of the Church’ s heroes have been born again through the prayers and example of pious mothers! We think of Jochebed, Hannah, Mary, Salome, etc. As a mother is her child’ s world, it is evident that on her must depend its first impressions. As she is kind and gentle, graceful and sweet, pure and devout, or the reverse, so will her child’ s life be. How mothers should cultivate their own hearts and watch over their own doings! III. The home hindrances of Timothy’ s spiritual life. “ His father was a Greek,” which indicates not only the diversity between himself and wife, as of different races, but that his wife believed, and he remained an idolater. This divergence had of necessity to be made manifest to the child. The mother taught him the truths of the religion his father despised. It is a picture on which, even in these days, we are often called to look. There was sometimes sorrow in the house, because there was no spiritual sympathy. The strength of his mother’ s faith and love were enough to overcome this hindrance. But it is not always so. Sometimes the dead weight of a godless husband or wife is sufficient to drag down and crush the goodness which is allied with it. The waters wear the stones, and sometimes the marriage bells ring the knell of the spiritual life and profession. (W. H. Davison.)Paul and Timothy I. Paul took Silas with him, but he could not give up a man like Barnabas and think no more about him. He who can forget old friends is no apostle of Jesus Christ. Besides, Paul was going “ again” to the churches. The people would ask about Barnabas. We ask questions that open graves and heart wounds. The man who has not seen you for years asks you how that sweet little boy of yours is, and it seems to you incredible that a grief that filled your house with darkness had not made itself known to your friend. What must Paul’ s answer have been? He was a faithful man true as steel: he knew not the genius of equivocation and the fine art of telling lies. We have to account for old associations being ruptured, we have to explain new faces and new relationships. II. Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, and found “a certain disciple named Timotheus.” Long ago we read about a young man whose name was Saul. We begin in obscurity, we are pointed at as hardly to be identified. If the foolish tree could be taking itself up in order to show its antecedents, it would soon be killed. All that we have to do is so to lift ourselves up in God’ s light and rain, as to bring forth fruit. We may be now nothing more than “ certain disciples,” but we may still be disciples. III. Timothy was the son of a Jewess and a Greek. Happy man, to stand between two civilisations! What must the boy have been? Two such fires meeting in his blood; two such histories recounting themselves in his memory! How able to look well round him and to understand the mystery of Law and the mystery of Beauty! His religion might go up into superstition, his philosophy might develop into scepticism and sneering; if he touched Christ, he touched One who to the Jew was a stumbling block and to the Greek foolishness, but to the believing Timothy the power of God and the wisdom of God. We ourselves see this double relationship sometimes in life. Your mother prayed--your father never prayed. You are a child of the night and of the day, and you feel it, and sometimes you are plunged in the darkness of the one parentage, and sometimes you are away on the bright broad wings of the other into the light. But is it possible that a Jewess could marry a Greek? I should have said, No, but for what you have done. IV. Timothy “ was well reported of.” Character is very subtle. Timothy never asked any man to speak well of him, and yet no man could speak ill of the youth. Do not appeal to one another’ s charitable judgment for a character, but so live that character will come. Live your character; do not be painted as good men, but paint your own character in your own blood. V. “Him would Paul have to go forth with him.” Paul could not do without youth. A young man can run, and is not burdened with a sense of his own respectability. God bless the young life! There are those who would snub the youthful soul, and never permit him to be seen or heard. Paul loved the young, and would never give them up so long as they were true; but if ever they began to prove themselves fickle, he would give them up and their uncle Barnabas with them. A soldier could not do with a coward; only be true, and Paul would be your lifelong friend. VI. He took and circumcised Timothy. This from Paul, who would not circumcise Titus! But the reason is given (verse 3). It was therefore no breach of the apostle’ s stern policy that, under circumstances so peculiar, he should respect a temporary prejudice. Now they start, Paul, and Silas, and Timotheus (verse 4). Do not be afraid of the word “ Decrees” ; they were decrees of liberty. What they signed was the Magna Charts of the Church; freedom centred in God and in the Cross. Christ’ s followers are not lawless; they have decrees to keep. The spirit of authority is the spirit of rest when it brings with it the assurance that the authority is not arbitrary but rational, not local but universal, not imperfect but Divine. VII. “So were the churches established,” etc. These are the true results which accompany every true mission--edification first, and evangelisation second. (J. Parker, D. D.)Trained from childhood As Alexander the Great attained to have such a puissant army, whereby he conquered the world, by having children born and brought up in his camp, whereby they became so well acquainted and exercised with weapons from their swaddling-clothes, that they looked for no other wealth or country but to fight; even so, if thou wouldst have thy children either to do great matters, or to live honestly by their own virtuous endeavours, thou must acquaint them with painstaking in their youth, and so bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Cawdray.)Children, cost of training cheap in the long run An Englishman visiting Sweden, noticing their care for educating children, who are taken from the streets and highways and placed in special schools, inquired if it was not costly. He received the suggestive answer, “ Yes, it is costly, but not dear. We Swedes are not rich enough to let a child grow up in ignorance, misery, and crime, to become a scourge to society as well as a disgrace to himself.” (The Lantern.)Early impressions permanent I stood in a house in one of the Long Island villages, not long ago, and I saw a beautiful tree, and I said to the owner: “ That is a very fine tree; but what a curious crook there is in it.” “ Yes,” said he; “ I planted that tree, and when it was a year old, I went to New York, and worked as a mechanic for a year or two, and when I came back I found they had allowed something to stand against the tree, and so it has always had that crook.” And so, I thought, it was with the influence upon children, If you allow anything to stand in the way of moral influence against a child on this side or that side, to the latest day of its life on earth and through all eternity it will show the pressure. No wonder Lord Byron was bad. Do you know his mother said to him, when she saw him one day limping across the floor with his unsound foot: “ Get out of my way, you lame brat!” What chance for a boy like that? (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.)Early piety, importance of The most important ten years of human life are from five to fifteen years of age. The vast majority of those who pass twenty irreligious are never converted at all Dr. Spencer tells us that, out of two hundred and thirty-five hopeful converts in his church, one hundred and thirty-eight were under twenty years, only four had passed their fiftieth year. I have been permitted during my ministry to receive nearly one thousand persons into the Church on confession of their faith, and not one dozen of these had outgrown their fiftieth year. I did indeed once baptise a veteran of eighty-five, but the case was so remarkable that it excited the talk and wonder of the town. Such late repentances are too much like what the blunt, dying soldier called “ flinging the fag end of one’ s life into the face of the Almighty.” (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)Children early taught idolatry The heathen mother takes her babe to the idol temple, and teaches it to clasp its little hands before its forehead, in the attitude of prayer, long before it can utter a word. As soon as it can walk, it is taught to gather a few flowers or fruits, or put a little rice upon a banana leaf, and lay them upon the altar before the idol god. As soon as it can utter the names of its parents, so soon it is taught to offer up its petitions before the images. Who ever saw a heathen child that could speak, and not pray? Christian mothers, why is it that so many children grow up in this enlightened land without learning to pray? Mother, influence of The mother of the Beechers prayed during life and in death, “ that her children might be trained up for God.” One of her journals contains this simple record--“ This morning I rose very early to pray for my children, and especially that my sons may be ministers and missionaries of Jesus Christ.” What has been the result? That for all her children her prayers have been answered. Her five sons are all ministers and missionaries of Christ. One of them she has welcomed to heaven; another is now the most powerful preacher in America; and her daughter, Mrs. Beecher Stowe, is, by her writings, not less widely or favourably known. (W. Landels, D. D.)Mother, influence of Someone asked a man of wisdom when the education of a child should be commenced? “ Twenty years before his birth, by educating his mother,” was the reply. (Christian Advocate.)Mother, influence of Upon a tombstone erected by a family of children was the inscription “ Our mother; she always made home happy.” When Madame Campan asked Napoleon what was the great want of the trench nation, his reply was “ Mothers.” Mother, prayers of a Samuel Budgett was about nine years of age, when, one day passing his mother’ s door, he heard her engaged in earnest prayer for her family, and for himself by name. He thought, “ My mother is more earnest that I should be saved than I am for my own salvation.” In that hour he became decided to serve God, and the impression thus made was never effaced. (W. Arthur.) Acts 16:3-5 Him would Paul have to go forth with him. Using new converts It is good for young converts to be set at work; it is good for them. It is good for every Church to set its young converts at work; it is good for the Church. “ All at it, and always at it,” was the old Wesleyan cry. And it was in that way that the Methodist Church gained and grew so wonderfully. It was long ago said of the Waldensian Church, that its peculiar vitality was accounted for by the fact that as soon as a new convert had been seven days a believer, he was set to teach someone who was not so far along as he was. And that is the way for a Church to have greatest activity and widest efficiency on the part of its membership. Of course, when it comes to assigning special duties to young converts, there must be wisdom shown in their selection. If a man is to be sent into another field, he ought to be one who has a good reputation in his own field. He who lacks the confidence of those who know him, ought not to be helped to new acquaintances by a local church or by a foreign missionary society. (H. C. Trumbull.)Paul and Timothy colleagues I. The ideal ministry is that of partnership. “ Two are better than one,” either as pastors or missionaries.1. No one man is fully equipped for all the duties of his office, though two may be. The one often supplies what is lacking in the other; and common interests are promoted by the interchange of thought and affection, and by the division of labour. What one may have no adaptability for the other may have in abundance. Able preachers are not always good pastors. Happy the Church which has two ministers: one who can visit, another who can preach. 2. Partnership was the plan of the Master who sent His disciples out “ two by two.” It was the plan of the apostles. How often we find Peter and John in conjunction. It was Paul’ s plan, who never laboured alone if he could help it. II. This partnership must be based on harmonious qualities. Not necessarily identical qualities. Persons of similar ideas and temperaments have not always been good colleagues. Opposites are not necessarily antagonistic: they are often complementary. The most angular persons have often worked well together, because the angles have been made to fit laterally instead of pressing on the points. Paul could not, under existing circumstances, have worked with Mark, and so far he was wise in refusing his companionship; and it is doubtful if he could have permanently worked with Barnabas. We may see a wise Providence in their separation if not in the means by which it was brought about. Paul could get on better with Timothy, whom he could train in his own methods and aims. III. This partnership was realised in the case of Paul and Timothy. What one lacked the other possessed--inexperience and experience; the desire to learn and the ability to teach; sedateness and energy; evangelistic genius, and pastoral and governmental gifts. (J. W. Burn.)And as they went through the cities they delivered them the decrees for to keep. The decrees of the Church at Jerusalem I. The messengers who delivered these decrees. II. To whom they were delivered. III. The end for which they were delivered. IV. The results of this delivery.1. Confirmation.2. Augmentation. (W. Burkitt.)And so were the Churches established.--The establishment and increase of the Church The ultimate success of any system must depend upon its truth. A lie may partially succeed; but its final doom is certain. It carries in itself the elements of its own destruction. Truth, on the contrary, is imperishable. However persecuted and misrepresented, it will infallibly vindicate its birth and greatness. It is, therefore, a matter of the utmost importance that the truths of the gospel should be maintained in their entireness and purity. For, in proportion as error mingles with truth, its influence will be counteracted. And when antiquated rites or modern conceits are substituted for evangelical doctrine, the pernicious results of error become still more apparent. The facts on which these observations are based may be found in this and the preceding chapter. Note here:-- I. The establishment of Christians in the faith. The term “ faith” is often employed to signify Christianity as a religious system; doubtless, because by believing we become partakers of its blessings (Acts 6:7; Galatians 1:23; 1 Timothy 5:8; Titus 1:13). This establishment of Christians in the faith includes--1. Their confirmation in doctrinal truth. The evangelical writers constantly assume that there is such a thing as an authoritative standard of truth, to which reason and opinion are obliged to bow (Romans 6:17; 2 Timothy 1:13; 1 Timothy 6:3; Titus 1:9; 1 John 2:21; 1 John 2:24). And it is assumed throughout the Scriptures that these truths are capable of being understood by every order of mind so as to exercise their influence over the whole man (John 8:32; 1 Timothy 2:4). Now that the apostles are no longer on earth to explain their own meaning, it becomes us to be the more careful in the use of the means we possess, that we may avoid error, and arrive at the “ knowledge of the truth.” We must “ search the Scriptures,” asking for the “ Spirit of truth to guide us into all truth.” 2. Their establishment in piety to God, and love to one another. The “ faith” to which they were pledged, and of whose truth they were now reassured, was a faith which embraced in its regards the entire economy of the human spirit, and exerted a sovereign influence over all its faculties. When evangelical truth is received with humble faith, certain saving results immediately ensue. All spiritual graces followed in due succession, sustained by faith, animated with love, and crowned by the hope of immortal life. Now this connection between the doctrines to be believed, and blessings to be enjoyed, is illustrated and confirmed by the passage under consideration. An unsettled creed is always unfavourable to a settled piety. The “ dissension and disputation” (Acts 15:2) must have been detrimental to their spiritual welfare. They were “ troubled,” and their “ souls subverted” (verse 24). Accordingly, when the disturbing force was removed they “ rejoiced for the consolation” (verse 31). 3. Out of our establishment in faith and holiness will arise a settled practice and a steady devotion to the service of Christ. Where the principles of Christianity are loosely held, and its blessings are only known by report, there you may anticipate laxity of morals, or open violation of the Divine law. II. The connection between the establishment of Christians in the faith and the prosperity of the work of God.1. The establishment of Christians in the faith disposes them to overlook minor points of controversy, and to devote themselves to the propagation of vital truth. It was on this principle that the Apostle Paul refused to dispute on points non-essential to salvation, and exhorted Christians to liberality of sentiment. So the true Christian says, “ If we are to debate, let it be on matters worthy our character and intellect. If we are to labour, let it be in a field where our toil shall not be wasted.” 2. A settled piety permits our attention to be drawn off from our personal anxieties, and to be fixed on the conversion of others. We cannot be content with our own happiness; we want to make others happy also. 3. Consistency and harmony in the Church have their influence on the minds of the undecided, and induce them to join themselves to the disciples. If the religion of Christ were properly represented in the spirit and conduct of the professing Church, the world could hardly withstand its attraction. 4. God has established the connection between piety and usefulness, and therefore confers His special blessing on the labours of established Christians, and the enterprises of pure and devoted Churches. He is not dependent upon any particular set of instruments. But there is one rule which He never violates--He never employs unholy men or fallen Churches to represent Him in the world, or to fulfil the saving objects of His redeeming scheme. (W. Williams.)The establishment and increase of the Church I. The Churches were established in the faith. The phrase is used as a comprehensive description of Christianity.1. Primitive Christian Churches were composed exclusively of such as professed to believe in Christ, and to conform their lives to the holy requirements of the gospel. Their members were consequently Christians, not in that loose sense of the term in which it is now so commonly used, but as disciples of Christ who had been “ born of water and of the Spirit,” and upon whom the “ unction of the Holy One” rested. Hence they are variously denominated by the apostles as the “ beloved of God--saints--faithful brethren” --those who are “ sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus and called” ; and are always addressed as persons who could understand the sentiments and the language of doctrinal, vital, and experimental religion. And their piety being thus sincere and vital it was capable of increase. Accordingly, under the instructions of these inspired men, they made a very observable progress in the Divine life. There was a manifest growth in grace. 2. Christianity as a system is eminently social. Hence its converts have from the first been formed into Churches. This was done by collecting them together, and uniting them in the joint observance of the laws and ordinances of Jesus Christ. Such societies have continued to exist from that time to the present, and seem to be the destined means, under the Holy Spirit, of perpetuating and extending the kingdom of the Redeemer. II. They increased in number daily; either, that is, these several Churches already established increased in the number of their members, or the Churches themselves were multiplied, or both. The increase, whether of members or of Churches, is said to have been “ daily.” The expression seems to indicate both the rapidity and the constancy of the increase. It was not such an increase as we are accustomed to witness, when at distant intervals a few individuals enter the fellowship of the Church. The evangelists seem never to have preached but souls were converted; and the Churches never to have come together, but they had the high privilege of receiving many new disciples into the communion of saints. Nor did this last for a few days merely. As the increase was rapid, so it was constant. III. The cause from which this prosperous state of things resulted. The Holy Spirit most manifestly attended upon the labours of the apostles. Apart from His gracious influence, apostolic eloquence and zeal would have accomplished nothing. Not less necessary then than now was that life-giving energy which proceeds alone from Him. There were, however, certain subordinate and subsidiary causes to which, in the order of means, this prosperity may be traced.1. The apostolic settlement of the question, that converts from among the Gentiles were not to be subject to the institutions of Moses (chap. 15:31). Being delivered from a yoke of bondage which would have fatally depressed their rising zeal, they were free to throw all their newly awakened energies into the cause of the Redeemer. The preachers, also liberated from all trammels, might now come forward simply with the doctrine of the cross. Nothing is so calculated to produce either a vigorous state of personal piety, or a prosperous state of Church fellowship, as a simple, clear, and Scriptural exhibition of the “ truth as it is in Jesus.” 2. The devotional spirit of the early Christians, combined with their fervent zeal. 3. There was none of that timid neutrality respecting the profession of the gospel among the first Christians by which modern Christianity is so lamentably distinguished. When a man was converted, the next thing was to join the Church. There was consequently a line of demarcation, broad and deep, between the Church and the world. None were ashamed of Christ, or ashamed to avow their attachment to His followers, and His cause. 4. The spirit of union and Christian love. Believers were of “ one heart and one way.” Separate Churches there were, as now, but separate denominations there were none. “ The communion of saints” was not then what it has since become--a cold article in a formal creed, but the practical and sweet experience of every day. The uniting bond was not an exact coincidence of opinion in every point of doctrine, or a perfect uniformity of practice in matters of government and discipline; but it was love. Let Christians of all parties forget their differences, and approximate among themselves to something like the union subsisting between Christ and His Father; let them be one, as they are one, and the influence will be irresistible. (E. Steane, D. D.) Acts 16:6-10 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia. Paul’ s first visit to Galatia, A.D. 51 or 52 The form of the Greek expression implies that Phrygia and Galatia are not to be regarded as separate districts--but the land originally inhabited by Phrygians, but subsequently occupied by Cauls. Paul does not appear to have had any intention of preaching the gospel here. He was perhaps anxious at once to bear his message to the more important and promising district of proconsular Asia. But he was detained by a return of his old malady “ the thorn in the flesh” --some sharp and violent attack which humiliated him and prostrated his physical strength. To this the Galatians owed their knowledge of Christ. Though a homeless, stricken wanderer might seem but a feeble advocate of a cause so momentous, yet it was the Divine order that in the preaching of the gospel strength should be made perfect in weakness. The zeal of the preacher and the enthusiasm of his hearers triumphed over all impediments. They did not despise the temptation in his flesh. They received him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. They would have plucked out their very eyes if they could and have given them to him.” It can scarcely have been any predisposing religious sympathy which attracted them so powerfully. The gospel as a message of mercy and a spiritual faith stood in direct contrast to the gross and material religions in which the race had been nurtured. But if we picture to ourselves the apostle, as he appeared before the Galatians, a friendless outcast, writhing under the tortures of a painful malady, yet instant in season and out of season, by turns denouncing and entreating, perhaps also, as at Lystra, enforcing his appeals by some striking miracle, we shall be at no loss to conceive how the fervid temperament of the Gaul might have been aroused. In the absence of all direct testimony we may conjecture that it was at Ancyra, now the capital of the Roman province, as formerly of the Gaulish settlement, “ the most illustrious metropolis,” as it is called in formal documents; at Pessinus under the shadow of Mount Dindimus, the cradle of the worship of Cybele, and one of the principal commercial towns of the district; at Tavium, at once a strong fortress and a great emporium, situated at the point of convergence of several important roads; perhaps also at Juliopolis, the ancient Gordium, formerly the capital of Phrygia, almost equidistant from the three seas, and from its central position a busy mart; at these, or some of these places, that Paul founded the earliest Churches of Galatia. (Bp. Lightfoot.)And were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia.--The guidance of the Spirit Who can read this account without being tempted to ask--Why should the Holy Ghost forbid the apostles to preach in Asia? Why not suffer them to go into Bithynia? Were not the inhabitants sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death? And did not Christ die for them? Now as God giveth no account of His matters; and as the Lord of the harvest may send forth labourers into whatever part of His harvest He pleases, it might he enough to answer that it belongs not to us to pry into those reasons which it has pleased Him to keep secret. But the matter admits of a most satisfactory explanation. No doubt the souls in Asia and Bithynia were dear to God; but Paul and Silas could not be labouring both in Asia and Macedonia at the same time; and He, who knew the hearts of all, knew in which country the minds of men were most prepared to receive the gospel. That there was such a preparation in Macedonia is intimated by the very nature of the vision. The whole may be illustrated by a familiar image. A farmer perceives his fields white for the harvest, and hires labourers to reap the corn. They go into one field, and prepare to cut it down, but he forbids them; they look to another, and attempt to enter it; but he suffers them not: he conducts them to a third which is most fully ripe, and says,” This is the field, work here.” Would any say that he did not care for the corn in the other fields because he passed them by? Would not everyone be sure that he only took the third before them because it was most ready for the sickle, and that he would take the others in due time? So when the Lord forbad His servants to preach in Asia and Bithynia it was not that He did not care for the souls there, but that Macedonia was the most prepared. How well prepared it was appears from Paul’ s epistles to the Churches in that country, at Philippi and Thessalonica. But were Asia and Bithynia therefore neglected? No. We find Paul afterwards preaching in Troas, the very port of Asia whence he sailed to Macedonia. In Ephesus also, the principal city of that Asia where he had been forbidden to preach the Word, he abode two full years, so that all they, both Jews and Greeks, that dwelt in Asia, heard the Word of the Lord Jesus. We may observe, too, that the first epistle of Peter is addressed to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Yes! the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. His tender mercies are over all His works: and we have the authority of Paul for saying that He will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (J. Fawcett, M. A.)Divine guidance You want to know what to do, how to act, where to go. There is one safe and sure method--and only one. It is Paul’ s. He thought, he used his natural reason; his instinct was to travel on, his inclination was to visit Asia, then Bithynia. Having done his best to choose, he submits his choice to a higher guidance. He carries the question in prayer to God, then he feels he is not to go--knows not where to go, obeys this intuition which happens to be opposed to his own wishes, waits, but waits not long. The vision and the voice follow speedily. It is at length from these that he “ assuredly gathers” --infers truly his next step. It is even so. Use your faculties, submit your judgment to the highest, be true to what seems to you the highest leading, and the Divine message will grow clearer and clearer--the intuition, the vision, the voice--but, mark you, clearer only for the next step. The whole of Paul’ s journey was not mapped out. He could not see far, but he was not left in doubt. He “ assuredly gathered” the next move. Perhaps he thought he was now bound for Rome--Rome attracted him far more powerfully than Athens. Yet he was not to go to Rome that time, nor could he have guessed, when he started for Philippi, that he was going to Athens and preach there to the scoffing, subtle Greeks. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)Paul called to Europe All Asia had heard the gospel. Now it was brought to that Europe which has furnished to the world its civilised energy. Probably in Paul’ s mind the European passage was but one of many journeys. But to the eye of history, seeing before and after, it was the challenge of Christianity to civilisation, to intellect, to world-controlling energy, to come and be ruled by Christ. Before this journey, however, there went-- I. The time of waiting. Proconsular Asia and Bithynia were before Paul and his companions; they were without the gospel; they needed it; Paul was ready to give it. And yet the gospel was not preached. It was not a time to labour, but a time to wait.1. Yet it was a time of endeavour to labour. Paul did not choose the waiting for himself. He honestly and earnestly tried to preach the gospel. He went to the frontier of the province of Asia Minor intending to enter and preach. Prevented there, he tried Bithynia next. Preaching was the one word that summed up all Paul’ s life. Every Christian is called to work. His mission in life is to proclaim Jesus Christ. 2. Paul’ s endeavour to do his work was thwarted. He wanted to labour for Christ, and he was prevented from doing so. He went into many a place only to be driven out with stones. He planned great journeys and found himself in prison. It would be a very instructive thing to look over the Scriptural records of Paul’ s life and tabulate the thwarted plans recorded. No man makes every Christian endeavour he undertakes a success. As God makes the flower cast many a seed to the ground that one or two plants may spring up, so He gives it as a law of spiritual accomplishment that there shall sometimes be many failures to one success. And Paul, like a wise man, did not quarrel with law. 3. The strange part of Paul’ s experience at this point was that the thwarting of his purpose to preach the gospel in proconsular Asia and Bithynia was directly due to God. Some of Paul s failures were due to the interference of Satan (see 1 Thessalonians 2:18), who we may believe goes about endeavouring to hinder God’ s people in God’ s work. What are we to think of this? (1) God was leading Paul away from the conversion of Asia Minor to the conversion of Europe. Paul, having but one human life and one man’ s natural power, could not do both. God set before him the larger work. To accomplish it involved the exclusion of the smaller. (2) Asia Minor was undoubtedly approached more advantageously by the gospel from the westward, when the weight of European success added a new commendation to Paul’ s teaching, which it lacked when it came from the eastward. If you want to win a man to anything it is better to await the favourable moment than to rush in at first sight. It was better for Asia Minor and Bithynia not to have the gospel preached to them just yet. (3) God’ s thwarting of Paul’ s plans would have been all right even if we could see no reason whatever in it. 4. The Holy Spirit was present with Paul, directing and equipping him, quite as well in the time of waiting as in the time of work. II. The call. Paul had found his intentions foiled; Asia Minor and Bithynia were closed to him; Europe remained. Should he seek those shores? He needed direction, and it was given. The vision of the Macedonian, perhaps authenticated as from God in some way unknown to us, showed Paul where his labour lay.1. The vision was that of a pleading man. The gospel is for the world, and the whole world. 2. The figure in the vision voiced the need of help; it did not define just what was needed. The call that rises from the human race is a cry for help, whatever the help be. It is not always a cry for the gospel; for many times when the gospel is offered it is blindly refused. It is the function of the gospel sometimes to create desire as well as to satisfy it. When Paul landed in Macedonia he found no crowd standing with outstretched hands to welcome him. No, he “ tarried certain days” before there was any sign of the gospel being wanted, and then the sign came only to Paul’ s search for it. 3. The Macedonian was a representative. He said not “ Come over and help me,” but “ Come over and help us.” All needed Christ, and not only the few souls who were already near to the kingdom--like Lydia, the first convert. 4. The request that was made by the pleading man of the vision was in Paul’ s power to grant. He could go over and help them if he wanted to. So can we help the nations who seem to stand before us in vision beseeching us to help them. III. The answer.1. Paul was led to make an answer by using the mind God had given him. He and his companions consulted together and “ concluded that God had called them for to preach the gospel unto them.” The supernatural vision seems to separate Paul’ s experience from ours. We are not so led in our work. But his consulting with his friends and reasoning out as well as he could the conclusion which God wanted him to make, brings his way of being led back into similarity with our own. 2. Having made up his mind that he ought to go to Macedonia, Paul “ sought” to carry out that purpose. Assurance of success and the accomplishment of success are in God’ s hands, but we can at least try. If God is willing to bless, and we are able at least to try, if Christian work sometimes does not greatly prosper, what is the reason? 3. Paul’ s answer to the meaning of the vision was immediate. “ Straightway we sought to go.” The reaction of Paul’ s converted soul in the presence of spiritual need was instant. If he responded instantly to the call of need we can respond so too, if we will. 4. The call’ s being from God was what made Paul’ s reply so quick. Obedience was a primal element in Paul’ s religious life, and so he is seen to be truly of the company of Him who was “ an obedient Son.” IV. The result.1. It was not visible at once. Over in Troas there was the exciting vision of the pleading Macedonian. But in Macedonia there was nothing but indifference. Paul was received, as the missionary of the cross is almost always received, with perfect indifference. 2. Paul used means to bring a result about. He did not sit down with folded hands, saying to himself, “ Macedon has cried to me for help; I have come a long way at great trouble in order to give help: now if the Macedonians want me let them speak out.” Paul assumed that the Macedonians needed everything and acted as though they desired nothing. He waited not for them to seek him, he sought them. Work is a spiritual as well as a natural condition of success. 3. A small beginning was made. Paul was not disheartened at its smallness, but content with its being a beginning. No heathen were allured to the gospel at all. No men were reached. One woman, and she half converted already before Paul’ s appearance, was the harvest of Paul’ s effort. The beginning is not yet the end, but it surely has the end hidden in it, in however small circumference. 4. Fellowship was established. Lydia brought her household into the faith and took Paul and his friends into the sweet communion of this new Christian home. When that Christian fellowship was formed the success of Paul’ s Philippian mission was assured. A group of real Christian friends can leaven a city. V. Lessons concerning missionary work.1. The relation of God and man in gospelising. God calls; man’ s imperative and immediate duty is to obey. God sends the Holy Spirit to direct and empower in Christian work. “ For it is God that worketh in you.” God sends us to try all plans in the world with His gospel. He only knows where we shall succeed in planting it. 2. The laws of gospelising. Persuading for Christ is like other persuading. Paul did not preach when he made his first European convert. What a spectacle he would have made if he had proceeded to deliver a thunderous oration like that on Mars’ Hill to these half-dozen women! He sat down and talked with them. The gospel begins its work in small ways. Europe’ s conquest for Christ is heralded in the saving of one woman. The gospel uses the God-made relations of human life for its propagation. Lydia brought her household to Christ. The family is recognised and utilised by the gospel. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Permission to preach the gospel strangely conveyed The Rev. John Thomas, who may be regarded as the founder of the Friendly Islands’ mission, had laboured for some time at Hihifo, in Tonga, with but little fruit, being continually thwarted and persecuted by the Pagan chief Ata: when, having heard that the paramount chief of Haabai had renounced idolatry, and was anxious to have a missionary, he made up his mind to remove thither. But as the commencement of a new mission in another group of islands would involve considerable expense, he wished first to hear from the missionary committee in London, who had some time before been written to on the subject. Whilst waiting at Nukualofa, in a state of considerable anxiety and suspense, in the month of January 1830, an incident occurred which clearly shows the superintending providence of God in the affairs of the missionary enterprise. A small box was washed on shore and brought to Mr. Turner by one of the natives. On being opened it was found to contain a letter from the missionary secretaries, giving the sanction of the committee for the extension of the mission in the Friendly Islands, and the appointment of a missionary to Haabai without further delay. The vessel by which this communication had been sent, a schooner from Sydney, had foundered at sea, and all on board were lost. It is said that neither vessel, nor crew, nor any of the goods with which she had been freighted were ever seen or heard of again. The package containing that letter alone, a messenger of mercy for a people waiting for the law of the Lord, guided by Him “ whom wind and seas obey,” escaped the general wreck, and was cast on shore at the right place and the right time to relieve the minds of the anxious missionaries, and to enable them to go forward and enter the openings which appeared before them for the proclamation of the “ glorious gospel of the blessed God.” The Spirit’ s direction That you may know the Divine plan for you, go to God Himself, and ask for it; for as certainly as He has a plan or calling for you, He will somehow guide you into it. And this is the proper office and work of His Spirit. By this private teaching He can show us, and will, into the very plan that is set for us. And this is the significance of what is prescribed as our duty--namely, living and walking in the Spirit; for the Spirit of God is a kind of universal presence, or inspiration, in the world’ s bosom; an unfailing inner light, which if we accept and live in, we are guided thereby into a consenting choice, so that what God wills for us we also will for ourselves, settling into it as the needle to the pole. By this hidden union with God, or intercourse with Him, we get a wisdom or insight deeper than we know ourselves; a sympathy, a oneness with the Divine will and love. We go into the very plan of God for us, and are led along in it by Him, consenting, cooperating, answering to Him we know not how, and working out, with nicest exactness, that good end for which His unseen counsel girded us and sent us into the world. In this manner, not neglecting other methods, but gathering in all their separate lights, to be interpreted in the higher light of the Spirit, we can never be greatly at a loss to find our way into God’ s counsel and plan. The duties of the present moment we shall meet as they rise, and these will open a gate into the next, and we shall thus pass on, trusting and securely, almost never in doubt as to what God calls us to do. (Horace Bushnell.)The supernatural element in labour 1. Here is the direct action of the Holy Ghost. The early Christians realised that they were living in the age of the Holy Spirit. Why should there be any difficulty in believing that spirit may affect spirit? We believe that matter affects matter. It is quite scientific to believe that; yet to believe that mind can affect mind, that spirit can touch spirit, is fanaticism! I have not so learned life. It is easy for me, having seen the action of metal upon metal, to believe that there may be a kindred action of soul upon soul, God upon man. 2. The action of the Spirit is as morally mysterious as it is personally direct. Why should the Holy Ghost forbid the apostles to preach the Word anywhere? That we cannot explain; but then you cannot explain yourself. We are forbidden to do certain things. The things themselves are good, but the time is wrong, or the place is ill-chosen, or another opportunity is greater and ought to be absorbent. It is not enough that you are in a good place, doing a good work; your object should be to live and move and have your being in the Spirit of God, so that wherever He may point, your heart may outrun your feet in attaining the destination. Where life is bounded by programmes and outlines, and purposes merely human, life will be a succession of mistakes and stinging disappointments. 3. It is, to our degenerate piety, quite difficult to believe that the early apostles--yea, the prophets ages before them--could live so familiarly in the presence of the supernatural. Everything depends upon the level of your life. It is possible to live so high up in intellectual and spiritual companionship as to receive with grateful ease and friendly recognition appearances and communications which at one time would have affected us with the surprise of a miracle. 4. What did Paul see, then, in his vision? (1) A man. He who truly sees a man must ever be moved by the pathetic sight. We do not see one another whilst we are in the crowd performing the day’ s jugglery. We do not see the man, but having once seen him under favouring lights, we must feel that man is a name high up in the register of life. (2) A man in earnest prayer, praying to a fellow man. It was all, perhaps, the Macedonian suppliant could then do. We are allowed to pray at such altars as we can find. If you fell down before the least flower, before your mother’ s old armchair, it would be shrine enough. And by and by you will want a whole heaven for a church and altar. Begin where you can. (3) A man in earnest, and a man seeking help. There are cowards that run away when poor, ill-used people call for “ help.” Christianity is “ help” or it is nothing. This is a typical instance. If the Church could have its eyes opened today, it would see every unevangelised country and every land in sore strait or difficulty typified in this Macedonian man. 5. “ And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured--” Luke here joins the company. Up to this time the narrative has been written in the third person; it will now be written in the first. The missionaries came “ to Philippi.” There is a city plan of evangelisation; the apostles followed that plan. They did not hide themselves in obscure places; we find great names in their record. What is the justification of these metropolitan names? This--and higher there is none--“ Beginning at Jerusalem.” So we shall find in these missionary records Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Philippi, Athens, Ephesus, name upon name of local eminence and dignity, yet all the names put together are not equal to London! Give us London, and we have the key of the world. Converted London would seem to mean converted England; and converted England would be almost equal to a converted world! (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 16:8-12 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.Paul’ s vision at Troas I. Its benevolence. What is the gospel? Help for man. It helps man--1. To know God.2. To preach Christ.3. To promote civilisation. II. Its influence. It recognises--1. The independent capacity of man as a moral agent.2. The weakness of man. III. Its ministration. The appeals of humanity to Christianity are various.1. By the information of history.2. By the general operation of Christian principles.3. By inward impressions. (Caleb Morris.)What might have happened had the vision not occurred That figure represented Europe, and its cry for help Europe s need of Christ. Paul recognised in it a Divine summons; and the very next sunset which bathed the Hellespont in its golden light shone upon his figure seated on the deck of a ship whose prow was moving towards the shore of Macedonia. In this passage of Paul, from Asia to Europe, a great providential decision was taking effect, of which, as children of the West, we cannot think without the profoundest thankfulness. Christianity arose in Asia and among an Oriental people; and it might have been expected to spread first among those races to which the Jews were most akin. Instead of coming west, it might have gone eastwards, It might have penetrated into Arabia and taken possession of those regions where the faith of the False Prophet now holds sway. It might have visited the wandering tribes of Central Asia, and, piercing its way down through the passes of the Himalayas, reared its temples on the banks of the Ganges, the Indus, and the Godavery. It might have travelled farther east to deliver the swarming millions of China from the cold secularism of Confucius. Had it done so, missionaries from India and Japan might have been coming to England at the present day to tell the story of the cross. But Providence conferred on Europe a blessed priority, and the fate of our Continent was decided when Paul crossed the Hellespont. (J. Stalker, D. D.)There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.--The Macedonian spectre Sometimes men hear better with their eyes than with their ears. Truth will get in through the imagination when it will make no impression through the intellect. Hence Bunyan was as philosophical as he was ingenious in representing Mansoul as having Feel-gate, Nose-gate, Mouth-gate, as well as the chief among them all, Ear-gate and Eye-gate. But when the grand attack of Diabolos was made it was found that Captain Resistance was established above Ear-gate; but Ear-gate was much more slightly defended. In Scripture there is constant recognition of this comparative ease of entering the human soul by the way of the eyes. Hence we are sure to find some splendid vision whenever a fresh messenger is appointed from God to men. Observe:-- I. That this vision was addressed to an inspired man. It found him shaken with uttermost perplexity, and was the only thing which availed to give direction in his present duty. Twice in succession their intentions were suddenly held in check by a power higher than their own. The man of those regions deepens the impressiveness of such a strange discipline. For while the apostle was urging his way east the Holy Ghost was constraining him to go to the west. “ Westward the star of empire takes its way,” seems to be the Divine rule for human history. Learn:1. That the great Head of the Church retains guidance of every form of Christian enterprise. It was the “ Spirit of Jesus” which stopped Paul now, just as He did on the road to Damascus. That we must ask God’ s decision, when we set about religious effort. We are to invite Divine cooperation in selection of methods, as well as in choice of ends, and so to discern in failure a stimulant to faith, and in success a reason for our giving new glory to God. II. This story throws light upon “ calls” to service.1. Any real declaration of want is a call. Anything that has a voice can utter a call. Adaptations to usefulness are direct calls to usefulness. 2. The supreme necessity of a lost human soul. The words which the world at large is speaking are “ Come over and held us.” It does not appear to have occurred that the spectre could have possibly had any meaning beside a religious one. All men the world over have one point in common at which they need succour: they must have pardon for sin. 3. The “ calls” to duty which one has afford a safe exposition of his heart. A politician would have imagined that a struggling people were sending for soldiers to fight for their cause. A philanthropist would find some signs of a famine. Thus each would discover his own. III. How readily these messengers of Christ started out on a foreign mission.1. Note the intense form of expression: “ immediately,” etc. 2. The finest picture in this world is that of a human will surrendered in sublime obedience to the will of God. The beauty of the Troad is famous: think of Mount Ida, the city of Priam, the tomb of Achilles. But the chief fame of that region now is found in the remembrance that there four men set out upon the sea to conquer Europe unto Christ. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The Macedonian phantom I. St. Paul’ s need of faith and Divine guidance. The apostles differed from ourselves in that they were endowed with extraordinary gifts.1. It might have been thought that, possessed as they were of superhuman might, there would have been but little opportunity or demand for that trust which is required from ourselves. But that the apostles were able to work miracles did not secure to them the supply even of their daily wants. It was a strange, but an instructive spectacle, that of a man who could raise the dead, obliged to labour like a common artisan in order to procure a meal. But God, in order to keep His servant dependent on himself, would not allow him to exercise, on his own behalf, the powers which were so mighty in subjugating the world. 2. The apostles had the gift of prophecy, and, privileged with immediate revelation, they knew far more than common men of the will and purposes of the Almighty. But this was no more allowed than their power of working miracles, to diminish the necessity for the exertion of faith. You might have thought that such men would never have been at any loss with regard to their own plans. Yet this was far from being the case. The Apostles appear to have had just our trials of faith; they were called upon for the same patient waiting on God, the same watching the leadings of His Providence, the same studying the minute indications of His will. If you look at the verses which immediately precede our text, you will find abundant evidence that St. Paul and his companions were required, like ourselves, to go forward in faith, uninformed as to the precise course which God would have them take, but acting on the assurance that He directs the steps of all such as commit themselves to His guidance. 3. At last, there is granted unto Paul the vision recorded in our text, from which he is enabled assuredly to gather that the Lord designed him to preach in Macedonia. We hear much of the leadings of God’ s providence; and it is our business to be always on the watch for the leadings; assured that, as God taught His people of old by the cloud upon the tabernacle, He will not fail now to vouchsafe guidance to those who in all their ways acknowledge Him. But we are not to expect that the leadings of Providence will be always, or even often, marked and distinct. This would be to change the character of our dispensation; for if the pillar of fire and cloud went visibly before us, it would be by sight, and no longer by faith, that Christians were required to walk. It is the easiest thing in the world to imagine the leadings of Providence, where we have already got the leadings of inclination. And we may learn from the instance of St. Paul that, even where there is prayerfulness and entire submission, it may be only by dark intimations, and after many frustrations, that God’ s providence will mark out our course. II. St. Paul’ s vision. There is not one who does not consider that sleep is a sort of image of death. The heathen spake of death as a sleep; and Scripture, from the very first, made use of the figure. But the metaphor has not been carried to its proper extent.1. I do indeed think that God designed sleep as the standing image of death. But I think also that God hereby meant to fix their thoughts, not only on their dying, but on their rising from the dead. Why, when every morning calls us from our beds, strung with new energy, and, as it were, freshened into a new life--why are we to speak of sleep as though it imaged our death, but not also our resurrection? 2. But our condition whilst asleep furnishes notices of our condition whilst we lie amongst the dead. (1) In sleep it is not the whole man, it is only the earthly part that falleth asleep. The bodily senses and faculties are suspended from their usual exercise; but the mind is more than commonly active. What flights will the soul take during sleep. It may be well doubted whether the soul is ever inactive: we do not always remember our dreams; but, probably, we always dream. And what ought we to gather from this? Surely, that the soul shall be active while the body lies dead. (2) Neither is this all. Such passages of Scripture as our text teach us that while the body is asleep the soul may be receiving instruction. It is every way observable that God should have made such frequent use of visions or dreams in the communicating intimations of His will. He might have given these intimations through many other modes; for nothing can be more vague or uncertain than a dream. And it may have been that in thus frequently employing dreams, and employing them more frequently whilst there was less distinct information as to man’ s state after death, God’ s purpose was to direct attention to the capacity of the soul for receiving instruction, yet not through the organs of the body, but whilst those organs might be closed and unable to discharge their ordinary offices. The separate state shall not be a state of dull inactivity or low attainment: that state is imaged by sleep; and as if to tell me what the righteous may expect in that state, God hath come to His servants in visions of the night, and taught them in sleep what they had vainly striven to discover when awake. And now I am not to give room to any fears that, whilst the flesh lies slumbering in the grave, the soul will not be admitted into acquaintance with portions of God’ s will which it may vainly have endeavoured to ascertain whilst on earth; enough that St. Paul, whilst awake, had meditated to preach in Asia, and assayed to go into Bithynia, seeking fruitlessly to determine what God’ s will might be, and yet that St. Paul, in sleep, which is the image of death, was thoroughly instructed in regard of that will--there stood by him in a vision, “ a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” III. St. Paul’ s interpretation of the vision. There is no reason to think that any further revelation was added; the expression, “ assuredly gathering,” implies that the disciples were left to draw the inference that “ the Lord had called them for to preach the gospel unto them.” They never seem to have imagined that there might be any other way in which they could help the Macedonians, that the Macedonians could want any other sort of help. Do you not, then, see that St. Paul and his companions lived for only one object? that they acknowledged but one supply for all the wants of the world? Ah, how very different would it be amongst ourselves! Let the phantom be sent to one of our statesmen; let the form of the wild Indian, or of the African, stand by his bedside in the stillness of the midnight, and breathe, in accents compelling his attention, the simple entreaty, “ Come over and help us,” and how would the politician interpret the call? He would probably conclude that ruthless foes were invading the distant country; and his first, his only thought, might be to send an army to its succour. Or let the spectre go and speak to one of our merchants--he would presently think of commercial embarrassments or commercial openings, and if he “ assuredly gathered” anything it would be that he must freight a vessel and send out a mercantile establishment. Or if it were even to one of our benevolent and philanthropic men that the phantom addressed itself, the likelihood is he would think of famine, or pestilence, and he would hesitate as to what help could be given, till he had made out some particular and temporal evil under which they were labouring. And yet, whatever our occupation, we are professed servants of Christ, and all bound, by the vows of our profession, to take as our chief object the advancing Christ’ s kingdom. It was not merely because St. Paul’ s business was that of a preacher that he interpreted a cry for help into a cry for the gospel; St. Paul was also a tent maker; St. Luke was a physician; but it never occurred to either the one or the other that assistance might be wanted to teach a trade or heal a disease: their ruling desire was that of glorifying Christ; they could not, therefore, be invited into a country and not seize on the invitation as an opening for Christianity. They believed that in carrying Christianity to a land, they were carrying that which would best rectify disorders, alleviate distresses, assuage sorrows, and multiply happiness. And, therefore, they never stopped to consider whether they had at their disposal the particular engine which, on a human computation, might be suited for counteracting a particular evil--enough that they had the gospel to preach; and they felt that they had an engine which could in no case be inappropriate and in none inefficient. Let us learn, from the example of St. Paul, to set a higher value on the gospel: whether it be as a nation or as individuals that we are called upon by the Macedonian for help; whether the cry, borne from heathen lauds, be a cry specifically for religious instruction, or the cry generally of suffering and degraded humanity. IV. St. Paul’ s obedience to the vision. Observe how ready they were to obey God’ s will the moment they had ascertained it. “ Immediately.” It had not been into Macedonia that they had been wishing or purposing to go, and unbelief might have suggested, Shall we let a phantom guide us? ought we not at least to wait for some less dubious intimation? But no; there was sufficient reason to think that God’ s will was now discovered, and there was nothing to be done but to hasten to the sea and seek the means of embarking. Alas! we are all ready enough to follow the leadings of God’ s providence when they concur with our own wish; but how reluctant are we when God points in one direction and inclination in another! This is the trial--to set out for Macedonia, to which duty calls us, in place of staying at Troas, to which our own wishes bind us. But a Christian should have no will of his own--he is the servant of a Master in heaven, and the only thing for him to ascertain is where that Master would have him work, and what He would have him do. Has the phantom been at his bedside? Then he ought not to confer with flesh and blood. He is indeed to take every just means for assuring himself that he is not deceived, that the phantom has not been woven from the imagining of his own brain, but has really been sent to him by his Master. But this having been done, there is no room for hesitation. And are we not summoned to Macedonia? and is not the voice for assistance more thrilling and more plaintive than that which fell, in night visions, on the ear of St. Paul? It is the voice, not only of the Macedonian, the foreigner, the heathen; it is the voice of our own countrymen. (H. Melvill, B. D.)The cry of the Macedonian to Paul The cry-- I. Was human.1. A man-- (1) Not an angelic intelligence.(2) Not a member of a class, but of a race. It was not a philosopher, artist, priest, warrior, king; but a man. 2. It is the humanity in heathendom that is in moral distress. The aid that is so deeply required is not secular, political, educational, military, but moral. Help to the conscience, soul; help to man as man in his spiritual and eternal relationships. II. Was significant. “ Come over and help us.” It implies--1. A sense of need. Man everywhere feels that there is something wanting to make matters right between him and his God. “ Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord?” 2. Conscious inability to supply the need. The Macedonian felt that the Macedonians, with all their wealth and intelligence, could not supply the necessity. Heathenism has no self-redemptive power. 3. Faith is the power of Christians to help. The Macedonian took it for granted that Paul could help. Macedonia represents the western world. Once this call sounded for help from the heathen West to the Christian East; now it sounds from the heathen East to the Christian West. III. Was obeyed. Paul attends at once to the call. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The cry of the heathen Consider-- I. The wants of the heathen. Think of the millions of India ignorant of God, of Christ, and of the way of salvation; destitute of hope, victims of the most degrading superstition, Of their rites we may well say with St. Paul (Ephesians 5:12; Romans 1:29-32). II. The character of the blessing.1. It offers a Divine atonement.2. The Holy Spirit applies it and imparts the state of mind essentially necessary (Mark 16:16). III. Our obligations.1. It is the command of Christ, “ Go ye,” etc. (Mark 16:15).2. Common humanity demands it. IV. The motives which urge us.1. The facilities offered for the propagation of the gospel. Multitudes are prepared for it. The Bible is translated into their tongues, there is a disposition to read it, prejudice is wearing away. God is pouring out His blessing on the means already employed. 2. Our abundant means. We have wealth, piety, influence, talent, all at our command. 3. The magnitude of the work calls forth our exertions. V. Improvement.1. The glory of the Redeemer is involved in the extension of His Church. Has not God given Him the heathen for His inheritance, etc. Every soul saved adds one gem to the Redeemer’ s crown. Is not this the object of our daily prayer, “ Thy kingdom come,” and can we consistently use the words without employing the means? 2. Gratitude, as enlightened Gentiles. Here God was once unknown. All the blessings we enjoy we owe to the labours of those holy men who left their peaceful homes to preach among us “ the unsearchable riches of Christ.” 3. Compassion to their deplorable state. The temporal salvation of millions of men is not equal to that of one soul. (Pulpit.)The vision and the call I. The vision. “ They came down to Troas” --that is, to Troy, a modern city bearing the name, and marking the region, if not the site, of Priam’ s Troy, the City of the Iliad and the blind singer’ s deathless song. Such places are fountains of inspiration in themselves. Hill and grove, stream and plain, are vocal with great memories; and the soul that is worthy of such a scene hears, as Augustine heard voices in the air saying, “ Let us, too, conquer something.” But more depends upon the soul than on the scene; for whatever it looks upon the eye can only see what the eye brings with it, the means of seeing, for everything wears the hue of the spirit. Xerxes, Alexander of Macedon, Julius Caesar, and many more came to this famed region, and each one saw and heard according to the spirit that was in him visions of battles. But the man who had now come to Troy had brought with him another spirit and an eye capable of nobler visions. He brought with him a great soul, wide in the range of its sympathies, sensitive, impressionable, and glowing with the quenchless passion of love to God and man. Never in all its eventful history had Troy an eye so rich in the means of seeing whatever Troy could show. And what did Paul see upon the Trojan plain? Behold, then, the new Troy that God would have besieged and conquered, as the spring besieges, and as the summer conquers the land! Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and the message that moulded his life came to him from the very lips of God, speaking in person. That was the highest vision of which the best man in that stage of the world’ s spiritual development was capable. But Paul in that great moment, not only of his life, beheld, not the Lord high and lifted up, but a man of Europe, one of ourselves, and heard a human voice pleading in the darkness for such help as he could give. It was the vision rendered possible by the Incarnation of the Son of God, and necessary by the state of the world. He beheld a man! That is the vision needed today. In all our difficulties in England, political, economic, social and ecclesiastic, the devil’ s policy is still to raise such a dust of controversy as to hide man from man. Penetrate to the heart of any question of the day, and there you find a man, a man asking for help. At the heart of the Drink Question, at the heart of the Labour Question, there are men, not monsters, but men, flesh of our flesh, men with difficulties, crying to us, calling to us, pleading with us. And our only hope of settling these questions lies in laying the cloud of devil’ s dust of passion and prejudice until we can see the man and hear what he is saying. And this great matter of missions, what is it? Do some of you young people think that, after all, it is nothing but a war of religions? that it is simply a crusade of one creed against another? Nothing of the sort. It is man’ s ministry to man. How shall we figure heathenism to ourselves tonight? Shall we call up a vision of idols and groves and temples and mitred priests and garlanded victims? No; all that is mere detail. If you want to see heathenism in the fullest pathos and tragedy of its fate, think of it under the guise of a man with soul enough to conceive the sublime ideas of Brahminism, with conscience enough to appreciate the grand moral precepts of Buddha, with brain enough to frame the marvellous scheme of Confucius, and spirituality enough in him to see with Zoroaster that the difference between good and evil is no measurable distance, but a distance as between day and night. We have to approach them rather in the spirit of brotherliness; for a man stands before us, and yet in a spirit of compassion for this man, so noble, so subtle, so mighty of intellect, is weighed down, is cramped, he is weary with searching and cannot find, he is a baffled man, and he asks us to help him with that very thing in the possession of which alone we are superior to him, the thing which, perhaps, when we have handed it to him he will be able to make a very much better use of than we have made. II. The call. Human need is always sacred and ever oracular, for through it God speaks. The will of God is the only plain thing in this universe, the only thing that is absolutely known. Everything else has darkness and mist about it, but the will of God is absolutely plain. The will of God is gladness, sunshine, music, life. It is everywhere. Go forth into the byways and highways of London with open eye and reverent heart, and you shall see it written upon every human need, and you shall hear it speaking to you in every human cry. It is the will of God that men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; and God’ s will be done! The call of God is a call to unity. “ When he had seen the vision we sought to go forth.” It is noticed that the word “ we” comes in here for the first time. The men felt that it was a call not only to action, but to united action. There had been quarrels and partings at Antioch. Paul and Barnabas had separated; but this revelation of the need of the world came to give compression and compactness and unity to this little band. If you want to see the quarrel at Antioch in its true nature, look at it in the light of Europe’ s need; and if you want to see the divisions and the jealousies that divide Christian people at home, look at them against the world’ s need today. God is not calling us simply to action, but to united action, to cooperation, to Christian unity. Twice one man is not simply two, but two plus their unity. It does not matter how many they are. It is not the number of men that work; it is the spirit in which any number work; their unity tells. III. The work. “ God had called us to preach the gospel unto them.” Dr. Owen, in his sermon on this text, says: “ No men want help like the men that want the gospel.” But what is the gospel?1. Preaching the gospel; what is it? It is calling the righteous to repentance. There were good folk in Philippi, and Paul found them engaged in a good work on a good day. Well, then, let well alone? No, for it is not at all well. Nowhere in all Philippi was Paul more needed than among these good folk praying on the Sabbath day by the river’ s brim; and there is no one in all England that needs a mission more than many a good, blameless, irreproachable, man. But are there good among the heathen? Oh! yes. I am no more concerned to deny goodness to India and China than St. Luke to Philippi. There is goodness among the heathen, conscientiousness, aspiration, prayerfulness. Why, then, send missions to good people? Why? Because the goodness of the world, almost more than its badness, demonstrates the absolute necessity of the gospel. If the badness of the world proves how far down man can fall left to himself, the goodness of the world goes to show what a very little way, left to himself, he can lift himself from where he has fallen. 2. Preaching the gospel, what is it? Deliverance of the captives. As Paul passed and repassed through the streets on his way to the place of prayer, to preach to the good, kind people, he saw another phase of European life--a poor girl, on whose supposed powers of divination greedy men were making a fat living. Well, she, too, as well as Lydia, should be helped. Paul held a gospel in trust for her. Oh! yes: but think of the difficulties and the danger of doing it! For timid friends tell Paul, who had never been in Europe before; never been face to face with downright heathenism before: “ She is a property, a human chattel; she belongs to the men who live upon her powers.” Salvation for her means ruin for them: good money is good in Europe, and what it might mean ultimately for Paul no one could say. Then think of the scandal, the interruptions of the good work so nicely begun--all this to be stopped and a great scandal raised, and Christianity itself, perhaps. Yes, there were strong reasons for not touching this matter, and Paul seems to have shrunk from doing so. But God forced his hand. The girl followed him day by day, advertising the mission that he had been sent upon, until, at last, able to bear it no longer, he stood there in the open street and, in the name of Christ, opened fire upon the devil in her, and the more malignant devil in her masters. Yes, there was a scandal and tumult, and much trouble came of it. But it had to be done, for in this matter peace is with the devil and the fight is with God. 3. Preaching the gospel to the heathen is preaching Christ as the Saviour of lost men. Philippi held not Lydia only, not girls like that poor lost, wild one; but men like this gaoler, coarse, hardened, sceptical. What can Paul do to help that man? What does that man want? Why, he wants everything; he wants the chief thing. And so, from obeying the vision they saw and following the call they heard, God led these people into a work that touched the European town at every point of its life, and stirred it to its lowest depths. They left it in a few days a different place from what they had found it. (J. M. Gibbon.)The cry of the heathen This was no doubt a special vision sent of God for the direction of the apostle. And yet the vision may be very readily accounted for by natural causes. Men usually dream of that which is most upon their minds. Who marvels that the miser dreams of gold, the mother of her infant, the soldier of battle? No wonder that Paul, whose whole soul was full of his Master’ s cause, should have a vision concerning a new field of labour. God sometimes tells men in their sleep the secret they could not discover when they were awake. We have heard of the preacher who dreamed his sermon and then preached it. The text suggests that-- I. The greatest help that can be given to any people is the preaching of the gospel. Those who have not the gospel stand in the greatest need of help; but when the gospel is carried, you carry everything within it.1. Many lands are still subject to despots. How is liberty to be established in these lands? We need something more potent than steel to carve out the liberty of mankind. If liberty, equality, and fraternity, the three great words that are the world’ s heirloom, are ever to be fully known, it must be by the preaching of the Word of Jesus. 2. See how the nations are lying under gloomy superstition. How many have their intellect blighted, their hopes blasted, their progress stepped, by the cursed dominancy of priests. But the preaching of the gospel which teaches that believers are all priests and kings--this, and this only, is the world’ s hope of its deliverance from the slavery of the body and the yet more accursed bondage of the soul. 3. There are many places where all social comforts and enjoyments are as yet totally unknown. Nothing else can make the barbarian into a civilised man but the cross. 4. There are districts where the ground is red with blood. What shall we do to put an end to war? The gospel of Jesus shall yet break the battle bow in sunder. 5. But still, the greatest help that the gospel brings is help to the soul. Does not your heart desire that the blind eye should be opened, the misguided directed, the vicious led to virtue, and the virtuous to righteousness! Ye must send the gospel far and wide. How can they believe without a preacher? How can they preach except they be sent? II. Every day and hour the nations are saying, “ Come over and help us.” They do not vocally ask for help; nay, if you send it, they will many of them reject it. Missionaries have been slain; but still the nations are silently crying, “ Come over and help us.” If I saw a person in the street faint and dying, although he spoke not to me, I should think the weakness of his silence more potent than all the power of words. Ay, and if I saw him like a maniac, pushing me from him, for that very reason I would give him my assistance; and so must you do. It is ours to thrust our kindness upon unwilling men, because we believe that their unwillingness arises from the madness of their disease. Unborn generations shall bless the men that sent the gospel which at first their fathers did reject. III. What do you mean to do is answer to the heathen’ s cry? Have I one man who has a mind to go and preach the gospel in other lands? Because if I have, and if I have ten others who have a mind to give him ten pounds a year, I have an opening for sending him out at once. Who can tell?--he might be another Livingstone. Have we no young men here who are ready to volunteer? And what are you resolved to do who cannot preach? Says one, “ I will pray.” Do so; but in doing that, recollect that is what the Roman priest did for the beggar. The priest said he would not give him a sovereign, nor a half-crown, nor a penny. “ Holy father,” said the beggar, “ will you give me your prayers?” “ Yes,” said the priest; “ kneel down.” “ No,” said the beggar; “ for if your prayers had been worth a penny, you would not have given them to me.” If you have nought else to give to Christ, ye need not be ashamed; but if you are blessed in your substance, you will be lying before Him if you ask Him to bless His cause and do not give of your means in its support. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Cry of the heathen One sunny evening, on Mr. Mason’ s return from a preaching excursion among the Burmans, the first object which attracted his attention was the fine form of a Sgare chief, who, seated like a child at Mrs. Mason’ s feet, was earnestly imploring her to visit the karens in his village and neighbourhood. “ We have heard of Christianity, and it seems to us something wonderful. We do not understand it, and yet it seems the very thing we want. Come to our jungle homes, and preach to us on our native streams. Many will believe. I have a Burman wife, and I have daughters, and sons-in-law, and brothers, and nephews, all of whom will become Christians, as well as myself, as soon as we really understand.” In a few years this man became one of the most efficient labourers in Merqui and Tavoy, and under his influence many were baptized. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)A cry for help The form of the petition, which we may declare without exaggeration to be addressed to all of us in the periodical call of Christian missions, places in a very attractive light the work to which it refers. The gospel is designed by its Author, and is felt by its true disciples to be the help of man. The Bible is full of this aspect of the gospel. Man wants help, and God alone offers him help. I. Instruction is help. We all speak of the helplessness of the blind. See a blind man groping his way: math the vacillation of his step, the uncertainty of his hand; see how a little child, a dumb animal, a lifeless staff, is welcomed as the guide and helper. Now what the light of the sun is to one who has to move among the things of this world, that knowledge is to a man who has to find his way through the mysteries, perils, and obstructions of this life into an eternal state. Well can you imagine yourself crying, in the words of the text, “ Come over and help me! Help me by telling me for certain what I am and where; who is He above me, and what the life beyond; how I can so pass through things temporal that I finally lose not the things eternal.” II. Comfort is help. See how the Psalmist cries out for help in his hours of distress. “ Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because Thou, Lord, hast holpen me and comforted me.” Holpen and comforted. The two things are one. If I could only feel that someone has cared for my soul, it is help at once. It is neglect, indifference, alienation, which disheartens and makes me feel myself helpless. Let me know that God whom I have displeased yet loves, that God whom I have neglected waits for me with outstretched arm, and I can bear anything, I can do anything. It is so when first the gospel is apprehended as indeed a message of peace from God. And it is so again day by day. The gospel is indeed help for the helpless and life from the dead. III. But there are hearts of which the inward thought is, “ The help I need most of all is, in the simplest sense, assistance--aid against difficulties, enemies, temptations.” Yes, here we touch the vital point. What makes a true Christian love his gospel is that he finds strength in it. (Dean Vaughan.)A call for help Oriental in its lineage and nativity Christianity was destined to become European in its triumphs. A few centuries saw it wither in those lands which gave it birth. Whereas transplanted to Europe it has struck here abiding roots and borne ample fruit. Nourished by the stronger soil of Western life, it is now beginning to repay the East its early obligations. The moment to which the text refers was one of the supreme turning points of history. It was a moment sure to come. Sooner or later the gospel was bound to pass from the continent of its infancy to that robuster continent which was to prove the home of its manhood. Yet it needed quite a series of unusual providential indications to bring that mission band down to Treas. Again and again had the unseen Guide of that enterprise stood, like the angel of Balaam, barring progress. Read widely the Macedonians’ appeal suggests-- I. That all human religions, governments, literature, civilisation, have ended in a confession of failure.1. What are human religions but attempts to find God? But they strive after the unattainable. The net result of them all in Paul’ s day was a general scepticism respecting religious truths, and despair respecting their highest good. 2. The end of government and all social systems is the regeneration of society and a reign of justice, peace, and happiness; and at this problem men had long been working. Government by one, by a few, by the many, by the best--the world has tried them all, and under all of them has gone to corruption. 3. This failure repeats itself in the individual soul. The inward history of every man, when the net result of all life’ s efforts comes to be inspected, does not satisfy even the man himself. It is not what it ought or was meant to be. II. To all this incessant, profound, pathetic plaint of humanity, God’ s answer has been the gospel of His Son, or rather God’ s Son Himself. He is the Helper who has come over to us. He has brought light, revealing the Father whom we had ignorantly worshipped; peace cancelling guilt and atoning for transgression; power to break the bonds of evil habit, to renew the wasted moral energy, and to build up holy character. We believe in this Helper; to receive Christ is to be a Christian. Come and see if He be not the Christ of God. III. Christ being God’ s response to the cry for help, it follows that Christians in their turn must listen to the cry and answer it. If the gospel has not forgotten its own origin it can never hear unmoved the Macedonian appeal. Christianity, is nothing if not a mission; and the Church’ s loyalty is tested by the degree of her sensitiveness to catch and her promptness to answer the cry of perishing men. Not that the Church must wait for any formal invitation. Paul did not wait for that. Macedonia knew and cared nothing about Christianity. The cry came not from Europe, but from God. What the vision meant was that Macedonia needed and was ready for the gospel. And no other provocation is needed for the Church’ s missionary effort today. Note then--1. The need. The study of comparative religion yields two results-- (1) It brings to light the seeds of spiritual truth which lie buried beneath the great old religions, and which testify to the inextinguishable cravings after God to which Christ is God’ s reply. (2) It shows the necessity for the Christian revelation. To know heathenism thoroughly is to know not only its fragments of partial truth, but also their insufficiency, and their witness to man’ s abortive spiritual struggles. There is great need for a fuller acquaintance with heathen creeds, and their outcome in heathen life. It is most difficult for men whose moral sense has been refined by Christianity to fathom the deeps of sinfulness and cruelty in which men have been plunged by unnumbered centuries of heathenism. Had Christians only an exacter knowledge of these things, compassion for the heathen would be vastly more keen and active than it is. 2. The readiness. The Church literally staggers beneath appeals for help. You can scarcely name a region that is inaccessible to the gospel. This is the privilege and perplexity of all our Churches. (J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)The world’ s want, the world’ s cry It is only hearts burdened with Divine pity, and moved by Divine love, that see such visions or hear such voices as Paul saw and heard. The cold and indifferent sleep on; never hear and never see the great spirit world that wraps us close round. But we must not suppose that the Macedonians were actually hungering for the gospel. We know that they did not welcome Paul. His first sermon was preached to a few women only, and he was beaten and disregarded by the Philippians at large, and driven from their city; and when he went further south to Thessalonica, they assaulted him so furiously that he had to escape out of the city by night. And further south again in Athens they mocked him and said, “ What will this babbler say?” Alas! the heathen, as a rule, do not see their darkness or feel their misery. The sheep in the wilderness, though utterly lost and in utmost peril, never seek the shepherd; it is the shepherd who has to seek the sheep. There was once an old man, diseased and worn and literally clothed in rags, who sat by the wayside begging, an object of pity: yet he never uttered a word, but simply sat there. One day a gentleman passing by was struck by his abject misery, but as no appeal was made he passed on. Yet, haunted by the man’ s woe-begotten appearance, he came back and said, “ Are you in want?” And the old man replied, “ Oh, sir! I am sick and cold and hungry.” Then said the gentleman, “ Why don’ t you beg?” And the old man, stretching out his worn, wasted hands, and looking at his rag-covered body, said, “ Sir, I am begging with a thousand tongues.” Yes, his misery was begging more eloquently than words. And it is thus that the heathen world is begging at the doors of the Church. It is its misery that begs; for the heathen are without God, and without hope in the world. But it is only a Christian’ s eye that can see that misery, and only a Christian’ s ear that can hear the cry. But what kind of help did the Macedonians want from Paul? and what kind of help had Paul to give them? It was--1. Help out of their debasing idolatries and superstitions to the knowledge of the one true and living God.2. Help out of their moral degradation to a higher and nobler life.3. Help out of darkness and death to Christ and life. (G. Owen.)The beginning of European missions I. The dream. It seems a slight sort of thing to be the beginning of any enterprise, for a dream may arise from some slight derangement of the body, some uneasy posture, some preoccupation of the mind. Sometimes, however, it may be the effluence of another life. Just as a telegraph wire will transmit an influence that will reach another wire quite detached from it miles away--how, no man knows--so there are souls, perhaps, with so much vitality and power to propagate an impression that they may waft their desire into other hearts by the subtle breathing and yearning of the soul. In such a case a dream may have a meaning. God “ fulfils Himself in many ways,” and sometimes, when He cannot get into our waking mind, He will enter into the mind while it sleeps, and convey His message there. From the result we see that this dream was a ministering angel. Mark some of the strange things about him.1. It is very strange that He goes to the hearts that He does. Truly there was need of some angel to be the mouthpiece of creation that was groaning. For despair spread over the face of the people. The power of Rome was oppressive; liberty was extinct; the laws were bitter and cruel in a degree we cannot easily imagine. But surely that angel went to the wrong house. Let him go to the emperor, to the Roman Senate, to some that had power to see to the well-being of the people. But he is gone to travel-stained men with no fitness for any task like this. Angel, you have come to the wrong door. But oh! woe always knows in what direction to look for help; it has an instinct unerring as the child’ s for the mother’ s breast. And the dream angel, that is the pleader for human help, is always coming to Christian hearts. They may be few and poor; but somehow the cry of distress is always coming to the Church of Christ, as if she had some secret by which to heal the troubles of men. It may be the poor people of London; the ignorance of little children; orphans; the hospital; some nation struggling for liberty; womanhood. All the sorrowful the world over passing by all others say to us, “ Come over and help us.” In Tokio, in Japan, a pool woman asked to be led to the Christian people. They asked her what she wanted. She said she understood that they knew how to heal the broken heart, and her heart was broken, and she wanted to find them. You cannot get out of this position. It is an evidence of Christianity little noticed, the expectation that the world has from us. Realise it. You may learn what to do in learning what the world expects you to do. The first marvel about this dream angel is the people to whom he goes. 2. The next strange thing about this dream angel is that he gets into the heart he goes to. It was not every heart that he got into. There are thoughts and feelings that cannot be got into our minds and hearts, for they are not big enough for them. There are some who can look upon sorrow and never see a claim in it; who can have the gospel and never feel that they have anything that can heal the woes of men. If such an angel had come to such, he might have stood at the door and knocked the whole night through, and he would not have disturbed their slumber. We would have told him that the rich man lived in the next street, or that somebody that was particularly interested in this sort of work was to be found somewhere else, or of the number of calls that we had, or turned to ask the news from Macedon: what about the crops, and the business, and the state of the frontier? The dream angel has been trying to get into some of our hearts for years, and we do not heed him, and send him away. Blessed are the souls that are open to let him in. All Christ-like hearts listen to such appeals. St. Patrick heard the dream voice, and the great missionaries of the Middle Ages--Boniface, the missionary of Central Europe; Raymond Lully, who went to Northern Africa; Xavier, who went to the furthest India and the edge of China. He came to our own Carey. There are some people that have never seen this dream angel. God pity them! Blessed are they who have. II. What did they do with the dream? What would you have done? Probably you would have told it as rather a strange, curious dream, and have forgotten it. And suppose you had been with Paul; would you have given in to him, and gone to Macedonia on the mere strength of this dream? I fancy Silas would be very much tempted to say, “ Well, Paul, that is you all over; your dream cometh of your compassions. When you were at Antioch you thought of Cyprus, and when you got to Cyprus you thought of Asia Minor; when yon were at Syria you wanted to go to Rome, and when you get to Rome you will want to go to Spain--always ‘ the regions beyond.’ Your dream by night just comes of your thought by day.” I can fancy Luke was tempted to say, “ Paul, you had a very serious illness in Galatia a month or two ago, ought you to go yonder?” Oh, if it had been you or I, we would have wanted a month or two to consider it, and we would have got everybody’ s opinion till we got addled by the multitude of opinions that we took, and chilled by the cold water we invited. What did they do? (verse 10). How long it takes to convince us of any duty! We ask for light, and when light comes we look at it as if it had been something sent on approbation, and send it back, or wait for God to change His mind and show us something else; or we consult with flesh and blood, with books, and wonder whether we have to do it, or perhaps we say, “ Is it necessary? Is there not somebody else that can do it?” Happy are those hearts that are easily convincible of God’ s love and of their own duty. These men were of that make. They “ assuredly gathered that the Lord had called,” and there was an end of it. Four big children, not stupid enough to philosophise, nor prudent enough to tarry for light, but heroes as well as children. “ Immediately they endeavoured to go.” Not lingering. How much they gained by their promptness! Why, if they had waited till tomorrow the ship would have been gone, and no one knows how long it would have been before another vessel would sail in that direction. Besides, when you are guided by God’ s eye, the eye that guides you smiles on you, and you walk in the light. And they went with its bloom upon them, and the voyage pleasant, and three days do not elapse before they are in the capital of Macedon at their work. Brethren, this world is too short for us to practise delay. You are going to give a lot of money to the missions when your fortune is made. “ Immediately they endeavoured to go into Macedonia” --that was Paul’ s example. Tomorrow is not yours or mine; today is ours. Be like the stars, as Goethe said; not hasting, not tarrying, waiting till the light is clear; the moment it is clear, go forth. III. The result of this action. What was it? Perhaps not very encouraging at first. Nobody is waiting for them. They go out to the little oratory by the riverside; there is not a man, only a few women. It is true that one of them is converted; it is true that another is converted. And then, when they have got into prison, another low-natured man that it took an earthquake to rouse is added to the other two; and thus there are three to start the Christian worship in Europe. It is a strange trio--a seeker after God, a poor demoniac woman, and a great sinner. You know that is the way the Church is gathered--seekers, sufferers, sinners. Was that all? Not quite all. For these three, with two women at the head, grew into the noblest of all the Apostolic Churches. Then after Philippi they went to Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, Corinth; and the Church grew and grew till today European Christianity has grown out of it. Brethren, send the bail rolling, and somebody else will keep it up. Sow one seed, and a thousand years hence some fruit of it may wave. Were they repaid? What says your heart? What would you give to have their reward in heaven? Oh! what overpowering delight would it be to any one of us to have a ten thousandth part of the reward that came to them! So all are rewarded that obey these heavenly visions. (R. Glover.)The charter of Massachusetts granted by Charles I contains an expression of the hope that the settlers to whom it is granted “ may win and incite the natives of the country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith, which, in our royal intention, and the adventurer’ s free profession, is the principal end of this plantation.” The first seal of the State represents an Indian giving utterance to the words, “ Come over and help us.” (W. E. Rae.) Acts 16:12 And from thence to Philippi. Philippi The apostle had not paused at Samothrace--an island celebrated for its sanctity and its amulets, its gods and orgies, its Cybele and Cobira--a scene where the mysteries of Eastern and Western superstition seem to have met and blended. Nor did he stop at Neapolis, the harbour of the Thymonic gulf, but he pressed on to Philippi; and the ground of his preference was that it was “ the chief city,” etc. This cannot mean the chief or capital city, for that was Thessalonica; and if there existed at that period a minuter subdivision, the principal town was Amphipolis. It probably means that it was the first city of the province that lay upon his journey. It was the chief city of that part, and there was every inducement to fix upon it as a centre of operations. As it was a city and a colony, its importance in itself, and in relation to other towns and districts, made it a fitting place for present work and subsequent enterprise. You may either say that Paul went to Philippi as the first city in his path, for he had been summoned into Macedonia, and he could never think of passing the first city which he came to; or that he formally selected Philippi because of its rank and its privileges as a Roman colony. Philippi was anciently called Krenides, or the “ Springs,” on account of its numerous fountains, in which the Gangites has its sources. Philip, about 358 B.C., enlarged the old town and fortified it, in order to protect the frontiers against Thracian invaders, and named it after himself, to commemorate the addition of a new province to his empire. After the famous battle fought and won in its neighbourhood by the Triumvirs, Augustus conferred special honours on the city, and made it a Roman colony. A military settlement had been made in it, chiefly of the soldiers who had been ranged under the standard of Antony, so that it was a protecting garrison on the confines of Macedonia. A colonia was a reproduction in miniature of the mother city Rome. The Roman law ruled; and the Roman insignia were everywhere seen. The municipal affairs were managed by duumvirs, or praetors. Philippi had also the Jus Italicum, or quaritarian ownership of the soil, its lands enjoying the same freedom from taxation as did the soil of Italy. Highly favoured as Philippi had been, it was in need of “ help.” Political franchise and Roman rights, Grecian tastes and studies, wide and varied commerce, could not give it the requisite aid. It was sunk in a spiritual gloom, which needed a higher light than Italian jurisprudence or Hellenic culture could bring it, It was helpless within itself, and the “ man” who represented it had appealed to the sympathies of a Jewish stranger, whose story of the Cross could lift the darkness off its position and destiny. The spear and phalanx of Macedonia had been famous, and had carried conquest and civilisation through a large portion of the Eastern world; the sun of Greece had not wholly set, and Epicureans and Stoics yet mingled in speculation, and sought after “ wisdom” ; the sovereignty of Rome had secured peace in all her provinces, and her great roads not only served for the march of the soldier, but for the cortege of the trader; art and law, beauty and power, song and wealth, the statue and the drama, survived and were adored; but there was in many a heart a sense of want and powerlessness, an indefinite longing after some higher good and portion, a painless and restless agitation, which only he of Tarsus could soothe and satisfy with his preaching of the God-man--the life, hope, and centre of humanity. (Prof. Eadie.)The first three Philippian converts 1. They are representatives of three different races--the one an Asiatic, the other a Greek, the third a Roman. 2. In the relations of everyday life they have nothing in common: the first is engaged in an important and lucrative branch of traffic; the second, treated by law as a mere chattel without any social or political rights, is employed by her masters to trade on the credulous superstition of the ignorant; the third, equally removed from both, holds a subordinate office under government. 3. In their religious training they stand no less apart. In the one, the speculative mystic temper of Oriental devotion has at length found deeper satisfaction in the revealed truths of the Old Testament; the second, bearing the name of the Pythian god, the reputed source of Greek inspiration, represents an artistic and imaginative religion, though manifested in a very low and degrading form; while the third, if he preserved the characteristic features of his race, must have exhibited a type of worship essentially political in tone. The purple dealer and proselyte of Thyatira, the native slave girl with the divining spirit, the Roman jailer, all alike acknowledge the supremacy of the new faith. In the history of the gospel at Philippi, as in the history of the Church at large, is reflected the great maxim of Christianity, the central truth of the apostle’ s preaching--that here “ is neither Jew nor Greek,” etc. (Galatians 3:28). 4. The order of these conversions is significant: first the proselyte, next the Greek, lastly the Roman. Thus the incidents in their sequence, no less than in their variety, symbolise the progress of Christianity throughout the world. Through the Israelite dispersion, through the proselytes whether of the covenant or the gate, the gospel message first reached the Greek. By the instrumentality of the Greek language, and the diffusion of the Greek race, it finally established itself in Rome, the citadel of power and civilisation, whence directly or indirectly it was destined to spread over the whole world. (Bp. Lightfoot.)Christianity in Europe I. Accepting Christ (verses 14, 15). It is well to note--1. Who this convert was. (1) She was a woman of business. Her perceptions had been sharpened by trade. She was free from the bondage of local prejudice. (2) She was from Thyatira, a city of “ Asia,” in which district the missionaries had been forbidden to speak the Word. When the Holy Spirit shuts the door in one place, it may be that He intends to reach it by the way of another. (3) She was a Jewish proselyte. She had learned to worship the true God. Having made that much progress, she was prepared to go still further--much more prepared than the Jews themselves. 2. How she was converted. “ Whose heart the Lord opened,” etc., Paul spoke the Word, but the Lord gave the Word fruitfulness. “ I planted, Apollos watered; God gave the increase.” 3. How her conversion was shown. (1) Her whole family was converted with her. Through her faith, her servants, and her children, if she had children, were brought into the kingdom of Christ. (2) She constrained the missionaries to abide with her, which was no small burden. Paul, Timothy, Silas, and Luke made quite a party to take care of. And note how she puts her request. She makes it appear as though they were doing her a favour, rather than she them. They had done so much for her soul that she wanted to do something for their bodies. II. Saved through Christ. We turn from one who was ready to accept Christ to one who was in the power of Satan. But the power of Christ was shown in the one ease as in the other. The Lord opened the heart of the one, cast out the evil spirit from the other.1. The evil spirit in possession. (1) Bringing gain. The unfortunate girl was owned by a joint-stock company. Her owners speculated in the credulity of men. Her insane ravings were taken as the revelation of an oracle. (2) Bringing reproach. “ The same following after Paul and us, cried,” etc. This she did for many days. The testimony which she bore was the same as that of the evil spirits to the Saviour. The witness was true, but it was not from a good source. 2. The evil spirit cast out. (1) Why? “ Paul being sore troubled,” etc. At what? Presumably at the character of the endorsement he and his friends were receiving. With this, however, there may have been a great sympathy for the poor girl. (2) How? “ I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” The act was done in such a way as to show the faith of Paul in Christ, his dependence upon Christ, and as to honour Christ. Those who witnessed the miracle could not have any doubt as to the power through which the marvel was accomplished. III. Suffering for Christ.1. The anger of the masters. (1) How it arose. “ Her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone.” The maid now spoke rationally, instead of raving, or giving wild, weird utterances that made people think that they were listening to something supernatural. Now no one would pay anything to hear the girl speak good sense. It did not matter to them that the maid was released from a most cruel thraldom. Let a drunkard burst his bonds, and what rum seller will rejoice over his deliverance? Let a gambler throw off the terrible fascination, and how angry are those whom he has been enriching. (2) How it was manifested. (a) “ They laid hold on Paul and Silas,” etc. The dragging, we may be sure, was not gently done. (b) “ They said, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,” etc. The formal complaint did not correspond to the offence. They knew that the magistrates could take no cognisance of such an injury as they had received. They craftily word their complaint. They appeal to the Roman prejudice against the Jews. 2. The anger of the magistrates. The multitude became a mob, and the magistrates not much better. No form of a trial was even pretended. Against these Jews, the accusation of such respectable, dividend-receiving citizens was taken as conclusive evidence. Judgment and sentence were instantaneous. (1) The missionaries were beaten “ with many stripes,” more cruelly than if they had been committing a crime. (2) They were cast into the “ inner prison,” and their feet made fast in the stocks. What land is there where a similar heroic record has not been made? (M. C. Hazard.) Acts 16:13 And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side where prayer was wont to be made.The duty of Christ’ s servants when from home This may be gathered from what the apostles did not do, and what they did when they reached Philippi. I. Negatively. They did not--1. Give up going to prayer meeting because they were away from their home church. 2. Go to prayer meeting and wait and wait for someone else to say something. 3. Need a fifty-thousand-dollar church, and the presence of a fashionable congregation to call out their best efforts. II. Positively.1. They found a few women gathered in a little chapel by the river side--then and there they saw that work for Christ was to be done. 2. They did Christ’ s work, and forthwith one soul at least was won for the Master. 3. When all Christ’ s servants do their duty as unhesitatingly, what joy there will be among the angels of God, over repentant souls turning heavenward! (S. S. Times.)The place of prayer The place of prayer is a place of power. Miracles are done in it. When the disciples were praying, the Holy Spirit descended. When the Church was praying at John Mark’ s house, Peter was let out of prison by an angel. When the Church prays now, there is answer in India and China and Africa, While Christians pray there is fresh anointing from on high; they become “ strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” The hour we spend in communing with God is the most strengthening in the week. More prayers and less words. Less with men, and more with God. We get the victory in the prayer room where no eye sees but God’ s, and all hearts are one before Him. The prayer circle is a place of instruction. Prayer is a great teacher. The word of truth is unfolded there; mysteries are explained; promises are fulfilled; deliverances are wrought. What God teaches in prayer is pure truth; what we learn on our knees we never unlearn. The place of prayer is a place of rest after toil, of comfort in perplexity and trouble. It is good to draw near to God. “ Draw nigh unto Me and I will draw nigh unto you.” The gates to the mercy seat are many, and, like those to the golden city, stand open day and night, that every soul may enter in. It is a place of fellowship, Next to the joy of heaven is the gladness of hearts gathered together in prayer. It is a place for conversion of souls. Of how many it shall be written: “ They were born there.” It is a place for replenishing the daily losses of the heart, and enthroning God again at the seat of the soul. A Christian is always helped in his association with other Christians. Single coals do not hold fire, but gathered together there is glow. The proseuche The names proseuche and synagogue were sometimes confounded; though at other times the distinction between them is observed. This distinction consists in the first word being used of the place of assembly, and the latter of the assembly itself. But however frequently these names were interchanged, they seem on the whole to have been used to designate different buildings, the first a temporary and tentative place of worship, the second a regular and acknowledged edifice, much as among ourselves a mission chapel is distinguished from a parish church. Wheresoever, from the paucity of their numbers, the Jews were not able to establish a synagogue, which required a certain number of men competent to bear the offices necessary to constitute a synagogue, there near a stream, as seems to have been the almost invariable practice in heathen countries, a proseuche was established--a humble dwelling partly covered, in part open to the sky, which in after times might give place to a grander edifice, and was not exclusively devoted to worship as the synagogue was. Thus at Thessalonica and Antioch and elsewhere we find synagogues mentioned; at Philippi, where there is no appearance of any Jewish colony, there is only “ a place for prayer.” (W. Denton, M. A.)The gospel in Europe I. The first gospel preaching in europe.1. The season--the “ Sabbath.” On this day the religious sentiment would be more active than on other days. Ministers should study mental moods. There are days and circumstances suited for religious impressions. There are tides in the affairs of spiritual as well as secular concerns. 2. The scene. They retired from the hum and bustle of the city into the solitudes and sublimities of nature. “ By a river side.” Few objects in nature are more beautiful and suggestive than a river. Emblem of life, ever changing; emblem of the universe, flowing on forever. The Jews were accustomed to have their proseuche built near water, that they might attend to the various ablutions connected with their religious rites. To Christianity all places are alike sacred. “ God is a Spirit.” 3. The style. They did not stand erect in the attitude of orators, they sat “ down,” mingled with the people. They did not deliver set discourses, but “ spake,” talked. What did they talk about? The beauties of nature? the immortality of the soul? the providence of the Eternal? If they referred to these, Christ and His Cross were, we may rest assured, their grand theme. II. The first gospel hearers in Europe. Who were they? Poets, statesmen, philosophers, heroes, kings? No! “ Women.” Why women and not men? Perhaps because the men came at another hour, or because the women had a special service for themselves. Did wives meet there to pray for their husbands, and sisters for their brothers, etc.? All we know is, that women are always more religiously disposed than men. Note--1. That the gospel is universally appreciable. Had the apostles felt that the truth required culture, logic, philosophic acumen, they would have gone first, not only to men, but to men of the higher type. But they felt that the gospel, being a revelation of facts, character, love, all that was required was the common intuitions and sympathies of a woman’ s nature. 2. That the gospel honours the female character. All religions but that of the Bible degrade women; and though, as in the more civilised parts of the world, she may be petted, she is still a slave to man. The gospel honours woman. The Saviour was born of a woman. Women were amongst His followers. He showed Himself to women after His resurrection, and the apostles now preached in Europe first to women. Woman is under special obligation to the gospel. 3. That the gospel has a regard to social influence. Woman has a greater influence on the race than man has. When she acts worthily of her nature, her influence as sister, wife, mother, is regal. III. The first gospel convert in Europe. “ A certain woman named Lydia,” etc. Observe--1. Her secular calling. “ A seller of purple.” Purple was a colour got from a shellfish, and of great cost and richness. It was chiefly worn by the wealthy and great. This woman was in trade. 2. Her religious character. “ Which worshipped God,” i.e., she was a proselyte; a formal worshipper of the God of Abraham. 3. Her spiritual change. (1) Its subject. The “ heart.” This, notwithstanding her religious profession, had been closed. The spirit of truth had not entered it. Avarice, prejudice, habit, shut up the heart. (2) Its cause. “ The Lord opened” it. Not by a miracle, not irrespective of means, but by certain influences. Sabbath day associations, natural scenery, the presence and speeches of the apostles, etc., disposed her to listen to what Paul had to say. (3) Its proof. (a) Teachableness. “ She attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” As a thirsty soul she drank in the new truths. (b) Profession. She avowed symbolically the necessity of a cleansing influence for herself and household. (c) Gratitude. “ If ye have judged me,” etc. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The gospel in Europe 1. Here the Lord of salvation is on His way to us, bending His steps westward. Just suppose that Paul and Silas had been ordered the other way. Then very likely these lands of ours would have been the Asia and the Africa that now are. 2. They had been staying in Philippi for certain days, as you might be sojourning in London. Paul was not a devout worshipper in Jerusalem, but a Philippian in Philippi. Had Paul been as loose in his observance of the Sabbath as some people, this story would not have been written. Forget not the ways of worship in which you were brought up when you are sojourning in London. Remember that perhaps you were brought here to open some door which, but for your arrival, would have remained shut. 3. “ Lord,” says the Psalmist, “ I have loved the habitation of Thy house,” etc. Can we say that? Is the love of worship so strong in us that when the day comes round our heart wakens up with strong desire to engage in the dear and familiar round? What a scene is presented to us! The city away back there, with its sin, bustle, and gaiety. They turn their backs on the city, and go out here to this quiet place by the river side. What a picture after all of all congregations! Where are we today? “ Along the river of time we glide,” but on the Sabbath we reach a little quiet creek, and God’ s own hand thrusts our boat in here; and while the river goes speeding away on to the sea, we disembark, and quietly, for a little time, while our boat rocks idly in this little bay, we rest ourselves. We land, and we sit down, and lo! God’ s servant comes among us, and speaks of things that belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ; and our hearts are opened for us, so that we attend to the things that are said to us, and receive blessings thereby. 4. How unlike the Lord’ s “ Forward.” Movements are to some of which we hear. No big bills, no beating of the drum. Maybe the Lord would like us to take a leaf out of His book, and whether we do things in a quiet or public way, to make sure that we are aiming at individuals. If Europe ever is to be saved, it is to be saved man by man, woman by woman, family by family. That is God’ s programme. How quiet. People, perhaps, taking a stroll by the river side would cast a wondering eye upon that little group, little knowing what was there. “ Who hath despised the day of small things?” No wise man; but fools do it continually--and that is a folly that we London ministers and workers are apt to be guilty of. We come to some meeting, and there are only a few women, and the very look on our face says, “ The meeting is a failure. None of the men of the district! This is not the class of people we wanted to gut at.” One might have said, “ Paul you are off the track. You are swinging about aimlessly.” Paul did not think so, but he sat down and spoke unto the women who resorted thither. I am not saying a word against big crowds. It is impossible to convert empty benches, and I never want to see dead wood. Often a bad use is made of Christ speaking to the woman at the well, for He so spoke that she went and raised the town about Him. “ God has much people in this city,” but He gets at the multitude through quickened individuals. God bless the women who give us meetings! for sometimes if it were not for Lydia we should have no meeting at all. Do you understand that, you men? It is not that you are engaged. It is simply that you will not come. It is not that you stay at home. You go out, but you do not come this way. Still, accepting the situation as it is, if there are only a few women, let us, like Paul, say to ourselves, “ This is God’ s opportunity, and this is my work.” 5. Notice the condition of the heart of this worshipper. She was a devout woman according to her light. She knew after some dim and distant fashion the God of Israel. It is not enough to be religious after the ordinary fashion. Even Lydia needs to have her shut heart opened. But still we have to notice that she was there, and she was using the light which she had; and by using the light which she had she came to more. Notice how the preacher is suppressed, and the sermon, and how the hearer is lifted up into prominence. 6. Attention, humanly speaking, is the avenue by which Christ comes into the human soul. It is a small thing, but I am afraid a rare thing. Even supposing that you had that great apostle, still conversions would be scanty if the audience did not attend. And it is not so easy as we are apt to imagine. It needs the power of the Holy Spirit to enable Paul to preach, and it needs the same power to enable the hearer to hear. Although your face is to me, where is your mind just now? Thinking of the state of things at home, of something that was in your business yesterday, of something that is to be in your business tomorrow? Ah, how many of us are like the wayside hearers! You are unconverted, not because of a poor preacher here, but because of a mighty poor listener down there. “ Hear,” says the prophet, “ and your soul shall live.” 7. Then see how this simple narrative brings out the mystery of conversion. Her heart was opened by the Lord. I cannot explain it. I can only point you to the fact, but what a blessed fact it is! If my heart has been opened, it was Divinely done. Oh, what a strange thing is the heart of man! Not long ago, in sport, a man handed me a purse with money in it, and I felt it, and I heard it jingle. He said, “ Open it” ; and in spite of my doing my utmost, I could not, it was too cunningly contrived. Such is the heart of man. It is worth the opening. Hand it up to God, and say, “ O God, do for me what Thou didst for Lydia.” He will. I think I see the Lord Jesus doing what I did out in the country one day. I came to a little cottage, and I went round, but the shutters were up, and I went round to the door, but the door was fastened. However, it did open; and you know the uncertain, cautious way in which you push open the door of an empty house and peer into the darkness. But I went in. So Christ today is coming to your heart, and He knows all the springs and locks in it, and He is opening it, and He is looking in. What a place! everything dark and desolate and dirty, for it has been God-forsaken ever since you were born. May He come in--at whose girdle hang the keys of all hearts. 8. “ And when she was baptized, and her household,” etc. First the heart, and then the home. She kept them; she fed them; she bore all charges for them at the very beginning. Remember Lydia at once became a contributor to the Sustentation Fund! (J. McNeill.)Missionary sermon That simple account is the first record of the preaching of the gospel in Europe. We are standing at the well head of a great river. The little silver thread, over which a shepherd might step without asking it to stay its progress, broadens out into a great expanse, and the Christendom of a civilised world is developed from those simple words spoken that Saturday morning. Thus gently and unobtrusively stole into Europe the great words which were to shatter and remould its institutions, and to be the starling point of its liberties. I. The apparent insignificance and real greatness of Christian work. It was the biggest thing that was done in the world that day when Paul talked to that handful of women. Well now, the same temptation, to judge of acts by their external aspect, and to underrate their value, besets us all in our Christian work. The greatness of an action depends on three things--its motive, its sphere, and its consequences. Anything that is done for God is great. You take a pebble and plunge it into a stream and all the veins become visible, which you failed to detect as it lay on the shore, and so it is with Christian work, cast it into the stream of holy motive--let it be done for God and it is sanctified and ennobled. And so it is as to the relative greatness of the sphere of our actions; what is done for material well-being and physical life is distinctly at the bottom. What is done for the understanding is higher, and if the lightest word of a great thinker is more than all material magnificence, then decisively, by the very same reasoning, we must exalt above the mere thinker’ s words the words and deeds which touch the heart, and that sway the will, that cleanse and invigorate, and instruct, and invest with sovereign power the life and conscience; and the preaching of Christ’ s name is that which does all these things. Therefore high above all other forms of Christian benevolence and munificence is this setting forth of the name that Paul spake by the riverside that morning. But deeds are classified according to their consequences. The longer they last, the wider they reach, the deeper they go--the greater the act which sets them in motion. Go and ask about the length of time the consequences of that sublime morning’ s discourse will endure. When all the flaring gas lamps and rush lights are out, “ they that be wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.” II. The law of growth in Christ’ s kingdom. The seed sown at first was but little, and though eighteen centuries have passed, and it has grown to a kingdom, it is obviously a long way from the term of its growth. So I may draw one or two lessons upon which I would touch for a moment or two. First: That the law of Christ’ s kingdom is found in minute and unobtrusive beginnings--noise and prominence are no parts of its power, and have little part in accomplishing the great things that are done for Him. The noisiest things are generally the little things, and the quiet things are the strong ones. Look how Jesus Christ stole into the world, into a corner of a remote little province, and went about silently doing good, and passed out of it again, and “ the world knew Him not.” And so don’ t let us be ashamed of little beginnings. They are in the line of God’ s way of working, and side by side with that there is the other thought, slow progress is unobtrusive and steadfast. The length which any organism takes to come to its maturity is the measure of its duration, and the man outlasts a million generations of moths, and the oak waves its unchanging branches alive many, many generations of reeds that spring and wither at its careless feet; and if eighteen centuries have but begun the development of the forces which were set loose in Europe for the first time that morning, how long is it going to be before decay sets in upon that which has taken so long to grow? A long, long duration must belong to that kingdom, the consolidation of which has been the work of all these centuries, and that must be an unsetting day, of which these years are but as a watch in the morning twilight. God works leisurely and invisibly. Treading most closely in the footsteps of Him who waited over a thousand years to send His own Son with that small beginning and slow advance, they commenced their work of the founding and building of the kingdom of Christ. III. The simplicity of the forces to which Christ entrusts the progress of His kingdom. It seemed a most unequal contest into which the apostle and his little band had gone, led by the vision which they interpreted as the Divine monition. Think of the opposition, the antagonisms that were ready against them. There was Greece over the hills with its proud philosophies. There was Rome all active, ready to change its toleration for active persecution. They had to meet storms of heathenish idolatry, round which the superstitious dread of untold centuries gathered, and which was ever menacing with consummate obstinacy. They had to confront ordered systems of able philosophic teachers with their unlettered message. Did Cartes, landing on an unknown shore, with an unsubdued and barren beach in front and his burning ships behind, embark on a more apparently desperate venture than these men? And what were the weapons that made them victorious? First and foremost the message that they preached, the plain gospel--to which the heart and conscience of men will respond, when it is put before them as Christ meant it to be--the message, “ That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing unto them their trespasses.” That was Paul’ s gospel, as he tells us, and that was the weapon with which he fought, which was, “ the power of God unto salvation.” With this most beneficent intention they fronted the universe with one word, and with that word they took the world; and you and I have it, and if we will be faithful and will use it, we shall have the same issues and results as they. Their power in the next place came from the earnestness with which they preached the truth. Convictions are contagious. You may reason with a man until Doomsday, and if you hammer an iceberg to powder it will be ice still, but melt it, as you can by having your own soul aglow with love and loyalty to Jesus Christ, and you can turn it from ice to sweet water. The last element of power is the presence of the abiding and indwelling Christ. The Word, mighty as it is, is vain without the mighty power and inspiration of the Spirit. As we read that verse lower down, what do we find? “ Whose heart the Lord opened, that she should attend to the things that were spoken of Paul.” In the measure in which we are true to Him, and yield ourselves in glad surrender to His power and presence, we carry Jesus Christ with us, and He works through us, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, which are indeed the acts of the risen Christ in the apostles. The gospel is as much the power of God unto Salvation today as it ever was, and the earnestness of our personal conviction is as deep as ever, and the presence and power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ is as real as ever, and the closer we keep to Christ and the more exclusively and unreservedly we trust Him the more assured will be our results. God’ s Church has no need of wealth. Jewels on the hilt of a sword are often in the way of getting a good grip of it, and the gilded scabbard adds nothing to the keenness of its edge. The Church has no need of worldly help. David was almost throttled in Saul’ s armour, he was better without it. Let us then get the old proved weapons which have been tried through many generations; we have more reason to trust them than Paul had, for we have eighteen centuries of experience to fall back upon, which he had not; and if we cleave to them, as I pray God we may, we shall find that the weapons of our warfare, not being carnal, but spiritual, are mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds of sin and Satan. And so I venture to commend to your sympathies the claims of the Foreign Missionary enterprise. I am sure of this, that no Church is in a healthy condition that does not lend a helping hand in the great work of foreign missions. The lamp that is placed in the window gives no less light in the room because its rays are illuminating the darkness outside. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The gospel in Europe 1. In verse 12 we read of “ certain days” --days which needed not to be named--the ordinary process of time. But in verse 13 we read of “ the Sabbath” --the day that has a name; the one day into which all other days flow as streamlets and rivers flow into the sea. There is none like it. You need not bolster up the Sabbath by argument. Its Divine authority is written in the heart, and we shall see it to be so when once awakened and inspired by the Holy Ghost. The Sabbath must be its own argument. 2. “ And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by the riverside.” Church hunting! A journey that was allowed. To leave home thus on Sunday is to seek the greater home. You cannot stop at home on the Sabbath day. That were insult to the very home you profess to love. To leave it is to seek it; to go from it is to get at it. We must go out on the Sabbath day, if the Spirit of Christ be in us, in order to help to complete the family gathering. Let us not be led away by the foolish fantasy that a man can read the Bible at home, or have a Church at home, in some sense which dispenses with the common joy of kindred sympathy and soul. Christianity does not isolate men, but brings men together in sacred, sympathetic brotherhood. We know what it is in strange places to seek the particular Church we know and love on the Sabbath day. 3. “ Where prayer was wont to be made.” How singular is the cause of reputation or fame! There are famous battlefields to which men make pilgrimages. How can a man be in Belgium without feeling some constraint towards Waterloo? That is natural. There are men who would make long pilgrimages to see where John Bunyan was born. The land through which the apostles passed was full of historic interest, but they cared little for the histories which have beginnings and endings; they lived in the nobler history which continues through the everlasting duration. They sought the place where soul battles had been fought. You might have known whither the men were moving; they were praying as they were going. We must keep up the spiritual frame. 4. “ The women which resorted thither.” Have men forsaken religion and left the women to keep it up? Do “ women keep up the Church” ? It may be; but it is a fool’ s gibe! The woman does keep up the Church--God bless her! But she keeps up more. Oh, thou blatant, mocking fool, to taunt the very saviour of society! There be those who say that the men have given up Church. Yes, but only in the same proportion in which they have given up love, purity, patience, home! 5. “ And a certain woman named Lydia.” This is like the “ days” and “ the Sabbath.” What subtle little harmonies there are in this inspired book! How part balances part! As there are days that may be mentioned in the plural number, so there are men and women who may be mentioned in their plurality; but as there is one day which is always named alone, so there are individuals who head every catalogue; names which have whole lines to themselves. Look at the case of Lydia. I. She was a business woman--“ a seller of purple.” So, then, women of business may be women of prayer. We ought to have more women of business. It is one thing for a woman to be a slave, and another for a woman to work and to love her work. He, or she, who loves work, makes all the week a kind of introductory Sabbath to the great religious rest. I would that all women were Lydias in this respect of having something definite to do every day and doing it, and finding in industry a balance to piety. II. She was a religious woman; she “ worshipped God.” It is one thing to be religious and another to be Christianised. Religion is a general term; Christianity is a specific form of religion. It is not enough for you and me to be religious, we must take upon us by the mighty ministry of the Holy Ghost a particular form, and that particular form is Christianity. In this respect Christianity is a heart opening; a heart enlargement. III. When she became the subject of Christian influence, at once she would have a Church in the house--“ If ye have judged me,” etc. In that suggestion there is a whole philosophy. That was impulse Divine. When the two travellers felt their hearts burn within them, by reason of the converse of the third Man, they said, “ Abide with us.” Lydia would have a fellowship at once. Souls that are kindred must never leave one another. Christians must abide together. In the olden time “ they that feared God met often one with another,” etc. (J. Parker, D. D.)And spoke unto the women that resorted thither.--Paul and the women of Philippi I. The circumstances.1. It was upon the Sabbath day.2. It was by the river side. A river may remind us of the Spirit, by whose influence we are enabled to drink of the “ streams which make glad the city of God.”3. It was a place where prayer was accustomed to be made. II. The position. “ They sat down.” III. The operation (verse 14).1. Something implied. (1) Ignorance.(2) Prejudice. 2. Something described. (1) Before conversion. (a) Conviction. (b) Perception. (c) Willingness. (2) After conversion. (a) Consciousness. (b) Longings. (c) Enlargement. (Dr. Andrews.)And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple.--The conversion of Lydia I. The character of Lydia, previous to the apostle’ s arrival. This will, in a considerable degree, account for that absence of intense feeling by which her conversion was distinguished. You are not now invited to look on the rough Roman soldier, or the dissolute vagrant. But Lydia stands before you, marked by the mildness of her sex, the native pliancy of the Asiatic character, and the respectability of her standing in society. For you find that she was a woman of Thyatira, a Lydian city, and a respectable householder in Philippi. And her employment, as a seller of purple, was calculated to produce a certain degree of morality and gentleness; for trade has a tendency to repress open profligacy, and to remove moroseness of temper. And the peculiar branch of commerce, which engaged Lydia’ s attention would tend, by bringing her into contact with her superiors, to foster a submissive and obliging disposition. But the most important fact of her early history is her proselytism to the Jewish faith--she “ worshipped God.” It cannot hence be inferred that she was really pious, for in chap. 13 we find that those individuals at Antioch, characterised by the same term, and called in our Bibles “ devout women,” were among the violent persecutors of Paul and Barnabas. Many of these proselytes were, doubtless, like the Jews themselves, but professors of the tenets of Judaism. Yet the religious profession of Lydia will prove that she was to a certain extent instructed in the writings of the Old Testament; and the narrative shows her to have been an attendant in assemblies for Divine worship. And this knowledge, and this attention to the rites of religion, would give an aspect to her mind, very different from that of her depraved neighbours. The ruggedness of the heathen character would be thus worn away, and the law, as the forerunner of the gospel, would have “ prepared the way of the Lord, and made straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Lydia then, at this period, although unchanged by the Holy Spirit, may be described as moral, amiable, industrious, domestic, and instructed in the leading principles of religion. II. The scene of her conversion. And in this there is much to harmonise with the characteristic of her conversion itself. Lydia is not roused beneath the strong arches of a prison, by an earthquake, like the savage jailer. But time, and place, and employment, all tell of tranquillity. III. The manner of the Divine operation. We have not time now to enlarge on the sentiment, that an immediate Divine influence is necessary for the conversion of a soul, although this is sufficiently established by the present history. “ It is God which worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure” ; and then listen to the language of Jesus Christ, “ Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” But we have here to advert particularly to the gentle manner in which the Spirit affected the mind of Lydia. This is implied in the word “ opened.” The hearers of Peter, on the day of Pentecost, were pricked to the heart.” The hearts of others are represented as “ broken.” Indeed, the convinced soul sometimes reminds us of a city taken by storm: the bars of iron are cut asunder--the gates are battered down--the assailants pour in like a torrent. But the heart of Lydia was opened like the gate of Peter’ s prison. Now, there are two circumstances recorded in the narrative that will illustrate the mildness of the Divine agency.1. The first is that the preaching of the gospel was the instrument of Lydia’ s conversion. The Spirit in His saving influences always affects the mind by bringing it into contact with truth; and, indeed, with that portion of truth which He has been pleased to communicate to man in the Scriptures. “ Of His own will begat He us by the word of truth.” This is the sun of the moral world. “ The law of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” But light does not always strike the eye from the same point: sometimes the sun pours on it his direct effulgence; at others, the rays reach it through all the varieties of reflection. And thus the truth is not always communicated to the mind in the same manner. It impresses one man amid the silence of meditation; another, while perusing the Bible; it smites a third in the rebuke of an enemy; it came to Paul in a voice from heaven. But the more common manner of conveying to the mind the truths of revelation is by the preaching of the gospel. 2. The other circumstance to which we allude is that the operations of the Spirit did not interfere with the calm exercise of Lydia’ s mental powers. The influences of the Spirit, indeed, never supersede the employment of the intellectual faculties; for then man would cease to be responsible. But in the early stages of some conversions, there is but little calmness in the employment of these. The feelings are too much agitated to allow of close attention to the various bearings of truth. Imminent peril occupies too large a space in the field of vision to permit the presence of other objects. But such was not Lydia’ s case. “ She attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul.” Her heart was engaged with his discourse. While Lydia heard that Christ was “ bruised for our transgressions,” she felt that she was a transgressor. True, she had been industrious, amiable, moral. But now she perceived that religion required much more than outward decency. She began to feel the meaning of the Psalmist’ s prayer; “ Create in me, O God, a clean heart.” She saw that the anxieties of business, and the cares of a family, had interfered with supreme love to God. And Lydia received the testimony of God. She saw its extent, embracing time and eternity; the character of man, and the nature of God--and she received it all. IV. The subsequent conduct of Lydia, as according with the gentleness which we have noticed as predominant in her history. She was not called, like the apostle to whose language she had listened, to raise her voice in the public assembly, or to expose her life in perilous journeys. But there was a little congregation to whom she could introduce the word of truth--her household. It is evident that Lydia discharged her duty to her family, for they too were baptized. And mild as Lydia appears in the centre of her family, regarded by its members as the instrument of their own conversion, she is not seen in a light less amiable, when performing towards the apostles the rites of Christian hospitality. Mark with what urgency she pleads with Paul, her father in Christ, to come, with his companions, beneath her roof; till, constrained by her grateful importunity, these holy men became her guests. And so closely was Christian friendship cemented by their brief intercourse, that we find Paul and Silas, as soon as they were released from prison, hastening to the house of Lydia, to share with their anxious hostess the joy of their deliverance. And her considerate regard to the temporal wants of the apostles was not limited to the transient attentions of hospitality. Read the Epistle to the Church at Philippi and you will find that, at the introduction of the gospel into Macedonia, this Christian society alone ministered to the necessities of the apostle. Twice at Thessalonica and once at Corinth did this Church aid, by its pecuniary contributions, the mission of Paul among the heathen. And from whom do you suppose this liberality originated, but from Lydia, the first fruits and centre of the Philippian Church? Such is a rapid sketch of Lydia’ s conversion. And surely it is not less illustrious for being distinguished by a placidity which among men would be esteemed incompatible with the production of a mighty effect. The operations of God must not be estimated by a human standard. Feebleness is restless, omnipotence is calm. Look on its noblest works. When the sun was formed, was there the accumulation of materials, or the toil of labourers, or the clang of machinery? No. “ God said, Let there be light,” and the glorious orb existed, blazed, and threw abroad its infant rays amid the songs of the sons of God. And how was that more marvellous work, the spirit of man, produced? God “ breathed” into the beauteous clay “ the breath of life, and man became a living soul” ; and the eye beaming with intelligence opened upon the tranquillity of Paradise. And then, think of the incarnation of the Son of God. No earthquake shakes the mountains--no trumpet summons the nations--no chariot of fire cleaves the air; but the glory of a single angelic messenger shines around a group of shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. In the application of this subject we might observe--1. That the conversion of the moral and the amiable is frequently attended with comparatively small degrees of mental excitation. This consideration may console those who resemble Lydia in their character and in the manner of their conversion. 2. That a calm entrance upon the Christian life will not necessarily interfere with decision and activity in the Church of God. In the full prospect of persecution Lydia professed her faith, and identified herself with the cause of Christianity. 3. That attention to the public ordinances of religion should ever accompany dependence on the Spirit of God; nor should we absent ourselves from a service because thinly attended, or inferior to others in excitement. 4. Finally, we observe, that natural excellence of character will not render conversion unnecessary. If it would, why was it needful that the Lord should open the heart of Lydia? (T. C. Everett.)Lydia The ordinary blessings of life are distributed with great inequality; indeed, we often find that the worst characters enjoy the largest portion of them. The reason is this--they are not essential to man’ s happiness. Whatever is necessary to the happiness of all is placed within the reach of all. True religion is, however, necessary to our dignity and to our happiness; and, therefore, it is placed within the reach of every person, and, especially, within the reach of the poor. There are many striking illustrations of this. One is now before us. The sacred historian makes no mention of Philip or his warlike son--he says nothing of Augustus, or of Brutus; but he mentions with peculiar honour an humble individual from Thyatira. Let us notice-- I. The industry of Lydia--she was “ a seller of purple.”1. A dog which had been eating a Conchilis or Purpura, and whose lips had been deeply tinged with a purple colour, gave occasion to the discovery of this elegant and costly dye. At one time it was more valuable than gold, and articles of dress dyed by it were worn only by sovereign princes; but in the days of Roman luxury they were used by the noble and wealthy in general; hence it is said of the rich man that “ he was clothed in purple and fine linen.” 2. Lydia was employed in preparing and selling this. As idleness is quite opposed to the virtue and happiness of man, it is necessary that all persons should follow some employment. Even those who are placed in independent circumstances should not be idle, but should employ their time, talents, and influence in doing good to others. What a noble example does the life of the benevolent Howard furnish to persons placed in such circumstances as these! Such, however, as have, by their own exertions, to provide for their personal and family wants should be diligent in their calling, whatever it may be. 3. And whatever else we attend to or neglect, we should attend to the soul. “ For what is a man profited,” etc. There are many persons who plead that they are placed in such circumstances that it is out of their power to attend to the one thing needful, but this is a vain excuse; for we shall find that there have been persons in all ages distinguished for piety, who have been placed in circumstances the most unfavourable to religion. II. Lydia’ s piety.1. “ She worshipped God” ; that is, the true God, according to the practice of the Jews. 2. Such was the power of principle with Lydia, that neither the fear of man, nor the love of lucre would lead her to desecrate the day which the Lord had sanctified. How far does her conduct surpass that of those who enjoy superior advantages! How shamefully is the Sabbath desecrated. If, in reference to an individual, drunkenness be an inlet to every other crime, in reference to a community, Sabbath breaking is an inlet to every other evil. 3. Witness the advantages that resulted to Lydia from the course of conduct which she pursued. She went to the house of prayer, and there received the end of her faith, even the salvation of her soul. It is a great principle in the Divine administration, that God honours them that honour Him. III. The change which Lydia experienced.1. The Jews used the term, “ heart,” to describe the understanding, the will, and the affections. Now Lydia listened to the doctrinal statements of St. Paul, and she so listened as to understand them; when understood they commended themselves so that she embraced them with her will, and cherished them in her affections. Thus her heart was opened--she believed and received the Saviour with all His fulness of evangelical blessing. 2. Now it is not to St. Paul’ s preaching, but to the influence of the Spirit, that this great change is attributed. Paul might have preached till the present hour, and Lydia would have remained what she was unless the Spirit had accompanied the ministrations of the apostle, and rendered the word effectual. 3. It is more difficult to accomplish the redemption of a fallen human spirit than it was to create this vast universe. For when God proceeded to employ His high attributes in the work of creation there was nothing to impede the operations of His hand. But when God proceeds to accomplish the great work of spiritual regeneration in the heart of man, his pride, his passions, his prejudices, hid deep-rooted depravity, oppose that influence. How necessary, then, that we should pray for the Holy Spirit, without whom all human means are in vain! IV. The evidence furnished by Lydia of the reality and extent of this gracious change.1. “ She was baptized.” Man is a sentient being, and, therefore, it is necessary that he should receive instruction through the medium of his senses. Under every dispensation God has accommodated Himself to this. Although the ceremonies of the law have been abrogated, still God condescends to our weakness in the two sacraments. Now, baptism is an initiatory and dedicatory ordinance. By means of this we are introduced into the Christian Church and devoted to the service of God. It is also emblematical of regeneration; and as we can enter into the visible Church only by the sacrament of baptism, so we can enter into the real Church only by regeneration. Now, Lydia, having embraced the Christian faith, manifested not merely confidence in Christ as her Saviour--not merely respect for Him as her Prophet, but subjection to His authority as her King, by submitting to the rite of baptism. 2. “ She was baptized and her household” --that is, we apprehend, all the members of her household who were under fourteen years of age; for this appears to have been the Jewish practice in reference to the admission of proselytes into the Jewish Church. 3. She also received the messengers of mercy in her dwelling. This was a proof of her gratitude. But it was also a proof of her sincerity. At that time a profession of Christianity exposed those who made it to various privations and sufferings. (R. Alder, D. D.)Lydia I. Her employment. She was not “ idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.” Trade is respectable, and nothing is so disgraceful as beggary and shabby gentility. The Jews always give their children a calling; and said that “ he who brings up a son without a trade teaches him to steal.” Seneca declared, “ I had rather be sick than be idle.” And truly has Dr. Watts said, “ Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” II. The place of her extraction. Thyatira was a great way from Philippi. How few die where they were born; or even settle where they were brought up. The events leading to their removal often seem very casual; and they are so as to the individuals themselves; but they are Divinely known and arranged. The Lord fixes “ the bounds of their habitation,” and with regard to His own people, the disposals of His Providence are in subserviency to the designs of His grace. The man says, “ I will go into such a city, and buy, and sell, and get gain” ; and he goes; and he finds there, though he never looked after it, “ the pearl of great price.” Many, when they look back on life, will know that, had it not been for such or such an occurrence, they would have remained in places where they might have been corrupted and destroyed. III. Her character. She “ worshipped God.” She is, therefore, very distinguishable from the jailer. The grace of God is infinitely free: and accordingly, we sometimes find it operating on individuals the most unlikely; and even publicans and harlots enter into the kingdom of God before Scribes and Pharisees. So when the apostle, writing to the Corinthians, enumerates a dreadful catalogue of sinners, he adds, “ and such were some of you” ; some, “ but not all.” Some talk as if they had a kind of advantage in having been converted from a state of profligacy. But sin is a bad business, and it is a mercy to have been preserved from it: and one peculiar advantage arises from having been moral before we became spiritual, namely, the avoiding of the injuries which sin does to others, by influence and example. IV. Her attendance. She “ heard us.” What induced her to be there we know not; but she could say, “ I being in the way, the Lord led me.” It is well to be at the pool, “ waiting for the troubling of the water.” Whatever brings persons under the preaching of the Word is to be viewed with thankfulness, for “ faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Sin entered by the ear, and so does grace. Listening to the devil we fell, hearkening unto God we rise. “ Hear, and your soul shall live.” V. The change she experienced. “ Whose heart the Lord opened.”1. Her heart therefore had been shut. Shut, as ice shuts up the water that it cannot flow--as the miser shuts up his compassion from the poor--as a door is shut to keep the house from the entrance of the owner. This is our Saviour’ s own image: “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” etc. 2. The Lord opened her heart. Our state is such as to require the Almighty to “ work in us, both to will and to do.” Every saved sinner is “ His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” An operation is required, to effect which is above the power of education, example, and moral suasion. But nothing is too hard for the Lord. The heart is under His dominion and agency; and “ what He has promised, He is able also to perform.” VI. The evidences she gave of the reality of her conversion.1. Her regard to the Divine teachings. “ She attended,” etc. 2. Her readiness to dedicate herself entirely to the Lord in a profession of His name. “ She was baptized, and her household.” A profession of religion, without the reality, is nothing; but we are not only to be Christians, but to appear such. “ With the heart,” indeed, “ man believeth unto righteousness” ; but “ with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Experience is necessary; but our “ light is to shine before men,” etc. And you will observe, she did this immediately, without reserve, and relatively as well as personally; devoting her whole family in the same rite; and thus saying, with Joshua, “ As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 3. The pressing solicitation she gave to the apostles. Evincing-- (1) A desire for spiritual improvement, and to have her house further blessed. (2) Liberality. She was willing to “ minister to the necessities of the saints” ; and “ given to hospitality.” (3) Affection for God’ s servants. Like begets like, and attracts like. “ By this we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love this brethren.” (4) Pious fortitude. To perceive this you must remember that at this time Christians were a “ sect everywhere spoken against.” (W. Jay.)Lydia I. Her state and character before conversion.1. A proselyte who maintained in the idolatrous city of her adoption a devout attachment to the worship of God. There can be no doubt of the reality of her devotion, for not only did she observe the Sabbath, but, having no other opportunity for attending the ordinances of public worship, she “ went out of the city,” etc. While engaged in prayer the blessing came--a striking proof of its efficacy. God does indeed sometimes surprise a prayerless sinner, as in the case of the jailer, but there is no promise except to prayer, and that promise is unlimited and sure. “ Ask and ye shall receive,” etc. 2. While pious according to her light, her heart was nevertheless closed against the truth as it is in Jesus. (1) Such is the natural state of every man. (a) The understanding is shut against the light of the gospel. (b) The conscience is seared as with a hot iron. (c) The heart is hardened. (2) There are many obstacles to the entrance of truth. There is the bar of-- (a) Ignorance. Many hear the Word but understand it not. (b) Unbelief, which rejects the testimony of God. (c) Enmity, for “ the carnal mind is enmity against God.” (d) Presumption or pride. “ The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God.” (e) Discouragement and despair. “ Thou saidst, There is no hope; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.” (f) Unwillingness. “ Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.” (g) Worldly-mindedness. “ The cares of the world … choke the Word.” (h) Sloth. (i) Vicious passions and depraved habits. 3. But how could the heart of such a woman be closed? The answer is that Lydia’ s case is not a solitary one. Devout and honourable women opposed Paul, and Paul himself and Nicodemus were at first proof against the gospel. II. The means by which her conversion was effected.1. There was a direct Divine operation in her heart, which consisted in opening-- (1) The understanding to discern the light of God’ s truth.(2) The conscience, to feel its convincing power.(3) The affections to receive its sanctifying influence. 2. Means were employed. “ The Lord opened her heart to attend,” etc. It is by the truth that the great change is wrought; and hence we are “ born of the Spirit,” but also “ not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, even by the Word of God.” III. Lessons. Note--1. The care with which God provided for the instruction of sincere Jewish inquirers. 2. The efficacy of prayer as a means of spiritual advancement. 3. The necessity of a spiritual change in many sincere religious professors. 4. The relative functions of the Word and Spirit, and the duty of combining the use of means with dependence on the Divine blessing. 5. The different feelings of those whose heart the Lord opens towards His ministers, and those of the ungodly multitude. (J. Buchanan, D. D.)Lydia’ s conversion 1. Philippi is famous as the spot where the world’ s future trembled in the balance when Octavius met Brutus and Cassius in terrible conflict. The two republican generals here ended their stormy career and universal empire crouched at the feet of Caesar. As long as time endures, Philippi will be remembered as one of the greatest names in history. But when time shall have passed away Philippi will still have a name as the place where the first herald of the Cross cried, “ Europe for Jesus,” and won his first victory in our quarter of the world. More fraught with blessings to the human race was that conquest of a woman’ s heart, than all the laurels which Octavius had reaped upon the bloody field. 2. The introduction of Christianity into Europe is a very humble affair. It was an open-air service by the riverside. Happy augury of the results of open-air preaching in after times! Let us look at Lydia’ s conversion-- I. In itself.1. It was brought about by providential circumstances. (1) She was a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, famous for its dyeing trade, which had flourished there ever since the days of Homer, and situated in that part of the country into which Paul was forbidden to preach; therefore, had Lydia been at home, she could not have heard the truth. But providence brings her to Philippi at the right time. Here is the first link of the chain. (2) But how is Paul to be brought there? He must be shut out of Bithynia, and he must be silenced in his journey through Mysia, etc. In this case God rules and overrules all things to bring that woman and that apostle to the same spot, and everything in God’ s providence is working together for the salvation of the elect. 2. There was not only providence, but there was also grace preparing the soul. The woman knew many truths which were excellent stepping stones to a knowledge of Jesus. She was a proselyte of the gate, and therefore well acquainted with the oracles of God. As in the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, the Scriptures she had read had prepared her mind: the ground had been ploughed ready for the good seed; it was not a hard rock as in the jailer’ s ease. 3. Her conversion took place in the use of the means. On the Sabbath she went to the gathering of her people. Although God calls men when they are not hearing the Word, yet usually we must expect that being in the way, God will meet with them. It is somewhat extraordinary that the first convert in Europe was converted at a very small prayer meeting. Wherever we are, let us not forget the assembling Of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Do not say “ only a prayer meeting!” God loves to put honour upon prayer. 4. It was assuredly a work of grace. (1) She did not open her own heart, Her prayers did not do it; Paul did not do it. God alone can put the key into the door and open it, and get admittance for Himself. He is the heart’ s master as He is the heart’ s maker, and conversion in every case is the Lord’ s work alone. (2) Yet--for one truth must always march arm in arm with another--although the Lord opened the heart, Paul’ s words were the instrument of her conversion. The heart may be opened, and willing to receive, but then if truth enter not, what would be the use of an open door? 5. It was distinctly perceptible by the signs which followed. As soon as she had believed in Jesus she put on, together with her household, the profession of her faith in Christ Jesus. II. By way of contrast.1. In the case of the jailer, we see nothing like a previous preparation for the reception of the Word; he was coarse, rough, brutal. The earthquake comes, etc. In Lydia’ s case there was much which went to prepare the way for the grace of God. 2. She was in the way where the grace of God was likely to meet with her. But the jailer is not in a place where the gospel is at all likely to come. His occupation was not that which would foster any religious ideas. But in a moment, at God’ s voice, the current of his thoughts changes its direction, and flows where it had never gone before. 3. In Lydia’ s case there was no earthquake; it was a “ still, small voice.” The jailer sprang in, and cams trembling; but we find nothing about Lydia’ s being overwhelmed with the terrors of conscience; she was gently led by the finger of the eternal Father. Grace came to her as the shower which first begins as a mist, and then thickens into a heavy dew, and then becomes a gentle sprinkling, and afterwards empties the clouds upon the soil. To the jailer it was like an April storm beginning with big drops, and dashing into a torrent in a few moments: to the jailer it was as though the sun should rise in an instant, and turn the thickest night into full blaze of noon. Do not expect all to be converted in the same way. Our God is the God of variety. III. The comparison between the two. In both cases--1. Providence co-worked with grace. Providence brings Lydia to Philippi, and shakes the prison. 2. There was a distinct work of God. 3. The Word of God is essential for the jailer as to Lydia, “ They spake the word of the Lord,” etc. 4. The same signs followed. The same love to the brethren, consecration of the substance, obedience to the Divine command, “ Arise, and be baptized.” IV. As a model of multitudes of conversions. “ We have a summary of the work of the Holy Spirit here.1. The Lord removed prejudice.2. Her desires were awakened 3. Her understanding was enlightened.4. Her affections were excited.5. And then came faith; she believed the whole of the record.6. Faith being given, all the graces followed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Lydia’ s conversion I. Conversion is heart work.1. The subject. “ The heart” is the seat of spiritual feeling, conviction, and desire (Acts 2:27). It is the real test of character, of what a man is in God’ s estimation (Proverbs 23:7). It is that part of us in which are bred all the moral and immoral qualities which make us good or bad in the sight of God (Proverbs 4:33). It has the power to exercise faith (Romans 16:10). 2. The Agent--“ The Lord.” It was the fulfilment of the promise (Ezekiel 36:25-27). God is the chief, and to a great extent the sole, active Agent in this work. Along with this there is a converse truth (Psalms 27:8). The work of conversion is completed by God working, and man working; but neither working apart from the other effectually. 3. The instrumental means: whilst Paul spake the Word, the Lord opened Lydia’ s heart. II. The immediate and permanent results of conversion.1. There was a beautiful humility which manifested itself in a desire to submit her conversion to the test of the judgment of others. “ If ye have judged me to be faithful.” Over-confidence in a young convert is neither pleasing nor hopeful (1 Corinthians 10:12). 2. She exhibited her gratitude to God in kindness to His servants. “ Come into my house and abide there.” 3. She made a public profession of her faith. “ She was baptized and her household.” The family of a believer should be a Christian household. Personal decision is a great matter, but the head must be alone. (A. B. Gardiner.)The first European convert Honest, industrious people, when converted, become noble and useful Christians. This first European convert was of such a character as to be especially susceptible to gospel influences. I. Her character. She was industrious, reliable, conscientious, generous, devout. Observe--1. Her name--“ Lydia.” As no mention is made of her husband, probably she was a widow. Learn how right relationship to Jesus Christ gives immortality to the humblest name. 2. Her native place--“ Thyatira,” in Asia Minors situated about midway between Pergamos and Sardia; it is still a town of some size, though now in the hands of the Turks. She was not a Jew but a Gentile proselyte, having given up the worship of idols for that of the true God. Learn what great blessings may grow out of a little prayer meeting, and the wisdom of laying down the yard stick and closing the store in order to be present. II. Her conversion. It was brought about--1. By human instrumentality, “ us” --Paul and Silas. Probably, an informal meeting, and that both preachers not only prayed but conversed publicly and personally with those present. 2. Contact with the truth--“ Heard us.” It is the truth that saves--“ Truth shall make you free.” Revelation brings life. The preacher can communicate power only through His message. Discourses and essays on ethics, science, and politics may interest and instruct, but it is only the Divine message that can save from the guilt, dominion, and consequences of sin. “ Heard us.” It used to be almost literally true that faith cometh only “ by hearing.” Books and the ability to read them were very scarce in ancient times, so that much of men’ s knowledge of this world, and especially of the world to come, was gathered through the ear. “ Heard us.” Even now faith cometh chiefly by hearing. But in the case of Lydia the message came through the ear. “ Heard us.” 3. By prompt action--“ She attended unto the things which were spoken.” She was an admirable hearer. She laid hold of the truth, and thus the truth laid hold of her. Then she at once began to practise the truth she had just heard. She did not modify it by theorising or waste its force by delay. “ She attended to the things spoken.” 4. Through Divine interposition. “ Whose heart the Lord opened.” Why did He not open her head? God wanted this woman to feel as well as understand. There are some truths which first enter the intellect and then sink into the heart, but the profound, life-giving truths of Christianity enter the heart first and then rise to the intellect. They first give life and then light. “ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Not the light was the life, but the life was the light of men. A man must be born before he can see; he must be alive before he can know. First life, then light. The opening of the heart was-- (1) Gradual. Gradual in that she so honestly followed the light she had. God had so opened her heart before this that all the idols of heathenism left in it a great “ aching void.” “ In common with the best spirits of her age she felt paganism to be a failure and a sham, and longed for something more solid and satisfying.” She therefore embraced Judaism, and so we find her at prayer meeting, still going on to know the Lord. (2) Complete, in that God personally helped her to apprehend and personally appropriate the broader, grander, life-giving truths of the gospel. (Thomas Kelly.)The conversion of Lydia I. Lydia was listening. Great stress is laid in the Bible on hearing. “ Faith cometh by hearing.” Books and readers were rare. Faith then came to the majority by hearing only. Now faith comes by reading as well as by hearing. II. Lydia listened attentively. Some people never apply what they hear, they leave that to the preacher. Others apply to other people, never to themselves. If you lay hold of the truth, the truth will lay hold of you. Wherefore the Holy Scriptures lay much emphasis on close attention. “ Incline your ear,” “ hear and your soul shall live.” When you feel deeply interested in a subject, you stretch the neck and incline the ear that you may catch every syllable. Without this eager attention you will not be able to clearly discern the Divine Voice. When Elijah was hiding in the cave there came a “ great and strong wind,” etc.; “ but the Lord was not in the wind,” etc. And after the fire “ a voice,” so still and small that Elijah was obliged to come out of the cave and listen with all his might. And what is the gospel? A storm? An earthquake? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 16:15 She was baptized and her household.Infant baptism I. Although from the earliest days infant baptism has been practised, there are some who deny its scriptural authority.1. At first sight their position seems to be a strong one, when they say, “ Where is there any command for it?” In reply to this it is only necessary to say that Christians consider many things as most important for the support of which no such authority can be claimed. Where is it written, “ Thus saith the Lord, Christians must observe the day of the Saviour’ s resurrection” ? or, “ Thus saith the Lord, Women must receive the Communion” ? or, “ Thus saith the Lord, Christian people must have family prayer, and establish Sunday Schools, and support missionary societies” ? 2. It is also urged that no one ought to be baptized who does not believe, and that as infants are incapable of believing, so also they are improper subjects of baptism (Mark 16:16). The unfairness of such a conclusion may be shown in various ways. (1) Take the apostle’ s injunction, “If any will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Does St. Paul mean to extend this to infants, or the sick or the aged? Plainly not. He is only speaking of those who are capable of working. And so, too, our Saviour’ s language in regard to the subjects of baptism should be applied to none but those who can exercise faith, and who enjoy the privilege of being taught their duty. The ease of infants is in no way connected with these passages. (2) Again, if this verse proves that infants ought not to be baptized, it proves also that they cannot be saved. I need hardly say that the plain and undoubted sense of the passage repels so monstrous a conclusion. Our Lord was announcing that the door of entrance to His kingdom was now thrown open to all who chose to come in; and He sets forth belief and baptism as two distinct conditions of salvation. Adults, who are capable of belief, are expected to bring this qualification; but it is not looked for in infants, who cannot exercise faith. Baptism is a solemn form of adoption into God’ s family--the Church. So much for the popular objections against the practice of infant baptism. II. Let us see, now, what can be said for it.1. We claim that it is right and proper to baptize infants, because they are naturally included in the broad commission which our blessed Lord gave to His apostles (Matthew 28:19). Suppose the proper authorities in this country should issue a command that a census be made: who would be included in it? Would it merely embrace the adults, or would it give an account of the number of children also? And so, when our Saviour sends forth His servants to bring all nations into covenant with their Creator and Redeemer, the most natural construction of the commission makes it include both old and young. To expect that in promulgating His covenant He would make mention of infancy or adult years would be an absurdity. The physical and the personal has nothing at all to do with the spiritual covenant. 2. That our Lord regards with favour the bringing of little children into covenant with Him is seen from the fact that He showed such kindness towards them during His sojourn upon earth (Matthew 19:13; Luke 18:15; Mark 10:13-16). The phrase, “ Kingdom of God,” means the Church. And does not every word in the passage just quoted go to prove that our Saviour regarded little children as fit subjects for His kingdom? Hermas, who wrote during the apostolic age, remarks: “ All infants are valued by the Lord, and esteemed first of all.” 3. We are obliged to believe that children are entitled to the privilege of holy baptism, because they are distinctly included in the promises (Acts 2:38-39). The Jews who heard these words of St. Peter’ s had always been accustomed to have their children enjoy the privileges of Church membership; and if it had been his purpose to tell them that this rule must now be changed, this was a very curious way of doing it! And slow progress Christianity would have made had it closed its doors more completely than Judaism had done! 4. The apostles baptized whole households. Not long after the baptism of Lydia’ s household, that of the jailor was baptized (Acts 16:31-32). Here is an item from St. Paul’ s own journal--“ I baptized the household of Stephanas” (1 Corinthians 1:16). The Syriac version of the New Testament, which was completed early in the second century, renders the verse concerning Lydia and her household as the baptism of Lydia and her children. And so, too, in the case of the jailor and his household, and the household of Stephanas. 5. Even those most opposed to infant baptism agree that when these little innocents die they are fit to be received into heaven. And if fit for the Church triumphant, why not for the Church militant? 6. Note the resemblance which infant baptism bears to circumcision. By this rite, children, when eight days old, all unconscious of what was done for them, were brought into covenant with God. When, in the course of Divine Providence, the seal of circumcision was changed to that of baptism, the Christian sacrament sanctioned all that the Jewish rite would have secured, had it continued to be observed. The conclusion follows, therefore, most naturally, that as children were made members of God’ s Church under the old dispensation, they are entitled to the same privilege under the new. 7. We enter our protest against those who oppose infant baptism, and we insist that it is a practice in accordance with God’ s will, because it is nowhere forbidden. Does the Word of God command that children shall be shut out from His kingdom? And when we remember that nineteen-twentieths of the Christian world practise infant baptism, is it likely that the one-twentieth can be right? 8. It was practised in the Church from the days of the apostles, for a period of nearly fifteen hundred years, without a dissenting voice. The only question in regard to infant baptism which ever arose in the early ages of Christianity was whether, as baptism had taken the place of circumcision, it should be put off to the eighth day. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)Family religion The gospel fulfils its noblest mission in hallowing the general relations of family life. On the first introduction of Christianity to Europe, whole families are gathered into the fold. Lydia and her household, the jailer and all belonging to him, are baptized into Christ. Henceforth the worship of households plays an important part in the Divine economy of the Church. As in primeval days the patriarch was the recognised priest of his clan, so in the Christian Church the father of the house is the Divinely appointed centre of religious life to his own family. The family religion is the true starting point, the surest foundation, of the religion of cities, nations, and empires. The Church in the house of Philemon grows into the Church of Colossae (Philemon 1:2); the Church in the house of Nymphas becomes the Church of Laodicea (Colossians 4:15); the Church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla loses itself in the Churches of Ephesus and Rome (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:5). (Bp. Lightfoot.)Come into my house and abide there. The origin of Christian hospitality We have here the first example of that Christian hospitality which was so emphatically enjoined and so lovingly practised in the apostolic Church (Hebrews 13:2; 1 Timothy 5:10). The frequent mention of the “ hosts” who gave shelter to the apostles (Romans 16:23, etc.) reminds us that they led a life of hardship and poverty, and were the followers of Him for whom there was “ no room in the inn.” The Lord had said to His apostles that when they entered into a city, they were to seek out “ those who were worthy,” and with them to abide. The search at Philippi was not difficult. Lydia invited them, and admitted of no refusal, and their “ peace was on that house.” Thus the gospel obtained a home in Europe. (Dean Howson.) Acts 16:16-25A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination.The Pythoness The words, literally, are as in the margin, a spirit of Python, or, as some MSS. give it, a Python spirit. The Python was the serpent worshipped at Delphi, as the symbol of wisdom, from which the Pythian priestesses and Apollo, as succeeding to the oracular power of the serpent, took their distinguishing appellative. The fact that St. Luke, who in his Gospel describes like phenomena as coming from daemonia, “ evil spirits,” “ unclean spirits,” should here use this exceptional description, seems to imply either that this was the way in which the people of Philippi spoke of the maiden, or else that he recognised in her state phenomena identical with those of the priestesses of Delphi, the wild distortions, the shrill cries, the madness of an evil inspiration. After the manner of sibyls, and sorceresses, and clairvoyants of other times, the girl, whom Augustine describes as a faemina ventriloqua--the phrase probably expressing the peculiar tones characteristic of hysteria--was looked on as having power to divine and predict (“ soothsaying,” as distinct from “ prophesying,” exactly expresses the force of the Greek verb), and her wild cries were caught up and received as oracles. Plutarch (“ de Defect. Orac.,” p. 737) speaks of the name Python as being applied commonly, in his time, to “ ventriloquists” of this type. As she was a slave, her masters traded on her supposed inspiration, and made the girl, whom prayer and quiet might have restored to sanity, give answers to those who sought for oracular guidance in the perplexities of their lives. (Dean Plumptre.)Paul and the damsel of Philippi 1. None can bear such testimony to the real nature of goodness as bad spirits. How the fallen angels could preach! They could speak of goodness with all the vividness which comes of conscious contrast. Could not he say much of friendship who has lost it? Could not he speak tenderly of home who has abandoned it? So the spirit that has known God and wandered from Him could speak with soul-touching pathos--of salvation. But Christianity will not have such service. The poor damsel said truly, but her cooperation was declined. The devil can have no part or lot in Christian service. He is not in it! Though his word be true, his tone is wrong. What Paul could have done with this aid! How he could have turned upon all those who held in captivity the infatuated girl, and said to them, “ She is our ally; she knows the truth, and is not afraid to proclaim it.” These temptations are not without force; but the truth being devil-spoken, is not to be received upon such authority, because the authority would not stop there. Have nothing to do with him. “ Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We see from such incidents the pureness and nobility of the apostolic mind and the independence of truth. In the hands of the apostles the truth did not go a-begging for patronage. When will the Church refuse the bad man’ s money? The same kind of aid was offered to Christ, but He would never accept it. 2. The girl had masters who made a profit out of her. It is possible that some of ourselves may be under the influence of evil “ masters.” It is in the nature of selfishness to make slaves. Older and craftier men may be making experiments upon your green youthfulness. Christ would have us all free. “ If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” 3. “ And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone--.” The bad man has a larger sphere in which to make money than the good man has. Think what they were doing! Living upon this brain-bewildered damsel. Such men would sell the very Church of God and defile the dead for money. Do not imagine that this is an ancient instance; it is the work of today. There is no stopping place in selfishness short of the very destruction of the universe. Begin, therefore, early to resist the devil. “ It is not all gold that glitters.” There are some coins that honest fingers dare not touch. Do not call yourself poor if you have today’ s honestly-gotten dinner waiting for you. That is a proof that you shall also dine tomorrow. “ Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Crafty masters, dealers in superstition and quackery, may have their gain-bringing damsels taken away from them, but they who bank in heaven have effects inexhaustible. 4. Look at the spirit of the damsel’ s masters (verse 19, etc.). What liars they were! Not a word did they say about the “ gains.” Here is the crime of today, of working from one motive and trying to get credit for another. Do we not sometimes hate a man, and do all manner of evil to him, and then say that we have no personal jealousy, but are concerned about some great question or public good? And yet there are persons who quite disdain the idea of original sin! The gospel will have no pretence, mental reservation, or moral obliquity. It will insist upon trying all our work by the square add plummet of heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)The soothsaying damsel at Philippi I. True testimony from a questionable quarter. This testimony Was as true as if it had been spoken by an angel. But the testifier was under the influence of a devil, and God’ s servants need not his praise either in behalf of themselves or their work. But what could induce this woman to bear this true testimony?1. Perhaps the hope of getting gain. She might think that Paul would reward her for her public proclamation. 2. A wish to conciliate. The evil spirit, fearing expulsion, might influence her to bear this testimony so as to gain favour. 3. A desire to heighten her authority and increase her success. She saw evident tokens of the Divinity of their cause; and by proclaiming this she may have hoped to acquire a higher reputation for being inspired. 4. The hope of bringing discredit on the cause of God. The stratagem might lead the people to conclude that Paul and Silas were in league with evil spirits. (1) That there is a way of salvation. Plain, safe, exclusive.(2) That there is need to show this way.(3) That the work of God’ s servants is to show it. II. Effectual exorcising by an inspired apostle. Paul was grieved--1. To see a human being the victim of demoniacal power. Many similar saddening sights are still to be seen. The demons avarice, ambition, pride, envy, and sensuality possess men’ s souls and rule in their hearts. Who can see them and not be grieved? 2. To see the malignant design with which the testimony was borne. The girl was only the instrument of the devil, whose design might be to bring discredit on Christianity; and who might also aim at exciting the self-complacency of Paul. 3. To see the sordid motives of the masters of this girl. They cared not how her nature was degraded, or how the people were imposed on, if only their mercenary ends were answered. Many are still as unscrupulous. They will lie, and cheat, and sell both body and soul for gain. III. Malignant persecution by disappointed mercenaries (verse 20-22). If you would not enrage a selfish man, do not interfere with his gains, or he will persecute you. Your enterprise may be of God, and there may be evident tokens of this, yet it must not be allowed to live if it frustrates his selfish purposes. IV. Illegal measures by civil authorities. V. Midnight melody by incarcerated sufferers (verse 25).1. “ They prayed” -- (1) for themselves, that they might be supported and delivered;(2) for their persecutors, that they might be forgiven and saved; and(3) for their new converts, that they might be strengthened and established. 2. “ And sang praises unto God.” A consciousness of having done right makes a man undaunted in danger, unswerving in suffering, and triumphant in tribulation. (John Elstob.)The devil of avarice I. In the pursuance of its purpose. Mercenariness in truth was the demon which inspired her. In pursuing its sordid aim we discover--1. The prostitution of mind. This young woman’ s sympathies and talents were consecrated to the greed of her masters. Mammon ever hires the genius of the world for its service. A more terrible sight than this can scarcely be witnessed. 2. The practice of falsehood. This woman pretended to withdraw the veil of the future for money. Men build up their fortunes by falsehoods. Lies are considered the life of trade. 3. Religious profession. To impose upon the spectators, she professed almost a reverence for the apostles. Perhaps she had sufficient prescience to see that their mission would be successful, and that her declaration of their success would heighten her reputation and increase her authority. Alas! avarice uses religion for its own ends, puts on its garb, uses its vocabulary, and kneels to its heroes. II. In the frustration of its purpose (verse 18). Does this mean the exorcising of a personal spirit of evil who had taken possession of her? or does it mean the expulsion of the spirit of evil from her? I incline to the latter opinion, and regard Paul as effecting her conversion. This he did, as all conversions are accomplished, “ in the name of Jesus Christ,” and at once--“ in the same hour.” The change which Paul effected in her now interfered with the gains of her masters. Observe--1. The vindictiveness of this frustrated avarice (verse 19). Selfish men will oppose any enterprise, however divine, that interferes with their gains. Vested interests are the great antagonists of truth everywhere. 2. Its hypocrisy. Did they say, these men have interfered with our traffic? This would have been truth. No; they prefer a false accusation. These wounded grubs would be thought patriotic heroes. 3. Its power. These rich men had sufficient power to move the multitude in their favour, and to command the magistrates to do their work (verses 22, 23). Such was the power which avarice had in Philippi eighteen centuries ago, and such is the power, alas! which it has ever wielded, and still wields. It can move magistrates and monarchs. “ Money answereth all things,” “ and the love of it is the root of all evil.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)The rescue of a slave Some facts connected with-- I. The slave.1. The power by which she was swayed.2. The profession she made.3. The testimony she bore. II. The apostles.1. Their tenderness of heart.2. Their great power.3. Their habitual prayerfulness. III. The owners.1. The degradation of their nature.2. The vengeance of their hearts.3. The power of their hate. (H. J. Martyn.) Acts 16:17 These men are servants of the Most High God and show to us the way of salvation. The confession of the girl What a strange thing have we here! the devil preaching the gospel; at least confirming the word of those who preached it. How was it that the prince of darkness could thus support the men who were labouring to destroy his kingdom? How could he give his testimony to the truth of that gospel by which his throne was to be subverted? Was not Satan here casting out Satan, and contributing to the overthrow of his own dominion? No: his speaking truth was a master stroke of devilish policy. He spoke the truth to counteract it; to put Paul and Silas and the possessed woman on the same ground, as if they all agreed: and if Paul and Silas had been pleased with this testimony, and appealed to it, and observed to the people that she who had told them so correctly many things which they could not have found out, confessed them as the servants of God and the preachers of salvation, he would have gained a great point. Let the Pythoness once be identified with the Christian teachers and she might teach, under the name of Christianity, such things as the devil has since often taught, and called them the way of salvation. The devil confessing Christ is in fact more dangerous than the devil denying Christ: for he only confesses to oppose. He confesses, and misrepresents, so that he makes the doctrine of Christ sometimes one thing and sometimes another; and anything but what it really is. Sometimes it is salvation by man’ s merit, heaven purchased by the performance of outward works. Thus he builds up a fatal system of self-righteousness. Yet there is truth in what he teaches. The works are necessary; but he assigns to them a wrong office, puts them in the place of Christ, and thus leads men to reject that way of salvation, to which, by the mouth of the Pythoness, he bore witness. At other times he takes the direct contrary course; and with the show of honouring Christ teaches men to look for salvation by a faith which produces no works. Thus his doctrine is--what it were to be wished his kingdom was--divided against itself: sometimes it is Christ requiring what God has not commanded; sometimes it is Christ allowing what God has forbidden, or forbidden what God has allowed. Alas! this confession of the Pythoness, as it was not altogether the first instance of Satan’ s acknowledging Christ, so neither was it the last by many, many examples. And Christian teachers have too often been ignorant of his devices, not having received the wisdom to detect him, when transformed into an angel of light. Paul had this wisdom. (J. Fawcett, M. A.)Serving God At the very end of the nave of Westminster Abbey there is a monument erected to a young philosopher and clergyman who ill his short space of life, which lasted only twenty-one years, made discoveries in science of a most surprising kind. His name was Jeremiah Horrox. There was one thing which he felt ever had a higher claim upon him even than science. It was to do his duty in the humble sphere in which he found himself; and when he was on the eve of watching the transit of the planet Venus across the sun, and was waiting with the utmost keenness of observation for this phenomenon, he put even all these thoughts aside, and went, on the Sunday on which this sight was to be observed, to perform his humble parish duty in the church where he was pastor. He mentions it in his journal, in words which are now written over his monument: “ Called aside to greater things, which ought not to be neglected for the sake of subordinate pursuits.” Subordinate, secondary, in one sense, the pursuits could not be, for they were the discovery of the glory of God in the greatest of His works; but subordinate in another sense they were, for they came across, in that instance, the single-minded discharge of the task which he owed to his Divine Master. (Dean Stanley.)The exactest way of salvation Sir Thomas Smith, the eminent secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth, when on his death bed, sent to his friends, the Bishops of Winchester and Worcester, and solemnly entreated them to draw from the Word of God the plainest and exactest way of salvation; adding, “ It is a matter of lamentation that men know not to what end they are born into the world till they are ready to get out of it.” The confession of the slave Truth is truth, by whomsoever confessed, for whatever motive, and in whatever way. Here it was confessed by a devil-possessed girl. Perhaps her better nature was in the ascendant at the time. As we know from the Gospels demoniacal possession was intermittent, and the poor creatures had their lucid intervals. So this damsel, conscious for the moment of her misery and degradation, may have meant this as a sort of appeal for help. Perhaps, however, it may have been in mockery. No doubt the apostles had asserted their authority as servants of the most high God, and certainly “ the way of salvation” was their constant theme. And the girl gifted with powers of mimicry may have reproduced their peculiar accent for the purpose of creating amusement. On the former hypothesis Paul’ s pity was excited: on the latter his indignation and alarm lest the gospel should be brought into contempt. Anyhow the testimony is true as a description of:-- I. The character of gospel ministers.1. They are men (1) Not angels; do not therefore expect angelic attributes of them. One of the greatest hindrances to the work of the Church is the extravagant demands which are made of the ministry. It discourages the men, and induces indolence in the people. (2) They are men having knowledge of human needs, invested with human sympathies, gifted with the faculty of communicating Divine thought in human language. 2. They are servants. (1) A humbling thought. All magisterial airs, all pomp and show, are utterly inconsistent with this character. A servant is a subordinate and has simply to do what he is told. (2) A suggestion of responsibility and labour. What is a servant for but for work? And for the efficient discharge of that work he is held responsible. 3. They are servants of the Most High God. (1) Their office therefore is invested with the loftiest dignity. What greater honour than to be the servant of a sovereign. Our Lord Himself gloried in this title. (2) Their persons are secure. God will protect His servants till they can say, “ I have finished my course.” (3) Their reward is great; as is to be expected from such a Master. “ Be thou faithful,” etc. II. Their work. “ To show the way of salvation.”1. There is a way of salvation. (1) A way to it--i.e., means whereby it may be secured. (a) Repentance--consciousness of being in the wrong way, regret for it, confession of it, and desire to get out of it. (b) Faith. Acceptance of the right way; of Him who is the Way; walking in that Way--i.e., humble dependence on Christ. (2) Salvation itself is a way--a progress from darkness to light, from misery to blessedness, from sin to holiness, from uselessness or injuriousness to usefulness, from earth to heaven, from grace to glory. Salvation is a state, but it is an endlessly progressive state. No matter however high the attainment the saved one is to “ forget the things that are behind,” etc. So viewed salvation is the right way, the happy way. 2. This way has to be shown. (1) Hence the guide must know it, and not theoretically, from books or from what others have told him; but from being in it. Personal salvation is the essential qualification for a minister, and a guarantee of his competency for his work. (2) Knowing it the guide must show it; by precept and example: simply, clearly, powerfully. (J. W. Burn.)The nature of the Christian ministry I. The work of all ministers of the gospel.1. They are to show the way of salvation. This is the great object they should ever have in view. 2. The way of salvation they are to show is, by faith in Christ. 3. They are to show the way, not the ways of salvation. There never was, and never will be, but one way. This their work implies--They ought to know it themselves. II. The appellation here given them; with the reasons of their being selected and employed in this service. “ Servants of God.”1. It denotes that they are sent by Him to this work. 2. The dignity of their office--servants, not of men--of the highest men, but of God--of the most high God. They are employed as mortals; because this method is adapted to our receiving information on the subject with composure. Learn:1. The guilt of those who neglect a gospel ministry.2. Be helpers of ministers. (The Evangelist.) Acts 16:19-26 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone.Apostolic duty and vicissitudes I. Christ’ s servants will use whatever power they possess to set the slaves of Satan free. Paul did not act from mere impulse, but upon the principle of compassion with which all true Christians are animated, he was miraculously endowed, it is true, while we have only the power of influence and persuasion. But when a country is invaded, what patriot will draw back because he has not a rifle of the most approved pattern? Let us then do what we can to exorcise the demons of intemperance, etc. II. Christ’ s servants are not to expect that their efforts will win earthly rewards. This ought to be the result; but connected with all evils are vested interests which resist all efforts to diminish their gains. The owners of this damsel looked not at her benefit, but at their loss. For the same reason all reformers have been hated; and they must not be surprised at it (John 15:19-21). III. Christ secures for His servants not exemption from sorrow, but a sustaining joy. All power is given to Christ, and He sometimes uses it to disappoint the enemies of His servants; but more frequently He leaves them, as here, to suffer for His name’ s sake. But it is then that He gives then the sweetest assurances of His presence and love; and makes them more than conquerors (Acts 5:41). IV. By their conduct towards their persecutors Christ’ s servants show that they are His. That can be no merely human religion which enables men to conquer the natural desire for revenge, and to do good to those by whom they have been despitefully used. V. By their fidelity to conviction and the beauty of their character Christ’ s servants will ultimately win the respect of those who have wronged them. The behaviour of Paul and Silas impressed the jailer quite as much as the earthquake. That might have been a natural occurrence, but the cheerfulness and kindness of the missionaries under the circumstances were obviously supernatural. So it is that “ the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” VI. Turning to the jailer, we learn--1. That the worst of men may become the servants of Christ. 2. That they may become so instantly. How long does it take to enlist a recruit? The resolve may be the fruit of long consideration, and it may take months of drill to make him an efficient soldier; but the act of enlistment is instantaneous. 3. The proof that men have become servants of Christ consists not in emotion but in conduct. (R. A. Bertram.)Paul at Philippi I. The preparation for God’ s spiritual work. The rebuke of the evil spirit in the girl, the anger of the crowd, the imprisonment, seemed to form a series of events complete in itself and existing for itself, if we may say so. But these things were but the preparation for something more important.1. The preparation for God’ s work was by affliction. The disciples found themselves cast down, but the sequel showed it was in order that they might be exalted, by being used as a means of glorying God. A man’ s best work comes sometimes after he has ceased to be able to work at all. God works through our afflictions even when we do not know it. Well may we then count it joy when we are honoured by falling upon them. 2. The affliction of the apostles was certain, sooner or later, because of the ever persisting antagonism between the gospel and the world. And is it not forever so to the end of time? Must not the gospel always find opposition from the world? Surely this vile world is not a friend to grace to help us on to God. 3. Paul’ s understanding of this made him careless of being unpopular. He had counted the cost of his service and was willing to pay it. 4. The affliction of the apostles was relieved by faith. They trusted God to give them strength to endure it, to lead them out of it into safety, and beyond these, to use the affliction itself as an instrument of his own purposes. 5. God is with His children in times of trial. 6. Such faith makes one thoughtful for others. Paul was not so absorbed in his own rapture as to forget the jailer. “ Do thyself no harm; for we are all here.” Forgetfulness of others is no part of the soul’ s deepest joy. 7. In Paul’ s joy in God there was involved forgiveness to those who injured him. II. The work of God. God by His permission of the apostles’ affliction had made ready for the first soul-ingathering among the heathen of Europe.1. The first element that appears in the experience of the Philippian jailer is fear. He was trembling when he sprang into the cell (Acts 16:29). John Bunyan had an awful experience of his own sinfulness before he was converted. If all have sinned, all are entitled to a guilty fearful conscience. 2. This dread of conscience was immediately accompanied by a consciousness of the supernatural. 3. With fear went desire. “ Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” What it was to be saved he knew in a most undefined way. Wants do not have to be defined in order to be genuine. A child knows that it feels bad but cannot always tell where or why, yet its suffering is most real. And to want the gospel comes with complete satisfaction. But it does not come except to the want. 4. The jailer was willing to do anything necessary for salvation. “ Sirs, what must I do?” 5. The answer has well been called classic. It sums up once for all the ages everything that is required of man in order to be saved. (1) Do nothing. Salvation is not of works.(2) Believe.(3) Make Christ the object of faith. 6. This faith has its social bearing. It is recognised as an influential element in the family, which is here shown to be the God-constituted unit of human life. 7. True faith will not be ignorant. It recognises its imperfection and is ever seeking to learn more of the truth of God, that it may appropriate it by faith (verse 32). 8. As soon as faith had entered the jailer’ s heart, it emerged again in a deed of kindness; he washed the apostles’ wounds. So by a beautiful spiritual chemistry faith is ever transmuting the love of God as it comes into our upward-opened hearts into love for our fellow men (1 John 4:12). 9. Immediately there came an open recognition of Christian faith in the form of baptism. Wherever there is faith there should be frank, manly avowal of it. 10. No wonder the jailer when he had brought them into his house rejoiced (verse 34). It was the happiest time he had ever known in his life. No wonder the jailer rejoiced. Blessed beyond words are all those who come to know Christ and His salvation. III. Lessons about conversion.1. Providence often prepares for it, sometimes by suffering and sorrow. 2. There are many ways of being led to Christ, and all are valid. Lydia came one way, the jailer another. No one need try to force himself into another’ s experience. 3. Faith is the same for all. All are sinners. All need the atoning blood. All must trust without any merit of their own. 4. Salvation is free to all. What Paul said to the jailer he said to the whole world. Whosoever will may come. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)The consequences of doing good 1. If you destroy a man’ s hope of gain you are very apt to make him your enemy. 2. When you are hindering a man’ s business, he will charge you with precipitating a general business panic. 3. When you drive prosperity from a bad man’ s door, you may be inviting adversity to enter your own. 4. When you help some afflicted one, when you free some oppressed one, the affliction or the oppression may be transferred to yourself. 5. When you do a good deed, and are put in prison for it, wait for God’ s deliverance--it will come. 6. The night is not all dark, nor the stocks hard, nor the imprisonment bitter, to those who, in the consciousness that they are suffering for Christ, wait for the breaking fetters and the earthquake shock. (S. S. Times.)Antagonism to religion: how aroused So long as the preaching of the gospel does not interfere with bad men’ s money making, bad men are disposed to let it alone, as “ none of their business.” But when the work of these temperance people interferes with liquor selling; when the work of these law and order people stops the selling of vile books and pictures, and closes Sunday concert saloons; when the religious sentiment of the community rises up against lotteries and raffles; when the political reform movements propose to stop stealing in the city institutions--then it is evident to every servant of the devil whose supply of gain is thereby cut off, that “ these men do exceedingly trouble our city,” and the same feeling against the gospel is aroused in them as showed itself in the impoverished hog raisers of the Gadarenes. This is one of the sure hindrances in the path of all zealous Christian workers. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The effects of Christianity on ancient superstitions The priesthood in all its branches, Flamens, Augurs, Hornspices, contemplated the advance of Christianity with dismay. It emptied their temples, curtailed their sacrifices, reduced their profits, exposed their frauds. (J. J. Blunt, D. D.)And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison.-- The punishment of the missionaries The words imply a punishment of more than usual severity, such as would leave their backs lacerated and bleeding. So in 1 Thessalonians 2:2, St. Paul speaks of having been “ shamefully entreated” at Philippi. Those who have seen anything of the prisons of the Roman empire, as e.g., Mamertine dungeon at Rome itself, can picture to themselves the darkness and foulness of the den into which St. Paul and his friend were now thrust: the dark cavern-like cell, below the ground, the damp and reeking walls, the companionship of the vilest outcasts. And, as if this were not enough, they were fastened in the “ stocks.” St. Luke used the Greek term xylon, the same as is used sometimes for the cross (Acts 5:30; Acts 13:29). The technical Latin word was nervus. Like the English stocks, it was a wooden frame with five holes, into which head and feet and arms were thrust, and the prisoner left in an attitude of “ little ease.” Here, however, it would seem, the feet only were fastened, the rest of the body being left lying on the ground. If the received version of Job 13:27; Job 33:11, which follows the LXX and the Vulgate, be correct, the punishment was common at a very early period in the East (compare Jeremiah 29:26). (Dean Plumptre.)Paul imprisoned at Philippi When Catherine Evans, a Quaker heroine of the seventeenth century, was imprisoned within the gloomy walls of the Inquisition, in the Island of Malta, for obeying what she regarded as a call from God to preach the gospel in the East, she was put into an inner room of the Inquisition, which had only two little holes in it for light and air, and which was so exceedingly hot that it seemed to be the intention to stifle her. On one occasion Friar Malachi told her unless she abandoned her religion she should never go out of that room alive. To this she fearlessly replied, “ The Lord is sufficient to deliver me, but whether He will or no, I will not forsake the living fountain to drink at a broken cistern.” In like manner Paul and Silas, when apprehended and thrust into the inner prison of Philippi, were not debarred thereby from praising and preaching Christ. To such men, indeed, Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. Christian preachers in prison Some years ago three Primitive Methodist preachers went to mission a town in Worcestershire, and when they commenced the service, there was a magistrate, a clergyman, and a constable. The constable was ordered to take the preacher down, and he took him down and put him in prison; but there was immediately a second one up preaching away. The magistrate ordered the constable to take the second one, and then the third one was up preaching away. He bad orders to take the third, and he put all three together into the prison and they made a noise there. The magistrate went to the constable, and he said, “ What a noise those men are making; go and separate them, and do not let them make a noise like that.” So the man went in and separated them, and he put two of them in a cell with a robber, and they preached the gospel to the robber. They preached to him, and they prayed with him, and he got converted. More noise than ever now. The magistrate said, “ I told you to separate those men.” “ Well,” he said, “ I have separated them.” “ Separate them again, then.” “ Well,” he said, “ if I separate them again they will all get it. That robber is as bad as they are now.” And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.--Devotion under difficulties I. The men engaged were eminently good. “ Paul and Silas.”1. They were employed in the highest service.2. They were the truest benefactors of society.3. They were successful opponents of evil.4. They were martyrs to religious fidelity. II. The place was notoriously wicked. “ Prison.”1. Circumstances are no criterion of character.2. Doing good does not necessarily produce its equivalent.3. The world is ignorant of the nature of true religion.4. The good are non-resistant in their method of meeting persecution.5. The ungodly are permitted great freedom. III. The time was extremely unusual. “ Midnight.” It was neither of the usual “ hours” of devotion. The heart of man on earth and the ear of God in heaven are not regulated by our chronometers. Midnight, as well as midday, is the “ accepted” time.1. It was singular time. The world asleep.2. It was sacred time. David and other eminent servants of God often worshipped them.3. It was suitable time. Silence reigned. Quietness favourable to devotion. IV. The service was marvellous in its nature. They had been stopped serving God by preaching. In the circumstances they did what they could.1. There was supplication. (1) Probably for pardon of enemies.(2) Probably for success of mission.(3) Probably for guidance in difficulties.(4) Probably for preservation of converts. 2. There was song. (1) Consciousness of Divine favour.(2) Acknowledgment of Divine favour.(3) Enjoyment of Divine favour. 3. There was sublimity. Such conduct in such a place was unique--marvellous. V. The results were extraordinarily great.1. Shaking of the prison. (1) Proof of the Divine presence.(2) Illustration of the Divine power.(3) Sign of the Divine indignation.(4) Symbol of the Divine goodness. Open doors and broken chains. Moral freedom. 2. Conversion of the prison keeper. (1) Fear.(2) Inquiry.(3) Instruction.(4) Faith.(5) Obedience.(6) Courtesy.(7) Joy. 3. Liberation of the prisoners. (1) Infringement of rights.(2) Assertion of claims.(3) Acknowledgment of wrong.(4) Freedom. Conclusion:1. God cares for the good.2. Fidelity to God rewarded.3. Ultimate triumph of the gospel.4. Worship God. (B. D. Johns.)Paul and Silas sing praises at midnight Like the nightingale, which warbles forth its beautiful notes in the night time, and when other birds are quietly asleep, so these two apostles sang praises to God at unconventional hours, for they were in unusual circumstances, and in an unconventional place. Many people will go some distance to hear the nightingale, and do not soon forget its notes; so all this prisoners in the jail at Philippi heard the apostles sing that night, and, it is hoped, they never forgot it. The other day, when the wind was furiously swaying the trees, when the heavy hailstones rattled against the window panes, and the darkened skies poured down the rain in torrents amid lightning flashes, until our hearts were quaking with fear, a beautiful little bird sat upon one of our sheltered rose bushes and sang its clear and beautiful notes, as though it knew God would not suffer the storm to hurt it. So, when the storm of persecution burst over the apostles at Philippi, though the excitement of their situation and the soreness of their stripes kept them awake, as some think, yet they sang praises to God, believing not only that their situation would be a furtherance to the gospel, but that God would not suffer them to be hurt. A wonderful nocturnal service I. The unusual hour of prayer--midnight. II. The singular temple--a prison. III. The remarkable conductors of the service. Paul and Silas in the stocks. IV. The strange congregation--the prisoners in their cells. (K. Gerok.)The prayer meeting in the Philippian jail It is always easy to have an excellent prayer meeting when the heart is right. There were three persons attending this one there in the jail. The ancient Jews had a saying, “ Where two persons meet, there is ever a third.” Paul and Silas and Jesus Christ spent the night together (Matthew 18:19-20). It was a most unusual-- I. Time--“ midnight.” The Jews were strict as to their stated seasons of supplication; but this was the hour of neither the evening nor the morning oblation. But God never slumbers, He is alive to His children’ s wants even in “ the dead of night.” II. Place. This was the first time the voice of Christian devotion was heard in those precincts--the earliest dungeon in Europe which held a mercy seat, although it has had many successors. III. Posture. It was neither standing, nor kneeling, nor lying on one’ s face. What a poor time they would have had, if they had been compelled to use a formula or work themselves into an attitude. God does not care for attitudes when only the heart is right, and the spirit true, and the want pressing. IV. Kind of prayer. “ Praying, they sang.” They set their petitions to music. True prayer is praise, and genuine praise is prayer. V. Expression of prayer--by tones of old Hebrew melodies such as one hears now in the synagogue: wild, pathetic, plaintive, and fascinating. Match one of David’ s psalms or Isaiah’ s anthems to it, and it will move one’ s heart like a strain from the sky. He who has at command psalm after psalm has wonderful resources of comfort in his times of trouble. VI. Reach of prayer. No doubt God heard it, but “ the prisoners” also heard it. These were the “ songs in the night” that Elihu told Job about; perhaps the psalm was that where David told of the good his singing did him (Psalms 42:8). And we can have no sort of doubt that the jailer heard everything that was going on. VII. Force of prayer. The Lord sent the earthquake in answer, and converted the jailer. VIII. Direction of prayer. Imagine a triangle. The perpendicular line represents the direction of a Christian man’ s petition: it goes up straight towards God. The horizontal line represents the level pressure of the same force, going out towards those within range. That jailer, no doubt, heard the singing and the praying; it was not addressed to him, but it swept out toward him with lateral force. It is not safe to calculate deliberately upon affecting a bystander by our supplication; preaching in prayers is never to be commended; but a life of prayer, and an unconscious fervour of prayer in an individual instance, may be useful to one who watches it. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The power of song Wondrous power of music! When prayers give out, when all is dark, the mystic waves of sweet melody have still force to lift us out of ourselves, and upon their golden tides our souls seem to float away and leave far behind them the sad life of tears and strife. I note that Jesus is recorded as singing but once. It was when His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death--when the gloom and foreboding was deepest--when His disciples could not speak or pray, and hardly dared to think. Then, after supper, when they had sung a hymn, they went out into Gethsemane. In our own homes, in times of deep trouble--after the death or burial of a beloved one--in the midst of some great pain or loss--when the children look blankly at each other, and sit talking in whispers, and father and mother scarce know how to speak without weeping--a sister or friend will go to the piano or harmonium, and presently there shall arise such a sweet hymn as shall draw the voices of the sorrowing little company together, and the cloud will be lifted, something like a tender serenity and peace coming over the oppressed and darkened hearts as the pulses of the music rise and fall. Indeed there have been times in the history of the Church when music, hymn singing, chanting, have done duty for almost the whole of religion. What a part did hymn singing play in the life of Luther--in the Lollard movement--in Wesleyan prayer meetings--in the Salvation Armies--past and present. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)Sorrow producing song The agonies of Germany in the Thirty Years’ War and other conflicts was productive of a vast number of patriotic and Christian songs. At the end of the seventeenth century, Councillor Faankenau made a collection of 32,712, which he presented in three hundred volumes to the University library at Copenhagen; while in 1718 another collector, Wetzel, reckoned 55,000 printed German hymns. (J. FB. Tinling, B. A.)Joy in trouble, its influence upon others A lamp, when lighted, may burn by day, but it is only at night that it is seen by the neighbourhood. The darkness does not kindle or cause the light, but the darkness reveals it and spreads it around. It is thus that consistent joy in the Lord, when believers attain it, in a time of trouble becomes an effective testimony for Christ. Not a few owe their conversion instrumentally to the light that streamed from a saint in the hour of his departure--to the song that rose from the pilgrim when he was traversing the valley of the shadow of death. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Paul and Silas in prison No man has more religion than he can show in time of adversity. The jail was a test of the Christian character of Paul and Silas. The way they stood the test, not only exalts them as Christian heroes, but also shows what power there is in the religion of Jesus. I. A great earthquake.1. The prisoners rejoicing (verse 25). They were praying--for they needed comfort. They sang praises--for comfort was given. Their hymns were unto God alone; but “ the prisoners were listening unto them.” The Christian often exerts an influence of which he is unaware. What must have been the feelings of the listeners? Probably-- (1) Wonder. Songs from that inner prison was an unheard of thing. From there usually came groans, curses, wails of despair. (2) A conviction that the two men were sustained by the God whom they were praising. (3) A desire to partake of the same peace and joy. When a disciple has sunshine in trial, then men say, “ If religion can do that for us, then we want it.” Songs in the night are better than sermons in the daytime. 2. The prisoners loosed. God now endorses the singers. The earthquake was natural in its character; but it happened at a time that shows that God was in it, using it, as He can use any force of nature, to accomplish His will. II. A great change.1. The keeper despairing (verse 27). His life depended upon the keeping of the prisoners. Awakened by the shock his first thought was of fidelity to his office, and, when he beheld the open doors, his instant conclusion was that the prisoners had escaped. 2. The keeper saved. (1) From self-destruction (verse 28). There are two interesting questions in connection with this. (a) How did Paul know that the keeper was intending suicide? He was in the “ inner” prison, where he could have seen nothing. (b) Why did none of the prisoners attempt to escape? It would seem as if the songs of the two missionaries, and the marvel which followed, had held them spellbound. (2) From eternal destruction. Why did the keeper tremble? He was in no danger; for not a prisoner had escaped. He had rightly connected the earthquake with God and the presence of the servants of God. His fear was of Him who is the Judge of all. How was he saved? “ Believe,” etc. Note how much larger the promise was than the question--“ thou and thy house.” He had asked for himself only, but ha obtained assurance for those whose salvation was of as much consequence as his own. 3. The keeper changed. How was the change shown? (1) In washing their stripes. His occupation had made him indifferent to the sufferings of others. But now that he had learned to love the Saviour his heart was touched with pity. (2) “ Was baptized, he and all his immediately.” Thus he and they expressed at once their faith in Christ. (3) “ Set meat before them.” He did not forget any of their physical wants in his own great joy. Those who have been fed with the Bread of Life should not be oblivious to the fact that the minister by whom they are fed has a body that needs to be fed also. (4) “ Rejoiced greatly,” etc. Now he was the possessor of the same joy that had caused those songs in the night. III. A great humiliation.1. The magistrate’ s permission to depart. (1) Given (verse 35). They realised that they had acted hastily, and without warrant, and desired to get rid of the men as quietly as possible. (2) Refused. Paul did not stand upon a point of order as a matter of pride. If they departed without vindication, their influence as preachers of the gospel would be gone. For the honour of the Master, they refused to go. 2. The magistrates’ humiliation (verse 37). And the magistrates were made to come. They did not feel safe until they had gone where they would not again hear from them. The missionaries went out of prison with their innocence as publicly declared as their punishment. And thus they strengthened the hold of the gospel in Philippi. 3. The missionaries’ departure (verse 40). Having suffered so much, one would think that they needed comforting by the brethren instead. But God had comforted them with so great a comfort, that they still were the richer, and could afford to give. They went away, but they left brethren behind them. The Church was established at Philippi, and that could not be driven out. (M. C. Hazard.)Paul and Silas in prison The Christian looks beyond this world for complete happiness. Yet while here on earth he has something which the world can neither give nor take away. Deprive him of all that which ministers to the happiness of worldly men, and still he is happy. We have a striking example of this in the text. What then can make us happy in any condition, or under any circumstances? We answer--that which made Paul and Silas so happy in the prison at Philippi. The same sources of support and joy are open to every real Christian. Let us, then, examine them. I. Their comparative estimate of what they gained, with what they lost. It is by such comparisons that we form our estimate of almost every condition in human life. In this world, that is reasonably esteemed an eligible condition in which the good to be enjoyed far outweighs the evil to be endured. What then was the case of these prisoners? Were they in prison--it was not the prison of death. Were they in chains--they still possessed the liberty of the sons of God. Did they endure the pains of the lash--they had peace which passeth all understanding. Had they no hopes from the world--they had the hope of eternal glory. Who that possessed millions would grieve at the loss of a penny? When, therefore, we hear them say, “ As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as having nothing, yet possessing all things,” their language is intelligible. II. The assurance that their sufferings were the means of great good. They regarded suffering not only as inseparably connected with the crown of glory, but as the appointed means of the preparation to wear it. They, therefore, “ gloried in tribulation because tribulation worketh patience,” etc. They rejoiced in the darkness of the dungeon, because there every Christian grace shone purer and brighter. III. Love to Him for whom they suffered. Love is the strongest passion of the human heart. It is delight in the object loved. With what cheerfulness and pleasure does it lead us to act or suffer! As intimately connected with their love to Christ, I ought to mention the great object of these men--the honour of Christ. Ease, pleasure, honour, interest, life were nothing in their view, and Christ was all in all. Conclusion:1. Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is. Real religion in its nature is a rich source of support and joy in every condition. 2. Religion is as good a thing now as in the days of the apostles. The same sources of enjoyment are open to us as to them. Why then should not religion bless the Christian under the little crosses of this tranquil age, as well as under the terrors which the annals of persecution record? Alas t here is the defect. They have not as much religion as they ought to have and might have. (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)The supreme power of true piety We gather from this narrative--1. That good men are persecuted notwithstanding the most evident signs that they are the servants of God. The presumption of evildoers. 2. That the beneficent ministries of good men incur the hatred of unrighteous traffickers. 3. That religious persecutions are generally promoted by men who have the least regard for religion. 4. That religion often has to endure the blame of tumults raised by evildoers. I. The power of true piety to give men joy amidst circumstances of sorrow. Paul and Silas--1. Their patient endurance. 2. Their fervent devotion. (1) Devotion superior to physical pain. They had been beaten. Song stronger than sorrow. (2) Devotion superior to the suggestion of mental association. Prison a suggestive place. (3) Devotion superior to the habitual needs of human life. Midnight--time of sleep. 3. Their unique conduct. The masters with gains lost were in despair; the jailer in earthquake was about to commit suicide. Paul and Silas worshipped. Piety is supreme judged by results. II. The power of true piety to give men calmness in physical disturbance.1. God takes care of His persecuted servants.2. The moral significance of the physical occurrences on the earth. Newspapers can only record the earthquake, not its hidden providences. III. The power of true piety to enable men to give guidance amidst moral perplexity. See how the providence of God has in view the awakening of the souls of men. “ Believe,” etc.1. This advice was willing.2. Wise.3. Practicable.4. Inspiring.5. Accepted. IV. The power of true piety to give men dignity in the humiliating emergencies of life. “ Let them come,” etc.1. Not the language of proud self-assertion.2. The language of self-vindication. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)Preachers in prison I. The preachers.1. Their punishment. (1) “ Many stripes.”(2) “ In the inner prison.”(3) “ Their feet fast in the stocks.” Cell windowless and damp; stocks irritating and painful. 2. Their piety. “ Prayed and sang.” Only heroes of the highest type could have prayed in such a place. 3. Their noise. “ The prisoners heard them.” They will have all the more attentive audience by the place and time. Noise was no new thing in the old prison. Groans, curses, threats had often echoed through those gloomy corridors; but never until now prayer and praise. 4. Their deliverance. (1) It was supernatural. “ A great earthquake.”(2) It was instantaneous. “ Immediately the doors were opened.”(3) It was complete. “ Every man’ s bands were loosed.” II. The penitent. The exciting scenes of the afternoon and evening had passed, and “ at midnight” the jailer is fast asleep.1. His surprise at the swaying of the prison, the open doors, and the supernatural aspect of things generally. 2. His fear. “ That the prisoners had fled.” Nothing was more reasonable. Prisoners have not much conscience when the alternative of bondage or freedom is before them. 3. His desperation. “ Would have killed himself.” Believing his own life to be forfeited, his first thought was that of suicide. That was the highest point to which heathen culture could rise. The advice of Seneca was, “ If life is pleasant, live; if not, you have a right to return whence you came.” 4. His instructions. “ Do thyself no harm.” How did Paul know he was going to do himself harm? 5. His encouragement. “ We are all here.” How, then, could Paul vouch for this? 6. His penitence. “ Came trembling.” The marvels he had witnessed had aroused his conscience, and smitten him with an awful sense of guilt and alarm. 7. His humility. “ Fell down before Paul.” There are earthquake crises in life when God’ s despised people are appreciated--crises when they only can allay the troubled spirit, and answer the momentous questions which agitate and alarm the human heart. 8. His inquiry. “ What must I do to be saved?” The danger implied in this question is not that which prompted him to suicide. The presence of all the prisoners saved him from that. The inquiry involves a conviction-- (1) Of danger. “ Saved.”(2) Of the importance of action or effort. “ Must.”(3) Anxiety to do what may be required. “ What must I do?”(4) Personal responsibility. “ What must I do?” We lose ourselves in the crowd. True penitence individualises the man. III. The pardon.1. Its condition--“ Believe.”2. Its object--“ Jesus Christ.”3. Its certainty--“ Thou shalt be saved.”4. Its effects. (1) Sympathetic--“ Washed their stripes.” A man should doubt his conversion if he does not seek to undo the wrongs of yesterday.(2) Hospitality--Into his house.(3) Liberality--Set meat before them.(4) Public and prompt confession--Baptised straightway.(5) Influence--“ And all his.” One saved man has a tendency to produce another. The jailer, though a heathen, had some manhood and character about him, or his family would not have been so ready to follow him with such confidence. (T. Kelly.)Good men in prison It is a great disgrace to humanity that its greatest benefactors have been ill-treated. Next to the Saviour, the world has known no truer benefactor than Paul. And yet he was cast into prison. We feel ashamed of our complaining as we think of this God’ s true hero singing songs of praise unto the Lord. I. A good man radiates his influence. He cannot help it.1. Silas was benefited by his connection with Paul. Silas was a man of mark, but he became more remarkable from his identification with Paul. We may not get earthly greatness or riches, but we must be better in a moral sense by allowing ourselves to be touched by a good man’ s influence. “ He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.” 2. Paul and Silas together exerted a good influence-- (1) On the prisoners, who listened to the sweet singing. (2) On the jailer, whom they rescued from death. It has been so ever since. “ The path of the just is as the shining light.” A bird will sing in a cage; a preacher has spoken through the grating of his cell. II. A good man’ s character is not damaged by outward conditions. His reputation may be affected by them; for a man may have a good character and a bad reputation. Paul and Silas had a bad reputation. But a change is soon brought about. The very jailer acknowledges them as messengers of God. Today the world delights to honour those men who sat in that cell. If we suffer as evil-doers, we have reason to be ashamed; but if we suffer as Christians, let us glorify God on this behalf. III. Good men are true to their principles, though they have been the causes of disaster. If the world were morally right, correct principles would never bring a man into trouble. If the apostles had been brought up in the school of worldly prudence, and had sat at the feet of Professors Pliable and Worldly Wiseman, they would not have had a sore back that night, though they might have had the worse evil of an uneasy conscience. But they were brought up in the school of Christ. The lesson impressed upon their mind was, “ Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” It was theirs to dare to do the right, and leave consequences. Throw the mere professor into prison, and he soon recants. But when Paul and Silas are thrown into prison, they pray and sing praises unto God. They do not change their mode of procedure. IV. Good men are sustained and encouraged in their sufferings.1. The consciousness of having done right is a sustaining power. Paul and Silas had songs given to them in the night time of their confinement, while the poor jailer was in agonies, and the magistrates who condemned were sadly troubled. 2. The consciousness of a helper in heaven is a sustaining power. Paul without prayer would have been Paul without his lofty heroism. Prayer nerved his arm for the conflict, and brought down heavenly blessings. (W. Burrows, B. A.)Good people in prison John Bunyan, the immortal dreamer, speaking on one occasion of the cell on Bedford Bridge, where for twelve long years he was confined, said, “ So, being again delivered up to the jailer’ s hands, I was had home to prison.” When Madame Guyon was imprisoned in the Castle of Vincennes, in 1695, she not only sang, but wrote songs of praise to her God. “ It sometimes seemed to me,” she said, “ as if I were a little bird whom the Lord had placed in a cage, and that I had nothing now to do but to sing. The joy of my heart gave a brightness to the objects around me. The stones of my prison looked in my eyes like rubies. I esteemed them more than all the gaudy brilliancies of a vain world. My heart was full of that joy which Thou givest to them that love Thee in the midst of their greatest crosses” --a sentiment which she embodied, during one of her imprisonments, in a touching little poem, which begins thus-- “ A little bird I am, Shut from the fields of air; And in my songs I sit and sing To Him who placed me there: Well pleased a prisoner to be, Because, my God, it pleaseth Thee.” Bass Rock, a lonely island cliff in the Firth of Forth, off Haddingtonshire, two miles from land, was once used by the English Government as a fortress and State prison. Here, in the seventeenth century, many good ministers, persecuted for conscience’ sake, suffered confinement; and one of their number, Mr. Fraser, of Brea, wrote an account of their prison hardships. They were alternately chilled through with cold and half suffocated with smoke, fed with unwholesome food, and scarcely fed at all. “ Many contracted diseases there which embittered and shortened their lives. But from within those walls the voice of praise and prayer might be often heard, mingled with the laughter, oaths, and songs of the reckless sentinels; and the souls of the captives were borne, on the wings of holy meditation, far aloft and away from the dreary rock within which their bodies were pent.” “ Every day,” continues Fraser, “ I read the Scriptures, exhorted and taught therefrom, did sing psalms and prayed with such of our society as our masters did permit to worship together, and this two times a day. I studied Hebrew and Greek, and I likewise read some divinity, and wrote a Treatise on Faith.” The miracle in the prison I. The prayer (verse 25). It is night. All are buried in slumber. A dark building--a lodging for the night, a prison. But light is in one of the cells--internal light, the light of faith. Therefore prayer and praise. II. The shock (verses 26-28). Not only were the walls shaken, but the jailer’ s heart. Certainly at first a shock of anguish and despair. But eternal love watches and prevails. The comforting word. “ We are all here.” Hope returns; but he wishes to see his fortune and to grasp it with his hands (verse 29). III. The great question (verses 30-82). It is not entirely unpremeditated. Already the praying apostles have caused the presentiment of something higher to rise in him. Perhaps also earlier experiences in his dismal employment. The earthquake has ripened the slumbering seed. The apostles have not fled. How secure and happy they must be! What must I do that I may be the same? The great life question finds also a great life answer. There is one answer. Without Christ no one is saved; through Him all may be saved. IV. The first love (verses 33, 34). What is it? The attempt to make a return for what has been received--to do good to Christ in His servants. (Lisco.)What the Lord can make of a prison I. A quiet chapel of prayer (verse 25). II. An alarming place of judgment (verses 26-29). III. A wholesome school of repentance (verses 30, 31). IV. A brotherly house of Christian love and compassion (verses 32, 33). V. A blessed birthplace of the new life (verse 34). (K. Gerok.)Disadvantages made useful I. Strange places may be changed into churches. If in many cases desecration has taken place, many surprising instances of consecration have also occurred. We might turn every place into a praying ground. The teaching of this immediate lesson is that distressing, harmful, and threatening circumstances may be turned into ladders up to heaven. What are you doing in your unusual circumstances--moaning, groaning, complaining? Paul and Silas “ sang praises.” Such men, therefore, never could be in prison. Christians ought never to be in any circumstances which they cannot turn into sacramental occasions. II. Christian workers and worshippers may have unexpected observers and listeners. It is always exactly so.1. You do not speak without being listened to; you do not go to church without being observed. The preacher speaks to his immediate congregation, but he knows not who is listening in the vestibule. “ And the prisoners were listening.” They never heard such music before! They had been accustomed to profane language; to violent and complaining exclamations; but here is a new spirit in the house. It is so at home. Passing the room door, we pause a moment to hear some sweet voice in prayer or praise, and it follows the life like a pleading angel. 2. What is true on the one side is true on the other. The unjust judgment you passed was listened to by your children, and they will grow up to repeat your cynicism. III. It is possible quietly and even thankfully, to accept all the circumstances of life. Nothing must interfere with the religious sacrifice. Are we in prison? We may have to alter the hour of worship, but not the worship itself. Are we in an uncongenial atmosphere? We may have to wait until the company has broken up before communion with the Father; but it is only waiting. Show me a Christian who does not complain. Where is the ancient joy? May the old days come again! When they come Christians will accept poverty or wealth, life or death, bleak March or warm June, with thankfulness, saying, “ This is the best for me; I live not in circumstance, but in faith.” IV. This is a full religious service. “ But there was no preaching,” you say. Yes, there was; for we may preach by singing. But, even in a more direct and literal sense, preaching was added to prayer and praise. The earthquake took place, and the jailer, with his house, became a congregation to which Paul and Silas did, in the literal sense of the term, preach. So that night they had a full service--prayer, praise, preaching, and conversion. V. Look at this conversion of the jailer.1. It took place under circumstances which may well be described as “ exciting.” Have we not been unjust to what is called “ religious excitement” ? But are the circumstances to blame, or ourselves? We like quietness--deadness; we do not like to be “ excited,” because the devil has chloroformed us into a state of insensibility. Jesus Christ did not rebuke the excitement which followed His ministry; when others would have had Him rebuke them, He said, “ I tell you that if these held their peace, the very stones would cry out.” 2. Happily the incident does not end here. To excitement was added the necessary element of instruction (verse 32). Tears in the eyes that are not followed by activities in the hand harden the very heart which for the moment they softened. We shall be the worse for every revival that ends in itself. Times of revival must be followed by times of study. We might get up such services as these almost every day in the week. If we prayed and praised in every prison into which our life is thrust, we should be heard by strange listeners, we should be interrogated by strange inquirers, and doors of usefulness would be opened in the very granite which apparently shuts us in. (J. Parker, D. D.)The surpassing power of personal Christianity Here we see it-- I. Elevating the spirit above the greatest trials (verse 25). What gives religion this power.1. Faith in the Divine superintendence. The apostles knew that they were not here by accident or chance, but that the whole was under the wise and kind control of the Eternal Father. This is consoling. Job felt this. “ He knoweth the way that I take,” etc. 2. Consciousness of God’ s approval. The “ well done” of Heaven echoed within, and set all to music. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” “ Being justified by faith, we have peace with God,” etc. 3. The thought of Christ’ s trials in comparison with their own. 4. Assurance of a glorious deliverance. “ Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment,” etc. “ I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared,” etc. He who has this religion can find a paradise in a dungeon. II. Ensuring the interposition of God (verse 26). While caring for all God takes special care of the good.1. Reason would suggest this, viz., that the Eternal Spirit would feel a greater interest in mind than in matter; that the Eternal Father in His offspring than in His mere workmanship; that the Source of love and holiness in those who participate in His own moral attributes than in those who do not. 2. The Bible teaches this. (1) In explicit declarations. “ To that man will I look,” etc. “ As a father pitieth his children,” etc. “ Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field,” etc. (2) In the biography of the good. Did He not specially interpose on behalf of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles? If necessary He will make the heavens rain bread, and the rock out-pour refreshing streams. He will divide the sea, and stop the mouth of lions. III. Capacitating the soul for the highest usefulness. The Philippian jailer--1. Was prevented from self-destruction. The voice of Christianity to man is, “ Do thyself no harm” of any kind. The good are ever useful in preventing evil. 2. Was directed to true safety. His question indicates a complex state of mind. He had regard not only to material and civil deliverance, but to spiritual and eternal. The question implies a sense of peril, and a sense of the necessity of individual effort. Something must be done. Paul, without circumlocution and delay, answers, “ Believe,” etc. Believe on Him as the Representative of God’ s love for the sinner, as the Atoner to God’ s character, as the Guide to God’ s heaven. 3. Experienced a delightful change (verses 33, 34). The ruffian who “ thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks,” now tenderly washes their “ stripes,” and entertains them with pious hospitality. The terror-struck soul who sprang in, in utmost horror, is now full of joy and faith (verse 34). IV. Investing the soul with the truest independency (verse 35, etc.). This is seen--1. In their superiority to the fear of man. As soon as they were miraculously delivered from prison, they might have hurried away from such a scene of enemies; but they remained, although the magistrates gave them liberty to depart. They were not afraid. They could chant the 46th psalm. 2. In refusing great benefits, because offered on improper grounds. We will not accept as a favour what we demand as a right. A good man will refuse liberty, social influence, wealth, unless they can be honourably and righteously obtained. 3. In triumphing over their enemies. The tyrants became fawning suppliants at the feet of their prisoners. Such is Christian piety at first displayed in Europe, and in a prison. Piety is not that weak, simpering thing which often passes for it. It is the mightiest force on earth. True Christians have not received “ the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and of a sound mind.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)God’ s heroes and man’ s On losing a battle in that neighbourhood, Cassius, “ the last of the Romans,” hid himself in his tent, and bade his freedmen strike, while Brutus, in his sullen desperation, fell upon his sword. But, so far from drooping and murmuring, and calling God to account, who had beckoned them to Europe, and yet had permitted them to be so “ shamefully entreated” ; so far from resolving to desert a Master who had not protected them, or deeming the vision at Troas a lure to draw them on to stripes and a dungeon, “ Paul and Silas” prayed, and not only poured out their hearts in supplication, but “ sang praises unto God,” and that in no whispered melody, for “ the prisoners heard them.” (Prof. Eadie.)And the prisoners heard them.--Indirect means of doing good Though the speakers were bound, the Word was free; not only the Word that went upward to the throne of God, but also the echo of the Word, that pierced the gloomy partition walls and sank into the startled ears of wretched prisoners. It seemed a roundabout road that the gospel took to reach these Gentiles; but it did not miss its way. There was a dead wall between the apostles and their audience, and therefore they did not preach that night. But there was no wall between them and the Father of their spirits: praying they hymned God, and the prayer sent upward fell down again on the other side of the partition, falling there on listening ears. In this circuitous method the gospel reached some needy souls. It is thus that in modern warfare they often overcome a fortress which is too strong to be taken by direct assault. The wall frowns thick and high between the defenders and the assailants. No missile sent in a direct line can touch the protected garrison. The besiegers in such a case throw their balls high into the heavens; these fall within the enclosure and do their work. When a good soldier of Jesus Christ cannot by direct preaching reach men, he may by prayer and praise. Christians travelling in Romish or otherwise darkened districts, might in this way scatter blessings in their track. And so might those who live in benighted neighbourhoods. (W. Arnot, D. D.) Acts 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake.The earthquake at Philippi A miraculous act of the breaker of all bonds. I. He breaks the bonds of tribulation, when His elect call to Him day and night (Paul and Silas). II. He tears asunder the fetters of sin, when bound souls sigh after Him (the jailer). III. He makes a path for His word and kingdom even when the world puts fetters on them. “ The Word of God is not bound.” IV. He bursts open the prison of the grave, when the hour of eternal redemption strikes. That hour is said to be midnight. (K. Gerok.)Earthquakes We have all read of the earthquake in Lisbon, in Lima, in Aleppo, and in Caraceas; but we live in a latitude where in all our memory there has not been one severe volcanic disturbance. And yet we have seen fifty earthquakes. Here is a man who has been building up a large fortune. His bid on the money market was felt in all the cities. He thinks he has got beyond all annoying rivalries in trade, and he says to himself, “ Now I am free and safe from all possible perturbation.” But in 1837, or in 1857, or in 1873, a national panic strikes the foundations of the commercial world, and crash f goes all that magnificent business establishment. Here is a man who has built up a very beautiful home. His daughters have just come home from the seminary with diplomas of graduation. His sons have started in life, honest, temperate, and pure. When the evening lights are struck, there is a happy and unbroken family circle. But there has been an accident down at Long Branch. The young man ventured too far out in the surf. The telegraph hurled the terror up to the city. An earthquake struck under the foundations of that beautiful home. The piano closed; the curtains dropped; the laughter hushed. Crash! go all those domestic hopes, and prospects, and expectations. So, my friends, we have all felt the shaking down of some great trouble, and there was a time when we were as much excited as this man of the text, and we cried out as he did: “ What shall I do?” The midnight hour in the prison of Philippi, an image of the great hour of the Lord 1. The world sleeps, but believers wait for it with watchfulness and prayer.2. The earth quakes, but the Lord is near.3. The servants of sin tremble before judgment.4. The children of the kingdom lift up their heads with joy, because their redemption draweth nigh. (K. Gerok.)God a powerful Ally When John G. Paton, upon his little island of Anyeitum, was almost giving up hope of life, though still trying to pacify the bloodthirsty natives, it happened that upon the far horizon line a ship’ s sails were seen and a line of smoke going up into the sky. “ The fire steamer comes,” cried the natives in wild terror, and ran to hide themselves in the bush. The chief, who had been so cruel, came to beg Paton for his life. It seemed like the last judgment to these poor ignorant subjects. But what was it to the missionary? To him the connecting link with his own country, the help and strength of new life. When the ship came it proved to be one of Her Majesty’ s men-of-war, and the sight of the power of Paton’ s Queen so struck the native imagination that they decided to leave the man who had such powerful friends to do his work unharmed. So behind the Christian there is the Christian’ s God, all-powerful, all-willing. Acts 16:27-28 And the keeper of the prison … would have killed himself.Suicide Suicide is not to fear death, but yet to be afraid of life. It is a brave act of valour to contemn death; but where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live; and herein religion has taught us a noble example; for all the valiant acts of Cartius, Scoevola, or Codrus do not parallel or match that of Job. (Sir Thomas Browne.)Suicide at Philippi Philippi is famous in the annals of suicide. Here Cassius, unable to survive defeat, covered his face in the empty tent, and ordered his freedmen to strike the blow. His messenger, Titinius, held it to be “ a Roman’ s part,” to follow the stern example. Here Brutus bade adieu to his friends, exclaiming, “ Certainly we must fly, yet not with the feet, but with the hands” ; and many whose names have never reached us, ended their last struggle for the republic by self-inflicted death. Here, too, another despairing man would have committed the same crime, had not his hand been arrested by an apostle’ s voice. Instead of a sudden and hopeless death, the jailer received at the hands of his prisoner the gift both of temporal and spiritual life. (J. S. Howson, D. D.)Do thyself no harm.--Religion a safeguard I. The alarm of the keeper of the prison. The tokens of the Divine presence were earthquakes, the opening of doors, and the loosing of bonds. In this manner God bore a testimony to His faithful servants, and prepared the way for the jailer’ s conversion. But the moral terror was the most memorable thing in his history. God used terrific means with a view to a peaceful and merciful end. He was first reduced to despair of himself, and next led to hope in Christ. The degrees of terror are different in different minds. Lydia was brought by calm and peaceful means; the jailer by solemn and arousing ones. Some doubt whether they are converted, because they have not passed through strong convictions, agonies of terror. Let them look at Lydia. That man has had terror enough, be it much or little, if he has been brought to Christ. Our state is to be determined, not by our former emotions, but by our present conduct. II. The language of St. Paul to him: “ Do thyself no harm.” The text suggests three great truths--1. That it is the tendency of sin to harm the sinner. He does not think so in the outset of his career; but he finds it out very soon. We follow evil under the forms of good. The enemy of souls first allures, and then destroys. Sin wounds the conscience; blights the reputation; injures the sinner in his worldly circumstances; destroys the happiness of his family; shortens his days; ruins his soul. As the shadow follows the body, so do plagues follow sin. 2. That it is the design of religion to be a moral safeguard and blessing. It is favourable to a peaceful conscience; to a good name; to worldly prosperity; to family comfort; to length of days; to a peaceful death; and joyful eternity. The gospel is a preservative as well as a restorative system. 3. That it is the office of the ministry to interfere, by its counsels and warnings, between man and misery. Paul cried with a loud voice. III. The improvement it suggests to ourselves. Believe and obey the gospel. It is a remedy suited to all times and persons.1. By way of inquiry. Have we taken the first step in the road to heaven? 2. By way of caution. Guard against the beginning of sin. 3. By way of invitation to penitents. “ Turn to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope.” 4. Encouragement to Christians derived from the ascertained connection between faith and salvation. “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (The Evangelist.)Self-preservation Do thyself no harm. I. Physically. The body is God’ s handiwork, “ fearfully and wonderfully made.” It has been redeemed by Christ, and is a temple of the Holy Ghost. Do not harm it therefore--1. By overwork.2. By excessive exercise.3. By undue exposure.4. By enervating indolence or pleasure.5. By neglecting the means of its support in health or its recovery in sickness. We shall have to give an account for deeds done in the body in more senses than one. II. Mentally. How august the gift of intellect with its faculties of memory, reason, imagination, etc., and how delicate and susceptible of injury. There are laws of mind as well of matter which cannot be disobeyed without severe retribution. Do thy mind no harm--1. By overstrain. Some of the highest in examination lists have done poorly in life, because their academic honours represent not so much useful and healthy knowledge, but so much cram. 2. By neglect. The mind gets into an otiose and diseased state for want of exercise. III. Emotionally. How rich a gift is feeling, and how soon and easily is the heart injured or broken! Do thyself no harm--1. By over-sensitiveness. 2. By deliberate petrifaction. 3. By anxiety. Guard love against unworthy objects; hope against unreasonable expectations; joy against exhaustible sources. Cultivate the best friendships; “ Be content with such things as ye have” ; never despair. IV. Spiritually. Here the greatest harm can be done. Here injury may be irreparable.1. Communion with God, who is the soul’ s life, may be broken off. 2. The soul may die to its richest inheritance in time and eternity. Do it no harm, therefore, by neglecting the means of grace, prayer, Bible study, Christian fellowship, etc., nor by the allowance of any known sin. V. Socially. Under this head may be grouped a variety of interests in which great damage may be done. A man may harm himself--1. Commercially, by unwise speculations, wrong methods, indolence, etc. 2. In his friendships by bad associations, want of thought, forbearance, etc. 3. Politically. The Christian and unfailing rule of self-preservation is, “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God … and thy neighbour as thyself.” (J. W. Burn.)Providential deliverance A young gentleman spent his fortune in riotous living and was reduced to poverty. For a time his friends supported him; but at last they all forsook him. Wandering about as a vagabond, and having no prospect of a further supply, he resolved to drown himself. Being then in a strange place, he went to the riverside; but waiting till it was dark, he saw a light in a house and went to it. The people there were singing; he listened, and after hearing a chapter from the Bible and a prayer, he knocked at the door and was admitted. In the astonishing kindness of Providence the passage for consideration was the one before us. After several members had made their remarks they concluded, as usual, with prayer, after which the stranger asked how they came to know his thoughts, for he had not mentioned his purpose to any person on earth. This equally surprised the audience, for they had not seen or heard of him till now. Upon which the young gentleman told them his design and how it had been prevented. This remarkable providence struck him to such a degree that, by the Divine blessing, it was made the means of his conversion. He became an eminent Christian, regained the favour of his friends, and lived a useful and godly life. Timely advice When Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, about seven o’ clock in the evening, he exclaimed, “Sauve qui peut,” and rode off the field to Charleroi. But that was after his campaigns had stained his sword with the blood and tears of millions, and when the three preceding days had been marked by the fall of 40,000 French, 16,000 Prussians, and 13,000 British and Germans. Paul’ s advice, “ Do thyself no harm,” was given in time to prevent mischief, and this is the timely and standing counsel of the gospel to the men of all nationalities in all ages. (H. Peach, LL. D.) Acts 16:29-34 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling.The Philippian jailer I. The state of his mind before conversion.1. He was a careless sinner. This appears not so much from his official acts; for the guilt of persecution rested on the people and magistrates: but from his conduct as depicted in Acts 16:26, in which we have the picture of a worldly, careless, godless man, driven to desperation by an unexpected temporal calamity. He had no fear of God, since he was more afraid of “ them that could kill the body,” etc.; he had no care for his soul, since he was ready to peril its salvation; he was utterly reckless about eternity, since to escape present misery he was about to rush unsummoned into the presence of his Judge. The idea of suicide could not have occurred to any man unless he were utterly careless alike to God and His everlasting prospects. 2. But a change was wrought before conversion; from being a careless he becomes a convinced sinner. This preliminary change consisted in strong convictions of conscience and lively apprehensions of danger; and these, although suddenly produced, were profound and sincere (Acts 16:29). Here is a great change from apathy to concern, from recklessness to anxious inquiry. This conviction may be accounted for by what he had seen and heard; the confession of the slave girl; the conduct of the apostles; the earthquake; Paul’ s exhortation. 3. But while a marked change had been wrought, it was not conversion. Conviction, while it precedes conversion, is not always followed by it. He had remorse, but remorse is not repentance; he had fear; but fear is not faith; he had an apprehension of danger, but danger may be apprehended while the method of deliverance is unknown. These convictions were useful as preparatory means; they were hopeful symptoms; but they may be, and often are, stifled, resisted, and overcome. That he was not converted is evident from his question, which implies that as yet he was ignorant of the ground of a sinner’ s hope, and that he was disposed to look to something that he might himself do, rather than what might be Divinely done for him. II. The means by which his conversion was effected. It matters little by what circumstances a sinner is first awakened to inquire; whether by the earthquake, or the still small voice. But while the circumstances are various the means are the same in all--the truth as it is in Jesus, the full and free gospel of the grace of God. The jailer was not converted by the earthquake, on the contrary, the effect of that was suicidal terror; but what the miraculous event could not do was done by the gospel. He was directed to look out of himself to Christ, to relinquish all hope of salvation by works, and to work it by faith. The exhortation implies--1. That he should believe the truth concerning Christ--which is involved in the names given him. (1) Jesus--i.e., Saviour.(2) Christ, the Lord’ s anointed.(3) Lord. 2. That believing the truth concerning Christ, he should place his own personal trust and reliance in Christ alone as One able to save to the uttermost. The gospel thus proposed was-- (1) A suitable means, as prescribing a remedy in all respects adapted to the evils he felt or feared. (2) Sufficient, as containing everything to instruct, encourage, or persuade. III. The nature of the change. His conversion properly consisted in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Until he believed he was unconverted; but as soon as he believed he became a converted man. The production of pure faith is not a mere change of opinion, but a radical and thorough renovation attested by certain fruits.1. He thirsted for more instruction (Acts 16:32).2. He was concerned for the souls of his family.3. His faith wrought by love.4. He had peace and joy in believing.5. He made an open profession of his faith. Conclusion: Learn--1. That men in their unconverted state are often careless, and destitute of all fear of God and concern for their souls. 2. While they are thus careless God is often pleased to make use of some solemn and awakening dispensation to arouse and alarm them. 3. Sometimes the trials and disappointments of sinners only serve to exasperate their natural enmity, as was the case with the jailer, or attempted suicide. 4. Convictions are only useful when they produce an earnest spirit of thoughtfulness and inquiry. 5. Conviction only ends in conversion when a true sense of sin is combined with an apprehension of God’ s mercy in Christ. (J. Buchanan, D. D.)The Philippian jailer I. The awakening of the jailer. The first circumstance that appears powerfully to have affected his mind was, great temporal calamity threatening his immediate ruin and death, Great and sudden and heavy afflictions are often sent by the providence of God that He may bring men to recollection and prayer. There were many things here, all concurring, which powerfully affected the jailer’ s mind. But these were only outward circumstances; and it was only by the special grace of God that they were made serviceable to his soul. Many people suffer huge afflictions, but never think of God in them; and so their afflictions come to no blessed issue. It was not, indeed, till after the jailer had come to himself that he thinks about his soul, and sees the hand of God in the surrounding circumstances. In the day of God’ s conviction men are thankful for help from those whom they had reviled: and in the great day of all, when the door of repentance shall be forever closed, the persecutors of the true Church of Jesus shall fall down before them, and be as ashes under the soles of their feet. II. The consequences of his awakening, in his earnest inquiry. Let me point out to you what it is to be saved.1. To be delivered from all our sins.2. To be delivered from all the penalty of all these evil acts.3. To be placed in a capacity to overcome them.4. To be saved from the practice of sin, as well as from the condemnation of it.5. To be delivered from the devil.6. To be delivered from the world.7. To be saved from the curse of the Almighty.8. To be delivered from hell. But to be saved is far more than this: it is to be brought from sin to holiness, from the curse to the blessing, from death to life, from unquietness to peace, from Satan to God. III. The answer given to this inquiring, awakening man. They call away his attention at once from himself to Christ, to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He entered into a new life from that very hour. And now, observe, the jailer has found Jesus; and his terror is turned into joy. As the blessed fruits of his believing, his heart is filled with joy and love to the brethren; and he attended, with swift obedience, to the Lord’ s laws, and entered, by baptism, upon his Christian course. Conclusion: In the narrative observe--1. A remarkable instance of free and rich mercy to a desperate sinner reduced to the last extremity.2. An instructive instance of the mysteriousness of God’ s ways in the accomplishment of His purposes of mercy.3. That the salvation of God is as free as it is vast.4. The simplicity of the gospel.5. That all the children of God are not awakened in the same way.6. A picture of the world. This earth is a prison; the persons in it are condemned to die--yea, a thousand are led forth to execution daily. And though the unconverted man may not draw a sword to plunge it into his own heart, the sword of Divine vengeance is unsheathed against him, and may pierce him at any moment. And whereas, while Paul and Silas were praising God for redemption, the earthquake shook the prison, and the fetters fell off the prisoners, we see, as it were, a picture of the blessings of the gospel, whereby “ the prisoner leaps to loose his chains,” and those who are enabled to believe are emancipated from the bondage of sin, and brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God. (T. Snow, A. M.)The conversion of the jailer I. The initiative stages to conversion.1. A terrible sense of danger. The earthquake, and the strange, sublime conduct of the prisoners, roused his guilty conscience. 2. An earnest spirit of inquiry. “ What must I do,” etc. 3. A readiness to do whatever is required. II. The exclusive means of conversion. Faith in Christ is indispensable to produce this moral change.1. A change of character requires a change in beliefs. We are controlled and moulded by motives: motives are beliefs. 2. The new beliefs necessary to produce this change must be directed to Christ. Christ alone gives us-- (1) The true ideal of character.(2) The true way of reaching it.(3) The true aids to enable us to do so. III. The glorious issue of conversion. “ Thou shalt be saved.” What is salvation? It is not in any sense a physical change, nor merely an intellectual change, nor necessarily a local change. It is a moral revolution. It is the soul rising from sensualism to spirituality, from selfishness to benevolence, from the world to God. This conversion--1. Will ensure the salvation of our own souls. “Thou shalt,” etc. 2. Will lead to the salvation of others. “ And thy house” --not, of course, that his belief would save his family independently of theirs; but that it would prompt him to use such efforts as would, under God, lead his family to a saving faith. (D. Thomas, D. D.)A man in two conditions I. What kind of man before conversion? The jailer a remarkable instance of the power of God’ s grace. He was a stern Roman disciplinarian. He respected authority. He was probably an old soldier, who for good service in the past was rewarded with this post. This was creditable to him. We must be faithful in our daily work. I grant there is a little harshness in the execution of his orders; he was not commanded to thrust, but to keep them safely, and he tried his best to do so. He goes to bed. He is asleep. An earthquake comes. Not alarmed about his wife and family. His one business was, under the seal of the Roman Emperor, to look after the prison doors. Would that all Christians were as faithful to their office as this unenlightened man. He finds the door open. He fears disgrace. He cannot combat the charge of neglected duty. He would have killed himself. He was a man sternly upright. I am always glad when such men are saved. They are not always saved. They stand high in public esteem, and are apt to forget their Master in heaven. The jailer was a man of few words. “ What must I do to be saved?” Men of this kind are often cold. It is hard to warm their hearts. He was a man of action and decision, he says to this man, “ Go, and he goeth” ; he is prompt himself. II. What occasioned his conversion? He had received some instruction before, he had heard the testimony of the girl, and possibly the words of Paul. They did not impress him. He slept afterwards, he was not made to tremble because the prisoners had escaped; this fear had been banished by Paul. What then, the miracle, that the doors were opened, and yet that none had escaped! What gladness filled his soul! No blame possible. He was brought near to the unseen world by the danger he had escaped; and as the light shone around he saw his past life, and the Eternal Spirit unveiled that life and made him to see the evil of it. Then his conversion grew out of the further instruction of the apostle. Plain teaching and a simple heart to receive it make quick work of the matter. Let us thank God for any circumstances which secure the conversion of a soul. Do not complain because the earthquake is not in the conversion; no matter how accomplished, or through whom. III. What sort of a convert he made.1. He was a believing convert. He believed without delay or doubt. He was told to believe, and he did. Who will not believe what the experience of thousands promises to be true? 2. He was an humble convert. He fell down at the feet of the apostle. He waited upon them in his house. A convinced soul does not want the highest seat in the synagogue. If good people dispute at all, let it be for a place at the feet of Christ. 3. He was a ready convert. Hearing--believing--fellowship--all in the midnight hour. When we know what Christ would have us do, any moment of delay is sin. 4. He was a practical convert. He washed their stripes. He set food before them. Not easy to get up a feast in the middle of the night, He fetched them the best. He is the right sort of a convert who wants to be doing something for Christ; he can soon find something to do. 5. He was a joyful convert. 6. He was an influential convert. All in his house were converted. 7. He was a sensible convert. He still kept on in his position, he did not give up keeping the gaol. Who so fit to be a jailer as a man who knows the Lord and will be humane? We like those who are converted to keep to their business and to make money for the cause of Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 16:30-31 What must I do to be saved?…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The great question and the plain answer The keeper of a Macedonian gaol was not likely to be a very nervous or susceptible person. And so the extraordinary state of agitation and panic into which this rough jailer was east needs some kind of explanation. Now do you think that the jailer’ s question was a piece of foolish superstition? I daresay some of you do, or some of you may suppose, too, that it was one very unnecessary for him or anybody to ask. So I want, in a very few words, to deal with these three things--the question that we should all ask, the answer that we may all take, the blessing that we may all have. I. The question that we should all ask. I know that it is very unfashionable nowadays to talk about “ salvation” as man’ s need. What is it to be saved? Two things; to be healed and to be safe. With both aspects the expression is employed over and over again in Scripture. It means either restoration from sickness or deliverance from peril. I venture to press upon everyone here these two considerations--we all need healing from sickness; we all need safety from peril. Mind, I am not talking about vices. I have no doubt you are a perfectly respectable man, in all the ordinary relations of life. Be honest with yourselves in asking and answering the question whether or not you have this sickness of sin, its paralysis towards good or its fevered inclination to evil. If salvation means being healed of a disease we have all got the disease; and whether we wish it or no, we want the healing. And what of the other meaning of the word? Salvation means being safe? Are you safe? Is anybody safe standing in front of that awful law that rules the whole universe, “ Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” ? Somewhere and somehow, men will have to lie on the beds that they have made; to drink as they have brewed. If sin means separation from God, and separation from God means, as it assuredly does, death, then I ask you, and there is no need for any exaggerated words about it, Are we not in danger? and if salvation be a state of deliverance from sickness, and a state of deliverance from peril, do we not need it? Ah, I venture to say we need it more than anything else. You will not misunderstand me as expressing the slightest depreciation of other remedies that are being offered extensively now for the various evils under which society and individuals groan. We are wrong in our relation to God, and that has to be set right before we are fundamentally and thoroughly right. That is to say, salvation is our deepest need. Then how does it come that men go on, as so many of my friends here this evening have gone on, all their days paying no attention to that need? Is their any folly, amidst all the irrationalities of that irrational creature man, to be matched with the folly of steadily refusing to look forward and settle for ourselves the prime element in our condition--viz., our relation to God? A man is never so wise as when he says to himself, “ Let me fairly know the whole facts of my relation to the unseen world in so far as they can be known here, and if they are wrong, let me set about rectifying them, if it be possible.” II. That brings me to the next point here--viz., the blessed, clear answer that we may all take. Paul and Silas were not nonplussed by this question, nor did they reply to it in the fashion in which many men would have answered it. Take a specimen. If anybody were to go with this question to some of our modern wise men and teachers, they would say, “ Saved? My good fellow, there is nothing to be saved from. Get rid of delusions, and clear your mind of cant and superstition.” Or they would say, “ Saved? Well, if you have gone wrong, do the best you can in the time to come.” Or if you went to some of our friends they would say, “ Come and be baptized, and receive the grace of regeneration in holy baptism; and then come to the sacraments, and be faithful and loyal members of the Church which has apostolic succession in it.” And some would say, “ Set yourselves to work and toil and labour.” And some would say, “ Don’ t trouble yourselves about such whims. A short life and a merry one; make the best of it, and jump the life to come.” Neither cold morality nor godless philosophy nor wild dissipation nor narrow ecclesiasticism prompted Paul’ s answer. He said, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” What did that poor heathen man know about the Lord Jesus Christ? Next to nothing. How could he believe upon Him if he knew so little about Him? Well, you hear in the context that this summary answer to the question was the beginning and not the end of a conversation, which conversation, no doubt, consisted largely in extending and explaining the brief formulary with which it had commenced. But it is a grand thing that we can put the all essential truth into half a dozen simple words, and then expound and explain them as may be necessary. Mark, first, whom it is that we are to believe on. “ The Lord,” that is the Divine Name; “ Jesus,” that is the name of a man; “ Christ,” that is the name of an office. And if you put them all together, it is this, He on whom we sinful men may put our sole trust, and hope for our healing and our safety, is the Son of God, who came down upon earth to live our life and to die our death that He might bear on Himself our sins, and fulfil all that ancient prophecy and symbol had proclaimed as needful, and therefore certain to be done, for men. It is not a starved half Saviour whose name is only Jesus, and neither Lord nor Christ, faith in whom will save you. You must grasp the whole revelation of His nature and His power if from Him there is to flow the life that you need. And note what it is that we are to do with Jesus Christ. To “ believe on Him” is a very different thing from believing Him. III. Lastly, consider the blessing we may all receive. This jailer about whom we have been speaking was a heathen when the sun set and a Christian when it rose. A sudden conversion, you say, and sudden conversions are always suspicious. I am not so sure about that: they may be or they may not be, according to circumstances. There are a great many things in this world that have to be done suddenly if they are ever to be done at all. And I, for my part, would have far more faith in a man who, in one leap, sprung from the depth of the degradation of that coarse jailer into the light and joy of the Christian life, than in a man who tried to get to it by slow steps. You have to do everything in this world worth doing by a sudden resolution, however long the preparation may have been which led up to the resolution. The act of resolving is always the act of an instant. And there is an immense danger that with some of you, if that change does not begin in a moment’ s resolve tonight, you will be further away from it than ever you were. The outcast jailer changed nationalities in a moment. You who have dwelt in the suburbs of Christ’ s kingdom all your lives--why cannot you go inside the gate as quickly? For many of us the gradual “ growing up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” has been the appointed way. For some of us I verily believe this sudden change is the best. Some of us have a sunrise like the tropics, where the One moment is grey and cold, and next moment the seas are lit with the glory. Others of us have a sunrise like the poles, where a long, slow-growing light precedes the rising, and the rising itself is scarce observable. But it matters little as to how we get to Christ, if we are there. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The jailer’ s question I. The circumstances under which the question was asked.1. Not in response to any direct teaching. Paul and Silas had not been preaching to him, so far as we know. The pulpit is a great but not the only instrument for good. Where the prophet has preached in vain, God may reserve many to Himself. There is a still small voice that does a work which the pulpit may fail to do. 2. But after a time of trouble. It is quite common to see religious interest awakened in a time of trouble. But it is not, alas! so common, that the interest continues after the trouble is past. The jailer had been assured of the safety of his prisoners before he asked this question. 3. After observation of the power of Christianity on others’ lives. He had seen Paul and Silas scourged, and had, notwithstanding, heard them singing praises. He had seen that, when they had opportunity, they made no attempt to escape. Their preaching he might have scoffed at, but their lives carried with them a power beyond that of words. II. The question itself. What is it to be saved?1. To be delivered from sin’ s punishment. 2. To be delivered from sin’ s power. It was “ from their sins” that Christ came to save His people. III. The answer. The question is: “ What shall I do?” as though anticipating some great requirement. The answer, perplexing many by its simplicity, is, “ Believe.” And what is it to believe? Well, that depends on what is to be believed. “ Jesus Christ died to save you.” Do I believe that? Then emotion and action are both called forth, I sorrow for sin, and flee from sin; His love calls forth my love, and my faith works by love. Let the object of faith be a person, and trust is its essential element. To the banker whom I trust I give up my gold. To the physician whom I trust I commit the care of my diseased body, and I take his medicines, though they be poisonous. To the Saviour whom I trust I commit my all. I lay my sins upon Him, and He bears them; I forsake sin, for He commands it; I lay cheerfully hold on His promises and He fulfils them.1. Gospel faith is trustful, because its object is a Person.2. It is fruitful in good works, because that Person calls to action. (Study and Pulpit.)The great question There are many questions of great importance, but there is one question that comes before all others, and that is--“ What must I do to be saved?” When Esther stood before Ahasuerus, her request was, “ Let my life be given to me at my petition, and my people at my request.” Had she asked anything else than this she might as well not have asked at all. It is even so with the human soul. There are many blessings to be enjoyed, and acquisitions to be made, but these are only possible when this great question has been set at rest. I. The question. It suggests the thought of present danger. If I were to exclaim with apparent solicitude, “ My friend, allow me to save you!” would you not look astonished, and reply, “ My dear sir, what do you mean? I am in no danger.” But suppose I were to offer the same proposal when you were in peril of drowning, you would understand the proposal. The danger from which Christ proposes to save the soul is threefold.1. There is a moral danger. Sin is to the soul what disease is to the body. We value our natural life sufficiently to take measures to counteract disease when we recognise its presence. Oh, that men were equally wise about the soul! But it is not always the most startling form of disease that is the most fatal. There is a disease that sweeps off its victims by hundreds, where smallpox slays its tens--consumption. Some forms of sin are loathsome. It is not to be wondered at that the drunkard should be described as in danger, but all seems a contrast between his life and the very respectable life you live. Yet though your sins excite no fears, remember they are sins, and a disease of the soul all the more perilous because they excite so little apprehension. 2. There is a spiritual danger. There are certain mysterious intelligences of evil who waylay us, with the object of compassing our ruin. We pity the man whose footsteps are dogged by the assassin. Have we no commiseration for those who are exposed to a more murderous foe? You would tremble if you woke up to find your greatest enemy standing over your bed, dagger in hand; but a more terrible than any human enemy has you at present in his power. 3. Judicial danger. Here is a man in the condemned cell: no man will say that he is not in terrible danger. Why? Because he is condemned already. Even so judgment has been already pronounced upon every sinner. It used to be fabled of the ostrich that when pressed hard by the pursuer, it buried its head in the sand, and endeavoured to persuade itself that it was safe because it ceased to see the danger. But the bird of the desert is too wise to do anything of the kind; yet sinners are not. Whether, however, they forget it or not, it is there. “ He that believeth not is condemned already.” Now with these thoughts before us we shall be better able to understand the story from which our text is taken. Why did the jailer tremble? He was no coward, nor were earthquakes unusual in that part of the world. He had shown a moment before how little he feared death. Paul and Silas had created no small stir in that town, and the damsel had borne witness to them as “ servants of the most high God,” etc. The jailer must have known all about this, and now when he awakes in the darkness of night and hears their singing amid the terrible rumble of the earthquake shock, and sees them full of solicitude for the man that had so cruelly wronged them, the thought rushes into his mind, “ They are what they profess to be; and have come to show us the way of salvation.” Another moment and this mighty God, whose majesty I have defied in the persons of His servants, may hurl me to the flames of Tartarus. “ Sirs, what shall I do to be saved?” Now we understand what the inquiry meant. The man felt what it was to be in the hands of a justly indignant God. It is this that brings a similar inquiry to our lips, and until you reach this point nothing is gained. II. The answer--“ Believe,” etc. It does not sound so very much, does it? It sets forth salvation as centred in a Person. That Person then is represented as in a position to deliver us from the forms of danger to which we are exposed.1. The last danger is the greatest of all; for what can be more terrible than to have God against us? Here most of all, I find myself in need of a Saviour; for in this respect more than any ether my case is hopeless. When I contemplate sin as a moral disease, I may flatter myself with the hope that I may get the better of it; or I may flatter myself that I may escape the malignant influence of the intelligences of darkness by care, and watchfulness, and determined resistance. But how shall I escape from the sentence of the righteous Judge? I am directed to raise my eyes to the Cross, and there I see One who has vindicated His Father’ s law in His own person by suffering such a penalty as sin has merited, and by doing so has rendered it no longer necessary that God’ s judgment should be vindicated by my doom. 2. Being thus saved from the judgment of God, I am also saved from the power of Satan. St. Paul was sent to the Gentiles “ to turn them from the power of Satan unto God.” In forsaking God man turned his back on the only power sufficiently strong to enable him to rise above the tyranny of the destroyer; and thus we came under the yoke of Apollyon. But “ the Son of God has been manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” He rescues us from Satan by bringing us back to God. The Son has made us free, and now are we free indeed. 3. From sin, as a fatal moral disease, Jesus proves Himself our Saviour. In curing bodily diseases He illustrated to us His willingness and His ability to cure our spiritual diseases. There is a balm in Gilead, there is a Physician there, and your “ hurt” may yet be recovered. “ Wilt thou be made whole?” Surely Jesus is passing through this our Bethsaida tonight with this question on His lips. Which of us shall be the first to claim His healing touch? III. The subjective condition upon which the enjoyment of these benefits depends. What is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? In endeavouring to understand these words, we have to guard against the danger of making them mean too little, or too much. Those who fall into the first error would represent faith as the mere mental acceptance of a certain number of facts or doctrines, and those who fall into the latter would represent it as something so mysterious and unintelligible that none can be assured that they really possess it. This faith is--1. An intellectual conviction or apprehension by which I take in the object proposed to me, assuring myself of its character and trustworthiness. Many fail here, because they do not even intellectually apprehend the true character of the provision made in Christ to meet their case. 2. Next comes the decision of the will--the moral act by which I repose my simple confidence upon the object so apprehended. Now it is here that most people are found wanting. The child that you set on a table and bid spring into your arms is as apt an illustration as you could wish. There it stands hesitating, not because it has any real doubt in its mind of its parent’ s ability to catch it, but rather because it allows its will to be influenced by its feelings instead of being affected by its reasonable conviction. Now you believe with your mind that Jesus is the sinner’ s Saviour, and therefore yours. Why allow any feeling of misgiving to prevent you from committing yourself with a distinct and decisive act of will into His arms, trusting Him to save you now? 3. But next, when the mind has apprehended the object, and the will decides to trust itself to it, there will naturally follow a rest of the soul, in the assurance that all is well, and this may be described as the emotional element in a true faith, the presence of which crowns and completes the whole, and brings the inward uneasiness and disquiet to an end. One of you is drowning. I swim out to save you. As I approach you know and believe that I have the power and the will to save you. Then comes the act of will as you trust yourself to me. But still, there is only one arm between you and destruction. Yet you reflect, “ What have I to fear? he is able and willing to save me, and I am trusted into his hands.” At once the inward tumult begins to subside, and a wonderful reaction of relief and oven of calm happiness sets in, although you have not yet reached the shore. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)Method of dealing with inquirers Every Christian, especially every minister, will have this responsible and difficult work to do. I. General principle suited to all cases. The directions given will be determined by the views we entertain of the nature of religion.1. Rationalists endeavour to suppress all concern. 2. Romanists teach men to submit to the Church, and practise religious duties and penance. 3. Protestants direct inquirers to come directly to God in the way appointed in the gospel. But this general direction is modified by the peculiar views of those who give it. (1) Some place the essence of religion in submission to God, and hence the general directions to submit. (2) Others in the choice of God as a source of happiness, hence the direction “ Choose God as your portion.” (3) Others in a volition to make the happiness of the universe the aim of our being. (4) Others in the return of the soul to God through Christ, and by faith in Him. Hence the general direction to “ believe.” This is the proper direction, because-- (a) Faith is declared to be the condition of salvation. Believers are saved: unbelievers are lost. (b) This is the apostolic direction. (c) Neither pardon nor sanctification is otherwise to be obtained. (d) Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the gospel. But what is faith? What is the precise thing to be done? The exercise of this involves immediate conviction of sin. II. Special directions.1. As to sceptical doubts. (1) Do not rely on speculative arguments mainly. Their true place is to remove difficulties, to show that the truth is not inconsistent with reason or fact. But they are not to be used to prove the truth--i.e., to afford its positive evidence. (2) Rely upon the exhibition of the truth, and upon pressing it on the conscience, because-- (a) The ground of faith is the witness of the Spirit with the truth. (b) The truth is self-evidencing. (c) Arguments are human, while truth is Divine. 2. As to fatalists, who say nothing can be done. They plead the doctrine of election. (1) Here again moral considerations should direct our effort. The intellectual difficulty is not first to be removed. (2) The sinner should be urged to act as he does in other cases. 3. As to have those who rely on the excuse of inability, or feel they can do nothing. The true method is to admit the fact and fall as the leper at the feet of Jesus. 4. As to those who plead hardness of heart, want of conviction of sin. Show the true place of conviction. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Sin and salvation I. To every man in his serious moods the sense of sin is a genuine human experience which no reasoning can reason away.1. It is not a remnant of savagery, but the sign of a spiritual nature; growing with our growing power of moral sympathy and insight. 2. The Christian revelation quickens and deepens the consciousness of sin. In the presence of Jesus Christ all our self-complacencies vanish. 3. The reality of sin is increasingly felt as we realise its consequences; how it darkens and disorders human life and human society. The sense of sin is a pain, but in such pain there is hope; it is the beginning of all redemption and all progress. II. The Christian idea of salvation is a very comprehensive one.1. It is a certain severance from the shame and guilt of transgression. The sense of dissatisfaction with sin is not healthy in its influence unless it receives a hopeful interpretation and leads to hopeful endeavour. It may also, according to our training, assume the form of a fear of God and the hereafter. But the removal of our distress concerning ourselves, and our ignorant and guilty dread of God and fate, is only clearing the ground for Christ’ s great salvation. 2. There is evil working within, and from its presence and dominion in the heart and life we need to be delivered. “ What must I do to be saved?” is but a poor and petty cry when it only means “ What must I do to escape from the discomfort, the fear, the natural penalty of sin?” That is the cry of a man who cares more for his ease and happiness than for eternal truth and good. We are not to speak of being saved if we are not being saved from the sins we are tempted to commit daily. 3. Salvation is character and the perfection of character, the realisation of the ideal life for which we were created. The obligation is laid upon everyone to come to his best, and we are called not to repress but to cultivate all our human faculties. The saved man is the whole man, the full-grown, healthily and harmoniously developed man. 4. Salvation means a life lived not for self but for God. Religious selfishness is just as bad as any other kind of selfishness. Man’ s chief end is to save himself that he might glorify God, live for Divine ends, and give himself as the Lord did fur the redemption of mankind. III. How believing in Jesus Christ enables a man to realise this ideal of salvation. Christ saves not by any single method, but by whatever He was and is, did and does, by all the influences of His life and Cross, truth, and spirit; saves not by any arbitrary and magical efficacy, but precisely to the extent in which He is known and understood, loved and obeyed; saves by inspiring right thoughts, right feelings, right motives; saves by giving new trusts, new hopes, new sympathies, new affections; saves by His revelation of the Divine mercy and by bringing men into direct communion with the eternal grace and power.1. To believe in Christ as the revelation of God to man is to believe in redeeming mercy and grace, and to be delivered thereby from the fear which weakens and the despair which kills. 2. To believe in Christ is to have evil affections conquered and displaced by the growth of a new and holier and more masterful love. 3. In our Christian believing and loyalty are all the elements required for the development of the most complete and finished type of human excellence. To believe in Christ is to believe in ourselves, and to see in Him the man we are each called to be, ought to be, and can be; His righteousness is, indeed, our righteousness--ours to love and live. Faith in Christ is not a substitute for personal obedience, but it is vital with quickening power to make us obey as He obeyed. He changes character by imparting His own character sympathetically to all who enter into real sympathy with Him. 4. To believe in Christ is to be brought out of the circle of our selfish affections, aims, and interests into communion with mankind. His spirit is a social spirit, drawing and binding men together in mutual love and helpfulness, and, through individual influence, producing its effect on the families and generations of men, making possible and actual, as the text suggested, a Christian heredity. It is in the way of the spread and triumph of the Christian spirit we are to look for the coming of the Christian order of society, which is the second coming of Jesus Christ. (John Hunter.)Anxiety for salvation The reasons that justify this anxiety are-- I. The value of that object on which it is bestowed. We look around upon the solicitude which men feel in reference to earthly objects; and we justify that solicitude up to a certain point. What then should be the solicitude which should be cherished with reference to the immortal soul? Oh, that I had ability to describe the madness a thousand times multiplied of that man who professes to believe that he is immortal, and who can find anything on earth more important to him as a subject of attention than the salvation of his soul! II. The concern which others have manifested about our souls. The whole moral universe has been drawn into concern for the immortal soul of man. What was it brought the Son of God from the throne of heaven to the Cross? Per what are all the miraculous agencies of the Holy Spirit granted? For what purpose did the finger of inspiration write the Bible, and the arm of Providence defend it? Why did patriarchs live, and priests minister, and prophets predict, and apostles preach? For the salvation of man. III. Consider what the salvation or the damnation of the soul includes. I dwell for a moment on that vast word--“ salvation.” The pardon of all your sins; the justification of your person; your adoption into the family of Jehovah, and a spirit of sonship connected with it; the renovation of your fallen nature; consolation in affliction; assurance that all things work together for good; hope in death; the resurrection of the just; life everlasting; a blissful heaven made up of the presence of God in Christ. Turn to the opposite of this. What is hell? The loss of all happiness; but it is a state of conscious existence; it is a state of prolonged death. Hell means banishment from the presence of God, consignment to the dark world where hope never enters and mercy is never seen. This is the question, What shall we do to be saved, so as to gain heaven and to escape hell? IV. The soul of every man, until he repents and believes in Christ, is actually in a lost state, although not irrecoverably lost. You have no need to ask what will bring the soul into a state of death and condemnation: it is done already. “ All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” You are under the terrors of the law and exposed to the wrath of God. How shall I be delivered from the guilt which sin has brought on my conscience so as to avoid the dominion of sin here and the punishment of sin in the world that is to come? V. The multitude of souls that are irrecoverably lost. Such is the loss of the soul, that if it occurred but once in a century it is so tremendous a catastrophe, that it should awaken the solicitude of the whole world. And that man must be guilty of the greatest folly who can go on in reckless security even under the very possibility that he may be that one in a century who might thus perish eternally. VI. The loss of the soul may yet be averted and this salvation secured. It were perfectly useless to talk to men of miseries which cannot be remedied, or excite them to the pursuit of benefits which never can be obtained. But this is not your case; you are in that world where mercy reigns; where all the opportunities of salvation and the means of grace are continued. You ask the question, “ What shall I do to be saved?” And I am commissioned to reply, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (J. Angell James.)The way of salvation I. The importance of the question. And yet it is lamentable how few ask it! Many who have been driven up to it like this jailer would never have thought it unless God had sent some distress to rouse them. This man was asleep till the earthquake happened, and then his mind was suddenly filled with a subject which he had never thought of before. If men were quite left to themselves the generality would never concern themselves with this subject. What is the reason men do not ask the question? Because they do not like the answer. And yet the same persons who are so slack about their great concern are found to be very careful in lesser things. What must I do to be rich? What must I do to be in the fashion? Here daily labours and nightly watchings are sustained without reluctance. And is it consistent with common sense to toil for the sake of things which are perishing, and neglect the only object that is of any real value? People take much more pains to go on in the broad way of destruction than would be requisite to carry them to heaven. Our danger will be more manifest if it be considered that under these circumstances there is one who is as careful as we are careless about ourselves. While we sleep Satan is awake. II. The answer. This is short and to the purpose. Salvation is what all men are equally interested in; and thence it stands to reason that the way of salvation should be so plain that all may understand it. But lest they should think that they believe when they do not, it will be necessary to show--1. That belief necessarily implies a knowledge of the object in which we believe. This object is our Lord Jesus Christ, whose person, character, and offices must be made known to us before we can believe Him to be what He is. (1) He is the Lord; and this word is expressed by two words, one of which is Jehovah, and denotes His eternal existence; the other is a term of authority and dominion, which bespeaks Him the Ruler of all things in heaven and earth. As such He is to be worshipped by us; and we find, in fact, that He was frequently worshipped upon earth. (2) He is Jesus. This name expresses that office which He took upon Him for our salvation, and proposes His as the only name given under heaven whereby we may be saved. And if it is His office to deliver us from sin, then we are all under the dominion of sin till He redeems us from the power of Satan unto God. (3) He is Christ, the anointed of God; that Person who, by the power of the Divine Spirit, is ordained to be our Prophet, Priest, and King. 2. Our belief implies an obedience to the commandments of this Divine Person; and this obedience is the evidence He expects of our faith. If we call Him Lord, Lord, we are to do the things which He saith. And therefore-- 3. The belief of a Christian implies a conformity of character between the believer and the person in whom he believes. The likeness between the Master and the disciple is universal in all professions. If Jesus had been a great warrior then certainly His followers would have excelled in the military art. If He had been a master of worldly forms, then we should have been all for elegance and niceness of outward appearance. But as He was none of these, but a preacher of righteousness, a physician of souls, a guide of the blind, and a comforter of the afflicted, and a sufferer upon earth for the glory of God and the salvation of men; the qualifications which show us to be believers must be of the same sort. (W. Jones, M. A.)Conditions of being saved I. What sinners must do to be saved.1. They must not imagine that they have nothing to do.2. Not mistake what they have to do.3. Not say or imagine that they cannot do what God requires.4. Not procrastinate.5. Not wait for God to do what He commands them to do.6. Not wait for God to do anything whatever. God has either done all on His part already, or if anything more remains, He is ready and waiting this moment for you to do your duty that He may impart all needful grace.7. Not flee to any refuge of lies.8. Not seek for any self-indulgent method of salvation.9. Not imagine you will ever have a more favourable time. 10. Not suppose that you will find another time as good, and one in which you can just as well repent as now. 11. Not wait to see what others will do or say. 12. Not indulge prejudices against God, His ministers, Christians, or anything religious. II. What sinners must do to be saved. You must--1. Understand what you have to do. 2. Return and confess your sins to God. 3. Renounce yourself. In this is implied that you renounce-- (1) Your own righteousness, forever discarding the very idea of having any righteousness in yourself.(2) The idea of having done any good which ought to commend you to God, or be ever thought of as a ground of your justification.(3) Your own will, and be ever ready to say not in word only, but in heart--“ Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”(4) Your own way and let God have His own way in everything. 4. Come to Christ. You must accept of Christ really and fully as your Saviour. 5. Seek supremely to please Christ, and not yourself. 6. Forsake all that you have, or you cannot be Christ’ s disciple. There must be absolute and total self-denial. 7. Believe the record God hath given of His Son. “ This is the record that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (C. G. Finney, D. D.)God’ s method of saving men Consider the question in relation-- I. To human thought.1. The history of human thought is to a great extent a history of the manifold forms in which this question has betrayed itself, and of the costly expedients to which man has had recourse in his attempts to answer it. (1) Four thousand years ago confused and anxious whispers of this question meet us in the inquiry of the patriarch--“ How shall a man be just with God?” They come up in the later question of the prophet, “ Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?” etc. If we consult the dusky records of paganism we encounter everywhere, in its temples and altars, the dark eclipse of sin and the uneasy suspicions it has cast over the race. If we listen to the creeds and litanies of the best of its teachers we hear everywhere the cry of fugitives from a justice they have provoked, but which they know not how to appease. (2) In our own age the question thrusts itself up in quarters where we least expect to find it. Thinkers, statesmen, scientists, cannot avoid drifting into the mystery that belongs to the religious question. The mind grown weary of abstract speculations hungers for rest. The conscience, chafed and outraged by unclean proclivities, asks for peace. The heart of the man most engrossed in worldly pursuits will have its hours of awakening, of aching dread in which the questions--What am I, and whither am I going? will make themselves heard. 2. As Christian students we have but one answer to give, and that is the one of the text. When from surging to and fro in all kinds of dreary speculation a man drifts, and turns away to the gospel, the gospel meets him with an answer direct and full in the Person of Christ. It says for a man to be saved is for him to be reconditioned in his moral relations with the Infinite Father, to “ be reconciled,” to “ be at peace.” Sin is disharmony. It puts man out of his normal orbit. To be saved is just to enter that orbit. The antecedents to this state are, first, the intelligent conviction that we need it, which is a wise self knowledge, begotten of the truth; and secondly, an ingenuous sorrow for sin, expressed in an amended life. The conditions on which its attainment hinges are belief in the promise, and trust in the Person of Christ. The consequence instantly following is a new life state--salvation is its initial act. II. To man’ s destiny.1. Man is “ a yonder-minded being, an embodied hereafter.” Every man in the present life is building out of himself and for himself a character which belongs to the future. This little everyday life is but the prologue of a mighty drama, the sad plot out of which the harvest of the future is to be reaped. The great assize simply catalogues results. Men are, now and here, what the Judgment Day will show them to be. The supposition of a change induced by death in the character and condition of man must be dismissed. Death does not change, it only fixes. It puts a finality on the book of life, and hands it on to be opened at “ the judgment of the Great Day.” It sums up two columns--for and against the man--of right and wrong, good and evil, and registers the result. 2. What then? What in view of his eternal existence must a man do to he saved? If there were no dangers to be encountered this question would be useless and impertinent. Or if all souls are sure to enter heaven, the question, how, is a matter of comparative indifference. On the other hand, if there is a risk, and if to make the chance of escape sure to all who are earnest about it, a revelation has been vouchsafed, then we are infinitely concerned to know how that revelation speaks; and we hazard eternal consequences if we fall to listen to, and instantly obey it. First, then, let us say that there is a beginning of the religious life in man which puts the soul and God into a fellowship of peace. When such a man, delivered from his old bondage to evil, yields himself to God, and when amidst the perils of the world he maintains the sanctities of conscience, he has reached a second stage. When at the end of life, the man conquers gloriously in death and then stands faultless in the presence of His glory--this is the end of his salvation: that man is saved--saved because he is safe. The everlasting gates close him in. III. To Christian teaching. Two things are noteworthy in Paul’ s answer--first its simplicity, and secondly its immediateness. And were we now dealing with this question within the same limits we should need only to reproduce the same answer. But we are dealing with the question in its broader and more exhaustive signification; and the answer must take in forgiveness, sanctification, and heaven. What then must be done?1. The wrong doing, on which the necessity of salvation is founded, must be got rid of. We must “ cease to do evil” before we can become good. “ Let the wicked forsake his way,” etc. There can be no compromise between the two terms which enter into this agreement. We must give up sinning if God is to forgive us for having sinned. 2. The remedy which God has provided must not only be accepted as theoretically true, but must be personally applied. And this shuts out all the pretentious rights of human reason to determine in what method God should deal with the sinner. It brings us squarely up with the one method in which God will deal with us. God’ s plan does not alternate between open courses--two or more. 3. The one thing that a man must do is distinctly put. He must “ believe on,” etc. The apostles had nothing more simple to set before this rude pagan. And they had no figurative, fabulous, or doctrinal Christ, but the Christ of Bethlehem and Calvary. And the act on which salvation hinges is as straightforward as its object is definite. You are not to think about Christ, or say grand nothings about Him: you are to believe on Him, to submit to, to trust in Him that He may forgive and heal you. And this act of the soul putting itself out in an intelligent surrender of the whole personality of its being--mind, heart, will--to Christ is the man’ s trust for salvation. IV. To the individual man.1. The importance of this question is obvious, It is the one question that silences every other. It is the most stupendous question that man in his agony can ask, or that God in His mercy can answer. And it is none the less impressive in that nowhere outside this Book is an answer to be found. The universe has not a whisper of it. Those calm, grand laws, know nothing of mercy. Our schools of philosophy know nothing of salvation. Science has not a word of pity for guilty man. 2. We are not saying that this is the only important question, but that all others are insignificant in comparison. One hundred years hence and what shall I know or care about my banking account, or who is the premier of the country? But one hundred years hence what and where shall I myself be? 3. This question must be answered by each one for himself, and at once. It admits of no postponement. “ Today if ye will hear His voice,” etc. Time is on the rush, and we are rushing with it into a timeless future. (John Burton.)Believe and be saved I. What is it to believe? Believing in this case involved--1. The assent of the mind to the testimony that Paul gave to our Lord. Now all that is necessary in the case of the testimony that the worlds were framed by the word of God is that we should mentally assent to it. When we have intellectually apprehended it, we have perhaps done all that we can do with it. 2. But there is other testimony which requires the consent of the heart: “ By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” Our conviction is that in this case God testified that He would provide an atonement, and that blood should be shed as a symbol of that atonement, and in acknowledgment of the fact that a personal application of that atonement was required. Now Cain, although he evidently understood this testimony mentally, rejected it in his heart. He thought it sufficient to acknowledge God as a Creator: and therefore simply brought to God of the fruit of the ground, in acknowledgment of God’ s relation to him as a Creator, and in recognition of the bountifulness of Divine Providence. But Abel received the testimony, adopted the symbol, offered the sacrifice, and therefore by faith offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. 3. There is testimony which requires not merely the assent of the mind, and the consent of the heart, but the response of the will--testimony which, if a man receive, puts him immediately upon a certain course of conduct: and we have two illustrations in the cases of Noah and Abraham. You will see by these illustrations what the apostle means by “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” The first thing is, of course, to understand the meaning of the words, the next to receive them to the heart (Romans 10:9), and the next to take personal advantage of them. For this message is sent by God to us personally. II. The object of this belief.1. Not God, as God, for the devils believe in God. They go further--as the effect of their faith they tremble. They do more than some of you have done. 2. Neither did Paul exhibit the providence of God: far less the law of God. Of what advantage would it be to preach the law of God to a transgressor except with the object of convincing him of sin? If I were to see a fellow man drowning, should I help him by pointing him to the stream? If he was not conscious of his danger, I should, but it would be useless otherwise. Just so with the law of God. If I find that you do not feel that you are sinners, I teach you the law of God. But if I find you asking, “ What must I do to be saved?” if I were to preach God’ s law to you I should be cruelly mocking you. I then say, not “ The law is holy, and just, and good” ; but “ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 3. Paul presented not a mere doctrine: there is no mere doctrine that will save any man. If I were to give you a letter of introduction to some physician notable for the cure of particular bodily ailments, could you be cured by that letter? Unless you took the letter to the physician, and saw him, and received his remedies, and applied them, would the letter benefit you? Just so doctrines are intended to introduce you to Christ. 4. And Paul was justified in doing this, for the following reasons. In the first place, the object is adapted, and able to save. Salvation is now Christ’ s one work. And the act of believing is appointed to save. There is nothing in it of efficacy, as there is in the object. It is efficacious simply because of God’ s arrangement: and therefore no merit can be attached to faith. Faith is a simple receptive faculty. Nothing more now is required. By and by you will have to let that faith work; but just now, for your introduction into salvation, nothing more is required. But then, mark, nothing else will suffice. You must believe. Shall I remind you why this is so difficult? Because it is so simple. You are just like that proud Syrian Naaman. If I were to say to you that in order to be saved, you must visit the Holy Sepulchre, there are some of you who would sell everything to get to the Holy Sepulchre; and you would start immediately. But instead of that we say, Trust. This is God’ s first and last provision; so that if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you never can be saved. III. The result. “ Saved!”1. The body saved--from fresh inroads by sin; from its members being instruments of unrighteousness; from the sting of death; from the victory of the grave. 2. The soul saved--from unholy affection; from raging fear; from guilt; from despondency and despair; from the discord of the passions; from ungodly impulses; from evil influence. 3. The spirit saved--from fatal ignorance; from damnable folly; from vain and evil imaginations; from ruinous error. Body, soul, and spirit, all saved! Saved! Saved from all evil now in part, and hereafter saved in absolute and everlasting perfection. (S. Martin.)Saving faith I. What it presupposes. As distinguished from faith in Christ historically, and from what Scripture affirms of Him doctrinally (James 2:17-20), it presupposes a certain belief with respect to ourselves--viz., that we are sinners, and with a sincere sorrow because of it, and a sincere desire to forsake sin. II. In what it consists.1. Intellectual assent to the fact that Christ is the Saviour of men. Thus far saving faith is the same as that by which we buy, sell, eat, drink, and travel. Faith is not a new element in the soul life of man, superadded by God, upon an after thought to the moral constitution at the time of conversion. What is then given is grace to see-- (1) Self undone.(2) Christ sufficient. 2. Trustfulness superadded to intellectual assent. Heart belief must accompany head belief. A drowning man cannot be saved by a lifeboat simply by believing in its life-saving capabilities; he must trust himself to it. So self is given to Christ in every case of saving faith. 3. Faith in a person. Some people trust in a creed or a ritual; because trust in them flatters rather than interferes with self-love. My creed is orthodox, my service ornate is the expression of some men’ s faith. Further, it is faith in a Divine person. It is not necessary that we should be able to theorise about the Incarnation or philosophise about the Atonement; but our trust must be in the Son of God, in opposition to being in human priests, whatever their claims. But remember that we are not saved by our faith as something meritorious, but by Christ; yet we cannot be saved without faith, because remaining in unbelief-- (1) We make God a liar, and fail to comply with His law of love. (2) We cannot secure and develop the character necessary to fit us for heaven, nor the capacity for its enjoyments. III. The extent of the salvation which faith secures.1. Salvation from the punishment due to past transgressions.2. Deliverance from the power and principle of sin. (J. S. Swan.)Salvation through faith in Christ I. Who is this Christ?1. God;2. Man;3. God and Man in one Person. II. What is it to believe in this Christ?1. To know Him (1 Corinthians if. 2; John 17:3).2. Assent to Him (John 11:27).3. Rely upon Him (Ephesians 1:12). (1) For the pardon of your sins.(2) The acceptance of your persons.(3) The salvation of your souls. III. How shall they that believe in Christ be saved?1. From what? (1) The guilt of sin (Galatians 3:13).(2) The strength of sin (Acts 3:26; Matthew 1:21).(3) The prevalency of Satan (Hebrews 2:14).(4) The wrath of God (Ephesians 2:3; Romans 5:9). 2. To what? (1) Justification (Romans 5:1).(2) Regeneration (2 Corinthians 5:17).(3) Spiritual consolation (2 Corinthians 1:5).(4) Everlasting salvation (John 3:16). Consisting in-- (a) Our freedom from all evil. (b) Our enjoyment of all good--as appears from the promises (John 1:12; John 3:15; Acts 13:39); from the end of Christ’ s coming (John 3:16); from the nature of faith (Hebrews 11:1). IV. Uses for--1. Instruction. Unbelievers will be damned. 2. Conviction. (1) You do not know Him; for then you could not choose but-- (a) Admire Him (1 Timothy 3:16). (b) Love Him (Ephesians 6:24). (c) Think frequently of Him. (d) Make it your business to interest yourselves in Him. (2) If you do know, you do not assent to Him; for did you believe that He died for sin-- (a) Would you live in it? (b) Would you not repent of it? (3) You do not rely on Christ; for-- (a) What was it thou tookest most comfort from upon thy last sick bed? (b) What is it that thou now delightest thyself with in trouble? How seldom dost thou think of Christ. (c) How comest thou to live in sin without mourning for and turning from it (2 Corinthians 5:17)? 3. Examination. Test thy faith in Christ by-- (1) Thy knowledge of Him.(2) Thy love to Him.(3) Thy longing after Him.(4) Thy obedience to His command.(5) Thy acting for Him (James 2:18). 4. Exhortation. Believe in Christ; for consider-- (1) How miserable thou wilt be without Him. Satan always domineering over, sin always raging in, and God always frowning upon thee to all eternity (Psalms 7:11). (2) How happy thou wilt be with Him. (a) Thy sins pardoned. (b) Satan subdued. (c) Corruptions mortified. (d) The heart sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:2). (e) God pleased (Hebrews 11:5). (f) The soul saved (Romans 8:1). V. Means--1. Prayer;2. Reading;3. Hearing (Romans 10:17).4. Meditation. (1) The insufficiency of all things else.(2) The sufficiency of Christ.(3) Its end in coming into the world. (Bp. Beveridge.)The great question answered I. What are the antecedents of saving faith, that is, what precedes the act of faith in the experience of the sinner? I do not doubt that there was, previous to this jailer’ s faith and essential to it, a conviction first of his guilt, secondly of his danger, and therefore, thirdly, of his need of salvation, and of a Saviour. It is on the ground of these facts that the gospel comes to men with offers of pardon and grace; and he who does not realise them as facts in his personal history cannot receive the gospel, for he does not feel his need of the gospel. II. Let us look at the object of faith. “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” This which you are ready to rely on is nothing within you--no change wrought there, either by your own efforts or by any other agency, human or Divine. Cease, then, to explore the recesses of your spirits in search of something there which will constitute a ground of hope. You may search there forever and find no Saviour there, and nothing that will make you more worthy to come to Christ. III. Let us consider the act of faith. What does the sinner do when he believes in Christ? It is worthy of notice that the Bible, while saying much of the necessity, the object, and the effects of faith, says very little of its nature. The reason may be because the act itself is so simple, so easily understood. IV. Let us look at the results of faith. In the text these results are all summed up in the one word saved. We find, by searching the Scriptures, that these results, thus summed up, are resolved into two classes, one of which takes place in the mind and purposes of God, and the other in the mind and destiny of the sinner. On the side of God is His justification of the sinner. It is a judicial act, the act of God as a judge, freeing the sinner from the penalty of the law which he has incurred, and placing him in the position, in regard to the condemning sentence, of one who has never incurred the penalty. On the side of God also is His acceptance of believing sinners, and His adoption of them into His family. “ He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” On the side of God is also His bestowment of His Spirit on the believing sinner. “ Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts.” But let us look at the results of this faith in the mind and destiny of the believer. In his heart, one of the first results of believing is peace or joy. Another result of faith is obedience. All acts of holy obedience spring from true faith. It brings the believer within the sphere of new motives. It fills his heart with ardent love. It secures for him the influences of the Divine Spirit. So in proportion to his faith will be his faithfulness. The final result of faith is eternal life. Who can tell its value? Who can show us the everlasting difference between a soul lost and a soul saved? In conclusion, I remark--1. The terms of salvation are easy and simple. They could not be more so. They are also exactly adapted to our necessities. 2. The time for the exercise of this faith is now. Is not Christ now able and willing to save you? Is He not as worthy of trust now as He ever wilt be? 3. Finally, the results of faith are most urgent motives to its immediate exercise. Do you wish to be free from condemnation, and stand justified before God? Then believe. Do you wish to be adopted into the family of God, and so become an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ? Then believe. Do you wish for peace with God? Then believe. Do you wish for God’ s Spirit as a comforter, a guide, a strengthener, a sanctifier? Then believe. (W. W. Woodworth.)Believing on Jesus I know of a man who, being obliged to sleep in the upper story of a lofty building, keeps a fire escape in his room in the shape of a stout rope ladder. He believes in that ladder. That is, he has perfect confidence in the stoutness of the hemp, the strength of the wooden “ rounds,” and the ability of that ladder to bear his weight. But on some dark night let the cry of “ fire” ring through that edifice, and let him put the grappling irons fast to the window casement, and swing himself out into the air, and he will believe on that rope ladder. He will trust himself to it. When he has done that, he will have exercised saving faith in his fire escape, Not before. Thousands keep gospel truth coiled up in their memories as my friend kept that rope ladder coiled up in one corner of his room. They have heard and read of Jesus, the Atoner for sin; they admire Him, they believe in His Divine qualities, love, etc., and vaguely expect, at some future day, to get to heaven by Him. But they have never for one moment trusted their souls to Jesus. They never have even attempted to escape out of their guilt and danger, by resting their whole weight on what Jesus has done for the sinner, or on His omnipotent grace. Perish they must, if they remain where they are. The act of resting on the crucified Jesus saves. Saving faith This answer has three or four properties.1. It was immediate, and without delay. There was no time required, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar’ s wise men, when they had to interpret the king’ s dream. The apostles were well versed in such matters. 2. It was full and comprehensive. It meets the point at once, and contains an epitome of the whole gospel. 3. It is highly satisfactory, affording direct relief in the moment of distress, and giving peace. 4. It is the same answer as all God’ s ministers return to inquiring souls, whatever be their previous state or character. I. The exhortation. The Scriptures speak of various kinds and degrees of faith, but of one only that accompanies salvation.1. The original source of all true believing is the free grace of God in Christ Jesus. It is His gift, and the effect of His good pleasure. 2. The means of producing faith is the Divine testimony. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. 3. The immediate object of faith is Christ, as revealed in the gospel. 4. The ultimate end of faith is our happiness, and the glory of God. “ Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” It disclaims all merit and sufficiency of its own, and excludes all boasting, only in the Lord. II. The promise. Salvation comprehends a final and complete deliverance from all evil, natural and moral, and the enjoyment of perfect bliss. It includes, especially, the pardon of sin, the sanctification of our nature, a victory over all our enemies, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. The connection which this has with believing, will be seen in the following particulars.1. Though salvation is promised to them that believe, it is neither provided nor bestowed in the foresight of their believing nor had faith any influence on the Divine determination. The ground of all spiritual blessings is the free and unmerited favour of God (2 Timothy 1:9). 2. Though salvation is promised to them that believe, it is not promised as a reward for their believing, but for His sake in whom they believe. It receives a title to eternal life, but does not give one. Faith is like the eye beholding, and the hand receiving a gift; but however necessary to its enjoyment, the gift itself is free and undeserved. 3. As faith receives a title to eternal life, founded upon the promises of the gospel, so it is that which gives us the actual enjoyment of it. By faith we receive the atonement, and are led to acquiesce in the way of acceptance with God, as full of wisdom, and suited to our sinful and helpless condition. It is not a medicine prepared, but applied, that effects a cure. 4. Faith produces those holy dispositions which form our meetness for heaven, though not our title to it. There can be no enjoyment where there is no congeniality. But true faith purifies the heart, and imbues it with every principle of piety and goodness. (B. Beddome, M. A.)How to be saved The sinner’ s prescription. It points out-- I. A fact--“ salvation.” II. A certain fact--“ shalt.” III. A personal fact--“ Thou.” IV. The cause of salvation--“ Christ,” “ Jesus,” “ Lord.” V. The instrument of salvation--“ Believe.” (W. W. Wythe.)The all-decisive step There are some documents of so little importance that you do not care to put any more than your last name under them, or even your initials; but there are some documents of so great importance that you write out your full name. So the Saviour in some parts of the Bible is called “ Lord,” and in others “ Jesus,” and in others “ Christ” ; but that there might be no mistake about this passage, all three names come in together. I. Who is this being that you want me to believe in? Men sometimes come to me with certificates of good character, but I cannot trust them. There is some dishonesty in their looks. You cannot put your heart’ s confidence in a man until you know what stuff he is made of. No man would think of venturing his life on a vessel going out to sea that had never been inspected. And you cannot expect me to risk the cargo of my immortal interests on board any craft. Well--1. Christ was a very attractive person. Christ did not tell the children to come to Him. “ Suffer little children to come unto Me” was not spoken to the children, but to the disciples. The children came without any invitation. Christ did not ask John to put his head down on His bosom; John could not help but put his head there. When people saw Christ coming they ran into their houses and brought their invalids out that He might look at them. They could not keep away from Him. 2. In addition to this softness of character, there was a fiery momentum. How the old hypocrites trembled before Him! How the kings of the earth turned pale! He was a loving Christ, but it was not effeminacy. Lest the world should not realise His earnestness, this Christ mounts the Cross. Oh, such a Christ as that--so loving, so self-sacrificing--can you not trust Him? II. Many say, “ I will trust Him if you will only tell me now.” Just as you trust anyone. You trust your partner in business. H a commercial house give you a note payable three months hence, you expect the payment of that note. You go home and expect there will be food on the table. Have the same confidence in Christ. He is only waiting to get from you what you give to scores of people every day. Confidence. If these people are more worthy, more faithful, if they have done more than Christ, then give them the preference; but if Christ is as trustworthy as they are, then deal with Him as fairly. “ Oh,” says someone, “ I believe that Christ was born in Bethlehem, and that He died on the Cross.” Do you believe it with your head or your heart? I will illustrate the difference. You read in a newspaper how Captain Braveheart on the sea risked his life for the salvation of his passengers. You say, “ What a grand fellow he must have been!” You fold the paper and, perhaps, do not think of that incident again. That is historical faith. But now you are on the sea, and asleep, and are awakened by the shriek of “ Fire!” You rush out on the deck. “ Down with the lifeboats!” cries the captain. People rush into them. Room only for one more man. Who shall it be? You or the captain? The captain says, “ You.” You jump and are saved. He stands there and dies. Now, you believe that Captain Braveheart sacrificed himself for his passengers, but you believe it with grief at his loss, and with joy at your deliverance. That is saving faith. You often go across a bridge you know nothing about. You do not know who built the bridge, nor of what material it is made; but you walk over it, and ask no questions. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 16:32-40 And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. Household salvation It sometimes happens that a good man has to go alone to heaven: God’ s election has separated him from the midst of an ungodly family. But though grace does not run in the blood, yet it frequently happens that God, by means of one of a household, draws the rest to Himself. Bunyan, in the first part of his “ Pilgrim’ s Progress,” describes Christian as a lonely traveller. The second part, however, exhibits family piety, and many a gentle spirit has found it sweeter than the former. It is most natural and proper that your desire for the salvation of others should, first of all, rest upon your own families. If charity begins at home, so, assuredly, piety will. Let Abraham’ s prayer be for Ishmael, let Hannah pray for Samuel, let Andrew first find his brother Simon, and Eunice train her Timothy. Observe-- I. A whole household hearing the word. If we are to have household conversion there must be a household hearing of the Word.1. Now many fathers never hear the Word of God, because they regard the Sabbath as a day of laziness. 2. The mothers must hear the Word as well as the fathers. Many of them do, but many are detained at home with the children. Now it is the duty of every father, if he does not keep a servant, to take his turn with the wife and let her have her fair share of opportunity for hearing the gospel. 3. Then the children also must be thought of. We desire to see them converted as children. There is no need that they should wait until they are grown up, and have run into sin. Let the little ones be brought to hear the gospel. Let it be said of you, as of “ Judah, who stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” 4. Then there are the servants. You cannot honestly pray God to save your household unless you give the whole household an opportunity of being saved. II. A whole household believing (Acts 16:34).1. They were new hearers, and yet they all believed. Is it not a sad fact that many of my old hearers have not believed? Oh! the responsibilities that are heaped up upon gospel-hardened sinners! 2. They were most unlikely hearers. In the society and associations of a jail there was very little that could be likely to improve the mother, to benefit the children, or elevate the servants. Yet how often are the most unlikely persons led to the Saviour. How true is it still of many who are outwardly religious, that “ the publicans and harlots enter into the kingdom of heaven before them.” This is an encouragement to you who work in the slums of this vast city. 3. Yet they were converted, there and then. I do not know how long Paul’ s sermon was; he was a wise man, and I should not think he would preach a long sermon in the dead of the night, just after an earthquake. As the lightning flash can split the oak from its loftiest bough to the earth in a second, so the ever blessed lightning of God’ s Spirit can cleave the heart of man in a moment. 4. It is said particularly of them all that “ they believed.” Was that the only thing? Could it not be said that they all prayed? I daresay it could, and many other good things; but then faith was at the root of them all. 5. Though converted suddenly, all of them were, nevertheless, very hearty converts. They were quick to do all that in them lay for the apostle, and for the good cause. It is delightful to meet your hearty Christian, who, when he gave his heart to Jesus, meant it, and devoted his whole body, soul, and spirit to the good Lord who had bought him with His blood. III. A whole household baptized.1. “ He” was baptized--the jailer. Then “ all his” followed. 2. This was done straightway. There was not one who wished to have it put off till he had tried himself a little. In those days no one had any scruple or objection to obey. No minister has any right to refuse to baptize any person who professes faith in Jesus Christ, unless there be some glaring fact to cast doubt upon the candidate’ s sincerity. IV. A whole household at work for God. They all did something. The father called for a light, the servants bring the torches. Here is work for himself, and for gentle hands to do: to wash out the grit that had come there through their lying on their backs on the dungeon floor, and to mollify and bind up their wounds. There was suitable occupation for the mother and for the servants, for they set meat before the holy men. The kitchen was sanctified to supply the needs of the ministers of Christ. Even our children when they are saved can do something for the Master. The little hand that drops its halfpence into the offering-box, out of love to Jesus, is accepted of the Lord. The young child trying to tell its brother or sister of the dear Saviour who has loved it is a true missionary of the Cross. V. A family all rejoicing.1. If the family had been left a fortune they would have rejoiced, but they had found more than all the world’ s wealth at once in finding a Saviour, therefore were they glad. 2. Though their joy sprang mainly from their believing, it also arose from their being baptized, for the Ethiopian, after he was baptized, “ went on his way rejoicing.” “ In keeping His commandments there is great reward.” 3. They rejoiced, no doubt, because they had an opportunity of serving the Church in waiting upon the apostle. They felt glad to think that Paul was at their table. And Christian people are never so happy as when they are busy for Jesus. 4. I have no doubt that their joy was permanent. There would not be any quarrelling in that house now, no disobedient children, no short-tempered father, no fretful mother, no purloining servants, no eye servers. Conclusion: That household is now in glory. With some of you the father is in heaven, and the mother is on the road, but the children! With others, your little ones have gone before you, and your grandsire is also in glory; but, ah! husband and wife, your faces are turned towards the ways of sin. There will be broken households around the throne, and if it could mar their joy--if anything could--it would be the thought that a son or husband is absent while the wife and mother sing the endless song. This is the last question, “ Will my family be there?” Will yours be there? (C. H. Spurgeon.)Belief, baptism, blessing The gospel, attended by the Spirit of God, is always victorious; but it is very pleasant to make notes of its victories. The gospel came to Lydia, a devout woman, who worshipped God, although she did not know the Lord Jesus Christ. She was a woman of tender heart, and she was soon won. “ Well,” says one, “ that is an instance of what the gospel does with delicate, tender, gentle natures.” Now, here is an old soldier; he has been in the wars, he has earned distinction, and has been appointed to the office of jailer at Philippi, an office of some importance under the Roman Emperor. He is a man who knows the sight of blood; he is of a coarse, though apparently honest, disposition. He keeps prisoners, and that is not an office that brings much gentleness with it; and he is under very stern law. He is as hard as a bit of the lower millstone. What will the gospel do with him? It triumphed as much in the jailer at Philippi as it did in the lady from Thyatira. I want specially to call your attention to this point; the Philippian jailer stands before us as one who was converted and baptized, and who brought forth useful fruit all in the compass of an hour or so. “ Straightway,” says my text. It also says, “ The same hour of the night.” In a great many cases conversion may be said to be a slow work. I do not think that it really is so; but it appears to be so. There is the early training, there is the awakening of conscience, there is the seeking to find Christ. We have a great many people round us who are very slow. Why it is, I do not know; for this is not a slow age. People are fast enough about the things of this world. We cannot travel fast enough. I have no doubt that the work of grace is very gradual in some people; it is like the sunrise in this country. I am sure that you cannot tell, on foggy mornings, when the sun does rise. A man cannot be somewhere between condemnation and justification; there is no land in between. The man is either condemned on account of sin, or he is justified through the righteousness of Christ; he cannot be between those two states; so that, after all, in its essence, salvation must be an instantaneous thing. I. In this Philippian jailer’ s case everything is sharp, clear, distinct. In considering it, I will first call your attention to the fact that here is a person converted at once.1. There was no previous thought. There is nothing that I can imagine in his previous life that led up to it. He had not been plied with sermons, instructions, invitations, entreaties. Nothing could be a greater contrast than the ethics of Rome and the teachings of Christ. What do you think impressed this man? 2. I think, in part, it may have been the behaviour of Paul and Silas. They had no curses on their lips when he made their feet fast in the stocks. He went to bed that night with many thoughts of a new character. Who were these men? Who was this Jesus of whom they spoke? 3. Then, in the middle of the night, a singular miracle was wrought. The prison was shaken by an earthquake. The idea of being lost has come over him. It is not that he is afraid to die, for he is about to put himself to death; but he is afraid of what is to follow after death. He is a lost man, and therefore he asks, “ What must I do to be saved?” 4. Now it is that he is plainly told the way of salvation. It was put with great brevity, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Probably he did not understand it when he heard it; and so “ they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.” It is a happy circumstance that the gospel is so simple. There are certain preachers who seem as if they must mystify it, like the negro, who said, “ Brethren, I have read you a chapter, and now I will confound it.” No doubt there are many who are always making out the gospel to be a very difficult thing to understand; philosophical, deep, and so on; but it was meant for the common people, and the gospel is suitable to be preached to the poor. II. Here is a person confessing his faith at once. “ He was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” Should a person be baptized as soon as he believes? As a rule, yes; but there may be good reasons why he should not be.1. There was no good reason for delay in this man’ s case, for, in the first place, his conversion was clear as noonday. 2. In his case, also, there was no other reason for delay. In the case of many young persons, there are reasons for delay. 3. In this man’ s case, note also, that he was not hindered by selfish considerations. Had the jailer been like some people that I know of, he would hove found plenty of reasons for delaying his baptism. First, he would have said, “ Well, it is the middle of the night. Would you have me be baptized at this hour?” He would have said that he did not know that there were conveniences for baptism, for it is so easy to find it inconvenient when you do not like it. He might also have said, “ I do not know how the magistrates will like it.” He did not care about the magistrates. Perhaps he would lose his situation. He did not take his situation into consideration. Then, what would the soldiers in the Philippian colony say when they heard that the jailer had been baptized into the name of Christ? Oh, the guffaws of the guard room, the jokes that there would be all over Philippi! This brave man did not take those things into consideration; and if he did, he dismissed them in a moment. 4. The fact was, this man was in downright earnest, and therefore he would not delay his baptism. He had enlisted in the army of Christ, and he would wear Christ’ s regimentals straightway. III. Now, here is a person useful at once. Useful? What could he do? Well, he did all he could.1. He performed an act of mercy: “ He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes.” Dear, good men, they were covered all over with the marks of the Roman rods. I do not know that he could have done anything better to show his sincere repentance. He washed their stripes; and when he had done that, and had been baptized, we read that he brought them into his house, and set meat before them. 2. Thus he exercised hospitality. He used his hands and his bath in washing the disciples; now he uses his table, his larder, and his dining room to entertain them. What more could he do? Seeing that it was the middle of the night, I cannot think of anything more that he could do. So now, if you love the Lord, if you have only just believed in Him, begin to do something for Him at once. It is a pity that we have so many Christian people, so-called, who do nothing for Christ, literally nothing. They have paid their pew-rent, perhaps; and that is all Christ is to have out of them! We want to have a Church in which all the members do something, in which all do all they can, in which all are always doing all they can, for this is what our Lord deserves to have from a living, loving people bought with His precious blood. IV. Here is a person perfectly happy at once. When the jailer bad brought Paul and Silas into his house, “ he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.” Oh, that was a happy, happy time! “ He rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.”1. He rejoiced that he was saved. His heart kept beating, “ Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah!” As he sat at that table with his two strange guests, he had indeed cause for joy. His sin was forgiven; his nature was changed; he had found a Saviour. 2. And then he rejoiced that all his household were saved. What a delight it was to see all his household converted! There was his wife. If she had not been converted, it would have been a very awkward thing for him to have asked Paul and Silas in to that midnight meal. I do not like it when you count up your household and leave out Mary Ann, the little servant girl, the last you have had in. You treat her as a drudge; but if she has come into your family, reckon her to be a part of your household; and pray God that they may all be converted. 3. The jailer’ s rejoicing was also a seal of the Spirit upon his fidelity. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Conversion--its means and tests Looking now more especially at the human side of this instance of an immense moral and spiritual change in the Philippian jailer, let us think, under the guidance of this example, of conversion, its means and tests. Certainly here is an evident conversion. If ever man were squarely turned about, this jailer was. He is no spurious instance of conversion, like Mr. Facing-Both-Ways, in Bunyan’ s “ Pilgrim’ s Progress.” I. Consider the means of conversion. It seems to me we can divide these means into two sorts--subsidiary and essential. Means subsidiary.1. The prayers and songs of Paul and Silas. What I mean is that I am sure the brave and beautiful carriage of themselves by Paul and Silas under all his unnecessarily harsh treatment of them--for he far exceeded his instructions--must have made some impression upon the jailer. And it seems to me that this must have been a kind of outlying and subsidiary cause of the jailer’ s conversion. It is a kind of gospel that even such stupid and cruel eyes as this jailer’ s must read. And something of blessing is bound to come of it. It is likely to make a path for somebody’ s conversion. Let us see to it that even amid the most painful circumstances we carry ourselves as Christians should. 2. The shock of the earthquake and the opened doors and the unloosed bonds of the prisoners, and Paul’ s beautiful calming of the jailer’ s fear when he would have killed himself, since, if the prisoners had escaped, according to the Roman law death must have been visited on him. This jailer was stirred through his whole nature. In the grip of the earthquake he was convinced of his own helplessness; in Paul’ s calm bravery he felt himself confronted by the presence of a strange moral power; in the apostle’ s service, in preventing the escape of the prisoners, to him who had been so needlessly cruel, who in harshness had so far exceeded his instructions, the jailer found himself smitten by a new sense of shame--shock, I think that is the word for it. The man was thrown out of his old bad routine into strange and other thoughts about his cruelty and his sin. Well, I do not think conversion possible unless it be preceded by something to which this shock is parallel. It may be an influence very steady and gentle. It may be the quiet result of the education of a Christian home; but somehow, in some way, the man must be, as this jailer was, actually and squarely confronted by the necessity of change in himself. Means essential--Faith. The Greek for “ Sirs” in Acts 16:30, and “ Lord” in Acts 16:31, is the same. He addresses them as “ Sires” or “ Lords” ; they reply, “ Trust in the one and only ‘ Sire’ or ‘ Lord’ Jesus Christ.” Faith is the only and lonely Jesus Christ: this is the essential means of conversion. II. The tests of conversion.1. Rejoicing hearing of the Lord’ s word (Acts 16:32). A man really turned toward the Lord will want to know all he can about Him. 2. Immediate change of life (Acts 16:33). The cruel jailer becomes at once the merciful man. 3. Immediate confession of Christ (Acts 16:33). “ And was baptized.” A thoroughly converted man will not attempt to be a secret Christian. 4. Helpfulness (Acts 16:34). “ And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them.” That is to say, there is a quick instinct of ministry in him. 5. Joy in the new life (Acts 16:34). “ And rejoiced.” When a man turns towards God, God floods him, and that is utmost joy. 6. The man’ s home is changed (Acts 16:34). Believing in God wish all his house. A conversion which does not help a man’ s home amounts to little. Mark also that here is certainly a sudden conversion. The influences which lead up to it may be long, as they are in many cases may be quick, as in this ease; but the conversion, the turning, is, in the nature of the case, sudden. Do not be afraid of sudden conversions. (Homiletic Review.)And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. First fruits of repentance It was the jailer and his wife, as Chrysostom conceits it, whom by the name of Euodias and Syntiche. St. Paul enrolls in the book of life (Philippians 4:2). See the meanest relief done to Christ and His members hath a patent of eternity. A little manna, but a vanishing meteor, lay it up in the ark, it never putrefies. The cheapest alms to Christ and His Church, the memory of it shall never be abolished. For the purpose of the words, conceive them to be an holy action of this convert, following upon and so manifesting and expressing the truth of his conversion. A few words, a small action in appearance, and yet a powerful evidence of his new birth. This small work, dipped and coloured in the blood of Paul, appears like that red thread on the hand of the newborn child, as a testimony of his birthright; and stands here upon record, and hangs, like Rahab’ s scarlet thread, fastened on his house as a pledge of his salvation. “ Indeed,” as Basil speaks, “‘ tis his first sacrifice of thanks he offers for his conversion; a sacrifice, an whole burnt offering, and yet not by fire, but by water kindled and enflamed.” First, conceive this action of his, in respect of his person, that doth exercise and perform it, as it arises from him and is his action. He washed them. Look first upon him as a man quickened and enlivened with a principle of faith, and then conceive this action of his, as ‘ tis a fruit of his faith. So soon as he believed, presently the same hour he washed their stripes. And the observation hence is briefly thus much: That a true believer is readily and presently a religious worker. Faith is not a frontlet to thine eyes only in illumination, but ‘ tis a tablet on thine hands for employment and action. The work of faith and labour of love, St. Paul unites them, and they are never asunder, and that upon a threefold ground. I. The very life and being of faith makes it naturally working. As at the beginning the Lord created trees with fruit on them, not a trunk or a stock, but flourishing and abundant, so in our new creation, the tree of faith, ‘ tis presently furnished with the fruit of piety. See how suddenly in this convert the seedtime, and the spring, and harvest do follow each other. A lively faith, it longs to be working, like St. John’ s converts, seeks employment presently. “ What shall I do?” Deny it working, you deprive it of being; like the soul, it stays no longer in the body than it may act and quicken it; hinder the actions of life, it forsakes us presently. O let thine heart by faith be bathed and warmed in the blood of Christ, and thou mayest as well keep the fire from burning, and the sun from shining, and the heavens from moving, as true faith from working. II. Except thy faith be lively and working, ‘ tis an unuseful faith, altogether unprofitable.1. That St. James assures thee (James 2:14), “ It cannot save him.” The working faith, though it do not purchase heaven, yet it effectually procures it; it abhors works as merits, embraces them as means. 2. ‘ Tis not light, but heat, that purges and purifies; not a contemplative notion swimming in the brain, but a devoted affection seated in the heart. Nay-- 3. ‘ Tis only the working faith that obtains thy pardon: in this case, though faith be actually destitute, yet ‘ tis such a faith as will be industrious. God gives grace unto it as to a poor beggar, but not as to a lazy one, and faith receives it with an empty hand, but not with an idle one. III. Except thy faith be active and operative ‘ tis no way acceptable. In this case, as thine outward services without inward faith, like the emperor’ s sacrifice that had no heart in it, are prodigious and loathsome, so the inwards of faith, without the body and-substance of works, are offals and refuse. “ God,” saith Gregory, “ requires not only the shake breast of faith, but the heave shoulder and arm of obedience. Before thou believest, God freely forgives thee even all thine evil works, but when thou believeth He strictly exacts the performance of good.” Conceive this action of washing their stripes, secondly, as arising from a second seed of grace wrought in conversion, the principle of repentance. The observation from hence is thus much: Repentance, it makes us undo all that we did before. It enforces us to befool ourselves, look back upon all our actions with grief and sorrow; make us wish and desire we had never committed them. How did this jailer now smite on his thigh, as the prophet speaks? How did he question with himself and upbraid his folly--“ What have I done?” Oh then! in the beginning of thy life, when thou first settest out, aim right and advisedly, lest at the long run thou befool thyself. Learn this lesson, ye wise fore-plotters of what you undertake, that account it your wisdom in all other business not to be mistaken, that judge it a point of folly to excuse yourselves. Happy be you that have your action in your hand, and may take a true level. This is the fore-counsel of repentance to thee. It persuades and forewarns, as St. Paul did the mariners (chap. 27.): “ Undertake not this desperate voyage, it will be much damage of your goods and lives.” But if thou wilt on for all this warning, then comes repentance with an after-counsel, as the same St. Paul: “ Sirs, you should have been advised by me, and so you should have gained this harm and loss.” Consider this action of the jailer in washing their stripes as arising from, thirdly, a third principle of grace wrought in conversion, and that’ s as it springs from a seed and principle of renovation. And so ‘ tis an evidence and fruit of the changing and reforming his former life, and that in three several considerations. I. This washing and cherishing the apostles, it evidences the renewing and changing of his nature and former disposition. And from hence take notice of this observation: That grace and religion mollifies, changes, and sweetens the profanest natures and most barbarous dispositions. This jailer, before a savage persecutor, like the demoniac in the gospel, exceeding fierce, no man could tame him, now behold him dispossessed of his fury, he sits at Christ’ s feet peaceable and gentle. Religion, it persuades us and woos us, in St. Paul’ s language (Colossians 3:12). Education, laws, magistrates, may suppress for a time, but ‘ tis grace alone that can thoroughly and effectually transform us. Thus the primitive fathers undertook the performance of those desperate cures. ‘ Twas the voice of religion in their times, “ Hast thou an unchaste wife? Bring her to religion, ‘ twill make her temperate. Hast thou an undutiful child? Bring him to religion, ‘ twill make him obedient. Hast thou an unfaithful servant? It will teach him fidelity.” Monsters of sin by the power of this have been converted into miracles of virtue. II. It arises from the seed and principle of renovation in respect of his particular actual fault, of which he was now in present commission. He was even now exercising his barbarous cruelty towards the apostles; and in this sin the hand of God now finds him, and the guilt of this sin the mercy of God now pardons him; and therefore of all other sins, he will beware of this sin, presently puts himself into the practice of the contrary virtue. Observe, a true convert, though he resolves of a general reformation, yet, above all others, he will have a special eye at that sin which was the cause of his greatest ruin, and which God made the occasion of his rising and conversion. As a man recovered from a dangerous sickness, he carefully uses a general good diet, but especially desires preservatives and antidotes against the disease he was lately cured of. I surfeited of this meat; this proved my bane, and he knows relapses to be dangerous and deadly. A captain is careful to strengthen every corner of his castle, but that place where the enemy broke in before shall have a double watch, that’ s fortified especially. III. ‘ Tis a fruit arising from the seed of renovation in respect of his private calling and profession. He is a jailer, and they, you know, are usually merciless, hard-hearted men. Now he is converted he reforms the abuses of his calling, uses his prisoners mercifully and with much pity. He shows the truth and power of his conversion in his private personal calling and profession. He is not only a good Christian, but a good jailer, hath care of his prisoners; a good father and master, all his house must be taught and baptized. Observe, the truth of conversion will evidence itself in the ordering and reforming of our personal calling. Religion, ‘ tis not a matter merely of public and common profession, dwells not in churches and temples only, but it will enter into thine house, bids itself home to thee, as Christ to Zaccheus, “ Come, I must lodge in thine house,” have access and sway in all thine employments. Secondly, take notice of it, as it respects and passes upon these men to whom he performed it; he washed their stripes. And so the divers considerations of the object will specify the nature of the act and fruit of conversion. First, then generally and briefly conceive them as proximi, as men, brethren, and neighbours, in that common reference, so ‘ tis actus charitatis, an act of charity. And then observe, the truth of conversion will express itself in the works of love to our neighbours and brethren. This is the main evidence of our new birth. I. ‘ Tis the best sign and proof of our love if we love our brethren. Who doth not boast of his love to God? ‘ Tis every man’ s profession, and we cannot convert them. Bring them to this trial, “ Dost thou love Him that is begotten of God; wheresoever thou seest His image and similitude?” “ By this ye are known to he My disciples, if ye love one another.” II. God sets over this love to our brethren that they might receive the fruit and improvement of it. The benefit of our love it cannot reach Him; His self-sufficiency admits no addition from our poor charity; He makes our brethren the receivers of it. III. This love to our brethren multiplies and strengthens and increases our love to God. That’ s hearty love that rests not upon the party, whom we chiefly affect, but enlarges itself to His children and followers and all that belongs to Him. And that’ s the first consideration of it, as they are proximi, and so this washing, ‘ tis opus charitatis, he loves them as brethren. But, secondly, conceive them as they are afflicti, as Christians in misery and affliction, whipped and imprisoned; and then ‘ tis actus misericordiae, an action of mercy. Before we considered them as members of Christ, and so He loved them; now behold them as the afflicted members of Christ, and so now He pities them. Observe, the naturalest motion of an heart converted is to commiserate the poor saints of God, and to show mercy towards them. The works of mercy are the most kindly returns of mercy received. Wert thou furnished with all other graces, yet thou fallest short if thou wantest this one. These fruits of piety and relief to the poor saints, Christ--1. Most strictly exacts.2. Most graciously accepts.3. Most bountifully rewards. Saith Basil, “ Liberality to the poor saints, ‘ tis not liberality, but usury to God, and that of the highest increase.” Thirdly, conceive them as they are men that were wronged and oppressed by him, and so ‘ tis an act of satisfaction. The truth of conversion as it shows itself in all duties of love and commiseration; so to those we have injured it will express itself in a due satisfaction. Without this, saith St. Augustine, all acts of repentance prove ineffectual. Nay, ‘ tis no true repentance, but a mere counterfeit. Fourthly, conceive them as they are the ministers and means of His calling; and so ‘ tis a testimony of thankfulness. These are the servants of the Most High God; these have brought the glad tidings of grace and salvation; not only their feet, but their wounds and stripes and sores are beautiful. He thankfully embraces, refreshes, and comforts them. And then give way to this observation: That the truth of this conversion will manifest itself in all fruit of thankfulness to the ministers of salvation. See now this jailer draws out the apostles, as Ebed-Melech did Jeremy, from the depth of the dungeon; makes his prison, like Obadiah’ s cave, to nourish these prophets; becomes a Lot and an Abraham to entertain these angels and messengers of heaven. (Bp. Brownrigg.)Christianity self-illustrated 1. The old cause produces the old effect. Here is a man converted, and he instantly seeks to make up for the past. What did it all mean? Exactly what our own repentance must do. He tried to rub out yesterday’ s injury. Christianity always drives men back upon their yesterdays. The Christian says, “ I must pay the money that I am owing. I know that the Statute of Limitations would excuse me, but there is no statute of limitations in the regenerated heart.” The penitent says, “ I must find out the life I once bruised, and if that life is no longer on the earth I must find some descendants, and for David’ s sake I will love Mephibosheth.” The religion that does this proves its own inspiration. It does not need our eloquence, nor ask for our intellectual patronage. Any argument in words may provoke a retort in words; but a jailer washing stripes undeserved, feeding hunger unmerited, will carry the day. 2. The natural result of receiving Christ into the heart is joy (verse 34). Christianity never brings gloom; it is a religion of light, morning, summer. There are three possible views of God. There is the view which afflicts the soul with a sense of terror. There is the view which elevates veneration without touching emotion. The third view is the Christian one, and that always brings with it joy. We ought to enter into joy now. 3. There are results of Christianity on the other side; hence we find that the magistrates were afraid; they sent to announce their willingness that Saul and Silas should leave the city. The bad man has a ghost on the right hand and on the left. There are “ earthquakes” representing all kinds of physical difficulties, material alarms and afflictions. Following these came the discovery that the apostles claimed the protection of the Roman law. The bad man has no peace. The very law turned to a serpent in his grip and stung his arm. The bad man is always getting hold of the wrong end; always mistaking the case; always prosecuting the wrong party. Then add all the fears which come from spiritual doctrine, and the bad man has a poor time of it. There is no peace but in goodness; no rest but in righteousness. If thou hast turned away from thy Father in heaven, “ acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace.” 4. This incident throws some light upon the character of Paul. He did not tell at first that he was a Roman citizen. He kept it back until he could use it with the happiest effect. Paul was probably the only Roman citizen in the little band, and was Paul a man to get off and let the others go to prison? Now that he could smite the magistrates as with a fist of iron, he said, “ They have beat us … being Romans,” etc. He knew how that message would bite all the soul such men had left. This is the way we should stand by one another. Mark the dignity of his innocence. “ As for your sergeants, we are much obliged to you for your civility, but let the gentlemen themselves put on their boots this cold morning and come down.” So the magistrates, what with earthquakes, and Roman citizenships, and converted jailers, and one thing added to another, came down and said in effect, “ If you will be so kind, gentlemen, as to go, we shall be deeply obliged to you.” In former days they besought Christ Himself to depart out of their coasts; and the bad world is always asking Christianity if it will be so kind as to leave it. It will interfere with the world’ s weights and measures; with life at home and life in the market place; with dress and speech, and with honesty of heart; so the wicked world says to it, “ If you be so kind as to go away.” Sooner would the rising sun go at the bidding of some poor insect, or the rising tide retire before the waving hand of some impotent Canute. 5. Being liberated, the apostles did not take the shortest way out of Philippi; “ they entered into the house of Lydia” ; they called the brethren together and “ comforted them.” The sufferer comforting those who have not suffered! Then they departed with the ineffable dignity of Christian uprightness. 6. So the Church of Christ was first established in Europe; see what a hold it has today. I am aware of the corruptions of Christianity, but underneath all the Christian idea has been the mightiest force in European civilisation and progress. Take out of European cities the buildings which Christianity has put up, and those cities would in many instances lose their only frame. What is Cologne but the foreground of its infinite cathedral? What would Milan be but for its august and overwhelming church? Take away St. Peter’ s from Rome and Notre Dame from Paris, etc., and see how frightful a mutilation would be made in the map of European grandeur. If you tell me that the great galleries of art would still be left, I would ask you to take every Christian picture and statue, and then call for your estimate of the boundless cavity. If you tell me that the great centres of music will still remain, I would ask you to take away the productions of the Christian poets and musicians; and after you have removed Beethoven and Handel, Mendelssohn and Haydn, I will ask you to state in figures the stupendous and irreparable loss. When you call these things to mind, and then remember that Paul planted the first Christian Church at Philippi, you will see how important are the incidents recorded in the chapter. We cannot tell what we are doing. He who plants a tree cannot forecast the issue of his planting. The penny you gave to the little poor boy may be the seed of great fortunes. The love grasp you gave the orphan’ s cold hand may be the beginning of an animation lasting as immortality. (J. Parker, D. D.)They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans.--The assertion or vindication of rights I. Paul’ s right as a Roman citizen. To Paul this was invaluable. It was in itself an honour, and would be everywhere so regarded. It gave to him who enjoyed it the protection of the best system of laws known among men. In any part of the world, moreover, where the Roman power extended, it conceded that right. A Roman citizen might not be crucified, nor scourged. The privilege of Roman citizenship also secured the right of a public trial. This tended, in an eminent degree, to maintain justice. II. The manner in which these rights had been violated. The wrong done was a palpable injustice, in all respects, at variance with the requirements of the Roman law. They were condemned unheard; and at the demand of a mob; they were publicly whipped; they were cast into prison. Every one of these things was contrary to Roman law. They suffered, moreover, further indignities at the hands of the jailer. III. The propriety of the demand thus urged. The principles of the gospel seem to require that we should bear injuries not only with no malice, but even with no resistance (Matthew 5:39-41; 1 Corinthians 6:6-8). But note--1. That the conduct of the Saviour interprets His own words. In the numerous injuries which He suffered at the hands of individuals, He offered no resistance. Yet, in entire consistency with all this, when He came in contact with the law, and when, under the forms of law, injustice was about to be done, He demanded that the provisions of the law should not be violated (John 18:23). 2. This leads us to notice, then, the value of law for the protection of rights. That value was recognised by Paul on other occasions (Acts 23:2-3; Acts 25:11). The history of the world, in regard to law, has been a little more than a succession of struggles to secure the rights of individuals against arbitrary power; and the points gained in that respect have been the beginning of new eras in the history of the world, each of these epochs sending its influence far into the future. Law itself, as we now have it, has been the slow growth of ages; and is the result of effort to save from arbitrary punishment. Under wise provisions, in favour of general liberty and individual rights, we are permitted to live; and the business of the world now is to protect and defend these principles as the ground of security in all time to come. They are of inestimable worth, and it is every man’ s privilege and duty to appeal to them and to demand that they shall be observed and enforced. Pym and Hampden are immortal as having defended the great principles of liberty; and Paul stands thus among the great benefactors of mankind for having asserted and maintained the right of an appeal to the law. 3. It remains only to remark, in the vindication of the conduct of Paul, that the character of a good man belongs to the public, to virtue, to truth, to religion. Paul had not only his own individual rights to maintain, but he was a representative man, entrusted with the rights pertaining to the Christian religion. All that he had endured in his imprisonment, he could privately and personally bear and forgive. But the public wrong which had been done was a wrong to justice; and not only so, but a wrong to religion; a wrong to him as the minister of religion; a wrong which, if acknowledged, might greatly hinder the success of his future labours. (A. Barnes, D. D.)The selfish policy of magistrates There is a thing which passes for generosity which, when analysed, is found to be nothing but selfish policy. Sometimes a flint-hearted magistrate makes a great show of generous consideration for the condition of the prisoner, and pompously discharges him on that ground, as he says. Whereas it will often be found that the charge against the man was one of which the law could take no cognisance, or else which the magistrate felt himself unable to grapple with. He gets great credit for his clemency. His manoeuvre, however, reminds those who see through it of the spider’ s tricks. We well know that the moment an ill-starred fly or other insect comes in contact with the net of the spider, it is sprung upon with the rapidity of lightning, and if the captured insect be of small size the spider conveys it at once to the place of slaughter, and having at its leisure sucked all its juice, throws out the carcase. If the insect be somewhat larger and struggles to escape, the spider envelops its prey in a mesh of thread passed round its body in various directions, and its wings and legs thus effectually secured, it is conveyed to the den and devoured. But when a bee or large fly, too powerful to be mastered by the spider, happens to get entangled in its toils, then the wary animal, conscious of its incapacity to contend against such fearful odds, makes no attempt to seize or embarrass the victim. On the contrary, it assists the entangled captive in its efforts to free itself, and often goes so far as to break off that part of the web from which it may be suspended. This act has upon it the colour of seeming generosity, but in reality it is nothing more than the performance of selfish cunning. The tyrant, feeling himself incapable of doing an injury, determines to have no molestation. To obtain this end he performs an act of manumission. In this policy he is not unlike the magistrate referred to. (Scientific Illustrations.)Vindication of rights:--Thomas Maynard, English consul, was thrown into the prison of the Inquisition at Lisbon, under pretence that he had said or done something against the Roman religion. Mr. Meadows, who was then Resident, advised Cromwell of the affair, and being directed by him, demanded of the King of Portugal the liberation of Maynard. The king told him that he had no authority over the Inquisition. The Resident sent this answer to Cromwell, from whom he received instructions to tell the king that since he had no power over the Inquisition, he was commanded by Cromwell to declare war against the Inquisition itself. This so terrified the king and the Inquisition that they opened the prison doors and gave the consul liberty to go out. He, however, refused to go out privately, and required that he should be honourably brought forth by the Inquisition. (W. Baxendale.) Acts 17:1-9 And when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia.From Amphipolis to Thessalonica The beautiful town of Amphipolis lies to the south of a splendid lake under sheltering hills, three miles from the sea, and thirty three from Philippi, and on the edge of a plain of boundless fertility. The strength of its natural position, nearly encircled by a great bend of a river, the mines which were near it, and the neighbouring forests, made it position of high importance. If St. Paul had ever read Herodotus, he may have thought with horror of the sacrifice of Xerxes--the burial alive at this place of nine youths and nine maidens; and if he had read Thucydides, he would have gazed with peculiar interest on the sepulchral mound of Brasidas, and the hollowing of the stones in the wayworn city street, which showed the feet of men and horses under the gate, and warned Kleon that a sally was intended. If he could read Livy, he would recall the fact that in this town Paulus AEmilius--one of the family from which his own may have derived its name--had here proclaimed that Macedonia should be free. But all this was little or nothing to the Jewish missionaries. At Amphipolis there was no synagogue, and therefore no means of addressing Jews or Gentiles. They therefore proceeded the next day thirty miles further, through scenery of surpassing loveliness, along the Strymonic Gulf, through the wooded pass of Aulon, when St. Paul may have looked at the tomb of Euripides, and along the shores of Lake Bolbe to Apollonia. From thence they proceeded forty miles further to the far-famed Thessalonica, the capital of all Macedonia, whose position on the Egnatian road, commanding the entrance to two great inland districts, and at the head of the Thermaic Gulf, made it an important seat of commerce. Since the days when Cassander had refounded it, and changed its name from Therma to Thessalonica, in honour of his wife, the sister of Alexander, it had always been a flourishing city, with many historic associations. Here Cicero had spent his days of melancholy exile. Here a triumphal arch, still standing, commemorates the victory of Octavianus and Antony at Philippi. From hence, as with the blast of a trumpet, not only in St. Paul’ s day (1 Thessalonians 1:8), but for centuries afterwards, the Word of God sounded forth among the neighbouring tribes. Here Theodosius was guilty of that cruel massacre for which Ambrose, with heroic faithfulness, kept him for eight months from the cathedral of Milan. Here its good and learned Bishop Eustathius wrote those scolia on Homer which place him in the front rank of ancient commentators. It received the title of “ the orthodox city,” because it was for centuries a bulwark of Christendom; but it was taken by Amurath II in 1430. Saloniki is still a great commercial port of seventy thousand inhabitants, of whom nearly one-third are Jews. At this city, blighted now by the curse of Islam, but still beautiful on the slopes of its vine-clad hills, with Pelia and Olympus full in view, the missionaries rested; for here was the one Jewish synagogue which sufficed for the entire district. (Archdeacon Farrar.)Paul’ s preaching at Thessalonica His preaching-- I. Was evangelic.1. His grand theme was Christ. (1) He showed the necessity of His suffering and His resurrection. He exhibited the Cross of Christ in all its high aspects. (2) He showed that He was Messiah. “ Is Christ.” 2. His grand authority was the Scriptures. He did not attempt to derive his arguments and illustrations from general literature or philosophy. He would, perhaps, quote the old prophecies (Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 40:1-10; Isaiah 53:1-12; Daniel 9:24-27; Micah 5:6, etc.), and show that in the life of Jesus those wonderful prophecies were fulfilled. Reasoning with the Jews, his authority was Scripture, and with the Gentiles, Nature, as at Athens. 3. His grand method was reasoning. He “ reasoned with them.” “ Opening” means to explain, to unfold. “ Alleging” means laying down the proposition. He laid down his propositions, and he argued their truth from the Scriptures. This is model preaching. Let ministers give to men now the Christ of the Scriptures, not the Christ of their theology. II. Won converts (verse 4). The “ devout Greeks” were those who had become proselytes to the Jewish religion, “ proselytes of the gate.” The “ chief women” were members of families of high rank. The converts were--1. Numerous. “ A great multitude.” 2. Influential. “ Chief women.” Some of the leading women of the city. 3. Thoroughly united. They “ consorted with Paul and Silas.” Common beliefs awaken common sympathies. Christ gathers men of different types of character and grades of life together. III. Awoke opposition (verse 5). In this we see--1. The force of envy, This malignant passion of evil natures had been excited in the Jews by the moral conquest which the apostles had won in their synagogue. This passion has always been the inspiration of all persecutions. It shows itself now in a thousand forms. 2. The servility of mobs. These Jews took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, unprincipled idlers that are found lounging about places of public resort, the lazy rabble that fill workhouses with paupers and jails with prisoners, who are always ready instruments to the hands of evil men in power. The demagogue can cajole them, and the rich can purchase their services with cash. 3. The revolutionising power of the gospel (verse 6). These men spoke a truth, though unintentionally. The gospel does turn the world upside down, for the moral world is in the wrong position. 4. The falsehood of wickedness (verse 4). The charge they brought against them was that of sedition and rebellion against the Roman emperor, high treason against the crown. These men covered their envy under the garb of patriotism. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul in Thessalonica I. The manner of a primitive preacher (verse 2). What was the matter? On Sabbath days he entered the synagogue. In his last letter to these Thessalonians, he reminds them that he did not make himself chargeable to them (2 Thessalonians 2:9). So on weekdays he was earning his living--improving, no doubt, every opportunity for conversation with such as came in his way; but the Sabbath brought him leisure, and gave him an audience. How did he use these Sabbath opportunities? He “ reasoned” with the people. The Christian’ s faith should not be blind. It has its true home in both the intellect and the heart. The Church of today, and of all days, needs the help of thinking men, ready to give to every man that asketh a reason for the hope that is in them. Whence did Paul draw his arguments? “ Out of the Scriptures” ; because most of those he addressed were either Jews or proselytes, and accepted the Old Testament. It does not follow that in every case we should start just where he did. At Lystra and Athens he came in contact with heathen, who neither knew nor cared for the Jewish Scriptures. With them Paul himself began with the book of nature. Thus we learn how necessary it is to find some common ground on which we and those we would convince can stand together. II. A good sign of true faith in a Christian convert (verse 4). Nothing could be more natural nor wise. Loving the same objects, cherishing the same hopes, why should they not delight in each other’ s company? Those who are of one heart and aim need no precept to bring them together. Each is to the other as a magnet and a support. A common religious faith may be expected to lift above minor differences, and draw men into a common fold. In many things the educated and unlearned, the rich and poor, greatly differ in their tastes. But when Christ enters the heart, you see them forgetting differences and becoming a single spiritual family. Michael Faraday came to be honoured as “ a prince in the aristocracy of intellect.” And yet he never lost his interest in a little group of obscure Christians. These believers at Thessalonica consorted with Paul and Silas also for spiritual support and safety. For both these reasons we expect to see modern converts seeking membership in the Church. This is a good sign, and a good rule. III. The too common spirit and arts of opposers of the gospel. The Jews saw that Paul’ s teaching and influence were undermining theirs. Whether the teaching was true and the influence good they did not consider. Very few keep in mind how malignant envy can be. It was for envy that the Jews delivered Jesus to be crucified, and that Joseph was sold into bondage. Then note the arts of these opposers of the apostle. They took to themselves “ vile fellows of the rabble” --loungers, boys and men without occupation or sense of responsibility--and set them on. There are always ready tools of unscrupulous leaders. Just here is the greatest peril which now menaces society. Against them all good citizens should provide a safeguard, by pushing forward Christian work. In self-defence, if for no higher reason, we need to carry it to the homes and haunts and hearts of the lowest and worst. IV. A marked effect always to be expected from successful gospel work (verse 6). The words were meant in a bad sense. But unwittingly they tittered a great truth; paid the very highest possible compliment to the gospel. The faithful utterance of the gospel does produce strife, and our Saviour predicted that it would; for the simple reason that men are neither willing to submit to its claims nor to suffer others to do it. The gospel was meant to turn the world upside down; for in the world there is much that needs to be overturned. It is to the praise of the gospel that it tends to effect this. Before it vice slinks away; virtue lifts up its head; joy supplants sorrow; society is purer and safer; heaven begins here and now. Old things pass away; more and more all things become new. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)Paul at Thessalonica 1. Luke was evidently left at Philippi, where he might have a good deal of doctor’ s work to do. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus moved on. We wonder whether Paul will fight any more, or whether he will spend the remainder of his days in pious reflections; for a period is occupied in passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, where nothing was attempted. The fight seems to be over, and the smitten warriors are going home to anoint their wounds and wash their stripes in secret. But they came to Thessalonica, and, in the synagogue, Paul saw a battlefield, and instantly he stripped to the fight! We see now what he was looking for at the other places, and why he did not pause there. 2. “ And Paul, as his manner was, went in.” Paul was not an occasional attendant. Jesus Christ did not go now and then to the synagogue. It was a dull time to the early Christian when the Church was closed. Paul is here, as everywhere, the very model of a true Christian preacher. “ He reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” He did not talk something which he had invented; he had a Book, an authority, and he believed that every word he said was written for him by the pen and ink of Heaven. Once let that thought go, and preaching becomes vain. A sermon is great only as it begins, continues, and ends in the Scriptures. Then he crowns his ministry by enforcing a distinct personal appeal. “ This Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.” This was a sword with a point, a sermon with an accent. The preacher must have an object in view. Whatever Paul did was contributory to this great end. The difficulty with the Christian preacher is that nobody wants to hear his doctrine, but his particular way of putting it. I sat with reverence before the foremost judge of his day. His voice was feeble and indistinct; at times I had great difficulty in hearing him; but, oh, the anxiety not to miss one word! It was dry, it was argumentative, there was not a single flower of speech in the whole. Every one was there to hear what the judge would say, not how he said it. When a mumbling speaker reads a will, does anyone say anything about his manner? Each wants to know what he in particular is to get. Oh, could I persuade my hearers that I am reading the will of God, and that men were wise, that they understood these things! 3. Note the opposition which Christianity awakens. You may form a tolerable judgment as to the merits of a controversy by observing the way in which it is conducted. However quiet the town when the apostles entered it, they left it in a serious uproar. They came not to send peace on the earth, but a sword. Look at the opposition. It was-- (1) Little-minded. Where is the noble challenge to discuss a great question upon equal terms? How is Paul moved? By love. How is the opposition moved? By envy. (2) Unscrupulous. Any stick will do to beat a dog with. The Jews, who would not have spoken to those “ lewd fellows,” made use of them to put down this religion of the Cross. If they had not been “ lewd fellows,” etc., they would have seen that they were being made use of. How Envy can stoop to take up polluted weapons, and search in the mud for stones to throw at Goodness! There is nothing too despicable for it to use to express itself in denunciation and contempt and penalty. (3) Lawless. Never mind the dignity of the city, or the politarchs who reign over it magistrates cannot stand against an uprising city; they will either dismiss the case, or take bail, or do something to get out of it. So the opposition prosecutes its mission to the end. This is true of all opposition to the Christian cause. There may be an honest opposition to some special ways of representing it; but to its purity, its self-sacrifice, its nobleness, its purpose, there can be no honest opposition. Yet how the Lord makes the wrath of man to praise Him! What said the enemy? “ These that have turned the world upside down.” There! that is a tribute to their power. Even the Jews did not dare to call it “ a flash in the pan,” “ a nine days’ wonder.” They saw in it a world-exciting force, and we who are Christians become fearful just in proportion as we lose our conception of the grandeur of the cause which we have to handle. Then they become themselves again, “ saying that there is another king.” That is a lie! The apostles never said so, in the sense now put upon that word by their accusers, You can use the right words with a wrong meaning. We must not only speak the words of the gospel, we must speak them in gospel tones. Then the accusers proceeded to say, “ one Jesus.” There they were right. The apostles, then, had left no false or vague impression. Amid all the tumult, and uproar, and opposition, they had got this word well into the public memory--“ Jesus.” 4. Is this the end? It is hardly the beginning. The very first letter that Paul wrote was 1 Thessalonians What does he say to them? “ For our gospel came not unto you in word only,” etc. Paul spent at least three weeks in Thessalonica; how did he live during that time? He had no money; how did he live? How we ought to live--by working! How are you to live--by writing begging letters? This is how Paul lived (1 Thessalonians 2:9). These were not the men to be put down: they did not live on patronage. We now live on “ subscribers,” and therefore we do not live at all, and we breed a small race of men. Paul, Silvanus, Timotheus, fell to working, not eight hours a days and eight shillings for pay, but, according to the time bill, “ night and day.” “ Two hours longer, Silvanus,” said Paul, “ and this tent will be done. If we sit up till three o’ clock tomorrow morning, we shall just get bread enough to keep us going until the synagogue is open again.” These were not the men to be put down! 5. When they said good-bye to Thessalonica, was it a final adieu? Read 1 Thessalonians 2:17. They wanted to go back to the old battlefield. When anything occurs nowadays, we become suddenly “ not very well, and must go down to the seaside over Sunday.” We think it better to be out of the way. How did Paul view the people whom he had won there? Said he, “ For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye,” etc. These are the relations which Christianity would establish amongst us if we would allow it. Christianity would make a compact society of us--not living under formal rules, but under gracious inspiration. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Thessalonians are types of those-- I. Who reject truths because they are novel and unpalatable. The propositions that Paul laid down (verse 2) were novel and unpalatable, and therefore the Jews rejected them. How many today consider it a sufficient reason for rejecting a doctrine (whether of religion, politics, science, etc.) because they have never heard of it before! How many reject truths because they do not like to believe them! But we cannot by unbelief make a truth vanish, any more than we can put out the sun by winking. II. Who endeavour to silence opponents by force. The Jews could not confute Paul by argument, and therefore they stirred up a riot against him. This is still a popular method, though the force employed may be the more refined method of ostracism. A brickbat is not the only method that will break a head. III. Who stoop to base alliances to ensure their triumph. The Jews did not storm Jason’ s house, but “ market loungers,” whom they would not, on ordinary occasions, have touched with a stick, were enlisted. Not the only occasion on which professed defenders of religion have condescended to use dirty tools. IV. Who endeavour to overthrow opponents by misrepresentation (verses 6, 7). How clever was this misrepresentation, because there was so much truth in it. V. Who pursue a controversy with embittered malignity. (R. A. Bertram.)The Thessalonians and the Beroeans I. Reasoning from the Scriptures. From the change in the personal pronouns, and from 1 Thessalonians 3:6, it is evident that Luke and Timothy remained at Philippi to comfort and strengthen the new converts in the faith. Let us look at--1. Paul’ s journey (verse 1). Their road lay through a region rich in historic associations. The birthplace of Aristotle and the tomb of Euripides were close to their route. At one point, Xerxes had offered to the river Strymon a sacrifice of white horses, and had buried alive nine youths and maidens. At another they had in view the peaks of Ossa and Pelion, often pointed to with trembling superstition as the home of the gods. But the Christian heroism of Paul has done more to make the land live in the memory than all of its connection with famous classical names. 2. Paul’ s custom (verse 2). At Thessalonica he acted as though at Philippi he had received no treatment except that which was kind and encouraging. Paul counted his converts more than he did his stripes. All the effect was to make him “ wax bold” in his God. “ This one thing I do,” was Paul’ s motto. 3. Paul’ s reasoning (verse 3). After the crucifixion, the Saviour showed from the Scriptures that His sufferings and death were just what had been foretold. How did Paul show that it behoved Christ to suffer? Some of the passages must have been Psalms 22:1-31; Psalms 69:1-36 and Isaiah 53:1-12. Possibly he may have used the argument to be found in Hebrews 8:1-13; Hebrews 9:1-28; Hebrews 10:1-39. To a candid mind, the argument is convincing. 4. Paul’ s success. (1) With the Jews. Some became convinced that their conception of the Messiah has been wrong. They gave up their notion of a splendid temporal king to accept the lowly one of Nazareth and of Calvary. When anyone becomes a follower of the Saviour, he immediately begins to “ consort” with those who are of the same faith. He will be found with them in all Christian efforts. (2) With the Greeks. Those who had become worshippers of the true God were far more ready than the Jews. They did not have to give up the wrong conception of centuries. II. Rejecting the Scriptures.1. The assault (verse 5). (1) The cause. The Jews were jealous when they saw women of rank joining the new way. They saw their own influence being undermined. (2) The attack. Envy is a base passion, and does not hesitate to use base means. It was the same sort of crowd that now in a city can easily be gathered to smash in the windows of a mission church and maltreat its minister. (3) The arrest (verse 6). If they could not have the principals, they would have their abettors. (4) The complaint. What a testimony they incidentally bore to the work of Paul and Silas! The world had been wrong side up since sin had entered the garden of Eden, and now they were engaged in turning it once more right side up. (5) The result (verse 9). Shadowy as was the support for the complaint, the accusers succeeded in troubling the multitude and the rulers. But, as at Philippi, the action came too late to be of any avail. The Church already was planted, and the Epistles to the Thessalonians show how deeply it had taken root. III. Searching the Scriptures. At first it seems hard that the missionaries so soon should have been driven away. But that was God’ s way for the wider and more expeditious spreading of the gospel.1. Preaching the Word (verse 10). Scourged in Philippi, and nearly mobbed in Thessalonica, but just as ready to preach the Word in Beroea. 2. Searching the Word (verse 11). At Beroea the missionaries had a glimpse of sunshine. Here they found the Jews ready to receive the truth, but not without investigation. They took hold of the matter with zeal and thoroughness. The result was that many of them believed, not only Jews, but Greeks of rank and position. 3. Persecuted for the Word (verse 13). We see in this illustrations of-- (1) The intensity of the hatred of those who oppose the gospel. (2) The way in which God continually is using His enemies. They thought that they were stamping out the gospel, whereas they only were spreading it. (M. C. Hazard.)A tale of two cities Thessalonica was a large and powerful town; Beroea was a little village. The inhabitants of the one place were wealthy and educated; of the other, comparatively illiterate and poor. But the contrast is altogether to the advantage of the latter. I. The city that was upset. Philip of Macedon won a magnificent victory in Thessaly on the day he heard of the birth of his daughter, and instantly sent word that the child was to be called “ Thessalonica.” By and by she was married to Cassandra, who rebuilt the old town Therma, and then named it after his bride. 1. (verse 1). A new opportunity creates a fresh duty. Right through Amphipolis and Apollonia went these preachers, and not a sermon did they try to preach. Why? Because there was no synagogue; the synagogue of that region was at Thessalonica. When Paul reached so influential a centre, he seemed again to rouse himself to combat like an old soldier. 2. (verse 2). Every man can do good best after his own “ manner.” What a fine thing it is to have a habit of teaching Christ so as to have a “ manner.” How foolish it is to reproduce the method of others. 3. (verse 3). “ Christ and His Cross is all our theme.” Paul invariably showed that the Messiah must be born at a particular time, of the line of Judah, at a place predicted beforehand; that He must die and be buried, and must rise again from the dead. Then he set out to prove that Jesus had met all these requirements, and therefore must necessarily be the true Hope of the nation, and the only-begotten Son of God. This was his “ manner” (2 Corinthians 2:1-5). 4. (verse 4). Success in preaching must be estimated not by applause, but by conversions. On that day was founded the Church to which afterwards the two Epistles to the Thessalonians were written. Meantime Paul supported himself by working at his trade of tent making, preaching days, toiling nights (1 Thessalonians 2:9). 5. (verse 5). The wrath of man is often forced to praise God. Opposition intensified the friendship of adherents. It was easy to get up the nosiest crowd; but they only advertised them and strengthened their friends. 6. (verse 6). A wicked man’ s lie frequently contains the Christian man’ s motto. When infidels exclaimed, “ Yours is only a book religion,” the brave Chillingworth answered, “ The Bible is the religion of Protestants--the Bible only!” Thessalonica was upset from turret to foundation stone that day. II. The city that was set up. Notice-- 1. (verse 10). The indefatigable zeal of the early Christians. 2. (verse 11). The promising character of the fresh friends Paul and Silas made. (1) These people listened to the Word attentively.(2) They studied the Word assiduously.(3) They accepted the Word intelligently.(4) They believed the Word implicitly. 3. (verse 12). The excellent results of persistent study of the Scriptures. The word “ therefore” is intensive; they were ennobled by their conversion, and they were converted because they studied and believed (John 5:39). 4. (verse 13). Satan betrays the secret of his special hate. His friends journeyed all this tiresome distance merely because they knew the Word of God was going to be preached by those indefatigable apostles. The devil hates nothing so much in this world as the pure word of Divine truth in the Bible. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.) Acts 17:2-4 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them.Paul’ s ministry Notice-- I. The chief object of Christian faith. “ Jesus” --Saviour from sin, and fear, and hell, through the power of His sacrifice, and the prevalence of His intercession. “ Christ,” anointed by the Eternal Spirit, and set apart to kingly, prophetic, priestly office forever. No redeemer for man can be imagined of a nobler type, of a fuller efficiency Granted that redemption is necessary, then we have no choice of persons. “ There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” When the gospel began, Jesus Christ was the one object of faith, and He is so now. By no rearrangement of the materials of revelation, can you have a system of Christianity without Him. The central attractive power gone, the forces will strive with each other, and the motions will be incalculable. There is a throne; someone must sit on it. There is a gate; someone must stand at it to keep it open into the way that leadeth unto life. There is a peril towering high above all other dangers; we need someone to break it and roll it away, and there is no one but Christ. Never was demand more reasonable than this, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” II. The means used to produce faith are now the same. Our apostle met them on the Sabbath day--the day of rest, when they frequented the synagogue, and “ he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” We, too, open the Scriptures as our book of authority. It is the duty of those who set forth God’ s mind in the Scriptures, to “ reason” with men. The Greek word originally means to carry on an argument by way of dialogue. That was the apostolic method of serving Christ; not at all like that of putting on and off clothes, turning the back to the people, going up and down altar stairs. Different, too, from that of the strong doctrinal dogmatist, who asserts and does not “ reason.” To preach Christ is to “ reason out of the Scriptures,” and, in a secondary degree, out of the great book of human life and experience, and also out of the great book of material nature; but in any case it is to “ reason,” to lay out the matter as it seems to ourselves, to press it home upon all whom it concerns; to remonstrate, expostulate, entreat, and then to leave the issue with God. III. Along what line the reasoning usually went towards proving that Jesus is Christ. Paul “ opened” the Scriptures, that is, brought out the hidden yet real meanings concerning the promised Messiah, and then “ alleged” that the real Messiah must be a sufferer, and not a splendid Monarch attended with all kinds of visible success. But also a risen Lord, having power over death and life; and from all this came the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth is Christ. Each age has its own thoughts and doubts; and the real preachers for any age are those who deal with its thoughts fairly, and dispel its doubts by light of truth and breath of love--but all this with a view to the manifestation and exaltation of Him in whom God is “ well pleased,” and to whom, in His “ lifting up,” all men will at length be drawn. IV. The faith is the same now as then. The faith as a feeling, the conviction that is rooted in knowledge, and yet goes deeper than knowledge, that is founded on evidence, but which is itself evidence; for “ faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” “ I know whom I have believed.” Faith is produced by different means, but the precious result is the same faith--faith in Christ, the Sufferer, the Death-destroyer, the Life-giver, the Redeemer of all trusting men. The same feeling. Is this an objection or an offence? It is a great commendation of it. This common faith of the common heart is the historic something that continues through the ages. Systems of government and thought have been forming and vanishing away; civilisations have arisen and have perished; but here is a secret something which has been running along the ages, the line of which has been human hearts, the power of which has appeared resurgent, after all calamities, and which seems destined to run on to the end of time. “ May I share in this feeling?” “ Yes.” “ Then by God’ s grace I will!” V. The outward result of this faith is the same. “ They were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas,” and with the other Christian people who were all drawn together by their common faith. Yet now there is rather a largo escape from this. The fish are in the net and held securely there, but somehow they do not get landed. Relievers are made, but somehow a good many of them do not consort, rather take pains, some of them, to let it be known that they do not. Many who really are believers in Christ, do not enter any Christian Church. But--1. It must always be good to “ consort” with good men. 2. It must always be good to be associated as closely as possible with a good cause, and Christianity is unquestionably the greatest cause in the world. 3. It must always be good to escape from an equivocal position. To believe in One for life and death, who is not confessed, whatever excuses and explanations may be given, must be more or less equivocal. 4. It must always be good to remove a little farther from danger; and the shelter, the nourishment, the inspiration of a Church is, as far as it goes, a real safety; it helps in many ways, it ought to hinder in none. 5. It must always be good to obey Divine commandment, and as a Church is a Divine institution, connection with a Church must be the fulfilment of a Divine obligation. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)An ancient pattern for modern times This is quite an old world, and it is a long time since men and women began to try to find out how the great things in human life should be done, and how to make the best of everything. Many struggles, many failures, have no doubt, been experienced; but there has been, after all, a wonderful survival of the fittest, the best, on the whole. The result is, that there are very few really new things left for us to discover. For the most part, it is practically old things in a new dress--ancient patterns wrought out in modern forms. What wonder, then, if the modern Church of Christ should find her best example of work, and faith in the Church, ministers, and people, in the New Testament histories! I desire to call your attention now to Paul and his hearers, as giving to us a good example in these latter days. I. We have an example of keeping the Sabbath and using it for Divine worship. “ Paul, as his manner [custom] was, went in upon them,” and joined in their worship. This worship of God springs out of the religious wants and instincts of the human soul; develops, strengthens, and perfects the aspirations of the soul in its following hard after God, things unseen and eternal. This we all much need. For six days in the week, the rule is, that our time and energies are centred in the struggle for existence and well being, amid things material and transient. It is hard work, too, to rule over the earth, and all that is therein, and have some true dominion over it, as, indeed, we ought to have. But when we have done that for six days, and the seventh day comes, and we rest from world ruling and training, as God rested from His world making--when this Sabbath of the Lord, this Sabbath made for man, has come, what are we to do with it, how use it? Paul and Silas, and the Jews, give us an example. Go to the synagogue, the meeting house, where God meets with His people, and they meet with Him. Go to the synagogue, where God is, and is worshipped by song, by prayer, by all reverent speech and thought, and so shall we attain principles and inspirations for godly living, which will give high, noble meaning, and resolute purpose to our entire lives. II. We have an example of the general object, on which our thoughts should be especially fixed in our seasons of worship. It is God in Christ. God as revealed in Christ. Paul opened and alleged certain things concerning Christ. To him, Jesus Christ was God--God manifest in the flesh, in the form of a servant, and the fashion of a man. In Christ God was revealed in a new and wonderful form, uniting Himself with man as man, and lifting men up to a blessed union and fellowship with Himself. As a name, “ Jesus the Christ” is the best translation of what God is to man, and for man. “ Jesus” means “ the Saviour,” and there is an immensity of meaning in that when you consider the innumerable evils to body and soul for time, and in the far-off eternity, to which sinful men are deservedly and justly exposed. “ The Christ” means “ the anointed.” Christ was set apart as Prophet to interpret and reveal the thoughts and love, and eternal purposes of God in the forms of human speech, life, suffering, and death--the form of a man, intelligible to all men everywhere. He was anointed--set apart as Priest--to appear in the presence of God for us, the sinful; and in the form of a man, through the Eternal Spirit, offer Himself in sacrifice for us, and obtain eternal redemption for us by His own blood. He was the anointed King, to rule over the new kingdom of grace and righteousness, to rule till all enemies to Him and to us shall be put under His foot. III. We have an example of the best means of fixing our thoughts on Christ; securing clear conceptions concerning Him, and certitude of faith in Him. Paul “ reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Reason in man is the apex of his spiritual nature--the point at which he touches the infinite in God, and the infinite in God touches and enters into finite man. Man is rational, because he is spiritual in living relation to God, who is a Spirit. He reasoned with them; he appealed to them by facts, by illustrations, by arguments, by principles, that they might know, understand, and believe the truth which he had to proclaim as a rational message from Jesus Christ to them and to all men. He “ reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” When we reason, we commence from things which are admitted as true in fact, or in principle, on both sides, and then proceed to show that something else must also be true, on the ground of what has been already admitted. Paul and his hearers had things believed in common. Gods Moses, the prophets, the Scriptures as the veracious history of God’ s thought and purpose in the past ages. He got the premises, grounds, foundations of his arguments, his syllogisms, in the records of God’ s thoughts and deeds, as he reasoned with them to prove that Jesus is the Christ, and that their instant duty was to believe on Him and obey Him as their Saviour King. So it must be still, from the sacred Scriptures, from human experience, that the true preacher must reason, and by reason and reasoning convince the gainsayers, convert the careless, and lead the inquirer to faith in the Lord Jesus. IV. We have an example of what the result should be in those who are hearers of the gospel testimony. “ Some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas.” They believed, that is, they were persuaded by Paul’ s reasonings from Scriptures, and from facts well known and supported by reasonable evidence. In faith their minds looked out and up and saw the real Christ--the Saviour, King--and began, like Paul, to “ count all things but loss for Him.” Precious faith! for it sees Christ, embraces Christ, and, as such, is the root principle of the new life. But having believed, you see, they consorted with Paul and Silas. Man is social. Our very nature compels us to consort with one another. The means of this are doubtless very various. But, this sorting out and consorting of different classes for different purposes, are the strongest, most lasting, when the assortment arises from one faith, one love, one hope, one final end. But those are all found in Christian men and women whose one master faith is God in Christ; whose one controlling master love is God; whose one master inspiration in the darkest hour is the eternal hope of glory; and whose final end is “ to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” (Prof. Wm. Taylor.)The force of habit Our outward deportment becomes a matter of habit. When a man has become accustomed to any particular course, he cannot avoid acting upon it. Paul could no more have stayed away from the synagogue than he could have given up his food. So there ought to be a principle, made our own by custom, which shall absolutely lead us in the right way with a force which cannot be resisted. And this fact should especially remind us of the duty which we owe to those whom we have in charge. Habits imbibed in youth may affect the happiness and eternal welfare of the child. Observe the importance of-- I. The habit of personal devotion. II. The habit of practical almsgiving. III. The habit of contemplative observation. IV. The habit of self-examination. V. The habit of looking to the future rather than the present--that is, of weighing every circumstance, every event, every trial, every sorrow, every prosperity, in the light of eternity. (Homilist.)Paul’ s custom It was Paul’ s custom-- I. To go to church. He didn’ t drop in now and then “ to hear the new minister,” or remain away because it was “ too pleasant to stay at home.” II. To do his part when he went to church. There is no record of his declining to take a class in Sunday school because it interfered with the hour of his Sunday dinner. III. When he went to church to talk and think about Christ--and he probably found something more practical to do between services than to stand around the church doors and talk about the state of the crops. IV. To speak out--and he didn’ t wait until he could find exactly what style of preaching would best suit the Church at Thessalonica, and shape his sermons accordingly. V. To speak everywhere of a suffering Saviour. It was Paul’ s custom to suffer anything for that Saviour; it was Paul’ s custom to make his creed and his deeds correspond. (S. S. Times.)Reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.--The use of reason in religion There hath been an opinion too hastily taken up, and too warmly maintained by some, that reason is very little to be hearkened to in matters of religion; that we are to believe nothing but what is expressly taught us in the Word of God, and that we are not to draw consequences from Scripture, and to make them the articles of our faith, but most strictly confine ourselves to the very language of Holy Writ, and admit of no doctrines but what are there in so many words and syllables delivered. Now, true it is that the Scriptures are the adequate rule of our faith; but then it is not also true, nor by us confessed, that nothing is to be looked upon as taught us in Scripture but what is there in so many words delivered. It is the doctrine of our Church that “ the Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to our salvation; so that nothing is to be required of any man to be believed as an article of faith, which is not read therein, or which may not be proved thereby.” This disjunction would be unnecessary if there were not some things which, though they are not read therein, may yet be proved thereby. What is rightly inferred from the Scriptures doth as much challenge our assent as what is literally delivered in the Scriptures. I. I am to prove this doctrine from the authority and example of Christ and his apostles. Christ and His apostles often make use of reasoning, both for the establishment of those truths which they taught, and for the confutation of those errors which they opposed. When the tempter took up our Saviour “ into an exceeding high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” etc. (Matthew 4:8-9; Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 5:16). Now these reasonings of our Saviour against His worshipping Satan, and throwing Himself down, are inconclusive if we may not argue from Scripture, and if we must admit of nothing as taught therein which is not there set down in express words, since neither is it said in the former of these texts, that Satan is not to be worshipped, nor in the latter that Christ might not throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. When the Sadducees put captious questions to our Saviour about the resurrection of the dead, He showed the weakness of their objections against it by proving to them that the doctrine by them opposed was taught by Moses, whose authority they did not, and could not, dispute (Matthew 22:31-32). But if those who are against all reasoning from Scripture, who will admit of nothing but what is directly therein contained, had been in the place of the Sadducees, they would not so easily have yielded to our Saviour’ s argument; they would have rejected this testimony from Moses as not direct, and would have required a more formal and plain proof. The apostles, in their writings, follow the steps of their Lord and Master, and prove the truths of the gospel against the Jews, who gainsayed them, not from any passages in the Old Testament in which the gospel truths are expressly and in so many words laid down, but by arguments and reasons drawn from the writings of Moses and the prophets. Thus St. Peter (Acts 3:22) proves the coming of Christ from those words of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), and His resurrection (Acts 2:27) from that place of the Psalms (Psalms 10:10). After the same manner St. Paul (Romans 4:7) proves that we are justified, not by the law, but by grace, from those words of the Psalmist (Psalms 32:1). He proves (Romans 9:33) the rejection of the Jews from the prophecy of Isaiah. (Isaiah 28:16), and the vocation of the Gentiles (Romans 9:25), from Hosea’ s having brought in God, saying (Hosea 2:23). This way of arguing he at all times, and in all parts of his writings, makes use of; from those truths which are expressly read in Scripture, by the laws of reasoning he infers other doctrines which are not there formerly read, but which do from them follow, and are therefore in them virtually contained. Now it is evident, and on all hands acknowledged, that this assertion, “ Jesus is the Christ,” is nowhere laid down in these very words throughout the writings of the Old Testament. Moses and the Prophets do indeed bear witness to Him, but in the testimony they give they nowhere formally declare that Jesus is the Christ. How, then, could the apostles demonstrate this proposition from their writings? Do they not refer us to such passages in the prophets from whence this doctrine, which is not in express words asserted, is by right reasoning regularly deduced? From the several parts of the Old Testament, compared one with another, they form the character of the Messiah, and then they prove that this character did truly belong to that Jesus whom they affirmed to be the Messiah. This method of proving St. Luke has expressed in very proper and apposite words, when he tells us that St. Paul “ reasoned out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging.” The apostle first opened to them the sense of the prophets, explained their words, and when he had thus shown what their scope was, he did then apply the prophesies thus explained to the person, doctrine, and works of Jesus; he compared the predictions with the events, the shadows with the bodies, the figures with the things prefigured; so that by this method the truth of the gospel which they preached was irrefragably demonstrated. Since, therefore, this way of arguing was made use of by Christ and His apostles, we must acknowledge that those things are rightly proved out of Scripture which do evidently follow from the doctrines taught in Scripture, though they are not in so many words anywhere to be found in the Word of God. And as we have the example of Christ and His apostles warranting us, so we have their commands enjoining us to make use of this method of reasoning. Our Saviour bids the Jews (John 5:39) to search the Scriptures, not barely to consult them, but to compare them; not only to find what they expressly, but what they implicitly taught; not only to read what was plainly said in them, but to discover what might manifestly be deduced from them. The Holy Scriptures would not be so perfect a rule of faith or manners, of what we ought to believe and do, as they are if we were left to judge of either only by what we are there in so many words expressly taught, and might not use our own reasons to infer from them some necessary truths, and some important duties which are there, though not in terms delivered. He would be thought very ridiculous who should plead his being under no obligation from the Scripture to obey the lawful commands of a sovereign princess, because, though he is there required to honour the king, he nowhere reads that he is to honour the queen, and that man is equally absurd who hath no better reason for the denial of a Trinity than that he nowhere finds She word “ Trinity” in the Scriptures, though the doctrine by that word signified is therein contained. II. But against what hath been delivered it may be urged that if we thus give a firm assent to any truths which are not plainly and expressly taught in Scripture, but are only inferred from thence by our own reason, then we make our faith to depend, not upon the word of God, but upon our own reason. But it might as well be urged that when St. Paul sayeth (Romans 10:17) that “ faith cometh by hearing,” we make our faith to depend, not upon the testimony of God, but upon the sense of hearing. The ear is that organ or instrument by which we perceive the Word of God preached to us; but the authority of God is that ground or reason upon which we believe the Word of God which we hear. So our reason, or our understanding, is that faculty by which we perceive and know what things are taught us in Scripture: by that we understand the sense and meaning of what is there revealed; but it is the authority of God, who inspired the penmen of Holy Writ, and who by the guidance of this Holy Spirit secured them from error, upon which we found our belief of what, by the use of our reason, we discover to be by them taught. Those who ascribe thus much and no more than this to reason demand only the liberty of opening their own eyes, and of seeing the wonderful things of God’ s law; they do not pretend that it is given to them to reveal any new truths to mankind, nor do they usurp an unwarrantable power of framing new articles of faith. All that they demand or ask is, that the right of making use of their own faculties, which is given to everyone by nature, and by the God of nature, may not be denied to them. There is no need that a man should be a prophet, or that he should have any extraordinary capacities of mind, or illuminations of the Spirit, to understand that the same Scriptures which teach him that all men have sinned do consequentially teach him that he is a sinner, or that the Word of God, which doth expressly deny that any “ shall perish who believe in Christ,” doth at the same time virtually pronounce that if he believes he shall not perish. But those who are against all reasoning from Scripture will again ask how can we be sure that the consequences which we draw from Scripture are just and regular? For may not our reason misguide us? And may we not, through mistake, infer such doctrines from Scripture which do by no means follow from it? And if we may be mistaken, why should we venture to believe anything which we think follows from Scripture, but which after all perhaps does not follow? Now, if this reasoning is good, there is an end of all certainty, not only in those inferences which are made from Scripture, and which are levelled against by this sort of arguing, but also in those things which are plainly and expressly taught in Scripture. Men have been mistaken in their judgments concerning things formally delivered in the Word of God. But will it not be said that, if there is any occasion for our drawing inferences from Scripture, then it is plain that the Scriptures are not so easy and clear as they are by the Protestants generally said to be? If we must not only believe what we read in Scripture, but what can be proved from thence, then none will be able to know what is taught in Scripture but such as have skill in drawing consequences; and at this rate we must be skilled in logic before we can pretend to “ understand the Scriptures.” To this I answer that those are very much mistaken who think that we, who maintain the perspicuity of the Scriptures, do assert them to be so easy, as that there should be no use of our rational faculties rightly to understand them. What St. Peter (2 Peter 3:16) saith of the Epistles of St. Paul, we believe of other parts of Holy Writ, that “ there are some things in them hard to be understood,” and we do not contend that everything therein delivered is suited to the apprehensions of all readers, but only that those things, which all are indispensably bound to know for their soul’ s health, are by all, upon the use of due diligence, intelligible. And even as to those truths which are necessarily to be known in order to our everlasting salvation, we do not affirm that wherever they are delivered in Scripture they are expressed in such terms as to leave no room for a mistake; but that somewhere or other in Holy Writ, they are so expressed that it must be our own fault if we do not rightly apprehend them. We believe, for instance, that the incarnation of Christ, His passion, and resurrection are taught by the prophets as well as by the apostles; but we do not believe that they are so explicitly and fully revealed by the prophets as by the apostles. What is obscurely hinted in the Old Testament is manifestly explained in the New. And when we affirm that the Scriptures are in some points thus intelligible by all Christians, we do not pretend that they may be understood without attention, diligence, and inquiry; but that we may be capable of knowing their sense with the use of these, and other proper methods of gaining instruction. Some truths indeed are written in so large characters that he that runs may read them; but for the discovery of other truths revealed in Scripture, the words by which they are conveyed to our understandings are to be carefully weighed, the sense of them to be nicely and accurately inquired into; all passions and prejudices that may any ways bias our judgments are to be laid aside. In the understanding of such truths as these, there being more room for mistake, there is more occasion for our caution, and the way which we are to go being more intricate, it will be proper for us to take in the assistance of a guide. What of ourselves we could not discover, we may be able to perceive when discovered to us by others, in which case we do not implicitly follow the judgment of those whom we consult, but have our own judgments informed by theirs; we do not see with other men’ s eyes, but those truths which before were obscure to us, are by others, of greater penetration than ourselves, placed in so clear a light that we may now plainly perceive them with our own eyes; we do not in such a ease follow our instructors, as blind men do their guides, trusting to their guidance without seeing which way they go; but we make such use of them as persons in the dark do of those who carry a light before them to show them the way and to direct their paths. (Bp. Smalridge.)Rational preaching I. Paul usually proved the truth of the doctrines which he taught. He did not desire his hearers to believe without evidence. He commended the Bereans, for searching the Scriptures, to see whether his doctrines were agreeable to that standard. In order to reason clearly upon the truth of a proposition, it is often necessary to explain it, to produce arguments in support of it, to answer objections against it. By Paul’ s proving the doctrines which he taught, we are to understand his reasoning upon them in this manner. This will appear in respect to a variety of subjects upon which he preached. He reasoned plainly and forcibly upon--1. The existence of God (verses 23-29; Romans 1:20).2. The Divine sovereignty (Romans 9:1-33).3. Total depravity (Romans 2:3).4. Here it was Christ’ s sufferings, death, and resurrection.5. The resurrection and future state (1 Corinthians 15:1-58). When Paul preached before Felix, “ he reasoned” so that “ Felix trembled.” Immediately after he was converted he preached Christ, and reasoned so that he confounded the Jews. After he came to Corinth he “ reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” At length he came to Ephesus, where he reasoned with the Jews, “ disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.” II. Why he made this his common practice.1. Because he meant to preach the gospel intelligibly to persons of all characters and capacities, and he knew that in order to do this it was necessary to explain its doctrines, to prove them to be true, that they might be believed; and to answer objections, that the mouths of gainsayers might be stopped. 2. Because he meant to preach profitably, as well as plainly. It is only through the medium of the understanding and the conscience that preachers can affect the hearts of the hearers. Improvement:1. It appears from Paul’ s usual mode of preaching that he was a metaphysical preacher. For, in the first place, he usually preached upon metaphysical subjects, which required the exercise of the highest reasoning powers of man--the existence, the perfections, the sovereignty of God, the free agency of man under a Divine agency, the divinity and atonement of Christ, the nature of holiness, etc., etc.; and he preached upon them metaphysically, that is, he reasoned upon them. He did not merely declaim upon them; but he explained them, proved them, and refuted the most plausible objections ever made against them. Let any minister, at this day, commonly preach upon the same subjects, and in the same manner that Paul did, and he will be called a metaphysical preacher, by those who are pleased with such a different mode of preaching. And we must allow that they are perfectly correct. 2. If Paul preached in such a manner, then none have any good reason to speak reproachfully of his manner of preaching. (1) Some may say that Christ did not preach metaphysically, but only taught plain, practical doctrines, without reasoning upon them; and therefore ministers should follow his example. Answer: There is reason to think that Paul felt his obligation to follow the example of Christ, as much as any preacher ever did. And so far as he deviated from Christ’ s example in preaching, he acted from pure and proper motives. And it is easy to see a good reason why Christ did not undertake to prove the doctrines He taught, for He taught as one having authority that none ought to dispute. But neither Paul nor any other human preacher is clothed with such authority. (2) Some may say that those who preach upon the same subjects in the same manner that Paul did, do not preach plainly and practically; and therefore are unprofitable preachers. But if Paul was a plain and profitable preacher, why should not those be? And who indeed, generally preach the most plainly and successfully? No man ever preached like metaphysical Paul. 3. If Paul, for good reasons, adopted the very best mode, then no other reason can be assigned for disliking it, but a dislike to the doctrines, which his mode of preaching exhibits in the clearest and strongest light. 4. If Paul preached plainly, in order to preach profitably, then other ministers ought to preach plainly, for the same purpose. Paul’ s plain preaching offended and disaffected many of his hearers. But this did not prevent his preaching plainly; for his design in preaching was not to please men, but to profit them, and please God (Galatians 1:6-10). 5. If ministers ought to preach plainly and profitably, as Paul did, then people ought to approve of their preaching in such a manner, though it be not pleasing to their natural hearts. People have no right to desire preachers to seek to please them simply, but they ought to desire them to seek to save them. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Opening and alleging. Paul’ s treatment of the Old Testament He treated it as a nut. He broke the shell, opened out the kernel, and presented it as food to the hungry. The Jews were like little children who had a fruit tree in their garden, their father’ s legacy. The children had gathered the nuts as they grew, and laid them up with reverence in a storehouse; but they knew not how to break open the shell, and so reach the kernel for food. Paul acts the part of elder brother to their little ones. He skilfully pierces the crust and extracts the fruit, and divides it among them. The passage, e.g., that Philip found the Ethiopian reading on the road, or the second psalm, he opened, and from it brought Christ. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Devout Greeks,…chief women,…Jews which believed not.--Why Gentiles and women became converts more easily than Jews The inveterate obstinacy of the Jews contrasted sadly with the ready conversion of the Gentiles, and especially of women, who in all ages have been more remarkable than men for religious earnestness, is a phenomenon which constantly recurs in the early history of Christianity. Nor is this wholly to be wondered at. The Jew was at least in possession of a religion which raised him to a height of moral superiority above his Gentile contemporaries; but the Gentile of this day had no religion at all worth speaking of. If the Jew had more and more mistaken the shell of ceremonialism for the precious truths of which that ceremonialism was but the integument, he was at least conscious that there were deep truths which lay enshrined behind the observances which he so fanatically cherished. But on what deep truths could the Greek woman rest, if her life were pure, and her thoughts elevated above the ignorant domesticism which was the only recognised virtue of her sex? What comfort was there for her in the cold grey eyes of Athene, or the stereotyped smile of the voluptuous Aphrodite? And when the Thessalonian Greek raised his eyes to the dispeopled heaven of the Olympus, which towered over the blue gulf on which his city stood--when his imagination could no longer place the throne of Zeus, and the session of his mighty deities, on that dazzling summit where Cicero had remarked with pathetic irony that he saw nothing but snow and ice--what compensation could he find for the void left in his heart by a dead religion? By adopting circumcision he might become, as it were, a Helot of Judaism; and to such a sacrifice he was not tempted. But the gospel which Paul preached had no esoteric doctrines, and no supercilious exclusions, and no repellent ceremonials; it came with a Divine Example, and a free gift to all, and that free gift involved all that was most precious to the troubled and despondent soul. No wonder, then, that the Church at Thessalonica was mainly Gentile, as is proved by 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:14, and by the total absence of any Old Testament allusion in both Epistles. (Archdeacon Farrar.)But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy.--The spirit of envy Alas! for this spirit of envy and jealousy coming down through the ages. Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Saul and David, Haman and Mordecai, Othello and Iago, Orlando and Angelica, Caligula and Torquatus, Caesar and Pompey, Columbus and the Spanish courtiers, Cambyses and the brother he slew because he was a better marksman, Dionysius and Philoxenius whom he slew because he was a better singer. Jealousy among painters. Closterman and Geoffrey Kneller, Hudson and Reynolds. Francis anxious to see a picture of Raphael, Raphael sends him a picture. Francis, seeing it, falls in a fit of jealousy, from which he dies. Jealousy among authors. How seldom contemporaries speak of each other! Xenophon and Plato living at the same time, but from their writings you would never suppose they had heard of each other. Religious jealousies. The Mohammedans praying for rain during a drought, no rain coming. Then the Christians began to pray for rain, and the rain comes. Then the Mohammedans met together to account for this, and they resolved that God was so well pleased with their prayers He kept the drought on so as to keep them praying; but that the Christians began to pray, and the Lord was so disgusted with their prayer that He sent rain right away, so He would not hear any more of their supplication! Oh! this accursed spirit of envy and jealousy. Let us stamp it out from all our hearts. A wrestler was so envious of Theagenes, the prince of wrestlers, that he could not be consoled in any way, and after Theagenes died and a statue was lifted to him in a public place, his envious antagonist went out every night and wrestled with the statue, until, one night, he threw it, and it fell on him and crushed him to death. So jealousy is not only absurd, but it is killing to the body, and it is killing to the soul. (T. De Witt Talmage.) Acts 17:6 These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.The world turned upside down This is just an old version of an oft-repeated story. It was laid to the charge of our Master that He was a stirrer of sedition, whereas He had refused to be a king, for He said, “ My kingdom is not of this world” ; yet was He crucified under the two false charges of sedition and blasphemy. The same thing occurred with the apostles. This plan was followed afterwards. There was never a calamity befell Rome but the multitude cried, “ The Christians to the lions! The Christians have done this.” And to this day the world still lays its ills at the door of the Christians. Was it not the foolish cry that the great massacre and mutiny in India was caused by the missionaries? But the calumny is too idle to need a refutation. Can it be true, that He whose gospel is love should be the fomenter of disturbance? Did He not Himself pay tribute, and have not His followers at all times been a peaceful generation?--save only and except where the liberty of their conscience was touched. But still, as there is many a true word spoken in jest, so there is many a true word spoken in malice. Christ’ s gospel does turn the world upside down. It was the wrong way upwards before, and now that the gospel is preached, and when it shall prevail, it will just set the world right by turning it upside down. See this-- I. In the world at large. As regards--1. Character. In the esteem of men, the kingdom of heaven is something like this. High there on the summit sits the great philosopher, the immensely intellectual man. Just below him there is a class--not quite so skilled, but still exceeding wise--who look down at those who stand at the base as the ignoble multitude who know nothing at all. A little lower down, we come to those who seldom will be taught, because they in their own opinion know all there is to be learned. Then after them come a still larger number, who are exceeding wise in worldly wisdom. Lower still are those who have just a respectable amount of knowledge; and then at the very basement are the fool and the babe. How wide the distinction between the simpleton who forms the base, and the wise man who stands resplendent at the apex of the pyramid! Now, see how Christ turns the world upside down. “ Except ye be converted, and become as little children,” etc. “ God hath chosen the poor of this world,” etc. If you wish to see the world turned upside down to perfection, turn to Matthew 5:1-48. (1) “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Now, we like a man who has an ambitious spirit, and also a man who has a very fair opinion of himself. But Christ just turns that upside down. The men who have no strength of their own, but look for all to Christ; who seek not to lift their heads above their fellows; who, if they be great, have greatness thrust upon them, but never seek it the world says they are soft; but Christ puts those on the top whom the world puts at the bottom. (2) There is another lot who are always mourning. They do not let you see it often, but they mourn for their own sin, and then for the sin of the times. The world says they are a moping, melancholy set; but Christ turns the world upside down, and those whom you think to be sorrowful, are the very ones who are to rejoice. Yes, worldling, your joy is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. It blazeth a little, and maketh a great noise: it is soon done with. But “ light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” You cannot see the light now, because it is sown. But when Christ comes to turn the world upside down, they shall be comforted. (3) Then there is another race called “ the meek.” I know a man who never feels happy unless he has a lawsuit. A slight affront he would not easily forget. Now the meek are of a very different disposition. They do not put themselves into a passion on a slight affront, for they know that all men are imperfect, and therefore think that perhaps their brother made a mistake. They are quite content to bear and forbear, and put up with a thousand injuries rather than inflict one, though people say, “ Such a man as that will never get on; he will always be taken in; he has no strength of mind.” Ay, but Christ turns it upside down, and He says, “ Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Is not that provoking to you graspers, you high-spirited people? you do it in order that you may inherit the earth: see how Christ spites you, and treads your wisdom under feet. After all, the best way to get our rights is to let them alone. The safest way to defend your character is never to say a word about it. Our enemies cannot hurt us, unless we hurt ourselves. (4) Do you see that gentleman who attends church, reads his Bible, and has family prayers? It is true that he is hard upon his labourers, and exacting at times in his payments; but does justice to all men. This man is on very good terms with himself; and compliments himself on being a very excellent person. If you speak to him about his state before God, he says, that if he does not go to heaven nobody will; for he pays twenty shillings in the pound, and no one can find any fault with his character. Don’ t you envy him? Well, now, do you see Standing at the back of the church there a poor woman? She dares not speak in the presence of respectable persons; but we gather thus much from her: She has lately found out that she is full of sin, and she desires to know what she must do to be saved. The man stands at the top of the ladder, and this poor woman at the bottom. Now just see the gospel process--the world turned upside down. “ Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (5) “ Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” The merciful are not much respected in this world; the man who forgives too much, or who is too generous, is not considered to be wise. But Christ declares that he who has been merciful shall obtain mercy. (6) “ Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” The world says, “ Blessed is the man who indulges in a gay life.” (7) And now look at the ninth verse. You walk through London, and there, in another place, a duke, a mighty man of war. But Christ says, “ Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God.” Here is the world turned upside down. The warrior with his garment stained in blood is put into the ignoble earth, to die and rot; but the peacemaker is lifted up, and God’ s crown of blessing is put round about his head. (8) We find a race who have always been hated, about whom He says, “ Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The whole of these beatitudes are just in conflict with the world’ s opinion. 2. Maxims. “ It was said by them of old time, eye for eye and tooth for tooth; but I say unto you, resist not evil.” “ Whosoever would sue thee at the law and take thy cloak, let him take thy coat also.” “ If any man smite thee on the one cheek, turn unto him the other also.” “ It has been said by them of old time, love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy” ; but Jesus Christ said, “ Let love be unto all men.” We are told that it is good to a man to make himself rich, but Christ called a certain rich man “ Thou fool!” You would have made an Alderman of him or a Lord Mayor. 3. Religious notions. The world’ s religion is--“ Do, and thou shalt live” ; Christ’ s religion is--“ Believe and live.” We will have it, that if a man be righteous, sober, upright, he shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but Christ says--This thou oughtest to have done; but still, not this can ever cleanse thee. II. In the heart. Man is a little world, and what God does in the outer world, He does in the inner. If any of you would be saved, your hearts must be turned upside down.1. Your judgment. Cannot many of you say that which you now believe to be the truth of God is very far opposed to your former carnal notions? 2. Your hopes. They used to be all for this world. If you could but get rich, he great and honoured, you would be happy! Now your hopes are not on earth; for where your treasure is, there must your heart be also. 3. Your pleasures. You loved the tavern once; you hate it now. You hated God’ s house once; it is now your much-loved habitation. The song, the Sunday newspaper, the lewd novel--all these were sweet to your taste; but you have burned the books that once enchanted you, and now the Bible is read and delighted in. The Sabbath was once the dullest day of the week. There are some of you who once loved nothing better than the theatre. You seek now the gathering of the righteous. 4. Your house. Look over the mantelpiece. There is a vile daub of a picture there, and the subject is worse than the style of the thing. But when the man follows Jesus he takes that down, and gets a print of some good old subject representing something Biblical. There is a pack of cards and a cribbage board in the cupboard; he turns them out, and instead he puts there good literature. The children say, “ Father is so altered.” He used to come home drunk, and the children used to run upstairs; and now little John and little Sarah sit at the window and watch till he comes home, He used to teach them to sing “ Begone, dull care,” or something worse; now he tells them of “ Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.” A jolly set of companions he used to have come to see him on a Sunday afternoon; but that is all done with. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Revolution The world is wrong-side up, and it needs to be turned upside-down in order that it may be right-side up. The time was when men wrote “ Apologies for Christianity.” I hope that day has passed. We want no more apologies for Christianity. We do not mean to make any compromise in the matter. We do not wish to hide the fact that Christianity is revolutionary, and that its tendency is to turn the world upside-down. Our religion has often been misrepresented as though it were a refined imbecility; a spiritual chloroform. The Bible, so far from this, represents it as ransacking and upsetting ten thousand things that now seem to be settled on firm foundations. I hear some man say: “ I thought religion was peace.” That is the final result. A man’ s arm is out of place. Two men come, and with great effort put it back in the socket. It goes back with great pain. Then it gets well. Our world is horribly disordered and out of joint. It must come under an omnipotent surgery, beneath which there will be pain and anguish before there can come perfect health and quiet. The religion of the Bible will make a revolution-- I. In the family. Those things that are wrong will be overthrown by it, while justice and harmony will take their place. The husband will be head of the household only when he is fit to be. If the wife have more of all that is right, she shall have the supremacy. There is no human or Divine law that makes a woman subordinate to a man unworthy of her. As religion comes in at the front door, mirth and laughter will not go out at the back door. John will laugh just as loud; and George will jump higher than he ever did before. It will establish a family altar. Hannah will rear her Samuel for the temple; a Mary and Martha, and Lazarus will gather in fraternal and sisterly affection in a home in which Jesus dwells. The religion of Jesus will overthrow all jealousies, all janglings; and peace, and order, and holiness will take possession of the home. II. In commercial. Circles. Find fifty merchants, and you find fifty standards of what is right and wrong. You say to someone about a merchant, “ Is he honest? Oh yes, but he grinds the faces of his clerks; or he exaggerates the value of his goods,” etc. Ah! there is but one standard of the everlastingly right and wrong, and that is the Bible; and when that principle shall get its pry under our commercial houses, one half of them will go over. “ What is the matter? Has there been a fall in gold?” “ No.” “ Has there been a new tariff?” “ No.” “ Has there been a failure in crops?” “ No.” “ Has there been an unaccountable panic?” “ No.” The Lord has set up His throne of judgment in the exchange. What was 1837? What was 1857? What was 1869? A day of judgment. Do you think that God is going to wait until He has burned the world up before He rights these wrongs? The fraudulent man piles up his gains until his property has become a great pyramid; and as he stands looking at it he thinks it can never be destroyed; but the Lord pushes it all over. You build a house, and you put into it a rotten beam. The house is completed. Soon it begins to rock. You call in the mechanics and ask, “ What is the matter?” Says the mechanic, “ You put a rotten beam into that structure, and the whole thing has got to come down.” Here is an estate that seems to be all right now. It has been building a great many years. But fifteen years ago there was a dishonest transaction, and that will keep on working ruin until down the estate will come in wreck and ruin about the possessor’ s ears. I have seen it again and again. The time will come when, through the revolutionary power of this gospel, a falsehood, instead of being called exaggeration, equivocation, or evasion, will be branded a lie! And stealings, that now sometimes go under the head of percentages, and commissions, and bonuses, will be put into the catalogue of state prison offences. Society will be turned upside down, until business dishonesties shall come to an end. III. In our churches. The non-committal, do-nothing policy will give way to a spirit of bravest conquest. Fiery in this day is salted down just so as to keep. The Church is chiefly anxious to take care of itself; and if we hear of want, and squalour, and heathenism outside, we say, “ What a pity!” and we put our hands in our pockets, and we feel around for a two-cent piece, and with a great flourish we put it upon the plate, and are amazed that the world is not converted in six weeks. Suppose there were a great war; and there were three hundred thousand soldiers, but all except ten men were in their tents, or scouring their muskets, or cooking rations. You would say, “ Of course, defeat must come in that case.” Millions of the professed soldiers of Jesus Christ are cooking rations, or asleep in their tents, while only one man here and there goes out to do battle for the Lord. “ But,” says someone, “ we are establishing a great many missions.” Yes, and they are doing a magnificent work; but every mission chapel is a confession of the disease and weakness of the Church. It is saying to the rich, “ If you can pay pew rents, come to the main audience room.” It is saying to the poor, “ Your coat is too bad, and your shoes are not good enough. You will have to go by the way of the mission chapel.” The mission chapel has become the kitchen, where the Church does its sloppy work. There are hundreds of churches--gorgeously built and supported--that, even on bright days, are not half full; and yet they are building mission chapels, because the great masses of the people are kept out of the main audience room. Now I say that any place of worship which is appropriate for one class is appropriate for all classes. Let the rich and the poor meet together the Lord, the Maker of them all. Revolution! The pride, the exclusiveness, the financial boastings of the Church must come down! It may be that, before the Church learns its duty to the masses, God will scourge it and drive out the money changers. It may be that there is to be a great day of upsetting before that time shall come. In that future day of the reconstructed Church of Christ, the church building will be the most cheerful of all buildings. The pure atmosphere of heaven will sweep out the fetid atmosphere that has been kept in many of our churches boxed up from Sunday to Sunday. The day of which I speak will be a day of great revivals. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The charge of sedition and faction against good men, especially faithful ministers, considered and accounted for In discoursing upon this subject, it is proposed, through the assistance of Divine grace-- I. By a short historical deduction to show that the character of seditious, troublesome, and disorderly, hath been constantly given by wicked men to the servants of God. It would not be difficult to point out something of this spirit prevailing in the world, from the life of almost every good man whose name stands upon record, however short and general the account be that is given of many of them in Scripture. I shall content myself with some leading instances, in very different ages, from the earliest to the latest times. The first I shall mention Isaiah 1 Kings 18:17. Another instance may be found in Jehoshaphat and Ahab’ s consultation before going out to battle (1 Kings 22:7-8). Here, you see, Micaiah was the object of aversion because he denounced the judgment of God against the king’ s wickedness. See an instance of a general accusation of this kind against all the worshippers of the true God by Haman (Esther 3:8). The prophet Jeremiah met with the same treatment at different times. Neither prince, nor priests, nor prophets, were able to bear without resentment the threatenings which he denounced in the name of God (Jeremiah 26:8-9; Jeremiah 26:11; Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 38:4). The prophet Amos is another instance, precisely parallel to the last. Because of his fidelity to God he was invidiously represented as an enemy to the king (Amos 7:10). Our Lord fell under the same accusation. However plain and artless His carriage, He is called a deceiver of the people (John 7:12). His enemies endeavoured to embroil Him with the civil government by this insidious question, “ Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?” And that which brought Him at last to the Cross was the same pretended crime (John 19:12). I shall close this view of the Scripture history with the passage of which my text is a part. The whole crime of the Apostle Paul and his companion was preaching the doctrine of the cross of Christ, his great and darling theme. Having produced these instances from Scripture, which is liable to no exception, I shall say but little on the subsequent periods of the Church. Whoever will take the pains to look into the history of the Church before the Reformation, cannot fail to observe, that when anyone, either among the clergy or laity, was bold enough to reprove the errors in doctrine, or the ambition, luxury, and worldly lives of his contemporaries, he was immediately branded as a factious and disorderly person, and often severely punished as an enemy to the peace of the Church. II. We proceed now to inquire, what it is in true religion that gives occasion to this charge, and makes the world prone to believe it.1. The example of the servants of God is a continual and sensible reproach to the contrary conduct of the men of the world. As a deceived heart turns the wicked aside, so the continuance of self-deceit is necessary to his tasting those pleasures of sin in which his mistaken happiness is placed. To reproach his conduct, therefore, is to disturb his dream, and to wound his peace. And as pride, however finely disguised, has the dominion in every unrenewed heart, bow offensive must every species of reproof be to men of this character? Now, is not the example of every good man a severe though silent reproof to the wicked? And, as every worldly man’ s own conscience is thus made troublesome to him by the example of the children of God, so it tends to set sinners at variance with one another, and exposes the conduct of each to the censure of the rest. Sin, however universally practised, is yet generally shameful. Conscience though bribed, and comparatively blind in a man’ s own case, is often just and impartial, at least under far less bias in the case of others. It is in this way, and in this way alone, that the public honour and credit of religion is preserved amidst so great a majority who are enemies to it in their hearts. Must not, then, the example of a strict and conscientious person, set in the strongest light the faults of those who act a contrary part, so often as they happen to fall under observation together. Nay, does it not open the eyes of the world upon many lesser blemishes which would otherwise escape its notice? 2. Another reason why the servants of God are represented as troublesome is, because they will not, and dare not, comply with the sinful commandments of men. In matters merely civil, good men are the most regular citizens and the most obedient subjects. But, as they have a Master in heaven, no earthly power can constrain them to deny His name or desert His cause (chap. 4:19). With what invincible constancy did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow before Nebuchadnezzar’ s golden image? The case of Daniel was perfectly similar, whom even the king’ s commandment could not restrain from prayer to God. There is a love of dominion natural to all men, which is under no control or restraint in those who are void of religion. This must naturally dispose them to carry on their schemes, and to insist on having them universally complied with. It frets and provokes them, therefore, to find any who will not be subservient to their pleasures. How few are able to bear this with patience, the history of the world in every age is one continued proof. Such refusals, also, do always reflect some dishonour upon the measures to which they stand in opposition. Whatever any person refuses to do, he, as far as in him lies, represents as wrong and sinful; and, in some respects, unworthy or unfit to be done. Thus it comes to be considered, not only as withdrawing his own allegiance, but as corrupting and seducing others. 3. One other reason why the servants of God are accused as troublesome is, because they are, in many instances, obliged to bear testimony against the sins of others, and openly to reprove them (Leviticus 19:17). Some sins are so flagrant in their nature, that even to witness them with silence would imply some participation of the guilt. In such cases it is the glory of the poorest and meanest servant of God to resent the dishonour that is done to His name, and reprove the most exalted sinner. But this duty, and the odium arising from it, falls most frequently to the share of the prophets and ministers of God, who have received a commission to speak in His name and to plead His cause. How offensive this to human pride! It must certainly either convince or provoke, reform or inflame. How many martyrs to truth have there been since the world began! But there cannot be a better example, or indeed a more lively and well-drawn picture of the effect of plain and just reproof, than in the case of Stephen when pleading his cause before the Jewish rulers (Acts 7:51-52; Acts 7:54). It is plainly for this reason that the apostles, in their prayers for assistance, do almost constantly ask that they may be endued with a proper degree of boldness and resolution (Acts 4:29; Ephesians 7:19; 2 Thessalonians 3:2). It is very natural for everyone, at this distance, to imagine that he could have been in no danger of making such an obstinate resistance to the truth, or persecuting, with such implacable enmity, those who espoused it. But all worldly men, in every age, have still the same abhorrence of the faithful servants of God; the same impatience of reproof when it touches themselves. I have taken notice above that in every period of the Church, the most faithful of the servants and ministers of God have, in fact, been counted troublesome by corrupt and worldly men. The same passages of history constantly show that this has arisen chiefly from their attempts to stem the tide of prevailing vice; from their boldness and faithfulness in reproving fashionable crimes. In the twelfth century, Arnulphus, a devout man and excellent preacher, speaks thus to the clergy: “ I know that you seek my life, and will shortly kill me. But why? I speak the truth to you, I reprehend your pride and haughtiness, avarice and luxury; therefore I please you not.” III. Practical improvement.1. You may learn from what has been said upon this subject the just and proper answer to an objection against the gospel, much insisted on by its enemies, viz., That it has introduced persecution for conscience’ sake, with which the world was in a great measure unacquainted before. There are few subjects on which infidels enlarge with greater pleasure, than the cruel animosity that has prevailed, the savage and inhuman massacres that have been perpetrated on a religious account since the publication of the gospel, I think this objection is but seldom answered as it might be. It is usually observed that whatever may have been done by those professing the gospel, there is no countenance given in it to such a spirit and practice. But the objection is not wholly removed while infidels are allowed still to contend that persecution has been its constant attendant and inseparable effect. We ought, therefore, to wrest this argument out of their hands, and first to produce this fact as an accomplishment of our Saviour’ s prediction (Matthew 10:34-36). Having gone thus far, we have reason to contend that the disciples of Christ have always suffered, and never inflicted the injury, though they have often been obliged to bear the blame. The multitude of heathen religions, though not always, yet did generally agree together: and well they might, for they were all from the same author. None of them, however, could agree with the gospel, for this plain reason, that “ no lie is of the truth.” But from what quarter did the violence proceed? Did not the dreadful persecutions against the Christians, in the three first centuries, proceed from the heathens? Did the Christians commit any other crime against them, than pointing out the sin and danger of their idolatrous worship and immoral practices? Was not this alone sufficient to raise a cry against them, as turning the world upside down? And in all the subsequent persecutions among professing Christians, was it anything else than the proud, violent, and worldly spirit of those who made a gain of godliness, oppressing the few real believers of every denomination? 2. From what hath been said you may see the guilt and danger of those who falsely accuse the children of God. Nay, our present state as a Church and nation, seems to render such a warning peculiarly seasonable. We have long enjoyed outward peace. In every other country this has introduced a worldly spirit, ambition, luxury, and sloth. And is there no vestige of these characters among us now? Are there not some who cannot endure such strictness as is inconsistent with conformity to the gay and fashionable world? Do not all such incline to charge every profession of piety with hypocrisy? Do they not consider every faithful reprover as an enemy to their peace? Do they not hear with secret pleasure, and spread with apparent triumph, every report to the prejudice of such troublers of Israel? This, then, is the character, and as many of you as conscience charges with the guilt may see your danger. You may see whose cause you plead, and whose reward you shall share. 3. If this has been the constant lot of all the servants of God, to be accused as seditious and troublesome, let every cautious person beware of being misled by the persecuting cry. 4. Since the world is so prone to receive the accusation of faction against the children of God, let them be careful to give no real ground for it. (1) Let all our zeal for the glory of God be conducted, not only with steadiness but with meekness. (2) Let ministers take care to avoid officiously intermeddling in civil matters. 5. Since the charge of faction and sedition has been always brought against faithful ministers, let us learn to bear it with patience and never dissemble the truth, or depart in any measure from our duty in order to avoid it. (J. Witherspoon, D. D.)The world turned upside down We may regard the words in three points of view. I. As an expression of the deep-seated hostility of the human heart against the gospel. The love of God--the service of God--the glory of God--the actual intercourse of the soul with God, are all in complete repugnance to the emotions and tastes of general society: therefore such a religion must be opposed and decried. But how shall this be done? It is too palpable a thing to say that we ought not to love God, or serve Him sincerely; but rather to be satisfied with a mere dead form of religion. Such language were too palpable an insult to the rights of Deity. To what delusion, then, must they have recourse in this perplexity? The difficulty has been met in this way. They affix a reproachful term to true religion, and then they proceed to decry it, under the shelter of that term. Thus they soothe their conscience under the sophistical delusion that it is error, rather than truth, which they oppose. II. As a verification of the truth of Christianity. “ The time will come,” are the words of its great Author to His little band of brethren, “ when he that killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” “ Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’ s sake,” is another of His predictions. “ All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution.” III. As the unwitting testimony of enemies to the power and design of the gospel. They said that the apostles were revolutionists, disturbers of the peace, preachers of another king--“ one Jesus.” Politically, this was a gross falsehood: evangelically, it was, and still is, true. Sin has turned away the heart of man, his face, and feet, and hands, from God; and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, by which the entire moral nature of man is to be changed and converted from darkness to light--from sin to holiness--from alienation to friendship--and from the vassalage of Satan unto liberty and life. (American National Preacher.)The gospel a revolution I. The gospel creates a disturbance.1. Internally--in men’ s hearts.2. Externally--in their social relations. II. The object of this disturbance.1. Not the subversion, but the conversion of the world.2. Not its destruction, but its salvation. (W. W. Wythe.)Christianity a revolution I. The broadest the world has ever seen.1. By its breadth, it aims at the whole world.2. By its depth, the territory of the spirit. II. The most legitimate.1. By its aim, the salvation of the world.2. By the means employed, the weapons of the Spirit. (K. Gerok.)The revolutionary spirit of Christianity I. The world is wrong side up. II. It wants turning upside down. III. We are the men to do it. (Early Methodist Sermon.) Acts 17:7 These do all contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus.Christ versus Caesar Thessalonica, though a free city, was yet under imperial government, and the Jews therefore appeal to the emperor’ s decree, probably to the edict of Claudius (Acts 18:2), as at least showing the drift of the emperor’ s policy, even though it was not strictly binding except in Rome and the coloniae. This, however, might prove an insufficient weapon of attack, and therefore they add another charge, to which no magistrate throughout the empire could be indifferent (Luke 23:2; John 19:12). The preachers were not only bringing in a relligio illicita, but were guilty of treason against the majesty of the empire; they said there was “ another King.” It is clear from the Epistle to the Thessalonians that the kingdom of Christ, and specially His second coming as King, had been very prominent in the apostle’ s teaching (1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, and this may have furnished materials for the accusation. (Dean Plumptre.)The King of kings I. His Personal attractions. “ There is another King, one Jesus,” who is “ fairer than the children of men.” Oh, how great is His beauty! II. His regal grandeur. He is Lord of both the dead and the living. III. The blessedness of his subjects. IV. His duration. “ His name shall be continued as long as the sun.” (R. C. Dillon, D. D.)The King of kings, contrasted with the kings of the earth I. The dignity of His person. II. The extent of His empire. All created things are His. III. The blessedness and security of His subjects. Who are so--1. Safe.2. Free.3. Rich. IV. The duration of His reign. “ He shall reign forever and ever.” (W. Jay.)Jesus a king (children’ s sermon):--1. What a blank would be produced if all we know about kings and queens were destroyed! We are not to suppose that all have been like our own good Queen Victoria. What we know of kings and queens ought to make us very grateful that we live under such a reign. 2. Do not suppose that there are not any kings or queens but such as wear crowns. If a boy does what is right, serves and loves God, he is a king. If a girl is gentle, wise, pure, dutiful, she has graces which make her queenly. Kingly qualities have often been developed by the ordinary trades of life. The walks of literature also have produced many. So that in the history of the world we have had more monarchs without crowns than with. The Lord Jesus is King-- I. On the ground of right. He had the right of the Father’ s appointment. We do not question the right of Moses to the leadership, or of David to kingship, or of St. Paul to the apostleship, because they received their offices from God. And it is quite as certain that Jesus received kingship from the same power. “ Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.” II. Because of His perfect qualifications for the regal position. This is a great deal more than can be said about all kings. If experience and knowledge, if tenderness and power, if majesty and condescension, if dignity and humility, if wisdom and wealth, and if royal lineage and great personal virtues, can show qualification for government, then Jesus has such qualification without limit. “ It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” III. Because he has the hearty approval of his subjects. No king ever yet had the free, intelligent goodwill of his people so fully accorded him. Convene a meeting of all His subjects, not any of the crowned heads of Europe would secure one vote from the subjects of Jesus, in opposition to His monarchy. Every voter would say, “ Jesus only, our King.” IV. Because He issues law to His people and maintains respect for and obedience to the law He issues. What mighty contrasts exist between the laws of earthly sovereigns and those of Jesus! Human laws affect nations; Divine laws are for and affect everybody. Human laws have to be altered to suit altered circumstances, but “ one jot or one tittle of His word shall not fail.” Laws here have been founded in error; Christ’ s are founded in eternal truth. Laws are frequently hard to interpret correctly, and men of plain, simple minds, as well as astute lawyers, have made mistakes. Christ’ s laws are all easy, simple, and plain. V. Because He has power to enforce His will. No king, however large his army, or however great his power, ever had the might that Jesus has. VI. Because He has a large retinue of illustrious persons. The retinue King Jesus has, and will have, will far surpass anything of the sort ever seen upon our earth--Abel, Noah, Abraham, David, etc. Yes, patriarchs looked forward to His day; prophets gladly announced His coming; kings and poets wrote of Him, and angels ministered unto Him. And now, as His chariot appears, they all say, “ There is another King, one Jesus.” Look at the chariot. It is called the gospel. Its wheels are capable of travelling over any sort of roads, rough or smooth, hard or soft; through woods, across seas, or over deserts. The chariot itself is so strong that not all the powers of men and devils can break it. No time can cause it to decay, nor can any element impair its beauty. It is lined within and without with promises. It is so full of provisions that not the supply of all the wants of all men can possibly produce deficiency. And then this chariot is so large that there is room for all: and all who ride do so free of charge. Then, what steeds are drawing this chariot! The one is called “ Love abounding,” and the other “ Zeal undying” ; and they never tire. But neither chariot nor horses are half so wonderful as King Jesus, the occupant of this chariot (Revelation 1:13). On the procession moves; and the illustrious ones following are as grand and even more numerous than such as preceded. Here come the apostles, martyrs, reformers, etc., etc. There is no wisdom so wise, no goodness so great, nor any act so becoming, as to join whilst we are yoking the retinue of King Jesus. This is done by giving our hearts to Him. Joseph joined when but a boy. Samuel also, and David, and Timothy. VII. Because He takes a deep personal interest in the elevation and good of all His subjects. All kings have not done so. Some have asked only how they could increase their possessions or dignity. Note the marks of the interest monarchs take in their subjects.1. The sacrifices they make in their behalf. Look then at the sacrifices made by Jesus for all His people. 2. Their gladness when the people are contented and prosperous; and their tenderness and sympathy when calamity comes upon them. A king should he the reflex, or counterpart, of his people. This, I am sure, is what Jesus is; when His subjects are in suffering, He says, “ Fear not, I will uphold thee” ; and when He has turned their sorrow into joy, He says, “ Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” VIII. Because he gives access to His people. The power of an earthly king to do this is limited; and those who approach earthly thrones can only do so at great cost. But Jesus allows all His subjects to approach Him at all times, and without expense. IX. Because He has a large revenue. “ As rich as a king” is quite a proverb. Boys and girls may well wonder where the king gets all his money from. It is from taxes! Jesus is by far the richest king that ever occupied a throne. “ The earth is the Lord’ s, and the fulness thereof.” But He is not dependent upon gold for the progress of His kingdom. In His treasury there are contributions of greater value. Prayer, praise, holy living, zeal. X. Because He protects the rights and liberties of His subjects. Does He not say to all, “ Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm” ? I know that sometimes it looks as though He gave them up to the power of their enemies. It looked as though He had forgotten Joseph, Daniel, etc.; but the issue showed how well they were cared for. XI. Because He has royal favours to bestow. In all countries kings have been noted for this. Warriors, legislators, poets, philanthropists, the great, the wealthy, and the learned, are they who carry off royal honours; and should royal favours come down to the poor and indigent in any great measure, what a stir and to-do would be made about it! Jesus carries off the palm in this department. He restricts not His favours to any privileged class; like the sunlight, they fall with equal beauty and energy upon the brow of the poor and of the wealthy; like the dew, they descend with equal power upon the cottage and the palace home. What are the favours of King Jesus?1. Pardon for all sin. “ He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour,” etc.2. Purity of heart and life.3. Grace, according to the wants of His people.4. A valid title to heaven, and its possession at death. For these gifts the world’ s gold, valour, industry, wisdom, are all in vain; and so for each one we must say, “ Now, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” (J. Goodacre.)Jesus, “ another King” As compared with earthly sovereigns, Jesus is another King; for He is one-- I. Contemplating exclusively spiritual dominion. Earthly monarchs aspire after territorial dominion, and are accounted monarchs because they possess it. Christ’ s kingdom has its seat in the soul. II. Claiming rightfully unqualified obedience. Of what earthly sovereign can it be said that he rightfully claims unqualified obedience? He justly demands unqualified obedience--1. In right of His position. He is King of kings: obedience cannot he withheld from Him on the plea that there is a higher power we must first consult. 2. In right of the equity of His government. His service is always “ reasonable,” His honour and our interests never really clash. 3. In right of His grace. He is the Saviour. Obedience cannot be withheld from Him on the plea that we owe Him but little. III. Securing infallibly heartfelt homage. If admission be granted to the presence of an earthly sovereign, how often is the homage rendered to him nothing more than compliance with a state ceremony! Jesus is “ another King.” He rules by love, He wins the heart. IV. Expecting confidently universal empire. (J. T. Poulter, B. A.)The risen Christ as King 1. “ There is another King.” Alas! for the world, alas! for us all, if there be not. The hope of the world is a Christendom in which Christ shall reign. A Christendom in which He does not reign we see, and have seen enough of. Men are getting weary of the preaching of Jesus and His gospel, while Christian races are wasted by vice, poverty, and war. Along with all our Christianity we still need men to preach “ another King, one Jesus” ; to whom all the selfishness of our politics, the craft of our diplomacy, the fierce contention of our industry, are hateful; a King who has left “ A new commandment, That ye love one another,” and in one aspiration, “ That they all may be one,” the key to His hope and effort for mankind. The world has yet to try what Jesus can do for it. 2. Christ foretold that His method would try the patience and weary the hope of man. There is nothing in England or in Europe which is sadder than the picture which He Himself draws of the development of His kingdom in Matthew 24:1-51. But He saw beyond that which moved Him to pour out His soul unto death. “ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” And this is the rebuke of all our faithless doubts and dreads. Mark the patience with which through unnumbered ages the Lord of the world has been elaborating the chirping apparatus of a cricket, the feather of the pinion of a bird, or the spots on the gay plumage of a butterfly’ s wing--and yet we faint and lose heart because in a few centuries this great world is not converted to Jesus, and the harvest, for the sake of which the whole creation has been groaning and travailing through well-nigh infinite ages, is not yet reaped and garnered on high. 3. The fundamental question is, Why should man want another king? Why should we not leave the secular spirit to take charge of the interests and to guide the progress of human society? and I answer-- (1) That something like the form of Christ’ s kingdom is implied in and prophesied by the very structure of human society. When we say that man is a social being, we mean something differing entirely in kind, and not only in degree, from what we mean when we speak of the social instincts and habits of the ants or the bees. The key to man’ s life is to be sought in heaven and not in the dust. In entering the sphere of human society we come under a higher law and enter a higher world. Consider the fact that all man’ s most exquisite pleasures and griefs arise out of his relations with others, out of his social habits and affections, of which the richest elements connect themselves with his duties and ministries to the poor, the weak, the helpless; can we believe with all this before us, that man’ s life as a social being is still to be but the struggle for existence in another form, of which self-seeking and not self-devotion must be the law? I can see no possible beauty, joy, or hope in human society, except “ bear ye one another’ s burdens” be the law. And I can see no basis for that law, and no assurance of its supremacy, but in the contemplation of His life and His living energy who came from heaven “ not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Just as a skilled naturalist, looking at the structure of an animal, can forecast its habit and habitation, even so, as we look at the structure of man as a social being, we can affirm with certainty that the habit of his life was meant to be obedience to the law of Christ, and the home of his life and theatre of its development is the kingdom of heaven. (2) And what seems implied in man’ s constitution is exemplified in his history. Among all peoples there are visions of which this is the substance. Man’ s ideal of society everywhere takes this form; he seems to feel instinctively that only in such a world as the kingdom of heaven can he truly and nobly live. All the world’ s great thinkers lead on its thoughts to a time when that reign of truth, righteousness, and love, which the Bible associates with Messiah’ s kingdom, shall be realised, and all the woe and waste and wrong of the world shall be stayed. 4. But then, it may be said, if men are dreaming about this and are aiming at this, why not leave them alone to work out their idea? The answer to this is that God did leave man in the Gentile world alone, that he might discover whither the course of things would drift him, and might be prepared through disappointment and suffering to accept at length the helping Hand which would be held out to him from on high. Caesar was the result of man’ s development as a social being. The world’ s work for itself ends in ruin. The march of the ages resulted in a condition of the Roman Empire which, but for the restoring power brought to bear upon it by Christianity, nothing but a second deluge could have cured. Let the state of India before the English came to it, let the state of China and Africa at this moment, exhibit the result which comes inevitably to peoples when they try--or do not try, for this is what it ends in--to work out their own salvation for themselves. We need only look round us at this moment in Europe to form some just estimate of Caesar and his work. We have had modern Caesars in our day, enthroned in the centres of civilisation; and the end of their sway has everywhere been wreck. Blessed be God that there is another King, “ one Jesus” ; for man’ s experiments in government are failures, and must be failures. But is it not a stain on God’ s righteous government, does it not reveal a flaw in His will or in His power, that things in human society, thus left to themselves, tend to dissolution? Surely not: it was never intended in the scheme of Providence that man should work out his own salvation or the salvation of society. 5. What is the relation of this other King to the kingdoms of this world? The officers of Caesar were naturally alarmed. This is what perplexed and alarmed Pilate. There was little that was kinglike in Jesus, in Pilate’ s sense of kingship. And yet he was anxious and afraid, though why he could not tell. Men are slow to believe in a kingship which makes no sign before the world. The true kingdom is a kingdom which penetrates and purifies all other kingdoms, just as the electric force pervades creation, everywhere felt, never touched and seen. We do nothing contrary to the decrees of Caesar in preaching that there is “ another King, one Jesus.” He works entirely from within; what of blessing can come to the world by making men wiser, purer, more unselfish, more brotherly, that He bestows. But this breaks up nothing which the progress of humanity, however realised, would not break up; it consolidates everything on earth which stands square with truth, righteousness, and God. 6. Christ has one way of working out the regeneration of human society; Caesar, under all the various shapes and forms of government, has another. The one works purely from the inward outward, and heals and cleanses at the spring. The other cleanses for awhile the outside, but finding itself powerless to cleanse the inward, finally gives up its work in despair. How many times through the ages has society been broken up, reconstructed, reformed, redressed, only to fall back again more hopelessly into the darkness. Guilt is oppressing, sin is corrupting, and selfishness is wasting humanity everywhere. The King whom we preach cares nothing for His Royalty, save in so far as it can lift that burden, heal that corruption, stay that waste. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)Christ our deathless King Christ is our King, King of Zion, King of glory, King of earth, King of heaven. He is a King that always lives. Where is Louis XIV? Dead. Where is Richard III? Dead. Where is Henry VIII? Dead. Where is Peter the Great? Dead. There is a whole sheaf of sceptres at the door of the tomb. Death is an old monarch, and his palace is a sepulchre, and the kings of the earth are his cup bearers; and the old blind monarch, walking around in the palace of sepulchres, ever and anon stumbles over a newly-fallen coronet. Charlemagne after death sat on a throne, and a crown was put upon his pulseless temples and a sceptre was put in his lifeless hand; but these things did not bring back his kingdom. But our King always lives. He lived before the world was made. He will live after the world is burned. King immortal! (T. De Witt Talmage.)Jesus a sympathetic King The Sultan of Turkey arranged that whenever he rode out on horseback his subjects might come up to him and tell their sorrows and tell their wrongs; and when the Sultan rode the crowd came up, and after a while his progress was impossible. But more merciful is our King, for at any hour of the day or night we may come up to Him and tell all our wants and all our sorrows and get relief. To come to other courts, we must have a court dress rightly cut and rightly adorned; but to come into the presence, into the court of our King, we need no such preparation, and the beggar may come with his rags, and the prodigal from the filth of the swine trough, and be without introduction immediately ushered. Merciful King! Pardoning King! Sympathetic King! Oh, Jesus, live for ever! (T. De Witt Talmage.)Jesus a helpful King On the first elevation of the ancient amphitheatre, on the day of a celebration, sat Tiberius, or Augustus, or the reigning king. So in the great arena of spectators that watch our struggles, and in the first Divine gallery, as I shall call it, sits our King, one Jesus. The Roman emperor sat, with folded arms, indifferent as to whether the swordsman or the lion beat; but our King’ s sympathies are all with us. Nay, unheard of condescension! I see Him come down from the gallery into the arena to help us in the fight, shouting, until all up and down His voice is heard: “ Fear not! I will help thee!” (Ibid.) Acts 17:10-15 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas unto Berea … These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.From Thessalonica to Berea 1. Paul and Silas were sent away “ by night.” That is the way to make the most of time. Travel by night and preach by day if you would make the best of your opportunities. We sleep by night, and hardly get over the slumber all day. The enemy would say they had driven Paul off the ground--Paul himself would say that he was going to make new ground, and that he would certainly come back again to the old place. We have seen the tide go out, but we have seen it also return, and in the returning it seems to play at going back again; but the refluent wave increases in volume, and returns with enhanced force and grandeur. Paul will come back again--personally, or by letter--to Thessalonica. He is fifty miles away, and yet he is not one inch off. He has taken with him in his heart all that he won at Thessalonica. 2. When Paul came to Berea he went into the synagogue of the Jews. How was that? Surely he had suffered enough in connection with synagogues! It is one of two things with us all: either the inward conquers, or the outward--the soul or the body, love of God or love of ease. 3. “ These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.” Thessalonica was a capital, a metropolis, and Berea was an out-of-the-way place. Yet the Bereans were “ more noble” than metropolitans. That often happens. London is the largest place in England; it is not, therefore, the greatest. It is quite possible that there may be more reading of a solid and instructive kind in a little country town. Every locality has its advantage. In the metropolis we have continual motion, man sharpening man by daily collision, and in the country we have the opportunity of profound cultivation, because of the time which is at our disposal. Let us not complain of our circumstances, but rule them, sanctify them; and every sphere of life will afford an opportunity for intellectual and spiritual advancement. 4. What is the test of “ nobleness” ? Good listening is one trait. The hearer makes the preacher. Expectation becomes inspiration. To good listening was added patient examination. The model congregation is a congregation well provided with Bibles; that looks from the sermon to the text; from the text to the sermon; from the text to the context; and that binds the speaking man to keep within the sacred brief which God has given to him. That would be a congregation that would compel sublime preaching! You have lost your status as hearers! Where are your Bibles? The preacher could quote fifty things that are not in the Bible, and if he quoted them in old English, he could make many people believe that they really were in the Bible. If we would be “ noble” in the estimation of Heaven, we must acquaint ourselves deeply and accurately with Heaven’ s own Word. One thing would follow from the Biblical examination--we should destroy the priest. The priest is a magician who lives upon the credulity of the simple. How is his influence to be broken? By the Bible; by the people knowing the Bible. 5. There is a logical term in the twelfth verse--“ Therefore.” That is the true rationalism. Why did you believe? “ Because the speaker fascinated me; because he laid a spell upon my imagination.” You will one day escape from those poor chains--they are not chains of iron, they are little bands of straw. Why did you believe? “ Because it was shown to me by the Living Word that this is the only conclusion that can be established.” You will stand like a rock amid troubled waves! (J. Parker, D. D.)The Thessalonians and the Bereans We have here--1. Points of resemblance. (1) The mode of the preaching, and(2) its two-fold result: “ some believed the things that were spoken, and some believed not.” 2. Points of contrast; a difference in their way of hearing and in their manner of inquiring into truth. It is deeply interesting to be able thus to individualise some of Paul’ s congregations. We all know that there are such differences now. There are varieties of character and locality. Between one country and another, between one part of one country and another part, there are many noticeable differences, the result of many various and long-working influences. Often the ministry has to be blamed or praised for them. A place in which a faithful pastor has long been at work bears the impress of his hand for the next generation or two. And the absence of such a ministry will leave an opposite stamp. Who that reads the Epistles of St. Paul could for one moment confuse or interchange the spiritual characteristics of the churches of Corinth, of Philippi, of Galatia, of Thessalonica? Take that of-- I. Thessalonica. Berea was more noble, because it received the Word frankly, and searched the Scriptures. Thessalonica was less noble in this respect. But there were those even in Thessalonica who had all the nobleness of Berea. Look at St. Paul’ s Epistles to them. Observe--1. How St. Paul had treated them. (1) Like a father, “ we exhorted and comforted and charged you, as a father does his children” ; and like a mother also, “ we were gentle among you, even as a nursing mother cherisheth her own children.” What a picture of the true pastor! not a “ lord over God’ s heritage,” not one “ having dominion over their faith, but a helper of their joy.” (2) “ Ye remember our labour and travail; for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable to any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.” If we, by changes of times, and by God’ s overruling goodness, are exempted from the necessity of working for our bread, let us take heed that that toil saved from the one be given to the other. 2. His teaching. First of all, it was a gospel, a message of comfort and joy to fallen man. It told him that his sins are forgiven. But it did not leave him even there. What is it to me to be told that God forgives, if you cannot add that God will give me His Holy Spirit to live in me and to work in me effectually? In the strength of this he was not afraid to preach to them of duty. “ This is the will of God, even your sanctification” ; and if it is His will that we should be holy, certainly He will give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. But St. Paul knew that, if you would inspirit a man for duty, you must inspire a man with hope. Therefore he fixed their eyes upon an Advent of the Lord and Saviour in which “ blessed and holy is he who shall have part.” 3. The rapidity of the work of God there. A few weeks at the very utmost must have comprised it, and yet what a work was already wrought (1 Thessalonians 1:3-10). It is our own fault if the gospel works in any of us slowly or indecisively. A few short weeks are enough, in God’ s hand, for a complete transformation of the heart and life. Yet let us not lose the force of that solemn admonition, that he who thinketh he standeth must always take heed lest he fall. Scarcely had St. Paul left Thessalonica than he sends back Timotheus to see “ lest by any means the tempter had tempted them, and so his labour should be in vain.” We are still in an enemy’ s country, however armed; in the region of death, however full of life. Even from our Lord Himself, after His great temptation, the devil departed but for a season: let us take heed lest confidence breed presumption, presumption sin, and sin death! II. Berea.1. In speaking of Thessalonica, we have spoken of the Church gathered out of the world. The nobleness of the Bereans was shown not in their way of acting upon a gospel already believed, but in their way of trying the credentials of a gospel first heard. They did not refuse the gospel because it contradicted their previous opinions; neither did they, in an excess of credulity, receive it because it was presented to them. They listened to it with the readiness of a candid spirit, and they daily examined their Scriptures to see whether its language and theirs were the same. “ Many therefore of them believed.” 2. If our teaching were carried back by you to your Bible; if, when we urge upon you any particular duty, or any side of the truth, you would readily examine your Scriptures to see whether what you have heard has God’ s sanction to it or no, how interesting would become the work of hearing and the work of teaching! You would feel that you were engaged in a pursuit of truth; that it was not a question of pleasure or interest, but a question of right and wrong, of life and death; you would come hither not to criticise, but to learn, and you would go hence not to discuss, but to digest. And we on our part should feel that we were aiding you in settling the most momentous questions, and that out of such inquiries would spring forth a full-flowing stream of satisfaction, strength, and peace. The word denotes the examination of a witness, or the trial of a challenged life. Let us thus put the Word of God upon its trial. Let us not treat it as a dead, unmeaning, monotonous thing, to be carried in the hand, read at church, or suffered on the table; but rather as a living person, to be questioned, to be listened to and judged. So treated, the Bible will become to us a voice, not a page only. So treated, we shall at last be able to say, “ Thy Word is tried to the uttermost, and Thy servant loveth it.” (Dean Vaughan.)The reception of the gospel at Berea I. The conduct of the bereans in reference to the preached word. Note--1. A spirit of earnest inquiry after religious truth. The gospel offered them no secular advantages (Acts 14:22; 2 Timothy 3:2). In the total absence, therefore, of all worldly attractions, what could induce them to receive the Word with all readiness of mind but a deeply serious concern about religious truth? The origin of this state of mind may probably be referred to that spiritual influence which went forth a little before this period--“ to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 2. A remarkable superiority to the power of prejudice. They did not refuse to listen to these strangers, although they were either unknown, or had been preceded by unfavourable rumours (Acts 17:6-7). 3. An exercise of cautious investigation before they proceeded to make up their minds. The Bereans received the Word in a widely different manner to those in Matthew 13:5; Matthew 13:20-21, and, there is reason to believe, abode in it with far greater stability. 4. As the result of the whole, note--their professed faith in the gospel, and their union with the Church. The Church thus founded appears to have been numerous: at Thessalonica some believed, at Berea many. And where the good precedent of the Bereans has been followed, a solid work of God has been perpetuated; but where people have rushed into religious profession under the influence of novelty or angry sectarianism, the consequence has too often been the erection of an airy castle, soon scattered to all the winds of heaven. It farther appears, that many of the Berean believers were highly respectable in their station and circumstances; literally, persons of figure, and the addition of such to the Church is a very desirable occurrence; for, to say nothing of subordinate and extrinsic advantages, their piety, found in connection with knowledge and refinement, is likely to be instrumental of great good in giving a tone to the whole community. II. The just distinction which attaches to them in consequence of their conduct. In Luke’ s opinion they possessed nobler souls, or had a more generous nature than the people of Thessalonica. Possibly the term may advert to the genealogical pride so deeply rooted amongst the Jews (John 8:31-33). This nobleness of mind is strikingly apparent. 1. In the candour with which they received the Word with all readiness of mind. Candour is that quality of mind which leads us not exclusively to look upon our “ own things, but also on the things of others.” How many advantages may we have lost, and to how many inconveniences may we have been subjected, in consequence of blindly yielding to the suggestions of prejudice! 2. In the reasonableness of their proceedings on hearing the gospel. The course they pursued was equally removed from the extremes of a hasty adoption of the new system, and a prejudiced closing of their understandings against evidence, The preaching of Paul and Silas related to the Messiah, and the conformity of their announcements with the Scriptures of the prophets was the great subject in the investigation of which the Bereans employed their nobler powers. Yet it is to be feared that the great mass of modern hearers never properly bend the energies of their minds to the clear apprehension of Christian truth, or the just appreciation of scriptural evidence. 3. In the noble resolution which they conceived and executed on having made up their minds on the great subject of Christianity. They formed themselves into a Christian Church under the direction of Paul and Silas, and resolved to encounter all the evils then connected with profession of faith in Christ. (T. Galland, M. A.)The Bereans are types of those-- I. Whose kinds are open to receive new truths. To the Berean Jews Paul’ s propositions were as novel and naturally unpalatable as they were to the Thessalonians, but they did not refuse to examine them. Such openness of mind is equally removed from the ignorant bigotry that assumes acquaintance with all truth, and the vacillating uncertainty which is “ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and consequently is “ tossed about with every wind of doctrine.” II. Who are in no haste to conclude that what is new is true. The Bereans did not rashly and impulsively embrace Paul’ s teaching; they carefully considered it--prepared to accept or reject it, according as it stood the test of examination. III. Who try all human teaching by the declarations of God’ s word. Lessons:1. Doctrines are not to be rejected merely because they are unpalatable. God’ s Word must be unpalatable to sinful hearts, just as sunlight is to diseased eyes. 2. In studying Scripture we must carefully guard against prepossessions and prejudices. 3. We must steadily reject the idea that we have learned all that the Scriptures teach. It is possible to pass an object ten thousand times without really seeing it. God has yet more light to break forth from His Holy Word. 4. A diligent and candid study of the Scriptures will lead to faith in Jesus as the Christ. (R. A. Bertram.)The noble Bereans I. The high honour by which the Bereans are distinguished. This distinction is to be valued because of--1. The source whence it proceeds.2. The great dignity it implies. II. The reason why this dignity is assigned to them.1. Their conduct. (1) Their favourable impression as to the gospel.(2) Their diligent inquiry into its truth.(3) Their truly rational faith. 2. The principles which this conduct involved. (1) God’ s Word is the only standard of faith.(2) We should not reject truth whoever might proclaim it.(3) The truth when discovered is to be professed. Application:1. See wherein true dignity consists.2. The means of acquiring solid faith. (Evangelical Preacher.)Berean nobility There is a heraldry in the kingdom of God. Our King’ s throne is encircled by a high-born nobility. In the Scriptures you will find the record of their deeds and the patent of their rank. If we could obtain a view of this earth from the heavens the mountains would not be very high, nor the valleys very deep. The same law rules in the spiritual sphere. When anyone obtains, spiritually, a great elevation, the differences of social condition almost disappear. All are low until grace raise them up. But distinctions there are, notwithstanding. Some are slaves, and some are free; some are rich in grace, while others are poor. The Bereans were noble, high born. Two things go to constitute nobility--first the sovereign’ s choice in its origin; second, the actual birthright of each noble in successive generations. It is the same in the heavenly kingdom. Abraham was of plebeian blood, and received the patent of his nobility in the specific promise of the King Eternal, and large possessions were bestowed upon him for the support of his dignity. At a later period, when the King’ s Son was sojourning in this province, He called other plebeians, fishermen, etc., and conferred upon them the patent of nobility. In Rome they call Peter a prince: the title is not amiss, although they apply it falsely. Further, each noble is born to his title and estate. Nicodemus, though a son of Abraham by his first birth, must himself be born again ere he could enjoy the privileges of a peer. Two characteristic features of Berean nobility are recorded in order that we may be able to distinguish between the genuine and the spurious. I. Their hearts were receptive. In this matter the Bereans were favourably distinguished from the Thessalonians. The distinction is similar to that which the parable makes between the good ground and the wayside. As more depends on the condition of the soil than on the skill of the sower, so more depends on a receptive spirit in the hearers than on the peculiar ability of the preacher. II. They exercised their private judgment. This short, simple intimation puts to shame the sophistry with which Rome has for ages striven to conceal the Word of God from the people. For this noble act the Romish hierarchy has persecuted even unto death. The term “ searched” indicates that they pored over the page; and after having read a sentence, returned to traverse the lines again, in order that the track of the sense might be more deeply graven on their minds. They avoided the two extremes of easy credulity and hard unbelief. It is a general law of human nature that what comes lightly goes lightly. What we gain by a hard struggle we retain with a firmer grasp, whether it be our fortune or our faith. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Berean nobility I. The deportment of these noble Bereans. They manifested--1. A laudable spirit of inquiry in reference to the truths of religion. All inquiry is not laudable; we may be busybodies in other men’ s matters, but inquiry is laudable here. Human investigation is extended to every other subject; why should it be excluded from this? 2. A peculiar deference to the authority of the sacred writings; they were convinced of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and it was in them they expected to find the principles of true religion. 3. A candid and ingenuous temper: “ readiness of mind.” They did not examine the Scriptures for the purpose of finding objections against the doctrines of the apostles, or to establish their own previous opinions, but for the purpose of ascertaining “ whether those things were so.” II. The reasons we should imitate this noble deportment.1. We are endowed with powers and capabilities of engaging in this important investigation. 2. The Scriptures are addressed to all men; all men are commanded to read and examine them. “ Search the Scriptures,” said our Lord. “ Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly,” said the apostle. 3. All men are deeply concerned in the important truths which the Scriptures contain--as men, as sinners, as inhabitants of this world, as heirs of immortality. III. The advantages which will result from an imitation of this noble deportment.1. We shall obtain accurate information respecting the doctrines of revealed truth. 2. We shall derive strong consolation under the difficulties and afflictions of life. 3. We shall receive ample instruction as to the performance of all personal, social, and religious duties. If you ask in what way should we examine the sacred writings, in order that we may obtain these advantages, I reply, examine them with impartiality, with humility, with self-application, and with prayer. It is greatly to be regretted that any portion of the Christian Church should ever have interdicted the use of the Holy Scriptures, and for this purpose have prohibited their translation into the vernacular tongue. But we have not so learned Christ. Go, imitate the example of the noble Bereans--search the Scriptures. (G. Collinson.)Spiritual nobility Nobility is a grand word, but does not always represent a noble thing. It is often applied to physical prowess and ancestral lineage; but the word in such applications is more or less degraded. There is a mental and moral nobility. The latter is the greatest of all; it is Godlike. The Bereans-- I. Rendered a candid attention to new doctrines. They did not allow prejudice to seal their ears and close their souls; they were prepared to listen. This conduct is--1. Ever befitting. As there must always be to the highest finite intelligences universes of truth of which they know nothing, it becomes even a seraph to be docile. How much more man, who knows so little, and that little so imperfectly! 2. Very rare. Somehow or other men for the most part grow up with preconceptions that close the soul to all that does not blend with them. Their preformed ideas they treat as absolute truths, and recoil with a jealousy from all that is new. Nothing is more repugnant to these men than a teaching pulpit. II. Gave a proper examination to new doctrines. They were not mere passive listeners, receiving impressions which led to no effort, and which passed away in the hour. They examined--1. Independently. They searched the Scriptures for themselves. They were not swayed by the authority of others, nor did they accept the statement of the apostles on their own credit. There is much talk about the right of private judgment; we want more of the duty. Men are blockheads in theology, and priest ridden in religion, because they search not the Scriptures for themselves. 2. Perseveringly, “ daily.” So vast the area and so deep the mines of Scripture, that you can know but little of it by a glance or two. Desultory, occasional and unsystematic efforts will be useless. You must be at it daily--walk some new field, scale some new mountain, penetrate some new depth daily. III. Yielded to the evidence of new doctrines: “ believed.” They bowed to the force of evidence. It is childish to believe without evidence. It is wicked to resist evidence. It is noble to surrender to its force. Their faith was--1. Intelligent. It came as the result of investigation. It was not a blind prejudice, a traditional idea; it was a living conviction. This is the faith that is wanted, the only faith of any worth. 2. General: “ Many believed.” Influential women and men not a few. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The nobility of the Bereans In this account of the conduct and conversion of the Bereans we are struck with-- I. The willing permission they gave to the apostles to declare their errand. For we must remember how different were their circumstances from those in which we ever have been, or can possibly be found. They were Jews, who had never, until this moment when Paul and Silas entered their synagogue, heard of any other system than the law of Moses. They were men in whose minds the avenues of conviction lay open; they were willing to give a hearing to the arguments of reason. Scarcely any sacrifice is so costly to flesh and blood to make, as that of long-established and deeply-rooted prejudice. But the Berean Jews were prepared to make even this surrender. But their respect was shown to the commission of the apostles, not to their persons only. Is not the subject of the gospel of supreme importance? With how many has the gospel had no better fate than those unhappy persons find whose lot it is to wait upon some proud patron or dilatory judge, who has promised to grant an audience, but has never yet done it, and still promises, and still postpones? II. As they allowed the apostles to declare their errand, so we find that they gave a glad reception to the message itself. An ingenuous spirit opens the fairest door to the entrance of truth. Candour opened their ears to what Paul and Silas had to urge; and by that opening conviction entered. Such were the earliest disciples, and as such they are described: “ they that gladly received the Word.” A spirit this, differing altogether from that of Herod, who heard the Word gladly, having a curiosity to know what kind of matters it treated about, but having no desire to enlarge his acquaintance with it, when he found that it laid the axe to the root of his sins; but a gladness, going the whole length of the gospel itself, the glad receiving, as well as hearing of it. Who amongst us desires to know whether we are inheritors of this Berean “ readiness of mind” towards the gospel of God? We are so, if we yield ourselves to the fair influence of truth. III. There is yet one more point of excellence in the conduct of the Bereans: they seriously examined the claims of the gospel. The doctrine of Christ fears not a scrutiny. And now, after this review of the conduct of the Bereans, shall we hesitate to award to them the title given in our text, “ These were more noble than those in Thessalonica” ? True nobility, then, is not the spurious expansiveness of infidelity, but the reverence of Scripture as the test of truth. (R. Eden, M. A.)Searching the Scriptures Let us mark-- I. The attention shown by the Bereans to the ministry of St. Paul.1. They “ received the Word with all readiness of mind,” which argued a simple teachable disposition. Hence their attention was prompt, cordial, and submissive. They felt their helplessness and were willing to be led. The mind of the hearer was as soil prepared for the word of the preacher. Doubtless St. Paul adduced his favourite themes--“ Jesus and the resurrection.” Paul might state many things which would be new to the Bereans, opposed to their sentiments and ordinary habits and pursuits; but such was their docility that they were cheerfully contented to be hearers, not teachers. 2. Ought not this to be the disposition of modern hearers? But is not rather the ministry of the gospel usually attended with little or no readiness of mind to receive it? We preach the fall of man, but who feel themselves to be fallen? We declare the nature and the consequence of sin, but who feels its “ exceeding sinfulness,” and “ flees from the wrath to come” ? We publish “ glad tidings,” but “ who hath believed our report?” And why is this? Because our hearers have so little readiness of mind to receive it. The hearts of the generality are either as soft as water, or as hard as rock. If you dip your finger into water an impression will easily be made; the moment you withdraw your finger the impression vanishes. You may, too, pour water upon a rock, but it all runs off; it never penetrates and fructifies the stone. 3. Now it is this disposition which we wish to correct. As the preaching of the Word is a weighty and important charge, so surely does the hearing of it involve a very solemn responsibility. People too commonly imagine the delivery of a sermon to be a matter of course. “ Judge your own selves.” Do as these noble-minded persons did: hear impartially, teachably; with readiness to receive; for your edification in the faith of Christ, for eternity; as those who must one day account to the Master of our Assemblies for the means of instruction so graciously vouchsafed. II. The conduct they were induced to adopt.1. They “ searched the Scriptures daily,” etc. The Scriptures which the Bereans possessed were merely the Old Testament. From that, however, they had learned that “ the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’ s head” ; that God would raise up unto them a Prophet that should, like Moses, promulgate a new dispensation of grace and mercy; that “ in His love and in His pity He would redeem them,” and reign as King of Zion, etc., etc. These things the Bereans knew, and therefore they “ searched the Scriptures” to see how far the statements of St. Paul accorded with the Word of God. Nor did they indolently do so: so cautious were they about receiving what they heard, and so desirous that whatever they received should be strictly analogous to the truth, that they searched the Scriptures “ daily.” Using, with lowliness and sincerity, the only infallible means of information, the promise was fulfilled to them--“ The meek will He guide in judgment, the meek will He teach His way.” So true it is, “ They that will do the will of God shall know of the doctrine,” etc. 2. Now here I cannot but say, “ Go ye and do likewise.” Here is an example of earnest and devout inquiry worthy of our closest imitation. We can boast no extraordinary inspiration, and therefore we may err. Bring, then, what you hear from us to your Bible. In addition to the Old Testament you have the New. When we insist on the necessity of repentance, look and see if He in whose name we speak requires it. When we tell you that Christ is “ all in all” --a sinner’ s justification and salvation--take not our word for it: search the Scriptures. Do not so reluctantly, as though it were a labour, but diligently, and that “ daily,” and as if your everlasting all depended on your right apprehension and belief of the truth. If you received a letter from a dear friend, would it lie long unopened by you? Say not, “ We have no time.” Have you no time to read other books? Remember, that alone is truth which will endure a Scriptural test. It is Scripture, too, that will try our principles and conduct in the judgment of the great day. “ The words which I have spoken, the same shall judge you.” (W. Mudge, B. A.)Searching the Scriptures I. Why? 1. Because it contains the statutes and judgments of God (Deuteronomy 4:14).2. It is the Word of God (Jeremiah 36:6).3. Christ taught out of it (Luke 24:27).4. It testifies of Christ (John 20:3 l).5. If rightly studied it will lead to salvation (James 1:21).6. It is profitable both for doctrine and practice (2 Timothy 3:16).7. Christ enjoins its study (John 5:39).8. Without a knowledge of it we go astray (Matthew 22:29; Acts 13:27). II. How? 1. Thinking of it continually (Deuteronomy 6:7).2. Receiving it as the Word of God, not of man (1 Thessalonians 2:13).3. Receiving it with meekness (James 1:21).4. Meditating upon it in the night watches (Psalms 119:148).5. Hiding it in the heart (Psalms 119:11).6. Making it the standard of teaching (1 Peter 4:11).7. With prayer that its truths may be understood (Psalms 119:12; Psalms 119:18).8. Teaching it to the children (2 Timothy 3:15). (S. S. Times.)Searching the Scriptures “ You interpret the Scriptures in one way,” said Mary to Knox, “ and the Pope and the cardinals in another; whom shall I believe, and who shall be judge?” “ You shall believe,” replied Knox, “ God who speaketh plainly in His Word; and further than the Word teacheth you, you shall believe neither the one nor the other--neither the Pope nor the Reformers, neither the Papists nor the Protestants. The Word of God is plain in itself; if there be any obscurity in one place, the Holy Ghost, who is never contrary to Himself, explains it more clearly in other places, so that there can remain no doubt but unto such as are obstinately ignorant.” (Stewart’s Collections.)Delight in the Scriptures I use the Scriptures not as an arsenal to be resorted to only for arms and weapons, but as a matchless temple, where I delight to contemplate the beauty, the symmetry, and the magnificence of the structure, and to increase my awe and excite my devotion to the Deity there preached and adored. (Hon. R. Boyle.)Searching the Scriptures as a chart There is a ship at sea. A heavy fog has come on: there is nothing to be seen all round about; the very stars are shut out of view, and no longer serve to guide the vessel’ s course; and as the man at the masthead hoarsely cries out, “ Breakers ahead!” and the crew furl the sails, and the helmsman turns the wheel, what is the captain about, old sailor as he is, now poring over his charts, and now glancing at the compass, and now loudly giving his orders? What can he mean by looking so often and so eagerly at that map-looking thing of his? That is his chart by which his course is guided; and he is searching it to find where he is, and how he may steer his ship in safety, to keep clear of a rock here, and a shallow there, and make a good passage through the channel, and save his crew and his cargo, and at length gain the harbour. So says the Great Teacher, “ Search the Scriptures.” (J. H. Wilson.)Searching She Scriptures, Love the motive for A blind girl had been in the habit of reading her Bible by means of raised letters such as are prepared for the use of the blind; but after a while, by working in a factory, the tips of her fingers became so calloused that she could no more by her hands read the precious promises. She cut off the tips of her fingers that her touch might be more sensitive; but still she failed with her hands to read the raised letters. In her sorrow she took the Bible and said, “ Farewell, my dear Bible. You have been the joy of my heart!” Then she pressed the open page to her lips and kissed it, and as she did so she felt with her mouth the letters, “ The Gospel according to St. Mark.” “ Thank God!” she said; “ if I cannot read the Bible with my fingers, I can read it with my lips.” (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Delving for the treasures of the Word The Bible is a book which requires working into, in order to get out of it that which is most precious and profound. Some Christians do not know anything like what the Bible is really worth, because they are not willing to work hard enough to find out. When they read it, it is in such a prayerless, lifeless sort of a way that they receive but very little benefit from it. Perhaps this is true of the great majority of Christians. Very likely if all of the most precious truths lay on the mere surface of the Bible, and could be as easily picked up as one does the common pebbles which lie about the streets, there are many who would possess more than they now do. But then would the great and precious gems of Divine truth seem so precious if they could be had with so little effort? We think not. If gold were lying on the surface of the earth as plentifully as the stones do in many places, and could be gathered as easily, its value would not be so highly esteemed as it is, nor would it be regarded as so precious. We see God’ s wisdom in putting many of His richest and brightest gems of truth and promise down into the depths of His Word, so that, if we would get hold of them, we must work our way down into the profound recesses of the vast reservoirs of inspired thought and revelation. A certain writer says: “ It is only when our energies are roused and our attention awake when we are acquiring, or correcting, or improving, our knowledge--that knowledge makes the requisite impression upon us. God has not made Scripture like a garden, where the fruits are ripe, and the flowers bloom, and all things are fully exposed to our view; but like a field, where we have the ground, and seed of all precious things, and where nothing can be brought to view without our industry--nor then, without the dews of heavenly grace.” If you would increase the value of the Bible to you, work in its depths! Equip your energy by God’ s Spirit, and make a profitable task of delving for the pearly treasures of the Word! Stored up gold in the Scriptures When I was in California an old Scotchman brought me a piece of quartz in which was imbedded a small piece of gold, saying, “ Mr. Scott, I would like you to see how our heavenly Father stores up the gold for our use.” There it was sparkling in the midst of a bit of useless rock. (J. Scott.)Searching Bible reading There is a great deal of listless, careless reading. Coleridge divided readers into four classes. The first class he compares to an hour glass, their reading being as the sand; it runs in and runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class resembles a sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state. A third class is like a jelly bag, which allows all that is pure to pass away, and retains only the refuse and the dregs. The fourth class, like the slave of Golconda, east aside all that is worthless, preserving only the pure gems. Or perhaps we might compare this fourth class to the gold pan, used for retaining the pure metal, while the refuse is washed out. The only profitable reading of God’ s Word is a searching reading. The word translated “ search” is emphatic and intense, and literally means to “ look carefully,” as a wild animal searches the sands to find the footsteps of a stray cub. The Bible is full of hidden treasures, to be sought as the merchant man sought goodly pearls. They are not revealed to indifferent and superficial readers. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)The Bible invaluable Do you love to turn the pages of old books? None can be found that are older than the earliest books of our Bible. Do you find special delights in history? Here are records than which none are more ancient, more trustworthy, or more important. Are you fond of biography? Here are the lives of Moses, the lawgiver and leader of the Hebrew race; of David the shepherd boy, poet and king; and of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. Is poetry, to you, a feast of beauty, an intoxicant of the emotions? Here are sublimest songs and sweetest consolations; the oldest of all poems, the epic that recites the fidelity of Job in unprecedented trials; the seraphic psalms of David; and the lofty imagery and panoramic prophecies of the unsurpassed Isaiah. Yet idle people tell us the Old Testament is dry! Is the ocean dry? Is the sunlight black? Is ambrosia bitter to the taste? Then is the Bible an unattractive book. Shallow sceptics may scoff at it; but the profoundest scholars know its worth. For many years John Quincy Adams, by reading one hour each morning, read the whole Bible once a year. He said that in whatever light he viewed it, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it was to him “ an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue.” Daniel Webster said that from the time when, at his mother’ s feet or on his father’ s knee, he first learned to lisp verses from the sacred writings, they had been his daily study and vigilant contemplation--and that if there was anything in his style or thoughts to be commended, the credit was due to his kind parents, who instilled into his minds an early love of the Scriptures. Sir William Jones declared it to be his opinion that “ the Bible contains more true sensibility, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language they may be written.” Rousseau confessed that “ the majesty” of the Scriptures astonished him, and that the holiness of the Evangelists spoke to his heart. Paul said, “ The Scriptures are able to make men wise unto salvation.” In proof of the professions of no other book or collection of books can testimony so abundant, so clear, and so weighty be adduced. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Practice in the study of the Scriptures Have set times, from which you will allow nothing to divert you, for reading and prayer. Always keep a promise in mind, and try to find a new one each day--not in a book made to hand, with a promise for every day in the year (a sort of crutch such a book is for those who expect to remain spiritual cripples), but in your own reading. We know a person who can find flowers enough in the woods every time she goes out to make a beautiful bouquet; and she does this when most would see nothing but leaves. Practice will enable you to learn the art of finding a flower of promise in every chapter. (Christian Age.)The Bible lit up A little while ago I was in the noble cathedral at Cologne. Going in the early morning, I saw the eastern windows lit up by the sun. Far away in the great church the other windows were all obscure and dusky. We strolled in about noonday, and then these windows in the depths were lit up with ruby, purple, gold--prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs. And then, when the sun was going down, we looked in to find that the great western window was magnificently kindled, like a window that opened into heaven. As the hours of the day went on, first one window was illuminated, then another, until in the end there was not a painted pane but had added some splendour to the temple. It is a great deal like treat with your Bible. There is many a dark page in the Bible today, but in the process of the suns they are lit up one after another. Successive generations will find in that Book the specific doctrine that is necessary to them, their complexities, their perplexities, their interests, their perils. Chrysostom, Bernard, Luther, Wesley, found in the Bible the truth for their day, and the great original preachers of today are giving to that Book interpretations that are necessary to our enlightenment and discipline, and before the world finishes there will not be a dark passage left. (W. L. Watkinson.)The right of private judgment in religion The primitive preachers considered their hearers as capable of judging of the truth of what they heard. They not only taught the truth, but exhibited evidence to support what they taught, and encouraged their hearers to examine this evidence. This conduct of the Bereans was agreeable to common sense, and sanctioned by Divine authority. Let us consider-- I. What it is to exercise the right of private judgment. It is the right which every man has of seeing with his own eyes, hearing with his own ears, and of exercising his own reason. But this implies--1. A right to hear what may be said upon the subject. The Bereans had a right to hear the apostle’ s reasons in favour of Christianity before they received it or rejected it. We have a right to collect evidence upon any subject, from any who are able to give us information about it. And the more information men can collect, the better they are prepared to judge correctly. 2. A right to examine every subject for ourselves. Though many things may have been said and written upon any religious doctrine, yet we have a right to reason upon it, and to search the Scriptures to see whether it be there revealed or not. When we come to think seriously upon a subject which others have treated, we may find good reasons to differ from them. They may have overlooked, and we may have found the real truth in the case. 3. The right of forming our opinions according to the best light we can obtain. We have no more right to judge without evidence than we have to judge contrary to evidence. We have no right to keep ourselves in doubt when we have sufficient evidence to come to a decision. “ Prove all things,” i.e., examine all things; and after examination, decide what is right. II. Men ought to exercise it is forming their religious sentiments.1. God has made men capable of judging for themselves in matters of religion. He has made them wiser than the beasts. He has endued them with the highest powers of reason and conscience, by which they are capable of judging what is right and wrong, true and false. As they are capable of judging for themselves, so it is their duty. Their capacity creates their obligation. As they are rational creatures, they are bound to act rationally. This, indeed, is the only power which they have no right ever to resign. They may, when necessary, give up their property or liberty; but they may never give up their right of forming their own religious sentiments, and of serving God according to the dictates of their conscience. They have no right to let their own depraved hearts, or the false reasonings of others, warp their understanding, and obscure the real evidence of Divine truth. 2. God has given men not only the proper powers, but the proper means of forming their religious sentiments. The Bible contains sufficient information in regard to all the doctrines and duties of religion. The Scriptures are level to everyone’ s capacity, so that wayfaring men though fools cannot err therein, unless by prejudice, partiality, or blindness of heart. And since men have this ample source of information in their hands, they cannot, without great impropriety and danger, neglect to search the Scriptures. 3. God has appointed none to judge for any man in respect to his religious opinions. It is true God has appointed teachers, but not judges; and after all they have done to exhibit and support the truth, the hearers are to judge for themselves whether those things they have heard be the truth. The Pope and all his hierarchy are usurpers, whose pretensions to infallibility are to be treated with disdain, as vile impositions. Christian churches have a right to form their own creeds and exercise their own discipline, independently of any superior ecclesiastical power on earth. 4. God has forbidden men to take their religious sentiments from others upon trust. His direction to His ancient people was to “ the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.” And we are commanded to prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good. And Paul tells the Galatians to reject any false doctrines, though brought to them by men or angels. 5. Every man must feel the effects of his own religious opinions, and consequently ought to exercise his own judgment in forming them. This is a matter of too much consequence to put out of his own hands. We must give an account of our faith as well as of our conduct. III. Improvement. If it be the duty of men to exercise their private judgment in the manner that has been mentioned, then--1. They may always know what they ought to believe and practise. God never places mankind in a situation in which they cannot know and do their duty; for then they would not be moral agents, nor proper subjects of moral government. Though God does not require a heathen to search the Scriptures to know his duty, yet he is morally obliged to consult his reason and conscience to learn his duty, and to act agreeably to the dictates of these intellectual powers, which he knows he ought to obey. It is absurd for Christians, who have the Bible in their hands, to plead in excuse for believing and doing wrong that they could not know what to believe, or what to do; for they always may have evidence which makes it their duty to believe or not to believe, and to act or not to act. 2. They may not only know that they have acted right in forming their religious sentiments, but know that they have formed them according to truth. Many imagine because men may err in forming their religious sentiments that they never can know whether they have formed them right in any case whatever. But they have no right to draw this consequence from human fallibility; for though men may judge wrong in some cases, yet they may judge right in others. Paul first formed a wrong opinion of Christ, and verily thought it was a true opinion; but after he had formed another and true opinion of Christ, he knew that his present opinion was right, and his former opinion was wrong. 3. It may be greatly abused. Under the pretext of this right, men may take the liberty of judging very erroneously, unreasonably, and wickedly, as did the Jews at Thessalonica, under the influence of tradition, education, and prejudice. Wherever the gospel has been preached it has been opposed, rejected, or perverted by hearers, under the pretext of the right of private judgment. But though the right of private judgment has been, and still is so extensively and grossly abused, it is far better to tolerate it than to restrain it by any other means than those which are rational and spiritual. 4. We may easily see how those who judge for themselves on religious subjects, and with the same degree of light before them, may judge very differently. One may pay more attention to the arguments on one side of the question, and another may pay more attention to the arguments on the opposite side; or one may wish to find the truth in the case, and another, for some sinister motive, may wish not to find it. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Stages of a true use of Scripture I. Willing reception, as opposed to frivolous contempt (verse 11). II. Diligent searching, as opposed to blind imitation (verse 11). Living faith, as opposed to dead knowledge (verse 12). (K. Gerok.)Docility of temper in relation to the truth The self-evidencing power of Christian truth depends on the moral condition of the man. A flash of lightning reveals nothing to him whose eyes are closed. Two classes of people, both Jews, hear the same gospel, from the same lips, under the same circumstances; and they reach opposite results. For every kind of truth a special capacity is needed. The eye sees only what it brings with it the power of seeing. We shall see how this faculty was trained in the Bereans. Note-- I. The teaching, the recognition of which the writer commends.1. The “ Word” is more fully expounded in verse 3. The Messiah of ancient promise had come. The great photographic shadows thrown forward upon the sensitive page of prophecy had taken substance. This was a position which he only would take who was sure of his ground; for it was an arraignment of the verdict of both the Jewish and Roman tribunals. “ This Jesus is neither a blasphemer nor a seditious intriguer, but the Son, and the Sent of God.” And not only so. If this Jesus were the Messiah, then the death knell of their national, religious preeminence had been sounded. “ The sceptre shall not depart … until Shiloh come” --then it was to depart. And then, in his insistence on the mission of Christ, the apostle drew two conclusions, both of which warred against the prejudices of his hearers--the one against the creed of the Jew, who believed his race exclusively the people of God, and the other against the pride of the Greek, to whom the doctrine of the Cross was an intolerable offence. 2. Having taken up his main position, the apostle proceeds to establish it by an appeal to the highest authority. “ He reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” (1) There were prophecies announcing the coming, character, and work of the Messiah. “ To Him gave all the prophets witness.” (2) There were supernatural occurrences in the birth and ministry of Christ, each connecting His appearance and Person with these prophetic foreshadowings--particularly the resurrection. But he is not satisfied with demonstrating the historical validity of this latter fact. “ If Christ be not raised ye are yet in your sins.” It requires for its doctrinal antecedent a sacrificial death, which postulates a Divine Person. II. The spirit in which this teaching was received. “ They received the Word with all readiness of mind.” Here is--1. The docility of temper which belongs to a right conception of the truth. They were in that balanced equipoise of mind which, equally removed from listless indifference and haughty presumption, left them at liberty to listen to the apostle’ s reasoning, to think dispassionately on it, and to draw their own conclusions. They did not surrender their honest convictions at the bidding of any man, however important his message or high his authority. That is a poor faith which neither asks nor requires a reason for its believing; and it is an equally poor scepticism which contents itself with thoughtlessly denying. The Thessalonian Jews rejected the Word, because they refused to examine its evidences. The Bereans more wisely received the Word, and then examined its evidences. The open eye went in quest of the teaching light. And as the healthy body through its myriad open pores drinks in the air and sunshine, and turns them into a ministry of life, so did the ingenuous candour of these Bereans. The one question was, What is the truth? not What do we wish to be true? 2. The course of inquiry marks-- (1) Their fearless honesty. They were not afraid to examine either their old opinions or the new. The great question was whether Paul’ s statements were founded on fact and accessible to the ordinary methods of moral conviction. To test this question they searched the Scriptures to which the apostle had appealed as justifying the departure he had sought to establish between Judaism and Christianity. They searched them, not the apostle’ s argument, but the great spring and reason of all that he had affirmed. They searched with keen, inquisitive eye, looking beneath, and over, and all around. The question was too grave for delay, too personal to be honestly evaded. They were bound to face the crisis. So they “ searched the Scriptures.” (2) Their manly independence of spirit. The child has safeguard from perplexity in its ignorance. Where it does not know, it as careless to inquire. With no sense of danger there is no fear. But the man must interrogate. To know the truth and to build upon it, whether it throw up a basement of rock or open into abysses of despair, that is the only satisfaction for a man. (3) Their rationality. The argument for Christianity, if it be true, must be in its facts. The “ reason for the hope that is in us” implies a reasonableness of the evidences without us. The realism of Christianity asks to be examined with the keenest critical research, whether as to its documents, authorship, spirit, or effects. (4) Their reverence. They went directly to the “ Scriptures.” The problem was outside the schools: why then go to these? It was a supernatural question; why then go to nature? If I want to map out a diagram of the stars, I do not go to geology. 3. What followed on this procedure. (1) Note the logical consequence. “ Therefore many of them believed.” Faith waiting on the light of evidence is met by the evidence of light, and following that is led into the liberty of truth. “ If any man will do His will, he shall know,” etc. Obedience is the spirit in which to seek, knowledge its after product. The old philosophy sought first to construct a science of nature, and then to bend nature to its science, and it failed. Now, we begin with what is known and advance to the unknown, and end with a science of things. It is just so in dealing with the secrets of revelation. A childlike docility, putting the mind into sympathy with the truth, will get into fellowship with God. “ Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord” ; but a self-constructed scheme of interpretation, which assumes the negative of revelation, or makes its teachings follow its own sceptical preconceptions, is sure to flounder into confusion and hopeless doubt. To the man whose senses are all that, Omnipotence itself is a waste of power. Now what the telescope does for our knowledge of the stars, revelation does for our knowledge of God; it manifests what before was unknown, and in both cases the value of the instrument is in its use. If a man will reverently use the one as he does the other, “ he shall know.” If he will not, he “ cannot know the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned.” (2) The word “ therefore” is a marked one. There was, first, a clear presentation of the truth to the mind; then the actual contact of the mind with the truth, and reflection upon it. There was a readiness to surrender old convictions to the authority of evidence, and then the light came: “ they believed.” And this belief was not a solitary or a miraculous act; it was an ordinary result. It was something more than a vague conviction, a mere sentiment of wonder. The foundation of their religious beliefs had been torn away; but they were no longer adrift on a sea of doubt. “ They believed” ; and faith is trust, calmness, certainty. It is the eye of the soul looking through and with the eye of reason, and resting on the reality of things. And this effect will, in all ordinary cases, be produced wherever the same process of inquiry is pursued. (3) Besides this satisfying conviction that comes from conscious experience of the power of truth, there are the facts without. (a) There are the Jews--a standing witness of the fulfilment of prophetic Scripture. (b) The existence, history, and standing of the Christian Church. (c) The Christ of Christianity--the miracle of miracles. Conclusion:1. The fitness of the gospel to deal with dissimilar classes of men. Jews, Greeks, “ honourable” men and women. 2. The great impediment in the way of any man’ s salvation is not in the gospel, nor in the ministration of the gospel, but in the indifference or pride with which men deal with its transcendent statements. (John Burton.)Ignorance of the Scriptures the cause of infidelity The most prominent and invariable cause of infidelity is found in the fact that men will not investigate the Scriptures. Many infidels have confessed that they had never carefully read the New Testament. Thomas Paine confessed that he wrote the first part of the “ Age of Reason” without having a Bible at hand, and without its being possible to procure one where he then was (in Paris). “ I had,” says he, “ neither Bible nor Testament to refer to, though I was writing against both; nor could I procure any.” (A. Barnes, D. D.) Acts 17:12 Therefore many of them believed.The gospel and the classes 1. They “ believed” --a little word, but a great thing--the step by which they passed from condemnation to peace; from the house on the sand before it fell, to the rock. The moment before they were without Christ and hope; the moment after they were in Christ, and heirs of eternal life. How could interests so vast turn on a point so small? All decisive turnings are made on points. The poles are mathematical points, yet how huge the mass that spins round them! 2. “ Many believed.” A swelling of spiritual life sometimes comes over a city or country, as the tidal wave over the ocean--lifted and led in both cases by a power in the heavens. The symptoms which portended this revival were a bent of mind towards the Word, and a daily searching of it. When we see the same symptoms we may expect the same enlargement. 3. Note the classes who were won to the Lord. I. Greeks. There is no respect of persons with God: “ neither Jew nor Greek.” Yet the conversion of a Greek may give an apostle greater reason for joy, inasmuch as while of no more value intrinsically than a Jew, a Greek could open a door into a wider field. Those successes were sweetest which were promises of more. II. Men and women. God made both in marvellous wisdom for each other; together they have gone from Him; it is a glad sight when they return in company. How sad when the sexes are divided by that partition which divides the Church from the world! As there is neither Jew nor Greek, so there is neither male nor female in the kingdom of Christ. Sometimes the husband or brother believes, while wife or sister smothers the spiritual life by the cares of this world. Sometimes the women of the family are devoted to Christ, while the men are too philosophic or self-indulgent. Husbands and wives, etc., be heirs together of the grace of life. III. People of high standing. Are the upper ten, then, more precious? No. But there are times and circumstances in which their conversion is more noteworthy.1. If for nothing else, the early disciples valued it as men value certain gems, on account of its rarity. The common people heard the Master gladly, but the rulers held aloof. On that account Jesus looked fondly on the rich young man who came to Him. 2. Their influence is greater. 3. Great temptations bind them. IV. Not a few. There is a strange appetite in the Christian’ s heart; it continually cries, Give an appetite inherited from Christ. When many came He invited the rest as eagerly. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Also of honourable women.--Women and the Church Women are first named, implying that they were first to believe. This is still no common occurrence. I. Women receive the gospel more readily than do men. Lydia’ s case is repeated in all quarters of Christendom. The sisters of Bethany, the women who ministered unto Christ, prophesy the faith of their sex. II. Upon the basis of this fact it is not flattery to say that women are more noble than men. There are qualities belonging to their sex fitting women above men to appreciate the gospel. Though first in the fall, also first in relations, qualifications, and promise to bring deliverance. III. Women have special reasons for becoming Christians. Their aptness to receive it is evidence of their need of it--1. To satisfy their finer, quicker sense of right, truth, beauty. 2. To fulfil their mission in life not by power, but by influence. Their want of Christian character is a want of qualification for their life work. IV. Woman’ s obligation to Christianity. Outside of the religion of revelation they were burdened and enslaved. Their elevation they owe to Christianity. (S. Mease, D. D.)And of men not a few.--Men and the Church Of the men in Berea, not a few received the gospel. The same is true wherever the gospel has been carried. The inference, however, is that the number of men was not equal to the number of women. This inference is confirmed by observation of modern churches. This unfortunate phenomenon is deserving of discussion. I. Men’ s need of the gospel is as absolute as that of women.1. Depravity is as deep and real, effecting an equal estrangement from God, and producing the same evil fruits--disobedience, perversion of life, unrest, apprehension of evil, and death, both in body and soul. 2. Their manly courage, strength, and capacity leave them helpless as women; for spiritual ends God’ s help alone will avail. 3. They must find the same one remedy--the blood of Christ. 4. To men the gospel is as much and all that it is to women--the power of God unto salvation to them that believe. II. The allegiance and service of men are as unconditionally required as those of women.1. The gospel is the one instrumentality for the world’ s redemption. Against it are arrayed all the forces of sin and Satan. Will men, strong and courageous, refuse to enlist, while women contend with readier will and in greater numbers? 2. The work of the gospel is great above every other, securing human happiness here and hereafter. Wherever men are, there is a call to labour. Sin, crime, poverty, and suffering are devouring multitudes by reason of gospel work undone, whilst men are idling in the market place. Will men, with stronger endowments and better advantages, look on, leaving the burden to weaker but better women? III. The evil resulting from men’ s greater reluctance than women to accept and promote the gospel. Were the men as ready to believe as are women, the latter in still greater numbers would be at the feet of Jesus--our daughters, wives, and mothers. An increasing host of both sexes would flock to the standard of the Cross. Men out of the Church are hindrances to women who would enter, and often difficulties to such as have entered. The men are in the front ranks of the world’ s battle: why should they not be in the front as to numbers and activity in the battle for truth, salvation, and God? (S. Mease, D. D.) Acts 17:15-34 And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athena Paul at Athens I. The place which the apostle visited. Athens. II. The feelings of which he was the subject. Not of admiration at the masterpieces of art by which he was surrounded, but of--1. Holy indignation. He saw how God was dishonoured; how He was robbed of the homage which was His due. 2. Christian compassion. He felt deeply at the contemplation of such moral debasement--a city wholly given to idolatry. 3. Zeal. It is well to feel; but what need have we to guard against a mere fruitless sentimentality. III. The characters with whom he came in contact. 1. Jews. With them he disputed daily. 2. Certain philosophers. IV. The address he delivered. His text was the inscriptions he witnessed on one of the altars: “ To the Unknown God.” He at once proceeded with his subject, saying, “ Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.” He is declared--1. In reference to His nature. In what he says on this subject, we are reminded-- (1) Of the apostle’ s boldness. It is said that the laws of the city denounced death upon those who should introduce a foreign deity. (2) His decision. The philosophers in speaking of God had nothing but mere guesses and peradventures; but in no hesitating tone does Paul speak. (3) His skill. This was unlike his discourses to the Jews, where he mainly appealed to the Old Testament. 2. In reference to the Divine dispensations. (1) The past dispensation of forbearance. (2) The present dispensation of grace. (3) The coming dispensation of judgment. V. The effects produced by his labours. They were threefold.1. Ridicule. “ Some mocked.” 2. Procrastination. “ We will hear thee again of this matter.” 3. Faith. “ Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed.” (Expository Outlines.)Paul at Athens 1. No moment in the annals of the Church has larger significance than that in which the gospel of the living Christ comes to its first contact with the worn faiths of paganism,--its philosophy and its science. 2. The very inequalities in social position of this meeting between the Jewish tent maker--“ whose bodily presence is weak, and whose speech is of no account” --and the classic and proud city of the ancient world, and the contrasted weapons of the debate--in the warm personal faith of the one, and the lifeless but cultivated ignorance of the other--all conspire to make this apostolic visit of historic significance, and this address a model in the missionary records of the Church. I. The pulpit.1. The apostle was in that “ Holy Land of the Ideal,” to which the ancient world of art and letters made pilgrimage. Here was the shrine at which “ the fair humanities” of the pagan faith were worshipped--here the gymnasium, in which the human form came to its most perfect development in grace and beauty. Here, also, the human mind, the laws of thought, and that language which became the chosen medium of God’ s truth, attained an almost ideal acuteness and expansion, while in the age of Pericles art, poetry, and philosophy reached such consummate excellence as to become classic models of form and style to all the generations. It was in the market place at Athens that Socrates, “ the wisest of men,” asked his immortal questions; and yonder in the olive groves by the brook Plato founded the academy; to the east, under the shadow of the mountain, was the lyceum of Aristotle, while near at hand, in the agora, were the garden of Epicurus and the painted porch of the Stoics. Here was the home of the drama, and the scholar speaks with pride the names of AEschylus and Sophocles. Here spoke the orators of Greece, not only to the civil issues of that time, but also to the listening ears of the future, and here wrote historians like Thucydides and Xenophon; while in her temples was deified the national spirit in the marble images of her heroes and soldiers, in the trophies of her victories, and the memory of her defeats, until we may say with truth that no city of like limits ever gathered to itself so much of history, so many objects of interest, and such prestige as Athens. 2. In the midst of such surroundings Paul was waiting for the coming of Silas and Timothy from Berea. As his eyes rested upon the images of gods and goddesses which filled the temples and lined the avenues of the city--where, the historian says, it was easier to find a god than a man--“ his spirit was stirred within him as he beheld the city full of idols.” The apostle was not destitute of that fine sense of the beautiful which belongs to all great souls, nor did the mind of the Jewish scholar fail in quick response to real culture; but the beautiful in art or letters was subordinate to the truth in Jesus, which filled his soul. 3. He was not of choice nor as a student in this university city, but in the providence of God he was a delayed messenger of the Cross; and, true to the great mission which possessed him, he engages the loiterers of the market place in religious debate. For such street colloquies the Athenians had particular liking. It was through such that their great philosophers had come into prominence; and, having abundant leisure on their hands, the citizens generally found both occupation and excitement in taking part in them. 4. We can easily picture the amused curiosity, and the half-serious, half-sneering questions of the crowd which gathered around him: “ What would this babbler say?” “ He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods.” As the circle grew larger, and hearing more difficult, curiosity in the new religion became more earnest, until, in the spirit of mischief or half-mirth, “ they laid hold upon him,” and led him up the stone steps to the top of the Areopagus, the ancient judgment seat of Athens, where in the crescent of stone seats had sat the judges, who, three hundred years before, had condemned Socrates to die. Beyond the tribunal, in the cleft of the rock, was the menacing sanctuary of the Furies, while above was the great temple of Mars, the god of blood. Here, then, was the pulpit of the apostle--such a pulpit as no man, unless sent of God, and filled with the courage of the truth, would have dared to occupy! II. The audience. Their temper and character have exhibition in the half-earnest, half-contemptuous, inquisitive spirit with which they placed the apostle on “ the stone of impudence” --where the accused were wont to plead their cause before the council--and with mocking judicial tones bade him speak.1. The Athenian was religious: the innumerable temples, statues, and altars prove his “ carefulness in religion” ; but it reveals also what his religion was. It was one which made him a splendid animal with a splendid intellect, which had no holding power against profligacy and fatalism, but, like the sun, while it preserves the living, it hastens the decay of the dead. The same temper of mind and life had gone over into philosophy. (1) Three hundred years before, in his little garden beside the market place, Epicurus had taught his followers that happiness is the great purpose and pursuit of life. In close alliance with this standard of life was a material theory of the universe, which made the world “ a fortuitous combination of atoms,” so that Providence became accident, and chance the disposer of events. (2) The Stoics taught a system of ethics radically at variance with this; for, while the Epicurean had made the world conform to self, the Stoic had made self conform to nature; thus self-gratification became the maxim of the one, and self-denial of the other. And while the Epicurean avoided pain, the Stoic welcomed it in or let to despise it, and found the secret of life in living in conformity to nature, receiving its bitter as sweet, and its sweet as bitter, with equal composure. But while its austere morality commands our admiration, its theories of the universe are degrading and material. Mind and matter were not distinguishable. God is only the reasoning principle in the universe--one with the material world. The very souls of men, like their bodies, were material. (3) One other class of hearers were represented; the gossips who spent their time in hearing and telling some new thing. This sect needs no analysis; their creed is simple and their history is familiar. Every community knows them, and every successor of the apostle addresses them. 2. We have outlined the character and creeds of the company that we may note one or two facts. (1) That, while unbelief is a revolving wheel, it is not a progressive one; for the very phases of unbelief against which the Church is contending today Paul met on Mars’ Hill. Our materialistic philosophy which rules out God; our advanced thought in natural science; where do they receive better statement or definition than in that old poem of Lucretius “ On the Nature of Things” ? Our selfish and infidel systems of ethics--what are they but echoes of voices across that line which has divided the centuries? Unbelief always carries its ball and chain; it has no progress, and it cannot build. (2) In the focused light of Christianity in which we live today it would seem impossible for the worn pagan faiths of Epicurus and Zeno to exist among us. But such is not the case. For multitudes are living upon the unformulated theories and unspoken creeds of heathendom. Self is the centre of the universe, pleasure the great end of life; and as regards conduct they have no souls; there is no hereafter, and God is a fiction. Or they are austere, stern moralists, complacent in their own rightness, conforming to the events of life with stoical composure; scorning that humility which comes from repentance, and treating with disdain an atonement for its guilt and death. 3. Athens teaches us that culture cannot save a man nor a city from moral decay. Not commerce nor national era, not wealth nor taste, not even the library nor the college, convey the forces of permanent power or real welfare to men; but the gospel is the power of God unto life to the man and the state. III. The sermon. Note the courteous prudence with which he begins as he raises his hand for silence--“ Men of Athens, in all things I observe that you are unusually religious” --a compliment which carries the truth and the attentive favour of his audience; and yet such conciliation does not compromise the man nor his message. He continues “ For as I passed through your city,” etc. (Acts 17:23). Paul might have denounced their idolatry with a sledge hammer blow, for his spirit had boiled within him as he beheld it; but alert to every circumstance which should serve a Christian purpose, he uses the very errors of heathendom to guide their feet and thought to Him who was the way and the truth. And now every sentence is packed with “ the deep things of God” as he proceeds, and every word is a battle blow to the false philosophy of his hearers. IV. Its reception (Acts 17:32). The same old story wherever the truth is taught. Mockers, procrastinators, believers; to which class do we belong? (Sermons by the Monday Club.)Paul at Athens It is one test of a real gospel, that it can overleap all barriers placed between man and man, and find its way into that innermost heart’ s core which makes the whole world kin. Already in this one Book we have seen it dealing with the Jew and with the Gentile: we have seen it in Palestine, in Asia Minor, in Europe. Everywhere it has found some hearts into which it entered as a healing balm, some lives which it penetrated with transforming power. Now we are to see it at Athens. I. St. Paul’ s feeling. He was left there for a time alone. Some of us know that sinking of the spirits which is occasioned by loneliness in a strange city. He was a man of quick feeling, lively emotion, and gentlest affection; but even these were not the causes of his chief distress. His life was given to one work, and his whole heart was in it. Many a so-called Christian has tarried in an idolatrous place, and seen nothing in it but the antiquity of its associations or the curiosity of its monuments. At Athens the traveller feels nothing but a thrill of historic and poetic interest; and it would be judged by many a mere narrow-mindedness to remember the gospel. But St. Paul could not dissever the magnificence of a temple or the perfection of a statue from the remembrance of the idolatry which it served and of the souls which it debased. Yet his irritation was not a merely vexing and annoying thing, torturing to himself and to all about him, on the contrary. II. It stirred him to acting.1. At Athens, as elsewhere, there was a Jewish synagogue: there at all events he might find some to sympathise with his horror at idolatry; there, too, he might at least argue from the common ground of Scripture, and assume both the unity of the Godhead and the expectation of a Christ. 2. But the Jews he had with him always, the Athenians he met but for once; this was their day, the season of their visitation. Accordingly we read that in the far-famed Agora “ he reasoned daily with those who met with him.” St. Paul was not too proud, reserved, indolent, or half-hearted, to seize opportunities of conversing with strangers. A man with a soul to be saved or lost must have, for him, a ground of interest and a point of contact. Thus there encountered him some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Strange meeting between a man who lived but for duty, yet found that duty in love Divine and human, and those who either denied the existence of a duty, or else made duty another name for hardness. Very brief, yet very graphic, is the account given of the treatment of the gospel by these philosophers. Nothing could be more contemptuous. They treated him as a mere reporter of idle tales picked up from others, and as a man incapable even of expressing the follies which he has adopted. Others took a more serious view of the case, and thought him a sort of travelling missionary of false gods, desiring to add new names to an already overflowing Pantheon. Because the names of Jesus and the Resurrection occurred so frequently they ran to the conclusion that they were the names of two deities whom he sought to incorporate in the national religion. And if this were so, it was a case requiring the cognisance of the great religious court of Athens (Acts 17:19-20). A brief word of comment on the Athenian character is here introduced (Acts 17:21). It was the complaint of their own orators. When they ought to have been taking vigorous measures for the welfare or protection of their own state, still the love of news predominated over every other principle, and they who should have been acting were ever talking still! There are some in every congregation to whom this reproof belongs. 3. Then St. Paul stood before that famous court, of which the poets and orators of Greece tell such proud things. It does not appear to have been a formal trial, nor that life or death hung upon the issue. For the present it was a hearing only for information. Observe now the wisdom and the courage with which he spake. “ Ye men of Athens, I observe that in all things ye are more religious” than others. He would carry them with him if he could. And he selects this one characteristic as in itself hopeful. And it is better that a man should feel his dependence, and seek to be in communication with One above him, than that he should do neither. Lest after all their care anyone superior being should at last have been overlooked, they had adopted the singular expedient of an anonymous altar, which might at least deprecate the vengeance of a disregarded and slighted God. This altar St. Paul, with a wisdom and a skill above man’ s, takes as the text of his sermon. I am come, he says, to give a name to that anonymous altar. I am come to you from an unknown God, to enable you to fill up that blank space in your devotions. And who then is He? The God who made the world. How then can He be limited to one spot in it? He is the Giver and Preserver of human life: how can He require material offerings as though to support His own? He is the one Creator of all races, assigning to each the duration of its being, and the place of its habitation, and with what object? The 27th verse gives the answer. He quotes from a Greek poet of Tarsus in Cilicia, his own native city, as though claiming for himself a new link of connection with his audience. If we are, as your own poets say, God’ s offspring, it is derogatory even to man’ s nature to represent God under material and inanimate forms. Let the very dignity of man cry out against the disparagement of God. There was, he continues, a long and dreary age, during which God seemed as it were to acquiesce in the spiritual ignorance of His creatures. But now He has interposed with a call to repentance. And that call is backed by a threatening as well as a promise. There is a day of judgment. And that judgment will be conducted by a Man, the proof of whose Judgeship is the fact of His own resurrection. Well can we understand that there was that in this address which was at once trifling and shocking in Grecian ears (Acts 17:32-34). And for this time he departed from among them. (Dean Vaughan.)Paul at Athens 1. Paul is now “ waiting.” He needs rest, and so will sit down and be quiet and recover himself. Paul waiting! The two words do not go happily together. He cannot wait. Life is short; the enemy is at hand; the opportunity enlarges; and he who was left in an attitude of waiting begins to burn. A paroxysm (for that is the literal word) seizes his heart as he sees a sight he had never beheld before--a city wholly given to idolatry--one, as an historian tells us, in which it was easier to find a god than a man. “ Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image” was ringing in Paul’ s ears. 2. Athens was wholly given to idolatry. You cannot stop at one idol. One brings another. This law has also its force in higher directions. You cannot stop with one isolated excellence. It is not excellence if you so use it. Vices go in groups; piety is a whole excellence and not a partial virtue, The Athenians covered their irreligious lives by these religious forms. “ Fill the city with gods, and let us live as we like,” was the Athelstan philosophy--it is ours too! “ Start another mission, and let us play what pranks we like under the darkness.” “ Build five hundred more churches, but let us drink the devil’ s cup right down to its last hot drop.” There are more idols in London than ever there were in Athens; not marble idols, but idols we can hide. Were Paul to come here he would see fashion, fortune, ease, ambition, self-seeking. In mighty, measureless London, for every man is his own idol! Stone idols may be so many marble steps up to the highest altar; but when the heart is its own idol, and its own idolater, nothing can break up the paganism but crucifixion. The Athenian pagan might be led away argumentatively from stone deities to conceptions of deific being and force; but the pagan heart never listens to intellectual appeals. Only one thing can break the heart idol--“ the hammer of the Lord,” that can grind to powder the stoniest heart that ever shut out the clemency and love of Heaven. “ Not by might, nor by power,” etc. 3. Paul did a little introductory work. He always began just where the opportunity permitted him. “ He disputed in the synagogue with the Jews,” and he found a custom in Athens of meeting in the market place, which was the general school house of the city; and there learned men were talking and Paul listened. Having listened, he spoke, as he had a right to do according to Athenian custom, but be spoke so as to bring upon himself a contemptuous name. “ What will this seed pecker say? He is evidently nibbling at something, poor little, small-minded, weak-eyed Jew.” “ He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods.” “ Strange, i.e., startling things” (Acts 17:20). The gospel startles; it never comes easily into any civilisation. Jesus did not come to send peace, but a sword, not quietness, but fire! 4. The Athenians were interested in the matter from an intellectual point of view (Acts 17:18). That is not religious inquiry. If you want to know what that is, recall the instance of the jailer who said, “ What must I do to be saved?” Are we typified by the jailer or by the stoic? Let us be honest with ourselves. If we are in God’ s house for the purpose of ascertaining God’ s Word, all heaven will be aflame with light, and every guest at God’ s table will be satisfied; but if we are here in the Athenian spirit we may be disappointed and mocked. 5. Paul was always ready to speak. But they were learned men, so was he, but not as many men are with unavailable learning, but in his gospel. He asked for no time to prepare. Instantly he said, “ Ye men of Athens.” That was Demosthenic; the great orator always began his appeal thus. Thus the true preacher can always begin. He cannot always say “ Dear friends,” for there may be none; “ brethren,” for that may be an unknown term. There is genius even here. There is a gift of God in little matters as well as in great. Paul was never wanting in tact. Mark the simple dignity of the salutatory form. They were “ men” ; they met upon a common platform. Then the next, “ I perceive that in all things ye are too religiously minded.” Mark the broad and generous recognition. Do not affront the people you intend afterwards to persuade. There are two methods of delivering a country from idolatry. The one is, Jehu like, to destroy Baal out of Israel; the other is to displace the false by the introduction of the true; not to deride an idol, but to preach a Saviour. So Paul recognises what he sees. “ I found an altar with this inscription: to the unknown God. I will begin where you end. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.” What infinite tact! That is the true method of preaching today. You must interpret to men what they do not interpret to themselves. Endeavour to make the most of a man. Every man has upon him this inscription, “ To the Unknown,” and the Christian teacher has to say, “ Then I will make it known to you. Do you ever yearn and desire?” Then such aspiration is the beginning of prayer. Do you suffer for others? You will sit up all night that others may sleep. If so, that is the beginning of sacrifice. Are you dissatisfied with earth and time? Are you filled with discontentment? That is the beginning of immortality. This text of Paul’ s is in every man; every life furnishes a Mars’ Hill from the top of which Christian preachers may preach. The sun does not plant the root, but warms it into fulness of life. The witness of God is in every one of us, and answers to the claim of the written Book. (J. Parker, D. D.)Paul at Athens Greece was the clime and residence of the beautiful. The very air was tempered to delight, and the soul imbibed the same sunny hues as the landscape. The passion for the beautiful, gave to the Greeks a more brilliant mythology than any other nation. Music moulded the flexible language into its own nature, and it became so plastic that its very swell and modulation were but the waves of song. The arts and sciences danced around humanity, and “ stored man’ s home with comforts, and charmed his senses with all kinds and forms of elegance.” Athens was a marble paradise, filled with temples and with gods, whose forms were the very models of symmetry and perfection. What were the feelings which Athens was likely to produce in a mind so accomplished as Paul’ s? To the splendour of its name, to the charms of its literature, he was no stranger; and his mind was peculiarly alive to every form of beauty. The streets were but long galleries of godlike forms in marble. Athens was the very focus of idolatry, and the apostle witnessed the living magnificence of their worship, the gorgeous attire of their priests--the solemn pomp of their processions--the clouds of fragrant incense which alone could obscure their transparent atmosphere, and the majesty of their theatres. He heard the surpassing melody of their music, and listened to the discourses of their orators; and “ his spirit was stirred within him,” but only because “ he beheld the city wholly given to idolatry.” Let me direct your attention to-- I. The preacher. He was no ordinary man. His mind, naturally strong, had been strengthened by culture; he had great energy and decision of character. Like the bird of heaven, he was at home in the storm as well as in the sunshine. He was once the greatest enemy of that truth of which he was now the foremost advocate. What a change has taken place in his views and feelings, since when a young man he studied Grecian literature! Just look at him with that volume of Greek poetry in his hand. He is longing for the hour when he shall visit Athens, and converse with the literati, and drink in inspiration from the fountain. He visits Athens; but, strange to tell, he visits that celebrated city as a preacher of the Cross! He is now to contend with the very master spirits of the world, in the very palace of intellect, and in the very sanctuary of idolatry. II. The place where Paul preached. The spot where he stood was a rock where in earlier days the supreme court of justice had been held. Though the authority of this court had been abridged by the Roman conquest, still it was reserved for the judges to determine what gods were to be admitted into the temples, and to pronounce sentence upon any who should be guilty of blaspheming the divinities of Greece. If ever the sincerity of the preacher was tried, it was upon this occasion; and if ever Paul displayed intrepidity of character, it was upon Mars’ hill. III. The congregation. Around him, then, were gathered a multitude, acute, inquisitive, and polished. Never did preacher have such a congregation. There were the philosophers of bower and porch; orators with whom the slightest tinge of a barbarian accent would break the power of the most persuasive discourse; Epicureans who believed the world was created by accident or by chance--men who though they professed to believe in the existence of a God, regarded Him as dwelling in the far-off watchtowers of some distant world, indifferent to His creatures; and Stoics who believe in two principles, God and matter, both eternal, and therefore they virtually denied that there was any creation. There, too, was the priest, astonished at the daring of the preacher; the young Roman who had come to Athens to be educated; the Jew looking on with hatred and fury at the apostate from the ancient faith; and there, too, though afar off and crouching to the ground, was the slave, drinking in the doctrine--strange and new to him, sweet as music to his ears--that God had “ made all men of one blood.” What must Paul have felt when surrounded by such a congregation! IV. The sermon. Nobly did the champion of truth perform his part. He spoke worthy of himself, of his commission, and his congregation. You cannot fail to be struck by the adaptation of this discourse to the congregation. When Paul went into a synagogue he reasoned with the Jews out of the Scriptures. But here were men who believed that the creation of the world was altogether fortuitous; those who did not believe in any creation at all; those who denied that there was any future state. The apostle then set himself to prove to them that there was a God, that this God was the Creator of all things, that there was an overruling Providence, and consequently that there was a judgment to come. We can only seize on some of the leading features of this sermon. How appropriate and judicious his introduction! Since you are worshippers of an “ unknown God” it must be gratifying to you, who are such religious people, to hear something concerning Him. From his primary positions the apostle proceeds to draw certain inferences, viz., that God is not confined to any particular place, that God is independent; and the spirituality of the Divine Being. With these reasonings the apostle makes an assertion relative to the duty of man, to seek an acquaintance with God through the medium of His works and ways; and then concludes by observing, that though God for ages had left the Gentiles to themselves, now He “ commanded all men everywhere to repent,” etc. V. The effects (verses 32-34). Conclusion:1. The great propriety of discourses being adapted to the circumstances of the hearers. It is necessary that the preacher should commend himself to every man’ s conscience in the sight of God; but where there is a variety of character and circumstances, it is a difficult thing for a minister to adapt himself. But “ the truth as it is in Jesus” is adapted to all men’ s circumstances. 2. Paul’ s discourse is an excellent homily for these times. There are not a few who are worshippers of an “ unknown God” ; who attach sanctity to certain places; who suppose that God takes delight in certain words, and in certain postures. Let such study Paul’ s sermon, and they will find that that very sermon preached eighteen hundred years ago is peculiarly adapted to their circumstances. (H. J. Bevis.)Paul at Athens The practical lessons are:-- I. That a truly good man will be sensitive to the moral evils prevalent in the community in which he is placed (verse 16). Here idolatry was rampant. What are the prevailing evils in London? II. A truly good man will bestir himself for the removal of those evils. There are those who feel and say much, but do nothing (verse 17). III. In dealing with these evils a man who is wise as well as good will strike at their root ignorance of God and His will. There was much vice, but Paul said nothing of that. Political and social reforms are good, but what the world needs is regeneration. Make the tree good and its fruit will be good. IV. In dealing with these evils tact is needed as well as zeal (verse 22). Paul never committed the gross oratorical blunder of accusing his audience of superstition. What he commended and proved was their religiousness, and having put them in good humour he proceeded to deliver his message. There is a great deal in the way we take hold of people. You must conciliate men before you can convert them. V. In dealing with these evils you must not expect uniform success (verses 32-34). (R. A. Bertram.)Paul at Athens The practical lessons which this scene teaches us are-- I. That the loftiest efforts of unaided men, can produce no higher religion than a refined polytheism. This is confirmed by the records of all heathenism. Had man been left to himself, he never would have known the true God; and hence the privilege of living in a land where the Triune God is known and worshipped. II. That art and literature have in themselves no conserving moral force. The citizens of Athens had a poetry, which maintains its precedence to this day; a literature, unsurpassed in eloquence and vigour; an art, developing itself in paintings, and statues, and architecture, which are even now the proudest monuments of human skill: yet just as in the age of Louis XIV in France, and in the Augustan age at Rome, art and literature were not only powerless to arrest immorality, they absolutely ministered to it. The mind is rightly cultivated only when educated in the principle of personal accountability to God. Hence the danger of a merely secular education. Hence the need of a Christian leaven in our secular schools. III. That philosophy, originating in human minds, can construct no true system of belief or duty. Philosophy requires three constant factors to its full and true development, viz., a first Cause; a full knowledge of this first Cause; and a full knowledge of man himself. But no human mind can grasp these factors. We must look then above man to get this true philosophy; and we find it in the revelation of God. But “ no man knoweth the Father, but the Son, and Hero whom the Son will reveal Him” ; and Jesus only “ needeth not that any should testify of man; for He knows what is in man.” So then we reach the fact that in Jesus Christ are “ hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” A philosophy which leaves out Christ is like a planetary system without a central sun, a mere series of vortices without a uniting and controlling centre. Philosophy has found out many truths, but not the great foundation truths of God’ s existence, and attributes, and grace; and man’ s fall, and helplessness, and need of a Saviour. How, then, should we thank God, that He has revealed all this to us. IV. That repentance is a personal duty, eased on personal responsibility to God for personal sins. Heathenism knew nothing of sin, as the alienation of the heart from God. Its very gods were but splendid embodiments of sin; and their influence was only to reproduce in daily life the crimes which filled Olympus. It is the religion of Christ only which measures moral character with the unerring lines and in the unerring balances of the Divine law. It is only as we act upon the truth that man is personally responsible to God, and will be judged, that we shall have true views of God, and understand our need of a Saviour. (Bp. Stevens.)Paul at Athens; Christianity in contact with cultivated mind I. The subject on which the minister of the gospel addresses men is worthy of the attention of cultivated minds.1. There ought to be no occasion for arguing this point. Paul felt no necessity of showing that the subject was worthy of attention. The Athenians had already expressed their sense of the importance of the inquiry by inviting him to come to the place where he could best address the people. We, on the contrary, are obliged to awaken inquiry, and to show why religion is worthy of profound thought. (1) Among those who, in other respects, would be represented by the Athenian philosophers, religion does not come within the range of their inquiries. They are scientists, jurists, editors, philosophers, etc., not theologians. (2) The great mass of men stop short when they approach the subject of religion in their investigations, even when it would appear impossible that they should not be led to see and to embrace its truths. In astronomy, e.g., such men seem almost to look upon the throne of God; but they will no, allow their minds to take the next step, and many an astronomer remains ignorant of Him who made the worlds. (3) When men do come up to the point they find the subject distasteful. They have come into a region where the ideas of duty--retribution, repentance--are likely to be predominant; and they are not attracted by these themes. 2. It is proper, therefore, to show that the subject of religion is worthy the attention of this class of minds. Observe therefore-- (1) That it is an avowed principle with such persons, that all subjects are to be investigated. It is a maxim in philosophy that truth is to be followed wherever it may lead us. Why, then, should the astronomer refuse to follow out the revelation when the throne of God seems to stand before him, and admit that there is a God? Why should he always talk about “ Nature,” and never about “ God” ? (2) As mere abstract matters, the subjects of religion are as worthy of attention as any that can come before the minds of men. The Greeks, as a people, had evinced their own convictions of this, far more than most other nations. When Grecian sages were thus leading a foreign Jew to the Areopagus to ask him what he had to say on this subject, no man in Athens would feel that this was an unworthy act in the city of Socrates and Plato. No class of people, however advanced in civilisation, act contrary to the dictates of the highest wisdom, when they give themselves to earnest thought about the Creator of the world, the methods of the Divine administration, etc. If these great subjects are not important for man, what subjects can be? (3) The subject of religion pertains, as a personal matter, as really to cultivated men as to the rest of mankind. It does not merely open questions relating to the welfare of society; but it is a subject of personal importance to each individual. II. Paul was in possession of knowledge on these subjects which was in advance of what these philosophers possessed. In considering this, notice--1. The manner in which Paul approached the subject of his peculiar doctrines. (1) He made no direct attack on their religion. He did not awaken their prejudices, as if his mission was to destroy their temples. (2) He commended their zeal in religion as real zeal in a great cause; and he referred, without any unkind reflections, to the evidence of that zeal exhibited on every hand. (3) He referred to their acknowledged difficulties--to the avowal of their own ignorance or uncertainty, as recorded on the altar. (4) He proposed to reveal the God whom they thus unconsciously adored; to lead them up to the real source of every blessing. (5) He agreed, as far as possible, with the philosophers who heard him, and reasoned from their admitted principles. A truth found in their poetry, though it was heathen poetry, was not the less a truth because it had had such an origin, and because it was not found in the inspired writings of the Jews. So far he was successful. He did not excite their fears. He did not expose himself to contempt. He secured, as he had hoped to do, their profound attention. 2. The doctrines which he made known to them. (1) Those which were based on principles that they themselves held--though in advance of their views. (a) The existence of a God--to them the “ unknown God.” (b) The fact that this “ unknown” God was the Creator of the world. (c) The immensity of God. (d) The independence of God. (e) The unity of the human race. (f) The grand purpose for which certain arrangements had been made in respect to the human race: “ that they should seek God,” etc. (g) The spirituality of God and of religion (verse 29). (2) The doctrines which were peculiar to the Christian system; the “ strange things” in reference to which particularly they had asked an explanation. (a) God now commands universal repentance. (b) God will judge the world. (c) The resurrection of the dead; as derived from the fact that God had raised from the dead Him who was to judge the world, III. The lessons suggested by the discourse.1. Christianity does not shrink from investigation. Paul manifested no reluctance, but rejoiced in the opportunity of proclaiming the gospel where it would be most likely to be subjected to a thorough examination. 2. The history of the world, since Paul stood on Mars’ Hill, has made no difference in the relation of Christianity to the world ill the matter under consideration, lit claims to be now not less in advance of the world than it was then. The world has, indeed, made great progress in arts, science, etc., but it has made no advances in the knowledge of the great truths of religion by the aid of science or philosophy. 3. If Christianity was then, and is now, ahead of the world on these subjects, it may be presumed that it will ever retain this advanced position. 4. This furnishes a strong proof of the Divine origin of Christianity. System after system of philosophy and religion has disappeared. But Christianity has lived through all changes. After all the discoveries and developments of the last eighteen centuries--after all that has been affirmed to be in conflict with the Bible--the hold of Christianity on the world is stronger now, and the belief that the Bible is true is more widespread and deep, than in any past age. (A. Barnes, D. D.)His spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.--Moral wretchedness of idolatry The great argument for missionary exertion, next to its being the plain command of God, is the spiritual helplessness of those who live under the power of idolatry. This paroxysm of grief which the apostle felt would be excited by-- I. The dishonouring views of the Divine character and government necessarily associated with such a system. Those who think lightly of idolatry speak as if it afforded the same outlet for the religious affections as true religion; that the religious element in man’ s nature is as effectually cultivated, whether men called the being they worshipped Vishnu, or Juggernaut, or God, seeing the same honour in all cases is intended to the Great Author of the universe. But now, even if this monstrous impiety were conceded, it is sufficient to observe that the attributes with which these gods are commonly invested must for ever forbid the acceptableness of the worship. So far otherwise, God must regard it as worship by which His character is debased, and everything which could inspire filial and reverential sentiments is taken away. II. The sanctioned and permitted disregard of the first principles of morality. The religion of Greece was chiefly a religion of festivals; and some of these extended to seven days. True, some were simply absurd; but at the majority things were performed of which it were a shame even to speak. With similar accounts our own missionaries are obliged to stain their reports unto this day. Now, it is easy to see that morality can have no existence under such a state of things, because all morals must have as their foundation the will of God. “ Be ye holy, because I am holy,” appeals to a universal moral instinct; flee from iniquity, because God hateth iniquity--these are the safeguards of all that is pure in our social system. In the case of idolatry, however, this safeguard is removed. It were in vain that the law should forbid a thing as unholy which religion has declared to be acceptable in the sight of God. III. The utter absence of all religious peace or tranquillity of conscience. The consideration may address itself, first, to our feelings of humanity. In some respects we know that the worship of the idolater must be a miserable worship. His self-inflicted torture must make existence to be a burden to him. But this belongs less to Athenian than to Asiatic idolatry. We may suppose the mind of the apostle to have been exercised by the absence of religious peace. They know not God; they know not the mercifulness of His nature, the wisdom of His ways, the gentleness of His yoke, the goodness of His laws. I am speaking to men who know something of the comforts of religion. What is the source of it? You feel that a propitiation has been found for your offences; that an exhaustless fund of holy influences is opened to meet every remaining infirmity; and that there is the power of a covenant keeping God to keep you faithful unto the end. You have troubles; but are not these among those things which work together for the believer’ s good? But what knows the poor heathen of such consolations? IV. Painful misgivings as to the final salvation of these people. Our chief guide upon such a subject must he the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. There does not seem to be an important distinction in that chapter; for though the apostle does seem to leave some hope of salvation for the mere heathen who is without the knowledge of God, is it quite so clear that it leaves a hope of salvation to the idolater? The heathen, it seems to be supposed, will be a law unto himself, and has a power to discern from the things which are seen and made the Almighty’ s eternal power and Godhead. But suppose, instead of this, he should change the image of the incorruptible God into the image of corruptible man, etc., are we then prepared to say that an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God? We limit no mercies; but everywhere, as we look on the vast outspread of idolatry, the stern and withering sentence meets us, “ Without God, without hope.” Oh! must not every heart be stirred up within us at such a spectacle? Conclusion: And now, in applying my remarks to the cause of missions, I must remind you of our three great wants and your three correlative duties. First, we want the means. But not only do we want your money--we want your sons. And then we want your prayers. (D. Moore, M. A.)Paul’ s moral survey of Athens What did he discover that so intensely distressed him? I. Great genius perverted. He saw--1. Developments of great genius. What Jerusalem has been in the true religious culture of humanity, Athens has been in the culture of the aesthetical and reasoning powers of mankind. 2. Perversions of great genius. Though possessing a mind qualified to appreciate the splendid works which lay about him, yet he was thrown into an agony of grief at what he beheld. He had a standard of character unknown to any Athenian sage, and he felt that the aesthetic glory of Greece was but a gorgeous covering which genius had spread over a vast cemetery of moral corruption. Genius wasted--nay, worse than that, employed for immoral and impious ends. There is nothing in mere material civilisation, even in its highest forms, to delight a truly enlightened soul. II. The great God dishonoured. With all this display the Athenians had--1. No grand moral purpose in life (verse 21). Empty theories and idle gossip occupied their chief attention; since they knew not the only true God, they had no grand purpose in life. The deeper and diviner parts of their souls were undeveloped. 2. No love for the true God. Athens, by wisdom, knew not God. “ It was easier,” says an old writer, “ to find a god than a man.” All history shows that where the gospel has not gone, man has never reached the true religion, nor felt the higher inspirations of his being (Romans 1:1-32). The best of the Athenian gods were but men, whose passions in some cases were of the most revolting kind. Paul knew that the destiny of the soul depended upon its worship; that if it worshipped any object but God, it must inevitably sink lower and lower forever. There is but one being that has a claim to the worship of man--the Creator. He claims the supreme homage and service of all souls. His claim is just: no conscience can dispute it. Because the apostle loved supremely this supreme object of worships he felt intense pain at seeing His righteous claims contemned. “ I beheld the ways of transgressors, and was grieved.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul’ s estimate of the Athenians We are taught by this passage-- I. To be deeply affected by the moral condition of the world.1. Paul’ s was the excitement of fervent zeal for the honour of Christ. 2. He felt also the outrage done by idolatry to the dignity of human nature. 3. In this excitement the love of souls was not wanting. II. That such an affection will lead to the use of active means for the world’ s salvation.1. Paul was never ashamed of Christ’ s gospel. 2. He laid aside all fears of failure. 3. He does not remain inactive at Athens because he has no particular mission there. (Evangelical Preacher.)The moral versus the aesthetic When Howard went forth, on what a great orator has called his “ circumnavigation of charity,” he visited some of the noblest cities, and passed through some of the most attractive scenery of modern Europe; but neither the splendour and wealth of the one, nor the attractions of the other, could engage his attention; the dungeon and the hospital, where suffering humanity invited his aid, had an interest to his mind which drew him aside from everything else, and made him insensible “ to the sumptuousness of palaces and the stateliness of temples,” to the curiosity of art, and even to the sublimities and beauties of nature. Cicero tells us that for him Athens had a higher charm than was derived from its magnificent buildings and exquisite works of art--the charm that arose from the memory of its illustrious men, and which made him search out the abodes and favourite haunts of each, and look with intent gaze on their sepulchres. In all large and earnest minds the moral will ever overtop and master the aesthetic; and, save as the latter may in some way be made subservient to the former, such minds will be apt to overlook, if not entirely to underestimate it. What wonder, then, that Paul, bent on a mission of moral beneficence to which he had consecrated his life, and penetrated with an all-absorbing desire to accomplish a result which he knew to be the noblest and worthiest and most enduring that could be proposed to human exertion, should have been content to bestow only a passing glance on the marble splendours of Athens, and should have been more deeply moved by the gloom which rested on the moral features of the scene, than by all the glory which lighted up its physical and material aspect? As he moved through the city, he beheld how all this wealth of genius was prostituted to the service of a vain and misleading superstition. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)Christian unconcern explained I was speaking with a gentleman who had just returned from a visit to Niagara, where he lived in the Clifton Hotel, which is close to the Falls. He asked a waiter, ‘ Are you not annoyed by the noise of the waterfall?’ ‘ Positively I don’ t hear it. When I first came here I hardly heard anything for it; now it is quite quiet to me.’ Why is this? Because he is accustomed to it. That is the reason Christians are content to sit with folded hands, looking calmly on while so many of their fellows are gliding down the broad road to eternal death. Rouse yourselves; ask God for Christ’ s sake to give you grace and strength to ‘ rescue the perishing.’” (J. McFarlane.) Acts 17:17-18 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue … and in the market.Paul’ s discussions in the synagogue and market place I. The parties with whom Paul reasoned. These may be looked on in two aspects:--1. Theologically. (1) The “ Jews” were monotheists. They believed in the one true and living God, and in Moses as His great minister. (2) The “ Epicureans” were atheists. They ascribed the creation of the world to chance; they had no faith in the one infinite Creator of heaven and earth. (3) The Stoics were pantheists. They confounded the universe with God, or regarded it rather as God. Paul had to deal, therefore, with these three great intellectual systems. Each would require a very different line of argument. 2. Ethically. These three represented three great cardinal moral evils-- (1) Self-righteousness in the Jew.(2) Carnality in the Epicurean.(3) Indifferentism in the Stoics. II. The subjects on which he discoursed--“ Jesus and the resurrection.”1. The greatest person in the history of the race.2. The greatest fact in the history of this person. III. The effects of the discussion.1. Contempt. “ What will this babbler say?” Paul was probably no orator in their sense, nor was he of commanding presence. 2. Misconception. They thoroughly misunderstood him. “ He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods.” 3. Curiosity (Acts 17:19). This was so far the most favourable result. The apostle’ s teaching succeeded up to this point in generating in them the desire to know something more about the new doctrine. (D. Thomas, D. D.)St. Paul in the market place 1. St. Paul seems to have had so little thought of his own dignity, and we find his most efficient work was accomplished when he turned his back upon the synagogue, and went down into the market place. Yes, hither, rather than to the court or the palace. He did not wait for the people to come to him--he went to them. In the history of the new religion it was always so. The Scribes and Pharisees of John the Baptist’ s day sought him, but he never sought them. Herod sent for John, but John never hung about the court, and when he was summoned to the royal presence, uttered unpleasant truths with great plainness. Nay, Christ Himself discloses a singular indifference to the reformation of either the religious or secular rulers of the time. And, when we follow the history of St. Paul, we find Agrippa, Felix, and Festus send for the apostle. So that there was no want of opportunity to make an impression in high places--and yet, the new religion resolutely sought the low ones. 2. It has been supposed that this was because the new religion aimed to testify to its sympathy with the masses. It was not aristocratic, it was democratic. Its Founder was not one of the “ privileged classes,” He was a mechanic. And so it turned away from courts, and went where sorrow and need were most surely to be found. All which is true enough, but by no means the whole truth. The new religion turned its footsteps to the marketplace, because it discerned that in the transformation of the passions, hopes, and interests of the market place was to be found the redemption of humanity. Plato had said that “ no relief would ever reach the ills of men until either statesmen became philosophers, or philosophers assumed the government of states.” To him the only hope of the commonwealth was in a perfect system of government, perfectly administered. It is what many of us are thinking today. But the hope of a nation really lies in the elevation and redemption of individual character among its people; and according to the New Testament, without waiting to reconstruct governments, we must begin by striving for the new creation of individual character. 3. And, in just so far as it has won any substantial victories, it is thus that the religion of Christ has worked from the beginning. Meantime we cannot overlook the fact that there have gone forward the triumphs of civilisation. When the Church points to what the faith of the Crucified has done for the individual life, the apostles of learning and science point to what these have done for society and the state, And who of us can see this without admiration.? But who of us can see it without seeing something more? With the growth of wealth there has come the growth of poverty; with the multiplication of the arts, the multiplication of evil uses to which those arts may be turned; with the birth of new sciences, there has confronted us the birth of new and hateful vices. Who of us is not awed as he sees the splendours of London or Paris or Vienna? And yet within a stone’ s throw of some tall palace or some stately museum, what festering courts; what wretchedness and degradation! Is this the product of the highest civilisation, and if it is, how is it better than that barbarism on which, so complacently, it professes to look down? To such questions as these there can be but one answer. There is not a reform, a science, an art, a single step in the purification of our forms of government, that is not a step in the right direction. But the millennium will never come by that road. You may make government as just as was Aristides. You may make the streams of official patronage and power as pure and as wholesome as the sparkling waters of a mountain spring. But you cannot cure a cancer with spring water. You cannot restore the lost reason by means of a wholesome diet and a padded cell. “ There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.” To that spirit, personally, something must speak as with a message from God. 4. And so we find the apostle as the messenger of that spirit, pleading and arguing in the market place. How hopeless it must have seemed at first! With what a light laugh they must have listened to this “ babbler.” How useless, his fellow Israelites kept assuring him, doubtless, was any attempt to get a hearing there! It is the same cry now. What are you going to do about the ever-increasing mass of people who are growing up in as genuine heathenism as any that is to be found in Dahomey? How vain to attempt to gain an entrance or to make an impression there! Thank God that the apostle was wiser, and knew better than this. He knew that in the market place then, as in the tenement now, there beat the same human hearts and ached the same unanswered wants that were throbbing anywhere else. He knew that there was no one so degraded, so hardened but that somewhere in him there was the small crevice through which the truth could find its way. Above all, he knew that the more hopeless was the darkness the more urgent was the need and call for light. And so he begins at the bottom--in the market place--with the individual soul. 5. This message of the apostle, a personal message to the personal soul, is mine to you today. This religion of ours, is it a pastime for Sundays, or is it a message and a mandate for Sundays and week days alike? Will you hearken to it only here, or will you own its authority in the house and in the market place as well? If the world is to become better, it must become better because we have consented to become better. In urging such reform it is my business to hold up before you here a high ideal, and to bid you at whatever cost, to strive to realise it. Not unfrequently, I am told, “ What is the use of setting up an impossible mark of attainment only to daunt one by the dismal discrepancy of his own endeavours.” And yet, who of us would be genuinely contented with any other? When, from those loftier levels, the Master’ s truth comes trembling down to our souls, there is something in us that answers to it. Even so, I think, at Athens, there were some who were carrying heavy and unshared burdens. With what unspeakable thankfulness, when at last they heard of Him who had come to lift off those burdens, must they have turned to Him and gladly laid them at His feet! (Bp. H. C. Potter, D. D.)The Agora The Agora, in all Greek cities the centre and focus of life, must not be confounded with an ordinary “ market.” It was one to a certain extent. In one portion there were booths containing common articles of consumption, as well as bazaars for those of luxury. Other parts would be more suggestive of our own Covent Garden; shops for flowers and fruit; vegetables and oranges from the surrounding gardens; oil from the olive groves on the slopes of Lycabettus; honey from Hymettus; even fish from the shores of Salamis and Euboea. Mingling somewhat incongruously with these, we have the mention of stalls for books and parchments; a clothes booth; a depot for stolen goods; and the slave market called “ Cyclus.” It was in this respect, a convenient trading centre for the surrounding city. But its main features and use were very different. Architecturally it must have been impressive. It is described by a writer as a “ natural amphitheatre.” There was the Altar of the Twelve Gods, from which emanated, in varied directions, the streets of the city and the roads of Attica. Here, in one place, was the “ Stoa Basileios,” “ the Royal Porch” dedicated to Aurora; here, in another, is a Stoa dedicated to Zeus, with paintings of various deities by the artist Euphranor. These and similar ornamental buildings rose at all events on two sides, one of which was confronted with the Statues of the Ten Heroes. Xenophon tells us that, at certain festivals, it was customary for the knights to make the circuit of the Agora on horseback, beginning at the statue of Hermes, and paying homage to the statues and temples around. That garrulous throng whom Paul met here was composed of philosophers, artists, poets, historians, supplemented by a still livelier contingent of gossip mongers and idlers of every kind which gathered under alcove and colonnade to converse on “ burning questions.” Moreover, anterior to the art of printing, and when journalistic literature was a future revelation, it formed the only means and opportunity of discussing the politics of the hour. Even the varied colour, blending and contrasted in this babel of confusion, must have been striking and picturesque, if the dress of the modern Greek is a survival of classic ages. Then the Agora opened its gates, not to natives only, but to “ strangers” (verse 21). We can think therefore of “ excursionists” and merchants, either in pursuit of pleasure or of gain, or both combined, from other towns and capitals near and distant. Noisy traffickers from Corinth and Thessalonica, Ephesus and Smyrna, Antioch and Damascus; sailors and voyagers from the Alexandrian vessel or Roman galley at anchor in the Piraeus. Here and there a Jew with sandalled feet, his long robe girdled round the waist and fringed with blue ribbon. Here and there some soldiers from the barracks--now on foot, now mounted--the flash of their helmets mingling with the red and yellow mantles of the market women, or with the still rarer keffeih and fillets of the swarthy children of the Arabian or Syrian deserts. What a rare “ symposium” ; what a singular whirlpool of thought in this “ tumultuous Agora!” (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him.--Epicureans and Stoics It is a moment of perpetual and universal human interest, this moment of our text, when philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered Paul, the Christian, with his preaching of Jesus and of the Resurrection. For it was the moment when the gospel met the two sides of human life together, and spoke to them together, and contrasted its oneness with their dividedness, its wholeness with their partialness, and showed its mission of reconciliation. Who does not know what I mean when we talk of the two sides of life? Who is so young that he has not had life come up to him in the form of a question with something to be said on both sides? Who is so old as to have outgrown such questions? What day but presents one of them? Does not the great earth itself give you a perpetual parable of your single life, and each single life upon it? How it turns between day and night! I cannot think it is wrong to illustrate in this way Christ’ s coming to the two sides of life, each true in itself, but partial; both truths, but half truths; each to the other inconceivable, except through the coming of Christ, the higher Light and the Reconciler. Epicureans and Stoics--these two classes of men represented the two opposite points of the sphere of life. Both represented facts, but separated ones. One was a class of men and minds who had started from the very high truth that good was sure to be the highest happiness, and had degenerated quickly into the mere pursuit of happiness and pleasure, as if they were good and would bring good of themselves. These were Epicureans. And their opposites were Stoics, a class of men and minds who had started from the noble truth that the highest good involves and is hardship and bravery, and had as quickly degenerated into mere proud endurance--pride in their own strength as the only good, and scorn of any gentleness or pleasure. One said, “ It is a bright world, let us just enjoy it” ; another, “ It is a hard world, let us just endure it.” One would become selfish in luxury, the other selfish in strength and denial; the one was caught in sweetness, the other in bitterness; the one blinded by excess of light, the other by excess of darkness. They were the reverse sides of the globe of life. And yet could anything have been truer or nobler than the facts upon which they each rested? Is not virtue happiness? Is not virtue hardship and endurance? But half truths must degenerate into error. One side of human life by itself must deteriorate and become bad and selfish, and sink just as one side of a scale without a corresponding weight upon the other side must fall. So the happiness of virtue, and the hardness of virtue, had become on either side mere self-enjoyment and self-confidence. So human life must fall into error, however high it begins, unless it encounters some higher life and light. It never has anything except its own one human tendency to rely upon, which runs away with it if not corrected, and the half truth becomes a whole error. The best of lives at its best is one-sided, and alone, without Christ, will degenerate. Its noble tendencies will narrow upon self. It will surely end in meanness and error. Paul, then, meets these degenerate representatives of noble reverse rides of life, Epicureans and Stoics; and they are together as they encounter Paul. In their degenerate form they have a common union--not union in a higher life, but in a lower life, in a common selfishness. Is it a strange alliance? And yet your own single life may show the same thing--the armour under the silk. How much you may endure for pleasure’ s sake; how you toil selfishly in order to enjoy selfishly; and yet the toil and enjoyment are perfectly out of sympathy with each other. There is nothing in common between them but the thought of self. That hollow union is the best the earthly life can make between the two sides, which say, “ I ought to be happy and I ought to endure.” The two ideas of enjoyment and endurance go on seemingly as hopelessly separate as ever, whether in one life or two lives. Unless Christ meet them, and their union be in what Paul preached, Jesus and the Resurrection. What happens then? First, this, and it is the great thing which the gospel was meant to do, and I beg your closest attention to it. The gospel is bent on giving the two Divine motives, a Divine Person and a Divine future, Jesus and the Resurrection. It does not announce duties; it brings warm, stimulating motives. It preaches Jesus, who is the deep love of God for you, Him whose love and strength has come from the high heaven for you, come to the deep sin for you, come across the breadth of the world to you, come through the long years to you. Return His love, and you are in the happiness of virtue at once. The happiness of His companionship is the happiness of virtue. In His company you reach that fulness of joy. And now see, it is a happiness which also includes endurance. It does not depend on circumstances. It comes from the love of a Person, of Jesus the Lord. Am I bound to Him? Then I am happy; notwithstanding how self is put down, or how circumstances change. Happiness is not a mere luxury, not a quietness, not a favourable arrangement of circumstances. But it is my friendship with Jesus, which any man can have, and with which any man can endure, and be at once both as good an Epicurean as Epicurus, and as good a Stoic as Zeno. Now turn it over and begin with the other side; not how men think of happiness, but how they think of endurance. Suppose that a man says, “ It is hard for me to do my duty, to be dutiful and faithful. I suppose I must just nerve myself to it and go to it as a necessity.” He and you are apt to think he is very brave, and is acting just in the right spirit. You let him go off in that way, and even give him your encouragement. But the gospel never left a man in that way. It never told a man to go and do a thing because he had to do it, and had better make the best of it and go with a good grace. But it preaches Jesus as Paul preached Him to the Stoics as well as Epicureans. “ Do it, bear it, with Jesus and for Jesus. Go to it out of no necessity, but for the love of the Lord, who sets and leads the toil or suffering, and has borne so much for you. Can you not deny self for Him and His commands?” As the gospel gives no effeminate happiness, so now it gives no bitter bravery, no dreary courage, but a joyful endurance that is happier than any earthly delight in selfish pleasures; and the two sides of life are one in that preaching of Jesus which Paul brought to Stoics and Epicureans. But Paul gave them another teaching--“ the Resurrection” ; another motive, not only a Divine Person to love, but a Divine future to reach. Enjoyment and endurance had become simply different ways of getting through the present world, and they knew nothing else. The Epicurean said, “ This is all there is; let us try to enjoy it as we can.” The Stoic said, “ This is all I know of; let us try to bear it as we must.” But enjoyment and endurance are two very different things when the Resurrection is announced to them, and the Epicureans and the Stoics both encounter Paul. A present opening into a future changes both of them. See what it does for happiness. It makes it no longer the happiness of present possession, but of anticipation and preparation. It makes it active and brave. It is no longer the happiness of a man who sits in the midst of his gathered harvest and eats of his fruits luxuriantly. It is the happiness of one who is enduring the care and toil of preparation and exposure in view of a future harvest. And see on the other side how Paul’ s truth of a resurrection changed endurance. It is no longer a bit of stern, proud resolution not to give up, to laugh bitterly and bear it hopelessly, but it is a bravery that is happy also in the great hope of result, a crown laid up, a prize at the end of the race. That alone sends cheerful sunlight through the workshop of life, the knowledge that it is a preparation for a Divine future. Do you not believe that Peter went to his preaching, after he learnt that Christ had risen, much more happily than he went to his fishing when he thought Christ was dead, and that he had just to go back and win his daily bread in the old dreary way? One was endurance with a rich future of results, the other was endurance under a mere present load of necessity. The one was happiness, also, the other was bitterness. So the glad light of a resurrection makes the Christian Stoic as light-hearted as the happiest of Epicureans. So life’ s two sides help each other, and it is both sweet and strong. (Frederick Brooks.) Acts 17:21-31 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill.Novelty attractive Yes, the people gathered in crowds round the statue, and looked at it again and again. It was not the finest work of art in the city, nor the most intrinsically attractive. Why, then, did the citizens of Verona stand in such clusters around the effigy of Dante on that summer’ s evening? Do you guess the reason? It was a fete in honour of the poet. No, you are mistaken; it was but an ordinary evening, and there was nothing peculiar in the date or the events of the day. You shall not be kept in suspense; the reason was very simple; the statue was new; it had, in fact, only been unveiled the day before. Every one passes Dante now, having other things to think of; the citizens are well used to his solemn visage, and scarcely care that he stands among them. Is not this the way of men? (C. H. Spurgeon.)Novelties and how to regard them “ Did you not say that there was a green rose in this place? There are many lovely flowers here, but I had rather see the green rose than anything else.” So said a visitor as he stood in a garden where palms, and aloes, and all manner of rare plants, from many lands, were to be seen in perfection; and we should not be surprised if our reader, in like case, were to make the same observation. Yet, when the green rose was seen, it was at once denounced as nothing at all desirable, not a tenth as beautiful as a red or white rose. Just so, there are many folks in this world who must see that which is special, outré, unusual; yet, when they see this freak of nature, or of grace, they turn back to the more usual order of good things with considerable relief, for they feel that “ the old is better.” It is a pity when a man, especially a preacher, is merely a green rose, with a name for being something remarkable, but with no special excellence with which to maintain a reputation. He attracts only for a moment, but sustains no permanent attention, for there is hardly as much about him as there is in the ordinary unpretending teacher of the gospel. Those wanderers who are always running all over the world after green roses, are by no means so wise as those who are content with the perfume and colour of that flower which grows over their own porch, whether it be red or white. The affectation of the unusual is a trick of the charlatan; the craving after it is the weakness of the shallow-minded. Yet, be it noted, that we do not wish to depreciate the green rose. You see we have almost fallen into that unfairness, but the fault was not intentional. We are glad to have seen it, for as a green rose it has charms of its own. Yet this eagerness to see it, this passing over of lovelier objects, this crying up of one beauty above another, inevitably leads to an undervaluing of that which has obtained undeserved prominence. Your foolish partiality has made your favourite a target for excessive criticism; but we will not yield to the temptation. God has made the green rose, and He makes nothing amiss. Your remarkable friend has his excellencies, and God be thanked for them. Your eccentric preacher has his own adaptations for usefulness. Because you cry him up, we are not going to cry him down. Let each rose display its own colour, and let each man be himself, and let the Lord be glorified in all. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Paul at Athens I. The audience.1. Jews. The place where he made his first public appearance as a teacher was the synagogue; and his first audience was composed of Jews and devout persons. This was in accordance with the usual apostolic custom of visiting the Jewish place of worship first, and making it the starting point for more extended labours. Nothing is said about the nature or result of his intercourse with his brethren, save that he disputed with them. He would remind them of their splendid opportunities of bearing witness for God in the pagan city. 2. Common people. Leaving the synagogue, and coming to the Agora or market place, the apostle had to mingle with a different class, and the subject of discussion would also be different. The Agora of Athens must not be associated with what is called the market place of a modern town. It was, indeed, the centre of public life, where business was transacted, where busy men moved to and fro, and idlers loitered about. But it was more than that, it was a space decorated with architectural beauties, an attractive place of resort for all classes of the community eager to listen to instruction or hear the news. It was a place where orators and statesmen, poets and artists used to meet for encouragement and stimulus in their several callings. The appearance of a foreigner among such a people, especially if he seemed sociable and talkative, would soon attract a crowd expecting to hear something new. The daily visits of the apostle to the Agora would afford him ample opportunities of proclaiming new truths in the idol city. 3. Philosophers. The philosophers who encountered him were the Epicureans and the Stoics, both of whom had their schools in the vicinity of the Agora. (1) Epicureans. This sect took its name from Epicurus, who opened a school for the teaching of his philosophy in a garden in Athens; hence his followers were sometimes styled the “ Philosophers of the Garden.” Epicurus taught that the chief end of man was the attainment of pleasure or happiness; and the way to gain it was the removal of every cause of pain or anxiety. A sound body and a tranquil mind constituted the ideal of Epicurean bliss. The main business of life was to raise the mind above cares. Such was the original aim of this school of philosophy; but its later disciples allowed grossest ideas to enter, and pleasure degenerated into the gratification of the appetites. There was no Creator, and no moral government. There were indeed deities, but they lived in undisturbed tranquillity: serene above the turmoil of the world, careless of mankind. The attainment of bliss like theirs was the main business of man’ s life on earth. (2) Stoics. The other sect that encountered Paul was the Stoics, so named because Zeno its founder held his meetings inn building called the Stoa or porch. This system of philosophy is regarded as a nearer approximation to Christianity than the Epicurean, inasmuch as it seems to possess a glimmering of the Divine Fatherhood, and forestalls the Christian truth that goodness is indispensable to happiness. But while it recognises God as the Author of all, it does so in a Pantheistic sense, as if God were everything and everything God. The God of the Stoic is not a distinct personality, but an all-pervading spirit, inseparable from the works of his hands. And not only so, but he, and all his works, are under a pre-ordained decree amounting almost, if not altogether, to fatalism. Everything, indeed, is the result of Fate, and freedom of will consists in bowing to Fate. The man who yields most completely to this iron law is the perfect man. The aim of this system was to produce a passionless conformity to Fate. The pursuit of this end engendered apathy or indifference to everything alike pleasurable and painful. Such was the array of diversified opinion that Paul had to combat, and he nobly vindicated his trust as a Christian teacher in the face of pagan enlightenment. His experience of men, and his knowledge of philosophy, gave him special fitness to discharge the mission that Providence had laid upon him. 4. Public meeting on Mars’ hill. To speak on this venerated spot was a distinction reserved for the foremost orators, and Paul’ s promotion to that distinction showed the profound impression he had made. The summit of Mars’ hill was associated in the Athenian mind with solemn and venerable scenes. There sat the most august of assemblies, to dispense justice and confer on religion. The Areopagite court was the supreme tribunal of Athens on social, political, and religious questions. The judges sat in the open air, and their seat on the summit of the rock was reached by a flight of steps. Somewhere on this reserved and hallowed eminence the apostle took his stand; and whether he was there on his defence, as some suppose, or simply for convenience in addressing a large assembly, no spot could have been more suitable for a discussion on the mysteries of religion. II. The discourse. It was no easy task adequately to address the assemblage that gathered to hear him. What theme could be chosen to suit all and benefit all? Their motives were manifold and their tastes diverse. There were the scoffing Jew and the wisdom-loving Greek, the refined Athenian and the rude provincial, the sceptical philosopher and the unsophisticated stranger, the contented Epicurean and the passionless Stoic. We will now listen to the apostle as he attempts to lift his heathen audience out of their ignorance into the knowledge of the true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.1. Creator. He begins by setting forth “ the unknown God” as the Creator of the world. “ God made the world and all things therein.” This was an idea entirely new to the speculative minds or the ancient world, and the prominence here given to it shows that, in Paul’ s estimation, it lay at the foundation of every true system of religion. It was idle to talk of worship if the Being worshipped was not raised above the worshippers by such qualities and attributes as inspired reverence and trust. So that Paul’ s statement of the fundamental principle of Theism dealt a fatal stab at the views of ancient philosophy on the origin of the world. There could be no compromise between positions so radically at variance; and while philosophies change with the changing generations, the Christian position remains the same as stated from apostolic lips eighteen centuries ago--“ God made the world and all things therein.” 2. Governor. Advancing a step, the apostle announces the unknown God as the Governor of the world: “ He hath made all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times appointed and the bounds of their habitation.” Here too there was a sharp contrast between revealed truth and the tenets of the schools. Chance, or Fate, said ancient philosophy, appoints to each nation and race its time and place in the world. No, said Paul, there is one presiding Deity, who not only set the world in motion, and gave everything in it life, but who keeps it going and sustains all life, assigning to each man and nation the sphere they are to fill and the length of their stay. The all-controlling providence of God, indeed, follows from the fact of creation. How grand the conception! God marshalling the nations of the earth one after another on the stage of time, appointing their seasons, their work, and the bounds of their habitation, and then withdrawing them when their work is done! 3. Judge. The apostle further declares the unknown God to be the Judge of all men. “ He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.” Here is another aspect of the Divine character and work, which carries our thoughts forward to the close of the present constitution of things, just as the reference to creation recalled their beginning. 4. Father. This is another aspect in which the unknown God is set forth. “ In Him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said, For we also are His offspring.” If the ideas of creation, superintendence, and responsibility were unknown to the ancients, much less was the Divine Fatherhood. The quotation referred to does not prove that they recognised God as Father save in the Stoical sense. Cleanthes, one of the poets, quoted from, was a Stoic, and Paul, in citing him, not only showed his acquaintance with Greek literature, but his willingness to take up common ground with his hearers whenever that was possible. In doing so, he doubtless gained for himself a more respectful hearing. He adopted the language of the Stoics, but put upon it a Christian meaning. Taking our position, then, in the world as God’ s children, we can view everything in a different light, no longer repelled by the unapproachable majesty of a Great Creator, but drawn by His parental love. The works of His hand also will have an additional interest for us. 5. Is God knowable? This is the question to which the whole argument was leading up, and the answer is in the affirmative. The main purpose of Paul’ s reasoning was to show the Athenians that He whom they styled the “ unknown God” could be known if they sought Him aright. Though the Divine Being was for a long time pleased to draw a veil over His character and modes of working, it was not intended that He should for ever remain unknown. Indeed, all the arrangements of His providence were such as to lead men to the knowledge of Him. III. The application. The apostle did not content himself with laying down great general principles. Like a practical man, he applied them. And in order to insure success it will be observed that throughout this masterly exposition there is an evident desire to carry his hearers along with him, so that they might be without excuse if they continued ignorant of God. Having thus laid down a few broad principles, he goes on to apply them to the religion and life of the people.1. Idolatry. The first application is to idol worship, in which the Athenians prided themselves. It required no small courage and tact to assail with effect such a deep-rooted custom in its very hot bed. The inference was irresistible. The invisible Godhead cannot be represented in visible symbols; and even though it could, every such effort is here condemned because it is a dishonour to God. Besides, we do not need it any more than a child needs the help of an image to love its parents; and we ought not to attempt it, because we have a personal God and Father, who is near to every soul that seeks Him. Moreover all such externals are not only not helps to spiritual worship, but may become a positive hindrance. 2. Repentance. The next application which the apostle makes of his subject is to repentance, or the need of an inward change, which was never contemplated by the ancient religions. Their whole history was an acknowledgment of impotence to effect such a change, or satisfy the burdened heart. 3. Jesus and the resurrection. One practical question still remained. How were they to find favour with this just and holy God? The answer to this question brings us to the climax of this trenchant appeal. There was only one way of return to God, and that not through images of silver and gold, but through Him who is the brightness of the Father’ s glory and the express image of His Person. If they must have an image of the invisible God, they had it in the person of His Incarnate Son, who was dead and is alive again, and clothed with judicial authority. IV. The result. It has often been pointed out that the saving impression made by Paul on this occasion was disappointingly small. Nor need this excite surprise, when we reflect on the peculiar character of the discourse, and especially the sensuous habits of the Greek mind, its philosophic culture and pride of intellect. The haughty cultured Greek would not readily yield himself to the teaching of a rude barbarian. It is seldom that we are able to see the results of our work for Christ in this world, and no doubt the great apostle never saw on earth the fruits of that day’ s work.1. Some mocked. The philosophic mind of Athens would not bend to the simplicity of the gospel. 2. Others procrastinated. They had a passing glimpse of the falseness and hollowness of the present, and they thought the matter worthy of more serious consideration. 3. A few believed. We know the names of only two--Dionysius, a judge of the Areopagite court, and a woman named Damaris, of whom we are told nothing. (D. Merson, B. D.)Paul’ s sermon on Mars’ hill He “ declares” to them God-- I. In relation to the universe in general. As--1. The Creator of the universe: “ God that made the world,” etc. This would strike at once against the Epicureanism which regarded the universe as springing from a fortuitous concourse of atoms--the work of chance: and against the Stoicism, which regarded the universe as existing from eternity. 2. The Ruler of the universe: “ He is Lord of heaven and earth.” The universe is not like a great machine built to manage itself, it is an order of things kept in being and harmony by the unremitting agency of the Creator. 3. The Life of the universe: “ He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (cf. verse 28). The deductions which the apostle draws from this are irresistible. (1) That God is unlocalised. “ He dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” (2) That God is independent. “ Neither is worshipped with men’ s hands as though He needed anything.” The heathens thought their gods needed their services. II. In relation to mankind in particular.1. He gave to all mankind a unity of nature. “ Made of one blood all nations of men.” There are immense diversities subsisting between the European, the Mongolian, the Hottentot races that have led many scientists to conclude that they have descended from various stocks. Without touching on arguments of a scientific kind, we ground our belief chiefly-- (1) On mental resemblances. The faculties of thinking, loving, hating, fearing, hoping, worshipping, self-commending, self-condemning, are common to the race. (2) On Scriptural statements. There is not a single passage in the Bible to suggest a doubt as to the homogeneity of the race, and the descent from one pair. The most brilliant names in science have maintained the unity of the race: Buffon, Linnaeus, Soemmering, and Cuvier, in natural history; Blumenbach, Muller, and Wagner, in anatomy; Pritchard, Latham, Pickering, among ethnologists; Adeling, W. von Humboldt, and Bunsen, among philologists; and Alexander yon Humboldt, “ at whose feet all science had laid down its treasures,” 2. He appointed to all mankind their boundary in life. “ And hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” There is a boundary for every man in relation to-- (1) The place of his existence. The sphere which individuals occupy is a sphere which God has appointed. Every man has an orbit of his own, and that orbit is appointed by Him. The same with nations. Nations have their geographic boundary, and these have been drawn by heaven. Though they may proximately grow out of the diversity of men’ s organisations, customs, laws, habits, still God hath made them. (2) Time. Men and nations have their day, and the length of that day even to the minute is determined. There is no room for chance in human history. 3. He requires from all mankind the recognition of His existence. “ That they should seek the Lord,” etc. (1) Man’ s distance from God. This distance is moral, and is to be overcome by effort on man’ s part. That they should seek the Lord. (2) God’ s nearness to man. This utterance is so pregnant as to require a separate discourse. 4. He is the Father of all mankind. “ We are all His offspring.” 5. He demands repentance from all (Acts 17:30). (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul’ s sermon On Mars’ hill I. God the Creator. Paul shows this “ unknown” Deity to be “ the God that made the world,” etc. He was unlike the other gods in these respects--1. There was no limit to His power. For none of the gods did the Athenians claim the power of universal creation. One could do one thing, and another something else, but this God was the maker of the world and all things in it. 2. There was no limit to His dominion. “ Being Lord of heaven and earth.” Other deities were supreme only in certain localities, or under certain localities, or under certain circumstances, but this God was everywhere, and always Master. 3. There was no limit to His dwelling place. “ Dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” The whole universe was His sanctuary. II. God the Giver.1. His independency. “ Neither is served by men’ s hands,” etc. Other deities, according to their notions, were hungry, and needed to be fed, and were therefore brought costly offerings of food and drink. 2. His outgiving. “ Seeing He Himself giveth,” etc. God was the Giver, instead of being the Receiver--like the other deities that were worshipped. The Creator could not be dependent upon the creature. III. God the Father. “ For we are also His offspring.”1. The brotherhood of men. To the Athenians this was no palatable thought. Proud of their culture and intellectual superiority, they superciliously divided the world into Greeks and “ barbarians.” Paul set forth this doctrine by showing-- (1) The unity of the nations. “ He made of one every nation of men.” They were not sprung from different sources, but from one source. They were not made of different blood, but of one blood. Having but one Father, the human race is one family. (2) The cause of the creation of nations. “ That they should seek God,” etc. God created men that they might adore Him. He blessed them with life that they might bless Him. He hungers for their love as a father hungers for the love of his children. 2. The Fatherhood of God. (1) The fact. “ For we are also His offspring.” To a heathen audience Paul does not quote from the Scriptures, but from one of their own authorities. Truth from any source is truth, and it is best to use that which will find the quickest acceptance. (2) The obligation. “ We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold,” etc. God who made living, seeing, breathing, speaking men, how could He Himself be like those lifeless, sightless, breathless, speechless idols? IV. God the judge.1. The time of repentance. The “ times of ignorance” are gone by. God cannot overlook sin any longer on the plea that one does not know. 2. The day of judgment. That day is surely coming. Men then will be judged according to the deeds done in the body. It will be a day of terror to the wicked--a day of rejoicing for the righteous. 3. The Judge. The world once judged Christ--the time is coming when Christ will judge the world. Christ is the Saviour now--the Judge by and by. 4. The people to be judged. They were in the audience before Paul--they are in the audience of every minister of the gospel now. How did those act who were before Paul? (1) “ Some mocked.” Some now mock at the preacher, or at sacred things, knowing their sacredness. (2) Others did, as the majority of hearers do now--they put off deciding for the salvation of their souls. (3) But there were a few who closed with the offer of salvation. In every revival there are a few who get ready for the day of judgment. But who shall be able to characterise the folly of those who continue to walk in the way of destruction? (M. C. Hazard.)Some new thing.--Some new thing A manifest physical, intellectual, and moral weakness was strangely blended with an intense eagerness for novelty. We ordinarily associate a desire for new things with progress, but here that desire is associated with that which is the reverse of progress. This warrants the statement that a desire for something new is not necessarily indicative of progress. Indeed, it may be indicative of regress. It may not be an earnest desire for something better, but a mere restless, uneasy craving for change. To seek the new simply because it is the new, and apart from any consideration of its intrinsic worth, is to go backward rather than forward. I would not disparage legitimate desire for progress. Only an ignorant bigot will assert that “ that which is new is not true, and that which is true is not new.” Some new things are true, and some old things are false. Let reverent investigation go on. Let it be accorded the widest liberty. To hinder it were intellectual and moral treason. But the contention now is that progress and restlessness are not synonymous terms. It is not the seeking of “ some new thing” which is wrong, but the “ doing nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.” Indeed, so far from being good, it is evil. It indicates a fevered condition of the system--an unhealthy and morbid state. It begets instability of character and purpose. It leads to superficial ideas and modes of thinking. It withdraws attention from the tried and settled, and directs it to the flotsam and jetsam of daily happenings, the real importance of which is hardly ever discerned till time has them in their true perspective. Much occurred before our time which is of inestimable importance. Men need today, not less of the new, but more of the old, a wiser perception of its relative worth. More seriously, this craving for something new often dupes men into the acceptance of old errors. As a matter of fact, most new things are comparatively worthless, not all, but most. Originality is rare. What we call originality is usually eccentricity, and eccentricity nearly always means a screw loose in the intellectual or moral machinery. If an alleged new thing proves to be really good, the presumption is that it is not as new as it was supposed to be. But it not infrequently happens that the so-called new idea is an old error. We are told almost daily that modern thought has shown a belief in miracles to be unreasonable, and yet there is hardly a modern objection to miracles which was not anticipated by Celsus, who lived in the second century. Conversely, the presumption is that the old and established ideas are true. Not always, I grant. I would not fall into the opposite error. I would not question the reality or the value of the many great achievements of the present age. But it is a fair presumption that the old is the true. This was so of Athens in the time of Paul. The past was glorious, but the Athenians of St. Paul’ s day, with all their passion for hearing or telling some new thing, added nothing to the stock of the world’ s knowledge. For all that we owe to Athens, we go centuries back of those babblers. All history teaches us that progress is as likely to consist in getting back to old standards as in creating new ones. There is real ground for the apprehension that we may become a volatile people, lacking in stability and weight of character. We see this in literature, in the demand for new books, and in the neglect of old ones of tried value. “ Robert Elsmere” is a case in point. The book is simply a dressing up, in popular narrative style, of the stalest and shallowest rationalistic objections to Christianity. Great was the commotion which it excited! Dire were the prophecies of the ruin which it would accomplish in the Church! We see it in science, in the haste with which new theories are accepted and promulgated as facts. Indeed, no matter how wild a theory is, there are always multitudes who are ready to seize it, and to proclaim that all existing institutions must be reorganised in harmony with it. We see this same craving for new things in everyday life, in the restless moving of people from place to place, in the frequency of business changes, in the small talk of society, in the rage of speculation. It seems to be the great object in life of many people to devise something novel, “ something we’ ve never had before,” the utility of the thing devised being usually a secondary consideration. And we see it especially in religion. Many people do not like the old ideas and doctrines which, after all that can be said, are those that are fairly deducible from Holy Scripture and the faithful preaching of which has wrought such glorious moral and religious changes in the world. They want something new, and the minister who gratifies them is sure to have a large, though unsubstantial following. Multitudes are hurried hither and thither by their craving for change. Their religious convictions are those of the last book they have read or the last person they have talked with. Suffer me in conclusion to make two additional remarks.1. A disposition to undervalue established ideas or institutions is a sign of a weak mind. A misconception is prevalent at this point. There are some, particularly among the young, who say that they will not accept anything which they have not personally investigated and found to be true; and they pride themselves upon that position, and deem it an evidence of intellectual strength and independence. As a matter of fact, it is simply an evidence of intellectual conceit or moral debility. Has the world learned nothing in all these thousands of years? Has it proved nothing to be true? Does the endorsement of ages create no favourable presumption? A sensible man will no more refuse to become a Christian because he has not had time to investigate for himself the history and claims of Christianity, than he will refuse to become a citizen of the country in which he was born and reared until he has satisfied himself by years of study that the institutions of that country are better than the institutions of other countries. He who declines to avail himself of an electric car, because he has not yet learned what electricity is, is not a wise man, but a fool. 2. In this restless age we need a progressive conservatism, a willingness to accept the new when it is the true, but a holding fast to the old, which has demonstrated its right to be. This gospel which we preach, and in which lies the hope of the race, is not a new gospel. And we love it because it is old, because time has not been able to weaken it or exposure to tarnish it--because all the attacks of earth and hell have not been able to overthrow it. (A. J. Brown.) Acts 17:23I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. Before the altar of the unknown God 1. What was there in Athens to which Paul could appeal? To Jewish prophecy? No one held them in esteem. Should he begin with repentance, faith, Jesus, and judgment? No one would understand his message. Ought he now to overthrow these altars? But destruction is not construction. Ought the nothingness of the gods to be exposed to ridicule? Enlightenment that presents the stone of unbelief for the husks of superstition may train its subjects to doubt, but not to hope. To the apostle the heathen world seemed the groping of a man who is blind. But no man of feeling ever makes sport of a blind man’ s groping, or strikes the last coin out of a beggar’ s hand. Paul sought through the streets of Athens to see whether, somewhere, he could not still discover a trace of the footsteps of the living God, some pieces of the golden thread by which to lead these misled wanderers back into communion with God--and, behold, he has found something: here is an altar with the inscription, To the unknown God: a discovery which affords him as much joy as when he once picked up the words of the Greek poet we find him quoting here. That had seemed to him a feather which the angel, flying through heaven with the gospel, dropped into heathen lands. To the weak as weak, a Greek to the Greeks, the apostle explains this inscription to his hearers with most becoming deference. 2. This altar is a testimony to a grave defection, a longing that impels to seek, a hope fulfilled in Christ. Let us ask-- I. By what means the living God became unknown?1. The features have been almost obliterated, but whose image has been stamped upon the souls of men?--Not from the clod, nor from the ape--we are also of His offspring! “ God hath made of one blood all nations of men,” etc. One blood, therefore one family, one origin, one conscience, one hope: to seek God, everyone’ s mission; to find God, everyone’ s goal! 2. But if we live, and move, and have our being in Him, and if creation manifests His invisible power and Divinity--whence all this uncertain groping, until, brought to a stand, children of men cling to wood and stone? Whence the blindness that changes the clear mirror of nature into a thick veil, whence the insanity that desires to imprison the God over all heaven and earth within temples and images? Paul describes the lamentable process in Romans 1:21-24. Moral aberration always precedes the spiritual. Sinful inclinations in the heart are the fruitful lap of error. Doubt is a tendency of the character. Strange that amidst this jumble of rage, sensuality, love of money, etc., any room should remain for an altar dedicated even to the unknown God! II. When is an altar erected to the unknown God? Just as in an impoverished family some jewel is preserved as a reminder of better days, so, in Athens, this one altar was a testimony of impoverishment. Israel could erect an Ebenezer: but this altar is only a monument, confessing: “ Hitherto have we gone astray.” Its erection indicates home-sickness. According to a tradition, the Athenians built this altar when a plague seemed to threaten never to leave their walls:--there must, they concluded, be some other god whose anger is dangerous, whose favour of importance, to whom therefore it was necessary to rear an altar.1. It is an hour of fatigue at midnight, the candle has burned down low, and an investigator is dipping into the depths and not finding the goodly pearl, and growing more and more weary, cries, “ Boundless Nature, where shall I comprehend thee? Ye sources of all life, for which my withered breast so longs--ye flow, ye quench, and yet I thirst in vain!” Such imploring, outstretched arms--what are they but an altar erected to the unknown God? 2. Now enter yon brilliant room. Surely no sorrow can obtrude here. Nevertheless sighs from an inner chamber announce that “ Death has no respect for riches.” A child is lying here sick unto death. Why has the anxious father no eye for the pictures that look down from the walls? Why does he not open some of his favourite poets? Why does he avoid that book which convinced him yesterday that there is room for neither miracles nor prayer? The anguish-stricken father throws himself on his knees--before whom? Which god can support him to bear this threatened loss? Oh ye pictures, books, money piles, ye idols that have eyes but no pupils, arms but no help!--at this moment, an altar rises in a corner of the room, faintly traced, “ To the unknown God!” 3. Stranger, you have strayed into this house of God--do you know to what end? Do you know that your wandering and your sojourning, your childhood and your manhood, your solitude and your society, your sorrows and your joys, have all been working together to lead you to seek the Lord if haply you might feel and find Him, and to make that dusty altar to the unknown God in the corner of your heart one of reminder and of prophecy? III. In whom does God make Himself known? Who shall win earth back to heaven, and reconcile and harmonise divinity with humanity? who is the man in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells, and whose body is a temple, the only one worthy of Divinity? Through Christ the weather-beaten inscription, “ To the unknown God,” is changed for “ To the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You are advancing to meet this unknown God as a revealed God in Christ Jesus. How? As a Saviour or a Judge? (R. Koegel, D. D.)The unknown God 1. Athens was a city illustrious for its learning. But during the century or two preceding the Christian era, intellectual decay had set in, and instead of investigating the true, the people were raving after the new. The distinction between true and false philosophy in every age consists mainly in this--the one loves the new more than the true, the other loves the true more than the new. At this time Paul went to Athens, and the everlasting gospel with him; and in it there is a perfect combination of the true and the new. He declares unto them the unknown God:-- I. In relation to nature.1. As Creator of the universe. The Greek mind had often but ineffectually grappled with the mysterious problem of the origin of the world. Every school of ancient thought believed in the eternity of matter. Of a creation out of nothing the ancient heathen had not the crudest idea. Mankind seemed to be entirely indebted to Divine revelation for it. God created-- (1) The matter of the world. Plato recognised God as the “ Arranger of the Hyle.” But whence issued the “ Hyle” ? Plato is mute. But St. Paul teaches that God not only built the world, but made the materials likewise. A child may learn more in five minutes in the first verse of the Bible than recondite sages in their protracted studies. “ Through faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God.” (2) Its laws. Laws are so many windows through which we can glance at God. But over these windows infidelity draws the blinds. Men praise each other for discovering these laws, but are slack to give glory to God for making them. But what is the discovery of a law compared with its invention? 2. Having created the world, God is still present in it as its Sovereign Lord and Director. “ Seeing He giveth to all life and breath and all things.” The Stoics did not theoretically deny the Divine existence, but they did deny the Divine government. They believed in fate; hence their reckless indifference to all the ills and favours of life. In our day also, law does everything, God nothing. Ancients and moderns alike, after putting the extinguisher on the sun, feel constrained to light a candle. The Bible teaching, however, is clear and unambiguous. Whilst we must insist upon the radical distinction between God and the world, we must beware lest we make this distinction separation. From these truths two valuable lessons are deduced-- (1) That “ God dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” (2) That “ He is not worshipped or served with men’ s hands as though He needed anything.” We do not give to Him, He gives to us. “ Every good gift and every perfect gift,” etc. II. In his relation to man.1. God made man--a truth strikingly new to the Greeks. The Greeks thought that they had grown from the soil. The idea of God cannot be degraded without at the same time debasing the idea of man. The same theory practically is advocated now. God is involved in nature according to the fashionable Pantheism of the age; and man is evolved out of nature according to its anthropology. The apostle further proclaims the unity of the human race. The Greeks viewed themselves as the aristocracy of the world, separated even in origin from all other nations, whom they contemptuously treated as barbarians. 2. God rules men. He did not fling them upon the world to be the sport of chance, but “ determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.” The one object, however, was that men “ might seek the Lord, if haply they might find Him.” All events were so disposed as to be helpful to mankind in their search after God. We imagine that were the circumstances arranged a little differently, it would result in the spiritual advantage of the nations. But St. Paul declares otherwise. 3. God is the Father of man (verse 28). God is only the Maker of nature. The white man carries about him God’ s image in ivory, and the coloured man in ebony, but none the less an image for that. How striking the genealogy in Luke 3:1-38 the son of David the Son of God. From this homogeneity of nature between man and God the apostle makes a practical inference (verse 29). Athens abounded in idols, but none of them properly represented God. The Divine likeness cannot be stamped on gross matter, it must have intelligence for its canvas. Consequently man’ s fault has always been in seeking God among material objects. But inasmuch as we are partakers of His nature, it cannot be that “ He is far from any one of us.” (1) As to place. There is a sense in which the sun is over ninety millions of miles distant; but there is a sense in which it is nearer us than any other created object. Its beams pierce our frame, its light enters the eye, its warmth pervades the body. “ In it we live and move and have our being.” In like manner God may be affirmed to be infinitely removed from us; but there is a sense in which He is nearer every one of us than any other being can possibly be (verses 27, 28). (2) As to His nature. His spirituality and not His omnipresence is the leading idea. In our own spirituality can we best understand the nature of the Deity. 4. God is the Redeemer of men. From the Fatherhood to the Redeemership the stride is not so very great. “ And the times of this ignorance God overlooked” --i.e., did not directly interfere. Not that He entirely disregarded the heathen world. That would be a flat contradiction of verse 26. God often interposed in their geographical and political history, but He left them to work out their religious problems for themselves. The “ now” is significant of a change of policy. It is not a matter of no consequence whether you embrace Christianity or not. “ He commandeth you.” The gospel comes with all the authority of law. You have broken other commandments, will you persist in breaking this also? Paul’ s hearers had been all their lifetime endeavouring to atone for sin; now, however, they are bidden not to atone but to repent. “ Every man everywhere.” The gospel embraces every human being. None are too high to need repentance; none are too low to have it. 5. God is the Judge of men (verse 31). Paul was now standing on the site of the most venerable court in the whole world. Here Mars and Orestes were tried, and here Socrates was unjustly condemned. What therefore more natural than that Paul should wind up his oration by a solemn reference to the judgment seat of Christ? Yes, there is an awful hereafter, notwithstanding the creed of Epicureans. Oh, the madness of those who spend their day of grace in reckless indifference, saying, “ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)The unknown God In this paragraph we have a graphic though brief description of the character of the men of Athens. “ For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” And when the love of the new gains ascendancy over the love of the true, degeneration is inevitable. The distinction between true and false philosophy, in every age, consists mainly in this: the one loves the new more than the true, the other loves the true rather than the new. But the religious aspect of the city is depicted in more lamentable colours still “ the city was wholly given to idolatry” . Idolatry was also flourishing in this city; but it seemed now as though it had received a new impulse. Why? Because their faith in idols was stronger? No; but because it was weaker. What if they are only the creation of my own over-heated imagination? The suspicion was so humiliating, so blasting in its effects, so awfully barren and withering, that he strenuously attempted to conceal it from himself; he tried to forget his religious bankruptcy in spiritual intoxication. That motto awakes a distinct echo in the heart of every unregenerate man; there also is an altar with the inscription To the unknown God! At this time Paul went to Athens, and the everlasting gospel with him; and in it there is a perfect combination of the true and the new. Glad tidings, true news, is its distinctive appellation. He declares unto them the unknown God--1. In His relation to nature.2. In His relation to man. These two relations exhaust our knowledge of God; we know Him in none other. These were the topics held in dispute by the philosophers, and to which the Athenians now listen with abated breath. I. God in relation to nature.1. He is the Creator of nature. “ God made the world and all things therein.” On this point he directs his remarks more especially against the Epicureans--they denied creation. “ God made the world.” As we look around us we observe that nature is divisible into matter and laws, matter and truths. The Athenian mind had been often grappling with the mysterious problem touching the origin of all things; but notwithstanding all the energy and time expended to solve it, it continued to be shrouded in as much darkness as ever. History, indeed, seems to testify that the human mind, left to its own resources, could never grasp the idea of creation, properly so called. The Epicureans denied creation, and looked upon the world as the effect of the fortuitous concourse of atoms, and these atoms they believed to be uncreated and eternal. Of a creation out of nothing, the ancient heathens had not the crudest idea. Indeed, mankind are indebted to the Bible entirely for it. Not only the work but the idea of creation is Divine. And the truth with which Paul encountered the Epicurean philosophers of old, in the market and on the hill, requires to be reiterated again and again. There is a theory afloat, vindicated by men of unquestionable repute, that sets creation out of nothing among the impossibilities. According to this theory, everything is born. The sun is born, the moon is born, the earth is born. It is averred “ We cannot conceive, either on the one hand, nothing becoming something, or on the other, something becoming nothing” (Sir W. Hamilton). The world, therefore, is a Divine evolution? No: says the Bible, it is not an evolution, but a creation. We cannot conceive such an act, say they. Man’ s conceptions are not God’ s boundary lines, says the Bible. We cannot explain the process, say they. Then believe the act, says the Bible. “ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things that are seen were not made of things which do appear.” “ God made the world.” It existed nowhere before, nor in God, nor in space; it existed in no shape before, nor in germ, nor in development. It is an act of pure creation. As already hinted laws form another important division of nature. Not only God made the matter of the universe, but also its laws. 2. He is the Lord of nature. “ He is Lord of heaven and earth.” This truth is addressed more especially to the Stoics--they denied Divine government. They did not deny the existence of the gods; “ but they held that all human affairs were governed by fate. Neither did they believe that any good was received from the hands of their gods.” This atheistic view the apostle refutes by the heart-inspiring truth that God is the Lord of nature and providence. As the servant is dependent on his master, so is nature on her Lord. What does this imply? That she is not her own governess. Not her own will, but His she follows. Not her own thoughts, but His she expresses. Everything in nature is a manifestation of some thought; but who is it that thinks? Nature herself? No. Fate? No. Who then? God. The sun rises every day to the right moment--who is the thinker? The sun? No; but God. Nature has no thought, no will of her own; she is entirely under the control of God. Neither is she her own support. She lives on the bounty of God, as a child on the table of its father. Nature can originate nothing; she must receive all. Left to her own resources, she would reduce herself to penury in one day. But these truths had a more practical end in view than the refutation of the fallacious theories of philosophers; they were calculated to undermine the idolatrous practices of the populace. “ He dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” He is the Creator and Lord of nature. What is there in a temple of stones for Him to covet? Were He a forlorn fugitive, an impoverished God, He might be glad of a shelter anywhere. But this is not His condition. He is Lord of heaven and earth, and has the resources of both at His command. “ He is not worshipped with men’ s hands as though He needed anything.” The Athenians, in common with all idolaters, supposed religious rites to be established and enacted for God and not for man--for His advantage and not for our benefit. The mistake of the Stoics about God, in respect to nature, was that of all idolaters in respect to religion. They thought it was His prerogative to receive; the apostle teaches it was His property and function to give. “ Neither is He worshipped with men’ s hands as though He needed anything.” No; it is not giving, but receiving. As a creature you receive; as a worshipper you receive too. What is your sin? Is it giving too little? No; but receiving too little. II. God in relation to man.1. “ He is the Father of man.” “ We are His offspring.” God is the Maker of nature, He is the Father of man; He is the Creator of the brute, He is the Father of man. The popular opinion among the Athenians was, that they were the aboriginals of mankind. But where did they come from? They grew from the earth. According to one of their own writers, “ the first men sprung up in Attica, like radishes.” And some moderns cherish the opinion, forsooth, that mankind are developed from a tribe of monkeys! Our ancestry has its root in Godhead. Adam is not our first nor our best father, but God. Based on man’ s Divine sonship are two very important considerations. The first is the universal brotherhood of man. “ God hath made of one blood all nations of men.” The second truth is the nature of God. “ Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone.” There is a certain resemblance between parent and child; therefore God must be more like men, His children, than any other created object whatsoever. Man possesses reason, will, and intelligence; therefore God must have them in infinite perfection. 2. God is the Saviour of man. “ And the times of this ignorance God winked at (overlooked, passed by); but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” 3. He is the judge of man. “ For He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained.” (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)The unknown God When he saw that the city was “ wholly given to idolatry,” i.e., literally covered with idols--κατείδωλον referring to the place, not to the people--his spirit was roused; he could no longer keep silence and refrain from proclaiming the message he had come to deliver. Then it chanced that some of the members of the two great philosophic sects, the Epicureans and Stoics, encountered him. Part of these called him a babbler (σπερμολόγος), literally a picker-up of small seeds, like a bird, i.e., a collector and retailer of insignificant scraps of information; and others charged him with setting forth strange gods, foreign divinities. I. The unknown god. There is an unknown God today, as certainly as there was in Paul’ s time; and it is the business of the Christian teacher to declare Him, or set Him forth. In one sense God must always be unknown. The mind of man is finite, and can therefore never comprehend the Infinite.1. The unknown god of the ancients. It is by no means clear how this altar came to be erected at Athens. By some, it is supposed that Polytheism had made so many gods by the deification of every human passion, that no more could be thought of; and hence, to cover the whole ground, an additional altar was erected to an unknown god at the shrine of which the worship should ascend to any possible deity that might have been overlooked. Others suppose that some special benefits had been received by the people, which could not be traced to any of the known gods--hence an altar to the unknown. More probably, however, it arose from some dim conception of a Supreme Being higher than all the gods of mythology, who, while He satisfied a yearning want of the heart, took no hold on the intellect. This would seem to be apparent from Paul’ s words, that he would declare the very God thus worshipped. In any case, that altar was a tacit but terrible confession of the failure of heathendom. Nowhere perhaps had the intellect risen so high as at Athens. 2. The unknown God of the moderns. Herbert Spencer prates most glibly of the Unknowable, and Huxley worships at its shrine. Tyndal calls religions “ forms of force” which must not be permitted to “ intrude on the region of knowledge.” Matthew Arnold terms God a “ stream of tendency by which all things fulfil the law of their being,” as though there could be a stream without a source, or things could fulfil any purpose where there was no plan. II. The relation of the unknown God to man. It is difficult to understand what relationship we can sustain to the unknown, or at least to learn what the relationship is, if any such there be. Yet those who teach that God is unknown and unknowable recognise some sort of relationship to this unknown Being. The possible relationship may be considered under three distinct heads.1. Worship. This, in some form or other, is universal. In all ages men have worshipped something. In fact it is difficult to find a stronger instinct in human nature than this one. We have-- (1) Worship in ignorance. This is what the Athenians were guilty of. They worshipped without ascribing to the object any definite qualities whatever. (2) Worship of nature. An atheist writing recently in one of the Secularistic journals proposed verbal prayer to nature, and says, “ May we not pray or invoke the powers of nature for aid, without any reference to a personal God, calling that power the unconditioned, unknowable Absolute, or what you will; or no name at all? I think so.” It is difficult to see what is the object of this prayer, since it is clear that blind forces can neither hear nor answer. But it proves the tendency to worship, even in the atheist. A more mystic form of worship, of an atheistic character, was proposed by the late Professor Clifford, under the name of Cosmic Emotion. The term originated with Mr. Henry Sedgwick; but Professor Clifford used it as a sort of substitute for religion. By it he simply meant the emotion which is called up in the soul when contemplating itself and its moral nature on the one hand, and the mysteries of the universe on the other. But such a worship as this--if worship it can be called--has no cult, and therefore cannot meet the condition required. It is a hollow semblance, nothing more. (3) Worship of abstractions. The Positivists profess to worship humanity in the abstract. What this is, it is difficult very clearly to understand. Humanity in the concrete we know something of, and it is neither exalted enough nor pure enough to satisfy, as an object of worship, the religious nature of man. This form of worship professes to find a cultus in dead heroes and sages. But, to say the least of it, this is a miserable substitute for an Almighty and loving Father in heaven. The worship of nature, or of abstractions, is, after all, but idolatry. Men do not now make their idols of wood or stone, but cut of their own wild imaginings. 2. Responsibility. The moral law needs a personal God for its basis. The unknown is no foundation on which to raise a superstructure of ethics. 3. Immortality. Most of those, however, who assert that God is unknown do not believe in a personal immortality at all, but speak of the immortality of the race or of a man’ s reputation that he may leave behind him. There is no guarantee that the race will remain forever, if God be taken away; and if there were, such a fact would not meet the wants of humanity. We long for, and aspire after, an eternal personal conscious existence, and nothing less than that can satisfy the soul. III. The revelation of the unknown God. “ Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you,” or set forth unto you. This was Paul’ s work, to reveal or make known the unknown God. This he was enabled to do by means of--1. The Scriptures. God’ s real character can only be learnt from the Bible. 2. The Incarnation. This is the only means by which God can be really and truly known. “ No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” He hath declared Him in such a manner that the simplest may understand. Do you want to know what God is like? I point you to Christ. There is the revelation and the Revealer blended in one. (George Sexton, LL. D.)The unknown God The astronomers Le Verrier and Adams, in separate countries at the same time, observing certain motions among the spheres which could not be accounted for by any known cause, concluded that there must be a body not yet discovered somewhere in the regions of space in which the disturbances were observed. Seeking in the direction thus indicated they found the far distant and hitherto unknown world. So Greek philosophy was able, from the appetites and vacancies of the human mind, which all the idols could not satisfy, to determine that there must be some God hitherto from them concealed, to whom these appetites pointed, and without whom they could not be satisfied. Their skill could discover in a general way their need, but they could not by their searching find the missing portion for a human soul. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The unknown God God is unknown--1. To those who think themselves wise. 2. To those who perform the external acts of worship without seeking God Himself. 3. To those who do not live in Him, but in the world and its lusts. 4. To those who do not desire to find God in Christ. (Langbein.)The unknown God revealed Observe-- I. That man, when left to the efforts of his own reason, never discovers the character of the true God. The most probable explanation of the inscription is the carefulness of the Athenians not to exclude any God.1. That there was originally an adequate revelation of God is not properly to be doubted (Romans 1:20; Psalms 19:1-2). In addition to the silent testimony of nature were direct and verbal communications to patriarchs, etc. 2. Nevertheless, the knowledge of God became beclouded, and errors encrouched with fearful rapidity and success. There was a depraved principle in the heart of man urging him to devices, whereby God might be banished from his mind, and his passions set free from control. From this source sprang up idolatry. “ They did not like to retain God,” etc. (Romans 1:21-23; Romans 1:25). 3. This fatal principle which led to the loss of the knowledge of God, prevented it from being restored. Having extinguished the light, it perpetuated the darkness. There were many centuries during which the human intellect was able to open all its resources, and to practise all its powers, but none retraced their steps to the Divine Being. “ The world by wisdom knew not God” ; “ the age of reason” was an age of idolatry, pollution, and despair. 4. With reference to subsequent ages, and our own, the fact and its explanation are the same, as India, China, Africa, etc., testify. If, however, we are pointed to the writings of Deistical philosophers who have professed to argue the existence of God from the light of reason, we are not to be misled by the pretensions of unprincipled plagiarists who have but borrowed the guidance of revelation, without having had the honour to acknowledge it. II. That it is the office of Christianity to place the character of the true God in full and distinct revelation. The circumstances just illustrated constituted a necessity for a revelation. Proceeding on this necessity manifestations were given to the patriarchs of the supremacy and grace of the Most High. Then followed the calling of the Jews, the giving of their law, the solemn warnings against idolatry, institutions designed to preserve them from the infection of surrounding nations, and the ministry of the prophets. At length, “ when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son,” and then came the ministry of the apostles. Recognising all this, note--1. That the revelations of God in Christianity are furnished in connection with a method of redemption, from which their clearness and lustre are derived. The purpose of the gospel is to explain and apply a scheme of sovereign mercy by which man is to be redeemed from his apostasy. The existence of such a scheme had been announced immediately after the fall, and was shadowed forth in type and prophecy, and employed, harmonised, and displayed the perfections of God. Hence our Saviour frequently spoke of His work as “ glorifying the Father.” In the Cross Mercy and Truth meet together, Righteousness and Peace kiss each other, and in that Cross we see that “ God is love.” 2. That these revelations are designed for diffusion through the world. The earlier dispensations were systems rather of defence than attack, of conservation than conquest. But the gospel was “ good tidings … to all people.” Prophecy announced it as such, the “ propitiation for the sins of the whole world” made it such, and the apostles were sent to preach it as such. III. That it becomes the disciples of Christianity to exert themselves for the promulgation and triumph of their religion. The conduct of Paul, whose “ spirit was stirred within him” not only to indignation but to service, is an example to all. Consider--1. Reasons which are uniform and permanent in their appeals. The work of promulgating the truth-- (1) Has been committed by Christ to His Church as its specific duty.(2) Vindicates and in the highest measure secures the Divine honour.(3) Imparts exalted happiness to mankind. 2. Reasons which are derived from the peculiarities of our own times--the extraordinary facilities which are now provided for the dissemination of Christian truth. (J. Parsons.)Three books relating to the knowledge of God I. The book of the world with its two parts--nature and history (verses 24-26). II. The book of the heart with its two parts--reason and conscience (verses 27, 28). III. The book of Scripture with its two parts--reason and conscience (verses 30, 31). (K. Gerok.)Revelation and nature: their witness to God Suppose a scholar searching in some old library were to discover two MSS., which had lain unknown for generations on different shelves. The discoverer examines their contents and is struck with certain peculiarities in the handwriting, which are common to both documents. He also finds that in both there are words and phrases--such as seem the expression of a writer’ s individuality. Still further, he discovers that many ideas are common to the two pamphlets, and that though different in subject, there is a substratum of thought identical in both. Could he do other than infer that they were the products of the same author? Mere coincidence might account for one or two of these resemblances, but could never explain the great variety and number that are found here. Now the object we have in view is somewhat similar. I. The sake attributes which Scripture ascribes to God are to be traced also in nature.1. The unity of God. (1) This doctrine runs through the pages of Scripture like a stream of light illumining all things else. Now-- (2) Judging from the many religions in the world, one might suppose that nature leads to the conception of many gods. But Polytheism betrays as profound an ignorance of nature as it does of the Divine Being. Let us turn from pagan conceptions to the interpretations of science. All recent discovery is tending to set up one conception of the universe, and that is that one plan is to be discovered, and that one power is working under divers forms. (a) See how the two kingdoms, animal and vegetable, correspond, meet each the other’ s needs, and are evidently parts of one plan. With every breath that we exhale we pour into the atmosphere a gas destructive of animal life. With every inspiration we consume a portion of that element of the atmosphere which is vital to us. But then every vegetable--tree, grass, flower--is absorbing from the air the poisonous carbonic acid and breathing out the vital oxygen. (b) But not alone within terrestrial limits is this unity discernible. The spectroscopist has caught the fleeting rays of light from stars and suns, and has wrung from them the confession that these worlds are built up of much the same materials as our own. (c) Formerly the various natural forces were regarded as distinct. But experiment has shown that they are one, and are convertible. Electricity can be converted into light, and the light into heat, and heat into motion, or they can be resolved back again, motion into heat, heat into light, light into electricity. What a marvel is this! It is the same power that works everywhere in nature, taking a thousand different shapes; and what is that power but the power of the one God? 2. Every fresh discovery confirms the belief that Infinite Wisdom conceived, executed, and presides over all created things. And the power manifestly pervading the boundless universe is a power so vast that we may well yield to it the title of Omnipotence. 3. When we consider the moral attributes of God, nature yields a feebler testimony than revelation. Nevertheless, though nature needs to be supplemented, its witness coincides with that of Scripture. Take, e.g., the righteousness of God. (1) Though conscience has not always power to compel obedience, it yet sits on the seat of judgment undisputed, and is a convincing evidence of the righteousness of God. For how came man to possess this faculty, which has created a universally prevalent idea of moral obligation? How came man to feel that good is intrinsically superior to evil? The secularist affirms that expediency or the general weal of society has dictated certain courses of action as the wisest and safest, and has dissuaded from others as hurtful to the community. Thus by the power of habit strengthened through the generations, certain actions have come to be regarded as right, others as evil and vicious. And we may grant to this theory a measure of truth. But there is a question farther back. Why has universal experience proved virtue to be conducive to happiness and vice the opposite? The only answer to this must be, that it is in the nature of things, impressed on them by their Creator. (2) And man’ s inner nature accords with external nature. Wherever we look we find evidence of “ a power, not ourselves, making for righteousness.” The fail of empires through the corruption of luxury and evil; the prosperity of states whose citizens are virtuous, brave, and true; every life prematurely closed by the ravages of vicious habits, and every good man’ s life attests an eternal moral order. Whence, then, this moral constitution? For every effect there must be a cause, and what is in the effect must first have been in the cause. Therefore He who made the world is a Moral Being, and has transferred to His works this moral order, which first existed in Himself. Whatever quality you discover in the work must have been first in the worker. II. The same modes of Divine operation are clearly discernible both in Scripture and nature. There is something in a man’ s work distinguishing it from that of all others, and which is manifest more or less in all he does. “ The style is the man.” By his style you recognise an artist’ s pictures or a writer’ s articles, though no name be appended to the work. Now there is a style about the Divine works, and this style can be traced both in nature and revelation. Modern science has clearly established that in creation a strict order has been observed. There can be traced a gradual development from lower to higher types of being. And the Bible presents us with a remarkably similar process. In the spiritual education of men a development can be traced. The truths of religion were gradually disclosed, and the world was led on step by step in spiritual culture and enlightenment. Here, then, we have a resemblance of a peculiar kind, which stands out as a distinct evidence of a common origin for both nature and revelation. III. Many of the difficulties with which Scripture confronts us are met also in nature. Take an illustration. The election of the Jewish people to be the recipients of Divine revelation, while the other nations were left in darkness, has often appeared a strange procedure on God’ s part. Was this consistent with justice and love? The reply to this is that the selection of the Jewish people was not for their own sakes alone, but that through them all families of the earth might be blessed; and that men were not rejected by God simply because they were not Jews. Among all peoples there was light enough to save sincere seekers. A similar election of nations has always characterised God’ s government of the world. He fixes the bounds of one people on a generous soil, and plants another amid barren snows. He confides to one people to work out some problem on which the world’ s welfare and progress depend. And for a time that people stand out distinguished by Heaven’ s favour above all others. To the ancient Greek was given the highest culture of art, to the Roman the highest development of government. To the English race today is committed the problem of combining the largest liberty with order and security. (J. Legge, M. A.) Acts 17:24 God.All the Indo-European equivalents for God are the same in their ultimate root as the word “ day,” and signify the brightness of the sky. The Latin Deus, the Greek Theos, the Sanskrit Dyaus, the Welsh Duw, and even the English God, all come from the same root, signifying the brightness of the sky. This thought has been fixed in the term Jupiter, one of the oldest appellations by which God is known in Europe. Jupiter--what is it? The first syllable Ju is the same as the Welsh Duw, and means the bright sky. The remaining two syllables mean father. Jupiter is the Latin synonym for the Saxon Sky-Father. As one of our Aryan ancestors stood on the open plain gazing upward, and meditating on the Being behind all phenomena, the Reality at the back of all appearances, he gave expression, to the deepest instinct of his nature when he pronounced in articulate language the solemn word “ Sky-Father.” (J. C. Jones, D. D.)That made the world.-- God and the universe 1. “ God that made the world and all things therein.” Here is an emphatic denial of all polytheistic and dualistic notions as to the origin and government of the world. 2. “ God made the world.” Here is an emphatic assertion that God is distinct from Nature: it is a product of His plastic hand. 3. God “ is Lord of heaven and earth” ; so that “ the lords many,” amongst whom the Greeks believed that the presidency and control of the universe are distributed, were but the idle creations of fancy. By these few words the apostle boldly pushed aside a whole host of errors to which the Athenians had given place in their minds, and by which they had been bewildered and injured. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)The religious use of Nature This must be distinguished from--1. The mere scientific use, which stops with nature. He who handles it as so much matter to be torn apart with analysis and scrutinised with microscope or telescope, often makes the most irreligious use of it, forgetting the Artist in the work of art. 2. The mere sentimental use, which makes nature a nose of wax to be twisted into a mirror of human fancies, feelings, and passions. 3. The commercial use, which sees in nature but so many acres of woodland, or capacities for grain or grazing. Yet there is-- (1) A true science, which leads the way for religion to follow and adore. (2) A pure sentiment, which penetrates the rare though hidden analogies with which God has crowded the natural and spiritual woods; there religion enters to admire and enjoy. (3) And wherever the eye that measures value pursues its calculations the grateful heart may follow, saying, “ Fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” The religious use of Nature, therefore, is something beyond science, or sentiment, or material value, but utilising everything that is real and true in each. There is scarcely a greater need than the realisation that God is everywhere. I. The foundation for this realisation is in the teaching of the text concerning God’ s relation to nature. He is “ Lord of all things.” God is over Nature because He was before it and is in it. You cannot touch Nature without touching God. The right use of Nature so related to God must be a religious use. II. The duty and privilege of this use is seen in the fact that the Scriptures teach that nature is designed to be a perpetual witness to the wisdom and power of God. Nature is God’ s perpetual demonstration of Himself. The crime of idolatry was its first rejection of God in Nature and then debasing His character. III. This duty and privilege becomes plainer when we remember that man was so created as to be the interpreter of nature. For this he was--1. Placed at the apex of the pyramid, last and greatest master work. 2. Given intellectual faculties competent to understand Nature and its relations. 3. Endowed with a moral character capable of resemblance to the God revealed in Nature. 4. Made a spiritual being capable of communion with God, 5. It must therefore be his mission to be a reflecting surface for the glory of God in Nature. IV. This duty, etc., is seen to be rational because nature is so much more to us with God than without him. Without God it is a congeries of vast and uncontrollable forces before which we shudder; with God an ordered system no less majestic, but under the control of a beneficent will. Without Him Nature is senseless; with Him it has a meaning even where we cannot fathom it. V. Plainer yet seems the duty, etc., when we consider the appeals which God in nature makes to all that is best in us.1. To our reverence. Best ideas of omnipotence are from God’ s rule over Nature. 2. God seeks to elevate us by exhibiting in Nature the nobler types of life. Who can be thoughtless in a world packed with thought, careless when everything is replete with arrangement, idle where everything is busy, or frivolous where all is serious? 3. God appeals to the spirit of praise everywhere in Nature, which is again designed to fill us with gladness in and by our gratitude. 4. Even growth in grace is possible by Nature. VI. A religious use of Nature is essential to a symmetrical Christian faith and life. (S. T. Scovel, D. D.)Dwelleth not in temples made with hands.--God’ s temples I. Heaven, where the spirits made perfect are before His throne. II. The visible creation, in which He has never left Himself without a witness to His power, wisdom, and goodness. III. The Church, in which the unknown God is a revealed God in the gospel of His Son. IV. My heart, in which He desires to dwell by His Holy Spirit. (K. Gerok.) Acts 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men’ s hands.Contrast between God and idols Idols certainly require the care of human hands. There are still shops in the cities of India and China, with this inscription on their sign boards, “ Here old gods are repaired and renovated.” (Leonhard.)As though He needed anything. God has no needs The idol was supposed to be a needy, dependent being, fed by the hands of man. God not so (Psalms 50:1-23). Notice the main points of comparison. I. Idols are dead; God lives of Himself and by Himself. He gives--1. Life. What a gift is life! And what a giver the Author of life! 2. Breath. 3. All things necessary for the sustentation and continuance of both. It is not matter that lives, but God in matter. “ This living God” is the Being with whom we have to do; there is a living eye on thee, a judge taking account now. II. God is the builder of His own temple. The idol is made, then a temple is built, and the idol is put there and chained, that he might not be stolen. God too has a temple; but He is the architect of His own temple, erected it not for Himself but for us; worship is for the benefit of man. It is getting, not giving; receiving, not imparting. Worship may be regarded--1. As the highest exercise of man’ s nature. Man can never be greater than when he stands before God; a creature can never perform a nobler office than when thus holding communion with God. 2. As the purest influence of man’ s nature. Sin is put down by this. We must look up, not down; the glance of the eye on the infinite is worth all the talking and troubling our minds about non-essentials in religion. But we must get the principles from the habit of looking up. 3. As the truest happiness. Have you ever felt happiness corresponding to the high demands of your nature? When your soul has been with God, how little did this world appear then! III. God is the proprietor of His own sacrifice. All dead matter, silver and gold, our body, soul, intellect, affections, hopes, fears, are God’ s. When we worship we are teaching ourselves a great truth, instructing ourselves in our own dependence on God. IV. God is the father of His own worshippers.1. Paul shows the nature of man. “ We are also His offspring.” The tree, the elephant, birds, stars, etc., are not like God. They are far from Him, they are matter; He is mind. They are dead; He is living. But we are like God. We have power to think as He thinks, to love as He loves, to be felicitous as He is felicitous. 2. We have the destiny of this nature. “ Seek the Lord, if haply they might find Him.” Seek Him, so as to feel Him touch the soul. Are you in search after God? Whatever pursuit fails, this will not. It is the only study worthy the soul of man. (Caleb Morris.)God has no needs I. This declaration sheds considerable light on God Himself, who is underived, unconditioned, everlasting, and the source of all other life throughout the universe. We have to do with a “ living God” ; therefore let us have no dead souls or dead services. II. How may this truth apply to the scheme of redemption? God is all fulness of being, excellency, and blessing; yet He has condescended to propose reconciliation to men. The advantage here is altogether on the side of men. And what an advantage it is f It is the fulness, the power, of the rich God spreading Himself out through the entire nature of man; so that he feels he is invested with every attribute God possesses. When man is thus brought into union with the rich God, he receives two things which constitute his spiritual life.1. A consciousness of his relationship to God. A living consciousness that we are “ His offspring, in whom we live and move and have our being.” That feeling is worth the universe. Man is a child of God, whether he feels it or not; he has not lost his relationship to God. What has he lost by sin? (1) The filial character. All likeness to God’ s character. (2) Sympathy to the Father. He does not love what God loves, nor hate what God hates. (3) The knowledge of God to a great extent. Not altogether. He is far from God, as an isolated being. Man has not the slightest formal knowledge of Him as his Father. (4) Every disposition to return to God. 2. But when the poor sinner comes to the rich God what takes place? (1) There is a quickening sense of his relationship. He says, “ I am not worthy to be called Thy son.” Then he says, “ Talk to me about my Father.” The soul sympathises with God till it has impressed on it God’ s character. (2) There is a right in all the privileges involved in the relationship (Romans 8:17). Think how Christ is the heir of God; think of His position, offices, glory; then imagine yourselves to be in a state of approximation to Him; and then feel what it is to be enriched with the riches of God. III. God has no needs. Then He is more than adequate to finish the work of redemption. If He has all power, He is able to work out men’ s salvation. Man has not a fixed purpose. God has a clear, definite conception of the Divine scheme of salvation. God is so in love with His purpose of saving man there is no fear of His giving it up. Men often fail in their purposes in consequence of impediments. God, who is the Creator of heaven and earth, has dominion over all things. IV. God has no needs. Then He could have no motives in redemption but generosity. (Caleb Morris.)Seeing that He giveth to all life.--God’ s bounty He giveth-- I. “Life,” and none but He, the Living One. It is a rill from the Fountain of Life. Growth and other qualities belong to plants, such as circulation of sap and respiration by their leaves; but life characterises man--with its voluntary and involuntary functions, its enjoyments and capabilities, its appetites and instincts, its operations on the world without it, and its conscious possession of its powers within it. Pleasure, glory, and usefulness are bound up with its prolongation. So sweet is it that few choose to part with it, and the cessation of it was regarded by the apostle’ s hearers as the direst of calamities. He who is our life confers and supports it in His ineffable goodness--for “ man liveth not by bread alone.” II. “ Breath,” Which, as the condition and means of life, is, therefore, singled out. Even then the atmosphere was popularly valued as the first of necessary gifts, and, when scientifically examined, its preciousness is not only confirmed, but it becomes a powerful proof of Divine unceasing goodness. For the air we breathe is endowed with many qualities, the loss or disturbance of which must be fatal to life. If it lose its gravity, or if its elasticity be changed or become changeable; if it thicken, and darken, and cease to be an invisible medium; if it be deprived of its compressibility, or if any amount of cold could condense it; if the gases composing it were to vary in their proportions: or if it were not universally present, and what is vitiated by respiration purified and restored--animal existence would be extinguished on the face of the earth. III. And His bounty is immense, for He giveth “all things.” Whatever we have He has given us--the food on our table, and the raiment on our persons, with ability to win them and health to enjoy them. Nor let any man boast of being the architect of his own fortune; for the materials out of which he builds it, the skill with which he constructs it, and the propitious season which enables him to rear it without pause or discomfiture--are each of them the gift of the one sovereign Benefactor. Discovery, invention, science, art, adventure, commercial shrewdness, literary power, mechanical skill, and political success; the sharp eye that is first to perceive the “ tide in the affairs of men” ; and the wary enterprise that launches the vessel upon it--are not self-originated. “ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights.” (Prof. Eadie.) Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all the nations.All of one blood 1. This is not the gospel, but it is the foundation on which the gospel builds--that humanity is one; that race distinctions are superficial, and not radical; that there is a universal brotherhood, originating in the universal Fatherhood of God. This is familiar enough to us, for our common speech is stocked with phrases and expressions which recognise it. But then no man believed in it. Jew and Greek, and Roman and barbarian were alike in this. They had their separate deities and their separate origin. Every people was proud of its own birthright, and deemed itself the elect of its own god, and regarded it as a natural law that they should despise or hate all others. Into this condition of things the inspired message of the apostles came, flinging its living cords over the wide gaps, and binding human society with a new and Divine bond. 2. And the greater our knowledge of men, the more irresistibly is this truth forced upon us. Everywhere there are substantially the same emotions, longings, regrets, some sort of conscience, hope; everywhere man is susceptible to the touch of love, moved by persuasions of kindness, thrilled by the voice of pity. Everywhere man confesses that he cannot live by bread alone, and is everywhere a praying creature. And everywhere there is in man a capacity for growth unlimited. Even among the lowest races, where science has sought, and will for ever seek in vain, for the missing link between the animal and man, proofs innumerable have been given that one or two generations are enough to work a transformation more than magical. Truly God hath made of our blood all nations of men, and the Christ who can redeem any one man is proved by that very fact to be the possible Redeemer of all. 3. How beautifully, and with what profound wisdom, does Paul here acknowledge that universal religious instinct in man which makes humanity one. They have all sought after God, if haply they might find Him, and He has not been far from any one of them. In every religion there has been something true. They have touched His feet if they have not seen His face. Their shrines have been vestibules to His Temple, if they had not been the Temple itself. Today, in all our mission work we are coming back to the generous thought of the apostle. The heathen world is becoming better known, its religions better understood, its gross errors and undying truths and aspirations more carefully and lovingly distinguished, and, therefore, the scope and nature of our work more clearly and hopefully defined. To understand the souls with which we deal is the first essential of evangelistic work. And verily there is hardly a truth of the Christian revelation which is not, at least, foreshadowed in the religious conceptions of the great Eastern races. We know, alas! too well, that all these things have been buried out of sight under successive layers of corruption. Yet, if we have patience to dig beneath the mass, we are always stumbling upon decayed forms of truth, and it is no little advantage to the missionary to be able to say, “ I came not to destroy but to restore and fulfil.” Moreover, we are learning to respect those people and not simply to despise them. We are finding out not only that they are lost, but that they are really worth saving. India was the greatest of all empires before the names of Rome and Greece were known. Its people belong to the same Aryan stock as ourselves. All these races have proved themselves capable of all that we have attained, and they have fallen from all that because, as Paul says, though they once knew God, they became vain in their imagination, etc. It is the picture of Eden with a particular rendering. But whenever there is a paradise lost Christ speaks of a paradise regained. Our missionaries go to their work burning and inspired with an infinite hope, because they go where there are memories of a golden past. What has been may yet be again. They are a people to whom we can confidently say, “ If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)Mankind are one family I. The truth of this doctrine. That mankind are one family; that a common origin, and common nature, belong to all nations.1. We read (Genesis 1:27-28). Now as we read of no more creations of man, but on the contrary, that after the formation of man, Jehovah “ rested on the seventh day, from all His work which He had made,” it is evident that if we admit the correctness of the Mosaic account of the creation, we must admit that nations of every colour, and of every mode of life, are the descendants of one pair. This I think more specially appears from another statement in this early history (Genesis 3:20). 2. There is reason to believe from other considerations, as well as from the words of our text, that it was the design of Almighty God, that the human race should spread over and people the whole earth; and one cannot but admire how His providence, by colonisation, adventure, and other means, continues to pursue the same design. 3. The sacred writers often express themselves in such terms as can only comport with the identity of the human species, for which we contend (Numbers 27:16; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22). 4. Against this doctrine, however, there has been advanced one objection, which, on account of the boldness and the frequency with which it has been put forth, it is proper to notice. It is this--“ the difference in colour, form, and manners is so great in different nations of men, as to prove that they cannot have had a common origin.” In answer to this objection, it is to be remarked-- (1) That between the snowy whiteness of the most delicate European, and the jet black of the negro, there is, in the varieties of the human kind, every conceivable, intermediate shade of colour. And does the objector mean to say that men must have had as many distinct originals as there are distinct shades of colour in the nations of the globe? (2) But perhaps he will choose to rest his objection rather on the conformation than on the colour of the body. But can the objector be ignorant that the different nations of Europe exhibit striking characteristic distinctions in their personal structure and appearance? Have we not an example of this in the Germans and the French? (3) I might insist on the erect stature of man--on the bonal and muscular provisions by which this stature is produced--and on other anatomical peculiarities by which man in all his varieties is essentially distinguished from all the lower animals. And I do so far insist on this, as to affirm that Rousseau, and others, who have intimated that the negro man, and the simile of the woods, are only varieties of the same species, either wrote in utter ignorance of this department of physiology and comparative anatomy, or, what is worse, attempted to impose upon the world a wilful, wicked, and most detestable falsehood! (4) With those who seek truth on this question it will be enough to know that all e great features which identify man are found alike in men of every colour and of every clime. (a) One of these features is reason. The powers of ratiocination belong to man alone. (b) Man is the only creature on earth endowed with the gift of speech. (c) I pass over the institutions of law and government--the cultivation of science, literature, and the arts--the relations of domestic life--and the strength and durability of the natural affections. But there is another peculiarity of man on which I am bound to insist; and that is, his capacity for religion. I say that man possesses a power to contemplate, love, and worship the infinite Spirit, his Creator and Lord; and that he is the only inhabitant of earth that has this power. To my judgment this is the broad, deep, indelible mark which distinguishes man from the most sagacious of the brutes, more than any other of his characteristics. II. The essential consequence of this doctrine to a consistent and acceptable Christian practice.1. It is indispensable, in point of fact, to the exercise of a true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. To suppose that shade of colour destroyed identity of species, were to us a horrid thought I for there is reason to believe that the holy Jesus Himself had not the European whiteness, but rather the Palestinian form and hue; so that if any nation must be excluded from the blessings of redemption on account of the shape of their bodies or colour of their skin, it is the English nation, and in the interdict we have our share! 2. The doctrine I have laid before you is no less necessary to enable us to feel and to act in a right manner in reference to the distinctions of rank and circumstances among men. If the father of a numerous family finds it expedient to appoint one child this task, and another that; and to one a task less easy or less honourable than to another; those children will not, surely, on this account, forget that they are brothers and sisters, that they have one father, and are equally the objects of his care and love. The use of this allusion is easy. Let the most exalted by riches, rank, office, or fame, keep in mind that he is but man, and never forget the kindliness and respect due from him to the meanest being partaking our common nature! And if there be men who choose to play the tyrant and oppressor--speaking and acting as though more than human blood flowed in their veins--let not this degrade the poor in his own eyes; let him act right in the sight of his God, and time shall show which is the greatest man! 3. It would be wrong were I to omit this further inference; that if all nations were of one blood, it must be in the highest degree criminal for one nation to enslave another. 4. In fine, from the doctrine that mankind are one family I might deduce that whole course of virtuous Christian demeanour which is due from man to man. (1) Justice and integrity to all. (2) Reparation where injury has been inflicted. (3) Forbearance towards the errors and infirmities of men. (4) Assistance to the weak, the distressed, the sorrowful, the aged, the widow, and the fatherless, according to the ability which God has given us. (5) Instruction to the ignorant; in other words, the impartation of the religion of Jesus to them who have it not. To those near us, our own family, neighbourhood, and country, first to be sure; but not forgetting the most distant of our brethren. (James Bromley.)The origin of mankind I. The fact. The truth of the declaration will appear, if we consider--1. The great similarity which is visible among the various nations of the earth. They all have the same-- (1) Exterior form.(2) Mode of moving. They all walk erect.(3) Use of speech, or power of articulation. None of the lower species have this.(4) Intellectual faculties. The most uncultivated nations appear to possess the same native powers of the mind as the most civilised.(5) Moral dispositions, “ they have all gone out of the way, there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”(6) Birth, growth, decay, and dissolution. 2. The ignorance in which they have generally been involved for many ages past, and the slow progress they have made in knowledge, learning, and civilisation. 3. The farther back we trace their origin, the more they become blended together and mixed into one. There is no nation but the Jews that appears unmixed. If different nations have originated from different sources, it is very strange that not one of them has been able to retain the knowledge of their distinct origin. But if they are all of one blood this is not strange. II. Objections.1. Some have said it was impossible for one family to spread over all the world. To this I reply-- (1) That it was easy for one family to scatter into any inhabitable parts of the earth where they could travel by land. (2) As to those nations who have inhabited Iceland and America, we can conceive of various ways by which they came to these places. It has been conjectured that many islands were once connected to the main land; and that this was the case in respect to the continents. If this be true, then the difficulty is entirely removed. But if this be not true, it is easy to suppose, that those on the continent could devise means to get to the nearest islands. And as navigation was early discovered by this means, they could get to remote islands and continents. 2. Some nations presume to carry their antiquity several thousand years higher than others, such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese. But-- (1) They have no history or monuments to prove their great antiquity. (2) The most ancient and faithful historians bear full testimony to the contrary. 3. It is farther objected that the great diversity in the customs, manners and complexions of different nations, is inconsistent with the supposition of their common origin. It is easy to answer that all these things may be accounted for by the different circumstances and climates in which they have lived. III. Inferences. If it be the truth that all nations are of one blood, then--1. We may justly conclude that the Bible is the Word of God. It confirms the account which the Bible gives of-- (1) The Creation, which tells us that mankind sprang from the same two parents. (2) The Fall. Though men have sought out many inventions to account for the universal depravity of mankind; yet the Bible gives the only rational account of it, that by one man’ s disobedience all were made sinners. (3) The Deluge. The heathen have some dark traditions concerning this awful catastrophe, but they could never give any rational account of it. It cannot be credibly accounted for but on the supposition that all nations are of one blood, universally depraved, and universally deserve destruction. 2. That notion of patriotism which is generally imbibed and admired, is false and unscriptural. One nation has no more right to seek its own interests exclusively, or in opposition to the interests of other nations, than one member of the same family has to seek his interest in opposition to the interest of the rest of the family. All nations are morally bound to seek each other’ s interests, and to refrain from doing anything which they deem to be injurious. 3. They have no right to enslave one another. All men have natural and inalienable rights, which never ought to be taken from them by force and violence. 4. God has manifested peculiar care, wisdom, and kindness in fixing the various places of their residence, in the best manner, according to their relations to and connections with each other. And as He fixed the bounds of their habitations, so He fixed their times. That is, the time when every nation should rise or fall, or become mixed with any other nation. It requires great care, wisdom, and kindness in a parent to dispose of his numerous family in the wisest and best manner; it requires more in a prince; but it required far greater in God. 5. God has exercised His absolute sovereignty in a very striking manner. He has made great and innumerable distinctions among the nations and inhabitants of the earth. How differently did He treat the three branches of Noah’ s family, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau! He has placed one nation in a warm and another in a cold country, one in a rich, and another in a poor. And it is impossible for any one of the human family to be happy in this world, or the next, without seeing and loving His sovereignty. 6. We have ground to think that the world will stand many centuries longer. The earth is far from being fully inhabited. 7. The whole family of Adam will be immensely numerous. If the seed of Abraham will be as the stars of heaven for multitude, what will be the seed of Adam? Their numbers will be beyond human calculation, if not beyond human conception. This immense family are to have one universal and solemn meeting at the Day of Judgment. (N. Emmons, D. D.)The unity of the race I. There is precisely the same plan in all the races--Of bone, nerve, artery, structure, etc. The great functions and organs are the same. If the African had his heart in his liver it would be a tough argument; but what difference does it make that his hair is kinked? The surgeon, the nurse, the dietician will treat him and you exactly alike. Yet you hear men say, “ Look at his flat nose. Do you suppose that he is one with the man who has a Grecian nose? “ But is not the sense of smell the same in both? The variation of superficial form does not touch the question of unity of function and structure. In fact the differences between one part of the human family and another is no greater than that which exists in a single household where one child is a genius and another practical, one poetic and another prosaic. II. All the races of men are educable. It is not so with the lower animals. You can carry them a very little way in education, and all the rest is trick. But the moment you strike humanity at its very lowest you find capacity of culture. If you take the greatest savages and put them in better relations and conditions they show that they belong to the universal race of man. III. All have the sense of the beautiful. There is no proof that this exists to any considerable degree in the animal kingdom. But sometimes, as among the Indians, you find this sense highly developed in the most uncultured. IV. All have the perception of wit and humour. Man is the only laughing animal in the world. V. Moral sense is common to all. Where men believe in killing their fathers and mothers they think it right, though their understanding is darkened, and they are misguided, just as a mariner makes his way towards a false light believing it to be true, and thus wrecks his vessel. VI. The whole world is susceptible of sympathetic understanding, cooperation, and like social conditions. It would be impossible to herd together the different races of animals unless you pare their nails, extract their teeth, or stupefy them. But men of all nations can associate. Conclusion:1. These thoughts are made emphatic by the undesigned tendency to unity which the growth of the world’ s affairs is producing. The economic and scientific developments of the age are working alike for all the nations. Great mechanical and commercial improvements are bringing the whole world together. The Turk is borrowing civilisation from the European; and the European is bringing more threads of knowledge from Chinamen and Japanese. Mountains and oceans no longer divide. We tunnel the one and throw a nerve through the other. 2. The Church proposes, as it long has done, to move out on this tide. It has made a great many mistakes, but there never has been a time when it did not set its face towards human unity, and teach that God belonged to all men alike. (H. W. Beecher.)The unity of the race consistent with its diversities At a public meeting of the Anthropological Society the assertion was made that the aborigines of Australia, the negroes of Africa, and other miserable outcasts did not belong to the human family at all, but we’ re merely a superior kind of orang-outang, or gorilla; that, not possessing souls, they require none of the sympathy and care the friends of missions were so anxious to extend to them. Immediately a young African requested permission to address the meeting. All eyes being fixed upon him, with a dignified mien and an unfaltering voice, he spoke as follows:--“ Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentleman,--The speaker who has just addressed the meeting thinks that I and my brethren of the negro race are not men because we have curly hair, our craniums are thick, and we have a shuffling gait when we walk. I have lately been down in Dorsetshire, where I observed the farm labourers have a shuffling gait; and I thought that my countrymen, who generally walk much better, might be tempted to laugh at them for their awkwardness if they saw them, but I do not think they would doubt their humanity on that account. And as to our curly hair, I think that need be no disparagement to us, as I have known persons of fair complexion try to make theirs curl without success. With regard to the thickness of our skulls, I may observe, that I suppose our Almighty and All-wise Creator knew what He was doing when he made us so. Our home is in a very hot and sultry climate, where the fiery rays of the sun have great power, and where the inner region of the cranium no doubt requires such a defence. If, by any mistake in our conformation, we had been made with skulls as frail as that of the learned gentleman who last spoke, our brains, under the influence of the heat, might have become as thin and addled as his appears to be, judging from the foolish and unphilosophical statement which he has made, and then it might have been reasonably doubted whether we were men worth listening to.” The young negro resumed his seat amid thundering applause; and for once, at least, it appeared to be the general opinion that the black was as clever as the white man. Gospel aspects of the unity of the race I. The natural unity of the race. This is--1. Taught in the Bible.2. Corroborated by tradition.3. Confirmed by science. (1) A chemist can prove the difference between the human and animal blood, but finds no difference between the blood of negro and European. (2) Philology has reduced languages into a few orderly classes, and these again into a common tongue. This doctrine offers the only solution to the problem of the origin of--(1) Universal depravity with its universal consciousness of guilt.(2) Sacrificial worship which men have always and everywhere practised. II. The common interest of our race in the provisions of redemption. The doctrine implies--1. Our common need of redemption as well as a common capacity for enjoying its benefits. “ By one man sin entered into the world,” etc. 2. That salvation for Adam and his fallen posterity must have been provided for all men. The race existed potentially in “ the first man Adam” ; when, therefore, redemption was extended to him it was intended to benefit his offspring. He who has “ made of one blood all nations” has made our Redeemer a “ Ransom for all.” III. The responsibility of the Church in relation to the race.1. This springs out of the conscious brotherhood of man. If we fully believe that we share in the common evils of the Fall, and in the love of Christ, how can any who experience the great salvation avoid all sense of obligation to save others? 2. This is set forth authoritatively by Christ. “ Go ye into all the world.” 3. The successive openings for missions, and the growing resources of Christian nations are intended to quicken this. (W. Hansford.)Brotherhood This doctrine has three parts-- I. The unity of the creator.1. Each nation in the dim past had its own gods, and the belief that they were superior to those of their neighbours. 2. But opposed to this is the revelation of one God, Creator, Universal Governor who is over all, and all in all. II. The unity of mankind.1. God created man--male and female. 2. This was one act, not divided or repeated at intervals in different places. 3. From this one pair the world has been peopled, through the laws of generation and dispersion. This contradicts the superstition of the heathen in reference to their origin, e.g., the Athenian belief that they were autochthons, springing from the soil. III. The unity of destiny.1. Man has a common nature, a mind that thinks, a heart that feels, a will that chooses, a soul that never dies. 2. Each nation has the same problems of society, government, and religion, to discover and apply. 3. Each nation is subject to the same diseases, physical and moral, and runs a like career of ruin or prosperity. IV. Results.1. The purple tide of related blood from one spring writes a common declaration of rights which no Christian is at liberty to disregard. Simply to be a man or woman is to have claims upon the whole race. 2. Nations are so bound together in progress and privileges, material, moral and spiritual, that whatever helps or injures man in one quarter of the globe is ultimately a help or an injury to all. 3. It is the common duty of Christian nations to labour for the general diffusion of religion and civilization, so that peace, art, and science may universally prevail, and every human faculty find unhindered liberty to develop itself to the glory of God, individual wellbeing, and the good of mankind. (Preacher’s Monthly.)And hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations.--Consequences flowing out of the Divine Fatherhood to the race I. God, as the Father of all, has, in a sovereign manner, disposed of the different nations of men. As a father disposes of his estate to his sons, and as his simple will determines the allotment of each, so has God “ appointed men to dwell,” etc. (Genesis 1:28). And if it be asked, Why is this nation here or that nation there? the answer is, Not by accident, but because God so determined it. And if it be still further asked, To what is to be ascribed the mutations of nations, the dying out of some peoples, or their absorption into others? the answer is, The will of God hath determined the times as well as the bounds of the habitation of each. This representation of the apostle--1. Supplies to us a deeper and juster view of the philosophy of human history than is usually suggested. Whilst, on the one hand, we repudiate the doctrine of separate centres of creation, and treat as a fantasy the doctrine of development, we are, on the other hand, taught to turn aside from the opinion that all human varieties are due to mere differences of climate and outward circumstance. The persistency of races--the retention, generation after generation, by whole communities of the peculiar characteristics of the variety to which they belong; and that under the most altered conditions of climate, occupation, food, is against that. Look, e.g., at the Jews, and at the Europeans settled in Africa, or the Africans in North America. 2. Enables us to read and understand aright the world’ s history. There are some who see in national changes nothing but the results of fixed mechanical laws. Others, again, see nothing but the result of either an ungoverned caprice or of the ordinary passions and tendencies of men. But on neither of these hypotheses can a real philosophy of history be built. We can reach this only by keeping fast hold of the truth, that all human operations are conducted under the superintendence of an infinitely wise and powerful Being, who, without interfering with man’ s free will, or interrupting any of the ordinary laws of nature, regulates all events according to the council of His own will, and uses all agencies as the instruments of a vast world plan, of which He alone knows the compass and the details. On these two poles all true philosophy of history turns. If we view man as a mere piece of organised mechanism, we cannot bring the phenomena of his history within the range of modern science at all; if we deny or overlook God’ s supremacy we are out upon a wide sea, across which no path is drawn, and over which no light rests. 3. Shows us how contrary to the primary order of the world, and the will of the great Father of the race, are all attempts to extirpate races, or to drive people from their native soil, or to take forcible possession of it. God, no doubt, may overrule such deeds; but the deeds themselves are impious. Each nation holds the country it has aboriginally occupied by Divine right--by the will of the common Father. Who can tell how many of the calamities that befall great nations are just retributions for the deeds of rapine and wrong perpetrated in the day of the nation’ s pride and strength on some weaker or some utterly defenceless people? II. The duty binding on men to seek after God. This Paul brings in as describing the purpose which God had in distributing the nations, and allotting to each its place and time.1. By being thus distributed over the whole face of the globe, and placed under the constant superintendence of God, the nations had the entire revelation of God in nature and in providence subjected to their study. 2. That it is man’ s duty to search after God, is one of the primary truths of morals and of natural religion. In his present state man neither knows God aright, nor are his relations with God such as they originally were. Hence he needs to seek after God that he may enter into right relations and true communion with Him. These words depict man’ s course in regard to this great matter. Endowed with a religious principle, men feel themselves constrained by the highest wants of their nature to seek after God; and yet, when left to their own unaided efforts, it has ever been only as one who gropes in the dark and at a peradventure, that they have pursued their search. To a few of the higher and purer spirits there came, like angels’ visits, ever and anon, brief revelations of the hidden mystery, just and true thoughts of the Infinite. But for the mass of men it was a fruitless groping, until at length, baffled and disheartened, they were ready to carry their homage to any altar that priestcraft or superstition might erect, or at the best, to embody at once their deathless longings and their conscious impotence in an altar to “ An Unknown God.” 3. To what is this melancholy failure to be traced? Not, the apostle reminded the Athenians, to want of means and materials of success. God, whom they thus haplessly groped after, was, all the while, “ not far from every one of them.” Not only are the evidences of the Divine existence and attributes presented in copious abundance on every hand, but the fact that man is the offspring of God supplies to him the most natural help for realising the truth concerning God. For, if man be God’ s child, he must have a natural capacity for God. And there is thus a solid basis laid in the very constitution of man’ s nature on which a true theology may be built; and when the page of creation and providence is opened before a being so fitted and prepared to learn the lessons they so abundantly teach concerning God, it can only be through some perversity of his own mind that he fails to attain to the knowledge of God (Romans 1:20-22). But sin had seduced them from God, so it became the great obstacle to their receiving those right views of God which the phenomena around them so clearly taught. 4. It was thus that the nations were betrayed into idolatry. Nothing can be more absurd in itself than to represent the Great Spirit under the similitude of any creature; and nothing can be more inconsistent than for those who call themselves God’ s offspring “ to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone graven by art or man’ s device.” Who of us would accept any image that human skill could produce as a fit representation of that which really constitutes us--our soul? And this is the true source of all those wrong, deluding, and debasing views of God, by which men are still led astray, even where the light of written revelation is enjoyed. Would that all who shudder at the thought of Atheism were equally alive to the evil and danger of a false, imperfect, or fanciful Theism! (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)God in history He manifests therein-- I. His creative power, causing the human spirit to be unfolded in the multiplicity of national spirits. II. His gracious goodness, giving to each nation time and space to develop its peculiarity. III. His judicial righteousness, appointing to each nation, whether it be Greece or Rome or Israel, the end and limit to its power and prosperity. IV. His holy love--the whole history of the world aiming at this that the kingdom of God may come and that men may seek and find Him. (K. Gerok.)God in history The doctrine that God “ hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations,” was taught by Moses--“ When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the Children of Israel.” The periods of their existence have been defined, and its limits mapped out by God. By the periods he means not simply their natural duration, but also the crisis or turning points in their national experience. And they had many of them in their own history. Not to speak of such epochs as the return of the Heracleids, the religious mission of Epimenides, the deeds of the Alcmaeonids, the despotism of Pisistratus, or the usurpation of the thirty tyrants, there had been the battle of Marathon, when Asiatic invasion was repelled by a gallant handful, and, ten years after, the victorious naval action at Salamis--both of them hair-breadth escapes for Athens, and both securing against loss of liberty and degradation into a Persian satrapy. These momentous junctures were the fore-appointment of an unrecognised Protector, who settles the limits of nations; for there is a boundary which they cannot pass, no matter what their ambition, and what the success of their arms. Their own defeats, and the ostracism of so many of their leaders, had shown this. Miltiades the patriot of Marathon, and Themistocles the hero of Salamis, had been sent into exile for misadventures by which the ambitious projects of Greece were limited, and similar had been the fate of Cimon and Alcibiades. Beyond certain termini Athens could not, with all her skill and valour, carry her arms; an unseen arm defined her bounds, and kept her within them. Minerva could not protect: Xerxes had burned her dwelling, and her spear and shield had neither repelled Philip from the north, nor beaten back the Roman warriors from the west. She stood immovable on that rock, defenceless against the invader. The sudden death of Alexander broke into four principalities the huge empire which he contemplated. But the Divine providence is all-embracing, and all history proclaims it. The battle of Zama relieved Italy and civilisation from all fears of Carthage. The Saracen power was thrown out of central Europe at a very critical period, and the tide of Turkish fanaticism was finally checked under the walls of Vienna. He blew with His winds and dispersed the Spanish Armada. Borodino, Leipzig, Trafalgar, and Waterloo set bounds to France in recent times, and Blenheim and Ramillies in days gone by. Bunker’ s Hill put an end to British supremacy in the older American colonies. And the moral purpose of God in the allocation and government of the different nations was a special one--“ That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us.” Why do nations cease to be, and why are their bounds invaded and broken down? Simply because they do not own or follow out this Divine purpose. They deify themselves and forget Him who is above them--live but for themselves, and “ feel after” aggrandisement, and not after Him. The Canaanites were ripe for expulsion on the invasion of Joshua, and so were the Jews themselves before the Roman Titus. The liberties of Greece had been struck down on the fatal field of Chaeronea, and many a nation has been dispossessed of its soil. No people have an irrevocable charter to it; they possess it only so long as they are worthy of it, and act in harmony with Him who planted them in it. And they are displaced that the new occupant may be put upon its trial, too. In this light may be viewed those conquests which are establishing modern colonies--the conqueror in turn is judged, and will, if God decrees it, be in turn exiled. The Anglo-Saxon has driven back the Celt to the verge of the Atlantic, but the Sclave may be commissioned to exercise the same force upon the Anglo-Saxon if he do not service as God’ s tenant of His lands. And thus God shall be for Britain, so long as Britain is for God. (Prof. Eadie.) Acts 17:27 That they should seek the Lord.God the chief object of search I. In what sense is it true that God is not far from any one of us? He is nigh--1. In the creation around us.2. In the sense of creaturely dependence and trust.3. In that He is the Being towards whom the soul tends. II. Is what sense does man feel after God?1. In every search for an object of love there is a groping after God.2. The intense longing after human fellowship is feeling after God.3. So there is in the instinct of acquisition.4. In the awful necessity there is in man for worship. III. Any certainty that man will find Him?1. Sin has separated both man and God.2. Man desired not to retain God in His knowledge.3. But God wants to find man. Witness--(1) Incarnation.(2) Provision for the new birth. IV. There is necessity lain upon every soul to find God. No matter how wise and cultured, if a man does not find God, he has missed the object of existence. (B. M. Palmer, D. D.)The search for God and its satisfaction I. God made man to seek Him.1. Man is by nature religious. No one ever discovered light or invented hearing; man saw because he had eyes and heard because he had ears. And religion is as natural as either, because as native and essential. Hence man gets into religion as into other natural things, spontaneously. But to get out of it he has to reason himself into a strange position. No man is an atheist by nature, only by art; and an art that has to offer to nature ceaseless resistance. The atheist does not escape from God, only finds an ideal substitute for Him. 2. Religion being thus native to man, its being is as old as his, and-- 3. As universal. In his multitudinous faiths he has been blindly fulfilling the Divine decree to seek God. From this point of view the religions of the world have a most touching import; they show men belated, stumbling darkly on, impelled by his Divine homesickness. The religions of man are like voices which say “ Come over and help us.” 4. The nature that demands religion responds to it. We know how bad the world has been with its religions, but what would it have been without them? In spite of their falsities they have helped man to live his little life to the measure of his capacity. It and it alone has been able to lift man up to the mountain peak of the Spirit. But if religion is the point where man touches the highest, then it is that which finds, vivifies and directs the best that is in him. It is only as the nature which has come from God returns to Him that it thinks the wisest, does the noblest and becomes the best. II. Religion is not only natural and necessary to man, but also to peoples. When a people has the noblest conception of God its spirit is in its sublimest and most heroic mood. An English ambassador sat at the table of Frederick the Great, with infidel wits who were making sport of religion. Suddenly the talk changed to war. Said the long-silent ambassador, “ England would by the help of God stand by Prussia.” “ Ah!” said Frederick, “ I did not know you had an ally of that name.” “ So please your Majesty,” was the swift retort, “ He is the only ally to whom we do not send subsidies.” There stood the truth confessed. England’ s best ally is God. A sceptical age is never a great or golden age; nor an infidel people a noble or creative people. For deed, politics, letters, art, religion is a necessity. In seeking for peoples who know not God, our philosophers have to go to cannibals. III. Since religion is so necessary, the higher and purer the religion, the greater will be its power for good. History unfolds a wonderful tale. In India a few thousand Englishmen hold empire over more than two hundred millions of men. Wealth and culture came to the Hindoos ages before they came to us, yet how with that long start do they and we now respectively stand? Why has the Hindoo declined in power as he grew in multitude, while the late-born Saxon has “ widened with the process of the suns” ? Because the faith of the one grew like an iron band round his spirit full of consecrated falsities, while to the other came a strong yet gentle faith which breathed into him a purer spirit and nobler aims. So while the Hindoo feels as if held in the dread bonds of fate, the Saxon knows himself a son of God, a brother of man, sent to make earth happier and holier. IV. By what religion can man best find God and realise the end of his being. Religions may be divided into two classes.1. Artificial or fictitious religions--those of the individual imagination or reason; “ ideal substitutes for religion.” To this class belong-- (1) The Religion of Nature, that product of the eighteenth century, which, however, was neither a religion nor a thing of nature. It was simply a speculative system so named that it might better offend Christianity. It never was professed anywhere--save by its makers, who were not in a state of nature, but were cultured with the culture of the Christian centuries. This attempt to give us Christianity without Christ failed utterly. (2) The attempt of Strauss to build on our modern physicism a faith in which the universe became the only God. But man can only love the good and trust the right, and as these are the attributes of a person, Strauss failed. (3) The Comtist apotheosis of man. But worship implies reverence. The thinker in his study, heir of a splendid inheritance, may well feel how magnificent are the gifts of humanity; but what has humanity done for the convict or the miserable victim of lust? The religion that man needs is not one that can delight the enlightened only, but one that can save the lost. 2. Real religions--those of history and fact. These may be divided into-- (1) The national religions of the past. All round us lie the ruins of the ancient faiths of Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Rome. They are all dead, to revive no more: supplanted by the universal and unifying faith of Christ. (2) Turning from the dead past to the living present we have-- (a) Confucianism: but its prudential wisdom is without the enthusiasm of humanity. Look at it as realised in the people so quick-witted, yet so stationary, and then imagine what it would be were the world an immense Chinese Empire. (b) Brahminism--the most awful tyranny of custom and caste, to which morality is unknown, and which can deify the basest as easily as the best. Brahminism universalised could only mean man depraved, and sent wearily to wander through time in search of eternal oblivion and peace. (c) Buddhism, numerically the mightiest religion in the world: but in spite of its admirable ethics, a religion without God or hope, radically selfish, and as impotent as selfish. (d) Islam, whose religion does not purify the home and therefore cannot regenerate the race. (e) Judaism, which was great only as a prophetic religion, and whose life for the past eighteen centuries has been but a reminiscence. 3. From these imperfect faiths let us turn to that which has created the civilisation and noblest moral qualities of the Western world. Study it-- (1) As regards its ideal contents. Take its conception-- (a) Of God. Such a God as that of Christianity, an eternal Father and Sovereign, infinite personalised love and righteousness, has boundless promise of good and hope for man. (b) Of man. The Christian doctrines of man’ s origin, nature, privilege and destiny are elevating and ennobling as no others are. (2) As regards its actual achievements. Look around; you confront a civilisation that in its high, generous, and humane elements was created by Christianity; that has, to all its ignoble and pernicious elements, in Christianity a merciless foe. It has changed the sinner into a saint, freed the slave, built the hospital and created in every generation a noble army of teachers, reformers, philanthropists. Conclusion: The religion of Christ is the one religion that man needs; it has come from God that it may bring to God. Here lies the secret of its preeminence. Others have risen out of man’ s search for God; this out of God’ s search for man. (Principal Fairbairn.)Religious nature, and religious character 1. The expression “ feel after” has reference to what they as God’ s blind offspring were doing; and “ find Him,” to what God, never afar off, wants to have them do. In one the deep longings of a nature made for God and religion is recognised; in the other a satisfied state of holy discovery and rest in God. 2. That religious nature and character should be distinguished is important in view of a great religious danger. It used to be the common doctrine that sinful man had no affinity for God, had only an anti-religious nature, and that nothing could be done for or by us till a new nature was given. Now piety is regarded as a sort of natural taste, and multitudes congratulate themselves on being better Christians than there used to be, on the ground of mere natural sentiment, because better reformers, etc. Where we shall be stranded in this shallowing process is too evident. Christianity will be coming to be more and more nearly a lost fact, and a vapid and soulless naturalism will take its place. I. What is it to have a religious nature? Nothing more nor less than to be a man, a being made for God and religion.1. We are so made as to want God, just as a child wants father and mother. Our nature may not consciously pine after God as an orphan for its lost parents; yet God is the necessary complement of all its feelings, hopes, satisfactions and endeavours. And it hungers none the less truly that it stays aloof from Him and tries to forget Him, even as the starving madman is none the less hungry that he refuses to eat. 2. This something in the soul, which makes God its principal and first want includes nearly its natural everything. It feels the beauty of God, and has the feeling of admiration towards Him. Reason gets no satisfaction till it culminates in Him. Even fear wants to come and hide in His bosom; and guilt, withering under His frown, would only frown upon Him if He were not exactly just. 3. Nor are these things less true under the perverting effects of depravity. Human nature as created is upright; as born or propagated a corrupted or damaged nature, but however much so it has the original Divine impress upon it. The religious nature stands a temple still for God, only scarred and blackened by the brimstone fires of evil. 4. Denying therefore that human nature is less really religious because depraved, it is not to be denied that there are times and moods in which it will be exasperated by the Divine perfections--i.e., when tormented by guilt and resolved on a course which God is known to oppose. But these are only moods. The religious nature has more constant than perverse moods, and is reaching after God in a certain way of natural desire all the while. II. What it is to have a religious character.1. Mere natural desire, want, sentiment Godward do not make it. What does it signify that the nature is feeling after God when the life is utterly against Him? If a man has a natural sense of honour does it make him an honourable man when he betrays every trust? Even a thief may have a good sentiment of justice, and be only the more consciously guilty because of it. 2. To answer the question two things must be understood beforehand. (1) That religious character is more than and different from natural character. It is that which lies in choice, and for which we are thus responsible. (2) That souls are made for God. They are to know Him and be conscious of Him. 3. Assuming these points it follows that man is never in religious character till he has found God, and that he will never find Him till his whole voluntary nature abandoning its own ends goes after Him and chimes in with His principles and ends. God can have no room to spread Himself in the soul when it is hugging itself. III. How easily, and in how many ways, the workings of the merely religious nature may be confounded with religious character.1. The admiration of God’ s beauty what is it, some will say, but love? Even the soul’ s deep throbs of want--what are they but its hungerings after righteousness? And so it comes to pass that religion is the same thing as mere natural sentiment; and the feeling after God substitutes the finding God. But it will not organise a church, or raise a mission, or instigate a prayer. It is exactly the religion of Herod, who heard John gladly and then murdered him. Pilate had the same religious nature, felt the greatness of Jesus, and ended in giving Him up. Felix had the same religion, and Agrippa, and Balaam: the world is full of it--sensibility to God and truth, coupled with a practical non-reception of all. 2. It results accordingly that there are always two kinds of religion; those which are the product of the religious sentiment more or less blind, and those which look to regeneration of character. The religion of the Athenians was of the former kind, as are all idolatries. What an appalling proof of the religious nature of feeling dimly after God, imagining that He is in the sun, the moon, snakes, beetles, etc. Look on these and see how man feels after God: does he therefore find Him? And what but hills of character are these idolatries? 3. Under the guise of Christianity too we may distinguish at least two kinds of religion corrupted by infusions of the same error. One is the religion of forms, where the soul is taken by them as a matter of taste; loves to play reverence under them; the other is a religion of sentiment fed by reason: feeling after God in the beautiful in nature, delighted with Christ’ s lessons of natural virtue; and praising Him as the finest of all great men. 4. Now the true gospel is that which brings regenerative power, and creates the soul anew in God’ s image. Any religion that has not this is, so far, a mock religion. The test question, therefore, is--have I found God in my religion? The life of God in the soul of man--that is religious character, and beside that there is none. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)If haply they might feel after Him and find Him.--Feeling after God Hassell, in his “ From Pole to Pole,” quotes the following:--“ A company of baptized Greenlanders,” says Mr. Crantz, “ one day expressed their astonishment that they had spent their lives in a state of such complete ignorance and thoughtlessness. One of the party immediately rose up and spoke as follows: ‘ It is true we were ignorant heathens, and knew nothing of God and a Redeemer; for who could have informed us of their existence before you arrived? Yet I have often thought a rajak, with the darts belonging to it, does not exist of itself, but must be made with the trouble and skill of men’ s hands; and he who does not understand the use of it easily spoils it. Now the least bird is composed with greater art than the best rajak, and no man can make a bird. Man is still more exquisitely made than all other animals. Who then has made him? He comes from his parents, and they came again from their parents. But whence came the first man? He must have grown out of the earth. But why do men not grow out of the earth nowadays? And from whence do the earth, sea, sun, and stars proceed? There must necessarily be someone who has created everything, who has always existed, and can have no end. He must be inconceivably more powerful and skilful than the wisest of men. He must also be very good, because everything that He has made is so useful and necessary for us. Did I but know Him, what love and respect should I feel for Him! But who has seen or conversed with Him? None of us men. Yet there be men, too, who know something about Him. With such I would willingly converse. As soon, therefore, as I heard from you of this Great Being, I believed you immediately and willingly, having for a length of time longed after such information.’” The parable of the climbing plants 1. The first peculiarity of the climbing plant to which Mr. Darwin calls our attention is “ the slow revolution, in a larger or smaller circle, of the upper extremities in search of a support,” and when in their revolutions they are brought into contact with some firm object, they immediately press against it and so twine round it. The plant cannot stand alone, and it begins to reach out after support just as soon as it begins to grow. Do we not witness in these movements an analogy of the outreachings of the soul after God? The soul knows that it cannot thrive alone, that it needs some Power stronger than itself to cling to; and it feels after it if haply it may find it. Blindly, in the dark, the minds of men grope after this Object of their faith. It is not the heathen alone who have this experience. You know, my friend, no matter how irreligious your life may have been, that your heart is often yearning for a good you have not got; that the sense of helplessness and dependence sometimes takes strong hold of you and forces from your heart the cry: “ Oh that I knew where I might find Him and lay hold upon His strength!” 2. “ On another plant,” says Mr. Darwin, “ three pairs of tendrils were produced at the same time by three shoots, and all happened to he differently directed. I placed the pot in a box open only on one side and obliquely facing the light; in two days all six tendrils pointed with unerring truth to the darkest corner of the box, though to do this each had to bend in a different manner.” The tendril is seeking an object to cling to, the light coming freely from one side shows that no object is there, so the tendrils turn in the other direction; support is nearest on the side where the shadow is. But how does this prefigure our spiritual relation to God? God is light; true, but clouds and darkness are the habitation of His throne. When it is said that in Him is no darkness at all, the darkness is moral; there is in Him no deceit, insincerity, hatred. His character is light, but there are many things about His nature that are dark to us. And it is precisely His transcendent greatness that our trust lays hold upon. We want a Power to cling to whose greatness we cannot compass with our thought. A God whom we could comprehend we could not fully trust. And so it is that our faith turns away from the garish light of human wisdom toward the unfathomed depths of Deity. There is another resemblance here. The darkness is a symbol of God’ s infinity, of the veiling of His nature from our sight. But it is only by the help of shadows that we see. Look directly at the sun and you can see nothing. It is when your back is turned to the sun that you see most clearly. Our faith, like the tendrils, turns not only toward the darkness that hides God’ s infinity, but also toward the shadow because in that something of His nature is visible. The shadow not only conceals, it also discloses. You cannot conceive of absolute deity. Your mind is dazzled when you look God in the face, just as your eyes are dazzled when you look on the sun. And men have always found it necessary to learn what God is by looking toward the shadows and the types which He has given us. The Incarnation is God in the shadow. Our faith finds something here that we can take hold of and cling to. 3. “ Knowing,” says Mr. Darwin, “ that the tendrils avoided the light, I gave them a glass tube blackened within, and a well blackened zinc plate; but they soon recoiled from these objects with what I can only call disgust, and straightened themselves.” Here we have not a likeness, but a contrast. Full often the tendrils of our desire fasten upon that which defiles us; and the faith that ought to bind us fast to God’ s righteousness and power is entwined about some grovelling superstition or some ensnaring sin. 4. “ When a tendril,” says our teacher again, “ has not succeeded in clasping a support, either through its own revolving movement or that of the shoot, or by turning toward any object that intercepts the light, it bends vertically downwards and then toward its own stem, which it seizes, together with the supporting stick, if there be one.” So when our spiritual instincts that reach out naturally after God and goodness do not lay hold on their normal support, they, too, are very apt to turn downward and inward, and to lay hold upon that self which it was their true function to bind to a firm support. And when this is done the affections are apt to be turned backward upon self; the man comes to believe only in himself and to worship himself, and the character that is developed is a most unlovely product of egotism and selfishness. 5. “ If the tendril seizes nothing,” says this naturalist, “ it soon withers away and drops off.” It is possible thus, by simple neglect, to destroy that part of our nature by which we take hold upon God. The extinction of the faith faculty is a possible calamity, and it is the direst. How can the climbing plant cling when the tendrils have withered and dropped off? It must thenceforth grovel in the dirt and be trodden under foot of men. And how can the soul lift itself up, when all the faculties by which it takes hold on God have fallen into decay? 6. Let us hear Mr. Darwin again: “ Tendrils, soon after catching a support, grow much stronger and thicker and durable, and this shows how much their internal tissues must be changed. Occasionally it is the part which is wound round a support which chiefly becomes thicker and stronger.” Is not this, also, true in the higher realm? The instincts of the soul that feel after God are wonderfully strengthened when they find Him, and take hold of His power. Faith grows by exercise. 7. “ The tendril strikes some object,” Mr. Darwin proceeds, “ and firmly grasps it. In the course of some hours it contracts into a spire, dragging up the stem and forming an excellent spring. All movements now cease. By growth, the tissues soon become wonderfully strong and durable.” The very character and quality of the tendrils themselves are changed as they thus fasten upon their support, and perform the function to which nature has assigned them. And so it is with these spiritual faculties of ours by which we lay hold upon God. Our trust, instead of being a tender and fragile thing, grows firm and strong and holds us fast to the throne of God with a grasp that the shocks of change cannot break nor the storms of adversity loosen. 8. Once more, “ The tendrils and internodes of Ampelopsis have little or no power of revolving; the tendrils are but little sensitive to contact; their hooked extremities cannot seize their objects; they will not even clasp a stick unless in extreme need of support; but they turn from the light to the dark, and, spreading out their branches in contact with any nearly flat surface, develop discs. These adhere by the secretion of some cement to a wall or even to a polished surface. The rapid development of these adherent discs is one of the most remarkable peculiarities possessed by any tendril.” I cannot help seeing in this an analogy of that phenomenon of the spiritual life which we so often witness, by which those natures which have but little power of comprehending religious truth--of reaching round it and getting hold of it by their understanding--do yet lay hold upon it in a way of their own, and hold fast to it very firmly too. There are Christians whose faith does not seem to need the leading strings of logic or theology, but mounts right up by its own sure-footed intuition. And it is a blessed thing that those to whom the paths of philosophy are thorny, and the steeps of speculation hard to climb, may thus, by a simple and direct confidence in the Christ Himself, who is to all who receive Him the Way and the Truth and the Life, ascend to the serene and tranquil heights of virtue. (Washington Gladden, D. D.)Though He be not far from every one of us.--Not far from any one of us This is the leading thought which the gospel presses home upon us in various ways.1. In His Son Jesus Christ God has drawn near to the world.2. The Holy Spirit’ s abode in the heart of the Christian brings God near.3. But Paul speaks of God’ s presence in nature. I. Distinguish between the revelation or God through nature and in the Scriptures.1. The revelation in nature is the elder and more direct, that in Scripture the later and more mediate. 2. God speaks to us by nature in an inarticulate; by Scripture in an articulate voice. “ Nature is very beautiful, but she is so unresponsive.” 3. Nature speaks more to our feelings and imagination. Scripture more to our understanding. II. Note some of the tokens in nature of God.1. Its effect upon the senses as an evidence of Divine goodness. 2. Its effect upon the emotions giving exquisite pleasure and evoking gratitude towards the unseen worker. 3. Its effect upon the imagination producing the consciousness of the presence of a mind sympathetic with our own. 4. Its effect upon the reason revealing besides God immortality, and creating a sense of sin. III. But nature can only suggest to us those truths which we need for our peace and salvation, for their full exhibition we must turn to the bible. (E. Johnson, M. A.)The nearness of God God is not far from every one of us. I. In the nature and aspirations of the soul. “ We are also His offspring.” “ We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by art and man’ s device.” The art of the sculptor may grave an exact resemblance of the human body, but cannot make a similitude of the soul. And it is in the soul that our child likeness to God is found. He who is the Father of our spirits must be Himself a spirit. And that our spirits are endowed with reason, affection and will, suggests the conception of a supreme intelligence, affection. The same is true of our moral endowments. Our sense of right and wrong (Romans 2:15) points upward to a Being of absolute truth and holiness. And so also the desires of our souls are indications of a Being in whose love we may find absolute repose, and from whose resources all our spiritual wants may be supplied. The offspring bear the likeness of the universal Father. It is His witness, His imprint and the mark of our Divine paternity; “ in which He is not far from every one of us.” II. In his essential presence. He is omnipresent in His authority and influence, as a king in all his dominions. But His presence is not only influential, it is actual. “ In Him we live and move and have our being.” He is God “ above all and through all and in you all.” “ He fills heaven and earth.” This universal and actual presence of God is, according to Scripture, the source of His perfect knowledge. There is no doubt a sublime mystery in this conception. But I can just as readily conceive of an infinite spirit filling immensity as of a finite spirit filling my own body. Nor is there any kinship between this Divine omnipresence and Pantheism. There is a worldwide difference between saying that God is everywhere, and saying that everything is part of God. The one degrades, the other exalts Him. The one is the foundation of all idolatry; the other lies at the base of all true worship and of all true religion. Let a man realise that he can never be alone, because the Father is with him, and the sublime thought will restrain him from sin, and just in proportion as he apprehends God’ s wisdom, power and love, it will fill his heart with confidence and his lips with prayer, and undergird his whole being with Divine strength. III. In the daily workings of his providence. He has “ never left Himself without a witness” to His universal presence. His sun shining alike upon the evil and the good; all the revolutions and order of the material universe, and all the mysterious influences which hold human society together, bear a perpetual testimony to the presence and goodness of God. It is true that men do not always hear this testimony, and that when they hear it they often misinterpret and pervert it. It is easy for us to attribute all these things to the operation of second causes, and even to worship the things that are seen, and it is no less easy to attribute them all to the blind operation of natural law, and to exclude all thought of an intelligent lawgiver. But after all there is in the soul of man an intuitive perception of God and longing after Him. “ For He has made of one blood,” etc., i.e., He so constitutes their common nature “ that they should seek the Lord,” etc. And it is to this common religious nature which feels after God that the Scriptures constantly appeal. IV. As Our Judge. The incompleteness and the disorders of the present life all point forward to retribution beyond the grave. Conscience warns us of it. Hope aspires to it. Fear shrinks back from it. And who shall determine that destiny for us but the God in whose hands our breath is and whose are all our ways? And how near judgment is! There is but a hand breath between us and death and the tremendous realities which it will reveal to us. The Judge standeth at the door. Our character will be determined, and our condition will be fixed by God in whom we live and move and have our being. V. Is the preaching of the gospel and in all the means of grace and salvation. Here it is that revealed religion comes in to supplement and give efficacy to the teaching of natural religion. (H. J. Van Dyke D. D.)God’ s nearness to man In relation to this truth our race may be divided into five classes--1. Those who enjoy His presence, like the Psalmist, who said, “ When I am awake I am still with Thee.” 2. Those who are stolidly insensible of His presence, like those described by Paul in Ephesians 2:12 as being “ without God and without hope in the world.” 3. Those who are in horrific dread of His presence, like those of Job 21:14. “ Depart!” --this is the unceasing cry of hell. 4. Those who are in earnest search of His presence (Job 23:3). This class comprehends all earnest inquirers. 5. Those who theoretically deny His presence (Job 22:12-13). But these different opinions and feelings do not alter, even to the shadow of a shade, the fact that God is near. The earth sweeps her majestic course around the sun, though all the priests of Rome deny the fact of her motion. God is-- I. Locally near (Jeremiah 23:24). An absolute existent has no relation to time or place. No metaphysics can explain, no finite thought comprehend, how He can be equally present in all places at the same time; but the denial of it involves philosophical contradictions, undeifies God, and contravenes the plainest and the sublimest teachings of inspiration. Then--1. All men should live under a constant impression of His presence. 2. All attempts at secrecy in sin are to the last degree futile and absurd. 3. Death can effect no local separation of the soul from God. II. Relationally near. He is the nearest relation we have. He is our Sovereign, overruling all things pertaining to us and our history; our Father, our Creator, who has made every particle of our being; our Proprietor, our Life. We cannot move a muscle, breathe a breath, think a thought, feel an emotion, without Him. “ In Him we live and move, and have our being.” Two truths are inferable from His relational nearness.1. That the necessity of the Atonement cannot be satisfactorily argued, to thinking minds, on the remote relationship of God as the Governor of man. 2. That the preservation of man’ s perfect freedom of moral action is very wonderful. Whilst He moves us, we are morally free in moving. The how of this is the problem with which all thoughtful ages have wrestled hard, and to this hour it remains unsolved. I feel that I am free, and no argument can destroy this feeling. III. Sympathetically near. How close is the heart of a mother to her babel But we are nearer to the heart of God than the babe to the heart of that mother. “ Can a woman forget her sucking child,” etc. There are three things that show the nearness of His heart to us.1. His distinguishing goodness in the creation of our existence. He has given us greater capacities for happiness than He has to any other creatures of which we have any knowledge. Sensuous, intellectual, social, and religious enjoyments are ours. 2. His wonderful forbearance in the preservation of our existence. We are rebels against His government as fallen creatures, yet how He forbears (Hosea 2:8). 3. His infinite mercy in the redemption of our existence. Here is the climax of love. “ God so loved the world,” etc. Conclusion: It is true that the heart-searching God is thus near us?1. Then our indifference is more anomalous than the conduct of him who lies down to sleep upon the bosom of a burning volcano. 2. Then how preposterous and wicked is hypocrisy. 3. Then ceremonialists, why be so particular about the rituals, the places, and the times of worship? “ God is a Spirit.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Realising God’ s nearness We are said to be, known to be, nearer to the sun in winter than in summer. But the increased swiftness of the earth’ s motion in its orbit, together with the inclination of the axis in the same, prevents the increase of heat that otherwise would be inevitable. The surface of the earth on this account is so much less time exposed to the sun’ s rays, and so obliquely that the heat is diminished by the nearness. Just so, the world may be nearer to God in position, by providential advantages, opportunities, and in speculative Divine knowledge, nearer, and yet farther from God’ s love, less affected by His mercy, less warmed and quickened by His light. So it may be with an individual heart. One man may really be farther from God in position than another, and yet have a summer season in his soul; while the other, though nearer in point of every advantage and opportunity, may remain in the dead of winter. The climate of the soul does not depend so much upon the nearness and abundance of the rays, if it is flying swiftly through them, and obliquely turned from them, but upon the steadiness and constancy with which they are received by a heart turned directly towards them. Looking steadily to Christ is the condition of light and life. (W. Cheever.)God’ s nearness to man: effects of the consciousness of Two men are walking upon the same plain, and each turns his face towards the sky. The light of the sun is shining upon both, but one sees no sun, while the other sees not only light, but the face of the sun, and his eye is overpowered with its glory. What makes the difference between the two? Not that one is in darkness, and the other in light; not that one is near the sun, and the other far away; not that one has an eye differently constituted from the other; but simply that there is a thin cloud between heaven and the one, and no cloud between it and the other. The latter can not only trace evidence that there is a sun, and that he is up, but has the presence of that sun before his face, and his glory filling his eye. So two men stand in relation to the universal and all-present God. One believes, infers, intellectually knows, that He is; ay, that He is present; yet he discerns Him not: it is a matter of inference, not of consciousness; and though believing that God is, and that He is present, he sins. Another spiritually discerns, feels His presence; and he will “ stand in awe, and sin not.” (W. Arthur, M. A.) Acts 17:28 In Him we live and move and have our being.In Him we live and move, and have our being I. Wrong views of the nature of God lie at the foundation of all false theories of religion. These are--1. That He is a limited Being, dwelling in temples, receiving gifts from man. This was the popular notion here combated. 2. That He is an infinite Being, but removed from us; the Creator, but not the Moral Governor. 3. That He is the only Being, all that is being merely phenomena of Him; so that there is no separate existence, no self-activity, responsibility, sin, holiness, or hereafter. II. The true doctrine here taught.1. That God is a personal Being, distinct from the world; its Creator and Preserver. 2. That He is not far from any one of us, but is everywhere present, beholding, directing, controlling all things; a Being on whom we are dependent and to whom we are responsible. 3. That our dependence upon Him is absolute for being, life, and activity, but at the same time it is consistent with separate existence, liberty, and accountability. III. These are the fixed points in Paul’ s theism. How are these points to be understood?1. By the reason. The problem to be solved is how the omnipresent agency of the First Cause stands related to the phenomenal world. (1) The most natural solution is the pantheistic. (a) Because it is the simplest and most intelligible. (b) Because it has been the solution most generally received. Brahm was the universal substance of which all things are the manifestation. This principle underlay the nature worship of the Egyptians, and was the esoteric faith of the higher Greek philosophers, and of the Alexandrian school. It reappears among the schoolmen, and is the popular faith of many modern teachers.(2) The rebound from this extreme is Deism--a God extra mundane, but indifferent to any efficiency of His in the events of the world. 2. By the intuitions of our moral and religious nature as enlightened by the Scriptures. (1) That all existence is from and in God.(2) That all life is from Him and in Him, and--(3) All activity, so far that unsustained by Him no second cause could act. IV. From. All this it follows--1. That we are always most near God. This presence is one of knowledge, power, approval, or disapprobation. 2. That we are thus dependent for natural, intellectual, and spiritual life. 3. That this consensus of the human and Divine is according to fixed laws, which are, however, under the control of a personal God, who can suspend them at will. If we recognise these laws, and act according to them, we experience their normal working, we become more and more recipients of the life of God. If we transgress them the opposite result is unavoidable. 4. That as our whole being and blessedness is dependent on keeping the true relation to God, we should be ever on our guard against violating His laws; in all things acting in accordance with His will, feeling our dependence and obligation, rendering Him trust, gratitude, and love. 5. Under all circumstances we are ever in contact with the infinite source of knowledge, being, and blessedness; but the wicked are always in contact with Him as a consuming fire. (G. Hodge, D. D.)In Him we live and move and have our being In Him-- I. We live. Apart from Him our life would decay, and be extinguished as a flame which had been suddenly deprived of its sustaining element. II. We move. Apart from Him we are not only inert and helpless, but not even such movement as sustains the life of plants would be possible for us. III. We have our being. In Him we are; apart from Him we should not only cease to be what we are, but we should cease to be at all; it is only the hand of God that interposes between us and annihilation. (W. L. Alexander.)In God Let us apply Paul’ s doctrine to-- I. The world of matter. We are embosomed by mighty forces which we regard merely as God’ s instruments. But science comes forward as God’ s interpreter, and indicates with Sir John Herschel the force of gravitation, e.g., as the energy of an omnipresent will. Again, we speak of “ dead matter,” but science takes the ultimate atoms which chemistry deals with, so tiny that no microscope can detect them, and gives them free room to move about in--the ten millionth part of the twenty-fifth of an inch apiece, and shows them jostling each other with ceaseless activity, even in the block of stone and the bar of steel; and according to Jevons each one of these airy atoms is probably a vastly more complicated system than that of the planets and their satellites. But according to Faraday and Boscovitch an atom is a mere centre of force. When we have analysed it into its elementary constituents it is alive with energies inconceivably subtle. And all this force is the immediate energy of the omnipresent Creator. “ Matter is force and force is mind,” says science. So says Scripture. “ By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made.” This solid frame is, in its inmost essence, nothing but a form of the thought of God. II. The human body.1. Let us see how the same Divine force holds our physical frame together. Five-sixths of it is water, a creature of that form of force called chemical affinity. Each molecule is a compound of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. But for the constant action of this Divine force holding the gaseous element in unyielding combination our bodies would become a form of matter as invisible as air. Besides this the processes of growth and repair are carried on unrestingly by this same chemical energy of God ever gluing atom to atom in blood, skin, and bone, etc., under the direction of the master workman we call Life, in whose skill we see the Divine intelligence of Him in whom we live and who renews our substance day by day. 2. And it is wonderful how much God does and how little we do. We breathe because we cannot help it. From a sort of electric battery of cells in the head there streams along the nerves a current of divine force, which works the muscles of respiration, even in spite of the utmost effort of will to hold the breath. We eat and drink, but it is merely as the servant who opens the house door to receive supplies. The nerve current supplies the digestive apparatus with power to convert food into flesh, and works the central force pump which carries to every part of the system its due supply. What if it were dependent on us to keep the heart beating? And again, in every movement and utterance all we do is by our will to set free the quasi-electric force which is in us, but is not ours, by which the appropriate muscles are contracted and our will accomplished. “ In Him we move.” But a large part of our experience is passive. Hot and cold, bitter and sweet, light and dark, etc. What are we to all these phases of surrounding force but a harp of so many strings responding to the fingers of God in Nature? And then these outward touches of the Divine fingers woke other powers. The pain of fire and the recoil of the flesh are independent of our will, and the operation of a will not our own. So again with our instincts; their automatic power is the immediate energy of the God in whom we live. III. The mind. Our thinking is done by means of the brain, as our lifting is done by means of the muscles. In either case we simply press the key. The Divine current of power flows according to the measure of the door we open, whether it be narrow in the case of the peasant or wide in that of the philosopher. IV. The soul. “ We are His offspring.” His ever-flowing stream it is which fills the tiny pools of our existence. We think; but all the truth we think is His. Our discoveries are His revelations. We desire; but our aspirations are God’ s inspirations. We pray; but prayer is the circulation of His Spirit through us and to Him again. Ours is the joy of doing good, but it is one with the joy of God in goodness; ours the pain of doing ill, but it is the resistance of God within us to evil. (J. M. Whiton, Ph. D.)Our being in God 1. Where is God? Ye will answer, “ In heaven.” True. Our Lord teaches us to pray,” Our Father which art in heaven” ; and what child would not long to be where its father was? Here on earth we cannot see God. In heaven He is seen in His glory. 2. But is God confined to heaven? Many think of Him so, and many wish so, in order that He might give no heed to them and their ways. But God says, “ Do I not fill heaven and earth?” The eternity of God contains all time; the being of God, all being; the infinity of God, all space. If we could see Him here as fully as the angels, this too would be heaven. Yet “ God is everywhere wholly, and yet the whole of Him is nowhere.” For if He were not here wholly, He would be divided into parts; which cannot be. The air surrounds us, and we are in it, although we do not see it, only, at times, the moisture in it. God surrounds us, and we are in Him, although we have no senses to see or feel Him. 3. God worketh in all things around us, working at a distance, or giving laws by which all things should be and fulfil their being. Wherever anything is, or can be worked, there is God. It is not with God as when we build a house, and part off what is without from what is within, that so God should be shut out by the works of His own hands. He is above, beneath, behind, before them; not a part of them, not immingled with them, nor confused with them; nor are they a part of Him; yet they hinder not His presence. He is not in one way within them, in another way without them; but one and the same God wholly everywhere. 4. But then, since God is everywhere, we move, speak, act, think, in God. This might be the bliss almost of the blessed in heaven. But it has its awful side also. Since we think, speak, act in God, then every sin is committed in God. It cannot be otherwise. You can no more escape out of the presence of God than out of the air which you breathe. God’ s infinite, unchangeable holiness is sinned against by every sin of every creature, but cannot be injured by all sin. The human feelings which God has given us make men shrink from doing deeds of shame even in this created light. But to God, darkness is light. God not only sees through the darkness, He is in it. There He is, where thou sinnest. Thou canst not turn away from God, except to meet God. Thou canst turn away from His love, yet only to meet Him in His displeasure. Turn, then, in sorrow from thy sin, and thou wilt meet Him and see Him forgiving thee. 5. Yes! so is there a more blessed presence than that through which, in nature, “ we live and move, and have our being” in God--nearer, closer, dearer, fuller far, whereby the soul, through grace, may be, or is, in God. God willed, before the foundation of the world, to make us one with Himself in Christ. He did not make us to exist only through Him, or to be encompassed by Him. He willed that we should be in the very closest union of love and of being of which created beings are capable. To this end God the Son, in eternal harmony with the Father’ s will, took the manhood into God. When men saw our Lord Jesus Christ in the body, they saw Him who was not man only, but God; they saw Him who was, with the Father, one God. And this oneness with us He took, not only to reconcile us to God by putting away the Father’ s wrath, but to unite us to God in Himself. Marvellous mercy! Yet since God has vouchsafed to do this, stranger were it that God, who is the life of our life, should form us capable of, and yet not give us His love, if we will have it; that He should make us capable of being united with Himself, and not unite us if we will. So hath He not left us. “ Whoso dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.” “ He who is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” “ The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us.” 6. Since then all is of God, and in God, since we, if our souls are alive, are in Christ and through Christ in God, there is no room to claim anything as our own. To do so were to rob God. But who could wish to?. How much more blessed is it to draw every breath of our lives in Him. As in nature, even the strength which men abuse against God is still continued by God, so, in grace, each act wherewith, from the sacrifice of Abel, God has been well-pleased, has been done through the power of His grace put forth in men, and by Him perfected in them. Where then can be boasting, or any thought of anything as our own, or any pleasure in any works as our own? (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)The Omnipresence of God I. Its nature. The simple, popular idea is that God is equally present everywhere. The understanding, however, requires a more particular statement to avoid our conceiving of God as extended. The nature of time and space involved in this conception is among the most difficult of philosophical questions. Happily some of the most simple truths are the most mysterious. We know that our spirits are here and not elsewhere, and yet the relation of our souls to space is inscrutable. So we know that God is everywhere, but His relation to space is past finding out.1. He is everywhere present as to-- (1) His essence, for He does not admit of division.(2) His knowledge, for nothing escapes His notice.(3) His power, as He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. 2. This attribute, therefore, includes the idea-- (1) That the universe exists in God. All creatures “ live and move, and have their being” in Him.(2) That all the intelligence indicated in nature is the omnipresent intelligence of God. Rational creatures He has endowed with an intelligence of their own.(3) That all the efficiency manifested in nature is the potestas ordinata of God. II. Its consequences. Hence--1. The universe is a manifestation of God. We see God in everything. 2. All events, the falling of a sparrow or of a kingdom; the course of history; the events of our own life, are all manifestations of His presence. 3. We are ever in God’ s presence. All our thoughts, feelings, acts are open to His view. 4. An infinite Helper and Portion is ever near to us. The fountain of all blessedness is always at hand from which we may derive inexhaustible supplies of life. 5. All sin and sinners are enveloped, as it were, with a consuming fire, They can no more escape than we can escape out of the atmosphere. III. Reflections. The contemplation of this doctrine serves--1. To exalt our conceptions of God by making all things the manifestation of His glory and power. 2. To promote our peace and security, because we know that God is everywhere and controls all events. 3. To excite fear. 4. To stimulate joy and confidence. 5. To teach sinners the certainty and fearfulness of their doom. Conclusion: As all religion consists in communion with God, and as all communion supposes His presence, this doctrine lies at the foundation of all religion. (C. Hodge, D. D.)As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.--The quotation has a special interest as being taken from a poet who was a countryman of St. Paul’ s. Aratus, probably of Tarsus (circ. B.C. 272), had written a didactic poem under the title of “ Phoenomena,” comprising the main facts of astronomical and meteorological science as then known. It opens with an invocation to Zeus, which contains the words that St. Paul quotes. Like words are found in a hymn to Zeus by Cleanthes (B.C. 300). Both passages are worth quoting:-- “ From Zeus begin we; never let us leave His name unloved. With him, with Zeus, are filled All paths we tread, and all the marts of men; Filled, too, the sea, and every creek and bay; And all in all things need we help of Zeus, For we, too, are his offspring.” Aratus, “ Phoenom.,” 1-5. “ Most glorious of immortals, many-named, Almighty and forever, thee, O Zeus, Sovran o’ er nature, guiding with thy hand All things that are, we greet with praises. Thee ‘ Tis meet that mortals call with one accord, For we thine offspring are, and we alone Of all that live and move upon this earth, Receive the gift of imitative speech.” Cleanthes, “ Hymn to Zeus.” --(Dean Plumptre.)Man the offspring of God This glorious fact in our nature-- I. Indicates constitutional resemblance to God. It means something more than to be God’ s creatures, like the earth, sea, sky, etc.; but implies resemblance in essential attributes--spiritual personality, intellectual perception, moral sensibility, loving sympathy, spontaneous activity. This resemblance--1. Constitutes man the highest natural revelation of God. Though a mere atom comparatively, he is the brightest reflector of the Infinite. As I see the ocean in a dewdrop, and the sun in a particle of light, I see God in man. 2. Accounts for our power of forming ideas of God. Had we no resembling attributes, His existence would be a blank to us. Had we no personality, love, etc., His perfections would be without meaning. The eagle takes a vaster view of nature than we can; yet it sees no God because not made, like us, in the image of the Creator. II. Suggests the rationale of Divine laws. Why has God given us laws? To restrict our freedom or curtail our pleasures? Do His laws, like those of human monarchs, arise from the policy of selfishness or fear? Is He obliged, like mortal rulers, to guard His throne by legislation? No. His laws are the considerate directions of a loving Father, profoundly desirous that His offspring shall escape all evils, and realise the highest good. He who has the true spirit of a child will always say with the Psalmist, “ O how I love Thy law!” If any question this interpretation of the Divine code, let him--1. Carefully examine the character of those laws, and see if he can find one that does not tend to happiness. 2. Consult the experience of the obedient, and see if he can find one who will not say, “ In the keeping of Thy commandments there is great reward.” III. Explains the interposition of Christ. What was there in insignificant and sinful man to enlist this? Was it the intrinsic value of the human soul? The soul, it is true, is superior to the irrational universe; but it is inferior, perhaps, to other intelligences; and as compared with the Infinite mind, What is it? I find the reason in the soul’ s relationship, as the “ offspring of God. Parental love amongst men, instead of being cooled by the infirmities of the child, is fired by them. This principle, which is a Divine implantation, enables me to understand, in some humble measures, why the Infinite Father should show all this wonderful compassion to men. IV. Exposes the enormity of sin. What laws are so binding--what authority so sacred as a true Father’ s? How heinous is sin--1. In relation to God, when you think of Him as a Father! The greatest ingratitude is that which overlooks a father’ s kindness; the greatest criminality is that which violates a father’ s precepts; the greatest rebellion is that which contemns a father’ s authority. 2. In relation to society. We are all brothers and sisters. How enormously iniquitous then are slavery, war, cruelty, and oppression of every kind? V. Aids us to estimate the transcendent blessedness of the dutiful. The office of a father is to provide for his children. As a guardian, God protects the mind as well as the body, and guards our existence with all its rights and interests. As an educator, He develops all the wonderful powers of our nature, trains us not only for some office in time, but for the high services of eternity. As a nourisher, He has supplies for all wants now and forever. Conclusion: Man, reverence thy nature! act worthy of thy high relationship; thou art a child of the Infinite. The great universe is thy Father’ s house. Seek through Christ the pardon of thy sins, and the true spirit of adoption, and thou shalt find at last in the great eternity a “ mansion” prepared for thee. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Man God’ s offspring Man, with few exceptions, has never been able to believe that he stands alone in the universe, a helpless orphan, surrounded by blind and irresistible forces, and hurried onward by inevitable destiny. Wherever the voice of man’ s nature is allowed to speak, it asserts that he is God’ s offspring. This fact is demonstrated by-- I. Man’ s intellectual superiority. In his physical nature he is allied to the lower animals; but the intellectual difference between the lowest savage and the highest animal is so great that it can only be accounted for by the text. Man’ s marvellous powers are seen in his discovery of the laws of the universe, in his forcing from nature her secrets, and in subjecting her to do him service, and above all in his capacity for knowing God. All this raises him immeasurably above all other creatures. II. His moral nature. In all men there is a knowledge of rural distinctions, and as arising out of them the sense of obligation. In some communities this knowledge is imperfect and even perverted, but it is there. It cannot be the result of education, but must be part of the constitution of our nature, because so universal. This fact again puts an impassable gulf between man and all other creatures, and is inexplicable save on the hypothesis of the text. III. His religious nature.1. His consciousness of guilt, everywhere demonstrated by sacrifice, shows his alienation from a Being with whom he was once in harmony. 2. His struggles after a purer and higher life are but the effort of God’ s child to recover a lost condition and relationship. 3. His restlessness and dissatisfaction till he finds rest in God is the culminating proof. Conclusion: Christ has come to lead us back to God, to make us true sons in Him, so that His Father becomes our Father. (J. Fraser, M. A.)Man God’ s offspring What a blessed doctrine! How high our dignity! how rich our patrimony! Wherever we are, in whatever portion of His universe, we are still in His house--our home. We can never outstep our heritage. The Father has fitted nature not merely to supply our wants, but also to minister to our delight--the glitter of the star and of the dewdrop, the colour and scent of the flower, freshness and beauty for the eye, and song and melody for the ear. Our Father’ s house is not barely furnished, but richly ornamented. Rocks are piled into hoary mountains and picturesque heights; the woods are budding forth into life in spring, laden with foliage in summer, or swinging their great boughs to the tempest of winter; the sky folds its curtains and trims its lamps; the waters dance in torrents and leap in cascades, as well as fill the seas; there is gold as well as iron, gems as well as granites, the blush and fragrance of the blossom, as well as the sweetness and abundance of the fruit. The human frame, too, has symmetry as well as strength--possesses far more than is merely essential to life and work; the eye, lip, and brow are rich in expression and power. There is not only the power of thought essential to business and religion, but there is the garniture of imagination, poetry as well as science, music in addition to speech, ode and oracle as well as fact and doctrine in Scripture, the lyre of the bard no less than the pen of the apostle. Above sensation there rises the power of discovery--invention blends with experience. In man and around him there is not mere provision for necessities; there are profuse luxuries. “ His offspring” walk in the lustre of His love. It rejoices them to know that the power which governs is no dark phantom veiled in mystery; no majestic and all-controlling force--a mighty and shadowless sceptre; no mere omniscience--an eye that never slumbers; no dim Spirit, having its only consciousness in the consciousness of man--but a Father with a father’ s heart to love us, and to the yearnings of which we may ever appeal--a father’ s ear to listen to us, and a father’ s hand to bless with kind and continued benefactions. And, as we have wandered, shall not each of us say, “ I will arise and go to my Father” ? Will not He accept the returning child, giving us the adoption of sons, revealing Himself graciously through Christ the Elder Brother, who leads us to cry in true filial devotion, “ Our Father which art in heaven” ? (Prof. Eadie.)Man God’ s offspring Man has not ascended from the animal, say rather that he has descended from God. The line of his pedigree points, not downward to the dust, but upward to the skies. “ The son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” “ For we also are His offspring” ; not the offspring of the chimpanzee. Compare the head of the most uncivilised man with the head of the best-trained monkey, and the difference is immense. What is the capacity of the monkey brain? Thirty-two cubic inches. What is the capacity of the human brain? Ninety cubic inches. You therefore see that the brain of the most undeveloped man, who is not positively an idiot, is nearly three times the capacity of the brain of the most civilised monkey in this or any other country. How to account for the difference? There is a great deal of talking and writing in the present day about the “ missing link” --the missing link between the ape and the man. Missing link indeed! It is not a link that is missing, but a whole chain. Human reason is not a development of the monkey brain; rather is it the immediate outcome of the Divine Life. (J. C. Jones, D. D.) Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then … we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold.Paul’ s cumulative argument Up to this verse Paul has made a general statement respecting God. Here he lays down the groundwork of a true and abiding Christian philosophy. The armoury of the Church is in the word “ forasmuch.” It throws man back on himself, and says, “ If you want to know what God is, know yourself.” “ Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think,” etc. He made us; as certain of your own poets have said. Then judge the Father by the child; the Creator by the creature made in His own image and likeness, and rise from the human to the Divine--the ascent of reason and the way of faith. Now I know of a surety that the Bible representation of God is true, because it is true of myself. My reasoning is now invincible, because it takes this turn, namely-- I. Forasmuch, then, as we are not entirely comprehended, even by those who know us best and love us most, even so is God a mystery. II. Forasmuch, then, as we have not been seen by our dearest admirers, we ought not to think that the Godhead can be seen. You have never seen your friend; you have never seen your own self. Any mystery that we find in God we find initially and typically in our own nature. III. As we express our thought and feeling through body and form, so does God. We proceed by incarnation. Forasmuch, then, as our love must incarnate and embody itself, so as to touch us, we ought not to think that the Godhead is independent of the method which amongst ourselves He has made essential to union and happiness. If we have come upon this doctrine through the deep study of our own nature and ways of self-revelation, when we come to the historical Bethlehem we feel we have only come home. That Bethlehem has been in our hearts, and is the inner circle of our sacred home. IV. Forasmuch, then, as we forgive our children who repent of their sins, we ought not to think that the Godhead is unwilling to forgive. Forasmuch, then, as that man did so to that sinning son, we ought not to think that the Godhead is a carved statue in the sky. “ Like as a father pitieth his children,” etc. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 17:30 The times of this ignorance God winked at. God and the times of ignorance 1. Surrounded by the representatives of the great philosophic schools, and with the beautiful objects of Pagan devotion on every side, Paul characterises the error of idolatry as a mark of ignorance. It was a severe thing to say to a people who cherished the past so fondly, and who boasted of their culture; and perhaps not the least irritating thing was that Paul represented his own God--that God so new and strange to his hearers--as tolerating their worship as a matter which in no way concerned His own honour. 2. This raises the difficult question concerning certain things which God has permitted to run their course in past ages, which will not bear the test of even the lowest Christian morality. 3. As we study the Bible history, we see two movements in progress simultaneously. One the natural historic movement; i.e., the progress of a history, like that of Israel, e.g., according to the natural laws under which nations mature, such as climate, soil, migration, conquest. There are those who refuse to see in Biblical history anything more than this. But mothers detect another influence which gives character and direction to the other--the providential movement, the outworking of a Divine purpose. Thus, where the philosopher sees only the migration of a tribe under some physical pressure, the religious historian hears the Lord say unto Abraham, “ Get thee out from thy kindred and from thy father’ s house.” 4. Now, our difficulty arises out of the fact that these two movements are mysteriously intertwined; that God’ s design works itself out through much which, to an educated Christian sense, is cruel and selfish, and by means of men who fall below even the lower types of the social morality of our day. Certainly, if we were called on to select types of devout servants of God, we should not choose Samson nor Barak, nor even Gideon; and yet they are placed in the New Testament among the heroes of faith. Or, there is that horrible business of the Canaanites, which, in some aspects at least, must, I fear, continue to be a puzzle. Take the matter of genealogy--that line which we should naturally suppose would have been kept absolutely pure--our Lord’ s human descent. And yet it is not so: Judah and Rahab are both in it. Such illustrations show us that, in the Bible, the natural and the providential currents mingle; so that, to human eyes, God’ s work in history seems discoloured by human passion and infirmity. 5. Now these facts involve difficulties; but we can nevertheless discover, running through them, some straight tracks leading us to three general principles. I. That there is a progress in the Divine revelation in the Bible, from limited to fuller revelation, from contracted to expanded views of God and truth. Take--1. The Incarnation. There is a fulness of time which must come before the Redeemer can be revealed; until then there are foreshadowings, types, prophecies. Now, after Christ has come, the same law holds. He plainly tells the disciples, “ I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now,” etc. 2. Immortality. How imperfect its revelation in the earlier Scriptures! 3. Spirituality in life and worship. Is there not a distinct progress from a religion which required the complicated apparatus of altars, etc., to that which intelligently accepts the truth that God is a Spirit? So, too, there is a progress from the morality which must be kept to duty by minute precepts, to the freedom with which Christ makes His disciples free, throwing them upon the guidance of the conscience enlightened by His Spirit. II. But this principle necessitates a second--that of accommodation.1. If we read the Old Testament expecting to find New Testament standards and principles in operation, we shall be constantly disappointed and puzzled. When you read the Book of Judges, for instance, you cannot help saying, “ These characters are not for my imitation.” You cannot help thinking that there is a terrible inconsistency if you do not recognise the facts of progress in and accommodation of revelation to the actual condition of mankind. You cannot expect the full tide of Christian revelation to fit the moral conditions of Israel before Sinai. And therefore we find that God adapts His revelation to them, giving them symbols and rites. What was the revelation of God in human form but an accommodation? Man would not understand God by hearing that God was a Spirit; and so the Infinite took upon Himself the form of a servant. And there is a glory to be revealed; we might as properly ask why God does not fit us at once to receive its full weight? We know simply that that is not His way; that we could not bear it if it were revealed. 2. But this principle goes farther. God gives temporary sanction to certain things which will not stand the test of Christian morality. There is polygamy, for instance, which the New Testament refuses to recognise. Slavery was incorporated into the Mosaic law. God might have brought the ages of Deborah and Samson up to the level of the Sermon on the Mount, but He did not. He might have worked out His purpose by new methods specially devised; but He took men’ s crudity--the practice of war, etc. as they were, and let them work themselves out according to the spirit and methods of their age. 3. Christ recognised this fact clearly enough. “ Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you.” What was Christ’ s baptism by John but a temporary adaptation to crude religious conceptions? What else did He mean by “ suffer it now” ? Or do not His words point back to a similar accommodation? “ Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time; but I say unto you something better.” III. To these we must add a third principle, without which the whole question would be left in worse confusion than before--viz., that through this partial, growing, and accommodated revelation, God is continually working towards His own perfect ideal. If you once admit this fact of a progressive revelation, the character of the revelation must be judged by its general tendency and outcome. Suppose I give a peach stone to a man who had never seen a peach, and tell him that, if he would plant it, it would yield a delicious fruit; and if, after a few weeks, he should dig it up, and finding the seed just sprouting, should come jeering, and saying, “ Do you call that a delicious thing?” you all see what the proper answer would be. Back of the fruit is a long process, and you cannot pronounce upon the meaning or the quality of that process until the tree is grown. Then all becomes plain. So back of the perfect law and manhood of the gospel lies this slow, moral growth of humanity. When you once perceive that the Bible means Christ, that the history recorded in the Bible moves steadily toward Christ, then you may begin to understand that God’ s toleration and accommodation are simply parts of the process which is to issue in the cheerful subjection of a man in Christ to the perfect law of the gospel. When you want to form a judgment of some great historic man, you read his life backward in the light of his glorious prime. Do you blame his father because he bore with the boy’ s childish folly, and accommodated his own higher wisdom to the lad’ s ignorance and crudity? But, with all its accommodations, God’ s economy is never content to leave the man or the people in the condition to which it accommodates itself. It accommodates itself to raise. Its testimony against sin is clear throughout. There is a very significant passage at the close of Heb 11:1-40, in which these Old Testament saints are ranked among the heroes of faith: “ God having provided some better thing for us, that they, apart from us, should not be made perfect.” What does this teach but that God’ s purpose in the education of men does not fulfil itself in any man or generation of men, but in the whole history of mankind. Finally, we must not leave this subject without alluding to the practical conclusion which Paul draws from God’ s forbearance in past ages: “ But now He commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent.” In other words, God’ s tolerance in the past is a warning against presuming on His forbearance in the present. God bore with the crudeness and ignorance of the men of olden time, in order that men of a later and more enlightened day should have no excuse for claiming His forbearance. A very different conclusion this from that of those who make this Old Testament record a ground of attack upon God’ s character, and a reason for rejecting His later revelation in Christ. As we in happier times read of those old days, our proper sentiment is that of wonder at the patience of God through all these ages, of admiration at the wisdom of His forbearance, of congratulation that He has provided some better thing for us.2. This history is reproduced, on a smaller scale, in your individual life. You have had your times of ignorance; and though you have had less excuse than they had, yet how your life has been marked by the forbearance of God! What is the practical result of this forbearance? Has it led you to a true estimate of sin? Has it led you to the Lamb of God, which taketh away sin? or are those terrible words of the apostle verified in you, “ Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering,” etc. (Romans 2:4-6). (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)Past forbearance and present duty I. The exhortation consists of two parts--1. The censure of the past times. (1) They were times of ignorance, and that easily leadeth into error. But now the light of the gospel was brought to them, God did more peremptorily insist upon His right, and commanded them to repent; for the practices of ignorance will not become a time of knowledge (1 Peter 1:14). There was a time when we knew neither the terror, nor the sweetness of the Lord, but securely lived in sin; what we did then will misbecome us now (Romans 13:12). Sins are more aggravated in times of more full gospel light (John 3:19). (2) God winked at these times. (a) The meaning. Certainly it is not meant that God allowed their idolatries; that would entrench upon His honour, and hinder their repentance. First. Some think it speaketh indulgence. God looked not after them to punish them for their idolatries. Ignorance is sometimes made an excuse a tanto, though not a toto (Acts 3:17; 1 Timothy 1:13). Secondly. Others think it speaketh a judgment. God neglected those times, or regarded them not (Acts 6:1; Hebrews 8:9). To this sense I incline, partly because it is so explained in a parallel place (Acts 14:16-17), because it agreeth with the thing itself (Psalms 147:19-20), and because God did punish the ignorance and error of the Gentiles by giving them up to vile affections (Romans 1:24). But yet I do not exclude the former sense, because though the idolatry of the nations continued for many years, yet God continued many signal temporal mercies to them. (b) The necessity and use of this reflection. It is an answer to their cavil (verse 18), and Paul, as much as in him lieth, taketh off the prejudice of the practice of former times by a prudent and soft censure (1 Corinthians 2:8), and insinuateth that ignorance doth not wholly excuse those that err, but rather commendeth the Lord’ s patience. 2. The duty of the present time. The duty pressed is repentance, which is here represented not as an indifferent and arbitrary thing, but as expressly and absolutely commanded, and that universally. II. The argument or motive.1. As propounded. (1) The circumstances. (a) The time appointed is put for a certain fixed space of time. The work cannot well be despatched in twenty-four hours. When this time will be we cannot tell, for God hath not revealed it (Matthew 24:36); and therefore it is curiosity to inquire, and rashness to determine (Acts 1:7). It is enough for us to believe the thing, which is not strange to reason, that God should call His creatures to account. (b) The manner--“ In righteousness.” But doth God ever judge the world otherwise than in righteousness? No; but (Genesis 18:25). He now judgeth the world in patience, but then in righteousness. (c) The person. Why doth he call Christ man, rather than God? First. With respect to the Gentiles’ incapacity to apprehend the mystery of the Trinity or the Incarnation; and it concerneth us to dispense truths as people are able to bear them. Secondly. Christ is to discharge this office in the visible appearance of man. As the judgment was to be visible, so the judge (Titus 2:13; 2 Timothy 4:8; Matthew 24:30). Thirdly. This power is given to Christ as a recompense of His humiliation (Philippians 2:9-10; cf. Romans 14:10-11). (2) The subsequent proof: “ Whereof He hath given assurance to all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” That is a sufficient testimony to convince the whole world. The Resurrection is a certain proof and argument of the dignity of Christ’ s Person (Romans 1:4), and His office and doctrine (John 5:27-29). 2. What influence this hath upon repentance. (1) The very day appointed inferreth a necessity of change both of heart and life; for how else shall we stand in the judgment who have broken God’ s laws, and are obnoxious to His wrath and displeasure (Ecclesiastes 11:9)? (2) From the manner or strictness of that day’ s account; He will judge the world in righteousness (Ecclesiastes 12:14). What then is our duty but to exercise ourselves both in faith and repentance, that our Judge may be our Saviour, and it may go well with us when this search is made? (T. Manton, D. D.)Past ignorance and present responsibility I. God’ s forbearance in early days--“ The times” of this ignorance God winked at. This expression is pregnant with mysteries. It implies a holy God condoning sin, a just God overlooking iniquity. Before we can get at the proper explanation, it will be necessary to examine briefly two points--how God overlooked and why.1. How God winked at the ignorance of the early inhabitants of the world. (1) He did not give them knowledge. He left them in their original state of ignorance. All knowledge and light must come from Him, the Father of lights. This was not the case with all, but it was the case with the greater portion of the world. (2) He did not punish their ignorance. The great heathen nations had been prosperous and eminent, They were seats of science and art and luxury. And such they were permitted to be. It was only when they came in contact with God’ s chosen nation that they were made examples of judgment. 2. Why God winked at this ignorance. (1) He desired to develop His plans and schemes for man’ s salvation. This was to be done through human instrumentality. This process had to be carried on among a simple, ignorant, and rebellious people, and generations and ages had to pass away before it was completed. (2) He permitted a proof to be given to all time, forever, of the utter abandonment of the human heart to evil and sin, and to show that no man would ever turn from his evil nature and sinful desires of his own accord. The ages of ignorance conclusively prove that no man by searching can find out God. Thus we see the principle of God’ s forbearance, which is so much better expressed by the words of the text--“ winked at.” God did not leave the old world in ignorance from mercy, but for the just execution of His purposes. II. God’ s present command--“ That all men, everywhere, should repent.” The world went on its way until the advent of Christ.1. The scheme of revelation was completed. 2. The season of discipline was ended. The law delivered to a chosen few was the discipline which had to be endured. 3. The work of salvation was completed. When Christ died, the top stone of the edifice was laid. Thus the consummation of all things having been attained, the way was opened for the universal application of religion. And then came forth the “ command” that all men should believe. The sun began to arise, and the darkness was henceforth to be dispelled. And what was the result? A terrible change in the responsibility of man and the policy of God.1. As to the responsibility of man. There is now no excuse for darkness or ignorance. If man does not hear and obey, the fault is his own. 2. As to the policy of God. He no longer winks at ignorance or evil. Having removed the cause, He no longer accepts the excuse. With Him now is stern, hard justice. (Homilist.)The gospel age Note--1. God’ s relation to the world before the gospel age. The ages before the gospel were “ times of ignorance” as regards the grand subjects of religion--“ the world by wisdom knew not God.” This was a guilty ignorance. Outward nature, and the intuitions of their own souls, were sufficient to teach them the knowledge of God; but the means they neglected. This ignorance “ God winked at,” not that He connived at it, but overlooked it. He dealt leniently with those dark ages. He did not interpose specially, either in vengeance or in grace. This is a question which, if proper to ask, is impossible to solve. We may discover certain useful ends answered by it; and these ends will be sufficient to satisfy us that His forbearance was worthy of Himself. It serves to show-- (1) The insufficiency of human reason in matters of religion. God gave human reason plenty of time to exhaust all its resources in endeavours to find Him out. (2) The necessity of a special revelation. Since God gave mankind so many ages to endeavour to find Him out, and they failed, men are left without the shadow of a foundation for supposing that they can do without the gospel of Jesus Christ. 2. God’ s relation to the world in the gospel age. God’ s conduct now towards the world is changed. He who overlooked in forbearing mercy the wickedness of past times, now commands “ every man everywhere to repent.” Notice-- I. The one great duty of man in the gospel age. To repent; which means something more than contrition or change of opinion, or renunciation of a habit; it means a change in the ruling disposition of life. Every man is under some ruling disposition, into which you can resolve all the actions of his everyday life. This is the heart of the man. Repentance is a change in this. This reformation of the soul is the one urgent duty of every man. Why?1. Because it is right. All men, everywhere, are in the wrong, and eternal rectitude demands a change. 2. Because it is indispensable. There is no possibility of being happy without it. II. The one grand prospect of man in the gospel age. The day of judgment.1. The period is appointed (Matthew 25:1-46.). Who knows when? No one. It will come, perhaps, as the flood came--whilst men are eating and drinking, etc.; or as Christ came--in the deep hush of darkness, when men were all asleep. We know not when, but we know it is fixed. It is registered in His unfulfilled plans. His Providence is getting nearer to it every hour. “ God hath appointed a day.” It must come. 2. The Judge is appointed. “ By that man,” etc. This Man has heretofore ever dealt in mercy. Now eternal rectitude is the rule of His conduct. The grand thing that loomed before the gospel was the gospel age itself; the grand thing that looms in the future of humanity now is the day of judgment. What an argument for repentance is this righteous judgment! We must be made right to be enabled to stand in that day. III. The one demonstrating fact for man in the gospel age “ whereof He hath given assurance,” either that there will come a day of judgment, or that Christ is the Divine Judge. The latter is the most likely idea.1. Any teacher, living a holy life, and rising from the dead according to his own announcement, must be Divine. 2. Christ as a Teacher did live a holy life, and did rise from the dead according to His own announcement. Who can escape the inference? (D. Thomas, D. D.)But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.--Repentance Repentance is here urged as the command of the Almighty. In other places it is declared to be indispensable to salvation. Yet men have many objections. At one time they allege that they have done nothing which requires repentance. They have not been guilty of murder, or fraud, or falsehood. At another time it is said that repentance is wholly beyond the power of man; and wonder is expressed that a command should be urged to do that which will never be done but by Divine assistance. At another time it is alleged that the requirement is wholly arbitrary. Why has God chosen these mere emotions of the heart in preference to a correct moral character as the conditions of His favour? Again it is asked, why has God made the path to heaven a path of sorrow? Such are some of the feelings that spring up in the mind when we come to men and urge upon them the duty of repentance. My desire is to convince you that they are unfounded. I. Repentance is a simple operation of mind understood and practised by all. You cannot find a person who at some time has not exercised repentance; and in the emotions of a child, when he feels sorrow that he has done wrong, and who resolves to make confession of it and to do so no more, you have the elements of all that God requires of man as a condition of salvation. No inconsiderable portion of every man’ s life is made up of regrets for the errors and follies of the past. They invade the mind because we feel that we have done wrong, and that we ought to have done differently. They are not arbitrary. They are the operations of the regular laws of the mind; and they are operations which a generous and a noble heart would not wish to check or prevent. If such feelings actually occur on the recollection of the past, it is natural to ask why we should not expect to find them in religion? Further, the mind nowhere else knows emotions so overwhelming as in the recollections of past guilt. And why, then, should it be regarded as fanatical that the soul should be burdened with a sense of guilt when it comes back to God? II. God may appoint his own terms. This is true in relation to everything. Health is His gift; and He has the absolute right--a right which He is constantly exercising--to state to man on what terms it may be enjoyed; and if he does not choose to comply with those terms, God will not depart from His settled laws to give him health by miracle. In like manner, pardon is the gift of God, and He has a right to say on what terms it may be obtained. God is dealing with you in this respect just as you deal with your fellow men. You will admit no one to your dwelling who does not choose to comply with the reasonable conditions which you may choose to have observed. You are a parent. A child violates your commands. Do you not feel that you have a right to prescribe the terms on which he may obtain your forgiveness? Even if the appointment were wholly arbitrary, God has a right to make it, and man has no right to complain. III. When wrong has been done among men, the only way to obtain again the favour of those who have been injured is by repentance. You are a father. A child does wrong. Towards that son you cherish still all a father’ s feelings; but you refuse to admit him to the same degree of confidence and favour as before without some evidence of repentance. You have had a friend. But he betrayed you. I ask any man whether he can receive such a friend again to his bosom without some evidence of regret, and some proof that he will not do it again? IV. In the actual course of events under the Divine administration it is only in connection with repentance that forfeited favours can be recovered. I do not mean to say that repentance will always repair the evil of the past, but that if a man who has done wrong is ever restored to the forfeited favour of God, it will be in connection with repentance. A man has wasted his health and property by intemperance. Is there any way, now, by which health, and domestic peace, and property, and respectability may be recovered? There is. But how? By this course. Why should it be thought more strange in religion than in the actual course of events? V. The necessity of repentance could not be avoided by any arrangement whatever. A moment’ s reflection will satisfy any one of this. The law of God requires love to Him as the supreme rule of life. That law man has violated, and the gospel requiring repentance meets him as a sinner, and requires him to return to the love of God. Now no alienated man can come back to this love of God without regret that he wandered away from Him. (A. Barnes, D. D.)Repentance I. Its nature.1. A true sense of sin. This is naturally the first step, for until an individual has been made conscious of his sin, it is utterly hopeless to expect that he will turn from it. Most men are willing to admit in general terms the truth that “ all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” but few in comparison possess an enlightened and sincere conviction of their personal guilt and impurity in the sight of God. When the Spirit enlightens the mind of the sinner to discern the extent, strictness, and spirituality of the law of God, as taking cognizance of every thought, word, and action, and as requiring absolute perfection in all things, his conscience is awakened to a sense of his transgressions, so that he is ready to sink under the burden of his guilt. 2. Godly sorrow on account of sin. There is a spurious sorrow which does not regard sin itself so much as the misery which is its fruit. It is possible, too, that a man may be really sorry for particular sins, and yet he may be an utter stranger to true repentance. Of this we have a fearful example in the case of Judas Iscariot. But the sorrow of a true penitent is for sin, as committed against God, as rebellion against His rightful authority, as a violation of His holy law, and as a most base, ungrateful return for all his goodness. 3. An apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ to such as are penitent. Had we no reason to cherish the hope that God would pardon our sins, we could never return to Him as sincere penitents, but must inevitably sink into despair. 4. A turning from sin unto God, with a sincere purpose and endeavour to walk with Him in all the ways of His commandments. This constitutes the grand distinction betwixt true repentance and all false appearances. Accordingly St. Paul exhorted both Jews and Gentiles, not only that they should “ repent and turn to God,” but also “ do works meet for repentance.” II. The motives which ought to lead us to it.1. A regard to the Divine authority and to our own real interest. No injunction can be more explicit than this which is binding upon all men of every rank and character. Dare we thus pour contempt on His authority, especially now when “ the times of ignorance which God winked at” are over, and the Dayspring from on high hath risen over our once benighted land. Consider what must be the consequence of such aggravated guilt. Jesus Christ hath declared, “ Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” 2. The many encouraging declarations and promises addressed to such as are exercising repentance. 3. The examples with which the Word of God furnishes us of sinners, whose guilt was peculiarly great, but who, notwithstanding, on repentance were pardoned and saved. 4. The great day of judgment. This is the grand reason which the apostle assigns for God commanding men everywhere to repent. (P. Grant.)Repentance I. Its nature.1. A deep sense of unworthiness to receive the Divine forgiveness. So felt Job, “ Lord, I am vile: how shall I answer Thee?” So felt Isaiah, “ Woe is me!” etc. So felt Peter, “ Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” So also did Paul, “ O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” 2. Bitter sorrow for past sin. When Peter caught the reproving eye of his Lord his repentance was evidenced by his “ going out and weeping bitterly.” Paul “ was three days, and neither did eat nor drink” ; so great was his distress of mind. When the jailor at Philippi was awakened he came trembling. 3. Confession of sin before God. The prodigal went to his father and said unto him, “ Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee,” etc. “ For, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 4. A fixed determination to abandon henceforth, by God’ s help, former sins. Herod heard John the Baptist gladly preach the doctrine of repentance, and he did many things which he enjoined; yet he gave not up his brother Philip’ s wife, and so his repentance could profit him nothing. Judas, when he saw that his Lord was condemned, is said to have repented, but he afterwards went and hanged himself. 5. Amendment of life, holiness and diligence in the service of God. 6. Restitution. II. Its obligations. Repent, because--1. God commands it. 2. Because of the atonement made for sin by Christ. Repentance would be of no avail in itself for salvation; it draws all its value from the death of Jesus. 3. Because by virtue of Jesus Christ’ s intercession the Holy Spirit is now sent down to enable them to obey the command. Repentance, however necessary, is not a feeling which any man can produce when he pleases; it is not a product of the natural mind. 4. Because “ God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained.” He who now waiteth to be gracious as our merciful Saviour in the forgiveness of our sins shall then have become our righteous Judge. And that the certainty of this awful event might be strongly fixed in the minds of men, He hath verified it by the amazing miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus. (R. M. Jones, M. A.)Repentance When we think of the prevalence of idolatry and superstition we are apt to ask, Where is the wisdom, justice, or mercy of suffering whole nations for centuries and millennia to know not the worship of the true God? But all such questions are silenced in the text. God will not call the men who lived in them to such a reckoning as He will call us: they had not the revelation you now have. But though “ the times of this ignorance God winked at; He now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” I. What God commands. All men “ everywhere to repent,” now. He addresses idolaters that they should abandon their false gods and become worshippers of the true God. You and I have not to repent in that sense: our forefathers had. But now there is not an altar of Druidical worship to be found. Yet idolatry may exist in the heart notwithstanding. Now, the radical meaning of repentance is change.1. Of mind. (1) As to God. As to the law of God.(2) As to sin.(3) As to Christ. Some persons accuse preachers of disturbing the minds of our hearers. But we do not bring the things there that are discovered--it is the light that reveals them.2. Of disposition consequent upon a change of view. That which before was hated is now loved--the Bible, the Saviour, religion. 3. A change of conduct, for if the mind and disposition are changed, the behaviour is changed. Hence the Baptist, when he preached to the people in the wilderness, told them to “ bring forth fruits meet for repentance.” God, then, commandeth men to repent. He commandeth all men--the poor and the rich--kings and their subjects--the young, the middle-aged, and the old. II. The reason the command is given.1. The certainty of a day of judgment is taught by-- (1) Reason. We observe the conduct of men around us: we sometimes see that the virtuous are rewarded; but we often see the reverse of that, and if we believe in the Divine government we must suppose there is some state after this in which all these discrepancies will be adjusted. (2) Conscience. (3) The general belief of the Church of God in all ages. (4) The Word of God. 2. The period “ appointed.” The time is fixed; nothing can postpone it or antedate it. A day is a measured period--so long, and no longer. We know not how long this day will be: “ One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” There will be time enough for a determinate examination of every individual to be judged. The actual arrival of this day is unknown to us. This is wise. The wicked, who presume as it is, would then presume much more; the good would then, in all probability, relax in their zeal and assiduity and painstaking. “ Watch, therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh.” In one sense, the day of our death will be a sort of rehearsal of the judgment. But the last day is distant, and will take place at the end of the world. If every man were to be judged on his committing a single act of sin, it would throw everything into confusion, and society would be disturbed. All nations of men have certain fixed days--assize days--in which the majesty of law and order are vindicated. It is so in the government of God. 3. The Person who is to preside over the solemnities of that day. The sinner cannot object, because the Man Christ Jesus died to save him; and if He condemns him, he must, indeed, deserve to be condemned. The saint cannot object to that, because he has actually obtained his fellowship with Christ on earth; and, therefore, he sees in the Person of the Judge, his Brother, his Friend, his Redeemer. That is the occasion on which the human nature of Christ will be exalted; that is one part of the reward which the Father will give to the Son for His mediatorial acts. “ The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.” Whoever presides over the solemnities of the judgment day must be omniscient; He must be capable of estimating the motives and principles which actuate us; He must be a person of perfect equity and absolute perfection; He must, in short, be God. Therefore, the human nature that must sit on the throne of judgment will be the human nature in connection with one of the persons of the Godhead. 4. The process--“ in righteousness.” There will be-- (1) Scrutiny. Those eyes that are like a flame--those eyes that see into all the depths of the human heart will scrutinise every individual character. Oh, what an unfolding of history, character, and conduct. (2) Separation--the good from the bad. And the separation will be so complete that not one sinner will be found in the congregation of the righteous, nor one righteous in the congregation of the wicked. (3) Decision. The sentence upon the righteous shall be, “ Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” This intimates to you the vastness of our future felicity. But then the other sentence is equally strong, “ Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” It is a solemn fact that the sentence which will determine our fate for ever and ever is not unknown; we know it beforehand. Conclusion: We learn a lesson of--1. Confirmation of our faith.2. Self-examination. Are we prepared for this process.3. Diligence. (J. Beaumont, M. D.)Repentance I. The nature of true repentance. It includes--1. A true sense of sin. This must be the groundwork of all the rest, because it is impossible to hate what we do not feel. 2. The second step of repentance is being affected with a grief and hatred of sin. The former was a selfish feeling; this is a generous passion. The former respects sin as ruinous to the sinner; this regards it as offensive to God. 3. The third step in repentance towards God is an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ and a forsaking of sin. This is properly an act of faith. II. The motives to repentance.1. The superior light and information derived to the world by the Christian religion, concerning the rule of righteousness according to which we ought to conduct our lives, suggests a strong inducement to repentance. What signifies the superior excellency of your religion, unless its superiority appear in your life? What avails the light to you, if ye continue to walk in darkness? Unless ye repent, it had been better for you that the kingdom of God had never come amongst you. If ye still walk in the region and shadow of death, it had been better that the Dayspring from on high had never risen over your benighted land. 2. A second motive and encouragement to repentance is the hope and prospect of success. The gate of mercy is set open by the blood of Jesus; and an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, is promised to all those who sincerely repent of their sins, to all who believe and obey the gospel. 3. A third motive to repentance is the assistance of the Spirit, which the gospel offers. 4. In the fourth place, as an inducement to repentance, consider the cross of Christ, who suffered the punishment due to our sins. How great must be the evil of sin, and how strong the obligation for us to repent of our sins, when such a sacrifice was required to expiate our guilt. 5. It is another motive to repentance that God “ has appointed a day in the which He will judge the world.” (John Logan.)Nature and necessity of true repentance I. It extends to the heart as well as to the practice. Every true penitent indeed has an affecting sense of the many sins and guilty imperfections of his life; but then his repentance does not stop there, but he looks into the horrid arcana, the secrets of wickedness within! He traces up these corrupt streams to the more corrupt fountain in his heart, from which they flow. David’ s repentance reached his heart. Hence in his penitential psalm (51) he not only confesses his being guilty of the blood of Uriah, but that he was shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin, and earnestly prays, “ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalms 51:5-6; Psalms 51:10). And he is deeply sensible of the want of truth or integrity in the inward parts. II. In evangelical repentance there is a deep sense of the intrinsic evil of sin and a hearty sorrow for it as done against God. Sin appears to the true penitent as some sorts of poison to us; that is, not only hateful because it is deadly and destructive, but hateful and nauseous in itself. I do not mean that the fear of punishment is no ingredient in true repentance; the love of God and self-love are very consistent, if the latter is kept in a due subordination to the former; and therefore the fear of punishment has great weight even with the evangelical penitent. But I mean the fear of punishment is not the principal, much less the only spring and motive of true repentance: the true penitent hates sin, even when he is not thinking of heaven or hell, but only viewing it in its own nature. He is also deeply sorry for sin, as against God, or as contrary to Him. As rebellion against His authority, as a contrariety to His holiness, as an opposition to His will and pleasure, as a most base, ungrateful return for all His goodness, and as the cause of all the agonies of the blessed Jesus; he hates it, he mourns over it with ingenuous and kindly relentings of heart. Nay, of so generous a nature is evangelical repentance, that the penitent soul never melts so freely, nor bursts out into such a flood of ingenuous sorrows, as when it has reason to hope that a gracious God has freely forgiven it. Then it sees the base ingratitude and complicated vileness of sin, as committed against so gracious a God. God’ s forgiving the penitent is a reason to him why he should never forgive himself. III. True repentance extends to all known sin, without exception. They are all forbidden by the same Divine authority; all contrary to the holy nature of God; all opposite to the obligations of duty and gratitude we are under to Him; and therefore they must be all repented of. This was the character of David--“ that he hated every false way” (Psalms 119:128). IV. True repentance always includes reformation. Remember that maxim of the wise man, “ He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). Observe, not only confessing, but also forsaking them, is necessary to the obtaining of mercy. The same thing appears from the various expressions used in Scripture to describe repentance. To repent, in the language of the Bible, is to depart from our evil ways; to cease to do evil and learn to do well; to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts: which expressions signify not only sorrow for sin, but especially reformation from it. In vain, therefore, do you pretend you repent, if you still go on in the sins you repent of. V. Evangelical repentance implies a believing application to God for pardon only through Jesus Christ. How opposite to this is the prevailing spirit of the world! If they repent, it is to make amends for their sins, and procure the Divine favour by their repentance, and thus even their repentance becomes a snare to them, and one cause of their destruction. In this sense, a bold saying of one of the fathers may be true: “ That more souls are destroyed by their repentance than by their sin” ; that is, sin is evidently evil, and they are in no danger of trusting in it to recommend them to God. But even their superficial servile repentance has the appearance of goodness, and therefore they make a righteousness of it; and upon this quicksand they build their hopes, till they sink into remediless ruin. I have only two or three remarks more to make for the farther illustration of this subject.1. The first is, that all the principles of degenerate nature can never produce this generous and thorough repentance, but that it is the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit. 2. The second remark is, that this generous supernatural repentance is not the first repentance of an awakened sinner. No; he is first alarmed with terror and dreadful apprehensions of punishment; and all the springs of nature are put in motion before these nobler principles are infused, and he is brought to a genuine evangelical repentance. Therefore-- 3. The only way to attain to this supernatural repentance is to use all proper means to excite the springs of natural repentance, particularly, to reflect upon your sins, upon their number and aggravation and your dreadful danger. My subject is now ripe for an application, and this shall be nothing else but a short illustration of the other parts of my text. And to the great God you must answer for your disobedience. My text tells you God commands all men to repent--all men, of all ranks and characters. This command therefore is binding upon you all. To render the call still more pointed and universal, it is added, “ He commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent.” Everywhere, in city and country; in palaces and cottages; in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, wherever the trumpet of the gospel sounds the alarm to repent; in this very spot, where we now stand. Here the command of God finds you out, and calls you to repent. Nor are you allowed to delay your compliance. Repentance is your present duty: for “ now He commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent” : now, when the times of ignorance are over, and the gospels shed heavenly day among you: now, when He will no longer wink, or connive at your impenitence, but takes strict notice of it with just indignation: now, while the day of grace lasts, and there is place left for repentance: now, before you are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and while His Spirit is striving with you: now, while you have time, which may be taken from you the next year: now, while you enjoy health of body, and the exercise of your reason; and your attention is not tied down to pain and agony: He does not allow you one hour’ s delay; and what right have you to allow it to yourselves? (S. Davies, M. A.) Acts 17:31 Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will Judge the world in righteousness. The day of judgment I. There shall be a day of judgment.1. “ A particular judgment.” At the day of death the soul hath a judgment passed upon it (Hebrews 9:27; Ecclesiastes 12:7). 2. “ A general day of judgment” ; which is the great assize, when the world shall be gathered together (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36; Psalms 96:13). II. Why there must be a day of judgment.1. That God may execute justice on the wicked. Things seem to be carried here in the world with an unequal balance (Job 29:3; Malachi 3:15). Diogenes, seeing Harpalus, a thief, go on prosperously, said [that] surely God had cast off the government of the world and minded not how things went here below (2 Peter 3:3-4). Therefore God will have a day of assize to vindicate His justice; He will let sinners know that long forbearance is no forgiveness. 2. That God may exercise mercy to the godly. Here piety was the white which was shot at (Romans 8:36). God will therefore have a day of judgment, that He may reward all the tears and sufferings of His people (Revelation 7:9). III. When the day of judgment shall be. It is certain there shall be a judgment; uncertain, when (Matthew 24:36). And the reason is--1. That we may not be curious. There are some things which God would have us ignorant of (Acts 1:7). “ It is a kind of sacrilege,” as Salvian speaks, “ for any man to break into the Holy of holies, and enter into God’ s secrets.” 2. That we may not be careless. “ God would have us live every day,” saith Austin, “ as if the last day were approaching.” This is the use [which] our Saviour makes of it (Mark 13:32-33). IV. Who shall be the judge? The Man who is God-man. We must take heed of judging others; this is Christ’ s work (John 5:22) There are two things in Christ which do eminently qualify Him for a Judge--1. Prudence and intelligence, to understand all causes that are brought before Him (Zechariah 3:9; Hebrews 4:13). Christ is “ a Heart searcher” ; He doth not only judge the fact, but the heart, which no angel can do. 2. Strength, whereby He is able to be revenged upon His enemies (Revelation 20:10). V. The order and method of the trial.1. The summons to the court (1 Thessalonians 4:16). (1) The shrillness of the trumpet. It shall sound so loud, that the dead shall hear it. (2) The efficacy of the trumpet. It shall not only startle the dead, but raise them out of their graves (Matthew 24:31). 2. The manner of the Judge’ s coming to the bench. (1) It will be glorious to the godly (Titus 2:13). (a) Christ’ s person shall be glorious. His first coming in the flesh was obscure (Isaiah 53:2-3). But His second coming will be “ in the glory of His Father” (Mark 8:38). (b) Christ’ s attendants shall be glorious (Matthew 25:31). (2) Dreadful to the wicked (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). 3. The process or the trial itself. (1) Its universality. It will be a very great assize; never was the like seen (2 Corinthians 5:10). Kings and nobles, councils and armies, those who were above all trial here, have no charter of exemption granted them. They who refused to come to “ the throne of grace” shall be forced to come to the bar of justice. And the dead as well as the living must make their appearance (Revelation 20:12); and not only men, but angels (Jude 1:6). (2) Its formality. Which consists in the opening of the books (Daniel 7:10; Revelation 20:12). (a) The book of God’ s omnisciency (Malachi 3:16). (b) The book of conscience. Men have their sins written in their conscience; but the book is clasped (the searing of the conscience is the clasping of the book); but when this book of conscience shall be unclasped at the great day, then all their hypocrisy, treason, atheism, shall appear to the view of men and angels (Luke 12:3). (3) Its circumstances. (a) Impartiality. Jesus Christ will do every man justice. The Thebans did picture their judges blind, that they might not respect persons; without hands, that they might take no bribes. Christ’ s sceptre is “ a sceptre of righteousness” (Hebrews 1:8). He is no “ respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). (b) Exactness of the trial. It will be very critical (Matthew 3:12). Not a grace or a sin but His fan will discover. (c) Perspicuity. Sinners shall be so clearly convicted, that they shall hold up their hand at the bar, and cry, “ guilty” (Psalms 51:4). The sinner himself shall clear God of injustice. (d) Supremacy. Men can remove their causes from one place to another, but from Christ’ s court there is no appeal; he who is once doomed here--his condition is irreversible. VI. The effect of the trial.1. Segregation. Christ will separate the godly and the wicked as the fan doth separate the wheat from the chaff, as a furnace separates the gold from the dross. 2. The sentence. (1) The sentence of absolution pronounced upon the godly (Matthew 25:34). (2) The sentence of condemnation pronounced upon the wicked (Matthew 25:41). The wicked once said to God, “ Depart from us” (Job 21:14); and now God will say to them, “ Depart from Me.” “ Depart from Me, in whose presence is fulness of joy.” 3. The execution (Matthew 13:30). Christ will say, “ Bundle up these sinners; here a bundle of hypocrites; there a bundle of apostates; there a bundle of profane; bundle them up, and throw them in the fire.” And now no cries or entreaties will prevail with the Judge. Conclusion:1. Let me persuade all Christians to believe this truth, that there shall be a day of judgment (Ecclesiastes 11:9). How many live as if this article were blotted out of their Creed! Durst men swear, be unchaste, live in malice, if they did believe a day of judgment? 2. See here the sad and deplorable estate of wicked men. (T. Watson, A. M.)The righteousness of final judgment In which words I observe these five particulars. I. First, an assertion of a judgment to come. He will judge the world. For the more clear apprehension of the full importance of which it is to be noted that there are two pares of Divine Providence. The former, that by which He takes notice of the actions of men in this life; the latter, that by which He brings men to account in the other world. Which two branches of Providence do mutually infer and prove each other. For on the one hand if there were no such thing as a wise eye of God that strictly observes the actions of men in this world, it were impossible there should be any judgment to come, at least not a judgment in righteousness; for how shall He judge that doth not discern? And on the other hand, if there were no judgment to come, it were to no purpose for God to concern Himself about the affairs of mankind here below. Now this doctrine is the soul and spirit of all religion, and the sinew of all government and society. It is the soul of all religion, for what doth the belief of a God signify (although we should imagine Him to be never so great, glorious and happy) if He will not trouble Himself with government; in short, if He will neither reward nor punish; virtue is then but an empty name. And it is the sinew of all government; for it is certain that plots may sometimes be laid so deep that no eye of man can discover them. And there may be such a potent confederacy of wicked men, as that they shall outface human justice, in which case, what shall keep the world from running into confusion, and becoming an hell upon earth, but the discerning eye and steady hand of Providence? II. The second observable in my text is, that there is not only a judgment to come, but that the day of it is determined. “ He hath appointed a day wherein,” etc. To adjourn to no certain time is, I think, to dissolve the court; and to appoint no day is to disappoint the business; the Almighty, therefore, hath appointed an express and solemn time for this great transaction. And indeed it is worthy of observation, that in all the great passages of Divine Providence He hath passed such an immutable decree upon them, that the time of their event can be no more casual than the very things themselves. So Exodus 12:41, the servitude of the children of Israel was determined to four hundred and thirty years, and the text tells us “ that when the four hundred and thirty years were expired, even the self-same day departed all the host of the Lord out of the land of Egypt.” Again 2 Chronicles 36:21, God had decreed to punish the nation of the Jews with seventy years captivity in Babylon, and precisely upon the expiration of that term, when the Word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah was finished, God put it into the heart of Cyrus to proclaim them liberty. III. The third observable, namely, that as the day of judgment is set, so the person of the Judge is also constituted and ordered; “ He will judge the world by that man whom He hath ordained,” etc. And as all circumstances of time, place, and persons, are evidences of fact, and assurances of the principal business, so doth this particular designation of the Judge further confirm the certainty of the judgment. And not only so, but it also opens to us the great depth of the Divine goodness, especially upon these two considerations.1. In the first place, it is wonderful decorous and becoming the Divine Majesty, and righteous towards the person of our Saviour, that He who humbled Himself to take our nature upon Him, and therein to fulfil exactly the Divine law, should in reward of this obedience and humiliation be exalted to be the Judge of the world, which He died for (Philippians 2:9). 2. Again, secondly, it wonderfully displays the Divine goodness towards us, that He should be appointed our Judge, that hath been, and yet is in our nature, that hath felt our infirmities, conflicted with the same temptations, and that withal had so much love to us as to die for us. That the Divine Majesty will not oppress us with His own glory, nor employ an archangel to pass judgment upon us, who as He hath had no commerce with a body of flesh and blood, cannot have sufficient compassion of our infirmities. IV. In the fourth particular of my text, He hath given assurance unto all men in that He raised Him from the dead. But how doth that assure us of this great and comfortable point? It is true the resurrection of our Saviour did denote Him to be some great and extraordinary person, but that is no sufficient argument that He shall be Judge of the world; the evidence therefore lies in this, our Saviour, Christ Jesus, whilst He was in the world, had often declared that He was appointed by God to judge the quick and dead, and appealed to His resurrection as the great proof of this. V. There is one particular more in my text that deserves especial consideration, and that is the manner of this judgment, or rather the measures this Judge will proceed by at that great judgment and that is in righteousness; He will judge the world in righteousness. Now in order hereto, we must first settle the Scripture notion of this phrase “ righteousness” or “ in righteousness.” And that which I first observe to this purpose is this: Nowhere in all the Scripture doth righteousness signify rigour. I say there is no such use of this word in Scripture, when applied to God’ s dealings, no, nor yet when it is applied to men; a severe, harsh, rigorous man is so far from being a righteous man in the style of Scripture, that He is quite under another character. But to come home to the business, the full of my observation touching the Scripture notion of the phrase in my text is this, that δικαιοσύνη, or righteousness, is always used there in a comprehensive sense, so as to take in not only justice and uprightness, and impartiality, and the like, but also goodness, kindness, equity, clemency, candour, and mercy. “ In righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity (Psalms 98:1-9, last verse). Where, as world and people are equivalent expressions, and interpret each other, so are righteousness and equity made to be expressive of each other. Now agreeably to this notion, I will, by the guidance of the same holy Scripture, endeavour to represent the measures of that great day.1. Christ Jesus, the Judge of all the world, will not at the last day proceed arbitrarily with men, but according to known laws; that is, He will not absolve and save any merely because He hath decreed so to do (Revelation 2:23; 2 Corinthians 5:10). Indeed in this world God doth deal by prerogative, and dispenses the means of grace as well as other favours, as He pleases, from whence it comes to pass, that greater advantages are conferred upon some people than other, but this is not the case at the end of the world, when God comes to demonstrate His justice and righteousness. And besides, wherefore is the Judge said to be the searcher of hearts, if He proceed proleptically upon bare resolution or determination? Why is He said to separate the sheep from the goats, if He make a distinction without a difference? Why is it called a fiery trial if there be no discrimination; and in a word, if He save and damn by prerogative? 2. The Judge of the world will not be partial, or use any respect of persons; that is, He will neither acquit nor condemn any man or men whatsoever, in consideration of external circumstances. As for kindred and family, the Jews were wont to bear themselves in hand with their lineage and descent, that they were Abraham’ s seed. God will sooner exert His omnipotency in the most improbable miracle that ever He wrought, than admit an unholy person into heaven upon the pretence of kindred and consanguinity. And as for sect and opinion, it is notoriously evident that there is no opinion so orthodox, nor party so canonical, but an evil man may be of it, and at that day nothing will pass current for the sake of the public stamp upon it, but according to the intrinsic value; for all shall be weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. To this head I refer also, that this righteous Judge is capable of no fondness or indulgence, will be wrought upon by no flattery, will value nothing that men can either do or suffer for Him without an holy temper, an habitually pious and virtuous life, and such qualifications inherent as fit a man for the kingdom of heaven. 3. So just and righteous will be the proceedings at this great tribunal, that as no man shall be saved for the righteousness of another, so neither shall any man be damned for the sin of another, but every man shall bear his own burden. Whatever it may please the Divine Majesty to do in this world, where His inflictions are not so properly revenged or the expletion of justice, as methods of mercy to reclaim men from sin; yet most certainly at that day the sons shall not bear the iniquity of the fathers, but every man shall bear his own burden, and the soul only that sinneth shall die. 4. This Judge of all the world will at that great day candidly interpret men’ s actions, and make the very best of things that the case will bear. Now touching this the tenor of the whole gospel assures us that our merciful Judge will not watch advantages against men, will not insist upon punctilios, but principally looks at the sincerity of men’ s intentions (Matthew 25:34). But that which I principally note in this place is the benignity of His interpretation, for when the righteous say, “ Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered,” He replies, “ Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these,” etc., as if He had said, I know the sincerity of your intentions, and I take notice of the virtuous temper from whence those actions of yours proceeded; ‘ tis the heart I value more than the thing done, or the opportunity of doing. 5. The admirable equity of the great and final judgment is this, That the glory and happiness of good men in the other world shall be increased proportionably to the measures of their difficulties, sufferings, and calamities here in this world. The apostle tells us, “ That as one star differeth from another in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead.” (J. Goodman, D. D.)Judgment inevitable When the buried city of Pompeii was unearthed, there was found in a little stone room a circle of men lying dead around a table. They had been invited as watchers before a funeral, to remain with the corpse through the night, while the fatigued relatives rested. According to custom, a feast had been prepared as an offering to the departed spirit. These disinterested and honourable friends thought to help themselves to a moiety of the delicate provisions, and were led on to eat the viands and quaff the wine. Just in the midst of their unholy revel the ashes began to fall, the sulphurous vapours poured in, and they were strangled in the act. The city was soon covered deep under the discharge from the burning mountain--buildings all concealed, streets all filled up; and so two thousands of years passed on. Now that whole transaction, in all its dishonesty and unutterable meanness, has reached the light. The bodies of the watchers and the body of the dead they pretended to watch were lying together there in the midst of the excavations. Ages rolled away before men’ s eyes saw it, but God the All-seeing was aware of the infamous cheat from the moment it was perpetrated. Oh, how sober, and yet how startling, will be the disclosures of secret iniquity, hidden sins, Sabbath hypocrisy, and ungenuine life, in the great light of the future judgment, as it comes to reveal them in the dawn of eternity! (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The resurrection a judgment There are two moments in the history of this world in which the veil is drawn off from God’ s government, and it is seen, without any doubt or confusion, how He gives judgment clearly and decisively on the side of goodness and truth. One of these moments is of course to come, the other is past. God, indeed, is far from leaving His judgment without witness in the history of the world. God rewards and punishes now. But human life, as we look at it from the outside, is still full of darkness and perplexity. The perfect and final and manifest clearing up of God’ s judgment on what men think and do is not now. It is not till the end and time of mortality, when the Judge sits upon the throne, that this will be pronounced, so that none can doubt it. And in the course of the world there is but one other such occasion like it in its awfulness, like it in its clearness. It was when He who had been condemned as a sinner for the cause of truth and goodness, was raised again by the glory of the Father on the third day. Christ suffered for righteousness, and in Him righteousness was justified before the world, and in anticipation of that great day when righteousness shall finally triumph. Many men, before and after Him, have suffered for righteousness, but their righteousness was left to the varying and contradictory judgments of men. It seemed, as far as present experience went, as if they had found only evil, by keeping innocency and cleaving to the thing that was right. It was faith only that dared to trust against the melancholy resignation of experience. But in Christ the spectacle which had in others been only begun was shown also finished. The world had often looked on the sight of righteousness defeated and overthrown; it had seen the beginning of its course, but not how it was to end. But, for once, in Christ there was shown to men on earth both the beginning and the end. Never before had such righteousness suffered. On the other hand, never before had it been so unanswerably justified. “ Now is the judgment of this world,” said our Lord, when He was about to suffer. The world had doubted whether God did judge and rule the course of things on earth. “ Where,” it had asked, “ was the God of judgment,” and in the person of Jesus Christ, the representative of the human race, the challenge was answered; the world itself was to be judged. In Jesus Christ the boast of wickedness was made in all its insolence. But in Jesus Christ the proof of righteousness, of righteousness in man’ s real nature, was not put off till the world to come. In that tremendous breaking through the laws of mortality and death, we see the answer to the challenge of the world, and may be sure that it will be well with the righteous. Of this God hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised “ the crucified from the dead.” I am not sure that we always adequately understand how strong a faith it must have needed before Christ rose to believe this in earnest. Good men did believe it. The Psalms are full of this belief; but they are full, too, of its difficulty. They trusted like children to their general confidence in the goodness of the Lord, in spite of death; they were sure that, somehow or other, they would “ see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” But to us the proof has been given. And I am not sure that we always understand how, even still, that faith needs all the support which God has given it. The power of sin is unabated. The righteous and the sinner seem left alike to find their way through life. But when our hearts fail us, when the world mocks us, let us go back as Christians did in the days of the apostles, to the open, empty grave of the Lord--let us rise up in thought and feeling to the unspeakable preciousness of that foundation stone of all human hopes--“ but now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.” No triumph of evil now can equal what happened when He suffered for us and was put to shame; “ but now is Christ risen from the dead” --“ now is the judgment of the world.” (Dean Church.)The day of judgment The day when Lord Exeter was tried for high treason; the day when the House of Commons moved for the impeachment of Lord Lovatt; the day when Charles I and Queen Caroline were put upon trial; the day when Robert Emmet was arraigned as an insurgent; the day when Blenner-hasset was brought into the court room because he had tried to overthrow the United States Government, and all the other great trials of the world are nothing compared with the great trial in which you and I shall appear, summoned before the Judge of quick and dead. There will be no pleading there “ the statute of limitation” ; no “ turning State’ s evidence,” trying to get off ourselves, while others suffer; no “ moving for a non-suit.” The case will come on inexorably, and we shall be tried. You, my brother, who have so often been advocate for others, will then need an advocate for yourself. Have you selected him? The Lord Chancellor of the Universe. If any man sin we have an advocate--Jesus Christ the righteous. It is uncertain when your case will be called on. “ Be ye also ready.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)Whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.--The doctrine of a future judgment confirmed by the resurrection of Christ I. An express declaration of God concerning a future and general judgment. He hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the world. It must be owned that the natural proofs of a judgment to come, had it not been made an article of our faith, are very strong and cogent. The promiscuous distribution of the blessings and evils of this life to wicked and good men. The triumphs of injustice, and notorious oppression of right, and that not for a short time, but for a course of many years, have been all along made an argument that the Judge of all the earth will one day do right, and justify the wise though unsearchable methods of His providence in this world, by rewarding the innocent and bringing the successful and presumptuous sinner to condign punishment. And indeed there is nothing more true or certain in fact than what Solomon observes (Ecclesiastes 8:14, etc.), But though this and several other proofs, which are drawn from natural religion, of a judgment to come should be allowed not only highly probable, but very evident, it must be owned, notwithstanding a great happiness to mankind in general, that God has been pleased to make this natural principle an article of our Christian faith. For by this means those who are not able to reason justly on the nature of things, or to carry on a long train of proofs, are convinced of the truth of a future judgment upon the authority of God. II. The justice and equity wherewith God will proceed in judging the world--“ He hath appointed a day wherein He will judge the world” in righteousness. The justice of the proceedings at that day will appear in this, that God, in rewarding and punishing men, will make a more visible distinction between the wicked and the good than He ordinarily does in this life. Herein also lies the justice of the great and last court of judicature that no partial record shall be had to any persons on account of their superior quality, fortune, or other advantages in this world. To show the impartial execution of justice at that day, we have a particular enumeration of the men of the earth who have abused their power, their authority, or wealth to sinful ends and a very lively image and the horror of despair which will then seize them (Revelation 6:15-17). III. The designation of the person who is to be our judge. “ That Man whom He hath ordained.” It might perhaps have been thought more suitable to the awful solemnity of the last day, and the dignity and glory wherein Christ will then appear, if He had been described in the character of Judge as the Son of God, the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, or in those other magnificent terms wherein He is so often spoken of in the prophetical writings. But still it is more suitable to the state and condition of mankind, and His tender compassion towards them, that when He speaks of coming to judge the world He should rather give us an idea of His human than His Divine nature. For indeed, when we consider the infinite persecutions of the Divine nature, and at what an infinite distance our sins have separated us from it, had the eternal God Himself, without the interposal of a Mediator, thought fit to convene the world in judgment before Him. Alas! the best of men would have been so oppressed with the thoughts of His glory, and their own demerits, that they must of necessity, even under their best grounded hopes, have sunk into great despondency of mind. He that has assumed our nature, and done and suffered so much for us in it, will certainly show all the lenity and tenderness to it which the terms of evangelical obedience will admit. IV. We have here a very particular and extraordinary circumstance to convince us of the truth and certainty of Christ’ s coming to judge the world, and that is by His resurrection from the dead. The miracles which were done by our Saviour throughout the whole course of His ministry carried a sufficient proof and attestation along with them of the truths which He taught, for no one could have done those things which He did in the most open and public manner without the assistance of a Divine power. Now this being one great article of the religion He came to preach and establish that God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world, it may be said, What need was there of any further witness to confirm this article? Or why, when it was sufficiently confirmed before, was there so great stress laid on the resurrection of Christ for the proof of it? But still there was something peculiar in what related to the resurrection of Christ which rendered it an argument of the truth of His religion more proper to persuade the generality of men and to convince gainsayers than the rest of His miracles. For--1. He bad Himself appealed to this testimony as one great proof and characteristic of His Divine mission and authority (John 2:16). And therefore, besides that His resurrection was a miraculous and extraordinary event, exceeding the powers of nature, it was an argument of His being inspired with a prophetic Spirit, and that God, who alone appropriates to Himself the knowledge of future events, was in this respect also with Him. 2. The caution which the Jews used to prevent, if possible, the resurrection of Christ, gave the greater force to the arguments we draw in proof of our holy religion from it. So that His very enemies, who would fasten so chimerical an imputation upon Him, must confess at least that His resurrection could not be effected by it, but that He was raised by a power truly Divine. 3. Again, whereas it might have been objected that His other miracles were done before people of obscure and mean circumstances, before a company of illiterate Galileans, and the credulous multitude upon whom it is no difficult matter for men of parts and dexterity at any time to impose; though this objection is easily answered, from the public manner of our Saviour’ s working His miracles, and His propounding them afterwards to the examination of His greatest enemies, the Pharisees, yet in His resurrection the very ground of these surmises is quite removed. There could be no artifice used on so remarkable and extraordinary an occasion. 4. There is something in the very nature of the thing itself apt to persuade men, from the resurrection of Christ, that the doctrines which He taught were true, and that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. For though every miracle is above the ordinary course and powers of nature, and supposes certain changes of bodies which cannot be accounted for according to the established order of things; yet where all the bodily powers of a man are rendered incapable of acting, and all the springs of life are entirely broken, it still seems less conceivable how He should either be able to work any change upon other bodies, or to restore His own body again to life. Conclusion:1. If God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world, let us have it often in our thoughts, and carefully practise the duties preparative to it. 2. If God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world in righteousness, then it highly concerns us as we expect to stand in judgment before Him, to take care that we live and die in a holy and righteous state. 3. Since our Blessed Saviour, in speaking of the last judgment, is pleased more peculiarly to style Himself the Son of Man. This consideration will mightily fortify all true penitents against those black and desponding thoughts which are sometimes apt to arise in the minds of very good men. How great or numerous soever our sins have been, yet if we have humbled ourselves before God, and truly repented of them, we know that the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to expiate their guilt. 4. As by the resurrection of Christ we have a more full and express assurance of a future judgment than we could have had from the mere light of reason, let this consideration excite us to walk worthy of so bright and glorious an evidence. Let us resolve to live, not as persons that have some probable notions and conjectures about such a thing, but as men who fully and in earnest believe that we must one day appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (R. Fiddes, D. D.) Acts 17:32-34 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.Mocking at the truth “ This has been one of the worst nights,” says Mr. Bampton, an Indian missionary, “ I ever endured. Mockery! mockery! cruel mockery, almost unbearable! I talked for a while, and was heard by some, on the blessings to be enjoyed by faith in Christ, when a man came with a hell-hardened countenance, and that peculiar constant laugh which I can hardly bear. The burden of his cry was ‘ Juggernaut is the foundation! Juggernaut is completely God! Victory to Juggernaut!’ He clapped his hands, he shouted, he laughed, and induced the rest, or a great part of them, to do the same. On the ground of reason I fear no one, and rage I commonly bear very well; but these everlasting laughing buffoons are nearly too much for me. It is my own great care, that amidst a reviling, laughing crowd, I do not seem abashed.” (Biblical Museum.)Sneering is the natural fault of the predominance of the mere intellect unaccompanied by any corresponding growth and liveliness of the moral affections, particularly admiration of moral excellence. (T. Arnold, D. D.)We will hear thee again of this matter. Fatal procrastination In the cathedral at Genoa there is an emerald vase which is said to have been one of the gifts of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. Its authentic history goes back eight hundred years. The tradition is that when King Solomon received it he filled it with an elixir which he alone knew how to distil, and of which a single drop would prolong human life to an indefinite extent. A miserable criminal, dying of slow disease in prison, besought the king to give him a drop of this magic potion. Solomon refused. “ Why should I prolong so useless a life?” he said. “ I will give it to those whose lives will bless their fellow men.” But when good men begged for it the king was in an ill-humour, or too indolent to open the vase, or he promised and forgot. So the years passed until he grew old, and many of the friends whom he loved were dead; and still the vase had never been opened. Then the king, to excuse himself, threw doubt upon the virtues of the elixir. At last he himself fell ill. Then his servants brought the vase that he might save his own life. He opened it. But it was empty. The elixir had evaporated to the last drop. Did not the rabbi or priest who invented this story intend to convey in it a great truth? Have we not all within us a vessel more precious than any emerald, into which God has put a portion of the water of life? It is for our own healing--for the healing of others. We hide it, we do not use it--for false shame, or idleness, or forgetfulness. Presently we begin to doubt its efficacy. When death approaches, we turn to it in desperate haste. But the neglected faith has left the soul. The vase is empty. The effects of the sermon Learn--1. That whatever might be the diversity in the positions, talents, and sentiments of men, the doctrines of the true religion are important to all. To the “ Jews,” “ Epicureans,” and “ Stoics,” the apostle proclaimed the same doctrines. 2. That whatever might be the power with which the great verities of the true religion are urged, a necessary and uniform result is not to be expected. The same tool, wielded by the same hand, and with the same force and skill, could produce the same effect upon the same species of stone, metal, or timber; but the same doctrines urged by the same man, at the same time produce widely different results in the same place upon the same congregation. Here are three moral classes:--Some amongst his audience heard him-- I. With derisive incredulity. “ Some mocked.” The Epicureans would especially do this. They denied a future state, and regarded death as an eternal sleep. Three things would probably induce them to ridicule this doctrine.1. It stood opposed to their preconceived notions. Many a sceptic rejects Christianity on this same ground. How foolish, how arrogant is this! Are their little notions the measure, the sum of all truth? 2. It was apparently improbable to them. Are not the generations of men reduced to dust? Have not the particles of which their bodies were composed been wrought into the texture of every species and form of plant and of animal life? Where are the symptoms of a resurrection? But how foolish this The men who saw the priests endeavouring to level the walls of Jericho, by blowing in the rams’ horn, would probably “ mock” them on this account, but the wails fell notwithstanding. Lot seemed as one that “ mocked unto his sons-in-law,” when he warned them of the approaching judgment; but the tempest of fire came albeit, etc. 3. He who proclaimed the doctrine to them was not a recognised teacher. He did not belong to their school. He was a poor Jew. What did he, therefore, know about these things? II. With a procrastinating resolve. “ Others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.” Probably these were some of the Stoics, who believed in a future state, and who were disposed to give the subject a little attention at some future time. This procrastinating of the subject of religion is exceedingly foolish, because--1. It is, of all subjects, the most important. 2. Because an important step towards its reception has been taken when an interest has been created. 3. Any portion of future time is very uncertain, and even should it be vouchsafed, the existing interest may never be renewed. A “ more convenient season” may never come. III. With practical faith. “ Howbeit certain men clave unto him,” etc. These two names suggest--That Christianity is alike suited to both sexes. Let the woman stand as the representative of the intuitional power, and the man as the logical. Or let the woman stand as the representative of those who have to attend to the more private and domestic duties, and the man as the representative of those who have to be out in the open world--in the field, the market, the shop, the senate house--battling with difficulties. Christianity is great enough for the greatest, and simple enough for the simplest. Conclusion: From the whole we may learn--(1) That the gospel is moral in its influence upon the world. It does not bear man down by violence and force. (2) That the gospel is not to be restricted to any class. (3) That ministers should not despair for want of success. Though some deride and some procrastinate, some will believe. (D. Thomas, D. D.)So Paul departed from among them.-- Paul’ s adieu to Athens He leaves Athens-- I. Having considerably altered its spiritual condition.1. He left it a new stimulus to thought. He gave to their understandings a new theory of the universe, a new method to happiness, a new manifestation of God. 2. He increased its responsibility. Responsibility is measured by privileges. Athens had been highly favoured; but Paul gave more of the Divine in thought to them than all their philosophers. O Athens, better a thousand times that Paul had never entered thee than that thou shouldst fail in the new-imposed responsibility! II. With a heightened estimate of Christianity. The apostle made a great experiment in taking the gospel to Athens. He had undoubtedly heard about their great sages, and was perhaps acquainted with their systems of thought. He had no doubt received a deep impression of the inventiveness, energy, and aesthetics of their intellect in the architecture and statuary of their city. How will such men, he may have asked, regard the tale I have to tell them of Jesus of Nazareth? But after his sermon on Mars’ Hill, all these misgivings would give place to an unbounded confidence in the glory of his message. Christianity has been tested by every school of philosophy, every grade of intellect, and by every system of religion, and it has always come forth the triumphant power. How unbounded, therefore, should be our confidence! III. Never perhaps to visit it any more. There is something very affecting in a parting of this kind. It was affecting to see Moses leaving Pharaoh to meet him no more until the judgment; the young lawyer leaving Christ, going away sorrowful; and now Paul leaving Athens. Though he would not return to them again--1. He had discharged his conscience, and was clear of their blood. 2. He would be engaged in the diffusion of the gospel. He was off to Corinth, and thence on, for his gospel was a gospel for humanity. 3. Though he would not return to them again, he would anticipate meeting them at the retribution. He had told them of a day of judgment, and on that day he would meet them. (D. Thomas, D. D.). Acts 18:1-28; Acts 19:1-7 And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches. Paul as a model for all gospel ministers He recognises the importance of-- I. Establishing new converts in the faith. In this visit he does not break new ground, but goes over the old scenes. Who that remembers the treatment which he met with at Lystra can fail to admire his magnanimity and dauntless heroism in entering this place again? Note in relation to his confirmatory work--1. The method (Acts 16:4). He carried with him wherever he went, and expounded, the apostolic letter from Jerusalem (Acts 15:23-29). 2. The success (Acts 16:5). Here was-- (1) Moral increase--“ established in the faith.” Their views became clearer; their principles struck a deeper root; their attachment to Christ attained a greater strength. Their religion passed from the region of theories and feelings into their heart and life. (2) Numerical increase--“ increased in number daily.” Let Christians improve in character, and converts will multiply daily. This confirmatory work is preeminently the work of Christians in this age and land of ours. A reconverted Church is essential to the conversion of the world. II. Enlisting true coadjutors in the work. Off the page of history stands there a man more brave, mighty, self-dependent than Paul. Yet he needs a companion. He lost Barnabas, and he “ chose Silas,” and took with him Timotheus. Christ knew our social needs, and hence, in sending out His disciples and apostles, He sent them in twos. One supplements the deficiencies of the other; in the breast of one there lies a spark to rekindle the waning fire of the other’ s zeal. He selected the best man as his social helper. In a great work, link not yourselves to spiritually common men when you may get moral peers and princes. III. Accommodating himself to public sentiment. The Jews believed in circumcision. Although the rite was no longer binding, it was not yet a moral wrong; and hence Paul, in accommodation to the popular sentiment, circumcises Timothy. His fixed line of procedure was to act on the cities through the synagogues. But such a course would have been impossible had not Timothy been circumcised (Acts 21:29). The very intercourse of social life would have been almost impossible, for it was still “ an abomination” for the circumcised to eat with the uncircumcised. In all this Paul was consistent with himself, with his own grand axiom, “ I am all things to all men, that I might save some.” IV. Yielding to the dictates of the Divine Spirit (Acts 16:6-8).1. There is a Divine Spirit, and that Spirit has access to the human spirit. 2. If we are the true ministers of Christ, His Spirit, according to tits promise, is with us--“ Lo, I am with you always.” (1) The will of that Spirit must be obeyed: to oppose that is sin, weakness, ruin.(2) The will of that Spirit is knowable: He gives indications by impressions within and by events without. (D. Thomas, D. D.). Acts 18:2-4 And found a certain Jew named Aquila … with his wife Priscilla.Aquila and Priscilla No book is less systematic than the Bible, yet none has so complete a code of faith and duty. Its statements of principles and directions for conduct, again, are not always on the surface, but often where we should least expect them. Through the indirect teaching of an example, though words dropped incidentally, by the relation of casual circumstances, we learn to “ understand what the will of the Lord is.” In the case of Onesimus, e.g., we face the problem of slavery, and see how Christianity deals with it, not by violence but by forbearance and the sense of justice. Julius the centurion reminds us of the value and duty of courtesy (Acts 27:3; Acts 27:31; Acts 27:43); Timothy of the necessity of a religious education; and Aquila and Priscilla that the true unit of social life in the Church is found in married life. We have, of course, conjugal duties laid down very clearly and fully by Peter (1 Peter 3:1-7) and Paul (Ephesians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:18-19), but there are some things in the relation of married life to the Church which no mere catalogue of duties could have taught; and it is remarkable that in the history of each of these apostles there is notice of a married couple in the one case as a warning, in the other as a useful example. Ananias and Sapphira warn us that a curse instead of a blessing may enter the circle which should be the holiest and happiest on earth, and that husband and wife, instead of strengthening one another in doing and suffering God’ s will, may make one another strong and fearless in sin and shame. Turning to our subject, note-- I. The meeting of St. Paul with Aquila and Priscilla. We have here an illustration of the providential opportunities of life. They had been brought to Rome through the exigencies of trade. Thence in consequence of the emperor’ s edict they moved eastward, possibly intending to return to Pontus, and meanwhile exercising their craft in Corinth, which lay on their route. At that moment Paul was moving southward to the same place. The synagogue would be, of course, one bond of union, but another was found in their common trade. Here we see the unexpected blessing which came to Paul through having learnt tent making. Such a meeting was remarkable, yet it occurred, as have many of our own God-provided meetings, in the natural order of events. One of our greatest responsibilities consists in the right use of such providential opportunities. This meeting secured for Paul, at a critical time, a close friendship which--1. Enabled him to further his religious work, as we shall see more fully further on. 2. Provided solace for him when much needed. He was alone and discouraged. The profligacy of Corinth must have been a perpetual distress to him, and all the associations of the place must have been alien from his sympathies. How much, then, must he have valued the home he unexpectedly found at this time. II. Their removal to Ephesus (Acts 18:18). Possibly Paul’ s movements determined theirs, or the exigencies of business may have afforded him an opportunity for accomplishing part of his journey to Jerusalem. No doubt arrangements were made for them to continue the work begun by Paul at Ephesus, and to prepare for more systematic work on his return. And an occasion soon presented itself in the case of Apollos, whose willingness to learn, and from a woman, notwithstanding his zeal and the admiration which his talents excited, is worthy of imitation. But on their side we are to note the zeal for Christ which made them quick sighted in discovering his capabilities, and their devotion to the task of equipping him more completely for his high service. Their sound judgment and mature character fitted them for the task, in which a great part must be assigned to the ready sympathy and tact of Priscilla, which teaches us the responsible and efficient part which women have to play in advancing God’ s kingdom, Note, too, how their work at Ephesus reacted on the place where they first met with Paul. He had instructed them at Corinth; they instruct Apollos at Ephesus; and then he passes to Corinth to “ water” where the apostle had “ planted” (Acts 18:26 cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6). So true it is that the streams of God’ s providence move hither and thither, and often turn back to the place from which they originally moved. III. Their reunion with Paul at Ephesus. Again (1 Corinthians 16:19, which was written from Ephesus), we are invited to look at Christianity from its domestic side, than which no side is more important, and English religion is to be congratulated on its recognition of it in the institution of family worship. But turning back to these times the phrase, “ the Church that is in their house” suggests hospitality on its heroic side. The home of Aquila was the acknowledged meeting place of Christians for worship and mutual help, and this involved persecution. From being a place of comfort and protection for Paul, it became one for all Christ’ s followers, and thus for Christ Himself (Matthew 25:35; Matthew 25:40). IV. Their residence at Rome (Romans 16:3-5). Once more their hospitality is prominent; but more. They are said by the apostle not only to have been “ his helpers in Christ Jesus,” but to have “ laid down their necks for His sakes” probably at Ephesus, for which not only the apostle gives thanks, “ but all the Churches of the Gentiles,” beginning with that of Corinth, and surely including those of today. V. The last notice of them is in Paul’ s latest Epistle (2 Timothy 4:19). The friendship, tried and strengthened through such a variety of experience, continued to the end. The sharers of the salutation are “ the household of Onesiphorus,” so that the domestic aspect of Christian life is doubly made conspicuous and charming at the very close of Paul’ s career. Conclusion: Aquila and Priscilla were examples of the combination of active Christianity with industrial life; but it is well to emphasise the lesson above indicated. Wedded life in combination with active Christianity is the very central point of the safety and happiness of society. (Dean Howson.)And because he was of the same craft he abode with them. Paul’ s independence At this time Paul was miserably poor; he had hardly enough to eat and drink; he was tolerably ragged and out at elbows, no doubt. He was more alone than usual. He had to work first, but work has a way of coming to willing hands. Aquila and Priscilla, respectable Jews, kept a shop--tent and mat makers they were. They let Paul have a room, and he at once sat steadily down to mat weaving. He might certainly have posed as a teacher of some note--a gifted man, an advanced Rabbi, as indeed he was; he might have set up a school, taken fees, and accepted board and lodging from his admirers; instead of which he worked with his hands. His instinct as usual, was right, as is apparent from the fact that, as it was, he was accused of raising money out of the Corinthians for his own purposes, because he was so eager about the collections for the poor saints at Jerusalem. He could then turn and remind them that although the labourer was worthy of his hire he had never taken any hire of them, nor had Titus, nor Timothy. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)By their occupation they were tent makers.-- Paul’ s trade The staple manufacture of his native city was the weaving, first into ropes, then into tent covers and garments of the hair of the goat flocks of the Taurus. As the making of these cilicia was unskilled labour of the commonest kind, the trade of tent maker was one both lightly esteemed and miserably paid. It must not, however, be inferred from this that the family of St. Paul were people of low position. The learning of a trade was a duty enjoined by the Rabbis on the parents of every Jewish boy. Gamaliel himself said that “ learning of any kind, even the advanced study of the law, unaccompanied by a trade, ends in nothing and leads to sin.” R. Judah said truly that “ labour honours the labourer,” and that not to teach one’ s son a trade is like teaching him robbery. The wisdom of this rule became apparent in the case of Paul, as doubtless of hundreds besides, when the changes and chances of life compelled him to earn his livelihood. It is clear from the education provided for Paul that his parents could have little conjectured how absolutely their son would be reduced to depend on so unremunerative a toil. The reason why this was chosen may have been purely local; perhaps his father had been taught the same trade. “ A man should not change his trade, nor that of his father,” says R. Yochanan. But though we see how much he felt the burden of the wretched labour by which he determined to earn his own bread rather than trespass on the charity of his converts (1 Thessalonians 2:6-9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 9:12-15), yet it had one advantage in being so absolutely mechanical as to leave the thought entirely free. While he plaited the black, strong-scented goat’ s hair, he might be soaring in thought to the inmost heaven, or holding high converse with Apollos or Aquila, with Luke or Timothy, on the loftiest themes which can engage the thought of man. (Archdeacon Farrar.)Paul in the workshop I. An admonitory example to preachers. Though the apostle’ s manner of acting is now no longer suitable for the ministerial office, yet by the disposition manifested in it, he puts to shame ministerial spiritual pride and unspiritual luxury and sloth. II. An encouraging example for the artisan. Be not ashamed of thy trade, for every honourable occupation is well pleasing to God; but in thy trade be not ashamed of God and thy Christianity. Thus in trade a man may be a servant of God and an apostle among his associates. (K. Gerok.)Tent making in Corinth Peter the Great was a shipbuilder, and worked at a forge. The late Emperor of Germany learned the business of a bookbinder; and one of the Queen’ s sons is a practical sailor. A number of Christ’ s disciples were fishermen. Our Lord Himself was a carpenter. And Paul had been reared to the trade of a tent maker in his early years, and resumed it as an occupation when necessities fell upon him to undertake the work of personal support. I. The details of this artisan life he lived is Corinth.1. It was an honourable craft whose products were useful and valuable. Some occupations no one can follow, and keep his Christian profession clean. 2. Paul sought consistent partners in his business. God guided him when he “ found” Aquila and Priscilla. It is false and mean to choose false and mean men for associates, and then charge the meanness of the “ concern” upon them. 3. Paul pursued his work honestly. “ Holiness to the Lord,” could have been embroidered on the cilicia canopies as the company trade mark (Zechariah 14:20). We have not the slightest doubt that he always knotted his thread when he took up his needle, that he pulled each stitch through conscientiously as in the sight of God, and that he fastened the end of it when he finished the seam. For we do not see how those people could have had family prayers, unless they knew they had been “ doing successful business on Christian principles.” 4. Paul held his business cautiously in hand, and never let it interfere with his religious life. He looked on tent making as a means to an end. That establishment was “ closed on Saturdays.” Regularly Paul attended the best service he could find; and he preached everywhere he could get an audience. 5. Paul used his opportunities wisely even when hardest at work. Probably he was the instrument in Aquila’ s conversion. Think of the glorious talks they had together. II. The effect of his working at his trade upon his profession as a Christian preacher. I. It illustrated his often-repeated maxims concerning the dignity of honest labour (2 Thessalonians 3:7-13). This busy apostle evidently believed that there was no room for drones in a Christian have. This is a most active world; there is something for every healthy soul to do. The spectacle offered whenever one saw his spiritual leader, was worth a hundred eloquent sermons against indolence. If any further illustration is needed, think of his address to the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20:32-35).2. It removed all ground of cavil as to his making a gain out of godliness. There was some reason for his peculiar solicitude in this vain and fastidious city. 3. It showed his consideration for his poorer brethren. It is very touching to read 1 Corinthians 4:11-16. Oh, how quickly troubled common people listen to one who talks like that! 4. It gave evidence of his supreme love for Christ. What could he do more? (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)The necessity of an occupation, and the right way of pursuing it St. Paul, like every minister, had a right to support; but there were good reasons why he should here waive it.1. He wished to show an example of quiet industry. Some had been unduly excited, and thrown out of their ordinary pursuits by the revelations and influences of Christianity; it would sober them, and help them back to a regular life if they saw their apostle, who had been favoured with the most extraordinary revelations, earning his bread. 2. He was pleased to be able to feel that his preaching was gratuitous. 3. Having a trade gave scope for the graces of self-denial and almsgiving. 4. He followed the example of His Master, who followed the trade of a carpenter. 5. Ballast was given to his mind by work, very necessary to steady it when it was rocked by strong emotions. 6. His work being a handicraft, left his mind comparatively free for prayer and meditation. One can imagine that God would often visit him in his work, in accordance with the usual plan on which Divine visions and calls are vouchsafed, as shown in the cases of Gideon, Elisha, David, Matthew, Peter. And possibly as Paul was stitching his tents there may have come across his mind thoughts of the fleeting nature of the present and the durable character of the future habitation of the spirit. “ For we know that if the earthly house of the tent were dissolved,” etc. I. For most there is an occupation made ready to their hands. How then shall they draw into spiritual account their daily task?1. Firmly settle it in the mind that it is the task assigned to us by Providence, which God will inspect, and approve or disapprove according to our industry or indolence. 2. Never allow ourselves to think of it as a hindrance to piety. Think of it as contributing to health and cheerfulness of mind, as a steadying influence, preventing mental extravagances. 3. Remember how often God has come across men in their daily task. 4. Aim rather at doing well what is done, rather than getting through much. Hurry is very prejudicial to our moral well-being. Resolutely refuse to attend to more than one thing at a time. God’ s will is to be done in earth as it is in heaven: can we imagine restless impulsiveness among the angels? “ Rivers,” says Francis of Sales, “ which slide peaceably through the valleys, bear great boats and rich merchandise; and rain which falls gently on the fields makes them fruitful in grass and corn; but torrents and rivers, which run rapidly, ruin the bordering country, and are unprofitable for traffic; and tempestuous rains furrow the fields. Never was work well done with too much violence and earnestness.” II. But in all pursuits there are intermissions. Those who nourish a high spiritual ambition will turn these to spiritual account. However devoutly we may work, when we follow our trade it is for ourselves; but in our leisure moments we may do something gratuitously for the cause of Christ. This is what Paul did. Many say, “ But my work puts such a strain upon me that I am fit for nothing at the end of the day.” To this the reply is that a more responsible and anxious occupation than Paul’ s never fell to any man’ s lot; and yet he found time to earn enough to support himself and to relieve the wants of others. Probably if we did our work in a brighter and less anxious spirit it would wear us less. And then in our leisure moments some Church work--be it teaching, or visiting, or extra labour for charities--there would be the thought of its gratuitousness to uphold us, and a feeling of security, from the circumstance of self-denial, would be wrought in the soul. III. There are those who are not called upon to work for a livelihood. Reading, it may be said, is the suitable occupation for such--being a means of mental cultivation and self-improvement. But reading without any outcome hardly constitutes an occupation such as the Christian mind craves, in a world whose ignorance, misery, and sin requires, not self-improvement, but such definite work as shall bear on the physical, intellectual, and moral good of our fellow creatures. Let every unoccupied Christian choose one of the many fields of Church work, determining which it shall be by the pointings of God’ s finger in Providence, and by the direction in which his instinct, powers, and capacities lead him. IV. The advantage which manual work has over mental. It is with the spirit that God, who is a Spirit, is to be served. That the outward pursuits, then, should make as little demand upon it as possible is an advantage of which a devout soul may avail itself. Paul’ s thoughts, doubtless, were with his Master, while he was making his tents. Intellectual pursuits may be nobler than handicraft; but there is a spirit in man, and if a handicraft gives greater scope for the action of the spirit--if the husbandman as he digs his field, the lacewoman as she plies her bobbins, the shepherd as he tends his flocks, are free to feed their spirits the while with the thought of God’ s power, wisdom, and goodness, they are more than compensated for their intellectual loss by their spiritual gain. (Dean Goulburn.)Christian journeymen on their travels I. The dangers in the strange country. The temptations in luxurious Corinth. II. The acquaintance by the way. Aquila, etc. III. The work at the trade (verse 3). IV. The care for the soul.1. God’ s Word.2. Sanctification of the Sabbath (verse 4). (K. Gerok.)Weekly labour and Sabbath sanctification 1. Weekly labour creates hunger and thirst after Sabbath rest and Sabbath fare. 2. Sabbath sanctification imparts strength and pleasure to the daily work of life. (K. Gerok.)The value of a fixed calling The Jews compared a man with a fixed employment to “ a vineyard fenced.” A good comparison. A man’ s activities, within his proper calling, are not like trees scattered up and down the wayside, or over the wilderness, when much of the fruit is lost; but like well-planted and well-trained vines in a garden, where the most is made of them, and they are all husbanded and preserved. (J. Stoughton.) Acts 18:5-8 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit (R.., By the Word). Enthusiasm justified 1. Different effects are produced in different minds by the proclamation of the same truths. Some may accept it with a languid spirit, assured of its verity, but wholly indifferent to its real import; others may receive it with all gladness, rejoicing to repeat it with enthusiastic delight. A lighted match falling on a granite rock or pile of sand is extinguished; but the same, when applied to wood, kindles a genial glow, or, to powder, creates a flame and explosion. So with truth. Even Christian minds are affected by the same truth very differently at different times. 2. Paul was familiar with these varying experiences. When he was at Athens his spirit was stirred within him as he saw the prevailing idolatry. At Rome he felt the power of her imperial greatness, and was not ashamed of the gospel of the Son of God. But now at Corinth, though he preached in the synagogue, it does not seem that he was putting forth any special effort to reach the people. He may have been disheartened. But the vision was at hand, and with it the emphatic command, “ Speak!” Even now was he “ straitened.” The same word is used by the Saviour (Luke 12:50) and by Paul (Philippians 1:23), when he says that he is “ in a strait betwixt two.” Now that the help brought him by Silas and Timotheus released him from labour, he yielded to an urgent and imperative impulse, testifying that, Jesus was Christ. Opposition did not deter. When the Jews blasphemed, he shock his robe, and said (Acts 18:6). 3. We are apt to regard the great apostle as a flaming star that burned incessantly. We forget his human moods, though he records them. We rejoice in these recorded imperfections of the good, so far as they show the triumphs of Divine grace, for they encourage us to trust in the same ennobling and overruling grace in the midst of our own infirmities. Rising from his apparently passive condition, urged by the assurance, “ I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee,” he boldly and ardently proclaimed the truth as it is in Jesus. I. This enthusiasm was justifiable; his inertness was not. Moods like this might have led him to say that he was not meet to be an apostle; but when he reflected upon the truth, it filled and thrilled him. Now he was ready to preach to prince or peasant. Man was great in his possibilities. Sin was a terrific evil. He saw, too, the power of the gospel to save man. He believed that eternal life and death hinged on the acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ. These were the springs of his enthusiasm, and they justified it. A man drops from an ocean steamer into the sea. You shout aloud for help to save him. The occasion justifies your excitement. A trivial occurrence would not warrant an outcry. Fanaticism is sometimes shown in its disproportionate zeal for unimportant matters; but Paul was pressed by an imminent and awful truth that menaced the ungodly. His enthusiasm would be ours if his convictions were. II. There is an enormous power in such an enthusiasm.1. So it proved at Corinth when Paul’ s soul flamed forth in eager utterance. The power of truth is measured oftentimes by the resistance it awakens. So bitterly did the Jews hate him, they were ready to invoke the aid of Rome--another hated power--to crush Paul. We ought not to be cast down because today atheists assault Christianity. This is but the answer of man’ s rebellious will to God’ s authoritative voice. Were there no opposition to the Bible we might think that there was no power in it. 2. The work Paul did at Corinth showed that his enthusiasm had a vital energy. Even in that wicked city Paul gained “ much people” to the Lord. Did we feel the pressure he felt, we, too, would be eloquent in our advocacy of the truth. The burden of the spirit is relieved by earnest speech; and this secret, subtle power of soul is contagious. Rome felt it, as thousands of martyrs gave up their lives for the Lord Jesus. Mediaeval ages felt it, as Christian missionaries carried to savage tribes the gospel that became the seed of Christian commonwealths. Germany and England felt this intrepid and heroic enthusiasm of the Reformers. Puritan civilisation, modern missionary enterprises--in short, all self-sacrifice founded on conviction of the truth of God, illustrate the abiding and triumphant power of this element of life. III. We infer, then, what is our great lack. It is the “ pressure of the Word.” We do not have it as we ought. We are trying to push a steamer across the sea, only using tepid water. Without this full and mighty pressure of consecrated enthusiasm, our example, teaching, and giving are all defective in impulse and in power. IV. Therefore we see the duty of prayer for the holy ghost. Kindled as at Pentecost, out love will then make our life vocal with a Divine message. Our inertness will be rebuked as we contemplate the devotion of Paul under the pressure of his illuminated sense of truth and duty. Baptized anew, the Church will go on from conquest to conquest. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)Encouragements--Divine and human 1. In Acts 18:5 we read that “ Paul was pressed in the spirit” ; in chap. 17:16 we read that Paul’ s “ spirit was stirred in him.” In both cases it was not a little transient excitement, it was agony. Would God we could recall our early enthusiasm, our first burning hate of sin. We are familiar with it; we pat its black head. Paul was a man of conviction. He really believed that there was no other name given under heaven among men whereby they could be saved but the name of Christ. That faith will not lodge in the same heart with indifference. 2. In Acts 17:6 we read, “ From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” Paul was not the man to lay hold upon the plough and to turn back; Paul would not even keep company with a young man who had broken faith with him in the Christian work. He went clear through with it to the end. Let us never give up the work. We may turn in vexation of soul from stolid unbelief and preach to ignorant and bewildered heathenism, but do not let the work have less of our energy because we have been disappointed in this or that particular circle. 3. A little encouragement would cheer us now. Here it is in Acts 17:7-8. Paul “ entered into a certain man’ s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God” --is there any greater phrase in all human speech? “ And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed,” and many of the Corinthians thought they would believe too. Great men are the looking glasses into which ordinary men look to see what they ought to be like. What we want, then, is courage on the part of those whose influence is extensive. If you, the head of the house, could say, “ Let us worship God,” many within the house might respond “ So be it.” We must have leadership--may that leadership always be in an upward direction. 4. We have encouragement in Acts 17:9 in another form. These words were not spoken once for all; they are spoken every day to every earnest labourer. God took the census of Corinth from a religious point of view. Apparently there was not a saint in the whole place. As Athens was “ wholly given to idolatry,” so Corinth was, apparently, wholly given to sensuality. We cannot tell where God’ s people are. The ancient prophet thought that he alone was left; but God told him that He knew of seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. God is looking for His own; and one of the most gracious surprises in store for the Church is that there will be more people in God’ s pure home than it may have entered into the most generous human heart to conceive. 5. But Acts 17:12 seems to contradict the vision. What a violent transition! At night, lost in the ecstasies of Divine fellowship, in the morning dragged before the judgment seat by an incensed mob! Is it thus that Providence contradicts itself? Apparently so, but not really. Evil shall be overruled for good; for the outcome was the Church at Corinth. 6. But we are told by Mr. Buckle, e.g., that Christian missions have failed. He sets side by side with missionary reports the testimony of impartial, independent, well-instructed travellers, who say that whilst many heathen populations have taken upon themselves Christian forms of worship, they are destitute of the spirit of Christianity. It is beautiful to notice the verdant simplicity of men who have just discovered that nominally converted and baptized people are not angels. “ Many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized” ; but “ impartial and independent travellers” testify that even after that they were not so good as they might have been. Did Paul set them forth to be perfect men? Read his Epistles to the Corinthians. We must not give up missionary work simply because some “ impartial and independent travellers” interrupt their geographical business by little scrutinies into the spirit and manners of people who had been baptized into the name of Christ. We do not expect a man to grow in a night. If they have been arrested; if their attention has been turned in the right direction; if they have expressed a desire to enter even into the veriest elementary lines of discipleship, let us be glad, and report at home that the battle is moving towards victory. Things are seen most by contrast. What is black is blackest when seen upon a white surface, and so many of our shortcomings and failures look very black because of the background of the holy Name which we profess to have accepted as our symbol and our hope--the spotless name of the Son of God! (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 18:9-11 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak. Paul’ s vision speaks to us about three things. I. The worker. Paul, at a time of sore discouragement and depression. The best of men are but men at the best. The strongest men, apart from a firm faith in the Lord God, are as weak as the weakest. Now if any working Christian feels weak and discouraged, let it rally him to know that no affliction has overtaken him but such as is common to men. II. The worker’ s master.1. He knows us just then and there, in the midst of all our weakness and discouragement, and makes His first concern the individual worker. He is not simply concerned with the whole mass and movement of the spiritual campaign, like some great general who cannot be concerned with the individual soldier. Christ is concerned in the whole; but at the same time He says, “ I see every man who is tugging and fighting, and feeling himself discouraged.” Have you noticed how the engine driver, when he stops, pays hardly any attention to the traffic? but he is out with the lubricator, pouring in a few drops in one place, and then in another, to cool and prevent friction, and to make everything sweet and easy in its working. So with Christ. You are an engine pulling away at some Bible class or Sabbath school, or tract distribution. You have hooked on to it, and do not mean to give it up; but you feel as if the wheels were barely turning, and that you are making nothing of it. Think of this: the Lord looks after the engine. Here He comes with oil, this comfort, and He is pouring it on to your overheated spirit. 2. The Lord’ s comfort just comes straight to the sore place. Now, Paul’ s greatest failing and fear, as suggested by the narrative, was: “ It’ s no use my preaching here. To the Greeks it is like the idle wind; and to the Jews it is like the red rag to the bull.” The Lord speaks straight to the point; and says, “ Be not afraid” --pointing to the fact that he was afraid--“ but speak, and hold not thy peace” --pointing to the fact that fear was belonging to muzzle his mouth. The word here used is worth noticing, for there is a lesson in it. In Athens they called Paul “ spermologos,” a chattering sparrow, a seed picker, a man talking a kind of rant, with the suggestion that it is not his own; it was picked up somewhere else, and we can’ t understand it. “ Babble away, Paul. I will be with you, and to those who are saved the babbling will be the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And so He says today, “ I have put my words into thy mouth; therefore let thy tongue wag My words.” You remember that, writing afterwards to these Corinthians, Paul told them he had determined to keep this simple speech. Said he virtually, “ I rather refined the babble at Athens. So when I came to Corinth I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Not with enticing words of man’ s wisdom, lest the gospel of Christ should be of none effect.” We must take care that we let the Lord speak to us when we are depressed, and when we have fallen on times when the old gospel “ won’ t do,” when the spirit of the age demands something more scientific and philosophical. 3. The Lord gave him a word about personal safety--“ No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” Let us go on with the work for which we are here. I wish we would look to the Master. Paul was looking at himself and at the Corinthians; Christ said, “ Look at Me! I am nearer to you than your fears.” “ Lo, I am with thee alway, even to the end of the world.” What was said to Paul was not new. You will find these words in the Bible over and over again long before this. There is a vast mass of Bible words known in the mass, but we need them in our own heart, and for our own lives. When Bishop Fisher was being led out to martyrdom, the scaffold a little unnerved and depressed him. He took his New Testament and sent up a prayer: “ O God, send me some particular word that will help me in this awful hour” ; and he opened the book at these words, “ This is life eternal to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” He had seen that five hundred times before; but he closed his Testament now, saying, “ Blessed be God, this will suffice for all eternity.” It is a different thing you see when the “ fear nots” and “ I ams” come home to you when you are dying a thousand deaths in fearing one. As a commander once said to his soldiers when they represented how great was the enemy and how few they were, “ How many do you count me for?” Another general was said to be worth a whole battalion. And who shall enumerate what God is worth? III. The master’ s verdict on the work--“ I have much people in this city.” I almost knew what was coming. You will always find that while the Lord is comforting Elijah, and David, and Peter, and Paul, and you, and me, there is a smile on His face, as much as to say, “ You are forgetting ‘ I have much people in this city.’ If the work had been yours, that were another thing. But this gospel is Mine. I weighed this Corinthian pigsty in the scales of My eternal purposes, and from all eternity I marked out my own in Corinth, and I will get them. Go out and call them. They will come.” What a word that is to discouraged workers--“ Much people in this city.” I believe that literally, at that time, there were more Christians there than Paul thought of, and I believe today that your influence and mine is far wider than in our discouraged moments we are giving either God or ourselves credit for. No word can return to Him void; and He comes and says, “ Paul, you are working well, and the results are at least equal to the output. I have got one of the best grips on the paganism of this century.” Whatever department of social life you look at, if you look carefully through the Epistles to the Corinthians, you will find that there was a sample of Christ’ s saving grace there. It went right into the midst of Corinthian worldliness and commercial activity, and laid hold of Erastus, the City Chamberlain, and held him out as a sample. Then, again, there was the household of Stephanas. He got the families there, and we will get them, and the old gospel will get nations. And if he would say again, “ Lord, there are people here sunken in drunkenness and in lasciviousness.” Listen how the gospel told (1 Corinthians 6:9). How it must have encouraged Paul, this look of things from the Master’ s point of view. This is the doctrine of election in its practical shape. I like this election plan; it does not say that all will be saved--that is universalism, it is simply wind. Well, it is not so windy and does not make so large a show as other ways of putting it; but it infallibly says that somebody will come, and that is what I want. (J. McNeill.)The fourth vision of Paul I. The Saviour’ s declaration--“ I have much people in this city.” As if He said, “ There are many people here dead in trespasses and sins, ignorant of Me, opposed to Me; these are to be enlightened, subjected to Me, and in time to come will constitute My people.” Notice--1. The Saviour’ s classification of men. Those who are the people of Christ, and those who are not. There are other distinctions, personal, social, educational, and civil; but all these affect only the external part of humanity, and that only for a time, but Christ’ s classification will last forever. To be Christ’ s means the subjugation of our nature, our mind, and reflective powers to Him. 2. Christ has a perfect knowledge of the human race. Paul was anxious to do good; he was soon to be discouraged. Jesus told him, “ I have much people in this city.” I know the present position and future history of every individual. 3. Jesus appoints means for the salvation of man. One evidence of this is the fact that He continues the living ministry suitable to the wants of our spiritual nature. II. The Saviour’ s command. “ Speak, hold not thy peace.” The authority assumed here by Christ should teach us that we are not to do just as we please; we must go where He commands.1. He was to exercise the power of speech. One of the most wonderful endowments of man is that grand organ of communication between mind and mind, heart and heart. It is of no use to philosophise; God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Christ. 2. He was to banish fear. The apostle was not to be afraid of the intellectualism of the place. The debilitating effect of fear is known to every man; it divides, and distracts, and enfeebles the faculties of manhood. Be not afraid, the plan is fixed, success is certain--the government is Mine. III. The Saviour’ s promise. “ For I am with thee.” The apostle felt the force of the guarantee ever after this, and spake the Word with authority.1. In the production of miracles. 2. In turning the heart to God. (Caleb Morris.)Paul’ s vision I. The Saviour’ s declaration.1. His knowledge of men.2. His classification of men.3. His provision for the salvation of men. II. The Saviour’ s command. Paul was--1. To banish fear.2. To exercise the power of speech. III. The Saviour’ s promise.1. I am with thee.2. No man shall hurt thee. (E. Norris.)Paul’ s vision at Corinth It is clear from this that even he who was not a whit behind the chief of the apostles sometimes needed special comfort. But the Lord took care to visit His servant when he was in trouble. He came to him in the visions of the night. We do not expect to see Christ in visions now, for “ we have a more sure word of prophecy” --the Word of God. A dream might be only a dream, even in those olden times, but this Word of the Lord is no delusion. The Lord did but appear to Paul during one night, for visions are short and few; but any night you like to wake and open the Scriptures, you shall hear Jesus speaking to you. Besides, visions and such like things belong to the infancy of the Church: now she needs not that the Invisible should be supplemented by signs and wonders. If you plant a tree in an orchard, it is very common to put a big stake by the side of it to keep it up. Nobody thinks of putting a post to support an apple tree which has been there for the last fifty years. The Church of God today is a tree that needs no support of miracle and vision. You have the Word of God, which is better than visions. Note here-- I. The tendency of our weakness. That tendency is revealed in the first word--“ Be not afraid.” We feel when we newly find Christ that we must speak for Jesus, and we do sol but after awhile a foolish fear freezes many a tongue. Happily we are delivered from open persecution; but there are other things which evidently frighten a good many.1. Some are afraid to speak for Jesus because of the defects of their education. We should endeavour to do our Lord’ s work in the best possible manner, but if we cannot overcome early disadvantages we ought not therefore to hold back. Was not Moses slow of utterance? Was he silent? Did not Isaiah own that his lips were unfit to deliver the message? Was he therefore idle? 2. Others are fearful because they have not educated people to listen to them, but are surrounded by a rough lot, whose manners and habits distress them. Oh, be content to take a little of the rough with the smooth for your Master’ s sake. Sometimes their aversion may only be a secondary means of enabling the gospel to get at them the better; and, if it be so, why should we be afraid? 3. There are those who tremble at the slightest degree of publicity. I would not harshly condemn all, for certain minds are timid, and must be allowed to do good by stealth. But some are blameably deficient in courage. The soldier who was so very modest that he retired before the battle was shot. What a shameful thing to be bold about everything else yet cowardly about Christ. 4. Still I hear you say, “ I am afraid to speak out for religion because I should bring down upon myself a world of opposition at home.” That is painful, but it is part of the cost which you reckoned upon when you took up the cross to follow Jesus--that “ a man’ s foes shall be they of his own household.” II. The calling of our faith. “ Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.” It is the vocation of faith to be a speaker. When the heart believeth the mouth makes confession. Faith made Noah a preacher, and caused it to be said of Abel, “ he being dead yet speaketh.” “ I believed,” said David, “ therefore have I spoken.” A dumb faith is a questionable grace. Faith first speaks to Christ, then for Christ. It hears His voice, and then acts as an echo by repeating it. Those that believe in Christ ought to speak for Him, because--1. We are debtors; we are put in trust with the gospel for other people; let us not be false to our trusteeship. Let us take care that the light be not hid under a bushel, and that the talent be not wrapped in a napkin. We have the bread of life in our houses; let it not be hoarded. Who can tell what we owe to Christ? He seems to say, “ Pay it back to My brethren.” 2. We were saved by the testimony of other people. I owe a great deal of my being brought to Christ to my parents; and as a parent I am to repay that obligation by teaching my own children. I owe very much to a very excellent teacher. I did try to pay back my teacher by teaching others. I owed still more to such men as Baxter and Bunyan, who left their books for me to read. I have tried to write earnest books to repay that loan. Most of all I owe my decision, under God, to a man I never knew, who preached Christ crucified to me; and I would be always preaching Christ crucified to others, as the best way of making some sort of return. 3. How are we to expect the gospel to be kept alive in this world if we do not hand it on to the next generation as the former handed it down to us? It is from one lip to another that the Word of God is passed, with a kind of living flame which books are not likely to communicate. Common humanity calls upon every Christian to seek the salvation of others. They are perishing! If we love God, we must love our brother also. III. The encouragement of our service.1. God’ s presence--“ I am with thee.” When a man speaks for God, God speaks in him. We never go a warfare for God at our own charges. If God be with thee, who can be against thee? Does He not say, “ My grace is sufficient for thee” ? 2. God’ s protection--“ No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” The Jews dragged Paul before the judgment seat of Gallio, and Paul must have been amazed when he saw the persecutors themselves beaten. When men meddle with one of God’ s lights they will sooner or later burn their own fingers. 3. God’ s predestination--“ I have much people in this city;” i.e., many who belonged to Christ, though they were as yet heathens. I learn from this that the doctrine of God’ s predestination is no check to labour. “ If there are so many that will be saved,” says one, “ then why do you preach?” That is why we do preach. If there are so many fish to be taken in the net, I will go and catch some of them. 4. The certainty of success. That is why the Lord said to Paul, “ I have much people in this city.” 5. The sufficiency of old means and methods. Our Lord did not say, “ Paul, be not afraid, but deliver a Sunday afternoon lecture with a nonsensical title and little or no gospel in it.” God’ s way of saving souls is the best way, after all. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Encouragement It is often the experience of the servants of God to meet with discouragements and disappointments in the work of the Lord. Such depressing effects are frequently due to the absence of personal sympathy in the work, the want of an outward shield to protect from untoward external circumstances, and the absence of visible or tangible tokens of what men call “ success.” St. Paul had a very bitter experience of this kind at Corinth; and it was there--when cast down in spirit by such experience, which had to some extent broken down his energies and darkened his hopes of future success--that God appeared to him in a night vision with the words of encouragement. Now, there are three sources of encouragement here suggested to the apostle. First of all, there is the doctrine of God’ s Divine presence with His own servants, “ I am with thee” ; secondly, there is the doctrine of His Divine providence, exercised in behalf of His servants, “ No man shall set on thee, to hurt thee” ; and thirdly, the doctrine of the Divine purpose to save sinners through the instrumentality of the Word preached and taught by the efforts of His servants. These were great encouragements to continue the work of the ministry in faith and hope, in spite of felt weakness and depression, opposition experienced, and dangers feared, and the absence of visible fruits of his labour. And they are as open to God’ s faithful labourers today as they were to His servants of old. I. God is most surely present with His faithful servants in their work for Him: “ I am with thee.” Happy they who hear that loving whistler, whether it come to them through the written Word, or through providential events--for God does so speak to His own, bidding them look away from themselves and their human weaknesses and above their adverse earthly surroundings, unto Him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom, and knowledge, and strength; whose guardian care of them never relaxes, whose guiding eye never slumbers nor sleeps. Oh, what pathos there is in the aloneness of individual life on the great sea of universal being! Who can bear it, and not be crushed by it, if they let it come home to them? Blessed are those who can realise the Divine companionship which was the apostle’ s source of courage and strength. Every humble believer can claim it--can rejoice in the possession of it; and then, however human sympathy may be withheld, the aloneness of individual life is done away with: the intolerable burden of it is borne by One who is able to bear it; Divine sympathy and love flow into and flood the soul of the believer, in Jesus Christ, who is emphatically our “ Emmanuel--God with us.” This, then, is the grand secret of the Christian’ s strength and courage--“ I am with thee!” This is the fountain of the Christian’ s hope and confidence, the support of his energy and of his zeal--“ I am with thee!” We must all die alone--speaking after the manner of men--and alone indeed must the departing soul be which cannot say as it enters “ the valley of the shadow,” “ I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.” Oh, for that perfect union with Christ, here below, which will enable us at all times, and in every circumstance of life, to realise the ever-abiding blessedness of the fact that God in Christ is with us! This is the antidote to the tremblings and heart failings of our frail nature: this is the Divine cordial that will sustain every faithful worker for God, through the burden and heat of life’ s day! II. Notice the doctrine of Divine providence. God exercises a providential care--an unfailing guardianship, over His believing people: “ No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” Now, in a certain sense, many did set upon St. Paul, and did hurt him. From the hour that he began to preach the gospel at Damascus, he was never free from trials. Amid his varied successes, adversaries invariably rose up and pursued him from city to city. What then? Was God therefore unfaithful to His own promise? By no means. For mark the form of it. God did not say that Paul was to be exempt from all opposition--trial--ill-treatment at the hands of unworthy men. No! He says, “ No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” And when we look into the face of St. Paul do we not see how true God was to His word? Can we say that anything he was called upon to endure in the work and service of God was really hurtful to his true life? It was by means of his imprisonments that the gospel penetrated to regions from which it would otherwise have been excluded; and not one trial did he undergo which was not overruled of God for His own glory, end the highest good of His faithful apostle. And doubt not, beloved, that the same upholding and preserving providence will be exercised as surely today as in the days of St. Paul’ s earthly career, over you and me, if only we serve God in the same spirit as he did, and with the same unassailable faith and confidence in His all-sufficient grace. III. Notice the doctrine of the Divine purpose to save sinners through the instrumentality of God’ s servants. “ Be not afraid,” says the Lord to St. Paul, “ but speak, and hold not thy peace;…for I have much people in this city.” This is what gives the crowning force to the following two-fold assurance, “ I am with thee,” and “ No man shall set on thee to hurt thee.” God’ s great purpose of mercy, in Christ Jesus, is the grand foundation rock on which we are encouraged to rest all our hopes of eternal salvation. It is the fountainhead of all our encouragement to come to God, and to work for Him, and with Him. Observe that it is for those within the range of, and working with, the great purpose of God, that this two-fold assurance is alone available. Do we recognise this purpose in ourselves and for others? If we do, we shall be very humble in ourselves, but we shall also be very courageous in pursuing the work of God committed to us. And oh, what wonders might we not be permitted to do in God’ s service if our faith were stronger in God’ s service if our faith were stronger in God’ s presence with us, His providence over us, His purpose of love concerning us. As we look around upon the state of personal religion in this our day, our finite minds may be tempted to despond, and to give up all hope of better things prevailing. But there are thousands upon thousands of God’ s hidden ones in the world whom we indeed may know nothing of, but He “ knoweth them that are His,” and that is enough. May He shed abroad His love in all our hearts, leading us to fuller trust in Him, to firmer reliance on the promises of His Word, and to greater earnestness in His service. (James Mackie, M. A.)The light of God’ s presence They tell you of the Davy safety lamp. The true safety lamp that no gust of earthly winds can ever put out, that no wind from hell can touch, is the lamp of God’ s presence. The poor heathens, when their friends get sick, flee from the stricken ones. Heathenism has no doctrine of abiding with you in the time of trouble. The father will leave his son’ s presence. The son will flee from his stricken father. But it is different with those in Jesus. It is when I am sick that most of all the soft hand of Jesus is put on my brow. It is when I am downhearted that I see Him most clearly. It is when the mists of time come close round me that somehow, through the rift of the cloud, I get a view of my Saviour’ s face. You are better for that sorrow. It has put a softness into your step, bereaved father, that you would never have had. Mother, because of that little empty chair by the fireside, there is a holy dew on that cheek of thine that no May dew or Scotch breeze could give you. In Edinburgh, coming late at night from tutor duty, there was always a building ablaze with light at all hours, as I stepped it across the meadows to my lonely lodgings. Be it midnight or three o’ clock in the morning, be it darkness or light, this building was ablaze. The other lights had gone out in the city, to save gas; the very street lamps had been put out in that quarter; the moon was in the sky alone, for we are very economical in Scotland; but, whatever the night, this building was ablaze. Ah! it was the building where there was suffering. Christian feeling and Christian kindness, these have always the lights in, in the Edinburgh Hospital. There is always light there. Thank God that our poor sick ones never have added to their sufferings the darkness of forgetfulness. It preached a sermon to me as, night by night, I saw the hospital ablaze with light. I said, “ That is like the Church of God. That is like my own heart. Give God a grip where suffering is, give God a heart where sorrow has lighted, give God a tried soul, and He will keep the lamp alight till the day dawn. God never withdraws His light.” (John Robertson.)God’ s presence a defence A man, on Saturday, in New York, stands in his store, and says, “ How shall I meet these obligations? How can I endure this new disaster?” He goes home, Sabbath finds him in the house of God. Through the song, the sermon, and prayer, Jesus says to that man, “ O man! I have watched thee; seen all thy struggles. It is enough: I will see thee through; I will stand between thee and thy creditors. I will make up in heavenly treasures what you have lost in earthly treasures. Courage, man! courage! Angels of God, I command you to clear the track for that man; put your wings over his head; with your golden sceptres strike for his defence; throw around him all the defences of eternity!” (T. De Witt Talmage.)I have much people in this city. The people for Christ This is a typical statement, and holds good of all large centres. Of London, Paris, New York, Christ still says to stimulate and comfort His servants, “ I have much people in this city.” It is noteworthy that the main Christian attack in early times was on great cities--1. Because they were Satan’ s strongholds--these captured, the rest would be a matter of detail. 2. Because Christianity appealed to and wanted to consecrate to its service the thought, activity, enterprise, and freedom which they fostered. 3. Because with the constant flow in and out of their populations, and their commercial and other influence on surrounding towns and countries, Christianity could reach the widest circle. 4. Because Christianity takes the whole human family in charge, and therefore it is natural that she should regard the centres where that family most congregates as her special sphere. Not that the villages are to be neglected: on the contrary, the villages are likely to be more efficiently evangelised when the towns are won. Paul, in his “ fear and much trembling,” arising partly out of his experience of city work, and partly out of the gigantic problems presented by the voluptuousness, polish, scepticism, and commercial activity of Corinth, may have been tempted to turn aside to some quieter scene of labour. If so, he was sharply aroused by the declaration of the text. Note-- I. That the people belong to Christ.1. This is often hard to believe. Often the opposite seems nearer the truth. Lust, drunkenness, frivolity, selfishness, ambition, infidelity, say, “ We have much people in this city,” and offer ample evidence in support of it. But it is untrue. They have captivated and enslaved the people, but they are usurpers. No one has a right to the people but Christ, because-- 2. They are His-- (1) By creative right. “ All souls are Mine.”(2) By the Father’ s gift. “ Ask of Me and I shall give Thee,” etc.(3) By redemptive purchase. “ Ye are bought with a price.” This is true of all--good and bad alike. But, thank God, many of the people are Christ’ s.(4) By loving conquest on His part; and--(5) Glad surrender and consecration on theirs. II. That Christ claims the people. I. All the people. This universal claim is based on universal right, and embraces all--(1) Nations. “ Go ye into all the world,” etc.(2) Sexes. “ In Christ there is neither male nor female.” The true rights of women have their basis in the claims of Christ.(3) Ages. Childhood, manhood, old age.(4) Ranks and classes. The claims of capital and labour will never be adjusted till the claims of Christ are settled.(5) Distinctions of culture--the ignorant and the educated.(6) Moral distinctions--the virtuous and the depraved. The true democracy will be established when “ One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” 2. All that the people are and have. (1) Their intellect, for Christ’ s is a reasonable service.(2) Their heart, for He will accept nothing but from love.(3) Their physical faculties, for each is titled for His work.(4) Their wealth, for He has given them the power to get it.(5) Their influence. III. That Christ’ s servants should fearlessly urge Christ’ s claims upon the people.1. What have they to fear? Rejection, persecution, death? The best of Christ’ s servants and the Master Himself endured all this. Should, then, any shrink when the utmost they have to contend with is a sense of personal weakness, nervous timidity, or trifling self-sacrifice? 2. On what have they to rely. (1) A conviction of the truth. Once let the principle be finally settled that the people belong to Christ, and to a consecrated soul the work is half done. (2) A consciousness of the Master’ s presence and help. What an inspiration “ I am with thee” is from a general, a teacher, a leader, to soldiers, scholars, parties. Much more should it be when it is Christ’ s word to His followers. (3) The assurance of success. If Christ has much people we cannot utterly fail, for the cause is His, not ours. (J. W. Burn.)The possibilities of humanity Michael Angelo, the wonderful artist, walking with some friends one day through an obscure street in Florence, saw a block of marble, rough, shapeless, stained, lying amid a heap of rubbish. Others had passed by it carelessly, but his keen eye saw that it was a treasure, and he fell to cleansing away the filth that obscured it. “ What are you doing with that worthless rock?” asked one of his friends. “ Oh,” says Angelo, “ there is an angel in that block, and I must get it out.” So God saw in sinful humanity, stained, defiled, and wretched, the possibility of angels and saints redeemed. It is this possibility that made it worth while for Christ to die for men. It is this which should incite us to labour with long patience that men may be saved. Acts 18:12; Acts 18:17 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection.Gallio and Paul The proconsul of Achaia had ended his term of office, and the proconsul appointed by the emperor was Marcus Annaeus Novatus, who, having been adopted by the friendly rhetorician Lucius Junius Gallio, had taken the name of Lucius Junius Antaeus Gallio. Very different was the estimate of his contemporaries from that which has made his name since proverbial for indifferentism. The brother of Seneca and the uncle of Luean, he was the most; universally popular member of that distinguished family. “ No mortal man is so sweet to any single person as he is to all mankind” ; “ Even those who love my brother Gallio to the utmost yet do not love him enough,” wrote Seneca of him. He was the very flower of pagan courtesy and culture. A Roman with all a Roman’ s dignity and seriousness, and yet with all the grace and versatility of a polished Greek. Whatever the former proconsul had been, he had not been one with whom the Jews could venture to trifle, nor had they ventured to hand Paul over to the secular arm. But now that a new proconsul, well known for his mildness, had arrived, who was perhaps unfamiliar with the duties of his office, and whose desire for popularity might have made him complaisant to prosperous Jews, they thought they could with impunity excite a tumult. Though Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome, their religion was a religio licita; but the religion of “ this fellow,” they urged, was a spurious counterfeit of Judaism which had become a religio illicita by running counter to its Mosaic Law. Such was the charge urged by a hubbub of voices, and as soon as it had become intelligible, Paul was on the point of making his defence. But Gallio was not going to trouble himself by listening to any defence. He took no notice whatever of Paul. With a thorough knowledge of, and respect for, the established laws, but with a genuinely Roman indifference for conciliatory language, he quashed the indictment and ordered his lictors to clear the court. But while we regret this unphilosophic disregard, let us at least do justice to Roman impartiality. In Gallio, in Lycrias, in Felix, in Festus, in the centurion Julius, and even in Pilate, different as were their degrees of rectitude, we cannot but admire the trained judicial insight with which they saw through the subterranean injustice and virulent animosity of the Jews in bringing false charges against innocent men. But the superficiality which judges only by externals always brings its own retribution. The haughty, distinguished and cultivated proconsul would have been to the last degree amazed had anyone told him that so paltry an occurrence would be for ever recorded in history; that it would be the only scene in his life in which posterity would feel a moment’ s interest; that he would owe to it any immortality he possesses; that he had flung away the greatest opportunity of his life when he closed the lips of the Jewish prisoner; that it would be believed for centuries that that prisoner had converted his great brother Seneca to his own “ execrable superstition” ; that the “ parcel of questions” about a mere opinion, and names, and a matter of the Jewish law, which he had so disdainfully refused to hear, should hereafter become the most prominent of all questions to the whole civilised world. And Paul may have suspected many of these facts as little as “ the sweet Gallio” did. (Archdeacon Farrar.)Gallio In this fragment of apostolic history, notice-- I. Religious intolerance (Acts 18:12) is seen in three things--1. In the reason of their opposition to Paul. Was it because he had violated any law, invaded any human rights, broken the public peace, or insulted the public morals? No, but simply because he had “ persuaded” men to worship God in a way not exactly agreeable to their own views. 2. In the spirit of their opposition. “ They made insurrection with one accord.” 3. In the means of their opposition. Bigotry substitutes abuse for argument and in this case bigots sought to crush by invoking the arm of civil authority. II. Magisterial propriety. Did Gallio, like Pilate, bow to public wish? No, he would not even entertain the case (Acts 18:14-15). He meant that the question of religious differences came not within the authority of a civil magistrate. On this principle the Roman government generally acted. Gallio, as a magistrate, acted justly--1. Towards himself. The magistrate who interferes with the religious opinions of the people incurs a responsibility too great for any man to bear. 2. To his fellow subjects. “ Look ye to it.” Religion is not to be settled in courts of law, but in courts of conscience. III. Social retribution. “ Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, and beat him before the judgment seat.” “ With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” This case develops--1. The natural sense of justice in humanity. These Greeks had witnessed Sosthenes’ wicked endeavours to crush a righteous man, and their sense of justice was outraged; and now their opportunity occurred for vengeance. This sense of justice is a spark from Divinity, and a pledge that one day justice will be done to all. 2. The reproductiveness of evil in man. Sosthenes had dealt out vengeance to Paul, and now it came back to him in a rich harvest. Violence begets violence, etc. The propagating power of evil is immense. “ Satan cannot cast out Satan.” Christ has taught the true theory of this moral expulsion. 3. The power of the gospel. It is more than probable that this is the Sosthenes referred to in 1 Corinthians 1:2. So that over this fierce persecutor Paul’ s gospel so triumphed, that he became a brother in the holy cause. IV. Lamentable indifference. “ He cared for none of these things.” This can scarcely be nothing more than mere magisterial unconcernedness about religious disputes. As an educated Roman, he regarded the religion of Paul as beneath his notice. Religious indifferentism is one of the greatest and most prevalent evils of this age too, and it is infidelity in its worst form. Mere theoretical infidelity you can put down by argument. But this is beyond the reach of all logic. Religious indifference is--1. Unreasonable. No question is of such transcendent moment to man as religion, and therefore it is madness on his part to neglect it. 2. Criminal. It is contrary to the wishes and the labours of the holiest men; it involves the abuse of all the means of spiritual improvement; and it is a practical disregard to all the commands of God. 3. Perilous. The danger is great, increasing, but still, thank God, at present avoidable. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The nature and extent of the office of the civil magistrate If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews--if you would accuse this man of any injustice whereby he had invaded anyone’ s right and property, or could lay to his charge any other villainous action done with a mischievous design, and whereby he had disturbed the public peace--reason would that I should bear with you. I should then be obliged by the duty of my place to take cognisance of your matter. But if it be a question of words, and names, and of your law; if the controversy, as it seems to me, be not about civil but religious matters, as about the Word which Paul preached, and the truth of that Word, and whether it be agreeable to your law--it is none of my business to determine such disputes. And this was a wise answer, and showed that he was well acquainted with the nature and extent of his office; and he was too good a man to lift himself in any party, and to abuse the power which was lodged in his hands by applying it to purposes foreign to the original design of it. The words thus opened, naturally lead me to treat of the nature and extent of the office of the civil magistrate. I. Then let us consider the end and design of civil government. It is plain that civil government was instituted for the preservation and advancement of men’ s civil interests, for the better security of their lives and liberties and external possessions. Men soon became sensible of the necessity of civil government for these ends, from the inconveniences they suffered by a private life independent on each other. The proper business of the magistrate is to preserve the external peace and the temporal good of the community; to protect every man in his just right and property (1 Thessalonians 4:6). But then it is to be considered that these transgressions are subject to be punished by the civil magistrate in a civil capacity only, and not in a religious one. They fall under his cognisance, as they are injurious to men’ s civil interests, and not as they have an inherent turpitude in them, and are transgressions of the Divine law; for in that capacity, I conceive, they are out of the magistrate’ s power, and not cognisable before any courts of human judicature. The not observing this distinction has introduced no small confusion in this subject. But because those vices which are so many transgressions of God’ s laws have also a natural tendency to injure our neighbour in his civil interests, and to disturb the good order and government of the world, therefore it unavoidably happens that the magistrate, in the due execution of his office, does indirectly intermeddle with religion. But though we cannot actually separate the ill influence any vice has upon the society we live in, from its being a transgression of some Divine law, yet in our minds we may make this separation, and consider every vice as a mixed action, as a transgression of the laws of man, and of the laws of God, In the first capacity only it is subject to human judicatures; in the second, it is cognisable only before the tribunal of heaven. For this reason, because vice and wickedness are punishable by the civil magistrate only upon a civil account, sins are differently estimated and differently punished by human and by Divine laws. Human laws make an estimate of sins from the damage they do to private persons, or to the public good, and inflict the greatest punishment upon those sins which are most injurious in this respect. And, therefore, if there be any sins wherein society is no way concerned, which it neither feels nor is affected with, the magistrate has nothing to do with punishing them. Consequently, secret intentions and designs of wickedness, treasonable thoughts, rebellious wishes, and seditious purposes, if they never break out into acts, can never be liable to civil punishments. But with regard to the laws of God the case is far otherwise. He takes an estimate of our sins by other measures, from those degrees of light and knowledge against which the offence was committed, and often punishes those sins most which are least, or not at all, censured by the civil power. Thus anger and revenge with Him is murder, and lustful thoughts and desires, adultery. And other actions there are which, though justly punishable by the civil power, are in their own nature guiltless, and do not displease God, but by being trangressions of that general law, of paying all due obedience to those whom He has set over us. II. The end and design of religion. Though religion is a great friend to civil government, and the practice of the duties which that enjoins tends very much to our present happiness, and makes this world a much more easy place than it would be without it, yet all this is but remotely the effect of religion, and makes no part of its main and principal design. Religion, in a true sense, and as the word itself imports, is an obligation upon us to God. And, therefore, though men formed themselves into societies for civil reasons, they did not do it upon any religious account; because religion as it relates to God is transacted between a man’ s self and God, and is what nobody else is concerned in. So that it is neither necessary in itself nor essential to true religion that great numbers of men should meet together and be incorporated in societies for the better discovery, or the more due exercise of it. Hence it is that they who lived before the institution of civil governments, or the foundation of commonwealths, were as famous for their piety and religion as any who have been since. In this state of nature, I mean before the institution of civil government, religion, as it related to God alone, had no other hold upon men but from the fear and reverence of God, and was a perfect stranger to all human power and outward force. In this state no man whatever could require me to conform to his judgment on religious matters, nor could I require him to conform to mine. This was the case of religion in a state of nature. Let us next see whether any alteration was made in this case by the institution of civil government. Now since those wrongs which men daily received from one another, and which first moved them to eater into societies, did not affect their religion, but their lives, and liberty, and goods, it follows that when they waived their natural freedom, and combined together, they did not at all submit themselves in religious matters to the will of the civil magistrate, as they submitted their persons and properties to be disposed of by him for the obtaining the end of society, the mutual defence and preservation of one another. Men cannot abandon the care of their souls as they may that of their bodies and estates, and blindly leave it to the magistrate to prescribe what faith or worship they shall embrace. And therefore the magistrate ought not to insist upon terms of purely a religious nature with those who are under his government, or exercise his power and authority over them in this respect. This will quickly appear by taking a view of the chief and principal parts of religion. To begin, then, with morality and virtue, which, though unhappily distinguished from religion, are the chief and main things wherein it consists. These are founded in the eternal nature of things, whereby some things are evidently fit, and others as evidently unfit to be done whatever the consequence of them be here. This being plainly the nature of things, we justly conclude it to be the will of God who made us what we are, and put this difference between some things and others, that we should observe this difference in oar actions. And herein we are to be directed by our own reason or conscience: we are accountable to God alone. But what if anyone upon pretence of conscience, and to show his liberty, should commit any matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, invade anyone’ s property, or disturb the public peace? Why, then, I say, no pretence of religion or conscience can screen him from the civil power. He ought to be restrained and punished. But then he does not suffer upon a religious, but upon a civil account. If we place religion in the belief of any set of doctrines, here, too, every man must judge for himself. The magistrate has nothing to do to interpose in this case, to apply force of any kind to bring men over to any particular persuasion. The peace and good order of society are the only points which he is to take care of, and since these are as consistent with men’ s holding different opinions in religion, as they are with their being of different sentiments in other matters, the magistrate is no more concerned to intermeddle in religious disputes than he is in those of philosophy, law, or physic. Indeed, if men hold any opinions in religion which are destructive of the peace and quiet of the world, and act in persuance of these opinions, their actions then are of a civil and not of a religious nature, and they render themselves obnoxious to the civil power. For the magistrate to interpose and make himself a judge and an avenger in affairs which are purely of a religious nature is to trangress the bounds of his duty and to invade the prerogative of God; it is to judge and misuse the servants of another master who are not at all- accountable to him. For nothing can be more clear and certain than that as religion has God only for its Author, so it is properly His care and concern only. But such attempts as these are not only wicked and unjust, but very foolish and fruitless, as will appear if we consider that the nature and the virtue too of all religion consists in a free choice, in the consent of our minds, in the sincerity of our hearts, in our being fully persuaded of the truth of what we believe, and of the goodness of what we practise. But of what use can human laws, enforced by civil penalties, be in all this? They may make me do things which are in my power, and depend upon my will; but to believe this or that to be true is not in my power, nor depends upon my will, but upon the light and evidence and information which I have. And will civil discouragements, fines, stripes and imprisonment enlighten the understanding, convince men’ s minds of error, and inform them of the truth? Can they have any such efficacy as to make men change the inward judgment they have framed of things? Nothing can do this but reason and argument. And therefore if the magistrate interposes here, and either chooses a religion for me, or forces me to practise that which I have chosen with temporal rewards and punishments, he destroys my religion and spoils the virtue of whatever I do under that name. But, further, as religion consists in such a belief and practice, as we in our consciences are persuaded to be best and most acceptable to God, as it lies in the integrity of the heart, so it can be subject only to the judgment of the great God whose prerogative it is to be a searcher of the heart and a fryer of the reins; who sees the secret springs of our actions and knows our thoughts and intentions afar off. Upon which account no man upon earth can be a judge in religious matters, nor take upon him the cognisance of this cause. By this time I hope it appears that Gallio acted wise and conscientious part in this affair. For most certain it is, that the duty of the magistrate is confined to the care of the civil and temporal good of his people, and does not extend to their spiritual and eternal affairs. It is nothing to him what false and erroneous opinions men hold, what ridiculous and absurd doctrines they profess, or, in a word, what they believe or disbelieve in religion, so long as hereby they do no prejudice to their neighbour, nor make any alteration in men’ s civil rights, nor disturb the public peace and quiet. But here it may be objected, Is the magistrate to show no zeal for the honour of God and the authority of His laws? To this I answer, that since God, who is most certainly the properest Judge in this case, and best knows what are the fittest means to be made use of for these ends, has not thought fit to enforce His laws with any other sanctions but the rewards and punishments of a future and invisible state, nor to promote His honour and true religion by any other motives but these, what authority has any man to make any alteration in what God has established, and to enforce His laws with any other sanctions than what He Himself has appointed? And as to true religion and a right belief, every man is orthodox to himself, and thinks his own religion to be true; and, therefore, if this be any argument why the magistrate should use force in promoting his own religion, it will plead as strongly for false religions as for the true one. As for God’ s honour, He Himself is the best guardian of it, and will most certainly take care of it in His own time and way, for He is a jealous God. But then I add, that for men to be restrained from these vices by the power and authority of the civil magistrate, and out of fear of his sword, is no honour to God whatever it may be to Caesar. To conclude: Since religion and civil government are, in their original, and business, and in everything else belonging to them, thus perfectly distinct and entirely different from each other, it would put an end to many controversies, and make very much for the peace and quiet both of Church and State, if men would observe this distinction, and each party would keep within their respective bounds. This would hinder them from clashing and interfering with one another, and would prevent those heats and animosities, those acts of violence and rapine, cruelty and oppression that have abounded in the Christian world upon account of religion. And let the magistrate, too, confine himself to his own proper business and attend to the worldly welfare of the commonwealth, and instead of exercising his power in binding other men’ s consciences by human laws, let him take care to conform his own conscience to the laws of God, and direct all his counsels and endeavours to promote universally the civil welfare of all his subjects. And let him not think that he bears the sword in vain unless he employs it in the cause of God and religion. It was not put into his hands for this use, nor can it be applied to this purpose with any good effect. (B. Ibbot, D. D.)Gallio illustrates-- I. The laudable administration of justice in his treatment of the point of complaint (verse 12-15). He rejects it because it referred to a purely religious matter. II. The censurable administration of justice in his conduct at the violence of the Greeks (verse 16, 17). Here he shows himself indifferent and unfair. Magistrates have in ecclesiastical controversies to distinguish between what is above law and what is against the law, and have to resent what is unlawful on whatever side it happens. (Lisco.)Reports of Christian service 1. The report which is given of Paul’ s work in verse 13 is exactly the report which is being given today by hostile journalists and critics. Do not take any bad or worldly man’ s report of any Christian service he may have attended. They lack the one thing needful--sympathy. No man is qualified to report a religious meeting who is not himself religious. He can tell who spoke and give an abstract of what was said; but there will be wanting from it the aroma, the heavenliness, which gave it all its gracious power. This has a wide bearing upon all matters religious and theological. The Jews heard Paul speak and they said, “ This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law” --that is, contrary to their reading of the law. The law is one thing, and my reading of it another. So with the Bible: the Bible is one thing, and the preacher’ s reading of it is another. Have no fear of perverting Jews misrepresenting inspired apostles and bringing God’ s doctrine to ruin. The form will change; and yet when all the words have been rearranged we shall find the inner, holy doctrine untouched. 2. The Jews were unanimous in their insurrection. Unanimity is nothing; sincerity is nothing. Sincerity is only good when rightly directed, and unanimity is worthless if moving not in the direction of truth. Paul stood alone, so far as men were concerned, on more occasions than one. Said he, in one instance, “ No man stood with me … notwithstanding the Lord stood with me.” Let us take care, then, lest we mistake human unanimity for Divine counsel. 3. And now Gallio, much maligned by those who do not know him, comes into the story. He has been set up as a type of the careless man. And base creatures have been told that they were “ Gallios” ! They never were so honoured in their lives! Gallio would not touch them with the tip of his fingers! Gallio simply knew his business and attended to it, and limited himself by it; and his carelessness was a distinct evidence of his high qualification for his office. Yet I would chide even Gallio for the unintentional injury he has done (verse 14) in depriving the Church of another speech by the greatest speaker that ever served the cause of Christ. What he would have said to that sweet Gallio who can tell? The substance of his speech we have in all the other speeches; but we do wonder with what accidental beauty and subtlety of allusion he would have addressed the sweetest heart that ever listened to him. 4. Gallio used a phrase which brought him within lines which we wish could have enclosed him forever. Speaking from his point of view, he said, “ But if it be a question of words and names.” Could Gallio have heard Paul upon the Word, who can tell what would have occurred? But are we not always putting away from ourselves great opportunities? Do we not feel weary just when the discourse is sharpening itself into the eloquence that would touch our mind like light, and our heart like a wand of love? The next sentence might have saved you, but just then your ears waxed heavy and you did not hear! There may be careless people notwithstanding the misapplication of the name of Gallio. Is it true that you care “ for none of those things” ? Then for what do you care? (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 18:17 And Gallio cared for none of those things.The indifferentism of Gallio Gallio is one of the most unfortunate characters in all history. It has been his fate to suffer at the hands of foes and friends. It was once the fashion to regard him in the light of this single incident, and to condemn him as selfishly indifferent to all interests but his own. Since he has been studied in the light of his history and character as described by other pens, the verdict has been reversed, and this incident has been interpreted as the action of an impartial, upright judge. The truth, as usual, lies between the two extremes. Gallio is neither so bad as his enemies would make him, nor so good as his friends would have him to be. He is simply a man of the world at his best, and has many modern representatives. I. What Gallio did not care for.1. Judaism; as is plain from his judgment. Whether right or wrong, it is quite evident, it was a matter of indifference to him, not only as a magistrate, but, if the spirit of his speech is to be taken into account, as a man. 2. Christianity; for he closed Paul’ s mouth. This was not the case with Pilate, or Felix, or Festus, each of whom manifested some interest in the subject, and allowed its advocates to state their case. 3. Truth. Precisely the same issue was raised here as before other Roman tribunals, and, except at Philippi, was impartially discussed; but Gallio gagged the representative of Christianity, and allowed the Greeks to assault the representative of Judaism. Gallio neither knew nor cared on which side, if on either, lay the truth. And there are many Gallios today. The established order of things in religion, morals, politics, society, may remain for aught they care. On the whole, perhaps, it is better that they should remain; but if this order is disturbed by some bold revolutionist, it will not much matter, so long as he does not trouble them. They will be mixed up with neither. The parties may fight it out; and if a third party intervenes and crushes one, so much the better--there is one nuisance the less. II. What Gallio did care for. What he was sent to Achaia to do. He was responsible to the home government for two things, and about these he was solely solicitous.1. To administer justice. This he did with perfect impartiality, and in a way that warrants the encomiums passed upon him by his contemporaries. As a Roman judge, he knew nothing of Judaism, and so dismissed the charge against Paul as soon as he heard it, and refused to listen to his defence as superfluous, for he had been guilty of no offence against Roman law. If the mob assaulted Sosthenes that was his look-out; for the future he would mind his own business. And so our modern Gallios are simply men of one idea. That may be business, pleasure, politics, literature. Everything outside is a matter of indifference. “ Let them fight it out amongst themselves.” 2. To maintain the supremacy of Roman rule. If Jews persecute Christians; if Greeks maltreat Jews--so much the better. The empire will have fewer malcontents to trouble it while they are trying to exterminate each other. “ Divide and rule.” And so our modern Gallios view with equanimity controversies outside their sphere. In politics the one thing that gladdens the heart of the statesman is dissension among his opponents. The Christian advocate is calm in view of the utter want of unanimity on the part of the adversaries of the Cross; but so is the infidel as he contemplates the antagonism of Christian sects. If union is strength, dissension is weakness; and the best thing that Gallio can wish for is division among his foes. III. By what motives Gallio was actuated.1. Scepticism. Gallio was neither better nor worse than the cultivated gentlemen of his age. And we know that the culture of the first century was saturated with unbelief. Faith in Jupiter was gone, and no arguments had reached Gallio likely to replace Jupiter by either the Jehovah of Sosthenes or the Jesus of Paul. The thought of the nineteenth century is in this respect like that of the first, and it would be hard to find a mere exact parallel than between Matthew Arnold and Gallio. 2. Love of ease. To have subjected Sosthenes and Paul to a rigid cross-examination, to have pondered the evidence, and to have pronounced accordingly, would have sorely troubled the “ sweet Gallio.” He wanted to be troubled neither in the government of his province nor in the government of himself. Sedition he would quell by driving it out, and social disturbers he would treat in a no less drastic fashion. “ Don’ t trouble us; settle these matters amongst yourselves” is the dictum of Gallio’ s latest successors. IV. The consequences which Gallio reaped.1. Immediate success. (1) Insurrection was put down, and the tranquillity of the province restored. Sosthenes was not likely to repeat the experiment. (2) Paul was silenced, and so Gallio’ s mind was left at ease, and neither Paul nor any other Christian advocate was ever likely again to trouble the proconsul. 2. Everlasting loss. Who can tell what might have happened had Gallio embraced the same opportunity as Felix or Festus? He might not have been able to save himself from death at the hands of Nero, with which one account credits him; but he would undoubtedly have saved himself from self-destruction, with which he is credited by another. And our modern Gallios may be able to silence reason and stifle conscience, and live above intellectual and moral care; but this will not annihilate the hereafter. Conclusion: 1. Face the truth, whatever it may be.2. Side with the truth, whatever it may involve.3. Follow the truth, wherever it may lead. (J. W. Burn.)Indifference 1. To be named in the Bible is to be immortal. It is the misfortune of some names that they have found their way into the sacred book. All other records spoke well of them, living and dead, save this. What is this but to say that it is the misfortune of some lives to face an ordeal? Such was the case with Gallio. He refused, indeed, to condemn; but in escaping Scylla he incurs Charybdis, and becomes for all time the type of Indifference. The sweetness for which his friends love him in God’ s sight is feebleness. 2. In this particular instance he was not to blame. The Jews are trading upon toleration to invoke intolerance. Orthodoxy? Yes. Nonconformity? No. It is a question, not of crime, but of words and names. He will have nothing to do with it; and when the Gentile mob retaliate, he will have nothing to do with that. 3. The decision was right, but not the motive, which was not justice, but indifference to right and wrong. Thus Gallio passes from the stage in which for a moment he has stood with the gospel to enjoy his highly-gained favour with the Corinthians, to his pleasures, to Rome, and to suicide. I. Excuses for indifference.1. Is not indifference a synonym for impartiality? 2. Look at the evil brought upon the world by that earnestness which is the opposite of indifference! When we see the harshness with which earnestness runs down opponents, it is almost refreshing to be in the presence of one who says, “ We are all imperfect; live and let live.” 3. To all this we may reply that indifference in some matters may be harmless, and even advantageous. We are not called upon to be earnest about everything. Nevertheless, there is a vice called indifference, which is only too common in our age. II. To what indifference is due.1. Affectation. The man does feel. The indifference is a pretence. 2. Early forcing. The modern tendency is to precipitate manhood, and the result of juvenile precocity is adult apathy. 3. Reaction. Earnestness meets with a check, or wears itself out. 4. Suspense. There is an impression abroad that in this transitional period intelligent minds can find no rest, and the “ honest doubter” is the hero of the hour. 5. Sorrow. Some affliction has been taken amiss, there has been a nursing of the loss, and so life has lost its zest; or, without this, there may be an unhappiness, vague and all pervading, which strangles every energy of being. 6. Sin. How listless towards duty, etc., the man who carries everywhere with him a guilty conscience. III. The duty of interesting ourselves in something.1. God has constituted us differently, and set us in a world fertile in choices. He is not indifferent who cultivates this taste, study, occupation, or that. But in something which is first pure, then vigorous, wholesome, and of good report. God expects each one to interest himself, and with his might. 2. And while He leaves us a wide choice, He sets before us two objects concerning which He offers no choice. He who says, “ I love God,” and hateth his brother, is a Gallio; and so is he who says, “ I cannot love God, but I will promote the welfare of society.” (Dean Vaughan.)Religious indifference I. The character of those things for which our Gallios do not care. Things--1. For which the Creator cares.2. Which receive their saving significance from the life and death of the Redeemer.3. Into which angels desire to look.4. In behalf of which our ancestors were willing to shed their blood.5. In which our best friends are most deeply interested. II. Some of the causes of this indifference.1. A shallow misapprehension of the nature of religion.2. Mental sloth.3. Love of ease. III. Its effect.1. At death.2. At judgment. (Biblical Museum.)The social indifferentist 1. The things for which Gallio cared nothing were in one sense none of his business. He was the Roman proconsul of Achaia. As elsewhere, so at Corinth, the Greeks heard Paul, and were attracted to him. The Hebrews heard him, hated him, and dragged him before Gallio. But the question being one with which he had nothing to do, Gallio promptly dismissed it. But this was not the end. The Greeks on this occasion believed in the right of free speech, and, like a great many other champions of free speech, they proceeded to proclaim their sympathies by an act of personal violence (verse 17). And though it was without the smallest legal warrant, though it was even a more gross and disorderly breach of the peace than that which had preceded it, “ Gallio cared for none of those things.” These dogs of Jews and these emasculated Corinthians, so long as the peace of the empire was undisturbed, what mattered it how much they quarrelled? 2. This is a picture of an amiable and cultivated indifferentism. Its conspicuous characteristic lay in this, that it betrayed an utter insensibility to the simplest principles of justice. Sosthenes and his co-religionists had undoubtedly done St. Paul a wrong; but they had done it under legal forms, and had appealed to the proconsul for their authority. The Greeks, on the other hand, had deliberately taken the law into their own hands. Undoubtedly, in a technical sense, this was no concern of Gallio’ s; but, in another and very real sense, his indifference was neither wise, nor loyal, nor manly. If Gallio had really cared to win for the empire the trust and loyalty of her conquered peoples, he would have seen to is that no blow should be unjustly struck, nor any meanest citizen of Corinth, whether Jew or Greek, lightly or lawlessly wronged. But to have done this would have been to break through the crust of that passionless indifference which was the mark of culture in those days. 3. “ But that,” we say, “ was a pagan culture, and its fruit “ was worthy of the tree. We are not pagans, but Christians, and are bound inflexibly to repudiate the principles of such a man.” But what are the facts? One distinguishing mark of our Christian civilisation is a development of individual reserve. We learn to conceal emotions, or at least to chasten their expressions. Tell someone a story of wrong, or want, or sorrow, and the chances are you will get the answer, “ Really, how very unpleasant. Can you not find something more agreeable to talk about than that?” Nor is this wholly surprising or without excuse. My neighbour is thrown into a spasm of torture by a musical discord, which my less tutored faculty scarce perceives. It hurts him; and, to leave that fact out of account in judging of the way in which he endures a series of discords, is neither just nor kindly. Now then, it is a result of culture that it makes the sensibilities infinitely more susceptible to external impressions. And therefore it is not unnatural that some natures should be unwilling to hear of the miseries that are torturing so many of their fellow men, nor that, refusing to know about such things, they cease, before long, to care about them. It is the old picture of Gallio watching through the parted drapery the scourging of Sosthenes in the street. It is not an engaging spectacle. Here at hand is the last chronicle of the busy and brilliant life of Rome. Here is the last roll that has come from the pen of Seneca. How much pleasanter to lose one’ s self in the pages of Ovid or Lucullus or Martial, instead of going out into the hot sun to stop a street fight between a herd of fanatical Israelites and Corinthians! And so, today, there is a large class that finds it far pleasanter to draw the curtains upon the crime and sorrow that are without, while they have the freshest voice in song or story to beguile them. 4. And yet how utterly is this to miss the noblest end of culture, whose function is not merely to train the powers for enjoyment, but first and supremely for helpful service. And then what is the religion of Jesus Christ but to bring Christ into our common life, and so ennoble that life by the sweetness and sanctity which He alone can shed upon it? Shall we selfishly turn to Him to comfort us, and catch no impulse from His life to reach out and comfort our brethren? Did He come only to teach us how to build handsome churches and keep them for ourselves? Oh, no; it was not merely for you and me that Christ died, but for humanity. Into the culture of that elder time He came to put the one ingredient that it needed supremely to ennoble it--a Divine unselfishness. He came to kill out that torpid indifference that could see cruelty and injustice, and “ care for none of those things,” and to supplant it with an inextinguishable and self-forgetting love. Every now and then our ears are startled by some brutal deed, that makes us shudder for our kind. And, reading of it amid our own safe and comfortable surroundings, we cry out, “ How shocking! How barbarous! Where were the police?” At best a municipal discipline, however admirable, can only repress and punish the outward manifestations of our social evils. The medicine that shall heal them must be drawn from the Cross. And Christians must be the channels through which the throbbing tide of sympathy shall reach and heal the sorrows and the sins of our fellows. The other day, in Wales, the waters broke out in a colliery. There were four hundred men at work below the surface, and, panic stricken, they rushed to the mouth of the pit and touched the telegraph, when, to their horror, they remembered that that morning the signal wire had parted, and had not yet been mended. With the energy of despair, one of them, trained at sea, flung himself against the rugged sides of the shaft, and, with a grasp that seemed a superhuman endowment given him for the moment, scaled the perpendicular wall until he came to the break in the wire. The parted ends hung within a few inches of each other, but how was he to join them together? To let go his hands and strive to reach them thus was death to himself and death to those below him. Suddenly, with an inspiration born of the dire peril, he grasped one end in his mouth, and reaching then with agonising effort for the other, caught the two between his lips, reunited thus the parted wire, and re-established the electric current that told to those above the danger and signalled swiftly back again the coming of deliverance. What he climbed up to do you and I must climb down to do. There is a vast multitude below us that our lips and hands and feet must bring into living and saving relations with the Son of God. 5. Not to care when others, no matter how obscure or remote from us, are going down to hell, is not Christianity, but paganism blank and heartless; and such paganism is very full of peril. The social problem now confronting us is one of the gravest and most threatening problems of our time. The labourer does not love the capitalist, and the capitalist does not always understand the labourer. But we shall not finally silence the heresies of the communist with the bullets of the militia. Over against the unreason of the working man we must rear something better than the stern front of a stony indifference. If his misfortunes are not our fault, none the less he himself is our brother. And somehow--anyhow--we must make him feel that we account him so. (Bp. H. C. Potter, D. D.) Acts 18:18-23 And Paul after this tarried there a good while.Preparing for labour 1. Paul has conquered his position in Corinth. He seemed to have acquired a right to remain there. And after tarrying “ a good while” he “ took his leave of the brethren.” This is a new tone. Paul has not often gone away from a city in this quiet, friendly manner. His going out has often been amidst tumult and battle. But now he must take leave of the brethren. He had “ shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.” The great liberalist in the Church was also addicted to Levitical obedience. Paul maintained a hard discipline over himself, and therefore could afford to be very liberal towards other people. The vow could only be completed in the metropolis. It was permitted by the Nazarite law for a man whose hair had grown long under the necessity of the vow to cut off his hair, but he must keep it and take it up to Jerusalem and burn it in the temple at the appointed hour in the appointed fire. Think of Paul doing that. We can trust that man. We feel that a man so honest in a matter so comparatively trifling is likely to be severely true in matters of larger breadth. It is thus we must judge one another. Men cannot, perhaps, understand the articles of our theological belief, but they can understand our temper, our honesty over the counter. If they find us faithful in little things they must reason that we are faithful also in greater things. 2. Paul came to Ephesus, and finding that he had a little margin of time said he would look into the synagogue and reason with the Jews. That is how Paul kept holiday. He does not want to look at anything in the city of Ephesus--famed in a country famous for great cities. But the woods around Ephesus are beautiful--why not drive through them? Imagine Paul driving through a pine wood for the purpose of sniffing the scented air! He lived in the synagogue; the Jews were the mountains he wanted to see, and the obstinacy of the unbelieving heart was the only field in which he cared to take holiday. At Ephesus he met with an unwonted reception (Acts 18:20). We have seen how these Jews hated him, banishing him from their cities; but at Ephesus he meets with another reception. Is the devil playing a trick here? Was there an attempt here to keep him from Jerusalem, whither he must go to accomplish his vow? We cannot tell; but Paul bade them farewell, saying (Acts 18:21). Did they want him to return? He will come back; for he has his greatest day yet before him! 3. In Acts 18:22 are the saddest words in the Acts. Paul going back to Jerusalem for the fourth time! The Church will wait for him; will pray with him; will hold a great banqueting day after a spiritual fashion, for the noblest of her warriors has returned, and his speech will be a recital of battles fought and won. Paul went up to Jerusalem and “ saluted the Church.” That is all! Paul went up to Jerusalem and made his bow. Paul was never greater than when he held his tongue, and left the dignitaries to perish in their own vanity. What a time they might have had had they gathered around the warrior and said, “ Show us your wounds and scars, and tell us what news there is from the seat of war.” But no. Paul was a liberal thinker; Paul had protested against the Judaising teachers; Paul had committed a great offence by claiming liberty in Christ for Gentile believers; and some men cannot forgive. Do not blame them until you have blamed a flint for not bleeding. Did Paul change his faith or his policy because of this metropolitan coldness? No; having played the gentleman where he rather would have displayed the Christian, “ he went down to Antioch; and after he had spent some time there,” etc. He was more at home among the Gentiles. Paul made short work of his visit to the Church in Jerusalem, for the door was shut and the key was lost; but when he came to Antioch he said, “ this is home.” We cannot live on ceremony, on dignity: we cannot be happy where persons do but touch us with the tips of their fingers, intimating thereby that they would rather not touch us at all; but only live in love, in mutual trust, in mutual prayer. But at Jerusalem they were too orthodox to be Christians. (J. Parker, D. D.)Apostolic earnestness Paul constitutionally was an earnest man. Every chapter in his life before, and after, his conversion shows him to be a man whose purposes were made red hot with the passion of an ever-glowing nature. His earnestness is here seen-- I. In his noble defiance of danger. The Jews had “ made insurrection with one accord” against him, and he must have felt, even after Gallio had refused to entertain their malignant purposes, their ire was still all aflame. Yet he quits not the scene of duty. “ Paul tarried there yet a good while.” His sympathy with Christ and the Divine purpose raised him above the fear of all danger. II. In his surrender of friendship.1. His adieu to his brethren at Corinth. “ He took his leave of the brethren.” He entered this Paris of the old world to fight the battles alone, and the antagonism was immense; and he left it with numerous converts and a prosperous Church. The members of that Church were “ his brethren” : he loved them. The two letters which he afterwards wrote to them show the depth of his affection. Yet he leaves them at the call of duty. 2. His separation from his dearest companions at Ephesus--Priscilla and Aquila. It must have been not a little painful to a man of Paul’ s tender sensibilities, to separate from those with whom he had been so closely and so lovingly connected. 3. His departure from Ephesus in opposition to the earnest request of his friends (verse 20). “ Whosoever loveth father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me.” Paul proved himself worthy of Christ. III. In his consecration to duty.1. He felt that God’ s will called him to Jerusalem now. “ I must by all means keep this feast.” He had no doubt about the Divine will upon this point, and hence he was prepared to make any sacrifices to carry it out. 2. He was willing to return to Ephesus, if it were God’ s will. Consecration to the Divine will, which was the very spirit of his life, was the philosophy of his greatness. Deo volente. This should always be the devout proviso in all our plans. Conclusion: The following remarks of Gerok are worth quoting: “1. No hostile hatred restrains him where the Lord sends him (verse 19).2. No brotherly love retains him when the Lord calls him away (verse 20). 3. No place is too distant to him; he hastens when the Spirit draws him thither (verse 21). 4. No place is too pleasant to him; he takes his leave when the Lord cannot use him there (verse 22). I must go to Jerusalem, the watchword of a pilgrim of God, by which he breaks through all the temptations of the world, in love and suffering, from friend and foe.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Apostolic principles The apostles had no elaborate inspired code drawn up for their guidance as, e.g., Moses had. In the latter case the minuteness of the instruction precluded the possibility of mistake; in the former they had to depend almost exclusively on the inscrutable guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord had laid down as a general rule “ Go ye into all the world” ; for particular conformity to this rule in the multitudinous instances in which it had to be applied they had to depend upon the inspire d direction of their own common sense. And so in endeavouring to ascertain the principles of apostolic procedure for modern use we have to carefully study a typical tract of apostolic work. Such we have here. Here we see underlying apostolic procedure-- I. Perseverance where circumstances were propitious. The action of Gallio, whatever we may think of the man and his motives, were wholly favourable to Paul. The Jews mere silenced, and would give no further trouble; and the gospel, in the estimation of the populace, would have at least quasi proconsular sanction. Neither Jew nor heathen would venture to attack it after this. And so Paul tarried at Corinth “ a good while,” founding the Church, and confirming the Thessalonians by two epistles. Where, as was the ease formerly at Philippi and afterwards at Ephesus, the circumstances were unpropitious, it was manifestly both the duty and the interest of the apostle to leave. II. Fidelity to previously registered vow. Whether the making of the vow was wise may be open to question, but we are precluded from discussing this by ignorance of all the circumstances. Still it is hard to overlook the fact of Paul’ s indifference to the ceremonial law, and the fact that Paul’ s continuance in Corinth might have prevented the evils which necessitated the first Epistle to the Corinthians. But Paul being a man of one idea, it was necessary that that one idea should be carried out. And so the vow made at Corinth must be fulfilled at Jerusalem. But Ephesus lay on the route, the work at which eventually compensated for absence from Corinth. III. Seizure of every opportunity of extending Christ’ s kingdom. Accompanying his friends, whom business probably took to Ephesus, he embraced the opportunity of preaching Christ in the synagogue. He had well earned a period of leisure after his arduous and anxious toils at Corinth, and doubtless he regarded his journey to Jerusalem in the light of a holiday. But the recreations Of earnest Christian workers are utilised in the service of Christ. It was not much that Paul could do during his brief stay at Ephesus, but he was at least able to lay a foundation on which he afterwards built. IV. Dependence upon Divine providence (verse 21). “ If God will” was the one unfailing rule with the apostle, in both personal and ministerial matters. Hence his unfailing confidence, courage, and sense of security. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” If God open a path who can stand in the way? God did not will that he should go to Ephesus (Acts 16:6); but He willed that remarkable series of circumstances which opened up Greece to Christianity. St. Paul on his way back from Jerusalem would find that God willed him to evangelise Ephesus, and directly or by deputies to found the seven Churches of Asia. V. Profitable economy of time. There was scant opportunity for service at Jerusalem, so he wasted no time there. There was little sympathy with the great missionary at headquarters, so, having completed his vow and saluted the Church, he repaired to congenial Antioch, from which he received, seemingly, a similar missionary impulse to that which preceded his first journey. VI. Following up of results (verse 23; cf. Acts 16:6). (J. W. Burn.)Ministerial labour I. Where do they work? When the Lord shows a way and opens a door. II. How do they work? With unwearied zeal, but with humble attention to the intimations of the Lord. III. For what do they work? Not for their own glory and gain, but for the kingdom of God and the salvation of men. (K. Gerok.)Having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.--Paul’ s vow The grammatical structure of the Greek sentence makes it possible to refer the words to Aquila as well as Paul, but there is hardly the shadow of a doubt that the latter is meant.1. If Aquila had taken the vow he too would have had to go to Jerusalem instead of remaining at Ephesus. 2. The language of James (Acts 21:23-24) implies a conviction, as resting on past experience, that St. Paul would willingly connect himself with those who had such a vow. It remains to inquire as to-- I. The nature and conditions of the vow. There can be no doubt that the “ vow” was that of the temporary Nazarite (Numbers 6:1-21). It implied a separation from the world and common life , and while under the vow the man who had taken it was to drink no wine or strong drink, and to let no razor pass over his head or face. When the term was completed, he was to shave his head at the door of the tabernacle and burn the hair in the fire of the altar. It will be noted that the Nazarites in Acts 21:24, who are completing their vow, shave their heads. Here a different word is used, which is contrasted with “ shaving” in 1 Corinthians 11:6. It was lawful for a man to have his hair cut or cropped during the continuance of the vow and this apparently was what St. Paul now did. But in this case also the hair so cut off was to be taken to the temple, and burnt there and this explains the apostle’ s eagerness, “ by all means” (verse 21) to keep the coming feast at Jerusalem. II. Paul’ s motives.1. The strong feeling of thankfulness for deliverance from danger, following upon fear which, as in nearly all phases of the religious life, has been the chief impulse out of which vows have grown. We have seen the fear, and the promise, and the deliverance, in the record of St. Paul’ s work at Corinth, and the vow of self-consecration, for a season, to a life of special devotion was the natural result. St. Paul had not learnt to despise or condemn such expressions of devout feeling. 2. His desire to be “ all things to all men,” and, therefore, as a Jew to Jews (1 Corinthians 9:20). A Nazarite vow would testify to all his brethren by blood that he did not despise the law himself nor teach other Jews to despise it. Such a vow, involving, as it did for a time, a greater asceticism than that of common life, furnishes a link in the succession of thoughts in 1 Corinthians 9:22-25, between the apostle’ s being made “ all things to all men” and his keeping under his body, and bringing it into subjection.” (Dean Plumptre.) Acts 18:21I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem.The duty of observing the sacrament of the Lord’ s Supper When our Lord came to be baptized He satisfied John by saying, “ Suffer it to be so, for thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness” --i.e., it becomes us to observe every righteous ordinance of God. The same spirit that animated the Master directed the conduct of His disciples; everywhere they were distinguished by a reverence for the ordinances of religion. And if there be an instance in which this spirit was more strikingly exemplified, we see it in the case before us. Surrounded as he was by the people of Ephesus, who entreated him to remain among them for a longer period, he still felt the preponderating influence of the obligation to observe the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. I trust every heart here responds to the feeling of the apostle. A Christian will say, “ I must by all means keep this feast,” for-- I. It is the commandment of Christ. Were it a mere conventional ordinance, merely one of those outward circumstances which are not essential to the existence of Christianity, it might be left to our own discretion whether we should observe it or not. But it comes to us on the authority of the Saviour, who said, “ Do this in remembrance of Me.” There is not any precept more explicitly laid down, and we cannot refuse to observe it without setting aside the authority of Him to whom we are indebted for all that we now are or hope hereafter to enjoy. II. That I may be the better warned of the evil of sin. There is in this ordinance a manifestation of the evil of sin that is not to be found elsewhere; for we commemorate that great sacrifice which the Father required: in order to render the exercise of mercy to the penitent consistent with the exercise of His justice, in the moral administration of the world. When, therefore, the believer sits down at the table of the Son of God, and has his eyes turned to the Cross of Christ, his heart is smitten with a sense of the evil nature and destroying tendency of sin, and he feels that the world is crucified unto him and he unto the world. III. Because it is one of the appointed means of grace. There is no feeling to which the heart is more ready to respond than our need of strength greater than our own for the varied duties and trials and sorrows of our nature. And God has promised that His grace shall be sufficient for us--that His strength shall be perfect in our weakness. But we must wait upon Him for this strength and grace in the way of His appointing (Ezekiel 36:37). We are not, therefore, to expect the blessing unless we employ the means. And the Lord’ s Supper is one of the appointed means by which the Spirit of God meets the believer, to renew, to sanctify, to encourage, and to direct him. IV. Because it is one of the most direct means of uniting the family of God in the bonds of peace and love. At this table the rich and the poor meet together. There we learn to love mankind when we see that love which embraced the world. There we learn to forgive an enemy when we see Christ bleeding for His foes. V. Because we know not that we shall have another opportunity. We are all dying creatures, and we know not what a day may bring forth. (J. Johnston.)If God will. Recognition of the Divine will in human affairs There is a self-reliance that stifles the spirit of religion. On the other hand, there are timid souls who are ever hesitating and wavering, and who would rather be carried by the current than take the oars and impel their skiff against it. Merciless, overbearing strength, and weak, purposeless yielding are neither of them attractive. Paul was a man of strong will and ready decision. There was a strength about him that could be relied upon. And yet he was gentle, sympathetic, open to influence and persuasion. The character was balanced and kept right by faith. He did not determine matters hastily. He listened and weighed, then he referred the matter for decision to God. There was, in his idea of life, another will beside his own--another wisdom--another choice. And he was glad to subordinate himself to that as the determining element. We have here-- I. A recognition of the Divine superintendence and ordination of human life. The words imply that all is not left to Paul’ s determinations; that he has not the shaping of his own course. There is a Divine will over all, and it prevails. We are here in circumstances in which we are required to act for ourselves, but we find ourselves often thwarted; our will, determining itself, comes into collision with others; there are plans into which others do not fit. More than this, there is another will stronger than ours which prevails against us. Do what we please, we can only reach our end, perfect our plan, fulfil our purpose--“ if God will.” Is, then, man the mere sport and play of a Divine decree--the creature of Fate--the victim of an Iron Rule that uses or crushes, as the case may be? Certainly not. Man has power of choice; he is called upon to judge what is most fitting and most proper. But God, who has left him free, realises His own ends through that freedom, even through that freedom should determine itself in opposition to the behests of His will. We see about us natural processes going on--the day and night, the seasons, the sunshine, the winds and storms. Man has no power over any one of them. But he can realise his purposes by means of them, and God is always doing so. In like manner He realises His purposes by means of the free choice of His creatures. II. An expression of humble submission. The words imply that Paul did not wish any other will than God’ s to be done. Paul did not desire to be where God did not wish him to be. He desired God to rule his life for him. He would return if God led him thither; otherwise they should see his face no more. This is the essential principle of the regenerate heart. The essence of sin is neither more nor less than self will. Only when the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is in us, do we get rid of the desire to order our own away. What schooling it needs to perfect this mind in us! How stubborn and rebellious we are! What frightful blunders we make! How heart breaking are our disappointments! It is by a discipline the most painful, sometimes carried through long years, that God teaches us to let Him order our life for us, and prepare our good. The trials and disappointments of life are all meant to teach us that God’ s will is far better than ours, and to school our rebellion into acquiescence, our self-determination into adoring trust. We should cultivate this spirit more and more. III. A declaration that God has ways of making His will known. The sphere, conditions, and time of labour are Divinely ordained. But how are we to know what God would have us do? There is a light which shines from the Word, and a light which shines in the spirit, an inward persuasion that such and such works are to be done, and there is an objective providential light by which God guides His own as by the pillar of cloud and fire. By these means God lets men see what He would have them do. Conclusion: There is here, then--1. A caution suggested against that presumption which is based on the idea of human power and prerogative. 2. A condition of effectual prayer. 3. What confidence, what peace, there must come to those who feel, like Paul, that God knows them, cares for them, orders their way, appoints their lot. 4. How easy submission ought to be to us! (W. H. Davison.) Acts 18:23-28; Acts 19:1-7 And after he had spent some time [at Antioch] he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia.--Paul’ s third missionary journey 1. Nothing was said as to who went with him from Corinth to Syria. It was not, however, Paul’ s custom to travel alone if he could help it. The probability is, that both Silas and Timothy accompanied him. Silas and he set out together on the second journey, and he and Barnabas had started on the first, and together they would be likely to return. Timothy, in addition to his other duties, was very much of a personal attendant on St. Paul, so that his being with him would be almost indispensable. 2. Silas drops out of the history here, probably settling again at Jerusalem. The special work he had consented to undertake was fulfilled. Some years afterwards, we find a Silvanus mentioned by St. Peter in his epistle to the strangers scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Asia, and Bithynia, as one not unknown to them (1 Peter 5:12). It would be natural to find Silas associated with Peter, as both had special relations with the Church at Jerusalem, and natural too, that he should be the bearer of an epistle to people among whom he had personally travelled. 3. Paul and Timothy then went down to Antioch. Something similar to what had occurred before would occur again. The Church would be called together to receive an account of what bad been accomplished. With what interest the Church would listen to the incidents connected with the visit to Galatia, the extraordinary circumstances which led Paul and his companions to Troas, the vision calling them to Macedonia, their advancing to Europe with “ all that God had done with them” at Philippi and Thessalonica, Berea and Athens, Corinth and Cenchrea! 4. After staying “ some time” at Antioch, he set out again with Ephesus as his destination, but contemplating first a visit to the Churches in Phrygia and Galatia. Here, Again, nothing is said of companions. But we may safely say that Timothy at least would be with him. We find him with the apostle at Ephesus towards the close of this journey, and the probability is that he was with him at the beginning. They no doubt visited Derbe and Lystra, and the neighbouring Churches. Timothy would revisit the home of his childhood, would meet probably his mother and grandmother, and perhaps find that his father, if not a Christian before, had been “ won” by the influence of the “ holy women,” beholding “ their pure conversation coupled with fear.” As Timothy had engaged in a Divine work, and had seen in the course of it some of the most wonderful cities in the world; as he was no doubt greatly advanced in character, besides being developed into mature manhood, it is impossible not to feel that the meeting between him and his parents would be one of deep and touching interest. 5. This is the second time that Paul visits Galatia; the third of his visiting Derbe, Lystra, and the neighbouring places; and it looks very like a regular and systematic apostolic “ visitation.” The apostle was always anxious not only to lay a foundation, but to build upon it, “ like a wise master builder.” His confirmation of the disciples consisted in such ministerial instruction, exhortation, appeal, as might quicken the indolent, comfort the distressed, encourage the weak, animate the desponding, and strengthen and corroborate in every soul holy purposes and spiritual aims. 6. While he is doing this we shall look in at Ephesus and see what has been transpiring there since he left Aquila and Priscilla behind there. On their first settling at Ephesus there were no Christian disciples with whom they could meet; and hence, in the absence of the higher means of grace, they attended for Sabbath worship at the synagogue. One morning a stranger appeared in the assembly, and on being invited by the rulers of the synagogue, spoke with fervour, learning, and eloquence. He was an advanced Jew, for “ he was instructed in the way of the Lord,” so far as that could be done by the teaching of John the Baptist. That teaching was the teaching of preparation and repentance--a readiness to receive the coming One. Whether Apollos had got so far as to know that John had recognised in Jesus the Christ whose forerunner he was, it is impossible to say. He certainly knew nothing of the Saviour’ s death, resurrection, and ascension, the outpouring of the Spirit, with the great doctrines underlying these facts; but, so far as he knew, he believed; believing, he spoke. Aquila and Priscilla saw the sincerity and earnestness of the man; they saw also the defectiveness of his knowledge; they were deeply interested in him; so they sought his confidence, took him to their house, and “ expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” In spite of the difference between a learned Alexandrian and a tradesman of Pontus, there was much that the one could impart to the other. Apollos had had the advantage of whatever could be acquired in the schools of the Rabbis, but Aquila and his wife had for two years lived with St. Paul, and it is easy to see how much they could reveal of the way of the Lord to one who knew only the baptism of John. It is interesting to think of the power of Christian intelligence, the unlearned wisdom of the heart in Priscilla and Aquila, and of the humility and teachableness of Apollos, who was advanced from a disciple of John to a believer in Jesus. Furnished by a “ letter of commendation” Apollos went to Corinth, where he found ample scope for his new knowledge and old accomplishments, and began to “ help them much who believed” (verses 27, 28). The character of Apollos comes out to great advantage in connection with the effect he produced at Corinth. His powers were so remarkable, and his eloquence of speech so fell in with the taste of the Corinthians, that he became wonderfully popular. When parties sprang up in the Church, there were those who called themselves by the name of Apollos. We have reason to think that this was not acceptable to Apollos himself, for when he was afterwards at Ephesus, and a visit from him seems to have been requested by the Corinthians, and when Paul himself urged him to go, he declined to do so (1 Corinthians 16:12). 7. We now return to St. Paul, who did not arrive at Ephesus until after Apollos had left; of him he would hear much that would interest him from Aquila and Priscilla. Immediately on his arrival he met with certain disciples of John, who were in much the same condition as Apollos. Paul’ s question, “ Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?” brought out the true state of the case, and led to explanations which led to their baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Settled down again, doubtless with Aquila and Priscilla, Paul prepared to attend the synagogue in accordance with the promise he had given to return to Ephesus. “ For the space of three months” he continued to do this, “ disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.” We have reason to think that many were impressed; but “ divers being hardened,” the apostle retired to a meeting place that he could call his own, the “ school of one Tyraunus,” where he continued for “ two years,” in addition to the three months mentioned before. The result was, “ that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (T. Binney.)Paul’ s third missionary journey I. The disciples of Christ have need of strengthening. Those whom Paul revisited in Phrygia and Galatia were Christians. But they were deficient in knowledge, and probably not established in the practice of Christian principles. Thus they were in danger of being led away by false teachers, and of lapsing into evil courses. Paul, by another visit, would enlighten and establish them. It is not enough that souls are influenced to accept the Saviour. They only are safe who are grounded in the truth. Many a preacher fails of lasting results because hopeful converts are neglected. Indoctrination is the great want of our times. The air is full of scepticism. The building process is vastly important; souls need to be fortified for the foes they are sure to meet. II. God leads into clearer light and larger usefulness those who live and labour according to the light they have. Apollos was instructed in the way of the Lord according to the imperfect knowledge of John’ s disciples; but did not know that Jesus was the Messiah. The sincerity, devotion, and earnestness of his heart fitted him to welcome the news of Christ as come. He was ready for instruction from any source. In the providence of God, teachers were found for him. He became acquainted with Christ, and an open door was ready for him. Souls are not to wait for the knowledge of all truth before they begin to love and serve. At first the full illumination may be withheld; but, doing the truth as one understands it, he shall be led into larger truth for greater service. III. God often uses humble instruments in accomplishing large results. The learned and eloquent Apollos was vastly superior to Aquila and Priscilla; but they led him into an accurate knowledge of the Messiah. Thus there were two persons belonging to the laity--one a woman, accomplishing a work which usage assigns to public teachers of religion. IV. Labour is of long range. Paul was instrumental in the conversion of Aquila and Priscilla. These two wrought at Ephesus; led Apollos into the knowledge of Christ. Apollos was instrumental in winning many converts at Corinth, and thenceforth became a missionary of great zeal and power. A child in the Sabbath school is led to Christ; he is educated in the Christian faith, and becomes a teacher, a preacher, a missionary; is instrumental in the conversion of many souls, and these of many more; and so the centuries go by, that teacher’ s work widening until the end. The mountainside sends forth its rill. The rill becomes a river, and the river runs on, watering a continent. Cheer up, then, servant of the Master in any sphere, eternity alone shall tell the story of your toil. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria.--Apollos He is here presented to us as a man of-- I. Superior Biblical knowledge. He was “ mighty in the Scriptures,” and “ instructed in the way of the Lord.” To be mighty in the Scriptures is not to have a mere knowledge of the letter. A man’ s verbal knowledge of the Scriptures may be extensive and correct, and yet he may be very ignorant of their spiritual import. True mightiness in the Scriptures includes a knowledge of the leading--1. Historical facts. These embody principles that have to do both with the procedure of God and the duty and destiny of man. 2. Principles. Facts are valuable only as they are the casket and mirror of principles. These principles are doctrinal and ethical--theoretic and regulative. 3. Aims. The grand aim of the Scriptures is not to build up creeds, to establish sects, to make man the creature of dogmas, rituals, and pietistic moods--such a use is a perversion--but to make men morally good. He who does not understand this to be its grand purpose, however conversant he may be with its leading facts and principles, cannot be mighty in the Scriptures or “ understand the way of the Lord.” A man may be mighty in linguistical attainments, in classic lore, in general literature, in the arts and sciences, but unless he is “ mighty in the Scriptures,” he will never be a great preacher. II. Effective power of expression. Eloquence is influential expression--such an expression of a man’ s own soul as makes his audience feel one in heart with him in the question discussed. Eloquence will depend mainly on--1. The power of the subject on the speaker’ s mind. If he has so compassed it with his intellect that he can hold it before his heart until it melts, thrills, and permeates him, he has in him the first condition of eloquence. 2. Adequate communicative organs. A man may have the subject so in him as to inflame his own soul, and yet be unable to make his audience pulsate with his own emotions. He may lack in-- (1) Voice. Its modulations may be incapable of conveying what is in him. (2) Language. His vocabulary may be too poor, and his tongue too hesitant. (3) Gesture. It may be stiff, awkward, repulsive. (4) Countenance. The eye may be too dead to flash the fire; the muscles of the face too rigid to quiver; the whole face too fleshy to radiate the Divine. Although true eloquence is a gift, it may be reached to some extent by cultivation. Men who have it not by nature, and who strive to be eloquent by oratorical contrivances, often disgust their auditory. Daniel Webster says, “ True eloquence cannot be brought from far. Labour and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire to it: they cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their children, and their country, hang on the decision of an hour. Then patriotism is eloquent--then self-devotion is eloquent. The clear conception outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward to his object. This, then, is eloquence; or, rather, it is something greater and higher than all eloquence. It is action--noble, sublime, godlike action.” III. Fine attributes of spirit. We learn that it was--1. Earnest. “ Being fervent in spirit.” Earnestness is the necessary result of genuine faith in the gospel, and is essential to all eloquence in its advocacy. 2. Faithful. He taught faithfully so far as he knew. He did not pretend to a knowledge which he had not. There was much that he did not know, for knowing only the “ baptism of John,” he had not a knowledge of Jesus as the Messiah. 3. Courageous. He was not satisfied with talking in a more private way, but he entered the synagogue, and, with an undaunted courage, spoke to the bigoted Jews. 4. Docile. This man of genius and eloquence feels his ignorance, and modestly submits to the teaching of Aquila and Priscilla. This beautiful little incident furnishes an example-- (1) To hearers. Aquila and Priscilla, though they knew much more of the things of the Lord than Apollos, yet they attended his ministry. If they could not derive much profit from it, they were there to encourage him. They did not scoff at his ignorance, or parade his defects, but endeavoured to give him a more accurate idea of the gospel, not publicly or ostentatiously, but privately and with becoming modesty. Enlightened and experienced Christian hearers may do great service to young ministers in this way. (2) To preachers. This eloquent young man, who had just come from the university of Alexandria, was not above learning of this humble tent maker and his wife. Great souls are always docile. IV. Varied capacity for usefulness. “ And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia,” etc. He had heard, perhaps, of the triumphs of Paul at Corinth, and desired to help forward the good cause. It would seem from 1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 3:4-5, that his eloquence had so wonderfully charmed certain members of the Church at Corinth, that division sprang up. The description of his work here shows that he had--1. A capacity for confirming those who believed. It is said, “ he helped them much which had believed.” He helped them, no doubt, by dissipating their doubts, enlarging their conceptions, strengthening their faith, argumentatively vanquishing their assailants. 2. A capacity for convincing those who did not believe. He “ mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly.” He was a man capable of performing the two grand functions of the true preacher--edifying the Church, and converting the sinner. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Apollos In him we see-- I. A man with great natural gifts devoting them to the study and exposition of Divine truth. All good men cannot be preachers, but intellectual gifts are put to their noblest use when they are employed in the discovery and proclamation of Divine truth, or for the advancement of righteousness. What a difference between Apollos and some eloquent politician or lawyer who uses his gifts merely to win fame and wealth. II. A great man condescending to be instructed by social and mental inferiors. Apollos was an Alexandrian scholar--a rank corresponding to that of a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge, and yet he submitted to be taught by a tent maker and his wife. Let us accept truth from any quarter. Many poor persons are well qualified to instruct great scholars in the things of the kingdom. III. A great man risking all his prospects of worldly advancement in the exposition of unpopular truths. Consider how the Jews would have rewarded Apollos had he shown that Jesus was not the Christ. Let it be our concern to ascertain not whether our opinions are likely to be popular, but whether they are true; and if they are true let us not fear to make them known. (R. A. Bertram.)What is eloquence Eloquence is speaking out from the heart. I will tell you what I call eloquence in a child: it is the whole child working itself up to gain its wish and have its way. There is a pretty thing that the child wants. He is very little, but he tries to speak about it, and does his best to express his longings. He points to what he wants, and clutches at it, and cries after it. Still he does not succeed, and then he works himself up into an agony of desire. The boy cries all over--every bit of him pleads, demands, strives. Every hair of his head is pleading for what he wants. He not only cries with his eyes and with his tongue, but he cries with his fingers and his hair. He thinks of nothing but the one thing on which his little heart is set. I call that eloquence. There is, in the Vatican, the famous group of the Laocoon: I stood one day looking at it. You remember how the father and his sons are twisted about with venomous snakes, and they are writhing in agony as the deadly folds enclose them. As I stood looking at the priceless group, a gentleman said to me, “ Mr. Spurgeon, look at that eloquent great-toe.” Well, yes, I had looked at that great-toe. It was like a live thing, though only marble. I had not called it “ eloquent” till he gave me the word; but certainly it was eloquent, though silent. It spake of anguish and deadly pain. When a man speaks in earnest, he is eloquent even though he may be slow of speech. His whole nature is stirred as he pleads with sinners for the Lord Jesus; and this makes him eloquent. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Apollos I. The influence to which he was exposed in his early days.1. Alexandria was a meeting place of East and West, and was characterised alike by mercantile and mental activity. Even the memory of Alexander, its great founder, would tend to produce breadth of view among the Alexandrians, to make them tolerant. Here the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, and a famous school of Biblical interpretation grew up side by side with schools of Greek philosophy. Such mutual relations of Jews and heathens in this place were among the providential preparations for the spread of Christianity. In the midst of these influences Apollos was brought up; and the accomplishments thus acquired were of essential service to him in his future work. 2. It is interesting to mark how God draws from different sources what is meant ultimately to flow together in one beneficent stream. The contrast between St. Paul’ s training and that of Apollos was great. The latter was nurtured in Greek scholarship at Alexandria. The former was “ brought up” in Rabbinical learning “ at the feet of Gamaliel” in Jerusalem. Yet afterwards they met, and became fellow workers in the cause of the gospel. It is an example inviting us to cooperation with others. 3. Turning to the more directly religious side of the preparation of Apollos we find-- (1) That he was learned in the Old Testament Scriptures, and through being “ mighty in the Scriptures” Apollos became mighty in other respects; it was the basis of all his subsequent usefulness. With him this sacred possession was limited to the Old Testament. We have, in addition, the still higher blessing of the New. (2) That he had obtained some knowledge of the Christian revelation, knowing, however, only the baptism of John. This being the case, Apollos knew the most important part of Christianity: for John had said, “ Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” The gospel system, indeed, contains much more than this, but this is the main point--the life-giving part of the gospel system. II. Features of his personal character.1. He was “ eloquent.” God chooses His instruments suitably. Eloquence is a gift bestowed only on a few. We may be very useful without, and very mischievous with, eloquence. The point of real moment is, that in the case of Apollos this gift was sanctified and turned to a religious use. 2. He was “ fervent in spirit.” Temperaments vary. Some are naturally warmer than others. And yet there must be enthusiasm where Christ has been received fully into the heart; and enthusiasm in ourselves is God’ s instrument for kindling enthusiasm in others. 3. He “ was instructed in the way of the Lord” --“ he taught diligently the things of the Lord” --he learnt the way of God “ more perfectly.” From these phrases, especially in the original, we infer that he had that habit of mind which we call accuracy. The difference between men in regard to real influence in the world relates not so much to amount as to accuracy of knowledge. Moreover, progressive advance in religious knowledge depends, at each step, upon accuracy. On what, then, does accuracy depend? On attention. An inattentive learner never becomes an accurate scholar. Justly then do we lay great stress on attention, in the teaching of the young. 4. He was humble. His secular training came from a very distinguished source, his high religious training from a very lowly one. How often has this been the case since! Those who have been eminent in university honours have often learnt their best lessons of religion even from the poor, and often from women. III. The active career of usefulness on which he now entered.1. Equipped with varied knowledge, he was filled with a noble zeal to make that knowledge fruitful. His desires turned with characteristic energy to a distant scene of labour. Alexandria, Ephesus, and Corinth were connected by trade, and Aquila and Priscilla would be constantly speaking of St. Paul’ s work in Achaia. Thus Apollos was seized with the desire of continuing the work which St. Paul had begun; and Aquila and Priscilla were in nowise loth to encourage him in the enterprise. “ The brethren” in Ephesus shared these feelings, “ and wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive” Apollos. This is the first recorded instance of commendatory letters, a kind of correspondence which became an instrument of the utmost value for binding together the separated parts of the growing Church. Armed with such letters, Apollos crossed to Corinth: and the result is told in forcible though simple language (verse 28). What a great mission was this, to bind together two parts of the Christian community, and to communicate strength where strength was needed! and helping work of this kind, on a smaller or larger scale, is within the power of us all. 2. Here 1 Corinthians helps us to complete our study. The arrival of this learned, eloquent, and fervent man, though intended for the spreading and deepening of practical religion, had been followed by the formation of religious parties. In all that we usually sum up under the term popularity Apollos was probably far superior. On the other hand, St. Paul had founded the Church, and came with supreme authority. Besides this, individual hearts and minds have been relatively brought more closely into contact with the one or the other. Thus that deplorable growth of party spirit took place at Corinth, which has had its counterpart ever since, the true remedy for which is to be found in those general principles which St. Paul enunciates in this Epistle. We are to look up to that one common Divine source from whence all gifts and graces proceed (1 Corinthians 3:21-22). Now the question arises whether this party-spirit was the fault of Apollos. 1 Corinthians 16:12 decisively proves that it was not. By this time Apollos and St. Paul were in personal companionship. How considerate is his conduct! St. Paul wished him to go to Corinth, but he firmly declined. His appearance there would only have been the signal for a new outbreak of this party spirit. It is difficult to say which is the more admirable, the generosity of Paul and his perfect confidence that Apollos would not abuse an opportunity; or the delicate and thoughtful respect for St. Paul, and the utmost reluctance on the part of Apollos to run any risk of exalting himself at the expense of another. What an example of self-restraint and mutual consideration is presented to us here! It is this kind of forbearance which maintains and strengthens friendship, and secures the continuance of cooperation in Christian work. 3. Friendships thus cemented last long and bear many strains. We are not surprised by the anxiety shown by St. Paul long afterwards for the comfort of Apollos in the prospect of a fatiguing journey (Titus 3:13). Conclusion:1. This meditation may serve as an illustration of the large amount of religious instruction which we may secure from the study of a Scripture character. Recognition of God’ s hand in our early training--a good and conscientious use of opportunities--a ready zeal for Christ’ s service--humility in learning from those who are further advanced in the Christian course than ourselves--a cheerful rendering of timely help to those around us--a firm discountenancing of factious party spirit--a considerate care for the reputation and comfort of others--can we not all, through the Holy Spirit’ s aid, form such habits of mind as these? 2. And we may revert to the providential guiding of Apollos in connection with St. Paul. His early knowledge of Christianity began at Alexandria; his mature training was received, and his active work began, at Ephesus; his distinguished public career was run at Corinth. Thus three great cities saw the three stages of his religious progress. 3. Or we may treat this providential guidance in another way. St. Paul, apparently by accident, meets Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth. There, through intercourse with him, they become fitted for influence on a large scale. At Ephesus, Apollos is brought under this beneficial influence. And finally he is labouring at Corinth on the foundation laid by St. Paul, while the apostle is again cooperating with Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus. We may justly put all this side by side with our own experience in regard to changes of home, of occupation, of companionship, and may draw from it the comfortable assurance that, wherever we are, if we have a true desire to serve God, He will provide for us suitable work and, so far as we need, Christian sympathy. (Dean Howson.)A new man in the Church I. How marvellous is the preeminence of individual men!1. Herein is the continual miracle of Providence. The great man always comes; yet few can tell how or whence. God is pleased to make sudden revelations of power. He is pleased to surprise men themselves by unexpected accessions of strength, so that the feeble man becomes as the mighty, and the obscure man steps up to the very summit of prominence and renown. Elijah comes without warning, and is Elijah all at once. Other men have been found on the same lines and have challenged society with equal suddenness. 2. Men are so much alike up to a given point, and then without patent reason they separate into individualities, and go out on independent missions. Yet we are all one, centrally and morally. The little bird that can fly seems to have a larger liberty than man, who can only walk; but the air is only the wider earth. So with the great mental eagles--they all belong to us. Argumentative Paul and eloquent Apollos are brethren with us, sitting at the same table and kneeling at the same altar. If we could get that view of our leaders we should destroy all envy, suspicion, rivalry, because Apollos would be my larger self, and Paul in his noblest moods would be myself transfigured. We should glorify God in the greatness of our brethren. II. Let us look at the preeminence of Apollos and study the characteristics which were natural and inimitable and those which were acquired and therefore possible of reproduction by ourselves.1. Apollos was “ an eloquent man.” Here Apollos cannot be reproduced by us. Eloquence cannot be acquired; it is the gift of tongues. 2. Apollos was “ fervent in the spirit.” There he may not be imitated. You can paint fire but it will never warm you. Fire is the gift of God. Men who are not fervent are not to be blamed. You would not blame a man for being born blind. The difficulty here is lest men who are not fervent should blame men who are fervent; and lest fervent men should be impatient with men who are not fervent. Here also we belong to one another. Men who are not fervent are often most useful. There is a purpose to be served in the economy of things by ice as well as by fire--only do not let them quarrel, 3. Apollos was “ mighty in the Scriptures.” There we cannot imitate him. Might in Bible reading is the gift of God. To read the Bible so as to become mighty in it requires insight, sympathy, kinship with the writers, a spiritual knowledge of the language, identification with the Spirit of God. Some of us can understand one portion of Scripture who cannot understand another. We must not begrudge one another the partial gift, nor endeavour to reduce it to contempt. There are some hearts mighty in the Psalms; there are other minds mighty in the histories; there are others with a special gift for taking hold of, and explaining, Christ. We must all work together. 4. Apollos was “ instructed in the way of the Lord.” There we may join him. These words involve the devotion of a lifetime. The “ way of the Lord” is in the deep waters, and in the secret places, and in the tabernacles of the thunder. He speaks riddle and enigma. What scope for industry! What a field for teachableness! 5. But this is not all; even in Apollos there was a weak point. Apollos knew “ only the baptism of John.” If he could be so eloquent about water, what will he be when he comes to speak of blood? We shall find this man doing wonders in the Church. It is possible to teach even the alphabet earnestly. Apollos knew only the alphabet, but he taught the separate letters as if they were separate poems. The fervent man touches everything with his fervour. Do not despise the teachers who are not teaching exactly the fulness of the gospel. If they are teaching up to the measure of their intelligence, thank God for their cooperation. There are men who are teaching the elements of morality, and endeavouring to save the world by political elevation. They must not be undervalued; they ought to be treated exactly as Aquila and Priscilla treated Apollos. If the offer of further information is declined, the responsibility has been discharged. But do not despise men who do not teach your particular phase of doctrine. They may be earnest and not belong to your Church; they will, however, show their earnestness by their teachableness. The most advanced scholar will be the most docile learner. III. “ Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” Thus, in an indirect way, Apollos was a pupil of Paul. Paul will one day get hold of him, and when the two fires meet the light will be seen and the warmth will be felt afar. IV. These men are ours. The great things are all ours. We cannot go into the rich man’ s house and warm our hands at his blazing fire; but the coldest child can hold up its little hands to God’ s sun. The dweller in the obscure hamlet cannot claim the secondary cities in the same way in which he can claim the metropolis. So with the great Pauls and Apolloses, and the mighty speakers and teachers, poets and thinkers--they belong to us, everyone (1 Corinthians 3:22-23). (J. Parker, D. D.)A teacher taught Most of us like to come suddenly upon the record of a famous man in the Scriptures. Apollos comes quite abruptly on the stage of action, like Elijah, unannounced and unattended; but in the end it is evident he proves to be one of the master spirits of the age. I. His qualifications as a religious teacher were by no means slight.1. He was “ mighty in the Scriptures.” He could take prophecy, psalm, history, and the ritual, and make the Jewish congregations feel that the great longing of the world for four thousand years had at last found its answer in the advent of Jesus as the Christ. Some modern scholars declare he wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. So here is our lesson: One who is only partly instructed can do much in bringing souls to Christ. Let him tell what he knows. Truth augments its volume and increases its value by extensive distribution. 2. He was “ an eloquent man.” It is a prodigious and priceless gift, that of being able to wield language with skill and success. Tact in teaching is worth d hundred libraries to a Christian worker. The usefulness of any young Christian will depend not upon the many things about which he is ignorant, but upon the vigorous few things he is sure of. Talent is extirpated by disuse. He that hears ought to say, Come. 3. He was “ fervent,” boiling “ in spirit.” A modern scholar talks about “ a dry light, in which subjects are viewed, without any predilection, or passion, or emotion, simply as they exist.” Most likely Apollos did not know what such a thing was. Some so-called great preachers erect their themes as if they desired them to stand like feudal castles in moonlight, with every tower and turret drawn sharply outlined against the cold sky. We do not believe that Apollos had anything of that sort of artistic finish. Things were real to his fervent soul, not just picturesque and pretty. Intellectual deficiency can best be atoned for by a great warmth of heart for Jesus the Master. Let the young Christian cling to the two or three things he positively knows; and let him press them with love and tears; and God will give him his answer. 4. He was industrious. He “ spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord.” Yet his list of themes was very scant. John the Baptist told him only two things: Christ was coming and sinners must repent. But that lasted this young man awhile. If one is all afire for work, and is satisfied with his Bible, he only wants two subjects to talk about: “ repentance” and “ Jesus Christ.” Then let him go and look up Aquila and Priscilla, and get experience. II. How was it that this teacher went to be taught and came back a wiser and better man?1. Aquila and his wife spent the time in “ expounding,” not in expostulating. There was untold force in Apollos. He was like a mountain torrent--a magnificent water power needing only a flume and a fresh sort of wheel. These friends did not “ take him down” ; they “ took him unto them.” They did not carp nor criticise nor discourage him; they did not talk about his “ way;” but about “ the way of God.” 2. It is better for young people to take help gracefully. Aquila and Priscilla dared a good deal when they took him up. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Apollos Note-- I. The illustration here given of the providence of God, over human lives. Here are persons, born in the most remote regions, separated by every variety of circumstance, yet brought together, in the changes of this mortal life, to affect one another with reference to the highest interests--Aquila, Apollos, Paul. One from Rome, one from Alexandria, and one from Tarsus. Europe, Africa, and Asia, each contributes an element to this combination. Can we doubt, when we consider how much hung upon that conjunction, that it was of God. God, who “ can do nothing certainly except He do all things really,” arranges the various movements and associations of human life, making all conduce to our improvement if we will, or else, if we will not, to our humiliation. II. The progress which there is in every Christian life. Our condition on earth is that of a growing life. To stand still is to go backwards. Most of all is this so in the things of God. It is a terrible sign when we are satisfied where we are in the spiritual life. The wisest of us have much to learn, the best of us much to attain. Apollos was already mighty in the Scriptures, and able to teach accurately the things of the Lord. And yet he was ignorant of one whole department of Christian truth. He knew nothing of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. If he had thought himself too wise to learn, he would have lived and died only half a Christian. III. We must :earnestly use that which we have already received. We do not yet know all that we shall know, nor are we yet all that we shall be. But that is no reason for keeping to ourselves the light we have. It is in using that we acquire. It was by teaching in the synagogue what he already knew of Christ that Apollos put himself in the way of those who could teach him more. A sense of deficiency is no excuse for idleness. It is to him that hath--i.e., that useth what he hath--that more is given. IV. The proper treatment of persons in a less mature or enlightened condition. Aquila and Priscilla saw that there was a fatal omission in his public teaching. Many modern Christians would have stamped the man at once as a teacher of error, and deserted his ministry. But these good Christians, recognising the natural gifts and spiritual graces of this new teacher, in calm serious conversation laid before him those deeper mysteries of Christian truth which were the life of their souls, and which they desired to make also the life of his. We ought to be ever on the watch for opportunities of leading onward those who are now behindhand in the doctrine or in the life of Christ. Instead of shrinking from close personal communication with others upon the things of the soul, we ought to seek it. There are those who are longing for it; those who are sadly complaining that Christians are always ready to talk of anything but of the one thing. V. How simply does the office of a Christian towards others resolve itself into work of helping! Apollos, when he had been more fully instructed in Christian doctrine, and had, at the entreaty of those who knew his great gifts, passed on into Achaia to minister to the Church of Corinth, helped much, by the grace given to him, them which had believed. What an idea does this expression convey of the obstacles which a Christian has to encounter! There are great rocks in our path, too heavy oftentimes for our unaided strength to roll out of the way. What a real assistance, in such cases, may the helping hand of a fellow Christian afford who has surmounted the same difficulty himself! And how intricate sometimes is the choice of paths, as we thread the labyrinth of life! What a real assistance may the voice of a friend afford us, if he can say, I have tried many of these paths, but this is the right one. And how heavy sometimes is the weight which we have to carry! What a real assistance is the offer of a Christian friend to relieve us by his brotherly sympathy, and thus to fulfil the law of Christ! And how arduous sometimes is the work which has to be done! And then what a real assistance it is, if some known and tried voice will offer to divide it with us. And how difficult, sometimes, is the discernment of truth! how puzzling the adjustment of the conflicting elements of Scripture doctrine! What a real assistance, at such times, may be the voice of the well-instructed and the sympathising teacher, who can bring into the dark chamber the lamp of discernment and of revelation, unravel the tangled web, draw harmony out of discord, reconcile the jarring elements, and justify the ways of God to men! (Dean Vaughan.)Mighty in the Scriptures.-- Mighty in the Scriptures I. The Scriptures are like the ocean.1. No man can exhaust the stores of knowledge treasured in the mighty deep. It may be studied for a lifetime under different aspects. (1) In reference to its distribution and topography; its great expanse, as it spreads between Asia and America, between America and Europe and Africa, between Africa and India; its indentations, gulfs, bays, etc., and the effects which this distribution has upon climate, winds, rain, fertility, and hence on commerce and the destiny of the race. (2) As to its basin, its mountains and valleys, and the nature of its bottom. (3) As to the innumerable organisms with which it abounds, from the whale to the animalculae, and the changes produced by millions of insects, rendering luminous miles of its surface, or building up reefs, and islands, and continents from its deeps. (4) As to its tides, its currents, its prevailing winds. (5) As to its chemistry. (6) As to how to use it, and to avail ourselves of its power and resources. A man may have much of the other kinds of oceanic knowledge, and very little of this. We should not like to go to sea in a ship commanded by Dr. Guyot or Prof. Agassiz. 2. All this may be applied to Scripture. It may be studied under different aspects, and in each furnish inexhaustible stores of knowledge. It may be viewed-- (1) As a history extending from creation, including its antediluvian, patriarchal, Jewish, Christian, and apostolic periods. A man might spend his life in getting a clear knowledge of its facts, then of the bearing of its facts on ethnography, civilisation, religion, and the destiny of nations. (2) In its organic relations; the relation of the Adamic period to the Abrahamic, of the Abrahamic to the Mosaic, etc., and the culmination of all in the Christian. (3) As to its doctrines; what it teaches of the nature and perfections of God, of His relation to the material and the spiritual worlds, of the distinction of Persons in the Godhead, of the Person and work of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit; what it teaches of man, of the plan of salvation, of the hereafter, etc. (4) As to its moral code, including our religious, social, and political duties. (5) As to the Church. (6) There is a knowledge due to the illumination of the Spirit, including spiritual apprehension, deeper insight into and firmer conviction of the truth. (7) Besides all these there is a familiarity with its language, a knowledge lodged in the memory, so that it can be readily quoted and applied. This is a great gift or attainment. 3. But as scientific knowledge of the ocean may be possessed without practical skill in navigation, so a man may possess a knowledge of Scripture history, etc., and yet not be mighty in the Scriptures. These are the materials which power uses, and without which he can accomplish nothing; but the power itself is the ability to use this knowledge effectively. This includes-- (1) Mental ability; a clearness and power of the intelligence, to bring to bear the truths and facts of Scripture, so as to produce the desired effect, whether that be conviction of the truth, or submission of conscience, or obedience of the will. (2) Power of feeling. (a) Strong conviction of the truth and importance of what the Bible teaches. (b) Fervent desire that it should be recognised and obeyed. (3) Power of utterance. II. The importance of being mighty in the Scriptures. The whole power of a minister as such is a power in the Scriptures. This exists in different degrees, but it is all that any minister has, be it much or little. It is therefore the one object to be sought in preparing for the ministry, without which a minister, no matter what else he may have of knowledge or talent, will accomplish no good, and may do immense harm. III. The duty of being mighty in the Scriptures. It is our duty--1. To obtain all the kinds of knowledge of Scripture above mentioned, especially committing it to memory, so as to be able to quote it abundantly, correctly, and appropriately. 2. To acquire the ability to use that knowledge. This is-- (1) A mental discipline.(2) A spiritual exercise.(3) An art--the art of effective public speaking. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Mighty in the Scriptures I. In the study of the Scriptures. This must be--1. Systematic.2. Thorough.3. Oft-repeated.4. With all the aid that related sciences can afford.5. Prayerful and with dependence on the Guide into all truth. II. In the knowledge of the Scriptures; as following from the former. In the knowledge of their--1. History.2. Doctrine.3. Ethics.4. End and aim. III. In the exposition of the Scriptures, as following from both the first and the second.1. In the opening up of their meaning.2. In the ready and apt quotation of texts.3. In the application of the truth to the heart and conscience. IV. In the effects which the mighty study, knowledge and exposition of the Scriptures are calculated to produce. “ Mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.”1. In the edification of the Church.2. In the multiplication of converts. (J. W. Burn.)Whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they … expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.--The importance of Bible teaching 1. It is by being taught that, men acquire knowledge of and competency for anything. All Christians need to be taught (Romans 16:16), and it is impossible for any to begin too early (2 Timothy 3:15), and none are too old. Apollos, although mighty in the Scriptures, did not feel himself above this necessity. 2. Religion develops the power to learn, and produces the spirit most favourable to learning--humility. 3. The things which Christians are to learn are the sublimest and most important (Acts 20:30; 2 Timothy 3:17). Note-- I. What the Bible is to men in general.1. It throws light on Nature. The materialist cannot find God in His own creation; the natural theologian can only find traces of Him; the Bible student is taught to find Him everywhere. 2. It reveals God’ s plan of salvation (2 Timothy 2:10; Hebrews 8:5). 3. It contains the standard of true morality. A well-made clock may be expected to keep Correct time; but owing to circumstances few clocks are always right. It is well, therefore, to have a public clock in every city which shall serve as a positive standard for all the other clocks of the place--better still to have at Greenwich one that is so for the whole country. Man is a moral clock whose original construction was perfect, but whose moral order is now sadly deranged (Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 3:23); but God has given us a standard whereby the right can be ascertained and the wrong ones rectified, in the Bible. 4. It is the rule whereby the destiny of every man shall be determined at the final judgment (Acts 17:31; John 12:48). For these reasons, therefore, man, as man, needs Bible teaching. II. The particular relation of the Bible to the Churches.1. It is their school book. The Churches are so many schools in which Christ teaches, and He will permit of no other text book but this. 2. It is their legal code. When a man becomes a citizen of another country, it is important that he should become acquainted with the laws of that country, lest he should unwittingly break them. So when a man comes out of the world into the kingdom of God it is necessary for him to master the laws by which that kingdom is governed (Isaiah 8:20). 3. It is the means of their sanctification (John 17:17; Ephesians 5:25-26). 4. It is their fountain of comfort (Psalms 119:50; Romans 15:4). 5. It is their defensive and aggressive weapon. Some weapons are defensive only, but a sword is both (Ephesians 6:17; Matthew 4:3-11). 6. They are its custodians, as the Jewish Church was of the Old Testament. 7. They are the instruments by which its light is to shine on the world (Philippians 2:15-16); but it must be in them first (Galatians 3:16); otherwise they are lamps without oil. 8. They are to teach it to the world (Matthew 28:19-20). 9. Through it they are to convert the world (Mark 16:15; 2 Timothy 4:2). 10. It is the means of their growth-- (1) In numbers (Acts 6:7);(2) In spirituality (1 Peter 2:1-2). (R. Hughes.) Acts 18:27-28 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him. The duty of the Church at home to the work and the workers abroad 1. We should give our Christian brother Godspeed on his work for God. 2. We can sometimes help the cause of foreign missions without leaving our own homes. 3. We cannot, however, be Christians at all, without being in some sense foreign missionaries. 4. We should match the self-surrender of the brother who gives up his home and land to carry on the work abroad, by self-denial for his support. 5. We should give to the faithful brother who is going forth in Christ’ s name, that most comforting of all assurances--that the prayers of Christ’ s Church are with him. 6. We should help Apollos and Apollos should help us, and our helping of one another should be to the end that the Master’ s kingdom may be widened and upbuilded. 7. We may be sure that time and money used in teaching Apollos the truth are well “ employed, for Apollos will in turn become a powerful teacher of the truth. (S. S. Times.)The Churches and removing members One of the gravest of modern ecclesiastical problems relates to the removal of members. There is a constant drain on our Churches through business exigencies, family arrangements, the habit of removing from town into the country, etc. In some neighbourhoods in the course of a few years the personnel of the congregation is entirely changed. What becomes of those who thus remove? It is notorious that a vast number drop out of Church life altogether. This like other problems arises from our departure from apostolic precedent. Members leave without reporting themselves either to the Church they are leaving, or to the Church to which they are removing; they are allowed to leave without commendation, or are allowed to come without welcome; and failing to adjust themselves to their new environment they simply fall out of the Church’ s ranks and so are lost. But even at this early date an arrangement was made which effectually checked this evil. A member of a particular Church was made to feel that he was a member of the Church of Christ everywhere. And so the “ brethren” at Ephesus commended by letter Apollos to the “ disciples” at Corinth, who, when he arrived in his new sphere in the most natural manner imaginable, took up the threads of his old life and continued his old work. Note then-- I. That the Church from which a member is removing should commend him to the Church to which he removes.1. This authenticates the member and is an effectual safeguard against imposture. In the absence of such a commendation the caution which is mistaken for coldness is only natural, for many a Church has suffered from receiving non-authenticated strangers. 2. This secures for the member a welcome and a home. There can be no hesitation in receiving one who has earned a good report amongst those who have known him for years. 3. This shows a brotherly interest in the prosperity of other Churches. “ Brother So-and-so has been of use to us as a Sunday school teacher, or a church officer--make use of him; he will do you good, as he has done us good.” II. The Church to which a member removes should “ receive” him, if he brings his credentials--1. Without suspicion. He has been already approved by a sister Church, and should not have to undergo another period of probation. 2. With hearty brotherly affection. Parting with old associates if often most distressing; let him feel that he has only changed one group of brethren for another. 3. To full Church rights and privileges. Let him take as nearly as possible the position he occupied amongst his old friends. This was what the Corinthians did in the case of Apollos. III. A member on removing should ask for his credentials and at once present them and contribute his share of Church life and usefulness.1. He should put a proper value on his membership by securing its continuity himself. How is the Church to know he is removing and where he is removing to without information? Surely it is not infra dig. to give this information, and to secure at least a friendly recommendation! 2. He should not wait to be “ looked up” in his new sphere, and because screened from observation in some back seat, or lost in the crowd of retiring worshippers, complain that he is neglected. 3. He should take as deep an interest in the work of his new sphere as in the work of the old. This is what Apollos did. Conclusion: This rule should not be sectarian. When a member of one branch of Christ’ s Church removes to a place represented only by another branch, let him be duly accredited and received as belonging to the common Christian community; and let him not withhold his full fellowship, least of all create a schism ill favour of his own denomination because of some difference in creed or polity. (J. W. Burn.)Who when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace. Spiritual succorer derived from appointed means 1. The God of nature is the God of grace. In the world of nature, God not only brings creatures into life, but provides for their support. So in the world of grace. Christians are new creatures; but they require attention and supplies. And “ He who giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry,” will not overlook the wants of His own children. 2. In harmony with this reflection are the words of the text, Apollos was “ an eloquent man,” etc. Here we remark that talent and knowledge are distinguishable; and that the heart may be right with God, while the judgment in Divine things is defective. It is well, however, to see a man using the light he has, and “ to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly.” This was the case here (Acts 18:26). 3. This honours both parties. (1) It commends Aquila and Priscilla. Though they found Apollos, in Christian knowledge, inferior to themselves, yet they did not disparage him, saying, “ He may do for others; but such a young, raw preacher is not deep enough for us” :--so many a gifted brother and sister in our day would have said--but they encouraged him, and communicated to him of their own experience. But observe--They did it with a delicate regard to his feelings alone in their own house. (2) And it looks well in Apollos, that he so willingly received their instruction. He was a young preacher exceedingly cried up and followed--and it was not an apostle that undertook to teach him; nor even a brother minister; but two of his hearers, and mechanics too--but he listens to them with pleasure and gratitude. 4. Apollos was willing to go where there was least help, and most probability of usefulness. But no preacher ought to be countenanced till he is accredited. When, therefore, Apollos was “ disposed to pass into Achaia,” he travelled with letters of recommendation; and “ when he was come, he helped them much which had believed through grace.” Whence we observe that-- I. Christians and believers. To believe is to have a persuasion of the truth of a thing submitted to our attention. It is obvious, however, that the credence which characterises the subjects of Divine grace does not rest in the judgment without producing a correspondent state of the heart: “ for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” “ Faith worketh by love.” James shows the inutility of that faith which admits the truth into the understanding, while the possessor is not sanctified by it. If a man believe anything, it is his own mortality; and yet the conviction is completely counteracted by his passions and sins, and he lives as if he were to live here always. Ungodly characters may, therefore, give credit to the Scriptures, and to the most interesting doctrines of the gospel, and yet “ hold the truth in unrighteousness.” The hazard of deception arises from the resemblance there often is between a counterfeit and a genuine faith; and the tendency there is in men to be satisfied with the assent of the mind, which costs nothing, without “ obeying from the heart the form of doctrine which is delivered us.” But such is the disposition of everyone that believes to the saving of the soul. II. That they who believe, believe through grace. From this source comes--1. The very object of faith as a revelation. This principally consists in the “ record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son.” 2. The existence of faith as a production. This may be inferred from our moral inability. “ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” But we are not left to infer the fact: we have the most express ascriptions of it to a Divine influence. “ Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven.” And so far was this from being peculiar to him, that it is said of the Ephesians, “ By grace are ye saved, through faith: and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” 3. The exercise of faith as a principle. This faith must be exerted in every condition. But as there is nothing of so much importance, there is nothing so much opposed. And how is it to be maintained? “ I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” “ Lord, increase our faith.” Thus the continuance and the progress of the principle depend upon the same grace which produced it; and He who is the Author, is also the Finisher of our faith. III. They need help. This they all feel. Paul himself, after all his proficiency, was not ashamed to say, “ I have not yet attained, neither am I already perfect.” The Christian feels a deficiency which requires help.1. In his knowledge. 2. In his sanctification. His graces are imperfect. Something is wanting--and, oh! how much--to his patience, his love, his hope, his faith. 3. In his comfort. IV. But assistance is afforded by the ministry of the gospel. “ Who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace.” It is necessary, however, to observe that he did this only through the blessing of God attending his labours. “ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos,” etc.? (1 Corinthians 3:5). Apollos helped the believers--1. By his prayers. This was done by his praying with them and for them, not only in public, but in private. “ The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” 2. By preaching. Preaching is an ordinance peculiar to the gospel. Every religion of old had its rites; and its votaries were accustomed to assemble together at stated times and on various occasions, in their temples and at their altars: but they never came to receive instruction. What instruction had their leaders to communicate? But when your ministers meet you, they have everything that is interesting to announce. 3. By example. Example is deservedly said to be more influential than precept. The physician is not likely to gain the confidence of the patient when he prescribes for a disease under which he labours himself. Conclusion:1. “ Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” 2. If faith comes from the grace of God, they are mistaken who place it in the virtue of man. “ By the grace of God, I am what I am.” Let the same truth which excludes boasting prevent despair. 3. Do not despise the day of small things. Despise it not-- (1) In others. Observe and cherish every serious conviction, and resemble Him who does “ not break a bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax.” (2) In yourselves. The life of God is progressive, and the commencement is often no more to the completion than the mustard seed to the mustard tree. 4. Pity those who are destitute of your religious advantages. 5. Be grateful for the privileges you enjoy, and be concerned properly to improve them. (W. Jay.)For he mightily convinced the Jews.--Mighty preaching What Apollos was at Ephesus (verse 24) he was at Corinth. Change of sphere sometimes takes all the might out of a preacher. But this is not always his fault. The preacher who, supported by the prayers, cooperation, and enthusiasm of a warm-hearted Church, wins many souls to Christ, is not to be blamed if his ministry amongst an apathetic people is comparatively barren of results. Mighty preaching is-- I. Convincing preaching.1. Some preaching is-- (1) Merely interesting. It deals with topics which fall in with the popular mood and agree with the popular tastes. It has taking titles, is eloquent in its language, is full of illustrations, and is well garnished with poetical quotations. This often lacks power because it fails to grip. (2) Philosophical. It deals with mental, theological, and moral problems. It appeals to the cultured intellect and taxes thought to the utmost. This too often lacks power, because only a few can appreciate it. (3) Comforting. This deals with the afflictions of the body or the soul, and applies the soothing and healing balm of the promises of God; but often it is enervating, and has on many the effect which medicine has on a healthy body. 2. All these kinds of preaching are important and necessary in their place: but even these are powerless unless they produce conviction; and wisely handled subjects of passing interest, grave mental and moral problems, and the woes of humanity may be made instruments of power. The mighty preaching of Apollos produced conviction-- (1) Of sin. (2) Of the need of a Saviour. (3) Of the suitableness of Christ for His saving work. And no preaching is mighty which fails here. 3. For this convincing preaching the Holy Spirit is essential (John 16:7-11). II. The means of producing this conviction are the Scriptures.1. Some endeavour to produce conviction by abstract reasoning. And nothing is more incontestible than that the fact of sin and the power and claims of Christ as Saviour can be proved on intellectual lines. But logic is too cold to be powerful, and those who are capable of following closely subtle lines of argument are very few. 2. Some depend on authority, and the result is either stubborn antagonism or the manufacture of worthless devotees. Rarely has conviction been produced by the mere ipse dixit of a preacher or a Church. 3. The mighty preacher deals with the Scriptures and shows from them that Christ is-- (1) A Divinely authorised Saviour. (2) An all-sufficient Saviour. (3) Just such a Saviour as can meet, by His Divine power, His human sympathies, His atoning sacrifice, the sinner’ s needs. III. Mighty preaching is the great means of helping the Church. Apollos helped them much, “ for he mightily convinced,” etc. Of course he helped those whom he convinced--by being the means of their conversion; and doubtless he, like others, helped the Church by counsel, government, encouragement, etc. Still the main help that the Church wanted then and what it wants now is that referred to in the text. This--1. Strengthens the Church numerically. Those who are convinced that Jesus is Christ, join the Church and thus add to its numerical strength. The law of growth operates here as elsewhere. Vigour is manifested by growth. 2. Encourages its hopes. A stationary or declining Church is a desponding Church; and despondency is paralysis. On the contrary a hopeful Church is a progressive Church, and nothing stimulates hope like success. (J. W. Burn.). Acts 19:1-23 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul … came to Ephesus.--Ephesus was the third capital and starting point of Christianity At Jerusalem Christianity was born in the cradle of Judaism; Antioch had been the starting point of the Church of the Gentiles; Ephesus was to witness its full development, and the final amalgamation of its unconsolidated elements in the work of John, the apostle of love. It lay one mile from the sea in the fair Asian meadow where myriads of swans and other waterfowl disported amid the windings of the Cayster. Its haven, once among the most sheltered and commodious in the Mediterranean, was thronged with vessels from every part of the civilised world. It lay at the meeting point of two great roads and commanded easy access to the whole interior continent. Its population was multifarious and immense. Its markets, glittering with the produce of the world’ s art, were the Vanity Fair of Asia, and furnished the imagery of Rev 18:12-13. And Ephesus was no less famous than it was vast and wealthy. No name is more splendidly emblazoned in the annals of human culture than that of the great capital of Ionia. Here Anacreon sang the light songs which so thoroughly suited the soft temperament of the Greek colonists in that luxurious air; here Thales gave the first impulse to philosophy; here the deepest of all Greek thinkers, “ Heracleitus the Dark,” meditated on those truths which he uttered in language of such incomparable force, and here Parrhasius and Apelles studied their immortal art. And although its splendour was increased by its being the residence of a Roman Proconsul it was still essentially Greek, with a civilisation more deeply imbued with Oriental than Western influences, fostering superstitions which owed their maintenance to the self-interest of various priestly bodies, and utterly debased the moral character of the people. Just as the mediaeval sanctuaries attracted all the scum and villainy, all the cheats and debtors and murderers of the country round, and inevitably pauperised and degraded the entire vicinity--just as the squalor of the lower purlieus of Westminster to this day is accounted for by its direct affiliation to the crime and wretchedness which sheltered itself under the shadow of the Abbey--so the vicinity of the great temple at Ephesus reeked with the congregated pollutions of Asia. So inveterate was the vice of the place that one of its philosophers declared that the whole Ephesian population deserved to be throttled man by man. Such was the city which was, with the exception of Rome, by far the most important scene of Paul’ s toils, and which he regarded as “ a great door and effectual” though there were “ many adversaries.” (Archdeacon Farrar.)Paul at Ephesus He brought the light of the gospel to bear on every degree of darkness. On--1. The twilight of John the Baptist’ s dispensation.2. The “ blindness in part which happened unto Israel.”3. The gloomy midnight of superstition and idolatry. (J. Bennett, D. D.)Paul at Ephesus Or the contact of Christianity with idolatry, as sustained by superstition, by national pride, and by the love of gain. Note-- I. The difficulties encountered from the peculiar form of idolatry.1. The two obstacles which the apostles everywhere encountered were, of course, Judaism and Paganism. But, while Judaism was fixed and unchanging, the heathen systems were variable; and the form of their opposition to Christianity varied with the character of the prevalent idolatry or philosophy, and with the intelligence or barbarism of the people. In one place heathenism was connected with gross profligacy and superstition; in another with intellectual refinement, with all that was beautiful in art and profound in learning; in others with national pride, with secular callings, with the power of the state. All these were to be overcome before Christianity could secure its ascendency. 2. In all countries religion is the most powerful principle that controls the human mind. In its very nature it is supreme as a principle in governing men. There is power in attachment to one’ s country, to friends, to property, to liberty, to life; but the power of religion, as such, is superior to all these, for men are willing to sacrifice them all in honour of their religion. In addition to this, there is a power derived from the incorporation of religion with customs, opinions, and lucrative pursuits; laws, vested rights, caste, and civil and sacred offices. Both these sources of power existed here in forms most difficult to overcome. (1) The religious principle itself was as mighty as in any other part of the world. All the religious affections of the people were absorbed in the worship of one divinity. (2) The natural power of religion was combined with all that could add to its hold upon the mind. It was closely combined with-- (a) The practice of magic (verse 19). (b) National pride. The temple of Diana yeas the chief glory of the city; and, around that, all that there was of patriotism and pride would be concentrated. (c) The wealth of the city furnished employment to a considerable portion of its inhabitants (verse 24). II. The preparation which had been made for the introduction of the gospel. Unlike most ether places, Ephesus was prepared for the gospel, and in a way which bore a striking resemblance to that which was made for Christ by the forerunner. The doctrines of John had been brought to Ephesus, and had been enforced by the eloquence of Apollos, with the result that a little band of disciples were apparently waiting for the coining of the Messiah. Their knowledge was very defective; yet it illustrates their sincerity, their desire to serve God, and their purpose to welcome the truth from whatever quarter it might come, that when these twelve disciples were told by Paul what was the real purport of the doctrines of John (verse 4), they welcomed the announcement, and “ were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (verse 5). On them as on the apostles at Pentecost “ the Holy Ghost” now “ came, and they spake with tongues, and prophesied” (verse 6). III. The manner of Paul’ s labours at Ephesus. For this we are indebted to Acts 20:18-21.1. Paul had a tender heart; a heart made for, and warmed with love. He wept much, for he saw the condition of lost men--their guilt, their danger, their insensibility, their folly (Romans 9:2-3). 2. He kept back nothing that was “ profitable” to them--none of the things which would promote their salvation. 3. He did this “ publicly.” In the synagogue, in the open air--wherever men were accustomed to be assembled, and “ from house to house.” He went from family to family. 4. That on which he relied, as the means of men’ s conversion, was not human learning; nor did he preach good works as the ground of salvation, but repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. IV. The results which followed. A Church was established among the most interesting of all the New Testament churches--one to which the Saviour subsequently said, “ I know thy works,” etc. (Revelation 2:2; Revelation 2:8). From the address, the narrative, and the Epistle we learn that--1. was not a small Church. This may be inferred from the number of its elders who met Paul at Miletus, and from the fact stated by Demetrius, that Paul had “ turned away much people” (Acts 20:26-27). 2. It was Presbyterian in its form. Those who met Paul at Miletus were elders or presbyters. There is no mention of “ a bishop” in connection with the place, except that the elders are termed “ overseers” or bishops. 3. Its religion was eminently one of principle, and not a thing of mere feeling, nor the result of temporary excitement. It led to such voluntary sacrifices as to show that it must have been founded on principle (Acts 20:19-20). 4. Its doctrinal belief, if we may judge by the Epistle, was most advanced. They were evidently capable of appreciating the deep things of God. V. The opposition which was aroused.1. It was based on-- (1) Personal interest.(2) National religion. 2. Christianity promotes the welfare of the world, and in so doing it condemns wrong sources of gain. Commotions may ensue, but society is a gainer in the end. (A. Barnes, D. D.)Paul at Ephesus 1. Some persons are ever on the watch for points of difference. How unlike St. Paul who, when he taught, ever started from some point of agreement; and when he would correct, always began with something which he could commend. Observe his course here. Is there anyone who agrees with him entirely? Yes, there is his new friend Aquila. Who next? Are there any other disciples? Yes, there are twelve men who know something of the way of the Lord; to them he will first address himself, treat with them on common ground, and lead them on into the higher doctrine of Christian baptism and of the Holy Spirit. A man who would do God’ s work must first see how far God has done it to his hand. If there is one who is only defective, he must not be treated as if he were outside the pale; he must be taken up where he is and carried onward. Next, there are those who, though not Christian believers, have yet a true faith so far as God Himself is concerned. To their synagogue, therefore, in the third place, St. Paul wends his way, and argues with them out of their own Scriptures that Jesus is Christ. Rejected by the Jews, however, he transfers his instructions to the school of one Tyrannus. 2. I stop to consider two expressions. (1) The subject of St. Paul’ s persuasions was “ the kingdom of God” ; that kingdom for the coming of which we pray whenever we utter the Lord’ s own prayer, of which our Lord said, It is “ within you” ; and St. Paul, It is “ righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Surely no question can be more urgent than this, Am I inside that kingdom in heart as well as in form? If not, I may be called a Christian, but Christ’ s own word tells me that I am none of His. (2) Another name for the thing is “ the way.” The Christian doctrine and discipline is a road, or a journey. I do not ask now what its characteristics are; steep or level, rough or smooth, short or long, easy or difficult. I only ask, Are you in it? I know life without Christ is a journey marked by its milestones, with a grave for its end. But Christ’ s way is something more than this. A Christian has not only to get through the life of this world, bearing its troubles as he may, and by slow stages reaching its close; but he has a rule to travel by--Christ’ s word and will. He has an end to make for--the recompense which Christ has promised, the rest which God has prepared in heaven for His people. Are you living by this rule, and making for this destination? 3. A singular scene now opens. Every great city has its peculiarities. Ephesus was a city with one dominant superstition, the worship of the goddess Diana; and with a host of smaller superstitions growing out of it. In particular, it was the headquarters of magical art. Here, then, was a new field for the operations of the gospel. When Moses was confronted with the magicians of Egypt, he first beat them on their own ground, and then led the way where they could not even pretend to follow. It was somewhat thus with the sorcerers of Ephesus. As scrolls and rhymes were thought powerful against calamity, so it pleased God to work in this one place “ works of power, not the ordinary, by the hands of Paul” ; marvels of supernatural healing, wrought, without word or even presence, by means of handkerchiefs or aprons brought from his body; just as the hem of our Lord’ s garment was on one occasion the medium of conveying a medicinal virtue to a suffering woman. It was natural that imposture should try its hand at a work so remarkable. Evidently the name of the Lord Jesus was St. Paul’ s one charm. St. Paul never left it in doubt whence his power came. Thus some of the vagabond Jewish exorcists tried the effect of this all-powerful Name. It is playing with edged tools to preach a gospel--still more, to try practical experiments with a gospel--which we ourselves do not believe. It was so with these Jews. The rumour of their defeat spread through Ephesus, carrying with it the assurance that this was no new superstition added to the already crowded wonder market, but a superhuman power fatal to counterfeit and impossible to resist. And persons who practised the unlawful arts now came forward, under the impression of this terrible event, confessing their deeds and making a public renunciation. 4. So mightily grew the Word of the Lord and prevailed. It was not a mere skulking, creeping progress; it was, for once, a mighty--the word expresses almost a forcible and victorious--growth of the Word: a great battle had been fought, between the power of truth and the power of error, and the saying had been verified once again to the very senses of men, “ Great is truth, and shall prevail!” (Dean Vaughan.)Paul at Ephesus I. A teacher will be certain to meet with persons astonishingly ignorant. It is well to set out with this expectation, and so to be prepared for such discoveries. II. When a teacher meets with such persons he should regard them not with irritation but compassion. Some ignorance, of course, is wicked, but much, as was the case with these disciples, is involuntary. In any case it is a proper subject for pity. III. Such persons under proper instruction may evince a capacity for receiving the highest gifts of the Holy Spirit. Let us not despair in the case of the pitiably ignorant, but hopefully instruct them. Beneath the thick crust may lie a gem capable of receiving the finest polish. IV. There are certain unbelievers whom a wise teacher will leave to themselves (Acts 20:9). Time spent in arguing with those who will not believe is worse than wasted: you will only confirm them in their self-conceit or harden them in their wickedness. V. A teacher who, amid opposition, continues to faithfully bear witness for the truth will not be left without witness from God (Acts 20:11-12). (R. A. Bertram.)Paul at Ephesus We have here four classes of hearers, and we see that the effects produced on each were determined by their disposition. I. The partially instructed disciples of John. These eagerly welcomed the light and were rewarded by a special benediction. Their conduct is worthy of all imitation. It is said that theology is a finished science, and that no progress in it is now possible. But this is to confound the source of theology with what men have drawn from it. We cannot look for additions to the sacred volume, but surely we ought to look for an increase in our understanding of its meaning. Theology is just like the other sciences. The stars have been in the sky from the day when they were first viewed by Adam; but what progress has been made since then in astronomy! The rocks beneath us have been just as they are now for millenniums, yet what advancement have these last years seen in geology! And in the same way, though the Bible is complete, God has always “ more light to break forth from His Holy Word.” There is sometimes an interpretation given by the very character of an age, and the simultaneousness with which in many lands the doctrines of the Reformation flashed upon the minds of independent inquirers--analogous to the scientific discoveries made in different countries at the same time--may help us to understand how new truths in theology may yet be found in the wellsearched field of Scripture. II. The Jews. Here we see the blinding influence of prejudice in the hearing of the truth. In John’ s disciples we see that “ To him that hath shall be given,” in the Jews that “ From him that hath not shall be taken even that he hath.” They who stubbornly refuse the salvation of Christ are in danger of being put beyond the possibility of being saved. III. The vagabond exorcists. In them we see how men may turn a little knowledge of the gospel to account as a worldly speculation. Their case is paralleled by the indulgence mongers of the Middle Ages upon whom the people rose as this poor possessed one did on the seven sons of Sceva. But it is equally bad when people attend upon ordinances because it will add to their position in society, or improve their business connection. Avaunt, therefore, all who would make a gain of godliness! The devil himself is ashamed of you. The evils of our times will not recede before Sceva mammon worshippers, but only before the Pauls whose hands are clean and whose hearts are pure. IV. The magicians. Here we have an illustration of earnest, sincere, and believing hearing. Their repentance was not of that cheap sort that spends itself only in tears. It was like that of the woman who, when she heard a sermon on false measures, went straight home and burnt the bushel. Have you nothing to burn? (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Paul’ s mission Divinely directed As Philip was sent to the desert of Gaza with the water of life to the thirsting Ethiop, Paul was sent on the same errand to those twelve men and their companions who punted for the living water in the desert place of a huge idolatrous city. The Lord knoweth them that are His, and how to find them out. He will never leave them nor forsake them. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Apollos completed by Paul 1. Something had occurred since Paul was last at Ephesus. Apollos had been exercising his ministry, and some twelve men had answered the persuasion of his matchless eloquence; but Paul found them out, and noticed that something was absent. He said, “ Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” If you had a new life would have lifted you up to higher levels of thought and feeling and utterance; what is wanting here is the Holy Ghost. Looking upon us today, what would Paul inquire? If he saw us world bound, if he saw our truant minds running out of the Church for the purpose of collecting accounts and alleviating temporal anxieties--if he saw our prayers like birds with bruised wings that could not fly, he would say, “ What is wanting here is the Holy Ghost--Spirit of fire, of light, of love!” There is no mistaking His presence, for there is none like it. “ The fruit of the Spirit is … joy.” 2. The twelve men who followed Apollos were like their eloquent leader. Apollos knew only the baptism of John, and what he knew he preached. If you come to me knowing only the first four rules of arithmetic, I must not begin your education by throwing into contempt the only four rules you do know; my object must be to lead you on until you feel that these rules are only for infants. Paul did not attempt to undervalue the work of Apollos--he carried it on to holy consummation. One minister must complete the work which another minister began. The instructive teacher must not undervalue the eloquent evangelist. They belong to one another. We must put out no little light, but be thankful for its flicker and spark. The yoking man likes to hear a fluent speaker. He goes to the church where Apollos preaches long before the doors are opened, and willingly stands there that he may hear this mighty wind of sacred appeal. But Time--teaching, drilling, chastening Time--has its work upon the mind, and we come to a mental condition which says, “ There was more in that one sentence of Paul’ s than in that Niagara whose bewildering forces once stupefied our youthful minds.” But do not condemn any man. Let him teach what he can. 3. If Paul did not discredit the work of Apollos, the disciples of Apollos did not discredit the larger revelation of Paul. The inference is, that the disciples of Apollos were well taught. They were not finalists; they felt that something more might be possible. That is the highest result of education. Christians are always “ looking forward and hastening unto.” When did Christ say, “ This is the end” ? We know what He did say. “ I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” “ Thou shalt see greater things than these.” “ When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” This enables me to look hopefully upon some persons who do not know the full extent of Christ’ s name. Such men are not to be won by denunciation, but by recognition. 4. There were only twelve of these men; and yet there is no whining about a “ poor” Church and a “ weak” Church. We must burn such adjectives out of the speech of Christians. A Church is not necessarily strong because its pews are thronged and its collections are heavy. It may be that the handful of copper given by some village Church may be more than the two handsful of gold given by the metropolitan congregation. 5. The gospel in Ephesus produced its usual two-fold effect. Some received the Holy Ghost and advanced, while others “ were hardened and believed not.” It must always be so. The gospel is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. Every sermon makes us worse or better. 6. In verse 11 we have an expression which is out of place in the cold speech of today’ s Christianity. We are afraid of the word “ miracles” ; we have almost to apologise for its use. But the writer of the Acts not only speaks of miracles, but of “ special miracles.” Until the Church becomes bold enough to use its native tongue it will live by sufferance, and at last it will crawl into a dishonoured grave--the only tomb which it has deserved. (J. Parker, D. D.)The best method of evangelising a city When Paul enters Ephesus he does not stand up at once to harangue indiscriminate multitudes on the great subjects of the gospel; but goes philosophically to work. He thoughtfully surveys the situation, inquires into its condition, endeavours to ascertain whether there are any persons in any degree prepared to accept his doctrines. I. He begins with those who are most acquainted with his doctrines. He found certain disciples who had made some progress in Christian knowledge, and endeavoured to live up to the point of their intelligence. To establish in the faith “ twelve” such men would prove more conducive to the advancement of truth than to elicit the thunderous cheers of a crowded and promiscuous auditory.1. He promptly convicts them of the deficiency of their Christianity. He does this by two questions-- (1) “ Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” They said unto him, “ We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” (2) “ Unto what, then, were ye baptized?” Their answer explains their ignorance. “ They said, Unto John’ s baptism.” They had not yet come fully into the school of Christ. It is clear from the sequel that those questions struck deep and made them profoundly conscious of their deficiency. 2. He effectively ministers to their advancement in Divine knowledge (verse 4). By this he teaches them that John’ s ministry was-- (1) Reformative.(2) Introductory. John told his vast audiences to believe on Him that would come after him, that is, Christ Jesus. Now this teaching of the apostle was effective (verse 5). Baptism was an expression of that higher stage of experience to which Paul’ s ministry had raised them.3. He conveys the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (verse 6). The gift of tongues was not a gift of new languages, but the gift of speaking spiritual truths with supernatural fervour and force. The Spirit did not make them linguists, but spiritual orators. New ideas will make an old language new. This gift of speech enabled them to prophesy--i.e., teach. “ He that prephesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort.” II. He proceeds to those who were next to the “ twelve” in their acquaintance with his doctrines. His ministry with the Jews was--1. Argumentative. “ Disputing.” He gave reasons to sustain his propositions, and answered objections. He spoke to men’ s judgment. 2. Persuasive. He plied them with motives rightly to excite their affections and determine their will. It was-- 3. Indefatigable. He was “ daily” at the work, instant in season and out of season. III. He ultimately goes forth into the wide world of general society--into the school of Tyrannus. The result was--1. A wide diffusion of the gospel (verse 10). Ephesus was the metropolis, and into it the population of the provinces were constantly flowing for purposes both of commerce and of worship. 2. The ejection of evil spirits (verse 12). His supernatural ministry was-- (1) Derived. Unlike Christ, he had not the power of working miracles natural in himself (verse 11). (2) Beneficent. It was put forth, not to wound or to injure men, but to heal and bless them. (3) Strikingly manifest. The mere “ handkerchiefs or aprons” which touched his body carried with them virtue to heal the diseased and to expel the devil from the possessed. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The Word and the world I. The baptism of John’ s disciples.1. The baptism of John means his doctrine, which is briefly symbolised by the ritual act, and was contained within a very narrow range. “ Repent.” “ Fruits worthy of repentance” --fruits was the burden of John’ s message. A preparatory one evidently; one needing something additional to complete it, as St. Paul told these converts. And none felt this more distinctly than John. “ He must increase, but I must decrease.” The work of John was simply the work of the axe; to cut up by the roots ancient falsehoods; to tear away all that was unreal. A great work, but still not the greatest. And herein lay the difference between the two baptisms. The one was simply the washing away of a false and evil past; the other was the gift of the power to lead a pure, true life. This was all that these men knew; yet they are reckoned as disciples. Let us learn from that a judgment of charity. Let not the religious man sneer at “ merely moral men.” Morality is not religion, but it is the best soil on which religion grows. Nay, it is the want of this preparation which so often makes religion a sickly plant in the soul. Men begin with abundance of spiritual knowledge, and understand well the “ scheme of salvation.” But if the foundation has not been laid deep in a perception of the eternal difference between right and wrong, the superstructure will be but flimsy. It is a matter of no small importance that the baptism of John should precede the baptism of Christ. The baptism of repentance before the baptism of the Spirit. 2. The result which followed this baptism was the gifts of tongues and prophecy--the power, i.e., not to speak various languages, but to speak spiritual truths with heavenly fervour. Touch the soul with love, and then you touch the lips with hallowed fire, and make even the stammering tongue speak the words of living eloquence. II. The burning of the “ Ephesian letters.” Ephesus was the metropolis of Asia. Its most remarkable feature was the temple of Diana, which contained a certain image, reported to have fallen from the skies--perhaps one of those meteoric stones which are reckoned by the vulgar to be thunderbolts from heaven. Upon the base of the statue were certain mysterious sentences, and these, copied upon amulets, were known as the “ Ephesian letters.” Besides this there was a Jewish practice of the occult art--certain incantations, herbs, and magical formulas, said to have been taught by Solomon, for the expulsion of diseases and the exorcism of evil spirits. There is always an irrepressible desire for communion with the unseen world. And where an over-refined civilisation has choked up the natural and healthy outlets of this feeling, it will inevitably find an unnatural one. Ephesus was exactly the place where Jewish charlatans and the vendors of “ Ephesian letters” could reap a rich harvest from the credulity of sceptical voluptuaries.2. The essence of magic consists in the belief that by some external act--not making a man wiser or better--communication can be ensured with the spiritual world. It matters not whether this be attempted by Ephesian letters or by Church ordinances or priestly powers. The spirit world of God has its unalterable laws. “ Blessed are the pure in heart, the merciful, the peacemakers, the meek, the poor in spirit.” “ If any man will do His will, be shall know.” “ If a man love Me he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” There is no way of becoming a partaker of “ the powers of the world to come,” except by having the heart right with God. No magic can reverse these laws. The contest was brought to an issue by the signal failure of the magicians to work a miracle, and the possessors of curious books burnt them. 3. You will observe in all this-- (1) The terrible supremacy of conscience. They could not bear their own secret, and they had no remedy but immediate confession. It is this arraigning accuser that compels the peculator to send back the stolen money with the acknowledgment that he has suffered years of misery. It was this that made Judas dash down his gold in the temple, and go and hang himself. It is this that has forced the murderer from his unsuspected security to deliver himself up to justice, and to choose a true death rather than the dreadful secret of a false life. (2) The test of sincerity furnished by this act of burning the books. (a) It was a costly sacrifice. (b) It was the sacrifice of livelihood. And a magician of forty was not young enough to begin the world again with a new profession. (c) It was the destruction of much knowledge that was really valuable. As in the pursuit of alchemy real chemical secrets were discovered, so it cannot be doubted that these curious manuscripts contained many valuable natural facts. (d) It was an outrage to feeling. Costly manuscripts, many of them probably heirlooms associated with a vast variety of passages in life, were to be committed mercilessly to the flames. (e) Remember, too, how many other ways there were of disposing of them. Might they not be sold, and the proceeds “ given to the poor” ? or be made over to some relative who would not feel anything wrong in them. Or might they not be retained as curious records of the past? And then Conscience arose with her stern, clear voice. They are the records of an ignorant and guilty past. There must be no false tenderness. To the flames with them, and the smoke will rise up to heaven a sweet savour before God. 4. Whoever has made such a sacrifice will remember the strange medley of feeling accompanying it. Partly fear constrained the act, produced by the judgment on the other exorcists, and partly remorse; partly there was a lingering regret as leaf after leaf perished in the flames, and partly a feeling of relief; partly shame, and partly a wild tumult of joy, at the burst of new hope, and the prospect of a nobler life. 6. There is no Christian life that has not in it sacrifice, and that alone is the sacrifice which is made in the spirit of the conflagration of the “ Ephesian letters.” If the repentant slaveholder sells his slaves to the neighbouring planter, or if the trader in opium or in spirits quits his nefarious commerce, but first secures its value; or if the possessor of a library becomes convinced that certain volumes are immoral, and yet cannot sacrifice the costly edition without an equivalent, what shall we say of these men’ s sincerity? III. The sedition respecting Diana’ s worship. Notice--1. The speech of Demetrius; in which observe-- (1) The cause of the slow death which error and falsehood die. Existing abuses in Church and State are upheld because they are intertwined with private interests. This is the reason why it takes centuries to overthrow an evil, after it has been proved an evil. (2) The mixture of religious and selfish feelings. Not only “ our craft,” but also the worship of the great goddess Diana. And so it is with many a patriotic and religious cry. “ My country,” “ my Church,” “ my religion” --it supports me. “ By this craft we have our wealth.” (3) Numbers are no test of truth. The whole world worshipped the goddess. If numbers tested truth, Apollos in the last chapter need not have become the brilliant outcast from the schools of Alexandria, nor St. Paul stand in Ephesus in danger of his life. He who seeks Truth must be content with a lonely, little-trodden path. If he cannot worship her till she has been canonised by the shouts of the multitude, he must take his place with this wretched crowd who shouted, “ Great is Diana!” till truth, reason, and calmness, were all drowned in noise. 2. The judicious speech of the chamberlain, in which observe-- (1) The impression made by the apostle on the wiser part of the community. The Asiarchs were his friends. The town clerk exculpated him, as Gallio had done at Corinth. Herein we see the power of consistency. (2) The admitted moral blamelessness of the Christians. Paul had not “ blasphemed” the goddess. As at Athens he had not begun by attacking errors. He preached Truth, and its effect began to be felt already. Overcome evil by good, error by truth. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.) Acts 19:2-7 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? Receiving the Holy Ghost I. The question itself.1. Have we received anything? We have said that we believe in Christ. But to test the truth of our profession, God asks, “ Have you received?” Believing is always accompanied by receiving. If, then, any of us have not received, it is because we have not believed. And if we have received but little, it is because we have believed but little. For the promise is, “ Be it unto thee according to thy faith.” 2. But our text asks specifically have we received the Holy Ghost? In reply to the previous question, some of us may have replied “ We received ‘ peace and joy in believing.’” But passing by these individual benefits that flow from believing, or rather including them and all such like, our question goes to the root of the matter. Receiving the Holy Ghost is the infallible evidence of “ believing” in Jesus. This was the great gift which Jesus died to purchase, and which before His departure He promised to send, and which is set before us in the symbol of baptism--“ Be baptized … and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” II. The leaning grounds on which we may safely give an answer to this question. Note--1. The nature of the Holy Spirit’ s work. “ There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,” but there are three respects in which the work of the Spirit is alike in the experience of all true believers. (1) Knowledge or discernment of Divine things. “ Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “ The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit; they must be spiritually discerned.” “ Eye hath not seen but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” Some men with the best of natural talents seem ever learning and never coining to the knowledge of the truth. Others again, with smaller talents and lower education, at once and clearly grasp it. Or this contrast is seen in one and the same person--sitting under the ministry for years withrut one clear idea of spiritual things; but all at once, as if scales had fallen from his eyes, seeing all things as clear as day. This is one evidence of the Holy Spirit’ s inward work. (2) Conviction of the truth of what we see. “ When the Comforter is come, He will convince of sin,” etc., and on the day of Pentecost thousands “ were pricked to the heart.” The gospel comes “ in word only” --at the most only enlightens the understanding--and not “ in power,” till it comes “ with the Holy Ghost.” But then it comes with “ much assurance working effectually” in the heart. It is then the “ power of God unto salvation.” (3) Holiness of life. Our knowledge and conviction, if they are alone, will prove our deepest condemnation. They are evidences that the Holy Spirit is pleading with us--persuading us--working in us. But they are no evidence that we have yielded our hearts to Him. Felix felt all this when he trembled. A holy life is the evidence of having received the Holy Ghost (Acts 15:7-9). Other gifts of the Spirit may be wanting, but there is no vital difference between us and the highest of the apostles if God has given to us the Holy Ghost, “ purifying our hearts by faith.” 2. The manner of the Holy Spirit’ s work. It is-- (1) A thorough work. Through and through the whole man, soul and mind and body, all feel its power--character and conduct, inward desires and outward doings; heart and hand are all influenced by it. (2) A progressive work. Like as the newborn babe grows in stature from year to year, and progresses in strength, it may be through many a long season of sickness, so it is with those who are born again of the Spirit. 3. A warfare in some more violent than in others, but experienced more or less by all; “ the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,” etc. 4. A work and warfare to be crowned with victory. (W. Grant.)On the reception of the Holy Ghost I. To make this subject practical, we will endeavour to show what the deception of the Holy Spirit imparts; or in other words, what it is to receive His influence in order to salvation. In the early ages of Christianity it included the miraculous as well as the converting and sanctifying influences of this Divine agent. Those essential influences which are connected with the kingdom of God within us, though less splendid to the eye of sense, are even more precious to the eye of faith, and produce fruits in the soul, without which the most exalted gifts would avail nothing, but leave us as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. The Spirit of God must be received as the Spirit of truth to teach us. By the ministry of the Word the Divine Spirit enters the mind, sheds light upon the understanding and the conscience, and the man who was as one born blind, now sees. As a Spirit of adoption and of holiness the Comforter comes. The slave is changed into a child, the proud is now become humble, the prodigal is made to feel his danger, and to think of his Father and his home. II. To enable you to answer the question in the text, I will state a few of the evidences or effects of the reception.1. Prayer is one of these. It is the cry of the hungry for food, of the sick for health, of the condemned for pardon, that amounts to prayer in the true meaning of the term. It is a mark of the Spirit, when we pray from the heart. 2. Another fruit of the Spirit is the hatred of whatever is known to be sinful in the sight of God. As long as any remains of the old man are found within, so long will the conflict continue. 3. Another fruit and evidence of having received the Spirit is Christian love. A sincere Christian cannot but love those who show the holy, humble, and forgiving temper of Jesus. Hatred, variance, strife, contention, and all evil passions had so long filled the world, that men gazed with wonder on the benignant influence of the gospel in calming the troubled spirit. 4. One other mark decisive and vital of having received the Spirit is the faith that worketh by love. No man whose eyes are opened to discern his danger and the utter insufficiency of his works to save his soul, but renounces at once and for ever all dependence on the righteousness of his outward life, let it be what it may. And this leads him at the same time to place his entire dependence on the Saviour. (J. E. Everitt.)Receiving the Holy Ghost Inquire we-- I. What is implied in receiving the Holy Ghost and whether we may and must receive Him.1. By the “ Holy Ghost” is meant the “ Spirit of God” ; that is, of the Father, as proceeding from Him, although sometimes also styled the “ Spirit of Christ,” or, “ of the Son” ; Christ and His Father being one, and the Spirit of the Father being also the Spirit of the Son, in a way to us unsearchable. 2. This being observed, it will easily appear that to receive the Spirit of God is to receive His Divine influence, imparting those graces or gifts which are necessary to our salvation. Now, the manner in which this is done is, in many respects, incomprehensible (John 3:8). We must, therefore, receive the Holy Spirit as our lungs receive the air, and we breathe and live. 3. But are we authorised to expect any such thing? Certainly we are (Joe 2:28-29; Isaiah 59:21; Matthew 3:11; John 7:37-38; John 14:16-17; Luke 11:13; Acts 2:38-39). II. In what sense we are to receive Him and for what purposes. The context shows that the apostle spoke partly in reference to the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (Acts 19:6). These were given of old to confirm the law, to establish the gospel. They do not seem to be necessary where the Christian religion is already received and are not infallible signs of grace (Matthew 7:22; 1 Corinthians 13:1). But we may and must receive the Spirit in His ordinary graces; to renew our fallen nature (Titus 3:5); to enable us to bring forth holy dispositions, words, and actions (Ephesians 5:9; Galatians 5:22-23). To be more particular. We must receive Him--1. As a Spirit of truth; to enlighten our minds, and save us from ignorance, error, folly, and delusion (John 14:17). 2. As a Spirit of life (Romans 8:2; 1 Corinthians 15:45; John 14:19; Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 2:5-6). 3. As a Spirit of grace (John 3:5-6; Titus 3:5-6). 4. As a Spirit of adoption (Galatians 4:4; Romans 8:15-16). 5. As a Spirit of power; encouraging and strengthening us (Ephesians 3:16), which is necessary-- (1) For our spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10).(2) For duty.(3) For suffering (2 Timothy 2:1; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 1:19). 6. As a Comforter (John 14:16). 7. As a Spirit of holiness or sanctification (1. Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). III. In what sense, and how far, a man may believe, and yet not have received the Holy Ghost and how little such a faith will avail him. Without having received the Spirit in the forementioned respects, we may believe--The Being and attributes of God (Hebrews 11:6), inferring them by reasoning from the works of creation (Romans 1:20). The truth of the Scripture, and the excellency of its doctrines and precepts; and the promises and threatenings. But without the Holy Spirit our faith cannot be a saving faith (Romans 8:9). IV. Apply the question and give directions both to those that have and to those that have not received Him.1. To those that have not received the Spirit, I would say, Reflect seriously and continually on the necessity and excellency of this gift--pray much for it (Luke 11:5-13). Shun whatever is contrary to the mind of the Spirit, or would prevent your receiving Him. He works by “ the word of truth” ; therefore, hear, read, meditate upon, and exercise faith therein. Through His aid deny yourself, and “ mortify the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). Come to Jesus and exercise faith in Him for this blessing (John 7:37-38; John 4:10; Galatians 3:13-14). 2. Let me exhort those who have received this Spirit to guard not only against doing despite to Him, or quenching His influences, but against grieving Him, lest He withdraw from you. To use carefully all those means of grace whereby His grace may be continued and increased. (Joseph Benson.)Receiving the Holy Ghost 1. It may be well to notice what questions the apostles did not put to these disciples. He did not ask-- (1) “ Have ye believed?” This would have been very important, but it ought to be settled once for all, and should not remain the subject of question. (2) “ If ye have believed, how came it about?” A man may be saved, and yet know none of the details of his conversion. 2. But he does ask, “ Have ye received?” etc. Consider-- I. The question.1. In some respects it is a vital question. For the Holy Ghost is the Author of-- (1) All spiritual life. If, when you believed, you had not a life imparted by the Holy Spirit, your believing was a dead believing, and if He has not been with you since your conversion, your religion is a dead religion. (2) All true instruction. To be taught of the minister is nothing, it is only the Spirit of God who can engrave the truth upon the fleshy tablets of the heart. (3) Transformation. By Divine grace we are not now what we used to be: we have new thoughts, wishes, aspirations, sorrows, joys, and these are wrought in us of the Spirit. (4) Sanctification. A faith which works not for purification will work for putrefaction. A holy man is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit. (5) Prayer. Prayer without the Spirit is as a bird without wings, or an arrow without a bow. 2. But where it is not vital it is nevertheless greatly important. I do not think we ought always to be asking the question, “ Is this essential to our salvation?” Those are miserable souls who would be saved in the cheapest possible way. But I would remind the children of God that there is in the Holy Ghost not only what they absolutely need to save them, but much more. He is-- (1) The Comforter. Why, then, go ye mourning? You whose hearts are distracted receive the Spirit of consolation. (2) The Enlightener. Do you understand little of the Word of God? Why is this? Should you not seek more of the Guide into all truth? How much happier and more useful you would be! (3) The Spirit of liberty. If ye have received the Spirit, wily are ye the slaves of custom, fashion, etc.? (4) A power moving and impelling to holy service. II. This question is assuredly answerable. There is a notion that you cannot tell whether you have the Holy Spirit or not; but you can. Give a man an electric shock, and he will know it; but if he has the Holy Ghost he will know it much more. “ Oh,” says one, “ I thought we must always say, ‘ I hope so, I trust so.’” I know that jargon; but men do not say, “ I hope I have an estate,” or, “ I trust I have twenty shillings in the pound,” or, “ I think I have a wife and children.”1. There are many professors to whom this question is inevitable. I will pick out certain of them. (1) There is the brother with the long dreary face whose favourite hymn is--“’ Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought.” Have you received the Holy Ghost? Poor soul, he is perplexed. Here is a hymn for him: “ Why should the children of a King go mourning all their days?” Surely, if we have the earnest of the Spirit, the firstfruits of heaven, we ought to rejoice in the Lord always. (2) Another brother is a member of the Church; he is a born grumbler, and since he has been new born he has not given up the habit. I have sometimes thought that certain unfriendly friends must have been baptized in vinegar instead of water. Surely the Spirit of God is a dove full of love and kindness, and not a bird of prey. Let me ask that brother, “ Have you received the Holy Ghost?” (3) Here comes another who flies out into great tempers and is very sorry for it afterwards. Many a man boils over and scalds his friend, and then in cooler moments expresses his regret. All very fine; but fine words cure no blisters. The next time you are in a great temper, ask yourself, “ Have I received the Holy Ghost?” (4) Here is a brother who cannot be happy unless he indulges in worldly amusements. The next time you are coming home from a gay party, I should like to meet you and inquire, “ Have you received the Holy Ghost?” You cannot expect the Holy Spirit to continue with you if you play with the devil’ s children. (5) I would like, when the avaricious man is totalling up his gains, to put to him the question, “ Have you received the Holy Ghost?” 2. I know some to whom the question is needless. You meet them in the morning, soaring aloft, like the lark, in the praises of God. See them in trouble: they are resigned to their heavenly Father’ s will. Mark how they spend their lives in hallowed service. You do not ask them if they have received the Holy Ghost; but you stand still and admire the work of the Spirit of God in them. III. Lessons.1. We are not to look for salvation to one single act of faith in the past, but to Jesus, in whom we continue to believe. 2. We must continue to live by receiving. We received Christ Jesus our Lord at the first, and now we receive the Holy Ghost. 3. We may not despise the very lowest form of spiritual life; nay, not even those who have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 4. The Holy Spirit always keeps sweet company with Jesus Christ. As long as these good people only knew John the Baptist, they could only know water baptism. It was only when they came to know Jesus that then the Spirit of God came upon them. 5. The Holy Ghost can be yet more fully possessed by all believers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Paul at Ephesus Christ and His work are not the whole of Christianity: this is the main truth of the lesson, negatively put. Its positive statement: The manifestation of the Holy Spirit is essential to Christian knowledge, experience, and efficiency. The teaching and power of Divine truth culminate in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Read from the twenty-second verse of the second chapter of Acts. With masterly speed Peter lifts tier above tier the stately fabric of the new doctrine: the manifestation of God in the flesh, the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, exaltation at the right hand of God; but he crowns the whole by declaring, “ Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” The experience was repeated to the Church in each crisis, each new beginning sanctioned by a new baptism. When Samaria received the Word of God, Peter and John came down and prayed for them, and “ they received the Holy Ghost.” Wider opens the door for Gentiles at Caesarea, and “ the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word.” The movement which made Antioch a new centre of the Church was started by men “ full of the Holy Ghost.” In the first missionary venture, in Cyprus, it was “ Saul filled with the Holy Ghost” who turned heathen to believers. But to Ephesus this experience had not yet come. We can partly account for the deficiency of their knowledge. Paul had stopped at Ephesus on his way to Jerusalem and preached but once, yet so impressively that they besought him to remain. But he must hurry on to the feast. Priscilla and Aquila seem to have done nothing to carry on the work, perhaps knew nothing of it, as the apostle seems to have left them before going to the synagogue. Then came Apollos, with all his gifts, yet knowing nothing of Pentecost. If he had learned more from Paul’ s two friends, he seems to have departed immediately to Greece. But imperfect work is not unblessed. The apostle returning found the little group of believers as a faint, clear flame in the darkness of that luxurious, superstitious city. But he missed in them that subtle something, not easily definable, but inevitably perceptible, which marks the spiritual life. The gift of the Holy Spirit is essential to understanding and realising Christian truth. This truth is tremendous beyond all other offered to the human mind. Yet who sees it or feels it in proportion to its majesty? It is as though the eye were dazed, the ear stunned, by the awfulness, and fail to give natural response. Even passing acquiescence may not issue in lasting acceptance. That is not a normal use of the faculties; knowledge should produce conviction. It is the express office of the Spirit of God to enlighten the mind and inflame the affections of a willing soul so that truth may become real and controlling. His work is supernatural, but not unnatural. It restores a lost sensibility, couches a blinded eye. He finds already in the mind itself a certain power of breaking through upon realities which have held themselves secluded. What boy has not groaned over some new principle in mathematics? At first, all is mist and mystery. Then he acquires the rule by dint of memory and the process by mechanical imitation. But after hours, months it may be, suddenly the heart of the hieroglyphic opens out like an exquisite flower blossoming in a mummy’ s hand, and he revels in the poetry of mathematics. But in spiritual things this slowness of intellect is further crippled by spiritual incompetence. Sin creates a positive incapacity. “ The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” Paul himself had proved this. He had known of Jesus of Nazareth, but only as one to persecute. Then came in a flash both vision and blindness; and after this the messenger sent, “ That thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” The same is true of spiritual emotions. What incitements to feeling we have here! the Infinite Deity of absolute holiness; the Incarnate God; the Crucified One; the great white throne, judgment, conscious eternity. No adjective can delineate their impressiveness. Yet myriads of thinking, feeling beings who never question them as facts heed them less than dreams. The granite headlands of Cape Ann fling back the tidal waves of the Atlantic as lightly as the ripple caused by a leaping fish; and these hearts cast off the truths of their own eternal destiny more lightly than the gossip of a neighbour or the feigned sorrows of a drama’ s heroine. If God Himself has any power at command which can restore to the soul its normal response, let those that love their fellow men, let the blind and deaf themselves, cry aloud, that they may be touched to live. If the unsaved themselves are thus unmoved, the more should those who have the gospel have the power of the Spirit. Oh, the Ephesian believers in our Churches! converted but powerless, believing somewhat, but knowing not the power of the Holy Ghost! But a strange comfort lies in the fact that only God Himself can supply such lack of power. Not by training and struggle the power comes, but by humble asking what He is more ready to give than are earthly parents to bestow good gifts upon their children. We look out with new vision, sweep a new range of achievement. Then open before the mind the truths that can save such a soul, the deep truths, the saving truths. Christ appears wonderfully glorious and His Cross past expression. Then we understand the meaning of atonement. All the unseen becomes the real, and the conviction of its reality and necessity stirs in the soul a new touch of power, to which hearts that were dry and hard yield like frosts in spring, for the breath of the Almighty is blowing free. This is service indeed, life indeed! Spirit is more than speech, unction than action. We are not told how the effects of this baptism showed themselves in the Ephesian Church, but we know how Paul wrought among them in the power of the Spirit. “ At all seasons, with all humility of mind, with many tears and trials, teaching publicly and from house to house, pure from the blood of all men as not shunning to declare the whole counsel of God.” So must every soul be endued with power from on high, that it may do the work of Christ. I. We learn that the Christian life involves a development. The popular mood of these days gives us conversions without sense of sin, union with the Church without separation from the world, activity without meditation and deep joy of communing with God. We must neither discredit these experiences nor rest with them. Though born of the Spirit, we are not born full grown. The Christian life has stages, sometimes marked off by sharp experiences, then gliding one into another, realised only as past; one as sunrise with one sparkling instant when the glittering disc touches the horizon; another, stealing up in clouds, unrecognised until we find full day around us. Each stage has its own explanation, vindication it may be, but only for the sake of the next. It is a camp, not an abiding city. Despise not the day of small things, in others, in yourself. Neither speak slightingly of experiences unknown to your own life, if sanctioned by the Word of God. God makes the caterpillar but for the destiny of the butterfly. A soul not growing towards God may well be puzzled at the wearisomeness of endless existence. II. The duty grows out of the truth: Do your best where you are, press on for better. Never hold back effort because you know it must be imperfect, incomplete. If you have but one chance, seize it, as Paul his one Sunday at Ephesus. The good seed will not perish. Some Apollos will come to water it. God will give increase. The other side of this duty encourages those who feel oppressed by their own imperfect understanding of the truth. Do your best with what you have, and God will do His best for you. As Paul solemnly asked the Ephesians, this lesson comes to us today with its insistent demand: “ Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed? Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” Considerate and patient is the question. It does not deny that we are believers, or discredit what we have received, but it does require of us yet more. It comes to the unsatisfied Christian, whose conversion was a bare act of will or a blaze of emotion; in whose later experience obedience is ungraced by spiritual joy or appears as alternations from cold to hot, vibrating about a general lukewarmness, distasteful and profitless. Pray for the Spirit. It comes to baffled workers and unanswered suppliants. They use God’ s own truth, their purpose is loyal, the effort unshrinking; but they yet wait their Pentecost. It has its message for those who do not believe. It faces the “ moral man,” who accepts the Commandments and even thinks to rule his life by the Sermon on the Mount: whose conduct we admire and whose spirit we praise; with whom we find no fault, yet in whom we recognise a subtle and unmistakable lack--that he may ask for the Spirit. This abiding presence and mighty power of Deity is that manifestation given latest, to complete all that has been given before. (Charles M. Southgate.)Paul at Ephesus Paul at Athens stands for Christianity flinging down its challenge to the world philosophies; Paul at Ephesus, the rich port of the Orient, the seat of the splendid worship of Diana, the most dissolute spot on the globe, stands for Christianity summoning iniquitous heathenism to wash and be clean. Paul meets with the twelve disciples of John the Baptist. The life of John the Baptist to an earthly judgment seems a most pitiful failure. There is nothing more sublimely touching in history than the complete self-effacement of John the Baptist. But such a judgment of John the Baptist contains much error. We think of his work as being effaced. Yet here are twelve men, a quarter of a century after they have heard him, holding fast to the truths he taught. Who can tell how many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other lives there were, of whom we have never heard, who received at the hands of the Baptist for all eternity the impress of Divine truth? Call no man’ s life unsuccessful because its results are not visible or measurable to us. Moreover, John the Baptist had the honour of being the greatest of forerunners. John the Baptist did nothing that stands for himself. All his work was but a pedestal for someone else to stand upon, John the Baptist deserves not our pity but our congratulation. Such thoughts concerning the forerunner are suggested to us by the appearance before Paul at Ephesus of twelve men who had accepted John’ s message and had cherished it for thirty years. Now let us study the lessons of their appearance. I. We see in their case the reality of an imperfect Christianity. There are certain simple things which, once truly possessed, make one a Christian. The line between death and salvation has been passed. Much advance is still possible, but it does not make the fact of one’ s being a Christian one whir more real. The feeblest, weakest Christian is just as truly saved as the most advanced in the things of God.1. The truth of this statement is plain in the case of these twelve disciples of John the Baptist. Just what they knew and just what they did not know has been much disputed by commentators, and to little use, as the Bible record is so slight. What was the extent of the Christianity of these men? (1) They had repented of sin and put their faith in a coming (and as yet unknown) Saviour, and had confessed this faith in baptism (verses 3, 4). (2) They had known as much of the Holy Spirit as was common among the Jews and as was known to John, but they had not the specially definite knowledge of Him given after the ascension of Christ, and particularly that manifestation of the Spirit which came through miracles. Nevertheless they were true Christians, for Luke calls them “ disciples” (verse 1), which he would not have done in the quiet time when he wrote this record of the Acts without full cognisance of its meaning. 2. The general inference follows for ourselves that one may be a real Christian though a very imperfect one. If a wide knowledge of Divine truth in its extension and a deep experimental knowledge of its separate elements were required at the entrance, who could be saved? How gracious is the Lord in accepting us when there is so little in us that would seem to warrant Him in calling us His! And yet that little is everything. Faith may be smaller than a mustard seed to the eye, yet if it be genuine it has in it a mountain-moving potency. 3. Yet one thing must be said: that a genuine faith is one which utilises what knowledge it has. The message of John the Baptist was very fragmentary compared to the full revelation of God’ s truth given by Christ, yet it had in it the power of salvation. The measure of our learning unto eternal life is not how much truth we have heard (as by preaching and teaching and reading), but how much we have incorporated into our own being. A very little food will save a human life, but not until it is assimilated. II. The story of the twelve Johannean disciples shows us the necessity of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. The reply of the men to Paul’ s question looks as though they had never known that there was such an existence as the Holy Spirit. But this is incredible in men who were probably Jews and certainly disciples of John--who knew of the Holy Spirit. Their reply must be understood in the light of Paul’ s question (verse 2). And that question must be understood by the sequel when the Holy Spirit was given (verse 6). The Holy Spirit was given to them in miraculous form (it led them to speak” with tongues” and to prophesy), and this was the form of manifestation Paul was inquiring about and they were answering about. They meant, therefore, that they knew nothing of a Holy Spirit miraculously manifested; they did not intend to say they knew nothing at all of the existence of the Holy Spirit.1. It was necessary that they should receive the Holy Spirit. The form in which they received Him was conditioned by the circumstances of the time. It was an age of beginnings. Christ had left the earth to take His throne in glory, and miracles were particularly calculated to allay the doubt of Christ’ s continued existence and power which must arise in the first years of His bodily absence. Powerful signs were an evidence of Christ’ s enthronement. It was necessary, therefore, that, in addition to that enlightenment of the Holy Spirit which is given to all at the beginning of the Christian life, there should be given to believers at that time this special endowment of the Spirit for temporary purposes which came by the laying on of apostolic hands. 2. The same necessity for the Spirit’ s presence holds with us. The form of the Spirit’ s manifestation has doubtless changed. The place of the Holy Spirit in the scheme of salvation is unchangeable. If a man could save himself he would not need supernatural help, he would not need the Holy Spirit. Salvation is in a change of heart, in being made a new creature before God. This is a superhuman work. 3. Always ought we therefore to be praying for the presence of the Holy Spirit. He makes ours all that Christ has secured for us at such infinite cost! III. Although a very small faith has in it the power of salvation, yet there remains the duty of full belief.1. Opportunity is of God. God gave them the chance to hear John the Baptist. They believed the message they heard as far as it went. God by His Providence had withheld from them full Christian knowledge. Then after a time He gave them another opportunity, which they also embraced. It is a helpful thought that God’ s Providence is similarly directing us in our Christian opportunities. There are some far away from Church privileges, away from libraries, away from the possibility of reading Christian newspapers. Providence has cut off opportunity of growth by these external helps. Let such souls take courage. God has not forgotten them; He is leading them in His own way. 2. These men showed by their conduct that they had a desire for a more perfect faith. They had used what opportunity they had and were longing for more. The reason of Christian lethargy is never lack of opportunity, but failure to use what opportunities one has, which implies absence of the longing for growth. The smallness of Christian knowledge is not against it, but deadness is, even if it be very large. A little thing which is increasing will soon eclipse a big thing which is defunct. 3. When twelve men had a chance to have a new accretion of Christian faith they accepted it instantly (verse 5). There was promptitude in their belief because desire had gone before it. When the new knowledge came they did not have to debate whether they wanted it or not. IV. The seal of success was given to Paul’ s labour in Ephesus (verses 8-12). The blessing of heaven was upon his endeavours (verses 11, 12) in such a form that no one could mistake it.1. The form was unusual, for special reasons which have already been named. Miracles were wrought because at that time miracles needed to be wrought. 2. Extensive success was part of the corroboration of Paul’ s work being God’ s work (verse 10). 3. Intensive success was an additional proof of the divineness of Paul’ s work (verse 12). (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Paul at Ephesus This lesson divides itself into two parts. In the first part we see how the gospel attracts those who are teachable. In the second part we see how it is repelled by those who are hardened. The teachable ones are some twelve disciples of John the Baptist, who were living at Ephesus. How disciples of John happened to be found thirty years after their master’ s death so far away from the river Jordan we are not told, and yet it would be a strange coincidence if the labours of Apollos, an eloquent advocate of John’ s baptism, whose presence in Ephesus is referred to in the preceding chapter, had no connection with the formation of this little band. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria, a city which had been the scene of the labours of the Seventy (Septuagint), who translated the Old Testament into Greek, and was the home of Philo, the learned interpreter. In Alexandria Apollos became “ mighty in the Scriptures,” and he hailed with enthusiasm the reformation which John had inaugurated, with repentance for its watchword and immersion for its sign. He had a perfect understanding of the significance Of this movement as a preparation of the Jews for the coming Messiah. Although thirty years had passed since the ascension of Jesus, no report of it had reached Ephesus, and though Alexandria is much nearer Mount Olivet, there is no record that any attempt had been made to evangelise Egypt. At all events Apollos, when he arrived in Ephesus, was still a disciple of John. Many of John’ s disciples used to consort in Judaea with the Pharisees, whose frequent fasts were more congenial to them than the free and informal life of the apostles. “ The disciple is not above his master,” and they did not rise above the state of doubt expressed by John in the question which he seat to Jesus from his dungeon: “ Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?” If the followers of John in Judaea were not convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, it is not strange if those living, like Apollos, in Alexandria, and the twelve in Ephesus, were utterly unacquainted with the triumphs of the risen and ascended Christ and of the descending Spirit. What Apollos taught when he came to Ephesus was the necessity of repentance and of the confession of sins. The motives he urged were the fan and the fire, the fan with which the coming Messiah would separate the wheat for His garner, and the fire with which the chaff would be burned. Those who honestly repented and forsook their evil ways made a public acknowledgment of their faith by submitting to a rite that signified complete purification. John had told the people to “ believe on Him that should come after him,” but after his own hesitation in accepting Jesus as the Messiah it is not likely that anything more definite was demanded by his successors. We are then to understand that the disciples whom Paul found at Ephesus had been taught “ the way of the Lord” as far as John knew it and no, further. In other words, they were in a transition state, having accepted all the light they had seen, and were now waiting for more. They knew little of Jesus and less of the Holy Spirit, but they were seekers after God. They needed someone to “ show them the way of the Lord more perfectly.” The very first question put to them by Paul showed that he was an advocate who knew how to get at the root of a matter at once. The specific difference between Christian baptism and the baptism of John is brought out by this question. John himself recognised the: same difference when he said: “ I indeed baptize you with water, but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” The Saviour called attention to this fundamental distinction in His last interview with His apostles, and now Paul implies by his question that Christian baptism is not complete without the gift of the Holy Spirit. This inquiry should be made of every believer. The gospel is first of all a message to the ear and to the understanding, but it is more than that. When the Word of truth is mixed with faith in the heart, then the heart is quickened by the Holy Spirit. The reply given to the apostle’ s question indicated plainly that these disciples knew more of repentance than of regeneration, and that, they were still living under the law of works and not under the law of the spirit of life. They had not heard, no one in Ephesus had heard till Paul came, of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They were still shut up in the dark, not knowing that it was high noon. They acknowledged their ignorance with the utmost candour. They were well named disciples, for they were ready to learn. Members of Churches today who are destitute of the Holy Spirit cannot justify themselves by any such plea of ignorance. (W. W. Everts.)Faith in a Holy Ghost I. Implies an habitual sense of the reality of a spiritual world.1. There is in fallen human nature a constant tendency to sink under the dominion of materialistic habits of thought. I do not now speak of formal materialistic systems, but of that materialism which tells us that we are too sensible a race to run after metaphysical and theological phantoms. “ Go on your way,” it whispers, “ O most practical people! Vex not yourselves with problems which have wearied the human soul for centuries, to no purpose. Believe in your senses; make matter more and more entirely your slave. Here only progress is possible.” 2. The bearing of all this on the idea of an invisible world is unmistakable, and no Christian can regard it without distress, for this popular, untheoretic, yet most real materialism is radically inconsistent with any recognition of the truth before us, which involves belief in the existence of a supersensuous world, within and upon which the Divine Spirit lives and acts. Certainly, this belief carries us completely beyond the precincts of sense. What in Himself the Eternal Spirit is, who shall say? And how spirit acts on spirit; how the Divine Spit it acts on ours must for ever remain a mystery. But to admit it at all is to deny the premises of a great deal of popular writing and conversation. 3. You may reply, that this practical materialism is not to be thus refuted. No: not for theoretical materialists. Yet we may pause to observe that civilisation itself, which we are told is to advance in an inverse ratio to man’ s belief in the Invisible, itself obliges us to resist the advance of materialism. Who were the founders of modern civilisation? Men who believed in the Invisible. And upon what does civilisation really repose? Not upon our conquests in the world of matter, which may merely add to our capacities for extraordinary brutality; but upon the prevalence of moral ideas--of the idea of duty, of justice, of conscience. They are products of the supersensuous world; they altogether belong to it, although they form the very foundations of our social fabric. These ideas are as much out of the reach of sense as is the action of the Holy Spirit upon a human soul; we see the ideas as we see that action, only in their effects, not in themselves. A really consistent materialism would have inaugurated pure barbarism if it could have succeeded in destroying them. II. Protects us against the advance of materialistic ideas into the very sanctuary of Christian thought.1. There is such a thing as the materialised estimate of the life of Christ. How many men conceive of Christ as of a Teacher of commanding influence. Recognising this, they gather up all that can illustrate His appearance among men. The idioms of Eastern speech, the scenery, flora, climate, customs of Palestine, all are summoned by the highest literary skill, that they may place vividly before us the exact circumstances which surrounded the life of Christ. But here too often the appreciation of that life really ends. Where He is now, what He is, whether He can act upon us, are points which they dismiss as belonging, to the category of theological abstractions. And if St. Paul were here, would he not say this, that they know Christ only after the flesh? Now, belief in and communion with the Holy Spirit rescues the life of Christ from this exclusively historical way of looking at it. For the Holy Spirit perpetually fulfils Christ’ s promise--“ He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you.” The Spirit weans Christian thought from too exclusive an attention to the outward, and concentrates it upon the inward features, and forces in upon us the habitual recollection that Christ is what He was. “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” And how? Politicians are present after death, by the laws or dynasties which they have established. The intellectual survive by the force of the ideas to which they have given currency. The good and the bad live by the persuasive beauty or the repellent ugliness of their examples. Was the presence of Christ to be of this description? No. It was to be a real, but a spiritual presence. The Spirit is emphatically the Spirit of Christ, because He is the Minister of Christ’ s supersensuous presence. 2. There is a materialised estimate of the Christian Church. The Church has of course an earthly side, and there are many Christians who see no more than this. They mistake the kingdom of the Spirit for a merely human organisation, patronised by the State in the interests of civil order, education, and philanthropy. They are exclusively concerned with the mere outward trappings of the Church. But the Church is a spiritual society, and it is only faith in the Spirit that enables us to grasp this, to act out all it means, and to share the certain triumphs which such a society must win. 3. There is such a thing as materialised worship. That the sense of beauty may be appealed to in order to win the soul to God, is a principle consecrated by the language and example of Scripture; and it seems to be the true and generous instinct of an earnest piety to deem no measure of artistic beauty too great for the embellishment of the temples and service of Christ. Nor is there any real connection between spirituality and that slovenliness which is sometimes termed “ simplicity.” But this truth should not blind us to the fact that aesthetic aids to worship may, like other blessings, be perverted, by coming to be regarded as ends. Let us give of our best to the churches and the service of our God; but let us ever remember that, since He is a Spirit, they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Surely, to realise the presence of the Holy Ghost in the soul, and in the Church, is to be anxious that the inner realities of worship should as far transcend its outward accompaniments, as the kingdom of the Invisible transcends the world of sense. III. Implies a correspondent elevation of character. It implies that a man aims at something higher than mere morality. Yet, before we think disparagingly of morality, we do well to ask ourselves how far it may not rebuke us for falling as far below as we profess to rise above it. Nevertheless, the Eternal Spirit has Himself set up in the world a school of morals; and He whispers within the soul a deeper and purer code than nature dreams of. “ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” How unnatural, men say, they are! True! but not in the sense of contradicting nature so much as in that of transcending it. And if we will reach that high standard, we may with the Spirit’ s help. He makes the feeble strong, and the melancholy bright, and the cold-blooded fervent, and the irascible gentle, and the uninstructed wise, and the conceited humble, and the timid unflinching. (Canon Liddon.)The baptism of the Spirit I. What is this blessing? The Lord Jesus is the life of His people, for in Him they are “ complete.” But the teaching here does not exalt God the Spirit by giving a lower place to God the Son. For the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. To have Him, therefore, is to have the Spirit of Christ--1. Becoming our spirit. We think of our Lord, “ holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners,” and it is almost startling to read, “ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” ; yet that is precisely the result of the reception of the Holy Ghost; “ the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth.” 2. Revealing Him to us. We often wish we had seen Christ “ after the flesh.” We can think of nothing better. But it was as something better that He promised the Comforter. “ It is expedient for you,” etc.; “ a little while, and ye shall not see Me, and again a little while and ye shall see Me.” Pentecost opened the eyes of the apostles; they knew their Lord then as they had not known Him; He was a hundredfold more to them from that hour than when He walked with them on earth. It is on the baptism of the Spirit that ever-growing perception of the wondrous fulness of His glory and trace depend. “ Neither will I hide My face any more from them, for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel.” 3. Qualifying us to serve Him. It not only gives us more of Christ, but Christ more of us. The coming of the Holy Ghost was a baptism of power; it was a new zeal, a new perception of truth, a new utterance, a new force. II. Is there reason to think we may receive this baptism? No doubt this must be answered in the affirmative; there is a reception of the Holy Ghost which corresponds to what we need. For consider that the bestowment of the Spirit on the New Testament Church was--1. Greatly to exceed what was given before (John 7:38-39). “ The Holy Ghost was not yet” ! That is a remarkable expression. All spirituality is from Him; under His influence patriarchs worshipped, psalmists sang, prophets wrote, and holy men of old lived saintly lives. That must mean that the measure of the Spirit’ s bestowment after Jesus was glorified would be such that His previous bestowment would be as nothing. And the favourite Old Testament expression “ pour” points to an overwhelming abundance, far beyond what preceded the time to which it refers. 2. Set forth as the Crowning Gift of the Risen Lord. This was strongly emphasised by His herald. As our Lord’ s ministry neared its close His thoughts were fixed on this. And after He rose it was His frequent theme. Does it not seem as though He regarded it as the end of His incarnation and that which, having made the atonement that secured it, He hastened to grant! If so, it is the undoubted heritage of all for whom that atonement avails. 3. Plainly declared to be possible to all believers. That is the point we fail to grasp. We think this was fulfilled once for all, but Pentecost was repeated even in the history of the apostles (Acts 4:31); nor was it limited to them, nor to the Church at Jerusalem, it was repeated in the household of Cornelius, whilst in the incident before us it is repeated again in Ephesus. And doubt is finally removed as we still listen to Peter (Acts 2:39). III. Why, then, have we not received it? “ Have ye received the Holy Ghost,” as the apostles did? If we answer that our spiritual state is more like theirs before than after Pentecost, that may be due, in part, to--1. Lack of knowledge. “ We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost,” or, at least, such a possible reception of Him as this. We have thought of the Pentecostal blessing as power to speak with tongues. 2. Failure in prayer. For prayer is a condition of its bestowment. Those to whom it was first given had “ continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” A second time, “ when they had prayed,…they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” Christ Himself received it thus--when being baptized He was praying. And He said, “ Your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.” 3. Lack of consecration to Christ. Before Pentecost the apostles placed themselves at their Lord’ s disposal. Then the blessing came. Nor will it ever come otherwise. The world spirit cannot receive it, for He is “ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive” ; the disobedient cannot receive it, for He is “ the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him” ; lack of love cannot receive it, for we mark the connection: “ Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God; let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger,” etc.; self-seeking cannot receive it (for, alas! like Simon the sorcerer we may desire the baptism of the Spirit for personal ends), for “ when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall glorify Me.” Conclusion: To prayer and consecration this sorely-needed, all-inclusive blessing is never far off. There may, indeed, even then be a time of waiting. Nor may it come as we expect, for its recorded manifestations were not in every case alike. It may come to us as the dove, peace bringing; or as a baptism of fire, consuming our dross; or as the pouring out of rain, sweeping away our evils, and making buried seeds and drooping graces revive; or as the withering wind, making the goodliness of the flesh to fade, but the final issue will be the same; we shall be filled with the mind of Christ, and growingly transformed into His likeness; we shall live in fellowship with Him; and our words and works, yea, our very life, will become channels of grace to men, so that on every side they will cry “ What must we do to be saved?” (C. New.)The gospel test 1. These men were already disciples. What lacked they yet? Paul came among them with a single question. Did ye, after coming to faith in Christ, receive that outpouring of His Holy Spirit which is the sign and seal of His chosen? That was a very definite question. It referred to a gift which could not come without their knowing it. 2. The answer was as plain as the question, Now it was impossible for any reader of the Old Testament to be ignorant of the existence of the Holy Spirit. The very second verse of the Bible speaks of Him. And the devotions of holy men recognised more than His mere existence (Psalms 51:1-19). All that is good in man has ever been the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore these disciples could not literally mean that they did not know of any such Person. What they say is, We did not even hear, when we believed, whether there is such a thing, in the gospel sense of the words, as the Holy Spirit; whether, that is, the great promise, as conveyed by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joel, of a special outpouring of the Spirit is yet fulfilled. If any doubt could otherwise have rested upon the meaning of this question and its answer, it will be removed by a reference to John 7:39. “ The Spirit was not yet” --or, “ not yet was there” [in the distinctive gospel sense of the words] “ a Spirit--because Jesus was not yet glorified” ; even as our Lord Himself said, “ It is expedient for you that I go away,” etc. The Holy Ghost was not yet come, because Christ was not yet gone. Even so it is here. These disciples had not yet heard of Pentecost. 3. And not to have heard this proved them to be ignorant of the very elements of Christian truth. “ Unto what then were ye baptized?” Christian baptism is a baptism “ into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” --the way of admission into that Church in which the Holy Spirit dwells, for the use of each one of its members. “ Into what then were ye baptized,” if you have not so much as heard whether there be any such Holy Spirit? The answer explained all. They had only received the baptism of John: who stood, himself, outside the Church, insomuch that it was said of him, “ Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater,” in privilege and in possession, than he, the greatest of the prophets. This baptism was designed only as a temporary and preliminary ordinance; inasmuch as after it came a baptism not of water only but of fire; not of repentance only and reformation, but of the personal presence of the Holy Ghost. 4. “ When they heard this” (verses 5, 6). Thus were fulfilled in them those words afterwards addressed to the same Church (Ephesians 1:13). The miraculous gifts of the early Church are withdrawn, chiefly because they have done their work, because they have lost their necessity as signs. It is in His ordinary rather than in His extraordinary gifts that we trace the hand of God now. In this respect the Holy Spirit is only where He acts; and, where He acts, He shows that He is acting; and, where He shows His operation, it is by signs of a certain particular nature, written down for us in Scripture. I will select three of them to serve as heads of inquiry, when we are asked by St. Paul, and by One greater still, Have ye received that Holy Spirit, which all who believe in Christ were to receive? The fruit of the Spirit is-- I. Joy. Are you happy? the text says, You do not look so. I know that you have an excuse for this. Your circumstances are perplexing; trade is bad; the sky of the future dark and lowering. St. Paul might have said many things of this kind. In every respect but one I will venture to say St. Paul was worse off than you. And yet St. Paul could say when he was asked, Hast thou received the Holy Ghost? Yes, for I am filled with joy! yea, I can glory in tribulations also! If a man has the Spirit of Christ, in the same degree he is a joyful man. Do not put away from you this first test. For could anything so recommend the gospel to a man living in a troublesome world as this fact, that it offers him joy? II. Gentleness. Are you kind? Do you think of the feelings of others? Do you never allow in yourself that miserable excuse, “ It is only my way; I do not mean it” ? There are other words in the list of the same character. The fruit of the Spirit is love, longsuffering, goodness, meekness. Every part of the gospel is full of this topic. And how bright would human life be, by comparison, if it also were full of gentleness! Alas! where is the house in which some ungentle spirit is not more or less marring the general tranquillity? Even good manners cannot succeed in doing thoroughly this work of the Holy Spirit. Other things break down somewhere: they who are courteous to strangers are not always courteous at home: they who are agreeable to equals are not always considerate to servants; it is only that Divine Spirit which touches the very spring of being which can make gentleness uniform, genuine and heart-deep. III. Temperance--i.e., self-control, inward strength. It is not one appetite only which it rules: it is all the appetites. It is not that spurious virtue which casts out one evil spirit by the help of others, and compounds for pride and contempt and self-righteousness and utter ungodliness by deifying one single abstinence into man’ s sole virtue. It is the power of saying No to inclination. It is the not being brought under the power of anything, save the law of God, save the love of Christ. And who has got this without being a Christian? (Dean Vaughan.)The Pentecostal test 1. These disciples were Christians, but separated from the common body, and ignorant of the common doctrine. Paul soon perceives the secret of their isolation, and makes them feel their defect by his abrupt question. They explain their case, receive fuller instruction, are baptized into Jesus, and the signs of a little Pentecost accompany their full admission into the Church. 2. There were three lesser Pentecosts after the great one, continuing with lessening demonstration the original signs--when Peter threw open the gate to the Gentiles, when Samaria was added to the fold, and now when the Spirit set His seal on the dispensation of the Baptist. After this there are no more renewals of the Pentecostal tokens--the extraordinary signs melt into the ordinary. This question-- I. Finds out the weakness of a vague kind of faith which does not pay due honour to the person and work of the Holy Ghost.1. The Ephesians were in ignorance of the full revelation of the Trinity. Of the Personality of the Spirit, as also of the Person of Christ, into whose name they were not yet baptized, they had only an indistinct knowledge, and hence the supreme revelation of the Son had not unfolded the Father. 2. The holders of this scanty creed today cannot evade the test by asserting that they hold all that is vitally necessary, in that they believe God, that they accept the teaching of Christ, and that they acknowledge a supernatural power resting on the mind, whether called the influence of the Holy Ghost or not. The Spirit is God in the unity of the Father and the Son. As there is no Redeemer but a Divine Redeemer, so there is no Holy Ghost but the third Person of the Trinity. II. Discovers deficiency in those who in their views of personal religion practically leave out the Holy Ghost.1. No truth is more deeply stamped on the New Testament than the necessity of the Spirit’ s illumination to an experimental acquaintance with Christ and His salvation. As none know the Father save through the Son, so none can “ call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” He makes the Word effectual in conviction of sin, in the energy of faith, in the revelation of mercy, and in renewal and sanctification. 2. But it is equally true that there may be correct theological belief and ceremonial exactness without conscious enjoyment of the Spirit. (1) How many, forgetting that “ the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,” etc., make Christianity a reproduction of Judaism, as if they were “ baptized into Moses,” hide the Saviour under ritualised sacraments, and forget, in their symbolical worship, that “ God is a Spirit,” etc. (2) But there is a formal unceremonial Christianity, a round of decent prescribed observances which is equally void of the Spirit, and which embraces everything about religion but that which is the result of earnest prayer on the part of man and a direct gift on the part of the Spirit. III. Searches those who have received the Spirit in his preparatory influences, but not yet in fulness of His grace.1. These Ephesians were disciples of John, whose ministry had its value in this, that it prepared for Christ and His baptism of the Spirit. They were penitents waiting for mercy, and while the Saviour had come they knew Him not. (1) Among those who are in earnest about their religion a large number fall short of the full light and grace provided in Christ. Their sins have been revealed to them, but not their Saviour. They are on the way from the Baptist to Christ, but only on the way. They are lingering at Jordan while there is elsewhere a voice crying, “ Come unto Me, all ye that labour,” etc. (2) Others take the view that the gospel only provides for a lifelong penitence, the hope of being accepted at last, and that it has nothing better for this life than a discipline of sorrow--an altogether morbid estimate of Christianity; utterly untrue to the gospel, which is “ glad tidings.” To such the Spirit asks, as if grieved, “ Have ye received the Holy Ghost? If He be a Comforter, where is your strength? If He be a Spirit of joy, where is your rejoicing?” (3) Others miss the “ comfort of the Holy Ghost” because their repentance is not sufficiently deep. The revelation of mercy by the Spirit cannot be extorted before the set time, and that is deferred till penitence has had its perfect work. There can be no peace where the exceeding sinfulness of sin is not deeply felt. Such must go back to John, and abide under the preliminary leading of the Spirit of conviction, who waits to afford consolation, but His time is not yet. (4) Others misapprehend the simplicity of that faith which the Spirit seals. The apostle wrote to these same men, “ When ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit.” That sealing is not always accompanied by the demonstrations which many require. Many doubting Christians hesitating to answer the question, if they would examine themselves they might find that the Lord the Spirit is in their hearts, “ and they knew it not.” They have a humble trust in Christ, a filial spirit of appeal to Him, a relish for prayer, a secret joy in the name of Jesus, a hearty abhorrence of sin. What is all this but a token of the indwelling Spirit? 2. With regard to this great class there is in our question an abundant promise. It detects a deficiency only that it may be supplied; for there is nothing more remarkable than the sudden way in which these men were translated out of their partial darkness into perfect light. IV. Detects in the regenerate whatever is inconsistent with the high privilege contained in such a gift.1. They have received the Holy Ghost, but they have forgotten the conditions on which His presence is suspended, and have fallen into the habit of grieving that Spirit by whom they are sealed. Hence the question serves only to remind them of better days, and gives birth to other questions. Having received the Spirit, why have you not been one with Him in temper, desire, and act? 2. But if the question awakens regret, in that sorrow there is hope. The Spirit is not easily driven from the soul He has once inhabited. The duty of such a troubled Christian is plain. There is occasion now for a fresh repentance; and if with all our heart we ask for the tokens of reconciliation, He will give them as richly as at the first. V. Applies to those who are not fixing their minds steadily on the Spirit’ s supreme design in their sanctification. Some undervalue this sanctifying power as received by the believer on his first union with Christ. They read the question as if it ran, “ Have ye received the Holy Ghost at some epoch of transcendent consecration, raising the regenerate life into a higher sphere?” But Paul actually said, “ Did ye receive?” etc. There is no distinction between a state of regeneration and a state of higher religious life. The same Spirit whom we receive in the new birth is given for our entire consecration. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 19:8-22 And he welt into the synagogue.Paul’ s ministry at Ephesus I. Wonderful preaching.1. Manner of the preaching. (1) It was bold (Acts 4:31; 2 Corinthians 7:4; Philippians 1:14).(2) It was logical (Acts 18:19; Acts 28:23; Jude 1:3). 2. Rejection of the preaching. (1) Hard hearts (Exodus 8:15; Mark 6:52; 2 Timothy 1:15).(2) Evil speech (Acts 28:22; 2 Peter 2:2; Jude 1:10; Luke 2:34). 3. Extent of the preaching: “ Two years; so that all … in Asia heard.” 4. Lessons: (1) Be bold. Christ’ s servants must always be reverent, but they should never flinch.(2) Be logical. If the subject of the prayer meeting is home missions, don’ t speak fifteen minutes on the desirability of Christian contentment.(3) Be earnest. Better than grace in speech, or eloquence, or polish, or anything else, or everything else, is a downright, unflinching earnestness.(4) Be patient. Paul was contented to teach his Bible class every day for two years, and he would have kept at it till he died, even though no results appeared, if God had so willed it.(5) Be hopeful. From the little mission school you have organised at Ephesus mighty Christianising influences may perchance steal out by ways unknown to you into the great outlying wicked Christless Asia.(6) Be trustful. Speak the word; sow the seed; point the way. So surely as God is God, your work shall not be wasted. II. Wonderful healing.1. Righteous miracles performed. (1) Removing diseases (Matthew 8:15; Luke 9:1; Acts 2:43; Acts 5:16).(2) Casting out evil spirits (Matthew 12:22; Mark 6:13; Luke 10:17; Luke 8:29; Acts 16:18). 2. Unrighteous miracles attempted. (1) The would be agents (Deuteronomy 18:20; Matthew 7:15; Matthew 24:5; 2 Corinthians 11:13).(2) The proposed means.(3) The results. 3. Lessons: The Great Physician-- (1) Alike of worn-out bodies and of sin-sick souls, is God.(2) Generally uses human instrumentalities when He would renew the life of soul or body.(3) Does not countenance quackery in either bodily or spiritual healing.(4) Blesses the work of those who truly and unselfishly labour in His name.(5) Will terribly recompense those who borrow His name for unhallowed purposes of gain.(6) Will heal you. Are you unwilling, or is there nothing wrong in your spiritual life?(7) Is your only hope. Beware of the little physicians and the quacks. III. Wonderful repenting.1. Moved to repentance. (1) Fearing (Joshua 24:14; Psalms 64:9; Luke 1:65; Acts 5:11).(2) Glorifying (Philippians 1:20; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; Hebrews 2:9; Revelation 5:12). 2. Repentance (Matthew 3:6; Romans 10:10; 2 Corinthians 7:9; 1 John 1:9). 3. Fruits of repentance. (1) In purified lives (Genesis 35:4; Exodus 22:20; Deuteronomy 7:25; Luke 14:26; Hebrews 10:34).(2) In the spread of the truth. 4. Lessons: (1) When the wonders of God’ s healing providence are revealed, well may the people be astonished.(2) When the greatness of God’ s might is made known, well may the people fear.(3) When the fear of God has entered, then must the evil in the heart be confessed and driven out.(4) When the fear of God has entered the heart, straightway cometh the love that casteth out fear.(5) When the love of God has filled the heart, there is no room for old money-making rubbish to cumber up the precious space.(6) When the love of God comes in, the hate of God goes out forever.(7) When the love of God has filled one heart, it seeks to flow through that to others. Blessed they through whose hearts it flows unhindered! (S. S. Times.)Paul’ s ministry at Ephesus 1. Preaching the truth (Acts 19:8-10).2. Proving the truth (Acts 19:11-12).3. Perverting the truth (Acts 19:13-16).4. Practising the truth (Acts 19:17-20). (A. F. Schauffler.)Paul’ s preaching at Ephesus What this was we gather from the context, from the valedictory address at Miletus, and from the Epistle to the Ephesians. The apostle proclaimed-- I. The gospel as a true, Divine, and saving revelation (Ephesians 1:13).1. It was not a new opinion or system; it was the word of truth. As such the apostle proclaimed it; not as its originator, but simply as its herald. He told it because he had been commissioned to tell it; and not in fragments or in shapes of growing clearness and symmetry, but at once in all its fulness and perfection. It is truth; therefore accept it, and live by it. If you refuse it, it is at the peril of your souls. 2. For it is not only truth, but gospel--good news, of which salvation is the theme. Men cannot know what the salvation is till they feel what the danger is; and that danger is beyond description--the guilt and misery of sin--guilt that man cannot expiate, and misery out of which he can by no effort or sorcery charm himself. Must it not, then, be good news to hear of deliverance? II. Christ as the one theme in this word of truth and the one Agent in this salvation. The vagabond Jews used as their spell, “ Jesus, whom Paul preacheth.” They characterised his preaching by this, and truly. He preached Jesus--no one but Jesus; the same in the school of Tyrannus as it had been in the synagogue, the same at his second visit as at his first.1. As the one Saviour, able and willing to save.2. As Master, presenting a perfect example, and giving ability to copy it.3. As Judge.4. As the Reconciler of Jew and Gentile, and of both to God (Ephesians 2:14-16).5. As the chief Cornerstone which unites and sustains the Church (Ephesians 2:20-21). III. Repentance towards God and faith towards our lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).1. Repentance is that state of heart which every sinner ought to cherish before God, whose law he has broken, and whose sentence he has merited. To feel sin, to mourn over it, to confess it without reserve or apology, to hate it, to forsake it, and in God’ s name and strength to follow after holiness. Evangelical contrition is very different from selfish despair, and from “ the sorrow of the world which worketh death,” for it is the first pulsation of life. 2. Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ--faith resting on Him as its one object; for Christ is not Saviour to anyone in reality till He be believed in. Faith is thus the cardinal or distinctive grace, and the want of it is fatal. Up till the first moment of faith no saving change is produced on the heart. 3. Repentance and faith were his twin doctrines--repentance towards God, as He it is who loved us, though we so heinously sinned against Him; and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, as He it is who, bearing the penalty, is “ the propitiation through faith in His blood.” For repentance and faith are united closely--repentance conditioned by faith, and faith urged and necessitated by repentance. IV. The necessity of holiness and its connection with heaven as the preparation for it (Ephesians 4:20-24; Ephesians 5:5). When among them he had insisted on purity of heart and life, on entire renovation, the putting off of the old man, renewal in the spirit of the mind, and the assumption of the new man. This purity is called learning Christ and obedience to the truth “ as the truth is in Jesus.” And he says, “ Ye know” it--ye know what holiness and unworldliness are incumbent upon you as expectants of glory. For Christ is Master as well as Saviour, the object of imitation as well as the object of faith. The design of His death is to bring man back to his primeval state--“ righteousness and true holiness.” The sins which the apostle censures in the Ephesian Church are yet far from uncommon among us. Intemperance, for example--how many jocular and palliative names are given to it; and impurity--what neutral, nay, graceful terms have been coined to cover its baseness! But Christ’ s authority interposes, and we dare not tamper with sin; the purity of heaven is before us, and we must be made meet for it. (Prof. Eadie.) Acts 19:9 Disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.The school of Tyrannus The Greek word for “ school” had a somewhat interesting history. Originally meaning “ leisure,” it was applied to leisure as bestowed on study, then, as here, to the place in which study was pursued; lastly, as in our phrase, “ the school of Zeno or Epicurus,” as a collective term for the followers of a conspicuous teacher. In this case it was probably a lecture room which, as the private property of the owner, was lent or let to the apostle. Of the Tyrannus here mentioned nothing more is known with certainty, but the name is connected with one or two interesting coincidences that are more or less suggestive. Like its Latin equivalent, Rex, it was not uncommon among the class of slaves or freedmen. It is found in the Columbarium of the household of Livia on the Appian Way, and as belonging to one who is described as a Medicus or physician. Both names and professions in this class were very commonly hereditary, and the hypothesis that this Tyrannus was also a physician, and that as such he may have known St. Luke, or possibly may have been among the Jews whom the decree of Claudius (Acts 18:2) had driven from Rome, and so shared the fate of Aquila and Priscilla, fits in with and explains the facts recorded. An unconverted teacher of philosophy or rhetoric was not likely to have lent his class room to a preacher of the new faith. (Dean Plumptre.)The school house of Ephesus 1. Here is Paul in a school house in which the learning of the day was taught. But Paul makes up his mind they need some religion there, and so he goes into it; and daily for two years he gave lectures on Christianity. I. If the Word of God was appropriate for the public school of Ephesus, why not for public schools elsewhere? Higher than university, than Legislative hall, than Presidential chair, is the common school of this country, because it provides the orators, the painters, the poets, the legislators, the judges, the presidents; dropping upon a million homes the benediction of light and refinement. So queenly a system must be affianced to the king of books, the Bible. This union has given us all we have of culture and refinement. After you put a building up, it is a poor thing to pull out the cornerstone. Suppose I should go to the architect of this building and say, “ You have no right to be here today.” “ Why,” he would reply, “ I built it.” And people would gather around and say, “ If anybody has a right to be here, he has.” Now, my friends, the Word of God is the architect, the foundation, the pillars, the capstone of the great common school system, and there shall be no political nor demoniacal power on earth or hell to expel it. II. Yet a determined effort is being made to expel it. In support of this it is said--1. “ It does not make any difference. What is the reading of half a dozen verses of a chapter in a school?” I go into an apothecary’ s store with a prescription. In making it up the chemist takes one liquid, then another, and then a third, and finally he takes out a small phial, and drops into the general admixture one or two drops. I say to him, “ Why do you waste time by putting in those drops?” “ Oh,” he says, “ this is the most important part of the prescription. This changes the entire nature of the thing. Without it, it would be death; with it, it will be cure and life.” Now you come up to the common school admixture, and you say: “ There is a quart of arithmetic, and there are two gills of geography, and a pint of grammar, and what is just one or two drops of Scriptural reading going to do?” I say it is the most important part of the prescription. It changes the whole nature of everything. Untold blessings depend on the Bible staying where it is. Untold disorder follow upon its being thrust out. 2. The common school was intended only to give secular education. I reply that it is to develop our children so that they shall be prepared for the duties of life. Suppose a man should go to a gymnasium, and say to the manager, “ I wish you would make that little finger more agile, and strong, and healthy; and develop the toe of the right foot.” Why, he would say, “ You must be insane. If I take you in my institution, I purpose to develop your entire physical organism, and then of course your hand and foot will get the benefit of it. But I can’ t undertake to treat just the foot and hand.” Now you come up to the common school, and you say, “ Give us secular education, but don’ t give us religious education.” In other words, touch only the tip end of this complex nature; don’ t get up into the region of the soul: give the children reading, writing, and arithmetic. Ah, we cannot educate our children in this infinitesimal manner. Do you think a man is prepared for the duties of life merely because because he can cipher, or is a good penman? The biggest thief in New York understands arithmetic, and can wield a very skilful pen when it is to put somebody else’ s name at the foot of a money draft. What this country wants is the pressure of a high moral obligation on her young people, and that you can get from no book except the Bible. The rights of our Jewish and Roman Catholic fellow citizens will be invaded. Well, look at that little urchin! Before him stands the teacher, inflicting him with these oppressive words, “ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” ; “ Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Alas! for the defenceless little Jewish and Roman Catholic children, crushed under the Beatitudes. Besides this, the Bible is the most unsectarian Book in the world. Wyckliffe, and Coverdale, and Matthew translated the Bible in the Roman Catholic Church; and our translation is substantially the same thing. The Bible in the schools does not propose to proselyte. The Bible taught in a Presbyterian Church may get a Presbyterian twist, or taught in a Roman Catholic Church may get a Roman Catholic twist; but the Bible as read in our schools without note or comment, will get no such twist. And then neither Romanists nor Jews have any objection to the Bible as such. Who then want it expelled chiefly? Well, the men who are loose in religious notions, or loose in morals, or base politicians, and for good reasons. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)At school (children’ s sermon):--Do you not pity the poor children who had to go to the school of one Tyrannus? But whenever a schoolmaster is found to be tyrannous nowadays, people write to the newspapers, and Tyrannus is forced to become a little less tyrannous, and the children have a better time of it. You have all to go to some school, but there are some things you can learn not set down in bill, but are worth a very great deal. There, e.g., is-- I. Punctuality. Never be late for school or for anything. God is very punctual. If the sun was late all the clocks would be wrong, and people would be greatly put about; and when you are late mother is put about, and teacher, and yourself; and when attendance marks are read, you wish you had been punctual. Learn the habit of being punctual in all things. If you make but a little mistake in multiplication, that mistake goes on multiplying itself. An unpunctual person puts many other people wrong. II. Honour. Honour and honesty come from the same word. Now I daresay you would not steal anything with your hands. But did you never at school look over another and copy his answer? That was not honourable--it was dishonest. Learn to be honourable at school. Your teacher is trusting you. Never do mean things. Even when the teacher does not see you, God does. It is good to be clever, but it is better still to be good. III. Courage. Is not it strange that anyone should need courage to say what is true? You would think it needed more courage to say what was wrong, for he would be very bold who would say that two and two made five. He would not need to be very bold, who said that two and two made four. Yes; but that only shows how far we have all got wrong through sin, that most people are afraid to say what is right. Say boldly when a thing is wrong, that it is wrong, and when it is right, that it is right, and stand by it. IV. Kindness. Think of others; think of teacher; sometimes he is worried and troubled, or sometimes she has a headache. And try to have a kind way with the other children. Learn kindness in the school, and when you come into the world you will find this to be one of the best lessons you ever learnt in your life, for it is in lovingkindness the spirit of Jesus grows up. (J. R. Howatt.) Acts 19:13-16 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists.Seven sons of Sceva A great spiritual revolution had taken place in Ephesus. At first Paul found the twelve disciples without Christian knowledge beyond the baptism of John. Under Paul’ s ministry the Holy Ghost had been poured out, and from that time great interest was felt in the whole subject of spiritual influence. From time immemorial superstition has grown in Ephesus, and to add one superstition to another came quite easy. Christianity was another department of magic, and the men who had practised exorcism were willing to try it. We must not dismiss the men as impostors. They wanted to do a good work, and so far we must credit them with a good motive. A wonderful testimony--the more wonderful because unconscious is here borne to the power of Christianity. If Paul had failed, the Ephesians never would have tried the new art. Much is expected of Christians today, as much was expected of Paul in his time. Necromancers may fail in their momentary trick, but Christians must be kept up to the mark. This is the sublimest tribute which can be borne to the Christian faith.2. Add to that thought the one which arises out of the endeavour of the seven sons of Sceva to cast out evil spirits. Wherein did they fail? At every point. They came into the ministry in a wrong way; and that is always an explanation of failure of the worst kind. “ They took upon them” --that is the explanation. This ministry is not something which a man may elect in preference to something else. The ministry is nothing if it is not a burden, a necessity. 3. The sons of Sceva knew nothing about the Name with which they conjured. Instead of saying, “ We adjure you by Jesus Christ whom we love,” they said, “ We adjure you by Jesus Christ whom Paul preacheth.” The sacred influence will not pass through such negative or nonconducting connections. That is one of the noblest tributes that can be paid to the dignity of Christianity. There are many persons who would be glad to amalgamate Christianity with something else. But Christianity will not be amalgamated. Christianity wants the world to itself. How much modern meaning there is in “ We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.” There was no doubt about the subject of Paul’ s preaching. This is a tribute to the honesty and consistency of Paul. We are urged today to preach the Christ whom the Puritans preached. That exhortation is not without deep meaning; but a man may say to his hearers “ I adjure you to serve the Christ whom the Puritans preached,” and they will return the answer of indifference or mockery. A minister may go further and say, “ I adjure you by the Christ whom the apostles preached,” and the Word would have no power. A man might go even further and say, “ I adjure you by the Christ of the New Testament,” and the nineteenth century would know nothing about such a Christ. How is the Christian to suit his age and arrest it? By preaching the Christ whom his own heart knows and loves. Paul uses an expression which some persons cannot think is in the New Testament. He uses the expression, “ my gospel.” Every man has his own hold of the gospel, and he must preach that. If I have to preach a Christ whom another man preached I have to commit a lesson to memory and to be very careful lest I stumble in the verbal recitation; but if I preach a Christ born in my own heart, the hope of glory, living with me day by day, then my whole life must break into eloquence, and men must be constrained to say, “ He has been with Jesus and learned of Him.” 4. The answer returned by the evil spirit is the answer which every age will return to professional necromancers and moralists (verses 15, 16). These seven sons of Sceva are living today. Here is one of them. A man who indulges himself in some way and then seeks to exorcise the spirit of intemperance in others. The seven sons of Sceva have seven sisters, and the whole fourteen of them are living today. They are living, for example, in that person who reproves worldliness and practises religious vanity. There is a religious worldliness as well as a worldliness that does not debase the name of religion by calling it in as a qualification. Shall we who have a beam in our eyes be preaching about the mote that is in the eyes of other men? You will hurl the ten commandments at the head without effect if you do not go along with them. The world can laugh even at Christian theology when marked out in abstract propositions, but when theology is incarnated in personal godliness the age will begin to wonder, and may end in prayer. (J. Parker, D. D.)The seven sons of Sceva--spurious Christianity Note at the outset--1. Man’ s craving for the supernatural. Under the shadow of Diana superstitions were rife, and priests and miracle workers abounded. Man feels that he has a relation to something deeper than the earth beneath and higher than the sky above him. 2. Accommodation in the work of Christian propagandism. The apostle, on entering Ephesus, meets the tendency of the inhabitants by performing miracles. As Moses met the magicians of Egypt on their own ground, confounding them by the supernatural, so Paul now confronts and confounds the deluded supernaturalists of Ephesus. This extraordinary narrative presents to us a spurious Christianity. I. As in impious mimicry of the Divine (verse 13, 14). These “ exorcists” witnessed the marvels that the apostle had wrought, and they impiously tried their hands at the same. The work they imitated was Divine--1. In its object. Paul had expelled evil spirits; and this was the grand work of Christianity. Christ came to “ destroy the works of the devil.” 2. In its method. Paul accomplished his work in the “ name of Jesus Christ.” He never attempted it in his own power. As in the case of these exorcists, a spurious Christianity is ever a mimicry of the Divine. It has two distinctive forms in Christendom--the naturalistic and the ritualistic. Now, a spurious Christianity imitates the Divine both in the object and the method. II. As the indignant scorn of hell (verse 15). The evil spirit is here spoken of as a person distinct from the man. We may infer, therefore--1. That hell knows and respects Christ and His true followers. “ Jesus I know” (Mark 1:23). He encountered and conquered our leader in the wilderness, and bruised his head upon the Cress. And “ Paul I know.” I know he is an earnest and successful preacher of the faith he once endeavoured to destroy. Not a word does this evil spirit say either against Jesus or Paul. 2. That hell despises and avenges religious pretenders. “ Who are ye? What right have you to use that wonderful name at which we tremble?” Hell has no respect for its own emissaries. Not only does the evil spirit express its indignation and contempt, but wreaks vengeance on the head of the pretenders (verse 16). This incidents suggests-- (1) That the efforts of a spurious Christianity only increase the force of evil. The evil spirit in the man seemed to get new strength from the efforts of the exorcists. That which is not the genuine gospel gives strength to the devil. “ He that is not with Me is against Me.” (2) That heaven employs evil to punish evil. The sinner is the tormentor of the sinner everywhere, and forever. III. As Divinely overruled for good (verse 20). The narrative shows three useful results.1. A popular excitement in favour of the true. “ And fear fell on them all.” Much is done for truth when the general mind of the community is excited towards it. There is a sad tendency to run in old ruts, or sleep on the stagnant thoughts of ancestors. Sometimes, as in the case before us, the abominations of a spurious Christianity have so broken forth upon the public mind as to startle it from its slumbers, and to excite it into earnest inquiry after the truth. Witness Popery in the days of Luther. 2. An open profession of Christian faith (verse 18). Like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, they were secret disciples. They had not sufficient moral courage to declare convictions repugnant to popular belief. This event, however, brought them to a crisis. 3. A Conscientious renunciation of evil practices. The force of conscience is seen-- (1) In the sacrifice of secular interest. Let England’ s conscience be Divinely touched, and many of her trades, crafts, and callings will go off in flame. (2) In the outrage on historic feeling. They were associated with many a tender name, and with many a thrilling event in life, Notwithstanding that, conscience would have them go. Conclusion: This subject urges several important facts upon our attention-- 1. That evil spirits are amongst men. Are not men possessed when they live the irrational, immoral, and ungodly? 2. That evil spirits must be expelled. Whoever does it is the philanthropist, the saviour. 3. That evil spirits can only be expelled by genuine faith in the name of Christ. The exorcists failed because they pronounced that name and had no faith in it. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Demoniacal possession I. There are powers of demon evil widely diffused and ceaselessly active. Look at--1. Idolatry.2. Superstition.3. Infidelity.4. Dissipation. II. There are expedients formed to counteract and depose them, which only provoke their contempt.1. Education.2. Legislation.3. Art.4. Science. III. Nevertheless, means of resisting them exist which they comprehend and dread. (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.)Evil spirits in the heart We are taught here-- I. The reality of Spiritual influences, good and bad.1. It was believed in Ephesus, and all through the ancient world, and there must have been some foundation for this belief. 2. This fact is demonstrated by the miracles of Christ and His apostles. II. There is manifest deliverance from the evil power in the name of Christ.1. Men have tried various expedients in vain.2. The name of Jesus has never been known to fail.3. We shall have deliverance as we put ourselves under its protection. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)Religion used by those who do not believe in it The wandering Jews wished to work wonders by the name without being disciples of the person of Jesus, which circumstance furnishes a rebuke-- I. To all who use religion at second hand.1. How much of mere hearsay there is in the greatest concerns. Jesus is “ Jesus whom Mr. So-and-so preaches,” or of whom men have learned in childhood. 2. How much of religion is a matter of proxy. II. To all who use religion for selfish ends.1. The politician who makes religion the stalking-horse behind which he aims at other things. 2. The theologian anxious to carry his point. 3. The bigoted sectarian, who will do anything for his religion but live it. III. To all who try to influence others by a religion which does not influence themselves.1. Worldly statesmen who use Christianity as a sort of moral police to hold a fretful realm in awe. 2. Ungodly parents who are wishful to keep their children from bad ways. 3. Preachers and teachers from whom the evil spirit is not exorcised. IV. To all who try to conjure with religion as if it were a sort of magic.1. People who use the Divine book as though it were a divining book. 2. Mere ritualists and sacramentarians. (H. Osborne.)Unreal religion 1. In all that marvellous history of the conflict between the powers of this world and the world to come contained in the Acts, there is no more striking or instructive passage than this. 2. Rich and luxurious Ephesus was the stronghold of evil; the prince of this world held it as the very centre of his kingdom, and against him God set forth, by the hand of St. Paul, the special might of the Holy Spirit. Here, as upon some conspicuous theatre, the mighty contest raged. 3. Whether the powers of evil knew that in Christ, as the champion of humanity, the great battle must be fought, or whether the instincts of their nature were roused into a trembling energy by His appearance, we know not; but it is clear that about the time of the Advent they exerted an unusual amount of power over the bodies and spirits of men. 4. Against these powers a remedy had been found among the Jews in the use of the name of Jehovah; and so there had sprung up a class of men who professed (and sometimes, it would seem, with success, from our Lord’ s words, “ By whom do your sons cast them out?” ) to counteract the workings of the evil one. And just as Simon Magus perceived the wonderful effect of the laying on of the apostle’ s hands, and was led to strive to possess the same power, so was it with these men. Their own employment of the name of Jehovah would make them readily perceive that St. Paul drew his strength from the name of Christ; while their feeble and uncertain success would contrast strongly, in their own eyes, with the surpassing might with which he wrought. And so they were led to look at Christianity mainly as a system of powers against outward evils, and to use it as a means of effecting these wonders to obtain either influence or gain. 5. Now this was the very opposite to the whole course of St. Paul. The essence of Christianity to him was to know Christ and to find peace in Him, and not the power of working miracles. But knowing Christ, he had found power to heal others, as Christ had healed him: he had found Christ first for his own salvation, and then he spoke of what he had found himself; and these powers had come out of themselves. 6. Now look at the contrast. The sons of Sceva, not knowing Christ for their own salvation, His name, in their mouths, only stirred up to a higher flood tide of wrath these spirits of darkness. Instead of being able to curb it through the name of Christ, they were hurried helplessly along by it. The man, in the paroxysm of their working, leapt upon them, so that they “ fled out of that house naked and wounded.” 7. This irreverent attempt, with its frightful issue, produced its natural effect upon all those who heard or saw it. These powers could not thus be trifled with. They were not merely matters of wonder, things to use for earthly purposes; they were not the fantastic tricks of a marvel monger, but they were indications of the nearness of the Almighty, with whom it was very fearful to have really to do. And so a searching self-examination sprung up among those upon whom this fear fell, and many became real seekers after Christ. 8. Now these events were no accidental peculiarities of that time; they point to a deep and an abiding evil inclination of men’ s hearts. Let us, therefore, ask ourselves this question, Are we free from this evil typified in these sons of Sceva, the essence of whose sin was using the name of Christ as a means of obtaining power, instead of seeking to know Christ for themselves as the Healer and portion of their own souls? I. Take its plainest exhibition: how do they differ from them who in the ministry of Christ’ s Church seek, without knowing Christ for themselves, to wield as to others the powers of the kingdom of His grace? Surely in those who seek to minister that gospel, of which they do not partake, the fearful character of the sons of Sceva is plain enough to everyone amongst us. II. Look at the broad features of our own national and political life and see if we may not see the working of this evil. Are there not whole bodies of men manifestly without any governing principles of religion for themselves, yet believe Christianity so far as to think it an excellent thing for governing a nation, and preserving it in social order and in political quiet? And what is written, in broad characters, as the result of this but the same discomfiture?--for what more certainly tends to spread a universal infidelity than this unreal spirit of Christianity?--as if it were something good for others, but something which has no internal reality for ourselves. III. If this evil is plainly to be read in the features of our public life, is our private life much more free from it? Are there not heads of families who think Christianity an excellent thing because it will keep their families respectable? Are there not masters who wish their servants to be religious enough to be good servants, but who know nothing themselves of Christ and of His salvation? And must not the effect of all this be a very shameful discomfiture now, just as it was of old? You only stir up evil that you cannot deal with. Servants, children, they see through all this. How do the rebellious appetites and sinful vanities of your children, as they grow up, laugh to scorn this ineffective and unmeaning resistance to their sway! And then this unreality brings a deadly wound upon themselves. We get so used to all the wonders of redemption, that nothing affects us. To such everything is a trick to play, and not a verity to be realised. IV. And there is a form of this evil still more subtle, when a man calls all these powers over himself, and not upon other people--when he seeks to heal certain great evils in his own character. How many a man is seeking for the self-command, the courtesy, the intellectual power, or the power of influencing others, which Christianity bestows, for themselves; not seeking to know that his name is written in the book of life, and then knowing that the evil spirit will be subject to him, but seeking to have the evil spirit subject to him for itself, instead of seeking that he may know Christ. What is this but a man calling over his own spirit the name of a Saviour that he does not know? And so this man, too, becomes the sport of the enemy. Sometimes through mighty moral storms, which break in upon him, just when he thinks that he has become decent, some old temptation breaks out upon him, and hurries him away into open iniquity Sometimes there is a mysterious spiritual working in the man, and he becomes a mere empty formalist; or perhaps he sinks into the depths of despair, because he gets a perception that there is no reality, after all, in this work that he thought was going on within him. Conclusion: Now if these dangers are so common, what is the cure of them? Rest contented with nothing short of knowing Christ for yourself, as Him who is working salvation for you and in you. And then seek to use the powers which He thus gives you, as one who has his mission from Christ. And then, lastly, spend yourselves in working for Him. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.) Acts 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?A devil’ s estimate of character I. Christ’ s character is studied by evil spirits. “ Jesus I know.”1. Their attention would be excited by the prophecies respecting an illustrious One destined to put their forces to the rout. 2. They soon identified Christ as the predicted conqueror. 3. They knew Him by the reverses they suffered through His passion. II. Virtue is respectable and vice despicable, even in hell. “ Jesus I know,” etc. III. Artifice cannot charm the devil out of humanity.1. Satanic power yields only to Omnipotence.2. Satan scorns exorcists, of whatever arts. IV. God employs devils to humble the arrogance of wickedness. (J. A. Macdonald.)A devil’ s confession The work of these vagabond Jews was apparently sheer imposture. Only God, or those commissioned by Him, could cast out devils; and it is quite evident that the sons of Sceva had no such commission. No doubt, by the use of some occult means, they had been successful in allaying some of the symptoms of demoniacal possession; but that their work was a comparative failure in their own estimation is shown by their desire to imitate the success of Paul. And while they were prosecuting their task, the devil was content to leave them alone, inasmuch as they were doing his work as the deluder of men. But as soon as they seriously attempted to do the real thing by the use of a name which on other lips was potent, and thus to make inroads on the devil’ s kingdom, the devil felt it was time to interfere. Their folly lay in the supposition that they could cast out Satan by Satan, and that he would allow them to do so. The devil, on whom the experiment was made, confessed-- I. Acknowledgment of Christ. “ Jesus I acknowledge.” The word implies the knowledge which produces emotion. What this was it is easy to say.1. Fear. This was produced-- (1) By what he knew of Christ in the past eternity, when He beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (2) By what he felt of Christ’ s power in his lifetime, as come to destroy the works of the devil. (3) By what he anticipated at His hands when the final judgment should arrive (James 2:19). 2. Reverence and subjection (Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24; Mark 5:7; Luke 6:41; Luke 8:28). He knew too well the might of that terrible name not to respect it, and not to feel that he was impotent against its spell. II. Acquaintance with Paul. “ Paul I am acquainted with.” He had full reason to be.1. Paul was once possessed with a devil himself, and did the devil’ s work well. And past experience of the efforts of so valuable a servant led Satan to strive to enslave him again (2 Corinthians 12:7 was written soon after this, and may refer to his Ephesian experience). 2. Paul was the devil’ s most powerful and victorious opponent. It was his success that led to the change of tactics on the part of Satan’ s own emissaries. III. Contempt for them. “ Who are ye?” This has now passed into a current phrase for expressing the utmost scorn. “ Who are you?” is sufficient to cover a man with confusion. “ Who are ye that ye should dare to work without our authority and against our dominion, and purely for your own ends.” This estimate of hell and its own devotees is not without significance. Conclusion: In view of all this--1. Let the Christian-- (1) Be encouraged. The devil acknowledges Christ, who is more than equal to Satan’ s efforts in heathenism, worldliness, infidelity, dee. (2) Be on his guard. The devil is acquainted with him, knows his worth, and will entangle him again in his toils if he can. (3) Be tranquil. Satan’ s servants may appear very grand and powerful; but what does their own master think of them? 2. Let the impostor learn-- (1) The folly of imposture. It can deceive neither God nor the devil. (2) The limits of imposture. It may proceed just as far as the devil will permit. (3) The punishment of imposture. Contempt and punishment at the devil’ s own hands. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 19:18-19 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.The right confession I. Its root: faith. II. Its motive: repentance. III. Its fruit: obedience. (K. Gerok.)Conversion “ And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds,” etc. (Acts 19:18-19). This text proves the power of the gospel in the conversion of these “ exorcists.” The gospel is the greatest power on earth. The gospel alone acts on the heart to change it and renew the man after the image of God. And this is accomplished without any earthly weapon. I. The nature of conversion. It is not conviction. A man may be convinced and yet carry his “ bosom sin” with him unto the end of life; but conversion implies an inward change, so that sin is cast away as our most bitter enemy. Conversion does not change the original faculties of the soul. Whether a man be of a sanguine nature, or cool and calculative, it does not change Otis, but sanctifies the whole man for the service of Christ. Balaam was convinced but not converted. II. The signs of true conversion. Anxious people often ask, “ How can I know that I am converted?” Our Saviour answers this, “ By their fruits ye shall know them.”1. By a spirit of prayerfulness. Christ said of Saul, after his conversion, “ Behold he prayeth.” 2. By joining in Christian fellowship. “ Like seeks like,” “ similar natures meet.” If a man is converted he will seek the fellowship of Christians. (3) By forsaking evil ways. These exorcists rejoiced to see the “ books” which had been a snare and a curse to them destroyed by the flames. The things which were “ gain” to them they “ counted loss for Christ.” (4) By delight in God’ s Word. III. The necessity of conversion. It is necessary--1. In order to be happy.2. In order to be useful in Christ’ s vineyard.3. In order to attain heaven at last. (F. Samuel.)Christianity: nominal and real I. The nominal Christian--1. Believes. These Ephesians, like many in the midst of heathendom today, were convinced of the errors of paganism and the truth of Christianity, but no more. And in the midst of Christendom multitudes are believers simply in the sense of accepting the facts and doctrines of the gospel as Divine. 2. Professes, or no one would know that he is a believer. Not indeed voluntarily, except that he does many things that real Christians do--goes to Church, and perhaps to the sacrament. If asked, he says without hesitation that he is a Christian. 3. But this faith and profession are merely superficial, and cover an unrenewed heart and an inconsistent life. The concealment is sometimes successful, and many a nominal Christian passes for a real one, as here apparently--for these Ephesians had to “ show” their deeds. But the covering is very thin and may frequently be seen through by men, and always by God. II. The nominal Christian becoming real.1. By a heart faith. The fact of their coming shows that their believing had become a far deeper and more influential act than intellectual assent. “ With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” 2. By confession of the fact of sin instead of the profession of the fiction of Christianity. “ With the mouth confession is made of salvation,” and the confessor thereby evinces his desire for the real thing instead of the sham. 3. By self-exposure of the real state of heart and life. They “ shewed their deeds.” This was-- (1) Voluntary.(2) Before man as well as God; for the one had been deceived and the other mocked. III. The real Christian--1. Believes. But instead of merely assenting to the generally received doctrine, having refused a saving trust in Christ, he now lives by faith. 2. He confesses Christ instead of professing an adherence to the Christian religion. 3. He shows his deeds which are in conformity with his faith and confession. (J. W. Burn.)Many of them also which used curious arts.--The curious arts (Sermon to business men.) All religions have their mysteries, and the worship of Mammon is no exception to this rule. Perhaps it would require a hierophant of Mammon to set forth properly the mysteries of this most mysterious of arts, which are quite as curious as any of the arts of ancient necromancy, or any of the mysteries of the ancient Greeks or Romans. The effect of those mysteries must have been disastrous upon the ancient worship, for, for a man to know that he was living by chicanery and deceit was for him to lose his own self-respect. In every age of the world’ s history, society has had no worse foe than a habitual humbug’ . It is not an uncommon thing to talk about the humbugs of religion. I am not sure that it might not properly be a more common thing for Christian men to speak about the humbugs of commerce. I. What shall we say about these curious arts?1. It is coming to be regarded as a natural thing that there should be an unnatural and untruthful inflation of the market at one time, and then an equally unnatural and untruthful depression at another time; and men who call themselves business men actually lay themselves out to produce such artificial conditions. In other words, this is nothing more or less than a fashionable and a gentleman-like way of picking pockets. There are many men who steal besides those that pick pockets in the street. When a man induces a false conviction with regard to the value of an article, or depreciates it with a view to his own emolument, what is he doing? He is lying; and is making a confession that he is not a business man, because he cannot trust himself to do business with his compeers in commercial life on honourable terms. 2. Another curious art is practised by those most obliging persons who sell goods under cost price. And then, when you look behind the scenes and enter the secret arcanum of this god Mammon, and ask how it is possible, you make the discovery that it is in order that Mr. Smith may undersell Mr. Jones, so that when Jones is got out of the way, Smith can run up his prices to whatever he pleases. And this clever trick is called business. Endeavour to present to yourselves the moral condition of a man who deliberately plots the commercial overthrow of an honester man than himself, in order that he may get the trade that would naturally flow into that man’ s hands. No man can worship a god without running the risk of becoming as bad as the god he worships. “ They that make them are like unto them.” 3. It seems to me a very curious thing that in the same place the same article should be sold at half-a-dozen different prices. “ Will you buy some tea of me?” said a commercial traveller to an old friend who kept a small shop. “ Oh,” he said, “ thank you, but I can’ t do it, sir; I buy all my tea at one place and at one price.” “ But,” said the other, “ I see here marked up in your window all sorts of different prices. Surely there must be different kinds of tea.” “ Not a bit, my dear sir. I buy all my tea in the lump, at one and eightpence a pound, and then I put my tickets on it, and some passes for four-shilling tea, some for three and sixpence, and some for three shillings, and everybody is satisfied.” Ingenious trick, isn’ t it? Quite worthy of those ancient necromancers and their wonderful books of mystery. II. I wonder what all these tricks look like in the eyes of him before whom we are all going to stand by and by? No, I don’ t think I wonder at all. Ah! is He gazing down upon man whom He has made in His own image, in order that He may raise him to Himself, and sees man stooping to this degraded condition? How the heart of the great Father must bleed and must needs yearn over us as He sees this deteriorating process going still forward in men whose business, instead of being a blessing to them, is their bane. III. Our text brings before us a very remarkable transaction. I wish I could see it emulated in modern commerce. Some of the Ephesians were pursuing their commercial career and making money out of it. There comes into the town of Ephesus a stranger. This stranger preaches a new God, who is going to be the Judge of quick and dead, and that He offers Himself as the Saviour of all who will have Him. This stranger proclaims a higher morality, and tells the people that they will be better without their sins. And as the result of it, these professional men who had been making very large sums of money out of their books, made a great bonfire of them. Men of business, choose between your curious arts and your souls. IV. What is it that enables these men to take this decisive measure? “ Many of them that believed.” They had found something better than the chicaneries of deceit, and hence they were content to renounce the hidden things of darkness, because there is something better than the hidden things of darkness--the open things of light, In the conscious apprehension of the one, they were content to turn their backs upon the other. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)Brought their books together and burned them. Works meet for repentance I. No man who desires to turn away from an evil course is wise who does not act with instantaneous and decisive energy. A man who has been in a career of passionate wickedness ought of all men to understand that “ deliberation” is unwholesome. There are some things which are helped by reflection; but what would you think of a man who, if his house was on fire, should sit down and say, “ Well, let me consider it” ? And there is no fire like that which breaks out in a man’ s corrupt nature. II. When men forsake sin, they ought to break every bridge behind them. After a man is once across the Red Sea, farewell Egypt forever. A man that has been overtaken by great sins ought to create an enmity between himself and those sins, so that there shall be no danger of their ever again coming together. Men who have committed themselves to goodness, should come out earnestly, publicly, and instantly, and “ show their hand.” There is no middle course that is safe--certainly none that is manly. What would you think of a gambler, who, having repented, should store away his instruments, saying, “ I do not intend to touch these things again; but still, the time may come when I shall think differently; and I will keep them” ? And yet a great many people keep their old sins warm, while they go to try on virtue, and see if they like it. Such a reformation as this is a sham. III. Where men have been involved in very guilty and great sins, they owe something more to religion than merely to change from sin to virtue.1. There is often the necessity of reparation. A man may have wronged a fellow man by his tongue; and it is necessary, if he is going to be a Christian, that that shall be all repaired. A man may have a quarrel, that quarrel must come to an end. A man may be high and obstinate; he must come down and confess, “ I was wrong, and I give up the transgression wholly.” It may be that a man has been living on illgotten gains. No matter if it makes a beggar of him, he must make reparation, and give them up. IV. Repentance in different men must be a very different thing. Although it is, generally speaking, turning from sin to righteousness, yet this is a very different thing in different persons, as we see (Luke 3:1-38) and its effects from John’ s preaching. When men repent, the sign of repentance will be according to the way in which they have been sinning. For instance, if a returned pirate should present himself to me for admission to my Church, I should demand of him a very different confession of sin from that which I should demand from an ordinary moral man. (H. W. Beecher.)Books and pictures 1. One of the wants of the cities of this country is a great bonfire of bad books and newspapers. The printing press is the mightiest agency on earth for good and for evil. I believe that the greatest scourge that has ever come upon this nation has been that of unclean journalism. The London plague was nothing to it. That counted its victims by thousands, but this modern pest has already shovelled its millions into the charnel house of the morally dead. 2. What books and newspapers shall we read? Shall our minds be the receptacle of everything that an author has a mind to write? Shall there be no distinction between the tree of life and the tree of death? Standing, as we do, chin deep in fictitious literature, the first question that many of the young people are asking me is, “ Shall we read novels?” I reply, There are novels that are pure, good, Christian, elevating to the heart and ennobling to the life. But I believe that ninety-nine out of one hundred are destructive to the last degree. Stand aloof from all books-- I. That give false: pictures of human life. If you depended upon much of the literature of the day, you would get the idea that life, instead of being something earnest, practical, is a fitful and fantastic and extravagant thing. A man who gives himself up to the indiscriminate reading of novels will be nerveless, inane, and a nuisance. He will be fit neither for the store, nor the shop, nor the field. A woman who gives herself up to the indiscriminate reading of novels will be unfitted for the duties of wife, mother, sister, daughter. II. Which, while they have some good things about them, have also an admixture of evil. You have read books that had the two elements in them--the good and the bad. Which stuck to you? The bad! The heart of most people is like a sieve, which lets the small particles of gold fall through, but keeps the great cinders. Once in a while there is a mind like a loadstone, which, plunged amid steel and brass filings, gathers up the steel and repels the brass. But it is generally just the opposite. If you attempt to plunge through a hedge of burrs to get one blackberry, you will get more burrs than blackberries. You cannot afford to read a bad book, however good you are. Alas, if through curiosity, as many do, you pry into an evil book, your curiosity is as dangerous as that of the man who should take a torch into a gunpowdermill merely to see whether it would really blow up or not. III. Which corrupt the imagination and inflame the passions. Today, under the nostrils of your city, there is a fetid, reeking, unwashed literature, enough to poison all the fountains of public virtue. IV. Which are apologetic of crime. It is a sad thing that some of the best and most beautiful book bindery, and some of the finest rhetoric, has been brought to make sin attractive. Vice is a horrible thing. Do not paint it as looking from behind embroidered curtains, or through lattice of royal seraglio, but as writhing in the agonies of a city hospital. Cursed be the books that try to make impurity decent, and crime attractive, and hypocrisy noble! Cursed be the books that swarm with libertines and desperadoes, who make the brain of the young people whirl with villainy! Ye authors who write them, ye publishers who print them, ye booksellers who distribute them, though you may escape in this world, those whom you have destroyed will come around to torment you, and to pour hotter coals of fury upon your head, and rejoice eternally in the outcry of your pain and the howl of your damnation. V. The lascivious pictorial literature of the day is most tremendous for ruin. These death warrants of the soul are at every street corner. There may be enough poison in one bad picture to poison one soul, and that soul may poison ten, and ten fifty, and the fifty hundreds, and the hundreds thousands, until nothing but the measuring line of eternity can tell the height, and depth, and ghastliness, and horror of the great undoing. At a newsstand one can guess the character of a man by the kind of:pictorial he purchases. Whern the devil fails to get a man to read a bad book, he sometimes succeeds in getting him to look at a bad picture. VI. Cherish good books and newspapers. Beware of the bad ones. One column may save your soul; one paragraph may ruin it. Benjamin Franklin said that the reading of “ Cotton Mather’ s Essay on Doing Good” moulded his entire life. The assassin of Lord Russell declared that he was led into crime by reading one vicious romance. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The bonfire at Ephesus 1. It was the burning up of books. There has been a good deal of that in history. People have been very fond of burning books, but they have been as a rule other people’ s books--not their own. 2. These people burnt their own books. Now, I suppose you have seen some books burned by the owner when they have been of no value. But that was not the reason why these people burnt their books. 3. They burnt costly books. Dean Alford, I think, tells us these must have been worth about £1,750, and Dean Howson says that they must have cost about £2,000. 4. They burnt them because they had found that they were all false. More than that--for I have no doubt they had found that out before now--they had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and become His disciples, and felt that they could not be both Christians and soothsayers. They must, as disciples of Christ, do away with their old evil habits, and burn their old books. 5. They burnt them openly--“ in the sight of all.” But why did they not burn them quietly, on their own hearths at home? Now, some of us would have done that, so that nobody might laugh at us, and especially that nobody we had deceived might get very angry, and say, “ I have been paying you so much money for what turns out to be a mere sham.” Observe that Luke tells that “ some” did this. I have no doubt that there were others facing both ways, who tried to keep the books and at the same time to be Christians. 6. In conclusion, the people did all promptly and thoroughly. They did not hesitate, or stop short, until every book was burnt. They were in right earnest. Now, I have talked about all this in order just to bring a simple lesson home to you. No doubt you, too, have something to burn for the sake of Jesus Christ. Surely many of you profess to love Him. He exclaims to you, “ If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” But if you keep His commandments you have lots of little things to burn up. It may be some nasty little habit. Give up that lazy disposition, or the Lord Jesus will not own you. There are plenty of hypocrites in the world who pretend to be Christ’ s, and yet cling to their old sinful lives. Now I have no doubt you will say that Ephesus would be much poorer in books after this burning. No. Ephesus was far richer in books after this than ever it was before. Let us see. There was the Eplisle of Paul to the Ephesians; again there were the writings of John the Beloved. All these were given to Ephesus in return for the bad books which were burnt there. God always makes up for the losses we incur by seeking to please Him. And every act of this sort not only blesses us, but also others who see it. (D. Davies.)The guilt and danger of reading bad books (Text and Proverbs 19:27):--The oldest library we know of in history bore on its front this inscription, “ Food for the Mind.” This is what books were designed to be; and it is only when they bear this character that they can be used with safety. Let us note:-- I. Some classes of books which are sources of corruption.1. Those that wage open warfare against religion. Many of this class are written with ability, are specious, misleading, and almost sure to corrupt religious principles, and fill the heart with bitterness. 2. The licentious and impure. While not written with the same avowed design, they are more hurtful to society. Some of this class are the vehicles of grossest impurity; others, like the sheet let down before Peter, are full of all manner of beasts, but the unclean prevail. Genius is perverted from its high office. Fielding, Smeller, Sterne, Moore, Byron are proud names in the literary annals of the world; but instead of “ food for the mind” they but minister poison to the heart. 3. Works of imagination and fiction. In this we include novels and plays. Not all of them, for some of this class are pure and good. But the mass of them fail to beget hatred of sin and love of virtue. They inflame evil passions, vitiate true tastes, corrupt sound morals, and create false, pernicious ideals and types of life. II. How these several classes of books work such evil.1. They waste much precious time. 2. They create a disrelish for serious reading. Good and pure and truthful books become insipid, dull, intolerable to the constant readers of such classes as we have condemned. 3. They inevitably undermine the principles of morality, individual and social, and thereby corrupt the fountain of virtue. 4. They war against the spiritual interest of the soul, and thereby destroy for eternity as well as for time. Conclusion: Our subject--1. Furnishes a solemn rebuke to those who, for paltry gain, write, print and sell such works, which they know are adapted to waste the time, pervert the tastes, corrupt the morals and ruin the souls of men. 2. Solemnly urges upon parents and instructors of youth the duty of seeing that they are amply supplied with proper “ food for the mind,” and never indulge in such as tends to corrupt and destroy. (M. W. Dwight, D. D.)The evils of improper books I. The classes of books which are pernicious. Those that--1. Assail the truth of Christianity.2. Oppose its holiness.3. Destroy its temper. II. The danger which attends the indisciriminate use of such books arises from the fact that--1. The human mind is naturally sceptical.2. The human heart naturally licentious.3. The human temper naturally trifling. (J. Blackburn.)A bookseller’ s sacrifice Some years before the Revolution, a lady bookseller at Paris, attracted by the reputation of Father Beauvegard, went to Notre Dame to hear him. His discourse was particularly levelled against irreligious books, and the lady had cause enough to reproach herself on that scale, having been in the habit of selling many publications which were contrary to good manners and to religion. Interest had blinded her; but, penetrated by the sermon, she could no longer doubt that impious and licentious books are a dreadful source of poison to the heart; and she was compelled to acknowledge that those who print, or sell, or contribute to circulate them in any way whatever, are so many public poisoners, whom God will one day call to account for the evil they occasion. Impressed with these sentiments, she went to the preacher, and, with tears in her eyes, she said to him, “ You have rendered me a great service by giving me to see how culpable I have been in selling many impious books, and I entreat you to finish the good work you have begun by taking the trouble to come to my warehouse to examine all the books which are in it, and to put aside all those which may be injurious to morals or religion. I had rather be deprived of a part of my property than consent to lose my soul.” Accordingly Father Beauvegard paid her a visit next day, and when he had separated the good books from the bad, she cast the latter, one after another, into a great fire she had taken care to provide. The price of the works thus consumed amounted, it is said, to about six thousand livres. She made the sacrifice without regret, and from that time endeavoured to sell no books but what might tend to counteract the evil done by the others. How many persons will “ go and do likewise” ? The burning at Ephesus Is such a burning suitable for the present day? Yes; but only-- I. For the proper books.1. These are not works of exact science, noble poetry, or human law. 2. They are the pernicious fugitive pieces of a frivolous superficial knowledge, the seductive works of an impure light literature, and the arrogant decrees of an anti-Christian tyranny of the conscience. II. With the proper fire.1. This is not the gloomy glow of a narrow puritanism, nor the sullen fire of a condemnatory fanaticism, nor the incendiary torch of a revolution. 2. This is the holy fire of a repentance which thinks especially of its sins and wants; of a love to the Lord, which joyfully sacrifices to Him whatever is most costly; and of a zeal for God’ s house which desires nothing else than that His Kingdom may come, as in churches, houses and hearts, so also in the state, arts and sciences. (K. Gerok.)Bad books Deeds, not words, are the proofs of a man’ s sincerity. We may say what we will, and make what profession we will; but it is our conduct that must stamp the true value both upon what we say and what we profess. In this passage we have an account of a conversion, which, from the circumstances attending it, we have good reason to believe was real. “ And fear fell on them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” This was the effect generally. People stood in awe of a religion which was attested by such evident tokens of Divine power, and were disposed to believe that there was something in what was told them of Christianity and its Founder. Thus far, however, people: may go, and often do go, without experiencing any real saving change in themselves. They have a sort of respect for religion; they would not slight it; but there they stop: they do not suffer it to take hold of their hearts. So, no doubt, it was at Ephesus with numbers. But it was not so with all. Many there were, who, as far as we have the means of judging, were savingly converted by what they heard and saw. They “ believed, and came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.” See here the proofs which these men gave of the sincerity of their conversion. I. It is said, “ They believed” --they believed the gospel which St. Paul preached, and, believing this, they betook themselves to Jesus, that they might be saved by Him. But we cannot betake ourselves to Jesus except we first renounce and forsake those ways and practices which are contrary to Him. This, then, these Ephesians did. They came to the apostle, and confessed their sins, and showed their evil deeds. They did not attempt to excuse themselves, to put a better face upon their past life than it deserved. And this everyone must do who would turn to God in good earnest. Remember, then, that confession is one of the very first steps to be taken, if we would obtain forgiveness and enjoy the blessing of a conscience at peace with God and at peace with itself. “ He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Ordinarily we do best to begin with confession. And, no doubt, besides the greater and more heinous sins of our lives, which we have good need to acknowledge with shame, and as the Christian does come short hourly of that standard at which he aims, so it is his wisdom as; well as his duty to confess his shortcomings as minutely and particularly as he can. A man may confess in a general way that he is a sinner, and yet blind his eyes to this or that particular sin to which he is addicted, and so continue in it for all his confession. And this shows the importance of self-examination, as at other times, so especially before our set prayers. But, after all, even confession is not enough. It is, too, possible for a man to confess his sins and yet for all this to continue in his sins. In fact the confession may be used as a sort of cloak, by which a man persuades himself that he is penitent. These Ephesian converts not only confessed their sins, but they forsook them; nay, they not only forsook them, but they put away from them the occasions which led to them, and the instruments by which they practised them. And to show that it was no cheap sacrifice which they were making, the value of them, it was found, was no less than fifty thousand pieces of silver. Well, indeed, might the sacred writer add, after giving this account, “ So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.” It was a very strong testimony indeed to the sincerity of these converts, and to the power with which the Word of God had laid hold of them. Their conduct was an open confession of the change which had taken place in their views and feelings. But, further, the burning of their books shows the resolution which the Ephesian converts had formed never to return to the use of those arts again to which the books ministered. They had no misgivings in their minds; as though, after all, they might possibly at some future time take a different view of their former course and of the religion they had adopted from what they now did. Their minds were made up. Nor was this all. As far as in them lay they cut off the possibility of a return. It is said of a great captain of former times, that on one occasion when he went with his army to make war upon an enemy’ s country, he set fire to his ships as soon as his army was landed, that both he and they might feel that nothing was left for them but to conquer. They were not even to think of flight or escape. So did these Ephesians by their “ curious arts.” And in this respect, too, every sincere and earnest convert will tread in their steps. As far as in him lies he will cut off from himself the possibility of a return to his former courses. The things which used to minister to his evil practices he will as much as possible put away from him. If he was given to drunkenness, he will keep out of the way of those places and those companions which used to lead him on to that sin. If bad books or other writings were a cause of stumbling to him, putting into his mind bad thoughts and bad desires, he will put these from him for the future. But someone might have whispered to these Ephesians, “ Why burn the books, after all? They cost a great deal of money. Is it not a pity to destroy them? If you do not want them, others may be glad of them, and glad to buy them of you. And, if they take damage in consequence, that is their look-out, not yours. Besides, if they do not get your books, they will most likely get others.” But these good men did not allow any such thought to weigh with them. The books were bad books; they would not leave the possibility of their doing further mischief. They had done mischief enough already. People might remind them of the money which they paid for them, and tell them that at any rate it would be enough to lay them by. But they will feel that the true course is to put it out of their power to do further mischief. II. Are we following Christ with like sincerity? Are we forsaking and casting away whatever in former times led us astray from God, or served as an instrument of sin? Have we allowed ourselves in anything which God’ s Word forbids? I know how men are apt to plead for some of these things; how they say, “ We cannot, circumstanced as we are, give them up. We have been used to them all our lives. Our living and maintenance depend upon them. If we give them up, yet others will still carry them on. We must trust in God’ s mercy, and hope that He will make allowance for us.” But, no: whoever reasons thus, and casts about for excuses to justify himself in continuing in a course of sin, does by that very fact show that his heart is not right with God. He is not following the Lord fully. God will not own him, let him speak as he will of his faith, and make what profession he will. As Christians we are to give up everything that is contrary to God’ s law. However dear it may be to us, yea, though it be as a right hand, it is to be cut off, or as a right eye, it is to be plucked out: God can and will make amends for it. (C. A. Heurtley, D. D.)The preaching that is needed One thing I have against the clergy, both of the country and in the towns. I think they are not severe enough on their congregations. They do not sufficiently lay upon the souls and consciences of their hearers their moral obligations, and probe their hearts and bring up their whole lives and action to the bar of conscience. The class of sermons which I think are most needed are of the class which offended Lord Melbourne long ago. Lord Melbourne was one day seen coming from church in the country in a mighty fume. Finding a friend, he exclaimed, “ It is too bad. I have always been a supporter of the Church, and I have always upheld the clergy. But it is really too bad to have to listen to a sermon like that we have had this morning. Why, the preacher actually insisted upon applying religion to a man’ s private life!” But that is the kind of preaching which I like best, the kind of preaching men need most, but it is, also, the kind of which they get the least. (W. E. Gladstone.)Value of a sermon The value of a sermon consists not half so much in apprehending the method of it, or remembering its form and letter, as in the moral impression it produces on the heart, and by which it takes effect in the life. Just as the effect of art is more than the method of art, so the effect of preaching is more than all its methods. I have heard of a minister who, having a congregation composed chiefly of shopkeepers, and having his doubts that some of these were not so accurate in the matter of weights and scales and measures as they should have been, preached a sermon from the text, “ A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” The sermon was much admired by all, but a few days after, when some half-dozen of the congregation were discussing its merits, some of them clearly remembering its heads, divisions, and subdivisions, one of them said: “ I don’ t remember much about the sermon now, but I know this, that after I had heard it I went straight home and burnt my bushel.” (J. W. Lance.)A fortune consigned to the flames When recently Captain Burton, the great traveller, died, he left a book in manuscript, which he expected would be his wife’ s fortune. He often told her so. He said, “ This will make you independent and affluent after I am gone.” He suddenly died, and it was expected that the wife would publish the book. One publisher told her he could himself make out of it 100,000 dollars. But it was a book which, though written with pure scientific design, she felt would do immeasurable damage to public morals. With the two large volumes, which had cost her husband the work of years, she sat down on the floor before the fire, and said to herself, “ There is a fortune for me in this book, and, although my husband wrote it with the right motive, and scientific people might be helped by it, to the vast majority of people it would be harmful, and I know it would damage the world.” Then she took apart the manuscript, sheet after sheet, and put it into the fire, until the last line was consumed. Bravo I She flung her livelihood, her home, her chief worldly resources under the best moral and religious interests of the world. (T. De Witt Talmage.)The influence of pernicious books The boy David Hume was a believer in the Scriptures until he ransacked the works of infidels to prepare for a debate in which he was to take part. It is said of Voltaire that when only five years of age he committed to memory an infidel poem, and was never able after that to undo its pernicious influence upon his mind. Thomas Chambers, an officer of the British Government, says that all the boys brought before the criminal courts can ascribe their downfall to impure reading. Lasting influence of bad books I would rather be a murderer than write a bad book. A murderer murders a body once, but the writer of a bad book may murder souls as long as the book lasts. Not long ago an eminent public man said when he was young a companion put a bad book into his hands. He could not tell the harm it had done him. For years after he had reached manhood he had not got rid of the influence of that book. But impure books were not the only bad ones. There were sceptical books that had about them a deadly atmosphere. A man might read himself into scepticism. He would not vouch for the faith of any man who should read for twelve months the writings of Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, and the rest--one side only, never caring to read the arguments that had convinced men quite as able as they, of the truth of the Christian religion. (G. S. Barrett.)The sorcerer’ s sacrifice I. What a convincing act! The New Testament ever speaks of conversion as a vast change. “ Born again,” “ turned from darkness to light,” are the uncompromising terms employed. Now, what are the evidences that this has been wrought? Loving what was once hated, and hating what was once loved. Let us discriminate. To abhor and avoid certain transgressions is comparatively easy. Many “ Compound for sins they are inclined to, by blaming sins they have no mind to.” The mean man grows eloquent in denouncing extravagance. The good-natured man has small temptation to penuriousness. The man whose animal passions are constitutionally feeble is never in danger of sensuality. A far more searching criterion must be applied. Does the miser loosen his grasp upon his gold? Does the prayerless one abandon his neglect of the mercy seat? Does the victim of vanity become humble and self-abnegating? “ What things were gain to me, those counted I loss for Christ.” Paul’ s experience is that of every Christian. II. What a wise act! By burning these books the magicians consulted their own welfare. Had they put them away, resolving to keep them only as mere literary curiosities, they might have been tempted at some future time to return to their old practices. When duty takes us into places and among persons that are spiritually perilous, we need not fear. God will protect us then. Jesus was “ led up of the Spirit into the wilderness” ; and left it, unconquered by the Prince of Darkness. But no Divine command or holy impulse moved Achan to the spot where the forbidden treasures lay, hence he was ensnared by them. If we go needlessly into scenes of temptation we must not be surprised if we become its victims. During one stage of his journey, Pilgrim sees a man confined in an iron cage. “ I have tempted the devil,” he cries, “ and he has come to me.” Quaintly, but impressively, does one say, “ Those who would not fall into the river should beware how they approach too near to its banks. He that crushes the egg need not fear the flight of the bird. He who would not drink of the wine of wrath let him not touch the cup of pleasure. He who would not hear the passing bell of eternal death should not finger the rope of sin. A person who carries gunpowder about him can never stand too far from the fire. If we accompany sin one mile, it will compel us to go twain. The fable saith: ‘ That the butterfly inquired of the owl how she should do with the candle which had singed her wings. The owl counselled her not so much as to behold the smoke.’ If you hold the stirrup, no wonder Satan gets into the saddle.” III. What a benevolent act! They were worthy of all praise in burning the books, because, in the course of time, the books might have fallen into the hands of others, and instigated them to sorcery. The lesson is palpable. We should try to keep others from the evil into which we have once been led. Suppose a man obtains his livelihood by occupation which is clearly injurious to society. If converted, his duty is to abandon it. IV. What a blessed act! Yes, God blessed it. The magicians had a compensation. They burned books for Christ, and they received books from Him--Paul’ s Epistle to the Ephesians, and the letter from the Saviour “ to the angel of the Church at Ephesus.” Thus is it always. None serve Christ without rich remuneration. (T. R. Stevenson.)Sacrifice of unlawful means of gain Like other grocers, Samuel Budgett, the “ Successful Merchant” had been in the habit of adulterating his pepper with some innocent preparation, which he kept in a little barrel labelled P.D.--pepper dust. But as he grew in Christian intelligence his conscience troubled him about the matter, until one night he rose from his bed, went to his store, took the little barrel, and knocked in the ends of it. Is there no P.D. about you? If there be do as Budgett did: Knock it an the head. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Instruments of evil to be destroyed If property, now applied to a wicked purpose, can be used for a good end--if a house once rented for an immoral employment can be occupied for a business that is moral--if a piece of machinery which has been employed for evil can be used in a lawful avocation--if a vessel used before for piracy or in the slave trade, can be employed in legitimate commerce--if a sword can be beaten into a ploughshare, or a spear into a pruning hook, then principle would not require that these should be destroyed; but if no such lawful use of property can be made, then the principles of Christianity do not allow that it should be transferred to other hands, but that it should be destroyed at once. Christian honesty demands the sacrifice; a Christian conscience would prompt it. (A. Barnes, D. D.)They counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.--The coin referred to was the Attic drachma, usually estimated at about 8½d. of English money, and the total amount answers, accordingly, to £1,770 17s. 6d., as the equivalent in coin. In its purchasing power, as determined by the prevalent rate of wages (a denarius or drachma for a day’ s work), it was probably equivalent to a much larger sum. Such books fetched what might be culled “ fancy” prices, according to their supposed rareness, or the secrets to which they professed to introduce. Often, it may be, a book was sold as absolutely unique. (Dean Plumptre.) Acts 19:20 So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed. The growing and prevailing gospel 1. This is a despatch from the seat of war announcing a glorious victory for the royal arms. 2. Past triumphs of the gospel may be use:! as encouragements. 3. We, too, shall see the Word of God grow and prevail, for-- (1) The gospel is the same as ever.(2) The human race is unchanged at heart.(3) The sins to be overcome are the same.(4) The Holy Spirit is just as mighty to convince and renew. 4. The trophies of victory may be expected to be the same. Men, magic, books, and the love of money shall all be subdued. Let us turn aside to see-- I. The Word of God planted. Planted it was, or it could not have grown. The work proceeded in the following fashion:1. Certain disciples were further enlightened, aroused, and led to seek a higher degree of grace. This was an admirable beginning, and revivals thus commenced are usually lasting. 2. These became obedient to an ordinance which had been overlooked (Acts 19:5), and also received the Holy Ghost, of whom they had heard nothing: two great helps to revival. 3. A bold ministry proclaimed and defended the truth. 4. Opposition was aroused. This is always a needful sign. God is not at work long without the devil working also. 5. Deceitful counterfeiting commenced, and was speedily ended in the most remarkable manner. 6. Paul preached, pleaded, made the gospel to sound forth, and on departing could say, “ I am pure from the blood of all men.” Read this and the following chapter, and see how three years were well spent in planting the Church at Ephesus. II. The Word of God growing. The measure of it was seen--1. In a Church formed with many suitable elders. 2. In a neighbourhood fully aware of the presence of the gospel among them, for it touched them practically; so much so, that important trades were affected. 3. In a people converted, and openly confessing their conversion. 4. In a general respect paid to the faith. Even those who did not obey it yet yielded it homage and owned its power. Here we see Paul’ s work and God’ s work. Paul laboured diligently in planting, and God made it to grow: yet it was all of God. Is the Word of God growing among us? If not, why not? It is a living seed, and should grow. It is a living seed, and will grow unless we hinder it. III. The Word of God prevailing. Growth arouses opposition; but where the Word grows with inward vitality it prevails over outward opposition. The particular proof of prevalence here given is the burning of magical books.1. Paul does not appear to have dwelt continually upon the evil habit of using magical arts; but gospel light showed the guilt of witchcraft, and Providence cast contempt on it. 2. The sin being exposed, it was confessed by those who had been guilty of it, and by those who had commenced its study. 3. Being confessed, it was renounced altogether, and, though there was no command to that effect, yet in a voluntary zeal of indignation the books were burned. This was right because-- (1) If sold, they would do harm.(2) They were so detestable that they deserved burning.(3) Their public burning lighted up a testimony. 4. Their destruction involved expense, which was willingly incurred, and that expense gave weight to the testimony. Conclusion:1. No other proof of power in our ministry will equal that which is seen in its practical effect upon our hearers’ lives. 2. Will you who attend our preaching see to it that you purge yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit? (C. H. Spurgeon.)The conditions of growth The phrase of the text, or its equivalent, is found five times in the Acts, and in connection with circumstances which throw considerable light on the laws of Church increase. I. The baptism of the Spirit (Acts 2:47). The power of the Holy Ghost is the fundamental condition. Without this there can be no life, and therefore no growth. This is the supreme ministerial qualification, and is essential for the conviction and conversion of hearers, and for the constant quickening of the Church. II. The purification of the Church (Acts 5:14). All the gifts that were poured into the Church treasury might have been vitiated by the presence of Ananias and Sapphira. Achan’ s presence troubled Israel, and Jonah’ s the mariners, so the Church sometimes suffers through its neglect of discipline. Better to brave the anger of the rich and influential than that the Word of God should be bound. III. Full consecration to ministerial work (Acts 6:7). We can well believe how the apostles were hampered by undertaking all the minute details of Church administration, and how a progressive impulse would be given when laymen were found work to do. Would that congregations would see how growth is necessarily hindered when ministers are overburdened. Whatever interferes with pulpit efficiency assuredly interferes with the progress of the work of God. A thoughtful and cooperative laity is much to be desired. IV. Provident interpositions favourable to the Church (chap. 12:24). Peter was miraculously delivered from prison and Herod as miraculously removed. When hindrances are taken away, and gospel agencies liberated, no wonder the “ Word of God grows and multiplies.” Providence often interposes now in the opening of hitherto closed doors, and in the liberation of men and money for the work. Yet how often are these interpositions allowed to pass by unheeded! What are our commercial supremacy and colonial extension, the progress of the cause of liberty and toleration on the Continent, the results of travel and enterprise, etc., but so many providential interferences in favour of the gospel? V. Daring aggression. It was a bold thing to attack Ephesus at all, but encouraged by the capture of an outpost, the apostle marched on the very citadel. Here, as almost everywhere, courage was justified by success. Cautious timidity is the very worst policy with such a resolute foe as the devil, and such a scornful foe as the world. From the time of Paul downwards the Church’ s victories have been won by men who did not know what impossibility meant, but who, trusting in God, feared nothing and expected everything. Conclusion: These conditions of growth were all fulfilled here.1. The baptism of the Spirit (verse 6).2. The purification of the Church (verse 9).3. Full ministerial devotion (Acts 20:18-20).4. Providential interpositions--John’ s disciples; the school of Tyrannus. (J. W. Burn.)Growth of the Word of God A most remarkable example of the value of free distribution of the Word of God has recently reached my ears. A well-known evangelical minister of Christ lately made a tour in Canada. Arriving at an out-of-the-way village, he found a lively assembly of French Christians, who were walking in the love of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. They had their church and school house, and, moreover, a college for the training of the young. At their head was a venerable minister of ninety, his white hair flowing over his shoulders, quite a patriarch in appearance. Surprised to find a flourishing Church in such a place, the visitor inquired by what instrumentality such a work had been brought about. The aged pastor went to his closet and produced a small French Testament, literally worn out. “ This,” said he, “ was the commencement of the work. More than half a century ago, a lady passing through this place presented me with this little Testament. I was a Roman Catholic, but the perusal of this book, so freely given to me, was the means, through the Holy Spirit’ s enlightenment, of my regeneration. I was the first convert. I lent it to others, thence followed another’ conversion, and another, until our number has reached three hundred. For years the priest persecuted me, and at length offered a large sum of money if I would give up the Bible, but when he found all his efforts unavailing he desisted; and now we are a happy united community, with our church, our schools, and our college.” Here, then, is an instance of the importance of giving away the Word of God and gospel tracts. Owing to the gift of a small Testament, costing a few pence, one soul was snatched as a brand from the burning, and other converts were gathered in, resulting in a precious work of grace in a remote quarter of Canada. (Cheyne Brady.) Acts 19:21-22 After these things were ended Paul purposed in the spirit.Characteristics of Christianity Note-- I. A practical beneficence in its spirit. There is distress in Jerusalem. Paul feels that something must be done for its relief. He communicates it to Timotheus and Erastus, and they feel the same; they go to the Churches of Macedonia and Achaia; they feel also, and relief comes as a matter of course. It was not a subject in those days requiring argument and declamation. In the letter which Paul wrote at this time he indicates the order in which the collection should be made, but uses no argument to enforce the duty (1 Corinthians 16:1-9). This is as it should be. True Christians are all members of one spiritual body; and the feeling of one member should be participated in by the whole. II. An heroic aggressiveness in its disciples. “ I must also see Rome.” What for? Merely to see it, in order to gratify curiosity, to study the institutions and habits of a wonderful people, to enrich his experience of life, to increase his acquaintance with men and things? No, but to carry the gospel there. His purpose indicates--1. That Christianity could stand the scrutiny of the most enlightened people. 2. That no intellectual or social advancement can supersede the necessity of the gospel. 3. That evangelisation should have a special regard to the most influential centres of population. III. An official authority amongst its minsters. Here are Paul, Timotheus, and Erastus, and there is a manifest subordination. Paul is the superior. He “ sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him.” The authority was not legal or prescriptive, but simply moral. In a society where all minds are spiritually pure, the simple wish of the greatest soul is the greatest law. IV. An incidental argument for its genuineness. In the account which is here given of Paul’ s purpose to visit Rome, and that which he gives himself years afterwards, there is one of those undesigned coincidences which constitute an incontrovertible argument for the truth of Christianity. (D. Thomas, D. D.)I must … see Rome.--Paul’ s ambition (to young men):-- I. Paul’ s ambition was to see Rome, which meant seeing the world in epitome, and every young man who is worth his salt has a similar desire. This ambition--1. Was of long standing, perhaps formed at school, and developed by intercourse with Priscilla and Aquila, who had lived in Rome. So doubtless it has been your desire ever since you have heard of life’ s prospects and opportunities. 2. Was strong, and strengthened with the lapse of years. Soon after this he leaves Ephesus for Macedonia, where he hopes (2 Corinthians 10:16) to be able to preach the gospel in the regions beyond. Opportunity served, and he stood at Illyricum with the Adriatic between himself and his ambition, as previously he had stood with the AEgean between himself and Macedonia. But this time there was no call for help. Reaching Corinth, he writes to florae, and chaps, 1 and 16 show how strong his ambition had become. And so your ambition, so far from being weakened by disappointment, has grown deeper with every rebuff. 3. Natural. Consider what Rome was. The mistress of the world: the centre of the most potent civilisation the world has ever known. Even in its ruin nine educated men out of every ten hope to see it before they die. What, then, must Paul, a cultured gentleman of the first century, and withal a Roman citizen, have felt when it was in all its glory? And so it is natural that you should wish to see life, to know something of its business, to influence by speech and vote its politics and to contribute to its thought. 4. Was sanctioned by God. Generally at his conversion, more definitely just before his first missionary journey (Acts 22:21), but the direct sanction was delayed till, strange to say, he was imprisoned at Jerusalem (Acts 23:11), nor was it confirmed until near its actual realisation (Acts 27:24). Twice in his Epistle does he say that it was subordinate to God’ s will. So it was not mere human craving; what was human in it was by God’ s approval, and Paul’ s self- restraint, made Divine. So it is not God’ s will, perhaps, that you should move in a narrow sphere. Like Paul, make your ambition a matter of earnest prayer, both as to the time and to the method of its achievement. 5. Was subordinated to present duty. He had obligations to discharge in the shape of apostolic visitation, and the collection of funds for the poor, all which was indirectly helpful to the alternate realisation of his wish. Let no young man be in a hurry. An object gained prematurely, and without fitness to handle it, becomes a curse rather than a blessing. 6. Was achieved in an apparently roundabout way. Paul little thought that the path to Rome lay through Jerusalem. “ God moves in a mysterious way,” and that way is always the nearest, although we may attempt “ short cuts.” And see to it that you take Jerusalem on your way, and, like Paul, identify yourself with the Church. Life is a perilous place without the fear of God, a pronounced profession, and religious associates. II. Paul’ s motives. Yours, of course, cannot be quite as simple. But there is nothing wrong in seeking personal gain provided something higher is contemplated with and through this. Paul wanted to see Rome that he might--1. Preach the gospel there. How much this was necessary we see from Romans 1:1-32; how much it is still necessary we know. Look, then, upon life as affording an opportunity for testimony for God. Don’ t be ashamed of your mother’ s religion in the warehouse or the barracks. Paul was not ashamed of it in wicked, scoffing, cruel Rome. 2. Impart some spiritual gift (Romans 1:11). Act as salt in this corrupt world. Impart to business the spiritual gifts of genuineness and honesty; to literature cleanness and truth; to politics righteousness and the golden role. 3. Fell upon a wider world (Romans 15:24). He felt that if he could regulate the pulsations, and cleanse the diseases of that great heart, a new life current would flow through the world’ s moral veins. Occupy every new centre as a means of wider usefulness. You will become an employer--let your influence be felt by your employes; you will marry--set up a family altar; when you join a Church don’ t be a useless log in it. III. Paul’ s realisations. He saw Rome--but as a prisoner. And there are disappointing circumstances connected with the realisation of the loftiest human ambition. Life will not be all that you expect. You may win station, wealth, and fame, but you will win a cross as well. Did. Paul repine? No.1. He accepted the circumstances as ordained of God. 2. He regarded them as most favourable for the accomplishment of his supreme desire. Paul might have preached in synagogue or public hall for many years without exerting a tithe of the influence which his military jailers, to whom he spoke one by one, carried through the city (Philippians 1:12-13; Philippians 4:22). 3. He utilised his enforced leisure in a correspondence which has ever since been amongst the foremost moral forces of the world. Conclusion: Your ambition is to see life. With Christ this ambition is perfectly safe, and the result, though disappointing in some respects, will be of the most glorious character; without Christ the whole result will be disaster, for “ what shall it profit a man,” etc. (J. W. Burn.)Dreamland Context of the passage. This has been evidently for a long time in the apostle’ s mind. Some months, possibly eighteen months, later it is repeated in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 1:13-15; Romans 15:23-28). It no doubt first took root some six or seven years before, when he worked in the workshop of Aquila and. Priscilla at Corinth. These (Aquila and Priscilla) had come, we know, straight from Rome; and no doubt the glowing account which these devoted friends of his had given Paul, of the little Christian colony of Rome, their stories of the mighty city, of the perpetual influx of strangers, of the freedom which a great capital always affords for the dissemination of new ideas, of the influence which anything emanating from Rome would probably have on provincial cities--all these determined Paul eventually to go to Rome, and perhaps make it his headquarters.1. This Roman journey and work no doubt for years entered into Paul’ s prayers. With each year the purpose evidently grew more intense. The work could never be complete till a Pauline Church flourished at Rome. It was well that his great doctrine of free salvation to all men--to Gentile equally with the Jew--should be accepted in Macedonia, in Corinth, in the wealthy Asian cities like Ephesus and. Colesse, in luxurious, pleasure loving, Syrian Antioch. But to be a doctrine of the world it must be received at Rome, the new Jerusalem of the Christian world. 2. And Paul’ s prayer was granted. The long “ agony” and wrestling with the Holy Spirit was successful. The Lord heard His servant’ s wish. Paul found himself at Rome; but how, in what position? He dreamed of the warm welcome from the poor but devoted Christians of the Suburra quarter across the Tiber, of the secret support of many a noble Roman lady, of many a patrician who had heard of him from the Chamberlain of Corinth, the Asiarch of Ephesus, possibly from a Sergius Paulus or a Gallio; but what was the reality? He found himself at Rome; but a prisoner, guarded, chained to a soldier; perhaps with a weary captivity, with a life-long slavery in the mines, perhaps with a cruel, violent death before him. These things were Paul’ s lot in the queen city. But his life dream was realised. He saw Rome, but disappointed. His earnest prayer granted, his life wishes realised, but all so altered with him. Let me anticipate some of the lessons I mean to draw. Many a one of us win our heart’ s desire, and find it so different to what we hoped, dreamed of, longed for. The man may win his post--the coveted post; he probably will find it full of anxieties, perplexities, cares, even disappointment. He may win wealth, station, high consideration, all those things once he thought so desirable; and with these, perhaps, he will find the hour of health and strength gone, the power of enjoying and even of using the much-coveted possession. Rank, consideration, wealth--gone, hopelessly gone. At Rome, the longed for Rome, like Paul: but, like Paul, a captive, hemmed in, hampered, hindered, bearing about a dying body. Like Paul, he must forget himself; he must set to with the weary work, the restless anxieties, the weak and fading health, and do his best for his Master and his Brother. He must never lose heart, but bravely struggle on. He must, as did Paul, remember it is the Lord’ s hand leading him. Perhaps he himself has been unwise in coveting the higher post, but he must take up his heavier cross bravely and carry it to the end for his Master’ s sake uncomplainingly, as did Paul. Are there no women among our worshippers who, in past years, have longed for another, a more stirring, a brighter life; have longed for a home, as it is called, of their own; for husband and children, for a so-called independent life; and finding these, have found many a trouble, many a care, many a sorrow? The Rome they found is very different to the Rome of their girl dreams. How did Paul behave under his heavy sorrow? As a brave Christian should. He braced himself up to new and fresh work. Debarred from those missionary circuits which had done so much in old days, when Ephesus was his headquarters, now comparatively alone and friendless, he did his best. He gathered new congregations as best he could--soldiers, camp followers, court attendants--and spoke his Master’ s words to these. So passed two years, perhaps more, at Rome--his dream city. Yes; God had heard his prayer. Once more free. Contrary to his expectation evidently, from his sad words in the Philippian letter. He leaves the city associated with so much grief and dread. He had seen Rome, but in chains. Once more free, he hastens away; again the free missionary, but now aged and worn. Three more years of earnest, self-denying, gallant toil for his loved Master. But the shadow of imperial Rome still hangs over the devoted life. The suspicious government now watched him. They looked on him as a ringleader of a dangerous and fanatical sect; as a concealed enemy of the empire. So they seized him again, and again brought him to Rome--after three years. What must have been the aged prisoner’ s thoughts when a second time he catered the city he has so desired to dwell in and to see--again in chains? Shall we trace his second residence? It only lasted a few months in close and weary captivity. He probably, save on the days of his trial, never saw the blue heavens, till that morning when they led him out beyond the gates to die. Thus Paul’ s heart’ s desire was granted, and “ he saw Rome.” (1) This strange fulfilment of a prayer almost suggests to us that Paul’ s earnest wish “ to see Rome,” to lay the ground storeys of a mighty Pauline Church in the great capital, was hardly in accordance with his Master’ s will; seems as though Paul had not in this particular subordinated his will to his Lord’ s; for though the prayer was granted it was a fulfilment very different to the end Paul looked for. He won his prayer; but the fulfilment was accompanied with sorrow and anguish. (2) With us we, too, long “ to see Rome” ; aye, all of us, from the school girl to the grown, trained man, in the power and vigour of his manhood. We all, I think, “ long to see.” Do we not? On in front we see, like Paul, a dream city, far different to the one in which our lot is cast. What do we want there? Is it gold, or leisure, or power, or pleasure? Do we, in our plans for the future, in our hopes for what will happen “ after long years,” at all think of the kingdom of God, of the advancement of His glory, of the being able better to help our sister and our brother in their need and trouble, in their sickness and sorrow? Or in our dreamcity of the future do we only, or even chiefly, see our future--ourselves? (3) But then there is another point to consider. Are we wise and prudent? Was Paul wise and prudent, so to pray, so to desire? Could he not have worked on, quiet and contented, doing his Father’ s business, in the comparative retirement of a provincial city? I will not try and answer this. Each man and woman must put the question to their own hearts and God will whisper to each the answer. (4) The grand lesson which we draw from these little words, which throw, however, so strong a light over many a page of Paul’ s eventful life is--If you long for great things, for power and opportunity to do great things, see well, look carefully, why you want this power, these opportunities. If the reason be indeed a noble one (but be sure first that it is), then pray for it, live for it, train for it, as did Paul. But remember, it may come to you as it did to Paul, most probably with anxiety, care, trouble, weariness, painfulness. Think well, ye discontented servants of high God, who long for greater things and nobler chances, whether at the price it is worth while to covet other things than those in the midst of which God has fixed your lot. Or whether the wiser, the more prudent, perhaps the better part even in God’ s eyes, is not to make the best of what you are and where you are. This is to do indeed your Father’ s business with quiet contentment; and such a life will in the glad end be crowned with the crown He has promised. (5) “ I must see Rome.” Better, oh, young toiler for bread or honour, better say--far better pray--I must see Jerusalem. Not the desecrated buildings now piled over the shapeless ruins of the old Sion, once the joy of the earth; but I must see the glorious city, the city of God, where the river of life flows from the throne of God and the Lamb; the city where shall be no more curse; the city of eternal day--for the Lord God giveth it light--where His saints shall reign for ever and ever. Pray for this city, agonise for this home. Your Lord has made it ready; your Lord has washed His pilgrims’ robes in His own dear blood, that they may enter in forgiven, clothed in white; and then, oh, blessed thought, these will go no more out. (Dean Spence.) Acts 19:23 There arose no small stir about that way.Stir about the way There is no new thing under the sun. Wherever the gospel is preached in its power and purity there has always been no small stir about that way. Some will applaud, and others load it with reproach. Let us inquire--I. What is meant by “ the way.” It may refer--1. To the doctrines of Christianity. Paul’ s great concern was to show the way of salvation by preaching Christ and Him crucified. He is the way, and no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. This was so uniformly and so constantly the topic of the apostolic ministry, that their preaching soon began to be called “ that way,” that new and living way, of saving sinners by the cross of Christ. 2. To the way of worship. Spiritual worshippers will be careful to worship God in His own way; not on this mountain or the other. God is a Spirit, etc. Now the way in which primitive believers worshipped was so plain and simple, so fervent and devout, that it seemed like a new and a strange way to the generality. 3. To general practice. The genuine disciples of Jesus not only think differently from the rest of mankind, but their conduct also is marked with peculiarity (1 Peter 4:4). Christians are required to walk not only in the way of believing, but also in the way of God’ s statutes. II. How it comes to pass that such a “ stir” is made about this way. Though the religion of Jesus contains the sublimest doctrines, inculcates the purest morals, inspires the most ardent devotion, and is the only religion in the world that can afford relief and comfort to a sinner, yet no sooner did it begin to spread than it occasioned a universal commotion, and the ministers of the gospel were charged with having turned the world upside down. Christ foretold this (Matthew 10:34), and the event justified the prediction. Some were softened, others hardened; some, like Agrippa, were half convinced, and others, like Gallio, cared for none of these things. Some said, Let these men alone; others, Away with them, for it is not fit that they should live. So they had said of Christ their Lord and Master. While the strong man armed kept possession the goods were in peace. The Jewish rulers, the heathen philosophers, and idolaters agreed well enough together; but no sooner did the gospel make its appearance, and the kingdom of Satan begin to be in danger, than he raised a disturbance in the world. This “ stir” may also be considered as taking place in the same individuals; for there would be a struggle between their convictions and their corruptions, between the new light they had received and their old prejudices. The “ stir,” therefore, would arise from some of the following causes:1. From the natural blindness of the heart, and the perversion of the understanding (John 1:5). 2. From an undue attachment to the present world. “ Great is Diana of the Ephesians,” said Demetrius. Why? Because they made shrines for that idol, and by this craft they got their wealth. 3. A misconception of the doctrines and precepts of Christianity. Some have thought the doctrines too obscure, and the precepts too severe. 4. From the outward meanness of the preachers and professors of the gospel. 5. From that powerful influence which the preaching of the gospel had upon the minds of those who did not cordially embrace it. God’ s Word “ took hold of them” (Ezekiel 2:5). They were terrified, but not brought to true repentance. Hence arose a fermentation in their minds, like that produced by the mixture of an acid with a strong alkali. We may here see the wisdom of God in thus causing even unbelievers to bear witness of the power and authority of the Word. The stir made about the gospel has once and again tended to its propagation. When the Jews contradicted and blasphemed, the Gentiles became more attentive and inquisitive. The stir which was now made at Ephesus was the means of contributing to the spread of the gospel, for we afterwards read of a considerable Church being formed, and of a great number of believers in that city. (B. Beddome, M. A.)The gospel makes a stir I. The gospel is a peculiar way--1. Of thinking.2. Of feeling.3. Of acting. II. The stir which it produces.1. Excitement.2. Inquiry.3. Prayer.4. Activity. (W. W. Wythe.)Revolutions of Christianity The shock that buried Lisbon in 1755 never ceased to vibrate till it reached the wilds of Scotland and the vineyards of Madeira. It was felt in the Grecian archipelago, and it changed the level of the solitary lakes that sleep beneath the shadow of the North Alps. Even so the shock that Satan’ s kingdom sustained when Christianity was established will not cease to vibrate till it move the whole world. (Hardwicke.) Acts 19:24-41A certain man named Demetrius.Paul and Demetrius The application of these words to present day life is a task that might be assigned to a child. Demetrius never dies; his word is to be heard in every tongue; he is present in great force in every Church, as representing two special phases of life. With the subtlety of selfishness he puts the case with comical adroitness. He knows the value of a little piety. If it were a mere matter of trade, he could have lifted his noble self above all market place considerations, but “ that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised” was the thought that afflicted his pious heart. I. What was the reality of the case from the first point of view? Trade was injured. If Paul had preached abstract ideas, Demetrius would have made shrines for him if he had ordered them, but a preacher that thunders upon immediate iniquity may get himself into trouble. Modern preachers might preach a whole year upon the evils of intemperance, but if those who deal in strong drink were to find their takings going down the preacher would soon hear of the circumstance. You may circulate what books you please, but if the literature that is eating out the morality of our young people is arrested in its baleful progress, then you will be caricatured, contemned, laughed at. Rejoice when such persecution befalls you. It is a sign of true success. Demetrius will not fail to let you know how your work is going on. But press on--another stroke, another rush, and down goes Demetrius, and all his progeny fall into the pit to keep him profitless company. What bad journal have you, as a Christian Church, ever shut up? What place of iniquitous business have you ever bought and washed, and within its unholy walls set up the altar of Christ? Where do you follow and outbid Demetrius, driving him back? We are afraid to build churches too near one another; we study one another’ s feelings about that. Show me the thoroughfare in any great city in which Christian churches have pushed back evil institutions--back to the river’ s edge, and into the river, if possible. To see such a city would be to see the beginning of heaven. II. The next phase of the case as put by Demetrius is infinitely more humiliating. The temple of the great goddess Diana is in danger. That particular phase of the situation is best represented by the words “ a religious panic.” The temple was in danger. That is the language of today. If it is a temple that can be put in danger, it is a temple made with hands, and must go down. Hear the great challenge of the Master: “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” What panics we have seen! As if truth could ever be in danger! Some time ago a number of highly learned men issued a volume entitled “ Essays and Reviews.” It was the doom of Christianity! And yet Christianity has gone forward on her beneficent career without ever having bought a copy of the volume that some people earnestly thought was to have taken her life. We ought to have a religion that cannot be put in danger. If our religion is an affair of letters, forms, dates, autographs, then I do not wonder that our cabinet is sometimes broken into. I do not keep my religion in a museum, or lock it up in an iron safe; my conception of God no man can break through nor steal. You cannot take my Bible from me; if you could prove that the Apostle John wrote the Pentateuch, and that Moses wrote the Apocalypse, and that the Apocalypse should come in the middle of the Bible, you have not touched what I hold to be the revelation of God to the human heart. What we, as the common people, have to be sure about is, that God has sent great messages of law and love and light and life to everyone of us; that God’ s revelations do not depend upon changing grammars, but upon an inward, spiritual consciousness and holy sympathy. Whose insight is not intellectual but moral--the purity of heart which sees God. The Bible speaks to my own heart as no other book speaks. It proves its own inspiration by its grasp of human life, by its answers to human need. The town clerk laid down the principle that ought to guide us (verse 36). The brevity of life, the certainty of death, the reality of sin, the present hell that burns me, the need of a Saviour--these things cannot be “ spoken against” ; therefore, those of us who feel them to be true “ ought to be quiet.” (J. Parker, D. D.)Paul and Demetrius 1. Men have talked a great deal about the toleration of Rome and of ancient civilised nations as compared with the intolerance of Christian nations and times. Wherever, in ancient or modern times, men preach truths adverse to the current truths in such a way that they are kept high above men’ s heads they can preach them as long as they please. Paul might have discussed the abstract questions of religion and the various questions of idols and idolaters to the end of his life, and no Demetrius would have risen up. It was not until the truth he preached found an application to men that his preaching became offensive; and indeed all great truths do reach down, finally, to men’ s private and business life. I will defy any man to preach any great salient moral truth thoroughly and not find himself meddling with questions which concern courts, merchants, statesmen, politicians. When, therefore, it is said, e.g., “ These ministers have no right to meddle with political questions,” it is saying that ministers may preach truths as long as they do not hit anywhere, but that when they have carried them out in such a way that they take hold of men’ s interests, and so begin to be practical, then they must stop, because they have no right to preach politics! 2. Paul had no conception of what he was doing. He was preaching Christ fearlessly, freely. He had no idea of the existence of Demetrius, and did not dream that he was hurting anybody. And yet you see what were the ramifications of moral truth, and how, as the result of Paul’ s preaching, there uprose this Demetrius and his craftsmen. It bore testimony against them. And so long as the world stands faithful preaching will not only do what the preacher aims to do, but a great deal more. It will reach men that he never thought of and interests that he never contemplated. Truth may be handled with unnecessary offence, without a wise regard to times and seasons. There is such a way of preaching that under favourable circumstances we can sometimes persuade men to hear the truth against their interests. But, on the whole, there is no way in which you can so preach the truth that it will destroy men’ s interests, and have them remain peaceable, and like it. That was what our Master meant when He said, “ I came not to send peace, but sword.” He knew that men who live by pampering superstitions and evil passions would not consent to be purified without a struggle. Satan, either in man or in society, is neither to be bound or cast out, except there be a mighty power over against him. 3. You will therefore say that this Demetrius was a very bad man. But was he? Remember, first, that he knew no religion but heathenism, and that he supposed that to be the best religion there was in the world. Remember, too, that he occupied the same relation to his religion that the Tract Society does to ours. The latter makes shrines--little books representing their notions of religion. And Demetrius probably said to himself, “ It is better for the people to stick to their religion; and what if making their shrines is profitable to me, I am working at a religious business. And as our religion is associated with our country, I am making men not only religious, but patriotic.” Here was a Jew, that was not born in Asia, but away off in Palestine, and was setting forth a strange God; and Demetrius felt everything in him rise up in indignation. But it is very evident that his feeling of self-interest was strongest. He was not a good man, and yet he was not an extremely bad man. He was just like men that you see every day. There is nothing more common than for men to hang one motive outside where it can be seen and keep the others in the background to turn the machinery. 4. From this narrative we may derive the principle that moral truth is of transcendently more value than all the material interests, order, or peace of society. There is an impression that the gospel is such a soothing syrup that if a preacher knows his business men going to hear him will be made very peaceable and happy, and will go away feeling very good. If, on the other hand, a man disturbs the community, it is thought that these results are prima facie evidence that he is not a true preacher of the gospel; and it has passed into a byword--we see it in all the fifth-rate newspapers and hear it from the lips of pot house politicians--that ministers ought to be “ followers of the meek and lowly Jesus,” and that they “ go beyond their sphere” when they preach so as to disturb anybody. But hear again our Saviour’ s words: “ Think not that I am come to send peace on earth,” etc. If you go home, saying, “ I must follow the Lord,” and everybody in the household says, “ We are following Mammon, or Pleasure,” it is for you to stand by your higher light; and you will give offence. Nevertheless, you must be firm. If the father and mother will worship Baal, and the child would worship Jehovah, the child must not yield; and if there be quarrelling, it is not the child’ s fault. (H. W. Beecher.)The power of obscure men A man may work a great evil, and yet himself not be a great man. Demetrius has no history. He raised the town that day, not by any powers of mind or heart, but simply by the explosive force of those depraved and selfish passions to which he appealed. Anybody can do that; and then, when the popular violence is aroused, he can imagine himself a chieftain or a hero. (G. S. Robinson, D. D.)Covetousness I. Undisturbed. Nothing in Ephesus was more thrifty and well behaved. It asked nothing of the gospel except to be left alone. Shrine making was a perfectly “ legitimate business.” It combined religion with art. It was patriotic, for it made Ephesus renowned. It was in a “ healthy condition.” The liquor traffic could not have been more quiet, nor newspapers more up to the times. The business was harmonious within. Capital and labour had no quarrel. Demetrius and Co. were no enemies of the working classes, for they brought much gain to the craftsmen. II. Alarmed. Learn now--1. How sensitive it is. Covetousness in the abstract preachers may assail with perfect impunity, but business is a different thing. 2. How energetic. 3. How cruel. The idolatry is condemned of God and is the death of souls; but what of that? Mere sentiment. “ By this we have our wealth.” 4. How hypocritical. Under the garb of zeal for religion. III. Defeated--1. By its own blunders. It has a majority, but no case. It makes the mistake of trying to put down truth by brawling. Another blunder was falsehood. 2. Through its dangerous drift. There is nothing truly conservative but truth and righteousness. Covetousness in trade or politics will sooner or later upheave society. Here it “ filled the whole city with confusion.” It will jeopardise any public interest to save its gold. 3. Through the power of simple truth and goodness. The mayor of the city sees through it all. (A. Mitchell, D. D.)Defence of vested interests Idolatry is renunciation of the one God and degradation to men. But there are men now who will defend and combine to protect the traffic in intoxicating liquors, in adulterating with poisons the food of the people, in stock gambling, in lotteries, in the circulation of obscene books and pictures, in many methods which are forbidden by God and are demoralising and destructive to mankind. Now, all these modes of money making are opposed by the whole spirit of Christ’ s precepts, and just so far as Christian principles prevail in a country, these kinds of business must be subverted. The classes of men who would rather make money than obey God will resist and clamour and combine against any efforts that may be made to popularise the spirit and purity of gospel principles. They will even become quite religious, as did these image makers of Ephesus, in pleading for liberty to selfishness and in defence of vested rights. They would rather worship Diana and her images than Jesus Christ and His beneficences if the former would permit and the latter would forbid money making by wronging and debasing their fellow men. So we have in this lesson some very important practical teachings for our own age. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The spirit of sedition: the teachings of experience concerning its deceptions 1. One pretends to high aims, and is influenced by the grossest selfishness. 2. One thinks himself free to act, and is the involuntary instrument of crafty seducers. 3. One values himself as enlightened, and commits acts the most foolish. 4. One prides himself that he contends for the right, and perpetrates the most unrighteous deeds of violence. 5. One is filled with extravagant expectations, and in the end gains nothing. Demetrius 1. If Demetrius makes silver images and Paul preaches against idolatry, there is bound to be a struggle between them. 2. If he can summon a few congenial spirits--craftsmen who work very little with their hands and very much with their mouths--the struggle may grow to an uproar. 3. If he and his congenial spirits can get the attention of the city rabble, the uproar may attain to the dignity of a riot. 4. If he and his companions can disguise the denton of selfishness by calling it “ the goddess Diana,” or “ Public Worship,” or the “ Cause of Justice,” they will invitably do so. 5. If he, the demagogue, makes a speech, he usually manufactures his facts to order. The idea of “ all Asia and the world” worshipping Diana! (S. S. Times.)Mobs When the mob--1. Rushes out to wreak its vengeance on somebody, it usually catches the wrong man. 2. Can agree on a common cry, the riotous element is much strengthened. 3. Is thoroughly, wildly, unreasonably mad, it is a needless risk for Paul to go in unto them. 4. Howls the loudest, its members usually have the least possible idea what they are howling about. 5. Knows why it comes together, it is wiser than most mobs are. 6. Finds out that Alexander is a Jew, or for any other reason is unpopular, his eloquence is useless. 7. Has spent two or three hours in yelling itself hoarse, then there may possibly be a chance for the town clerk or somebody else to make himself heard. (S. S. Times.)A good town clerk 1. Happy the city with so able an official as the town clerk of Ephesus. 2. Wise the advice that urges the angry multitude to do nothing rashly. 3. Shrewd the counsel that reminds the mob of the law whose place it is usurping. 4. Keen the insight that sees just when to read the Riot Act to the crowd. 5. Admirable the judgment that can tell when to work on the people’ s fears. (S. S. Times.)The uproar at Ephesus I. Bore brave testimony to the power of the gospel. Had the work of Paul been confined to a few, or only reached the heads and not the hearts of many in Ephesus, Demetrius would have paid no attention to it. The offence lay in the fact that it had gained power, and was pushing the old faith to the wall. So in our day. When liquordealers rally, and policy shop holders amalgamate, it is because righteousness is beginning to make itself felt. II. Was rooted in selfishness. In this case the selfishness was pecuniary. In other cases it was political; in others yet it was ecclesiastical. So today. III. Was fostered by false arguments. “ The temple of the great goddess Diana is to be despised.” Had they stopped to investigate the matter, they would have found that the apostle would have substituted in the place of an idol the only living and true God, and in the place of filth and lust would have put purity and virtue; and that surely would have been better. But when the purse was threatened they were blind to all else, and bolstered up their cause as best they might with poor arguments. So it is yet. Rum sellers cry “ fanaticism” and extol “ personal liberty.” Infidels decry Sunday laws, pleading “ liberty of conscience” for all. But, as in Paul’ s time, the motive is selfishness and the argument hypocritical. IV. Proceeds to violence. This spirit, modified, is what underlies all petty persecutions. If we are not ready to succumb to evil, it turns on us, and delights to inflict pain by look, by word, by deed. V. In no way injured Christianity. No blood was shed. But if it had Christianity would not have been injured. “ The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” A persecuted Church is far more alive in true heroic virtue than a rich Church. No opposition of evil men today, however they may band themselves together, can truly hinder the progress of Christ’ s Church. (A. F. Schauffler.)The uproar in Ephesus I. Opposition to the gospel has proceeded from the bad passions of men--from avarice, ambition, love of earthly pleasures. This uproar was excited by mercenary artificers, who worshipped no god with so much ardour as the god of riches. Such opposition reflects honour upon Christianity. Had it been a human contrivance, it would have been adapted, like other impostures, to the corrupt inclinations of mankind. The enemies of our religion, in order to justify their opposition, have brought many false accusations against it. But it cannot be justly charged with disturbing the peace of society, which it secures by impressing upon the heart the purest lessons of morality. It cannot be charged with impairing domestic happiness, since it establishes the empire of love. It cannot be charged with impeding the business and the duties of life, for it teaches us to acquit ourselves with fidelity in every relation. What, then, is the evil which it has done? It has abolished certain institutions which originated in the cruelty and licentiousness of mankind; it has overthrown establishments under which imposture flourished; it has restrained vices which were the sources of private gratification and public misery. II. The sacred name of religion has been prostituted to serve the most infamous purposes. It was the pretext under which Demetrius and his accomplices concealed their design to secure the gain which they derived from the folly and delusion of their countrymen. In the name of religion conquerors have desolated the earth, persecutors have committed unnatural cruelties, Churches have corrupted the doctrines and institutions of the gospel, repealed the ordinances of Heaven, imposed their own unhallowed commands upon the consciences of their subjects, and fulminated excommunications against the pious and the sincere. The language of all such persons has been, “ Come, see our zeal for the Lord.” II. The concurrence of a multitude in support of a cause is no proof of its justice. Truth is not to be decided by numbers. In the old world Noah alone was found faithful, while the rest had corrupted their ways. In the wilderness all the Israelites rebelled except Caleb and Joshua. When our Saviour appeared upon the earth how few of the Jews acknowledged Him to be the Messiah! And in the dark ages did not “ all the world wonder after the beast” ? The maxim that the voice of the people is the voice of God is, for the most part evidently false, and in no case can be admitted without many limitations. What, in most cases, is the voice of the people but the voice of thoughtlessness, prejudice, and passion? What is it, in fact, but the voice of a few artful men who make use of the people as the blind instruments of accomplishing their private designs? IV. God reigns and carries on the designs of His government amidst the commotions of the world. He rules not only over the unconscious elements, but likewise over the passions of men. When these passions are most headstrong and impetuous, He controls their fury, and directs their course. In the uproar at Ephesus He preserved the life of Paul and his companions, first by the confusion of the people, and then by the seasonable interference of a person of prudence and authority. Let us not be dismayed, although the pillars of the earth should be shaken and all things should seem to be out of course (Psalms 93:1-4). (J. Dick, A. M.)The uproar at Ephesus was a representative transaction, and from it we may learn important lessons. I. Popular opposition to the gospel is to be expected. That gospel from the beginning has been forced to make its way against the sturdy resistance of those to whom it has been addressed; and the religious apathy of the masses and the pronounced enmity of leaders in society, literature, and science today are phenomena which cannot escape the most careless attention. And yet, rightly viewed, there is nothing strange or alarming in this. Final victory is promised, but battle is to precede it. It is not to be expected that men will quietly surrender to a system that endeavours to reverse the gravitation of their nature. They are fond of self-pleasing; how shall they listen willingly to teaching of self-denial, etc., etc.? II. Popular opinion is not the proper criterion of truth. If the matter could have been decided by “ counts of heads and clack of tongues,” then Diana would have triumphed against Christ. So long as Christianity is accepted only by a fragment of the community or the race, shallow thinkers justify their unfaith. But the most cursory reading of history rebukes the fallacy of the position. It was public opinion in Jerusalem that drove Jesus to Calvary; that here refused the gospel a hearing; that in Paris crimsoned the streets with Huguenot blood. From the beginning until now public opinion has cursed the world with false faith and outrage of every sort. And so no man can find any warrant for his personal convictions in the fact that the bulk of society is of his way of thinking. Upon him alone falls always the solemn shadow of personal responsibility. It is easier to swim with the swift current of popular thought than to ally ourselves with the minority that are breasting the stream. III. The claims of the gospel will not be acknowledged while there is an idol in the way. It was not the truth which Paul preached, in itself considered, to which the Ephesians objected. Let the apostle teach a doctrine which would make the trade in silver shrines good, and Demetrius would have turned his opposition into help. It was not pure reverence for Diana that actuated them; it was their business that made them so religious in her direction. Let Paul lay down as the first condition of salvation that every man must set up a shrine to Jesus, and it would have answered quite as well. Their personal gain was the real idol. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)The triumphs of the gospel The meeting which Demetrius now addressed was a very remarkable one. It gives us an insight into--1. The perversion of human handicraft. Here is an assembly of men whose inventive genius and skilful labour were employed in the manufacturing of things offensive to Heaven and debasing to souls. Much of the industry of the world is employed in fabricating that which is bad--beverages which brutalise the reason, arts which inflame the lusts, and horrid implements of torture and death. So men build up fortunes by selling the productions of wickedness. 2. The force of the mercantile spirit. What brought these men together, and inspired Demetrius to arrest the progress of the truth was cupidity. Preach of human liberty to slaveholders; peace to those who get their living in providing weapons for battle; spiritual independency to men who derive their revenue and influence by arrogating dominion over men’ s faith; and you will have the mercenary spirit rising in full tide against you. 3. The revolutionary power of the gospel Demetrius felt that the very foundations of idolatry were being sappped by the doctrines of the apostle (verse 26). The triumphs of the gospel at Ephesus, according to Demetrius-- I. Involved a religious revolution. Such a change is always--1. The most radical. The god of the soul, whatever it is, is in all cases the object of the soul’ s supreme affection, and the very root of man’ s life. Change this in a man, and you change the whole current of his existence; you reverse the action of the machinery of his being. The man becomes a “ new creation,” a “ new man.” 2. The most difficult. The strongest attachments are the religious. Men have ever been ready to give their property, their wives, their children, their very lives for their gods. Add to this that the old religions had a grand history, a gorgeous aspect, and a worldwide popularity, which gave them an immense influence over their devotees. II. Were undeniable facts. He suggests three kinds of evidence--1. Personal observation--“ Ye see,” etc. They had seen with their own eyes the change which the gospel had wrought. Such ocular evidence most men in Christendom are privileged to possess. Who has not known the drunkard, the blasphemer, the licentious, and the selfish, become, by the power of the gospel, temperate, reverent, chaste, and generous? 2. General testimony--“ Ye hear,” doubtless from their own townsmen, whom they were bound to believe. Such evidence is nearly as conclusive as the former, and is often available where the former is not. What we have seen is but a fraction compared with what we have heard. “ We have heard with our ears,” etc. From the testimony of Paul we are assured that in Colosse, Ephesus, Rome, and Corinth, wonderful religious revolutions had been effected by the gospel he had preached. Clement confirms, in a letter which he wrote thirty years after, this testimony. 3. Avowed enemies. Could Demetrius have denied, or ignored its effects, he would have done so. The revolutions which Christianity has effected are so manifest, that hostile historians, such as Gibbon, are bound to chronicle them as the fountains of striking epochs. III. Were confined to no particular type of men. “ Not alone at Ephesus, etc.” IV. Were achieved by the agency of man as man. “ This Paul” ; not these angels; not these magistrates backed by victorious legions. How did he do it? By wielding civil authority? No. All political power was against him. By miraculous instrumentality? He was, it is true, endowed with this power, but the great moral results of his ministry are not ascribed to this. Here is the agency he employs--He “ hath persuaded.” This is the noblest of works. He who wins one soul achieves a conquest that throws the victories of the Caesars, Alexanders, and Napoleons into contempt. Conclusion: There is much in connection with the agency of Paul at Ephesus which impresses us with Divine power.1. In his daring to enter such a place.2. In what, by his simple agency, he accomplished there. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Which made silver shrines for Diana.-- The worship of Diana The worship of Artemis or Diana had from a very early period been connected with the city of Ephesus. The first temple owed much of its magnificence to Croesus. This was burnt down in B.C. 335, by Herostratus, who was impelled by an insane desire thus to secure an immortality of renown. Under Alexander the Great it was rebuilt with more stateliness than ever, and was looked upon as one of the seven wonders of the world. Its porticoes were adorned with paintings and sculptures by the great masters of Greek art, Phidias and Polycletus, Calliphron and Apelles. It had an establishment of priests, attendants, and boys, which reminds us of the organisation of a great cathedral or abbey in mediaeval Europe. Provision was made for the education of the children employed in the temple services, and retiring pensions given to priests and priestesses. Large gifts and bequests were made for the maintenance of its fabric and ritual, and the city conferred its highest honours upon those who thus enrolled themselves among its illustrious benefactors. Pilgrims came from all parts of the world to worship or to gaze, and carried away with them memorials in silver and bronze, generally models of the sacellum, or sanctuary, in which the image of the goddess stood, and of the image itself. That image, however, was very unlike the sculptured beauty with which Greek and Roman art loved to represent the form of Artemis, and would seem to have been the survival of an older cultus of the powers of nature, like the Phrygian worship of Cybele, modified and renamed by the Greek settlers who took the place of the original inhabitants. A four-fold many-breasted female figure, ending, below the breasts, in a square column, with mysterious symbolic ornamentation, in which bees, and ears of corn, and flowers were strangely mingled, carved in wood, black with age, this was the centre of the adoration of that never-ceasing stream of worshippers. Its ugliness was, perhaps, the secret of its power. When art clothes idolatry with beauty, man feels at liberty to criticise the artist and his work, and the feeling of reverence becomes gradually weaker. The savage bows before his fetich with a blinder homage than that which Pericles gave to the Jupiter of Phidias. The first real blow to the worship which bad lasted for so many ages was given by the two years of St. Paul’ s work of which we read here. As by the strange irony of history, the next stroke aimed at its maghificence came from the hand of Nero, who robbed it, as he robbed the temples of Delphi, and Pergamus, and Athens, not sparing even villages, of many of its art treasures for the adornment of his Golden House at Rome (Tacit. Ann. 15.45). Trajan sent its richly-sculptured gates as an offering to a temple at Byzantium. As the Church of Christ advanced, its worship, of course, declined. Priests and priestesses ministered in deserted shrines. When the empire became Christian, the temple of Ephesus, in common with that at Delphi, supplied materials for the church, erected by Justinian, in honour of the Divine Wisdom, which is now the Mosque of St. Sophia. When the Goths devastated Asia Minor, in the reign of Gallienus (A.D. 263), they plundered it with a reckless hand, and the work which they began was completed centuries later by the Turks. The whole city, bearing the name of Aioslouk--has fallen into such decay that the very site of the temple was till within the last few years a matter of dispute among archaeologists. (Dean Plumptre.)The temple of Diana 1. Do you not see in that temple of Diana an expression of what the world needs? It wants a God who can provide food. Diana was a huntress. In pictures on many of the coins she held a stag by the horn with one hand and a bundle of arrows in the other. Oh, this is a hungry world! Diana could not give one pound of meat, or one mouthful of food to the millions of her worshippers. Let Diana have her arrows and her hounds; our God has the sunshine and the showers and the harvests, and in proportion as He is worshipped does plenty reign. 2. So also in the temple of Diana the world expressed its need of a refuge. To it from all parts of the land came debtors who could not pay their debts, and the offenders of the law that they might escape incarceration. But she sheltered them only a little while, and, while she kept them from arrest, she could not change their hearts, and the guilty remained guilty. But our God in Jesus Christ is a refuge into which we may fly from all our sins and be safe for eternity, and the nature is transformed. 3. Then, in that temple were deposited treasures from all the earth for safe keeping. Chrysostom says it was the treasure house of nations; they brought gold and silver and precious stones and coronets from across the sea, and put them under the care of Diana of the Ephesians. But again and again were those treasures ransacked, captured, or destroyed. Nero robbed them, the Scythians scattered them, the Goths burned them. Diana failed those who trusted her with treasures, but our God, to Him we may entrust all our treasures for this world and the next, and He will not fail anyone who put confidence in Him. 4. But notice what killed Ephesus, and what has killed most of the cities that lie buried in the cemetery of nations. Luxury! The costly baths, which had been the means of health to the city, became its ruin. Instead of the cold baths that had been the invigoration of the people, the hot baths, which are only intended for the infirm or the invalid, were substituted. In these hot baths many lay most of the time. Authors wrote books while in these baths. Business was neglected and a hot bath taken four or five times a day. When the keeper of the baths was reprimanded for not having them warm enough, one of the rulers said: “ You blame him for not making the bath warm enough; I blame you because you have it warm at all.” But that warm bath which enervated Ephesus was only a type of what went on in all departments of Ephesian life, and in luxurious indulgence. (T. De Witt Talmage.)Brought no small gain unto the craftsmen.--Self-interested idolatry Self-interest often leads men to oppose the truth. A missionary once wrote: “ One man was very indignant on hearing the sin and folly of idol worship exposed; the native brother who was speaking coolly replied, ‘ I suppose you are a maker of images?’ ‘ Yes!’ exclaimed a voice in the crowd; ‘ he makes and sells them for four annas apiece.’ ‘ I thought so,’ said the native brother; ‘ he is afraid lest any should be persuaded not to buy his images; that is the reason he is so angry with us.’ This remark excited such a general laugh at the idol maker, that for shame he retired from the crowd and gave us no more trouble.” (J. L. Nye.)Self interest in opinion Nothing more hinders men from going to or from an opinion than the interest they have by holding it. Men do not care so much for the opinions they hold, as for what they hold by their opinions. Many a man thinks what Demetrius said; hence they fly in the face of truth, so dearly sweet and sweetly dear, is their darling gain. They see they cannot have the honey unless they burn the bees, and therefore fire them forthwith; they cannot possess the vineyard, unless Naboth be put to death, and therefore he must be dispatched. When once the copyhold of gain and honour is touched, men begin to look about them, and will never call godliness gain, because gain is their godliness. (R. Venning.)Pocket or principle Depend upon it, Paul was voted a good enough sort of Jew until he began to interfere with business. It is always so. You touch men’ s trade and you will soon find out how near their religious convictions lie to their pockets. Any one who proposes to interfere with profits will be set upon, right or wrong. It is no longer a question of principle, but of £. s. d. Suppose I am a High, or a Low, or a Broad Churchman--it matters little which--in the name of decency and common sense I declare that six public houses within thirty yards, as at Glasgow, are excessive; or 20,000 are too many for London--do you think I shall stop the renewal of one license next year? Not a bit of it! There’ s too much wealth and social influence enlisted against me--too many brewers in parliament--for my feeble might to have any weight. But what will happen? Why, if I am a High Churchman, the brewers will discover that I am a person of Romanizing tendencies, to be vigorously resisted in the name of our national protestantism; if I am a Low Churchman, they will call me a narrow, old-fashioned bigot; if I am a Broad Churchman, they will say that I am unorthodox, a most dishonest person, a wolf in sheep’ s clothing, and a very dangerous man. Yes, certainly; very dangerous--to beer. So the instant Paul’ s popularity touched the manufacture of silver shrines, Demetrius organised a Trades-Union mob, and nearly succeeded in wrecking Paul and his followers. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)Paul at Ephesus This chapter contains a description of two forces which then operated, and still operate, against the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of them is the greed of men who have pecuniary interest opposed to righteousness, and the other of them is what the historian calls the curious arts--what we may describe as a tendency to dabble with the real or imaginary intercourse between this world and the next outside of God Himself; a tendency which shows itself at every point in the development of the Church. Now, this indignation meeting of the craftsmen of Diana’ s shrine has furnished the model of many similar gatherings since. It does not appear that Paul had said anything disrespectful about Diana; on the contrary, the town clerk says that he had not mentioned her: he had been eminently cautious. At the same time, the accusation of Demetrius was a sufficiently reasonable one, for the gospel is a very awkward force in this world. I will not remain in the clouds, it will get its feet upon the ground; it will not be content to discuss the future, it will have its say about the present; it will not deal with you as if you were angels up yonder, it will always remember that you are men. And, therefore, it comes and grips the practical questions of life, and, unlike all other religions, it is most firm precisely where all the forces of the world and human interest are marshalled against righteousness and truth. I must say that Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen showed a very keen insight into the position. They seemed to perceive that though the preacher never mentioned Artemis and Diana, supposing what the preacher said were really listened to by the people, it would be like the daylight breaking into an old tenement and rousing and expelling the moles and the bats and the vermin. Demetrius saw distinctly what many people do not see even today, that the gospel need never lift up its voice and cry, that it can come into a society with the sweet piercing breath of the Spirit, and every abuse will be terrified and every sinner trembling in his shoes. I confess that my sympathy with Demetrius is great, and so is yours. He was perfectly right. He had invested his capital in silver for making the silver shrines for Diana, his wife and children depended upon it, and if these were to be disturbed he would see his little children starving. And I like Demetrius; there is something honest about him. He is the best man of the kind that we read of in history up to this day. He begins his speech frankly and truly: he says, “ Ye know that by this business we have our wealth.” He says nothing about religion until he has made it clear that it is a clear appeal to the selfish interests, and when he has secured the selfish interests, then he draws over the decent garment of religious concern for the great goddess Diana. The people of today are not so distinct in this matter; they begin with religion, and do not always mention the incidental fact “ by this fact we have our wealth.” I do not know anything more terrible than for a man to have chosen his life in such a way that his interests in the world can only be promoted on condition that the eternal laws of God shall be suspended. When a man has so embarked in the course of life, that he cannot easily withdraw, the dilemma is perfectly clear: either he will have to yield his interests to the gospel of Christ, and he will be ruined, as we call it, he will lose all his profit. It is a terrible position, and I do not myself wonder that when one is in that position he invokes all the powers of heaven on his side, and quotes Christianity against Christ, and will have a religious reason for the most irreligious doing. The other force which is enlisted against the gospel in this chapter concerning Ephesus is one about which it is more difficult to speak. It was called in the ancient world sorcery; it has not yet got an accepted title in the modern world. But let us observe what it is. When faith decays superstition grows. When the clear vision ceases, the dark, shadowy, and occult process begins. We need not say much about it, but I shall lift up my voice against it as long as I can, and especially to young people, and I urge you to have nothing to do with it. God has quite sufficiently revealed Himself in human life and in nature for all sound minds; and I want you to be content to remain ignorant rather than gain doubtful knowledge about occult things in doubtful ways. Now I want to close by reminding you of the great power by which the opposing forces were met and can be met today. It is described in the sixth verse of the chapter, and it is referred to in the second verse, where the apostle put this question to the twelve men who were Christians at Ephesus but had not received the Holy Ghost. And there is a distinction drawn between two kinds of baptism; one is the baptism of John, and the other is the baptism into the name of Jesus Christ, and receiving the Holy Ghost is identical with the baptism into the name of Jesus Christ. These two baptisms remain distinct up to the present day; the one is formal, ritualistic, is quite easily received and quite easily given; the other is spiritual and real, and can be received only by the most radical change of the whole life when the soul is wrought into the very name of Jesus Christ, emptied there, filled there, made new there, receiving from God the life that is God, the life manifested in the flesh. The one baptism makes us professors, the other baptism makes us possessors. (R. F. Horton, M. A.) Acts 19:29 Gaius and Aristarchus… Paul’ s companions in travel The morals of travelling These four words would be epitaph enough for any man. It would take four days to tell the object, victories, sufferings of their travels. They trod the streets of the greatest cities, and fell at times among barbarians. Travelling then was hard work, and so it sometimes is now, as when a missionary like Livingstone, or an explorer like Columbus, or a philanthropist like Howard, goes on his travels. I smile when I meet some travellers with their finery, irritabilities, and affectations. They seem to think that the few words of disorganised French they have picked up warrants them carrying themselves higher than before. And then one thinks of Gaius and Aristarchus. Leaving them, however, let us consider the subject of travel. I. Travel to learn. Some say that a man can learn no more abroad than at home. True if he learns nothing at home. Only those know how to travel who know that it would take a year to go round a room properly. Travelling is the most innocent of pleasures, and as a charming means of enlarging the mind is without an equal. II. Learn what to avoid and what to see. A preacher of righteousness needs to speak plainly on that silly, unclean practice of Englishmen abroad of going to see what they call “ life” --not that they always go abroad to see it. Call it rather seeing death, foulness. If someone were to go, for one day at least, to some of those shambles and spend the time in clearing up the dirt, it would be well; but that is not the motive. What I like to see when I travel is life--the vine in its glory, the field in its greenness, how men worship, their temples and shrines; and I always look out the English Church to worship the God of my fathers, in the language of my fathers. Some of you never do that. But, think where you would have gone to if you had been Paul’ s companions. Wherever he went the first thing he asked was, “ Where is the synagogue?” III. Take an agreeable companion. This will make the journey more agreeable. If two men can travel together, they can go anywhere and into any business together. And the same thing might be said of young people who are about to marry. If men and women were to do a little travelling together before marriage there would be fewer ill-assorted marriages. IV. Be calm. Don’ t be irritated at mistakes, disappointments, discomforts. They are precious discipline which will help you much when you get home. V. Know what you are to see. Read up the objects of interest. VI. Avoid what you can see as well or perhaps better at home, such as third-rate picture galleries and museums. VII. Fight against doing abroad what you would be ashamed to do at home. What meanness to do before God what you would not dare to do before man, and amongst strange men what you would not do before friends. It is beautiful to see the Mohammedan, wherever he is, at a certain hour performing his ablutions, and where water is not to be had rubbing himself with sand, and saying his prayer. (G. Dawson, M. A.)They rushed with one accord into the theatre.--The temple of Ephesus was, next to the temple of Artemis, its chief glory. It held twenty-five thousand people, and was constructed chiefly for gladiatorial combats with wild beasts and the like, but was also used for dramatic entertainments. The theatre of a Greek city, with its wide open area, was a favourite spot for public meetings of all kinds, just as Hyde Park is with us, or as the Champs de Mars was in the French Revolution. So Vespasian addressed the people in the theatre of Antioch. (Dean Plumptre.)Sermon to the theatrical profession 1. The histrionic art has claimed much of the attention of the world since the day when Thespis acted his play in a waggon at the festival of Dionysius, until this hour when the finest audience rooms in Paris and London are given up to the drama. The theatre of Ephesus was a vast building--the seats rising in concentric circles until no human voice could reach the multitude, and the playactors had masks which served as speaking trumpets, while there were under the seats reflectors of sound. The building was roofless, but covered with an awning to keep out the glare of the sun, and all the performances were in the daytime; while, at the side, there were porticoes into which many of the people retired in time of rain. The building was an overmastering splendour of marble, and glass, and statuary, and gold, and silver, and precious stones. 2. Paul wanted to attend that theatre. What! had the apostle been so pleased with the writings of Eschylus, Sophocles and Euripedes, that between his sermons he must go and look upon the performances of the theatre? No! He wanted to go into that theatre to preach Christ to the people, and vindicate the cause of truth and righteousness. Indeed, I do not know any place more appropriate for the preaching of the gospel than these palaces of dramatic art. Chatham Theatre in New York was never put to a grander purpose than when in 1857, during the great revival, the doors were thrown open for religious assemblages, and hundreds of souls found that their birth place. But until the ministry shall be invited to preach in all theatres, the best thing we can do is to preach to the actors. 3. But, says someone, “ You are their avowed enemy.” No, I am not. I acknowledge that there is as much genius in that profession as in any other; that there are men and women in it who are pure, honest, and generous. We must, however, acknowledge that there is an everlasting war between the Church and the playhouse. You do not like the Church. We do not like the theatre. But there is a common ground upon which we can meet today, as souls to be saved or lost, for whom there is a Saviour. I ask the members of the theatrical profession to surrender to Christ on two grounds. I. Because of the vast amount of usefulness you might wield for Christ. The course of history would have been changed if actors had given themselves to Christian work. It was the dramatic element sanctified in Robert Hall, Chalmers, and Whitfield, that made them the irresistible instruments of righteousness. If Kean, Kemble, Junius Booth, Garrick, and their contemporaries of the stage, had given themselves to the service of the Lord, this would have been a far different world from what it is. If their successors would some night at the close of their performance come to the front of the stage and say, “ Ladies and gentlemen, from this time I am a servant of Jesus Christ: I am His for time and for eternity” --it would save the world! “ Oh,” you say, “ that is an impossibility; there is such a prejudice against us, that if we should come and knock at the door of a Christian Church, we would be driven back.” Great mistake: When Spencer H. Cone stepped from the burning theatre in Richmond, December 26, 1811, into the pulpit of the Baptist denomination, he was rapturously welcomed, and I ask what impression that man ever made as a play actor compared with that which he made as an apostle. I ask that you give to God your power of impersonation, your grip over the human heart, your capacity to subdue, and transport great assemblages. Garrick and Whitfield were contemporaries; the triumph of the one was in Drury Lane Theatre; of the other in Moorfields. From the door of eternity, which man has the pleasanter retrospect? II. On the ground of your own happiness and safety. There is no peace for any occupation or profession without Christ. The huzza in the Haymarket and Covent Garden could not give peace to Mrs. Siddons, and Betterton, and Kean, and Macready. The world may laugh at the farce, but the comedian finds it a very serious business. Liston in his day had more power to move the mirth of an audience than any other man. He went one day to Dr. Abernethy, saying: “ Oh, doctor, I am so low-spirited; can’ t you cure me?” Dr. Abernethy, who did not know him, said, “ Pooh, pooh, I am not the man you want to see; don’ t come to a doctor; go to Liston; two doses would cure a madman.” Alas for Liston, he might cure others, but he could not cure himself. When I preached on the subject before, several play actresses came and said, “ We would like to become Christians, if you could only find for us some other occupation.” I said to them what I say to you: that no one ever becomes a Christian until he or she is willing to say, “ Lord Jesus, I take Thee now anyhow, come weal or woe, prosperity or privation, comfortable home or almshouse.” But God lets no one be shelterless and hungry who comes in that spirit. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Acts 19:32-41 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another.The excitement at Ephesus I. What produced it.1. Self-interest endangered.2. Superstitious feelings aroused.3. The unpopularity of the gospel.4. The persuasive eloquence of one man. II. What it produced. A display of the spirit of--1. Enemies of truth.2. True friends.3. Eminent Christians. (Stems and Twigs for Sermon Framework.)The tumult at Ephesus I. Its causes.1. The preaching of Paul.2. The speech of Demetrius. II. The tumult itself.1. Paul’ s courageous demeanour.2. The conduct of the populace. III. The tumult stilled. The speech of the town clerk.1. A model of worldly prudence.2. An example of great moral courage. Application:1. Be not dismayed in times of danger.2. Unite prudence with courage and justice. (J. H. Tasson.)Popular disorders--their cause and cure A depraved commonalty is the teeming source of all moral and political disorder, and the fearful presage, if not speedily averted by an efficient system of Christian instruction, of a sweeping anarchy and great national overthrow. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)And when the town clerk had appeased the people.-- The conduct of the town clerk When the tumult had gone on for about two hours down comes the town clerk. At the appearance of a well-known Roman official order is quickly restored, just as we have seen a crowd in the streets of London, assembled to witness a fight, quietly disperse on the appearance of one policeman, whilst the two excited combatants saunter off calmly in the opposite direction with their hands in their pockets. This sudden quieting of the city was a great tribute to the genius of Rome for good government. The Roman officials, indeed, usually appear to advantage in the New Testament, especially in the Acts. Gallio knew his business at Corinth, and the town clerk knew his business at Ephesus. His speech was brief and admirable--quite as good as Gallio’ s, in its way, and to the point. He said in effect--“ Good people, what is this noise about? ‘ Great is Diana!’ We all know Diana is great. If a wretched, wandering Jew, half off his head, comes here and says otherwise, what can it matter? Every one in this assembly is aware that the famous image we adore came straight down from Jupiter. Nobody doubts that, so there’ s an end of the matter. You are not so simple as to suppose that our temple, celebrated throughout the world, can be in any danger from the windy chatter of this half-blind Paulus and his crew? Then, after all, poor deluded troublesome creatures as we know all the Jews are, yet these particular ones have committed no robbery. (Cries of ‘ Demetrius and all of us are being robbed. Here’ s the month of May, the place is full of visitors, the temple festival at its height, and we can’ t sell our shrines; there’ s a lot of dead stock on hand.’ ) Well, well, if Demetrius and his friends have any grievance, the law is open; let him get his solicitor to prepare his case; both sides will then be heard, and you know that in a Roman law court justice will be done. I’ ll see to that. But this is not the way to get your rights. Go home quietly, and your business shall be attended to ‘ in a lawful manner.’ Remember, an uproar like this is a serious matter. You have special privileges, and you are in danger of forfeiting them by your unseemly behaviour. You are not under martial law with a propraetor and a legion to rule you, but you are a senatorial province, with a proconsul, and your humble servant in office, who is likely to be ‘ called to account’ for this disturbance, and in what a ridiculous, if not criminal light will Demetrius and his followers have to appear then! I fear they, and not Paulus and Alexander, will have to stand as prisoners in the dock.” And beneath this mixture of flattery, irony, and menace, the excited crowd melted away. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)The conduct of the town clerk as an example Cotton Mather used to say that there was a gentleman mentioned in Acts 19:1-41, to whom he was often and greatly indebted--viz., the town clerk of Ephesus, whose counsel was, “ Do nothing rashly.” And on any proposal of consequence he would say, “ Let us consult a little with the town clerk of Ephesus.” The address of the town clerk Observe here:-- I. Conciliation. As if he had said, These poor Jews cannot in any way weaken the authority, limit the influence, or dim the glory of Diana. You may as well be anxious about the radiance of the quenchless stars as about Diana (Acts 19:36). As there is not the slightest occasion for all this tumult, be quiet; act as men, not as children. II. Conscience. He speaks out the just as well as the politic (Acts 19:37). There is a high testimony from a learned and dignified pagan to the conduct of the apostles as the promoters of a new faith. It shows--1. That they exhibited a respectful deference to the feelings of the errorists. 2. That they set forth God’ s truth rather than battled with men’ s opinions. 3. That their language was kind and not reproachful. Would that all promoters of truth had imitated the example of the apostles in this respect. III. Counsel. He administers wise advice (Acts 19:38). This assembly is an unlawful one. Let there be an assembly of men lawfully called together to settle the matter in dispute. IV. Caution. In conclusion, he gives them a word of warning (Acts 19:40). (D. Thomas, D. D.)The speech of the town clerk is the model of a popular harangue. Such excitement was-- I. Undignified, as they stood above all suspicion in religious matters (Acts 19:35-36). II. Unjustifiable, as they could establish nothing against the men (Acts 19:37). III. Unnecessary, as other means of redress were open to them (Acts 19:38-39). IV. Dangerous; if neither pride nor justice availed anything, fear of the Roman power should restrain them (Acts 19:40). (W. Hackett.)The image which fell down from Jupiter.--The image of Diana A many-breasted idol of wood, rude as an African fetich, was worshipped in its shrine, in some portion of which a meteoric stone may have been inserted, the token of its being “ the image that fell down from Jupiter.” Similar superstitions belong to various countries, such as the Palladium of Troy, the Ceres of Sicily, the Minerva Polias of Athens, and the Diana of Tauris. Somewhat of the same nature were the shield of Mars at Rome, the black stone in the Caabah at Mecca, that in the temple of the Sun at Baalbec, and the Lia Fail, or stone of destiny, on which the Scottish kings were for many centuries crowned at Scone. Popularly supposed in those ancient times to be a portion of Jacob’ s pillar, it was thought to be so connected with the destiny of the kingdom, that wherever it happened to be, there should reign the Scottish race, and though it was removed by Edward to Westminster Abbey, where it now forms the support of the coronation chair of the British sovereign, the old prophecy was fondly believed to be verified when James VI ascended the English throne on the death of Elizabeth. (Prof. Eadie.). Acts 20:1-12 And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for Macedonia. Reading between the lines There does not seem to be much in this section of the apostolic history. We must not, however, judge by appearances. Paul is still here, and wherever you find the great man you find the great worker. Paul does nothing like any other man. Look at-- I. The variety of personal movement.1. Paul “ embraces” the disciples--a word which hides in it the pathos of a farewell. Paul will often now say “ Farewell.” He is not quite the man he was. Sometimes he straightens himself up into the old dignity and force, and we say, “ Surely he will last many a long year yet” ; but, nevertheless, we see age creeping upon his face, and taking the youth out of his figure and mien. 2. Then he “ departed to go into Macedonia.” We like to go back to old places, to see that the old flag is still flying--yes, and to the green grave to see if it is still there. Paul will go back to Thessalonica, Berea, and Philippi. Who can tell what happened in those visits? At first, when we go to a place, there is nothing but that which is common to other places; but having worked there, when we return we talk over old themes, quote old sayings, and ask for old friends with a doubtful tone lest we should rip up old wounds and tear open the deepest graves of the heart. These are the things that make life sacred and precious. 3. Next Paul “ came into Greece,” and it is just possible looked in upon Athens once more. Certainly he went to Corinth, but Corinth was changed. The decree which made many exiles had been annulled, and Aquila and Priscilla were no longer there. The friends are the town; and if they are not there, we are mocked by masonry. There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother; Aquila and Priscilla will leave the city, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, always at home. 4. Paul “ abode” in Greece three months. The word “ abode” misleads us. Paul cannot merely abide. But what is he doing? That we cannot always tell. Have confidence in faithful men. If you have only confidence in your friend so long as you can see every action, you have no confidence in him at all. What, then, has history shown that Paul was doing amidst all this commonplace movement? Within this period Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians, and probably his great letter to the Galatians. There is a written ministry. It is beautiful to read what Luke has to say about Paul, but how infinitely better to read Paul’ s own words. We do not always want to hear about a man, we long to hear the man himself; one sight of him, and we understand much that can never be explained; one utterance of his voice, and we are able to fill up gaps that vexed us. What we would give for the writing of some men! II. A period of waiting. Paul had written a letter to the Corinthians and wished to know its effect, and Titus was charged to hasten back to Troas with a report. Paul is now waiting at Troas. How did he wait? Read 2 Corinthians 2:12-13. That is the same spirit we found at Athens; he soon fell into restlessness. Read 2 Corinthians 1:8. I thank God for those words and for that trouble. It brings Paul down amongst us. Read 2 Corinthians 12:7. See how Paul was being educated. Conclusion: Where is the commonplace now? The narrative is full of gaps, but when they are filled up by Paul’ s own records, we find that within a framework of sentences that merely indicate locomotion we have experiences of the most intensely spiritual nature. We cannot tell all we are doing. There is a public life that the neighbours can see and read and comment upon; but there is a within life, that fills up all the open lines and broken places, and only God sees that interior and solemn existence. You go amongst men as worldly; there may be those who “ do not know how you spend half your time.” They have no right to know. You will one day hand in your own account to the only Judge who has a right to overlook your life. Fill up your days well; do not ask human criticism to approve you; live ever in the great Taskmaster’ s eye. (J. Parker, D. D.)From Ephesus to Troas Note here, the apostle-- I. Helping in the way (verse 2; Acts 2:40; Colossians 1:28; 1 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:1). II. Threatened in the way (verse 3; Acts 9:23; Acts 23:11; 2 Corinthians 11:26; Acts 16:19). III. Accompanied in the way (verse 4; Acts 19:29; Acts 16:1; Ephesians 6:21; Acts 21:29). IV. Prospered in the way (verse 6; Acts 16:8; 2 Timothy 4:13). Lessons:1. Paul found time, in the course of his travels, for much exhortation to Christian service and encouragement to Christian work. 2. Paul was a great traveller, but he never planned his tours with the idea of amusing himself, or of improving his health, or of seeing the greatest possible number of interesting ruins. 3. Paul was a traveller, but the only one of his journeys that he talked a great deal about was of his coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. Paul was a great preacher, and a proof of the fact is the fierce opposition he so frequently met from Jews and Gentiles. That fierceness is a measure of the work he was doing. 5. Paul was wise enough to change his plans, when persistence in them would have brought disaster. The wise Christian will always go by land through Macedonia if it would be incurring needless danger for him to go by sea to Syria. (S. S. Times.)From Ephesus to Troas These verses bring under notice-- I. The fragmentary character of gospel history. These few sentences extend over a period of nearly twelve months, during which what wonderful things have occurred, what privations endured, perils braved, discussions conducted, souls converted! We almost wish there had been journalists in those days to have chronicled all the items in Paul’ s wonderful life. II. The mystery of difficulties in connection with duty. Antecendently one might have thought that the Divine Father would have provided that a man like Paul should have no thorns in his path, no clouds in his sky. Herein is mystery, and we must patiently await the great explaining day. III. The unconquerableness of a Christ-like love. Mark it--1. In Paul’ s remaining at Ephesus until the “ uproar” ceased. He did not abandon the vessel in the storm, but, like a brave captain, remained until it was secure in the haven. 2. In the spirit with which he withdrew--not with the fire of indignation. He calls the disciples together and “ embraced them.” No amount of trial could cause Paul to relinquish his blessed mission. “ The love of Christ constraineth” him. (D. Thomas, D. D.)From Ephesus to Troas Among the many things to be learned from Paul’ s journeys, not the least are the intimations respecting the methods and usages of the apostolic Church. Look at the more prominent of these which appear in this narrative. I. Evangelistic work was prosecuted by a number, who were associated for the service (verse 4). After Churches were organised, regular pastors were placed over them; but the preparatory work called for special effort, and in this a number were wisely enjoyed. Thus early was recognised the distinction between evangelists and pastors; and no doubt the Churches which became centres of Christian influence in Asia were the result of God’ s blessing, not alone on Paul’ s preaching, but also on the labours of the believers who with Paul carried the gospel unto the regions beyond. II. The Christian Sabbath.1. Was the first day of the week (verse 7). This mention of the day is significant because it is casual, and the inference is that they habitually assembled then; and the instance becomes authority when the great apostle gave his sanction to this transfer of holy time from the Sabbath to the Lord’ s Day. It is sometimes said that had God purposed such a change He would have distinctly commanded it. Yet an oft-repeated statement that the Church did observe the first in place of the seventh day may be taken as evidence that they were instructed so to do; and the sanction of the change by the inspired apostles, who had been in personal conference with the Lord, confirms and continues the usage. The argument is the same as that which establishes the unity of the Church, the substitution of baptism for circumcision, the membership of women in the Church, or any other accepted feature of the Christian dispensation which had become so universal and so undisputed that no doubt was suggested concerning it. 2. Was observed chiefly as a day of worship. A number of hours were spent in devotional exercises. There was no complaint because the meeting was protracted, nor did any present consult their watches to learn how much more than half an hour Paul was preaching. Notice of this has special value to us because of the disposition manifested to devote it largely to work rather than to worship. Other days may give opportunity for this, but the Lord’ s Day is appointed especially for that renewal of strength which is gained by those who wait on the Lord. Experience makes known the wisdom of the early Christians in this particular, and it is possible that the most constant work may make us feeble, that the most ardent zeal may become religious dissipation. III. The purpose of the Eucharist. In the first place, the occasion was one--1. Of high spiritual enjoyment. The visit of Paul must have awakened delight, and excited gratitude. 2. Of special Christian communion. 3. Of special stimulus and cheer. In these circumstances we find them celebrating the Eucharist; and for us it should be a time of spiritual joy, not of depression; of inspiring, whole-souled communion; of cheer and confidence which will make us certain of success. IV. The manner of conducting public worship. The assembly does not seem to have been governed by any special habits beyond those which would secure comfort and decorum. The room was probably in some private house. The preaching of Paul was not according to any prescribed standard, but was probably simple and expository and adapted to the audience. The necessity that he should care for Eutychus did not so much disturb the apostle’ s sense of propriety that he was unable to go on with his discourse, and it is likely that the incident added to the interest and practical character of his remarks. An upper room, an all-night service, the simplest observance of the Lord’ s Supper, the possible disturbances which would drive away all sanctity from some modern, more aesthetic Christian assemblies--all these were features of worship led by the most prominent of the apostles. V. The predominance of the missionary spirit in all the Churches (verse 4). Here we have the secret of the success of the gospel in those days. Those who accepted it considered themselves as trustees of the blessed treasure for those who had it not. As soon as a Church was established, it assumed obligation respecting the outlying region, and thus other centres of evangelising power were formed. And so it should be today. (J. E. Ells, D. D.)From Ephesus to Troas Diligent service of Christ-- I. Exerts wide and varied influences. Not all noble lives become famous, but any determined man, fully possessed by great truths, may move the world. No purpose was ever so sublimely conceived or more nobly realised than the one which Paul was carrying out by this journey. In accomplishing his task Paul--1. Shrunk from no physical exertion. The Divine enthusiasm possessed his body as well as his soul. 2. Delivered his message constantly and confidently (verse 2). He could not help it. Once, at least, he talked all night. To speak interestingly men must be filled with great themes. The most trying talkers about religion are those whose thoughts cling mainly about their own experiences. 3. Studied as faithfully as he preached, Men who make progress in teaching must grow in knowledge. No books give evidence of more close and masterful mental toil than the letters written during this tour (2 Corinthians, Romans, Galatians). It is a common mistake to suppose that scholarship is confined to the seclusion of the study. Preaching and teaching and a wide acquaintance with men are as essential as the study of books in attaining the scholarship which leads to a clear and profound comprehension of Divine truths. II. Develops special gifts and graces of character in the Churches. Among those cultivated by Paul we notice--1. Systematic giving. It is comparatively easy now to raise money to carry the gospel to the heathen. But we find Paul exciting the practical interest of the new Churches on missionary ground in the needs of the Christians in the home field. He sent forth the choicest men, such as Titus and Timothy, to be collecting agents; and, so far from regarding them as beggars, he called them “ the glory of Christ.” He sought by this to bring about unity between bodies of Christians separated by distance, race, language, and prejudice. 2. Christian love (verse 7). Through the love of one man, begetting love in all the rest, the Churches of Achaia, Thessaly and Judaea joined as one Church in acts of mutual affection in efforts to spread the gospel through the world. III. Establishes permanent institutions. Wherever Paul journeyed he established Churches. Then he revisited and strengthened them. He also encouraged the institutions which would give the Churches permanence. He observed the Lord’ s Supper, and taught by example the observance of the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. IV. Forms and confirms its own character in likeness to Christ. Paul was ripening himself as he was building up the Churches. (A. E. Dunning.) Acts 20:3 And when the Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail.Paul’ s prudence Why was it safer for Paul to travel by land through Macedonia than to go down to the seaport, Cenchrea, to take ship there? The reason is, that the Jews, with their keen trading instincts, had settled chiefly in the great seaports and emporia of trade throughout the civilised world. Paul thus, in entering a seaport, would find himself in the midst of a large body of Jews, who had both the ability and the will to execute any plot against him; while in the inland and provincial towns the Jews formed a comparatively insignificant portion of the population. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Paul’ s prudence rewarded The hope of reaching Jerusalem by the Passover had, of course, to be abandoned: the only chance left was to get there by Pentecost. It was doubtless overruled for good that it should be so; for if Paul had been in the Holy City at the Passover, he would have been mixed up by his enemies with the riot and massacre which about that time marked the insane rising of the Egyptian impostor who called himself the Messiah. (Archdeacon Farrar.)Paul’ s moral courage It is a great thing to know when to run from evil, and when to stand and meet it. Often more courage is needed to run than fight. A bulldog knows just enough to be always ready for a fight. It takes more than a bulldog’ s character to decide when not to fight, and to stand by one’ s decision--even if one has to run in order to stand. In a community where duelling is still tolerated, it requires more the spirit of Paul, and less of the spirit of the bulldog, to decline a challenge. In a community where duelling is not tolerated, but where unnecessary and irritating discussion is, it is easier to conform to the bulldog’ s standard, than to Paul’ s, in times of temptation to such a discussion. It is not easy to say in advance just when a man should run rather than fight; but it is something for us all to bear in mind, that running often shows courage where fighting would show cowardice. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.) Acts 20:4 And there accompanied him into Asia Paul’ s companions.Paul accompanied by friends I. They were not deterred by persecutions. II. They accompanied Paul because of--1. Their love to Christ.2. Their love to him.3. Their desire to see Christianity spread through the world. III. Their love and kindness was rewarded.1. By peace of mind.2. Usefulness.3. Heaven. (Biblical Museum.) Acts 20:6-12…Troas, where we abode seven days. Paul at Troas I. The “ first day of the week” appears to have been the usual period of assembly, and no doubt was selected and consecrated by apostolical authority.1. It was held-- (1) In honour of the Saviour’ s resurrection--that event which proved His mission Divine, His mediation effectual, and His combat with death and hell victorious. (2) Being the day of the Lord’ s resurrection, it was noted as “ the Lord’ s day,” when His people meet for His worship and His truth is expounded, His name chanted, His Spirit poured down, His presence enjoyed, and His death showed forth. 2. The place of meeting in Troas would be an humble one, with no architectural decorations, the private dwelling of some large-hearted disciple, in whose upper chamber the sacred feast was observed. 3. It would appear that at first in Jerusalem, when the disciples kept free table, or “ had all things common,” every meal was a sacramental feast, or that it was connected with every meal, as it had been with the paschal banquet. Out of this old practice may have sprung its early division into a love feast and a sacrament. 4. The disciples must have rejoiced at their privilege, and eagerly embraced it. What could keep any of them back from enjoying Paul? Alas! that so many in modern times regard so little the first day of the week. And how many stay away for reasons which would never keep them from a scene of secular enjoyment, or ordinary business. II. Paul preached.1. It was the high office to which he had been set apart by Him whom he preached. Moses enacted statutes; Samuel judged; David sang; Elijah battled for God; Solomon embodied his experience in pithy and pointed sentences. The prophets foretold Messiah, but did not preach Him: But the apostle preached. 2. It was his usual mode of address. Wherever he found himself, no matter who composed his audience, he preached. You do not discover him admiring works of art, or mingling with the populace for the sake of amusement. No; he saw man as Christ saw him--a being, guilty and helpless, to whom salvation might be offered, and by whom it should be accepted--saw his soul in its value and destiny, and urged him to accept Christ and His Cross. What else could he do? Necessity was laid upon him. What other substitute for preaching can be devised? Ceremonial will not do; souls may perish amidst genuflections and music. Satire will not suffice. What effect had Juvenal and Martial on their age, or on the world? Paul’ s was a nobler world. It is no gospel to tell men what they are, without showing them what they might be. If preaching was the presentation of the good news, what else could the apostle do than preach? 3. What better could he do? He might have done many things--might have prelected on Jewish history, Greek philosophy, morality, his own travels, etc. But with such employment never could he have saved a soul, or gathered a Church. (Prof. Eadie.)Paul at Troas I. An earnest preacher (Acts 20:7, Acts 9:20; Acts 17:2; Romans 15:20; 1 Corinthians 9:16; Galatians 1:16). II. An inattentive listener (Acts 20:9).1. His condition--“ borne down with”…sleep (Jonah 1:5; Matthew 26:40; Mark 13:36). 2. His destruction (Acts 20:9; 1 Kings 17:17; Mark 9:26; Acts 14:19). III. A healing touch (Acts 20:10; 1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:35; Matthew 9:25; John 11:43-44). IV. A sacred service (Acts 20:11). V. Lessons (Matthew 26:26; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:26).1. One’ s place for preaching need not be a city church, nor his time of preaching eleven o’ clock Sunday morning, yet he may speak very well for Christ. Paul preached earnestly in an upper room at midnight. 2. One doubtless needs a fair amount of sleep, but during the sermon is not the time to seek such refreshment. The house of God was never intended for a dormitory. 3. One’ s danger in sleeping through God’ s service now is none the less real because no such evident disaster at present attends it as overtook Eutychus. 4. One may preach or teach with all the eloquence of a Paul, and yet come who ought to heed will only nod and doze. 5. One can hope for no such re-awakening from spiritual death as came to this young man upon whom his own inattention had brought bodily death. 6. One does well to observe the sacrament of the Lord’ s Supper at the stated time, regardless of interruptions. (S. S. Times.)Paul at Troas We have here religious institutions-- I. Sanctioned by Christianity.1. “ The first day of the week.” This is the first account we have of the observance of this day, and from that time to this it has been observed for religious purposes (1 Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10). 2. The Lord’ s Supper, which has also been observed ever since, and so has-- 3. The preaching of the gospel. II. Intruding on the claims of nature. “ Paul continued his speech until midnight.” Night is the time for rest, not for labour; but many reasons would perhaps justify Paul. The people were ignorant, he had much to communicate, and had to depart on the morrow. Still, a result occurred which marked such long services as an evil. Religious institutions intrude on the claims of nature--1. When they are employed for the purposes of inordinate excitement. Some so-called revivals furnish many sad examples. 2. When they are protracted beyond a certain period. Long sermons are a sin against nature. III. Associated with supernatural power (Acts 20:10). This was an undoubted miracle, performed in somewhat She same manner as that in 2 Kings 4:33-35, and may be regarded as emblematical of the Divine power of restoration associated with the preaching of the gospel.1. Man is the organ of it. God could have raised Eutychus directly, but He worked through Paul; so in quickening dead sinners now, He employs the ministry of the Word. 2. Man is the subject of it. Eutychus was raised. (D. Thomas, D. D.)And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.-- A primitive Sunday I. A Sunday at Troas. What is Sunday? Not the Jewish Sabbath; not a day of gloom and bondage, of restrictions and penalties, of meritorious observance or sanctimonious austerity. It is the weekly, as Easter is the annual, festival of our Lord’ s resurrection. The very place of the fourth commandment, standing in the midst of moral rules, proves conclusively that there is a moral principle involved; that man needs a periodical rest, and that God requires of him the separation and the religious observance of such a periodical rest. Man’ s restlessness, selfishness, and irreligion, being what they are, how should man have invented it? Little does the working man know his own interest when he secularises the Sunday! Once destroy the sacredness of the day, and the liberty of the day will follow; and, depend upon it, irreligious employers will soon find reasons for engrossing it, till God’ s gift perishes through the ingratitude of those to whom He gave it. It may not be true that the day of the Sabbath was ever formally changed from the seventh to the first; but this I say, that the moral law prescribes a day of religious rest, and that Sunday is, for us, the day so prescribed, and living where we live, and when, Sunday is a necessity of existence, if we are ever to win or fight our way through this world to a better. And this I say, too, that, as it is a necessity, so it is also a duty. The fourth commandment enforces itself still: so long as it is a sin to swear, to kill, or to steal--so long the consecration of a portion of time to special religious purposes will be a duty, and its desecration a sin; and he who profanes the Sunday by business, dissipation or frivolity, will be guilty of sin against God, and of cruelty towards the best and highest interests of man. II. The employments of this day. Sunday is our periodical rest, but it is not designed to be a day of mere inactivity. The body rests by repose, the soul by action. Therefore that day of rest which body and mind want for relief from labour, the soul wants rather for that occupation which is at once its business, its food, and its repose; intercourse with God; expatiation in the things of God; communion with the people of God. The congregation at Troas came together--1. For worship. They did not forget that special promise which is attached to united prayer. We need to be brought back to the simplicity of common prayer. I often wonder whether we are praying in common. Two things go to this-- (1) That each one pray, and (2) That each one pray as one among many; pray, that is, not his own selfish prayers, but his part in the prayers of the congregation. 2. To hear preaching. I know you will say, It would be easy to listen if St. Paul were the preacher; it is because the preacher has nothing interesting or new that we find his words wearisome and his sermons long. A sermon has become in these days synonymous with dullness, and every newspaper has its jest at it. Nevertheless, there are those who believe that preaching is still, as of old, an ordinance of God; that the gospel, familiar as its central truth is to us, still needs enforcement; that the earnest words of a faithful man have instruction in them and carry a blessing from on high after them. There are those who have found by experience that they are the better for preaching. The humble and earnest hearer does not go away ashamed; nor will he go away to scoff at that instrumentality by which the instructions of Christ are ministered afresh to the congregation. 3. “ To break bread.” In the first instance the reception of the Lord’ s Supper was a daily act of the congregation (chap. 2.). Long did it continue the badge and the privilege of Christians to partake of that sacred bread and that Divine cup once in each week, on its first, its consecrated day. How shall we dare to touch on this subject in a modern congregation? How many suffer months and years to slip by without one participation in the ordinance. Worship is disregarded by many, and sermons by many more, but even worship, even preaching, is practically honoured far above Communion; the church may be half empty for worship, it is emptied again before Communion. These things ought not so to be. (Dean Vaughan.)Paul taking leave of the brethren at Troas As far as mortal may be compared with immortal, Paul, after his conversion, may be likened to the angel (Revelation 14:6-7). Of this apostle the Fathers have spoken in the highest terms, styling him “ the trumpet of the gospel,” “ the roaring of the lion of the tribe of Judah,” “ the river of Christian eloquence,” “ the teacher of the universe,” “ to whom,” says Chrysostom, “ God had committed the whole dispensation of His mysteries.” He had made an extensive circuit, allowing himself but few intervals of repose; he had visited many Churches, giving them much exhortation, and at length he arrived at Troas. I. The nature of this meeting. “ The disciples came together.” It was not a meeting of philosophers, of senators, of literary men. Such had been passed over by the inspired penman. It was a meeting of the disciples of Christ. They were assembled for a devotional purpose. If there be a society on which the eye of Heaven rests with complacency it is a society of this nature. Devout associations draw after them great advantages. What scene can be more delightful than that of a company of Christians engaged in acts of sacred worship? Happy will it be for us, if, in the day of persecution, of affliction, of disease, and of death, when we can no longer thus associate, we can say, “ I never turned away from the ordinances of the Lord, never absented myself without just reason from His house; I never deemed religious instruction unnecessary, and never slighted the opportunity of obtaining it; ‘ Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth.’” II. The time of this meeting. They came together “ upon the first day of the week.” Thus they celebrated the institution of the Christian sabbath. It was on the first day of the week that Christ rose from the dead and accomplished the work of redemption. From that period the apostles and primitive Christians assembled on the first day instead of the seventh. The meetings of the apostles and first Christians, on this day, were sanctioned by the presence of their Master, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit; and in the annals of Christian experience, from their time to ours, this day will be found to have received particular notice and distinction. If the banished saint in the Isle of Patmos was favoured with a peculiar elevation of mind, and with extraordinary revelations on “ the Lord’ s day,” how many Christians in every succeeding age have, on the returns of the same day, been blessed with similar enjoyments! Christians should embrace all suitable opportunities of assembling together, but especially those presented on “ the Lord’ s day.” III. The place of their meeting. They came together in an “ upper chamber.” This reminds us of the persecuted state of the first Christians. Our forefathers were no strangers to this kind of affliction; they worshipped God in dens, and holes, and caverns of the earth. But happier times are afforded unto us: “ We sit under our own vine, and under our own fig tree, none daring to make us afraid.” May the commonness of our privileges never render us insensible of their value! The worship of God is everywhere conducted most agreeably to the Christian plan, when conducted with simplicity. Christianity requires no splendid edifices; it asks for nothing to charm the senses. It says, “ God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Let us, therefore, neither despise a place because it is unadorned, nor imagine a place to be more acceptable to God because it exhibits elegance and splendour. Yet ought we not to forget the liberality of those who devote a portion of their worldly substance for the erection of commodious places for religious worship. It is the decree of our God that “ all things be done decently and in order.” We ought not to be solicitous about our own dwelling, and indifferent about a place for His service. IV. The design of this meeting. “ They came together to break bread.” This phrase refers to their celebration of the Lord’ s Supper--a service in which they appear to have been engaged the more frequently, as being doubtful whether they would be permitted to assemble for such a purpose much longer. They availed themselves of every opportunity to obey the last injunction of their Saviour--“ Do this in remembrance of Me.” That Christian who, believing in the perpetuity of this ordinance, habitually neglects it, refuses to do his part towards keeping up in the world the remembrance of Christ’ s death, and the expectation of His second coming. But it is not a simple remembrance of His death; it is the enjoyment of fellowship with Him, and communion with each other; that, as there is one Head, so we may be all as one body. To the disciples at Emmaus, Jesus was known in the breaking of bread; and how often has He manifested Himself to His disciples at the sacramental table, in a way most satisfactory and delightful! (O. A. Jeary.)Points in Paul’ s preaching I. This was the close of a ministry.1. Is there anything more pathetic than the conclusion of a spiritual intercourse and fellowship? Paul is now leaving, and cannot leave. He began in the morning, and he was so filled with the spirit of grace that he never looked at the time. When was love ever patient with the clock? There is no long preaching so long as the thought continues. There are no long prayers so long as the heart has another desire to express. It is when we have said all that is in us, and then begin again that long preaching and prayer sets in. When was love ever quite done? When did love ever write a letter without a postscript? And love hearing is just the same as love preaching. Give me the attention of the heart. The mystery of the hearing ear is that it hears tones that do not utter themselves to inattentiveness. It magnifies the hint into a revelation. Give it one dawning ray of light, and out of that it will make a whole heaven of glory. The hearers were attentive; Paul was eloquent; the opportunity was closing; and the miracle was how to make the sun stand still until love put in another appeal. “ What long days the old Churches had! They had but one joy, and that was in doing their work. When preaching becomes one of a hundred other engagements; when church going becomes the amusement of Sunday, then they will be compared with what was seen yesterday and what will probably be heard tomorrow. 2. How hard it is in many cases to say “ Good-bye” ! When a friend leaves, he never says “ Good-bye” less than six times! He begins early, then says a little more, and then says, “ Well, good-bye,” and then begins again. Another object attracts his attention, a few moments more are spent, and then he says “ he must go.” Not he. He will see some other object, stoop to bless some hitherto unseen little child, and then say, “ Now I must go.” Not he. He waits at the gate, he shuts it twice, but it will not easily bolt, so he opens it again to see the reason why; then he waves “ Good-bye,” then takes a few steps and turns round and says “ Good-bye.” Why this delay? Do not ask; it is the mystery of love, the secret of heart tearing itself from heart. That, indeed, is the sweet secret of living; but for it death would be better. II. The preaching was interrupted (verse 9). Eutychus was not in the congregation. He was in the room, and yet not in it, as is the case with many. When a man is not in the sweep and run of the great thought and the inspiring revelation, he is asleep. Well for some of us if we were now in a deep slumber! Somnolence due to physical weariness may be forgiven, “ For God knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.” But there is a deadlier sleep. It makes the heart sad to see how men strip themselves of enthusiasm when they come into the church. Do not blame the child that lays upon its mother’ s lap and falls into a church sleep; but blame the soul that leaves the body in the church whilst itself goes out to turn six days’ business into seven. But there is no successful truancy from the church. We leave stealthily, but we are followed as quickly as we go, and the record is completed, though we know it not. III. There were many lights in the chamber. Christianity has no dark seances; it is a mighty challenge to the attention of the universe. It only asks for silence that its speech may be heard the better. The magician wants arrangements made to suit him, but Christianity can preach anywhere. Paul preaches as eloquently in the upper chamber as he would preach on Mars’ Hill. That is the test of reality always. IV. Paul stopped his service to look after one injured man. In that particular he followed the example of Jesus Christ. Every life is of importance to God. Eutychus was not a great man; as his name implies, he was of the freedmen class. He belonged to the plebeian side of life, but to God there are no plebeians, except men who never pray, never love, never do works of mercy. But as for those who love Him and serve Him, though they have not bread to eat, and no pillows to lay their heads upon, they are of the very quality of heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)And continued his speech until midnight.-- A memorable nocturnal service I. An instructive example of zeal for God’ s Word.1. On the part of the apostle who is not weary of preaching. 2. On the part of the congregation who are not weary of hearing. II. A warning example of human weakness and sloth.1. The sleep of Eutychus.2. His fall. “ Watch and pray,” etc. III. A consolatory example of Divine grace and faithfulness. A very long sermon This is an unpardonable sin in modern preaching; nor is it very strange after all. Everything moves rapidly now, and everybody is restless. Any Church liturgy which cannot be curtailed, is commonly read prodigiously fast. Even political speeches are not nearly so long as they used to be, and long editorials seldom get read. Besides, very long sermons never were common. What is published as a single discourse was often preached in several parts. We have no reason to believe that Christ and His apostles were long preachers. Paul’ s sermon at Troas was exceptional, and will help us to discern the conditions which may justify a long sermon. A long sermon may be justified-- I. By an extraordinary occasion. Paul was at Troas at the last service of a protracted meeting, and gave a solemn farewell address, for he felt assured that they would see his face no more. II. By a great fulness and variety of thought. Paul’ s mind must have been full of the great doctrines he had so recently addressed to the Galatians and Romans. He would wish to impress upon them the need of justification by faith, and that justification is not an encouragement to sin, but offers the only entrance upon a life of holiness. He would warn them against the Judaisers, and insist that Gentile Christians must stand fast in their Christian liberty. He doubtless gave them exhortations, such as he had addressed to the Corinthians. They must beware of party spirit. They must conduct their worship decently and in order. They must not be jealous of brethren who possessed shining gifts. They must cling to the great and blessed hope of the resurrection, and so be assured that their labour was not in vain in the Lord. III. By the preacher’ s extraordinary zeal. Paul felt himself to be debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians (Romans 1:14). He felt that there was a woe upon him if he did not preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:16). And daily there pressed upon him an anxiety for all the Churches (2 Corinthians 11:28). Such a soul as his, so filled with love to Christ and men, at such a farewell service, would naturally multiply his appeals and warnings. When he paused, one or another of the brethren would have a song or a prayer, or all together would chant some psalm or hymn, and then the apostle would begin again. Conclusion: But however justified by exceptional circumstances, a very long sermon cannot expect to set aside the laws of human nature. We may be sure that Eutychus was not the only one who grew sleepy. It is manifest that the apostle did not consider his as an inexcusable fault. Differences in constitution, in states of bodily health, in the habit of fixed attention, etc., must always be borne in mind in passing judgment under such circumstances. (J. A. Broadus, D. D.)Preaching too long After having long spent much strength and labour to little purpose, I was one day lamenting before God, as I walked to church, the little fruits of my exertions. As I went along I was overtaken by a vine dresser, who was going the same way. I took an opportunity of asking him how the missions were liked. “ Sir,” replied the peasant, “ we all feel obliged to you for your kind intentions; we are all likewise sensible that everything you tell us is good, but you preach too long. We ignorant boors are just like our own vine vats; the juice must have plenty of room left to work; and once filled to the brim, if you attempt to pour in more, even if it were the very best juice in the world, it will only be spilt on the ground and lost.” (M. Vincent.)Long sermons One day I was hurrying along Argyle Street to keep an appointment when a friend stopped me and said, “ Mr. Scott, you sometimes preach?” “ Yes, often.” “ Well, I’ ll tell you a story for your own benefit. In the country side from which I come there lives a woman called Mrs. Thomson, who had the name of making the best porridge in the country, in fact she was quite famous for her porridge, the flavour was so fine, and it was so smooth and free from knots. Her neighbours began to be anxious, and after a deal of talk decided to go in a body and ask the secret. This was the reply, ‘ Take care that your guests are hungry and that you don’ t give them too much; if you stop while they have an appetite for more, they will say, “ How good the porridge is,” but if you give them too much they will say, “ a little of that is plenty.” I try to take the advice always when I am preaching, and when I do, I find it successful. Long sermons are a weariness--the message of salvation is sweet, short, and simple, and it is for this the people are hungering. (J. Scott.)And there were many lights in the upper chamber.-- Many lights The common Oriental lamp was, and is, a shallow, oblong vessel of clay, containing oil, with handle at one end, and a lip for the wick to rest on, or a small aperture for it to pass through at the other. The illuminating power of these lamps is very small, and their power of defiling the atmosphere is great. Hence the need of many lamps; hence, also, perhaps, the heavy stupor which fell upon Eutychus. To this day one of the things which surprises a stranger on entering a Mohammedan mosque is the great number of suspended lamps which he sees. This is necessary from the small illuminating power of the lamps, and the great spaces which they have to illuminate. (S. S. Times.)The upper room Not all Oriental houses have “ upper rooms” for many of them are only one storey high. Where, however, the house is two or three stories high, the “ upper room” is the large and airy chamber beneath the roof. In many cases this room projects three or four feet into the street, the projection being formed chiefly of wood, with large latticed windows on its three sides, through which a cooling breeze blows. This seems to have been the kind of room in which Paul’ s meeting was held. Eutychus was probably sitting in one of the windows in this projection when he fell asleep. Losing his balance here, his fall from the oriel would be unbroken until he reached the pavement. (S. S. Times.)The sin and folly of unventilated places of worship Heat and smoke in a close and crowded room are solid obstacles to an intelligent hearing of the gospel, even with an inspired apostle for a preacher. Ventilation is often an important means of grace. That young man who sought it in the window was doing his best to keep awake, even at the risk of his life. It is not fair to ask so much as that of any man--young or old; or of any woman either. Remember that, preacher and teacher; and see to it that your hearers have fresh air as a help to keeping awake, while you are giving them the gospel. I knew a minister who had the valves to all the ventilating pipes in his church centre right under his pulpit, and when he noticed sleepy hearers in any part of the house while he was preaching, he would turn on fresh air to their neighbourhood, and so fit them to be wide-awake, if not profoundly interested, hearers. His example is worthy of mention, as over against the warning we get from the dangers of that badly ventilated room in Troas. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus.--Eutychus an instructive warning to the unsteadfast I. By his dangerous sleep. The heart may be overpowered by the sleep of a false security--1. In the midst of the assembled congregation.2. During the hearing of the Divine Word. II. By his terrible fall--an admonitory representation of that from a height of imaginary faith to sin and perdition. III. By his miraculous deliverance. In the arms of a Paul who penetrates him with his power of life and warmth of love, even the deeply fallen and dead may by the grace of God again become living. But it remains a miracle of which even the Scripture does not relate many similar. Let us not run the risk. Be sober and vigilant. (K. Gerok.)Eutychus--a three-fold warning I. To preachers. Half the blame for the sleep and fall of Eutychus has attached to Paul, because he preached long. And the man who, by making too great a demand on the physical endurance of his congregation, preaches them to sleep, is a great sinner. For he defeats the very ends of his ministry. But it is much to be doubted whether this is very frequently the ease. For the longest services rarely exceed two hours, and consist for the most part of worship; and to say that three quarters of an hour of Christian teaching is too great a strain on constitutions which can endure a two hours’ political speech or a three hours’ dramatic entertainment, is manifest absurdity and hypocrisy. The real ground of complaint is not the quantity, but the quality of the discourse. The real tax is not on the strength, but on the patience of the audience. People tire of one man in ten minutes; another they could “ listen to forever.” The most popular preachers have not been short preachers; witness Chrysostom, Henry Smith, Whitefield, James Parsons, Punshon, Liddon, Spurgeon, Knox-Little, etc. And considering who Paul was, and what his message was, it is scarcely supposable that Eutychus was wearied with either him or it. Let the preacher make his sermons interesting and his congregation will be oblivious to considerations of time. Yet it is to be added that a wise man will respect the domestic arrangements, and the after religious engagements of his people in the Sunday school and elsewhere. II. To hearers. The other half of the blame is attached to Eutychus. Yet the narrative contains no hint that Paul thought him blameworthy. However, there are sleepy hearers who are to blame.1. Those who bring a body and mind already exhausted to the house of God. People who have been up half Saturday night, or who have spent the Saturday afternoon in laborious dissipation, are to blame if they succumb to the spirit of slumber. 2. Those who are indifferent to the main object which should bring them to the house of God; who have no sense of the awfulness of God’ s presence, and their need of instruction in His Word. Such would go to sleep over business, but for their sense of its overwhelming importance. Let them but take the same interest in higher concerns and they will be wide awake enough. III. To Church managers. These are most to blame and yet get the least. Paul must have been an interesting preacher and it is quite possible that Eutychus may have had a deep interest in Paul. His somnolence was most probably due to the conditions of the atmosphere. The many, badly smelling lamps, and the vast congregation must have vitiated the air, and Eutychus, higher up than the rest, was in the worst position for keeping his eyes open. Instead of blaming the preacher or the hearer let church managers look after the ventilation. Any theatre would be doomed if as badly constructed or attended to as many of our churches. Let the most interesting play be performed in the atmosphere breathed by many of our congregations, and it would be repeated to an empty theatre. The preacher himself is often lifeless, not from any lack of natural or Divine enthusiasm, but from lack of oxygen. Let, then, our church managers exercise the same common sense as our theatre managers. A congregation starved with cold in the morning and suffocated with heat in the evening will be a diminishing one, even if Paul himself occupied the pulpit. A little less expenditure on the aesthetic and a little more on the sanitary would awaken many a drowsy congregation, and fill many a deserted sanctuary. (J. W. Burn.)Sleeping in the kirk Of all the “ ills that flesh is heir to,” insomnia is one of the worst. This desperate disease requires a desperate cure, and Hugh Latimer tells of an afflicted lady who had, without avail, tried everything in the whole range of the medical pharmacopoeia, and at last, in this desperation spirit of “ Physic, I’ ll no more of it!” cried out, “ Oh, do take me to the parish church! I’ ve slept soundly there the last forty years, and I think I could sleep again!” Taken to the parish church she was, and to be sure sleep soundly she did! Some of us ministers “ thank God and take courage” when we see here that churchly somnolence is not to be always laid at the door of our prosy preaching, for here the doughty Paul was the preacher. Andrew Fuller did right well that day in Kettering when, observing several in his congregation give way almost at the beginning of the service, he flung consternation into their heavy-headed midst by bringing down the big Bible three times on the desk, and exclaiming, “ What! asleep already! I often fear I preach you asleep, and grieve over it; but the fault cannot be mine today, for I have not yet begun!” Ah! but there is in the Church today a sleep worse a million times than this excusable napping of the lad Eutychus--the slumber inexcusable and profound of the unsaved soul! Asleep in the arms of the sleepless devil, who keeps cuddling and crooning over you as the anxious mother does over the starting, nervous child lest the slumber should be anywise broken. Around you now, unconverted Church member, are ease, and comfort, and prosperity. A cosy position brings drowsiness, and it has brought it to you. You are asleep now, asleep in the never-dying soul of you, asleep in the Kirk of God! How to arouse you from this slumber, how to awaken you from this sleep of the spirit, is the problem that presses for immediate solution. Oh, to lift the knocker of your slumbering soul chamber, and give one mighty house-quivering crash this day! Why, I heard of a man on whom this awful sleep of indifference had stolen till nigh shaken to pieces in a carriage collision, who remarked as he drew a long breath at the very thought of it, “ Ay, God knocks hard sometimes. Before I would awake, He knocked me fifty feet down a railway embankment!” A hard knock indeed, because a loving one! And such may be yours. “ Sleeper, arise and call upon thy God!” for “ now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” “ The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” Awake! awake! I. The sleeper is insensible. Tick-tack, tick-tack goes the clock in the still muffled chamber of sleep; you hear it not. Eyes closed, limbs motionless, you are unconscious. So with the spiritual sleeper. The soul is unconscious and insensible. The mighty movements of God are unheard. Up and down the Bethel ladder do the angels go, but the rustle of the garments of glory never touches the ear; the great daily traffic from heaven to earth passing by your very door, and shaking every casement in the house, affects you not the slightest. Oh, the multitude of slumbering souls in the gospel Kirk of this gospel day! The pulpit is taken as a matter of course, with the tang and gust of a penance about it. Oh, the bitter waste of preaching Sabbath after Sabbath, year after year, the sweat and toil for nothing! Oh, what will arouse the masses of the sleeping in the Holy Sanctuary? Can nothing he done with them? Wake! awake! Some years ago a minister, sad at heart with this pulpit sadness, at the close of a heavy Sabbath day flung himself down, as Elijah did under the juniper tree, collapsed: “ O Lord, let me die!” He fell asleep, and in his sleep he dreamed, and this was his dream: His own people, his own pulpit, himself the preacher. Never before had he felt so near to God, so conscious of the powers of Eternity. His heart overflowed in holy yearning, his lips had been touched by the live coal, and the words like flowing lava burned as they came. Unction, fire, melting, beseeching “ even to tears,” his that day. And in this minister’ s dream, how did the congregation appear? Never before had they been so listless and inattentive; heads swaying in somnolence from side to side; yawning to right of him, yawning to left of him, gaping from gallery to floor, and from floor to gallery; watches fumbled out on all sides to see when this weary plish-plash harangue would come to a close. This the only response to the pulpit, and as the vessel’ s thermometer suddenly sinks to zero before that polar iceberg swept along on the ocean way, so suddenly sink to despair did this poor preacher’ s heart before the arctic heartlessness of his flock. Just as he is closing one moving appeal to be reconciled unto God, and to come to Christ in that day of fleeting grace, the door of the church opens, and a stranger walks up the aisle, and seats himself right in front of the pulpit, and listens to it all. Every eye is turned upon him as he slowly rises. Hush! he addresses the heart-broken preacher! “ Oh, sir, come you to hell with that offer of mercy, and you’ ll not have an unmoved congregation!” And the minister stops and looks at the stranger and he is the devil! That the dream, but this the fact. Ah! if I could go down to the black mouth of the, bottomless pit with this gospel of Christ, if I could take this offer of mercy, and make the gloomy caverns echo with this call to the Saviour, all hell would arise in delirious joy; the very devil would leap from his throne, and come to be saved! II. The sleeper is inactive. There is no increase to the wealth of the world from a sleeper. The work is done by active hands fingering along the looms and the distaffs of production, by busy feet erranding the goes and comes of the market’ s fluctuations, by broad brows throbbing hot with the fling-off of swarming thought, the mental electricity that is to pulse through humanity and gird the very ends of the earth together. But the sleeper there lies his lazy length; nothing he takes, nothing he makes, an inert useless log of unconscious flesh. Some time ago, at Falkirk Station, I read this notice of the railway company: “ Wanted to dispose of thirty thousand old sleepers!” No longer can they uphold the rattling rails of the country’ s rolling traffic, outlived their usefulness, their day done, sell them for firewood for what they will bring! As I read that, I thought, “ Well, I know some congregations very like that railway company, surplus stocked with a lot of ‘ old sleepers’ they’ d better dispose of!” If you are unconverted, the whole of your keen activity, dear organising worker for the Church, is just the galvanised twitching of a ghastly corpse. It has no value at all in God’ s sight; nay, unconverted labour has been rated by the Master at the minus figure of His complete disallowing and disapproval. “ The ploughing of the wicked,” God says, “ is sin.” There is a certain kind of congregational activity very much in vogue, in which all vagaries of outward commotion and hop-step-and-leap exercises are gone through in the most genteelly pious fashion. But you may visit till your legs bend, you may sew till your Dorcas needle evaporate through ceaseless friction, you may spend and be spent, give and be given till you melt with fatigue, and all the time it is just for self; it is that “ zeal of God’ s house that hath eaten up” the Christ. You are asleep in nature’ s sleep; and, worker, till you come to Jesus and give Him your heart all your labour is but beating the air. It is like the child’ s rocking horse, motion indeed, but no progress. You remember Luther’ s parable about this? A council is held in hell, the devil presides, and the fiends are competing for a prize for the best infernal service. “ I,” says one--“ I saw a caravan of human beings crossing the desert. I called on the sirocco with its hot, foul breath, I whirled the sandy masses to the blotted-out heavens, and I buried them all, and their bones lie whitening on the surface flats.” “ Well done,” says the devil, “ but a greater work than this can be done.” “ I,” speaks another competitor--“ I beheld a gallant life-laden vessel skimming the surface of the glassy sea. I hissed afar for the roaring tempest; I piled the mountains of foaming surge on the deck, and the ship went down with a sullen plunge, and the ooze and the tangle of the deep are their unburying grave.” “ Well done,” says the devil, “ but a greater work than this can be done.” “ I,” and this last demon voice has the grim chuckle of conscious triumph in it--“ I witnessed a congregation in a gracious revival. Souls were flocking to Christ, and our kingdom of hell was suffering defeat. For spiritual fervour I substituted material good; I multiplied the funds and collections; I filled the pews to overflowing; I flung enchantment round the voice in the pulpit--outward prosperity I brought with a rush to everything, ease, and comfort, and success, and along with it I soothed them all to slumber; and now, minister and members they are all asleep!” “ The prize is thine, for this is the greatest work!” shouts the Infernal Arbiter, and hell’ s rafters rang with approving applause! III. The sleeper is in danger. Here is a sleeper. The couch is enveloped in a mass of flimsy inflammable gauze curtains. A table stands ready to topple, and right on the edge of the table a naked candle is burning to its socket. Danger, is it not here? Ay, it is, and the red flames roaring out at yon windows will summon in desperate haste the rush and rattle of the fire engines in the dead of night. A matter of life or death it is; danger is here indeed. Unconverted soul, you are the sleeper. The curtains of a delusive dreamland have wrapped your couch in an inflammable cloud, and the candle of time, alit with eternity, is spluttering in its holding bracket before the final flare-up and the never-ending, conflagration of the awful “ Too late! too late!--die! damned!” The sleeper is in danger because entirely defenceless. Yonder the whole armed camp has succumbed to slumber, the picket has fallen asleep at his post. Hist! a low, soft, rustling noise out there in the forest, the momentary gleam of the moonlight on a glistening tomahawk! Silently, like tigers crouching and crawling for their mesmerised prey, dark forms are wriggling and gliding through the bush to that camp of doom. Still they slumber within half a minute of their destruction. A war-whoop that brings the double echoes back from the far-off Rocky Mountains! Yells on yells rending the midnight lift! The work of blood has begun, and in a few minutes all the reeking scalps are dangling at the chuckling redskin’ s girdles! To a man that slumbering regiment has been annihilated. Sleep has done its fateful work. It always does. In sleep there is, too, the danger of all dangers, destruction incipient, death actually begun. It is a wild night on this Highland moor. Masses of powdery, feathery snow are whirled and hurled in continuous gusts from mountain tops to every nook of the glens. And that poor, faithful shepherd, with the icicles hanging at his shaggy beard, wearily wandering after his strayed sheep, is beginning to feel drowsy and dazed with that ceaseless beat of the icy avalanche from the frowning sky. It will be only for a moment or two and he will start up from his slumber refreshed for the search. Here is the very shelter, the bield side of a crag! Asleep! Ay, forever! “ The Ice Maiden,” as they say in Danish song, “ has kissed him,” and the press of that kiss on the cheek pledges to him the never awaking! Sleeper, sleep on, but the sleep slips into a frozen death! To sleep is to die, and he is asleep, and he is dead, and the other shepherds will tenderly lift him up in the clear calm of the fury-spent morning, a glazed corpse, a lump of lifeless ice! So, unconverted soul, sleeper in the Kirk of God, in this sleep of yours death has already begun. You have been kissed by the Ice Maiden of a lost eternity. You have given way to spiritual drowsiness, and you are already in the grip of the grave, and that cursed burial yours, of them who “ have come and gone from the place of the holy.” O gospel tampering, temporising soul, fear this and flee. If you refuse Christ now, will your dead heart be moved to accept Him at your any time nod, at your mere wish? I trow not. Recently in an extreme case of comatose sleep, of stupor “ trance,” when everything else failed, a famous doctor managed to awake the sleeper by focussing a beam of light into the upturned eyeball. Yours is this extreme case of trance, you Christ-rejector for years, your heart hardened with the crust of misused gospel privilege, you are dead. Yet here, blessed be God, is the famous Physician, the Lord. “ Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (John Robertson.)Sleeping in church The weakness to which poor Eutychus succumbed is not altogether unknown in our modern churches, though all those who slumber in their pews cannot plead the excuse of having been kept up all night to listen to a sermon several hours in length; but perhaps if everyone who went to sleep in church fell down three stories and got picked up half dead, people would think twice before they indulged in a nap. When Paul noticed the irreverent taking of the Eucharist at Corinth, where each seemed bent on getting as much bread and wine for himself as he could snatch, he exclaimed, “ What, have ye not houses to eat and drink in?” And when I see people mistaking their pews for dormitories, I have often felt inclined to say, “ What, have ye not beds and sofas at home to sleep on, that you thus profane the house of God with your indolence?” If people are too tired on Sunday morning with the week’ s work, they should rest their jaded bodies at home, rather than come jaded to church. Why give to God a worn-out brain and body, not good enough for man? Come rested and fresh, but don’ t forget to come. If you will listen to Paul you should try and get to church once on the Lord’ s Day. “ Forsake not,” so he pleaded, “ the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is” ; but remembering Eutychus, perhaps we may add, “ Whenever you come, try to keep awake.” (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)Fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead.-- A sudden death We have here the record of-- I. A sudden death.1. How this affects the individual himself.2. The consequences to survivors. II. The sudden death of a man in the prime of life. III. A sudden death under peculiarly awful circumstances. He was asleep. Is your soul asleep in--1. Carnal security?2. Sin.3. Satan’ s arms. Conclusion: May the Holy Spirit--1. Show you your danger.2. Make you safe. (Biblical Museum.) Acts 20:12 And they brought the young man alive and were not a little comforted.Young men and the Church I. Young men need to be brought to life.1. “ Ye must be born again” applies to them as to all. 2. Yet, of all men, the young are most apt to overlook this necessity. For what is more suggestive of vigorous life than a young man? He is alive all over--thoughts, affections, physical energies. 3. All this, however, may be dead to God and righteousness, and be dead to his true interests, his high duties, and his immortal destiny. 4. There is but one method by which young or old can be brought to life--union with Christ through faith. “ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” etc. II. Young men when brought to life should be all alive. Spiritual life should quicken and animate all their powers for God. This effect is not invariably seen. Many of our young people are not fully consecrated. We miss in the Church the “ go” which is so palpable in the world. This may arise from the discouraging way in which they are received by the Church. It is strange but true that in too many communities the young are looked upon with suspicion, and their new enthusiasm thus receives an early chill. Hence-- III. The Church should bring its young men alive. They are God’ s gift to the Church which should--1. Take them under its protection.2. Give them the benefit of its experience.3. Encourage the full exercise of all their powers.4. Give them a share in its work or government. Young life is of the greatest value to the Church, and if repressed what will become of the Church a few years hence? Let the elders, then, train the young for those offices which must soon become vacant. A sure test of a Church’ s strength or weakness is the way it treats its young men. IV. Young men alive should minister to the comfort of the Church. Often suspicion arises from the restlessness and impulsiveness which irritate older men. Respect the aged; remember their services; do not rush reforms; bide your time, it is surely coming and you can afford to wait. And in the meantime go as far with the elders as you can, and endeavour to allay prejudices by thoughtful consideration for others, and by humility before God. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 20:13-16 And we went before to ship and sailed unto Assos. Analysis of service 1. These arrangements were under Paul’ s own hand. He himself would Lake the twenty miles’ walk and make a religious exercise of the journey. He wanted no human companion; Jesus Himself would draw near. There are times when human companionship becomes a burden, when we must be left alone; and walking is an appointed means and help of intellectual and spiritual study. Locomotion helps the processes of thought. Do we walk alone and “ meditate in the field at the eventide” --the tired day taking its rest, the battle halting awhile? 2. Paul joined the ship, passed on with his companions to Miletus, and saw the white palaces of Ephesus, which, perhaps, tempted him to go back to the old battlefield. Therein he knew his weakness. It was never safe to show Paul the marks of an old controversy, unless he had ample time to return and complete the purpose of the sacred fray. A trait of his character reveals itself in this comparatively trivial incident (Acts 20:16). He had a vow to discharge, or some hidden purpose to carry out, and therefore he felt safest on board ship. Yet he could not pass by wholly; so here the mastermind comes out again (Acts 20:17). He must have a few words with them, not new, but old, words spoken in new tones. We can never hope to preach a new gospel, but we can always preach the old gospel in a new accent. Every man has his own tone, has his own tears and emphasis. So the gospel is the same and not the same--unchangeable yet changing with all the varying phases of daily pilgrimage, and taking upon itself the newness of the present necessity. 3. Paul is about to make his greatest speech. Intellectually he may have stood higher, but he is not going to be intellectual now; his heart is going to speak. Some people have failed to find a heart in Paul, and have found nothing but heart in John. Did John, or any other man, ever deliver such a speech as this? If any man wishes to know what Paul was, he can find the whole man in these pathetic sentences. 4. Listen to the now veteran speaker (verse 18). Paul lived a public life, and was able to appeal to the life he had led. Paul was a great preacher, because he was a great man. He calls attention not to particularly prepared utterances, by which he said he was now ready to abide, but he says, “ Look at the whole life; I am willing to be judged by that.” Will it not be so at the last? We judge a man a day at a time. But life is not a question of single days; you must judge the supreme purpose of a man, and so judged, some of us will be better than we have ever been accounted to be, and some may be much worse. We must take in the “ all seasons,” and leave to God the complete judgment, because He knows what we have done, what we have resisted, what we would have done if we could. He will connect our prayers with our service, our aspirations with our attempts, and within the continual tumult of contradictions He will find the real man, and crown him, or sentence him to a great distance from the light. 5. Paul says he has served “ the Lord with all humility of mind,” etc. Some people would call this egotism; but there are two egotisms--the little egotism that thinks about itself, and the unconscious and heroic egotism which never thinks about itself, even whilst apparently speaking only in its own name. “ With all humility of mind” --that is the root of spiritual genius. “ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.” “ The meek will He guide in judgment,” “ but the proud He knoweth afar off.” Where there is humbleness of soul there is great expository power. If we were better men, we would be better students; if we were humbler, we would be more learned; if we were less, we would be more. 6. “ With many tears.” Tears are good readers. They may stumble over the letter, but they have great skill in seeing the spirit. We see most when our eyes are shut, so our hearts see most when they have no eyes but tears. A ministry baptized with tears must help us. It comes down amongst the people, and speaks to their immediate life, and shows the worst how he may be better, and the best how he may improve. Let us have ministers who can sympathise. We shall then find that the highest argument is clothed with the supremest tenderness, and that the man who stands upon rocky heights speaking great words of might can also come down to pray by the cradle’ s side, and plant the flowers of intercession around the edge of the open tomb. 7. “ And many temptations.” This is quite an outline of ministerial education! An untempted minister will never do us any good; an untried man will talk over our heads. My great preacher must be a man who can say, “ I have fought a severer fight than you are fighting; I know the devil better than you know him; and now, my brother--crushed, bruised, nearly gone--you and I must, in God’ s strength, fight out this whole thing, and in the grace of the Cross get back again the manhood we have lost.” To speak so is to be sure of a good hearing, for the poor, self-distressing heart knows the voice of experience. (J. Parker, D. D.)For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus. Christian service 1. It is sometimes necessary for the Christian worker to sail right by the Asia that seems so much to need his presence in the pursuance of his duty doing elsewhere. 2. He is a wise Christian who is ready to modify his plans when their efficiency will be increased by such modification. He is a wise enthusiast in the cause of foreign missions who also turns his attentions sometimes to the needs of the home missionary field. 4. It is a wise procedure sometimes to hasten home from effort in the needy field s of Asia and Greece to cheer by one’ s presence the workers in one’ s own Jerusalem. (S. S. Times.)For he hasted, if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.--Resolution and submission It is right to make our plans for the future, and to do the best we can to carry out those plans, even though we are ready to give them all up at any moment at the call of God. Resignation is not shiftlessness. Submission of the will implies having a will which can be submitted. The Christian who is readiest to stop work, and to lay down his life, when God would have him quit working and living, is the Christian who is most zealous and determined in his life work, while he is at it. A locomotive can run over a downgrade faster than a gravel car can; and it can come to a dead stop half-way down, as the other cannot. The very steam which enables the locomotive to stop, is the force which gives it its added propelling power. Look ahead to your Jerusalem, and plan to be there in time, even while you are stopping, or running, by the way, as Providence indicates to be your duty. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.) Acts 20:17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the Church.Paul at Miletus I. The testimony of faithfulness.1. Serving faithfully (Acts 20:19). (1) With humility (Romans 7:13; 1 Corinthians 15:9 : Ephesians 3:8; Philippians 4:12; 1 Timothy 1:15). (2) In the face of opposition (Acts 9:23; Acts 23:11; 2 Corinthians 11:26). 2. Teaching faithfully (Acts 20:21). (1) To everybody (Acts 18:4; Romans 1:14; 1 Corinthians 1:23). (2) The whole truth (Mark 1:15; Acts 3:19; Ephesians 3:17; Hebrews 12:2). 3. Lessons: (1) “ Ye yourselves know.” Happy is the Christian whose life has been so manifestly consecrated to Christ, that he can begin his address with so confident a statement as this. (2) “ From the first day.” Wise is that Christian who shows his true colours just as soon as he comes among strangers. It took less than one day for the Ephesians to find out that Paul was a Church member before he went West. (3) “ With all lowliness.” The chief of apostles and the greatest of preachers, thought so much of Christ that he thought very little of himself. (4) “ With tears.” This bravest of apostles wept. The Son of God wept. To weep then need be no sign of weakness. Tears are not fears. (5) “ With trials.” When we think we have a monopoly of Christian sufferings, let us pause and consider what lay behind these two words of Paul’ s (2 Corinthians 11:23-33). (6) “ That was profitable.” Would Paul have thought it was “ profitable” for a minister of God charged with a message of life to dying men, to puzzle them instead over questions of the “ higher criticism” ? (7) “ Repentance … and faith.” Could the essentials of Christianity have been more completely set forth by any form of words whatsoever? II. The testimony of fearlessness.1. Fearless Christian determination. (1) To seek Jerusalem (verse 22; Luke 9:51; Acts 19:21; Romans 15:25; Galatians 2:1). (2) Despite the dangers (verse 23; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:3). 2. Fearless Christian resignation (verse 24; Acts 21:13; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:20; Revelation 12:11; Colossians 3:16). 3. Fearless Christian separation (verse 25; Acts 20:38; John 16:16; Timothy 4:7). 4. Lessons: (1) Paul was bound in the spirit to go to Jerusalem, and he was bound in the body after he got there. (2) Paul knew, and still he did not know. He knew that dangers were before him, but he did not know or care exactly what they were. (3) Paul preached of faith, and Paul had faith, and therefore Paul went on to Jerusalem without a doubt that the Lord would watch over him when he got there. (4) Paul doubtless loved life, but he loved the Lord Jesus Christ a great deal more, so he proceeded to do his Christian duty regardless of consequences. (5) Paul taught by word and deed that life is good for something only as it is put to some good use. He knew that he who loses his mortal life in Christ’ s service finds thereby the life immortal. (6) Paul emphasised the fact that he received the gospel he preached, directly from the Lord. He evidently appreciated the sacredness of the trust. III. The testimony of guiltlessness.1. Freed from responsibility (verse 26; Ezekiel 3:19; Acts 18:6; 2 Corinthians 7:2). 2. Through faithful admonishing (verses 20, 27, 31; 1 Corinthians 4:14; Jeremiah 42:19). 3. Lessons: (1) We can save no man; we can warn him, and counsel him, and point out to him the way of safety. So much we are bound to do. (2) We shall never free ourselves from responsibility by urging the old plea of the first murderer, “ Am I my brother’ s keeper?” (3) We shall never be free from responsibility for others’ salvation until we free ourselves. We must with our own hands wave the danger signal. It is not enough to pay the minister or missionary to act as flagmen in our stead. (4) We can be free if we set about it vigorously and boldly, and are careful to declare the whole counsel of God. (5) We can be free if we will. Do you as a Sunday school teacher feel that by your faithfulness you are freeing yourself from responsibility for your scholars’ salvation? (S. S. Times.)Paul at Miletus The successive scenes in Paul’ s life are fine studies in character. Paul at Athens shows us the man of adaptation; Paul at Corinth, the man of affairs; Paul before Agrippa, the man of opportunity; Paul shipwrecked, the man anchored; Paul in prison, the man free. Here at Miletus we have the man with a good record. Let us look at-- I. His privileges.1. He can look his old friends in the face (verse 17). There was not a man in Ephesus who could make him hang his head. 2. He can fearlessly refer to his past (verse 18). There is no braggart air. It is the honest confidence of a man content to have his record scrutinised, in the full belief that it will be his ample vindication. 3. He can confidently forecast his future (verse 22). The goodly retrospect justifies a goodly prospect. His past is prophetic of his future. “ A good record” tied to our past does not give us title to heaven. Jesus Christ alone can do that. But it is a mighty help to confidence in the genuineness of the title. II. His fidelities.1. To the Lord (verse 19)--to Him first of all. There is no fidelity to other interests while there is infidelity to Christ. It was his Master first, men afterward, himself last and least. 2. To the truth (verses 20, 27). He was as unswervable in his devotion to the truth of Christ as to the person of Christ. We may dream of fidelity to Jesus with a quiet rejection of some truth of Jesus, but it will be only a dream. The Son of God and the truth of God are one. 3. To men. Fidelity to Christ and truth ensure fidelity to men. Paul could call these elders to witness that he was pure from the blood of all. It will pay to get these three fidelities unmistakably into our record. Christ without truth is a phantom Christ. Truth without Christ is a body without a soul. Duty to men with no Christ and no truth of Christ is keeping to the low level of the moralities. III. His characteristics. We will find them balanced and harmonised in couplets.1. Faith and action. Paul entered Ephesus trusting in God. For three years he withstood its idolatry and its rage, and turned the city upside down, living the life he lived in the flesh “ by the faith of the Son of God.” With the same trust he was ready to go to Jerusalem, unmoved by the “ bonds and afflictions” that awaited him. But how he tied his faith to deeds! James wrote that “ faith if it hath not works is dead, being alone.” And this is sometimes quoted as if he and Paul were not agreed. But look at this restless, ceaseless, mighty toiler at Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, harnessing “ works” to faith. 2. Humility and courage (verse 19). When humility is at its best it most magnifies God. When courage is at its best it most magnifies God. That is the Divine secret of their harmony. They come together at the foot of the cross. 3. Tenderness and conscientiousness. There was a wonderful pathos in this man’ s nature. He has been misjudged by the sentimentalists who count him cold and harsh because he would tell the whole truth. But how did he tell it? Like his Master, “ with many tears.” And yet his conscience kept his tenderness from mawkish weakness--kept him from mutilating truth through mistaken notions of love. He told men, even weeping, “ that they were the enemies of the Cross of Christ.” Conclusion:1. A good record is rather to be chosen than great riches. “ He left a large property,” is one comment on the dead; “ he left a good record,” is another comment. There is an infinite difference between them. Let us not wait for the practical recognition of this truth till we come to look death in the face. It will be too late then. 2. Some things must be in the man before the best things can go down in his record. The quality of doing depends on the quality of being. Every man is the artificer of his own fortune, because every man is the builder of his own character. 3. To have our record worth looking at, a joy in memory, a welcome prophet of the future, and something we need not blush for when confronted with it either here or hereafter, we must have it stamped with fidelity to Christ, to truth, to men--these three. Treachery to either is treachery to all. (Herrick Johnson, D. D.)St. Paul’ s address to presbyters at Miletus This charge is the first specimen of the kind. If anyone had a right to admonish his brethren it was St. Paul, both on account of his well-established apostolic dignity, and his devoted labours, which in no place had been more abundant than in Ephesus. This speech is full of St. Paul’ s finest traits--his sensitiveness, tenderness, faithfulness, and firmness. I. He appealed to their knowledge of his life and ministry.1. He did so with a frankness as far removed from foolish pride as from strained humility:-- (1) So that they should not permit his name and authority to be disparaged in his absence; (2) To give moral force to his exhortations; (3) To set before them an example which they ought to follow. In those days there were no books on the Christian life or pastoral care. Paul himself had to be a book and a model. 2. He first appealed to their knowledge of his life, and then reminded them of his doctrine. Teaching, if unsupported by the life, carries but a faint and doubtful impression. 3. Tears are mentioned three times in this interview. It was quite consistent with his energy and courage, and a mark of the true greatness of the man, that he had a sensibility passing the tenderness of women. So he speaks of the tears-- (1) Occasioned by his trials, and especially by the deadly hatred of the Jews; (2) Of pastoral anxiety; (3) Of the elders when they learned that the apostle was now leaving them for good. 4. The apostle laid stress on his disinterestedness. His epistles show how keenly sensitive he was to any imputation of self-seeking motives. Those who love money are still fond of insinuating that those who teach religion do so merely to get a living. To silence such calumnies the apostle had provided for himself and his companions. It is scarcely necessary for ministers today to take such steps for the vindication of their motives. Intelligent congregations know that they would be the sufferers if their pastors were to occupy themselves with worldly business. 5. He also reminded them of the great theme of his public and private ministry. It was the same gospel which he had everywhere delivered. Not a word did he say of “ special miracles,” for such signs and wonders were not permanent accompaniments of the gospel; but he was emphatic on these two indispensable things--repentance and faith--for these brought salvation home, and were themes to be handled by the elders. II. He explained the reason of this interview. He was on his way to Jerusalem, and knew that he would be in peril of his life. Note the apostle’ s conformity to the sufferings of his Lord (Luke 9:51). The Master did not consult even His most intimate friends, but simply assured them “ that He must go unto Jerusalem” etc. (Matthew 16:21). His apostles were most unwilling that He should cast Himself into such danger. But Jesus replied by a prompt rebuke, Nothing could shake His purpose (Mark 10:32). So also Christ’ s servant, Paul, went “ bound in the spirit” ; and only told his settled purpose. Many tried to dissuade him, but in vain. Such intrepid persistence as this was made possible to St. Paul simply through his intense devotion to Christ. All that he wished for was to accomplish his course, to fulfil that ministry which he had received, not from man, but from the Lord Jesus. III. He joined exhortation and warning to the presbyters. He minded them that the same Holy Ghost whose guidance he felt bound to obey, had the direction of their duty also (verse28). Such was the high estimate of the spiritual office in the primitive Church. It did not allow those bishops to lord it over God’ s heritage, but it required them to bear themselves as the organs of a heavenly power.1. “ Take heed to yourselves!” Oversight of one’ s self is the first requirement for a judicious oversight of others. (1) Their acknowledged religious position tempts them to take their spiritual health for granted, and to relax that vigilance which other Christians find so indispensable. (2) While they neglect introspection, and yet perform their public functions, they tend to become mere religious hacks, and grow more and more unfit to be the real channels of spiritual guidance to others. (3) Because of their position, coldness, or inconsistency, does double injury to the cause of Christ. In modern times this counsel needs to be given also to amateur directors of religious effort, and to the countless critics who are ready, at the shortest notice, to pass an opinion--generally an unfavourable one--on the religion of their neighbours. It were better that they should take heed to themselves, and reserve their strict censures for their own faults. 2. “ Take heed to all the flock” etc., “ feed the Church of God.” The Church was not the flock of those bishops. It was forbidden to bishops to “ draw away disciples after them” ; and it would be well for modern shepherds to avoid such expressions as--“ My church,” “ my flock,” “ my congregation.” The redeemed people of God in any definite place form the flock of God. 3. As the shedding of tears is mentioned three times, so also we read three times of the shedding of blood, or laying down of the life, the physical basis which is the blood. (1) His own life the apostle was willing to yield up at Jerusalem if it was required for the service of Christ and the Church. (2) From the blood of all men he kept; himself pure by so preaching the gospel, that if any heard and refused it, their blood would be on their own heads. (3) The Church of God has been purchased by Christ’ s blood. 4. The apostle counselled the elders to follow his own example as to self-support. At Ephesus, where it had been so common to practise pseudo-spiritual arts for filthy lucre’ s sake, it was eminently advisable that the chiefs of the Christian community should prove themselves thoroughly disinterested. It was well too that they should show an example to others in Christian giving (verse 35). 5. He also dropped a word of warning which must have added alarm to the sorrow of the assembled bishops. He foresaw that teachers of error would appear at Ephesus, and even in their own ranks some would play the part of wolves. He did not expatiate on the subject, but sounded the alarm--“ Watch!” From the message of the Lord we learn that the evil here spoken of did arise (Revelation 2:1-7). We also gather that Paul’ s warning had not been without good effect. IV. He commended these brethren to God and to the word of His grace. By God and the gospel the Church at Ephesus would be built up. How forcibly must the language have been recalled to the minds of the elders, when, in course of a few years, they read (Ephesians 1:2). (D. Fraser, D. D.)Paul at Miletus Paul is ending his third missionary journey. Jerusalem is his destination, and his ship must needs wait a few days at Miletus. Ephesus is only a few miles away, and a messenger is dispatched to the elders of the Church in that city asking them to meet the apostle for a farewell interview. The invitation is eagerly accepted, and the meeting is one of deep sadness for the reason that it is probably the last time they will be together. I. We are reminded of the loving fellowship in Christian service. These elders were very dear to Paul and he to them. They had worked together, he as leader, they as faithful aids. One aim had demanded their energies, namely, the building up of the Ephesian Church. Their united labours and prayers had welded them together in trust and love. One of the rewards of Christian service is the fellowship growing out of it. This fellowship is based on enduring foundations. Friendships in the world grow out of very thin soil often. Physical beauty is one bond; neighbourhood is another: people are friendly because they live side by side. The social status often determines our friendships. Business, intellectual pursuits, travel, draw people together in relationships more or less permanent. But these are not to be compared with that deeper fellowship enjoyed by those who are doing the Lord’ s work. There is something about gospel service that brings out the truest and best side of character. People of the most diverse tastes and dissimilarity of culture are found side by side in loving relation in the Church of Christ who could not be induced into such unity on any other basis. II. Another consideration suggested by Paul’ s address is the courage required in Christian service. “ The Holy Ghost witnesseth … that bonds and afflictions abide me.” Nothing but a complete consecration to Christ could have carried him forward in view of such a future. Our life is good for what it will bring to Christ and for the truth it will establish in men’ s hearts. Beyond that our life is of small account. The future therefore can threaten no affliction severe enough to thwart a Christian in his duty. There need be no comparison of different periods of the world’ s history to illustrate this law. Every age brings its peculiar perils to the performance of duty. The quality of fearlessness is a prime one in living for Christ. Fearlessness to the degree of making nothing of one’ s life for Christ’ s sake is often supposed to be an unnecessary thing. There is always another consideration forcing itself upon us, namely, the economy of life. The natural impulse is to save it rather than to sacrifice it. “ Even unto death” is a degree of devotion not believed necessary, but it is just that willingness to die that underlies devotion to the most trifling duty. The physician and nurse take that possible alternative into consideration when they begin the practice of their profession. It may mean death. The engineer says, “ It may be death to take out this express tonight, but I must do my duty, no matter what comes.” Instead of lessening the ardour of living, the facing of the perils of service increases that ardour. We desire to do the best work possible before the end comes. Instead of being absorbed in a depressing contemplation of his coming troubles, Paul avails himself of his opportunity to gather the elders of the Ephesian Church in one more conference at the seaport Miletus. Perchance he can say one more helpful word. III. This address also sets forth the responsibility involved in service. “ I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Paul considered himself bound to be absolutely faithful to all who came under his charge. There are parts of God’ s message to men peculiarly pleasant to utter. There are phases of truth adapted to win the attention of unbelievers without stirring their consciences or molesting their indifference. But there are other parts of the “ counsel of God” that arouse opposition and forbid admiration. Some truths enter the soul like sharp irons, and the impenitent regard them often as the personal opinions of the preacher or ward them off as the antiquated forms of a dead theology. It is so easy to say that the past generations believed such and such things, but we have outgrown them! The temptation assails the Christian teacher to slur over or suppress the parts of the message that are for the time unpopular. Paul no doubt felt that temptation. A symmetrical ministry was to be a chief care. May we not take heed to that advice now? What preacher and teacher does not feel that he has his favourite lines of truth which he emphasises to the exclusion of others just as necessary? There are Churches suffering from a lack of variety in the spiritual and doctrinal food served to them from their pulpits. For the “ counsel of God,” as contained in His Word, pertains to the whole life of man. Every human interest is therein treated, and no one, if he means to reach all sorts and conditions of men, has the time to harp upon one string. He will always be fresh as a new morning. IV. Paul hints at the hindrances the best service will encounter. “ After my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things.” Although he and the elders had laboured three years in that Church, and though they might strive never so faithfully in the future to feed the flock of God, yet all that care and labour would not insure perfect loyalty to the gospel. The uncertain equation is the instability of human hearts. No apostle was ever able to keep an entire Church true to the faith. The faithful worker will always find a shrinkage in his results. Peter already has discovered “ false teachers among you,…denying the Lord that bought them.” John warns his hearers against “ the Antichrist, who has already come.” Jude writes to the sanctified “ to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares … denying … our Lord Jesus Christ.” The cause of this condition in the early Church may have been that they were too near the great facts of the gospel to get their full meaning. V. The close of Paul’ s address suggests the spirit of service: “ I have coveted no man’ s silver, or gold, or apparel. I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak.” He was speaking to men who lived in a commercial centre and were used to measuring values in gold and silver. They could appreciate, therefore, the unselfishness of a man who had no regard for the precious things of trade. It is possible to have a low motive even in the highest service, for there is no work which self-seeking may not spoil. But a continued service for others, the helping of the weak or sinful, begets the habit of subordinating selfishness. The kind of unselfishness which the world likes to see is that which gives up the things the world prizes best. Self-assertion the world understands, but it is nonplussed before self-denial. Our influence as labourers for the kingdom must result in the degree of our unselfishness. We cannot get an indifferent world to accept a gospel of the cross while we are avoiding crosses in our daily living. It was because the elders knew that the cross was the centre principle in Paul’ s life that they regarded him with so much affection. (E. S. Tead.)Paul at Miletus We too have loved and have said farewell. Yes, we know. Paul is one of us. This touch of nature makes us kin. I. The duties of Christian service. Paul’ s address is primarily applicable to officers in the Christian Church, yet most of the matters treated of concern all who are trying to do any work for the Lord.1. The first duty which, as our passage suggests, is expected of a servant of Christ is to endure hardness. Wherever Paul went the Holy Ghost testified to him through some of his fellow Christians that he was to find bonds and afflictions (verse 23). The thorn road and none other is the way we must go. Courage is one of the most essential Christian virtues. 2. It is a Christian’ s duty to live faithfully in the present (verse 22). Paul knew not what was in store for him beyond the general fact that it was trial. But his ignorance of the future did not trouble him. He had been through a stormy past and had found God in it, and he knew he would find Him in the future. Therefore he had no need to worry. 3. It is our duty to accomplish our appointed work (verse 24). The important matter to Paul was not whether he had “ a good time,” whether he suffered or not, but whether he did the Lord’ s work set for him to do. Paul’ s work was “ to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Is that not the sum and substance of the life work of every true Christian? What is Christian experience but an increasingly deeper appropriation of the truth of God in Christ? And what is Christian activity but an increasing manifestation in conduct of the fact that we have so received Christ? And we must not put God off by contenting ourselves with the silent testimony of good Christian lives. This is much as an offering to Christ. But He expects also the testimony of the lips, and this especially Paul had in mind when he spoke of his ministry. When last did we testify openly for Christ? 4. In testifying or teaching it is our duty to declare the whole counsel of God (verse 27). This is something one may hesitate to do, but Paul did not shrink from it. He let God decide what truth is, and on his part accepted it, all of it, and proclaimed it, all of it. 5. It is our duty to feed the flock (verse 28). If God gives us anything that is good, shall we keep it to ourselves? How much Christian experience is wasted, that is, how much knowledge of His grace God is giving us all the time, in our trials and joys, in our study and in our business, which we do not impart to anyone else, but keep wholly to ourselves. 6. We are to watch against the enemy (verses 29-31). The destroyer of souls never deserts his office. Paul is not referring here to those Jews and heathen who antagonised the gospel wherever it went. He refers to evil men who hypocritically came into the Church (verses 29, 30) with the deliberate purpose of doing harm. Any man who knows more about truth than the Bible, or can show a better way than the way of Christ, or tries to weaken the uprightness of his fellows, had better be watched and guarded against. 7. A Christian ought to be unselfish (verses 33-35). 8. It is our duty to help the weak (verse 35). 9. In all our doing we should remember the words and example of our Lord (verse 35). He is our pattern. II. We turn now to the blessings of Christian service. Duty is not for blessing’ s sake, it is for its own sake. But according to a beneficent arrangement of God, it is never without its blessing.1. It is a blessing to suffer for Christ (verse 23). It is not blessed in itself to suffer. Pain is painful everywhere and always. But “ for Christ” transforms pain into joy. This is Christianity’ s triumph. Life brings its agonies to God’ s people as well as to others; but they have the joy, which no others have, of being able to say truthfully to themselves, “ I know that all things work together for good.” 2. The love of Christian fellowship (verses 25, 31). We can almost imagine we hear Paul’ s voice trembling with emotion, as we can see the tears springing to his eyes while he tells these Ephesian friends how he has tried to serve them. There are many pleasant relations possible in this life, through God’ s kindness to us, but none is more lofty, more wholly worthy, than that of friendship in Jesus Christ. Other friendships are sweet while they last, but these alone are eternal. 3. A good conscience (verse 26). There is no peace of mind to him who, when he thinks at all, must remember duties unaccomplished. 4. Helping others spiritually (verse 28). If one has money, it is pleasant to use it in relieving others’ sufferings. If he has ability of mind, it is a joy to help others in the difficulties of their thinking. But better than these is it to know Jesus Christ and lead others to accept Him as their Saviour. 5. It is a blessing to know that we are carrying on the worthy work of the past (verse 31). Paul had laboured among the Ephesians. He had done a good work. These elders were to have the privilege of carrying it on after he was gone. 6. We are specially under God’ s care (verse 32). Paul commended his dear friends at Ephesus to God, and he knew God would take care of them. Surely they were comforted by this when the perplexing hours came when they missed Paul most. They knew a better friend even than Paul was with them. 7. One blessing of the Christian life is to be built up in all that is good (verse 32). God is able to do this, and we believe, nay, we know, He does it. We feel as Augustine felt, that poor as his life Was, whatever good there was in it was due to the grace of God. 8. We have an inheritance among all them that are sanctified (verse 32). This may refer to the reward of Heaven. But it is likely that it refers to the reward of earth also (similarly Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:18). In both respects we have a blessed estate. 9. Last of all, but not least, comes the blessedness of self-denial (verse 35). (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)The pastor’ s farewell In his speech we may observe-- I. Paul’ s vindication of himself. Ministers are bound not only to look to their consciences, but also to their credits. When the name of a minister is contemptible, his doctrine will be the less acceptable. The apostle vindicateth himself--1. As to the integrity of his life (verses 18, 19). 2. As to his fidelity in his doctrine (verse 20). II. His exhortation to them. As he taught them before by his pattern, so now by his precepts (verse 28). This counsel the apostle urgeth upon a three-fold ground.1. From the person who committed to them this charge. That unfaithfulness which is but felony against the charge of a subject may be treason when it is against the charge of a sovereign. 2. From the price paid for them (verse 28). Things of the greatest cost call for our greatest care. If God thought them worth His blood we may well esteem them worth our tears and sweat. 3. From the peril their flock was in (verses 29-31). If wolves will watch to devour, shepherds must watch to defend the sheep. Those commanders who are entrusted with a garrison when they are sure to have their quarters beaten up, had need to be ever upon their guard. III. His prediction of his future sufferings.1. Propounded (verses 22, 23). Christians of all men must bear their crosses; ministers of all Christians must look to undergo misery. The fuller the tree is laden the more cudgels will be thrown at it; the most fruitful meadows bear oftenest in the year of the scythe. 2. Amplified from the liberty it thereby denied them of ever seeing Paul again (verse 25). Sad news to honest hearts upon a double ground; partly-- (1) Their lack of him. He had told them of wolves entering in among them; now at such a time for the flock to be without a guide; when the storm arose for the vessel to be without a pilot; when the soldiers were to engage in hot service with enemies, for their expert commander to be wanting; must needs be woful. That the nurse should be taken away before the children could go alone did much affect and afflict their spirits. (2) Their love to him. As Paul was a Christian, and their spiritual parent who had begotten them, brought them up in the nurture of the Lord, and upon all occasions advised and assisted them, they could not but love him in a high degree, and therefore much lament his loss. IV. His valediction to them (verse 32). Before he had given them a command from God, and now he commends them to God. The words contain the legacy which Paul bequeaths to his Christian friends. He taketh his farewell of them, and wisheth a welfare to them. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)The ministry of St. Paul This address contains very much instruction for Christian ministers, and therefore for Churches. For ministers are very largely what Churches make them. It is hard for the strongest man to resist the current of opinion and feeling among those with whom he is in constant association. If in some Churches the ministers have become priests, it has been because the people first transferred to the ministers all spiritual responsibilities, who belonged to the sacred “ order” were regarded as having a nearer access to God. St. Paul-- I. Kept back nothing that was profitable. He never considered what it would please them to hear; he told them everything that it was well for them to know. He did not shrink from declaring to them “ all the counsel of God.” Paul was not among those who think that it is necessary to cajole men into faith and righteousness by concealing truth which might repel them. He was frank and open, and asserted that he was “ clear from the blood of all men,” because he had concealed nothing, in every age of the Church there have been strong inducements to follow another course.1. When the Reformation began, good and wise men must have been sorely tempted to a policy of reserve. The religious faith of millions rested on the authority of the Roman Church and priesthood; to challenge the authority was to loosen the foundations of religious belief. The errors--so it might have been urged--were not altogether mischievous. Superstitious fears might restrain some from evil courses who were not likely to be restrained by a purer faith. An undue reverence for the priests might draw some to the services of the Church who would not be drawn by reverence for the invisible God. Even if the institutions were corrupt and the beliefs erroneous, it would be well to use a little “ management” in reforming them. Now no doubt the Reformation loosened in some countries, while it strengthened in others, the foundations of morality and of faith. There is more than plausibility in the contention that the revolt of Germany against the authority of the Church prepared the way for the revolt of France against the authority of Christ. But the catastrophe might have been averted if wiser teachers had had the courage to expose error and to resist its growth in earlier generations. 2. Do you suppose that we, in our days, are quite free from the cowardice, treachery, and unbelief of the good men who lived, in the ages before the Reformation? Some excellent persons are seriously afraid that the new translation of the Bible will give a great shock to the faith of “ simple-minded Christians.” Well, if the faith of “ simple-minded Christians” is disturbed, the responsibility lies with those who have always known that the sacred text was imperfect; and that, even with a perfect text, no translation can be faultless. But there are people in our congregations who do not want to have their minds cleared of mistakes; and ministers may be tempted to conceal the truth because some of their hearers do not wish to know it. There are some truths which have become part of the very substance of our moral and religious life. But unhappily there are many Evangelical Christians who are in a panic if any of the human definitions of these truths are impeached and condemned. They do not ask for “ all the counsel of God,” but only for as much of it as will confirm their traditional beliefs, and leave their minds undisturbed. They clamour against every man that is not of the same mind with themselves. They follow the same line in dealing with those who are in doubt. If a man begins to question any part of their system, they say that he is on the high road to infidelity. 3. The only remedy is to be found in a more courageous faith in truth. Let Evangelical Christians be loyal to Him who is the Light as well as the Life of men; let them remember that the Spirit of Truth has come to lead us into “ all the truth” ; let them desire to know “ all the counsel of God,” and then we need have no fear of the ultimate result of the troubles and perplexities through which we are now passing; the victory of the evangelical faith would be assured. II. The tone of the address suggests that the Ephesian Church had relied very largely on himself. Now that they are to “ see his face no more,” he commends them “ to God and to the word of His grace.” This reminds us of another quality which should distinguish the work of every minister, and which congregations should encourage and honour, viz., to lead people to rely on God, not on himself. Whenever he comes between the people and God he is in a false position, and he is doing permanent harm. But in all Churches there is a craving for this illegitimate exercise of ministerial power. Romish priests discharge two functions. As confessors they absolve from sin; as directors they assume the guidance of the spiritual life. Even in Protestant Churches, though confession and absolution are abhorred, there is sometimes a craving for “ direction.” That the counsel of a minister may occasionally he of service is obvious; but something more than counsel of this kind is desired. There is a readiness to charge the minister with the responsibility of the conduct of the religious life. This disposition is the result of a want of moral and spiritual vigour; if yielded to, it increases moral and spiritual weakness. It obstructs the free development of conscience. It impairs faith in God. When Christ was in the world, who would have dared to come between any of His apostles and Him? who would have dared to assume the “ direction” of their religious life? There is equal presumption in coming between the humblest and most ignorant of Christian men and the Spirit of Christ, who now dwells with the Church. “ I commend you to God and to the word of His grace” ; this should be the reply of every Christian minister to those who seek from him what they should seek direct from God. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)Characteristics of Paul’ s ministry Paul’ s ministry was-- I. Loyal: “ serving the Lord” (verse 19). It is the word used for slave service. There was nothing of the spirit of a slave--base subjection, or angry opposition to service forced. But there was the idea of absolute surrender. Paul regarded himself the property of Jesus--to live and labour for Him alone. And this was a joyful voluntary surrender, and so was “ perfect freedom.” Let us in our ministry not be secretly serving ourselves; making popularity, admiration, power, pelf, our aim; nor let us serve? the state, or the world, or the Church, or any society, for the purpose of pleasing, but only to do good, remembering that in religion we are to be “ serving the Lord.” II. Humble. “ With all humility.”1. Humility towards our Divine Lord--following His counsels, and not our own fancies--teaching His truth and not our own speculations; doing the work He prescribes, and not that which we might prefer; content to go anywhere, do anything, suffer any affliction which He ordains, with meek submissiveness, with cheerful alacrity. 2. Towards others. They who teach and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus should exhibit His spirit, and cultivate sweetness, gentleness, courtesy: not aiming at supremacy, emulating others, striving for the higher place, assuming airs of superiority, but acting as those who knew themselves unworthy to occupy the lowest station in the Church, who have nothing which they have not received, and who may, in the judgment of the Searcher of Hearts, be far below some whose gifts and position are inferior, but who may illustrate the saying, “ Many that are last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” If the ministry of such a one as Paul was “ with all humility,” how much more should ours be! III. Tender. “ And with many tears.” True manliness is tender. It is not unmanly to weep. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, and when He contemplated the sin and approaching suffering of Jerusalem. Paul was among the strongest of men, and therefore among the tenderest (2 Corinthians 2:4; Philippians 3:18). How different this from the hard sternness, even the jubilant fervour, with which sin and sinners have sometimes been denounced! How solemn, yet how tender, was Jesus! We should be the most tender and tearful when most faithful in reproof (verse 31). IV. Faithful (verse 20). He would not prophesy “ smooth things.” A self-seeker, a coward, a man pleaser, would “ shun” (verse 27) many topics opposed to the prejudices and self-interest of his hearers. We can imagine the case of slave owners, or distillers and rum sellers, or Sabbath traders, or coveteous people in a congregation, and the inducement to “ keep back” what would be profitable, but unpleasant, and a shunning to declare the “ whole counsel of God.” (Newman Hall, D. D.)Paul’ s conscious fidelity in the discharge of his ministry I. Humbly. “ With all humility of mind.” II. Tenderly. “ With many tears.” III. Fully. “ How I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you.” IV. Indefatigably. “ Have taught you publicly from house to house.” V. Unrestrictedly. “ From house to house.” VI. Evangelically. “ Repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Pastoral retrospection I. The difficulties. The expression “ many tears and temptations” proves beyond a doubt that he had serious difficulties to contend with, especially from his own nation. The Jews, zealous for the traditions of the fathers, looked upon him as a renegade, and lay in wait for an opportunity to kill him. There are seasons of reflection in the life of every right-minded man, in which the outflow of “ many tears” would be a relief, because “ the misery of man is great upon him.” Now the “ temptations” of difficulties which befell the apostle come to the lot of every good minister of Jesus Christ in some form or another. There is--1. The hostile state of the parties between whom he negotiates. The Bible declares that “ God is angry with the wicked every day,” and also that the “ carnal mind is enmity against God.” Reconciliation is the keynote of the gospel ministry. The invitation to the feast, now as of old, is rejected on very trivial grounds. One buys a piece of land, another five yoke of oxen, and another marries a wife, and all beg to be excused. Another difficulty is that of-- 2. Meeting the demands of a mixed assembly. It is one of the wonders of creation that there are no two countenances formed exactly alike. Could we but see, we should probably discover that there are no two souls exactly alike in all things. Add to this the diversity of position, education, temper, training, and character, and you will see how difficult it is to interest and instruct all. Another difficulty is that of-- 3. Pecuniary support. “ Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me.” Another thing to which the text points in relation to the gospel minister is-- II. The duties. There should be--1. A faithful declaration of the whole counsel of God. “ I kept back nothing that was profitable to you.” Mark this: it is not what is pleasant, but what is profitable. He adopted two methods in the performance of his work-- (1) Public teaching. “ And have taught you publicly.” Paul’ s ministry was a thoughtful ministry; it made the people wiser and holier than they were before. (2) Private visiting. “ And from house to house.” Another thing which the text points to in relation to the gospel minister is-- III. The doctrines. “ Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”1. He is to show man’ s relation to his Maker. “ Repentance toward God.”2. He is to show man’ s relation to Christ. (Homilist.)St. Paul: his Christianity in his tears Among the many features of Paul’ s Christianity as here depicted there is one which shines above the rest and gives a unity to the whole--his tears. Jesus had the same tears of sorrow when He wept in Gethsemane; tears of charity when He wept over the destiny of Jerusalem; tears of tenderness when He wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus. Note, then, St. Paul’ s-- I. Tears of sorrow. He is a Christian, not a Stoic; he does not pretend, nor did his Master, to stifle the expression of a pain he could not but feel, and which it would be affectation to disguise. Paul’ s whole ministry is a ministry of tears, in the sense of the Psalmist, when he says, “ They that sow in tears shall reap in joy,” etc. By the strength of his faith Paul anticipates the days of harvest, and triumphs in the midst of his tears. Here he weeps in the anticipation of “ finishing his course with joy.” What a picture of sorrows is that abridgment of his life written by his own hand (2 Corinthians 11:23-29), and He from whom no future event is concealed, has united, in a single expression, the sufferings and the apostleship of Paul (Acts 9:15-16). The abundant tears with which the apostle was to bedew his path would not water the earth in vain. We lend an attentive ear to an advocate who has suffered in the cause which he defends. And further, sorrow and physical pain have a power over the heart of man, and obtain a respect peculiar to themselves. In order savingly to touch the heart of the most unbelieving amongst you, I should wish that there might stand in this pulpit the suffering Paul. But it is written, “ Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” ! Well, your cross, where is it? What are the sacrifices and afflictions which your faith calls you to bear? Neither a frivolous nor a luxurious life can ever agree with the Christian course. We need men, not like Jabez, whose prayer is, “ That thou wouldest enlarge our coasts and keep us from evil” ; but men like St. Paul, who “ always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” II. Tears of charity (verse 31). Place yourselves in the position of those whom Paul thus warned. Imagine yourselves to be one of those who are beginning to attend to the gospel, or have not yet seriously considered it. The apostle does not give you any more rest than he does himself; he urges you during the day, he detains you far on in the night. Be will not let you go until he has obtained--what? Some favour? Ah! the greatest favour which you can show him is that of being converted to Jesus, or of serving Him with greater faithfulness. You resist his entreaties; but before you part with him, look at him: he weeps over the sins in which you continue--over the harm which your conduct does to the Church--over the stumbling block which you place before the world--above all, over the future which you are preparing for yourself! Do not these tears which you cause him to shed enable you to see into the very soul of his Christianity? I discover in them a whole body of Christian theology and morality; nay, truth and charity--truth, so clearly beheld, that it leads him to foresee that a dreadful misfortune will befall you if you persist in rejecting it; charity, so intense, that by it your salvation becomes almost as necessary to him as his own: what is this but his beautiful definition of Christian faith--“ the truth in love,” exhibited as a practical reality? I would ask, What is gospel truth, according to this man who entreats you with tears to receive it? Is it simply a refined Deism? You need not stop to examine his epistles and discourses, which are overflowing with the “ good news” --you need only see him weeping at your feet. Is it only an interpretation, more or less sound; an opinion, more or less well established, which we must modestly defend without peremptorily affirming facts for fear of being guilty of pride and intolerance? Explain to me those tears of St, Paul if he has not before his eyes “ a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries!” Now I will suppose that you have listened to the most urgent, the most eloquent, the most pathetic exhortations, and have not yielded. But that Christian orator entered your closet, and there, alone with you, without the slightest motive of human praise, entreated you to take pity on yourself, and at last, at the sight of your obstinate resistance, unable either to prevent your being lost, or to suffer you to be the cause of your own ruin, melts into tears; say, could you do otherwise than yield? Alas! we must not expect too much; many have seen these tears and have not yielded; but to resist a gospel thus preached, must there not be a heart of stone? III. Tears of tenderness (verses 37, 38). By a rare gift--of nature, shall I say, or, of grace?--St. Paul, uniting, as he did, opposite qualities, and tempering strength with gentleness, had one of the tenderest hearts that ever beat. What can be more affectionate than the language of the apostle to his Thessalonian brethren, his spiritual children? (1 Thessalonians 2:6-9; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2). But this love has its special attachments. There is not enough attention paid to the position which friendship occupied in St. Paul’ s life and apostleship. I only bring forward in proof the large number of brethren and sisters who are spoken of by name at the end of most of his epistles, and greeted, one by one, with the delicate tenderness of the deepest Christian love. Nor is this all. Amongst the many Christian friends who surround him, Paul has some to whom he is most deeply attached. Luke, Barnabas, Philemon, Epaphroditus, Epaphras, Tychicus, and, above all, Timothy and Titus, his supporters and helpers in his gospel labours. What mother ever wrote to her son a letter more full of solicitude than the 2nd Epistle to Timothy? The brightness of Paul’ s holiness might dazzle our eyes and seem unreal, could we not discover, throughout it all, traces of his human nature. But the character revealed by these tears forms also a main strength of his apostleship. This power operates in more ways than one. It operates by gaining hearts to the apostle himself. Every one feels himself drawn towards a man in whom the principle of love is so strongly developed; and, since the greatest obstacles to the gospel lie in the inclinations of men, by interesting the hearers in favour of him who proclaims the gospel you interest them in favour of the gospel itself. It operates by enlarging the apostle’ s sphere of action. This brotherly family, who surround such a loving master, form around him, as it were, a sacred phalanx, in which everyone, being placed at his post by this able general, furnishes his share towards the common resistance to the enemy. But it operates in yet a deeper manner. The warmth and fervour of the apostle’ s affections give to the gospel which he proclaims a simplicity, an air of truth, which greatly contributes to subdue the minds of men. Conclusion: The tears of the apostle have explained him to us. The strength of his apostleship arose from his personal Christianity, and his Christianity was a Christianity of tears. Weeping from sorrow, he subdued others by gaining their sympathy; weeping from charity, he won others by love; weeping from tenderness, he carried others along with him by the simplicity of his gospel. (A. Monod, D. D.)How should a Christian minister govern his Church I. He is to live among his people.1. His life is to be devoted to their service, (verse 19). 2. He is to enter into the circle of their life, as a friendly sympathiser in their joys and sorrows (verse 18). 3. He is to enlighten them by his example, and yet to continue humble, conscious of his own weakness (verse 19). II. He is to impart to them the whole truth.1. To communicate the whole truth--repentance and faith (verse 21). 2. To do so in living application to the necessities of the times (verse 20). 3. To everyone in particular, that so he may account to God for every soul (verses 20, 26, 27). III. He is to suffer for them.1. He looks courageously forward in faith to the threatening storms (verses 22, 23). 2. He joyfully gives up even his life for Him who gave Himself for us all (verses 24, 25). 3. He confidently commends himself and his flock, in life and death, to the grace of God (verse 32). (Lisco.)Responsibility There are two sides to the question of quitting ourselves of responsibility for those whom we have set to a special work. On the one hand, we may err by meddling with their work and worrying over it; on the other hand, we may err by failing to show our continued interest in that work, and in those who have it in charge. Paul committed neither error. He laid responsibility on the Ephesian elders, and had no thought of attempting to take it from them; but he wanted them to consider that responsibility in all its bearings, and to be assured of his loving and prayerful sympathy with them in its discharge. Here is a pattern for all those who have set others at work, in the church, in the Sunday school, in the place of business, in the home. Do not worry yourself, nor worry those who have the thing in immediate charge, by your close attention to the details of their business--which is not yours. But do not fail to show them that you consider them lovingly and prayerfully, and that you commend them “ to God and to the word of His grace” in their life and work--before their Master and yours. (H. C. Trumbull.) Acts 20:18-19 Ye know … after what manner I have been with you.Example better than precept Words are cannonballs. Example is the powder that gives the words their force. Many men may be able to say, “ Heed what I tell you,” but not many could so confidently say, “ Follow my example.” Yet this was what Paul said to the Ephesian elders, and what he wrote to the disciples at Philippi (Philippians 4:9). Example is always better than precept, because talk is cheap, but deeds are dear. To preach the gospel can be done in a moment, but to practise the gospel is a very different thing. If we can have only one of these things, we prefer practice to preaching. Much of our profession goes for nothing, because we profess one thing with our lips and then deny our profession by our deeds. But since actions speak louder than words, our actions drown our speech. A man who walks to church one day in the week, and to queer places six days in the week, must not be surprised if people call him a hypocrite. (A. F. Schauffler.)Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.--Humility I. Its nature. All Christian graces are products of truth. So humility is the state of mind which the truth concerning our character and relations ought to produce. It includes--1. A sense of insignificance, because we are both absolutely and relatively insignificant. We are as nothing before God, in the universe, in the hierarchy of intelligences, in the millions of mankind. We are insignificant in capacity, learning, influence, and power, compared to thousands of our predecessors and contemporaries. Humility is not only the consciousness of this insignificance, but the recognition and acknowledgment of it, and acquiescence in it. Pride is the denial of or forgetfulness of this fact, the assertion of our own importance. 2. A sense of weakness. Humility stands opposed to pride as including self-confidence, and especially pride of intellect, either as consisting in Rationalism, or the refusal to submit to the teaching of God; or in a sense of superiority to others. No man can be a Christian without becoming as a little child. 3. A sense of guilt. Humility stands opposed to self-righteousness. When we consider the number and aggravations of our sins we are lost in wonder that men can be so infatuated as to arrogate merit to themselves. The parable of the Pharisee and the publican shows that a moral man propped up with a sense of his good desert is more offensive to God than an immoral man bowed down with a sense of guilt. II. Its importance appears from--1. Its nature, as the want of it implies ignorance or disbelief of the truth concerning our true character. 2. The frequent declarations of Scripture; that God resisteth the proud but showeth grace to the humble; that those who exalt themselves shall be abased, etc. 3. Its connection with the whole economy of redemption, which is intended to humble man. Men must stoop to enter heaven. 4. Its influence on our fellow men. As nothing is so offensive as pride, so nothing is so conciliating as humility. 5. Its influence on ourselves. The humble only are peaceful. III. Its cultivation.1. Bring your mind under the operation of truth.2. Especially live in the presence of God.3. Never act from the impulse of pride.4. Humble yourselves by not seeking great things.5. Seek the indwelling of the Spirit, and the aid of Christ. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Humility I. Its comprehensiveness. Serving the Lord not only with humility, but with all humility.1. There are many sorts of pride, and you will be able, by looking at the contrast, to see that there must be also many kinds of humility. There is the pride of-- (1) The heretic, who will utter false doctrines, because he thinks his own judgment to be better than the Word of God; he is a disputant but not a disciple. Now Paul never had this. So willing was he to sit at the feet of Jesus that he counted all the learning which he had received at the feet of Gamaliel to be of no value in itself, but became a fool that he might be wise. (2) The Papist, who attaches merit to his own works, and hopes to win heaven by them. From this Paul was totally free. He learnt to count his righteousness as filthy rags. (3) The curious. He would if he could climb to the Eternal Throne, and break the seven seals of the book of destiny. Paul was never curious; he was perfectly content to take his doctrine from his Master’ s spirit, and leave endless genealogies and questionings to those who had no better guests to entertain. (4) The persecutor. The pride which suggests that I am infallible, and that if any man should differ from me, the stake and the rack would be the due deserts of so great a sin. But Paul had the humility of a man of generous spirit. (5) The impenitent man who will not yield to God. Not so our apostle. He was ever filled with a sense of his own unworthiness. 2. To give you a clearer view of this comprehensiveness I will put it in another shape. There is humility-- (1) Before serving God. When a man lacks this he proposes to himself his own honour and esteem in serving God. How little too many Christians have of that humility. They will pick that position in the Church which will give them most honour. But it never was so with the apostle. I think I see him now, working long past midnight making his tents. Then I see that tent maker going into the pulpit with his hands all blistered with his hard work. You would say of him at once, “ That man never proposes to himself the praises of his hearers.” (2) During the act. That is a splendid psalm which begins, “ Not unto us.” David thought it needful to say it twice. Then he deals the death blow with the other sentence, “ But unto Thy Name be all the glory.” To sing that song when you are reaping the great harvest, when you are going on from strength to strength, will prove a healthy state of heart. (3) After the service is done. In looking back upon success achieved, upon heights attained, it is so easy to say, “ My right hand and my mighty arm hath gotten me the victory.” Christian workers, see to it that never when your work is done you speak of yourselves or of your work. II. Its trials, or the dangers through which it has to pass.1. The possession of great ability. When a man hath seven talents he must recollect that he hath seven burdens of responsibility; and therefore he should be bowed down. Let a man feel that he possesses more power than another, more learning, and he is so apt to say, “ I am somebody in the Church.” It is so ridiculous; for the more we have the more we owe, and how can there be any ground for boasting there? Great talents make it hard for a man to maintain humility. Yet little talents have precisely the same effect. “ There,” says one, “ I have but a trifle in the world, I must make a flare with it. I have but one ring, and I will always put the finger that wears that outwards so that it may be seen.” If you have little talents, do not swell and burst with envy. The frog was never contemptible as a frog, but when he tried to blow himself out to the size of the ox then he was contemptible indeed. It is just as easy for a man to be proud in his rags as my Lord Mayor in his gold chain. There is many a costermonger riding in his little cart, quite as vain as my lord who rides in a gilded coach. You may be a king and yet be humble; you may be a beggar and yet be proud. 2. Success. Great success is like a full cup it is hard to hold it with a steady hand. It is swimming in deep waters, and there is always a fear of being drowned there. But want of success has just the same tendency. Have you not seen the man who could not get a good congregation, and who insisted upon it, that it was because he was a better preacher than the man who did? 3. Long enjoyment of the Master’ s presence. To walk all day in the sunlight brings us in danger of a sunstroke. If we have nothing but full assurance, we may come to be presumptuous. When you have long-continued joys, fear and tremble for all the goodness of God. But long-continued doubts also will breed pride. When a man has long been doubting his God, and mistrusting His promise, what is that but pride? He wants to be somebody and something. He is not willing to believe his God in the dark; he thinks he always ought to have joy and satisfaction, and so it comes to pass that his doubts and fears are as ready parents of pride as assurance could have been. There is not a position in the world where a man cannot be humble if he have grace; there is not a station under heaven where a man will not be proud if left to himself. III. The arguments by which we ought to be provoked to it.1. From ourselves. What am I that I should be proud? I am a man. An angel--how much he surpasseth me, and yet the Lord charged His angels with folly. How much less, then, should the son of man exalt himself? Verily, man at his best estate is altogether vanity. But there is a yet stronger argument. What are you but depraved creatures? When the child of God is at his best he is no better than a sinner at his worst, except so far as God has made him to differ. “ There goes John Bradford--but for the grace of God.” A sinner saved by grace and yet proud! Out on such impudence! 2. In Christ. Our Master was never exalted above measure. He condescended to men of low estate, but in such a way that there was not the appearance of stooping. “ And shall the servant be above his Master, or the disciple above his Lord?” Ye that are purse proud, or talent proud, or beauty proud, I beseech you, think how unlike you are to the Master. “ He made Himself of no reputation,” etc. Look at that strange sight, and never be proud again. 3. In God’ s goodness towards us. What was there in you that Christ should buy you with His precious blood? What in you that you should be made the temple of the Holy Ghost? What is there in you that you should be brought to heaven? (C. H. Spurgeon.)The energy of humility The little and the lowly may be found in combination with wondrous energy. The coralline (Corrallina officinalis), which only be found most abundantly on any of our coasts, growing in greatest perfection near low watermark, is a small plant seldom exceeding five or six inches in height, and not even reaching that size. However, it compensates refits low stature by its luxuriant growth, being usually found in dense masses wherever it can find a convenient shelter. If the vital force of this plant had shot upwards, pushing out numerous and majestic branches in the air, and covering itself with abundant leafage and blossom, it would have attracted more attention and admiration, but it would not have gained force, or perhaps usefulness, thereby. Thus with human minds. Those whose powers shoot upward by some splendid feat of genius in literature or battle, arrest public attention and win public plaudits. Whereas possibly they neither gain more strength nor achieve more usefulness than those less showy men who work modestly for the common good in the obscurer regions of human life, and who, like the coralline plant, are always accessible to those who seek them at the low watermark of life’ s affairs. (Scientific Illustrations.)Humility leads to usefulness See yon evening star, how bright it shines! how pure, how gentle are its rays! But, look, it is lower in the heavens than those that sparkle with a restless twinkling in the highest regions of the sky. God keeps you low that you may shine bright. Where do the rivers run that fertilise our soil? Is it in the barren top of yonder hill? No; in the vales beneath. If you would have the river, whose streams make glad the city of our God, to run through your hearts, and enrich them to His glory, you must abide in the vale of humility. (Rowland Hill.)Humility of the truly great servants of Christ Canon Auriol was invited on one occasion to preach an ordination sermon, at Carlisle, by the late Bishop Waldegrave. On the Sunday morning, as a large party, consisting of the Bishop’ s family, the chaplains, and the candidates for holy orders, were sitting round the breakfast table at the Bishop’ s residence, the Bishop repeated a text of Scripture suited to the occasion, and then called on each of those present do the same. This being a well-known weekly custom at Rose Castle, everyone was prepared, and as each text was repeated it was most interesting to remark what was the uppermost feeling in the minds of the several young men about to be ordained, some expressing bright hope as to their future, such as “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” some rather breathing a prayer for grace and guidance, such as “ Hold up my goings in Thy paths that my footsteps slip not.” But when it came to Mr. Auriol’ s turn there was a pause of a moment or two; and then it was seen that the old veteran was overcome by emotion. At last he began “ Unto me who am less than the least of all saints,” here his voice faltered and his eyes moistened, but recovering himself, he went on, his voice gaining strength as he proceeded, “ is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” The effect was most impressive. It was felt that if such are the feelings of one who has spent so many years in the Master’ s service, and who has been so highly honoured of Him as His minister in holy things, what ought to be the humility and the casting away of high-mindedness on the part of younger men. His words produced a hush of reverential awe. Humility aided by sorrow About the ruins of an ancient castle, abbey, or cathedral, green moss and incidental flowerets break out from the rifts and rents as if they would beautify the ruin. So it is amid the wrecks of a broken heart that the sweet flowerets of humility, and lowliness, and love, and peace begin to germinate and grow, refreshed by God’ s sun and watered by His dews, and adorning the character that His grace has created, and making it the admiration of others and acceptable to Himself. (J. Cumming.) Acts 20:20-21 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable.Reticence avoided The verb is one which belongs to the vocabulary of sailors, and was used for taking in or reefing sails. He, St. Paul seems to say of himself, had used no such reticence or reserve, but had gone on his course, as it were, before the wind, with all his canvas spread. (Dean Plumptre.)St. Paul’ s ministry I. Its nature--Testimony. He laid no claim to originality: he was simply a witness to tell just what he knew, no more, no less, and in such a way as to create conviction.1. This testimony was-- (1) Complete--“ I kept back nothing” : “ I shunned not to declare all,” etc.(2) Profitable. It is worth man’ s while to listen to it. “ Godliness is profitable,” etc.(3) Clear--“ Showed you.”(4) Educational--“ Sought you.” 2. This testimony was delivered-- (1) Publicly.(2) Privately. II. Its objects--“ Jews and Greeks.”1. To all men as generally typified by those two great races. The gospel is an universal remedy for an universal need. 2. To those whom Jews and Greeks specially represent. (1) The Jews as representing the Pharisaism, Sadduceeism--the formalism and religious freethinking of all time.(2) The Greeks as representing the culture, science, art and worldliness of every age. III. Its themes.1. Repentance--the afterthought which is the result of the discovery and sense of sin. Hence it is-- (1) Self-knowledge--coming to one’ s self.(2) Self-abhorrence.(3) Hatred of that which has made self what it is.(4) Penitential sorrow before God.(5) Change of life. 2. Faith. Repentance is of no value in itself and cannot atone for sin nor avert sin’ s consequences. The object of faith is Christ who has borne our sins. The penitent sinner trusts Him and is saved. (J. W. Burn.)The man and the doctrine 1. Paul considered his hearers; he acted as a wise physician; he studied each individual case and gave to each a portion of meat in due season. There are great public utterances to be made, and private individual messages to be attended to. The gospel is not to be delivered with want of discrimination; but is to speak to every soul as if it were the solitary occupant of the universe--the one creature in the presence of the Creator. 2. In recounting his ministry, Paul said, “ I have taught you publicly, and from house to house.” One would like a record of his house-to-house talk. To have heard Paul speak on great themes in a little sphere would have been an education. What child has not been fascinated by seeing what appeared to be the whole sun inside a frail dewdrop? And what traveller has not paused a moment to see some kind star condescending enough to hide itself in the depth of a crystal well, as if it were shining in two heavens at once? To have seen Paul at the fireside, or to have heard him talking to some little child, or to have watched him at some bedside near the dying sufferer--to have heard his voice when it was attuned to the hearing of one listener alone! Men are seen in little things, on small occasions. This great gospel will go anywhere, and be just the same whether drawn on a large scale or a little one. Do not be discouraged because you can only discharge a public ministry; and do not you be discouraged because you can only discharge the house-to-house ministry. Each man has his own gift of God. Happy he who works his own gift and not another man’ s, and wise the people who, recognising the one gift, do not bemoan the absence of other accomplishments. 3. What did the apostle say both “ publicly and from house to house” ? (Acts 20:21). The one thing that cannot be changed is the message which the gospel has to deliver to the human heart, and that message cannot be expressed in more significant terms than “ repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” If your religion rested upon other foundations, I wonder not that it has been much troubled by contemporary assault, but if your religion finds its foundations in Acts 20:21, it cannot be touched. Where is there a heart that can say in its most serious moments that it has no need of repentance? What man is there that does not feel, under the pressure of his own guilty memories, that he needs a help other than his own? If that man has to be delivered, he must be delivered by another hand than his own, and that action is best represented by the words “ faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” 4. Having laid down some outline of his manner of life and doctrine, the apostle comes to a point of departure (Acts 20:22-23). It was a dark outlook; how is the darkness relieved? In this case as in all others: by an immediate and definite reference to Divine providence. “ I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem.” When a man lives in this doctrine, he may go forward into darkness, but he goes forward with a solid and solemn step. Not one ray of hope in all the outlook! “ In every city--bonds--afflictions.” What a tribute to the sustaining power of the doctrine he had taught! The bonds were many, the afflictions were heavy; what outweighed them all? The sense of God’ s presence and God’ s favour. If one thing above another has been demonstrated by Christian history, it is that the Christian spirit may be so vital in a man as to make him forget all care and pain and labour and sorrow, and make him triumph and glory in tribulation also. What comforted Paul will comfort us. This is the eternal quantity of the gospel--never changing, never lessening. There are amongst us men who can rise in the Church today and say, “ But for the grace of God, I would not have been a living man this day.” The men who would render such testimonies are men whose intellectual sagacity has been tested and proved in the market place, in the realm of politics, along the lines of ordinary social life. I have buried the child of a man who had no consciousness of God, and I have seen that man reel back from his child’ s open grave mad with hopeless grief. I have also buried the child of parents who have lived in God, and as the little coffin has been let down, they have been enabled to say, “ It is well with the child.” In such extremities we find out the value of man’ s religion. (J. Parker, D. D.)Testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.--The apostle’ s testimony From the nature of this testimony we see-- I. The genuineness of Paul’ s conversion. II. The impartiality of his ministry. “ Jews and also the Greeks.” III. The purely evangelical nature of his doctrine. Repentance and faith. IV. The objects and two-fold exercise of the sinner’ s salvation.1. Repentance toward God. Thus admitting that the law has been broken, and thereby expressing the need of a Saviour. 2. Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus accepting Him as a sufficient Redeemer from the curse of the broken law. (T. Colclough.)Repentance and faith Here are mentioned two qualities, repentance and faith, which are requisite to the profitable entrance upon Christian life. We are not mere pieces of machinery, but responsible creatures, with a mind to think, a soul to feel, a heart to be susceptible, and a will to determine. I. Repentance toward God. Take a glance, with your mind’ s eye, at the bearing of God toward us, and see whether it correspond with our bearing toward Him. Creation, preservation, redemption--these mark His mind and dealings: forgetfulness, neglect, sin--these things mark ours. What concord is there between his goodness and repulsive ingratitude? What agreement between acts of love, kindnesses promised; and, on the other hand, a distant dislike of that God’ s presence, an anxiety to keep away from Him, and an almost studied absence from His worship and service? Were it, then, on account of ingratitude alone, we have ample motive for repentance. Now, repentance is something more than a passing feeling. Unless we are doing our best to shake off the power of iniquity, it is useless to say that we repent. Our repentance needs to be repented of. Our sorrow is but skin deep. II. The second element of the apostolic preaching remains to be considered, viz., faith. Repentance towards God was a feature of Old Testament holiness; but faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is the eminent characteristic of the new. In the gospel the two are combined, and the due exercise of repentance gathers force and stimulus from its union with the process of faith. The Son of God is the object of faith. “ Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid; but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” Let us, therefore, cultivate such a faith as we believe in our hearts to be prescribed and enforced in holy writ--faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Reconciler and Author of peace. (E. Jacox, B. A.)Paul’ s method of preaching Let us consider-- I. How the apostle preached the gospel.1. He always made a point of explaining the gospel. He knew that it would be preposterous to call upon men to embrace it before it had been made clear. 2. After he had explained the gospel, he taught them what it was to embrace it. In repentance, the sinner fixes his eye and his heart upon God, whose law he has broken, and whose displeasure he has incurred. In faith he fixes his eye and his heart upon Christ, and loves Him for doing that which renders it consistent with all the perfections of God to pardon and save the penitent. 3. He urged them to repent and believe immediately. As soon as he had taught sinners the nature, design, and terms of the gospel, he exhorted them to embrace it without delay. II. The propriety of the apostle’ s urging sinners to embrace the gospel immediately.1. Because sinners are capable of embracing the gospel as soon as they understand it. Though the moral depravity of sinners has weakened their intellectual powers, yet it has by no means destroyed them. All men act upon this principle in their common conduct. The legislator, the officer, the parent, the master first instructs, and then commands. After any person has instructed another in duty, there is a propriety in his exhorting him to an immediate compliance. This holds in regard to religious instruction as well as to any other. 2. Because it was agreeable to the directions which Christ had given to His ministers. 3. Because it was in conformity with the example of all the sacred instructors who went before him. He addressed sinners in the same manner in which the ancient prophets addressed them. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Two necessary things for all I. Repentance. A ladder of sorrow, by which we descend into the depths of our own hearts: it has three steps.1. Knowledge of sin.2. Sorrow for it.3. Desire of salvation from it. II. Faith. A heavenly ladder, on which we mount to God and eternity; it has also three steps.1. Knowledge that the Redeemer has come.2. Holy joy that He has taken up His abode with us.3. Unshaken confidence in His saving grace. (Lisco.)Repentance and faith The gospel of Jesus Christ began with the Baptist preaching repentance along with faith (Matthew 3:2). Jesus began His preaching with the same themes; and here we find them the staple doctrines of Paul’ s ministry (Matthew 4:17). These two are not the highest of the graces. Repentance was not required of man in paradise, nor is it enjoined upon angels and saints in heaven. There is a higher grace than faith, viz., charity. Repentance and faith are the lowest steps of the ladder by which we must ascend; the two-leaved gates by which we enter the temple. The teacher does not begin with science but with rudiments. The physician does not say to his patients, Be healthy; he requires them to submit to a course of medicine. It is after this manner that our Lord deals with man, and this in thorough accordance with our nature. As sinners we have to start from the low ground of repentance and faith, that we may rise to love, obedience, holiness, and heaven. I. Repentance towards God.1. If men have sinned, it needs no argument to prove the necessity of repentance. Should some proud formalist or self-righteous Pharisee demur, I affirm that such have the greatest need to have their hearts melted. 2. As to the nature of repentance it is-- (1) A true sense of sin; not a mere fear of the consequences of sin, as when a man gets himself into trouble by a wrong act, and is vexed with himself for being so foolish. One may do all this, and yet love the sin as much as ever. Cain was not a penitent when he said, “ My punishment is greater than I can bear.” The true penitent regards sin as disobedience to the law of love, and grieves over it as giving offence to God who has shown him such kindness. He sees it to be injurious to his own best interests and those of his fellow men. Sometimes the repentance begins in a sense of some particular sin; but it does not stop there. Show the physician an outward symptom, and he may have to follow it to its source in a deeply seated distemper. In other cases, penitence begins in a deep sense of the evil of sin generally, and the depravity of our nature. (2) An apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. Despondency, or despair, is not repentance. The showers are always lightened by sunshine from heaven, and the tears run down the furrows made by smiles. The proper attitude of the penitent is that of the woman who was a sinner--not mourning in empty solitude, but seeking out Christ, coming to Him in holy boldness, pouring out his sorrows to Him, and laying his sins upon Him. (3) Earnest and determined purpose to give up sin. This is μετανοία--the change of mind in which true penitence is consummated. There are other and lower kinds of repentance, such as Pharaoh’ s, when the plagues were upon him; but when they passed away, his repentance also passed away. Such as Judas’ s, who returned the thirty pieces, but who went out and hanged himself. Genuine repentance always carries with it reformation. At this point faith joins on to penitence. We turn to God through faith, and obtain strength to accomplish our end. II. Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.1. There is an idea that faith is a very mysterious exercise--visionary, unreal, inexpressible, and inexplicable. But there is no operation of mind more simple in itself, or which man is called on more frequently to employ. The boy believes in the love of his father, the pupil in the knowledge of his teacher, the youth in the trustworthiness of his friend, the farmer in the seasons, the patient in his physician, the merchant in the correspondence between demand and supply, and the scholar in the value of research. Now change the object: let it be a faith, not in an earthly but a heavenly Father; not in an erring human teacher, but a Divine and infallible one, etc., and it becomes the faith that saves. 2. What is faith as an exercise of the soul? Is it an act of the head, or the heart, or of both? I answer that these phrases need to be explained. “ With the heart man believeth” (Romans 8:10), but in Scripture the word stands for inward thought and feeling of every kind, and includes all the purposing and sentiment which pass through the mind prior to action. The Old Testament word for faith is “ trust” or “ confide.” The faith that saves is more than a mere intellectual judgment--it is trust, it is confidence, i.e., an exercise of the will, choice. So then faith consists of a consent of the will to the assent of the understanding--the two in combination raising feeling according to the nature of the truths apprehended and believed in. 3. It is the fundamental truth of the gospel and of all Scripture that the sinner is justified by faith. It is belief in Christ that brings relief to the soul of the sinner. The condemnation is felt to be lying upon it; the curse of God, revealed against all disobedience. But here in Christ is obedience, to meet our case as having no righteousness; here is suffering, to stand for the suffering which we have deserved: “ There is therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” But it does more than deliver us from condemnation. What a power there is even in our earthly faiths--as when men sow in the assurance that they will reap after a long season, and labour in the confidence of a distant reward! What an efficacy in the trust which the child reposes in the parent, which the scholar puts in his teacher, which the soldier places in his general! As it walks on courageously, faith discovers an outlet where sense feared that the way was shut in and closed. To it we owe the greatest achievements which mankind have effected in art, in travel, in conquest. But how much more powerful is faith in God! It is no doubt weak, in that it leans; but it is strong, in that it leans on the arm of the Omnipotent. It is a creature impotency, which lays hold of the Creator’ s power. “ We are justified by faith” (Romans 5:1); “ It purifies the heart” (Acts 15:19); “ It worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6); “ It overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4). It is by it we are lifted above the trials of this world and prepared for death and heaven. III. The relation of repentance and faith to each other. Theologians have disputed as to whether faith or repentance comes first. It is urged that there can be no repentance till the soul has turned to God by faith, and, on the other hand, that there cannot be forgiveness, which implies faith, without repentance. Really the two come together; there is never faith without repentance, nor repentance without faith. Each tends to produce, and in fact implies, the other. The sinner will not be apt to have faith till he sees his sins; and, on the other hand, faith in the holy God will constrain him to repent. Sometimes the one of these is the stronger, and sometimes the other. There are cases in which the sense of sin is so deep that the person has difficulty in appropriating by faith the mercy of God--has only, as it were, a glimpse of the sun through a thick cloud. In other cases faith looks so intently on the light that it does not notice the darkness.2. The difference between them is indicated in the text. Repentance is “ toward God” ; faith is “ toward the Lord Jesus Christ.” Both are toward God; but the one looks more toward God, whose law has been broken; the other toward God in Christ, who is reconciling the world unto Himself. Repentance looks primarily and mainly to the sin; faith to the salvation provided. The one looks down to the sins in the soul, like as Israel, when bitten by serpents, may have looked to the wounds in their prostrated bodies; the other looks to the Saviour lifted up, as Israel looked to the serpent of brass. The one looks back upon the past, mourns over it, and turns away from it; the other gazes forward into the future, and prompts us to go on in the path which leads to purity and to heaven. 3. Each serves a purpose. Faith brings us to the mercy seat; but it is to confess our sins and to find relief in consequence. Repentance acknowledges the guilt, and would break the hardness of the heart, which, however bruised, will not be melted except under the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Repentance is the ploughing of the ground which needs to be torn up, while faith sows the living seed which strikes out roots and grows in the pulverised soil. If either were alone, it would not accomplish its intended end. Repentance by itself would be despair, and would prostrate the energies. Faith, if alone, might be tempted into vainglory, and land us in difficulties and inconsistencies, and we should fall into the mistake of the person mentioned in ancient fable, who in looking up to the stars fell into the ditch. Faith is the sail that catches the breath of heaven, while repentance is the ballast which gives us stability in the voyage; and by the two we are made to pursue the steady course. The Christian character is the strongest when the two are happily combined--when the firm and the flexible are united; when the bones are clothed with muscle and flesh. It is the most lovely when the darker hues of penitence run through the brighter colours of faith. (J. M’ Cosh, D. D.) Acts 20:22-24 And now, behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem.The future (New Year’ s sermon):--The text presents the future as something-- I. We are Bound to face. Paul was under the pressure of no bodily compulsion, yet he had to go.1. All men are under this necessity. (1) Many would like to stand still--like children who would have their holidays last forever. (2) Others would like to go back--to repair mistakes. Embrace lost opportunities, etc. (3) But this is now impossible. The law of progress is written on our lives. 2. But impotent as is the will to decide the direction of life it can in a measure shape that direction. The future is fixed by God: its character and issues are to be determined by ourselves. (1) We may let ourselves drift. (2) We may resolve to live for self. (3) We may subordinate our will to God’ s as Paul did. He was going to Jerusalem to serve God’ s Church and to bear testimony to God’ s gospel. II. To be encountered with fortitude.1. Paul was not perplexed by the uncertainties of the future. He practised what he taught, “ Be careful for nothing,” etc. 2. He was not appalled by the certainties of the future. Prophetic intimations from city to city told him that bonds and imprisonments awaited him (chap. 21). Analogous presentiments are not unknown now. But apart from these “ old experiences doth attain to somewhat of prophetic strain.” Past difficulties and sorrows, growing infirmities, and gray hairs here and there, are but shadows of coming events. 3. But Paul was neither perplexed by the one nor appalled by the other, because he knew he was being led by the will of God. (1) Guided by God’ s counsel, he knew that the way he was going was the right and best way. (2) Sustained by God’ s arm, he knew that God’ s grace would be sufficient. (3) And thus, to his great joy, he knew that the will of the Lord would be done. When he reviewed the circumstances it was without regret (Philippians 1:20). III. To be welcomed with joy (Acts 20:24).1. Life is a course which is desirable to finish--not simply to close. Life may be prolonged and yet not be complete. There is nothing sadder than physical development unaccompanied by intellectual and moral growth. The racer may run long and yet break down, or his laggard steps may leave him in the rear: so we may run in vain. Long life is not so much to be wished for as a complete one. 2. In order to finish the course it is necessary to compass the ministry of life--to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 3. This double consummation will be crowned with joy. (1) The sense of completeness will bring joy. So will--(2) The benediction of a blest humanity.(3) The approval of a satisfied conscience.(4) The Master’ s “ Well done.” 4. To achieve this joy we must be willing to surrender what men usually most value. “ I hold my life of no account.” (J. W. Burn.)The Christian’ s onward course I. In meeting and passing by “ things that hinder.”1. At Miletus the farewell to the elders. The purpose of a great love to be no hindrance in Christ’ s work. Separations incidental to service. 2. At Tyre certain disciples who told him “ by the Spirit” that he should not go up to Jerusalem. Contradictory voices and perplexities. The ultimate decision is thrown on a man’ s own responsibility. 3. At Caesarea “ Agabus took Paul’ s girdle,” etc. A Divine prophecy of danger is to be of less force than a Divine inspiration of duty. The bondage of the Spirit in the cause of right mightier than the bonds of men. 4. Intense emotion to be no restraint in the activities of service--“ What mean ye to weep and break mine heart?” Conscience is to be supreme over feeling. Paul a magnificent example to us in the journey of life. A man going straight on under the overmastering impulse of the right. II. In uncertainty of the future. “ Not knowing,” etc. The next step is in shadow. Tomorrow is behind the veil. III. In knowledge of the future. These are not contradictory; we know not and yet we know. He who takes service with Christ may see in the light cast on life by His prophetic words, outlines of the narrow way. Like mountains rising through the mist, he can see from afar the heights he has to climb. “ Bonds and afflictions abide with me.” Whatever there is not, there will be a fellowship of suffering with the Master; and the closer the companionship, the more severe the suffering may be. IV. Under the guidance of a controlling principle.1. Following the spiritual lead the Christian is able to deal with unexpected events. New circumstances come with the new hours; they master the ordinary man, as the drift and the gale have their way with the rudderless ship. The man under spiritual subjection has sovereignty over the varying events of life, and uses them as helps to the right course. 2. In this experience faith must follow where reason can but dimly see. The Spirit of God is an all-sufficient guide to the spiritual man. 3. In this experience the Right will become clearer in the progressive Light. Nor will the right be determined by the removal of difficulties; “ bonds and afflictions” may come, but in them and with them the inner peace. 4. The consistency of Paul’ s course. This is the outcome of the initial act (Acts 9:6). 5. The bondage of the Spirit the truest liberty. Contrast with this Divine power the forces under which men put themselves in subjection--the money power, the world power, the self power. These promise liberty. Service on the one side leads to lordship; on the other, imaginary freedom conducts to bonds and affliction unto death. V. As characterised by a grand stability. “ None of these things move me.” It is the strong motive power that leads right on through waves and storms. Then the glorious end--“ that I may finish my course with joy.” Every man’ s course will finish, but will he finish it? Under subjection to death or triumphing over it? (W. K. Lea.)The spirit of duty is I. A binding spirit. “ I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem.” Urged by the force of his convictions of obligation to Christ, not merely to renew old associations. The binding does not imply reluctance. To be bound by the spirit of duty is to be self-bound, is to be free. The necessities of souls, the claims of Christ, demand my presence in Jerusalem; just as Peter and John said, “ We cannot but speak,” etc., and himself, “ Necessity is laid upon me.” The Divine spirit of duty will listen to no excuses based upon inconveniences, or apparent inexpediences. It makes me feel I must be faithful, honest, spiritual; I must teach and do good. II. A heroic spirit. He was not afraid of--1. Threatened persecutions. He looked at them with a fearless heart: “ None of these things move me.” 2. Death itself: “ Neither count I my life dear.” Life is a precious thing, yet duty is far more precious to a Christ-inspired soul. Like Christ, the truly good have ever been ready to sacrifice life for duty. This conduces in every way to our well-being. But the sacrifice of duty for the preservation of life conduces to our degradation and ruin. III. An abiding spirit. “ So that I might finish,” etc. These words give us a view--1. Of the life of man. Paul regarded life-- (1) As a course. The allusion is to the Grecian race (2 Timothy 4:7 : 1 Corinthians 9:24). It is in truth a race, measured, so long and no longer--withal very short. (2) As a course which would have an end--“ finished.” (3) As a course that should be finished with “ joy” --not with terror, amazement and anguish, but “ joy.” It is Heaven’ s wish that we should all meet with a happy end. 2. Of the life of a minister. The life of a minister is that of-- (1) A most responsible trustee. The gospel is committed to his charge. (2) A solemn witness “ to testify the gospel.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Advancing by faith into the future In the dungeons of ancient castles there was often a dark winding stair called the oubliette which terminated suddenly in a treacherous opening through which the unwary captive was precipitated into a deep abyss, and dashed in pieces on the rocks beneath. The future is, to some of us, in imagination such an oubliette. We tremble to take another step lest we should leap into sudden calamity, or into the jaws of death. But if we could only look at the matter aright, from the standpoint of faith, the tremors of apprehension would give place to the complacency of hope and trust. I have met somewhere with the anecdote of a father who, desiring to illustrate to his little daughter the nature of faith, concealed himself in a dark chamber in the basement of the house, and called upon the child to jump down into the darkness, assuring her that he would catch her in his arms. For a moment or two she hesitated, but the tones of the familiar and well-loved voice reassured her, and making one bold leap, she found herself the next instant clasped and caressed in her father’ s embrace. A kiss was all the harm she got by her venture. The heart of the darkness was her father’ s bosom. So will it be with us who have grace to trust God for the future. Let us advance, not tremblingly, but confidingly. That advance, if a leap in the dark, is not a leap into the dark. We shall find ourselves safe in a Father’ s arm, and feel a Father’ s heart beating next our own. (J. Halsey.) Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself.Paul’ s devotedness to his work We note here-- I. Calm determination.1. As to himself. He is greatly concerned as to the conduct of his own life. He has a great work to perform, and he is most anxious that nothing should mar it, or reflect discreditably upon the great purpose of the gospel. He looks well to the end, but is vigilant all along the road. To finish as he would desire he must keep his loins well girded. He anticipates the crown, but meanwhile he is ready to bear the Cross unmoved. 2. His ministry. About this he was most jealous. Since he had first asked, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” he had been “ instant in season and out of season” in the pursuit of that one grand work of “ testifying the gospel of the grace of God.” Such determination could not be changed, such preaching none could silence. II. Ready sacrifice. “ Neither count I my life clear,” etc.1. This was no empty boast. Paul had already suffered. His Lord to him was ever more than his own life. 2. It was a spiritual appraisement. What was his life in comparison with that ministry with which he bad been put in trust? What his convenience or comfort? He could willingly “ suffer the loss of all things,” and even “ count them but dung,” that the great cause might be served (Romans 8:18). III. Simple steadfastness. He who exhorted others to be steadfast was a consistent exponent of his own teaching. This would have great influence now with the elders of Ephesus.1. Outward circumstances had no tendency to draw him aside. “ None of these things move me.” He could say, “ I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep,” etc. There was firm conviction, solid faith, calm rest, simple steadfastness. 2. His words stretched away into the future. As to themselves, see Acts 20:29-30. As for himself, he would finish his course with joy. He had put his hand to the plough and would not look back. The prize was infinitely worthy of the work, the race, the fight. (E. M. Houchin.)Paul’ s faithful determination Paul betrays in these words several valuable characteristics. I. Firmness. “ None of these things move me.” What things?1. Excitement of travelling. How weary and tired. 2. Love of the Churches. Ephesus (chap. 20.); Tyre (Acts 21:4-5). 3. Personal friendship (Acts 20:8-13). Philip, Timothy, Luke, Silas, etc. II. Self-sacrifice. “ Neither count I my life dear,” etc. (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:16). His life was daily self-sacrifice, and death would be but short pain. But Paul’ s life was not his own; hence his Master would take care of His own property; and Paul could say, Philippians 1:23-24. III. Perseverance. “ So that I might finish my course,” etc. Paul was now on his way to Jerusalem with the offerings of the Gentile Churches to the poor in that city. It was a part of his “ ministry” ; he could not turn aside, whatever the result. IV. Gratitude. “ To testify the gospel of the grace of God” (verse 13). “ For the name of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 2:20), “ who loved me.” Yet he loved earthly friends too; how hard to grieve them! “ If you weep thus you will break my heart, though you cannot divert me from my work.” (Homilist.)Paul’ s devotedness Note-- I. The fact that a man was able to say of all the afflictions of life, “ None of these things move me.” We have here--1. Calmness. It is a great gift of God, to think deliberately, to speak discreetly, to act wisely. Self-possession is a great secret of life; and I know no road to real self-possession but true religion. “ Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.” 2. Elevation. He looks down upon “ these things,” and says, “ None of them move me.” For so it is with a spiritual mind, as it is with the natural senses--when we get up high, things, which looked before so large, grow so diminutive. Elevation--getting nearer to the grandnesses of eternity--makes the things of this little world seem what they really are. 3. Independence. The man who wishes to be independent of external circumstances must be dependent upon God. II. That Paul connects “ None of these things move me” with “ Neither count I my life dear unto myself.” The less is in the greater. If what man calls “ life” is “ not dear to him,” then, undoubtedly, all the circumstances of life could not be very great to him. But then the question comes, How is a man to be able to say this? By having a deep inner life which supersedes that outer life, which to every natural man is everything. But it is not only so--for he who has the life of grace is always looking on, through it, to the life of glory; and this life becomes, in the balance, very little, because he is always living on, by faith, in that life of glory, to which he is hastening. III. He goes on, “ So that i might finish my course with joy.” To him life was a race, and, like a good runner, he thought of the goal as the recompense for all the difficulties of the way. And what is it to “ finish the course with joy” ? To hold on a consistent life, through God’ s grace, to the end; and when that end comes, to put no shame on our profession; but to be able to “ testify the grace of God,” and glorify a dying hour; and then, as we pass away, to see the crown waiting in our Saviour’ s hand, and to have the full and confident expectation that we are going to receive the recompense. If you can see that end all that stands in the way will “ not move you.” IV. He looked at his work: “ And the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” The great remedy for affliction is work; and, being Christian work, it is sure to be the antidote of trial. Now, St. Paul turned away from “ the bonds and the afflictions,” and he thought of his “ ministry” ; and, if so be he could only work at this, it was enough for his consolation. And what is this work? Is not it always to be “ living witnesses” by our life--by our words--by our works--to the gospel--the great, gladdening process--the perfect goodness and free favour of God. And, if only you can realise that work, you will be able to say of “ this life,” “ it is not dear to you” ! (J. Vaughan, M. A.)The true value of life Life is a matter of very small account to anyone in comparison with duty doing; whether a man realises this truth or not. Whatever is worth living for is worth dying for, if dying be an incident to its pursuing. When the Roman general, Pompey, was warned against the danger of his returning from Egypt to Italy, to meet a new trouble in his own land, his heroic answer was: “ It is a small matter that I should move forward and die. It is too great a matter that I should take one step backward and live.” Life is never well used when it is held dearer than duty. He who would tell a lie in order to live is willing to pay a great deal larger price for his life than that life is worth to himself--or to others. Richard Baxter has Paul’ s idea when he sings, “ Lord, it belongs not to my care,” etc. Not counting life dear John Penry, one of the noblest sons of Wales, offered up his life in the cause of his God and his country on the 29th of May 1593. In some of his last words to his countrymen he says, “ The inhabitants of the city of Thasus being besieged by the Athenians made a law that whosoever would motion a peace to be concluded with the enemy should die the death. Their city began to be distressed, and the people to perish with the sword and famine. Hegetorides, a citizen, pitying the estate of his country, took a halter about his neck, came to the judgment place and spake, ‘ My masters, deal with me as ye will; but in any case make peace with the Athenians, that my country may be saved by my death.’ My case is like this man’ s: I know not my danger in these things. I see you, my dear native country, perish; it pitieth me. I come with a rope about my neck to save you. Howsoever it goeth with me, I labour that you may have the gospel preached among you. Though it cost my life, I think it well bestowed.” Difficulties are God’ s errands In times of war, whom does the general select for some hazardous enterprise? He looks over his men, and chooses the soldier whom he knows will not flinch at danger, but will go bravely through whatever is allotted to him. He calls him that he may receive his orders, and the officer, blushing with pleasure to be thus chosen, hastens away to execute them. Difficulties are God’ s errands, and when we are sent upon them we should esteem it a proof of God’ s confidence. The traveller who goes round the world prepares himself to pass through all latitudes and to meet all changes. So a man must be willing to take life as it comes, to mount the hill when the hill swells, and to go down the hill. “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Danger to be met Ten years ago, whilst in college (if I may be forgiven a personal reference), I read what I thought then and think still, to be one of the noblest avowals ever made. I quote it because of its influence upon my own life then and since. “ If” (said Francis Xavier) “ those islands had scented woods and mines of gold, Christians would have courage enough to go thither, nor would all the perils in the world prevent them. They are dastardly and alarmed, because there are only the souls of men to be gained. And shall love be less hardy than avarice? ‘ They will destroy me,’ you say, ‘ by poison.’ It is an honour to which such a sinner as I am may not aspire. But this I dare to say, that whatever form of torture or of death awaits me, I am ready to suffer it ten thousand times for the salvation of a single soul.” The spirit that breathed in those words was the spirit of an utterly selfless love; and every man amongst us, who can even faintly echo them, has placed his hands upon the secret springs of power. (T. Longhurst.)A Christian sense of honour “ If I served in the Queen’ s army,” said John Bowen, when offered the Bishopric of Sierra Leone, “ and on being appointed to a post of danger, were on that account to refuse to go, it would be an act of cowardice, and I should be disgraced in the eyes of men. Being a soldier of the Cross, I cannot decline what is now offered me because it exposes me to danger. I know it does, and therefore I must go. Were I offered a Bishopric in England, I might feel at liberty to decline it; but in Sierra Leone I must accept.” Christian heroism We note the parallelism of the text with Luther’ s famous declaration when warned by his friends not to go to Worms. “ I will go thither though there should be devils on every housetop.” When Tyndale was told that the bishops had burnt all the copies of his New Testament on which they could lay their hands, he calmly wrote, with a too sure presage of his after fate, “ In burning the New Testament, they did none other things than I looked for: nor more shall they do if they burn me also, if it be God’ s will it shall be so” ; and that he was prepared for that was amply proved that day at Vilvorde, when, standing at the stake, he cried, “ Lord, open the King of England’ s eyes!” So, too, when Calvin was menaced with violence, he grandly said, “ If this is what we have deserved at the hands of men whom we have struggled to benefit--viz., to be loaded with calumny and stung with ingratitude--then this is my voice, ‘ Ply your faggots!’ but we warn you that even in death we shall become the conquerors, not simply because we shall find, even through the faggots, a sure passage to that upper and better life, but because our blood shall germinate like precious seed, and propagate that eternal truth of God which is now so scorned and rejected by the world.” To come to more recent times, the records of the Indian Mutiny contain many instances of native Christians and English soldiers--some of them hardly out of their boyhood--who could not be moved to abjure Christ by the most exquisite tortures which savagism could devise; while the story of the Madagascar Church has chapters in it which, in point of Christian heroism, raise this century to a level with the first. Nor is this all. There are amongst ourselves martyrs in humble life who are daily exposed to sacrificial flames of which no one knows fully but Jesus: youths who brave all manner of insults rather than renounce their allegiance to their Lord; wives who bear meekly the bitterest taunts rather than be disloyal to Christ; husbands who carry in secret the weight of living crosses, whose burden is all the heavier, and whose nails are all the sharper because of their love to those who form them; workmen who face continually a whole battery of scorn rather than do what their Divine Master has forbidden. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Self-sacrifice must enter into all true work Dr. Holland writes thus of one of our great modern toilers: “ As I think of my old associate he seems to me like a great golden vessel, rich in colour and roughly embossed, filled with the elixir of life, which he poured out without the slightest stint for the consumption of this people. We did not know when we tasted it and found it so charged with zest that we were tasting heart’ s blood. A pale man, weary and nervous, crept home at three o’ clock in the morning, and while thousands were bending eagerly over the results of his night’ s labour he was tossing and trying to sleep. Yet this work was the joy of his life.” Faithful unto death During the war of Independence Lord Rawdon had to send an express of great importance through a country filled with the enemy, which a corporal of the 17th Dragoons, of known courage and intelligence, was selected to escort. They had not proceeded far before they were fired upon, the express killed, and the corporal wounded in his side. Careless of his wounds, he thought but of his duty. He snatched the dispatch from the dying man, and rode on till, from loss of blood, he fell, when, fearing the dispatch would be taken by the enemy, he thrust it into the wound until it closed upon it. He was found next day by a British patrol, with a smile on his countenance, with only life sufficiently remaining to point to the fatal depositary of his secret. In searching, the wound was found to be the cause of his death; but the surgeon declared that it was not mortal, but was rendered so by the insertion of the paper. (W. Baxendale.)So that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus. An overcoming faith I. The first infinitely important truth taught by our text is that to each of us a course has been prescribed, which each may call his course, and which each is to finish. “ My course,” says the apostle; but how forgetful are we all here. How constantly do we find Christians pleading something in their present condition as an excuse for their unfaithfulness, and persuading themselves that in other circumstances they would be more holy and devoted. “ Had I but other talents,” says the slothful servant, “ I would be useful.” “ For my part,” argues a second, “ were I only free from these embarrassments, nothing would interrupt my zeal and charity.” Let us settle in our minds this proposition, that to each individual God assigns his own course, and that his piety, and happiness, and acceptance, depend not on the course itself, but on his fulfilling it--not on the sphere in which the Christian moves, but on his glorifying God in it. An angel, sent to live on this earth, would not be at all concerned whether he were seated on a throne of diamond, or toiled as a scavenger sweeping the streets. His only solicitude would be about occupying the place designated for him, and glorifying God there. And we, if we would be useful or happy, must cultivate the temper of that angel. It is recorded of John the Baptist, that he “ fulfilled his course.” Paul says, “ I have finished my course.” How different the courses of these remarkable men I need not tell you; each, however, completed his course, and this constituted his piety. And just so now; how diversified are our circumstances, our trials, and duties, and difficulties. II. To every man a certain and definite time in given in which to finish his course: “ His days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee, Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.” III. What effect the truths I have been urging may have on your minds, I, of course, cannot tell. Upon Paul their influence was constant and powerful, as you see in the text. They filled him with ardour; they armed him for every event of life. They caused him to forget the past, to rise above the present, to fix his eye with an eagle gaze on the future, and to feel that the only object worthy of his cares, and toils, and sacrifices, was the glorious consummation, the joyful termination of his course. What, then, is the import of the language before us? I answer, it denotes plainly, that in the Christian’ s estate the finishing his course with joy is the great concern of life. Other and indispensable duties engage his hands; but they are only by-work, they are not the grand object. This is another import of the language of the text. It expresses the earnestness and intentness of the Christian’ s application to the course before him; and, once more, the words denote the constancy of that application. IV. I place such a man, for example, amidst the temptations and allurements of the world; but for him how impotent their assaults and solicitations! Maxims of this world, how false are ye all in his eyes! Examples of this world, how pernicious do your unsearchable seductions appear! No, the world is unmasked. The pleasures he seeks are pure and celestial. Eternal riches inflame his avarice. True glory is the object of his competition. I place this man, again, amidst the fears and discouragements of the believer. Fears, discouragements, how many, and from how many sources! Ah! see, he is now exposed to shame. He is persecuted and seized and forsaken. If the world despise him, he knows how to despise the world in return. And he sternly pursues his career with a courage only strengthened by opposition. And what more shall I add? In his afflictions, in all his trials and conflicts and sufferings, what ineffable consolations does not such a man taste; with what holy firmness is he not armed? “ I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” I was right, then, when I affirmed that in view of the joyful termination of his course, the Christian can be prepared for every event of life. And I was equally right in saying that such a prospect can do more; that it can make the Christian intrepid, nay triumphant, in the last hour, the trying conflict with death itself. Death is not to him what it is to all others.1. In the first place, such a man has formed a correct estimate of life. 2. In the next place, the very life which the Christian I am describing leads, must prepare him for death by weaning him from all earthly things. He dies daily to the world. (R. Fuller.)Finishing the Christian course I. His steadfast resolution and firmness of mind under present trials. And this lies in two things.1. That he was not moved by them: he was immovable at the threatening prospect. The expression imports not only a fixed resolution, but a wise and rational determination of mind, upon a due weighing and comparing things together, and considering the reasons on either hand. Nor was this a vain boast; for we find him steady and unmoved, preserving a firmness and composure of mind, and expressing a noble triumph and joy, in the greatest trials he met with (Romans 5:3; 2 Corinthians 12:10; Romans 8:18). 2. He did not value his life. “ Neither count I my life dear to myself.” I know the worst which can befall me, and the utmost my enemies can do; they can only kill the body, and take away my life; and I am so far from being afraid of suffering that I am not afraid of dying. My life is devoted to Christ, and ‘ tis the same thing to me to lay it out or lay it down for Him, to spend it in painful service or lose it by violent suffering. And we find this was actually the case, and the temper he expressed upon the trial (Acts 21:13; Philippians 1:20; 2 Timothy 4:6). II. His great desire and aim in it, or what he proposed to himself, and had in his eye, in this resolution of mind: “ That I may finish my course,” etc.1. To settle the sense and meaning of the expressions. “ To finish my course,” to perfect my course, and bring it to an end; to run out my race: for the allusion is to racers who run within the lines marked out to the appointed goal. “ And the ministry I have received of the Lord.” διακονίαν: If this word is agonistical, and signified the servants who attended in the race, the allusion is still preserved, and the expression the more beautiful. It plainly refers to the apostleship, or his extraordinary ministry immediately received from Christ. “ To testify the gospel of the grace of God.” To testify was proper to the apostles, who were peculiarly the witnesses of Christ. It was the “ gospel of the grace of God,” as it contained the greatest instance and display of the favour of God to the guilty world, and was bestowed upon any place by a special favour. “ With joy,” with cheerfulness and satisfaction of mind. The sense is, that I may fully execute the extraordinary commission immediately received from Christ, and have the satisfaction of a faithful discharge of it. Now, the finishing our course, whether Christian or ministerial, may be considered to signify, either-- (1) The entireness and completeness of it, or the performing every part of our proper work. In this sense we finish our course when we perform all the work which is cut out for us, and fill up the several capacities and relations of life with answerable duty, according to the circumstances of our condition and abilities of usefulness and opportunities of good (Psalms 119:6; Luke 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; Colossians 4:12). We leave our course unfinished in this view of it when it is defective, and we live in the neglect of any part of the Christian duty, or suffer any Divine command or appointment to be disregarded. Or-- (2) Perseverance unto the end. It is not enough to enter upon the Christian state, or go a considerable way in it; but we must go through it and reach the end of it (Luke 1:15; Luke 8:15, Hebrews 12:1). Or else-- (3) The cheerfulness and pleasure which ought to attend it (2 Corinthians 1:2; 1 John 3:21; Romans 15:13). 2. I shall consider more largely the grounds of it, or the reasons of such a desire and aim in all the sufferings and troubles of life. I shall consider them as extending to the common case of Christians, and represent and urge them ill all the various views referred to in the Scripture, the more to impress and affect our minds. (1) Our course is by the appointment and will of God. He is the Master of the race, who has marked out the ground, and prescribed the length and limits of the way we are to run. He has cut out our work and service in the stated duties of the Christian life, and the special services in which we are engaged. He has made it our duty by the appointment of His will, who is the sovereign Lord of the creature, and has a right to prescribe and to be obeyed. Besides, we are under the strongest obligations to God. We have taken the oath of allegiance and sworn fidelity to this great Lord. And our engagement in His service and acknowledgment of His authority is a standing obligation; as he who undertakes to run a race is obliged to exert himself and do his best to win the prize, or he who lists himself in the service is obliged to fight and obey orders. (2) There is a great savour and grace attending it. The Christian course itself is a dispensation of grace, attended with singular privileges and great advantages, and vouchsafed to any place by special favour (Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 6:1). We have many merciful assistances of light and grace; clearer discoveries of the will of God, and more powerful influence and aids, than the religion of mere nature, or any former dispensation of God to the world. We have the outward helps of gospel ordinances, which are wisely fitted to reach their gracious ends, to enlighten and refresh our minds, and recruit our spiritual strength; and the inward succours of the Divine presence and spirit (Ephesians 3:16; Romans 8:26; Romans 5:5; Romans 15:13). And how reasonable is steadfastness and perseverance under such encouragements and advantages! We are concerned in gratitude to God, and from a sense of kindness, to perform the Christian duty and finish our course, which is not only a wise and reasonable service, but made easy under all its difficulties by Divine aids. (3) The great danger we are in of failing and miscarrying. Our present graces and virtues are very imperfect, the appetites and passions of our natures are strong and unruly. There are many snares of sin round about us, many sensible objects, the baits of concupiscence, suitable to our various inclinations and temper of mind, and every circumstance and condition of life. And there is the old serpent the devil, the watchful adversary, who is always ready to deceive and ensnare us, to throw a false light upon things, to strike upon the weak side of our nature, to take the advantage of an unguarded moment, and make the best of every opportunity. And when these two things meet together, the weakness of our virtue and the strength of a well-timed and well-managed temptation, how great must our danger be! how easily are we drawn into sin and discouraged in the Christian course! The apostle uses this consideration in his own case (1 Corinthians 9:26). And upon this ground he often exhorts the Christians to caution and watchfulness (1 Corinthians 10:12; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 12:15; 2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11). (4) The honour of religion and of the Divine grace is very much concerned in it. It is the end crowns the work, and gives the glory and perfection to the whole. But now, on the other hand, when a Christian forsakes his profession and lets go his confidence; when the prevalence of sin and the power of temptation carry him off, and he is again entangled and overcome; how dishonourable is it to religion, what a reflection does it cast upon the Divine grace! It opens the mouth of insulting enemies, and ministers to their reproach and triumph, as if they had prevailed against all the succours of religion and aids of grace: so the name of God is blasphemed through them. (5) Unless we finish our course, all we have done in the meantime will be lost and in vain. We had as good do nothing as not to do to the purpose. We lose all we have been doing, as well as all we expect. (6) It will fare worse with us than if we had never begun. They who fall away after good beginnings, and forsake the profession and practice of religion after some trial and continuance, are in a more hazardous state, and of all others most difficulty recovered (Hebrews 6:4). And the reason is, they have laid waste their conscience, and are enslaved by sin, and have forfeited all friendly and gracious regards from God. Yea, and they fall under a greater displeasure from God, as they have abused a greater grace. (7) It is necessary to the final reward. He who fights in a warfare must first overcome before he is crowned and triumphs. We must be good and faithful servants before we can receive the approbation of our judge. (8) I would further suggest, especially to elder Christians, You are near finishing, and have not much of your course to run. You have held out a great while, perhaps through many trials of life; how sad would it be to miscarry at last! That would be like a ship richly laden, after a long and dangerous voyage from a far distant country, suffering shipwreck, or bulging upon a rock, in the harbour’ s mouth. (9) It will make our passage out of the world at last more easy, and our entrance into heaven joyful. To this purpose the apostle directs (Hebrews 6:11). 1. I infer from hence that every Christian has his course of service appointed by God. How cheerful and ready will all our obedience be when we are thoroughly satisfied of the right of the authority and the reason of the command? 2. We must be prepared and resolved against difficulties and trials in our way. We must cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart, and not be soon shaken in mind, if we hope to be steadfast and unmovable, and not to fall from our own steadfastness. 3. We must not grudge our lives in the service of Christ, or think much to lay them down for His sake. 4. We learn from hence what to think of those who have not yet begun the Christian course; who have never heartily set about the Christian life, or been in good earnest in it, but lived in ignorance and careless neglect, in a deep security and unconcern of mind, or under governing habits and customs of sin; who are taken up with the business or vanities of life, and pursue their pleasures and interests in it, but never made a personal surrender of themselves to God, or made it their daily endeavour to do His will or be approved of Him; who never made religion the care of their souls or the business of their lives. The longer you continue in this state the farther you are from your end. These two are direct extremes, and stand at the greatest distance from one another, the finishing our course, and not beginning it. And what if you should die in the meantime, and be called off the stage of the world, while you are only considering and designing, and before you begin to act a proper part in it, or have done anything in order to it? 5. It is not enough to begin well, but we must finish our course too. There will be always something to do as long as we live, though life were extended to never so great a length, towards finishing our course and coming off well at last. And it should be our daily endeavour that the longer we live the better we may be, more refined from all sinful and earthly allay, more improved and confirmed in the Divine life, and fitted for the heavenly state, that our last days may be our best days, and our last works more than the first. 6. How happy are they who have finished their course! The satisfaction and joy which arises in a Christian’ s mind upon the finishing his course is unspeakable and glorious, and will recompense all the labour and sorrow he has met with in the way. And there is a great deal of reason for it, for when he has finished his course he is past all danger of miscarrying and being lost, and is placed out of the reach of temptation and snare and every envious and malicious power. And what reason have we of comfort, and not to sorrow as those who have no hope, for them who have finished their course and sleep in Jesus! 7. How much should it be our concern that present trials may not discourage us, and that we may finish our course with joy! Have you any work for God upon your hands or in your design? Leave it not neglected or unfinished, but make all proper dispatch. Is there any part of the Christian course, any ordinance of worship or duty of life, which lies neglected? See that it be immediately performed and attended to. Are there any of the graces of the Christian life remarkably defective, or any sins more than ordinary prevalent? Labour earnestly to have the one strengthened and improved and the other mortified and subdued, that what is lacking may be perfected, and that you may strengthen the things which remain. (W. Harris, D. D.)A joyful termination “ Finish my course.” There is a solemnity about the completion of anything. It may he a triumphant success or a disastrous failure. “ Finish my course.” All things must come to an end. No earthly being or object can go on forever. The river runs till it reaches the ocean, but it ceases then. “ Finish my course.” How much does this presuppose! The end implies the beginning. The course implies all the incidental events and changing scenes of the journey. “ Finish my course with joy.” All men finish their course and arrive at the goal. But how few there are who finish their course with joy! Too often the end brings grief, too often the arrival is at a miserable store of sorrow. I. We have great DESIRE--“ That I might,” etc. Joy is the great thing for which the human heart is always craving. And the joy here alluded to is not the transitory gratification of the moment, but the eternal joy of heaven. It is for this the Christian works, for this the Christian waits. This is his support through all the trials and difficulties of life. And this our Lord has taught us to desire. He Himself set us the example. “ For the joy that was set before Him,” etc.1. He will see that he is on the right road. It is impossible to finish the course with joy if we are on the wrong track. 2. He will see that he is exercising right methods. Among the many who would desire joy there is a large proportion who are mistaken in their ideas as to the method of obtaining it. 3. He will see that he is walking under right direction. He who trusts himself will fall, for he has no power to help himself. We must place ourselves under the entire direction of the revealed teaching of the Holy Spirit. II. Anxiety. There is a fear lest the desire might not be gratified. It is well that this should[ be so. Pride goeth before all.1. For, alas, it is possible to fail to realise this desire. 2. But the end, if attained, is all-important and momentous. It will make no difference whether a man has been born a king or a pauper, a merchant or a plough boy, if the end is peace and joy. Two urgent thoughts are to be impressed on us here.1. We cannot possibly anticipate a joyous end unless we live the life of the righteous, and the wish will be as vain as was the desire of Balaam. 2. We cannot possibly anticipate a joyous end unless that end is “ in the Lord.” “ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” (Homilist.)How can a servant of God finish his course with joy 1. When he has the peace of a good conscience, relying on the consciousness of faithful labour, and on the assurance of Divine grace (verses 18-20, 26, 27). 2. When he leaves behind him in the world the seed of the kingdom of God, which will spring up over his grave by the labour of his honest successors, and by the faithfulness of the Eternal God (verses 28-32). 3. When he ventures to hope in heaven for the gracious reward of his Lord (verse 24). (K. Gerok.)How to finish life’ s course with joy I. By early consecration. Salvation may be found in advanced life, but one of the richest joys of salvation is that of being able to say in manhood and in old age, “ I have feared the Lord from my youth.” II. By consistent profession. It is a grand thing when a backslider is truly restored, but grander far when there is no backsliding from which to be restored. What joy in being able to say at life’ s close, “ My heart has not gone back, neither have my feet declined from Thy ways.” III. By faithful, self-sacrificing service. This is rendered not only by missionaries and ministers, but by Christians in all spheres of life. In and for the Church, the school, and the world is a special work for each servant of the Lord. If it be done faithfully, cheerfully, lovingly, we shall finish our course with joy and have the abundant entrance, etc. (Andrew Bowden.)Life’ s course finished with joy Speaking of the wreck of the steamer in which Dr. Armstrong, secretary of the American Board, perished, Dr. J. W. Alexander says: “ They already expected to go to pieces at sunset, but they did not till 4 a.m. “ All night in the howling storm, the fires all out, the cold insufferable, a few biscuits, but no drink, and the bell toiling all the while. The last time Dr. Armstrong is reported to have been seen, he was standing above, surveying the scene, perfectly calm; he then uttered these words, I think to a hearer of mine. ‘ I entertain hope that we may reach the shore; but if not, my confidence is firm in that God who doeth all things in wisdom and love.’” Surely no man in the serenity of a dying chamber could be better employed. (Biblical Museum.)Life’ s course finished with joy Mozart, the great German composer, died at Vienna, in 1691. He had been working, for weeks, upon the “ Requiem,” an exquisite piece, his soul filled with inspirations of richest melody, and already claiming kindred with immortality. After giving to it the last touch, which breathed the undying spirit of sacred song, he fell into a sweet slumber, from which the gentle footsteps of his daughter awoke him. “ Come hither, my child,” he said, “ my task is done--the Requiem--my Requiem--is finished!” “ Say not so, dearest father,” exclaimed the gentle girl, almost beside herself with alarm; “ you must be better--you look better, for even now your cheek has a glow upon it. I am sure we will nurse you well again; let me bring you something refreshing.” “ Do not deceive yourself, my love,” returned the dying man; “ this wasted form can never be restored by human aid; from Heaven’ s mercy alone do I look for aid, in this my last hour. You spoke of refreshment, my child--take these, my last notes--sit by my piano here--sing them with the hymn of your sainted mother.” The devoted daughter obeyed, and when the piece was ended, she turned from the instrument, and looked for her beloved father’ s approving smile. It was the still, passionless smile which the rapt and joyous spirit had left--with the seal of death upon the placid face. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)The course finished with joy We may contemplate the apostle’ s course as-- I. Appointed. “ My times are in Thy hand” --the time of birth, death, prosperity, adversity, usefulness. The appointment is--1. High in its authority.2. Wise in its regulations.3. Good in its designs. II. Lengthened.1. Hence we have to admire the care of God in his preservation.2. Then what opportunities for usefulness in so long a career. III. Consistent. He was governed by--1. Christian principle.2. Prudence.3. “ Patient continuance in well-doing.”4. Endurance to the end. IV. Useful. V. Finished with joy. (S. Eldridge.)A mission accomplished I. Every life has a mission.1. Every life involves the highest powers in the universe. Their scope includes immortality as well as time. To build the soul within; to shape a graceful statue, or write a noble song, or construct a railroad, or send argosies across the seas are grand works, but not so grand as this. 2. Consecration to God’ s service. To make our home life more sweet and tender and joyful, and through the forces of character in ourselves to bless society; by instruction, gift, and example. 3. No one lacks opportunity. Resources which seem feeble have a vital part in the accomplishment of our mission. II. Whosoever accomplishes his errand with a steadfast purpose will finish it with joy.1. He enjoys peace of conscience.2. He rests in the consciousness of God’ s approval.3. He will be rewarded in the life to come.4. The fruits of his fidelity will continue. III. The acceptance of this Divine mission and its fulfilment is the secret of a joyous life. The Christian hastes onward to his goal with gladness as the ship speeding to the harbour unmindful of the spray which, because of its very speed, dashes across its deck. IV. Here is the secret of victory. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)Of the gospel I. The name and signification of it. The Greek word used for it signifies a good message, good news, glad tidings. II. The author and origin of the gospel.1. It is not of man; a device and invention of men (Galatians 1:11-12). 2. The gospel is from heaven. It is good news from a far country. III. The effect of the gospel when attended with the power and Spirit of God. IV. The properties of the gospel.1. It is but one; there is another, as the apostle says (Galatians 1:6-7). 2. It is called, from the objects of it, the gospel of the circumcision, and the gospel of the uncircumcision (Galatians 2:7). 3. It is a glorious gospel; so it is called (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Timothy 1:11). 4. It is an everlasting gospel; which is the epithet given it (Revelation 14:6). (Theological Sketchbook.)To testify the gospel of the grace of God.-- A gospel worth dying for Paul says that, in comparison with his great object of preaching the gospel, he did not count even his life to be dear to himself; yet we are sure Paul highly valued life. In another place he said, “ To abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” According to our text the apostle regarded life as a race which he had to run. Now, the one thought of a runner is how he can most speedily reach the winning post. So all Paul’ s energies were consecrated to one object--namely, to bear testimony to the gospel of the grace of God; and the life he lived was only valued as a means to that end. I. What was this gospel for which Paul would die?1. It is not everything called “ gospel” which would produce such enthusiasm, or deserve it. It is not worth while to die for a doctrine which will itself died out. I have lived long enough to see half a dozen new gospels rise, flourish, and decay. I have heard of one improvement upon the old faith and then of another; and philosophical divines are still improving their theology. I should like to ask them whether there is any positive doctrine in the Bible at all; and whether the martyrs were not fools to die for what the advance of thought has cast into disuse. 2. What is this gospel which Paul valued before his own life? That which most forcibly struck the apostle was that it was a message of grace, and of grace alone. In these days that word “ grace” is not often heard; we hear of moral duties, and scientific adjustments, and human progress. But grace is the essence of the gospel, the one hope for this fallen world, the sole comfort of saints looking forward for glory. 2. The gospel is the good news of grace. (1) It is an announcement that God is prepared to deal with guilty man on the ground of free favour and pure mercy. There would be no good news in saying that God is just; for that is not news--we know that God is just; and if it were news, yet it would not be good news, for we have all sinned, and upon the ground of justice we must perish. But it is news of the best kind, that the Judge of all is prepared to pardon transgression, and to justify the ungodly. This is a message worth dying for, that through the covenant of grace God can be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. That God is merciful and gracious, and is ready to bless the most unworthy, is a wonderful piece of news, worth a man’ s spending a hundred lives to tell. (2) In the gospel there is also revealed a motive for mercy which is in agreement with the grace of God. God, the highest of all intelligences, acts upon the highest reasons. He finds a motive in His own nature and mercy since He could not find it anywhere else. He will deal with guilty men according to the sovereignty of His will, “ to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” (3) In order to the accomplishment of the designs of grace it was necessary further that a gospel message should be issued full of promise, encouragement, and blessing. It speaks on this wise: Sinner, just as you are, return unto the Lord, and He will receive you graciously and love you freely. God hath said, “ I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (4) That this gospel blessing might come within the reach of men, God’ s grace has adopted a method suitable to their condition. “ How can I be forgiven?” saith one. “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” God asks of you no good works, nor good feelings, but that you be willing to accept what He most freely gives. Dost thou say, “ But faith itself seems beyond my reach” ? Then, in the gospel of the grace of God we are told that even faith is God’ s gift, and that He works it in men by His Holy Spirit. “ But I fear I should go back to sin; for I have no strength by which to keep myself for the future.” Hearken! the gospel of the grace of God is this, that He will keep thee to the end. I read in an old book a dream of one who was under concern of soul. He fell asleep and dreamed that he was out in the wilds in a terrible storm. He ran to the first house before him, but was denied admittance. He that dwelt there was named Justice, and he said in angry tones, “ Get thee gone--I cannot shelter a traitor to his King and God!” He fled to the next house, the mansion of Truth. Truth said, “ Thou art full of falsehood, thou canst not sojourn here.” He fled to the home of Peace; but Peace said, “ Begone! there is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked.” He could not then tell what to do, for the storm waxed yet more furious: when lo! he saw a portal over which was written “ Mercy.” “ Ay,” said he, “ this is the place for me, for I am guilty.” The door was open and he was welcomed there. To that house come in and be at rest. II. How can we live for this gospel of the grace of God? If anybody is to live for this gospel--1. He must have received it from God, and he must have received a call to minister or serve for it, and feel himself under bonds to hold and keep it; not so much because he has chosen it, but because it has chosen him. 2. He must make it known. Wherever Paul went he published the gospel. “ Oh,” says one, “ I cannot make it known; people would pay me no respect.” Just what they said about Paul--“ his personal presence is weak.” “ Oh, but I am no speaker.” That also is what they said of Paul--“ His speech is contemptible.” “ Oh, but if I were to say anything, I could not adorn it.” But Paul says, “ We use great plainness of speech.” 3. He must testify to the gospel--i.e., bear personal witness to it. Paul was specially qualified to testify, and how sweetly he told out the gospel of the grace of God when he said, “ I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern,” etc. Cannot you tell of your conversion, and let men know how free grace came to you when you looked not for it? 4. Nor would Paul end there; for he would often tell how, when he had been stoned and tried by false brethren, he had been upheld by the grace of God, and also what he had experienced of heavenly joys. My friend, if the gospel has done nothing for you, hold your tongue or speak against it; but if the gospel has done for you what it has done for some of us, tell it wherever you go; and make men know that even if they reject it, it is to you the power of God unto salvation, and will be the same to every man that believeth. III. Why we should live to make known the gospel of the grace of God. Because--1. It is the only gospel in the world. These mushroom gospels of the hour, which come and go like a penny newspaper, which has its day and then is thrown aside, have no claim on any man’ s zeal. These changing moons of doctrine are alienating the mass of the people from going to any place of worship at all. Why should they come to hear uncertainties? 2. It is for God’ s glory. It makes man nobody, but God is all-in-all. 3. Thus you will glorify Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The source of satisfaction To feel that we have done what we could--that we have really done our best--brings rest and satisfaction. The surgeon who has a critical case in hand, the issue of which is uncertain; or the jurist who has great interests committed to his consideration, and who cannot tell what results may follow his action, feels undisturbed if he knows that he has done his best in the trust given him to guard. On the other hand, if there be a lurking suspicion that some details have been overlooked, some matters neglected, conscience has no satisfaction. The Christian at the close of life may be able humbly and gratefully to say, “ I have done the best I could.” (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)Living to purpose Live for some purpose in the world. Act your part well. Fill up the measure of your duty to others. Conduct yourself so that you shall be missed with sorrow when you are gone. Multitudes of our species are living in such a selfish manner that they are not likely to be remembered after their disappearance. They leave behind them scarcely any trace of their existence, but are forgotten almost as though they had never been. They are, while they live, like one pebble lying unobserved amongst a million on the shore; and when they die, they are like that same pebble thrown into the sea, which just ruffles the surface, sinks, and is forgotten, without being missed from the beach. They are neither regretted by the rich, wanted by the poor, nor celebrated by the learned. Who has been the better for their life? Who has been the worse for their death? Whose tears have they dried up? Whose wants supplied? Whose miseries have they healed? Who would unbar the gates of life, to re-admit them to existence? or what face would greet them back again to our world with a smile? Wretched, unproductive mode of existence! Selfishness is its own curse; it is a starving vice. The man who does no good, gets none. He is like the heath in the desert, neither yielding fruit, nor seeing when good cometh; a stunted, dwarfish, miserable shrub. (J. A. James.) Acts 20:25-27 And now … ye … shall see my face no more.Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. Ministerial responsibility I. As deeply felt. Paul always felt it, but never more so than now, in addressing his audience for the last time. Every Sunday there are ministers who preach their last sermons, but they do not know it. If they knew it, how overwhelmed they would be with the sense of their responsibility. They would feel--It is the last time, therefore--1. We must correct any wrong impressions that we may have made. 2. We must bring forward every vital truth that may have been too much overlooked. 3. We must use every argument in our power to effect the conversion of souls. It must be now or never. Ought we not ever to preach as dying men to dying men? II. As terribly solemn (verse26). Two facts will throw light on this wonderful utterance.1. That preaching may involve the contraction of enormous guilt, either on the part of the preacher, the hearer, or both. The preacher who makes an unfaithful representation of the gospel contracts guilt in every discourse; and the hearer who rejects the overtures of mercy increases his condemnation. “ Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel,” etc. 2. That the preacher who rightly discharges his mission dears himself of any participation in the guilt that may have been contracted. “ I am pure” (clear), says Paul, “ from the blood of all.” Why (Acts 20:27)? He kept nothing back that was profitable. In ministering the truth he did not study what was popular, but what was essential to their salvation. If there was blood, therefore, anywhere, it was not on him. He was clean. III. As consciously discharged. The apostle had the sublime consciousness that he had faithfully discharged his duty amongst them. He looks them in the eye, and he appeals to them. “ Wherefore I take you to record” --I summon you as witnesses this day--an expression very strong in the original, meaning this very day. (D. Thomas, D. D.)For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.--Declaring all the counsel of God I. What are we to understand here by the counsel of God and when may it be said that a minister of Christ declares all that counsel.1. Matters of doctrine, which must be known, believed, and laid to heart. These are the foundation and source of all religion and morality, and are, therefore, first necessary to be declared. They comprehend the truths which concern the existence, perfections, creation, providence, and government of God; what man was and what he has become through sin; the person and offices of the Redeemer; the nature of the Holy Spirit and His saving operations; the future judgment, the resurrection, the blessedness of heaven. 2. Matters of grace and privilege. There are divers things which it is not sufficient to know in theory, but we must know them in experience: our sinfulness, repentance, faith and its fruits; adoption (Galatians 4:4), regeneration; a lively hope of eternal life (1 Peter 1:3); direction and help in all trials (Romans 8:14; Proverbs 3:16; Isaiah 41:10); all the graces of God’ s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23); communion with the Father and the Son by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 6:16; John 14:22; 1 John 1:3; Revelation 3:20); and hereby an earnest of heaven. 3. Matters of duty and practice to be performed and done. This branch of “ the counsel of God” includes the whole of piety and virtue, our duty to God, our neighbour, and ourselves. The decisions of the great day will turn on these evidences being produced or not (Romans 2:6-16). How sadly defective is their preaching who insist on doctrinal, or experimental, while they neglect practical religion! II. How does it appear that it is of importance to declare this counsel at all. The counsel of God--1. Is the chief subject of all the revelations made to the ancient patriarchs and prophets, and communicated by them to mankind (1 Peter 1:10-12). 2. The sole subject of the ministry of the apostles and evangelists (1 Peter 1:12). And to testify these things they were to sacrifice all things (Acts 20:22-24). 3. Engrosses the thoughts and engages the ministry of angels (1 Peter 1:12; Hebrews 1:14). 4. Was the object for which the Son of God became incarnate (Philippians 2:6-9), lived, suffered, died, rose, ascended. 4. God hath borne witness to the importance of these things (Hebrews 2:4), from the beginning under every dispensation: in Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, from Sinai, and Sion. 5. For the sake of these things, the Church, nay, the world, was built, and is supported. And whatever individual, or family, or town, or country, rejects, or even neglects these things, shall be destroyed, here or hereafter (Acts 3:23; Hebrews 12:25; Hebrews 2:1-3; Hebrews 10:26-31; Isaiah 55:12). III. What is the duty of those to whom this counsel of God is declared.1. They must “ take heed unto themselves” that they neither reject nor neglect what is thus delivered to them, but--that they consider, understand, and believe these matters of doctrine--that they experience and enjoy these matters of grace and privilege--that they comply with, and perform, these matters of duty and practice. 2. They must be awake to a sense of the danger, lest their minds should be diverted from this “ counsel of God,” by the temptations of the devil, the allurements of the world, the lusts of the flesh, the deceitfulness of sin, or by the “ wolves that shall enter in among them” (Acts 20:29), or the “ men” that shall arise “ speaking perverse things” (Acts 20:30), and against this they must “ watch.” 3. They must always “ remember” (Acts 20:31) the vast importance of these things, as manifested by what patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers, saints, and martyrs, and especially what Jesus Christ Himself has done and suffered on account of them; all of whom made these things the great business of their lives. 4. They must be sensible of their own weakness, and must apply “ to God,” by whose guidance, protection, and blessing, they can alone be preserved, and “ to the word of His grace,” in the diligent and faithful use of which Divine grace is increased, and “ built up” in true religion, and finally receive “ an inheritance among them that are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). (J. Benson.)The whole counsel of God Here is one of those passages in the New Testament which make a forcible appeal to the conscience of every man who has undertaken or is undertaking to serve God in Holy Orders. The words are such as escape men at the turning points of life, at entering upon or taking leave of great responsibilities--compressed, fervid utterances of the deepest thought and of the strongest currents of feeling--of thought and feeling which for the moment will not, be pent up and restrained within the barriers of ordinary habit, or of studied reserve. St. Paul says that he had declared the whole mind--that is, the whole revealed mind--of God. Observe, of God. His language excludes that conception of religious truth which makes it merely the product of the truest, purest, deepest thoughts of the highest and largest minds among the sons of men. The whole counsel of God! It was God’ s Word, not man’ s; it was neither the result of a thoughtful speculation, nor yet an approximate guess, nor yet a cunningly devised fable. Being God’ s Word, it was as a whole worthy of the best thought and love that His creature could give it. When St. Paul asserts that he has not “ shunned” to declare it, the word must remind us that there are many motives and hindrances calculated to keep a man back from doing that which must be done, if he fears his God, if he cares for his own soul, if he has any true love for the souls of those to whom of his own free will he undertakes to minister.1. Now one cause of failure in this primary duty would seem to lie in a lack of religious knowledge. It is much more easy to be deficient in essential knowledge of religious truth than we are apt to assume. May we not lapse into a habit of thinking and speaking of the doctrines of the gospel as if they were like soldiers in a regiment, so many units, each adding something no doubt to the collective bulk and area of doctrine, while yet in no way essential to its organic completeness, and therefore each capable of being withdrawn, without inflicting any more serious injury upon the entire truth than that of diminished size? Do we not hear persons talk of the articles of the Creed in this way, as if each article was a perfectly separate and new truth, as if each was, I might almost say, a new and gratuitous infliction upon the reluctant intellect of man, as if each was round and perfect in itself, and had no relations whatever to any truth beyond it? They fail to perceive the connection, the interdependence, the organic unity of all truth that rests on the authority of God. Their view is too superficial to enable them to do justice to that marvellous adjustment of truth to truth, of faculty to object, of result to cause, which is a direct and obvious perception to souls who gaze prayerfully and steadily at the complete revelation of Christ. The faith is, if I may say so with reverence, so marvellously compacted, so instinct with a pervading life, as to resemble a natural organism, I had almost said a living creature. No one truth can be misrepresented, strained, dislocated, much less withdrawn, without a certain, and frequently an ascertainable injury resulting to other truths which are supposed to be still unquestioned and intact. For there are nerves and arteries which link the very extremities of revealed doctrine to its brain and heart; and the wound which a strain or an amputation may inflict, must in its effects extend far beyond the particular doctrine which is the immediate seat and scene of the injury. 2. A second hindrance is lack of courage. To represent God as He is--as just no less than merciful, as punishing sin no less certainly than rewarding faith and holiness--this, to be done well and honestly, requires courage. Of old they understood this well, who went forth uplifting the Cross, while yet baring their breasts to death. They knew that the patient to whom they were carrying the medicine that would cure him would often refuse the draught, and would punish the physician who dared to offer it. But they loved man, and they loved and feared their God too sincerely and too well, to infuse new ingredients, or to withdraw any of the bitter but needful elements of cure. They accepted civil and social prescription; they endured moral and physical agony; they embraced, one after another, with cheerful hearts, the very warrants and instruments of their death, because they had counted the cost, and had measured too well the greatness of their task, and the glories of their anticipated eternity, to shrink sensitively back at the first symptoms of opposition, or of difficulty. St. Paul might have foreseen the conduct of Demetrius, and the tumult in the amphitheatre; but this was no serious reason for considering the worship of Diana as a sort of modified or imperfect revelation, or as anything short of a hateful lie. He did not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God. 3. The want of spirituality of heart and soul is a third cause of defective representation of doctrine. To speak for God to the souls of men, a man must himself, in his inmost soul, have consciously stood face to face with that truth of which he speaks. He must speak of God as one who has known at once His dread awfulness and His tender love; of sin, as that which he feels to be the one master evil, and with which as such he has struggled in good truth within his secret self; of Christ, His Person, His propitiatory and atoning death, His life-giving sacraments, as of the Person and acts of a dear Friend, loved with the heart’ s warmest and best affection, which yet adored with the deepest homage and by the chiefest powers of his prostrate spirit; of eternity as of that for which he is himself making daily solemn preparation; of prayer and the care of conscience and the culture of purity and truth within, as of things of which he knows something by trial and exercise, perhaps even something more by failure. Himself a redeemed sinner speaking to sinners who need or who have found their Redeemer, he will speak in earnest. 4. Once more; here, as in the whole field of ministerial labour, let a man work and pray for the grace of an unselfish spirit. How often are not we, the representatives of Christ, constrained to rebuke ourselves, humble ourselves, condemn ourselves, by the words which we speak from the chair of truth! Or take another illustration of the need of an unselfish spirit. It is possible, nay, probable, that we may have what are called favourite doctrines, sections or sides of truth through which God has in a special sense spoken to us, moved us, sanctified us (as we trust), saved us. Of these, no doubt, we can speak with more power, because with more intimate perception of their bearing on the secret springs of life and death. But we also speak of such points with less of moral and intellectual effort than of others; and this greater facility is likely to be the real cause of our giving them an undue prominence in our cycle of teaching, while we endeavour to whisper to our consciences, and to persuade our friends that these points are the essentials of the gospel, and that all the rest is comparatively unnecessary. Thus men teach the Atonement, and ignore the sacraments; or they teach the need of faith, and ignore the need of love and holiness; or they teach the beauty of our Lord’ s character, and forget His propitiatory and sacrificial death; or conversely, they insist upon the outward duties of religion, and do scant justice to the spiritual and internal forces of the soul. We must teach all that God has revealed, because He has revealed it, leaving it to Him to touch one soul by this, and another soul by that portion of His revelation. Nothing, however, but a spirit of genuine self-sacrifice, nothing but a true love of the souls of men, can enable a man so to forego his own predilections, so to throw himself into the state of mind, and points of view, and peculiar difficulties, and narrower or broader horizons of his hearers, as to lose himself, and the little history of his own spirit, in the mighty work of proclaiming in its perfectness the truth of God. We know how the great apostle combined this perfect consideration for others, with an unflinching, chivalrous loyalty to the claims of truth (1 Corinthians 9:19-22). (Cannon Liddon.)Paul at Miletus I. “All the counsel of God.” A subject so vast and yet so simple! One which “ angels desire to look into.” Yet the gospel can be uttered in a single breath, and one short sentence which a child might speak would express the Divine counsel. II. “ Not shunned to declare.” How declared?1. By the unreserved, full, faithful exposition of it in the public preaching of God’ s Word. No trimming--no suppression of any portion of it. 2. By seeking personal contact, and speaking to individual men and women “ from house to house.” 3. By setting it forth with the pen. What multitudes Paul has reached in this way! So did Luther and Calvin. 4. By showing it forth in the life. I have good faith in this method; sometimes it is the sole one at our command. III. “ Pure from the blood of all men.” The apostle had in mind, perhaps, that thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel, and those words so terrible which seem almost to chill the very marrow as we read them, or hear them read: “ So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shall hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me … if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” (F. Goodall, B. A.)Declaring the counsel of God We gather-- I. That the gospel contains matters uncongenial to the human mind. The whole counsel of God is--1. Humiliating. It proclaims sin and the fall, natural depravity. 2. Self-abnegating. It teaches that man can do nothing of himself. 3. Fear-inspiring. It tells us that, although God is love, He is above all things just. All these things the sinful man hates. They reveal him in an unpleasant condition and an undesirable state, and hold him up in the eyes of himself and of the world as lost, ruined, and worthless. II. That those who preach the gospel are not to refrain from proclaiming these disagreeable truths. Many would do so--1. From fear of wounding their hearers’ susceptibilities. It is not pleasant to cause pain. 2. From fear of depicting the Almighty as harsh and unkind. But God is very well able to maintain His own character. 3. From cowardice. They are either afraid or else do not desire to make themselves enemies of others. But, notwithstanding, the duty lies plain. The preacher is not a man pleaser. He has stern solemn duties to perform. And if these duties are not performed faithfully, the eternal life or death of souls will rest upon him--a burden greater than he can bear. (Preacher’s Analyst.)Declaring the counsel of God I. The subject of His attention--“ the counsel of God.” Counsel now signifies advice, but when the Bible was translated it more commonly signified scheme, purpose. “ His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth” : “ My counsel shall stand, I will do all My pleasure” : “ He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Here it is to be taken in the latter sense. To bring sin into the world was an easy thing, to take it away was a work to which only God was equal. We have imperfect views of sin, and also of the holiness of God; and therefore we are not sufficiently struck with the difficulties in the way of our salvation: but God knows them perfectly, and His scheme for removing them and restoring us to Himself is contained in the gospel. This is what the apostle means by “ the counsel of God” : and this the apostle declared, not human science, though he was a man of genius, not politics; he left human governments where he found them; not the petty interests of mortality; he looked “ not at the things which were seen,” etc. II. The manner in which he Announced it. It is clearly implied--1. That there is in this subject a fulness of affluence and richness. Though it be a whole, yet it has a thousand parts. 2. That this subject may be abridged, contracted, and partially concealed. And this may be the case where it is not expressly denied, where it is not entirely rejected, and where the parts admitted and noticed are not mangled. 3. That it requires firmness and moral heroism to withstand and resist the temptations to this curtailment and separation. Sometimes there are temptations arising-- (1) From the preachers themselves. They should be clean, for they are the vessels of the Lord. But supposing they are not, what then does their arguing prove? Their example will paralyse all their endeavours. (2) From the hearers. They often inspire the preacher with fear of giving offence; and the “ fear of man bringeth a snare.” The man may shun to declare all the counsel of God-- (a) On the side of doctrine, from fear of a charge of antinomianism. This charge has always been brought against the doctrine of justification by faith. (b) On the side of experience, afraid of the charge of enthusiasm. (c) On the side of practice, afraid of the charge of legality. 4. Two things are essential to declare all the counsel of God. (1) A consciousness of inability to do justice to the whole of the counsel of God. After all we have done we must exclaim, “ O the depth of the riches,” etc. And what a proof is this of the Divinity of the Bible itself! What other book could bear, from age to age, to have thousands of persons of ability and learning to be always discussing it, and yet always finding something fresh, and nothing entirely exhausted! (2) Enlarging more on some topics than on others. Everything equally true is not equally important: there are essential truths, and there are circumstantial truths. The railing is ornamental and useful, and therefore not to be dispensed with: still this is not to be compared with the foundation and the keystone; these are essential to the edifice. The omission or the concealment of certain doctrines always leads to spiritual death. On the other hand, where the leading truths of the gospel are preached, God gives testimony to the word of His grace, sinners are saved, and believers built up in their most holy faith. III. The apostle’ s consciousness of this. “ As to cloth,” said Lord Bacon, “‘ a small pattern may enable us to judge fairly and safely of the whole piece: but the Bible is like a fine arras or tapestry, which though a remnant may assure us of the colours and the richness of the stuff, yet the hangings never appear to their true advantage but when displayed in their full dimensions, and seen together.” Let every minister remember this. Conclusion: Here is--1. The rule to guide and justify ministers. Considering the mixture there is always in every congregation, it is probable that the preacher who declares all the counsel of God will give some offence. But must he on this account decline it? Is be to do anything by partiality? “ If I seek to please men,” says the apostle, “ I should not be the servant of Christ.” “ It is a poor sermon,” says George Whitefield , “ that gives no offence--that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.” It was a noble eulogium that Louis XIV passed on one of his preachers, Massillon: “ I don’ t know how it is: when I hear my other chaplains I admire them; but when I hear Massillon I always go away dissatisfied with myself.” 2. The duty of hearers. For if we are not to shun to declare all the counsel of God, you are bound to hear and to welcome all. However mysterious to your reason, however mortifying to your pride, however it may reprove you, you are not to deem the minister your enemy because he tells you the truth. (W. Jay.)The whole counsel of God Let us consider-- I. The fidelity of a minister, as consisting in a full and complete declaration of the counsel of God.1. Without any exceptions. 2. In their full and just proportion. 3. In their proper order and connection. 4. In their proper season. The season may vary, and the propriety and necessity of insisting upon some truths, may arise from-- (1) The state of religion among a people.(2) The aspect of Providence towards them. 5. Honestly and boldly, without respect of persons. II. The difficulties which may lie in a minister’ s way, and tempt him to shun any part of his work.1. Sloth or worldliness, in ministers themselves.2. The prejudices of their people.3. The opposition of their enemies, which may tempt them-- (1) To conceal or pervert the truth to avoid contempt and derision.(2) To sinful and cowardly silence for their own quiet.(3) To sink out of their weak-mindedness under opposition.(4) To give way to imprudence and passion. (J. Witherspoon.)Faithful ministers 1. Trace the gospel to its original source and fountain head.2. Preach the gospel in its full latitude and extent.3. Preach the gospel in all its full and final effects.4. Never lose sight of the gospel.5. Dwell largely upon some particular doctrines which others silently pass over, or but rarely mention in their public instructions. 6. Are much more apt than others to irritate and displease men in their preaching. 7. Are weighty and powerful preachers. 8. Make the gospel appear as it really is, one great, comprehensive, and perfectly connected scheme, and so-- (1) Preach much more consistently. (2) Distinguish themselves from false teachers, who corrupt the gospel, and destroy the souls of men. (3) Convey the largest portion of knowledge to their hearers. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Ministers must be faithful When I go down to the village where I used to preach, and as I look upon the houses, I am apt to question myself--Was I as earnest with the people as I used to be? I can say I hope I never flinched from telling them all the truth, though sometimes it had to be very rudely and roughly spoken; but yet God knoweth I do sometimes smite myself to think I did not weep over them mere, and did not entreat them more to be won to Christ. And you, too, that sit in these pews so often, many of you are joyful converts to Christ, but numbers of you are still unsaved. What if any of you should be able to say at the last, “ We trusted our minister; we hung upon his lips; we were never absent; we loved the Sabbath day, but oh, he did not tell us of our sin; he did not plead with us to be saved; he left us to ourselves; he was cold when his heart should have been hot; he was a man without tears, and had a heart without sympathy for us!” Oh! sirs, God grant ye may never be able to say that of me. God save you, for my soul longeth for you. He is my witness how earnestly I long for you all in the bowels of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Come unto Him! Come unto Him! Let not your blood cry out against me! Oh, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust Him; trust Him now, that you may be saved, and that at last I may be able to say, “ Here am I and the children whom Thou hast given me; Thou hast kept them through Thy power, and they are preserved even to the end; unto Thee be glory forever and ever!” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Ministerial faithfulness The Rev. John Howe, having preached before Cromwell, so pleased the Protector that he was appointed his domestic chaplain. To some of Cromwell’ s peculiar notions Mr. Howe could not assent, and in one instance had the boldness to preach against them in his presence, believing that they might lead to practical ill consequences. The friends of the preacher were alarmed, and predicted that he would find it difficult to regain the Protector’ s favour. “ I have,” said Mr. Howe, “ discharged my conscience, and the event must be left to God.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Ministerial faithfulness The Pope requests a Dominican bishop to repair to Florence and answer the abbot’ s (Savonarola’ s) sermons. “ Holy Father, I will obey; but I must be supplied with arms.” “ What arms?” “ This monk,” replied the bishop, “ says we ought not to keep concubines, commit simony, or be guilty of licentiousness. If in this he speaks truly, what shall I reply?” “ What shalt we do?” said the Pope. “ Reward him, give him a red hat, make a Cardinal and a friend of him at once.” Savonarola kindly receives the papal messenger, and for three days listens to his arguments, but is unconvinced. The tempting bribe is then offered. “ Come to my sermon tomorrow morning, and you shall hear my answer.” How great was the emissary’ s surprise at hearing more daring denunciations than ever from Savonarola, who exclaimed, “ No other red hat will I have than that of martyrdom, coloured with my own blood.” (Newman Hall, D. D.)The preacher must be honest A farmer who is too tender-hearted to tear up and harrow the land will never see a harvest. Here is the failing of certain divines, they are afraid of hurting anyone’ s feelings, and so they keep clear of all the truths which are likely to excite fear or grief. They have not a sharp ploughshare on their premises, and are never likely to have a stack in their rickyard. They angle without hooks for fear of hurting the fish, and fire without bullets out of respect to the feelings of the birds. This kind of love is real cruelty to men’ s souls. It is much the same as if a surgeon should permit a patient to die because he would not pain him with the lancet, or by the necessary removal of a limb. It is a terrible tenderness which leaves men to sink into hell rather than distress their minds. It is a diabolical love which denies the eternal danger which assuredly exists and argues the soul into presumption, because it thinks it a pity to excite terror, and so much more pleasant to prophesy smooth things. Is this the spirit of Christ? Did He conceal the sinner’ s peril? Did He cast doubts upon the unquenchable fire and the undying worm? Did He lull souls into slumber by dulcet notes of flattery? Nay, but with honest love and anxious concern He warned men of the wrath to come, and bade them repent or perish. The whole counsel of God Christ did not commit to the care of His Church any one class of truths and duties, or any number of classes of doctrines and obligations, but all of them. Christians are, therefore, to teach all the doctrines, and inculcate all the duties found in the Scriptures. There is no sectarianism in inspiration. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, and of the entire body of truth “ as it is in Jesus.” Sectarianism divides the doctrine of the Spirit into its various hues, and sects and parties are formed by good men attaching themselves to one class of colours, whereas “ the true light” is made up of all colours. We would never live in an atmosphere of rainbows; it might appear more beautiful than clear daylight, but it would not be so useful for the world. In a lens, no one class of rays gathered into a focus will burn an object; this is done only by a concentration of all the rays. It was by exhibiting the whole counsel of God that Paul produced in his converts the kindlings of repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. If the Churches think it proper to put forth the vivid hues of beauty and splendour, in their respective creeds and theological systems, let them also exhibit them with all the blendings and softenings, the harmony and the symmetry of the bow in the cloud, the sign of peace and goodwill to the whole earth. (T. W. Jenkyn.)All the gospel to be taken Faith is a Divine faculty which grasps that which is revealed, on the authority of God, without criticising the substance of such revelation. To take one part of the revelation of God, and turn out another, is, in fact, to reject it all, because you are rejecting just what you dislike or misunderstand, and retaining just what you choose; and to accept God’ s revelation rightly, is to bow, in disciplined obedience, on all points to God’ s authority; in fact, to exercise faith, “ as a soldier.” “ The whole counsel of God,” --to accept it in its entirety, however difficult, mysterious, or opposed to our natural wishes--that is the exercise of the dominant faculty of faith. (Knox Little.)Ministerial trifling Carlyle in narrating an instance of the preservation of etiquette at the court of Louis XVI, while the mob were demanding entrance into his private apartments, and the empire was going to pieces, compares it to the house cricket still chirping amid the pealing of the trump of doom. When trivial subjects are descanted upon from the pulpit, while souls are perishing for lack of knowledge, the same comparison may be used; as for instance, when a congregation is collected, and the preacher talks about the drying up of the Euphrates, or ventilates his pet theory for reconciling Moses and geology. Why cannot these things be kept for other assemblies? What can the man be at? Nero fiddling over burning Rome is nothing to it! Even the women knitting in front of the guillotine were not more coolly cruel. We tolerate the cricket for his incongruous chirp; but go to, thou silly trifler at the sacred desk, we cannot frame excuse for thee, or have patience with thee. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 20:28-31 Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock.Take heed I. To yourselves. To your--1. Doctrine.2. Walk. II. To the flock. To its--1. Divine dignity.2. Human infirmity. III. To the wolves. Those who--1. Threaten without.2. Look within its fold. (W. W. Wythe.)Take heed The logic and the theology of the sentence are equally good. The first care of the spiritual shepherd is for himself, the next for the flock. In some parts they paint garden walls black, that they may absorb more of the sun’ s heat and so impart more warmth to the fruit trees that lean on them. Those who in any sphere care for souls stand in the position of the garden wall. The more that the teacher absorbs for himself of Christ’ s love, the more benefit will others obtain from him. It is not the wall which glitters most in the sunshine that does most for the trees that are trained against it: it is the wall which is least seen that takes in most heat for itself: and the wall that has most heat in itself gives out most for the benefit of the trees. So it is not the preacher who flashes out into the greatest flame himself that imparts most benefit to inquirers who sit at his feet. Those who drink in most of the Master’ s spirit are most useful in the world. Those who first take heed to themselves will be most effective in caring for the spiritual weal of those who look up to them. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Eastern shepherds and their flocks The work of a shepherd in the East is in many respects different from a shepherd’ s work among ourselves. The Oriental flock does not graze within fenced pasturages, but moves hither and thither through the wild pasture lands, following the lead of the shepherd, and often going to a great distance from inhabited places. It therefore takes all the shepherd’ s vigilance to keep his flock together--to prevent one part of it from straying gradually, in search of pasturage, to the north, another to the south, another to the east, and another to the west. In these remote districts, too, attacks from wild beasts are not uncommon; a wolf or a bear will pounce suddenly upon an unsuspecting sheep, and the shepherd must risk his own life, as David did, to rescue the imperilled sheep. The shepherd, or overseer, is responsible to his employer for the safety of the sheep, and he must render a strict account of that which has been lost, or which has perished. Here is an extract from Oriental law on this point, as quoted by Paxton: “ Cattle shall be delivered over to the cowherd in the morning; the cowherd shall tend them during the whole day with grass and water; and in the evening shall re-deliver them to the master, in the same manner as they were entrusted to him. If, by the fault of the cowherd, any of the cattle be lost or stolen, that cowherd shall make it good. When a cowherd has led cattle to any distant place to feed, if any die of distemper, in spite of the fact that the cowherd applied the proper remedy, the cowherd shall carry the head, the tail, the forefoot, or some such convincing proof taken from the animal’ s body, to the owner of the cattle. Having done this, he shall be no further answerable. If he neglects to act thus, he shall make good the loss.” Paul, therefore, compares the Ephesian Church to a flock of sheep, seeking pasturage under the guidance of their shepherds, yet prone of themselves to wander, and constantly exposed to peril from wild beasts. The shepherds, he teaches, are answerable not only for the divisions which occur in the flock through their neglect, but also for the attacks of wild beasts, permitted by the same neglect. (S. S. Times.)Over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers. The minister in the flock The word “ over” should be rendered “ in.” The minister is in the flock; he is in no sense extraneous to it. He is part of it. Some have read the word “ over” violently and offensively, and have asserted rights of dominion over faith, practice, and ritual such as were contrary to the whole idea of the gospel. “ One is your Master even Christ,” etc. The minister is “ in the flock” -- I. As to his personal hope.1. He is a sinner, and if conscientious feels himself even more so than others. Negligence in him is more serious, example for evil more influential. 2. He wants a Saviour, if possible more than his people. If he is to be the “ overlooker,” he must first be the penitent and the forgiven. It is this which gives pathos, solemnity, and authority, to every part of his ministration--because he is in the flock and partakes with it of the refreshing streams and free pastures. II. As to all the relations and responsibilities of his life. Before he is anything else he must be a good man. The ministry is not a separate caste, living its whole life by itself, having a tariff of habits, and rules quite different from the ordinary rules and duties of Christian men. The ministry is exemplary before it is episcopal. Its whole idea is that of going before and showing the way in all that is pure and beautiful and of good report. III. As to sympathy. If the minister were “ over” the flock he might be sorry for its distresses and sins. Sympathy there can only be where there is insideness to the flock. Even our Lord must incorporate Himself with us if He would make us know and feel that He can sympathise. IV. As to comfort. Oh the comfort of being just one of the worshippers, of losing the official in the personal, the minister in the Christian--in communion, in prayer, in preaching. (Dean Vaughan.)To feed the Church of God.--The Church of God Is here regarded as a society-- I. Of priceless value.1. It is a flock, a name given to the Church of the Old Testament (Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 63:11; Jeremiah 13:17; Jeremiah 23:2; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 34:3; Micah 7:14, etc., etc.), and which Christ also applied to His disciples (Luke 12:32). It was a favourite figure with the apostle Peter (1 Peter 5:2-3). 2. This flock is incalculably precious because it has been purchased with “ the blood of God,” or rather of the Lord, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Other societies exist irrespective of Christ’ s mediation--scientific, political, commercial--but the Church is acquired by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Had He not died, it never would have been. II. Well guarded.1. It is put in charge of earthly shepherds. There is here-- (1) Self-vigilance; “ Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves.” The spiritual shepherd must take care of himself first. He must enlighten his own judgment, discipline his own heart, and train his own soul into Christian virtues first. He must save himself before he can save others (1 Timothy 4:14). (2) Church vigilance. “ And to all the flock.” They are to take heed of the Church, to instruct, guide, guard it, and in every way promote its spiritual welfare. 2. The earthly shepherds are appointed by the Holy Ghost. III. Assailed by enemies (Acts 20:29).1. Those who would come from without--worldly men, malignant persecutors. 2. Those who would spring up from within--professed members. The Church’ s greatest enemies have sprung from her own bosom. IV. Demanding the utmost attention. Paul’ s labour was--1. Incessant. “ Night and day.” 2. Earnest. “ With tears.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Church membership I. The claims of the Church. These are founded--1. In the language of Scripture upon the subject of the Church. The Bible ever speaks of the inward as above the outward, elevates the power of godliness above the mere form of it, and tells us of at least one who, without baptism or the Church, went into paradise. Still, the Bible has some very strong language on the subject. Take the statement of the text. Can you imagine that that for which such a price was paid, has no claim upon your allegiance? But take other testimonies (Isaiah 49:15-16; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:22-27). 2. In the relation of Christ to the Church. It is true that there is much in the Church for which Christ gave no warrant. Church vestments and ceremonies, and the minute ramifications of Church creeds, all come under this head. As upon an old vessel, so upon the Church in her navigation of the sea of Time, many barnacles have fastened, and these, so far from being a necessary part of the Church, do but oppose her power and impede her progress. But we must take Christ’ s idea of the Church. He called His followers out from among men into a special relationship to Himself and to each other. “ One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” And by these words He constituted a Church. And this brotherhood, which He so organised in the world, He arranged to perpetuate, by inaugurating two rites, which, for all time, should separate His people from the world, and bind them together in a compact and visible body. Now the Church being Christ’ s own arrangement, to reject it is to reject Him. 3. In the conduct of the apostles, who, under the direction of Christ, and in possession of the Spirit, at once set up the Church and began to use it as the school, the home, the sanctuary of the disciples whom they called. That little band in the upper room was the Church. And no sooner did others, through their words, believe on Christ than they were formally added to this organisation (Acts 2:47). And when Peter went to preach to Cornelius he baptized him. The believer in Jesus he enrolled as a member of the Church. So, when Paul kneeled to Jesus, he was also baptized. And so throughout all that early period. And shall anyone in view of this fact say, “ I will be a Christian outside of the Church” ? The apostles knew of no such thing as a Christian willingly outside the Church. 4. In the fact that there is nothing so distinctly characteristic of the Christian life as the spirit of obedience. “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” is the voice which comes out of the very essence of every Christian life. “ If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” And here is the duty of Church membership, about which the Bible speaks most plainly. 5. In the principle that Christ gains men through men. This is in its widest sense the ordinance of preaching. And the widest, the most continuous, and the most forcible preaching, is by example. But how can we thus testify for Christ if we refuse to place ourselves in a Christian attitude before the eyes of the world? II. The objections with which it is common to meet these claims.1. There are in the Church many who give no evidence of Christian character. This is sadly true. But-- (1) Christ never declared that His Church was to be a perfect body, but said that the tares would grow with the wheat until harvest. (2) Because another makes a mock of duty it is no reason why you should neglect it. 2. I can live a good life outside the Church. Perhaps so. But if your hope for eternity is in Christ, then to despise the Church is to despise the blood with which it was purchased; and surely no one can do this, and, at the same time, rest upon Christ for salvation. 3. I cannot agree with all the doctrines of the Church. But no Church makes the reception of all the articles of its creed a condition of membership.. Trust in Christ for salvation and a Christian life, make up the one condition of Church membership. And what is there here which you cannot receive? 4. I am not fit to be a Church member. This-- (1) May be a fact. There are those who are determined to live just as they please, without regard to Christ or conscience, and who do not care what lies beyond. Such, of course, are fit only for membership with devils. In such communion they are even now. (2) May be a plea of simulated humility in order to get rid of duty. The man says, “ I am not fit,” because he is not willing. (3) May be the expression of a true consciousness of imperfection. And here it is a mistake. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Conclusion:1. The amazing character of men’ s indifference here. Christ says, “ Behold My Church, for which I gave My blood!” And men pass the Church by without notice. 2. These are words of invitation. Again the Church, through the blood by which she has been purchased, speaks unto you, asking for your attention, for your allegiance. What shall be your answer? (S. S. Mitchell, D. D.)Which He hath purchased with His own blood.-- The infinite purchase I. The Church of God.1. The body of His people in all ages, whom He has called out and separated from the world. 2. Always has been, and always will be, represented by a visible organisation in the world. 3. In God’ s apprehension not bounded by, nor identified with, the visible organisation by which it is represented. II. The relation of the Church to God.1. Belongs to Him as His purchased possession. His peculiar, not His odd or eccentric people, but the people who belong to Him. 2. Under His government and instruction through officers Divinely appointed. “ Over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers.” 3. To the Church God has committed the truth and treasure of the gospel, together with the sacraments, and all the means of grace, as instruments for the conquest of the world. III. The price God paid for the Church even His own blood.1. The blood of Christ is the blood of God. 2. In the person of Christ the Divine and human natures, though distinct, are so united, that His one Person may be designated and described by the attributes of either nature. 3. The sacrifice of Christ derives an infinite value from His Divine nature. It was “ the Lord of glory” who was crucified (1 Corinthians 2:8). Application: We are bound to belong to the visible Church as the representative of the invisible; to love it, and to labour for its advancement. It is not the gospel, but the Church, by means of the gospel, which is to conquer and reform the world. (H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.)Paul’ s farewell I. The great responsibility (Acts 20:28). “ To feed the Church of God.”1. Nourish, strengthen, and build up the souls of men with the doctrines of grace. But before souls can be fed they must be converted. This can only be done by the Holy Ghost applying the atonement of Jesus Christ. The Church is composed of men and women who have been purchased with the “ blood of the Lord.” 2. To do this work we must “ Take heed” -- (1) To ourselves; our own souls must first of all each day be cared for.(2) To the flock. II. The reasons of the responsibility (Acts 20:29-30). There is great danger ahead. Grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock.1. External foes--infidelity, intemperance, etc., are wolves. 2. Internal foes--black sheep in the flock--selfish, designing men, speaking perverse things. Oh how Sabbath schools and churches are destroyed by “ grievous wolves” and black sheep! III. The means by which this responsibility is to be discharged (Acts 20:31-38).1. By watchfulness “ Therefore watch.” “ Watch and pray” was one of the Master’ s greatest exhortations. 2. Perseverance--a night and day toil and anxiety (Acts 20:31). 3. An unswerving trust in God and in the Word of His grace (Acts 20:32). 4. Self-sacrifice--we must not covet money, fame, ease, or anything that man can bestow. We must be--like our Master and like Paul--givers, not receivers (Acts 20:33-35). The concluding verses (36-38) are most suggestive of the spirit we all need--prayer, love, gratitude, deep sorrow in parting with friends, and especially with those who have blessed us in the Lord! (A. H. Moment, D. D.)Paul’ s farewell I. Faithful counselling. Lessons: Take heed--1. Unto yourselves, for you can do little for others until your own heart is set right. 2. To all the flock, for you cannot be a faithful shepherd of the Lord’ s sheep unless you value their safety as your own. 3. To feed the Church of God. Christ was glad to purchase the sheep at the cost of His own life; ought you not willingly to make the slight sacrifice of caring for those whom He purchased at such a price. 4. Against the wolves. The bark of materialism and spiritualism and destructive criticism is a good deal worse than their bite, still you need to be watchful lest it drive some of the more timid souls out of the fold. 5. For from among yourselves men will arise with all sorts of perverse religious notions, and you will have to combat them. Do it discreetly. 6. And take courage, remembering how much easier is your testifying than was Paul’ s, and that your helping words and deeds, as well as his, all receive God’ s approval. II. Trustful commending. Lessons:1. Paul commended the Ephesians unto God, and God commended Paul for the zeal with which he laboured for the welfare of the Ephesians. 2. Paul did not covet gold or silver, but he did long for something vastly more precious. What could have exceeded his eagerness to save souls. 3. Paul laboured for the necessities, not for the luxuries of life. 4. Paul laboured not only for himself, but also for those who were with him. “ Every one for himself” is a motto of the devil. “ Bear ye one another’ s burdens” is the law of Christ. 5. Paul gave to the Ephesians an active living example of what a Christian worker should be. So doing, he gave to his words a tremendous vital force. 6. Paul worked with his hands, and was rather proud than ashamed of the fact. Hands hardened by honest toil are a much nobler possession than a soft head, or a heart hardened by an empty pride of birth. III. Prayerful parting. Lessons: Parting--1. Loses half its bitterness when those who are about to be separated feel that they will remain united in love for the same Saviour. 2. With a beloved pastor is a sad trial, but it is one to be borne as cheerfully as possible, if Providence is evidently calling him elsewhere. 3. Becomes easier to those who approach the hour of separation on their knees. 4. Is greatly saddened if we feel that the bodily separation is to be forever, but there may be something bitterer than that. 5. Becomes well nigh despairing to those who must harbour the fear that it is final, bodily and spiritually. But such separations were very scarce among those with whom such as Paul have been labouring. (S. S. Times.)Paul’ s farewell The Persian had conquered here, and the story of his triumphs, as the tragedian pictured it, had caused an Athenian audience to burst into tears. There are wet eyes on this Miletian shore, over a capture far more significant than Darius ever made. Hearts have been won here and knit, so as no ties of relationship can unite. They are soon to be separated. Spite of the excitement of the scene, this servant of Jesus Christ is self-possessed; his vision is clear; his advice well considered. There is review and outlook. Lessons of humility, fidelity, courage, and charity are taught by a master here, in a few graphic sentences, which the Christian Church still needs to ponder. They are condensed Epistles. There is-- I. Admonition. These were prominent members of the Church, and very dear to him. Their trials had been his, as were their victories. Knowing that they were in the world, he can but be solicitous now that he can no longer personally aid them.1. They must first “ take heed unto themselves.” The Church is made up of individuals. Strength or weakness in them is power or feebleness in it. Christ had redeemed them, but they must each work out their own salvation. The Holy Ghost had renewed them, but they must each say with the apostle, “ I am pure from the blood of all men.” Only the saved can save them that hear him. The prayerless cannot inspire others to pray; nor can the ignorant, sceptical, or trifling lead any to knowledge, faith and soberness. After the close of the service in which George Herbert was inducted into the charge of Bemerton Church, a friend, wondering at his delay in leaving the building, looked in at a window and found him prostrate on the ground before the altar. Then and there he made the vow, “ I will be sure to live well, because the virtuous life of a clergyman is the most powerful eloquence, to persuade all that see it, to reverence and love, and at least to desire to live like him.” The more precious the treasure, the more does its keeper arm himself. The Church in its collective capacity must have guardianship. Our Lord’ s figure for it is taken from the timid sheep. The shepherd is essential to the flock. Did these brethren realise the vast responsibility? Being right themselves, they might hope rightly to perform it. They were “ to feed the Church.” This was to be with food adapted to it. No more than the shepherd is obliged to make the grass grow upon which the flock lives, were they to create spiritual supplies. The minister has never to produce the truth for his people. He has only to find it, in its richness and freshness, and bring them to it, or it to them. To try to satisfy the cravings of the soul with mere moralities, humanities, philosophies, speculations, socialities, amusements, is to enfeeble and make it ready to perish. The Church is sound and strong, only as it incarnates the Christ. II. Prophecy.1. He saw not far away “ grievous wolves.” Persecution and error were only biding their time to waste and destroy the flock. The bloody vision was realised when Aurelius and: Diocletian published the edict that the Christian name be blotted out; and before a century had passed, seducers appeared. If to be forewarned is to be forearmed, then might these Christians be secure. 2. Is it not still true that cruelty and sophistry are the enemy’ s chosen methods of subverting the Church? Whenever it interferes with the schemes of wicked men they will attack it. Inquisitorial tortures are their resort when strong enough. Ostracism, slander, and ridicule are their milder weapons. III. Confidence. Though such severe trials might be in store, he knew where they would be safe and prosperous. As was his habit he commends them unto One, by whom he himself in full view of bonds and affliction was able to say, “ None of these things move me.” The “ gracious Word” which He had given was the only means of their sanctification. Through this only did they get wisdom to read their title and secure the heavenly inheritance. Has the method changed? Over against all guesses and denials, changing as the lights and shadows of a spring day, stands now as then this rock of the truth, at once a refuge and an inspiration. IV. Self-devotion. It is a brief rehearsal--how earnestly and honestly he had toiled, asking nothing of them in return. It had been reward enough for him to preach the gospel. And it had all been in full realisation of that matchless saying of the Lord, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Till so profound a law has been discovered and honoured by the Christian, the advance of the heavenly kingdom must be slow. V. Prayer. Through this intercourse with God they had first really found each other. At His feet their partings must be made. How very like to that scene, sixteen hundred years after, on the shore of Holland, where another company of pilgrims were assembled, when, as the chronicler says, “ Ye tide (which stays for no man) calling them away ye were thus loathe to departe, their Reverd pastor falling down on his knees (and they all with him) with watrie cheeks commended them, with most fervent prairers to the Lord and his blessing.” So do we clasp hands with our children, with our youth departing for their life work, with our missionaries, with our dying ones. VI. Parting. Intelligent souls are alone capable of profound emotion. The more brutal men become, the more indifferent are they to the breaking of companionship; the more saintly the more sensitive. (D. S. Clark.)What Paul leaves behind 1. When the apostle goes, will not the whole fabric which he seemed to represent and sustain go along with him? Is Christianity the heroism of one personality? If Paul’ s estimation of himself had been that of an idolater or of a superstitious person, he would have reminded the Ephesian elders that in the removal of his personality they had themselves no longer any official standing, or any claim upon public attention. 2. When Paul goes, what will be left? The Church! and the Church is greater than any member of it; the Word! and the Word is infinitely greater than all the ministers that preach it. The blood that bought the Church! and that blood is alone in its meaning, energy, and grace. Then everything will be left when Paul goes. That is the mystery of Divine love. We can take nothing away from Christ’ s Church. The firstborn dies, but the Church is as strong as ever; the most eloquent tongue is silent, but the music of the Cross loses no note of its enchantment. It is even good for us that the apostle should be taken away: it was expedient for us that Christ Himself did not remain upon the earth in visible presence. Christianity does not depend upon its great or its little men. Like its Lord, it is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 3. Paul’ s charge is Paul himself, “ Take heed therefore unto yourselves.” Paul was a severe disciplinarian. He was always undergoing the discipline of an athlete; he kept his body under lest he himself should become a “ castaway.” Self-heed is the secret of public power. “ Take heed unto yourselves,” and you will be gentle to other people. “ Take heed” also “ to all the flock.” That is the balancing consideration. The minister is not a monk, he is a public, a social man with a great shepherdly heart, that can understand and love a thousand varieties of men. Paul’ s conception of the ministry was regulated and inspired by his conception of the Church. Was the Church a club, a little gathering of men called together for superficial purposes or for transient enjoyment? It was a flock; it was purchased with the blood of God. Then the Church makes the ministry. The ministry has no existence apart from the Church. The minister--be he Paul or Apollos or Cephas--is but an upper seat holder. 4. Paul uses language full of suggestion and pathos. “ The Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood.” What grander word is there than “ blood” ? Until we contaminated it, it stood next to “ love.” “ The blood is the life” ; the life is the blood. God purchased the Church with His own life. When you understand sin you Will understand blood. When you see the hell which sin deserves you will see the Cross which God built. 5. Why should a man care anything about the world he is going to leave? That depends upon the quality of the man. There are those who want peace in their time, and want to leave all thorny questions to he determined by those who come after them. But Paul was anxious for the fortunes of the Church at Ephesus, though he would himself see that Church no more. Christianity is not a new way of sneaking out of responsibility; Christianity is not a cunning method of leaving posterity to take care of itself. Christian love claims all time, all ages, all lands. Paul--great economist, great statesman, supreme prince of the legions of Christ--could not leave Ephesus saying, “ I am glad I shall suffer no more there” ; but he cared for Ephesus as much as if he were going to spend the remainder of his days in the endeavour to convert its citizens. Paul knew that after his departing “ grievous wolves” should enter into the Church, “ not sparing the flock.” The “ wolves” could not come in so long as Paul was there. God takes away from us our mighty men that He may train us as much by their absence as He did by their presence. Who would not long to have a whole year with John Bunyan, or the greater Milton, or the fiery Baxter, or the profound Howe and Owen? Yet God is training us by their withdrawal, and God’ s greatest men are always the men who are still to come. The ages do not live backward. (J. Parker, D. D.)Personal contact with souls As I recall my own ministerial experience I can testify that nearly all the converting work done has been by personal contact with souls. For example, I once recognised in the congregation a newcomer, and at my first visit to his house was strongly drawn to him as a very noble-hearted, manly character. A long talk with him seemed to produce little impression; but before I left, he took me upstairs to see his three or four rosy children in their cribs. As we stood looking at the sleeping cherubs, I said to him, “ My friend, what sort of father are you going to be to these children? Are you going to lead them towards heaven, or--the other way!” That arrow lodged. He gave himself to Christ, and at our next communion season he was at the Master’ s table, and soon became a most useful officer in the church.” (T. L. Cuyler.)The minister’ s weeping time Thomas Toller, of Kettering, exerted an extraordinary influence over the feelings of his audience, while he himself remained apparently unmoved. Being once asked, “ How is it possible for you to remain calm yourself while the people are weeping before you?” he replied, with evident emotion, “ My weeping time was yesterday.” Acts 20:32-36I have coveted no man’ s silver.Honest labour “ Two men,” says Carlyle,” I honour, and no third. First, the toil-worn craftsman, that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the Earth and makes her man’ s. Venerable to me is the hard hand, crooked, coarse, wherein notwithstanding lies a cunning virtue indefeasibly royal, as of the sceptre of this planet. The second man I honour, and still more highly, is he who is toiling for the spiritually indispensable--not to say daily bread--but the bread of life. These two in all their degrees I honour; all else is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth. Sublimer in this world know I nothing than a peasant saint. Could such now anywhere be met with, such a one will take thee back to Nazareth itself. Thou wilt see the splendour of heaven spring from the humblest depths of earth like a light shining in great darkness.” In Paul you have these two labourers which the sage of Chelsea so greatly honours. The text leads us to consider labour in four aspects-- I. As a guard against dishonesty. “ I have coveted no man’ s silver, or gold, or apparel.” Covetousness is the soul of theft. The apostle did not covet because he worked for his livelihood. Such labour acts as a security against dishonesty in two ways.1. It raises a man above the need of another’ s property. The great Creator has given to every man, as a rule, that natural skill and strength which, when industriously used, will secure all the temporal good he needs. 2. It trains a man to respect another’ s property. The man who toils for what he has alone knows the value of property. Laziness breeds covetousness. The industrious habits of a people are the safeguards of a nation’ s property. II. As a condition of independency. There is a sublime spirit of independency in these words: “ Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me.” This feeling must have been heightened by the fact that he knew that he had a Divine claim to their temporal things (1 Corinthians 9:13-14), and also by the fact that on account of his influence over them, he might have extracted from them large portions of their property. Two thoughts are suggested here--1. That it is a desirable thing for a minister to be secularly independent of his people. Why else does the apostle rejoice at it? The people who feel that their minister is dependent upon them are likely to take advantage of his poverty, and to misinterpret his acts of purest generosity; and the minister who feels his dependency may come under a strong temptation to humour their prejudices, and under a painful sense of his own humiliation. 2. That a secular independence, therefore, every minister should endeavour to obtain. Any man with two healthy hands can do it and ought to do it. Agriculture, mechanics, trade, literature, medicine, law--the minister who wishes to be secularly independent of his people may get his livelihood from some of these. III. As a source of beneficence. His hands not only ministered to his necessities, but to them that were with him, so that they enabled him “ to support the weak.” Industrious labour is socially beneficent. The industrious man--1. Necessarily enriches society. He produces what would not have been without him, and thus adds to the common stock of wealth on which society lives. The lazy man, on the contrary, consumes without producing, and thus impoverishes society. 2. Generally becomes both able and willing to help society. Industry has the power, not only of supplying the means to alleviate the distress, but often generates the disposition to do so. Where Christianity is, as in the case of Paul, the disposition is. IV. As a practice to be followed. “ I have showed you all things.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)An unmercenary servant of God When Pope Paul IV heard of the death of Calvin he exclaimed with a sigh: “ Ah! the strength of that proud heretic lay in this--that riches and honours were nothing to him. Holy Virgin I with two such servants, our Church would soon be mistress of both shores of the ocean.” (J. F. B. Tinling.) Acts 20:35 Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.The blessedness of doing good I. That these words represent the character of our Lord. He was devoted to all the offices of humanity and good nature. The two general habits which filled the whole intenseness of His soul were unaffected piety towards God and charity to mankind. He had not any one affection in the blessed frame of His mind but what was Divinely exercised in constant acts of beneficence; for He scarce so much as ever indulged Himself in any one innocent pleasure of human life, but the going about continually to do good. And here observe that our Lord chose not the charity of almsgiving for His province, how blessed a part soever that be, for gold and silver He had none; neither had He the like obligations with us to lay a good foundation against the time to come. This part, therefore, He left for those principally whom He intended to honour with the sacred trust of being the immediate stewards of His providence; to whose commiseration and care He should commit the indigent creatures of His family. This part of liberality, I say, our Lord exercised not; but His Divine compassion was intent upon a charity much more exalted than this--the relieving the souls of men, and providing for their eternal welfare. II. That they express the genius of his religion, the natural tendency whereof is to smooth and soften our harsh and unrelenting tempers, that thereby we might be perfectly disposed and furnished unto every good work. III. That they declare to us wherein the peculiar blessedness of the Christian life doth consist, which is best promoted by giving and by doing good. For charity is not a solitary virtue, a single blessing, but the happy conspiration of all those tender passions from whence humanity, that is, the most perfect state of human nature, takes its name. Nay, all that we know of God, whereby He is in Himself the blessed for evermore, and to us, the great object of our love and adoration, is, that He is absolutely perfect in all the infinite varieties of goodness, wherein the several infirmities and wants and sins of all His creatures take their sanctuary and their refuge. Reflect, I beseech you, on all the various scenes of life which employ the sons of men. What part can we act upon this great theatre so delightful, so honourable, and so nearly allied to God, as that of a patron and friend of mankind! But how blessed it is to give! how much of the life of God there is in it! (G. W. Brooke, D. D.)Charity blessed I. I am to explain the grounds upon which we are obliged to works of charity.1. The principles of natural justice; and-- 2. The light of revelation. II. In what measure our charity is demanded by God.1. That we are bound to give in proportion to the necessities of the poor. And as their numbers and wants increase, we are to be more liberal; as they lessen, by being set on work, or provided for otherwise, we are under no obligation of scattering unnecessary relief. 2. That every man is obliged to give in proportion to his own affluence and stated income; and between God and his own conscience to allot such a part of it for charity as may answer the general precepts concerning it. III. Let us now consider upon what objects our charity is most usefully employed.1. Such as suffer for the truth of the gospel, either against infidelity, or against idolatry and gross corruptions. And in them most properly Christ Himself is relieved. 2. In distinguishing objects of mercy let us regard those especially that are recommended to it by their own worth, or by that of their progenitors. 3. Such objects are well qualified for our compassion as fall into distress or decay by a sudden calamity overtaking them, or by the immediate hand of God; and not by idleness or vice, where the relief of a scourge is generally the fittest. 4. Such objects are very fit for our charity as will improve what is given them, and lay it as the foundation of their future livelihood. 5. From these who are bred up for the service of their country let us proceed to those who by serving it are maimed, and disabled from getting their own bread; and these certainly are worthy objects of public charity. 6. Whenever we are disposed for acts of mercy, they that have the most pressing wants to speak for them are always fittest for our present choice; for charity looks not barely at the man, but at his necessities. And now upon review, I shall briefly annex five rules concerning the management of our alms.1. Charity which prevents men from being oppressed with poverty is better than that which only supports them under it. 2. Charity which aims at the public service is better than that which is only for private relief. 3. Charity which is disposed of into a perpetual fund is better than that which is immediately melted and consumed. 4. Charity applied to the making of men virtuous is better than that which only refresheth the body. 5. Charity expended for correcting the idle, and forcing them to work, is better than that which gives them a present ease. IV. And what need I say more for the encouragement of all these charities than to repeat the words of our Lord Jesus, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive” ?1. It is the advantage of works of charity that they are usually attended here with temporal and spiritual mercies. “ If thou satisfy the afflicted soul the Lord shall guide thee continually, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden” (Isaiah 58:10-11). 2. The blessedness of charity is yet much greater in that it secures an endless inheritance in the next world (1 Timothy 6:18-19). And is not this abundant conviction that “ it is more blessed to give than to receive” ? And to confirm us in this persuasion, I shall strengthen what has been said with two considerations.1. That God will strictly inquire hereafter what the rich have done with all that plenty which He bestowed upon them. And therefore it behoves them to be well prepared for their answer to Him. 2. Let it be considered that the only way to make riches a blessing is to employ and manage them as God hath appointed. (Z. Isham, D. D.)Receiving and giving These words suggest three things in relation to Christ.1. The unrecorded portions of His words. 2. The unworldly character of His teaching. 3. The unselfish character of His life. The text suggests-- I. That receiving and communicating are the two grand functions of life.1. Man has acquisitive tendencies and powers. His desire for getting is ever active and ineradicable. 2. Man has the impartive tendencies and powers. His social and religious instincts urge him to give what he has attained. II. That the eight discharge of both these functions is blessedness. This is implied by the word “ more.” To receive in a right spirit, and for right ends, is a truly blessed thing.1. Receiving as the reward of effort is blessedness. It is natural to feel happiness when the result laboured for has been reached. 2. Receiving as a consciousness of fresh power is blessedness. A conscious augmentation of our powers and resources is joy. 3. Receiving with religious gratitude is blessedness. Gratitude is joy; it is the inspiration of Heaven’ s anthems. III. That the blessedness of the right discharge of the communicating function is the greater. “ It is more blessed,” etc., because--1. It is more spiritualising. Every generous, disinterested act tends to detach the soul from the material and temporary, and to ally it with the spiritual and eternal. The man who is constantly gaining and not giving, becomes more and more the slave of selfishness, materialism, and time. 2. It is more socialising. In giving you awaken in the social sphere sympathy, gratitude, and admiration. The loving man awakens love, and happiness has been defined as loving and being loved. 3. It is more God-assimilating. God gives, but cannot receive. He gives all, and only gives. The nearer we approach to God the more blessed we are. Cicero says that “ men resemble the gods in nothing so much as in doing good to their fellow creatures.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)It is more blessed to give than to receive The few “ words of the Lord Jesus” here preserved for us by St. Paul, are his crystallisation of a truth which is as deep as the nature of God, which penetrates his whole creation, and on which certainly Jesus’ own life turned. It forms a key to the whole disclosure of the Divine character which lies open to us in the mission of the Son. Yet it needs no more than a very moderate knowledge of human society to discover that mankind at large act on an opposite rule. That each should take all he can get and mind Number One, are the commonplaces of worldly wisdom. Gladly to take, but to give with reluctance, is, as we say, human nature. At the same time there are certain deeper facts of life which prove this Divine maxim not to be at variance with true human nature, but only with the present unnatural state of human character. In order to see this it is needful to attend to-- I. What these “ words” do, or rather do not mean.1. They do not mean that it is an unblessed thing to receive. God has made us all dependent upon His own giving, and also dependent mutually upon one another. We must receive before we can give; and whenever we begin to give someone must receive. The relation is blessed on both its sides. Service, therefore, like mercy, is twice blessed; “ it blesseth him that gives and him that takes” ; but of two blessednesses, saith Jesus, the higher is that of giving. Now, does not the human heart respond to this comparative estimate? Nearly all men will agree that the domestic relations form the happiest part of life. But this family blessedness turns far more on what we give than on what we get. The infant, for example, which receives everything and gives back nothing, has a blessedness infinitely feebler than that of its nursing mother. They do not mean that giving is more pleasant. Very often it is quite otherwise. Perhaps all giving means temporary loss and suffering. It is eminently so, at least, with the noblest sorts of giving, e.g., a mother’ s devotion to her child; yet her giving is more blessed than its receiving because it expresses nobler affections, trains her to nobler habits. I ask again, does not the world echo this thought of Christ’ s? In the articulations of society each one has something to give, and he must give it. But we count that man noble who gives to the general good the largest amount of costliest service. III. The conditions on which giving brings blessedness. These conditions may be summed up in one brief law--That the act of giving is only blessed when it is moral; and always blessed in proportion to its moral pureness and nobleness.1. There is an unconscious giving. This mutual ministry of help pervades creation. Earth gives of her strength to feed her inhabitants, and of her hidden treasures to enrich them. The beasts lend to man their skill and muscle, and bequeath to him their very bodies when they die. But it is needless to add that all this unconscious and involuntary exchange of benefits in dead or in brute nature, brings no blessedness. A child knows that there is no real worth, nor blessedness, in any giving which is not the intentional act of a conscious agent, which is not, in short, moral. When the human worker is content to work like an animal in the mere struggle for existence, his work may be ever so precious a gift to society, but he is no longer blessed in his giving, and-- 2. There is reluctant giving. We make presents because they are expected; we entertain our friends that they may entertain us; we pay compliments for politeness’ sake; we subscribe to charities under the constraint of opinion; we lend to our neighbour wishing he had not asked us. Now, to whatever extent the wish retracts what the hand bestows, to that extent giving brings no blessedness, because it is immoral in motive. It brings rather cursedness, both because it is to that extent false, wearing a show of charity which is not genuine, and because it argues a division of the man against himself. 3. There is a giving which is not simply defective through the weakness of charity, but at bottom utterly base through the want of it. It is a mean thing to oblige a man with a slight accommodation in the hope of extorting or coaxing from him a greater return; to pay court to a great man, not from loyalty, but for the paltry vanity of being noticed, or the ignoble desire to profit by him; to use one’ s influence for an importunate suitor, only to get rid of his importunity; to give handsome sums to public charity that one’ s name may appear well in the advertisements. We must be simpler in our giving if we would be blessed in it. Evil is never so cursed as when it walks in the stolen white garb of good, nor selfishness ever so unblest as when it mimics charity. III. Rising above human giving, let us gaze upon the Divine--the ideal after which men are to be remade in Christ. God has this solitary preeminence in blessedness, that He gives everything and receives nothing. On this account, as on every other, His is the noblest life, because He is forever imparting of His own to all, and gets in return only what He first has given. It utterly baffles imagination to conceive what streams of reflected gladness must pour back upon the heart of the Infinite Lover from even one small section of the world which He has made so happy. The sunshine and the field s delight us sometimes for a little; they delight God always; and when we, with our love and tenderness, sweeten each other’ s life, that adds more sweetness to the life of God. The rarest joy granted to man below is the joy of leading a brother into the light and love of our common Father; but He, our Father, has the luxury of leading all of us into light, of teaching every child He has to know at least a little of the truth and to love the good a little. God has tasted a still deeper blessedness. When God made all things good, or when He makes His fair world glad, He gives only as rich men give stray coins away, feeling no loss. But can God feel loss? or touch the mysterious blessedness which underlies the pain of sacrifice? For us sinful men and for our salvation, God has--so to speak--drawn upon the resources of His moral nature, and expended not His thoughts, or strength, or pity only, but Himself. He left nothing ungiven when the Son gave Himself for us. Jesus’ life was one of giving. Because He received so little from His fellow men and gave them so much, His life reveals God. Just here there was realised the supreme blessedness of the Divine nature; for here the Divine character realised in act its supreme nobleness. Down through the mysterious anguish of giving Himself away in utter loss, and pain, and death, the Divine heart pierced to a blessedness than which nothing can be more blessed, the blessedness of daring to die for the saving of the lost. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)More blessed to give than to receive An Irish schoolmaster who, whilst poor himself, had given gratuitous instruction to certain poor children, when increased in worldly goods began to complain of the service, and said to his wife he could not afford to give it any longer for nothing, who replied, “ Oh, James, don’ t say the like o’ that--don’ t; a poor scholar never came into the house that I didn’ t feel as if he brought fresh air from heaven with him--I never miss the bit I give them--my heart warms to the soft, homely sound of their bare feet on the floor, and the door almost opens of itself to let them in.” (Clerical Library.)Wherefore is it more blessed to give than to receive Because-- I. It delivers us from ourselves; from--1. The bonds of selfishness.2. The cares of superfluity.3. The burden of dependence. II. It unites us to the brethren.1. By their friendly attachment.2. Their active gratitude.3. Their blessed intercession. III. It brings us nearer to our God. We are permitted to be--1. Similar to the image of the All-Good.2. Sharers in the delight of the All-Loving.3. Expectants of the reward of an Eternal Rewarder. (K. Gerok.)To give more blessed than to receive 1. After this there was nothing more to be said; from such words there is no appeal. But the elders had heard them before, and were asked to “ remember” what had become a proverb among them. 2. The saying is unequivocally in the style and manner of our Lord. It is another beatitude. As there were many things that Jesus did which could not be written, so with many things that He said. 3. Meanwhile this saying, like a flower from the early gospel time, floating down the stream of Church life, has been caught by an apostle’ s hand, and because so caught is as fresh and fragrant as at the first. It comes to us, not increased in value, for it is already priceless, but recommended and enforced by the great apostle. The manner of quoting it is unmistakably St. Paul’ s. “ The Lord Jesus” is a designation he frequently uses, full both of reverence and tenderness. 4. The proverb has many sides, and touches human and Christian life at every point. It is true in reference to-- I. The production of happiness. We are blessed in doing good, even if we gain no reward. I knew a man of immense wealth, but his mind was always uneasy, his face always anxious. He was not without conscientious feelings in regard to his property; but he could not make up his mind to give largely. And then death came when his wealth ceased to be of use: but it might have been of use here, and then there would have been a reaction upon himself. Another I knew, far less wealthy; but his life was laid out in diffusing happiness, and there was a perpetual smile upon his face. II. The formation of character. The highest qualities of heart and life can be acquired only through active exercise. A man is not really unselfish unless he acts unselfishly. By giving we obtain the power of giving. No natural object is more full of characters than a river; but it is by reason of its motion that it becomes beautiful and beneficent. The tree by putting forth its leaves in confident profusion this year grows firmer and larger for next year. The harvest suggests deeper analogies. The dying of the seed corn is set before us as the law of self-sacrifice; and how grandly Paul teaches this analogy from Psalms 112:1-10. (2 Corinthians 9:8, etc.). III. The exertion of influence. If we desire to be great and godlike by exercising a power for good, it must be by the diffusive power of our religion. Our Lord says, “ Ye are the salt of the earth,” etc., immediately after the beatitudes whose spirit is carried into these sayings also. IV. The sustentation of Church work. True Church prosperity is secured by the perpetual habit of giving, and not simply our money, but our service, sympathy, time, etc. For the Church is a cooperative society in and for which each member is appointed to give out that which he has to give, and to find and create happiness in so giving. Many think they can be quite good Christians while they are mere recipients; but it is a great mistake. No one can be holy or happy without giving. V. The vigour of missionary enterprise. Christianity is in its very conception an aggressive and converting religion. If not this, it is nothing. Who ever gave so much to the world as Paul, and received so little from it? And who has been more truly blessed? VI. The standard and encouragement of the ministerial office. This office consists in perpetual giving, and hence must be preeminently blessed. This is a danger lest it should degenerate into the discharge of certain functions. But let there be a sincere self-consecration for Christ’ s sake, and with all his anxieties no position is so really happy as that of a Christian minister. It is his very trade to do all the good he can. (Dean Howson.)The comparative blessedness of giving and receiving 1. We might easily imagine occasions on which these words may have dropped from Christ’ s lips. They may have checked the entreaties of His disciples that He would for once think more of Himself and less of others. They may have answered some kind and friendly remonstrance when He turned aside from an untasted meal to attend to the sorrows and sicknesses which ever thronged the doors within which He rested. They may have explained on any occasion the secret of His perpetual self-sacrifice. 2. Were they not indeed the key to His whole life? Was not this the secret of His humiliation? And when He had thus humbled Himself, did not the same principle originate every act and prompt every motion? 3. How bright a light does this one expression throw upon the whole character of Jesus, Suppose that He had been personally known to later generations but by this one brief sentence? Should we not all have framed to ourselves instinctively some conception of that character which thus expressed itself, of that life which this principle must have moulded? What an intuition must He have possessed, who thus spake, into the real secret of greatness, the true dignity of man, and the essential characteristic of God! More blessed to give than to receive? More blessed, asks the selfish old man, to have an empty coffer than a full one? More blessed, asks the young man of pleasure, to admit another than myself to the desired scene of gaiety? More blessed, asks the man of business, the statesman, or, the student, to stand aside and let others pass me than to reap the fruit of my own skill or perseverance? Nay, let me hear that, however painful, the loss must be submitted to; that it is a condition of the kingdom, and I can understand you: but say not that there is any blessedness in such a life of mortification. Such is ever the true feeling of a fallen and unrenewed nature: there was an inspiration in the words before us; and till He who spake also inspires, we shall hear them still as exaggerated or unmeaning words. And yet if “ more blessed” means in other words, more Divine, more Godlike, is not the saying at once proved true? God, who possesses all things, cannot receive: God, who upholds all things, is ever giving. To receive is to be a creature: to give is to be so far a “ partaker of the Divine nature.” We will illustrate the saying in two particulars. I. Take the commonest and most obvious of all applications--money.1. It has many uses; purchases many pleasures; has many powers. With limitations, it can even buy knowledge, rank, subservience. If it cannot buy love, it can buy some substitutes. The rich man is better off than the poor man. Not happier, necessarily, nor better: but better off; speaking of this life only. Now can we possibly say of money, these being its advantages, that “ it is more blessed to give than to receive” ? Few men seem to find it so. What an eagerness is there to get money! What a pleasure in finding it multiply! What a desire to die rich! At last it becomes a passion, a business, an appetite, a disease. It is too late, perhaps, then to gain an audience for this Divine saying. 2. But let us try it betimes. Is there nothing in human nature which responds to it? I can fancy a man of average virtue saying, My chief pleasure in money is in paying it away. I rejoice to feel that I owe no man anything; to think that that man, who has served me, is the better for me. Yes, I enjoy paying away at least as much as receiving. This is a poor and faint image of the glorious principle of the text: but it is well to show that Christianity is not all transcendental, but that it seizes upon something which is in all of us till we are utterly hardened, and raises it into a region where approval at least and admiration may follow it. 3. But I do not believe that hearts will ever be changed into the love of giving, save by the entrance of the Spirit of Christ. When the world is seen as it is, and heaven as it is; when we perceive that we “ are not our own, but bought with a price” ; when once the example of Christ, who left heaven for us, and the faith of Christ, who opened heaven to us, are felt by us as real motives; then we shall be “ changed into the same image from glory to glory” ; we shall value the wealth of this world chiefly for its power of relieving distress and spreading the gospel; we shall find that the Saviour’ s saying is verified. II. I pass from the basest to the highest of possessions; from money to love.1. There are those amongst us whose nature is athirst for love. Life is a wilderness to them without it. If there were but one person who loved them they feel that they should be happy. And it comes not. Or they have love, but it is not the love which they desire. 2. We cannot but think that our Saviour has a word for these, and that the text speaks to them, and says, Little as you may think it, it is more blessed, in this respect, to give than to receive. Christ came unto His own, and His own received Him not. It is more blessed, because it is more Christlike, to love than to be loved. To love, and therefore to do good; to love, and therefore to be willing to “ spend and be spent, though the more abundantly I love, the less I be loved.” This is what Christ did: and the disciple is not greater than his Lord. 3. One thing you can say even now, if you be His; that you would not exchange the lot of the unloved for the lot of the unloving. You would not part with the power to love; even for the sake of being free from its disappointments, free from its aching voids or its rough repulses. 4. Purify and refine your affection, more and more, by every argument and every motive of the gospel; wash out of it all, earthly stains, burn out of it all human corruptions: and then cherish it, give it, yea, lavish it. Give as your Saviour gave, without a bargain, and without an expectation, and without a repining, and without one backward look, and in the end you shall be able to echo His words. (Dean Vaughan.)The blessedness of giving more than receiving To be governed by this principle is an argument-- I. Of a more happy spirit and temper. Because--1. It is the nearest resemblance of the Divine nature, which is perfectly happy. 2. It is a grateful acknowledgment of our obligations to God, and all that we can render to Him for His benefits. 3. It is an argument of great wisdom and consideration; for the reflection upon any good that we have done is a felicity much beyond that of the greatest fortune of this world; whereas the spirit contrary to this, is always uneasy to itself; but were our nature rectified and brought back to its primitive frame and temper, we should take no such pleasure in anything as in acts of kindness, which are so suitable and agreeable to our nature that they are peculiarly called humanity. II. Of a more happy state and condition.1. To receive from ethers plainly shows that we are in want. But to be able to benefit others is a condition of freedom and superiority, and the happiness which we confer upon others we in some sort enjoy, in being conscious to ourselves that we are the authors of it. And could we but once come to this excellent temper we need not envy the wealth and splendour of the most prosperous. 2. To depend upon another, and to receive from him, is the necessary imperfection of creatures; but to confer benefits is to resemble God. Aristotle could say, that by narrowness and selfishness, by envy and ill-will, men degenerate into beasts, and become wolves and tigers to one another; but by goodness and kindness, by mutual compassion and helpfulness, men become gods to one another. 3. The angels are, as it were, perfectly transformed into the image of the Divine goodness, and therefore the work which, with so much cheerfulness and vigour, they employ themselves in, is to be ministering spirits, to bring men to goodness, and to encourage, and assist, and comfort them in well-doing. And our blessed Lord, when He was upon earth, did in nothing show Himself more like the Son of God than in going about doing good. III. Of a great reward. There is no grace which hath in Scripture the encouragement of more and greater promises than this.1. Of happiness in general (Proverbs 14:21; Matthew 5:7; Luke 6:38; Job 25:12). 2. Of happiness in this life (Psalms 37:3; Proverbs 28:27; Psalms 41:1-3). 3. Of happiness in death (Proverbs 14:32; Isaiah 57:1). 4. Of happiness in the world to come (Luke 14:13-14; Luke 16:9; 1 Timothy 6:17-19). (Abp. Tillotson.)The blessedness of giving I. It is blessed to give because God Himself is the bountiful giver. He is the Author and Giver of all good things, and it is blessed be permitted in any measure to reflect His image and to be followers of Him. If it be the design of true religion to restore the moral image of God to the soul, it must indeed be blessed to act habitually in a spirit which is so harmonious with the Divine mind and will. If, then, we would prove ourselves to be the children of God, we must cultivate this grace, and give freely as God hath prospered us. We must give liberally of our substance for the service of God, for the advancement of true religion in the world, and for the relief of the poor and needy. Nay, more, we must do so not grudgingly or of necessity, nor because our circumstances or social position render it respectable to do so, but from purer and holier motives, because we would be followers of God as dear children, do as our Father in heaven does, and accomplish His will during the little day that we are on the earth. II. It is also blessed to give because God has commanded us to do so, and blessed are they who do His commandments. He who deals so bountifully with us, and loads us with His benefits, has commanded us to acknowledge Him in the mercies which He bestows. In Old Testament times His people were forbidden to appear before Him empty. They were to honour Him by setting apart of their substance for His service and glory (Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:19). Nor were they to forget the poor and needy (Deuteronomy 15:11). In studying the history of the Jewish Church nothing is more striking than the large proportion of their temporal blessings which they were required to consecrate to the service of God and to the relief of the poor. In the best days of their history their tithes and offerings, their thank offerings and free-will offerings, were on a scale of truly splendid munificence; nor were they losers thereby, for they found in their happy experience that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and that He addeth no sorrow with it. The whole spirit of the New Testament confirms and strengthens these commands. Hear what the great Teacher saith, “ Freely ye have received, freely give” ; “ Give, and it shall be given unto you” ; “ Sell that ye have and give alms: provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth neither moth corrupteth.” Hear some of the many exhortations of His inspired apostles--“ Charge them who are rich in this world, that they be ready to give and glad to distribute” ; “ To do good and to distribute forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” ; “ Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him” ; “ Whoso hath this world’ s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassions from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” III. Giving is, moreover, a Divinely appointed way of acknowledging God’ s mercies, and hence it is blessed. When filled with gratitude and love, the Psalmist asked, “ What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?” Feeling that he had nothing to bestow, he replies, “ I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now, in the presence of all His people.” We have indeed nothing to render that we have not received, yet is He pleased to accept our offerings as tokens of our gratitude and praise; nay, He has appointed them to be made in this spirit and accepted for this end. We are not as Israel were, waiting for the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, but are rejoicing in the brightness of His rays. We have to thank God not merely for salvation promised, but for salvation fully accomplished and freely offered to us all. What boundless gratitude and what large acknowledgments do these unspeakable mercies call for at our hands! If His ancient people offered so willingly unto Him that it was needful to restrain them from further offerings, shall we come before Him empty? IV. Finally, it must be blessed to give, because great and precious promises are made to those who do so. We are told that “ the Lord loveth the cheerful giver” ; and many are the promises which He has given to those who give with a willing heart and a liberal hand--promises of a rich return for all that they have truly lent unto the Lord. Are we exhorted to “ honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase” ? There is a great and precious promise connected with so doing: “ So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Are we told to cast our bread upon the waters? We are assured that we shall find it after many days. Are we charged to give a portion to seven and also to eight? The reason given for it is that we know not what evil may be upon the earth, and we do know that the faithful Promiser has said, “ Blessed is the man that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.” Did the Lord reprove the Jewish people because in a time of coldness and declension they had robbed Him in tithes and in offerings? Hear the gracious words of promise by which He sought to recall them to the path of duty (Malachi 3:10). No man ever regretted having been a cheerful giver, and many have been enriched thereby. We have often seen instances of this--of men who have conscientiously honoured God with their substance from their early days, and who have found by experience that godliness hath the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come. There are doubtless exceptional cases. There is much discipline needed in the school of Christ, and hence we see good men overtaken by adversity and placed in the furnace of affliction. These are appointed trials, but the promise standeth sure: “ Them that honour Me I will honour” ; and he who, from love to Christ, has given to the least of His disciples a cup of cold water only, shall in no wise lose his reward. And what heart can conceive, what tongue can express, the joy of the cheerful givers in that day when the Lord Jesus shall come again in the glory of the Father and all the holy angels with Him, and when He shall say to them, “ I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat,” etc.! (W. Niven, B. D.)The blessedness of self-giving “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Two principles of action are here contrasted. Egoism makes self the centre for inflowing streams. Altruism makes self a centre, but chiefly for distribution. And Jesus declares that action according to the latter principle offers to any moral being the more satisfactory results. We might argue this truth from the outcome of action to the contrary. The miser in his dreary counting-room, the self-lover torn with jealousy, the victim of overweening ambition, the spoiled child of luxury yielding to vice and perishing of ennui, the degraded recipients of misdirected charity, business rivals cutting each other’ s throats in obedience to an iron law of competition, employers and employed fighting for what they call their rights, and the State estopped from its high destiny by parties intent only on the spoils of office, are not to be called blessed even by poetic license of speech. Only as intelligence and morality prevail over brute instincts do men discern common interests and seek the common well-being. If humanity ascends into the Divine, it must be along this pathway of self-giving. If’ God has ever drawn near to man, He has moved along the heavenly portion of the same blessed way. Was not creation itself a first step in “ the royal way of the Cross,” as a Kempis names it? Has not the whole course of revelation been a continued giving as men could understand and themselves impart what they were themselves receiving? Note three significant incidents in the ministry of Jesus. In the wilderness incarnate self-seeking promised, “ I will give Thee the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Incarnate self-giving replied, “ Get thee hence, Satan.” And angels ministered to the Victor. By the lake side His own people were ready to bestow on Him a crown; but the strong Son of Man again held Himself only to giving, fortifying Himself in this purpose by a night alone with His Father in the mountain solitude. Soon another mountain saw Him transfigured. The Altar that bore the offering for the sins of the world was glorified to dazzling whiteness by its self-offered burden. After some such fashion it is possible to argue the superiority of the rule of self-giving. But in the practical stir of daily business and pleasure it seems little more than a vision of the beautiful, a dream of the land that is very far off. Paul was a bolder, loftier spirit. Both in theory and in practice he accepted the Master’ s opinion. I. Paul’ s theology was built about this principle of self-giving. The gospel as he conceived it was a story “ of the grace of God.” Every man looks at the mission of Jesus from the standpoint of his own personal experience. The vision on the road to Damascus is the clue to Paul’ s doctrine. That he, the violent persecutor of the followers of Jesus, should have been made to see in Jesus the perfect revelation of God’ s love to men, was an unmerited favour for which he could find no parallel. God’ s treatment of him, the chief of sinners, gave him a universal message. He might apply to the disciples’ relation to God through Jesus all the legal formularies of Jewish councils and Roman courts. He might find in the ritual of Israel the type of Jesus’ mediatorship. He might speak of the death of Jesus on the Cross after the fashion of the priests who delighted in the details of their bloody sacrifices. But all such special language was intended simply to describe the self-giving of God to His needy and sinful creatures. Symbols and comparisons of every kind were seized upon to convey this idea. He could even rise to the audacity of declaring that the Ephesian Church was part of “ the Church of God, purchased with His own blood,” yet the boldest imagery was inadequate to describe his vision of “ the exceeding riches of God’ s grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” To this same “ word of His grace” he turns as the last resort after all his care and reminiscence and exhortation. God might sanctify the Church by imparting new knowledge, by providential interference, by spiritual contact. But mainly he must work by the story of grace. II. Side by side with this self-giving of God to man Paul maintains that this same principle must absolutely prevail in the Church. Great urgency characterises his repetition of this exhortation to the elders. “ Take heed to all the flock,” he says. “ The Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the Church.” “ Watch ye.” “ Help the weak.” “ Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” What but a thorough-going adoption of the principle of self-giving could answer to such a charge? Doubtless those poor elders of the Church felt their hearts sink again within them, if indeed they at all comprehended the meaning of his earnest words. The pressure of self-seeking invades the body of Christ and paralyses many of its best intentions. Shall we not say, then, that the Church exists for the manifestation of the spirit of Jesus, to be the corporate incarnation of the life of God? “ This is obviously God’ s method. When He would bring about an elevation of the world He never effects His purpose by a pull at once at the whole dead level of humanity. He has always set to work by giving special gifts to a few elect souls, and through their means leavening the whole of humanity by degrees.” The local Church is to be the constant expression of the mind of God for the world’ s redemption. It is to be a centre of moral and spiritual health to the changing social organism. It is not a mutual benefit association, a moral insurance company, a religious creche, or even an organisation for the maintenance of public worship. It is all this by being more, a body of servants of Jesus pushing the kingdom of God’ s grace intensively and extensively.3. Our lesson contains illustration by practice as well as by theory and exhortation. Paul could declare with full sense of his responsibility that he was “ pure from the blood of all men.” No person in Ephesus could rise up and say that Paul had not cared for his soul. With lowliness of mind, with tears, with trials, coveting no man’ s silver or gold or apparel, but caring for himself and his companions by daily labour at his trade, he gave himself to teaching publicly and from house to house, going about preaching the kingdom. He shrank from nothing that was profitable to either Jew or Greek, declaring the whole counsel of God and admonishing everyone night and day with tears. How intense, too, the flame of his devotion still was that had burned so brightly in Ephesus for three years! He was going to Jerusalem under constraint of the Spirit. They should see his face no more. Just what was to befall him he did not know. Only as he went on clear warning came in every city that bonds and afflictions of some sort waited for him, and yet the course marked out for him in God’ s grace allured him more than it frightened him. He would accomplish it at any cost. The spirit of self-giving utterly triumphed in him as in his Master. He gloried in his tribulations. He rejoiced in his sufferings in behalf of the disciples. One cannot but feel after this review of the apostle’ s conception of the Christian faith and practice that the principle here commended is fundamental to Christianity. More than any other it voices the essential truth of the religion of Jesus. Herein the religions of the nations fail to stand the test. Strip them of their superstitions and falsehoods, and they are powerless to control the mighty passions of mankind. Christianity alone seizes upon the hearts of men and makes appeal to grateful love, because it is neither a philosophy nor an ethical code nor a scheme of life, but a simple story how God gives Himself to men, in intimate and loving ways, for the removal of their weakness and misery and rebellion. (J. R. Gow.)The larger blessing and the less 1. This word, like the great apostle who has reported it, was born out of due time. It lay silent in loving hearts, or was whispered by loving lips, until spoken by Paul. In another sense it was like him--“ not a whit behind the chiefest” of the Master’ s sayings in preciousness and power. 2. Luke reports Paul’ s speech, and Paul’ s speech holds a priceless fragment. It is as when a seaman in a shipwreck has seized a servant, who, when she is raised, discovers in her arms an infant of the family she serves. We have here a word of Christ rescued from sinking into oblivion, with a word of Paul’ s wrapped round it; the jewel and its setting. 3. These words were employed to stimulate the Ephesian Christians to charity; but if you limit them to that application you will miss their deepest meaning. A child sees in the stars only twinkling lights, but you know they are central suns. As the difference between the intrinsic greatness of the fixed stars, and their incidental usefulness at night, is the difference between these words in their origin and their application to Christian contributions. 4. The Redeemer here expressed His own experience. He who loves a cheerful giver is a cheerful giver. A penitent may encourage his soul with the fact that the cure of his disease will impart greater joy to the Physician than to himself. Forms of beauty may be thrown off by common workmen; but the one type grew in the secret of a greater soul. So off the experience of Jesus in His work of redemption from the beginning in the eternal purpose, till its finishing in the fulness of time, was this maxim taken. The love wherewith Christ loved us is the mould in which this practical rule was cast. And so all who have left a beneficent mark on the world have first practised what they preached. Nor has Christ’ s giving ceased now that He is exalted (Ephesians 4:8). 5. This glimpse into the heart of the Redeemer is a salve for the greatest of all sores. Jesus, for the joy of giving us salvation, endured the Cross. Let us bear these words, then, on our hearts when we pray. He Himself counts it blessedness to give. 6. These words do not mean that it is unblessed to receive. When the receiver is needy, the gift good, and the giver generous, it is blessed to receive. Evidence that Christ delighted in the self-consecration of His disciples crops up everywhere--e.g., in the narratives of the woman with the alabaster box, and the one leper out of ten. It was kind of Him to let us know that He values our gifts, although we render to Him only what we have received. And now that He has gone beyond our reach, it is His express wish that we should consider the poor as receivers for Him. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The greater blessedness of giving 1. When St. Paul visited Miletus, several of his most potent letters had been already penned. These were saturated with thoughts the origination of which we cannot fairly attribute to him, and for which we can find no adequate explanation in existing literature. Where can we find any explanation of this more rational than that Paul had been himself revolutionised by the “ words of the Lord Jesus” ? 2. Strange to say, from our modern standpoint, not one of the four Gospels had then been written. Nevertheless, the teaching of Jesus had gone forth into all lands. And neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, nor John gathered up a tithe of these Divine words, which spread like prairie fire round the whole seaboard of the Mediterranean. 3. We could more willingly part with many an ancient classic, whole sutras of Buddha, and the entire Vedic literature, than with this Divine utterance, which goes down to the very depths of human life, and stretches out to embrace the essential blessedness of God Himself. Small and bright as a dew drop, yet, as we watch, it swells into a veritable ocean of love, on whose placid surface are reflected all the glories of heaven and earth. I. It is blessed to receive. There is no antithesis here between the blessedness of giving and the non-blessedness of receiving. Oriental mysticism, Buddhist legends, the hyperbole of self-sacrifice for its own sake, have stumbled into this pit of pessimism. Christ illumined the profoundest problems of ethic and the true secret of religious life, when He said, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.”1. It is blessed simply to receive nature’ s gifts. (1) All the progress of man is measured by the degree to which he has received and appreciated these. When man first understood what nature had done for him in offering him the flower and fruit and seed of corn, then began the harvest of the world. When human intelligence apprehended what was involved in the chalk, coal, and mineral wealth at his feet; when he grasped the meaning of fire and lightning, and the contents of water and air; when he began to “ receive” and utilise the energies which had been moulding the world for untold centuries--then science took its birth. If we refuse to receive the light of heaven, we stumble into pitfalls. If we refuse to receive our daily bread, we perish. (2) Furthermore, nature lavishes upon us appeals to our higher and more subtle desires, and gives us the sense of beauty, truth, and goodness. The surpassing loveliness of much of nature’ s work must be received by those who have the eyes and ears of the spirit opened to receive it. The great artists and poets, musicians and sculptors, have so embodied their strong emotions in abiding form and material, that others may learn from them the blessed secret of receiving the mystery of beauty, and accepting some of the truth and goodness of its eternal source. 2. All human love is a ministration of Divine love. Human tenderness is but a channel cut by Holy Providence through which the rivers of God’ s pleasure flow. Now, it is blessed to receive human love and the gifts of love. See the child with its hands full of birthday gifts, intense joy lighting its eye, almost bursting the tiny heart. Only on this principle can the inequalities of human power and capacity be compensated, can the strong help the weak, the physician heal the sick, the wise instruct the foolish, the ignorant walk in the light of knowledge. Because it is “ blessed to receive,” we can drink into the spirit of the mighty dead, and apply to our own case their hoarded wisdom. All beneficence would be dried at its source, if there were no blessedness in receiving the streams of living water which are always pouring forth from human hearts. 3. The most impressive illustration of the principle is the blessedness of receiving the grace of God. The secret of receiving from the living God what is neither earned nor merited, but which we have gracelessly forfeited, is a secret which some are slow to learn. It is blessed to receive what Jesus Christ gives to man, even though it smite down our pride and explode our self-sufficiency. It is blessed to receive the greatest gift, to receive into our very nature a new and endless life, to sit in the sunshine of the Divine Presence, to be satisfied with the grace of the Lord Jesus, to be filled with all the fulness of God, to be forever with the Lord. II. But it is more blessed to give than to receive.1. Can any reason be assigned for such a sweeping and comprehensive inversion of all ordinary maxims? Should we not tremble to put it to such a test here in this Christian England of ours? Let the race course and the stock exchange, the insurance office, Parliament, and the law courts answer! Let diplomacy, with its duties, let trade and speculation, let professional etiquette and social distinctions and cliques be submitted to the fire of this principle. The honest advocate of such a law of life would be branded with scorn, and hustled off any stage of human activity. 2. Is this the regal principle in what calls itself the very body of Christ? Individuals may occur to us whose whole being is one unceasing process of giving, and on whose brow there sits the dome of peace, and in whose eyes, which are full of tears of boundless sympathy, there gleams the light of heaven’ s own joy. But is their experience a final proof? Can we take the Son of Man at His word? 3. The judgment of the Lord Jesus was authoritative for St. Paul. The saying of the text must be true, because He who is the truth uttered it. He put the principle to the most complete expression. He tested it, as no other could possibly do, by, on the one hand, a receptivity open to all the amplitude of the Holy Father’ s love lavished upon Him from eternity; and, on the other, a sacrifice and gift of Himself which was practically and to our most vivid imagination infinite and absolute. 4. The eternal relation of the Father and the Son is the eternal interchange of giving and receiving love. In the text we see the very order of the Trinity. The Father’ s giving greater than the Son’ s receiving. Jesus says, “ I and the Father are one” ; but “ the Father is greater than I.” From this principle we see some hint for the motive of the creation. The Lord called forth an object for the superfluity of His infinite love. Great is the joy of the Lord in the praises of His children, but greater still in bestowing upon them ever-abounding reasons for their praise. 5. The noblest and the most wonderful gift of the Lord God is the incarnation of the Son of God, and that great act of the Father is the blessedest of all. He gave His only-begotten, His well-beloved. 6. But we must adapt this great principle of blessedness to the smaller range of our own experience. (1) Ye ought to remember and act upon the words of the Lord Jesus, because it is a truth you are, in the corruption and weakness of nature, in continual danger of forgetting. I grant you all the blessedness of receiving the gifts of nature and of the love of man: you must aim at the higher and greater blessedness of diffusing to others what you know to be worthy. The first believers stripped themselves utterly that they might yield themselves to this sublime impulse, and know something of the blessedness of Christ and of God. (2) Ye ought to remember these words of the Lord Jesus when you are tempted to say, “ Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years.” There is a question between the blessedness of buying a ring, or a picture, or a house, or a book, or a co, at for yourself, and the blessedness of giving to the sick, the helpless, the naked, and the fatherless. (3) Most earnestly St. Paul counsels you to receive the grace of God. But art thou going to sit and sing thyself away to everlasting bliss? Nay, “ Remember the words of the Lord Jesus.” There is a greater blessedness: you are to give yourself back to God in holy consecration. You are not your own, but His who has given Himself for you and to you. Conclusion: We shall find the truth of our Lord’ s undying words when we enter into His joy. Not until we chant the endless hallelujah, not until we yield ourselves absolutely to our Lord God for eternity, having no will but His, shall we fully know how much more blessed it is to give than to receive. (Principal Reynolds.)The superior blessedness of giving It is more blessed to give than to receive, because it is-- I. Far higher privilege. To receive may be an advantage, but the very act implies dependence and want, and therefore is so far an irksome feeling. But to be so graciously advantaged by the Giver of all good that we can assume the attitude of bestowers, must at once be admitted to be far the most distinguished privilege. II. More safe. To be a receiver of good is dangerous, because it is fitted to nourish that selfish yearning so innate in our souls. How many there are who, when they were poor and little exalted in this life, had a heart open to pity’ s call, and a hand stretched out at pity’ s claim; but just in proportion as they got more, they gave less, and, as “ riches increased,” they “ set their hearts upon them.” But giving has not this peril. It has, indeed, its attendant danger. Our giving, if it minister to self-complacency--if it lead us to put it in the stead of the free “ gift of God,” which “ is eternal life by Christ Jesus” --it will do us sad harm, and our very acts of charity maybe converted into splendid sins. Nevertheless, there is in Christian giving far less danger than in receiving; there is something in the very exercise that is fitted to keep humble, because he is reminded, “ Who maketh me to differ from another? and what have I, that I have not received?” And then how few comparatively injure their souls by giving, while many and mournful are the examples of those who injure their souls by getting! III. Happier. There is a pain too often in reception from man, and it requires a very lowly and submissive mind in a rightly constituted poor man to be a dependent upon the kindness of others. And whatever pleasure there may be in gratitude, there is far more pleasure in benevolence. God hath so made us, that our duty is our happiness; and those dispositions which are most pleasing in His sight are most pleasurable in themselves. There is a pleasure that the mother feels in feeding, etc., her child; and in the patriot, whose heart is most passionately attached to his country. And does not this show us that if even the natural exercises of the communicating spirit be its pleasures and its relish, how much more when it is baptized by the Spirit of God, and when it assumes its proper purpose--to glorify God and benefit His creatures! Then, indeed, in giving we get. IV. More godlike. “ God is love.” And what does His love delight in? Communicating its own beneficence to all. And that goodness hath shown itself infinitely more than all, in that God “ spared not His own Son,” etc., and “ how shall He not with Him also freely give all things” to them that are Christ’ s? And shall we not contemplate the Godlike character of the spirit of benevolence, as it is manifested in God incarnate? Oh! then, would we be “ imitators of God as dear children” ? would we “ put on the Lord Jesus Christ” ? would we be like “ our Father in heaven” ? would we be “ partakers of the Divine nature,” and transformed into the Divine likeness? We must know and feel that “ it is more blessed to give than to receive.” V. We argue the same blessed truth from the approval and complacency with which God regards the giver. The promises to the receiver are few and not so direct; but the promises to the giver are rich and manifold and animating. Conclusion:1. What a fatal mistake are most making in the way they set about to be happy! To get more wealth, admiration, power, influence, indulgence. What a mistake! Take a selfish heart to heaven, if it were possible, and it would be miserable; take a generous heart to hell, if that were possible, and it would be happy there. 2. Then what a stupendous change must pass upon our fallen nature I No marvel that it should be called a new birth, a resurrection from the dead. (Canon Stowell.)The blessedness of giving It is pleasant to hear people talk about things with which they are well acquainted; but if a person attempts to speak on a subject he knows nothing about, nobody wants to hear him. Suppose someone should lecture about the way houses are built in the moon, would you care about going to hear him? But suppose that a great explorer, after he had spent two winters up towards the North Pole, should lecture about the Polar regions, should not we all be anxious to hear him? Well, when Jesus said, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive,” He knew all about it. It is more blessed to give than to receive because-- I. It is more like God. God is “ the giver of every good and perfect gift.” Who gave us our hands to work with? our feet to walk with? our ears to hear, and our tongues to talk with? our minds to think, and our hearts to love with? these lungs to breathe with? God. Yes, God gives us our health, our strength, our clothes, our friends, our teachers, our parents, our homes, our churches, our ministers, our Bibles. II. It is more useful. If God should stop giving for just one day, everything would perish.1. It is more useful to ourselves. Suppose I want to have my arm become very strong. If I carry it in a sling, and do not use it all, after a while it will grow weak and thin. But if I use it all I can, the stronger it will grow. Look at the blacksmith! And what is true of the arm is true of the heart. Our hearts will grow larger, and stronger, and better, by proper exercise. And the proper exercise for the heart is giving. A good many people carry their hearts in a sling. And the consequence is that their hearts grow narrow and little, and good for nothing. If they would begin to exercise their hearts by giving, they would find that what Jesus said is true, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” 2. It is more useful to others. If we keep our money without using it, what good will it do? There was once a Scottish nobleman--Lord Brace. He was very rich, but very miserly. He was so close and stingy, that one day when a farmer came to pay his rent, the money he brought was just one farthing short, and the man had to go all the way back to his home, a distance of several miles, and get that farthing before he would give him a receipt. Well, when it was all settled, the farmer said, “ Now, Brace, I’ ll give you a shilling if you’ ll let me see all the silver and gold you’ ve got.” “ Agreed,” said the miserly lord. Then he took him into his vault, and opened the great iron chests full of gold and silver, so that he could see it all. Then the farmer gave him the promised shilling, and said, “ Now, Brace, I’ m as rich as you are.” “ Ay, men,” said his lordship, “ and how can that be?” “ Because I’ ve looked at your gold and silver, and that is all you will ever do with it.” Now let us take an example of a different kind. Some years ago a certain Sunday school was making up a box of things to send to a missionary station. One poor little girl was very anxious to send something. But all she had in the world to give was a single penny. So she bought a tract with that penny, and gave the tract to her teacher to put in the box. It was opened at Burdwan, in India. That tract fell into the hands of the son of one of the chiefs and led him to become a Christian. Then he was very anxious that others should become Christians too. In one year fifteen hundred of the natives of that part of the country gave up their idolatry and became Christians, through the labours of that young prince. And all this good resulted from the one tract bought by that poor little girl’ s single penny. Now think of all this good being done by one penny, and then think of all Lord Brace’ s gold and silver lying useless, and you must admit that it is more blessed to give than to receive or keep. III. There is more happiness in it. Little Robert Manly thought a great deal about pleasing himself, and this is not at all the best way to be happy. One day a poor woman came to Robert’ s mother to beg a little new milk for her sick baby. Mrs. Manly had none to spare, except what she had saved for her Robert’ s supper; and at supper time his mother told him how she had given away his milk for the poor sick baby. Robert didn’ t like this at all, and kept muttering about the milk being his, and nobody else having any right to it. The next day Robert was taken to see this poor family, and it made him shiver to look round on that cheerless home. The poor woman thanked Mrs. Manly over and over again for the new milk. “ It kept the baby still all night,” she said. As they walked home, Robert did not say a word, though he was generally very talkative. At supper time his bowl of milk was set by his plate, but in a few minutes he went to his mother’ s side and said in a whisper, “ Mother, may I take my milk to the poor sick baby?” “ Yes, my son,” said his mother. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 20:37-38 And they all wept sore … sorrowing most of all … that they should see his face no more. Paul’ s farewell I. The tears of the noble servants of God.1. A painful tax of human weakness, which even the best have to pay in-- (1) External trials. (2) Internal temptations. 2. A precious ornament of holy souls from which shines forth the faithfulness which follows the Lord in suffering, and the love which weeps over the misery of the world. 3. A fruitful seed for the beautiful harvest of joy, which shall ripen to those who weep-- (1) Not only in heaven, when those who have sown in tears will reap in joy; but also-- (2) Here, on the field of the heart, since their labour is not in vain in the Lord. II. The saying of separating love (cf. John 16:16).1. With its bitterness--sorrow of orphanage--reproaches of conscience, if we have neglected the hour of our merciful visitation. 2. With its sweet comfort. (1) Continued uniting in the Lord. (2) Reunion with the Lord. (K. Gerok.)The sorrow of parting Surely there is nothing so sad in life as the sadness of partings. I listened the other day to two little children talk--two little simple children--without any experience of the sorrows of life. They were about to part for a short time, and I overheard their words. “ I am so sorry to leave you, dear,” said one, almost an infant. “ And so am I, so sorry to part with you.” What was the meaning of such words from young lips? Dear innocent hearts! They knew little or nothing of the sorrows of life. For them all that was to come; if black the future, the present was in sunlight. It was the expression of one of those deep truths which lie buried in the very essence of our mortal nature. It was the expression of the pang of parting. Partings are the saddest things in life. Partings create sorrows whilst we are living; partings robe the beds of death in the deepest gloom; partings fill the eyes of the dying with looks of anguish; partings make our hearts ache as we gaze at those who lie before us loved and dead. (Knox-Little.)Robert Moffat’ s farewell Robert Moffat laboured for more than fifty years in South Africa and chiefly at Kuruman. On Sunday, March 20, 1870, he preached for the last time in Kuruman church. In all that great congregation there were few of his own contemporaries. With a pathetic grace he pleaded with those who still remained unbelieving. It was an impressive close to an impressive career. On the Friday following the aged missionary and his wife took their departure. As they came out of their house and walked to their waggon they were beset with crowds of the Bechuanas, each longing for a handshake and another word of farewell, and as the waggon drove away it was followed by all who could walk, and a long and pitiful wail arose, enough to melt the hardest heart. A sad parting A Zulu missionary, the Rev. Daniel Lindley, D.D., died at Morristown, U.S. He sailed from Boston to South Africa in 1834. During eleven years he and his wife were not privileged to see a single soul brought to Christ. But when they left Zululand, in 1873, after labouring there for thirty-eight years, they left, as the fruit of the blessing of God on their work, a flourishing Christian Church at Inanda, with a native pastor. At their departure a farewell sermon was preached, at the close of which the native minister, Thomas Hawes, said that the Zulu Christians were left orphans; they had gathered to bury their father and mother. The missionary, he said, knew all, from the governor to the poorest man, and he is called by all “ Unicwawes,” Father. His authority might have been greater than the chief’ s, but he governed not. He was as meek as a little child. He added: “ His wife has taught our wives and daughters, and has by precept upon precept, and an unwavering example of goodness and faithfulness, done her work for Christ.” Parting, with the hope of reunion It is the measure of hope which gives joy or sorrow to a parting. To part with a loved one in the morning, in the confident expectation of meeting again at the day’ s close, hardly causes a twinge of sorrow to the most sensitive heart. A parting which looks forward to a reunion at the close of a summer’ s vacation, or of a European tour, or on the return of an anniversary gathering, has more of brightness than of shadow in its firmament. But when the parting is with a soldier son or brother, who is starting out for active service at the front; or with a missionary worker who leaves his country with no thought of a return to it; or, when for any reason the hope of another meeting in this life is faint or is lacking--then its sadness is intensified. So it is when the parting is at the grave’ s border. Even the brightest-hearted Christian has a right to have sorrow in parting with a loved friend, with no hope of seeing him again on earth. It is not that the friend is a loser by passing out from earth’ s prison house; but it is that he who remains here shall see that friend’ s face no more. But even in such a parting, believers in Christ can have hope of a meeting beyond the grave; and this hope it is which should encourage the believer to sorrow not as those who have no hope. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The sorrow that arises at the departure of a Christian minister Let us consider-- I. Its source.1. The loss of a true friend. Next to the assurance that we have the best friend in heaven is the conviction that we have a true friend on earth. A Christian minister should be this, and felt to be this, by his people. The apostle evidently stood in this relation to these Ephesians. 2. The close of lengthened religious privileges. 3. The recollection of numerous changes which this death suggests. II. Its comfort.1. To him it is immeasurable gain. Our departed Christian friends have but entered on a farther voyage than that to which these Ephesians accompanied the apostle; but surely a more favouring one; for death is that ship into which the disciples received their Master, in the gloom of night, that He might scatter their fears, and still the waves for them, and bring them immediately to the land whither they went. They have not died; they have emigrated to the better country. 2. Results may still remain. No man can live and labour for Christ without bequeathing to the world such a legacy, which our eye may not be able to separate from the great whole, but which is still there, increasing the amount and hastening on the grand and glorious close. A man may scatter precious seed, and be called away; but if he has done his work faithfully and well, the green blade shall spring, and the yellow harvest shall wave, though the head of the sower be in the dust beneath. 3. Changes are preparing the way for a world that is immutable. “ We look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Every good and perfect gift comes from above; but more, it departs thither also. III. Its improvement. Christian sorrow for the departed should lead us--1. To seek reunion with the object of our affection. This is the instinct of grief, wherever it is genuine--to be where the lost one is. The gospel does not destroy human grief with its natural longings; it comes to consecrate it to the noblest ends, and make a ladder of it that shall reach to heaven. 2. To cultivate what they had most at heart while with us. (J. Ker, D. D.). Acts 21:1-3 And it came to pass that after we were gotten from them.Paul going to Jerusalem I. The soul’ s itinerary. The daily journeying of this company of God’ s folk was a matter for record.1. The details give a good test of the authenticity of the narrative. One soon trips in many and complicated details unless he is speaking the truth. Now the writer of the Acts is never found tripping even amid the most varied incidents. This journey has often been gone over, and the results verify the accuracy of St. Luke’ s account. There are those who belittle (as there are also those who exaggerate) the value of geographical, historical, archaeological and other studies that tend to uncover the social, political, and natural environments of Biblical peoples. But in such studies, as in natural history, the most trifling things may prove vastly important as necessary links in a chain of evidence. If the Divine Spirit thought it worth while to record them, it is worth our while to look into them. It will be well if, like St. Luke, we keep our eyes open as we go through life, and learn the art of telling what we see. 2. The soul’ s itinerary through the world is a matter of record before God and men. Perhaps it did not occur to any in that company that the incidents of their trip would be conned by millions. Yet such was the purpose of God. Is it not somewhat so with every man’ s life journey? (1) There is much comfort in this thought (Psalms 37:23-24; Genesis 28:15). The consciousness of this truth brings one very near to God, and every spot may be a “ Bethel.” The best of men are exposed to misunderstanding, but there is comfort in an appeal from the false record of one’ s pilgrimage made by his fellows, to the true, full itinerary kept in heaven (Job 19:21-27; Malachi 3:16). (2) There is also admonition. “ Thou God seest me!” (Psalms 139:2-3). Life is a great responsibility when we remember that God above records the soul’ s itinerary through life. The lives of men below keep the record too, whether for good or ill. May Heaven help us so to go over life’ s pilgrimage that every milestone may be for ourselves and others an “ Ebenezer” --a stone of helping! II. A story of brotherly love and sympathy. “ After we were gotten from them” means having been torn from them--a painful and reluctant separation. The reference is to Acts 20:37. A somewhat similar scene occurred at Tyre, where the company found “ disciples.” Such demonstrations must have cheered the heart of Paul and given him new strength. Men are so used to turn to the Christian minister for comfort and sympathy that they often forget that he needs the words of good cheer. Note that the “ children” of Tyre had part in these demonstrations. Teach the young to love and reverence those who are their spiritual guides. How pleasant to contrast the conduct of these Christian children with that of the young roughs who insulted Elisha. The same honour and sympathy greeted Paul at every stopping place until the hospitable home of Philip received him. No doubt the four daughters were quite as ready for the ministry of home duties as for the public work of the Church. How much more of Divine sweetening the world would have if the Church would return to this simple and primitive life! III. Submission to God. The stay at Philip’ s house was marked by the advent of a prophet--Agabus (see Acts 11:27-30), who was deeply imbued with the spirit of the Old Testament prophets, and used the symbolical method so commonly practised by them. Then followed the beseeching remonstrance which brought out that noble utterance, “ I am ready not to be bound only,” etc. Paul knew but one law--the will of God. He would do his duty, even though bonds and death awaited him. Would that all Christians might catch this spirit of the great apostle! Luther had it when, being warned not to go to the Diet of Worms, he made the memorable answer, “ Even should there be as many devils in Worms as tiles on the housetops, still I would enter it!” So, again, when his friends said, “ They will burn you as they did John Huss,” he replied, “ Though they should kindle a fire all the way from Worms to Wittemberg, the flames of which reached to heaven, I would walk through it in the name of the Lord Jesus.” “ The will of the Lord be done!” Thus at last reluctant friends exclaimed. They, too, learned the lesson of submission. They gave their friend up to Him who called to the sacrifice. Those who thus give up their friends to the path of self-sacrifice have often the harder lot. Women who have given husbands and sons to their country’ s service in the hour of need have felt a keener pain than those who wrought and marched and fought. The parents of those who go far hence unto the Gentiles have not unfrequently felt profounder grief than the devoted missionaries themselves. (H. C. McCook, D. D.)Paul going to Jerusalem I. A friendly warning.1. Paul and his companions immediately looked up the Christians in the cities they visited. It is easy to learn a man’ s character from the sort of people he prefers to associate with--especially when he is away from home. 2. Paul, like every other Christian worker, received a large amount of well-meant advice that he could not well heed. It is sometimes as needful to say “ No” to one’ s friends as it is to one’ s enemies. 3. Paul said “ No” when his friends wished him to turn back, but he said so courteously, tenderly, prayerfully. He could refuse a man without insulting him. 4. Paul and his companions were not ashamed to kneel down on the open beach in sight of everybody and pray. Secret prayer is helpful and precious, but there are times when public praying becomes a duty. 5. Paul and his companions and the disciples bade each other farewell with prayers and benedictions. When we say, “ Good-bye” to our friends, let us remember that we are in form at least breathing a prayer over them, for “ Good-bye” means “ God be with you.” II. A prophetic warning.1. It is instructive to note that the evangelist Philip who now entertained the Christ-loving Paul had years before been driven from Jerusalem to escape the fury of the Christ-hating Saul. See Acts 8:1-5. 2. It is evident that “ there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” The disciples and Agabus advised Paul wisely so far as they knew, but he was better informed than they. 3. It is apparent that Paul did wisely to seek his marching orders directly from headquarters. So doing, he was sure of avoiding all mistakes. 4. It sometimes emphasises advice to accompany it with action. Thus Agabus, binding himself with Paul’ s girdle, spoke to the eyes, as his voice did to the ears, of the apostles. 5. It is always true that the bonds most to be feared are those a man puts upon himself. Agabus may well shudder at the bonds with which he binds himself, Paul may well disregard the fetters with which hostile Jews threaten him. 6. It was true, as Agabus prophesied, that bonds awaited Paul in Jerusalem. Whatever awaited him, Paul went on just the same. It is always best for one to follow the straight line of duty, even though it lead him inside of prison walls. III. An unheeded warning.1. A man may have the firmest kind of a will, and yet the tenderest sort of a heart. Paul was such a man. 2. A man of the right sort is more moved by the tears of his friends than by the assaults of his enemies. 3. A man who is ready to be bound for Christ ought certainly not to fear being freed for Christ. And what is death but being set free from the bondage of this world? 4. A man who would do the most for the good will not throw away his life. Paul was careful to have it understood that he was risking his life “ for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 5. A man having fully determined to risk his mortal life to save the immortal lives of others, it is the right thing for that man’ s friends to cease their dissuading talk about missionary dangers, and missionary hardships, and the unhealthfulness of foreign climates. 6. A man having fully determined to do the Lord’ s work in the Lord’ s way at home or abroad, it is the part of a friend and a Christian to say, “ The will of the Lord be done.” (S. S. Times.)Paul going to Jerusalem I. Reasons Paul should not go to Jerusalem.1. The needs of the churches. These churches were still in the mission stage, small and weak. Church organisation was so imperfect that it still required a constant apostolic oversight. On the face of it, God would not raise up a man by such a wonderful experience as Paul had had, and take him away when to all human judgment he had before him the best ten or fifteen years of his life. 2. The appeals of the brethren. These were hard to bear. Paul was a man of tender feelings. All the arguments to show why he should save himself for their sakes were tearfully urged. And these were his children. 3. The warning of the Holy Spirit. II. Reasons Paul went to Jerusalem.1. The purpose of his life. He had before him his ministry for Christ, Everything was for that. His calling was to testify of Him whose name was called Jesus, because He should save His people from their sins. He believed that the next service for the name of the Lord Jesus was going to Jerusalem, whatever should befall him there. Therefore he went. 2. The law of self-sacrifice. Paul had laid himself on the altar as a voluntary offering, to live and to die for his Saviour. He was not a rash man; but he knew that there are ends which sacrifice can accomplish, and which can be accomplished by no other means. It was not certain that his life was needed any longer. The death of Stephen had proved an occasion of a wonderful enlargement of the gospel. These churches which Paul had been visiting probably owed their existence to the sacrifice of the life of that glorious deacon whose mantle had fallen upon the shoulders of Paul. Could Paul make a better use of his life than to die for the name of the Lord Jesus, if he could do as much by dying as Stephen had done? If a Christian would accomplish anything worthy for God, he must understand this Divine law. Our suffering, like that of our Saviour, has its place in the price of the world’ s redemption. 3. The leading of the Spirit. The disciples were led by the Spirit. So was Paul. Their leading did not conflict with his, though it seemed to do so. The warning voice said: “ If you go on you will be imprisoned and slain.” But the voice within said: “ Go on, though you are imprisoned and slain.” The two voices were of the same Spirit. The interpretation of the voices was for Paul to give. Every man has the voice of the Spirit for himself. Listen to the voice of the Spirit within you; yield yourself to His influence. You can tell whether you are following Him. (G. R. Leavitt.)Paul’ s journey to Jerusalem From this-- I. We may find a stimulus to our flagging zeal as we contemplate the apostle’ s search for and improvement of opportunities for usefulness. He had one end in view--Pentecost at Jerusalem, and from this no entreaties could divert him. But while moving steadily forward he filled in every interval with service, e.g., at Troas, Miletus, Tyre, Caesarea. Men speak with enthusiasm of Caesar’ s devotion to literary pursuits during his military journeys, and of Cicero, who amid the multiplicity of his judicial and political engagements found time for philosophical discussions; and the younger Pliny tells with glowing admiration the industry of his uncle, who dedicated every fragment of time to study. But we have in Paul a devotion to work not less remarkable. Well might he have excused himself had he spent the pauses of his journey in taking rest. Is he then less worthy of admiration because in him the love of souls took the place of love of literature, etc.? But his example is also worthy our imitation. Success is only to be had by the means he employed. Ponder this journey, and you will cease to marvel that in one brief life so much was accomplished. Take that inflexible firmness which held him to what he believed to be right; add to that his quickness to perceive and his readiness to improve an opportunity; then let these be vitalised and sustained by love to Christ, and it becomes easy to account for his perseverance and success. II. We may ascertain the true source of moral courage. That Acts 8:13 was not an idle utterance we know from Paul’ s calm self-possession in the Temple. There is such a courage as is merely muscular, which in its place is good, but which is mostly involuntary and instinctive. He who has it is brave in the presence of danger because not sensible of anything of which to be afraid. But it is quite different with him who is of a delicately nervous temperament. His tendency is to fear physical danger; and there is need of an effort of will, and as sustaining his will there is need of enthusiasm for some sublime cause. The soldier who feels fear, but who holds himself at his post by a supreme devotion to duty, is more courageous than he who, with an instinct like that of the warhorse, “ mocketh at fear.” The latter was the case with Paul, who had two considerations which made him ready to brave every danger.1. Love to Christ. We know what great things love for a fellow mortal will defy, as in the case of wives and mothers; and love to Christ will fire a man with an enthusiasm which will sustain him through the fiercest opposition. 2. Confidence in God. Like Moses “ he endured as seeing Him that is invisible.” Like Elisha, he saw with his faith’ s eye the hosts of the Lord encamping round about him. He knew that he was doing God’ s work, and had the most implicit trust that the Lord would uphold him till his work was done. If it were His will that he should perish at Jerusalem, then he would only be the sooner with Christ; or, if it were His will that he should testify before tribunals and in prisons, God would give him grace. Thus he possessed his soul in peace in spite of his natural susceptibility. III. We may see how man proposes but God disposes. The course suggested by James (verse 20, etc.) was admirably adapted to conciliate all parties; but see how it was frustrated. In spite of all their efforts at conciliation, nay, in consequence of them, something occurred which defeated their end. Paul’ s safety was imperilled by the course suggested for the good of the Church. Yet what good came out of it after all. The most carefully laid plans may be frustrated by unforeseen circumstances, but God will work out His will notwithstanding. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Paul on his journey to Jerusalem Note-- I. The power of love to Christ.1. It brings the unacquainted near.2. It forewarns of possible danger.3. It gladly cultivates fellowship.4. It humbles itself before God in mutual prayer. II. Paul’ s readiness to suffer for the cause of Christ. III. The Christian’ s pilgrimage to his home.1. Faith holds forth to him the glorious end.2. Love helps him to accomplish the difficult journey. (Lisco.)Paul’ s last journey to Jerusalem (Children’ s Sermon):--Suppose you were travelling from Edinburgh to London, and at every station you stopped at, at Carlisle, Leeds, Leicester, friends were waiting to beg you not to go any further, because they had learnt that bad men would ill use you. It would have to be a very good reason that would make you still go on. This was something like St. Paul’ s situation now. Still he went straight on. Why?1. Because he felt that, although he was going into great danger, he was going to his duty. A true Christian always feels so. When arrested, Cranmer’ s friends tried to persuade him to escape. But Cranmer said “ No; it is quite right for you to get away, but I ought to stay and stick to my colours.” So St. Paul (verse 13). And if we want to be good soldiers of Jesus, we shall have to learn so to love Him as to be ready to do and bear anything for Him. 2. He knew that God had not yet done with him, and that no one could kill him till God gave them leave. God had said that Paul should bear his name “ before kings,” and the apostle was sure his Lord would not be baulked of His purpose by wicked men. But do people never get hurt when they are doing God’ s service? Did not John Bunyan suffer any hurt when he was thrown into, and for long months kept in, Bedford jail? Yes; but he wrote the “ Pilgrim’ s Progress” there. And did not that more than make up for the sufferings of the prison? And so with Paul. So, after all, not harm came of it, but good. 3. Look at another thing. There are some strong brave men who are not very pleasant to deal with, because they always will do things in just the way they like, and can’ t give way to others. St. Paul was not like that. He was strong and bold in going into danger, but he did not try to make the danger any greater than was necessary. The other apostles told him that they would like him to do something he did not much care for, but they thought if he would do it, it would please the people and save all disturbance (verses 20-40). And he did it at once. To the Jews he became as a Jew. There is a great difference between firmness and stubbornness. Always be firm for the right, but be willing to give way in small matters. 4. It is a matter for regret that though Paul tried to please he failed (verses 27-40). But he could not help that. They had got into a bad temper, and therefore could not judge him fairly (verses 28, 29). Rage makes people fancy things that never happened. If we try to do what is right, as gently as possible, and people won’ t be pleased, we must quietly leave it to God, asking Him to turn their hearts. (J. Taylor, M. A.)Paul’ s voyage Note-- I. The social love generated by the gospel. There is an affection which man has for man, an affection of animal sympathy, personal interests, mental reciprocities. But the social love generated by Christianity is of a higher character. It is--1. Strong. So strongly did it bind Paul and the Ephesians together, that they had to “ tear themselves asunder.” The parting scene on the Tyrian shore, and the tears wept on leaving Caesarea, also indicated the strength of Christian love. The love which genuine Christians have for each other is not the thread of a passing sentiment, but a golden chain which binds all in an indissoluble unity of thought, aspiration, interest, and pursuit. 2. Hospitable. Paul a guest in Philip’ s house! This is one of the Divine marvels which sometimes occur in the history of men. The name of Saul at one time was a terror to the heart of Philip (Acts 8:3-5). What a change the gospel has accomplished. He from whose presence he rushed as from a fiend, he now entertains as a brother. 3. Tender. Christianity quickens the sensibilities. In nearly all the partings recorded in these verses there were tears. 4. Religious (verse 5). Christian love turns to God as the open flower to the sun. The best way of serving one’ s friends is to commend them “ to God,” as Paul did, and to “ the word of His grace.” II. The fallibility of human affection. The good men of Tyre loved Paul, yet they sought to dissuade him from duty; so also did the good men of Caesarea. So urgent and powerful were they that Paul exclaims, “ What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?” In both cases they quoted the Holy Spirit’ s influence. Paul was deeply moved, but not mastered. All their arguments were the arguments of mistaken love. The mistaken kindness of parents has ever proved the greatest curse to children. Never does the devil act so mightily as when his errors are urged by the arguments of those who love us most. Let us learn to act in relation to this as Christ acted in relation to Peter (Matthew 16:23). III. The unconquerableness of a Christ-inspired purpose. Mighty as was the influence which love brought to bear upon Paul, it could not break his purpose (verse 13). This was not a caprice, wish, intention formed in haste, a resolution based on expediency, but a determination based on the strongest convictions of his judgment, backed by the whole current of his sympathies, and deeply rooted in him by the Spirit of Christ. Such a purpose cannot be broken; it defies opposition, it removes mountains. IV. The sublimest victory over soul (verse 14).1. “ The will of the Lord be done,” does not mean, “ We must bow to necessity.” Many men are brought to do this who have no Christianity. The ungodly father, when life has fled from his child; the reckless speculator, when he has wrecked his fortune; the criminal in the hand of justice, say, when all hope is gone, “ The Lord’ s will be done.” In their case it means despair. But here it is a cordial acquiescence, and implies a belief-- (1) That there is a God.(2) That that God has a will in relation to individuals.(3) That the working out of that will is the best thing. 2. This is the sublimest conquest over souls. It is a conquest over-- (1) The folly of souls. The greatest folly in the universe is to oppose the will of God. The wisest thing is to acquiesce in that Will which is all-wise, all-good, all-mighty. (2) Over the wickedness of souls. Opposition to the Divine will is the very essence of all sin. (3) Over the misery of souls. Opposition to the Divine will is hell. Obedience is heaven. The sublimest victory in the universe is this victory, for which Christ and His followers are fighting. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The quiet interval 1. There are some endings which seem to be final Such an ending we found in the last words of the apostle to the elders of Ephesus. After such agony there is only one possibility--silence. Whether things will ever come into natural course and shape again gracious time will reveal. Blessed silence! blessed time! Have periods of silence in your life; remit many of the controversies and difficulties to the adjustment and healing of silent, gracious, patient time. You will only spoil its purpose by your impatience. Let Paul alone for a time; let him have his sail out. Bless God for the alternative of the water for the land; of the night for the day. By these alternatives we are rested and quieted and made young again. 2. In verse 3 we read, “ We landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden.” Poor ship! she must have rest, too, in a way. Whilst the ship stands still Paul is on the alert. Business arrangements are turned into spiritual opportunities. The sail has done him good, and now he turns a necessity of the ship into an opportunity for Christian aggression. Is there not a lesson here for us--the sailors of today? The place of business is closed--why not inquire of an opportunity of doing religious good? The stop of one course should be the beginning of another. He never lacks opportunity who looks for it. What was done at Tyre? We read, “ And finding disciples.” It should be, “ And seeking out disciples.” Why not seek out beautiful scenery? Because Paul’ s purpose was to advance the kingdom of Christ. Paul and his company sought out the disciples--not an easy thing then and there; not always an easy thing here and now. You wait for them to turn up. You, who could ask if there were artists, authors, poets, men of business, dare not ask if there were any praying people in the locality; and yet the man sitting next you at this moment would thank God if he could have an opportunity to speak concerning spiritual things. 3. Leaving Tyre, they “ came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.” Make the most of religious opportunities. What a day it was! Only one; but so crowded, so many questions to ask. What eager listening! “ The apostle will be gone tomorrow; now is our opportunity; let him speak and pray and bless and comfort.” That is the case always; we have never more than one day together with any certainty; we should look upon every opportunity as the last. But we allow our opportunities to pass: when the man is gone, then we begin to whine about his greatness, and the opportunities we had of praying with him in his mighty intercession. So the hearts of men are broken every day. Paul is still here; his great epistles are with us; his written soul lies in our houses neglected. Let us not add to our lies by whining over his personal absence! 4. “ And the next day--” Oh that there should be any next day to festivals of the soul! Mocking word! speak of it as some other day, a million centuries off. Yet not so, because other people must have the festival as well as we. Paul is advancing in his course, and scattering blessings as he goes. “ The next day we came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip.” If we had our choice of any day which we might spend with Paul, I think some of us would choose this particular day. What a meeting that was! Philip might not have been there at all but for the very man who was now visiting him; it was owing to Paul’ s persecution that Philip fled away. May our meetings with old enemies be as sweet and gracious! You cannot escape from your old self. Sometimes our reminiscences are of the most joyful kind, and we bury twenty years in one grip of the hand. Sometimes those reminiscences are of the other sort, and a look doubles our age. The solemn fact to remember is that we meet men again. Life is not closed today. Let us take care how we live. “ Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” 5. Now Paul was besought not to go forward; but he said nothing to the daughters of Philip, nor to Agabus. But in verse 12 we read, “ And when we heard these things, both we--” That was the sting. When a man’ s nearest comrades fail him, then, poor soul, what can he do but break right down (verse 13)? There the Roman spoke--the Christian Roman. We are told that for a Roman to fear danger was treason, but for a Lacedaemonian to hesitate was treason. Here is a man in whose tone you can find no hesitancy. Having consecrated the life first, all the details of suffering which led up to the last oblation were mere trifles. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 21:4 And finding disciples,…who said to Paul, through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.Conflicting inspirations How timid is man, how fearless is God, about Scripture contradictions! The disciples at Tyre “ say to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.” Yet he goes. And when he goes, those who have heard the prohibitory voice of inspiration, say, “ The will of the Lord be done.” The one was the Divine voice of prudence; the other was the Divine voice of courage. Who shall say that either of these voices is not Divine? Would Paul have been guilty if he had followed the one? Was Paul guilty because he followed the other? Some great principles are here illustrated. I. The communications of God are never designed to supersede man’ s thought or judgment. “ The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets,” i.e., the man is responsible for the management of his own inspiration. He must so order it, that its utterance shall not provoke ridicule nor cause confusion. The principle is very clear and comprehensive. Whether it be a point of doctrine or duty, God never so speaks as to take the matter out of the hands of the man himself, as an intelligent and responsible being.1. St. Paul has to decide whether he shall go or not to Jerusalem. God puts before him the suggestion of prudence. “ There is special peril in this journey. It will cost thee years of imprisonment, and imminent risk of death. Go not.” God “ proposes” the alternative of caution. Counsels of prudence are from the Lord. Words of loving friends, bidding you spare yourself over-exertion, premature decay, may be from the Lord, and, like the words of these disciples, have a right to be pondered and to be prayed over. 2. But let no man say, God has but one voice. Having proposed counsels of prudence by the voice of man, God proposed counsels of courage to the inward ear of His soldier. “ This journey, though it be full of peril, has in it, also, the fulfilment of thy desire to preach Christ in Rome. This journey, though it cut thee off from other evangelistic journeys, yet has, in its undiscovered future, epistles which shall make thee the theologian of generations yet unborn. Judge thou if thou hast courage for it, and if thou knowest Me to be faithful--go.” In these things, “ God proposes, man disposes.” 3. How often is this alternative propounded; the same suggestion of love, the same suggestion of heroism--and both from God. Could we but realise to ourselves the alternative voices, Go, and Go not--the loving permission to forego toils and perils too great for us; and then the grander instinct, “ What is life but a moment? up, and be doing--live for God, live for eternity” --could we but realise these alternative voices as alike voices of the Spirit, how should we rid ourselves, in a moment, of that which makes our decisions so unhappy--the idea, namely, that God has but one voice, and that if we mishear that one, we shall be “ beaten with many stripes.” II. This inspiration of conduct is also the inspiration of Scripture. Can a man open his Bible at random, and draw, from the first text which he lights upon, the very truth of God concerning any one doctrine? Is there not a “ saying through the Spirit,” which yet, taken alone, would be both misleading and contradictory to another “ saying” ? Who will pretend that the utterances of the Bible are always and everywhere absolutely uniform? Where is the heresy which cannot fortify itself by a text? Where is the reader who might not err, if he stayed not to compare scripture with scripture? True theology is the residuum of these comparisons; pondered for ages, and at last agreed upon by the churches. Yet, even now, not so agreed upon as that an individual man can dispense with the pondering. We must go through the process, each for himself; listen for the first, for the second, and for the third voice of the Spirit; and not till then, nay not even then, be so certain of the conclusion as to condemn him who thinks that he has heard a fourth voice or a fortieth. Revelation is not a thing of exact definitions and stereotyped formulas. It is God speaking through men, to men, variously constituted and circumstanced, and each speaking in his own character, through the medium of his own faculties, and in all the movements and activities of a real and changing life. (Dean Vaughan.) Acts 21:5-6 And we kneeled down on the shore and prayed. The seaman’ s farewell The scripture is an excellent pattern for all who go down to do business in the great waters. It is true Paul’ s business was not to get an estate, but to witness to the truth of Jesus, with the hazard of his life. Many discouragements he met with in this voyage, and not the least at Tyre, where certain disciples said to him, that he should not go to Jerusalem; but like that noble Roman, and upon a more noble account, he judged it necessary to go, but not to live. The disciples, seeing his unalterable resolution, express their affections to him at parting, by bringing him to the ship, and that with their whole families (Acts 21:5). In this farewell, their Christian affections are mutually manifested by two sorts of actions.1. Prayers; the best office one Christian can do for another; in which we may note-- (1) The place; upon the shore. And this was no unusual thing. Tertullian tells us, “ They sent their prayers to heaven from every shore” ; and elsewhere he calls them “ shore prayers.” So customary it was for holy men to be taken into the ship from their knees, not from the tavern. (2) The posture--“ they kneeled down.” All postures have been used in prayer, but this is the common posture. (3) The scope of the prayer may with great probability be argued, for a prosperous voyage and Divine protection. 2. As their affections were mutually manifested by this sacred action, prayer, so by civil ones too, affectionate embraces and salutations. Hence note: Those that undertake voyages by sea, had need not only to pray earnestly themselves, but also to engage the prayers of other Christians for them. They that part praying, may hope to meet again rejoicing; and those designs which are not prefaced with prayer, cannot wind up with a blessing. I. What those special mercies are that seamen should pray for, when they are to undertake a voyage.1. The pardon of sin. Guilt is that Jonah in the ship, for whose sake storms, shipwrecks, and ruin pursue it (Psalms 148:8; Numbers 32:23). If sin be pardoned, you are safe, you need fear no storms within, whatever you find without. But woe to him that finds at once a raging sea and a roaring conscience; ship and hope sinking together. 2. That the presence of God may go, with you (Exodus 33:15). If that be graciously with us, it will guard the heart against terror in the most imminent distress (Psalms 23:4). And indeed there is no room for fear; for with whomsoever God is present, these three mercies are secured. (1) That God’ s special providence shall watch over him in all dangers (Psalms 91:1; Psalms 91:4).(2) He appoints for them a guard of angels, whose office is to watch over and minister to them in all their straits (Psalms 91:11). (3) He readily hears their cries in a day of distress, and is with them to save and deliver them (Psalms 91:15). 3. That you may be kept from the temptations to sin you will meet with when you are abroad in the world. 4. That you may have Divine protection in all the dangers and hazards to which you shall be exposed (James 4:13-14). 5. That you may have direction in all your undertakings, and lean not to your own understandings (Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 3:6). 6. That you may have success upon your lawful employments and designs, and own it to be from the Lord (Genesis 24:12). II. What influence prayer hath as to those mercies you are to pray for.1. It is a proper and effectual means to obtain and procure them. God will have everything fetched out by prayer (Ezekiel 36:37). Though prayer be altogether needless to His information, yet it is very necessary to testify our submission (Jeremiah 29:11-12). 2. As prayer hath an influence into the procuring of our mercies, for it hath a singular influence into the sweetening of them. 3. Prayer hath a sanctifying influence upon all our enjoyments, and therefore no wonder it makes them so sweet (1 Timothy 4:5). One mercy of this kind is better than ten thousand promiscuously dispensed in the way of common providence. III. What aid the prayers of others may give to the procurement of the mercies we desire. It was the united prayers of the disciples with Paul, that on this occasion was judged necessary. There may be much zeal and strength in the prayer of a single saint; Jacob alone may wrestle with God, and as a prince prevail; but if one can do much, many can do more. IV. Application.1. This may serve sharply to reprove the generality of our seamen, who mind everything necessary to their voyage except prayer, the principal thing. And here three sorts of persons fall under rebuke. (1) Such as do but mock God, and delude themselves by heartless, dead and empty formalities. (2) Such as wholly neglect prayer as a useless and vain thing. And it is justly to be suspected there are multitudes of such practical atheists among seamen, as well as other orders of men. Poor men! It was anciently said, “ He that would learn to pray, let him go to sea.” But now, how long may a man be at sea before he hear a praying seaman! The very heathens will rise up in judgment against you, and condemn you. Alcibiades asking Socrates how he ought to express his purposes, answereth: “ Before every undertaking, thou must say, If God will.” The Turks will condemn such as you are, for they fail not to pray five times a day, how urgent soever their business be. The blind and superstitious Papists will condemn you, with whom it is a proverb, Mass and meat hinder no man. (3) How much sadder and more deplorable is the case of those who, instead of going on board praying, as Paul here did, go cursing and blaspheming; not going from their bended knees, but drunken ale benches, to the ship. 2. This may serve to persuade all men, and particularly seamen, to be men of prayer; to imitate that noble pattern in the text. (1) God hath styled Himself a God hearing prayer (Psalms 65:2; Psalms 107:23-28; Psalms 65:5). (2) Prayer is certainly the best relief to the distressed. We may say of it, as David said of the sword of Goliath, “ Give me that, for there is none like it.” You that are seamen know what the use of the pump is, and of what use the scupper holes are to you, when waves break and dash over your decks. Why, of the same use is prayer, when sorrow leaks into your hearts. Prayer will buoy up your fainting spirits; it will sensibly ease an oppressed heart. Luther was wont to call prayers the leeches of his cares and troubles. (3) All secondary means of deliverance and comfort necessarily depend upon the will and pleasure of God, and signify nothing without Him. What the psalmist saith of a horse, I may say of a ship (Psalms 33:17): it is a vain thing for safety. (4) Whatever deliverances from dangers, or success in business you receive out of the way of prayer, can yield but little comfort, for they are not sanctified to you. You may be delivered, though you pray not, and success may follow those that seek not God for it; but that which you call deliverance is rather a reservation to future misery, and that you call success is but a snare to your souls. You have the things, but not the comfort and blessing of them. (5) Consider all you that go out without prayer, how soon you maybe out of a capacity of prayer. (J. Flavel.)The voyage to heaven After long dreaming of foreign lands, I am about to leave you to satisfy that desire. You have come to see me off; but before I go I would like to see you all embark for heaven. I. The Church is the dry dock where souls are to be fitted out for heaven.1. In making a vessel for this voyage, the first need is sound timber. For the want of it, vessels when caught in a storm have been crushed like a wafer. The truths of God’ s Word are sound timbers. Away with your lighter materials. 2. You must have Love for a helm, to guide and turn the craft. Neither Pride, nor Ambition, nor Avarice will do for a rudder. 3. There must also be a prow, arranged to cut and override the billow. That is Christian perseverance. For lack of this, many have put back and never started again. It is the broadside wave that so often sweeps the deck and fills the hatches; but that which strikes in front is harmless. Meet troubles courageously and you surmount them. Let all your fears stay aft. The right must conquer. 4. Have a good, strong anchor--hope; but do not use it wrongfully. Do not always stay in the same latitude. 5. You must have sails--faith. Hoist that, and the winds of heaven will drive you ahead. Sails made out of any other canvas will be slit to tatters by the first northeaster. 6. You must have the running rigging--prayer. Unless you understand this tackling you are not spiritual seamen. By pulling on this, you hoist the sails of faith and turn them every whither. 7. One more arrangement, and you will be ready for the sea. You must have a compass--which is the Bible. Look at it every day, and always sail by it, as its needle points towards the Star of Bethlehem. II. Rules for the voyage.1. Do not allow your appetites and passions to come up on the promenade deck. Never allow them anything better than a steerage passage. Let watchfulness walk the deck as an armed sentinel, and shoot down with great promptness anything like a mutiny of riotous appetites. 2. Be sure to look out of the forecastle for icebergs. There are cold Christians floating about in the Church. The frigid zone professors will sink you. 3. Keep a log book during all the voyage--an account of how many furlongs you make a day. Bound, as we are, toward eternity, ought we not often to try the work of self-examination? 4. Keep your colours up! You know the ships of England, Russia, France, etc., by the ensigns they carry. Let it ever be known who you are, and for what port you are bound. Let “ Christian” be written on the very front, with the figure of a cross, a crown, and a dove; and from the masthead let float the streamers of Emmanuel. Then the pirate vessels of temptation will pass you unharmed as they say, “ There goes a Christian bound for the port of heaven. We will not disturb her, for she has too many guns aboard.” Conclusion: Before you gain port you will smell the land breezes of heaven; and Christ, the Pilot, will meet you as you come into the Narrows of Death, and hasten to you and say, “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)On the shore What a new world opens out for us in the Word of God! The commonest objects seem transfigured by the glory of that Word--the grass beneath our feet, the very dust we shake from off us, the leaves that are whirled about on every side, everything seems to be a sacrament to remind us of Christ. Today let us go forth upon the shore and gaze upon that great sweep of sand stretching away on every side.1. Take up a handful of sand and try to count the grains as they trickle through your fingers; you will give it up in despair before you have counted the hundredth part. Then cast your eye over the great sweep of sand, and your imagination will be overcome in your endeavour to estimate the possible number of grains of which that immense stretch of sand is composed. And yet God gave this promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17). 2. But the sand speaks to me not only of number, but of variety. Take your stand upon the shore of Palestine, and picture to yourself the origin of all those grains of sand which are lying round about you. Some have come from the great granite gates of the Nile, and have been swept down to the Mediterranean; others have been washed up on to the strand from the gates of the Atlantic; some have been torn from rocks by avalanche or storm, and ground down to the minute particles we behold by the ceaseless action of the waves. The sand, therefore, reminds us of that great multitude (Revelation 7:9). They have come from very diverse experiences on earth; but now they are united in their worship before the throne. 3. One more lesson we may learn as we stand by the seaside--the power of little things. You see the storm and the tempest; you see how it foams against the rock so ceaselessly, until the rock is undermined and falls with a crash into the water; or else you see some triumph of man’ s endeavour and skill utterly unable to stand against those raging waves. But yonder waves, though tempestuous in the distance, as they approach the sandy beach come in very quietly, though curling and lashing the rocks as it were with disappointment. Still it is of no avail--they have to come up quietly; and they come in, as you might say, almost whispering their allegiance to their recognised queen; and then they have to retire backwards, subdued and overcome. “ Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further.” Ah, brethren, not all the triumph of human power and skill can keep those waves within bounds; but when the waves of sin are tossing around the true child of God--around him whose soul has been trained by sorrow and trial, and who is content to fill a humble place and do the duty God has assigned to him--when the waves of sin are tossing around him he will be enabled to say with confidence, “ Hitherto shalt thou come,” etc. (E. A. Stuart, M. A.) Acts 21:8-15 And the next day we … came to Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist.Paul at Caesarea I. Paul visits Philip. Learn--1. That fidelity in our present calling is the highway to promotion to a more important one. Philip had acquitted himself well in the lowest ecclesiastical office, that of deacon, and was now promoted to one of the highest, that of evangelist--the founder of new churches, and the stimulater of existing ones. 2. That every converted daughter should be at work in endeavouring to bring others to the Saviour. Philip’ s daughters were decided Christians, and engaged in active service for Christ. In the Apostolic Church women did great service in the gospel cause. See Paul’ s list of useful women in Romans 16:1-27. II. Agabus visits Paul. We have here--1. An instance of intense human love and sympathy; beautiful traits of sanctified human nature; but mark, these must not be carried so far as to interfere with our friends’ calls to duty. 2. Paul’ s tenderness of heart. He was an intellectual giant, but he had a woman’ s tenderness of heart. Every tear and sob went to his soul. Illustrate further by other instances of his compassion and tears. 3. Paul’ s unalterable determination. Duty called and he obeyed. Wherever duty called he went, despising all toil and danger. He was a man. He could say No. Imitate. “ Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” (Christian Age.)St. Paul in Philip’ s family 1. Philip, at the conclusion of the missionary tour which succeeded the conversion of the eunuch, had settled at Antioch, which, from its being the centre of political influence, and from the extensive commerce facilitated by its harbour, was a most important sphere of missionary operations. Caesarea, too, was the place where, by the conversion of Cornelius, the door of faith was first opened to the Gentiles. 2. In this last notice of Philip, the evangelist falls into the background, and the eye of the reader is fixed on Paul. Planetoids, many of which are wandering about in space, sometimes come within the attraction of a comet, and are drawn in towards the larger body; and here the evangelist is drawn into the apostle’ s orbit and quenched there. 3. It was natural that Paul should go to the house of Philip--a man like-minded with himself; and there was another who would take as much delight in Philip’ s company--Luke, the writer of the Acts, for which history he was now collecting materials; and we cannot doubt that he here obtained the narrative of the conversion of the eunuch. How remarkable this gathering. Paul and Luke wrote the greater part of the New Testament; Philip had taken the place of Stephen, to whose death Paul had consented; yet here are the colleague and the murderer each emulating the martyr’ s example, We can well understand the refreshment and nerve for future effort which must have been gained by such intercourse. 4. Philip had four daughters, in whom Joel’ s prediction had received a literal accomplishment (Joe 2:18), and who may have given the first intimation of the disasters which threatened the apostle. Thus the fourfold ministry of Eph 4:12 was here represented--the apostle Paul, the evangelist Philip, the teacher Luke, the prophetesses Philip’ s daughters. 5. Whether these women made the prediction or not, it was certainly made under the same roof by Agabus, who began with one of those symbolic actions which the old prophets were accustomed to use, by which the senses were impressed with the truth they were commissioned to convey. A religion wholly devoid of symbolism would not be a religion adapted to the wants of man. Man, though a spiritual being, is not a purely spiritual being, and is more vividly affected by a truth exhibited to the eye than spoken in the ear. To meet this constitution of our nature God has made the sacraments an essential part of Christianity, and chosen the Incarnation as His mode of manifestation to the senses of men. But on the other hand this principle, as all Church history shows, may be easily carried to mischievous lengths. The limits are admirably traced in the discourse “ Of Ceremonies” prefixed to the Prayer Book. 6. The prophecy of Agabus aroused great anxiety, and Paul was entreated by those instigated by the Spirit to alter his purpose. Yet the apostle persisted. And not from obstinacy, for on two occasions, at Damascus and Ephesus, he had yielded to the solicitations of the brethren. Nor was he a man of stoical insensibility (verse 13). The reason for the apostle’ s persistency is indicated in Acts 19:21; and to this obligation he adverts in Acts 20:22. He was not going to Jerusalem without the direct sanction of the Spirit, by which Agabus had spoken. He must, then, act upon his own light, Nor was Agabus’ s prediction without its attraction for the apostle (Acts 9:16; Philippians 3:10). If he was to be bound at Jerusalem, etc., was there not here the closest conformity to the fate of his Master? His friends eventually desisted, not doubting that he had made up his mind under the influence of the Spirit. They had been praying that if it were possible the cup might pass from their beloved apostle. Now, in the spirit of their Divine Master, they added, “ Nevertheless, not our will, but Thine be done.” 7. From this explanation of the motives of Paul in declining to listen to the advice of his friends, we may gather the important practical lesson that in matters of duty every man must be guided by the light which his conscience affords. He must take every method of enlightening his conscience, but he must never defer to the conscience of another when it prescribes a course at issue with his own convictions. (Dean Goulburn.)And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. Prophecy Teachers possessing in a special manner the inspiration of the Spirit of God indicated in some peculiar supernatural gift as that of healing or of foretelling. Observe that in the Apostolic Church women are not only teachers (Acts 18:26), as in the Jewish Church (Acts 22:14), but also inspired teachers. The prophet was not necessarily a foreteller. The Hebrew word is derived from a root signifying to boil or bubble over, and simply conveys the idea of the bursting forth, as of a fountain of truth, with which God has inspired the soul. The early English kept tolerably near this original idea. Thus Jeremy Taylor, in the reign of Elizabeth, wrote a treatise on the “ Liberty of Prophesying” --i.e., of preaching. In the classics the Greek word is used to describe those who interpreted the unintelligible oracles, and, metaphorically, the poets as interpreters of the gods or muses. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament the prominent idea in prophecy and prophesying is not prediction, but inspiration--not telling before what is to happen, but delivering messages of warning, instruction, comfort, helpfulness--such as are commissioned by or given under the inspiration of the Divine Spirit. This characteristic of prophecy appears very clearly from the titles given to the prophet in the Scriptures. He is called “ the interpreter,” “ the messenger of Jehovah,” “ the man of Spirit,” “ the man of God” ; and it is declared that the “ Spirit of Jehovah “ enters into him, or “ clothes him,” or, as here, that he speaks “ by the Spirit.” In the New Testament Paul gives some detailed description of prophesying, which is distinguished from what we should call preaching only in that the presence and power of God is, perhaps, more prominent. (E. Abbott, D. D.)There came down from Judaea a certain prophet named Agabus; and when he was come to us, he took Paul’ s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet.-- The girdle of Paul An admonitory memorial for all his successors, to remind them of the-- I. Apostolic fidelity, with which he was bound to the Lord, even to death. II. Apostolic bonds, in which he must experience the hatred of the world. III. Apostolic zeal, with which he was at all times girt, to hasten to the combat appointed to him. (K. Gerok.)The only bonds by which a servant of God feels himself to be indissolubly bound I. Not the bonds of his own flesh and blood, which he has torn asunder by the power of the Spirit. II. Not the bonds of human force and enmity (Paul bound at Jerusalem), which cannot injure him contrary to the will of God. III. Not the bonds of brotherly love and friendship: for whosoever loveth brethren and sisters more than the Lord is not worthy of Him. IV. But only the bonds of love to the Lord, to whom he is bound in grateful love and childlike fidelity even unto death (K. Gerok.)Prophetic warnings I. Instances of--1. Joseph warning Pharaoh (Genesis 41:32-33).2. Moses warning the Israelites (Exodus 4:29-31).3. Moses warning Pharaoh (Exodus 9:29-30).4. Joshua warning Israel (Joshua 3:9-13).5. Nathan warning David (2 Samuel 12:7-10; 1 Kings 1:22-25).6. A prophet warning Ahab (1 Kings 20:38-39).7. Elisha warning Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 3:11-13).8. Jonah warning the Ninevites (Jonah 3:4; Matthew 12:41).9. John the Baptist warning the Jews (Matthew 3:1-2; Luke 3:3). 10. Agabus giving warning of a famine (Acts 11:28-29). 11. Agabus warning Paul of danger (Acts 21:10-11). II. Inspired by--1. The visions of God (2 Chronicles 26:5; Ezekiel 1:1).2. The writing of God (1 Chronicles 28:19).3. The Word of God (Luke 3:2).4. The words of God (Jonah 3:1; Habakkuk 2:2).5. The Spirit of God (1 Samuel 10:6; Joe 2:28; Acts 2:4).6. The various agencies of God (Hebrews 1:1). III. Nature of--1. A gift of Christ (Ephesians 4:11; Revelation 11:3).2. Christ usually the subject of (Acts 10:43; 1 Peter 1:10-11).3. Concerning the need of repentance (Mark 1:4).4. Regarding present safety (Acts 21:11).5. Concerning eternal salvation (Revelation 14:13).6. Regarding future events (Genesis 49:1; Numbers 24:14). (S. S. Times.)And when we heard these things … we … besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.--Anti-Christian prudence The poorest advice in the world to a man in time of danger is, counsel to shun the path of duty. If he is a pliable man, it may work his ruin. If he is a determined man, the foolish entreaty only tends to break his heart, or to increase his trial. If duty points a man to Jerusalem, let all who love him point in the same direction. Let the mother tell her son to be truthful and honest, if he starves. Let the wife urge her husband to pay his debts, if his family must be turned into the streets because of his fidelity. Let the teacher commend his scholars for their purpose of daring everything for the right. Let every Christian man and woman speak words of cheer to every other Christian who must face danger at the call of God. Let none beseech a brother not to go where he ought to go; but let the word sound in heartiness, “ Be thou strong, and show thyself a man.” And if friends try to swerve us from a right purpose, let us be firm against their strongest persuasions. If they weep, and our hearts break in consequence, let us keep our faces as a flint towards the right, and if we fall, let it be in the path in which God has called us to be. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.) Acts 21:13-14 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break my heart?Paul’ s resolution I. The bravery with which he persisted in it.1. He reproves his friends for dissuading him.2. Not withstanding their entreaties he repeats his resolution. (1) How far it extends.(2) What it is that carries him out thus. II. The patient acquiescence of his friends in his decision. They submitted to--1. The wisdom of a good man.2. The will of a good God. (Matthew Henry.)Paul’ s resolution I. The occasion.1. Paul was now at Caesarea, in Philip’ s house (Acts 21:8). Philip, that was injured by Paul (Acts 8:4-5) a persecutor, is easily reconciled with Paul a convert. We should not be strange to those whom Christ has accepted. 2. There Agabus prophesieth of Paul’ s bonds. Agabus was ever a prophet of evil tidings (Acts 11:28). God will be glorified by all manner of dispositions. Some, like Agabus, come always with a sad message in their mouths; and yet these have their use (1 Kings 22:8). That may be true which is not pleasing. But what needs Paul so often to be warned of his bonds? (Acts 20:22-23). That he might be thoroughly prepared. God doth not love to take His children unprovided. If a sudden and unexpected flood of miseries break in upon us, it is not because we want warning, but because we will not take warning. II. The carriage of the saints upon this occasion.1. Their entire affection to Paul (Acts 21:12). This entreaty did not proceed from self-love, for they were resolved to go with him (Acts 21:15), but zeal for God’ s glory. The lives and liberties of those that are eminent instruments of God’ s glory are very dear and precious to God’ s faithful people. But was this well done to persuade him? Yes; for we know of no command they had to the contrary. All desires against God’ s secret will are not unlawful, when we afterwards submit to His revealed will (1 Kings 8:18). Satan often laboureth to take us off from our duty by the persuasion of our loving friends, who mean us well in what they say to us (Matthew 16:22-23). 2. Paul’ s firm resolution: “ He would not be persuaded.” Did Paul do well in this? How doth this agree with James 3:17? I answer--In our duty it is praiseworthy to be easy to be entreated, but not from our duty. Paul went bound in the spirit to Jerusalem. (1) No persuasions should turn us out of the way wherein God commands us to walk. So Christ, when he was desired to avoid suffering, which was the end of His coming into the world, rejected the motion. (2) No dangers. So when the king of Babylon threatened the three children, they resolutely answered (Daniel 3:18). 3. Their discretion, “ when he would not be persuaded, they ceased.” It is the disposition of humble spirits not to be peremptory of their own conceits, but to submit to those that are wiser than themselves (Matthew 3:15; Acts 11:18). 4. Their piety, the ground of their discretion: “ The will of the Lord be done.” Submission is required--1. To God’ s intended will, while it is yet kept secret. In every business we should ask-- (1) His leave (Judges 1:1), By this means we acknowledge God, our dependence upon Him, and His dominion over us. It is robbery to use any goods without the owner’ s leave. We and all ours are the goods of God. (2) His blessing. When the event is uncertain, beg the Lord’ s concurrence, and the blessing of His providence (Jeremiah 10:23; Genesis 24:12). 2. To His determination. Submitting all things to God’ s will after the event is patience, and before the event is a notable piece of faith (James 4:15; 1 Corinthians 4:19). This was a truth evident to the heathens. Plato brings in Alcibiades asking Socrates how he should speak of future events, and in what manner he should express himself; and Socrates answers, Even as God will. 3. Our purposes and desires must be so moderated that we may be forearmed for all events (2 Samuel 15:25-26). Such a holy indifferency should there be upon our spirits, that we should be like a die in the hand of Providence, to be cast high or low according as it falls. 4. When the event depends upon a duty, we must do the duty, and refer the event to God (1 Corinthians 9:16). It is a base principle to say we must be sure of success before we will engage for God. 5. In a dubious case observe the leading of Providence. The Israelites were not to remove but as they saw the pillar of cloud before them (chap. 16:10). But when the event is declared in God’ s providence, then we have nothing to do but plainly to submit, and that very quietly and contentedly, with hope and encouragement in the Lord. (T. Manton, D. D.)The sacrifices which Paul was willing to make in the cause of Christ I. His ease and comfort.1. Had Paul travelled in the fashion of modern tourists many might have envied him the pleasure of visiting some of the loveliest regions. But when we hear him saying of himself, “ we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place,” etc.; and when we hear him enumerate the catalogue of his sufferings, “ In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft” ; and still farther when we contemplate his strenuous efforts to save souls, we feel that we live in the age of little men. 2. What are the sacrifices of ease and comfort, and what the exertions which we ought to make for the honour of Christ’ s name? Some can give their labour, some their time, some their talents, some their wealth, some their influence, some their example, some their prayers; some may give all of these, some two or more of them; and there is not one of you but who may at least live and suffer, and pray for the honour of Christ’ s name. II. Earthly friendships.1. Could the endearments of the tenderest friendship have restrained Paul from the performance of his duty, such were not wanting. He was loved with no common affection. Our text is one proof of it, and so is chap. 20:36-38. “ What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?” is not the language of cold unfeeling rebuke? His own heart was wrung by this proof of affection Here, then, is the nobleness of Paul’ s sacrifice. He loved his friends well, but he loved his Saviour better. 2. Beware lest earthly friendships wean your hearts from Jesus, and rob Him of His due. An excessive attachment is very apt to cool the ardour of Christian zeal. The love of a husband, of a father, have often proved serious obstacles to an avowal and defence of the gospel. Was not Samson shorn of his strength through a blind love for Delilah? and was it not from the wife of his bosom that Job received the dreadful counsel to curse God and die? Said Christ, “ He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me,” etc. It was a noble display of heroism made by the daughter of Knox, and the wife of John Welch, in an interview with King James. When she humbly craved permission for her husband, who was far gone with consumption, to return to Scotland for the benefit of his native air, she was rudely denied it by the tyrant. At last, however, he told her that if she would persuade her husband to submit to the bishops, he would allow him to return. Mrs. Welch, lifting her apron and holding it towards the king, replied in the true spirit of her father, “ Please your Majesty, I’ d rather keep his head there.” III. His liberty. “ I am ready not to be bound only,” etc.1. In every place to which Paul had lately come, the testimony was repeated, that bonds and imprisonments awaited him; and he knew well what imprisonment was, for he had already, for the sake of his religion, been a prisoner. What then? Did Paul undervalue liberty? No! His history warrants me to say, that the love of freedom burned as ardently in Paul’ s bosom as ever it did in that of a Brutus or a Tell, and might in other circumstances have bled to defend it. What then is the solution of this enigma? It was for the honour of Him, who, in the form of a slave, was led to prison, to judgment, that men might be no longer the oppressed thralls of sins, of Satan, and of hell. 2. At this stage of our subject, we would glance at the benefit which accrued from the imprisonment of Paul. (1) The gospel was carried at once to the very heart of the Roman Empire, from which, as a radiating centre, it more readily found its way to distant provinces and colonies. (2) The gospel found access to the palace of Caesar. (3) But to it in a more especial manner are we indebted for many of those epistles which bear his name. 3. Every Bible reader is well aware what benefits flowed to God’ s Church from Joseph’ s imprisonment in Egypt; from Esther’ s exile in Persia; from the confinement of Jeremiah; from Daniel’ s captivity; from Peter’ s imprisonment; and from John’ s banishment. Nor is modern history wanting in illustrations. For ten months Luther was shut up in the castle of Wartzburg; but there he translated great part of the New Testament, wrote his notes on the Evangelists, composed many treatises which were eminently useful to the work of the Reformation. It was in a lonely monastery on the Rhine that John Huss wrote several useful works for the benefit of the Church. It was in prison that Buchanan wrote his beautiful version of the Psalms of David; that Grotius produced his treatise “ On the Truth of the Christian Religion” ; that Bunyan wrote his allegory. And if God is blessing us with the sweets of liberty, let them only be the more gratefully improved to the honour of the Giver. IV. His life. Paul lived exclusively for Christ. If the glory of Jesus could be best promoted by living, then, though hardships unutterable should be his lot, he was willing to live; but if, by dying, he could honour Jesus the more, then to die was he willing (Acts 20:24). (J. French.)Love for Christ 1. Paul’ s immediate object in going to Jerusalem was to come to some understanding with those Christian Jews who were “ zealous for the law,” and so to put an end to controversies which impaired the development of some of the nobler forms of the Christian life; and impeded the progress of Christian missions. To put an end to these troubles, Paul was willing “ not to be a prisoner only, but also to die.” 2. But the way in which the apostle speaks of his readiness to meet the dangers which menaced him is characteristic of his temper and spirit. It was Christ who was chiefly concerned in the evils of the schism. The Churches which were being divided by it were Christ’ s Churches: He had died for them. The work among the heathen which was being impeded was Christ’ s work: Paul was only His “ slave.” And so the apostle says that he is ready to become a prisoner and even to die “ for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 3. Paul was on fire with love for Christ, and the passion became more fervent as his life went on. That cooling in the ardour of our “ first love” which some imagine to be inevitable, is not found in the life of Paul. Our question then is--How is a great love for Christ created in a Christian heart? I. Perhaps the first answer will be by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The answer is profoundly true; but it may be suggested by indolence. We may say that therefore there is nothing for us to do, and let things take their course. If this is our temper, this noble devotion will never be kindled in our souls. It is not by any magical process that the Divine Spirit achieves His great work; without our concurrence He will do nothing. II. Perhaps the second answer will be that we must learn from the four gospels all that can be known of Christ. This answer falls in with one of the strongest tendencies of modern religious thought. The Church has become weary of the problems of theology, and has turned to the earthly life of Christ. And the story contained in the four Gospels is the enduring wonder and glory of the history of our race. But how many have come to love Christ like Paul through simply reading the four Gospels? It is quite possible to read them and to feel their infinite charm; for the heart to be drawn strongly to Christ by what they tell us about Him, and to recognise Him as God manifest in the flesh, and yet not to love Him like Paul did. Has it ever occurred to you to ask whether, for you, the interest of Christ’ s history, like the interest of the history of ordinary men, closes with His death? If so, the kind of devotion which He inspired in Paul is impossible. Christ may be to us the grandest, the fairest, the most glorious of historic characters. We may believe that in Him the very life of God was expressed in a human character and history. But if the ties which during Christ’ s earthly life united the Divine and the human were dissolved at His death, then God was nearer to man while Christ was visibly present in the world than He has been since; and the awful, the infinite distance between God and ourselves remains what it was before Christ became man. The resurrection of Christ is for the Church as great a fact as the incarnation. But for the resurrection the incarnation would have been a mere passing wonder. I think that there are some of us who forget that Christ is living still. He is a memory with which we would not part for a thousand worlds, but still a memory, and nothing more. He was more than this to Paul. Paul declared that Christ was “ alive.” If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain. III. We must know that Christ has not merely a glorious place in the history of mankind, but that he is still “ alive,” that He is still the same Christ that delivered the Sermon on the Mount, etc., “ the same yesterday, today, and forever.” But we may believe and know that Christ is alive and yet think of Him with only wonder and reverence, or with only a faint affection, without any depth and energy in it. We may be so hot and eager to make sure of the blessings which Christ has revealed, that we hurry past Christ in order to grasp them; we think of Him a little, but we think most of them; just as a starving man might think of the bread and meat which a friend has brought, and forget the friend who brought them; just as a drowning man might think of his safety when lifted into the lifeboat, and forget the gallant men whose daring and skill have saved him from the wreck; or as an ardent student, excited by the teaching of some great master, might forget the master by whose genius End labour all his joy has been inspired. I also mean that we may be so zealous in good works as to forget who it is for whom we are working. And if we do not think much of Christ, it is certain that we shall not love Him much. IV. It was to the death of Christ that the apostles most frequently recurred to deepen the intensity of their devotion to him, and it is generally of His death that they are speaking when their love for Him flames out into expressions of vehement passion. There are comparatively few persons who, at the beginning of their Christian life, have any keen sense of sin; and apart from this, there can be no deep impression of the unique power of the death of Christ, through which we have remission of sin. This development of conscience is, however, certain to come if we persist in the endeavour to obey the law of Christ faithfully. And then the Divine forgiveness will not seem a matter of course, but something surprising and almost incredible, and we shall begin to see, as we never saw before, the infinite love and mercy of Christ in becoming a sacrifice for our sins. After this discovery has been made, every confession of sin and every prayer for pardon recalls to us afresh the infinite love of Christ in dying for us. The supreme proof of Christ’ s love takes possession of the soul, and we begin to think more of Him than even of the blessings which He promises in this world, or in the world to come. We love Christ. We find a keener interest and a deeper joy in learning and keeping His commandments. Then we receive--at first with great hesitation, then with increasing courage--those assurances, “ The Father Himself loveth you because ye have loved Me.” “ If a man love Me he will keep My words,” etc. God’ s great love for us is “ shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.” There is a blessedness in being forgiven for Christ’ s sake. There is a deeper blessedness in knowing that the Divine love for us is so generous that it finds in us something to approve as well as much to pardon. V. We have not yet mastered Paul’ s secret. While we are thinking of Christ’ s love for all men, we may know nothing of His love for us as individuals. The world is very large and we are lost in the crowd. But Paul was not merely one of a crowd that Christ loved. He knew of Christ’ s love for himself individually, and a similar knowledge is necessary to us if we are to be inspired with a similar devotion. We must leave it to Him to manifest Himself to us when He sees fit, and in the ways which seem to Him wisest and best. These manifestations vary with the different circumstances of men, with their different temperaments, and with their different characters.1. Some men as they look back upon their personal history, can recall decisive proofs that Christ has answered their prayers. And just as a man might sit down over a packet of letters which he had received at intervals during many years from his father or mother, and as he turned them over and recalled the circumstances in which they were written, might come to realise more vividly than he had ever realised before the warmth, the intensity, the endurance of his father’ s or his mother’ s love for him--so the remembrance of the special proofs that Christ has heard and answered our prayers produces sometimes what may be described as a revolution in our thoughts about Him. 2. The discovery may come to us in other ways. I suppose that there are times when to some of us it is a great surprise that we are still doing the will of God. Christ’ s personal, individual care for us is the only explanation of the continued existence of our higher life. In Him, not in ourselves, we see the root of whatever constancy we have shown in God’ s service; and so we learn that there is in Christ not only a love for the world for which He died--not only a love for all who keep His commandments, but a love for ourselves individually--a love which must have bad a depth, an energy, a tenderness in it--which fill us first with wonder, and then with an affection for Him, such as His love for all mankind and His love for all who are loyal to Him could not have inspired. 3. There is still another way in which our sense of the personal love of Christ is deepened as the years go on. We know that He is one with us in our endeavours to overcome sin and live righteously; that He is our closest and most constant ally; that in our severest conflicts He stands by us. We know that He has a large stake in the issue of every struggle. He does not merely stand by us; He is our comrade, and it is in His strength, not in our own, that we win all our real victories. Conclusion: When this supreme discovery of Christ’ s love for us is once made, it remains. There may be times when the sky is clouded, but we know that the splendour of the sun has not been extinguished. Christ has made, not our house, but our very selves His home. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)Christian courage A Hindoo woman applied to the Rev. Mr. Sutton (Baptist missionary) for Christian baptism. He set before her the sufferings which must necessarily follow a renunciation of her heathenish creed; but she replied, “ I am willing to bear it all; I am ready to sacrifice all to my Lord. Surely, sir, I cannot endure anything in comparison to what He suffered for me.” Devotion to Christ When Richard Cameron, a noble Scotch martyr, had fallen mortally wounded on Airdsmoss, he said, “ I am dying, happy--happy; and if I had a thousand lives, I would willingly lay them all down one after another for Christ. Oh! He is near me; I think I see Him! I am just coming, Lord Jesus.” And he added, “ Tell my parents not to weep, but continue steadfast in the faith, and not to fear a suffering lot for Christ.” Courage and submission I. Courage is, in some senses, a natural gift. No timid man by any effort of will can make himself physically brave. Men differ in their sensibility to pain. Great men--men whose career was singularly bold as politicians--have been found incapable of bearing an operation: they bare died with a wound unprobed. It was not cowardice: it was nervous temperament. There have been soldiers who lacked physical courage; they have had to lash themselves to a battle by the bare sense of duty or by the less noble dread of disgrace. We ought to respect tenfold a man who has triumphed over such obstacles. I respect even more the man who recanted his true creed to avoid the fire, and then in the death which at last he faced held his right hand separately in the flame as though to punish its weakness, than the readier and more instant resolution of his brave fellow martyrs, who “ rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame” for truth. Paul said, “ I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” And yet when did Paul ever shrink from danger? What a catalogue is that in 2 Corinthians 11:1-33. If Paul was not made for courage, at least he had learned it. And how learned it? The secret is told in a few words of the text. We have all heard of the strength which a weak woman will put forth in saving a loved child from flood or fire; of the bravery with which a wife will encounter perils for a husband, when his life or his honour is jeopardised. Such examples are not instances of changes of character: but they show the force of circumstances in raising character above its common level. Yet suppose now that this transforming cause were constant in its operation: would that love which has wrought wonders under sudden impulse be less powerful, if the demand upon it were perpetual? Love is stronger than death, than the fear of death, than the present sense of any pain however depressing or however agonising. Just such was that motive which St. Paul here indicates--that motive of which his life was the result--when he speaks of being ready to be bound and to die “ for the name of the Lord Jesus.” “ The love of Christ constrained him.” We are not called, in these calm easy days, to feats of bodily courage, but to moral courage. And where is it? Where, amongst us, is that ability to stand alone, to face an adverse world for the love of the Lord Jesus? Alas! in this aspect the brave are cowards, the strong weak, and the great little. We had rather “ follow a multitude to do evil,” than bear a taunting reproach or a disdainful smile. II. The apostle was brave, and therefore the disciples were submissive. “ The will of the Lord be done.” The words might be read either as a prayer or as an acquiescence. And it is only they who can use them as the one, who can rightly utter them as the other. It is a very common ejaculation, when all efforts are vain, “ God’ s will be done.” So speaks the mourner, when all hope of restoration has fled; the bankrupt, when his last card is played; the convicted criminal, when sin is found out. But in these cases it is not a prayer at all It means only, “ Woe is me! for I am undone.” Therefore let us try to pray the words. We have them in the Lord’ s Prayer. But who honestly wishes that God’ s will should be entirely done in him and by him? The same is a perfect man. What? No place left for that crooked practice, for that perverse temper, that pastime which I so much enjoyed, for that sin which I so much loved? No; I did not mean that: I did not quite wish that! Therefore out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thine own prayer--that prayer which thou hast said ten times this one day--condemns thee and finds thee out. Resignation is no virtue except so far as it is the product of obedience. (Dean Vaughan.)Readiness to die If a man is not ready to die, he is not ready to live. He who is unready to lay down his life at the call of duty, will not use his life to advantage while it is spared to him. It is a great mistake to suppose that it is a man’ s first duty to take care of his life, or to preserve his health, or to look out for his own interests, or to protect or support his family. His first duty is to do right. His second duty is to do right. His last duty is to do right. If the responsibility is upon him for the hour to risk his health, or his life, in behalf of his family, or of a stranger or of any trust committed to him, he ought to take the risk, and push ahead at any cost. Living is a good business for a man only when a man is as ready to die as to live. But it was “ for the name of the Lord Jesus” that Paul was ready to be bound or to die. There is no true discipleship of Jesus which does not reach thus far. He who would not die for his Saviour does not live for his Saviour. Unless the disciple gives his Saviour the first place in his affections, his discipleship is only an empty name. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Preparedness for death I. Death detaches a man from depending on what is material. He who is dependent on business, home, pleasures, etc., is not ready to die. For if these are all to him, all will go from him. Jesus delivers us from the spell of materialism.1. He makes matter itself a parable of the spiritual. 2. He gives us spiritual views and attachments that are more to us than any matter yields. Love, duty, heaven. II. Death involves an experience of utter loneliness. Can we endure that? Can we in bearing our sorrows, holding our convictions, spending many epochs of our life, stand alone. If not, we are not ready to die. Jesus, by His example and spirit, teaches us to say, “ I am alone, yet not alone.” Learning that, we are ready to die. III. Death brings us into the most vivid realisation of God’ s presence. Do we dread that? or has Jesus taught us to say, “ Our Father” ? If so we can say, I am ready to die. (Homiletic Monthly.)Faith, hope, and love, the attending angels of the Christian in his journey to the heavenly Jerusalem I. Childlike faith, which on dark paths resigns itself to the will of God in doing and suffering (verses 13-15). II. Brotherly love, which communicates and receives comfort in cordial fellowship amid the toils of the journey (verses 4-6, 12 13). III. Victorious hope, which, unmoved in joy and suffering, looks forward to the heavenly termination (verses 13-15). (K. Gerok.)The power of Christianity Paul’ s conflict of feeling suggestive of very noble and comprehensive character. Some have strength and no tenderness; others tenderness and no strength. Paul had both; notwithstanding he felt the kindness shown, he felt it his duty to be steadfast. I. Its absorbing power.1. As to its evidences.2. Sense of adaptation.3. Great personal influence made to bear. Love of Christ. II. Its impelling power. Paul was to go to Jerusalem in fulfilment of his mission, so in--1. A profession of discipleship.2. Consecrations of a life of godliness.3. Active efforts on behalf of the truth. Luther would go to Worms though as many devils there as tiles on houses. III. Its assuring power. The apostle’ s calm and confidence striking. In view of all possibilities, prison, death, he was composed.1. We can never go wrong with God as our Guide.2. No trial too great if resting on Him.3. In view of death the Christian has the loftiest hopes. Polycarp, Latimer, and Ridley at Oxford. Application: What Christianity enables us to do for it is the measure of its hold upon us. In serving God we have a resource and confidence most sustaining and sublime. Christ is Christianity, admit Him to your soul. (G. McMichael, B. A.)And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. Submission to the will of God I. The revealed will of God lies upon two pages--the page of Scripture and the page of providence. There were three trials pressing upon the men of Caesarea when they meekly folded their hands and said, “ The will of the Lord be done.”1. There was defeat, for they were beaten in an argument into which they had evidently thrown all their power; consequently there was-- 2. Disappointment, everything went contrary to their hopes and expectations; and-- 3. There was grief, the bitter grief of a painful bereavement. What is the secret of rest in all these things? I see nothing but a profound and adoring sense of God--to look away till we see only Him, His counsel ordaining, His love presiding, His hand guiding, His Spirit sanctifying, His glory crowning. “ The will of the Lord be done.” II. But I turn to the unrevealed will. After all this was the main thought of the company of Caesarea. “ We cannot tell which is right, Paul or we. The Lord will show in His own time. What He decides must be best. The will of the Lord be done.” It is a hard thing to sit and watch one I love, and to school my heart to receive, I do not know what, and I am afraid to ask what. But all the while, far above all this, over the perplexity, and over the mystery, and over the dread, there is reigning the high will of God, and that will is bearing on to its own destined purpose, and it must prevail. And here is faith’ s large field--the unrevealed will of God. Unite yourself with it, throw yourself upon it absolutely. Let it bear you where it will; it can only bear you home. “ The will of the Lord be done.” (J. Vaughan.)Acquiescence in the Divine will A rare spirit of acquiescence in the Divine will was recently displayed by a poor woman in Atlanta, Georgia. She was supported entirely by charity, she had scarcely any education, but had learned a lesson many highly-cultured people have failed to learn. Having endured great bodily affliction for many years, her disease reached its last stage, and she lay apparently at the point of death for four or five weeks. Every day, and almost every hour, was thought to be the last, but to the astonishment of all she continued to breathe. Her sufferings were very severe, and knowing her to be ready for the great change, her friends were almost hoping for the moment of her release. One of them said to her, “ Well M--, are you ready to go?” “ Yes,” said she, “ ready to go but willing to wait!” Submission to the Divine will Payson was asked, when under great bodily affliction, if he could see any particular reason for this dispensation. “ No,” replied he, “ but I am as well satisfied as if I could see ten thousand; God’ s will is the very perfection of all reason.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s way the best Driven by an instinct which neither we nor they can comprehend, the swallows pass with the changing seasons from clime to clime. Over miles of weary plain, over lofty mountain walls, across leagues of sea, into lands unknown before, they follow with gladness and trust the Hand that guides them. We, too, have a journey to make into lands unknown to us: we, too, have a Hand to guide us in that long journey. Shame is it for us if we follow the leadings of that Hand with less of gladness and of trust than the unreasoning birds of heaven. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Resolution in service Henry Townley, a fashionable and sceptical lawyer, whose conversion, followed by that of his brother and mother, was spoken of by a missionary, just returned from Africa, as one of the two most startling pieces of news he heard on his arrival in England, the other being the downfall of Buonaparte, determined to become a missionary to India at his own expense. All his friends, including his pastor, sought to dissuade him, as his health was extremely delicate. His mother came up to London to remonstrate with him, and with the directors of the London Missionary Society. Having used with her son all possible argument and persuasion, she left him for the night, and the next morning finding him unmoved, she said, “ It is as certainly the will of God that you should go to Calcutta as if an angel came from heaven to tell you so, for had it been otherwise you had never endured the test of yesterday, but would have given up the design. Now go, and the Lord be with you.” (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.) Acts 21:15 And after those days we took up our carriages and went to Jerusalem.Carriages to Jerusalem (Children’ s Sermon):--This would read like a scene at a railway station only for the fact that carriages are not taken up, but take up. But in the Bible, the word “ carriage” means the act of carrying, and carriages what is carried (Judges 18:21; 1 Samuel 17:22; Isaiah 10:28); just as luggage means what has to be lugged about. I. We have all got bundles to carry. You know how it is in travelling. A good many things can be packed away in trunks, but some must be carried in the hand. How many things we have to carry in life--as children our toys, when bigger our school books, when men things for family comforts, etc., and he is a poor creature who is ashamed to be seen carrying a bundle home to his Jerusalem. Then think how much ships have to carry, and armies. The word “ impediment“ comes from impedimenta, the baggage belonging to a Roman army. And what a lot of things have to be carried when we move from one house to another. But besides all these we have duties and responsibilities--big and little--which must be carried; and it seems as though some people had more than their share, while others dodge their duties, as “ leaders” in a stage coach seem to do, leaving all the hard work to the “ wheelers.” But never shirk a duty when once it has been made plain. II. Every man must carry his own bundle. St. Paul says, “ Bear ye one another’ s burdens,… for every man shall bear his own burden” --i.e., we ought to help others because when we have done our utmost in this way we shall have enough to do to answer for ourselves. When we are out on a large party each has his own umbrella, handbag, etc.; but there are packages containing things belonging to all. Now it would not be right to simply carry our own things and refuse a helping hand to the rest. Yet sometimes you see selfish people leaving everything, even their own bundles, to others; now Paul was not like this. He was too self-reliant, too generous, too courteous. When seemingly utterly overburdened with his own duties and troubles, he said, “ Look not every man on his own things, but also on the things of others,” and himself set the example. III. We must carry our bundles in spite of temptations to lay them down. It is very easy to discourage and to be discouraged. When you have been on an errand and were carrying things home, have you never met with companions who said, “ Wait a bit and have a game” ? Or when you have had a hard lesson have you not heard a voice saying, “ You will never learn it in time; why then trouble?” Bunyan tells us how much Christian was discouraged by the report of Timorous and Mistrust about lions in the path. So it was with Paul. On this journey to Jerusalem he was constantly meeting with people who said, “ Don’ t go.” And how many people there are who would have replied, “ Perhaps you are right,” and have laid down their bundles. Never do that, but persist in carrying your bundle to your journey’ s end, in doing your duty until it is completely done. (Wilberforce Newton.) Acts 21:16 Mnason of Cyprus, am old disciple.Mnason, the aged Cypriote teaches us-- I. How that with increasing years should come an increasing delight in learning of Christ. Mnason was a disciple still, although there is a tradition that he was one of the seventy, and there was much for him yet to learn, which was probably his motive for meeting Paul. His name is suggestive in this light--diligent seeker, exhorter, or one who remembers. Those who begin early to runt often slacken their pace as the journey lengthens. Time is the test of true piety, and Mnason’ s stood this test. Some live only on a past experience; years ago they were justified by faith, and yet they have not passed far on from the entrance to Christianity. But Mnason appears to have been known as a disciple rich in experience and knowledge, and still progressing. II. How that with added years should come increasing desire to be helpful to others. Readily Mnason seems to have placed his house at Paul’ s disposal and to have undertaken a long journey to meet him. Nor was it without risk, as subsequent events prove. Many are ready to help only when it colts nothing but words or a small coin. And then the aged are not always of a helpful spirit. Their sympathies are with the past, and their antipathies with the present, and so their influence is depressing. Old age often brings moroseness, but the spirit of this old man must have not only cheered St. Paul and doubtless others, but have been a joy to himself in advancing years (Psalms 92:14). III. That a good old age is suggestive of immortality. Surely there is something beyond, some further use for, the matured knowledge and experience, and the high attainments of Mnason and such as he. Those who come to the grave as shocks of corn fully ripe will be re-sown to give a larger, richer harvest in eternity. Conclusion:1. In some aged men the results seem unworthy of the length of life. Days have come and gone like the tides that ebb and flow, and there is no more change in them than in the water-worn rock. 2. Some aged men are not “ old disciples,” but old sinners. Yet thank God even then old men by penitence and faith may become disciples. (F. Hastings.)Aged Christians There is not a nobler sight in the world than an aged and experienced Christian who, having been sifted in the sieve of temptation, stands forth as the confirmer of the assaulted, testifying from his own trials the reality of religion, and meeting by his warnings and directions and consolations the cases of all who may be tempted to doubt it. (R. Cecil, M. A.)Piety in the aged 1. Confirms and illustrates the promise which God has made of long life to those who fear His name.2. Crowns those who possess it with especial honour.3. Commends religion to others.4. Furnishes a beautiful illustration of the maturity and ripeness of Christian character. (L. H. Reid.)An old disciple There is something that stimulates the imagination in these mere shadows of men. What a strange fate to be made immortal by a line in this book. The figure is drawn with a couple of hasty strokes, but even this dim form has a word to say to us. His name and birthplace show that he was a foreign Jew speaking Greek--a Hellenist like Paul. He comes from Cyprus, where he may have been a friend of Barnabas.1. He was an old disciple--“ a disciple from the beginning,” i.e., one of the original and now rapidly diminishing group who, thirty years or more ago, had seen Christ and been drawn to Him. And the way in which he is mentioned suggests that there was a certain honour conceded by the second generation of Christians to the first. 2. He must have been advanced in life. He had emigrated to Jerusalem, and there must have had the means and heart to exercise a liberal hospitality. He does Hot seem to have known Paul, for the most probable rendering is “ brought us to Mnason,” implying that this was the first introduction. But the old man had full sympathy with the apostle, and his adhesion would carry no small might. I. Hold fast to your early faith and to the Christ whom you have known.1. Many a year had passed and how much had come and gone--Calvary, Olivet, Pentecost--and he had changed from buoyant youth to sober old age. His feelings and outlook were different; his old friends had mostly gone, but one thing remained and that was Christ, the one God-laid foundation, on whom whosoever buildeth need never change with changing time. 2. There is no happier experience than that of the old man who has around him the old loves, confidences, joys. But who can secure that blessed unity if he depend on the love and help of even the dearest. There is but one way of making all our days one, and that is by taking the abiding Christ for ours and abiding in Him. 3. Holding fast by early convictions does not mean stiffening in them. There is plenty of room for advancement in Christ. “ Grow in grace,” etc. II. The welcome that we should be ready to give to new thoughts and ways.1. It would have been very natural for this “ original disciple” to have said, “ I do not like your new-fangled ways. Is it not likely that we should understand the gospel without this new man coming to set us right? I am too old to go in with these changes.” All the more honourable is it that he should have been ready to shelter the great champion of the Gentiles. It was not every old disciple that would have done as much. 2. Does not this flexibility of mind when united with constancy in the old creed make an admirable combination? It is hard to blend them, but the fluttering leaves and bending branches need a firm stem and deep roots. III. The beauty that may dwell in an obscure life. There is nothing to be said about this old man but that he was a disciple; and is not that enough? The world may remember very little about us a year after we are gone; but what does that matter if our names are written in the Book of Life with this epitaph--a disciple? What could he do? Not go into the regions beyond, like Paul; not guide the Church, like James, etc.; but he could receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, and so receive a prophet’ s reward. The old law in Israel holds good, “ As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that abideth by the stuff.” Conclusion: So this old disciple’ s hospitality is made immortal, and the record of it reminds us that the smallest service done for Jesus is treasured by Him. “ God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of love.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)An old disciple I. The character of Mnason.1. In examining the account here given of Mnason, we behold, in the first place, a person of long-standing in the Church. The epithet attached to him leads us to suppose that he was one of our Lord’ s first followers and disciples. How many things had occurred to try his attachment to the gospel! Yet, in spite of all, he kept the faith. But there was another trial of his steadfastness which he had nobly sustained. Cyprus was a place noted for the dissolute manners of its inhabitants. There unblushing wantonness was exhibited by all classes; and the young were taught to regard sensual pleasure as the chief happiness of man. In embracing the gospel he had professed his resolution to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts; and irksome to nature as the mortifications and the rigid temperance of the first Christians must have appeared, amidst the remembrance of the scenes of his early days, he persisted in the strictest sobriety, as well as in taking up his cross daily, and in following Christ. 2. In Mnason we see one who had been long a student of the gospel revelation, and who was still devoted to the study of it. He had been led to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, and that sacrifice he had never regretted. In old age the faculties decline, and the study of other subjects is felt irksome; but the great salvation can brighten the failing eye and raise the sinking heart. Mnason still waited at wisdom’ s gates--still lifted up his voice to God for understanding--still had his delight in the law of the Lord, and meditated in it day and night. 3. In Mnason we see one who has been long distinguished by the graces of the Christian character, and who still exercises them. Attachment to all Christian ordinances, self-denial, humility, and charity. 4. In Mnason we behold an old man still actuated by public spirit, and still eager to show kindness and hospitality. What a beautiful sight is it to mark the courtesies of the aged, and to find persons at that period mild, frank, and obliging, whom we dreaded to see cold, peevish, and austere; to behold the head flowing in compassion, not frozen in selfishness; the smile of cheerfulness on a faded countenance, and the offices of hospitality felt as a pleasure amidst their many infirmities! II. Those objects of peculiar interest which are to be seen in an old disciple.1. We see in him a striking proof of God’ s gracious care. “ Hitherto hath the Lord helped.” The frail bark which has accomplished a long and perilous voyage, and which is stored with the most valuable commodities of the different ports at which it has touched, which has weathered many a storm, and which is now drawing near its harbour, we mark with deep interest. Such is the old disciple. And we trust that when the days are short and gloomy, and the noise of the breakers heard from afar indicates that the ship is approaching a coast where lauding is difficult through the swell of the ocean, or the rockiness of the bottom, the Pilot who hath guided her so far will not abandon her now, but will secure to her an abundant entrance into Emmanuel’ s haven. 2. We see in an old disciple a satisfying proof of the reality and the power of religion. How completely are the old disgusted with other pursuits, even those in which they once engaged with the greatest eagerness, and to which they were allured by the gayest promises. Such they now pronounce to be vanity and vexation of spirit. But how different is the ease with the old disciple! The objects which first excited his attention appear as estimable to him as ever, and so far from regretting any sacrifice he has made for their sake, he would make it still if he was called to it. What once filled him with rapture, when his fancy was bright and his affections were glowing, is still his solace; he hath not discovered the least insecurity in the basis on which he builds, the least uncertainty in the promises on which God hath caused him to hope, or the least oppression in the yoke which the Lord required him to take. While few worldlings have been able to recommend it to the young to devote themselves as they did to earthly things, the old disciple can say to them, “ Oh taste and see that God is good!” 3. We see in the old disciple precious stores of experience. How instructive is his review of the course of Providence! Who can hear him talk of the families which were flourishing in the days of his youth, but whose estates and palaces are now the property of others, without feeling how foolish it is to trust in uncertain riches? Who can hear him tell how God enlarged him when he was in distress, showed him the way in which he should go, in answer to his earnest prayers for relief and for guidance, without feeling the value and acknowledging the power of prayer? 4. In the old disciple we behold a most striking contrast to the character and state of the aged transgressor. The one is like the long stagnant pool, in whose dark waters venomous creatures have been multiplying, and whose rank weeds and noxious exhaltations make it the object of disgust and terror. The other is like the stream purifying in its course, and rushing to the sea with a current clear, yet majestic. 5. In the old disciple we behold an object to whom many important offices are due from us. To such a man we owe high veneration. If we are to rise up before the old man, peculiar deference is certainly due to the old disciple. The hoary head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness. The infirmities of age have a claim on our pity, whatever be the character of the individual in whom we trace them; but they have peculiar claims on our kindness when they are seen in those who have served their generation according to the will of God, and when they may have been hastened or aggravated by the exertions they have made in the cause of piety and humanity. In them you will meet with the grateful feeling which is so encouraging in any kind ministrations, and the sagacity and the patience which will make them yield more extensive and substantial relief. Solicit their counsels. The difficulties which now distress you once harassed them--the opposition from which you are ready to shrink they braved--the disappointment under which your hearts are sinking tried their fortitude, and they found it salutary in its elevating their hearts to God, and they are thus qualified for directing you in the season of perplexity, and for reanimating your failing courage. 6. We see in the old disciple much solemn instruction as to death and heaven. The old disciple we see standing on the verge of the grave. Useful as his course hath been it must terminate; but, instead of murmuring at this, let us bless God that it has been prolonged to such an extent. (H. Belfrage, D. D.)A ripe old age There is many an old philosopher, like Franklin, whose last hours are so serene, and sweet, and beautiful, as to almost make one wish to exchange youth for old age. Man should stand in the horizon of life as sometimes in summer we see the sun stand as if it had forgotten to move, lying so in vapour that it is shorn of its excessive brightness--large, round, red-looking as if it waited to cast back one more love glance on the earth. So I have seen the aged linger, so round, and rich, and bright, and beautiful, as to make youth seem poor in treasure when compared with old age. It is a great thing so to have lived that the best part of life shall be its evening. October, the ripest month of the year, and the richest in colours, is a type of what old age should be. (H. W. Beecher.)Conversion in old age When men grow virtuous in their old age, they are merely making a sacrifice to God of the devil’ s leavings. (Dean Swift.)Faithfulness in old age “ Eighty and six years,” was Polycarp’ s answer when required to deny the truth, “ have I served my Saviour, and He hath never done me any harm; and shall I deny Him now?” Happiness of old age As ripe fruit is sweeter than green fruit, so is age sweeter than youth, provided the youth were grafted into Christ. As harvest time is a brighter time than seed time, so is age brighter than youth; that is, if youth were a seed time for good. As the completion of a work is more glorious than the beginning, so is age more glorious than youth; that is, if the foundation of the work of God were laid in youth. As sailing into port is a happier thing than the voyage, so is age happier than youth; that is, when the voyage from youth is made with Christ at the helm. (J. Pulsford, D. D.)Useful old age Wilberforce remarked, “ I can scarcely understand why my life is spared so long, except it be to show that a man can be as happy without a fortune as with one.” And soon after, when his only surviving daughter died, he writes, “ I have often heard that sailors on a voyage will drink, ‘ Friends astern!’ till they were half way over; then, ‘ Friends ahead!’ With me it has been ‘ Friends ahead!’ this long time.” Hopeless old age There is not a more repulsive spectacle than an old man who will not forsake the world, which has already forsaken him. (J. Tholuck.) Acts 21:17-26 And when we were come to Jerusalem the brethren received us gladly.Paul at Jerusalem Note here-- I. The early conquests of the gospel. During the quarter of a century which had elapsed since Paul’ s first introduction to the Church at Jerusalem, what wonders Christianity had wrought! The historic sketch which he now presented caused his hearers to glorify the Lord, and they tell him that “ many thousands of Jews believed.” These triumphs serve to demonstrate--1. The genuineness of gospel facts. There were ample opportunities of testing their truth. 2. The amazing force of Christian truth. What other system could have effected such revolutions? 3. The zeal with which the apostles prosecuted their ministry. II. The tenacity of early prejudice. Those Christian Jews could not give up the ritualism in which they had been brought up. “ They were still zealous of the law.” Early prejudices, especially in religion, warp the judgment, exclude the entrance of new light, impede the progress of the soul in intelligence, manly independency, and power. Prejudices give a colour to the glass through which the soul looks at truth, and thus prevents her from appearing in her own native hue. III. The slanderousness of religious bigotry. (Acts 21:21). Paul not only acted indulgently towards the scrupulous (Acts 16:3; Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Corinthians 10:27), but in general disapproved of Jews relinquishing the observance of the law, and observed it himself (1 Corinthians 7:18; 1 Corinthians 9:20). All he insisted upon was, that no prerogative or claim to salvation should be built on legal observance, and that it should not be imposed upon Gentile believers. Who fabricated the slander? The bigoted Jews. Religious bigotry now, as ever, maligns the men whose doctrines transcend its narrow notions--in its pulpits, platforms, and press. IV. The conciliatory genius of Christianity.1. James and the elders perceive that a schismatic spirit is rife, and they are anxious to promote concord. Hence their question (verse 22), How shall this false impression, be removed? And they proposed the expedient of verses 23, 24. He who does not strive to harmonise social discords has not the true love within him. Love is ever bearing the olive branch over the tumults of the world. 2. This conciliatory spirit of Christianity is further developed in the conduct of Paul. “ Paul is among the Nazarites,” says Lange-- “(1) Not as a slave of human ordinances, but in the light of evangelical liberty, which had power over all things that promote the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:12).(2) Not as a dissembler before the people, but in the ministry of brotherly love, which bears the infirmities of the weak (Romans 15:1). (3) Not as a fugitive from the cross, but in the power of apostolic obedience, which knows to deny itself from love to the Lord (Luke 9:23).” Bold and invincible as was the apostle, his spirit of conciliation was very remarkable (1 Corinthians 9:1). Fidelity to principle is not inconsistent with a studious endeavour to avoid giving offence to our fellow men. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul at Jerusalem I. Met by friends.1. Paul was glad to visit Jerusalem, and the brethren were glad to receive him. They and he were too good Christians to raise a loud lament because immortal duty doing had led the apostle into a place of mortal danger. 2. Paul rehearsed the things which God had wrought, humbly making of himself a mere instrument in God’ s hand. Naturally, then, the brethren glorified not Paul, but God. 3. Paul spoke much of results, and but little of difficulties and dangers and privations. It matters more to the true missionary what God does by him than what God does with him. 4. Paul worked abroad--and the brethren worked at home, etc., and rejoiced in each other’ s successful efforts. The cause of Foreign Missions and the cause of Home Missions should have the fullest mutual sympathy and support. II. Misrepresented by enemies.1. No earnest Christian but meets with misrepresentation, and it usually increases just in proportion as his earnestness does. 2. No earnest Christian but will find that “ they have been informed” of all sorts of imaginary errors in his teaching. 3. No form of opposition is more difficult for the earnest Christian to face than this anonymous misrepresentation. “ They have been informed,” and they--in the church or outside of it--hasten to spread the warning that Paul does not believe in the Old Testament. 4. Anonymous contributions are not everywhere rejected if they assail the teachings of a good and earnest man. Therefore the devil usually chooses to do his work anonymously. III. Misrepresentation met.1. It was well for Paul to vindicate himself for the Master’ s cause suffers so long as there is an imputation upon the servant. 2. It is well for the servant of Christ to concede a point provided no principle is sacrificed. 3. It is well for one to vindicate himself from a false charge as Paul did, by deeds rather than by words. 4. It is well to treat different men differently. There is a way in which to reach a Jew, and a way in which to reach a Gentile, and the two ways are not identical. 5. It is well to subordinate minor questions of Church polity, individual preference, denominational peculiarities to the great paramount object of soul saving. “ All things to all men, that I may by all means save some.” (S. S. Times.)Paul at Jerusalem Notice-- I. The importance of order in the Church. Paul was an apostle, but he respects the officers of the local church, consults their feelings, respects their judgment, and strengthens their hands. Under the specious statement that the work of God is the main thing, many belittle Christian organisation, as if it were not the very way to do the work of God. “ Free lances “ are often an hindrance to the Christian army, and their “ freeness “ is all too often mainly in the liberties they take with Christian truth and agencies. God’ s work is best done in God’ s way. II. How dextrous the enemies of the truth are in misrepresenting Christian action. This policy need not surprise us. If men allege that we undervalue good works because we deny their saving power; that our views of God’ s sovereignty mean “ fatalism” ; that we have no Church because we do not hold “ apostolical succession” --they are only misrepresenting us as Paul was misrepresented. III. That it is fit that God’ s people should in all fitting ways clear themselves and their testimony of such injurious imputations. We are of little account personally, but the truth is great. There is a silly weakness that revolts from honest defence of the truth, and wants nothing but conventional commonplace. IV. That there is something due to the honest readers of Scripture, even if we interpret differently. When men set up fashion, antiquity, aesthetics, “ Christian consciousness,” or the like, it is one thing; when they honestly defer to the Divine Word as they understand it, it is another. So it was with these. So it is with good men who think David’ s psalms the only fitting material for praise; with “ Friends “ as to forms and titles; with Baptists who believe themselves bound to immerse. V. The importance of Christian graces in promoting and preserving peace. Paul is modest and forgetful of self. The elders rejoice over him; at the same time they frankly tell him the facts of the case. Honesty and frankness are great conservators of harmony. Christian forbearance triumphing over selfishness is a grace of a high order. There are many who will go all lengths to meet the world, who look with lofty scorn on Christians who take different methods. Between believers “ weak in the faith “ and worldliness with no faith at all, there is a wide difference. In all things harmless let us go a long way to meet the one class and satisfy them; they are Christ’ s friends and ours. Concession to the others is not to be made of one “ jot or tittle,” because they are not friends, but enemies. (J. Hall, D. D.)Paul among the brethren at Jerusalem, or what appertains to bearing the infirmities of the weak:-- I. Christian love which is willing to bear them, while it has a tender feeling for the wants of the weak, and exercises a noble self-denial in condescending to them in word and deed. II. Christian strength, which is able to bear them, possesses freedom of spirit to distinguish between form and essence, the shell and the kernel, and has strength of character not to surrender with subordinate matters the chief thing, and not to deny the Lord from love to man. (K. Gerok.)Christian forbearance I. Necessary. As such--1. Practised by our Lord Himself.2. Employed by His apostles.3. Indispensable to us. II. Salutary.1. Without God’ s forbearance the world would be lost.2. By the apostle’ s forbearance much weakness was gained;3. By Christian forbearance, we do not indeed gain all, but we promote peace, and thus the kingdom of God in general. (Lisco.)The beginning of the end 1. “ The brethren received them gladly.” I am not sure about that; they never before have been received gladly, and the gladness now admitted of being stated in one half-line. I have no particular faith in that sort of gladness. When did Paul content himself with half a line when he was recognising his friends? Read his letter to the Philippians! The fact is they never liked Paul at Jerusalem. He was too big for them. 2. Then it is said that when they heard Paul “ they glorified the Lord.” Presently we shall know the meaning of that. They might have said something to Paul. There is a way of turning from a man that you may pray, when you ought first to have thrown your arms around him and said, “ God bless thee, grand old soldier of the Cross; come, let us pray together.” A little more humanity at Jerusalem would have done no harm; but Jerusalem is forgotten: Paul remains. A little humanity would do the Church no harm. A little recognition of merit, a kindly reference to loving service done by man to man, helps the wheel of life to run round more smoothly. It would be so at home if you would say how pleased you are with what has been done for you. 3. They could not have been so greatly occupied with the glory of God, for they instantly proposed to Paul a compromise, and said with such whining voices, “ Thou seest, brother,” etc. There the Church goes down. That spirit is still abroad, and we are saying of men of free spirit and Pauline heart, and as for us, we are all right with regard to them; but there is a general impression abroad that they are not orthodox.” “ Be quiet, or say something, or attend a service.” Was there ever such a craven-hearted thing as a Church with this note in its throat? The men who are buried in a crowd were to dictate the policy of the world’ s greatest Christian prince and hero! But James had lived a long time in the metropolis; he seldom went from home; he could not bear a noise, and he would offer on the altar of prejudice this oblation. It was not right, but Paul will not hinder the great cause; he was willing to become “ all things to all men,” that he might by any means save some. We can imagine the smile of the heart as he consented to be “ one of five,” to go through certain customs and ceremonies in order to prove himself orthodox. Orthodoxy does not consist in doing certain things, but in doing something in the soul. 4. Now mark what follows. The Jews which were of Asia laid hands on him, crying, “ This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the law,” etc. In the very act of attempting to prove himself orthodox, to people who had no right to judge his orthodoxy, he was seized as a hypocrite. The temple was no protection. It suits some men to believe others to be hypocrites rather than to give them credit for good intentions, instead of saying, “ We have been misinformed about this man; here he is submitting to the law of Moses.” You cannot satisfy blackmailers; pay them what you like today, they will return tomorrow. There are blackmailers in the Church as well as in the world. You can never live holy enough to put an end to their diabolism of spirit. Never treat with them; stand upon the eternal right and say, “ Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” What applies to character applies also to argument. When you have satisfied Aristotle with your logic, you have not begun to touch the blackmailer; he does not want the logic, he wants to torment the logician. 5. It will go badly with Paul then but for the State. James and the elders will not do much for Paul now, for, dear old gentlemen, they did not like noise! There is a time when the State must assert its authority. And when the mob “ saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.” Cowards! And these were the men that Paul was asked to conciliate! To be recognised by them was an intolerable patronage. “ Then the chief captain came near, and took him,” etc. The State knows nothing about Christian ministers. It seems comical to hear the chief captain. “ Art thou not that Egyptian,” etc. You don’ t suppose the chief captains know anything about prayer meetings, or ministers’ or deacons’ prayer meetings? There is no rebuke perhaps more humbling than an inquiry as to your identity by men whom you thought respected you, and knew all about you. It would be amusing to Paul to be mistaken for an Egyptian. He, who had not been ashamed of the gospel of Christ; he who died daily for Christ, coming back from the wars, was mistaken by the State for an Egyptian, which had led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers. Never mind; Paul owed the State a good deal in this instance. The State will see justice done to us. The State will not allow this property with which we ourselves are associated to be diverted from its proper purpose. So with human life. Thank God for civilised States. (J. Parker, D. D.)And when he had saluted them. The brotherly salutation between Paul and James 1. A victory of love which seeks not its own in carnal narrowness and self-will. 2. An earnest of the future union of Israel and the Gentile world under the Cross of Christ. 3. A triumph of the wonderful ways of God in the spread of His kingdom, and in the realisation of His plan of salvation. (K. Gerok.)They are informed of thee.--Misrepresentation In every scandal there is the warp and the woof; it is seldom that some ground cannot be had to work upon. The woof may be a fact wholly perverted, but upon it the liar may weave his warp, his figure of detraction and scandal; and it comes out all in one piece, and no man can say that there is not some truth in it, though if the truth were picked out, the lie would stand by itself, a clean and absolute lie. Mr. Wilberforce relates an instance regarding himself. He found himself held up to public ridicule in an unfriendly journal, the author of the slander having given the following instance of Mr. Wilberforce’ s Phariseeism. “ He was seen lately walking up and down the Pump Room reading his prayers like his predecessors of old who prayed at the corners of streets to be seen of men.” Wilberforce remarks, “ As there is generally some light circumstance which perverseness turns into a charge of reproach, I began to reflect, and I soon found the occasion of the calumny. I was walking in the Pump Room in conversation with a friend: a passage was quoted from Horace, the accuracy of which was questioned; and as I had a Horace in my pocket I took it out and read the words. This was the bit of wire which factious malignity sharpened into a pin to pierce my reputation.” (G. B. Cheerer, D. D.)Slander The tongue of the slanderer is a devouring fire, which tarnishes whatever it touches; which exercises its fury on the good grain equally as on the chaff, on the profane as on the sacred; which, wherever it passes, leaves only desolation and ruin; digs even into the bowels of the earth, and fixes itself on things the most hidden; turns into vile ashes what only a moment before had appeared to us so precious and brilliant; acts with more violence and danger than ever in the time when it was apparently smothered up and almost extinct; which blackens what it cannot consume, and sometimes sparkles and delights before it destroys. (J. Massillon.) Acts 21:23-26 Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow upon them.Paul and the Nazarite vow Hardly had Paul’ s glowing words of passionate love to Christ--his plea for a flee pulpit, as it were, a common Christianity--ceased when James cuts in severely and dryly enough with what he has heard. And then--as every word fell like an ice drop on Paul’ s fervent spirit, and he was wondering whether humiliation could go any further--he had to listen to the crowning proposal, that he should take four beggars who had a vow, pay for them himself, and see to their head shaving, etc., before all the people! Paul, who had taught throughout Asia that such usages were foolish or indifferent, was to go nigh eating his own words to allay the fears and gratify the narrow minds of those who called themselves Christ’ s disciples! The burning question, in fact, in Jerusalem, seemed to be not the love of Christ, or the conversion of the heathen, or fellowship between Christian teachers, but how to keep in with the orthodox laity, how stand firm by the old organisation. As Paul listened and read acutely, as he so well could, between the lines, a bitter, terrible, choking feeling must have come over him. There he stood, having toiled for years to get them money, amongst other things, for their poor, yearning above all for their sympathy, if only a friendly word, for him and his converts--first fruits of the new world he was conquering for them--and they met him with a stare and a rebuke. He was wretchedly disappointed, almost personally insulted; his offerings slighted--his sentiments ignored--his opinions and arguments misunderstood or disregarded. Last indignity; he was to be heavily fined, to be forced to eat his own words, and undergo openly a test of suspicion in the temple. It was an awful moment, the fate of his Gentile Churches seemed hanging in the balance. But the grandeur of Paul’ s mission prevailed. At all costs this rupture between him and the apostles must not take place--and of all places in the world not at Jerusalem; the party of the Church must be saved somehow--the aegis of those who had seen the Lord must be spread over the Gentiles. Paul rose to the occasion. Statesman, diplomatist, man of ideas, man of action, man of heart; where shall we find such qualities combined? They met in Paul. Concession and consistency for one moment seemed at war within him. But with a flash of true spiritual genius, he harmonised them, by appeal to a principle higher than either, Charity. That Divine formula enabled him now, not for the first and not for the last time, to stoop to conquer. Paul accepts. He appears in the temple; he is “ at charges” with four beggars; he keeps the law of Moses. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)Paul among the Nazarites 1. Not as a slave of human ordinances, but in the might of evangelical liberty, which has power over all things that promote the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:12). 2. Not as a dissembler before the people, but in the ministry of brotherly love, which bears the infirmities of the weak (Romans 15:1). 3. Not as a fugitive from the Cross, but in the power of apostolic obedience, which knows to deny itself from love to the Lord (Luke 9:23). (K. Gerok.) Acts 21:27-40 And when the seven days were almost ended the Jews which were of Asia … stirred up all the people. Paul in the temple 1. Unholy zeal is more easily occasioned than good works (Acts 21:27-30). 2. Religious accusations are frequently the result of excitement, and thus liable to be unjust. Giving a new, spiritual interpretation to old rites, customs, etc., is by many stamped as desecration and unbelief (Acts 21:28). 3. Enthusiastic devotion to duty may entail misapprehension and inconvenience (verse 27-30). 4. By their endorsements of the deeds of the past men show themselves the “ children of their fathers” either for good or for evil (Acts 21:36). 5. In the best of causes one may be sometimes mistaken for an agent of the worst (Acts 21:38; Matthew 12:24). 6. Political indifference may be more equitable than ecclesiastical jealousy and rancour (Acts 21:31-40). 7. God overrules all events in the lives of His servants for the highest purposes. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)Paul in the storm at Jerusalem The apostle, at a later period, had to encounter a great storm on the open sea; but that was hardly more violent than what now arose against him on dry land, within the secure walls of Jerusalem, among his own people. Yet here, as there, the almighty arm of God protects and rescues him. I. The outbreak of the storm. Suddenly and not to be reckoned on, as often a storm occurs in nature, this storm breaks out among the people. The tempest which Paul had seen from a distance at Miletus, and which was predicted to him on the way in a more and more threatening manner, discharges itself on a sudden, and in a place least to be expected, in the temple, while Paul sought to satisfy the zealots of the law. II. The raging of the storm. The storm of the passions increases continually, the popular fury heaves and swells as a raging sea, and threatens to swallow up the servant of God. III. The stilling of the storm. He who formerly rebuked the wind and waves on the Lake of Gennesareth, so that there was a great calm, speaks to the raging sea--“ Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.” The Roman tribune has to open the harbour of refuge to the apostle; and he himself with calm composure beckons to the people so that they become still. (K. Gerok.)Paul accused of the Jews I. The accusation brought against Paul.1. Its nature.2. The agents. II. Its reasons.1. The ostensible.2. The real. III. Its resemblance to the charge preferred against Christ--polluting the temple. IV. Its results. Conclusion:--Learn--1. That there are always persons ready to attack the servants of God.2. That these attacks are made on any pretext however slight.3. That we should Hot be dismayed, but rely on God for protection. (J. H. Tasson.)Paul assailed Paul again in trouble! What a magnetism he had to draw to himself distresses. Nature felt the strange attraction, and gave him her perils, storms, and shipwrecks. All kinds of men hastened with all kinds of mischief. This trouble presents some new elements. It came not from preaching Christ, but through conciliating Jews. It took place in the temple, not in some foreign synagogue or market place. The events of this passage are the riot, the rescue, the plea. Looking for practical suggestions, we note-- I. The divisions in the Church. As we get a pitiable sort of comfort in finding that even prophets and apostles were men of like passions with ourselves, so with the failures of the early Church. We have no hindrances which they did not overcome. That fair picture of brotherly love and self-forgetfulness which we saw at Pentecost is spoiled by a clique determined to rule or ruin. The Judaising party are chargeable with Paul’ s captivity in Cesarea, his shipwrecks, his imprisonment at Rome, and ultimately his death. The dangers of heresy and innovations are understood, but less is said of the mischiefs of an unwise conservatism--a dogged obstinacy in clinging to old methods and resisting those who long to bring the work of the Church to the demands of the times. Usually they are a minority who oppose; they alone have feelings to be considered, convictions to be respected; and usually they have their way, to the injury of the Church and the honour of those who sacrifice feeling and judgment to the desire for peace. Yet even peace can be purchased too dearly. II. An overruling providence. Since God has chosen to conduct His kingdom on earth through men, He must continually be at hand to wrest some advantage out of their inevitable errors. The nation’ s sin had brought it under the Roman power; but had there been only Jewish authority in Jerusalem that day there had been no rescue for Paul. Heathen Rome is under the King of kings. Its power protects His apostle, gets the gospel a hearing before rulers, and gives the preacher his desired opportunity to visit the world’ s capital. III. The strength of believers. They glory in tribulation. This whole scene rebukes the thought that we can judge God’ s feelings toward us, by the ease or painfulness of our life. We want an ungodly world to act in the ways of the millennium. What are we, that when disaster comes we sit down and cry despairingly, God has forgotten me? Have we fared like the chief apostle? Have we been smitten like Christ? We are nearest the Saviour in our sorest need, and rest absolutely on the everlasting arms only when all other help has given way. Then come peace and assurance which we have vainly tried to gain in easier times. Then, too, our own resources get a fresh power. The most beset and helpless man of all here is the apostle; but do what they will to him, he is the one calm, masterful soul there. His knowledge, his experience of mobs, a bearing both courteous and dignified, give him control of the stolid and furious alike. (C. M. Southgate.)Paul assailed I. Suffering assault.1. When religion degenerates into a matter of rites and ceremonies, there is manifested very great zeal for forms, and very little zeal for truth. 2. When the Jews planned to convict Paul of false teaching, they indulged in a great deal of falsehood that they might accomplish their object. 3. When the Jews merely “ supposed” that Paul had brought Trophimus into the temple, they accused the apostle before the people without the least hint that they were basing their charge on a mere supposition. 4. When the people heard, they “ ran together” without further invitation. Meetings called for the worst purposes usually need the least advertising. 5. When Paul was dragged out, the doors Were shut. The murderous bloodthirsty Jews were so afraid that some microscopic temple ordinance might be polluted. 6. When the mob had beaten Paul, and attempted to kill him, the tidings speedily reached the police station that something was the matter. The ancient police officer seems not to have slept as serenely as the modern police officer does. 7. When it is only a poor persecuted apostle, or street preacher, or member of the Salvation Army, who is being assaulted, it is unusual for the world’ s police forces to be so quick in learning of the disturbance. II. Suffering arrest.1. One may wear chains, and still not be a felon or a slave. 2. One may be compelled to wear chains, not to keep him from escaping, but to help him to escape. Thus Paul wore them. 3. One may enter prison walls, and not be a convict. Paul was never convicted of anything worse than of utter fearlessness in duty doing. 4. One may be protected from two classes of enemies by their mutual hatred of one another. Thus was Paul saved from the hostile Jews by the indifferent Romans. 5. One may be hustled into safety by the very violence of the attacks upon him. Thus the mob crowded Paul, borne in the soldiers’ arms, within the castle. 6. One and the same evil cry meg the ears of the Divine Master and of His great apostle--“ Away with him.” III. Suffered to speak.1. After the world’ s police forces do learn of a disturbance, they are prone to rush out and mistake the harmless, defenceless, unresisting apostle as the dangerous leader of four thousand bloodthirsty assassins! 2. After all, the Apostle Paul is not as defenceless as he seems. He has all the resources of Christian bravery, and God is on his side. 3. After he has been roughly treated by the foes of Christ, the true disciple of Christ still shows no disposition to run away, but remains to address the rabble. 4. After a fully consecrated heart, nothing is more desirable in a Christian worker than a clear head and steady nerves. 5. After Paul had done his duty, he let God take care of the consequences, and he evidently cared more for the safety of the cause than he did for his own security. (S. S. Times.)Paul’ s arrest Here we see-- I. The genius of religious intolerance. Three things come out which always characterise this:--1. Cunning--indicated in the watchword, “ Men of Israel, help! “ hereby naively intimating that Paul was an enemy to Israel, and that all should make a common cause in crushing him. Religious bigotry ever works by artifice and insinuation. 2. Falsehood. (1) It fabricates false allegations (verse 28). This was all a spiteful fiction. (a) Did Paul “ teach all men everywhere against the people” ? It is true he denounced their bigotry, and exclusiveness; but never their race, and their high distinctions. (b) Did he ever disparage “ the law” ? He taught that its ceremonies were not binding upon Gentile disciples, nor of eternal obligation even unto the Jew; but always displayed a profound regard for it as a Divine institution, the glory of the ancient world. (c) Did he ever speak “ against this place” ? He taught that God dwelt not “in temples made with hands” ; but never a word did he utter in dishonour of the temple. (d) Did he ever bring “ Greeks into the temple, and pollute the holy place” ? No; they only “ supposed” that he did--they perhaps saw Paul walking in the streets with Trophimus, and rushed to this conjecture. (2) But whilst all those charges are groundless, they bear testimony to Paul’ s-- (a) Notoriety. “ This is the man” ; implying that he is well known, and that none require any further particulars. This Paul has in a few years painted his image on the imagination of the Jewish people. (b) Industry. “ He taught all men, everywhere.” Thus, they unwittingly confirmed the apostle’ s own description of his labours, and also his biographer’ s account of his marvellous activity. (c) Power. Had he been obscure and of feeble influence, they would have spoken and acted differently. They felt, he was a man of such colossal influence as required the force of a whole nation to confine. 3. Violence. Religious intolerance does not argue, for it lacks an intelligent faith in its own cause. It has, therefore, ever had recourse to fraud and force. II. The genius of a mob assembly. Men are pretty well the same in all ages. The mob gathered in the streets of Jerusalem evinced just those things which mobs show now in Paris, New York, or London. Here is--1. Credulousness. The false charges were accepted without any inquiry. “ All the city was moved.” Man is naturally a credulous animal, and this propensity gets intensity in association with numbers. Hence what even a credulous man will not believe when alone, he readily accepts from the lip of a demagogue. Men accept creeds in churches which they repudiate in private discussion. Mobs will swallow whatever is offered. 2. Senselessness. “ Some cried one thing, and some another.” The mob at Ephesus (Acts 19:32) acted in the same way. A sad sight this. It is this senselessness that makes the opinions of mobs so worthless, their movements so reckless, and their existence so dangerous. 3. Contagiousness. “ The people ran together,” and when they came together their hearts surged with the same common passions. One man’ s thought, whether good or bad, may influence a nation. Conclusion. Note-- 1. The great mixture of characters in social life. Here are Evangelical Christians, Asiatic Jews, Romans, Paul.2. The great advantage of civil government.3. The antagonism of the depraved heart to Christianity. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul at Jerusalem Paul’ s fifth and final visit to Jerusalem, a chief scene of which this passage depicts, was in the highest degree dramatic. He now saw the Jewish capital for the last time. He had come with the noble object of carrying a contribution from the Gentile Christians in Macedonia and Achaia to the poor among the Jewish mother Church. One of the three leading Hebrew festivals, Pentecost, was in progress. He now met James the brother of Jesus. He magnanimously took upon himself the Nazaritic vow. He conspicuously showed his remarkable tact in addressing a frenzied mob. In a most picturesque situation he declared his Roman citizenship. The scene with which we particularly have to do was the meeting place of Roman power, of Jewish bigotry, and of Christian consecration. The passage that we are to study introduces us to Paul when he was about completing the seven days of the Nazaritic vow, which he had willingly entered into for the sake of mollifying the prejudice against him of the believing Jews in Jerusalem. “ The Jews from Asia “ had, from their point of view, abundant reason for attacking Paul. Asia, in its New Testament use, was a narrow strip of Asia Minor that bordered on the AEgean Sea. Of this district Ephesus was the chief city, and in Ephesus Paul had recently closed a most astonishing three years’ ministry. He “ turned the world upside down” there. In the best meaning of the word his preaching was sensational. It was no wonder, then, that the Jews from Asia, stung by the recollection of the triumphs of that Ephesian ministry from which their ranks had so seriously suffered, were swift to wreak their vengeance upon the hated offender now that they had opportunity. This experience of Paul at Jerusalem emphasises two or three lessons of permanent value, which we shall now consider. I. An aggressive Christianity encounters afflictions. If Jesus Christ has made anything clear it is surely this, that the loyalty of His disciples to Himself will provoke persecution. With a noble frankness, worthy of all admiration, He warned all would be disciples of this inevitable fact. “ I came not to send peace but a sword.” “ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” If His precepts were thus writ large and clear in His own example, why should His disciples expect to escape? Paul followed his Lord in both teaching and precept. He wrote, “ All that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Persecution has been the common lot of pronounced ambassadors of Christ, and, with shame be it said, that persecution has in many cases had origin with the so-called people of God themselves. Chrysostom, Savonarola, Huss, Wycliffe, Luther, Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, Hannington, the Waldenses, the Huguenots, the Covenanters, the Pilgrims: how ample was their heritage of persecution, and with what sublime heroism did they receive it! The suffering of affliction for Christ’ s sake is inevitable. Why it is so Jesus clearly stated to His unbelieving brothers, as He was about to start to Jerusalem to attend the last Feast of Tabernacles in His earthly ministry. “ The world cannot hate you, but Me it hateth, because I testify of it that its works are evil.” This was the real reason of Paul’ s terrible treatment at Jerusalem at the hands of the unbelieving Jews from Asia, and it has been the spring of all the persecution of Christ’ s followers the Christian ages through. Persecution is as irrational as it is inevitable. Those Asiatic Jews incited the multitude against Paul on wholly false charges. Listen to them. “ This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place; and moreover he brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath defiled this holy place.” Every count in this indictment was untrue. At the very moment in which they preferred it Paul’ s course as to the Nazarite vow proved its utter falsity. II. Afflictions manifest the depth of Christian happiness. God’ s people are a happy people. Christ’ s disciples sing for joy in the night of their tribulations, since Christ Himself, who is their Life, possessed a serene joy that no afflictions could ruffle. So strong was His faith in His Father and His love for Him, that these yielded Him a peace whose tranquil deeps the cruel and unrelenting persecution of Pharisee and Sadducee had no power to disturb. “ The kingdom of God is joy and peace in the Holy Ghost.” Paul’ s experience of his Lord’ s love was yet so delightful that he yearned to tell the glad tidings to his very murderers, saying to the commander, “ I beseech thee, give me leave to speak unto the people.” III. Afflictions prove the strength of Christian purpose. They both put it to the test and make it evident. “ Tribulation worketh patience, and patience approvedness or tried character, and tried character hope.” The crowning glory of Jesus was a glory of the will in the face of a relentless persecution that finally sent Him to the Cross. How strikingly this appears in Luke’ s description of Him, “ He set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus’ reign over a human soul culminates in the will. Unless He is king there He is no king at all. The history of His influence over men has shown how splendidly He has commanded the will energy of His true disciples in the development of such traits of character as fortitude, endurance, heroism, those virtues which are essentially martial in their temper and make their possessors “ terrible as an army with banners.” These soldierly qualities thrive under persecution. They seem unable to come to their best quality without it. Paul’ s last journey to Jerusalem and its climax in the scene in the temple were among the most convincing evidences of will triumph in the midst of crushing afflictions that the annals of heroism furnish. The real heroes of the world are not the Alexanders, the Hannibals, the Caesars, the Napoleons, but Jesus, Paul, Ambrose, Augustine, Simeon, Brainerd, Carey, Mackay. These, and such as these, display the most exalted courage, confronting foes more invincible and threatening than any those great military chieftains ever faced on field s of carnage. The lesson for us of our study of Paul at Jerusalem is this: It sounds out a clarion call to the disciples of Jesus in this generation, in all Christian lands, for fidelity. In our time the love of temporal comfort is almost sovereign. Our sense life is in sore peril of becoming insubordinate by the encouraging environment in which it passes its days. Our civilisation is a selfish civilisation. It is very easy to live a luxurious life. It is very hard to live a self-denying life for Jesus Christ’ s sake. The apostle Paul, that “ good soldier of Jesus Christ,” thus owned his loyalty to the Captain of his salvation, “ I am ready to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (J. M. English, D. D.)Paul at Jerusalem Paul’ s attitude towards the Jewish law must be taken into account in order to understand the reason for the tumult at Jerusalem and the injustice of those who led it. Paul spoke as vigorously as one could speak against the law as a means of salvation. At the same time Paul was a Jew with the most intense national feeling. So much did he love his brother Israelites that he could almost have wished himself accursed from God if thereby they might be saved. So far as his fellow Christians were concerned, Paul held that their relation to the law should be determined by their own antecedents. If a man were born a Gentile, Paul would not counsel him to learn Jewish religious habits. If a man was born a Jew, however, there was no harm in his keeping the old law so long as it was understood not to have saving power. When Paul came to Jerusalem in the year 58 A.D., he found he had been preceded by a report that he was utterly opposed to Jewish Christians observing any of the old Jewish habits, and that he tried to turn them from them. The episode suggests study in four directions. I. Paul.1. He was truly a lover of his own people. Wherever he went he sought them out first, not only because strategically this was wisest, but because he truly liked to be with them. He was never above feeling satisfaction in the thought that he had been born a Jew. He loved to go to the feasts at the capital. Undoubtedly Paul had more real sympathy with Jewish religious ideas than many of those in the crowd who condemned him. 2. There was a possibility, we might safely say a certainty, that Paul’ s position would be misunderstood. For while he kept up his Jewish habits it was not because he thought (as the Jews thought) that they had saving power. They were external matters connected chiefly with ways of living and ways of worshipping. They were not really essential to the religious life, but only helpful in it, if one thought them helpful and used them aright. Among Gentiles Paul did not observe them. The Jews looked upon them as necessary for all. In a certain limited sense Paul stood by Jewish habits. And yet his removing them from the class of necessaries to the class of things optional was undoubtedly the first step towards their abolition. Paul’ s position thus had such complex relations that it was difficult to be understood and pretty certain to be misrepresented. 3. His immediate intention in the matter which brought him into difficulty was good. He had no intention towards the Jews. He was not trying to conciliate them. His mind was upon the thousands of Jews who had become Christians (verse 20) who were still zealous for the law, i.e., kept up faithfully Jewish habits of living. For them Paul held that this was perfectly right (so long, of course, as they did not ascribe saving power to such habits). He bad been reported as taking the position that they were wrong. In order to put himself into cordial relations with them and to reassure them concerning himself, he undertook the open performance of a vow. His design in the matter was wholly honourable and kind. II. The disturbers.1. Their motive was hatred towards Paul. They came down from Ephesus full of their experiences of Paul’ s troubles there. At Ephesus they had been thwarted. It was not a Jewish city. At Ephesus Paul had some chance of justice, and the Jews were hopeless of thwarting him. At Jerusalem the tables were turned. There Jewish sentiment was not only enormously preponderant, it was also intense beyond words. 2. They carried out their purpose by spreading skilful misrepresentations of Paul’ s position. This charge was a deft combination of truth and falsehood, For the wickedest lie is not that which is downright, for that can easily be disproven, but that which is subtly, insinuatingly exaggerative, where the admission of the innocent element of truth which lies at its foundation puts the man who is repelling it in the attitude of a culprit. Paul had not taught against the Jews by any means; he had honoured them everywhere; he had proclaimed himself a Jew. But of course he had said that being a Jew would not save one. The things alleged against Paul had back of them something which he would have had to admit as true. But it was exaggerated, misinterpreted, and supplemented by an absolute lie. 3. The strength of the attack against Paul lay in its appeal to the religious feelings of the crowd. That which was best in them was used for the lowest ends. Nothing is more awful in human nature than the possibility of crime in the name of religion; and how frequently it has darkened the page of history. And some people are so indiscriminating as to lay the blame of all this upon religion. It is as just to condemn the real coin for the existence of the counterfeit. III. The crowd.1. They accepted as true the lies of the Ephesian Jews. They had courts whose business it was to investigate such offences as were alleged against Paul. Without investigation, without so much as a question, they accepted as true what might easily have been shown to be false. 2. Just as readily they accepted the motives of the Ephesian Jews as honourable. What sanctity! What zeal for the temple of the Lord! And all the time the real motive of these scheming Ephesians was nothing more than vile, unscrupulous hatred. 3. They were already prejudiced against him. The words of the Ephesians, “ This is the man” (verse 28), shows that Paul was known by reputation. The people had their minds already made up concerning him. They did not want investigation upon his case. Again, as often before, Jerusalem knew not the day of her visitation. In her sinful prejudice she was ready, consistently with her attitude all through history, to slay the best of her sons. IV. The outcome.1. God was a factor at work upon which the Jews were not counting. “ Those whom neither the majesty of God nor pious respect for the temple could restrain from madness, respect for a profane man now subdues” (Calvin). And in the conduct of that man the God whom they so impiously disregarded was at work. Thus far could their madness go and no farther. His word, which can check the mighty ocean, put its restraint upon the wrath of men. 2. An immediate result for good was brought about, in that Paul had an opportunity to address the multitude. Such an opportunity he might have sought long and in vain. 3. The riot in the temple had a bearing far off in the future. The testimony at Rome was made possible by the riot at ,Jerusalem. And so the wrath of man ministered to the praise of God. The Jews sought to kill Paul, and they succeeded in giving him opportunity to hold up the Cross before the Lord of the world. V. Final lessons.1. Our failures as well as our successes have their place in God’ s plan. Paul was trying to conciliate some of his fellow Christians when he fell into trouble. God not only exchanges our failures for success, He makes them means of success. 2. Inferences from others’ actions are always dangerous. The Jews imputed to Paul motives that did not belong to him. They were too sure of the accuracy of their own reasoning ability. Let us be careful how we put meanings into others’ conduct. 3. A multitude is a dangerous leader. It is good advice to keep always out of crowds. Beware of the multitude. Serve thou God and Him only. (D. J. Burtell, D. D.)Paul at Jerusalem The Church at Jerusalem sheltered in its bosom a Pharisaic faction which continually strove to turn Christianity into a sect of Judaism. A large proportion of its membership was very weak and imperfect. The law had a strong hold upon them, and they were only beginners in the gospel. They could be easily prejudiced against Paul. Hence Paul’ s attempt to forestall prejudice by accompanying four Jewish Christians, who were under a Nazaritic vow, to the temple, and paying for them the expenses attendant upon the termination of their vow. As he proceeded with the four Christian Nazarites into the temple, doubtless his course was wholly successful, so far as concerned the great body of the Church at Jerusalem; but the great annual feasts attracted multitudes from every land. Many of these had known Paul as the eloquent preacher of Christ who had successfully met them in many a field of argument and won hundreds to his following. Malice and revenge are swift to find opportunity. They are not careful to learn all the facts. A great soul on an errand for God does not lose self-possession, however great the commotion. Paul at once saw the chief captain’ s command of the situation and the way to his respect. He knew how to avail himself of the resources for safety in his own scholarship, his birth place, and nationality. One moment he stands before the chief captain clothed with dignity, despite his chains; the next, his frenzied murderers are hushed as he calmly looks down upon them from the castle stairs. I. The unconscious ministry of the powers of this world. Rome knew nothing of Jesus save as a peasant disturber of the peace and something of a fanatic. It knew nothing of Paul, and cared nothing for the heroism and devotion of his splendid apostleship. Rome was bound, hand and foot, by debasing idolatry; but a bodyguard of invisible angels could not have done more to save the great apostle for continued ministry, for those inspired epistles from Nero’ s dungeons, and for an honourable martyrdom which should set its seal of dignity to an unparalleled life. So, in all the years, human schemes, with a horizon wholly confined to earth, are unfailing servitors of Divine plans which span the ages. II. Force has an indispensable place in the divine economy. What could persuasion have done with those Jewish zealots, fired with murderous purpose? They had doomed Paul to death. They are typical cases of men hurried by one passion or another beyond the pale of conscience or reason. It is well to rely upon persuasion for the most part in dealing with our fellows for their good and our own safety, as individuals and communities; but there are many times when, and persons for whom, nothing is sufficient but brute force--meaning by this a compulsion which shall be inevitable and overpowering. The Roman empire was raised up to give gospel messengers their needed safeguard until their work was done. The Church needs substantially the same safeguard today--not herself using force to bring about spiritual results; but Christ’ s disciples must have civil guardianship and, in free governments, they must act well their part to provide it for themselves. Force must meet force. III. The easy currency of false charges in time of excitement. Paul had not brought Greeks within the sacred and guarded precincts of the temple; but it was enough for the frenzied Jews that, somewhere in the outside city, they had seen an Ephesian with him. At once they jumped to the conclusion that his associates in the sacred courts were heathen. Doubtless many in the excited mob were strangers to Paul, but they had caught the contagion and unthinkingly condemned him as bitterly as long time enemies could do. How obvious the duty of prudence and deliberation when excitement blinds the populace and hardens the heart! Excitement is almost incapable of justice. IV. The courage of a divine mission. Paul measured the deadly purpose of his countrymen far more adequately than the Roman captain could have done, and at first view we would think the security of Antonia’ s inner wards would have been eagerly sought by him; but no; he faces the throng and heroically tries to capture their attention, judgment, and esteem. He was steadied in heart and cleared in thought by his conscious apostleship. He was engaged in His Master’ s work. He could not despair, whatever the crisis or obstacle. The Christian warrior does not believe in mere defensive warfare; he feels the urgency of an imperilled cause, the brevity of his opportunity, and he must be on the aggressive, whatever the opposition. V. The faith and loving perseverance of Christlike service. Why did not Paul throw over his murderous fellow countrymen as hopeless, upon whom he would not waste another word? Behind him were years of unwearied toil and sacrifice on their behalf. But, like the loving physician dealing with deadly disease, he leaves nothing undone to befriend his worst assailants as long as a fraction of opportunity remains. Here, again, the great missionary to the Gentiles is a pattern for a large following. Pastors may be requited with indifference, or worse, after most unselfish devotion; but in no case must the mission of Christ be abandoned or its continuance enfeebled in plan or spirit. VI. Everything good in this world is only an approximation. These maddened Jews bent on murder were the outcome of Divine plans and processes for centuries. They represented people who had been in training for the glad star of Bethlehem. How great the apparent failure of prophetic vision and Divine agency! But it was not all a failure. In the early Christian Church were multitudes of Jews born again in Christ. The Christian worker will save himself discouragement and loss of energy, if he keeps in mind the insufficiency of man at his best, and copies the patience of the Divine Master workman when hedged about with difficulties and success seems meagre and imperfect. VII. The mountains of difficulty encountered and levelled by Christianity. Is the gospel ship storm-tossed? Do obstacles tower and the future seem full of deadly peril? We need only to recall those days when, in her infancy, the Church was confronted by the powers of earth and darkness in their greatest might and hate. It comes to our notice, in this lesson, as one of the three mountains of difficulty encountered by Jesus and His followers--Roman force, Greek philosophy, and Jewish ecclesiasticism. The three were to be vanquished, and all by love’ s compulsion; but, of the three, the last was not the least formidable. The momentum of ages was behind it. But Paul, like his Master, proposed the most difficult of achievements--a reform that was an apparent destruction--a new life perpetuating all that was true and good in the old life--fulfilling, indeed, instead of destroying, but causing so much of abandonment of time-honoured ritual and rich perquisites as to seem like an overwhelming deluge. To human view, how impregnable the entrenchments of Judaism! The unseen was mightier than the seen, however imposing the latter. Let church builders and soul winners take courage today. Difficulties do not cease. They take new form and enlist a strong following; but Christ’ s cause now has a momentum of conquest sweeping through long ages; it has readjusted life’ s economy so that worldlings unwittingly give it aid and comfort from general impulses of benevolence and enlightenment; it has so helped governments and science and inventions that they return valuable service from dictates of expediency. (S. Lewis B. Speare.)True Christian toleration This was, to all intents and purposes, a council; of course, not exactly what we call a council in our day, because there were no such churches then as we have now, in practice, or in organisation even. This was, however, a body composed of the authoritative men among the Christian people of Jerusalem. The elders were all gathered together. And it will amuse you to hear what the reason was. Paul was on trial for want of orthodoxy! Dr. Dwight, whom we now bow the knee to, was very much suspected, during his lifetime, of want of orthodoxy; Jonathan Edwards, whom all our theologians swear by, in his day suffered a great deal of disrepute for want of orthodoxy; every man, all the way up, who has laid the Church under obligation--Calvin, Luther, Melancthon, Zwinglius, and others--have suffered in their day as being disturbers, unsettling the belief of men. Christianity was not a new religion that came drifting against the wind, as one might say, right up to a battle with Judaism. It was not a new revelation that gradually came up to quench the old one, and take its place; as in growth, the lower stem shoots out another, which surpasses it in organisation; and gradually out of that shoots another, until we come to the blossoming top, and from that to the fruit. Now, if you reflect, you will perceive that where such a state of facts takes place, there will be a great many things in the form of antecedent beliefs and institutions, which will be only relatively important, and that the weak will stick to everything, that the unreasoning will hold on to everything which has existed in the past, simply because it has been useful; but that there will be other intelligent ones who see that the new includes the old, and a good deal besides. And all such persons, while they will tolerate the old, will accept the new. They will say, “ The old was right, but it was relative. It is not superseded: it is fulfilled, and is carried, in another form, higher.” The blossoming of a stem does not destroy the plant, but fulfils it. Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the law, as He Himself said, but to fulfil it, to give it a spiritual form, a full, final growth--a free, glorious development. And when that time comes in which men are beginning go take their first steps away from the old and fixed, and towards the new, the free, and the large, there must of necessity be great division, great diversity. And here is the place where the old and new schools always set in. The old school wants to hold the old things as they were; the new school wants to hold the old things, and wants to hold them just as they ought to be. On the one hand there are influences at work which tend to drive the old school into a kind of superstitious adhesion--into a conservatism which has in it no growth and no respectability. On the other hand, the tendencies are to drive the new school entirely away from the old school into something different--something that shall not resemble it. But in point of fact, the old is the father of the new, and the new should always have filial relations to the old. Conservatism is the stalk out of which the progressive rises; and the progressive should always have a good stem under it to stand on when the wind blows, and its limber branches wave therein: Paul, standing before this council, was obliged to defend himself against the Jewish prejudices, for not believing in Moses; for not believing in the Mosaic customs; for teaching a new doctrine. It was an absolute departure from the religion of the Jews. Now, he had not wholly abandoned the system of his fathers. He believed in it enough to use it when circumstances required it; but he was set free from it in its absolute form. There are two kinds of scepticism; one is measured by the mathematical sign of “ minus,” that doubts and disbelieves, and go back, and back; and the other is designated by the mathematical sign of “ plus,” which disbelieves in old forms, because they are not large enough; because they are not fruitful enough. The scepticism “ minus” is deteriorating; but the scepticism “ plus” is ennobling. If there is to be change and growth, there must be in every generation times when men shall doubt the past in order to build larger. So Paul stood before this council, suspected of irregularity because he insisted on adapting his labour, not according to the old Jewish forms, but according to the exigencies of the work he found to do, in the providence of God, in the field s where he went to preach the gospel. (H. W. Beecher.)This is the man that … brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. Polluting the holy place When Professor Vambery came to Meshed, in the course of his Asiatic journeyings, he met, in the street, a Jew whom he had known at Bokhara. To his astonishment the Jew passed him without recognising him. Vambery called out to him; whereupon, says Vambery, “ he hurriedly came up to me, and said confidentially, in a low voice, ‘ For God’ s sake, Haji, do not call me a Jew here. Beyond these walls I belong to my nation, but here I must play the Moslem.’” This Jew’ s fear of persecution well illustrates the Oriental feeling towards those of other faiths. The presence of an unbeliever pollutes the very city whither he comes; much more so the holy place into which he might enter. It is not so very long ago that the discovery of a European in any Mohammedan mosque would have been the signal for his murder; and there are still holy places which Europeans can only visit at the risk of their lives. Vambery, disguised as an Oriental, visited several of these sacred places in Central Asia; but he saved his life only by the boldness with which he denied that he was a Frank, and by the show of indignation with which he denounced those who would call a true believer an infidel. Burton’ s journey to Mekkeh was accomplished at the risk of his life; and, afterwards, when Mr. Cole, the British vice-consul at Jeddah, made a joking reference there to Button’ s exploit, he found that the Mohammedans were so enraged over it, that any further allusion to it would be dangerous. (S. S. Times.)For … they supposed.--False suppositions They did not know, but “ they supposed,” and they wouldn’ t wait to find out the facts. They were all wrong, but they acted as though there were no doubt about the case. A large share of all the misrepresentation and all the injustice in the world comes from people “ supposing” that this thing, or that thing, or the other thing, has been done, when a little honest inquiry would have shown the charge or the rumour to be baseless. We “ suppose” that if one public official is dishonest, another one is; that if there is an error in giving change to us, when we make a purchase, the dealer meant to cheat us; that if a friend fails to be as cordial as usual, he intends to give us a slight; that if a speaker or writer is inaccurate in any statement, he purposely lies; that if a man with a character for uprightness, or purity, or fairness, comes from any cause under suspicion, he is--“ no better than he should be.” Oh, the wrong which has been done by those who “ supposed” that somebody else had done wrong, and who acted on their supposition! (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)And all the city was moved.-- The inconsiderate mob We see by experience that dogs do always bark at those they know not, and that it is their nature to accompany one another in those clamours; and so it is with the inconsiderate multitude who, wanting that virtue which we call honesty in all men, and that especial gift of God which we call charity in Christian men, condemn without hearing and wound without offence given, led thereunto by uncertain report only, which King James truly acknowledgeth for the father of all lies. (Sir Walter Raleigh.)Religion as the occasion of evil By universal consent religion is man’ s greatest blessing; and water is the greatest boon of the thirsty all the world over. Yet what a confirmation both religion and water afford of the fact that the greatest good may occasion the greatest evil! Take, first of all, the illustration supplied by the water, and in the words of Oliver Goldsmith. In those burning countries where the sun dries up every brook for hundreds of miles round, when what had the appearance of a great river in the rainy season becomes, in the summer, one dreary bed of sand, a lake that is never dry, or a brook that is perennial, is considered by every animal as the greatest convenience of Nature. As to food, the luxuriant landscape supplies that in sufficient abundance; it is the want of water that all animals endeavour to remove, and inwardly parched by the heat of the climate, traverse whole deserts to find out a spring. When they have discovered this, no dangers can deter them from attempting to slake their thirst. Thus the neighbourhood of a rivulet in the heart of the tropical continents is generally the place where all the hostile tribes of Nature draw up for the engagement. On the banks of this little envied spot thousands of animals of various kinds are seen venturing to quench their thirst, or preparing to seize their prey. The elephants are perceived in a long line, marching from the darker parts of the forest; the buffaloes are there, depending on numbers for security; the gazelles, relying solely upon their swiftness; the lion and tiger, waiting a proper opportunity to seize; but chiefly the larger serpents are upon guard there, and defend the accesses of the lake. Not an hour passes without some dreadful combat; but the serpent, defended by its scales, and naturally capable of sustaining a multitude of wounds, is of all others the most formidable. Ever on the watch until their rapacity is satisfied, few other animals will venture to approach their station. Now take the illustration which religion supplies of the fact that the greatest good may occasion the greatest evil. The splendid anthem of Spohr only tells us, in beautiful music, the fact which history in unmusical language proclaims--that as the hart pants after the water, so all souls seek after God. Here, then, is admitted to be the great source of all good. How have men approached that source? Do you find peace, love, charity, and all happiness characterising their proceedings? Look at the religions of the world, with their cruelties and barbarisms; listen to the brayings of cant and the howlings and ravings of sectaries and bigots; and notice the insidious craft and poisonous malice with which some of the smooth zealots do their work! Behold how fiercely they fight among one another; how eagerly they pounce upon any who are not of their number, but whom they descry afar off, eagerly seeking after the source of All-purity; and how desperately they struggle, each with each, for the mastery and capture of the anxious, humble seekers of living water! What brings all these rampant men together, and occasions this hoarse clamour of coarse voices where we anticipated gentle forms and loving sounds? The banks of the river of life have brought them there, and by their presence they occasion the greatest evil where we have a right to expect the greatest good. (Scientific Illustrations.)Some cried one thing and some another.-- The mob--divided though one Unity of action does not always indicate unity of purpose. Men often work together when they have little in common. In a mob, there will be some who want to gain concessions from those in power; others who seek revenge for real or fancied injuries; others, again, who would merely overthrow the established order of things; and yet others who look alone for opportunities of plunder. And this confusion of purpose is the weakness of a mob. Men must have a common object of pursuit to be strong in a common effort. They must be united in heart, as well as in endeavour, to carry everything before them. As Bishop Hall quaintly says, “ The multitude is a beast of many heads; every head hath a several mouth, every mouth a several tongue, and every tongue a several accent; every head hath a several brains, and every brain thoughts of their own; so it is hard to find a multitude without some division.” An angry mob A man in anger is like a chariot without a driver, or a ship in a storm without a pilot, or a scorpion which stings itself as well as others. The persecuting spirit 1. It is an intolerant spirit (verses 27, 28). These “ Jews of Asia” had refused to give careful, candid thought to Paul’ s teachings, but judged them by their own narrow standards. 2. It is a perverting spirit (verses 28, 29). “ They had seen … and they supposed.” These Jews deftly mingled facts with falsehoods, and cast false lights on true statements. 3. It is often a spirit of formalism (verse 30). They were a company of worshippers in the rites of service, yet they were ready to murder an unoffending man. 4. It is a spirit of cruelty (verse 31). “ They went about to kill him.” 5. It is an ignorant spirit (verse 34). They could not tell why the tumult had arisen, nor what was the crime charged upon the victim. Such is the blind, unreasoning hatred in the heart of persecutors. Notice in contrast with these Jews the traits of the Christian under persecution.1. While they were law breaking he was law abiding. He was obeying the very laws and conforming to the very usages which they accused him of violating, at the very moment while they were seeking his life. 2. While they were furious he was calm. His perfect faith gave him perfect peace. 3. While they were cowardly he was courageous. He was brave, for only a man with a heart like a lion would have thought to address the crowd clamouring for his blood. 4. While they were full of hate he was full of love. (J. L. Hurlbut, D. D.) Acts 21:39 Paul said, I am a man which am … a citizen of no mean city.Citizenship 1. Paul might well be proud of his birthplace, for historically, geographically, intellectually, and commercially it was “ no mean city.” All that could be said about Tarsus can be said of many a modern town, and if as much cannot be said about that in which we live, still surely there are some features which may fill us with honourable pride. If this pride is at times chastened by the thought of its evils, let it be no fault of ours that we cannot claim to be citizens of no mean city. 2. This love of city has characterised and been the inspiration of some of the noblest of minds. Think how Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, were loved, and what this love wrought in their citizens--not to speak of modern instances. 3. We owe much to our city. It provides us with a home, means of subsistence, society, culture; all its trade, thought, and activity, in one way or another make for our good. Let us pay our debt-- I. By knowing our city. The crass ignorance of the average citizen of the place in which he lives is proverbial. Features which strike a stranger at once, names which challenge curiosity, historical facts which have contributed to the making of the nation, the great men who have lived or died in the vicinity--of all this he usually knows next to nothing. Of facts which have transpired, men who have flourished, things which command attention elsewhere, he has read and perhaps has seen in his travels. He can tell you what is worth seeing and what has happened in a continental city--but you inquire in vain about these if they lie within a few yards of his own door. This is not fair to our city, nor ourselves, nor our friends who come to visit us. Let us explore our city, study its history, inspect its ecclesiastical or secular monuments or institutions, examine into its relations past and present with other places, trace the origin of its customs, and thus many an evening will, without much effort, be spent in a pleasant and profitable way. II. By working for our city.1. By industry in our own business. Every article we sell enlarges by so much the area of its trade. This may not be a very powerful motive, since there is already one sufficiently strong. But it is an elevating one, and will lift trade out of the sordid selfishness into which it is so prone to sink. 2. By encouraging its trade. The habit of sending for nearly everything elsewhere is not a commendable one. Our fellow citizens have to live, and it is only by dealing with them that they can live. “ But things are dearer.” Let there be more buyers at home and that will make them cheaper. 3. By interesting ourselves in its government. The number of citizens who fail here is appalling. No wonder, then, that the management of our towns falls into incompetent or unworthy hands. Not everyone, of course, can aspire to civic honours, but everyone can help to prevent those honours falling where they will be abused. Just think what depends on apathy or interest, on an unintelligent or enlightened public opinion--disease or health through bad or good drainage and water supply; inconvenience or comfort through the state of the roads, domestic appointments, etc.; heavy or light rates through waste or economy in finance. 4. By the support of intellectual or humanitarian institutions. Libraries, art galleries, baths, hospitals, etc. III. By promoting religion in our city. This is the salt without which every other improvement will be but as a covering for corruption. We may promote this--1. By personal piety, without which all religious effort will be deprived of a good deal of its value. The mere example which a Christian citizen sets at home, behind the counter, in the council chamber or elsewhere, is of incalculable worth. 2. By the godly upbringing of the citizens of the future. What is seen and heard in the nursery today will determine the character of our town five-and-twenty years hence. 3. By cordial support of and cooperation, with our own Church. Here principles are inculcated, the adoption of which makes our city mean or noble; and here bad citizens may be influenced for good. 4. By generous union with other Churches. It is the combined force of Christianity in any given town that tells. There should be no isolated or discordant voices when flagrant wrong is to be rectified, or obvious good to be encouraged. (J. W. Burn.)Paul’ s birthplace Caesar boasted of his native Rome; Lycurgus of Sparta; Virgil of Andes; Demosthenes of Athens; Archimedes of Syracuse; and Paul of Tarsus. I should suspect a man of base heartedness who had no feeling of complacency in regard to the place of his residence; who gloried not in its arts, behaviour, prosperity, embellishments, and its scientific attainments. Men never like a place where they have not behaved well. Swarthout did not like New York; nor Dr. Webster, Boston. Men who have free rides in prison vans never like the city that furnishes the vehicle. When I see in history Argos, Rhodes, Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, and several other cities claiming Homer, I conclude that Homer behaved well. (T. De Witt Talmage.) Acts 21:40 Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with the hand. Beckoning with the hand Paul’ s object was to gain silence. The man who has to address a noisy crowd does not begin by howling out “ Silence!” that would be an affront, but he lifts up his hand to its extreme height, and begins to beckon with it, i.e., to move it backward and forward; and then the people say to each other “Pasathe, pasathe” . (J. Roberts.). Acts 22:1-21 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence. Paul’ s defence 1. Whether we consider the man, the circumstances, the speech, or the effect produced, this address is worthy to be ranked among the famous speeches of the ages. Yet it was not the address of a great political leader, but the defence of a poor, friendless, manacled prisoner. 2. Most men would have desired nothing so much as to be hurried out of sight of the crowd. Not so with Paul. Barely delivered from that most terrifying of all forms of danger, the murderous fury of masses, he addresses the densely thronging thousands, who were only kept from him by a little belt of Roman swords. 3. What surroundings could have been more unfavourable--a crowded stairway for a platform, a surging, hostile mob for an audience, a manacled arm to interfere with freedom of action. But a man was behind that speech; a life of suffering and heroism, an unwavering conviction of the truth spoken, an unfathomable love for the Saviour whose cause was defended, was behind that speech. Three elements made it great. I. Its wisdom and moderation. He must have been terribly excited when he began. He had been struggling with the mob in a hand-to-hand conflict. He knew its desperate and despicable character, and that it was on a false and malicious charge that this uproar against him had been excited. Now we should expect some terrible invective. Curran, or Grattan, or Wendell Phillips, would have withered those Jews. By nature he was as hot-tempered as any, and you would expect him to begin, “ Liars, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, hear my defence.” But no; even that hateful mob he addresses in terms of the highest respect. Then he conciliates them still farther by speaking in their own dialect, every syllable of which was music to their ears. There is a great deal for us to learn from this exordium. When you try to convince men, find out what you have in common with them. Enlist their sympathies by showing the marks of common humanity. And in order to show this sympathy feel this kinship. Go into the slums of any great city; go to the farthest heathen shore; go into the fashionable church--with all we have something in common. We are all men and immortal sinners for whom Christ has died. In comparison with these bonds of union what are other distinctions? II. Its simplicity. There is no attempt at rhetoric. The simple story of his conversion is told without embellishment. After all, is not this simple direct experimental way of speaking for Christ the best? Did long words and involved sentences and high-sounding phrases ever convert anyone? When Abraham Lincoln used to plead before the juries of Illinois farmers, they would say to one another, “ Lincoln can’ t make a great oration, but he can somehow show us where the truth lies.” His Gettysburg address has been pronounced by the highest authority to be one of the three greatest speeches ever uttered in America, and yet there is not a word or a sentence which a boy cannot understand. No, eloquence does not consist of noise. The mob made a great deal more noise than Paul, but Paul made an address which will be read for a thousand years to come, while their wild, incoherent ravings have long since been lost in the surge of time. Is there not a thought of encouragement here? We are not equal to the eloquent oration, but we are equal to the simple recital of experience. In that may lie the most soul converting power. III. Its truthfulness. It would have been very easy for him to colour or exaggerate the truth, and startle the superstitious fancies of his easily-excited audience. But he chose to appeal to their hearts with the simple truth. Here is a weapon which we all have for the beating down of error--the recital of a truth which we have experienced, and which has entered into our lives. IV. Its courageous utterance. Paul concealed, modified nothing. He told his straightforward story, and left it to make its own impression. There was one word which he knew would fill his enemies with fury, that was the word “ Gentiles.” Because of his carrying the gospel to the Gentiles this mad mob had been aroused. Now, should he declare that it was his mission to carry the gospel to them? By one word he can arouse all their passions, or, by avoiding it he can pose as an honoured and learned Pharisee. A warm abolitionist, speaking against human slavery in a Richmond slave market before the war, was never in a more perilous position than Paul if he declared or intimated any sympathy with the Gentiles. But we know what course Paul will take, and he took it. “ They gave him audience unto this word, and then” (Acts 22:22). Conclusion: This was an entirely unpremeditated speech of the apostles. He was so pervaded and filled with the love of Christ, that when taken unawares he could do nothing less than tell the old, old story. And he could have done nothing more or greater. (J. Clark.)Paul’ s defence I. Persecuting Christ’ s Church.1. A birthright among God’ s chosen people did not keep Paul from early persecution of those who believed on God’ s Son. We may have been born in a Christian land, and still not be Christians. 2. A most complete education did not restrain Paul from persecuting Christ’ s followers. We may be college educated and still remain bigoted, ignorant, opposers of the truth. 3. A. consuming zeal only made Paul’ s mistaken activity the more disastrous. We had better never be zealous than to have a zeal only for the wrong. 4. A relentless determination rendered Paul’ s evil work of persecuting increasingly evil. We are so much the worse off for having a strong will, if it be a wrong will. 5. A hatred of the Way led Paul into the way of persecuting. If we do not love the Saviour, we shall soon find ourselves attacking those who do. II. Hearing Christ’ s voice.1. The great light shone in the broad glare of noonday. The Divine glory overshadows any earthly radiance. 2. The Divine voice called the sinner by name. Christ addresses each personally, and it is a waste of time to plead that the message was intended for someone else. 3. It was Jesus who was persecuted. Our sins are chiefly not against our friends, ourselves, or our Church; but against our Saviour. 4. The true answer to the Divine warning is, “ What shall I do, Lord?” What we have done, we may repent of--what we shall do tests the sincerity of our repentance. 5. The Lord sent Paul right on to Damascus, whither the apostle had been journeying before. Christianity doesn’ t take a man out of his earthly surroundings; it sends him on to Damascus, but with a new purpose and new hope. 6. The beginning of the Christian life is in faith. We must trustfully wait until we reach Damascus for God’ s plans regarding our life to be unfolded. 7. The new vision of heavenly things may well blind our eyes to the things of this world. 8. The reclaimed wanderer, the regenerated persecutor, the regained evil-doer, are all sure witnesses of what power there is in the Christian life. III. Called to Christ’ s service.1. We need to make haste and get to our field of Christian labour--especially if, like Paul, we have spent the early years of our life in opposing Christianity. 2. We have a right to select the home mission field as our place of labour, but if God indicates that our place is among the foreign missions, it is our duty to go thither. 3. We shall always feel hampered by the record of opposition that preceded our acceptance of Christ, but we can do thorough work for Christ nevertheless. 4. We are responsible alike for our doing and for our consenting to what others do. We may become implicated in the murder of Stephen without having cast a stone. 5. We may rightfully pause and deliberate and consider regarding our future course until God cuts it short with a peremptory “ Depart.” Then we must at once arise and go. (S. Times.)The legitimacy of self defence A man must not be always defending himself, or explaining his actions, to others. Life is too short, and time is too precious for that. But there are occasions when a man owes it to himself, to his friends, and to the cause of truth, to speak out, and to make clear what is now a tangle of inconsistencies, or a web of misconceptions. It is a great thing to know when to explain, and when to let things explain themselves. Paul had wisdom from above to enable him to do the right thing in this line. Any man with the faith of Paul can have wisdom on this point from the source of Paul’ s wisdom. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The defence and weapons of a man of God in troublous times I. For himself--he has right and law which must protect him, as long as they have the power. II. Within himself--he carries the equanimity of a good conscience, which remains undisturbed in the storm of the passions. III. In himself--he exhibits the power of a Divinely consecrated personality, which does not fail to impress even brutal crowds. IV. In God--he has a friend who says, “ No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” (K. Gerok.)Paul’ s memorable sermon at Jerusalem I. The preacher: in chains. II. The pulpit: the stairs to the Roman barracks. III. The deacons who conducted him: the soldiers. IV. The psalms which preceded the discourse: murderous outcries. V. The congregation: an excited people. VI. The anointing which he brings along with him: the Spirit of the Lord, as a Spirit of faith, love, wisdom, and strength. (K. Gerok.)Paul and the bigoted Jews 1. Christians may at any time be called upon for “ a reason of the hope that is in them,” and ought to be “ ready to give it, with meekness and reverence” (Acts 22:1; 1 Peter 5:1). 2. We ought to consider in the best light even the acts of enemies (Acts 22:3). 3. Prayers are often answered in ways we least expect. Not only are our greatest joys, but our keenest disappointments, experienced in Divine communion. Paul wished first to be an apostle to Jews. Even devotions must cease when the demands of duty are urgent. It is well to carry the zeal and consecration acquired in prayer into life and action. There are many tasks for which we are unprepared until we have been fired by devotion (Acts 22:17-18). 4. Men are not always the best judges as to how, when, and where they shall do the most good (Acts 22:19-20). 5. The distant purposes and preparations of Christianity prove its Divine character and power (Acts 22:21). 6. Where there is conscious rectitude, a narrative of facts is the best defence. 7. The hardness of the heart is as supernatural as its conversion. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)Paul’ s address on the stairs In this address he--1. Avows himself a Jew by birth and education (vers3). 2. Describes his persecuting zeal against the Christians (Acts 22:4-6). 3. Narrates his miraculous conversion (Acts 22:6-10). 4. Shows how his reception into the new body was by Jewish agency (Acts 22:12-16). 5. Gives an account of his apostleship among the Gentiles (Acts 22:17-21). In the address note that-- I. Self is criminated. Not one word is uttered in vindication of his conduct prior to conversion; on the contrary, he paints it in the darkest colours. What can any man discover in his history before conversion on which he can look with complacency? II. Christ is honoured.1. His conversion is ascribed to Him as it always is. 2. His commission is ascribed to Him; Christ became everything to the apostle after his conversion. III. Conversion is memorable. Twenty-five years had passed away, and yet the incidents were fresh. So it is in all genuine cases of conversion. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul’ s sketch of his life or how a servant of God looks back upon his life course.1. With grateful remembrance of human benefactors (Acts 22:3).2. With penitent confession of his own erroneous ways.3. With humble praise of the Divine gracious dealings (verse 6-16).4. With clear consciousness of his life’ s call (Acts 22:18-21). (K. Gerok.)The apostle’ s autobiography The apostle’ s life, as he here sketches it, may be divided into three parts. I. Paul persecuting Jesus. For in persecuting the disciples, he really persecuted their Lord. He persecuted--1. Intelligently. When this hated sect was broken up in Jerusalem after the martyrdom of Stephen, he saw in a moment that the scattered fragments must be annihilated before victory was complete. In this he showed the true genius of a general. So he deliberately laid his plans to harass the scattered bands of disciples. 2. Relentlessly. All women as well as men who loved Jesus, Paul hated. He gave no quarter to any. Nothing short of Stephen’ s death would satisfy his bloodthirsty soul. Extermination is the goal which he means to reach. 3. Consecratedly. He gave himself to this work; not his means or his thoughts only, but himself. He scorned working by proxy. How the ecclesiastics in Jerusalem must have loved him! How the Christians must have dreaded him, even as the Saracens dreaded Richard the Lion-hearted. II. Paul prostrate before Jesus. Yes, in the very dust, on the way to Damascus. Yes, before the very Jesus, whom with all his soul he had hated. In an instant all his cherished plans were dissipated, and he cries, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do” ? Humanly speaking, the history of the world was more changed by that incident than by any of the “ decisive battles of the world.” We love to tell of Platea, Thermopylae, Marathon, Tours, Waterloo, and Gettysburg, but all of these have not exerted so great an influence as this battle of Jesus with Paul his enemy. It lasted but a moment, and the Pharisee was conquered once and for all. Note: Certain sceptics explain this occurrence by Paul’ s having been sunstruck, and that he mistook the blinding light of the sun for a Divine appearance. To which we answer, that if a sunstroke can make such preachers we had better close our theological seminaries, and set all their students out under a boiling sun. Such criticism is on a par with that of the German commentator, who says that when Jesus said to Martha, “ But one thing is needful,” He meant, “ Don’ t cook too much, we really need only one dish.” III. Paul praying to Jesus. When a man falls prostrate before Jesus, it will not be long before he begins to pray (Acts 9:11). In this prayer he evidently asked for guidance as to what he could do for Jesus. A good prayer that for a young convert. Too many merely ask for pardon, and stop. Paul also asked for orders. (A. F. Schauffler.)Personal experience 1. We wonder what speech Paul wilt now make. Will he enter into some learned argument and confound his hearers by his heavenly eloquence? The audience is unlike any other audience he has ever addressed, and he is now in the metropolis of the land. What is his defence? He tells over again the story of his conversion, and nothing more. The sublimity of that act is without parallel. Here is no argument, criticism, erudition, but a simple statement of facts; the application being: “ After this, what could I do” ? 2. We wondered how the old story of the conversion was bearing the wear and tear of apostolic life; the answer is before us. Having gone down into the city and into the wilderness, and over the sea; having been beaten, stoned, imprisoned, the apostle ends just where he began: by telling the simple experience of his own soul. The story is just the same. Sometimes imagination plays havoc with memory; and throws its own colour upon the simplest facts of early life, and we begin to regard those facts as a dream. This is particularly the case with the religious imagination; it leads us to disown our early selves, to regard our first prayers as passionate and sentimental rather than as sober and vital. It is interesting, therefore, to find that Paul, after all the manifold experience of a missionary’ s life, repeats the old story exactly as it occurred in the early part of his life. Paul laced and kept both his feet on the rock of facts which had occurred in his own knowledge. 3. Christianity is not to be defended by mere argument, by the able use of elegant terms and subtle phrases; it does not challenge the world to a battle of opinions. Christianity is an incarnation; it stands up in its own living men, and says, “ This is my work; the controversy which I have with the world is this: produce your men and I will produce mine.” The tree is known by its fruit. If the Church would stand firmly to this one point, there need be no controversy. If in an unfortunate mood you refer to some other man’ s case, you may be perplexed by some cross inquiry as to the order of the facts; but if you keep to your own self there is no answer. 4. The recital Paul called his “ defence.” The defence of Christianity is not a book but a man--not an argument but a life. Of course we shall be told about the shortcomings of Christians. So be it; and still the truth remains that Christians are the defence of Christianity. You tell me that London is a healthy city! Come with me to the hospitals and I will show you every disease known in this climate. Come with me from house to house, and in nearly everyone I will find you someone sick. That kind of argument would not be admitted on sanitary questions; yet the very men who would probably reject it upon the ground of a physical kind, might be tempted to use it in relation to Christians. There are sick Christians, Christian cripples; and yet it remains true that even the weakest Christian may have about him the peculiar sign manual of heaven. 5. Here, then, is the plain line along which we must move when called upon for our defence. “ Men, brethren, and fathers,” says some poor old mother in the Church, “ hear ye my defence. I was left in difficulty and trouble and sorrow; I knew not where to turn: I sat down and felt the pain of utter helplessness, when suddenly I heard a voice saying unto me, ‘ Pray to thy Father in heaven.’ I never had prayed just in the right way; but, at that moment, my eye brightened with hope, and I fell down, and asked the Lord to show me what He would have me to do. Suddenly there was a great light around me, and a hand took hold of mine, and ever since I have felt that I am not an orphan, but under fatherly superintendence.” Sweet old mother! sit down; the philosophers can never answer that. Have you no tale to tell about the dark and friendless days; the sudden suggestion that stirred the mind; the inspiration like a flash of light at midnight; the key which has unlocked every gate ever since? Stand up and tell your tale. Let me not hear your opinions and views and speculations--keep them to yourself; but when we call for your defence read out of the pages of your heart. Herein is the secret of ardent preaching. 6. A converted man is one who is completely turned right round in every act, motive, impulse, and purpose; one who was travelling east, but is now marching straight towards the west. You could tell what turned you round--it was a death, a grief, a reading of the Book, a sermon, a singular providence, the hearing of a hymn, the touch of a child, the feeling of an inward agony. That is your defence; it is not mine; it is not another man’ s, probably. Every man has his own view of God, his own conception of the Cross. 7. We want more personal experience in the Church. Herein the idea of some Christian communions is sound: that we should meet one another periodically, and audibly say what God has done for the soul. And, judging by apostolic history and precedent, nothing is so convincing, so satisfactory, as for the soul to tell its own story, in its own words, and when the soul does that, the best of all sermons will be preached. Each can say, who has known Christ’ s ministry in the soul, “ Once I was blind; now I see.” (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 22:2-3 And when they heard that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue. Paul’ s method of quieting the mob The Hebrew language was their dearest language. It touched them at the point of sympathy. Paul had a new hold on them when he spoke in that language. He knew that, and therefore he chose that language in speaking to them. Paul showed his wisdom and showed a kindly, loving spirit in the very words of his choice at this time. It is always better to choose points of agreement, rather than of difference, in any attempt to reach others for their good, or for the cause of truth. Yet there are those who will choose the points of difference as a starting point in such an effort, and then will count themselves “ martyrs” when they experience the results of a conflict which they have needlessly brought about. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Preachers should speak intelligibly When the people heard Paul speak in an intelligible language, they became quiet and attentive. Many preachers are to blame for the inattention of their audiences. They speak affectedly, or above the comprehension of the people. A preacher whose object is to edify, should apply himself to present the truth in the simplest and most comprehensible manner, and to address himself to the heart. The teaching of Jesus is the most complete and blessed example. (Apostolic Pastor.)I am verily a man which am a Jew. The value of personal experience A man’ s experience is an element of power in his teaching and he has a right to make use of it for good. Whether he thinks the same now as formerly, or has changed his opinions, he speaks with added force to his hearers, when he shows them that he knows all about their way of looking at things, from having been in their place himself. “ What do you know about it?” is a very common way of sneering at a wiseman’ s wise counsel against conduct wholly at variance with his present course of living. “ I’ ve been through it all myself,” is a fair answer to that sneer. Paul understood the value of this sort of response; and it is well for us all to have it in mind also. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Brought up … at the feet of Gamaliel.--The advantages of a Rabbinical education to Paul The course of instruction which a rabbi had to undergo was lengthened and peculiar. It consisted entirely of the study of the Scriptures and the comments of the sages and masters upon them. The words of Scripture and the sayings of the wise were committed to memory; discussions were carried on about disputed points; and by a rapid fire of questions, which the scholars were allowed to put as well as the masters, the wits of the students were sharpened and their views enlarged. The outstanding qualities of Paul’ s intellect, which were conspicuous in his subsequent life--his marvellous memory, the keenness of his logic, the superabundance of his ideas, and his original way of taking up every subject--first displayed themselves in this school, and excited, we may well believe, the warm interest of his teacher. He himself learned much here which was of great moment in his subsequent career. Although he was to be specially the missionary of the Gentiles, he was also a great missionary to his own people. In every city he visited where there were Jews he made his first public appearance in the synagogue. There his training as a rabbi secured him an opportunity of speaking, and his familiarity with Jewish modes of thought and reasoning enabled him to address his audiences in the way best fitted to secure their attention. His knowledge of the Scriptures enabled him to adduce proofs from an authority which his hearers acknowledged to be supreme. Besides, he was destined to be the great theologian of Christianity, and the principal writer of the New Testament. Now the New grew out of the Old; the one is in all its parts the prophecy and the other the fulfilment. But it required a mind saturated not only with Christianity, but with the Old Testament, to bring this out; and, at the age when the memory is most retentive, Paul acquired such a knowledge of the Old Testament that everything it contains was at his command: its phraseology became the language of his thinking; he literally writes in quotations, and he quotes from all parts with equal facility--from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Thus was the warrior equipped with the armour and the weapons of the Spirit before he knew in what cause he was to use them. (J. Stalker, D. D.)Zealous toward God.--Zeal I. Its nature--fervour--from a verb signifying “ to boil.” It stands opposed to indifference or lukewarmness. Its object may be good or bad, a person or thing, truth or error. The Jews and Saul were zealous for the law and the tradition of their fathers; and through zeal persecuted the Church. II. Its criteria.1. Not. (1) The object. There can indeed be no holy zeal for sin or error; but there may be an unholy zeal for God and truth, as was the case with Saul. (2) The energy, or the self-denial and exertions to which it leads: Many unholy men are exceedingly fervid and self-sacrificing. 2. But-- (1) The source. (a) The source of false zeal is either some selfish interest, as in the ease of the Jews, the Romanists, etc.; or party spirit, national feeling, esprit de corps; or false doctrine, hatred of the truth. (b) The source of true zeal--i.e., as a Christian grace--is the Holy Spirit, as the Author of all good, together with spiritual apprehension of the excellence of its object, whether God, truth, or the Church. (2) The concomitants and effects. (a) False zeal is malignant; true is benevolent. The one is the fervour of the unrenewed; the other of the renewed mind--as illustrated by Jesus and the Jews. (b) False zeal is proud; true is humble. The one arises from a sense of superiority which it seeks to assert and vindicate; the other from such views of God and things Divine as tend to produce humility. (c) False zeal is irreverent; true is reverent. (d) True zeal is connected with a holy life. III. Its obligation. It is demanded by--1. The infinite importance of the interests at stake--the glory of God, the progress of truth, the salvation of men. To be unconcerned about these is the greatest sin and peril. God therefore declares His special abhorrence of the cold and lukewarm. 2. Our relations to God and Christ. A child is zealous for its father, a subject for his sovereign, a soldier for his commander, a captive for his redeemer. 3. The fact that zeal is a chief source of spiritual power. This qualification in the absence of others can accomplish wonders. IV. The means of its cultivation.1. Avoid all pretence and affectation; all expression of more interest than you feel. 2. Gather warmth by continual intercourse with God, and cherish the influence of His Spirit. 3. Keep your minds filled with the subjects about which you should be zealous, and your attention devoted to them. 4. Remember that zeal being a gift of the Spirit, whatever grieves Him quenches our zeal. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Zeal analysed Dr. Bonar tells of a dream he once had. In his dream the angels weighed his zeal, and he was delighted with the result. It reached the maximum, and turned the scale at a hundred. Then they analysed it, and his delight vanished. For (out of the hundred) fourteen parts were pure selfishness, fifteen parts sectarianism, twenty-two parts ambition, twenty-three parts love for man, and twenty-six parts love to God. He awoke from his dream sobered and saddened, but resolved on a new consecration. How much religious zeal (if analysed) would prove even more corrupt! True zeal is consistent: it burns with a steady flame. It is humble: not puffed up nor vaunting itself. It is pure: shunning all evil methods. It is learnt from Christ, who was full of zeal, because He was love itself. Its secret is the love which Christ’ s love kindles in human hearts. Let us seek, then, a zeal which is pure and undefiled, which will endure the searching test of God. (G. H. James.) Acts 22:6-10 And it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus.The conversion of Saul I. Saul’ s misdirected energy. The immense energy of the man is apparent to us at once.1. Energy is a splendid trait in any man’ s character. It is great, and we love what is great. It is a grand thing to look upon the mighty sea, when the waves rise mountains high, and the great ocean breast is stirred with the wild commotion of the storm. There seems to be such Divine energy in it, and our hearts are filled with wonder and with awe as we gaze upon it. It makes us think of God. And it is a grand thing to see in a fellow man something of this great force of doing; a great soul full of active energy. We watch such a man battling his way through the host of opposing forces, overcoming every obstacle, trampling down every difficulty, until he reaches the point towards which he was striving. “ There is energy,” we say; and we admire it from our hearts. We can never admire a man who altogether lacks this force of character; who is idle and listless; who never seems to have a definite object in view; who is never struggling for anything. 2. A distinction must be drawn between lovable energy and unlovable noise and show. Intense energy is often intensely quiet. 3. And so, although it is a splendid thing to have energy of character, it is withal a very dangerous thing. 4. See the unutterable importance for energetic souls of wise and holy guidance during their early years. 5. Think, too, how sad must be the closing days of a man of strong character who has never yielded himself to God. II. God’ s method of converting Saul’ s misdirected energy. He was converted by--1. A vision of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:8). 2. Hearing the voice of Jesus. III. The energetic soul’ s inquiry after his conversion--“ What shall I do, Lord?” (J. Kirk Pike.)The conversion of Paul: its genuineness How orderly and exactly does Paul after so many years know how to relate all the circumstances! This is a proof not only that all things occurred when he was in the full possession of his faculties, but also that the grace which befel him made an indelible impression upon him. Certainly he who is snatched from death to life will never forget what the Lord has done. (Apostolic Pastor.)Suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.--The heavenly light at Damascus The bright light it casts upon the paths of our life. It illuminates--1. The dark ways of sin which we have traversed.2. The blessed ways of grace by which the Lord has come to us.3. The Christian ways of duty in which we are to walk in the strength of the Lord. (K. Gerok.)Paul’ s vision near Damascus:-- I. The material and external.1. The great light.2. The appearance of Jesus Christ.3. The voice that spoke. II. The internal and spiritual.1. The cardinal truth announced--“ I am Jesus Christ,” etc. The solemn remonstrance--“ Why persecutest thou Me?” Paul had certain qualifications to be an excellent persecutor. (1) Personal respectability.(2) Learning and youth.(3) Religious zeal. III. The appointment to a grand commission. To be--1. An apostle.2. A teacher. (Caleb Morris.)And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?--Saul’ s conversion Note-- I. That man is the object of Divine inspection. Though Christ was now in heaven, yet His eye followed Saul. Little did Saul know that He whose name he endeavoured to blot from the earth not only marked his every footstep, but saw his every passing thought and feeling. That God knows all about man individually is obvious--1. From His omniscience. He who sees all things, see each thing--the minute as well as the vast. 2. From history. Hagar in the wilderness, Jacob at Bethel, Elijah in the cave, and now Saul on his way to Damascus. 3. From the teachings of the Bible (Psalms 139:1-24; Proverbs 15:3; Hebrews 4:13). This solemn fact should make us serious, circumspect, devout. II. That Christ is the originator of moral reformation. What now gave the turning point to Paul’ s life? The manifestation of Christ in the “ light,” the “ voice,” the address. Conversion does not originate with self; nor with the agency of man outside, but always with Christ. It is a resurrection. Who can raise the dead but He? It is a creation. Who can create but He? This fact agrees--1. With the consciousness of the good. The good everywhere ascribe their goodness to Him. This is the burden of heaven’ s anthem. 2. With the teachings of Scripture. “ Of His own will begat He us,” etc. “ When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me,” etc. III. That humility is the condition of heavenly communion. Saul heard the voice of Jesus when he had fallen to the ground. Humility implies a deep sense of need, and without that the soul will never open its eye or ear to the Divine. We must take off the shoes from our feet, like Moses--fall to the dust, like Isaiah--smite our breast, like the publican, if we would hear what God has to say. “ Unto that man will I look who is of a broken spirit,” etc. IV. That union with Christ is the privilege of the good. “ Why persecutest thou Me?” So dear are His disciples to His heart, that their sufferings are His. He bears their infirmities, and carries their sorrows, even in heaven. They are “ members of His body,” and no part can be wounded without quivering to the sensorium (Matthew 25:40; Matthew 25:45). (D. Thomas, D. D.)The conversion of Paul, as reflecting the image of every converted heart. I. The zeal and striving of the natural heart and the Lord’ s voice. “ Why persecutest thou Me?” II. The question of the obstinate heart. “ Who art Thou, Lord?” and the Lord’ s answer, “ I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” III. The question of the humbled heart. “ What shall I do, Lord?” and the Lord’ s reply, “ Arise,” etc. (Gerlach.)Conversion is like, entirely and wholly refitting an old ship, and employing it in the service of a new and better master. By nature, a man is full of vanity, sailing under the colours of the world. Now, when Christ meets a man, and apprehends him in conversion, He takes him off all the ends he had in himself, takes possession of the ship, puts in a new pilot, a new compass, and turns its prow another way; and all the lading the ship contains which He dislikes, He throws overboard, and fills it with a better cargo. (G. S. Bowes, B. A.)The matchless work of God in conversion None of the fanciful transformations of which Ovid sang of old could ever rival the matchless work of God when He displays His power upon the human mind. Oh, what a difference between a sinner and a saint! between “ dead in trespasses and sins,” and quickened by Divine grace! If God should speak to Niagara, and bid its floods in their tremendous leap suddenly stand still, that were a trifling demonstration of power compared with the staying of a desperate human will. If He should suddenly speak to the broad Atlantic, and bid it be wrapped in flames, we should not even then see such a manifestation of His greatness as when He commands the human heart, and makes it submissive to His love. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Conversion, a total change Conversion is no repairing of the old building; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure. It is not the putting in a patch, or sewing on a list of holiness; but, with the true convert, holiness is woven into all his powers, principles, and practice. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric--from the foundation to the top stone all new. He is a new man, a new creature. All things are becoming new. Conversion is a deep work, a heart work; it turns all upside down, and makes a man be in a new world. It goes throughout with men--throughout the mind, throughout the members, throughout the motions of the whole life. (R. Alleine.)The method of conversion When grace subdues a rebel man, if I may so speak, the citadel first is taken, afterwards the city. It is not as in those great sieges which we have lately watched with such anxious interest. There, approaching with his brigades and cavalry and artillery, man sits down outside the city. He begins the attack from a distance, creeping like a lion to the spring, with trench and parallel and battery, nearer and nearer to the walls. These at length are breached; the gates are blown open; through the deadly gap the red, living tide rolls in. Fighting from bastion to bastion, from street to street, they pass onward to the citadel; and there, giving no quarter, and receiving none, beneath a defiant flag, the rebels, perhaps, stand by their guns, prolonging a desperate resistance. But, when the appointed hour of conversion comes, Christ descends by His spirit into the heart--at once into the heart. The heart won, she fights her way outward from a new heart on to new habits. A change without succeeds the change within. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)Christ and Saul I. Heaven and earth are here united in the person of Christ. The Saviour here identifies Himself with the world which He had left, calling Himself by His human name, and associating with it the Galilean village where He lived. The name which was His reproach here has gone with Him to His heavenly throne. II. Jesus of Nazareth is Lord of heaven. Saul gave Him this title, and He accepts it as His right. Two things especially engendered the conviction that He was Lord while on earth: His miracles (John 9:36) and His teaching, both from its matter (John 6:38) and manner (Matthew 7:29). The miraculous light which shone forth upon Saul, with the rebuke of authority which accompanied it, convinced him of the dignity of the Person who addressed him. III. Because the Lord of heaven is Jesus of Nazareth, He has a special sympathy with His people’ s wrongs. The sympathy of Jesus arises not merely from His having while on earth passed through human suffering: His vital connection with His Church as its Head (Ephesians 5:23) makes Him now a sharer in their sufferings for Him. Lessons:1. The powerlessness of death to destroy conscious identity. Christ has passed through death, yet is still “ Jesus of Nazareth.” 2. The place where we have honestly toiled in this world will be remembered by us in the next. The carpenter’ s shop at Nazareth was as much a part of the Saviour’ s education (Hebrews 5:8) as His after experience. So is the scene of our lowliest work. 3. It is dangerous to harm a Christian, seeing his intimate relation with the Lord of glory. 4. The gentleness of the Saviour’ s reproof of this bitter persecutor may encourage any who mourn over their past opposition. (W. Harris.)I am Jesus of Nazareth.--Jesus of Nazareth This is the name by which our ascended Saviour would be remembered. It contains the gospel of condescension. Nazareth was our Lord’ s early home, and remained His common abode until His personal ministry began. He might well say to startled Saul, “ I am Jesus of Nazareth,” for with no other point on earth had He so close and continued associations. Twenty-one times was He styled Jesus of Nazareth--by His enemies in the garden, and in the Judgment Hall; by the people generally; by His disciples, both during His lifetime and after; by the angels at the sepulchre; by devils; yea, by Himself. We shall find in His name-- I. Precious doctrine.1. The identity of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth in heaven was unchanged from what He was below. But when you add to this the ability which He claimed on high to dispense the blessings received of the Father, how does the assurance of His sameness bridge the distance between earth and heaven! 2. The influence of His Nazareth experience upon His present condition. All the things through which He passed have made Him in the skies far different from that before His birth in Bethlehem. Before He was with God, then He was Emmanuel, God with us. Now is He with God and God with us; bringing God near unto each disciple, and bringing every disciple near to God. He had the crowns of creation, of providence, of kingly control, before He wore the crown of thorns; but in the redemption of man Jesus holds the sovereignty. The centre of all worship is a Nazarene, who has been exalted by the Father because of His Nazareth experience. 3. The basis of His work on high is His Nazareth experience. Whilst resting in triumph, He does not forget Nazareth. The least and the lowest are as much His care as the proudest and the most princely. An identity of experience has given a new, deep meaning to the word “ sympathy.” But more, His qualifications, His plea in intercession, is in Nazareth. Our Advocate with the Father: “ Jesus Christ the righteous,” and His righteousness was wrought out in the Nazareth life. Even so His kingly, His prophetical, His sustaining, His comforting offices are based upon this one experience which He sums up in the word “ Nazareth.” Nazareth has long since become a ruin, but it is remembered in heaven. II. Personal instruction. Doctrine is worthless unless it comes down to life. It is bread; let the poor man eat it. Stop talking about its chemistry. It is a house; the storm overtakes one while the admiring critic is telling about its architecture. Open the door and let the man in to the well-spread table. The true theologian is the living Christian. Here we have--1. A warning to persecutors. “ I am Jesus of Nazareth.” The wisdom and the hatred of men are this day in league against the Nazarene. An exalted Saviour, Himself maintaining a plea for men, is that which proud unbelief cannot endure. But let such listen. God hath thus exalted Him, and those who oppose Him will find it hard, as Saul did, “ to kick against the pricks.” It will be hard in thy conscience; it will be hard, growingly hard, in thy experience; it will be harder for thee by and by. 2. Great comfort in perplexity. It is a perfect key to every lock of the Dungeon of Despair. It makes a full provision for every anxiety of the Christian. Art thou ignorant?--Jesus of Nazareth is thy Teacher. Art thou weak?--He is thy Strength. Art thou fearful?--He is thy Power. Art thou tempted?--He is thy Defender. Has the hour of death come?--now thou enterest into life. Tell me some want of the soul for which this Nazarene Jesus does not present Himself as a specific! 3. Assurance of our partnership in His triumph. The Head carries with Him the members. Where our Forerunner has entered, there shall everyone who trusts Him and loves Him at last appear. (S. H. Tyng, D. D. , jun.)A significant voice from heaven Christ was in heaven when He spoke those words, and they were addressed to Saul on his way to Damascus. Nazareth was the early home of Jesus. Though not born there, yet there He was brought up. I. That a change of worlds does not destroy the personal identity of man. Christ had died, ascended to heaven, and yet He says, “ I am Jesus of Nazareth” ; I am the same Being that was brought up in Nazareth. Sublimely encouraging to us is it that Jesus, who was here on earth, so full of tenderness and love, is the same Jesus now in heaven. Nor does the change of worlds destroy the identity of men. Abraham is the same as when he dwelt in the tents of Mature. A man once, a man forever. Conscious personality will always be preserved. The words suggest-- II. That great natures are never ashamed of their origin, however humble. “ Jesus of Nazareth!” “ Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Christ, though amidst the highest aristocracy of the Creator, was not ashamed of His origin. III. That the meanest spots on earth, when they become the scenes of holy lives, are famous in the universe. “ I am Jesus of Nazareth.” No doubt sainted men talk of the varied scenes of their earthly life in the upper spheres of being. (Homilist.)And they that were with me saw indeed the light … but they heard not the voice (Text in conjunction with Acts 9:7). The sights and sounds of life The little discrepancy between the occurrence as given by Luke in chap. 9, and as stated by the apostle here, instead of invalidating, confirms the authenticity of the accounts. Identity of statement by two different individuals, after an interval of about twenty-five years, might justly awaken serious suspicion of collusion. You have here two things--1. A voice heard by all, but understood only by Paul. The voice vibrated on the ears of his companions, and so shocked their nervous system that they fell “ speechless” ; but it conveyed no idea. Whereas it conveyed a wonderful message deep into Paul’ s soul. 2. A light seen by all, but revealing nothing except to Paul. It was mere dazzling brightness. But in that radiance “ The Lord, even Jesus, appeared unto” Paul. Now, this extraordinary circumstance indicates what is common in human life. Everywhere there are men, hearing the same voice, but receiving different impressions; seeing the same lights, but observing different objects. A “ voice” fraught with deep meaning to some, is mere empty sound to others. A “ light” revealing the grandest realities to some, discloses nothing to others. I. Men’ s lives in relation to material nature shows this.1. The “ lights” of nature, to the thoughtless, reveal just what they reveal to the brute, and nothing more. To the superstitious they reveal hosts of unearthly existences, dreaded as demons or worshipped as gods; to the sceptical philosopher nothing but a system of forces, working by its own inherent impulse; to the Christian, a wise and loving Father. 2. The “ voices” of nature convey to some nothing but mere sensation, to others superstitious awe, to others scientific intelligence, to others thoughts from God Himself. II. Men’ s lives in relation to human history show this. To some history--1. Is without any governing law at all. Its social, mercantile, political movements are ascribed only to blind impulse and capricious passions. There is no law seen shaping or systematising the whole. 2. Has only the governing law of human might, viz., that the strong preys upon the weak. The progress and decline of commerce, the rise and fall of empires, the fate of many battles, are all ascribable to superior strength. 3. Is governed exclusively by evil. The devil is absolutely the god of the human world. He is in the schemes of the trader, the thunders of the orator, the edicts of the despot, the craft of the priest, the rage of the warrior. 4. Is governed by the mediatorial plan of God. The restorative purpose of Heaven, as revealed in the Bible, is seen running through the ages, stimulating, shaping, and subordinating all things. Even the bitterest sufferings of humanity are regarded as parturition throes giving birth to a higher order of things. III. Men’ s lives in relation to the inspired oracle show this. Ecclesiastical history, theological polemics, religious life, are fraught with illustrations. The sceptic and the believer, the Papist and the Protestant, the Calvinist and the Pelagian, the Socinian and the Trinitarian, the Churchman and the Nonconformist, are examples as to how the same “ light” and “ voice” of the one Book affect different men. What is the articulate voice of God to one is mere hollow sound to another. And what is “ a light” to one is either darkness or stupefying brightness to another. IV. Men’ s lives in relation to the gospel ministry show this. The sermon which, as a Divine “ voice,” speaks to the conscience of some, has no meaning to others; or which, as Divine “ light,” flashes moral conviction and reveals Christ to some, is either not seen at all, or regarded as a mere glare of human genius or blaze of human enthusiasm. Conclusion: This subject--1. Reveals a distinguishing attribute of human nature. Men have the power of hearing and seeing with the soul, which brutes have not. Ezekiel, Isaiah, John, Milton, etc., show what men can see with the organs of the soul. “ The pure in heart shall see God.” 2. Explains the great difference between spiritually and carnally-minded men. 3. Presents an object after which all should strive. Each should get the eyes and ears of the soul quickened so as to see and hear the Divine everywhere. When the servant of Elisha had his eye and ear open, he saw and heard the supernatural. So it will be with us. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Acts 22:10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? The great practical question It is a brief one but very common: the question of the idler, the steward in the parable, the statesman. It is one of the standing proofs of its practical character that the Bible makes this the first question as soon as there is a movement towards heaven; the audience of the Baptist, the multitude On the day of Pentecost, the Philippian jailer, St. Paul. The latter adds one word which is vital to the sense - “ Lord.” Two words are on record in connection with this crisis. “ Who art Thou, Lord” ; “ What shall I do, Lord?” He must know who speaks; he must place himself in His hands. We must look upward as we ask the question; then wait for the answer that we may do it, thus combining the spiritual with the practical. The man who asks and means this question is well started in the race, for-- I. He has done the most difficult thing. He has apprehended the invisible God as his Master and Saviour. He no longer stands afar off saying, “ Oh, that I knew where I could find Him;” he has grasped the gospel of free forgiveness, and can go in and out where God is and inquire in His temple. In each perplexing alternative, in the dark day of trouble, when no friend is near and life trembling in the balance, he can look up to God as his Counsellor and Helper. It was thus that Paul henceforth lived, and the maturity of the question is seen in his confidence, “ The Lord stood by me and strengthened me.” II. The question is of large compass.1. It is the question which a young man asks in choosing his life vocation. Well is it when it has been asked in the fear of God. The addition of “ Lord” would have altered in many cases the character of the question and the nature of the reply. 2. In forming an acquaintance, or taking a partner for life, what miseries, entanglements, sins, and crimes would be avoided if the Oracle were visited before determining on the course. 3. This is the question most appropriate to the penitent sinner. Witness the futility of the sinner to break the chain of evil habits without God. III. The question earnestly asked is never left without an answer. The answer is adapted with the most discrimination to the circumstances of--1. The man who has lost the light. 2. The man who has never had the light. (Dean Vaughan.)The supreme problem Analyse these words and you will discover four important elements of belief underlying the thoughts of the speaker. I. A consciousness that something must be done in order to obtain salvation. A man cannot morally be saved by inaction. Effort is essential. II. A consciousness that something must be done agreeable to the Divine will. “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” The work to be done must be done, not by blind excitement or capricious act, but by the will of God. God’ s will is to be consulted. III. A consciousness that the thing to be done must be done by the man himself. “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” No one can do the work that is necessary for me--no priest, preacher, or Church. I must do it. IV. A consciousness of the need of Divine help in the work. “ What wilt Thou have me to do? “ I want Divine direction. As if he had said something must be done, whatever Thou teachest I will do. “ Teach me Thy will.” (Homilist.)The servant’ s question to his Lord These words bring before us-- I. The first and strongest instinct of a newborn soul. “ How shall I express my gratitude and love? how let Thee and others know how thankful I am?” Saul’ s heaviest punishment would have been consignment to a life of inactivity. The Master seemingly could hardly find work enough for him to do. It is not more natural for a fountain to flow, or a star to shine, or a seraph to sing, than it is for a new-born soul to work. II. A man who had made an absolute surrender of himself to the Lord. From that hour on he was in the hands of the Master as clay is in the hands of the potter. Much that passes under the name of consecration is little more than a profane attempt to compound with the Master, giving up that which we do not care to keep, that we may retain that with which we cannot afford to part. III. A man who, having made an absolute self-surrender, let the Lord choose his life work for him. When he heard the command to depart from Jerusalem (Acts 22:18), Paul ventured reverently to expostulate. He said, as it were, “ Lord, it seems to me that this is the place, above all others, for me to preach the gospel. My past life will help me here. They know how I persecuted Thy people. And when I tell them of that great light which I saw on the way to Damascus; when they see the wonderful change which has come over me--they will have to lend me their ears. Let Peter go to the Gentiles, let John go, let James go; they will not listen to any of them as they will listen to me.” Now, if you and I had been there we should have taken the same view, and yet it was soon very evident that the Master was right and the servant wrong (verses 21, 22). Had Saul stayed at Jerusalem, his career would have been brought to an untimely end. It is a great thing to let the Lord choose our life work for us. Many in choosing their life consult their ease or their pride or their avarice or their ambition, and if they go to the Lord at all, it is after they have made their choice. IV. Past life an element of inspiration. Paul felt that he had so much to undo. Can you think of anything more touching than his allusion to Stephen (verse 20)? Avenge my death, cries the blood of every martyr, by waging a war of extermination against sin. Is your past life an element of your inspiration? Does no ghost of a slighted opportunity, or a neglected duty, or an abused mercy, or a murdered moment summon thee to greater fidelity? Hast thou no lost time to redeem, no neglected work to make up? Does it not become thee to be about thy Master’ s work? You cannot recall the past, but you may do much toward redeeming it. (J. B. Shaw, D. D.)Adjusted faculties There is produced in a telescope an image of a star. There is produced in a soul an image of God. When does the image of the star start up in the chamber of the telescope? Only when the lenses are clear and rightly adjusted, and when the axis of vision in the tube is brought into exact coincidence with the line of the rays of light from the star. When does the image of God, or the inner sense of peace and pardon, spring up in the human soul? Only when the faculties of the soul are rightly adjusted in relation to each other, and the will brought into coincidence with God’ s will. How much is man’ s work, and how much is the work of the light? Man adjusts the lenses and the tube; the light does all the rest. Man may, in the exercise of his freedom, as upheld by Divine power, adjust his faculties to spiritual light, and when adjusted in a certain way God flashes through them. (Joseph Cook.) Acts 22:11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light. Too much light There is such a thing as having too much light, as having so much light that we can see nothing. If God should send us all the light we ask for, we should all be blinded. What we need is not more light, so much as more faith--in a world where we must walk by faith rather than by sight. Light, in and of itself, is no guide to truth. Its glare is liable to bewilder, if not actually to blind, the human eye. Unless our faith keeps pace with--no, keeps ahead of--the light which we have, we are pretty sure to be worse off than if in darkness. That is the trouble with many a poor scientist--from the young medical student up to the agnostic philosopher--the light which has come into his eyes has dazed his sight, and he doesn’ t know enough to ask someone to take him by the hand and lead him. “ Lord, increase our faith!” is a better prayer, for most of us, than “ Lord, increase the light!” (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Brighter than we can bear We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Think of the human eye, and all the machinery connected with it. And yet the eye has limits of its power. Let some unusual strain come upon it--some burst of heavenly radiance, and the marvellous mechanism gives way. Apply the text to-- I. The attributes of God.1. His eternity. “ The days of our years are threescore years and ten” : and my mind can easily take in the measurement of such a period. Nay, I can easily look back to the time when the first star was kindled. I have no difficulty with the most ancient of God’ s creatures; only tell me that they are creatures, and once began to be. But a Being who never began to be--a river of life that never had a fountainhead, this is more than I have faculties to grapple with. “ I cannot see for the glory of the light.” 2. His omnipresence. When the Psalmist says, “ Whither shall I go from Thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?” etc., who is there that is not ready to cry with him, “ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me” ? “ I cannot see for the glory of the light!” 3. His other attributes: His omniscience--that there is nothing He doesn’ t know; His omnipotence--that there is nothing He cannot do. We have no power of vision that can bear the strain. “ We cannot see for the glory of the light.” II. The discoveries of the gospel. It is a very pleasant thing to be able to say that there is not a little child that cannot understand it. But when you inquire into its origin, its spirit, its provisions, you soon find yourself diving in deep waters. The incarnation of Christ in our inferior nature--the substitution of Christ in the place of guilty men--the love of God, that provided such a substitute, and consented to such humiliation: these are things which, the more yon ponder them, the grander and more glorious do they appear. III. The future blessedness of the world. You see at once that we must change the scene. Crosses and curses tell of a world that is not blessed. See how cruel men are to themselves and to one another! See the strifes of families, of neighbourhoods, of nations; the oppression of the weak, the envy of the strong. But now hear words like these, “ The nations shall be glad and sing for joy.” Why? Because “ none shall hurt and none destroy.” Nay, more! “ The tabernacle of God is with men,” etc. These are not dreams, but true sayings of God. But what a picture do they raise! It is too bright--it is more than my eyes can bear! “ I cannot see for the glory of the light.” IV. The final heaven. This seems the appropriate close of all earth’ s promised blessedness--indeed, the one seems to merge into the other, just as the distant sea seems to merge into the sky. Thus the last quotation is followed by “ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,” etc. Little does it matter where heaven shall be, if we may but be there! It is to be with Christ--to see His glory--to be conformed to His image: this must be heaven, wherever heaven may be. Nor can I doubt that in the world where the redeemed are to “ sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” we shall meet beloved ones who have gone before. But, oh, glorious inheritance of the saints in light! They shall be glorious in body, in soul, in surroundings, society, service, life, love, joy! But it is not for me to sketch the outline of the scene, for “ I cannot see for the glory of the light.” (F. Tucker, B. A.)Blinded by excessive light There are three distinct accounts of the conversion of Paul. In the first we are simply told that it was a light from heaven; in the second, that it was a great and glorious light; and in the third, that it was above the brightness of the noonday sun. It is of that light we desire to speak. I. The excellence of thy light. We have nothing definitely recorded as to the nature of the light. To assert, as some have done, that it was a mere electric phenomenon is absurd. Equally unsatisfactory is the theory that it was only a vision peculiar to Paul (Acts 26:13). The “ minute particulars” given of the light evince “ the objective reality of this heavenly manifestation.” To us the most reasonable explanation is that which regards this light as the Shekinah--that visible and miraculous glory which was a symbol of the Divine presence. As Dr. Bonar has well said, “ It appeared at sundry times and in divers forms for various purposes--now of mercy, now of judgment. It was the light that blazed out in the flaming sword; that appeared to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees; that was seen by Moses in the burning bush; that shone out in the pillar of cloud and compassed the top of Sinai; that dwelt in the tabernacle and temple; that showed itself to Gideon’ s father; that kindled the fire on Solomon’ s altar; that was seen by Ezekiel departing, and by Daniel in his visions; that for four hundred years left the earth, but reappeared at Bethlehem to the shepherds and to the wise men; at Christ’ s baptism; at the Transfiguration; at Pentecost; at Stephen’ s martyrdom; and now at Saul’ s conversion, and afterward at Patmos. Such is the history of this wondrous light--the representation of Him who is light, and in whom is no darkness at all.” Whatever that light may have been, we do know most certainly that at every conversion there is light--the light of the glorious gospel of Christ and the illumination of the Holy Ghost. “ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus.” Between the visible glory that shone around Saul and the invisible brightness that shines in upon every converted soul there are several points of likeness.1. It was a light from heaven. Not merely streaming from the firmament, but actually emanating from the dwelling place of the Divine Being. It shone from that city where they have no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And so is it with gospel light. It proceeds alone from God. His wisdom devised and His grace first contrived the way to save rebellious man. “ The Dayspring from on high hath visited us.” Our calling is in every way a heavenly one. We needed a Divine revelation. The light of such a revelation is far brighter than that of human reason. The light of reason is utterly insufficient to lead one soul in the way of holiness. 2. It was a light above the brightness of the sun. This is very remarkable. It was midday, the sun had reached its zenith. It was an Oriental sun, the heavens were ablaze with light. So the light of the gospel is superior to the brightest light of nature. Revelation exceeds Nature at her best. 3. It was a light which revealed Christ. This light revealed Christ. There is no doubt that Saul had an actual sight of Jesus. “ It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” “ And last of all, He was seen of me also.” It was the greatest glory of the light that it brought Jesus into view. And this is the glory of the gospel, that it brings Jesus before us, and herein is its superiority not only to reason and nature, but also to the law of Moses. “ For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.” The law makes known the spotless holiness and inflexible justice of God, and thereby renders us conscious of sin. But the light of the gospel tells of grace as well as truth, and mercy as well as righteousness. II. The effect of the light. “ I Could not see for the glory of that light.” A strange effect, surely! Yet there is such a thing as being dark with excess of light. And right through his Christian career he might constantly have said, “ I could not see for the glory of that light.”1. He was blinded to the world. He became blind to the world’ s glory, pride, pomp, wealth, and pleasure. The light of heavenly glory was so dazzling that he could not see lesser lights. And thus it is with every converted soul. Earth has no attractions for such an one. Faithful walked through Vanity Fair with averted eyes, so does a true believer pass through the world. 2. He was blinded to his old views of religion. There was never a more remarkable change of opinion and creed than in his case. He preached the faith which once he destroyed. Oh, it is a blessed thing when the light of truth blinds us to error! There are people now embracing false ideas which seem to them wonderfully plain. They see certain things (as they imagine) with the utmost clearness. We cannot convince them that they are wrong. But let this heavenly light shine upon them, and what a transformation will be effected! 3. He was blinded to his own greatness and goodness. Before his conversion he had a capital opinion of himself. Now he is “ less than least of all saints” and the chief of sinners. He cannot see that well-satisfied, boastful, righteous self. The glory of the Divine light has blinded him to his own glory. 4. He was blinded to his former companions. He could not see those with whom he journeyed. “ He saw no man,” we read. And when his eyes were opened, the first face that greeted his regained vision was that of a follower of Jesus. He chooses the people of God, and bids farewell to those with whom he once consorted. (C. W. Townsend.)Truths overlooked because of their obviousness 1. We need some light in order that we may see; but too much light prevents us from seeing at all. Bury a man in a dungeon to which no ray of sunshine ever comes, and he sees nothing. Bring him out into the full glare of the noonday sun, and he sees no more; and by long gazing at excessive light the power of vision becomes impaired or destroyed. 2. The self-same law which obtains in the external world has its types in the world of mind; and as regards spiritual things as well as visible ones, there is such a thing as over-much glory dazzling, instead of informing and enlightening the mind. I. The first object concerning which it is true that for very glory we cannot see it clearly is God Himself. God is Light: the Father of Lights: that dwelleth in Light. And yet, is it not true that “ we cannot see Him for the glory of that light” ? “ No man hath seen God at any time” ; no man can see God and live. We cannot comprehend God; and the longer and more deeply we think upon the Almighty, the more humbly we say, “ Verliy Thou art a God that hidest Thyself!” It is only when His glory is tempered down to our weak sight by coming through the medium of a human nature in the face of Jesus that we can understand it, at least in some degree. His eternity, His omnipresence, His reading of every thought of our heart: who can understand all that? You will remember the ancient fable of the sage, who was asked by his king, “ What is God?” and who asked a day to consider his reply: and then at the end of the day a month; and at the end of the month a year; and at the end of the year said he never could answer the question at all, because mystery gathered on mystery the longer he dwelt upon the theme. Ah! it is the experience of every man who looks at God in any way but as revealed in Christ. “ We cannot see for the glory of that light.” II. Religious truths are very often overlooked, just because they are set in a light so thorough that reasoning about them is needless. We do not see them, for the very clearness of the light which shines upon them. If you are trying to impress upon any man some truth of great practical importance, but which is not quite apparent at the first glance, you make use of various arguments and illustrations to make it plainer and more obvious. But if a man doubts or denies a truth which is already so plain, what is the use of arguing with him? And the most real of all ways of denying any truth is to deny it practically. Now the evil and the difficulty is that almost all those religious truths which men practically deny are truths which are already so plain that no talking can make them plainer. Take the following truths:1. The necessity of obtaining a part in Christ’ s salvation before we leave this world. I know what to do if a man says, “ But I do not believe in Christ; and so I seek no part or lot in Him.” I should seek to set before him the various reasons we have for believing Christ; and then I should hope that he would begin to act upon his belief. But what can you say to a man who believes that by turning to Christ he may gain heaven and escape hell, and yet who knows and confesses that he is living as though his creed were the atheist’ s? You can tell him nothing he does not know. Argument and information have no effect upon him, just because he agrees with them so readily: as the strongest blast can make no permanent impression on the willow, just because the willow bends so readily before its breath. 2. The certainty of death and its possible nearness. It is a trite truism to say that “ all must die.” Who doubts it? We all admit the truth, but who acts upon it? One would think that amid a world of many graves, we who have looked so often upon them would hardly be able to forget that in a little while we shall be laid where we have seen many laid before us. But how very little we realise the hour when we shall lie upon our bed of death! It was no wonder that David said, “ Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” for if we could only every day keep that parting hour before us, and realise all it means, what earnest Christians we should be! There is no reason at all why such a remembrance should overcast our days with sadness. Those who think most of death, if they think in the way the Psalmist wished us, are those who will fear it least. III. The way in which this evil may be remedied. The right course to take when we feel that any religious doctrine has grown too familiar to us, so that familiarity has taken from the effect it used to have upon our hearts, is to make it a subject of special prayer, that the Holy Spirit may open the eyes of our understandings to understand it better, and touch our hearts to feel it more. Many a Christian can tell you that in a season of prayer or of solemn meditation he has had glimpses of the Saviour’ s value, and while thus musing the fire has burned--a fire which no earthly power kindled in his heart. And in all this the believer would trace the breathing of the enlightening Spirit of God. Now these influences are free to all believers: we have more confidence in praying for the Spirit than in asking for almost any other blessing. “ If ye, being evil,” etc. And while we would bear it in our remembrance how much we need Him in many ways--as a Spirit of holiness, prayer, and comfort--let us ask for Him, too, as one whose special province it is to open the eyes of our understanding and make us see by uncreated light. IV. The guilt of thus overlooking religious truths. God has said and shown enough to us; and it is our own fault if we will not see and hear. You remember the answer of Abraham to the rich man in woe, “ They have Moses and the prophets.” If they would neglect and overlook all the warnings they had, they must do so at their own peril. It would be no answer at the day of judgment to say that they really had never noticed how much God had done to make them think of eternity. And there can hardly be a more awful thing in the appearance of the careless soul, when at last the hour of death draws near, than when first there breaks upon it the awful sense of how much light it had sinned against in its progress towards endless woe. We shall feel then, if not before, the tremendous force of the old reasons for going to Christ and believing on Him, which were pressed upon us a thousand times, till they grew so familiar to us that they produced no impression. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.) Acts 22:12-16 And one Ananias … said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee.The Divine ordination of human life The verb here translated, “ chosen,” only occurs in this form in one other place (Acts 26:16), where it has the sense of “ making,” or “ appointing.” The idea here is ordination, or setting apart. This ordination is-- I. To an understanding of the highest subject. “ That thou shouldst know His will.” God has a will in relation to all existences and to every individual man. It is the spring of all existence, the rule of all motion, the standard of all character. To understand it is to understand the philosophy of all being, the cause of all phenomena, and the science of all duty. All true subjects of thought are related to it, and lead into it as radia to their centre. It is, therefore, the sublimest subject of thought. It expresses the Divine nature, it reveals the universe. It is, therefore, the great theme for the study of eternity. To the study of this Paul was thus ordained. He began it then, he is at it now, he will continue at it forever. II. To a vision of the highest existence. Not only to understand the will which is the law of the universe, but to see the Lawgiver Himself (chap. 3:14). Christ is called “ that Just One,” not merely because, as God, He is absolutely just, nor merely because, as man, He “ did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,” but as Mediator who has engaged to make unjust men just to themselves, to their fellows, to the universe, to God. Paul wan ordained to Him in order--1. To renovate him as a sinner. The vision of Christ is the soul transforming force. “ Beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed,” etc. 2. To qualify him as an apostle. One of the necessary qualifications of an apostle was that he should have a personal view of Christ. Hence he says, “ Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord?” 3. To consummate his blessedness as a man. What is the heaven of souls? The beatific vision of Christ (Revelation 5:6; Revelation 5:12). III. To a reception of the highest communications. “ And shouldst hear the voice of His mouth.” To have a direct communication with Christ seemed necessary in order to put Paul on a level with the twelve apostles (Acts 13:3; Galatians 1:1). But whilst this was specially required for Paul as an apostle, it is the high privilege of all good men. “ Never man spake like this man,” they said who heard Him when on earth, when He spoke only the few things that they could bear. But to listen to that voice in heaven, what an ecstasy of joy! What is the voice of your Plato’ s compared with the voice of Christ? IV. To a discharge of the highest mission. “ Thou shalt be His witness,” etc. To bear witness--1. Of the highest facts about the greatest Being.2. Of the highest facts about the greatest Being to all mankind. How earnestly shall we aspire to such an ordination! (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul’ s ordination From this we see-- I. What the preacher must bring along with him into the ministry.1. The knowledge of the Divine will.2. The experience of Divine grace. II. What the preacher is to do in the ministry--to be a witness to all men in word and deed of what he has seen and heard. III. On what the preacher may depend in his ministry--on the grace of God which has appointed him to the office and will strengthen him in it. (K. Gerok.)For thou shalt be His witness. Witnessing for Christ Here is-- I. A special department of Christian service. “ Thou shalt be His witness.” Sometimes a Christian is designated a steward, and is left in trust for Christ; sometimes a shepherd, and is commanded to feed the flock of God; but here he is called a witness. A witness is one who bears testimony to that with which he is personally acquainted. The apostle was a competent witness--he was permitted to see and know Christ; he was a courageous witness--he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; and he was a consistent witness--both by word and deed he declared the whole counsel of God. How can we witness for Christ?1. By our self-denying labours. This is the very essence of the Christian religion. “ Whosoever doth not bear his cross,” etc. The need of a spirit of self-abnegation is abundantly manifest. We are surrounded by the ignorant, who must be taught; by the careless, who must be awakened; and by the lost, who must be led to the Saviour. 2. By our holy deportment. The end of Christ’ s death is the holiness of His people. The Christian is commanded to let his light so shine before men, that they may see his good works, and glorify his Father who is in heaven. Holiness is power. “ Argument may be resisted, entreaty may be disregarded, and eloquence may be scorned; but the exhibition of an exalted piety has a might which nothing can withstand. It is truth embodied; it is the gospel preaching in the lives of its votaries. No sophistry can elude it, no conscience can ward it off, and no bosom wears a mail that can brave the energy of its attack.” II. An extensive sphere of Christian service. “ To all men.” If you examine a map of the countries through which the apostle travelled, you will be amazed at the extent of his labours. Distance did not damp his zeal, nor danger daunt his courage. Where can we witness for Christ?1. In private. This is a far more important sphere of service than many persons think. Are we diligent in the time of service? Are we patient in the hour of suffering? Are we resigned in the season of bereavement? Then we are witnessing for Christ. 2. In public. This is not only a difficult, but a very delicate task. We may dishonour Christ by our silence, and we may displease men by our speech. But there is greater danger of grieving Christ by our indifference than of offending men by our imprudence. Our testimony must be constant and courageous. Wherever our lot may be cast, there we must be loyal to Christ. III. An important qualification for Christian service. “ Of what thou hast seen and heard.” An apostle must know the will and experience the grace of God. He had seen the “ Just One,” and “ heard His voice” ; and you might as well have tried to reason him out of a belief in his own existence as to reason him out of his belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we have seen the glory of God, or enjoyed the fellowship of Christ, we must “ witness to all men of what we have seen and heard.” (J. T. Woodhouse.)And now why tarriest thou?--Delay In the New Testament all who came to Christ at all came straightway. The apostles, Saul of Tarsus, the jailer at Philippi, the eunuch of Ethiopia, Lydia. Those who hesitated never came. Rich young ruler, Agrippa, Felix. This teaches us in a striking manner the danger of delay. Men, however, urge the reasonableness of delay. They declare that a matter so important should be duly weighed. Its responsibilities must not be rashly assumed. On the other hand, there are solemn and pressing arguments for immediate action. I. The position is one of peril. If your house was in flames, and you were awakened at the dead of night by the cries of firemen calling upon you to escape, would you reply that you must deliberate upon the situation? To use the wise man’ s image (Proverbs 23:34), would you, if you were lying on the top of the mast when the vessel was rocking violently and the crew were calling you to come down, respond that you must duly weigh the matter? II. The position is sinful. It is a sin against the authority of God, who commands you to come; against the love of God, who yearns for you; against Jesus Christ--a rejection of the Divine claims, of His mercy. If it were theft, would you say, “ I will steal one year more, and then I will stop” ? Why, then, should you say, “ I will sin by rejecting Christ one year or one day more, and after that perhaps I will turn from this sin?” III. It may be instantly performed. You cannot stop fighting God gradually. Will you fire a few less guns tomorrow, and only an occasional gun the day after? Is that making peace? “ As the Roman ambassador drew a circle around the captive princes, and bade them accede to his terms before they passed its bounds, so God requires an immediate response to His overture of mercy.” IV. You have the ability now to perform it. No doubt you think you would prefer to have deeper convictions, stronger desires and all that; but you must learn to act on what you have. A vessel may leave the harbour with a wind of fifteen knots, or ten, or five, or one knot an hour. “ Act on what you have; think not of what might be. It is better to go out of the harbour of false ease and delusive security upon a wind that merely fills the flapping sails than not to go at all.” V. The difficulties will not be lessened by delay. You remember the countryman in AEsop’ s fable who sat down by a running stream, saying: “ If this stream continues to flow as it does now for a little while, it will empty itself, and I will walk over dry shod.” He waited in vain! and so do you. The difficulties will never become less. VI. The difficulties will increase. The purchase of heaven is like buying of the Sibyl’ s prophecies--the longer you delay the dearer the price. Men think as they grow older they will grow more virtuous. This is contradicted by the law of habit. Late conversions are rare. “ Old age is, of all the ages of life, the least fitted for the work of salvation.” Facility in goodness does not come from habitually ignoring Christ. VII. The shortness and uncertainty of life. The vistas of life seen in the perspective of hope may seem long to us; youth may smile at the suggestions of the tomb, and, conscious strength, may repel the insinuations of mortality; but the resistless hand of time is drawing us on. Nature and life are full of reminders of the brevity and incertitude of human existence. “ The eagle poising a moment on the wing, and then rushing at her prey; the ship that, throwing the spray from her bow, scuds before the wind; the shuttle, flashing through the loom; the shadow of the cloud sweeping the hillside, and then gone forever, not leaving a trace behind; the summer flowers that, vanishing, have left our gardens bare” ; the falling of the autumn leaf; the rushing of the mountain torrent; the dispersion of the morning mist; the fading of the summer day; these, with many other fleeting things, are emblems by which God through nature is teaching us how frail we are; at the longest, how short our days! (E. S. Prout.)Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.--An argument for baptism, and an appeal I. Baptism is an ordinance of Christ. It has been a question whether the rite is of Jewish origin. Moses, indeed, ordained “ divers washings,” to which the elders added many more. But these were essentially different from Christian baptism; they being “ waters of separation,” this of initiation; they being repeated on any fresh pollution, this not being on any account repeated. Jewish proselyte baptism is more analogous, but is not mentioned until the Christian era. The baptism of John bears more resemblance to it, being, as he declared, the shadow of it. They certainly are not identical, or Paul would not have baptized again the disciples of John at Ephesus. So we conclude that baptism is exclusively Christian. How or why we can hardly tell, except it were gathered from a few such hints as that prediction of Isaiah--“ So shall He sprinkle many nations.” There prevailed among the Jews an expectation that Christ should institute a new and peculiar baptism. This impression is evident from the question put by the Pharisees to John--“ Why baptizest thou, then, if thou be not that Christ,” etc. It is, therefore, no wonder chat earnest men among them flocked to receive “ the baptism of repentance,” nor Chat afterwards “ Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John” ; and from His own baptism, needful only for example’ s sake, the Teacher from heaven acted out this prevailing idea--an idea which gave an evident and definite meaning to that saying of His to Nicodemus, “ Except a man be born of water,” etc., which agreed exactly with the current expectation, and must be law as long as men have to be translated out of the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of our Lord; which further appears from the very last charge of the Saviour (Matthew 28:19-20). II. Baptism represents the washing away of sins. Nothing can be clearer than this. Sin has ever been regarded as a defilement which required to be washed away to make a man fit to stand in the sight of God. When this purification became possible, through “ the water and the blood” which flowed from the Saviour’ s side, the fact was set forth by a rite in which water was employed; at the same time the Lord declared the Spirit of God, which He came to give, to be essential to that new birth without which there is no personal efficacy in baptism. Yet this is the matter upon which there has been most unaccountable and fatal confusion. The text says, “ Be baptized, and wash away your sins” --two things as different as a sign, and the thing signified. Yet these two have been declared to he the same. If it were so, I myself should have been “ a new creature in Christ Jesus” in virtue of it, without any conversion; but I know that I was not. If it were so, then Simon Magus must have been among the saved. The idea of baptism being the actual remission of sins, or regeneration, or anything whatever beyond a sign of these as needful and possible, is too groundless for argument. But it does show us, as clearly as any earthly image can, the necessity and the possibility of “ the washing of regeneration.” III. Baptism is of perpetual importance and obligation. Christianity and spirituality are all but synonymous terms, this being emphatically the dispensation of the Spirit. The ceremonial law of Moses was in itself very burdensome; but those who would prefer outward rites to true religion were always heaping up traditions upon it, until it became a yoke of bondage too heavy to be borne. Then the Saviour gave the very character of His economy when He said, “ God is a Spirit,” etc.; in harmony with which He said also, “ The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,” etc., which Paul did but illustrate when he said, “ The kingdom of God is not meat and drink,” etc. Now, from these and a hundred such Scriptures we might have argued that the pure Spirit of Christ, without any figure, was Christianity. But our conceits, however logical they may seem, are not Christianity; and seeing that the thoughts and ways of God are so immeasurably higher than those of men, and wiser, and kinder, it is ever better to inquire what He has decreed than to imagine what He would do. We have already proved that Christ did institute this rite. Its very institution proves its importance then; and if it had any then, it must have as much if not more now; for if ever the outward and visible sign could be dispensed with, it must be while the Divine Teacher was living in our world to explain and to enforce His doctrines. And the most spiritual men have confessed that the two sacraments have proved a real help to their faith. At the dedication of their offspring to God in Christ, as well as at the table of the Lord, they have felt and learnt what they never learnt before, becoming more spiritual than ever. Whether this were so or not, the Divinely attested fact that Jesus decreed the baptism of all nations in His very last words is the proof that it is to have a continuance unto the end of the world. If one may explain away the rites ordained by the Lord, another may explain away the doctrines which they were ordained to teach; and, alas! many do both this day. What the very apostles needed we cannot less need; and it must be a right and safe conclusion that Christ only can unmake any ordinance which He has made, and that until He does so it rests upon all His disciples as an unquestionable obligation. IV. Baptism is to be administered to all who worship Christ. The last clause of the text is of all importance. It proves, even before it is expounded, that baptism alone, the rite as the outward action of another, cannot save, but that its efficacy depends upon the state of mind and heart in the subject; for there is something else to be done while it is being performed. What this is is now the question. Of course it does not mean the formal mention of His holy “ name,” nor does it mean “ calling,” without any wish or hope of answer. The phrase is one borrowed from the Old Testament, where it always intends the actual worship of God in the prayer of faith. In the Psalms it; is said, “ I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord” ; “ O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name.” The phrase in question is also one of those which bind together the two Testaments. Joel says, “ It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered” --which prediction both Peter and Paul quote word for word; and whatever may have been the prophet’ s idea, we know the apostle’ s intention in “ the name of the Lord.” These meant not the Lord Jehovah, but the Lord Jesus. So, then, what Ananias here required from Saul was that with the highest possible intention he should call Jesus “ Master and Lord” ; and if any man whatever do this with apparent honesty, and is yet unbaptized, to him every minister of Christ should say, “ And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.” (J. De Kewer Williams.)Directions to the awakened sinner There is this idea in the text, this Divine purport and meaning--All things are ready. A redemption is obtained. A kingdom is purchased;up and take possession.1. “ Arise,” that is, lift up your hearts to the Redeemer! “ Lift up your eyes to the hill Calvary, whence cometh your help.” “ Arise,” hang down and droop thy head no more as if no balm was in Gilead, or as if there were no Physician there that could heal thee; though thou art a poor prodigal child, and hast been feeding upon the husks, the pleasures and vanities of a sinful world, thou hast a Father that loves thee, arise and go to Him. Thou hast a dear Saviour whose wounds will heal thy spoiled and poisoned nature. Thou hast the “ Holy Ghost, who will lead thee and comfort thee as a mother comforteth her only son.” “ Arise,” leave thy sins, thy lusts, thy dangerous place, and venture to come to the sinner’ s refuge, and it shall go well with thee. 2. “ Be baptized,” be immersed and covered in the bloody sweat of Jesus, be baptized with the baptism wherewith He was baptized, those great drops which fell from Him in His agony shall wash away thy great crimes and frightful offences. 3. “ Wash away thy sins,” that is, come to the blood of the Lamb. No Jordan, no pool of Siloam, no Bethesda is like it. Whoever comes to this laver, to this fountain, though his sins were more than the hairs of his head, or the sands upon the seashore, all shall be washed away and remembered no more: and though his crimes were the most vile and abominable, so that his heart failed him, yet the blood of Christ shall make him whiter than the snow in Salmon, and soften and melt his hard and icy nature, and speak peace and pardon to his guilty conscience. 4. “ Calling upon the name of the Lord,” this is to direct you where to apply, to whom you may address yourselves and make your requests, namely, to the Lord Jesus that appeared to Paul in the way. He is the Friend of sinners. He is the Minister of the true sanctuary, who hears prayer, and has the tenderest heart. Ask of Him and He will give you, seek to Him and you shall find, knock at the door of the sheepfold, and you shall find entrance by the new and living way of His flesh and blood, into the holiest place of all. (John Cennick.)Getting rid of sin is-- I. A possible work. “ Be baptized, and wash away thy sins.” The Holy Word represents the sinful state of the soul under different figures--sleep, slavery, disease, death, pollution. Here pollution. The words imply that it is--1. A cleansable pollution. It is not ingrained. It is something separable from the soul. It can be washed away. Baptism to Saul would symbolise moral cleansing. No water, of course, can wash the soul; all the waters of the Atlantic could not cleanse one moral stain. There is, however, a spiritual water, “ the truth as it is in Jesus,” by which the Eternal Spirit does cleanse (Ezekiel 36:25; Ezekiel 36:27; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:7; Ephesians 5:25-26; Revelation 1:5-6; Revelation 7:14). 2. A pollution of which man must cleanse himself: “ Wash away thy sins.” No one can do it for us. II. It is a praying work. “ Calling upon the name of the Lord.” Christ’ s name is Himself; to call upon His name is to call upon Him.1. Christ is the efficient cleanser of human souls. His work is to wash away the sins of the world, to purify the moral garments of humanity. 2. Prayer is the ordained means of attaining His cleansing influence (Romans 10:13). The prayer addressed to Him in the upper room at Jerusalem brought down His cleansing influences on the day of Pentecost. You may get wealth by industry, intelligence by study, wisdom by experience, but moral purity only by prayer. III. It is an urgent work. “ Why tarriest thou?” Or, more literally, Why art thou about acting, instead of acting really? Do not hesitate a moment. Be prompt. The importance of promptitude may be argued--1. From the greatness of the work. Eternity depends upon it. 2. From the time already lost. The whole life should have been given to it, but much has run to waste. 3. From the increase of difficulties. Disinclination, insensibility, force of habit--all increase by delay. 4. From the character of the future. It is-- (1) Brief;(2) uncertain. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Acts 22:17-21 And it came to pass that … while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance.A common thing reaching the wonderful Here is-- I. A common thing--a man praying. Prayer is an instinct of the soul. Danger seldom fails to rouse this instinct even in the most depraved (Psalms 107:13). Volney, in a storm at sea, a striking example of this. All worthless prayer may be divided into two classes, prayer addressed--1. To the wrong god.2. To the right God in a wrong way. The universal tendency of man to pray implies the soul’ s innate belief in some of the leading facts of theology, such as the Being, Personality, Presence, and entreatability of God. II. A common thing reaching the wonderful. The trance is the state in which a man has passed out of the usual order of his life, beyond the usual limits of consciousness and volition. To an “ ecstasy” in Paul we owe the starting point of the Church, the command which bade him “ depart far hence unto the Gentiles.” It is supposed by some that it is to this trance Paul refers (2 Corinthians 12:1-5) when he speaks of being caught up to the third heaven. Conclusion: Learn--1. The sublime possibilities of the human soul. By a mysterious power of abstraction it can shut out the external universe, and transport itself into a world where there are scenes too grand for description and communications surpassing utterance. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, John, as well as Paul, were often transported to these supernal states. 2. The incomparable worth of true prayer. Prayer is the road into the celestial (Daniel 9:21-23; Acts 10:9). (D. Thomas, D. D.)And saw Him saying unto me, Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem. Paul’ s vision in the temple I. The place: “ The temple.” This shows the catholicity of the new convert. II. The season: “ While he was praying.” There seems to be a natural, invisible, indissoluble connection between the offering of a prayer to God and the reception of spiritual blessings from God. The Bible teaches this by--1. Doctrines.2. Practice. III. The form. We may become acquainted with the world of spirits by--1. Consciousness.2. Testimony. IV. The subject. Christ’ s command to Paul suggests--1. That He claims authority over the ministry.2. His special providence over His own agencies and ministers. (Caleb Morris.)Paul sent to the Gentiles This passage has an interest and a solemnity of a peculiar kind. This interview is not previously recorded, and but for the special circumstances that now arose it might never have been mentioned at all.2. Paul introduced it because he wished to convince his former co-religionists that just as he had become a Christian preacher because he could not help himself, so when his heart was set upon labouring among his people, he was obliged to undertake what otherwise he would have utterly shrunk back from. Which of them, if they had been in his position, could have dared to say, “ No” ? Observe-- I. The rejection of the gospel preparing the way for the withdrawal of it (verses 17, 18).1. The narrative refers to Paul’ s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion. He must have returned with very strange and mingled feelings. He left the Holy City the proud champion of Judaism; he came back to it the humble disciple of Christ. He left it with a heart full of hatred to the faith of Christ; he came back ready to lay down his life in defence of it. And yet, as by a kind of instinct, he betook himself to the old place of prayer; and it was fitted to impress his Jewish hearers in his favour that it was there that he received the charge that had given its colour and direction to all his afterlife. 2. I can fancy his Jewish hearers saying, “ We can so far understand your own change of view and feeling, but what connection is there between that and your making common cause with the Gentiles?” “ I did it,” says Paul, “ by express revelation. He said to me, Hasten and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony about Me.” 3. Much might have been said in favour of his remaining. Were conversions not as important at Jerusalem as in Asia Minor and Europe? Should charity not “ begin at home” ? Was it not time enough to think of converting the heathen abroad when they had got all the people converted at home? Such considerations must have had weight then, as they have with some now. 4. But not only was there a perishing world outside, needing if not waiting for the good news, and who therefore had a right to the one remedy for its deadly ailment; there was another reason. The Jewish people had enjoyed their opportunity. If it could be said in Isaiah’ s time, surely much more then, “ What can I do for My vineyard more that I have not done in it?” But they would not have Christ nor His gospel. And now that a new witness was raised up, the charge to him is,” Don’ t stay here. Jerusalem has had its day.” It was a terrible message. No wonder that Paul, who loved his people so intensely, was loath to obey it, and humbly argues against it. 5. And yet it is in keeping with what has been elsewhere and at other times. The light has shone brightly for a time among a people, and when they rejected or extinguished it, they were left in the darkness which themselves had chosen. Africa is witness to this, as are those lands in which Paul himself once held up the lamp of truth. It seems to be God’ s way to give the opportunity, and if it is not improved to withdraw it. So it was, in more recent times, in France, Hungary, Bohemia, Italy, and Spain. 6. Our own country and Germany seem now to be on their trial. The light of Reformation truth has shone in both; yet what multitudes in both lands are rejecting Christ, and abandoning themselves to carelessness and unbelief and open sin! And, as Hosea said, “ Yea, woe also unto them, when I depart from them!” there may be something analogous to this in our own case. But, short of this, there are some who think that there has been such an expenditure of effort in some parts of the home field , often with very little in the way of result, that, without neglecting home, the stream of effort might now be legitimately diverted to the great harvest field abroad. 7. Are there not some who have had every advantage of a spiritual kind that could well be? And they have put off the great decision, or they have resisted, and made it next to impossible to venture on any further advances to them. It may be that they have had their “ day,” and that the Divine word regarding them is, “ Make haste, and get thee quickly away, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me.” II. The Divine call overriding our own views of duty (verses 19, 20). Paul could not silently acquiesce in this word. He thought that what had convinced him would convince others. How could they resist the force of such evidence as he had to bring? Did they not know his intense and inextinguishable hatred of the name and people of Christ? What did he need to do but just to present himself, as himself the best argument he could use? But there was one who knew human nature better than he. As He had once said to Ezekiel, so He now says to Paul, “ But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto Me.” An analogous ease is familiar to everyone. When Melanchthon had the truth opened up to him he thought he could not fail to commend it to others, but soon he had to make the confession that “ old Adam was too strong for young Melanchthon!” III. The imperative claims of the heathen world on the Church of God (verse 21).1. Paul stands at the head of the whole Christian army. Such a man would, of course, be set apart to the work which the Master regarded as most important. Just as in a great warfare our best general would be despatched to occupy what was the key to the whole position, so wherever we find Paul, there, we may conclude, the Church’ s great battle is to be fought, the Church’ s great work is to be done. Now, to human eye, such a man seemed supremely desirable at Jerusalem. Reason would say, “ Above everything, make sure that the Church is strong at the centre. The best you can do for the extremities is to do the best that can be done for the heart. Do not, on any account, let Paul go. Anything will do for the outposts; anyone will do for a missionary.” But the very form in which the charge is given is enough to show that the Church’ s greatest and most pressing work is the making known of Christ among the heathen; and so from that point Paul’ s life was unceasingly devoted to this end. 2. That was the great work of the Church then, and it is the great work now. Every reason might have been urged for keeping Paul in Jerusalem then that could have been pleaded for retaining him in Christendom now. Say what you will about the needs and claims of home, the fact is undeniable that there are comparatively few at home who have not the opportunity of knowing Christ, while three-fourths of the world are as ignorant of Christ as they were then; and the inevitable inference is that the Lord, who left the sheep that were safe in the fold and went out after that which was lost, is saying to His Church now, “ Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the heathen.” 3. Has the Church been acting upon that conviction? What of the vast empire of China? What of India? How much have we given of thought, or heart, or trouble, or time, or means, or prayer, to the work that lies nearest to the heart of Christ? How many of us sympathise with a young Christian lady who, when a friend remarked that it was a far way to go to Japan, replied, “ Yes, very far, if it was only to make money; but not too far to tell the heathen about Jesus!” (J. H. Wilson.)Promptness Promptness in doing is as important in God’ s service as patience in enduring. The sooner a duty is attended to, a danger is turned from, or an error is corrected, the better. If we are in the wrong place, we ought to “ make haste” and get out of it. If we are engaged in a bad business, we ought to “ make haste” and quit it. If we are pursuing an improper or an unwise course of conduct, we ought to “ make haste” and do differently. If we are indulging a habit which we should not wish fastened upon us permanently, we ought to “ make haste” and break away from it. If we have wronged another, we ought to “ make haste” and repair the injury. If we have wounded another’ s feelings, we ought to “ make haste” and express regret for our conduct. We cannot be too prompt in meeting every responsibility which is upon us for the time being. We need never fear that it would have been better for us to bare delayed doing right. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.--The mission of Paul Note that-- I. When God has any great work to accomplish, he will not want proper means to execute it. The call of the Gentiles had been the purport of many a prophecy. The era was now arrived when it should be realised; and while the apostles, influenced by Jewish prejudice, neglected this enterprise, God raised up Paul. Men may often project gigantic enterprises, but want the means of executing them. Nay, man may not only be incompetent to provide the means, but be incapable of contriving them, or even of imagining what they should be. But God’ s understanding and ability are infinite. If He contemplate the end, He can also command the means. He can construct the lever which shall move the world. II. God often fits instruments prospectively for His purpose. Wisdom largely consists in improving means already prepared, and few men know how to do that effectually; but God can provide the means beforehand, and adapt them, with the most consummate skill, to the end in view. He had been previously fitting Paul by his training “ at the feet of Gamaliel,” by his proficiency in the Greek tongue, and by his acquaintance with the learning of the heathen world. So was it in the cases of Moses, David, etc., and so it is still; and as that diamond is ripening silently in its bed, under the agency of the hidden processes of nature, which is afterwards to shine in the diadem of the prince and brighten the splendours of empire, so the servants of God are often, unconsciously to themselves, preparing for a destination which neither they nor their friends had before contemplated. III. God never suffers the powers which He has conferred upon any of His servants to remain long unused. Men, if left to themselves, may suffer their talents to rust, their energies to slumber, and may not perceive when they ought to start in the career of usefulness. But when the time is come that God hath set, then the instrument He has prepared shall be introduced. No sooner, accordingly, was Paul converted than he cries out, “ What shall I do?” So when Cornelius and his household had been prepared, Peter is sent for, and is found ready; and the vision “ of the man of Macedonia” caused Paul to gather that the Lord had called him to preach the gospel in that unthought of region. IV. It belongs to God to fix the scene of the ministry of each of His servants. He prescribed to Paul, when “ He said unto him, Depart,” whither he should go in general: and in the course of his travels the great Master always guided the steps of this His missionary. And to Him this prerogative still belongs; and surely it well becomes a servant of God to consult His mind and will, and to submit with alacrity to the heavenly destination in such matters. Woe to him if he consults with secular and selfish interests! Should he, like Jonah, decline any service to which God calls him, he shall find that God can follow him. V. The region to which a minister of God is destined may be greatly remote. Most frequently He allows His servants to labour in their own country. Thus the eleven apostles continued to minister in Judaea, while Paul went forth to the Gentiles. Nor in vain. His servant obeyed, and was blessed. So Abram, being called of God to follow Him to a land unknown, “ by faith went out, not knowing whither he went,” and God prospered him greatly. VI. With the Divine commission in his hand, no minister of the Lord Jesus need fear to go wherever his great Master shall send him. Far be it for us to make light of the difficulties connected with a mission of this character. Still the Lord is everywhere with His servants, and he who trusts Him shall not want support, even in a strange land, and amid an unknown people. VII. The work to which God calls His servants everywhere, at home and abroad, is great and honourable--glorifying to Himself and beneficial to man (Acts 26:16-18). Think upon--1. The character of the work: it is highly intellectual and spiritual, holy and heavenly. 2. The subject of it. “ Should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” 3. The object of it--to save perishing souls. 4. The issue of it. It leads to an acceptance the most honourable, to a commendation the most enrapturing, to rewards the most glorious. VIII. Through Divine mercy, the success of such missionaries will be proportioned to the difficulty of the enterprise and the dignity of the work. When Paul began his course no instrument could appear more inadequate, no attempt more unpromising. Yet what mighty success attended the ministry of the devoted apostle! Conclusion: Learn--1. The great and universal rule of Christian obedience. It is to comply in all things with the Divine will. 2. The glory of Divine grace as a practical principle. You see in the example of Paul what it will prompt a man to undertake and to achieve. 3. The best sphere of duty--that which God assigns, be it abroad or at home. 4. The blessed consequences of simple devotedness in a servant of God. (J. Mitchell, D. D.)Call to the work of foreign missions I. The work of foreign missions is not a distinct part of the general work of the Church. The commission under which the Church acts has equal reference to all parts of the field. The work of the missionary is therefore not different from the work of a minister. A man who enlists for a soldier goes wherever he is sent. II. A call to the work of missions therefore can only be analogous to the question whether a minister is to be settled in one place rather than another. How is a man to decide this point? The question assumes that--1. The Lord has a purpose in regard to the location of His ministers. (1) This is inferred from-- (a) The doctrine of providence, which teaches that God’ s purpose extends to all things, and that He overrules all things to the accomplishment of His purpose. The place of our birth, our education, profession, and field of labour are all included in His plan. (b) The doctrine of Christ’ s headship and guidance of His Church by His Spirit, by which He dispenses gifts to each one according to His will, and leads His people in the way in which they should go. (2) It follows from His peculiar relation to ministers. They are stars in His hand, and He assigns to each his sphere. They are His ambassadors, and He sends each on his own mission. They are His labourers, etc. We find, therefore, that He sent Jonah to Nineveh, Paul to the heathen, Peter to the circumcision. 2. He makes that purpose known. (1) This must be inferred from the nature of the case. We are rational creatures and are governed by rational means. If God has a design for us to accomplish He must therefore make it known. (2) As a matter of experience we find that God does make known His purpose. He did so in the case of prophets and apostles, and does so in the case of ordinary ministers. It is not to be inferred, however, that this is always done in such a way as to preclude our investigation, nor so as to prevent mistake. A man may mistake and go counter to God’ s will, and the consequences are disastrous. We ought therefore to give the matter careful consideration. 3. How does God reveal His will to ministers as to where they shall labour? (1) By inward dealings. (a) He furnishes them with gifts requisite to some special field of labour. (b) He addresses their understandings, presenting the wants of different parts of the field; the facilities for usefulness; the demand for labourers. (c) He addresses their conscience. (d) He addresses their hearts, awakens an interest in particular portions of the field , and infuses into them a desire for the work. (2) By outward dispensations. (a) He removes obstacles out of the way, such as want of health, obligations to parents, etc. (b) He sends messages to them by friends. (c) He stirs up the Church to call them here or there. III. The duty of candidates for the ministry.1. To feel that they are bound to go wherever God calls them--that it is not for them to choose. 2. To feel perfectly submissive and say, “ What shall I do, Lord?” 3. To investigate the subject, and use all the means to come to an intelligent decision. IV. The blessedness of mission work, because--1. Its results are so glorious. 2. It is so peculiarly unearthly. 3. The promises are so abundant to those who forsake houses, lands, friends, etc., for Christ’ s sake. (C. Hodge, D. D.)The Christian missionary I. By whom he is sent? Who speaks in the text? II. Whither is he sent? “ Far hence.” III. To whom is he sent? “ The Gentiles.” IV. For what end is he sent? His errand is not one of--1. Science.2. Politics.3. Civilisation.4. But to spread the gospel. V. With what encouragement is he sent? The Lord commands; that is sufficient. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)God’ s mercy independent of sects or Churches Ah! there was no prejudice against having the Gentiles made--what? Jews: but to have the Jewish God given to the Gentiles without the instrumentality of the Jews; to have their God distributed outside of themselves by another instrumentality; to have other people enjoy the same right in Jehovah that they did, standing on the same level--this was what they could not endure. To carry the Jews’ God out from Judaea, and make Him a God of the Romans, and of the Greeks, and of the Scythians, and of the Parthians, and of the Assyrians--that was what offended them. National gods, in old times, were very valuable property. It used to be supposed that the gods of a nation were very much to it what armies and navies are to a nation nowadays. It was supposed that they defended it; that they took care of it; that they hated other nations that were its adversaries. The idea that Jehovah was a national God, and that He was the God of the Jews, who did not wish their enemies to participate in His power or in His protection, runs through all Jewish history. If one should come into your house, and take all your pictures, and books, and furniture, and provisions, and distribute them along the whole street, you would doubtless raise some objection; if one should come to my table, and receive hospitality at my hands, and then take all my property, and scatter it up and down the street, I should not like it; and men felt very much so about their religion in those old times. It was a part of their national household goods. The Jews’ idea was that God was their special property: and to give the world the same right in Him that they had, was just so much to defraud them. The Jews were peculiarly susceptible to these ideas of appropriation, because, for the sake of their faith, and in order to defend the name of Jehovah against idolatry, they had suffered much persecution, and undergone many hardships. Men appropriate truth to themselves; they make it personal, as if they owned it, as if it belonged to them; and so the Jews felt that, as they had defended Jehovah, doubtless He must be grateful to them; that as they had suffered for Him, they had a right to parcel Him out; that He ought to be a gift from them; and to use Jehovah as the property of all mankind was to level the Jew to the plane of other men. This would be humiliation and disgrace to them, since they felt themselves to be ineffably superior to the rest of the world; and they would not bear the degradation if they could help it. From the outbreak of religious intolerance and religious cruelty recorded in the text we may learn several lessons.1. First, it is possible to hold religion in a malignant spirit. So long as religion is understood to be an external system of ceremonies, laws, usages, ordinances; so long as it consists of a series of beliefs; so long as it is an objective thing, embodied in usages and institutions, or in philosophical creeds; so long as it appeals to the outward senses--it is quite possible to cherish it at the same time with those feelings which belong to the bigoted partisan. Unfortunately, that which we have seen among the Jews we have never ceased to see among men who have held the great institutions of Christianity or institutions that have purported to be Christian--that they held them in rancour, pride, and selfishness, and defended them with bitterness. Christ was the loving, atoning Saviour. And what has been the history of the Church that represented His disinterested suffering, the bounty of His love, and His benignity to His enemies? The long record of Church history has been a record almost unvarying of arrogance, and pride, and violence, and persecution. Men have received the religion of Jesus Christ just as the Jews received the religion of the Old Testament, to hold it in carnal bonds with most malignant human passions. Is the same spirit existing now which broke out in this tumult among the Jews? Do men hold religion in the same malignant way that they did? Is there the same jealousy in respect to the partition of the benefits of Christ that there was in respects to the diffusion of the knowledge of Jehovah? What has been the history of the sects? and what is today the feeling of the sects? Is the Roman Catholic Church unwilling that all the world shall have all the benefits of the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, no. The Roman Catholic Church stands saying to all the world, “ Come into our Church, and under our regulations, and you shall have the Saviour. But you cannot have the Saviour outside of our Church. Come to us and you shall have Him, but you cannot have Him and leave us out.” Are the derivative Churches, are the hierarchical Churches, are the Protestant Churches, in spirit, different from the Roman Catholics? Are good men, learned men, wise men, unwilling that Christ should be preached among the Gentiles--that is, among Dissenters? Oh, no. Is the Episcopal Church unwilling that the truth of Jesus should be made known to outsiders? Oh, no. It is more than desirous that they should all have the bounty and blessing that is in Christ; but then they must have it in the true Church. They must have it in the line of apostolicity. Well, let us take the great Calvinistic Presbyterian Church. May anyone have Christ’ s atoning mercy and the hope of everlasting life? Yes, if he believes in the absolute sovereignty of God; in original sin, with enough of actual transgression added to it; in regeneration; in the efficacious compassion and suffering and death of Christ; in Divine penalty, and in the eternity of future punishment. “ Come into our creed,” says that Church, “ and you shall have the mercy and blessing of God.” It is the Jewish state of mind over again. It is the same spirit which they manifested who shook their raiment, and threw dust in the air, and clenched their hands, and gnashed their teeth, and cried out against Paul, and demanded that he should be torn in pieces. In this regard, human nature is pretty much the same all the way through. There is everywhere the same conceit, the same arrogance, the same exclusiveness. “ What we have is right--of that there is no mistake. And for those who are outside our ecclesiastical connection, and are not of our way of believing, there is nothing but darkness.” What, then, is the truth? God, as He has taught both in the Old Testament and in the New, is God over all, blessed forever; and all men, from the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, have children’ s rights in God as their Father. All men have a right to take part and lot in Him, and to hope in Him. God is the God of all the earth. He belongs to no sect, to no party. He has given to no class the right to appropriate Him. There is not a creature on the face of the earth that is not dear to God. There is not a man so imperfect, or so full of infirmity, that God does not care for him and sustain him; and the best men living are pensioners on Divine grace and bounty: If God takes the worthiest of His creatures, out of the fulness of His own graciousness, and not on account of their desert, can He not take the others also, out of that same graciousness? And does He not take them? The whole tide of the Divine thought through the world is a thought of goodness; the whole heartbeat of God along the earth is a heartbeat of mercy; and that thought, that heartbeat, is for all mankind. God is working for them; He is shaping His providences for their benefit, and that just as much when He chastises them as when He gives them pleasure. He is preparing them for something better than this life. “ Well, then, do I understand,” you will say, “ that an unconverted man is as good as a converted man?” No, I do not say that at all. But if you were to ask me, “ Who owns the sun?” I should say, “ Nobody owns it; it belongs to the globe, and everybody has a right to it.” Here are men who are surrounded by ten thousand climatic influences which may be turned to good account; but they never reap ample harvests. Why? Because they do not know how to make use of those influences in cultivating the soil. Those who do, sow their seed and reap abundant harvests. There is a vast difference in the results of these men’ s farming; and yet, the sun stands offering as much to one as to another. Now, it is with God’ s mercy as it is with the sunlight. What does the sunlight bless? It blesses industry, integrity, knowledge. It is ready to bless everybody who will partake of its bounty. The right to it is not conferred by magistrate, legislature, or government. Sunlight is everybody’ s; and yet everybody does not get good out of it. It is shame to some; it is torment to others; it is rebuke to others; and it is blessing, endless and fathomless, to yet others. Whether it is beneficial to a person or not depends upon how he uses it. God’ s love, and mercy, and bounty are universal, and men appropriating them find them personally useful; but rejected and excluded, they find them no good. Two men are walking in a garden. One walks in the alleys, and everywhere sweet and pleasant shade falls upon him; the fragrance of the orange greets him on every side; he enjoys all the beauty of prodigal luxuriance; he is surrounded by blossoming flowers and ripening fruits; and to him it is a garden of grand delights. The other man lies drunk under the shade of a tree. There are the same fruits, the same flowers, the same fragrance for him that there is for the other man, only he is not in a condition to appropriate them. One goes out of the garden full of gladness, and laden with its treasures. The other has no more of the garden than if he had never seen it. It is the nature of the men, and not any partiality in the garden, that makes the difference. We are prepared, then, to answer some questions. May an unconverted man pray to God? This is a question which has disturbed many persons. Some think that when they are Christians they have a right to pray, but not till then. But why may not anyone pray to God? And does a man need to go through a technical experience inside a church before he has a right to pray to God? There is no man that wants to pray who has not a right to pray. Take heart, then, sinning, wicked, desponding man! If there is nobody else that cares for you, God cares for you. If every tongue is out against you; if all manner of prejudices hedge up your way; if the Church has surrounded you with obstacles, God thinks of you, and will help you. You have an interest in the heart of Jesus; and if God be for you, who can be against you? Therefore, take courage. You are not a churchman? You are not much educated in matters of religion? Ah, but you know something of sin! You desire to be released from its grasp. A sinner no right in God! Think a moment. Has he not a right to a Saviour? May he not partake of Divine goodness? Especially has he not a right to invoke God’ s blessing? It is because God is what He is that all men have rights in Him. It once used to be said that men had no rights which God was bound to respect. A better thought has come over the Christian community. Men have rights. God gave them, and they are at liberty to exercise them. Has not a child rights, because his parent is his superior, and has authority over him? The law says Yes; public sentiment says Yes; and the voice of Nature says Yes. And because a man is formed subordinate to God, and under His authority, has he not rights of mercy, of justice, of love, and of truth? May we hope, then, that the dissolute and the wicked shall have mercy? There is not a man who lives who has not a right to food, and, through food, to strength, and, through strength, to executive efficiency. Men also have the right to joy--manly joy. Yet, you say to me, “ May a man have joy, though he be an old glutton, swollen with superabundance of blood?” Why, yes; but not as a glutton. If he will become temperate, and purge away his humours, and restrain himself to due moderation, he may. If I am cold, and wish to protect myself against the weather, I can, if I will seek the proper shelter. If I am shivering on the north side of a rock, I can get warm if I have a mind to, but not so long as I remain on the north side. There are infinite mercies of God toward men; and all are wicked, for there is not a man on earth who is righteous, perfectly so, not one. Every man is imperfect in this mortal state. Nevertheless, the bounty of God is proffered to each. And it is received and enjoyed by all who take it as it is to be taken. The condition of Divine favour, of pardon, and of salvation, is not that you shall be inside of any Church; is not that you shall be Jew or Christian in the sectarian sense; is not that you shall be in the Roman, or Episcopal, or Presbyterian, or Baptist, or Methodist, or Congregational, or Lutheran, or Unitarian, or Universalist, or any other Church. What you want is simple personal sympathy With God, who is above all Churches, and who is offered to men without any regard to Churches. It is true that a man may be more likely to come into an intelligent knowledge of God, and His requirements and promises, in the sanctuary than out of it. The help which we receive from God is a gift springing out of the infinite resources of His love. But there are external and incidental helps. Churches are helps--not masters; servants--not despots. You are free. God is the God of all the earth; He is the God of every human being; and nothing separates between you and God but--what? Your creed? No. Your ordinances? No. Your pride and selfishness? Do these turn God sour? No. Nothing separates between you and God but your own will. Here I stand, holding out a handful of gold; but can a man receive that gold unless he comes and puts out his hand and takes it? No. Still the hand is open and held out to him. So long as men clench their fists they cannot take it, but if they will open their hands and make the necessary movement they can. Much of God’ s bounty, and forgiveness, and help, and succour, will come upon you, at any rate, through the incidental influence of Divine providence; but the personal mercies of God, the sweetness of His grace, the effluence of His love--these may be yours, they may succour you, restore you, strengthen you, inspire you, and build you up in time for eternity, if you will; but it all lies with you. (H. W. Beecher.)Distant missions God always has a place for His children. If they are not wanted in one sphere, they are in another. Their place may be “ far hence,” far from the sphere which they long to fill, far from their present circle of companionship; in quite another profession and line of service from that which they have felt sure they were intended for; but wherever it is, it is the only place for them to be in. The far-off place which God chooses is better than any place nearer which is the disciple’ s preference. God sometimes comes to a teacher in his class, to a superintendent at the head of his school, to a pastor in a delightful field of labour, to a father or a mother in a pleasant home, to a student in the middle of his college career, to a business man in a work for which he seems eminently fitted, and says to the surprised hearer, “ I will send thee forth far hence.” When God speaks that word, no child of His may hold back from a prompt and hearty acquiescence. The only proper response to such an announcement is, “ Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Thy sight.” (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The answer of the Lord to the “ but” of His servants 1. Even the sincere servants of God have often a “ but” against the commands of the Lord: it may arise from fear as with Jonah, or from modesty as with Moses and Jeremiah, or from conscientiousness as with Peter, or from compassion as with Abraham toward Sodom, and Paul toward the Jews. 2. Yet in spite of these “ buts,” the Lord remains firm to His command, “ Depart” ; and at length obtains the glory. “ He has done all things well.” (K. Gerok.) Acts 22:22-23 And they gave audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices. The point of secession Paul was listened to attentively until he came to the word “ Gentiles.” How some words madden men! We are not offended by the word “ Gentiles,” otherwise we should be offended by our own name; but the Jews were the enemies of the Gentiles, and they have written oaths that they themselves would rather not have any Messiah than one that had a kindly feeling towards the heathen; and their books are full of cursing against all men who were not Jews. This explains the fury of the mob: so long as Paul had a tale to tell they listened to him. Paul--a wise rhetorician--kept the burning word until the very last, but, like a man skilled in speech, he got it quite out. Its very place is a stroke of genius; it is the last word, but the moment it was uttered it was like a spark thrown into a magazine of gunpowder. I. It is curious to observe is the New Testament the points at which audiences break away from the speakers.1. Take the case of Christ. In John 6:66, we read, “ From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” --the time of spiritual revelation. So long as there were parables to hear, and loaves and fishes to be divided, and miracles to be wondered at, there was no turning away; but when the Lord became intensely spiritual then they left Him. This is a point which is often forgotten. We are often told, “ Preach like Jesus, and the people will hear you gladly” ; whereas the truth is that the moment Christ left the elements of teaching and came to deal with the real and eternal purpose of His teaching, the people left Him. That must be the result of spiritual preaching everywhere. The world does not want spiritual preaching. If we were to speak spiritually, the churches would be empty: we are obliged to keep on the outside, and show the great stones of the temple; we dare not go inside and touch the altar. 2. The Athenians left Paul at another point. They listened to him with more or less interest when he made his great speech upon Mars’ hill, but the moment he began to speak about the resurrection, “ some mocked,” etc. They did not want to hear about the resurrection; they wanted philosophy, speculation, high discourse, poetry. 3. In this particular instance another point of departure is chosen. The Jews listened to Paul so long as he confined himself to matters which were more or less of a purely Jewish kind, but the moment he said “ Gentiles” they went mad. II. The great teaching of this review is that all men part company with their teachers at certain points. The point is not always the same: some remained with Jesus, notwithstanding the spirituality of His teaching; some heard about the resurrection of the dead with comparative interest; others could hear about the Gentiles with mental composure. But there are points at which we all fly off, which would dissolve this assembly in a moment. Men always like to listen to themselves preaching. Who dare speak the new word? Look at this particular case: the disease under which these people were suffering was the eternal disease of humanity--narrow-mindedness. The man who could entertain a kindly interest towards the Gentiles was a “ fellow” “ not fit to live.” That was called religious earnestness, contention for the faith once delivered to the saints! Have we learned Christ’ s great lesson: “ Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring” ? Have we left the ninety-and-nine accepted ideas in the wilderness and gone out after that which is lost, until we find it? I do not ask for new truth, for there is none and can be none; I ask for great-heartedness that will listen to all kinds of people, hoping that they will drop one word which the great Teacher can take up and magnify into a gospel. If any man has a prophecy, let us hear it; if any man has a new reading of the old Book, let us hear him. A tone may be a lesson; an emphasis may be equal to a revelation. The only condition of mind which Jesus Christ can approve is a condition of all hopeful love. (J. Parker, D. D.)An audience too prejudiced to be convinced These verses are a sad revelation of prejudice. I. One “ word” destroyed the effect of a whole discourse. “ They gave him audience unto this word” --“ Gentiles.” Their prejudice was that Jews alone were the objects of Divine favour; that the Gentiles were reprobate. Hence they were roused to the greatest excitement. How often is this the case! Let the preacher in the course of a sermon filled with lofty truths utter a word that strikes against the prepossessions of some hearer, and the whole sermon goes for nothing. Let not the preacher who avoids striking at prejudices conclude, from the attention of his audience, that his sermon has been accepted. Had Paul concluded before he uttered that “ word,” he might have inferred that his audience was brought into sympathy with his views. II. One “ word” roused the malignant passions into fury. This one word had hurled reason from the throne, opened the floodgates of passion, and made them the sport of a lawless rage. They roared like lions, they howled like wolves. In such a state of mind all argument fell powerless upon them. III. One “ word” transformed the best teacher into a wretch. “ Away with such a fellow.” Thus offended prejudice has always acted. Thus towards Christ, thus towards the martyrs, thus towards the true teachers of all times. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul and the bigoted Jews The most inspiring subjects for the artist’ s pencil have come from the Bible narrations, and but few equal the occasion upon which our text was uttered. Upon a staircase leading from the temple stands a venerable apostle, chained between two soldiers. Around him is the Roman guard; beneath are scowling, bloodthirsty Jews; violent hands and feet join with raging tongues, so that a cloud of dust and garments thrown off obscure the sunlight. Why this uproar in such a place? Its sole cause is a recital of Christian experience. The witness is one well known to be competent and trustworthy--once Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, now Paul, ready to die for that Master whom he had madly persecuted. I. Compare the blindness of those who reject Christ today with that of these Jews.1. Had they not known all his life of persecution, the death of Stephen? Had they not just heard the marvellous story of his conversion? Did they not know his self-sacrifice and pure life of love and tenderness? Had they not overwhelming evidence in the fruits of his labours that God was with him? What a blindness must have enshrouded them! 2. Great, indeed, was the flood of evidence; but he who rejects Christ today closes his eyes to greater light. For-- (1) Christianity is no longer of recent origin, or of sporadic appearance. (a) It has revolutionised the world’ s life. It has levelled the proudest thrones, dispelled the most tenacious superstitions, lighted up heathen darkness, civilised savagery. (b) Unlike all other religions which time disintegrates, Christianity is progressive. (c) For centuries the Bible has stimulated and rewarded closest study, and today its fulness and undeveloped wealth are more than ever conspicuous. (d) All life has been leavened by the purifying and quickening power of Christianity. (e) Paul’ s persecutors had seen thousands brought in loving abasement and gracious quickening to the Cross; but now, millions upon millions from all nations under the sun unite in a testimony substantially accordant. No testimony on earth is so cumulative, so inexplicable upon ordinary philosophy, so reinforced by lives of purity and self-sacrifice. (2) The unbeliever is today surrounded by transformations inexplicable upon any theory but that of a living Christ working by the power of the Holy Ghost. How can such blindness then and now be explained? II. Those who reject Christ today, like these Jews, are unwilling to see the light.1. The Jews knew that if Paul was right, they were wrong; that the murders of Jesus and Stephen were criminal and damning. Their selfish interests clamoured. Their individual preeminence, and their worldly affluence, were endangered. Hence they would not look at the claims of the gospel, and hesitated at no extreme of fraud and violence. 2. So today, the unbeliever wilfully spurns light at which he would catch eagerly in any other pursuit, and rushes into blind persecution, or sits aloof in contempt or indifference. May not such stubbornness become so obdurate that character shall be fixed beyond repair? May not spiritual faculties become permanently fixed in wrong activities by continued distortion? In a word, may not man abdicate forever, though only for a mess of pottage, his Divine birthright of freedom of will? Judicial blindness may come upon all who misuse their spiritual faculties. Observation brings many cases to view where the will seems to have lost its flexibility, and, like a lashed rudder, steers the poor lost soul straight to the dark gulf of hell. 3. The explanation of this blind tenacity of will in a bad cause can be found in personal hatred. These Jews at Jerusalem and elsewhere hated Paul murderously; and that hate drowned all appreciation of his intellectual preeminence, his generous self-abnegation, and his noble spirit of conciliation so eager to win them to a better mind even now. But they are not alone in such hate. III. Unbelief today cherishes a personal hate, the same in kind though varying in degree and mode of expression. Personal relations are great formative factors of every life, and always evoke answering sympathies or antipathies.1. Man is always in closest contact with God. Hence, by the laws of his being, he must respond to that relationship in obedience, or in opposition. It is a sad fact that such opposition is the first and certain attitude of the unrenewed soul. Let a personal God declare himself in nature’ s extent, and wondrous mechanisms, in processes that require design, and which slowly unfold themselves in minute adaptation to man’ s wants, then infidelity, claiming to be scientific, cries out, even of the God of nature, “ Away with him!” 2. The Bible, in itself and in its triumphs, indicates God’ s personal presence. It therefore cannot escape the opposition of infidelity. 3. Organised Christianity--the visible Church--presses its claims upon the attention of a lost world; but such claims are, the signal for unflagging hostility. If the Church is right, the world is wrong: no truce is possible. 4. Our Lord Himself does not escape this hate of infidelity. Rome substitutes Mariolatry, works of supererogation, fires of purgatory, and sacerdotal agency. Unitarianism elevates the sinner above the need of redemption, and scouts at the blood of Calvary as offensive to cultivated sensibilities. Coarse blasphemy reserves the name of Jesus for its whitest heats and most violent outbursts. (S. L. B. Spears.)Ignorant bigots On entering the Gudarigby Caverns, near the Murrumbidgee River, New South Wales, you will see large numbers of the great-leaved horseshoe bat. If you proceed with torches they will become so eager to escape from your light that they will annoy you exceedingly by flapping against your face in their eagerness to escape into a congenial darkness. How much they remind one of those ignorant bigots who, when the torch of truth is carried into the recesses of superstition, dash in wild exasperation against the enlightener, and do their utmost to seek intellectual gloom! (Scientific Illustrations.) Acts 22:24-29 The chief captain commanded him to be brought to the castle.The Jews, the Boman, and the Christian I. The Jews in their conduct, which necessitated the interference of the chief captain, illustrate--1. The blindness of religious bigotry. They rushed to the conclusion that Paul was not fit to live, in the first instance, with no evidence whatever. They now rushed to the same conclusion against the clearest evidence that could be produced. Thus bigotry works everywhere, in Church and State. Let a man run counter to prevailing prejudices, and he is condemned unheard; and no vindication, however clear and cogent; is allowed to remove the prejudice. 2. The murderousness of religious hatred. Twice within an hour was Paul’ s life in peril from the men with whom he differed in certain points. Let it be remembered that Paul’ s attitude was not antagonistic to Judaism; he had simply advanced Christianity beyond the Judaic province. But to have any relations with Gentiles was an unpardonable offence. And differences which have been far removed from hostilities in religion, politics, temperance, and other reforms, have been occasions for aiming poisoned darts at character, business, influence, etc. II. The roman officer represents--1. The stern justice which would get at the facts. Lysias, like Gallio, cared neither for the Jews nor for Paul, but, unlike Gallio, he desired that strict justice should be done. Paul had twice created an uproar in a short space--a thing undesirable anywhere to that embodiment of order, a Roman official, but most undesirable in Jerusalem, where inflammable materials always existed in abundance. So if he could get at the facts he might allay the present agitation, and perhaps prevent future disturbances. This is all Christianity wants--a fair field and no favour. 2. The legality which is equitable in its ends bus unfair in its use of means. Three courses were open to the captain-- (1) To interrogate Paul and the ringleaders separately. (2) To bring them face to face. (3) To assume Paul’ s guilt, and extract by torture the occasion of the uproar. This last was the course that Lysias proposed--a course allowable by Roman law in the case of all but Roman citizens, but violating the first principles of law. This has been the course pursued by all classes, and Christian and social reformers have in all ages been victims of it. 3. The officialism which, convicted of illegality, cowers in fear. When the chief captain discovered that he had bound, and nearly scourged, a Roman citizen, he was afraid, as he might well be (Acts 22:29). And so has many an ecclesiastic and statesman when he has done, or proposed to do, evil that good might come. III. Paul is an example of--1. The prudence which quietly bides its time. Instead of angrily protesting, while the clamorous mob sufficiently deafened the soldiery, thereby adding exasperation to confusion, and in vain, Paul waits till the clamour subsides at the sight of preparations for scourging. Then, as soon as there is a lull and he can be heard, he speaks. A lesson of patience and self-possession. Many a man has lost himself and his cause through premature speech or action. 2. The wisdom which discerns when its time is come. Ere the first humiliating lash descended, Paul speaks the word which made the Roman quail. Many have the prudence to wait, but fail to see and seize upon the “ time to speak” or act when it comes. How many opportunities for Christian effort or social usefulness are allowed to pass by from the lack of this faculty! 3. The dignity which asserts its rights. There is a time to submit, and that often came to Paul. But now clearly was the time for Christ’ s sake and his own to stand upon his dignity. And that time comes both to the individual and to the Church. (J. W. Burn.)The moral cowardice of warriors I. Fear of the people made the chief captain cruel towards Paul. Why did the Roman tribune command Paul to be brought into the castle to be scourged? Not because he could have been in any way convinced of his guilt, but because he wished to conciliate the raging mob. Here is base cowardice. The love of right should make the ruler superior to the fear of man. II. Fear of the Roman power forced him to desist. While the indignities were being inflicted, Paul, with the heroism of a great man, said, “ Is it lawful,” etc. From the conversation that took place, three things are observable--1. Paul’ s self-command. He speaks without rage or excitement to the bold Roman himself: “ Is it lawful,” etc. 2. The apostle’ s civic superiority. Paul was a “ freeborn” citizen of Rome, the chief captain a citizen only by purchase. 3. The force of the Roman name. As soon as they heard that Paul was a Roman, the officer and the soldiers recoiled. Conclusion; This incident accords with Roman history. Cicero, against Verres, says, “ It is a heinous sin to bind a Roman citizen; it is wickedness to beat him; it is next to parricide to kill him; and what shall I say to crucify him?” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman?--Asserting rights Shortly before James I came to the throne of England, he set up a claim to all the small estates in Cumberland and Westmoreland, on the plea that the “ statesmen” were merely the tenants of the Crown. The statesmen met, to the number of two thousand, at Batten Heath, between Kendal and Staveley, where they came to the resolution that “ they had won their lands by the sword and were able to hold them by the same.” After that meeting no further claim was made. (H. O. Mackey.)Take heed … for this man is a Roman.--The prevailing plea A man was captured in Cuba, in 1869, by the Spanish troops under suspicious circumstances, and he was condemned to be shot. English by birth and American by naturalisation, the consuls of these two nations interfered for his life, but in vain. The condemned man was brought out to be shot. The soldiers were drawn up in file with loaded guns, when the English and American consuls threw over the man their national flags; the Spanish authorities did not dare to fire upon the Cross of St. George or the Stars and Stripes, and the man was saved. “ Take heed,” the consuls said, “ this man is English, this man is an American.” So when a sinner trusts in Christ, and his soul is sprinkled with His precious blood, no power can harm. Christ says to Justice, “ Take heed, this man is My brother” ; and to the world, and to Satan, and to all the powers of evil, “ Take heed, this man is a Christian.” (Christian Age.)Paul said, But I was free born.--Birthright goodness and goodness which we pay for There are two kinds of goodness: that which comes of itself, and that which comes with effort and struggle; goodness born of nature, or made by will. Some people seem to be good by nature. They are free born. Children of a good blood, born in families educated during many generations to be true, just, generous, respectful; the stamp of the race appears in their habits of thought and action. But others are less fortunate. They come from a bad stock, and the poor blood of bad ancestors runs in their veins. They are by nature peevish, egotistical, vain, wilful, irritable, sensual. They are aware of their proclivities; they resist them with heroic courage. They succeed, with immense effort, in conquering this demon in their organisation, and contrive to become moderately good people. With a great sum they purchase this freedom from evil. They are emancipated by their own heroic efforts, and are not the slaves of sin, but have become the freemen of the truth. It is evident that those who have thus emancipated themselves by their own efforts deserve more credit than those who are born with the possession of all sweetnesses and all purities. This is the encouragement for those who find a great deal to contend against in their nature or their circumstances. When the spirit is willing, but the flesh weak; when the law in the member wars against the law of the mind; when some irresistible current seems to be setting you down, away from what is good and right; then remember that you need not despair; that you are not asked to do more than you can, but only what you can; that having little, you are to give diligence gladly to give of that little, and that your reward will be greater if you use your one talent aright, and improve it to the utmost, than those will obtain who, having a great endowment of power and faculty, make little use of it. All this is true; but it will not do to push this truth too far. If one deserves great credit who obtains his moral freedom with a great sum, expending time, effort, self-denial, self-control therein, it is also a great blessing to be free born. I am often asked, “ Which kind of goodness is the best and highest, that of nature or that of effort?” If you say that the goodness of struggle is the best, because it has most temptations to conquer, then we must ask what temptations God has to resist? He “ is not tempted with evil” at all. Moreover, if we say that that goodness is greatest which has most temptation to resist and most evil to conquer, then it would follow that as we grow better we grow worse. This is absurd. Therefore it follows that, while there is more moral merit in resisting evil, there is more moral beauty in not having any evil to resist. The life and character of Jesus is the best solution of this paradox. If we ask, “ Which is the best kind of goodness, that which consists in struggle and effort, or that which comes naturally and easily without struggle?” we find that Jesus had both kinds of goodness in equal and harmonious union. His whole life, on one side, was a struggle and a battle. He was tempted on all points, like as we are; but without sin. Though a son, He learned obedience through the things which He suffered. Yet He was the well-beloved Son, dwelling in the bosom of the Father, pure from all stain of evil. He combined these two forms of goodness perfectly--that of nature and that of effort. This made Him complete and perfect. For though Jesus had this battle, it did not consist in any struggle with evil in Himself. He was born pure and free from stain. He was born of the Holy Spirit. No drop of black blood corrupted His heart. A great prophecy has lain hidden in human hearts from the beginning, of such a being as this. Seeing everywhere among men weakness, ignorance, sin, the human heart has cried out for someone to come who, while being a man like ourselves, should be an example of uncorrupt humanity. God, who made us with this longing and this prophetic hope, sent to us in Jesus Christ its answer and fulfilment. He showed us this one pure soul, in whose life the most searching criticism has never yet found a stain, and yet He was one who had to struggle, as we struggle, suffer as we suffer, resist temptation as we resist it, and whose whole life was not only growth, but also battle; in whom, therefore, we find the fulness of the Godhead by finding the fulness of manhood, since man was made in the image of God. Jesus stands as the central figure in history; the reconciliation of races, creeds, philosophies, and religions; the Son of God in holiness; the Son of man in goodwill and humility. There are, therefore, those two kinds of goodness: the goodness which comes from struggle, and that which comes from nature; but the life of Jesus shows that they are at heart one. This also appears from the fact that each tends to produce the other. The natural growth into good prepares us to struggle for it. Struggle and effort to do right at last consolidate into right habits and tendency. Mr. Darwin says that a long-necked horse by straining upward to get the leaves from the trees may, after a few thousand centuries, have been developed into a giraffe. About this we cannot be certain, but I do not doubt that a bad man after a while may become a good man. The goodness is incomplete which does not unite the virtue which struggles and the sweetness which grows. There are in all our lives a natural happy development, and hours of crisis. With Jesus the development came first, and prepared Him for the final crisis. With others the struggle comes first, and ripens into a calm and assured peace. We are made to inherit or attain both kinds of goodness; we are intended to grow up in all things into Him who is our Head, even Jesus. If He was perfect, He has said to us that we may also become perfect. “ Be ye perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” If Jesus is thus far the exception, and if imperfection is thus far the rule, He came to reverse the law and to make that which is now the rule to become the exception. All the New Testament is full of calls and invitations to become like Jesus; to be grafted in Him, and so to produce much fruit; to grow up as He grew up, and to struggle manfully as He struggled, and so to inherit all His life and power; to be heirs with God and joint heirs with Christ, in this, and in all the worlds which are to come. (J. Freeman Clarke.)The privileges of birth 1. Are not to be despised by Christians.2. A wrong use of them, however, is worse than contempt for them.3. There are times when they may be used as weapons of defence. (J. H. Tasson.)The Christian’ s birthright:--Every Christian is free born. Christ hath made him free. The new birth is a birth into freedom, freedom from sin, freedom from fear, freedom in love and in the truth, freedom in action as the natural outflowing of his soul, and yet at the beginning he has attained this freedom only in part. It. Independence Hall at Philadelphia there is the bell which in 1776 first rang out to the citizens who were awaiting the action of Congress, then sitting with closed doors, that the Declaration of Independence had been decided upon. Fifteen years before this, that bell was cast with these words upon it, “ Proclaim liberty to all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:15). Fifteen long years it rang--rang the hope of liberty, rang the prophecy of liberty; but at length it rang out liberty attained and the prophecy was fulfilled. So every Christian has liberty inwrought upon his soul at his new birth--partly a fact and partly a prophecy, but a prophecy becoming fulfilled; and at length, when the truth has done its work, no longer in prophecy but in reality shall the Christian know the glorious liberty of the sons of God. (Christian Age.). Acts 23:1-11 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren.Paul before the council 1. The history of apostolic missions is finished; but before the parchment is rolled up, the line of one life is carried a few stages farther that we may see the promise fulfilled, “ Lo, I am with you alway,” etc. We learn here how the Lord reigneth; how He makes effectual the command, “ Touch not Mine anointed.” When we see the waves rising, we cry like Peter as if all was lost. Here the Lord, in mingled reproof and encouragement, would seem to say, “ Oh, thou of little faith,” etc. 2. The Sanhedrin had assembled, and Paul, led in, eyed the assembly. If there be courage in the heart it finds an expressive outlet by the eye. Cowards cannot stand a brave man’ s look, nor lions. In Paul’ s case a good conscience and a strong faith added power to his look. 3. Paul did not wait till a charge was preferred, for he was not on his trial. He is sent by the Roman authorities in order that his case may be investigated by experts for the guidance of the governor. So Paul was the first to speak. 4. The apostle had an intelligent object in view when he said, “ Brother men.” He saw those who had been his fellow students, and even juniors, and had done nothing to forfeit his position as their colleague. I. The high priest insulting Paul.1. As soon as Paul had begun to speak Ananias abruptly ordered the officers to smite him on the mouth, which reveals the extreme corruption and degradation of Jewish society. The chief magistrate perpetuates an act of ruffianism from his bench. In rejecting the Messiah the hierarchy were given over to a reprobate mind. 2. We have here a general law. When a sinner accepts Christ there is an immediate elevation of the moral sense. He becomes a new creature. But the converse holds good. When Christ comes near to any mind and is rejected the last state of the rejecter is worse than the first. Those who waste privileges and quench convictions sink lower than those who never enjoyed them. II. Paul answering the high priest. The pungency of the apostle’ s reproof needs no other justification than the one he gave. Luther was wont to launch such thunderbolts, and great and earnest men in all ages have brought their unjust judges suddenly to the bar. Ananias seems to have been struck dumb, and some courtiers or aspirants for favour endeavoured to shield their astonished patron by flinging his official dignity over the ermined culprit whose conduct they dare not excuse. For Paul there is no need for apology. He had cause to be angry, and in his apology made clear an important distinction between the office and the man. He respects the priesthood while he denounces the criminal. (W. Arnot, D. D.)Paul before the council 1. The scene is shifted from a torture chamber to a court of justice, from heathens to Hebrews, from soldiers to ecclesiastics, from Roman tyrants to the missionary’ s schoolmates and countrymen; but the change only subjects him to ruder insults and more deadly perils. 2. Bad men’ s impatience of real goodness is not uncommon. The prisoner looked straight into the faces of these councillors. If they had expected a criminal’ s frightened, wandering eye, they were disappointed. With the swiftness of memory, and possibly for a moment with its tenderness too, some of them thought, “ Why, this is the same Saul we used to know.” Then the man “ before the council,” as they might have anticipated, without exordium and with easy self-possession, assured them that since he had met them he had “ lived in all good conscience before God.” Instantly, the gentle offices of memory ceased. The present arose. “ Smite him on the mouth,” was the high priest’ s command. To this mad bull Paul’ s “ good conscience” was the red rag. Just so was it that David’ s innocence wrought upon King Saul, the quietness of the Prince of Orange upon Alva, and Jesus upon this very Sanhedrin. 3. Yet in such antagonism goodness proves its power. Meekness is quite consistent with self-respect. The exposure of a sham is benevolent and just. To resent and defeat a wrong often becomes the plainest duty. Paul did his duty here. The judge is silenced by the prisoner, and during the approaching “ Jewish war” he is murdered by assassins--God smites the “ whited wall.” 4. But Paul will not have it supposed that in mere anger he had been betrayed into disrespect toward “ God’ s high priest.” “ I wist not that he was high priest,” said he composedly, Further effort in behalf of the high priest nobody attempts. In the swift hours which make history such rubbish as Ananias is soon put out of the way. 5. Then one learns how a man with a “ good conscience” may be served by his wits. Paul’ s had not been wasted by disuse, dulled by self-indulgence, nor worn out by his sufferings. The irony which he had just used so effectively against Ananias becomes almost mirthful in its shrewdness, as he now disposes of the other councillors. Well Paul knew how cordial were the contentions of two chief parties in Jerusalem. “ Of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question,” cried Paul. Then followed the conflagration. How comical it must have seemed as these high councillors flew at one another! For more than half the court what a meritorious person had the accused suddenly become! Especially would Paul appreciate “ the scribes which were of the Pharisees’ part.” To one so familiar with the rapacity and heartlessness of their partisanship, whose own strategy had accomplished this marvellous change of front, the lofty air, the love of truth, the conscientiousness, the fear of fighting “ against God,” must have been ludicrous. Nor is the solemnity of the scene enhanced by the sudden reappearance of Lysias and his soldiers. Shall the rulers of the people of God be set to rights by the worshippers of Mars? 6. As, however, the earnest missionary goes back to the castle, his smiles would quickly fade at the sad contrast between this fanaticism and religion. Zealots are not always saints. The high priest and Pharisees and Sadducees were capable of dying for their shibboleth. And, though our bigotry be of a milder sort, we need Hot despise a warning. The best time to kill thistles is when they are sprouting. We furnish a climate for them as well as Jews, but it is but poor soil in which Calvinism or Episcopacy or Arminianism thrives more than godliness. How does charity thrive? There is the question for all sects and for all ages. 7. But there are times when moralising must wait. Life’ s problems and contests are too vast; our weakness yields under them. What we require is not authority, but tenderness. Such an hour had arrived for this weary missionary. Yesterday and today bad been even full of perils and excitements. The man is too weary to sleep. Who is there to comfort him? Not unaccustomed was Paul to have the fairest visions on the darkest roads. The dungeon at Philippi had become to him a throne of glory. Expelled from the Corinthian synagogue the Lord draws near to him there. And the same vision that was to strengthen him on his way to Rome comforts him now: “ The Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul.” And we may suppose that he who had been too weary to sleep was now too happy to sleep. Conclusion:1. We think of the preciousness of a good man. We have bad here the usual variety of men--a pretentious hypocrite, his furious associates, an average heathen captain, his stupid soldiery, and besides these one man who “ lived in all good conscience before God.” It is easy to see who is Master, and He rules our hearts today. 2. Yet the good man is among enemies. He did not imagine that to be on the right side is to be on the easy side. 3. But the good man among enemies has God’ s care and love. (H. A. Edson, D. D.)Paul before the council It was a scene of strange contrasts and apparently unequal conflict--one man, face to face with the representative body of a whole people, hot for merciless judgment. And yet he does not seem to be disconcerted. He rises to the occasion, and, “ looking steadfastly on the council,” begins his defence. I. Paul spoke out of an honest conviction.1. “ I have lived before God in all good conscience.” The apostle refers not so much to character as to purpose. The “ chief of sinners,” as he calls himself, would hardly make boast of his faultlessness; he simply asserts that he is actuated by a supreme desire to do right in the sight of God. It is true he has broken with the religion of his fathers, but he is not a fanatical extremist and destructive. His only anxiety is to honour God. 2. Hearty conviction is ever a prerequisite of power. It is not the truth which we touch with our fingertips, but the truth which we grasp firmly, that is made “ mighty through God.” Mere speculation or half faith are worth little. The men of mark in history have been men of strong convictions. Napoleon devoutly believed in what he called his “ star,” and his faith in it made him the great soldier of Europe. More especially is it true that, in advancing the gospel, its defenders need definite convictions II. Paul frankly admitted his errors of judgment.1. The apostle had spoken without knowing whom he addressed, and he was in haste to state that his fault was one of ignorance, and not of intent. He stood for truth, and had no wish for anything but legitimate methods of defence. 2. It is never judicious for the advocates of truth to assume that they are infallible, and their opponents always wrong. In the conflict between science and revelation, and between Church and Church, assumption on the one side and the other is altogether too prominent. The true spirit of teachableness is always ready to admit its fallibility. III. Paul made use of the things in which he and his hearers were agreed, to lead them to consider the things in which they disagreed.1. It was a shrewd stroke, but it was not the trick of a demagogue. It was in the line of Paul’ s uniform policy. To the Jew he became as a Jew. His business was to win men to Christ, and any expedient that helped to that end was legitimate. Especially was it fitting that he should enlist the sympathy of some of his hearers by assuring them that, in common with them, he had faith in immortality, and that the doctrine he taught was vitally related to that grandest of truths. 2. There is instruction here for those who endeavour to induce men to accept the gospel. How can we best get a leverage upon men? Certainly not by assault, but by advancing from the admitted to the unknown. Christian believers and the irreligious world hold some truths in common--the existence of God, the fact of sin, the need of pardon, the endless hereafter; and the efficient Christian worker puts himself on a level with the mass, owns a common frailty, emphasises common needs, and shows the way to a common salvation. To lead men, not to drive them into the kingdom--is the ideal of Christian work. (E. S. Attwood, D. D.)Paul before the council 1. Paul could look steadfastly at the council, for he was no criminal whose own knowledge of guilt should cause him to hang his head in shame. 2. Paul realised that he was living before God. A man is not likely to go far wrong so long as he remembers that God’ s eye is constantly upon him. 3. Paul had that best of all possessions, an approving conscience. Therefore Paul was confident and independent. 4. Paul’ s words enraged Ananias. Nothing arouses a bad man’ s anger sooner than a reminder of a good man’ s goodness. 5. Paul could feel and express a righteous indignation. Christianity never takes the backbone out of a man. 6. Paul could righteously regret his indignant response after it was uttered. The best Christian makes mistakes of ignorance. (S. S. Times.)Paul before the council The narrative-- I. Teaches the comfort and necessity, under such circumstances, of a good conscience. Paul, standing before the council, could look his enemies in the eye. He had done nothing he was ashamed of. What misery has he whose former sins must be concealed from his fellow men! Only he who is conscious of rectitude can maintain his peace and self-possession in the face of foes. There was no assumption of self-conceit in Paul’ s quiet assertion. His statement was simply the truth. Self-respect is very different from self-conceit. II. Throws some light on the duty and manner of rebuke.1. An innocent man, whom malignity is seeking to crush, cannot but be indignant. Shall he express his mind to his enemies? The Bible tells us, “ Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him” ; but immediately adds, “ Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.” This apparent contradiction means that we must be governed by circumstances. Ananias had been guilty of a brutal outrage. Christ’ s example on a similar occasion is, to be sure, somewhat in contrast to that of the apostle (John 18:22-23). And yet, on occasion. He called the Pharisees “ serpents,” “ generation of vipers,” and, as Paul evidently remembered in his appellation of Ananias, “ whited sepulchres.” Rebuke, then, is proper at certain times. But it is equally clear that such a weapon should be used cautiously. It is easy to be hasty, unkind, presumptuous in rebuke. 2. The narrative certainly makes one important limitation to rebuke, as it shows that one’ s office may command respectful treatment, when personal character does not. “ I wist not, brethren,” etc. Do we, in this irreverent age, remember this? The president of the United States deserves a certain consideration as president which he might not receive as a private citizen. We must honour his office, if not him. We grievously wrong ourselves and our country when we indiscriminately denounce those high in authority. We weaken government in bringing our lawgivers, judges, and executives into public contempt. Let it be apparent that a public office exposes one to slander and disrespect, presently the office will go a begging for good men; only those whose unworthiness makes them callous to dishonour will consent to take it. So with the ministry. III. Shows the value to the Christian in trouble of a familiarity with the Scriptures. How readily and happily Paul handled God’ s Word! The Christian in trouble has no such defence as the Scripture. Here is an armoury whence may be drawn weapons for every need. But, to be available, it must be always at hand. As soldiers, in time of war, sleep on their arms, ready at a moment’ s warning to spring to their feet, rifle in hand, so must we have the texts of Scripture so familiar that we can without delay bring them to bear as needed. IV. Reveals the method to be used in presenting truth. First find a common standing place in some truth on which both agree, and then work up from this. Paul addressed the council as “ brother men.” This was one point of union. He claimed to have lived in all good conscience; and all acknowledged the authority of conscience. He declared himself a Pharisee: a third point of union. He then advanced to doctrines which a part of them held in common--immortality and the resurrection. Paul pursued the same method in his famous speech at Athens. This was sanctified wisdom. Before we ascend the pyramid together, we must rendezvous at the base. In confuting the arguments of unbelievers, the first thing is to find out what we hold in common. In winning souls to Christ the first step is to establish an identity of interests and views on such fundamental truths as our sense of sin, our longing for heaven, our need of salvation, our dependence on Christ. V. Illustrates the place of expediency in the Christian’ s conduct. Paul’ s words started a dissension which instantly divided their forces. Paul’ s course was shrewd. How far is such shrewdness allowable? Notice that Paul first attempted to meet his accusers on high ground, which is met with a blow on the mouth, he can hope nothing, then, from such a course. He has tried the first horn of his dilemma; he must now take the other, and answer a fool according to his folly. It is possible to be keen, quick witted, swift to seize advantages, turning disaster into victory, and yet be honest, truthful, and perfectly fair. Our Saviour blames His followers because “ the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” ; and elsewhere commands them to be “ wise as serpents.” Still we feel strongly that there is a limit here. It is hard to draw the line. The question must rather be decided by each man in the individual emergency. On the one hand, however, it is plain that the Christian may use all his quickness of intellect to escape from difficulties; while, on the other, he must in no way do aught that is unfair to his fellow men, belittling to himself, or dishonourable to God. VI. Teaches us God’ s care. What a contrast between the confusion and tumult of that day was the quiet night succeeding, when the apostle saw Jesus standing beside him, and heard Him lovingly say, “ Be of good cheer,” etc. This is the best part of life, when, after the troublous scenes of our daily battle, Christ comes to us to cheer and strengthen us. (A. P. Foster.)Incidental characteristics 1. We sometimes pay compliments unconsciously, and tributes to power in the very act of appearing to despise it. Paul never appeared socially greater than when sent to Caesarea with “ two hundred soldiers,” etc. so small a man. We have entered into a new region of apostolic history; we shall sometimes be almost amused by certain aspects of it--such great courts and such a small prisoner. 2. And yet Paul is like his Master--the only quiet man in all the tumult. Paul had himself once been a member of the council which he now addressed as a prisoner! He looks as well in the dock as he looked on the bench; but the remembrance of his once having been on the bench gives him his first sentence--“ Men and brethren.” Think of the criminal addressing the judge as a brother! The quality of men comes out at unexpected places. In no company was there a greater man than Paul. 3. How proud his beginning with a humble pride! (verse 1). Earnest speakers reveal themselves in their first sentence. 4. But goodness always awakens wickedness. Hearing a man claim a good conscience, the high priest was reminded of his own evil career, and “ commanded them that stood by Paul to smite him on the mouth.” That is the only thing the bad man can do. He has no other shot in his locker. 5. Now we see quite a near aspect of Paul. He has borne so much that we thought he would bear everything to the last; but there was a priestism which Paul could not bear, so he exclaimed, “ God shall smite thee, thou whited wall” --a mass of clay chalked over, a white robe covering a black character. Nor was this mere anger. It was inspired by moral emotion and conviction. The reason of this anger is given. We are bound to defend eternal rectitude. It is a sin to appear to be satisfied when the heart is filled with a conviction that things are wrong. Paul speaks here not for himself only, but for every man who suffers wrongfully. The prophecy was fulfilled: the beast was dragged out not long afterward and killed by vengeful hands. 6. It is curious to notice, and most instructive, how religious some people suddenly become. “ They that stood by said, Revilest thou God’ s high priest?” Hypocrites, everyone I 7. In what follows Paul has been condemned, and commentators have endeavoured to screen him from the sight of those who would be only too anxious to discover a flaw in such fine porcelain. But Paul needs no defence. We may read, “ I did not sufficiently reflect that he was the high priest” ; or, better still, ironically, “ The high priest breaking the law! This cannot be the high priest!” Again Paul advances a moral reason--for that was the great battering ram with which he delivered his most terrific blows. “ For it is written,” etc. Mark the composure, the ability, the gentlemanliness. Up to this point Paul has the best of it. Surely someone must be standing at his right hand whom we cannot see. In this history note-- I. That it is lawful to break up unholy truces. The Pharisees and the Sadducees have combined in a common cause, whereas they are themselves divided by the greatest differences. Paul says, “ I will break this up.” His suggestion was effectual. The Pharisees and the Sadducees fell upon one another, and the Pharisees took his part. It was a master stroke, and we should not forget it in modern controversies. II. That it is lawful to defeat unholy conspiracies. Forty men had bound themselves together neither to eat nor drink until they had slain Paul. Never believe in the oath of bad men; and if you have overheard their plots, publish them. There are confidences we gladly hide away in the heart, but they have no relation to courses which would unhinge society. Put every possible obstacle in the way of bad men. Imagine the forty Jews baffled in their design, and not knowing how they had been baffled! Said they, “ Who knew about this? The oath has been broken by some traitor,” and nine-and-thirty voices reply to the fortieth, “ No.” “ Then how is this?” There is the mysterious element in life, the anonymous force, the mischief that upsets our mischief. This is always God’ s purpose. We do not know how things happen. But something always does happen. III. That in the most saintly lives there are moments of apparent desertion by God. Throughout these exciting events, where is the living Lord? The apostle is smitten on the mouth and sent away as a criminal. How is this? Is this the poor return for all the labour we have traced? Yet we ourselves have been in exactly those spiritual circumstances. God does stand afar off sometimes. Why does He not always stand close to the heart that has never struck but in His praise? What is this desertion? It may only be the sleep of the soul, the winter time in which God is giving the life deep rest, and a time of recruital and renewal. Sleep is not death; the conscious absence of God is not atheism. We must learn to bear these vacancies; we cannot always be upon the mountain top. It is part of our larger education. IV. That the desertion is apparent, not real; or temporary, not final. Verse 11 shines over all the rest of this dark chapter. Tomorrow night is coming; this night is not the final darkness. This verse brings us face to face with the fact that Christian consciousness is the beginning of Christian argument. Elisha had the inner vision which saw the nearer army. Jesus Christ combined both the statements upon which we are now dwelling in one sublime utterance; said He, “ I am alone, yet not alone; for the Father is with Me.” We must destroy the character before we can destroy the testimony.1. This is a good answer to all attacks upon the altar of prayer. “ Has your prayer been answered?” When the suppliant can say “ Yes,” that settles the question. The appeal is not to your little scholarship or criticism. Here the man--the well-known man, the man with the solid character, and the sensible, penetrating mind--says, “ My prayers have been answered.” We have been now so long with Paul that we have come to know somewhat about him. He is a strong man, a man of great mental capacity, of distinct logical faculty and unexampled common sense, and now he steps into the witness box and says, “ The Lord stood by me.” What is our answer? 2. Here also we find illustrations of the supreme argument for immortality. This is not a question to be determined by logical fencing and historical research; we must go by the instinctive nature. As for our immortality, we know it; it is graven upon the very substratum of our life. V. That the enemy is made to serve the cause he would destroy. “ Thou must bear witness also at Rome,” and the enemy shall pay the expenses. The enemy is always forced into servitude. God maketh the wrath of man to praise Him. Everything is working for Christ, if we could only see it so; all secular progress is simply making a wider road for the chariot of Immanuel. There is a shorter way from Jerusalem to Rome now than there was in the days of Paul. The invention of steam was an incident in the development of Christian progress. Christians ought to keep their eyes open. The moment there is a new way of travelling invented, the first traveller should be a missionary. The instant you can find a shorter way of communicating with the distant parts of the earth, you should send a Christian message through the new medium. The ships are Christ’ s, and you have let other people use them first for merchandise, and the missionary has been stowed away somewhere as a thing not wholly welcome. “ The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” I would have the Church buy up all bad houses and make good places of them; I would have the Church advertise gospel services in every newspaper; I would have the Church--alive! The Church is not the heroic force of this day, saying, “ I must see Rome also.” When the Church goes to see Rome, the Church goes in a tweed suit, in holiday attire, incog. What is our calling in Christ? Is it to fall asleep, or to be the first force in society? Let me call younger men to heroic temper in this matter. Never mind the charge of madness; in His own day they said that Jesus had a devil, and that He was mad; and later on they said that Paul was beside himself. If Christianity is not a passion supreme in the soul, it is the greatest mistake ever perpetrated by intellectual men. (J. Parker, D. D.)I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.-- A good conscience towards God proceeds from--1. True faith in Christ, which obtains forgiveness of sins.2. The assurance of Divine grace and eternal life.3. The renewal of the Holy Ghost to a new life.4. The faithful performance of our calling. (Starke.)The comfort of a good conscience I. On what basis it rests.1. Justification by faith.2. Diligence in sanctification. II. To what purpose it serves.1. Courageous working.2. Joyful suffering. (K. Gerok.)Conscience in review of the past Remark how the apostle describes his early life in Philippians 3:4-6. Those who attribute to Christianity a gloomy condemnation of, and a certain injustice towards, the natural man, and that which is good in him; or even those real devotees who, going beyond the truth, think badly of and inveigh against themselves and their former life, may learn here from Paul’ s example that a regenerate man may rejoice before God and man, even in his former relatively good conscience, when in a position of error and sin, if his present conscience in Christ bears him witness that he has not been a hypocrite. When a warrior, honourable in his vocation, is taunted after his conversion as a devotee and a hypocrite, he may boldly say, “ Sirs, I have always been an honest and good comrade to you; trust me that I shall be so now.” (R. Stier, D. D.)Conscience not the whole of Christian character There are many men who are very conscientious; but conscience is not the crown of Christian character. Love is the master, and conscience must be its servant. Conscience is a hewer of wood and stone, and a bringer of water. Conscience is necessary; it is indispensable. But suppose a man were to build a house. No doubt it would be indispensable that he should have good square sills and strong corner posts. It would be essential that all the timbers should be of ample strength, and well knitted together and braced. But suppose, after all the timbers were in place and properly jointed, he should ask me to come to his house and see him. A house with nothing but timbers would be like a character which was made up of conscience and nothing else. Before a man asks you into his house, he covers the timbers up outside and inside, so that the walls are smooth and pleasant to come in contact with and to look upon; and if a man’ s character is to be complete, conscience in that character should be covered up by other qualities and made sweet and smooth. Oftentimes, where a man invites his friends to see him, the ceiling of his house is frescoed, and the floor is richly carpeted, and the rooms are light and cheerful, and on every hand are tokens of hospitality. Hospitality does not ask you to sit on a log because a log is necessary to the building of a house. But many men are square-built, conscience-framed men. I would as lief sit on the square end of a log all my life as to live with men who, though they have consciences, are harsh and unlovely and unfruitful, because there is nothing in them to cover up that conscience. Conscience is desirable and necessary; but in order to make it tolerable, love should be thrown around it. Conscience is the frame of character, and love is the covering for it. (H. W. Beecher.)And the high priest Ananias commanded … to smite him on the mouth.--Judicial incongruity Neither animals nor men look well in incongruous situations. On the ground the sloths are about the most awkward and pitiable creatures that can well be imagined, for their forelegs are much longer than the hind ones; all the toes are terminated by very long curved claws; and the general structure of the animals is such as entirely to preclude the possibility of their walking on all fours in the manner of an ordinary quadruped. In this, which is an unnatural situation, they certainly appear the most helpless of animals, and their only means of progression consists in hooking their claws to some inequality in the ground, and thus dragging their bodies painfully along. But in their natural home, amongst the branches of trees, all these seeming disadvantages vanish. It is obvious, therefore, that when the sloth is not in the trees he is in an incongruous situation. And what a lesson his absurd position there should be to us not to make ourselves ridiculous by appearing on scenes where we can only exhibit our incapacity, and evoke either the pity or laughter of mankind! A mart with an inapt, unjudicial mind, presiding on the bench of justice, and performing his functions under the inspiration of a bad heart and an uneven temper, is a spectacle whose incongruity equals that presented by the most clumsy sloth that ever ambled out of its element. Monstrously incongruous, too, is that other spectacle, of a man who has a jockey’ s tastes and a bulldog’ s nature, stalking down to the gilded chamber occupied by the highest wisdom in England, for the purpose of displaying himself as a hereditary legislator ruling a free people. Poor awkward sloth! dragging yourself in unhandy fashion over the ground along which you were never intended to travel, you may be a sad illustration of a creature in an incongruous position, but you are not the most laughable one. These men dispute with you the prize for being the most ridiculous. (Scientific Illustrations.)The outrage of justice by a judge I. It was most unprovoked. Was there anything to justify such gross insolence and injustice?1. Was there anything in that look of Paul’ s? He seems to have given them a wonderful look. It was one of conscious innocence and of searching observation. We may rest assured there was nothing insolent or hard in it, and it must have filled him with melting memories. Certainly there could have been nothing in the look to have provoked the high priest. 2. Was there anything in his address? His declaration that he “ had lived in all good conscience before God until that day” was far more adapted to conciliate than to offend. II. It was nobly met.1. With manly courage. The spirit of Paul, instead of cowering before this insult, rose into noble defiance. The heavenly Teacher Himself denounced the Pharisees as “ whited sepulchres.” The words may be either an imprecation or prediction. If the former, it was an outburst, not unjustified, of a warm temper which formed the foundation of a noble nature. Indignation in itself is not wrong, but a virtuous passion when roused, as in this case, by the vision of a moral enormity. If the latter, the apostle spoke under the inspiration of truth. Josephus informs us that Ananias, with his brother Hezekiah, were slain, when the insurgent ruffians, under their leader Manahem, had got possession of the holy city. 2. By commendable candour. “ Then said Paul, I wist not,” etc. Some suppose that the apostle speaks ironically; that he meant to say, “ I never could suppose that a man who so outraged justice should sit in her seat and administer her affairs.” Others suppose that he really meant what he said; that he really did not know that he was a high priest. Those who take the latter view must regard the apostle as in some measure apologising for his hastiness. The best men are liable to be overtaken by temper, and a candour like Paul’ s is a rare excellence. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall.--Whited walls Paul’ s characterisation recalls at once our Lord’ s denunciation of the Pharisees. This proverbial expression is common over all the East, and the custom which gave rise to it goes back to the times of the ancient Egyptians. Old Egyptian tombs consisted of a deep shaft sunk in the rock, with a subterranean chamber, and sarcophagus containing the body. At the top of the shaft was built a sacrificial chamber, or chambers, which it was the custom to decorate richly with coloured sculptures. Thus, the chamber above ground was decorated with scenes of life and gladness, strangely at variance with the gloomy chamber below. In Palestine most of the mukams, or little sacred buildings built in honour of the local saints, are cenotaphs or tomb buildings. These mukams may be seen on almost every hilltop; they are kept with scrupulous care; offerings are placed in them frequently; and they are whitewashed before every great religious festival. The ordinary Mohammedan graves are often heaped with rubble, which is then covered with stucco. A somewhat similar comparison to that in the text appears in the early Christian writers; as, for instance, in the Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians. Speaking of certain offenders, Ignatius says, “ These to me are monuments and tombs which bear only the names of men.” Here there may be another allusion besides that which is apparent to the Western reader. In rabbinic the word nephesh means the “ vital principle,” a “ person” himself, and a “ tomb.” Of nephesh in this last sense, it might punningly be said to be nephesh--or a living person--only in name. (S. S. Times.)Whited walls Holy offices, spiritual titles, priestly dignities, are but as white lime if they cover an impure heart. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)Threatenings merciful All denunciations of what will happen to the doer of evil are merciful calls to repentance; and had Ananias turned from those sins which Paul denounced when he spoke of him as a whited wall, he might have been saved from the punishment which befell him, and would have Shared the blessedness given to penitents in the life to come. (Bp. Wordsworth.)And they … said, Revilest thou God’ s high priest?--Reviling dignitaries There could hardly be a greater crime, according to Jewish rabbinical notions, than to fail in proper respect to the religious authorities. “ There is for thee no greater honour than the honour of the rabbis, nor fear than the fear of the rabbis. The Sages have said, ‘ The fear of the rabbi is as the fear of God.’” The rabbins also provide that proper respect should be paid to them in greetings. The man who meets a rabbi must “ not give the shalom [the greeting, Peace be upon thee] to his rabbi, or return it to him, as he gives it to his neighbours or returns it to them. But he must bow before his face, and say to him with reverence and honour, Peace be upon thee, my master (rabbi).” And the penalties for contempt of rabbinical authority extend also to the next life. “ No man who despises the Sages,” it is said, “ will have part in the world to come.” (S. S. Times.)Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest.--Paul’ s ignorance of the high priest Considering the disrepute and insignificance into which the high priesthood had fallen during the dominance of men who would only, as a rule, take it for a short time, in order to “ pass the chair” ; considering that one of these worldly intruders took it wearing silk gloves, that he might not soil his hands with the sacrifices; considering, too, that the Romans and the Herods were constantly setting up one and putting down another at their own caprice, and that he people often regarded someone as the real high priest who was no longer invested with the actual office; considering, too, that in such ways the pontificate of these truckling Sadducees had sunk into a mere simulacrum of what once it was, and that the real allegiance of the people had been completely transferred to the more illustrious rabbis--it is perfectly conceivable that Paul, after his long absence from Jerusalem, had not, during the few and much occupied days which had elapsed since his return, given himself the trouble to inquire whether a Kamhit or a Boethusian, or a Canthera, was at that particular moment adorned with the empty title which he probably disgraced. He must, of course, have been aware that the high priest was the Nasi of the Sanhedrin; but in a crowded assembly he had not noticed who the speaker was. Owing to his weakened sight, all he saw before him was a blurred white figure issuing a brutal order, and to this person, who, in his external whiteness and inward worthlessness, thus reminded him of the plastered wall of a sepulchre, he had addressed his indignant denunciation. That he should retract it on learning the hallowed position of the delinquent was in accordance with that high breeding of the perfect gentleman which in all his demeanour he habitually displayed. (Archdeacon Farrar.)Paul’ s ignorance of the high priest Paul would never have guessed the priestly character of Ananias from his conduct. Outside testimony was necessary to show that the religious ruler was there. It is a great pity when a man has to furnish some other evidence than his speech and conduct that he is worthy of respect and confidence. It is not to a man’ s credit when those who have seen him and heard him speak can say, “ I had no idea from his style of speech that he was a clergyman” ; “ I did not suppose that he was a church member” ; “ I am surprised that he holds a position of trust.” Even a child ought to be known by his doings. It is to his shame if those who watch him say, “ He does not act as though he had a good mother” ; “ He certainly fails to show that he has been well brought up” ; “ I cannot understand how that boy has been in a good Sunday school for five years.” How is it with you? Would everybody who meets you wist that you are as worthy of a good name and of an honourable station as you claim to be? (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.) Acts 23:6-10 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out … I am a Pharisee.Paul before the Sanhedrin I. Objections to his conduct.1. That when he said he was a “ Pharisee,” it was not true in the sense which the term would naturally convey, he was not now of their party. He had renounced all connection with them, and had everywhere opposed their characteristic doctrines and practices. 2. That what he affirmed to be the main point involved in his present troubles, “ the hope and resurrection of the dead,” was not really the point for which he was “ called in question,” but for undervaluing the Hebrew institutions; for apostasy from the faith; and for polluting the temple. 3. That this was the trick of an orator rather than the act of a noble-minded man; that it was designed to embarrass, and divide, but that it constituted no defence in regard to the charges which had been brought against him; and that it had no tendency to enlighten the mind of Lysias, or to aid him in the performance of his duty. II. Its vindication.1. We are to bear in mind that the Sanhedrin had properly no jurisdiction over the case and that it had not been submitted to them at all with that view. It was solely referred to them to ascertain the cause of the riot. That one thing discovered, the case would then be entirely in the hands of the Roman authorities. But even in regard to this point, it was manifest at the very opening of the trial, that there was no hope of justice. The command given by the high priest took away all prospect of obtaining a fair hearing. If now, in this state of things, Paul could prove that, in condemning him, as it was manifest they were determined to do, the majority would condemn themselves, and must deny doctrines for which they had always been contending, could it be regarded as unfair or unmanly to show them that this must be so? It is certain that this was his aim. 2. There was, in fact, an important difference of opinion in the Sanhedrin on the most vital subjects of religion. That difference of opinion Paul did not make, nor did he increase it. 3. It was a matter of fact, also, that, so far as these two parties were concerned, Paul was wholly with the Pharisees by ancestry and conviction. Paul had no sympathy with the Sadducees whatever. Moreover, he attached all the importance to the doctrine of the resurrection which the Pharisees had ever done. It had lost none of its value in his estimation by his having become a Christian. 4. Paul held that doctrine now in a form which was to him most convincing in the fact that one had actually been raised from the dead. We may easily suppose that he had the consciousness that he was now able to confirm the views in which he and they had been educated, by an argument vastly superior in strength to that in which they had been trained. 5. It was this doctrine, as thus held, which was the real cause of all that Paul had suffered; and it was, in fact, this for which he had been “ called in question.” He had laid this doctrine at the very foundation of all his arguments for the truth of the Christian religion; and in order to diffuse a knowledge of this he had gone over the world, enduring all forms of privation and suffering. (A. Barnes, D. D.)Paul and the Sanhedrin 1. There is sometimes a gain to the right in setting the forces of the wrong to attacking each other, and to wearing each other out. 2. There is nothing which will so speedily bring the Pharisees to espouse Paul’ s cause as the knowledge of the fact that the Sadducees hate him. 3. There is little love for one another felt by the various adversaries of Christianity. True love is too much of a Christian virtue to be exercised by those who hate Christ. 4. There always arises a great clamour when two theological parties, both in the wrong, are aroused to discussion, of the very theological point upon which they most strongly differ. 5. There was no love for the truth in this suddenly manifested zeal of the Pharisees for Paul. The Pharisees only hated the Sadducees a little worse than they did Paul--that was all. 6. There is sometimes as much danger in being in a fight as there is in being the object of a fight. Paul had to be hurried out of danger, even after the direct assault upon him had ceased. (S. S. Times.)Paul’ s strategy: its vindication Was Paul disingenuous? No-- I. He was a Pharisee by birth and education; he had a right to throw himself on the only section of the crowd with which he had any sympathy, and it would be a great mistake to suppose that there was not a great deal in the better Pharisees of that day with which Paul and every good man could heartily sympathise, if it were nothing else but their firm belief in a spiritual world, and their sincere attempt to live cleanly. If Paul was to stand his ground for a moment in such an assembly, it must be by an immediate appeal to anything friendly to be found there. II. Was it true that he was a prisoner on account of his belief in the resurrection? Was he not rather a prisoner because of his sympathy with the Gentiles? Was he not submitting a false issue at the expense of truth in order to extricate himself from a perilous position? Not at all--he was strictly within the letter and spirit of uprightness. True, the beginning of his troubles had to do with the Gentiles, but the last scene which ended in his being hailed before the Sanhedrin was directly connected with the message he claimed to have had from the Risen One; the mission to the Gentiles held for him its consecrating force directly and solely from “ the power of His resurrection,” and, like a skilful orator, again Paul takes up, not the central grievance at first, but the controversy just where it had left off in chap. 22:21. That is what Paul stood on--the authority of the risen life. The resurrection happened to be held a verity by the Pharisee and a delusion by the Sadducee--it happened to draw all the Pharisees over to Paul’ s side--and it was an oratorical feat to pit the two sects against each other, no doubt, but it was justifiable. The plea was perfectly true, consummately opportune, and absolutely successful. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)A diversion During the early excesses of the French Revolution, a rabble of men and women were rioting in the streets of Paris. Lafayette appeared and ordered a young artillery officer to open fire upon them with two cannon. The officer begged the general to let him try first to persuade them to withdraw. “ It is useless to appeal to their reason,” said the general. “ Certainly,” answered the officer; “ and it is not to their reason, but to their vanity, I would appeal.” The officer rode up to the front of the mob, doffed his cocked hat, pointed to the guns, and said, “ Gentlemen, will you have the kindness to retire; for I am ordered to shoot down the rabble.” The street was cleared at once; for none could brook the idea of being classed with the scum of the city. Paul’ s policy vindicated If a general, who had never distinguished himself by his bravery, should, in some hazardous enterprise, proceed with a caution bordering on timidity, and thus bring off his men in safety, but gain no victory, he might be suspected of cowardice, and it might be thought that a more determined leader would have boldly attacked and routed the enemy. But if the very same caution, with the very same result, had been used by a veteran who had manifested his prowess in many a hard fought field , all would be satisfied that he had good reason for what he did, and would admire the union of courage and circumspection which met in his character. Let this obvious and just mode of judging be applied to Paul. If we knew no more of him than what we learn from this transaction, we might suspect that his fears had led him to suppress a part of his principles. Or had it been Mark who now acted in this manner, we might have ascribed his conduct to timorousness. But when it was Paul, who was familiar with danger and with suffering, and whose coming at this time to Jerusalem was in the face of foreshown peril, and with a readiness to be bound or even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus; every rule of judging compels us to conclude that his wariness was not the result of fear, but manifested a circumspection which adds to the lustre of his character, and shows that his sufferings were not incurred by rashness or self-will, but were the unavoidable consequence of his faithfulness in preaching the gospel of Christ. (J. Fawcett, M. A.)Of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. Proofs of the resurrection Every impulse and feeling we have within us teaches a prolonged and immortal existence.1. As to proofs from the conscience. Conscience of guilt speaks with great certainty of a future life. 2. Proofs from our affections: from our human affections in the remembrance of lost friends. Rev. Octavius Winslow has beautifully said that this assurance of heaven grows stronger gradually as the family on earth grows less, and there are more to meet us above. Further from our religious affections. Can the saint who has spent long years in learning to realise the presence of God here be made to believe that he shall be cut off from it hereafter? 3. Proofs from the will and desires. 4. Proofs from the imagination. The mind of man in every age, in every country, has been busied in painting a future life. The mythology of all religions from Egypt to Mexico, from the civilised Roman to the unenlightened Druid, are full of this. This may be called the weakest of our proofs, but it is the most universal. (E. Sharpe.)The hope and the resurrection Not a little light will be thrown upon Paul’ s conduct if it be remembered that his address from the stairs was unfinished, and that his mind must have been full of the thoughts which, if altered, would make that address complete. Verse 1 is the natural conclusion to the argument of the preceding chapter, which shows the sincerity with which he embraced and held his present views. Another interruption occurs, and as soon as it subsides the apostle resumes, to deal with a subject which is never absent from his speeches. Seeing Pharisees present Paul recognises a providential moment for proclaiming their favourite doctrine and his own; and it is interesting to compare the whole paragraph with Acts 24:14-15; Acts 26:5-6. “ The hope,” which should be distinguished from “ the resurrection,” was unquestionably the advent of the Messiah which Paul had proved had taken place, inasmuch as Christ had appeared unto him (Acts 22:6-10). With the hope, the calling of the Gentiles (the ground of the uproar-- Acts 21:28-29) was inseparably bound up, as any impartial student of prophecy will admit, and as Paul tried to show (Acts 22:18; Acts 22:21) when he was compelled to break off. And then, further, upon the hope the resurrection was founded and made sure. Consider--I. The hope. It was--1. An ancient hope: as old as the fall, renewed to the patriarchs, repeated by the prophets and psalmist. In all its vicissitudes Israel had been supported by this hope, and men were eagerly waiting for its fulfilment when Christ came. 2. It was a sure hope. It was no brilliant speculation or dream of a golden age. It was no vague impression that as God in wrath had closed the gates of Paradise, He might, perhaps, in mercy, send a deliverer to open them once more. It was a hope based upon certain definite promises made by God again and again. 3. It was a wide hope. With the Scriptures in their hands it is hard to account for Jewish exclusiveness. The primeval promise was made to humanity; the patriarchal promises embraced all the families of the earth, and the glowing prophecies of Isaiah show clearly that without the Gentiles the Jews themselves could not be made perfect. 4. It was a glorious hope. It included-- (1) Redemption from sin.(2) The establishment of a universal kingdom of righteousness and peace. 5. The hope has been fulfilled. Have you any part in it? The Jews rejected Him who was the subject of it. He now offers Himself, and it to you. How will you escape if you neglect so great salvation? II. The resurrection as founded on the hope. The fulfilment of the hope for this life only would have frustrated its purpose--to make men blessed. Its very revelation would have engendered despair at the thought that it would one day come to an end (1 Corinthians 15:19). But connected with the revelation it is an eternal hope, it opens vistas of glory and bliss that stretch out forever.1. Christ has redeemed the body as well as the soul. The future life and happiness which He purchased for the one He has secured for the other. 2. Christ gave a security for our resurrection by His own. 3. Christ promised it in connection with Himself, “ the hope.” (J. W. Burn.)And when he had so said there arose a dissension.--The effect of the apostle’ s policy It answered the end he sought. It divided the Sanhedrin, and got the Pharisees on his side. Three results came out of it.1. A great excitement through a sectionising dogma. “ The resurrection of the dead,” which was a grand truth to the apostle, was a mere dogma to them; but it was just that dogma that divided them into two sects. As a rule, whatever idea divides one religious sect from another is the idea which awakens sectarian bitterness. Immersion, Presbyterianism, Independency--these things make sects and awaken irritation in the parties they divide. 2. A demonstration of the apostle’ s innocence. So little impressed was the Sanhedrin with the idea of the apostle’ s criminality, that they forgot all about it in the disputation amongst themselves; and, more than this, the Pharisees actually said, “ We find no evil in this man.” 3. His deliverance from Jewish persecution (verse 10). (D. Thomas, D. D.)The strife between the Pharisees and the Sadducees There are plenty of indications in the Talmud that there was no love lost between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Edersheim quotes several Sadducee sayings regarding the scrupulosity of the Pharisees. “ It is as a tradition among the Pharisees to torment themselves in this world, and yet they will gain nothing by it in the next.” “ By and by,” said the Sadducees, “ the Pharisees will set about purifying the round sun itself.” They also talked of “ the plague of Pharisaism” ; and enumerated seven kinds of Pharisees, of whom only one kind was praiseworthy. Nor was this strife regarding Paul the only occasion on which a serious disturbance was provoked by the differences between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Sadducees did not believe in pouring the water of libation upon the altar on the feast of tabernacles, and the Pharisees did. On one occasion the dispute was so intense that it led to a riot in which the blood of both parties was shed. In the modern East, such appeals as Paul made to the fanaticism of the Pharisees are matters of everyday occurrence. (S. S. Times.)And there arose a great dissension.--Religious dissensions There is hardly anything which men are more ready to quarrel over than religion. And the less religion they have, the harder they will fight for it. The last thing which dies out in an ungodly man’ s religious life is his sectarianism; and as long as any of that remains, he will argue in its defence and denounce its opponents. When the Churches in any community are coldest and most inactive, then sectarian bitterness is most likely to prevail When those Churches are warmed into new life, and become active in their Master’ s service, and in zeal for souls, they think less of that which separates them in name, and more of that which they hold and love in common. Sectarian dissensions are a sign of a low spiritual state. If you are ready to note your differences with your religious neighbour, it is a pretty sure proof that you have not enough religion to quarrel over. If you are really possessed with religious zeal, you will be on the look out for points of agreement in its behalf, in your neighbour’ s opinions and practice. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)We find no evil in this man.--Partisanship Of course, the Pharisees found no evil in Paul when they learned that he was on their side of the question at issue. We are not inclined to see faults in the man who agrees with us in any difference we have with others. He who defends our denomination, or our political party, or our views of financial policy, or our theories of education, stands better in our eyes than he could under other circumstances. Let a prominent politician change his party associations, and how quickly the whole community is affected in its opinions of his personal character. The men who before praised his spirit and ability are now sure that he never amounted to much any way. They always knew him to be unprincipled, and he is no gain to any party. And those who have been his enemies are surprised that he had been so misunderstood. At all events, they now find no evil in him, and they wonder if a spirit hath not spoken to him, or an angel. Would not it be well--safe as well as charitable--to ask this question about a man while he is on the other side from ourselves, of questions which divide our common country, or our common Christianity? (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Paul’ s rescue by the dissensions of his enemies When Cadmus had sown the dragon’ s teeth and they sprang up from the ground armed giants, a great army, he took up a rock and threw it among them. So that instead of slaying him they went to fighting one another. And they slew one another till only one tall giant remained, and he became the helper of Cadmus in carrying stones for the walls of the city of Thebes he began to build. So it is wise to let the enemies of Christianity fight one another; one tears down what another builds up. So it has been through the ages, whether they use historic criticism or geology, or antiquarian researches or development theories, or any form of science for their weapons. But always after the battle is over there is left some solid, settled truth which never fails to help build the city Of our God. (Christian Age.) Acts 23:11-35 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul. Paul in the castle at Jerusalem On two other occasions a special Divine encouragement was given to Paul similar to the one here (Acts 18:9-10; Acts 27:23-24). At other times he acted under the general promises which God makes to all His people; but in these instances, special difficulties made a special promise appropriate. Note-- I. The difficulties and dangers which surrounded Paul.1. The conspiracy which had been secretly formed against his life. Of this it may be remarked-- (1) That it was made sufficiently strong to render success morally certain. More than forty men who bound themselves over to destruction--to the wrath of God--if they did not succeed. (2) It might be presumed that Lysias would readily grant a request which would relieve him of embarrassment. (3) Had the request been granted, it would have been an easy matter to have carried their purpose into execution, for it is not probable that a strong guard would have been sent on an errand apparently so peaceful. In the vision Paul was assured of protection from this danger; and he was rescued in a most remarkable manner (Acts 23:16-24). 2. The trials before the Roman governors of Syria. The character of Felix (chap. 24); a man corrupt in heart and life (Acts 23:25); ready to be bribed (Acts 23:26); disposed to do anything to gratify the Jews (Acts 23:27); afforded little reason to hope for justice. The probability that Paul would be delivered up to the Jews, and life again endangered, was not less in the trial before Festus who (chap. 25) was equally disposed to conciliate the Jews (Acts 23:9); which led Paul to appeal to Caesar, and secure what had been promised him in the vision. It is easy to see how, when brought before Felix and Festus, the promise that he should “ bear witness at Rome” was necessary to sustain him. 3. The voyage to Rome. In the storm, and shipwreck, all human probability of reaching Rome would fail entirely. Amidst these scenes, Paul could not but fall back on this Divine assurance. II. The assurance given is the vision, as an illustration of the arrangements which God has made to keep us from despondency.1. There is need of such an arrangement. We are often surrounded with perils, and are disappointed in our plans. We see no egress from our difficulties; no way of escape from our danger. Obviously we need some arrangement that will inspire hope. 2. We are secretly conscious to ourselves that there is such an arrangement. The world, though full of disappointment and trouble, is not inactive or despairing. There is a conscious something--which inspirits the mariner, the warrior, the farmer, the merchant, the traveller, the Christian. What is this arrangement? How does it appear that it is of Divine origin, and marked by Divine benevolence? In reply to these questions I shall advert-- (1) To the records of the past. We have unconsciously before us, in our difficulties, the memory of the general success which crowns the conflicts of life. The arrangements of God show that the general tendency of things is favourable to effort and to virtue, and preserve the world from idleness and despair. (2) To the general promises of the Bible. In reference to temporal matters, the promises in regard to success in this life (Isaiah 33:15-16; Psalms 37:25; 1 Timothy 4:8; Psalms 84:11; Philippians 4:19; Psalms 23:1; Hebrews 13:5), and temporal good (Leviticus 19:25; Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 16:15; Deuteronomy 28:4; Psalms 67:6) are of a general character; but in reference to the future life they are absolute (Matthew 4:7-8; Mark 16:16; John 6:37; Revelation 22:17). That there are dangers and enemies in the way of our salvation, and that it requires a struggle is certain; but the promise of victory is positive. (3) To what may be designated an internal confidence of success and safety. How much of hope there is in the young man, the mariner, the merchant, the farmer, etc. God has created the mind buoyant, elastic, hopeful. He leads men to think of recovery and success, rather than to anticipate disaster and defeat. He has thus said to every man, not in distinct vision, yet really, “ Be of good cheer!” (A. Barnes, D. D.)Good cheer from past and future service From the midnight whisper of the Lord to Paul we may draw forth sweet encouragement. Paul was like the rest of us, made of flesh and blood, and therefore liable to be cast down: he had kept himself calm at first; but, still, the strong excitement of the day no doubt operated upon his mind, and when he was lying in prison all alone, thinking upon the perils which surrounded him, he needed good cheer, and he received it.1. This consisted, first, in his Master’ s presence: “ The Lord stood by him.” If all else forsook him, Jesus was company enough; if all despised him, Jesus’ smile was patronage enough; if the good cause seemed in danger, in the presence of his Master victory was sure. “ The Lord stood by him.” This shall be said of all who diligently serve God. Dear friend, if you are a worker of the Lord Jesus, depend upon it He will not desert you. Did you ever forsake a friend who was spending his strength for you? If you have done so, you ought to be ashamed of yourself; but I think I hear you say, indignantly, “ No, I have always been faithful to my faithful friend.” Do not, therefore, suspect your Lord of treating you ungenerously, for He is faithful and true. 2. The next comfort for Paul was the reflection that the Lord’ s standing by him proved that He knew where he was, and was aware of his condition. One is reminded of the Quaker who came to see John Bunyan in prison, and said to him, “ Friend, the Lord sent me to thee, and I have been seeking thee in half the prisons in England.” “ Nay, verily,” said John, “ that cannot be; for if the Lord had sent thee to me, thou wouldst have come here at once, for He knows I have been here for years.” God has not a single jewel laid by and forgotten. “ Thou God seest me” is a great consolation to one who delights himself in the Lord. The Lord stood by Paul despite doors and locks: he asked no warder’ s leave to enter, nor did He stir bolt or bar; but there He was, She Companion of His humble servant. If we come into such a peculiar position that no friend knows our experience, none having been tempted as we are, yet the Lord Jesus can enter into our special trial and sympathise in our peculiar grief. Jesus can stand side by side with us, for He has been afflicted in all our afflictions. What is more, that part of our circumstances which we do not know ourselves, Jesus knows, and in these He stands by us; for Paul was not aware of the danger to which he was exposed, he did not know that certain Jews, to the number of forty, had banded together to kill him; but He who was his shield and his exceeding great reward had heard the cruel oath, and arranged to disappoint the bloodthirsty ones. Before Satan can draw the bow the Preserver of men will pus His beloved beyond the reach of the arrow. Before the weapon is forged in the furnace, and fashioned on the anvil, He knows how to provide us with armour of proof which shall turn the edge of She sword and break the point of the spear. 3. When the Lord Jesus came to Paul He gave him a third reason for courage. He said, “ Be of good cheer, Paul: for thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem.” There was much comfort in this assurance that his work was accepted of his Master. We dare not look for much joy in anything that we have done, for our poor works are all imperfect; and yet the Lord sometimes gives His servants honey in the carcasses of lions which they have themselves slain by pouring into their souls a sweet sense of having walked in integrity before Him. Herein is good cheer; for if the Lord accepts, it is a small matter if men condemn. The Lord says to Paul, “ Thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem.” The apostle had done so, but he was too humble to console himself with that fact till his Lord gave him leave to do so by acknowledging the brave deed. It may be that your conscience makes you more familiar with your faults than with your services, and you rather sigh than sing as you look back upon your Christian career; yet your loving Lord rovers all your failures, and commends you for what His grace has enabled you to do in the way of witness bearing. It must be sweet to you to hear Him say, “ I know thy works; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name.” 4. A fourth comfort remained for Paul in the words, “ As thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” The Lord would have us take comfort from the prospect of future service and usefulness. We are not done with yet, and thrown aside as vessels in which the Lord hath no more. This is the chief point of comfort in our Lord’ s word to the apostle. Be of good courage, there is more for you to do, Paul; they cannot kill you at Jerusalem, for you must bear witness also at Rome. Wycliffe could not die though the malicious monks favoured him with their best wishes in that direction. “ Nay,” said the reformer, “ I shall not die, but live, and declare all the evil deeds of the friars.” The sight of rogues to be exposed roused his flickering life, and revived its flame. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Paul’ s vision 1. Christ is constantly with His followers, and He often manifests Himself at the very moment when the future looks darkest to human eyes. 2. Christ manifests Himself with a cheering message: “ Be of good cheer.” The poor persecuted disciple, whom apparently only his enemy’ s mutual jealousies preserve from instant death, is made to feel that the power of Omnipotence is behind him. 3. Christ manifests Himself with words of cheer for His followers, but He does not assure them that their troubles are yet over. Paul has testified in Jerusalem, and must go on to bear witness at Rome. 4. Christ gives no furloughs until the conflict is over. All Paul could look forward to in this world was a mere change of battlefields. 5. Christ gives no furloughs here, but gives the assurance of a final honourable discharge to those who fight the battle out. Paul testified for Christ in Jerusalem and Rome; Christ testifies for Paul in the New Jerusalem of God. (S. S. Times.)The vision in the castle of Antonia Learn that-- I. Faithful service in the past is rewarded by the comfort of Christ’ s manifest and marked encouragement. Rewards of Christian service are not all kept for heaven. We may not have the crown here, but we may feel the grasp of the hand that shall presently put it on (Isaiah 41:13). We may not, while on earth, see the Saviour “ as He is” ; we may nevertheless feel His presence.1. The Lord’ s way of comforting His servants is by His presence. When a little child is in great sorrow, only a mother’ s comfort suffices. Servant’ s, and sister’ s, and even a father’ s comfort are not enough. So we want the mighty volume of His sympathy who alone is sufficiently “ touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” 2. The Lord’ s words of comfort are words of direct encouragement. How characteristic of the Saviour this language is. “ Fear not,” and “ Be of good cheer,” are words constantly on His lips. To Abraham, to Moses, through Isaiah, God whispers, “ Fear not.” To Mary, Joseph, the women, Zacharias, Jairus, the “ little flock,” the daughter of Sion, John in Patmos, etc., Christ and His angels say, “ Fear not.” Christ spake it to the man sick of the palsy, to the frightened disciples in the storm, and to the suffering Church which in the world must have tribulation. II. The faithful service of the past is a qualification and commission for the difficult duties of the future. “ As thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must,” etc.1. The past had qualified Paul for the future. Jerusalem, and all that went before, would help him to preach at Rome. The trials here would make him strong before Nero, and his hearers would look on this well-tried servant, and become stronger in his past fidelity and deliverances. 2. His past was also his commission for the future. This new service was the reward of the old fidelity; this new battle the honour conferred for the past victory. Marlborough’ s minor victories in 1702 make way for Blenheim in 1704 and Blenheim in turn makes way, later on, for Ramillies. So Talavera, and Salamanca, and Vittoria are but Wellington’ s preface and commission for Waterloo. Nelson fought St. Vincent and the Nile only to go on to Trafalgar. So our Lord is wont to say to His servants: “ Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many” ; “ Thou hast been faithful at Jerusalem, reward is to testify at Rome.” They who fight their smaller battles well, will find larger field s and nobler victories. III. The words which Christ speaks as to the faithful past, guide and strengthen His servants in trials get to come. Christ’ s words--1. Guided Paul as to his after appeal to Rome. When Festus asked, “ Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem” (Acts 25:9), Paul replied, “ I appeal unto Caesar.” Some good men have accused Paul of weakness and error here. No! Paul felt clear about his duty, and had no regret when Agrippa said, “ This man might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar.” The Saviour Himself had said, “ Thou shalt bear witness at Rome.” 2. Gave Paul patience during a long and tedious course of waiting. The apostle’ s heart had long been set on visiting Rome. His enemies were playing into his hands and were undertaking the charges of his journey. But for two whole years Festus kept Paul bound. But the Saviour had promised Rome, and that was enough. Thus patience was born of former faithfulness. 3. Afforded assurance to Paul amidst the terrific dangers of the journey. 4. Was strength to Paul in Rome. (F. G. Marchant.)Paul’ s final departure from Jerusalem Was marked by-- I. A visit from Christ (verse 11). This advent was--1. Opportune. We may well suppose that Paul’ s sensitive nature would be subject to many painful memories, gloomy thoughts, boding anxieties, and perhaps sceptical thoughts. 2. Cheering: What a contrast to the words of falsehood, cursing, blasphemy, which during the previous days had been addressed to him! Christ’ s words were words of-- (1) Commendation. Had Paul been allowed the mental agony of questioning whether he had done the right thing in Jerusalem? If so, here is a scattering of the dark thought: “ Thou hast testified of Me” --well done. (2) Information. Paul had long been intensely anxious to visit Rome (Acts 19:21; Romans 1:10; Romans 15:23-24). Perhaps he had given up this long-cherished purpose, and had wept bitter tears of disappointment on the wreck of the loved hope. Christ’ s words now assured him. 3. Suggestive that great trials in duty-- (1) Are no evidence of unfaithfulness.(2) Are all known to Christ.(3) Do not release us from the obligation to persevere. II. A conspiracy of enemies (verses 12-16). This conspiracy was--1. Malignant. The sufferings to which he was already subject did not satisfy them. Like wild beasts they thirsted for his blood. 2. Determined. “ They bound themselves under a curse.” 3. Strong. “ More than forty.” 4. Cunning (verse 14). Being in the charge of the Roman officer, he could only be got at through the Sanhedrin. The fact that these wretches could make such a request demonstrates the immorality that prevailed amongst the rulers. III. An interposition of providence. In the verses that follow (16-35) we find Divine Providence--1. Thwarting the evil. In the method here recorded we find three things which generally characterise the procedure of Providence. (1) Simplicity. The agency employed was “ Paul’ s sister’ s son.” This is all we know of the family of Paul. Here is a young man, probably uninfluential and obscure, who does the work. It has ever been Heaven’ s plan to employ insignificant means for the accomplishment of great ends. (2) Unexpectedness. Little did the conspirators expect that their plan would be defeated by an obscure youth; little did Paul expect that deliverance would come for him from such a quarter. Means often most unlikely are employed to accomplish important results. (3) Naturalness. It was natural (a) for Paul’ s nephew, having heard of the malignant plot, to seek access to his uncle, and to warn him of it. (b) For his uncle to despatch him to the chief captain. (c) For the chief captain, as a man of honour, to act as he did. 2. Delivering the good. (1) Paul secured a safe journey to Caesarea. God’ s resources are greater than the devil’ s. There were forty murderers in quest of Paul’ s life, but God raised nearly five hundred brave soldiers to protect him. More are they that are for us than they that are against us. (2) Paul secured a good introduction to the Roman judge, in the letter that was written by Lysias to Felix. So far Paul is safe, and on his way to the imperial city he long desired to visit. Truly, “ many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)The call from heaven, “ Be of good cheer,” is for all Christ’ s faithful servants 1. To comfort them at the unrighteous judgment of the world.2. To indemnify them for the reproach of their ministry.3. To allay their doubts as to their procedure.4. To strengthen them for future contests. (K. Gerok.)And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse.--The plot of the Jews Note that hatred-- I. Rises early, but love rises earlier. When morning came the Jews sought Paul’ s life, but the Lord had stood by Paul long before the morning dawned. II. Always binds men with a curse, and the curse is on the haters, not on the hated. Curses, like chickens, come home to roost. III. Demands satisfaction, though bodily wants go unsatisfied. But no soul can live long on hatred’ s poison. IV. Demands satisfaction, but it does not secure it, when love appoints otherwise. These plotting Jews died of thirst and starvation if they were faithful to their murderous vow. V. Is injudicious. It confides its murderous designs to forty men, half of whom are probably constitutionally unable to keep a secret. VI. Is prompt and energetic. It were well if more of Christ’ s followers had a little of the fiery zeal for Christ that His enemies display against Christ. VII. Is lying, deceitful, underhanded, unscrupulous, mean. Under the pretence of sending for Paul to question, it makes ready to stab him. (K. Gerok.)The assassins One fancies they were chiefly young men, such as are usually foremost in daring and reckless deeds of violence. Probably many of them were students in the rabbinical schools, just as many Nihilists now in Russia are students of the universities. Paul could hardly wonder that some of them should be wrought up to this desperate and cruel undertaking, when he remembered how, a little over twenty years before, he himself had persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem, dragging men and women to prison, and, like some fierce monster, “ breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” (J. A. Broadus, D. D.)Confederacy in evil In union there is strength--strength for evil as well as strength for good; and many a man will consent to wrong-doing in a ring, or in a corporation, or in a society of which he is a member, when he would never think of consenting to that same evil if he were all by himself in action. We have no need to go back to the days of the apostles for illustrations of this evil spirit. Instances of it abound in the European Nihilists, and the international dynamiters, and the gangs of robbers for both political and material plunder, in our American cities and in our American borders; all of whom exhibit everything that was evil in the course of the Jewish zealots, without the mitigating feature of an honest conviction, or of an accord with the prevalent spirit of the age. There is a timeliness in this Bible illustration of this accursed spirit of secret conspiring in an unholy brotherhood against law and religion, and against life and decency. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The conspiracy against Paul In the story of the sack of Troy, Virgil has told us of the coming of Venus to AEneas to persuade him to abandon the useless defence of the city. She dispels the cloud which dims his vision, and enables him to see invisible deities who assist the Greeks in their work of conquest and destruction. AEneas now learns that he has done battle, not against “ flesh and blood,” but against spiritual forces mightier than all the powers of earth. The classic story clearly pictures the natural blindness of men to the spiritual forces which overrule their lives, and the special favour bestowed upon him whose eyes are opened to see events in the light of the unseen world. And this is the great lesson here. I. God is ever present and active in human affairs. Not always manifestly. The young man who stood by the side of Elisha at Dothan saw nothing at first to persuade him that God was present. But when his eyes were opened he saw that “ the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire.” The forty conspirators here sought no help and feared no hindrance from the hand of God, although their design was made in the name of their religion. But when the fruits of religion are hatred and wrath and thirst for blood, God is not in it. The help to which these men turned was their own cunning. “ If we can manage Claudius Lysias,” they said, “ nothing shall save Paul.” And yet God was present and active, giving them freedom to make their plans, and some degree of freedom in executing them, but keeping results in His own hand. So, let us believe, He always works. II. God’ s agents in these events were blind to this transcendent fact.1. Claudius Lysias was unconscious of anything of the sort. He was only a shrewd man, bent upon extricating himself from perplexing difficulties. Alarmed by the, to him unaccountable, violence of the Jews, and disturbed by his non-recognition of a Roman citizen, he fixed upon the plan of sending Paul to Caesarea, as a safe way of relieving himself from further responsibility. 2. More culpable was the blindness of the chief priests and elders and conspirators. How came it that they, belonging to the nation chosen of God to receive the special revelation of His will, were so blind to His purposes? The answer is: Their moral blindness was a result of past sins. We can see God in His plans and wishes only along the line of a sincere and holy purpose. III. The apostle was the one man of open vision. Nothing in his outward condition had power to obliterate or to disturb his sense of God’ s nearness, and of His infinite grace. The Roman barracks had been to him a Bethel.1. To find the reason for this vision we must go back to the very beginning of Paul’ s Christian life. In the saying, “ I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,” is to be found the reason why at critical moments in his life the Lord “ stood by him” to reassure his heart. There is a wonder working instrument of science, by the aid of which one may hear the voice of a friend who is in the heart of a distant city. So upon devoutly attentive ears there may fall, distinct and musical, the still small voice of God, which not all earth’ s many voices can drown. 2. The apostle’ s assurance of God’ s presence led him not to a passive reliance, but to cooperation. As he saw the power of the Roman soldiery enlisted in his behalf, he gladly availed himself of their protecting care. When the young man came into his presence to reveal the plot of the conspirators, be immediately availed himself of this information, and laid claim to the help of the chief captain. (W. G. Sperry.)Divine assistance 1. God strengthens His servants internally by the promise of His grace (verse 14). 2. He reveals the designs of their enemies (verse 16). 3. He stirs up for them active friends (Paul’ s nephew) and powerful protectors (Lysias). 4. He brings them uninjured through the midst of their enemies (verse 23). 5. He gives them an honourable testimony on the way (verse 25, etc.). (K. Gerok.)Divine protection I. Required against the crafty designs of enemies who--1. Unite against the righteous (verses 12, 13).2. Disguise themselves under a pious appearance (verses 14, 15). II. Experienced. God--1. Brings the wickedness to light (verse 16).2. Directs the hearts of men for the good of the righteous (verses 17-22). (Lisco.)And they came to the chief priests and elders and said … signify to the chief captain.--Evil-doing by proxy Many persons who would not themselves commit a crime can be induced to have a share in the results of crime. There are railroad stockholders who would not themselves attempt bribery, who will accept a dividend on stock which has been made profitable through a bribery of the Legislature for its advantage. There are bank stockholders who will share without a protest the proceeds of a guilty compromise made by the bank officials with bank robbers for the recovery of stolen funds. And there are Christian voters who will vote for a corrupt man in city councils or in the Legislature, because his corrupt ways increase the value of real estate, or improve the health and comfort of the community. Those Jewish conspirators knew something about human nature when they went to the chief priests and elders, and said, All we ask of you is to get Paul into the open street; then we’ ll see to it that he never troubles you again. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.) Acts 23:16-22 And when Paul’ s sister’ s son heard of their lying in wait, he … told Paul.Paul’ s sister’ s son From this subject we learn-- I. That humble and nameless individuals are sometimes of great service in the world. There are anonymous ministries in life that are of unspeakable importance. The agent is unknown or forgotten, but the deed lives forever. As ships meet during night at sea, a moment together, and then never to cross each other’ s path again; as a figure appears upon the canvas of a moving panorama, for an instant arresting every eye, and then never to be looked on more; so, in the page of history, and in our own observation, some individuality suddenly appears in the foreground, and fills an important mission, and then as quickly vanishes, and is forgotten. Well, perhaps, some of you are at times tempted to a feeling of discouragement, because you are never likely to occupy a position of prominence or distinction. Outside of your own family your name is not known, nor ever likely to be. Never mind that. You may do splendid work notwithstanding. The craving for notoriety is often a serious drawback to real usefulness. Many a noisy and fussy philanthropist is doing a far less solid and valuable work than some quiet and unobtrusive Christian. It has often been said, that there are few things better fitted to humble a young man than to be thrown into this great world of London; for, however conspicuous he may have been in the place he came from, here he is at once lost in the mighty throng. And yet, if a man has anything in him, and especially if he has the grace of God, he will not be long without finding scope for its exercise; and often the opening turns up in the most unlooked for quarter. II. The value of promptness in action. Had the youth before us paused an hour or two, in all human certainty the apostle would have been slain. It is a life-long disadvantage to many a youth that he is so slow and lethargic in his movements. In these busy days in which we live time means money; and the young fellow who looks as though he were half-asleep will be left far behind by his more agile companion. The proverb, “ Slow and sure,” sound though it often is, is responsible for a good deal of wasted time; for there is many a case in which “ prompt and sure” would be a wiser adage. Sir Walter Scott wrote: “ Beware of a propensity which easily besets you--I mean what women call dawdling. Let your motto be Hoc age. Do instantly whatever is to be done, and take your recreation after business, never before it.” Remember, however, that despatch does not mean hurry. Hurry is the mark of a weak mind, despatch of a strong one. When a regiment is under march, the rear are sometimes thrown into confusion because the front are lazy and irregular; so the whole arrangements in a house of business may be thrown out of gear, because the lads who do the initial work are dilatory. The dawdler, like a squirrel in a revolving cage, has the appearance of being busy, but accomplishes no results; has a hundred irons in the fire, but few of them are hot, and with the few that are he only burns his fingers. It is said of one who came to great distinction in the House of Commons, that the first occasion of his opening his mouth in that assembly was when, as quite a young man, he rose and gave prompt expression to his views. He sat down nervous, and afraid he had made a blunder. In a few minutes a little piece of paper was handed to him with two words written on it by the greatest statesman of the day--“ You’ ll do.” The incident yielded him so much stimulus that he retained that morsel of paper as one of his greatest treasures; it was preserved as an heirloom in the family; and today may be seen in the hall of the mansion, handsomely mounted and framed, pointing the lesson to all young men who enter, to be prompt, decisive, and courageous: “ You’ ll do.” We live in a prompt universe, and all through the handiwork of God we find that time is kept to a second. I am the more anxious to impress this upon you, because there is an epidemic of laziness abroad. Look down the advertisement columns of the newspapers, and how often you will read, “ A young man desires a light situation.” Ward Beecher got a letter from such a youth, asking him to find him an easy berth. He replied as follows: “ If you wish an easy berth don’ t be an editor. Do not try the law. Do not think of the ministry. Avoid school keeping. Let alone all ships, stores, shops, merchandise. Abhor polities. Don’ t practise medicine. Be not a farmer nor mechanic; neither be a soldier nor sailor. Don’ t work. Don’ t study. Don’ t think; none of these are easy. Oh, my friend, you have come into a hard world. I know of but one easy place in it, and that is the gravel.” III. The play of natural affection. The youth was probably a Pharisee; but natural affection triumphed over the bitterness of religious animosity. The chivalrous spirit of the young man was roused; and, by all means, his uncle, in spite of his heresy, must be saved. We applaud the lad for this. He was better than his creed. Perhaps the apostle had him in mind when he wrote to Timothy, “ If any have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home.” His own nephew set a good example. Some of you, perhaps, might do well to take a leaf out of his book. I have known men who, when they got on a bit, seemed to forget that they had any relatives in the world. But there is not a finer sight than that of a young man who has got on well in the world sending substantial help to a widowed mother, or taking in hand the education of a younger brother, or saving so much from his weekly wage or quarter’ s salary, to help some other relative who was in need. Verily I say unto you, such a man shall in no wise lose his reward. (J. Thain Davidson, D. D.)Paul’ s sister’ s son 1. When Paul’ s sister’ s son heard of their lying in wait, he did not himself sit helplessly down and wonder how in the world Uncle Paul would get out of his troubles. 2. He went straight at work to frustrate it, and his first step was to inform Paul of its nature. It is seldom a kindness to conceal a friend’ s danger from him. 3. He carried out the undertaking nobly. None of Paul’ s family were on intimate terms with the word “ fail.” 4. When brought before the chief captain, he doubtless dreaded the meeting, but he was received courteously, questioned carefully, and dismissed pleasantly. A Christian duty is seldom so formidable a task as at first sight we fear it may be. 5. The young man and Paul himself were treated with marked consideration by those around them. Which goes to show that even in the dim light of a dungeon it is easy to recognise pure characters and lofty aims. 6. Paul’ s sister’ s son was dismissed with a caution against indiscriminate talking, and, so far as we know, he always heeded it. If some modern Church members would only give attention to his example in this regard! (S. S. Times.)Paul’ s sister’ s son The incident teaches us-- I. That unknown men may be immortalised--By association with a good cause. All unknown to himself, this unknown youth was identifying himself with the cause of Christ, and thus obtains a few lines in the Christian book which has made him famous in every clime. No matter how humble a part a man may play in God’ s Church or in the cause of humanity, there is a record kept which will one day be read out before an assembled universe. II. That feeble instrumentalities may be capable of the mightiest service. This youth could mot have done what his uncle afterwards did, but without his nephew’ s help Paul himself would have been unable to do it. We may thank Paul’ s sister’ s son for Paul’ s testimony at Rome and for some of his great Epistles. And, as this narrative shows, he got prompt credit for it, which is not usually the case. And yet where would commerce, e.g., be but for young men? We wonder at the stupendous business done by a certain house, and admire the genius of its head; but where would he be but for the army of clerks, apprentices, etc., who are behind him? Is the comparative stagnation of the Church due to its neglect of young men? III. That the best-constructed schemes may be foiled by insignificant incidents. Nothing could have been better laid than this plot. No means likely to ensure success were omitted. Craft, power, and prestige were on the side of the conspirators. But “ murder will out.” A hint was somehow dropped, somewhere, and by some means was wafted to the ears of Paul’ s nephew--that was all. God has strange ways of frustrating wickedness. He does not need the aid of thunder nor lightning. A mysterious line in a letter, the prattle of a little child, a trifling accident occasioning a moment’ s delay, the unaccountable misdirection of a message are enough. IV. That evil once discovered should be unmasked. The prompt action of this young man cannot be too widely imitated. When opportunity serves, the wrong-doer of course should be confronted with the hope of his reformation. But there are circumstances in which evil should meet with a summary and public exposure. Knowledge without revelation may be guilty complicity. V. That good men should take precautions for their own safety. Paul might have been indifferent, relying on the Divine promise; but God’ s promises are often fulfilled by the use of means. The best men often display lamentable carelessness about interests which are dear to Christ and the Church. But no one ought to be above advice to take care of his health, and defend his reputation. VI. That duty once undertaken should be bravely carried through. Paul’ s nephew probably little expected so august an interview, and very likely would have shrunk from it if he had. But plucking up courage, he told the grim warrior all he had related to his gentler uncle. Let no man, having put his hand to the plough, look back. (J. W. Burn.)The chief captain took him by the hand.--How to treat young men The scene is a graphic and touching one. Paul’ s nephew was taken with his great secret into the presence of the chief captain who, with the frankness and affability of a true gentleman--noticing no doubt the shyness of the youth for the first time in the presence of a man of rank--took him by the hand, drew him gently into a quiet corner, and having thus put him at his ease, invited his confidence. The conduct of this Roman aristocrat towards a young Jew is not without its bearing on the Church today. Let us take each act and draw out the lessons. I. He took him by the hand. Young men want taking by the hand, not by the hair, not by the neck, not by the shoulders. Understand this--1. Literally. What an amount of good a little more hand shaking would do. It would be more effectual than many sermons and many prayers. Young men impervious to expostulation or appeal might easily be won by the kindly pressure of a hand. Yet how sadly seniors stand aloof, satisfied with a nod, or a “ Good morning,” or even with less. They are willing to put their hands anywhere rather than into those of their young brothers--ready to undertake all the work of the Church, which would lose nothing, but gain much, if some of it were entrusted to younger hands. 2. Metaphorically. To take one by the hand means-- (1) Welcome.(2) Brotherliness.(3) Encouragement.(4) Confidence. These are all that young men want; let them be ungrudgingly rendered, and the Church of the next decade will have different results to show. The cry is, How to retain our young men? The answer is simply--Take them by the hand. II. He went aside with him. It would do no harm, but much good, if young men were taken aside into--1. The homes of the elders of the Church. Thousands of useful lives are thrown away through the friendlessness of young men plunged into city life. They know no one, they have nowhere to go, no one cares for them, and so they wander into the haunts of sin. What a blessing if their senior brethren would ask them home occasionally for a social hour! 2. The official meetings of the Church. They would then see its inner working, and thus be trained for more effective service. As a rule young men know nothing, and consequently care nothing, for the machinery of the Church, and so eventually lose all interest in its work. III. He asked him, what is that thou hast to tell me? Young men should be asked--1. About their temporal interests. This need not be done obtrusively or so as to excite suspicion of curiosity. But many a young man is yearning for someone to open a conversation which shall lead to a statement of difficulties, or a request for advice. 2. About their souls. How helpful to a youth when wandering into the ways of sin or on the brink of making the great decision, for some older brother to say, “ Would you like to have a talk on religious matters?” 3. About the welfare of the Church. Young men sometimes fail to fall in with existing or projected schemes, because they have schemes of their own. The Church would do no harm if it were to draw them out, even though their projects should be declined. Lessons:1. Young men are the hope of the Church--a trite saying but fatally disregarded. 2. Let the Church make the most of its young men. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 23:22-35 So the chief captain then let the young man depart. Varied duties I. Paul’ s nephew could do nothing. He was therefore told to hold his tongue--a very necessary duty sometimes. There is a time to speak, and well did the young man use his opportunity; but there is a time to keep silence, and he discharged this duty no less well. Had he, inflated with his success, or with his interview with the great man, boasted even in a whisper, all might have been upset, and himself dishonoured. So many gifted men spoil all their past good service by some momentary indiscretion of speech. Be content that you have done a good work and do not talk about it. Be content also to see others work sometimes without complaining that you have no part in it, or criticising them and it. II. Lysias could do something. He could provide for Paul’ s safety and give him a recommendation; but he could not set him at liberty. Even had he possessed the power, it would have been unwise to exercise it for Paul’ s sake. Learn the limitations of human ability and respect them. Do not try to do too much or you will spoil what you can do. Be content to do what you can do well, and leave it to be said about you, “ He hath done what he could.” III. Felix could do everything. He could give the apostle a fair trial and set him at liberty. But we see from his case that men with the greatest abilities do next to nothing or worse than nothing. Paul was tried, and the governor was convinced of his innocence, but kept him in prison for the worst motives. How much better to be able to do little and to do it well, than to have great abilities and abuse them! (J. W. Burn.) Acts 23:31 Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul. Paul’ s last departure from Jerusalem 1. The mournful departure of a witness of the truth, whose message of salvation his blinded people have rejected. 2. The glorious triumphant march of a servant of God, whom the Lord leads victoriously through the midst of enemies. 3. The solemn homeward journey of a warrior of Christ, who goes to meet his last fight, his last victory, his eternal reward. (K. Gerok.)The protection and honour of Christ’ s people A bodyguard of nearly five hundred men accompanied the apostle; he had never before journeyed with so strong an escort and so great a following. He was certainly indebted for so much respect primarily to his Roman privileges. But still it was a matter of fact that so strong a force was demanded for the security of his person. Christ not only protects His people, but also honours them. And the honour which is often unintentionally conferred on a child of God reflects back upon Him by whose grace a converted sinner is what he is. (G. V. Lechler, D. D.)An historical parallel Who will not in Paul, with his military escort, be reminded of Luther, his brother in spirit, successor in office, and companion in fortune, when he was conveyed by armed knights, and brought in safety to Wartzburg. (K. Gerok.). Acts 24:1-9 And after five days Ananias the high priest descended … with a certain orator named Tertullus. Paul before Felix--a picture of barristerial depravity 1. From his Roman name we judge that Tertullus was a Roman barrister of signal abilities, and perhaps of great reputation. The Jews, probably, for the most part being ignorant of Roman law, employed Roman lawyers to represent them in the courts of justice. 2. The charge is threefold. (1) Sedition. “ A mover of sedition,” literally, “ a pestilence, or a pest.” Demosthenes and Cicero speak of different persons as the pest of the Republic, the State, the Empire. All the commotions which Paul’ s enemies created were laid to his charge. To the Romans no crime was more heinous than that of sedition, for they seemed afraid that their vast empire might in some part give way. (2) Heresy. “ A ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” This charge has the merit of truth. (3) Sacrilege (verse 6). This was a foul calumny. After these charges this clever but unprincipled advocate does two things: (a) Implies that the Sanhedrin would have judged Paul righteously if Lysias had not interposed. (b) He gets the Jews to assent to all he had stated. 3. This piece of history presents to us a picture of a corrupt barrister. We see him doing things which disgrace his profession. I. Venally adopting a bad cause. What was his motive? Love of right--chivalry? No, money. He sold his services to the cause--1. Of the strong against the weak. 2. Of the wrong against the right. The English courts exhibit something analogous to this sometimes. There are eminent members of the bar, some of whom are wonderfully pious in public meetings, whose services in a bad cause can be easily secured by a handsome fee. II. Wickedly advocating a bad cause. In his advocacy we discover--1. Base flattery (verses 2, 3). 2. Flagrant falsehood. He lays, as we have seen, three false charges against him. 3. Suppressed truth. He said nothing about the conspiracy (Acts 23:14-15). The man who suppresses a truth when its declaration is demanded by the nature of the case is guilty of falsehood, is a deceiver. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul misunderstood The other day Paul was mistaken for “ that Egyptian, which before these days made an uproar,” etc. Today a hired orator describes Paul as “ a pestilent fellow,” etc. Does this tally with what you know about him?1. There is no cause too bad not to hire an advocate to represent it. This Tertullus was the genius of abuse; the worse the cause the glibber his tongue. He lives today, and takes the same silver for his flippant eloquence. 2. How possible it is utterly to misconceive a great character! There is a key to every character, and if you do not get the one you never can understand the other. The difficulty of the man of one idea is to understand any other man who has two. Some of us are so easy to understand, simply because there is so little to be comprehended. No character was so much misunderstood as Jesus Christ’ s; and He said, “ If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household!” 3. Here, too, is the possibility of excluding from the mind every thought characterised by breadth and charity. It does not occur to the paid pleader to say, “ This man is insane, romantic, has a craze about a theory too lofty or immaterial for the present state of things.” Sometimes a charitable spirit will take some such view. But Tertullus knew that he was talking to a man who could only understand coarse epithets, for he himself, though a judge in those times, was the basest of his tribe. Yet, without viciousness, there may be great narrowness. You will contract that narrowness if you do not sometimes come out of your little village into great London. I am not wishful to make every man into a Tertullus who opposes apostolic life and thought. It is possible honestly to oppose even Paul, but the honesty itself is an expression of mental contractedness. What is perfectly right to the eye within given points may be astronomically wrong when the whole occasion is taken in. So men may be parochially right and imperially wrong; men may be perfectly orthodox within the limits of a creed and unpardonably heterodox within the compass of a faith. 4. How wonderful it is that even Tertullus is obliged to compliment the man whom he was paid to abuse! (1) He was a pestilent fellow. There was nothing negative about Paul, and Tertullus confirms that view. Paul was not a quiet character; wherever he was he was astir. According to Tertullus, Paul was also “ a mover of sedition, etc., among all the Jews throughout the world” --a sentence intended to touch the ear of the Roman judge. Felix might well listen when the man before him was accused of being an insurrectionist. That he was “ a mower of sedition” in the sense implied by Tertullus was not true, but Paul was the prince of revolutionists. Every Christian is a revolutionist. Christianity tears up the foundations, and, after this, begins to build for eternity. (3) Paul was “ a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” So the prisoner is not made into a little man even by the paid accuser. Paul never could be held in contempt. Put him where you will, he becomes the principal man in that company. A rich banker said, when someone asked him questions regarding his fortune, “ I cannot help it; if I were tonight stripped and turned into the streets of Copenhagen, I would be as rich in ten years as I am now--I cannot help it.” Paul could not help being the first man of every company. 5. What is the inevitable issue of all narrow-mindedness. Falsehood (verse 6). Imagine Tertullus being excited regarding the purity of the temple! How suddenly some men become pious! What a genius is hypocrisy! You cannot misrepresent the people in the temple and yet be concerned honestly for the temple itself. Conclusion: The incident would hardly be worth dwelling upon were it confined to its own four corners, but it is a typical instance repeated continually in our day. The good develops the bad ever. Let a George Fox arise, and how will he be characterised, except as “ a pestilent fellow,” “ a mover of sedition,” and “ a ringleader of a sect” ? Let a John Wesley arise, or a George Whitefield, a John Bunyan, or a John Nelson; read the early annals of English Christianity and evangelism; read the history of the early Methodist preachers, and you will find that every age that has brought a Paul has brought along with him a Tertullus. Thank God! nothing but epithets can be hurled against Christianity, yet Christianity stands up today queenly, pure, stainless--every stone thrown at her lying at her feet. (J. Parker, D. D.)The opening statement of a prosecuting, counsel The statement of Tertullus was supposed to convey to the judge an impartial description of the prisoner, and a just outline of his offence. Anyone not acquainted with Paul would conclude that he was a sort of Barabbas. And if one had remonstrated with the eloquent lawyer he, with a bland smile rippling over his countenance, would have justified himself by repeating the stereotyped phrase, “ Sir, I have spoken according to the instructions given me in my brief.” The speech of Tertullus I. Shows that even then noble men connected with the gospel were branded with a name of scornful contempt. Coining a name of scorn is not a modern invention. As a rule--1. In the name there lies concealed a pain-inflicting sting. What a sting was in the name “ Nazarenes!” 2. And such names are generally published and circulated by persons who might be expected to act differently--Priests, Scribes, Pharisees and religious persons. And today it is not from atheists, but from persons nominally religious, that Christians receive the cruellest thrusts of scorn. II. Reminds us that different interpretations may be given of the work done by one man. Here Paul was a walking pest, a scatterer of contagious evil; elsewhere men could not find words strong enough to express the grateful joy they felt as they witnessed the apostle’ s work. Thus is it today. III. Starts the reflection that the position and pursuits of a man may be the opposite at one period of life from what they have been at another. Twenty-five years before Paul was the ringleader of the opposition raised by priests and Scribes against the sect of the Nazarenes. Such a change is not of rare occurrence now. IV. Gave indirect testimony to the thoroughness of the life and work of the apostle. As Paul heard himself spoken of as being “ a pestilent fellow,” etc., a moment’ s reflection would help him to gather the honey of consolation from the lawyer’ s rhetoric. All that was said against Paul testified to his zeal and influence as a Christian worker. Had he been an idler the enemies of the Cross would not have thought it necessary to haul him to a bar of justice. If a man finds the world fraternising with him, he may suspect that he is not so loyally zealous in Christ’ s cause as he should be; but if some worldly Tertullus storms at him he may console himself that his service is a work which incenses a sin-loving world. V. Suggests that sectarian zeal may blind men to their true and best interest. The priests could not conceive it possible that Paul might be right, and they, after all, might be wrong. In fact, they would rather see Paul put to death than have their useless creed and ritual superseded by a gospel which would bring to light life and immortality. The same spirit reigns rampantly among the bigots who today ask, “ Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (C. Chapman, M. A.)Paul and Tertullus: or false eloquence and true 1. False eloquence is flattering: it speaks to please the hearers (verse 3). True eloquence does not flatter: it addresses the heart and conscience. 2. False eloquence is hypocritical: it dwells only on the lips; it is honey in the mouth and gall in the heart (verses 5, 6). True eloquence does not dissimulate: it proceeds from the heart and speaks as it feels (verses 10, 14-16). 3. False eloquence is deceitful: it makes black white and white black (verses 5, 6). True eloquence does not lie: it denies only what is false (verse 13), but confesses what is true (verses 14, 15), and makes the matter speak instead of the words (verses 16-20). (K. Gerok.)Eloquence true and false Eloquence, considered as the power of giving a luminous and impressive statement of truth; of marshalling our arguments in distinct and forceable order; of portraying virtue in all its charms, and vice in all its deformity; of defending the innocent against oppression and calumny, and dragging forth the wicked to execration and punishment; eloquence employed in these important offices, and uniting with the clear deductions of reason and experience, all the energies of language, and all the ornaments of an ardent and cultivated imagination, is undoubtedly one of the noblest and most enviable talents which a mortal can possess. It may uphold the religion and morals of a nation; it may save a sinking state from ruin. But when it aims at exciting the passions, without enlightening the mind; when, with its false colouring, it makes the worse appear the better cause; when it corrupts the imagination and undermines the principles of morality; when, like a base prostitute, it offers itself to every person who demands its assistance; when it flatters where it should reprove, and condemns what it ought to applaud and defend; it is more noxious than the pestilence which infects the air that we breathe, or than the lightning which blinds us with its glare and overwhelms us with its irresistible force. (J. Dick, D. D.)Eloquence perverted Eloquence is the gift of God; but eloquence in a bad man is poison in a golden cup. (St. Augustine.)Orators and preachers God’ s preachers are not orators of acquired words, but witnesses of revealed facts. (R. Besser, D. D.)Sanguinary orators We have a class of speakers in this country who are silent on all great social and cosmopolitan topics, but make themselves heard and felt the moment any matter of warlike fascination comes to the surface. All other questions float down the stream of public opinion without causing them even to indicate their existence. They remind one of those animals noted for their bloodthirstiness in the warm regions of Africa--the caribitos (Serrasalmo). Their haunts are at the bottom of rivers, but a few drops of blood suffice to bring them by thousands to the surface; and Humboldt himself mentions that in some part of the Apure, where the water was perfectly clear and no fish were visible, he could in a few minutes bring together a cloud of caribitos by casting in some bits of flesh. With equal ease we can collect all our war orators if we only give them one sanguinary pretext. (Scientific Illustrations.)Lawyers without a perception of justice Lawyers generally know too much of law to have a very clear perception of justice, just as divines are often too deeply read in theology to appreciate the full grandeur and the proper tendencies of religion. Losing the abstract in the concrete, the comprehensive in the technical, the principal in its accessories, both are in the predicament of the rustic who could not see London for the houses. Acts 24:2-3 Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness.Be thankful and do not rest These words were addressed by a professional flatterer to one of the worst of Roman governors. Both speaker and listener knew that he was lying; but both knew that the words described what a governor ought to be. They suggest-- I. The grateful acknowledgement of personal worth. A life like that of Queen Victoria’ s, touched with many gracious womanly charities, not strange to the homes of the poor, quick to sympathise with sorrow, sternly repressive of vice in high places, and not ignorant of the great Comforter, nor disobedient to the King of kings--for such a royal life a nation may well be thankful; and if it be true that twice the Queen has kept England from the sin and folly of war, once from a fratricidal conflict with the great New England across the Atlantic, then we owe her much. II. A wider view of progress which has coincided with her reign. Let me touch upon the salient points of that progress for which, as members of the nation, it becomes us, as Christian people, to be thankful. English manners and morals have been bettered, much of savagery and coarseness has been got rid of; low, cruel amusements have been abandoned; the national conscience has been stirred in regard to the great national sin of intoxication; a national system of education has come into operation; newspapers and books are cheapened; political freedom has been extended and “ broadened slowly down,” as is safe, “ from precedent to precedent” ; religious thought has widened, the sects have come nearer each other. Then, if we look upon our Churches, whilst there is worldliness to be deplored, there is also springing up amongst us a new consciousness of responsibility for the condition of the poor and the degraded around us. Only let us remember--1. That that sort of talk about England’ s progress may very speedily become offensive self-conceit, and a measuring of ourselves with ludicrous self-satisfaction against all other nations. 2. That such a contemplation of the elements of national progress may come between us and the recognition of the highest source from which it flows, and be corrupted into forgetfulness of God. “ Beware lest when thou hast eaten and art full,…thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God,” etc. 3. And beware lest the hosannas over national progress shall be turned into “ rest and be thankful,” or shall ever come in the way of the strenuous and persistent reaching forth to the fair ideal that lies so far before us. III. What yet remains to be done. A remarkable difference of opinion has been expressed by two of the greatest minds and clearest heads in England; one of our greatest poets and one of our greatest statesmen. The one looking back over sixty years, sees but foiled aspirations and present devildom and misery. The other, looking back over the same period, sees accomplished dreams and the prophecy of further progress. It is not for me to enter upon the strife between such authorities. Both are right. Much has been achieved. “ There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” Whatever have been the victories and the blessings of the past there are rotten places in our social state which if not cauterised and healed will break out into widespread and virulent sores. The ideal for you Christian men and women is the organisation of society on Christian principles. Have we got to that yet, or within sight of it? Does anybody believe that the present arrangements in connection with unrestricted competition, and the distribution of wealth, coincide accurately with the principles of the New Testament? Will anybody tell me that the state of a hundred streets within a mile of this chapel is what it would be if the Christian men of this nation lived the lives they ought to live? We may be thankful for what has been accomplished, but uppermost there had need to be penitent recognition of failure and defect. And I lay it on the consciences of all that listen to me to see to it that they do their parts as members of this body politic of England. A great heritage has come down from our fathers, pass it on bettered by your self-denial and your efforts. And remember, the way to mend a kingdom is to begin by mending yourselves and letting Christ’ s kingdom come into your own hearts. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Acts 24:5 We have found this man … a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.The Nazarene and the sect of the Nazarenes (text, and Matthew 2:23):--1. Our Saviour, though born at Bethlehem, was commonly known as Jesus of Nazareth, because Nazareth was the place where He was brought up. This was a place very much despised, and the people were the boors of the country. More than that, you will generally find everywhere some town made the butt of ridicule. The name signifies “ sprouts,” and the Jews, who were great at puns upon names, threw it as a jest at the people who came from that town. And Matthew refers to Isaiah 11:1, where it is said that a rod shall come out of the stem of Jesse, and “ a Netzar, a Nazarene, a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” Perhaps Nazareth was called “ branch” because trees flourished there, and not much else; or because they thought the people rather verdant, and they therefore called them “ sprouts” and “ greens,” as the vulgar do at this day when they wish to express contempt. 2. As Nazarene was a term of contempt in the olden times, so it has continued to be. The apostate emperor Julian always called our Lord the Galilean; and when he died, he cried, “ O Galilean, Thou hast vanquished me.” This is still the name given to our Lord by the Jews, and Christians are called among Mahometans, Nazarenes. 3. Our Lord was never ashamed of this name: He called Himself “ Jesus of Nazareth” after He had risen from the dead. Notice our Redeemer’ s condescension. It was a marvel that He should live on this earth at all; but if He must, why is He born in Judaea? Why not in Rome? Yet if born in Judaea, why must He live in Galilee? And if He must live in Galilee, why not at Capernaum? Why choose Nazareth, and be a carpenter’ s son, and be rejected by His fellow townsmen? Was there ever such condescension as this? Verily “ He emptied Himself.” Nothing was left Him of honour or respect. I. Our Master, the Nazarene, was, and is despised.1. He was despised because-- (1) In His person, parentage, state, habits, etc., there was nothing grand. He was no popularity hunter, flatterer of the great, or man of strife. (2) His followers and chosen friends were common fishermen--unlearned and ignorant men. He was not a preacher that attracted the elite of society. Those highly cultured minds went to hear Rabbi Simeon, the Pharisee, who expounded points of no earthly importance; but Jesus was one of whom it is written, “ The common people heard Him gladly.” And so the wise ones ran Him down as “ a Nazarene.” (3) His doctrine was unpalatable. He told a learned Rabbi, “ Except a man be born again,” etc. They could not bear His levelling teaching. He went further, and dared to tell the Scribes and Pharisees that all their outside religion was a lie unless the inner part of the soul was cleansed. 2. Christ is as much despised as ever. How frequently you will find in newspapers, and magazines contempt poured on the doctrine of justification by faith, the Atonement, etc. II. Christ’ s followers must expect to bear a measure of the indignities poured upon their Leader. If you follow Christ fully you will be sure to be called by some ill name. They will say--1. How singular you are! “ Mine inheritance,” says God, “ is unto Me as a speckled bird. The birds round about her are against her.” 2. How old-fashioned! You believe those old Puritanical doctrines. Do you not know that the world has made a great progress and has entered upon the nineteenth century? Will you never move with the times? Will you get as far as Moses, and Jesus, and John, and stick there?” 3. How credulous! They say, “ You simple-minded people have great capacity for believing! We are far too sensible to feel sure about anything. As to this Spirit of God that you trust in, it is sheer enthusiasm. Be rational.” 4. How enslaved! “ You dare not go to the theatre; you dare not drink.” No; but you need not say that we have no liberty because we do not feed out of the swine trough, for such liberty we never desired. We have liberty to serve God and do good, and this is the freedom which we covet. 5. What company you keep! Keep to “ society,” and society will smile upon you; but if you attend meetings where so long as people love Christ you count them the best of company, then you are low and vulgar, a Philistine, or a Nazarene. III. There is, after all, nothing despicable in either Christ or His people.1. What is there to be ashamed of in Him? He is the Son of the Highest. His is the sublimest of all lives, and even His enemies have been struck dumb by the splendour of the love that moved Him to stoop so low. 2. There is nothing to be ashamed of in being a Christian. I am afraid that there are some Christians that we have need to be ashamed of, and that we ourselves do many unworthy things. Christians ought to be reflections of Christ, but I fear they often cast reflections upon Christ. But the fact is that the ungodly usually revile those who are true to Christ. Well, when they do, there is nothing in that to be ashamed of. Shall I be ashamed because I try to do what is right? Shall I be ashamed of chastity and truth? (C. H. Spurgeon.)Prejudice in authority On the occasion of some visits to Ireland, when Charles Wesley and other preachers were furiously assaulted by the mob, the depositions of the victims were laid before a grand jury. That body, after considering them, came to the following conclusion: “ We find and present Charles Wesley to be a person of ill fame, a vagabond, and a common disturber of His Majesty’ s peace; and we pray he may be transported.” (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.) Acts 24:10-21 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered.Paul’ s defence before Felix Note-- I. The Christianity of old Judaism. The apostle--1. Worshipped the Jews’ God. “ So worship I the God of my fathers.” He propounded no new Divinity. 2. Believed in the Jews’ Scriptures. “ In all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.” He not only did not reject them; through Christ he saw them in a new and higher light. 3. Believed in the Jews’ resurrection (Acts 24:15). The resurrection, which was dimly seen by the Hebrews, he saw in clear reality through the resurrection of Christ. Christianity is Judaism ripened into fruit, and brightened into noon. II. The characteristics of a great man.1. He is not ashamed of an unpopular cause (Acts 24:14). All new sects have been heretics, seceders, schismatics. Thus Luther and Calvin were rank heretics in the eyes of Rome; the Puritans and Methodists in the eyes of the Episcopal Church. Thus every new offshoot is a sect, a heresy from the old stock. Providence permits all this refinement from age to age in order that the Church at last might be without spot or blemish. 2. His highest aim is moral rectitude (Acts 24:16). Note here-- (1) The greatest power in man. “ Conscience” is not so much a faculty, a law, or a function of the soul, as its very essence, the moral self. That which connects us with moral government, constitutes our responsibility, and originates our weal or our woe. As is a man’ s conscience, so is he. The New Testament attaches immense importance to conscience; no less than thirty times is it mentioned. Wherever he went Paul sought to commend himself to “ every man’ s conscience in the sight of God.” (2) The divinest condition of man. What is this? To have a conscience “ void of offence,” i.e., not striking against stumbling stones. It is formed from that verb in Psalms 91:1-16 (as quoted in our Lord’ s temptation), “ In their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy toot against a stone.” St. Paul desires to have a conscience free from collision with rocks impeding its course. The conscience, not the life only, must be kept void of offence. He would be able to say, “ I know nothing by [against] myself.” The two chief departments of this unstumbling conscience correspond to the two great divisions of human duty--“ toward God and toward man.” The apostle does not say he has gained this blessed condition, but it was his grand aim. When a man’ s conscience gets into this state, he has reached the true blessedness of his being. A good conscience is heaven. (3) The chief work of man--to get into this state. “ Herein do I exercise myself” by methodical and systematic effort. The greatest work that a man has to do is with his moral self. Paul felt this; his outward battles were as nothing compared to those that he fought on the arena of his own soul. “ So fight I as not beating the air.” 3. He is frank in explanation of himself. The apostle now reverts to the purpose of his journey to Jerusalem, and to the charge as having come as a mover of sedition. (1) That his recent visit to the metropolis, after many years, was a benevolent one (verse 17). (2) That he was found in the temple by certain Jews from Asia “ purified,” not gathering a multitude and creating a tumult, and that those Jews who found him there ought to have been present (verses 18-21). (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul before Felix In this straightforward narrative two characters are disclosed in sharp contrast. The outlines of each are made distinct by the presence of the other. Paul is the embodiment of moral strength. He shows the manly vigour of an ideal Christian. Each spectacle is valuable. The example of Paul attracts to an earnest and courageous Christian life; the example of Felix repels from a career of sin. I. Paul, the strong servant of God. Paul stood before the highest tribunal in Judaea. His accusers were his own countrymen, his judge was an unprincipled Roman. According to Tacitus, Felix “ exercised the power of a king with the temper of a slave.” Drusilla was another man’ s wife whom he bad enticed from her husband. Jonathan, the high priest, had ventured to remonstrate with this immoral ruler, and forthwith assassins sought out the reprover and struck him down in the sanctuary. It required fortitude for an accused Jew to be calm before Felix the unrighteous. Of justice for Paul there was no hope; a low self-interest would shape this judge’ s decision. Paul had no Tertullus to speak for him; he made no plea for clemency, but boldly maintained his innocence. Here was genuine courage. Before this example of heroism all shivering cowardice in the Lord’ s service should loathe itself. Something braver than running to a hiding place when threatened is expected of true Christians. Christ is not satisfied merely with our repentance and submission. He would arouse us to lofty and Divine courage. “ Be not afraid of them that kill the body.” The example of Paul in the circumstances before us ought to impel us to the active virtues, courage, self-reliance, zeal. We cannot but admire it, and we ought to be moved to imitate what we admire.1. There is pressing need of such virtues. Sin is about us in force: it must be resisted and put down. Are we to wait motionless for a deliverer? We do ourselves and others a deep wrong when we represent the power of sin, strong as it is, as so great that the soul is helpless before it. Besides this personal struggle against evil, there is an arduous positive work to be done for righteousness on earth. The conflict between good and evil is continually at full heat. Here is the gospel: it must be lived and preached. Multitudes around us wait to be won to God. Earnestness and self-sacrifice must be had for their salvation. What labour, demanding zeal and persistency, is called for to evangelise the world! 2. Such courage and self-reliance are not opposed to reliance on God. Precisely with the men who have self-reliance God elects to work, men who count it but reasonable that they should put their utmost exertion into effort on which they crave the blessing of Heaven. God will bless our efforts if there are any worthy efforts to be blessed. Why the perpetual complaint by Christians of deficiency and weakness? Are God’ s people the feeblest folk on earth? Who is not weary of this plaintive cry of feebleness from the lips of God’ s saints? Moral strength does not come up in a night even in the heart of a saint. The shout of courage should be oftener heard in our camp. A different ideal of true humility must grow luminous before our imagination. The apostle supplies this. He deemed a certain reliance on self justifiable and obligatory, because into that self God had put so much of His own power. Is the sacred fire burned in vain? Is there not a new hero’ s devotion kindled, a new conqueror fitted for achievement? Manly reliance on self is, for the Christian, only reliance on what God has already done to equip him for service. II. Felix, bold only in delay. The preacher had not left it uncertain that what God demands is repentance. Felix trembled, but he did not repent. Sin never before seemed to him so perilous, and he decided that sometime he must leave it. There is not one hint in Scripture that Felix ever became a Christian. Here is warning against putting off repentance.1. Repentance may never come. 2. With Felix before us, we will consider this weighty truth, too seldom urged, that impenitence every day it lasts produces irreparable loss. Delayed conversion means continued sin, and sin damages the sinner himself and others. We drag along into the Christian life the enfeebled will, the grown-up selfishness, the impaired capacity which we acquired in the years of impenitence. Forgiveness releases us from Divine condemnation; it does not at once, if ever, repair the damage of a sinful course. 3. Again, the ill influence of the old bad life on others is not arrested. Delaying repentance, we throw the weight of our example against our friends’ conversion and encourage others in sin, and our pardon does not undo what we have thus done. 4. Delayed conversion means lost opportunities. Along our path from childhood to age there are many occasions for heavenly deeds. The hours require a soul loyal to God, instantly ready to speak and act with firm courage, able to look sin into shame. How often, when called, have we been unprepared for such holy achievements? We could not be heroic, for we still wore captive’ s chains, and the opportunities were lost. The precious season of preparation for future power may be wasted by daily disobedience to God’ s call. It is clear that in secular life neglect of preparation in youth stands at many a parting of ways in later years and forbids a man’ s choice, saying, “ You cannot take the path up the heights. You must go the lower road.” Many a man in such case has bowed to the inevitable, sorrowing in vain over his loss. But men dream that in the spiritual life, under redemption, they may escape in later years the weakness resulting from youthful impenitence. (T. E. Bartlett.)Paul before Felix I. Felix’ s impression of Paul.1. Paul’ s address. He was in trouble. There had been a tumult. As to the cause of it there were two sides to be heard. Every advantage had been taken of whatever in the circumstances seemed against Paul. Paul’ s reply has in it four heads. (1) Introduction. Tertullus had begun with flattery. Paul begins with respect. (2) Rebuttal. He mentions the brief time he had been in Jerusalem--entirely insufficient to accomplish all the deep plots alleged against him by the Jews. (3) Explanation. How had he happened to be in Jerusalem at all, and what was he doing in the temple? (4) Demand for evidence. 2. The characteristics of this speech probably made a deeper impression on Felix than its contents. (1) Candour. Paul was evidently telling as plainly, fully, and simply as he could the very truth. He did not overdo the matter. An experienced judge is not often deceived as to the honesty of a witness. (2) Fearlessness was evident in every word of Paul’ s. He was not overcome by the danger of his situation. (3) Uprightness was written over every word which Paul uttered. Paul was one who, without counsel, might say all he would; for he was a good man. 3. What was the effect of this speech upon Felix? (1) He recognised that no case had been made out against Paul. The main witnesses had, for some unaccountable reason, not been brought into court. (2) A postponement for further inquiry followed. (3) At the same time his sense of right, being still feebly operative (as in Pilate), will not allow him to treat the prisoner as though he had been convicted of crime. II. Felix’ s impression of Christianity.1. He had some curiosity about it, and after certain days came and sent for Paul and heard him speak about Jesus Christ. 2. Paul’ s speech. (1) The subject. The whole of Paul’ s address is not preserved. (a) Righteousness is the aim of the Christian life. Christ died that He might purify from us the guilt of sin and impute to us His own righteousness. To be holy as God is holy, and so to glorify Him by reflecting His excellence, is the chief end of man. (b) Temperance, or self-control; referring to the subjugation of the passions and the holding of the whole life in submission to the will of God. This in a certain sense is the negative side of the righteousness which Paul has just mentioned. (c) Judgment to come. Christianity derives its hold upon many men by appealing to high motives and ambitions. (2) These themes, doubtless treated in a general way, had also their personal application. Preaching truth is preaching such truth as the hearers ought to have preached to them. Yet Paul was not offensive. He was personal in the way he chose his subject, but not in the manner of its delivery, so far as we can see. 3. No wonder that Felix was convicted by this address, No wonder his heart was smitten with fear. He had been used to association with sycophants, who would flatter him in the face and stab him in the back. What a privilege to truly know one’ s self, even if it be to find defects, for that is the way to perfection. But such an experience is not comfortable. III. Felix’ s disposal of Christianity.1. He let the bad elements in him prevail. 2. Consequently he was led to postpone his dealing with the matter of his relation to God. 3. Why is it that postponing the receiving of salvation is so apt to be its complete rejection? Because-- (1) It is going back again to the ever-increasing domination of sin; (2) Conscience unanswered becomes deadened and its voice is more and more feeble; (3) The desire for a nobler life awakened in us by the Holy Spirit is subdued when unsatisfied; (4) We are not so susceptible to the presence of the Spirit when we do not obey Him. So far as we know men, they do not mean to be lost. IV. Lessons.1. The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. It searches us out. It “ finds” us (as Coleridge said). 2. Selfishness is the cause of men’ s rejection of Christ. They love their sinful ways too well to deny self and follow Him. 3. The great lesson is that postponing the acceptance of Christ is eternally dangerous. Suspect every motive that keeps you from Christ. No such motive is adequate and justifiable. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Paul’ s defence before Felix I. Generally. Paul defended himself--1. Cheerfully, because he knew he was defending a good cause. 2. Skilfully, knowing that one is not excused for using bad arguments, because he is engaged in defending a good cause. 3. Confidently, having already been tried and acquitted at the bar of his own conscience. 4. Defiantly. Right-doing calls for no apologising. To submit is to admit, when one is openly charged with evil-doing. 5. Paul made his defence defiantly, knowing that he had given no occasion for the accusations brought against him. Conscious innocence makes a man bold; conscious guilt makes a man bluster. II. Specifically.1. He confessed Christ (verse 14).2. He served God (verse 14).3. He reverenced the Old Testament (verse 14).4. He believed in the resurrection (verse 15).5. He sought a clear conscience (verse 16).6. He helped the needy (verse 17). III. Lessons.1. “ I confess.” What Paul had done he was ready to acknowledge. No man should be slow in pleading guilty when he is charged with being a follower of Christ. 2. “ They call a sect.” What if they do? Fear not the cry of sectarianism so long as only Christ’ s enemies are raising it against you. 3. “ Believing … the law.” Has that law been repealed? Then remember that it demands your allegiance as much as it did Paul’ s. 4. “ Hope toward God.” Toward God is the true direction for hoping. Hopelessness Godward means blank despair manward. 5. “ Exercise myself.” It requires constant effort to follow Christ closely. But it is the best kind of exercise. It made of Paul a giant in moral strength. 6. “ Conscience void of offence … alway.” Some one has wisely said, “ It is always term time in the court of conscience.” 7. “ I came to bring alms.” Paul had come among the Jews on an errand of mercy, and the merciless Jews had straightway sought to slay him. 8. “ Certain Jews … ought to have been here.” But they were not there. Such men prefer haranguing a lawless mob to testifying in a court of law. The devil’ s agents are constitutional cowards. (S. S. Times.)Paul’ s defence before Felix 1. A straightforward account is an honest man’ s best defence. 2. In such a case it is in the knowledge and not the ignorance of a judge that safety will lie (verse 10,11). Apply this to the Great Judgment Day. 3. Christianity is involved in and anticipated Judaism (cf. Hebrews 11:1-40). 4. The Christian believes not less, but more than the Jew (verses 14, 15). 5. Whatever our intellectual opinions may be, our moral character should be blameless (verse 16). 6. Never does the world commit greater blunders in violation even of its own laws, than in persecuting the faith (verse 19). 7. Many inquiries are made about the gospel through curiosity, and without a personal concern for sin (verse 24). 8. A true preacher will seize every available opportunity for proclaiming the gospel; every sinner ought to fear the gospel; we ought not to delay coming to Christ (verse 25). 9. People’ s motives with respect to Christ and His cause often get strangely mixed (verses 25, 26). 10. In religion, as in many other things, it is true that “ he that delays is lost.” His heart hardens, and circumstances entangle him. 11. Christians are called into various experiences and situations for testimony and service (verse 27). (A. F. Muir, M. A.)Paul’ s defence before Felix I. That God protects His messengers. On one side was a multitude of enraged Jewish rulers, who had wealth, prestige, power, an eloquent advocate to plead their cause. On the other side, Paul alone was accused before a corrupt judge. How small the possibilities of his success! Yet God had promised that His messengers, when brought before governors, should be taught by the Spirit what to say. Here is one actual fulfilment of that promise. Paul showed triumphantly that what was criminal in the charge against him was not true, and that what was true was not criminal.1. He was accused of exciting seditions among the Jews; but he showed that only twelve days before he had passed through Caesarea on his way to visit Jerusalem for the first time in many years. 2. He was accused of heresy. He replied, “ I confess that I follow the opinion which they call a sect, and thus worship the God of my fathers.” 3. He was accused of profanation of the temple. He replied that the object of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem was to worship in the temple; that the Jews found him in it purified in fulfilment of a special vow. The bold way was the safe way. If he had secretly gone to Jerusalem, and had secretly taught, he would have thrown away his defence, and have prejudiced his cause. The cause of Christ has nothing to do with secrecy. Only the open follower of Christ can claim His promises of protection. II. God furnishes His messengers with opportunities to do His work. Paul’ s object was to spread the gospel through the world. But how could the gospel have reached the ears of Roman rulers except through Christian prisoners? Paul used his defence as an opportunity to preach Christ. The Christian measures his success by opportunities to spread saving truth. Paul’ s most glorious opportunities were in prison. The Christian often remembers scenes of suffering as the most wonderful marks of God’ s favour. III. The Christian grows in grace while fighting outward foes (verse 16). If you press the gospel on others, you will have the greater motive to illustrate its power over yourself by abstaining from sin, and showing the peace, joy, charity, which are its fruits. (A. E. Dunning.)The Christian’ s defence against the accusations of the world I. When should he defend himself.1. If the Lord is reviled and not himself.2. If he may hope to conciliate men’ s minds and not to increase their bitterness. II. How should he defend himself.1. Without fear of men.2. Convincingly by a good conscience. (K. Gerok.)The Christian’ s defence against the accusations of the world 1. The Christian will keep himself pure from reproach, that the gospel be not blasphemed on his account. 2. He will, by the joyful confession of his faith, put to shame the groundless enmity of the world. 3. He will point to his life, that it may bear witness to the truth of his faith. (Lisco.)The Christian’ s best defence against calumny I. A joyful confession (verse 14). II. An conscience (verse 16). III. A blameless life (verses 17-20). IV. A righteous judgment of God (verse 15). (K. Gerok.)Paul’ s encouragement in Felix’ s intelligence Paul was encouraged, while on trial, by the fact that he was before an intelligent judge. It is always a satisfaction to know that a man whom you want to convince of a truth is well informed on the subject in question. As a rule, the less a man knows, the more bigoted he is. And the more he knows, the readier he is to revise his opinions on fair evidence or sound argument. A lawyer with a good case prefers a learned judge or a well-informed jury. A clergyman has hope of convincing his hearers just in proportion to their intelligence. A competent teacher finds that the more his scholars know to begin with, about the lesson, the more he can teach them. There is nothing more discouraging, when you want to get a new idea into a man’ s head, than to find that his head is now empty. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Paul’ s inspired method We begin to see the gigantic stature of Paul’ s mind; but the loftiness of the mountain must not lead us to overlook the fine mosses and delicate flowers with which its base is so exquisitely enamelled. The character of Paul is as fine in texture as it is vast in bulk. Observe-- I. The contrast between Paul’ s introduction and the preface of Tertullus. Christianity makes gentlemen; it is the religion of refinement. Wherein we are vulgar, we do but show the space which Christianity has yet to conquer. Tertullus began cringingly, fulsomely, falsely. Felix had been judge more than about twice the usual time, and Paul recognised that fact, as it was the only compliment he was able to pay the corrupt governor. Christianity is courteous--never rough; recognising whatever can be recognised in the way of excellence, or continuance of service, but never stooping to drag its own crown in the mire. II. The temper which Paul displayed under Tertullus’ hurricane of abuse. There is no excitement in his reply, no resentment; he contents himself with denial and with challenging proof. Fury would have created suspicion, and resentment would have been an argument on the other side; but the quietness of the consciousness of innocence must be taken as contributing to the establishment of an irrefragable proof that an innocent man was in the presence of Felix. III. The manner in which the personal defence is made to create room for the doctrinal exposition. Paul does not spend much time upon himself. He will not tarry over little things; he is in haste to accomplish a sublime purpose. In his view, the whole world was only made for the one purpose of receiving the kingdom of Christ. Why do we not take our rule from his magnanimous method? Do not defend yourself, but preach and live, expound and exemplify the truth. The cruel part of it all is that some persons imagine that if stones are thrown at you, you deserve to be stoned. Do not let that trouble you. IV. How Paul keeps hold of his audience, by preaching Christianity without so much as naming Christ. That would not suit a modern audience, because a modern audience is foolish. Inspiration guides a man quite as much in teaching him what not to say as in teaching him what to say; inspiration has to do with method as well as with matter. Is Paul, then, not preaching Christ? He is preaching Him all the time. He is developing a certain state of mind; he says mentally, “ It is enough now to touch curiosity, to create interest; by and by I shall speak to that procurator in a way he never heard mortal tongue deliver itself; but now I have to answer this mean hireling, who would plead my cause if I only paid him enough to do so.” So the merchant can be preaching Christianity in his business without ever letting it be known that he ever spent one moment on his knees. Men can preach Christianity and defend the Cross in temper, actions, family and commercial relations, and beget a state of mental wonder on the part of the observers as to how such things happen to be as they are. By and by such men may be sent for, that they may speak concerning the mystery. V. How Paul keeps to the Scriptures (verse 14). This was so much gained; but it was a generality that wanted accent, so he proceeds, in verse 16, to supply the accent which was required. This was moral preaching? I would to God we had more moral preaching, then! The man who is severe with his own conscience will know how to treat the consciences of other men. Paul gives us a hint of the power which he will exercise by and by when he confronts Felix alone. Nothing will stand in the world’ s estimation forever but down-right in-and-out goodness. (J. Parker, D. D.)The good confession The charge brought against Paul included three particulars. He was guilty of sedition, and so of disloyalty to the Roman government; of heresy, the ringleader of a sect, and so a renegade from Judaism; of profaning the temple, and thus of affronting a worship which was under the protection of Rome. The charges were the old ones: familiar to us already in the cases of Stephen and Christ. The time came for the apostle’ s defence. He begins by selecting the only ground on which he could count himself fortunate in being tried before Felix. He could depend at least upon his acquaintance with the rites and customs of Judaism. Felix knew the day of that feast of Pentecost for which St. Paul had gone up to Jerusalem, and that it was but twelve days since. It was a short time for the commission of this triple crime; and already five of them in prison! How had the other seven been spent (verses 12, 13)? Note-- I. The manner of his address.1. He stands before a wicked ruler; yet he pays to him the respect due to his office. It is the same man who wrote lately to the Romans, “ Render therefore to all their dues; fear, to whom fear; honour, to whom honour.” There is all the difference in the world between servility and courtesy; between the flattery of Tertullus, and the manly respectfulness of St. Paul. Insolence to rulers is no part of the religion of Christ. “ Render unto Caesar,” our Lord said, “ the things which are Caesar’ s,” etc. 2. The present was dark, the future was ambiguous: and yet he answers for himself “ cheerfully.” If we are in Christ’ s hands, on Christ’ s side, what circumstance is enough to justify despondency? Pain of mind or body, want, weakness, anguish, impending death; all shall be well: for “ I am Christ’ s, and Christ is God’ s.” II. The matter.1. We find two of the three charges calmly and earnestly repelled. The charges of sedition and sacrilege are refuted by an appeal to fact. None can dare to say of him, that his brief time in Jerusalem had been spent in creating insurrection. His supposed desecration of the temple was the opposite of truth, for he had frequented its courts to show his respect for the law. 2. But one charge he rather qualifies than repels. If it be a schismatical thing to be a Christian, then he avowed it and gloried in it. St. Paul worshipped God according to a particular system; not vaguely as the Creator and Preserver, not merely as the Lawgiver and the Judge, but definitely and precisely as revealed in Christ. What is there to mark our confessions, prayers, praises, thanksgivings, as offered according to the way of Christ? Does Christ really enter into all? And is there anything in our habits of speech and action which recognises and reminds men of our faith in the way of Christ? 3. But observe how Paul claims for himself, all the time, the position of the truly orthodox; the God whom he worships is “ the God of his fathers.” He “ believes all things written” in the Old Testament Scriptures, and it is just because he does so he is a Christian. The true revelation of God is never at variance with itself. Everything which God has ever spoken will be true forever. His voice in nature, in reason, in conscience, to the Patriarchs, in the law, the prophets, the gospel, are all consistent and harmonious. Each one of these completes, fulfils something, in the one before it; but it destroys and it contradicts nothing. He who affects, unlike St. Paul, to despise Old Testament Scriptures, proves himself by that contempt to be not a full-grown man, but a very babe in Christ. 4. Paul claims for Israel under the law a glimmering at least of that hope, for which, as a Christian and an apostle, he was himself bound with his chain (verse 15). It suited the occasion and the purpose of this heroic defence, to trace the hope of the resurrection to a dispensation earlier than the Christian. And we too must accept the declaration, and give thanks for it, that even the Old Testament is not silent as to this great restitution of all things. 5. The resurrection of the just is an expression used by our Lord. But He stopped not there, nor could Paul. There is also a resurrection of the unjust. The resurrection must be either the hope, or the fear, of each one of us. And which? (Dean Vaughan.) Acts 24:14-16 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers.What is heresy I. Here is the case of men holding high office in the Church of God, yet mistaking truth for error, and branding as heresy that which is Divine. These men have had many successors, who at various points in the Church’ s history have, in the name of religion, inflicted the most inhuman cruelties on the noblest saints of God. Nor can these foul deeds be declared the sole heritage of any one Church. Nor can we look calmly into history without seeing that the barbarities inflicted in the name of orthodoxy have arisen largely from a mistaken estimate of heresy. What is heresy? Judging from history, heresy might be defined as “ the faith of the minority.” The word “ heretical” has been loosely held to the opposite of “ orthodox.” Orthodoxy has been held to mean “ the commonly received opinions.” But this is an abuse of words. Orthodoxy means right opinions, whether held by the few or the many. Again, heresy is not confined in its application to opinions, but includes anything that takes from the truth; and truth is not only formulated in opinion, it is also revealed in feeling and embodied in life. By blindness to this truth, the Church has sinned grievously. Let me emphasise this important truth by showing--1. That heresies of heart and life are unspeakably the more vital. Doctrine is important only as it points to duty and fruits out in life. Of necessity, therefore, it holds a second place. Heresy of creed may be the result of many influences acting on the mind from childhood, and may exist along with entire loyalty of heart to Christ. But heresy of spirit and life can only be the offspring of a depraved heart. The honour of our Master and the interests of His kingdom are far more seriously imperilled by that which is un-Christly in the behaviour of His followers, than by what may be defective in their doctrines. 2. Heresies of heart and life are unspeakably the more prevalent. In what land is membership in a Christian Church accepted as any guarantee of integrity? Where is the line of demarcation in society, which separates the Christian and non-Christian? Is it not a fact that even among prominent Christian professors there are found features of conduct which can only be regarded as grievous heresies of life. And Churches have shared this grievous guilt. How often have they dealt a grievous blow to vital religion, by manifesting a burning concern for orthodoxy in the order of worship, or creed, and yet a loose indifference as to heresies of spirit and of life? II. Here is the case of a single man, strong in his own conviction, daring the many who brand him a heretic. This persecuted apostle reveals a grand manliness here. Though a prisoner before the magnates of the Church, and the potentates of the state, yet does he stand boldly forward, and without halt or hesitation declare, “ This I confess unto thee,” etc. Why? Because the heresy had become the voice of God in his soul. It had been burned into his being and become part of himself. Now this daring the public authorities and the popular voice in obedience to conscience--1. Is seldom met with in our time. And this not because persecution, open and in public courts, is rare in our day, but chiefly because so few think for themselves. It is the custom to go with the crowd. The vast multitude have never made their own those truths which they profess to hold. They are content to use language which they have never examined--to sing songs which they do not feel, and to give their adhesion to declarations which so far as they know may be the very truth of God or the merest drivel. 2. Requires noble and heroic elements of manhood. (1) Great courage.(2) Fidelity to conscience.(3) Readiness of self-sacrifice. Lessons: Let us--1. Cultivate more definite personal convictions.2. Not fear to avow our convictions whoever may gainsay.3. Guard heart and life as the chief exponents of the truth.4. Cultivate charity towards all men. (J. B. Wylie.)Paul before Felix Two things are of prime importance in this scripture;1. Paul’ s answer to the charge of heresy; and--2. Paul’ s preaching to the Roman governor and his lady. I. Paul’ s answer to the charge of heresy or of being the ringleader of a sect. A heresy is an opinion which someone chooses to hold, and which becomes conspicuous because it is not the commonly held opinion. Paul freely acknowledges that his way is the way which “ they call” a sect or a heresy. He does not accept the popular and prevailing views. He confesses the sin, if it be a sin, of being in the minority. But having made that acknowledgment, he proceeds to defend that heretical way as the way of the old faith and hope. Paul’ s trouble was not that he did not believe enough, but that he believed too much. “ That is the sum of my offence” --he says--“ that I believe in all things which are according to law and which are written in the prophets.” “ I belong to a sect!” he indignantly cries, “ much more a leader of it! Nay; but I serve the God of our fathers, and I accept the revelation which He gave them in all its fulness.” That is a noble defence to make against such a charge, if it be a true defence, That has been virtually or actually the defence of the whole line of prophets and reformers from the days of Elijah down. The Church of God has from time to time settled down to a half belief in both His law and His love. A few earnest souls accept the message and apply it to their consciences and lives. Soon the cry of “ heresy” and “ a sect” is raised. But it is only the forgotten truth which was always in the Book, and which has been overlaid by the rubbish of neglect or overgrown by the weeds of sinful indulgence and its consequence, which has been brought to light. It is so easy to disbelieve some of the contents of the law and the prophets. Here was one party in this Jewish Church who had given up all belief in the supernatural, and another party who, putting it all in their creed, allowed it no weight in the conduct of their lives. Paul says, “ I keep to the old faith, and the whole of it; and that is my offence.” Paul also defends his way as that of the old hope. He believes in the resurrection both of the just and the unjust. There is glory in being a heretic when the common faith is lifeless and the common hope is dumb. But no one can be called a leader of a sect who in the decay of faith goes back to a vital faith. He represents the old faith and the old hope, and not a new. Paul also defends his way as that of the old righteousness. With this belief in the totality of revelation and this hope based on it, the apostle was striving to live a truly righteous life. He does not say that he has fully attained it, but he is seeking after it. He exercises himself “ to have a conscience void of offence toward God and man alway.” He is following the light of conscience enlightened by God’ s Word, and he follows it without fear or faltering. His heresy is too great moral earnestness; too large a receptivity for the whole truth of God. II. Paul’ s preaching to the Roman governor (George M. Boynton.)The charge of sectarianism To be charged with schism and sectarianism is not the worst thing for a Christian believer. Paul was not afraid of that reputation; nor was John Huss, nor John Wycliffe, nor Martin Luther, nor Hugh Latimer, nor Nicholas Ridley, nor John Calvin, nor John Knox, nor John Wesley. Calling a man a sectarian is no proof that he holds any error in religious doctrine. The real question is, What is the truth? not, Does this man agree with the majority of Christians in the statement of truth? (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Believing all things that are written in the law and the prophets. Paul’ s apology Here is Paul’ s apology; faith at the bottom, hope as the immediate effect and product of it, and an holy conversation as the fruit and consequent. The same method is observed in 1 Timothy 1:5, and 2 Peter 1:5-6. Note.-- I. The expressions here used.1. Concerning faith. (1) The object,” “ Things written in the law and the prophets” --all the Scriptures then extant (Matthew 11:13; Luke 16:29). The object of our faith, who have received the rule of faith more enlarged (Ephesians 2:20), is prophets and apostles. The object of faith may be considered--materially, such things as God hath revealed; formally, because God hath revealed them. (2) The extent, “ All things.” A believer receiveth all truths which are of Divine revelation, whether precepts, promises, threatenings, doctrines, or histories. (3) The act, “ Believing.” It is not enough not to deny or not to contradict, but we must actually and positively believe. The reason why people feel so little force of their faith is because they leap into the Christian faith by the advantage of their birth, but do not consider what nor why they believe. But true faith is a positive, firm assent, excited in us by the Spirit of God. To a sound belief there is necessary-- (a) A knowledge or full instruction in the things which we believe (1 John 4:16); first known and then believed. (b) A due conviction of the certainty of them (Luke 1:4; John 6:69; John 17:8). (c) Practical trust and affiance; for Christianity doth not only propound bare truths to be assented unto, but joyful, comfortable truths suitable to our necessity and desires (Hebrews 3:6). (d) Application, that we may know for our good (Job 5:27). 2. Concerning hope. (1) Mark that he propoundeth his hope as the immediate product of faith. What good will it do me to believe the doctrines of the prophets and apostles, if I expect no good from thence? Faith would be vain, and religion vain. Only note here that hope is two fold. (a) The fruit of regeneration (1 Peter 1:3). (b) Built upon experience (Romans 5:4-5). (2) Observe that he pitcheth upon the resurrection as the great thing hoped for, because then is our full and final happiness (1 Timothy 1:16; John 20:31). This is the great thing which we hope, wait, and labour for. 3. Concerning his manners and conversation (verse 16). Observe-- (1) His encouragement, “ Herein.” (a) Interpreters expound this, in the meantime, till faith be turned into vision, hope into fruition (Hebrews 6:12). (b) Again, by virtue of this faith and hope. Faith and a good conscience are often coupled (1 Timothy 1:5). We cannot keep the one without the other. (2) The integrity of his obedience, set forth in all the necessary requisites. (a) Sincerity. For his conscience was in it, and a good conscience; and the goodness of conscience consisteth in its ability to do its office, in its clearness, purity, tenderness, quietness, peaceableness. (b) Strictness and exactness. He would keep this good conscience “ void of offence.” It may be understood-- (a) Passively, that conscience be not offended, or receive wrong by any miscarriage of ours, for it is a tender thing. The least dust in the eye hindereth its use, so doth sin offend and trouble the conscience. (b) Actively, that we offend not, nor offer wrong to others. (3) Impartiality, “ Both towards God and towards men.” There are two tables, and we are to take care we do not give offence to God or men, by neglecting our duty either. (4) Constancy, “ Always.” A conscience brought forth for certain turns is not a good conscience. 4. The laborious diligence wherewith he carried it on: “ I exercise myself.” We must make it our constant labour and endeavour-- (1) By a diligent search into the mind of God (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:10; Ephesians 5:17). (2) By a serious inquiry into the state of our own hearts and ways (Psalms 4:4; Jeremiah 8:6). (3) By a constant watchfulness (Psalms 39:1). (a) By a serious resistance and mortification of sin (Matthew 5:29-30; Galatians 5:24). (4) By the use of means which God hath appointed. II. The reasons why this is true Christianity.1. The necessity of it. It is a great question how far obedience belongeth to faith, whether as a part or as an end, fruit and consequent. I answer--Both ways. Consent of subjection is a part of faith, actual obedience a fruit of it. 2. The comfort of obedience to us. We cannot make out our evidence and plea but by a uniform, constant, and impartial obedience. 3. It is for the honour of Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; John 15:8; Philippians 1:1). (T. Manton, D. D.) Acts 24:16 Herein do I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence.A conscience void of offence I. There are certain states of mind which may be mistaken for a conscience void of offence. It has been wisely said that the office of conscience is to testify to every man the quality of his actions, and to enable him to regulate his conduct agreeably to some standard of right or wrong. Hence the importance of being acquainted with that code of morals which Almighty God has revealed to us, and of acknowledging His Word to be the sole standard of our faith and duty. Without this, we may mistake an unenlightened conscience for a conscience void of offence. Such a conscience may, indeed, faithfully testify against many things which are wrong: but, so long as its regulating principle is defective or erroneous; it cannot be depended on. We may also mistake a dormant conscience for a conscience void of offence. There are, unhappily, persons whose object seems to be to pass as smoothly as possible down the stream of life, and carefully avoid subjects which might awaken the conscience, and disturb their imaginary peace. We have often seen persons in this frame of mind visited by afflictive dispensations, which were obviously designed to lead them to reflection and prayer; but, alas! no such result has followed. Their trials have produced no other effect than to lead them to endeavour, by change of scene and other such means, to shake off as soon as possible the remembrance of their sorrows. There is also such a thing as a seared conscience, and even this may be mistaken for a conscience void of offence. It is said that there have been men who have persevered in stating falsehoods till they believed them to be true, and we must all have observed how certain persons will advocate an erroneous system of religion, with a measure of zeal and self-denial which seems to indicate a belief in its truth. To such St. Paul refers when he tells us that men shall arise “ speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” The expression was apparently intended to warn us that perseverance in error must produce a like effect upon the mind that cauterising does upon the body, and conscience, which was designed to be a faithful monitor, ceases to bear its testimony, and becomes seared as with a hot iron. II. We inquire wherein it is that a conscience void of offence may be said to consist. The Bible clearly teaches that the first step towards this is the awakening of the conscience. “ Conscience,” says a distinguished writer, “ seems to hold a place among the moral powers, analogous to that which reason holds among the intellectual” ; and although in its natural condition its province appears to be to convey to us a certain conviction of what is morally right or wrong, independently of any acquired knowledge, yet viewed in connection with the great work of man’ s renewal in righteousness, it is needful that the conscience be awakened to perceive the infinite holiness of Almighty God, the spirituality of His law, and the fallen and sinful state of man. This can only be attained through the instrumentality of the Word, accompanied by the enlightening influences of the Holy Spirit. We must see the moral perfections of the Most High, and the exalted purity of His law; and we must acknowledge and confess that “ we have erred and strayed from His ways like lost sheep, and there is no health in us.” But the conscience thus awakened must be cleansed from its sense of guilt in the presence of an infinitely pure and holy God. It is here that revelation comes to our aid. It makes known to us the great atonement, propitiation, and satisfaction which our blessed Redeemer has offered for us upon the Cross, and it invites us to “ Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” A conscience thus cleansed St. Paul enjoyed. He knew that his sins were pardoned through the merit of his Lord, but he also knew his own shortcomings and infirmities, nay, he knew that when he would do good evil was present with him; and anxious to live near to God, and thirsting after pure and uninterrupted communion with Him, he exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men. He “ exercised” himself. This expression implies that even an apostle found a continual effort to be needful. It was so with him and it is so with us all, so long as we are in the body. Our fallen wills and corrupt affections, the temptations that are in the world, and the fiery darts of our spiritual adversary--all unite to make the life of faith a constant struggle to maintain a good conscience. St. Paul’ s first concern was to have always a good conscience “ towards God.” He knew that God hath not called us to uncleanness but to holiness, that He pardons that He may purify, and justifies in order that He may sanctify the soul. Nor did he forget what was due to his fellow men. The man who lives by faith must show his faith by his works; the man who professes to be constrained by love to God, must take heed that he love his brother also. On points such as these a truly enlightened conscience will admit of no compromise, and he who would have the Spirit bearing witness with his spirit that he is a child of God, and an heir of the kingdom of heaven, must exercise himself to have always a conscience void of offence, not only towards God, but also towards men. (Wm. Niven, B. D.)The happiness of possessing a conscience void of offence I. What are we to understand by “ a conscience void of offence” ?1. Not that it is void of offence merely because it does not accuse. There are many so immersed in cares or pleasures, that they never reflect on the state of their souls (Hosea 7:2); and, if at any time their conscience be alarmed, they instantly endeavour to check its clamour and restore its tranquillity. Others persuade themselves that they have no cause for fear, and that they shall have peace, notwithstanding all their sins (Jeremiah 8:11; Deuteronomy 29:19). Others have, by resisting, quenched the light within them; and thus have reduced themselves to a state of awful obduracy (1 Timothy 4:2). Such persons have no other than an evil conscience. 2. Nor is a conscience necessarily void of offence even though it should approve. Many propose to themselves a false standard of right and wrong: by conforming to their own principles, they may gain the approbation of their own minds; but it does not, therefore, follow that they are innocent. Error may extenuate, but cannot remove their guilt (cf. Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1, with 1 Corinthians 15:9, and 1 Timothy 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:15). 3. To be truly void of offence, conscience must have a clear discovery of the rule of duty. The rule of duty is concise and plain (Matthew 22:37-40). 4. It should be able also to testify, upon good grounds, that there is a correspondence between that rule and our actions. It should be able to appeal to God for the truth of its testimony; that, after the strictest search, it can find no sin habitually indulged, or duty allowedly neglected. II. That every true Christian labours to maintain it.1. This is certainly the character of one who feareth God. The Christian maketh but little account of man’ s judgment (1 Corinthians 4:3). He knoweth that the eye of God is upon his heart (Hebrews 4:13), he therefore studies to approve himself to God. He hath respect to every part of his duty, toward God and man (James 3:17), and this, not at certain seasons only, but always. Nor will he be deterred by any regard to ease, or interest, or fear; inquiring only, “ What is duty?” (Acts 21:39). 2. Nor can anyone be a true Christian who hath not attained it. Every pardoned sinner is supposed to be without guilt (Psalms 32:2). All in the primitive Church are spoken of in this light (Philippians 1:10; Philippians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). St. Paul did not hesitate to affirm that this was his character (Acts 23:1; 2 Corinthians 1:12); and the same is ascribed to one who was far inferior to him (John 1:47). Nor is anyone in a state of salvation who hath not attained it. Many things may conspire to rob a Christian of the comfort of such a conscience; but a just ground for such a conscience he cannot but possess. This is expressly asserted by David (Psalms 66:18) and St. John (1 John 3:8-10). (T. Hannam.)St. Paul’ s exercise That there is no cause so bad, but some will plead it; no man so good, but some will slander him; no case so clear, but some will question it; nothing so false, but some will swear it. Judges, then, had need to do as their ancients did, first sacrifice, then sentence. Thus the context: for the text, every man must chiefly look to this, that his conscience be not offended. Men, be they pleased or not pleased, conscience must not be displeased. This is the main, and for our briefer despatch of this point, this order will be taken, first, the terms must be unfolded, next the proposition confirmed, and then applied. In St. Paul’ s action and our proposition, three things come to be considered--the subject, object, end. For the first, no more but this: we infer from Paul’ s exercise each man’ s duty. It is true he was a preacher, but he is not now considered as a preacher, but as a man; and in my text his life is mentioned, not his faith or function. For the second it is conscience, a word of great latitude and infinite dispute. For the first, I take conscience to be both a faculty, and a distinct faculty, too, of the soul. The schools reject that, others this; but besides reason, the written Word bends most that way (1 Timothy 1:1-20). It is distinguished from the will (Titus 1:15), from the mind, and if we mark it, conscience is so far from being one of both, or both in one, as that there is between them first a jealousy, then an open faction; the other powers of the soul, taking conscience to be but a spy, do what they can first to hide themselves from it, next to deceive it, after to oppose it, and lastly to depose it. Conscience, on the other side, laboureth to hold its own, and, till it be blinded or bribed, proceeds in its office in despite of all oppositions, it cites all the powers of Nature, sits upon them, examines, witnesseth, judges, executes. Hereof come those λόγομοις self conferences, or reasonings, as St. Paul terms them (Romans 2:1-29.), thence those mutual apologies, and exceptions amongst themselves, when conscience sits. I know the words are otherwise carried; but μεταξὺἀλλήλων will hardly brook any other bias that is set upon them. For the second, the common subject of conscience is the reasonable soul. The third thing is its end and office. It is set in man to make known to man in what terms he stands with God, thence its name; therefore fitly termed the soul’ s glass, the understanding’ s light. Conscience therefore is a prime faculty of the reasonable soul, there set to give notice of its spiritual estate, in what terms it stands with God. Now secondly, it is taken sometimes more generally, sometimes for the whole court and proceedings of conscience, by the fathers; sometime for the whole soul of man, either stooping to conscience, or reflecting upon itself. The third followeth, without offence. It is the conscience that carries the soul as the foot the body, through all ways and weather, therefore St. Paul would be as chary of this as the traveller of that. Conscience should not be offended lest it should offend in its fit constitution and working, or managing of its proper actions, which as Paul delivers them are--1. Knowing.2. Witnessing.3. Comforting.4. And now accidentally since the fall, accusing and tormenting. And for its constitution it stands in clearness, tenderness, quietness, and when it is either so blinded or dazzled, feared, lamed, that it cannot do its office, then it is said to be offended. Every Christian must be carefully watchful that his soul, spirit, or conscience be no way grieved by sins. Now follows the proof, and that is most easy. First, from precept. Above all keepings keep thy heart, saith Solomon (Proverbs 4:23). Next, from example. We have a cloud of witnesses, prophets, apostles, martyrs, who would hazard themselves upon the angry seas, lions, flames, rather than upon a displeased conscience. Thirdly, from reason. First, for God’ s cause we should make much of conscience, that being His officer, and therein standing the chiefest of His image and man’ s excellency. The perfection of man is his knowledge; the perfection of knowledge is the knowledge thereof, which is conscience. Secondly, for our peace sake, conscience being like a wife, the best of comforts if good, the worst of naughts if bad. For first deal friendly with conscience, and it proves the best of friends, next God. First the truest, that will never flatter, but make thee know thyself. Secondly, the surest, that will never start, it lies with thee, it sits with thee, it rides with thee, it sleeps with thee, it wakes with thee, it walks with thee in every place beyond all times. Thirdly, it is the sweetest friend in the world. If natural cheerfulness be so good a housekeeper to a good man, that it feasts daily, as Solomon saith, oh, then what be the banquets of conscience sanctified and purified! what joys those which will carry a man above ground, and make him forget the best of Nature’ s comforts? Secondly, offend conscience, and it will prove as the inmost, so the utmost enemy. First, unavoidable; do what thou canst, thou canst not shake it off; when thou goest it goes, when thou fleest it runs. It meets thee in the dark, and makes thee leap; it meets thee in the day, and makes thee quake; it meets thee in thy dreams, and makes thee start, in every corner. Secondly, insufferable, it strips one of all comforts at one time; if a sick stomach will make one weary of chairs, beds, meats, drinks, friends, all, oh, what will a sick conscience do! Next, it puts one to intolerable pains, it racks the memory, and makes it run backward twenty years, as Joseph’ s brethren; yea, it twinges for sins of youth, as Job complains, it racks the understanding, and carries it forward beyond the grave, and makes it feel the very bitterness of death and hell before it sees them; it racks the phantasy, and makes it see ghosts in men. And shall such a thing as this, so near, so great a neighbour be offended? Use 1. We have done with proofs, we now apply. Wherein, first, shall we chide or weep, to see the wickedness of these times, and the infinite distance betwixt Paul and us? Oh, Paul, thou art almost alone; thou studiest conscience, we of this age craft; thou didst gauge thine own, we other men’ s; thy care was to please conscience, we the times; thine to walk evenly before God and man, ours to serve ourselves on both; thou everywhere was for conscience, we almost nowhere; thou wouldst see conscience take no wrong, now wit out reasons it, wealth outfaces it, money outbuys it, might overmatches it, all undervalue it. Use 2. As for you present, be entreated to two things: First, talk with your hearts alone, and in case conscience be angry with you once, agree, else never safe; nor field, nor town, nor bed, nor board, nor life, nor death, nor depth, nor grave can render you secure. Secondly, be of Paul’ s mind. First, set conscience at a high price, consider what it will be worth in the day of trouble, of death, of judgment, and resolve to beg, starve, burn, die over a thousand deaths to save conscience’ s life. Next, use Paul’ s means, look to God and man. For God; first, with Paul, we must believe what is written. Faith and conscience are embarked in the same ship (1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 3:9). Secondly, for man; if we have given our voice or hand against the innocent, with St. Paul, we must retract it. Use 3. Now we have some special errands yet to deliver. First, to you of lower rank. Do you stand in the face of judgment this day with Paul’ s conscience? Though my house and land be yours, yet whilst I breathe, I will be none but mine own and God’ s. But I cannot live without Him. But thou canst die without Him; and it is better to die a thousand deaths than to stab one conscience. Whatever becomes of your places or estates, so walk, so go, as may be for your peace. Next, to you of higher rank I have a double suit. First, that you will have some mercy on ether men’ s consciences; next, on your own. Secondly, we in the ministry are in places of trust, the gospel is committed to us, as to St. Paul. Oh happy we, if we can say after him, “ We preach not as pleasing men, but God which tries the heart.” We are men of conscience, let conscience rule and master us. (Robert Harris, D. D.)What we are to understand by a good conscience, and how it may be attained; with the blessing of it A conscience is one of those terms which are common in the world, but of a very doubtful and uncertain, and sometimes of a dangerous signification. Some men understand nothing by it but a blind and hardy zeal for the opinion they espouse, which perhaps they have been confirmed in by the prejudice of education, or have taken up out of some motive of worldly interest or vanity. Others mean nothing by it but a scrupulous tenderness about things of little or no moment; things which, considered in themselves, are not of the substance, but only to be looked upon as decent circumstances of religion; which yet conscience is many times more nice and tender about, than the most weighty and important of religious duties. Thus we see conscience, according to the different tempers, passions, and prejudices of men, is made to signify very different things. And whereas it is the character of a good and well-informed conscience, to be void of offence towards God and towards man; as some persons understand conscience, nothing is more injurious or offensive, either to God or man. I. As to the first inquiry, what is meant by a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man? We may easily come to a resolution if we do but consider what is the rule of conscience, or how we ought to proceed in regulating the judgments we make of our own actions. For not only the reason of the thing, but the very word conscience, in its proper signification, imports that there ought to be some law by which our conduct is to be tried, and the error or rectitude of it determined. When we know that our actions have been conformable to such a rule, we have a good and well-informed and inoffensive conscience; but if we depart from our rule, how specious soever our pretences may be, of a good intention or zeal for God’ s service and the interests of religion, in order to palliate or the better to set off a sinful action; yet the principle upon which we act cannot properly be called conscience; for conscience, in the proper sense of the word, always supposes a conformity between the rule and the action. It is therefore only private judgment or opinion upon which we proceed in such cases; and, strictly speaking, can no more be called conscience than I can be said to concur with another person in any design or action wherein I directly oppose him. Yet it must be granted that as men are willing to impose upon themselves by false names and appearances, and to call that conscience wherein they act in direct opposition to their rule; the apostle is sometimes pleased to express himself in compliance with this ordinary but improper way of speaking (1 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:15). There is a necessity indeed of this distinction, concerning conscience in a strict and in a popular and a large sense, to account for that very plea of our apostle (Acts 23:1). For it is evident, if we are to understand conscience according to its genuine signification, of a man’ s acting agreeably to a known and certain rule, the apostle, in this sense, could not be said to have had a good conscience in persecuting the Church of God, because in so doing his zeal was not according to knowledge, but he acted ignorantly, and beside his rule. By conscience, therefore, he could here intend no more than his private judgment or opinion, which, though in some measure, and in proportion to our weakness or ignorance, it may excuse an irregular or sinful action, yet will by no means justify it (1 Corinthians 15:6; Titus 1:13). Whatever pretensions men make to religion, how conscientious soever they apprehend themselves to be, or would appear to others, yet if they do not regulate their actions by the law of God, we may, notwithstanding, say of them, according to the fore-cited words of the apostle, that their very mind and conscience is defiled. Now this law of God, by which our actions are to be regulated, may be considered either as that natural law written on the table of our hearts; or else it may be understood of the revealed will of God discovered to us in the Holy Scriptures. In most cases, indeed, we need only put the question to our own hearts, and they will direct us what we are to do and what to forbear. The great lines of our duty towards God and man are so plain and visible to the eye of natural reason that those who do not see them must be sunk into the last degree of corruption or given up to a judicial blindness of mind. The apostle observes this concerning the heathens, who had no other light to direct them but that of their own minds (Romans 2:14-15). But because in this degenerate state of human nature the faculties of our souls are disordered, so that we do not always see the truths of religion in a clear light or reason justly concerning them, therefore God has been pleased to make a plain and standing revelation of His will to us in the Holy Scriptures. So that upon the whole matter, to have a conscience void of offence is to act conformably and knowingly according to that law which God has prescribed as the rule of our actions. If upon examining our conduct by this law we find there is a good agreement between them, then we may safely conclude we have done what we ought and that our own minds have no offence to reproach us for either towards God or towards men. II. Some rules and directions in order to our obtaining such a conscience.1. The first thing I would recommend to this end is a careful and diligent reading of the Holy Scriptures. For if the Scriptures be the rule by which our judgments in matters of conscience are to be informed and directed, and from which we cannot depart, then the only way to have a conscience void of offence is to consult and apply this rule to our particular cases and circumstances. And they are not only a rule to instruct men in their duty, but a powerful means to persuade them to a conscientious discharge of it. As the saving truths and principles of religion are only to be learned from them, so they furnish us with the most strong and invincible arguments to enforce the practical duties we owe both to God and man (Psalms 19:7-8). And this power of the Holy Scriptures to open the hearts as well as the understanding of men, discovers itself in the good effects it often has, even upon those persons who are the least disposed to comply with it. We cannot fail, if we do not shut our eyes against the light or wilfully reject the motions of God’ s grace, to have, with St. Paul, always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men. 2. In the next place, if we take care of the very first motions and beginnings of sin. For in this corrupt state of human nature our innocence is so weakly guarded, that it is for the most part much safer to prevent a siege than to run the hazard of an attack. Or if we happen to be attacked, which is sometimes unavoidable, what we have to do is to repel the enemy with all the vigour we can. If we give way in the least to him, we know not what further advances he may make. 3. I shall but lay down one direction more in order to our having and preserving a conscience void of offence; and it is this: That we should frequently state accounts between God and our consciences, and inquire what sins we have committed and what duties we have done or omitted to do. III. Some proper motives and arguments.1. With respect to this world there is nothing can afford us any true, solid, or lasting satisfaction without a good conscience. The pleasures of sin are always dashed with one impure bitter ingredient or other, besides that they are of a short duration, and go off with an ungrateful relish. But the pleasures, on the other hand, arising from the conscience of our having done what we ought, as they are pure and unmixed, so they last as long as the remembrance of those actions which occasioned them. Had we with this blessed apostle a conscience void of offence, it would be an unspeakable comfort to us under all the troublesome accidents and disappointments of this life. Whatever our condition might be in it, we might then say with him (2 Corinthians 1:12). And indeed if we can sincerely say this, we ought not to be much concerned at what befalls us in a life which is not designed for a perfect state of happiness, but only to prepare and train us up for it; and if God in His wisdom sees fit that through much tribulation we should enter into His kingdom, I am sure we shall at the last have no reason to complain. 2. But this leads me to represent to you in the next place the great blessing and advantage of a good conscience with respect to another world, and that both as it is a condition of our future happiness and a necessary qualification for it. (1) As it is a condition, and an indispensable one too, of our future happiness. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, we and the whole world must be tried before Him for our actions done in the body, whether good or evil, and be acquitted or condemned according as our consciences bear witness for or against us (Romans 2:15-16). But do we indeed duly consider what these two different sentences, which the Judge of the world will then pronounce, severally import? What it is to go away into everlasting punishment, and what into life eternal? Oh! most certainly such a reflection duly improved would never suffer us to take any ease or repose in our own mind till we had with the apostle exercised ourselves to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man. Especially-- (2) If we farther consider that to have a conscience void of offence is not only a condition, but a necessary qualification for heaven. What satisfaction would it be to a man in a violent fit of the gout or stone to be laid upon a bed of roses? As little satisfaction would a sinner take in the pure and spiritual joys of heaven without a heavenly temper and disposition of mind. (R. Fiddes, D. D.)Conscience I. The facts of conscience.1. We have a discernment of the difference between right and wrong. 2. We approve of the one, and disapprove of the other, as of good and bad laws. 3. We condemn ourselves for what conscience disapproves in our states and acts. 4. We are impelled by conscience to do what is right, and deterred by it from what is wrong. Conscience, therefore, is not a single faculty. It is a collective term for those exercises of our rational nature which concern moral good and evil. It includes cognition and judgment of approbation and disapprobation. And it is an impulse, as desires and affections are. It is not a mere decision as to truth. II. Its characteristics.1. It is independent of the understanding and will. No man can force himself by a volition to approve of what he sees to be wrong. Nor can conscience be perverted by mere sophistry of the understanding. If a man honestly thinks a wrong thing to be right, his conscience will approve his doing it; but no man can argue his conscience out of its convictions. Nor can it be silenced. 2. It is authoritative. It asserts the right to rule our hearts and lives. We may disregard and rebel against this authority, but we must admit it to be legitimate. 3. It does not speak in its own name. It is the representative of God, and brings the soul before His bar. 4. It is avenging, and is made so by God. Remorse is a state produced by conscience. III. Our duty in regard to it.1. To enlighten it. It is not infallible in its judgment. Men differ widely as to what is right or wrong, and our thinking a thing right does not make it right. 2. To obey it. No man is better than his conscience; no man is as good. Conscience is to be obeyed not only in particular eases, but in all as the ruling authority; i.e., we must act not from impulse, self interest, inclination, feeling, in matters small and great. The ground of this obligation to obey conscience is-- (1) The authority of God in whose name it speaks.(2) Respect for our own dignity as rational and moral beings.(3) The greatest happiness springs from an approving, the greatest misery from a wounded conscience. (C. Hodge, D. D.)Conscience I. The keynote of the whole sentence is that word conscience.1. What is conscience? (1) A moral memory. Conscience has to do with the past chiefly. “ This is twice living, to enjoy life past.” On the other hand, “ The first and foremost punishment of sinners is to have sinned.” (2) A fellow knowledge; a knowledge shared with another, and that other oneself; a man’ s privity to his own conduct, in thought and word and deed. I am so made that I cannot help this fellow knowledge. 2. The word occurs more than thirty times in the New Testament, and of these more than twenty are in St. Paul’ s unquestioned writings. (1) It is to the conscience of man that he addresses his gospel. “ By manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’ s conscience in the sight of God.” Let each man’ s fellow knowledge feel, as he listens to my gospel, that it is a word worthy of God, and wholesome for man. “ We are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” (2) To his own conscience he appeals for testimony. “ My conscience also bearing me witness.” His own fellow knowledge assures him of perfect truthfulness. (3) He speaks more than once of a good conscience. (4) He speaks of a weak conscience; of one whose self-judgment is timid, over scrupulous, unenlightened as to the extent of his Christian freedom, but who yet must respect and follow it. (5) He tells of an evil or bad conscience, of a self-knowledge which is a knowledge of evil, creating a discord within, and raising an impassable barrier between man and God. (6) He refers to a defiled conscience; a self-knowledge which is privy not only to particular acts of transgression, but to a thorough choice and love of evil. (7) From these there is but a step, if one, to the “ conscience seared with a hot iron” ; cauterised with an indelible mark and stain of evil. II. The conscience after which St. Paul strove was an unstumbling one, not striking against stumbling stones.1. He does not speak here of preserving his life from stumbling, but his conscience. He is determined that his perpetual judgment upon himself shall not find itself embarrassed in its course by evil done and the good left undone; shall not trip here over a hasty or uncharitable word, and there over a neglected duty, and there over an injured soul, and there over a corrupt imagination: its course shall be clear as it judges: the straight and smooth and unstained surface of the life and soul shall present nothing for the self-cognisance to dash against as a condemning object. 2. There are two chief departments of this unstumbling conscience; corresponding to the two great divisions of human duty. When the thought of God is presented, the self-judgment is not staggered: and when the thought of man is presented, still the self-cognisance is not beset by monuments of reproach or evil. Some men are not afraid of the second table. Like the rich young ruler they can say, “ All these commandments have I observed from my youth.” But when the attention of the inward judge is turned to the first table, then surely the self-deceiver will be unmasked to himself: the conscience is not void of offence: its course, as it hears the case, is not smooth but stumbling. III. St. Paul’ s effort after the attainment of this conscience. “ Herein,” on the strength of the hope of the resurrection. “ I exercise” or train myself as an athlete. We are apt to think that, whatever other difficulties the apostles had to contend with, they had none within. How strongly does St. Paul combat this error! “ So fight I, as not beating the air: but I keep under my body.” It did not come naturally to him to have a conscience void of offence. He had to train himself for it, by daily buffetings of his own body, mortifications of his own inclination, and crucifixions of his own will. The hope of a glorious resurrection bore him up, and in Christ’ s strength he went forward conquering and to conquer. The subject is its own application.(1) The Christian life is not easy. St. Paul found it severe. But what then? Brave men are only roused by difficulties: if the gospel demands courage, it is all the more a gospel for men. (2) Learn the place of conscience in the Christian scheme. It is not enough for a man to be what is commonly called a conscientious man. Cornelius was that, and more, and so was Paul before conversion. Yet the one must send men to Joppa for one who should tell him words of salvation. And the other must see Christ showing him to his own heart as “ the chief of sinners,” and then disclosing to him “ a more excellent way.” But though obedience to conscience (apart from Christ) is not salvation, yet there is thus much of connection and continuity between a life before and a life after conversion, that it is still conscience which guides, only conscience itself has widened its field of vision and gained a new criterion of judgment. A man is not a conscientious man now, unless Christ, as well as God, “ is in all his thoughts.” (Dean Vaughan.)Conscience I. What is conscience? There are certain phenomena of our moral nature of which all men are conscious.1. The perception of moral distinctions. 2. A sense of moral obligation. 3. A feeling of approbation and disapprobation in regard to self and others. Whether and how far these exercises belong to the cognitive faculties, and how far to the susceptibilities--reason or feeling--is hard to determine. They are rational in so far as they suppose a rational nature and involve the exercise of reason. But every cognition when its object, moral or aesthetic, is not an act of the pure reason, involves feeling as well as knowledge. II. Its attributes. It is--1. Universal.2. Innate.3. Representative.4. Independent.5. Authoritative.6. Indestructible. III. Conditions of a healthy conscience.1. Knowledge, which is light. Conscience needs this just as taste needs correct principles. Some knowledge is original and intuitive, other is acquired. 2. Due susceptibility. Men differ much as to this point. It may be excessive or deficient, but for a healthful conscience due susceptibility is necessary. So that moral distinctions do not concern light matters, or trifles give as much concern as serious matters. 3. Strength to constrain obedience. Sickly sentimentality is very different from a sound healthful conscience. IV. Its diseases.1. Perversion. This is due either to wrong principles, or to prejudices and passion. The cure is to be found in knowledge, objective and subjective. 2. Obduracy. Cause--ignorance and crime; cure--knowledge, regeneration, sanctification. 3. Scrupulosity. Cause--either weakness of conviction or undue sensibility, not really moral, but a sensitiveness analogous to false shame, bashfulness, etc. Cure--growth in strength. Be strong in faith. 4. Wounded conscience. The only cure is, the blood of Jesus, confession, restitution, reformation. V. The immense importance of the subject. On it depend--1. Our excellence.2. Our happiness.3. Our usefulness. (C. Hodge, D. D.)A conscience void of offence I. What is conscience?1. The name. It is called-- (1) Heart (1 Samuel 24:5; Ecclesiastes 7:22; 1 John 3:21).(2) Spirit (Proverbs 18:14; 1 Corinthians 2:11).(3) Conscience (Titus 1:15), which implies-- (a) The knowledge that several have of the same thing, so God knows with us (Job 16:20). (b) The knowledge we have of several things (1 Samuel 24:5; 1 Corinthians 4:4). 2. The thing conscience is a habit of the practical understanding, whereby the mind of man applies the knowledge it hath to its own particular actions, by discourse of reason. II. Its offices.1. To apply general truths to ourselves (2 Samuel 12:7; Jeremiah 8:6). 2. To bear witness (Romans 2:15) of-- (1) God’ s law.(2) Our actions. 3. To comfort us in our obedience (Isaiah 38:3).4. To accuse us of sin (Romans 2:15; Revelation 20:12).5. To judge (Psalms 4:4)-- (1) Our actions (Romans 14:22-23, Lamentations 3:40).(2) Our persons (1 Corinthians 11:31). III. The conscience void of offence.1. Conscience is God’ s vicegerent in the soul. 2. Rightly enlightened it dictates nothing but God’ s commands. 3. All God’ s commands concern Himself or our neighbour (Matthew 22:37-38). 4. When we do what it commands our conscience excuses and comforts us (2 Corinthians 1:12). 5. It accuses for nothing but sin. 6. Therefore when we do nothing offensive to God or man our conscience is void of offence (Acts 23:1). IV. How we must carry ourselves towards God and man so as to have a conscience void of offence.1. To God. (1) Love Him (Deuteronomy 6:5).(2) Desire Him above all creatures (Philippians 3:8).(3) Seek Him before all treasures (Matthew 6:33).(4) Believe Him in all His assertions.(5) Fear Him above all powers (Jeremiah 5:22).(6) Trust Him in all conditions (Psalms 62:8).(7) Rejoice in Him more than in all enjoyment (Philippians 4:4; Habakkuk 3:17-19).(8) Meditate on Him on all occasions (Psalms 139:18).(9) Pray to Him all your days (1 Thessalonians 5:18). (10) Praise Him for all your mercies (1 Thessalonians 5:18). (11) Perform all His commands. (Ecclesiastes 12:13). (12) Aim at His glory in all your actions (1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 14:6). 2. To man. (1) To all. (a) Love all (Matthew 5:44; Hebrews 10:24). (b) Pray for all (1 Timothy 2:1). (c) Do good to all (Galatians 6:10). (d) Forgive all the injuries they do us (Colossians 3:13; Luke 11:4). (e) Be courteous to all (1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 3:8; Romans 12:10). (f) Be just to all. (2) To good men. (a) Love them above others. (b) Do good to them especially. (3) To evil men. (a) Pity them (Son 8:8). (b) Reprove their sins (Leviticus 19:17; Matthew 18:15). (c) Use all means to bring them to Christ. V. Directions.1. Get your conscience regulated by God’ s Word (Psalms 119:105).2. Directed by His Spirit (Psalms 119:133; John 16:13).3. Well grounded and settled (Romans 14:5; 2 Peter 1:12).4. Do nothing against conscience (Romans 14:22-23).5. Do everything from conscience (Romans 13:5).6. Avoid secret as well as open sins (1 John 3:20).7. Choose the greatest sufferings rather than do the least sin.8. Balk no duty. VI. Motives.1. A good conscience will be a comfort in all troubles (Proverbs 15:15; 2 Corinthians 1:12). 2. An evil conscience will be a trouble in all comforts (Proverbs 18:14). 3. Unless we keep a good conscience it will be a witness against us hereafter, and be our tormentor forever (Mark 9:43-44), but a good conscience will be our eternal joy. (Bp. Beveridge.)A conscience void of offence I. That we may rightly understand this matter, we must consider a little what it is to have a conscience void of offence, which was the ground of the apostle’ s plea. The office of conscience is two fold: to direct one in acting, and then to pass a censure upon his actions. Before the thing is done, conscience serves as a tutor to advise and teach; and after the fact is over it serves as a judge, either to acquit or to condemn him for it. So that to have a conscience void of offence is, in the apostle’ s sense, to be powerfully governed by one’ s conscience in the faithful discharge of his duty, and so to follow the light which is in his understanding, as not to fall into any known sin, nor to act anything which will wound his mind in the consequence. This the apostle protested now in open court was his constant exercise. But this must be understood chiefly of the time after his conversion to Christianity. For while he was yet a Jew and a zealous Pharisee his conscience was not void of all offence. We know what his sins were, and with what penitence and freedom he lamented them afterwards. But when he came to be thoroughly enlightened by the Sun of Righteousness, and his conscience was set to rights, it was his fixed endeavour to keep it more charity than the apple of his eye. As a man that has once broken his bones by chance is very careful lest he slip again, so was the apostle, after his conversion, industriously bent upon keeping his conscience from the least wound or blow. He valued no stripes as long as they did not touch that tender part. And this shows us all what ought to be the great care and business of our whole life; for whether conscience be well or ill kept, a man shall be sure to hear of it at last; he will certainly find the effects of it at home; let him take what course he pleases, his conscience will bear him company, and in the end prove his comfort or his plague. ‘ Tis true a man’ s conscience may not accuse him or fly upon him presently. How evil soever it be, it may lie quiet for a time. For a time it may be still and quiet, like a clock that stands when the weights are down, but one time or other the hand of God will wind it up again, and then every wheel and movement will stir to purpose. We should not trust, no, not our own hearts, because in the end our worst enemy will be that in our own bosom. II. But there are three cases especially wherein it highly concerns men to have a conscience void of offence.1. First, in case of public dangers, when the face of the world looks uncomfortable and dismal. Seldom do the things of this life continue at a stay. However, some are so hardy as to scoff at religion, and strive to wear out of their minds the sense of God, yet nothing can carry a man out in the day of trial but holy principles. And whoever he be that relieth upon these principles, and upon examining his actions, finds good reasons to believe that his heart is sincere and upright, he must needs be danger proof in a very high degree. You have an instance here in St. Paul, though the Jews had bound themselves under a curse that they would kill him; though Ananias used his authority and Tertullus his eloquence against him; though men and devils conspired to destroy him; yet his rejoicing was this, that his constant exercise was to have a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward man. Such evil days and times of danger every one of us is very apt to put far off from himself by reason of the uncertainty of them. 2. Secondly, there is another case which every day occurs against which a wise man will be well provided--the case of sickness, when we should have little else to do but to trim up our lamps and exercise our graces, and so to repose ourselves in the bosom of a faithful God and a merciful Redeemer. Now, he that makes a conscience of his ways, and studies to carry himself without offence toward God and man, will at that time have nothing in comparison to do but to wait God’ s pleasure, for as he foresees that such a day will come, so he prepares for it beforehand. 3. There is another case yet which I must mention, because from the highest to the lowest we must every one of us come to it in our order, for it is appointed unto all men once to die, and after death to go to judgment. What is it to die? Of what infinite importance is it to die well? What will become of us when we are dead and gone? Such religious meditations would prove very powerful restraints to keep men within the compass of their duty; for how slightly soever some have spoken of morality, I am confident no man ever yet repented of it on his death bed, nor can anything be a greater comfort to a man at the last than to consider that the care of his life has been to keep a conscience void of offence. It is a comfort that will stick to him to endless ages. II. To offer briefly these few things, the point being altogether practical.1. That we give all moral diligence to inform our consciences rightly of the lawfulness of all we do. This was the fault of St. Paul before his conversion, that he took things upon trust and went upon presumptions. Therefore to have a conscience void of offence, it is absolutely necessary to use all proper means for the removing and curing of mistakes, such as unprejudiced meditation, reading of good books, conference with skilful and upright teachers, and the like. 2. Our endeavours being thus honestly employed, the next way to have a conscience void of offence is to follow its dictates. Great is the power which everyone’ s conscience hath over him. It hath by the appointment of God Himself the immediate government of us, so that the very Word of God doth not otherwise guide us than by the light which it affords the conscience. Though the Divine will be the supreme rule, yet conscience is the inward and immediate measure of our actions; and on that account the command is so peremptory that everyone is to be fully persuaded in his own mind, and the determination is so positive that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 3. To despise the world when it stands in competition with our duty is another sure way to keep one’ s conscience void of offence, because nothing is more apt to corrupt men’ s minds and to rifle them of their integrity than the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. 4. And so to resist the first temptations unto Bin; to get such a mastery over our own wills as to arm ourselves with firm purposes against it; to pray daily and heartily unto God not to lead us into temptation; and, above all, to have God always before our eyes. (E. Pelling, D. D.)A conscience void of offence Conscience is that within us which pronounces upon the moral character of our actions, and which justifies or condemns us accordingly. It is the Holy of holies in human nature--the majestic shrine in which God Himself is enthroned. I. A conscience void of offence. Such--1. Must be enlightened. The sin of man has darkened his mind, and to have his conscience void of offence he must labour to obtain the fullest information about all moral questions. He must be on his guard against ignorance of the teaching of the moral law itself, and error as to the way in which that law is to be applied to the life. Micah the Ephraimite (Judges 17:1-13; Judges 18:1-31) had an ignorant conscience. Saul of Tarsus (Acts 26:9) had an erring conscience. And how many Christians in our time need to have their consciences instructed about many important matters of morals? How many, for example, about the use of minced oaths, the petty falsehoods of trade, the use of the means of grace? 2. Must be purified. Man, being guilty, endures the misery of an evil conscience. There is no torment comparable to the pangs of remorse. Even the sin-hardened are made “ cowards” by it, and confess that “ conscience is a thousand swords.” “ This disease is beyond the practice” of Lady Macbeth’ s physician. (These quotations remind us that our greatest poet is emphatically the poet of the conscience.) But the same necessity exists for all, even for those who are “ not far from the kingdom of God.” 3. Must be kept sensitive and tender. A healthy conscience will allow its possessor no peace so long as sin is indulged in or duty neglected. But how many there are, who, instead of cherishing a sensitive, vigilant conscience, prefer rather to lull the monitor into a state of coma! They say with the murderer in the tragedy, “ There’ s few or none will entertain it. I’ ll not meddle with it. It is a dangerous thing. It makes a man a coward. ‘ Tis a blushing shamefaced spirit that mutinies in a man’ s bosom. It fills one full of obstacles,” etc. And even a believer may sometimes allow his conscience to sink into a stupor. Lot did so when he went to live in Sodom, and David after his great transgression, and Peter until his Master’ s look of loving reproach awoke it. Thank God, there is such an awakening for every gracious soul. But the Bible speaks of those who have their “ conscience seared with a hot iron,” as the effect of persistent unbelief and sin. Such seems to have been the case with Pharaoh, Saul, Caiaphas, and Judas. 4. Must receive its rightful place of supreme authority in the soul. The intuitions of men in all ages have convinced them practically of this truth. Our nature tells us that conscience is a magistrate from whose decisions there should be no earthly appeal; and that these anticipate a still more effectual sentence, which shall proceed from the Judgment throne. To shape one’ s course according to another man’ s conscience is the very spirit of Popery. Paul was preeminently a conscientious man all his life through (Acts 23:1; 2 Corinthians 1:12). And the noble avowal of our text we can parallel with the brave words of Luther, “ My conscience is a captive to God’ s Word: and it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.” The man who makes this the law of his life will succeed in having “ a conscience void of offence.” It will be so toward God (Psalms 26:1-12.) and toward men (1 Samuel 12:3; Acts 20:33). II. The exercise necessary in order to have such a conscience. The word “ exercise” applied to the body denotes severe and bracing physical training; applied to the mind suggests assiduous intellectual drill and discipline. Paul’ s assertion, therefore, is that he makes the gymnastics of conscience his daily study and care. Let us inquire by what means this “ exercise” is to be prosecuted.1. To enlighten conscience, we must exercise ourselves with the study of Divine truth. The only rule of conscience which the heathen have is the “ law written on their hearts” ; but the Christian rule of right and wrong is the Word of God. God’ s Word lays bare to us our half-buried and forgotten moral convictions. It is the chisel which restores the defaced and worn inscriptions upon gravestones of our sin-dead hearts. We must therefore “ search the Scriptures.” 2. To purify conscience we must exercise ourselves with the application of the blood of Christ, which “ purges the conscience from dead works” and “ sprinkles the heart from an evil conscience.” 3. To keep conscience tender, we must exercise ourselves with constant watching and prayer (Psalms 139:23-24). To give conscience its place of supreme authority we must exercise ourselves with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. His grace is the one power which can make conscience regnant. (C. Jerden, M. A.)A conscience void of offence I. What is implied in a conscience void of offence?1. Conscience is the secret testimony of the soul, whereby it approves things that are good and condemns those that are evil. A good conscience is purified by the blood of Christ (1 Timothy 1:5; Hebrews 9:14). An evil conscience is loaded with guilt (Hebrews 10:22); and a hardened conscience does not feel the evil of sin (1 Timothy 4:2). 2. To have a conscience void of offence three things are necessary. First, a good rule of conduct; secondly, an impartial comparison of our conduct with that rule; and thirdly, a conviction that there has been a conformity of conduct to our rule. 3. That man who has a conscience void of offence towards God is inwardly pious, and practises all the duties of piety. 4. He who has a conscience void of offence towards men carefully follows two rules. First, he injures no man, either in his person, in his property, or in his character; and, secondly, he does all the good which is in his power to every man with whom he is connected, both in word and deed. II. How should we exercise ourselves to have a conscience void of offence?1. Let us use those means by which we may obtain an enlightened conscience, that we may understand our duty both to God and men. 2. It should be an invariable rule with us to do nothing at any time, or under any circumstances, contrary to the dictates of conscience. When we act contrary to our views of things we are self-condemned. 3. In this holy exercise we should abstain from the appearance of evil; for if we yield to anything which our own mind condemns, or to anything which appears evil in the eyes of wise and good men, we shall soon fall into great and gross sins (1 Thessalonians 5:22). 4. That we may keep a conscience void of offence, let us be careful not to enter into temptation. 5. As a farther help in this important work, let us be vigilant. 6. To watchfulness let us add prayer. Let us pray for wisdom to conduct us safely through difficult circumstances (James 1:5). 7. It is essentially necessary, in this blessed exercise, to avoid secret sins. These are fully known to God (Psalms 90:8). 8. While we set God before us, in His justice and purity, and in His awful majesty and glory, we shall be careful to keep a conscience void of offence. 9. Let us be conversant with death and judgment. (Theological Sketchbook.)Freedom from self-condemnation There is nothing that men so often mistake as what we call conscience. With a Scotchman it is frequently obstinacy; with an English man, snobbishness; with a Yankee, prejudice. Conscience is not the thing that guides men, but the thing by which men justify themselves when they have made up their minds! They set their watches and then look at the time of day. It is difficult for some people to find their own pulse--that which marks the ebb and flow of that red tide of life which surges back and forth within them. So hard it often is for a man to put his finger on the real motive of his conduct. Men clip coin and then try to pass it for the genuine currency of the realm. The difference between men as good and bad is the difference in their treatment of conscience. A self-knowledge that is void of self-condemnation: this is the subject I shall discuss. I. I remark that there is nothing more wonderful in man than his power to know himself. It is the most fearful and wonderful thing in him. If he wants to get the temperature of his own body he must use a thermometer; if he wants to count his own pulse he must hold his watch in his hand. But the temperature of the man within, the pulse beat of the man within, he must find from a standard within. Conscience is the self-registering thermometer of the soul. Joseph’ s brethren never had lost their self-consciousness, their self-recognition--never, day or night, year in, year out. They knew themselves. It is a thing which cannot be lost, this conscience of self. But let them do the deed; let conscience make its registry respecting that deed, and they may wake and sleep; they may change their place of residence and traverse seas and deserts; years may pass over their heads, but they never can be rid of their own self-recognition. It is no longer like the mists of the morning. It is like the sin of Judah; it is written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond upon the tables of the heart. It will carry its own deep self-knowledge throughout all eternity. II. There is no higher aim for a man made in God’ s image than to keep this self-consciousness the source of comfort and support to himself. It is like keeping the prow of the vessel pointed to the polar star. If a man maintains his self-respect it makes little difference what are his outward surroundings. They cannot affect his inward worth any more than the setting of a jewel affects its intrinsic value. Joseph was just as near to God and to the throne of God in Egypt as in the house of his father. His feet was hurt with fetters, but he could still run in the way of God’ s commandments. III. This keeping of self-consciousness serene and undisturbed is never the result of a happy accident, but of a settled purpose and masterly aim. The apostle’ s phraseology in the text is very strong: “ And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man.” If a man means to make his living by the use of his arms he trains the muscles of his arms; if he means to make his living by the use of his voice he exercises his lungs so that he can produce voice; and so of his ears and his eyes, as his calling may require. In other words, he takes gymnastics which are suited to his necessities. Peace of conscience is not an accident, but an acquisition; is not a matter of temperament, but of attainment. I suppose the popular conception of the life of such men as St. Paul is that being so eminent in spiritual endowments, the Christian life in a sense takes care of itself. But I do not get any such conception of the apostle’ s language. It is not a Sabbath day experience. Notice that one word--always! It was his habitual method, the habit of his life. The conscience is the vision of the spiritual man. It determines duty for him. And the Saviour says, “ If thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil or divided thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” There is no darkness like the darkness which springs from a benighted conscience. There are no blunders like the blunders committed in the name of conscience. This is what the apostle means by a conscience void of offence, a conscience which does not make him stumble, because it has a clear vision for the inward man. IV. Every man’ s conscience has to do with his carriage toward God and toward man. It is like the eye--two organs and one sight. Some people think conscience has mainly to do with the inward walk, with regularity in the exercise of the spirit in what would be called worship and service. It was just this kind of conscience that Saul of Tarsus had when, like a bloodthirsty beast of prey, he was putting to death the members of the little flock of the Good Shepherd at Jerusalem. Then he exercised himself to have a conscience void of offence toward God, and stopped there. I do not think there can be a more merciless condition of the soul than for a man to try and keep a conscience void of offence toward God without reference to his fellow men. It accounts for all the awful things done in the way of persecution, done in the name of God and for the glory of God. Piety and humanity are the two necessary poles in all Christianity. The truth is that the highest Christian development is not possible if we do not have a warm side in us--the side where the heart is--toward humanity. If you think of it a moment, the Son of God was also the Son of man. A man cannot keep his conscience void of offence toward his fellow man by adopting another man’ s conscience as his standard--sinning under cover of another man’ s shield. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 24:24-25 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla … he sent for Paul and heard him.Felix and Drusilla When Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea (Acts 12:23), he left behind him a son and three daughters as heirs of the ancestral name and virtues. The son was the Agrippa of chaps, 25, 26, then a handsome and accomplished youth of seventeen, detained at Rome by Claudius. The girls were Berenice (sixteen), Mariamne (ten), and little Drusilla, only six years of age. Pitiful to think of them!--heiresses of such a name, station, temptations, personal beauty and fascination of manner, and ungovernable passions! It was quite consistent with the traditions of the Herod family that Berenice should, while still a girl in her teens, be given in marriage to her uncle Herod of Chaleis, old enough to be her father. At twenty, a widow with two children, she came to Rome to the house of her brother; and there was nothing, either in his character or in hers to prevent horrible suspicions of them from being entertained in the society and the literature of the capital. To avert scandal, she was married to Polerno, a petty king in Asia Minor, whom she soon deserted, and returned to the society of Agrippa, at his two seats, in Caesarea Philippi and Jerusalem. A dozen years after the hearing before Festus, when more than forty-two, twice a widow, and of infamous reputation, her fascinations had so captivated the heart of Titus that he was hardly dissuaded by the indignant clamours of the Romans from making her empress. The story of Mariamne, the second sister, is happily brief and uneventful. But here is this poor little Drusilla, named for her father’ s old friend at court, Drusus, son of Tiberius. At the time when her brother set up business as king on a small scale at Caesarea Philippi, she, only fifteen, and a famous beauty, is married to Aziz, another little king, lording it at Hamath, a few days’ journey to the north. And now, to bring in another character, we go back to Rome, to the year 44, with which we started. The back stairs influence of the palace was in the hands of two smart, capable brothers, by the names of Pallas and Felix. They had been, several years before, purchased by Antonia, mother of Claudius. Pallas became her confidential servant, and by and by the brothers received from her their freedom. At her death they transferred their services to her son, to whom they succeeded in making themselves indispensable. Pallas became a sort of major domo on the Palatine hill; and Felix (who took the name of Claudius out of compliment to the emperor) had rapid promotion in the army. In 52 a delegation of Jews arrived with a most grave complaint against the wretched administration of Cumanus, governor of Judaea. Naturally they took counsel at once with young Agrippa, and they drew Pallas into their interest by proposing to petition the emperor to give the governorship to Felix; and so the former house servant of the dowager Antonia became the procurator of Judaea. His administration was worthy of his antecedents. “ With all manner of ferocity and lust,” says a famous sentence of Tacitus, “ he wielded the power of a king with the temper of a slave.” He had no scruple against employing the basest treachery against public or private enemies. The upright Jonathan, to whom he owed his office, ventured to “ reason with him of righteousness,” and he hired assassins to murder him. The last public service which he had rendered just before the arrest of Paul was in the case of an Egyptian leader of “ four thousand men who were robbers” (sicarii, dagger men). He dispersed the banditti; but “ that Egyptian” had escaped, and they were looking for him. Felix had been about a year in his government, when young Agrippa came to be his next neighbour--a delightful accession to the provincial society, especially when the house of Agrippa was enlivened by the visits of the youthful and beautiful Queen of Hamath! It was not unreasonable in the libidinous old slave (he must have been well advanced towards sixty) to mistrust the power of his personal fascinations; and in looking for some ally in his criminal design, he found, all ready to his hand, a certain magician named Simon, in whom we recognise our old acquaintance Simon Magus. This appropriate agent plied his arts of seduction to such purpose on the young bride, that she abandoned her husband, and gave herself to be the so-called wife of the mean and servile old debauchee at Caesarea. This act of the drama fits closely with the death of the deserted husband, Aziz, a few months later, at his desolated palace between the ranges of Lebanon. Whether he died of a broken heart or not we can only conjecture. Such was the pair before whom, invited to give them a private conference on the subject of faith in Christ, Paul “ reasoned of justice and continence and coming judgment.” Caesarea, a seaport town with a population divided between Jews and Gentiles, was liable to furious outbreaks between the parties. One such took place towards the end of Paul’ s two years’ imprisonment, when Felix filled up the measure of his iniquities. There went up to Rome complaints that he had not only caused wanton slaughter, but had used his opportunity for private plunder. He had considered himself safe in any crime, it was said, so long as his brother Pallas continued near the ear of Nero. But this time he had ventured too far. To the inexpressible relief of the Jewish people, in 60 he was recalled to Rome; whither he promptly departed, accompanied by Drusilla, and by Simon Magus (as a sort of domestic chaplain), and followed by a deputation of Jews to prosecute him. The prosecution succeeded so far as to compel him to disgorge much of his plunder; but the influence of Pallas screened him from severer punishment. Felix and Drusilla both vanish out of history at this point, and Felix never appears again. But about nineteen years afterwards we get a glimpse of a faded beauty of forty years haunting the voluptuous Roman watering places by the Bay of Naples, in whom we may not easily recognise the little Drusilla. In her company is her grown-up boy, Agrippa. It seems as if the world were threatened with the infestation of yet another generation of the accursed race of Herod. But God is merciful. The awful eruption of Vesuvius that overwhelmed Pompeii amid its debaucheries blessed mankind by burying beneath the storm of suffocating ashes the princess Drusilla and her only child. Many have seen, among the remains of that great catastrophe, the perfect contour of a woman’ s form moulded in the ashen soil, within which the flesh had withered away and perished, and the skeleton had fallen bone from bone. It needs no wild effort of the fancy to imagine, as we look on these sorrowful relics, that we are in presence of what remains of the beautiful and guilty princess of the royal house of Herod. (L. W. Bacon, D. D.)Paul before Felix I. The preacher. “ Paul.” Faithful, fearless, sympathetic, uncompromising, heroic. A man unsurpassed in native and acquired ability, and a match for the proudest philosopher of his day. Here he stands before us with the enemy at bay, and the world beneath his feet; a conqueror, not a captive. Though his limbs were manacled, his spirit revelled in a liberty which no prison walls could circumscribe. II. The hearers. “ Felix and Drusilla.”1. Officially high. Felix was governor of Judaea. 2. Socially great. In those days, as well as now, money or office cleared a man’ s social standing ground, and without inquest for character, or intelligence, he was admitted into the best society. 3. Morally corrupt. There are few crimes of which Felix had not been guilty. Drusilla was no better. 4. In reputation bad. With the stains of cruelty, robbery, adultery and murder upon them, their reputation grew worse and worse, until driven from the country into exile and disgrace. III. The sermon.1. Its style. “ He reasoned.” Christianity thrives best in the unclouded light of reason, and has nothing to fear from the merciless rigours of logic. 2. Its divisions. (1) Righteousness. Justice, in the broad sense of rendering to all their due. Right with God above, and fellowman below; right everywhere and always. (2) “ Temperance” --not merely total abstinence from intoxicants, but the right control of the whole man, with special reference to chastity. (3) “ Judgment.” That great day when Felix shall be like Paul; when all earthly distinctions shall vanish, and only moral character shall avail. What a mere child Felix must have felt himself to be in the grip of this iron-bound free man! It will be seen that this discourse was-- (a) comprehensive; (b) sublime; (c) practical; (d) exhaustive. IV. The effect. “ Felix trembled.” Gospel preaching is Divinely intended to--1. Convince the intellect;2. Stir the sensibilities;3. Affect the will. There is in every man the instinct of retribution, and ever and anon the imagination comes flying back from the future pale with the tidings it brings; and from before these spectres the mind recoils and the knees smite together. V. The failure. “ Go thy way.” He was powerfully moved; he felt a great crisis was upon him. Why did he not yield? Indisposition to stop sinning was the cause. So is it always. Drusilla was the stumbling block. (T. Kelly.)Paul before Felix Learn-- I. The possibility of hearing the gospel from wrong motives (verse 24). Felix sent for Paul, not from a sincere desire to know the truth, but to gratify his own whims. We hear the gospel from wrong motives--1. When we regard it as a pleasing change in the daily routine of life. It afforded diversion for Felix and Drusilla. 2. When we hear it from interest or curiosity in the preacher, or service, or subject. 3. From a desire to please or oblige others. 4. From self-interest. Felix looked for ransom money (verse 26). 5. From a false conception of the gospel, as moderating the severity of the law, and giving license to sin. II. The possibility of hearing the gospel from wrong motives demands the utmost faithfulness of the preacher. Paul knew the character of his audience, and saw the vast importance of the opportunity. He reasoned of--1. “ Righteousness” to the venal judge--a man on whose favour he was humanly dependent, but whom faithfulness will not permit him to flatter. 2. “ Temperance” --soberness, chastity, to this immoral pair. 3. “ Judgment to come” --to the unrighteous judge. III. Faithfulness in the preacher will certainly be influential. “ Felix trembled.” He had not expected such a discourse, and never before heard such, particularly from the lips of a prisoner.1. His conscience was aroused. He trembled--a proof that there was something good in him that felt itself drawn by the good. There is hope in such cases, if the conscience stricken will put forth suitable effort. 2. The power of God’ s Word was vindicated (Psalms 119:120; Hebrews 4:12-13). IV. The utmost faithfulness may fail of absolute success. “ Go thy way.” How hard to break away from sin! He hesitated--postponed--and was lost. Felix is a sad representation of many hearers.1. He trembled. 2. And yet he remained as he was. (The Lay Preacher.)Paul before Felix At the beginning of this interview Paul stood a captive before Felix, but at the close Felix stood a moral captive before Paul. The world rests its success upon men; God rests the foundation of His kingdom on the truth. It was not Paul who made Felix tremble, but rather truth blazing in the apostle’ s words. In connection with this, observe-- I. The power of truth in statement apart from personal example. There is a marvellous force in words, even apart from the person who uses them. Every man’ s life tends to strengthen or weaken that force, but cannot destroy it. Paul’ s example, of course, was a tremendous power, but he stood before Felix a stranger, and it was while he reasoned on the faith in Christ that Felix trembled. II. The nature of Christian truth and faith. It is not needful that we seek out the reason of Felix sending for Paul. He had doubtless anticipated a pleasure in hearing what this Nazarene had done, when Paul confronted him with the fact that faith in Christ always includes the human conscience. “ What shall I do to be saved?” asked the jailer of the same apostle. “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” was his answer; and his exposition of the same Christian faith to the other who had summoned him from a dungeon included the golden rule, the Sermon on the Mount, and the preparation for the Judgment Day, all put into practice. A light thing to believe--a light thing to have faith in Christ! Not that--not so thought Felix. Faith means the human choices and the deeds that shall be sealed in the presence of God. III. Man’ s true nature is subserved by the truth. Godlessness is the dwarfing of man’ s nobler nature; impurity is poison. Against this place the faith in Christ, which includes righteousness and purity, and the preparation for the right account, and we have what man needs. Paul made known to Felix the one thing needful. The whole aim of revealed truth is to develop in man his nobler nature. We need God, and all other blessings such as we need will come. IV. The rejection of Christian truth is sin against self. If the acceptance of revealed truth is what we need, then to slight it is self-infliction of a personal injury. Eternal punishment means eternal sin. The judgment day book on which God writes retribution is man himself, or, rather, God seals what man has written on his own heart. If the worm keeps boring at the root of the tree, the leaves will soon fade and the tree die. If the rats keep gnawing on the plank, the music of the waters outside will be ended in the sound of despair. If the canker keeps on eating, it reaches the vitals soon. Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death upon the sinner--this is the eternal law, a law no man can set aside. V. Delay is confession. “ Go thy way for this time,” means a recognition of the truth in what has been said. Putting off duty is confession of duty--duty deferred. The excuse simply declares a love for sin--an unwillingness to give it up. Paul found it convenient to drag his chains into Felix’ s presence to testify of his hope. What if Paul had said, “ When I have a convenient season I will obey!” (D. O. Mears, D. D.)Paul before Felix; or, the contact of Christianity with a heart of corruption and a life of guilt I. The truths which Christianity has to address to such a man.1. Righteousness. Nothing could be more appropriate in respectfully addressing one appointed to administer justice, or be more likely to arrest the attention of one so venal as Felix. It would embrace the nature and the requirements of justice in the relations which man sustains to his fellow men; and it would, at the same time, lead the mind up to justice in the higher sense--in that which pertains to God and to His administration. 2. Temperance. The power of self-restraint, self-government. This topic, too, was eminently appropriate. Not indeed an intemperate man in the modern sense, he yet had not the corrupt propensities of his nature under control, and gave free indulgence to carnal appetites. 3. Judgment to come. Addressing wicked man, who must, like other men, soon appear before the bar of his Maker, it was eminently proper that this should be a prominent topic. And these are proper topics for preaching anywhere and everywhere. II. What is the natural and proper effect of such truths on the mind?1. All men are aware that, when nature acts freely, there are certain marks of conscious guilt which convey to those around us the knowledge of that which is passing within. The blush, the paleness of the cheek, the averted eye; a trembling and agitated frame; a restless, suspicious, fearful look, are marks of what is within. They cannot be transferred to another kind of conduct--to the consciousness of a noble deed; to purity of purpose. 2. The design of this arrangement, as a part of our constitution, it is not difficult to understand. (1) No one can explain it except on the supposition that there is a God, and that He rules over mankind. (2) It is an arrangement designed to reveal or disclose the knowledge of our sin to others. The trembling of Felix could not be misunderstood. He would not have trembled if he had not been conscious that he had lived in violation of “ righteousness” and “ temperance,” and had reason to look with apprehension to a “ judgment to come.” (3) The arrangement is designed, not only to put others on their guard, but also to restrain us from the commission of sin and to secure the reformation of the guilty, and to lead them to “ flee from the wrath to come.” Thus the jailer at Philippi trembled; thus Felix trembled; and thus the sinner now trembles at the prospect of impending judgment. And he is the most successful preacher who is most able to produce this consciousness of guilt. III. In what manner are these impressions often met and warded off? Felix “ trembled,” but he did not yield. The jailer at Philippi “ trembled,” and yielded. The original Greek is, “ Taking time, I will call for thee” ; that is, I have it not now; I will secure it at some future period. So men, engaged in the world, plead that they have not time to attend to the matter now. So the young delay the subject to a future period, when it will be more suitable than at present. So the gay and thoughtless ask for delay with a promise or a hope that the time will come when religion will be more appropriate, and when--the pleasures of life past--they may find leisure to prepare to die. I do not say that the purpose to attend to it is never carried out. Felix found time to consider the subject, for he “ sent for Paul often.” It is not for us to say that a man who has neglected a present opportunity of salvation never is or can be saved. But that it may be the last opportunity no one can doubt; for death may be near. (A. Barnes, D. D.)Felix, a mixed character In this incident we see-- I. Good conduct inspired by a good motive.1. Felix trembled, which was good as far as it went, and was infinitely better than insensibility, flippancy, infidelity, or obstinacy. It is the first step in a new direction--if the next is taken. 2. Felix trembled under a genuine conviction that Paul was right, and the trembling shows a momentary desire to put himself in the right. II. Bad conduct with a good motive.1. Felix was animated with a strong desire to release Paul. He liked the man and knew that justice was on his side. What better sign than a desire to be of service to a good man. 2. But Felix sought to compass his desire in a wrong way. Why not say that the case against him had broken down, and that his right to be released must be recognised. But no; Felix’ s cupidity was stronger than his amiable desires and his sense of justice. He would do good if bribed to do it. The apostle tells us that their condemnation is just who do evil that good may come. III. Good conduct with a bad motive.1. Felix communed with Paul. If evil communications corrupt good manners, how much must good communications improve them. A man is known by the company he keeps, and to exchange the company of Drusilla for that of Paul--what a hopeful sign. 2. But why did Felix commune with Paul? To get money out of him--the reason why many a wolf puts on sheep’ s clothing, and why many worldly and wicked men attend Church. IV. Bad conduct from a bad motive. The true man comes out at last.1. Bad in conduct. He left Paul bound--in spite of spiritual convictions, sense of justice, communings. 2. Bad in motive. “ Willing to show the Jews a pleasure.” Conclusion: “ Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” The man who begins to try to do so ends by wholesale service of the latter. (J. W. Burn.)Felix and the jailer (text and Acts 16:27-31):--Let us mark-- I. The points of resemblance.1. They were wicked men when the apostle became acquainted with them. 2. They were hearers of the gospel. Ungodly though they were, they did not refuse to hear God’ s Word. This was well. Gospel was and is the very thing for sinners. “ I came not to call the righteous,” says the Saviour, “ but sinners to repentance.” 3. They had a desire to know the gospel. This was a farther step. The gospel is, to many of its so-called hearers, an object of complete indifference. 4. They trembled from spiritual conviction. 5. They were delivered from their fears. Before the night had passed the jailer was rejoicing with all his house; and Felix did not tremble long. Thus far the cases correspond and have a hopeful aspect. II. The points of contrast. They differed as to--1. The motives which induced them to hear the gospel. The jailer’ s motive was anxiety to be saved. Did Felix ever ask, “ What must I do to be saved?” Never. Curiosity to hear of the new faith from so famous a teacher may have had an influence. But venality was at the bottom of what he did. He wanted a bribe, and he became a gospel hearer, to give Paul opportunity and encouragement to offer it. Here our thoughts naturally turn to the motives by which people are induced to hear the gospel among ourselves. Remove from our congregations all those who come to gratify an idle curiosity--all who come to acquire a name of respectability, by which their temporal interests may be served--and all who come without any anxious desire to be saved, and how many will remain? 2. As to the nature of their convictions. Both were in deep alarm. Felix saw that God would punish sin. But that was all. He did not see that God was just in doing so. His heart clung to sin, while his spirit was quaking at the thought of the Almighty wrath to which sin exposed him. The jailer saw whence the danger came, and what it was that had brought him to the brink of perdition; that it was sin that was his enemy, rather than God. 3. As to the tendency of their convictions. Felix trembled and Bent Paul away; turned his back upon God’ s ordinance of preaching, and rejected the instrumentality that might have led to the salvation of his soul. The jailer trembled to better purpose. His convictions brought him to the apostle’ s feet. Hearers of the Word! are any of you awakened? Do not turn your back upon the ordinances that have disturbed your slumbers. This difference farther appears with regard to sin. The convictions of Felix produced no change upon his life; but the jailer became a new man. 4. As to the issue of their convictions. The heart of Felix was hardened; the jailer’ s was broken. 5. In the mode of deliverance from their fears. The fears of Felix were overcome by unbelief: those of the jailer were banished by faith. 6. In important particulars of their conduct. (1) In their treatment of the gospel. The jailer embraced it; Felix rejected it. (2) In their treatment of Christ. Christ stood at the door and knocked. Felix answered not, and showed a desire to be let alone, and that Christ should not knock again. Far other entertainment was given by the jailer. He received the Saviour without delay. (3) In their treatment of the servants of Christ. Felix sought to turn Paul to account, and, failing in that, he persecuted him to get popularity with his enemies. The jailer honoured Paul and Silas, did what he could to lessen their sufferings, and supplied their temporal wants. 7. In fine, if Felix died as he lived, which we have no reason to doubt, there is a crowning difference now. The terrors of Felix have returned; the jailer is with Jesus in paradise, awaiting the redemption of the body. (Andrew Gray.)Paul’ s private speech We have often seen Paul in public; we have now to study somewhat his private ministry. It is easier to speak upon Mars’ hill to a great crowd than to speak in a gilded chamber to two eminent personages. Will Paul be the same man in both places? Look at the case in detail. I. The auditors are great people, yet the gospel does not spare them. Here is the true apostle face to face with evil; he smites it with both hands alone. These are the instances that commend the gospel to our confidence. We cannot dwell too long, too gratefully, upon the moral dignity of this gospel. There is no greatness before it. Because the gospel speaks in this tone it lives forever. II. The auditors were but two in number, yet the gospel sought to save them. When Christianity takes the census it counts every man one, and says to despairing preachers, “ Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death.” Christianity despises no one. Other religions go by numbers; the individual life is a fleck, a drop of a bucket. But the religion of Jesus Christ having found that one of the lambs has gone astray, will neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, until the wanderer is back again. So, every man is a congregation. Earnestness can always speak to the individual. If one soul is within ear shot, he constitutes the supreme occasion of any ministry. Jesus often spoke to the one hearer and made revelations to individual hearers greater than any he ever made to the crowd. III. The auditors asked for entertainment; yet the gospel gave them judgment. The gospel has no entertainments. Felix cared nothing for the faith in Christ himself, for he was a Roman; but Drusilla was a Jewess, and had heard of Jesus of Nazareth, and would hear somewhat of her eccentric compatriot. So we become interested in certain sides and aspects of questions. Drusilla could have no interest in the spiritual Christ; but she had intellectual interest, or the interest of curiosity in the historical magician, the prince of the wonder workers. Paul was an expert, a devotee; he would know about the whole case and would be able to explain it, and now he was at liberty to tell the tale. “ And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment.” Is that the faith that is in Christ? Is that Christian preaching? Verily; and the preaching we want every day. Men are delighted with high theological cobweb speculation, and call it marvellous. It is not Christian preaching. The true preaching makes the robber empty his pockets, makes the bad man white with inward accusation, makes the oppressor turn uneasily on his seat as if he were sitting on thorns and fire, turns the bad man mad, and makes him say foamingly at the church door that he will never come back again. The audience should always suggest the subject. This was Paul’ s method, and was the invariable method of Jesus Christ Himself. The audience is the text; this is where our speakers fail so much. What do our hearers want with speculations they cannot follow, with dreams they never heard of? He who would preach to the times must preach to the broken-heartedness of the day, to the criminality of the hour, to the inconstancy of the times, to the disloyalty of the army. This advice will never make popular preachers: it will make Pauline preachers. May the Lord of the harvest thrust into His harvest field many such preachers! We are not sent to make theologians, but Christians; we are not sent to build up a system, but to build up a character. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and Judgment to come, Felix trembled.Paul’ s reasoning before Felix Consider-- I. The manner of Paul’ s preaching. He did not utter dogmatic assertions nor deal in vague declamation, in airy speculation which might please but not profit, in the artifices of rhetoric in order to produce effect.1. He addressed man as a rational being; his great object was to enlighten the mind and carry conviction to the judgment. True, until the heart be moved no good can be done. But as in nature, so also it is in grace--light must first be created. It would be like tracing figures on the sand, to be effaced by the returning wave, if we excited the feelings of the heart without having beforehand imparted knowledge to the head. 2. “ He reasoned.” But “ What,” asks the infidel, “ is there in the Christian religion to reason about? It is the religion of babes, not of men.” True our religion is fitted for babes; and it is its greatest glory that “ a wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein.” But this is also as true, that among its disciples it tells of a Locke, a Newton, and a Bacon. And on what occasion did ever Christianity shrink back from inquiry? 3. “ He reasoned.” He did not leave the individual, as the saying is, “ in the hands of God.” On the contrary, he bent his whole soul to produce conviction and conversion in the mind of Felix. II. The topics of which he thus preached. Faith and practice; and what God hath joined together let no man put asunder.1. “ He spake concerning the faith in Christ.” 2. “ He reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.” III. The effect which this sermon produced.1. That sermon is worthless which does not reach the heart; and that heart must have been hard indeed that could have withstood the reasoning of an inspired apostle and on such important subjects. Felix felt, not grief for sin, only terror on account of its punishment. The apostle had entered with the candle of the Lord into the recesses of his bosom, and disclosed all those images of wickedness which, with all the cowardice of conscious guilt, Felix had striven to conceal from himself. “ He trembled,” like the meanest criminal that ever stood at his own tribunal; like the benighted traveller, when all on a sudden the lightning discloses the awful precipice whose brink he is approaching; like the man under sentence of death, when in his cell at the midnight hour he hears the knocking of the hammer erecting the scaffold on which he is to die on the morrow: “ he trembled” --like Belshazzar when he saw the handwriting on the wall that proclaimed his days to be numbered and his kingdom to be departed from him. 2. These impressions were the result of God’ s Spirit; but they were of short duration: like one suddenly awakened out of his sleep, he felt a moment’ s alarm, but he again folded his arms to slumber. Could the apostle have told him how he could be happy without requiring to be holy--how he might escape hell and enjoy earth--gladly would Felix have listened to his message. But since the apostle could preach no gospel but that which proclaimed salvation, not in sin, but from sin, Felix dismisses the preacher, but retains his Drusilla. (W. Auld, jun.)Of the universal sense of good and evil I. We learn from this history that there is, even in the worst of men, a natural conscience of good and evil, which may be darkened, perverted, and very much defaced, but is hardly ever quite obliterated and lost. There are certain seasons, which check the insolence of the passions and dispose for gravity and consideration, in which it revives, and represents the malignity of irregular and vicious excesses in a clear and strong light. II. We may observe from the text what a miserable thing it is to have a conscience burdened with guilt, in that a man dares not trust himself to think for fear of being alarmed and filled with terror and confusion. As long as, men are amused with company or engaged in a hurry of business, or can keep their passions inflamed and silence the voice of reason and natural conscience by a course of intemperance, they may continue stupid and insensible. But when anything happens that damps their gaiety, gives a shock to the mind, and puts them upon thinking, they are soon roused out of their lethargy and entertained with none but dark and gloomy prospects. And nothing, surely, can be a more perverted state of mankind than to derive all their relief, all their peace, from the suppression or extinction of reason. Besides, as guilt is such an enemy to consideration, there is this dreadful circumstance attending it farther to aggravate and enhance its misery, that it cuts off in a great measure the only possible means of the sinner’ s recovery. III. It is a very natural inference from the text that inculcating the great duties of morality and enforcing the practice of them from a regard of the future judgment is true gospel preaching, and answers in the most effectual manner the excellent design of Christianity. To preach Christ is universally allowed to be the duty of every Christian minister. But what does it mean? It is not to use His name as a charm, to work up our hearers to a warm pitch of enthusiasm, without any foundation of reason to support it. ‘ Tis not to encourage undue and presumptuous reliances on His merits and intercession, to the contempt of virtue and good works. No, but to represent Him as a Lawgiver as well as a Saviour, as a preacher of righteousness, as one who hath given us a most noble and complete system of morals enforced by the most substantial and worthy motives, and to show that the whole scheme of our redemption is a doctrine according to godliness. IV. A sense of guilt makes those things the objects of aversion and horror which, naturally, yield the highest delight and satisfaction. We have an instance in the text of one that was shocked at the strict obligations of justice, without which there can be no pleasure or convenience in human life, and the whole frame of civil societies must immediately be dissolved. It mortifies the epicure and the adulterer to be told of the rules of temperance and chastity, which are absolutely necessary to the health of our bodies, the rectitude and vigour of our minds, and the grand security of what is most dear and sacred to us; and the cruel and revengeful to hear of gentleness, beneficence, and the soft impressions of humanity, though they form the most excellent and amiable character we can possibly conceive of. In like manner, the future judgment of mankind is in itself far from being an object of terror; for that we are moral, accountable creatures is owing to our superior capacities, which are the distinguishing dignity of our nature; and nothing can be a more comfortable reflection to a well-disposed mind than that its integrity will be tried and rewarded by a Being of unerring wisdom, inflexible justice, and unlimited goodness. But to a guilty sinner this is so tremendous a scene, that the mere prospect of it fills him with agony and confusion. He does not consider it as honourable to human nature, because it threatens his vices; can’ t think of abiding by the sentence of unchangeable rectitude and infinite benevolence itself; and the sum of his wishes is to die like a brute. The future judgment is not revealed with a view to alarm and confound the mind, but to restrain those irregular practices which are the surest ground of melancholy suspicions and inward horror. (James Foster.)Paul’ s sermon before Felix I. The appropriate sermon. I can conceive that Felix expected to have a grand disquisition upon some recondite themes of the gospel. This was not the place nor the time for that.1. I can imagine how Paul would bring before the mind of Felix the widow who bad been defrauded of inheritance, the fatherless children who were left to beg their bread, the many bribes that he had taken, the false decisions that he had given. 2. Then gently turning to the other subject, I can imagine how he would fix his eyes upon Drusilla and bring the most powerful motives to bear upon her lascivious heart; and then turning to Felix, would remind him that adulterers have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. 3. I can conceive how Felix would bite his lips. Paul gave him no time for passion; for in a fury of impassioned eloquence he introduced the “ judgment to come.” He made Felix think he saw the great white throne, the books opened, and himself arraigned before his Judge; and what the apostle did every minister ought to do. He selected topics appropriate to his audience. But some will say, “ Ministers ought not to be personal.” Ministers will never be true to their Master till they are, I admire John Knox for going, Bible in hand, to Queen Mary, and sternly upbraiding her. I do not exactly love the way in which he did it, but the thing itself I love. II. The affected audience. What is it that makes men tremble under the sound of the gospel? Some say it is their conscience. Doubtless it is in some sense. But I believe that what some people call natural conviction is the work of the Spirit. In some men’ s hearts He works with restraining grace, and the trembling of Felix is to be accounted for by this quickening his conscience and making him tremble. But what shall be said of some of you who never tremble? III. The lamentable disappointment. “ It is wonderful,” said a good man once to a minister, “ to see a whole congregation moved to tears by the preaching of the Word.” “ Yes,” said that minister, “ it is wonderful; but I know a wonder ten times greater, viz., that those people should so soon wipe away their tears and forget what they have beard.” ‘ Tis wonderful that Felix trembled before Paul; ‘ tis more wonderful that Felix should say, “ Go thy way.” Stop, Felix; let Paul speak to thee a minute longer. Thou hast business; but hast thou no business for thy soul? Dost thou reply, “ Nay, I must attend to Caesar.” Ah! Felix, but thou hast a greater monarch than Caesar. I know what thou durst not say. Felix, thou art turning aside again to indulge in thy lascivious pleasures. Go, and Drusilla with thee! But stop! Darest thou do that, with that last word ringing in thy ears, “ Judgment to come” ? You, too, many of you, have often been impressed under the ministry, and on Monday you have said, “ I must attend to business.” Think of men that are dying every day, saying, “ We must live,” and forgetting that they must die! Another replies, “ I must have a little more pleasure.” What! can there be pleasure in turning suicide to thine own soul? But the usual reply is, “ There is time enough yet.” The young man says, “ Let me alone till I grow old.” And you old men, what do you say? “ When do you hope to find a convenient season? The young may die, the old must! But still the common cry is, “ There is time enough.” What for? Surely you have spent time enough in sin? What! time enough to serve a God that laid down His life for you? No! eternity will not be too long to utter His praise. Thou sayest, “ Another time.” How knowest thou that thou wilt ever feel again as thou feelest now? This morning, perhaps, a voice is saying in thy heart, “ Prepare to meet thy God.” Tomorrow that voice may be hushed. How do you know that you shall live to be warned again? Oh! why will you then dare to procrastinate? Will your soul ever be saved by your saying, “ Time enough yet” ? Tillotson well says, “ A man may say, ‘ I resolve to eat,’ but the resolve to eat would never feed his body. A man might say, ‘ I am resolved to drink,’ but the resolve to drink would never slake his thirst.” And you may say, “ I am resolved by and by to seek God,” but your resolve will not save you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Paul preaching before Felix Whatever may have been the motives of Felix and Drusilla, we have before us the singular fact that profligate persons, with not the smallest intention of forsaking their profligacy, could send for a preacher that he might preach to them concerning the faith in Christ. It is a fact which altogether forbids us inferring the piety of the multitude from the earnestness to which they flock to the preaching of the Word. What is there to assure us that in an assembly of eager and riveted listeners there may not now be the Felix and Drusilla, who associate themselves with the hearers of the gospel, and seem to take a deep interest in its announcements. It might well make us tremble to think what profligate characters may be found in the house of God, all apparently hearkening with the most earnest attention to what the preacher has to advance. Note-- I. The topics on which St. Paul expatiated.1. Although Felix had sent for Paul to hear about the faith in Christ, it was not concerning this faith that the apostle chiefly spoke; he rather dealt with topics which belong to natural as well as revealed religion. He knew that comparatively no moral advantage is obtained by prevailing upon men to take this or that tenet into their creed if they do not suffer it to be influential on their conduct; and therefore it was no object with him to get reception for fresh truths whilst he knew that there were old truths which, though theoretically acknowledged, were practically without power. Felix and Drusilla expected that the apostle would enter at once on controverted points and on some abstruse speculation which might engage the understanding but not touch the conscience. And if it were wisdom in the apostle thus to confine himself to the truths that were acknowledged by his hearers, and so to give them no opportunity to escape, must it not also be so in the modern preacher? 2. But it were unpardonable to speak of Paul’ s wisdom and overlook his intrepidity. Oh, for his spirit, that there might be no fear of men! The sin which is most likely to prevail in a congregation is the sin against which the preacher should direct most of his preaching. In this way he will be most likely to do good, though he be most likely to give offence; for the courtiers will sit most approvingly and contentedly whilst the vices of merchants are lashed, and merchants whilst those of courtiers; but once let the sermon have a marked reference to the audience, and there will be uneasiness, and in most cases displeasure. II. The effect which his sermon produced. Of Drusilla you are told nothing. A woman, when she has abandoned herself to wickedness, is far harder to reclaim than man; and it may be proof of the truth of this remark that, whilst Felix trembled, Drusilla was unmoved. Probably he was surrounded by a princely retinue, and did he suffer soldiers and subjects to see him disconcerted by the insolence of a forward enthusiast? Ah! it is not in the pompous train or in armed battalions to give courage when the conscience is once roused. There is no cowardice like the cowardice of guilt, and no power like the power of truth. But, alas for Felix! in place of being moved by his fears in the immediate search after safety, he had recourse, with sinners of every age, to procrastination. He did not entreat the apostle to point out the way of escape, as he had pointed out the danger, but dismissed him. He did not deign to take no further care of the matter; he only deferred what by his trembling he had confessed it right in him to do. And he was not without an excuse. When was the sinner ever at a loss when his sins were to be palliated? He waited for a convenient season. It was not fitting to repent suddenly; there ought to be deliberation. He had, moreover, much business to attend to; he must put public affairs into a little better train, then would he be at leisure for the weighty duties of amendment. And did a convenient season come? Yes, he had many interviews with St. Paul, but with what object? Great God! is it possible! It had been whilst he disclaimed against extortion and avarice that Felix had shook with apprehension! And now this very Felix sends for the apostle, hoping to wring from him a bribe. We ask, Is this possible? Why not? The whole transaction is repeated in our own day, and amongst ourselves. Felix having by delay got quit of his fears, could look upon St. Paul merely as upon one likely to gratify his lust of money; and the man whom the preacher has once made to tremble, but who has crushed the conviction which had in it the germ of conversion, may afterwards look upon the preacher merely as upon one likely to gratify his love of excitement. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Paul’ s reasonings Our text brings before us a very extraordinary scene. The prisoner at the bar seems to be exercising the functions of prosecutor, witness, jury, and handing over his judge, as a condemned culprit, into the hands of the supreme Judge of all, while the judge is neither able to defend or excuse himself. It is not an unusual thing in criminal trials to see the prisoner trembling. Here is a prisoner for whom his judge has no terrors. It is not unusual to see a judge dignified and self-possessed, but here sits a poor trembling wretch on whom the words of the prisoner fall like a death sentence. At last he can stand it no longer. Why should he make himself miserable? If the arguments of the apostle could not be answered, at any rate he might be silenced. But I want to call your attention to the fact that what made Felix tremble was not an exhibition of impassioned rhetoric, but it was a solemn appeal to his reasoning faculties. I by no means disparage appeals to the feelings, inasmuch as we all have hearts, but the strength of these lies in the presence of an intellectual conviction affecting the conscience of those whom we address. I can imagine the governor, prepared to find his prisoner a half-crazy fanatic, commencing his inquiries, while a cynical smile played over his sinister countenance: “ I understand, Paul, that you are an ardent adherent of one Christ. Can you now explain to me why you make so much ado about this person, who was executed as a common felon?” This gave St. Paul his opportunity. “ In order that I may the better explain to you what Christ is to me, it will be expedient that I should first touch upon certain subjects connected with religion and morality, with respect to which we may probably be able to understand each other.” So now it is necessary to form just opinions on those subjects, in order that we may be led to feel our need of Christ. Paul reasoned-- I. Concerning righteousness.1. The word has its root in the word right. Righteousness springs from that great law of right which pervades all the relations of man to his Maker and to his fellow man. The recognition of these rights and the fulfilment of the claims which they carry with them is righteousness. (1) God has certain rights in us which we are bound to respect, and these arise out of the nature of our relations with Him. (a) We are taught that of Him, and by Him, and for Him are all things. He, as the Author of our being, has created us for His own purposes; and therefore we are under an obligation to respect His intentions in thus allowing us to enjoy it. Not to do this is to wrong God, to defraud Him of His rights in us, and thus to break the fundamental commandment of the law of righteousness. (b) As these claims of God are not arbitrarily imposed, so He cannot withdraw them. George III, when pressed by his prime minister to give his assent to a measure of which he did not approve, exclaimed, “ I’ ll not sign it, Mr. Pitt; it goes against my conscience!” “ Then, sir,” replied his minister, “ I have no course open to me but to resign.” “ Very good, Mr. Pitt, very good; you can resign if you like, but I can’ t.” The story may serve to illustrate our present point God cannot resign. (c) As the result of the existence of these rights of God in us, He must needs claim it of us first, that we should make a full and willing surrender of ourselves to Him, to live for His glory and in accordance with His will; and secondly, He must needs claim it of us that we should abstain from anything that is opposed to His proper relations with us and His will concerning us. (2) We are also under a certain obligation to our fellow men. Remember that universal bond of brotherhood which pervades the human family, and gives man the claim of kinsmanship upon his fellow man throughout the world. Then think upon the debt that we owe to society. We owe it to society that we have been fed, clothed, housed, educated, trained, and surrounded with all the comforts of civilised existence. Man, next to God, has been our greatest benefactor, and therefore man has certain rights in us. To recognise and respect these is to fulfil the law of righteousness; to ignore these is to break it. I am bound by the debt I owe to my fellow to do what lies in my power to help and benefit him as occasion may offer, and to abstain from injuring him in any way, either morally, intellectually, or physically. 2. How much of the law of righteousness do most men seem to recognise? Only one part out of four. How common a thing it is when we press men about their spiritual condition to meet with the reply, “ Well, I’ ve never done any harm to anyone.” Granted; does that mean that you have performed your positive or negative duty towards God? or that you have performed your positive duty to your fellow man? The words convey no such idea. The priest and Levite did no harm to the half-dead man, but they failed to do him any good; and you do not even affirm that you have lived to benefit your fellow man any more than they. What then? To put the thing in a familiar form: you pay, or think you pay, five shillings in the pound, and then claim a quittance of the whole debt. That would hardly pass muster in a London bankruptcy court; and can you think that such a composition will be accepted at the last great assize? And what if the five shillings proves to have been paid in base coin? How few of us are there that can truly affirm that we have done no harm to anyone? Where is the godless man that has not done some injury to those around him? 3. We are now in a position to judge ourselves as to whether we are righteous. Does our own heart condemn us? You can judge for yourselves whether it be possible that these claims can be either modified or withdrawn. If they cannot, then you will of necessity begin to feel your need of that which St. Paul found in Christ. When once his eyes had been opened to see what the claims of righteousness really were, and hence to discover his own unrighteousness, there was no rest for him until he had found a new and better righteousness in Christ Jesus. II. Concerning temperance. As righteousness has to do with the rights which others have in us, so temperance leads us to consider the rights which we have in ourselves. The word conveys the idea of self-mastery--capacity to govern oneself in accordance with the dictates of sound reason.1. There are within our complex nature certain elements which are obviously designed to be supreme, while there are others that are intended to be subject to control. That this must be so is clear; for if every element within were to assert its own supremacy, our human nature would be like a house divided against itself. We may conclude with sufficient confidence-- (1) That those are the higher elements in our nature, by the possession of which we are most distinguished from the lower animals; and just as the harmony of the outward world is maintained by man’ s supremacy over the brute, so the harmony of man’ s nature is to be preserved by the sovereignty of those elements which are distinctively human over those which we possess in common with the lower animals. (2) That those are the higher elements in our nature which are least dependent upon our material organism, but upon which it must depend for direction and control if our lives are to deserve the name of human. (3) That inasmuch as we were made in the image of God, the higher elements of our human nature are those which are most Godlike. As God maintains the harmony of the universe by asserting His own supremacy, so man can only hope for harmony in his own being when the God-like has chief sway within. 2. In the maintenance of this supremacy also lies the only security for our well-being, and even for our safety; for while God has made special provisions to prevent the lower animals from falling a prey to their own incontinence by establishing certain checks, He has not thus hedged round man. He is possessed of a moral freedom, and hence can either, by the right exercise of his faculties, rise to a higher level than the animal can aspire to or can sink to as much a lower level by their abuse. We do the animals an injustice when we speak, e.g., of the intemperate man as a drunken brute. Who ever knew of a brute that was of its own will drunken? So, then, there are certain faculties or elements of our nature which should be supreme, and others which should be under control. Where this order exists, there moral harmony ensues; and this is what we understand by temperance. When it is transgressed, moral anarchy must be the result; and this is what we understand by intemperance. 3. Man’ s moral nature may be compared to a commonwealth, in which there are ignorant and incapable multitudes who need to be governed with a view to their own good, and also intelligent and able men who are fit to govern. Now it has sometimes happened that the supreme power has passed into the hands of an ignorant and fanatical mob, and then have followed the worst and most frightful forms of anarchy. Then, again, it has often happened that from amongst the mob there has arisen some single tyrant who, beginning with being the idol of the mob, has gone on to become its most ruthless enemy; and then sometimes follows the last woful sequel of this inversion of the proper order of things--invasion, a foreign thrall, followed ultimately by national extinction. So when these elements of our nature, which ought to be subject to control, are allowed by the frailty of our will to arrogate to themselves an authority to which they have no claim, man becomes subject to a sort of inward mob rule. Then it not unfrequently happens that from the general moral confusion there emerges into an unholy prominence some specific besetting sin which becomes a sort of tyrant, and brings all our powers and faculties under its own grim and terrible sway. Such a tyrant power is drunkenness, or lust, or avarice, when once it lays hold upon man’ s nature and becomes a confirmed habit. And this miserable condition invites hostile intervention from without. There is an enemy at the gates who finds our divided and self-betrayed nature at his mercy, and who can thus take possession of our being, and in the end, unless we are delivered out of his hands, procure our utter and irremediable ruin. 4. What hope is there under such circumstances that by the mere action of a will already enervated the captive can break his chains and set himself free? (1) Perhaps the answer may suggest itself, Surely the only chance for such a man lies in appealing to his own self-interest. Let him see that he is injuring himself, and he will most likely be disposed to gather up all his will power for a mighty effort against this tyrant yoke, and, thus reinforced, he may yet prevail. But those who speak thus do not make sufficient allowance for the bewildering influence which a corrupt moral condition exerts upon the understanding, nor for the actually blinding effect of passion. Look at that drunkard. There was a time when he possessed the affections of a devoted wife, a smiling home, a good reputation, and regular and remunerative employment. Look at him now. In his few lucid intervals he knows that he is destroying himself; but it makes no difference. Or take the case of the libertine, or the case of a man whose incontinence lies in his temper, his speech, or his avarice. They are not less obviously opposed to our personal interest. Or again, idleness, sluggishness, or moral cowardice are all alike clearly opposed to our well-being. No, it is easy to forge those chains for ourselves, but who can snap them? Our minds may be on the side of right, but what about that other law which holds its sway within our members? (2) No, if there be any help at all for the poor spellbound victim it must come from without. Ah! there is one in our midst today ready “ to proclaim relief to the captives.” Listen to the apostle: “ For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Here is a new law--a law that belongs not to poor enslaved humanity, but to that mysterious and Divine Being who invades and takes possession of our humanity. Look at that balloon as it lies there uninflated; it is subject to the gravitating attraction of earth like any other object around. You may lift it up for a moment by help of ropes and pulleys, but its rise is dependent upon your willpower, and as soon as this adventitious force is withdrawn it sinks again. But now fill it with hydrogen gas, and you introduce a substance of such relative gravity to the atmosphere that its law is to rise heavenward. Even so, you may lift your moral nature up, as it were by mere willpower, and anon, when the will ceases to be energetic, it sinks again; but let God the Holy Ghost enter the cleansed and consecrated nature, and at once we begin to rise in the moral scale higher and stilt higher to our proper level as heaven’ s free men. Years ago, when I had a parish in one of our largest towns, I became very much interested in a member of my congregation who was the victim of insobriety. Many and many were the pledges that he signed, but all seemed vain. We were having a very memorable season of spiritual visitation, and night after night this man attended the services, and wan deeply impressed. The last Sunday night arrived. At the close of his thrilling appeal Mr. Moody asked all present who would trust themselves to Christ then and there for salvation to rise and stand up before all while the Christians present were praying for them. At this moment a Christian worker, who was an old acquaintance of the man, saw his friend evidently in great anguish of soul. He crept up to him, and whispered in his ear, “ Tom, my boy, why ar’ n’ t you standing up?” “ I can’ t, Jim; I have tried so often. I should only make a fool of the thing if I fell back again.” “ Tom, my dear fellow, now listen to me. You’ ve prayed and made resolutions, signed pledges, and done everything except what you’ re asked to do now; that is, trust yourself entirely to Jesus. You’ ve never done that.” “ You’ re right, Jim,” said the other; “ I have never done that. I will trust Him!” and with a sudden decision he rose to his feet; and he found Him trustworthy. From that moment the chain was broken; and five years after Tom passed away, falling asleep in Jesus. III. Concerning judgment to come.1. A belief in this may be regarded as a corollary to a belief in the existence of God Himself. If there be a Moral Governor of the universe, we cannot do otherwise than conclude that there is a judgment to come. (1) There is a very obvious inequality in the way in which punishments are meted out to transgressors in this life. Two persons commit the same sin; the one is detected, the other escapes detection, prospers in the world, and passes in society as a very respectable member of it. Or again, two persons commit the same sin of impurity. The one is a man of high social position and of great wealth; the other, perhaps, some unfortunate girl whose affections he has contrived to entangle. Compare the consequences in the two cases. The one is ruined for life, but the man who made her the thing she is passes himself off as a very respectable gentleman. Surely no man in his senses will say that in the two cases the punishments are equal. (2) But I can imagine someone rejoining, “ What you say is all very true; but you must take into consideration the man’ s subjective penalty. The one offender may suffer more in his conscience than the other.” Here again the answer is obvious. Is it the greatest sinner that is the greatest inward sufferer? Here are two persons who have both committed the same sin--the one for the first time in his life, the other for the nine hundred and ninety-ninth. Is it not too obvious to need to be stated that the sufferings of the hardened offender are as nothing compared with those induced by a first offence? Sin is not adequately punished by its outward results in this world; and it is not the greatest offender that suffers the most severe inward penalty. I remember once applying the argument in a homely way to a navvy. When I began to speak to him about his soul and the wisdom of beginning to think about his salvation, he broke out with, “ Well now, look here, sir; I don’ t hold with you parsons. You talk about hell, and tell us that we’ re to be punished over there. Now, my idea is that we get knocked about in this life bad enough. I don’ t think a man will suffer all that here and then be damned afterwards.” “ Well,” I said, “ what do you expect to become of you when you die?” “ Oh,” he said, “ I don’ t know I Maybe that will be the end of me. Anyhow, I don’ t see any reason why I should suffer more than I do down here.” I replied, “ Now I will put a case to you. Here is a man, we will suppose, under whom you work, who keeps you at it early and late. He grinds down your payment to the last sixpence; he gets out of you whatever he can, and gives you as little as he can in return. He drives in his carriage and pair, while you go on slaving away on wages that scarcely suffice to keep body and soul together. Money flows in on him; he is returned to Parliament. By and by he becomes My Lord So-and-so; and while he, hard-hearted tyrant as he is, lives in luxury, you still go on toiling and slaving away for him, at the slenderest possible remuneration, till after spending forty or fifty years in his service you die in poverty and are carried to a pauper’ s grave. Now, do you think it is likely if there be a God at all that you and he shall fare exactly alike in the next world?” “ No, sir,” said he, with considerable warmth; “ if there’ s a God in heaven, he ought to suffer for it.” His own common sense told him that if there were a Moral Governor of the universe He must lay a heavy hand in judgment upon the successful oppressor of the poor; and the common sense of all men is here on the side of religion. 2. Now, when I turn to revelation, I find not only the statement that there shall be such a judgment, but also indications of some of its more prominent characteristics. (1) It will be according to the deeds done in the body--not the professions made or the appearances exhibited. (2) It will be according to privilege. There are large numbers of persons who plume themselves on having been baptized; but the question is, Have you ever realised the spiritual benefit of which baptism is the symbol? Are you not aware that while that blessed ordinance increases your responsibility, it must also enhance your condemnation unless you respond to the obligations that it imposes? Or again, on the other hand, there are those who pride themselves upon being evangelical Christians and strong Protestants. But better far that you had been a heathen in Central Africa than a nominal Christian, familiar with evangelical doctrine, but a stranger to the power of Divine grace. (3) It will be according to the opportunities and possibilities which have fallen to our lot in life. To whom much has been given, of him much shall be required. (4) It will bring to light the secret things of darkness and reveal the counsels of every man’ s heart, and then shall everyone have praise (or blame) of God according as his life’ s work has been. (5) It will depend upon the presence or absence of our name in “ the Lamb’ s Book of Life.” What the specific penalty in each particular case may be I will not presume to say. “ Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” I know that it will be exactly what the sin deserves, neither more nor less. Perhaps some of you are saying, “ How shall I know that my name is written there?” That question is not hard to answer. If the Lamb’ s own life has been through faith received into your heart, you may be sure that your name is written in the pages of the Book of Life. “ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” (W. H. Aitken, M. A.)Trembling Felix I. The nature of this trembling. We must distinguish between a sanctifying fear (Proverbs 16:6) which is a grace, an habitual disposition of the soul (Isaiah 66:2; Ezra 10:3), and the fear which only troubles us for the present.1. Holy fear is a voluntary work excited by faith believing God’ s threatening, and by love which is troubled at the offences done to God. A fear like that of Felix is an involuntary impression arising from the spirit of bondage and irresistible conviction, which for a while puts its subjects into the stocks of conscience, but they seek to enlarge themselves as soon as they can. 2. They differ in their grounds. To be troubled for the offence done to God is a good sign, but to be troubled merely for the punishment due is the guise of hypocrites (Hebrews 12:17; Mark 10:22). 3. They differ in their effects. Sometimes-- (1) An anxiety about the way of salvation, and then it is good (Acts 2:37).(2) Rage (Acts 7:54).(3) Dilatory excuses, as here. II. Its cause--the Word.1. The matter. (1) Generally--the Word of God has a convincing power. (a) Partly because of its Author, whose impress is on it (Hebrews 4:12). (b) Partly because of its clearness to a natural conscience if it be not blinded (2 Corinthians 4:2-18). (c) Chiefly because of the concomitant blessing (John 16:8; 2 Corinthians 4:6). (2) Particularly--the Day of Judgment. This was the apostle’ s great argument (Acts 10:42-43; Acts 17:30-31; 2 Corinthians 5:10-11), because (a) This made their access to the heart more easy because of its suitableness to natural light (Romans 1:32). (b) This most befriends the great discovery of the gospel, justification and pardon through Christ, by submitting to His instruction. If He be our Judge we should take the law from His mouth. (c) This best solves doubts about present providence (Ecclesiastes 8:4). 2. The manner. The Word must be applied-- (1) Closely. Paul discoursed of virtues opposite to the vices with which Felix was blemished (Acts 2:36-37). In the doctrine delivered we only bend the bow; in application we shoot at the mark. (2) Prudently. No charge is here made. Paul only presents the looking glass in which they can see themselves, III. Its effects. It may come to nothing through--1. Levity (Hosea 6:4, cf. Proverbs 4:18). 2. Addictedness to lusts which is greater than affection to religion (Luke 8:14). 3. Unskilfulness in handling wounds of conscience. (1) Some think they are never wounded enough; but it is not the depth of the wound, but the soundness of the cure that is to be regarded.(2) Some heal their wounds slightly, skin them over while they fester within.(3) Others dissemble till they prove deadly.(4) Others run to a worldly cure, or by the din of business put off what they do not put away (Amos 6:3). 4. Want of God’ s grace, which is forfeited by those who have common helps. (1) Some put away the Word (Acts 13:46).(2) Some put away troubles of conscience (Genesis 6:3).(3) Some lose all relish for good things and relapse into a carnal savour (Hebrews 6:3-4). IV. Uses. 1. Information. We learn-- (1) The power of the Word. Consider Felix-- (a) An unbeliever. (b) A judge who humbled under his prisoner. Outward disadvantages should not discourage us. (c) A depraved man. We should despair of none. (d) A man glutted with worldly happiness. The thoughts of the next world will sour all the sweets of this. (2) The profitableness of insisting on the Last Judgment as a means of persuasion. It is-- (a) Impartial (Revelation 20:12). (b) Strict and just (Acts 17:31). (c) Final. (d) Every minute brings it nearer (James 5:9), (3) The soreness of a bad conscience.(4) The necessity of strict obedience.(5) The sottishness of those who are not moved so far as Felix was. 2. Caution. (1) Do not lose the advantage of this common work. (a) It may be lost partly by delays and dreams of a more convenient season (Luke 14:18), and partly by relapses into our old crimes, as here. (b) Reasons. It is very dangerous--iron often heated and quenched is the more hard (Proverbs 29:1). You lose the season wherein God will be found (Hebrews 3:7; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2). (2) Do not rest in a common work that you hear the Word and are affected; Herod rejoiced, Felix trembled. (T. Manton, D. D.)The awakening of conscience Those who have seen Holman Hunt’ s picture of the “ Awakened Conscience” will not soon forget it. There are only two figures--a man and a woman, sitting in a gaudily furnished room, beside a piano. His fingers are on the instrument, his face, which is reflected in a mirror, is handsome and vacant, evidently that of a man about town, who supposes that the brightest part of creation is intended to administer to his amusement. A music book on the floor is open at the words “ Oft in the stilly night.” That tune has struck some chord in his companion’ s heart. Her face of horror says what no language could say, “ That tune has told me of other days when I was not as I am now.” The tune has done what the best rules that were ever devised could not do. It has brought a message from a father’ s house. (W. Denton.)Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee.--Frivolities render men callous to the gospel When Bonaparte put the Duke d’ Enghien to death, all Paris felt so much horror at the event that the throne of the tyrant trembled under him. A counter revolution was expected, and would most probably have taken place, had not Bonaparte ordered a new ballet to be brought out, with the utmost splendour, at the Opera. The subject he pitched on was “ Ossian, or the Bards.” It is still recollected in Paris, as perhaps the grandest spectacle that had ever been exhibited there. The consequence was that the murder of the Duke d’ Enghien was totally forgotten, and nothing but the new ballet was talked of. After this fashion Satan takes off men’ s thoughts from their sins, and drowns the din of their consciences. Lest they should rise in revolt against him, he gives them the lusts of the flesh, the vanities of pride, the cares of this world, or the merriment of fools, to lead away their thoughts. Poor silly men are ready enough for these misleading gaieties, and for the sake of them the solemnities of death and eternity are forgotten. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The sinful dismissal I. A guilty rejection. “ Go thy way.”1. Its reason. (1) Because of faithful preaching.(2) An accusing conscience--which many feel like Ahab and Herodias. 2. Its guilt. (1) Because God sent the preacher.(2) It was rejecting Christ.(3) Resisting the Holy Ghost.(4) Cleaving to Satan. II. A prevailing temptation. “ When I have a convenient season.”1. It supposes a more suitable time than the present. Though surrounded by religious privileges, numbers are ensnared. 2. It estimates religion as a secondary matter. Dreadful thought that religion should be set aside for earthly pleasures and profits--the poor trifles of a day! III. A fatal delusion. “ I will call for thee.” But did he? The delusion is apparent, inasmuch as--1. Those who have stifled convictions are the most hardened--Noah’ s hearers, Sodom, and the Jews in our Lord’ s day. 2. No sinner will call for light unvisited by the Holy Spirit. 3. It is not certain that a future “ call” will prevail. (1) Means may not be at hand.(2) Fear alone may rule in the heart.(3) The insulted Spirit may have fled (Proverbs 1:28). (Congregational Pulpit.)Ordered back to the guard room Felix sent Paul back and adjourned the subject of religion because-- I. He did not want to give up his sins. There was Drusilla; if he became a Christian, he must send her back to Azizus, her lawful husband--the case with many practically today. Tonight, some of you will have to decide between unlawful amusements and eternal salvation. Delilah sheared the locks of Samson; Salome danced Herod into the pit; Drusilla blocked up the way to heaven for Felix; and unless some of you repent, you shall likewise perish. Yet I fear some of you will say, “ Don’ t be so precipitate. I have a few tickets yet that I have to use. I have a few engagements that I must keep. Go thy way for this time.” I know that it is easier when you are in a boat to pull with the stream, but what if, tonight, you should be within a few yards of the vortex? Turn your boat around, and, as with a death grip, pull for your eternal life, crying, “ Lord, save me, I perish!” II. He was so very busy. In ordinary times he found the affairs of state absorbing, but those were extraordinary times. The whole land was ripe for insurrection. And so some of you look upon your goods, profession, memorandum books, and you see the demands that are made upon your time, patience, and money, and while I am entreating you about your soul and the danger of procrastination, you say, “ Go thy way for this time,” etc. Oh, Felix, you might better postpone everything else, for do you not know that the upholstering of Tyrian purple in your palace will fade, and the marble blocks of Caesarea will crumble, but the redemption that Paul offers you will be forever? and yet you waive him back to the guard room. III. He could not give up the honours of the world. He was afraid he would compromise himself. Yet what were those honours worth when in two short years they were torn from him, and when he disappeared covered with infamy? Conclusion: Have you never seen men waiting for a convenient season? I say to a boy, “ Seek Christ.” He says, “ No; wait until I get to be a young man.” I say to the young man, “ Seek Christ.” He says, “ Wait until I come to mid-life.” I meet the same person in mid-life, he says, “ Wait until I get old.” I meet the same person in old age, and he says, “ Wait until I am on my dying bed.” I am called to his dying couch; and yet he whispers, “ I am--waiting--for--a more--convenient--season” --and he is gone! I can tell you when your convenient season will come. It is now. Do you ask me how I know this? I know it because you are here; and because the Holy Spirit is here; and because the people of God in this church are praying for you. Now is the best time, as it may be the only time. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The convenient season 1. The man who does not listen to a strain of sweet music may be pardoned for not appreciating it; but the man who listens, only to respond with a shuffle, must be very cold and dull. Yet such seems to be the outrage which the man commits who interrupts the loving overture which calls him to the feast, with the earth-croak of his farm, his merchandise, his yoke of oxen, or his marriage peal. Felix is just in the same position as the people who made light of the call; that is, he is called to make up his mind concerning the same privileges. But he certainly is not so cold as those who make light of it or those who make excuse. They were more or less at ease, but Felix trembles. An uneasy conscience, however sad a thing, is more hopeful than placid deadness or blithe indifference. There is more chance for a man who is on the rack than for one who is dead. There is more hope of a man with the hot-ache than of one who is frozen. Here is a man trembling under the truth. Surely that is better than one who is callous to it or laughing at it. Still it is a condition eminently unsatisfactory. It is a shuffle after all, for it proceeds on a fallacy. The plea of convenience is a delusion. It is never convenient to cut off an arm or to pluck out an eye, and yet it may be imperative. To send away the messenger of truth, however painful the news he brings, will not change his tidings or alter the necessity of receiving it. When a man begins to tremble at his conscience, there is no convenient season for getting the trembling calmed; but there is one wise and sure season, and that is now. 2. We have sometimes heard this incident dealt with in a strain which has seemed to render but scant justice to Felix himself. The common way is to represent Felix as sending Paul away to get rid of him; that the convenient season never came; and that it was simply, “ out of sight, out of mind.” Then this is followed out into an analogy between sending away the messenger because the message is despised, and stifling conscience, resisting and grieving and quenching the Spirit. Now this (without qualification) amounts to an injustice, by putting a stern construction on his conduct when a milder one would be equally natural. It seems possible, and even probable, that his motive was that he might go away and reflect alone upon what he had heard, and seek further instruction when less excited and more able to appreciate it. And here we hit a blot upon the methods of some of our more zealous teachers. They are impatient of a calmness which may be more devout than mere excitement. They do not leave room for the exercise of the judgment. They reiterate the emphatic “ now” with a passion which sometimes overacts itself. They cannot wait for the leaven to work. If a man turns away and says, “ I can’ t go farther now; I will see you again tomorrow,” it is a common thing to hear an exclamation, “ Oh, tomorrow may never come; today is the day of salvation.” Now, in a sense, this is true, but not in the sense intended. Conviction of sin, and righteousness, and judgment to come, may be a momentary, or it may be a gradual thing; and at least it requires time to work out its effects and results. God’ s method is one of calm appeal: “ Come now, and let us reason together.” The physician sees his patient again and again, and watches his case carefully. 3. We have tried to do justice to Felix, and we would fain do justice to you. We have ventured the hypothesis of an honest motive for his dismissal of the pleader. But the honesty or otherwise of your motive will prove itself in one of two ways. You will seek to put yourself within reach of the argument again when the season of solitary reflection has passed. If the convenient season never comes, that will be proof that you stifled the argument to still your fears. And you will put yourself into communication with the messenger to say, either that you want to be taught further, or else that you have tidings for him that a greater Teacher has been with you in your solitude; and looking out of self to Christ, the light came, the righteousness was sealed to you, and the judgment to come has passed away. Take today as the convenient season for this. Put nothing that is important off till tomorrow. If you tremble at righteousness and judgment to come, seek your assurance by accepting the righteousness and redemption which have already come, and which Christ is offering you today. Don’ t raise impediments, don’ t raise the old cry of being unworthy and wicked. Accept Christ; and, whatever it may cost you, do it now. Is it not true that putting off decision does make the ear grow heavy and the eye grow dim? Is it not true that there was a time when the music of the gospel rang more sweet to you than now, and the smile of Jesus had a fairer charm than pleases you today? And why? Not because the tune is altered or the visage changed. But because you have heard, but have not listened; have looked, but have not loved. (Arthur Mursell.)Delay of repentance I. The longer we delay returning to God and seeking His mercy through the Saviour, we must increase our guilt and add to that condemnation which we have already incurred. II. By delay we must diminish the blessings and increase the evils of our present condition. III. Delay may produce such insensibility to sin and its consequences as to render it improbable that sinners should awaken to a sense of their danger, repent, and lay hold of the hope that is set before them. Far be it from us to fix limits to the mercy of the Most High. He may, without doubt, have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and if it so please Him He may change even in death the heart of the most hardened sinners; yet small reason, surely, have such sinners to expect at such a period so peculiar an interposition; and to delay repentance now, and to rest their salvation on the hope of it, is of all infatuations the greatest and most fearful. Yet even this hope, faint as it is, may not be granted. IV. Consider the shortness and uncertainty of human life. The work is great which is given us to do. The object is higher than all others for which we are to prepare, and it is during our stay on earth alone that this work can be done and this preparation can be made. And is the period of our continuance here so long that it should be wasted in vanity and sin, or that we should shorten by delay the time which is assigned for a purpose so unspeakably important? (S. MacGill, D. D.)The convenient season A man always finds a convenient season for doing what he loves best. Whether it is working, or eating, or sleeping, or pleasure seeking, or money getting, or place hunting, if it has his heart he will find time for it. If he does not find a convenient season for accepting the offer of salvation, it is because he values something above that. He thinks more of the life that nor is than of the life which is to come. He fails to realise how much more of joy there is in the present life to one who has Christ for his Saviour, than to one who is not at peace with God. The convenient season for taking hold of the richest treasure God can give to man, and for receiving the best of blessings, is now. He who is not ready to be saved when the lifeboat is at the wreck will never have a more convenient season for his rescue. This hour is your convenient season for that which is best worth your attention and doing. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The convenient season Felix’ s excuse is that of those--1. Who know indeed the vanity of the world, but are too indolent to tear themselves from its pleasures. 2. Who feel indeed the disgrace of the slavery of sin, but are too weak earnestly to repent. 3. Who have experienced indeed, in a measure, the power of the Word of God, bus are too frivolous to resign themselves entirely to it. (Leonhard and Speigelhauer.)Now, now!--Not by and by Felix had sent for Paul evidently not as a judge, but partly with a view to try to get a bribe out of him, and partly because he had some kind of languid interest, as most Romans then had, in Oriental thought, and perhaps too in this strange man. Or he and Drusilla were possibly longing for a new sensation. So they called for the apostle, and the guilty couple got a good deal more than they bargained for. Christianity has sometimes to be exceedingly rude in reference to the sins of the upper classes. As Paul goes on, a strange fear began to creep about the heart of Felix. It is the watershed of his life that he has come to, the crisis of his fate. Everything depends on the next five minutes. The tongue of the balance trembles and hesitates for a moment and then, but slowly, the wrong scale goes down. “ Go thy way for this time.” Ah! If he had said, “ Come and help me to get rid of this strange fear,” how different all might have been! The metal was at the very point of melting. What shape would it take? It ran into the wrong mould, and, as far as we know, it was hardened there. I. This incident is an example of the fact that men lull awakened consciences to sleep and excuse delay in deciding for Christ by half-honest promises to attend to religion at some future time. Felix’ s anxiety is to get rid of Paul and his disturbing message for the present. But he does not wish to shut the door altogether. So he gives a sop to his conscience to stop its barking.1. Let me remind you that however beautiful the message of God’ s love in Jesus Christ is, there is another side to it which is meant to awaken men’ s fears. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 24:26-27 He hoped also that money should have been given him.Felix Redivivus It is a wonderful characteristic of the Bible that all its characters are still with us. The men of the Bible were types. I. Felix was sated with flattery; no man dare say one critical word to Felix. Are there not men whose minds are narrowed and perverted by always living in the sickly atmosphere of adultation? I am distinguishing in my own mind between just appreciation and foolish idolatry--between the praise which is due to character and the hypocrisy which is offered to mere position. II. Felix was interested in religious discussions. That Felix is still alive--the bad man who likes to go to church once a day, who likes to spice his life with religious metaphysics and controversies. Who can explain it that a man, whose life is wholly given to the earth, should, now and again, desire to hear a prayer, listen to a discourse, and have his “ views” ? What a contradiction is man! III. Felix lived in sin: he did not dabble in it, he was no retail criminal, yet he sent for an apostle to speak “ concerning the faith in Christ.” It is not only possible, it is the daily use of men. Herein we are to some extent all in the same condemnation. Only yesterday we shattered every commandment of Heaven, and today we are--outwardly at least--standing at heaven’ s gate! There is hope in this contradiction. Do not let us take wholly the black view of it. We can look at the sin until we see Felix turning into a devil; or we can look at him, sending for Paul, until we see spots of whiteness even on the black disc of his character. IV. Felix was morally impressible. He trembled. Then there is hope of him. Are there not such men amongst us who never hear a sermon without weeping, men who like it the more when it wrings their conscience and turns them white with fear? There is a possibility of becoming too familiar with that kind of emotion, of measuring services by its presence. Marvellous that we like to be vivisected We call the preacher faithful, and, having paid him the compliment, we go to repeat the sin he has rebuked. V. Felix was open to bribery amidst all this conflict of emotion. He, perhaps, did not know that it was criminal, as we understand that term. Men become accustomed to crime until they repeat it as a kind of virtue. It is the custom of the trade; it is always expected that it should be so. We do not always take the bribe in the form of money, and if the act were isolated, we could detest it. Paul was often sent for, but Paul never suspected the design. Evil be to him who evil thinks. Paul might receive the invitations as expressive of a real desire to know more about these religious mysteries. VI. Felix was kind to preachers (Acts 24:23). Some of the most generous friends I have ever had have been men who made no profession of religion and who yet liked to come to church, and who loved the preacher with even a fond affectionateness. Herein the preacher has an infinite advantage over other men. VII. Felix was procrastinating (Acts 24:25). It was not a rude dismissal; there was a longing for the very whip that scourged him. The procrastinating man is in every Church. He dose not mean to give it up; he says, “ I will return in the evening.” Conclusion: In Felix I see that double action which is so characteristic of every man, which excites the observer, and indeed, excites the subject himself. Sometimes the good is uppermost, and then the bad, and then again the good; and we say, looking on, “ Which will win?” Let us this day, in God’ s strength, so act as to give joy in the presence of the angels of God over many a sinner that repenteth. Left to ourselves, the struggle can only go one way; aided by Christ, it is still a struggle, but a struggle that must end in victory. (J. Parker, D. D.)Power avaricious You would not think a man who had held high office in the State for long years would descend to mean and paltry tricks to obtain still more power. But he will. You would not believe that a vast capitalist would go out of his way to grab at the farthing which the rough hand of toil is endeavouring to hold. But he does. Power is avaricious alike in birds and men. The more the man has the more he wants. These men who thus display the avarice of power are the white-headed eagles of society. During spring and summer the white-headed eagle follows a course to procure sustenance which you would judge very little suited to a bird as well able to supply itself without interfering with other plunderers. No sooner does the fish hawk make its appearance along the Atlantic shore, or ascend the numerous and large rivers, than the eagle follows it, and robs it of the hard-earned fruits of its labour. Perched on some tall summit in view of the ocean, or of some water course, he watches every movement of the osprey while on the wing. When the latter rises from the water with a fish in its grasp forth rushes the eagle in pursuit. He mounts above the fish hawk and threatens it by actions well understood, when the latter, fearing, perhaps, that its life is in danger, drops its prey. In an instant the eagle, accurately estimating the rapid descent of the fish, closes its wings, follows it with the swiftness of thought, and the next moment grasps it. The white-headed eagles of society pursue their course with equal disgrace to themselves; and their method is not more exalted. They take advantage of their strength, and the great elevation to which fortune has raised them, for the greedy purpose of discovering the movements of those who are below them, the better to rob the more humble of even the little they possess. (Scientific Illustrations.)Selfish kindness Though selfish kindness is a paradox, its existence is a reality. There are people who are really kind towards us and others, but are so from no creditable motive. Father Ripa, in the account of his sojourn near the mouth of the Ganges, tells us of a set of religionists who are very kind to all sorts of animals and insects, which they neither kill nor eat, but, on the contrary, tend them with great care. Indeed to such a pitch do they carry their kindness, that they have hospitals for lice and fleas, and pay liberally by the hour those who will allow the insects to feed on their blood. They are also most kind to sheep and cows. And why all this? Not because they possess disinterested kindness, but because they believe in the transmigration of souls, and that after death they will pass into the body of some animal more or less offensive according to the good or evil actions of their past life. And further, because they believe after death that a great river must be passed which can only be done by holding on fast to the tail of the sheep or cow. So that in this, as in a number of other instances to be met with in civilised society, there is really a complete absence of real unselfishness in the act, which, however, may be kind enough in its way. Here we have the expectation of some future advantage as the actual basis of the act. Numbers of deeds which pass for genuine kindness are the result of a complex mixture of motives, amongst which pure charity is not found. Where is the kindness which lends, which does, and which gives, expecting nothing as reward in return either in this world or the other? (Scientific Illustrations.)Judicial bribery A poor man in Smyrna claimed a house which a rich man usurped. The former held his deeds to prove his rights; the latter provided witnesses to invalidate his title, whose testimony he sought to support effectually by a present of five hundred ducats. When the day arrived for hearing the case, the poor man told his story, and produced his writings, but could not bring witnesses; the other rested the whole case on his witnesses, and on his adversary’ s defect who could produce none. He urged the Cadi, therefore, to give sentence in his favour. Whereupon the judge calmly drew from under his sofa the bag of ducats, saying very gravely, “ You have been much mistaken in the suit, for if the poor man can produce no witnesses in confirmation of his right, I can produce five hundred.” He then threw away the bag with indignation, and decreed the house to the poor plaintiff. Such was the noble decision of the Turkish judge, whose disinterestedness was the reverse of the unjust time-serving Felix. (Biblical Museum.)But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ s room.--Paul’ s two years’ imprisonment in Caesarea Or the painful yet blessed resting and waiting times of the servants of God. Compare Joseph in prison, Moses in the wilderness, David in the mountains, Elijah at the brook Cherith, John the Baptist in prison, John the Evangelist in Patmos, Luther at Wartburg, faithful preachers in sick beds. I. Painful--1. To the servant of God whose hands are bound.2. For the congregations of the Lord who are deprived of their pastors. II. Blessed--1. For the servant of God. (1) For quiet consideration.(2) Deeper purification. 2. For the Church. (1) For the increase of its strength.(2) Its grateful estimation of the grace bestowed by God by means of faithful teachers.(3) Its earnest continuance is prayer for pastors and flocks. (K. Gerok.). Acts 25:1-12 Now when Festus was come into the province.The Christian in reference to changes of government Kings may die and governors be changed, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Christian knows this, and-- I. Looks back on departed governors.1. Without harsh judgment, for he knows that they stand, or will stand, before the highest Judge. 2. Without immoderate praise, for he sees that all the glory of the world is vanity. II. Looks toward the new government.1. Without extravagant hope, for he knows that there is nothing new under the sun. 2. Without anxious fear, for he knows that Christ reigns. (K. Gerok.)Paul before Festus I. The antecedent circumstances. Notice--1. The arrival of Festus (Acts 25:1). After arriving (about A.D. 60) in Caesarea, the seat of the civil government, and continuing there “ three days,” he goes up to Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Jewish people, not only from curiosity, but to study the spirit, institutions, and manners of a people with whose interests he would have, henceforth, much to do. 2. The appeal of the Jews concerning Paul. From Acts 25:2; Acts 3:1-26 two things are manifest: (1) The national importance which the Sanhedrin attached to Paul. More than two years had passed away since they raised the mob against him. One might have thought that the changes which two years made in thought and feeling had almost effaced his very name from their memory. Had it been merely personal enmity it would undoubtedly have been so. But it was the religious influence of this man, working mightily before their eyes, and sapping the very foundation of their religious system, prestige, and power. (2) The servility and hypocrisy of religious bigotry. The arguments they employed are not given. No doubt they bowed before Festus as cringing sycophants, urging every consideration that bigotry could suggest. They pleaded for justice, but meant murder. 3. The reply of Festus (Acts 25:4-5). Perhaps he had one of those presentiments which is often the offspring and the organ of God in the soul. But though he does not give the reason of his refusal, he promises an early trial, and requests them to go down with him and bring their accusation. II. The attendant circumstances (Acts 25:6). Festus shows himself to be a man of his word, and a man prompt in action. Note--1. The charges of Paul’ s enemies, and his denial of them (Acts 25:7). (1) Judging from Paul’ s answer they were the old ones. But whatever they were they could “ not prove” them. (2) His manner of treating them was perhaps substantially the same as in Acts 24:10; Acts 24:21; hence the historian does not record his defence. 2. The request of Festus to Paul, and his refusal. (1) The request of Festus (Acts 24:9). So far we have discovered nothing censurable in his conduct, but here evil shows itself. Popularity was dearer to him than justice. He had seen enough to feel that Paul was innocent and ought to be acquitted, but, for the sake of getting a good name with the Jews, he proposes to Paul another trial at Jerusalem. Accursed love of popularity! Pilate condemned Christ “ to do the Jews a pleasure.” Felix kept Paul bound two years for the same reason. All that can be said in palliation is that Festus merely submitted it to the choice of Paul. (2) The refusal of Paul (Acts 24:10-11). Notice-- (a) His demand for political justice. He had committed no crime cognisable by the Jews, and could hope for no justice from them. As a Roman citizen, he demanded Roman justice. (b) His consciousness of moral rectitude. Festus, no doubt, knew that Felix had found no fault with him; as a shrewd man he must have seen that his accusers were capable of fabricating the most groundless charges, and from the spirit of the apostle, that he was an innocent man. (c) His sublime heroism. (i) He dared death. To a truly great man truth and honour are far more precious than life. Men’ s dread of death is always in proportion to their disregard of moral principles. (ii) He dared his judge too. “ No man may deliver me unto them.” The right to appeal to Caesar belonged to him as a Roman citizen, and it was strictly forbidden to put any obstruction in the way of a Roman citizen when he had appealed. Paul knew this, and he dared his judge by appealing to Caesar. III. The resultant circumstances (verse12). In this “ Unto Caesar shalt thou go,” we may see--1. The triumph of justice over policy. Festus, in desiring him to go to Jerusalem, thought it a stroke of policy, but Paul’ s appeal to Caesar forced him to abandon the purpose. 2. The triumph of generosity over selfishness. A generosity inspired by the gospel of Christ had awakened in Paul a strong desire to go to Rome (Acts 19:21; Romans 1:11; Romans 15:23-24). This was strengthened by years. But how had selfishness, working in the Jews, wrought to thwart it! Here, however, in the fiat, “ Unto Caesar shalt thou go,” the door of Rome is thrown open to him: his way is made safe and sure and cheap. 3. The triumph of the Divine over the human. God had purposed that Paul should go to Rome (Acts 23:11). The purpose of the Jews was to kill him at Jerusalem. The Lord reigns, and so controls the opposing and conflicting passions of the world as ultimately to realise His own decree. As we believe, amid the darkness and desolations of the severest winter, that summer is on its march, and will cover the world with life and beauty, so let us believe, amongst all the workings of human depravity, that God’ s great purpose to redeem the world to holiness and bliss is marching on in stately certainty. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul before Festus I. Festus represents a certain class of mind.1. In reference to his general character. When Felix had been removed Festus was appointed to succeed him, because he was more just and incorruptible, and more likely to be popular among the Jews. His general character was evinced in these transactions. (1) He was firm in his purpose not to consent to the removal of Paul to Jerusalem. It was a simple request on the part of the Jews, and it seemed to involve nothing wrong. But his answer was every way becoming one who represented the majesty of the Roman law (Acts 24:4). (2) He was prompt in bringing Paul to trial. Felix had kept him in prison for two years with the hope of a bribe; Festus took his case in hand the very day after his return. (3) He readily conceded the right of Paul to carry the case before the Roman emperor. (4) He gave utterance to a noble sentiment in stating a great principle of the Roman law (Acts 24:16). The trials in the Inquisition and in the Star chamber derived their enormity mainly from a violation of this principle; and the chief progress which society has made in the administration of justice has consisted in little more than in securing, by proper sanctions and provisions, the law here enunciated by Festus. 2. In reference to the sentiments which he entertained on the subject of religion (Acts 24:18-19). Festus regarded the “ questions” in the ease-- (1) As pertaining to the Jews, and of no matter to him. The word “ superstition” was commonly employed by a Greek to describe religion. Festus therefore meant no disrespect of the faith of the people he had just come to govern. It was merely a matter to be settled by themselves, one with which he had no concern either as a man or as a magistrate, any more than he was concerned with the religion of the Greeks or the Egyptians. In this respect Festus is a representative of a very large and respectable class. They are men who would not revile religion, nor disturb others in the quiet enjoyment of it. Their own purpose is to lead a moral life; to settle questions which do pertain to themselves as magistrates, business men, politicians, and philanthropists. Our difficulty with such is in persuading them to regard religion as having any personal claim on them. (2) As one of little importance, “ of one Jesus,” implying that He was an obscure person, and perhaps also that it was of little consequence whether he was alive or dead. Festus could see no great results to be attached to the inquiry. Does not this represent the views of a very large class in regard to this and, indeed, to all religious questions? If a man pays his debts, is kind to the poor, and just to all, it is, in their opinion, of little consequence what he believes; nor can his conviction respecting the resurrection of Christ, or any doctrine, materially affect his character or his destiny. Our work with such men is to convince them that the most important questions are those which pertain to religion. (3) Festus took no pains to inquire into or to settle these points. He was intent on other objects. They did come before the mind of Felix, for he trembled. They did come before the mind of Agrippa, for he was “ almost persuaded.” But they took no such hold on the mind of Festus. In this respect, also, he was the representative of a large class. They are engaged in other inquiries; they investigate points of jurisprudence, history, science, art; but they have no interest in ascertaining whether Christ rose from the dead. Our difficulty with these men is to get the question before their minds at all. We place the Bible in their hands--they will not read it. We set before them works on the evidences of religion, but for them they have no attractions. II. Is this the proper manner in which to treat the subject of religion? Let such as Festus note--1. That every man has in fact an interest in the great questions which belong to religion. Man is made to be a religious being; and he never approaches the perfection of his nature, or meets the design of his existence, until the religious principle is developed. Man is distinguished by this from every other inhabitant of our world. To deprive him of this capability would as essentially alter his nature as to deprive him of reason. In the question whether there is a God, and what He is, one man is as much concerned as any other man can be. Whether man is a fallen being--whether an atonement has been made for sin--whether the Bible was given by inspiration of God, etc. are things pertaining to all men in common. 2. Every man is bound to perform the duties which religion requires, and none more than Festus himself. There is a very common, and not wholly an unnatural, mistake on this point. Many seem to feel that the obligations of religion are the result of a voluntary covenant; that there is nothing lying back of a profession of religion to oblige anyone to attend to its duties, any more than there is to bind a man to enlist as a soldier, or to enter into a contract for building a bridge. When a profession of religion has been made they admit it to be binding. Now, Christians do not object to being held to the performance of the duties of religion, growing out of their involuntary covenant with God. But the profession of religion does not create the obligation, it only recognises it. 3. Every man needs the provisions which the gospel has made for salvation. If Festus had inquired into the “ superstition,” a few questions would have opened such visions of glory, honour, and immortality as had never dawned on the mind of a Roman. The natural mistake which men make on this point is, that while one class may need the provisions made in the gospel, there are others for which these are unnecessary. It is like the feeling which we have about medicines: they are useful and desirable for the sick, but not needful for those who are in health. So if men feel that they are sinners, it is proper for them to make application to the system which proclaims and promises peace. But where this necessity is not felt, men do not think that the gospel pertains to them. Yet the gospel assumes that every one of the race is in circumstances which make the plan of redemption necessary for him; that there is no such virtue in man as to meet the demands of the law; and that no one enters heaven who is not interested in the Saviour’ s death. 4. It is as certain of one man as it is of another, that unless he is interested in religion he will be lost. If one can be saved without religion, another can in the same way; and consequently religion is unnecessary for any. Conclusion:1. Men are not merely lookers-on in the world. Each man that passed by the Cross had the deepest personal interest, if he had known it, in the great transaction. So Festus, if he had known it, had the deepest personal interest in the question whether the unknown man who was affirmed to be dead was really alive. And so with everyone that hears the gospel. 2. The interest which a man has in these things is not one from which he can escape. It attends him everywhere, and at all times. 3. No man should desire to drive the subject from his mind. Why should he? Why should he not feel that he has a God and a Saviour? Why should he not have a hope of future happiness? (A. Barnes, D. D.)Paul before Festus An instructive example how both the children of the world and the children of light remain the same. I. The children of the world.1. Paul’ s accusers. They have learnt nothing, and forgotten nothing: they bring forward the old lies, and employ the same artifices as they had devised before in the case of Paul and Christ. 2. Paul’ s judges. Instead of a licentious Felix, a proud Festus, who at first showed a noble bearing (Acts 24:4-5), but soon, like his predecessor, surrendered righteousness to please men (Acts 24:9)--in short, under another name, the same man of the world. II. The children of God. Paul is the same in--1. Undaunted courage. The two years’ imprisonment had neither broken his courage nor paralysed his presence of mind: his defence is as clear and firm as ever. 2. In his meekness and patience. No desire of revenge against his wicked enemies, no conspiracy against his unrighteous judges, no impatience at so long a trial; but calm submission to Roman law, and confident trust in the Divine protection. (K. Gerok.)Sneakism Unfortunately there is a good deal of sneakism to be found in society; but as it is not polite to give any example painted from life, we may have a very coherent notion of the spirit of the offence if we notice that embodiment of it which is to be seen in the lion worm. The lion worm is a curious and voracious little creature, having a tapering form, the head being more pointed than the tail. Like the ant lion, that formidable insect, it makes a species of cavity in the loose earth, and there waits in ambuscade for its prey. A portion of its body lies concealed under the sand, the rest stretches across the bottom of the den, and appears so stiff and motionless that at first sight it might be taken for a bit of straw, half an inch in length. If, however, any insect in search of food should happen to walk into the cave of the lion worm, the little morsel of stubble in an instant becomes all animation, falls like a serpent on its prey, and winding its body in coils around its victim, compresses it to death, and sucks out the juices by means of a couple of hooks fixed to its head. No one can observe these actions without coming to the conclusion that sneakism in men or worms is just the same thing, with merely a change of method and appliances suitable to the place and occasion. (Scientific Illustrations.)Christian epochs We are now in the midst of great historical scenes. The painter cannot let them alone. There are some things which men willingly let die, but there are other things which will not die. I. What a long life hatred has! Two years had elapsed, but the fury of the Jews had not cooled. We leave some things to time, calling it “ all-healing Time.” Time cannot put hell out! Well might the apostle warn the Churches against “ bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour” ; he had felt the hatred which he deprecated. Religious hatred is the worst. The Church has herself to blame for the little progress Christianity has made in the world. Religious hatred thought less of murder than of ceremonial pollution. The Jews desired that Paul should come to Jerusalem; and they would take care to have assassins on the road. Yet these men would not eat until they had washed their hands! The more you attend to mere ceremony the more you fritter away the substance of your character. II. How wondrously opportunities are created by human mistakes! The Christian elders thought that Paul had better make a compromise in order to do away with suspicion. If they had been out doing Paul’ s kind of work, they would have left compromise millions of miles behind them; but they had been in the metropolis studying--always a very perilous and risky business. So all this trouble came upon Paul through their weak-minded and mistaken advice. But the Lord turned the human mistake into a Divine opportunity. It gave Paul his highest audiences. He was talking to rabbles before--just an open-air preacher, a man taking opportunities as they occurred--but now he was a preacher to procurators and kings. We know not what we do. Could we stand back in the eternity of God and watch men, we should not be troubled by their doings. When they are making weapons against us, we should say, “ No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper.” “ Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” There is only one man can do you any injury of a permanent kind, and that man is yourself. If you are right, you cannot be injured; your enemies will only be creating opportunities for you. The Lord maketh the wrath of man to praise Him; the remainder of that wrath He doth restrain. III. Long-continued hardship had not soured the mind of Paul. That is the test of his quality. When he appears before Festus we mark in him the same quietness, the same dignity, the same defence--that is Christianity. If it were a fight in words the battle might go wrong for our cause sometimes, because there are men against us, skilled in sentences and arguments; but it is an affair of the sweetness of the soul. Long-suffering is eloquence. This is a Christian miracle. There are three remarkable things about Paul in this connection. Here presents--1. Spiritual influence. He cannot be let alone. Chained at Caesarea, he is still an active presence in Jerusalem. You cannot get rid of some men. If you kill them, they will haunt you as Herod was haunted by the new man whom he suspected to be the beheaded John. Paul represented the kind of influence which follows society, colouring its questions, lifting up its wonder, troubling its conscience. 2. Spiritual confidence. He would rather be fighting, but the Lord had appointed him to waiting. “ The battle is not mine, but God’ s. It is better that I should be shut up in Caesarea, that I may see how God can do without me.” Presently he will see the meaning of it all, and write to his friends, “ The things which have happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” 3. The highest aspect of spiritual culture. He is being trained, mellowed. All the land is better for the rain which softens it--aye, for the frost which reduces it to powder. From the human side, Paul was being punished; from the Divine side, he was being rested and trained. There are two sides in all human events. If we take the lower aspect of our life we shall groan, fret, and chafe; but if we take the upper view--that is to say, look down upon it from God’ s point--we shall see all things work together for good. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 25:7-12 The Jews laid many and grievous complaints against Paul.The noble firmness of the Christian in the maintenance of his rights It is different-- I. From the effrontery of the hypocrite; for the Christian only makes use of a defence founded on fact (Acts 25:8). II. From the defiance of the wicked; for the Christian refuses no judicial examination (Acts 25:9-10). III. From the obstinacy of the litigious; for the Christian submits to every just decision. (Robe.)The Christian and the world I. The world has many grievous complaints against the Christian. The Jews, who were the spirit of the world incarnate, had many indeed against Paul which were perfectly true. He was a constant source of irritation because he was a standing menace to their moral corruptions, their superstitious traditions, the policy and ambition of their priests, and their wholesale apostasy from God. So is the Christian an uncompromising enemy to the world’ s darling sins, its base pleasures, its unworthy methods, and its low aims. Hence there can be no peace between the two. II. These are not the complaints that are preferred. The Jews knew better than to air their real grievances, so they accused Paul of offences against their best institutions--the law and the temple, and of treason against the state. So the world masks its real grievances, and charges the Christian with enmity against man’ s best interests.1. Happiness. How often has Christianity been charged with moroseness? Not only does it deprive men of the means of enjoyment, but inculcates practices calculated to produce positive pain. 2. Progress. How its precepts would impede the course of commerce, arms, personal and national aggrandisement, thought, etc. 3. Political order. How can a man who lives for another world take an absorbing and influential interest in this? III. For the overt complaints of the world the Christian should have a prompt answer. Paul’ s answer was a model of promptness: and it was true. He had put the law in its proper place and had everywhere vindicated its true functions. As for the temple, he had honoured it, and by that very act had imperilled his life. As for Caesar, the emperor had no more loyal subject, and none more solicitous of promoting loyalty throughout the empire. And against the world’ s accusation the Christian can say--1. That Christianity alone can and does promote the true happiness of man. 2. That Christianity has been and is the truest friend of the world’ s progress. 3. That the Christian by the doctrine of a future life is bound to maintain the best interests of this. IV. The Christian should refuse to be arraigned before this world’ s tribunals and should make his appeal to the highest. Paul knew that justice at the hands of his accusers was out of the question, and therefore appealed to the only bar at which it was likely to be obtained. So the Christian, if he be wise, will decline the world’ s arbitrament. By it he is condemned already. What use therefore of appealing to it? But there is One who judges with righteous and infallible judgment, and he may appeal with confidence to Him. Let men frown as they may, clamour as they may--the Christian need not be frightened and should not give way for an instant. His court of appeal is the judgment seat of Christ. (J. W. Burn.)But Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure.--Popularity I. The motive by which it is actuated. Festus was willing to do the Jews a pleasure that he might stand the higher in their esteem. This was necessary to his personal comfort, for he knew the race that he had to govern. This was desirable for the ultimate ends he had in view--successful administration; royal favour. It is remarkable that with the examples of Pilate and Festus before him he should hope to succeed.1. This motive is a base one. Ambition to please the good and to improve the bad is laudable; but ambition to please the basest is self-degradation. 2. This motive seldom succeeds. Witness Pilate and Festus. II. The sacrifices it entails. Festus proposed to undertake the toilsome journey to Jerusalem. But to what inconveniences is a popularity hunter obliged to subject himself. He must go where those whom he desires please, and do what they would have him do. Hence the toilsome days and sleepless nights of the popular preacher or politician. He who would really serve his race is not exempt from sacrifice; but he has compensations which the mere popularity seeker wets not of. III. The degradation to which it stoops. Here is a Roman judge armed with all the authority that Caesar could confer, willing to surrender that authority and to bow to that which was already discredited. And the man who would be popular has often to descend from the highest ground to the lowest, from a sense of justice, honour, and the fitness of things to pander to the base inclinations or passions of the mob. IV. The accidents to which it is liable. Suppose Paul had been tried at Jerusalem. Had the case gone against him he would certainly have appealed, and Festus would have had to endorse the appeal. In that event his popularity would have indeed been brief. And what a little thing has often sufficed to dash a popular idol to the ground! Both preachers and statesmen know this. V. The frustration to which it is doomed. Suppose Festus had succeeded, how long would he have enjoyed his popularity? In two short years he was where the objects of the idolatry and the execration of the mob alike lie together. Sic transit gloria mundi. Conclusion: The best course is to do the right and thus seek God’ s pleasure, whether man is pleased or not. (J. W. Burn.)I appeal unto Caesar. The appeal to Caesar This is a proof--1. Of conscience void of offence before God and man.2. Of a humble submission to Divinely ordained authority.3. Of an evangelical and sober avoidance of an unnecessary martyrdom.4. Of an unwearied zeal for the extension of the kingdom of God. (K. Gerok.)The appeal to Caesar Where may a Christian seek his denied rights? He may appeal--1. From the sentence of the wicked to the judgment of the righteous.2. From the passions of the moment to the justice of the future.3. From the opinions of the world to the testimony of his own conscience.4. From the tribunal of man to the judgment seat of God. (K. Gerok.)Unto Caesar thou shalt go.-- I. Whence this decisive sentence proceeded.1. From Festus as the speaker.2. From Paul as the wisher of it.3. From the Lord as the designer and confirmer of it. II. To whom it related.1. To Paul as its subject.2. To the Romans, who should soon be affected by it--many were converted by Paul.3. To the world in general. III. The results which followed it.1. The plan of the Jews for Paul’ s murder was frustrated.2. Paul’ s wish to go to Rome was fulfilled. (J. H. Tasson.) Acts 25:13-27 And after certain days King Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea.Agrippa and Bernice Each of the characters thus brought on the scene has a somewhat memorable history.1. The former closes the line of the Herodian house. He was the son of the Agrippa whose tragic end is related in Acts 12:20-23, and was but seventeen years of age at the time of his father’ s death, in A.D. 44. He did Hot succeed to the kingdom of Judaea, which was placed under the government of a procurator; but on the death of his uncle Herod, the king of Chalets, in A.D. 48, received the sovereignty of that region from Claudius, and with it the superintendence of the temple and the nomination of the high priests. Four years later he received the tetrarchies that had been governed by his great-uncles Philip and Lysanias (Luke 3:1), with the title of king. In A.D. 55 Nero increased his kingdom by adding some of the cities of Galilee (Jos. “ Ant.” 19, 9, § 1; 20:1, § 3; 8, § 4). He lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem, and died under Trajan (A.D. 100) at the age of seventy-three. 2. The history of Bernice, or Berenice (the name seems to have been a Macedonian form of Pherenice), reads like a horrible romance, or a page from the chronicles of the Borgias. She was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, and was married at an early age to her uncle the king of Chalets. Alliances of this nature were common in the Herodian house, and the Herodias of the Gospels passed from an incestuous marriage to an incestuous adultery (See Matthew 14:1). On his death Berenice remained for some years a widow, but dark rumours began to spread that her brother Agrippa, who had succeeded to the principality of Chalcis, and who gave her, as in the instance before us, something like queenly honours, was living with her in a yet darker form of incest, and was producing in Judaea the vices of which his father’ s friend, Caligula, had set so terrible an example (Sueton. “ Calig.” c. 24). With a view to screening herself against these suspicions, she persuaded Polemon, king of Cilicia, to take her as his queen, and to profess himself a convert to Judaism, as Azizus had done for her sister Drusilla, and accept circumcision. The ill-omened marriage did not prosper. The queen’ s unbridled passions once more gained the mastery. She left her husband, and he got rid at once of her and her religion. Her powers of fascination, however, were still great, and she knew how to profit by them in the hour of her country’ s ruin. Vespasian was attracted by her queenly dignity, and yet more by the magnificence of her queenly gifts. His son Titus took his place in her long list of lovers. She came as his mistress to Rome, and it was said that he had promised her marriage. This, however, was more than even the senate of the empire could tolerate, and Titus was compelled by the pressure of public opinion to dismiss her, but his grief in doing so was matter of notoriety. “Dimisit invitus invitam” (Sueton. “ Titus,” c. 7; Tacit, “ Hist.” 2.81; Jos. “ Ant.” 20.7, § 3). The whole story furnished Juvenal with a picture of depravity which stands almost as a pendent to that of Messalina (“ Sat.” 6.155-9). (Dean Plumptre.)Paul’ s introduction to Agrippa Here we have-- I. Bitter antagonism. This is revealed in the Jews. They hated “ the one Jesus whom Paul preached as having died and risen again.” There are men now who hate Christianity--its principles, author, advocates, and disciples. The opposition, however, is as futile as it is wicked. II. Idle curiosity. This is revealed in Agrippa. “ I will also hear the man myself.” Being a Jew, he could not have been ignorant of Paul, and now an opportunity occurred for him to see the man and hear his tale. His wish was not a wish for spiritual instruction. Multitudes now go to hear preachers from the same motive. III. Proud indifference. This is revealed in Festus. He cared nothing about “ this one Jesus who was dead, and whom Paul affirmed to be alive.” Religious indifferentism is the prevalent sin of Christendom. This is worse, for many reasons, than theoretic infidelity. IV. Vital faith. This is revealed in Paul.1. Paul had a faith. 2. His faith was in Christ.3. His faith was his very life. To it he lived, and for it he was prepared to suffer and to die. “ For me to live,” he said, “ is Christ, and to die is gain.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul before princes and rulers A noble picture, from which we recognise-- I. The glory of God, who sets open doors before His servants even in bonds, and knocks with His Word at palaces as well as huts. II. The fidelity of His servant who bears testimony to the Lord everywhere undazzled by the splendour of human greatness, and unclogged by the fetters of his own trouble. (K. Gerok.)The principles of a sound administration I. It should do everything which belongs to its office.1. In respect of accusers: to receive and listen to them patiently (verses 15-18). 2. In respect of the accused: to hear their defence impartially, and to protect their persons against the craft and violence of their enemies (verses 16, 18, 21). II. It should omit everything which does not belong to its office.1. It should assume no judgment in matters of faith. 2. It should not arbitrarily anticipate the higher judge (verse 25), but conscientiously prepare the way. (K. Gerok.)The judgment of worldly men concerning matters of faith 1. Their highest standpoint is that of civil law, as here with Festus. 2. Their judgment is depreciatory: they reckon them as belonging to the domain of superstition, and pride themselves on not understanding such questions (verses 19-21). 3. Their sympathy is, as with Agrippa, an affair of curiosity and fashion (verse 22). (Lisco.)The blindness of mere worldly education in matters of Christian truth 1. The precious articles of the Christian faith are to it the offspring of superstition, not worth the trouble of being accurately instructed therein (verses 19, 20). 2. The living Head of the Church is “ one Jesus” who is dead, of whose power and presence there is no trace (verse 19). 3. The chosen servants of God are to it incomprehensible and whimsical men, of whom nothing can be made (verses 24-27). (K. Gerok.)Face to face When any member of Mr. Kilpin’ s church at Exeter came with details of real or supposed injuries received from a fellow member, after listening to the reporter, Mr. Kilpin would inquire if they had mentioned these grievances to their offending brother or sister. If the reply was in the negative--and usually it was so--he would then calmly order a messenger to fetch the offender, remarking that it would be ungenerous to decide, and unscriptural to act, merely from hearing the statement of one party. This determination always produced alarm, and the request that nothing might be mentioned to the party implicated. Assertions and proofs are very different grounds for the exercise of judgment, and are more distinct than angry persons imagine. Acts 25:19 One Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. Christ alive, a subject of debate I. Why was Christ, of all persons, the subject of so much observation and debate?1. Because He claimed the very highest descent. 2. There were proofs embodied in His circumstances and character which none could or can deny, that were equal to His claims and secured unparalleled notableness to His name. 3. Because of the strange circumstances connected with His early history. II. Why was there such emphasis laid upon the fact of His being alive? If alive--1. The truthfulness of His character is confirmed.3. The vital importance of His teaching is established.3. The work He came to do was accomplished.4. The success of His cause is assured. (D. Jones.)The resurrection of Christ as viewed by the man of the world and by the earnest believer One cannot fail to be struck with the contrast between the results produced by it in Festus and Paul. In the apostle belief in it had kindled a fire of all-sacrificing devotion, and braced him with a courage which no terrors could quell. But Festus received it with complete indifference. Had it been a question of politics or law, that keen judge would have brought all the power of his intellect to bear upon it; but because it referred to an unseen world he dismissed it without for a moment troubling himself to inquire whether it were false or true, and possibly wondered how a man gifted like Paul could waste his powers in proclaiming such an idle tale. Note, then, the aspect of Christ’ s resurrection as viewed-- I. By the man of the world.1. What is worldliness? The preference of the pleasurable to the right--the visible to the invisible--the transient to the everlasting. Hence the awful questions--What is God? What am I? What is beyond death? are passed by as dreamy and unprofitable questions. And that this was the temper of Festus we infer from the character of his age, and from his opinion of the insanity of Paul. The well-being of his province, the success of his policy, the vision of an old age crowned with wealth, and bright with the sunshine of the emperor’ s favour--these were the great hopes of his soul. 2. To a man in that state the assertion of Paul would inevitably appear as an idle tale. From Paul’ s statement he would learn that Christ was-- (1) The Teacher of a new truth. But he knew that hatred, persecution, death, were generally the penalties for the proclamation of ideas the world could not understand, or which clashed with existing prejudices. Truth! What was that but an empty name; what enthusiasm and unselfishness but childish weakness? (2) The Founder of a new religion. This again was a familiar story. Like most cultivated Romans, Festus has lost faith in all religions. (3) A Revealer of supernatural worlds. If anything could waken his interest and suggest inquiry that would. But to a worldly mind the idea of immortality is dim. Its range of vision and sympathy is limited to the visible and tangible. When do we believe in immortality? When spiritual aspirations are stronger than bodily tendencies, or when sorrow has drawn the veil across earth’ s attractions. From the same source it comes that the risen Christ is to thousands only “ one Jesus,” etc. For to feel Christ’ s resurrection as a power in life demands spiritual sympathy with Christ. The selfish cannot see the beauty of unselfishness, nor the sensual the beauty of purity. II. By the earnest Christian. Turn from Festus to Paul. To him Christ’ s resurrection was--1. A sign of the Divinity of His teaching. He had come revealing a new world of truth, and He appealed to His future resurrection as a proof of that truth. He died, but had He not risen, His whole doctrine would have become meaningless. But He rose, and Heaven’ s seal rested on His teaching. If this were false, Paul was indeed a dreamer; but it was true; hence his mighty zeal. 2. A witness to the perfection of His atonement. The question of the ages is, Who shall deliver us from the curse and burden of evil? But One came manifestly bearing this burden, and the only confirmation of the truth of His atonement lay in being able to bear it unconquered. Had He passed away in silence forever, Death would have conquered Him. But He rose and presented the perfect atonement in His own Person in heaven. 3. A pledge of the immortality of man. Man needs a living witness to a life beyond death. He has it in Christ. Paul had it: hence his all-consuming zeal. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)The death and life of Jesus I. Jesus died. In this we have--1. A proof of His humanity. He paid the debt of human nature. “ Death passed upon all men,” Himself not excepted. 2. An exhibition of human sin. Beyond this sin could not go. Diabolism here reached its climax. 3. An example of supreme self-sacrifice. “ Greater love hath no man than this,” etc. But Christ died for His enemies. 4. A demonstration of Divine love. “ God commendeth,” etc. 5. An atonement for the world’ s guilt. “ He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” 6. An anodyne for the world’ s sorrow. Death is robbed of its terrors when we remember that Jesus died. To suffer in fellowship with Christ is to glory in tribulations. II. Jesus is alive. In this fact we have--1. A proof of His Divinity. He is declared to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection. 2. An exhibition of His power. He has vanquished him who had the power of death. 3. A guarantee of His presence. “ Lo, I am with you alway.” 4. A call to His service. He is Lord of the dead and the living. 5. Eternal hope--“ Because I live ye shall live also.” (J. W. Burn.)Jesus a living Saviour now Standing in the crypt of the cathedral of St. Paul’ s in London your eye is attracted by a huge mass of porphyry, to gain which they searched the continent of Europe. They wanted something large, massive, grand. At length they came upon it in Cornwall, England. They cut it, shaped it, polished it, at last lifted it upon its plinth of Aberdeen granite, and dedicated it as the tomb of their grandest man. On one side you read, “ Arthur, Duke of Wellington, born May 1, 1769; died September 14, 1852.” A great man was buried when they buried him. His hand had been for many a year on the helm of the British Empire. His influence remains, indeed, but his personality has departed. Pass beyond the Channel, and in Paris take your place beneath the golden dome of the Hotel des Invalides, and behold the most magnificent sepulchre in the world. You are gazing now at the burial place of Wellington’ s chief antagonist. But Napoleon himself has gone. His influence remains, but he is not in the world. Him neither can France have in any way of personal presence. Go to Rome, stand for a moment under the encircling dome of the Pantheon. Raphael loved that majestic building, more majestic even than St. Peter’ s. It was his wish that he might be buried there. Look! There on the wall it is written, “ Here is the tomb of Raphael.” But Raphael is not there. You may gaze entranced upon his “ Transfiguration” in the Vatican, you may be touched and softened as his wonderful Madonnas tell you the story of that virgin motherhood with its pains, its mysteries, its beatitudes. But Raphael was done with this world at thirty-seven. He puts colour no more to canvas. Everywhere in Rome you may see something that he has done; nowhere can you see anything that he is doing. His works last; he has gone forever. The great heroes, painters, poets, teachers--they have been; but, as to this world, they are no longer. They have gone elsewhere. They have carried their presence with them. They are memories, they are not presences. But Christ is a present, personal, living Saviour. (Christian Age.) Acts 25:20 And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem.Politeness and piety 1. Festus was at his wits’ ends through Felix’ s mismanagement of the case. Now anybody who ever saw the ludicrous awkwardness of a politician suddenly forced to answer a religious question can quite appreciate the embarrassment of Festus. The Jews charged Paul with heresy, treason, and sacrilege. Of treason he could form a judgment; but what did he know about heresy or sacrilege? And he was acute enough to see that the only treason of which Paul was guilty was in supporting a theological King. Manifestly the whole thing was altogether out of his range. But it was of some value that he should make friends with his subjects. And he was surprised to find that his first act of government should put him at such a pitiable disadvantage; so he proposed that Paul should go up to Jerusalem, and be regularly tried by the Sanhedrin. Then the apostle appealed to Caesar. Here fell a new embarrassment upon this unfortunate governor, who had, by law, to send with every prisoner the full report of his case to the emperor. And no one can tell what he would have done about Paul if there had not occurred at the moment an incident promising to be most hopeful. 2. Herod Agrippa, the nominal king of the Jews, suddenly avowed his intention of paying a visit to Festus. This pleased the governor exceedingly. Paul had his rights. Nay, more; he had had his wrongs. And Festus did not know how to defend the one or extenuate the other. But Agrippa, an educated Jew, would understand all the complications that so confused him. So he put the case to him. 3. Festus is the type of a large class of educated, polite persons who look upon religious questions as belonging solely to religious people. They “ doubt of such manner of questions.” They will sometimes indulge in a patronising little discussion; but when invited personally to the tests of a religious experience, they admit they do not understand them, are not interested in them, and respectfully remand all consideration of them fully to such people as will give them intelligent appreciation, and to whose peculiar “ superstition” they belong. Now we do not need to imply reproach upon the character of this class. There is chance here to put in an honest word even for Festus. History makes a very creditable record of his administration, as well as of his reputation generally for candour, courage, and gentlemanly demeanour to all, and this narrative shows him in an amiable light. 4. Now the modern Festus has not, like Festus in Judea, just arrived. His whole early life has been passed within the reach of gospel practices and customs. He has grown up under the force and fervency of religious appeal. What does he think of all these things? Much will depend upon how far they seem likely to go. Festus could get on very well with Agrippa, for the king was one of that cool sort of Pharisees who in all ages hold their piety quite quietly in hand. But when Paul began to preach, and great, honest words of argument and burning appeal began to fly around the audience chamber, he was forced out of his discreet reserve, and exclaimed, “ Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.” And this pretty well represents the feeling with which many men of the world regard the ordinary phenomena of a religious life. They are scrupulously polite towards Christians. Some of them are excellent neighbours and worthy citizens. Only let a man keep within bounds and avoid reckless excitement. There is such a thing as going too far, and so becoming obtrusive. And then they intimate with cool politeness that good breeding may be shown even in one’ s style of piety; it is best always to be careful, or one may unconsciously become coarse. 5. It cannot have escaped the notice of anyone that there does not seem to have passed across the mind of Festus the thought of examining Christianity. For all his conduct betrays, you might as well think of him as of one raised above the awkward necessity of being saved. And this is the exact lack to be observed in many men of the world. They contemplate religion as simply a phase of human nature, with which they have nothing in common. One would think these calm philosophers had forgotten that they had any souls of their own. 6. It so happens that one of the principles of our religion requires us to arouse others upon this neglect. Here is seen another step of this polite forbearance. We summon men to think, to investigate, to decide. They reply, “ There are ever so many sects and creeds in the Church; for one, I doubt of such manner of questions; they are out of my line of thinking: they belong to other people.” One feels tempted to reply, “ Well, does your soul, also, your Maker, heaven’ s glory, belong to other people; or earth’ s work, or bell’ s wailing and woe? How did you reach that serene height of undisturbed satisfaction, your past flawless, your present unreproached, your future secure, so that you can look down upon human passion and conflict and toil, and smile as you say, ‘ These all seem to have some questions of their own superstition’” ? It is the part of simple kindness to move on, even at the risk of being impolite. The danger is too urgent; the duty is too pressing; the sanctions are too heavy. Men err if they suppose that becoming a Christian can be contemplated as one criticises a new painting with an eye-glass or looking through his hand. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.) Acts 25:22-27 Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man for myself.The voluptuary’ s desire for a new sensation The scene is highly characteristic. The round of festivities in honour of the illustrious visitors began to flag-some novel show would be desirable. A Jewish heretic would interest Agrippa, who was himself a Jew. Berenice was clever and cultivated, and all women loved eloquence and genius, and Paul had both; and Berenice also loved novel and strange excitements. The upper classes then, as now, sated with luxury End refinement, found a certain fascination about prison life--out-of-the-way scent connected with police courts--human crime and misery. They liked a criminal cause celebre then just as they do now. An afternoon with Paul was the very thing to suit Agrippa and Berenice. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)Motives for hearing Agrippa’ s desire may be understood variously-- I. As the wish of a supercilious curiosity, which seeks nothing more than a passing entertainment. II. As the expression of a worldly desire for knowledge, which is only concerned about interesting information. III. As the earnest desire of the seeker for salvation, who feels the need of spiritual instruction. Application to Church going, hearing sermons, reading books, etc. (K. Gerok.)And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing.--The vanity of regal pomp It is at this moment more than ever we are justified in saying with the wise man, “ Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” Where is now the splendour of the consulate? Where their brilliancy of lamps and torches; the feast of joyous assemblies? Where are the crowns and magnificent ornaments? Where the flattering reports of the city--the acclamations of the circus--the adulations of thousands of spectators? All have passed away! The wind by one blast has swept the leaves, and now they show us a dead tree torn up by the roots, so violent has been the tempest. It lies a broken ruin. Where are the pretended friends--the swarm of parasites--the tables charged with luxury--the wine circulating during entire days; where the various refinements of feasting--the supple language of slaves? What has become of them all? A dream of the night which vanishes with the day! A flower of spring, which fades in the summer--a shade which passes! a vapour which scatters! a bubble of water which bursts! a spider’ s web which is torn down--“ Vanity of all vanities; all is vanity.” Inscribe these words on your walls, on your vestments, your palaces, your streets, your windows, your doors; inscribe them on your conscience, in order that they may represent it incessantly to your thoughts. Repeat them every morning, repeat them in the evening, and in the assemblies of fashion, let each repeat to his neighbour, “ Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” (Chrysostom.)The worth of worldly glory As the naturalist observes of the glory of the rainbow, that it is wrought in the eye, and not in the cloud, and that there is no such pleasing variety of colours there as we see; so the pomp, and riches, and glory of this world are of themselves nothing, but are the work of our opinion and the creations of our fancy, and have no worth or price but what our lusts and desires set upon them. (A. Farindon.)The audience chamber of Caesarea I. A drawing room of worldly glory, by the splendour of the assembled nobility (Acts 25:23). II. A lecture room of holy doctrine, by the testimony of the apostle (Acts 26:1-23). III. A judgment hall of Divine majesty, by the impression of the apostolic discourse which discloses the secret of the heart (Acts 26:24-32). (K. Gerok.)How the Christian is regarded by the world There are subjects about which the world has but one opinion, and towards which it maintains a tolerably consistent attitude, but Christianity is not one of them. Ask men of the world their opinions respecting profit, pleasure, health, death, etc., and you will get but one pronouncement; ask them about the religion of Christ and the answers will be almost as various as the men who give them. But practically they may be reduced to four when severely analysed, although intermingled, and are often found in combination. The Christian and his religion are regarded with-- I. Hatred. The Jews (Acts 25:24) so regarded Paul. To everything that corrupt Judaism held dear the apostle was an uncompromising antagonist. And so they cried “ that he ought to live no longer” --a cry often heard since, and heard now. The money grubber, the pleasure seeker, the vicious hate the Christian and his faith. The attitude of Christianity towards the mere accumulation of wealth, towards sensuality, oppression, etc., necessarily arouses the bitterest hostility. There can be no truce between them. Victory in the one case means extermination in the other. II. Perplexity. Festus (Acts 25:26-27) was nearly worried out of his life with the problem. Paul was a standing menace to the peace of his province, and yet he was guilty of nothing, as far as he could see, which could bring him under the ban of Roman law. Hence his desire to have the case heard by such experts in religious matters as the Sanhedrin and Agrippa. And Paul having appealed to Caesar on grounds of which he was deplorably ignorant, Festus was painfully embarrassed as to what to say about him to his imperial master. Festus is not a solitary instance of perplexity about Christians and their faith, Many now can make nothing of either; but often enough are ready to consult authorities like the Sanhedrin or Agrippa, who can give no satisfactory solution of the problem. Why did not Festus give himself the same trouble as Felix did, and commune with Paul? And so the obvious question in relation to the perplexed today is, Why do they not consult Christians or their Scriptures? The unreasonableness of the position is obvious. What would be thought of a man, troubled with scientific, political, or historical questions, who never consulted the proper authorities! III. Curiosity. Agrippa probably laughed in his sleeve at both the animosity of the Jews and the perplexity of Festus. Yet, “ desiring to hear Paul for himself,” he displayed a somewhat more reasonable temper. This is all that Christianity asks, and the Christian thinks himself happy when he has the chance of answering for himself before an “ expert” (chap. 26:2, 3), whatever may be the result. The result, however, is often only that reached by experts in science, etc. The Christian has to be accounted for, and when an hypothesis is framed which satisfies curiosity he is labelled, like a geological specimen, and forgotten. So he is studied by the historian, the politician, the comparative religionist, etc. That he or his principles have any interest beyond this is not admitted for a moment. IV. Indifference and contempt. What Berenice thought is not stated, for obvious reasons. She neither hated, nor was perplexed, nor curious about Paul. The trial was a new sensation, and that over perhaps both the occasion and the apostle were dismissed from her thoughts. What cared she for theological questions or for the fate of an enthusiast. And so there are many for whom a religious ceremony may have a passing interest, but who neither know nor care about the questions involved. The sordid man of business, or a voluptuous pleasure seeker, may attend a religious pageant in aid of a religious charity, but what care they for the object promoted. Conclusion:1. Contact with Christianity becomes a test of character.2. Contact with it even for once may decide a destiny. The Jews, Festus, Agrippa, Berenice--what occurred to them afterwards? What are they now? (J. W. Burn.). Acts 26:1-32 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself.Paul before Agrippa Here is all that Christianity ever asked for: an opportunity to speak for itself; and its answer is the one which must always be returned: “ I beseech thee to hear me patiently.” Christianity always appears in person, its witnesses are always at hand, the court is never disappointed, the judge has never to wait. But Christianity must be heard patiently. Only the candid hearer can listen well. If we have put into our ears prejudices and foregone conclusions, the music of Christianity cannot make its way. We should allow the Word free course through the mind, and, when it has completed its deliverance, then we may make reply, and then should be willing to return the courtesy and to hear what reply can be made. Here is the only answer which is universally available. As Christian Churches and preachers, we ought to take our stand just here, and when Paul is done, we should say, one and all, “ That is our answer.” Here is-- I. Personal testimony. Paul talks about nobody else but himself. If we have nothing to say out of our own consciousness we cannot preach. But we are afraid to speak about ourselves; and, in truth, I am not surprised at the fear. We allege, however, that our experience is something between ourselves and God. Paul never thought so; he was not so humble as we are; we rebuke him, we shame him. II. Personal conversion. Are you ashamed of that old word? Men used to be converted; now they change their opinion and their standpoint and their attitude. Mountebanks! See where he began--“ which knew me from the beginning.” That was the starting point; what was the end? “ I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” That is what we mean by conversion. Paul was not a profligate to be touched by emotions. His was not a vacant mind, ready for any new impression. He was not a fanatic, fond of exciting adventures. Here is a conversion based upon a distinct history. Ours is not so romantic, but is quite as real. The incidents were individual and local, but all the significance is universal. Christianity meets men on wrong courses. Saul was on his way to Damascus, intent upon doing a wrong thing. Are we not also on the wrong road with a wrong purpose, armed by the power of a wrong authority? Christianity fights with the weapon of light: “ I saw in the way a light item heaven.” I have seen that light; this is my own experience. I see it now! I see the hideous iniquity, the shameful ingratitude, the infinite love, the sacrificial blood. That is conversion. Christianity is the religion of mental illumination and liberation. III. A new mission. “ Rise, and stand upon thy feet,” etc. Christianity does not perform in the mind the miracle of eviction without furnishing the mind with thoughts, convictions, and sublimities of its own. The reason why so many people have turned away from Christ is, that, though they have seen the light, they have not discharged the ministry. We must keep up visions by services; we must maintain theology by beneficence. Instead of sitting down and analysing feelings and impressions, in order to find out whether we are really Christians or not, we should go out and call the blind and the halt and the friendless to a daily feast, and in that act we should see how truly we are accepted of God. If Paul had retired as a gentleman of leisure he might have forgotten the vision, or have contracted it into an anecdote; but he made it the starting point of a new life; and in war, suffering, and agony, he got the confirmation of his best impressions. A working Church is a faithful Church; an honest, earnest, self-sacrificing Church is always orthodox. IV. Divine inspiration. “ Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue” Conversion is followed by confirmation. Paul did not eat bread once for all: he sat daily at the table of the Lord; he obtained help of God. He needed it all; every night he needed the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to sustain him after the wearing fray. Ministers, that is how we must live; we must obtain help from heaven; then we shall be able to say, “ Though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (J. Parker, D. D.)Paul before Agrippa I. This interview took place under circumstances of unusual magnificence (Acts 25:23). All the majesty and splendour of the Roman provincial government were collected on the occasion. On the other hand, the apostle was a prisoner, and certainly the very last man with whom any then present would have wished to change places. But now who is there that would not rather have been Paul, than either Agrippa, or Festus, or any of their train? II. When the apostle has leave given him to speak, purely in self-defence, he conducts that defence so as to expound “ the truth as it is in Jesus.” This was the case with all the primitive disciples. They taught in synagogues and in the markets, if men would let them; but, if they dragged them before magistrates, they turned the courts of law into preaching places, and instead of pleading for themselves, pleaded for their Master. III. The energy and zeal that distinguished his address. This was so eminent that the governor broke in upon him with a rude and unceremonious interruption (Acts 26:24). IV. The dignity, wisdom, and energy of Paul’ s reply, which of itself is not only a complete refutation of the charge of madness, but a full vindication of religion in that respect, both as to its doctrine and its spirit. It is not easy for a man who is noisily interrupted to retain his self-possession, much less to take advantage of it, so as to increase the power and impressiveness of their discourse. V. His appeal to Agrippa (Acts 26:26-27). Every competent judge of eloquence will admit that this is one of the finest apostrophes that ever proceeded from the lips of man. It takes advantage of the common opinion of the Roman people, that the best defence that an accused person could make was to appeal to the knowledge and conscience of his judge. How much more of this sort the apostle might have uttered, it is impossible to say; but Agrippa had already heard more than enough. He interrupted the apostle, and then left him abruptly. Little as Agrippa thought it, that day was for him one of those critical seasons which occur to some men but once, to others often, on which hinges the dreadful alternative, whether a man shall be saved or lost. VI. Three degrees of condition in relation to Christianity. Here is--1. The Christian altogether.2. The man who is a Christian almost.3. The man who is a Christian not at all. (D. Katterns.)Paul before Agrippa Here we have-- I. The secret of Paul’ s success. “ I think myself happy.” You do not hear any man until he is happy. Speaking under constraint, he cannot do justice to himself, nor to any great theme. Paul is happy: we shall therefore get his power at its very best. Conditions have much to do with speech and with hearing. Paul seems to have liked a Roman hearing. There was something in the grandeur of the circumstances that touched him and brought him up to his very best (Acts 24:10). Hearers make speakers: the pew makes the pulpit. II. His method of using opportunities for speaking. Paul is permitted to speak for himself; what does he do? He unfolds the gospel. “ But he was not asked to preach.” But Paul cannot open his mouth without preaching; we expected that he would have defended himself according to Roman law. Paul makes no reference to Roman law. Paul always took the broad and vast view of things, and looking upon all life from the highest elevation, he saw it in its right proportion and colour and measure. Consider the opportunity and then consider the use made of it. Paul is all the while speaking about himself, and yet all the while he is preaching such a sermon as even he never preached before; he is rebuilding all the Christian argument and re-uttering in new tones and with new stretches of allusion and meaning the whole gospel of salvation. This should be a lesson to all men. We may speak about ourselves and yet hide ourselves in the glory of Another. III. His peculiar, but ever-available way of illustrating religious mysteries. By relating personal miracles. Observe what a wonderful connection there is between the Acts 26:8; Acts 9:1-43. Suddenly Paul breaks out with the inquiry, “ Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Then as suddenly be reverts to his own case: “ I verily thought with myself” Observe the word “ thought” in both verses. Paraphrased, the case might stand thus: “ I know it is a marvellous thing that God should raise the dead, but I was dead in trespasses and in sins, and God raised me; if, therefore, he has raised me, I can see how the same God could work the same miracle on another ground and under other circumstances.” God asks us to look within, that we may find the key to His kingdom. There is not a miracle in all the Bible that has not been wrought, in some form of counterpart or type, in our own life. You can steal my Christianity if it is only a theory; you cannot break through nor steal if it is hidden in my heart as a personal and actual experience. IV. His method of testing heavenly visions (Acts 26:19). By obeying them. Paul sets forth a very wonderful doctrine, namely, that he was not driven against his will to certain conclusions. Even here he asserts the freedom of the will--the attribute that makes a man. “ I was not disobedient.” I am content to have all theology tested by this one process. You say you believe in God; what use have you made of Him? Take the Sermon upon the Mount: the way to test it is to obey it. Prove prayer by praying; prove the inspiration of the Scriptures by being inspired by their speech. V. His way of proving his sanity: by being what the world calls mad. Festus did not know the meaning of the word inspiration--a word as much higher than information as the heaven is high above the earth. Festus, therefore, thought Paul was mad. So he was from the point of view occupied by Festus. Christianity is madness if materialism is true. It is one of two things with us: we are either right, or we are--not merely wrong--mad. (J. Parker, D. D.)Paul’ s defence before Agrippa He asserts-- I. That the thing for which they accused him was the great relief of the Jewish nation (Acts 26:6-8).1. The Messiah in whom he believed was the grand “ hope” of the Jewish people. It was a hope-- (1) Founded on a Divine promise. The Old Testament was full of this promise (Genesis 3:15; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 49:10; Deuteronomy 18:15; 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalms 133:11; Isaiah 4:11; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:15; Jeremiah 33:14-16; Ezekiel 34:23; Daniel 9:24; Micah 7:14; Zechariah 13:1-7; Malachi 3:1). (2) Mightily influential. (a) In its extent: “ Our twelve tribes” --the whole Jewish people. (b) In its intensity: “ Instantly serving God day and night.” Even to this day the hope of the Messiah burns in the heart of the Jewish people. The disappointments of ages have not quenched it. 2. The resurrection of Jesus demonstrated that He was this Messiah (Acts 26:8). They would not accept the fact of Christ’ s resurrection, though they could not deny it. The language implies that it was to the last degree absurd for them to consider the thing “ incredible.” II. That the cause he now espoused he once hated as much as they did. He understood their prejudices, for they were once his own (Acts 26:9-11).1. As a well-known Pharisee, he conscientiously set himself in opposition to Jesus of Nazareth. Conscientiousness is not virtue. 2. He manifested his opposition by the most violent persecution of Christ’ s disciples. III. That the change effected in him, and the commission he received, were manifestly Divine.1. The change (Acts 26:12-15).2. The commission (Acts 26:16-18). (D. Thomas, D. D.)Patti’ s defence before Agrippa Discloses-- I. Interesting features in Paul’ s character.1. His marked courtesy (Acts 26:2-3). True courtesy is-- (1) A combination of some of the best elements of human nature. (a) A just recognition of the respect due to others. (b) A proof that our reliance is upon the merit of our cause, and not upon brute force. (2) An essential demand of Christianity upon all its disciples. Because-- (a) The grand law of Christianity is this: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. (b) Because Christianity demands of its disciples conformity to the example of the Lord. (c) Because discourtesy is a violation of every instinct of a holy and meekly life. 2. Paul’ s candour (Acts 26:4-6). Candour-- (1) Is (a) frankness, (b) clearness, (c) conscientiousness, (d) honesty. (2) Implies in respect to one’ s life. (a) Openness to inspection. (b) Readiness to confess and abandon any evil. (c) Desire to deal fairly with all. (3) Is essential to a true Christian life. (a) Because that to have a conscience void of offence before God and man is essential. (b) Because concealment of facts, when necessary to be known, is inconsistent with the profession of a disciple of Christ. 3. Paul’ s courage (Acts 26:6). (1) Courage is based on the conviction that we are right. (2) Courage is an essential power to prosecute a godly life. (3) True Christian courage is the product of the Holy Spirit--“ Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” II. Instructive facts of Paul’ s life (Acts 26:8-19).1. The fact that the apostle had once been a bold and cruel opposer of Christ and of Christianity (Acts 26:9-11). (1) His opposition was terribly cruel. (a) “ Many of the saints did I shut up in prison.” (b) “ When they were put to death I gave my voice against them.” (c) “ I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme.” (2) His antagonism assumed the form of a real frenzy of hate. (a) “ And being exceedingly mad against them. (b) I persecuted them even unto strange cities.” (c) This confession of hate on the part of such a man as Paul afterward became, is almost incredible; but shows the terrible power that sin in any form has over anyone who yields to its regnant sway. 2. The great fact which led to the conversion of the great apostle (Acts 26:12-19). (1) He saw a supernal light (Acts 26:13). (a) The well-known shekinah brightness of paradise, the Red Sea deliverance, the tabernacle mercy seat, and the Transfiguration of Jesus, is here suggested. (2) He heard a supernatural voice (Acts 26:14). As the dazzling splendour of the light blinded his natural vision, so the commanding voice from heaven silenced the voices of prejudice and passion which he had so fanatically obeyed. (3) To him appeared the Lord Jesus, which completely subdued his proud spirit, awakened his conscience to his daring sin, and wrought in him the most genuine penitence. 3. The practical disposition of the true convert (Acts 26:20). (1) Prompt and implicit obedience to Christ’ s commands. (2) Entire consecration to Christ, in a life of practical usefulness in promoting the truth of Christianity at whatever cost. Conclusion:1. The conversion of Saul is a demonstration of the Divine powers of Christianity, and of the resurrection of Christ. 2. The resurrection of Christ demonstrates the grand realities which constitute the basilar facts of Christianity: (1) The atonement of Christ.(2) The ascension of Christ.(3) The intercession of Christ.(4) The ultimate triumph of Christ over every foe.(5) The prophecy of the full-orbed glory that awaits this world of which all inspired men have foretold. Let us say, “ Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” (D. C. Hughes.)Paul’ s defence before Agrippa Note-- I. What Agrippa knew (Acts 26:3)--the questions concerning which Paul was accused. The first requisite in a judge is knowledge, without this sincerity, impartiality, etc., are wasted. It is not too much to demand, therefore, that those who sit in judgment on Christianity should first of all be sure of their facts. But how often is this requisite ignored. II. What the Jews knew. Paul’ s consistency (Acts 26:4-5). It was a bold thing to draw upon the knowledge of his adversaries. But Paul was confident that from all they knew of him they could prefer no true charge against him. Our manner of life has been known for long by many--neighbours, friends, relatives. How many of us could make this bold appeal? III. What Paul knew.1. That he had met with Jesus. 2. That he was turned from darkness to light, from Pharisaism to Christianity. 3. That he received a worldwide mission. 4. That he was obedient to the heavenly call: These were not fancies, dreams, but facts of consciousness. The Christian argument is based upon experience. Other evidences stand in the second rank. IV. What Festus thought he knew--that Paul was mad. Which was simply a confession of ignorance. He could have satisfied himself about what Paul stated, but did not care to trouble himself about “ such manner of questions,” consequently their strangeness to him suggested insanity on the part of the man who knew them true. A common trick today. V. What Agrippa might have known--what it was to be a Christian; but like many others refused to embrace the opportunity. VI. What all were obliged to know (Acts 26:31). What a testimony after these repeated investigations. (J. W. Burn.)Paul’ s sermon before Agrippa I. The pulpit. Paul had stood in the Areopagus, in the Temple, in synagogues, but never in circumstances apparently more unfavourable than those here. A prisoner, his arm chained to that of a Roman soldier, he yet makes that prisoner’ s bar a pulpit from which with unrivalled energy he proclaims Christ as the Saviour of men. Nay, the very clanking of the chain becomes eloquent as he said, “ Except these bonds.” So around us everywhere are God’ s imprisoned preachers--men and women upon the arm of whose efficiency are the chains of poverty, physical weakness, etc., and yet who preach from the couch of the invalid, the bare garret and the lonely hovel, sermons which carry with them the eloquence of lives that are “ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,” etc. Their example teaches us that there are no circumstances so unpropitious that a loving consecration may not find in them opportunity for witness bearing for Christ. II. The audience. A vast concourse of Jews, Romans, and barbarians, patricians and plebeians, citizens and soldiers. But in a more special sense it consisted of but a single soul. Paul’ s words are addressed particularly to Agrippa, one of Paul’ s “ own kindred after the flesh,” whose conversion would set in motion influences for good the measure of which it would be impossible to foretell. There is many a patient, prayerful teacher who, as he looks Sabbath after Sabbath into the face of the one or two boys who come regularly to his class, grows disheartened at the smallness of the audience; but let him remember Paul’ s interest in Agrippa, and bear in mind the fact that one of those boys may be some chosen instrument through whom he will bring thousands into the kingdom. A single lever sets in motion whole acres of machinery, and so a single soul, inspired through your agency, may become a factor in the world’ s conversion. III. The sermon.1. Its method. (1) Directness.(2) Gentleness.(3) Fervour.(4) Masterly skill. By a system of gradual approaches the citadel of Agrippa’ s heart is besieged. 2. Its matter. (1) The whole sermon centres in Christ.(2) Prominence is given to Christ’ s death and resurrection.(3) These great verities are presented, not simply as historical facts, but as inwoven with his own religious experience.(4) Paul’ s estimate of its power: “ To open their eyes, and to turn,” etc. Here we have an admirable summary of the whole practical work of redemption. IV. Its results. The visible results were not of a character to afford much encouragement. Agrippa was the only one who gave any evidence of conviction, and his convictions only led him to say, “ Almost thou persuadest me.” Yet who can tell what harvest may have afterward come from the seed sown that day apparently in most unfriendly soil? Let the faithful worker for Christ take courage. (T. D. Witherspoon, D. D.)Paul’ s stretched-out arm I. A warning signal for all the great of the earth: Attend to the things which belong to your peace (verse 3). II. A way mark for all the erring: Jesus receiveth sinners (verse 9-18). III. A banner for all the preachers of the gospel: Endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ (verses 21:27). IV. A rope of hope for all the lost: Be ye reconciled unto God (verse 29). (K. Gerok.)After the most straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. That many rest upon a strict way of religion, which yet cometh not up to, but often is besides, the appointment of the Word The text is part of that narrative which relates to St. Paul’ s past conversation, wherein he described himself from the religious condition he then was in, and that, first, more generally, then more particularly. Generally: He was after the most strict way of religion. The original for religion, Plutarch tells us, cometh from the Thracians, eminently taken notice of for their devotion: and it is used sometimes in a good sense, sometimes in a bad sense, as it degenerateth into superstition. The original for sect is heresy, and so the several sects among philosophers were called heresies. It is the opinion of some that this word is always taken in an ill sense in the Scripture; but this place, with two or three more in the Acts, seems to imply the use of it in a middle or indifferent sense, any particular way that a man shall choose different from the road, although in the Epistles it is used in an ill sense. Therefore Tertullian calls it Sects Christianorum, the sect of the Christians. Now, this way Paul walked in is aggravated in the superlative sense; and so Josephus speaks of the Pharisees as those that were most accurate in the observance of instituted and traditional obedience: more particularly his way is described by its denomination, a Pharisee. Now, the Pharisees were called either, as some say, from a word to open and explain, because they expounded the Scripture, or from a word to separate and segregate. Therefore, to be a Pharisee was to be a scrupulous, anxious man, who did subtly examine all things. Hence they were so strict that they would not sleep upon any easy thing, lest they should have any vain or indecent thoughts so much as in their very dreams; and because of this strictness it was that they were so admired among the people. From the text we may observe that an extraordinary strict way taken up in religion is thought a sure and a good foundation by many for their eternal happiness. To discover this false sign several things are considerable, as--1. The way to heaven is a strict and exact way, and all our duties are to be done with a curious circumspection. Our prayers are to be exact prayers, our obedience exact obedience. The Scripture makes it an exact course, and therefore my dissolute, careless, negligent walking can no more claim a title to heaven than darkness to light. Attend to this, you whose lives are as most of the world are, proud as they, profane as they, contemning of religion as they. 2. Now, that godliness must be strictness appeareth partly from the nature of grace, which is contrary to our affections, and so doth with prevailing power subdue them to the grief of the unregenerate part. Hence the Scripture calls it mortifying and crucifying the old man, which implieth the pain and agony our corrupt part is exercised with by grace. 3. Again, godliness must needs be exact-- (1) Because our duties are so bounded and circumstantiated in their principles, manner, and ends, that to do any good action is always to hit the mark, as to sin is to miss the scope and white. There is so much required in the cause, in the manner, in the motive, that we may cry out for every particular duty, which Paul did for one main one, “ Who is sufficient for these things?” so that negligence, formality, and lukewarmness can no more consist with godliness that is of a strict and exact nature than hell with heaven. (2) Therefore, in the second place, it argueth a tongue and a heart set on fire from hell to reproach and cry out against strictness in the way to heaven. Oh consider either God’ s Word is wrong or thou art out of the way: thou art not yet such an atheist to assert the former, be therefore so far ingenious to acknowledge the latter. (3) From hence it followeth that the number of those who are truly godly are very few. They are but a little flock; and they are but few, not only comparatively to the whole world, but in respect of titular and nominal Christians, who have the name and own the profession of Christ, but deny the power thereof. 4. As the way to heaven is a most strict and accurate way, so the Word of God doth only declare and reveal what that exactness is. So that as in matters to be believed there is no doctrine can be urged as necessary which is not contained in that writing, so in matters to be practised there is no degree or high strain of holiness that is a duty which is not also commanded in God’ s Word: those two commands, one negatively, “ Thou shalt not lust,” the other affirmatively, “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and strength,” do command for matter and manner all that possibly can be done by man, and therefore can never be fulfilled in this life, because of those innate and adherent corruptions in us. 5. Hence all strictness introduced that is not according to Scripture, how specious and glorious soever it may seem to be, yet it affords no true solid comfort to those that are employed therein. (1) When the Scriptures or Word of God is accounted too low a thing to guide us, and therefore they expect a higher and more extraordinary teaching by the Spirit of God, and that for other matter than is contained therein. (2) A second extraordinary strict way in which men support themselves is the undergoing voluntary penalties or bodily chastisements for sins past, or setting upon external austere discipline to prevent sin to come. The apostle describeth such (Colossians 2:21-23). (3) An extraordinary strictness which maketh men confident is a voluntary abdication and actual dispossessing ourselves of all outward comforts, and applying ourselves only to religious exercises. How did this mistake seduce thousands of devout souls who were zealous for God, but wanted knowledge? Hence came those monasteries, renouncing of riches, wealth, and whatsoever comfort was in this life; as if those places, “ Unless a man forsake all and deny himself, taking up the cross and follow Me,” etc., did command an actual abdication of all, and not rather an habitual preparation of heart to leave them all when God shall call for them. (4) Men may judge their spiritual conditions the better because of an extraordinary strictness in Church discipline and Church dispensations when yet there is no ground at all for it. That there may be overmuch rigour in discipline appeareth plainly in 2 Corinthians 2:7, where the apostle blameth them, “ That they did not receive into favour that incestuous person who had truly repented.” And the apostle doth in part suppose it is part of Satan’ s subtle devices, when he cannot destroy a Church by profaneness and dissoluteness, to overthrow it by too much severity. Use 1. Is there indeed a true Scripture strictness, without which heaven cannot be obtained? Then see what a gulf there is between heaven and you who live in all looseness, negligence, and careless contempt of what is good. The fire of God’ s wrath will be heated seven times hotter for such opposers as thou art. Use 2. Of admonition to examine and judge wisely of all strictness commanded to thee, for the devil may seduce thee in thy zeal, as well as in thy profaneness; and do not persuade thyself of grace, because of a more strict opinion or Church practice thou conceivest thyself to be in, for this is not the Scripture strictness in which the essence of godliness consists, for that lieth in the inward circumcision of the heart, in the powerful mortification of the affections, in walking humbly, in living by faith and heavenly-mindedness. (A. Burgess.) Acts 26:8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?Why is the resurrection incredible I. Incredulity has many causes and justifies itself with many reasons. It has never seen a resurrection, and it thinks it believes only what it sees. There have been plenty of funerals, but nothing more, so far as its experience goes. Some appear to have merely the rudiments of a soul, and are scarcely conscious of superiority to the brute creation. One such said to a minister, “ Your preaching does me no good; I have no soul; I want no one to talk to me about an imaginary hereafter; I shall die like a dog.” Others shrink from the righteous retributions of the future. They resist the evidences of judgment, and fight the thought of justice. The sophistries of self-sufficiency; the solicitations of curious and overweening ambition; the deceptions of pride; the superstitions of the ignorant and credulous; the whisperings that emanate from the father of lies; all marshal their forces to crucify hope. There are those who count the thought of resurrection too good to be true. Others dwell so narrowly upon the mechanical and material side of life, that they forget the spirit. Natural science and its literature are fettered with earthly limitations. II. Natural religion balances the improbability with its own probability. Negative evidence is worthless. Fifty millions of people did not see Garfield shot, but they could not clear Guiteau. Love is not measured with a yard stick, or focused under a microscope, but that does not breed scepticism. The soul expects immortality, and hungers for it with a Divine and deathless famine. Analogies prefigure it. It seems within the boundary of the thinkable to say that the Creator has power to recreate. It taxes no one’ s faith to believe that the watchmaker is able to repair his handiwork. Probabilities prevail on a priori grounds. Pantheism with its impersonal mysticism, has its Nirvana. Hellenic verse has its Elysian fields. The Arctic Circle has its Walhalla. The antipodal aborigines have their happy hunting grounds; and Judaea had its Paradise. III. Christ brings many infallible proofs to corroborate and confirm the hopes of benighted peoples. It is very common to demonstrate that certain things are impossible, but that amounts to nothing in the presence of facts. While science was showing that the Sirius could not carry coal enough to take her over the Atlantic, she crossed. While men were proving that lightning rods, railroads, gas, telegraphs, cables, and telephones were visionary, inventors were realising their dreams. No fair and honest man can discredit the witness of the best book on earth, nor can he invalidate the testimony of the only sinless man who ever lived. What does this history and this witness prove? Christ answered the hopes of the patriarchs. Job stood on the chasm between the quick and the dead, saying, “ I know that my Redeemer lives.” Christ promised to rise again. “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up again.” The empty tomb is evidence. The soldiers could not account for it. The Romans were baffled. The Jews were nonplussed. The disciples were most amazed of all. Witnesses testified to what they knew. Their testimony could not be silenced. There is absolutely nothing to discredit their story. Their testimony convinced the prosecution. Within fifty days three thousand men changed front. The Sabbath is evidence of the resurrection. The first day of every week is an Easter. Christendom is evidence. It is a nineteenth century miracle. (J. B. Donaldson.)The resurrection of the dead It would be difficult to explain how the identity of the body can be preserved while the matter composing it is changed; but our difficulty in explaining can present no reason for denying the fact. I. It is neither against the power, the wisdom, nor the will of God. God wills nothing that is not wise and good, and whatever He wills He has the power to accomplish. He has performed greater things than raising the dead. II. We see vital exemplifications of it daily. The matter of our bodies undergoes a change every seven years, yet our body’ s identity is preserved. Look at trees and plants in winter time, and see them when the breath of spring has touched them into life. Study the insect, at first a crawling worm. The hour arrives when it bursts its cerements and becomes a pure-winged, beautiful creature, sailing in sunny skies. Paul saw our grave in the furrow of the plough; our burial in the corn dropped in the soil; and our resurrection in the grain bursting its sheath to wave its head in summer sunshine. III. The resurrection of the body is less inexplicable than its creation. It is not the same thing to rekindle an extinguished lamp and to show fire that has never yet appeared. IV. The Lord Jesus Christ purposely rose again in His human body as a pattern and first fruit of our resurrection. (Homiletic Monthly.)The resurrection of the dead The strength of Christian evidence consists in this--that its leading truths rest on facts, and that those facts rest chiefly on sonic form of sensible demonstration. The resurrection respects a fact of which the witnesses must have been competent to speak if they were but honest; and dishonesty in the first Christians is out of the question. If it were so, it was a dishonesty which sought everyone’ s good but their own. And as far from all rational probability is the alternative supposition that the witnesses were incompetent to testify concerning this fact. “ In the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established,” it is declared. What, then, shall it he in the mouth of five hundred? Why should it he thought incredible? I. It supposes no greater amount of miraculous power than is required for the ordinary operations of nature. It is no greater miracle that a body should have a second existence, than that it should have a first; that dry bones should, at God’ s bidding, put on holy and bright forms, than that a dead seed should have power to fill the air with perfume, or a torpid chrysalis burst forth into new activity and life. The only difference is that the one is a familiar miracle, the other we have yet to see. II. It puts honour on that human nature which the son of God condescended to assume. The work of redemption throughout may be called a work of substitution and interchange of relations between Christ and His people. He took the form of a servant that we might receive the adoption of sons; He is made sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him; He is humbled by assuming the fashion of our bodies; we are to be exalted by being fashioned into His. Noble therefore as our body is by the original designation of its Author, nobler still as it has become by association with incarnate Godhead, it is, until it has put on its resurrection form. III. The deliverance of the body from death is necessary to the completeness of Christ’ s victory. The redemption of man may be considered either as virtual or as actual. We are virtually redeemed when the covenanted price has been paid, but actual redemption takes place only on the complete liberation of the captive. The former of these describes our present condition. We are bought with a price; we are the freedmen of Christ; but actually liberated we are not, because we are “ waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body” ; when the spoils of death shall be given up, and the captive of the grave shall be set free, and, with the rising of saints that sleep, shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “ Death is swallowed up in victory.” Indeed we cannot conceive of Christ’ s taking away sin without taking away also the death that came by sin. The enemy must have nothing--not even man’ s dust. IV. It is necessary to the confirmation of our hopes of a blessed immortality. I mean not to say that there could have been no immortality to the soul without the body rising, but that the body being raised is to be to us an assurance that the soul should live also. I much doubt whether ignorance on the part of the ancients of this doctrine did not lie at the foundation of all that troubledness, and obscurity, and myth which we see connected with all merely philosophical views of a life to come. Their conscious, intelligent life was connected with a visible substance, and that substance they saw went to decay, and had received no intimation that that decay could ever pass away? How, then, was this snapped thread of personal identity to be joined again? Can we, then, marvel to find in every page of the New Testament traces of the godly jealousy entertained by the apostles about this one doctrine? They felt it was the very keystone of the Christian arch--the life, and power, and strength of our revealed system--the one visible door opening into immortality. Matthias might be a great man and a good, but he must not be of the number of the apostles unless he had been a witness of the resurrection. The Corinthians might have strong faith and good preachers, but faith and preaching were alike vain if Christ were not risen. (Daniel Moore, M. A.)The credibility of the resurrection The resurrection is credible because-- I. Possible. It is exhibited in the Bible, not as a speculative truth which must be believed because taught, but as so intimately bound up with our salvation that to prove it false were to prove the human race unredeemed. “ If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” The question is, whether there lie such objections against its possibility as justify us in rejecting the testimony of Scripture. But, then, nothing short of distinct impossibility would bear us out in such rejection. It is not its stupendousness, nor that it countlessly outmatches all finite ability, which will warrant our questioning it. The alone point is, Can we demonstrate that the effecting of it would surpass the Omnipotent? If the Bible had ascribed it to a finite agent the disproportion between the thing done and the doer would furnish ground enough for rejecting it. But will anyone say that it exceeds the capabilities of Him who is to achieve it? We cannot see why the work should be reckoned too great for God, unless we are prepared to say the same of the other works confessedly His. I look out on the wonder workings of creative wisdom and might, and I gather from the magnificent spectacle witness in abundance that a resurrection is possible. It is possible that that august Being, who cannot be perplexed by the multiplicity of concerns, may, yea, and must, take cognisance of each atom of dust, as well as of every planet and of every star; and why should He be unable to distinguish what hath belonged to man, and to appropriate to each individual his own? II. It rests on sufficient evidence. Christ rose, why should not we? It is impossible that the apostles wilfully propagated a lie. Who would undertake the advocacy of falsehood, if, instead of being a gainer, he was certain to be a loser? We have only then to decide whether their belief rested on sufficient proof. The length of their previous acquaintance, and the ample opportunity of after identification, concurred to secure them against taking a person for Christ who was not Christ. If, then, they were neither deceivers nor deceived, we prove, with a kind of mathematical precision, that they must have been both rightly intentioned and informed. And when you add to this, that the number of these witnesses is greater than is required for the establishment of a matter in a court of assize, we think that the vindication of the credibility of their testimony is to be set aside by nothing short of an obstinacy which will not, or an infatuation which cannot, be convinced. III. In the details which are given as to the body in which the dead shall appear. The grand characteristic of the resurrection body is to be likeness to the glorified body of Christ, seeing that St. Paul declares of the Saviour that He shall “ change our vile body,” etc., and there is every reason for concluding that Christ, when transfigured, appeared in that glorified humanity in which He now sits at the Father’ s right hand. And if so, we learn that our bodies, though made wondrously radiant, shall be distinguished as now, the one from the other, by their characteristic features. We, then, shall be changed, but not so changed as to interfere with recognition. And if we would examine more minutely into the change which shall pass upon our bodies, enough is told us by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, to satisfy all but a presumptuous curiosity. “ It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption,” etc. (H. Melvill, B. D.)The resurrection of the dead I. The credibility of this doctrine.1. The resurrection of the dead is not in any way incompatible with the power of God, by which, according to the representation of the Scriptures, it is to be accomplished. Where, we ask, a few years ago, were the particles which now exist, organised and animated in the person of any individual in this assembly? Were they not as scattered as ever death and the grave can make them? 2. However great and amazing as an event, the resurrection of the dead is not dissimilar to many of those renewals which we witness in nature. Doth God take care for flowers? and will He abandon man, His last, His fairest, His most loved workmanship, to an everlasting winter in the tomb? 3. The resurrection of the dead is indispensable in order to give rectitude and perfection to the retributive government of God. 4. Stupendous as this event must be, it has already in some instances taken place. How big with instruction, how confirmatory of our faith, are those examples recorded by the evangelists! 5. The resurrection of the dead forms one of the leading and peculiar doctrines of the new covenant dispensation, taught by many unequivocal, incontrovertible words, as well as by historical record. II. The consolation which this doctrine is calculated to afford. This great truth, ever delightful and consolatory to reflect upon, is especially so on two very solemn and important occasions.1. The first of these is the loss of our friends by death. Is there in this assembly a mother who, in the course of providence, has been called to part for a term of years with her little son, to be apprenticed or educated far from home, or perhaps to go on the long, long voyage. It was not without a struggle of feeling, not without many tears, that she could take the parting look at the lad, although she knew that his absence was both for his and for her advantage. During that absence many a thought, many a wish, is sent after him; the months and the weeks are counted; and their slow advance is cheered by the reflection he will return, and every day brings it nigher. At length the day arrives; the youth enters his parent’ s dwelling, and stands fair and full in his mother’ s view. What that mother feels as her eye wanders in ecstasy over his figure--so much taller, so much stouter, so much improved! what that mother feels as in transports of tender delight she presses her offspring to her bosom! that or something like that! that or something more pure, more exquisite, more Divine, is what we shall feel when in the day of God we shall meet with those who are gone before, and meet to part no more! 2. The second occasion on which the strong and holy consolations of this doctrine will doubtless be required is the season of our own death. With a conscience washed in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and a soul firmly believing His resurrection, and ours through Him, we shall be prepared to meet sickness, and death, and the grave, with sweet composure and holy triumph. Oh! grave! I have misconceived thy character! Since Jesus has descended into thy dreary regions, the passage to them is smoothed, they are illumined, they are sanctified. Oh! how is thy character changed! Thine is now the sweetest pillow on which the wearied head ever reclined! Thine the safest retreat till this storm be over-past! Soon wilt thou faithfully return the inestimable deposit, and return it to “ glory, and honour, and immortality.” (James Bromley.)The resurrection credible Concerning the souls of our departed Christian friends we suffer no distress. Our main trouble is about their bodies. Even the perfect Man could not restrain His weeping at Lazarus’ tomb. The doctrine of the Resurrection teaches us that we need have no trouble about the body, it has not gone to annihilation. The Lord’ s love to His people is a love towards their entire manhood. He took into union with His Deity both soul and body, and redeemed both, and both are sanctified by the Divine indwelling. So our complete manhood shall have it in its power to glorify Him forever. This being our hope, we nevertheless confess that sometimes the evil heart of unbelief cries, “ Is it possible?” At such times the text is needful. I. Let us look this difficulty in the face. We rejoice in the fact that there will be a great change in the body; that its materialism will have lost all its grossness and corruption, and that it will be adapted for higher purposes; but there shall be an identity between the body in which we die and the body in which we rise. Not, however, that identity is the same thing as absolute sameness of substance and continuance of atoms. We are living in the same bodies which we possessed twenty years ago; yet no single atom remains that was in it then. Admit the like identity in the resurrection, and it is all we ask. Now this hope is naturally surrounded with many difficulties, because:--1. The large majority of dead bodies have been utterly dissolved. 2. Think how widely diffused are the atoms which once built up living forms. 3. The difficulty increases when we reflect that all men will rise again. Think of the myriads who have passed away in countries like China, of those who have perished by shipwreck, plague, and war. 4. The wonder increases when we remember in what strange places many of these bodies now are. In fact, where are not man’ s remains? Blows there a single wind down our streets without whirling along particles of what once was man? 5. And, moreover, to make the wonder extraordinary beyond conception, they will rise at once, or perhaps in two great divisions (Revelation 20:5-6). Where shall they stand? What plains of earth shall hold them? 6. And then this resurrection will not be a mere restoration, but in the case of the saints will involve a remarkable advance. We put into the ground a bulb, and it rises as a golden lily; we drop into the mould a seed, and it comes forth an exquisite flower; even thus, the bodies, which are sown in burial, shall spring up by Divine power into outgrowths, surpassing all imagination in beauty. 7. One of the difficulties of believing it is, that there are positively no full analogies in nature by which to support it. Some have seen in sleep the analogy of death, and in our awakening the resurrection. But a continuance of life is manifest to the man in his dreams and to all onlookers. The development of insects is quoted as a striking analogy. But there is life in the chrysalis, organisation, in fact, the entire fly. Nor is the analogy of the seed much more conclusive, for a life germ always remains, and the crumbling organisation becomes its food from which it builds itself up again. The resurrection stands alone; and, concerning it, the Lord might well say, “ Behold, I do a new thing in the earth.” Here, then, is the difficulty. Is it a credible thing that the dead should be raised? II. Remove the difficulty. It might seem incredible that the dead should be raised, but why should it seem incredible that God should raise the dead? Grant that God is, that He is omnipotent, and that He has said the dead shall be raised, and belief is no longer hard but inevitable. Difficulty is not in the dictionary of the Godhead. Is anything too hard for the Lord?1. When Paul uttered our text he was speaking to one to whom he could say, “ Believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest!” It was, therefore, good reasoning to say, “ Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you?” etc. For, as a Jew, Agrippa had the testimony of Job--“ For I know that my Redeemer liveth” ; and of David (Psalms 16:1-11); of Isaiah (Isaiah 26:19); of Daniel (Daniel 12:2-3); of Hosea (Hosea 13:14). 2. To us as Christians there has been granted yet fuller evidence (John 5:28; John 6:30; Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:1-58). 3. At the same time it may be well to look around us, and note what helps the Lord has appointed for our faith. (1) There are many wonders which we should not have believed by mere report, if we had not come across them by experience. The electric telegraph, e.g. When our missionaries in tropical countries have told the natives of ice, the natives have refused to believe. After the resurrection we shall regard it as a Divine display of power as familiar to us as creation and Providence now are. (2) Will resurrection be a greater wonder than creation? To create out of nothing is quite as marvellous as to call together scattered particles and refashion them. (3) Christ rose again and He is the cause of your resurrection, the type of it, the foretaste of it, the guarantee of it. (4) Remember also, that you who are Christians have already experienced as great a work as the resurrection, for you have risen from the dead as to your innermost nature. III. Our relation to this truth1. Comfort one another with these words. You have lost those dear to you. Sorrow ye must, but sorrow not as those that are without hope. 2. Let us cheer our hearts in prospect of our own departure. 3. Expecting a blessed resurrection, let us respect our bodies. Bodies that are to dwell forever in heaven, should not be subjected to pollution here below. 4. The ungodly are to rise again, but it will be to a resurrection of woe. “ Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 26:9-11I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. St. Paul’ s thought with himself 1. Emerson verily thought with himself that every subject was to be brought before him for his individual approval or disapproval. In nearly the last sermon he ever preached, he said, that how plainly soever such an ordinance as the Eucharist might seem, to others, to have been appointed by Christ Himself, unless it commended itself to his own judgment, he should have nothing to do with it. Paul condemned Christianity because it did not commend itself to his private judgment. He went much farther, too, than the philosopher. He not only thought, but did many things “ contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” A formidable example this of the extreme lengths to which the mind will go, when it decides against Christianity, not by testimony from without, but by the impulses of corrupt and obstinate self-will within. Then it falters not before the most terrific issues. It will try to demolish Christianity, and if it cannot accomplish quite so much in an age like this, when Christianity has become incorporate with the framework of civil society, it will, nevertheless, do its utmost in levelling its doctrines to its own equality, and pronouncing upon them as if questions of mere expediency, subject to its arbitrary and final settlement. What a parallel to Paul’ s “ havoc of the Church” is the havoc which a man’ s thinking with himself is making in that time-honoured system of the Faith which the Church Catholic, in “ the ages all along,” has upheld and sanctioned. 2. What cured Paul of his thinking for himself, and converted him into a believing and obedient Christian? His very first exclamation, after his restoration to moral soundness, furnishes the reply. He acted now in the spirit of that pledge which our Saviour made, when He said, “ If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.” A pledge this so natural, that it was at once assented to by an Indian. “ He that is above,” said Wesley to the Creek Indians, “ will not teach you, unless you avoid that which you already know is not good.” One of the Indians answered, “ I believe that. He will not teach us while our hearts are not white.” So then we must be content to receive the faith, as prepared for us by God’ s own hands, and not manufactured out of our inward light, our unassisted mental resources. Then we shall make the grand discovery about which multitudes now fail, that the soul, when she surrenders at discretion, and leans on God, and on God’ s providences to His Church, with a child’ s implicit trust, has a sustenance and support before undreamed of; and which reason, fretting for certainties, and often groping in the dark, or seeing as by the light of a tallow candle never can supply. (T. W. Colt, D. D.)Fallibility of conscience Conscience in your fallen state is as likely to be wrong as your clocks and watches, and you cannot be sure of the time of day unless you go to some infallible standard of time, so you cannot decide upon right and wrong by simple reference to your own convictions. It is not a full justification of your conduct to say your conscience approved what you did. What, my brother, is the state of your conscience? You know that even with the sundial you might take to it an artificial light, and throw from the gnomon upon the figures and lines a shadow that would not index the true time of day. And if your conscience act under the artificial light of the habits and customs of mankind, and not under the power of the light of God’ s light, it is no guide as to your duty. What is it that governs your conscience? Is it the will of God, or the will of man? If God do not control it, then it is no correct index of what you ought to do, or of what you ought not to do. “ I thought,” said Saul of Tarsus--“ I thought that I ought to do many things contrary to Jesus of Nazareth.” These were the things over which, in the course of a little time, he had most bitterly to mourn. (S. Martin.)Paul’ s doctrinal petrifaction In one sense, there is nothing that will hold a man more snugly prisoner than his own thought will. We weave the silken threads of the cocoon that we call our theology, and when we get through we are on the inside of it, as neat a prisoner as ever slept in a gaol. Some men are small simply because their ideas are small, and have been on so long, and have been put on so tight that they have not been able to burst them. Ideas are dangerous things. The possibilities of the direst bondage are in them. Probably we cannot get along in our religious life without having some system of doctrine, but I wish we could. But the next thing to it is to hold our formulae of doctrinal opinion purely as a provisional arrangement. When! say hold them as a provisional arrangement, I mean hold them just as we do the rounds of a ladder, clinging to each succeeding round only as something that will help to brace us for a new pull upward. What we want to say frankly and appreciate intensely, is that we have reached no finality in these things. And there will be no finality before eternity’ s sundown. But it is retorted upon me that this is to deny the tenability, and even the respectability, of any doctrinal position that any man under any circumstances can hold. Not a bit of it. A man trusts his sincere convictions, and he is bound to do so, but he is bound to trust them just exactly as in mountain climbing I put confidence in the rock that I plant my foot upon, trusting to it, trusting my whole weight to it, as something that will hold me steady till I have time to get my ice axe thrust so securely into a crevice in the overhanging cliff that I shall be able to draw myself up another length, and then plant my foot on some more rock. Now that is constructive. There is no suggestion of the negative about it. It is the only constructive theology there is. It is the only live theology. All other is either wired skeleton or stuffed skin; at any rate, a curiosity for the museum, rather than living ingredient in a live Church. That is not saying that, as expansive Christian thinkers, we are obliged to abrogate every old form and phraseology of doctrine. That would be neither sense nor Scripture. In order to be a live man you do not have to put on a new body every time you get up. But you live and enlarge, because, although your body may be old, it is the theatre of an expansive life that wins a new increment of fulness from the very morning that you wake up under. In order to have a live tree, you are not obliged to put in a new trunk every time it blossoms or unpacks a fresh leaf. The old trunk may be good enough, but the old trunk with fresh life poured into it till it rungs over and the drippings crystallise into verdure and flowers. The point in that illustration is that the life uses the trunk instead of the trunk being so rigid and gritty as to mew up the life, so that as soon as the life can get a little new influx and a little deepening of its current it is bound to break its way out into liberty and leaves. In this second sense, then, Christ is our Emancipator. The entrance of His Spirit into us enlarges us to the rending of the old shackles of indurated opinion that we have either put upon ourselves or had put on us, and so lets us out into a wider reach of truth and into a broader sweep of prospect. That is all perfectly illustrated in the case of Saul on his way to becoming Paul. Saul was a tough old fossilised Jew. His theological views, that at one time we may suppose to have been young and tender and plastic, had chilled and dried and hardened into so much doctrinal petrifaction. Anything like new, enlarged, and progressive thought we may suppose to have been arrested. The convictions he had already acquired lay in the way of more acquisitions of the same kind. His mind bounded back as from a wall, from the casing of opinion in which during all those years he had been slowly immuring himself. He was in that particular like a river which will sometimes dam its own flow by the very material which it has itself deposited. Worm and cocoon! And yet when once the power of Christ had come upon him, and the Spirit of Christ, who is the Truth, had become a swelling reservoir within him, the embankment gave way, and the new accumulation from out the sky broke forth over wide areas of new theological fertility; the inward Divine replenishment, like the deepened currents of vegetable sap in the spring, punctured the bark and let itself out all over Paul in fresh theological buds. And wherever there is a fresh increment of the Christ-Spirit made over to a Christian thinker, that is to be counted on as a certain issue. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)Sincerity misguided It is often said it is no matter what a man believes if he is only sincere. This is true of all minor truths, and false of all truths whose nature it is to fashion a man’ s life. It will make no difference in a man’ s harvest whether he think turnips have more saccharine matter than potatoes, whether corn is better than wheat. But let the man sincerely believe that seed planted without ploughing is as good as with, that January is as favourable for seed sowing as April, and that cockle seed will produce as good a harvest as wheat, and will it make no difference? A child might as well think he could reverse that ponderous marine engine which night and day, in calm and storm, ploughs its way across the deep, by sincerely taking hold of the paddle wheel, as a man might think he could reverse the action of the elements of God’ s moral government through a misguided sincerity. They will roll over such a one, and whelm him in endless ruin. (H. W. Beecher.)Compelled them to blaspheme. Compulsory blasphemy You, perhaps, know what that means--compel them to blaspheme. The Roman way of doing it was to say, “ Curse Christ.” Often and often did the Roman Emperor command the martyrs to curse Christ, and you remember Polycarp’ s answer--“ How can I curse Him? Sixty years have I known Him; He never did me a displeasure, and I cannot and I will not curse Him.” Then the whip was applied, or the hand was held over burning coals, or the flesh was pinched with hot irons, and then the question was put again--“ Will you curse Christ now?” Paul says that he, though probably using milder means, compelled the professor of Christ’ s faith to blaspheme. And there may be some such here--the husband who persecutes his wife for Christ’ s sake; the father who charges his child, upon his obedience, never to go to the sanctuary of the Lord again; the master who plagues his servant, mocks and jeers, and can never be content, except when he is saying hard things against him. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Acts 26:12-18 Whereupon as I went to Damascus.The conversion of Saul of Tarsus I. His character before his conversion.1. He was a moral man (Philippians 3:6). Yet he needed conversion. The necessity of conversion arises from the depravity of human nature, and not from a greater or less degree of immorality. 2. He was a Pharisee. He was zealous for his religion, made long prayers, and did many deeds of charity. And have you any better religion? 3. He was a hater of Christ, notwithstanding his morals and his zeal. So still men will attach such undue merit to their own actions, that salvation through Christ alone becomes offensive. 4. He was a persecutor of the people of God. As from love to Christ springs love to His people, so from hatred to Christ springs the spirit of persecution to His people. The spirit of Saul is inherent in the human mind (Galatians 4:29). Can you despise and revile the devout spirit of the true believer? II. The evidences of the truth of his conversion.1. Penitence. He fasted three days. What a change from the haughty Pharisee! If God the Spirit has changed our hearts, we shall have a deep sense of sin. We shall “ look on Him whom we have pierced and mourn.” 2. Prayer. The prayer which evidences conversion is humble, sincere, fervent, and offered only in the name of Christ. 3. Humility. From this time the man who had previously said “ I thank God that I am not as other men,” felt himself to be the chief of stoners, and less than the least of all saints. 4. Faith. Ananias was sent to baptize him--to initiate him into the Christian faith. 5. Love. We have seen his enmity to Christ and His people. Now they form the objects of his warmest affections. With regard to Christ, he could sincerely say, “ I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,” etc. With regard to the people of God, “ I endure all things for the elects’ sake.” 6. Obedience. “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” III. The ways of God manifested in his conversion.1. Sovereignty. Was there ever a more unlikely subject? God accounts for his conversion on this principle. “ He is a chosen vessel unto Me” (Acts 9:15). 2. Power. What but the power of an almighty arm could have wrought so wonderful a change? 3. Mercy (1 Timothy 1:12-17). And who shall despair of mercy when Saul of Tarsus obtained it? 4. Wisdom. How were the designs of the devil and the malice of men here defeated? Not by destroying the enemy, but by converting him. Application:1. Let the true convert strive to gain more adoring thoughts of God’ s ways towards him, and aim to become more holy and live more to the glory of God. 2. Let the unconverted guard against mistaken notions of conversion, and seek the influences of the Spirit, to create within them a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within them. 3. Let the careless and the obstinate be sure that their damnation will be just, if they live and die in the neglect of a God so gracious, and a salvation so great. 4. Let the sceptic consider the unreasonableness of his objections to the gospel. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)The conversion of Saul: its genuineness It cannot be explained by the supposition that the account was in any way forged. What motive had St. Paul for inventing it? Was it, as has been supposed, some private pique or annoyance with the Jews, that led him to change his religious profession, and to account for the change in this kind of way? But there is no trace of any feelings of this kind in his early life. It would have been a sin against natural feeling, since the Jewish people had singled Paul out for a place of special confidence and honour; and, as a matter of fact, when the Jews were persecuting him afterwards to death he expressed in more ways than one his deep love for his countrymen. He deplores their blindness; he excuses their conduct as far as he can. Even if, in one place, he paints it in dark colours he would gladly, he says in another, were it possible, he accursed in their place. Was it the spirit of a sensitive independence which will sometimes lead men to assert their own importance at the cost of their party or their principles? That, again, is inconsistent with his advocacy of the duty of subjection to existing authority, in terms and to a degree which has exposed him to fierce criticisms from the modern advocates of social and political change. Was it, then, a refined self-interest? Did the young Jew see in the rising sect a prospect of bettering himself? But Christianity was being persecuted--persecuted, as it seemed, to the very verge of extermination. It had been crushed out by the established hierarchy in Jerusalem itself. It was doomed to destruction, every intelligent Jew would have thought, as well by the might of the forces ranged against it as by its intrinsic absurdity. It had nothing to offer, whether in the way of social eminence or of literary attraction. It was as yet, in the main, the religion of the very poor, of the very illiterate. On the other hand, the young Pharisee had, if any man had, brilliant prospects before him if he remained loyal to the synagogue. The reputation of his great master, his own learning and acuteness, his great practical ability, would have commanded success. If his object was really a selfish one, no man ever really made a greater, or more stupid mistake, to all appearance, for no Jew could have anticipated for a convert to Christianity, within a few years of the Crucifixion, such a reputation as that which now surrounds the name of St. Paul. (Canon Liddon.)Christ’ s remonstrances My object is to trace the stages of the process set forth here, and to ask you if you, like Paul, have been “ obedient to the heavenly vision.” I. The first of these all but simultaneous and yet separable stages was the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation in heart and mind was the main thing of which the revelation to eye and ear were but means. The means, in his case, are different from those in ours; the end is the same. “ Saul! Saul! why persecutest thou Me?” They used to think that they could wake sleep walkers by addressing them by name. Jesus Christ, by speaking his name to the apostle, wakes him out of his diseased slumber. What does such an address teach you and me? That Jesus Christ, the living, reigning Lord of the universe, has perfect knowledge of each of us. And more than that, He directly addresses Himself to each man and woman in this congregation. We are far too apt to hide ourselves in the crowd, and let all the messages of God’ s love, the warnings of His providences, as well as the teachings and invitations and pleadings of His gospel, fly over our heads as if they were meant vaguely for anybody. And I would fain plead with each of my friends before me to believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for thee, and that Christ speaks to thee. II. Secondly, notice, as another stage in this process, the discovery of the true character of the past. “ Why persecutest thou Me?” Saul was brought to look at all his past life as standing in immediate connection with Jesus Christ. Of course he knew before the vision that he had no love to Him whom he thought to be a Galilean impostor. But he did not know that Jesus Christ counted every blow struck at one of His servants as being struck at Him. Above all, he did not know that the Christ whom he was persecuting was reigning in the heavens. If I could only get you, for one quiet ten minutes, to lay all your past, as far as memory brought it to your minds, right against that bright and loving face, I should have done much. One infallible way of judging of the rottenness or goodness of our actions is that we should bring them where they will all be brought one day, into the brightness of Christ’ s countenance. If you want to find out the flaws in some thin, badly-woven piece of cloth, you hold it up against the light, do you not? and then you see all the specks and holes; and the irregular threads. Hold up your lives in like fashion. Again, this revelation of the past life disclosed its utter unreasonableness. That one question, “ Why persecutest thou Me?” pulverised the whole thing. If you take into account what you are, and where you stand, you can find no reason, except utterly unreasonable ones, for the lives that I fear some of us are living--lives of Godlessness and Christlessness. There is nothing in all the world a tithe so stupid as sin. Wake up, my brother, to apply calm reason to your lives while yet there is time, and face the question, Why dost thou stand as thou dost to Jesus Christ? You can carry on the questions very gaily for a step or two, but then you come to a dead pause. “ What do I do so-and-so for?” “ Because I like it.” “ Why do I like it?” “ Because it meets my needs, or my desires, or my tastes, or my intellect.” “ Why do you make the meeting of your needs, or your desires, or your tastes, or your intellect, your sole object?” Is there any answer to that? Further, this disclosure of the true character of his life revealed to Saul, as in a lightning flash, the ingratitude of it. “ Why persecutest thou Me?” That was as much as to say, “ What have I done to merit thy hate? What have I not done to merit, rather, thy love?” But the same appeal comes to each of us. What has Jesus Christ done for thee, my friend, for me, for every soul of man? III. Lastly, we have here a warning of self-inflicted wounds. The metaphor is a very plain one. The ox goad was a formidable weapon, some seven or eight feet in length, shod with an iron point, and capable of being used as a spear, and of inflicting deadly wounds at a pinch. Held in the firm hand of the ploughman, it presented a sharp point to the rebellious animal in the yoke. If the ox had readily yielded to the gentle prick given, not in anger, but for guidance, it had been well. But if it lashes out with its hoofs against the point, what does it get but bleeding flanks? Paul had been striking out instead of obeying, and he had won by it only bloody hocks. There are two possible applications of that saying, which may have been a proverb in common use. One is the utter futility of lives that are spent in opposing Divine will. There is a great current running, and if you try to go against it you will only be swept away by it. Think of a man lifting himself up and saying to God, “ I will not!” when God says, “ Do thou this!” or “ Be thou this!” What will be the end of that? It is hard to indulge in sensual sin. You cannot altogether dodge what people call the “ natural consequences.” It is hard to set yourselves against Christianity. But there is another side to the proverb of my text, and that is the self-inflicted harm that comes from resisting the pricks of God’ s rebukes and remonstrances, whether these be in conscience or by any other means; including, I make bold to say, even such poor words as mine tonight. For if the first little prick of conscience, a warning and a guide, be neglected, the next will go a great deal deeper. And so all wrong-doing, and neglect of right-doing of every sort, carries with it a subsequent pain. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?--Christ and Paul I. The question. It was personal. When I preach to you, I am obliged to address you all in the mass. But not so our Master. If He had spoken in general terms, it would have glanced off from the heart of the apostle; but when it came personally--“ Why persecutest thou Me?” --there was no getting off it. I pray the Lord to make the question personal to some of you. There be many of us here present who have bad personal preaching to our souls. Do you not remember, dear brother in Christ, when you were first pricked in the heart, how personal the preacher was? I remember it well. It seemed to me that I was the only person in the whole place, as if a black wall were round about me, and I were shut in with the preacher, something like the prisoners at the Penitentiary, who each sit in their box and can see no one but the chaplain. I thought all he said was meant for me; I felt persuaded that someone knew my character, and had written to him and told him all, and that he had personally picked me out. Why, I thought he fixed his eyes on me; and I have reason to believe he did, but still he said he knew nothing about my ease. Oh, that men would hear the Word preached, and that God would so bless them in their hearing, that they might feel it to have a personal application to their own hearts.2. It contained some information as to the persecuted one. If you had asked Saul who it was he persecuted, he would have said, “ Some poor fishermen, that had been setting up an impostor.” But see in what a different light Jesus Christ puts it. He does not say, “ Why didst thou persecute Stephen?” but “ Me?” Inasmuch as you have done this unto one of the least of My brethren, you have done it unto Me. 3. It demanded an answer. “ What have I done to hurt thee? Why art thou so provoked against Me?” II. The expostulation. “ It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” For--1. You do not really accomplish your purpose. When the ox kicks against the goad, it is to spite the husbandman for having goaded him onward; but instead of hurting the husbandman it hurts itself. If thou thinkest, O man, that thou canst stop the progress of Christ’ s Church, go thou and first bid the universe stand still! Go, stand by the winds, and bid them cease their wailing, or bid the roaring sea roll back when its tide is marching on the beach; and when thou hast stopped the universe, then come forth and stop the omnipotent progress of the Church of Christ. “ He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh,” etc. But put it as a personal matter, have you ever succeeded in stopping the work of grace in the heart of anyone? Aye, young man, you may laugh at your own shop mate, but he will beat you in the long run. If Christians are but faithful, they must win the day. It is no use your kicking against them; you cannot hurt them. 2. You get no good by it. Kick as he might, the ox was never benefited by it. Suppose you say you don’ t like religion, what have you ever got by hating it? You have got those red eyes sometimes on the Monday morning, after the drunkenness of the Sunday night. You have got that shattered constitution, which, even if you had now turned it to the paths of virtue, must hang about you till you leave it in your grave. But you are moral. Well, have you ever got anything even then by opposing Christ? Has it made your family any the happier? Has it made you any the happier yourself? Will it quiet your conscience when you come to die that you did your best to destroy the souls of other people? 3. But kick as the ox might, it had to go forward at last. If anyone had told Saul when he was going to Damascus, that he would one day become a preacher of Christianity, he would, no doubt, have laughed at it as nonsense; but the Lord had the key of his will, and He wound it up as He pleased. “ Then why persecutest thou Me” ? Perhaps you are despising the very Saviour you will one day love; trying to knock down the very thing that you wilt one day try to build up. Mayhap you are persecuting the men you will call your brothers and sisters. It is always well for a man not to go so far that he cannot go back respectably. III. The good news. Paul, who persecuted Christ, was forgiven. He says he was the very chief of sinners, but he obtained mercy. Nay, more, he obtained honour. He was made an honoured minister of Christ, and so may you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.--Kicking against the pricks I. The conduct with which Saul was upbraided. He was involved in one continuous struggle against the will, the power and the cause of Christ. The expression does not mean striving against the convictions of his own judgment, for Saul acted upon principle, and was most conscientious when he was most bigoted. Hence he says, “‘ I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” This expression indicates one main ground of the apostle’ s prejudice. Like Nathanael, he was persuaded that no good thing could come out of Nazareth, and that it was his duty to seek the extirpation of the rising sect. In Acts 22:8, express notice seems to be taken of this. Hence we discover, not only the amazing grace vouchsafed in the work of his conversion, but the consummate wisdom displayed in its mode. Saul’ s grand error had been the entertaining low thoughts of Christ; it was essential, therefore, that the new apostle should be possessed with a deep sense of the power of Christ, as risen and received into glory. The conduct thus exposed is not peculiar to Paul. We kick against the goads--1. When we seek to stifle the convictions of conscience and strive against the constraints of Divine grace. Saul was not guilty in this respect; but are none of us? 2. When we rebel against the dispensations of God’ s providence. 3. When we oppose the truth of God, or hinder the work of God. II. The warning which he received may be considered to characterise his course as--1. Sinful. Saul might have learned this from the counsel of his master Gamaliel. 2. Foolish; for his resistance was fruitless. (1) His object was to extirpate the Church of Christ. Little, however, did the oppressor understand that each true disciple was a missionary. “ They that were scattered abroad, went everywhere preaching the Word.” (2) The apostle, at the instant when the text presents him, was made to realise this to the full. Like some rash fencer, who has provoked a stronger and more skilful than he to mortal combat, and is but instantly disarmed, and lies helpless in the dust, with his adversary’ s weapon pointed at his heart, the self-righteous and infuriated bigot now lay trembling and astonished, completely at the mercy of the despised Nazarene. The power which frustrated this proud Pharisee was exerted in pity; the defeat itself was love; but still, viewed as a defeat, and merely so, nothing could be more entire and abject. (C. F. Childe, M. A.)The ox and the goad Jesus even out of heaven speaks in parables, according to His wont. To Paul He briefly utters the parable of the rebellious ox. Note the tenderness of the appeal: it is not, “ Thou art harming Me by thy persecutions,” bat, “ Thou art wounding thyself.” He saith not, “ It is hard for Me,” but “ hard for thee.” Observe-- I. The ox. A fallen man deserves no higher type.1. You are acting like a brute beast, in ignorance and passion. You are unspiritual, thoughtless, unreasonable. 2. Yet God values you more than a man does an ox. 3. Therefore He feeds you, and does not slay you. 4. You are useless without guidance, and yet you are unwilling to submit to your Master’ s hand. 5. If you were but obedient you might be useful, and might find content in your service. 6. You have no escape from the choice of either to obey or to die, and it is useless to be stubborn. II. The ox goad. You have driven the Lord to treat you as the husbandman treats a stubborn ox.1. The Lord has tried you with gentle means--a word, a pull of the rein, etc. by parental love, by tender admonitions of friends and teachers, and by the gentle promptings of His Spirit. 2. Now He uses the more severe means-- (1) Of solemn threatening by His law.(2) Of terrors of conscience, and dread of judgment.(3) Of loss of relatives, children, friends.(4) Of sickness, and varied afflictions.(5) Of approaching death, with a dark future beyond it. 3. You are feeling some of these pricks, and cannot deny that they are sharp. Take heed lest worse things come upon you. III. The kicks against the goad. These are given in various ways by those who are resolved to continue in sin. There are--1. Early childish rebellions against restraint.2. Sneers at the gospel, at ministers, at holy things.3. Wilful sins against conscience and light.4. Revilings and persecutions against God’ s people.5. Questionings, infidelities, and blasphemies. IV. The hardness of all this to the ox. It hurts itself against the goad, and suffers far more than the driver designs.1. In the present. You are unhappy; you are full of unrest and alarm; you are increasing your chastisement, and fretting your heart. 2. In the best possible future. You will feel bitter regrets, have desperate habits to overcome, and much evil to undo. All this if you do at last repent and obey. 3. In the more probable future. You are preparing for yourself increased hardness of heart, despair and destruction. Oh, that you would know that no possible good can come of kicking against God, who grieves over your infatuations! Conclusion:1. Yield to the discipline of your God. 2. He pities you now, and begs you to consider your ways. 3. It is Jesus who speaks; be not so brutish as to refuse Him that speaks from heaven. 4. You may yet, like Saul of Tarsus, become grandly useful, and plough many a field for the Lord Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Striving against conviction This sentence was one of the oldest of Greek proverbs, and being addressed to Saul in the Hebrew language, is an instance of the voice of Religion rightly using the tones of everyday life. That Christ should use a figure here was consistent with His habit, who used His parables to speak to men in figures. And doubtless the statement applied to many of Paul’ s recent experiences, which were finding their climax in that crisis. Doubtless the reflection of one who knew the Scriptures as Paul did, and who had the warning Gamaliel gave him, and the recollections he must have had of the martyrs he was making, and preeminently his recollection of Stephen, must have brought many misgivings like so many goad thrusts, which found their full force in the vision and voices of that hour. Anyhow, the text tells that, whether for a longer or a shorter time, Paul had been resisting conviction. This is-- I. Common. We see it--1. In continuance in outward sin which is felt to be evil.2. In cherishing secret evils known to be wrong.3. In postponing allegiance to claims of religion felt to be just. II. Painful. It is “ hard” because a man is--1. In collision with the best social influences--in church, in godly family, etc.2. In conflict with his own higher nature. Reason, conscience, have been goad-thrusts.3. In opposition to God. III. Wrong. 1. It is “ fighting against God.” So Gamaliel warned.2. It is persecuting Jesus. The noblest, tenderest, best Being. (U. R. Thomas.)The sinner his own enemy The first glance at the words shows us a proverb. Even from heaven, God, if He speaks at all, must adapt His speech to man’ s usages. The risen and ascended Saviour spake not on earth only in parables. That before us is taken from the very commonest life of man. With a goad in his hand, headed by a long sharp spike of iron, the farmer drives before him the reluctant animal which would loiter or deviate from its way. In the obstinacy of an untamed will, the bullock unaccustomed to the yoke will even kick against his driver; and then the iron, otherwise harmless, enters into the recalcitrant foot. So in human life, in the affairs of the soul, there is a Hand which directs, and there is also a wilt which it seeks to guide. So long as the human will moves along the straight furrow of duty, so long the goad of punishment is unfelt. But if man will refuse the Divine influence, and stop or hedge aside, the guiding impulse must become a painful goad of discipline, and resistance must be coerced and, if necessary, punished into acquiescence.1. “ The way of transgressors is hard.” So speaks Solomon. He had found it so. And so speaks Christ. The young man thinks it a sign of independence to forget God that made him, and to walk in the way of his own heart. He learns to forsake the rule of his father, and to despise the law of his mother. He forms new associates; his habits become more and more such as a Christian parent would mourn over. Does he find his new life a freedom? Are his new ways ways of pleasantness? He calls them so in his hours of mirth. But somehow he feels to be more in bondage than ever. The old rules of his parents, if they were restraints, at least had no sting in them. But now, these pleasures of sin, not only are they short lived, they are anxious in the indulgence, and torturers in the retrospect. His conscience is ever warning and lashing him. And when sickness comes, when grey hairs are upon him, when death is imminent; how then? Young men--young women--be persuaded of this; that there is a God over you; if you will have it so, a God of love; if you will not have it so, then at least a God of power! It is hard for thee now, as well as dangerous eventually, to kick against the pricks. 2. There are those who are kicking against the goad of a fatherly discipline, who do not understand and love the method by which God is training them for Himself. They are denied many things which they desire: they are subjected to many things which they dislike. When they seemed to have even attained, the prize was wrenched from them. When they did attain, the coveted fruit has turned to ashes in the mouth. By these means the world was made a world of nothingness to them. Perhaps they were too eager for it. They were of that nature which would have been satisfied to “ sit by the fleshpots and eat bread to the full.” And therefore the discipline needful for them was desert life. Sinai, with God speaking from it, was necessary to their soul’ s safety. And yet scarcely were they in it, when they began to find fault. Their “ soul loathed this light bread,” the bread of eternity and of the Spirit. The smitten rock yielded only a spiritual supply; and they were athirst for something more luscious, more earthly. Thus again and again they were rebellious against the hand that guided, and forced it to become a hand that drove. Why? “ Even because He had a favour unto them.” To kick against that Hand, even if it was forced by their waywardness to hold a goad, was rebellion as much against happiness as against strength. I address some tonight who are in definite trouble. My friend, “ it is the Lord. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil.” “ Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?” “ Humble yourselves” rather under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. It is hard for thee, painful now, eventually ruinous, to kick against the goad. 3. There is yet a further use of the proverb, that in which it was originally spoken. St. Paul was moral and conscientious; but be was kicking against the goad because he was refusing the revelation of Christ. He saw not his own sinfulness. He knew not his own want of a Saviour. He was not willing that others should trust in One whom he knew not. Can there be any here whose sin is that of Saul? Certainly there are those who are willing to take everything of the gospel save the very gospel itself; moral, conscientious, earnest men, yet who suffer themselves to repudiate altogether the revelation of the forgiveness of sin through the Atonement, and of renewal by the Holy Spirit. Depend upon it, you are kicking against a goad. You do want a Saviour for forgiveness, cleansing, strength, comfort and grace in daily life. Why, then, will you keep out of your heart that bright light? Why will you compel Him to drive, who would lead and guide? Conclusion: Scripture gives us examples of every kind of direction. Mark the order. 1. There is the sharp iron for the refractory. “ It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”2. There is the bit and bridle for the unreasoning.3. There is the voice of the Shepherd, known and loved by the docile flock.4. There is the guidance, not even of voice, but of the eye only, which suits the ready, anticipating will of the entirely tractable and sympathising child. To kick against the goad is the extreme of disobedience; to watch the guiding eye, to wait not for the word or the sign, much less for the spur of authority, is the perfection of obedience. In all senses, may that last be ours! (Dean Vaughan.)Opposition to the truth fatal The swordfish is a very curious creature, with a long and bony beak projecting in front of his head. It is also very fierce, attacking other fishes, and trying to pierce them with its sword. The fish has been known to dart at a ship in full sail with such violence as to pierce the solid timbers. But what has happened? The silly fish has been killed outright by the force of its own blow. The ship sails on just as before, and the angry fish falls a victim to its own rage. But how shall we describe the folly of those who, like Saul, oppose the cause of Christ? They cannot succeed: like the swordfish they only work their own destruction. Opposition to the truth, self-destructive Dr. John Hall compares the attacks of infidelity upon Christianity to a serpent gnawing at a file. As he kept on gnawing he was greatly encouraged by the sight of a growing pile of chips; till, feeling pain, and seeing blood, he found that he had been wearing his own teeth away against the file, but the file was unharmed. Acts 26:16-18 But rise, and stand upon thy feet; for I have appeared unto thee to make thee a minister and a witness. Christianity self-attested If you had given you what was asserted to be a speech made long ago by your father, the first reading of it would settle the matter. Knowing your father, his sentiments, his mode of expression, you would be able to say instantly whether the speech was authentic or fabricated. We ought by this time to know enough of Christ’ s manner to be able to say whether any speech purporting to be His was actually ever spoken by His lips. Is this? Let us see. Christ is reported as saying--1. “ I have appeared unto thee for this purpose.” Here I recall the words which made the first ministers, “ Follow Me.” He is as personal as ever. 2. “ I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make--” Here I remember the word, “ I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus Christ is still Creator. The speaker does not propose to modify, add to, rearrange. 3. “ To make thee a minister” --that is a new word--“ and a witness” --that is an old word. “ Ye are,” said Jesus Christ, “ witnesses of these things.” 4. Proceed still further: “ a witness both of these things which thou hast seen.” Why, that is the old method: “ Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see.” We speak as eyewitnesses; we are not quoters from authors of an ancient date. 5. Proceed further: “ and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee.” Jesus said, “ I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” There is no end to the meaning of revelation. There is no end to the literature of the alphabet. The letters are but six-and-twenty in number, and no man attempts to add another! It is the same with the New Testament. Observe, nothing is added to the revelation. However large the book, it is all in the alphabet; however magnificent the unfoldment of the truth by human eloquence, the truth itself is the distinct and direct gift of God alone. 6. Proceed now to verse 17: “ Delivering them from the people and from the Gentiles.” Here is the Lord’ s own speech: “ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,” etc. It is a marvellous thing if this was invented. It is impossible, considering Saul’ s antecedents, that he could have invented a speech so perfect, not only in the letter, but in the spirit. 7. The eighteenth verse is a summary of all that Jesus began both to do and to say. The miracles and the gospels are all there. For example, “ To open their eyes.” That is what Jesus Christ was always doing. He could never be at rest in the presence of the blind. Again and again He said, “ According to your faith, be it unto you.” Christ will not have any blind followers. 8. “ To turn them from darkness to light.” When did He ever turn men from light to darkness? Whenever He visited a town, the inhabitants were startled by an excess of intellectual lustre; old thoughts stood up in new meanings when He breathed them; the law itself became a kind of gospel when He repronounced its awful words. 9. “ And from the power of Satan unto God.” When did He ever reverse that process? His first battle was with the devil in the wilderness, and His last battle was with the devil on the Cross. 10. Go further: “ that they may receive forgiveness of sins.” That is His very word: “ Son, daughter, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee.” That is not the kind of word which a bad man would be likely to invent. 11. But how was this forgiveness to be accomplished? and how was it be followed? By “ inheritance among them which are sanctified.” The whole process is set down to the action of “ faith.” Have we ever heard that word before? Why, the word is the keyword of Christ’ s ministry. Conclusion: So far the speech is self-proving. I find in it no syllable or tone that is not in vital accord with everything we have read in the Gospels ever spoken or done by the Son of God. This is a field of evidence to which I would invite every student of the Scriptures. Read the Book carefully through with a view to see how far its parts are confirmed by one another, and how far even apparent discrepancies admit of a kind of reconciliation which adds infinite force to the substantial argument for the unity of the Scriptures. Perhaps a more vivid instance of confirmation could hardly be produced than the one which is now before us. Paul is supposed to be in a fanatical state of mind; he is struck down to the ground, blinded, disabled; he is supposedly the victim of an hallucination of the most complete kind; yet when he himself reports what happened to him, no slip or flaw can be found in his evidence which throws the slightest doubt upon the identity of the doctrine of Jesus Christ, as revealed in the accepted Gospels. More than Chat, everything is here which is needed. Take this as a programme for the revolution, regeneration, and perfecting of the world, and add to it one line that is not involved in its unfathomable wisdom. It cannot be done. (J. Parker, D. D.)Why am I saved 1. Notice the swiftness of the revelation of God’ s purpose as to the apostle of the Gentiles. An ordinary call to the ministry usually involves long processes of self-examination and observation of God’ s guiding providences. 2. The distinctness with which Paul comprehended his mission is notable. He continually declares his one, only aim in life to “ apprehend (or lay hold of) Him,” he says, “ who has laid hold of me.” 3. This obedient spirit deserves distinct mention. “ I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” He never was. At the end of his life he wrote, “ I have kept the faith.” But turning away from these and other lines of discussion, let us accentuate the proposition that God has a purpose in our salvation. We ought to know what that purpose is. Am I saved merely to have my name entered on a Church roll? to keep up a form of godliness? No; I am saved for a two-fold purpose--viz., to glorify God’ s grace in my personal salvation and sanctification, and also to advance the kingdom of God in the world.1. We infer, first of all, the need of the illuminating light from heaven to make us realise our high calling of God. 2. Again, we see our obligation to fulfil Christ’ s purpose in our salvation as Paul saw the purpose of his salvation and accomplished it. (G. E. Reed.)The objects of the Christian ministry I. The object of the Christian ministry is the exhibition of the character of God. That there is a God, “ all Nature cries aloud through all her works” (Psalms 19:1-4; Romans 1:20). But “ Nature is a speechless beauty, waiting in silence till man shall find leisure and inclination to he instructed by dumb signs.” She discloses some traces of his wisdom, goodness, and power; but a sinner, under a sense of his guilt, might remain in her presence for ages, without discovering what is essential to his relief. It was reserved to the gospel to reveal the character of Him whose perfections are unceasingly adored in the world of light, whose will is law, to whose designs all beings and all events are subservient, whose hands supply the wants of every creature, whose heart compassionates the children of sorrow, whose frown is hell, whose smile is heaven. Even the Old Testament afforded but partial discoveries of Him. A veil still remained over Him; which veil the gospel has drawn aside. His holiness, His justice, and His mercy, shine in the clearest light; there, if genuine Christians, we effectually discern the doctrines which demand our faith, the privileges which claim our gratitude, the promises which encourage our hope, the principles which compose our character. II. The Christian ministry is designed to promote the destruction of the kingdom of satan and the establishment of that of Christ. The dominion of Satan commenced at an early period. Its foundation was laid in falsehood. The supports of his throne are delusion and depravity, wrought into a thousand fantastic and ten thousand odious forms. But the usurper was not permitted to reign without control. His final defeat was predicted in the very scene which had been disgraced by his victory. Then was the assurance given, that “ the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’ s head.” At length the Messiah came, for the glorious purpose of recovering this colony of rebels to the duty they had renounced, and the felicity they had forfeited. His triumphs began in the wilderness, where He foiled the tempter, and compelled him to retire; they were extended, when “ the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through Thy name.” But it was after His resurrection and ascension that this mighty Conqueror shone forth in the splendour of His sublimest achievements. The commission with which He invested the apostles was accompanied with power from on high; and He “ bare them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost.” A thousand delusions were scattered by the beams of truth; the slumbers of insensibility were shaken off; the rock of impenitence was melted; faith opened to the moral wanderer a heavenly prospect; peace cheered the bosom that had throbbed with anguish; and the sceptre of righteousness was swayed over the faculties, passions, and appetites, that had been perverted and enslaved by the tyranny of hell. III. The Christian ministry is established for the purpose of leading those among whom it is exercised to the practise of “ pure and undefiled religion,” and thus effecting the most important change that can be introduced into the condition of mankind (verse 18). Accordingly, we find the same apostle afterwards stating (Titus 2:11-12). Such is the influence of the gospel on the character of everyone by whom it is cordially received. It not only reveals a Saviour, but is the instrument of conveying salvation. Through the medium of the gospel the Holy Spirit enlightens the understanding, subdues vicious propensities, restores the Divine image, and prepares the frail tenant of earth for the inheritance reserved in heaven. IV. The Christian ministry will result in the brightest manifestation of the Saviour’ s glory. To Him it owes its origin, its support, its conductors, and its efficacy. He is the Subject of it. Apart from His dignity and condescension; His virtues and sufferings; His doctrines, commandments, and promises; the miracles which He wrought, the atonement which He made, His triumph over His death, His constant intercession, and the grace which flows from His inexhaustible fulness--the Christian ministry were a mere name, and those who engage in it only beat the air. But when a man, saved from eternal ruin ascends before a congregation inspired with grateful astonishment, and anxious to see every hearer a participant of his own felicity, how can he forget his Divine benefactor, or allude to Him in obscure language, and with faint regard! Behold Him, and all who, being honoured with the same office, press forward in the same spirit, continually insisting on the all-important theme. They are the servants of Jesus Christ, and they urge His authority; they live upon His smile, and they want words to express the magnitude of the privilege; they are the almoners of His bounty, and they beseech, as on the bended knee, their fellow mortals to receive it. Great is the reward which awaits them all. (O. A. Jeary.)God’ s work upon minister and convert I. A work wrought by God upon the minister.1. Subjugation. While a man is a rebel, the Lord does not appoint him an ambassador; while he is dead in sin, a preacher of the way of life. Paul was struck down; for if he had not fallen, he would not have known how to lift others up. He remained blind for three days; otherwise he would not have been qualified to deal with others in darkness. See what God does in His ministers to fit them for your conversion. In order to slay your sins the shaft has been polished. Each of the best locks made by our eminent locksmiths is unique, and each needs its own special key: so God fits certain men for reaching certain men. 2. Encouragement. “ Rise, and stand upon thy feet.” Men can hardly be very useful till they cease to be despondent, and become energetic and hopeful. I have noticed that those who do not believe that they will be successful seldom are so; but those who rise and stand upon their feet, and manfully expect that God will bless them, are not disappointed. 3. Ordination. And to this end he must see the Lord for himself. Our Lord’ s appearing-- (1) Makes him willing to be a servant, for that is the meaning of the word “ minister.” When the renewed mind beholds the Lord, it cries out, “ What wilt Thou have me to do?” (2) Qualifies him to act as a witness. We cannot bear witness to that which we have never seen. Hearsay is of small value. Heads are won by reasoning, but hearts are won by witness bearing. 4. Continuous instruction. He is to be a witness not only of those things which he has seen, but also of those things in the which the Lord will yet appear unto him. 5. Constant preservation. “ Delivering thee from the people,” etc. Paul’ s life was always in danger, and yet never in real peril, for the Lord was his keeper. So shall every true servant of Christ be kept as with a garrison from all evil. II. The work wrought in the hearer.1. Illumination: the Lord sends His servant “ to open their eyes.” Men are born blind, and continue blind till, by the power of Jesus, sight is given to them. Your education and surroundings have perhaps placed a film of prejudice over your eyes; if a candid, childlike spirit were given you, you would see. Or possibly some favourite sin is like a cataract upon the eye of your conscience, and you cannot see the evil of sin or the beauty of holiness. Or it may be that unbelief darkens your soul. 2. Conversion: “ to turn them from darkness to light.” What a blessed turning is that which makes us face truth, and goodness, and God, and heaven; and leave ignorance, sin, and hell behind. 3. Translation. As the soul is brought into a new element, so is it also brought under a new government. “ From the power of Satan unto God.” Somebody says, “ I do not understand how this can be performed in a minute.” Well, two men are fighting, and we beg them to leave off. Do you recommend them to leave off gradually? If anybody held a pistol at my head, I should not say, “ Take it away by degrees.” Changes of mind such as are necessary to conversion had need be quick when sin is to be forsaken, for every moment deepens the guilt. It may seem a very gradual process by which a man who was dead comes to life; but for certain there is a point at which he left the dead and became alive, and that point God sees very clearly, even though we do not. 4. Complete forgiveness. The same moment that we receive Christ, we “ receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified.” What a blessing to become an heir of God! To what choice company is a sinner introduced when he believes in Jesus! He is a freeholder among the burgesses of the New Jerusalem. 5. And all this has for its certificate and mark of genuineness these words--“ By faith that is in Me.” The whole process of salvation is by faith. III. A work which must be done by the hearer himself. This text speaks of Paul being an instrument in the hands of God of opening men’ s eyes, etc., and they seem to be passive; but now they are called upon to be active. We are created thinking, intelligent beings, and we are saved as such. Never let us forget either the free agency of man or the purposes of God. Grace reigns not over slaves, but over obedient children.1. You must repent. It is not the work of God the Holy Ghost to repent for you, but to lead you to repent. 2. You must turn to God. Your prayer may be, “ Turn thou me, and I shall be turned” ; but the command is, “ Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?” God will turn you, but you have willingly to yield, and thus turn yourself. 3. You must do works meet for repentance; for wherever there is true faith there will be corresponding works, such as these: restitution if you have wronged anyone, reconciliation if you are at enmity with anyone, acknowledgment if you have spoken falsely, giving up of evil habits, and an earnest endeavour to be pure and holy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Apostolic ministry I. Its theme. What had he to testify?1. All that he had seen of Christ. He had seen and heard great things amidst the bright light which struck him to the ground. 2. All that he should see of Christ. He would receive many more communications. A true minister will be always receiving fresh communications of truth, and he must proclaim the new as well as the old. II. Its beneficence. He had to effect--1. The highest good. (1) Spiritual illumination: “ Open their eyes.” An expression this implying-- (a) The moral blindness of the sinner. (b) The restorative character of Christianity--it does not give new eyes, but opens the old ones. (c) The genuineness of Christ as a reformer--the design of impostors is to close eyes. (2) Soul emancipation: “ From the power of Satan unto God.” Satan enslaves men by lust, worldliness, prejudice, superstition, etc. The minister’ s work is to manumit the slave. (3) Divine forgiveness: “ That they may receive forgiveness of sins.” This act is represented in the Bible as cancelling, forgetting, drowning sin; separating the sinner from his sin. (4) Eternal blessedness: “ Inheritance amongst them which are sanctified,” etc. (a) Legitimate possession--having a kind of right to it. (b) Social intercourse “ among them,” not a scene of isolation. (c) Moral purity “ sanctified.” The Christian circle is holy. 2. The highest good by a simple method. By no onerous labour or costly sacrifices, but by “ faith that is in Me” ; not in priests, not in human creeds, not in the opinions of men about Me. Faith in Christ is not a mere thing of the intellect; it involves the deepest sympathies of the heart. Nor is it even a thing of thought and feeling combined; it takes the form of living acts; it moulds the life. (1) Faith is in itself one of the easiest acts a man can perform. A child can believe; the propensity to believe is one of the strongest in human nature. Credulity has ruined the world. (2) Faith in itself is one of the most influential acts. What a man really believes sways his thoughts, controls his passions, and regulates his life. III. Its fulfilment. “ I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” He discharged this commission.1. Self-denyingly. 2. Continuously. He began when he was converted, and went on. This is the true order. Begin with those nearest at hand. 3. Reformatively. His grand aim was spiritually to reform men, which includes two things-- (1) A renewed mind. “ Repent” --a thorough change--and turn. (2) A renewed life. “ Works meet for repentance” : the conduct answering the new state of the soul. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Christian ministry defined This is the kind of ministry which Christ wishes to establish. No other statement is needed. This conception is such as never entered into the uninspired mind, and, in particular, never could have entered into a mind constituted as was Saul’ s. I. “Rise and stand upon thy feet.” Here is the typical manliness of the Christian ministry. We do not want crawling, fawning men, but men who can stand up and show their stature and force. The minister, realising Christ’ s conception, does not apologise for his existence: he stands upon his feet. Jesus did not speak to Saul as he lay down in the dust. He will not send frightened things about His messages and errands; He will have the whole man at his best. But what kind of manliness? Only that manliness which is made possible by Christ. To stand without permission to stand is impertinence; to stand in obedience to Divine injunction is humility. God can make men sit down, roll in the dust of the ground; and it is out of such lying that the true strength comes. If we have not first been laid down by the Divine power, we cannot stand in the Divine strength. The command is a royal command. He who has stood before Christ may well stand before kings. We get over all our nervousness when we are with the Lord. Fear God, and have no other fear. II. “ For I have appeared unto thee to make thee a minister.” Then ministers are not man made; they are not turned out by machinery. Only Christ can make ministers. We have forgotten this; we have taken to making a species of ecclesiastical pottery. We do not read, “ I have appeared unto thee to make thee an equal, a priest,” but “ a minister” --i.e., a servant, a slave. There is no mistaking the minister which Christ makes. The seal of Christ is not always the kind we like; but somewhere there is the indubitable sign--in one man in the intellect, in another in the tender heart; here in the eloquence that fills the ear with delight, and there in the pleading, holy intercession that lifts the listening soul into the quietude of heaven. III. Christ must not only find the minister, He must find the sermon.1. “ A minister and a witness of these things which thou hast seen.” Not “ those things which thou hast imagined,” invented; so that a man denying thy ministry must first deny thy character. Wondrous ministry! the soul continually upon oath, the voice forbidden to utter anything for the sake of uttering it, and charged to tell what the soul has already heard. No man could have imagined such a call, and especially no man like Paul. 2. “ Of those things in the which I will appear unto thee.” There is a growing revelation. Christianity has a future as well as a past. Expect the vision; wait for the additional revelation. It will not be anything new in the sense of unrelated, but new in the sense of development, progress from the thing already in the soul. Sometimes we say of a sermon, “ How large a sermon from so small a text!” No. In every acorn there is enough to clothe all the mountains of the earth with umbrageous oaks--forests out of which navies might be cut and palaces might be built. There is nothing new in the oak; everything was in the acorn. It is so when Jesus comes to us--the same Jesus, the same grace, the same Spirit, but growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. IV. “Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles.” Shall I, then, be in the clutch of evil men? Yes; but thou shalt be delivered from them. Every minister has his stormy career if he be a faithful minister. Sometimes a minister will tell you--as if he were preaching his own funeral sermon--that he never had a difference with any human creature. What an awful life to have lived! Hear the light saying, “ I never had a battle with darkness!” The true minister cannot have a peaceful and luxurious life. Who wants the minister in his proper capacity? Not the makers of ill-gotten gain, profane men, worldly men, self-idolaters, nor men whose books have never been audited by pure sunlight. Many want him as a companion, a man as well-read as themselves, exchanging the pleasant word; but who wants him as a representative of the throne of God? Let any minister try that course, and he will soon see that it is impossible to be popular. (J. Parker, D. D.) Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light.The effects of the gospel I. The opening of the eyes to let in the truth. The gospel shows us our dark, lost, and needy state, and the willingness and ample means of God to deliver us. II. The new bias of the soul, as a consequence.1. A turning away the mind from darkness and sin. “ Men love darkness rather than light” in their natural state.2. An opposite yearning towards God. III. The grand object of that new bias is that the soul may receive additional blessings.1. The forgiveness of sins--the crisis of the whole matter.2. The gift of the inheritance. (E. Craig, M. A.)Vital ministry Should anyone ask, “ What does Christianity want to do in the world?” point the inquirer to this verse-- I. “ To open their eyes.”1. Any religion that proposes to open our eyes is presumptively a true religion. Superstition says, “ Keep your eyes closed.” Christianity, then, does not want to shut me up in some prison, priest-locked, roofed in with superstition, wound round with darkness. 2. There are no blind Christians. The Christian is a wide-awake man--all reason, all life. Christianity is rationalism because it opens the eyes. 3. Do not, however, suppose you understand it in a moment. This is a daily process in our education--namely, seeing things more clearly, noting their relations, proportions, and final issues. 4. There is no mission so sublime! It is almost like creating a man to give him sight. The greatest gift of man to man is the gift of idea, thought, new vision. To open the eyes is to give wealth. The poet cannot give me the acres of my lord, but he can give me the landscape that belongs to the poorest of the children of men. II. “To turn them from darkness to light.” That is upon the same line of thinking? Not to open their eyes to see the darkness as seven fold greater than they dreamed it to be. Yet men will follow any demagogue who will delude and befool them, and turn their back upon the man who wants to lead them out of darkness into light. What a turning is this! Who can measure the distance from darkness to light? These are terms that transcend arithmetic. III. There is another turning--namely, “From the power of satan unto God.” Christianity is the upward movement of the world. “ Nearer God!” is the watch cry. We know what is meant by “ the power of Satan” --the power that victimises us, that gives us promises which end ever in disappointments; the power that unmans us, breaks upon our self-control, mocks our prayers, and points us to the grave as the sad end. IV. So far this is in some sense negative. Now we come to what may be termed a blessing more positive: “ That they may receive forgiveness of sins.” No man ever invented that! Man has invented forgetfulness of sins; but Christianity will not administer narcotic to me; it will fight the battle right out, and the end shall be “ forgiveness.” “ The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.” Conclusion: Is it worth our while trying to open men’ s eyes, etc. In this faith I would serve and count all other programmes mean as lies. Then will come the “ inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” --new character, new brotherhood, new riches. This is what Christianity wants to do; and when this work is done, earth will be heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)The commission of the Apostle Paul I. The purposes of St. Paul’ s mission. It was--1. “ To open their eyes.” (1) The words, like those spoken of Christ’ s mission (Isaiah 42:7), refer to those spiritually blind, through inattention, unbelief (2 Corinthians 4:4), prejudice, superstition, love of the world, fleshly lusts, wicked habits. (2) Paul opened their eyes-- (a) By means of his miracles, which tended to awaken their attention, and convince them that his mission was from God. (b) By his discourses, informing their understanding and conscience. (c) By his unblameable, holy, and useful life, overcoming their prejudices--partly by affecting their hearts, and exciting their sympathies with his sufferings. 2. “ To turn them from darkness to light.” The heathen, even the learned Greeks and Romans, were in a state of great darkness, i.e., ignorance and error, as to spiritual things. By the preaching of the gospel and the influences of the Spirit, men are translated from this darkness. In equal darkness are involved the present heathen, Mahomedans, Jews, Papists, and many Protestants! Now missionaries are sent abroad, and ministers are labouring at home to enlighten them. 3. “ From the power of Satan unto God.” Satan, who is “ the prince of darkness,” “ the ruler of the darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6:12), obtains his power over mankind through their ignorance. Through ignorance of the true God, they worshipped false gods (Romans 1:21-23); through ignorance of His purity, mercy, truth, and righteousness, they were filthy, cruel, and false. Hence their dreadful corruption of manners (Romans 1:24-32). And why did the Jews crucify the Lord of glory? Because they knew Him not (Acts 3:17; 1 Corinthians 2:8). Why have so many nations embraced the Mahomedan delusions? From the errors with which their minds were blinded (Revelation 9:2-3). Whence the superstitions of popery (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9). And whence is it that among almost all descriptions of persons, even among us, the body is preferred to the soul, earth to heaven, the world to God; sin, the greatest evil, to holiness, the greatest good; Belial, the worst master, to Christ, the best! All this is from darkness, and the power of Satan exercised thereby. The gospel, by enlightening men, rescues them from his power, and brings them to the experimental and saving knowledge of God. 4. Hence, being “ turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” they “ receive the forgiveness of sins” ; being delivered from the dominion of them, they are exempted from their penalty. They do not merit this as a reward or debt, but they receive it as the effect of Divine mercy and grace (Titus 3:4-5); obtained through Christ’ s sacrifice and intercession (Romans 5:9-10); received by faith in Christ (John 3:14-18; Galatians 2:16), and sealed on the heart and conscience by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). 5. “ And an inheritance among them which are sanctified.” Sanctification is an internal change wrought by the Holy Ghost (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13), by means of the Word (John 17:17), and faith in Jesus (see the text and Acts 15:9). This implies a deliverance from sin, and from the world, a dedication to God in heart and life, in soul and body, in our faculties and members, our all being employed for Him; a conformity to Him, a participation of the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4); and hence walking with God (Genesis 5:24), and communion with Him, living and walking in His Spirit (1 John 1:3; Galatians 5:25). How great is this blessing! They obtain “ an inheritance among the sanctified” here and hereafter. Thus they have a lot among the wisest, best, holiest, the most honourable and blessed of the human race in this world and another; yea, among angels with Christ and God. II. The infinite importance of His mission. These ends never were, and never will be obtained in any other way, than by the preaching of the gospel. Some few of the heathen had a degree of knowledge and virtue (chap. 10:35; Romans 1:19-20), and might attain some degree of happiness after death, but not the proper Christian salvation as here set forth. Hence the command of Christ, that His gospel should be preached to every creature (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19; Luke 24:47). Hence this wonderful miracle wrought in the conversion of St. Paul (verse 16; Acts 9:15). Hence the great sufferings to which he was exposed (Acts 9:16; 1 Corinthians 4:9-13; 2 Corinthians 4:8-12). Hence, likewise, Christ requires all His disciples, and especially His messengers, to “ deny themselves,” etc. (Matthew 16:24; Matthew 10:37-39; Luke 14:26). Nay, the Lord Jesus Himself was born and came into the world, and lived and died to “ bear witness to the truth.” III. Inferences. What, then, shall we think of--1. Those Christians, so called, who, like the Jews in St. Paul’ s day, forbid the preaching of the gospel to the heathen (1 Thessalonians 2:15-16)? 2. Those who are so attached to their worldly wealth that they cannot be induced to sacrifice a little of it to promote the salvation of the heathen? May not one properly use the words of Peter to such characters, and say, “ Thy money perish with thee!” 3. Those pious young men, who have reason to think themselves called to missionary work, but are backward to offer themselves to this service? 4. Those, who, having set their hands to the plough, look back, and give up such a cause after they have undertaken it? (J. Benson.)The work of man and the gift of God I. The direct work of the Christian ministry. “ I send thee to open their eyes.” The work is described, and the power is in the sending. If Christ sends, He will also give the power.1. So then, before Him who looks on it from heaven, humanity lies as it were sleeping. The eye is closed: the eye of the understanding, of the heart, of the soul. Very remarkable is the contrast between this and the tempter’ s promise. “ Then your eyes shall be opened.” He prevailed, and the eyes of them “ both were opened--they knew that they were naked. That opening was to a consciousness of shame. To everything save wretchedness it was a closing. As Christ looks on from heaven, He sees man blind. He sends Paul “ to open their eyes.” It was the first thing done for Paul himself. “ Brother Saul, receive thy sight.” Look up, the word is, see again! What Saul needed man needs now. 2. The came eye may be opened to some things and closed to others. The very clearness of its vision for some things--say, for near objects--may be a mark of its dulness as to the mere distant. A man may be quick to discern his own rights, interests, pleasures, in the life that is; and yet utterly mistaken, or indifferent, as to his highest interest, happiness, duty, as a being born for immortality. Oh, how dull oftentimes is the man of business, politics, literature, or philosophy, when the thing presented to him is the work of Christ or the hope of heaven! He, too, needs to have his eyes opened. 3. And this is the office, we here read, of the Christian ministry. As Christ’ s witness, if he cannot say, as St. Paul could say, “ Listen tome, for I have seen Jesus Christ” ; at least he should be able to say, “ Listen to me; for I know Jesus Christ; I have heard His voice, I have talked with Him in my soul, and He by His Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death.” It is here that we fail. We bring a hearsay message, but we have not felt it ourselves, and therefore we have no evidence to bring of facts known, of things seen. Alas! it is too much with us, as it was with the prophets of old, who “ prophesied out of their own hearts, followed their own spirit, and had seen nothing.” 4. In a true sense, all of us have at least seen the light. Light, the true light, is come into the world, but “ some love darkness rather than light,” etc. II. That work has a further object; in which not the minister, but the hearer, must be the agent.1. That they may turn. Turning, or conversion, follows upon the opening of the eyes. The communication of light, by the faithful preaching of the gospel, is the work of another; but this turning is (under God) a man’ s own work. A minister may enlighten, but he cannot convert. That is (under God) an act of the will, of the individual will, consequent upon conviction. “ I see that this is true. Now therefore, seeing the light, I must turn to it. Therefore I awake and arise, and Christ shall give me light. I will walk in this light which He has brought to me. I will accept this two-fold blessedness which He offers me, of a forgiven past and a cleansed future.” That is conversion. Oh, how unlike the dreams of many; who have mistaken the opening of the eyes for the turning to the light; more often a startled, feverish, fleeting feeling, for a deliberate self-surrender to a forgiving Saviour and a holy God! 2. But we must not exaggerate man’ s power, or forget the difficulty of that change. Satan has great “ authority.” Let a man honestly turn from darkness to light, and then, if never before, he will become conscious of the strong grip of evil. Habits of life, habits of mind, habits of feeling, are not changed in a day. Let him turn, then, not only from the darkness to the light, but also from the authority of Satan unto God. There is a Stronger than the strong man armed. III. The ultimate object of the work is that men may turn to God so that they may receive--1. Forgiveness of sins. I know how lightly sin can sit upon the conscience of a transgressor. He has only to keep out of the light, and he may travel smoothly enough along a considerable stage of life’ s journey. But let the light penetrate, let conviction come, and then see whether it is an easy thing to bear, or an easy thing to escape, that sense of sin! If it he true, as men say, that nature has no forgiveness; that the body and the life of man must still and forever be found out by iniquities long past, long repented of or forgotten; how much more does this magnify the unspeakable gift of God. He who heartily turns receives at once forgiveness, yea (for it is the very meaning of forgiveness) dismissal, of sins. Where, save in Christ, will you find this? 2. Dismissal of the past: and now an inheritance. Properly, a lot; and so an allotment; a portion falling to one by lot. It may remind us of those chapters of the Book of Joshua, in which we read of the assignment by lot to the tribes of Israel of their inheritance in the land of Canaan. And so in the Psalms, “ The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground: yea, I have a goodly heritage.” The inheritance itself waits to be bestowed: but there is an earnest and a foretaste of it now. 3. Who are the sanctified? The consecrated; those whom God has taken to be His own; free from the contaminations of sin, and from the profanenesses of the world. This is not an attainment of man, but a gift of God. The word denotes not those who have made themselves holy, but those whom God has set apart for Himself by anointing them, as His kings and priests, with the Holy Ghost. We all have received the sign and pledge of this in baptism: which of us has the reality of it? 4. “ By faith that is in Me.” He who speaks from heaven, still, even as when He spake on earth, makes faith everything. (Dean Vaughan.)Divine forgiveness In the State House at Albany is an old worn letter, an autograph pardon granted by President Lincoln. Its story is a short one. In the time of war a soldier was arrested, charged with desertion, and, though stoutly protesting his innocence, he was promptly tried, condemned, and sentenced to a deserter’ s death. With emphatic remonstrance, he bravely prepared to meet his doom. The facts were laid before the merciful President, who was so affected by them that he was convinced that injustice had been done, and, taking his pen, wrote an autograph pardon for Boswell McIntyre of Co. C, 6th Regiment, New York Volunteers, on condition that he return to and remain with his regiment until it was mustered out of the service. We can better imagine than describe the joy of this man, as the pardon reached him just as he was preparing to die. In the busy activities of army life in Virginia, this incident was apparently forgotten. After the last battle of the war had been fought--the engagement that forced Lee ultimately to surrender--the battle of Five Forks, when the field was being cleared of the dead and wounded, the bullet-riddled body of Boswell McIntyre was found with that autograph pardon of the great president next his heart. Do we who have accepted the atonement of Christ wear His Divine pardon next the heart? Faith that is in me. Faith in Christ 1. It is commonly said that what are called the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity are rather found in the Epistles than in the Gospels, and the reason is that Christ came not to speak the gospel, but to be the Gospel. Yet if anybody asks us where did Paul get the doctrines which he preached, the answer is, Here, on the road to Damascus, when he saw his Lord, and heard Him speak. These words spoken then are the germ of all Paul’ s Epistles. Man’ s ruin, man’ s depravity, the state of darkness, the power of Satan, the sole redemptive work of Christ, justification by belief in that, sanctification coming with justification; and glory, and rest, and heaven at last--there they all are in the very first words that sounded upon the quickened ear of the blinded man when he turned from darkness to light. 2. To the one part of this comprehensive summary I turn. The word “ faith” is so often on our lips that it has come to be almost meaningless in many minds. These keywords of Scripture meet the same fate as do coins that have been long in circulation. They pass through so many fingers that the inscriptions get worn off them. I. The object of faith is Christ.1. Christianity is not merely a system of truths about God, nor a code of morality deducible from these, but the affiance and the confidence of the whole spirit fixed upon the redeeming, revealing Christ. True, the object of our faith is Christ as made known to us in the facts of His recorded life and the teaching of His apostles. Apart from them the image of Christ must stand a pale colourless phantom before the mind, and the faith which is directed towards such a nebula will be as impotent as the shadow towards which it turns. Thus far, then, the attempt which is made to establish a Christianity without doctrines on the plea that the object of faith is not a proposition, but a person, must be regarded as nugatory; for how can the “ person” be an object of thought at all, but through the despised “ propositions” ? But notwithstanding this, it is He, and not the statements about Him, who is the object of faith. 2. Look at His own words. He does not merely say, Believe this, that, and the other thing about Me; but believe in Me! “ He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and He that believeth in Me shall never thirst.” I think that if people rightly grasped this truth, it would clear away rolling wreaths of fog and mist from their perceptions of the gospel--that Christ is it, and that the object of faith is not simply the truths that are recorded here in the Word, but He with regard to whom these truths are recorded. The whole feeling and attitude of a man’ s mind is different, according as he is trusting a person, or according as he is believing something about a person. 3. What a strong inference with regard to the Divinity of Christ is deducible from this! In the Old Testament you find constantly, “ Trust ye in the Lord forever” ; “ Put thy trust in Jehovah!” Religion has always been the same in every dispensation. It has always been true that it has been faith which has bound man to God, and given man hope. But when we come to the New Testament, the centre is shifted. With calm, simple, profound dignity, Christ lays His hand upon all the ancient and consecrated words, and says, “ They are Mine--give them to Me! That ancient trust, I claim the right to have it. That old obedience, it belongs to Me. I am He to whom in all time the loving hearts of them that loved God have set. I am the Angel of the Covenant, in whom whoever trusteth shall never be confounded!” And I ask you just to take that one simple fact, that Christ steps into the place filled by Jehovah; and ask yourselves honestly what theory about Christ’ s nature and person and work explains that fact, and saves Him from the charge of folly and blasphemy? The object of faith is. Christ; and as object of faith He must needs be Divine. II. The nature and the essence of the act of faith itself.1. If the object of faith were certain truths, the assent of the understanding would be enough; if unseen things, the confident persuasion of them would be sufficient; if promises of future good, the hope rising to certainty of the possession of these would be sufficient; but if the object be a living person, then it follows that faith is the personal relation of him that believes to the living Person its object, viz., trust. 2. By laying hold of that simple principle, we get light upon the grandest truths of the gospel. It is the very same kind of feeling, though different in degree, and glorified, as that which we all know how to put forth in our relations with one other. When the child looks up into the mother’ s face, the symbol to it of all protection; or into the father’ s eye, the symbol to it of all authority, that emotion by which the little one hangs upon the loving hand and trusts the loving heart is the same as the one which, glorified and made Divine, rises strong and immortal in its power, when fixed and fastened on Christ, and saves the soul. The gospel rest upon a mystery, but the practical part of it is no mystery. 3. And if this be the very heart and kernel of the Christian doctrine of faith, all the subsidiary meanings and uses of the Word flow out of that, whilst it cannot be explained by any of them. People are in the habit of setting up antitheses betwixt faith and reason, faith and sight, faith and possession. But the root from which springs the power of faith as the opposite of sight, as the telescope of reason, as the confidence of things not possessed, is the deeper thing--faith in the Person, which leads us to believe Him whether He promises, reveals, or commands, and to take His words as verity because He is “ the Truth.” 4. And then, again, if this personal trust in Christ be faith, then there come also, closely connected with it, certain other feelings in the heart. For instance, if I am trusting to Christ, there is inseparably linked with it self-distrust, and it will obviously have for its certain and immediate consequence, love. III. The power of faith. If a man believes, he is saved. Why so? Not as some people sometimes seem to fancy--not as if in faith itself there was any merit. What is that but the whole doctrine of works in a new form? When we say we are saved by faith, we mean, accurately, through faith. Faith is simply the channel through which there flows over into my emptiness the Divine fulness, or the hand which is held up to receive the benefit which Christ lays in it. IV. The guilt and criminality of unbelief. People are sometimes disposed to fancy that God has arbitrarily selected this as the means of salvation, but the principles that I have been trying to work out help us to see that it is not so. There is no other way of effecting it. God could not do it in any other way than that, the fulness being provided, the condition of receiving it should be trust in His Son. And next they show where the guilt of unbelief lies. Faith is not first and principally an act of the understanding; it is not the mere assent to certain truths. It is the will, the heart, the whole moral being, that is concerned. Why does a man not trust Jesus Christ? Because he will not; because he has confidence in himself; because he has not a sense of his own sins; because he has not love in his heart to his Lord and Saviour. Unbelief men are responsible for. Unbelief is criminal, because it is a moral act. And therefore Christ, who says, “ Sanctified by faith that is in Me,” says likewise, “ He that believeth not, shall be condemned.” (A Maclaren, D. D.) Acts 26:19-23 Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.The heavenly vision This is Paul’ s account of the decisive moment on which all his own future, and a great deal of the future of Christianity and of the world, hung. The Voice had spoken from heaven, and now everything depended on the answer made. Will he submit or resist? The text makes us spectators of the very process of his yielding, “ I became not disobedient” ; as if the “ disobedience” was the prior condition. Surely there have been few decisions big with larger destinies. I. This heavenly vision shines for us too. Paul looked back to this as being equally available as ground for his convictions as were the appearances of the Lord to the eleven after His resurrection. And what we see and know of Christ is as valid a ground for our convictions as this. For the revelation that is made to the understanding and the heart is the same whether it be made, as it was to Paul, through a heavenly vision, or, as it was to the other apostles, through their senses, or, as it is to us, by the Scripture. Paul’ s sight of Christ was for a moment; we can see Him as long as we will by turning to the Book; it was accompanied with but a partial apprehension of the great and far-reaching truths he was to learn; we have the abiding results of the life-long process. II. The vision of Christ, howsoever perceived comes demanding obedience.1. The purpose for which Christ made Himself known to Paul was to give him a charge which should influence his whole life. And the Lord prepared the way for the charge. He revealed Himself in His radiant glory, in His sympathetic unity with them that loved Him, in His knowledge of the doings of the persecutor; and He disclosed to Saul how the thing that he thought to be righteousness was sin. And so whatsoever glimpse of the Divine nature, or of Christ’ s love, nearness, and power, we have ever caught, was meant to animate us for diligent service. So the question for us all is, What are we doing with what we know of Jesus Christ? It is not enough that a man should say, “ Whereupon I saw or understood the vision.” Sight, apprehension, theology, orthodoxy, they are all very well, but the right result is, “ Whereupon I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” 2. But notice the peculiarity of the obedience which the vision requires. (1) There is not a word about the thing which Paul always puts in the foreground as the hinge upon which conversion turns--viz., faith; but the thing is here. He got up to his feet “ not disobedient,” though he had not done a thing. That is to say, the man’ s will had melted. The obedience was the submission of self to God, and not the consequent external activity in the way of God’ s commandments. (2) Paul’ s obedience is also an obedience based-- (a) Upon the vision of Jesus Christ enthroned, living, bound by ties that thrill at the slightest touch to every heart that loves Him and making common cause with them. (b) Upon the shuddering recognition of Paul’ s own unsuspected evil. (c) Upon the recognition of pity in Christ, who, after His sharp denunciation of the sin, looks down with a smile of forgiveness, and says, “ But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I will send thee to make known My name.” III. This obedience is in our own power to give or to withhold. Paul shows us the state from which he came and that into which he passed--“ I became--not disobedient.” It was a complete, swift and permanent revolution, as if some thick-ribbed ice should all at once melt into sweet water. But whether swift or slow it was his doing, and after the Voice had spoken, it was possible that Paul should have risen not a servant, but a persecutor still. Men can and do consciously set themselves against the will of God, and refuse the gifts which they know all the while are for their good. It is no use to say that sin is ignorance. Many a time when we have been sure of what God wanted us to do, we have gone and done the exact opposite. There are men and women who are convinced that they ought to be Christians, and yet there is no yielding. IV. This obedience may, in a moment, revolutionise a life. Paul fell from his horse a bitter enemy of Jesus. A few moments pass. There was one moment in which the crucial decision was made; and he staggered to his feet, loving all that he had hated, and abandoning all in which he had trusted. His own doctrine that “ if any man be in Christ he is a new creature,” etc., is but a generalisation of what befell himself on the Damascus road. There are plenty of analogies of such sudden and entire revolution. All reformation of a moral kind is best done quickly. It is a very hopeless task, as everybody knows, to tell a drunkard to break off his habits gradually. There must be one moment in which he definitely turns himself round and sets his face in the other direction. Christ cured two men gradually, and all the others instantaneously. No doubt, for young people who have grown up in Christian households, the usual way is that slowly and imperceptibly they shall pass into consciousness of communion with Jesus Christ. But for people who have grown up irreligious, the most probable way is a sudden stride out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’ s dear Son. So I come to you all with this message. No matter what your past, it is possible by one swift act of surrender to break the chains and go free. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Visions of the soul Have you ever reflected upon the wonderful gift of sight? The Bible is also full of spiritual seeing--looking. I need not quote any passage, though I might quote a hundred in succession. There is a spiritual vision, and by that vision we see spiritual things. It is a very strange fact that some persons should find it so difficult to believe that there is a spiritual vision. People will believe in material vision, in the optic nerve, and not believe that there is a spiritual vision. The Apostle Paul had many a vision of one kind or another. Do you not remember how Christ Himself lived on earth; and He is our Example, is He not, most of all in the spiritual life? “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father doing: for what things soever He doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner.” Thus He represents His inner life as a constant looking to a pattern and reproducing that pattern. That is spiritual vision. One of the most influential thinkers of the present day--and he belongs to Switzerland, Professor Secretan--wrote quite lately a sentence something like this: “ Never shall I forget that night in December when, under the light of the stars, the love of God shone into my heart.” And that was when he was quite a young man. Have you had your vision? Do you know what it is to have a vision of God? To have a sight of spiritual things? The Apostle Paul had that sight of Christ. He did not need to be told who it was. We are apt to think that Paul was entirely and exclusively passive in that matter. He shows us that he was not: “ I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” God does not want simply to pour love into us and through us, and then receive it again. He wants to be loved by us. Paul was not disobedient. Very likely he had some temptation even then to disobey. He may have said to himself at the first instance, “ What is this? Can this be Christ indeed?” Then he began to think of consequences. “ What is that dazzling brightness? Perhaps the sun itself has been acting upon me in such a way that I have that sort of thing which is called ‘ a vision,’ but is an entirely different thing. Christ is the enemy of Moses, the enemy of the temple. Besides, if I do proclaim myself a disciple of the Nazarene, what becomes of me? All my prospects go. I will take time to think about it. Things will be seen in a clearer light tomorrow.” Paul might have found very many reasons. But he did not resist. He was obedient. What would he have lost? Now we come to ourselves, and I say, Have you had your heavenly vision? The question is, Have you now a sight of Christ in your soul? Not the name of Christ in the Bible or Prayer book, but a sight of Christ in your soul. Do you know the difference between having the light of Christ in your heart and not having it, as we know the difference between having the sunshine and the rain? Do you know that it makes a difference to you? One of you young men, when you began to reflect, you met that history of Christ in the Gospels, and you could not help saying, “ Why, if moral power is anywhere, it is in that Man. If moral beauty is anywhere, there it is. And if God is anywhere to be found, He is in the heart and life of Jesus Christ. And I wish I was more like Him.” Were you obedient to that vision? But if you were obedient to the vision you got another vision. When you tried to follow in the footsteps of Christ, you were conscious of the infinite distance between Him, the Holy One, and you, full of uncleanness. Then you turned to Christ again. Then you heard the voice of John the Baptist saying, “ Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” Then you have a vision of One hanging upon a Cross for you, and you feel that the majesty of God’ s law was never more revered and honoured than on that Cross. And again, that the infinite love of God through Christ crucified is poured upon you in boundless streams of mercy. What a vision that was! Were you obedient to that vision? But if you have been obedient to the heavenly vision, then you have another vision after a while. You have found that Christ is not only the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, but that He is, and claims to be, your Lord and Master. By His redemption He has not only delivered you, but purchased you. You are bought with a price. You are willing enough to have your sins forgiven and give some of your heart and time and gifts to Christ. But what, shall He have everything? Is He nay Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? Shall I accept Him as my Master? If I do so, then I cease to belong to myself. And you have trembled, as well you might, at the thought of being disobedient. If you obey, what then? Then you find that the Lord is the gentlest of masters, far gentler than those who love us best. But then, again, after a little time you have another vision. Then He reveals Himself as He who is not only your Lord, but your Life. Then He shows you that He first of all gives you that which He asks of you. Every one of His precepts is bound up with a promise. You will observe that we have considered Christ in succession first as Leader, then Christ as Lamb, then Christ the Lord, then Christ the Life. And, perhaps, I may say that there has come to us here another vision--another vision of duty and of blessedness. (T. Monod.)The heavenly vision The heavenly vision came to Agrippa as he listened to Paul speaking. “ Believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest,” says the great preacher, and at that moment the possibilities of a new life presented themselves. Had he been obedient, his influence for good might have ranked with that of the greatest apostles. Let us revert to Paul’ s case, and consider in what the heavenly vision consisted that had so mighty an influence over his life.1. It was first of all a revelation of self and of sin. “ Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” The light which shone down upon him on that Damascus road showed him very plainly how much there was in the innermost recesses of his heart that was antagonistic to the God whom he thought he was serving. “ I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.” 2. It was a revelation of self and sin, but it was also a revelation of Christ. How full and how complete that revelation was we only know from the writings of his later life. 3. It was a revelation of self, it was a revelation of Christ, and, above all, it was a revelation of duty. To whom much had been forgiven from him much was to be expected. In some form, at some time or other, the heavenly vision comes to every man. 4. Let us consider the effect of obedience to the heavenly vision, and, first of all, let Us consider its effect upon character. It destroys existing ignoble traits. We see this very clearly and vividly in the life of the Apostle Paul. When once the heavenly vision possesses a man fully and completely, there is no room in his life for the low aims which have previously directed his actions. He has now learned to say with the apostle, “ This one thing I do,” etc. 5. It is difficult to overstate the influence of obedience to the heavenly vision upon the life of him who is thus obedient. The memory of that vision ennobles life amidst the most ignoble surroundings. It makes the poor slave Onesimus a worthy subject for one of the great apostle’ s Epistles. 6. They who would obey the Divine call have constantly to contend with the objections of those who endeavour to measure eternal issues by temporal standards, and who estimate the value of lofty actions of heroism and self-denial in the scales of a hard utilitarianism, or what they are pleased to call a matter-of-fact common-sense. Such persons tell us that obedience to the ideal involves waste, that it is far better to act always in the cold, clear light of reason, than to allow ourselves to be guided by what they are pleased to call “ sentiment.” The life in which there is no obedience to the heavenly vision, no faithfulness to the highest ideals of duty, may be successful if judged by the sordid rule of a hard utilitarianism, a selfish and self-complacent common sense, but such a life can lift no man, can do nothing to make the world better. The world has been, is now, and ever will be saved from corruption by those who, at all costs, are true to their ideals and obedient to the heavenly vision. (H. S. Lunn.)Obedience to the heavenly vision 1. God could address each one by name, and thus indicate what we should believe and do. He could speak to us by dreams or visions, as He did to Abraham, Isaac, and Eliphaz; He could address us by a voice, as He did Samuel; He could send a special messenger to us, as He did to Ahaz, Ahab, David, and Hezekiah; He could direct an angel to convey a message to us, as He did to Daniel, Zacharias, and the Virgin Mary; He could call us to His service by an internal voice, as He did Jeremiah and Ezekiel; or He could speak to us in His glory, as He did to Isaiah, to Saul, or to John. 2. There were reasons, however, why this should not be the usual method by which He addressed mankind. Such a mode, while it might have the advantage of determining at once the question of duty, would to a great extent render useless the faculty of reason, designed to aid us in investigating truth, and take away the stimulus to human effort in the search after what is right. I. As we cannot rely on dreams, visions, etc., to guide us, what methods are there by which our Maker makes known His will to us?1. By His Holy Word. The Bible does not address each one by name, but it gives directions adapted to our common nature, and applicable to all the situations in which man can be placed. A case has never occurred in relation to which some principle could not be found in the Bible that would be a true indication of the will of God. 2. Our rational nature. We cannot suppose that God would so endow man as to lead him astray; nor that any direct statements from Himself by a revelation would be contradictory to what man’ s reason compels him to regard as true. Reason never lends its voice in favour of irreligion or crime. When, indeed, it attempts to penetrate the counsels of the Almighty and to form a system of religion which shall supersede that of revelation, it errs, for it has departed from its appropriate sphere. But it does not err when it speaks of the obligations of virtue, justice, and truth; when it directs the mind up through His works to God Himself. 3. The voice of conscience. Its province, indeed, is often mistaken; and hence, like reason, man makes it an unsafe guide. It is not given to be a revelation, for it communicates no new truth. In its own place, however, it is a method by which God communicates His will, and is as true to its office as the magnet to the pole. It urges to duty; it condemns wrong; and, when we have done what is right, it expresses approbation in a manner which we cannot but regard as the voice of God Himself. It is a way in which God is speaking to millions; and in such a manner, that if they would follow His counsels according to the laws of this arrangement, they would be in no more danger of erring than was Saul of Tarsus when he yielded obedience to the heavenly vision. 4. The events of Divine Providence. Every one may find in his own life not a few events that were designed to indicate to him what was the will of God. The Providence which commits to his care an aged parent, an unprotected sister, which lays at his door the afflicted, so speaks to him that he is in no danger of mistaking the Divine will. The Providence, too, which has given to a man wealth or learning, or which takes away an endeared object of earthly affection which stood between the heart and God, is an intimation as clear as if the lesson were written with a sunbeam. So a man in one pursuit in life finds his plans blasted, encounters obstructions; and he may find in these things an intimation that he is in a wrong path as clear as was that in the case of Saul. 5. The calls of the gospel--when the minister brings before a man undoubted truth in such a form as to be adapted to the particular circumstances. 6. The voice of a stranger. So it was when the eunuch was addressed by Philip. And so, now, on a steamboat, on a railroad car, in a remote hut where a traveller may tarry for a night, in a Christian sanctuary casually attended, the feet of the stranger may have been guided in order that he might speak about the way of salvation. 7. The influences of the Holy Spirit: a teaching and a guidance superadded to all the others, and without which none of them would be effectual. Life is made up of thousands of suggestions from some unseen quarter, starting some thought of what is wise and right. Sometimes they come with the gentleness of the evening zephyr; sometimes with the fury of the storm; sometimes when we are alone, or in the crowded place of business; or under the preaching of the gospel; and sometimes when there are no apparent causes giving a new direction to the thoughts. Can anyone on any other supposition explain how it was that Saul of Tarsus, Augustine, Luther, Bunyan, John Newton were converted? Can any mere philosopher explain how it was that John Howard was led to spend his life in the dungeons of Europe, that he might relieve the sufferings of the prisoners? or how it was that Clarkson and Wilberforce were directed to the evils of slavery? And can we be in danger of error in supposing that the same Spirit breathed into the hearts of Morrison, and Schwartz, and Henry Martyn, a desire for the conversion of the world; and that God by His Spirit appeals now to the sinner by a voice as real as that which addressed Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus? II. To what does God call us in these various methods? Let us learn from the example of Saul. As in his case, so now, God calls the sinner--1. To forsake the ways of sin.2. To faith in the Saviour.3. To prepare for another world; to be ready to give up their account to Him.4. To devote themselves to His cause. (A. Barnes, D. D.)Heavenly visions and human duty An experience on the very threshold of Paul’ s spiritual life! An experience rare, it is to be feared, and uncommon--realised by few--fulfilled by still fewer! What is it? Never to disobey the heavenly visions, never to run counter to the heavenly voices, never to resist the heavenly influences. I. Our possession of “ heavenly visions.” Here it was a voice and a vision too--it was the face and voice of Christ. And this is just as true for all of us. Behind the heavenly influences that play about our paths from veriest childhood, that try to arrest and touch and move us behind them all; in and through them all we, too, can hear these words of power and pathos, “ I am Jesus.” Behind light, and voice, and vision, there is to be traced the personal agency of the personal Lord. Let us thank God for such visions, and voices, and influences; providences, if you like, adapted to serve God’ s purpose and His will concerning us. Where would Paul have been, and what would he have become, but for this voice and vision from heaven? This is God’ s way of coming into contact with man. We are not to be left utterly to ourselves. Voice or vision shall declare to us what we are to be and do, and where to go. But for these heavenly visions and voices we should stand still in blankest ignorance or doubt, God knows whether. Thank God, lights do flash, and fingers do point, bright visions do make the face to smile, and the heart to rejoice, and set the being all astir with a tumult of joy and wonder. Then add to these the vision and voice that looks out and speaks from out the pages of the written Word. Add to this those ideals of higher Christian life; of duty and sacrifice, that come to us in those solemn pauses of life. II. Our attitude towards these “ heavenly visions.” Paul’ s was obedience. How, then, shall we act if we obey the heavenly visions? Turn back, if He bids us, from our worldward wanderings! give up, if He bids us, our life of rebellion; throw down, as did Saul, the weapons of our hostility to Christ and truth. It may be they may never come back again to us. The bright light that flashed across the paths of earlier years, and the voice that then arrested us may never call us again by name. (Theodore Hooke.)But showed … to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance.--Preaching to the Gentiles It is difficult for us to realise what Paul’ s message to the Gentiles--“ That they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” --actually meant to the world that lay between Rome and Asia Minor. Tertullian (Apol. 12-15) gives a picture of that ancient world and its religion, which may not be repeated here. Suffice it to say, that the heathen gods were conceived of by their worshippers as guilty of the most shameful crimes; and while the philosopher scoffed at the popular religion, the crowd eagerly followed it, and the vicious and degraded pleaded the examples of the gods as an excuse for their own excesses. Divine worship was in many cases an exhibition of the most shocking immorality. The dishonest man prayed at the shrine of Mercury for a blessing on his dishonesty; the debauchee, at those of Bacchus and Venus. “ Men generally,” says Canon Rawlinson, describing the period, “ looked to this life as alone worthy of their concern or care, and did not deem it necessary to provide for a future, the coming of which was uncertain … Death, ever drawing nearer, ever snatching away the precious moments of life, leaving men’ s stores perpetually less and less, and sure to come at last and claim them bodily for its victims, made life, except in the moments of high-wrought excitement, a continual misery. Hence the greatness and intensity of the heathen vices; hence the enormous ambition, the fierce vengeance, the extreme luxury, the strange shapes of profligacy; hence the madness of their revels, the savageness of their sports, the perfection of their sensualism; hence Apician feasts, and Capuan retirements, and Neronic cruelties, and Vitellian gormandism; they before whose eyes the pale spectre ever stood, waving them onward with his skeleton hand to the black gulf of annihilation, fled to these and similar excesses, to escape, if it might be for a few short hours, the thought which haunted them, the Terror which dogged their steps.” It was into this world where religion was divorced from morality that Paul carried his proclamation of a God who punished all sin, and to whom men should turn, bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. (S. S. Times.)The three stages of the spiritual life are accurately noted:1. The repentance for past sins, which is more than a regret for their consequences. 2. The “ turning to God,” which implies faith in Him, as far as He is known, and therefore justification. 3. The doing works meet for repentance (we note the reproduction of the Baptist’ s phrase; see Matthew 3:8), which are the elements of a progressive sanctification. (Dean Plumptre.)The arguments on both sides of the question concerning the validity of a death bed repentance All men would be happy; and in consequence of an inclination so natural and invincible, there are few persons but design at least one time or other to repent and turn to God. But it is not so generally agreed whether it be absolutely necessary to the salvation of penitent sinners that they should do works meet for repentance or live to discover the effects of it in their future reformation; for a great many are of opinion so they do but in their last moments confess their sins in a humble manner to God and sincerely resolve upon a new course of obedience such a resolution will recommend them to His favour, though they have no time wherein to evidence the sincerity of it. I. The chief arguments on both sides the question concerning the validity of a late or death-bed repentance.1. I begin with the opinion of those who represent the case of a sinner that defers his repentance to a death bed as wholly desperate, even though we could suppose it to be sincere. As harsh as this doctrine may seem, yet it must be owned the reasons where by it is supported are by no means contemptible; for-- (1) It is urged by those who maintain it that Christianity is represented as a state of continual striving and watching and praying and doing all diligence; that it is compared to a race, wherein those only that run through the several stages of it, from the beginning to the end, shall obtain the prize. To the same effect, Christians are represented also as soldiers fighting under the Captain of their salvation, the Lord Christ, against those powerful enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. (2) It is further urged that more fully to explain the meaning of these metaphorical expressions we are required (Romans 14:8; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Philippians 2:15). How does a sinner who exercises not any act of repentance till the last moments of his life come up to these characters, or indeed to any one of them? (3) As the precepts of the gospel require, so the promises of it are all made upon condition of a constant and uniform course of obedience (John 15:7; Hebrews 3:14; 2 Corinthians 7:1). If the promises, then, of the gospel are only made to Christians upon these and the like conditions, how can we reconcile the hopes of a dying sinner with them? of a sinner who never had any vital or sensible communion with Christ, who has been so far from going on to perfection in a state of holy living, that he has hitherto perhaps lived, to all appearance, without God in the world, or so much as any true or distinct notion of holiness? (4) It is said, further, that at the day of judgment sentence will pass upon man, not according to some transient and occasional acts of piety and religion, but according to the general course and tenor of their lives or the habitual or standing bent of the inclinations towards good or evil (Matthew 16:27; Revelation 20:12). Upon all these considerations of the general expressions in Scripture concerning the necessity of a holy life, of the precepts and promises of the gospel, and the account we have in it of the process of the last judgment, several pious and learned men are of opinion that sinners who have all along lived in a wicked and unregenerate state and never repent till they come to die cannot, according to the terms of the new covenant, “ die the death of the righteous,” though we could suppose that there is much greater reason always to suspect that their repentance may be sincere; for repentance, say they, in the Scripture notion of it, does not barely imply a thorough change of mind and a steady resolution of amendment, but a new and actual obedience, and a resolution to become better can no more be called that new obedience than the spring can be called the harvest or a blossom the fruit. A good resolution is a hopeful step to begin our obedience upon; but till it carry us forward and discover itself in some real and sensible effects it is still only a principle of obedience, but cannot be called obedience itself. (5) Men are the more confirmed in this opinion, that repentance does not only consist in our forsaking of sin and resolving to do well, but in the actual, or rather indeed habitual, practice of piety, because we have no instance or example in Scripture of any person that was saved at the article of death who had all along lived in a wicked and vicious course of life. As to the case of the thief upon the cross (besides that it was extraordinary, and which therefore no rules can be drawn from, in the ordinary and standing methods of God’ s grace), we do not know how he had behaved himself in the general course of his life; he might have been drawn into the fact he is charged with in the gospel by ignorance, by inadvertency, or surprise. There are mitigating circumstances of his crime; and some of the best men in Scripture are charged with crimes of as high a nature, and with committing them deliberately. This poor criminal might have been, in other respects, of a regular and sober life, or he might, during the time he was in prison, have exercised a hearty repentance for his past sins and miscarriages, and have evidenced the sincerity of his repentance by some real and sensible effects. As to the parable of those who were called at the last hour, and yet received the same wages with those who bore the heat and burden of the day, it is equally insignificant to prove the validity of a death bed repentance. The design of that parable is plainly to show that the Gentiles, under the gospel dispensation, are entitled to the same privileges with the Jews, who were the first in covenant with God and called so many ages before to be His chosen and peculiar people. Accordingly our Saviour Himself explains the design of this parable (Luke 13:29-30). If no arguments can be drawn from either of these parables for the validity of a death bed repentance, what shall we say to that parable of the wise and foolish virgins, which seems to conclude directly against it? There is the greater reason to suppose that this parable is particularly designed by our Lord to show the incapacity sinners are under of being saved who never take any care to prepare themselves for another world till they are going out of this from the application which our Saviour Himself makes of this parable (Matthew 25:13). (6) Besides these arguments from Scripture, there are others made use of from the nature and reason of the thing itself to show the invalidity of a death bed repentance. True repentance implies at least a thorough change in the frame and temper of our minds; it requires that we “ put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to deceitful lusts” ; and that we “ put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Now, it is as contrary to the nature and established order of things that a man should all of a sudden pass out of one of these different states into another as that he should be in a high fever and the same moment in a perfect state of health. The ill habits of the soul, as they are contracted by degrees, so they can only be destroyed by contrary and repeated acts. And till the body of sin be destroyed, how good soever our resolutions may be, we are but where we were; and should we die with such ineffective resolutions, God, who sees us in a state of disorder, and whose judgment is always according to truth, cannot, say they whose principles I here proceed upon, but judge us, notwithstanding all our designs of forsaking our sins, to die in a sinful and unregenerate state. So that could we suppose the repentance of an old beaten sinner in his last moments might recommend him to the pardoning grace of God, yet without His sanctifying grace also, and that too in a very extraordinary manner, such a sinner could not die in that heavenly temper of mind which is necessary to qualify him for the vision and enjoyment of God. According, therefore, to that principle whose grounds I have been explaining nothing but a miracle can save a dying penitent who has lived all along in a sinful, impenitent state; that is, nothing can save such a sinner but what might have saved him if he had never exercised any repentance at all--nothing but that Divine almighty power which is able of these stones to raise up children to God. I proceed now-- 2. To lay before you the reasons of those who are of opinion that a late or death bed repentance, if it be sincere, may come within the conditions of the new covenant, upon which the pardon of sin and eternal life are promised. (1) It is said that in other cases where there is no opportunity for practising our duty God will accept a virtual instead of an actual obedience. By a virtual obedience I understand not only a true sense and conviction upon our minds of the general obligation we are under to obey the laws of the gospel, but a firm and settled resolution to do it as the occasions of obedience may be offered; and by actual obedience I understand our putting those good resolutions in practice when such occasions are offered. Now the apostle, in the case of charity to the poor, has expressly determined (2 Corinthians 8:12). And indeed if God did not in other cases accept a virtual for an actual obedience--that is, as we commonly say, the will for the deed--the obedience of the best of men would be only partial and temporary, because it is impossible that any man should actually discharge all the duties of religion at all times; nay, there are some particular duties of religion which very good men may not have a call or opportunity to exercise at any time. If we may not be allowed to judge thus favourably of the case of late penitents, what shall we think of those (and there were a considerable number of them) who had no sooner embraced Christianity but they suffered martyrdom for the profession of it? Shall we say that these short-lived converts, who were faithful unto death, shall not inherit the crown of life? Shall we be so uncharitable to conclude that because they had not time to evidence the sincerity of their repentance by doing works meet for it that therefore they died in a state of impenitence and disorder? No man will say so. (2) That God Almighty does sometimes infuse such a charity into the hearts of dying sinners, upon their sincere repentance, seems highly agreeable to the doctrine of the Church of England, the practice of whose clergy it is not only to administer the Holy Sacrament to sick persons who desire it, though they have been of a very wicked and dissolute life, but to notorious criminals and condemned malefactors, where they give any visible or public testimony of their repentance. This practice of the Church, it is said, supposes it to be her doctrine that if the greatest sinners truly repent and turn to God, though in their last moments, they may partake worthily of the Lord’ s Supper. Why else is it administered to them? And if they be duly qualified to partake of so high an ordinance, then it is beyond supposition that they partake of all the real effects and benefits of it; so that their sins are not only pardoned, but their natures sanctified and renewed: they dwell in Christ and Christ in them; they are one with Christ and Christ with them. It is impossible that a penitent upon whom the holy sacrament, according to the doctrine of the Church, has these heavenly and sublime effects, should die in an unregenerate or unsanctified state. But-- (3) As to the objections on the other side, from the metaphorical allusions that occur in the gospel, from the precepts and promises of it, and the process of the last judgment, which were said all along to suppose an entire and continued course of obedience, it is answered, they may be accounted for from the distinction of a virtual obedience, where men have not time or opportunity to reduce it into act, and that God will look upon a foreseen course of piety and reformation which men sincerely resolve upon, as if they had lived to execute their resolutions. It is granted, indeed, that we have no example in Scripture of any dissolute and habitual sinner to prove the validity of a death bed repentance. It is acknowledged, further, that the parable of those who were called at the last hour has no relation in the main scope and design of it, as we have observed, to such penitents. But it is answered, again, that the silence and want of precedent in Scripture to prove that a death bed repentance may be valid, is, at the best, but a negative argument, which ought not to be admitted against great appearances of truth and reason on the other side. As to the parable of the virgins, it seems to be directly intended to discourage men from casting all their hopes upon the uncertain issue of a death bed repentance. This, too, is readily owned by those who contend for the validity of such a repentance. But then, say they, we are not to strain every passage or circumstance of a parable, which is mentioned for the greater decorum of it, too far, but are to consider the chief arguments and tendency of it according to the general sense and other concurring proofs of the Holy Scriptures; and therefore what we are to understand by the parable of the virgins is this, that all the prayers and tears, all the deep sighs and bitter lamentations, of a sinner in the extremity of life, will be to no effect except he sincerely repent and turn with all his heart to God, which, because it is a case that very rarely happens, and which, when it does happen, no sinner, considering how deceitful the heart of man is, can certainly know to be his own case, therefore all wise persons will take care to be always prepared for the coming of the Lord, and not put their everlasting salvation upon the dangerous and, to say the best of it, very disconsolate issue of a death bed repentance. II. Take what side of the question you please, it is the highest folly men can be guilty of to delay their repentance to the last and concluding scene of their lives.1. If you do believe that he only who leads a holy and religious life can have hope in his death, and that a sinner who does not timely repent and turn to God, so as to do works meet for repentance, is excluded the covenant of grace, why then, considering the uncertainty of life, you have in effect, every moment you continue in a sinful state, the sentence of death, of eternal death, in yourselves; and should you happen to die, as you cannot foresee you shall not, by a sudden disease or accident, by your own principles and out of your own mouth shall God judge you. 2. Because sinners are more generally of opinion that a death bed repentance may, if it be sincere, at last save them, I shall more particularly apply what I have to say to such persons, and desire them to go along with me in the following considerations:-- (1) It is extremely uncertain whether men who go on in a course of sin, in hopes that they may take up and remedy all at last by a death-bed repentance, will, when they come to die, have any time to repent. (2) But what if a sinner should not be surprised by a sudden and immediate death, but have some short warning of its approaches, yet how is he sure that he shall be in a condition to exercise any true or proper acts of repentance? He may be deprived of the use of his understanding or memory, or the pains of his distemper may seize upon him in so violent a manner that, though he may have some confused notions and designs of repentance, yet he cannot apply his thoughts distinctly without great distraction to the business of it; and repentance is a work which at all times, but especially at a time when a thorough change of a corrupt heart is to be wrought all at once, requires great attention and composure of mind. (3) Supposing God Almighty should be so merciful to a sinner as to allow him not only some short time to prepare for death, but the free and undisturbed use of his reason--let us suppose, I say, a case which very rarely happens, that the approaches of death should be so easy and gradual as to give a man no sensible pain of body or disturbance of mind, yet it is still uncertain whether he may find in his heart any true inclinations to repent and turn to God; for it is no easy matter for a man to resolve in good earnest to hate what he has all his life long placed his great happiness and satisfaction in, or even to desire to free himself from the chains which have held him for many years in so agreeable a captivity. (4) But let us suppose, further, that a sinner in his last moments may have some good inclinations towards repentance, yet still it is uncertain whether they may be so well grounded or rise so high as to make his repentance sincere; for it is natural for wicked men, if they be not wholly hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, to have their conscience awakened under the apprehensions of death and a judgment to come, so that they cannot but wish at least that they had served God more faithfully and never indulged themselves in those transient pleasures of sin for which they are now in imminent danger of suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Why this is no more than the repentance of a hardened malefactor when he is going to execution; a mere motion of self-love is sufficient to fill him with regret for having made himself a sacrifice of public justice, without any real change in the temper and disposition of his mind. And it is to be feared that the repentance of a dying libertine seldom proceeds from any better principle than that of a servile fear of suffering for his sins; for he now finds that he can sin no longer, and that there is no other remedy left to deliver him from the punishment of his sins but to repent and turn to God. Besides, he looks upon the terrors which he feels in his conscience and the indignation which he expresses at himself for not having incurred the wrath of Almighty God as proper evidences of the sincerity of his repentance. And it must be owned these are good ingredients of a saving repentance; but, alas! how often do they prove of themselves to be, in the event, deceitful and ill-grounded! So that here is uncertainty upon uncertainty to discourage any man from the hopes of a happy death who defers his repentance till he come to die; and therefore, admitting that a death bed repentance, if sincere, may be available to salvation, yet there are so many blanks against one prize, that no man, one would think, who might otherwise be sure of it, should run the hazard, the almost desperate hazard, of drawing it. Even those persons who talk the most loosely of a death bed repentance, yet look upon it as the best plank, after shipwreck, upon which it is possible indeed a man may come safe to shore; but no man that duly consults his safety would choose to venture his life upon such a contingency. (R. Fiddes, D. D.)Repentance should be immediate Should not goodness rule at once? Two men are fighting, and we beg them to leave off. Do you recommend them to leave off gradually? Shall they take an hour or two over it? Why, they might kill one another in that time. A fire is about to consume your house--do you say to the firemen, “ Get it out gradually” ? If my house were on fire I should long to see the flame quenched at once. If anybody held a pistol at my head I should not say, “ Take it away by degrees.” I would wish him to remove the revolver at once. Yet all these things are matters which could be prolonged over a space of time without such risk as would be involved in a slow process of conversion. Changes of mind such as are necessary to conversion had need be quick when sin is to be forsaken, for every moment deepens the guilt. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day. Perseverance The grace of perseverance is, then, a very precious one. It is the continuance of life in your soul. I have seen little chickens that have died in their shells, without hatching out. They did not pick vigorously enough, or resolutely enough, at the thin white wall that shut them from the sun and air. They gave it up as hopeless, the breaking through of the shell, in which they could see no rift and so they died. There is many a good intention that dies like an unhatched chick. All that is wanted to perfect it is perseverance, a determination to go on in spite of obstacles, to work on in spite of restraint. Persevere in good, and obstacles wilt give way and obstructions crack and fall before you. Only he who fights the good fight of faith, and having done all he can, stands on his ground, not driven from it, will be rewarded as a victor. (S. Baring Gould.)The nature of the gospel ministry I. The strength of the gospel ministry is of God. There is an acknowledgment here--1. That the preservation of life and health is from God. It is very evident that a reference is here made to the wonderful deliverances by which his career had been marked. 2. That the preservation of consistency, faithfulness, and zeal is of God. We know well that that God who imparted spiritual life is alone able to preserve and to consummate and to complete it. One great truth must be remembered here--viz., the great importance of our seeking the help of God in prayer. II. That the topic of the gospel ministry is Christ. Note the very careful and emphatic endeavour of the apostle to state the perfect identification of the great subject of his own personal ministry, with the arrangements of the early economy (verses 5-7; Acts 22:14-15). The only difference between the law and the gospel consisted not in nature but in degree. That was the type, this was the antitype--that was the shadow, this was the substance--that was the prediction, this was the fulfilment--that was the first fruits, this was the harvest--that was the dawning of the morning, this was the splendour of the day. Now, the one grand topic that is here mentioned is that the excellency of the two united dispensations of Divine mercy is found in the person and work of Christ. In the Mosaic economy, the various arrangements which there were made were all concentrated in Christ; and Moses delivered Codes by which the attention of mankind was to be directed to Him. Ceremonies, sacrifices, predictions, and events were all made to offer one united testimony to Him (Luke 24:25-27; Luke 24:44). Here is Christ--1. In His mediatorial humiliation. “ That Christ should suffer.” It was fixed in the eternal purposes that the Messiah, when He came in the fulness of time, should be given, to suffering and to death, and accomplish the object of the great sacrifice for sin which, through the medium of faith, should be the one ground of pardon and eternal salvation. From the creation of the world this great object was declared. All the victims whose blood was shed upon the Patriarchal and Jewish altars were only so many signs and symbols of that great offering which, in the fulness of time, was presented on the summit of Calvary. And if we refer to the prophets, did not David speak of the sufferings of Christ? (Psalms 22:1-31.). Did not Isaiah speak of Him who was to be wounded for our transgressions? etc. Did not Daniel testify that the Messiah should be cut off, but not for Himself? Did not Zechariah tell of Him who was to be pierced? The great doctrine of the Atonement by the sufferings of Christ is one upon which both men and angels delight to dwell. It is a doctrine which graces all the perfections of Jehovah. It is a doctrine which chases away the clouds of despair, and sheds around the tomb the brightness of life and immortality. 2. In His mediatorial glory. “ And that He should be the Firstborn that should rise from the dead.” The types of the resurrection of Christ might be found in the ceremonial law, more particularly in the reappearance of the high priest on the great day of annual atonement. That this was one great topic of the prophetic writings must be evident to every person reading Acts 13:1-52, and one which occupied much space in the ministry of the apostles. That Christ, in our text, should be said to be the first to rise, cannot be considered in the sense of priority in point of time; for it is well known that several persons were raised before; and therefore it must signify a priority in point of dignity and importance. He is elsewhere called the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence, signifying that He was more illustrious and dignified than anyone restored, or to be restored, from the abodes of the sepulchre. With regard to the precise purposes for which Christ’ s resurrection in His mediatorial capacity was accomplished, He rose-- (1) To testify to the fact of His Messiahship. His resurrection was a proof beyond dispute that He really was all that He professed, and that He really deserved all that He demanded. (2) To proclaim the acceptance of His sacrifice. (3) To give a pledge of the resurrection of His people. Christ is the First fruits of them that sleep. 3. In His mediatorial influence. “ And that He should show light unto the people,” etc. Light, in this application, is a figure frequently used in the Scriptures (Isaiah 49:6). And when Simeon held the infant Redeemer in his arms, he said, Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,…a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel.” Here, it will be observed, that light is the emblem of knowledge opposed to ignorance, of holiness opposed to impurity, of happiness opposed to misery; and these blessings are held through the administration of our gracious Messiah to be imparted to the nations of the earth. III. That the objects of the gospel ministry are all mankind. “ Witnessing both to small and great.” This commission was precisely accordant with the general commission which our Redeemer gave to all His apostles, and through them to all His ministers to the end of the world. (J. Parsons.)Man dependent upon God for natural and spiritual life Memorials of mercies received, and deliverances experienced, appear to have been common in every age of the world; whether dedicated, in the enlightened sincerity of true religion, to the honour of the only Jehovah, or appropriated, by mistaken superstition, to the idolatrous reverence of some imaginary Deity, the work of men’ s hands, wood, and stone (see Genesis 8:20; Genesis 13:18; Joshua 4:1-9; 1 Samuel 7:12). Altars and temples, statues and pictures, arches and obelisks, hospitals and churches, nunneries and convents, schools and almshouses, have abounded in all ages as marks of the founder’ s vanity or thankfulness. Where they testified the undissembled sincerity of the latter feeling it well demands our respect and imitation. The gratitude due to God for the bounties of His providence, or the higher and nobler gifts of His grace in Jesus Christ, may not be recorded upon tables of stone, to attract notice, and challenge admiration. But no mercy should be received, no blessing enjoyed without its recollection being engraven on fleshly tables of the heart; that He who seeth in secret may read the memorial. I. It is, then, because you have obtained providential help of God that you continue in life unto this day. Amidst perils of every description, by which the life of a persecuted man could be beset, Paul was still delivered. Hazard less apparent, danger less imminent, may have accompanied you in your journey through life. But preserved as you are from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and from the destruction that wasteth at noonday, while thousands have fallen at your side, and ten thousands at your right hand, to what is your safety owing, except to the unslumbering watchfulness of Him who called you into being, and whose providence has been your guard. Visited, as many of you have been, by sickness--nearly as you have viewed, and closely as your feet have trodden the borders of the eternal state, it is of the Lord’ s mercy that you have not been consumed. Will anyone presume to say that he hath continued unto this day by some of those lucky combinations of fortuitous circumstances, by which a ship, deprived of mariners, sails, rudder, and compass, might float upon the ocean, the sport of every wind, and yet escape shipwreck and utter loss? Shall we not rather confess that He who, in the person of His dear Son, bought our dying souls with the sacrifice of Himself, and would save us from everlasting woe, did we flee to the refuge of His Cross, now upholds us in life? Shall we not glory to acknowledge that, however long may be the chain of second causes, and however invisible its termination, God, as He sits upon the throne of providential dominion, holds every link in His hand? Are you in prosperity? it is the gift of God; in adversity? it is His messenger of reproof and love; in health? it is His loan; in sickness? it is His memorial. He is providentially with you; He ministers to the life He gave: and however little His interference may be discerned, or His love acknowledged, it is because you have received help from God that you continue unto this day. II. I turn now to matter of still higher and more solemn import. Let me then admonish any here who are living insensible of their soul’ s danger, prospect, and hope, and careless of the salvation of Jesus Christ that, only because you have obtained from God the help of His long-suffering mercy, and of His unmerited, unsought, undervalued forbearance--you continue unto this day, blessed with the gospel, and not separated forever from its redemption. Saul, the injurious blasphemer, continued his daring career, when a single word from on high would have freed the suffering Church from his malice, and hurried him before the judgment throne of that Saviour whom he had persecuted in ravaging His Church. Now, who among you is living in the spirit and temper of Saul, unbelieving and unconverted? Who among you is a law unto himself? Who has preferred his sin to his salvation, or been a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God? Whence, then, is it that you continue to this day? Whence is it that the Spirit is still pleading with you, that ministers, conscience, the Scriptures, and the voice of God, uttered in almost every mode in which He speaks, and man can hear, are soliciting you to be happy? It is simply because, insensible and disobedient as you are, you have received help from God, and therefore continue to this day. It is because He would not that any should perish, but that all men should come to repentance and live. Oh see, then, ye whom it may concern--see, while yet sight may profit, that ye receive not this grace of God in vain. III. And now, who are believing, obeying, and journeying heavenward, with the patient undivided perseverance enforced in Paul’ s motto, This one thing I do--let me remind you (although I know your own hearts in the humility and thankfulness of Divine experience will gladly own it) that, having received help from God, you continue unto this day. You feel for the danger in which those to whom I have just spoken are placed by their insensibility to the salvation of Christ. Why, such were some of you: but ye are washed; but ye are sanctified; but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Whence, then, is this good derived? Was it wrung, as it were, from the hand of the Most High, as the merited price and purchase of your own godliness, virtue, piety, and love? No, it is with you, as with the apostle, you have obtained help from God; and therefore you continue to this day to run the way of His commandments, and to live by faith on His Son, who loved you, and gave Himself for you. It was His Spirit which found you in unbelief, and rooted out the infidelity, deeply seated as it was; and enabled you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that you might be saved. That same Spirit, in mercy, subdued the enmity of the carnal heart, mortified the love of sin within you, and made the love and service of Jehovah your pursuit and your delight. His goodness induced you to flee for refuge to the hope set before you. You were not sufficient of yourselves to think anything as of yourselves, but your sufficiency was wholly of God. While, therefore, I earnestly exhort you to believe that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand, I as affectionately beseech you to believe that you still continue in it, only because you have received help from Him. Are you liberated from all need of working out your own salvation, because you know that God worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure? Far, very far otherwise. The same Paul who declared, “ By the grace of God, I am what I am,” was not a whit behind the very chiefest of the apostles; nay, he laboured more abundantly than they all, though he added, “ Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”1. Let me now commend the obvious deduction from this Scripture “ to those who live in entire disregard of that help from God, upon which alone depends the life of the body and the life of the soul.” Let me say to each of them, “ Truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between thee and death.” If you continue to neglect the gospel pardon and redemption, there is no other refuge whither the endangered spirit may betake itself and live. The compassions of heaven, however, still wait, although their wings may be plumed for flight; because they are unwilling to forsake and carry the last hope away with them forever: “ Why sit ye here then until ye die?” 2. In conclusion, I affectionately exhort those whom the help of God, in the provisions of His Son’ s mercy, hath quickened to newness of life, to run the way of His commandments with earnest zeal, and yet with simple reliance upon the effectual power of His grace. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)The gospel ministry I. In what lay the strength of St. Paul’ s ministry? “ Having therefore obtained help of God I continue unto this day.” The apostle clearly alludes to his ministry in past years, and acknowledges--1. That both his life and his health were preserved by God: and who can review the apostle’ s history without observing the truth of this? And which of ourselves can look back to the years that are passed and not discover the same merciful care and protection of God manifested to ourselves? Our spared lives, the many trials and difficulties which have awaited us, both as minister and people, and through all of which we have been safely conducted, loudly proclaim that our mercies have been many and great: they call for our gratitude to the Father of mercies, and ought to inspire us with the feelings of the Psalmist (Psalms 116:13). 2. But the words of the apostle may equally imply that God had preserved him in his zeal and faithfulness for the truth. The principle which he fell within him, and which animated him in all his labours, was the “ constraining love of God” ; “ it was shed abroad within the apostle’ s heart,” and in the midst of his most trying difficulties it was the buoy that upheld and encouraged him in his work. And the same principle of love to God must inspire and animate every minister in his work and duty, and which alone will enable him to labour with success, and to triumph over his difficulties, and “ in the end to lead him on his way rejoicing.” In the most trivial circumstances of life, unless God be with us, how can we prosper? “ Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” But in the far more important concerns of the soul, how much more needful is prayer! “ It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” And is not prayer equally needful to keep alive within the Christian’ s heart that spark of spiritual life, so easily quenched and so ready to become dormant and sluggish, if not carefully watched over and cultivated by the spirit of meditation and prayer? How needful also for the minister of the gospel, considering the many temptations and trials that beset his path! It was this feeling of the need of prayer which led the apostle, together with his fellow labourers, on one occasion to exclaim, “ We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word.” Oh, for more of this spirit of prayer to descend upon us who are your ministers; and upon you who are our people! Oh, that each one amongst us this day may be directed in the spirit of David to say, “ We will lift up our eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh our help” ; and with him also to feel “ that our help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” II. What was the subject of the apostle’ s ministry? He tells Agrippa that it was Christ. He clearly sets before Agrippa and the Jews that they accused him without just grounds--“ that he said none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer” --that they could not fairly condemn him, without at the same time condemning their own writings,--that the gospel which he preached was not different from that which their own prophets and Moses had declared--that they could not, as they received and acknowledged the writings of the Old Testament, justly condemn him for preaching Jesus. III. To whom was the apostle to direct his ministry? who were to be the objects of it? All mankind: “ witnessing both to small and great.” Wherever the apostle went, in whatever situation he was placed, he called the attention of sinners to the same great truths, telling them that if they repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, they should be saved. Conclusion: The subject is full of instruction, equally important to the minister and to his hearers.1. To the minister. It reminds him of his high calling and responsible position, that he may occasionally be placed in a difficult position in upholding his office. 2. And to you who hear the subject before us is not without a word in season likewise: it reminds you of your duty to receive the truth in affection, and to pray for it, “ that it may have free course.” (J. L. F. Russell, M. A.) Acts 26:24-25 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself.The effects of Paul’ s defence on Festus I. The charge of Festus. He did not denounce Paul as a hypocrite or a knave, but rather as a brainless fanatic. This impression, though false, might have been sincere. The charge of madness against the earnest advocates of Christianity is very--1. Easy. It requires no thought. Nothing is less difficult than to dispose of great questions in this way. 2. Common. It is what the careless and the profligate are constantly alleging against earnest teachers. 3. Foolish. Because no class of men are influenced by higher reason than the genuine advocates of religion. Posterity has long since decided who was the madman, Paul or Festus. II. The reply of Paul.1. He respectfully denies the charge. 2. He describes the true character of his teaching. “ Truth” here stands opposed to falsehood, and “ soberness” to mental derangement. “ I speak,” as if Paul had said, “ the words of reality and the words of reason.” 3. He obliquely rebukes Festus. He turns from him as if he would ignore his existence, and addresses himself to the king. As if Paul had said to Festus, “ It is not surprising that you cannot understand me; you are not a Jew. You have already misunderstood me. I am not speaking to you, but to the king; for the king knoweth of these things,” etc. In thus acknowledging the king’ s acquaintance with the subject, Paul’ s aim was not to flatter the monarch, but to humble Festus. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul and Festus--a contrast 1. It was no even-handed contest in which the apostle found himself engaged. It was the occasion of a great state ceremonial, a Dhurbar, when the Imperial Viceroy received the welcome and the homage of the most powerful native prince. Just at this time he had a quarrel with the Jews and was anxious to secure the support of Festus. He had recently added to the palace of the Herods a lofty dining hall from which his guests could look down upon the inner temple. The priests and guardians of the sacred precincts resented this act, and therefore built up a high wall, and shut out the king’ s view. Agrippa resented this indignity, and endeavoured to get the restriction removed. He applied to Festus for aid; and Festus warmly espoused his cause. All this we have on the authority of Josephus. I mention the fact here for two reasons. It illustrates-- (1) The historical accuracy of the sacred narrative. The narrative of St. Luke and that of Josephus fit together as separate pieces of an historical whole. (2) The relative proportions of events which men inevitably take who are mixed up in them. The aggressive insolence of Agrippa was the one topic of general interest at the time. But this interview with Paul, who cared for it? Yet time has wholly reversed the verdict of contemporary history. Of the magnificent palace of the Herods, or the goodly buildings of the temple, not one stone is left standing upon another. The aggressiveness of Agrippa and the policy of Festus have alike passed away, but the words of St. Paul are living and germinating and fructifying still. The quarrel of Agrippa has vanished out of sight, the pleading of Paul is the inheritance of all ages. 2. The attitude of Festus towards St. Paul more especially demands our attention. Festus was not a man whose opinion could be lightly disregarded. We have not here to do with the sceptical, worldly, cynical Pilate, or a cruel, reckless profligate like Felix; but with a just, sincere, outspoken, prompt and vigorous ruler, the very man to whom in the common affairs of life we should entrust our case with confidence. Nothing could be more upright than his treatment of the prisoner from first to last. But he has no ideas and no aspirations beyond. When the future and the unseen are mentioned he is lost in confusion; he is as helpless in dealing with such topics of thought as one who is blind in discriminating the hues of the rainbow. He is blunt, even to contempt, when he refers to “ one Jesus which was dead whom Paul yet affirmed to be alive.” This was decisive to his mind. Could any sane man maintain an absurdity like this! He listens for a time with patience while Paul pleads his cause, but at length he can no longer restrain himself. He is confirmed now in his first surmise. He rudely interrupts the prisoner, shouting rather than speaking, “ Thou art mad, Paul!” All this talk about sin and repentance, and forgiveness and salvation, what is this but the very phantom of a diseased brain? This story of the apparition on the way to Damascus with the light and the loud voice has nothing in common with the solid experiences, the stern matter-of-fact duties of the Roman magistrate, and, in short, with the acknowledged realities of human life. 3. Yes, it was sheer madness-- (1) To commit social suicide as this Paul had done. He had given up a high and honourable position among his fellow countrymen; he was on the high road to preferment, and yet he suddenly gave up all--for what? To become an outcast; to be hated by the Jews and scorned by the Greeks; to drag out a miserable career of penury, of suffering, of toil and of danger; to be spurned by all men as the very filth and offscouring of society. Who has put the case more strongly than himself? Aye! he knew, no one could know better, that he was irretrievably mad as the world counts madness. “ We are fools,” he says of himself, “ we are fools for Christ’ s sake.” (2) To profess such a creed as Paul did. Whoever heard before of one claiming the allegiance and the worship of the whole world for a crucified malefactor? There was no difference of opinion here between Jew and Greek. On most questions affecting religion the one spoke a language quite unintelligible to the other; but here there was absolute unanimity of sentiment--Festus, Agrippa, Roman soldier, and Hebrew priest, alike must join in condemning these rovings. Here again no one knew better than the apostle himself how his teaching was regarded by the learning and the sagacity of his age. He knew it, he gloried in it, he invited all men to become mad as he was mad. This very madness, he maintained, was the indispensable condition of all higher knowledge. “ If any man thinketh to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise.” 4. So, then, two wholly irreconcilable views of life confronted each other in Festus and Paul. Paul was sincere. Festus was also sincere. And yet between the two there is a yawning and impassable gulf. If Festus is right, Paul is mad. If Paul is right, Festus is blind. 5. From an evidential point of view this scene would suggest not a few important reflections. (1) I may point, e.g., to the calmness and sobriety of the apostle’ s statement, to the perfect assurance with which he details the history of his conversion and the grounds of his belief, to the manly and courteous simplicity with which he replies to the rebuke of Festus, and the sarcasm of Agrippa. Certainly nothing is more unlike the raving of the maniac. (2) I might turn away from the scene itself to its results. The civilised world, after long wavering and much halting, did ultimately prefer the madness of Paul to the sanity of Festus. Reflect how enormous has been the gain to mankind from this preference, and how irretrievable would have been the loss if it had taken Festus instead of Paul. Christianity rescued a helpless world which was hastening to its ruin, endowed society with fresh vigour and youth by infusing into it new aspirations and hopes; and this reinvigorating influence contained in itself the potentiality of all that is noblest and best in modern civilisation and life. 6. But it is a practical and not an intellectual conviction which I would wish to enforce upon you--the magnitude of the alternative. No ingenuity or indifference can bridge over the gulf which separates the view of human life, taken by Festus, from the view of it by St. Paul--the view taken by the upright and reasonable man of the world, who lives only in the present, and the view taken by the Christian, whose whole soul is dominated with the presence of God, with the consciousness of sin, and with the conviction of eternity. God forbid that we should speak meanly of honesty, truth, uprightness, whatever in human life is lovely and of good report. But still the fact remains. Here are two antagonistic views of human life and human destiny. Men may strive to patch up a hollow compromise between them, but no truce can be real because no meeting point is visible. It is the alternative of sanity and madness, of light and darkness, of life and death. If you have decided that the Christian view is sanity, is light, is life, then it must not, it cannot be inoperative in you. It will pervade your whole life, and breathe the breath of heaven into the work of earth. All this stands to reason. It cannot be a matter of indifference whether you are responsible in your actions only to the judgments of human society or to an all-seeing Eye, who overlooks, misinterprets misjudges nothing. It cannot be a matter of indifference whether wrong-doing is simply a violation of order, attended with inconvenient consequences, or whether it is sin, that is, a rebellious defiance of an all-righteous, all-holy, Father in heaven; whether He who walked upon our earth eighteen centuries ago was a lunatic; or whether He was indeed the only begotten Son of God; whether this life is our entire life, or whether there is an eternal hereafter before which the triumphs of the present are just nothing at all. This, then, I say, this is the tremendous alternative. There is no halting between two opinions here; the chasm is broad and fathomless. Accept, therefore, the alternative which you have chosen; accept it with all its consequences, think over it, master it, live it. Men will taunt you with your inconsistency; but be not discouraged by this. Let the taunt nerve you to greater efforts. The inconsistency must necessarily be greater as the ideal is higher. Festus, no doubt, was a much more consistent man than St. Paul. The standard of Festus was the ordinary standard of honourable men, and it would seem he did not fall far short of it. The standard of St. Paul was absolute self-negation, and he is constantly bewailing his shortcomings. The mere voluptuary is far more consistent than either. His aim is sensual pleasure, and he devotes himself to it heart and soul. Endure to be called madman when you stand before the judgment seat of Festus. That is inevitable; only remember meanwhile that you are the sons of God, heirs of eternity. (Bp. Lightfoot.)Illustrious fools and madmen In one of his works the late Charles Kingsley makes the suggestive and vigorous remark that “ there never was anyone who spoke out the truth yet on the earth, who was not called a ‘ howling idiot’ for his pains at first.” And to anyone who is at all acquainted with the general facts and teachings of history, the remark will appear by no means too sweeping. It may not perhaps be very difficult to get at the root and reason of this ascription of folly and madness to men of strong religious earnestness and devotion. The madman, for instance, is very frequently a man of one idea. Some one oppressive thought has burnt itself into his brain, absorbs his attention by day, and colours his dreams by night, and he seems to know and care for nothing beside. And it is not therefore much to be wondered at that men of the world, to whom money, power, pleasure, luxury, are the sole ends of existence, should transfer this aspect of a disordered mind to those who have lived and laboured under the impulsion of strong religious enthusiasm, and brand them as monomaniacs. “ Heretic!” “ Fool!” “ Fanatic!” “ Madman!” “ Antichrist!” those and many more such-like epithets of choice, ecclesiastical Billingsgate were shot at Luther from the catapults of the Pope and the priests of Rome. John Wesley, the great religious reformer of the last century, did not escape being placed in “ shame’ s high pillory” ; while the great leaders and pioneers of the modern missionary movement, as we know, took very high rank in the category of reputed “ fools and madmen.” The mission of William Carey to India was publicly characterised in the British House of Commons by one of its aristocratic members, as “ the mission of a madman” ; and even such a man as Sydney Smith, the witty canon of St. Paul’ s, found in the first batch of missionaries that went out for the evangelisation of the heathen, what he thought fit targets for the arrows of his caustic wit and satire. “ Little detachments of maniacs!” was the only sentence which his Christian charity could find wherewith to label them. In the domain of science we have the case of Robert Bacon, of whom it has been said by Dr. Friend that “ he was the miracle of his age, and possessed perhaps the greatest genius for mechanical science that has been known since the days of Archimedes.” And how was this brilliant experimental philosopher of the thirteenth century treated when he had made known those wonderful discoveries in chemistry, astronomy, and mechanics, which were all anticipations of the inventions and findings of modern science? Why, as all readers of English history are well aware, he was accused by the ignorant monks of his order of being possessed with the devil. It was affirmed that he was a practiser of the black art, and was aided in his search for the philosopher’ s stone by infernal spirits. These accusations, together with eleven or twelve years’ close confinement in a cell, were the rewards which his bigoted and fanatical contemporaries meted out to the “ early star preceding dawn” of experimental science and philosophy. And the same rule we shall find holding good in relation to others who were conspicuous pioneers and factors in the social and material progress of the people. Especially was this the case with regard to the discoverers and propounders of the propelling power of steam, and to its practical application in the form of locomotive steam engines, steam vessels, and the like, for the promotion of more expeditious modes of travelling. The germ idea of the steam engine is doubtless to be traced to the machines, diagrams, and writings of Solomon de Caus; although the Marquis of Worcester is generally acknowledged to be the inventor. And yet both these men were accounted lunatics by their contemporaries, because of their doctrine concerning the moving power of steam. The former, we are told, “ travelled from Normandy to Paris to present a treatise to Louis XIII on the subject. His minister, Cardinal Richelieu, dismissed the applicant, and on account of his importunity imprisoned him as a ‘ dangerous madman.’” And the latter, the Marquis of Worcester, was accounted not only a quack, but an impostor, and had to suffer the most bitter reverses on account of his advocacy of the brilliant discovery which his observing genius had made. Those who followed in the footsteps of these men, and who carried out their theories and principles to such glorious issues, may not have had to encounter quite such bitter persecution; nevertheless they had to run the gauntlet of the mockery and opposition of those whose ignorance prevented them from perceiving, or whose interests precluded them from entertaining, such so-called “ mad” and impracticable projects. When Fulton proposed to navigate the river Hudson in a steamboat he was met with rude jokes, incredulous smiles, and contemptuous sneers by the wiseacres of his day, who charitably denounced his idea as the silliest that ever entered a silly brain. And when George Stephenson, the “ Father of English Railways,” proposed to run a train from Woolwich to London at the amazing rate of fourteen miles an hour, he was not only regarded by many as an impracticable dreamer, but by some as betraying premonitory symptoms of fitness for Bedlam and a straitjacket. It was the old trick of calling a man mad who is in advance of his fellows, until the madness becomes contagious and the tables turn; then, like the good boy in the fairy tale, on whose head the fool’ s cap, placed there by his scoffing brothers, turned into a crown, the jeers of opponents become transmuted into praise, and the very nicknames of such madmen become glorious. Additional and similar illustrations of the point we are seeking to set out lie ready to hand for gleaning in other field s of human thought and activity, but which can only be indicated. It is, for instance, a well-known fact that Mesmer, the discoverer of animal magnetism, was thought to be possessed of Satanic agency when he propounded his theory and made known his wonderful discovery; and had he lived at one time in England he would in all probability have been burnt to death at the stake as a wizard. As it was he was bitterly persecuted, his life threatened, and for a time he suffered imprisonment. The annals of political reform would also supply striking examples of the same thing, as the cases of Cobden, Bright, and Villiers would abundantly testify, who were branded as “ fools and fanatics” for the part they played in the abolition of the Corn Laws, by which the death-knell of protective monopolies was rung, and the cheap loaf placed upon the poor man’ s table. So, too, with the records of the great Temperance reform. The pioneers of that great social movement had to pay the penalty of men in advance of their time, of being looked upon and labelled as “ fools and madmen.” (J. Cuttell.)The world’ s estimate of Christianity I. The world’ s opinion.1. What it is. That earnest Christians are beside themselves. The world has no objection to act upon the principle “ live and let live.” If Christians will only quietly go their own way they are welcome to it--to all their strange worship, doctrines, mode of living, hopes, etc. But when all this is pressed upon the devotees of business, pleasure, politics, etc., and declared to be the one thing needful, it evidences insanity and must be called by its proper name. What have practical common-sense men of the world to do with such dreams? 2. By whom it is entertained-- (1) By too many of the world’ s magnates in the State, science, literature, commerce. Men who are wholly occupied with interests, in their view of vastly greater moment. (2) By men who ought to know better. Agrippa probably held the same view as Festus, although he professedly held many of Paul’ s primary beliefs. So there are many like Festus in our congregations. As long as the preacher is content with expounding in a quiet manner and in polished sentences the commonly accepted principles of morality, they can bear with him; but as soon as he presses home with earnestness upon the conscience the awful realities of time and destiny it is set aside as vulgar madness. 3. Upon what it is founded. (1) With Festus some attribute it to learning--over-taxation of the brain. The mind has been so overwhelmed with contemplation that it has lost its balance. (2) Others put it down to narrowness or superficiality. The man does not think deeply enough, or his reading has not been sufficiently extensive, or he would know that the subjects which he declaims are open questions, and he would submit as hypotheses what he now insists on as dogmas. (3) Others say it is the result of an unbalanced system in which passion is allowed to usurp the place of reason. II. The Christian answer.1. A strange thing is not necessarily the sign of madness nor the setter forth of them a madman. Otherwise Festus’ s charge would hold good in regard to some of the greatest men who have ever lived. What great discoverer, scientist, inventor, philanthropist, has not at first been thought mad--e.g., Colombus, Galileo, Stephenson, Howard, Wilberforce, etc. 2. Were it otherwise with the Christian the charge might well be substantiated. Knowing what Paul did, would he not have been beside himself if he had not acted as he did. To feel the greatness of the gospel facts and issues, and to suppress them or be indifferent to them--that is madness. 3. Who would not rather be mad with Paul than sane with Festus when we compare the character of each, and the service each rendered to the world? 4. Whether Christianity is insanity or truth and soberness can be tested by its effects. Does it drive men mad, or does it make them truthful and sober? Let Christian lives, institutions, literature, furnish the reply. (J. W. Burn.)Christian enthusiasm, its reasonableness Once, at Wotton, Rowland Hill was carried away by the impetuous rush of his feelings, and exclaimed, “ Because I am in earnest men call me an enthusiast, but I am not; mine are the words of truth and soberness. I once saw a gravel pit fall in, and bury three human beings alive. I shouted so loud for help that I was heard at the distance of a mile; help came, and rescued two of the poor sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast then; and when I see eternal destruction ready to fall on poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrecoverably in an eternal mass of woe, and call aloud on them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast now?” A preacher’ s sanity questioned When Dr. Chalmers was converted, the change in his ministry was quickly apparent to all. The rationalists, to whose class he had belonged, commonly said: “ Tom Chalmers is mad.” Some years after, when he was settled in Glasgow, a lady and gentleman on their way to hear him met a friend, who asked where they were going. On being told, he said, “ What! to hear that madman?” They persuaded him to go for once and do the same, promising never to dispute with him about that title again, if he were inclined to apply it to the preacher after his sermon. To the surprise of all three, when Dr. Chalmers gave out his text, it was, “ I am not mad, most noble Felix, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.” The sceptical hearer was not only convinced of the preacher’ s sanity, but he was likewise converted to faith in Evangelical truth. Who is the madman Lieutenant Watson, a godly officer, in the Peninsular War, had to halt with his regiment for some minutes in the presence of the French, and in the prospect of immediate battle. “ While so circumstanced,” he said, “ several wounded men were carried by, the blood streaming through the stretchers on which they were borne. I was standing near several young officers who had often made me a subject of ridicule. I thought it a good opportunity to speak a word which might prove in season, and began by remarking, “ You have often called me a fool and a madman, but a few moments may decide the question, with whom is madness and folly, in the presence of Him who is the Dispenser of life and death.” A solemn awe seemed to impress them for the moment, and I went on to speak of Him who had deprived death of its sting, by receiving it in His own body on the accursed tree. They begged and entreated of me to stop, and said at such a time it was cruel to torture their minds with such things.” Who is mad Paul or Festus Who is mad? I. The Christian who--1. Founds his faith on the sure revelation of God and the experience of the heart; 2. Regulates his life according to the commands of God, and makes sure steps on the narrow path of holiness; 3. Places his hopes on an eternity, which, amid all the changes of time, is ever before his eyes? II. Or he who is not a Christian who--1. Blindly derides what he cannot comprehend with his senses; 2. Staggers, the sport of his passions, helplessly on the broad road that leads to destruction; 3. Seeks his happiness in the present, which vanishes like a dream, and leaves nothing behind but a terrible awaking? (K. Gerok.)Evangelistic madness As soon as Berridge, of Everton, began to preach in a different strain from the neighbouring clergy they felt hurt at the emptiness of their own churches and the fulness of his. The squire, too, was much offended; he did not like to see so many strangers, and be so incommoded, and endeavoured to turn Mr. Berridge out of his living by a complaint to his bishop. Berridge being sent for by his lordship, was accosted thus: “ Well, Berridge, they tell me you go about preaching out of your own parish; did I institute you to any other than Everton?” “ No, my lord.” “ Well, then, you preach where you have no right to.” “ It is true, my lord; I remember seeing five or six clergyman out of their own parishes playing at bowls.” “ Pho, if you do not desist, you will very likely be sent to Huntingdon jail.” “ As to that, my lord, I have no greater liking to a jail than other people; but I had rather go there with a good conscience, than be at liberty with a bad one.” Here his lordship, looking hard at Berridge, gravely assured him, “ he was beside himself, and that in a few months he would be better or worse.” “ Then,” said he, “ my lord, you may make yourself easy in this business; for if I am better, you must suppose I shall desist of my own accord; and if worse, you need not send me to jail, as I shaft be provided with an accommodation in Bedlam. But he said, I am not mad. Earnest Christianity vindicated from the charge of madness I. The charge. “ Thou art beside thyself.”1. It is urged by the avowed infidel against the professor of Christianity. The idea of regenerating society by means of the gospel is looked upon as being an insane dream. 2. It is urged by the nominal Christian against the earnest practiser and propagator of Christianity. Religion is quite right in its place, but let it keep there, else it will become a bore. Do not bring it into social life. Be religious quietly and respectably. II. The vindication. “ I am not mad, most noble Festus.” The vindication is polite.1. The earnest Christian proves his superior wisdom by the end at which he aims--the regeneration of the heart, and the perfect development of the whole man. 2. The earnest Christian proves his superior wisdom by the means which he employs. These means are two fold. (1) Faith in Christianity as a system. (2) Devotion to Christ as a person. (a) Personal surrender. “ Ye are Christ’ s.” (b) Enthusiastic service - advocacy, giving, and working. Admitting, then, the aim to be flight and wise, art not the means exclusively suitable? What but Christianity can regenerate and perfect man? Cold consent to a creed cannot do it. Enthusiasm has done every good thing that has been done in this world. Formalism hinders.3. The earnest Christian proves his superior wisdom by the success which he achieves. Conclusion: Who is the madman, the accused or the accuser? The accuser assuredly.1. The avowed infidel is a fool. He is not sure that Christianity is a delusion or an imposition. He is resting upon a most improbable supposition. 2. The nominal Christian is a greater fool. He says he believes in the existence of God, in the Divinity of the Bible, in the claims of Christ, in the realities of eternity; yet he lives as though he believed them not. His practice belies his profession. (Thomas Baron.)A moral duel Concerning the two duellists in the text, notice--1. Both were signally able men. The speech of Festus (see Acts 25:27) shows this, and the high position to which his abilities had raised him. Paul was not less able, but even more so. 2. Both were well known. 3. Both had distinguished spectators. There were present Agrippa, the king, “ the chief captains,” and the principal men of the city.” I. As secularism represented in the attack of the one. Festus was a man of the world, a worldling, a strong, enlightened, talented secularist. Two remarks concerning this attack.1. It was dealt out by a man of distinguished power. 2. It was prompted by motives that seemed reasonable. II. As Christianity represented in the defence of the other. Two remarks are suggested.1. The defence was direct. Paul says, “ I am not mad.” 2. The defence was rational. He says, “ I speak forth the words of truth and soberness.” 3. The defence was respectful. Paul addresses his accuser as “ most noble [R.V., excellent] Festus.” (Homilist.)The sanity of Paul Proved by-- I. His manner all through this trying time. He had endured enough to turn the strongest brain. The violence of the mob; the narrow escapes from scourging and assassination, with all the tremendous anxieties connected therewith, and with his trials before the various tribunals; the hope deferred by the policy of Felix; the strain involved by the appeal to Caesar, and now his arraignment before a crowded and distinguished court. Who else could have endured all this without mental derangement? Yet we see Paul uniformly calm, courteous, courageous, conciliatory, quick to see and prompt to seize every favouring opportunity, and adapting himself with an ease amounting to genius to every circumstance in which he was placed. If this is madness, who then is sane? II. The matter of his defence. Two or three years had passed since his defence on the stairs, and nearly a quarter of a century since the event he describes. The slightest touch of insanity would be easy to detect in the inevitable variation of some important details. Yet all these accounts are consistent. No lapse of memory, no mental indistinctness or weakness is observable. No man ever gave the same account of an hallucination twice, and no man ever suffered for one as Paul did for his vision of Christ, or ever utilised it for the benefit of the race. III. The effects of his conduct on the world. What madman has turned the course of history, which was running in a wrong direction, into the right? To morally revolutionise the world, to secure for his Master a following which no man can number of the very elect of the race, and to secure a place in the affections of untold millions, are hardly effects which we should attribute to the work of a madman. IV. The common consent of the wisest and best of the past eighteen centuries who have found in Paul’ s words salvation from sin, comfort in sorrow, stimulus to high endeavour and hope in death. (J. W. Burn.)The wise answer Does a man speak foolishly?--suffer him gladly, for you are wise. Does he speak erroneously?--stop such a man’ s mouth with sound words which cannot be gainsaid. Does he speak truly?--rejoice in the truth. (Oliver Cromwell.)Most noble Festus.-- The upper classes 1. Years ago an attached domestic, presuming on the privilege accorded to his class, roundly reproved his master for the sin of swearing, and gave a broad hint about the judgment to come. The laird, feeling that he had not a leg to stand on, cut the matter short by the remark, “ It has pleased Providence to place our family in a superior position in this world, and I trust He will do the same in the next.” This is a real case, but in our day a rare one. On the other side there are everywhere many who wear coronets and pray. But between the two extremes of good and evil in the upper ten thousand how many diversities there are in character and circumstances. 2. Paul could appreciate another man’ s difficulties, and sympathise with those whose position magnified the offence of the Cross. There was strength in him, but there was sensibility also. He can neither be weak nor rude. He knew that it was harder for the Roman governor than for a meaner man to obey the gospel. He will not flatter him, nor suggest that there is a private door to admit him to heaven; yet in his polite address lies a principle permanent, precious, practical. 3. We speak of aristocracy in no narrow or technical sense, but of the uppermost state of society, whether birth, wealth, energy, intellect or learning may have been the immediate cause of their elevation. Now, while it is true that such need and get the offer of salvation on the same terms as those who stand on a lower platform, it is also true that some temptations peculiar to themselves increase their difficulty of accepting the gospel. 4. One of our Lord’ s sayings in reference to the aristocracy of wealth throws light on our theme (Matthew 19:23-24). Assuming that the needle’ s eye represents the low, narrow door through the wall of a fortified city for use by night or time of war, when the great entrance must be shut--you have here a passage from danger into safety, not impracticable in its own nature, but impracticable to a camel because of its huge bulk. Thus the elevation of the highest class makes their entrance into Christ’ s kingdom more difficult. Of this difficulty Jesus speaks with tenderness, and Paul follows His steps. “ Most noble Festus,” he said, observing that the dignity of the governor was holding high the head of a sinful creature, and hindering him from bowing before the Cross of Christ, and he said it to gratify the great man’ s feelings, and so to get the lost man saved. 5. From the style of the apostle’ s address a lesson shines, sending out its light beams, teaching two opposite classes of men. I. For ardent Christians of every rank and especially Christians of humble station. If you are true disciples, none will dispute your nobility. If you are born again, you are high born, how low soever your place in the registers of earth. But beware of presuming upon your place and privilege. Be conscious of your defects, and meek in your deportment; be all things to all men that by all means you may save some. In particular, beware of throwing a stumbling block in the way of the noble, the rich, or the refined, by any species of rudeness. Take care lest you mistake vulgarity for faithfulness, and your ignorance for the simplicity that is in Christ. There are some near you who have not yet submitted to the gospel; their elevation makes it harder for them to bow down and go in by the strait gate. Had you stood on an equal height, perhaps you would not have been within the gate today. Be careful; what if they should turn away from Christ because of some rudeness they saw in you. Think of their peculiar difficulties; do not make them greater; take some out of the way if you can. He that winneth souls is wise. II. For the “ most noble” of every class there lies a lesson here. We frankly own that there are nobles among men. We address our chiefs, as Paul addressed Festus, and give the title of respect which is due. Sirs, you cherish a high sense of honour, you have a refined taste, you have exercised your understanding, and cannot pay any deference to mere assertion. Well, what follows? Great and good though these attainments be, what are you profited if you lose your soul? Strive to enter by the strait gate, for your attainments may be so worn as to imperil your salvation. Finally, beware of allowing the rudeness and other defects of those who profess to be Christians to scare you away from Christ. It will be no consolation to you if you are not saved, if you are able to convict Christians of faults. You are not asked to believe in Christians but in Christ. (W. Arnot, D. D.) Acts 26:26 This thing was not done in a corner.The publicity of Christianity I. What? Christianity in--1. Its history. (1) Its preparatory stages--patriarchal, legal, prophetic--were all enacted in the open day, and each bore public testimony to the coming Christ. (2) Its actual advent. The star guided the Magi and the heavenly host, the shepherds to the public inn where Christ was born. His first appearance was amongst a crowd in the temple; He submitted to public baptism, sought the most frequented resorts for His teaching and miracles, died and ascended in public. (3) Its subsequent progress. The apostles went into all the world, and proclaimed their message where men assembled in the largest numbers. So today the preacher and missionary desire the utmost publicity for their message. (4) Its close. The dispensation will be publicly wound up before the whole universe at the Day of Judgment. 2. Its institutions. (1) The Bible is the most public book in the world. It has a circulation which is growing with the increase of the world’ s population. Every man in his own tongue may now read the wonderful works of God. (2) Christian Churches are the most prominent features in the city street and the country landscape. (3) The weekly Sabbath. (4) The sacraments. 3. Its influence. Much of this in its working is necessarily quiet and unobtrusive, but in its effects it is most manifest. (1) On individual lives. The drunkard converted to sobriety, the thief to honesty, etc., are things not done in a corner. (2) The national life. Take what has been done by Christianity out of English civilisation, and what would be left? Witness our schools, hospitals, etc. II. Why? Because--1. There is nothing to hide. Christianity is no imposture demanding darkness for its manipulation. Being truth itself, it seeks the light. Its challenge at all times and everywhere is, “ Come and see.” 2. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Goodness courts publicity. Christianity is no evil work of darkness. It were strange indeed if with its sole aim of blessing humanity it should hide itself in a corner. 3. There is nothing to fear. Courage is ever open, whatever adversaries may be in the way. Confident of victory, Christianity threw down the gauntlet to the world, the flesh, and the devil, and has won all along the line. III. Wherefore let your light shine before men. Otherwise--1. You are out of harmony with the whole genius of Christianity. 2. Christ will publicly discard you at the great day. (J. W. Burn.)The gospel openly published 1. When our Saviour began to publish the gospel, He did not, as deceivers do, vent His new doctrines, or pretend to perform His wonders in places where there was nobody fit to oppose the one or to disprove the other. From the first He appeared publicly, and throughout the whole course of His ministry He addressed Himself constantly to multitudes, and in the most frequented parts--the streets, market places, temple and synagogues--where His life and doctrine and miracles might, by His professed enemies, be narrowly observed and examined. 2. He pitched upon such persons for the subjects of His miraculous cures whose infirmities were notorious and of a long standing; one who had been blind from his very birth; another diseased with an issue of blood twelve years; and a third troubled with a palsy for thirty-eight years; so that there could be no possible confederacy in a case where the person cured was known to have laboured under that distemper some years before our Saviour was born. 3. He so ordered the matter that some of those He healed should immediately repair to the priests, his inveterate enemies, and give them an opportunity of detecting the fraud, if there were any. 4. As He had lived, so He died in public. When buried, He had a public guard set upon His grave, and He arose from thence in the presence of that very guard, and to their astonishment. He appeared afterwards to five hundred brethren at once, to the twelve disciples frequently; ate, drank, and conversed with them for forty days, and was at last taken up into heaven in their sight by a slow and leisurely ascent. In all respects and circumstances the gospel of Christ showed itself to proceed from the great “ Father of lights, in whom is no darkness at all.” As its Founder once appealed to His disciples, and said, “ Handle Me and see,” so may the doctrine itself make a like challenge to its enemies. Learn then-- I. How great an advantage the Christian religion hath, on this account, over all other religions. Scarce any religion ever set up in the world without pretending to derive its authority from miracles. But then, either those so-called miracles have been acted confessedly in secret, or, if said to have been done in public, the account came too late to deserve credit. Mahomet boasted of receiving several chapters of his Alcoran from the angel Gabriel; and when miracles were demanded of him he at first (as his followers have done ever since) appealed to the Alcoran itself as to the greatest and most convincing miracle. The Jewish religion was indeed published by God in a very open and solemn manner. Yet still infidelity finds room to object that the truth of this revelation depends upon the testimony of friends only; and that the scene is laid in a place where nobody could be present but the persons concerned. And should any of these persons have been inclined to contradict it they could not, because they all perished in the wilderness ere a correspondence was as yet opened between them and any other people. Such objections, it is true, are of no weight, laid in the balance with the evidence given for the truth of those facts; yet it is some advantage to the proof of gospel miracles not to be liable even to those exceptions. II. How inexcusable they are who, notwithstanding that open, incontestable manner in which the Divine authority of the gospel, was manifested, continue still to stand out against it. III. The vanity of those pretences which are made to miracles in the Romish communion. A miracle is, in the nature of it, somewhat done for the conversion of infidels (1 Corinthians 14:22). And yet it so happens that Popish miracles are generally done at home, before believers, where there is little or no need of them, or if abroad, at such a convenient distance as not to lie within reach of confutation. In China and Japan these wonder workers may pretend to have done as many miracles as they please, without the fear of a discovery; in Spain and Italy they may venture, now and then, to set up for them where there are so many always ready to favour their pretences and to run into any pious fraud that can be contrived for them. But in heretical countries they are very shy and sparing of their talent this way. IV. To reject all pretences to the spirit, to private visions and inward illuminations, by which enthusiastic or designing men endeavour to establish their opinions, and to give them a sacred authority. V. How it comes to pass that miracles have been so long discontinued. They were performed at first in so conspicuous, exuberant, and convincing a manner as to render a continual repetition of the same proofs utterly needless (Luke 16:31). VI. That the more any doctrine affects secrecy and declines trials of any sort the more reason we have to suspect and to examine it (John 4:11). This reflection cannot but put us in mind of those articles of the Roman Catholic faith, by which it stands distinguished from the faith of all other Christians. We are not allowed to doubt of them, or to reason upon them. They are to be received implicitly, without any particular discussion and inquiry; from the great doctrine of infallibility they proceed, and into that they are finally resolved. Now this is the greatest prejudice imaginable against the truth of the doctrines of any Church, or the sincerity of its pretences; for if what it proposeth to us be true and reasonable, why should it decline the examination and judgment of reason? If all be true gold, without alloy, how comes it thus to fly the touchstone? It is the property of error only to skulk and hide its head; but truth, we know, is open and barefaced, like our first parents, in the state of innocence and happiness, naked, but not ashamed. VII. To make our practice of the gospel, like the first proofs of it, conspicuous and plain; and endeavour, with all our power, to recommend the doctrine we embrace to the hearts of men, as openly and powerfully by our good lives and actions as the first planters of it did by their miraculous performances. So shall we best put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and be able, in the most convincing and effectual manner, to make an answer to our blasphemers. (Bp. Atterbury.) Acts 26:27-29 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? Paul before Agrippa 1. Agrippa may know the prophets, and still not know Him of whom the prophets testify. An acquaintance with Christ’ s forerunners or an intimacy with Christ’ s followers is not an acquaintance with Christ Himself. 2. Agrippa may even believe the prophets without believing on Christ. Many a man thus accepts Christ impliedly and rejects Him practically. 3. Agrippa, like many another unbeliever, dismisses this most important matter with a flippant remark. How many souls have been lost by just such unwillingness to be candid with the truth! 4. Paul is dead in earnest, however flippant Agrippa may be. Christ’ s followers cannot afford to answer sneer with sneer, or jest with jest. The question of a soul’ s salvation is a supremely serious matter. 5. Paul is willing to do little or to do much to win a soul for Christ. Too many of Christ’ s followers have manifested a strong preference for doing little toward that end. 6. Paul knew he was better off than Agrippa and his court, despite their rank and freedom. Envy is a decidedly unchristian quality--the true Christian has nothing to envy. 7. Paul was not vindicated--he vindicated himself. That the Christian must ever do if it is done at all. He can employ no defence so strong as self-defence. He can present no plea so convincing as that of his own walk and conversation in presence of the scornful Festus and sneering Agrippa. 8. Paul vindicated Christ’ s cause in vindicating himself. In every Christian’ s enterprises Christ is a partner, and His credit gains or suffers according as the human partner does his best or his worst. (S. S. Times.)Paul before Agrippa, or Christianity in contact with the unconverted heart of one professing to believe in a revelation. I. In what circumstances do such cases occur?1. There are those who, like Agrippa, have been favoured with a religious education, and who have no serious doubt of the truth or value of revealed religion. They have been often almost ready to take the decisive step; almost persuaded to come out from the world, and to give themselves to God. 2. Those who, by argument, have been convinced of the truths of religion. He that was a sceptic is now “ almost” persuaded to be a Christian. He may now be appealed to, as Paul appealed to Agrippa, on the ground of his belief that the Bible is a revelation from God. 3. Those who have been brought to see their personal sinfulness and their need of a Saviour. 4. Those who are visited with calamity, and who are then almost persuaded to be Christians. II. Why persons in this state of mind do not carry out their convictions and become altogether Christians.1. The love of some particular sin. In one it may be pride; in another, ambition; in another, sensuality; in another, covetousness. Many a resolution may have been made in regard to this sin; many a purpose may have been formed to forsake it; many other sins may have been relinquished; but this one the man has never been quite willing to forsake; this one has prevented, still prevents, and may prevent forever his surrendering himself to God. 2. The love of the world. I refer to the love of office, distinction, fashion, gaiety. This is often avowed as the reason why the heart is not wholly devoted to religion, but it is oftener felt than avowed. 3. The fear of shame. That this was one of the reasons which prevented Agrippa from becoming altogether a Christian is more than possible. 4. A desire to be free from the restraints and obligations of religion. Such a man does not purpose to live in open sin; he does not intend to be regarded as an infidel. But he desires to be more free in his pursuits than if he were bound by the obligations of Church membership. III. The proper grounds of appeal to be made to persons who are in this state of mind.1. The state of mind itself. In the case of Agrippa, it was not needful for Paul to speak as if he had been addressing a heathen. Though Agrippa’ s faith did not extend to the point that Jesus was the predicted Messiah, yet the main difficulty was overcome; and it seemed to Paul, if the fact was admitted that the prophets were inspired, there was but a step to the conclusion that Jesus was indeed the Christ. It is hardly necessary to remark that there must be a great difference between approaching a sceptical mind, and a mind speculatively convinced of the truth of the Bible. In the former case, all the work is to be done from the foundation. In the latter case, as in that of Agrippa, we have only to ask men to carry out in all honesty the convictions of their own minds. 2. We may appeal on the ground of consistency. They avow all, in the understanding, which we ask them to receive in the heart. Admitting the truth of the Bible, they admit the fact of their own depravity; the need of regeneration, of repentance, of faith, the doctrine of the atonement, the claims of a Saviour, the obligations of prayer and of holy living. If they would simply act out their own admitted principles, all that we seek to secure would be gained. To all such we say, Your reason, your conscience, your judgment are on the side of religion; and we merely ask you to carry out these admissions and convictions. In the conduct of the infidel there is a melancholy consistency. The sceptical sensualist and voluptuary is only carrying out his principles when he says, “ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” But is this consistent for a man who believes that there is a God; that he himself has an immortal soul; that he is made to be a religious being; that he must live forever; that a Saviour died to redeem him; and that man’ s great interests are beyond the grave? 3. A third ground of appeal is that their own guilt and danger must be increased by the fact of their admitting these obligations while yet practically disregarding them. (1) Guilt is always augmented by light and knowledge, and by the fact that a man is neglecting what he knows and admits to be duty and truth. (2) Can there be any doubt that danger, too, is augmented by a man’ s knowing his duty, and his being unwilling to perform it? Danger always follows guilt, and the one is commensurate with the other (Matthew 11:23-24; Luke 13:34-35; Proverbs 1:24-26; Proverbs 29:1). (A. Barnes, D. D.)Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.--Almost persuaded I. How does one become almost persuaded? Various motives influence us to seek religion. Early training is a powerful motive. Good men, books, institutions--as the prayer meeting, the Sabbath--are so many voices calling us to Christ. We are placed in special circumstances of poverty, sickness, danger. Some, untouched by other motives, are shaken by revival. Yet this is only the lesser part of the explanation of the actual persuasion of a sinner; in these influences is no adequate account of a phenomenon so extraordinary. While one is agitated, why are others wholly unmoved? But one explanation can be given. The power which operates through so many various channels is the personal energy of the Holy Ghost. Note some of the motives through which the Spirit works.1. The ruling motive with many is fear, characterised by some as an unworthy influence. Yet how many have been driven to Christ! And is it unreasonable for a person in a burning house to be frightened by fire into frantic efforts to escape? 2. Some, again, are moved by love. A little child had clambered out at a window, made its perilous way along the edge of the roof, and seated itself with its feet in the eaves spout. There its father, coming up the street, heard the baby voice, and saw the hands reach eagerly towards him. As he stood paralysed with terror, expecting every instant to see the wee thing topple over into the court below, he saw the mother standing in the window, pale, but smiling and reaching. He saw the child turn. It delayed. That was a frightful moment. But love prevailed. Slowly, on hands and knees, it crept up the steep roof as if upon the parlour floor. A swift clasp, and it was safe. Love is ever holding men back, as they stand on the perilous edge of the abyss, drawing them towards the reaching Saviour. If they yield, a swift, outstretching clasp, and they are saved. 3. Others are principally affected by calm and rational exhibitions of truth. It is not strange that this should be so. Though the preacher had no special aptness in appeals to fear or love, well might this message move by its own weight. II. What is the value of this word “ almost” in its connection?1. It indicates a hopeful condition. It is a great advance upon indifference. But what Security does it give against relapse into deeper indifference? The expression is, “ in little.” In a little time, a little space, going a little further, a little more, you would persuade me. The great difficulties are overcome. Almost, with a little additional persuasion, the heart would yield. 2. We shall further see the value of “ almost” in regarding some of those who have been almost persuaded. How many of the antediluvians were moved by Noah’ s faithful appeals! How many half-finished arks were lifted from the stocks by the rising waters of the flood--the work of the almost persuaded! Lot’ s wife, Pharaoh, the rich young ruler, who would not give up his property; the foolish virgins; Herod, who after all had John beheaded; Judas, who after all betrayed Jesus; Pilate, who confessed His innocence, and gave Him up; and Felix, who trembled; these are but a few out of the great army of the almost persuaded. To be only almost persuaded is to be lost. III. Why is it only “ almost” persuaded? The answer is simple. The sinner will not submit to God.1. Some claim to need more light. There are those with whom this is a genuine difficulty. It is never a sufficient excuse, however genuine. But if it were, it is not the hindrance of the almost persuaded. All the great gospel truths they know. 2. Others profess to need leisure to think of religion. Of many, it is true. The want of a little leisure imperils multitudes of souls. But this is not the want of the almost persuaded. They have passed the need of leisure. They have an immediate duty. It requires not time, but decision. 3. There are some who profess to need more stirring appeals. Sometimes, it may be, a powerful preacher, a revivalist, is needed, through whom the blessings denied to other labourers may be obtained. But not by the almost persuaded. If it were powerful preaching that would make the almost an altogether, Paul would have succeeded and Christ would never have wept over Jerusalem. (G. R. Leavitt.)Almost persuaded The language of the king was the language of a scornful and contemptuous rejection of the idea that he could become Christian. “ Am I to sink to so low a condition as that?” The two words rendered “ almost” mean “ in a short time,” or “ with little effort,” i.e., easily. This was the most critical moment in Agrippa’ s life. He was challenged by the apostle; he answered with a sneer. I. How unexpected and sudden is the coming of the decisive hour of destiny and Divine visitation.1. Herod Agrippa came to Caesarea on a visit of ceremony and pleasure. The prisoner offered a diversion in the midst of the gaiety. The king’ s presence gave a chance to Festus of extricating himself from a dilemma, for he did not know how to state a case. It never entered into their minds that the hour spent in hearing Paul would be an hour big with destiny. Agrippa was called to decide not the prisoner’ s fate, but his own. Forty years after he died as he had lived. 2. The mode in which the gospel was presented to him in the experience of Paul illustrates the same principle. With the same suddenness, at the height of his fame, Paul was called to decide his own fate. Now the persecutor is the persecuted preacher of the faith he once destroyed. 3. It is the same still. All life may be called a day of visitation, but there are also opportunities of a richer, rarer kind, in which we receive calls more express, solemn, weighty, decisive. II. How near God’ s grace may come to a man only to be rejected. Paul made a favourable impression on Agrippa, but the spiritual testimony was disdainfully rejected. How often is this history repeated.1. There are those who are brought to acknowledge the reasonableness of Christianity, but who yet reject it as the spiritual rule of their lives. Persuasion has overpowered the intellect, but it has not overcome the pride of the heart. 2. There are those who acknowledge all Divine revelation and the marvellous beauty of the gentle life, who yet stand aloof from it and reject its grace. This does not arise from pride and self-sufficiency, but from a mean and degraded clinging to the fleshly lusts which war against the soul. 3. There are those who have neither doubts nor pride nor gross habits overcoming their convictions who yet do not become decided Christians. Some were impressed when young, but their impressions have become like the morning cloud. Subsequent impressions fare no better. The reason for this lies in the wilful waywardness of disposition. Conclusion: Almost a Christian is the equivalent of not. Almost stands without and loses all Christianity’ s inestimable boons. (W. H. Davison.)To those who are almost persuaded I. The great object of the Christian minister’ s persuasions. The apostle never persuaded Agrippa to be almost a Christian. Agrippa never was an almost-Christian, his life and character displayed a spirit very far removed from that condition. There is a great difference between being almost a Christian and being almost persuaded to be a Christian. A man who is almost an artist knows something of painting, but a man almost persuaded to be an artist may not even know the names of the colours. The preaching of the gospel minister should always have soul winning for its object. May it never be an object of ours to dazzle and astonish, but to persuade you to be Christians. Neither would the apostle have been content if he could have persuaded Agrippa to take the name of a Christian, or to be baptized as a Christian. His object was, that he might in very deed be a Christian. To seem is nothing, but to be is everything. Thus should we labour in seeking converts; the adoption of a certain dress or mode of speech is little; union with our denomination is almost as unimportant; the true embracing of Jesus as the Saviour of men is the vital matter. If you desire a definition of a Christian, the apostle has given you it in verse 18. II. The apostolic manner of persuading.1. Paul made constant appeals to Scripture. This ought to be a powerful argument with you. You believe the Bible to be true, and the Bible says that it is your highest wisdom to be a follower of Christ. If you did not believe the Bible, no argument drawn from it could have any force with you; but granted that you accept it as God’ s Word, as Agrippa did, the apostolic form of reasoning from that Word ought to persuade your hearts. 2. His persuasion of Agrippa lay mainly in his personal testimony to the power of grace in his own soul. Personal testimony ought always to weigh with men. Convince me that a man is honest, and then if he bears witness to facts which are matters of his own personal consciousness, not merely the gleanings of hearsay, I am bound to believe him; and especially if his testimony be backed up by others. A great part of the preaching of every Christian minister should lie in his bearing his personal testimony to what Christ has done for him. 3. He made a clear statement of the gospel (verse 23). Where the gospel statement is clearly given, even if no reasoning is used, it will, under God, frequently convince, for it is so marvellously self-evidencing. 4. He did not close until he had made a home appeal to Agrippa. “ King Agrippa,” said he , “ believest thou the prophets?” The minister must know how to take the scaling ladder, and fix it against the wall of the conscience, and climb it sword in hand, to meet the man face to face in sacred duel, for the capture of his heart. III. The differing degrees of success attending such persuasions. How did Paul succeed.1. Note that he failed with Festus, one of the most respectable of the Roman governors, the type of those common-sense people, who are very practical, very fond of facts, who consider nothing to be worth their thoughts that has anything like sentiment in it, or that deals with abstract truth. “ Thou art beside thyself.” Wherever the gospel is preached there are people who say, “ Toleration--by all means; and if people like to believe this, or that, well let them believe it. We have more practical and rational business to attend to.” If such men bring grief to the preacher nowadays, he must not marvel, for such was Paul’ s burden in his day. 2. Now let us turn to Agrippa, a man of very different mould. He had always taken an interest in religious questions. He was sprung of a family that, with all their frightful vices, had trembled before the voice of prophecy and Scripture, and like the Herod who heard John gladly, he listened with great attention and interest to Paul. As he weighed the arguments, he felt that there was a great; deal to be said for Paul’ s view of the question. He did not half know but what Paul might be right. Still he had an “ if.” He would rather not think that the prisoner before him was better informed than he, or that such stem teaching demanded obedience from him, and, therefore, he closed the discourse with a remark intended to be pleasing to the orator, and he went his way. Oh, these Agrippas! I would almost sooner deal with Festus, for I know what Festus means, and one of these days it may be, the Lord will direct an arrow between the joints of Festus’ s harness; but Agrippa deceives me; he is a fair blossom that never knits, and so turns not to fruit; he is almost persuaded. 3. I wonder whether in Paul’ s congregation there was a third sort of hearer! Perhaps while Paul was failing with Festus and disappointed with Agrippa, there sat somewhere in the back seats a centurion, or a private soldier, or a Jewish ruler, upon whom the truth was falling like dew, and into whose heart it was being received as the ocean absorbs the falling shower. IV. Why the half-convinced hearer was only “ almost persuaded.” It was not the fault of the preacher’ s matter or manner. Nothing could have been more powerful in either case. Where, then, did the fault lie?1. On the right hand of Agrippa was a very excellent reason why he is not convinced, for there sat Bernice. The reason why sinners are not persuaded is, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, their love of sin! Bernice was beyond all doubt a shameless woman. Agrippa’ s public and ostentatious associating with her proved at least that he was in evil company. This is quite sufficient to account for his never being altogether persuaded to be a Christian. Evil company is one of Satan’ s great nets in which he holds his birds until the time shall come for their destruction. 2. Then there was the influence of Festus. If Festus calls Paul mad, Agrippa must not go the length of being persuaded. How could he go and dine with the governor if he became quite convinced? What would Festus say? “ Ah! two madmen! Is Agrippa also beside himself?” Alas, how many are influenced by fear of men! 3. Do you not think, too, that Paul himself had something to do with it? Not that he was to blame in the case, but he wore decorations which were not of a pleasing character to a man of Agrippa’ s taste. Though better than golden ornaments were his chains, Paul seems to have perceived that Agrippa was shocked at Christianity in that peculiar garb, for he said, “ Except these bonds.” It often happens that looking abroad upon the sorrows of God’ s people, ungodly men refuse to take their portion with them. They find that righteous men are frequently sneered at, and they cannot run the risk of such inconvenience. Oh that men were wise enough to see that suffering for Christ is honour, that the truest dignity rests in wearing the chain upon the arm rather than endure the chain upon the soul! V. The evil that will follow upon being “ almost persuaded.”1. He misses altogether the blessing which full persuasion would have brought him. A passenger was almost persuaded not to trust his life in a leaky ship, but he did so and perished. A merchant was almost persuaded not to have shares in a bubble speculation, but he bought the scrip, and his estate went down. A person exceedingly ill heard of a remedy, and he was almost persuaded to take it, but he did not, and therefore the disease grew worse and worse. You cannot have the blessing by being almost persuaded to have it. Your hunger cannot be appeased by almost eating, nor your thirst quenched by almost drinking. 2. He contracts additional guilt. A person has rebelled against the government, but he is afterwards very sorry for it, and he asks forgiveness; let mercy have free course. But another has been shown the impolicy of treason; he has seen the evil of taking up arms against the commonwealth, and he has been almost persuaded to be loyal. I say when he becomes a rebel, he is a traitor with a vengeance, to whom no mercy can be shown. The man who is almost persuaded to be honest, and yet deliberately becomes a thief, is a rogue ingrain. 3. To have been almost persuaded will lead to endless regrets. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The danger of indecision in religion I. It is of no avail to be only almost persuaded. The almost persuaded sinner is still at an infinite remove from salvation. II. The guilt and danger of the sinner are enhanced by being only almost persuaded. Agrippa lost his one opportunity. III. Eternity will be greatly embittered by such an experience as Agrippa’ s in this life. It immensely aggravates a loss to know that it might have been avoided. (Homiletic Review.)St. Paul before Agrippa That his could not be enthusiasm two arguments plainly prove:--1. An enthusiast’ s delusion would naturally have fallen in with the state of his excited feelings. It is contrary to all our experience of human nature. An enthusiastic Pharisee, instead of imagining he had received a commission to preach Christ Jesus, would have been persuaded of the contrary, and would have been more and more confirmed in his zeal and bitterness against it. 2. We find that the persons who accompanied him, the officers of justice, were all strongly affected with the miraculous vision. And now to bring this subject home to ourselves. Let us contrast this conduct of Agrippa with that of many professing Christians of our own day, whose only distinguishing mark of Christianity is their name. Let us take, for instance, the proud, self-conceited man, puffed up in his own wisdom and fancied superiority to his fellow creatures, arrogantly assuming to himself the right of sitting in judgment upon the actions and counsels of God; daring to call in question the wisdom of the Almighty, and rejecting whatsoever his limited understanding is not able fully to comprehend; a ray of light flashes into his mind, and makes the darkness visible to him, in which he is enveloped: he is on the point of conviction--he is almost persuaded to be a Christian. But here, like Agrippa, he pauses: his vanity takes the alarm, his pride steps in, the ridicule of the world--all, all conspire to resist the convictions of truth. Or, again, let us view the ambitious and worldly-minded man--the slave of this world’ s goods, whose god is upon earth, who bows down before the idol of vanity or the god of Mammon, who is in the way to the acquisition of power, or is storing up his goods for many years. He may have been awakened to a sense of the insubstantiality of all this world can afford. Like Agrippa, he too is almost persuaded to become a disciple of Christ. But here, perhaps, the tempter assails him; “ shows him the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them” ; promises him honours and wealth; represents that the service of Christ is hard, that His doctrines are humiliating. Mammon is preferred to Christ. Or let us take the sensualist--the man of riot and extravagance and mirth and debauchery, sunk in the lusts of the flesh, “ whose god,” in the emphatic language of Scripture, “ is his belly” ; one of those foolish, miserable beings, who exclaim, “ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” In the midst of his sensual course he perhaps has been suddenly arrested by the effects of his follies. But then he must give up his beloved sin; then he must wash him and be clean. “ This is too much,” his depraved heart begins to exclaim; this is too great a sacrifice for him. (J. B. Smith.)The almost Christian Let us-- I. Delineate the character of the almost Christian. He may--1. Have much speculative knowledge of religious truths. 2. Have great and splendid spiritual gifts. 3. Make a high profession of religion, unite himself visibly with the Church, and be frequent in the worship of God. 4. In some degree mourn for his sin, from the common operations of the Spirit upon his mind, and from a fear of the wrath of God. 5. Have some desires of grace, and of the blessings which God communicates to His children. II. Inquire what is still wanting to such a man? I answer, Everything that radically forms the Christian. He wants--1. The Holy Ghost to dwell within him, for “ If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” 2. That new birth by which he must be made spiritual. 3. Deep humility of heart. 4. The life of faith. 5. That serious belief of the world to come, which causes the soul to take it as its happiness and treasure. 6. A universal hatred to all known sin, and an actual victory over it. 7. Unfeigned love to a life of holiness; a delight to meditate on the law of God, with an intention to obey it. Conclusion: These are solemn truths, let us be led by them--1. To examine our own state. Professors of the religion of Jesus, are you real, or only almost Christians? 2. Salvation is not so easily obtained as the men of the world imagine. “ Strive, therefore, to enter in at the strait gate,” etc. 3. If those that advance so far shall perish, what shall be the doom of the openly profane? (H. Kollock, D. D.)Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian Unhopeful was the way in which King Agrippa came to hear the message from his God. St. Paul accordingly, throughout his appeal to the king, refers to his own experience. Who knows but that Agrippa too might have obeyed, that his “ almost” might have been “ altogether” a Christian? Agrippa believed in the prophets. He must have heard, in some measure, how manifoldly their words were fulfilled in our Lord. He could not then but suspect that Jesus might be the Christ. How, then, does he come to hear the apostle deliver what he must have known might be a message from his God? He came as a judge of Him who shall be his Judge. “ I also would hear the man myself.” Outwardly, he seemed to be judging the apostle; in deed and in truth, he was judging Christ. He came, associated with his sister Bernice, a shame to her sex, of whose sin he was thought to be partaker, to hear the message of the All-Holy God. He came, in great pomp, to hear of Him who, being God, humbled Himself to become man. Thus, fenced around and guarded from the access of the truth Agrippa heard the apostle of truth, as a civil judge, impartially. He bore him witness, which might do credit to a Christian judge, if he had to stem the tide of popular clamour and popular injustice. “ This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” So far from its being any gain to a soul to have been, or to be, “ almost a Christian,” far better, if it stop there, never to have heard the name of Christ. Whatever light a man has, that very light, if he come not wholly to Christ, is his condemnation. The greater the light, the deeper the damnation. Once more, increase of light, if rejected, increases condemnation. “ If I had not come and spoken to them,” saith our Lord, “ they had not had sin, but now they have no cloke for their sin.” Who then, you ask, are these “ almost persuaded to be a Christian” ? I will ask you, in turn, Who or what is a Christian? You will say readily, “ He who believes in Christ, who loves Christ, hopes in Him, and obeys Him; and that, with all his mind and soul and strength, owning no other Lord, but only Christ.” Then I must say to you, whoso wilfully falls short of this, in faith, or love, or obedience, is not a Christian, is hanging on only to Christianity. Whatever that thing is which holds him back from that complete self-surrender, that it is which hinders him from being “ altogether” a Christian. The hindrance may be in faith or life, from the world or the flesh. In faith thou mayest be “ almost persuaded to be a Christian,” but as yet art none if thou wilfully withhold thy belief from any doctrine which God has revealed. The world will tempt you in this way, if it have not already tempted you. The world is the enemy of the gospel, in faith as well as in life. Tolerant of every form of error, it is intolerant of the exclusive claim of truth. It bears with all “ opinions,” it hates faith. And so there are afloat hundreds of Christianities. You have Christianity without Judaism, Christianity without facts, Christianity without doctrines, Christianity without anything supernatural, Christianity which shall only be an “ idea,” Christianity with fallible apostles, fallible prophets (alas! that one must give utterance to the blasphemy), a fallible Christ! In life there are more ways in which a person may be almost persuaded to be a Christian, and yet not be a Christian, because there are more varied ways of self-deceit. But, for the most part, those who are almost persuaded to be Christians have much, often very much, in common with Christians; only this is mostly nature, temperament, feeling, not grace, or if it be grace, it is grace admitted only for a time, to be thrust or jostled out afterwards. What more common than for a man to hope well for himself because he wishes to turn to God hereafter? If thou desirest to turn to God hereafter, then thou bearest witness against thyself that thou art not His now. Again, no man has all temptations. Compared to the very bad, the young may think themselves, at least, passing good. They have not had time to become altogether bad. Nay, they have many fine fresh feelings, warm hearts, generous purposes; zeal, at least, against what is base, or (perhaps) for the good of others and against evil, These very things, if you look at them and build upon them, will lead to the most fatal self-deceits. Your trial does not lie in them. These things, too, will become corrupted and debased hereafter, if you flatter yourselves as to them, and neglect your real trial. The main trial of each of you lies in one single thing, your master passion. When you take account of yourselves, or when conscience smites you for having again yielded to your master sin, he would persuade you to look away from it, and would suggest to you that you are kind-hearted, or gentle, or noble-minded, generous, soon-for-giving, or the like. As if one, sick of consumption, were to think well of himself because his heart was sound; or one dying of fever were to hope for life because he had no atrophy! Fear of the world and of man’ s opinion is thy bane. Fear of the world is stronger in thee than the love of God. Break off from society which is too strong for thy better self. This weakness is it which hinders thee from being altogether a Christian. Hast thou, in earlier days, allowed thy imagination to be corrupted. Or didst thou allow some wrong habit to grow over thee, which, although it may not injure others, thou didst afterwards, when it had gained strength, learn to be deadly sin? Or dost thou allow sloth to creep over thee? Or despisest thou truth, when it suiteth thee, in exaggeration, to give life to thy conversation, or to avoid some serape or some passing shame, or to exalt thyself? Or does vanity and love of personal appearance or the wish to vie with those of larger means tempt thee to contract debts which thou canst not pay, and knowest not how thou ever wilt pay? Called by this name thou couldest not say that such an one as thou art is a Christian. Whatever it be of these or other sins, as pride, anger, covetousness, which thou wilfully and habitually choosest, thou must give up thy sin or thou givest up God, thou must in will and deed renounce thy sin or thou renouncest Christ. Seemeth it to you a hard thing that any one of these things can hinder thee from being owned in God’ s sight as a Christian? Is it a hard thing that God who created thee, redeemed thee, sanctified thee, hath set His love upon thee, and will not have from thee less than thy whole self? God loveth with no half-love. Thou wouldest not, thyself, have any half-love. Let God or thyself be thy measure to thyself. If God has dealt with thee by halves, if Christ half-died for thee, if God, who is love, half-loveth thee, if Satan or the world half-created thee, then requite God with His own, then do thou halve with God; then half love God, half the world: then be half a Christian. Then, when you have tried it, you will know how sweet, peaceful, joyous a thing it is; wholly, without reserve to have surrendered yourself to the loving will of God. As a half-Christian, you have neither the miserable, feverish joys of the world, nor the solid, peaceful joy in God. Only entire self-surrender, only full obedience has joy in God. (E. B. Pusey.)A Christian To be religious is one thing, to be a Christian is another. In this country, as in other countries, there is very much of religiousness which is not Christianity. I. What is a Christian? A man may be an ecclesiastic without being a Christian. In answering the question, What is a Christian? my private opinion and yours are not of any authority. We must go to the New Testament; there is no other authority for the Christian religion than that which we have in the New Testament. A Christian is one who has accepted Jesus Christ as the basis of his faith and the rule of his life. In one aspect Christ Jesus is the foundation on which a man builds; in another aspect He is a law according to which a man thinks and feels. The man brings his thought, that is to say, and his feeling to the test of what he finds in Christ Jesus. This Christ, therefore, becomes the law of his thought and of his feeling, and when anyone adopts Jesus Christ as the law of his thought and feeling, he is undoubtedly a Christian--a Christian not by heredity, but by his own individuality. Life is made up of these two things, thought and feeling. There is nothing else in life but that in the last analysis. As in the material body, if I were speaking physiologically, I might talk about the blood and its circulation, remembering that the life is in the blood, when I had said all that was needful about the blood and all that was possible, someone might say: “ That is a very strange thing, for a man to be talking solely about the blood; you would suppose there were no veins, no arteries, no muscles, no bones, no lungs, no brains” ; yet, mark you, if I had talked exhaustively about that one thing, the blood that is in the human body, everything essential would have been said upon all these things; so it is in theology. II. Ought I to be a Christian? This is the question for every man to whom Jesus Christ is preached. That word “ ought” is a serious word; it suggests obligation. Am I under obligation to be a Christian? How are we to determine what obligation rests upon a man? I think we must investigate the man himself; we must explore his nature; we must try to find out what design there is hidden in that nature, for every organism carries in it a suggestion of the end for which it was intended. If I look at a hippopotamus, for instance, I know perfectly well that the huge, heavy creature was not intended to do the work of a thoroughbred horse. Now, when I ask the question, Ought I to be a Christian? the answer must be hidden away in my nature. When I study Jesus, and all that He is, and all that is said about Him, and His relation to God and to man, and put it alongside the necessities of my nature, then, and not till then, do I find out that not more accurately does the die seem fitted to the seal than Christ Jesus to my necessities. I am forced to the conclusion that constitutionally we are made to be Christians. Our manhood was fore-ordained by God to take on the type we call Christian. A Christian cannot be made in an hour, nor in a day, nor in twenty days. It is thought that Christianity is something added to the original man, something not essential, something ornamental--clothing, polish, painting, or gilt of some kind--but that a man is a man without it. No, not in God’ s idea. When God said, “ Let us make man,” He meant a Christian. But this I say, that a man who has all the light necessary to be a Christian, all the facilities and opportunities for it, and is not a Christian, that man makes a violent arrest of himself at a line which doubts and dishonours God. It all depends on the direction in which a man’ s face is set, as to whether he is increasing and multiplying in the quality and quantity of his life or not. A man has no right to say, “ Thus far will I go and no farther.” No man has a right to say how far he will go along the line of Divine allegiance. Whenever a man or woman nurtured under the illumination of Christian principles and facts stops short of voluntary Christian discipleship, there is a self-willed arrestment of development, and the nature becomes deformed and dwarfed; it does not grow in well-balanced relation of one part to another. All parts of the nature ought to move together. Christianity gives us the June atmosphere in which souls grow into strength and beauty. You know perfectly well you cannot grow roses in a December atmosphere. You cannot grow souls in an atmosphere of atheism; you cannot grow souls in an atmosphere of materialism; you can grow animals; you can grow devils; but you cannot grow Christian souls. Now it is needful to recognise that a man may be a Christian disciple without having attained to Christian character; otherwise we may do great injustice to men and women, and especially to children and young people. III. When is anyone a Christian? The answer in its fulness would be, of course, when he has a Christian character. But is not he a Christian till then? Is not a man a Christian when he begins to belt? Am I not on the journey the very first step that I take? Am I not a pupil the first hour I spend in the school? Am I not a student as soon as my will is fixed to be one? Am I not in England the very first moment I put my fool on its soil? Most assuredly. I say a man is a Christian when he is willing to be one. “ Willing” implies choice. It is more than desire. There are many people who say, “ I desire to be a Christian” ; but there is a great difference between desire and will. Really and truly, when the will is converted the man is converted. What is Christian character? It has three features which dominate it. They are expressed in those three familiar but profound words--faith, hope, love. Where there is no love there is no God. “ He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.” Then we ask a supplementary question--Ought not all life to be nurtured under the most congenial conditions? Is there a place so suited to the nurture of the Christian life as the Church? Is not that its design, its intention? Ought not its atmosphere to be a compound of love and light? There is but one answer to these questions. But there are some persons who are converted intellectually--that is to say, they cannot bring any argument against Christianity that can stand. There are others who are converted as to feeling. They feel all right--that is to say, one day they do, and the next they do not. Feeling is the most unreliable thing for a foundation you can possibly have. What we want is the will to choose Christ definitely and openly. Why do not Christian disciples all do this? There are some persons who desire other things much more than Christ and His salvation. Oh, when God looks upon man’ s excuses for not being a Christian, they will be as the frost on the window pane; when the sun looks upon it, it all vanishes. I never was more impressed with this fact of the necessity sometimes of refusing all argumentation, and putting the Christ of God and the truth of God simply before the human mind, than I was some months ago when I went to see an old lady who was ninety-two years of age. Her niece told me that she had lived all that long life of hers with a kind of religiousness; she sometimes read her Bible; but she had been of a very fault-finding disposition, and would always turn to those parts of the Bible where there were threatenings, never regarding the promises at all. She never looked upon those passages that are full of love and the light that are in Jesus Christ, but always searched for the difficulties. That is the way some people have. If she could find a difficulty anywhere she would hunt it, like a huntsman a fox, until she caught it and flourished up the brush before the minds of others who came into contact with her. The young lady had read a printed volume of mine, and she came and asked me what she could do. I said, “ I cannot tell unless I go and see her.” She said, “ She lives four miles away” ; but I said, “ I must see her,” and when I saw this old lady of ninety-two. I said to her, “ I have heard from your niece something about you; I have an hour to stay: I give you half an hour to tell me all you have to tell; the other half will legitimately belong to me.” She began and told me about her religious experience, and how she stumbled at this, that, and the other text in the Bible, and about the books she had read, and it all amounted to not seeing, not doing, not believing. When she got through, I said, “ Your half hour is up. The first thing I will ask you is this, Whether you do not think you have had stumbling enough for these ninety-two years, and have hunted difficulties long enough? You are not to argue with me and not to speak. You have told me about your sinfulness; I have heard it all. Nothing has happened to you but that which is common to man and woman; but now I am going to charge you at ninety-two years of age with a sin greater than anything you have confessed: it is the sin of going through that Bible time in and time out, year in and year out and never seeing a passage like this and appreciating it: ‘ God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should have everlasting life’ ; ‘ He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.’” I prayed with her, and then I said, “ Good morning. God bless you! I do not suppose I shall see you again in this world, but remember what I have told you.” The next Friday evening prayer meeting came, and I said to her niece, “ How is the old lady?” “ Oh, I have had such a week as I never had in my lifetime! I do not believe she has grumbled once.” The third Friday evening meeting came, and I said, “ Well, how is our old lady?” “ She went from us this morning, rejoicing in God’ s eternal love; and she left this message for you: ‘ Just tell him that if in my ninety-two years of life I had done so much good to my fellow creatures as he did in one hour, I should thank God.’” (R. Thomas.)The almost Christian 1. The scene before us is a meeting between the old world and Christ’ s new kingdom. Here, on the one side, were the solemn insignia of the mighty Roman empire, by which it had subdued the world; and with these all the pomp of royal magnificence: and on the other, the apostle, with nothing which the unenlightened eye could trace, beyond that ardent zeal which might spring from the holding fast some master truth, or which might be the fanatical delusion of a brain-sick enthusiast. 2. Such was the outside aspect of that day. But for the unsealed eye how much lay beneath it! how much was there for the eager gaze of those unfallen ministers of God’ s will who watch the unfolding of His purposes of love in their continual strife with moral evil! What issues hung upon that hour! Once, at least, the message of the gospel reached this Roman governor. Festus and Agrippa must accept it or declare against it; they cannot be neutrals; they are singled out for this high trial. And by one of these, at least, that struggle was acknowledged. To enter into it we must have clearly before us what was the state of Agrippa’ s mind. 3. His half-Jewish descent, and his knowledge of the Jewish Scripture, had undoubtedly prepared him for the apostle’ s teaching. Then, again, he was still young, and the whirlpools of indulged passion had not yet utterly polluted the currents of his life. There was within him still the tenderness of a youthful heart; the volcano’ s fires had not yet blazed fiercely forth, to leave upon his soul, after their tumultuous outbreak, the hard crust of sensuality or the bitter ashes of a low ambition. And young as he was, life had looked in upon his soul in some of its sterner and more appalling characters. The career of the great founder of his line showed to those within the circle the signs of unrelieved suspicious misery, and had notoriously ended in a death of agony. The wretched life and violent end of Aristobulus must have been familiar to him: and, but just before, in the full splendour of its midday brightness, his father’ s reign had abruptly ended, with the startling accidents of sudden and exceeding suffering. And he could not but note the uncertainty of such dependent sovereignty as his, which, at a moment, the people’ s violence, or the emperor’ s caprice, might turn into the dungeon, exile, or the scaffold. 4. Thus prepared by outward circumstance, he listened to the words of Paul; he was brought beneath the influence of the Holy Spirit. To a certain degree his in most soul answered to the call. New, strange wishes were rising in his heart. The Mighty One was brooding over its currents, was stirring up its tides, was fain to overrule their troubled flow. And he himself was evidently conscious of the struggle; he was almost won; he well-nigh yielded. 5. What the issue was, we know. The world was too strong within him. We meet him again no more in Holy Writ. Like ships which, when night is spread over the sea, emerge for a moment from the darkness as they cross the pathway of the moonbeams, and then are lost in the utter gloom, so was it with him. He stands before us here in the brightness of that light of truth which fell upon him for a season, and then he passes out of sight into the thick shadows of a merely worldly life. We know, therefore, little farther of him; but miserable is that little both for him and for Bernice. Such was the issue of great opportunities neglected; of God’ s merciful intentions wilfully resisted; of self-chosen darkness in the midst of light; of the world’ s conquest in his heart. For it was this which made his ear deaf to the heavenly message. It is clear that, to a certain extent, he did count the cost; so much his words distinctly intimate. He did see the freedom and the blessedness which was within his reach; he was almost persuaded to lay hold of them: that which stood between him and them was manifestly the necessary sacrifice which he must make to be a Christian. His Jewish prejudices, his Idumaean throne, his youthful passions, his mounting ambition, the ties of family, the frown of society--all stood between him and this bright and blessed life which now rose before him. He felt that he must make a choice, and he made the wrong choice. Perhaps, like Felix, he waited for fuller convictions and a more convenient season: perhaps he meant, when he was older and had enjoyed somewhat fuller draughts of pleasure, when he had secured some farther step upon the ladder of his hopes, then to listen to this voice of wisdom. Perhaps he thought that his peculiar situation would excuse his putting by the message; that he was not to be judged by ordinary rules, or tried by the common measure of all men. By some such decent falsehood he no doubt stilled the unquietness of an awakened conscience. But, in doing this, he put salvation from him. He chose for time--he chose for eternity. He was almost a member of His kingdom, amongst whose first laws these are written plain: “ He that is not with Me is against Me” ; “ Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” Agrippa was but a type of a common class. Many agree with him-- I. Is his choice. Every one of us, at some time or other, has to come to this conclusion: “ I will, or I will not, be altogether Christ’ s.” Sometimes it gathers itself up into one signal choice between the world and Christ. Oftener, perhaps, no such great necessity of direct and immediate decision awakens all our vigilance; but we go on choosing throughout a multitude of small occasions. In little concessions to passion, or to self-indulgence, or to seeming expediency, we are casting in our lot with the world: and though no one instance may rise above the ordinary level, yet we are, upon the whole, aware that the course of our life is in one direction; and therefore we are truly conscious that we are making the choice of being “ almost” His who will accept no “ almost” servants. This “ almost” choice tends to quiet conscience; that which is our shame and our danger is made, by the heart’ s deceitfulness, our comfort and excuse. We do feel; we all but resolve; we think we shall resolve another day: we are so near the kingdom of heaven that we are contented without pressing into it; so close to the door, that we bear, almost without misgiving, to see it shut against us. II. In its cause. We cannot bring ourselves to make all the needful sacrifice. The world we have to give up may not be so great as his was, but it is our world. The details will vary infinitely, but its master spring is one. This man cannot bring himself to give up some evil habit; another cannot face the jeer of his fellows; another feels inwardly that he is called to a higher and more self-denying life than he can bring himself to lead: and so all these men, for Agrippa’ s old reason, make his choice. They respect religion in others; they will not join with Festus in reproaching Christ’ s witnesses with madness; they even wish that they could rise themselves to the same nobleness of aim, and act, and character; but with broken wing, they do but gaze where they ought to soar; they do but faintly feel when they should determinately act. III. In its end. It is a downward course; a course of increasing evil, of growing dulness, of strengthening chains, of fainter aspirations; of evil choices multiplied; of God’ s grace slighted, grieved, and quenched; of a heart less striven with, almost deserted, and then, at last, abandoned, and so--reprobate. Conclusion” Note--1. The exceeding danger of shrinking back from any call of God. 2. Our need of seeking most constantly the aid and guidance of God’ s Holy Spirit. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)The almost Christian I. What is meant by an almost Christian? One who wavers between Christ and the world. II. Why so many are no more than such. Because of--1. False notions of religion.2. Servile fear of man.3. Prevailing covetousness.4. Love of pleasure.5. Instability of character. III. The folly and danger of such a condition. It is--1. Ineffectual to salvation.2. Prejudicial to others.3. Ungrateful to Christ. (G. Whitefield.)Almost a Christian I. Man’ s character is not naturally Christian. Evident from--1. Consciousness.2. Observation. 3. Scripture. II. To become a Christian should be man’ s supreme aim: because--1. It is God’ s will.2. Man’ s privilege and necessity. Only thus can he realise the true end of his being and reach heaven. III. Man may almost become yet still fall short of being a Christian. IV. For the non-possession of the Christian character man will be culpable. (W. Johnson.)Almost a Christian There are some characters in Scripture whose history is brought up to a point at which the interest becomes intensely awakened; and then we hear no more about them. Felix--did he ever see that convenient season he talked about? The young man, who went away from Christ sorrowful, did he ever come back again? Agrippa, did he die an “ almost Christian,” or did he go back and become an unbeliever quite? About these things Scripture has told us nothing, and we may be sure there are good reasons for its silence. In applying the passage we must bear in mind the difference between what it is to be a Christian in our day, and what it was to be a Christian in the days of the apostle. Hence a distinction, forced upon us by these altered circumstances, between a nominal Christianity and that which is vital and spiritual. Christians of the nominal sort we call Christians only by a kind of courtesy. We make a charitable supposition about them, and hope for the best. But such Christians as Paul earnestly desired Agrippa might become are few among us. Many are beyond the nominal stage; but there is a constant stopping short. Like the Scribe, they are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet they never get actually to it. Note-- I. The promising qualities of life and character which may consist with such a state.1. There may be a great deal of religious knowledge in such a person. This was evidently the case with Agrippa. We may be aforehand of many around us in religious intelligence, sound in all our views, and yet, by reason of all this knowledge being unapplied, may be no better Christians than this Agrippa was. What was Balaam, with all his visions of God, with all his far-seeing glimpses into the day of Christ, but as a trumpet strange to the music of its own sounds, or a candlestick not knowing the light it bears? No, the knowledge which enlightens is not always the knowledge that saves. The tree of knowledge is not the tree of life. 2. More than once, he may have been brought under the power of deep religious convictions. Agrippa must have struggled long before, or he could not have made the admission which he did. And so few of us go for long together without the conviction coming very close home to us that, if weighed in the balances, we should be found wanting; and for the time we set about some outward reforms as Herod did, resolve that we will go and hear that preacher again as Felix did, and confess that we are beginning to think differently upon the subject of religion as Agrippa did. All this time the great truth has not been mastered by us, that conviction is not the same thing as conversion. Convictions are but means to an end. And thus it is that our stinted and stunted Christianity frustrates the grace of God. We halt, and do not suffer His work to speed in the heart. 3. Other qualities of head and heart will easily occur as marking the religion of an almost Christian--such as amiableness of disposition, tastes, studies, feelings, tendencies, which, if nothing were told us to the contrary, we should be ready to conclude were hopeful indications of Christian character. There must have been something amiable about this Agrippa. Josephus has preserved a tender and touching address of his on the misery and wickedness of war, which must have read very strangely from one of Herod’ s line; whilst in the son of him who was eaten up with worms for his impiety we should little expect to have found what the apostle evidently attributes to him--the habit of a reverent study of the Jewish Scriptures. The remark may, at all events, suggest the reflection how much nature, temperament, and outward circumstances may do, in producing a result which, after all, shall be only a semblance and counterfeit of the work of grace. And the counterfeit deceives many--very often deceives ourselves. II. Why it is that people persuaded to go so far cannot be persuaded to go further. “ Almost” --but not altogether--“ I have some reserves which I cannot give up yet, some difficulties which you have not overcome yet.”1. The reason of it is that given by our Lord, “ Ye have not the love of God in you.” All half-and-half Christianity resolves itself into this. The religion of the almost Christian would go farther if his prayers were loved prayers, his service love service, his sacrifices loved sacrifices. Religion is never worth anything till you come to take some pleasure in it for itself. Everything you do is but duty service before that, and God cannot away with such sacrifices. Defects, errors, faults, He can bear, so only that we can say with shame-stricken Peter, “ Lord, Thou knowest all things--with all my shortcomings and defects--Thou knowest that I love Thee.” 2. But this absence of love is not the only reason. There is the predominant love in the heart of something else. There is some secret thing with you, a reserve which God must not touch, an inner chamber into which He must not intrude. You will give up a great deal, but not all. III. What is the moral value of the state described? If I am proceeding on a long journey, it may be some comfort to be told that I am almost at the end of it. If I have all my life been proposing some great object, it is something to be told I am almost within sight of its accomplishment. But in these cases the supposition is, that I am making further way every day; whereas the spiritual condition contemplated is that of a person standing still, year after year, in the same dead state; seeking to enter in at the strait gate, but never striving; ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. And the question is, What is the man the better for his pains? What good will his “ almost” do for him? The ten virgins knocked at the door very soon after the bridegroom had entered in; were they any the better for having been so very near? We read of some who could not enter into the promised land because of unbelief. Did it stand them in any stead that, though not entering in, they had pressed close up to the very borders? No; the great truth that stands out everywhere in God’ s Word is, that in the future world there are two states only. We read nothing about a middle condition, nothing about a heaven for the almost saved. And so if we must fix a value on such a persuasion as Agrippa had, it must be this--that it had been better for him never to have been persuaded at all. It seems as if, in another world, the reflection would be insupportable to us that our everlasting ruin should have turned upon an almost. (D. Moore, M. A.)Almost a Christian I. What is a Christian? Let Scripture say.1. Take, e.g., the text in the first instance. It is evident that with verses 17, 18 ringing in his ears, Agrippa must have caught some notion of Christianity as a spiritual force. There are the affirmations that the world is in the dark touching its relations and its duties to God; but that light has come which reveals at once the distance from God and the reconciliation to Him. Then there is the proclamation that the sad thrall of sin under which the world has groaned for ages need not continue--but that there is a power that can turn men from Satan unto God. Then there is the announcement of conscious pardon, in whose strange, thrilling joy men can rest without presumption, and a holiness in which they are purified by faith. Then there is the living witness that all these blessings are conferred upon us by Christ. To be a Christian implies living faith in those transforming truths. 2. Take next Acts 11:26. This adds to living faith in doctrinal truth the publicity and avowed confession of Christ. The disciples had a conduct so blameless that it brought no reproach upon their creed. The record tells us that the messengers who were sent to visit them rejoiced in their exemplary piety. And this is just the requirement that Christianity still demands. To believe in and not to confess Christ is a sign either of unworthy compromise or of a recreant soul. If you are a Christian indeed, you cannot keep it concealed. It does not need that men should see the rose always on its stem; its fragrance will be sure to tell of its neighbourhood. Clouds gather sometimes about the sun, but men know that he is there always by the light and comfort of the day. 3. Take 1 Peter 4:16. This adds to faith and publicity readiness to suffer if need be for the cause of Christ. If there is to be a pure transcript of the truth as it is in Jesus, there must be the martyr’ s heart although there may be no martyr’ s agonies. Our lot has fallen upon more merciful times, yet in the disputes of every day there is an agony coming down into the Christian heart fiercer than any of the ancient gladiators knew. These are the three things that constitute the Christian, the absence of any one of which detracts from the perfection of the whole. II. How it is that men are only almost persuaded to be Christians.1. The king did not hesitate on account of any lack of evidence. He was convinced, but not persuaded; his understanding surrendered at discretion, but his heart secretly rebelled; and this is just the mystery of unbelief. Conviction, signifying an intellectual satisfaction with the harmonious evidences of truth, is within the reach of any candid mind which will take the trouble to inquire; but persuasion has greater difficulties to encounter and to overcome. The heart is not only the fountain of impurity, but the stronghold of unbelief. There is an old proverb about a man being convinced against his will If reason and passion meet in combat, reason has a small chance of gaining the mastery unless it be shielded. If your will only ceases its opposition you are won to Christ. 2. It is possible that the value of human praise, and the fear of human censure, prevented Agrippa’ s decision. It would involve the forfeiture of power, of position, of influence. And are there not multitudes yet who are thus influenced? You are convinced and wishful. But there is a public opinion which you dare not brave. 3. The main cause of Agrippa’ s indecision, and that which influences thousands still, was the wish to continue a little longer in the indulgence of sin. He would grasp the present while he could, in the hope that yet by and by, when it palled upon the senses, he might enjoy the future. Conclusion: This Bible is true, or it is false. Do you believe it? If so, then you believe that just beyond you there is a heaven of blessedness and a hell of doom, and yet you are only almost persuaded to escape the one and to secure the other! Do you know the imminent risks that you run by delay? Death at hand! and you almost prepared to meet it! The Grand Assize! and you almost ready for the trial! The Judge at the door! and you almost persuaded that it is time to get ready for His coming! Eternity flashing or darkening upon your sky! and you almost beginning to think that it may possibly be true! Heaven opened for the ransomed and the ready! and you almost at the gate before it shuts! This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Acts 26:29 And Paul said, I would to God that not only thou … were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.Paul’ s prayer before Agrippa I. His decision intimated in the words--“ such as I am.” What, then, was Paul? A Christian.1. What is included in this? Not knowledge merely, nor a plausible profession, but living faith, holy love, and spiritual operative life. 2. It avails not what you are, unless you be Christians--were you ever so rich, highly respected in society, or beloved by your friends, an affectionate obedience of Jesus Christ. 3. It is not in the power of man to bring you to this, for it was not in the power of Paul effectually to persuade Agrippa. II. His enjoyment. This is evident.1. He was satisfied with the choice he had made. He had no misgiving that in embracing Christianity he had done foolishly. 2. He was happy--much more happy in his fetters than all the splendid audience which he addressed. A man is happy not according to his rank, but the state of his heart. Joseph, calumniated and imprisoned, was not anxious in the least; for “ the Lord was with him, and showed him mercy.” Daniel and his three friends were perfectly composed; for their confidence was in God, and their salvation was from Him. III. His benevolence.1. The goodwill of this apostle first regarded Agrippa, but it did not rest with him: it was diffusive, it spread through the whole company. In one respect, it is true, he desired no resemblance: “ except these bonds.” It is well to judge of the religion of Jesus Christ by its effects. 2. Observe how the benevolence of Paul was expressed; not by mere words, the impulse of momentary feeling: the text is a prayer. From this learn, that no place is unsuitable for prayer, no time is unseasonable for the exercise. Benevolent wishes should be matured into prayers, and ought to be expressed by pleading with God. But prayer was not all. The apostle spent his life in active kindness, and he, who thus prayed for Agrippa and the court of Festus, was ready in every way to prove the benevolence which he expressed. And with our prayers let us unite exertion, or what evidence have we of their sincerity? Conclusion:1. How wide the difference between the spirit of Christianity and the spirit of the world! 2. How striking the contrast between the reality of the gospel and the pretensions of infidelity! 3. How highly desirable is proficiency in religion, in opposition to a languid and wavering profession of it! (T. Kidd.)The philanthropy of the Apostle Paul I. Paul’ s character. In his reply we have the words, “ Such as I am.” What, then, was he when he stood face to face with Agrippa? Paul was a Christian--a Christian in the highest, deepest, broadest meaning of the term--a loyal, loving disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such was his character when he stood face to face with Agrippa. II. Paul’ s circumstances. In his reply we have the words, “ except these bonds.” III. Paul’ s wish. “ I would to God,” etc. This was not the false wish of a proud, self-righteous Pharisee, but the true wish of a real Christian philanthropist. He wished that Agrippa resembled him in character, but not in circumstances. From this wish we infer--1. That Paul never regretted becoming a Christian. When he stood before Agrippa he was an old man; he had been a disciple of Christ for very many years; a death of martyrdom was before him; and yet, withal, he would not have exchanged positions with Agrippa. 2. That what Paul was it was possible for Agrippa to become. (J. F. Smythe.)A preacher’ s best wish for a king It is not always easy, by the mere sense of hearing, to decide whether the report of artillery indicates a shotted gun or a complimentary salute. Even so, you are often at a loss to decide whether certain men speak in earnest or jest. The words of Agrippa have suffered from a like uncertainty. Was he in earnest or ironical? The common view is that, so far as a Herod could be earnest, Herod Agrippa was on that day. But whatever was the depth or shallowness of his utterance, it did not satisfy St. Paul. He knew that it was not enough for the foundering ship to have almost reached her port; that it did not save the man slayer to have almost gained the gate of the city of refuge before the avenging kinsman overtook him. Observe-- I. How perfectly certain Paul was that he was a Christian. Agrippa had professed to be “ almost persuaded.” The apostle says, “ I would to God that thou wert both almost and altogether” --what? “ Such as I am.” Could anything show more clearly that St. Paul had not the shadow of a doubt that he was a Christian? This is not so with many Christians. Even when others behold the evidence in their daily walk, they themselves can only say that they “ hope.” They are following on in the path to peace as nearly as they can find it, but whether it ends in assured glory, they can only know when the gates of the celestial city have closed behind them. It was not so when Christianity was young. This doubt and uncertainty is like our gorgeous churches, where the poor have no place; like our fashionable preachers, who glorify human nature instead of Christ; like our fashionable congregations, where dress and display attract the eye: it belongs to modern, not to ancient Christianity. Then men knew whom they had believed. Look at this confidence as displayed by St. Paul. He did not wish that they were what he “ hoped” he might be, not what he “ desired” to be, not what he “ thought” he was. He wants them to be what he then and there is sure that he himself is--a Christian. Is such a certainty something which God only permitted the primitive believers to realise? Or, is it a privilege which all may know in personal experience? The whole question hangs on the character of Christ. You may be perfectly confident if Jesus is one who does not break His word. Such a confidence is exceedingly desirable. I do not see how St. Paul could have been so eager, unless he had the clearest convictions that he was himself saved. Moses could not have said to his brother-in-law, “ Come thou with us and we will do thee good,” if he had possessed no certain confidence that he and the people were on their way to Canaan. So does assurance of faith make working Christians. II. What a grand thing Paul evidently esteemed it to be a Christian! There are some men who undervalue their blessings. St. Paul was not one of that class. It was a cause of thanksgiving that by the grace of God he was what he was. Who were they that heard him?1. In that assembly were men of wealth. And yet this poor prisoner cries out, “ I would to God that all that hear me, were both almost and altogether what I am.” To him Christianity was worth more than the riches of a Roman procurator. 2. There were men among those who heard him that day who had a home. And he who stood at that tribunal like his Master, “ had not where to lay his head.” He wrote, “ We have no certain dwelling place.” Yet it was this homeless man who cried out, “ I would to God,” etc. His Christianity was to him worth more than even a home. 3. Above all these were men of high rank and social position. And here was a man whose rank was to be counted as “ the offscouring of all things,” who yet cried out in such an august assembly, “ I would to God,” etc. Such was St. Paul’ s estimate of the worth of his Christianity. He could do without a home; he could dispense with the wealth of Festus; he could live without the crown of Agrippa, but he could not do without Christ, to him “ the hope of glory.” Today does he regret his estimate of his heritage? Today the wealth of God’ s glory is his. Today the home of God’ s saints is his portion. Today he reigns as king, a crown of glory on his brow. (Bp. Cheney.). Acts 27:1-20 And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy! St. Paul’ s voyage The power of religion is best seen when it is exhibited in living reality. It is so as to its sanctifying energy. It is so, too, as to its efficacy in sustaining amid danger, and comforting in difficulty and sadness. It has always, therefore, been the plan of Providence to place good men, and sometimes the Church collectively, in such circumstances as to test, and thus to make manifest, the sustaining energy of religious principle in times of agitation and danger. I. A storm in the Mediterranean. How powerless, or at least how feeble, man appears, and is, when contending with the mighty agencies of nature! The stoutest heart then quails. The most reckless are then often seen on their knees. Men almost instinctively call at such times on Him who “ holds the winds in His fist and the waves in the hollow of His hand.” It is difficult to realise such a scene of terror in calmer days. But there is a great emblematic lesson in this. The fact that such changes do arise in nature--that the blue sky may become beclouded, that the bright sun may be hidden, that the sea, now so glassy and so clear, may be lashed into tempest, and that the mariner who now seems to be lord of the deep, subduing winds and waves into subserviency to his ends, may another day be contending with that same element roused into fierceness and storm, and made to feel how weak he is in that terrible conflict--is emblematic of other changes, which may, and must, one day arise. Life is not ever the calm, even flow of days and months and years. The brightest scene may be overcast, and to some extent is almost sure to be. Life’ s autumn and life’ s winter must be thought of as well as its summer days. All may know times of stormy wind and tempest, and all will one day be in the grasp of death, and have to face the near prospect of those things which abide when the shadows shall have passed away! II. St. Paul amidst the storm.1. We see the apostle’ s repose of soul in this hour of peril, and the grounds of it. It was in his relation with God that he found restfulness. Our “ times” are in His hand. St. Paul knew, too, that he was now here in God’ s service. 2. We have here a striking example of Christian life and influence. Paul had resources of strength and comfort that those around him had not, and he becomes their comforter and adviser. III. The beneficent working of Divine providence for the preservation of Paul and all who were with him. The promise of God was fulfilled, the perils of the deep having only made Divine protection the more evident and the more deeply felt. (E. T. Prust.)The voyage and shipwreck I. The narrative. “ Thrice I suffered shipwreck: a night and a day I have been in the deep.” Thus St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians more than two years before. Of those earlier shipwrecks we have no record. But here we have a detailed account of a fourth shipwreck.1. St. Paul’ s long detention is now ended. One of those merchant vessels, on which even generals and princes had to depend for transit, was now in the harbour of Caesarea, bound for Adramyttium, where it was expected that an opportunity would be found of exchanging for a vessel directly bound for Italy. One day brought them to Sidon, and the courtesy of the centurion, interested thus early in his prisoner, allowed Paul the opportunity of visiting the place and the Church. What these glimpses of Christian friends were to him we might guess from his character, and we know from his letters. 2. Contrary winds began early to retard progress. It was necessary to change the usual direction, sailing along the east and north of Cyprus, and coasting along the shores of Cilicia and Pamphylia, until they reached the Myra. There they lighted upon an Alexandrian corn ship--driven, perhaps, by the same stress of weather out of its straighter course to Italy--and to this the passengers were transferred. 3. It was increasingly a tedious passage. The wind, west or northwest, compelled them, after leaving Cnidus, to take the less desirable eastern side of Crete and then along its southern shore as far as an anchorage which is still called Fair Havens. For the moment they were in safety; and now that season had set in which sailors knew to involve, in those seas, especial danger. “ The fast was now already past,” i.e., the Day of Atonement, occurring (like our Michaelmas) at the end of September, and used, like it, as a common date of time. To advance further was an act of imprudence against which Paul ventured earnestly to remonstrate. The warning was unheeded. “ The harbour was not so commodious to winter in,” and there was a better within forty miles, sheltered from those dreaded winds. 4. The decision to proceed was taken, and for the moment all seemed to favour it. Instead of the troublesome westerly and northwesterly winds, there blew from the south a gentle breeze, which enabled them to start with every advantage for the desired haven of Phoenix. Triumphant, no doubt, over the cowardly prudence of the apostle, they advanced a few miles, in good hope and high spirits, along the sheltering shore of Crete. But a sudden change came. A tempestuous wind (Euroclydon) from the northeast came down upon the ship, and there was nothing for it but to let her drive. It was with difficulty that they took up the boat which might become necessary for the safety of the crew. Then they passed cordage round, and other precautions were taken to avoid their being carried upon the quicksands of Syrtis. The next day they lightened the ship of a portion of its cargo; the day following of all its spare tackling. 5. And now it is impossible to imagine a more dreary and dispiriting scene than that which Luke presents. “ No one,” writes Dr. Howson, “ who has never been in a leaking ship in a long-continued gale can know what is suffered under such circumstances. The strain both of mind and body, the incessant demand for the labour of all the crew, the terror of the passengers, the hopeless working at the pumps, the labouring of the ship’ s frame and cordage, the driving of the storm, the benumbing effect of the cold and wet, make up a scene of no ordinary confusion, anxiety, and fatigue. But in the present case these evils were much aggravated by the continued over clouding of the sky, which prevented the navigators from taking the necessary observations of the heavenly bodies.” To the gloom and despair was added the exhaustion of long abstinence. There was among them but one person now capable of command--the Christian prisoner, unheeded till danger pressed, but now the one leading and animating spirit. He reminds them of their disregard of his warning. The remembrance might make them listen now. And then be gives the solemn assurance, in the name of his God, that there shall be no loss of life. 6. For the time there was no respite. The fourteenth night of that tossing was now come, when some sounds, indicative of approaching land, struck upon the practised ear of the sailors. The first notice was soon confirmed; and now an imminent danger arose of being wrecked upon the rocks of some unknown shore. Nothing could be done save to throw a number of anchors from the stern of the vessel and then to wish for the day. Oh, how many a weary watcher through a long night of sickness of body or anguish of soul has had to do that, and could do nothing more--just to wish for the day! 7. Before dawn a new peril had shown itself. The selfish sailors had formed the project of seizing the boat and leaving the passengers to their fate. It was again the Christian apostle whose ready discernment and calm promptitude averted the danger (verse 31). As if he had said, “ There is work before us which will need a mariner’ s skill as well as a soldier’ s courage.” The hint was enough. The soldiers cut the ropes of the boat before the sailors could enter it. Yet once more is St. Paul’ s voice heard; and it is in the same calm and constant tone which has made him the commander of all who sail with him. He foresees that the last struggle will be trying, and that exhausted frames can ill meet it. He therefore prays them to take some food, in the assurance that, however imminent the peril, life is secure. By precept first, and then by example, he summons them to this humble duty. After this, in the prospect of a speedy end of their suffering, they threw overboard the remaining wheat, that the vessel might be lightened for its last grounding. Morning dawned upon an unknown shore, upon which the vessel was so driven that, while “ the forepart stuck fast and remained immovable, the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.” 8. At this last moment a formidable danger threatened the life of St. Paul. It was the counsel of the soldiers to kill the prisoners, lest in the confusion any of them should escape from custody; and the suggestion was only frustrated by the care of Julius for that one Christian prisoner who from the first appears to have awakened his interest, and who by his conduct during these trying scenes must have gained a firm hold upon his confidence and esteem. As it was, a more humane order prevailed. II. The lessons. We have seen St. Paul in many positions, and noticed his activity, boldness, wisdom, faith, charity, devotion, skill, patience. But the point before us is a combination of them all.1. Danger is always a test of character. One man is daunted, another bewildered, another irritated, another rendered selfish by it. Read the history of a sudden alarm of fire in a crowded building. The impulse of self-preservation is so strong as to defeat itself; and a heap of crushed or burnt corpses will attest both the predominance and the infatuation of a spirit of selfishness in the heart of man in a time of great and sudden jeopardy. There are three influences which may under given circumstances counteract it. (1) A sense of honour. The captain of a burning or sinking ship will count it his duty to be the last to quit her. A regiment of soldiers will keep guard on deck over order and life, and count death itself but the just forfeit of a profession which is the soul of honour. (2) And humanity alone has sufficed to make martyrs. A man worthy of the name will fling himself into deep water, in cold winter, to rescue a drowning woman. (3) How much more will love counteract the force of selfishness, and make timidity for the moment brave! 2. But how different are these things, at their highest point, from the sustained calmness and commanding wisdom of Paul! None but a Christian could have thus done and thus spoken! Notice-- (1) The tranquillity. This man belongs to God: “ Whose I am, and whom I serve.” Nothing can come amiss to him. He is the property of one to whom to belong is to be immortal. (2) The elevation. This man is in communication with God: “ This night the angel of God stood by me.” A man like this is just the converse of Jonah. To have him in the ship is a safeguard. See how a child in a thunderstorm will feel himself safe with a pious parent! Nay, more than children have known the comfort of having a righteous man under their roof in days of popular excitement or raging pestilence. (3) The faith. This man “ believes God that it shall be even as it was told him.” What? “ As thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome,” and the one faithful shall guarantee the faithless (verse 24). (4) The judgment. This despised Christian is at once pilot, shipmaster, and centurion. Yes, there are times when men who have scoffed at the Christian as a visionary come to recognise his value. It is something in this selfish world to be convinced of a man’ s disinterestedness. And at least in the hour of death--then, if never before--we send for him, assured that he will speak to us the words of God and guide us into the haven where we would be. (5) The authority. Who is this man? He is a prisoner, of a despised race, of an outlawed sect. What is he that he should speak with authority? Yet no sooner does danger threaten than he is a man of authority. And strange to say, they listen. There is now no high priest to say to them that stand by, “ Smite him on the mouth.” Euroclydon and Boreas have stopped that. He stands forth now, before sailors and soldiers, face to face with Nature and with Nature’ s God. The day of God’ s judgment is the day also (even in this life) of the manifestation and the recognition of the sons of God. (6) The love. This man, if he were a natural man only, would have been simply depressed and self-contained. Yet Paul makes common cause in everything with the heathen soldiers. He cares for their cheerfulness as well as for their safety. He prescribes for their health, and he counsels for their hopefulness. Surely the love of Christ constrains him! (Dean Vaughan.)Paul’ s shipwreck It is impossible for a thoughtful and serious mind to contemplate the mighty ocean without being deeply impressed with its grandeur and sublimity. But if we are ourselves exposed to the fury of the conflicting elements, we become doubly sensible to their terror and our own insignificance. We feel an awe that cannot be described.1. We may have to compassionate those who “ do business in great waters.” Theirs is a life of great dangers, and familiarity with danger generally produces hardihood and presumption. 2. It is an unspeakable happiness, in times of peril, to possess a refuge and a hope when all human power fails and all hope of mortal succour is gone. 3. How precious are the promises of God in all storms, whether of the ocean or of the mind! 4. Let us adore that gracious Providence which sustained and guided this eminent apostle through so many scenes of peril and times of trial, which kept his heart steadfast in the faith of Christ and fervent in the love of souls, undismayed alike by the fury of the ocean and the ragings of the people. 5. We see what sacrifices men will make to save their natural lives. They cast into the sea the goods and tackling; but yet sinners will not give up their sins nor renounce the world. 6. The whole narrative announces to us the consolation which the gospel of Christ brings to all true believers. He is the Christian’ s pilot; He guides us through every storm, and can protect amidst all dangers and distresses. (The Evangelist.)Paul’ s voyage I. Setting out.1. The promises of God never fail. Having been told that he shall bear witness at Rome, Paul is in good time--in God’ s time--transported thither. 2. The faithful spirit shown by Aristarchus is rewarded by a special designation of him by name. II. Stormy without. The storm--1. Frequently comes when it is least expected. This voyage of Paul’ s began with a soft breeze and ended with a tempest. 2. Usually finds the world’ s people unready and God’ s people prepared. The sailors are surprised by the tempest; Paul knows and has spoken of this very tempest before. 3. Tests the comparative value of our possessions. Shall we cling to our gold and our other treasures and be lost, or throw them overboard and be saved? 4. May wreck us unless we are ready “ with our own hands” to throw overboard the unnecessary burdens. Even God cannot save the soul that will not voluntarily part with its sins. We must cast away or be cast away. 5. May drive us before it for a time. God does not promise us uninterruptedly smooth sailing. He does not promise a voyage continually in the direction we should choose. All He does promise is that if we do our best we shall reach the right haven at last. 6. Causes discomfort to the believing Paul as well as to the unbelieving among the ship’ s crew. Spiritual safety does not secure us from present bodily pain, but it makes us despise it for its practical harmlessness. 7. May blot out the light of material sun and stars, but there is one star which is never dimmed. “ Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” III. Calm within.1. If the world would listen to the words of God’ s children warning of the nearness of danger, many an “ injury and loss” even worse than this would be avoided. 2. If there is any loss, it will only be a financial and temporal and comparatively insignificant one to those who commit themselves fully to God’ s keeping. 3. If we as Christians lose anything in the storms of this world, it can at worst be nothing more than the loss of the ship in which we sail, the body in which we dwell. Our souls will be saved into God’ s presence. 4. If we are ever so much adrift, God can still find us. Says Matthew Henry: “ Paul knows not where he is himself, yet God’ s angel knows where to find him out.” 5. If God has promised that we shall in the body stand before Caesar, we need not fear the blows of the tempest. We are immortal until that promise of God is fulfilled. 6. If there is a praying Paul on board, the fact may be worth more to the ship’ s crew than all their labour at the pumps. Jonah, running away from duty, endangers the ship and its crew; Paul, pursuing the course of duty, is a saving companion to the ship’ s crew. 7. If we believe God, we shall have little to dread even in such storms as this which shipwrecked Paul. We shall believe that God will bring us through just as He has promised. “ Is not God upon the ocean, just the same as on the land?” (S. S. Times.)Paul’ s voyage Note-- I. The exposure of good and bad alike to storms and perils.1. In this ship’ s company there were, besides Paul and Luke and Aristarchus, criminals and the centurion, with his morally mixed band of soldiers. Paul was not permitted to choose his companions, nor are we. The wheat and the tares grow together. 2. In this instance the first day’ s sailing was unhindered. But then the winds began to be “ contrary,” and their course grew “ dangerous.” Then came a little season of “ soft south wind.” But close upon this they were struck by a hurricane which rendered the ship uncontrollable. 3. Here was rough experience. But it was not peculiar. Lands, too, have their cyclones. Ships are wrecked and towns are laid waste notwithstanding the wisdom of the wise; and these are but examples of ills in numerous forms--ills which oftentimes are nearest when we fancy we are safest (verses 13, 14). How stealthy the tread of the pestilence! How swift the stroke of the lightning! 4. Nor yet are outward assaults the worst to which we are exposed. There are foes and perils which assail the soul. 5. Is God, then, careless of our well-being? This we cannot believe. Certain it is that all these dark things have their side of light; and doubtless in due time this will appear. II. The efforts and sacrifices men willingly make to escape outward ills.1. Struck by the “ tempestuous wind,” the first thing the seamen did was to secure the boat, by means of which some might be saved if worse came to worst. Then they “ used helps, ungirding the ship” ; next they “ lightened the ship” ; and, last of all, they cast out such gear and furniture as could be moved. All their wealth and means of comfort they willingly “ counted but loss.” So much will men do to save the bodily life. Nor are they unwise; for what material good is there for which one could afford to exchange his life? 2. But these same men have an eternal life exposed to ruin. Sin, unresisted, works its destruction. What shall we say, then, of the unwillingness of so many to make efforts by which it may be saved? III. The Christian’ s advantage in times of peril and ill.1. The seeker after spiritual salvation surely finds. Not so always with lower good. This is given or withholden as seems best. Despite their efforts the seamen had not ensured their safety. “ Hope was taken away.” 2. And yet in this company of “ famishing wretches in a fast-sinking ship” there was at least one who appeared calm and trustful. Not that Paul was without natural timidity. The assuring words, “ Fear not!” indicate the contrary. The bravest soldier has his first moments of tremor. The Christian is still human. And yet how calmly the apostle now stands forth! What was the secret of this courage? Wherein, at such times, is the Christian’ s advantage? In that he is in friendly relations with God, knows how to find Him, and can trustfully commit his whole case and being to Him. 3. There are two sentences to be noted--“ Whose I am, and whom I serve,” and “ I believe God.” Paul belonged to God by a personal consecration; and he had come to put implicit confidence in God’ s word. He was not his own, and he trusted Him whom he served. If you try to be a Christian, and still to own yourself, or believe only what your reason can find out for itself, God will seem to be afar off. But try the other way, and then you shall say, “ What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee!” 4. Moreover, God often bestows on such the very things they ask (verse 24; cf. Romans 1:15). IV. The good which, at such times, may come from association with Christians.1. The message the angel bore to Paul related not only to himself, but to his companions, for whom doubtless he had prayed. And so every man was to be saved just because of Paul’ s presence. This is no solitary instance. Ten righteous men saved Sodom. Moses and Samuel often came between Israel and judgment. It was out of regard for a faithful remnant that God bore with His people. So now, the good of a land are its best defence. Two or three godly families will make a community better to live in. Cheerfully, then, support Christian institutions. And yet association with Christians will never spiritually save; for this one must have pardon, and this Jesus only can give. Make Him, then, your companion. That will not secure exemption from storms, but it will secure a safe arrival in port. (H. M. Grant, D. D.)Paul’ s voyage I. Paul a prisoner, yet the chief figure. The ship is a prison. “ Paul and certain other prisoners.” When was Paul ever hidden in the crowd? He is still the chief figure. Here is sovereignty strangely shaded by humiliation. He was one of the herd; he was head of the mob; he was the accent of the anonymous. A singular thing is this admixture of the great and the small. We belong to one another, and are advanced by one another, and are kept back by one another; and a most singular and educative process of restraint and modification is continually proceeding amongst us. II. Paul “ courteously entreated” (verse 3). How is it that Paul always stood well with men of the world? There is a kind of natural kinship amongst gentlemen. How do we pick out one man from another and say, as if ringing him on the world’ s counter, “ That is good gold,” or “ That is counterfeit silver” ? Why run down what are called “ men of the world” ? They are so often the kings of men. Do not attempt to shake them off as an inferior race. What would they be if they were in the spirit of Christ! They would make the Church warm; they would turn it into a hospitable home; they would breathe a southwest wind through our ill-ventilated souls. Oh! pray for them! III. Paul still inspiring confidence. His look and tone were his letter of recommendation. There are some men who might have a whole library of testimonials, and you would not believe a word they said; there are other men who need no endorsement. Paul inspiring confidence is Paul preaching in silence. IV. Paul among his friends, still an object of affectionate interest (verse 3). Literally they rigged him out again, clothed him. Paul had been having a rough time of it, and now his friends saw, as only friends can, that Paul would be none the worse for a new coat. There are many persons who live so very high above the cloud line that they can take no notice of matters of such petty detail. But without saying a word to him they got all things ready, and the clothes were laid there as if they had been laid there by Paul himself and he had forgotten to put them on before. There is a way of doing things--a delicacy infinite as love. V. Paul profited by delay. Thank God for delays. We should think much of the providence of postponement. Why not let God keep the time bill? This was exactly what Paul needed, and Paul was permitted to enjoy it by the providence of God--a good tossing on the water, a new kind of exercise, an abundance of fresh air. God giveth His beloved sleep; God giveth His beloved rest by keeping the ship at sea a long, long time. We do not like delay; that is because we are little and weak and unwise. You cannot get some men to sit down; they do not know how they are exciting and annoying other people. They call it energy, activity. It is the Lord’ s delight to teach us that the universe can get along without the aid of the very biggest man that is in it. VI. Paul proving his value in secular affairs (verse 10). What right had Paul to speak? The eternal right. Under ordinary circumstances the landsman has no right to speak on board ship. That is momentary etiquette or discipline; but there are eternal rights, and there come times when all human discipline is suspended and man must speak as man. There are occasions upon which a landsman speaking on board ship would be snubbed by the sailors; there are other times when the sailors would be thankful for any landsman to speak if he could utter one word of rational hope. These are the times the Christian is waiting for. For the Christian to speak when the ship is going merrily over the blue waves, would be impertinence; but the Christian waits. The ship comes into difficulty, the sailors begin to look despairingly at the whole situation. Now if any of you can say a word of comfort, do say it. Be wise, and do not speak before the time, or your words will be like good seed sown upon the fickle and noisy wind. The clock will strike for you; be ready when the hour beats. The word will keep, and when it is spoken after long delay it will come with the more penetrating emphasis. But Paul was disbelieved. Certainly; because the circumstances were not quite mature. But the religious man turned out to be right, as he must always turn out to be. “ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” All inspired history shows that the first communications were made to the piety of the day, to the prayer of the time. (J. Parker, D. D.)Paul’ s voyage I. The good as well as the evil cannot pass through this world without enduring much tribulation. We see on board a world in miniature. Stern law is represented by Julius the centurion, navigation by the captain, commerce by the merchants, labour by the sailors, the army by the stern-faced soldiers, science by Luke, literature by Paul, and law breaking by the prisoners. On board were all sorts and conditions of men. But there arose against them all the wave-stirring east wind, now called the “ Levanter.”1. Mark the impartiality of that tempest. They were all caught in it. Fire will burn the saint as well as the sinner; water will drown the missionary as well as the pirate; poison will kill an apostle as well as an apostate. The elements know no partisanship, unless these be a Divine interposition. We have found out long ere this that affliction is no respecter of persons. Even the best of men lose the stars for many days; and in their tribulation they strike the sail, cast out the wheat, and send for the doctor to “ undergird” the ship. Sorrow will enter every home at some time or other; and this is a wise provision, for there is nothing like it to keep the heart tender and sympathetic. Mercies that are pain born are frequently the most precious. 2. Paul in an Euroclydon!--all this is mysterious; but we have full confidence that it is wisely ordained, for to the godly storms are soul strengtheners. 3. The storm may last “ many days” ; but the saint will always meet with an angel when the waves are highest. He may lose sight of the natural sun and stars for many days; but he never loses sight of the Divine Sun, and, through the blackest night, the Star of Bethlehem. 4. The good and evil in the same storm; but what a difference between them! Paul had the angel of good cheer at his side, but the godless voyagers had no helper. 5. Paul publicly gave thanks to God “ for the bread.” How keen was his spiritual insight! He felt that the bread and the storm came from the same hand. Let us learn this profound lesson. The bread and the storm, the joy and the sorrow, the day and the night, come from the same Divine source. Think not so much of the storm as to forget the bread. II. The foolish world is always prone to reject the sage advice of the man of God.1. Paul advised them to steer the ship into the Fair Havens and winter there; but the centurion believed the master and owner, and the majority went with them. Paul saw the perils ahead, perhaps by prophetic foresight or by the prognosticating instinct. Anyhow, Paul’ s words proved true to the letter. Yes, the majority were against the man of God in that first century. “ What does a dry landsman like him know about the navigation of the Adriatic? Let him stick to that new gospel of his, and abstain from all things nautical!” 2. Is it not in the nineteenth century as it was in the first? The courageous truth speaker is still the despised and rejected of men. Souls steeped in carnality will not abide in the Fair Havens of piety and purity and love; they will make for some Phenice of their own choosing. We who stand in these pulpits are continually thundering out the warnings, “ The wages of sin is death,” “ The way of transgressors is hard,” “ Be wise, and winter in the Fair Haven of the gospel of Christ” ! But thousands despise the warnings. There are some who say, “ Preachers should strictly confine themselves to theology. Parsons, who know nothing of the ins-and-outs of London business life, should not dictate to business men what they must do and how they must do it.” Yet Paul, the landsman, may give advice that even practised seamen would do well to follow. III. The mocking world always discovers to its cost that it is dangerous to ignore the warnings of God-fearing men. Their ship left the Fair Havens, and it is quite probable that they said, “ How this south wind gives the lie to Paul’ s prognostications!” But in due time the Euroclydon rushed forth to prove that Paul was right. Better be in the humblest minority with the right than in the most aristocratic majority with the wrong. Do not allow the south wind to lead you to rash conclusions. Tell the young man that there is danger in dallying with his first temptations, and he will point you to the gentle south wind; but he may yet live to find that Paul is right, and to gladly place the helm in his hand. On a death bed you may send for the minister whose sermons you have laughed at. IV. God honours His faithful servants by communicating with the world through their instrumentality.1. If Caesar had a message to the crew, he would have spoken through the centurion; if the Board of Trade of that day, through the captain; if the Chamber of Commerce of that time, through the merchants; but when the Royal Court of Heaven had a message to the trembling souls on board, it spoke through Paul. “ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” “ Them that honour Me I will honour.” If you wish to be God’ s ambassador you must be God’ s child, for His rule is not to employ aliens. “ Whose I am, and whom I serve.” What noble self-obliviousness in these words! He was not his own; and if we felt this Divine ownership more, there would be infinitely greater sacrifice infused into our service. 2. Paul became, in a secondary sense, the saviour of the two hundred and seventy-five souls on board. Who can estimate the national and civic value of a good man? He is the salt that preserves society from total corruption. Turn all the good men out of the world, and Dante’ s “ Inferno” will not be a thing of fancy, but of fact. Take all the saints out of London, and it will become a Sodom, fit only for the flames. The religious element in English society is its best safeguard. A God-fearing democracy no power on earth can overthrow. V. The sublime calmness of the good man in the face of danger. There is no revealer of character like a tempest. The storm revealed the cowardice and hypocrisy and selfishness of these seamen; but the same storm revealed the moral grandeur of Paul. A landsman calm in a sea-storm, and all the crew trembling like the aspen! His robust faith was the secret of his courage (verse 25). His calm assurance pacified the panic-stricken crew (verse 36). The good man is not the slave but the master of circumstances. VI. No storms can prevent the successful issue of the purposes of Heaven. God’ s “ must” is mightier than all the storms of the centuries, even if gathered into one. In a very short time his magic words penetrated the royal palace, and several members of Caesar’ s household were converted. The universal dissemination of the, gospel is somewhat unlikely, and yet we believe in its possibility, for God’ s “ must” will vanquish the Euroclydons. Rome must be reached! Our voyage to heaven has its innumerable perils. The reefs are deceptive, the currents are dangerous, and the haven is easily missed; but be of good cheer, for “ there shall be no loss of any man’ s life.” (J. Ossian Davies.)Practical lessons from Paul’ s voyage I. “Man proposes, but God disposes.” The determination that Paul should sail to Italy was, on the human side, the result of Paul’ s purpose to disappoint the murderous treachery of the Jews, but above this was God’ s purpose--that the gospel should be more fully preached, not only in Rome, but in all the empire. II. The fair weather and the softly blowing south wind allured the navigators from their safe but not sufficiently commodious harbour in the hope of finding a better one; and so men, dissatisfied with their moderate competence, strike out for wealth or honours, so risking and often losing the sufficiency already possessed. In times of prosperity they assure themselves that “ tomorrow will be as this day, and more abundant,” presumptuously boasting of what they know not. In the heyday of hopefulness youth is deaf to the voice of wisdom, madly trusting that for them the skies will always be bright and the winds continue to blow gently. But man’ s experience of the uncertainty of the most hopeful prospects has made the gentle winds and the smiling sea proverbs of treachery. III. Very reluctantly, and only after three days of buffeting, the men consented to “ lighten the ship.” Thus, in times of severe trials, our treasures often become our burdens; and he only is wise who, to save his soul, consents to give up all else. But how carefully is this done, lest the sacrifice should be greater than is necessary! At first the less valuable parts of the cargo are cast out; but another day’ s perils made them willing even to dismantle the ship and cast out the furniture. So will men do in order to save their lives; but who will make such sacrifices for the saving of their souls? A striking illustration is given in the flight of Cortez from Mexico, when the Aztecs compelled the invaders to flee. Each man was allowed to take what he would, but their commander warned them, saying, “ He travels safest in the dark night who travels lightest.” The experience of the conflict that ensued demonstrated the wisdom of the advice and the folly of those who failed to heed it, for all such became an easy prey to the lances of the Aztecs. Because men will trust in outward things so long as they have them, it is often a great mercy when God takes them away. IV. Because the lessons of providence are not learned at once, the times of darkness and dismay are continued. “ Neither sun nor stars in many days appeared.” And in such extremities men learn the folly of their self-confidence, and are the more ready to listen to instruction. “ Before I was afflicted I went astray,” says the Psalmist, “ but now [since I have been afflicted] have I kept Thy word.” V. Until that dark night of the utter failure of hope except from God the apostle spoke only as a man--a wise and judicious counsellor; but now he spoke to them as from the mouth of God, and they could not gainsay his words. And so God is accustomed to reveal Himself with greatest clearness and in the richest consolations among the darkest and severest temptations. And even then the assurance of deliverance often reveals also the taking away of all earthly dependences. Though Paul was assured that he and his fellow voyagers would be saved alive, yet he was also shown that they must suffer shipwreck. VI. Paul and the mariners and soldiers were exposed to the same perils; and by virtue of this forced association deliverance came to the latter. And as in their domestic and social relations unbelievers are sometimes closely associated with God’ s people, so they are often delivered in times of calamity. And as we are all fellow voyagers through life, and God has made every man his brother’ s keeper, so has He made it the duty of each by prayer and exhortation, and by all other available means, to seek the salvation of all men. The saved and rescued ship’ s company were given to Paul. (D. Curry, D. D.)The stormy voyage of life The Christian’ s means of comfort and safety are--1. Prudent foresight in the uncertainty of earthly things (verses 9, 10).2. Brotherly union in the time of need (verses 21, 24, 30).3. Prompt renunciation of the possessions of this world (verses 18, 19, 38).4. Courageous trust in God in the storms of temptation (verses 22-25).5. Grateful use of the Divine means of grace (verses 34-36).6. Hopeful regard toward the heavenly land of rest (verses 44). (K. Gerok.)The voyage of life The analogies between a ship sailing the high seas and a human being sailing the ocean of life are well-nigh endless. I. In the navies of the world there are yachts for pleasure and merchantmen for business. So there are mere pleasure seekers and those who have serious work on hand. But while sailing to and fro for mere pleasure may be well enough for a yacht, it is a miserable thing for a man. Many a busy man is in reality a pleasure seeker; for he works only because he must, and as soon as the bow of forced labour is unbent he seeks pleasure. Even a coal scow is of more real utility in life than a yacht. II. Every ship has a cargo. Paul’ s ship had, and part of it they had to throw overboard to save the ship. So every man carries a cargo. A cargo of what? Many a young man has a full lading of sceptical opinions. These may seem harmless while all goes serenely in life. But as soon as the stress of weather comes, he may find that his beliefs are sinking him. He had better heave them overboard, then, as fast as he can. No ship would like to carry a cargo of nitroglycerine. But infidel faiths are just as dangerous. III. Every ship has a captain. Some captains are good and some bad. The drunken captain who ran that steamer ashore and lost five hundred souls was a bad one. No one likes to sail with a captain who has wrecked two or three ships. Jesus is the Captain of salvation, Satan of damnation. Either Jesus or Satan is master of every human soul sailing the ocean of life. The one always saves, the other always wrecks. Who is yours? IV. Sooner or later every ship must encounter storms. A ship built only for fine weather is not seaworthy. The Christian as well as the unbeliever must be ready for bad weather. There are December as well as June voyages to be made. Forewarned is forearmed; and he who calculates on and prepares for storms will not be overthrown. For a ship to sail into the teeth of a storm without captain or compass or ballast is folly. So for the human voyager it is no less folly to go forward to meet temptation and ridicule and affliction without due preparation. V. Every ship goes into the doors once in a while to repair damages. So, too, it is good for the soul to go into the dock of private examination and prayer. Prayer and meditation and the study of God’ s Word repair many damages which the storms of life inflict. From such hours the soul goes forth refreshed, and rejoices like a strong man to run a race. VI. A ship in the water is good, but water in the ship is bad. To journey through this world is the Christian’ s duty. But to have one’ s heart filled with the world is to founder in mid-ocean. There are thousands of water-logged Christians. They make no headway, for the worldliness they carry weighs them down too heavily. VII. Some ships sail more slowly than others. Often the cause is that their bottoms are covered with barnacles. These are out of sight, but they impede the ship’ s progress. So some Christians grow in grace more slowly than others. The reason may always be found in the fact that spiritual barnacles are retarding them--lack of private prayer, neglect of the Bible, non-attendance at church, profane language, foul stories. When a ship’ s bottom is thus fouled, the only remedy is to scrape off the unwelcome intruders. So, if a Christian is to make progress, he must cut off the evil thing, and, laying aside every weight, push forward. VIII. Every ship needs a compass. So every human voyager needs the Word of God, given on purpose to direct his pathway across the trackless ocean of life. Guesswork is bad work on the ocean, and worse work on the ocean of life. IX. Every ship makes a last voyage. It may be the last voyage ends in shipwreck; it may be it ends in a safe port, from which the good ship sails forth no more. So every human soul makes his last trip. What will yours end in? (A. F. Shauffler.)The voyage of life I. We have a great variety in our contemporaries. On board this vessel were souls of a very mixed character. Almost all the social forces of an age are in that vessel. There is labour represented in the sailors, war in the soldiers, commerce in the merchants, law in the men who hold the prisoners in custody, literature and science in Luke, religion in Paul and his companions. In the voyage of life we are thrown like Paul amongst numerous contemporaries, but there are only a few Lukes or Aristarchuses with whom we can have much intercourse. This suggests--1. A characteristic of human nature distinguished from all other terrestrial life. Natural history shows that there is a perfect correspondence in taste, impulse, and habit, among all the members of any species of non-rational life. Not so with man. Each individual has the power of striking out an orbit for himself different from that in which anyone had ever moved before or will ever move again. All modes of life are possible to man. He can transmigrate into the grub, the seraph, or the fiend, into a beast like Nebuchadnezzar, a devil like Herod, or an apostle like Paul. 2. That mankind are not now in their original condition. To use the power to form different modes and spheres inconsistently with the royal law of benevolence is the essence of sin and the source of ruin. It can never be that God intended our moral energy to create such a variety of tastes, tendencies, and aims as to render social intercourse and harmony impossible. All souls should have a common centre, and in all their social radiations, should harmoniously combine. 3. The probability of a future social classification. Will such men as Paul, Luke, Aristarchus, be doomed forever to live with mercenary merchants, besotted seamen, and bloody soldiers? Are the Herods to continue kings, and the Johns prisoners? Are the Jeffreys to be on the bench and the Baxters at the bar forever? Man’ s deepest intuitions, the prayers of the good, and the Bible say it shall not be. The tares and the wheat will one day be separated. We are only mixed while on board this earth ship: as soon as we touch the shore we separate on the principles of moral character and spiritual affinities. II. The severest trials are common to all. The one trial common to all on board that barque was the danger of losing life (verse 20). They tried every expedient, but all failed; the lamp of hope for a time went out. Danger of life is universally felt to be the severest of trials. And to this all are exposed in a thousand different ways, and all must one day, like Paul and his companions, feel “ all hope” of being saved from death taken away. For a short time, in healthy youth and vigorous manhood, you may flow on propitiously like this vessel in the first stage of its voyage, when “ the south wind blew softly” ; but farther on the sea will marshal its billows against thee; the sun will set, the moon go down, and every star disappear, and thou shall feel thyself only as a bubble on the breakers. The scene suggests that common trims--1. Develop different dispositions. How different were the feelings of Paul from the others. Even the brave sailors were at their wits’ end; they sought “ to flee out of the ship.” The soldiers, too, displayed their base and heartless selfishness, for they proposed to “ kill the prisoners.” But none of these things moved Paul. His every word shows an unfaltering faith in Him to whom he had committed himself. His bearing, too, was calm and hope inspiring. His great nature was taken up with the sufferings of his companions (verses 33, 34). Trials test our principles as fire tries the minerals. 2. Show the indifference of nature to social distinctions. The centurion, his subordinates, Christians and heathens, were all treated alike. Old ocean cares no more for the boats with which Xerxes bridged the Hellespont than for any worthless log of timber. It heeds no more the voice of Canute than the cries of a babe. “ Napoleon,” says a modern author, “ was once made to feel his littleness in a storm at sea off Boulogne. His mighty fleet lay before him. Wishing to review it, he desired Admiral Bruyes to change the position of the ships. Foreseeing that a storm was gathering the admiral respectfully declined. But Napoleon, in a rage, peremptorily demanded obedience. Vice-Admiral Magon obeyed the order. The threatened storm burst. Several sloops were wrecked, and above two hundred poor soldiers and sailors were plunged in the raging waves. The Emperor instantly ordered the boats out to the rescue. He was told, ‘ No boat could live in such a sea.’ He then ordered a company of his grenadiers to man the boats, and as he sprang in, exclaimed, ‘ Follow me, my brave fellows!’ They had scarcely entered the boat, before a huge wave dashed over the emperor. ‘ Onward! onward!’ he cried; but the daring effort was vain; progress in such a sea was impossible. ‘ Push on! push on!’ cried Napoleon; ‘ do you not hear those cries? Oh, this sea! this sea! it rebels against our power, but it may be conquered!’ At this moment a mighty billow struck the boat with tremendous force, and drove it back, quivering, to the shore. It seemed as though this were the ocean’ s answer; or rather the answer of the God of the ocean, to the proud monarch’ s boast! Napoleon was cast ashore by the spurning billows of the stormy sea, like a drifting fragment of dripping seaweed.” Nature’ s indifference, however, to mere secular distinction is not so strange as her want of respect to the moral. Nature treats apostles and apostates alike. Our character and moral position are not to be estimated by nature’ s aspect towards us. “ The tower of Siloam” may fall on the good as well as on the bad; children may be “ born blind” of righteous parents as well as of wicked. The ground of wicked men may bring forth plenteously, while the soil of the good man be struck with barrenness. “ All things come alike to all,” etc. She has her own system of laws; he who attends to them most loyally shall enjoy most of her bounties. In this respect she is an emblem of the moral system. Both are impartial. Both treat their subjects according to their conduct towards them, not according to their conduct towards anything else. III. Special communications from God are mercifully vouchsafed (verses 24, 25). God knew the dire perils to which Paul was exposed, and interposed. He knows our difficulties and dangers on our voyage to eternity, and makes the necessary communications for our relief. Note some points of resemblance. The Divine communication to the men on board this vessel.1. Came through the best of the men. Not through one of the merchants, or the centurion, but through Paul, the prisoner. But notwithstanding his secular abjectness, he was a good man. God has ever spoken to the world through the best man. It matters not how poor they are if good. “ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,” and He will show them His covenant. The Bible consists of communications from God through holy men, “ who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2. Were the final and effective means of meeting the emergency. Maritime genius and energy were all in vain, and just when in a hopeless state the communication came (verse 20). And so it was after human reason had tried every effort to guide the soul into the haven of peace that Christ came. 3. Their efficacy depended upon a practical attention to the directions (verses 22-31). The lesson is that every promise should be regarded as conditional, unless a most unequivocal assurance is given to the contrary. But what reason had Paul to regard this promise as conditional? There was no if in it. His instincts, experience, observation, and all analogy, satisfied him that Divine ends are always reached by means. God’ s promises afford no pretext for carelessness. Has God promised knowledge? It implies study. Has He promised salvation? It implies faith in Christ. IV. One morally great man however poor, is of immense service to his contemporaries. Note--1. The characteristics of a truly great man as illustrated in Paul’ s history on board the vessel. (1) Forecast. At the very outset he had a presentiment of the danger which awaited them (verse 10). Intense sympathy with a man’ s principles and aims will enable me to foresee much of his future conduct. Godliness, the soul of all moral greatness, is this sympathy. This sympathy with God is the prophetic eye. Give me this, and, like Isaiah, in some humble measure, I shall foretell the ages. This sympathy is a new eye to the soul. Because of this Paul saw what the captain could not. His heart was in such a contact with that Spirit which controls the winds and the waves that he felt that something terrible was about to transpire. Never let us disregard the warnings of a great and godly man. (2) Magnanimous calmness (verse 36). Trust in God was the philosophy of his-- (3) Self-obliviousness. Whilst all others were struggling for themselves, he seemed only concerned for them. (4) Religiousness. This explains his greatness. He saw God in the tempest and in the bread. He bowed in resignation to the one--he thanked Him for the other. 2. The service which he rendered-- (1) Was both direct and indirect. The spirit of confidence which he breathed, the efforts he put forth, the directions he gave, were all direct. Then the indirect service was great. For the sake of Paul the prisoners were not killed (verse 43). At the great day it will be found that many an obscure saint has conferred far greater service than those generals, statesmen, poets, and sages who have won the acclamations of posterity. The world has yet to learn who are its true benefactors. (2) Was appreciated as trials increased. In the first stage of the voyage, when “ the south winds blew softly,” Paul was nothing. When he uttered his warning he was treated with indifference, but he became the moral commander during the tempest. How often do the world’ s great men on, death beds, seek the attendance, sympathies, counsel, and prayers of those godly ones whom they despised in health! (D. Thomas, D. D.)The voyage of life I. The setting out.1. The various changes of surrounding objects (verses 1, 2, 4-8).2. The friendships (verse 3).3. The first clouds (verses 9-15). II. Fear and hope.1. The fear of unbelief (verses 16-20).2. The confidence of faith (verses 21-26). III. The contest with adversities.1. Trouble discloses hearts (verses 27-32).2. Trouble leads to God (verses 33-38). IV. The haven of rest.1. The shipwreck and billows of death (verses 39-43).2. The rescue and landing in an unknown country. (Lisco.)Christ’ s bark on the stormy ocean of this world I. Its dangers.1. Contrary winds (verses 4, 14).2. Foolish guides (verses 11, 12).3. Superfluous possessions (verses 18, 19).4. Disunited associates (verses 30, 42).5. Concealed rocks (verses 39, 41). II. Its means of help.1. The testimony of pious teachers (verses 9, 21).2. The prophecies of the Divine Word (verses 23, 24).3. The comforts of the holy sacraments (verse 35).4. The blessing of believing prayer (verse 35).5. The rescuing hand of Almighty God (verses 24, 34, 44). (K. Gerok.)Man’ s counsellors The narrative suggests that men in passing through life-- I. Have true and false counsellors. Paul here stands for the true (verse 10). “ The master and the owner of the ship” stand for the false (verse 11). Thus there are ever counsellors; some pointing to the right path, and some to the wrong; some the apostles of God, and some the emissaries of hell. This fact urges on each--1. The necessity of an independent inquiry into the question of duty. Let each use his own judgment. “ Try the spirits,” etc. 2. The necessity of Divine guidance in the question of duty. “ Guide me by Thy counsel,” etc. II. Are ever disposed to follow the false rather than the true. The greater portion on board rejected the counsels of Paul, and followed those of the master and the owner. It may be that some of them considered it a piece of impertinence on Paul, a landsman, to give nautical advice. Men follow the false because it is--1. More congenial.2. Popular.3. Attractive. III. Find that the false often appears at first to be the better course. When the vessel, contrary to the advice of Paul moved off from the Fair Havens, things looked propitious. Perhaps under the bright sky, and before favourable winds, many on board laughed at Paul on the first day. So it is; a false course frequently appears at first desirable. There are periods in our sinful life when the south winds blow softly.1. Youth.2. Health.3. Prosperity. IV. Discover that the false ultimately conducts to the most terrible disasters. The soft south wind gives way to the Euroclydon, which hurls the bark into the utmost distress. And then comes the period when all hope that they should be saved was taken away. Two circumstances greatly aggravated the ship’ s distress.1. The darkness. No sun or stars for many days appeared, not an unusual circumstance during a Levanter. 2. Hunger. The want of food led to the pain of exhaustion and the bitter gnawing of hunger. This is what following the false leads to. “ Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)They delivered Paul, and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band. Julius Nothing is more remarkable to the student of the New Testament than the favourable impression which Roman officers make upon the mind. It may be that the military career is favourable to some attractive virtues, or that Scripture would remind us that they may be formed in spite of adverse circumstances in the military life.1. In the centurion at Capernaum we have the exhibition of a very high type of character (Mark 8:10; Luke 7:9). 2. The centurion at the Cross by his memorable confession is sharply divided from the company around (Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47). 3. Cornelius again (Acts 10:1; Acts 11:18), is a pattern both before and after his conversion to Christians. 4. Paul was brought in contact with five centurions. (1) The officer who, on learning that he was a Roman citizen, countermanded the scourging (Acts 21:32). (2) The centurion whom Paul requested to take his nephew to the commanding officer (Acts 23:17). (3) The two whom Lysias sent in command of the escort (Acts 23:23), about whom we know nothing except that they discharged their duty promptly and methodically. (4) Julius, who now deserves careful attention. The specifying of the corps to which he belongs singles him out at once as an officer of rank. He held a commission in the molt distinguished part of the army; that which was most closely connected with the emperor and his court. There are several places where he is mentioned, and most teach us something concerning his character. I. (Verse 3). “ He courteously entreated Paul,” etc. The fact that he was a heathen enhances the favourable impression produced by his courtesy and kindness. Whether this arose from natural disposition, or from some influence which Paul had gained over him from what he may have observed and heard, we cannot tell. Notice that it was not mere permission that he gave, which would have been something, considering that he had no guarantee that Paul would return, and implies a large and rapid growth of good feeling. But there was a remarkable display of consideration in the manner in which it was done. Then let all that is implied in two expressions be considered. Paul must have needed refreshment for his health and spirits. He was of delicate constitution, and had undergone great trials. And of all refreshment the most acceptable Would be the society of Christian friends. II. At Myra (verse 5) Julius and his prisoners changed ships and set out again in a gale which drove them to the Fair Havens of Crete (verse 8), where they stayed for a time, and were recommended by Paul to stay longer. But the centurion preferred the counsel of the master and the owner of the ship, and naturally. The one had experience of the sea, the other the best possible reasons for consulting the ship’ s safety, and besides were in the majority. Prom a worldly point of view, therefore, Julius deserves credit for his good sense. But Paul was right, and Julius wrong, as events proved, and this was one of the circumstances which gradually raised Paul to a position of commanding influence. And it is worthy of note that Julius took no offence at Paul’ s honest opposition. III. The centurion is next mentioned when the ship was at anchor, but in danger of going on to the rocks (verse 29). The sailors, consulting their own safety, were for lowering the boat. Paul saw the peril, but acted with consummate judgment. He said nothing to the sailors, but spoke at once to the centurion, who had now implicit confidence in the apostle, and dealt with the matter promptly. Thus the sailors were kept on board to do what they only could do, and thus the lives of nearly three hundred were saved through the good understanding established between the heathen and the Christian. IV. When daylight came this friendly feeling led in a still more remarkable way to similar results. Lest the prisoners should escape in the break up of the vessel the soldiers suggested their execution inasmuch as they were answerable with their lives for the prisoners. They forgot, however, they owed their own lives to Paul. And now, in this imminent danger, comes out the peculiar feeling of Julius towards him (verses 42, 43). Had Paul not been of the party, and had Julius been of a different disposition, the prisoners would have been killed. That they were all saved was due to the friendship between the two. V. The last mention of the centurion is in Rome (Acts 28:16). His duty was done, and he proceeds to obey whatever new orders were laid upon him. Conclusion:1. It is probable that Paul, Felix, and Julius were for some time in Rome together, but not very likely that they ever met again. A large city is like a large forest, where different paths may be pursued again and again without any chance of meeting. Each man in such a city, however, has his own history and carries with him the results of his past experience and opportunities. Felix was what he became after his procrastination; and Julius what he became after close companionship with Paul. Whether this ripened into Christianity or not we do not know. 2. We have followed the biographical thread with little mention of religion. There is no mention of Christ in all this long chapter. The duty of an expositor, however, is to deal fairly with the sacred volume, feeling assured that there is some Christian lesson even where Christ is not named. And it is instructive to find such variety of teaching as we go through Scripture. In these later chapters we have two of the early points of contact between Christianity and heathenism. In the one case there is reference to the salvation of the soul, in the other the incidents of friendly intercourse as regards affairs of the world. In the one we have advice to the unconverted, in the other advice to the converted about the duty and advantages of courtesy, and the force of the example is increased by the fact that Julius was a heathen. Parallel cases are when our Lord singles out Samaritans as examples of benevolence and gratitude. For the importance that the New Testament attaches to courtesy (see Matthew 5:5; Matthew 5:7; Matthew 5:9; Matthew 5:41; Romans 12:10; Philippians 2:3-5; Ephesians 4:31-32; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 3:8). Let it not be said that in the midst of our boasted civilisation the lesson is obsolete. Rudeness is common to and often encouraged in boyhood, and no rank is exempt from it. How it prevails in political and ecclesiastical partisanship! (Dean Howson.)And Julius courteously entreated Paul.--Effect of courteous treatment In a certain town a new minister had been called and settled. In that town was a “ God-forsaken” old reprobate, whom nobody respected or spoke to who could avoid it. He had never been known to go inside a place of worship. He only worked when driven by necessity to do so, and leafed about the town a common nuisance. A few days after the minister came to the town he met the old man on the street, and bowing spoke a pleasant “ good morning,” and passed on. The old man turned and looked after him, and made inquiry of someone as to who he might be. The same thing happened a day or two afterward, and again during the space of a week or two. Some one told the minister that he had made a friend of the old man, and laughingly told him that he was wasting politeness on the reprobate. “ Never mind,” said the minister, “ it does not cost much to be polite, and no more to an old reprobate than to the squire of the town.” It was not long till old Blank was noticed creeping into the corner of the church farthest from the pulpit and nearest to the door. He had come in late and was the first to leave the church. He came again and again, and was finally brought to Christ, and during the rest of his life lived a consistent and earnest Christian life. He said the minister’ s bow was what did it. The winds were contrary.-- The voices of God’ s providence Among the voices of God’ s providence are the howling storm and the roaring sea. A pious chaplain, detained by contrary wind at the Isle of Wight over the Sunday, preached that day in one of the churches of the island. In the congregation there was a thoughtless girl who had come to show her fine clothes. The Word of God arrested her, and she was converted. The story of her conversion is the narrative of the “ Dairyman’ s Daughter,” which has gone all round the world, and the fruit of the sermon is a hundredfold. Acts 27:7-14 And when we had sailed slowly many days.Slow sailing As on board our ships, one has not always a favourable wind, and does not always proceed quickly forward, so the Christian in his journey through life has often to wait. (K. Gerok.)Came unto a place which is called The fair havens.--The fair havens of moderation and content I. In the voyage of life we are brought into many a fair haven.1. Life does not consist only of storms. These havens are of various kinds, satisfying the desires of rest, ambition, pleasure. But as these havens were not what these sailors were wishful for, and as they were ready to leave them, we are reminded of one fair haven in which men are not too willing to rest--moderation and content. 2. There were no noble features about these Fair Havens--no stupendous breakwater at Caesarea, no town near, no roadstead full of merchantmen. It was just a refuge for the storm-driven and hindered elsewhere. And so moderation and content form a haven of rest from many of the opposed ambitions of life. 3. There are other harbours which are no true havens. Look at that picture of the death of Chatterton. Through the open window we have vision of a better rest than of despair. Heaven is the last abiding harbour, but moderation, contentment, form a little fair haven on the way. 4. When we are driven to this haven let us be content. It is a fair haven if we have grace to know it. II. Very often these fair havens will seem to be inconvenient for wintering in. We shall be willing to be content for a little time, but not for long. And so real content is not found. We imagine the demands of our life are not met by these quiet places of moderation. “ Give me neither poverty nor riches,” said a wise man; but many risk the former for the mere chance of the latter. They will have all or none. III. When the fair havens are being tried and doubted, we shall be surrounded by many kinds of counsellors. There was one here who never withheld his words if he could help others (Acts 27:10), but he was only a parson--what did he know about ships? Besides, he was a prisoner, and delay might be an advantage. Further, in the opinion of Festus he was mad. What was his opinion against the advice backed by the skill, experience, and interest of the captain and owner? And then the vast majority (Acts 27:12) were for going on. But vox populi was not vox Dei here. And generally the infallibility of the majority is on the same level as the infallibility of the Pope or that of conceited minorities. So do not listen to tempting voices because they are numerous. There may be one counsel advising keeping in good ways; but then it is only dear old mother’ s counsel, who knows nothing of the ways of the world, or that of interested parsons, or crazed fanatics. Those who advise me to seek pleasure, wealth, etc., have had long experience. IV. If at these times we give heed to the false counsel we shall often think we have gained our purpose, but soon find that we have lost it. The south wind blows softly on many a tempted soul. The ways of sin are easy, and unattended by evil consequences. There is no intention of losing heaven. A religious old age shall follow a worldly manhood. But the haven of Phoenix was never reached by this ship, and Malta was only reached after the destructive storm. (T. Gasquoine, B. A.)Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous,… Paul admonished them. Sphere of the Christian minister Paul was a landsman. What did he know about navigation? And so the centurion said--just as you would have said--“ This is a matter that I would rather take the testimony of the shipmaster and the owner about, than yours.” And the voyage went on, and it all came as Paul had declared, and he had that sweet opportunity that everybody longs for, of saying, “ I told you so.” So that Paul, at the end of the voyage, commanded the captain, and the owner, and the crew, and the soldiers, and the centurion, and had charge of everything on board, and finally of the islanders themselves, when they were wrecked. A true man shows that he is true at that very point where other men break down. There are two points of sensitiveness among men. I. Men are jealous and indignant often at ministers meddling with the affairs of society. And when ministers are associated in a class with arrogant pretensions, men ought to resent their intrusion. But a true minister is a man moved by the grace of God to be the teacher of moral ideals in a community, and being a citizen has all the rights of a citizen to deal with public affairs. Now a judgment formed by a clear head upon any course from high moral grounds, is likely to be sounder, wiser, and more cogent than judgments which are formed from mere practical grounds. Moral intuition may be, and often is, wiser than practical experience itself. An outsider is very useful to an insider. As the engineer cannot steer, being down below among the machinery, he is very much helped by the man who is on the lookout; and men that are buried in the hull of their affairs ought to be thankful if there is anybody on deck that can keep a good look out, and tell which way the ship is going. All kinds of business, all professions, all courses in social life, stand in relation to the moral welfare of the whole community. And we have a right, with or without ordination, to meddle with the moral relations of every course and calling. Many and many a voyage has been disastrous because when Paul has said, “ Ye will come to harm,” the centurion said, “ We have the shipmaster and the owner, and we will listen to them rather than to this Paul. What does he know about it?” In many and many a case it has turned out that the stranger, whose advice was rejected with scorn, knew more than all on board put together. This has been Christ’ s quarrel from the beginning. As it was said on one occasion, so it is said now, “ What have we to do with Thee? Art Thou come to torment us before our time?” And when Christian teachers begin to apply the larger principles of criticism to the evil courses of society: “ Ye meddlers, why do you not attend to your business, and let us attend to ours? Stay thou at home and preach Christ, and do not touch grog-shops or lotteries. What hast thou to do with Wall Street? ‘ Follow the meek and lowly Jesus.’” I do follow Him--precisely that; for He said, “ I came not to send peace, but a sword,” etc. The men especially who follow Christ and His apostles are the men who turn the world upside down. The minister has a right to go into every part of society and give advice, and no man can say, “ It is none of your business.” It is my business. Everything that is done under God’ s sun is my business. When I stand and look upon those things which are of common interest to you and to me, and say, “ Such courses jar against the integrity at large,” it is precisely my business. II. There is a popular impression that every man understands his own business best and complaint is often made of ministers that they meddle with things that they do not understand. But when ministers meddle with practical life they are meddling with just what they do understand, or ought to. Look at this matter. I admit that there is a truth in the contention that a man generally understands his own business best. The printer, the lawyer, the machinist, etc., understand the technicalities of their crafts better than I do. But does it follow that a man understands the general relations of his business to other businesses, the moral relations of his business, the relations of his business to political economy, better than an outsider does? So far from that, experience shows that no man is so blind as a man that is immersed in his own business. It is not often the case that any department of life is reformed of its own accord. It always is forced upon it ab extra. It does not follow that the miller understands bread better than I do. He knows more about the process than I do; but when it is done, and I take the loaf, and eat it, then I am as good a judge of bread as he is. It is not for me, perhaps, to say how a judge shall discharge his function; but it is for me to say when he discharges his function wrongly. It is not for me to say what is the special province of an advocate; but the moment he so conducts his profession that it touches the question of right and wrong, he comes into my sphere. Do you suppose that, because a man is an apothecary, he does not know how to catch trout? He has studied the nature of trout on purpose to amuse himself. Does it follow that, because a man is an able lawyer, he cannot be a skilful hunter? Experience shows that he can, though he may not have made it the sole business of his life to hunt. Do you suppose that I study old musty books when I want to preach? I study you! When I want to know more about the doctrine of depravity, I study you! When I want to know what is right and what is wrong, I see how you do; and I have abundant illustrations on every side! The same is true of the career of commerce, and all the instruments of commerce. There are a thousand things in these that a man cannot well and perfectly understand who does not devote himself to them. There are a thousand questions that no man would meddle with who was not inside of these things. Pan! did not say to this man, “ You ought to hoist this sail, or that sail.” That was not his business. But he did say to them, “ You must not make this voyage.” He knew that the season was unfavourable. He had some knowledge of the great courses of nature as well as other men. And the fact that he was an apostle did not take away his power of judging of these things. So I stand and say, “ There are certain courses in the great commercial world that are sure to bring damage to those that pursue them.” And you shall not revile me, saying, “ You are nothing bat a minister.” There are certain courses in banking that I know to be atrocious. I know that there are operations in railway management that outrage every law of prudence. I know that where a fraternity of villainous capitalists are joined together they shall be able to swamp legislators, and sweep whole communities to destruction, and it is my business to sound the alarm, and to say to men, “ There is no prosperity to society so long as such gigantic swindles as these are going on.” And when I say it, they say to me, “ Are you a railroad man?” No, but I am after railroad men. “ Do you understand this business?” No, but I know the men who are in this business. And when it is said, “ Nobody can give advice in regard to the affairs of any given department unless he belongs to those affairs,” I say that a cock does not need to be in bed with you to know that the morning has come, and crow! It is because he is out of doors, and sits aloft, and sees when the sun is coming up, that he becomes the clarion of the morning, and gives you the signal for waking up. That which is true of these departments is just as true of political affairs. It is an evil day when patriotism is considered to be too foul for a minister, when the formation of the laws is considered to be a business in which righteous men should not dabble, when the policy of the state, which carries with it the welfare of the whole mass of men--their joy or their sorrow, their weal or their woe--is such that a man of a pure heart cannot touch it. And I say, that, as long as I love my country--so long I am concerned in all these things, and so long I will be concerned in them. Therefore, if men say, “ What do you understand of the mechanism of politics?” I say, “ The machinery of politics I know very little about; but I know what courses tend toward rectitude, intelligence, liberty; and I know these thing better than men do who dabble in politics. For, when a man forgets God, country, manhood, that he may go down and mould his nefarious plans, I know more than he does, because I stand out in the Upper light.” Do you say, “ Is not this strange to be talking on Sunday night and in a church about these things” ? What then! do you not believe that men are corrupt? that the young men are perverted in their ambition? that the bottom is falling out of honesty and patriotism? And is there to be nobody to say anything about these things? Have you a church that is like a boy’ s toy? and am I to stand and play on my trumpet for the amusement of the nursery? Am I to see humanity damaged, the nation shaken, God’ s cause in imminent peril, and must I remember that I am a minister, and not talk about these things? Is that your idea of a minister’ s business? Was that the cause that made Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, martyrs, confessors, and every reformer who was hated in his own age and worshipped in the ages that followed? I tell you, it is the business of every man to whom God gives the opportunity, the understanding, the courage, and the impulse; and it is my business. And if the centurion says, “ I would rather believe the shipmaster and the owner,” and he goes out, and will not take my advice, it will not be long before I shall have the chance to say to him after the desolating storm, “ You ought to have heard my words.” (H. Ward Beecher.)When the south wind blow softly.-- A fair wind As far as Rhegium the ship had a comparatively prosperous voyage; but the cargo which was for that port having been discharged, the captain looked in vain for a favouring breeze. Either a calm prevailed at that time which prevented them getting out of the harbour, or else a north wind was blowing, which would be dead ahead. Anxiously did the skipper trace the sky for signs of an approaching breeze, or for indications that the rude north blast would change into a southerly zephyr. I do not know if the mariners in those days had learned to whistle for the wind. Perhaps they were so employed; but then, as now, whistling was waste of breath. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and whistles when it pleases, whether we whistle or no. By and by, in God’ s good providence, not because the captain wished it, nor because the sailors whistled for it, but because Heaven’ s order had gone forth, the wind veered round to the south, or else the calm became disturbed by a breeze, which seemed to be made on purpose for the north-bound craft. You may be sure that all was bustle immediately; up came the anchor, up went the sails, and away the galley flew before the favouring breeze. The passage was a quick one, too, for they came the next day to Puteoli. But it is my purpose to speak not so much of ships and sailors, as of Christians and of their trials. I. The wind was at first unfavourable. I do not see what right we have, as men and women, much less as Christian men and women, to expect everything to favour us. My dear brother, remember that thou art a man, and that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and consequently frail. But, further, thou art a sinful man. Sin is itself the greatest trouble, and the fruitful cause of every grief. Perhaps you are a seeker after Christ, longing for peace and crying for pardon, and you say to yourselves sometimes, “ I am on a good errand, why should I find it so difficult? Why is the road so rough? Conscience speaks against me: the devil roars upon me: God’ s people do not always favour and encourage me: sometimes God’ s Word looks as black as midnight, and the preaching of the gospel has no sounds of love and mercy for me.” Why, dear friend, thou art wind-bound in the harbour of Rhegium, so to speak; but, believe me, the prize is so well worth having that you may be well content to seek it long and earnestly. It is no easy matter to be saved. In one sense it is simplicity itself--“ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” ; but to believe is not mere child’ s play. All things are possible to him that believeth, but to believe is impossible to the unregenerate heart. Christ Himself has said, “ Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” and again, “ The kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” “ Ye shall seek Me,” saith the Lord, “ and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” Do not despair because of discouragement, but believe that the Lord is only drawing you to Himself, and longs as much as you do that He and you should be reconciled. But you are a Christian man: you have already trusted Christ and been baptized--at least I hope so--and joined the Church. And did you fancy that when you became identified with the Lord’ s people you would be beyond the bounds of trouble? This is not true of the arms of the Church, for though it is a fold, its hurdles can be leaped by the devouring lion, and Christ’ s disciples are sent forth “ as sheep in the midst of wolves.” The inventory of the Christian’ s possessions is not complete if “ with persecutions” be omitted. God has the ruling of the winds and waves, and if He should sometimes send adverse currents and contrary breezes, tarry in the harbour of resignation till the time is fulfilled and His will accomplished. Note next that a headwind to us may be favourable to other people. Perhaps there was a calm in this case, and God was making rain for future days, and by evaporation forming the clouds to shelter tender fruit from excessive sunshine. Perhaps the north wind was blowing. Well, that was just the thing for the vessels that were bound south, was it not? However would they have got on if the south wind had sprung up before they got to their desired haven? Oh to have that spirit always which will say, “ Lord, if I had my choice I would have the south wind, for I want to go right away north; but then there is somebody who wants to come south, so, Lord, I leave the wind, as well I may, in Thy hand. It shall be good for me though it does not seem so. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those that walk uprightly.” The winds are proverbially fickle. Who can manage them? God can! We speak of the laws by which the winds are governed, and science is constantly showing plainer proofs that there are such laws, but, mind you, they are not nature law’ s, but those of nature’ s God. “ He causeth His wind to blow and the waters flow.” “ He bringeth His wind out of His treasuries. He rode upon a cherub and did fly: yea He did fly upon the wings of the wind.” Now, if the winds, more fickle than anything and everything besides, are governed and controlled by the Master maker’ s hand, every coincidence so called, every circumstance, every accident, is just as much under the gracious influence of a faithful Creator. Oh what joy it is to leave everything in the hands of God, to let Him cast the lot into the lap as well as to dispose of it. It is recorded of Napoleon Bonaparte that having spoken boastfully in the presence of friends about his projected invasion of Russia, and being rebuked by a good lady, who ventured to say, “ Sire, man proposes, but God disposes,” the haughty emperor replied, as angrily as he well could to a lady, “ I dispose as well as propose.” Thereupon he marched his millions into Russia, but never brought them back again; and all the snowy plains were incarnadined with Frenchmen’ s blood; while he himself tasted the bitterness of defeat, and already felt his throne tottering beneath him. How powerless we are to direct our own affairs! The ship of which we speak was named the Castor and Pollux, and these two sons of Jove were supposed to have power over winds and waves. Why, then, did they not turn the wind round to suit their purpose? “ Surely it is an easy matter for you, O sons of Jove, to make the breezes favourable! What means your name if you cannot help yourselves in this emergency? What’ s in a name indeed?” It is interesting to recall the names of some vessels that have been wrecked--The Happy Return never came back again; The Success was a terrible failure; and The Prosperous never paid a dividend. Just before I left the harbour of Auckland, I saw floating in the harbour, with a yawing gap in her bows, a steamer named The Triumph. What a misnomer to be sure for a vessel that ran upon a rock right under the rays of a lighthouse and was with the greatest difficulty floated again. So they call their ships, but the winds and the waves triumph over them, and play with them like toys. And so we name our schemes and resolutions, and dote upon them, forgetting that God can break our ships and bring our counsels to nought. Well is it for us that; He does sometimes, yet we do not always think so. I like the spirit of the man who, having a large vane to tell which way the wind blew, cut in the zinc, “ God is love.” Oh, to learn this lesson well I If the wind blows from the north, “ God is love.” If it blows from the south, “ God is love.” If it comes from the west, “ God is love.” Aye, and if we have that bitter cold east wind, that is good for neither man nor beast, “ God is love” just the same. II. The north wind presently became fair. “ It is a long lane that has no turning.” All things come to the man that can wait; and as to the Christian, why it ought to be his pleasure to wait. And was it not worth waiting for? When the breeze did spring up it was one of the best the skipper had ever experienced. It blew from exactly the right quarter, was neither too light or too stiff, and, if I mistake not, the Castor and Pollux made the fastest passage on record from Rhegium to Puteoli, for it is recorded in the apostolic log book, “ We came the next day to Puteoli.” The Lord was waiting to be gracious. God was brewing the south wind while the passengers and crew were vexing themselves about the north wind. And so while I am waiting and longing, and wishing, and perhaps fretting and grumbling, God is getting my blessing ready for me--waiting to be gracious. My soul, wait thou only upon God! And this applies to the seekers of whom I spoke just now. You are crying, “ Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,” and while you are yet speaking God is preparing a south wind. Do you not already feel its breath? Listen to this. It comes like a zephyr from the south--“ Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” Does not that blow your way, and fit your case, and swell your sails? Oh that you would spread the canvas and catch the breeze. III. As soon as it did become fair the sailors seized the opportunity. “ Of course they did,” say you. Well, I do not know why “ of course,” except that they were men of common sense. I would to God that all had common sense about spiritual things, and then I believe that all would “ of course” be saved. Have you not heard many a sermon after which you have said, “ I cannot understand how anyone could go away unconverted. How Could they help trusting in the Lord Jesus after that invitation, and after so sweet and plain a proclamation of the way of life?” The only reason is that the mind is darkened and the heart is hardened by unbelief. There is no “ of course” about it till God makes His people willing in the day of His power. But see what these mariners did. Perhaps there was quite a flotilla of vessels in that port, and as soon as the wind changed the anchor chains began to click, and the sails to flap, but being once filled with the breeze, away sped each north-bound craft, through the harbour heads, while onlookers on the shore said one to another, “ There go the ships! There go the ships!” The wind said “ Go,” and they obeyed its voice. And we may do likewise in temporal and spiritual matters. ‘ Tis said that “ There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” However this may be, I am convinced that many an opportunity is lost by people who, for want of confidence in themselves, or more often through want of trust in God, do not set sail till the breeze is gone. It is sadly so in spiritual matters. Repentance is too often delayed till death; and the foolish virgins come to the supper when the door is shut. We will suppose that the harbour is full of little vessels, all bound north. The south wind springs up, but, strange to say, there is no movement in all the fleet. Each ship remains as still as if it were a painted ship upon a painted ocean. I saw a woodcut the other day of a vessel in full sail but with her anchor holding fast to the rocks beneath. Never was such an absurdity practised in seafaring life, but I know many people who, when the gospel is preached and impressions are being made, instead of pulling the anchor up and yielding to God’ s good Spirit, run out yet another lest they should be converted. One man told me to my face that he did not come to chapel because he was afraid he should be converted. I pray you act not thus. There is another vessel on which the crew and the skipper are fast asleep. They “ turned in” as soon as the south wind blew. These are they who are unconcerned about their salvation. They are asleep. Not they are dead--“ Dead in trespasses and sins.” Oh, man, wake up, put up thy sails and work thy vessel, for God will never save thee else. There must be some desire on thy part as well a power on His part. There is another vessel on board of which the most peculiar performance possible is going on. Mark you, there is a splendid wind blowing--what the sailors call a “ spanking breeze” ; and yet these men are actually endeavouring to move their craft with artificial airs. One of them has a blow pipe in his hands, with which he tries to blow the vessel along. Another uses a pair of bellows for the same purpose. Several of them are waving fans and seeking to waft their ship towards Puteoli. Fools that they are. God’ s breath is better than the little breeze they make. And who are these? These are the self-righteous, who say, “ You tell us that there is a righteousness provided by God, but we are above taking that.” They want to work out a righteousness of their own, and they are puffing and blowing, and try to speed their barques towards heaven. What supreme folly it is! Fellow sinner, thou hast but to seize the helm, or, better still, hand it over to the captain of thy salvation. There is yet another ship to notice. No one appears on the deck, for the sailors and officers are poring over maps, and parchments, and charts. They seem to have forgotten that there is a fair breeze blowing, and possibly do not mean to set sail till they have mastered their geometry and geography. These are they who say, “ No, I want to understand everything fully before I believe anything at all. I must know how I am going to round the promontory of election, and how I can reconcile the current of God’ s sovereignty with the counter-current of man’ s responsibility!” I cannot blame anyone for wishing to comprehend the deep things of God, nor would I dissuade you from inquiring about predestination, but such inquiries must not prevent the use of the means of grace, or the acceptance of the truth as it is in Jesus. For the present it suffices me that God’ s mercy is for all and upon all them that believe. Notice, lastly, that they came ere long to Puteoli. There were wells at Puteoli, and palms and fountains, and doubtless weary travellers rejoiced in these. There, too, the apostle “ found brethren.” Oh, if thou wilt come to Christ thou shalt find a well of living water, a bath of precious blood that washes white as snow, a fountain which will be in your heart like a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. And there are brethren too--the Elder Brother, God’ s dear Son, and all the children of the family, who will welcome you into the Church and go with you hand-in-hand to glory. But Paul did not stop at Puteoli. He had to go overland then to Rome; and, as you know, at Rome he laid down his life for Jesus’ sake. But Rome was not the terminus of his journey. That is where the red line on the map stops, but we want a celestial map to show his real resting place. No, I forgot; he has not stopped yet, for he is journeying on and on, ever making progression, ever getting nearer to the Saviour’ s face. And I believe that every Christian, though he be shipwrecked at Melita--though he be delayed three days at Syracuse--though he become wind-bound at Rhegium--though he tarry seven days at Puteoli with the brethren, aye, and though he suffer persecution and martyrdom at Rome--will land at last in glory through the grace of God. (Thos. Spurgeon.)Baffling winds Seafaring people have, as if by common consent, divided the ocean off into regions, and characterised them according to the winds; e.g., there are the “ trade-wind regions,” the “ variables,” the “ horse latitudes,” the “ doldrums,” etc. The “ equatorial doldrums,” besides being a region of calms and baffling winds, is a region noted for its rains and clouds, which make it one of the most oppressive and disagreeable places at sea. The emigrant ships from Europe for Australia have to cross it. They are often baffled in it for two or three weeks; then the children and the passengers who are of delicate health suffer most. It is a frightful graveyard on the wayside to that golden land. In crossing the equatorial doldrums the mariner has passed a ring of clouds that encircles the earth. And do not these doldrums illustrate a class of influences to which we are all subject? Are we not all certain in our journey to have days of deep melancholy, when all is dismal, when our hopes are baffled, when we make no progress and yet have no calm? Then, indeed, we suffer; and depression clouds the sky of all its light. Take courage, drooping heart, and remember that thou too hast a golden land in view! (Scientific Illustrations.)The prognosticating instinct Great are the advantages which are possessed by that man who is blessed with the prognosticating instinct; for thereby he is enabled to observe the signs of the times, prepare prudently for the things which are looming in the future, and to be ready to perform his part discreetly, when the man who is not similarly endowed is in all the tumult of surprise and confusion. But this instinct is not confined to man; it has a far wider range. And the individual who has not yet seen the advantages of being ready in season and out of season will do well to investigate this matter. He will be surprised at the state of constant preparedness in which even creatures far inferior to himself are to be found. The actiniae throw out their feelers and expand themselves when a continuance of fine weather is to be expected, but withdraw and contract themselves, even in a room, when a change is impending. The mussels, before the approach of a storm, spin several new threads to secure their hold on the rocks; and leeches rise to the surface of the water before rain. Spiders enlarge their webs during fine weather, but spin only short threads, work seldom, or hide themselves in corners during rain. Many beetles, by their active flight and humming sounds, give tokens of the morrow’ s brightness. Before rain, bees remain either in their hives or in the neighbourhood of them; and ants convey deep into the hills the pupae which they expose to the sun in fine weather. If the atmosphere be lowering in the morning, pigeons feed rapidly, and return to their cots, and the hare hides itself; but the mole comes to the surface of the ground, and the squirrel seeks its nest and shuts its entrance. (Scientific Illustrations.) Acts 27:14-26 But not long after there arose … a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.Paul in the storm No landsman who has never been in a storm at; sea can truly picture one. The description in our lesson is allowed by those who know to be one of the best ever written. It is on record that Lord Nelson read this chapter on the morning of the battle of Copenhagen, and it is a fact that the ships at that battle, as well as others in which Nelson had the command, were anchored by the stern (an unusual thing), as was the ship in our lesson. From this thrilling narrative we may gather some useful lessons.1. God’ s particular knowledge of the whereabouts of His people. 2. His power to bless under all circumstances. See Paul’ s courage and self-possession. Contrast with sailors. The reason, his faith in God and his confidence in His word. 3. The value of real religion. It gives rest of soul in times of trial. Ensures final safety. Enables its possessors to be benefactors and comforters to others. Let us have Jesus as our Pilot, then always safe in our voyage of life. (Christian Age.)Paul in the storm Or, if God be for us, who can be against us? I. Not winds and waves with their violence; for winds and waves must obey the Almighty. II. Not men with their designs and plans; for the Lord says, Resolve, and it will come to nothing. III. Not our own heart, with its doubts and anxieties; for comfort comes from above: fear not. (K. Gerok.)Paul tested in the storm 1. In his faith in God.2. In his pastoral fidelity.3. In his undaunted courage. (K. Gerok.)Paul and Jonah 1. Jonah flees from the presence of the Lord; Paul journeys in the service of the Lord. 2. Jonah brings the wrath of God on his fellow passengers; Paul becomes the comfort and safety of his. 3. Jonah is rescued from the jaws of death; Paul brings 276 souls to land. 4. Jonah goes to Nineveh to preach repentance; Paul goes to Rome to proclaim the gospel with the sacrifice of his own life. (K. Gerok.)The storm and the deliverance No other storm has become so famous as this. Of no other shipwreck has so much been written. Yet every year a storm has swept the Adriatic, and unnumbered ships have sunk beyond the reach of tempests; but this one, whose name we know not, is alone historic. It was not a cargo of gold--only wheat! and wheat was plentiful. It was not a ship of the line with honoured guests. Upon that great stormy sea, a century before, the great Caesar warned the pilot, “ Steer boldly; thou cattiest Caesar and his fortune.” The historic ship carried Paul, and grim humour hath it that the great missionary was carried at Nero’ s expense. I. The storm.1. It may be compared to the equinoctial gale, coming with the force of a hurricane. The description reminds us of Psa 107:25-27. Terror seized the crew and soldiers; “ all hope was taken away.” The compass was not yet invented, and the sailor’ s chart depended upon their observation of the stars, or the course of the sun. No rift in the clouds by night or day gave any knowledge. The whistling tempest, the moaning waves, the roaring breakers--these were the parts in the minor music of their despair. 2. Yet God was there. That storm, like every other since, had its meaning. A seeming evil is not the hiding of God’ s face. All is not dark which seems dark. Above the tempest; the sun shone every day in all his glory, and at night every star stood out as clear and beautiful as though their light were seen everywhere. In all this scene of despair an angel of God had come upon the deck of the ship (verses 23, 24). 3. In the midst of that awful gale the apostle, pale and weakened from long fasting, stood up. It was he who had made Felix tremble. The voice which had almost persuaded king Agrippa was heard above the raging of the sea (verses 21-25). The prisoner was from henceforth the captain. The centurion, accustomed to speak with authority, became the obedient servant of his prisoner. 4. Although he had thus spoken, there was no abatement in the tempest. They drifted at the mercy of the gale until midnight of the fourteenth day, when they awoke in the midst of the breakers. But even in that place “ all were of good cheer.” No other event; more clearly mirrors the power of the apostle over men; or, shall we not rather say, “ Christ, who had dispelled all fears in the storm on Genessaret, wrought good cheer in that ship upon the Adriatic through His apostle” ? 5. The tent maker, who could pray while he worked, could work while he prayed. He who, in the beginning of the voyage, had shown his interest in every preparation, would not leave the post of danger in the hour of trial. We are to pray for the Sick; but when the hour has come for us to give the medicine, we must give the medicine, and we can pray while we are giving it. The fireman can pray as he ascends the ladder to save the child. The citizen can pray while he cares for his neighbour’ s goods. Judging from what we know of his nature, the most active man on that ship was Paul; and this active man prayed without ceasing. 6. The promise was, “ Lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” It was not at all necessary for God to save the whole ship’ s company in order to prolong Paul’ s life that he might stand before Nero; but it was on Paul’ s account that the rest were saved. It was as when Lot by his presence kept back the impending fiery storm from Sodom. No real disciple can ever know the full extent of his influence upon the ungodly. II. With this storm as a background, and the promise given, we accept the great fact; namely--1. The decreed certainty of their salvation. The sailors disbelieved, as they showed by endeavouring to escape in the boat. The centurion and his company may have feared, but Paul never doubted. The scene declares his unbounded faith. When morning had come, they could partially see the land before them through the rain and fog. “ And it came to pass that,” by swimming, and floating upon pieces of the wreck, “ they escaped all safe to land.” The Divine promise was as much of a fact as the salvation itself. Whatever God declares shall come to pass will come to pass. Around this shipwreck has arisen the question, Was the promise based solely upon the Divine will, or upon the Divine foreknowledge? In answer, we point to-- 2. The condition embraced in the decree. Paul never ceased his vigilance. If they were to be saved without a condition, surely all this watching was in vain. The Divine promise was based on the free efforts of those on board. Thus the sailors were preparing to leave the ship when he, who had declared the certainty of their coming to land safely, said, “ Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” There was reason in these words. The sailors understood managing the ship, the soldiers could have done nothing. The Divine account took in the skill of the crew. (D. O. Mears.)In the storm It is an interesting confession that Mr. Moody makes, that when the Spree, on which he made his passage home, was thought to be sinking, “ it was the darkest hour of his life.” “ My thoughts,” he says, “ went out to my loved ones at home--my wife and children, anxiously awaiting my coming--my friends on both sides of the sea--the schools and all the interests so dear to me--and realised that perhaps the next hour would separate me forever from all these, so far as the world was concerned: I confess it almost broke me down … I could not endure it. I must haze relief, and relief came in prayer.” A good deal of unreal talk is indulged in about the Christian taking no heed of death, and welcoming it under any form in which it may come. If a man did get into such a state, he would simply have attained to a state of supreme selfishness. He would be cruelly and callously careless of the pain to all who loved him, and would resemble a man who rejoiced simply because he was going to exchange a post of arduous, earthly service for his Master for a life of pure, spiritual enjoyment. Is that Christianity? It was not Paul’ s idea of it. He looked for the “ far better,” but he wanted still more greater opportunities of present service, and he was prepared to sacrifice his hopes of heaven, if need be, for his work’ s sake. Paul was not particularly cheerful at Ephesus, when, with the presentiment of early death upon him, he took a final farewell of his friends. The true Christian loves his life, and shudders at the “ figure clothed in grey,” though he does not dread death “ as one that has no hope.” (Christian World.)The calmness of faith On shipboard a few years ago, when the passengers crowded on deck from the cabin and saloon in a sudden panic of fear that a terrible accident was imminent, a lady and gentleman started the hymn, “ My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary.” The singing of this hymn was after a moment taken up by the whole company assembled on the ship. Not only were fears allayed, presence of mind displayed, but noble testimony was borne to the Lord Jesus and His power in the most natural manner possible. The lady and gentleman were the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen. Rising above the storm The frigate bird (Figata) spreads its wings to the extent of three yards, and its power of flight is, therefore, very great. When a hurricane arises it mounts up far above the storm, and remains in these empyrean regions until the tempest is overpast. In consequence of their immense expansion of the wing they can sustain themselves in the air for days together without taking or requiring rest. The human soul, like the frigate bird, possesses a power to rise above its storms. Upon the pinions of faith it can ascend above the tempests of time, and calm itself in the prospects of immortality. No storms can beat it down, for it possesses a spirituality which, as Dr. Croley says, enables it to rise higher and higher with every fresh wave of its wing. (Scientific Illustrations.)And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind.--In the Greek, Could not eye the wind. This directs attention to a peculiarity of ancient Oriental ships. In the Egyptian sculptures, the war galleys have often at the prow a lion’ s head or a ram’ s head, with the eyes clearly represented, and looking ahead of the ship. In the Khorsabad sculpture copied by Layard in “ Nineveh and its Remains,” the ship is in the form of a sea monster, with a horse’ s head as the prow, a nondescript body forming the bulk of the vessel, and a fish tail forming the elevation at the stern. The Oriental ship was thus conceived of as an animal: its figure head was really the head of the animal form; and the figure head at the prow was balanced by the figure tail at the stern. This conception of a ship as a sea animal was not alien to the sailors of the Mediterranean at the time of Paul. In the paintings on the walls of Herculaneum we see several ships, not only with swan-head prows, but with gigantic eyes painted on either side of the swelling bulk beneath the swan necks. The vessel thus had two pairs of eyes--the small eyes in the swan’ s head, and the large eyes on the bow. In other cases, the whole bow was a gigantic human head; but even in such instances a well-defined tail is sometimes shown in the paintings. It is worth noting that a relic of this custom still survives on the Mediterranean, many of the vessels still having large eyes painted on the bow; and the swift Turkish skiffs, with long and high prows and sterns, which recall the form of the ancient animal ships, are still called “ swallows.” Chinese junks are always supplied with eyes on their bows, and the traveller who asks the significance of the custom is told, “ Junk no have eyes; no can see.” (S. S. Times.)We let her drive.--Waiting and trusting In the financial panic of 1857, when the best business management on the part of Christian merchants was insufficient to enable them to stem the tide of commercial disaster, the Rev. Dr. Bushnell published, in the Hartford Courant, a “ Weekday sermon to the business men of Hartford,” based on this text. The lesson of it was obvious. There are many times when, in the providence of God, there is nothing for us to do but to stand still and wait till a storm has blown itself out. It may be a financial storm. It may be a gale of popular fanaticism. It may be an attack of disease. It may be a new flurry of temptations. There may seem to be nothing for the believer to do hopefully. At all events he can wait--and trust. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.) Acts 27:20-26 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared.Spiritual darkness I. There are many ways in which we may account for this state of mind.1. It may be due in part to nervous and physical exhaustion. To the speed of modern life we do not add an increased proportion of rest. And to all our haste, telling on the finely adjusted nature with which God has endowed us, there comes inevitable reaction. The liver, or digestion, or nervous system, suddenly collapses under the exacting strain, and refuses to perform, or performs sluggishly, the behests of the will. It is at that time that one is apt to lose the vision of the unseen. Elijah, overtired, asks to die. 2. It may be due to mistakes in the previous education of the soul. Suppose we have received our religion simply upon hearsay or on tradition from our fathers, without much of that inner experience which authenticates it to the soul; or suppose we have mistaken creeds, formularies and acts as constituting religion, thinking when these are assailed or shown to be valueless, that we have lost the essence of religion; or suppose we have suddenly come into collision with the ruthless spirit of criticism, which, in the professed interest of truth, tears asunder the most delicate flowers to learn the secret of their manufacture, and refuses that we should enjoy a flower unless we can tell exactly how it came to be. In any of these cases the soul arrested in the enjoyment of unquestioning faith, and unable in the tumult to discriminate between the transitory and the eternal, the form and the substance, cries out as if it were bereaved of everything, when in point of fact it is only shedding the cerements of the grave as it passes into the fuller life, and leaving its baby clothes for those of youth and developing growth. 3. It may be due to moral declension. Only as the eye is single is the body full of light. Only the pure in heart can see God, Only those who do His will know. It is not always so, of course; but more often than not it is they who yield to the spell of Circe and are turned to swine, that lose the power of recognising the true Man, and appreciating those subtle influences from the unseen and spiritual world, which proves its existence no less certainly than did the spice-laden breath of the land, bearing in its current the land birds, prove to Columbus that the continent of his dreams was about to break on the vision of himself and his discontented sailors. 4. It may be due to the direct temptation of evil spirits. Often Satan, unable to secure his object by solicitations addressed to the senses, directs his attack on some of the nobler attributes. Sometimes he arouses the senses to hold the spirit in thrall, as some slave girl, with castanet and dance, may subjugate a Caesar to her will. At other times he suggests through days and months together, that there is no need for the spirit to maintain its upright attitude, because there is no eye watching it, no hand waiting to reward it. “ There is no God.” Why, then, be so careful? Eat and drink, tomorrow you will die and end as a brute. 5. Sometimes it is due to the necessity for that preparation of the soul to help others, which can only be acquired through the discipline of trial. So often God has to wean us from our sensible enjoyment of Him, that we may learn to live by faith. God permits thee to go this desolate path in order to explore it and become a Greatheart, beneath whose guidance Mr. Fearing, Miss Much-afraid, and Mr. Despondency will come safely to the celestial city. II. What should we do under these circumstances?1. Be of good courage. Do not begin to say either that there is no such thing as truth, or that you will never behold it again. Do not get into a panic. If you walk in darkness and have no light, stay yourself on God; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait: be strong, fear not. 2. Go on obeying the better impulses of your soul. Go on doing what is right, because it is right. Be pure and sweet, gentle and true, unselfish and forgiving, keep your hand upon the thread of conscience, it traverses the darkest mines, and leads out into the perfect day. 3. Keep your difficulties to yourself. There is nothing gained by talking of them; and you have no right to sow the seeds of your own difficulties in the hearts of others. 4. Put away all known evil. There is a mote or a beam in your eye that must come out, ere you can see clearly. Be cleansed in the blood of Jesus, and delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit. 5. Put your will on God’ s side. Keep your face towards the east. Struggle through the slough to that further side which is next the celestial city. Remember how Thomas, though he seemed fast closed against faith, mingled with the rest in their gatherings in the upper room, as if he could not abandon the precious hope of seeing the risen Lord. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Ancient navigation A compass was, of course, not included in the outfit of an ancient Oriental ship; and, in that respect, modern Oriental navigation resembles the ancient. Except in cases, increasingly more frequent, where the principles of Western European navigation have been adopted, the Oriental coasting vessels carry no compass; but the sailors are dependent upon sun and stars, and upon their knowledge of the characteristic features of the coast, to guide them in their voyage. The typical Oriental captain is a man skilled in weather signs, familiar with the limited range of coast along which he plies, and somewhat too ready to run his craft into a safe inlet at the approach of a storm. The captains of the grain ships plying between Egypt and Rome were men of more capability; but even they had hardly any resources when they were out of sight of land, and sun and stars were long hidden. (S. S. Times.)All hope that we should be saved was then taken away.--Wrecked, but not reckless I. Sometimes I have been glad to hear that cry. Multitudes of persons are sailing in what they think to be the good ship of self-righteousness: they are expecting that they shall get to heaven in her. But she never did carry a soul safely into the haven, and she never will. Now, this vessel manages to keep on her way against all the good advice of Scripture. I am glad, therefore, when some terrific tempest overtakes this vessel; and when men’ s hopes through their own doings and their own feelings are utterly wrecked. It must end in destruction, and it is therefore a thousand mercies when they find it out soon enough to get another and a better hope of being saved rather than this. Yet it is really wonderful how self-righteous persons will do their best to preserve their self-righteousness as long as they can. Like these mariners--1. They have got a boat behind the vessel. There are some who have not only good worlds enough, but a few to spare. They have hauled this in very soon under stress of weather, and got the boat on deck for fear of losing it altogether. “ If we cannot be saved by good works,” they say, “ we will get under the lee of some church and get ceremonies to help us out.” And when the hurricane has blown them out to sea, and they have found that there is no defence for a soul in ordinances; that only the precious blood can cleanse away sin, and even that must be applied through the Holy Ghost by faith to give the conscience peace--alas! poor souls, their hope of being saved has become more slender than before. 2. They undergird the ship; gird their self-righteousness together; pray more, read the Bible more, go to a place of worship oftener--by any means they will endeavour to keep together the timbers that the storm has begun to loosen. But the storm blows too severely; the vessel cannot be preserved by such appliances as these. 3. They cut down all that might hamper them. They cry, “ We cannot boast any longer; we acknowledge we have transgressed in some respects, but, Lord, accept our confessions; put away our sin, because we have repented of it.” They have given up a good deal, but they still cling to the old ship as long as they can. She must go to pieces, or you cannot get them out of her; so the Lord sends the wind, and the storm again breaks over them. 4. They go to the Word of God for comfort, but, like the mariners, they get no food, for there are no consolations for those who can save themselves. 5. We find that the sailors with Paul laboured hard; they tried to pump the vessel. Meanwhile, neither sun, nor moon, nor stars appeared. They were all in the dark: and that is just the condition of a self-righteous soul when the Spirit of God blows with His rough north wind upon it, and it comes to see that “ By the works of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” It is an awful condition to be in, in some respects; it is a most blessed one in others. Oh, for such a storm as would that vessel wreck which is sailing under the flag of self-righteousness, that all hope of being so saved might be taken away from you. II. Sometimes I have deplored it. I have heard some such lamentation as this from men who had no self-righteousness certainly, but who had fallen into despair, or had been guilty of stifling conscience, or had grown careless while hearing the Word, and they had gradually wrought themselves into the belief that they must be lost.1. I am sorry for these reasons. (1) I am afraid that you will go and do something very wrong. “ Because there is no hope,” says the man, “ I do not care what I do. As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.” Despair has been employed by Satan to lead many men into desperate crimes. Some have taken their own lives. Do not believe what Satan is telling you. The hope that you may be saved is not altogether gone. (2) I fear that you will leave off hearing the gospel. I have met with some who said that they would never go any more to the house of God because it was no good. They had seen a great many converted, but it had never touched them, and therefore it was no use; they were only adding to their responsibilities. Don’ t give up hearing, I pray you. I would sooner you came here and went to sleep, for perhaps when you woke up a saving word might get in somehow or other. (3) For you will keep on coming out of custom, but you won’ t listen with any attentions because you will feel “ It is no good.” I have heard of a boy who was noticed to lean forward to catch every word of the preacher; and his mother said to him, “ William, what makes you so very attentive?” “ Because,” said the boy, “ our minister said that if there was a sentence in the sermon that was likely to do us good Satan would try so that we should not hear it, and therefore I want to hear all that is said in the hope that God may bless me.” I do believe, if you were to hear like that, you would get good one of these days. 2. But you must not give way to that feeling that there is no hope. (1) It is quite contrary to Scripture. Do you find the passage there that says there is no hope for you? You find this: “ Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” (2) It is opposed to all fact. There are many here present who were sinners and seekers like you now are, and they have found peace. Now, if they have been delivered, why should not you? (3) It is to insult the great Father who always receives the prodigals that come back to Him. Say that He cannot save you? why, you deny His omnipotence and distrust His mercy! (4) It is to grieve Jesus. Do you think His blood cannot cleanse you? What, is there some new sin come up that Jesus did not know of? (5) It is to do injury to the Holy Ghost, for there is nothing which the blessed Spirit cannot move out of your way which is now an impediment. If thy heart be like the millstone, He can turn it into wax. If you cannot believe, He can give you faith. III. I have sympathised with it, because many a time have I felt the same. Children of God do not always find it smooth sailing to heaven. Even in the good bark of Christ crucified there are storms. Christ may be in the vessel, but He may be asleep, and the ship may be tossed with the tempest. I have introduced this subject because there are many young believers who get into such a squall, and do not know what to make of it. They say, “ Why, had I been a child of God, I could not have drifted into this frightful tempest.” How sayest thou so? Did not David go through it? He said, “ All Thy waves and Thy billows have gone over me.” You cannot expect to be upon these seas and not have tossings to and fro sometimes. The strongest faith that ever was in this world has sometimes faltered. The old story tells us of Caesar in the storm, when he said to the trembling captain, “ Fear not! Thou carriest Caesar and all his fortunes!” Now, Christ is in the same boat with all His people. If one of His members perish, He must perish too. “ Because I live ye shall live also.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s dealing with man in his extremity I. He begins by aggravating the distress (Acts 27:21). You have brought all this distress upon yourselves. How would this reproof aggravate for the moment the agony of that dark hour! It would call up conscience. When a man is made to feel that his suffering is not merely a calamity, but a crime, it comes on him with new intensity and weight. Thus God ever deals with men. The first thing that He does to help a world in misery is to convince it that its misery is self-produced. “ O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.” And He goes on to convince it of sin, righteousness, and judgment. II. He proceeds to mitigate the distress (Acts 27:22). After the wound comes the salve. After sinners have experienced the workings of genuine repentance, there comes the message of Divine comfort. After the tempest the still small voice. III. He does both through His servants (Acts 27:23-24). Three things are here to be noticed.1. The essential character of God’ s servants. What is indispensable in the character of a true servant? (1) A practical consciousness of God’ s absolute claim to our being. “ Whose I am.” I am not the proprietor, but the trustee of myself. (2) A constant working out of God’ s will in our being. “ Whom I serve.” 2. Their high privilege. Communication from the heavenly Father. “ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” 3. Their social value. “ God hath given thee all them that sail with thee,” Paul was the temporal saviour of all on board. The world is preserved for the sake of the good. Every righteous man is a bulwark to his city and his country. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul’ s voyage to Rome considered in connection with his faith I. The perilous circumstances in which the apostle was placed. What calamity excites more painful sensations than a storm at sea? II. The apostle is the exercise of a lively faith. His faith appears--1. In the strength of its exercise. This was manifested in the ready regard which he paid to the testimony of the angel, although circumstances at the time seemed directly opposed to its fulfilment. 2. In the support which it yielded to his mind. While the tempest was so awful that despondency took possession of the crew, the apostle came forth to cheer their hearts, as his own was cheered, by declaring that no man’ s life should be lost. 3. In influential connection with the use of the ordinary means of safety and success (Acts 27:10; Acts 27:21; Acts 27:31). Unhappily for us, we carry the feelings of presumption into our religious concerns to an extent unknown in our worldly occupations. 4. In its promotion of the glory of God. There was no attempt to magnify himself by concealing the source of his prophetic assurance. He attributed nothing to his own wisdom or power; he ascribed the honour entirely to God. Conclusion: The subject may teach us--1. The tender care which God exercises over those who love and serve Him, and sometimes over others for their sake. Not only was the apostle saved himself from the threatened destruction, but the crew also. 2. When under the mysterious dispensations of Providence not to think that the purposes of God are changed. If we make present appearances the rule or index by which we judge the love of God, we shall often be deceived and perplexed. A lengthened trial, therefore, a dark and awful calamity, should not be viewed by a Christian as implying a change in God’ s intention to do him good, but as involving various, and some of them painful, means by which that good is to be effected. 3. The necessity of the possession of solid peace and hope, of our being what Paul denominated himself, “ a servant of God.” (R. Burls.)Paul in the storm and his celestial visitant Certain spots will be forever sacred as places of contact between earth and heaven. Bethel, Penuel, Midian, Sinai, Bethlehem, Jerusalem. But except those spots made holy ground by contact with our Lord, none surpass in sacred associations this unknown spot in the Adriatic. I see three dazzling rays gleam from it. I. Earthly sublimity. A storm at sea; a crowded ship driven helplessly; provisions gone; all hope taken away from 276 souls. While we shudder at it, let us think of the more sublimely fearful scene around us. It is a stormy voyage we are making from port to port between the two eternities. If the storm has not struck us in the calm harbour of youth, we know that the sea is treacherous. After this disappointments drench us; great billowy griefs go over us; sudden temptations almost capsize us; we go into the trough of the sea in wretched habits and circumstances; we see daily some rock on which someone is wrecked. We undergird our lives with expediencies--property, friends, culture, formalities of religion. But soon the crash comes. The ship of earthly estate is lost. One event cometh alike to all. Thank God if the soul--the man in the ship--be saved. But alas! the shores are strewn with not only waifs of fortunes, of reputations--the lumber and cargoes of life--but with soul wrecks. II. The celestial sublimity. A light shines through that black storm, and above the howling a supernatural voice is heard by one man. What did it signify? Have you elevation of mind sufficient to believe that the angel of the Lord stands by our storm-tossed humanity? The sailors knew not where they were; but the angel knew. So when we are shut down under the hatches of perplexity and despondency, the Lord knows where we are. He found Hagar in utter despair. To Abraham, when his faith wavered, He came with promise. To Jacob, when his resolution faltered, He came with strength and confirmation. To Moses, seeking light for duty, He came in a flame. To Joshua, David, Christ. The sublimity deepens as me hear the infinite voice--“ Lo I am with you alway,” etc. III. The human sublimity. One alone is undismayed. The sailors’ experience and the officers’ skill gave them no such confidence as his. He cries to the crew, “ Be of good cheer,” etc. The angel has filled him with his own bright spirit. I have seen a few such men who have a solar radiance, a partial transfiguration, as if Christ lived in them.1. They are sinners, but they have heard the voice of the angel saying, “ Thy sins are forgiven thee.” 2. They have been sorely bereaved, but they have heard the angel saying, “ Be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” 3. They are nearing dissolution, but they have heard “ I am the resurrection and the life.” Conclusion: Have you heard the voice?1. Faith is hearing. “ I believe God.” 2. The secret of the angelic assurance was “ Whom I am and whom I serve.” He was the Divine protege, because he had given himself to the Divine keeping. (J. M. Ludlow, D. D.)Religion in a storm After all true religion is not a thing to be sneered at. That which could make a landsman calm and confident in the midst of a storm which overwhelmed the oldest sailors must have been something more than fancy; and that which could make a man talk and act as Paul did must have been something more than blind enthusiasm. Note-- I. Faith’ s composure in the midst of life’ s tempests. “ I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” This after “ all hope that we should be saved was taken away.” Think of the contrast on board that ship. There were old sailors there; veterans who had fought in the foremost ranks of Rome; merchants who had travelled through many lands; but of all the “ two hundred threescore and sixteen souls” there were none who could with composure look this danger in the face, save the prisoner and the one or two Christians who were companions with him in his bonds. He stood alone, amid all that hopeless company, and declared his confidence; and he, who knew the ground of his own composure best, said it was because he believed God. If nautical experience could have inspired such fearlessness, then, surely, the sailors should have been more composed than Paul; and if it had been merely a question of nerve or temperament, then the soldiers, who had dared a thousand deaths, ought certainly to have been as cool as the tentmaker. As it was on board that ship, so it is in the voyage of life. Amidst the surging waters, faith alone can keep us steady. With the sailors we may have much life experience; with the soldiers we may possess a large share of natural courage; with the merchants we may enjoy much wealth and influence; but unless with Paul we can say, “ I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me,” we shall be the victims of every tempest and the sport of every wave. II. Faith’ s work in the midst of life’ s tempest. One man’ s faith may be a means of blessing to others. “ I believe God,” --“ wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer!” One chief end of our mission is to seek each other’ s happiness. How can this be done? Paul did it--1. By declaring the Word of God! Paul did not begin to calculate and explain the ship’ s position, neither did he try to weigh the probabilities of escape by this or that procedure; but he assured them, on the strength of what God had spoken, that “ not an hair should fall from the head” of any of them. (1) Let the “ strong men” in the Church make Paul their example in this particular. “ Jonathan arose, and went to David in the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.” This is what we want now. (2) Consider, you “ fathers,” what those words are upon which you have been taught to hope, and, by a repetition of them to the fainting, “ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.” Don’ t forget that the Church abounds with “ little children,” and that your word about “ Him that is from the beginning” may be a source of comfort to their hearts. (3) Let me remind you “ little faiths” of what our God has said. He says, “ He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye.” But Paul did not fail to give them both sides of the truth. The ship was to be lost, and he was to “ stand before Caesar” ! It was not all blessing that the angel predicted. “ In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” 2. By avowing his own faith. “ I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” Don’ t profess that which you don’ t possess; but if you want to do good in the world, don’ t go about theorising and philosophising as to whether or not God has spoken, or whether or not He is likely to do what He has said! Either be silent altogether, or declare your unbounded faith in God’ s Word. 3. By setting a good example. To make others happy, you must yourself wear a cheerful face. It is useless to cry, “ Be of good cheer,” when, to your own soul, you are crying, “ Why art thou cast down?” True faith will be detected no sooner by the emphasis of your word than by the genuineness of your smile. “ Rejoice in the Lord always!” III. Faith’ s honour in the midst of life’ s tempests. What honour faith confers! It makes the child a man, and it makes the man a very giant. When Paul stepped on board that vessel no man was more despised than the great apostle; but when the Euroclydon beat upon the ship, and all hope of being saved was gone, he arose a prince amongst men. Faith made him the master of the ship; and though a prisoner in charge of Julius the centurion, Julius the centurion sought the advice and obeyed the commands of his own captive. And true faith will ever thus assert itself. A ship was on her beam ends in the Atlantic, and all hope was taken away. The captain had warned his men to prepare for death. But there was one clinging to the shrouds who saw no danger, and the praying cabin-boy became the champion of faith in the midst of the tempest. “ God will save us yet, sir,” said the lad; and, while hanging to the helpless vessel he sought to cheer the crew, his youthful prayers were heard in heaven. Soon after a tremendous sea came rolling on towards them, which they quite expected would carry them down, but, to their astonishment and joy, it so struck them as to “ right” the ship, and they continued their voyage, and entered New York in safety. “ Them that honour Me I will honour.” IV. Faith’ s support in the midst of life’ s tempests. “ There stood by me this night the angel of God,” etc. “ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,” read Paul’ s narrative. What Paul had to comfort him, that every child of God has.1. Paul was remembered all through the storm. Unbelief often says hard things about God when darkness and tempest for a long time distress. “ Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me,” etc. But what saith the Lord? “ Can a woman forget her sucking child,” etc. 2. Paul was watched all through the storm. Though the sun and the stars had not been able to pierce the storm clouds, the eye that never slumbers had watched over Paul, and the angel of Adria knew just where to find him. “ I will guide thee with Mine eye.” “ The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” 3. Paul was sustained all through the storm. All through that trying time God’ s word was a source of unspeakable consolation; but that special love visit of the angel raised him to the highest pitch of Christian happiness. And thus God comforts His people by His word still. (W. H. Burton.) Acts 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God.The angel of God I. Paul’ s consolations.1. The visit of the angel. Once it would have alarmed him. Rut then he was in the service of the prince of darkness! Now he has changed masters; and he can say of the Father of lights, “ Whose I am, and whom I serve.” How it must have chased away Paul’ s weariness to feel that the God of angels cares for me--an angel comes down to keep me company! 2. The assurances of his personal preservation. (1) “ Fear not, Paul.” It is not for a servant of God to fear! The night may be dark--but “ darkness hideth not from Him” ; the storm may be fierce--but “ He holds the winds in His fists.” (2) But what does he add next? Does he say, I am come to fetch you home from all your toils and labours? Nay, “ Thou must be brought before Caesar.” What a light this casts upon the spirit of the apostle! His immediate desire is, not to escape from toil, but to enter a new sphere for the service of his Lord! His Lord Himself had marked out that new sphere, and nothing can prevent. Your hark may be tossed up and down and go to pieces. For all that--“ To Caesar shalt thou go! “ Happy apostle! He knew Christ had put a message in his mouth for Caesar--and he is assured he shall live to speak it! 3. The benefit he would confer on others. “ And, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” Hear this, captain! It is not your seamanship that will preserve your life. Hear this, centurion! It is not your uniform that will carry you to Italy in safety--you will owe it to one of the prisoners. There is a servant of God on board this vessel, and he has work to do in Rome. Courage, then, sailor! Be of good cheer in spite of all appearances. You are carrying with you more than Caesar and his fortunes! II. Lessons for Christ’ s servants now.1. Are you passing through trial? No strange thing has happened to you. You are only proving yourself of apostolical succession. But do you know nothing of Paul’ s strong consolations? Jacob had no easy couch at Bethel; but he dreamed of angels of God, and when he woke, he knew that the dream denoted a reality and said, “ This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Peter was imprisoned, and yet at midnight an angel of the Lord came upon him. It is not when most at ease in outward circumstances, or in our own souls--nay, sometimes, when most ready to say, “ All these things are against me” --that we gain such a view of our Helper, as enables us to say with the prophet, “ Greater is He that is for us, than all that are against us.” 2. Are you eager for service? God summons all His people to become fellow workers with Him. There is some ignorance we can enlighten, some sorrow we may soothe; and all the talents entrusted to us are intended for this end. Now how do we regard our work? Is it dignity? is it privilege? Or--are we trying to find out how little we can do? The Lord preserve us from the doom of wicked and slothful servants! 3. Why should not you be a blessing to all about you? Well, you say, How little I can do! Do that little and God can make it an instrument of more. In the stormy voyage of the present world, when the wisdom of the wisest and the power of the mightiest are at fault, a poor Christian may have given to him all them that sail with him. (F. Tucker, B. A.)Wiring the stars They determined to sail into Italy. And the Judge marked it down in His notebook; and the skipper of the vessel marked it down in his; and the sailors and the soldiers marked it down in theirs: they had an “ engagement to sail into Italy.” So you--you have got a little book in your vest pocket, and opposite a certain date you have a certain engagement. Did you every think, man, that you may never fulfil that engagement? What are you that you put down any engagement without, in big letters, a “ God willing,” or “ weather permitting,” or “ if spared,” I shall do this? God heard the determination, and He raised the winds, and He raised the waves, and they were caught in a storm; and now comes a scene. The sailors hurry to their bunks, and they get out the little heathen god that they forgot about in calm weather. Paul and Luke and Aristarchus are also putting requests to their God; but there is no visible presence, there is no image seen, and the sailors think they are very irreligious, they think them Jonahs, and have brought the storm. But now Paul stands up: “ I have got it. I have got the answer; I have got the pledge of safety from my God.” What is it? It is a promise: “ There stood by me this night a messenger with a promise, and that is the comfort.” “ Ah, but I can’ t see your promise,” says an old salt; “ I would like to see those waves get less noisy in their dash; I would like to hear the fall into softness of those howling winds; the promise, where is it?” What is a promise? It depends on the promiser. A promise is either great or little, everything or nothing, according to the promiser. Oh, but this is a promise not of a man! or we would not accept it at all; this is a promise of God, and God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should Change. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Hath He spoken it, and shall He not make it good? Ye’ re right, Paul; to hide in the strongbox of your heart this promise of safety--for it is God’ s. Now in this text, you notice, Paul declares--what every minister should be able to declare as the kernel of his work, as the spirit in which he does it--Paul declares his connection with God, that he has a grip of infinity, that he is a man that lives not in the seen but in the unseen: “ There stood by me this night” --not a man, but--“ the angel of God,” a messenger from heaven. So the road is open from heaven to Paul’ s soul. In the House of Commons in London a heated debate was taking place. It was about our Eastern policy. Gordon was out, and there was little fear as to his success, when a telegram was handed in, a despatch of the last news; and what is it? Just two words, says the cable, just two words, and they make that heat of that debate get calm and cool; it makes the noise die away. What is it? “ Nile open.” What does that mean? How has that changed the agitated feelings of Parliament? “ Nile open.” It was closed before; the Mahdi’ s hordes were round about the river, Khartoum was far away, but our soldiers and marines were out there for the very purpose of forcing a passage up the Nile to Khartoum; and this is the result. It is done! Our arms are once more victorious, Britannia yet rules the waves and the waters of the Nile; the Nile is open. So in this messenger of God coming to Paul we read a history. The way is open. Is it open to you? Have you got an open route to God? Preacher, hearer, minister, elder, deacon, is the road open? Can there come to us in all verity an angel of God with the soft light of this morning? Are we converted? Have we connection with God? Is the road open? Look for a moment at the special nature of this vision. The angel “ stood by me,” says Paul. He claims a special relationship with heaven. We believe, and rightly, in--and woe to us if the day come when we let slip belief in--special Providence, special relationship to heaven, special claim, special result, special prayer, special answer--everything is special with the child of God. Sometimes you notice from the main wires of our telegraph system a single wire following this hedge road. It strikes off from the city communication, and it goes up the avenues right to this mansion. Who is this presumes to insert into his house a special wire of the nation’ s electricity? He is my lord duke; he has got influence enough, he has got standing enough, he is a Minister of the Government, and he has got a special wire and a special dial and a special clerk and a special power for controlling that single wire for his messages. You have got this morning, child of God, a special wire of communication with heaven have you heard in the heart of you the click of the needle, have you this morning sent a message up to the stars of God’ s abode by that special wire? Is it ever used? Is it magnetised by use with the full energy of action? The crowd knowing nothing about it. You can see the wires in our Glasgow streets, but there are tubes immaterial, spiritual, that are one gigantic network in this commercial capital of Scotland, and they are reaching up to God; and if we had spiritual eyes we would see the contact with you, and with you, but alas! none with you, Christless, prayerless soul, none with you. The communication is with the Christian alone. We are all, if children of God, specially connected, and we can call up God, we can summon attention in the courts on high. We can wire the stars. Then there is a peculiarity in this to be noticed--the angel “ stood by me.” Ah, the angel felt choked in this atmosphere. It was a hard commission he had to perform, and he came down, down, where the Master felt it hard to live, and he stood by Paul. “ Won’ t you stay, holy angel?” “ No.” “ Won’ t you sit down.” “ No.” The angel “ stood,” and the very wings of him never stopped rustling, so eager were they for their flight again to the purity above. That was a lesson for Paul, and it is a lesson for you. If Paul had had this vision every day of his life, he would be an unhealthy Christian type for you and for me; he would have had the privileges that would have shut us out from the throbbing humanity in his Epistles. The fact is, it doesn’ t matter what you and I have seen, whether God has taken us up to the top of the mountain and shown us His glory, so that we have come down with the light streaming from us; it doesn’ t matter whether He has hidden us in the cleft of the rock and passed by, proclaiming His name, the Lord, the Lord God: it doesn’ t matter what your feelings are, what you have seen, what is your past; it matters this: is the will regenerated? Is the will remade and reset? That is the question, and that is communion with God. It is the operation of Heaven’ s will on the will of man. It is the unseen suction, it is the power of the current that keeps it pointed to God. “ Whose I am,” says Paul. He says to himself, “ Now is the time to give a word for the Master. Jupiter, what is he? what is Venus? what is Juno? what is Neptune?” God hears the testimony. “ Whose I am” --right in the teeth of the heathen sailors, right in the teeth of the stoical, sceptical centurion, right in the teeth of all men--“ I belong to God!” Paul takes pride in that. You notice that the very first word in his every epistle after his own name is doulos--“ Paul, doulos,” slave; he glories in it. The Romans fastened a little slip of brass on the ankle of the slave, and on his wrist, and on the slip of brass on the wrist was the name of the owner and the word “ slave” with it; and in the forum, in the market place, the slave with the glitter of that slip of brass had to step aside to the slaves’ quarters, and the proud, haughty Roman drew in his toga as the slave went by: “ My slave, keep to thine own side of the pavement, please!” Ah, but Paul took a pride in the glitter of that piece of brass; it was his cherished honour. He once had aimed at a high priesthood; he once had aimed at and won the senior wranglership of Jerusalem; but Paul prided himself, boasted himself, in being the slave of the Master. Do you? “ Whose I am” rings out in this loud, stunning tide of human care and crime to the Christian worker. “ Whom I serve.” I have to do with Christ, not with you; I have to do with the Master, not with you; not with man, but with God. Oh, get a hold of that! We need it today. We need in the holy independence of spirit, in the keen, manly tramp along the pavement of time, to repudiate all shackling. I belong to Christ, I get my orders from on high, and the strength to carry them out. “ Whom I serve.” And what is the hardest work we get? Salvation work. If we were more taken up with the work that is to be done here, we would have less time to pay attention to others’ work. There is a great deal to be done, and the sun is getting low in our own souls. You have to draw the sword, man; you have to let it flash in the sun as you thrust, in your own God-given strength, the Canaanites and Perizzites from the land. That is your work, and if you do that work well you will do every work well. It is sore work, salvation work; first get it, and then “ work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” “ Whom I serve.” But oh, this sorrowful service! Are you going to end that way, preacher? Are you going to end with sorrow and dole and doom and woe? Service! I can find no comfort there. Ah! but do you find it here, then? That’ s a little bit of mistranslation, sir! It is “ Whom I worship.” That is the service; not outward service, not the sweat following on active toil, but the worship, the adoration of the heart--that is the service that God wants. As M’ Cheyne says, “ God gets more glory from an adoring look of a believer on a sick bed than from the outward labour of a whole day.” It is “ Whom I worship.” It is this, and this is the blessed service. (John Robertson.)Life worth living I. To whom the believer righteously belongs. Our time, talents--all we have and are belong to Him. The words, “ Whom I serve,” teach us-- II. For whom the believer rejoicingly labours. The apostle had a high and noble idea of service. (a) He did not consult his own pleasure or will. (b) He gave up all other masters. (c) He acted constantly as in his Master’ s presence. (d) He subordinated everything to the smile of his Master. (F. W. Brown.)The Christian man, God’ s property and servant I. He is the property of God. Man is God’ s--(1) By creation. This involves more than parental possession of the child.(2) By sustenance.(3) By redemption. II. He is the servant of God. “ Whom I serve.” This supreme service, of which God’ s possession of us is the motive, thus has a motive--(1) Deep enough to control all our being.(2) Abiding enough to continue through all our history.(3) Comprehensive enough to include all our life. (U. R. Thomas.)God’ s true servants Observe here three things concerning God’ s true servants. I. Their essential character.1. A practical consciousness of God’ s absolute claim to our being. “ Whose I am.” I am not the proprietor, but the trustee of myself. 2. A constant working out of God’ s will in our being. “ Whom I serve.” II. Their high privilege. What is that? Communication from the heavenly Father. “ There stood by me this night the angel of God.” III. Their social value. “ God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” Paul was the temporal saviour of all on board. The world is preserved for the sake of the good. (Homilist.)The vision and its consequences 1. “ There stood by me this night the angel of God” (verse 2). An angel at night seems to be a double blessing because of the surrounding darkness. There are innumerable instances in which the angels have come in the night season. Some of our earliest recollections are of angels wrestling with us, when we could see no light in the nightly sky. Yet it takes a courageous man to say, in a materialistic age, that an angel has spoken to him. He will be called mad. But when we come to think of it, that will not make him mad. Madness is a relative term. There is a madness of insensibility, of unpardonable stupidity amongst the appealing and exciting sublimities of things. 2. Paul says of God, “ whose I am, and whom I serve.” So the revelation was not made to a fanatic, but to a servant. Thus we come down into cold reason. (1) “ Whose I am” But all men are God’ s; the centurion and the sailors were God’ s--where is the specialty of the claim? We are twice God’ s; we are “ born again” --born to some higher life and wider ownership. “ Whom I serve.” Now we come lower down still into the region of what is termed reason and fact. Did Paul serve God? Let his life answer. 3. The all-including thought arising out of this consideration is, that God’ s revelations are made, not to genius, but to character; not to the greatest intellects, but to the tenderest and purest hearts. “ To this man will I look” --God never changes the point of vision--a broken-hearted, humble, contrite soul. In other words, “ the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” “ Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” We should know more if we loved more; we should be greater theologians if we were better Christians. When our eyes are shut in prayer, the vision of our soul is opened that we may behold the sublimest realities of truth. If you would grow in knowledge, you must first grow in grace. 4. Then mark a wonderful characteristic of Paul, in that he pledges God. This is not a salvation that is to be worked out in the dim and unknown future. With a valour--singularly characteristic of himself, he pledges, in all its immeasurable infiniteness, the power of God to do this thing. How he will be covered with confusion presently if it be not so! A great mystery is this, that the child may pledge the Father to work out certain issues. As to detail, we know nothing; but as to broad, substantial issue, we know everything. “ Say unto the wicked man, Thou shalt surely die.” “ Say unto the righteous, It shall be well with thee.” 5. What a wondrous picture of life then follows! We seem to have been in those very circumstances. Have we not seen how great providences are affected by human action? “ Except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved.” This is a continual wonder to us, that life should go upon such little hinges; that the small wheels should, in their place, be just as important as the large one. We sometimes come into such close quarters with God that great issues depend upon shutting the door, looking out of the window, keeping the eyes open, speaking one word. Thus are little things lifted up into importance, and details made part of the worship of life. There is nothing unimportant to Omniscience: the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 6. What a wonderful confirmation is given to the truth that the world is saved because of its good men. “ God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” At a certain point the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept the soldiers from their purpose. So the prisoners were twice saved on Paul’ s account. The centurion did the very thing that God did, without knowing it. We are ruled by strange emotions; thoughts, impulses suddenly seize us, and we do things for the sake of others which we would not have done but for the presence of these personalities; and thus we show--ruined, shattered, lost, as we are--that at first we were made in the image and likeness of the Creator. 7. Why this value set upon life? Why do not men give up life? No home, no friend, no fire in the grate, and yet they hug the life that is reduced to agony. “ They lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.” When it comes to a contest between life and wheat, the wheat must go; and in the end we read “ some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship” --nothing saved; everything lost but life. What is the meaning of this? Why not lighten the ship by throwing out the men? Do not treat the question as trivial. Learn from it the dignity of life; the Divine origin of life; the possible destinies of life. And whilst these great problems are at once agitating and comforting the mind, you may see some explanation of the coming of the Son of Man into the world. He came not to destroy men’ s lives, but to save them. I seem to understand that when I study the value which has been put upon life by men under all circumstances. Why struggle with the deep? Why not give in? What is the meaning of it all but that we did not come up out of the dust, but that our spirit is from the Living God? It is the witness of God in the soul. (J. Parker, D. D.)Fifth vision of Paul I. Paul as the teacher of providence. He stood up calmly and faithfully in the presence of those Pagan sailors and criminals, to teach that the world was governed by Providence, and not by fate. The vision, and the facts connected with it, lead to three truths--1. There is an absolute certainty that God will accomplish His designs. 2. God sometimes employs unexpected and unlikely means to accomplish His designs. Paul wished to go to Rome, but how? perhaps he had no definite plan, but God had. No sooner had the apostle and his friends left Sidon, to sail unto Italy, than perils commenced--“ Because the winds were contrary,” the perils increased--“ All hope that we should be saved was taken away.” What about Rome, Paul? we see Crete, and Clauda, and Malta, but no Rome. 3. That genuine faith in the certainty of Divine Providence stimulates and directs the free action of man. There is one verse in this chapter which is beautifully illustrative of this truth--“ Paul said to the centurion, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” He believed that God had ordained a certain end, but not as detached from means adapted to secure that end. II. Paul as the servant of Divine providence. After looking upon the character of the apostle as given here during the voyage, we are struck with--1. His deep sense of Divine responsibility. “ For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve.” This is the foundation of Christian excellence in all, an intelligent feeling that we are God’ s. 2. He maintained a high Christian character. In his intercourse with the crew and passengers, there are two features of character worthy of imitation-- (1) Kindness.(2) Devotion. 3. He exerted a beneficial influence. Paul was the means of saving 276 lives, and was that a little thing? (C. Morris.)Paul’ s intercourse with heaven I. The party employed--an angel. This was often the privilege of the saints in the Old Testament, and sometimes in the New. Angels are employed to serve for the good and benefit of those that are the Lord’ s (Psalms 34:7; Hebrews 1:14). And the angels being invisible, we know not how much we are indebted to them for their ministry; we will know it better afterwards. Note, then, the dignity and advantage of the children of God. King’ s children have honourable attendants. These angels will attend thee--1. During thy life (Psalms 91:11-12). As a father of a family charges the elder children with the care of the younger ones, so does God the angels with the young heirs of glory. 2. At thy death (Luke 16:22). II. The peculiarity of this manifestation. “ The angel stood by me.” They were all in the same ship, but none knew what passed but Paul himself.1. There were many strangers to God in the ship; but Paul was His own, and with him God keeps communion. Whence observe that there is secret conveyance of intercourse with heaven to those who are the Lord’ s, in the midst of a crowd who know nothing of the matter. Many a time matters go on betwixt God and the soul, as betwixt Jonathan and David, when they only knew the matter (1 Samuel 20:39). The Lord knoweth who are His, and who are not, however mixed the multitude (2 Timothy 2:19). Intercourse with heaven lies in inward, not in external things. Every one may see at Communion who received the bread and wine; but who received Christ into their hearts is a secret betwixt God and the soul itself. Learn-- (1) That it is a sad thing to have been where intercourse with heaven was, and to have had no share of it. (2) To be thankful, and walk worthy of your privilege, you who have had the distinguishing mercy of communion with God. To whom much is given much also shall be required. 2. How may a person know whether he has had communion with God or not? Mark-- (1) The soul’ s giving itself wholly to the Lord: “ Whose I am.” People may give their hand, tongue, many things; but none have communion with Him but those who give themselves wholly. (2) Has religion now become your business? “ Whom I serve.” Have ye truly renounced the service of the devil, and of lusts? taken on the yoke of Christ in all its parts? 3. There is real communion with God-- (1) In longing desires after Christ (Psalms 26:9).(2) In real love to Him (1 John 4:19). III. The posture of the angel. He stood, he did not sit down, because he was not to stay. This was an extraordinary visit to Paul, he was not to look for this as his ordinary entertainment from heaven. Extraordinary manifestations are what we cannot expect to be continued while we are here. God will have a difference betwixt heaven and earth. And as two summers are not to be looked for in one year, so a lasting heaven of comfort upon earth will not be found. Let Christians then lay their account with a struggling and wrestling life, with the clouds returning after the rain. IV. The time of this manifestation: “ This night.” It was a sad night in that ship, all hopes of being saved were lost, and then the Lord appeared to help. When things are brought to an extremity this is a special opportunity which the Lord takes to appear for those that are His (Deuteronomy 32:36). By this--1. The hand of God appears most eminent in deliverance. The more desperate the case, the love, wisdom, and power of God appear the more conspicuous (Isaiah 33:10). He has the greater revenue of glory by curing the disease when past hope. 2. It brings greater advantage to the saints (John 11:15). (T. Boston, D. D.)Whose I am.--The saint God’ s property There are four things implied in this.1. A comfortable view of God’ s special interest in him. Whoever others belonged to, he belonged to God. 2. A recognising God’ s special interest in him. He had said it at his first accepting of the covenant, “ I am the Lord’ s” ; and he did not repent the bargain, but repeated it, “ I am His.” 3. An open profession of his special relation to God. He was not ashamed of his proprietor, but he gloried in Him. 4. A rejoicing in it, particularly in this season of distress. The waves threaten us with death; but this is my happiness, I am the Lord’ s, in whose hands all these are. From this subject I deduce that it is the duty and interest of those who have truly given themselves away to the Lord, to look on themselves as His. I shall-- I. Confirm the doctrine. This is evident if you consider--1. The laudable practice of the saints. They go over the bargain again, hold by it, and look upon themselves as the Lord’ s (Psalms 116:16; Psalms 119:94; Son 2:16). 2. The Spirit of God instructs them so to do (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). 3. The Lord looks on such to be His by a special relation (John 17:9-10; Jeremiah 3:4). 4. The nature of the thing requires it, for they are His indeed (2 Corinthians 8:5). II. Show in what respects those who have given themselves away to the Lord are to look upon themselves as His.1. In opposition to all His competitors (Isaiah 26:13; Psalms 45:10). (1) Ye are not your own, and you must no more look on yourselves to be your own (1 Corinthians 6:19). (2) You must no more look on yourselves as the devil’ s (Matthew 6:24). (3) You are to look on yourselves as no more belonging to the world lying in wickedness (John 15:19; Romans 12:2). (4) Ye are no more for your lusts and idols, but for the Lord (Romans 6:16; Galatians 5:24). (5) But remember you must be as obedient children (1 Peter 1:14). 2. Universally, without exception or reserve in anything. (1) Look then on your bodies as His, to be temples for His Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 6:13). You are to use your tongues in speaking for Him, your hands in acting for Him, your feet in going His errands. To abuse the body by intemperance, uncleanness, and the like, is to defile the temple of God. To exhaust the body in worldly labour, so as to unfit it for bearing its part in the service of God, is sacrilege. (2) Look upon your soul also as His, and all its faculties. Your heart (Proverbs 22:26), your will (Acts 9:6), your conscience, your every thought (2 Corinthians 10:5). (3) You must consider your worldly comforts and enjoyments as His (Luke 14:26). Your life, your liberty, honour, wealth, reputation, all is the Lord’ s, to be used for His honour and willingly parted with at His call. (4) Your gifts and opportunities for serving God are also His (Luke 19:13). (5) Your time is His (Ephesians 5:16). 3. For evermore, not merely for a time (Psalms 72:23; Psalms 72:26). You must then be His-- (1) Without interruption (Deuteronomy 5:29). (2) Without apostasy and defection (Psalms 119:12). And therefore your heart must rest in Him as an object which is completely satisfying (Psalms 73:25). Resolve, then, that nothing shall part betwixt the Lord and you; that you will neither be boasted nor bribed away from Him. III. Give some reasons why it is the duty of those who have given themselves to the Lord thus to look on themselves as His.1. Because they are His, in a manner the rest of the world are not. Our Lord has a peculiar title and interest in them (John 17:9-10). They are His-- (1) By a new creation (Isaiah 43:21; John 1:12-13). (2) By redemption applied to them. They are bought with a price. (3) By covenant (Hebrews 8:10). (4) They have dedicated themselves unto the Lord. 2. The honour of God requires it. Those who are servants to persons of high rank are usually subject to bear the badge of their master; and those who are the Lord’ s are in the same manner bound (Revelation 14:1). 3. Our standing to the covenant requires it (Psalms 119:94). IV. Show how it is their interest to look on themselves as the Lord’ s.1. In respect of sanctification. (1) It will be an antidote against backsliding. (2) It will afford an answer to every temptation (Genesis 39:9). (3) It will be a spur to duty (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). (4) It will blow the coal of your zeal for God, and make you of a public spirit, to devote all you are or have to the promoting of God’ s honour in the world (Philippians 1:21). (5) It will be a preparative for the hardest piece of service God may put into your hand. (6) It will reconcile you to your lot in private trials (Psalms 47:4). 2. In respect of consolation. You may say-- (1) “ God is mine” (Son 2:16). His power is mine to defend me, His wisdom to guide me, His mercy, grace, and love, all are mine. (2) All the promises and benefits of the covenant are mine (2 Peter 1:14; 2 Corinthians 1:20). (3) I shall get safe through the world to the other side (John 17:12). (4) I shall be cared and provided for in all cases and conditions. (5) All I meet with in the world shall turn to my good (Romans 8:28). (6) All is mine (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). (T. Boston, D. D.)Whom I serve.--The saints God’ s servants I shall show-- I. What is that service of God which is the business of those who are the Lord’ s.1. As to the matter of it. This is as wide and broad as is the broad law of God; therefore serving God and keeping His commandments are joined together. (1) There is salvation work and generation work. (a) Salvation work (Philippians 2:12). (b) Generation work (Acts 13:36; Galatians 6:10). (2) There is an external and internal service-- (a) A service with the outward man (1 Corinthians 6:20). Our ears must be employed to hear His Word, our eyes to read it, our tongues to speak to Him in prayer and praise; to speak of Him and for Him to men; our hands and all our members to act for Him in the world. (b) Internal service (John 4:24). This is the soul of religion, and the chief part in the service of God, without which the other is but a lifeless, unacceptable carcase (Philippians 3:3). (3) There is stated service and continual service. (a) Stated. The least you can do is to pay thy homage to Him by thyself in the morning, when He gives thee a new day; and at evening, when thou art to enter into the darkness of the night. And if yourselves be the Lord’ s you will also devote your houses to Him, and pay Him your homage in a family capacity (Joshua 24:15). And then there is the Lord’ s weekly service on His own day (Psalms 26:8). (b) Continual. A Christian must never be out of His Master’ s work, he serves God in the intervals of duties as well as in duties. Hence we are ordered to pray always, and not to faint. (4) There is doing-service and suffering-service. (a) Doing. The Lord calls His people to act for Him (Acts 9:6; Luke 6:46). (b) Suffering (Philippians 2:17; Luke 9:23). (5) There is ordinary and extraordinary service of all the kinds before named. (a) Ordinary. There are pieces of work which are every day’ s task, as the bearing of ordinary trials (Luke 9:23), and doing of the ordinary duties of religion. (b) Extraordinary, which God only sometimes calls His people to in holy providence (Genesis 22:1-24). 2. As to the manner of it. And unless it be performed in the right manner, God will not account it service to Him, though ever so costly. (1) We must perform it in obedience to, and under the sense of the commandment of God (Colossians 3:17; Psalms 119:6). (2) Aim at His honour and glory in it (1 Corinthians 10:31). (3) Serve God out of love to Him (Hebrews 6:10; Colossians 3:23). (4) In faith (Romans 14:23; Hebrews 11:6). And there is a three-fold faith required here. (a) The faith of God’ s command, requiring the duty (Romans 14:23). (b) The faith of the promise of strength for the duty. (c) The faith of acceptance through Christ. II. What is to make God’ s service our business, or when a person may be said to be thus employed.1. God’ s service is His grand design in the world; He may have many works on the wheel, but this is the chief one (Psalms 27:4). But how may a person know whether this is so? I answer-- (1) What is it thou seekest to obtain with the greatest eagerness and concern? (Psalms 4:6-7). (2) What is that the miscarrying in which lies nearest the heart? (3) When God’ s service and other things come in competition, which of those must yield in thy practice? 2. That he serves God with the whole man (1 Corinthians 6:20). He not only lends his hand to the work, as a person would do who passes by accidentally, but sets his heart to it as a person whose business it is. 3. He serves Him in all things--that is, whatever be his business to which he is called, he strives to act in it as serving the Lord (Psalms 116:18; Proverbs 3:6; Colossians 3:17). But how may a person serve the Lord in managing his worldly affairs? Answer: (1) Act from a sense of the command (1 Corinthians 7:24).(2) Depend on Him for direction (Proverbs 3:6).(3) Depend on Him for success (Psalms 127:1).(4) Acquiesce in His disposing of you as may best suit your spiritual interest.(5) Deal with men as if you were under God’ s eye.(6) Be moderate in your pursuits (1 Corinthians 7:29-30).(7) Be suitably affected with the dispensations of Providence as they fall out to you. 4. He scruples at no piece of service which God puts in his hand, but makes conscience of universal obedience (Psalms 112:6). 5. He is constant and persevering in the service of God (Psalms 119:112). They are constant in two respects. (1) In that they do not give over His work, laying it down and taking it up when they please. They do not serve Him by fits and starts, but labour to go on evenly in their way (Psalms 116:8). (2) They never change masters again (Hebrews 10:39). (T. Boston, D. D.)Inspiring knowledge and exalted service I. Inspiring knowledge. “ Whose I am.” The Christian is inspired with the knowledge that he is God’ s property.1. By redemption. Cyrus, after a famous victory, took prisoner a noble prince with his wife and children, to whom Cyrus said, “ What will you give me to set you at liberty?” The prince replied, “ Half that I possess.” Cyrus exclaimed, “ And what if I release your children?” “ All that I possess.” “ But what if I set your wife at liberty?” “ Then I will lay down my life.” Cyrus, won by the true nobility of the man, immediately set them at liberty without any recompense whatever. That evening, when the prince and his wife were rejoicing together over their freedom, he said, “ Did you not think Cyrus a very handsome man?” His wife replied, “ I did not notice him sufficiently well to tell.” The prince exclaimed, “ Why, where were your eyes?” She answered, “ I had eyes only for him who said he would lay down his life for me.” Likewise, we are the Lord’ s because He has already laid His life down for us. 2. By Divine grace. When those who are good judges of pictures see a valuable painting, they can tell us who was the artist, because every painter has somewhat of the same mind running through his productions; and in the true Christian, the Master has reproduced the image and likeness of God. In some of us the outline may be very faint, just as the first mark of the brush is upon the canvas; but, nevertheless, it is an outline of what by and by shall be perfect. 3. By spiritual union. There are many alliances, but the holiest and the sweetest is not when merely the man and the woman are legally joined in marriage, but when two pure and loving spirits living in these bodies become united in one. But a far more ecstatic joy is when God kisses the spirit of His children, and they become one in Him. Like as the newly placed graft in the wild tree becomes one with it, and causes it to bring forth good fruit, so Christ the perfect Spirit becomes one with us, and enables us to yield the fruit of self-sacrifice. II. Exalted service. The Christian can truthfully adopt the motto of the Prince of Wales, “ I serve.” He serves--1. With intelligence. In olden times, armies were treated as mere machines. “ Do this! go there!” but in modern warfare the general often gives his soldiers the reason. They, therefore, obey him intelligently, and take an interest in their service. Likewise God explains His will to the Christian. The general may not declare to his army all that is in his mind, but, knowing all that is necessary and having full confidence in their captain, the soldiers march bravely to the fight. The Christian, also having the mind of God in the Scriptures, marches on at Christ’ s command without stooping to cavil at that which it is impossible for him to comprehend until after the battle of life is won. 2. With trustfulness. When Alexander the Great’ s physician came to him with a cup of medicine, one of the courtiers whispered, “ It contains poison.” Alexander moved the man away, and looking with unshaken confidence at his physician, he held out his hand for the cup and drank the whole. He must have been a noble man who could thus be trusted! And the Christian knows that God loves him too much to deal unkindly towards him. The medicine may be bitter, he is a wise and loving physician who brings it. 3. With willingness. The workman understands his employer’ s will, and he performs it well, but he would not do it were he not compelled to earn wages: it is a compulsory service. But, behold the devoted wife and the loving mother, who for the whole of her life gives herself to bless and to work for her husband and her children! Such a mother exhibits the willingness with which the Christian serves God--it is without any bribe of fee or reward, but because he loves the master who died for him. 4. With faithfulness. Charles II used to say that every man had his price, but were you to offer the Christian all the world, he would spurn it rather than depart from the law of his God. 5. At all times. Not only when religious people are looking at him. I once saw in a nobleman’ s grounds a place for a waterfall; the water was never put on unless his lordship was there. Is not that like many people? 6. With honesty. He acts upon principle. He says, “ That is right; and because it is right I do it.” 7. Without complaint. (W. Birch, jun.)The believer’ s confidence I. Paul’ s portrait. Almost as quickly as the sun can make a photograph the apostle draws a living portrait of himself. “ Whose I am, and whom I serve.” That brief motto has got in it all the essentials of Christian faith and practise.1. “ Whose I am!” He used to consider himself his own. And of all the masters that Paul served, his own proud, pharisaic self was chief. Now, self is uncrowned, every other rule is broken and Paul takes God for his Master. The Word of God is the rule of his life. 2. “ Whom I serve!” Hand to do--foot to go--tongue to speak--heart to beat--brain to think--all His; for him to live was Christ. When I look at a tree full of sap and beauty, I say the life is in the root. When I see youth, hale, strong, and elastic, I say the life is at the heart. When I see the telegraph or telephone perform their wonders, I say the secret is in the battery. When I see the mighty engine driving ponderous wheels, drawing tremendous loads, or ploughing the waves, I say the secret’ s in the piston chamber. And when I see grey-haired Paul stand on the reeling deck amid the storm--grand, majestic, strong--I say the secret’ s here--“ Whose I am, and whom I serve.” II. Paul’ s peril and confidence. Look on board that ship which is in such grievous straits. There are rough, rude sailors there who have weathered many a storm, brawny soldiers who have borne the brunt of many a battle, traders who have dared much for greed and grain, vagrant wanderers of no fixed habitation, criminals on the way to Nero’ s bar. It is a motley crew. Amid the terror of those dreadful days there are opposing counsels, passions, blasphemies, prayers, to vain idols, and cries of fear and despair, I see Paul, the way-worn prisoner of Christ, standing erect and calm; within him is a peace no wrathful winds can ruffle, a sense of security that no wild waves can destroy. His voice rings out the hearty call, and thus he forces his strong self-confident spirit into those from whom all hope had fled. God was his strength. He felt himself the ward of Omnipotence and felt no fear! You and I may join company with him in this. Whatever Euroclydons may assail us, we may cry in triumph, “ Because the Lord is at my right hand I shall never be moved!” III. Paul’ s prayer. While commotion wakes the awful night on board that ship, Paul is holding communication with heaven. I have heard of storms that break the telegraphic wires and stop communication between distant parts; of captains shouting vainly through their speaking trumpets, the winds carrying the sound mockingly away; the hoarse signal of distress failing to reach the distant shore of help by reason of the tempest’ s roar. But never yet was wind let loose that could arrest a heartfelt prayer despatched by faith up to the throne of God. I have heard it said that, amid the din of a pealing organ, the crash of orchestral brass, and the rolling volume of a thousand lifted voices, one clear note of finest tension can be heard to overtop them all. Such a note shall thy prayer be, my friend and brother, that cometh not out of feigned lips. IV. Paul’ s vision. “ An angel stood by me!” Little recked the panic-stricken crew of the sacred visitor. I have heard of kings’ messengers and their despatches thwarted of their mission; I have read of floods that have swept the railway track and stopped the iron steed midway upon its journey with the mails; I have heard of simooms which have buried totting caravans in desert sand--but never storm was brewed that could check the downward sweep of a celestial ambassador! Said the angel, “ Thou must be brought before Caesar! That is enough. When God says must, no power, no combination of powers, can say nay!” IV. Paul’ s message. The vision is over; the angelic messenger flies back; but Paul has got the message. He hastens upon deck. He holds by rail or rope; then, flinging his arm around the broken mast, he shouts, “ Be of good cheer! Not a life shall perish! The ship shall sink; the crew shall live!” Did they wonder if the awful strain on mind and body had sent him mad? He tells them of the angel’ s visit. Did they greet it with a despairing laugh of incredulity? He plants his foot firmly on the reeling deck; and, regardless of blackened skies, thunderings winds, creaking timbers, he shouts, “ I believe God! It shall be even as He hath told me!” His confidence is contagious; the crew catch something of his spirit. Hope dawns, and they set down amid the hurly-burly to eat bread! I counsel you to take that as your motto--I believe God! He says of sin, I will pardon; of sorrow, I will comfort; of peril, I will deliver; of weakness, I will support; of storms, I will protect; of thy soul, I will save! Believe God! for it shall be even as He hath told thee! (J. Jackson Wray.) Acts 27:24 God hath given thee all them who sail with thee. Christian pilotage What Paul was in that ship, Christianity seeks to be in the vessel of the world. What was that? I. He took upon himself the direction of common affairs. The master of the ship gave way, the centurion was no longer the centurion but in name, and the apostle stood forward at the front and took upon himself the responsibility of the whole situation. That is what Christianity wants to do in the world--to be the senior member in every firm, to be the director of every company, to be the head of every family, to be the one lamp in the dark night time, and to assume the leadership and be the benediction of the world. Christianity says, “ I will go to business with you; I will keep your books for you; I will issue all your papers--sign and stamp them every one,” and that is precisely what the hottest Christian on earth respectfully declines. Do we wonder, then, that the Church is empty, that the infidel is laughing, and that the great enemy is feasting himself at the table of prosperity? We have come under the dominion of the sophism that Christianity is a set of theological views, or ritualistic forms. There are Christian people who say, “ Leave to men of the world the direction of the world.” No. As soon say, “ Leave to agriculture the lighting of the stars.” II. He maintained the supremacy of God. “ I believe God.” Christianity seeks to utter the word “ God” in a tone that will amount to argument, with a pathos that will ensure conviction. It seeks to remind the world every day of the existence, government, personal superintendence, fatherly love, and motherly care of God. If any man really and truly believed God, he could never be in fear, he could never commit sin, he could never be unhappy. Do we believe God? No. We do not disbelieve Him, and our want of disbelief is so complete as to amount to a kind of intellectual assent to the proposition that there is a God; but if we believed God, our joy would be too great for time and earth. There is a religion in the world that proclaims God--personal, living, near, redeeming. That religion, by the very energy of its declaration, is keeping right the balance that would soon lose its equipoise. III. He cheered the distracted and helpless (Acts 27:22). That is what Christianity would do in the world: it would make us all glad: it would have us sing songs in the night time. Christianity never said it wished to darken any man’ s window, silence the singing birds which he had in his house, put out his fire, limit his food, and make his life into a pain or a fear. When Christianity meets men, it says, “ All hail! This is Sabbath day; the bitterness of death is past: be glad.” The glad heart can never go far wrong. Joy is a protective influence. Christianity is the religion of joy. Who would think it to look upon Christian countenances? What wonder if people run away from us, and little children are glad when we are gone? Why are we not more glad? In so far as we carry any other spirit with us--I care not how we pray or preach--we are not lying unto men, we are lying unto God. IV. He blessed the food of men (Acts 27:34-36). It is but a little food we need, but the blessing may be immeasurable. Eating and drinking are religious acts. We have lost the sacramental idea. We have allowed the world to debase everything we do, and to take out of it dignity and music and hope. The crust is a feast when Christ breaks it for us: the little table, with room for only two, becomes a great banqueting board when Jesus lays His hands upon it. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Church the world’ s hope Paul had given some very good advice, which was rejected. What then? Now some of us in a similar ease would be in a huff, and never offer advice more, and feel some sort of pleasure in seeing those persons get into mischief. Not so the apostle. After he had prudently abstained for some time from saying anything, he at length gave proof of his unabated affection. Let us take a lesson from him. I. A Godly man may often be thrown into an ill position for the good of others.1. If they were not so placed they would not be like their Lord. Why was Christ on earth at all but for the good of sinners? 2. Moreover, is not this just the reason why the saints of God are on earth at all? Why does He not send an express chariot to take them at once to heaven? 3. There have been special cases in Scripture where the putting a person into an unpleasant condition has been a great boon to his fellow men--Joseph, Jeremiah, Naaman’ s captive maid, etc. 4. As regards these positions-- (1) Do not get into them of your own choice. “ Put your finger in the fire,” said one to a martyr once, “ and see whether you can burn.” “ No,” said he, “ I don’ t see the use of that. If I put my own finger into the fire I have no promise from God; but if He calls me to burn for His sake I have no doubt He will give me strength to do it.” You have no business to pick bad places to live in; you have no right to expose yourself to danger. (2) But if God should do it, do not be in a hurry to undo it. You may leap out of the frying pan into the fire. You may go from bad to worse. It is just possible that if the present place has one temptation, the next may have another set. If you are placed in a family that is irreligious, make them value you. And when the time comes, do not hesitate to speak, but let your speaking be mainly by your actions. The best sermon Paul preached was when he took bread and gave thanks. II. Wherever we are cast we should anxiously ask of God all the souls that sail with us.1. God says He gave the souls to Paul; therefore I conclude Paul had asked Him. How many were they? Some two hundred and seventy. Father, some seven or eight make up your family; do not in your prayers leave out one child, nor one connection. Now they will be of all sorts. Let me describe those that sailed with Paul. There was one good one, Luke. You have got one pious child; perhaps you have one courteous passenger, like Julius, etc., etc. pray for all. 2. Notice that the apostle did not pray for the ship. Now, the ship is like your family name--like your family dignity. Do not be praying about that. 3. Nor did he pray about the cargo. He let them fling the wheat out, and never cared for that. So you need not pray about your wealth. 4. Nor did he make any condition. He did not tell the Lord when or how the people should be saved. 5. He did not ask God to save them without means; nor did it please God to do so either, for though the means were contemptible, yet they were means--“ Boards, and broken pieces.” III. As we should ask for all, so we should labour for the conversion of all that sail with us. There were two Athenians who were to be employed by the republic in some great work. The first one had great gifts of speech; he stood up before the populace and addressed them, describing the style in which the work should be done, and depicting his own qualifications and the congratulations with which they would receive him when they saw how beautifully he had finished all their designs. The next workman had no powers of speech, so he said, “ I cannot speak, but all that So-and-so has said, I will do.” They chose him, and wisely, believing he would be a man of deeds, while the other might probably be a man of words. He that only prays for a thing, but does not work for it, is like the workman that could talk well.1. You can begin early with good advice. Paul gave his advice before they set sail. As soon as ever your children can understand anything, let them know about Christ. But after having given this early advice you must not think the work is done. Your boy may forget it. He may turn out a wild youth, and run quite away from you; but continue in prayer, continue in family prayer. 2. Then remember, if you would have your children saved, there is something you must not do. If Paul had prayed for these people, and then had gone down below, and had begun boring holes in the ship, you would have said, “ Oh, it is no use that scoundrel praying, for see, he is scuttling the ship; he is praying to God to save them, and then going straight and doing the mischief.” You parents that are inconsistent--you mothers that don’ t keep your promises--you fathers that talk as you ought not to talk--especially careless, prayerless parents, I do not ask you to pray for your children. Pray for yourselves first. 3. And as Paul was very anxious to point them the way in which they might be saved, telling them that the sailors must abide in the ship, and they must do this and that, so we should be very careful to explain to our children, neighbours, and connections, the way of salvation; and I think we ought to do this as much as possible, in private ways. 4. Still, never be satisfied without clinching the whole work with prayer. You see, Paul did not get those that were in the ship by his works. God gave them to him. Everything is of grace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Social influences An impression prevailed among heathens of antiquity that there was danger in the company of wicked men, and especially of the impious. The Deity, says Horace, often involves the man of integrity in the punishment of the depraved. And the risk which they apprehended in an immediate visitation of Divine power, we may equally apprehend in the course of those laws by which the Almighty uniformly governs the universe. What they dreaded in the shipwreck, the fire, and the long catalogue of accidents, we find accomplished in the contamination of evil, the proneness to assimilate habits of thought and conduct, and the perplexities that harass a man who ventures to stand by while that is done which he disapproves. On the other hand, the text is an instance of the influence that a good man may have to save his associates from impending ruin. Two hundred, threescore, and fifteen persons were preserved for the godliness of one prisoner! The unrighteous are saved for the sake of the righteous; and over those who know not God, His faithful servants throw the shield of their fidelity, when they are associated together. Abraham interceded for the cities of the plain, “ And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom ten righteous men, then will I spare all the cities for their sakes.” It was not Lot alone who was rescued from destruction; but the angel said to him, “ Hast thou here any besides?” etc. It was not Joseph alone who was prosperous; but “ the Lord blessed the Egyptian’ s house,” etc. It was not Elijah only who was fed by the handful of meal and a little oil many days during the famine; for the widow of Zarephath also, and her son, with whom he lodged, the barrel of meal wasted not, and the cruse of oil did not fail. And it was not St. Paul alone, the ambassador of the Cross to the capital of the Western world, who was rescued from the waves not only his comrades, Luke and Timothy, or the kind centurion, who was saved for the apostle’ s sake; but the selfish mariners also, and the brutal soldiers, all were included in the general protection one good man afforded: “ God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” The tares are mingled with the wheat in this world, and Christ Himself has told us, why the very angels may not root them out until the time of gathering both at the great harvest; lest with the tares ye root out the wheat also. The briar that obstructs our path, and the poisonous hemlock, obtains a share of the dew and sunshine which nourishes the food that supports our life. Such are the relations of things, such is the mutual dependence of mankind, in spiritual attainments as well as earthly welfare, that great blessings cannot be bestowed on one, without the participation of others; and an individual cannot be visited with great calamities without his fellows being afflicted or corrupted by them. In the affairs of every day we must have partners in our joy and woe. Obscure as we may be in station, retired and humble as maybe the scene on which we act our part in life, we cannot hoard up happiness, as the miser his pelf, for ourselves alone; we cannot hide our depravity, or conceal our degradation, so that it shall deprave or degrade no others. Who inflicts more fatal injury on society, or drags along with him accomplices to more certain ruin, than the thief lurking in the dark corners of the city, and dwelling in holes and cellars of the earth, lest the light of day should discover him to his pursuers? Who offers more victims on the shrine of her own wretchedness and infamy than the outcast driven from her parent’ s roof, lest she should corrupt her own kindred? What is it imparts harshness and suspicion, that turns a deaf ear to a tale of woe, so much as fraud practised on those who should relieve distress? The depravity or debasement of the multitude soon eats its way to the heart of the few; and he who has seen the slave ignorant, timid, false, malignant, sensual, and trodden under foot of man, has discovered the master also to be not only an oppressor and cruel, but irritable, intemperate, violent, unscrupulous, profligate, divested of natural affection as a parent, a husband, or a brother, a greater slave to evil passions, than the object at his feet is to him. Corruption at the foundation rises to every pinnacle of the social structure, pervades its fluted columns, and plants its rottenness in ornamental capitals, and brings down the proudest and the firmest fabric crumbling into dust. There is a contagion in sin and suffering, if we enter into its vicinity; the disease is catching and the moral canker spreads, and he that was whole becomes infected, and feels unwonted pains. That the errors of princes involve their people in disaster is a maxim of the world’ s experience; and that the sins of fathers shall be visited on their children is the assurance of the Word of God. How much guilt and misery is wrought by one wicked man! Not, indeed, that the ship is tossed by the storm because an infidel walks her deck. Not that a timber falls from the house top because the ungodly is beneath its roof;--but that the whole family within is made wretched by the father’ s vice: that the whole circle of friends is ruined by intimacy with a spendthrift: that neighbours and dependants, unsuspecting youth and guileless innocence, are brought to wretchedness and infamy by the intrusion of a heartless profligate to their company: that honesty is branded with dishonour, and generous confidence reduced to beggary by association with a rogue. But let us turn to a more grateful subject, the deliverance the good man effects for all around in working out his own, and the happiness he imparts to others, as surely as he obtains it for himself. How many families are made prosperous and happy by the industry, temperance, frugality, and good nature of one member! How do his virtues diffuse themselves throughout his home, and bring a blessing on all around! And contentment ever smiles, where he does not find a want: and variance obtains no place, where he is gentle and conciliating: and children, and servants, the whole household, are impressed with the love and fear of God, who is the object of his daily worship, and their own. Nor is it only at the domestic hearth that the good man saves his fellow creatures with himself. How many little ones in Christ borrow the tone, and build the structure of principles that will govern life, from their master in that larger family, the school! How much again may the minister of the sanctuary shed a holy influence over the little flock committed to his care, himself a pattern, as well as teacher of what is good! How may whole cities and principalities and nations be saved by one man’ s wisdom, or another’ s splendid example! (G. D. Hill, M. A.) Acts 27:25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.A cheery word in troublous times The presence of a brave man in the hour of danger is a very great comfort to his companions. You must have seen in history that it is the one man, after all, that wins the battle. Recollect, Christian man, that wherever you are placed you are to be the one man, that you may comfort those around you who are of the weaker sort. If you are to do this, you must be strong yourself. Nothing can come out of you that is not in you. The reason why Paul was able to embolden his companions was that he had encouraged himself in his God. I. Paul was strong because he believed. Faith makes men strong. When mistaken there is a power in faith for mischief; for good if the right thing be believed.1. Paul’ s faith was faith in God. “ I believe God.” That was something more than saying “ I believe in God” : this many do and derive but slender comfort. But “ I believe God, believe Him, believe His truthfulness, His mercy, and His power.” This made Paul calm, peaceful, strong. 2. Believing God, he believed God’ s message and was revived by it. He was sure that no hair of any man’ s head would be harmed. 3. And he did that when there was nothing else to believe in. He might have said, “ I do not believe in the sailors: they are evidently nonplussed, and are plotting to leave the ship.” He did not say, “ I believe that the centurion can maintain military discipline, and so we shall have a better opportunity of escaping.” No, the ship was breaking up, but he calmly said, “ I believe God.” It is a grand thing to believe God when the winds are out. The common run of men’ s faith is fair-weather faith. 4. Since Paul believed God he was not ashamed to say so. Now, it is not so easy to thrust out your faith and expose it to rough weathers, and to the hearing of rough men. Under the name of prudence there lurks an unbelieving selfishness. Genuine faith in God speaks out and says, “ God is true, and I will stake everything on His word.” I would to God all Christians were prepared to throw down the gauntlet, and to come out straight; for if God be not true let us not pretend to trust Him, and if the gospel be a lie let us be honest enough to confess it. But if it be true, wherefore should we doubt it and speak with bated breath? II. Paul being strong, spake words of cheer to others. So must we.1. You will meet with seeking souls who are saying, “ Oh that I knew where I might find Him!” You that believe God are bound to say, “ Be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” “ Seek and ye shall find.” 2. You will meet with those who are pleading daily for mercy, and seemingly to no effect. Speak up and say, “ Be of good cheer, for I believe God, and He told me this--‘ Ask, and it shall be given you.’“ 3. You will meet with those who are venturing upon Christ, but whose confidence is feeble. Tell them that Jesus has said, “ Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,” and then say, “ Be of good cheer: for I believe God.” 4. You will find those whose fear arises from their strong passions and evil habits. Go and say to them that Christ has come to bring liberty to the captives, and that you believe God, that it will be even as He has told you. 5. Now, there are the Little-faiths, and I want you strong-faith people to encourage them, by telling them that you believe God that it shall be even as it was told you. Some of these Little-faiths are conscious of very great inward sin, others are vexed with outward temptation, others whose lamentation is, “ I am so weak.” There is much work for happy believers amongst the Feeble-minds, and the Miss Much-afraids, and the Mr. Despondencies, and the like. 6. I commend to your attention those who are greatly tried. Tell them that God has said, “ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” 7. We have some Christian people about who tremble greatly for the ark of the Lord. I occasionally meet with brethren who are tempted to commit the sin of Uzzah; as if God could not protect His own cause. (1) Some say that the good men are all dying. What will become of the Church? “ My Father! My Father! The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” You know the good Methodist woman’ s outcry at the funeral sermon when the minister said, “ Now that this eminent servant of the Lord is departed we know of no one to fill his place. It seems as if the glory were departing and the faithful failing from among men.” The worthy mother in Israel called out from the aisle: “ Glory be to God, that’ s a lie!” If all the men who preach the gospel today were struck down tomorrow, the Holy Spirit would still qualify men to preach the gospel. Christians ought to be as confident as the heroic Spartans. The old men advanced in procession, and they said, “ We have been brave,” and they showed their scars; and then the strong men in the prime of their days followed and said, “ We are brave,” and they bared their arms for war. Then if anyone wondered what would happen when the old men were gone, and when the strong men were slain in battle, there came the striplings, and they said, “ We will be brave, for we are Spartans!” (2) Many are in distress about the spread of error. The signs of the times are very bad, and the would be prophets say that a dreadful storm is coming on. But God is not dead, and He will beat the devil yet. It is true it is a hard time for Christianity, and infidels are fighting us with new arguments; but when I think of them I feel inclined to say what the Duke of Wellington said at Waterloo to the generals, “ Hard pounding, gentlemen! hard pounding! but we will see which will pound the longest.” 8. Those who are labouring for Christ. Sometimes workers for the Lord get cast down. “ I have taught a class for years,” says one, “ and seen no fruit.” “ I have been preaching for months, but have never heard of a conversion,” says another. Well, do you think that you have preached Jesus Christ, and nothing has come of it? I do not believe it for a moment. I believe God, that it shall be even as He has told me, and He has said, “ My word shall not return unto Me void.” Be not so cowardly as to say, “ I will leave the work.” You are not to win a battle in a moment, or reap a harvest as soon as you sow the seed. Keep on! (C. H. Spurgeon.)Faith I. Faith is here shown to be the acceptance of what God says to us as true and final. The angel of the Lord assured Paul that the lives of all those on the ship would be spared, and he believed the statement in spite of the storm which was threatening to destroy them, in spite of the despair of all on board, and in spite of his own opinion, previously expressed (Acts 27:10). So also should it be with our attitude toward God’ s words as revealed in Scripture, and especially towards His chief revelation, the witness which He has borne to His Son (John 3:33; John 5:37). Acceptance of that testimony is the faith which constitutes us Christians. II. Christian faith must be exercised in the face of difficulties. It shines in the dark. When the difficulties disappear, faith becomes sight. For example, Paul on this voyage was the victim of injustice. He was innocent, his persecutors themselves being judges. Then, this guiltless prisoner was made to encounter perils which seemed to strike at the very roots of God’ s promises. He had not only hoped to have a prosperous journey by the will of God, that he might preach the gospel in Rome (Romans 1:10-15), but the Lord had definitely promised him the privilege of preaching there (Acts 23:11). Such things as these are hard for human nature to bear. Yet it is just such things that usually form the soil in which faith must grow. The difficulties of our life are the opportunities of our faith, So, while his unbelieving associates on shipboard fall into despair, Paul is kept calm and confident by the promise of God, which he hears and trusts. They experience an unrelieved sense of danger and loss; he waits for the compensations of Divine love. They have no future, and impending death fills them with hopelessness; but he, fearing not death but sin, is assured of eventual safety through his eternal Friend in heaven. III. Those who have Christian faith are sustained by God as their actual needs require. He does not suffer them to fail. In the climax of his sufferings Paul still possessed many helps and comforts. He had two Christian companions, whose friendship must have been a source of solace. Divine providence was likewise friendly. Sheltering Clauda had been set in its place by God’ s foresight. “ The sea is His, and He made it.” Even Euroclydon was a “ stormy wind fulfilling His Word” (Psalms 148:8). “ All things work together for good to them who love God.” Accordingly, there came to Paul one of His “ ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation,” who announced that Paul’ s desire and God’ s promise were both to be fulfilled in Paul’ s safe arrival at Rome. So does revelation explain and supplement the mysterious works of God. As that angel spoke to Paul the New Testament speaks to us. If we have attentive and reverent ears to hear it, we shall find it an anchor in the storm, a compass in the darkness, a herald of hope in the hour of despair. For providence is God’ s gloved hand, and Scripture is His open heart. IV. Faith vigorously uses all the means of self-help. It is no supine influence in life. Consider, e.g., the course of Luke, who wrote this narrative. He displays learning here, particularly in a most skilful use of nautical terms and in the grouping of geographical facts. The same spirit of activity is manifest in St. Paul. If all that sailed with him were granted to him, it must have been in answer to his prayers--a chief instrument of faith in securing her objects. He and St. Luke seem to have helped with their own hands in doing what they could to fight the storm. Like James, then, Paul also holds that “ faith without works is dead, being alone.” In this connection observe that it is faith, and not doubt, that yields all the positive elements of virtue. Faith is the tap root of morality. Doubt is paralysing; faith is vitalising. In particular, notice the superiority which it gave to the character of Paul.1. It filled him with resolute fortitude, while even the sailors fell into despair. 2. Paul showed the true dignity of Christian character. Prisoner as he was, faith gave him authority over all on board. 3. Despised as he has been also, he feels and shows the tenderest sympathy with them all, and he pleasantly exhorts them to be of good cheer. Many a lowly disciple of Christ, after being contemned by careless souls in the days of prosperity, becomes suddenly welcome in the hour of critical danger. V. The first object which believers set before themselves is to glorify God by saving souls. Paul turns the minds of the suffering ship’ s company away from himself to God, “ whose,” he says, “ I am, and whom I serve.” The chief part of his revelation is not so much that their lives are to be spared, as that they are all to be granted to him as a disciple of Christ. Would we be able to forget the perils of the sea to preach the gospel to drowning men? (S. J. McPherson, D. D.)Faith From this passage we learn--I. That a special communication from heaven is amongst the surest foundations for faith (verses 23, 24). Of that communication we may remark--1. That it comes to man in his greatest extremity. They had tried many plans of escape, and all had proved vain. It was when intellect had done all it could that Christ came. 2. That it is adapted to all men’ s spiritual wants. The communication made to Paul was suited to the circumstances, and told them what they must do to be saved. The Divine message to man is adapted to all the moral necessities of our nature, and makes known a salvation for lost humanity. 3. That its Divine origin is most evident. The apostle knew that it was no dream--no fancy of a heated imagination, but a true and indubitable revelation of the Divine will. The Christian has the evidence of his own consciousness, of the power and efficiency of the gospel of the ever-blessed God. II. That the character of God inspires the believer with confidence in His Word. Paul was on the shattered deck of a sinking ship, and yet felt confident of safety. God had said they should be saved if they obeyed His will, and that was enough for Paul. There is the same reason for the Christian’ s confidence now; because--1. What God says He wills. God’ s Word assures us that it is His will that all who obey the gospel shall be saved. “ This is the will of Him that sent me,” etc. 2. He is able to do what He promises. God was greater here than the storm. There are mighty obstacles in the way of men’ s salvation; but “ Christ is able to save to the uttermost.” 3. His mind is unchangeable. Paul felt that he had to do with the word of One whose purposes were not vacillating. The purposes of God, made known to us for our salvation, are those of One “ with whom there is no variableness neither the shadow of turning.” III. That the value of faith is best seen in difficult and trying circumstances. What a difference there was between Paul and those around him! The value of faith appears--1. In the calmness of mind it produces. The seamen, used as they were to plough the deep, were terrified; the soldiers paralysed with fear. Not so Paul. Faith gives peace to the soul amidst the wildest storms. 2. In the final safety it ensures. Had that vessel gone down with all on board, Paul would still have been safe. 3. In the honour it puts upon God. “ I believe God,” etc. He was a noble witness for God amidst those godless beings. When the Christian is “ strong in faith,” then does he most effectually “ give glory to God.” IV. That the possessor of Christian faith may be a great blessing to others.1. By directing their thoughts to God. “ I believe God.” 2. By enabling him to cheer the downcast. “ Be of good cheer.” 3. By effecting their salvation. (S. A. Browning.)Confidence The Polar Star was carrying troops to New Zealand in 1854. When one thousand miles from land, with the sea running mountains high, she took fire. All efforts to master the flames proved hopeless, and there was no chance of reaching land by the boats. In their worst extremity, when the pitch was melting in the seams of the deck, a man just relieved from the pumps drew a Prayer book from his pocket, and shouted aloud, with confidence, the first words on which his eyes rested. They were the opening words of Psa 46:1-11. “ God is our refuge and strength.” He read the whole psalm in the same joyful strain. The lookout had long been scanning the horizon with a powerful telescope in vain, but at six o’ clock the same evening the deliverance which this Christian so boldly anticipated came in sight, and while still standing on the burning deck, the shout of one man’ s faith gave place to the thanksgiving of many in the words, “ Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.) Acts 27:27-29 But when the fourteenth night was come … about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country.Land ahead I. Men possess that which tells them there is land ahead. “ The shipmen deemed,” etc. There is, universally, a consciousness in man, that beyond this there is “ some country.” What that country may be we may not be able to define, and our feelings, in prospect of the landing, may widely differ; but to those who are sailing in the Gospel ship, and are being guided by the inspired chart, under the direction of the Heavenly Pilot, the land beyond is a glorious reality, and the prospect of the landing is a source of daily comfort. Let us, standing on the deck of the grand old ship, look out across the wide watery waste for some sign of the country to which we are bound, and make use of the helps to that discovery which our Heavenly Pilot has provided.1. By the telescope land is discovered when the unaided eye sees nothing but water. As the Bible is a chart, so is it a telescope by which we discover what otherwise would be unseen. Sailors, use your telescopes! Don’ t use them for looking at the waves, as many do, to magnify their troubles; but for looking beyond the waters, that the sight of the land may assuage your sorrows, and fill your souls with joy. And what a blessed contrast there is between this definiteness and the hazy uncertainty which pervades all human theories and infidel fancies! Yes, there is a country beyond, and the prospect of standing on its shore helps us to rejoice in spite of “ our light affliction, which is but for a moment.” 2. By the telescope the land is defined, when without it its character would be uncertain. Men feel that there must be “ another shore” ; but revelation discovers to us much of what that shore is. As soon as the captain, by the aid of his telescope, has discovered the distant hills, every glass in the ship is brought into requisition. Little by little, as the vessel approaches the shore, the dim outline develops into hills and dales; the haven itself is sighted, the tall masts of the ships which lie in the harbour are plainly discerned, while here and there the very people are distinguished who are waiting on the shore. And so, by the aid of our telescope, much may be discovered concerning the Land of Best. By it we discover that it is “ a better country, that is, an heavenly” ; that there are “ many mansions” for weary voyagers. And here lies the great difference between natural and revealed religion. The one makes us feel that there is “ some country” ; while the other reveals to us where and what that country is. The two may be seen illustrated on board that very ship; for while the sailors “ deemed that they drew near to some country,” Paul could speak most positively and say, “ We must be cast upon a certain island.” To make these discoveries, the telescope must be properly used. You are not to look at it, nor merely to look into it, nor to take it to pieces and criticise it, nor to strut about with it under your arm merely to display it. The Bible is the most ill-used book in the world, With its gilt edges it is admired by those who never look into it; thumbed to death, it is looked into by those who never look through it; it is pulled to pieces by the would be critic; and the would be pious carry it in their hands, while it never reaches their hearts. Now, by such use of the Bible as this no glimpse of the “ better country” will ever be obtained. If the sailor wouldn’ t look through his telescope until he understood the laws of light, and all the various relations of the lenses which constitute that work of art, he would never see the land at all. To take out one glass and look through it, and then, because he couldn’ t make wonderful discoveries, throw it and all the rest into the sea, would be an act of supreme folly. But thus many treat the Bible! If you would see the country, take up the glass, just as it is, put it, not to the blind eye of prejudice, as Nelson, when he did not want to see a signal; but to the clear eye of living faith, and you shall see that “ life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel.” II. Men are daily reminded that they are nearing the “ land ahead.” The sailors had a terrible conviction that they were drawing very near to “ some country.” And without the aid of revelation we are not ignorant of the fact that the end of our voyage will soon be reached. The sailor knows when he is nearing land.1. By soundings (Acts 27:28). As long as men are out on the wide ocean, no line carried by ordinary ships is long enough to reach the deep sea bottom, and therefore they never trouble themselves to take soundings; but as they draw near the land, and are able to take the depth of the water by the ordinary lead lines, they take soundings day by day, as they go. (1) Look around you. (a) Can you not see how shallow the water is becoming? Look at those who were boys and girls with you. What havoc time has wrought with them! So-and-So is getting old. Do you not see in all this that you yourselves are nearing the shallows? Time has not spared you. (b) See what death has done! Go to the churchyard and take soundings there! Be honest with your own souls! You may die at twenty, thirty, or forty years of age; but at whatever age the call may come, you are nearing the shore, and you ought to be prepared for the landing. (2) Consider yourself. Is it not true that each year finds you weaker, and leaves you weaker still? We hear people say, “ The winters--they try me more than they did.” That means that the waters are becoming shallow. 2. By observation. It was this that helped Columbus to persevere in his westward course till he had sighted the Western World. The sea bird is not an unwelcome visitor; but should a songster from the land fly for refuge towards his vessel, the sailor hails it with delight, and listens to its welcome song as to that of the “ cherub that sits up aloft.” And thus many an aching heart has been cheered in the voyage over the sea of life. Often, like some bright bird of paradise, thoughts of heaven, and music as of eternal love, have cheered the Christian soul, and told him that land was very near. Keep you the vessel’ s head towards the golden sunset. Land is ahead, and near! 3. By experience. As people know, by its influence on the atmosphere, when they are near to the sea; so men may sometimes know, on the sea, when they are drawing near to the land. As the land breeze comes out across the waters, the Christian turns his face towards his rest. Though he cannot see it, he seems to feel the influences of a “ better country.” Much of heaven may be known before we reach the harbour. As the sailors, long before they have sighted America, actually drink of the fresh streams which flow from the western mountains; so, before we reach the haven of rest, we may drink rich, deep draughts of bliss from the eternal hills of life. III. Men have special seasons which remind them of the “ land ahead.” “ About midnight the shipmen,” etc. Times of midnight make us think of “ home,” and all men have such times. “ Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God.” Midnight times are needful. “ Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you.” It is necessary to make us think of home. If God had not stirred up their nests in Egypt, the Israelites would never have longed for Canaan. It was when on the brink of starvation in a far-off land that the prodigal thought of his father’ s house, and wished to be there. Your business fails, to make you think of your heavenly treasure; your beloved ones are taken away, that you may look forward to the time when the family circle, eternally complete, can ne’ er be broken; and pain and sickness lay you low, to remind you that “ this is not your rest.” Then think of home always! Lay up your treasure there! IV. Men have overwhelming inducements to prepare for the “ land ahead.” It is an awfully solemn fact that millions of our fellow men are living utterly regardless of these things. (W. H. Burton.)A sermon to sailors How did they know that at last they had neared land? Well, you must be a sailor to understand that. No doubt there was something in the run of the water, or in the breeze, or in the noise of the waves that appealed to the sailor’ s instinct. Hearing the billows breaking, they dropped the four anchors out of the stern. That seems a very unsailor-like proceeding, say some critics. Perhaps, if they knew a little more they would not be so surprised, for that is just how Admiral Nelson put them out at the battle of the Nile; and when the ships were formed for action at Copenhagen, we are told that they were all anchored by the stern (Nelson had been reading this chapter that morning). There is a picture in Herculaneum contemporary with Paul’ s time, in which you will see vessels with provision made for anchoring by the stern; and I am told that in Greece they still frequently adopt this plan. But if they had lowered the anchor at the bows, she would have swung round and perhaps on to the rocks, as they did not know how much sea room they had. Four were lowered, and when it was found that they held, the sailors had a prayer meeting--they prayed for the day to break. I will throw what I have to say under three headings, which shall have a little rhythm in them, so that you may remember them the better. I. Land ahead. “ The shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country.” That is very vague. They were not quite sure whether it was Europe or Africa; but there was something which said, “ It won’ t be long before we are aground.” There had been land ahead all the fourteen days; for how was it possible for any ship to be going about in Adria without having land ahead? But they never thought about it until they got uncomfortably close to it. The moment a tiny little craft is launched on the ocean of life, there is land ahead, and whether it be an hospitable one, or an iron-bound coast on which the craft goes to pieces, depends upon what sort of a voyage it has made and who is its captain. With some of us, it is a long time before we realise that we are coming to some country. Oh, it is a grand thing when there steals over a man’ s mind, “ This life is not the end of everything; the time is not far off when my craft shall touch some country or another!” What is leading many a man to realise that he is drawing near some country? Sometimes it is a memory or a word; I have known it come through a dream. When Columbus was searching for the Western country, what kept up his brave heart was that every now and then he saw floating on the water either a stick or a leaf, that he knew must come from the land. Anon he would see flying overhead a bird, which he was certain had left the shore not many hours before. Ay, and there comes a time when a man will look round and see this, that, and the other all saying to him, “ You are bound for another country.” There starts up to his memory that which he has not thought of for many a long year--the word, perhaps, that mother spoke; that address given in the Sunday school; but all of a sudden something says to the man, “ There is another world; you are drawing near to it.” It may be that the warning does not bring very much comfort, as in the case before us. To cry, “ Land ahead!” does not necessarily bring joy. It just depends on the circumstances of the person who hears it. It is one thing to know that you have land ahead when you see the harbour right in front of you; but it is another thing altogether when the night is dark and you are pitching and tossing, ignorant of your latitude and longitude. Tell a man then that there is land ahead, and he will say, “ It is the worst news I could possibly hear.” Some time ago, a brother preached here who was not very well up in nautical matters. In a very vivid manner he described such a storm as never blew. Eventually he asked, “ Now, what does the captain do? Why, he keeps as near the shore as ever he can.” An old tar who was listening, said, “ Bosh! turn her nose and beat to wind’ ard.” Now, when the news of “ Land ahead!” strikes a man’ s ear in a storm, it is no comfort to him if he does not know what land it is. And so is it with the soul. Tell some of us that there is land ahead, and we say, “ Thank God! for I know what it is.” But oh, if it were rung out in the ears of some of you, would it be good news or evil? A little while ago I had the privilege of helping to send a young wife out to her husband in the colonies. I can imagine that young wife standing on the ship’ s deck with her three little ones by her side, and looking anxiously before her as the vessel nears its destination. By and by the man perched aloft sings out, “ Land ahead” ! How that young wife’ s face lights up at the sound! how her eyes drink in that cloud-like object, which very soon will develop into the land she has come so far to reach! But on board that same ship there is a felon, who is being taken back through the Extradition Treaty. “ Land ahead!” It is heard right down in his cell on board the ship, and he says, “ Curse it! that means the gallows for me.” We are all on board the ship of life, and the day is coming when the cry will be heard, “ Land can be seen now.” It will be with no dim eye, unless it be filled with tears of joy, that I trust we shall all be able to say, “ Lord, that is the best news I heard for many a year.” II. Heave out the lead. When those ship men took soundings they found twenty fathoms of water. Why did they sound? Because they knew they were getting nearer and nearer, and wanted to be sure of their position. Those men were wonderfully like some of us; they did not begin to sound until they were in danger. They found twenty fathoms, which is a good deal of water; but directly after “ they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.” What, shoal off five fathoms so quickly! There can be no doubt now of danger. Oh, you dear fellows, I want you to heave out the lead. Have you realised how far your ship has got? Perhaps you could if I were to put a line into your hands. Take sounding by this--1. The change that you can see in others. When you arrived home, after a long absence, and went to look at your old chums, you were astonished to see how they had grown. That bit of a boy is now as tall as yourself; and of another you said, “ What an old chap he is getting!” But remember that you look as old in his eyes as he does in yours. Is it not strange how we can all mark alterations in others which we do not notice in ourselves? Take soundings, man. 2. Or, if you cannot realise your position in heaving out the lead in that way, call to mind the names of the ships you have sailed in and the crews you once belonged to. Where are they? How many captains have you sailed under? Any of them dead? Call up to mind those you have voyaged with, and I think, as you look along the list, and put a mark against those whose ships have touched the shore, you will come to the conclusion, “ Shallowing fast! Twenty fathoms!--fifteen!” 3. And are there not signs in yourself that you are drawing near some country? Some of you will say that ships’ sides are not so easy to climb as they were twenty years ago, and that it seems a longer way up the mast than it used to do. You have not the legs and hands you once had; your sight is not so clear as it was once. Your wife says, “ I am going to pull out all those grey hairs” ; but you say that if she does you will not have many left. Go and look in the mirror tonight, and, if you are a sensible man, it will be like heaving the lead. “ Yes,” you will say; “ I cannot be far off some shore.” Ah, life is shoaling fast with us all. Come, is it twenty fathoms--fifteen? Some of you are much nearer than that. Let down the lead again, and you will find that it is shoaling off to ten fathoms, five fathoms--less than that! Heave out the lead, then, those of you who are still a little way off. Do not go drifting on to the rocks like a fool. If you will not believe our testimony that there is land ahead of some sort, then heave out the lead for yourselves, and you will find, beyond all doubt, that your life is shoaling rapidly. III. Down with the anchor in the ocean’ s bed. After those sailors had let down the lead it was no use their saying that they did not believe the tale that it told, for it said, very plainly, “ In a few minutes you will be on that rocky gridiron.” There was only one thing to be done now--to drop anchor, and pray God that they might grip. So out went the four. That must have been a very anxious moment; for they did not know whether there was good anchorage or not. Captain Smith tells us that the very best possible anchorage is in St. Paul’ s Bay, and another nautical book says, if only the cable do not give way, no anchor will ever drag there. They were in the right place, though they did not know it. For a moment they asked themselves, “ Will the cables snap? Will the anchors drag?” But, thank God! they held; and now the ship is stopped. There is hope for them now, though they are not saved yet; and so they go down on their knees and pray for the day. This scene reminds me of a far different one; but there Paul also was throwing out his anchors. He is in Damascus. The Lord has stricken him down; he is blind--in the dark; but he confesses his sin--and then out go the anchors of prayer, and hope, and faith. Out with the anchors, and let your prayer be that of these men, who “ prayed for the day.” They got their answer. They had conscious salvation brought to them, for when the day dawned, Paul came to them and said, “ Be of good cheer; not a hair shall fall from the, head of any one of you.” They are not out of the ship yet, but prayer is answered; there is light in the sky, and God says they shall all be saved. “ And when it was day” they saw a little creek right in front of them, and letting go the anchors they steered right for it. True, the ship went to pieces; but every one of the two hundred and seventy-six on board got safe to land. Look you, the poor ship of man’ s human body has to go to pieces; but that need not trouble us much so long as the passengers are all right--as long as the soul is secure, never mind the old ship. We shall all get “ into a place where two seas meet” before long. If we are called to die Christ will show us a creek where we can die safely. And the Lord will do for our old ship what was not done with that of which we have been speaking--He will put it all together again on the Resurrection morning; and it will be a better ship than before. (Archibald G. Brown.)Then, fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern.--Fitted for sea In the town of Landport there stands a monument of Sir Charles Napier, the particular feature of which is, that it says nothing whatever of the admiral, but bears underneath his name the simple inscription, “ready, aye ready.” This exactly portrays the character of the man. The sailor became admiral through being always prepared. Be like him. Though these men would not heed Paul, they were not careless men; for when the danger came it found them prepared. “ They cast four anchors out of the stern.” “ Be ye also ready!” See to your anchors, because, as with the sailor-- I. The anchor will be your preparation for the storm. When a ship is leaving the docks, little heed is given by the landsman to any preparation which has been made for emergencies. As long as she is nicely painted and well dressed out with bunting, she is admired by the crowd, and pronounced “ ready for sea.” You can never judge of a ship by merely outward appearances, and so men cannot be known by that which is merely external. The casual observer sees as much religion in the formalist as he does in the most sincere worshipper. Because Eliab was a fine handsome fellow, Samuel thought he was the man whom God bad chosen to be a king. “ But the Lord said, Look not on his countenance … the Lord looketh on the heart.” How about your heart? To me you all appear alike. Together you bow in the attitude of prayer. Like the ships leaving the docks for the voyage, I see you all drifting down the river to the ocean. Are you ready for the dangers that will come? God knows, and you know. In what do you trust? “ Christ in you, the hope of glory,” alone can be your sheet anchor when trials come. There is as much difference between a man who is “ without hope,” and one who has “ a good hope through grace,” as there is between a ship that has no anchor, and one that is well provided. When the storm comes, the one has no alternative but to be dashed to pieces on the rocks, while the other can cast her anchors and hopefully wait for the day. II. The anchor should be the object of your solicitude in the storm. With many of us the storms are already felt. We are driven up and down on life’ s Adria, and sometimes “ wishing for the day.” Like the sailor, let us stand by our anchors. Take care of your hope! These men were ready to cast everything into the sea; all might go; but the anchors, heavy and cumbrous as they were, they must be guarded as dear life. The extremity to which they were driven may he gathered from the fact that even the “ tackling,” the very thing which would be needed for the working of the ship, was cast into the sea. What will men not do to save their lives? “ Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” But though these men gave up so much, their anchors were retained. A landsman, knowing nothing about the use of anchors, would have been puzzled to know why those ugly, heavy things were spared, when all that merchandise was being thrown into the sea. Does somebody question whether such a fool could be found? I submit that, spiritually, this is ever the way of the world. Let men be placed in a position which demands the giving up either of their bales or of their Bible, and there are thousands who would be ready to counsel the throwing overboard of the anchor and the saving of the goods. Christian, take care of your hope! How can you proceed on the voyage of life without it? If today you are “ without hope,” let me entreat you, at once search for your lost treasure. As we were cruising in the Solent, we noticed a large ship “ lying to,” with two or three boats “ dragging” around her. Being curious to know what hindered her, we found that she had let her cable slip and had lost her anchor. Of course the captain could not think of going to sea without his anchor. Not long after, however, before the shades of evening had gathered around her, we saw that the anchor had been found, that all sail was being crowded upon the vessel, and, as though glad to be gone, she was running away before the breeze. Hopeless Christian, imitate that shipmaster. Regain your hope. Do you ask how?--where? Drag for it. Go to the place where it was lost. Remember where the mistake was made which cost you your peace. At any cost recover your hope. You may have to cast your wares into the sea your money, your friends; but if your anchor is safe, even though “ all his waves and his billows” should go over you, like David in similar distress, you will be able to exclaim, “ Why art thou cast down, O my soul?…Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” III. The anchor will be the source of your confidence through the storm. Christian and Hopeful suffered much in Doubting Castle simply through forgetfulness. The key which was found in Hopeful’ s bosom would have let them out the first night as well as the last. When the emergency came, these men knew how to use their anchors. Whether they felt quite easy is open to doubt. A sailor, to feel happy, requires to know--1. That his anchor itself is trustworthy. 2. That the anchorage into which he has cast it is good. A good anchor is useless with a bad ground, and a good ground is equally useless with a bad anchor. Now, these men doubtless knew their anchors well, but they were ignorant of the anchorage to which they were moored. It is possible, as in this case, to have good anchors and anchorage, and yet, through ignorance, to be all the time in suspense; and it is equally possible, as many have proved to their destruction, to have a false confidence in that which is bad. Sailors have often ridden out a gale, expecting every moment to find their anchor “ gone” ; while others have been suddenly alarmed to find that very anchor upon which they could have staked their lives has “ come home.” And so in the religious world, there are many who have a “ good hope,” but who fear it is bad; while there are also many who have a useless hope, and who believe it to be good. The whole question is set before us in the words of Paul, “ Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.” Have we this anchor and this anchorage? Or are we ever saying, “ I know what I do,” or “ what I feel,” or “ what I try to be” ? Legality, Formality, and “ Experience” have been the ruin of millions. As anchors they have been tried, and they have utterly failed. What, then, is the “ hope” which “ maketh not ashamed” ? It is the fruit of faith in Christ. Talk to any ordinary man, and he will tell you that he hopes to get to heaven; but if you ask him to give you “ a reason for the hope” that he indulges, he will be totally unable to supply one. Our wishes are not hopes. For a ploughman to say that he hoped one day to be the King of England would be absurd and false; but for the heir-apparent, who had reason to expect, as well as to desire, the exalted position, the expression would be justifiable. Then don’ t say you hope to get to heaven unless you have good reason to expect it. Don’ t pillow your soul on a lie. A bad hope is infinitely worse than none at all. As long as men have something they can call a hope, they do not concern themselves about the “ good hope through grace.” IV. The anchor will be the means of your deliverance from the storm. But for their good anchors, humanly speaking, they would never have seen the day for which they wished. So, Christian, if your anchor is good, it will be the means of your deliverance. Storms of afflictions will come, but, by “ a good hope,” you shall be held until the calm of blessing shall succeed. In the Rapids of Death, when your vessel is altogether beyond your control, and you seem to be thrown about by the troubled waters, even then Hope shall find that the anchorage is good, and you shall outride the danger. (W. H. Burton.)Wished for the day.--Wished for day If “‘ tis double death to die in sight of shore,” as Shakespeare says, it is also, or nearly, double death to die in the dark. Some would almost say, Surely the bitterness of death is past, if light be vouchsafed to the dying, and so the shadows flee away. Well can they understand a pregnant symbolism in that incident of patriarchal days, when a deep sleep fell upon Abram as the sun was going down; and, lo! a horror of a great darkness fell upon him. With something of a shuddering sympathy can they connect the fact that, on the day whence all Good Fridays take their name, there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour, with that other fact that about the ninth hour there was heard a wailing cry, whose echo reverberates through all space and time, “ Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!” Ever memorable in classical lore is the supplication of the Greek warrior in Homer, not to die in the dark. Let him see his foe and see his end, however imminent, however inevitable. Frequent in historical narrative are instances like that of Labedoyere, who, when brought out to be shot, refused to have his eyes bandaged, and looking straight at the levelled muskets, exclaimed in a loud voice, “ Fire! my friends.” Marshal Ney, a week or two later, also refused to have his eyes bandaged. “ For five-and-twenty years,” he said, “ I have been accustomed to face the balls of the enemy.” Then taking off his hat with his left hand, and placing his right upon his heart, he too said in a loud voice, fronting the soldiers, “ My comrades, fire on me.” Murat fell in a like manner, after a like request--but gazing to the last on a medallion which contained portraits of his wife and children. Dr. Croly applied the Homeric prayer of Ajax to an incident in the long war with France, when twenty-seven thousand British were eager, under Abercrombie and the Duke of York, to attack the French lines, and at the first tap of the drum a general cheer was given from all the columns. But the day, we read, had scarcely broke when a dense fog fell suddenly upon the whole horizon, and rendered movement almost impossible. “ Nothing could exceed the vexation of the army at this impediment, and if our soldiers had ever heard of Homer there would have been many a repetition of his warrior’ s prayer, that ‘ live or die, it might be in the light of day.’” It has been observed of a certain railway catastrophe, where the crash and collision occurred in a tunnel--in that very place which nobody, even on ordinary occasions, passes through without a slight shudder and an undefined dread of some such disaster as the one in question--that “ Ajax’ s prayer has been muttered by many who never heard of Ajax; and if we are to die, it is at least mitigation of the hour of fate when it overtakes us in daylight.” In tracing, psychologically, the development within us of the sense of awe, Professor Newman attributes to the gloom of night more universally, perhaps, than to any other phenomenon, the first awakening of an uneasy sense of vastness. A young child, as he says, accustomed to survey the narrow limits of a lighted room, wakes in the night, and is frightened at the dim vacancy. “ No nurse’ s tales about spectres are needed to make the darkness awful.” “ Nor,” he adds, “ is it from fear of any human or material enemy: it is the negation, the unknown, the unlimited, which excites and alarms; and sometimes the more if mingled with glimpses of light.” The last words audible of Goethe were, “ More light!” The final darkness grew apace, in the words of his ablest biographer, and he whose eternal longings had been for more light, gave a parting cry for it as he was passing under the shadow of death. (F. Jacox, B. A.) Acts 27:30-32 And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship. Selfishness I. Its hideous character.1. Its cowardice. They sought to flee out of the ship. 2. Its cunning. “ Under colour,” pretending “ as though they would have cast anchors,” they let down the boat into the sea. Selfishness has always a disguise. In all the trades, professions, and interests of life it works under a hypocritical garb. It dares not show itself. 3. Its cruelty. All on board were in the same danger; but what cared they though all perished, so long as they were saved? II. Its manly exposure (Acts 27:31). There was one on board whose keen eye penetrated the motives of these men, and exposed their base conduct. Paul was one of those to whom, through the purity of their own motives, and the clearness of their own moral intuitions, it is given to discern spirits. It would be well for selfish men to remember that there are men who can see through them. III. Its ultimate frustration. With that short sword with which the Roman legions cleft their way through every obstacle to victory, they “ cut the ropes,” and the boat fell off. Thus all selfishness must ultimately be confounded. “ He that seeketh his life shall lose it.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. A lesson in valuation A ship is in peril, and in estimating the worth of the passengers, the palm must be given to those who can save it. There are distinguished men on board. The centurion invested with the power and prestige of a Roman officer; the soldiers who have never marched but to conquer; Luke the trained physician and writer; the enterprising and wealthy merchants; the inspired Paul. If it were a question as to the safety of a province, Julius and his warriors could soon settle it; if it were a matter of health or knowledge, it might be confidently left to the beloved physician and evangelist; if it were a matter of food and clothing, none were more competent than the merchants; if it were a matter of doctrine or morals, none could deal with it like the apostle. But it was a matter of getting the ship to land, and here arms, medicine, literature, commerce, theology, each powerful in its own sphere, were at fault. How, then, shall nautical safety be secured? By the sailors? But they were only a few, they were cowardly, they had no knowledge of medicine, literature, business, or religion. True, but they knew how to manage the ship; and if they had all the valour, genius, cleverness, and goodness of those that were left behind, would never get the ship to land. They would have been impotent to fight a battle, prescribe a medicine, write a book, conclude a bargain, or preach a sermon; but they were the only men who understood the one thing needful on this occasion. Apply this to-- I. Physical life. The requirements of human health are few and simple. A little food, drink, exercise, sleep, shelter, clothing. Add to these, and you have striking luxuries, indulgences, adornments; but these are all superfluities. “ Except” the fewest and simplest matters “ abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” II. Intellectual life. A few good books thoroughly digested, quiet and systematic habits of study, are alone requisite to intellectual culture. Sumptuously furnished and well-stocked libraries are all very well to those that can afford them, but you cannot say, “ Except these abide in the ship,” etc. III. Social life. How little, comparatively speaking, is necessary to the happiness and prosperity of a community. Obligingness, fairness, affability, so much farther than titles, equipages, and fashionable customs. IV. National life. A few good laws, impartially administered, make more for national prosperity than all the trappings of majesty or oratory of statesmen. V. Spiritual life. Whatever else may be added, except “ faith, hope, charity” abide, ye cannot be saved. (J. W. Burn.) Acts 27:32-38 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes.Precautions 1. By casting off the boat--the apparent means of safety--true safety in this case was secured. Thus many a soul is saved by giving up what it may have once esteemed most precious. 2. By assuming command, Paul on this occasion saved his companions. Let not the Christian shrink from taking the lead, when he can thereby bring others unto safety. 3. By partaking of food at such a time, Paul showed that eating may sometimes become a duty. God takes good care of our souls--He wants us to take good care of our bodies. 4. By giving thanks before he broke bread, on this occasion, Paul showed that there is always time to ask a blessing before even the most hurried meal. If we have time to eat at all, we have time to ask God’ s blessing on what we eat. At the worst, bodily dyspepsia is better than spiritual dyspepsia. 5. By trusting Paul, the ship’ s company was saved. By trusting Paul’ s Saviour, we may be saved. If we sail with Christ, and abide with Christ, we shall not see death. Because He lives, we shall live also. 6. By stopping when they bad “ eaten enough,” Paul’ s companions showed their good sense. By not stopping when they have eaten enough, many Christians show their bad sense of how to use God’ s blessings. 7. By casting overboard what they did not need, Paul’ s companions set a wise example of self-restriction. If to eat is a duty, to stop eating may become a duty. Even throw away the bodily supplies, if need be, that the soul may not suffer. (S. S. Times.)And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat. Bodily care Day after day had they been at the mercy of the pitiless winds and waves; night after night had added its darkness to their helplessness. Surely it was a time for prayer, for commending their souls to God, and imploring Divine protection. Yes; and I doubt not that Paul prayed most earnestly. But it was a time for more than prayer. He deemed it a time for paying heed to physical wants as well as for pious devotion. They lay there, held by the four anchors, and longing for the coming of day. There was little that they could do then. Yet they could do something. They could do what, in the excitement and fear and violent motion of the vessel, they had not suitably attended to for many days. They could repair in some slight measure the physical waste which each had suffered. They could do the thing best adapted to secure a favourable answer to their petitions: they could take food. And this Paul urges them to do. We are very much in the habit of thinking that the Bible is for soul culture simply; and hence men are liable to consider it strange if it is quoted as endorsing and requiring the care of the body. But we are to remember that religion is not simply soul culture: it is man culture. Some may say that religion aims to teach men to glorify God. But how can we glorify One whose gifts we are contemning and abusing? And the body is as much a gift of God as is the soul. To knowingly violate the Divine order written in the physical constitution is as really to rebel against God as it would be if one violated a law of the Decalogue. Therefore, by this definition of the purpose of religion--that it is intended to teach us to glorify God--we are required to attend to the preservation of the body. But, further, upon this definition there is much misapprehension as to the way in which God is glorified. Our blessed Master in religion has taught us that this is done not simply by psalm singing; for He has told us, “ Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” Therefore God cannot be glorified by anything which needlessly dwarfs the faculties, or cramps the energies, or incapacitates man for doing his full measure of work. Therefore we are again brought back to our conclusion: that, if religion is intended to fit us to promote God’ s glory, it necessarily has to do with the care of the body. But is it to define religion more accurately to say that its purpose is to advance men in holiness? Holiness ought not to be limited to a certain reverent attitude of the mind, or to sanctity, or to purity of heart and freedom from sin. We pronounce it “ hol-i-ness” : we perhaps should more readily realise its early significance if we pronounced it “ hol-ness” (wholeness); and undoubtedly we should do well if we added to the ideas of purity and freedom from sin which it now conveys to us the idea of the symmetrical development of the whole being. While we remain here, the body is a part of our being, and an exceedingly important part. And now permit me, as I go on, to be a little more definite. If we are called to make our lives valuable to any persons on earth, certainly those nearest us have the first claim. If any one of us has a right (which I deny) to throw himself away physically, he has no right to throw away his child. If he has a right, by imprudence or excess, to bring sickness upon himself, he has no right to prepare beforehand an inheritance of feebleness or disease for his unborn offspring. On a certain day in the past you may have felt most profoundly the truth that neither fame nor position nor wealth can compensate for lack of health. And yet it may be that a moment’ s reflection would reveal to you that you are now daily, in the general conduct of your life, sacrificing the greater for the less--saying (and that very often), “ I know that this will hurt me, but still I am going to eat a little of it” ; or, “ I know that this is dangerous, but still I’ ll do it this once and run the risk.” The care of health is a duty. Those of us who mean to fulfil our obligations need often to enlarge our ideas of the breadth of the field of duty. We despise what we know about the value of oxygen; and, if compelled for present comfort to live during the summer chiefly in the fresh air, still do not, except on extraordinary occasions, suffer any of it to reach the bottom of the lungs. We treat cleanliness as a matter of decency, and not as a matter vital to health. Those cooks who are deemed among the best seem to pay little regard to the healthfulness of the viands they prepare. Many are utterly unacquainted with the sanitary usefulness of society, good cheer, merry amusements, and a hearty laugh. All these things should be made studies by us, as parts of the great whole of duty which we wish lovingly to perform. (J. E. Wright.)Paul’ s wisdom O wise Paul!--how many ills of the mind can be met, how many perils faced, how many sorrows tided over, by due and rational attention to the claims of the stomach and the equilibrium of the nervous system! How many cases which come to the vestry of the clergyman are more fit for the doctor’ s consulting room! How often in the house of death to the bereaved, to the watcher, might the clergyman, instead of overloading the patient with spiritual consolation, instead of feeding the wasting fire of grief with too much oil of sympathy, more wisely say to the exhausted and overwrought and weary friends and relatives, in the simple and homely words of Paul, “ I pray you to take some meat, for this is for your health.” And even as Paul spake he began to eat before them--his courage, good sense, example were infectious. A change passed over the trembling crew. “ There shall not a hair of your head fall,” continued the great missioner; and he pointed heavenwards to the source of his prophetic consolation and good hope, “ giving thanks to God in the presence of them all!” “ Then were they all of good cheer.” (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)The leading attributes of a great character I. Social considerateness. The emaciated appearance of all on board, through lack of food, touched Paul’ s generous heart (Acts 27:33). The alarm and anxiety of the past fourteen days and nights had, according to a physiological law, deadened their appetite. Paul, with the tact of a practical philosopher, sought to resuscitate their inclination for food by allaying their fears: “ For there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.” This social considerateness Paul often displayed in his conduct and teaching, and it is an essential attribute of Christianity. “ Bear ye one another’ s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” II. Calm self-control. He was in the midst of the most agitating scenes--the furious hurricane--the reeling, plunging, shattered ship--the 276 terror-stricken men--yet how sublimely calm this man is (Acts 27:35)! A finer picture of moral majesty can scarcely be conceived. The philosophy of his tranquillity was faith in that God whose he was and whom he served. III. Practical religiousness. “ He gave thanks to God in presence of them all.” This was according to the Christian practice (Matthew 15:36; Matthew 26:27; John 6:11-23; Romans 14:6; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Corinthians 11:24; 1 Corinthians 14:17; Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). IV. Commanding influence. What he said and what he did struck new energy into the heart of all (Acts 27:36). He animated all with the energy of hope. A soul strong with goodness can energise others. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Bodily health to be maintained Nothing that God has made is to be despised; least of all this body that now holds us. It has in it all the wonder and glory of creation, and is an epitome of all previous creations--a harp of more than a thousand strings; it is so strong it can level mountains; so fine that in its automatic skill it almost thinks; so nearly spiritual that we cannot see where sense joins thought; so coarsely material that chemical law runs riot in it; a mere forge for the fire of oxygen, yet so delicate that it reflects in every turn and gesture the spirit and temper of the mind; so one with us that if it is sound we can hardly fail of being happy, and if it is weak we can hardly fail of being miserable; so one with us that we cannot think of ourselves as separate from it, yet are conscious that it is no part of us--such a thing as this is not to be despised or treated otherwise than as sacred. We have hardly any more imperative work than to secure for the body its highest possible vigour and health. How to feed and clothe and house it; how to use it; how to keep it safe from weakening and poisoning gases; how to secure that rhythmic action of its functions that turns physical existence into music--this is the immediate question before civilisation, the discussion of which will drive out much of the vice of society and revolutionise its systems of education. The gospel of the body is yet to be heard and believed. (T. Munger, D. D.) Acts 27:38-44 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship.Food and work What is the use of gaining strength by eating, unless we are to put our strength to some practical service? We might as well starve for lack of food as to live worthless lives while we have bread enough and to spare. It is of less importance that we have our breakfast than that we do something worth doing after breakfast. If any man will not work, neither let him eat. What if you do go to school? What if you have been to college? What if you are a great reader? What if you listen to the best sermons ever preached? What if you study the Bible week days and Sunday? What is to come of your having this full fare? When you have eaten enough, what work are you going to do on shipboard--or on shore? (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)The process of salvation 1. Here was a great multitude in the direst peril needing salvation. The good and the bad, the learned and the ignorant, the aristocrat and the plebeian, the rich and the poor, were all represented here, and were all alike in danger. Sin reduces all men to the same level, and annihilates all social and other distinctions. “ God be merciful to me a sinner,” is a prayer appropriate to prince or pauper. 2. This multitude is strengthened for the impending effort by the supply of immediate wants. A great struggle was at hand, for which they would have been unequal but for that physical strength which food only can give and maintain. So the sinner convinced of his need of salvation, and “ without strength” in himself, needs a Divinely imparted strength for all the sacrifice and effort required for the renunciation of self and sin and consecration to Christ. This is supplied by the Divine promises, and by grace for the time of need. 3. Being strengthened, as the first requirement for safety, the crew lightened the ship by throwing every superfluity overboard. The cargo was a valuable one; but in comparison with life what was it, or the “ whole world” ? So wealth, learning, social position, etc., of great value under certain circumstances, may be hindrances in the way of salvation, and must be abandoned. What things are gain to us must be counted loss for Christ and His salvation. 4. Light came and revealed the only means of safety. They knew not the land, but they saw the way of escape, and, like sensible men, they availed themselves of it (Acts 27:39). What cared they for the geological formation of a “ certain creek” ? What cared they whether it were constructed according to the accepted principles of harbour architecture? “ If it were possible” they would “ thrust in the ship” there. And so the light of the Spirit is thrown on the Cross. He takes of the things of Christ and shows them. What has the sinner to do with their conformity to his own opinion, or the opinion of others, of what should constitute the means of salvation? As it is gloriously possible let him thrust in his ship there without asking any questions, and trust to the result. 5. Like rational creatures they availed themselves of the only means of escape at all risks. That which might have been useful elsewhere they unceremoniously abandoned, and taking up anchors, and loosing rudder bands, simply hoisted the mainsail, committed themselves to the sea, and made for shore. Let the convinced sinner thus, cutting himself off from his past, simply yield to the movements of the Spirit who not only enlightens but impels. Loose the moorings! Hoist the mainsail of faith! there is now nothing for it but that--and the Spirit who bloweth where He listeth will fill the sail. 6. The ship ran aground, and the passengers were exposed to tremendous hardship (Acts 27:41). Not a few have experienced spiritually what was suffered here. Faith laying hold of Christ renders the soul safe, but the “ hinder part” is “ broken by the violence of the waves.” And nowhere more than just here is the malignity of Satan exhibited (Acts 27:42. Cf. Christian at the Wicket Gate). But the Christian need fear not the violence of the waves of this troublesome world on his bark, nor the machinations of the adversary, for he knows that no weapon that is formed against him shall prosper. 7. Salvation, however, comes at last (Acts 27:44). They lost everything but their lives, and man can afford to lose everything but his soul. (J. W. Burn.)And when they had taken up the anchors, they … hoisted the mainsail.--Anchors and sails Anchors are very well so long as you want to keep from going ahead; but if you want to reach the shore, one sail is worth more than four anchors. It is a great thing to know when to use anchors and when to use sails. If a young man is asked to follow evil companions in evil ways he needs anchors. If he is urged to go ahead in the path of duty and in the service of Christ, a sail is the thing for him. When the breakers of warning are sounding through the night on the rocks of error and unbelief just ahead of us, we ought to pray God that the anchors may hold. When we see by the clear light of God’ s truth that the harbour of spiritual peace is open before us, we may cut loose from the anchors, and hoist all sail to the breeze of Divine grace which shall speed us to the shore. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground. Running aground (Children’ s sermon):--It is a sad sight to see a noble vessel stranded and going to pieces; but it is sadder far to see a soul which ought to be sailing over the sea of time to heaven stuck fast in the things of this world. If we would avoid this we must-- I. Keep a steady course. How often on a sea-bound steamer going through some intricate channel do we hear the word “ Steady!” The pilot cannot go by any course he pleases; if he tries experiments, disregards the chart, and sails on the wrong side of the buoys, he must be prepared for running aground. A captain once left his vessel in charge of a man, whom he ordered to steer towards a certain star, while he retired for rest. Presently the man’ s attention was attracted by some object, and he let go the tiller. When he took it again the star was behind. By and by the captain came on deck, and seeing the position of affairs, exclaimed, “ Why, Jim, where are you steering her to? The star I told you to keep ahead of the mainmast is now astern!” “ Oh,” said Jim, “ we sailed by him an hour ago.” The fact was the boat had swung round. And much in the same way we trifle with the helm, for the sake of looking at something about us, and forget to keep our eyes on the star; and many who think they have sailed past the star have simply turned their back upon it. It is common for people to think they have advanced far ahead of the Bible, their ancestral faith, etc., and before they know it they are aground. II. Know our soundings. When the Atlantic went ashore on the coast of Nova Scotia it was because the captain, thinking he was miles from the coast, neglected to take soundings. So many a life is wrecked through ignorance of the proximity of shoals and rocks, and negligence to ascertain its position. How necessary, then, to examine ourselves, to watch for temptations, so that we may know where we stand! III. Beware of cross currents. It was the opposite tides which did the work for Paul’ s ship. We all meet with cross currents in life, and how hard it is to keep out of them! We want to study, and yet to play; to serve Christ and to please ourselves; to gain heaven and yet keep earth. This is a sure way to wreck our souls. IV. Trust our pilot. When the pilot comes aboard he takes full command, and the crew must not mind the old captain. And so when we have taken Christ as our Commander we must obey Him in everything. (W. Newton.)And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners.--The shipwreck I. The brutalising tendency of a military life. One might have thought that common trials would have made every heart sympathetic; but these soldiers meditated the cold-blooded murder of men who had saved their lives. Why? Because they were trained to bloody deeds. Human life to them was cheap. II. The social value of a good man. “ The centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose,” etc. The salvation of passengers must, under God, be ascribed to Paul, and the other prisoners were saved from massacre because of him. No one but God can tell the value of one good man in a neighbourhood or nation. Ten righteous men would have saved Sodom, etc. III. The faithfulness of the Divine word. God had said that no life should be lost, that they should be cast upon a certain island, and that the ship should be destroyed. And here is the fulfilment. “ Heaven and earth shall pass away,” etc. IV. The necessity of human effort. Although the safety attained had been promised by God, yet the human agency was indispensable. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Those who get us into trouble will not stay to help us out These shipmen got Paul out of Fair Havens into the storm; but as soon as the tempest dropped upon them, they wanted to go off in the small boat, caring nothing for what became of Paul and the passengers. Ah me! human nature is the same in all ages. They who tempt that young man into a life of dissipation will be the first to laugh at his imbecility, and to drop him out of decent society. Gamblers always make fun of the losses of gamblers. They who tempt you into the contest with fists, saying, “ I will back you,” will be the first to run. Look over all the predicaments of your life, and count the names of those who have got you into those predicaments, and tell me the name of one who ever helped you out. They were glad enough to get you out from Fair Haven, but when with damaged rigging you tried to get into harbour, did they hold for you a plank or throw to you a rope? Not one. Satan has got thousands of men into trouble, but he never got one out. He led them into theft, but he would not hide the goods or bail out the defendant. The spider shows the way over the gossamer bridge into the cobweb; but it never shows the way out of the cobweb over the gossamer bridge. I think that there were plenty of fast young men to help the prodigal spend his money; but when he had wasted his substance in riotous living, they let him go to the swine pastures, while they betook themselves to some other newcomer. They who take Paul out of Fair Havens will be of no help to him when he gets into the breakers of Melita. Hear it, young man! hear it. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Acts 27:44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship.And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land. Safe to land They were all saved notwithstanding-- I. Their fears to the contrary. You have feared--1. The power of the Evil One.2. The subtlety of your own heart.3. The world.4. Providence. II. The play of the elements.1. The soft south wind of flattery.2. The contrary wind of the world’ s opposition.3. The fierce Euroclydon of adversity. III. The poor helps they had. Every one had to shift for himself. IV. Their great variety of character. Soldiers, sailors, landsmen. (Biblical Museum.)Safe to land I. Those are safe whom God has pledged Himself to save. We are constantly asking questions as to the numbers of the saved and the lost, and often rather try to make out a case for the smallest number. Some are fond of calling the Church “ a Zoar” --“ a little one” --we contract salvation to the dimensions of our own heart--“ and my soul shall live!” let the rest be lost so that I am saved. On the contrary, how much there is in Scripture which, amidst the promises of the illimitable grace of God, points to the vast multitude of the redeemed! The law in all ages is that the heavens attract to themselves their own. When the world gets too wild in its will, God shuts up His own and bears them over. We often have our minds sorely perplexed by the residue of the vast populations. We are convinced that some are safe; but for the rest, where will they be found? I believe we need never despair, except for the hardened rend the hopelessly impenitent. We often behold the poor creature, ignorant and dark, and we say, “ shall that be lost?” Or that heathen, “ is there no hope?” or, amidst those superstitions which shock and shame religion, “ is there no hope?” I know that there are hard religious creeds which affect to say so; but they are in harmony neither with the tone and structure of the Bible, the mission or the words of our Saviour, or the words of Paul. Why, how few comparatively are they who have what we call “ an abundant entrance” ! Here and there we behold a vessel in fall sail borne in upon the triumphant wave; but, on the contrary, what multitudes find, when they come to die, that all that was preserved to them was “ the plank” of some promise--some “ broken piece” of the ark of their hope. What shall I do with innumerable heretics, labouring over the waves, on their “ broken pieces of the ship” ? What shall I do with the Fearings, and Much-afraids, and Despondencys, which float together over the black sea, muttering their mournful elegies, who can see but little, but fall in despair on the character of God and His promises--who hold even those with a timid grasp? Well, I will believe that, “ on boards” and “ broken pieces of the ship,” they escape “ safe to land.” II. All means are good means which save. In the matter of salvation how much we elevate conditions above grace! Yet no man is saved by ideal systems of salvation any more than ideal systems ever governed nations. Harrington’ s “ Oceana,” and More’ s “ Utopia,” and Plato’ s “ Republic,” and Bacon’ s “ Atlantis,” and Machiavelli’ s “ Prince,” are very healthful and pleasant reading, and they enlarge and strengthen the mind; but they never assist in the government of nations. And it is so with ideal systems of salvation. Men lay down as authoritatively the exact limits to which God can go in the provision for the salvation of a sinner, as they would lay down rules of arithmetic. These persons are like those who deny the possibility of miracle, and tie the Creator to the very creatures He has created. We must not confound our necessities with the necessity of the Divine procedure. It is true God has revealed Himself to us as conditioned by the laws of His own holiness; but how unconditioned He is in His provinces and arrangements of mercy we do well know. Some religious people have a religion full of symmetry. Every proposition grows out of the previous proposition. One would suppose, to hear them talk, that men are saved because they are able to reason correctly. How many make the reception of the gospel a mere matter of nomenclature, affixing the very conditions of salvation to the assent to terms not even understood. A minister once called upon a poor dying lad to console him in his last moments. He asked him if he had taken Christ in all His offices, and had for reply, “ No, he’ d never been taken by any officers.” We smile at the poor lad, yet “ the foolishness of preaching” saves. Words that fill scholars with contempt are the great powers of God unto salvation. “ Boards” and “ broken pieces of the ship” become the means for some small minimum of grace which supports the soul, and they are safe, while many a stately craft goes down by their side. I know a poor sister, whom the Lord dearly loves, although He has chastened her very sore. She was talking with me about her sons, who had very wickedly neglected her, and told me how she had agonised with God for them. She opened her Bible, and the first words she read were these, “ I will contend with him that contendeth with thee: and I will save thy children.” And if she dies tomorrow, she will trust their salvation on that plank. Oh, over the world there are thousands wrecked utterly, but for the “ board” or “ the broken piece of the ship.” III. All means are good means which save. My friend, poor Becky Williams, sailed into heaven on a plank. To her, in her loneliness, one text had come, and that text was a glorious raft--it was one of Luther’ s little Bibles--“ All that the Father hath given Me, shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” She knew nothing of theological casuistry. Sometimes she was sneered at when she talked of faith, and was asked for a description of it. She could only give “ All that the Father hath given Me,” etc. Some people who had all creeds at their fingers’ ends told her her faith was not clear. “ No,” she said, “ I often feel that; but it is not the clearness or the darkness of my faith, it’ s in Him--it’ s in Him--‘ All that the Father giveth Me,’“ etc. The incumbent of the parish went out of his way to call upon her: told her that grace came through the sacraments--that she could not partake of grace without them. “ I don’ t mind,” said she, “ how often I remember my dying Lord; but grace does not come only so--‘ All that the Father giveth Me,’“ etc. When she lay dying, they asked her if she had clear ideas of sin. She did not know well what they meant; but she repeated her text. “ Do you feel safe?” “ How can I be other than safe, ‘ All that the Father hath given Me,’“ etc. “ And if I speak about you in the church next Sabbath, after your funeral,” said her minister, “ what message shall I give?” “ Only, ‘ All that the Father hath given Me,’“ etc. And I say what comfortable words there are in Scripture (Isaiah 50:10). In the storm of darkness and unbelief it seems as if all is shipwrecked in thee, broken in pieces; and yet see what scattered glimpses, what broken, imperfect discoveries of Jesus Christ float up and down, and do at any time appear in thy spirit. Thou wilt see some if thou wilt look and watch for them. Cast thyself upon them; these are the broken planks, the most imperfect, darkest, narrowest glimpses of Christ. Such intimations are better than the most symmetrical body of theology. There are words which transcend definition. Such words are often the planks upon which the spirit floats in much fear and trembling into rest--safe to land: or light shines through some little chink of speech opening up to large and settled manifestations of Christ. Thus God has been saving multitudes never heard of. Thus many a sacred text has been the “ board,” the “ broken piece of ship,” on which souls have “ escaped safe to land.” IV. God is a good Captain. If the ship is lost, He saves the crew. There is land, and all who sail in the ship are safe. I often seem to walk along the shore, and I see the wild waves of life, and time, and death, casting at my feet some spent swimmers. The other evening, after I had been preaching near where I spent all my first days, a young man came and gave me his card. It was the name of one of my oldest friends--the superintendent then of a school where I was first a Sabbath school teacher. And I said, “ How’ s your father?” to the young man. “ Oh, he has been dead two years.” Dead two years! I knew him so well; and I never knew him out of trouble. And I walked away, and said to myself, “ He is safe to land. One more dropped down on the way--one memory more--one presence less--but ‘ safe to land.’” Pace with me the shores of the great ocean of death. How they are cast up by every tide, flung out from innumerable wrecked vessels. Here is an infant: its pretty lips closed; and all those pretty ways forever lost to us. What a mistake! No, no mistake--“ safe to land.” Here, at my feet, are the lovely tresses of one before whom there seemed to spread a life so redolent of every charm--the light of the home--those fingers will wake the keys no more--the eye has lost its light, and the lip its witchery. Precious life to be wrecked so soon! No, not wrecked--“ safe to land.” And here, see here is a veteran--a body broken in how many wrecks and seas; but the last breath and the last good-bye was a triumph he is “ safe to land.” The other day a sailor died. One who was waiting upon him said, “ How is it with you?” “ How! I see land ahead!” said he--“ I see land ahead!” And he fell back--“ safe to land.” Gather up all the promises which, like so many planks, have floated over and sustained on death’ s waves, and you would build a ship to hold the Church. Oh, sinner, how wilt thou do without a plank? No “ board” --no “ broken piece of the ship.” Wave on wave sucking thee in, and sucking thee down, engulfed within the triumphant wave. (E. Paxton Hood.)Paul shipwrecked I. Of the common experiences of human life which the Christian is bound to meet and share with all the world resides. If you open the Bible, you will find that, in the thought of Jesus Christ, life was to be a rough and rugged thing, even for hearts stayed on Him. You will find there passages meant to warn the disciple of the Euroclydon which was before him, and to show how he might take advantage of that Euroclydon, for the eternal welfare of his soul. We have made a long stride in our Christian life when we come to understand that, in giving our hearts to God, we have made no trade with Him whereby we shall be exempt from the experiences of common life. If you have taken your money and invested it, and the market rises, your little all will increase; but if the market falls, it will decrease in value. If you have set your heart upon a single thing in life to be realised in this world, and there are circumstances which you are able to command and control, you will have it; but if circumstances set in the opposite direction, you will have it not. One thing that the Christian finds early in life as he journeys toward the celestial city is this: that he is often placed by stress of circumstances in a position which he knew beforehand would be adverse to his temporal interest, but out of which he has no power to disentangle himself. Did not Paul know when in the peaceful harbour of Crete that that soft south wind would increase and become a Euroclydon? There are exterior circumstances that rule the day and carry the boat, so that Paul, Christian though he was, had no option but to go forward to meet these circumstances which he knew would be disastrous. This is an experience of us all. There is a common human life which you and I must lead; there are circumstances governing our lives--circumstances which, even if we know they mean certain disaster, we cannot avoid, but must embrace. That is the plane of commonality on which we stand, the position which we occupy with relation to all the world besides. II. Uncommon Christian experiences. While it is true that we must face many a Euroclydon, it is also true that there is an uncommon experience as we meet and welcome that Euroclydon which is denied to the man whose soul is not stayed on Him. It is very curious and interesting to see how soon the captive on this weather-beaten ship becomes the comforter. Whenever a large ship goes to sea it is deemed advisable to have someone in the forecastle who can play an instrument. When on one of our exploring vessels it is necessary to send off a boat which shall become detached from the ship, to make inquiry or in search of information, there is always placed with that brave little band someone who can play an instrument. It is not necessary that he should be an adept or a professor of music; it is simply necessary that he should be able some way to lend cheer to the natural despondency of those who find themselves in the grip of an emergency out of which they see no way of release. Paul was the only man who could play the instrument among those two hundred and seventy-five weary and dejected souls--the only man who was himself. His alliance with God gave him his uncommon opportunity, his uncommon experience. You cannot tell much about a man when the sky is bright and blue over his head; but let the clouds gather, and then the manhood stands resplendent. You have no difficulty in estimating the manhood of Paul, on the one hand, and the sailors on the other, in their common experience. You cannot tell much about a man when the stars are bright; but once let the soft south wind ripen into the Euroclydon, once put a man into the adversity of human life, and then if there is that in his soul that has made connections with heaven; if there is a hope that has over-reached that fearful river which you and I call death; if there is a sense of immortality in his heart--all the manhood that is in him will leap to the front and you will have no difficulty in discriminating him. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, impresses this simple truth; shows how, when the south wind is blowing softly, we may enfold our hearts in the love of God, so that no matter how fierce the Euroclydon, how many anchors are out at the stern, no matter how imminent the peril a sense of security and deliverance will sustain and comfort. III. For the disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ there is reserved the sense of the ultimate experience. We have been talking about the common experience which we share With the world beside, and the uncommon experience which differentiates us and gives us the advantage in the troubled hour; now a single word about the ultimate experience. The disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ has no question about the ultimate experience; he knows that he is held in the hollow of the Divine hand; knows there is no bark so fragile that it can sink beneath the wave and carry with it his immortal soul; knows that all the powers in the world above and in the world beneath are absolutely powerless to delay the ongoing of that soul of his to the pert and haven which Jesus Christ has destined for it. And this is his comfort, this is his cheer, his joy, the reason why he is willing to walk by faith when he cannot walk by sight; this is the reason why he can sing songs in the darkness of the blackest night. Be a practical Christian. Expect to meet life’ s Euroclydon, to master it, and let the uncommon experience as it comes to your life cheer your immortal soul with the thought that the ultimate experience shall be yours; that, after having met every storm and weathered every cape, because of your fidelity and devotion and Christlikeness, you shall find an entrance at last into the harbour of the city of God. (Nehemiah Boynton.)Paul shipwrecked This is an account of real experience, the record of a great soul in a great crisis. As such, it illustrates the dealings of God with men, and emphasises certain fundamental truths of revelation. I. The first impression one receives in the study of this fascinating story is that of the apostle’ s unique personality, perfectly adapted to the Divine purposes. From the beginning, the singular influence of his character is felt on all who surround him. The farther he goes and the more exigent the circumstances, the more distinctly does Paul loom into prominence and leadership. Captain, owner, centurion, and historian all do him obeisance. The captive Hebrew is master of every situation. This brief narrative is in some sense an epitome of the great apostle’ s entire life. It was not often or ever for long that “ the south wind blew softly” over the seas on which he sailed. There were many other days in his career “ when neither sun nor stars appeared and no small tempest lay upon him.” He weathered more than one Euroclydon. His soul entered into peace at last only through the wreck of his buffeted and broken body. Of St. Paul’ s character and influence we cannot hope to say here anything new, but his demeanour amidst the scenes here described illustrates certain facts and truths of Scripture that we are impelled to notice briefly two of them.1. The first is the reality of the spiritual world. Paul’ s insight reaches beyond the sensuous. “ There stood by me this night an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve.” The voice of God penetrates his soul. His message from the “ Holy of Holies” is no cunningly worded oracle, susceptible of many interpretations, concealing thought rather than expressing it. It is clear, terse, absolute: “ I have seen an angel.” “ Thou must stand before Caesar.” “ God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” “ There shall not a hair of your heads perish.” There is a holy dogmatism which befits the Souls to whom God and angels and the world to come are actual entities. “ The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” To His friends He reveals all the mysteries of His love and grace. 2. The second thought suggested by the part which the apostle plays in this story is the old yet ever new one of the power of God’ s grace in man’ s heart and life. Grace loses nothing by having an inherently great nature for the basis of its work. Paul would have been a ruling spirit anywhere. In choosing Saul of Tarsus for the accomplishment of His purposes, God chose one of the mightiest of the sons of men, yet was there on this account no less but far greater opportunity for grace to work its marvels and its triumphs. Such was the man’ s natural greatness that grace had in him a wider sweep than in the case of smaller mortals. No doubt God can utilise not only relative but absolute weakness and ignorance for the accomplishment of His plans, yet He does not prefer weakness to strength. His choice of instruments and agencies proves this. His glory does not suffer by the use of greatest talent, ripest culture, most indomitable energy. As a rule the most powerful men in His kingdom have been men of great intellectuality, of magnanimous spirit, of high and resolute purpose. God has never, either by His choice of agents or by any supernatural endowment of weakness or ignorance, put a premium on mediocrity and indolence. II. This narrative makes it evident that the force occasioning and shaping the events which it records was the purpose and providence of God. The keynote of the story is sounded in those words to Paul, “ Thou must stand before Caesar.” Apparent hindrances to that plan had no real effect in delaying its consummation. The contrary winds, the multiplied landings, the transfer from ship to ship, the boisterous seas, the utter wreck “ on a stern and rock-bound coast,” and the tedious wintering in Malta, were all tributary to the fulfilment of a gracious and far-reaching design. It was none the less a single and controlling purpose, because of its complexity. “ God fulfils Himself in many ways.” We may not be able to define the exact relation of Paul’ s work in Rome to the subsequent spread of the gospel and the strengthening of the kingdom of Christ. And he was there by predestination, by design, in the direct providence of God. He kindled his fires not on the summits of the hills, like the Greeks when they announced the downfall of Troy, but in the crowded cities of the empire, from Jerusalem to Rome. Amid all the intricacies and cross activities and apparent in harmonies of his career, the purpose of God, vital, intelligent, and unconquerable, is the “ spirit of life within the wheels.” III. This history also vividly illustrates the province of the human in the execution of the Divine plans. The zigzag course of the vessel during much of the voyage, shows us, as in diagram, the purpose of God as affected by human action, apparently deflected, modified, halted entirely amidst the breakers in “ St. Paul’ s Bay,” yet in reality, unchanged, unarrested, and always steadily moving to its destiny at Puteoli. Within the bounds of the Divine decree there is ample scope for all legitimate human action. It has been shown by competent sailors acquainted with the seas traversed by Paul, that all three of the ships which bore him were skilfully navigated; that soundest judgment was exercised from first to last in handling them. God’ s sovereignty and the free agency of man have occasioned no end of controversy. How God and the creature are united in operation is doubtless known and knowable only to God. Free beings are ruled but are ruled as free and in their freedom. The two co-exist, each in its integrity. Any doctrine which does not allow this is false to Scripture and destructive of religion. For practical purposes we may emphasise the function of the human. It is not irreverent to say that Paul must plant and Apollos must water if God is to give the increase. The purpose of God embraces the volition of the man. Three attitudes are possible in relation to that purpose. The creature may antagonise it, as the sailors unwittingly did when, under cover of casting out anchors, they would have slipped away to land, leaving the rest to go down with the ship. Man may stop short of the purpose of God, as the captain and the centurion doubtless did. The aim of the captain was simply to reach port in safety and unload his ship. The controlling purpose of the centurion was to deliver his distinguished prisoner to the praetorian guard. Or, lastly, the plan of the creature may be coincident with the providence of God, as was Paul’ s. “ After I have been to Jerusalem,” he says, “ I must also see Rome.” In all his prayers for the Church he desired that it might be God’ s will that he should visit them. “ I longed to see you that I might impart unto you some spiritual gift.” “ I purposed to come unto you but was hindered hitherto.” Paul’ s purpose was God’ s purpose. The lesson which we have studied enforces many important and practical truths. It suggests the use and rewards of consecrated gifts. It affirms the futility of every life which is in conflict with the Divine will. It teaches that the largest freedom for the soul is found within the bounds of the Divine purpose. It magnifies that grace which is essential to the salvation of great and lowly alike. It reveals how God’ s purpose is sometimes accomplished by deliverance from trial and sometimes by its patient endurance. To the true believer both deliverance and defeat are alike success. All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. (W. S. Apsey, D. D.)Paul shipwrecked If there is anything which will make a man thoughtful of himself above everything else it is danger of losing his life. Set before a man the probability that in a short time he will be dead, and his thoughts will most likely be divided between terror and a desperate planning of escape. Especially will it try his soul if those circumstances be lacking which conduce to heroism, if the manner of exit from life which presents itself seems wholly wasteful--as by a shipwreck. When a man dies for his country there seems a degree of compensation to himself as well as others; but when a man dies by accident it seems a sad dissipation of vital energy. How did Paul act under such circumstances? He gives to us a truly heroic picture of an unselfish man in a selfish world. Let us see first how Paul’ s companions behaved under the stress of the immediate probability of death. I. The selfishness of Paul’ s companions.1. The sailors. They were men accustomed to the sea, best able of all on board to take care of themselves in the event of the ship’ s going to pieces, charged moreover with the care of the lives with them. (1) Their overwhelming desire was to save themselves. “ They were seeking to fall out of the ship” regardless of consequences. Life is dear to every man. We do not blame the sailors for wanting to escape--Paul wanted to escape probably as much as they did. But they are justly blamable for having no other pressing desire in their hearts than just to keep themselves alive. They were cowards of the most abject and truly heathenish sort. (2) They forgot others. There were the soldiers and the prisoners in their charge. Life was just as precious to them as to the sailors themselves. They believed in the struggle for existence. Brotherhood meant nothing to them. So they schemed to take the one boat, in which there seemed any hope of safety, and let the rest of the people on board take care of themselves. Just as though living were all there is to life. (3) The sailors abandoned their duty. They were guardians of the ship and all in it--especially the passengers. They were not trying to do right--they made no inquiry concerning it. They were trying to do only that which was pleasant for themselves. Let us be grateful to God that He has so constituted this world that those who live only with such selfish purposes are destined to be cheated of their gratification. 2. The soldiers. They had already made a decision to kill the prisoners whom they were guarding “ lest any of them should swim out and escape” (verse 42). They as well as the sailors showed themselves to be directed only by selfish motives. (1) They were going to commit a horrible crime because of a danger to themselves which was only as yet hypothetical. Roman jailers and guards were kept honest by being made responsible for their prisoners--life for life. (2) Their selfishness was not hindered by the brutality of their plan. (3) They were ungrateful, as selfish people always are. Paul had saved the lives of the soldiers (thus far at least) by preventing the abandonment of the ship by the sailors. The soldiers could not have managed it, and wreck would have been certain but for Paul’ s discovery of the attempt of the sailors to run away. Beside that, the soldiers as well as all others in the ship were indebted to Paul for his encouragement (verse 34), which had led them to bestir themselves to take such measures as relieved the ship (verse 38). But the soldiers cared nothing for these things. Gratitude played no part in their thinking. (4) Danger hardened them, as it did the sailors. Confronting death, one ought to have the most unselfish, pure, and noble feelings possible. All that is best in the heart ought then to be stirring. Yet how often the exact converse is true--that danger makes men forgetful of all but selfish interests, turns them into cowards, and brutalises them. Every one of us has known of people who were well thought of until some moment of danger showed how utterly selfish and base they were. And such a revelation is not unfair. It shows the true man. Crises come to us all in various ways. II. We turn now to the beautiful and noble story of the unselfishness of Paul. The very same circumstances outwardly were at work upon him as upon the soldiers and sailors. The same thing revealed shame in them and glory in him.1. The way in which Paul’ s unselfishness was exhibited. (1) In devotion to others rather than to himself. They thought only of their danger, and he thought only of them. He kept the sailors in the ship and so held fast to any possible chance of guidance into safety. He noticed the weakness of the ship’ s company through hunger, and led them to eat. He cheered them up by telling them that no one should be lost. (2) Paul’ s unselfishness was shown in practical ways. It was not Utopian, fanciful, subtly reactive upon self. For sometimes one is unselfish on a low level only to indulge selfish feelings of a high sort. But, that is selfishness just the same. Paul’ s helpfulness was very downright and business-like. His unselfishness was not dramatic and spectacular, but practical, and therefore successful. Being unselfish is not romantic, but prosaic and sometimes hard. It is for this reason all the more difficult to live out. (3) Paul encouraged those about him. He ate his bread as quietly as though there were no danger at all threatening, not forgetting his usual habit of thanking God for it (verse 35). His example had a good effect. A cheerful heart makes others cheerful. And there is more unselfishness in being cheerful sometimes than is guessed. (4) These traits of Paul’ s unselfishness were brought out by danger. Notice that it was the same danger which brought out only selfishness in soldier and sailor. Again we are reminded that events do not give us our character, they only reveal it; and it is the same whether those events be pleasant or unpleasant. Either kind of fortune, good or bad, serves to bring out what is in us. 2. The cause of Paul’ s unselfishness as thus exhibited. (1) He had faith in God. This worked either way for him, whether he lived or died; God’ s will in any case would be accomplished, and that was enough for him. And he had faith in God’ s word to him, however hard of accomplishment it seemed. The waves and the winds now as ever were held in the hollow of the Almighty’ s hand. How can a man who is without faith in God be anything but selfish? (2) The cause of the way in which Paul’ s unselfishness showed itself was that in him grace and common sense worked together. Paul used his supernatural endowments as though they were natural. So his unselfishness worked along on everyday levels and was truly efficient. 3. The result of his unselfishness. (1) Bad men were thwarted in their evil designs. It is a part of the result of a good man’ s good life that it prevents sin as well as encourages to righteousness. (2) Paul himself was saved. He was not thinking of this chiefly. His care was for others, and he was taken care of himself. God always keeps watch of those who are doing His will. (3) The whole ship’ s company were saved (verse 44). III. Final lessons.1. Faith in God should be the most vigorous element in our emotional being. It is the centre of all the Christian’ s life. On it rests his eternal salvation. On it rests his conduct of every day. 2. Let us believe in our safety from accident. We are perfectly safe until God’ s time for us to die has come. And then we should be unwilling to live. 3. Life is best spent in helping others. A self-centred soul becomes uncentred. We become what is best by giving out of that which is best in us. The way of the Cross, which is the way of supreme success, is the way of giving up. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Life’ s voyage Now, by considering this voyage of the apostle and the saints with him, as an emblem of the passage of God’ s people through this world to heaven, there will present themselves two things for our consideration, which are-- I. Their difficulties and dangers. This part of my subject may be illustrated by attending to the difficulties and dangers which Paul and his fellow Christians met with on their voyage to Rome; for--1. We have reason to believe that the number of Christians who were in the ship with the apostle was very small, when compared with the number of men that the ship contained, which we are informed was two hundred, threescore, and sixteen souls (verse 37). And so also the number of the children of God, in any one period of time, is but small when compared with the rest of the world (Luke 12:32). 2. The apostle and his companions had but very indifferent company, which consisted of other prisoners, a band of soldiers, and the sailors which belonged to the ship: and thus it is with the Church of Christ while passing through this world; for they are as u lily among thorns (Son 2:2), and like righteous Lot of old, are frequently vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked (2 Peter 2:7); with whom, to the grief of their souls, they are sometimes obliged to keep company. 3. That Paul and the rest of his fellow Christians met with contrary winds while on their passage, as appears by the fourth verse of this chapter: and thus it is sometimes with the Christian while on his passage through this world, for he meets with many things to oppose him, and which also may be compared to contrary winds, because they have a tendency to stop or drive him back while on his passage through this world to another. 4. We are informed also, in the ninth verse of this chapter, that the sailing of Paul and his companions was at this time dangerous: and thus it is with the saints while sailing through this world; for they are in danger through the abounding of iniquity, as they are also from the errors and heresies which are spreading around them. 5. That the apostle and the rest of his companions met with a great storm on their voyage (see verses 14 and 18), and this also applies to the Christian, who meets with many storms on his voyage to heaven; and it is well for him that Christ is a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest (Isaiah 32:2); and that he is built on such a foundation that the most violent storms cannot move or destroy. 6. That while on their passage they lost sight of both sun and stars for many days, as appears from the twentieth verse of this chapter; which not only added to their danger, but also made their voyage uncomfortable to them; and thus it is sometimes with God’ s dear children while on their passage through this world to heaven, Christ the Sun of Righteousness is not seen by them for many days following each other, on account of the clouds which interpose between Him and them. The stars, moreover, or the ministers of the gospel are removed from them, so that their eyes cannot behold their teachers; which situation not only makes their voyage through this world the more dangerous, but also the more uncomfortable to them. 7. That so great was this storm, that all hope of salvation was gone (Psalms 69:2). 8. In the midst of their dangers and distress we are informed that Paul stood forth and said, “ I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man’ s life among you” (verse 22). And thus also says the Redeemer concerning His Church and people, “ they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hands” (John 10:28). For though the Christian’ s enemies come against him as a storm against the wall, yet the Lord will be their Strength, their Refuge, and their Shadow from the blast of the terrible ones (Isaiah 25:4). And-- 9. Notwithstanding Paul was informed that not a life should be lost, but that God had given him all them that sailed with him, yet he made use of every prudent means for the preservation of their lives, as appears from verses 17, 18, 19, 31, and 38 of this chapter. And thus it is also with God’ s people in a spiritual point of view, for although Christ hath said that they shall never perish, yet that promise does not set aside the use of those means which God hath appointed, in order to bring their salvation about. But, having taken notice of the difficulties and dangers of God’ s people on their passage to heaven, I proceed to take notice-- II. The certainty of their arrival there--which is emblematically set forth in these words: and so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. And thus it shall be with all God’ s children, for notwithstanding the various difficulties and dangers to which they are exposed, they shall none of them prevent their safe arrival at the land of eternal rest, the certainty of which is built or founded upon--1. The absolute promise of a faithful and unchangeable God, who hath said by the prophet Isaiah, “ Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation” (Isaiah 45:17), and as it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). 2. The certainty of the saint’ s arrival at glory is built also on their redemption by Christ, who hath redeemed them from the curse of a broken law, from all iniquity, and from wrath to come: and we are told that the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads (Isaiah 51:11); therefore it shall come to pass that they shall all surmount their difficulties and escape their dangers, and get safe landed at the last. 3. That the certainty of the saint’ s arrival at glory is built moreover on the perfection of the work of God the Spirit; concerning which the apostle says, being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). And if so, then it shall come to pass that they shall all escape their dangers, and get safe landed on Zion’ s sacred shore. (From an old Author.)All saved The papers describe the welcome and ovation given to the captain of the steamer Missouri when she landed at Philadelphia on the 22nd of April. Some weeks before, this steamer came upon the Danmark in mid-ocean in a sinking condition. At once, with much labour and sacrifice, the passengers of the sinking ship were transferred to the Missouri. Everything was done for their comfort, and after much anxiety the vessel with her precious freight came safely to landing at Philadelphia. “ Hundreds of voices blended in a great shout, and cheer upon cheer rent the air as the Missouri, with her precious cargo, which she had so gallantly rescued, arrived safely at her dock. Ferryboats and tugs which were passing added to the enthusiasm with their steam whistles. Brave Captain Murrell, who stood on the bridge of the steamer, was the cynosure of all eyes. He was at once surrounded by a great crowd, all bent on paying a tribute to his gallant services in saving so many lives.” But there is a grander welcome than this awaiting that one who shall conduct some soul safe to the shores of heaven. And all heaven will rejoice over the fact of your rescuing that soul from death and bringing it with you to heaven. Saved men may have different experiences Two ships come into New York harbour. One has crossed the ocean with a favouring breeze. She had all sails set, everything below and aloft spread to the pleasant wind, and not one hindrance was in her way. But another soon enters, and everybody hastens to board her. The captain of the fortunate craft is one of the first to greet his brother captain. “ How came you in such a plight? Did you have a storm?” he says. “ Storm!” repeats the other, “ I guess we did. I’ ve been upon the ocean forty years” (you know with captains the last storm is the worst that they ever saw), “ and I never saw a time like the one we’ ve just passed--we’ ve been near foundering a dozen times. We’ ve lost our topmasts and our bowsprit, our sails are torn into ribbons, our bulwarks are stove in, we’ ve lost our boats; I’ ve lost all I had and my men are nearly worn out. It has been hurricanes one side or another all the way across, and we have but just got into port alive.” (H. W. Beecher.)The plank bears Some years ago a ship was caught in a storm off the coast of Wales. After battling with the tempest for some time, she got among the breakers and went down, all on board descending with her to the depths of the sea to lie down in a dark watery grave, except one young sailor, who was dashed, by the fury of the foaming billows, upon the beach, in a very exhausted and almost lifeless condition. He was carried to the nearest house, where he was carefully and kindly treated, and eventually restored. During his recovery, one day a minister called upon him, and discovered that he was very anxious about his soul and the life that is beyond death. He was seeking a sure haven for his troubled spirit, but finding none. The minister, realising the condition of the young sailor, said, “ Suppose, when you were in the sea, tossed about by the waves, that a plank had been thrown within your reach, and you had laid hold of it, would it not have borne you up and saved you from perishing? Well, then, if you lay hold of Jesus Christ, He will save you. He bore your sins, He died to save you.” The young man’ s face beamed with joy and satisfaction as he said, “ I’ m saved.” Many years passed away; the minister went to spend the evening of life in a town in the North of England. The sailor went to sea, and visited many a land and many a shore, and when his life was drawing to a close, came home, and settled in the same town. One day the aged silver-haired man of God was asked to visit a man who was evidently passing away. He sat down by the bedside of the aged tar, and spoke to him of Jesus and the land that is fairer than day. The dying man was struck with the sweetness of the speaker’ s voice. Memory rushed back to the cottage where he had first heard the voice, and recognising his old friend just before he went home, he exclaimed, with delight and joy, “ Thank God, the plank bears me.” Thanksgiving for deliverance in peril When the late William M. Thackeray was returning from America and had arrived within a few hours of Liverpool, a Canadian minister on board was, after dinner in the saloon, referring to the happiness which the passengers had enjoyed together and the solemnity of parting from each other never to meet again until the Day of Judgment, and when he had ceased, Thackeray took up the strain, saying that what the reverend gentleman had spoken was very proper, and was, he was sure, responded to by the hearts of all present. But there was something else which he thought they should do before they separated. In his opinion they should join in expressing their thanks to God for His goodness to them during the last ten days upon the deep, and for bringing them in safety to their destination; and at his request the minister was called on by the company to lead their prayers as together they poured out their gratitude to Him who is “ the confidence of them that are afar off upon the sea.” I like to think of this in connection with the name of Thackeray; and the story, which is well authenticated, blooms in my eyes like an immortelle upon his grave. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.). Acts 28:1-14 And when they were escaped then they knew. Tomorrow, a revealer A great many things are clearer today than they were last night. Tomorrow will clear up some of the mysteries of today. Weird shapes of the darkness take a matter-of-fact form when the sun rises. Doubts and fears which oppress us during the storm are found to be baseless after the clouds are scattered. This ought to comfort us when we most need cheer. What we do not know now, we shall know hereafter. If now we see as in a glass darkly, we shall then see face to face; we shall then know even as we are known. In our patience possess we our souls. “ Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)That the island was called Melita. Paul at Malta I. The value of hospitality.1. Esteemed and practised even by the heathen.2. Much more suitable and blessed among Christians. II. The perniciousness of superstition.1. How it is united with all manner of uncharitableness.2. How it leads to all manner of idolatrous worship. III. The home that the Christian finds everywhere. Everywhere--1. He experiences the love of God.2. He finds loving hearts.3. He has the opportunity of doing good.4. He is respected and honoured. (Lisco.)Paul at Malta I. The apostle surviving. Lessons: The Christian worker--1. Often receives better treatment from the lowly than from the great. Paul was assaulted by the Jews, and assisted by the barbarians; Christ was accepted by many of the people and rejected by their rulers. 2. May be called to testify before kings; again, he may be called to pick up sticks to build a fire: and circumstances may make the two tasks equally noble in God’ s sight. “ Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, makes that and the action fine.” 3. Must expect that vipers of opposition will come out to fasten upon his hands so soon as those hands are occupied in earnest Christian work. 4. Must shake off these vipers of sinful opposition even as Paul shook off this viper. And he must be careful even as Paul was to shake the viper into the fire, where it can do no further harm. 5. Will be misjudged by appearances, just as Paul was. Happy is that Christian whose righteousness is attested by the fact that the vipers of sin cannot harm him! 6. Who in this sinful world shakes off the deadly vipers of sin and feels no harm, need assuredly feel no harm from the petty bites of those who call him “ murderer,” or “ bigot,” or “ fanatic.” 7. Wins final respect, if he is faithful. The world will in the end call him godly, even as it called Paul “ a god.” II. The sufferers reviving.1. Blessings come through association with the godly. 2. Blessings come beyond our expectation when they come from God’ s hand. 3. Blessings come in no sense as a repayment, but in a certain sense as a remembrance, of righteousness. Publius befriended Paul, and was in turn himself abundantly blessed. 4. As Paul prayed for the fever-smitten body of Publius’ s father, we should pray for the sin-sick souls about us. 5. As Paul brought new life to these island dwellers, so we should endeavour to bring a new spiritual life to all those with whom we come in contact. 6. As the islanders honoured him who brought them bodily healing, so should we honour those who make it their special effort to bring spiritual renewal--the ministers, the missionaries, all the devoted workers for Christ. (S. S. Times.)Paul at Malta 1. It is an ill wind which blows nobody good. Here is a case in point. The sailors regarded it an ill wind that wrecked their ship, but had it sunk them in mid-ocean it would have been a worse wind. It blew good to the islanders, for they got healing for the body and gospel for the soul. It blew good to the apostle, for he was received with an angel’ s welcome and became a dispenser of rich blessings. Indeed, can we call any wind an ill one? The stormy wind is ever fulfilling God’ s word. It is better than the south wind blowing softly, but often bringing peril. “ Mysterious providences” is a phrase we ordinarily affix to unpleasant things, but in the light of accomplished facts our view of what is good or ill may be corrected. Our partial knowledge leads us to misjudgments. Wait till tomorrow. All will be well. Impatience is rebuked by the revelations of Providence. 2. Luke speaks here of “ barbarians,” a people who did not speak Greek. We Englishmen have something of this feeling towards aliens, but we call it “ patriotism.” Worst of all is this clannish spirit when shown by some portion of the Church who say, “ The temple of the Lord are we!” The Lord Jesus requires us to put away such exclusiveness. “ No common kindness” was shown by these “ barbarians,” who were really friends, aye, Christians in a large sense, for did they not realise the Spirit of the Master? “ I was ahungered,” etc. I’ d rather stand with them, at last, than with many robed and titled ones. 3. To feed the welcome fire and strengthen the blaze, Paul gathers wood in his hands. Those hands were always ready for service: to gather golden coin to the coffers of the Church, or to make tents for his own support; to raise the dead, or gather converts to Christ; to quell a mob, or, “ beckoning,” hold an audience with a wizard’ s spell. He now gathered sticks, for he was all things to all men, and had no respect for the “ blue blood” which looks disdainfully on meaner men. He flung the faggots on the fire, and soon a frozen viper warmed by the heat, leaped forth and fastened itself on the apostle’ s hand. 4. The bystanders infer that Paul is a criminal, saved from the flood to die by the viper’ s fang. Notice, that even heathen have a conviction of the retributive justice of God. It is only the civilised fool who says, “ No God,” and he says it in his heart. How ready people are to jump at conclusions. Paul’ s chain settled the fact that he was a guilty criminal, and so we unjustly judge the accused and arrested before he is proved culpable. The innocent are often overshadowed. Charity “ believeth all things.” The proverb is, “ We guess eggs when we see egg shells,” but there is a barn-door fowl as well as a cockatrice. Isaac Watts advises us always to “ Endeavour to believe a story to be wrong which ought to be wrong.” Remember the moral effect upon ourselves of the judgment we pass upon others. 5. The viper on Paul’ s hand produced no fatal harm. Paul “ must stand before Caesar.” Neither the high priest, the Jewish Parliament, the conspirators, the devil himself, the storm-lashed Mediterranean Sea, nor the venomous viper, can prevent his going to Rome. So we are going to heaven, and God is our continual guard. All nature is used by Him for our good and we need not fear. 6. There are different classes of vipers. Ingratitude is one. Its fangs are sharp, but may be shaken off. Slander is another. It would be venomous if its power were as good as its will. 7. But integrity comes out unharmed. The barbarian cried out, “ He is a god!” It would have been truer to say, “ He has a God.” That was the secret of his safety. Have you one? If God be for us, who or what can be against us? (J. Jackson Wray.)Paul at Malta Observe here-- I. The nature and rewards of hospitality. It is a comfort to find that all races do not art the part of plunderers. This event occurred before the civilising influences of Christianity had been felt.1. Hospitality is called forth by misfortune. A feast spread for those who daily sit at one is little worth as a token of regard. It is all well enough to bid our rich neighbours now and then, if not thinking thereby to show a noteworthy virtue. But the world is full of the wretched and the hungry. Stranded at our very doors we cannot but see them. These, and not the full, elicit everything that deserves to be known as charity. 2. The hospitable provides for the needy of what he himself has. In this instance it was the cheering, invigorating warmth of a great fire, and the gathering of the drenched and shivering castaways around it. Afterwards, it was doubtless the bringing food and clothing, and providing shelter. The grace of hospitality is within the exercise of all. Few homes are so barren that from them relief may not go forth to brighten some wan face, some famished body, some cheerless spirit. The street gamin, sharing his crust and tattered blanket with his mate, who is not so rich, illustrates the virtue. It is an old proverb, “ When one poor man relieves another, God Himself laughs for joy.” 3. Hospitality is bestowal without thought of return. It is self-forgetful. What gain could these islanders expect from the impoverished mariners? The fact of inability to repay begets in the donor the greatest satisfaction. Jesus pointed out, “ those who cannot recompense thee,” for us to seek with saving offerings. 4. There are, however, rewards in waiting for all who obey the noble prompting. The father of the governor was seriously ill. Paul, hearing of it, went to him with remedies of which no medical school knew. The cure was immediate and complete. The news spread. The diseased from every quarter flocked about the wonder worker, and went away healed. To save the ill-fated boat’ s company was to save themselves, though ignorantly. So always, by methods we could never predict, the return for any deed of real hospitality is made. The cup of cold water given in a disciple’ s name, insures the reward. II. The folly of human judgment. A viper fastens on to the apostle’ s hands, “ He is a murderer,” say the bystanders, “ No, see he shakes it off unhurt--he is a god.” People are still under the impression that signal calamity finds its deserving victim, and ask, “ What has he done to merit it?” Equally true is it, when by some unparalleled act one seems to be lifted out of the sphere of ordinary life, the multitudes are ready to bow down before him. The successful general, politician, merchant, scholar, is gazed at as if the secret of his mastery lay in supernatural gifts. The mistake of trusting the common opinion is plain. We rely more than we know upon our prejudices. Our tribunals are seldom fair. Often the impartial verdict of history shows how fallible the earlier judgment was. Hence modesty, rather than assurance, is becoming when we pronounce upon another’ s doing or purpose, when all the details have not been open to us. (D. S. Clark.)Paul at Malta Here we have:-- I. Men getting out of one trouble only to get into another. There is a mysterious law of succession in the difficulties of human life. “ It never rains but it pours.” There is a mystery of grace also in this succession. We do not know the best side of trouble until we have had a great deal of it. One trouble is of no use. You must get into the rhythm of sorrow, the rise and fall of the melody of discipline. It is marvellous how trouble can make the house comfortable with a strange sense of its being there at Heaven’ s bidding and under Heaven’ s order. It is not so with the first trouble--that always upsets a man. The second trouble is accepted in rather a better spirit; then the third comes like an expected guest. “ It is better” --when trouble has wrought out its most sacred mystery--“ to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting.” Different nationalities have different salutations. The Greek would say, “ Rejoice” ! He lived in the region of the senses; he delighted in high art, in high feasting. The Hebrew spoke in a nobler bass; he said, “ Peace be with you” ! The Hebrew was the man of soul, the man of tragic experience. So trouble leads us into these deeper mysteries of experience; it takes away the merry shout, but fills the mouth with a nobler salutation. So Christ, in all His sorrows, said, “ My peace I give unto you.” II. The rough judgments which men are always prone to pass upon men. When the viper fastened on Paul’ s hand, the simple Punic people said, “ No doubt this man is a murderer,” etc. Alas! how many murderers there would be if we had to judge of sin by apparently penal circumstances! How ready we are to form the ungracious judgment of one another Who ever failed in business, even in the most honourable way, without some friends knowing that this very collapse would take place, and without their taking morals from it intended to magnify their own better business capacity? Who ever pitied the man upon whom the viper fastened? Be more discriminate in judgment. Christ would see in the very worst man something to recognise, in a way that would give him another chance. There is no man quite so bad as he appears to be, even though the viper be on his hand. But some men do not look out for the mitigating qualities. Circumstances are sometimes against men. We have seen the viper of a false accusation fastening upon the hand that never did mischief to a human creature. I would pray for the spirit that pities the hand, rather than praises the viper; that would rather be deceived than willingly accept the ungenerous judgment. “ Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” III. The mystery of intuitive religion. It would seem as if religion were born in the human mind and heart. Here is a sense of a Presence in the universe that means righteousness. The heart instinctively says when wrong is done, “ This must be punished.” Christianity never uproots that, but sanctifies it. Who wrote that law? It is written upon the tablets of the mind by an invisible penman. The universe is against murder. We cannot give up the thought that the bad man will one day have the worst of it. The universe would fall to pieces if we could relinquish that doctrine. IV. A point of progress in the religion of these barbarians. They who could not understand a sermon could comprehend the treatment of a viper, and reason upon it. They were observant people: they made religious deductions from ordinary facts (verse 6). What was this? A direct contradiction of so-called experience. Here was the greater law setting itself in noble sovereignty over the common daily law. They were a frank people; they had attained a high point in education, in being able to shake out of the mind prejudices which opposed themselves to the startling fact which immediately appealed to their vision. If we could persuade modern nations to act in the same way, we should have no unbelievers. If every viper shaken off the hand proved the nobleness of the character so destroying it, and led to the higher reasoning that such a character is a Divine creation, we should have no theological controversy. All Christian history may be summed up in this one line: that the Christian hand has always shaken off the viper and flung it into the fire. It is part of the great original mystery; “ the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’ s head.” The viper is on us now; the poison has touched the red current of the blood; but, by the grace of Christ, we will shake it off, and it shall be destroyed. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Maltese, an expressive representation of the heathen world. I. In their need of redemption.1. Their dark superstition (verses 4-6).2. Their manifold misery (verses 8, 9). II. In their capability of redemption.1. Their friendly hospitality (verse 2).2. Their dim knowledge of God (verse 4).3. Their lively susceptibility for the impressions of the Divine (verse 6).4. Their earnest desire of assistance (verse 9).5. Their childlike gratitude (verse 10). (K. Gerok.)The world’ s judgments foolish The world is foolish--1. In its uncharitable judgments (verse 4).2. In its favourable judgments (verse 6).3. Therefore, undisturbed by the judgments of the world, do thy duty, and be not weary in well doing (verses 7-10). (Lisco.)Good in heathendom It is common to regard all men outside of Christendom as utterly destitute of goodness. This is untrue to fact, and a libel on human nature. Observe in these barbarians:-- I. A sympathy with human suffering (verse 2, 9).1. This social love dwells in men of every colour and clime. How can this be maintained, it may be said, in the presence of cannibalism, human sacrifices, bloody wars, etc.? (1) These cruelties are perversions of this very social sympathy. (2) The very existence of tribes implies it; men could not exist at all in unity without this social and kindly affection. (3) Cruelties exist even in Christendom, where this goodness is patent to all. 2. That this kindly sympathy does, as a rule, exist in all hearts, however deeply sunk in ignorance and depravity, is proved-- (1) By modern travellers. Livingstone found it in the dark regions of South Africa. (2) By the Bible. The Bible is a revelation of love, and unless men have the element of love in them they would be as incapable of understanding it or feeling its power as the ravenous beast. You may as well bring the magnet to clay as take the gospel to men who have no love in them. II. A sense of retributive providence (verses 3, 4). Here is a fine subject for a picture. This sense of the connection between crime and punishment is so universal that it must be regarded as instinctive. It is a feeling that underlies all religions. Their mistakes were--1. That punishment for crime came in a material form. Men have ever thought thus. The fall of the tower of Siloam was thought to be a judgment, and so now is the burning down of a theatre: whereas nature in her operations pays no attention to moral distinctions. Vipers will sting apostles as well as apostates. 2. That it followed flagrant crimes only. “ This man is a murderer.” But there is a spirit which often possesses men, that calls for greater punishment even than a material murder. III. A faith in a supreme being (verses 5, 6). The rapidity with which these men changed their opinion concerning Paul is only an example of that fickleness of soul which ever characterises the uncultured. The most noteworthy point, however, is, that what brought up to them the idea of God was the marvellous. The natural tendency of the viper’ s sting was death. Because Paul did not die, they thought him “ a god.” They felt that the laws of nature could only be counteracted by God. It was in the wonderful, not in the good, that they saw God. Thus men generally feel. Conclusion: Several things may be fairly deduced from this subject:--1. The identity in authorship of human souls and Divine revelation. The grand rudimental subjects of the Bible are love, retribution, God; and these are written on the human heart. What Christ put into His book, he put first into the soul, and thus He is “ the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” 2. The impossibility of atheism ever being established in the world. Systems that are inconsistent with the intuitions of the human soul can never stand. The human soul is essentially religious. 3. The responsibility of man wherever he is found. The heathens, with this inner light of goodness, are bound to walk according to their light. 4. The duty of missionaries in propagating the gospel. Let them not ignore the good in the human heart, but-- (1) Recognise it.(2) Honour it.(3) Appeal to it.(4) Develop it. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The barbarian Twice St. Paul came in contact with barbarians--twice he was counted as a god. Once at Lystra--once here at Melita. It is the Carthaginian or Phoenician religion which moulded the barbarian life that we examine. I. Barbarian virtues.1. Two errors have been held on the subject of natural goodness. (1) That of those who deny to fallen man any goodness at all. This is the effect of a system. No man in his heart believes it. Men are better than their creed. We find here the natural barbarian virtues of hospitality and sympathy. And a Christian contemplating this, gave this distinct testimony, “ The barbarous people showed us no little kindness.” (2) That of placing too high a value on the natural virtues. We hear much of early unsophisticated times, “ when wild in woods the noble savage ran.” According to this, civilisation is the great corrupter. But the truth is, the natural good feelings of human nature are only instincts: no more moral than a long sight or a delicate sense of hearing. You may travel among savages who treat you, as a stranger, with courtesy: but yet feed on the flesh of their enemies. And these Melitans, “ who showed no little kindness,” belonged to a stock who, in the most civilised days of Carthage, offered human sacrifice. 2. The advent of Christ brought a new spirit into the world. “ Love your neighbour, hate your enemy.” Carthaginians obeyed that. Christ said, “ Love your enemies.” Remark, too, the principle on which this is taught. “ That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh,” etc. So He converted rude barbarian instincts into Christian graces, by expanding their sphere and purifying them of selfishness--causing them to be regulated by principle, and elevating them into a conscious imitation of God in His revealed character. II. The barbarian idea of retribution.1. Paul was one of those who are formed to be the leaders of the world. Foremost in persecution--foremost in Christianity--foremost in the shipwreck--foremost too, when all was over, in gathering the sticks to make the fire. From those sticks a viper sprung and fastened on his hand, and the first impression of the barbarians was, “ No doubt this man is a murderer,” etc. This is the basis of all natural religion, and underlies all mythologies. The Nemesis who presides over retribution--the whips and scorpions of the Furies--it seems the first instinct of religion. In the barbarian conception of it, however, there was something gross and dangerous; because-- (1) They misinterpreted natural laws into vengeance. There is a proneness in man to judge so. We expect that nature will execute the chastisements of the spiritual world. Hence all nature becomes to the imagination leagued against the transgressor. The walls of Siloam fell on guilty men. On this conviction nations constructed their trial by ordeal. The guilty man’ s sword would fail in the duel: and the foot would strike and be burnt by the hot ploughshare. Some idea of this sort lurks in all our minds. We picture the spectres haunting the bed of the tyrant. But experience corrects all this. The tyrant’ s sleep is often as sweet and sound as the infant’ s. The viper stings the innocent turf cutter. Only in poetry does the fire refuse to burn the innocent, and Purity lay her band on the fawning lion’ s mane. If we ask where these Melitans got their idea of retribution, the reply is, out of their own hearts. They felt the eternal connection between wrong-doing and penalty. (2) They expected vengeance for flagrant crime only. “ This man is a murderer.” There is a common feeling now to that effect, “ Murder will out.” The truth is, we think much of crime, little of sin. There is many a murderer executed whose heart is pure compared with those of many a man who lives a respectable life. David was a murderer. The Pharisees had committed no crime; but their heart was rotten at the core. 2. As information increased, this idea of retribution disappears. Natural laws are understood, and retribution vanishes. Then often comes Epicureanism or Atheism. “ All things come alike to all: there is one end to the righteous and to the sinner.” If so, then the inference suggests itself--“ Let us eat and drink” --it is all the same. Or the sceptical feeling comes thus: “ Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.” Therefore why do right instead of wrong? 3. The Advent of Christ brought deeper and truer views. It taught what sin and suffering are. It showed the Innocent on the Cross bearing the penalty of the world’ s sin, but still the Son of God, with whom the Father was “ well pleased.” The penal agonies of sin are chiefly those which are executed within. “ Vengeance,” said the Melitans, “ suffereth not the murderer to live.” “ Whosoever slayeth Cain,” said God, “ vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” Cain the murderer lives--Christ, the holy, dies. Cain is to us the dread type of hell. To live! that is hell, to live when you would fain die. You may escape the viper and the wreck. You may by prudence make this world painless, more or less. You cannot escape yourself. Go where you will, you carry with you a soul degraded, its power lost, its finer sensibilities destroyed. Worse than the viper’ s tooth is the punishment of no longer striving after goodness, or aspiring after the life of God. Just as the man cannot see through the glass on which he breathes, sin darkens the windows of the soul. You are safe, go where you will, from the viper: as safe as if you were the holiest of God’ s children. The fang is in your soul. III. The barbarian conception of deity.1. When the viper fell off, and Paul was left uninjured, they changed their mind and said that he was a god. (1) This implied a certain advance in religious notions. Man finds himself helpless among the powers of nature, and worships them. The highest is the worship of the host of heaven. With some it is the adoration of lifeless things. Evidently there can be no holy influence in this. Men worship by fear, and fortify themselves by charms and incantations: do not try to please God by being holy, but defend themselves from danger by jugglery. The Christians of the early ages carried about bits of consecrated bread to protect themselves from shipwreck. Besides this men have worshipped brute life. It is quite clear that the Melitans were beyond all this. It is a step when men rise from the worship of lifeless things to that of animals--another when they rise to worship human qualities; for they are nearest the Divine. (2) But this worship of the human was the adoration of the marvellous--not the reverence for the good. It was not Paul’ s character to which they yielded homage. It was only his miraculous escape. So too at Lystra. It was the miracle which they chiefly saw. All that would pass away when they knew that he was a man of like passions with themselves, or when they were informed that it was a providential escape which might have happened to any ordinary man. When the savage sees the flash of European firearms, he kneels as to a god; but when he has learned its use, his new religion is gone. And thus science is converting the religion of mere wonder into atheism. As you teach laws, you undermine that religion. Men cease to tremble. The Laplander would no longer be awed by the eclipse if he knew how to calculate it with accuracy. The savage’ s dread of lightning as the bolt of God is over when he sees the philosopher draw it from the clouds, and experimentalise on it in his laboratory. And the Romanist, whose flesh creeps when he sees a miracle in the consecration of the sacraments, ends in infidelity, when reason has struck the ground of false reverence from beneath his feet. 2. Therefore has the Redeemer’ s advent taught a deeper truth to man. Paul spoke almost slightingly of the marvellous. “ Covet earnestly the best gifts: yet show I unto you a more excellent way,” etc. Love is diviner than all wondrous powers. So too the Son of God came into this world, depreciating the merely mysterious. “ An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,” etc. It was not the supernatural in His miracles which proved them Divine. It was their goodness, their love, which manifested Deity. Faith stands serenely far above the reach of the atheism of science. It does not rest on the wonderful, but on the eternal wisdom and goodness of God. The revelation of the Son was to proclaim a Father, not a mystery. No science can sweep away the everlasting love which the heart feels. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)Paul at Malta; or, the insufficient creed of natural religion The most important subject in our paragraph is what we may call the Creed of Natural Religion, as it may be inferred from the judgments of the barbarians about Paul--first judging him to be a murderer when they saw the viper fastening on him, then going to the other extreme of judging him to be a god because it did him no harm. But, before we come to speak of this, I wish to call your attention to one or two points of practical interest. The first of these is the kindly hospitality which these islanders showed to the shipwrecked men who had been cast so destitute on their shore. This was in very marked contrast to what has frequently happened on the coasts of Great Britain--where men who, I suppose, would call themselves Christians, have held out false lights to a ship labouring in a storm, in order to lure her on to destruction, so that the wreckers, as they are called, may plunder the dead bodies cast ashore, and share the spoil of the wreck. Such diabolical conduct has not unfrequently been displayed by so-called Christian men in Christian Britain, while these barbarians, who never heard of the name of Christ, or of the gospel of kindness and charity which He preached, showed uncommon kindness to the victims of the shipwreck east upon their shores. We admire them, do we not? And why? Just because, after all, kindness, notwithstanding much of the selfishness and cruelty which is in our world, is one of those touches of nature which makes the whole world kin. It is a plant in the heart of the natural man of God’ s own planting; part of our nature which shows that, after all, we are children of the heavenly Father, bearing still some traces of the Divine image in which we were created. But while we thus admire and rejoice in kindness as displayed by others, and while we do so because it speaks of the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God, and while we recognise it as a plant of the Heavenly Father’ s planting, we must remember that if it is to thrive in our nature, in our homes, in our congregations and Churches, in our communities and social life, like all other plants, it must be cultivated or it dies. The only true way to cultivate any moral plant, whether good or evil, is by exercising it. We often meet with men and women who, in ‘ sailing over life’ s sea, have been shipwrecked by misfortunes which they could no more have helped than Paul could have helped the storm which blew him and his companions on the shores of Malta. We meet with others whom the wild assault of temptation, or whom the strong storm of their own passions, had driven to moral ruin and shipwreck. What is our attitude towards these? Is it not too often the case that the cruelty and selfishness of our hearts have smothered up the natural kindness which God had implanted in us, so that instead of pitying and helping and showing kindness--a kindness which might be their salvation at last--we stand aloof from them, blaming them unsparingly, judging them harshly, and condemning them fiercely, taunting them with their folly, and accusing them with their sin--so that instead of helping them by our kindness, we, by our cruelty and heartlessness, drive them back to perish in the angry, all-devouring sea of misfortune and sin from which they sought to escape. Shall the conduct of the barbarians of Malta shame us Christians of today? And now to turn for a moment to Paul’ s conduct on this occasion. We are told he had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire. Instead of standing whining and complaining, and expecting all help from others when misfortune overtakes him, he, with the true manliness which was so characteristic of him, sets about to help himself. Some people, when misfortune comes to them, seem to think that all that they should do is merely to appeal to the kindly compassion and help of others. These are the people whom kindness, charity, help makes paupers of--to whom help is more often a curse than a blessing, for it takes away all manliness and self-respect--whereas the truest and surest way to win the kindly feeling and help of others is that men in misfortune even should do what they can to help themselves, for I do not suppose anyone comes so low in means or in morals but that he can put forth, Paul-like, some effort of self-help, which shall be more effective to raise him back to that position from whence he has fallen, than all the help and kindness which can be shown him. Again, Paul shows that it is never beneath true dignity to stoop to any useful service. If Paul had been like many of us, he would have stood on his dignity as the great apostle, and would expect others to stoop to the menial service of gathering sticks for the fire. But he had the spirit of his Master, who did not think it beneath His dignity to stoop to wash the feet of the fisherman of Galilee--who did not think it beneath His dignity to stoop lower still, and not only wash away the dust stains from His disciple’ s feet with water, but to wash away the infinitely foul stain of men’ s sins with His blood. There are some people who are quite willing to do open public service, if only they can win applause to themselves, and they think they have been serving Christ, or the cause of their fellow men, but they will not condescend to do an humble obscure act for Christ or for men, because it does not attract to them the applause or notice of others. These must be told they are mere hollow-hearted servants, men pleasers, rendering only eye service, and that their prominent services are not services for Christ or man, but for low, paltry, mean, selfish ends, serving self only; and Christ, aye, and men too, will value their service accordingly. Let us, Paul-like, Christ-like, serve not only in what brings glory and praise and eclat and popularity to ourselves, but let us be willing to serve in what is obscure and insignificant, then we shall prove that we are not self-seekers, but truly Christ’ s servants. And now an incident occurred which opens up a wider train of thought than I have time to devote to the following of it fully out today. When Paul had cast his bundle of sticks on the fire, a viper, which had been lying torpid being revived by the heat, fastens on his hand, but he shakes it off as does a healthy bodily constitution shake off the disease which fastens with deadly effect on others, or as the man who is morally sound at the heart can throw off the deadly temptation which seeks to fasten itself upon him, but can easily spit its poison into the veins of others less morally sound. The more superstitious barbarians came to the usual conclusion in such cases. “ This man is a murderer, whom vengeance had pursued on the sea, but failed to overtake, but whom vengeance now shall not let escape.” After watching for some time and not seeing any symptoms of harm--not seeing, as they expected, that he should drop down dead--they rushed to the opposite extreme, and said, “ He is a god.” Now, underlying this superstition there was this solemn, awful, and eternal truth, that guilt will, sooner or later, by some means or other, be overtaken by punishment. That, as the Scriptures put it, “ Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished.” This is the creed, or at least a part of the creed, of natural religion. An element in the religious belief of all men in all ages, in all stages of civilisation, is the faith that sin shall not go unpunished. It is belief as natural to the human heart, and as keenly felt in the conscience, as that wrong is wrong and right is right. So that the conviction which lay at the bottom of their false judgment of Paul was a true conviction. But there is a deeper truth underlying this conviction--that sin is always followed by punishment. For that conviction assumes that the world must therefore be governed by righteousness--that a universal law of righteousness rules the world when men believe because they see it and feel that it is right, that sin is always followed by punishment--punishment, mind you, not in the world to come only, but in this world of ours. The creed of natural religion is right so far, but then, as exhibited by these barbarians, it was accompanied by the false idea that every accident that befalls a man, every misfortune that comes to him, is punishment for sin. Even at the present day there is a false idea abroad that such accidents as the Tay Bridge disaster was a judgment from God for travelling on Sunday--instead of looking at the true facts that it was bad engineering and bad workmanship--the real cause of the disaster. Many an innocent, good, upright man suffers misfortune and what; we call evils because of the evil doings of others, while many a rogue and scoundrel thrives and is prosperous, and seems to have peace and happiness, notwithstanding his evil-doing. But it is eternally true, as God is true, that sin is followed by punishment, by the inward debasing and demoralising of the man, by the gnawings of a biting remorse, by the eating into his secret heart and life of the worm that never dieth, by the burning in his soul of the hell fire that may never be quenched. While again the good man, the godly man, though outward circumstances may be against him, though he may be in poverty and sickness and sorrow often, aye, even though the viper tongue of slander may fasten on him, and men may suspect him to be a murderer or worse, yet in his innermost being he enjoys the peace of God--“ the peace that passeth all understanding.” He carries about with him the peace of a pure conscience, the consciousness of God’ s favour, the grand feeling that he has wronged no man, and the assurance that, notwithstanding his many faults and failings, which no one knows so well, or blames so keenly as he does himself, yet that through the all-pervading mercy of God in Christ, through the infinite merit of Christ’ s great sacrifice--he will be at last received into God’ s ever lasting habitation. (J. A. Fletcher.) Acts 28:2 And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness; for they kindled a fire. Glad surprises for Christian workers God has glad surprises at every turn for those who trust Him, and who walk confidently in the path of duty. People who are called barbarous, or sordid, or cold-hearted, are found ready to show unlooked for kindness to the followers of Jesus. Every faithful mission school worker in the slums of a great city, every sensible Bible reader, or tract distributor, or street preacher, can bear witness to this fact. So also can anyone who has found himself sick, or with a sick friend among strangers. He can never forget the kindness then shown to him by those from whom he expected least. Every heart is human, and everything human is likely to show its humanity unexpectedly. The rudest people, as well as the people of Christian culture, may be trusted to show kindness to those who go among them in the name and in the spirit of Jesus. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)Kindling afire 1. Here was an early Shipwrecked Mariner’ s Society. 2. Among rough people there is much of genuine kindness. Let not people of a gentler mould, greater education, and larger possessions, come behind them. 3. Their kindness was thoroughly practical. We have too much of “ Be ye warmed,” and too little kindling of fires. 4. There may be spiritual as well as physical cold, and for this last the kindling of a fire is needed. This is our present subject. I. That we are very apt to be cold.1. The world is a cold country for gracious men. 2. By reason of our inbred sin, we are cold subjects, and far too apt to be lukewarm, or frozen. 3. Cold seasons also come, when all around lies bound in frost. Ministers, churches, saints, are too often cold as ice. 4. Cold corners are here and there, where the sun seldom shines. Some good men live in such cold harbours. 5. Chilling influences are now abroad. Modern thought, worldliness, depression in trade, depreciation of prayer, etc. If we yield to the power of cold, we become first uncomfortable, next inactive, and then ready to die. II. That there are means of warmth.1. The Word of God is as a fire. Heard or read, it tends to warm the heart. 2. Private, social, and family prayer. This is as coal of Juniper. 3. Meditation and communion with Jesus (Psalms 39:3; Luke 24:32). 4. Fellowship with other Christians (Malachi 3:16). 5. Doing good to others (Job 42:10). 6. Returning to first love and doing first works would bring back old warmth (Revelation 2:4-5). Let us get to these fires ourselves, lest we be frost-bitten and benumbed. III. That we should kindle fires for others. We need the fire of revival, seeing so many are washed upon our shores in dying circumstances. Concerning a true revival, let it be remembered that it both resembles the fire in the text, and differs from it.1. It must be lighted under difficulties--“ because of the present rain.” The sticks are wet, the hearth is flooded, the atmosphere is damp. It is not easy to make a fire in such circumstances; and yet it must he done. 2. The fire we need cannot, however, be kindled by barbarians: the flame must come from above. 3. Once get the flame, the fire begins with littles. Small sticks are good for kindling. 4. It is well to nourish the flame by going down on your knees, and breathing upon it warm and hearty supplications. 5. It must be fed with fuel. Think of the great Paul picking up a bundle of sticks. Let each one bring his share. 6. This fire must be kindled for “ everyone.” We must not be content till all the shivering ones are comforted. 7. The fire will be of great service, and yet it may warm into life more than one viper. Thank God, the fire which revived the creature into venomous life will also destroy it. Conclusion:1. What can we each do towards this fire? Can we not each one either kindle or feed the fire? Bring a stick. 2. Let no one damp the flame. 3. Let us pray. (C. H. Spurgeon.)How to maintain spiritual warmth Philip Henry’ s advice to his daughter was: “ If you would keep warm in this cold season (January, 1692), take these four directions:1. Get into the sun. Under his blessed beams there are warmth and comfort. 2. Go near the fire.” “ Is not My Word like a fire?” How many cheering passages are there! 3. Keep in motion and action--stirring up the grace and gift of God that is in you. 4. Seek Christian communion. How can one be warm alone? (C. Spurgeon.)The benignant soul The benignant soul possesses a vital energy and an ubiquity which resembles the moss. It matters not to the healthy action of the mosses’ functions whether the surrounding air be stagnant or in motion, for we find them on the mountain top amid howling winds and driving storms, and in the calm, silent, secluded wood, where hardly a breeze penetrates to ruffle their leaves. The range of flowering plants is circumscribed by conditions of light, temperature, elevation above the sea, geological character of the district, and various other physical causes; but the wonderful vital energy with which the mosses are endowed, enables them to resist the most unfavourable influences, to grow freely and luxuriantly even in the bleakest circumstances, and to acclimatise themselves, without changing their character, in any region of the earth, and every kind of situation upon its surface. They symbolise the benignant soul. It is found in connection with every form of religion, and where there is no form of religion at all. In the fierceness of a world’ s persecution it maintains its place, yet graces the humble secluded paths of private life. It is found in men of all colours and climes; and, in various forms, dwells wherever there is suffering which needs solacing, or calamities which demand heroism. (Scientific Illustrations.)The reward of kindness A young lady residing in Russellville once showed some kindness to an aged tramp. A few days afterwards the tramp sought her, and asked her for her name. He said: “ You are a good girl and I like you. Don’ t you know that you are the only person that has treated me with any kindness for years? They say I am old and crazy, but don’ t you believe ‘ em. I have got lots of money, and I am going to leave it all to you.” The lady’ s mother coming in at this point, he repeated his remarks to her, and shaking hands with both ladies, left. Recently a letter was received by the lady to the effect that the man was dead, and that on his body a paper was found directing all his money, amounting to several thousand dollars, should be sent to her. Acts 28:3-6 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire.How to keep up the fire If a man wants a fire kept up, he must do his share in supplying its fuel. It will not burn long unless it is replenished. Those who need its warmth, “ because of the present rain, and because of the cold,” are the ones to gather sticks for it. It was down on the coast of Florida, in war time. A little band of Christian soldiers held a weekly prayer meeting in a church building, deserted of its ordinary congregation. One evening a new voice was heard there. An officer who had been in frequent attendance, but who had not before taken part in the exercises, said: “ I am not accustomed to speak in prayer meetings. I do not feel competent to that service. But I have so greatly enjoyed these meetings, week after week, that I have thought it was hardly fair for me to be always warming myself by this Christian fire without ever furnishing an armful of fuel; so I rise to tell you that your Saviour is my Saviour, and that I am very grateful for all the help and cheer you have been to me in His service, at these week night prayer meetings.” And as that little “ bundle of sticks” was thrown into that army prayer meeting fire, the flame flashed up there in new light and warmth, and more than one soldier present rejoiced afresh in its glow. When did you gather the last bundle of sticks for the fire of your church or neighbourhood prayer meeting? It may be by timely words of exhortation or prayer, that you supply your share of the fuel. It may be by a part in the service of song. Or it may be by the responsive look in your face, which helps him who leads, through its assurance that one at least of those before him is all aglow with love for the truth he emphasizes. In one way or another, you ought to supply “ a bundle of sticks” to keep your prayer meeting fire a-going. (H. Trumbull, D.)There came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand. Vipers and hands There are certain hands that the viper does not mind to fasten upon. It pays little heed to the idle, greedy, or prayerless hand; it has poisoned these already, and can leave them alone. Let us look at-- I. The viper and the busy hand. It was when Paul’ s hand was busy that the viper fastened on it. “ Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do,” or rather allows them to find mischief for themselves. But he hates the busy hand and tries to poison it and make it idle. When you are diligent at any task look out for the viper. Whenever you say, “ Oh I what’ s the use!” or, “ Never do today what can be done tomorrow,” beware of the viper on the busy hand. Shake it off! It will sting you into idleness, and then Satan will have no difficulty in getting you to do what he likes. II. The viper and the open hand. Satan likes close-fistedness; but when he sees an open, generous hand, the “ old serpent” fastens on it. I will tell you how you may know when it is there. Here is a lad who yesterday got his week’ s wages. When in church he hears the minister pleading on behalf of some heathen children, he begins to ask, “ What have I to do with them? The money is my own.” Or on your way to the Sabbath school you may be tempted to halve the penny you had determined to put into the mission box. Satan does not wish you to give anything to carry the gospel to your brothers and sisters afar off. He knows that you are helping Christ to bruise his head. There is a beautiful legend of an old English open-handed king. After King Oswald learned Christ, he was feasting one day with Aidan the Bishop, when he was told that a hungry multitude waited around his door. He sent out to them the untasted feast, and divided among them the silver dishes, so that Aidan blessed his hand, saying, “ May this hand never grow old.” Some time afterwards Oswald fell in battle, and, as his limbs were cruelly cut up and hung upon stakes by the enemy, it was observed that the hand that Aidan had blessed--the open hand of Oswald--remained white and uncorrupted. God loves the open hand, but the viper fastens on it. Look to God and shake it off! III. The viper and the praying hand. We are told to lift up “ holy hands” of prayer “ without wrath and doubting.” Satan hates the hands of prayer. The praying boy or girl keeps so near Christ that Satan can scarcely do any harm. He wishes you to stop praying, in order to get the better of you. Have you never felt weary, or heard a voice saying to you, “ What does God care for a boy or girl like you?” or, “ How can He hear you in the heavens?” The viper has fastened on your hand. Pray all the more earnestly for power to shake it off! (W. Dickie, M.)The shipwrecked apostle Luke puts the personality of Paul before us with great vividness. He was the foremost of the apostles.1. Notice this conspicuousness of Paul in its many features. 2. The personal qualities of Paul. He was a born leader, a many-sided man. Again, we notice that with this promptness, readiness and power of controlling circumstances there is also a cheerfulness of spirit. Some look only on the dark side. They seem unwilling to admit that the moon itself has a bright side. Paul’ s cheerfulness is contagious. He tells the men that they will be saved. The face of Keats wore the radiance of an angel. Lord Holland each morning looked as if he had just received good news. I think that they must have prayed, “ Lord, lift Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us.” Though smarting, bleeding, hungering, and oppressed, Paul was always rejoicing in hope and making others glad. 3. The usefulness of St. Paul is seen in his building a fire. He gathers a bundle of sticks. He is foremost in service. He does not say that this is the work of a servant. The higher a man is, the more a minister he comes to be. Nobility obliges. He does not preach to them, but gathers fuel. He is useful when away from home. See how this usefulness worked out. The barbarians--that is, “ the bearded people,” as the shaven Greek looked on the unshaven foreigner--“ showed us no common kindness.” Paul healed the sick among them, and yet said that he was debtor to them. In doing good you reap a benefit. 4. Finally, see the terrible irony of life. The hands are stretched out for warmth, and poison enters. We look for good, and behold evil is ours. This is the sarcasm of life. Hezekiah has the added years he prays for, and finds in them added sorrow. Samson carries off the gates of Gaza that vainly held him, but comes eyeless and woful into a Philistine prison at the end. Abraham has a son, but is told to slay him. David has the crown, but weeps over the treason of Absalom and finally over his dishonourable death. (H. Gallaher, D.)The deadly viper There are a great many vipers with deadly poison in their fangs, ready to fasten on the hand of any Christian man or woman who “ gathers a bundle of sticks,” i.e., has to do with secular affairs. There are-- I. The viper to which the business man is exposed. How many hands, busy in trade, that old serpent fastens on, and will not let go! If he does not kill them outright with his poisonous principles and temptations, he at least wounds their honour, peace, usefulness, and Christian standing. Shake off the viper into the fire, man of business! Hesitate not, or you are a dead man! II. The viper of indifference has fastened itself on the hand of very many nominal Christians. “ Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion!” And how many there are, and what peril they are in! “ I would thou wert cold or hot,” etc. III. The viper of unbelief. To reject and cast away God’ s Word, as many do, is to uncover a nest of vipers and lie down in the midst of them. IV. The viper of prejudice. This, when it gets firm hold of a man, is a terrible power, a most malign influence, and if he do not shake it off into the fire, it will poison his life, warp his judgment, and kill his influence. How intense is the power of prejudice in social life, in politics, in matters theological and ecclesiastical! V. The vipers of evil habits, such as gambling, drunkenness, tippling, Sabbath desecration, social dissipation at the theatre, are of the deadliest sort. Few escape on whom they once fasten. Their sting is deadly. Shake off into the fire that venomous serpent which has wriggled out of “ the bundle of sticks you have gathered” ; or, as sure as the wages of sin is death, you are doomed, and that speedily! (Homiletic Monthly.)The viper’ s dart I. Everywhere in the pursuit of duty we must expect the viper or the serpent to dart out upon us. Everywhere in the path of obedience to the higher calls of life we shall find ourselves beset by difficulties and assaults which will probably succeed too well in doing what the viper failed to do to the apostle. We shall find ourselves often wounded in the hand, at any rate according to the old prophecy, in the heel. Well for us if we are on our guard and ready instinctively to shake off the attacks and, God-protected by Divine grace, to feel no harm!1. Professional life, business life, trade, or work well illustrates what I mean. It is one of the most necessary things in the world. It supplies the needs of human life. It is the method by which the members of the human family perform their duties as members one of another. It creates some of the most valuable parts of human character. Energy, quickness, power of organisation, invention, discovery, method, calculation, experience, soberness of mind--these are some of its results on character. But how often do we see the viper dart out from the midst, and fasten on a man’ s hand! How often do we see trade or business blunting the higher and nobler faculties of human life, blinding the soul to the spiritual world, exhausting all the natural energies in merely material interests, and sometimes--alas! too often--undermining the uprightness and honesty of a hitherto spotless character! How often do we see the hand or the heel wounded, while all power to shake off the venomous beast seems to have deserted the soul! 2. Or look at knowledge in its many branches. What is more fascinating or delightful? It moves at will up and down the history of the world, entering into all great events, revealing the motives and actions of the greatest of mankind, making the past almost as real as the present. It penetrates into the deepest and closest recesses of man’ s being--his instincts, his motives, his intellectual powers, his loves, his joys, his sorrows. But even here, my friends, be on your guard; even here the viper darts out and is ready to fasten on the hand. For there are spheres of truth which reason can only enter hand in hand with faith, and reason is apt to rise in rebellion, and flash scorn on that which is beyond its ken, and glory in its ignorance or, as it prefers to phrase it, its agnosticism. 3. Or is there anything more beautiful than friendship in its many forms? It is on its widest score the bond of society, and without society of some sort life would be intolerable. It is in narrower limits the bond of that home life of which we in England are so justly proud. In its deepest and intensest forms it is one of the dearest bonds we know on earth. Grow on, dear friends, deeper and deeper into the joys of friendship and of love; make your homes more homelike; let society be worthy of the name; but still beware of the trail of the serpent. Under the guise of friendship and of love how many evil influences are at work, you all know too well. Too often the viper has fastened on the hand, and desolate homes and ruined lives and wasted love have been the last results. 4. The serpent has penetrated paradise, and all man’ s life is henceforth lived in his presence. The Church is the paradise of God on earth; the nearest meeting place of man with God; the home of grace; the refuge of penitent sinners; the resting place of God’ s revelation; the soul’ s best and truest home. It is here that you can do the greatest works for God; that you can lead others to know the happiness which you have found. It is here that you may be “ the light of the world,” and “ the salt of the earth.” It is here that you may be God’ s band of labourers, “ fellow workers with God.” Yet here, too, beware the dart of the serpent. Here he fastens upon and wounds the hand. Here sometimes narrowness, and bitterness, and obstinacy, and self-will, and proud contemptuousness, and prejudice, and jealousy, and littleness of spirit may mar and spoil what God intended. II. St. Paul shook off the venomous beast into the fire, and felt no harm, because he did it instinctively the moment the dart was made, and because he was God-protected by the last promise of our Lord to His disciples. It is only by the religion of Jesus Christ that we can cast off the serpent. It can only he through high communion with God and a constant sense of His loving presence that you and all can dwell safely and have the blessings of life. (J. Weston Townroe.)Paul and the viper Or the servant of God, the conqueror of serpents in the power of his Lord (Mark 16:18). He casts from him,1. The venomous serpent of slander (verses 3, 4).2. The shining adder of flattery (verse 6).3. The dangerous reptile of worldly anxiety and cares (verses 8, 9).4. The old serpent of sin . (K. Gerok.)Paul bitten by a viper, and uninjured I. In what light it was viewed by the people present.1. As a judgment for a heinous crime.2. As an evidence that he was a god. II. In what light it should be viewed. It was intended by God as--1. A means to awaken their attention to the gospel.2. A standing memorial of His care over His faithful servants. Conclusion: Learn from hence--1. Justice to man.2. Confidence in God. (C. Simeon.)They said … no doubt this man is a murderer whom … vengeance suffereth not to live.-- Uncharitable judgments How easy it is to be sure that other people deserve punishment, and are getting it. If we are in trouble, we wonder why God afflicts us. At all events, we are not to blame for our misfortunes. If the trouble is at our next-door neighbour’ s, it is plain enough where the fault lies. If their house is robbed, there is “ no doubt” that they were very careless in leaving their doors and windows unfastened. If their children are disobedient or graceless, there is “ no doubt” that the parents sadly neglected them. If those neighbours lose their property, there is “ no doubt” that they are always extravagant or shiftless. With what guileless simplicity the disciples came to Jesus, asking about the blind man, “ Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” After all, those Maltese barbarians were not so different from the rest of us. “ It is good enough for him,” or, “ It is what we might have expected,” is the judgment we too often pass upon one whom, without good reason, we esteem “ smitten of God, and afflicted.” “ Who art thou that judgest another?” (H. Trumbull, D.)The general belief in justice and retribution I. There is a general sense of divine justice among men.1. This conviction exists, often imperfect and perverted, but still so manifesting itself, as it did on this occasion, as to show that it lies deep in the human mind. There are things remaining in fallen man--perceptions of what is right, and promptings to what is right, which show what he originally was, and which show also the character of the government under which he is placed. These things resemble the half-effaced inscriptions found on ancient tombs and monuments. The letters and dates are half-obliterated; but skill may enable us to fill up the inscription; to put in a letter here, and a figure there, so as to leave no doubt that the true words are restored. In like manner, there are in the soul, half-effaced records of man’ s original nature and dignity. From them alone we never could know entirely what man originally was. Yet when they are filled up with the knowledge imparted by revelation, the record becomes complete. Among these traces left upon the hearts of men, are-- (1) The belief in some form of a Divinity, or Divine government, as was indicated in the case of these islanders. (2) A sense of justice, and a feeling that the guilty deserve to be punished. 2. Whenever men have embodied their sentiments in codes of morals, it has been done in accordance with this view. There are no books on morals, in any language, or age, which do not make a distinction between right and wrong; and for the most part, in regard to the same actions. 3. The same views are found in a community before there are regular laws in regard to the administration of justice. There never has been a nation or tribe which had not some notions that the guilty should be punished, and especially that a murderer ought not to escape. In the earliest ages it was a universal conviction that the duty of avenging the blood of the slain devolved on the “ nearest of kin” (Numbers 35:19, seq.; Deuteronomy 19:6; Deuteronomy 19:12; Joshua 20:3; 2 Samuel 14:11). Such a person was recognised in all Oriental nations, and among American savages. The “ avenger of blood” was the minister of justice--one who represented that every man felt to be a carrying out of the Divine purpose in the infliction of vengeance. 4. The same thing is true in regard to the laws of men. As the world advances in civilisation, arrangements for the punishment of crime enter into all laws. II. There is an arrangement under the divine government by which crime will be detected and punished. This was evidently the belief of these islanders; and it was founded on a state of things which was then open to observation, and which exists everywhere. This might be proved in reference to all forms of guilt. The boy at school who does a wrong on the supposition that it will be undiscovered, or the boy who robs an orchard at night, is often surprised to find that there was some observer, or that some circumstance of which he was not aware has brought his deed to light. But it will be more appropriate to illustrate this in reference to murder. These islanders believed that the “ goddess of vengeance” would not suffer the murderer to go unpunished, although he had survived one peril. They were in error in supposing that this particular thing was proof; but they were in the right in believing that there is an arrangement designed to find out the murderer. “ Murder will out.” There is--1. The awakened vigilance in every community, making every man feel that he has a personal responsibility in securing, it he can, the punishment of the murderer. 2. The difficulty of concealing the crime. In itself considered, it would not seem to be difficult to obliterate all traces of a murder; to place the knife where it could not be found; to burn a garment so that it should not reveal the stain; or to dispose of the body so that no traces of it could be found. Yet nothing is more difficult. 3. The slight circumstances through which detection occurs--a lock of hair, a footprint, an unguarded remark, the possession of some article of little value, etc. 4. The madness of him who has committed the crime. Remorse, compelling him to confess; troubled dreams; the fear of every man. III. There is a general conviction that it is proper and right that this should be so. These islanders acquiesced in the arrangement, and saw in the fastening of the viper on Paul’ s hand that which was right in the case. On no subject have the sentiments of men been more decided and unanimous than on this. We may observe here that punishment is not primarily for the reformation of the guilty, nor for the mere security of a community against the commission of crime. There is a higher idea, which is founded on the fact that justice demands it; and when punishment is inflicted--when the murderer dies, the world at large acquiesces in it as right. Conclusion:1. These things have been written in the human heart by the hand of God Himself. 2. The sinner lives in a world over which a just Being presides, and where justice demands punishment. 3. Wherever the sinner goes, this demand will follow him. 4. The universe will assent to the final punishment of the sinner. 5. There is a way in which the guilty may escape from impending judgment (Isaiah 53:4-6). In Christ the guilty may find pardon; through Him the pardoned sinner will be safe on sea or land; whoso believeth on Him will be no more exposed to wrath in this world or in the world to come. (A. Barnes, D.)Why we suffer I. For sin.1. This exclamation would not have been less impressive or natural had these Maltese been “ barbarians” in our sense of the word. But they were barbarians only in the sense in which we should be barbarians in France or Germany if we did not understand the language. The conviction they expressed was universal. Neither barbarism nor civilisation had anything to do with it. A Jew, no less than a pagan, a Roman, or a Greek, would have jumped to the same conclusion. The very apostles themselves, over a much less striking and dramatic instance, asked: “ Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” And no modern advance of thought has eradicated, or will eradicate, the stubborn instinct which teaches men to connect suffering with guilt. Even the most advanced thinkers admit, not only that there is some connection between sin and suffering, but also that the connection is one of cause and effect. It is a natural and primitive instinct, and it is only by a resolute use of our reasoning faculty that we have been able to control it. 2. Admitting the instinct, we ought also to admit its testimony. We are so made and bred that we cannot, without a supreme effort, attribute the ordering of events to chance or accident. We feel instinctively that a Divine Nemesis manifests itself both in the order of the world at large and in the lot of individual men. Before a man can get rid of this wholesome religious conviction he must both unmake and remake himself: and then he will be very apt, despite the prevalent petticoat positivism, to revert to his original type. 3. For the conviction is a true one, though it often assumes questionable forms. It is true that all suffering springs from sin and bears witness against it, though it is not true either that we can always trace the suffering to its cause, or that the effects of a sin are always confined to the person who commits it. St. Paul traces death, e.g., to sin; yet not every man’ s death to every man’ s sin. On the contrary he argues--one sinned, all died. And it is at this point that men have always been apt to go wrong. The broad fact is true, but men have commonly misinterpreted it. They have assumed that they can invariably trace the physical effect to its immediate ethical cause, and that the cause is invariably to be found in the conduct of those who suffer the effect. You know how impossible it proved for our Lord Himself to dislodge these assumptions from the minds of the men of His own day. “ Suppose ye,” He said, “ that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans,” etc. An hour before the tower of Siloam fell, many of them, I dare say, would have shrunk from placing themselves high above those on whom it crashed down. But the moment the tower fell, that question was settled for them by God Himself, and their escape was a most gratifying proof of their moral superiority, though of course they were very sorry for the poor people who had been killed. Let us learn, then, that suffering, either personal, domestic, or national, is not always the result of sin; Job suffered many calamities; yet Job was a perfect man and an upright. If men always suffered for or in proportion to their sins we should be driven to the intolerable conclusion that the Greatest Sufferer was also the Greatest Sinner; that He who knew no sin was the very Chief of Sinners! II. For our good. We are “ purged,” not because we do not bring forth fruit unto holiness, but that we may bring forth more fruit. The greater welfare of Job, e.g., was both an intention, and an effect, of the sufferings inflicted on him. In like manner St. Paul long writhed on “ the stake in his flesh,” in order that the unsuspected resources both of his own nature and of the grace of God might be developed in and upon him. And, still in the like manner, we are taught that the Man Christ Jesus “ learned by the things which He suffered” ; and that He was the more highly exalted because He humbled Himself to pain, and grief, and death. III. For the good of others.1. If Christ suffered more than other men, it was that He might become the Saviour of all men. If St. Paul long writhed in agony, it was that the power and grace of God might shine the more conspicuously through him on the world around. The affliction of Job was designed for the teaching of his friends and neighbours, and for ours. The blind man about whose sin the disciples were perplexed suffered that the works of God should be made manifest in him--not because he was a sinner, but that he might first open his eyes on the Friend and Saviour of sinners, and get sight for his spirit as well as for his body. And through this man the enlightening and redeeming power of Christ has been set forth, in an impressive figure, to all the world. 2. By calling our attention to him, Christ has taught us to look, in all our own sufferings, for some similar Divine intention and work. They may, or may not, be the consequences of, or the correction for, our sins. But they are always designed for the manifestation of some work of God Which will promote our welfare and that of those around us. 3. Now we all see, I think, that if, when we suffer, we were to fling away, as St. Paul flung off the venomous beast, all that is evil in suffering, all in it that tempts us to distrust or complaint, and to recognise the loving work and intention of God in it, we should be the gainers by it. And we can also see that, were we to take our suffering patiently, bravely, cheerfully, we should be teaching a valuable lesson and giving valuable help to others; that even those who once thought we were sinners above other men because we suffered such things would come to think we were braver and better because we suffered them so patiently, and be led to ask whence we got our patience and our courage. 4. This suffering for the good of others is, indeed, demanded of all who follow Christ. For if any man will follow Him, he must take up his cross, etc. Now the very commonest form of affliction is the pain we feel at the loss of those whom we love. Is it love, is it not rather self-love, which makes us so bitterly regret our loss that we refuse to be comforted? If, for them, to die is gain, shall we grudge them the gain because it involves loss for us, and yet call ourselves the servants and friends of Christ, who loved not Himself, but lived in and for others? If we had more of the spirit of Christ, love would teach us a joy in our friend’ s gain which would more than counterbalance our grief for their own loss. And common as this kind of affliction is, it affords us a rare opportunity of bearing witness to the power and grace of God. (S. Cox, D.)Howbeit … after they … saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said he was a God.--Heathen conclusions from portents This was quite in accordance with heathen modes of thought. The whole story of the wanderings of the wine god, Dionysus, is little more than a record of how the god came to this or that place and was received as a man, till, astounded by some portent, the people “ changed their minds, and said that he was a god.” Thus, when he came to Argos, the people would not acknowledge him; but, after he displayed his divine powers in the punishment of certain offenders, they hailed him as a god, and erected temples in his honour. How large a place was occupied in heathen thought by portents is shown in the list given for Dionysus’ s voyage from Icaria to Naxos. The sailors decided to sell him as a slave, and so abandoned the proper route. Thereupon the masts and oars became serpents, ivy grew up around the vessel, the sound of invisible flutes was heard, Dionysus transformed himself into a lion, and the sailors, struck with madness, flung themselves into the sea. The people would also have a certain selfish element in their recognition of Paul as a god. Doubtless many of them remembered how Jupiter and Mercury came down to earth as men, and how those who refused to receive them were destroyed by an inundation, while only Philemon and Baucis, their kindly host and hostess, were saved. (S. Times.)The fickleness of popular opinion When a good man is roundly abused by the public, he may find comfort, if he needs it, in the conviction that the pendulum of popular opinion will doubtless soon swing as far toward the other extremity of its are as it now swings toward this. Illustrations of this truth are innumerable. If the ten Americans of our first century, who in their day had most of denunciation from press and platform, were now to be designated, it would perhaps be found that bronze statues of no less than six of them are already in our public parks, and that the names of at least as many are popularly counted synonyms of political pretty or of personal integrity. But, after all, popular opinion is as likely to be extreme and unfair in one direction as in another. We may well hesitate to believe that a political candidate, a representative official, or a religious teacher, is either a murderer or a god--merely because editors or other people say so. (H. Trumbull, D.) Acts 28:7-15 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius. Publius Here is-- I. An obscure man made famous. History says nothing about Publius. As far as the Roman annalists are concerned, such a man might not have lived. They were busy with the Neros, Felixes, Agrippas--names whom the world would willingly let die. Yet the obscure governor of Melita is a personage known and reverenced in thousands of households. Why? Because he was brought into contact with that sect which was then “ everywhere spoken against,” and secured a record in its sacred book. What he did would have been utterly beneath the notice of writers whose office it was to record the scandals of courts or the horrors of war. He only lodged a few poor Christians for three days and courteously. What he received as recompense was what no existing medical journal thought fit to record--the cure of his father’ s fever. But He whose ways are higher than our ways, and who said that a cup of cold water given to a needy disciple should in no wise lose its reward, has ordained that this man should have a memorial when most of his illustrious contemporaries should have sunk in oblivion. Learn that true immortality is only to be obtained by connection with or service to the Christian cause. Better to receive by and by the “ Well done,” than now to wear the most glittering coronet. II. A chief man condescending. Monarchs, governors, statesmen, are usually concerned only or chiefly with their dignity. How difficult it is to secure even a momentary interview from the chief man of a given place. Or if they do stoop, as candidates for parliamentary honours, it is only for their own purposes. These achieved, the distance between them and the vulgar herd is as wide as ever. Here, however, we have the governor of Melita, with no ulterior purposes, and from motives of pure humanity, receiving shipwrecked prisoners, and receiving them courteously. Noblesse oblige. Whatever the opinions and practices of the world, the truest nobility is to use power and station for the purpose of doing good. Thank God, we have had, and have, many modern Publiuses--e.g., the Earl of Shaftesbury. If we had more of them, the aristocracy would have little to fear from the democracy. III. A potentate impotent. Publius had authority to secure and money to buy what can be bought and secured in the way of human happiness. He had command of the island, with all its resources, and the state was not niggardly in the remuneration of its officers. But a trouble entered the precincts of the governor’ s palace, that neither power nor wealth could grapple with. His father was ill, and Publius was as impotent as the poorest and the weakest in the island to make him well. The limitations which condition the greatest should make them humble. All alike are powerless in the presence of disease and death. IV. A Roman indebted to a Christian. There was one man on the island who could help this helpless potentate, and that was the shipwrecked prisoner Paul. And Paul was not slow to render the help required. Fair type of the services Christianity renders to the world. Even in a secular sense, in matters relating to the accumulation of wealth, the cure of bodily disease, the management of public affairs, Christians are the salt of the earth. Learn--1. The emptiness of mere earthly dignities. “‘ Tis only noble to be good.” This ensures immortality. 2. The reward of hospitality. Like “ mercy,” and the other virtues to which it is allied, it is twice blessed. Many, as here, have entertained angels unawares. 3. The value of the meanest ministries. The advice of a prisoner rejected led to shipwreck; this taken, it led to the saving of a life. 4. The supremacy of Christianity in times of trouble. Paul was the last man whom Publius would have consulted under ordinary circumstances; but he was glad of him now. Christianity may be despised in times of prosperity; but it can afford to wait. Its time will assuredly come. (J. Burn.)Five remarkable things I. That Paul should have healed and not Luke. Luke was a physician; Paul was a tent maker and preacher. Yet Luke healed none; he kept the diary, and said nothing about his own professional talent. This is exactly what is taking place today. It is religion that heals; the medicines are grown in God’ s garden. The physician has to go out of himself for his remedy, and he does you good in proportion as he leads you out of yourself. We are healed by God. Christianity so nourishes the fountain of life, and renews the springs of energy, as to touch the particular through the general. If we were hidden in God, we should have no disease in the sense of burden and trouble. The black visitant would still darken our dwelling; but we should have joy in tribulation, and know that death was abolished. When you take Christianity out of your civilisation, you do not know what a vacancy you leave behind. II. That the poorest should have rendered help to the richest. Publius was the first man in the island, and Paul the poorest; yet he, the penniless apostle, healed the father of the first man. That is what sanctified poverty is always doing. Do not pity the poor: pity the rich. What folly is spoken about the poor!--God’ s chosen ones, the very elect of His household, the crowned ones in His kingdom. Remember, I speak about disciplinary poverty! not thriftless want. The world would not be worth living in but for its poor people. “ The Son of Man had not where to lay His head.” What, then, did He give? Himself! We have not begun to give. He gives who gives life. That is what Paul did here: he gave life; virtue went out of him. What healing influence the poorest are continually exercising! The poor mother has done more for the world than her rich son can ever do. The poor people are keeping the world sweet and wholesome. III. That the ministry upon the island was all healing and no preaching (verse 9). That is the glory of the Christian ministry--it can begin anywhere, at any time, and with any man. Christianity has no dignities to put on, no ceremonies or processes of etiquette through which to pass. It meets men everywhere and says, “ All hail! What is your burden, your sorrow, your most urgent need?” It will be a long time before people can have the prejudice cleansed out of them that the church building is only for distinctively doctrinal and spiritual purposes. The Father’ s house is for everything good. There is no reason why this church should not be a hospital, a school house, a reading room, a place for music and conversation, and instruction in all high and useful knowledge. The Church sends men to school to become preachers; I would have the Church send men to hospitals to become doctors, to academies to become musicians, to trades to become honest tradesmen. We are too narrow. Find a man in need anywhere and say, “ All hail! we want you” ; and I am doing God’ s will as truly in sending an honest-hearted boy to learn a trade, by which he can do good work, as in sending him to be a missionary. One day with Paul would do much towards rearranging and enlarging Christian influence. Did Paul not preach, then, when he healed? Every healing is a sermon; every visit to the poor, paid in the right spirit, is a prayer. Whatever good you do in the name and for the sake of Christ, is a proclamation of Christ. IV. The grateful response which was made by the islanders (verse 10). How musically the verse reads! Mark the redundance of the thankfulness! It was not a fee that was claimed; it was a benefaction that was conferred under the inspiration of gratitude; and that spirit continues unto this day. There will always be some ungrateful people; but we must not speak of the exceptions. The great human heart is, after all, a grateful heart, and it will honour those that try to the best of their ability to do good. V. The inspiring influence of friendship (verse 15). Reading between the lines, we wonder if Paul’ s courage had given way for one little moment. It would seem as if the lion himself might have been affected with momentary depression. We might never have heard of it but for the returning courage. Some men never tell us they have been ill until they tell us that they are quite well again. We get nearer to Paul when we feel that he has been in the valley. It was the habit of the ancients to go out to meet princes, and to stand on the road to wait for the great one, and to accompany him. The brethren went to where the road forked. They would have gone farther, but not knowing whether they might come by the right road or by the left, they stood at the point and waited for their prince. When Paul saw them he knew them. How is it that we know some men at once, and fall almost instantly into common masonry? When Paul saw the Christians up went his hands in thanksgiving; and having thanked God, he became a great lion again, full of courage. “ Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” We need human associations and cheering. The day is very short; let us do no unkindness in it, but make it glow with deeds of noble friendship and make it sing with the music of truest Christian love! (J. Parker, D.)Good in Christianity The conduct of the Maltese towards Paul manifested the good in heathenism, and now the conduct of Paul gives an insight into the good in Christianity. Here is-- I. The supernatural. Paul cured Publius’ s father; but he only did that which was part of his apostolic mission. “ They shall take up serpents … they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” The supernaturalness of Christianity may be argued--1. From the history of Christ and His apostles. 2. From the manifest incapacity of human nature to evolve such a system. 3. From the utter insufficiency of good in any natural form to produce the results which Christianity has achieved. II. The restorative. “ Paul entered in and prayed,” etc. The supernatural power with which Paul was endowed was not to destroy men’ s lives, but to save them. In all the miracles of Christ, there is only one of destruction. Christianity--1. Redeems men from moral diseases -- error, carnality, selfishness, impiety. 2. By redeeming men from moral diseases, it redeems them from all others, bodily, social, political. Its grand consummation will be the redemption of the entire man, body and soul, from all evil. III. The impartial and universal (verse 9). The healing of Publius’ s father was only the beginning. Paul treated all alike, and knew of no distinction of birth, influence, or position. Christianity is no respecter of persons, but offers salvation to all--barbarian, Scythian, bond, and free. (D. Thomas, D.)Prayer with the sick Prayer with and for the sick is always in place. Sometimes the sick one may be unconscious to all around, and it may be thought prayer would not be beneficial; but who can tell? At any rate, God hears. A minister on one occasion had visited a man upon his death bed who was delirious, and, returning home, met the great Dr. Thomas Chalmers. “ Well,” said Dr. Chalmers, “ did you pray with him?” “ No, he was delirious; but I prayed with the family.” “ Ah! you did wrong, sir! Who knows but that some old strain of thought might have been stirred up by the tones of a familiar voice? You did very wrong, sir!” There is instruction in that. Acts 28:11-14 And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria. The journey to Rome 1. After a delay of three months--i.e., when winter was past and spring approaching--the party put to sea again. Castor and Pollux, the tutelary deities of seafaring men, constituted the figurehead of the ship in which they sailed, and gave it its name. The fact that this vessel, trading between Alexandria and Puteoli, passed the winter in Melita is clear proof that it was not Meleda, in the Gulf of Venice, where Paul was shipwrecked. Then, again, she called at Syracuse on the way, which lay in the course from Malta, but not from Meleda. 2. Syracuse was the great seaport of Sicily, and by far the most renowned of the cities founded by Greek emigrants on the western coasts of Europe. It occupied an important position in the struggles between the Greek republics, and also in the quarrel between Rome and Carthage. Perhaps no ancient city was so often besieged. There is a tradition that its Church was founded by Paul, and it is possible that Julius permitted him to go ashore and preach. 3. From Syracuse the Castor and Pollux fetched a compass and came to Rhegium, on the Italian shore, in the Sicilian straits--the place where Garibaldi landed after he had subjugated Sicily, and proceeded with a handful of men to deliver a fair country from the double tyranny of priest and king, and to introduce Italy into the community of nations. 4. After a halt here of a single day, the wind became fair, and they reached Puteoli, the great mercantile seaport of Rome. Here Paul found “ brothers.” The family is multiplying and spreading. The fire of Christian life is going, like the lightning, against the wind; the sect is everywhere spoken against, yet it is increasing like the breaking forth of waters. The seven days’ stay is a Christian, not a Roman, measurement, and points, on the one hand, to the weekly Sabbath, and on the other to the confirmed ascendency of Paul. Julius seems by this time to have fallen into the habit of shaping his course by the advice of his prisoner. 5. “ So we went to Rome,” along the much celebrated and frequented Appian Way. The brothers at Puteoli must have sent express to Rome to advise their fellow disciples of Paul’ s arrival, and a deputation started to meet him. The arrival of Paul was a great event. The Roman Christians had been longing for him, and he for them. Messages went round convening a meeting--at the house of Aquila probably--at which those who had never seen the great missionary would demand of those who had what his appearance was and wherein his power seemed to lie. 6. A large deputation was resolved upon, for he should have a royal welcome. Some started who seem to have been hardly fit for the journey, for they halted at “ Three Taverns,” only seventeen miles away, while the rest went on to “ Appii Forum,” ten more. The apostle and his company meanwhile pushed northward. For the last nineteen miles a canal ran alongside the highway, partly for the drainage of the marshes, partly for navigation. Appii Forum was the terminus of the canal, a rough spot, swarming with low tavern keepers and bargemen. At that disreputable place the front rank of the deputation met Paul, and the two ends of the coil were joined, and Jerusalem brought into contact with Rome. There the spirit of the kingdom passed out of the one into the other. Christ has come to the world’ s great head, and Paul is the chosen vessel used to bear Him thither. (W. Arnot, D.)The journey to Rome 1. In a heathen ship, with a pagan name, the gospel was borne to Rome. God frequently employs earthly forces to work out heavenly results. 2. In God’ s way, Paul was brought to Rome, according to the promise. In God’ s way, if we are faithful, we shall be brought to heaven at last. Paul passed through storms and dangers on the way; so must we. 3. In God’ s care, Paul was perfectly protected against all perils by sea or by land. In that same care we are safe. 4. In Rome Paul received a joyful welcome from those who had waited long for his coming; in heaven we shall be joyfully greeted by the loved ones there. 5. In the hour of his deliverance, in the moment of his assured arrival, in the joy of safety, Paul remembered to thank God for it all. Let us remember to do likewise, for God as surely leads us as he led Paul, and we are as dependent on God as Paul was. (S. Times.)The journey to Rome I. The finding of good men where least expected. Little did the apostle expect to find Christians at Puteoli, or hastening to meet him from Rome. There is more goodness in the world than even charity will venture to believe. Elijah once thought he was alone, but God showed him there were seven thousand more. II. The power of the gospel to fraternalise men. Though Paul had never seen these men before, and belonged to a different class, Christianity made the strangers brothers. Sin has broken the brotherhood of humanity; Christianity restores it. It binds the diverse races into oneness by--1. Centring affection in a common Father.2. Exhibiting energies in a common cause. III. The Divine purposes realised under immense improbabilities. God had long ago revealed His purpose that Paul should visit Rome (chap. 23:11), but how many circumstances intervened to suggest the improbability of Paul ever seeing the imperial city. Trust God. His Word must come to pass. Apply this to--1. The universal triumphs of the gospel. How unlikely, at present, does the universal reign of truth appear; yet it will come. 2. The universal resurrection of the dead. How unlikely that the buried myriads of the race shall arise; yet it will be. IV. The spirit of the godly in relation to their history.1. Gratitude for the past. What a past was his! 2. Courage for the future. What a future was now before him through his ministry at Rome. (D. Thomas, D.) Acts 28:15…The brethren … came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.The meeting at Appii Forum and The Three Taverns The effect of this meeting on Paul requires explanation. He found brethren at Puteoli, but no such feelings were aroused there. What was there then in this incident to so powerfully and beneficially affect the apostle’ s mind? He regarded it-- I. As expressive of the sympathy of the Christian Church in Rome. Sympathy is solace and help. Like the oil and wine of the good Samaritan--it heals and strengthens. It would be thoroughly appreciated by Paul, who told the Romans to “ Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” This sympathy was--1. Timely. Think of Paul’ s circumstances. 2. Practical. It travelled further than mere sentiment and words--even thirty-three and fifty miles of hard road. 3. Noble. Paul was a prisoner, but they did not despise his chain; he was a Christian about to answer for his life, yet they dared to identify themselves with him. II. As a token of God’ s providential care. His elation on these occasions implies a previous corresponding depression. As the angel who stood by him in the night season made him of good cheer, so these brethren constrained him “ to thank God and take courage.” But how trivial is the event mentioned! Not in the estimation of faith. It indicated the hand of God. The cloud seen by the servant on Carmel was in itself a little thing, but it was of great moment to Elijah. By no means could Paul be more effectually cheered than by a vivid realisation of God’ s care for him. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” III. As prophetic of the universal triumph of Christianity. Doubtless the chief cause of depression was apprehension in reference to the gospel. He was deprived of his liberty; his life was in jeopardy. Alas! for the Churches he had planted; alas! for the progress of the Word of life. But, lo! brethren arrive from Rome. The gospel has taken firm hold on Rome, and from thence it shall diffuse itself to the ends of the earth! He could not serve the gospel better than he did during those “ two whole years” which he spent here. Conclusion: The subject teaches us further--1. That the most eminent of God’ s servants may be discouraged.2. That God will opportunely interfere in their behalf.3. That such interpositions should work in them gratitude and confidence. (Homilist.)Thankfulness and courage I. Thankfulness for the past. The Bible is full of exhortations to thankfulness, which leads us to regard it--1. As a duty-- (1) To ourselves. Gloom and despondency are injurious, while a merry heart doeth good like medicine. Sunshine is good for health as medical men know, for they are careful to put all the patients they can in the sunny rooms of hospitals. Why, then, put children in a shady back room, when the best room is in the front, with the blinds down for fear of spoiling the carpet. Better pay for a new carpet than pay for doctors’ bills. Value the sunshine, for no one grows strong in Doubting Castle. It is in Beulah, where the sun always shines, that men grow strong; and the more sunshine the better, for sunshine here prepares us for God’ s sunshine hereafter. (2) To others. No man liveth to himself. Every one must cheer or depress, help or hinder those around him. (3) To the Church. It is a blunder that the good God has given as a religion of gloom. Let the services of the Church be cheerful. Take your doubts and fears to the Mercy Seat in private, and don’ t air them at fellowship meetings. (4) To the world. Religion was created to make the world happy. To be gloomy is to say that religion is a failure. (5) To God. Thankfulness glorifies Him, and that is the great business of life. 2. As a reasonable service. Reasons for thankfulness abound on every side. (1) Look at the evils escaped. There is a tendency to look at those who have more than ourselves; the bright thing is to look at those who have less. It is common to look at a splendid equipage and envy the possessor; why not look instead at the poor invalid? (2) Look at the blessings received. (a) Temporal--life, health, home, etc. (b) Spiritual--sonship with God, hope of heaven, etc. II. Courage for the future. When Paul thanked God and took courage, imprisonment awaited him. Every one will have trouble, but--1. We should be on our guard not to make troubles. Trouble making is the oldest manufacture in the world, and the largest trade going. The Jews had home-made sorrow after sorrow. Obadiah made a trouble when Elijah sent him to Ahab. Some people carry on a wholesale business, making troubles for others as well as for themselves. There are the newspapers which draw pictures of invasion and what-not which fills people with misery. There are people whose children cannot be a few minutes late from school but they imagine they are run over; whose husbands cannot be detained by business but they think of railway accidents. 2. Then there are some who go to meet troubles. They can never enjoy the present for fear of the future. They cannot go for a holiday in the sunshine without remembering that the Americans had telegraphed a storm, and so they darken the sky with troubles before they come. The storm might never come at all. Men commit suicide or die of broken hearts in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred because they bring sorrow out of the future into the present. Sufficient for the day is the strength. The builder of a railway truck marks it to carry seven tons. He knows what it can bear, and God knows what we can bear. If we bring tomorrow’ s trouble into today we shall have too heavy a load to carry. 3. Real trials will come, and it is well to look at the encouragements. (1) Nothing can happen without the permission of Him who loves us best. (2) All things will work together for our good. There will be no grumbling at the last day when we shall see the end from the beginning, and sing, “ My Jesus has done all things well.” (3) Recall the enterprise of those before us, a cloud of witnesses. (4) Remember the promises. When the sun goes down, the stars come out. The stars are never visible till the sun has gone down. Out of the night of sorrow the promises shine. (5) Our best Friend will never leave us. (Charles Garrett.)Gratitude and encouragement He who visits Rome, and drives along the Appian way between the ruined tombs and towards the Alban hills, cannot but recall this memorable scene. For, though emperors, commanders, statesmen, and scholars have passed by this road into the seven-hilled city, never did there enter by this famous approach a Roman citizen so great as the apostle Paul. I. The occasion of these emotions.1. So far as Paul’ s position was concerned, there seemed to be little human ground for gratitude. He was a prisoner who was accompanied to the imperial tribunal by the hatred of his countrymen; and his future appeared dark and threatening. He knew that he might have come to die. 2. But at this conjuncture he was cheered by “ the brethren” of Rome, who, hearing of the apostle’ s approach, came thus far on the road to greet him. This was acting like brethren; it was a practical exhibition of Christian sympathy and love. II. The emotion awakened by the retrospect of the past and the experience of the present. Paul thanked God for His past faithfulness, for the honour put upon him, in that he had been suffered to labour and to endure hardship and persecution for Christ’ s sake; and especially because God had put it in the hearts of His people to show the kindness to His servant. III. The emotion aroused by the prospect in the future. Paul took courage. Why? Because his friends were by his side; and better still, the Lord Himself was with him. In entering the metropolis of the world as a prisoner, Paul had need of some encouragement, lest his brave heart should shrink within him. And here we see that Divine grace was sufficient for him. (Family Churchman.)The old and the new year I. The devout spirit in which the past should be reviewed. “ He thanked God.” As we review the year which has just closed, we are reminded of--1. Temporal mercies.2. Spiritual supplies.3. Victories achieved.4. Work accomplished.5. Sins forgiven. The text also indicates-- II. The heroic spirit in which the future may be anticipated. “ And took courage.” There are many things calculated to discourage us as we endeavour to prosecute the work of the Lord--such as our consciousness of the feebleness of our powers; the magnitude, importance, and solemnity of our work; the malignity and multitude of our foes; the inveterateness of evil; the seeming slowness of the progress of truth; the brief and fleeting character of our lives, etc. But there is much to encourage. There are--1. Inspiring memories.2. Christian sympathy. But the most inspiring thought for the future is--3. God is with us. God’ s purposes are on our side; His promises are on our side, no good thing will be withheld from us. God’ s presence is with us, to cheer, defend, sustain, deliver. Courage gives strength, just as cowardice debilitates, and doubt paralyses. Courage gives gladness, it inspires hope, and anticipates, as well as helps to ensure victory. Courage is contagious; just as fear will strike panic into the breasts of others, so pluck will enkindle enthusiasm, and propagate ardour. (F. Brown.)Christian sympathy The thought which this story emphasises is the blessedness of Christian sympathy. It is illustrated under special circumstances, but it applies to all the experiences of our Christian life. Christians are marked out for this fellow feeling. I. This Christian sympathy of which so much is said, what is it? Clearly it is something more than the compassion which a man of kindly heart, in the full consciousness of the blessings which Divine mercy has assured him, must feel for one who is buffeted by the sorrows and trials of life. It is more, too, than the pity with which we may look upon one who has been overcome by temptation. Nor is it even that tenderness of soul and readiness to extend a helping hand which are natural in all who have been brought into a loving communion with Christ in the presence of affliction and sorrow. Sympathy means very much more than this. It is a fellow feeling which makes the burdens of another our own, which shares his anxieties and cares, but shares also his successes and his joys. In its completeness it means the effacement of the ordinary self, for we cannot fully identify ourselves with others so long as we nurture some selfish passion in our own hearts. II. We pass on to inquire how this sympathy is to be attained? In its perfection it will not be realised by us here. The ideal may float before our faith as an object of holy ambition; but it will remain an ideal in our present imperfect state. That is no reason why it should not be kept constantly before the heart to be desired, pursued, sought. Much has to be done in all of us before we are freed from the varied forms of selfishness. In some it is the hard self-complacency of the bigot; in others, the arrogance and isolation of the proud; in others, the self-indulgence and luxury of the idle; in others, the unsympathetic indifference of the self-absorbed; and, alas! in some the resentful passion which finds it impossible to forgive an injury, and forgets the solemn and terrible condemnation which the Lord Himself has pronounced on this unforgiving temper. It remains then only that we should be continually advancing. Yea! The heart grows rich by giving. Of it it is more true than of almost anything beside--there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth only to poverty. It is said that a limb may lose some power it once possessed by disuse, and, indeed, we are familiar with the fact that exercise strengthens the muscles on which stress is laid, while a failure to employ them at all is followed by a steady degeneracy and loss of power. Give the heart free play for all its generous impulses, its lofty aims, its loving thoughts; let it be accustomed to thoughts of gentleness and deeds of self-sacrifice. The more it yields to the inspirations of faith and love the greater will become its capacities for trusting and loving. Then sympathy is a gift which none are too poor to bestow. III. Is it then to be said that this is the Christlike spirit, and that to have the Christlike spirit is to be a Christian? Unquestionably. (J. Rogers, B.)The sight of Christian friends enlivening The narrative teaches us-- I. That characters the most distinguished in the church of God may sometimes need encouragement. What made the apostle now droop we cannot determine. Perhaps he had heard what a tiger Nero had lately become; or felt some melancholy thoughts as to the result of his trial. But whatever was the cause, it seems that even his courage failed, who, in writing to these Romans, could say, “ if God be for us, who can be against us?” People often imagine that Scripture saints were a race entirely different from modern Christians. This is a mistake. Our case is not peculiar--we neither sigh nor tremble alone. II. The benefit that is to be derived from intercourse with Christian friends. When Paul saw these brethren, he was inspired with new life. “ Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man’ s friend by hearty counsel. Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” In no condition is it “ good for man to be alone.” Religion, instead of destroying the social principle, refines and strengthens it. Our Saviour promised that, “ where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in the midst of them.” To cheer and animate each other, “ He sent forth His disciples two and two.” “ Two are better than one.” Have you ever been in distress? How soothing was the presence of a tender and a pious friend! Have you ever been in spiritual darkness and perplexity?--you sighed, “ No one was ever like me!” But a Christian related his experience, and announced the same feelings, and you were set at liberty. Or have you, in a scorching day, been ready to perish for thirst? Like another angel, in the case of Hagar, “ He opened your eyes and showed you a well” --and you “ went on your way rejoicing.” How pleasing is it, when travelling to heaven, to overtake those who will be “ our companions in tribulation.” What a glow of satisfaction does a man, called by Divine grace, diffuse in a Church when he enters to ask for communion and fellowship with them. “ They that fear Thee will be glad when they see me, because I have hoped in Thy Word” ! How desirable is the Lord’ s day, and the Lord’ s house, in which we see so many of our brethren! How charming will heaven be, where we shall see “ a multitude which no man can number,” etc.! III. That we may be edified by those who are below us in station and in talents and in grace. Thus these private Christians helped an inspired apostle. Apollos was an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures; but he was “ taught the way of the Lord more perfectly,” by two of his hearers, Priscilla and Aquila. Naaman the Syrian was a mighty man; but he was indebted for his cure to a little maid. “ The king is served by the labour of the field.” There is no such thing as independence--that there is a connection among men which embraces all ranks and degrees--and a dependence founded upon it; so that no being is above the want of assistance, and no being is useless or unimportant. It is in the world, and it is in the Church, as it is in the human frame. “ The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee,” etc. IV. All the comfort and advantage we derive from creatures should awaken gratitude to God. It is said, “ he thanked God.” Doubtless the apostle was sensible of his obligations to these brethren, and thanked them. But says Paul, “ Who made these Christian friends, and rendered them the means of restoring my soul?” God uses channels to convey blessings to us, but all our springs are in Him. (W. Jay.)The force of Christian sympathy We have here an illustrious example of-- I. Christian sympathy under trying circumstances. This sympathy was--1. Practical. Some of the brethren had come thirty and some fifty miles. 2. Unselfish. Paul was a poor prisoner; he had nothing to give. 3. Reasonable. They had previously been benefited by Paul’ s labours. It is our duty to sympathise with troubled Christian brethren, and it should be esteemed a privilege to render them assistance. Mutual help is a Divinely appointed necessity. Sympathy, like the sun, gladdens life and awakens force in the heart. Christ was the great Sympathiser. II. Christian gratitude under trying circumstances. This is not a conqueror going to be crowned, but a prisoner going to confinement and perhaps death. A man has reason for joy in prosperity, but Paul is grateful in adversity and bonds. He thanked God, not man. Man’ s life is in God’ s hands. God is the disposer of all events. What reasons had the apostle for thanking God? He was grateful--1. For the sympathy the gospel had excited.2. For the zeal the gospel had awakened.3. For the triumphs the gospel had gained.4. For the consolation the gospel afforded. No man’ s condition is so dark and distressing as to exclude all cause for gratitude. We have homes, friends, health, life, the promise of heaven. A thankless man is the most contemptible thing in God’ s universe. III. Christian heroism under trying circumstances. Courage--1. Is the impulse that enables us to endure suffering, and to accomplish arduous achievements. 2. Carries a man beyond the attainments of habit or selfish impulses. 3. Has opportunities for development in every sphere in life. 4. Never seeks to report itself. We may be called upon to evince our heroism, (1) An easy but dishonourable path may be opened.(2) Persecution for religion may be accompanied by loss.(3) Temptation, poverty, and bereavement may enter our homes. Let us be courageous. One Being can sustain--God. One hope can cheer us--heaven. We each need courage, counsel, and help. What the Three Taverns were to the apostle, the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the Scriptures, the Church, may be to us. (J. Woodhouse.)A new year’ s sermon I. Let us thank God for the old year.1. For lives preserved. During the year tens of thousands have fought the last battle and been laid in the dust who entered upon it with as little expectation of it being their dying year as we did. We are spared. Throughout another year the pendulum of life has given its noiseless beats, the pulse has throbbed without a pause, the silver cord has borne the strain. 2. For health enjoyed. To multitudes this year has been a living death; yea, death itself has often been desired as a friend. Not so has it been with us. Passing pains and transient sickness may have fallen to our share, but most of them are now forgotten. They were but noticed through their contrast with our general days. How few Sabbaths have many of us lost through sickness: not half so many as we have by our soul’ s worldliness. Thank God, then, that not only has the life current flowed, but that it has flowed strongly. 3. For prosperity granted. Not only has there been the strength to work, but there has been the work to employ the strength. Perhaps the year was entered with many a dark foreboding thought. Difficulties seemed closing around you, and you prophesied that this year the storm must burst. Well, how is it now? God has been to you a Jehovah Jireh. Though far from wealthy, you find you can spare something for the poorer brethren, and give your little to the work of God. 4. For home mercies. Among all the gifts of heaven there is none more beautiful or worthy of praise than a home where kindness, love, and cheerfulness abide. To Adam, Paradise was home, and to the holy among his descendants home is Paradise. And how has it been in the home during the year? “ Thank God,” many of you can reply, “ it has been well.” The same faces that smiled upon you on last new year’ s day smiled upon you with as fresh a smile this morning. If it be so, I charge you “ thank God.” There are this morning homes yet wrapt in gloom, and a gloom that is deepened by the very season of the year. In other homes, a deeper shade than ever bereavement casts, hangs heavily; for if home be not the source of purest joys, it is of deepest misery. Think of home with all its mercies, and “ thank God” again and again. 5. For national blessings. There is enough in the providential dealings of our God with all to give a thankful heart. True, we have all had our sorrows and our disappointments. But what have been the number of our trials compared with the multitude of our mercies? And contrasted with our deserts, how light will the heaviest become! 6. For God’ s mercies to the soul. (1) We have been kept from falling. With no feeling of pride, but only grateful love, you may exclaim, “ Having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day.” Our thankfulness may well be intensified by the sad remembrance that some have fallen during the year, and lost their power for testimony. With a nature like ours so dangerously quick to sin, and living, amid a very shower of fiery temptations, how great the grace that has preserved us thus far. “ Thank God.” (2) Our spiritual life has been maintained and increased. The two things do not always go together. It is possible to be free from any great and open fall, and yet have the painful consciousness that inwardly there has been a declusion. Great then is the cause for thankfulness if we can express the hope that the inward experience has corresponded with the outward appearance. (3) What times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord have we often had? (4) Some of you have been converted during the year. What a transformation scene has taken place in you since last New Year’ s Day. The stones of this building might well cry out in judgment, if above all other voices yours is not heard, crowning the year with, “ Thank God, thank God.” 7. We have Church mercies to thank God for. (1) The spirit of hearing is still maintained. (2) The work of conversion has been carried on. II. Look forward with courage to the new. We now turn our eyes to the time to come. How different the view! A thick veil shrouds all in impenetrable gloom. In vain we strain our eyes to pierce the curtain dark. We enter on the year by faith and not by sight. The hand of mercy only clears the darkness as step by step we enter in it. The new year is yet a land uninhabited and unknown. With what feelings shall we enter it? Let our text give the answer. Having thanked God for the past, let us now “ take courage” for the future. “ Because Thou hast been our help, therefore under the shadow of Thy wing will we trust.” Doubtless, there are some looking forward with dread. Although ignorant of the particular forms their troubles may assume, they reckon rightly that troubles of some sort they are sure to meet, and the very indefiniteness of them serves to magnify their greatness. Possible loss, disappointment, and grief cast their shadow on the spirit. They did on Paul. Yet he took courage. I will therefore mention a few thoughts calculated to inspire courage.1. We shall have the same God with us. The change of year brings no change in Him who is our Rock and our Defence. “ Our God, our help in ages past,” may well be “ our hope for years to come.” 2. The same promises will be your support. Round about you, like the mountains round Jerusalem, or the chariots of fire round the prophet, are the same “ precious promises” that have glittered like stars in your darkest night. “ As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “ My grace is sufficient for thee.” 3. The same hope which has cheered the old year accompanies you into the new. The hope of either your going to Jesus, or Jesus coming to you. (A. Brown.)The welcome at Appii Forum Here was an unexpected joy. St. Paul no longer felt friendless and alone! He was cheered up, and the path seemed brightened. He realised that though dark shadows of affliction and persecution were round the path, yet God was comforting His servant by giving him the sympathy and friendship of his fellow Christians. For these mercies, unexpected yet cheering, “ he thanked God,” and accepted them as tokens of his Heavenly Father’ s care, and pledges that the hand of Jesus would help and support him in the future, therefore “ he took courage” to meet with calm and earnest faith what might be still in store for his coming years! Often the Christian finds himself surrounded with cares and disappointments. It is the characteristic of many worries in life to be quite disproportionate in the pain they give to their importance, the smallest wound on the hand or finger, being in constant friction, gives more pain than a far more serious injury somewhere else. When we meet with disappointments, worries, and perhaps worse trials, it is the wise and Christian course to strive and see the bright side of them. They are part of the appointed discipline of life. May not we regard the lesser troubles of daily life to be like the gravel and stones on the path, which, when pressed down by patient endurance, become a firm path? The Christian, who takes patiently the discipline of lesser evils, learns gradually to train himself to higher things. It was a remarkable saying of a heathen sage that a good man bearing adversity patiently was a sight pleasing to the gods! But ofttimes God has been pleased in a wonderful way to reward the patience and confidence of His children. One winter a lonely widow and her family were much oppressed with anxiety and dread. Not only was food and fuel scarce and dear, but the whole land was in peril from fierce foes, and bands of armed men marched from village to village. There was no strong arm to defend the widow’ s door, nor any plentiful stores to satisfy the rapacity of armed men. All she could do was to cast all her cares on her Heavenly Father. That night the rumour spread through the village that the foemen were near. Her cottage stood at the entrance of the village and near the high road. When she last looked out the snowflakes were falling fast, and the winter winds howling round the thatch. Next morning the December dawn seemed darker than usual, and she looked abroad, a huge snowdrift had almost blocked up the house, and did not melt for many hours, but when she was able to venture forth she found that the enemy’ s army had indeed marched through the village and plundered every other house, but had never noticed her humble homestead concealed behind its protecting snow shield! Even so our Father defends those who place their trust in Him. God bestows on us abundant earthly blessings, and best of all, He has given His dear Son to be our Saviour and Redeemer. Let us, then, with heart and life serve and adore Him, and taking courage, give thanks. (J. Hardman, LL.)Soul inspiration from human sympathy I. The sympathy of God is here manifested through the sympathy of man. Paul saw the disciples and thanked God. II. The sympathy so manifested inspires the soul with ennobling feelings.1. Paul thanked God. Here is gratitude for the past and present. 2. He took courage. Here is help for the future. III. The lesser may inspire and strengthen the greater. Paul, the greatest of the apostles, was helped by these humble Christians. Even Christ was once strengthened from a similar source (Matthew 11:25). (W. Harris.)Give him a cheer Many a man fails in a good but difficult effort because he receives criticism when he needs and ought to have encouragement. A fireman was trying to reach from the top of a ladder a poor woman who was imploring help at the window of a burning house. One among the crowd below cried, “ You can’ t do it, come down.” He was already somewhat burned, and almost choked by the smoke. He began to descend, and was leaving the woman to her fate, when a man shouted, “ Give him a cheer.” The vast crowd made the air ring with their encouragement, whereupon the fireman stopped, again ascended towards the window, and, aided by the cheering of the multitude, brought the woman safely to the ground. If you know a timid brother who is weak and liable to fall, help him all you can and God will bless you. “ Give Him a cheer.” Sympathy helpful In enforcing the duty of the congregation to encourage their minister, Dr. Dale said: “ There are times when the most buoyant sink into despondency, when a great, chilly mist creeps over the soul of those who have the largest happiness in the service of God, and they feel as if all their strength was gone. Not very long ago--if I may venture once more to speak of myself--one of these evil moods was upon me; but as I was passing along one of the streets of Birmingham a poor but decently dressed woman, laden with parcels, stopped me and said, ‘ God bless you, Dr. Dale!’ Her face was unknown to me. I said, ‘ Thank you. What is your name?’ ‘ Never mind my name,’ was the answer, ‘ but if you only knew how you have made me feel hundreds of times, and what a happy home you have given me! God bless you!’ she said. The mist broke, the sunlight came, I breathed the free air of the mountains of God.” Human sympathy No part of the world affords a more difficult or dangerous navigation than the approaches of our northern coast in winter. Before the warmth of the Gulf Stream was known, a voyage at this season from Europe to New England, New York, and even to the capes of the Delaware and Chesapeake, was many times more trying, difficult, and dangerous than it now is. In making this part of the coast vessels are frequently met by snowstorms and gales which mock the seamen’ s strength and set at naught his skill. In a little while his bark becomes a mass of ice; with her crew frosted and helpless, she remains obedient only to her helm, and is kept away from the Gulf Stream. After a few hours’ run she reaches its edge, and almost at the next bound passes from the midst of winter into a sea at summer heat. Now the ice disappears from her apparel; the sailor bathes his stiffened limbs in tepid waters; feeling himself invigorated and refreshed with the genial warmth about him, he realises out there at sea the fable of Antseus and his mother Earth. He rises up and attempts to make his port again, and is again as rudely met and beat back from the northwest; but each time that he is driven off from the contest he comes forth from this stream, like the ancient son of Neptune, stronger and stronger, until, after many days, his freshened strength prevails, and he at last triumphs and enters his haven in safety. His experiences bear a resemblance to those of the man who is tempest tossed upon the sea of social life. This man, struggling in what Shakespeare designates “ a sea of troubles,” has to brave great billows of adversity and to face the chilling blasts of misfortune. He is well-nigh hopeless and powerless, when he suddenly encounters the warm stream of human sympathy which flows even in society’ s most icy regions. Under its vitalising influences the horrors of his despair melt away; his heart glows with renewed hope; he is nerved with fresh strength for a successful struggle against his calamities, so that he is able at length to accomplished his destined purpose. (Scientific Illustrations.) Acts 28:16-31 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard.Rome as seen by Paul Within a circuit of little more than twelve miles more than two millions of inhabitants were crowded. In this prodigious collection of human beings, there were of course all the contrasts which are seen in a modern city--all the painful lines of separation between luxury and squalor, wealth and want. But in Rome all these differences were on an exaggerated scale, and the institution of slavery modified further all social relations. The free citizens were more than a million; of these, the senators were so few in number as to be hardly appreciable; the knights, who filled a great proportion of the public offices, were not more than 10,000; the troops quartered in the city may be reckoned at 15,000; the rest were the plebs urbana. That a vast number of these would be poor is an obvious result of the most ordinary causes. But in ancient Rome the luxury of the wealthier classes did not produce a general diffusion of trade, as it does in a modern city. The handicraft employments, and many of what we should call professions, were in the hands of slaves; and the consequence was that a vast proportion of the plebs urbana lived on public or private charity. Yet were these pauper citizens proud of their citizenship, though many of them had no better sleeping place for the night than the public porticoes or the vestibules of temples. They cared for nothing beyond bread for the day, the games of the circus, and the savage delight of gladiatorial shows; manufactures and trade they regarded as the business of the slave and the foreigner. The number of slaves was perhaps about a million. The number of the strangers or peregrini was much smaller; but it is impossible to describe their varieties. Every kind of nationality and religion found its representative in Rome. (Dean Howson.)The arrival of Paul at Rome in its decisive importance I. For the apostle; the aim of his life is fulfilled, and the end of his life is determined. II. For the Gentile world; it becomes serious with its gracious invitation, but serious also with the setting of its glory. III. For Judaism; in Rome the apostle turns himself for the last time to his people; the kingdom now comes to the Gentiles, and Rome supplants Jerusalem. IV. For Christianity; in Rome bloody contests await it, but also most glorious victories. (K. Gerok.)Paul at Rome How did Paul reach Rome? The answer will yield us-- I. Encouragement for faith. Paul reached Rome--1. In answer to prayer (Romans 1:9-10; Romans 15:23; Romans 15:30-32). God knew the longing of his heart, and had promised him that to Rome he should go (Acts 23:11; Acts 27:24). 2. By an answer long delayed. He had been praying for it “ many years,” and the years of prayer were followed by years of weary suspense. I can imagine the Tempter in the apostle’ s prison in Caesarea saying with a taunting smile, “ Fine progress this, Paul, on your way to Rome!” 3. By strange and unexpected paths. At last he reached Rome; but how? As a prisoner, in company with a gang of criminals, after shipwreck, viper stings, etc. A strange way this of answering his prayers! And yet his prayers were answered. Every plot of his enemies, every outrage upon justice, every blast of the tempest, brought him nearer Rome. Did Paul know what he was praying for? If he had he would not have shrunk back. Our faith must not fail because our prayers seem for years to be in vain, nor when the answer is different from what we expected. 4. In complete fulfilment of the promises of God. Though he came as he never expected, as “ an ambassador in bonds,” yet he reached the court to which he was commissioned by Christ. The promise of God was more than fulfilled. Paul reached Rome better fitted, through his trials, for his work, and to find his work itself made easier. For-- (1) He came well advertised. The whole story of his long imprisonment had gone before him. The sympathy of the disciples was drawn out in his behalf. He had been brought to the notice of powerful officials. Julius, the centurion, had conceived for him a great regard, and we can easily believe that he committed him to Burrus, the prefect of the praetorians of Rome, with warm words of praise. It is not surprising that Burrus separated him from the other prisoners, suffered him to “ dwell by himself,” “ in his own hired house, and to receive all who came in unto him.” (2) With a strengthened faith. God had sent him trials, but great deliverances and precious visions too. No doubt now that he was where God wanted him to be--a mighty addition to any man’ s power. Once fairly within the walls, I seem to hear him say, “ Rome at last! Assassins, prisons, storms, vipers--all defeated! My God can do anything for me. I will never be afraid again.” II. Instruction as to duty. He is an example to us--1. In his missionary zeal. We have already quoted passages which show his strong desire to visit Rome. The same deep desire appears at other points in the history (Acts 19:21). What is the reason of this earnest “ longing” (Romans 1:13-15)? Rome was a Gentile, i.e., a heathen city which needed the gospel. This was enough for Paul. More work is the working Christian’ s reward. 2. In his use of God’ s promises. He makes them a spur to effort, and not an excuse for his own slackness and delay. The same promise of God which forbids us to worry commands us to work. 3. In his use of present opportunities. Paul, while he had that great mission to Rome on his heart and in his eye, did not fail to do all the good he could on the way. The ship in which he sailed was a small parish, and he looked after it well. And it was a hard parish--that wet, foul, crowded, half-mutinous ship. Ministers who think themselves too large for small parishes God will think too small for large ones. He has no use at Rome for men who are too fine to gather sticks and teach barbarians at Malta, or who cannot compel respect for their religious manliness even on a dirty ship, in dreary storms, with a cross, discouraged, heathen crew. (A. Mitchell, D. D.)Paul at Rome I. Why did Paul visit Rome?1. Because God willed it (Acts 9:15; Acts 23:11). 2. But Providence is always correlated with individual choice. (1) Paul was anxious for his fellow Christians exposed to the dangers of that proud centre of paganism (Romans 1:11). (2) Paul knew the value of Rome as a strategic point, in the work of bringing the world to Christ. Jerusalem and Rome were the centres from which went out the world’ s transforming forces--the one the home of Divine government; in the other, the god of this world was enthroned. Resting his two hands upon them, he would sway the whole world to the foot of the cross. It is also interesting and instructive to notice how the strong arm of paganism, in its stability and justice, was Paul’ s refuge from the murderous intent of the Jews. As God raised up Cyrus, so he raised up the Caesars; and in Paul appealing to Caesar we have an instance of the service rendered by the enemies of the gospel to its thorough establishment. II. When was Paul at Rome? He arrived in the spring of A.D. 61, and he “ dwelt two whole years in his own hired house.” Evidently when those two years had been completed Paul was still in active labours, or his beheading would have been mentioned. In this abrupt ending of the inspired account we have conclusive proof that the Church is to live, not mainly by the light of her history, however privileged, but in the presence and strength of Him who said, “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” III. How was Paul employed when at Rome? What could he do, a prisoner constantly chained by the hand to a Roman soldier (Ephesians 6:20)?1. Despite the weariness of his journey by sea and by land, he allowed only three days to pass before he called the chief brethren of the Jews together, explained his position, reaffirmed his loyalty to the hope of Israel, and held a further meeting with a somewhat disappointing result. 2. As “ the care of all the churches” still pressed upon him, letters were written to Philippi, Colossae, Ephesus, and to Philemon. 3. Then came the long-looked-for trial, and as Roman justice was not yet dead, the imperial verdict brought an acquittal. 4. Thus released, in the spring of A.D. 63, for five years to come, his hands, freed from fetters, were eager in the work of his Master. 5. In the spring of A.D. 68, he is again a prisoner at Rome, from which he wrote one more epistle (the second) to Timothy, whom he summons, bidding him use all “ diligence to come before winter.” He needs the cloke and parchments. What a suggestion of prison damps! Yet bodily weakness did not enfeeble the pure flame of his intellect and soul. The parchments were probably copies of the Old Testament, and possibly some of his own inspired epistles. 6. On a summer day--May or June A.D. 68--a sword glistens for a moment in the sunlight, and then that form, worn by weary marches, by frequent stoning, by cruel stripes, by shipwreck, by fastings, by repeated incarceration, is at rest. (S. L. B. Spears.)St. Paul at Rome I. What a world of thought is opened when we think of St. Paul and Rome together! The first is among the most prominent characters in God’ s history of the world; the second is a representative of the might and majesty of earthly dominion. There is moral beauty on one side, material grandeur on the other. The spiritual teacher shows us what goodness could do, witnessing for God in the midst of an evil world; the conquering nation, aiming at universal empire, shows us what could be accomplished by strong wills and daring enterprise, combined with favouring opportunities and political sagacity of the highest kind. We hear of Rome, and think at once of crushing power, well symbolised by the beast which Daniel saw, “ exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, which devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet.” We hear of St. Paul, and think at once of a suffering man, beset by enemies and persecutors, yet in his feebleness, with no weapons but truth and charity, casting down many a stronghold, and winning blessed triumphs over the powers of this world and the powers of darkness. He entered Rome a prisoner. Its streets were busy with life; citizens were abroad on business or pleasure. In that vast assemblage of untold multitudes human society would be presented in all its various aspects, from the patrician who had a hundred slaves drudging in his halls, to the captive soldier who had walked in procession behind some general’ s car of triumph, and might soon be called to make sport for the populace, while he fought for his life against fearful odds. Along those peopled highways St. Paul would travel, and look around him at all that was new and wonderful, not like one who came to feed an eager curiosity, but with the inward feeling that God hath sent him thither; and that there, among those teeming multitudes, were some whom God’ s word might reach. There was nothing of fear, we are sure, and nothing, probably, of sadness, in his countenance as he paced those endless streets. He came charged with a message from the King of kings. II. Little does man’ s judgment, as the tide of events rolls on, accord with God’ s. The first have become last, and the last first, since then. Nero has gone down to his grave with shame. And what is proud Rome itself? A city of ruins. And if we ask where her successor is to be found, we can name no other than London; and if the stranger who catches a first glimpse of its distant outline, asks what is the dome that towers over every meaner edifice, the answer itself marks the strange revolution of which I have been speaking--the lifting up of some, the casting down of others. Never let us think that contrasts of this kind are things of the past only. How little, often, are our great men, and how great our little men! What base, earthly, mammon-loving selfishness is seen in high places, and what heroic virtues are found often among those who drudge for a bare living. III. Mark the diligence and promptitude of the apostle in his new sphere of action (verses 17-24).1. For two whole years, which had elapsed when the history was finished, St. Paul’ s preaching work was continued. He was bound, but not silenced; and so little jealous, at this period, were Nero or his officers of any rival creed that the man who said that other religions were lies, and that only by the name of Christ could men be saved, spake “ with all confidence, no man forbidding him,” and with much success. So “ the kingdom of God,” often, “ cometh not with observation.” Thus the wheat groweth while men sleep. It was not strange that St. Paul should be brought to Rome; but, assuredly, we should not have expected that he would be brought thither in chains, and then have liberty to preach to all comers. Had he been at large, his zeal might have prompted him to preach in the Forum, as it prompted him to preach on Mars’ hill. In that case, short work might have been made with this troubler of the peace of Rome; but, as God ordered it, His servant was guarded without being positively secluded. His hired house was his castle, and it was kept by one of Caesar’ s soldiers, and numbers resorted thither from day to day; and soon, in the very household of the emperor, some were found who became obedient to the faith. Never let us think that nothing can be done for Christ but in some way that shall fix upon us the gaze of our fellow men. Godly zeal need not stand upon the public highways, nor lift its voice among the throng; it may love the shady nook, and work effectually in some secluded sphere. Only let us not plead modesty when our real feeling is deadness of heart towards spiritual things, and the reason why nothing is ever attempted for God is just this--that we are sinfully pleased and contented with the world as it is. 2. But Paul’ s spoken words in Rome are for the most part lost. Other words, however, are recorded, which shall never perish. Read the Epistles to the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, and think what a treasure that was for the Church of his day, and ours to gain from his captivity. How would the distant brethren be stirred up to holy zeal and diligence when the words of so brave a captain charged them to be “ strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might!” How would some learn to bear their crosses when, after years of captivity, while he longed to be astir, yet was willing, if God so willed it, to be “ an ambassador in bonds,” they received the welcome letter, and met with those comforting words, “ I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content;” “ I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me!” (J. Hampton Gurney, M. A.)Paul at Rome Our study is the study of a single character. I. Paul the prisoner. Captivity was to Paul nothing new. He had been “ in chains oft.” He had just come out of a long bondage at Caesarea. We must note the unswerving faith of the prisoner. Doubt sometimes gets into the heart of the Christian. Environment will have its effect. And many, applying the inductive method to an oppressed and harassed life, conclude: No God; or a God who is ignorant; or a God who does not care. Others interpret obstruction as a providential closing of a chosen way, and turn aside to easier paths. But with Paul doubt had no chance. He knew that he was an apostle not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father. No one could convince him that he was not called to preach the gospel of the Crucified. And in all the events of his life, however mysterious, he saw the moving of a Divine hand. For Paul the prisoner, then, there was no fainting, no failure of faith, no shifting of his convictions, no trimming of his message. “ For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” That hope, as Paul saw it, was the living and dying Jesus. There was another chain which bound Paul. It was the invisible chain of love which linked him to his Lord. The chain on his wrist was a symbol of captivity. The chain on his heart was a token of freedom. II. The prisoner as a preacher. Doubtless his preaching began with the first guard to whom he was bound. But his public preaching seems to have begun with this appointed meeting. The substance of his message is compressed into the twenty-third verse, though we need to put with this the last two verses of the lesson. The kingdom of God, that was his theme. He preached it, we may be sure, with all the energy of his soul. They were not abstract ideas hard to be grasped which he put before them, but truths vitalised with the life of the incarnate God. The kingdom of God was no new invention. Its foundations had been laid long before the birth of the Babe. He had come to reveal to men the nature of God and the eternal principles on which the kingdom should be builded. It was Paul’ s high mission to connect old systems with new. So he goes back to Moses and the prophets. His theme was the sublimest which ever gained possession of the mind of man, but it was by no means easy to overcome the prejudices which had been growing and strengthening for generations. From morning until evening the work went on. Here was the preacher, right in the heart of the Roman capital, the centre of earthly power. But the resplendent name of Rome wrought no spell on Paul. His thought was busy with the splendour of a kingdom which should be universe-wide and eternity-long. III. The prisoner as a prophet. Prophecy in its narrower range is foretelling; in its wider range it is teaching. To preach Jesus was a high privilege to Paul in prison. But he was granted a privilege infinitely higher than that. Paul thanked God for his chains. Many of his hearers thanked God for his chains. And we of today are blind and dumb and our heart is waxed gross if we do not thank God for the chains of Paul. Some of the sublimest truths of revelation are ours because the chains were his. Here was the mysterious Providence through which God worked out the fulfilment of His plan for a completed revelation. Four of the immortal Epistles of Paul were written at just this time. (J. H. Masom.)Paul at Rome I. We see Paul preparing the ground for his work.1. He began, in his last efforts as in his first, with the Jews. He was one of them and understood them. They were at least part way to Christianity because they believed in the true God. But in their case, as in every man’ s, opportunity does not settle destiny, but rather the action of man’ s will upon opportunity. 2. Conciliation characterised Paul’ s approach to his own nation. He did not know what rumours concerning him might have come across the sea, so he felt it necessary to begin with a personal explanation and defence. Paul was not a scheming sophist who used a shrewd tact wherever he went simply to gain a hearing, concealing his antecedents and real character. Candour was the very soul of his being. 3. Prejudice at once confronted him. They probably told the truth when they said they had had no communication concerning Paul with the men of Judaea (verse 21). But they knew more probably than they said concerning Christianity. There was a Christian Church in Rome of some years’ standing. That they had no relations with it shows they were hostile to it. The sneering generality concerning Christianity’ s ill-repute was more definite in their minds than they cared to have Paul guess. 4. Hardness of heart is thus brought to view again as the condition of the Jews before the preaching of Paul. II. The first meeting, which Paul had thus tried to use to prepare the way pleasantly for a plain Christian talk, was followed by a second, which Paul used for the presentation of the gospel.1. His doctrine is set before them in unmistakable form. He wishes to conciliate them, but he must tell them the plain truth. (1) The kingdom of God is the subject of his testimony. (2) Jesus was set forth as the centre of this kingdom in Paul’ s address (verse 23). To understand it is to understand Him, and vice versa. Christ is interpreted to us by our study of the meaning of the kingdom of God. (3) The Scriptures formed the foundation of Paul’ s argument with these Jews (verse 23). 2. The reception of Paul’ s address is chronicled (verses 23, 24). (1) There was interest evidently, for they stayed to listen “ from morning to evening.” (2) The gospel now as always acted in two ways--it was a savour of life or a savour of death. “ Some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved” (verse 24). The magnet draws or it does not draw. There is no third possibility. 3. Paul’ s warning (verses 26, 27). They all departed. The gospel had not conquered them as a company, though some believed. Paul makes one more attempt to reach them as they go, using the words of their well-known Scriptures. (1) These were words for them to remember. (2) These were harsh words. Paul had reasoned quietly and in a conciliatory way, without success, humanly speaking. Severity remained to him and he employed it. Harsh as they were, they were really beneficent. So Paul wished they might be to his Jewish auditors. It is no kindness to withhold from men the knowledge of the penalty of unbelief. (3) Paul warns the Jews that God will pass them by and give His salvation to the Gentiles if they do not accept it (verse 29). III. Paul’ s life at Rome is described.1. He had-- (1) A considerable amount of freedom (verse 30). 2. Misfortune was thus turned into good fortune (see Philippians 1:12-18). IV. We have here the conclusion of the Book of Acts. It has sometimes been called abrupt. But--1. The gospel is shown to have been preached apostolically from Jerusalem to Rome. Representatively the whole world had been evangelised. The type was complete of the actual proclamation of the Cross to all the nations. This is the object of the Acts. The book is not a life of Paul. 2. The cause is everything, the instrument is nothing. Rome hears about Jesus Christ. No matter about Paul. V. Closing thoughts.1. The kingdom is infinitely greater than any who serve it. The message is more than the messenger. Let us lift up the Cross and hide ourselves. 2. The gospel is world-conquering. Rome hears and heeds not. But she shall heed yet. 3. Blessed are those who, with Paul, have a share, however humble, in spreading the kingdom of God. Is life worth living? A thousand times yes, when spent in this glorious service. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)Paul at Rome This brief summary of Luke is significant, however, for it reveals the man marching up to the gates of martyrdom at Rome with the same steady step and magnificent courage with which he faced Corinth and Ephesus and Jerusalem, only as the candle gets nearer the socket the flame lifts higher and the light grows brighter. We note some clear lessons which gather about this Roman visit. I. It prints large the factor of Providence in all Christian work and life. Providence is “ a seeing before” and the consequent care and control over life and eveners which this Divine prevision makes possible. A doctrine, therefore, that carries the might-giving truth that the world in all its activities and powers is interpenetrated with a great, single, Divine plan which, in ordinary and extraordinary ways, is being wrought out under a plan which is not only indivisible but universal, reaching every force in nature, every event in history, and following the lives of men from the beginning to the end. But it is the unusual and the notable experience that fastens the mind upon this great omnipresent law of Divine superintendence in the affairs of men, and so we come out into the recognition and comfort of this law in all lives and in all Christian work. Seldom, however, is this factor of Providence so clearly seen as in this Roman visit of St. Paul. The great ambition of his life--to preach the gospel in the capital of the world--seemed doomed to disappointment, when, suddenly, through agencies unthought of, Paul, the prisoner, is transferred to Rome, where his residence for two years is under the protection of the empire against the bitter assaults of his countrymen and the violence of his enemies. Such privilege and care and his final acquittal before the court of the emperor reveal not only a hand of iron in a velvet glove, but that ever and always there “ standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.” This lesson of God’ s providence and presence is timely for the nineteenth century of the Christian faith. II. This Roman visit also reveals the power of chained hands and lives in their possibilities of Christian service. This spectacle of Paul, chained by his right hand to the left arm of a Roman soldier--a captive in his own lodgings--suggests a release from all his missionary obligations and the overthrow of all his plans. For what can such an one do against the paganism of Rome? “ Now I would have you know, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel; so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest; and that most of the brethren in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear.” What a testimony to that factor of Providence in Christian work, whereby the obstacles of life become the forwarding agents of God’ s truth! We all know sick rooms that are the spiritual clearing houses for the neighbourhood in which they are; for when the heart is filled with the love of God and the brotherhood of man there will be not only songs in the night watches, but ceaseless and beneficent ministries by day. Are we bound with a chained or prisoned with the limitations of life? Be of good cheer; it may be for the larger hope of the world, and it can be for the glory of God. III. Finally, this Roman visit reveals the tremendous odds against which the Christian faith is matched in the conquest of the Roman empire. (William H. Davis.)Paul at Rome I. In the fact of his being at Rome, a desire and purpose long cherished was accomplished.1. That desire was to preach the gospel there, and was in accordance with a general plan. The Saviour commanded His apostles to begin at Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47), the place in which was concentrated more of learning, wealth, and power than in all Palestine. Then, as now, great cities were centres of influence, and as that influence was mostly evil, it was important that they should be made centres of light. There was a tendency, therefore, always towards Rome. Before Paul went there the gospel had been carried there, and a church had been founded. The closing chapter of Romans contains numerous salutations to its members, and it is remarkable that a large number consisted of those who had been in some way connected with Paul (Romans 16:3-15). Paul, too, had sent to that church one of the most important of all his epistles. 2. The accomplishment of this desire was brought about in a manner which he did not anticipate. He had hoped to take Rome on his way in the carrying out of another purpose (Romans 15:24); but still he was in Rome, and he had the opportunity which he had desired. In like manner, often, our wishes are accomplished, and our prayers heard, in a manner altogether different from what we should have chosen, and in a way which leads us through many trials; but still the prayer is heard, and the desire is granted. II. The nature of Paul’ s employments in Rome. Many good men, in such circumstances would have felt that there was nothing for them but patiently to await and prepare for their trial. What could Paul now do in regard to the great purpose of his life? The field of usefulness which he saw open to him pertained to--1. The Church. With not a few members of that church he had been elsewhere acquainted, and they would regard him with an interest which they would feel for no other man, and it was the natural prompting of affection which led them to go out to meet him (verse 15), and to show him the highest honour. Paul found himself at home in their midst; and could cooperate with them in diffusing the gospel (Philippians 1:14). 2. His own countrymen. His conduct in seeking the earliest opportunity to lay his case before them, and his frank statement that he had nothing to accuse his own nation of (verse 19), their honest avowal that they had not been prejudiced against him, and their willingness to learn his views, evince a high degree of sincerity on both sides, and might have promised the most happy results from the interview. But the result was as elsewhere--a part believed, a part blasphemed, a few were converted. To them, therefore, Paul uttered language such he had elsewhere used (verse 28, cf. Acts 13:40). 3. The Roman people as such. His advantages for acting on such a population were indeed few. He could not occupy the Forum as he had Mars’ hill; he had no direct access to Caesar’ s palace. He could only preach to those who came to his own hired house (Acts 28:30-31). Yet his influence was felt more or less in the very place where he would most desire that it should be felt (Philippians 1:12-13; Philippians 4:22). 4. The Churches. Four of his letters--that to Philemon, that to the Colossians, that to the Ephesians, and that to the Philippians--were written while he was awaiting his trial. III. The spirit which he manifested. Note--1. His forbearance towards those who had wronged him (verse 19). We may advert here, also, to his kind feelings towards those who had perverted his doctrines, and had sought to propagate their own views, taking advantage of the fact that, being a prisoner, he could not openly counteract their statements (Philippians 1:16-18). 2. The manner in which he turned all that had occurred to good account. He saw the hand of God in it all, and felt assured that events, apparently most disastrous, had been overruled to the promotion of Christianity. (A. Barnes, D. D.)Panel’ s visitors at Rome All who took an interest in Christianity in Rome, both Jews and Gentiles, gathered to him. Perhaps there was not a day of the two years of his imprisonment but he had such visitors. The Roman Christians learned to go to that room as to an oracle or shrine. Many a Christian teacher got his sword sharpened there; and new energy began to diffuse itself through the Christian circles of the city. Many an anxious father brought his son, many a friend his friend, hoping that a word from the apostle’ s lips might waken the sleeping conscience. Many a wanderer, stumbling in there by chance, came out a new man. Such an one was Onesimus, a slave from Colossae, who arrived in Rome as a runaway, but was sent hack to his Christian master, Philemon, no longer as a slave, but as a brother beloved. Still more interesting visitors came. At all periods of his life he exercised strong fascination over young men. They were attracted by the manly soul within him, in which they found sympathy with their aspiration or inspiration for the noblest work. These youthful friends, who were scattered over the world in the work of Christ, flocked to him at Rome. Timothy and Luke, Mark and Aristarchus, Tychicus and Epaphras, and many more came, to drink afresh at the well of his ever-springing wisdom and earnestness. And he sent them forth again to carry messages to his churches, or bring him news of their condition. Of his spiritual children in the distance he never ceased to think. Daily he was wandering in imagination among the glens of Galatia and along the shores of Asia and Greece; every night he was praying for the Christians of Antioch and Ephesus, of Philippi and Thessalonica and Corinth. Nor were gratifying proofs a wanting that they were remembering him. Now and then there would appear in his lodging a deputy from some distant church, bringing the greetings of his converts or, perhaps, a contribution to meet his temporal wants, or craving his decision on some point of doctrine or practice about which difficulty had arisen. These messengers were not sent empty away: they carried warm-hearted messages or golden words of counsel from their apostolic friend. Some of them carried far more. When Epaphroditus, a deputy from the church at Philippi, which had sent to their dear father in Christ an offering of love, was returning home, Paul sent with him, in acknowledgment of their kindness, the Epistle to the Philippians, the most beautiful of all his letters, in which he lays bare his very heart and every sentence glows with love more tender than a woman’ s. When the slave Onesimus was sent back to Colossae, he received as the branch of peace to offer to his master the exquisite little Epistle to Philemon, a priceless monument of Christian courtesy. He carried, too, a letter addressed to the church of the town in which his master lived, the Epistle to the Colossians. (J. Stalker, D. D.)The new sphere The words are connected with a wonderful chapter of Providence in the history of the apostle. There is also an application of its lessons to modern life. I. The accomplishment of a long-cherished purpose. His heart had been set on visiting the Imperial city from an early date in his ministry. Why? His ambition was to comfort and strengthen the little company of believers in Christ. He recognised in Rome the great heart of the world, and was eager to take that for Christ. He never wasted his strength in places of small importance. He felt the importance and use of great cities. He had received the gospel in trust for his fellow men, and he must redeem that obligation in the most effectual manner. God opens to those faithful in the least the widest spheres of usefulness. II. Paul’ s purpose was not attained in the way in which he expected it would be realised. The Epistle to the Romans shows that he never expected to enter the imperial city as a prisoner. We set our hearts on some enterprise or some post of usefulness, and get it ultimately, but accompanied by something else of which we had no thought. It comes in a way which might sink us in despair. Why is this? It is to keep us all through our efforts at the feet of Jesus, and to impel us to depend entirely on Him. All through Paul’ s difficulties and trials God had been near him, and at each crisis had shown him special favour. When our opportunity comes it appears in a way to humble us in our own estimation and to increase our trust in Divine wisdom and love. III. While Paul’ s entrance into Rome was not quite what he expected, it really accomplished all he desired (Philippians 1:12-14). He had not all the opportunities he hoped and desired, but he did not commit the mistake of doing nothing. He knew the men then in the Praetorium might some day receive orders to go into Parthia, Germany, or Britain, and he endeavoured to enable them to act as missionaries, and carry the gospel wherever they went. Thus he spoke to each soldier chained to him, and thus was begun that great work which went on until the Thundering Legion became as famous in the martial annals of Rome as Havelock and his saints during the Indian Mutiny. Conclusion: there is a lesson of instruction and encouragement. God is answering our prayers when we think He is blighting our prospects. If we will but use our opportunities, we may find that our influence has gone round the globe with blessing. In Longfellow’ s poem the arrow and song were found again as they were sent out. But nobody can tell the history of impulses given, changes wrought, work of self-sacrifice and devotion suggested by fitting words dropped into human minds and human hearts. Let the struggling struggle on. Rome, or something better, will be reached at last. The Master never mocks us when He answers our requests. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)With a soldier that kept him.--Paul watched Not much privacy there. The constant presence of one whom we love may be very pleasant. A child seldom wants to be alone. There are friends who are never so contented apart as together. But to be always under the eye of an enemy, or of one who watches us with suspicion, is intolerable. A young man of upright character, in the service of a great corporation, found himself--as was every other of the employees--shadowed by a detective, after a robbery from the office of the company. Wherever he went he was watched, although quietly, and at a distance. He would hurry along the crowded street in the hope of getting out from under that eye; but when he looked back or across the way, he would find he had not escaped it. As he left his home in the morning, he saw that he was still under surveillance. When he looked out from the window of his darkened room before retiring, he would catch a glimpse, by the street lamp, of the man who never deserted him. The consciousness of this unfailing companionship became torture. He went to the superintendent of the company, and told him that while he was innocent of any wrong-doing, and was willing to be put to any fair test, he could not stand being always watched in this way. It was more than human nature could bear. No one of us is ever alone. There is an eye always on us (see Psalms 139:7-12). Is it the eye of an enemy, or of a friend? Are we under the constant watch of One whom we love and trust, or of One against whom we have offended, and from whose presence we have reason to shrink? Acts 28:17-22 After three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together.Paul’ s first conference with the Jewish chiefs Note-- I. His address. In justifying himself he states--1. That his captivity was not due to any crime against Israel or its religious customs. 2. That he had been compelled to appeal to Caesar through the protest of the Jews against his liberation, although the Roman authorities judged that liberation to be just. 3. That his object in appealing to Caesar was not to bring any charge against the Jews, but simply for his own protection. 4. That it was only on account of the Messianic hope of Israel that he was a prisoner and wished to have an interview with them. II. Their reply. Note--1. Their avowal of ignorance of the whole matter. This may seem strange, but it must be remembered that intercourse between Rome and Judaea was frequently interrupted by the disorders of the times. 2. Their desire for information respecting the unpopular sect. Justin Martyr says: “ The Jews of Jerusalem sent messengers to their brethren in every part of the world to prejudice them against the disciples of Christ.” These men had heard of the sect, but every word that came to their ears was loaded with reproach. This was what Simeon had predicted. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul’ s farewell to the Jews 1. A last testimony to his innocence (Acts 28:17-20).2. A last confession of Jesus as the Messiah (Acts 28:23).3. A last effusion of love towards his people (Acts 28:17; Acts 28:19-20).4. A last stroke of the hammer on hardened hearts (Acts 28:25-28). (K. Gerok.) Acts 28:20 For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.The chain of Paul 1. A disgraceful monument for his blinded people.2. An honourable sign for the faithful servant of God.3. A precious comfort for all who suffer on account of the truth. (K. Gerok.)The chain and the hope I. The chain.1. It was painful to flesh and blood.2. It involved no disgrace to Paul.3. It manifested the hatred of the Jews to Christ.4. While Paul wore it he was saved, as a Roman prisoner, from the murderous intentions of his enemies. II. The hope. It was--1. The Scriptural and Christian realisation of the expectation of the Jews.2. The sustaining motive of his own life.3. The chief source of comfort to his heart. Learn:1. You may have bonds, affliction, poverty, etc.2. Have you a good hope? (Biblical Museum.)The chain and the hope I. The chain. This was the most immediately noticeable thing about the apostle. He was ever conscious of it. He lifted it as he spoke. He refers often to his bonds. As a Roman citizen, he felt the indignity of wearing them. As a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, he rejoiced in them. His chain was a hindrance--1. To his work among the Jews. He felt obliged to explain why he came to them in fetters. He spoke with great carefulness, and yet with the deepest earnestness, for he well knew that in the eyes of the Jews, let him plead as he would, that chain, and the Roman guard to whom its other end was locked, made a most powerful argument against him and the gospel. 2. To his work as the apostle to the Gentiles. He was here in the centre of the pagan world. He had seen the paganism of Antioch and Ephesus and Athens and Corinth. It had made his heart sink. It is touching to read the effect upon his heavy heart of the coming to him of the little delegation of Christians from Rome. “ He thanked God and took courage.” How much underlies here! Paul was reminded that, notwithstanding all obstacles, Christianity had succeeded in planting itself even in Rome. But now, arrived in the capital, how his despondency must have returned upon him. He gained such a view as he had never had of the wealth and power and majesty of the pagan world. And where were the Christian forces to array against this omnipotence of the world? A little hidden Church, and a man with a chain. II. The hope. Paul reminded his visitors of the Messianic hope.1. It was the hope of Israel. As he spoke of it to King Agrippa, it was “ the hope of the promise of God made to the fathers,” etc. The only difference was that they looked for His first coming, whereas Paul believed that He had come once, and so was looking for His second coming and the completed redemption of Israel. 2. The hope of the world. There is no other hope for a sinful man or a sinful world; but in the Cross is hope. It is the world’ s light in darkness. III. The chain and the hope. Let us not look at the hope apart from the chain, or at the chain apart from the hope.1. Paul sought to be led by the Spirit. Whithersoever He should direct, the servant of the Lord would go. The Spirit had led him to his chain, which fact gave him a peculiar feeling. His chain was sacred. He was the prisoner of the Lord. The Roman blacksmith had clinched the rivets; but an unseen presence had superintended the work. Was he not, then, in the best possible place to declare his message of hope--in Caesarea, on shipboard, in Rome? He who binds the messenger releases the message, for the Word of the Lord is not bound. 2. It is the hope that makes the chain bearable and serviceable. Paul had proved that a man chained can do as much as he can unchained, if he is the Lord’ s prisoner. His chain had not narrowed his influence on shipboard. So soon, at Rome, he was already at work. If he could mot go to others, they could come to him. Thus he was sure of at least one man, day and night, to whom he could hold up Christ as the hope of the Roman as well as the Jew. He improved the opportunity to such purpose that his bonds fell out to the furtherance of the gospel. Blessed bonds, when the Lord had bound him. 3. If we only have the hope of the gospel, and make it our purpose in life to declare it, it will matter very little to us that we are led sometimes to chains. Is it not a privilege if we may lift a chain and testify, “ For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain” ? Conclusion:1. The world is enchained by sin, and doomed to chains of darkness.2. In Christ is the true hope for men in sin.3. That sinners in chains may be delivered, Christians must be willing to be in chains. (G. R. Leavitt.) Acts 28:23-28 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging. Paul’ s second conference with the Jews Note-- I. The interesting character of his preaching. It was--1. Evangelical. His theme was the “ kingdom of God” --the reign of the Messiah as predicted by the prophets. Christ here, as everywhere, was his grand subject. 2. Earnest. He “ expounded,” “ testified,” “ persuaded” from morning to evening. II. The effect of his preaching (Acts 28:24). They were different, which is such a common occurrence as to excite no wonder. Even the discourses of Christ were far from commanding uniform impressions. This diversity may be accounted for without calling in the unscriptural doctrine of the partiality of the Divine influence. Man’ s power to think upon the subject presented to him or not, to think upon it in this aspect or that, with this intention or that, is sufficient to explain the diversity. III. The terrible warning of his preaching (Acts 28:26-27). This must not be regarded as teaching that God exerts any influence to morally blind and stupefy men. Such a work would be--1. Unnecessary. Men are already in that condition. 2. Incompatible with the Divine character. His holiness and love render such a work eternally impossible. 3. Opposed to the whole tenor of Scripture. “ Let no man say when he is tempted, he is tempted of God.” 4. Denied by universal consciousness. No sinner ever felt that the Creator exerted any influence in making him sinful. On the contrary, universal conscience charges sin on the sinner. All that the passage teaches is-- (1) That men may fail into an unconvertible moral condition. They may become so blind, insensitive, and obdurate, as to exclude all hope of recovery. (2) That the ministry of Divine truth may promote this condition. As the heart of Pharaoh grew hard under the ministry of Moses, the hearts of thousands in every age are hardened under the ministry of the gospel, which is either a savour of life unto life or of death unto death. (3) That a ministry that may fail with some will succeed with others. This comes out of Paul’ s warning, “ Be it known unto you,” etc. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Paul’ s address to the Jews at Rome 1. Paul had not to make a personal defence, as at Jerusalem and Caesarea. He had to speak of the hope of Israel. It was a subject which had occupied his thoughts for many years, and which he had thoroughly mastered. So he entered on a full exposition of the writings to which all his hearers attached sacred authority. 2. But we find to our regret that St. Luke has not reported the address, just as he has left our Lord’ s on the same subject unreported (Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44-46.) This seems to indicate that God did not wish His Church to be furnished once for all with an authorised interpretation of Scripture which should supersede study of the holy oracles by successive generations of Christian scholars. This consideration bears severely on the claim of authority which is made for the voice of tradition and of the Church as entitled to fix the sense of Holy Writ. If it was right to deprive the early Church of any exposition of the Old Testament which was delivered by the Lord Jesus, or by St. Paul, how can it be maintained that an authorised interpretation is good and necessary now? So saying, we do not disparage all traditional interpretation or deny the respect due to Christian antiquity. But neither ancient fathers nor modern clergy have a right to claim such authority for their expositions. 3. Though we have not St. Paul’ s speech, we know the great themes on which he spoke while supporting all his statements from Moses and the prophets. I. He “ testified the kingdom of God” now and during the “ two whole years” of his imprisonment.1. He was at Rome, the seat of empire. But the spirit of the apostle occupied itself far more with thoughts of a greater kingdom--one which makes very little of the things on which the Roman Empire rested, but very much of “ righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Caesar’ s kingdom was soon to dwindle, but the kingdom of God was to extend to “ regions Caesar never knew.” It was easy for St. Paul to show to his Jewish audience that the prophets had foretold such a kingdom--a reign of God over men, not in little Palestine only, but in every region under heaven. 2. This kingdom the apostle testified and preached. He announced that already it was among men. II. He persuaded his hearers “ concerning Jesus,” and we can easily conjecture the course which the apostle followed. He showed from the Scriptures, as at other times, that the Messiah was destined to be rejected and slain, and thereafter to be raised from the dead. Then he told how all this was fulfilled in Jesus, who was consequently exalted as Lord and Christ. So the earnest apostle taught the livelong day in that primitive St. Paul’ s cathedral--“ his own hired house” ; and the day’ s labour was not in vain. Some of the Jews were persuaded, and cast in their lot with the Christians. But some were not convinced; and in the evening the assembly broke up with discordant views and feelings, not, however, before the apostle pronounced a heavy reproof on the blindness of the Jews, recognising that Israel was surpassing all its former inveteracy by closing its eyes and hardening its heart against the gospel of Christ. The woe he pronounced on his nation has now lasted more than eighteen hundred years. So far as Judaism is religious now, it is a dry, sapless thing, pervaded by a tone of monotony and melancholy, with no power or desire to propagate itself. But, to a large extent, it is an irreligious and unspiritual thing in the modern world--its heart made gross by worldliness, and its influence closely allied with the growth of rationalism. A sad sight this after St: Paul’ s all-day teaching--hearers going hardened away! A rather mournful close to our study of the apostolic speeches! But it really is a sight which too probably the angels see at the close of every public discourse on the truth of the gospel. (D. Fraser, D. D.)He expounded and testified the kingdom of God.--The apostolic ministry I. Its subjects.1. The kingdom of God--the fulfilment of the Old Testament theocratic hopes. This kingdom-- (1) Is spiritual, and must be distinguished from its external manifestations. It would still exist were its buildings, rites, etc., to perish. (2) Rests on the Messiah, who is its sole sovereign, and is invested with all legislative and administrative power. (3) Has conditions which it enforces on all its subjects. The external condition under the Old Testament was circumcision, under the New baptism; but under both the spiritual condition is faith. 2. Jesus. Note that while Paul expounded and testified concerning the kingdom, he persuaded concerning the King. Christ was not merely proposed doctrinally, but urged on their heartfelt acceptance as Saviour and Lord. This persuasion is necessary in view of the-- (1) Sceptical.(2) The indifferent.(3) The worldly.(4) The young.(5) The despondent. 3. Both as resting on the law and the prophets. He reasoned this out that their faith might rest, not on the wisdom of man, but on the Word of God. The Scriptures are the only rule of faith and conduct. II. Its effects.1. Believing, some entered into the enjoyment of the privileges of the gospel; and others, not believing, continued in the guilt of their sin. 2. Believing, some admitted the truth and grace of God, and passed into a regenerate state; others, not believing, continued under the dominion of carnal passions. 3. Believing, some possessed the power of obedience; others, not believing, continued in a state of moral incapacity. 4. Believing, some attached themselves to the kingdom of Christ and shared its glories; some, not believing, continued attached to those things that were waning away and perished with them. (J. Dixon, D. D.)From morning to evening.--Christian earnestness If a subject has a man’ s heart, he never tires of talking about it. If his soul is bent on convincing others of its truth, he will take time for his work. Merchants will talk all day long about buying and selling; so will politicians about politics. Many a lawyer gives more than one day to his argument in a single lawsuit. Yet how rarely do men give an entire day to the serious consideration of religious truth. It would seem, however, as if one day were not too long a time for the settling of a question which involves the interests of eternity. Paul evidently was of that opinion. So were some of the Jews who came to his lodgings at Rome. Were they mistaken? (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.--The gospel at Rome I. The gospel itself prepares us for its own disappointment. It is at least remarkable that a religion which speaks so authoritatively, and claims a Divine origin, should yet declare itself to be come into the world, not for triumph, but for division. We say of such a religion that at least it has taken the sting out of the argument from failure, and uttered a true prediction as to the degree and measure of its own success. Here, as elsewhere, we recognise that transparent truthfulness which is one of the distinctive badges of the pure original gospel. II. On the other hand, it cannot be said that Christianity regards with indifference this chequered result. Some represent the gospel simply as an offer, and speak and act as though it were a good thing to be a Christian if you can, but not a fatal loss to be incapable of that attainment. The gospel is the luxury of the few, not the necessity of all. But the gospel does not thus offer itself as for the equal alternative of acceptance or rejection; does not stand amongst men under the form of an inviting suppliant, having nothing but smiles and caresses wherewith to win the devotion of an admiring but thoughtless multitude. It predicts wrath as well as promises mercy: it misleads if there be not as really an everlasting punishment as a life eternal. The gospel is not indifferent, though it be distinctly prescient, as to this believing and believing not. III. When we strive to discover why one believes and another believes not; why that proof which is equal for all should convince one and fail with another; why it is that God’ s rain and God’ s sunshine fertilise this spot and leave that barren; we are in the midst at once of those secret things which belong to the Lord our God. But in the midst of many speculations there is one thing practical. I would ask each whether there is not a close connection between his faith and his life. There are indeed cases in which men of blameless lives, of honest endeavours after truth, nay, even of earnest prayers for the Divine teaching, cannot lay hold--or, worse still, have lost their hold--upon the distinctive revelations of the gospel. But these are cases which do not often occur in common life. They belong to the seclusion of learned study: perhaps that seclusion itself may more than half explain them. Perhaps, if these doubts had been early dragged into action; if they had been brought face to face with the stern realities of a poor man’ s cottage, still more of sorrow and death; even they might have been dissipated, and the theoretical doubter might have become a practical Christian. This rare case is not yours. You, if you answer the question truthfully, will say this: “ There is a connection in me between unbelief and sin. When I am neglecting duty, when I am yielding to some besetting temptation, then it is that I put from me the faith of Christ. In short, when I am not good, then it is that I believe not.” If there be this practical connection between faith and virtue, then we may at least understand how, for ourselves, not to believe is to be in peril, and to die unbelieving is to perish and to be condemned. IV. In the face of these differences we come more and more to rest, simply and trustingly, upon the declaration of scripture that faith itself is God’ s gift, the work of His Spirit, and commonly the direct answer to persevering prayer. We believe it to be at present impossible to state or to define to ourselves the logical coherence of the two fundamental doctrines of grace and responsibility. But, whatever may be the logical difficulty, there is little or no difficulty of practice or of the heart. If God gives, man must ask: if God promises to give to him that asks, he who asks not cannot complain if he has not. And thus, for all practical purposes, it is enough to rest the case here. I do not believe in unanswered prayers. I can understand a man’ s being kept waiting for a bright light and for an assured hope. But I do not believe in a man dying an unbeliever who has constantly and patiently prayed for faith. V. Even among professed Christians there are still believing men and unbelieving. When the Scripture says, “ Some believed,” etc., it does not speak of that sort of believing which consists only in an assent of the understanding. “ With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” It is not everyone who does that. Therefore it is still with us, as it was in the first days of the gospel, an anxious inquiry, Do we yet believe? If we do, we cannot sleep in indifference, we cannot rest in the world, we cannot live in sin. To believe is to see ourselves lost by nature, and redeemed by the blood of Christ. To believe is to live no longer to ourselves, but to Him who died for us and rose again. (Dean Vaughan.)The minister’ s stock taking The only proper way to calculate the results of our ministry is to have an account book ruled with two columns. On one side we must put down the some that believe not, and on the other the some that believe. We must not estimate the good that is done by the number of those--1. Who listen. Instead of its being of any advantage for the persons who have heard the gospel, but have not believed, it will rather increase their doom. 2. Who have been pleased with our ministry. When a man has to die, this shall give him no comfort. A sermon often does a man most good when it makes him most angry. 3. Who have been impressed with serious convictions. I. Under the best ministry the results will be diverse. Paul was a model preacher--1. As to matter. (1) There are some persons who greatly admire a doctrinal preacher. Mere appeals to the passions they do not care about; they want to have their minds enlightened. Well, a doctrinal preacher is an exceedingly useful man, and the apostle’ s discourses were full of the most important truth; but even under Paul there were some that believed not! (2) Some prefer an experimental preacher. But Paul was a perfect model in this respect. Be it so, and I can fully approve their choice. Yet even under him there were some that believed not. (3) Then there is the practical preacher, and some men greatly admire him. So do I if he urges holiness upon the people of God from evangelical motives. But who ever did this so well as Paul? Yet under him some believed not. 2. As to manner. (1) He was a bold preacher. He never feared the face of man. (2) He was an eloquent preacher. Perhaps the concluding part of the eighth chapter of the Romans is the most remarkable piece of human language ever known. (3) When occasion required, his thunders could make Felix tremble; and his persuasive appeals could wring confessions from Agrippa; but as a teacher in the Church of God he was proverbially plain spoken. He spoke like a child, and babes in grace were fed under his ministry as with pure milk. (4) Then the apostle was very affectionate. He loved the souls of men. He felt sometimes such a passionate longing to save souls, that he was almost ready to lose his own if he might but save others. “ Oh!” says one, “ I wish I sat under such a minister!” Yes, but I am not sure that you would be saved if you had Paul himself for a pastor, for with all his boldness, etc., some believed not. II. The two sorts of people, and the reason why some believed, and why some believed not.1. There were some that believed. (1) Shall I describe them? I will sketch one, and that will suffice for all. He dropped in one Sunday morning and listened; it did not attract his attention much; but all of a sudden the truth dropped right into his heart. He now listened with interest. Another sentence came, and another. He began to tremble. “ What must I do to be saved?” was the language that was in his heart. He went home into his chamber, and breathed out living desires after the living God. In the evening he went to the house of God again. It seemed as if the preacher prepared a sermon on purpose for him, and the great hammer of God broke his flinty heart, and he could not help feeling that there was no hope for him. He was very quiet that week; he could not go out with his friends to places of amusement as he had been accustomed to do. I do not know how long it was that this went on; in some cases it is only a few minutes, in others it is a long, long time. But eventually Christ was seen to be accepted cordially as his Saviour. He believed and went on his way rejoicing, From that day all that knew him could but marvel at the change. (2) Why did some believe? It was not any difference in the preacher, for the same preacher addressed both. It was not any difference in the sermon, for the same sermon was preached. It was not the power of persuasion, for there were some that were persuaded and some that were not by the very same address. I only know of one answer: Because God willed it. 2. There were some that believed not. (1) They are of different characters. Some have been brought up at a Sunday School, and have attended a place of worship all their lives; others spend their Sundays in dissipation or frivolity. Some try to quiet their conscience by pretending that they do not believe the Bible to be true; others assent to all the truths of revelation. Some that believe not are very moral; others are debauched and go very far astray. We must put you all down together. There are no third parties. You either do believe or you do not. (2) Why do you not believe? Some will be ready to say, “ Hear what contradictory doctrine is preached!” I cannot help it. The only reason why you do not believe in Christ is because you will not. It is not that you have not heard the gospel; nor because it is unworthy of your credence; nor because it does not deserve your faith; nor because you have never been aroused. The reason is contained in Christ’ s own words, “ Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” If your soul shall perish, it shall perish as suicide. “ O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.” Conclusion: I must close by dividing this house. Suppose this aisle to represent the great division, and that the some that believe had to stand on this side, and the some that do not believe on that side. There would soon be a change of seats. There would be a great number that would say, “ Well, I cannot go on this side; I dare not say I do believe in Christ. And yet I cannot go to the other side; let me stand here.” No, no; there are only two places, heaven and hell, and there are only two sorts of people, the righteous and the wicked. There is no neutral ground. Think not to halt between two opinions. Now will you do me this favour? I asked it once, and it was blessed to the conversion of several. Take a paper and pencil, and after you have honestly weighed your own condition, if you feel that you are not a believer write down “ Condemned,” and if you are a believer write down the word “ Forgiven.” Do it, even though you have to write down the word condemned. We lately received into Church fellowship a young man, who said, “ Sir, I wrote down the word condemned, and I looked at it; there it was; I had written it myself--‘ Condemned.’” As he looked the tears began to flow, and ere long he fled to Christ, put the paper in the fire, and wrote down “ Forgiven.” This young man was about the sixth who had been brought to the Lord in the same way. Remember you are either one or the other; you are either condemned or forgiven. Do not stand between the two. Let it be decided, and even if you are condemned today, there is hope yet. Whosoever believeth on Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The necessity of faith It makes no difference who is the preacher, or what or how long is his sermon--he cannot make his hearers believe him. The declaration of the truth is his duty; the accepting or rejecting of his message rests with them. We may warn a child of the danger of leaning out of a window, or of going on to thin ice; we may tell a young man of the peril of using intoxicating drinks, or of disregarding the laws of health in his eating, sleeping, or working; we may show plainly to an unwise parent the inevitable consequences of his neglect or mistraining of his children; but unless he whom we address believes us, our words are wasted, and our efforts are of no avail. In the pressing of any truth, we can only make sure of faithful preaching. The belief of the hearers is not for us to force. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.) Acts 28:26-27 Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand. Judicial hardness The passage from which the apostle quotes is Isaiah 6:1-13, where the prophet received a special commission and was forewarned that he would address his message to a hardened, unbelieving people--the effect of the message on the people’ s minds is described as if it were the express design of the message. It would be easy to adduce other examples, in which the prophets are said to do that which they predict. The passage is quoted--1. In Matthew 13:14, to illustrate the design of the parabolic mode of instruction which the Saviour adopted. By this application of the passage we learn that it not merely foretold the unbelief of the Jews, but its judicial consequence. Slighted privileges were to be diminished. Despised instructions were to be rendered more obscure (cf. Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10). 2. In John 12:37-41, where the Jews having, disregarded the miracles of Christ it is said, “ Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias had said again, He hath blinded their eyes.” It cannot mean that the prediction prevented their believing; but that it could not have been falsified by fact. Yet the additional idea of judicial abandonment seems to be conveyed. Not merely is the message, in just retribution, obscure; but the unbelieving mind is left to its perversity, which is equivalent to judicial hardening. 3. In Romans 11:7-8. There the unbelieving Jews are said to be “ blinded” ; and God is said to have “ given them the spirit of slumber.” Here we discover, also, the sentiment of judicial abandonment issuing in hardened unbelief. The text-- I. Describes the character of such as are the subjects of judicial hardness. Note--1. The examples of this sad and guilty state Chat we may learn what are its characteristics. (1) Take-- (a) The Israelites of the prophet’ s day. It was the lot of Isaiah to prophesy during the period of Israel’ s degeneracy. From the time of Solomon the worship of God had begun to be polluted by idolatry, which now had become prevalent. At this juncture Isaiah was raised up, but though his lips were touched with the living coal, his messages fell upon rebellious ears. Their hearts were hardened. The prophet retired, saying, “ Who hath believed our report?” At length the threatened judgment came; idolatrous Judah was carried captive into Assyria. (b) Pass on to the times of Jesus. Kings and prophets desired to see His day, and died without the sight. How hallowed was His ministry! how privileged were His auditors! Who could hear Him, and not be convinced? Alas! even from Him the people turned away in hardened unbelief, and then they crucified Him. (c) Next came the apostles with their offer of a full salvation, but many believed not. Their prejudices were inveterate. (d) The spirit Of the ancient Jews has descended upon their descendants (2 Corinthians 3:14-15; Romans 11:10). (2) After this examination of instances, we see the principal elements of judicial hardness. It is in one word--spiritual stupidity. While sufficiently perspicacious in regard to everything worldly, they were blind, and deaf, and insensible to Divine things. In characterising such a state of mind, I must point out-- (a) Its perversity. Evidence might amount to demonstration; they would not believe. (b) Its prejudice. They scarcely deigned to examine, because they had already formed their conclusion. (c) Its wilfulness. Though the gleamings of conviction might glance on their minds they would not yield to it. (d) Its infatuation. That which had been long, repeatedly, and resolutely rejected seemed at last unworthy of a moment’ s investigation. (e) Its obstinate malignity. 2. Having, by an induction of Scripture instances, ascertained the elements of judicial hardness, we may now apply the test to living character. (1) Ignorance is one form of it. Not a few who attend an evangelical ministry find all its messages a parable. They are not obtuse in intellectual faculty, yet the gospel of Christ is to them an unintelligible mystery. You go to them determined that, at least, they shall not mistake your meaning, you speak to them as little children; but, after all, they know not whereof you affirm. (2) Error is another form. Scepticism is but a form of judicial hardness. The truth is distasteful; the mind, preoccupied with its own distaste, turns away from evidence, and eagerly seizes on difficulty and objection. (3) But the form which is most prevalent is the unbelief or insensibility of orthodoxy. Its subjects are persons who are not ignorant of the doctrines we preach, nor disposed to deny them. Yet they come and go at ease, whilst living without God in the world. Is not this a case of amazing stupidity? It is as if the dead should come forth from their graves, and clothe themselves anew in the habiliments of this world, and with eyes unclosed, and ears unstopped, should sit in this place, beholding and listening, yet uniting, with the recovery of sensation, a soulless insensibility to the purport of all which they should see and hear. II. Exhibits the righteous retribution involved in the case of judicial hardness.1. This will appear, when you observe how mercy, slighted, becomes the means of developing depravity. Had no prophet arisen in Judah, we might have mourned the seduction of the idolatrous tribes, rather than have denounced their criminality. When judgment at length descended upon them, no plea was left them, for ample warning had been given, and had tended but to demonstrate their perversity (2 Chronicles 36:14-16). When Jesus was upon earth the unbelief of the Jews demonstrated the hardness of their hearts and became an aggravation of guilt (John 15:22-24). When apostles conveyed the gospel to their countrymen, and they rejected the message, those heralds of mercy shook off the very dust of their feet as a witness against them (Luke 10:12). In every age the faithful ministers of Christ have to say, “ We are the savour of death unto death,” etc. (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). Thus does mercy itself become the occasion of demonstrating depravity. It is not, however, the cause of that aggravated depravity, although it becomes the means of developing it. “ For judgment,” said the Saviour, “ I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” Their blindness was not, however, the effect of the light; the light was but the occasion of demonstrating it. It is thus that Jesus Himself expounds His own words (John 9:39; John 9:41). 2. When mercy has thus been slighted and insulted it may be withdrawn; the hardened hearer may be removed beyond the sound of the gospel; and he that trifled with impression may be debarred of the means of impression. God may say to His minister, “ Thou shalt be dumb,” etc. (Ezekiel 3:26). 3. But the more ordinary course of Divine retribution is to leave the hardened heart to its own hardness. Hence, as the hardening of our nature is the consequence of Divine withdrawment, God is Himself said to harden the heart. And God has but to abandon us to ourselves, and then the most fearful characteristics will be developed. “ My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Hebrews 10:29). The soul from which God has withdrawn is like the barren soil on which no rain descends, ever becoming more sterile; like the body from which life has passed, every day yielding more and more to corruption. 4. Under such a state the soul is becoming daily more meet for wrath. It is, in itself, the most fearful token of wrath ever to be experienced. It is death to the soul, the commencement of death eternal, even in this world. But the doom is not yet sealed. For the text-- III. Constitutes an alarm calculated to awaken from the slumbers of judicial hardness. The whole dispensation of Divine government towards us is a dispensation of mercy. Even the severest denunciations of wrath are uttered in merciful warning, and the flames of the pit are made a beacon to arrest our attention and awaken our alarms. When the prophet was sent to the people of Israel, it was that he might arouse them. After Jesus had wept over Jerusalem as lost He charged His disciples to begin their ministry at Jerusalem. When Paul described the hardness and abandonment of the Jews he did so that he “ might save some of them” (Romans 11:14). And in the case of our text he called back the unbelieving Jews to say this one word, with the hope that the faithful warning he gave them might haply be the means of awakening them. (J. Ely.)Realisation At this moment when I am beginning to preach there are many persons dying. There is the last breath, the last sharp pang, the last sore struggle, and now they are dead. Let us follow the course their souls have taken; and think that, in this minute, some souls are entering heaven. Now, even now, some are enjoying the beatific vision of Christ. And at this moment also some who were living when I began to speak to you are now in woe, feeling for the first time what is meant by losing the soul. But why is it that this tremendous fact does not strike us more forcibly? If we saw one drowning man, that sight would disturb our waking hours and haunt our sleep. And why should it be, then, that the thought of a matter incomparably more striking and weighty should wake in us no feeling that will last? It is that hearing we can hear and not understand, and seeing we can see and not perceive. The monster evil of our fallen nature is this want of power to realise spiritual things. The misery is that we know such things are, but cannot make it seem as if they were. We know that Moses and the prophets are enough if men would but hear them; we know that Christ, lifted up from the earth, exerts a force that ought to draw all men to Him; yet men will not hear, and will not come, and will not be saved. And will nothing serve to waken men up from this sleep of ruin? Do not we sometimes think, like the rich man in woe, that if one went to them from the dead men would repent? Ah, but what could he tell them that they do not know already? It is no news that “ the wicked shall be turned into hell,” and that is the sum of what he could say. I shall point out some of the leading truths and realities in regard to which our souls are affected by this wretched dulness of perception. I. The constant presence and inspection of God. Every man knows, and is ready to acknowledge, that God is everywhere, and therefore of course is here; but is there one man in a million who will venture to say he realises what is meant by this? Unless you feel the presence of God just as forcibly as if the flames of Sinai shone on your face, or the still small voice that spoke to Elijah fell thrilling on your ear, you are hearing without understanding, and seeing while you do not perceive. And if it be that even in this solemn place, and with all the advantage of having your thoughts specially directed to the subject your minds labour in vain to bring it home to them that God is here as much as you, how little realised must have been the thought that He was your constant Companion in the long hours of common life. Now, why should this be? If some dimly seen form, a being from another world, should haunt your steps, you think that that would be something whose presence you would feel as something real and true. And why, then, should it be, that the constant presence of the Infinite Spirit should be so often forgot, and so faintly felt when it is remembered best? A man whose blood would be chilled and his tongue palsied by even the suspicion of the presence of an apparition of a human being, hears us tell with absolutely no emotion how there is beside him forever the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible. And the only explanation is that to believe a thing and to realise it are wide as the poles asunder. II. The reality of the future life. Almost every man will confess that all the millions who have lived on this earth are living yet; and that he him self, when he dies, will be only going into another world. But the vast majority of those who profess to believe all this do not realise it. Their conduct proves this. Very many live as if they were to live on earth forever. Think of the worldly prudent man who is content to wear away the best years of his life in constant toil and pinching privation, that he may surround his declining years with comfort. And think you that this prudent man would live on without making the least provision for life hereafter, if he really felt, what he professes to believe, that after-years in this world are not half so sure to come to him, as endless ages are in a state of being for which earthly riches make no provision? Or, think of the regardless sinner who goes on in the path of guilt and shame, though he has read of the worm that never dies and the fire that is never quenched, and though he never doubts that these things are somewhere. Yes, he believes it, but he does not feel it; he hears without understanding, and he sees without perceiving. For, if he could call up the black picture of the place of woe, would he live one hour more in the path which must lead thither? III. A need of a saving interest in Christ. This seems a simple thing. A man perishing for thirst knows thoroughly his need of that water which will quench it; and every sinful creature’ s need of the Saviour is just as pressing and as real. Ask any thoughtful professing Christian what it is he most needs. It requires no deliberation to answer such a question. Many firings are desirable, but one thing is needful; and that is a saving interest in Christ. Well, then, if a thing be truly felt to be the thing we most need, there are two consequences which will follow--the desire we feel for that thing so needful, and the exertion we put forth to gain it, will be incomparably greater than we ever felt or put forth in the case of anything else. Is all this so? Let me ask what you have been most earnestly desiring for the last few days? The thing you most need? If not, then you have not realised your need of the Saviour. If you feel that you are more anxious to get on in life, then you are not realising that need. Again, look back and consider what it is you have spent most pains on. Most of us have worked hard in our day. Did we work hardest to get the one thing needful? Or is it not rather true that we have spent the best part of our strength upon our worldly affairs; and given only jaded powers, and any odd scraps of time to doing that which we profess to believe is the great thing we have to do on earth? (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.) Acts 28:28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles.The salvation of God I. The salvation of the gospel is “ the salvation of God.”1. It emanates from God. It is the product of His power and wisdom. It is the great display of His holiness and of His justice. It stands eternally secure in His unchangeableness and in His truth. It is the stream of mercy that floweth from the God of mercy. (1) There was everything in man, to check the stream of God’ s mercy. If we look at him as falling in the first Adam, it was so. But besides the fall, in which we were all involved, there was man’ s own personal sin. It is no right view of sin, to look at it merely as a disease, as a source of misery. It is rebellion against God; it is opposition to His holiness; it is provocation to His justice. (2) There was much in God to check it. One knows not of any one perfection belonging to Jehovah, that did not close the door of mercy, save only His love. But it is His grace that opened the door; and it is His grace that keeps that door open. 2. It is the gift of God. He gives it “ without money and without price.” It is His munificent, magnificent gift in Christ Jesus, to the very chiefest of sinners. 3. It is the salvation of God in our nature; who, if He had not been man, could never have suffered--and if He had not been God, could never have merited; in whose atonement there is all the glory of Deity, and in whose humanity there is all the perfection of obedience. 4. It is “ the salvation of God,” and the Spirit of God can alone convey it to our hearts. It is not education, reason, argument, the tears of parents, moral influence, but the Spirit of God. II. This salvation is worthy of God.1. God never can act below Himself. All that He does, He does worthily. His Book of creation is a Book in which He manifests forth His glory; so with His Book of Providence. But it is in “ the salvation of God,” we read that glory in the most distinct and wondrous characters. (1) There we see perfections that never would have been known but for this salvation. Man might have guessed, imagined, that there was that goodness in God that would blot out sin; but never could he have known it, in all the mysteries of creation, and in all the wonders of Providence. (2) There we find the perfections of God in all their harmony. A note may be beautiful; but how much more a chord! Many chords may be beautiful; but how much more all those chords in one grand chorus! And what is the glory of that chorus, that doth unite God’ s glorious perfections in one song--“ Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men!” See how it meets all the varied cases of sinners. Not one so vile, but there is a pardon in Jesus enough for him. None so unrighteous, but there is enough in Jesus for his righteousness. No case so hopeless, but there is hope here. 2. But this salvation is worthy of God as being most just. (1) This is its peculiarity, and sets it apart from all false religions in the world. (2) It is infinitely holy. The doctrines, the promises, the precepts, are all holy. If God’ s people are chosen “ to be holy.” If they are redeemed, it is that they may be “ redeemed from all iniquity.” (3) The only source of all solid happiness? (J. Harrington Evans, M. A.)Salvation etymologically considered There are few things which distinguish the gospel as the spiritual power and significance which it has been able to infuse into the common possessions of human nature. The revelations of God have not been so much creative as adaptive, taking the things which already exist, and giving to them a fresh meaning and force. Nothing illustrates this more than the way in which the truth of the gospel has infused itself into human vocabularies. It brought new ideas which the apostles clothed in the old words to which they gave a fresh meaning. Human speech would have been weakened, and would have lost its wealth, but for what the gospel has done for the dictionary. Take the word salvation. I. Salvation is safety. A man rescued from imminent peril is safe, saved, has found salvation. Jesus Christ has come to make us safe.1. The peril from which salvation delivers us is that of the penalties of broken law, and that of the inner results of the nature which has been abused by sin. 2. Christ brings salvation because-- (1) He has so acted in relation to external law, in respect of guilt, that we are delivered from the penalty and are safe. (2) But there is not only this justifying of man in the sight of God. Christ has set man right in his internal relations by delivering him from sin. II. Salvation is health. The word is connected with “ salutary” and “ heal.” Jesus Christ is called the Great Physician, not simply because He went about healing the body, but because He is the Physician of the soul. The former is the symbol of the latter. He takes away sin which is the soul’ s disease, and restores the proper condition of our spiritual nature. How little do we feel the power of this full salvation! We want to escape hell. What we need to escape is the sin sickness of the soul, that restlessness, that feverishness, that wild disturbing passion of our lower nature. III. Salvation is wholeness. When a man was healed the old English version says he was “ made whole.” And Christ went about making men whole.1. There is no health if there be no wholeness. There is no perfect cure of the nature if Christ does not restore it to its completeness. Sin is a maimed condition of our nature. Christ comes as the Minister of mind, soul, and body. 2. Let us be careful in our application of this gospel to the wants of our times, to the growth of our Church, to our individual character, to our families, to the life of society and of the State, that we do not present a maimed gospel. IV. Salvation is happiness. The word was employed as a greeting. Salve. It is a salutation, a wish for joy. We have not come to its full meaning until it has swung itself round this whole sphere of human nature in blessedness and gladness. There is a place for sorrow, but if the gospel does not take you beyond sorrow you have only partly learned Jesus. God is the God of joy and not of sadness. (Ll. D. Bevan, D. D.)The Churches warned I. These Jews, like us, had long been in possession of exclusive privileges, and accustomed to survey without emotion the great mass of mankind deprived of them. They were in exclusive possession of the Scriptures, a pure worship, and an authorised ministry. So are Christians now, as compared with millions of heathen, and the Protestant Churches, in comparison even with millions of nominal Christians. But let us not, in looking at the resemblances, overlook the marked points of diversity. The exclusive privileges of the ancient Jews were theirs by an express Divine appointment. Their adherence to the old restrictions, after the set time for their removal had arrived, was indeed an act of flagrant unbelief and disobedience; but until that time came they were shut up to the necessity of standing aloof. Does our situation correspond with this? The enclosures which have shut us in are human structures, reared by selfishness and cemented by apathy, and differ wholly from the walls by which the ancient Zion was encompassed. II. Note the influence of long-continued and exclusive privileges on the opinions and belief of those enjoying them. Advantages possessed by a few for the good of the many may easily come to be regarded as prerogatives belonging to the few, to the entire exclusion of the many. This was the case with the Jews, and it could not fail to produce a general distortion in their doctrinal views. They who could not be persuaded, that “ the law must go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” could never be expected to appreciate the truth, that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. They who believed that the truth or mercy of Jehovah existed for themselves alone, could surely never have obtained a glimpse of what His truth and mercy are. Because they were favoured, for a time, with an exclusive revelation, they forgot the very end for which they had received it, and forgetting this, were naturally led to take distorted views of that religion which they thus regarded as exclusively their own forever. So may we, so have we, reaped precisely the same fruit from precisely the same seed, so far as we have sown it. But more specifically take--1. The great doctrine which divided the apostle of the Gentiles from his Jewish hearers. Common to both was a professed belief in Moses and the prophets, and in the promises of Messiah as the Saviour of His people. But they fatally diverged at an essential point. Paul believes that the Messiah has already come, and that Jesus of Nazareth is He, and as a necessary consequence, that the restrictions of the old economy are at an end, and the diffusion of the true religion through the world the first great duty of God’ s people. They, on the contrary, regard the advent of Messiah as still future, and the barrier between Jews and Gentiles as still standing; which indeed led them to look for a Saviour who had never been promised, and could never come. Instead of one who should destroy all national restrictions, they expected a national deliverer. This dream of national advancement could be verified only at the cost of other nations. Their mistake as to the Messiah, therefore, tended directly to cherish a spirit of national exclusiveness, and to suppress all rising of a Catholic charity. And the same connection still exists, and will betray itself between a Jewish doctrine and a Jewish practice. For, although it is impossible that any Christian should embrace the very error of the old Jews, it is easy to embrace one of a similar description by inadequate conceptions of the Christian system. There is great danger of our looking through the wrong end of the telescope, and seeing that diminished which we ought to have seen magnified, the world reduced to a nut shell, and our own house or village swelled into a world. We must begin as the apostles did with the idea of a world to be converted, and from this descend to the particulars included. And then remember that, unlike the Jews, Christians are not intrusted with the oracles of God as an exclusive deposit, even for a time. We have them that we may diffuse them. A great and effectual door into the heathen world is opened, and the voice of God is calling us to enter it. Everything, both at home and abroad--in the teachings of God’ s Word, and in the leadings of His providence--in the condition of the heathen and our own--makes us as free to think and act for their conversion, as the old Jews were paralysed and crippled with respect to it. And yet, with all this difference in our favour, may we not be still too Jewish in our spirit and our conduct, with respect to those less favoured than ourselves? The old middle walls of partition have fallen at the blast of the trumpet, but may we not rear up others in their stead? 2. The resemblance which may possibly exist between the cases, with respect to providential retributions. What means that solemn and repeated declaration of the great apostle, that he turns away from the Jews to the Gentiles? That his personal ministry should now take that direction, or that the Gentiles should, in spite of Jewish prejudice and bigotry, become partakers of their once exclusive privileges? This is not enough. There is an evident allusion, not only to a change, but to an interchange of character and state--not only to the culture of the desert, but to the desolation of the vineyard. Left to his cherished notions of hereditary sanctity and safety, and his dreams of a Messiah yet to come, Israel has vanished from his place among the living, to haunt the nations as the restless ghost of a departed people, or to glide about the graveyard where his hopes lie buried, while the dry bones of many nations, who appeared to slumber without hope, have been raised again and clothed with flesh, and new life breathed into their resurrection bodies. To apply this let us dwell on the map of Christendom, as it was at the death of the last apostle, or even fourteen hundred years ago--looking particularly at the western coast of Asia Minor and the northern coast of Asia--not only with their present desolation, but with the actual state of Christianity in Britain and in those climes which have neither name nor place upon the chart of ancient knowledge, is it certain that this process of rotation has been finally arrested? Is it not possible, to say the least, that the vicissitudes yet future may sustain the same relation to extraordinary privilege and culpable abuse of it, as those which are already past? I see not, therefore, why we should refuse to apply the last words of the text to ourselves, in the way of warning. If we are conscious of inadequate exertions and of cold affections in this great cause, let us think of Israel according to the flesh, and of what he was and what he is--remember that if we do not value Christianity enough to share it with the heathen, they may yet become possessed of it at our expense. (J. W. Alexander, D. D.)The design of the Acts The last testimony of the apostle throws light on the structure and design of this book. The history is designed to exhibit the transition of the kingdom from Israel to the whole human family. When this transference has been completed, the historian’ s work is done. Here, accordingly, the record abruptly closes. The final note, as in other melodies, is the keynote; Christ rejected by Israel to whom He came, is offered to the Gentiles. Henceforth all distinctions are levelled except one, the distinction between those who believe and those who believe not in the Son of God. There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free. (W. Arnot, D. D.) Acts 28:30-31 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house.Paul’ s two years’ ministry in his own hired house Here his biographer takes leave of Paul. The curtain falls on the great actor. The greatest life has a close. These verses suggest-- I. The essence of Christianity.1. “ Those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ” --not the things which concern religious speculations or organisations. 2. The reign of God over the human soul, “ the kingdom of God.” The grand aim of Christ’ s mission was to establish this, and nothing lay so near His heart. This was what He urged men to seek and to pray for, and what He illustrated in His parables. For this He works now, and will work until “ the kingdoms of this world shall be the kingdoms of our God.” II. The trials of its disciples.1. That the best of us are not to expect exemption from trials. Let us not murmur. Paul felt that his were for his good, and “ gloried in tribulations.” 2. That the most useful minister is not essential to Christ. He who laboured more than all is now under restraint. Let no man overrate his services. III. The mission of Christ’ s ministers.1. Paul’ s “ preaching” was “ teaching” --not declamation, or a repetition of platitudes however logically or rhetorically put. This implies learning on the part of the hearer, and superior intelligence on the part of the minister. 2. His teaching was the indoctrinating of men in Christian essentials. IV. The force of its influence.1. Of its soul sustaining influence--“ With all confidence” --in the midst of enemies. 2. Of its aggressive influence (Philippians 1:12-14; Philemon 1:10). (D. Thomas, D. D.)Christ’ s finished and unfinished work (with Acts 1:1-2):--So begins and so ends this book. I connect the commencement and the close, because I think that the juxtaposition throws great light upon the purpose of the writer, and suggests some very important lessons. The reference to “ the former treatise” (which is, of course, the Gospel according to Luke) implies that this book is to be regarded as its sequel, and the terms of the reference show the writer’ s own conception of what he was going to do in his second volume. “ The former treatise have I made … of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which He was taken up.” Is not the natural inference that the latter treatise will tell us what Jesus continued “ to do and teach” after He was taken up? So, then, the name “ the Acts of the Apostles,” which is not coeval with the book itself, is somewhat of a misnomer. Most of the apostles are never heard of in it. There are, at the most, only three or four of them concerning whom anything in the book is recorded. But our first text supplies a deeper reason for regarding that title as inadequate, and even misleading. For, if the theme of the story be what Christ did, then the book is, not the “ Acts of the Apostles,” but the acts of Jesus Christ through His servants. That conception of the purpose of the book seems to me to have light cast upon it by, and to explain, the singular abruptness of the conclusion which must strike every reader. The historian lays down his pen, possibly because he had brought his narrative up to date. But a word of conclusion explaining that it was so would have been very natural, and its absence must have had some reason. It is also possible that the arrival of the apostle in the imperial city, and his unhindered liberty of preaching there, in the very centre of power, the focus of intellectual life, and the hot bed of corruption for the known world, may have seemed to the writer an epoch which rounded off his story. But I think that the reason for the abruptness of the record’ s close is to be found in the continuity of the work of which it tells a part. It is the unfinished record of an incomplete work. The theme is the work of Christ through the ages, of which each successive depository of His energies can do but a small portion, and must leave that portion unfinished, the book does not so much end as stop. It is a fragment because the work of which it tells of is not yet a whole. I. First, then, we have here the suggestion of what Christ began to do and teach on earth. Now, at first sight, the words of our text seem to be in strange and startling contradiction to the solemn cry which rang out of the darkness upon Calvary. Jesus said, “ It is finished! and gave up the ghost.” Luke says He “ began to do and teach.” Is there any contradiction between the two? Certainly not. It is one thing to lay a foundation; it is another thing to build a house. And the work of laying the foundation must be finished before the work of building the structure upon it can be begun. The former is the work of Christ which was finished on earth; the latter is the work which is continuous throughout the ages. “ He began to do and teach,” not in the sense that any should come after Him and do--as the disciples of most great discoverers and thinkers have had to do: systematise, rectify, and complete the first glimpses of truth which the Master had given. “ He began to do and teach,” not in the sense that after He had passed into the heavens any new truth or force can for evermore be imparted to humanity in regard of the subjects which He taught and the energies which He brought. But whilst thus His work is complete His earthly work is also initial. And we must remember that whatever distinction my text may mean to draw between the work of Christ in the past and that in the present and the future, it does not mean to imply that when He ascended up on high He had not completed the task for which He came, or that the world had to wait for anything more, either from Him or from others, to eke out the imperfections of His doctrine or the insufficiencies of His work. II. But then, secondly, we have to notice what Christ continues to do and to teach after his ascension. I have already suggested that the phraseology of the first of my texts naturally leads to the conclusion that the theme of this book of the Acts is the continuous work of the ascended Saviour, and that the language is not forced by being thus interpreted is very obvious to anyone who will glance even cursorily over the contents of the book itself. For there is nothing in it more obvious and remarkable than the way in which, at every turn in the narrative, all is referred to Jesus Christ Himself. He only is the Actor; men are His implements and instruments. The same point of view is suggested by another of the characteristics of this book, which it shares in common with all Scripture narratives, and that is the stolid indifference with which it picks up and drops men, according to the degree in which, for the moment, they are the instruments of Christ’ s power. As long as God uses a man the man is of interest to the writer of the Scripture. When God uses another one, they drop the first, and have no more care about him, because their theme is not men and their doings, but God’ s doings through men. On us, and in us, and by us, and for us, if we are His servants, Jesus Christ is working all through the ages. He is the Lord of providence, He is the King of history, in His hand is the book with the seven seals; He sends His Spirit, and where His Spirit is He is; and what His Spirit does He does. And thus He continues to teach and to work from His throne in the heavens. Now these truths of our Lord’ s continuous activity in teaching and working from heaven may yield us some not unimportant lessons. What a depth and warmth and reality the thoughts give to the Christian’ s relation to Jesus Christ! What a sweetness and sacredness such thoughts impart to all external events, which we may regard as being the operation of His love, and moved by the hands that were nailed to the Cross for us, and now hold the sceptre of the universe for the blessing of mankind. What a fountain of hope they open in estimating future probabilities of victory for truth and goodness! III. Lastly, we note the incompleteness of each man’ s share in the great work. As I said, the book which is to tell the story of Christ’ s continuous work from heaven must stop abruptly. There is no help for it. If it was a history of Paul it would need to be wound up to an end and a selvage put to it, but as it is the history of Christ’ s working, the web is not half finished, and the shuttle stops in the middle of a cast. The book must be incomplete because the work of which it is the record does not end until He shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and God shall be all in all. So the work of each man is but a fragment of that great work. Every man inherits unfinished tasks from his predecessors, and leaves unfinished tasks to his successors. It is, as it used to be in the middle ages, when the men that dug the foundations, or laid the first courses of some great cathedral, were dead long generations before the gilded cross was set on the apex of the needle spire, and the glowing glass filled in to the painted windows. Enough for us if we lay a stone, though it be but one stone in one of the courses of the great building. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Paul’ s two years in Rome By this time we ought to be independent of the historian and to be able to write Paul’ s diary with our own hand. There are some friends we need not consult because we know exactly how they would address themselves to every embarrassment. The historian pays us a compliment in condensing into two little verses the industry of two years in Rome, as if he should say, “ You know how the years would be occupied.” A prisoner who has a case on appeal, how will he occupy himself during that period of waiting? If you inquire about a stranger, you will say, “ He will spend his time in setting up his case.” Is Paul occupied in getting up his case? Read verse 31. At the last as at the first--just the same. In other cities Paul went about finding opportunities, opening doors and boldly entering in. Is he doing that now during those two years in Rome? Observe the construction of the sentence and make your own inference. “ Paul dwelt” --Paul “ received all that came in unto him.” But Paul occupied his two years in doing something more than preaching. He would have been but a name today had he not occupied his time in writing his immortal epistles. Only a few can ever hear the living voice; but the writing lives. What should we have known of Paul but for the Epistles? I. Let us look into Philippians. What an insight that gives us into his life at Rome.1. In Acts 1:12 we read: “ I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me” --he makes nothing of them where we should have made a great moan--“ have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” In prison or out of prison Paul was occupied with one theme. Read verse 28, “ in nothing terrified by your adversaries,” etc.” The encouragement comes from the man with whom we were about to sympathise. Read Acts 4:4. When we opened the letter we said: “ Where is there a man amongst us with voice plaintive enough to read the minor music?” Read, again, Acts 1:21, and you will find the basis line upon which the whole is built. There is not a word about the appeal; the only reference is to Christ and to the Church. Was there not great basis of doctrine under all this high sentiment? Read Acts 2:5-11. But was Paul speaking after the manner of a man who had counted the cost of this? Did he really know what he was doing? Read Acts 3:7-11. But was he one who had nothing to lose? Hear him in the same chapter: “ If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more,” etc. Reading this letter, I have no hesitation in saying that men with such views cannot be in prison. The views themselves are like a great firmament. Such men cannot want (Acts 4:11, etc.). Nero is a poor man compared with his prisoner, and such men cannot die (Acts 3:20-21). Do you admire Paul in these circumstances? Paul was only Paul because Christ was Christ. When Paul receives our homage he points us in one direction, and says, “ God forbid that I should glory,” etc. II. Let us now look into Ephesians. In Acts 3:1 he describes himself as “ the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,” in Acts 4:1 as “ the prisoner of the Lord,” in chap. viz 20 as “ an ambassador in bonds.” This is the way in which to use a chain, an infirmity of any kind. Paul does not whine about himself being a prisoner; but says, “ It is the Lord’ s chain.” He is not a prisoner of Caesar, but a prisoner of Christ. Look at his care of souls (Ephesians 1:16-23). He asked no mean gifts for the Christian soul, but all heaven’ s riches. Then his care for the Church as a whole (Ephesians 4:32). He lays an infinite line even upon social relations, differences, and controversies, and rules them into order by the very grandeur of his appeal. People have admired the apostle’ s logic; my own feeling is that none could love like Paul. Next we have his care for the family. Not one member of the household is omitted (Ephesians 5:25, etc.). III. Let us now look into Colossians. In the last line he says, “ Remember my bonds.” A word is enough to those whose hearts are in right tune. How did the great apostle regard his fellow labourers? Did he so tower above them as to be unconscious of their existence? (Read Acts 4:10; Acts 4:12; Acts 4:14.) Paul did not forget anybody. No touch of a gentle hand ever escaped his notice, who stands next to Christ in the wisdom and penetration of his love. And if the servant does not forget, can He forget who is Master? The Lord is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love. IV. Let us look into Philemon. Paul entreats Philemon as “ Paul the aged.” Cunning writer! He was not “ Paul the aged” when labour was to be done, when suffering was to be undergone, when tyrants were to be faced; but when a slave was to be reinstated, Paul thought that if he represented himself as an old man, it would have a happy effect upon the sensibilities of Philemon. I do not know that Paul would have cared to have been called “ Paul the aged,” yet he is willing to describe himself as such, because that might count for something and moisten the eyes of Philemon. Talk about the equality of men, and the over getting of social difficulties; read verse 17. This is said about a runaway, penitent slave! Why, he could not have given a nobler introduction to Caesar. This is what Christianity would do today: bring back every man that had wronged you, bring back every wanderer and reconstruct the household circle. Christianity harmonises the classes, not by dragging any class down, but by lifting all classes up. Paul said, with the audacity of an invincible faith, “ If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account” --a man who had not where to lay his head! But he knew he could pay all such obligations as that: “ Albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.” Yes, these are the great debts that exist between man and man--not a debt of gold, but the debt of self. This is the debt which people owe to the great authors, thinkers, and preachers of the day. Conclusion: These are the letters; is the writer a fanatic? I will believe it when fanatics reason as he does. Is he a self-seeker? I will believe it when self-seekers suffer as he did. When you want to know what Christians are, do not look at us, but look at Paul. We ought to follow him as he followed Christ. (J. Parker, D. D.)Paul’ s two years’ residence at Rome I. The time which the apostle spent at Rome. Two years complete.1. The emperor was too much occupied with his guilty pleasures to be in haste to attend to this serious business, and the officers of state were not authorised to dismiss untried an appellant to Caesar; while the chiefs of the Jewish nation durst not appear as prosecutors. 2. So long an abode at Rome, with liberty of action, whatever indignity was put upon his person, was a high privilege. There were at Rome so many men of inquisitive minds, and abundant leisure, that his house must have been thronged. “ He received all that came,” with open arms and heart. 3. The Church, however, I conclude, continued to meet in its former place; its own pastor or bishop, and other officers. Of Paul’ s being bishop there is not the most distant hint. The apostles are never called bishops; for they held a higher office, incompatible with that of bishop or pastor, and to call an apostle a bishop, was as left-handed a compliment as it would be to call a king a mayor. Had any apostle been bishop of Rome, unquestionably it was Paul; but, strange to tell, Peter has been paraded as such. Had he been there, he would have been out of his diocese, for he was the apostle--not of the Gentiles, which was Paul’ s office--but of the Jews. Accordingly, the last time Peter is seen he is pursuing his vocation to the twelve tribes, “ scattered abroad through Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” Nor is it recorded in Scripture that he ever was at Rome. Numerous circumstances make it incredible that he had been there up to this. Paul had, a few years before, written to the Romans, but no mention is made of Peter. Paul gave this reason for longing to see them, “ that he might impart to them some spiritual gift,” which Peter, had he been there, must have imparted. Paul arrives at Rome, and the Christians come out to meet him; but not a word is said then, or during the two years he spent there, of Peter. Letters were written from Rome by Paul, but not one of them contains a salutation from Peter. What! was he such a nonentity that his coming to Rome was so unimportant that of this the Divine oracles are dumb, while Paul’ s voyage and journey thither form the most conspicuous portion of the inspired history? The world is filled with Paul’ s letters from Rome; but it never hears a word from Peter, except from the Church at Babylon! Verily, Peter may say to the Romans, “ Save me from my friends.” I have, however, asserted nothing concerning Peter’ s suffering martyrdom at Rome, which is just barely possible. But that he did not found the “ Apostolic See” is certain, for he was engaged in Syria till near the time when Aquila and Priscilla, members of that Church, were driven from Rome by Claudius. The “ strangers from Rome,” who were at Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost, seem to have carried the first tidings of the gospel to Rome; and, therefore, it was no apostolic see, even if Peter and Paul, on a visit, presided there; for this apostles did at many places which are never called apostolic sees. II. The employment of the apostle.1. It was that of a herald proclaiming, as the original signifies, the kingdom of God. For the Sovereign of that kingdom sent forth His apostles to proclaim His ascension to the throne, and to call upon all nations to bow to His sceptre. A dangerous theme at Rome, under the eye of Nero! But it should be recollected that the apostle had already taught the Roman Church obedience to civil government. The Romans had learned from the Stoics, and especially Nero, from Seneca, that a good man is a king. Pilate, having received Christ’ s good confession, “ I am a King,” showed no jealous alarm, but said, “ I find no fault in Him.” Such a kingdom as Paul preached could create no fear of its being “ hurtful to governors and kings.” Civil government will be rendered more easy and more safe, as it certainly will be more equitable and more beneficial, by the universal prevalence of the kingdom of God. But had Paul’ s proclamation of the kingdom included such a domination as popes afterwards set up at Rome, he would never have been permitted to act as its herald, where Nero reigned. 2. But he was “ teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.” While he was on this theme, a prison was to him a paradise. 3. That he spake “ with all boldness,” or freedom, we are assured. A chain on his arm, and a soldier by his side, would have intimidated some men. It is a shame to us to speak of the Lord Jesus as if we were ashamed of Him. (J. Bennett, D. D.)Paul at Rome: the preacher in chains, or the Word of God not bound It is bound-- I. To no place. Thrust out of Jerusalem, the old city of God, the apostle erects his pulpit in the Gentile capital of the world. II. By no power. The might of Rome was as little able as the hatred of the Jews to close the mouth of the apostle. III. To no man. After Paul had finished his course, and sealed his testimony with his blood, the preaching of the Cross proceeded victoriously over the earth. (K. Gerok.)Paul a prisoner at Rome today as he was eighteen hundred years ago 1. Paul the herald of evangelical liberty, bound by the fetters of human ordinances. 2. Paul the preacher of justification by faith, bound under the law of external righteousness of works. 3. Paul the man of apostolic poverty and humility, bound beside the splendour and pomp of the Popish dominion. (K. Gerok.)Patti’ s situation It is obvious that he would not have been allowed to seek a lodging in the Jewish quarter beyond the Tiber, since he would be obliged to consult the convenience of the successions of soldiers who kept guard over him; and it is most likely therefore that his “ hired apartment” was within close range of the Praetorian camp. Amongst the prisoners there he might have seen the Jewish priests who had been sent to Rome by Felix, and who won from their nation so much approval by their sufferings through abstinence from unclean meats. Here, too, he may have seen Caradoc, the British prince whose heroic resistance and simple dignity extorted praise even from Roman enemies. Considering that he was a prisoner his life was not dull. He had to put up with “ the law’ s delays,” perhaps through the loss, during shipwreck, of the eulogium of Festus, the non-appearance of his accusers, or the inhuman carelessness of Nero. But he was safe from the perils and tumults of the past twenty years, and exempt from the hard necessity of earning his daily bread. And if he was neglected by Jews he was acceptable to many Gentiles; if his gospel was mutilated by unworthy preachers, still Christ was preached; if his bonds were irksome they inspired others with zeal and courage; if one form of activity had been restrained, others were still open to him, and while he was strengthening distant Churches by his letters and emissaries, he was making God’ s message known more and more widely in imperial Rome. (Archdeacon Farrar.)The quiet disappearance of Paul at the close of the apostolic history It points to--1. The exalted Lord of the Church who abides, although His servants disappear. 2. The blessed rest into which God’ s faithful servants are permitted to enter after the well-concluded day of work. 3. The work of faith and labour of love left behind to us from these first chosen witnesses. 4. The great day which will bring to light all that is now dark in the history of the kingdom of God. (K. Gerok.)“ The Acts” no fragment The conclusion indeed comes to us too early; there are many things we would wish to know, yet we have enough. We have--1. The laying of the foundation stone of the Church against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. 2. The mighty acts of the Saviour, who is with His people always, even unto the end of the world. 3. A mine of wholesome doctrine, secure comfort, and impressive example for the Church of all ages. (K. Gerok.)The close of “ the Acts” Note-- I. The eras of a wonderful history.1. The close of one chapter in Church history. The book began with Peter’ s sermon at Jerusalem, and now closes with Paul’ s ministry in Rome. What a marvellous history it is. “ The course of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome,” says Lange, “ is-- (1) A painful course, full of shame and persecution.(2) A heroic course, full of the power of faith and love.(3) A victorious course, full of mighty acts and Divine wonders.(4) A blessed course, full of salvation and grace for ‘ the present and the future.’” 2. The beginning of a new chapter in Church history. From Rome the gospel starts on a new course, and fulfils the promise at the commencement of the book. “ Ye shall be My witness both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” II. The mightiness of a Christ-inspired man. Who can read this account of Paul without feeling that he was animated by a spirit, not of earth, nor of any human school of religion or morals, but by the Spirit of Him who gave His life a ransom to save the lost? He acknowledged this. “ The love of Christ constraineth me.” “ I live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me.” By sin we have lost our manhood; we are mean and cowardly. The Spirit of Christ can alone restore the true heart of humanity. III. The mysterious method of Divine working. It was God’ s purpose that the gospel should be preached in Rome. But how was this purpose fulfilled?1. By one man. One might have expected an army of messengers. Numbers, however, in moral campaigns are secondary considerations. The one true man does the work. 2. One man, who is a prisoner. One might have thought that the Almighty Master would have guarded His messenger, and made his path straight and illustrious. But “ God’ s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.” IV. The fragmentary character of sacred history. Here the curtain drops upon the unfinished life of Paul. Curiosity craves for minute information concerning the closing scenes in the life of this wonderful man, but Scripture offers no gratification. Fuller details are--1. Unnecessary. Luke has given sufficient memoranda of this man’ s life to enable us to judge how sublimely he passed through the last scenes. The acts of a man’ s daily life, and not the details of his death bed, are the best criteria of his soul life. 2. Would, perhaps, have been inexpedient. God is as kind in concealing as He is in revealing. Were the Bible to give us a full account of all the men it refers to, it would be a volume of unreadable dimensions, and would rather pander to the curiosity than advance the culture of humanity. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The prison literature of the Christian Church To Paul’ s prison life in Rome we owe some of the most important and consolatory Epistles. And he is not the only Christian prisoner who has been busy for God and man. Savonarola wrote his commentaries on Psalms 31:1-24; Psalms 51:1-19 during his month of imprisonment before his execution, which show that though he had much spiritual conflict, neither his faith nor his comfort yielded. The gentle Anne Askew, who was burnt at Smithfield , wrote the night before she suffered-- “ Like as an armed knight appointed to the field With this world will I fight, and faith shall be my shield. Faith is that weapon strong which will not fail at need, My foes therefore among therewith will I proceed. I now rejoice in heart, and hope bids me do so, That Christ will take my part, and ease me of my woe.” Tyndale, to whom more than any other we owe our English Bible, wrote, during his imprisonment at Vilvorde, to the governor of the castle, asking for some articles of dress in a style that reminds us of Paul’ s request that Timothy should bring his cloak from Troas; and then goes on to say: “ But above all I entreat and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the procureur that he may kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Grammar, and Dictionary, that I may spend my time with my study.” Ridley wrote in the interval between his condemnation and execution, a long “ farewell to all his true and noble friends in God,” which contains these sentences: “ I warn you all, my well-beloved kinsfolk and countrymen, that ye be not amazed or astonished at the kind of my departure and dissolution, for I assure you I think it is the greatest honour that ever I was called unto in my life. For you know I no more doubt but that the causes whereof I am put to death are God’ s causes and the causes of truth, than I doubt that John’ s Gospel is the gospel of Christ, or that Paul’ s Epistles are the very Word of God.” And only a short time before Lady Jane Grey, in sending, on the eve of her execution, her Greek Testament to her sister, wrote: “ I am assured that I shall for the losing of a mortal life find an immortal felicity, the which I pray God grant you and enable you of His grace to live in His fear and die in the true Christian faith, from the which, in God’ s name, I exhort you that you never swerve, neither for hope of life nor fear of death.” The hymn “ Jerusalem, my happy home,” was, in one of its versions, composed by Francis Baker while a prisoner in the Tower, and in the same fortress Sir Walter Raleigh composed his “ History of the World,” and wrote poems, of which the following is a specimen:-- “ Rise my soul, with thy desires, to heaven, And with divinest contemplation use Thy time, where time’ s eternity is given. And let vain thoughts no more thy thoughts abuse, But down in midnight darkness let them lie; So live thy better, let thy worse thoughts die And thou, my soul, inspired with sacred flame, View and review, with most regardful eye, Thy holy Cross, whence thy salvation came; On which thy Saviour and thy sin did die; For in that sacred object is much pleasure, And in that Saviour is thy life, thy treasure.” Everybody knows that Bunyan’ s “ Pilgrim’ s Progress” was the fruit of his labours in Bedford Gaol; and as the joy bells of the new Jerusalem kept ringing in his ears he forgot the vileness of the “ cage” wherein he was confined. Not so well known are the letters of Samuel Rutherford, so unique for their unction and holy rapture, yet many of them were written from Aberdeen, to which city he had been confined by the Court of High Commission. George Wither, the Puritan poet, whose quaint motto was, “ I grow and wither, both together,” had a chequered career, and many of his best pieces were composed in prison. His “ Prison Meditation” has preserved his experiences for us:-- “ While here I bide, though I unworthy be, Do Thou provide all needful things for me, And though friends grow unkind in my distress, Yet leave not Thou Thy servant comfortless. So, though in thrall my body must remain, In mind I shall some freedom still retain; And wiser made by this restraint shall be Than if I had, until my death, been free.” Who, having read, can ever forget the lines of Madam Guyon under similar circumstances?-- “ My cage confines me round, abroad I cannot fly, But though my wing is closely bound, my heart’ s at liberty. My prison walls cannot control the flight, the freedom of the soul.” James Montgomery, wrote a whole volume of “ Prison Amusements” while he was confined in York Castle, the victim of political injustice; and the hymn beginning “ Spirit, leave thy house of clay” was composed in the same place on the occasion of the death of one of his fellow prisoners, who with seven others had suffered the loss of all worldly goods for conscience’ sake. And to mention no more, what an interesting record is that of the imprisonment in Burma of the sainted Judson for two years, during which he composed the beautiful paraphrase of the Lord’ s Prayer, commencing, “ Our Father God, who art in heaven.” Now compare all this with the melancholy lines of Ovid and the letters of Cicero during their exile. The latter discover a pusillanimity humiliating to contemplate, and it would have been better for the orator’ s reputation if they had been destroyed. The same thing has come out in the prison experiences of many others who, being without God, were also without hope in the world, Now how shall we account for the difference? Simply by the sustaining grace of the Lord Jesus. One of the greatest triumphs of modern horology is the construction of a chronometer with a compensation balance which keeps it moving at the same rate in every temperature. What that balance is to the timepiece, the grace of God is to the believer’ s heart. It gives him equanimity in all experiences. It makes prosperity safe and adversity salutary. It puts for him a rainbow in every cloud, opens a fountain in every wilderness, and gives a song for every night. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.).